Off To Sunny Spain

I’m now on a countdown for going to Spain for some well deserved R&R at my parents. I’m gratified to see that the weather is likely to be good, especially with the deteriorating weather over here. This week is a busy one so by the time I get there I’ll probably be ready for a good sleep.

Mrs H3 has deserted me to go to Dubai with her mum for few days (of course I’m not at all jealous…well not if she brings me back the bottle of Jack Daniels she promised!)

Not having a hectic social life over the weekend did give me a chance to get a bit of Autumn cleaning done and I now have a huge pile of stuff for the tip that will be going this week, so a nice tidy flat is assured (well as tidy as I can get being an inveterate hoarder!) by the time I go away.

On Wednesday evening I’m going for dinner at Lynnie Lou’s. It’ll be a good chance to catch up and have a gossip, as she’s been all tied up recently with sorting out her lovely new house. Then Saturday night is Heidi’s 40th birthday party, which reminds me that I need to make her a card.

So partying Saturday night followed by an early flight Sunday morning. Not a good combination but I’m sure I’ll manage, especially with the prospect of a week off work to look forward to – nicely timed too as I’ll have just finished with the latest round of talks/arguments on our new database and will be needing to get away!

A little part of me is still hoping to acquire some tickets for the Elbow concert which is the weekend after I get back from Spain, although I’m not holding out much hope. If anyone has a couple of tickets they want to donate please let me know (yes I know that’s even more unlikely than me being able to buy them, but you never know there might be some nice philanthropist out there who has a couple of tickets to spare.) *LOL*

I Am Kloot have released the dates of their latest tour. Unfortunately with the exception of two solo gigs by Johnny (both annoyingly in Manchester – one this coming Friday (and believe me I did look into going but it just wasn’t viable either financially or work wise) and one on 27th November – still not yet decided about that one) all the other dates are in places like Poland, Germany, Switzerland, Holland and Austria. Obviously I’m gutted about this as it’s now been 151 days since I last saw them live and to say I’m having withdrawal symptoms would be a major understatement. They are doing a gig in Dublin on 15th December which I am also considering, but I’m really hoping they are going to announce a few UK dates soon…and preferably ones down south. Not all IAK fans are from Manchester you know!

A Bit Late But It's The 'Tropic Thunder' Review

Oops. I meant to have an update but got taken ill with a bad cold/chest infection so never got round to it. Still better late than never eh?

Okay so we went to see 'Tropic Thunder' a couple of weeks ago. Now as you know I wasn’t really looking forward to the film because of it containing Steve Coogan and Ben Stiller (no idea why I thought I disliked him as Dodgeball is still one of my all time favourite comedy films and he was very entertaining on Jonathan Ross the other week)

Now for Mrs H3 and I the laughter started before the film, during the trailer for the Jim Carrey film ‘Yes Man’ – which is a definite no-no for us so by the time ‘Satan’s Alley’ appeared (sorry you need to see the film to understand I’m afraid – so go watch it NOW!) we were already in stitches. I can honestly say that this didn’t stop for the whole movie nor for about an hour afterwards while we discussed it. Both of us were in agreement that if the film had been out on DVD we would have bought it immediately on leaving the cinema.

The star of the film wasn’t Ben Stiller, Jack Black or Robert Downey Jr. although they were all excellent, but Tom Cruise who stole the whole film with every scene he was in. Now I’m not (and neither is Mrs H3) a TC fan, in fact I’d be hard pushed to name a film of his that I’ve seen (and no I’ve never seen Top Gun) and we were both convinced that he’d make a perfect Wormtail (which has actually been our nickname for him for the last good few years) but it did leave me wondering whether I had misjudged him. Certainly he is perfect for comedic roles, especially those that require a foul-mouthed, badly dressed, badly dancing middle aged man, in fact he could probably give Hugh Grant a run for his money.

I can also say that from my point of view it was worth seeing for Steve Coogan even though I dislike him (or maybe because I dislike him), although I can’t say more without giving away the plot.

Anyway the long and the short is that the film is funny, very funny and if you enjoy Ben Stiller films, or Jack Black films then you’ll probably enjoy it. So go and see it and then you too can laugh over Satan’s Alley like Mrs H3 and I (and check out the website too which I’m not giving the addy for as it’ll mean nothing if you haven’t seen the film … Did I say go see the film already?)

*

Woohoo. I’ve got my new chair. Actually I’ve had it for a few weeks now but after mourning the death of my old chair it was only right to trumpet the acquisition of the new one (and people have actually been asking whether I’ve got it which is a bit freaky!)Anyway it’s a proper orthopaedic chair with loads of levers etc. and it was an absolute bargain as those sort of chairs go.

It also weighs a ton and I nearly put my back out trying to get the box up the stairs on my own (the delivery driver ran when he saw how many stairs it needed to go up). The box was so big it only just fitted on the stairs and I couldn’t actually close the door until it was about 4 steps up. Eventually it was just too heavy and the box started to rip so I let it fall back downstairs and brought up the pieces separately. When I finally reached the bottom of the box (almost as big as me so not good for my back) I found a piece of paper which said that the chair is heavy and needs two people to lift it! Nice of them NOT to put that on the outside of the box where it might have been more useful!

I ♥ Gary Numan

Okay so I have to say this – I LOVE Gary Numan.

Now of course you all know that anyway. After all I fell in love with Gary when I was twelve, still was when I was twenty five and another seventeen years later I am even now completely and hopelessly smitten. I think it would be safe to say that this is an eternal love (unlike the Bay City Rollers – Dad you were right when you told me all those years ago that I wouldn't love them forever as I’d sworn when I was nine!)

I mention this because last Sunday night Mrs H3 and I went to see Gary at the O2 Indigo and it was bloody fantastic (yes I know it's taken forever to get this review up but I've been a busy girl). This is a nice intimate venue (with comfortable seats for us oldies and not so oldies) and with tickets in the Kings Row VIP bit we had a great view. Gary was on form having just returned from rain-soaked ‘Bestival’ where, according to reports, he wowed the crowd. He certainly did so last week, although to be fair it would have been hard not to with a room full of Numanoids eager to enjoy every moment of the concert.

The set was nice mix of the old and the new, Gary’s previously voiced intention to stop singing his old songs not materialising fortunately. I suspect that many of his older songs will never be heard live again, which is a shame, but there are those that fit into his current darker, more metallic sound like ‘Metal’ and ‘Films’ and those he’ll keep playing, reworked with the heavier feel and of course those old mainstays ‘Down in the Park’, ‘Cars’ and ‘Are Friends Electric?’ will never disappear.

The light show was, as ever, astonishing although too bright for me in places with the strobing effects and the sound level was high, causing almost total deafness in my left ear and partial deafness in the right (which took a day to return properly), although the bass wasn’t anywhere near as amplified as at the Brighton gig.

I left the concert feeling overwhelmingly contented; in fact I’d go as far as to say I used the ‘H’ word in relation to how I was feeling last week. Not being one of nature’s little sunbeams this state doesn't hit me often and it was a bit strange, but a nice feeling. Mrs H3 describes Gary’s music as angry and I think that fits as well as anything. Strange that such angry music should leave me feeling so happy, but then that’s the nature of love – it doesn't work the way you expect.

Mrs H3 took a photo or three and these (or some at least) should follow shortly.



Hurrah and Congratulations!


Just wanted to say a quick hurrah for Elbow who deservedly won the Mercury Music Prize on Tuesday night for their fabulous album ‘Seldom Seen Kid’ which I may have raved about on occasion. It was lovely to see Guy and the guys looking so happy at winning and yes Mrs H3 he still looked like a dustman! Unfortunately we hadn’t got round to getting tickets for their gig at the Roundhouse due to lack of money and of course they are now completely sold out. With tickets going for three times their face value plus now on e-bay I can safely say I won’t be seeing them this time round, instead sitting at home and moping miserably about not going without food for a week to get the tickets before they sold out.


Football

So I am the official fangirl of the Sherwood Oak Football Club and have started a blog to report on their games. Feel free to drop by and leave a comment, or just read about the team’s exploits and look at a few pictures of the guys in action. They really do need all the supporters they can get :)