Mrs H3 and I haven’t just been going to the pantomime for the last 6 weeks. Oh no. We’ve also found time to go to the cinema and to a concert.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity ‘Twilight’ was released over here on 19th December and Mrs H3 and I went on the opening night. Now as you know I’ve been waiting for this film for ages, so I was extremely excited – enough to forego the alcohol (yes really) at my works Christmas party, which took place in the afternoon.
We had decided to see the film at the O2 Vue – although it turned out that it wasn’t in the huge cinema, but one of the smaller ones. We had elected to eat there too, which turned out to be a mistake as there was a Madness concert taking place in the arena so it was packed and we had to queue for almost an hour to get into Zizzi’s.
The evening didn’t get any better when we went to collect our tickets from the machine. The booking had been lost. After a long argument with the useless staff we had no choice but to buy the tickets again.
So to the film. Almost as soon as it started I knew I was going to love it. Robert Pattinson, looking gorgeous as ever filled the screen and soon I was drawn into the Twilight world. It would be fair to say that 95% of the audience was under eighteen and I had forgotten, having rarely been to a film showing with so many young people, how much they like to talk through films. The whole cinema was filled with people discussing the film, whether it was about the actors, the plot or how it compared to the book.
The girls behind us were no different in that respect except that the one behind me must have been the only person in the cinema who hadn’t read the books and spent the whole film asking her friends who characters were and what was going on.
Distracting as this was it didn’t stop the enjoyment of the film which was a decent enough adaptation of the book. I was already on Team Edward, and thought Robert perfect for the role – although I’ve never been able to convince Mrs H3 of either – she is firmly Team Jacob (poor deluded woman) and couldn’t understand my swooning over Mr Pattinson at all. However, whilst the film didn’t sway her from the Team Jacob camp she did admit that Robert was completely gorgeous.
For me there were a few disappointments, although they were mainly superficial – the overuse of the pale makeup on the vampires (I’m sure that could have been more naturally done) and especially the ‘dazzling’ scene. With the wealth of special effects available these days I was expecting Edward to be truly stunning but instead he was rather lacklustre – a pot full of glitter would have worked better then the final film version.
Notwithstanding my few gripes, I thought the film was excellent, although I would definitely be interested to see it with a more mature audience and without the talking.
The following night we were back at the O2 to see the Bootleg Beatles at Indigo. Once again we were in the Kings Row, but a few rows back from where we had been for Gary Numan. To be honest it was a bit high for us and fortunately there were enough empty spaces for us to move during the interval to a less dizzy height.
The last time I saw the Bootleg Beatles was at Glastonbury in 1995 and I had such a good evening I’ve recounted the story of it many times over the years. I can say that they are just as good today as they were then, and yes they sound – and look – just like the Beatles. Working through the whole catalogue from “From Me to You” right through to “Hey Jude”, they incorporated the fashions and the news of the times. At the end ‘John’ came on and sang “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” after which the encore consisted of “Let It Be”, followed by “Twist and Shout” which they performed as it was the last night of the tour (they said).
I thought it was a fantastic evening, although I was aware that Mrs H3 was not quite as enthusiastic as I to begin with as Chas & Dave (with Pete Doherty in support) were playing the Tap n’ Tin that night and normally we would have gone there instead. However, as the evening went on she was soon joining in as happily as I. It turned out that Pete didn’t turn up at the Tap n Tin (even though all his family did) so we didn’t miss anything interesting , and we’ve already got tickets to go and see Chas & Dave at Fairfield Halls, Croydon in May so all’s good.
Actually the concert season is already looking quite bright. We have the two Elbow concerts in February and as mentioned above Chas & Dave in May. Gary Numan is playing the Shepherd’s Bush Empire on 25th July and I Am Kloot are currently recording a new album, being produced by Guy and Craig from Elbow (lots of happy fangirl squeeing from me) which surely means a new tour shortly, to which I’ll obviously be going to as many shows as possible (alas unable to make either of the dates in Manchester as it’s just outside my finances to go – I suspect it would be cheaper to get to the Paris show than Manchester). However, I was very excited to find that Blue October, whose new album “Approaching Normal” is released on 24 March 2009, are FINALLY coming to the UK. Short notice as its next Tuesday, 27th January at Camden Underworld – but of course we’ve got tickets and I’m completely twitchy with excitement. They are being supported by People in Planes whose album “Beyond the Horizon” I’ve just listened to (and very good it is too). It should be an excellent evening. Also keeping fingers crossed for an e-mail saying that I’ve won the Duran Duran competition tomorrow night, which would see us at a concert with them in London next Wednesday evening.
Anyway, kicking it all off, tonight is a return visit to see Bill Bailey in Tinselworm and of course tomorrow is the final pantomime and then I’ll be celebrating my birthday. Have a feeling it could all get a bit messy, but there might be some decent photos at the end of it all.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Panto Season - The Pictures!
So here's the photos from the various pantomimes we've been to. Enjoy...we certainly did!
It’s Behind You! Oh No It Isn’t… Oh Yes It Is…The Great Pantomime Season!
Apologies for the length of this, but once I got going I just couldn’t stop. Now you can see why I hadn't posted for so long!
So you’ll remember that Mrs H3 and I booked to go and see a few panto’s last, and this year after the success of our previous foray into the world of Peter Pan with the lovely Paul Michael Glaser in 2007. By the time we’d finished deciding which ones to attend we had booked quite a few and the full season is as follows:
29th Nov – Maidstone – Jack and the Beanstalk
6th Dec – Bromley – Cinderella
13th Dec – Croydon – Peter Pan
18th Dec – Tunbridge Wells – Aladdin
23rd Dec – Chatham - Cinderella
3rd Jan – Catford – Snow White & the 7 Dwarfs
23rd Jan – Rainham – Mother Goose
Jack and the Beanstalk
So on 29th November the Pantomime season began in earnest with a trip to the Hazlitt Theatre for the first night of their panto – Jack and the Beanstalk which starred Jake Hendricks (Father Kieron from Hollyoaks apparently – you know soaps aren’t a strong point of mine) and Michael Fenton Stevens (Mr Griffith from My Family, although he’s better known (to me at least) for all sorts of other things as I found when I looked him up on Google). It also starred a guy called Tom Swift as Simple Simon and he really was the star of the show.
Now as I mentioned in an earlier post the Hazlitt Theatre really is very small so it wasn’t the most lavish production ever staged and being the first night it was rather rough-edged, but the show had a certain charm about it that made it enjoyable for all that. Poor Jack seemed rather out of his depth in places and his lack of audience interaction (even though the cast went into the audience several times) showed that he had obviously never done panto before, but also quite probably had never seen one either. Fortunately, Simple Simon and the Dame more than made up for any shortcomings of the rest of the cast.
Sitting in the front row of the rear section of the stalls, Mrs H3 and I enthusiastically took part in the show, joining in with the singing and the boos and the hisses and maybe went a little over the top with our participation when we returned one of the outsize balloons during a quiet and poignant moment in the show. Mrs H3 also started the first of what was to become regular interactions with the cast when she shouted “Don’t do it!” when Jack asked Jill to marry him.
It was during this pantomime that the funniest child moment of the season occurred. Simon got the kids up on stage to sing Old MacDonald and each child had to choose an animal. Believe me when I say the whole theatre cried with laughter when one enterprising young boy chose a scorpion as his animal. Mrs H3 and I were laughing so hard that we never got to hear exactly how a scorpion sounds, but it was a brilliant comedy moment.
Cinderella
The next visit was to Bromley where we had seen Paul Michael Glaser the year before, to see Cinderella starring Steve Guttenberg and Helen Lederer. From our seats in the third row of the stalls it was instantly clear that about ten times the budget of Maidstone had been spent on this panto – mainly on glitter which adorned just about every surface. The costumes were lush, Steve Guttenberg was excellent as were the Ugly Sisters and the whole pantomime was thoroughly enjoyable. Especially sweet were the incredibly pissed off looking Shetland ponies that pulled Cinderella’s carriage at the end of the first act.
The highlights of the show for me were provided (as is often the case) by Mrs H3. First was her excited and very loud exclamation in response to the ghost song (the ‘it’s behind you’ moment) of “Ooh I love this bit!” But without a doubt the crowning moment was when the glass slipper smashed prompting Mrs H3 to gasp loudly in horror and cry out “What’s going to happen now?” This reaction actually stopped the performance for a couple of seconds while the cast looked at her, amazed that an adult would have such a reaction. I didn’t react that way for two reasons. Firstly I’d already spotted that the silver glitter shoe that they’d been using throughout the scene had been changed for a (stage) glass one, and of course, I knew the story.
The other entertaining thing about this pantomime was the man sitting next to me. It was clear from the moment we arrived that he didn’t want to be there. Obviously dragged along to the show by his girlfriend – who was as enthusiastic about the performance as we were – he refused to remove his coat and sat with his arms folded, scowling, rolling his eyes and sighing throughout the whole evening. At the interval he looked very upset as his girlfriend began to recount to him all her favourite bits from the first half as he disappeared off to the bar. At the end of the pantomime he tried to leave before the cast came back for their final encore and crowd sing-a-long, but his girlfriend refused to allow him to go. Consequently, he was about the only person in the theatre who didn’t stand up and sing and dance along with the cast. It’s a shame that he didn’t just go with the flow and try to enjoy himself, although he did give Mrs H3 and I plenty of amusement.
Peter Pan
Next came the hotly anticipated Peter Pan at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon starring Brian Blessed as the wonderful Captain Hook and Mrs H3 and I were very excited at the prospect of seeing the great man in action. We had procured front row seats for this show and we certainly weren’t disappointed. I think it would be fair to say that the two of us joined in with the pantomime so much that we might as well have been on stage. In fact I’m sure that many people there that night probably thought that we were plants because there was so much interaction between us and the cast.
It began with the usual offhanded comment to me from Hook and Smee, which we of course reacted to. When Smee then forgot his lines because he was laughing so much Mrs H3 helped him and offered to get up there and do it for him. This really set the tone for the rest of the evening.
Brian’s performance as Hook was superb and he really drew out every boo and hiss from the audience, stoking the crowd up until they raised the roof several times. His occasional interjections of seriousness, when he would pronounce gravely that there was a Shakespearean actor at work caused more laughter and even his come back to me on his pronouncement that he’d been educated at Eton – “Oh yes I was, read my book!” was brilliant.
He had a personal moment with Mrs H3 where he recounted various lines, including the ever-popular “Gordon’s Alive!” from Flash Gordon and then moved onto Star Wars before remembering that he was supposed to be doing the pantomime and people were waiting to come on stage. We were serenaded by he and Smee and even the other cast members were talking to and winking at us throughout the performance.
There was a little over-zealousness with the smoke machine which left the whole of the stage and the first five rows of the audience completely hidden by fog, causing me to have a major coughing fit (luckily I had my asthma puffer with me) – which led to a bit of ad libbing from the stage as it took a while to stop. The sighs of relief from the cast as it cleared were audible, as was the groan when the machine restarted – fortunately it was turned off again pretty quickly.
At one point I was approached by a member of the Fairfield Halls staff and told off for taking photos, as it was apparently putting the actors off. This wasn’t true though as while I was being reprimanded Brian was standing a little way downstage gesturing that I should ignore the man and then announced to the whole theatre that his girlfriend had just been told off for taking photos.
And then once again the crowning moment when Mrs H3 shouted out “I love you Hook,” to which Brian replied in surprise, obviously not used to not being booed, “Well, I’m not used to that.” A moment later the room rang with the sound of kids all shouting out “I love you Hook.” It was an extremely confused Hook that had to admit that he’d never had that reaction before!
The evening was an extremely pleasurable one, and for the cast as well as for us I think. They had done three performances that day and I’m sure that last performance was a hard one to drum up enthusiasm for, but hopefully we helped to make it more entertaining for them – certainly the speech that Brian gave at the end indicated that was the case.
This was definitely the best pantomime of the year and Mrs H3 and I agreed that for future pantomimes we really need to sit in the front row for maximum enjoyment (and because we’re good at starting the booing and cheering) and that we’d happily go anywhere in the country to see Brian Blessed in a pantomime.
Aladdin
So next was a weekday pantomime – Aladdin at the Assembly Halls, Tunbridge Wells. To be honest this was a rather late addition to the programme, chosen purely for the fact that it starred Chris Ellison (DCI Burnside in The Bill). It was quite a journey to get to the place and I wasn’t feeling all that well, but we were determined to enjoy ourselves as we were in the front row again.
About fifteen minutes into the pantomime, I began to wonder whether we’d made a mistake in going. Obviously my headache wasn’t helping things, but Chris Ellison was awful as Abanazer, seeming to merely go through the motions rather than get into the role. As a bad guy he was a complete wash out, blandly reciting his lines without any attempt at interacting with the audience. The thought did occur that having enjoyed Brian’s performance so much might have dulled or ruined the remaining pantomimes for us, but I gritted my teeth and tried to enjoy the rest of the show.
Unfortunately it was impossible. Widow Twankey was without doubt the worst Dame we’d seen – I knew as soon as ‘she’ started singing ‘The Boy Does Nothing’ that we were in the realms of truly terrible panto. Add to that the so-called ‘comedian’ who played Wishee Washee – a man who thought he was Elvis and had an annoying catch phrase that got more aggravating every time he appeared onstage, which was far too much for my liking. Then there was Aladdin who was so obviously female she was more feminine than the princess – and neither of them provided a performance good enough to sustain my interest. Finally came the genie of the ring, who did at least provide the one funny moment of the show when she told the audience that when the time came we were to tell Aladdin to rub his ring! (Yes that really was the best bit sadly).
One of the (many) places that the show fell down was in expecting the audience to remember and get involved in too many things – telling them to shout out “hello Wishee Washee” every time he appears is fine. Telling them then that they have to say different things whenever different actions occur makes it confusing and so the audience didn’t really interact at all without prompting from the cast which added to the lacklustre feeling of the evening.
At one stage I, wondering if it was just me feeling lousy that was putting a downer on it, asked Mrs H3 where on the pantomime scale she’d put Aladdin. Without a pause she said at the bottom and that it was rubbish – confirmation that I wasn’t alone. When the interval finally came some 1 hour and 45 minutes after the start of the show Mrs H3 said that she was happy to leave if I wanted to go. Obviously I didn’t want to drag her out just because I had a headache and wasn’t enjoying it, but she reminded me that after Prince Caspian we’d agreed never to miss a meal again because of rubbish, and the idea of a second half at least as long as the first (was this a world record for pantomime length?) with as little talent or fun was less compelling than the idea of watching paint dry. When Mrs H3 suggested we leave immediately, I took her up on her offer and we stopped only long enough to take the obligatory photo with the pantomime poster before making a run for it and heading for MacDonald’s.
Cinderella (again)
Now obviously after the event Mrs H3 and I had discussed the possibility of pantomime fatigue or disappointment after Brian’s sublime performance, but we were convinced that Aladdin was purely a terrible pantomime. The next on our list, Cinderella again, another weekday one, was the last that we’d added – and that of course was only because Joe Swash had won “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” and Mrs H3 wanted to see it. It had originally been dropped in favour of the Bromley one (as we only wanted to see one of each pantomime), but after Aladdin I was keen to see whether it was an enjoyable evening.
I have to admit that I didn’t go with high expectations (not knowing who the hell Joe Swash was and having even less interest in who he was) and I’m sure that Mrs H3 was much the same. Chatham is a small venue (although not as small as the Hazlitt Theatre) and after the splendour of the Bromley version I was expecting to be disappointed by the ‘small town-ness’ of it. Immediately on arrival came the first blow (for Mrs H3 at least) Joe Swash had been taken ill and wasn’t appearing (and ended up cancelling all his performances before Christmas). Instead his place was going to be taken by the show’s producer David Janson. Add to that the fact that we were in seats towards the back of the stalls instead of our preferred front of house ones and that there was already smoke billowing throughout the hall (necessitating the use of the asthma puffer again) before the performance and it wasn’t looking hopeful.
However, I have to say that the show was excellent. Not as grand as the Bromley production – although it did have plenty of sparkle, the performances were good - with the possible exception of the fat fairy godmother (although as a fatty myself I thought it was nice to see so many roles for fat people in this year’s pantomimes as all of them seemed to have one cast member who was plus size) and to my mind the replacement Buttons was probably better than Joe would have been. The Ugly Sisters were excellent, certainly as good if not better than the ones at Bromley. I was expecting a flatter climax to the first half, but it wasn’t to be – Chatham too had the Shetland ponies which elevated the pantomime completely. It should also be noted that it was the cheapest of the venues for ice cream – half the price of the Bromley and Croydon ones.
The second half, although not containing the breaking of the glass slipper, did have Mrs H3’s favourite “it’s behind you” scene and I was personally pleased that after being told to guard a big red button throughout the whole performance, they did actually press it at the end of the encore and released a roomful of confetti.
The crowd was a little muted to begin with, but we and a few other hardy souls soon got the place livened up and by the end almost everyone was joining in. Mrs H3 had her opportunity to take centre stage when Buttons complained that no one loved him. Of course her comment was “I love you Buttons” and she waved at him. His response was “I’ll see you after the show.” The hussy replied “You certainly will darlin’” causing a great deal of laughter.
The evening ended with a trip round some of the more interesting light displays in Walderslade followed by a stealth mission to get a photo of the Lindt reindeer car parked in the drive of one of my neighbours. All in all a good night and proof positive that we weren’t jaded – Aladdin really was crap.
There was then a brief respite while we got Christmas and New Year out of the way. Although we could have gone to a pantomime between the two I was waiting for Jo to give birth (she was due on 26th December) so we decided to give it a break in case I got the call.
Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs
Mrs H3 had met the star of our next pantomime while at her work’s Christmas party in a local restaurant in Catford and had spent some time talking to him and sharing profiteroles and wine. She told Antonio Fargas (Huggy Bear from Starsky and Hutch) that we were going to see the pantomime on 3rd January and he said he’d look out for us.
There was some excitement as we took our places in the second row, although there was a feeling that we were seeing the show at the wrong time with Christmas over. But once it started we were soon carried away by the performances and enjoyed it every bit as much as the previous shows.
Huggy the Henchman was good, but better was the Wicked Queen played by Nikki Kelly (from Hi-De-Hi), as were the comedians Francis and Wheatley who as ever stole the show – especially when they talked over Snow White and the Prince singing their love song and introduced a puppet of Yoda into the proceedings. The Dame was fun and even the Prince played by Russ Spencer from Scooch was entertaining, although the comedians were right – he did wear more makeup than Snow White and his singing was pretty bad.
An entertaining and incredibly adult themed panto – caused by considerable ad libbing (they were at the end of the run and I think they’d given up worrying), I estimated that the show was probably about fifteen minutes longer than it had been at the start of the run.
As we left we saw Mr Scooch leaving but we weren’t that interested as we were on our way to take a photo of the giant cat on the Catford shopping centre that Mrs H3 is always telling me about. On the way back to the car we found Antonio and after a brief chat had our photos taken with him after he signed our panto fliers – a good end to the official panto season.
So now only the amateur one left to go to – Mother Goose at the Oast Theatre in Rainham, which I am expecting to enjoy just as much as the last one that we saw there a few years ago. It’s a bonus that my mate Jen is taking part, and Andrea is coming with us. She joins in with these things just as much as Mrs H3 and I so a good evening is assured.
Yes, I know some of you are thinking that we’re completely insane – and that we should have better things to do with our lives – but we really don’t. And before you take the piss – try visiting the pantomime yourself this year and see just what fun it is! Oh and Mrs H3 tells me Bromley are doing Sleeping Beauty this year. No news yet on the star, but I’ll update as soon as we find out.
So you’ll remember that Mrs H3 and I booked to go and see a few panto’s last, and this year after the success of our previous foray into the world of Peter Pan with the lovely Paul Michael Glaser in 2007. By the time we’d finished deciding which ones to attend we had booked quite a few and the full season is as follows:
29th Nov – Maidstone – Jack and the Beanstalk
6th Dec – Bromley – Cinderella
13th Dec – Croydon – Peter Pan
18th Dec – Tunbridge Wells – Aladdin
23rd Dec – Chatham - Cinderella
3rd Jan – Catford – Snow White & the 7 Dwarfs
23rd Jan – Rainham – Mother Goose
Jack and the Beanstalk
So on 29th November the Pantomime season began in earnest with a trip to the Hazlitt Theatre for the first night of their panto – Jack and the Beanstalk which starred Jake Hendricks (Father Kieron from Hollyoaks apparently – you know soaps aren’t a strong point of mine) and Michael Fenton Stevens (Mr Griffith from My Family, although he’s better known (to me at least) for all sorts of other things as I found when I looked him up on Google). It also starred a guy called Tom Swift as Simple Simon and he really was the star of the show.
Now as I mentioned in an earlier post the Hazlitt Theatre really is very small so it wasn’t the most lavish production ever staged and being the first night it was rather rough-edged, but the show had a certain charm about it that made it enjoyable for all that. Poor Jack seemed rather out of his depth in places and his lack of audience interaction (even though the cast went into the audience several times) showed that he had obviously never done panto before, but also quite probably had never seen one either. Fortunately, Simple Simon and the Dame more than made up for any shortcomings of the rest of the cast.
Sitting in the front row of the rear section of the stalls, Mrs H3 and I enthusiastically took part in the show, joining in with the singing and the boos and the hisses and maybe went a little over the top with our participation when we returned one of the outsize balloons during a quiet and poignant moment in the show. Mrs H3 also started the first of what was to become regular interactions with the cast when she shouted “Don’t do it!” when Jack asked Jill to marry him.
It was during this pantomime that the funniest child moment of the season occurred. Simon got the kids up on stage to sing Old MacDonald and each child had to choose an animal. Believe me when I say the whole theatre cried with laughter when one enterprising young boy chose a scorpion as his animal. Mrs H3 and I were laughing so hard that we never got to hear exactly how a scorpion sounds, but it was a brilliant comedy moment.
Cinderella
The next visit was to Bromley where we had seen Paul Michael Glaser the year before, to see Cinderella starring Steve Guttenberg and Helen Lederer. From our seats in the third row of the stalls it was instantly clear that about ten times the budget of Maidstone had been spent on this panto – mainly on glitter which adorned just about every surface. The costumes were lush, Steve Guttenberg was excellent as were the Ugly Sisters and the whole pantomime was thoroughly enjoyable. Especially sweet were the incredibly pissed off looking Shetland ponies that pulled Cinderella’s carriage at the end of the first act.
The highlights of the show for me were provided (as is often the case) by Mrs H3. First was her excited and very loud exclamation in response to the ghost song (the ‘it’s behind you’ moment) of “Ooh I love this bit!” But without a doubt the crowning moment was when the glass slipper smashed prompting Mrs H3 to gasp loudly in horror and cry out “What’s going to happen now?” This reaction actually stopped the performance for a couple of seconds while the cast looked at her, amazed that an adult would have such a reaction. I didn’t react that way for two reasons. Firstly I’d already spotted that the silver glitter shoe that they’d been using throughout the scene had been changed for a (stage) glass one, and of course, I knew the story.
The other entertaining thing about this pantomime was the man sitting next to me. It was clear from the moment we arrived that he didn’t want to be there. Obviously dragged along to the show by his girlfriend – who was as enthusiastic about the performance as we were – he refused to remove his coat and sat with his arms folded, scowling, rolling his eyes and sighing throughout the whole evening. At the interval he looked very upset as his girlfriend began to recount to him all her favourite bits from the first half as he disappeared off to the bar. At the end of the pantomime he tried to leave before the cast came back for their final encore and crowd sing-a-long, but his girlfriend refused to allow him to go. Consequently, he was about the only person in the theatre who didn’t stand up and sing and dance along with the cast. It’s a shame that he didn’t just go with the flow and try to enjoy himself, although he did give Mrs H3 and I plenty of amusement.
Peter Pan
Next came the hotly anticipated Peter Pan at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon starring Brian Blessed as the wonderful Captain Hook and Mrs H3 and I were very excited at the prospect of seeing the great man in action. We had procured front row seats for this show and we certainly weren’t disappointed. I think it would be fair to say that the two of us joined in with the pantomime so much that we might as well have been on stage. In fact I’m sure that many people there that night probably thought that we were plants because there was so much interaction between us and the cast.
It began with the usual offhanded comment to me from Hook and Smee, which we of course reacted to. When Smee then forgot his lines because he was laughing so much Mrs H3 helped him and offered to get up there and do it for him. This really set the tone for the rest of the evening.
Brian’s performance as Hook was superb and he really drew out every boo and hiss from the audience, stoking the crowd up until they raised the roof several times. His occasional interjections of seriousness, when he would pronounce gravely that there was a Shakespearean actor at work caused more laughter and even his come back to me on his pronouncement that he’d been educated at Eton – “Oh yes I was, read my book!” was brilliant.
He had a personal moment with Mrs H3 where he recounted various lines, including the ever-popular “Gordon’s Alive!” from Flash Gordon and then moved onto Star Wars before remembering that he was supposed to be doing the pantomime and people were waiting to come on stage. We were serenaded by he and Smee and even the other cast members were talking to and winking at us throughout the performance.
There was a little over-zealousness with the smoke machine which left the whole of the stage and the first five rows of the audience completely hidden by fog, causing me to have a major coughing fit (luckily I had my asthma puffer with me) – which led to a bit of ad libbing from the stage as it took a while to stop. The sighs of relief from the cast as it cleared were audible, as was the groan when the machine restarted – fortunately it was turned off again pretty quickly.
At one point I was approached by a member of the Fairfield Halls staff and told off for taking photos, as it was apparently putting the actors off. This wasn’t true though as while I was being reprimanded Brian was standing a little way downstage gesturing that I should ignore the man and then announced to the whole theatre that his girlfriend had just been told off for taking photos.
And then once again the crowning moment when Mrs H3 shouted out “I love you Hook,” to which Brian replied in surprise, obviously not used to not being booed, “Well, I’m not used to that.” A moment later the room rang with the sound of kids all shouting out “I love you Hook.” It was an extremely confused Hook that had to admit that he’d never had that reaction before!
The evening was an extremely pleasurable one, and for the cast as well as for us I think. They had done three performances that day and I’m sure that last performance was a hard one to drum up enthusiasm for, but hopefully we helped to make it more entertaining for them – certainly the speech that Brian gave at the end indicated that was the case.
This was definitely the best pantomime of the year and Mrs H3 and I agreed that for future pantomimes we really need to sit in the front row for maximum enjoyment (and because we’re good at starting the booing and cheering) and that we’d happily go anywhere in the country to see Brian Blessed in a pantomime.
Aladdin
So next was a weekday pantomime – Aladdin at the Assembly Halls, Tunbridge Wells. To be honest this was a rather late addition to the programme, chosen purely for the fact that it starred Chris Ellison (DCI Burnside in The Bill). It was quite a journey to get to the place and I wasn’t feeling all that well, but we were determined to enjoy ourselves as we were in the front row again.
About fifteen minutes into the pantomime, I began to wonder whether we’d made a mistake in going. Obviously my headache wasn’t helping things, but Chris Ellison was awful as Abanazer, seeming to merely go through the motions rather than get into the role. As a bad guy he was a complete wash out, blandly reciting his lines without any attempt at interacting with the audience. The thought did occur that having enjoyed Brian’s performance so much might have dulled or ruined the remaining pantomimes for us, but I gritted my teeth and tried to enjoy the rest of the show.
Unfortunately it was impossible. Widow Twankey was without doubt the worst Dame we’d seen – I knew as soon as ‘she’ started singing ‘The Boy Does Nothing’ that we were in the realms of truly terrible panto. Add to that the so-called ‘comedian’ who played Wishee Washee – a man who thought he was Elvis and had an annoying catch phrase that got more aggravating every time he appeared onstage, which was far too much for my liking. Then there was Aladdin who was so obviously female she was more feminine than the princess – and neither of them provided a performance good enough to sustain my interest. Finally came the genie of the ring, who did at least provide the one funny moment of the show when she told the audience that when the time came we were to tell Aladdin to rub his ring! (Yes that really was the best bit sadly).
One of the (many) places that the show fell down was in expecting the audience to remember and get involved in too many things – telling them to shout out “hello Wishee Washee” every time he appears is fine. Telling them then that they have to say different things whenever different actions occur makes it confusing and so the audience didn’t really interact at all without prompting from the cast which added to the lacklustre feeling of the evening.
At one stage I, wondering if it was just me feeling lousy that was putting a downer on it, asked Mrs H3 where on the pantomime scale she’d put Aladdin. Without a pause she said at the bottom and that it was rubbish – confirmation that I wasn’t alone. When the interval finally came some 1 hour and 45 minutes after the start of the show Mrs H3 said that she was happy to leave if I wanted to go. Obviously I didn’t want to drag her out just because I had a headache and wasn’t enjoying it, but she reminded me that after Prince Caspian we’d agreed never to miss a meal again because of rubbish, and the idea of a second half at least as long as the first (was this a world record for pantomime length?) with as little talent or fun was less compelling than the idea of watching paint dry. When Mrs H3 suggested we leave immediately, I took her up on her offer and we stopped only long enough to take the obligatory photo with the pantomime poster before making a run for it and heading for MacDonald’s.
Cinderella (again)
Now obviously after the event Mrs H3 and I had discussed the possibility of pantomime fatigue or disappointment after Brian’s sublime performance, but we were convinced that Aladdin was purely a terrible pantomime. The next on our list, Cinderella again, another weekday one, was the last that we’d added – and that of course was only because Joe Swash had won “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” and Mrs H3 wanted to see it. It had originally been dropped in favour of the Bromley one (as we only wanted to see one of each pantomime), but after Aladdin I was keen to see whether it was an enjoyable evening.
I have to admit that I didn’t go with high expectations (not knowing who the hell Joe Swash was and having even less interest in who he was) and I’m sure that Mrs H3 was much the same. Chatham is a small venue (although not as small as the Hazlitt Theatre) and after the splendour of the Bromley version I was expecting to be disappointed by the ‘small town-ness’ of it. Immediately on arrival came the first blow (for Mrs H3 at least) Joe Swash had been taken ill and wasn’t appearing (and ended up cancelling all his performances before Christmas). Instead his place was going to be taken by the show’s producer David Janson. Add to that the fact that we were in seats towards the back of the stalls instead of our preferred front of house ones and that there was already smoke billowing throughout the hall (necessitating the use of the asthma puffer again) before the performance and it wasn’t looking hopeful.
However, I have to say that the show was excellent. Not as grand as the Bromley production – although it did have plenty of sparkle, the performances were good - with the possible exception of the fat fairy godmother (although as a fatty myself I thought it was nice to see so many roles for fat people in this year’s pantomimes as all of them seemed to have one cast member who was plus size) and to my mind the replacement Buttons was probably better than Joe would have been. The Ugly Sisters were excellent, certainly as good if not better than the ones at Bromley. I was expecting a flatter climax to the first half, but it wasn’t to be – Chatham too had the Shetland ponies which elevated the pantomime completely. It should also be noted that it was the cheapest of the venues for ice cream – half the price of the Bromley and Croydon ones.
The second half, although not containing the breaking of the glass slipper, did have Mrs H3’s favourite “it’s behind you” scene and I was personally pleased that after being told to guard a big red button throughout the whole performance, they did actually press it at the end of the encore and released a roomful of confetti.
The crowd was a little muted to begin with, but we and a few other hardy souls soon got the place livened up and by the end almost everyone was joining in. Mrs H3 had her opportunity to take centre stage when Buttons complained that no one loved him. Of course her comment was “I love you Buttons” and she waved at him. His response was “I’ll see you after the show.” The hussy replied “You certainly will darlin’” causing a great deal of laughter.
The evening ended with a trip round some of the more interesting light displays in Walderslade followed by a stealth mission to get a photo of the Lindt reindeer car parked in the drive of one of my neighbours. All in all a good night and proof positive that we weren’t jaded – Aladdin really was crap.
There was then a brief respite while we got Christmas and New Year out of the way. Although we could have gone to a pantomime between the two I was waiting for Jo to give birth (she was due on 26th December) so we decided to give it a break in case I got the call.
Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs
Mrs H3 had met the star of our next pantomime while at her work’s Christmas party in a local restaurant in Catford and had spent some time talking to him and sharing profiteroles and wine. She told Antonio Fargas (Huggy Bear from Starsky and Hutch) that we were going to see the pantomime on 3rd January and he said he’d look out for us.
There was some excitement as we took our places in the second row, although there was a feeling that we were seeing the show at the wrong time with Christmas over. But once it started we were soon carried away by the performances and enjoyed it every bit as much as the previous shows.
Huggy the Henchman was good, but better was the Wicked Queen played by Nikki Kelly (from Hi-De-Hi), as were the comedians Francis and Wheatley who as ever stole the show – especially when they talked over Snow White and the Prince singing their love song and introduced a puppet of Yoda into the proceedings. The Dame was fun and even the Prince played by Russ Spencer from Scooch was entertaining, although the comedians were right – he did wear more makeup than Snow White and his singing was pretty bad.
An entertaining and incredibly adult themed panto – caused by considerable ad libbing (they were at the end of the run and I think they’d given up worrying), I estimated that the show was probably about fifteen minutes longer than it had been at the start of the run.
As we left we saw Mr Scooch leaving but we weren’t that interested as we were on our way to take a photo of the giant cat on the Catford shopping centre that Mrs H3 is always telling me about. On the way back to the car we found Antonio and after a brief chat had our photos taken with him after he signed our panto fliers – a good end to the official panto season.
So now only the amateur one left to go to – Mother Goose at the Oast Theatre in Rainham, which I am expecting to enjoy just as much as the last one that we saw there a few years ago. It’s a bonus that my mate Jen is taking part, and Andrea is coming with us. She joins in with these things just as much as Mrs H3 and I so a good evening is assured.
Yes, I know some of you are thinking that we’re completely insane – and that we should have better things to do with our lives – but we really don’t. And before you take the piss – try visiting the pantomime yourself this year and see just what fun it is! Oh and Mrs H3 tells me Bromley are doing Sleeping Beauty this year. No news yet on the star, but I’ll update as soon as we find out.
New Year and (finally) an update to my Blog
Okay so I apologize. I know I’ve been rather lax with the updates again, but to be honest I’ve been busy enjoying myself and not really had any time for writing of any description. Mrs H3 and I have been partaking of pantomimes, a film and a concert and I really wanted to do the review of them justice rather than a quick mention so I had to wait to find time to do so.
So, busy with the fun and then with Christmas, with work and play and a nice Christmas dinner at Mrs H3’s mum and dad’s house followed by presents (see the photos below) – yes that is the stunning limited edition version of JK Rowling’s Tales of Beedle the Bard that Mrs H3 bought me - and yes that is an I Love Cheryl t shirt that she's wearing!
This was followed, of course, by New Year’s Eve – not my favourite night of the year, especially as I was working at the pub (a rather slow and somewhat boring evening I felt, due to the lack of customers). It was probably not my sister Jo’s favourite night of the year either this year as she spent most of it in labour (although with an epidural and gas and air, maybe it was a good one for her after all).
Yep, Freddie James, my nephew, arrived into the world at 1.23am on New Year’s Day weighing 7lbs. I’ve just got back from a visit with mum and dad to see him so there will be plenty of pictures just as soon as I’ve uploaded them into my photo album.
Already there are a few things for us to look forward to this month: the 22nd sees a return visit to see the amazing Bill Bailey and then there is one final pantomime in the form of Mother Goose performed by my friend Jen’s acting troupe, RATS on the 23rd. Of course then it’s my birthday, so I’m sure we’ll find something to do to celebrate that…or we’ll end up down the Sherwood Oak as usual. *LOL*
While I think of it I’d just like to say a quick Happy Birthday to all my friends with birthday’s this month who I probably won’t get round to sending cards to, as I’m as unorganised as ever. Lorraine, Claire, Dolly, Pauline, Jen and KJ – hope you all have (or have had in some cases) good days!
I’ve just registered for the latest UKS Cybercrop – The Whodunnit and am on Dana Scully’s FBI team with my old friend Sharona. It takes place on 6-8 February. No idea how much I can take part but I’m looking for new Kiefer pictures to scrap as I write…
So, busy with the fun and then with Christmas, with work and play and a nice Christmas dinner at Mrs H3’s mum and dad’s house followed by presents (see the photos below) – yes that is the stunning limited edition version of JK Rowling’s Tales of Beedle the Bard that Mrs H3 bought me - and yes that is an I Love Cheryl t shirt that she's wearing!
This was followed, of course, by New Year’s Eve – not my favourite night of the year, especially as I was working at the pub (a rather slow and somewhat boring evening I felt, due to the lack of customers). It was probably not my sister Jo’s favourite night of the year either this year as she spent most of it in labour (although with an epidural and gas and air, maybe it was a good one for her after all).
Yep, Freddie James, my nephew, arrived into the world at 1.23am on New Year’s Day weighing 7lbs. I’ve just got back from a visit with mum and dad to see him so there will be plenty of pictures just as soon as I’ve uploaded them into my photo album.
Already there are a few things for us to look forward to this month: the 22nd sees a return visit to see the amazing Bill Bailey and then there is one final pantomime in the form of Mother Goose performed by my friend Jen’s acting troupe, RATS on the 23rd. Of course then it’s my birthday, so I’m sure we’ll find something to do to celebrate that…or we’ll end up down the Sherwood Oak as usual. *LOL*
While I think of it I’d just like to say a quick Happy Birthday to all my friends with birthday’s this month who I probably won’t get round to sending cards to, as I’m as unorganised as ever. Lorraine, Claire, Dolly, Pauline, Jen and KJ – hope you all have (or have had in some cases) good days!
I’ve just registered for the latest UKS Cybercrop – The Whodunnit and am on Dana Scully’s FBI team with my old friend Sharona. It takes place on 6-8 February. No idea how much I can take part but I’m looking for new Kiefer pictures to scrap as I write…
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
My Fantastic New Mobile Phone
Woohoo I’ve got a new phone. I caved and went for the new Sony Ericsson C905 that has a fabulous 8.1MP cybershot camera – perfect for pictures and videos at concerts. So far it is wonderful apart from the small problem of not being able to get the back off.
There were laughs galore on the day I got it when, after spending 20 minutes trying unsuccessfully to remove the cover (during which time I must admit I did swear rather profusely) I went to the pub for help where it then took another 7 men another hour to get it off for me. Andrea's other half Nigel was the eventually winner and I was happy in the knowledge that I was unlikely to need to undo the back again as the card slot is on the side of the phone unlike my old one. Wrong, as after spending over 2 hours(!) on the phone to TMobile trying to get my picture messaging set up, their final advice was to remove the back, take out the battery then replace.
Anyway, my pink phone, pretty as it was, was actually rather crap (no scrub that it was INCREDIBLY CRAP) – especially on the concert footage front. I am compiling a little montage of my favourite moments from concerts this year as a little quiz which I shall hopefully post here soon. The name of the game – to guess the artist and the title of the song. Obviously I shall give a few hints here and there, but it’s going to be entertaining fun for all the family.
Anyway, if I haven’t given you my new number yet I’ve obviously forgotten you. (sorry!) Give me a shout and I’ll let you have the new number.
There were laughs galore on the day I got it when, after spending 20 minutes trying unsuccessfully to remove the cover (during which time I must admit I did swear rather profusely) I went to the pub for help where it then took another 7 men another hour to get it off for me. Andrea's other half Nigel was the eventually winner and I was happy in the knowledge that I was unlikely to need to undo the back again as the card slot is on the side of the phone unlike my old one. Wrong, as after spending over 2 hours(!) on the phone to TMobile trying to get my picture messaging set up, their final advice was to remove the back, take out the battery then replace.
Anyway, my pink phone, pretty as it was, was actually rather crap (no scrub that it was INCREDIBLY CRAP) – especially on the concert footage front. I am compiling a little montage of my favourite moments from concerts this year as a little quiz which I shall hopefully post here soon. The name of the game – to guess the artist and the title of the song. Obviously I shall give a few hints here and there, but it’s going to be entertaining fun for all the family.
Anyway, if I haven’t given you my new number yet I’ve obviously forgotten you. (sorry!) Give me a shout and I’ll let you have the new number.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Other Stuff...
On Friday 21st November we made our way to the Gielgud Theatre in London to see the awesomely talented Bill Bailey in Tinselworm. Little to say about this without giving away his stage show, except that it was the funniest evening we’ve had in ages. I’ve decided that BB really is the funniest man alive! Many times throughout the evening my ribs hurt and I was crying with laughter. By the time the end came, during which he showed a short film which tied up all the elements of his show, I think I’d stopped breathing from laughing so hard. It was such an enjoyable evening that we’re thinking of going again at the end of the run if we can get tickets. The core of the show will be the same, but his ad-libbing will ensure that the evening is completely different and yet still hysterically funny.
On reading Mugglenet one morning I discovered that Waterstone’s at Picadilly were holding a midnight launch party for J.K. Rowling’s Beedle the Bard on Wednesday 3rd December including a live Mugglecast podcast. Of course this was a definite for me, although Mrs H3 wasn’t quite so keen to begin with. As luck would have it the evening also contained the premiere of ‘Twilight’ at Leicester Square and the prospect of standing around in the freezing cold to catch a glimpse of the stars (Robert Pattinson, I mean of course – well for me at least) finally sold her on the idea.
So it was that we did indeed stand in the cold for two hours, and actually did manage the tiniest glimpse of RP (see the photo below for the proof). We then spent a couple of hours keeping warm in Pizza Hut before finally joining the enthusiastic (and generally rather young) Potter fans in Waterstone’s. Of course Mrs H3 and I took full advantage of the evening, first getting fine balloon crowns and then getting rather spectacular face paint. I had the somewhat unsettling experience of being filmed and interviewed by a TV reporter whilst my face was being painted. I found it hard as I didn’t have my glasses on and so couldn’t focus properly, and because I was asked questions about my age – did I feel that I fit into the demographic of the average Harry Potter reader? I was enthusiastic and positive which I think was what they wanted. Whether it was used or not I have absolutely no idea, but if you saw a woman with bright red hair and a glittery green butterfly on her face anywhere on TV, then that was me.
So finally at midnight, the book was unveiled by Albus Dumbledore and Rubeus Hagrid who gave them out to all the attendees. The first person to receive their book was a girl from Germany who had come dressed in school robes with Luna’s lion head hat, who had won the dress-up competition. Mrs H3 and I went for the opposite option and became the second to last (me) and last (her) people to receive ours. A little more schmoozing and photo opportunities with the members of Mugglecast (Matt, Jamie, Elysa and Andrew) and then we were out into the night after collecting our Beedle the Bard back pack on the way out of the door.
Of course this meant a walk through Leicester Square still in our face paint and not only did we receive the attentions of several strange men we also got offered the chance to go into many of the clubs free-of-charge. It wasn’t long before we realized that we had missed the last tube (I had parked at O2 assuming that we would be getting the Jubilee line back there) and also the last trains. This meant traversing Trafalgar Square and meeting yet more strange young men to find the night bus to Catford. (It is amazing how popular you become when you’re covered in paint!)
Once on the bus I immediately began to read my book, thinking a 45 minute journey was too good to waste. Mrs H3 chose instead to grin maniacally out the window at people and try to scare them, which I think she did pretty well. A cold walk and then a lift by Mrs H3 back to my car later and then I was on my way home. I finally got in at 3.45am where I quickly finished the final story (of course) before going to bed. Luckily I was working at home the following day - not so lucky for Mrs H3. She not only had to go to work, but had a boring citizenship ceremony to sit through. But we agreed that it had been a completely brilliant evening, and once again a real laugh.
Anyway we’ve now got our tickets booked to see ‘Twilight’ when it’s released on Friday at O2 Vue. This will be after the DS&C Christmas Party – which is shaping up to be rather an interesting afternoon. Have to admit I can’t wait to see it - and after seeing him at the premiere – even Mrs H3 admitted that Robert Pattinson is GORGEOUS.
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
The Music Bit
So Thursday 20th November saw Mrs H3 and I accompanied by Stevie G, to the venerable Hazlitt Theatre in Maidstone for an evening with Chas and Dave. Now you know Mrs H3 and I like a good knees up with our favourite cheeky cockney chappies and so were looking forward to a fun-filled evening.
The first shock for me was the size of the theatre. Now when I was sixteen (and yes I know it was a bloody long time ago, you don’t need to rub it in) I used to work at the Hazlitt – and I loved it. I enjoyed everything about the place, from being in the box office to working behind the scenes, helping with the costumes to sitting in the sound and lighting box, but I don’t remember it being so SMALL.
There was a pretty good crowd for the concert, but unlike the Catford crew they were a tough crowd. There was little movement, not much in the way of clapping and definitely no dancing – except from Mrs H3 and I who were at the back of the theatre anyway. Certainly WE had a good evening and of course there were the obligatory photos with the band (who are beginning to recognize our stalker qualities by now). Mrs H3 was trying to convince the boys to play a gig in her lounge, but they didn’t seem convinced. Funniest moment was collaring Mick the drummer for a photo. He had been trying to eat a Mars bar but kept being asked to do photos and autographs and was getting grumpier and grumpier. We managed to catch him just before he snapped!
I'd just like to point out that Mrs H3 named the folder for the following pictures!
So next up we have the Bootleg Beatles at O2 Indigo on 20th December. It would have been the Chas and Dave Christmas Party at Camden Palace, but Mrs H3 has a prior engagement that she can’t get out of (the works Christmas do).
I did have a small moment of excitement when I Am Kloot announced a new date on Valentine’s Day next year – but of course it’s in Manchester so Mrs H3 isn’t keen on going. I am waiting to see if they announce any other dates, but am seriously considering it as it’ll have been ten months since I last saw them by then and they are showcasing the new material that they’ve been working on which I desperately want to hear. Fingers crossed they announce some new dates further south soon, although I still like the idea of seeing IAK on Valentine’s Day.
The first shock for me was the size of the theatre. Now when I was sixteen (and yes I know it was a bloody long time ago, you don’t need to rub it in) I used to work at the Hazlitt – and I loved it. I enjoyed everything about the place, from being in the box office to working behind the scenes, helping with the costumes to sitting in the sound and lighting box, but I don’t remember it being so SMALL.
There was a pretty good crowd for the concert, but unlike the Catford crew they were a tough crowd. There was little movement, not much in the way of clapping and definitely no dancing – except from Mrs H3 and I who were at the back of the theatre anyway. Certainly WE had a good evening and of course there were the obligatory photos with the band (who are beginning to recognize our stalker qualities by now). Mrs H3 was trying to convince the boys to play a gig in her lounge, but they didn’t seem convinced. Funniest moment was collaring Mick the drummer for a photo. He had been trying to eat a Mars bar but kept being asked to do photos and autographs and was getting grumpier and grumpier. We managed to catch him just before he snapped!
I'd just like to point out that Mrs H3 named the folder for the following pictures!
So next up we have the Bootleg Beatles at O2 Indigo on 20th December. It would have been the Chas and Dave Christmas Party at Camden Palace, but Mrs H3 has a prior engagement that she can’t get out of (the works Christmas do).
I did have a small moment of excitement when I Am Kloot announced a new date on Valentine’s Day next year – but of course it’s in Manchester so Mrs H3 isn’t keen on going. I am waiting to see if they announce any other dates, but am seriously considering it as it’ll have been ten months since I last saw them by then and they are showcasing the new material that they’ve been working on which I desperately want to hear. Fingers crossed they announce some new dates further south soon, although I still like the idea of seeing IAK on Valentine’s Day.
So Onto the Fun Stuff…
The last time I wrote Mrs H3 and I were heading to Leeds Castle for their ‘fantastic’ firework display. Unfortunately, it wasn’t really the stunning evening that we’d been hoping for or expecting considering the tickets cost £34 for the two of us. Firstly the fireworks started at 5.30pm; not exactly a useful time when I didn’t finish work at the pub until 4pm and had some networking to do (and I mean real work-related networking not just drinking). To cap it all on the evening in question the weather was appalling. It had rained all day and was torrential by the time of the display. Mrs H3 was certainly pleased she had her wellies – me I was in Converses which aren’t exactly known for their water-repellent qualities. Unluckily I didn’t have a waterproof coat either and was therefore dressed in a wool cape with fur around the cuffs and hood, pretty but definitely not functional in a monsoon. In fact at one point I was seriously upset that I hadn’t thought to bring a black bin liner as that would definitely have been more waterproof than what I was wearing! Mrs H3 did (apparently) have a waterproof jacket, but it leaked so badly she may as well not have worn it. I was wearing my Slytherin scarf though, which was a good thing as by that time my nasty cold had turned into a serious chest infection for which I was taking antibiotics and using an asthma puffer regularly and at least I managed to keep reasonably warm even as I got soaked to the skin.
The display took place over the top of the castle and was supposed to be an impressive mix of fireworks and lasers. Unfortunately, the low cloud meant the lasers were almost invisible and the driving rain – which as luck would have it was coming directly into our faces from the castle obscured the view of the fireworks especially when my glasses got completely soaked. The only point in its favour (considering the weather - although had the evening been fine it would have been an even worse point) was that it was short. We arrived in our watching spot five minutes before the display started (at exactly 5.30pm) and even taking into account walking back to the car and queuing to get out we were back in the Sherwood Oak by 6.45pm. Yep that was it – 1 hour and 15 minutes in total door to door – definitely NOT worth the money, even if there had been no cloud.
So considerably poorer we spent the evening thawing out in the pub, which although a tad frustrating considering the money we’d already spent turned out to be rather more entertaining than originally anticipated. Mrs H3’s red wellies garnered considerable interest from several patrons and eventually by the end of the evening we, with the admirable help of Neil had talked Chris (who may or may not have been very drunk) into drinking a pint of Kronenberg from one of them (I’d just like to point out that Mrs H3 DID have spare boots available).
Below is the video (totally rubbish quality as it was taken on my crap phone camera) of the whole event. To be honest we didn’t expect him to drink the whole pint – a few mouthfuls would have done, but he was obviously enjoying himself, so kudos for that.
The display took place over the top of the castle and was supposed to be an impressive mix of fireworks and lasers. Unfortunately, the low cloud meant the lasers were almost invisible and the driving rain – which as luck would have it was coming directly into our faces from the castle obscured the view of the fireworks especially when my glasses got completely soaked. The only point in its favour (considering the weather - although had the evening been fine it would have been an even worse point) was that it was short. We arrived in our watching spot five minutes before the display started (at exactly 5.30pm) and even taking into account walking back to the car and queuing to get out we were back in the Sherwood Oak by 6.45pm. Yep that was it – 1 hour and 15 minutes in total door to door – definitely NOT worth the money, even if there had been no cloud.
So considerably poorer we spent the evening thawing out in the pub, which although a tad frustrating considering the money we’d already spent turned out to be rather more entertaining than originally anticipated. Mrs H3’s red wellies garnered considerable interest from several patrons and eventually by the end of the evening we, with the admirable help of Neil had talked Chris (who may or may not have been very drunk) into drinking a pint of Kronenberg from one of them (I’d just like to point out that Mrs H3 DID have spare boots available).
Below is the video (totally rubbish quality as it was taken on my crap phone camera) of the whole event. To be honest we didn’t expect him to drink the whole pint – a few mouthfuls would have done, but he was obviously enjoying himself, so kudos for that.
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Hello Everyone – Remember Me?
Okay so I was out of action for the whole of November, although I have to admit I didn’t do much novel writing, even with my hero Philip Pullman and the wonderful Piers Anthony (among others) giving me encouragement along the way. To be honest with only a couple of days to cobble together a plot I was never going to be onto a winner. Time now to get ready for next year’s event and then it’ll be a cinch!
So if you haven’t been busy writing, what the hell have you been up to? I can hear you asking. And it’s a good question. To be honest the answer is a bit of this and a bit of that. I think I’m going to split my news into several posts as I have loads to write about and loads of fantastic pictures to upload, otherwise this will be the longest blog post in the history of the world.
Firstly, and most importantly for my current mood there’s been a huge change around at work, with our Department being revised and renamed (farewell to Claims - but not to the work!), the section I work in being disbanded (hello to Peter and the Safety section) and my lovely boss Nick leaving on early retirement *sob* which has left me working for someone with whom I have somewhat of a problem (a slight understatement), something that has caused me a considerable amount of stress over the last month. I am hoping steps are being taken to sort the situation before I end up having a nervous breakdown – although said lovely boss predicted that it would be about a month before the doctor signed me off and almost everyone I’ve spoken to has told me I’m being harassed and need to go and see Welfare about it. My sleep patterns (never great anyway) are completely shot and I’m dreaming about the boss in question, which definitely isn’t a good sign. With the streamlining I’ve acquired a whole new set of tasks including attending meetings in the middle of nowhere (okay Whale Island, Portsmouth to be precise so far) and so I’ve now got the stress of travelling to add to all the other stresses of my life. Interesting to see how things fare in the next month or so. Looking on the bright side I only actually have another 4 days in the office, what with leaving do’s and Christmas parties and such so I expect I can survive somehow. I’ll also have 8 days of my advent calendar to open tomorrow – 8 pieces of Thornton’s chocolates should go a long way to improving my mood even if I do have another stultifyingly frustrating meeting to attend in the morning.
So onto the exciting stuff – the things I (and Mrs H3 naturally) have been up to in the last month. It’s been fun and almost makes up for the fact that Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince wasn’t released on the 21st as it should have been. Hey look at the countdown – only another 220 days before the film’s out (and 12 days till Twilight – although the release date clashes with the Christmas party).
Oh yes and while I remember on what should have been release day (or was it the day before?) just to tease a bit more WB released a new trailer. Lots of new stuff which had me spending the first one and a half minutes screaming where's Snape? and then the last twenty three seconds squeeing excitedly at how they seem to have actually got it right for once.Obviously we won't know for sure until the film is released, and of course there won't be anywhere near enough Snape action (as there never is) but if the "fight back you coward" is in the right place then I'll be a happy girl.
So if you haven’t been busy writing, what the hell have you been up to? I can hear you asking. And it’s a good question. To be honest the answer is a bit of this and a bit of that. I think I’m going to split my news into several posts as I have loads to write about and loads of fantastic pictures to upload, otherwise this will be the longest blog post in the history of the world.
Firstly, and most importantly for my current mood there’s been a huge change around at work, with our Department being revised and renamed (farewell to Claims - but not to the work!), the section I work in being disbanded (hello to Peter and the Safety section) and my lovely boss Nick leaving on early retirement *sob* which has left me working for someone with whom I have somewhat of a problem (a slight understatement), something that has caused me a considerable amount of stress over the last month. I am hoping steps are being taken to sort the situation before I end up having a nervous breakdown – although said lovely boss predicted that it would be about a month before the doctor signed me off and almost everyone I’ve spoken to has told me I’m being harassed and need to go and see Welfare about it. My sleep patterns (never great anyway) are completely shot and I’m dreaming about the boss in question, which definitely isn’t a good sign. With the streamlining I’ve acquired a whole new set of tasks including attending meetings in the middle of nowhere (okay Whale Island, Portsmouth to be precise so far) and so I’ve now got the stress of travelling to add to all the other stresses of my life. Interesting to see how things fare in the next month or so. Looking on the bright side I only actually have another 4 days in the office, what with leaving do’s and Christmas parties and such so I expect I can survive somehow. I’ll also have 8 days of my advent calendar to open tomorrow – 8 pieces of Thornton’s chocolates should go a long way to improving my mood even if I do have another stultifyingly frustrating meeting to attend in the morning.
So onto the exciting stuff – the things I (and Mrs H3 naturally) have been up to in the last month. It’s been fun and almost makes up for the fact that Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince wasn’t released on the 21st as it should have been. Hey look at the countdown – only another 220 days before the film’s out (and 12 days till Twilight – although the release date clashes with the Christmas party).
Oh yes and while I remember on what should have been release day (or was it the day before?) just to tease a bit more WB released a new trailer. Lots of new stuff which had me spending the first one and a half minutes screaming where's Snape? and then the last twenty three seconds squeeing excitedly at how they seem to have actually got it right for once.Obviously we won't know for sure until the film is released, and of course there won't be anywhere near enough Snape action (as there never is) but if the "fight back you coward" is in the right place then I'll be a happy girl.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Halloween Pics and More
So I should be busy writing my novel but I’m not. Instead I’m having a quick catch up on here.
Last Friday there was a Halloween fancy dress party in the Sherwood Oak and Mrs H3 and I both dressed up (of course), along with a few other brave souls. It was an excellent evening and the photos are below.
I had bought the most fantastic witches’ hat from M&S and built the costume around that, as you can see Mrs H3’s costume was mainly the most fantastic red patent leather DM boots and a rather bouncy tutu.
So it’s Bonfire Night and all around I can hear the bangs of fireworks, although I can’t actually see anything. I love fireworks but I can’t be bothered to leave the house tonight to try and see them as it’s too cold out there and I’m still full of this horrid cold that I’ve had since last weekend. Instead we are going to Leeds Castle on Saturday evening for their ‘Legend of Excalibur’ display. Mrs H3 is excited ‘cos she gets to wear her wellies, I’m excited as I get to wear my Slytherin scarf – I’m not sure which of us is the sadder! LOL
I mentioned a few weeks ago that we had got tickets for Elbow at Wembley. Since then they’ve announced a full tour (I get a feeling that Elbow are a bit like I Am Kloot on the touring front i.e. they don’t really stop) and the first night is at the Brighton Dome (Wembley is the final night) so we’ve got tickets for that too. Am very excited at this but also hoping IAK are going to tour the UK early next year ‘cos I’ll be going frantic by then as it’s been almost 7 months now since I last saw them live (and watching them on the internet doesn’t count however good they were!)
So I suppose I should get back to the novel. Jonathan Stroud (author of the wonderful Bartimaeus Trilogy) has sent me (and everyone else taking part in NaNoWriMo) an e-mail containing a pep talk and some advice for getting the story written and sticking to deadlines. I’m really behind now as I haven’t written anything on it since Sunday but I’m sure once I get to grips with the plotline I’m thinking about at the moment I’ll have loads to write about.
Last Friday there was a Halloween fancy dress party in the Sherwood Oak and Mrs H3 and I both dressed up (of course), along with a few other brave souls. It was an excellent evening and the photos are below.
I had bought the most fantastic witches’ hat from M&S and built the costume around that, as you can see Mrs H3’s costume was mainly the most fantastic red patent leather DM boots and a rather bouncy tutu.
So it’s Bonfire Night and all around I can hear the bangs of fireworks, although I can’t actually see anything. I love fireworks but I can’t be bothered to leave the house tonight to try and see them as it’s too cold out there and I’m still full of this horrid cold that I’ve had since last weekend. Instead we are going to Leeds Castle on Saturday evening for their ‘Legend of Excalibur’ display. Mrs H3 is excited ‘cos she gets to wear her wellies, I’m excited as I get to wear my Slytherin scarf – I’m not sure which of us is the sadder! LOL
I mentioned a few weeks ago that we had got tickets for Elbow at Wembley. Since then they’ve announced a full tour (I get a feeling that Elbow are a bit like I Am Kloot on the touring front i.e. they don’t really stop) and the first night is at the Brighton Dome (Wembley is the final night) so we’ve got tickets for that too. Am very excited at this but also hoping IAK are going to tour the UK early next year ‘cos I’ll be going frantic by then as it’s been almost 7 months now since I last saw them live (and watching them on the internet doesn’t count however good they were!)
So I suppose I should get back to the novel. Jonathan Stroud (author of the wonderful Bartimaeus Trilogy) has sent me (and everyone else taking part in NaNoWriMo) an e-mail containing a pep talk and some advice for getting the story written and sticking to deadlines. I’m really behind now as I haven’t written anything on it since Sunday but I’m sure once I get to grips with the plotline I’m thinking about at the moment I’ll have loads to write about.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
I've been struck by madness!
Okay so I think I may have done the dumbest thing I’ve ever thought of in my life – I’ve signed up for NaNoWriMo.
For those of you who haven’t got a clue what that is it’s the National Novel Writing Month. This wonderful (and let’s face it somewhat crazy) idea takes place in November every year and the idea is for participants to write an original fiction novel of 50,000 words or more between the first and last day of the month.
Now I’ve written a bit of stuff here and there, blogged a bit and I talk a good game but an original full length novel? Not something I’d ever really seriously considered, but then late night (and quite probably drunken) discussions with various online friends made me think it could be achievable.
After all how hard could it be? We’re not talking Booker Prize winning material here and as the site is quick to point out we’re not talking final draft material either. What you should end up with is a solid first draft which is enough to be proud of completing and the basis of something that might just conceivably be publishable someday; even if only online. You also get the accolade of being a winner on the site and get a certificate to say so.
Now of course to write a story you need to have a plot and I do have one – sort of. To be honest it’s a little vague (actually more than a little), but I do know that currently the story will be seventeen chapters which means the chapters need to be around 2,942 words each. This also means that I need to write 1,667 words a day to get the thing finished by 30th November. This seemed like an easy enough task until I sat down on Saturday with my admittedly not very well head on and tried to begin writing it.
1,667 words a day with characters you recognize for something like fanfic is simple, trying to come up with that number of words for an original story when you have no real idea of characters or plot is almost impossible.
Now I have been hampered this weekend by being ill, but I am pleased to report that I was on target with 3,362 words written by the end of Sunday evening, although working at the pub tonight has put me behind.
To be honest I have no idea why I’m doing this except that it’s a challenge and it makes a change from sitting around doing nothing productive in the evenings (oh yeah don't expect a handmade Christmas card this year as I haven't even started them).
Am I mad? Probably, but then I can't help feeling that for this competition being mad probably helps!
Interestingly, this blog entry, which is of course diverting me from valuable writing time, has used up 507 words and took me about ten minutes to write. See it's easy when you don't have a plot or characters to think about!
For those of you who haven’t got a clue what that is it’s the National Novel Writing Month. This wonderful (and let’s face it somewhat crazy) idea takes place in November every year and the idea is for participants to write an original fiction novel of 50,000 words or more between the first and last day of the month.
Now I’ve written a bit of stuff here and there, blogged a bit and I talk a good game but an original full length novel? Not something I’d ever really seriously considered, but then late night (and quite probably drunken) discussions with various online friends made me think it could be achievable.
After all how hard could it be? We’re not talking Booker Prize winning material here and as the site is quick to point out we’re not talking final draft material either. What you should end up with is a solid first draft which is enough to be proud of completing and the basis of something that might just conceivably be publishable someday; even if only online. You also get the accolade of being a winner on the site and get a certificate to say so.
Now of course to write a story you need to have a plot and I do have one – sort of. To be honest it’s a little vague (actually more than a little), but I do know that currently the story will be seventeen chapters which means the chapters need to be around 2,942 words each. This also means that I need to write 1,667 words a day to get the thing finished by 30th November. This seemed like an easy enough task until I sat down on Saturday with my admittedly not very well head on and tried to begin writing it.
1,667 words a day with characters you recognize for something like fanfic is simple, trying to come up with that number of words for an original story when you have no real idea of characters or plot is almost impossible.
Now I have been hampered this weekend by being ill, but I am pleased to report that I was on target with 3,362 words written by the end of Sunday evening, although working at the pub tonight has put me behind.
To be honest I have no idea why I’m doing this except that it’s a challenge and it makes a change from sitting around doing nothing productive in the evenings (oh yeah don't expect a handmade Christmas card this year as I haven't even started them).
Am I mad? Probably, but then I can't help feeling that for this competition being mad probably helps!
Interestingly, this blog entry, which is of course diverting me from valuable writing time, has used up 507 words and took me about ten minutes to write. See it's easy when you don't have a plot or characters to think about!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
It's Only Me ...
Blimey it’s been ages since I last updated, I hadn't realized it had been so long!
My visit to Spain was exactly what I wanted it to be, relaxing and a good chance to catch up with my parents. I was lucky enough to have lovely weather and even managed to go swimming, although it rained on the last day – but by then the decent weather had transferred to the UK so I got another few nice days when I got back.
Haven’t had a chance to see ‘Mirrors’ yet, although we did see ‘Tropic Thunder’ again as Steve wanted to see it. I’m hoping that maybe this weekend I’ll get to see it (assuming it’s still showing), although Friday night is Halloween Fancy Dress party night at the Sherwood Oak (expect lots of photos as Mrs H3 and I are dressing up) and I’ve been invited to a party on Saturday.
Mrs H3 and I went to see Chas & Dave at Catford Broadway Theatre on 18th October for an enjoyable and entertaining evening and were lucky enough to meet them after the performance as you can see from the photos below. We promised to go and see them again when they play Maidstone next month so we've asked a few other likeminded individuals to come too so hoping to get a bit of a crowd together for the gig at the Hazlitt Theatre, Maidstone on 20th November.
We’ve added another couple of panto’s to the schedule – Aladdin at Tunbridge Wells (18th December) starring Christopher Ellison from ‘The Bill’ and Mother Goose at the Oasthouse Theatre, Rainham (23rd January) which my friend Jen is in.
Although ‘Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince’ is still 260 days away (although that’s much better than the 333 it started at) Warner Brothers seem to have released a new trailer. Completely different from the teaser trailer it shows Ron and Lavender, Romilda Vane and the attack on the Burrow, as well as the cave and what appears to be Dumbledore’s damaged hand and a lovely closing scene featuring Hermione and Harry.
My visit to Spain was exactly what I wanted it to be, relaxing and a good chance to catch up with my parents. I was lucky enough to have lovely weather and even managed to go swimming, although it rained on the last day – but by then the decent weather had transferred to the UK so I got another few nice days when I got back.
Haven’t had a chance to see ‘Mirrors’ yet, although we did see ‘Tropic Thunder’ again as Steve wanted to see it. I’m hoping that maybe this weekend I’ll get to see it (assuming it’s still showing), although Friday night is Halloween Fancy Dress party night at the Sherwood Oak (expect lots of photos as Mrs H3 and I are dressing up) and I’ve been invited to a party on Saturday.
Mrs H3 and I went to see Chas & Dave at Catford Broadway Theatre on 18th October for an enjoyable and entertaining evening and were lucky enough to meet them after the performance as you can see from the photos below. We promised to go and see them again when they play Maidstone next month so we've asked a few other likeminded individuals to come too so hoping to get a bit of a crowd together for the gig at the Hazlitt Theatre, Maidstone on 20th November.
We’ve added another couple of panto’s to the schedule – Aladdin at Tunbridge Wells (18th December) starring Christopher Ellison from ‘The Bill’ and Mother Goose at the Oasthouse Theatre, Rainham (23rd January) which my friend Jen is in.
Although ‘Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince’ is still 260 days away (although that’s much better than the 333 it started at) Warner Brothers seem to have released a new trailer. Completely different from the teaser trailer it shows Ron and Lavender, Romilda Vane and the attack on the Burrow, as well as the cave and what appears to be Dumbledore’s damaged hand and a lovely closing scene featuring Hermione and Harry.
Watch it below:
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
A General Update
As I’m off to Spain on Sunday and might not get round to updating again till who knows when, I thought I’d have a general round up on the things I’m looking forward to in the next couple of months.
-- Movies --
At the moment I'm considering going to see 'Brideshead Revisited', although I love the 1981 TV series with Anthony Andrews and Jeremy Irons so much that I'm a little worried I'll be disappointed with the film, just as I was with 'Pride and Prejudice'. I suspect though that the next film will be Kiefer's 'Mirrors' which is now out on 10th October instead of this week as originally scheduled (sorry Mrs H3, apparently it really is scary).
The good news is that 'Twilight' has finally been brought forward. Unfortunately not to the spot vacated by Half Blood Prince as I was hoping, but to 19th December (the same day as my work's Christmas party - guess which one I'll be going to!)
So now I’m focussing on possible upcoming movies. The one I really want to see is ‘Good’ starring Viggo Mortensen, Jason Isaacs and Mark Strong but as yet there’s no release date for it in the UK. I just hope it isn't going to go the way of ‘Bottle Shock’ and ‘Nobel Son’, the Alan Rickman films I’m still waiting to see (now released (or just about) in the US but still with no sign of a release date over here – I guess they are going to be another ‘Search for John Gissing’ or ‘Snow Cake’). Other than that there seems to be a dearth of movies until the new Star Trek film which isn’t slated to be out till next May after being delayed.
And look! Only 288 days to go now till the release of Half Blood Prince - the time's just flying by isn't it?
-- Music --
Well still no sign of that philanthropist giving me free tickets for the Roundhouse next weekend *sigh* but Elbow’s new found fame from winning the Mercury Prize has apparently launched them into the big time and they are doing a show at Wembley Arena (yep, really) on 14th March 2009. Not wanting to miss out this time I’ve already bought our tickets!
And I’m seriously considering Johnny Bramwell at Night and Day on 27th November. Of course I was anyway, but news on the IAK board that he’ll be doing a 90 minute set including NEW songs is more than enough to have me champing at the bit to go. All I need to do now is work out the logistics (and cost of course) of getting to Manchester.
Other than that there are two more concerts planned so far for this year – Chas and Dave (yep those perennial favourites) at the Catford Broadway Theatre on 18th October and the Bootleg Beatles (who I last saw at Glastonbury in 1994 and completely stole the weekend) at the O2 Indigo on 20th December.
-- Panto --
It’s soon going to be that time of year again (…oh no it isn’t; oh yes it is!) and so to get in the Christmassy spirit Mrs H3 and I decided that after the excitement of last year’s Peter Pan with Paul Michael Glaser we’d take in a panto or four this year. It was a matter of making some tough decisions (there was NO way I was going to see Joe Pasquale in Dartford) but finally our panto season looks like this:
29th November – Jack and the Beanstalk (Maidstone)
6th December – Cinderella (Bromley)
13th December – Peter Pan (Croydon)
3rd January – Snow White (Catford)
Among the ‘stars’ we’ll be seeing this year are Brian Blessed (yay, we love BB!), Steve Guttenberg, Antonio Fargas and Helen Lederer.
-- Movies --
At the moment I'm considering going to see 'Brideshead Revisited', although I love the 1981 TV series with Anthony Andrews and Jeremy Irons so much that I'm a little worried I'll be disappointed with the film, just as I was with 'Pride and Prejudice'. I suspect though that the next film will be Kiefer's 'Mirrors' which is now out on 10th October instead of this week as originally scheduled (sorry Mrs H3, apparently it really is scary).
The good news is that 'Twilight' has finally been brought forward. Unfortunately not to the spot vacated by Half Blood Prince as I was hoping, but to 19th December (the same day as my work's Christmas party - guess which one I'll be going to!)
So now I’m focussing on possible upcoming movies. The one I really want to see is ‘Good’ starring Viggo Mortensen, Jason Isaacs and Mark Strong but as yet there’s no release date for it in the UK. I just hope it isn't going to go the way of ‘Bottle Shock’ and ‘Nobel Son’, the Alan Rickman films I’m still waiting to see (now released (or just about) in the US but still with no sign of a release date over here – I guess they are going to be another ‘Search for John Gissing’ or ‘Snow Cake’). Other than that there seems to be a dearth of movies until the new Star Trek film which isn’t slated to be out till next May after being delayed.
And look! Only 288 days to go now till the release of Half Blood Prince - the time's just flying by isn't it?
-- Music --
Well still no sign of that philanthropist giving me free tickets for the Roundhouse next weekend *sigh* but Elbow’s new found fame from winning the Mercury Prize has apparently launched them into the big time and they are doing a show at Wembley Arena (yep, really) on 14th March 2009. Not wanting to miss out this time I’ve already bought our tickets!
And I’m seriously considering Johnny Bramwell at Night and Day on 27th November. Of course I was anyway, but news on the IAK board that he’ll be doing a 90 minute set including NEW songs is more than enough to have me champing at the bit to go. All I need to do now is work out the logistics (and cost of course) of getting to Manchester.
Other than that there are two more concerts planned so far for this year – Chas and Dave (yep those perennial favourites) at the Catford Broadway Theatre on 18th October and the Bootleg Beatles (who I last saw at Glastonbury in 1994 and completely stole the weekend) at the O2 Indigo on 20th December.
-- Panto --
It’s soon going to be that time of year again (…oh no it isn’t; oh yes it is!) and so to get in the Christmassy spirit Mrs H3 and I decided that after the excitement of last year’s Peter Pan with Paul Michael Glaser we’d take in a panto or four this year. It was a matter of making some tough decisions (there was NO way I was going to see Joe Pasquale in Dartford) but finally our panto season looks like this:
29th November – Jack and the Beanstalk (Maidstone)
6th December – Cinderella (Bromley)
13th December – Peter Pan (Croydon)
3rd January – Snow White (Catford)
Among the ‘stars’ we’ll be seeing this year are Brian Blessed (yay, we love BB!), Steve Guttenberg, Antonio Fargas and Helen Lederer.
Monday, September 29, 2008
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!
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!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
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!
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!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
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 :)
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 :)
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Films and More
Hurrah!
Finally there is a film out that’s worth paying good money to see.
‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army.’
Worth it alone for the very funny Barry Manilow scene (rated by MTV as the best moment of the summer) and definitely for Luke Goss’ portrayal of the elf prince (yep you KNOW I’m in love!), this film is superb. Far better than the original ‘Hellboy’ in my opinion, due I think to the ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ type creatures that positively infest the movie, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the film in a way that I haven’t done for ages.
I would agree with Mrs H3’s assessment that the film bears little resemblance to the trailer though. I think the trailer misses out on the fact that this is basically a romance movie, albeit with monsters instead of humans (hence the Barry Manilow section).
However, don’t let that put you off. Guillermo del Toro has done another fine job with this film and has managed to pull off a mixture of arthouse and mainstream Hollywood in one wonderful film. If you love ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ I’d think you’d like this film. If you haven’t seen ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ see it immediately!
So the next film we’re likely to see is ‘Tropic Thunder’. Mrs H3 says it makes her laugh just thinking about it. Now I’m not sure whether this is because the film is genuinely funny or whether it’s because she’s thinking of me squirming over seeing it. Sure it has Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr, but it also has Ben Stiller and Steve Coogan and that can’t be good. However, I’m game for a laugh (which is why I refused to go and see ‘You Don’t Mess with the Zohan’) so we’ll go and see if it matches up to the trailer, which does actually have a funny scene in it (the bit with the kid for anyone who’s seen it).
Whilst at the cinema we saw a display for the new Kiefer flick ‘Mirrors’, which I tried to steal as it had an almost lifesize picture of Kiefer on it. The film’s not out till 3rd October, but is at least something to look forward to as it looks like ‘Twilight’ isn’t being released in the UK in November, instead appearing on the original release date of 9th January 2009.
Oh and note the countdown ticker – only 323 days till Harry Potter is out (see 10 days have gone already) … almost no time at all *LOL*
Finally, and for those that like to know these things (mum and dad mainly) I think I’ve broken my toe. Running late as ever, I caught my foot and bent my middle toe right back causing all sorts of pain. By this morning it was swollen and purpley black from the bruising and still painful. Of course there’s nothing I can do about it but wait for it to mend. It’s amazing how easy it is to hit your foot when you don’t want to!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Bleurgh!
I hate it when a plan doesn’t come together.
There I was on Friday expecting to spend a happy night curled up on the sofa with my book and a couple of glasses of wine. Unfortunately, I spent the evening with my head over a bucket being sick as a very sick dog and trying not to pass out from dizziness instead. No idea why. I thought maybe food poisoning at the time, but after excessive sleep and a feeling of nausea all day on Saturday and continuing into today along with a headache which is only just beginning to fade it makes it more likely that I had a bug. Still fragile today, I have the dubious pleasure of feeling like I spent all day yesterday doing abdominal crunches where my muscles have seized up after all that retching.
Still on the bright side I’ve finished the book and finally know what all the fuss was about (yes of course I checked out the furore as soon as I was done with it, although I’m saving the podcasts for when I go back to work). Not being religious or extremist and being perfectly well aware that vampires don’t really exist, at least not in the way the Cullen’s are portrayed, I actually had little problem with the book.
For me it was every bit as enjoyable as the previous three and the story was just as unlikely as any of the prequels. I can’t really say much without giving away spoilers, unfair for anyone who is yet likely to read it, but I’d have said the story was pretty much predictable for anyone who has a basic grasp of the characters and their motivations. This sounds like a criticism, but it really isn’t. For me the series read exactly like what it was, a teenage romance that just happened to involve supernatural characters.
As I said before I’m a sucker for vampire stories and also for romances, so it fit perfectly into my reading schedule. It reminded me in some ways of the fantastic Freda Warrington vampire series – ‘Taste of Blood Wine’; ‘A Dance in Blood Velvet’ and ‘The Dark Blood of Poppies’, although Freda’s books are far better written and much more adult in tone. I know these books seem to be rare as hen’s teeth to get hold of but if you prefer less teen romance, more classic vampire seduction then definitely check out these books. They are firmly in my top three favourite vampire series of all time, along with Brian Lumley’s ‘Necroscope’ series and of course the quintessential vampire stories by Anne Rice.
In retrospect I don’t regret buying ‘Breaking Dawn’ at all. Yes I was weak-willed as Mrs H3 so kindly pointed out, but I needed to know what happened and now I do and am very happy because of that. And now I look forward to ‘Midnight Sun’, the retelling of ‘Twilight’ from Edward Cullen’s perspective; mainly because I feel it will be interesting to see how the author deals with the vampire side of things properly and I won’t be able to resist reading romance from Edward's viewpoint.
But what to read next? Well I’m currently reading the new Jeffrey Deaver ‘The Sleeping Doll’, that I started last week before I bought ‘Breaking Dawn’ and I’m rereading all the Harry Potters (currently close to finishing ‘Goblet of Fire’). I really want to read Matthew Reilly’s ‘Six Sacred Stones’, the follow-on to ‘Seven Ancient Wonders’ that I thoroughly enjoyed, as soon as I go shopping in Asda to buy a copy. But I’m now wondering whether it might be time to re-read the classic vampire stories I love, after all it’s been a few years since I read the Freda Warrington, the Anne Rice and the Brian Lumley. Oh and while I think of it, maybe its time to dig out George R R Martin’s wonderful ‘Fevre Dream’ too.
Friday, August 22, 2008
A Little Light Weekend Reading
Okay so I caved in and bought ‘Breaking Dawn’ the final book in the ‘Twilight’ series by Stephenie Meyer. I wasn’t going to, in fact I was determined to wait until the paperback came out; knowing that although I’d enjoyed the first three I could (just about) bear to wait for the paperback to find out what happened.
Except of course I couldn’t.
Now I think I did pretty well considering. I mean the book’s been out for over a fortnight now, so I didn’t crumble at the first hurdle and pre-order from Amazon, nor did I go to the midnight launch party (been there and done that with HP). Even after a couple of days I was standing firm. I didn’t even crumble when the internet was filled with stories about fan backlash with the ending – I just ignored the stories (with some difficulty) even though I was of course dying to know what happened and just why everyone was so upset. But then spoilers started appearing everywhere. On You Tube video comments; on the ‘Twilight’ sites (of course) and more annoyingly, on the Harry Potter sites, as there is a huge crossover of fans between the two series. Still I managed to stay rigid. But then came the onslaught of the podcasts.
Now I listen to a lot of podcasts, and especially to Harry Potter ones like Snapecast, Pottercast and Mugglecast (to name just three of the many). Of course ‘Twilight’ is big news everywhere right now and has been discussed briefly on previous podcasts, but now ‘everyone’ has read the final book the spoilers and more in depth discussion on the books themes are starting on there too. Mugglecast even did an interview with Stephenie. To have to turn off a perfectly interesting podcast halfway through because I’m one of the few people who hasn’t yet read the conclusion to the Cullen saga is frankly annoying.
Unable to go without my podcast fixes and unwilling to ruin the ending of what seems so far like a perfectly good book with heavy duty spoilers I finally gave in this lunchtime and bought a copy. As at this moment I am 204 pages into it (yes, like the others it is pretty easy reading) with another 550 to go. With no plans for this weekend I guess I know now what I’ll be doing; although if it’s anything like reading the HP books I won’t be able to put it down till it’s over.
Expect a late night and a few glasses of wine as I join Bella, Edward and Jacob for one last story (until ‘Midnight Sun’ comes out of course). I can always sleep tomorrow night!
Sunday, August 17, 2008
The Sunday Morning Ramble
I’m writing a little uncomfortably today. My trusty computer chair which my parents bought me as a Christmas present some eight or nine years ago has finally given up the ghost and died. It has survived many years of sitting, wriggling and using as a step ladder. The material was frayed and the padding coming out, but still I sat on that rather than my sofa. It had lost an arm somewhere along the way and the height mechanism no longer worked, but it was a good chair nonetheless. Until Friday night when the metal frame, after years of wear and tear finally sheared dumping me unceremoniously on the floor. RIP to my fabulous chair. I just hope I can find one as good to replace it. If anyone has any recommendations please let me know.
So here’s to hoping that Twilight hits the UK cinemas on 21st November!
And to help with my wait for ‘Half Blood Prince’ I’ve added a ticker to my blog – Only another 333 days to go!
******
Although I’m still upset about the Harry Potter film reschedule (did I mention that at all?), some good news may be just around the corner. Summit have announced that they are moving ‘Twighlight’ into the empty spot left by Harry Potter in the US at any rate. Disappointingly, they were originally intending to release the film in the UK a month after the US release (I really hate when they do that … remember “Sweeney Todd”?), but I’m hoping that they’ll realise with the big furore over the Potter film, and the huge launch of ‘Breaking Dawn’ they have the perfect launch date and they’ll make it a worldwide thing. (Excuse the gratuitous poster below. Any excuse to gaze at the gorgeous Robert Pattinson - loving the golden eyes!)
So here’s to hoping that Twilight hits the UK cinemas on 21st November!
And to help with my wait for ‘Half Blood Prince’ I’ve added a ticker to my blog – Only another 333 days to go!
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