Quote Of The Day

"Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake - Chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower (1887-1956)"

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Psychoville Halloween Special...

Psychoville returns with a spooktacular hour-long Halloween special. Four tales of terror unfold as location manager Phil Walker investigates the abandoned ruins of Ravenhill Psychiatric hospital. Does the ghost of evil Governess Edwina Kenchington still walk the empty corridors? What other horrors lie within the crumbling walls and will health and safety allow any filming there in the first place? Psychoville is written by and stars Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton. So that's Psychoville Halloween Special showing on BBC 2 at 10pm on Sunday 31st October.
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Friday, October 29, 2010

La bohème...

Last night Paul and I went to the ENO to see Jonathan Miller's brilliant staging of Puccini's powerfully popular opera La bohème.

Atmospherically updated to 1930s Paris, this uber-romantic story of young love blighted by sudden tragedy unfolds on cinematically realistic sets inspired by the iconic photographs of Cartier-Bresson and Brassaï.

The story started with the lovers Mimì and Rodolfo meeting. And then falling in love. And the ups and downs of their lives together and apart. And then Mimì wasn't feeling very well. And then Rodolfo, who was a poet, went from being lost in her eyes to being lost for words. And then Mimì died. And then Rodolfo was just simply... lost.

He should have perhaps known that when a leading lady coughs in Act 3 she'll be dead by the end of Act 4. This is opera after all.

The cast were great. The orchestra sublime. And the staging simply wonderful. Five stars for Mr Miller. A great revival.

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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Celebrity Lezzas...

Popbitch reckon that there's no results for the term "celebrity lezzas" in search engines. Lezz prove them wrong, eh?
Rosie O'Donnell
Jane Addams
Tammy Baldwin
Drew Barrymore
Jennifer Beals
Alison Bechdel
Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer
Catie Curtis
Kate Clinton
Tee Corinne
Ellen DeGeneres
Portia de Rossi
Marlene Dietrich:
Ani DiFranco
Danielle Egnew
Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Ferrick
Nelly Furtado
Janina Gavankar
Gina Gershon:
Sara Gilbert
Missy Giove
God-dess
Leisha Hailey
Sophie B. Hawkins
Alexandra Hedison
Janis Ian
Indigo Girls
Angelina Jolie
Rosie Jones
Janis Joplin
Barbara Jordan
Frida Kahlo
Billie Jean King
kd lang
Lucy Liu
Kristanna Loken
Karina Lombard
Audre Lorde
Phyllis Lyon
Del Martin
Heather Matarazzo
Amelie Mauresmo
Tammy Lynn Michaels
Katherine "Kate" Moennig
Tyria Moore
Martina Navratilova
Me'Shell NdegeOcello
Cynthia Nixon
Ma Rainey
Amy Ray
Michelle Rodriguez
Eleanor Roosevelt
Vita Sackville-West
Sappho
Daniela Sea
Sarah Shahi
Gertrude Stein
Sheryl Swoopes
Jackie Warner
Suzanne Westenhoefer
Sue Wicks
Cris Williamson
Aileen Wuornos
Jodie Foster
Whoopi Goldberg
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Newcastle 0 - 4 Arsenal...

English football (soccer) player Theo WalcottImage via Wikipedia
One for sorrow, Two for joy, Three for a girl, Four for a boy.... Magpiiiiiies!

Arsenal marched into the Quarter-Finals of the Carling Cup with a convincing win at Newcastle United last night. Four goals - one crazy, one controversial and two classy – did the trick to leave Arsène Wenger’s side just two steps from Wembley.

An attempted nodded clearance from Ryan Taylor hit his own keeper Tim Krul before going into the Magpies net to give Arsenal the lead. Theo Walcott raced through and dinked in a second after Nicklas Bendtner appeared to block a Magpies defender as he came back from an offside position.

Bendtner then curled in a shot and Walcott slotted in Arsenal's fourth.
So Arsenal join Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Ipswich Town, Manchester United, West Brom, West Ham United and Wigan Athletic in the draw for the quarter-finals this Saturday.
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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Getting On...

The wonderful Getting On started again last night.It's great to have Nurse Kim Wilde (Jo Brand), Dr Pippa Moore (Vicki Pepperdine), Sister Den Flixter (Joanna Scanlan) and Matron Hilary Loftus (Ricky Grover) back on our screens. Laugh out loud funny.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Andrew and David's Civil Partnership...

Last Saturday Stu and I went to the Locale Restaurant in East Dulwich to help Andrew and David celebrate their Civil Partnership. It was very moving ceremony, great meal and even greater crowd of people. The speeches were frank, moving and very funny. Well done boys and may your many years of happiness behind you extend before doubly so before you.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Tory Cu*ts...

David Cameron in Parliament last week: "There is no cut whatsoever in the support for our forces in Afghanistan ... we have been and will be providing more for our brave forces in Afghanistan [including] crucially, at last, the right level of helicopter capability."

Pre-spending review Chinook helicopters on order: 22. Post-spending review Chinook helicopters on order: 12.

Er... isn't that a cut then Mr Cameron?

Friday, October 22, 2010

Duckie 15th Birthday Party (a couple of corkers)...

Last month we went to the Royal Festival Hall to Duckie's 15th Birthday Bash. Featuring:- Brixton’s finest hip-hop dance chicks The Stylinquents, Senior citizen songstresses The Hoxton Singers, cardboard cut outist Robin Whitmore, hitparade hipsters Frisky and Mannishcuntry, Duckie A-Lister Tina C. and hoola-hooping spectacularist Marawa. Oh, and the wonderful Readers Wives of course.

Here are the couple of shots the lovely Chris Jepson took of Stu, Darren and myself.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Los 33...

An extraordinary Hollywood cast for the amazing true story of the Chile miners. The movie the whole world is waiting for. Los 33.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

ReGenesis...

Last Saturday night after the footie Paul and I went to see early-Genesis tribute act ReGenesis perform the 1970 Trespass album along with other Peter Gabriel fronted favourites. We loved it. All sing-a-long stuff performed note for the note the same as the originals. We had Al Murray standing next to us too. Bizarrely.


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Monday, October 18, 2010

Marcella and The Forget-me-nots...

On Friday night Darren and I went to see Marcella (Puppini) and The Forget-me-nots perform at the RVT. What a great show! Hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck stuff. Will definitely go and see them again. And they did a fabulous encore of Puff The Magic Dragon - in German!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Kirsty MacColl Tribute 2010...

On Sunday night Darren, I and 2000 other devoted fans commemorated the 10th anniversary of Kirsty MacColl's death at a star-studded concert by her showbiz friends and collaborators at the Shepherd's Bush Empire. It would have been the singer's 51st birthday and it was good to hear versions of her best-loved songs performed by artists including Billy Bragg, Alison Moyet, Kim Wilde, Andrea Corr, Ellie Goulding and actress Catherine Tate.

Walking Down Madison sung by Alison Moyet at the Kirsty MacColl Tribute gig 10th Oct 2010

In These Shoes? sung by Catherine Tate at the Kirsty MacColl Tribute gig 10th Oct 2010

New England sung by Billy Bragg at the Kirsty MacColl Tribute gig 10th Oct 2010

They Don't Know sung by Kim Wilde at the Kirsty MacColl Tribute gig 10th Oct 2010

They Don't Know sung by Andrea Corr at the Kirsty MacColl Tribute gig 10th Oct 2010

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Monday, October 11, 2010

Belfast...

Last weekend we went to Belfast for a few days. We had a fab time meeting up with Colin, Clodagh, Jude, Gavin, Sara and Simon. We did a bit of sight-seeing, went to the farmer's market, popped into bear's night Bubu, went out for a lovely Indian meal and out drinking and dancing to boot.

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Friday, October 08, 2010

Ghosts Stories...

Last night Mark very kindly took me to see Ghost Stories at the Duke Of York's Theatre in London glitzy West End.
We had heard quite a lot about the show - through friends and also through it's advertising campaign and a particular poster that stated:-
WARNING: Please be advised that Ghost Stories contains moments of extreme shock and tension. The show is unsuitable for anyone under the age of 15. We strongly advise those of a nervous disposition to think very seriously before attending.
OK, so basically this is just marketing blurb. In the show there were lots of loud noises, flashing lights and smoke machines. I won't provide any spoilers plotwise except just to say - we saw it coming. We were more terrified by the bar prices than what was going on on stage.
I can't decide; was the show just not that scary or do 'ghost stories' in general just not scare me as much as I thought they did? I have a feeling it may be the latter. I'm too much of a scientist to believe in supernatural explanations. However I do believe in situations in which your subconscious makes you think you're seeing things that actually have a logical explanation. I think the clue is in the question. They are stories. I'm much more frightened that the creak upon the midnight stair is actually burgular - not a ghost.
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Thursday, October 07, 2010

I Drink the Air Before Me...

Last night Stu, Darren and I went to see Stephen Petronio's I Drink the Air Before Me at the Barbican Theatre.
The title comes from The Tempest where Ariel says, "I drink the air before me, and return. Or ere your pulse twice beat." And surely the piece was a meditation on storms - external and internal.
Captain Petronio, decked out like Captain Haddock, oversaw the show from up his makeshift mast. He initiated proceedings with “Salty Dog Blues.” (“If I can’t be your salty dog, I won’t be your man at all.”) What followed was at times fabulous, at times interesting and at times frankly rather boring. It wasn't that the performing was inconsistent or in anyway below par. It just lacked any strong narrative. There seemed to be little connecting the movements and although the theme of storms was fine there was just not much that it actually told us.
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Pop Quiz - The Answers...

01. OutKast
02. Scissor Sisters
03. Dy-na-mi-tee
04. Jose Gonzalez  (after The Knife)
05. The Klaxons
06. Walk Like An Egyptian
07. The Velvet Undergroud
08. I'm So Excited
09. Sweet Caroline
10. America
11. Patti Smith Group
12. Devo
13. Iggy Pop
14. Roxy Music
15. Brian Eno
16. DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
17. Rihanna
18. Kelly
19. Shirley Bassey
20. Lulu
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Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Pop Quiz - The Questions...

Last night the lovely David, the gorgeous Darren and I relived a few old memories and went down to the Pop Quiz at the Retro Bar in London's glitzy West End. The rules hadn't really changed but the fee had - up from £1 per team to £1 per person. Makes sense really as the bigger teams have more chance.
We got sixteen and a half out of twenty with just a few slip ups including a rather painful answer that we got right - but then changed after a misleading clue from the quiz mistress. The winners got seventeen and a half and won some CDs. As we came second we got to choose a prize too and won three Munny zipper pull. Mine's now on my camera strap.
So here are the questions. Give it a go (without Google!)
Noughties Round
01. Who had a hit with Hey Ya?
02. Who had a hit with a falsetto cover of Comfortably Numb?
03. What was Ms Dynamite's biggest UK hit? (spelling important)
04. Who had a top ten hit with Heartbeats in 2004?
05. Which band covered Grace's Not Over Yet (and added an "It's" in the process)?
Covers Round
06. What Bangles song did the Puppini Sisters cover?
07. David Bowie did a cover of Waiting For The Man. But who performed the original?
08. What Pointer Sisters song did song post-punk band Le Tigre cover?
Neil Diamond Round
09. "Where it began, I can't begin to know when. But then I know it's growing strong." Name the Neil Diamond song?
10. "Far. We've been travelling far. Without a home. But not without a star." Name the Neil Diamond song?
Seventies Round
11. Which punky poet fronted band had a much covered song called Dancing Barefoot? (need the full title of the band)
12. Who's first single was called Mongoloid?
13. Who co-wrote (and recorded) the track Sister Midnight with David Bowie before Bowie then recorded it himself under the title Red Money?
14. Who first recorded Re-make/Re-model?
15. Who recorded the track Needles in the Camel's Eye on their début album in 1974?
Guilty Pleasures Round
16. Who's début single was called Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble using a sample of the theme tune of the 1960s television series I Dream of Jeannie?
17. Who had a song out called Rude Boy earlier in 2010?
18. Which drag persona has had viral hits and is all over Youtube with videos like Shoes, Txt Message Breakup and Let Me Borrow That Top?
19. Who had a big hit with Kiss Me, Honey, Honey, Kiss Me?
20. Who recordred The Man With The Golden Gun?
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Monday, October 04, 2010

GodMode in Windows 7...

Want to activate GodMode in Windows 7? Here's how! GodMode is a feature that brings together a long list of customization settings allowing you to change all your settings from one place. Right click / create folder / rename folder thusly "GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}" and press enter. Neat.
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Friday, October 01, 2010

Oh My Giddy Aunt...

Those of who you who get a bit wobbly at the top of a stepladder are strongly advised to look away now, because here's a helmet cam video of just how you get to work when your office is at the top of a 1,768ft TV mast.

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