Christmas Day (Part 2)

Cadbury's Dairy Milk has a cocoa content of 28%. If you are using an Argos Cookworks chocolate fountain you need chocolate that ideally has a cocoa content of at least 40%. We discovered this on the afternoon of the 25th December, when the said fountain kept seizing up. MO, JO and GO arrived first followed by TS and NS at 6pm - just in time to watch the Christmas Doctor Who special The Next Doctor.

Doctor Who was pretty good although there was the usual last minute fudging of the plot to allow the Doctor to win. Nice touch making us think that David Morrisey was going to be the new Doctor but once again David Tennent ruled the day with a class performance. Rating: 7/10.

After more scoffing and quaffing and a quick session of Wii Tennis, out came 30 seconds. What is 30 seconds? I hear you say... well 30 seconds is a board game that comes from South Africa. Basically you have to describe 4 words or phrases on a card and if you are successful you move around the board. Okay not a great description of rules - but there you go. MO and JO won (although they continually bickered and I'm sure there were some dodgy dice throws). Anyway that was it more or less - Christmas Day 2008 was over!

Christmas Day (Part 1)

Christmas Day and N, my mum and I had lunch at The Noke Hotel in St. Albans. I had never been in The Noke before although I must have been passed it at least 58,000 times. The meal was pretty good (although as you might expect very expensive for what it was but that was undoubtly because it was Christmas Day)... not as much turkey though as The Cowper Arms where we had eaten last year. After finishing off with Christmas pud and a cup of coffee we headed back home to wait for our guests to arrive...

To be continued...

Hancock

We watched this below average Will Smith film last night on DVD. It starts off fairly promising with Smith as a layabout clumsy superhero who is a major PR disaster and after an inventive beginning descends into tripe. I wouldn't really recommend this film... and as for Charlize Theron - she is pure shite.

Rating: 4/10

The Sound of Music

Last weekend N, NS, TS, MO, JO, GO and I (that is me) saw the musical - The Sound of Music. We initially met up at Cafe Uno opposite Liberty's and just around the corner from The London Palladium where the performance would take place. N, NS, TS and I were munching through pizzas when the others arrived.

The performance was pretty good... not excellent but it helped that the songs are so famous and so iconic that it wasn't so notable. The weakest singer was the girl who played Maria - her voice seemed to lack power however this contrasted a lot with the woman who played the chief nun who powered out the couple of songs she was involved in. The set was impressive and I liked the way they depicted the mountainside on a tilting elliptical platform. The end reminded me of when I went to see - The Producers a few years back when swastikas and other Nazi decorations dropped down from the ceiling. I would recommend seeing it but I do think Wicked is better.

Rating: 7/10

My Musical League Table

1) Wicked
2) The Producers
3) The Sound of Music
4) The Lion King
5) Daddy Cool - Boney M
6) The Lord of The Rings
7) Billy Joel

Do they know it's Christmas?

I don't know about you but it really doesn't feel like Christmas to me... So far I have eaten 3 mince pies (2 of which were gluten free) and have received 5 Christmas cards and that is it. Don't get me wrong I do enjoy Christmas - well at least the time off from work but 2008 seems to be the most Un-Christmassy of Christmas'. Hopefully it will get better!

X Factor Final

Did anyone notice how Alexandra Burke, the winner of the X Factor 2008, "lost for words", with tears streaming down her face - quickly snatched the microphone from Dermot's hand to give her thank you speech. Also she grabbed the CD of her new single like grease lightning. You could tell that all she was seeing were pound signs!!! The trouble is I really can't see Alexandra doing that well because she is a carbon copy of Leona Lewis who won two years ago. I must admit that we voted 3 times for JLS - mainly because we didn't want Ms Burke or the pug ugly child troll creature from winning... and bloody 'ell did you see trollchild's dad??? Looked like he had kneecapped a few hapless victims didn't he?

Rant over.

11th Doctor?

Will Paterson Joseph be the the 11th Doctor? He seems to be the bookies favourite and he is pretty good in Survivors.

Lisa Snowdon

Regular readers of my blog will be aware of my intense dislike for the mediocre "celebrities" that exist on TV. I have ranted about dozens of these non-entities over the last two years to various degrees. One of the latest who has raised my hackles is Lisa Snowdon (or Snawdon which is apparently her real surname). If you have been watching the current series of Strictly Come Dancing you will see what I mean. Everytime it comes to the results show you can see the serious look of arrogance on her face "I must not lose, I must not lose" because she is quite clearly thinking "I must further my career, I must further my career". She typifies the individual who has reached the end of her initial profession (ie. modelling) and now is on a predefined plan to carve a new career as a TV / Radio presenter. Nauseating.

Rant over.

Black Rock Tennis

You would think that 2 1/2 hours would be ample time to drive from WGC to the Royal Albert Hall... well it ain't! Should have realised that because of the Christmas shopping along Oxford Street and the rest of the West End - it would take sodding ages to drive through Kilburn, Maida Vale etc along the Edgware Road. Anyway fortunately we got there in the nick of time and settled down to watch John McEnroe get beaten by Jeremy Bates. As I've said before I am not particularly a great tennis fan - however I can recommend this tournament as there is usually some banter between the players (especially John McEnroe who I'm sure was playing to the crowd when he became customarily bad tempered and started throwing his racquet on the ground). McEnroe gave a speech at the end and indicated he may not play again as he felt he had come to the end... so we might have seen an historic end to a great tennis career.

Washing up...

Our kitchen is small... and because of this we don't have room for a dishwasher. Consequently we have to do the washing up by hand at the sink. What winds me up something chronic is that every time I undertake this boring task I always, always, always miss an item of cutlery in the bottom of the bowl. There I'll be, relieved that I have reached the end of this thankless task, a last quick grope in the soapy washing up water yields no more items, tip the water out and crash a bloody spoon falls in the sink. Where the hell was it hiding? EVERY TIME it happens! Aaaargghh!

Rant over.