Anniversary
I had a few days leave left to use as Christmas approached and so I took the three days before off, which included our wedding anniversary. Sue treated me to the box set of the 4th series of 24, and so I over dosed on Jack Bower – and felt suitably jumpy afterwards.
Xmas
Christmas was the traditional affair where we ate lots of food and drank more than we should have and enjoyed the company of family and friends
Jamie came to visit and spent a good few days with us, which was very nice. He is doing well and has settled into his new place and new job making many friends and having a good time. As is usual he was spoilt rotten.
New Year
We like to be at home for New Years as it is too much of an expense and a hassle going out. This year we invited a few friends around and we had a Gaming Night, where we played silly games and ate and drank some more.
On New Years day we joined the History Group walk, which was blessed with good weather as we wandered of hill and across dale refreshing ourselves from the excesses of the festive season.
The dreaded ‘W’ word
We have been back to work for a few weeks now and it hardly seems that we have been away, we are both as busy as ever and nothing seems to have changed. We have started making plans for the year as this gives us something to aim for and a reason to carry on.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
On the small screen…
Winter is a time of hibernation and we have been spending ever more time in front of the box.
- Dr Who Special (I am a fan, what can I say)
- The Royal Family at Christmas (cringe-worthy fun)
- Wallace and Grommet – A matter of loaf and death (superb)
- Demons (a new series a kin to a UK Buffy – bad accents though)
- Royal Variety Show (a Christmas staple)
- ER (the last series has just started on Freeview)
- My Name is Earl (one of the best comedies from across the pond)
We have been enjoying
- Apparitions (spooktastic!)
- Heroes (Mark – what’s not to like)
- Brothers and Sisters (Sue – good girly stuff)
- Life (a great new series with another English actor that has made good in the states)
- Dexter (we really shouldn’t like him)
DVDs including
- Mama Mia (a present for Sue)
- The illusionist
- Atonement
- The lady in the water
Various films over Xmas including
- The 39 steps (made for TV adaptation – quite good)
- Kinky Boots (a good laugh)
- Superman Returns (not so good, but very ‘Superman’)
- Dr Who Special (I am a fan, what can I say)
- The Royal Family at Christmas (cringe-worthy fun)
- Wallace and Grommet – A matter of loaf and death (superb)
- Demons (a new series a kin to a UK Buffy – bad accents though)
- Royal Variety Show (a Christmas staple)
- ER (the last series has just started on Freeview)
- My Name is Earl (one of the best comedies from across the pond)
We have been enjoying
- Apparitions (spooktastic!)
- Heroes (Mark – what’s not to like)
- Brothers and Sisters (Sue – good girly stuff)
- Life (a great new series with another English actor that has made good in the states)
- Dexter (we really shouldn’t like him)
DVDs including
- Mama Mia (a present for Sue)
- The illusionist
- Atonement
- The lady in the water
On the silver screen…
It has been a very long time since we last saw a film in a cinema (several years in fact) and we were probably not going to change that any time soon, until friends of ours invited us out.
The day the earth stood still
Probably not the best remake ever, but it was just as well that they selected the alien role for Keanu Reeves.
Yes Man
We went to the movies again with our friends and enjoyed this film much more, silly and slapstick though it was. It was interesting to see the Kiwi actor out of Flight of the Conchords in it too.
The day the earth stood still
Probably not the best remake ever, but it was just as well that they selected the alien role for Keanu Reeves.
Yes Man
We went to the movies again with our friends and enjoyed this film much more, silly and slapstick though it was. It was interesting to see the Kiwi actor out of Flight of the Conchords in it too.
More of wot I have read…
Human Traces by Sebastian Faulks
This was an interesting book and it is clear that the author has spent a lot of time researching his subject, unfortunately some of the extended passages detailing various psychiatric illnesses and treatments were too long, and frankly boring, for my tastes.
‘In the 1870s, two ambitious boys from different backgrounds, Jacques Rebiere and Thomas Midwinter, find themselves united by a determination to understand how the mind works and whether madness is the price we pay for being human.
As pioneering psychiatrists, their quest takes them from an English country lunatic asylum to the plains of Africa, the lecture rooms of Paris and the mountains of Austria and California. They are guided by Thomas’s devoted sister, Sonia, and by an ex-patient, Katharina, whose arrival exposes profound differences between them. As the concerns of the old century fade and the Fist world War divides Europe, the two friends are compelled to a tragic revision of all that they have loved and pursued.’
The Runes of the Earth by Stephen Donaldson
This is the first book in THE LAST CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT
It has been many years since I read the first and second trilogies and I remembered how I found the character’s human frailties frustrating. Well the author has continued this with this book and I again find myself almost shouting at the character to ‘get a grip’. Still this conflict of a damaged and worthless person from one world being thrust into another where they are powerful and can’t come to terms with it is what drives the story. It is a difficult read from that point of view, but I hope that is down to me not the author, as I like the basic premise.
‘Since their publication more than twenty years ago, the first six books in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant have sold more than 10 million copies and have been published around the world. Now, with The Runes of the Earth, Donaldson returns to the Land, and the story of Thomas Covenant.
Struck down with a deadly disease, Covenant is abandoned by his wife and son. Alone and despairing, he is drawn into the Land, where the earth itself brings healing. He is welcomed as the reincarnation of a legendary saviour, but cannot - will not - accept this magical world is real. But the Land itself is under threat, and only Covenant has the power to save it.
As Covenant battles to save the world he has come to love, he is killed: his death is both the ultimate sacrifice and his redemption.
Now comes the book every fantasy reader has been waiting for. It's ten years on, and Dr. Linden Avery had thought she would never see the Land, or Covenant, her beloved, again. But Lord Foul has stolen her adopted son, and there is more at risk than the life of the boy she adores: Lord Foul is unmaking the very laws of nature and if he is not stopped, he could destroy everything.
And though Linden believes Covenant dead, he keeps sending her messages: 'Find me', and 'You're the only one who can do this', and 'Remember that I'm dead'.
The Land is in turmoil, and Lord Foul has plans for them all...’
This was an interesting book and it is clear that the author has spent a lot of time researching his subject, unfortunately some of the extended passages detailing various psychiatric illnesses and treatments were too long, and frankly boring, for my tastes.
‘In the 1870s, two ambitious boys from different backgrounds, Jacques Rebiere and Thomas Midwinter, find themselves united by a determination to understand how the mind works and whether madness is the price we pay for being human.
As pioneering psychiatrists, their quest takes them from an English country lunatic asylum to the plains of Africa, the lecture rooms of Paris and the mountains of Austria and California. They are guided by Thomas’s devoted sister, Sonia, and by an ex-patient, Katharina, whose arrival exposes profound differences between them. As the concerns of the old century fade and the Fist world War divides Europe, the two friends are compelled to a tragic revision of all that they have loved and pursued.’
The Runes of the Earth by Stephen Donaldson
This is the first book in THE LAST CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT
It has been many years since I read the first and second trilogies and I remembered how I found the character’s human frailties frustrating. Well the author has continued this with this book and I again find myself almost shouting at the character to ‘get a grip’. Still this conflict of a damaged and worthless person from one world being thrust into another where they are powerful and can’t come to terms with it is what drives the story. It is a difficult read from that point of view, but I hope that is down to me not the author, as I like the basic premise.
‘Since their publication more than twenty years ago, the first six books in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant have sold more than 10 million copies and have been published around the world. Now, with The Runes of the Earth, Donaldson returns to the Land, and the story of Thomas Covenant.
Struck down with a deadly disease, Covenant is abandoned by his wife and son. Alone and despairing, he is drawn into the Land, where the earth itself brings healing. He is welcomed as the reincarnation of a legendary saviour, but cannot - will not - accept this magical world is real. But the Land itself is under threat, and only Covenant has the power to save it.
As Covenant battles to save the world he has come to love, he is killed: his death is both the ultimate sacrifice and his redemption.
Now comes the book every fantasy reader has been waiting for. It's ten years on, and Dr. Linden Avery had thought she would never see the Land, or Covenant, her beloved, again. But Lord Foul has stolen her adopted son, and there is more at risk than the life of the boy she adores: Lord Foul is unmaking the very laws of nature and if he is not stopped, he could destroy everything.
And though Linden believes Covenant dead, he keeps sending her messages: 'Find me', and 'You're the only one who can do this', and 'Remember that I'm dead'.
The Land is in turmoil, and Lord Foul has plans for them all...’
Remembrance Day…
On Tuesday 11th November we went to A Remembrance Day Special talk at the Westcott History Group.
The speaker was Andrew Tatham, who explained how a photograph of the officers of the 8th Royal Berkshire Regiment, taken on Salisbury Plain in July 1915, prompted a research project that focused on the First World War and those who fought in it.
He has a website called http://www.groupphoto.co.uk/ where he details what he has been doing and some of the information he has found out.
‘I have a group photograph of the officers of the 8th Royal Berkshire Regiment taken at their training camp on Salisbury Plain in July 1915. My aim when I started was to explore who those officers were - where they had come from, what happened to them, and what their families are doing now. So often wars are seen in isolation from the rest of history - well, I want to put the First World War in the context of the stories of these men and their families. One way that I have explored this is in the production of an Animated Film that shows all of their family trees growing over 136 years, mixed in with photos of their families and historical time markers, with contemporary music, and with the cycles of the moon and the seasons.
Andrew Tatham’
It was a very interesting and moving story that kept us entertained and made us think.
The speaker was Andrew Tatham, who explained how a photograph of the officers of the 8th Royal Berkshire Regiment, taken on Salisbury Plain in July 1915, prompted a research project that focused on the First World War and those who fought in it.
He has a website called http://www.groupphoto.co.uk/ where he details what he has been doing and some of the information he has found out.
‘I have a group photograph of the officers of the 8th Royal Berkshire Regiment taken at their training camp on Salisbury Plain in July 1915. My aim when I started was to explore who those officers were - where they had come from, what happened to them, and what their families are doing now. So often wars are seen in isolation from the rest of history - well, I want to put the First World War in the context of the stories of these men and their families. One way that I have explored this is in the production of an Animated Film that shows all of their family trees growing over 136 years, mixed in with photos of their families and historical time markers, with contemporary music, and with the cycles of the moon and the seasons.
Andrew Tatham’
It was a very interesting and moving story that kept us entertained and made us think.
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