Wont Get Fooled Again

So ... Doctor Who. Seems to be splitting opinions. Dan, Rach, Mark L, Jamie G & I are in the not loving it camp. John, Gav, Rich & Maria are in the loving it side .. Look away now and come back when you have seen it or get spoiled!

Toclafane. Fucking knew it! Quite happy with this aspect. Personally felt it was a bit of a given.
Then they turned the Doctor into a cross between Gollum and Dobby the House Elf. I laughed at this.... which is when my disappointment set in.
Not entirely convinced by the Doctor spending a year tuning into a psychic satellite network to be honest. And the whole world chanting Doctor, Doctor turning him into Jesus or something ... very reminiscent of the end of Care Bear Movie II: A New Generation. Really!
Jack is the Face of Boe? Ok .. admit, I loved this.....
The Master dead? The only thing I wanted was them not to kill him off. Granted, they did the Flash Gordon pastiche at the end, after the Return of the Jedi pastiche.... so its open for his return. I have had one friend wonder if those red painted nails belong to the Rani. I'd say not but think its the wife ... or the Master has regenerated into Joanna Lumley.
Martha left! Well, written, acted and shot ... but a bit gutted as really liked her. My theory is this though, DT is very likely to leave at the end of series 4 if you ask me, so would Freema have been .. and bringing in a completely new Doctor and companion is a lot of work ... so bring in the new companion during series 4 and life's easier all round. I have heard that Martha will show up next year and will appear in Torchwood too. I hope so. Freema has been wonderful
And then the Titanic ... oh come on? They came up with a handy macguffin to explain Donna's appearance ... how the hell did a ship crash through the Tardis wall? I am assuming the shipbound setting means that they don't have to go on the streets of Cardiff with Kylie in tow ... so my stalking plans need to adapt!
Now don't get me wrong ... it was still better than most telly these days .... just didn't live up to what I expected. Maybe I ask too much?

I want to be this guitar

A long time ago in a county far far away ... bugger, wrong franchise.
Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name ... hm, almost...
Westminster. The Final Frontier..... that's better. From 97-01, i frequented a place called Pages Bar. A pub in Victoria that catered particularly for sci fi fans. It was themed to resemble a cross between Quarks and Ten Forward, was generally full of Starfleet Officers, Klingons, Trill et al, had star guests from time to time, quizzes, would show new episodes fresh from the USA early in the evening, and was an all round geek campfest from start to finish. I was never really part of the regular crowd as found I could only afford to get there once every few months, but nonetheless, Admiral Bob seemed to recognise me each time and would ask me to dance on the table for him. Apparently, my time warp & greased lightning were to his approval. But, the highlight of the evening for me would always be one of their home made music videos. Long before everyone else was posting them all over the net, Mani (the resident dj type) was making these. You don't have to know Trek/B5 or whatever to really appreciate the humour, but there is certainly another level of fun if you do.
Sadly, DS9 ended, Voyager became the Janeway and 7 of 9 Show adn Enterprise was just bollocks, so Pages became less Trek, more Buffyverse and of no interest to me. Its closed now, so i believe, so here is a taste of one of the things that made the late 90s great for me.

Going, going .. DOH!

So I regularly play a game on ebay. If I want something and you bid higher than I can afford, I make you pay! And I fucking mean pay .... I will keep bidding until you pay three times the value of whatever it is and what I was willing to pay. because if I cant have it, you are going to have to sell organs to have it, over me.

And so it began on Friday. As a laugh, a guy here sent me a link to a Quidditch pocket watch. It was very nice. Comes in a tin that is decorated to look like the box the Quidditch equipment is kept in (from the book artwork, opposed to the film). I then just has a snake, badger, lion and raven in the place of 12 3 6 & 9 on the face. Its 1 of 2000 and I cant actually find another on sale anywhere on google..... so a great collectors item for any fan. But given my financial sitch right now, I had a limit of about £15 to pay on it. Only myself and one other bidder expressed any interest .... and I was the winning bid until about an hour before it ended on Friday. Then each bid I put in instantly was outbid and I went up to 27.87 .. and again outbid. So clearly this other guy/beyatch had a £30 bid in there. So I hit the 28.87, thinking it will bung them to their £30 and they can have it at that price, since its double my maximum.

Well, damn if they hadn't stopped at around £28, making me the new high bidder. And since I wasn't paying attention, this all happened with under 20 seconds left to go ..... so I won.

I now had a new plan. This watch is one of 2000. Cant find them for sale anywhere. Over the next three weeks, a new Harry Potter film and book hit the world. Harry is going to be way up there in the public eye. The perfect time to sell this baby on, at more than I paid for it.

And then today it arrived. And now I love it too much to get rid ..... maybe in 20 years when its really worth a mint!

Update! Look, here it is .. selling for about £100 ... suddenly humbled by my £30 purchase price and think it was probably nicked.

The Last of the Time Lords

So did you see Doctor Who?
Bet you weren't disappointed! It has left us with many many 'how the hell are they going to get out of that?' type questions. Pete, look away NOW!

The Toclafane? Who are they? Exactly which void did the sky, spectacularly rip open to reveal? Particularly if it was caused by a Paradox Device! Theories are abounding that its the Time Lords, the residents from Utopia, Daleks & Cybermen or even the population of the Earth from Rose's alternate universe. The key is in the Masters line ... 'If I told you, your hearts would break.....' My money is on Time Lords. Dan even has a theory that its the Time Lords and Gallifrey will be reborn, but from the beginning again .... so all this had to happen for them to exist in the first place. That certainly is a paradox alright.
The Doctor? Well, we know that Lazarus' technology works to make you younger, even if you do turn into a bad CGI monster in the process, so he will be returned to normal.
Jack? cant and wont die. Seen in trailer with gun. But is that the same Jack left in the control room? See below!
Martha. Stunning. Freema has a band of naysayers dogging her every move (yes, I am looking at you Mr Bennett!). I have loved her from day one and in these final shots, she knocked Billie right into touch with that performance. And that little look ...... 'Its like you fancy someone and they don't even notice you're there' .... brilliant. And did her own stunt driving! Go girl! But where has Martha gone? Who will she bring back? Again, rumours abound of a return for Rose... cant see it myself. The Judoon - would bookend this series nicely. An alternate Jack? Possibly. Sarah-Jane? No. as much as I would love her to make an appearance, how the hell would Martha know who she is? That's the thing you see. Wherever Martha goes, unless she meets a character by accident, she can only be going to get help from somebody from series 3, as that's all she knows. leaving us: Judoon, William Shakespeare, The Face of Boe (who does have more to be revealed about his origins and true identity), any of the people stuck on the motorway, Laslo and Tallulah, Lazarus (yes, he died but she can go through time and space with that gizmo, right), that bloke she fancied in 42 (ooh, yes ... he's a good option now I think about it), Tim from 1912, The Family of Blood - not a wise move but they could sniff out the Master and eat him, doubt she'd bother with anyone from Blink as she really had v little to do with them .... bringing us to Utopia .... and I cant see Futurekind being much use and if you were going to skip off to the year 100 trillion, you'd just stop Yana while you are there really. Whomever comes back with her, I have been told by a person who knows, to not get excited about it or I will probably be disappointed!
I just hope that after two cracking episodes that really put just about all other telly, let alone sci fi, into touch, that they can actually live up to it and its not a bit flat or a cop out.
And of course, about three months ago, this happened down Roald Dahl Plass, and was on you tube within hours, so we know that all's well that ends well .. ish.

Please take your seats

The first very much not official online tour of Doctor Who locations is about to begin.




So there you are, that is the Powell Estate. And so is this:




















Mark Leete at locations from The Idiot Lantern:

The outside of the Welsh Assembly Government Offices. The inside of which housed the Lazarus Experiment. To find the exterior they showed, youd need to trip up to the city centre and sit on the museum steps.















And finally for this trip ...

So Here It Comes, The Sound of Drums...

Don't miss Doctor Who this weekend. I was once again graciously allowed to borrow the preview disc from a journo. And the second the episode stopped, watched it again. Its THAT good.

And is it just me, or does anyone else read this and see penis production notes? I am blaming the background and font combo.

The Oncoming Storm

I have a feeling of apprehension. Its been brewing a while. My concentration has is worse than usual and I am restless. Its been growing over recent weeks and I've had this before. That time was when we were on the verge of redundancy in Luton. And the facts I have been gleaning lately have lead me to the conclusion that, as Carly Simon said, its coming around again.
Change is afoot, I am sure
And yet, even with all this, I feel something good just beyond the horizon.

Unforgettable

Today, my world changes.
The amazing pairing of Jack & Karen that began on my very first day here at Real has an end in sight.
Chloe is leaving.
Its bittersweet. This is 100% the right thing for her to do. She has been up and down for easily the last 12 months here and needs the change. And when you consider her new job is in Dubai and she is going to earning mega bucks.......
But I am going to miss her sooooooooooooooooooo much. She is absolutely my best mate here (there is Tree too, but we are so alike and share a birthday, so she is more like my sister) and coming to work every day after she goes, is going to be a bit less brighter. (look, i know that was shocking grammar, but it was great sentiment so fuck off!)

Do You Hear What I hear?

Sweet lord of all the is mighty on a bike .... Doctor Who was good this week. Saying nothing more than that to protect Pete's Innocent little eyes from spoilers. But that was part one of three ... so i am expecting a brain busting ball banging explosion of a cliff hanger for next week. Actually, who am I kidding ... I am well versed in next weeks ep, including the cliffhanger but just cant wait to see it! And for the finale? Only a few people outside the production have been privileged with that. Even the staff at Doctor Who monthly wont get to see it until 7.10 June 30th on BBC1 with the rest of us....

Other than that, it was a relatively quiet weekend to be honest. We are still waiting for that phone call. So most else is on hold.
I did make two new friends however. One a 19 year old lad from Caerphilly who is just discovering who he is and wants to experiment .. well, he kind of has some experience now *cough*
The other is a 21 year old who had me on his friends list on MSN ... turns out we had a mutual friend who put him in touch with me as somebody to talk to when he first came out a year ago or so (I vaguely recall this after thinking about it.... but might be inventing the memory).

Saturday night, I did pop out to Jo West's 40th birthday party at Llandaff Institute. (remember the scene of the war memorial at the end of Family of Blood, where Martha & the Doctor see Tim as an old man? That's where I parked my car!) It was 80s fancy dress. Nobody told me. Well, i say nobody told me, it was on the invite but I lost that weeks ago. I strolled in, dark blue shirt with light blue tee under it, black jeans, red converse ..... well, it was a bit like Michael Jackson in The Way You Make Me Feel video.......
I had made Jo her pressie. A double CD of every number one single on her birthday from birth on .. so 41 tracks ranging from Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep, through Gary Glitter to Doctorin the Tardis (really!). Also a bottle of Pinot Grigio, since it was Jo who wrote and directed A Little Extra Help and one of my lines was ... 'A Pinot Grigio, A good accompaniment to a variety of dishes and of course delightful to drink on its own....' so felt it was apt.

And, that's about it really.

Balls

So read this.
Although there is a high cringe factor, I also cant help but chuckle at:
She pulled off his left testicle and tried to swallow it, before spitting it out. A friend handed it back to Mr Jones saying: "That's yours." That's all they could think of to say? Not 'Holy fucking shit, that mad bitch just bit your ball off .. and what are you doing with no trousers on anyway?
Sentencing Monti, Judge Charles James said it was "a very serious injury" No shit Sherlock.
He added: "That caused my underpants to come off and I found I was completely naked and in excruciating pain." Again with the .. where are your trousers?
She said: "It was never my intention to cause harm to Geoff and the fact that I have caused him injury will live with me forever. I am in no way a violent person." No, not violent at all......

Heroes & Demons

Bit of a strange one today.


Last night was a bit of a crisis. Its more Dans story than mine, and his blog should tell the details, but we had a dash to try and get to his Nan before she died so he and his mum could say goodbye. This meant a drive to Newport first to fetch Barb, then hell for leather to Swansea to the hospital. I have met his Nan, I think twice in total, so my concern was more for Dan really. But after losing three of my own Grandparents, without being given the opportunity to say a last goodbye, I was damned if I wasn't going all out to make sure Dan got his chance. People who know me, will know I am a fucking good driver. And stick to speed limits as they are there for a reason ... but last night I hammered the car at 90 plus most of the way to be sure we got there. And we did. Dan spent a good two hours with her before they sent us home.

There is a certain belief that Gay men fall into two categories. Sci Fi geeks and clubbers - with a marginal cross over in between. This news from Outpost Gallifrey, would support that theory:
As reported by PinkNews, the final episode of Series Three of Doctor Who, The Last of the Time Lords, is being broadcast on the same day as the London Pride Festival, held in Trafalgar Square. Organizers of the event, in an effort to not make gay Who fans choose between the annual celebration and the season finale of their favourite show, have come up with an interesting compromise: they plan to carry the live BBC broadcast of the episode at 7:10 p.m. on a big screen at the event's main stage in Trafalgar Square. And if that's not enough to get gay fans out to the event, they've also arranged to have John Barrowman co-host the event with Graham Norton. Barrowman will be speaking earlier in the afternoon about his role as Captain Jack on Doctor Who and Torchwood.The event kicks off at 3:00 following the Pride parade through town and concludes with the broadcast of The Last of the Time Lords.

And, on a related subject, between myself and my mate Jamie in Manchester, I think we have figured out the final secret of the Face of Boe.

A Bad Sitch

Ok, its not something I talk about a lot, but I am a big fan of Disney Channels Teen Super Hero Kim Possible. Its one of those rare kids shows that really is enjoyable for adults too. So I am slightly distraught to read that its current season will be the last.
This has happened before, resulting in the big finale movie So The Drama in 2003, so I guess I shouldn't be too shocked.
Also, there appears to be a really cool experience at Epcot centre, that I don't think was there when I went last year, so has probably been scrapped, as this article seems to be 7 years old. Bollocks.

Points if you know the relevance of this clip

Unhappy Birthday

So this is 36?
Today should have been lots of talk about the weekend and what I got for my birthday but in light of a 36 year old man being stabbed to death in my home town today, it all seems a bit trivial.
Its all fairly coincidental and means nothing really, but when a guy my age, from my town, with the same middle name makes national news like this, its a bit like a slap in the face with your own mortality.
Then, shopping today, for the second month running, Dan has run out of money a week before I get paid. Its one of my own worst nightmares, getting to the till and finding out you cant pay for what you have bought. Plus, we both have to get to work for 7 work days between now and getting paid. I did win a tenner on the lottery at the weekend .. so when that appears in my bank it will help. If it happens next month, I will have to re think a few things here.

Anyway, enough doom & gloom. We had a lovely weekend. Being fat boys, we sat at the back of the coach so we didn't have to squish into two single seats. Sadly, it was scorching hot and sunny and the air con didn't work that far back. If I pressed my face into the air thing, I could just feel it ... when we got off, the front was beautifully cool. Clearly, the further back you sit, the less air you get. So we sat near the front on the way home.
We met up with Toby in London and between us totally managed to lose Old Compton Street. Which is odd since he lives in London now and I spent many a wasted (literally) evening there when I was younger. Toby kindly treated us to a meal (we found a burger restaurant that's major selling point was that the cows are naturally grazed, you know, before dragged off and slaughtered, cut into pieces, minced and then thrown on a hot plate) and some Haagen Dazs. They had Midnight Chocolate Cookie flavour! I have been trying to get that for years.
Then of course, we went and saw Wicked again. Still wicked. Some cast changes.... this time we saw Kerry Ellis as Elphaba (she was off last time) and they now have Oliver Thomsett as Fiyero and Susie Blake (the continuity announcer from Victoria Wood) as Madam Morrible. Interestingly, last time I saw Susie on stage was the Wicked Witch of the West in Cardiff 18 months ago.
After, Richie met us and we stayed at his for the night before heading back on the bus Sunday.

Oh, and for my birthday? A Face of Boe! A Cyberman coolbag lunch kit thing, The Hoffs autobiography, a Catwoman graphic novel and the Companion book to Marvel Civil War. The card from Rach is amazing. It has cute weemee type Village People ... genius

Road to Nowhere

Just read this
Pissing myself laughing.
I am going to burn in hell.

In other news, I realised that its going to be cheaper to go to London on the Megabus this weekend. The return journey is around a tank and a half of petrol, plus £5.10 to cross the Severn Bridge. So that's a total of about £62. The return coach tickets for both of us came to £38.50....... This does now mean we cant go in and see the Kylie exhibition, but given they seem to be fully allocated anyway, it would probably have been a few hours queueing to not even get in, so I don't mind that much. Here's hoping that the journey home doesn't become a repeat of January 6th's debacle.
Something just occurred .... last trip was Jan 5th to go see Kylie. Ugly Betty started that night (every bus shelter, billboard and hobo had a poster..). This trip was designed around going to see the Kylie exhibition and Ugly Betty ends tonight on C4 (I saw it on weds in the E4 preview. Sobbed like a bitch). Symmetry?
Of course, since then, I bought tickets to Wicked as my birthday present to me (Monday if you are interested. 36. Fuck) and we are planning on meting Toby in the afternoon and staying over with Richie. We now aren't meeting up with Mark Leete, David & Al and Manda sadly .... but next time! Mark is down here with us later this month, which I am looking froward to as not seen him for about a year.

Sticks and Stones?

Firstly, if you aren't keeping up to date with events in the Big Brother house, read this.

Now, I haven't been watching, as its not really grabbed me this year as previously stated, but I think BB has done the right thing here. I fully accept that Emily wasn't really at fault here, as she was using the term very much as a slang buddy word. But BB was already on a bit of a sticky wicket after the CBB debacle, so they couldn't take any risks.

So where does this leave it? She says she wasn't being offensive. The people she was talking to weren't offended. BB agrees she was not being offensive. So who the hell has been offended warranting her eviction?
I have said it before but will say it many more times I expect, its political correctness gone mad.
I have been in many situations where a Black (notice the capital B) person has referred to themselves or a Black friend using the word nigger or negro. Growing up in such a multi cultural town as Luton, I saw the full spectrum of use for such words, from abuse to terms of endearment all with the one word.
Prime example for you. at ntl Luton, I was known to the call centre as Queenie. Around 800 employees at any given time, a high turn over of staff, I was there for four years.... so that's a good 3000+ people who know me as Queenie. Sue still has me as that in her phone and I am willing to bet that there were people from there who don't even know my real name. Did I ever bat an eyelid? Did I fuck. I thought it was hysterical. If they had brought the cameras in and done a reality show on us, would this practice have to have stopped for fear of upsetting the gay community? I highly doubt it. Would they have interfered had it been a racially derived name? You bet your shiny blue ass they would. You see, equal rights just aren't, are they? And I do feel strongly about equal rights ... but would rather they were actually equal.
You cant sing Baa Baa Black Sheep. Why? I was always taught the lyrics were 'baa baa black sheep have you any wool?' and then on to sing about having three bags of it that were pre allocated to the master, the dame and the little boy who lives down the lane. Not really offensive to black people. Fuck me, its not even offensive to black sheep for crying out loud. But it got banned from pre schools in the late 80s under racial discrimination.
Schools had to do away with blackboards as this was offensive too. They became chalkboards. Again, not sure I agree with this. Surely the chalk is what writes on the board, so slateboards would have been more apt but maybe roof tiles got in there first and appealed against that. I just hope that now its all markers and wipe clean boards they don't refer to them as white boards or I shall have to write a very strongly worded letter to my local A.M. dang it.
I remember a story some years ago about the Pratts (yes, really) banana plant in Luton. Its a banana plant. Banana's come in, get sorted into boxes and go out. It was a regular place to go if you wanted summer work when I was in sixth form. I never worked there or the sandwich packing place next door due to the alarming amount of great big fuck off black (can I say that? can I call them black? Perhaps I should say lacking in primary colours?) spiders that crawled out of the crates and got loose, daily. Anyhoo, one day there was a story in the local and national press about how a new employee was talking them to the EU for being racist. Apparently they had asked them to unpack bananas, and thereby had inferred that they came across on the banana boat. OH FUCK OFF! They applied for the job, right? A job packing and unpacking bananas in a packing and unpacking banana warehouse? You just want to poke people like that in the eye for spoiling it for everyone else don't you?
But why stop at race? Does a person who was born out of wedlock write in to Anne Robinson every time someone gets called a bastard on tv? I highly doubt it. Sad fuckers if they do, frankly.
I could go on all day with these, but i am sure you can think of some of your own. So back to BB ... there was no offence involved, but because of this namby pampy society we have created, they had to eject her to stop angry mobs burning effigies in islington.....

So there. You can call me a shit stabbing cock sucking pillow biting fudge packing shirt lifting bent queer poof of a ring pirate who rides the hershey highway.
And I really wont mind.

I Want My MTV

The logo for the London 2012 Olympics has been revealed. Along with a snazzy video that I cant embed here .. actually I cant even manage to get the pic to save and import .... anyhoo, you cant see it all here.

Now, I think its VERY 80s. But not in a good way. In fact, its a load of shit. It reminds me of some kind of hybrid of the videos for Money For Nothing, Breakout and Sonic Boom Boy. If you look carefully, it actually does say 2012 .... 2012 that has been held down in the electric chair, screaming and starting to smoke a little at the armpits and balls until it confessed that the UK actually isn't the best place to do this and maybe some other nice country might like the world to descend on it instead and make it into a totally overcrowded cesspit of drunken sports fans. Like Paris. Then again, London or Paris, who will notice the difference?

If You Go Down to Real Radio today....

.... you probably wont be that surprised to find lots of us sat around outside on blankets, stuffing our faces.
As part of World Environmental Day, we decided (my idea) to just enjoy the environment and appreciate what we have, as a means to making people think about the risk of not acting and losing it. So we are currently having a picnic. I spent two hours last night buttering and slicing, Gwyneth has brought in lots of quiches, pies and cakes .... and from midday til 2.00 people can come down and join us for a nibble and a natter. There is also a quiz, printed on recycled paper that will be recycled again, with a fair trade hamper as a prize.
Pics have been taken, so will post them when I get them!

Plus, got this little gem today .. sadly, I have been in the place of the singer in this song.... luckily, never the one being sung at.
At first I was afraid, I was petrified
When you said you had 10 inches, Lord I almost died
But I'd spent oh so many years just waiting for a man that long
That I grew strong And knew that I could take you on
But there you are... another lie,
I was geared up for a Big Mac and you've brought me a French fry
I should have known it was bullsh*t, just a sad, pathetic dream
Should have known no anaconda would be lurking in those jeans...
Go on now go... walk out the door
Don't you promise me 10 inches then turn up with only 4
Weren't you a prat to think that I wouldn't catch you out
Don't you know we're only joking when we say size doesn't count!
Chorus> I will survive, I will survive
Cos as long as I have batteries my sex life is gonna thrive!
I will always have good sex with a handful of latex
I will survive, I will survive. . .hey hey
It took all my self-control not to laugh out loud
When I saw your little wiener standing tall and proud
But to hell with all your ego's and to hell with all your needs
Now I'm saving all my lovin' for a cordless multi-speed
Go on now go... you'd better flee
Last time I saw a pr*ck that small was on my brother... he was 3
I should have asked for confirmation, should have asked for referees
Then I wouldn't have you waving that wee winky thing at me
Go on now go... just hit the track
Don't you bring me home no tiddlers 'cos I'll always throw them back
The only thing that I could do with a pr*ck as small as yours
Is to stick it with a tooth-pick, dip it in tomato sauce
Go on now go... get out of my sight
I'm going back to my appliance 'cos I know it's length is right
And if I ever see your tiny truncheon standing at my door
You'll be counting up your inches as you pick them off the floor
Go on now go...

Bunnies in the Headlights

I have to say its been an interesting weekend. Lets do this chronologically, shall we? You know how random I get if I don't.
Friday then. Left work, went home, did very little until Big Brother. Now, I know I said I wouldn't this year, but as any addict will tell you, its hard to give up. I do think that Channel 4 should offer free patches to anyone trying to kick the habit. That said, I haven't watched since Friday, so maybe I am doing better than I thought. And of course, I did need to watch Uncle Betty which was stuck betwixt the two editions of BB. And I do love my Uncle Betty. Did I tell you why I call it Uncle Betty? Its Nerys' fault.
Not impressed with this bloke they have put in the BB house. For a start he nearly had a pop career with Northern Line. I remember them. The Box played their songs a lot back in the late 90's. In my eyes, this makes him eligible for celeb BB and quite possibly more famous than some of the people that they have put in the CBB House (Shilpa? That twat who walked out on day 2 or something this year? I keep wanting to call him Donnie Darko but that would be an insult to a good movie). I was then in the fortunate position of once again having got my mitts on a preview disc for Blink, this coming Saturday's Doctor Who episode.
Now, I had been told, its a bit scary, so watch it in the dark, late at night. A bit scary? FUCKING TERRIFYING MORE LIKE! I, a grown man who turns 36 a week today, had to send Dan through the house turning on the lights and closing the curtains. And the whole time he was gone, I didn't blink. If I had have done, they would have got me.

Saturday was the Welsh Final of the One Acts festival. We were on first. We didn't win ... hell, we didn't even get a nomination. I am over the moon. As lovely as A Little Extra Help has been, I really was ready to leave it be after performing in Swansea and go out on the high...... As it was, the whole day was one of those days where the air is thick and you expect a sudden break of thunder at any moment despite the heat. The performance was like wading through treacle. The audience were very unresponsive ... I even took to insulting them as part of the ad libbing to try and invoke a response. It was flat. I say again, would have been so much better to have finished in Swansea and gone out on the high.
Newtown is an odd place. Quite pretty by day but full of freaks by night (and that was just us....) and nobody there has the vaguest clue how to talk to a customer, but that's not for here.
And I found I have a reader I didn't know existed! Lon, one of the charming young ladies from the GDL found me when searching for articles about the Swansea festival! Wotcha Lon! Of course, my first thought was SHIT! I have been a bit personal and honest on here ... and its certainly some info that I don't go advertising around Telstars as some of them aren't the sort of people who would want to know such stuff about me. But then, if I was that bothered, I wouldn't really out it in a public domain....... apparently i was rather dismissive about the Youth Groups performing at the GDL One Act.... quite probably knowing me. But I didn't see their entry you see. I would like to state for the record that I do support youth theatre - given it is my background! But me being flippant about a play I didn't even see .... of course! I am also very happy to say that the exceedingly good The Bridge will be representing Wales. Quite right too.
Of course, after driving up to Newtown, building our set, out tech and get in, performance, chill out in the bar, listening to the marvellous adjudicator (who I think may actually have been Joanna Lumley doing a character), a quick chat at the buffet .. it was just gone midnight before Kay & I left to head back to South Wales. Luckily, it also meant traffic was scarce, so we were back around 2.00am.
Of course, I had quaffed red bull to make myself awake for the drive and couldn't sleep until 4.30 .... so stayed out for a while....watched the sun come up from Caerphily Mountain which was really nice.
Then on Sunday, I just flaked on the sofa.
Wouldn't you?

Memories, Like the Corner of My Mind

Just got home from work and wanted to share with you...

There is a junction I drive by on the route to/from work just by Nant Garw, on the hill up to Caerphilly. Said junction has a housing estate. When it is warm, like today, said estate has a certain smell emanating from it. Its hard to describe as it doesn't really smell like anything as such. Not in a way like 'its like grass and chocolate' or something.
But to me it smells like something quite specific ... or somewhen at least. It smells like summer. Summer as a child. Summer in about 1978. It smells of the paddling pool in wardown park. It smells of Sunday afternoons at Aunty Lin's house, sat in the garden watching planes go over head as the adults talk. It smells like very yellow blocks of soft vanilla ice cream. Oblong blocks in oblong wafers. And lets be clear, they are oblong and not rectangle in the same way that balls are round, and not spheres and the rhombus, trapezium and parallelogram are just maths. It smells of playing Star Wars or with Star Wars figures. It smells of wishing I lived in a region that got the Smurfs on Sunday's and Battlestar Galactica on Tuesday's.
Frankly, it smells repugnant. But that repugnant smell is fucking good.

Thank Crunchie

I am bollocksed. I have no idea why I am constantly so tired of late, but I just am.

Ok, so read this. Good points, well made. Plus references to Kath & Kim, Catherine Tate, Little Britain & Kylie ..... I like this Steve Dow. I don't agree with this kind of segregation either. It strikes me that the types who are not comfortable with hettys coming into a gay bar probably have a wife and kids at home and are scared that the more mixed it becomes, the more chance they will get caught. Newsflash .... be fair to the family, steal her frocks and flounce off. They will get over it and have a chance to have a man in their lives who isn't lying to them. And how are these bouncers going to prove it? I can see it now ....
'Are you gay sir, this is a gay men only venue. Would you mind proving it? Just suck this for a moment'

And on to Big Brother. Those of you who know me are probably very shocked its taken me until day 3 to mention it, being the BB Obsessive that I am.
Or should say was.
Yes, after 8 years, the love affair is over. I am still watching, casually, but not every spare waking moment glued to the live feed/website as usual. Not least because yet again, its a freak show and that is just boring now. We have a group of young girls, all totally plastic brain dead wannabes who I couldn't care less for. I cant even remember their names. Then there are identical twins who flit about like flower fairies and squeal at anything that moves. Know the scene from the pilot ep of Friends where Rachel's friends arrive? I think the line was ... *scream* look, I've got elbows.... last night ended with them running around on the sofas at 3.00am saying 'we like this game' ... i despair. Then we have Carole. The 53 year old Eastender bisexual political activist. Dead ringer for Millie Tant from Viz for those of you with memories that go back that far. Current fave to win is Laura, from the Rhondda (next valley over from me) who looks like a Matt Lucas character but seems quite sweet. But so far my favourite has to be Captain Tracey Sparrow. I can see what BB is doing. Historically, the show is watched by a hardcore group of straight girls and gay men, so all the girls are voted out promptly. This leaves a male heavy house come about week 7. So 11 housemates, all female went in. One man goes in tonight and presumably more at some other point. If the tabloids have got the names correct, one of them could be an ex casual fuck buddy of mine called Neil. He'd be good in there, so I do hope so. Plus of course, I will then have a story to sell and have a car that needs work doing, a boiler that needs replacing and a wedding to pay for.

Then, tomorrow is the one act Welsh final. Please don't let us win. I don't want to play anymore. I won my award ... cant I stop now? Yes, selfish. Have you met me? Its a long day too. Its around a 3 hour journey to newtown ... then I have to set up, tech, perform, sit through two other plays, sit through the adjudication, awards, a buffet and then do the three hours back. There was an option to stay over, but i can barely afford the fuel, never mind a room for a night. I did want to just hit the road as soon as I was offstage, but its frowned upon to do that. Which is odd that i am even complying, usually I do my thing and fuck 'em ..... at least I wont be missing Doctor Who, having already seen this and next weeks shows......