This is one photo from a Flickr group devoted entirely to Snow Daleks. There are some great ones, now if only I had enough snow to have a go myself.
Monday, 21 December 2009
No snow.
Whilst the rest of the country is slowly being blanketed by fluffy white snow we have not yet seen a single flake. I can't share my pictures of our snow, so I started searching to see what snowy things I could find.
This is one photo from a Flickr group devoted entirely to Snow Daleks. There are some great ones, now if only I had enough snow to have a go myself.
This is one photo from a Flickr group devoted entirely to Snow Daleks. There are some great ones, now if only I had enough snow to have a go myself.
Sunday, 20 December 2009
Words words words
I have realised tonight that I haven't blogged about I CAN's Adopt A Word campaign so I'm putting that right.I CAN is the national charity that supports children who have speech, language and communication problems. The statistics show that 1 in 10 children has a communication problem, that's 3 in every average class. The impact of having difficulties with communication can be huge, affecting learning, friendships and limiting a child's potential to achieve into adulthood.
The Adopt A Word campaign is simple, it works just like the schemes zoos run - pick a word, pay the money (it costs £20) and its 'yours' for the year. They update the website to show that the word belongs to you and you get an adoption certificate. The list of words they have is extensive - I had great fun looking around for words to adopt for people. A number of celebrities have joined in the fun, you can see a list of their adoptions here.
Saturday, 19 December 2009
Rock With Laughter 2009
Last night I made my now yearly winter pilgrimage to the LG Arena for a night of music and comedy. In 2005, 2006 and 2007 we attended Jasper Carrot's Rock With Laughter (a line up consisting primarily of comedy and music acts announced in advance), last year the format changed to Jasper Carrott's Christmas Cracker (a similar line up but with no prior announcement, you just turn up and hope there's at least one decent act). This year saw a return to the superior Rock With Laughter format but with no Jasper, Lenny Henry instead taking on the master of ceremonies role. He did about 5 minutes stand up between each act, his material varied between the tried and tested stuff we've seen him do every year and some new stuff that was actually rather funny.
Rocketman opened up the show, a fairly mediocre Elton John tribute act who spent a good proportion of his set off stage changing costumes whilst his band continued playing. As soundalikes go he wasn't the best, and the lukewarm reception he received suggested the rest of the audience agreed.
Shappi Korsandi was the first comic of the night. I thought she was pretty funny though I'm not sure I would enjoy seeing her do a full show. She has a tendency to rattle through her material in a slightly scatty manner that I think could become a little tedious after a while but for a 15 minute slot she was very entertaining. I had heard some of her act before (I think on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow) but it was stuff that I didn't mind hearing again.
Bjorn Again took to the stage next for a set of Abba's most popular tracks. They were fun and went down pretty well but I found myself completely distracted by the dancing. I checked with my parents and they agreed that Agnetha and Anni-Frid never danced like their Bjorn Again counterparts.
Dara O'Briain was up next for the comedy side. He noticed a young girl sat in the front row early into his set and he seemed very aware of the appropriateness of his material. He didn't let this stop him however, he just warned the adult(s) with her a couple of times that now was a good time to cover her ears, and carried on. It did make us question though who would take young children to an event that had no obvious or limited interest to anyone under the age of about 15. His material was all very current, I'd definitely consider seeing him again in the future.
The final act of the first half was The Blockheads with Phil Jupitus. I don't have much to say about them apart from I wish Phil Jupitus would stick to panel shows.
After the interval came the customary dance act, this year it was Aidan Davis who reached the final of this year's Britain's Got Talent. He did one extended dance piece to three tracks. It was very good, he's clearly continuing to progress since I last saw him. He couldn't support a full show on his own but he'll definitely do well as part of variety type shows.
Alan Carr came next, and proceeded to have the audience roaring with laughter. He was absolutely brilliant, I thoroughly enjoyed his act.
Alesha Dixon was the only musical act of the night that I properly enjoyed. She came out and did three of her own tracks and one Mis-Teeq track that had me feeling very nostalgic. Her dancers were all very attractive and danced very well. One of my favourite moments was when she invited Lenny to join her on stage for Scandalous, he obliged and appeared to enjoy himself thoroughly.
Lee Mack was the final comic of the night. We saw and enjoyed him last year at Christmas Cracker, he was better this year. His act was topical, the section on the impact of the proposed alcohol duty increases on Britain's booze culture was a particular highlight even if his Geordie accent needed a little more practice.
The night was rounded up by the Sugababes. Within a few seconds of their opening music starting people began to leave - I think their inclusion on the bill was a little misguided. I admit I hadn't really been looking forward to seeing them, unfortunately they were worse than I expected. They looked completely trashy, and Heidi looked as though she had already had a pretty heavy night. Jade appears to have fitted into the group well, there is no doubt she is by far the strongest singer though unfortunately her dancing reminded me a lot of Anne Hathaway as Mia in The Princess Diaries. Such a shame that a really good note ended with a bit of a damp squib.
Rocketman opened up the show, a fairly mediocre Elton John tribute act who spent a good proportion of his set off stage changing costumes whilst his band continued playing. As soundalikes go he wasn't the best, and the lukewarm reception he received suggested the rest of the audience agreed.
Shappi Korsandi was the first comic of the night. I thought she was pretty funny though I'm not sure I would enjoy seeing her do a full show. She has a tendency to rattle through her material in a slightly scatty manner that I think could become a little tedious after a while but for a 15 minute slot she was very entertaining. I had heard some of her act before (I think on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow) but it was stuff that I didn't mind hearing again.
Bjorn Again took to the stage next for a set of Abba's most popular tracks. They were fun and went down pretty well but I found myself completely distracted by the dancing. I checked with my parents and they agreed that Agnetha and Anni-Frid never danced like their Bjorn Again counterparts.
Dara O'Briain was up next for the comedy side. He noticed a young girl sat in the front row early into his set and he seemed very aware of the appropriateness of his material. He didn't let this stop him however, he just warned the adult(s) with her a couple of times that now was a good time to cover her ears, and carried on. It did make us question though who would take young children to an event that had no obvious or limited interest to anyone under the age of about 15. His material was all very current, I'd definitely consider seeing him again in the future.
The final act of the first half was The Blockheads with Phil Jupitus. I don't have much to say about them apart from I wish Phil Jupitus would stick to panel shows.
After the interval came the customary dance act, this year it was Aidan Davis who reached the final of this year's Britain's Got Talent. He did one extended dance piece to three tracks. It was very good, he's clearly continuing to progress since I last saw him. He couldn't support a full show on his own but he'll definitely do well as part of variety type shows.
Alan Carr came next, and proceeded to have the audience roaring with laughter. He was absolutely brilliant, I thoroughly enjoyed his act.
Alesha Dixon was the only musical act of the night that I properly enjoyed. She came out and did three of her own tracks and one Mis-Teeq track that had me feeling very nostalgic. Her dancers were all very attractive and danced very well. One of my favourite moments was when she invited Lenny to join her on stage for Scandalous, he obliged and appeared to enjoy himself thoroughly.
Lee Mack was the final comic of the night. We saw and enjoyed him last year at Christmas Cracker, he was better this year. His act was topical, the section on the impact of the proposed alcohol duty increases on Britain's booze culture was a particular highlight even if his Geordie accent needed a little more practice.
The night was rounded up by the Sugababes. Within a few seconds of their opening music starting people began to leave - I think their inclusion on the bill was a little misguided. I admit I hadn't really been looking forward to seeing them, unfortunately they were worse than I expected. They looked completely trashy, and Heidi looked as though she had already had a pretty heavy night. Jade appears to have fitted into the group well, there is no doubt she is by far the strongest singer though unfortunately her dancing reminded me a lot of Anne Hathaway as Mia in The Princess Diaries. Such a shame that a really good note ended with a bit of a damp squib.
Friday, 18 December 2009
Food Glorious Food
I haven't blogged much about food or baking since I was diagnosed with coeliac disease despite the fact that its something that has been occupying a good proportion of my brain space. When my dad was diagnosed a few years back we quickly became aware that virtually every sentence he uttered was to do with food, he became completely obsessed with it for about two years - I really don't want to fall into that same habit (though I'm realising how easy it would be to do so). I also know that other people's health can be utterly boring, I don't want to send everyone running for the hills.
I did toy with the idea of starting a blog specifically to talk about coeliac disease and issues around it for a while. At the moment I'm not going to do that because a. I don't have the energy or inclination and b. I'm likely to run out of stuff to say. Instead I will start talking more about my experiences here, but it'll just be the odd post about something I've baked or an eating out experience.
When I was in London on Tuesday I had two brilliant eating out experiences. It was the first time I'd been away since going gluten free, and if I'm honest I was a little concerned about how it would impact on the trip. I didn't need to worry though, a little research beforehand meant that I was armed with lists of options for somewhere for an afternoon snack and somewhere for an evening meal and we tried a couple out.
Muffinski's in Covent Garden was our destination for an afternoon snack. They have a big range of muffins including (on the day I visited) 8 different gluten free muffins. I tried the gluten free blackberry and white chocolate muffin and was really impressed. The texture of the muffin was good, quite often gluten free baking can be dry and crumbly but this was moist and didn't fall to pieces the moment I started eating it. When I chatted to the bloke behind the counter about the gluten free options they have he told me that they're starting to make savoury gluten free muffns at the weekends - I'll certainly be going back to try them.
For our evening meal we went to Carluccio's. They have a dedicated gluten free menu, with starters, salads, pasta dishes, a non-pasta main, and side orders. I chose the Amatriciana - pasta with a spicy tomato sauce and pancetta. It was absolutely delicious, the sauce was rich and had a good kick to it and the corn pasta was cooked to perfection - really very impressive. For dessert I had the fresh fruit salad with cream, the waitress was very apologetic about the fact that this was the only dessert option I could have but it was very tasty and a huge portion. All in all it was a really easy meal with no stress, the only downside was that Yasmina from The Apprentice was sat on the table next to us and she talked loudly and continuously for the duration.
I did toy with the idea of starting a blog specifically to talk about coeliac disease and issues around it for a while. At the moment I'm not going to do that because a. I don't have the energy or inclination and b. I'm likely to run out of stuff to say. Instead I will start talking more about my experiences here, but it'll just be the odd post about something I've baked or an eating out experience.
When I was in London on Tuesday I had two brilliant eating out experiences. It was the first time I'd been away since going gluten free, and if I'm honest I was a little concerned about how it would impact on the trip. I didn't need to worry though, a little research beforehand meant that I was armed with lists of options for somewhere for an afternoon snack and somewhere for an evening meal and we tried a couple out.
Muffinski's in Covent Garden was our destination for an afternoon snack. They have a big range of muffins including (on the day I visited) 8 different gluten free muffins. I tried the gluten free blackberry and white chocolate muffin and was really impressed. The texture of the muffin was good, quite often gluten free baking can be dry and crumbly but this was moist and didn't fall to pieces the moment I started eating it. When I chatted to the bloke behind the counter about the gluten free options they have he told me that they're starting to make savoury gluten free muffns at the weekends - I'll certainly be going back to try them.
For our evening meal we went to Carluccio's. They have a dedicated gluten free menu, with starters, salads, pasta dishes, a non-pasta main, and side orders. I chose the Amatriciana - pasta with a spicy tomato sauce and pancetta. It was absolutely delicious, the sauce was rich and had a good kick to it and the corn pasta was cooked to perfection - really very impressive. For dessert I had the fresh fruit salad with cream, the waitress was very apologetic about the fact that this was the only dessert option I could have but it was very tasty and a huge portion. All in all it was a really easy meal with no stress, the only downside was that Yasmina from The Apprentice was sat on the table next to us and she talked loudly and continuously for the duration.
Thursday, 17 December 2009
BAFTA
On Tuesday evening I went with Emma to see Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner in conversation with Caitlin Moran at BAFTA. To say we were a little excited in the lead up to the event would be an understatement, we booked the tickets about two weeks before and emails between us would regularly contain mentions of the upcoming event.
The reception before the talk provided a wonderful opportunity for people watching, it was fascinating seeing the groups of people gathering - it was a very different crowd to any Doctor Who related event I'd previously been to. We did notice that the gender mix was very skewed, and that amongst the relatively few other females that were there most of them were a good bit older than we were. From eavesdropping on a few conversations it was clear that lots of attendees had a professional interest in the show, working on magazines, blogs or in tv in some capacity. It was lovely to see Murray Melvin wander past looking impeccably turned out.
The talk itself was pretty much everything I hoped and expected it would be. Caitlin Moran had prepared an excellent set of questions, and the use of clips chosen by Russell and Julie to illustrate points worked really well - for example they showed the motorway sequence from 'The Runaway Bride' and you could sense everyone getting utterly wrapped up in the excitement of it. As well as touching on the expected topics of their deparature, Stephen Moffat taking over and imminent episodes The End of Time it was really interesting to hear them talk about broader issues relating to the programme, e.g. how all of the extra content we've come to expect from the show was agreed to, how the overall brand was created and maintained, and the influence other tv programmmes that they both loved had on the overall vision they'd had for the show. We also learnt a few of the rules that had Russell had set down for the appearance of the returning show - apparently silver, glitter, foil effects and diagonal zips were all firmly on the banned list.
The most controversial moment of the evening came when Caitlin Moran asked about where the bedrooms were on the TARDIS. According to Russell there are no bedrooms, the TARDIS functions purely as a vehicle to transport the Doctor and companions from A to B. Via Twitter we later discovered that Caitlin was as dissatisfied with this idea as we were, along with other parts of the Twitterverse.
The Q and A session that finished up the evening was one of the better ones I've experienced, the questions tended to be thoughtful and original. There were of course a couple that left us gently cringing in our seats, and one that was so clever it made my brain spin trying to work it out. I can't remember now what it was, though it contained the word manifesto at least once, but the answer was really interesting.
All in all it was a brilliant two hours, and well worth the very reasonable admission price.
The reception before the talk provided a wonderful opportunity for people watching, it was fascinating seeing the groups of people gathering - it was a very different crowd to any Doctor Who related event I'd previously been to. We did notice that the gender mix was very skewed, and that amongst the relatively few other females that were there most of them were a good bit older than we were. From eavesdropping on a few conversations it was clear that lots of attendees had a professional interest in the show, working on magazines, blogs or in tv in some capacity. It was lovely to see Murray Melvin wander past looking impeccably turned out.
The talk itself was pretty much everything I hoped and expected it would be. Caitlin Moran had prepared an excellent set of questions, and the use of clips chosen by Russell and Julie to illustrate points worked really well - for example they showed the motorway sequence from 'The Runaway Bride' and you could sense everyone getting utterly wrapped up in the excitement of it. As well as touching on the expected topics of their deparature, Stephen Moffat taking over and imminent episodes The End of Time it was really interesting to hear them talk about broader issues relating to the programme, e.g. how all of the extra content we've come to expect from the show was agreed to, how the overall brand was created and maintained, and the influence other tv programmmes that they both loved had on the overall vision they'd had for the show. We also learnt a few of the rules that had Russell had set down for the appearance of the returning show - apparently silver, glitter, foil effects and diagonal zips were all firmly on the banned list.
The most controversial moment of the evening came when Caitlin Moran asked about where the bedrooms were on the TARDIS. According to Russell there are no bedrooms, the TARDIS functions purely as a vehicle to transport the Doctor and companions from A to B. Via Twitter we later discovered that Caitlin was as dissatisfied with this idea as we were, along with other parts of the Twitterverse.
The Q and A session that finished up the evening was one of the better ones I've experienced, the questions tended to be thoughtful and original. There were of course a couple that left us gently cringing in our seats, and one that was so clever it made my brain spin trying to work it out. I can't remember now what it was, though it contained the word manifesto at least once, but the answer was really interesting.
All in all it was a brilliant two hours, and well worth the very reasonable admission price.
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
Normal service will resume shortly
I'm home from London having spent a lovely 24 hours away from home that included two very enjoyable eating experiences (this was my first trip away since being diagnosed with Coeliac Disease) and an utterly brilliant talk at BAFTA. I am however utterly exhausted and only just managing coherence if I try really really hard so I'll save a proper blog post 'til tomorrow.
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
I'm not here today...
... I'm off to see Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner in Conversation at BAFTA instead. I'm ridiculously excited by this fact, expect a proper post some time tomorrow all about it.
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