Wishing You A Merry Valentine's Day & A Happy New March!

The end of the anti-penultimate day in February and there is a blizzard of snow in the centre of Edinburgh. It's like the good ol' days, at least according to one source who had thick snow some 20+ years ago in the beginning of April!  Chances of that this year...?  Oh yes, taxi!

Almost Got My Ducks In A Row...

Contrary to the ridiculous business expression, ducks don't like lining up in straight rows and they also have a tendancy to move about the place. Maybe it's the snow that has forced them to queue up just for this shot...


Extra prize for anyone who can identify the 'ducks' for me!

Although, now that I think of it, this post could easily be an analogy for my life right now (except for not remembering the names of birds... ;-) !

Mum's The Word For Pre-School Ed-you-kay-shun...

This isn't a top secret revelation, although I do firmly believe the authors would prefer this be kept quiet, but I do have to give credit to my Mother of all people for this posting.  Quite simply Sefton Council (as in Merseyside) have a new leaflet out to tell new parents what grants are available to help their babies get the best head-start in their life-long learning journey.  I think any parent would be happy if their child could read (or spell)...

What Is Real? It Seems Everything On TV Is Fake!

There are many things in life that make me question my beliefs and assumptions about the world.  In the realms of TV, I believed very little of what I saw.  In fact, I should have believed even less as the few things I knew were real ... have turned out to be fake!  The world is not as my TV tells me, locations aren't as they appear and, not in an environmentalist way, the world is green!  Am I just babbling nonsense?  Probably, so watch this video from Stargate Studios and be prepared to never again look at a TV show the same...  Credit to TV Squad for posting this first and me for having the ability to read that post!

Scousers Here, Scousers There, Scousers ... erm Not In Parliament?

Do Labour really not want any MPs in the next parliamentary session? In a relatively safe Labour seat with the main opposition being the Lib Dems, we have a sitting MP who is standing down. This seat is last year's Capital of Culture, and my home town, Liverpool. So which incredible talent do the reach out to as the next candidate? Paul McCartney? Cilla Black? Daniel Craig? Craig Charles??? No. Apparently the Liverpudlian candidate was not good enough for the Labour Party and they went with Luciana Berger. No, not the daughter of Patrick Berger, former Czech Republic and Liverpool FC star, but instead the one from nearby LONDON!
This has caused an outrage! She foolishly agreed to be quizzed by the Liverpool Echo on Liverpool's history and from what I can tell she only managed to name one of The Beatles and has no idea who Bill Shankly was or who performed Ferry Across The Mersey! Aside from countless questions being raised within the Labour Party, they now face a huge threat to their vote share with Comic Actor and famous Socialist Labour Party supporter, Ricky Tomlinson (from nearby Blackpool), trying to stand against her! So come May we can expect Labour to lose, maybe the Socialist Labour Party or Lib Dems to win, but the biggest winner will be David Cameron with a majority one greater than it would have been if sense had of prevailed.

Why Is Michael McIntyre Starring As The Wolfman?

Just back from watching The Wolfman and there are several things that have surprised me about this film.  I believe it has been delayed by many months which it spent in post-production and I'm pleased that this hasn't made it into a long and drawn out film.  Yes, it is a little bit schizophrenic at times, but the acting, the direction, the sets, the special effects and the make up are all very professional.  In fact on the, I'm stunned how they managed to take 21st Century comedy maestro Michael McIntyre and age him slightly to be the lead actor:

The film is quite enjoyable, doesn't bore you at any point and has a nice sprinkling of loud noises / jump out scenes as well as some hardcore gore (similar to Daybreakers in not pulling any punches).  From the opening titles, you realise that this is a remake of a classic Hammer horror film about "The Wolfman".  It's not a serious thriller about werewolves nor a teen flick about love between monsters.  All it tries to do is tell the story of this one Wolfman and it does that pretty well.  That said, there are times especially in the first half hour were the direction and acting comes across as a serious drama or suspense thriller which at the time does confuse you.  When you leave and you recall the opening titles, the main sequence in the middle and the closing scene, you know that it is very good and modern Hammer horror film which does entertain.

Finally ... A Social Network For Bees!

I'm really happy that the human-centric web has finally reached out to our cousins, the delicate bees, and created them their own social network called Buzz (unconnected to the directory service from AT&T).  It seems it's all part of Google's "do no evil" strategy and has nothing to do with facebook or twitter and the on-going battle for the future of mankind (aka the internet).  I went to see what the, erm, hub-bub was all about and low and behold, Google think I'm so important they have created a profile of me (very flattering, much better than being profiled in a serial killer kind of way!).

Happy New Decade With A Grainy Picture!

What happened to January...?  Any way, here's how I welcomed in the new decade, kneeling in the middle of the frozen Union Canal with a glass of champagne in my hind.  Start as you mean to go on...

12 Million Reasons to Love my Satio

Hmm, the picture has been deleted.  Must investigate one day...

Exclusive: Toy Story 3's European Premiere Will Be At EIFF 2010!

That's right, and you really did read it here first!  The 64th Edinburgh International Film Festival host the European Première of Toy Story 3, most likely on the afternoon of Saturday 19th June, 2010.  Where did I get my red-hot exclusive from you ask?  My brain.  In 2008 the UK premiere of Wall.E was 24 hours after the American launch on a Saturday afternoon and about a month before the launch in the rest of the UK.  Taking a quick peek over at IMDB we see the global launch of Toy Story 3 is 16th - 18th June with the UK release set for five weeks later on 23rd July.  You don't have to be a genius, although I may very well be, it's just not required.  Now there is just the small matter of waiting 7 months until the EIFF box office opens.  Oh yeah, that and negotiating with Pixar / Disney to get the rights to scoop the rest of Europe (excluding Cannes) to make this happen (but this is really a small detail isn't it).  Remember you read it here first and remember that you've got a friend in me...