Reading Festival: The Mud Strikes Back!

This is only my second time at my local rock music festival but you could be fooled into thinking I was some kind of veteran, giving advice to my girlfriend and her brother, Steve. Of course, the reality is that I just was very well prepared by my friends last year. Although 2009 (as long as it does actually feel) was a completely different story. I had just got back from a week in Valencia (to watch the European GP among other things) and then the following day went straight to Reading Festival for the first time. I do not think you can get more Rock and Roll than that but you can. Foxy, or rather t_dogg, has been in Spain this week and returns just in time for the festival. Did I forget to mention that this boy has been travelling across Far East Asia and Australasia for the past eleven months?

So I am home from work, it has just gone 9pm on Thursday evening. I was watching the report from the festival on London Tonight. (A news programme I hardly get the time to watch at all these days). The mud has not actually put me, I am going to be well prepared with my wellies and my Kag in a Bag. I suppose I could go extreme and take my Ski Jacket if things really looked bad, but I believe the weather itself is going to improve over the course of the weekend. Something tells me though the ground underfoot, will be not so quick to dry. Everything is under control and I am looking forward to a fun filled three days in a field with my friends.

Of course, I am disappointed that my dearest friend Barry and his lovely wife Lisa are not going to be there. I really enjoyed their company last year, it was good fun. Scott, Pav’s work mate is not going this year either, so it is going to be a different crowd in some respects. Having said that, there will still be the usual suspects, the aforementioned Tom Fox, Hannah and Ollie on Saturday, Mel (I believe for the whole weekend), Sarah and James (also for the entirety of the weekend). Last but my no means least there is Michelle and her brother Steve with his girlfriend Magda, so in terms of company, I think I am all set!

Oh I forgot to mention my colleague Rich. He is an official Reading Festival veteran and will not be bothered by the climate at all. He survived the horrors of MudFest at Glastonbury in 1997. Reading should be a piece of cake for him, he is camping with some friends from Germany (as he does most years) and was only in the office on Monday and Tuesday to make best use of his Early Bird Camping Entry. I text him this morning, as I got to my desk asking how his tent was and that I would see him tomorrow afternoon. The response: “The outside is very wet. At least the rain has stopped.” I had been thinking of him, as I drove back home on the M4 yesterday afternoon. It was crazy, the spray was just making visibility poor and some fool in a Honda Civic thought he did not need to have his headlights on! The journey reminded me of the torrential rain I dealt with in January 2009, as we drove back from Gatwick after our ski holiday to Tignes.

Pav has been building up to this moment for weeks, although there was no Junk Mail posted to me this year! It should be a great three days, even with the mud! Just been having been reading some entertaining tweets using the hash tag #ReadingFestival. The tweet from Thames Valley Police, did make me chuckle!

I will try my best to update my Twitter feed, but I doubt I will be taking my phone into the festival arena considering the current conditions. I may also leave my camera at home, as these are other things that potentially will either get lost, stolen or more likely damaged. I will try my best to update the virtual world when I am back in reality of four walls in the evenings at the close of play each day. Most people know that I am not really a big rock music fan (entries from this blog would be a clear indicator of my true musical persuasions) but in any case, there are reasons why Reading does literally rock! Only 13 hours and 19 minutes to go as I publish this post! I better get a wiggle on!

PS – Yes I know Pav, I still have to blog about my Valencia holiday and upload the photos to FlickR! Give me a chance!

A Peach Wedding With A Twist

Forgive me for a rather rushed post. I wanted to blog as soon as possible after the event, but in this case I am actually just killing time in between two major events. (Plus, Pav has told me in quite harsh terms, that if there is not an entry for him to read with his tea and toast tomorrow morning at work, he will be having serious words!) For several months, I had known that these two weeks would be crazy. Div marries Nige and the following weekend a big group of my friends and I are off to Reading Festival. It does not get literally more Rock and Roll than this!.

I finished work promptly at 4:30pm on Friday afternoon and then headed into town to get a long list of tasks completed. Many of which related to the wedding itself (like collecting my suit from the dry cleaners). In the evening, I had several things to do, including burn a new CD for my Dad, sister Samantha, as well as myself. I had not even packed my weekend bag, and in the end decided go to bed around 11pm, rather than stay up and prepare. I was going to get up early on Saturday morning.

I did, well early enough at 7am and then got going. I got everything ready and packed my bag. I had a shower and put on my sherwani. I had purchased it from the Shoppers Stop in Alpha One mall, Amritsar. (The story of this purchase is a whole blog entry in itself and I will get around to writing it up, soon I promise!). I left home at 8am promptly and got to Michelle’s house thirty minutes later to find her still getting ready. This was not an issue, as I needed to pick a shirt (I had grabbed a selection, along with some ties). However, although Michelle was happy with my choice of shirt, the accompanying tie did not match, so Michelle gave me one of her brother Steve’s black ties. Now this was a skinny tie and I was not convinced I could pull it off. Instead, I was edging towards one of Michelle’s Dad’s black ties (which was thicker or rather standard tie shape if you know what I mean). Michelle’s Mum agreed with my choice but in the end I opted to go for the skinny option. I ironed my shirt in the lounge, while Michelle finished getting ready. It was at that point I suddenly realised I had left suit at home. You tool Teg! Not the end of the world, I could just pop bye on the way to Reading. Yes, it would delay my arrival to the wedding but I needed my suit, there was no way I could sweat it out in my sherwani all day and night! Pav had tried to call me at 8:45am precisely, but I had missed the call. I called him back and left a voicemail. I did not know if this was the call to either confirm my duties for the day or add to them. As I was getting to leave Michelle’s it was already 9am. Mel had text me and I called her back to confirm I was on my way. She wanted me to meet her outside the banqueting suite for the afternoon slash evening reception. (She was uncomfortable with so many people being there that she didn’t know, but I re-assured her that it would be fine!) I would call her when we at the reception at 2:30pm. I then drove back home grabbed my suit (to sarcastic cheers from my Dad, “Well done son!”) and then hit the M4 again all the way to Reading. I parked at Queens Road car park, as it is within a walking distance of the venue.

As we made our way up London Street, I commented to Michelle, how eerily quiet it was outside the banqueting hall. I knew we were late, but Asian people are generally late to these things. We do not have a sense of proper timing when it comes to a wedding. However, as we walked in, I noticed that many of the family already had their heads covered, so I covered my head with the head scarf from The Golden Temple. What we were walking into was the Milni ceremony. We stood back in the corridor and looked on as the families “met” officially for the first time in the joining of the two families together. Better late than never.

Once Nige had paid off various female members of the Khural family (cousins, sisters and aunts) they were given “access” to the wedding breakfast. I finally got to say hello to Manjit and Surinder. I was given my instructions very quickly, “Teg, you needed to eat juldee, and then direct people to the gurdwara from the coach and hand out headscarfs.” Michelle and I got into the queue for food, but I did not get too much food onto my plate, as I knew I had to make a move as soon as the coach arrived. I met up with a few of my friends (Pav, Emily, Matt) and was introduced to Pav’s cousins, Kanu and Sunny. Plus Rav was quick to come and say hello, “Hi Terry, how are you? I’m looking forward to partying hard with The Feather!”. Once I had eaten my small portion, it was action time. Well it was actually before I had finished because Surinder and Manjit were on my case. I dropped Michelle like a stone and I felt extremely bad. Would she forgive me before the evening was out?

I went outside with the chunis and male headscarfs. Matt was helping arrange the logistics of moving over 120 people from the hall to the gurdwara. I was expecting a modern coach with a fat Asian man driving. I was pleasantly surprised. It was a Routemaster complete with white ribbon on the front. (Diamond Geezer would have been proud!) The photographs, however I left to the professionals and my friends. In any case, I had left my camera in my car, in my haste to get to the reception in time. I would not really have the time to be taking snaps, I had more important things to do. Eventually we boarded the bus and Matt, Sunny and I sat at the back of the bottom section, chatting to the helper, taking the job of bus conductor on this short trip. There would be two journeys to ensure everyone could get across to the Gurdurwa on Cumberland Road. I took the lead, once we were off the bus and directed people to the temple in the middle of the residential area. I then waited outside the gurdwara, handing the men and boys headscarfs and directing them inside. Nothing major, but I thought that was my duty over once Div arrived. (For the record she looked absolutely stunning!). I was wrong, there would be plenty more to do before the night was out.

Manjit asked me to occupy the brothers (Pav & Rav) and cousins (Kano & Sunny) by holding up the chuni above Divneet as he made her way into the hall. We had a little dress rehearsal outside in the patio before being called in by a member of the family on a special signal (was a thumbs up or just a under stated nod?). I felt rather overwhelmed. Yes I suppose knowing Pav for the last twelve years I did feel part of the Khural family but was this a step too far. I was willing to do my duty, Div has always been and will always remain to me, a sister. We got the nod, but Div had dissappeared into the kitchen with her Mum. We waited but I do not think the guests upstairs had much more patience. We unfolded the chuni and set ourselves up and then made our way up a rather tight staircase. On top of this, Manjit wanted to make her way from the back of the procession to the front, sidestepping her daughter in the process. She completed the move, including handing her handbag to an aunty to look after. Only in an Asian wedding would such maneouvers be performed. I took a deep breath as we reached the top of the stairs and then entered the prayer hall. I wondered what Michelle would think of me having such a major supporting role, when I had originally offered only a bit part role on the sidelines. After we had “handed” Div over her Dad, we went and sat down. I thought that was my role over, but I was going to be proved wrong yet again.

An elder of the Gurdwara, took the service and explained over the PA system in (firstly in Punjabi then in English) the perhaps of the ceremony, the actual details of the service and welcomed the Peach family and friends. Thankfully I can understand Punjabi, so was not in the need of the translation however, it was good to understand better the service. I have enough difficulty understanding my own religions customs and traditions. There was a minor slip up though, when the gentleman confirmed that Surinder had now given Divneet over to John Peach (when he had meant to say Nigel).

Shortly into the service, Manjit called the brothers and cousins up once again and I took my place behind the holy scripture (fourth in the queue after Tom). I think a trip to Sikhiwiki might help! During the four rounds of the holy scripture, the brothers and cousins are asked to hold the bride and metaphorically speaking “guide” her around as she follows her now husband. It was an honour I had not been expecting. I am looking forward to seeing some of the official photos!

At the end of the service we sat back down and the final part of the service was started. Div and Nige were now officially in the eyes of Sikhism married and it was a joyous occasion. The musicians starting singing, playing the tablas and many guests went up to wish the happy couple and both sets of parents well. The main ceremony was over but my duty to ensure all the guests made it back to Shennai safely was very important. Matt took control though thankfully, and sent sixy guests for the first journey and then we waited for the return journey. Waiting outside talking to Rav was quite delightful. He was now holding the scarf that had joined Div and Nige. He then said something quite provide for a 14 year old, “Nige has always been a brother to me, but now it’s officially”. Yes, this it the point when you respond with an “Awwww, how cute!”. It started to rain a little, so we headed inside to wait as the main hall, catching up with Manjit, Nige’s Mum Christine and a few other guests. Eventually we were called outside, the coach was here and we headed to the bus stop around the corner. It was the final journey back to the banqueting hall, but for me it was the Bollywood diva moment. I was going to take some time out change and come back refreshed for the party.

Walking back to the banqueting suite, it looked dead again but as we went inside, I was greeted by a loud cheer from the bar. It was Pav, Kanu and Sunny. They were already starting the drinking, although Pav was the only one still in his desi dress. People were in the reception area, getting some snacks and I spotted a few other friends before meeting up with the boys at the bar. Michelle was very hot and wanted a drink, so we got in the queue. Once we finally got served, we headed back to the reception area to chat and catch up with friends. Mel had called me at this point (finally, after I had called her three times and left her a voicemail). She was outside, so I went down the corridor, outside to greet Miss Johnson and escort her into the reception. By this time, the clock had been ticking on the arrival of the golden couple, so Surinder asked Pav and Em to usher people to their tables. The seating arrangements had a desert theme, but only a few top tables were reserved, it was a free for all for the others. I had picked out either Apple Crumble or Chocolate Brownies as a potential spot for us friends and we duly took the table, almost centre in the banqueting hall. It was very impressive and the tables decorated very well, with candles. Once we had taken our seats, I decided it would be a good moment to dash to the car to get the gift for Div and Nige as well as grab my camera.

The evening affair could be a blog post alone but I feel I need to give myself a natural break and come back to completing this entry later this week (perhaps even during my lunch hour at work). Instead, I will leave you with some of my favourite photos from the evening. The rest you can catch on my FlickR set.

Hand Delivered

England Expects

The Eco Warrior

I arrived to find a note blu-tacked to my computer monitor. I dual screen in the office, using my laptop screen for admin and my 24″ HP screen (or visual display or monitor) to view spreadsheets. It is a mighty beast, set to the maximum resolution and enables me to view columns A to AD! Two things came to light after reading the note. I did not realise that my learned colleague was such an Eco Warrior. Secondly, he had forgot to mention he had been honoured by Her Royal Highness The Queen for his services to the Swindon community.

Who Goes There?

Before I get bogged down with writing up my India holiday blog posts, I thought it would good and refreshing to give a quick catch up post on everything I have been up to since I returned from the subcontinent.

My Dad recommended I did not go straight to sleep when I got back to the house around 1pm on Saturday 24th July. I therefore spent the time online, catching up with things and watching two episodes of The IT Crowd back to back while having some food. I was glad to be back at home with my Dad and sisters was looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. The following day was going to be very busy, no rest for the wicked as the saying goes.

Driving home on Thursday 24th June (exactly a month before my flight back home) from work, Michelle had called me to let me know that Toy Story 3 was booking at IMAX. I explained that I would book tickets when I got home after the gym (around 7pm). However, by the time I got home and check my e-mail, Michelle had already booked tickets. (Actually within twenty minutes of firstly sending me an e-mail to book tickets, she sent a second e-mail, a forward of the booking confirmation.) Excellent! I was really looking forward to the movie. Toy Story has to be my favourite animated franchice of all time (with the sequel being my favourite). To this day, I still believe the intro (to TS2) is the best intro to any animated movie, ever! I challenge anyone to offer something better!

On Sunday, I headed into London to have a light lunch with Michelle at The Fire Station restaurant, just down the road from Waterloo station before we went to catch the Pixar animation on the biggest screen in the country at 4pm. This was my 2nd time at the South London cinema since October 2007. Thankfully they have had quite a refurbishment in the three years since my last visit. There are now seating areas and more movie posters, I recall we were just standing around waiting last time. When we were finally allowed in and given our 3D Glasses, Michelle could not resist taking a quick snap on her camera phone before the movie began!

I have to admit that these glasses were much more comfortable on the face than the ones that are used in other multiplexes (is their brand name Real 3D). My eyes were not being crushed, which generally tends to happen, as I already wear spectacles. We settled down for some trailers and then a funny computer animated short before the main feature.

I love Toy Story! So this review will be unashamededly biased! My favourite character is Buzz Lightyear, as from my own childhood, I was fascinated by the idea of space, aliens, Star Wars and droids. The mystery of the unknown and as I grew older, gaining an understanding that space is undefinable, inifinite. Whereas everything else in life (even life itself) has a very defined, prescribed shelf life. I had been waiting for this movie since 1999. I recall the Friday night I dashed over to Reading. To the rather new Oracle Shopping centre and Warner Village cinema as it was then. This was the time before allocated seating and by the time we got into the screen (I think it was screen four but I could be wrong). We got in quite late (traffic and not really being able to really put my foot down in a 998c Mini Mayfair) and took up the final seats in the middle of the auditorium. This meant having to lean up a little at the screen, I did not mind. Then the film began and it was Buzz flying through space to an unknown planet. Amazing! Awe inspiring stuff!

In the intervening eleven years, I may have grown older on the outside, but inside the young child remains pretty much alive. Toy Story remains my favourite of the Pixar franchises, although The Incredibles comes extremely close to top spot. Here was the new adventure, but I had tried my best to avoid any of the stories published online, such as details of new characters and any revelations regarding the plot. The only spot I had seen was during The Movie Awards on ITV. The scene was screened in 3D for those in the auditorium (including Tom Cruise) but for the television audience, only in 2D of course! It showed Buzz escaping from the playgroup room, with the help of a group of toys. It was a great and I just could not wait for the movie to be released.

It was great fun as always and is able to appeal to both adults and children in a way, not found in other movie genres. I would happy bet, that most of the parents had come to the IMAX with the excuse of their children, but the reality was they were really looking forward to the animated movie themselves. Although, talking as a non-parent (at the time of typing) I do not believe this is a movie suitable for the under fives. I am sure there are some that would disagree (and those that did, brought their young nipper to the IMAX). Thankfully they did not ruin my experience. It was a rollercoaster of fun from start to finish! I loved every millisecond. I would highly recommend you go and see it! My particular favourite scenes were Buzz being switched into Spanish mode for the Hispanic customers. The Space Ranger is extremely light on his feet and can move!

On my return back home from Waterloo, I had a lazy Sunday evening planned before I headed to bed early before returning to the reality of work on Monday morning. I watched Top Gear, which featured Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. This was fantastic and I did not realise how much of a bloke’s girl Cameron Diaz is! (Michelle would pitch in here and say, she is a grown woman Teg!). Jeremy Clarkson just could not contain himself, he was like the cat that had got the cream! It was a really good episode, particularly as I am a big fan of Tom! I thought he had blown his chances when he went on two wheels going around the corner of the track, but no chance. This is a Hollywood A-List who does a great of his own stunts (hate to see those insurance premiums) and flew to the top of the leader board. The man is a living legend and I really need to go and catch Knight & Day at some stage before it disappears from the big screen for good.

Michelle had seen Inception while I was out in India. Around 4pm (BST) on my last day (Friday 23rd July) I had rudely called her during the performance. I had heard so many positive reviews about the movie that I thought it would be worth going to check it out. This would mean another trip to the cinema within six days but we wanted to keep it local this time. Michelle was keen to watch the movie again, as she had lots of unanswered questions. I had told my colleague Rich, to remain tight lipped until I had seen the movie. I booked tickets for the Luxury 11 Screen at Empire Slough. Just to set you straight, the last time I had been to this multiplex was in November 1994. I sent a text update to Twitter. It brought back some memories for my dearest friend Dave, who had accompanied me on this trip to the Virgin Cinema, as it was then with my other friend Waheed. It was a funny experience, because a guy had complained about a group of Asian guys making noise and throwing popcorn in the back row and they had been ejected soon afterwards (after an intial warning). This was one of three reasons I had avoided the multiplex for sixteen years! The other two? Well there latest showings (even at weekends) are around 8:30pm. Secondly the advertising chain is not Pearl & Dean.

We got to the cinema early, had our parking ticket validated (okay a minor victory) heading up the escaltors. This cinema, had changed a great deal, as you would expect but it was rather a maze. After two escalators, you walk around the food area to a set of stairs and then make your way down to a level to the bulk of the screens. I entertained myself, by dancing around in my Lee Cooper brown leather shoes, much to the bemusement of Michelle. Eventually we got to our screen (11) but there was nobody around. The only employee I had spotted was at the front desk and the food tills. In fact the lights were off behind the bar, no luxury refreshments for us this evening. We headed into the auditorium and found our seats. Now this was sold as leather sofa seats (even the images on the Empire website) but they were actually just well padded leather seats, but only loosely linked. I thought the whole idea of these seats were that you could re-create the atmosphere of watching movies at home. Put your feet up, relax but this was not really possible. They were in fact standard joined together but still with seperate springs, so you could lead back independently of the person you were sitting with. Not great! The screen slowly filled up, but it was hardly packed. A couple behind us, had been seated seperately (about three seats apart) so disappeared back downstairs to complain. I wondered how long it would take for them to appear. Then, as the screen lit up, I was surprised to hear a very familar theme. Asteroid! Yes, since Pearl & Dean was sold for the princely sum of £1 to Image Ltd. (Yes I did tweet to P&D and they responded a few days later). Cool, so now I have the option of going to Vue or Empire cinemas in my desperate need to hear the P&D theme before the main feature.

Inception was great, but not ground breaking in terms of special effects. We have grown accustomed to the level of epic diaster in movies for years. On this occasion, it was the story that was king and the fact that if you like to engage the grey matter when at the multiplex, rather than dump it outside, this was a movie for you. Hence why my colleague Rich liked it so much and actually forfeit Toy Story 3. (Not sure if that was a great decision). I really enjoyed the movie, it was not an easy plot to follow but if you pay attention you should be fine. Nolan is a great British director, although I felt it was a shame they had to use the whole “Director of The Dark Knight” to tice the paying public in. I am quite sure that this was not the doing of Nolan himself but more likely the Studio Markerting Department, but surely the film can sell itself based on the trailer along, regardless of the name on the credits. Sure, it would have looked awesome on the IMAX screen (it was screened straight after Toy Story 3, the Sunday we were in Waterloo). It was very clever and in Caprio you have a highly talented actor, beginning the peak of his second phase of his acting phase, after several years of being a baby face teen idol. The movie kept making you question yourself, is this real or not? In the end we are still left wondering, if it is reality or fantasy but it is so well done, we do not mind such an open question and the final scene, so small, so miniscule from the gigantic set pieces at the start. Well worth going to see! Little did I know that my next cinema trip would be within the next twenty hours or so.

On Saturday, I had originally planned to go into Wycombe, to pick up a few things but having a pre-arranged appointment in Slough for 1:30pm, I decided to head there and go shopping in the town before heading over to East London. More on that shall be revealed later. I drove to Michelle’s and we went in her Focus into town, parking at the Queensmere Shopping Centre. We then split up, she had places to go, so did I before meet up at Starbucks around 12:50pm. Michelle got me a Starbucks (Red) card over a month ago and I used it for the first time. I had always been anti-coffee shops, because I generally only drink tea and hate the concept of all these different varieties of coffee with their all rather over exaggerate names. For the record though, I ordered a Lemon Frappucino. (Which I know technically is a cold coffee drink!)

After our appointment, it was almost 2pm and we jumped in the Focus to head to East London. This was the first time I was venturing to this part of the capital since May 2004. That trip had been to Manor Park to see my friend Tazza and buy some work clothes for my impending job interviews. Once again, over six years later my objective was the purchase clothing related (although an accessory rather than the outfit itself). We parked up on a side street from Green Street, Upton Park around 5pm. About five minutes later we had purchased the red and gold chuni (scarf) for Div’s wedding from a shop called Bobby’s. It was actually all down to Michelle’s persistance. I had not been happy with the two or three scarfs shown and was about to head downstairs, out the door to another shop. Michelle went through the scrafs hanging up by the desk. Hidden behind, was a perfect gold and red number. Mission accomplished and in record time! I think we had been in East London for less than fifteen minutes in total. We were making our way back to the car by 17:10. Now, the plan was were to go for food in the evening and would there be time to fit in The A-Team.

Michelle recommended the Leisure Park in Dagenham as there were some restaurants as well as a Vue cinema. Could we have it all? We had been listening to Radio 1 on the majority of the drive (although I had switched over to Kiss occassionally). Reggie Yates was presenting his All Request Show from Alton Towers, as it was the first weekend of the school holidays. A young boy requested Smooth Criminal, it was great to listen to in the car! It had just ticked over 6pm. Our original plan had been to book tickets for around 8pm or 9pm, go grab some food and then catch the movie. When we got into the cinema, there were still plenty of seats available for the 18:10 showing, so we went for it. The service is what I expected in Essex. A teenage girl, with long hair and glasses with the customer services skills of a tortoise, but at least she booked us the tickets quickly. We ordered some popcorn and a drink, even though we had had a light snack at Tesco superstore on the drive over to Green Street. We headed to the screen (6, if I remember correctly). My childhood was about to be broken or rekindled in the next few hours. I had been waiting for this movie for almost twenty years, would it live up to the hype?

The reality is, that a movie will never ever live up to a popular television show that at it’s peak was perhaps the best entertainment show for the entire family to watch ever! I am so grateful to be born when I was, so I was able to appreciate the show in my youth. The kids of today are bought up on a strict diet of US imports and very trashy television in comparison. Sure, the invasion had started as I was leaving Nickelodeon behind (we only got Sky in our household in 1997, I was 15 years old!) I even had a Murdoch action figure, although I craved Mr. T. I think one of my friends had Mr. T and some of the other figures and we used to play make-believe at school. (You remember those days when it was mufty and you were also allowed to bring in your favourite toy into school).

It was always going to be a difficult act to follow. I know the Hollywood marketing machine would prefer to consider this as a re-imagining, re-telling, rather than the a remake. It was good fun, entertainment aimed at the male population. Big explosions, car chases, helicopter chases, burly men making things, more explosions, a bit of Jessica Biel, a few fist fights, some elaborate set pieces (two or three, some told retrospectively) and of course the standard affair of a plan coming together! I enjoyed it for what it was! This was not Inception but you would be doing both movies a disservice by comparing them. It would be like comparing chalk and cheese! Liam Neeson was exceptional as Hannibal, Bradley Cooper had a ball playing face. Murdoch was great, but then having a South African play the role was a moment of casting genius! The poor link in the chain was Quinton “Rampage” Jackson as BA Baracus. Now, I fully appreciate these are big shoes to fill. In the original series, the whole show centred around BA and even the legend George Peppard was able to take playing second fiddle. Quinton tries too hard to be like Mr. T. He should instead have put more of himself into the character. Plus, being a bloke I would have appreciated BA smashing in a bar or club. There was not the angry mindless violence you tend to get from BA in the series, instead it was more about the laughs, “Man up and get on the plane!” are the words of Face in the movie. I knew that the original Face and Murdoch had cameos in this movie and was looking out for them like a hawk. I expected them to be well decorated generals at the hearing but their actual appearance is left until after the credits. Michelle and I were grabbing some food by that point. I will hunt it out on YouTube or catch the DVD when it comes out at Christmas.

I am trying to wonder what else of importance has happened this week. The best reference for me these days is Twitter. Using Tweetake I can get a CSV file of all my tweets and then search for important slash relevant tweets that could be the basis of a blog post in their own right.

On Sunday 1st August, I had a bit of a lazy day planned. I got down the gym around 9am and noticed on Sky Sports News they were showing highlights of pre-season friendlies. The red team looked familiar, oh yes, my beloved Arsenal. My Dad had wondered why I had not bothered to go to The Emirates Cup this year. I went to the inaugural tournament back in 2007. That weekend itself turned out to be very rock and roll (I went to Global Gathering dance festival on the Saturday and the football on the Sunday!) I was happy to sit at home and watch the matches from the comfort of my sofa, so caught Arsenal second and final match against Celtic in the afternoon after collecting my sister from work. While some would say football fans have already had a feast of football (international wannabes England aside) already in the middle of August, the domestic season kicks off again. As much as I love watching England and as much I love international football and the World Cup, the feeling of watching your club team just has that extra spice! I was looking forward to the start of the new EPL season next weekend!

To Infinity & Beyond…

Michelle had mentioned that she had purchased a token gift the weekend before last. I thought little of it, until she told me to close my eyes and handed me what sounded like a rather large bag. (The thick paper made a great deal of noise).  I opened to my eyes to be confronted with the face of my favourite character. They had been to the Disney Store. Let me set you straight, I was happy with the bag alone (something I will cherish, being the big kid that I am at heart).

Looking inside the bag, I discovered there was..

This gift, did not just make my day, my weekend or my month. It had me wanting to be five years old again (even though I was technically a month into teens during the infamous Buzz Lightyear shortage of Christmas 1995).

Triple Booked

It is the realisation of my popularity, to discover that next weekend I am in fact triple booked. Originally it was just my friend Bhavna’s wedding in Leicester. (I say “just” but I am sure she does not see it as just another weekend!) However, in recent months (just before I went off on holiday) Nige’s stag do got moved to the same weekend. On top of this, I also have my girlfriend Michelle’s brother Steve’s birthday barbecue in Langley to attend on the Saturday.

To begin with, I was trying to see if I could go to the wedding on the Saturday morning and miss the evening festivities and drive down to the camping location. This was not going to be a major problem if the venue for the camping had been Swanage. However it changed to Newquay and it would have been impossible for me to make the trip (logistically and also just humanly impossible to drive that long and then go out on the tiles!). Pav (the designated best man on this occasion) told me to just forget any idea of the Leicester wedding. I did not want to let my dear friend Bhavna down. We had talked about her wedding day almost non-stop since she had set a date a few years ago. Now I was missing her big day and I felt like a fool. Sure, perhaps it is a case of sorting out my priorities and I should miss the stag do weekend.

In the end, I apologised profusely to Bhavna, both on MSN and then lately using the good old fashioned dog and bone. She understood my dilemma and although gutted I would not be there, she gave her somewhat mixed blessing. I still felt extremely bad but promised I would make it up to her and arrange to meet up as soon as possible. Either I would be up in Leicester (as I was in the city in October last year) or we could meet when she was next down in London or the South East.

I feel sorry for Pav, trying to organise this stag do, which has turned into his own very personal nightmare. It is difficult to organise our own group of friends at the best of times, but add into the mix Nige’s group of friends takes the game to another level. Although I have to commend Pav for his patience, although you have to say if he can organise several snow boarding trips abroad and nights out clubbing in London this stag do shouldn’t be that much of a challenge. Well the proposed venue, went on a little tour around the country, it was originally camping in Swanage (something Nige was keen to do) then over to a crazy weekend in Newquay. This hit the buffers, when we could not find accommodation and discovered there was a surfing event on that weekend. Next stop on this magical mystery tour was Bournemouth, I was keen on this, as I had been out there recently had had local friends there in the form of Steve and Tim. They would let us know which places a stag group could get in to or not. However, in the past week, the venue changed once again and I thought hopefully for the last time. As many of the group could not come down to for the Friday evening so it was quickly turning into a single day / single night affair. In some cases, even the day was cut short, as they were working until 4pm or later on the Saturday night. It is not really a stag with five guys trying to do an activity, such as paint-balling (never mind the increase in cost per a man). In an executive decision Pav decided to move the event once more to Oxford. There was also a self motivated reason behind this decision, he would be working on the Sunday, and being closer to office helped. Now it was a case of sorting out the activity, which was down to karting in Oxford but we could not get enough people to confirm. By Thursday the slot we had looked into (4:30pm on the Saturday) would have already gone. You snooze you lose in this game. Now it was down to Khural to pull a rabbit out of the hat, I am was unsure if he could at even more short notice.

The venue has been set, Swindon F1 Karting. Oh the irony, I might as well just sleep in my office on Friday night or alternatively binge on Red Bull and stay up all Friday working on various reports and then go karting in the town later on Saturday afternoon. Right that reminds me, I better go and transfer over my karting funds or Khural will be on my case via the Facebook messing system. Not a pretty sight, trust me!

Now I am just wondering if there will be a window of opportunity for me to be able to get to Steve’s barbecue for a quick meet and greet before bombing it down the M4 to Swindon. Oh to be boring, unpopular and ugly. Well I suppose two out of three ain’t bad!