Tv Of The Month

I've not watched a great deal of television this month. Bruce Parry has been back on our screens with a documentary series on the Arctic. It's been fascinating stuff and I love Mr Parry purely for the empathy and interest he shows in what he is doing, he's such a top bloke and whilst some of his programs are bitter-sweet in content he manages to be objective at all times.

Spartacus: Gods of the Arena is now showing on Starz, it's a prequel series to last years Spartacus: Blood and Sand. It's minus Andy Whitfield (Spartacus) who has been ill over the last year (odd it still carries the Spartacus label though). It's more about John Hannah's character and his wife Lucy Lawless as they rise through the Roman socialite ranks with their gladiator school and so far it's shaping up very well indeed. Check out a trailer below.

Next up is the Tudors (season 4 - and final one), is back on BBC2, 9pm Saturdays. Ok so it's a history 'light' version of Henry the eighth but it's still compelling tv. I'm hoping they follow it up with a series about Elizabeth the 1st in coming years. Here's the new season trailer.

Song Of The Month

A new regular feature on the Journal, a song of the month, there's also going to be Tv or movies of the month too. I stumbled across this song in another video form but dug out the original, it's called 'Sunshine, buttercups and rainbows' by Lesley Gore (famous in the 50/6os) and to be honest it just makes me smile and think of warmer months whilst we are in this cold period.

One Down

January has passed rapidly by, seemingly in the blink of an eye. I stayed off the beer as per usual until a couple of days ago but with Gary being back from Hong Kong it was inevitable I'd be back on it. I'm going to try for most of February now and deep down I am feeling the future holds less beer in it for me, I'm just not that fussed about it so much anymore.

The month has gone pretty much to plan, there's been some up and downs but generally its been the month I wanted it to be, relatively quiet. On the downside it looks like the day centre in Nottingham is getting the chop, there's also been continued problems with my eye, the boiler hasn't been properly fixed yet and my car issue isn't yet resolved.

It's also been a month of bills but I'd rather get them out of the way now whilst things are quiet.

On the good side Gary is back over briefly, I saw an old friend from Mansfield last week and had a good catch up and the local is getting some new beers in! (what did I just say about beer... erm).

The locals have been setting up this years charity fund raiser in memory of big Russ and despite some initial frustrations things are starting to bear fruit. I genuinely think many of them will get alot out of the process and organisation. It does need more work and structure but its gaining momentum and I feel the building blocks are well in place for it to be a well run regular event. I'm happy to sit on the sidelines and offer the odd nugget of advice because I think once its more for other people to be involved in and benefit from.

We also have a Nintendo Wii bowling team being formed, and being a geek I'm involved with that, we plan to play other pubs and it should be a good alternative night out.

This month has also showed me you never stop learning and I find as I get older my resolve on certain things is stronger. A recent problem with a mobile phone shop in town demonstrated this to me and I reversed a situation to my favour. I can't help feeling though that companies like car insurance and mobile phone companies are really there to rip you off to a certain extent, how else do they pay for pointless adverts on tv?

February looks to be very similar to January, quiet and restful, lots of dvds to catch up on and of course lots to do in Lord of the Rings online!

Lady Hobbit In Waterstones

So there I was, walking up through Hockley headed for the centre of Nottingham. The sun cascading down and the cold air invigorating. It felt like I had come out of the dark christmas coma and all was well with the world. For a start I'd just eaten some pasta bake at the day centre and the codeine from the painkillers was kicking in giving me a comforting buzz. The morning has passed uneventfully apart from lots of banter, which is good considering the recent closure news at the day centre. They're a great bunch down there, real people and genuine personalities and today I definitely left with a spring in my step despite recent painful episodes with arthritic pain in my neck. Strolling up the hill I feel content, the sun was out, it was mild, I was day dreaming about all sorts of things such as getting around to writing the story I have head in my head for months.

I crossed the brow of the hill, checked my watch and realised I was a little early for the afternoon session in the Music Exchange. Knowing I had ten minutes to kill I headed for Waterstones to peruse some books. I go to the Science fiction/fantasy section and soak in some titles, all look interesting, then I head further into the back of the store and a collection of books by Mark Gatiss catch my eye, they're about an Edwardian detective called Lucifer Box, a bit of a character by the splurge summary on the back cover.

I pause, look up, and there she is, a Waterstones wonder! One of the female staff stands feet from me and it's a .... lady hobbit ! I get that rare almost forgotten stomach twinge and I stand there blinking like some stunned fool. She stands helping another customer, shoulder length blonde hair, spectacles, jeans and a Waterstones sweater. It most be obvious that I am looking over, even though I am pretending not to do so. I'm pretty sure I have a wistful look about me so I come to my senses and head up the escalator as a colleague at the day centre has told me there's a sale on the top floor. As I begin to ascend I turn for a last look and she looks back, I'm smiling a big smile inside but trying to look nonchalant about things, and probably failing dismally. Oh well, a good day just got better!

Population Explosion

A report last week from the Institute of Mechanical Engineers estimated that by 2075 the Population will have risen from 6.9 Billion to 9.5 Billion. Unless drastic changes are made and resource management for cities better organised it is said we are facing a population disaster of epic scale. Climate change will add to the woes as up to 1 billion people will move from inhospitable or jobless areas to cities thus increasing the resources a city will need.

The report called 'One Planet, Too Many People' hopes that engineering initiatives in the future will avert disaster by reducing energy usage, improving storage and extracting water from underground as well as civil engineering improvements etc.

But will all this stop people having children? I think not.

Total Bankers

I'm guessing after Bob Diamond, the Barclays bank chief executive told MPs last week big pay packets for bankers were here to stay, the Conservative ones won't remonstrate too strongly. For one thing the other bankers will love him as he said it was time to stop blaming the banks for the recession. The belligerent Mr Diamond refused to apologise to a commons select committee but he has reason to be smug, he earned a reported £60 million last year and may get an 8 million bonus this year, in my opinion its a world gone mad and divides the nation between rich and poor even more.

Who Cares?

Who cares if Anglican Priests, Bishops or whatever convert to the roman catholic faith? Is this really news BBC? They only changed faith because they didn't like the fact women can become something within the Anglican church, how backward is that, proof that faith, especially catholicism doesn't move forward, and never will. Laying on the floor too, as part of the ceremony, what is all that about?

And whilst I'm having a religious rant, what have all you religious folk got to say about the floods in Australia and Brazil? Probably something cryptic and unintelligible.

Mr Postlethwaite

I was sad to see that British actor Pete Postlethwaite died today at the fairly young age of 64. I'm not going to to into any detail about him as I was only a fan of his acting but I do feel he had many more films to make and was an actor of rare quality. He had that 'bloke next door' feel to him, that common touch and I think thats why people related to him and enjoyed his acting. A sad loss so soon into the year.

The Plan

So 2011 is here. The plan this month is to generally take it easy, save some cash, eat sensible and have January off the beer, maybe February too. I have some idea where I want to be by the end of the year but for the moment I am going to take it day by day. I do want to blog more, get involved more with secular humanism, read more and generally try to be a better person. It's not that I think I am a bad person but I always think there's room for improvement. That said I'm not going to take any nonsense on things either and I will fight for my ideals and what I believe in.

Last night was ok, fairly muted if I am being honest, it seems that New Years isn't what it used to be, not since the millenium anyway where pubs and clubs began to charge entrance and make a circus of it all. My local charged £5 last night and to be honest I didn't really think that was fair, seeing as I spend money in there all year around. Local band 'Booba Dust' whilst being a favourite of mine seemed a bit lost (probably because the local wasn't that busy). And whilst I like Blues I don't really think it's a music for New Years eve, something acoustic to evoke a reflective mood would have been good or something retro like some 80s songs to get people in the party mood, but hey, that's just my opinion.