Star Wars updates.. and some trailers

Well there are a few Star Wars Episode VII bits floating around at the moment. First up is that Harrison Ford is now out of hospital following his foot injury on set. He has a broken foot and now needs a prosthetic frame. There are two flavours of rumour. First up is that there is a call to try and delay the filming to allow him time to recover. The second one is that they'll use Ford's stunt double and some CGI trickery to bring it all together. Time will tell on that one!

It has now been confirmed that Andy Serkis (who played CGI Gollum, Cesar and King Kong) is doing some performance capture work for Episode VII as a consultant with his firm Imaginarium and will also have a role in the film. What that may be he is not at liberty to say.

The final interesting thing is that there is a rumour doing that rounds that Billie Lourd (Carrie Fisher's daughter) is lined up to play Princess Leis in flashback scenes. Given that this rumour is doing the rounds in the tabloid press it's probably cobblers but you never know!  

In other Star Wars news a French trailer has appeared online for Star Wars Rebels which reveals that Obi-Wan Kenobi is being included!

Dr. Who is set to return to our TV screens on Saturday 23rd August and the BBC are currently sending out their teasers with a picture and a trailer.

Here's a teaser trailer for Dracula Untold


....and I'l leave you with the Star Wars prequels done in a Guardians Of The Galaxy stylee!

Dolmen Grove Summer Solstice Ritual @ Stonehenge

Well today was very special I can tell you. The Dolmen Grove Essex Moot headed out to Stonehenge to participate in the Dolmen Grove summer solstice ritual. We had been granted private access to the inner circle at Stonehenge to perform our ritual.

The Dolmen Grove Essex Moot contingent:

The clans slowly gathered and then we prepared ourselves for the wonder to come. Before things kicked off properly we indulged in almost an hours worth of drumming which was pretty intense but great fun. We were surrounded by loads of tourists who were taking our pics and filming us which was a strange experience.

We then started to make our way to the stones. A rousing rendition of The Pagans On The Bus while in the courtesy transport passed the time :)  As we started our procession to the stones there was more tourist photography until we finally reached the perimeter and were distanced from them. 

The ritual was something special. The energy raised was incredible. Each moot contributed something to the proceedings and Essex were no exception. Seven of us had learned something in the car on the way down and the remaining three picked it up on the fly.

(photo taken by Scott Irvine)

This was the chant:

Sun spirit shining bright
Goddess reach us through the night
Living, breathing, burning flame
From within they rise again

 You can see all the photos here: https://plus.google.com/photos/+KTGlitz/albums/6030401783786642209

It was such a privilege to have shared the day with so many like minded souls. It felt like had just received a spiritual shower and deep cleanse. It was much needed and I was buzzing all the way home and still am now!

Star Wars stuff

Who wants to hear about my boring old day, here's some Star Wars stuff instead!

Star Wars Musical (Disney parody)


A Star Wars Frozen Parody


Bohemian Rhapsody: Star Wars Edition


Star Wars Help Desk


The Star Wars That I Used To Know

A good back day, good work day, Falling Skies and Orange Is The New Black

It was a good back day today. There was a little stiffness but no real pain which was great. I'm not expecting every day to be like this yet but it was a welcome change. I have a lot more movement in my neck today as a result of some of my stretching which was great. The only downside was a pain in my shoulder that I was having although I don't think this is related LOL.

Work was good too. It was a slow start for the two team Agile process but the initial vibes seem to be good. Lots of things going on and I'm being kept busy and involved with processes and decisions which is pleasing for me :)

Tonight we watched the first episode of Falling Skies season four. It was a promising start to the new season with lots of changes coming in from the start to give the show a different pace and more things to think about it. Looking forward to seeing how this one develops.

We finished up the final two episodes of Orange Is The New Black season one. It's so good. Can't wait to crack on with season two although we'll ended up being incredibly frustrated as season three doesn't air until June 2015!

Osteopath visit and Edge Of Tomorrow

Today I went for my first proper treatment at the Eltham Osteopathy Clinic. I was manipulated, folded up, twisted and stretched but it felt good overall. I'm looking at somewhere between five and ten weekly treatments before I am better. First part is dealing with the pain, second part is working on the repair. There's a long way to go but I'm feeling positive about the whole thing.

Toni and I went to Cineworld in Bexleyheath to see the new Tom Cruise sci-fi movie Edge Of Tomorrow. It was actually pretty good. The 3D was bearable too and wasn't overused for all the fast action scenes. It was a good story. An officer finds himself caught in a time loop in a war with an alien race. His skills increase as he faces the same brutal combat scenarios, and his union with a Special Forces warrior gets him closer and closer to defeating the enemy. I won't give any spoilers but the ending was a disappointment. The film actually had a logical end which would have been perfect. Unfortunately Hollywood rules expect certain things so they tacked a bit on the end to appease the masses that actually made no sense at all. Don't be put off by this though. It's a great little film and definitely worth going to see. I'm no fan of Tom Cruise but I enjoyed him in this.

Last.FM listening post

Here's last week's top picks music lovers!

Top weekly tracks:


Top weekly artists:


Overall top tracks:


Overall top artists:

WFH and just as well

Today was a WFH day which was just as well as my back was not playing ball. There was lots of little stabbing pains across my back for most of the day. Managed to avoid taking any painkillers as I don't want to rely on them but I was aware that things were not right. Am hoping that a good night of rest will settle things down again before I see the osteopath tomorrow (when I will also be getting my long term treatment plan). Fingers crossed!

Back to work, back survives and True Blood

It was back to work today after having Thursday and Friday off as holiday (even though we ended up not going away). My back was very stiff but not too painful. My first task was to make sure that my workstation was set up properly to avoid it causing me any additional back problems. Most of it was OK and a couple of adjustments later and I was good to go. Everything was done at a much slower pace and painkillers did get invoked at one point just to take the edge off of things.

I got to announce the splitting of our development team into two teams to make it more compatible with Agile best practices. Will be interesting to see how this one develops and if the change makes things better or worse. On paper it should improve things. Time will tell.

The back survived the day thankfully and I made it back home without incident.

Mum went out for dinner with friends so we ordered in an Indian from Rishta (ironically where mum had gone LOL). We watched the first episode of True Blood season seven which has just started up again. It's the final season and started strongly. Like all good shows should be, we were frustrated to have to wait a whole week for the next episode.

Garden centre, Assassin's Creed, BBQ and our new chiminea

Toni, mum and Pam spent a good few hours at Ruxley Manor Garden Centre today. My back wasn't my friend so I decided to stay at home and play Assassin's Creed Black Flag instead :)

They came back armed with loads of new plants and pots. The garden is going to look absolutely amazing when they are all installed. Sam cooked us a lovely BBQ for dinner.

Part of the treasures from the garden centre was a fantastic chiminea. This was put to good use tonight as we lit it up and enjoyed sitting outside enjoying the warmth and flames.

Whitstable and fishy goodness

Toni, mum, Pam and I headed out to Whitstable today. I dosed up on painkillers before we left to keep the pain at bay. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and we took a very slow stroll up and down the sea front (stopping for coffee en route).

Our final destination was The Whitstable Oyster Company for lunch. We started out with a dozen oysters which were absolutely delicious. Pam didn't care for them but that meant more for the rest of us :). Starters, mains and puddings made four very full and happy people.

Sea bass was my friend today:

It was absolutely gorgeous, cooked to perfection.

Off to see the osteopath

Much to my disgust I agreed to go to see an osteopath today. I guess it was the admitting that there was a problem that needed treatment that was the hard bit. Can't say I regret going as it was a real eye opener. Seems like my back is in a really bad way. I had a scan while I was there.

This is what a normal persons scan should look like:

This is what my scan looks like. Red stuff is bad:

My back is in a bad way but the good news is that it can be improved. I have a curvature of the spine which causes some issues and a terrible posture which just makes everything worse. I will be undergoing a whole load of treatment sessions to improve things. I was given some rough treatment to kick things off which did loosen me up a bit. My next appointment is next Wednesday. More to come in this sorry little saga....

Happy Birthday Toni

Happy Birthday to my gorgeous Toni!
Sorry we couldn't be spending your magical day in the sunshine in Cornwall.
LOVE YOU LOADS!
xxxx


Here's what I got her:

Cancelled trip and taking it easy

So despite my vain hopes the old back was not better today. The pain was still there but the walking issues thankfully hadn't come back.

We made the call to cancel going away which was a really tough decision to make, even if it was the right one. I wasn't very happy about having to do this but hey ho. I gave mum a quick call to let her know that we weren't going away as she was supposed to be coming down to Pam sit. She threw sciatica into the mix as a possible answer to my back problem which was added to trapped nerve and disc issues.

The rest of the day was just spent taking it easy in the hope that I might stop feeling pain.

Strange things happened to my back

Strange things happened at work this afternoon. Got up to make a cup of tea and found that it was really difficult to walk and I was getting shooting pains in the base of my spine. This went after a while and I could walk a bit further but then the pain would come back a minute or two later.It would subside when I say back down but then flared up again when I started to walk, It seemed to get worse as the day went on and getting home again was most uncomfortable.

Once I was home the walking issues seemed to subside but the pain was still there. There was nothing obvious that I had done which made the whole thing even stranger. 

Tomorrow we are going away camping for a few days so I was hopeful that it would all be fine in the morning.

Last.FM listening post

Here's last week's top picks music lovers!

Top weekly tracks:


Top weekly artists:


Overall top tracks:


Overall top artists:

X-Men: Days Of Future Past

It was cinema time again tonight. X-Men: Days Of Future Past was the film. We did opt for the 2D version

Was very impressed with this. The X-Men films have been a bit hit and miss so wasn't sure what to expect. What we got though was a good story mixing up both the old and new versions of X-Men characters in a cross time plot. Things I liked, the old style Sentinels. Things I didn't like, the new style Sentinels. I was however impressed with the realism of the new style Sentinels. I don't want to get into any plot spoilers so if you like Marvel films are an X-Men fan then this is definitely one for you. If you are like sci-fi then it's also worth checking out. 

Here's the trailer if you need to have your interest piqued:


The after credits teaser revealed Apocalypse which is no surprise as Marvel have green lit X-Men: Apocalypse as their next X-Men movie scheduled for release in 2016 (followed by Wolverine 3 in 2017)!

Father's Day

I'll start off by wishing my dad a happy Father's Day. Had a nice little chat with him on the phone. It was good to catch up and he liked the card that I had sent him so all was good there :)

Sam was on tea duty and made a lovely bacon, scrambled egg, burger and mushrooms brunch. So nice and lovely for him to do it all for us.

His present to me was amazing! A three volume box set called The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia. Oh yes, one very happy KT!

The garden is taking shape.....

A lot of today was spent doing stuff in the garden, helping to make it look even more fabulous.It's all still very much a work in progress but we are definitely getting there.

Bob built us this nice patio extension which at the moment houses the BBQ although the shed may eventually move sideways onto it to free up the main patio a little more.

Have to confess that although it didn't feel like I had done very much I was getting some aches in some strange places afterwards. It's all worth it though to have things looking really good. Hopefully we'll have a good summer and be able to spend a lot of time out there enjoying it.