Awesome day with friends

Today has been an awesome day! Toni and I kicked things off with a tidy up of downstairs and a major blitz and rearrange of the kitchen. It was one of those rare occasions when I just wanted to carry on doing stuff but we knew when the right time to stop was :)

We then had a brilliant afternoon and evening as we entertained our friends Helen and Keith (and their kids). It was great to see them socially for a change rather than at the moot or camp. We just spent hours chatting away about anything and nothing. It's so nice to have friends like that. The time just flew by.

Jade came over in the afternoon as well and after Helen and Keith had gone and we exchanged Christmas gifts. The plan had been for her to come over on the 27th but illness and other commitments delayed things. It was good to see her.

When life gives you lemons.....

It was more of a back to earth day today. We had to take Pam to the Anticoagulant Clinic to have her blood checked for her warfarin medication. After the hospital we then popped into Eltham for late lunch at Ziyafet. Pam was a legend, she fished out the lemon from her glass and this was what happened next, priceless!  

When life gives you lemons, maybe don't suck on them! *grin*

We had a lovely meal and it was nice to get Pam out for a short period of time. It doesn't happen very often as her mobility is bad so we made the most of this chance as we were out anyway.

Once we got home we all crashed out for a few hours which was nice but unexpected. The evening was spent watching Fanboys, Bridget Jones's Diary and Love Actually.

Crow Dancers recording

The Crow Dancers recording process is ramping up a gear now. I'll be laying down bass for a few tracks over the next week plus adding some backing vocals and anything else I think might be a fit. This is a very exciting project with some big plans lined up for 2016.

To find out more about Crow Dancers please check us out online.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crowdancers/?fref=ts
Website: http://crowdancers.com/

Star Wars Public Service Announcement

***Star Wars Public Service Announcement***

If you think you can make it through to Episode VIII without seeing any spoilers (or having questions from Episode VII answered) then I would suggest that you get off of the Internet now. Whilst Episode VII might have been veiled in secrecy this will not be the case with Episode VIII. There will be books, games, toys, comics, cartoons and a million websites that will give major reveals. Unless you want to pretend you are living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland I suggest you are going to see, read and hear things following on from Episode VII and leading into Episode VIII. Whilst I have honoured my promise not to talk about Episode VII publicly for an elapsed period of time I am not going to maintain radio silence for two years! Oh, by the way, Rogue One comes first and who knows what that will reveal!!!

***Ends***

The road to hell....

...is paved with good intentions they say. The plan was to make today a very productive day. I thought it was getting a little warm LOL.

Toni and I had every of intention of sorting out the office. I made a start but that was about as far as it went. Instead we spent our time constructively chilling out! I played a little Star Wars Battlefront, Toni did some crochet and we caught up on a bit of TV and dined on cold meats. Bliss!

Boxing Day visitations

It was another day of not having to get up too early which was wonderful. Sadly it was the last day of that luxury but they were good while they lasted :)

Bob popped round in the afternoon for a chat and a cuppa which was nice. Next up we had Leanne and Irvin come over to bring Pam back home, It was nice to have a break but the house is weird when she isn't here so balance has now been restored. We gave our presents to Pam Final visit of the day was Jamie who came over for some Boxing Day food and to pick up Aaron. It was nice to see folk.

Not wanting to do any more cooking we decided to order pizza from Domino's as they were open. We then went into Christmas film mode and watched Home Alone, as you do LOL.

A good Christmas Day

Well it was a Christmas day with a difference today. We didn't get up until gone midday. It was so nice to just have a lovely long sleep. We also decided that it was a day to not dress up an was designated onesie day.

Toni and I had a cuppa and then worked together prepping the Christmas feast.  We then spent the after noon watching Star Wars films while the food was cooking. Before the meal we opened some gifts.

We then all enjoyed massive foodgasms and life was good. We had a nice chilled Christmas day, good food and good company, sorted!

Yuletide Wishes & Season's Greetings everybody

Yuletide Wishes and Season's Greetings to all my family and friends. I hope you all enjoy your holidays and time off no matter how you celebrate! Le anpetu ki wo waste yuha (There is goodness in this day). However you celebrate (or even if you don't) have a fantastic day. Peace, light and love to one and all.



Here's a few joyful little things that I've always enjoyed at this time of year without which it wouldn't be this time of year:


Merry Christmas Everyone


And lastly, a little bit of fun

Twas the night before Christmas....

....when all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

Well apart from us anyway! Work is done and dusted and we've dropped Pam off at Leanne's for a couple of days so now it is time to sit back and relax. We have a lovely little tree with some gorgeous decorations that Toni crocheted.

What with it being Christmas and all we decided to watch The Grinch in honour of Sam LOL I'd actually forgotten how enjoyable a film it was.

Here's a festive tale for you all............ (yes I know I post this every year but it's so good that it deserves a regular sharing)

Star Wars Episode VII and Darth Santa

Well tonight it was off to Cineworld Bexleyheath to see Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens for the SEVENTH time! Just can't get enough of that movie!

Our lovely Cineworld start put this by the exit, NICE!!!!:

Time for some more Star Wars music related videos. First up is Galactic Empire doing the Star Wars Main Theme in a rock stylee:


Here's a beautiful Star Wars medley played on a violin by Taylor Davis:


....and here's a clever Stayin' Alive edit:


For comedy value I'd love to share this marvelous Japanese tuna advert from 1978 that is inspired by Star Wars:
Sea Chicken!!!!!!!

As we are getting near to that festive time and as I am in a Star Wars and slightly Xmassy mood I thought I'd share the delights of Darth Santa
 

The Candy Awakens


...and just in case you were wondering:

Carol concert @ St. Helen's Church

Another plodding day at work today as the Xmas rundown continues. I did have a deviation from the norm though as Sara invited some of us to a Carols In The City concert at St. Helen's Church which is just opposite The Gherkin. As I've been starting to feel a bit festive I decided to give it a go and have a different lunch break.


It was a nice little service. We sang a few carols: Once In Royal David's City, God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman (done in an upbeat prog rock style), Silent Night (with gorgeous french horn accompaniment), Hark The Herald Angels Sing and finishing off with O Come All Ye Faithful. Could have done without the dark sermon though which seemed out of sorts with the rest of the Christmas message but hey ho! Other than that it was nice to go an participate in some carol singing and broke up the day very nicely.

St, Helen's is a gorgeous little church. I would have got more photos if it hadn't been so busy.

Merry Yule

Today is the Winter Solstice so I'd like to wish a Merry Yule to all my friends and family.

This has to be the ultimate Yule log, a five hour video of Darth Vader's funeral pyre!

New countdowns have begun

It amused my colleagues at work that I now have TWO new countdowns running on one of my screens. First up is the first of the Star Wars standalone movies, Rogue One.

Secondly we have the countdown to Episode VIII:

What can I say? It's good to be updated with important information LOL. Don't worry, I'm not going to post these every day until the next ones start!

It was a slow day at work as everyone is either off already or starting to wind down for the Xmas break. I have a feeling the days will get slower and slower as we head towards Xmas eve.

Holding the fort, Scream and the Fantastic Four

Today I was supposed to go to the Dolmen Grove Essex Moot Ceremony with Toni but sadly I had to stay home to Pam sit. Unfortunately she required more care and is reaching the point where we can't really leave the boys to watch her so it was my turn today.

Netflix seem to be going great guns in getting new original TV shows made. Sam and I have just started watching Scream, a new take on the Scream slasher movies. It's pretty good with much more focus on the kids and their relationships and attempts to unravel what is happening. We've just down the whole first season and can't wait for next year when it starts again.


Another upcoming TV series that I am looking forward to is Legends Of Tomorrow which is a spin-off from the Arrow and The Flash shows. If they do this one right it could be fantastic.


Our day finished off taking the Fantastic Four reboot for a spin. I've not seen much good said about it but I bought it to keep my collection complete. It wasn't quite as bad as people made out. It certainly wasn't as good as the previous two Fantastic Four films but was still enjoyable. I didn't like their interpretation of Dr. Doom though, he just didn't seem right to me. As my old mare Shaun used to say, 'It's a good pizza movie'.

Chilling day and more upcoming superhero fun

It was a day of chilling today. Had a bit of a tidy up and caught up with a few TV shows.

With all the Star Wars hype going on over the last couple of weeks I've been obsessing over that and so failed to share some other fun superhero movie stuff that is coming up soon.

First up we have the latest in the Marvel cinematic universe with two Captain America: Civil War trailers:

Next in line is Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice:

I am looking forward to seeing both of these films, both look pretty good from the trailers. Don't worry, I won't be doing a countdown for them LOL.

Back to work, meal with mum and The Force Awakens (again)

After a day of maxing our on Star Wars exciting it was back to earth with a bump today as I had to go back to work. It felt weird, I just wanted to go back to the cinema again and watch The Force Awakens over and over! I did however get to tell everyone how awesome it was so hopefully that will convince lots of my colleagues to go and check it out.

After work Toni, mum, Jade, Zoe and I went out for a lovely meal at Ziyafet as it was mum's last day with us. We had a great time and some delicious food.

It wasn't a completely Star Wars free zone though. The soundtrack came out today which gave me something to listen to at work and my copy of The Art Of The Force Awakens arrived.

After the meal we dropped mum and Zoe at home and then Toni and I took Jade to see The Force Awakens which marked Toni's third and my sixth time! I'm still not bored of it! Still no spoilers from me but my review is taking shape!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (NO SPOILERS)

This piece contains NO SPOILERS. A full review will follow in a few days to give people a chance to see it. The day had finally arrived! Toni, Sam, Aaron and I hit the 00:05 showing of Star Wars: The Force Awakens at Cineworld Bexleyheath.

Wow is all I have to say. Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1978!  It felt like it was 1978 all over again. The big kid came out in force (full pun intended). I cried many times throughout the film, my emotions were running wild. JJ Abrams restored faith in the Star Wars franchise and kicked off the next set of movies in grand style. The Force Awakens didn't disappoint any of us. The mixture of old and new cast worked well. The plot was good and there are plenty of things in there to take the story forwards.

Sheer joy to watch and John Williams has once again done an amazing job with the music score. If you were one of those who love the original trilogy but were never quite convinced about the prequel trilogy then you are bound to enjoy TFA. It felt old school, there wasn't lashings of CGI instead going back to models once again. If you have any enjoyment of Star Wars then I can't think why you would not like this movie. We all loved it and walked away totally happy and smiling.Was it perfect, no, but it sure was fun!

Sam, Aaron and I were back again for the 09:30 showing and then went in again at 12:40 and 15:50. After that we took time out to meet up with Toni and Jamie and to grab some dunner (as they were joining us for more fun).The final showing was the 3D version and much to the delight of our party I had bought us all First Order trooper 3D glasses!

It's good in 3D, nicely used effects. Personally I preferred it in 2D but that's just my personal choice. My plan is also to try and book both IMAX 2D and IMAX 3D showings as well so I have seen all versions.

Five showings in one day and I wasn't bored of it at all. It did mean that we could focus on different aspects of the film seeing it so many times and I'm already compiling a fun bloopers list for a later date LOL.

As I said earlier, this is a MUST SEE film for anyone with more than a passing interest in Star Wars. So hurry up and watch it so that I can get my review out!