GREETINGS FROM AIRSHIP GLITZVILLE!
The splendiferous exciting adventures and inane ramblings of KT Glitz and his beautiful wife Toni Glitz. There will also be garbage talked about music, movies and Star Wars, a LOT of Star Wars!
If you can't be a good example, you'll just have to be a horrible warning!
Never forget your dreams, they are the hopes of the future!
This is a quick (retrospective) post to let you all know that I am going to be doing things a bit differently on my blog from now on. Let's called it changed priorities....
From now on I will only be blogging things that I believe are significant and so I won't feel 'obliged' to write something all the time and then feel bad when there is nothing there. Not sure why but I had reached the stage where I felt I had to say something every day. This was probably my ego kidding me that some of you actually give a hoot but the kind of day I had at work LOL
This doesn't of course mean that you won't get treated to tales of me being sick or what I had for dinner LOL
It was a busy day for a weekend. Toni was out and about taking Aaron and Jade to view a property. I stayed at home and attempted to get the back garden beaten into submission. One smoking lawnmower later and I put in an emergency call to Toni for new tools!
She re-appeared with a new lawnmower and strimmer and promptly departed to the hospital as Leanne's waters had broken so hopefully it would be all systems go on that front.
Sam and I continued to do phase one of the garden which will make a tidy up tomorrow a piece of cake. So nice to have a lawnmower and strimmer that are effective.
The rest of my day was spent playing Bloodborne. I finally managed to defeat Father Gascoine. This is the second boss that you meet in the game. According to comments online he is the fifth hardest out of seventeen so I was ecstatic to have gained that victory and could progress further!
It was a sad day at work today as we said farewell to Brendan. Brendan became a full time scrum master at the same time that I did and we've had quite a journey together. As a pair we were the left and right hands of the boss (ie distracted with stuff he wanted us to do that wasn't scrum related).
Brendan is a real character and will be greatly missed by me and the rest of the teams. That's one hole that really cannot be filled. On the plus side he is moving on to pastures new and I wish him all the best in his future endeavours. He's a lucky git for managing to successfully creating an escape route LOL
I guess we all wish we could do this in the end LOL
Tonight we watch the season finales for both Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Flash. Both finished strongly and leave things nice and open for the subsequent season plots. Both Marvel and DC have done well with these shows building them up and making them better as time goes on.
I am now getting really excited for Marvel's next series on Netflix, Luke Cage. This show is scheduled to commence on September 30th.
When a sabotaged experiment gives him super strength and unbreakable skin, Luke Cage becomes a fugitive attempting to rebuild his life in Harlem, and must soon confront his past and fight a battle for the heart of his city. The old criminal turns crime fighter plot line returns but it should be good! The Luke Cage series will eventually lead into a crossover show called The Defenders which will also feature Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Iron Fist.
Thanks to Sam I appear to have got completely hooked on Bloodborne. Despite it's quiet high difficulty level and fairly unforgiving bosses I really enjoy playing it. I'm no expert gamer that's for sure but I do make slow but steady progress. I really enjoy the fact that you can roam about, do things in different orders and completely change tactics on each pass through.
Tonight my exploration ended with me coming face to face with the Cleric Beast. I went straight into fight mode and actually beat him on my first attempt. I was absolutely delighted! Yeah I know it's only a video game but it was a significant moment for me.
I wasn't going to blog about this but then decided the story was too funny not to share.I was sitting at my desk at lunchtime and noticed that one of my pens was in the path of the laptop exhaust grill. Thinking the pen might now have very runny ink or be a it leaky I picked it up and drew an asterisk on a napkin that I had. The pen was fine. I then noticed a bit of broken pen lid on my desk and put it on the asterisk I had drawn. I then started talking to a colleague and stood up to chat.
Once this was finished I went to sit down and nearly had a heat attack as in my peripheral vision I spotted a large beast that could have been a spider. Suitably shocked and with adrenalin running I then kicked myself when I realised what I had seen:
One asterisk and piece of plastic apparently does quite resemble a beast. What a silly twat I am!
Tonight we watched the first episode of the new Preacher TV series. I posted the trailer for this yesterday and was very excited. I was not let down. It's got comedy, some nice splatters and some great characters that you can really get behind!
I've seen a few interesting trailers recently so thought it would be appropriate to share them with you.
First up is the latest trailer for the Ghostbusters reboot. I'm really looking forward to seeing this. I love Ghostbusters and am also a big Melissa McCarthy fan too.
Incarnate one looks like an interesting take on the trusty old possession story
I am a sucker for a good kids cartoon movie and Trolls looks like it could be another crazy hit.
I'll finish off with the trailer for a new TV series called Preacher. This is another comic book adaption and looks really good. I'll be watching episode one tomorrow night :)
Tonight we watched the latest episodes of Game Of Thrones and Penny Dreadful. There will be no spoilers here but they were both great episodes with lots of feels. Powerful stuff!
It was off to Bexleyheath today to go and watch X-Men:Apocalypse.
Worshiped as a god since the dawn of civilization, the immortal Apocalypse becomes the first and most powerful mutant. Awakening after thousands of years, he recruits the disheartened Magneto and other mutants to create a new world order. As the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, Professor X and Raven lead a team of young X-Men to stop their seemingly invincible nemesis from destroying mankind.
This was one of my favourite X-Men movies so far. I like what they did with the characters and where the franchise is now heading. Sure there was a bit of ropey CGI in there but it didn't really detract from the overall effect. If you like the X-Men then you should definitely go and check this out.
It was a nice chilled morning today. We took our time getting up before indulging in breakfast from Richards. We caught up with Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
I am not a die hard Star Trek fan by any means but I did get quite excited when I saw the trailer for the new movie Star Trek Beyond.
Jade came round in the afternoon and it was catch up time. We also watched the last two episodes of the latest season of Grimm. It had a brilliant ending and now we have to wait ages for the next season to start.
Toni went out for the evening and Sam, Jade and I had dinner and watched The Martian. It's a really good film and I actually now regret not going to see it at the cinema. Matt Damon was on fine form. Definitely worth checking out if you haven't seen it.
I finally got to grips with Bloodborne and I hate to say it but Sam got more than the hour that I promised. All it took was one little tip from him near the start and suddenly I was loving a game that I would quite happily have burned before. I even started getting cocky and doing a speed run through one part. Amusing part was Jade being fast asleep on the sofa and Sam suddenly shouting, "What the fuck is that?" when a huge beast appeared right behind me and attacked. He scared the living daylights out of me and pour old Jade was woken sharply thinking something strange was in the living room LOL. I did see this message a lot but that didn't deter me.
I have to admit that I am now hooked on it and will be playing it again!
Tonight Toni and I were off to Blackheath Halls to see Zoe perform with Eltham Hill School Choir in the Royal Greenwich Singing Spectacular. This event comprised of choirs from across Royal Greenwich schools performing individual pieces as well as combining as one ensemble for select numbers.
Here's Zoe with Eltham Hill School Choir performing For Good from Wicked.
...and here is the final number, an ensemble of all choirs performing Footloose:
The full program was:
Ensemble - We Built This City
Greenacres Primary School Choir - My Favourite Things
St Thomas More Primary School Choir - Cups (When I'm Gone)
Cardwell Primary School Choir - When I Grow Up
Wingfield Primary School Choir - Something Inside So Strong
'a cappella' Plumstead Manor - King
'a cappella' Plumstead Manor - Divas From The Decades
Ensemble - Anytime You Need A Friend
Ensemble - Hole In The World
Eltham Hill School Choir - For Good
Windrush Primary School Choir - All Night Long
St Ursulas Chamber Choir - Lay Me Down
Royal Greenwich Gospel Choir - It's Not Over
Royal Greenwich Gospel Choir - Presence Of The Lord
Ensemble - Turn The Beat Around
Ensemble - Footloose
It was a brilliant night and there was so much talent being shown tonight across all age groups. With an ever decreasing decline in government funding for the arts in schools it was wonderful to see Royal Greenwich working hard to get children involved and have a passion for music. I actually found it quite emotional as the opportunities that were there for me growing up now have to be funded via donations. It was a pleasure to attend this event and see the fantastic work that Royal Greenwich are doing in schools.
So today I heard that filming for the third Sherlock Holmes movie could be starting in the autumn. This actually got me quite excited as I love the films with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. It sounds like they are going to try and squeeze this one in before Avengers: Infinity War starts shooting.
Whilst I am at it I thought I'd share a few trailers that are getting me excited.
First up is the next in the Bourne series, simply titled Jason Bourne. Matt Damon returns once again.
Not sure how I feel about the commercialisation of the Snowden story like this. It will be interesting to see how the film plays out and whether he is presented as a good guy or a bad guy. It's based on two books so who knows what we have in store. I'll definitely go and see it though.
Apparently we are going to be given a modern twist on a classic tale with a new version of The Magnificent Seven. I am not a massive western fan but I might give this one a go.
I was never a big fan of Independence Day so I am still struggling with Independence Day: Resurgence even being a thing
As it was Toni's yoga night I had promised Sam that he had an hour to convince me that Bloodborne was a game that I should start again and that I would enjoy it. I bought it when it first came out but I got very frustrated with what seemed like a very steep learning curve and just stopped playing. It was time to reset and try again. Only it wasn't....
The game needed to do an update but there was an option to continue playing without doing it. Sadly this didn't actually work and the game just got stuck on the loading screen. Various combinations of restart, disc out/in etc didn't make any difference. Instead we opted to do the update. We then hit the next roadblock as the update was many gigabytes and everything was on a go slow. The Bloodborne plan was abandoned and will be done another day (once the update has finished).
It was back to horror movies instead and this time we went for Silent Hill. I wasn't sure what this was going to be like. The video games were pretty cool but most game to film transitions don't fare that well. It wasn't too bad overall. There was great CGI and some really ropy stuff. Certain parts of the film felt very much like the game, others less so. I was delighted that blood spurts were the order of the day :). Definitely a pizza movie but not a must watch one.
It was a shite day at the office today. We had a call about bonuses and pay rises. It was not a good call. There were three sets of reactions. The first one was immediately after the news when asked if there were any questions:
The second reaction only really appeared after people had returned to their desks:
The final reaction in some cases was something like this
It will be very interesting to see what happens over the next few months. There is already talk of a sweepstake!
It's been a weekend of watching some mighty fine documentaries. The first two were Russell Brand ones abut drugs. I know some people see him as an odious man but when it comes to drugs, his attitude towards them and how they should be dealt with he is spot on!
FROM ADDICTION TO RECOVERY
END THE DRUGS WAR
ETHOS: A TIME FOR CHANGE
This is a powerful new documentary hosted by Woody Harrelson, is an investigation into the flaws in our systems, and the mechanisms that work against democracy, our environment and the the common good.
SHE'S BEAUTIFUL WHEN SHE'S ANGRY
Filmmaker Mary Dore chronicles the events, the movers and the shakers of the feminist movement from 1966 to 1971. Highly recommended this one as it digs far deeper than what we perceive as feminism today.
DMT: THE SPIRIT MOLECULE
The Spirit Molecule explores the enigmatic dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a molecule found throughout nature, and considered the most potent psychedelic. In 1995, Dr. Strassman completed the first government-sanctioned, psychedelic research on DMT, with results that may answer humanitys greatest questions.
So we have a new piece of Star Wars fun called the Star Wars Show. This is going to be a weekly show that will celebrate all things Star Wars! This could be a fun little show or it could become annoying really quickly. We shall see!
I had a day off today. It wasn't all feet up though. The morning kicked off with going with Toni to Zoe's CAMHS appointment. This was followed by Toni and I donning battle armour to take on the school attendance office and a represent from the local authority to discuss the monitoring and interpretation of statistics! Friday the 13th, unlucky for some!!!!
The meeting lasted a lot longer than planned but they were in no doubt about our position on things by the time we were done! I'm sure this little saga is not fully over but I am confident that we are now in a good position.
The rest of the day was made of relax, which was lovely :)
Sometimes when you have busy days you need some down time. Lunch time for me is usually a standard routine where I pop out, grab some lunch and come back and eat it at my desk. Not today though, today it was round to the pub (The Alice) with David, Ryan and Paul.
I opted to have some Desperados to save the embarrassment of my colleagues having to order me a soft drink LOL. Very refreshing with a nice bit of lime.
Noms were provided in the form of a delicious sweet potato and mozzarella burger with chips.
Final piece of awesomeness was the Burt Reynolds van parked outside The Gherkin. Hideous but magical at the same time :)
It was insanely busy at work today. Currently on a mission to prove some additional technology which has not been without it's challenges and frustrations! I described it a bit like a kitten in a basket of wool and then being asked to pull out one particular strand!
Once I had escaped the madness it was off to IPL for another face blasting session. Haven't been since January and it felt so good to be back and continuing my treatments. Amazingly it wasn't as intense as past sessions have been either with was most welcome!
When we got back Toni and I decided to go round the corner to have dinner together at Rishta. It was lovely to get away from everything and just spend a couple of hours together chilling out and enjoying some lovely food. More opportunities like this please!
It was horror time again tonight with Toni out doing Yoga. Sam and I have found that some of the best horror films that we have seen have been the ones that score the lowest on IMDB, Our of a choice of five films tonight we opted for the one with the lowest IMDB score which was We Are Still Here.
Every 30 years, a lonely old house in the fields of New England wakes up and demands a sacrifice. What more do you need to know? Whilst this one was another low budget film it certainly wasn't light on plot or effects. Nice to see some decent over the top blood sprays coming into play. Plenty of squirters!
Well worth a watch if you like creepy houses, strange malicious spirits and a good twist.
Today saw the release of the new Homes For The Elite track Illuminati Auntie. Filmed in glorious Buttz-o-vision, Randy Buttz once again comes up trumps and does my chums from Homes For The Elite proud. Homes For The Elite talk sense, check them out!
Toni was off to the Moot today so Sam and I were back on the horror movie trail once again. This time we chose Creep. It was a simple plot: When a videographer answers a Craigslist ad for a one-day job in a remote mountain town, he finds his client is not at all what he initially seems.
It wasn't a bad film at all. It was low budget and was more psychological than horror but the suspense was good. Given that there are only two real actors in it I was surprised how well it played out. There are definite moments where you think you know the outcome but the end still pleases.
Had a rough night and woke up feeling completely out of sorts. It's been quite a while since I have had a bout of gender dysphoria but it was back with a vengeance today.
Have to say it really knocked me for six and I was feeling pretty negative. Thankfully it was a non-working day so I could talk to Toni about how I was feeling which did help.
We managed to get away for a couple of hours and went and had lunch and then we spent a little time visiting the wonderful ladies of Wicca Moon. Shirlee reminded me of something we had talked about doing ages ago and that she still wanted me to do it. This made me feel a little better. It was a lovely sunny day and nice to be out together. There was some gorgeous blossom where we were walking:
Continued to struggle with the dysphoria although it had subsided a bit. In the evening I managed to wrestle it to the ground. Some eyebrow plucking, manicure and pedicure following by nail painting had me back in a better place once again! Phew! Don't want to go through that again!
Well today was incredibly frustrating. I spent most of my time trying to explain to someone why a problem that was occurring was an environment rather than application issue. I try not to be patronising in my replies and pulled it off well on the email chains. I must have seemed like I had a bad case of tourettes to some of the people in the office though LOL
After the work frustration it was home to go and vote for London Mayor and the London Assembly. This was a no brainer for me!
I hope that, despite all the dirty and distracting tactics the Tories have been using as we headed to the end of this campaign, the people can see through it all and will actually make a vote for change rather than more disappointment!
Time for some more Star Wars Episode VIII stuff. More set shots from Ahch-To have been revealed online. Some lovely looking buildings being constructed here:
Disney have just released this brief but fun version of The Force Awakens using Emoji:
In case you were wondering, here's everything that is wrong with The Force Awakens:
...and last but not least, let's not harp on about it (SORRY!!!!!!!) Here are the Harp Twins Camille & Kennerly performing some familiar music!
