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!
Tonight we cracked out Sam's new pride and joy, a game called Kingdom Death: Monster. He's been banging on about it for age and finally managed to get hold of a copy.
It's a very clever game with some great mechanics and is full of humour. This little bugger was a challenge to kill off.
We have you surrounded!
You know I mentioned humour before? Well Sam defeated the lion and here's how and what he received as a reward.
Both Zoe and I loved playing it and we'll be continuing our quest in an ongoing campaign!
Despite claims from National Rail that everything was good with the lines today I decided to play it safe and work from home rather than risk another journey of disappointment. I figured I'd let it all get back to normal properly today and then all will be good tomorrow. Thankfully it was a nice easy working day so I started and finished on time.
The evening was spent catching up with last nights WWE Royal Rumble.
This was a pretty good show. Charlotte retained her RAW Women's Championship against Bayley in a match she probably should have lost. Kevin Owens put on a blistering WWE Universal Championship title defence against Roman Reigns with both men taking some crazy bumps. Comedy was provided by Chris Jericho who was locked in a shark cage above the ring to prevent him interfering. Ironically Braun Strowman appeared and decimated Reigns allowing Owens to get an easy pin.
Neville finally got what he believed he deserved by defeating Rich Swann for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Sadly the Cruiserweight division and their 205 Live show don't get the recognition they deserve as there is some great talent among these guys.
Match of the night for me was AJ Styles v John Cena for the WWE Championship. AJ is one of my favourites in the WWE at the moment and he never turns in a bad performance. In this match he made John Cena raise his game several notches allowing them both to really shine. Sadly Cena won the match and took the belt from Styles but he had to work hard for it.
The Royal Rumble match was an entertaining affair with lots of fun moments. It was nice to see The Undertaker back again but he seems to be working injured which made him less effective than usual. We had expected Roman Reigns to walk away the victor when he ended up being the 30th entrant so it was a pleasant surprise to see Randy Orton walk away the victor.
It was another day for chilling. Chilling is good given the hellish week that I've had.
We watched the latest episode of Taboo (see Thursday's blog on my views on that) and burned through the first four episodes of the silliness that is Legends Of Tomorrow.
A weekend of doing bugger all and relaxing was much needed. Let's see what next week has in store. Bring it on!
As I had an early night last night I ended up waking up pretty refreshed today. It was a novelty to actually get up at a reasonable time and start doing stuff. Well there had been a plan but that kind of went by the wayside LOL.
I did manage to get a whole load of my eBay sales all packaged up and ready to send though. As a little treat we all had breakfast from Richard's today. Toni had been avoiding it of late but decided to indulge and thankfully had no adverse reactions.Toni had to pop out briefly to see to a poorly Jade to make sure that she was OK and when she returned we decided to suspend all plans in favour of chilling out.
We did a massive binge of Backstrom. The series got better and better and had a brilliant finale. We were gutted to find out that sadly it had been cancelled and so that single series is all there is. Such a shame that another series that we thought was great has being the victim of TV company executives.
We finished the night off watch NXT TakeOver: San Antonio. This was another excellent WWE show were the talent that aren't on the main roster showed that they are far more entertaining than those that sit at the top of the company. Contender match was the Fatal Four Way for the Women's Championship with Asuka seeing off Billie Kay, Peyton Royce and Nikki Cross. Asuka rightfully retained her title but it was a shame that there was more focus on the push that Billie Kay and Peyton Royce are getting as opposed to Nikki Cross who I think is the better wrestle of the three.
The real highlight though was Shinsuke Nakamura versus Bobby Roode for the NXT Championship. This was a real corker of a match with both guys pulling all the stops. I was gutted that Nakamura lost his title so soon after winning it back from Samoa Joe but I am sure we'll get to see a series between him and Roode and that he'll get it back again soon.
It was another early start today and it's really starting to be hard work. On the plus side I had a breakfast date with Andre (my old boss) which made a nice deviation from the norm. Delicious food, a hot drink, and good conversation actually made the day far more bearable than it should have been. I'd really like him to be my boss again ;)
Sam really brightened my day up though when he sent me this wonderful Star Wars image! It really made me smile and the rest of the day was much better after that.
Our travel back was slightly improved because Sam was feeling ill and was sent home early which meant we could grab a much earlier train from Victoria. For the first time since Monday we actually got home at our usual time.
Getting up early and all the additional travel was really draining and wiped me out so I ended up going to bed much too soon for a Friday night LOL.
I really hope they get everything fixed up over the weekend so that the trains are back to normal.
It was announced last night that New Eltham station would be closed until the end of the week. This meant that Sam and I would be continuing our nightmare journeys. We decided to leave half an hour earlier with a view to getting a jump on the crowds. This did prove to be successful going in but our return journey was still via Victoria and so we were doing much longer days that we liked.
Toni and I stared watching the new BBC series Taboo tonight.
It's a brilliant show, quite dark but carries some humour too. Adventurer James Keziah Delaney (played by Tom Hardy), long believed to be dead, returns home to London from Africa in 1814 in order to inherit his late father's shipping empire. All is not what it seems, however, as Delaney encounters numerous enemies intent on making his life back in the United Kingdom very difficult. Focused on building a shipping empire to rival the imperious East India Company, Delaney's other wish to seek vengeance for his father's death means conspiracy, betrayal and bloodshed are also in the cards. As he works to accomplish that, Delaney must also navigate increasingly complex territories in order to avoid his own death sentence.
Hardy is excellent in his role as Delaney and the supporting cast is made up of faces old and new. The casting in general is superb and everyone fits perfectly with the excellent script. The costumes and set are also really well executed and the recreated old London town is great.
If you haven't come across it yet then here's a trailer. The series is on BBC iPlayer if you want to indulge.
Sadly our prayers hadn't been answered as we headed to work today with the news that Sidcup station would be closed and so we had to go to Eltham once again. Additional travel is not what you need to add to a stressful working week! The boards were looking like this again:
To compound matters with the Lewisham derailment yesterday we also had a train problem at Kidbrooke.
We had hoped that getting back home would be easier but everything was shot to shit at Cannon Street so we decided to hop on the Circle Line and get the train from Victoria back to Eltham. This journey was easier and at least we got a seat on the train. It might have been easier but we also got home much later than usual.
In more positive news Toni had a great day today. She will be working as temporary cover for Wicca Moon and did her training day today and everything went fabulously well :)
It's always a delight to get to the station to find out there are train problems. Today we had to detour to Eltham due to a derailed freight train at Lewisham. The platform was packed and it was pretty chaotic.
Deciding not to panic and squeeze onto already rammed trains, Sam and I let three go through and then we actually had one come in that had some space on it, score!
Things hadn't been resolved by the end of the night and getting home was a real pig. We starting uttering machinations skywards in the hope that someone might be feeling benevolent and have everything resolved by tomorrow.
Well today in the Star Wars world some big news hit as the title for Episode VIII was finally announced. Yes folks, we have a name, the next movie in the franchise will be called The Last Jedi. Personally I like it and it fits in with some of the hints at the story that will unfold in this episode.
Don't forget, of course, that Jedi is both a singular and a plural! *grin*
We also got the first poster for the newly reveiled title:
Here's what Mark Hammil had to say about the title:
Daisy Ridley posted this on her Facebook page:
Watch out readers, the hype is real and will start building from now!
In other news Rogue One has now passed the one billion dollar mark at the box office making it an amazing success. Talking of Rogue One, The Star Wars Show has just done a wonderful episode on some of the easter egg secrets in the film. Don't watch this if you still haven't seen Rogue One. If you haven't then why not? LOL
Zen Studios have just announced that they have a new game coming out, Star Wars Pinball: Rogue One. I've quite enjoyed their previous Star Wars themed pinball games so am hopeful that this one will meet the same high standards. Here's a few screen shots:
We've also just seen the release of the synopsis of the new Thrawn novel, another reason to get VERY excited. You might remember my squeals of delight when Thrawn was brought out from Legends status to appear in Star Wars Rebels and so to have a new 'canon' book is amazing.
In this definitive novel, readers will follow Thrawn’s rise to power—uncovering the events that created one of the most iconic villains in Star Wars history.
One of the most cunning and ruthless warriors in the history of the Galactic Empire, Grand Admiral Thrawn is also one of the most captivating characters in the Star Wars universe, from his introduction in bestselling author Timothy Zahn’s classic Heir to the Empire, through his continuing adventures in Dark Force Rising, The Last Command, and beyond. But Thrawn’s origins and the story of his rise in the Imperial ranks have remained mysterious. Now, in Star Wars: Thrawn, Timothy Zahn chronicles the fateful events that launched the blue-skinned, red-eyed master of military strategy and lethal warfare into the highest realms of power—and infamy.
After Thrawn is rescued from exile by Imperial soldiers, his deadly ingenuity and keen tactical abilities swiftly capture the attention of Emperor Palpatine. And just as quickly, Thrawn proves to be as indispensable to the Empire as he is ambitious; as devoted as its most loyal servant, Darth Vader; and a brilliant warrior never to be underestimated. On missions to rout smugglers, snare spies, and defeat pirates, he triumphs time and again—even as his renegade methods infuriate superiors while inspiring ever greater admiration from the Empire. As one promotion follows another in his rapid ascension to greater power, he schools his trusted aide, Ensign Eli Vanto, in the arts of combat and leadership, and the secrets of claiming victory. But even though Thrawn dominates the battlefield, he has much to learn in the arena of politics where ruthless administrator Arihnda Pryce holds the power to be a potent ally or a brutal enemy.
All these lessons will be put to the ultimate test when Thrawn rises to admiral—and must pit all the knowledge, instincts, and battle forces at his command against an insurgent uprising that threatens not only innocent lives but also the Empire’s grip on the galaxy—and his own carefully laid plans for future ascendancy.
So that's the end of my latest Star Wars update. I'll leave you all with this wonderful fan made trailer for the Star Wars Saga:
It was one of those days today where we had a hankering for things that were not in the house. Toni really fancied hash browns so I suggested we just go and make our own variant, which we did. Potatoes were peeled, parboiled and put through the ricer and then we mixed with some onion to create some patties:
Some mushrooms were thrown in the oven to cook and then we moved back onto our Glitz potato cakes.
Chuck them all in to get nicely browned on both sides:
Throw in some eggs and a wonderful veggie breakfast looks something like this
I spent about an hour doing some tech support for mum who was having some issues with internet connection which turned out to be most likely a problem with her service provider.
Our afternoon was spent in the company of Ed Byrne and his Different Class show. We'd not watched any of his stand up before and were delighted to find that he is very funny.
Later in the evening Toni went and had a bath and I watched Holy Hell a documentary made by a former member of the Buddhafield cult. My interest in cults began with Jonestown and has expanded since through Branch Davidians, Heaven's Gate and Children Of God etc. It's fascinating to see how these leaders manage to captivate people enough to brainwash them and take them away from their normal lives to live in their shadows.
If, like me, you have any sort of interest in cults then this documentary is definitely worth checking out.
Toni was off doing some stuff today so Sam and I extended our playing of Star Wars Destiny and did some deck building prior to having a game. We even dragged out our game mat for this one.
I'm not really a fan of deck building stuff but it is actually fun for Star Wars Destiny so I can see me sticking with this one. The game was really close and came down to the finally turn with Sam just managing to squeeze out the victory. I really enjoyed it though.
We also discovered a new TV series called Backstrom that popped up on the banners on Netflix. We watched episode one and thought that it showed great promise with some good characters and humour.
It's definitely one that we will be watching more of.
Toni made the most amazing veggie dinner and we chilled out and caught up with some TV stuff and then the New York Rangers 5 - 2 over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
No this isn't the return of the large giraffe on the train. This refers to the old cockney rhyming slang.
Following on from listing lots of items on eBay I had someone contact me about some of the items that I am selling and they enquired what else I might have that they could be interested in that wasn't listed yet. I spent a fair bit of time taking pictures and logging it all in a spreadsheet for them to take a look at. I then received a list of what they wanted with an enquiry in to how much I would be asking.
I did a quick scan on eBay for current prices and then did some good discounting to make my asking price seem attractive. The cheeky person then had the cheek to offer me less than half of what I was asking on the basis that they had seen some items that I was selling go for bugger all on eBay. Whilst this might have been the case the current situation was that those same items were currently listed on eBay NOT for bugger all but for reasonable prices (that I had generously discounted).
Needless to say I was not impressed with their attempt at having a giraffe and have decided that I'll be listing everything on eBay and will take my chances on there rather than accepting what was frankly quite an insulting offer. Bloody sharks everywhere I tell you!
I've been listing a load of stuff on eBay to start some serious decluttering. There's a load of Star Wars comics and games up for grabs as my starter for ten as well as some lovely Judge Dredd items.
Well I've been sitting on this for a while. I am now officially allowed to announce that we are going to be grandparents again. It's so nice to be able to share this news. Congratulations to Sophie.
I thought it was about time I did a few Star Wars updates as lots of little things have been floating around over the last week. The big news over the weekend is that Lucasfilm have made a formal statement to say that there will NOT be any CGI version of Carrie Fisher in Episode IX or any other Star Wars films.
The full statement said,
"We don’t normally respond to fan or press speculation, but there is a rumor circulating that we would like to address. We want to assure our fans that Lucasfilm has no plans to digitally recreate Carrie Fisher’s performance as Princess or General Leia Organa.
"Carrie Fisher was, is, and always will be a part of the Lucasfilm family. She was our princess, our general, and more importantly, our friend. We are still hurting from her loss. We cherish her memory and legacy as Princess Leia, and will always strive to honor everything she gave to Star Wars."
I thought they did a good job of creating Tarkin and the young Princess Leia in Rogue One I personally had no issue with them moving to CGI to keep Leia in Episode IX especially as Carrie was apparently delighted with what they did in Rogue One.
My worry is that they had completed filming Episode VIII and Leia apparently has a big role so how will they explain her absence in Episode IX? Have her die between films and then just have a ceremony to cover it in Episode IX? That would be lame and unacceptable to me and I certainly don't want some wishy-washy 'she went away' ruse. Time will tell how they handle this but I hope it is done well and in a respectful manner if they are avoiding the CGI route.
Talking of Episode VIII, director Rian Johnson has revealed a few things for us (not spoilers as such...). The film does already have a title but this hasn't been revealed to the world yet. We will learn more about the new characters that first appeared in The Force Awakens. Luke Skywalker is the 'emotional entry point' into Episode VIII. Rey will develop a strong connection to Luke. The film isn't planning on taking a darker route a la The Empire Strikes Back and will emphasise fun and be an enjoyable experience.
Time to pop back to The Force Awakens now with an awesome deleted scene. Given what we see in A New Hope I don't know why this would have hit the cutting room floor other than the question of how and why Unkar Plutt was at Maz Kanata's castle. I love this scene and it certainly provides verifies the famous Han Solo quote from A New Hope. Enjoy!
In Han Solo movies news it has now been confirmed that Woody Harrelson and although these things are always shrouded in secrecy he has been allowed to reveal that he will be playing a mentor to the young Han Solo (and a bit of a criminal).
Felicity Jones recently hosted Saturday Night Live. Although there were no sketches related to Star Wars she did manage to drop some Star Wars references into her opening monologue.
Next up we have an incredible video from an upcoming episode of Mark Hamill’s Pop Culture Quest where he is reunited with his lightsaber from Return Of The Jedi:
If you like your mobile Star Wars games then you will be pleased to know that Star Wars: Force Arena was released today and is available on Android and iOS.
It's not a bad little game, I've had a quick play through and it seems like fun in the short term. Here's a first impressions video (not mine)
Sam and I indulged in a couple of games of Star Wars Destiny tonight. It's a combination of card and dice game that plays really well. Simple to learn and execute, just how I like games.
It was good fun and we'll be trying out the deck building element at the weekend to see what difference that makes to play (and the enjoyment).
...and don't forget everyone, piracy is a crime ;)
Yesterday we bought a selection of nuts and seeds so that I could make my own little snack pile. There's a funny story attached to this. I mixed them altogether and had a few nibbles last night. I was talking to Toni about them first thing this morning and said that I wasn't 100% sure about the sunflower seeds because they tasted a bit woody. She asked if I had shelled them. "They don't need to be shelled," was my response. Well, it turns out they did! I'd never had them before and so just assumed that they were good to eat straight out of the packet, DOH! I then had to separate the sunflower seeds from the rest so that I could start shelling them.
Toni and I made a trip to Eltham to get some things from Holland & Barrett. We did laugh when we found packets of sunflower seeds that really were good to go. Obviously we didn't need to buy any as I have lots at home that can be eaten (eventually). We did get some pumpkin seeds to go in the pot though.
When we got back I said about completing my nuts and seeds mix. This is the finished result.
I did spend a lot of time shelling some sunflower seeds. I've decided that they are more effort than they are worth though so here is the ones that will not be making into phase one:
We had a visit from Nick (who was collecting stuff for Zoe) who stayed for a cuppa and long chat about technical IT stuff much to the disgust of Zoe and Toni. This was then followed by Bob popping by to sort out some admin stuff and make use of our printer. It's been a busy old day.
Toni popped out to see Jade so I settled down to watch the WWE UK Championship Tournament. Once again the talent showed that they were deserving of their places in the Quarter Finals. It was a lovely touch (well blatant product placement) with announcers Michael Cole and Nigel McGuinness both sporting Blue Peter badges (not pins Mr Cole) after the cameras had highlighted Blue Peter presenter Radzi in the audience.
The semi finals were good with Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate making it through to the final. Dunne then blindsided Bate and gave him a working over which will put him at a disadvantage for the final. It was later announced that Bate had sustained an injury but would continue (thus creating the classic underdog scenario). The penultimate match was Wingnut (sorry, Neville) against Tommy End with both guys getting a massive pop from the crowd.
The final was absolutely incredible. It's probably a contender for match of the year and it's only January! It felt like things were going Dunne's way but I was delighted that after numerous near misses 19 year old Tyler Bate pulled off the victory and was crowned the first ever WWE United Kingdom Champion.
Toni and I had a nice walk today up to the Turkish shop for vegetable provisions. We keep finding really nice things in there and it was difficult not to go crazy. We did pick up a few treats though like pickled garlic and some olives and stuffed peppers.
Lunch was made up of some dips and various vegetable things. Even though the idea of a bacon sandwich was very appealing I have to confess that I feel much better taking the healthy option. Who'd have thunk it eh? LOL
Toni was out to one of her groups in the evening so Sam, Tristan and I had a round of Imperial Assault. It was good to blow the dust off of the box and play it again. Sadly Tristan's Imperials beat the Rebels that Sam and I were playing.
Tristan headed off bome and Sam disappeared upstairs to game so I watched the first night of the WWE UK Championship Tournament. Have to say that it was quite an impressive show with some great talent on display from around the United Kingdom. One of my favourites didn't make it through due to a controversial finish but sadly there is no video review in these things. Can't wait to see the remaining matches tomorrow night.
Sadly I woke up to find that we hadn't been blessed with lots more snow. Instead most of it had melted away and everything was now very icy. I was most unimpressed. We did have some snow come down while I was at work but sadly everything was too wet and so none of it settled at all.
It was very wet all day at work today and was chucking it down when I left to come home. I was pleased to see though that through the downpour was also a large amount of large snow flakes. It was too wet in central London for things to settle but it was a different story back at home.
I love snow. Sadly it was nowhere near as heavy as the evening progressed but at least we had some. I really hope that we'll have another massive falling overnight but I won't hold my breath. Fingers crossed I wake up to a fresh and crispy snowscape.
