Tuesday 25 December 2018

Our Christmas Day

The day started well with us getting up at 11:45. We kicked the day off with coffee and started our Christmas movie fun with the Bill Murray classic Scrooged.
After the film it was time for sausage breakfast at which point Sam, Zoe and Aaron briefly appeared (well for as long as their food lasted). Toni and I then started prepping some of our Christmas food. One turkey greased and stuffed and in the oven with the ham prepped for cooking later and it was time for more relaxing.

Next up in our movie fest was National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

It was so nice just to have a relaxed day with no pressure or expectations unlike the Griswold family Christmas LOL.

Third up on the movie front was Trading Places (still more of a Christmas movie than Die Hard will ever be!).


Food preparation then continued with the ham going in the oven and spuds, carrots, parsnips and sprouts on standby ready for cooking. Ham then went in, crackling came up beautifully and then finally we put in all the vegetables to roast.

Dinner was ready at 20:30... yum yum yum!

The Muppet Christmas Carol accompanied our delicious meal!







The food was absolutely delicious, we ended up slightly down on green stuff but there was plenty of meat and potatoes to go around.

Following the noms it was time to open presents (this was at 22:30). This was a real break from tradition but was fun anyway.

Before Aaron decided to grab a cab home we had one round of Secret Hitler. Sam had been wanting to play it for ages but it's for a minimum of five players so he's had to wait until today!

We finished off our Christmas movies with a nice bit of Home Alone.















Merry Christmas, Yuletide Wishes & Season's Greetings everybody

Merry Christmas, 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.

Monday 24 December 2018

Caught you Santa!


Twas the night before.....

It wouldn't be Christmas without this

Oh Santa

Just had to drop this one in again!

Monday 17 December 2018

Tree is up

We got ourselves a nice small real tree again this year. It looks great!

Friday 23 November 2018

Star Wars The Animated Movie (fan made)

Star Wars The Animated Movie (fan made). This is very cool......



Monday 19 November 2018

Pokemon Go says No & WWE Survivor Series

It was to my great surprise today that I opened up my Pokemon Go app to find that I was getting a warning strike for cheating at the game!

I was very surprised and really annoyed to have received this. I could find no apps installed on my phone that would even interfere with the game by accident let alone on purpose. I logged onto the Help portal and submitted an appeal. Fingers crossed I will hear something back again.

Nothing worse than being accused of doing something that you haven't!

Spent the evening watching the WWE Survivor Series. Most of it was spent on fast forward as the whole Raw v Smackdown concept didn't really interest me. I did stop for Seth Rollins v Shinsuke Nakamura though as I love Shinsuke. This was a pretty good match with both guys turning it up a notch although it was disappointing to see Shinsuke lose. WWE seem to have gone somewhat cold on the man that they made a really big deal about signing.

Next up on the must watch matches was Rhonda Rousey v Charlotte Flair for the Women's Title. It was nice to see a match involving Rhonda actually be competitive with Charlotte Flair really pulling out the stops. The ending was unexpected and brutal and elevated the match even further.

Last up was Brock Lesnar v Daniel Bryan. This was one of those matches that I had expected to be a nothing squash match with Lesnar bulldozing his way to the win. I was very wrong. Bryan took some massive bumps in this match and then put on an amazing offensive that pushed Lesnar to a place he really had to be, on the back foot. To see such spirit from Bryan was great . He didn't win but this was probably match of the night.


Sunday 18 November 2018

Harry Potter marathon completed

Today we finished the Harry Potter marathon that we started weeks ago. We got half way through before and then realised that it was Sunday night and carrying would have taking us to silly o'clock in the morning. Today we burned through The Order Of The Phoenix, The Half-Blood Prince and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2.

Christmas is fast approaching so I am sure that we'll end up doing this marathon again along with a Star Wars one.




Saturday 17 November 2018

Anniversary fun

We went out for breakfast with the kids first thing today as no Saturday is complete without a trip to Miggi's. When we got back home I realised that my favourite Virgin Media van was parked next to our house. This has always made me chuckle when I have seen it out and about so I managed to gran a photo today.

In the evening Toni and I escaped on our own to Bexleyheath to have an anniversary meal at Bella Italia. It was very nice to have some time together to have a laugh and enjoy each other's company.

It was a lovely day, very relaxed as we reflected on some of our amazing memories over the years.

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to my gorgeous wife Toni.
11 wonderful years together and 6 years of being married :)

Friday 16 November 2018

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindewald

It was off to Cineworld in Bexleyheath tonight to go and see Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindewald.

The Crimes Of Grindelwald is a wonderful sequel to Fantastic Beasts And Where to Find Them. It's much much darker than the first film. It's full of action and adventure, has some great special effects and yes there are more fantastic beasts in it. There are lots of little bits for Harry Potter fans to pick up on and nice reveal at the end that has you thinking before it gets there. Johnny Depp plays the role of Grindelwald very well and just about breaks free from coming across as that other well known character that he plays LOL. The casting is excellent, the sets and effects are wonderful and the score is what you'd expect from a film of this calibre!

If you are a Harry Potter or Fantastic Beasts fan then you absolutely MUST go and see this. If you aren't then go and see it anyway!

Here's a trailer if you need some convincing:


Wednesday 14 November 2018

Flash Gordon sky and Giratina

This morning the sky looked amazing. It could quite easily have been snapped from the Flash Gordon movie.

At lunchtime I met up with Sam and one of his work colleagues Kirsten to do a bit of Pokemon Go. We took part in a raid and managed to bag ourselves a Giratina!




Happy Birthday Zoe

Happy Birthday Zoe. Hope you have a great day!

Tuesday 13 November 2018

Psychic TV @ Heaven

Tonight it was off to Heaven with Dan Symmons to see Psychic TV.

I'd been waiting for this gig for a long time after the last one was postponed due to Genesis P-Orridge's illness. Thankfully he has recovered enough to do a couple of European dates (London and Berlin) but these could also be the last time we see Psychic TV tour.

The evening opened up with Libra Libra putting on a crowd pleasing set. They have a unique sound blending lots of influences and their singer Beth Cannon has a very powerful and versatile voice. It's so nice to see an energetic support band giving it their all and truly warming the crowd up. I'll definitely be checking them out more after this.

After a short break the venue had really filled up and it was time for Psychic TV to hit the stage. I've seen them many times before but tonight they were taking no prisoners. This was a tight set, Gen showed no sign of illness and was pretty much spot on for the entire gig. OK he can't jump around like a looney anymore but he can sure put on a damn good show.

The set list ran like this:
New Sexuality
We Kiss
Burning The Old Home
Alien Brain
White Nights
Just Like Arcadia
Jump Into The Fire (Harry Nilsson cover)
After You're Dead, She Said

Encore:
Suspicious
Mother Sky (Can cover)

Here's most of White Nights


What a fantastic night, introduced to a great new band and Psychic TV smashing it out the park in the company of an old friend!


Monday 12 November 2018

RIP Stan Lee

RIP Stan Lee. Whatever may or may not have happened today pales into insignificance next to the passing of a legend.



Stan Lee came into my life at an early age, forty years ago to be precise. I was eight when I first started collecting comics (Star Wars Weekly being the first ever) and so the stories of Stan Lee started to enter my life and continues to fill my brain with fun and fantasy to this very day.

Stan Lee was a legend, he created so many wonderful characters and stories. He was 95 when he finally passed having spent a lifetime doing what he loved and at the same time bring happiness to millions of people.

RIP Stan Lee and a big personal THANK YOU from me for your creativity.

Here's every Stan Lee cameo from films and TV:

Sunday 11 November 2018

Good times with Helen and Keith

Toni and I had a splendid day today in the company of our wonderful friends Helen and Keith. We zipped over to Essex to drop off some contraband and then spent many hours just shooting the breeze, catching up and generally enjoying good company.

She had a cheeky smile enhanced by the half light caused by the magnificent design of the lamps, a course of bright rays playing through the elegant opaque shades reminiscent of a magnificent sunset.

APOLOGY: That will mean nothing to any of you people reading but I had to add fir comedic value for the benefit of those that were there LOL

Saturday 10 November 2018

Listening to Muse and Zoe's birthday meal

I spent a lot of today listening to Muse especially their new album Simulation Theory.




They were a band that I never really quite bought into and I hated The Resistance due my belief that it was too much like trying to be Queen. In retrospect though, having listened to a lot of Queen recently, I can now listen to The Resistance and appreciate the this was a good Muse album but with them really wearing their influences on their sleeves. Simulation Theory is a great album, they toy with a few styles that you wouldn't expect including an homage to Prince but all delivered with a sound that is very much Muse. I might be late to the Muse party but I am really glad that I have made it!

Our evening was spent with Toni, Sam, Zoe and I enjoying a lovely meal at Bella Italia to celebrate Zoe's birthday (albeit a few days early). Lovely food and a good time was had by all! Good times!

Friday 9 November 2018

Long WFH day and Red Dead Redemption 2

It was a long old day today. I ended up having to WFH due a spectacular Parcelforce cock up. Lazy arse drivers are the bane of my life! If you are going to sign on my behalf and dump my parcels somewhere please at least have the decency to leave a card so that said parcels don't have to sit out in the rain overnight!

Work was full of grrr as well so it was a relief when my day finally ended!

My evening was spent with many hours playing Red Dead Redemption 2. It was a lovely way to wind down after my day. It's also a game that runs at a nice leisurely pace which suits me just fine. I just need to get better control over my trigger finger as I keep accidentally shouting people which isn't great when you are trying to be an honourable outlaw LOL.



Thursday 8 November 2018

Cassian Andor live action series announced

On a recent Disney earnings call Bob Iger revealed that there is a new Star Wars live action TV series in the works based on Cassian Andor who was first introduced to us in Rogue One. Diego Luna will return to the role.





















The 'fans' are already bitching about this but I really can't see why. They say Andor is a nothing character that we know the ending of but complain about the cancelling of the never confirmed Boba Fest movie. Boba Fett is one of the least interesting character there is in Star Wars, he looked cool, did nothing and we know what happened to him! I loved Rogue One so can't wait to see where they go with this! I'm really hoping that K-2SO makes has a role to play.

Wednesday 7 November 2018

Happy Birthday Aaron

Happy Birthday Aaron!
Hope you have a great day!

Monday 5 November 2018

Ja! Nein! RAMMSTEIN!

Today has been a good day. It started off with me securing 4 tickets to see Rammstein in their hometown of Berlin on the upcoming 2019 European Stadium Tour. Toni, Robin, Ellie and I are are going on a Rammstein road trip! Hell yeah.


In other Rammstein news I also managed to get tickets for Rammstein in Milton Keynes on the same tour so Sam, Aaron and I will be taking a slightly shorter road trip to see the band!


Ja! Nein! RAMMSTEIN!



Sunday 4 November 2018

Rammstein stadium tour 2019

Rammstein have just announced that along with the release of their new album in 2019 they will also be embarking on their first ever stadium tour.









It looks like there might be a bit of a road trip coming on as Toni and I have been discussing going to the Berlin show with Robin and Ellie. I have my LIFAD membership renewed already for the presale tickets to go online in the hope I can snag some for all of us in Berlin. Next on the list will be to get tickets for the Milton Keynes gig too (which is the only UK date).



Saturday 3 November 2018

Miggi's, Crown Jewel, Sabrina, Titans and Daredevil

As is usual for a Saturday, Toni, Sam and I went to Miggi's for breakfast. Turned out to be be more like lunch as Toni and I both had jacket potatoes with various things and Sam stuck to his big breakfast. We then hit Saisnbury's for some snacks before heading back home where we intend to stay for the rest of the weekend.

Despite the controversy of WWE Crown Jewel being held in Saudi Arabia I decided to check it out to see how good/bad it all turned out to be.

They managed to advertise the show and then run it without once mentioning that it was held in Saudi Arabia, clearly showing the decision to proceed was not necessarily the right one given recent events. Number one farce had to be the show opening with the return of Hulk Hogan who was appearing as the 'host'. This basically meant he had a segment at the start. I've never really been a fan of his and he is pretty much washed up now so I was surprised to see him opening the show especially after him being suspended from the Hall Of Fame for some racist comments. Being lauded for this show was a new trophy called the World Cup with card being made up mainly of matches heading to the final for that.

Rey Mysterio Jr defeated Randy Orton in no time at all. The Miz defeated Jeff Hardy. Seth Rollins defeated Bobby Lashley and Dolph Ziggler defeated Kurt Angle. All four winners headed into the semi-finals of the World Cup. The Bar defeated The New Day to retain their Tag Team titles. In Semi Final actionThe Miz defeated Rey Mysterio to advance to the final. Dolgh Ziggler defeated Seth Rollins to meet The Miz.

In a surprisingly average match AJ Style retained his WWE Championship against Samoa Joe. The vacant Universal Title was then won by Brock Lesnar after he made ridiculously short work of Braun Strowman. This was definitely the worst match of the night by far.

In what can only be described as a screw job Shane McMahon defeated Dolph Ziggler to win the World Cup after The Miz was declared unfit to wrestle. A vacant slot should have been offered to Rey Mysterio Jr who lost to The Miz rather than throw in someone who had not competed in any previous round of the tournament. Only in the WWE!

The final insult was DeGeneration X vs. Brothers of Destruction. Ten years ago this would have been an awesome match but watching four guys way past their prime (one of whom was even retired and vowed never to wrestle again) was just painful. It was a slow plodding match with a couple of cool moves for some old guys but it should not have been the marquee match.

Crown Jewel was an odd event that didn't really do much other than lead the stories on to other future events. My recommendation would be to give this one a miss!

On the MUST SEE front I have to recommend the new Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina on Netflix.





































It took a while to grow on me (mainly because of their cheap story writing having all the witches serving Satan) but it improved quickly and became compelling viewing. It's a gritty reboot with a fair few passing nods to original Teenage Witch show but this one has much darker life of its own.


We got up to date with DCs excellent Titans show today. Their movies might suck but they can still turn out a good TV show.
The show builds slowly and each week we get little snippets of formative years of certain characters to provide some context to their current day situations. It's dark and gritty and fun to watch.

It's taken a while to get round to it but I started watching Season 3 of Daredevil today.




This was one of Marvel's better Netflix shows and definitely started strong into Season 3.

Friday 2 November 2018

Vegan doughnut

Introducing to you a dark chocolate truffle vegan doughnut! I post this for no other reason than to tell you it was bloody delicious!

Thursday 1 November 2018

Fruit n fangs

Fruit n fangs make for an unlikely combination.

Look at the size of those grapes though!

Wednesday 31 October 2018

Thursday 25 October 2018

Halloween prep at the office

It seems that someone in the office is looking forward to celebrating Halloween judging from this:

Tuesday 16 October 2018

Sunny St. Paul's

I went for a nice walk/Pokemon hunt at work at lunchtime today. St. Paul's looked wonderful.