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!
As most of you are aware Lucasfilm and Disney have wowed us all with their Disney+ TV show The Mandalorian, The first Star Wars live action TV show has been a massive hit and we have more of that plus the Kenobi and Cassian Andor shows to come. What a lot of people are unaware of is that George Lucas always wanted to a create a TV show in the Star Wars universe and had plans for one called Star Wars: Underworld.
The following test footage made in 2010 has suddenly become available and also has a making of segment.
The footage seems to validate the rumours that the show was supposed to take place in the seedy depths of Coruscant. All of this was planned pre-Disney and George apparently wanted to run 100 episodes at one hour each. The project ultimately got cancelled because at the time it was just deemed too expensive to make.
Who knows what this would have been like but I am so glad that this has seen the light of day and we can all see what might have been and how advanced the techniques were even back then.
Sam and I went to Vue in Eltham tonight to see Gut Ritchie's latest film The Gentlemen.
I wasn't really sure what to expect with this one, the trailer had looked interesting and I hadn't done any background research on it.
The plot on paper is simple: An American expat tries to sell off his highly profitable marijuana empire in London, triggering plots, schemes, bribery and blackmail in an attempt to steal his domain out from under him.
The film itself is marvellous. Ritchie has a unique style and the way The Gentlemen was constructed was great fun. Difficult to say too much without putting in spoilers. All of the case are brilliant especially Hugh Grant. There are some real laugh out load moments and the whole thing is very irreverent.
I would recommend this film unless you don't like the word c**t!
The latest Star Wars novel that I am working my way through is Force Collector, part of the Journey To Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker material.
I absolutely loved this story. Set just before The Force Awakens, a restless teenager sets out to discover what connection his mysterious Force powers have to the fabled Jedi and what the Force has in store for him. We have some new characters and some lovely colour added around more familiar characters. This might be a young adult novel but it is a compelling read and I struggled to put it down. Big thumps up to Keven Shinick for this one!
Next up on my reading list was the The Perfect Weapon that was actually released as part of the Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens material. It's not new but I've only just got round to reading it.
The Perfect Weapon" is a short story by Delilah S. Dawson and features Bazine Netal, a character that appears in Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens.
There are plenty of mercenaries, spies, and guns for hire in the galaxy. But probably none as dangerous and determined as Bazine Netal. A master of disguise—and lethal with a blade, a blaster, or bare handed—she learned from the best. Now it's her turn to be the teacher—even if schooling an eager but inexperienced recruit in the tricks of her trade is the last thing she wants to do. But it's the only way to score the ship she needs to pull off her latest job.
An anonymous client has hired Bazine to track down an ex-stormtrooper and recover the mysterious package he's safeguarding. Payment for the mission promises to be astronomical, but the obstacles facing Bazine will prove to be formidable. And though her eager new sidekick has cyber skills crucial to the mission, only Bazine's razor-sharp talents will mean the difference between success or failure—and life or death
It might be a short story but it was big on action and expands nicely on the background of a character that we only see briefly in The Force Awakens.
This is only available as ab eBook but if you like Star Wars novels it is worth the small price.
So today we decided to do some more baking but with a difference. We took the gluten free keto choc chip cookies recipe and decided to modify it as an experiment. We replaced half of the almond flour with coconut flour, added some psyllium husk and dropped the choc chips (well we dressed them with some but they weren't full of them).
Here's what came out....
They were absolutely delicious! It was a very good experiment! They are actually nicer than the choc chip version. Eaten warm they have an almost scone like quality. Lots of scope for other ways this new recipe could be used.
Then it was time to settled down to some Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina on Netflix now that Season 3 has dropped.
Dinner was an amazing steak and we watched a bit of QI followed but a series called Monty Python's Best Bits (Mostly).
Kicking off today with the great news that Disney have just announced that the Disney+ release date has now been brought forward by one week so will now be live in the UK on 24th March! Finally!
Really looking forward to having this. All of the Star Wars and all of the Marvel in the same place and a major upgrade to the currently available Disney Life.
Although it actually starts before Disney+ hits the UK I am really excited for the final season of The Clone Wars. A new trailer has just been released
In sadder news it appears that the Kenobi TV series for Disney+ is now on hold. Recently we had rumours that it was cancelled which was proven to not be true but it looks like there is an issue anyway. Reports are that the production crew were all sent home from Pinewood Studios. It is also rumoured Kathleen Kennedy was not happy with the scripts. It is better for them to delay things and get it right rather than rush something out there and create a disaster especially given how picky the Star Wars fan base is these days. It sounds like the story line was also a problem with it being too similar to The Mandalorian with Obi-Wan looking out for young Luke Skywalker. Defending the child can't really work twice. The other worrying this is that they might have decided to cut the length of the series so we have may now gone from a movie to a six hour series which is now rumoured to be down to a four hour series.
More news will be reported as and when I hear more.
I was working from home today as I had an 07:30 call with a client in Singapore. After the call I jumped into the kitchen to prep a loaf of gluten free keto bread for Toni. Ten minutes prep time for the win! Here's the result:
The house had a lovely baked bread smell after that which was great.
It was a busy working day but I cracked the back of some things which felt great. Got pissed off at some craziness and had a grumble at one of my managers. I even managed to finish at a reasonable hour(ish).
Toni and I had dinner and caught up with Star Wars Resistance and the latest Ink Master episode before she went out for a night of crochet.
Sam and I then engaged horror mode and watch Overlord. With only hours until D-Day, a team of American paratroopers drop into Nazi-occupied France to carry out a mission that’s crucial to the invasion's success. Tasked with destroying a radio transmitter atop a fortified church, the desperate soldiers join forces with a young French villager to penetrate the walls and take down the tower. But, in a mysterious Nazi lab beneath the church, the outnumbered G.I.s come face-to-face with enemies unlike any the world has ever seen.
This was nowhere near a terrible movie, it should have been but it wasn't. I was surprised to see J.J. Abrams named as producer. Worth a watch if zombies and Nazis are your thing. If they aren't then why not? LMFAO
It's insanely busy at work at the moment. I am a man down right now and I am really starting to feel it. Having to cover for one person whilst balancing everything else is proving to be quite challenging. I've left the office late two nights in a row and I am feeling quite tired.
Tomorrow I shall be working from home and finishing at a reasonable hour! Time to pace myself before I break!
The evening was spent relaxing and Toni and I finished of Season 2 of The Crown. It's so well done and we are both gripped by it. I know I've said it before but you really should check it out!
Baking was the order of the day today with Toni and I whizzing up a double batch of gluten free keto chocolate chip cookies!
Oh my goodness, they were delicious!
Any of you a fan of the Penny Dreadful TV series? We thought it was wonderful and now we are getting a spin off in the form of Penny Dreadful: City Of Angels, set in 1938 Los Angeles. Showtime have just released the first trailer:
We caught up with the rest of season one of The Crown which is turning out to be compelling viewing and then moved on to season two.
We start our day with breakfast at Miggi's before returning home to chill out. In another better late than never moment we decided to watch Shazam as we missed it when it came out.
The DCEU movies have been a bit hit and miss so I wasn't keeping my hopes up for this one. I knew nothing of the comic book character so went into this one with a completely open mind. Overall it wasn't bad at all. Shazam seems to be set in an alternative universe to the other DCEU offerings which was a surprise.
It's a fun superhero movie and I think I would definitely go and see the sequel which is also tied in with standalone supervillain movie Black Adam.
We caught wind of a new TV series coming out that peeked our interest. Motherland: Fort Salem. Set in an alternate, present-day America where witches ended their persecution 300 years ago by cutting a deal with the burgeoning U.S. government to fight for their country, Motherland: Fort Salem follows three young women from basic training in combat magic into terrifying and thrilling early deployment. In this world, the traditional roles of gender and power are flipped, with women on the front lines fighting looming terrorist threats that are strikingly familiar to our world, but with supernatural tactics and weapons. Let's hope it turns out to be good.
The second season of Sex Education is now out so we watched the first two episodes on Netflix. It is as hilarious and silly as the first season. Avoid this one if you are easily offended or don't like the idea of frank discussion about bumping uglies.
Our evening finished watching Washington Capitals v New York Islanders and were very happy to see the Islanders lose 6 - 4.
Urgent seems to be becoming a far too familiar word at work right now. I've been bombarded with numerous requests to do things that are classified as urgent. They now get added to my urgent list and get processed in date order. It's getting to be a bit like the boy who cried wolf! How many times can you ask for things to be done urgently before you accept that they aren't all urgent!
Of all these things that were seen as urgent the only one that really was involved security patching of servers which resulted in me having to do some work in the evening.
Caught up with last nights Islanders v Rangers game and was delighted to see the Ranger walk away with a 2 - 3 win. A last minute goal from Chris Kreider secured the deal. The play off race continues.
Today we took a slow dive into Netflix series The Crown.
We are late comers to The Crown as it has just finished Season 3 with Season 4 upcoming (out of 6 planned seasons).
The Crown traces the life of Queen Elizabeth II from her wedding in 1947 to the present. The first season depicts events up to 1955, with Winston Churchill resigning as prime minister and the Queen's sister Princess Margaret deciding not to marry Peter Townsend.
We've watched the first four episodes so far and it is quite a good show. There seems to be a little poetic licence going on with some characters being shown in a slightly better light than they perhaps deserve so it will be interesting to see if this continues or the show tried to take on a more real view.
I am definitely not a Royalist but this one is worth a watch.
Jared Leto is the main character Michael Morbius (The Living Vampire) and it could be this will be one of his finest performances after his OK portayal of Joker in DCs Suicide Squad.
Lots of questions doing the rounds with this one....
Will we see Morbius in the Venomverse or the MCU? He was in the Spider-Man comics so maybe he'll be in a Spider-Man film. I have no idea but I can't wait to find out! Roll on July!
We finally got round to watching the last of the Fox X-Men movies, Dark Phoenix. The reviews at the time put us off of going to see it at the cinema but I really wanted to see what it was like.
In Dark Phoenix, the X-Men face their most formidable and powerful foe: one of their own, Jean Grey. During a rescue mission in space, Jean is nearly killed when she is hit by a mysterious cosmic force. Once she returns home, this force not only makes her infinitely more powerful, but far more unstable. Wrestling with this entity inside her, Jean unleashes her powers in ways she can neither comprehend nor contain. With Jean spiraling out of control, and hurting the ones she loves most, she begins to unravel the very fabric that holds the X-Men together. Now, with this family falling apart, they must find a way to unite, not only to save Jean’s soul, but to save our very planet from aliens who wish to weaponize this force and rule the galaxy.
The reviews weren't great but it wasn't too bad. Dark Phoenix seemed like a lazy attempt to close out the X-Men series as Fox headed into the Disney buy out and felt somewhat rushed as a result. It carried the same look and feel of the previous X-Men films so there was great familiarity but it seemed to lack something.
Caught up with the Rangers v St. Louis Blues game today. It started well but as happens far too often the days the Rangers choked in the end and crashed out 2 - 5. It was definitely the latter on this image!
We also burned our way through quiz show Was It Something I Said? that we found on Youtube.
Was It Something I Said? was broadcast on Channel 4, It was presented by David Mitchell and featured team captains Richard Ayoade and Micky Flanagan. Celebrity guest narrators appeared in each episode and, for the first series, narrators included David Harewood, Phil Daniels, Charles Dance, Brian Blessed, Joh Craven, John Seargent, Kirsty Wark and Mariella Frostrup.
It's a shame this only ran for eight episodes as I thought it was very funny and would have liked to have seen a lot more of it.
You can find all eight episodes on Youtube if you are interested in watching it.
20th Century Fox have recently dropped a trailer for The New Mutants.
This Fox superhero horror film is based around the X-Men universe. I did wonder if it would ever see the light of day after Disney bought Fox but it seems the green light has been given and now it's all systems go.
The New Mutants actually looks pretty good so that's a definite cinema trip coming up in April.
Tonight was a family night out as Toni, Sam, Zoe and I ventured to deepest darkest Bexleyheath. We started off with a lovely meal at Bella Italia before hitting Cineworld to go and see Jojo Rabbit.
Johannes "Jojo" Betzler is a ten-year-old boy living in Nazi Germany during the later stages of World War II with his mother, Rosie. His absent father is supposedly serving on the Italian Front but has lost all contact and his older sister Inge has recently died of influenza. The jingoistic Jojo often talks with his imaginary friend, a supportive but childish version of Adolf Hitler.
Jojo Rabbit is Taika Waititi in fine form. His parody of Hitler is hilarious, all the cast are wonderful.
It's a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, there are plenty of laughs from start to finish but there is also a VERY serious undertone about how easily people can be brainwashed into believing in a cause (and any old bollocks to justify it). I would recommend taking some tissues with if not for the heart wrenching scenes then for the German version of David Bowie's Heroes.
I had a half day today. The morning was spent working from home up to my eyeballs in stats going back to 2016 pulled for some pointless management review. I'm sure they'll find something meaningful in there.....
There was lunch and then I had the afternoon off.
The early part of the afternoon I accompanied Toni to the hospital to attend a review with her consultant following her procedure in December. The good news is that what they took out was nothing to worry about and the other good news is that they can now look at doing the actual procedure that she was supposed to have. We hope this will be in a couple of months.
The rest of the afternoon was spent watching the first three episodes of the DC crossover series Crisis On Infinite Earths.
This consisted of episodes of Supergirl, Batwoman and The Flash. Lots of wonderful guest cameos throughout these episodes and a who's who of all the DC TV series that are currently running. This is their best crossover event so far and I can't wait to see how it all pans out when Arrow and Legends Of Tomorrow are broadcast next week.
We finished the evening off watching the first few episodes of Netflix's series called Messiah.
The series focuses on the modern world's reaction to a man, who first appears in the Middle East claiming to be the eschatological return of 'Isa (Jesus). His sudden appearance and apparent miracles spark a growing international following, casting doubts around who he really is, a case investigated by a CIA officer.
The first episodes were good and I hope the story unfolds in a way that it lives up to its promise,
It was back to work today after 2.5 weeks off. It was a bit of a shock to the system as I've abstained from ALL devices linking to work so I came back blind with over 400 emails to catch up on.
It actually took me almost half a day to get back into the swing of things. Clearly I needed the break....
Toni and I ventured up to London today to meet with Athena and spend some time at London Alternative Market (LAM).
It's always fun to feed the inner kink! We might have bought a few things while we were there!
After we returned back to Eltham we popped into Nando's for some foods. It was nice to be out doing something fun together on my last day before returning to work.
Toni and I headed to South Kensington today to go and see Athena and Chip. We've not seem them for a while so it was good to have catch up and learn more about Athena's plans for world domination!
Well we are now in 2020 and the final episode in the Skywalker Saga has now been released. Kathleen Kennedy (President of Lucasfilm) is apparently going to share some news on the next film in the pipeline (due to be released in 2022).
I'm sure lots of people are dreading the announcement that Rian Johnson is involved but I am just keen to hear whatever news there might be. Clearly it won't be the Benioff and Weiss Old Republic trilogy as they bailed out to take big bucks from Netflix to do something else.
I am very pleased that there are still plans for more Star Wars films on top if all the TV stuff coming to Disney+ and am excited to see what might be in store for us going forward.
Happy New Year to all my friends and family whether we meet face to face or just know each other online. May your wishes be granted, your hopes be fulfilled and you all have much health and happiness.
