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Doesn't look a lot this way does it?

So I didn't exactly keep a journal all year. When you've got an exciting life you're too busy to record it or it's too personal to commit to bytes.

How much do I love my job still stands at 100%. My energy levels are more like 20%. If I was to make a resolution for 2007 - which I won't, it would be to improve the latter.

How about that film review of 2006. How did I and the movies fair?...[my 2007 comments]

January

13 - Memoirs of a Geisha - Check it out if you like all things oriental - it's should be 'safe' to watch going by the rating. [visually stunning, loved it]

20 - Shopgirl (Steve Martin and Clare Danes) - worth a view on the small screen? [didn't bother seeing this]

27 - Rumor Has It (Jennifer Aniston (+Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine, and Mark Ruffalo) plays a woman who discovers her family were the inspiration behind 60s classic The Graduate. - Thinkin small screen again. [gave this a miss too]

27 - The New World Colin Farrell as 17th-century explorer John Smith - if you're gonna see it go big screen but not a must. [haven't seen yet but am still curious about seeing it at some point]

February 3 - Prime Uma Thurman's New Yorker is wooed by the son of her psychoanalyst (Meryl Streep) in a 'superior-sounding romantic comedy' - will it live up to hype or wait for a girlie night in? [Lex liked this but I haven't seen it yet]

10 Chicken Little - yes the sky really is falling down - I'd like to see this big screen. [the alien baby was VERY cute but otherwise it was fun at the time but not that memorable]

17 - Aeon Flux Charlize Theron goes sci-fi to play an amoral assassin. I liked the trailer but have heard none too enthusiastic reviews. Paul and I like our sci-fi so will probably go and make up our own mind. [we decided not to pay money to see this but will do at some point]

March 17 - V For Vendetta Alan Moore's graphic novel about a masked vigilante in a totalitarian London. The Wachowski brothers + Natalie Portman). One for Paul or will I like it as well? - might depend on rating. [Moore and fans not so keen but I thought it was thought provoking and worth a view]

17 - She's The Man Shakespeare's Twelfth Night gets the teen flick treatment as Amanda Bynes impersonates her brother when he goes missing. Will it be as good as Ten Things... though? [didn't bother with this - reviews made me cringe, sounded more Americn Pie than 10 things...]

24 - Tristan & Isolde James Franco's British knight and Sophia Myles' Irish noblewoman are star-cross'd lovers in this medieval romance. [caught this on Sky. Not bad but not brilliant either]

31- The White Countess Ralph Fiennes plus Lynn and Vanessa Redgrave in James Ivory's adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel about an American diplomat and a Russian refugee in 30s Shanghai. - Could be interesting would need to read up on this first. [not seen but still intrigued to see if it's worth a view sometime]

April 7th - Ice Age 2: The Meltdown Oh yes - for those of us who love the computer animated first edition. [great sequel]

May 5th - Mission Impossible III - say no more. [more kick ass action]

19th - The Da Vinci Code - will I see it big screen is the question? It's the one to have an opinion on at least. [didn't want to pay money to see this so still have ...yet]

26th - X-men 3 - Can Kelsey Grammar pull of being the Beast? Hope so. One for the comic fans among us. [Yes Kelsey worked as the beast but Paul thinks this was the weakest of the three films by far. I enjoyed it but wont bother with the DVD.]

June 30th - Over The Hedge - Bruce Willis and Jim Carrey get 'tooned' as forest creatures who leave their home for the temptations of suburbia. Might be amusing if you like family animation.
[no I haven't burped my ABCs yet but I will ;)]

July 7th - Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - If it's as good as the first they're onto a winner. [Entertaining but it did feel like a long half movie having been filmed back to back with no. 3]

14th - Superman Returns - Will it be as successful a comeback as Batman? [Go Brandon! Lois's character was weak though]

28th - Cars - Pixar going up against dreamworks. Didn't look inspiring to me when the showed a trailer 12 months+ ago and then changed the release date. [one for Jeremy Paxman's CV. One or two amusing lines but not worth getting the DVD if you're over 12.]

August 11th - Super Ex-Girlfriend Uma Thurman is a superhero who makes the life of her boyfriend (Luke Wilson) a living hell when he unwisely dumps her. - Could be amusing. [not seen yet but still curious. It doesn't look great but might make an entertaining night in]

18th - Lady In The Water M Night Shyamalan does Splash, as a mermaid (Bryce Dallas Howard - blind girl in The Village) is discovered by an apartment block caretaker (Paul Giamatti). [still not seen, reviews have put this as the weakest of his MNS' films]

September 8th - The Assassination Of Jesse James Brad Pitt is the legendary outlaw and Casey Affleck the coward Robert Ford who killed the fastest gun in the West. [Don't remember seeing this hit the big screen round here]

15th - Southland Tales 'The Rock, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Kevin Smith and Miranda Richardson are only some of the ensemble cast in Donnie Darko helmer Richard Kelly's musical thriller set in 2008 LA'. - Well I'm intrigued. [didn't see this either but again still curious]

November 17th - Casino Royale - Well I haven't given up on Bond or Daniel Craig. [Daniel Craig gets the thumbs up - I had more faith in him that others did before the film came out. They've reset the Bond style and story to extent too.]

December 8th - Happy Feet - Robin Williams as an animated tap dancing penguin. -Well hasn't that sold it to you? [Baby penguins 6/5; RW as penguin(s) 5/5; rest of film 1/5]

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I've just signed myself up for a fantasy football league. Paul and I are the only members so far. New recruits welcome.

Yesterday we went to Chirk castle with the Inns (Pastor and family from Ebenezer). It's a National Trust property and they'd bumped up the price slightly for a medieval weekend. No shortage of tents but they didn't really advertise what each tent was and some were better at interacting with the public than others.

I didn't have a go at archery having given up my short career at Beaumaris. Paul had another go though. I liked the straw targets here as you arrow at least stayed where you shot rather than rebounding.

The castle's in excellent shape for a 13th century building. It's still lived in too which may account for the limited number of rooms we viewed.

The falconry display was impressive though also unnerving as a falcon swoops inches from your head. I needed dad there to tell me what all the birds were.

I've only seen 9 of this years films that were in the years preview list. 3 of those I watched this week.

Pirates of the Caribbean 2 was not quite as good as the first. Half an hour too long I think. I good romp none the less and worth seeing big screen.

Superman Returns was better than I expected though I still think that Kate Bosworth's Lois Lane should have been more fiesty.

Cars was amusing. Went to see it with Geraint n Izzy (and Paul). Good fun but not one to put on the Amazon wish list.

Hope to see My super ex-girlfriend still though as that looks amusing.

If you were expecting to read about my summer excursions you'll have to wait for an email update!

I was good to see Matt and an 8 month pregnant Lindsey in London. We haven't seen them since they played at our wedding. The heat in London was the worst I'd felt and not at time I'd choose to be carrying extra personage!

Other films we've caught with are:

Kingdom of Heaven. I enjoyed this more than Alexander, partly because it was shorter and more linear. It also had Matthew Rutherford (Windsor-Richards to the rest of us) who I was in a Bible study group with at uni.

Duck soup - Paul and I found ourselves wondering why the Marx brothers were such a hit. In short sketches I can seem as more amusing than sitting through an one and a half of their nonsense.

Your results:
You are Han Solo

Han Solo 69% Chewbacca 69% R2-D2 67% Luke Skywalker 67% Lando Calrissian 60% Padme 59% Princess Leia 59% Qui-Gon Jinn 54% C-3PO 52% Yoda 52%

Even though you've been described as reckless, selfish and cocky, you're the type of person others love to be around. People like you because you're a scoundrel.

(This list displays the top 10 results out of a possible 21 characters)


Click here to take the Star Wars Personality Quiz


it's not what quite how I'd define me but others might find taking the quiz amusing.

Saw Mission Impossible 3 last Wednesday with Paul. 1 and 3 were quite different in style. This one sits somewhere in the middle. Opening with scenes of torture are not necessarily high on my list of inspiring starts but not a bad night out. Paul's day was made as Simon Pegg, of Spaced/Shaun of the Dead fame appears. It was fun to see him in it but he did seem out of place. Very Alias like which isn't surprising as they have the same director.

Thanks to Paul's blog friends for finding this. Severus Snape sings Lion Kings 'Be prepared.'

I don't think Disney would actually allow this to be used as the trailer for the next Potter movie.

If you're looking forward something weirder - warning this is link from Paul's favourites. Movies as you've never seen them before. Look out for the easter egg on Rocky Horror and Jaws.

Taken from peck25(ie Paul). Go to Wikipedia . Type in your birth date (but not year). List three events that happened on your birthday. List two important birthdays and one interesting death. Post this in your journal.

Events:
1934 - Adolf Hitler and Mussolini meet in Venice, Italy; Mussolini later describes the German dictator as "a silly little monkey".
1970 - "The Long and Winding Road" becomes the Beatles' last Number 1 song. 
2004 - A 4 kg meteorite hits the house of Phil and Brenda Archer in Ellerslie, New Zealand, destroying the roof and a couch. 

Birthdays: 
1892 - Basil Rathbone, English actor (d. 1967)
1910 - Mary Whitehouse, British campaigner (d. 2001)

Death:
1918 - Tsar Mikhail Alexandrovitch Romanov (b. 1878) 

Feast day:
Feast of St Anthony of Padua  - said to help you find lost possessions.

Easyjet tickets, by the way, were £50 return (give or take) and that's aug bank hol weekend.

I'm also chuffed with myself for finding Liverpool airport yesterday and for getting my passengers to Quinta without getting lost - the return journey out of Speke was a bit of a fluke. A hunch that I should turn left at the traffic lights was a lucky guess.

More than Kristen
I asked people to keep in touch with their news too – even if it’s just to say that all’s fine and dandy.

( This was one reply ... )

Sometimes ........

Thank you Mr Avery

Last Friday to Monday we were in Chesterfield. We had picturesque views of the snowy peak district without poor travelling conditions. Plus I went well prepared with hat and scarf etc.
The only thing to see in Chesterfield is the crooked spire but it is a curiosity worth seeing. Why is it crooked? A) The devil caught his foot on the tiles b) the green wood used warped c) a virgin married in the church and the tower bent round to look. Take your pick.
The village of Eyam combined our idea of walking with it's pestilent past as it shut itself off when the plague arrived in the 1600s.
Bakewell we were obliged to try it's famous tart but Buxton was probably the most interesting large urban place to visit. I knew the spring water was rather well known but I didn't realise the town was like a mini Bath with it's Victorian/Georgian promenade and grand crescent.

Also saw Walk the Line. I knew next to nothing about Johnny Cash but it was well worth seeing whether you're a music follower of his or not. Joaquin Phoenix deserved his oscar nom as did Reese W her win.

We're off to see V for Vendetta this afternoon will report back soon.

Definite layer of the old white stuff outside. Since I have remote access to the work server and Ray's at conference, so I can't ask him to drive, I'm staying safe at home.

Last Friday I babysat for Ian and Jane so they could have a night out. Thankfully no dramas or vast amounts of poo like last time!
If that wasn't enough kiddy time Paul and I went to see Pete and Kate and their brood of four for the rest of the weekend.

It should take two hours to get to Bawtry (nr Doncaster) but that depends on whether you're paying attention and don't get half way round Manchester before you realise you've gone the wrong way.

The children look very alike, especially the younger three (I mistook Amos for Miriam when I first met him). Caleb's 6, Miriam's 4, Amos is 2 and Martha, who I'd never met before is 6 months. Miriam, my god-daughter, was our bridesmaid, she refers to the occasion as 'her wedding'. We played lots with the children but did manage to catch up with P & K's news too. Didn't speak to Paul much, he was too busy playing a snakes and ladders type game for the 50th time with Caleb or Miriam. My arms ached from carrying and playing with Martha due to my unfitness.

Good fun but neither Paul or I came away remotely broody.

I was checking out the website for the info on dalit children in India for Sunday School (a great little package by the way). There's a geography quiz which is addictive. You score for getting it right and lose points for wrong guesses. My scores were Europe 215; Middle East 125; Australia 35; Canada 15; Central America 5; South America 0; Africa -785; America -1800.

I'm really sorry Kristen I will try to improve my score! Can you do better?

Since Tuesday I've been with OM learning a bit more about my job and how things run there. Until I start properly and get my full access to system learning how to process short term applications is a bit limited but it gave me a taste of the variety of opportunities available and each application can have it's own querks to work through.

The people are great. The whole place has a real family atmosphere. They're split into groups that cross departments who not only take prayer meetings and clean the coffee room but look out for one another.

Back to GT tomorrow. The countdown begins ;)

Saw it last night with Izzy. (Paul's on 12 hour night shift all week and this weekend :( )

I won't rush out and buy it on DVD when the time comes but it was amusing. At 1 hour 1o mins it didn't waste time on complex plots (it is a kids movie) but there was enough there to entertain adult as well as child IF you're an animation fan. There was plenty of trailers for future animation too. I'm going to have to see Happy Feet in November because it looks cute and I'm a sucker for Robin Williams.

Ant Bully - a sequel to Bugs Life - has potential too.

I am growing exasperated though by the growing amount of copy cat animation out there.

Bugs Life(Dis/Pix, 2nd) Ants (DWorks, 1st)
Finding Nemo (Dis/Pix, 1st) Shark's Tale (Uni Pic, 2nd)
The Wild (2nd) Madagascar (DWorks, 1st)
Over the Hedge (1st) - Open Season (2nd)