it's life jim, but not as we know it

saw the new Star Trek movie last week... and i don't like to be melodramatic but Oh My God! it was so awesome!!! hehe

i'm the kind of gal who loved William Shatner as James T. Kirk, they were repeated to death as i grew up and frankly he and his girdle were hot! but when The Next Generation came along mi didn't follow - it all seemed so serious all of a sudden, and for the people who loved it's new found respect for space travel fair enough but for me the 60s show was the only one... i even saw all the movies (though i'm not very clear on what happened in any of them now i come to think back... but see them i did!)

i had a life size Kirk on my bedroom door for a couple of years and used Trek jargon such as Captain's Log when writing to a best friend from whom i was estranged via Basingstoke! in fact such was the surge of nostalgia i felt when i heard the new Kirk reporting his Captain's Log i immediately texted the same friend as soon as the movie was over! haha

Shatner's Kirk was so charismatic, i had little expectations of the new boy - but Chris Pine did good! he totally rocked the James T Kirk role, with some very Shat-esque moves whether intentional or not... Bones is a dead ringer for the original McCoy, the original Spock makes a great cameo as himself from the future and tickled i was that when in battle the bridge crew still threw themselves to the side like in the original TV show... and don't get me started on the Shat-Kirk foot-bob that made an appearance!

i haven't even got to our own Simon Pegg doing Scotty - just brilliant!

i guess with any action adventure film i just don't expect much anymore, so to have your socks rocked off like i did for this film was a surprise and a pleasure... i beamed as the original music got an airing and wondered how long i'd have to wait til the next one! i'll be going for another viewing that's for sure! best film i've seen all year! go see!

i must say also at this point my boyf is a Dr Who fan and even he really loved it! so that's high praise indeed - altho i know secretly he is well jealous that his fave sci-fi tv show hasn't been made into a big screen extravaganza - but never say never - i reckon it's more than likely at some stage...

soul food

i believe there is something about the English countryside that is good for the soul...

as we drove into the Ribble Valley for a friends' wedding this weekend we couldn't believe our eyes! so lovely! green and hilly, lambs and rabbits all around (the latter almost under the car tyres but fortune struck!)...

it was clear early on that there would be no mobile phone signal for the duration of our stay but somehow it didn't matter... our stately room looked out onto the river and even the rainy moments didn't ruin the day!

even though we live in this green and pleasant land, a lot of the time you're surrounded by cars, noise, concrete and are simply too busy to take the time to take a walk in a nearby 'greenbelt' but more's the pity!

ours was a fleeting visit to a really idyllic setting but seemed to nourish my soul so much, there's definitely something in the trees!

fake that!

last night i went to see Take That the Musical! haha and it was aces! what's not to love about a story of a Take That Tribute Band - they even had a rain effect on stage like the real boys do!

hoping to see the real boy band this summer at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry ... but not sure i can cope with all those female hormones again! i'll never forget looking back into a crowd of thousands of women-of-a-certain-age at the TT gig in Manchester when they first got back together - mind blowing... and terrifying!

what occurred to me while watching this genius show was how much i'd like to see Kylie -The Musical or Madonna - The Musical... infact how easily the idea lends itself to a musical artist... We've already had The Beatles, Queen and ABBA performed as stage productions of course but TheMonkees - The Musical anyone? And you could definitely have Elton John - The Musical!

i wonder if my life could make it as a musical - certainly working in radio gives you great scope for the soundtrack! haha

my theme tune would have to be something classic by Burt Bacharach (being a legend)... maybe over the weekend i'll make Jodester - The OST*

what would your theme tune be?!




*original sound track fact fans!

bank holidays

a rainy bank holiday has come and almost gone and i think i prefer them...

this may seem a little controversial but i reckon i'm more inclined to make some use of the day if the weather ain't sunny! who wants to to tidy the spare room if it's cracking the flags!*
similarly who wants to meet me in dingy pubs - which of course are the best kind - when its all yummy and sunny out?!

i mean i love a bit of vitamin D as much as the next girl - it's good for gardening in and also for drinking outdoors in (especially near rivers/the sea) but as far as getting things done - it's a distraction at best! haha

so today, rainy bank holiday, i got busy with the gym, guitar lesson and then dingy pub! hurrah! the perfect day off work! tho looking at the time i better try and nod off soon... back to the grindstone tomorrow...





*where does that phrase come from - anyone know? i'm bound to wiki it now...

the bad guys

goodness me, i had a worrying fact present itself to me today!

while growing up my TV crushes looked something like this:
JR Ewing, Dirty Den, Paul Robinson... Michael Knight and Faceman!

only one of these chaps is a nice guy! omg! that's so disturbed... luckily i appear to have grown out of this trend (apart from The Hoff still being on my ToDo list* hehe)

but no wonder i had such a disastrous love life in my teens/twenties with loverats like these as my role model boyfriends! haha

i'm hoping that it wasn't innate and somehow i learned this weird attraction from the lady role models on 80s TV! ha, more than likely!

*hey it's allowed! he's officially on The List!

go ahead slug make my day

i have been attempting to become a gardener...

however the garden is full of enemies! weeds at every paving stone! slugs nibbling my herbs! giant bumble bees buzzing around! argh! i'm just not that outdoorsy...

i like the idea of the outdoors but often - as a citygirl - find the reality just plain hard work! pheasants kamikaze running in front of your car... nowhere to eat until 6pm... no public convenience for miles... bugs - i really dislike bugs!

but i love the idea of growing stuff and so i am trying...

i have some lettuce trying to get going that my dad (expert gardener) planted but the slugs think its a free lunch making me mad! gardening is supposed to be all zen-man not a source of more rage! haha

he says i need to leave orange skins out to catch the greedy guzzlers but i don't eat oranges... too much effort for not enough delivery imho... he said they like beer too but i don't want to waste beer! haha

plus since i started weeding i've become weedcam seeing the blighters everywhere i go! its like a 6th dandelion sense! they're on every street - it kinda makes you notice mother nature more in the city i guess and think how interesting that nature doesn't quit whether you built a big building there or not! haha

but seriously dandelions are a blight! and i've tasted the root tea and it ain't worth all the back ache!

i do chat to my neighnours over the garden fence a bit though which is nice... and my dad likes pottering when he's here... i guess i'll continue with my dabbling in greenery... just gotta forget about my buddhist leanings when it comes to those slugs!

i mean come on - nobody nice comes back as a slug - right?! hehe

you'll be glad to hear i resisted the pink watering can at the garden centre hehe

good reads are hard to find

if you are a regular reader of this blog you may know something about me and books.

i suppose i am a bibliophile of sorts... my fondest earliest memories are of the central library in Liverpool! now that's ubergeeky and i know it!

but i had to tell ya about this book i picked up last week... it's such a darn good read!
now don't worry! i haven't broken my no new books rule* it was on the 'to read' pile which towers like a multi-story above me...

anyway! tales from the city babycakes! by armistead maupin, is a great read and, luck would have it, a series! my pal KC got it for me ages ago but promises to serve me the rest up just in time for my birthday - hurrah! set in San Francisco and making me wanna go see! haha
originally a newspaper serial it says on the back blurb...

now i'm off to read page 227 and beyond!

gnight!



*secondhand 1970s yoga books found at local bric-a-brac shop don't count right?! oh god!

a special club

now of course it is fashionable to say that you wouldn't want to be a member of any club that would have you as a member... but i discovered a secret club today and i don't think i would mind so much if i could become fully fledged!
today being the international day of chocolate eggs i decided to get me to the gym before all the fun chocolatey-fun commenced... but it was quite early - i guess 10ish*
and it was very quiet but a few honest souls had come to worship at the treadmill just like me, but it was so much nicer than when it's busier - it just seemed calmer...
i also had more interaction with this bunch of gym bunnies than ever before when i've gone in the afternoons... a older guy made a worrying sound on a treadmill just down from me so i gave him a hand signal to see if he was ok and he was... then when i was in the sauna a girl chatted to me about her 12yr old daughter's pester power... it just seemed a friendlier bunch than before... a secret early morning gym club that i've never been to before!
s'funny cos i was just thinking how few friends i've made since i got to brum, funny hours, general older lazier attitude etc etc haha, and then i find the secret club!
perhaps it found me!


*that reminds me of a joke i heard today:
What time is Sean Connery going to Wimbledon?
Tennish.
too funny!

getting out of the city

now bear with me listener, i will put up some pics from my recent jaunt, honest, its just that i find the process a tad tedious sending the pics from phone to puter... then finding pics on puter to put on picblog... but i do have pics to show you so i will get round to it!

had the pleasure of visiting Lyme Regis this weekend, very nice too (see above snap!), even saw actual fossils! can you imagine? how geeky am i fossil hunting on my weekend!

like many seaside towns Lyme Regis offers you clean sea air, fish & chips and cream teas... but unlike some also offers 25 book shops (including one that doubles up as a B&B!) and more art galleries than you would expect in a sleepy seaside resort - we stumbled upon more than one studio open for browsers! it all felt very bohemian... and reminded us we must get to St Ives this year and try for the transatlantic Donovan drawl* hehe

it always feels good to get out of the city, blow out the cobwebs, dream about getting back to the coast... need to keep playing that lotto! haha

we also saw the joy that is the Cerne Abbas giant! now he really makes an impression on a girl! haha, then we had a ginger beer. imported from Australia?! not lashings, just the one. very nice too but it seemed a long way for it have come when we were in Enid Blyton country! perhaps they import Dorset ginger beer downunder...

we also took time to pop into Monkey World which is truly awesome and the gorgeous orangutans were my favourites, though the woolly monkeys were very entertaining - its a must see!

*we recently saw a very good documentary about Donovan in which his accent went from BBC narrator style to trans atlantic beatnik! very enigmatic...