Reports, Tears & Monsters

This post was actually written a week ago, but due to my internet weebles being awkward it has been delayed till today.

I have had an action packed few days or so. Well, when I say action packed, I just mean I've done some stuff....

On Friday, it was a big day for me in school as it was time for my mentor to write his report about how I've done on my school placement. I didn't have any massive worries going into the review meeting, but still, there is something slightly unnerving about having someone write your review in front of you. Anyhoo, I had nothing to worry about and my mentor wrote lots of nice things about how I've done. Just got the small matter of a 10,000 word essay to crack on with now.....

Springtime for..... Peter Kay

I went to see the Producers in Manchester Friday night. Now, I am not generally a fan of musicals (no scrap that, I despise musicals normally - if it was made a capital offence to watch, sing or in any way refer to Grease, I would rejoice...), but I tentatively dipped my toes into the heady brew that is the Producers.

Well, I loved it. It was gloriously tasteless, hysterically funny and a great way to spend an evening. The Springtime for Hitler number was so gut-wrenchingly funny that I could barely see the stage through tears of laughter and I was having trouble actually breathing.

I was also terribly excited in a very nerdy way on Saturday as Nat and I went to see the Dr Who Up Close exhibition at the Manchester Science & Industry Museum. I really enjoyed it and I don't care if you think I'm a nerd. Here is a picture of Nat being bemused at a Slytheen in the gloom.Now I have never fallen into the trap of thinking that Daleks are scary. As cool as they are, they were only ever glorified pepperpots. However, having seen one in the flesh (or the tin if you wish), there is something slightly unnerving at coming face to face with one.

The Dalek is actually 'live' but I didn't know this when I came face to face with it. So there I was taking a picture of it with my lamentably poor camera phone, when it erupts to life. It's eyestalk swivelled to look directly at me and it proceeed to screech "You are an enemy of the daleks! Exterminate!" at the top of its lungs (ahem). Suffice to say it made me jump...

Nat finally left our shores and returned to the US this week. My housemates & I will miss her calming presence in the house. I hope she finds what she's looking for on her return to Atlanta.

Movies
Kingdom of Heaven Extended Version ****
Brotherhoof of the Wolf ****
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy ****
28 Days Later *****
Solaris *****
V for Vendetta ****
Dr Who Season 1 *****
The more I see of David Tennant as Dr Who, the more I come to realise that as good as he is, Christopher Eccleston in Season 1 was way way better.
The Producers (Theatre) *****
Highlander ***
Hilariously bad and brilliant fun! It has a French Canadian as the Highlander with a dreadful scottish accent and a Scot (Sean Connery)as a dandyish Spaniard(?) with a scottish accent

Move On, Move On - Nothing to see here....

Look!
A closer view of my incredible talking into a black tea saucer/simultaneous hand moving trick....
Aren't you lucky, lucky people!

Actually, the only reason this is here is so I can use this picture in my profile.

Sorry....

When I last posted here, I recall that I said I would be posting fairly regularly during my radio adventure with Refresh FM.

As you can see, that did not happen. I am very sorry to those of you who were waiting for me to expose the grim underbelly of RSL Christian radio. Have a virtual edible arrangement by way of apology. (Sadly the only grim belly that manifested itself in anyway was my own mighty paunch, which due to a combination of the excellent Refresh FM cake fairies and a pathetic lack of willpower grew somewhat over the last two weeks.)

Anyway, my shows went very well, despite or maybe because of, a much greater amount of presenting thrown my way this year. I had a huge amount of fun this year and I just want to say thank you to all the Refresh bods who work so hard to put Refresh FM on the air for over 2 weeks every Easter. I also want to thank them for their possibly foolhardy willingness to allow myself and co-presenter Eyan access to the airwaves of Manchester. Podcasts of the shows I was involved in; The Quite Early Show, the Theatre of Noise and the Late Breakfast will soon be available here. Click and await them with baited (um) mouse fingers.

Here am I during the first Quite Early Show saying something astoundingly silly while Engineer Dom levitates outside the window and Reception Badger Kathy looks on in awe at my uncanny ability to speak into a black tea saucer while moving one hand simultaneously. Who says men can't multi-task?

In the course of the two weeks I came across lots of great new music which has earned its very own post in the near future.

I also spent a very relaxing Easter weekend in Llandudno. While there I enjoyed Easter Sunday morning at Holy Trinity, Llandudno, the lovely sunshine and exercising my phlegm trying to pronounce Welsh town names (an activity I have always loved despite my lamentable linguistic skills). Here is the view from the top of the Great Orme which was a fine reward for clambering up a hill of distressing steepness.

Movies
Aliens *****
Hellboy:Sword of Storms ****
Anime Hellboy! Great!
Sunshine ****
A very interesting and visually stunning film I liked very much
The Host ****
A hysterically funny Korean monster movie that mixes elements of Jurassic Park, Jaws and Tremors in a gloriously fun mix.

"Don't worry, no-one's listening..."

I have blogged in the past about Refresh FM here, and now this year's broadcast is here. This year Refresh have (possibly ill advisedly) asked Eyan and I to be more involved in the presenting side of things than ever. Check out Eyan's surreal post about his schedule here.

If you live in Manchester try tuning to 87.7FM at the following times over the next two weeks and you may be unlucky enough to catch me and/or Eyan wibbling away.

Most weekdays 9-11pm will see the Quite Early Show (QES) edge timorously into the spotlight with a mix of music and untrammelled silliness (some of the games and items we have planned for this year are spectacularly silly even by our standards).

I say most weekdays, because on Wednesday nights, QES will be unceremoniously shouldered aside by its disreputable cousin, the Theatre of Noise. This involves playing exceeding loud, shouty guitar music and destroying things with power tools (like the Chris Bowater CD we annihilated on a TON podcast recently and that is thoughtfully pictured below for you) and hammers live on air. Alongside old favourite the Chainsaw Challenge we have a shiny new game called Sackcloth & Bashes for this years TON.

Eyan and I are also job sharing two other shows. The weeknight Wind Down 11pm-12am and the Late Breakfast Show 9-11am will see us alternate with myself one day and then Eyan the next.

For those of you not lucky enough to live in Manchester (um), we are hoping to post a couple of podcasts per week of the highlights (please, let there be some...) and lowlights of our radio escapades.

I think I will try to blog fairly often over the broadcast to give you, sweet reader, a behind the scenes glimpse into the goings on in a short-term broadcast radio station. Investigating its grimy underbelly if you will...

Movies
The Last Samurai ****
300 ***
I've only given it three stars because while hugely entertaining it was one of the dumbest films I've ever seen! However, I saw it at the IMAX in the city centre, which was the perfect place to admire its astonishing visuals.