Orbital with added Dr Who.

Summer Quizzery

Check out previous quiz action here. This month it was my turn to do the music round and picture round.

But in a twist worthy of Machiavelli himself I cunningly decided to replace said picture round with the already legendary cheese round. Each team had a plate of 10 cheeses which they had to identify by appearance and taste. Sadly, I can't replicate the full experience in the blogosphere so you've got to go simply on appearance. Click on the picture for a bigger version.

Edited highlights of the Music Round
1) Vindicated by Dashboard Confessional was used in which superhero movie? X-Men 2, Spiderman 2 or The Fantastic Four
2) Fat Bottomed Girls by Queen was used as the opening to the film documentary in which Morgan Spurlock lived off just junk food for a month. Name the film. Bonus point for naming the other half of the Double-A side that Fat Bottomed Girls was released as.

My birthday is on 19th July, when I hit the magic 3-0. No. 1 singles from my lifetime.
3) What was the No 1 single on my birthday in 1997?
a) Aqua - Barbie Girl
b) Elton John – Candle in the Wind
c) Oasis – D’You Know What I Mean
4) No 1 Single on my birthday in 1987?
a) Pet Shop Boys – It’s a Sin
b) Starship - Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now
c) Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up
5) No 1 Single on the day I was born in 1977?
a) Donna Summer – I Feel Love
b) Hot Chocolate – So You Win Again
c) Wings – Mull of Kintyre
6) Which acclaimed BBC sitcom used this Half the World Away by Oasis as its theme tune?
7) Which German car maker Strange & Beautiful by Aqualung to advertise a new model in 2002? BMW, Audi, VW or Mercedes
8) Name the top 5 best selling UK single of all time?

No googling allowed! Answers sometime next week. *

Just a quick word about Dr Who, the series that has just finished has been generally great. However, just when you thought they'd got it right they hire Catherine bloody 'Am I bovvered' Tate for the next season! What on earth is going on? Check out Tim at Cultural Snow and James Henry for more.

*Answers now the in the comments section

Movies
36 ****
Red Violin ****
Star Trek 6 ***
Casshern ****
Die Hard *****
Die Hard with a Vengeance ****

How Lord of the Rings Should Have Ended

I find this highly amusing...
"Can you imagine what it would have been like if we'd walked the entire way?"

I was also terribly excited at Dr Who at the weekend. My all-time favourite Who enemy, the Master, is back. It also had Derek Jacobi going from sweet, bumbling old man to scenery chewing pantomime villain in a matter of moments - marvellous!

Movies
Hot Fuzz ****
Oceans 13 **
The Fountain ****
Equilibrium ***

Old Friends Vol 2 and other Miscellany

Following on from Vol 1 of my adventures rediscovering old musical friends here, its time to briefly complete my odyssey and talk about some randomness as well. Having revisited Delirious I have also re-found two bands who both have a certain folk flavour. Firstly, the Levellers and then Iona.

While I was at university, like many others, I got into the Levellers with their brand of folk-tinged rock. There are three main reasons that I liked them: their level of energy, an insane catchiness and the left wing politics that informed a great deal of their music. I have spent quite a lot of time listening to what is probably their best album, Levelling the Land. Its not the greatest album in the world, but it is incredibly catchy and you find yourself helplessly singing along. Even though I hadn't listened to it for a good 5 years or so, I still remembered most of the words and found myself singing along with just about every song. Very enjoyable. Not as immediately catchy, but still a lot of fun are their LP debut A Weapon Called the Word and Zeitgeist.

The second band, Iona, have a special place in my musical heart. They are a rather unique mix of prog rock and folk music. I first saw them live in 1990 at Band on the Wall in Manchester and they made me realise that music could be more than just something you had in the background; that it could be something extraordinary. Two of the most amazing moments I've experienced at gigs have been at Iona concerts. I saw them in the mid nineties and as one of their encores they played a piece called Reels which started slowly and just built faster and faster to a dazzling display of musical virtuosity that got the entire audience dancing like idiots, myself included (if you know me, you know I never dance).

The other was at their 1999 Royal Festival Hall Woven Cord concert. They performed backed by a full orchestra and it was amazing. But the most incredible moment was during a song called Beyond these Shores. It's a very simple song and it was so beautiful that as it faded away at the end, you could hear a pin drop and it took a few moments for people to come to themselves and start applauding. Listening to their music has reminded me all over again, just how good they were and still are.

Other Miscellany, of which there are two items because two is the oddest prime number.

1) I have been catching up with real-life old friends on Facebook which has been cool. Facebook is ridiculously addictive and I find it very easy to waste an hour or two fiddling about on there reviewing movies, exchanging wall posts with friends and playing the iLike music game. It feels satisfyingly sociable without any of the pesky actual in-person socialising or 'meatspace' interaction if you like. (hat tip to Patroclus for the meatspace term)

2) Dr Who. The latest series of Dr Who has finally hit its stride ,with the past 4 episodes being excellent. The Lazarus Experiment, the Family of Blood two parter and this week's episode Blink were all very good. Blink had the most genuinely creepy monsters of the whole series in the Weeping Angels (if you watched, how cool were they?!!) and although the Doctor wasn't in the episode much, it was a cracker.

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