Birthday Blues

Did I mention it is my birthday on Sunday?

Well it is. And I've decided this year that I'm not gonna celebrate it.

I mean seriously, what's the point of celebrating getting older? No, instead I've decided to celebrate on Saturday and party out my last few hours of still being 26 in style.




Well...if you consider having a BBQ with a few friends "in style".

*sigh*

Ok then....lets re-phrase; I'm gonna comfort-eat away my last few hours of being able to say I'm "mid twenties". How bout that? Better?

Meh. I feel old.

Barenaked Ladies in Dublin

What a Letdown.

No, not the concert! Eesh no! That's the name of the song I cant stop singing from the 'Barenaked Ladies Are Men' album.

*squeeeeeeee* =D

I'm seriously having to resist melting into "fangirlyOMGijustsawthebarenakedladiesliveforthefirsttimeafteralltheseyears" mode. And I'll try my best. But I can't promise anything ;o)

After a very late (and very much delayed) flight back from Nottingham the night before, we dragged ourselves outta bed and headed down to Dublin at the crack of dawn. Well ok...it was about lunchtime really.

After Captain Planets being a massive disappointment last time, we decided to head to the world famous Eddie Rockets for some very disgusting, yet very very good diner food. Mmmm foot-long Chilli-Cheese Dogs, Garlic-Cheese Fries and Onion Rings, followed by the yummiest Oreo Malt-shake ever! We are all such incredible pies!



Anyways, after grabbing a cup of coffee to stop Matts head essploding, we headed round to the Olympia Theatre, where BNL were due to be on stage in about 2 hours time. We had planned to meet up with Carolyn, a friend of Matts from work, and her boyfriend, but for the life of us couldn't find the bar they were in. In all fairness, Carolyns directions leave a lot to be desired! =P lol

After a brief search for the mystery bar, we returned to the theatre and headed upstairs to take our seats. Yes, seats. Matt's old and Sarah has dodgy knees.
The place soon packed up and the lights dimmed down.

They bounded onto the stage with One week and the Old Apartment before going into an adlib about Ed's overindulgent eating. Apparently either the Bangers or the Mash would have been fine...but both together was a mistake. I knew how he felt! And anways, the best gigs always seem to be performed on overly full stomachs...a la Dave Matthews, who had the same problem with the Duck and the Lamb.



Many fantastic numbers followed, including a fantabulous acoustic version of "For You"...one of my fav BNL songs, "Twister: The Musical", and perhaps the highlight of the evening - the "Angry People" Dance =D Too funny! (You can see it HERE from their Brighton gig, or HERE in London.)



(clicky for bigger pics!)

I can't believe I fiiinally got to see them live =)

And the best thing about their concerts is that you can take it away with you. Literally...on a little USB stick. They record every gig they do, and you can pick it up from the merchandise stand straight after the show. How rockin is that?! And...even if you don't feel like queuing, you can take the slightly different route of downloading it from their website...complete with cd cover art. Sweet, no?

You cant beat them with a big bad barenaked memory stick!



Anyhoo...I'm gonna stop rambling now *looks at watch* mainly cause it's 3:52am and way past bedtime! Check out their audio site if ya fancy a listen for yourself. I'm off t'bed. Nighty!

Play-Offs

So yeh, I cant quite believe it's taken me this long to get round to a Playoffs update. I'm not even sure if I've fully recovered yet to be honest!

I think every year the weekend just gets better. We get to know some more new people, and catch up with the lesser spotted old friends. Everyone from every team gets together and has a right old knees-up. I'm telling ya - more fun than you could shake a big goalie stick at!

Anyways, despite the disappointment of losing to the Nottingham Panties after penalties in what I considered to be a pretty slow and evenly matched evening semi-final game...we still managed to have a blast all weekend. Now, although the temptation to start the first of 5 really long posts about everything that happened in full glorious technicolour is really clawing at me...I'm going to politely decline this year, and instead opt for just posting a fantabulous slideshow of all of the photo's I took with my shiny new camera ...mainly due to the fact that I've left it so long and also the immense headache I woke up with this morning.

So here it is =) :



You can check out Shinys Blog for a full run-down of the weekends Panther Porn-a-rific highlights HERE =D

(ps...thanks to Shiny & Mom for the couple of pics I yoinked! xx)

*bounces*

I love to have my Canon EOS 10D camera with me everywhere I go, but it's big, the lenses are bigger, and I have to make sure it's always protected from knocks'n'bumps as well as the elements. So, most of the time, in everyday life, it's just not possible, or feasible to bring it. Of course, these are usually the times when I most regret not having it with me. Typical eh?

For example...last Monday was a bank holiday, so Matt and I went for a drive up the coast. When we left my house it was pissing down with rain so I decided not to bring the camera as it was unlikely I'd even step out of the car.

Thing is, the night before it had snowed. It hadn't lay on the ground around Belfast or any of the other coastal towns we passed through because of the rain...but as we took a detour inland over the Antrim Hills, the rain disappeared and low and behold we had the most beautiful snowy mountains.

Me? Regret not bringing my camera? Why yes...yes I did. I took some with my phone camera, which turned out ok...but at 3.2mpx, it's just not the same.





Anyways...to my point...

...The Elite Ice Hockey League Play-Off Finals are nearing, and every year I carry my camera round Nottingham...to the arena, to lunch, to the shops, and most importantly, for the best in "drunkin fan photography", to the bar. But it's getting to be a hassle. Not taking the photos...that I love...just the taking the big camera out of the bag to shoot, then putting it away again so's it doesn't get covered in Ketchup or beer.

I even bought a small Crumpler bag for it at last years Play-Offs before the first game - so's I didn't have to carry the big Tamrac backpack with me everywhere. Admittedly, this made life much easier...and will once again be the plan for the games. BUT...for everywhere else a new and shinier plan was needed!

And I have just that very plan. A lovely shiny new compact camera that takes fantastic pics, but can be kept in my handbag without the worry of it being getting damaged, or being too frickin expensive to keep out in a bar!

Just this afternoon, my new baby arrived. It's a Canon Powershot A640 and I luff it! =D

It's full spec can be found here, but briefly it's 10mpx with a 4x Optical Zoom (35 - 140mm), Carl Zeiss F/2.8-4.1 Lens, ISO 100 - 800, 9-point AiAf, 2.5in Vari-angle LCD display, and a 30fps Movie Mode. It's also TV, AV, and completely Manual modes as well as a load of pre-sets.

I haven't had a chance to give it a proper test drive yet, but from the short play I had, it seems great. A good buy for my handbag, and any camera that can capture Tyson in motion is all right by me! lol


(click pic to enlarge)

Warner Bros...The Lost Boys Plot

So how many of you, much like me, were, and-or, still are a huge fan of the 80's cult classic,The Lost Boys?

Have you heard the nonsense that is spewing out of the Warner Studios? Surfing Vampires.

Yes, Surfing vampires. Seriously.

They are planning a straight to dvd sequel to a movie, that firstly had all it's infamous vampire antagonists killed off by the end scene, and secondly is deemed as a cult classic and should not have its memory degraded with a cheap and tacky attempt at a fast buck.

All I can picture is a young Keanu Reeves type actor, with half the acting ability, unwittingly or otherwise, hanging ten with a group of knarley vamps led by some shaggy haired blood bank robber who sky dives and yells "via con dias" as he attempts to slay the young protagonist...who has probably fell for the head honcho's girlfriend....

...or something.

Either ways, the so called "plot" outline that they've put out just goes to show that there is no imagination or creative skill involved in the movie making process any more. It's just dumb.

It's so dumb in fact, that there is actually a petition against it. If you have any respect for the memory of David and the cute little fuzzy one from Bill & Ted...go sign it!

Surfing Vampires? GET LOST!!

My, My, My, It's a Beautiful World =)

So last night we - Matt, Shiny, Raj, Matt's parentals (for whom we'd bought tickets as a Christmas pressie) and Myself, trundled off to Belfast's Waterfront Hall to see Dave Matthews perform an acoustic set accompanied by his buddy, Tim Reynolds on geetar.


(Dave Matthews)

Fan-tastic. I don't know what else to say...besides "Dave - having the duck and the lamb, is probably never the best idea!" Anyhoo, I'm sure Matt's blog will be full of the joys of Dave in the next day or too so you can prolly read more over there.

On Sunday night Matt & I went to see Colin Hay (a la 'Men At Work') play in the Black Box in Belfast, as part of the Belfast - Nashville Music Festival. This was the one I was waiting not so patiently to see. Now, don't get me wrong...I was looking forward to seeing Dave too...but there's just something special about a much more intimate gig in a small venue, listening to someone who you never thought you would ever get to hear live. For me anyway.

There is just something about his voice; Smooth, yet it has weathered enough over the years to give it this finely ground texture. Like when you finally get your cookie dough mixed to perfection.

We were a little early for the gig, and when we arrived in the venue he was still sound checking, so we propped up a wall at the end of the bar until the event organiser eventually asked us if we'd like to go on ahead and buy tickets so's we could take a seat. I tried desperately not to reveal me inner squee as Colin walked past and said hi. *hangs head in shame* I'm such a girl.

Before the main event there were two local performers...Sarah Lyle (along with her stepdad who looked remarkable like Guy Siner, who played Lieutenant Gruber - the remarkably camp one in 80's tv show 'Allo Allo') and Tim Cobain. Tim had a superb voice and was giving away free ep's...which somehow we missed, bah!


(Tim Cobain)

When Colin took to the stage, I guess I just expected it to be like any other singers performance - a little bit of chat...some music...a bit more rambling and then more music again; but instead it was like watching a singing Billy Connelly! He went into all the ups and downs of his life and career in a brutally honest, totally relaxed, and hilarious stand up style of comfortable conversation with the crowd.


(Colin Hay)

He was superb, and had everyone joining in and cracking up at his "Are you lookin at me pal?"stories in broad Scottish and perfectly mimicked Aussie diction.

He hung around for a while after chatting to everyone and was saying about how he met this young guy 'Zach' in a bar...and how instrumental that meeting was in restarting his solo career at a point when he'd started to accept his time was up. It's funny...he said it himself, and he was right...Scrubs was the main reason half the audience knew who he was. Although I knew him from Men at Work, it was hearing his solo stuff in the episodes My Philosophy and My Overkill that really caught my attention. And Matt had never even made the connection until one evening Raj's dad, Nigel, mentioned how different the solo sound was from the old Men at Work days.

Anyways...the craic was fantastic, the beer was...um...well...whiskey actually...and I got to hear "I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You" live. =)


(Colin & Myself)

Well...it had to be done. My inner squee got the better of me, what can I say.

Whats That Coming Over the Hill......Is It An Update? ...Is It An Updaaaaate?

Well...I'm back. I'm not sure where I was, but it was dark and not the least bit shiny.

Anyhoo...upon request of Blu and threat of death from Dermo, I'm now gonna attempt to update my poor little blog with the many *cough* excitements of my life over the past few weeks. Aren't you all so very excited? Hmmm....well, no matter...I'm gonna tell yis anyways =P

Ok, lets see, what comes first? Oh, I guess it's gotta be my newly acquired Driving Licence! Fiiinally after almost 10 years of being too chicken to take the test...I passed!



Yes folks, as of the 5th Jan, I have been released onto the worlds unsuspecting roads. I received my lovely pink full licence t'other week, and I must say...it matches my new handbag just lovely! *ahem*

In other news, Matt has been playing geetar for a singer / songwriter called Allan Ellingsgaard, and performed with him at his 'Going Home' Album Launch last night in Ballymena Elim.





Check out dermo.co.uk for a couple more pics.

We also took another wee trip to down to Dublin to see Peter Mulvey. He was superb as always, and was joined by Irish musician Clive Barnes...an absolute magician on the slide guitar!







Poor Peter however is about 3 years behind the rest of the world...as we discovered from his many many many quotations throughout the night from the "Chuck Norris Random Fact Generator" such as "Chuck Norris' wristwatch has no numbers on it. It just says, Time to kick ass. " and "Giraffes were invented when Chuck Norris uppercut a horse". But, ya know, whatever keeps him amused! ;o)

I myself am much more partial to the Jack Bauer Random Fact Generator...I mean, did you know that Superman wears Jack Bauer pyjamas? ...well he does!

With this in mind, I decided it was about flippin time we had a Kiefer Movie Night. Cause...well, cause Kiefer rocks!

So last weekend, when my parents, Sarahs parents and Raj's parents all took themselves off to watch the Giants lose badly in both Hull and Shuffield, we elected to use that weekend to party, let loose and generally have a good time.

Well...we did have a good time...but whilst our respective parental units spent their time rollin in and out of hockey bars across England....we watched movies and ate salad. How feckin rock & roll are we, huh?

Ok...we didn't just eat salad. We actually had a rather lovely winter BBQ on Saturday at mine, thanks to Matty. But I did make a salad to go with it...and it flippin well rocked ok!!!

*sigh*

Anyways...despite there being beer in the fridge, wine in the rack and whiskey in the jar under the kitchen table, we all remained perfectly sober to enjoy 3 of Kiefers finest: Phonebooth, The Lost Boys, and Flatliners. Man I had forgotten just how much I loved The Lost Boys! Such a cracker movie =)

We decided we'd probably have a 'Kiefer: Part Two', as we only had time to watch 3 films...and we have still the likes of Young Guns, Stand By Me, and a few others to introduce ickle Sarah to ;o)

Anyways, Kiefer Night quickly morphed into Kiefer Weekend as we ended our celebrations on Sunday evening at Raj's, where he cooked us a beautiful Sunday Roast followed by a screening of The Sentinal on his lovely big new flatscreen.

Cue Movie.
Cue Sarah discovering that when she watched this on a plane she actually missed over an hour of it, and then finally realising why it never made any sense to her.
Cue at least 20 consecutive bellows of "Holster your weapon!!!!"
Cue 4 happy contented smiles.

Happy New Year!!!

Wow! I can't believe it's 2007! Seems like only yesterday I was still penciling 1989 on my primary school books =/ Time's been flying so fast.

Anyhoo...I trust everyone had a good Christmas?

Mine was pretty good...bit busy, but still really good. We had our friend Steve from Manchester over staying with us, and somehow he managed to get me skating again (first time since the "getting my finger skated over" incident about a year and a half ago!), which was scary as hell, but good fun and a huge relief to get over the fear.

We had a couple of Giants games over the Christmas period too...but they must have been a little over stuffed with turkey as they didn't do fantastically there, but getting to see everyone in the bar afterwards and celebrate Mums birthday at the same time was great...which, by the way, went without a hitch; She decided not to break any bones this year...ya know, just for a change =P

Steve returned home on New Years Eve and was replaced by Shiny Sarah who joined us for a shindig in Matts bro's house. Lots of fun was had...and lots of dodgy phone pics were taken...




...ahem. One thinks One will refrain from posting anymore *cough*

Anyways...hope everyone had a good one, and here's to a fantastic and very very shiny 2007!