Doctor Doctor

The Easter Holidays, have been a little hectic this year. My children have been on school holidays for two and a half weeks, and to be quite honest they have driven my wife around the bend. I have been particularly busy at work and have recently received a large shipment of PC's, Laptops and a Server which all need my attention. Blogging takes a hike at these times and Warcraft is nothing more than a couple of 30 minute escapes from the clutches of the children.

To break up the monotony of bad weather and school holidays, the family drove down to Cardiff with the sole intention of visiting the Doctor Who Experience.

The trip was a particularly long one and I wish I had one of these.

Unfortunately it had broken down for the day.

The alternative Tardis was in an even worse shape, and no doors and a nutty woman driving it.

My son, even took his own exhibit.

Of course the usual suspects were out in force.

Not forgetting the other great nemesis of the Doctor.

Then it was time to go home stopping off for one last Torchwood landmark.

Sunday night was bliss with the children going to bed early and I went off to see an old friend.

The above picture is Michael Schenker, who during his first UK Tour with MSG in 1980 was watched by a very young Bob, who was taken by his older brother to see his first ever concert.

I could not imagine letting my son when he is aged 11 to go to a concert with a 14 year old, but those were more enlightened times than we now live in.

Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You

"Babe, baby, baby, I'm Gonna Leave You.
I said baby, you know I'm gonna leave you.
I'll leave you when the summertime,
Leave you when the summer comes a-rollin'
Leave you when the summer comes along. "

 

Anne Bredon

 

Strangely enough this is not my swan song (sorry bad pun intended), I am not intending to bow out just yet. In fact I am enjoying the game very much at the moment, and the small changes made in Patch 5.2 have made a big improvement to my game time. So if you have come for WoW gossip you are going to be flat out of luck today.

 

The message I am trying to convey, is that Spring is on it's way and that indicates a change in our computer gaming habits. WoW is like food, we over indulge when the nights are dark and we consume less in the Summer months when we are more active.

 

Outside the flowers may be starting to appear but the UK is just seeing off a sharp downturn in the weather, involving blizzards and snow showers, brought on by winds from Siberia. If that is the kind of weather they have in Siberia then I want none of it.

 

I have pretty much gorged myself on WoW for 6 months now, and it is time to open the curtains, open the windows and let some fresh air into my house/life. My wife has recently bought a bike and I envisage long bike rides, through the countryside and parks as a family. I need to lose one or two pounds/kilos which is due to all those nuts (cake/pies etc) that I squirrelled away at Christmas.

 

My television viewing is also way behind, I have long since given up on watching films. Hollywood as moved from the action packed blockbuster to Super Hero capers, and reboots of Super Hero capers, and films with hundreds of Super Heroes together. Big budgets for special effects and $100 outlay for script and dialogue. It is no co-incidence that anything vaguely thought provoking had a chance of winning an Oscar this year, with Argo, Lincoln, Life of Pi, and Les Mis being the main ones.

 

I am a fan of the James Bond franchise and it was rather nice to see Skyfall reaching the heights of Casino Royale and not the depths of Quantum of Solace or anything with Roger Moore. I am wanting to watch all the Hobbit films in one go, but I get the feeling I will probably buy it on DVD in the next few months.

 

For me Television Drama has long since overtaken the Film industry in the art of story telling. How much of a story can you tell in a 2 hour film, compared to 20 episodes in a season last 45 minutes each. The Boxset DVD at affordable prices as made the requirement to sit in and wait each week for a new instalment almost obsolete. Over the years I have watched 24, West Wing, Buffy and Angel with 3 or 4 episodes each night, which made for super condensed entertainment.

 

The downside of the TV series is watching something that gets canned half way through or no second season is ever made. I have wasted numerous hours on programmes like these, the last one I can remember was Alcatraz. I kept watching because it had the Lost magic of throwing some juicy titbit only for us to be left forever in the dark. My guess is that writers had no idea what was going on and the storyline would have just deteriorated rather rapidly.

 

My current TV listing in no particular order looks something like this:

 

1. Walking Dead (3) (up-to-date)
2. Touch (2) (Starting)
3. Game of Thrones (2 and 3) (need boxset)
4. Criminal Minds (8) (up-to-date)
5. Grimm (2) (up-to-date)
6. Grey's Anatomy (9) (up-to-date)
7. ER (12, 13, 14 and 15) (boxset waiting for free time)
8. CSI Miami (All) (boxset waiting for free time)
9. CSI Vegas (All) (boxset waiting for free time)
10. The Wire (All) (need boxset)
11. The Sopranos (All) (need boxset)
12. Dollhouse (2) (streamed)
13. Elementary (up-to-date)
14. Sherlock (3) (not started)
15. Doctor Who (7 part 2) (coming soon)

I might need to reduce my WoW time to catch up. Looking at the list, it would appear that my list is made up almost entirely of American TV shows. Walking Dead, Grimm, and Game of Thrones are typical WoW gamer programmes.

 

Walking Dead is excellent but I need to be in a zombie mood to watch it. I am particularly enjoying David Morrissey, hamming it up with a reprisal as an Elvis impersonator (thank you very much). Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes) is no longer straining with his accent and now looks like an inspired choice for the role, although he will always be Egg or Simon Casey to me.

 

Elementary was a slow burner for me and like millions of Brits I was expecting an American take on Sherlock. If you have not seen this programme, I cannot recommended it highly enough. Elementary is a completely different take on the character, and once you get past the idea that they are as different as chalk and cheese, the programme opens up into a quirky detective show. Sherlock was filmed later than usual due to Martin Freeman's starring role in the Hobbit.

 

Doctor Who is the family favourite, my son even sleeps with a stuffed Adipose toy. The next family vacation is to Cardiff with the sole intention of visiting the Doctor Who exhibition. Expect a photo of me standing like Captain Jack above the Torchwood HQ.

 

 

 

 

 

Hot Fuss

Later this month, I will be celebrating my 15th Wedding Anniversary or Ruby anniversary for those that are that way inclined. As parents for the last 9 years we don't tend to get out much as a couple, but we do like to go to a concert especially in November as treat to yourselves.

This year was a real treat for my wife, who has a particular soft spot for the Las Vegas Rockers, The Killers. Being an old git I prefer to sit down for my concerts these days, but my wife wanted to stand and dance, so I reluctantly agreed to stand. Little did I know in advance I would be suffering from a touch of sciatica caused from decorating the dinning room at the weekend. It was caused by over stretching whilst painting the ceiling.

On Tuesday 13th November I finished work early travelled the 30 miles from one side of Manchester to the other, picked up my wife, after a quick change of clothing, said goodbye to the kids and set off in the direction of Manchester. It is probably the same in every city, but in Manchester they raise the price of parking tickets to ridiculous levels. I only want to park not buy the parking space. Our cunning plan was to park at one of the few Tram Stations that as it own car park, and get the Tram into Manchester grab a bite to eat and go to the concert.

We arrived in Manchester safely but we were running short on time, so no time for fine wine and dining. It was off to Burger King were we witnessed four drunks being forcibly ejected by a very hefty security guard. Maybe they paid his wages in burgers and fries.

I am quite partial to a Burger King but the service in their eateries is appalling. They are the polar opposite of McDonalds. McDonalds offer cardboard food, quickly and cleanly. Being short on time, this was an agonising wait for the food, and my wife was rushing me with every mouthful.

We arrived at the Manchester Arena with 21,000 other happy punters and got our tickets from the box office, so that we could join the first of many queues. Inside the arena is chaos and moving several metres in any direction takes strategic planning. It took 10 minutes to get to the toilets and I was pleased that I wasn't overly desperate.

We then queued to get the tickets checked, queued down the stairs, queued to get a wrist strap tagged, and then onwards towards the stage. The floor of the arena was full of what can only be described as Grummle Packers, with kegs of Fosters Lager, strapped to their backs, and selling a pint for the princely sum of £4.50.

At 9.00 PM the concert started with the lights still on, with the Killers performing one of their biggest hits "Mr Brightside". The arena was rocking and my wife was dancing and spilling other peoples beer with her flailing arms.

Four songs in the music died, and the enigmatic lead singer Brandon Flowers announced that he was too ill to continue. The band walked off to hushed silence.

I picked up our belongings and rushed my wife out of the Arena as quickly as possible. The rest of the audience stayed in situ not believing what had just unfolded in front of their very eyes.

At £40 a ticket that equates to £10 a song, which is considerably more expensive than i-tunes.

If the concert is rescheduled on a night that we can attend, then we will have had 2 nights entertainment out of the same event. If not it was a Great Rock 'n' Swindle.