Neil's Slightly Random Wiblog

…Last week Ben Bradshaw, our local Labour MP sent us his newsletter (February 2008) and also a card that said “Seasons Greetings” on it.

What do you reckon, early or late?

I have had a few days off this week, some time in lieu for all the Saturdays I have worked. Other than doing the washing and watching Stagecoach (The John Wayne film, not the bus company) I have been catching up with the Filmspotting podcasts.

I have been downloading simply too many podcasts to listen to, and Filmspotting somehow got pushed out when choosing what I listened to, so i had about 3 months to catch up with. I am reminded that it really is the best movie podcast out there, and in fact being a few weeks behind means that I have watched some of the films they are reviewing, and I get more out of them.

I have alos been inspired to order a Filmspotting T-shirt, I think when it arrives it may be the only one in the UK!

… I am feelig a lot better now, and then Ivonne was ill with the same cold, but we have pretty much cleared it from our systems now… we hope!

I didn’t have enough energy for poker last Sunday, and just crashed in bed for the evening, but we played rummy on Saturday night, so that almost made up for it. I have also seen my sister and family this week when they were visited, had after work cocktails with work friends at Exeshed, met up with Becky and Laura for coffee, watched Blood Diamond, read an Ian Rankin book, played Facebook timewashting games (I will beat Sarah on Staries…) and been to a work leaving party (picture below). Not bad for one week.

Now I have a day off, and although I could stay in bed all morning I am wide awake. Typical.

…I am ill for the first time in 2008, so am moping around in bed at the moment. Managed to get just enough energy to celebrate Darrens birthday last night (at the pub opposite, not too much energy required!) and hope to have energy for poker tonight.

Luckily I was well for Valentines night, when we went for a nice meal at Ginos, but after all that food had to get an early night!

I notice SPCK in Exeter now have a “Reading Space” on the top floor. This is the space that has been created by them not ordering any books or Bibles and is just an empty table with 2 chairs around it! It would appear that it is only the manager and one assistant (on Saturdays) there now.

…the banks yearly results were out today, in the light of Northern Rock and the sector generally we thought we may have a barrage of questions about the results, but in fact it was a quiet morning, and our getting in early to read up on the responses we might give were wasted.

We watched the BAFTAS the other night, and I am confused how the Best Film can be Atonement, and the Best Birtish Film can be This is England, despite Atonement being British… am I missing something?

I was saddened this week to hear that GCap are abandoning DAB Radio, with TheJazz and PlanetRock due to close this spring. What strange little world are they living in where they see the future in FM? Yes a lot of people still have FM in the car, but people who listen to DAB and other digital platforms listen to the radio for a lot longer than the average FM listener, lets just hope the BBC and Channel4 Radio can make something of DAB, and GCap will be kicking themselves that they were not involved in the digital revolution.

…I always enjoy The News Quiz on Radio 4, and in particular the cuttings that are sent in (and Sandi Toksvigs uncontrollable laughter) and one the other week made me laugh, this was from a short biography of someone “my upbringing was so impoverished that I did not see a copy of the Guardian until I was seventeen…

I did give in and watched Cloverfield last night, it was even more awful than I expected, you really are just waiting for the main “characters” to die, and rather hope it will happen sooner rather than later. The film generated much laughter (in the wrong places) and when the end credits rolled the cinema erupted into laughter. At least I went to see it in a cheap-o Odeon and not paid lots at the Vue!

…Time is going quite fast at the moment, but i don’t mind, as this time of year is far from my favourite.

Seen a few films recently, on DVD we watched the Ang Lee version of Sense and Sensibility, which is delightful and funny and clever, and stays true to the spirit of the book. We also watched Stranger than Fiction, which is just awful and should be avoided at all costs!

At the cinema we say a preview showing of Juno, an unlikely comedy about a teenage pregnancy. It is very witty, very slick and very quirky. It is by far my favourite film of the year so far, and I would be suprised if we see much better this year on the comedy front!

I am very tempted to go and see Cloverfield for a laugh, but is it worth the £7 ticket price at the Vue?

The whole SPCK saga has had a few developments, a few shops suddenly closed with sackings by email. In Exeter there has been another resignation (she posted a note on Facebook today) and opening hours have been vastly cut (ironically they are shutting Sundays… I am speechless!) and stock is still very very low with no new titles on display (apart from a handful of scary anti-Islamic books). After the Radio 4 report at the end of last year I know there are several newspapers and media organisations who are following the story, and as usual you can stay in touch with events on Daves Blog.