Road to Number 10

The General Election campaign trail is just about to kick off at full speed next week. I think we'll see some good news stories over the next few weeks. I like the time of a general election, I like how the government changes regularly here. It would be awful if it didn't ever change. My optimism usually gives was to pessimism though with politicians.
I watched a TV programme this week that featured David Cameron and Ed Millband being quizzed and challenged hard by Jeremy Paxman. Paxman gave them both hard times but I felt some of the question to Ed Milliband crossed a line. Then again, the Prime Minister is a difficult job and as a country we can't afford to have a man in charge that crumbles. I don't think either crumbled but Cameron has been in power and that must give him an advantage. I don't particularly think that Cameron answered the questions as he should have, he has a way of disagreeing that annoys me "I don't accept that..." he will sometimes say. As if just saying that is enough.
In the interest of balance I should also say that Milliband's "Hell yes! I'm tough..." annoyed me, as if anyone will believe it just because he used the mildest form of swear word infront of it. Who says "Hell yes!" these days anyway?
It will be interesting to see who gets in this time, I feel it is very open and that is dangerous in some ways. We shall see what happens in May.

Hot Cross Buns

Easter is approaching and with it the smell of spiciness is in the air. Yep, it's the season of Cadbury's eggs and Hot Cross Buns. I like hot cross buns, especially when toasted and the butter melts into them nicely. They are a nice treat, they have some cinnamon and some orange zest in them that gives them that special occasion flavour. I don't have many but I do normally get a couple of packets around Easter time, on a cold day a toasted hot cross bun and cup of tea goes down very well.

Texas Hold'em Poker

Last weekend I was in a local charity shop and saw a Texas Hold'em Poker set for £2.50. I've not thought about playing poker for a while but have in the past had some desire to learn how to play the game. Well, I thought the set was a good buy at that price but at the time I didn't buy it and later regretted it. Here is what it might have contained...

But I left it a week and when I went back it had been bought by someone else. I have been thinking about it for the whole week however, so I decided to get a set of poker chips anyway. I bought a nice set of 300 chips that come in a smart aluminium case. I have read the rules and think I can get by but I am just beginning to explore the game. There does seem to be a lot of language in it that I find myself needing to learn, like the Small Blind, the Big Blindthe Pre-Flop, the Flop, the Turn or Fourth Street and the River or Fifth Street (among others). I also need to learn the order of the scoring.

Eclipse

I stepped out my back door this morning at 9:30am to go and see the moon pass before the sun. It wasn't a perfect totality where we live but it was an interesting site nonetheless. I put my sunglasses on to see it, there was a lot of cloud cover and it wasn't too bad to look at it with my naked eyes squinting. The light didn't diminish as much as I was expecting though, it didn't go as dark as night time and that was slightly disappointing. I didn't take any photographs but there are a lot of photos of eclipses on the web already.

Jeans

I don't post very often about clothes, but there is something I want to say on the subject. I'm not a follower of fashion but like most people, I would like to imagine that people aren't saying horrible things about the clothes I wear. I don't know what the truth is. Maybe they do. But I don't think I wear clothes that are wildly too young or too old for me nor do I wear clothes that represent some kind of fashion margin. Most of the clothes I wear, in fact, all of them are from mainstream outlets.
Clothes which come from certain brands can be very expensive. I choose not to wear branded clothes for this reason. But by brand I mean expensive, the clothes I wear do have a brand but they are clothes from places like Tesco, Asda, Matalan, Primark or Peacocks. Occasionally, I might buy a suit from Fosters Menswear or a shirt from Next but either only because I need to for an event or because I want to look smart for work. I have looked at the racks in TK Maxx, where branded clothes can be found, and they are very expensive. I'd rather spend my money on films, music, video games, comics and food. Now, a comparison would be useful because what's expensive to me might be cheap to someone else.

T shirts: I consider these as something that should generally be cheap, like less than £10. I have bought more expensive official fan ones which have the name of a game or a band on them, these can be expensive but nice to wear. So for the official ones, I'd consider paying up to about £18.

Jeans: I have paid over £30 for these but I feel this is too much, so less than £20 would be reasonable.

OK, that was a general quick look at a couple of examples. I've just looked at the TK Maxx site and see that a plain green Ralph Lauren polo short costs £35. A pair of Super Dry jeans costs £60 and a white T shirt with a printed picture on the front sells for £15. These aren't expensive items but you can clearly see the differences in cost. The Super Dry label is a really expensive one. I don't know how people can afford to shop there.

I have just bought a couple of new pairs of jeans from Matalan. I looked at branded jeans like Lee and Wrangler but I could afford two pairs from the Easy brand for the same price as one pair. The branded jeans might be hardier and last longer, that's the main difference. In the past I've bought jeans from Peacocks in town, I do prefer Matalan though because of the two Peacocks jeans both have had stitching come undone or I have worn through them, the photo below shows what happened to the arse of the jeans from Peacocks. I shall be throwing these away and wearing my new Matalan jeans instead.

Death Proof

This is the fifth film by Quentin Tarantino, alleged to be his worst film - even he himself has apparently been quoted saying this. There are effects applied to the film to make it look like some kind of cheaply made exploitation film of the 1970s. It was originally packaged as half of a two-film cinema experience called Grindhouse, I don't know what the other film was but I read that Tarantino's half was the better of the two.

All that said, I thought it was a highly enjoyable film. A psychopath stunt man uses his car to crash himself and deliberately kill people, usually young attractive women. The film sort of breaks into two stories, the first story shows how he operates and the second story shows him operating but with the twist that the young attractive women he picks are stunt women themselves. He has chosen the wrong victims and we get to see the results. I won't spoil it.
I'd never heard of the film before but the cover was vaguely familiar, I think possibly because the design has been used on some other film - the film Vanishing Point is referenced several times during the movie and perhaps the cover is similar? If I were a film student I would research this and find out.
It's not a film I'd watch often but it is very entertaining and I'd like to see the extras. The version I bought was from a charity shop and was dirt cheap but it is a two disk edition. The female cast are all beautiful women, so plenty of eye candy on display. The psychopath is played by Kurt Russell, who does an outstanding job.

UK entry for Eurovision 2015

Last night the UK entry for this year's contest in Vienna was announced. I'm not sure where the news was announced, I just saw it on the web but it might have been on the National Lottery programme, they have done something more elaborate in the past where the contest entry was chosen in part by the public vote - that seems to have been disapproved of by someone in charge because of the general lack of success and poor quality of the songs. The songs may have improved in recent years (arguably) but not the end result on the leaderboard - hence a lot of people saying it's not a song contest at all but a political voting contest. It's interesting though from a human geography and cultural perspective.
So this year's entry is from a duo called Electric Velvet, a name that sounds manufactured to me and one that doesn't inspire my confidence. I've heard the song itself only once so I can't say whether it is catchy or not yet, it has a fairly quick 1920s style feel to it with an update to make it electro-pop. I don't want to be negative about it, so I'll leave it at that. I hope it does well. I much prefer the Scandinavian style symphonic rock style of entry but sadly there haven't been many of those in recent years.

There was an interesting event in Germany's choice of song, the public voted and chose an entry but he decided he didn't want to do it, the reasoning is a mystery to me, and he wanted to pass it on to another contestant. So, this was allowed (again the reasoning behind this is unknown but I suspect it was a great moment of stress and embarrassment to the TV producers) and the young female is now Germany's entry.

RIP Leonard Nimoy

I was saddened to hear the news that the actor Leonard Nimoy passed away yesterday. The last time I saw him on screen was his performance in Into Darkness. He was so closely associated with Spock from Star Trek that it was hard to think of him as a human and not some alien! That sounds strange but he will forever be Spock in the eyes of many people in the world. I don't think that this is a bad legacy, Spock has many good attributes.

Hotdog Heaven

I've got today off from work and it feels rather like a boys day does, when the girls in the family are doing their thing leaving the boys to have a day on their own to do stuff like play videogames or Yu-Gi-Oh or Magic The Gathering. I knew that we had a few hotdogs in the fridge that needed eating because I bought and opened the packet last weekend when the boys did have a day to themselves. So, having to go out and get a few supplies from the shops anyway, I decided to get some rolls and dried onions. The onions are very cheap and you just have to put them in boiling water and simmer them for 5 minutes. Slice the rolls and when the hotdogs are also ready (I put them in the same water), just drain the water away from the saucepan and get a fork and just push a few forkfuls of onion into the roll before placing the hotdog in there on the top. This works best otherwise if you put the hot dog in first the onions just drop out when you eat them. I've found this out through  experience and watching the professionals vending hotdogs.
The other slightly mad thing I like to do is make my children really annoyed by bellowing "Boiled onions!" at the top of my voice. If I get it right and very annoying, I can make them cry. I don't advise doing this however, just that sometimes it can be funny.

I love hotdogs, they are one of my favourite things in the world. I've loved them ever since I was a kid. I love them more than beefburgers. I used to buy tinned ones but since we have had children and feed them pasta and frankfurters we always buy Herta ones now. On the packet they look horrid with that lettuce and tomato on there, you don't need to complicate the flavour with a frankfurter like that. With some food the simplest you can make it the better and frankfurters are a good example in my book.

Now then, on to my frankfurters today. I like to have French's American mustard with mine and either ketchup or brown sauce. My usual brown sauce is HP but at the moment I am trying out a variety that my parents always buy, Daddies. My frankfurters photographs are below. I enjoyed them very much, with one of them I used two frankfurters to use them all up. After a while if you have too many rolls you just get full because of the bread.

Defiance

I picked up season one of the SyFy series Defiance a couple of weeks ago. I've watched a few episodes and I have to say I like it a lot. It reminds me of Firefly because it has a strong central male character but strong female characters around him as well. But more than that it has a Wild West feel about it, a town called Defiance needs a lawman and someone to help ordinary citizens (of a variety of alien species, known collectively as Votans, and humans) muster a defence force to protect the town from the Volge. There are lots of internal politics between the different Votan species and this is what makes it so interesting. I'm looking forwards to watching more episodes.

Farscape

After being aware of FarScape for a long time I have started to watch season one via Netflix. It is a well produced series with a good strong cast and good storylines so far. I'm not far into season one but I can say that I'm enjoying the show so far.
A human test pilot named Crichton is catapulted into the future via a form of travel known as a slipstream. He ends up on board a living space ship called Moya, a Leviathan, who is controlled by a character called Pilot who is not biologically part of Moya but even so has a large part of his body (not visible) connected to her. Crichton is accompanied by a cast of other central characters who all have their own backstories and personality defects. It is a series with very strong characterisation and I like that. I also think the makeup and clothes are pretty special too.
FarScape creates a world where you can disappear to and forget reality. I don't think you can say any better than that about a sci-fi series.

Cheese bagel breakfast

I'm not a great fan of eating vey close to waking up. My taste buds have to have some time to get going in a morning. I rarely eat before at least having a cup of coffee. Coffee is usually the first substance I imbibe of a morning. So, after my cup of coffee I usually prefer something hot for breakfast, I can eat some cereals but I'm not a giant fan of cold breakfasts. Toast is ok but it can get a bit boring, same with porridge. The disadvantage with bread is that it can go mouldy. So, here is my solution to the breakfast conundrum. First, buy a bag of bagels.

 

 

These will do, they are from Tesco. Next, buy some cheese slices, these are great because they are so quick and easy and they taste good when slightly melted.



Now, you might not want this breakfast every day of the week, I'd suggest I have it once or twice a week to be fair, if that. I am the only one in our family who likes bagels, my daughter doesn't mind eating them but I really like them more than anyone, so being able to freeze them is ideal because I don't have to eat them all before they go off. They tend to keep better than sliced bread anyway to be honest.
So, the next part is what to do when you want a cheese bagel breakfast, this is easy, just put the frozen bagel in the microwave on defrost for a minute and it is ready to slice into two: cut along the bagel horizontally so that each half has an intact hole in the middle. Then put the two halves in a toaster. When the bagel pops up from the toaster, spread some butter on both sides and place one cheese slice in it covering the hole and then put the top on. That's really all there is to it, you cut leave it whole or cut in half. It's a tasty treat and a lot cheaper than a McDonalds breakfast bagel.

You can add egg to it as well or even add some sliced meat or perhaps some sausage but that requires a lot more time and preparation. My cheese bagel is quick and easy and tasty.

Black Widow Name of the Rose

I borrowed this from the library and finished it last week. I did enjoy the story but not as much as I wanted to. As a story it was well told and hung together much better than Deadly Origin, the only other BW book I've read. In a way, this is a sort of origin story too but a better one. The art was very good. Not that much to say otherwise. The Avengers make a few brief appearances and it's intriguing to know who has betrayed her trust. No real suspense or vulnerability shows through though. It was a good read but not a great read. I can recommend it over Deadly Origin though but it's probably not going to win over many new fans to BW.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

I watched this film again today and my first impressions have not changed. It really misses the mark somehow. I don't quite know what to pinpoint, I really dislike all of the characters. The invisible man is particularly poor but then they all are, even the character Mina Harker wasn't very good. The casting of Sean Connery was good but he alone cannot carry a film, he's the most watchable character in the film I think, Dorian Gray is okay as well but not great. The plot is thin and the whole film seems to be built around some cheap special effects, or maybe they weren't cheap and this is where all the budget went-that and Connery's salary. I can't really recommend this film.

Highlander

I've known that Highlander was a cult classic but I've never been able to sit through it until tonight. I had started watching it a few times in the past but never really got into it. It takes a while to really get going and for any kind of story to emerge. One time I stopped watching with two dudes duelling with swords in an underground car park and another time I stopped when Sean Connery appeared wearing a red velvet Spanish costume. But this evening I followed through and continued watching. It's not all that bad, it is a bit impenetrable but has some good bits in it. The music by Queen is a bit of a surprise, Who Wants To Live Forever being my personal favourite.

 



One surprise was seeing an actress I've really liked in her youth. I knew Beattie Edney from her playing a starring role in a TV sitcom called Dressing For Breakfast, a show I really enjoyed because she reminded me of someone I really liked in real life. She is beautiful and in Highlander she looks amazing.

Pot Noodle

Last weekend I went shopping and for snack food for my son, I picked up some Pot Noodles. I didn't know if he would like them or not. I thought I would be able to eat them if he didn't like them anyway. I got him some Chicken Chow Mein and Beef and Tomato, the latter is a variety I have enjoyed in the past. Pot Noodles have been around since the 70s as far as I'm aware, maybe they've been around earlier? I don't know exactly, one to Google perhaps? I do remember them being on the TV adverts and feeling like they were a new invention. I don't dislike a Pot Noodle but on the other hand, there is something unpleasant about them. I can't quite put my finger on it. I guess its a feeling that there isn't much substance there in one. It's definitely only a snack and is not a meal replacement. I just bought them for my son to feel independent in the kitchen and for him to eat something if he's hungry and we're not around. He was eating apple pies or crisps instead. I'd rather him eat a Pot Noodle than something very sugary.

February Cold

The last cold I had was just before Christmas. Now I have one that feels a lot worse that than one did. I had to take Friday off work as I just wanted to go back to bed. I found it hard to sleep last night and today doesn't feel a lot better than yesterday. I have had a headache for three days now and I'm getting tired of it. I'd really like to feel better. Not feeling well is a downer for me. It's preventing me from going running with my daughter and I'm upset about that because she wants desperately to show me a running track she has found, with exercise machines in the track centre.

Catwoman volume 2: Dollhouse

After enjoying the first volume in this series, I also took volume 2 out of the library. This book collects issues #7-#12 and contains a lot of excitement. It builds really well on the previous volume and Catwoman's relation with her knew handler Gwen is handled well. The relationship with Spark is developed and the new fiend Dollhouse is cool and gruesome. Batman only really appears at the end of this volume but there isn't really a scene with the two of them in it. We see a side of Catwoman that suggests some empathy with street victims who get taken by Dollhouse and she struggles as a crimefighter, always rushing headlong into situations that Batman would approach with a lot more methodical planning. The story shows that a lot of thought has gone into the characterisation of Catwoman and I like her a lot. There is some humour in the story but it's quite a dark tale. It's told well and there is a surprise appearance at the end. I won't spoil that though. Suffice to say, I recommend this to anyone.

Couch to 5K

Over the last few weeks, since I purchased my running shoes, I've been gradually building up my running. It is taking a while because the nights are dark during the week, so I have only been going out at weekends. I have downloaded an NHS Choices podcast called Couth to 5K. It's a six week podcast programme intended to take a novice to running a 5K in the 6 weeks, assuming 3 runs per week lasting 30 mins. It is a good programme, I am enjoying it, although each time I go out it doesn't feel much easier. I have just completed my 3 runs during week 2, although it has taken me longer than a couple of weeks so far. Next time I go out I'll be trying the third week of the programme. Halfway there, so I expect it will start to get harder than it has felt like up to now. The programme does advise a rest day inbetween runs. I definitely need these.

Black Widow Deadly Origin

I borrowed this book from the library a couple of weeks ago and have finished it today. It is a bound volume collecting together Black Widow Deadly Origin #1-4. I wanted to know more about the Black Widow and whilst it does contain some flashbacks I found it difficult to follow them as they were heavily interspersed with a current day story. The artwork is great. I just felt that there was too much going on to follow it coherently. That said, it was only one reading and I would probably enjoy it more with further reads.

Gotham, series one

This is another series that I have recorded on the Sony HD DVD recorder. I transferred the shows to DVD earlier this week and I look forward to watching them. I'm not exactly sure when I'll get around to doing that but that goes for a lot of things really! Books, games, comics, films, writing, painting etc. Practically all of my hobbies. A good work/life balance for me would be 4 days off and 3 days at work but I doubt I'll ever get to follow that pattern. It is a series about Gotham super villains and super heroes and their genesis. It doesn't sound like it would be any good, a show about Gotham with no Batman but it actually is very good. I especially enjoy watching the character who will become The Penguin, his nose is really penguin-like.

The 100, series one

Last year there was a new science fiction series on TV called The 100. It is the story of life on a space station that is orbiting the Earth after a nuclear holocaust. The space station is running out of resources to sustain itself and the criminals are sent to Earth to test the atmosphere and conditions. The criminals are all young enough to survive the journey and landing and there are 100 of them. I recorded the show on my Sony HD DVD recorder and yesterday I did the dubbing to put the series onto a DVD. I had to reduce the quality to get it onto one disk but I did it. It's quite a good series really and the second series has started on TV now so I'm recording that too.

Catwoman - The Game vol 1

I read this book this week. It's a great book, I've also borrowed vol. 2 from my local Library to continue the story. I liked the way the story was told and the artwork was totally great. The history of Selina's fence Lola is told, helping Catwoman since her early days there is a special bond between these two women. However, Catwoman stole things from a mob boss that he treasured after never having any possession of worth in the children's homes he grew up in. Lola gets murdered by the drug boss and in a shocking scene Catwoman discovers this. The effect is truly captured well. Catwoman herself is done over but she gets out and goes after the small time mob boss and she makes him pay. Well, almost, because she is prevented by Batman. The romance and sex between Batman and Catwoman is hot but also slightly uncomfortable because you know that they are opposites. It's a good story well told with excellent drawing and inking.

Kooza - Cirque du Soleil - London - Albert Hall

We had an evening in London yesterday to go and see this amazing show at The Royal Albert Hall. I confess I was a little bit sceptical beforehand. It's not something I would choose to buy seats for on my own but a few of our friends were keen to see it and so I thought it would be good to see for myself. I was aware of the type of show it was, Cirque du Soleil is an international venture and I have seen things on TV from time to time. The spectacle is one best enjoyed there in the audience though because you can hear gasps and applause. The athleticism of the show's performers is astonishing, amazing and inspirational. They truly are technically perfect but also beautiful in their artistry. I particularly enjoyed the hoola hoop girl who was able to keep the hoop going around her body as well as one around her outstretched leg with the hoop moving around on her ankle! The other astonishing performance was a couple of guys on this enormous spindle that resembled some kind of dual hamster torture wheel. They were pretty amazing and so was the music. The band are almost forgotten but they sit in a tiered tower that has sails coming out from it. The three Asian girl contortionists were amazing as well, so flexible with how their bodies could bend that it was mind blowing.
Very impressive and a wonderful thing to see and hear. The Asian girl singing was exceptional. It was a great evening. Beforehand the food at Wagamama was great as well, I had a Ginger beer and a spicy hot chicken Firecracker that was lush.

Robocop 2014

I watched the latest reboot of the Robocop film this week and I'm feeling very disappointed by it. I did enjoy the role of the doctor played by Gary Oldman and there were some good actors in it, Michael Keaton and Abbie Cornish. But compared to the original film all of the humour had been taken out of it, as well as the violence. In my opinion it was a much poorer version of the film. I felt it could have had more drama in it, it was just a bit bland for my taste. I didn't really feel very much for family, so the shift from man to robot-man didn't affect me emotionally very much. There were moments when I thought it was going to step up the terror but it never did. Such a shame, with a great cast as this that the script wasn't better. If you want to watch a Robocop film, the first one is still the best, in the same way that remake of Total Recall was pointless.

Suicide Squad: Kicked in the Teeth

I picked this up from my local library last weekend. I liked the cover and inside the artwork appealed to me, I like to see Harley Quinn drawn well and this is a great rendition of her. She's the best thing about this book but there are other stars of the DC Universe here, such as Deadshot. There's the evil governor Amanda Wallace, who plants bombs in the necks of prison inmates and gets them to risk their lives to save some time off their sentences, giving them a set number of hours to complete a mission before their heads are blown off. You do get the action of the comic interspersed with clips of life of Harleen before she became Harley. I enjoyed the story a lot more than I thought I would, I wasn't sure what to expect but I quickly got into it. I found it worthy of reading for anyone, especially those who might be thinking about trying the Suicide Squad.

Sci-Fi Female Leads

As my holidays end in just a day's time, I thought I'd just go through the films I've enjoyed during the holidays. I watched The Hunger Games Catching Fire, I thought it was a great film and very well paced. As ever the main protagonist was acted excellently by Jennifer Lawrence, she is such a good actor and I think deserves an Oscar for the series.

I can think of only a very limited number of female actors who have led a sci-fi franchise such as this:

• Sigourney Weaver (Alien - film franchise)
• Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil - film franchise)
• Kate Beckinsale (Underworld - film franchise)

Although, I would say that I would welcome a new sci-fi franchise featuring any of these great female actors in a lead role:

• Scarlett Johansson (played Black Widow in Iron Man and Avengers)
• Jennifer Garner (from Alias the TV series and Elektra film)
• Hayley Atwell (Agent Carter and Agents of Shield the TV series and Captain America films)
• Angelina Jolie (a strong female lead actor, and the Tomb Raider films)
• Michelle Ryan (played lead in the Bionic Woman, a series I never saw)
• Olivia Thirlby (played Anderson in Dredd)
• Charlize Theron (played a strong character in Prometheus and Aeon Flux)
• Abbie Cornish (played Sweet Pea in Suckerpunch, was also in remake of Robocop)
• Jena Malone (played Johanna Mason role in Hunger Games Catching Fire)
• Jessica Alba (has played Sue Storm in The Fantastic Four among other roles)
• Violante Placido (played the Nadya role in Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance) 
• Megan Fox (for her role in the Transformers films)
• Gemma Arterton (for roles in Byzantium, Prince of Persia, Hansel and Gretel and Clash of the Titans)
• Antje Traue (for her role in Pandorum and as Faora Ul in Man of Steel)
• Carrie-Anne Moss (for playing Trinity in The Matrix)
• Emma Stone (for her role as Gwen Stacey in The Amazing Spider-Man films)
• Anna Silk (for her role in the TV series Lost Girl)
• Abigail Breslin (for her role in Ender's Game)
• Emma Watson (for her role as Hermione in the Harry Potter franchise)
• Emily Blunt (for her roles in Looper and Edge of Tomorrow)

The list above could go on and on though, these are based on appearances I've seen and enjoyed in the films and TV series but the most important thing is that the actor and role are a perfect fit for each other.

I also saw Ender's Game, which I'd heard good things about. Having watched the film, I can say that I enjoyed watching it but it's not a film I would like to see again and again. I disliked the way Harrison Ford played his role, it just felt too wooden for my tastes. Perhaps it was the script and the casting though because Harrison Ford is obviously a great actor. I guess securing Harrison Ford in a role is a way for a film to ensure it makes some money at the Box Office.

I'm not a great fan of children in films though and here I didn't engage too much with the young male actor although he played the part well. I thought that there was more heart and spirit in the part played by the female actor Abigail Breslin (she makes my list above for this role, although she is less experienced than others on the list). The story was pretty decent though, so I may read the book it is based on.
The other film I have watched these holidays has been Elysium, which I have already mentioned.

New shaver

My wife and I went into Boots the chemist looking for a few items, like dental tape etc. We came out with a new beard trimmer for me and other bits. My trimmer was in the sales and was down from £30 to £15, so was a decent buy. For the last year I've been using a hair trimmer and it isn't the best tool for the job. So now I have a trimmer exclusively designed for my face, well, "the man's face" - to be more precise. It cuts quite well and seems to have done a good job on me. I tried it out this evening on my beard, which probably had about 5mm worth of growth - I can live with 5mm but I prefer it shorter, at about 3mm. The new trimmer can cut down to .5mm, which is great because I could only get down to 3mm with my hair trimmer. The trimmer I got is made by Philips, a good make you can trust and was the model QT4002, photos below.

 

Cinnamon Swirls

Well, the second batch of Jus-Rol pastries turned out OK too, this time it was the turn of the Cinnamon Swirls and they were tasty. Although, I ate half of them so I think the cinnamon was a bit too much for those in my family who liked just the one. My daughter piped the icing on and she did a fine job for a first attempt. See what you think with the photo below.

The Hunger Games Catching Fire

I really want to make this the first movie I see of 2015. I am planning to watch this tonight. I love watching Jennifer Lawrence and just think she was awesome in the first film.

The tag line is "remember who the enemy is" and I wonder what that means, perhaps it is about the Tributes learning that fighting each other does not change the society. I love the story behind these films, I've read the first book and have this instalment on my Kindle to read but I don't know when I'll get around to reading it. I'm still reading the Michael Cobley book Seeds of Earth, which I am enjoying but my reading speed is not fast and I don't read it every day.

New Year 2015

I didn't post yesterday because it was a funny old day really, no shops are open and because we stayed up the night before it was a late starting day. I did go out for another run though, this time I went at a slower pace because after my first run on Monday I experienced back pain. I haven't experienced as much pain after my second run, just judging by the little bit of activity I've done this morning so far. I'm feeling my age, as my body creaks after I've used it to break sweat. I used to be so slim and healthy when I was in my twenties. I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have felt a run through my back way back then. I starting reading a compilation graphic novel of Suicide Squad, one I'd not read before. I also played more of a PS4 game called Watch_Dogs (underscore is intentional) and have almost completed it now. I haven't done any work this holiday and am feeling terrible about it. I don't understand why I haven't and the last days of my holidays always seem to be blighted by a fear of returning to work after not doing anything for a couple of weeks. On the other hand, holidays should be a time to recharge - rather than doing work. My wife works during the holidays but she does get a lot more holidays than I do. Seeing her work does make me more guilty that I'm not. When she works I have to compensate by doing more family cooking.