Diary of an old cheeser

Wave goodbye, Say Hello...

2009-05-30T01:16:00.001+01:00

Adios Diary of an Old Cheeser...

And if you want to find the new me ....

... Try HERE!!

2009-05-29T12:03:00.002+01:00

DAY TO GO....!!!

YIKES!!

I'm a bit scared now...

2009-05-28T20:22:00.001+01:00

Days left ... countdown IS progressing ...

2009-05-27T17:54:00.002+01:00

it's the magic number...

2009-05-26T14:04:00.003+01:00

and counting ...

2009-05-25T18:46:00.003+01:00

... DAYS TO GO ...

The Return of the Cheeser

2009-05-08T20:27:00.000+01:00

ETA:

Saturday 30 May 2009

I'm coming back

2009-04-25T12:44:00.006+01:00

It's official.

And it's no good.

Or rather it is (good that is)

After a lengthy hiatus and "departure" (ahem ahem), this old Cheeser has decided ....

.... TO COME BACK!!!

Or should I say...

BACK, BACK, BACK!!!

Watch this space...

I'm excited already!!! Hope you are too!!

OC xx

Cheerio from the Cheeser...

2008-10-01T09:37:00.002+01:00

Well. I really didn't want to have to do this. In fact, I can't quite believe that I'm contemplating it. But it seems like I ain't got much choice, my lovelies...

Since I started my new teaching job time has been precious for me, in fact, I still can't find enough of it. My evenings and weekends have become full to the brim with preparing, marking, reading and so forth. We've got an OFSTED inspection coming to the college next week and that's added to everything else for me. I know you have heard this all before, my fellow bloggers and readers...

You can probably guess where this is going can't you?

I've going to have to stop this blogging thing.

Yes. Or, to be more precise, I'm not going to be updating my own blog any more, and probably not for some time to come. Yes, I've had my hiatuses before, my "I'm having a break for a few weeks and I'll be back" type declarations (God I'm finding it hard to get the words out, so much for being a ruddy English teacher!) but this time it's likely to be for good. It's just been so hard to claw back time and at present I need all that I can get hold of (sounds like another of my classic Cheeser double entendres, something I'm sure you'll remember me for if nothing else...)

This decision really doesn't come easily, I can promise you. I have loved having my own blog for so many reasons: the chance to be creative and to write about all of my joys and passions - music, movies, tv (being the "banner" topics but of course you all know I'm a major Dr Who fan); not to mention a vast array of cheese and retro-related topics that have enthused me along the way and also what's current ; writing long and detailed reviews (and boy am I good at them!); "Tagging" my fellow bloggers to write on an array of subjects ... and last but definitely not least hooking up with and getting to know a vast array of other bloggers in the process. And boy, have I met lots of people!

And in no particular order, they are:

The witty and erudite Steve, from Luscious Leamington Spa. Our communiques kicked off with various anecdotes about Beverley Craven and a marrow - I kid you not. He's a proud Dad of two and a bit of a polymath (writer, web designer, facilities manager...!) In our time we've exchanged many a thought on Torchwood and Big Brother. Steve's a bit of a cultural critic too and has a very observant eye/style. Actually I'm wondering if it was Bev that started it all off after all, I actually think it was Leo Sayer's underpants. What an opening. Not that I really want to see Leo's opening...

The lovely boy from US Gaytown, Matty, who never ceases to amaze me with his tales of encounters with weird and wonderful San Fran folk and his conversations with them - plus his love of film, tv and music was something we both shared. He's also an arty and sensitive kind of guy with his heart in the right place (and we've never even met!) with a Barbra Streisand fixation. And a cute dog called Bagel! Going back to Queen Babs, I think that's how our friendship got started - me suggesting that Bubbly Babs go for a "ghetto Barbra" image with lots of bling and a velour tracksuit - I'm sure it would compliment her bubble perm perfectly not to mention revitalise her career...

Amanda from New Zealand. A fun and witty lady who never ceases to make us jealous with her tales and photos of the beautiful NZ scenery and weather. One of her daughters is also a major Dr Who fan - she's obviously been brought up the right way. I can't quite remember how Randy Mandy and I hooked up - probably through another blogger, it always seems to be the way - but I've enjoyed all my chats with her and reading her updates. A fabulous lady.

Tim aka Timewarden! A blogger who has regenerated almost as many times as the good Timelord himself - who knows, PERHAPS I might follow his example. Tim is a major DW fan too, hence the connection. Tim is an "Old Skool" Whovian and I'm sure he won't mind me saying he's much more of a fan of the original series rather than new one. This has lead to many interesting debates between us! He also has an incredible memory for detail (guest stars from DW who have starred in other things) - I thought I was bad! (Or should that be good - look it's a talent, all right??)

High Camp Caress Morell. Named after a character from Dynasty no less, Caress is in fact a gay Glaswegian called Jaimie who has a love of, surprisingly, camp and trash such as Prisoner Cell Block H, Dynasty and Joan Crawford movies, to give just a few examples. He's currently compiling his Top 25 Campest movies and some of the choices have actually taken me by surprise! Like Tim, he's a mine of information (or should that be trivia? I can talk...) when it comes to movies and tv shows - this boy knows so much! He also has a love of ... cock ... and has written a fair few naughty stories on his blog - fair go to him!

From A Voice Plantation aka my old friend Thomas. We both went to Sussex University about 15 years ago (Jesus! Where does the time go?!) and have stayed in touch since - well sporadically, but we're back in touch now, which is good. Thomas is into Indie music and also has his own band, Plus! Go see them! Of course I remember his Janet Jackson period, and Absolutely Fabulous fixations, but I'm not sure he'd want me to remind him of those ... Thomas also blogs about the country walks he's fond of going on, which I can definitely relate to - getting out of London can only be a good thing!

Hot Lunch aka Alan from Chicago! Another American diva queen! Alan actually originates from Bradford ooop North so is a Yorkshire boy by birth (he once wrote to me asking me about meat pies that came from there - I was damned if I knew!) Now he's into music and movies, including the kind of stuff I like. And he also has a bit of a thing for Sheena Easton in fact.

Flaming Nora. A displaced Makem now living in London. She's a major Coronation Street fan and even has her own blog on the topic and once kindly published an article of mine on gay and lesbian characters in soaps. Another cultural critic who is always going to the theatre and gigs. It makes me wonder why I don't bother being a London dweller too. She also used to work near me although we never actually met - may have passed each other on the street at some point though, who knows!

Newplanet aka Graham another bonnie gay Scots boy! Graham is a bit of a Kylie and Kim Wilde fan and again likes many things poppy. He also has a thing for horror movies and every October gives his blog a Halloween style makeover, as he has done now.

And there's a few other numerous people too who I haven't mentioned (soz folks) but if you want to check them out go to my blog roll. All I can say is, ladies and gentlemen, it's been lovely knowing you!!

So before I go...

I will be keeping this blog "live" i.e. I won't be deleting it despite the lack of updates, so anyone and everyone can go back and read all my previous posts! I have actually worked very hard on it in the past and don't see the point in just scrubbing out all of that.

I WILL still be checking into everyone else's blogs, to see what they're up to, what they're writing about and leaving comments where I can. I want to keep in touch! And it isn't the reading that's time consuming, it's the writing that is!! Oh I wish I didn't have to do this but ho hum ....

Incidentally - Pakipoptart aka Deemer, are you still alive? You stopped blogging and deleted your website, but I was just wondering if you're okay? If you read this please drop me a line to say hi and reassure me.

Well. This looks like it. Really can't believe it! Who knows, I might do a Timewarden and come back from the dead, but for now it really does have to be goodbye. We'll see. Take care and all the best.

Big hugs to you all and ... I almost forgot to say ... many, MANY thanks for checking into and reading my blog and your various comments! It's been much appreciated.

Love Simon aka Old Cheeser
XXXXXXXXXX

BYYYYYEEEEEEE!!!!

I'm sowwie

2008-09-21T12:59:00.013+01:00

Hey everyone

Sorry about the recent lack of posts - just for a change. I'm up to my eyeballs in teaching stuff and my weekends have suddenly become chock-full of preparation and marking, etc etc. Natually all of that's had to take priority. I'll write something more substantial when I can find, oh, a few spare micro-seconds or something.

Meanwhile: It seems that the E-Space Trilogy might be coming out on DVD in the not too distant. Hoorah for the rather-good "Full Circle"! And the Marshmen! And Romana being bitten by a marshspider and turning all veiny and nasty! And procrastination aplenty! Hoorah for the very deliciously gothic "State of Decay"! And the Three Who Rule! And lots of vampire bats on strings attacking the Doc and Romana in the woods! And Paddy Kingsland's wonderful incidental musical scores in the aforementioned two stories! A semi-hoorah for "Warrior's Gate"! (A bit of a weird story in my book and not one of my all-time faves, but with some merits nonetheless...) And the lionine Tharils! And a nasty villain in Clifford Rose! And the touching departure of Romana and K9 Mark II! And last but not least, a less-than-hoorah for the debut of mathematical genius cum brat with crap pudding bowl haircut, Adric! Anyway I look forward to that one.

Mmmm. So much for not having the time to write.

My driving lessons are continuing to go okay, though not as frequent as I would like. I'm currently doing right hand turns. My steering needs some attention and the concept of the clutch is a new one to me, but I'm getting there.

Back inside the walls of Wentworth, Doreen's been packed off to the funny farm after twisted psychologist Peter Clements sends her round the bend by suggesting she might be a lesbian (like you do).

The winsome n' whiney Lynn Warner has finally departed the show, never to be seen again (rumour has it she later turns up as an alien in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and some kind of princess in "Dynasty"... No lie ...)

New arrival and baby killer Bella Albrecht (above with fabulously flicked 70s barnet) has been drowned in a sink with Bea and Monnie being the prime suspects.

However it transpires that it's actually the devious Martha Eaves (aka "Big M", above with Vinegar Vera) who is the culprit. Martha then decides to go up on the prison roof and hold Vera hostage with a kitchen fork (like you do) but eventually gets caught, not before we see that Wentworth is in fact a TV station (hence the radars):

Who knew?! Or could it in fact be a tracking station to locate alien intelligences like the Pharos Project (well, there's precious little intelligence inside Wentworth, so they've got to find it somewhere ...)

Fabulously flouncy prison social worker Jean Vernon has allowed Noeline Burke's daughter Leanne (above, an even better example of white trash than her mum) to stay in Meg Jackson's house, to the latter's chagrin. Cue hilarious scenes of Leanne trashing the joint and lounging on Meg's sofa, smoking loadsa fags, drinking loadsa tinnies and listening to loadsa naff 70s wah-wah music (which also seems to get played on the radio in the Wentworth laundry rather a lot - God, but they had excellent taste back then).

And future full-time warder Colleen "Po Face" Powell has made her first fleeting appearance. Not sure about the John Lennon look though, Colleen, love.

Right. Best go then. Strange how I can suddenly start waxing lots of lyrical when I get onto a favourite subject, isn't it?!

Hope you're all having a good weekend me lovelies ...

OC xxx

The Great Exhibition of 2008

2008-09-06T19:25:00.003+01:00

Yaaaaay!! It's taken me a bit of time to report back on this one, but a few weeks back, my good friend from ooop North, Stephen, his lovely son Max and myself all made a trip to the Dr Who Exhibition which is currently showing at Earls Court. And a very good time was had by all.

It was so funny/strange taking Max with us. He's five years old and just getting into the whole Dr Who thing. There were lots of other kiddies there too who were equally relishing the experience, running around and shrieking with excitement on seeing their favourite monsters / creatures and all of it took me right back to my own childhood. It really doesn't seem so long ago when me and my friends in York, all die-hard Whovians, used to hold "group meetings" in which we got together to "rap" about DW and watch badly copied VHS tapes of old DW stories, which we'd paid through the neck to get hold of (we had a "contact" in Leeds who helped out for some extortionate price ... All I can say is THANK GOD for the advent of the DVD ...) I was also a member of the DWAS (that's Dr Who Appreciation Society to you plebs out there) and a regular subscriber to Dr Who Weekly (I still have a copy of the very first issue), closely followed by Dr Who Monthly. And erm, you are going to think me frightfully naughty, but me and a friend who shall remain nameless once wrote an "adult" version of the Colin Baker story "The Mark of the Rani", on his ZX Spectrum. This was in our later teens, you understand and we were, testosterone-infused not to say frustrated youngsters ... (Mind you it's probably no worse than this recent effort or this one, is it? Some things never change ... ) Regrettably "The Mark of the Randi" never got published.

Another highlight of my Who-infused childhood was a visit to the Dr Who Exhibition in Blackpool - which is still going strong. I think I went in about 1982 or 1983 and remember being terribly, terribly excited. I didn't get out of York very much and this felt like a trip to the USA or something similar. With hindsight I now realise Blackpool is probably one of cheapest and tackiest places one can visit but at the time it all felt sooo glamorous. And we went to the DW Exhibition and loved it. They had the regeneration scene from "Logopolis" on a looped video in the shop and I remember buying a china TARDIS money box and having my picture taken with my friend and his brother outside by the "TARDIS" entrance.

Anyway, flash forward to 2008 and Earl's Court. Here's a pictorial guide of what was on offer that day!

A taster of things to come!

Stephen and Max getting all excited in the foyer!

Doctors numero Nine and Ten invite you to the Exhibition ...

There were lots of good pictorial displays like the one on the right ... lots of good Who info and facts! It was probably more informative than the Blackpool Exhibition I'd say.

Saints preserve us! It's shop dummies coming to life! Could they be ... Autons?

Does the Henriks logo remind you of anything?

The David Tennant incarnation of the Doc outside the TARDIS. If you're wondering why his face is blank, there was a projector which "shone" a moving DT face onto the dummy .... unfortunately it didn't come out very well in the photo so he actually looks kind of sinister!

A David Tennant / Tenth Doc display.

Mewsters! It's a cat nun! Tin of kitty kat, anyone?

Lordy lordy! It's the wise and reputable Face of Boe! What a humongous head (oh, no comments please ... )

Me attempting to commune with the Face of Boe ... you can see the difference in head size ...

A bendy-wendy Slitheen! He (or she?) was positively huge! Big pincers too!

That famous model of Ben Ben from the first Slitheen story. Good model!

Aaaaah! It's that bitchy stretchy piece of flesh, Cassandra!

And one of the Trinnie / Susannah (not sure which it is) robots from "Bad Wolf"!

Uuuuughhh! The Empress of the Racnoss!!

An Ood waits patiently in a corridor. One of the best of the new Who monsters in my opinion ...

A Santa Claus robot! Rather silly staring eyes though.

This was an interesting display - showed you how they "made" an Oood mask. Who knew the spaghetti heads used blusher?

It's - that monster with the long name from "Love and Monsters"! Didn't look as good as on screen, I have to add. The jock strap didn't seem to ... hold very much.

Affirmative Master! Everyone's favourite doggie on show.

One of those scary looking clockwork dolls. Nice britches.

Enter ... the Cybermen!! Great display and great design. Kind of looks like they're on TOTP though.

No, no, NOOOOOOOO!! Don't delete me!!

Roger Lloyd-Pack, or should I say the Cyber-controller?

A solitary Cyber-bloke.

Rose's gorgeous costume from "Idiot's Lantern". Again she seems to be sans face ... but that's what happens when Maureen Lipman sucks the life out of ya ...

Couldn't resist a close up of Rose's lovely pink heels.

Remember those pictures the girl in "Fear Her" drew? The one of the absent Dad was rather horrible ...

Heaven help us! It's Wendy the Weeping Angel! I thought she was a testcard girl?

And no DW Exhibition would be complete without ... the Daleks! Enter the Black one ...

This was a cool bit of the Exhibition. You can't really see it from the photos (and the dry ice kind of obscures things) but three Daleks glided onto the "stage", threatened the audience as "unidentified intruders! and then shot them! Cue lots of laser beams ...

A Sontaran, recently returned to DW! Again didn't like the silly staring eyes though. Guess they couldn't exactly use real ones ...

One of those fishy aliens (again I can't be bothered to find out the name) who got all loved up with Martha in "The Dr's Daughter".

A scary scarecrow! Another one of my fave DW creations ...

A model of the Dalek Emperor.

Please do not touch the exhibits. Or you will be EXTERMINATED!!

The truck thing driven by Kylie of Minogia in "Voyage of the Damned". Remember?

Bannakaffalatta. Is he Darth Maul's baby brother?

Stephen and a Dalek. Actually you can't see, but Max is inside! They had a microphone inside in which you could imitate the Dalek voice - great fun! Naturally the place was filled with screeching kid's voices, all going "Exterminate!" again and again. I guess if you worked there it might drive you slightly mad ...

A saucy showgirl from the Daleks in Manhattan two-parter. Great outfit!

And later at home, Max tries out his newly purchased radio-controlled Dalek!

How exciting!! Oh to be young again ...

Well it was a good day in all. What Stephen and I both noticed (and as you'll probably have gathered from the photos above) was that the exhibition focussed almost entirely on NEW Dr Who monsters (apart from the obvious "crossover" aliens like Daleks and Cybermen) from the revived version of the series. There were no old ones, which was a slight pity. I guess the reasoning behind that is that a lot of the attendees will be too young to remember DW Mark One and far more au fait with Mark Two, hence the recent exhibits. Also the fact that if there had been monsters from Mark One PLUS Mark Two, a very big venue would have been needed! (And Earls Court is pretty big as it is - much more spacious than the Blackpool Exhibition for instance). But it's still great to know that the DW legacy lives on and that a whole new generation of children are being reared on the show, as I once was. Okay, what's the point in denying it. Going to these kind of things is really just an opportunity for my inner kid-like Whovian to manifest itself. Or, should I say, materialise!!

42 inches of pure pleasure

2008-09-06T13:48:00.004+01:00

Greetings ladies and gents.

I'm BACK again. Sorry about the hiatus, but it's been a busy one, particularly with this business of starting a brand new job. And I'm pleased to report that side of things seems to be going well. The college is a very nice environment indeed (gosh for a supposed English teacher I really do need to come up with some more imaginative vocabulary), my new work colleagues have been welcoming, supportive and fun, there's loads of excellent resources in the college, including some very impressive IT packages they use for both teachers and staff and they also use interactive whiteboards which are ultra cool! The one thing I haven't actually done yet after being nearly there for nearly two weeks is TEACH! So far it's been mainly student enrolment and preparing lessons, schemes of work etc. I also managed to get out of having a tutor group which was a pretty good respite as apparently there's a lot of extra work involved in that (a colleague of mine described me as "jammy" which isn't too far from the truth!) I feel like I've had to assimilate enough as it is, so I can't say I'm sorry about that particular development. Anyway lessons proper start next Tuesday so fingers crossed ... I am feeling a touch nervous I will admit. Pray for me, good people of the Bloggersphere!

I had a nice (that insipid word again) time in Weston Super Mare, although I didn't do very much atall, just relax at our friends and eat, drink and watch TV. Watched Goldmember, the third Austin Powers movie, and realised it wasn't actually very funny. Watched Batman Begins (as a precursor for when I eventually get to see the much-praised Dark Knight) which was much better than Goldmember (well, they are rather different different kinds of movies, yeah ...) (And oddly enough, last night I watched the 1960s Batman movie, which was hilarious for all the wrong reasons ... )

Also took a walk on Weston's pier, which, despite the recent fire, is at least partially still intact. On the way I encountered some strangely familiar creatures ...

So that's what eating too many hot dogs and chips does to you in Weston ...

Oh My GOD!! The Dalek Invasion of Weston! Could the evil pepperpots be the ones responsible for the fire on the pier? Okay, that was a little bit tasteless ...

Proof that I ain't scared of no goddam Dalek. Mind you, the barrier between us does kind of help to allay that fear...

But look at the wreck at the end of the pier above ... sad eh. Still at least the whole thing didn't burn down.

I'm still carrying on with the driving lessons, although they haven't been that regular. I must step up their regularity as I don't want to get out of touch and want the driving thing to start feeling more natural and instinctive! I just feel SO scared about going on a big, open, busy road. Oh just DO IT Simone! Okay, okay, I will... And Gustavo and I have purchased a flat screen TV!! Just like the one above. Cost rather a lot but we went for one of those "Buy now, pay in 6 months time" deals, so it should be alright. I have to say in some respects I wasn't bothered about getting one before, but now I've definitely seen the light. It looks and sounds amazing. Like having a mini cinema in your home. And in our cathedral-sized lounge I now perceive that purchasing a 42 incher (as it were) was a definite necessity. Prisoner Cell Block H has never looked better...

Talking of which ... I just CAN'T resist telling you about the latest developments on the Wentworth front ...

Any vacancies for a moustached clone in a women's prisoner, governor? Oh. So Freddie Mercury's filled the post already ...

Male moustached Deputy governor and sex god Jim Fletcher has arrived at Wentworth, a seemingly odd, not to mention, rather bad-tempered and dysfunctional sort of chap. However we soon find that not only has he split from his wife, she's also denied him access to their kids PLUS he's still traumatised by his experiences while serving as a soldier in Vietnam, leading to lots of tortured soliloquies and downing endless whiskeys in bars. Poor bugger, as Lizzie would say. Unfortunately the ladies what lunch at Wentworth aren't too enamoured with Jimbo from the outset, branding him "Fletch the Letch" i.e. a bit of a perv in general. However as Mr F stays in the programme for at least another 200 episodes, I'd wager he has a bit more dramatic mileage in him yet.

Warder Meg is dating resident prison Dr and sex-god Greg Miller, and having to suffer various mocking comments from prison inmates and staff alike in the process, not to mention dirty looks from ex girlfriend Karen Travers. The sultry Ms Travers has now been allowed to go on day release to university, whilst being wooed by hot-shot lawyer and sex god Steve Wilson, but that doesn't really go anywhere ... then in classic "Prisoner" (if not soap opera) style Steve's character vanishes into thin air never to be mentioned again ... ho-hum.

Meanwhile Queen Bea is back inside having been dobbed in to the police by a devious teenage girl - played by one of actress Val Lehman's own daughters no less - hope that's not her REAL persona - the rotten biiiiiiiiiitch!!

Classy Clara Goddard has been shipped off to another prison and whiney and winsome Lynn Warner is finally about to released from Wentworth (again!), both departures causing Wentworth's dopey dumpling, Doreen, much distress. Dor doesn't have much self-esteem you see and tends to cling on to others for comfort and support ... she even tries to frame Lynn for stealing pills from the prison dispensary, in order that her release gets delayed and she stays in prison longer to keep her company ... silly girl.

No Doreen, I don't have any kiwi and cinnamon facial scrub. This is the best on offer, you sneak! You drongo!!

And when Lynn finds out she's none too happy and gives Doreen the mud-pack treatment (and we're not talking Body Shop style ... )

Home and Awaaaaaay ... with you each daaaaaay .... Alf? Where are you? Oh! So the actor who plays you turns up in Prisoner three times does he? Well, I never did!

And Ailsa from Home and Away has also turned up as an inmate, with a secret stash of cash that everyone wants to get their hands on!

JOY!!

Have a fabulous weekend and week after, my lovelies ...

OC xx

Tom Cruise: Is he or isn't he?

2008-08-23T18:33:00.006+01:00

Answers on a Comment, please...

Hint: Remember that ridiculously OTT display of affection from The Cruiser re: Katie Holmes on Oprah Winfrey? Did the closet fag over-compensate too much??

Finito Bonito

2008-08-23T17:50:00.008+01:00

I have now officially finished my job at the University. Last Thursday lunch time in fact.

And I am sorry?

Am I f*ck.

I shall refrain from saying anything else overly negative but let's just say I'm glad that chapter in my life is now over and I'm moving onto something else. Very glad indeed.

Next Tuesday I start my new teaching job. Unfortunately I used up most of my leave in my last position so haven't been able to take a major break in between jobs, much as I would have liked to do that. However as I write this, I am currently in Weston Super-Mare, on a mini-holiday staying with some mates of mine and Gustavo, so that's something. Weather is not so great here but it's good to breathe some REAL air and chill a bit ... just been for a walk in the town centre and on the pier, which is only half its former glory now, due to the recent fire which burnt up many of its amusements (sob!)

I haven't had any more driving lessons yet. Last week's was cancelled but I'm due to have a double one next week. I've also started reading The Official DSA Theory Test. Woo-hooo! So many questions and so much remember, although I have to say, quite a lot is common sense, thankfully. Some of it doesn't seem to have any rhyme or reason to it though, for example, how exactly are you supposed to calculate the stopping/braking distance according to the speed you are driving at? Is there some kind of mathematical formulae for working this out? You can hardly whip out a calculator whilst you're driving can you? Anyone care to enlighten me?! Anyway thanks for all your good wishes re: the driving stuff, 'tis appreciated.

I've also been getting seriously embroiled in the world of Wentworth aka Prisoner Cell Block H. And my hubbie is slowly falling under the influence too. Just a PERFECT way to unwind at the end of the day! We're just finished viewing episode 35. Only 657 installments to go.

Society darling Clare Goddard (that's her on the right above) has been banged up in jail for fiddling funds from her employers and is actually proving a bit of a hit with the women, having got governor Erica (on the left, above) to agree to throw a birthday party for her and the ladies, with lots of yummy food. What Erica doesn't know is that Lizzie, Monica and co are brewing up loads of illicit booze and they all get nicely sozzled on it (there's a very funny scene with Lizzie and Doreen totally pished).

Meanwhile top dog Bea has gone on the run and is hiding out with former cell mate Val. The latter, it has to be said, is wearing one of the worst-looking wigs in history (it's got to be a wig as when Val first appeared in the show she was a brunette and now she's a bloody blonde!) Bea herself is forced to don a disguise to avoid detection, which includes a brown wig (above - somewhat nicer than Val's "dead cat" one though) and a skirt which resembles a table cloth. Yes, this being the late 1970s, high fashion reigns supreme in Prisoner - not in the SLIGHTEST bit tacky or camp atall. Toward the end of the show's run, things did calm down stylistically, but this is surely Prisoner at its apogee in terms of style and fashion. Just take a look at Meg's outfit below:

Blends in with the sofa perfectly doesn't it?

I almost forgot to mention the fabulously trashy Noeline Burke, who has just arrived in the show -an iconic character who I really should have listed in my recent post. She's an, erm, "interesting" looking character who hails from a family of petty thieves - who, unlike some crims, are all actually proud of their doings and see burgalry as a way of life! Jude Kuring who plays Noeline is brilliant in the role, and her character, surely constitutes an original CHAV, before the word ever entered popular usage...

Bliss!!!

Oh, can I also draw your attention to two rather cool blogs dedicated to actresses Patsy King (who played governor Erica Davidson) and Jude Kuring (Noeline). You can find them here and here! Lots of clippings, photos and fact about the ladies in question, and compiled by lovely fellow blogger Eva!

Have a good weekend.

OC xx

Done and dusted (kind of)

2008-08-15T17:25:00.002+01:00

Well, my first ever driving lesson is now done and dusted.

It actually felt incredibly strange to be sitting in the driving seat after nearly 40 years of car avoidance. Weeeeeiiiird!!

Fortunately my instructor seems like a nice, ordinary, down-to-earth chap (not like the psycho in Happy Go Lucky, thank the lord) and that made it easier. He started off taking me through all the functions of the car, gas pedal, brakes, clutch, hand brake etc. Actually seemed like rather a lot to remember.

And then after all the requisite explanations...

I MADE MY FIRST ATTEMPT AT DRIVING.

O.M.G. I felt SO nervous. How would I handle controlling this great hunk of metal that surrounded me? How would I manage to manoeuvre my way down the road without smashing into something or someone? I suddenly felt so responsible and the weight of it all was upon me...

Gawd. I am sounding like a bona fide drama queen aren't I (something I've NEVER done before...)

Anyway, I put my foot down on the clutch, changed into first gear, foot off the clutch, down on the gas pedal, turned the steering wheel to the right to pull away from the kerb (yes I forgot to indicate but there was nothing behind me, and it was my first time, right...?) then started to accelerate down the road. The steering wheel felt very strange and my instinct was to hold it straight, but this of course doesn't mean that the wheels were straight and I started to veer off to the other side of the road! Yikes! My instructor quickly grabbed the wheel and put me right. I drove a few hundred yards, pulled over to the left and parked...phew.

How strange it all was.

And my next lesson is next week!

I've been driving in my car (it's not quite a jaguar)

2008-08-14T09:31:00.007+01:00

O. M. G. Tonight, for the first time ever, I start driving lessons. (And that's O. M. G. as in Oh My God, not Oh M. G. , appropriate though that would be ...)

Ladies and gentlemen, it's Cheeser Confession time:

I have never driven a car in my LIFE.

But I figured (as someone approaching 40) it was high time I learnt. One of the deciding factors for me has been my new job, which geographically is not too far away from where I am living now - well, it's a good number of miles really, but the route by car is actually more direct than that taken by train or bus. Having said that, whilst I'm learning to drive I'll still have to get the train to work... I tried the bus on the day of my interview and it was a nightmare.

Of course I've already been privy to endless stories from various people all bemoaning the high costs of running a car - road tax, insurance, MOTs, parking permits, not to mention the high price of fuel - and how, consequently, it ain't worth it. Mmmm... Still, even if it does all prove rather too costly, I still reckon it's worth getting my licence - a skill they can't take away from you eh??

I do feel a bit nervous about driving on the road though, having never ever tried it. The prospect of being a motorist in London fills me with even more dread, given the often crazy, aggressive nature of some of the drivers and frequent disregard for the Highway code that goes on here. Having said that, I was a cyclist in the Big Smoke for a few years (until I got my bike nicked) something I thought I would never do, and which people often regarded as a brave thing indeed - and I survived that (only one nasty accident once near Kings Cross...) I guess that stood me in good stead. So, fingers, thumbs and all extremities are firmly crossed!

And I have some money sensibly stashed away should I choose to purchase my first car. So... Will it look like this:

Will I be driving a Mini Cooper and feeling super-duper?

Or will it be like this:

Meaning I will have to re-name myself Lady Penelope? (Then again, as attractive as the prospect of being chauffeur-driven is, it kind of defeats the object i.e. it won't be ME doing the driving...)

Or will it look like Sarah Jane's rather funky/retro two-seater that she uses to zip around, solving intergalactic invasions and mysteries? Oooooh, that would be very nice.

Nah. With my budget, my first car is far more likely to look like this:

Quite.

Meanwhile, what have been YOUR driving experiences? When did you first learn to drive? What was it like? Or maybe you can't drive atall and don't give a monkey's??

Wish me luck in my first driving experiences, my lovelies!

The Wentworth Comedy Show

2008-08-13T20:29:00.005+01:00

Okay, after all your comments about how glum n' grim the "Wild" women of Wentworth are looking, and the grimness of "Prisoner" in general, I really must prove that you're all TOTALLY WRONG about the show. The programme was in fact a saucy, silly, comic farce... And here's the evidence:

Governor Erica Davidson has never looked so fabulous sped up!!

The Cheeser's Choice: The Wild Women of Wentworth

2008-08-08T14:53:00.011+01:00

G'day! Some time back I did a "Cheeser's Choice" post on one of my favourite pieces of kitsch (I refuse to say "bad") TV - Prisoner: Cell Block H. And guess what - yours truly recently purchased the entire series (that's some 692 episodes) on DVD! They've brought out the whole thing in a whopping great boxset and, well, I'd come into a bit of money so couldn't resist splurging. My hubbie was horrified at my indulgence and yes, it WAS rather a lot of money but I don't do this sort of thing all the time...fair go, Mrs M!

Anyway last time I gave you the basic lowdown on the main aspects of the show but promised to return with some notes (NOTES! Ha ha - okay, ESSAY) on the leading ladies of Wentworth...so here goes. Incidentally, this time round I'm just going to tell you about the female prison characters...cos there's a whole lot to say about the Prison officers too, but that will come next time!

Beatrice Alice Smith

Or Queen Bea as she was also known. The original and (in my view) the best of the Top Dogs, superbly played by actress Val Lehman. Beatrice Alice Smith was a tough cookie and a no-nonsense lady, make no mistake. Originally a hairdresser, she gets put “inside” for murdering her husband’s mistress. Whilst inside, Bea’s daughter Debbie gets hooked on drugs and dies of a drugs overdose, a lot of which can be put down to her father’s neglect. When Bea gets out of prison and wastes no time in acquiring a gun from her friend, paying a visit to her husband and shooting him dead – one of the best scenes in the show. Go Bea! Consequently she develops a hatred of drugs and comes down hard on any of the women inside who are “using”.

But Bea’s toughness was often justified. If an Australian version of “Vindication of the Rights of Women” had been produced, Bea surely would have been the author. The outspoken ginger one always acted in the women’s best interests and was the first to see that the inmates got a fair deal, often liaising with Governor Erica Davidson or getting the women to go on strike, protest on the roof, refuse to obey an officer’s commands – whatever means were necessary. She also came down hard on those women prisoners who mistreated others. However she did have a softer side and could be a bit of a mother hen to the women as well.

Bea, Doreen and Lizzie are also firm friends and form a kind of triumvirate in the first part of the series. The close relationship and general banter between these three characters makes for great viewing. And some of Bea’s best storylines included her amnesia, her long-standing feud with warder Joan Ferguson (their scrap in a corridor whilst a fire rages through the prison is legendary), her going on the run in Sydney (disguised in an array of camp wigs and scarves) and the “Debbie’s ghost” plotline. See a forthcoming post on Best Prisoner Plots for more info…

Doreen Anderson nee Burns

Wentworth’s nice but dim inmate (the polite term would be "intellectually challenged") Dopey Doreen was a sweet if slightly tubby young woman, often to be seen clutching a teddy. She was also rather easily led and too much of a pushover at times. However in the very early episodes of “Prisoner” we see Doreen go on the run with fellow prisoner Frankie and after Frankie is shot, she returns to Wentworth bitter and twisted and trying to act like a Frankie clone, chucking her weight around the place. It doesn’t last long as Doreen is basically too nice.

Poor old Dor didn’t have much luck though and suffered from low self esteem – after marrying the spunk (that’s Australian terminology for “attractive man”) of her dreams, Kevin, he promptly buggers off when he finds out she’s pregnant by another fella (and it’s not really her fault as the daddy is a horrible old factory worker who’s been blackmailing her into having sex with him). A gutted Doreen tries to hang herself but fortunately is prevented just in time.

Although rather immature in some respects, over the years Doreen does gradually grow up, ditching the teddy bear that she carries around with her and learning to stand on her own two feet. Not long after the arrival of nasty new warder Joan Ferguson, Doreen is released (after being the first prisoner to officially suffer the indignity of one of Joan’s “body searches”) and later turns up in Sydney, where Bea has gone on the run from prison. Naturally they run into each other and it turns out that Doreen is now working in a clothes shop and living in a posh flat opposite Sydney harbour (VERY dez rez and expensive). Her final appearance comes a year or two later when she’s agreed to marry a foreign guy so he can get his visa. She doesn’t want to do it and in a series of funny “stunts” attempts to get herself put back into Wentworth e.g. getting arrested for shoplifting, dressing up as a prostitute….like you do. Needless to say it succeeds and it’s nice to see old Dor back inside for a few episodes before she finally bows out…for good this time.

Elizabeth Josephine Birdsworth aka Lizzie

Chain smoking, wrinkled old bat with a loud cackling laugh. Had a penchant for the “grog” aka alcohol and known to break into the Prisoner infirmary cupboard in order to steak bottles of meths (the best the prison had to offer when it came to booze). Also involved in beer-making scams which invariably went wrong. Lizze liked to play up her health as well and was always going on about “me ticker” – although on some occasions her complaints about her heart actually turned out to be genuine! Other classic Lizzie catchphrases (in her typical caterwauling voice) included: “Aaaaah, fair go!” “Bloody hell!!”, You rotten flaming mongrels!!” and “Bugger me gently!”

As you might have guessed, Lizzie definitely proved to be the comic relief of the prison (if not the programme) but her heart was in the right place and she usually looked out for the younger, more innocent inmates, like Doreen and later Pixie and Maxine.

And Lizzie’s crime? When the series opens, she has already served 20 years for poisoning four sheep shearers during her time working as a cook (although for some bizarre reason she is still allowed to work in the prison kitchen). It turns out that Lizzie is in fact innocent and didn't poison anyone, even though she believes she did. She is immediately released with the promise of compensation but finds it hard to cope, having become so climatised to life “on the inside” and missing her “mates”…

However much later there is a happy ending for Lizzie when she’s reunited with her long-lost family.

Frankie Doyle

One of Prisoner’s original characters and the show’s very first lesbian. Frankie was a dyke in the true sense of the term, a markedly masculine, short-haired, cigarette-smoking, gum-chewing, dungarees-wearing, butch-acting, trouble-making lesbian (I can’t think of any more hyphenated words to describe her but that’s more than enough). Frankie also vied with Bea Smith for the position of top dog, making for some great dramatic scenes (particularly when Frankie thinks Bea has left the prison for good but then ends up back inside, leading to more conflict…)

With her gravely voice and swaggering manner to boot, Frankie was a kind of less attractive female version of James Dean. Not too much of a stereotype then. And yet, like Joan “The Freak” Ferguson who appeared later on, Frankie became an icon to many. Actually that comparison is probably a little unfair, as unlike The Freak, Frankie wasn’t actually evil or corrupt, just a bit of loose canon and a frequent source of unrest within the walls of Wentworth. If someone said the wrong thing to Frankie, she was liable to upend the nearest bookcase in the rec room, or start chucking billiard balls at people. In only the second episode she instigates a riot amongst the prisoners, which results in prison psychiatrist Bill Jackson getting stabbed to death!

Yet Frankie’s volatile, aggressive nature stemmed from her basic sense of inadequacy and low self-esteem (God I’m make a good prison psychologist) not to mention her shame at being illiterate. When the sultry and well-educated Karen Travers arrives, she becomes Franky’s teacher, helping her to read and write. However Frankie wants more than just a teacher/pupil relationship with Karen…In fact she has a definite thing for the prettier, “femme” girls and also forms an attachment with the easily influenced Doreen. Later, Frankie and Dor break out of Wentworth and go on the run together, even dressing up as nuns to avoid detection. But when the police catch up with the Wentworth escapees, tragedy beckons…Frankie’s final defiant words: “Bloody bastards!” as the police shoot her down, are not forgotten and we cannot help but mourn the passing of this most interesting of misfits.

Jeanette Mary Brooks aka Mum

One of the prison’s most elderly inmates and rather genteel and kindly with it, Mary was like a surrogate mother to the prison women, hence the nickname "Mum". She takes new arrivals Lynn Warner and Karen Travers under her wing with some words of advice and wisdom. She’s also released from prison fairly early on, but her snobbish daughter Lorraine (played by none other than Madge from Neighbours) can’t stand the thought of her jailbird Mum coming to live with her and virtually puts her out on the street. The bitch! Poor old Mum has to go in a dilapidated old guest house but falls ill and Lorraine and her husband have to come and take her away. To make matters worse, Lorraine insists that Mum pretend to her granddaughter i.e. Lorraine’s daughter, that she is really her Aunt, so ashamed does she feel. It all gets too much and Mum runs away and gets arrested for shoplifting, so she can be put back “inside”.

Judy Bryant

Big, cuddly dyke and the second major lezzer character in Prisoner. Judy had a much warmer, caring personality than Frankie, even if she did start out as a bit of a hard case. For more on Jude, see here and scroll down to the “Prisoner” section…

Chrissie Latham

Classic tart with a heart, and a cockney in Aussieland to boot (well almost), well-played by Amanda Muggleton. Chrissie was always on the lookout for an attractive fella in order to ease the boredom of prison life and starts out trying it on with Dr Greg Miller, then Bill Jackson, Meg’s psychiatrist hubbie. When the latter doesn’t oblige she stabs him with a pair of scissors (like you do). She gets shipped off to another prison but returns later on, to the horror of Meg, who hoped she’d seen the back of her.

As befits her personal interests, Chrissie’s choice of career usually entailed making a dollar for lying on her back, which inevitably got her sent back to Wentworth. However, even prozzies are capable of reform and Chrissie later gives birth to a baby daughter, Elizabeth, who becomes the love of her life. Given her less than stable lifestyle however, she’s frequently involved in battles with social services to stop Elizabeth from being taken away from her. There’s also a good plotline when she gets involved with the new prison Dr, who is not all he seems…

Myra Desmond

The next major top dog after Bea Smith (well there was Minnie Donovan but she didn’t last long…) Some critics find Myra a bit of a bore – it’s true she didn’t quite have the mischief-making qualities of Bea – and was more of an earnest, “do the right thing” type but Anne Phelan who played her still did a fine job. Myra’s seriousness probably stemmed from her background working for the Prison Reform Group (PRG). Before she became a regular character we did in fact see her in a number of cameos, visiting Wentworth to assist with various reform programs. Ironically, much later she ends up behind bars herself after accidentally killing her abusive husband and soon assumes top dog status in Wentworth.

Sandra Louise Mason aka Pixie

Ditzy blonde beauty with a love of men and weddings – so much so that she gets married several times without divorcing any of her “previous” partners! Hence her arrest for bigamy and fraud and the gates of Wentworth soon beckoned…

Pixie was one of my favourite characters and a genuine “innocent” – an old-fashioned, decidedly romantic girl who believed in proper courtship between a man and a woman and definitely no sex before marriage – although the concept of divorce did seem to be beyond her! Excellently played by Judy McBurney, Pixie was another source of comic relief in the series. When she first arrives at Wentworth, she’s desperate to get out and stages a series of stunts to try and get herself transferred to a mental hospital (from which she plans to escape) – pretending to be Joan of Arc, dying her hair red and claiming that she was kidnapped by Martians, and so forth.

Much later she becomes the focus of Judy Bryant’s attentions, who writes a song about her – “Pixie’s Song”. At first finding it hard to comprehend how Judy feels about her, she eventually appears to come to some kind of understanding.

Pixie’s departure from the programme is one of the most horrible (and undeserved) things to happen to a character – a trio of male prisoners come to stay at Wentworth, and one of them starts making nasty advances towards Pixie…I won’t say any more.

Margo Gaffney

Bit-part prisoner with a mullet haircut who later graduated to proper character. A fly in the ointment for Bea, Margo was one of the first women to challenge Bea’s “top dog” status. Had a face like a baboon and an unpleasant manner, although she did “swap sides” quite often and wasn’t always nasty. When she was, she was trouble. A great villainess though and even got to demonstrate her singing prowess on occasion (Jane Clifton, who played her was a real life performer).

Nola Mackenzie

One of Wentworth’s most memorable and nastiest villains, played to perfection by actress Carole Skinner (although the character did possess a bit of an unflattering “80s rock star” hairstyle, prompting a friend of mine to comment that Nola resembled a member of Status Quo). Nola was on death row in Western Australia for murdering her husband and his friend, but managed to escape cross-country to the East where the death penalty wasn’t enforced. We first saw her escaping from a freight train, then going to hide out at Judy’s half-way house in a bad wig and calling herself Jean. However she soon gets banged up in Wentworth and her true identity is revealed. The authorities then decide to ship Nola back to WA but to avoid extradition she takes matters into her own hands, leading to one of the programme’s most chilling scenes. When Paddy Lawson wanders into the shower block, Nola drowns her in a sink, later insisting that she didn’t do it as revenge, but because Paddy was the first person to come along. Brutal! Her wish is granted and she becomes a permanent resident of Wentworth.

Nola isn’t very popular amongst the women to begin with and soon shows her unpleasant side, bashing up various women and bullying poor old Lizzie (referring to her as “birdbrain” - well, slightly truthful I suppose). She also incurs the wrath of Bea Smith by setting up a number of rackets in the prison, including drug dealing and wins many of the women over onto her side, then ousts Bea from her position as top dog. A disgusted Bea breaks out of Wentworth but later returns and the war with Nola continues. Eventually Bea wins back the support of the women but both officer Joan “The Freak” Ferguson and Nola decide they want to dispose of Bea permanently and join forces to come up with a cunning plan…Suffice to say all does not go according to plan and Nola gets her comeuppance in one of Prisoner’s most dramatic scenes! See my forthcoming post on Wentworth plotlines if you really want to know what happens to the evil Mrs Mackenzie…

Marie Winter

Another Wentworth baddie and fan favourite. We first encountered Marie at Barnhurst where Bea is temporarily transferred. She’s top dog there and doesn’t waste any time making Bea’s life a misery, doping her soup with magic mushrooms and heaving her. Marie is a bit of a nasty piece of work and loves to boss people around. With her loud voice, short white barnet and swaggering attitude, Marie would make a good dyke, except she isn’t.

Later on she gets transferred to…guess where? Wentworth, just as Bea is carted off to hospital for an operation. Taking advantage of her absence, Marie, Sandy Edwards and some of the other women orchestrate a full prison riot. Naughty! She also gets embroiled with the “mad” Dr Kate Peterson and there’s a great scene when Kate realises she’s going to be sharing a prison van with her and totally freaks out at the prospect, with a laughing Marie proclaiming: “G’day Doc! Looks like you and me are going to be making this trip together!”

Marie makes yet another return to Wentworth later on and…helps to organise another riot (surely a talent which should be listed on her CV). Highlights include her throwing plates at Judy Bryant: “You fat mongrel bitch, Bryant!” and then escaping from Wentworth by scaling the fence and dangling from a rapidly ascending helicopter! Make that Marie, stuntwoman extraordinaire!! (Actually it was a blow-up doll of her, but that’s beside the point). Rather an about turn to see Maggie Millar, who played the devious Marie, turning up years later in “Neighbours” as a female vicar!

Well, I reckon that's more than enough about the female inmates of Wentworth. You'll see I've left quite a lot of characters off the list, but then, one heck of a lot of ladies passed through the gates of the Aussie prison during its 692 episode run, and there just ain't enough room to consider all of them here, mate. However a few other favourite inmates I could have mentioned are Minnie Donovan, Cass Parker, Helen Smart...some deliciously diabolical villainesses like Dr Kate Peterson, Sonia Stevens, Reb Keen and Lou Kelly....as well as other top dogs like Sandie Edwards, Nora Flynn and Rita Connors (but the latter two just didn't cut the mustard for me like Bea did...) There were also some truly annoying characters like Gail Summers, Sally Dempster, Alison Page, Ettie Parslow...

Anyway, I'd love to know who all of YOUR favourite Wentworth inmates were, so if you want to redress the balance, drop us a line here, me old maties! Your blood's worth bottling!

Next time on Cheeser's Choice: The Warders of Wentworth - some straight...some bent...in more ways than one...

Jason Donovan: Is he or isn't he?

2008-08-07T13:31:00.009+01:00

Okay. Inspired by the conversational antics of Steve and Amanda, I have decided to create a new (fairly) regular post:

Is he, or isn't he?

Or -

Is she, or isn't she?

In other words, is this person a: raving queen/a rug-munching lezzer and just in a massive state of denial? Or, in the interests of "maintaining a public image" are they so far back in the closet they're practically in Narnia? (Quoted too many times but it still cracks me up).

Oh God. Do I REALLY have to spell it out for you? Okay, the issue I am addressing is:

ARE THEY REALLY GAY OR LESBIAN?

This week's focus: Jason "I'm not gaaaaay I'm heterosexual" Donovan. Remember the famous court case back in the 1990s when he sued The Face for even daring to hint at his sexuality? Honestly. One could argue that the Jase protested too much...

So...what do we all reckon? Is he or isn't he? And if he IS, what evidence can you bring to the bench, ladies and gentlemen of the jury? I am DYING to know, so get posting your thoughts PRONTO.

PS Thought you'd REALLY like the tasteful pic of Jase above. Only slightly less classy than his former partner Kylie below. And what could the bottle be hiding? It's fair dinkum. Or should that be dick-um?

WOW x 100!!

2008-07-31T13:11:00.001+01:00

Well, here I am AGAIN. Does this mean I'm becoming a full time as opposed to full time Cheeser? Not quite. But I'm getting there.

And - I am pleased to say Kylie in concert the other night was bloody magnificent!! Very good indeed. My laptop is currently in dock for repairs, otherwise I would have uploaded some photos I took on my digital camera to show you what she/it was like. Fortunately here's a few ones I nicked off the net in the meantime:

As said I'm going to write a proper review soon(ish) but highlights for me included:

The excellent Kylie costume changes (even if she was quite "covered up" she still looked very interesting - some great dominatrix outfits!)
Great moves from the dancers and so many different styles - ballroom dancing, disco...
Some brilliant backdrops on the screen behind the stage e.g. Kylie as geisha girl in a flowery garden; Kylie as a Japanese prostitute (? I think) walking down the street with Atari-type graphics; glitter balls and Saturday Night Fever style flashing squares...and so forth...
The different sets/styles utilised for "groups" of songs e.g. The "Copacabana" section with Kyles on a ship hanging out by a cocktail bar; the "American football" bit with lots of hunky footballer-dancers supporting Ms M and pom pom girls to boot; the "Russian ballroom" look leading into "On A Night Like This"...all highly creative!
The excellent and different interpretations of old tracks e.g. sampling "Spinning Around" with Cheryl Lynn's "Got To Be Real" - a masterstroke and on a par with Madonna's ingenious mash-up of "Music" and "Disco Inferno" (a particular favourite of mine). The acapella version of "Step Back In Time"...

All in all, damn good stuff from Mistress Minogue and certainly value for money -£50 as opposed to the £160 I splashed out previously for Madonna. Talking of Madge, Kylie's show did bear a certain resemblance to her's but was, in my view, equally entertaining and good!!

I was also very impressed with O2, having never visited the venue ever before. O2 as in the old Millenium Dome. It's bloody massive! And has far more there than Wembley Stadium or Arena - tons of bars and restaurants and room to walk around and all the better for that. Me and Gustavo had a very nice tapas meal and some sangrias before the show to get us in the mood...very nice!

What else. I have three weeks left in my current job before leaving for my new one and I can't wait to go!! Nuff said. Typically I've got tons of stuff to sort out before I go, so the stress is on at the moment. Grrrr!!

Re: my proposed blog-meet, thanks to those of you who responded and showed an interest! All we gotta do now is agree on a date and place. I didn't have as many people get back and say "YES!" as I would have liked though. What about my fellow faggot bloggers? Sorry, I mean the ones of homosexual persuasion. Only Mr Newplanet has shown an interest. What about the rest of you? (!) I also had another brainwave - to those of you who have taken up my offer, if it makes you feel better (and to also make up numbers), why not invite some of YOUR fellow blogging pals as well? Just a thought.

Now. I'm spinning around...get out of my way...

OC xx

Wow wow wow WOWWWWW!!

2008-07-29T13:21:00.003+01:00

Guess which Austraaaaaalian popstress I'm going to see in concert tonight??

Mmmm. Difficult one to answer.

Suffice to say I am very excited!!!

Full report forthcoming.

How very odd...and very sad

2008-07-29T13:08:00.006+01:00

Just over a year ago, Gustavo and I visited some good mates in Weston Super Mare and had a jolly jaunt around the pier. And here's the proof:

And this is what's just happened to it now:

I can't quite believe it.

Oddly enough we're visiting again in just a few weeks. It will be completely bizarre to see the contrast.

Apparently the cause of the conflagration was a chip pan catching fire. Okay, so the pier (and Weston in general) has a tacky reputation, but what a tragic thing to occur (on a par with the burning down of the West Pier in Brighton which is now but a charred and blackened hulk...)

What do we all reckon?

And from the Dancefloors of Skaro...

2008-07-19T00:06:00.007+01:00

May I present this:

And this:

I wish the second one was a bit longer!

Can we get together?

2008-07-18T23:14:00.002+01:00

As Madge once sung.

Okay, ages and ages ago I came up with an idea. Having participated in this whole blogging marlarkey for close on two years, I've got to know lots of delightful and different people from many walks of life. It's been wonderful, enlightening and enriching. I've so enjoyed finding out about others; their lives, their experiences, their likes, their dislikes, their coming and goings, and...the rest. Not to mention sharing similar tastes, stories and anecdotes.

And now... I wanna meet all of you. In person.

I kid you not.

Mmmm. Now I know, there's probably a fair few of you who aren't so keen.

It's funny, the whole virtual communication thing. As said, I feel like I've built up some great relationships and, even though I'm hundreds or thousands of miles apart from some of my fellow bloggers, I feel like I know many of you. Of course that's not the same as meeting someone in the flesh. And a bit like internet dating, there's always the risk that you might get on famously online, but when you meet that person for real, it's just not the same. I'm also aware that some bloggers want to retain their privacy and whilst perfectly happy to wax lyrical and bare all about themselves on their websites, they don't want to extend the boundaries any further than the virtual sphere. In other words, they want to maintain their privacy. Fair enough.

But I'd still love to meet up with you and get to know you better. It would be wonderful to have a good conversation, share a laugh, have a drink, and most importantly, I'm intrigued at the prospect of meeting the real YOU!

Well, I hope I haven't freaked you all out. I did speak to Steve some time back and he expressed an interest, which is good!

So. Any takers??

PS I think a meet-up in London might be best ... so yes, that cuts out rather a lot of my overseas counterparts ... unless of course you want to jump on a jet and visit the UK! I'm not stopping you, ladies and gents!

Love
OC xx

Journey's End

2008-07-18T21:57:00.005+01:00

Ooooooweeeeeeoooooo!! It’s Dr Whoooooooo!!

Except it isn’t any more, cos the last episode of Season Four has now been and gone!! * The Cheeser starts sobbing uncontrollably….* How am I (and many others for that matter) going to spend my Saturday evenings now?! And next year we don’t even get a proper series, just a few specials!! Oh well, better than nowt…

And have you heard the current rumours about how much the Beeb are offering David Tennant to stay on for Series Five? (Which would seem to indicate he might be departing some time next year….) (Oh and if you click on that link before there's a birrova spoiler at the end - just to let you know!)

Anyway. In the meantime, what were my thoughts on the second part of the Dalek “epic”? Yes, I'm late, I know... just for a change.

The Good

Just let me get me old fingers on that old Dalek joanna! All together now....any old iron, any old iron, any any any old iron...

Donna’s amazing transformation into half human half time lord. Okay, so it was a convenient plot device that the “temp from Chiswick” with a low self-image was finally imbued with the intelligence, know-how and wisdom to enable her to render the Daleks and Davros impotent, free the Dr and co and ultimately save the day, if not the entire universe (and rather similar to what happened to Rose’s transformation into an omnipotent, god-like being at the end of Season One, don’t we think?) However Catherine T played it very well and proved Rose’s remark that she really WAS the most important human in all creation. “Ooooh yes, I’ll just the render the thingamy whatsit thus doing the thingamy…..” (Sorry can’t remember the lines but you know what I mean). This in part was down to Catherine Tate’s brilliant rapid fire delivery and comic lines –The comedy really did work this time.

Look I know I've only got a one series contract, but you can't wipe my brain, Dr! No! No! No! I don't wanna appear in a West End play in the nude!

Donna’s “death”. Very poignantly done and tragic. Some of my fellow bloggers have said that it was horrible and diminishing. Yes it was, but then wasn't that the whole point? Having Donna forget all that happened to her since she’d met the Dr; all of her travels through time and space; all of her extra terrestrial encounters and so forth and then having her revert back to the self same unchallenged temp from Chiswick she was at the very start of “Runaway Bride” rendered her whole situation far more tragic than just being blown up, Adric style. And although the outcome for Donna was obviously negative, wasn’t it more realistic NOT to have an entirely happy ending sometimes? (Whereas on the bright side they did manage to defeat the Daleks and return the planets to their rightful place, which was something wasn't it? If Martha had had her way, the whole of planet Earth would have been nuked!!)

All together now. You put your left leg in...you put your left leg out...hang on. The TARDIS ain't no bike...

The companions all operating the TARDIS console. The console room had never been so crowded! But good to see the literal “hands on approach”.

Greetings Village People! Any vacancies for a decrepit old Kaled with a Gucci tunic and a disco fixation? Look! I can do the hand wave to perfection...

Julian Bleach as Davros. Great performance. There was only one bit which seemed non-Davros, when he threw his hands up in the air in a rather YMCA fashion (see above).

However (and this should really go in the “not so good” section below) they could have done more with him. Old Dave Ross was stuck in the vault for all of the two episodes. Couldn’t we have seen him out “in the field” (no, NOT with Phil Lynott and Gary Moore) supervising the Daleks’ takeover of the Earth/the Cosmos? Or iconically trundling across Westminster Bridge with his creations following him behind? Or shopping in H&M on Oxford Street for a trendy new tunic? Then again, we did get the bit about how the Daleks wanted to “contain” Davros, hence him being stuck in the “basement”. It was just a bit kind of limiting for old tortoise face.

Mistress! Master! Oh this is a bit boring being stuck in an attic...

The return of K9. Not quite how I predicted but good to see everyone’s favourite dog back all the same.

I liked the "helping to fly the Earth back home" bit and the fabulous accompanying choral music. Very uplifting and magnificent.

The okay but could have been done better

Who you gonna call? Chavbusters!!

Mickey and Jackie’s return. They didn’t do very much. Granted, they saved Sarah from destruction (though as an all-action adventure girl with her own series, I would have preferred to see Ms Smith doing this herself) but overall The Mickster and the Jackster were rather underused. And the rumours have it Mickey is back in the next series of Torchwood! Mmm. I’ve never been a fan of Mr Clarke’s acting in spite of his good intentions and directorial aspirations, but we’ll see….if we get lots of scenes of him showing off his naked bod like in Rise of the Cybermen, that might just help to compensate. Or a three-way with Jack and Ianto?

No! I don't want the camera to pan down any further! This is a kid's programme!

The second Dr being reborn in the TARDIS. This did just about work but was a tad too convenient e.g. having “another” Dr on hand to help Donna whilst the other Doc was held captive, and of course, ultimately partnering up with Rose, which is what she’d wanted all along. Quite nice to see DT topless too, a first I think. What might the rest of him have looked like, we wonder? One clue might be Billie Piper's nickname for him, which was "David Ten-inch". Anyone know why?

The not so good

The non-regeneration thing – a swizz and a cop out? We all knew the hand would, erm, come in handy, somehow didn’t we?

Haven't we been somewhere like this before? Deja vous or what...

Some of the companions felt under-used (in spite of the aforementioned TARDIS scene). And sticking The Dr, Rose and Jack in a very similar scene to "Parting of the Ways" wasn't very original.

Mmmm...mmmm....oh what's that? Oh. So, it's true what they say about your nickname, David...

After her butch-Sigourney-isms of Part One, Rose didn’t get much of a chance to flex her muscles in this episode. I would have loved to see her going hell for leather with her giant gun, blowing up Daleks left, right and centre, but no such luck. A waste. And whilst still on the subject of Ms Tyler, her presence was...well...kind of swamped by everything else that went on, and the Return to Bad Wolf Bay scene felt a bit too familiar. And yeah, getting a Dr Number 2 to snog made it nice n'easy...

The gappy-toothed one and the comedy doorman from Torchwood also didn’t do very much in Part Two. I suppose if they’d let them out of the hub and into the TARDIS all of the guest stars would have been squeezed up in the console room far too tightly, worse than a London bus during rush hour.

The rather convenient placing of the device machine thing (forgot what it was called) in the Vault that enabled Donna to defeat the Daleks and save the day. Would it really have been so easily accessible?

That's right, Ms Jones. Have the decency to look a little bit guilty...

The key thing – would Martha really be prepared to blow up the whole world? Her transformation into ruthless killer prepared to zap all of mankind for the greater good was slightly hard to stomach. Had her time with UNIT turned her into a hard-nosed military b*tch? It didn’t really wash.

Well it seems I have as many criticisms as positive things to say about the whole affair. Sure it had it's drawbacks. But it was still one hell of a lot better than the Master-Mess of 2007 and on the whole I enjoyed it lots.

And now we have to wait until 2010 till another full and proper series!! But there's a few specials to console us along the way.... until then, I shall probably dig out a few more of my DVDs...

Oh and like last year, I shall shortly post my Top 13 list of Season Four (thanks for the reminder, Tim) - erm, actually that doesn't make much sense as there were only 13 stories, but you know what I mean. All the stories in order of preference. Watch this space!