...of this new year! I hope yours is off to a great start. We had a most excellent time last night - Phil made a delicious vegan "steak and sausage" pie with mash and carrots followed by brandy butter ice cream and mince pies. After that we settled down to watch "Super 8" which was really rather good. Although JJ Abrahms continues to overuse blue lights, I thought it was a great wee film with a largely unknown cast that had some great homages to movie-making, especially the scene where the army guy is shouting into a radio whilst looking round and all of the effects. It seemed to me like something Stephen King would have written years ago before he got shite. Unlike us, still holding out with a wee telly, P&D have a rather big screen on which on Vee's suggestion we ended up watching a Lady Gaga HBO special of her gig at Madison Square Gardens. Say what you like about Mother Monster (and I for one do love her) she does put on a great show. We went into the kitchen for the bells (what we call the strike of 12 in Scotland) and amongst much hugging and smooching wished each other all the best. Dougie's brother Stuart came down at about 12.30, by which time Vee had found "Serenity" showing on TV so we saw in the New Year watching that. They say you spend the year doing what you do in the first minutes of its birth and I'd be happy to see the influence of one of my favourite movies. We headed to bed about 2.30 ish where Gee and I slept fitfully on the sofa bed, interrupted by our Rox and P&D's Rudi having a wee territorial spat. I woke going to midday to a fantastic fried bunch - tempeh rashers and tattie scones on rolls with mushrooms and hot tea. We headed home about 4ish to laze about in our jammies. For the first time in ages, I'm looking forward - things ARE going to get better, if not in terms of the government of this country and on a global scale, then certainly within my own wee sphere. I hope that all of us can find peace and maybe a wee bit of strength this year, if not to have our own version of an Arab Spring then to look to our own families and communities and make links there that will see us through the times to come. The Olympics are an irrelevance, the Mayan calendar is a load of mumbo-jumbo - don't live this coming twelvemonth at the dictats of others but by your own rules, your way. That's what I'm aiming for. Peace out xxx
...of 2011. I've never been big on New Year/ Hogmany, never seeing the passing of the year as anything momentous. Being brought up in a house with people who abused alcohol, it as often a night of confusion if not outright pain and disruption. The only Hogmany I remember fondly was 1996 into 1997 as I was heavily pregnant with Vee and toasted the new year with a cup of tea. Even the millennium was a nuisance as Gee's brother had decided of all days to get married that day - we went to my brother's afterwards and I think that was the last time we were all together. Anyway, this afternoon we are off to our mates Phil and Dougie's for their first Hogmany in their new home and with their rescue dog Rudi. We've known Phil since 1990 when she moved up to Glasgow from Llanelli to work in the vegan cafe where I was a co-op member and came to stay with us as we had a spare bedroom. We met Dougie about the same time as he was one of the few other young people who lived in our tower block - we were in a housing co-op with loads of pensioners. It's nice to be able to spend time with your best mates of such long-standing and I'm sure we'll have a rare old time. I've never been one for making resolutions but this year I'm making a pact with myself to write more, especially comedy, to lose weight by walking more and build up that walking to be able to go back to hillwalking again, to stand up to my various diseases (hopefully there aren't any more surprises like my thyroid of this year) and to look at maybe, maybe going back to work. I've started watching the BBC series "Wonders Of The Universe" presented by Professor Brian Cox (not to be confused with the Scottish actor from X-Men 2) which has put things into perspective for me I think - we are made up from the same basic components as the stars and every piece of us was once part of something else. We only have a loan of these atoms and one day we'll be part of something else. So while I have this collections of billions of protons and electrons whizzing about making up this mess that is me, I'm going to have a good time. I wish you and your atoms all the best with lots of love xxx
Well, here we are at Christmas Eve already - it doesn't seem like over 3 weeks ago I started this enterprise to blog every day in December up until now. I know there have been a couple of hiccups when I had the sads but thanks for sticking with me. So, we're all ready here at Andrew-Barr Towers - we're having soup and some puddings then watching "The Muppets Christmas Carol" while no doubt scoffing chocolate and cakes. Tomorrow's going to be a lazy day for us - we'll wake up when we wake up, have breakfast, watch Vari open her presents (nothing for Gee and I - we are on the naughty list!) then have a movie fest with a break at 6/7pm for our Broccoli And Gorgonzola Pie and Wicked Chocolate Orange Mousse (which I've just made)followed by Doctor Who on iPlayer and more movies. If this rain lets up we'll probably fit a wee walk down to Auchenshuggle Wood (that's a brilliant name insn't it?). No list today again (sorry) - but I promise more after the festivities. For now, bless each and everyone for you and I hope that you all have a Very Merry Xmas. What song could be more appropriate than this? xxx
Forgive me dear readers for what is once again a tardy post. I can give no other reason than I was off out galivanting in the town with my tribe then had friends over for dinner. Gee, Vee and I headed into the city centre for a wee stroll about. Gee's mum, my Mother Outlaw, had given Gee and I £20 despite being asked not to so I decided to spend it on some fripperies. I bought myself a DVD copy of "Certified Copy" which I had been after for a long time. It stars Juliette Binoche, who I have loved in an Alex-Kingston way since I first saw her in "Les Amants De Pont Neuf" many moons ago. It's going to be one of my festive treats. I also got myself some perfume in those wee sticks from Lush - Tuca Tuca and Lust, which is basically Flying Fox, so at least I will smell nice. I have a few quid left so I might put that towards Leverage Season 2 which I have had on my Amazon wishlist for ages. We went to the former continental market, which is now a global market (!) where we picked up a rather cool hat for Vee - she was a great hat wearer as a baby but it's been nigh impossible to get her to wear one in this weather - until now. She is wearing it as we speak, like some wee hipster chick. On the way home we went into ASDA for a few extras for the weekend and had to wait in a long queue. My tactic (as I had been expecting to wait) was to read a book while Gee went off to get his boot fixed (the sole was hanging off and he looked like a hobo - we looked in some shoe shops. Why do almost every man's shoe have a zip and laces? If the zip goes they're fooked). It made me laugh at people getting all stressed and to see who was buying "guilt" gifts. No "best of" tonight sorry as I am tired and a wee bit the best for wear so here is a wee song from my favourite boy singer, Christian Kane. Only 2 more sleeps people - enjoy xxx
I've had a fantastic idea. Over Xmas I'm going to offer "The Harry Potter Experience". For £100, willing participants can live in the dunny under my stairs, be emotionally abused, have their parents belittled, be starved and made to skivvy for my family. For an extra £200 adults can do it in a gimp suit.
Today's topic is "The best TV doctors who aren't Dr. Who" (who is going to get a list all of his/ their own!). I can't begin such a list without having DR. "BONES" MCCOY at the top. Played so brilliantly by the late DeForrest Kelly, his curmudgeonly exclamations and teasing of Spock made him the best doctor the Enterprise and Star Trek ever had. Beverly Crusher never came close and we won't mention Dr. Katherine Pulaski, Dr. Julian Bashir or Dr. Phlox. The holo-doctor on Voyager was rubbish too. And anyone who mentions Karl Urban's Take on Dr. McCoy in the shite "re-imagining" will get a kick in the arse! I did like Quincy with Jack Klugman as the eponymous coroner but that as more of a detective series, although I did like the bit in the opening titles when he whipped back the sheet and all the rookie cops fainted. I am too young to remember Dr. Kildare or Dr. Finlay's Casebook and although I do recall watching General Hospital (the UK one) I don't remember much from that at all except the episode where a Dutch student had rabies and was sick over everybody. I do remember the TV version of Doctor In The Housebased on the Richard Gordon books and the films. A quick search on Wiki reveals that it was written by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie, which I didn't know but it must be why I did find it funny back then. I wouldn't say any of them were great doctors but I can remember Robin Nedwell and George Layton as Drs. Waring and Collier. The next big thing really as far as doctors was concerned was St. Elsewhere. It had a great cast but my favourites were Dr. Mark Craig (William Daniels - who was the voice of Kitt in Knight Rider) Dr. "Boomer" Morrison (David Morse - he's in The Green Mile) and Dr. Philip Chandler (a young Denzel Washington). Looking back at it now for this blog post, it's all flooding back - Dr. Morrison's dubious medical training and Dr. Bobby Caldwell (Mark Harmon) who was one of the first characters on TV to get HIV. I think it's fair to say they don't make them like that anymore. St Elsewhere was a big influence on Casualty and E.R. I can't for the life of me think back on any doctors from Casualty, as for me when I watched it early it was more about the frontline staff such as the nurses and the paramedics - Charlie, Duffy and Josh. I used to be an avid watcher but found that it became less about the situations (did you watch like I did trying to guess what mishaps would befall the members of the public?) and more about the characters, which descended in to soap opera. E.R. was a bit better at handling the hospital - versus-personal balance for the most part although towards the end I stopped watching as it too spiralled into the maudlin. Perhaps with some loyalty to Casualty, I came to E.R. late and missed the series with George Clooney as Dr. Doug Ross. My favourites were Dr. Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards) - his death scene with "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" is for me a TV memory, the grumpy Dr. Kerry Weaver (Laura Innes) and of course my favourite actress Alex Kingston as Dr. Elizabeth Corday. I did like Dr. Robert "Rocket" Romano (Paul McCrane) too despite his bad luck with helicopters! I never got into Scrubs - I just found the whole lot of them annoying, which was maybe the point - and Green Wing passed me by completely. I have to mention Dr. Simon Tam from Firefly as played by Sean Maher(see what I did there - Simon's sister was called River, as is Alex Kingston now in Dr. Who - this doesn't happen by accident you know! - as far as sci-fi docs go, he is up there with McCoy! Not as good sadly was poor Dr. Claire Saunders (Amy Acker)from Dollhouse - not only was she badly scarred from a run in with rogue Doll Alpha, she turned out to be a Doll herself called Whiskey who had been implanted with the memories of the male Dr. Saunders who had been killed by Alpha. Not having a TV House has completely gone unnoticed, I'm afraid. And as I said to my pal Phil on the phone yesterday, Hugh Laurie will always be silly-arse George in Blackadder, even if he is now the male face of L'Oreal. I think I have to say that my favourite TV doctor is actually a Professor and a real one at that. I love the BBC series History Cold Case and again, coming back to Quincy, the wonderful Professor Susan Black, ably supported by Dr. Xanthe Mallett (what a great name) and Professor Caroline Wilkinson. If I had my time again, I think I would have liked to have gone into anatomy and human identification which I find fascinating, although I would have been more like Professor Black rather than the too glamorous Dr. Megan Hunt (Dana Delaney) in Body Of Proof. Onto the 4th last tune of this advent medley. I know this isn't a recent song but this year I have re-discovered Evanescence and the haunting voice of Amy Lee. This one has been played to death in our house and there are no points for guessing why I like this particular YouTube video version. Peace xxx
Happy Solstice! This is the shortest day in terms of daylight but not in fun. Things seems a wee bit more festive - I don't know about you but up til today I had noticed a distinct lack of Xmas trees and lights but today, they seem to have all come on together. It made walking Vee to school and the dog around the park a wee bit more special this morning. Today's suggested "best of..." list as suggested by Google is "The Best Pasta" - which makes me smile. Although I have been told I have some Spanish ancestry via my maternal grandfather's mother, I do wonder if it was or also includes some Italian blood. I LOVE pasta - I have recently dicovered linguine after years of spaghetti. My favourite way to serve it is with finely cut/ julienne carrots, leeks and courgettes with garlic cooked in a tightly lidded pan with margarine til soft then stirred into cooked linguine and grated cheddar. I also love making lentil lasagne, macaroni cheese, pasta all Siracusana (which we had last night - roasted aubergine and red/ yellow peppers mived with a garlicky tomato sauce and penne then topped with mozzarella in an oven dish for 20 minutes. I'm not so into ravioli or cannelloni but I think that 2012 may be the year I try my hand at making some. For me, the festive season isn't complete without "It's A Wonderful Life" - one of my all time favourite movies. I totally concur with Dave Lister from "Red Dwarf" - If I could live anywhere, it would be Bedford Falls. However, a pox on you if you think it should be colourised! I'm off to watch it so I'll leave you with my favourite seasonal song. It's mine and Gee's tune - which may seems strange but then we are. Yule blessings xxx
