New Book #13: Great Shot Don’t Get Cocky

Years ago I was a big fan of Question of Sport, but now A League of Their Own has taken its place for favourite sports quiz show. I used to watch Question of Sport every week with my dad and even when I was at uni we’d Skype each other so we could watch the show together. My house mates eventually got used to my dad’s voice shouting out of my laptop random sportsman names.

During our prime viewing years one of the captains on the show and still is, is Matt Dawson and I decided to read his autobiography due to my interest in rugby earlier this year.

The book was a really good read and Dawson didn't candy coat what went on. He went through the highs and lows of his career and his view on the 2003 rugby world cup final. What I felt was refreshing with the book was that Dawson admitted when he was cocky and arrogant and when he put a foot wrong.

Having read a Paralympic, cricketer and footballer autobiography for the challenge, I think it’s time to retire the sports books. Although I could quite easily read more sporting books…but then it wouldn't be a challenge would it?

Reconnecting #17: Casting my vote

I’ve only voted twice before and the last time I voted was around the time I was at uni. The reason I stopped voting is you vote for change, but I didn’t see any change in my life after both times of voting.

But with the challenge making me more open minded I thought I would give voting another go. I did my research and read through the summaries of all the party manifestos and highlighted all the points 

I supported. Then the party with the most votes I voted for which I thought was quite educated.

I guess time will tell whether I will vote again!

New books #10-12: Reading Retreat

Evening all. I hope you all had a good bank holiday. With nothing planned for Sunday and Monday I went to my parents house and spent the entire time reading. For the most part I left my phone in their house and sat in their summer house and read! And it was great, no distractions just being in my own little world and reading.

I finished a couple more books in the weekend which I’ll mention in other blog posts. On Sunday I finished The Very Best of Frasier which was a book of 15 of the finest Frasier scripts. This was a really good book because a) I only got into the show in the final few episodes, and b) from a screen writing perspective it was like a lesson in how to write a great comedy.

After this book I then hit a classic, Animal Farm. I didn't realise how short it was, and to accompany the reading I listened to the Inception and Skyfall soundtracks, just to give it more drama. I can see why people regard it a classic, but it didn't do it for me. I am glad I read it though.

The final book I read was Still Alice, which is what the film of the same name was based on. It won Julianne Moore and Oscar, Bafta and any other acting award earlier this year. It’s about Alice, a 50 year old Harvard professor who has early onset Alzheimer’s disease. I chose to read this book because of my time working in a dementia unit in an old people’s home part time for 5 years. The book was a really good read. It was really interesting to see how the Alzheimer’s developed and more importantly how Alice’s family responded.

There were a couple of observations that rang true to my time working in a dementia unit. The first being how they had to keep the codes hidden to keep the unit locked. This happened with my work as residents would stand behind you while trying to leave and they would memorise them and try and escape. The other observation was how some residents wouldn't have any family or friends visit them and how residents were often forgotten. I wouldn't say this was the case with all the residents I saw, but a fair few of them had no visitors. It would be really interesting to see what the film is like and how Julianne Moore portrays somebody with Alzheimer’s.

New Comedians #10-12: Did you hear the one where my teacher became a comedian?

Last night my flatmate Charlotte and I went to the Comedy Club at the Gordon Craig Theatre in Stevenage. There were 3 comedians; the first was a Canadian guy called Peter White who was completely bemused by Stevenage and thought the audience as a whole were pretty quiet. Me and Charlotte laughed at him quite a bit!

John Scott a Scottish comedian followed and he was funnier. He was similar to Frankie Boyle’s style of comedy and as we’d seen him a few weeks ago at the Albert Hall it wasn't that shocking to us.

The final act was a guy called Geoff Norcott. He was the main reason for going as he was my media teacher in 6^th form in 2003-04. Back then he would spend about 15 minutes teaching media and then the rest of the class trying out jokes. His jokes weren't great then, but last night he was really funny. I was really impressed and one of the funniest comedians I've seen on the challenge so far. Although there were moments were it was a little bit awkward….do people really want to hear about their old teacher’s sex life?! He’s definitely a better comedian then teacher.

                          What Mr Norcott wrote in my yearbook in Sixth Form 11 years ago!

29 films done and dusted, what have I learnt?

When I started the challenge I had a feeling that the film part of the challenge would be the first part that I would complete, and I was right.

                      None of the films I watched were as great as Shawshank Redemption

I’ve seen documentaries, epics, historical, comedy, cult, romance, films that had a lot of hype and films that were so bad they were good. Some were forgettable; others I wondered how they got made in the first place, a few were disappointing and didn’t live up to hype and others I wanted to see again as soon as they finished.

Particular highlights for me include Love, Rosie and even though romantic comedies are no longer my go to film, I think because it was based on one of my favourite books I was pleased with how it turned out.

The Imitation Game was surprisingly gripping as was Headhunters. 21 Years was motivating and I was impressed with how Birdman was made. Indecent Proposal was another surprise and I really liked it. And although I’m not a fan of period pieces, I liked Gone with the Wind and Suite Francaise.

So what lessons have I learnt from the films? Joan Rivers and Richard Linklater taught me to not stop working. The Judge, Delivery Man and The Descendants told me that family loyalty is important. Birdman and The Second Exotic Marigold Hotel showed that it’s never too late to have success. Perhaps the best lesson and quote from all the films I watched comes from The Imitation Game; ‘Sometimes it is the people who no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.’

There really hasn’t been a pattern in the films that I’ve watched, and as a result I’ve been looking at my dvd collection and wonder which films I should chuck out as some I haven’t seen in years. So in the future my film collection may look a little different. Thanks to everyone who watched the films with me as part of the challenge. 

New Recipe #12: A Landslide

I haven’t baked in a while, so I thought I’d try a new recipe with Key Lime Pie. The recipe was fairly simple, a buttery biscuit base and then condensed milk, egg yolks and juice and rind of limes, and voilà a pie was made.

It tasted really tangy so I got the flavours spot on, and it looked good. However the next day I looked in the fridge to discover the topping was a bit of a landslide. I was going to take it into work, but I don’t think they would appreciate a near cooking disaster. Oh well more pie for me!

Reconnecting #16: They don’t make them like they used to

After the marathon my sister Lucy and I went to the BFI (British Film Institute) on the Southbank. They have a great gift shop and they have am archive viewing room where you can watch anything on their archive for 2 hours for free! Considering the weather turned cold (although it had been all day but my cheering at the marathon kept me warm) we thought this was a good way to spend an afternoon.

With such a big collection of British films and TV programmes, what to watch was a pretty big decision. We browsed through the collections and found a Kids TV collection and ended up watching Byker Grove. Not just any Byker Grove episode, it was the paint balling one. The infamous episode where PJ gets blinded, where no doubt lots of people have refused to go paint balling ever since. It was very cheesy; the way it was shot, the dialogue, the hair and the fashion. But it was good to take a trip down memory lane.

We also watched a programme about Going Live, and seeing Philip Schofield with brown hair was a novelty. His presenting must have improved as the programme was about what children thought of the show and they all said they liked it when Philip made mistakes.

I hadn’t used the archive facility at the BFI before, but I’ll definitely use it again.