What do you get when you cross one of the greatest songs of all time, Thriller, with one of the dullest places to be of all time - the Tube?
You get the Thriller dance on the tube! Hooray!
Oh to be a passenger on that carriage...
*NOTE: 'The Escalator' must be pronounced 'The EscalaTOR' for full dramatic effect.
Today has not been a good day. See this:
Does that look like a friendly and happy place to be? No. It does not. Because that is a deathly tube escalator. If you look closely enough you can see the grim reaper poking his scythe (yes that's what that creepy, extra long walking stick with a nasty blade is called - I just googled it) about.
Just kidding.
But anyway, today I fell down the escalator at Kings Cross. Rush hour commuters are the worst - no one helped me. I have horrid cuts all down my leg and have been bandaged up. It hurts to walk and I'm hobbling around like a granny on speed. AND NO ONE HELPED ME. If I could carry a violin around with me, I would.
So people of the tube, I beg you, let's be a little more caring eh?
I've been watching Masterchef of late - and I love it. I love cooking (and eating) and Masterchef is a great way to encourage people to try out new things and experiment.
There's a couple of things that the contestants are tested on: cooking skills, knowledge of foods, pressure in the pro kitchen (yep, cooking really is a sport now) ... and ... er, passion.
PASSION?!
How can you measure passion??? Well, you can't. Masterchef bosses, what are you doing?! Cooking is fun and so many people are passionate about it - but let's not ruin in by testing people on their passion! Surely the passion test is just another name for 'blagging test' or 'acting ability'?
Pah!
Ok so Ian McEwan's 'Atonement' was shortlisted for the 2001 Booker Prize. But 'The House at Riverton' by Kate Morton was the winner of Richard & Judy's 2007 summer read! No contest if you ask me!
I read the Atonement last year when I joined the book club at my previous workplace. I probably wouldn't have picked it up if we didn't have to read it - seemed a bit too much of a period drama yawn fest for me. And it was. Until I got to the second part of the novel. This is when it really picked up speed and I found myself really getting drawn in. Like a good movie, when I read a good book I seem to get emotionally attached to the characters. I feel what they feel, I cry, I laugh - I become a bit of a wreck and can't stop reading. Sometimes I even feel a twinge of disappointment when I reach my final stop on the tube. Yes, I really am THAT BAD.
So yeah, I experienced 'all the feelings' when reading Atonement. I was sad when it was over and surprised by the ending, all in all, a 'pretty good book' - *yawn*. Actually, a few people that I've spoken to couldn't finish the book cos the first half is just so boring. Apart from the 'C' word which slaps you in the face a few chapters in. Oh and the sex scene. But apart from that, feeling the wow factor I am not.
The House at Riverton is oh so similar to Atonement. Set in the early 1900s. Grand old family live in a grand old house. There's an older brother and two younger sisters. The older brother is especially close to the eldest sister. The sisters have a thing for the same man. Said man loves older sister. Little sister is a pain in the ass and messes everything up. Oh yeah, and the war - the backdrop for both books which serves to ruin everything. (Pretty grim I know).
I guess that sums up Atonement in a nutshell - and basically The House at Riverton also. Except that The House at Riverton is all that and so much more!! I think it's everything that Atonement could have been, but just didn't quite make it. It's laced with secrets and love and pain - and the ending is just so heart-wrenchingly unexpected. I grew familiar with the characters in the Atonement - but I was attached to Emmeline, Hannah and Grace in Riverton, I was so upset when the book was over!! I wanted it to carry on. It's one of the best books I've read in a long time.
If you haven't already, read it!
You know, I don't think I've actually ever sipped on a delightful (or so I hear) Innocent smoothie before - but I sure do love their marketing!
One of their latest online competitions is to write something funny to go on the bottom of their bottles. The rules are:
Whoop. It's here. Sex and the City: The Movie is being released later this year. Hooray!
I'm really looking forward to seeing it - although I have no doubt that it will miserably fail many a city gals high expectations. Sitcom movies never really work out do they? Sometimes you just have to let a good thing lie. Like The Matrix - one was enough. Did we really need Saved by the Bell the College Years? And as for Speed 2, YOU CAN'T JUST REPLACE THE BUS WITH A BOAT AND EXPECT US TO THINK IT'S A DIFFERENT MOVIE!!!
Sequels...well, they just don't work. Although there are the odd exceptions to the rule. Like Shrek 2. Quite possibly better than the first? Anyway I'm just glad that Friends hasn't turned into a movie, and that there are no plans to ever do so. I mean, to be honest it should probably have ended around series 7 or 8 - maybe even earlier. Don't get me wrong, it was still funny up until the end. But there's just something not right about a bunch of thirty somethings still acting like twenty year olds. Plus, Joey lost his mojo around series 6 and just morphed into a somewhat sleazy, slightly retarded man by the end. And then there was the whole Joey spin-off series - nooo!!
Thank god for Frasier. Otherwise we'd have lost all faith in spin-offs.
So anyway, I love Sex and the City. I have the box set in it's pretty pink and black shoe box. It got me through my last year of uni. We have a bond. But like all good things, I think they should have let it come to it's end. I mean how old are they all now? 50? *gasp* surely not! Well Samantha definitely must be! Do we really want to see a bunch of has beens teeter around the city in their Manolo Blahniks, eating salad and complaining about men even though their entire lives revolve around them anyway?
YES. We do.
Ah let's face it. Carrie and Big will get married. There's going to be tears. We're going to love it and start 'doing lunch' with our 'girlfriends' in London town more often. I can't wait!!
Sometimes it really is too hard to let a good thing lie.
So the leaked Scientology indoctrination tape of Tom Cruise has been all over YouTube. And repeatedly removed. And repeatedly uploaded again. That's the YouTube spirit!
On one of the videos, someone commented that you should remove the word 'Scientologist' and replace it with the word 'Christian' - and you'd have a typical preachers sermon. Sounds about right to me...just turn on the God Channel, who needs YouTube?!
The recurrent theme with most mainstream religions is that
a) they are right
b) everyone else is wrong
c) if you're part of 'everyone else', you're doomed man.
It's a brilliant recipe for brain washing and war - as is pretty much evident in the world today.
Of course Scientology isn't really mainstream religion, but it seems to have some similar principles to say Christianity and Islam. I don't know too much about it to be honest. But the Tom Cruise video isn't exactly a fantastic advertisement is it? Someone give the guy a straight jacket!
I have been thoroughly enlightened after reading Richard Dawkins' God Delusion. I think everyone should read it. I used to be quite a religious person. I felt that religion was something I could draw to when going through some trying times. That's usually when people cling to religion the most I guess - when they're feeling needy and vulnerable. Religion is very attractive at times like these. In fact, I bet most converts do so because they are looking for something or someone to fill up a space in their life which they feel is empty. Would any non-religious, content and happy person turn to religion of their own accord? I'm not so sure.
Anyhoo, it's far too late on a Sunday evening to be debating the existence God. Just let Tom Cruise be a lesson to us all...!
I should really be sleeping right now. I have to wake up super early tomorrow (practically in a couple of hours) as I'm starting work a bit earlier than usual. And instead of getting around 5 measly hours of sleep every night, I'm aiming for AT LEAST 7. I think 7 hours of good sleep every night would equal a much happier and all round less cranky stick girl. Ah if only.
In reality, 24 hours really isn't enough hours in the day - let's face it. Or maybe it's just because so much of our precious time is taken up by being at work. I vote for 2 days working and 5 days off. Sounds like a much better week to me!
If I knew anything about farming and animals and you know, nature and stuff - I would definitely grow my own veggies, rear my own animals and be self reliant. No need for Mr Tesco. No need to work. Hooray! But alas, I was brought up near the concrete jungle that is London.
Ah it's not really that bad. I love it really. But it would be no fun if I didn't get to rant every now and then.
Anyhoo, like I was saying, I should really be sleeping right now. But seeing as I've just created my brand spanking shiny new blog, I had to scribble something down. Even if it is a load of gibberish.
Ok, bedtime.