Notes of Life

It’s a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK, meaning I get Monday off work! I have plans too (as you may have guessed from the title). Tomorrow I’m off up to Bangor (North Wales) for Music under the Stars, part of Bryn Terfel’s Faenol Festival (otherwise known as BrynFest). John Barrowman is headlining tomorrow night with Bryn Terfel, Daniel Boys, Shan Cothi and a guest appearance from Jodie Prenger (who won I’d Do Anything on BBC1 earlier this year). It’s a bit of a drive from here, so we’re staying over night in Caernarfon and slowly making our way home on Monday. I’m just hoping the weather improves, but I’m packing my wellies, just in case!

Talking of John Barrowman… He’s releasing a new album on 24th November called “Music Music Music” and his new single “What About Us?” (written by Gary Barlow) will be released a week earlier. Can’t wait!

I’ve been writing more reviews for Dooyoo and I’m on my way to earning another £20. So that will be £50 since the end of May! You have to rate other people’s reviews too, but you never know what you might find. It uses up my spare time and earns me some pocket money too!

Talking of Dooyoo… I recently reviewed the 3 DVDs I bought with the last Amazon vouchers I earned from the website. These were:

• The Painted Veil – This film is based on a story written by W. Somerset Maughan and stars Edward Norton and Naomi Watts. They play an English couple who married for all the wrong reasons. They relocate to China, where a Cholera epidemic is raging. You see the characters changing throughout their journey, sometimes for better and other times for the worse. It’s an interesting and troubled story, but one I’d definitely recommend.
• River Queen – This film is set in New Zealand in the 1860’s where the British (and Irish working for them) are clearing the land and colonising the country, much to the disgust of the Maori people. An Irish/Maori boy is kidnapped by his Maori grandfather and the story follows the boy’s mother’s quest to find him. The film stars Samantha Norton and Kiefer Sutherland.
• He Was A Quiet Man – In this film Christian Slater plays an office worker who’s had enough. He dreams of blowing up his office building and of shooting his fellow workers, punishing those who’ve made his life hell. Elisha Cuthbert and William H. Macey also star in this film.

So there are a few films for you to look out for!

Anyway, here’s hoping the weather cheers up… See you after the weekend!

January usually sees the return of Jack Bauer and ‘24? on our TVs (well on my TV, anyway!). Unfortunately, Kiefer Sutherland is currently sat in jail and the 7th season of ‘24? is on hold indefinately due to the writers strike. Filming hasn’t finished on the series and the season needs to air uninterupted due to its format, so it looks like we’ve got a bit of a wait for this one. I have seen a trailer for the forthcoming season and it looks great, so I’m sure it will be worth the wait.

Another show I’m looking forward to is Torchwood season 2, starting 16th January on BBC2. The first episode of the season not only stars the wonderful John Barrowman (obviously!), but it also stars another favourite of mine, James Marsters as Captain John Hart. Videos (including spoilers – so BEWARE!) can be found over at the Episodes section of the website – Link.

Talking of John Barrowman… His autobiography (so far!) Anything Goes (written with his sister) is released on 24th January (UK) and in April (US). Yet another book for me to add to my growing pile, but one I’m sure I’ll enjoy. John will also be doing book signings… and I am very tempted! The book will also be available as an abridged audiobook.

Everybody Loves Raymond is currently in my DVD player. I finished season 7 last night and will probably start season 8 at the weekend. I have yet to buy season 9 though, so I guess I’d better hurry up on that score!

I couldn’t help myself last weekend while passing through WH Smith. They had a sale on DVDs, so I couldn’t resist taking a look… and buying 4 DVDs (including In Pursuit of Happyness)! I had a bargain though. The DVDs cost me £19 in total, with one of them only costing £1. I also found a bargain in Woolworths. I managed to buy Take That’s official 2008 calendar for £2.49 – Definiately a bargain!

This

This might be worth checking out. Tin Man (you may recognise the character’s name from The Wizard of Oz) is a new mini-series about to be shown on the Sci Fi Channel in the US. After spending time looking around the website, I’m hoping it comes to the Sci Fi Channel (or any other channel) in the UK. It looks to be a lot darker than the original book/film, but that doesn’t stop me wanting to sing “We’re off to see the wizard….”!

A colleague recently went to see Wicked the musical in London and has been raving about it, so I’ve got a bit of a feeling for all things Oz at the moment. I’d love to see Wicked and from what I’ve seen and heard, it’s well worth going to see.

That

I’ve been looking through the 100+ photos I took at Take That’s concert on the 17th and decided to upload two or three more.

The rest can be found over at Flickr and here.