Squeezynz's Corner of the World

Seven Weeks to Christmas

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:03:20 GMT

Now isn't that a sobering thought?!

Can't believe how the second half of this year has just flown by. Admitedly I have been super busy with the new house - with it's enormous garden - and just the whole process of getting the house into a state worth living in. Not that there was anything wrong with the place, per se, but there are a hundred and one things that needed doing to get it just right.

This week I had the task of putting up the sun-shade-sails on the deck to cut down the glare through the Clearlite roofing. Fixing 5m triangles to the beams was a mission as we didn't want them to sag, so they had to be screwed to the cross beams, no mean feat when perched on a step stool, Dad acting as hammer hand!! But now you can sit on the deck and enjoy the heat (25deg on Saturday) without the blazing brightness. Mary finished putting the glass in the ends of the deck, so we were able to finally move the outdoor furniture into their final positions, as well as liberate a set of table and chairs into the garden for use on those really, really hot days - afternoon tea on the lawn, no less!!

Tomorrow we have the guys round to assemble our newest bit of garden furniture - a seat with planter boxes at each end and a pergola roof - being put into the newly cleared teardrop bed at the center of our driveway (lots of shoveling of red scoria down to the bottom end to clear the top for the seat, a fountain and new pathway plus three new flower beds). At least I'm getting a good work out - shifting seven 600x600mm pebble dash pavers into position!! *Phew*

So, the garden it taking all my time and energy with little left over for writing, more's the pity. My websites are similarly taking a back seat to our building projects, so nothing new there either.

It all will end before too much longer. As stated in the heading -it's only seven weeks to Christmas - and a new year will roll around before it all starts again. By then I hope to be back writing and my websites will be back on track, so here's hoping.

Thank goodness I have a patient muse.

Website Updates update

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 09:19:42 GMT

for anyone who's wondering why I haven't got all my websites (all 6) up and functioning normally by now.......it's been a week, after all.........well, I just spent over two hours renewing all the broken image links on just one, yes ONE page of my JM website - the Offscreen gallery - mostly replacing lost thumbnails, plus added four images, via ftp - it takes FOREVER!!!

gawd I wish I was able to use a file manager.........*sigh*

probably wouldn't have been any quicker, but I'm so much more comfortable using one........

ah well........only a couple of dozen more pages to get sorted and it's all done!!!

*sigh*

New Addition

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:51:51 GMT

Our newest addition to the family. Cloe, from the Whangarei SPCA, an Egyptian Maus cross, small, stripey and spotty, an
indoor cat, five years old.

Cloe has bonded well with my youngest and Cloe has proved to be an indoor cat, hardly moving off my armchair while
Zoe was away at school camp for three days. She's much smaller than my two remaining cats, and has a permanently
startled look which is part of her breed, but for all that she is very affectionate and has a very whippy tail which she wags
like a dog!! Despite the similar colouring to our beloved Kipper, Cloe is quite different in more ways than I can list.

We hope she'll like living with us.

Website Transition

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 08:01:34 GMT

At the moment none of my websites are accessible. Sucks, but that's the way it is.

Everything has been done to try and make the transition as smooth as possible, but despite every best effort, information hasn't been updated, and the move still waiting to happen.

So.....until they are back up and running, I now have to learn how to maintain a website via ftp, rather than via a file manager, which is how I've usually done the updates - nice and easy.

*sigh*

never a dull moment.....

A Sad Day for My Family

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:21:10 GMT

Kipper. Born sometime in January, bought from the SPCA in March, died 9th September 2009. Just nine months old and very precious to my youngest and the whole family. An excellent mouser, even caught a wild rabbit, as well as having a partiality for bugs, flies and gheckos. She always went with Mum to collect the morning paper, and often came to say goodbye to my youngest when Zoe caught the school bus in the morning. Her young life was taken by a car last night. She is buried in the garden with her favourite mouse, the only cat I've known to fetch back a toy when it was thrown for her.

She brought such joy and love with her, she will be sorely missed and lovingly remembered.

when things do actually go to plan

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 12:13:25 GMT

I may have mentioned sometime in the past few months that I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes back in March of this year. Since then I have been doing all the right(dietary)things for a change and keeping my blood sugar levels within the required parameters. It has meant a radical alteration to my way of eating, what I eat, how much of it I eat - all the usual suspects. The pay off has been, to put it mildly, spectacular.

The discovery of just how spectacular came about when I unpacked my rather ancient bathroom scales yesterday. The last time I stood on the poor thing, I was off the scale - literally - because at that time I weight in at around 134 kilos, and it only went up to 120!!

So, end of March, I was officially diagnosed, not surprisingly, with Type 2 Diabetes. Out the window went all the chocolate, sweets, biscuits, cake, Pringles, dip, cheesecake, KFC, icecream and other delicious, but diabolical regulars on the menu. The replacements included cottage cheese, hummus, fat free anything, wholegrain everything, fruit by the bushel load, yoghurt, and veges with any-and-all meals.

The point to all this rambling is.......I've lost nearly 20 kilos since the end of March. I've gone from 134 kilos to 115 kilos...a bloody miracle if you ask me.

I'm back on the scales again, something I've not been since several years past now.

Damn, it feels good to be able to look down and see that figure again. It will feel even better if I cab look at it at the end of the year and that figure is into double digits.

Amazing what you can achieve when mortality - death by morbid obesity - is staring you in the face.

Just goes to show that even the most die hard chocoholic, middle aged sloth can change. Now I just have to keep up the good work and I might even be able to look at myself in the mirror again and like what I see - one day.

All Moved In At Last

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:35:33 GMT

Phew....that took some doing.

Been offline for a week, and not all entirely due to the moving home capers.

The move from the rental went well, although it took forever (7 hours) using
a small truck to ferry the stuff back and forth to the new house (5 minutes from
the rental). But it was achieved and Mum and I slept in the new house Thursday(9th)
night. The weather had been patchy, but for the most part dry.

Friday was the day of the main shift, with the stuff coming up from Wellington and
Big Sis driving up with the trailer. They pretty much all arrived at the same time.

First Problem: The decorative weeping Elder blocked the truck from driving up to the
house. Solution: Everyone pitched in with trolleys to ferry boxes to the Big Green Shed
(BGS) while I helped with carrying furniture closer to the house. In the end they managed
it all, including the piano, and we were all moved in by mid afternoon.

Then the weather closed in for the evening, and we managed to each have a bed made up for
the night, food found, a meal eaten and one TV operating.

Saturday: Not a bad start to the day, lots of box moving from BGS to house, some sorting of
rooms and arranging of furniture. Then late afternoon a weather bomb hit the area, and we
hunkered down for a long night.
Sunday: Sometime on Sunday morning, early, a bright flash illuminated the sky and the power went out, but not in the way anyone expected. Half the house had lights but no power to the plug outlets, and the other half had no lights, but power to the plugs. Then the basement had no power except to the bathroom. So......we had hot water, and could watch our clothes, but couldn't see either without candles, and we could boil up a kettle and use the microwave, watch the telly and talk on the phone, but all in the dark.....so odd.
Monday: After many calls to the power company, and after finding out we were only one of several hundred affected by the storm, we saw the power company men fixing the three phrase fuse at the junction box next door - the power was restored and we cheered the guys in bright orange overalls and hardhats!! Still had one minor problem - the wireless modem could only be plugged into one wall socket in the house - as luck would have it, in the one room that wouldn't be having a computer! (due to the house having a monitored alarm, of all things) -so we had to wait until today, Wednesday, before a tech could come and free up another telephone jack to plug in the modem. But the fun part was - there is something in this house that makes it impossible for the wireless to work/broadcast from one end of the house to the other, hence the need for another broadband phone jack, so we could wire the system instead. What a mission.
If that wasn't enough, now I find the phone's are on the blink, with no dial tone, but if you phone in, the line rings, just we can't hear it!! *sheesh*......talk about a nightmare.

On a positive note, we collected the three cats out of the cattery yesterday, and they have taken to the house as if they've always lived here, which is pretty darn cool. Kipper thinks all her Christmas's have come at once - she loves the garden - and Jasmine and Ripley are playing bed bingo, choosing a new soft surface every few hours. *LOL*

And I tell you know, if anyone is foolish enough to suggest we move anytime in the next fifty years I will personally do something very violent in response to that idiotic notion!! *growls*

Almost there...........

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:59:10 GMT

Well, it's now a week before we move............EEEK!!!

Yup, seven days and counting. Been heaving boxes and transporting them, via my wonderful little Mazda Demio, back and forth to the new house, and now the garage at the old place is looking nicely empty!! *yay*

At the moment, all our possessions are sharing space with the outgoing owners HUGE bus that they are still storing in the Big Green Shed......but that's okay, there's lots of space. Zoe got to have a quick look at her future bedroom, thanks to the previous owner and I got to have another look at what will be my own room, and try to figure out where the heck I'm going to have a cat door put in for our three moggies. Two of them arrived yesterday, flew in from Wellington, and are now happily ensconced at a local cattery for the next ten days. The third will be banished to the cattery next tuesday to complete the trifecta!! *LOL*

In the meantime, Zoe leaves for her obligatory week long holiday with her dad tomorrow,(school holidays) I get to spend the day with my sister at the Auckland RWNZ meeting, Mum gets the rental house entirely to herself for the first time in months, and Dad arrives next Tuesday to join in the madness!!

All in all, I think it's going to be quite the busiest seven days I've ever had in a very long time....*phew*

not much chance of getting anything else done, darn it(writing wise)....but you never know.

A Red Letter Day

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:05:58 GMT

some of you will know that over the past couple of months we, my family and I, have been involved in a protracted wrangle over the sale of two houses - one in Wellington, one in Whangarei.

The one in Whangarei had been hardly any trouble at all to organise in the way of contracts etc.

But the one in Wellington has been more stressful than any house has a right to be.

All that aside.....as of two minutes ago when my sister rang, its all been resolved - the contracts are now unconditional and we have a move in date of the 9th July to work towards.

*meep*

which is five weeks away.........*blinks*

good grief.

better get cracking then............bye.

starting to put down roots

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 05:36:43 GMT

it's been a funny old week. Started off Monday with a trip to the Doctors and a, not entirely surprising, diagnosis of Type2 Diabetes. After absorbing that blow, it was off to get a new gizmo for recording blood glucose levels, a nifty finger pranger, and a large bottle of pills.

I seemed to have struck gold with my doctor not only being a woman around my own age, but one who has type2 diabetes, and recently went through gastric bypass surgery to deal with her morbid obesity at the same level as my own. So I can talk to her and know that she understands, with acute intensity, everything I'm going through, and have gone through most of my adult life.

so I've been recording every bite of what I'm eating, took my measurments, *faints* and did the finger pricky thing twice during the week. I'm sure there'll be a ton of adjustment when I finally get the call to visit the Diabetes Clinic, but in the meantime I contacted a local support group and look forward to monthly meetings to answer questions and get the latest information on my condition.

I also made contact with Lesley Marshall of the New Zealand Society of Authors, with a view to becoming a member, and attending their monthly meetings. I feel a bit of a fraud, as I haven't written anything 'original' in over eighteen months, and my manuscript is still waiting to be 'accepted' or 'rejected' for publication in the UK, but maybe if I surround myself with those that are quite a bit more successful and dedicated to the whole process of writing than I am, right now, then it will ginger up my muse to return and pick up where we left off.

might even allow me to finish all those outstanding stories waiting in vain to be completed.

all that will have to wait until I can throw off the most disgusting head cold that developed yesterday...haven't had one of these in awhile, and it sucks donkey balls!!

S3 of Primeval will be starting in the UK soon.....am I excited?.......not even remotely. It will be fun reading what other fans think of it, but I've pretty much jumped the shark on that series - dinosaurs notwithstanding.

in fact tv at the moment is one big yawn. I have enjoyed rewatching the x-files late at night, and I find time to watch Desperate Housewives and Lost on mondays and wednesday, but once you count them out, the rest is totally naff. I've even been going to bed around midnight, which is almost heresy, given before I left Wellington I was regularly staying up to 2 or 3am, but still not achieving very much.......now I'm getting up at 7.30am *shock horror* but still not finding my groove.

I think I just need to give myself some more time to adapt to the new environment......how much, I have no idea.

To Prove it, We're Here

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 09:47:41 GMT

yes folks...we are now domiciled in the sunny, and hot, far North of the North Island of New Zealand.

Took off by car on Friday, completely stuffed to bursting with belongings, and drove to Hamilton to stay overnight, then drove the remaining few hours on Saturday up to Whangarei, arriving early afternoon to a rapturous welcome from Mum.

only one little fly in the blissful ointment. The blasted movers didn't deliver our few remaining bits of furniture on Saturday as expected. The items included my bed, zoe's mattress and bed frame, our tv and her bicycle.

the tv and the bicycle we could do without...the other items we couldn't!! I ended up sleeping on the floor, something I've not done since youthful folly twenty years ago. Ouch.

next night was spent on a narrow chaise lounge,(deck furniture) little better than a camp bed, and yet another night of less-than-ideal sleep. Ouch.

tonight, monday, I have the spare mattress off mum's bed, zoe is on the borrowed mattress from a kind neighbour, and my goods aren't due to arrive until thursday.....Help!!

on a slightly less whiney note, my computer is up and running, we have a new addition to the family - Kipper - freshly caught from the SPCA this afternoon, and supposed to be sleeping in Zoe's room, but currently sitting snoring behind me. (didn't see that coming much!!)

Wondering Why my user icon is blacked out??

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:41:06 GMT

Squeezynz is blacked out because :-

Stand up against "Guilt Upon Accusation" new law for New Zealand GO HERE TO READ MORE

This has major implications to all net users if it is adopted at the end of February.

Get onboard and support the protest.

thinking of you on your special day

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 19:26:35 GMT

*sings*

Happy Birthday to you.........
Happy Birthday to yooooou.....
Happy Birthday dearest Kateeeeeee
Happy Birthday to yooooo.......

Hip hip! Hooray
Hip hip! Hooray
Hip hip! Hooray

Hope you have a wonderful day dearest girl.......*hugs*

x x x x x x x x x

Well he went and gone and done it

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 08:58:47 GMT

it's all true, my dear, unlamented ex husband has finally sunk to an all time low.

three days out from moving house up to Whangarei and he slaps a "without notice" order preventing the removal of my youngest from the Paraparaumu area. Never mind that the house is on the market and I have to move sometime in the near future or become homeless, never mind that this all comes down to money and not remotely anything to do with what's best for Zoe....the two faced, hypocritical snake.

bastard

I'll find out tomorrow if I have any chance of redress - otherwise if I take Zoe up to whangarei, to our rental and her new school, I could be slapped in jail for 3 months, or fined $2500 and Zoe returned to Paraparaumu in the custody of the police or an officer of the court.

bastard.

Zoe was incensed and so angry at him. How he thinks this is going to promote his relationship with his youngest daughter is beyond my ability to understand. It's not as if I'm taking her out of the country....we're simply moving UP country....and I advised him of all our new details, including phone numbers, and we now have skype, email, text and phone to continue contact....stupid honest person that I am.

bastard

luckily Emma, my eldest was visiting at the time and was able to help her younger sister deal with her rage at her father's duplicity. Emma also took the opportunity to send her father a pithy text on her sisters phone that left him in no doubt how she, Emma, feels about his unwarranted actions.

bastard

later, Glenn finally sent a reply to Zoe's email sent to him on the 23rd - asking him not to stop her moving up to Whangarei - the mealy mouthed ratbag fobbed her off with platitudes, insulted her intelligence and signed off telling her he loved her.

bastard

Zoe was incensed all over again and wrote him another email, expressing her feelings in no uncertain terms. I imagine he'll ignore that, or think I wrote it - which I didn't - but that's not surprising from a man who doesn't know the first thing about what is mean to 'love' someone, in any shape or form.

bastard

okay, done venting for the night. Roll on Wednesday.

Do you want the good news or the bad news?

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 01:12:16 GMT

the good news is...our trip to Whangarei to sign up for a rental was accomplished in record time (2 days) and we're back home already starting the rigmarole of moving house. We move in on the 30th Jan and Zoe will start school on the 2nd Feb..talk about 'get ya skates on!'

It was hot up there-very hot, so Mum was in her element....I just glowed...ferociously!!

the bad news is quite heart wrenching for my favourite actor - James Murray, who is married to Sarah Parish - their 8 month old baby girl died last week of complications to do with a heart condition. If you feel moved to donate to their charity, which also happens to be the hospital that supported them throughout their daughters short life, then go here:-

http://www.justgiving.com/ella-jaynemurray

I don't imagine the poor man, who has a birthday(34) this week, is much in the mood for celebrating. I can only wish them both the very best, and say a prayer for their dear EJ.

Nearly Half Way through January already

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 10:53:51 GMT

Yup....time is flying by, as usual.

The court case got bumped from the 14th of Jan, which sucks. But we're still going up on the 18th to sort out a rental - just hope it doesn't take more than a week to do so.

We have plenty of places lined up, so we should strike it lucky with one of them. This time I go loaded with references and credit checks to satisfy the pickiest of landlords....

My wonderful cousin from the UK, over here for a few weeks, bought me the hardware to enable me to set up Skype on my puter...so...I'm on skype now!!! I have a webcam eyeball looking at me, and a microphone/earphone thingy to handle the talking part. The software was free, (21mb dowloaded from http://www.skype.com) and it means I can talk to my cousin when he gets back to the UK and see his mug up on the screen at the same time.......cool.

I'm sure Skype will become more popular when people realise how easy, and relatively inexpensive it is to set up.....only took me half a hour from opening the box to testing the speakers...piece of cake.

If you are on skype and want me to add you as a contact, send me a message.....

Hope everyone is having a positive start to the new year.

I'm still working on finishing two fics on my 'need to get done' pile......but might take a little longer with this week away up north coming up.

Brighter End to a Difficult Year

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 01:15:52 GMT

I won't be sorry to see the back of 2008, to be truthful. It has been full of heartache and disappointment, upset and upheaval.

With the court case due to be settled on the 14th of January, Emma still shacked up, albeit now in a much nicer home, thank goodness, with Garry and all the shamozle of the move up North, it's been turbulent at best.

Then yesterday I got a piece of news that gave me a real lift and added a touch of bling to what has been a difficult year.

The UK publisher, who I sent my manuscript to, has finally been in touch, apologising for the delay and saying they still want the option to publish in 2009!! I had sent them an email asking for the courtesy of a formal notice of rejection to at least put my hopes to rest, but instead they said they hadn't rejected it, just put it on the back burner due to the current financial uncertainty gripping the world.

So I may yet be a published author......it'll just take a little longer, that's all.

I can wait.

So on that note, I'll wish you all a very peaceful Christmas and a hopeful start to the New Year.

love to all

Louise

Coming Back to Life

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 10:54:22 GMT

I think I might finally be coming out of my doldrums of late.

This year has to be one of the worst in recent memory, capped off with the looming election, the recent financial disasters in the US and here, the horror of a current housing market, the still unresolved court case....and on it goes. I haven't been able to write, let alone read in the past six months, something unheard off before now.

Then suddenly, just this week, I decided to pick up one of the books that have been accumulating on my shelves, the first of The Steepwood Scandals put out by Quills, part of the Historical series published by Harlequin. So far I'm up to book 4 - having read six of the novel length stories in the past week and weekend.

I'm hoping this means that my long period of severe depression is at an end and that I have some chance of picking up and finishing my outstanding fanfictions and maybe even have another crack at that sequel waiting for me to start.

Or maybe I'm just overdue for a catch up on my reading.

I'll take what I can get.

Under the Greenwood Tree on Rialto

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 05:36:18 GMT

For New Zealand fans, and possibly Australian fans (not sure about that) the Movie starring James Murray and Keeley Hawes is playing on Sky Rialto Channel on those dates below.

Rialto program listings

a gorgeous, romantic movie and a 'Must Have' for any fan of James Murray.

House is finally on the Market

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 07:45:22 GMT

If you're curious, go take a look see.

All my sister's hard work with the exterior painting, plus getting the floors done, has really paid off and lifted the quality of the property no end.

of course, getting all my masses of junk out of the basement has sure made that look big and spacious, as does the rest of the house with everything taken away, except the furniture!!

Click the link to go see the listing at Harcourts, NZ

so now we just have to hope the right buyer comes along before we all die of old age!! *LOL*

We were incredibly lucky with the weather for both the photographs and the open home on Sunday - brilliant sunshine on both days - so can't ask for better than that.

The sooner we sell the house, the sooner we can move to warmer climes up north.

cheers for now

Louise

That Time of Year Again

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:26:44 GMT

Yup...time to admit to getting older....*sigh*......

Happy Birthday to me.....*rolls eyes*

I'm having a JAG-a-thon at th moment, watching all the series I taped years ago (2000/2001) and enjoying visiting with the characters again.

It's a shame, after all this time since the series ended, that so much of the fandom has been lost, the fanfiction, the websites, the images. I hope eventually to get this series on DVD, along with the rest of Stargate (up until RDA leaves the series), all of Farscape(except the movie, which I have already) and maybe some others for pure nostalgia (Daktari, Rat Patrol, The Nanny)

I have odd tastes *LOL*........

anyway....I'm 47 now (just passed midnight here) so many happy returns to me (tell me, just what the hell is a return, and why do I need so many happy ones?)

Ta ta for now

X-Files Movie - I want to believe - review with spoilers

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:38:47 GMT

Went to see this, this afternoon at 1pm, hoping that at such an unfashionable time I'd pretty much have the theatre to myself with only Emma for company....turned out that some ten other people thought the same thing *LOL* and some pretty disparate ages among them too!!

If you don't want to be spoiled stop reading now.
.
.

anyway.....the movie.......OMG.....it's all I hoped for and more.

Mulder and Scully just ROCK......and I mean that in every sense of the word. I couldn't help but laugh when I first saw Mulder and his face fungus - just too funny, and they way they built up the anticipation, you know it was done just for that effect. Scully is just beautiful, aging so nicely and just eats up the screen. Mulder is just as scummy and delectable despite being another six years down the track, and he's fit....the shirtless scene is nicely done and he is aging VERY well......hmmmmmmmmmmm....

The storyline is pretty much what every has said....an extended episode, but with what we all wanted during the series, a ton more relationship stuff and confirmation of what we all hoped and longed for the characters......in spades.....*sigh*

in no particular order:
a bedroom scene/discussion
nekkid Mulder in bed with Scully
snuggles in bed
evidence they've been living together for six years
Scully declaring she loved Mulder and fell 'in' love with him from the start (pretty much)
mention of their son, William
a kiss *fans herself* and what a kiss
hand holding/hugging
intense looks and speaking without words
references to FightTheFuture but no real mention of the Aliens or Black oil.
Skinner!!! *yay*.......and even some real emotion shown by Skinner for Mulder
MS-RST....completely......

it was just a joy to see these two character brought back to life, working together like before and proving that nothings been lost in the interim......

as a dedicated fan/MS shipper, I can give this movie the thumbs up and I'll be going again on Monday to see it all again.

as for the story itself, it was a pretty much standard gruesome psycho surgeons with the FBI needing someone with expertise in psychic viewing phenomenon to find a kidnapped FBI female agent. There's lots of snow, helicopters, dogs, snow, hospitals, sick kids, surgery, angst, tons of night shots, Billy Connelly acting his grizzled socks off, Mulder getting whumped, Scully rescuing him, Skinner also to the rescue, icky stuff and all the usual suspects....

even a teeny cameo/non speaking by Chris Carter in one scene...*LOL*

oh....and you MUST stay to watch right through the credits......MUST......don't forget to wave!!

I almost wish now they would carry on this franchise, but I don't know where they would take it from here, as "I want to believe" answers so many of the unresolved issues at the end of the series regarding their relationship.

ah well....will have to wait and see.

In the meantime........I love it, and can't wait to go again.

Yay.

Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull

Mon, 26 May 2008 11:25:03 GMT

Indiana franchise crosses over into Xfiles territory

OMG I haven't laughed so long in a while, at least at the movies.

Went to a 3.30pm session, which meant there was me, my sis, my youngest and three other retired couples.

I love these odd sessions, you have the place to yourself.

which meant that Mary and I just laughed out heads off at this welcome addition to the Indy film collection.

Fortunately, no one in the movie takes themselves too seriously, at least on the goodies side. The chase scenes are legendary and the story line the height of silliness....but all in all, it was well worth the ticket price. Was it ever!!!

There are lots of lovely in jokes, references to Raiders of the Lost Ark...as well as film references, homages to actors since passed away and lots of other stuff.

I'll have to see it again, I missed a ton because I couldn't stop laughing at some of the set ups. Classic. Yes, Harrison is looking old...but fit as well. And Karen Allen is aging well without a grey hair in sight *snorts*, but that aside, the spfx are excellent, the chases brilliant and it doesn't drag anywhere.

For anyone who's followed the Indy saga since the early 80's, this is a fitting end to the saga, at least for Harrison as Indy. The ending is a nice completion of the arc started in Raiders, but tends to make the film end on a tiny fizzle rather than a bang, but I can forgive them that.

I loved it, and look forward to seeing it again, just to catch everything that's going on.

10/10 from me.

Making friends around the globe

Thu, 01 May 2008 23:22:58 GMT

Well, that might be pushing the envelope...but for this fangirl, it was definitely a moment to squee.

I had an email yesterday from a London based musician called Jer Randall. Jer and his brother Chris are the boys behind the songs and music in the 2001 movie Phoenix Blue starring, you guessed it, my current actor, James Murray.

Because of my interest in the film, I had tried to find a soundtrack for it, but drew a blank, other than snippets of Steven Parson's lovely intrumentals, a solo video clip and one single cd of Tailspin(through Amazon), by Jer and Chris plus their band Widescreen. Other than ripping the music off the soundtrack, there appeared to be no other avenue to hear the music sans movie.

Then yesterday I get a brief email from Jer himself. Apparently he read my review of the single on Amazon and got in touch with me.

*squee*

I didn't believe it at first...but he wrote back and directed me to his myspace site..

http://www.myspace.com/greyghostwidescreen

where there is some of his more recent work. How cool is that!!

Now I can add Jer to my list of backroom boys that I've been in contact with since my Primeval fandom jumped into high gear. I've 'talked' via forum and LJ with Steven Savile, author of the first Primeval tie-in book, chatted on myspace with one of the lads in the publicity department for Primeval S2, and now made contact with Jer Randall....only two degrees of separation from Primeval through James Murray/Phoenix Blue.

It's a small world....

*squee*

Shadow of the Jaguar by Steven Savile

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:10:57 GMT

Review: Shadow of the Jaguar by Steven Savile (Titan Books)

Disclaimer: I make no claims to being a professional reviewer, not even a competent one. I'm a fan of the first two series of Primeval, with a particular liking for the character Stephen Hart. That said, I've tried to give a balance review as much as possible without entirely spoiling the plot.

The Book:

Nicely presented scaled down hardback, unusual choice in cover design colour(green with red lettering), but eye catching with a crisp image of Nick Cutter(Douglas Henshall) wielding a Japanese sword with a Smilodon baring it's fangs behind him on the front, group shot on the back. No equivocation about it being a tv tie in and also hints at whose perspective will tell the story.

The Blurb:

A delirious backpacker crawls out of the dense Peruvian jungle muttering about the impossible things he has seen... A local ranger reports seeing extraordinary animal tracks and bones – fresh ones – that he cannot explain....

Cutter and the team are plunged into the hostile environment of the Peruvian rainforest where they endure a perilous journey towards something more terrifying than they could possibly have imagined....

My Review:

Hmmm well.....I have to say that the descriptions of the Peruvian jungle, its wildlife and the general climate were enough to put me off going there for life. The depiction of the expedition to investigate the strange going's on just drips with sweat, bugs and blood. Buckets and buckets of it.

This is one of the most blood soaked stories I have read in a long time. It quite surprised me, not expecting things to get quite so R rated in its depiction of shredded bodies and wholesale bloodletting by the prehistoric creatures prowling the jungle.

I surprised me only for as long as it took to remind myself that the tv series hasn't exactly been squeamish about throwing around body parts and blood itself....it's just done off camera or within the PG rating of the prime time viewing, rather than in the graphic way it was portrayed in SOTJ.

It made me really wonder how Cutter and his team actually survived at all...but that's jumping ahead.

The story is supposedly set sometime after the second episode of season two as it mention the raptors(yes I know they're not but humour me) in the shopping mall and the worms in the tower block. Jenny is very much in evidence but I did wonder about her being sent into this situation. She's PR, not diplomatic relations, but hey, she's accepted as part of 'the team' so she had to be there. The core, Cutter, Connor, Abby and Stephen all dance around each other and work reasonably well together with only brief lapses into angst of the whole 'affair with Helen' scenario, although there is plenty of foreshadowing and it keeps within the canon of the series as regards the banter between the characters.

It does veer off at times into purely gratuitous scenes as remarked by other reviewers. I thought the flying suit by Stephen and the walkabout by Abby and Connor not entirely out of context as they were supposed to be doing touristy things, and the 'cloak & dagger' got a bit tiresome as it only held up the story rather than moved it along. Each of the characters were given a chunk of the story to take center stage in – Jenny with the hospital, Abby with the sewing kit, Stephen and the tracking, Connor and the village, but on the whole they were all given fairly equal 'screen time' throughout the story. In between the action bits were very well researched informative bits – like one part where Stephen explains how he does the whole tracking of animals thing – and there are others spread out throughout the text which imparted snippets of hyper-knowledge and made it more interesting. Alongside those were a liberal use of scientific terms for the creatures without any elaborate explanations, so I'll be looking some of the references up to satisfy my own curiosity.

The last few chapters raced by, the action thick and fast albeit a little improbable. I really didn't grasp the why the 'thing controlling the others' creatures felt the need to use them for wholesale, senseless slaughter, or get a grasp of what it was or where it came from, the past or the future, and against the odds they were facing, no one should have survived the rope bridge, let alone the temple.

I also tended to skip past the scene of Stark getting Jenny – it smacked of these first person virtual reality video games my sister plays ad nauseum or maybe a Rambo movie.

As the story was rubber stamped by the creators of the series, one can only boggle at what they'd do if they didn't have to make the series suitable for minors to watch.

Conclusion:

SOTJ is an often violent, flesh rending episode of a Primeval gone horribly pear shaped, to quote Connor. Steven Savile has done a superlative job in getting the reader right there beside the characters, suffering the heat and general ickiness of the environment, of portraying just how out of their depth they truly are beyond the boundaries of the civilised English countryside.

Will I read it again? Probably not for a little while. Would I recommend it to read? Certainly, if you like the series and the characters and don't mind a body count to rival a Die Hard movie. The author drops you into a world that is entirely alien to most of us, makes you sweat along with the characters, gets you good and filthy, scares the bejeezus out of you then gets everyone back – well, nearly every one back – safe and sound in time for the next episode.

I only hope they all had some serious, post traumatic counseling afterwards – they sure would have needed it.

Oh, and Lester gets some wonderful, snarky lines to utter from the safety of his pin striped suit.