daveydave

If you like highly stylised films this is the one for you. The director has done a very good job of making it look like a comic book conversion with the grainy cinematography and excessive use of slow-motion. Plus a lot of the acting was ropey, or over-done to fit the style... I'm not sure which. Just not my cup of tea unfortunately. Having said that, there were some nice comedy touches in the script and some nice effects, but I'm pretty sure Xerxes was not that camp in real life! Overall: it was ok I suppose.

I'm a tad late with this post - I've had the new car over a month now - but I've been busy (see another post that I may get round to writing at some point). Decision: the Kia Sportage. It was the only car I tested out in the end: I liked it, the deal was good, job done. I went for the 2.0 turbo diesel in top XS specification: it has many toys - climate, cruise, cd/mp3 player, heated front seats, leather, sunroof, etc... Plenty to keep me occupied in the slow-moving traffic of rush hour. I also took the decision to get a black one, which looks good, but is a slight pain to look after. That is, you actually have to wash it now and again - silver cars hide a multitude of sins. And so, despite saying I wouldn't buy another brand new car, I find myself in charge of a rather large 07 plater. On the whole it's been so-far-so-good, although I have only clocked up 500 miles. Everything is working and it's comfortable. You do need to keep the turbo spinning for safe exits...

This doesn't seem to have been particularly well broadcast, but the UK is getting a new £20 note on the 13th of March. For banknote geeks amongst you, it is the first of the new F series of notes (current notes are all series E) and features Scottish economist, Adam Smith on the reverse. Trying to get clear images of the thing is proving remarkably difficult. The Bank of England's own site shows the current note in excellent detail - so you know how to spot a forgery. But I can not find any useful images of the new one - so you can recognise it as proper money when you first get one. The best I could do - after a lot of hunting around - was an image of the back of the new note on the BBC News site (link at the bottom of this post). A week on Tuesday, these new notes are going to start popping out of cash points around the country (south of the border anyway) and I suspect it's going to come as a bit of a surprise to most people. It doesn't seem like the best way to rol...

I missed this film first time round, and having watched it this afternoon I'm wondering why. A simple story about a robot (both iron and giant) arriving on earth and befriending a young boy. Stories and rumours start to fly around, especially when cars and other metal objects appear to have large bite marks out of them. In a similar fashion to ET, the government arrives to get to the bottom of things. Once the cause of these occurrences has been identified, the army arrives en-masse and reverts to a fairly typical approach: we don't know what it is, so let's smash it. I won't go into details of the final stages of the story, but of course everything turns out pretty well in the end. As a non-Japanese animated feature people may dismiss this film as one for the kids, but this would be a mistake. It's a wonderful, heart-warming film. References: The Iron Giant on IMDB

Idi Amin was a dictator, a mass-murderer and a nutter. Forest Whitaker is an actor, an excellent one and nails Amin's character beautifully. This is an interesting story, a mix of fact: the Amin is a nutter bit; and fiction: the young Scot, Nicholas Garrigan, becoming the dictator's personal physician. Garrigan accidentaly lands the role of personal doctor to Amin and initially can't believe his luck. Amin seems like a joy to work for, gifting him an nice home and Mercedes convertible. As time passes however, and Garrigan becomes closer to the dictator, he realises what the man is capable of. Too late. Whitaker is truley brilliant in the role of Amin and a very strong cast backs him up all the way. It is very well directed at a hectic pace at times, making this a thoroughly watchable film. It doesn't go into great detail on what Amin was responsible for during his time in power, so this is no Hotel Rwanda, but a definite must-see nonetheless. References: The Last Ki...

Last week, representatives of the Tyne & Wear PTA, Nexus, subitted a £600m, 20 year investement plan for the Metro light rail system. The Tyne & Wear Metro was built in the late 70's and opened, in stages, from August 1980 - the first such system in the UK, outside of London. I used Metro almost from day one, and for the following 18 years, until work took me away from the reaches of the network. It was a fantastic system in the early years, but like most large projects in this country, suffers from a lack of sufficient investment and a lot of the existing infrastructure needs replacing. It has the potential to be great again, but it is also forecast to cease operating in 2012 should the necessary investment not be made. Hence the proposals delivered to Downing Street. I cannot stress how important it is that these proposals are accepted - Metro caries something like 130 000 passengers every working day. Just imagine (those of you who know and love the roads around Tyneside...

Having finally got my grubby mits on a digital camera over Christmas, I thought it would be a plan to review how I publish my pictures on the interweb. I have been using flickr for a while now, but I've hit the limit of the free service and it is time to pay. Before doing that, however, I thought I'd take a look at Picasa from Google. So far so good for Picasa. The client software is excellent and allows you to manage your web albums very easily. I'm going to run with it for a while - until I reach my free limit of 250MB - and then decide which way to go. For those of you who like looking a other people's poor attempts at photography, you can see some of mine on flickr or all of them on Picasa .

I've harped on about this in the past, but the time is rapidly approaching when the Jimny must go and something must replace it. Now, I've thought about all sorts of possibilities, from cheap run-arounds to executive saloons. Latest thinking however, is for another 4x4 - boo hiss from the green brigade, but I like the high seating position. So, I started making a shortlist. The Freelander is out straightaway because it's too expensive, I don't like the look of the X-Trail from Nissan, and I'm not sure why I'm not considering the CRV or Rav4. The Suzuki Grand Vitara is on there, because it looks smart. Others that sneaked on the list over the weekend were the Hyundai Tucson and the Kia Sportage. That's the 3 for now, although very much subject to change of course! First thing you need to do is get yourself a big pile of brochures, and this is where you start to score the competing companies. So far we can sum up performance thus: Suzuki GV 5dr : a smart looki...

I can't hold off any longer. It was all over weeks ago, but you like to think there may be a chance, however small that we may snatch even a draw. It wasn't to be. The last 5 wickets collapsed, leaving the Australians a meager score to reach to achieve a well deserved whitewash. It's so very disappointing to see such little fight and passion from the England team. There were moments - Collingwood's 206 in the 2nd test, Harmison's 4/48 in the 3rd test, Monty's 5 wickets in the same innings - but they were few and far between. We were comprehensively outplayed by a far superior team. So now we move on to the post-Ashes inquest. I suspect this will be run by those who ran the team and therefore produce no useful outcome. The press will be up in arms for a while before returning column inches to football. Nothing will be done, no real changes at the top, no radical overhaul of the way the game is run. And come 2009 we will be no nearer regaining the Ashes than we wo...

A little while ago, I had a minor rant about the design of Ford's PAG cars. I was not particularly complimentary in places, particularly about Jaguar. At the time, the first photos of the new XK had been released and I wasn't sure about it but, sensibly, decided to wait until I'd seen it in the flesh before going for the jugular. Fortunate for me that I did. As it turns out, the new XK is a rather good looking vehicle with a welcome, fresh look at interior design. (I.e. no bloody wood). Of course, such a car is well beyond the financial means of mere mortals such as I, so I must rely on those offerings further down the range. At the moment, there is nothing there that I would consider buying new. X, S and XJ are fussy, throw-back designs that have, quite rightly, not sold well thus leading directly to Jaguar's current financial predicament. However, the new XF concept has just been shown to the press and boy, what a stunner. It is expected that this car will form the ba...

This is the first time I have seen a film directed by Guillermo del Toro, it will certainly not be the last. The Devil's Backbone comes highly recommended, so that will be going on the to-hire list. This is a tale of a young girl growing up during the Spanish Civil war, her mother is widowed and now married to a brutal captain of the fascist regime. It is to the captain's base deep in the woods of northern Spain that the young girl, Ofelia, comes to live with her pregnant mother. Life there is grim and terrifying for such a young girl, but she has the labyrinth to which she can escape. She is told on her first visit that she is really a princess and must complete three tasks in order to return to her true parents and gain immortality. Moving between the world of war and the world of the labyrinth is handled beautifully by del Toro, both worlds are visually wonderful and the performances of the cast excellent. Civil war and fantasy do not sound like comfortable bedfellows, but t...

I've recently been getting re-familiarised with my guitar after a bit of a break. This is not an unusual happening, over the course of the last 28 years I've been playing, there have been long periods of dust gathering - but for now: I'm a guitarist again. I was just having a bit of a spring clean of my main guitar, a 16 year old Washburn Chicago Series KC90 and was pretty amazed how well it was shaping up - despite the fact I don't look after it very well. I bought it new with my first student grant cheque (as you do) when it was going cheap in a closing-down sale. I say cheap, these things were over £500 back in 1990 so even on sale I think I paid £350. It was expensive, yes, but the fact it's still in fine fettle (more than can be said for my playing) speaks volumes. If I remember rightly, the 90 was pretty much the top-spec Washburn at the time. It's made up of the following: Contoured ash body 24 jumbo-fret, flat rosewood fretboard Maple neck Black h...

Royal Shakespeare Company, starring Patrick Stewart. Newcastle Theatre Royal. This is the first time I have seen the RSC. I am a bit of a fan of live theatre, and indeed Shakespeare, so it was grand to see the big boys treading my local (recently enlarged) stage. I saw a production of The Tempest several years back, staged at Tynemouth Priory. Thoroughly enjoyable and atmospheric it was too. However, making the jump from a local, amateur group to professionals of RSC calibre was quite something to behold. The whole cast were excellent. The guy who played Ariel and the gal who played Miranda standing out in particular. There was, however, no doubt who the star of the show was. Patrick Stewart of Star Trek: The Next Generation and X-Men fame, showed just what an accomplished actor he is. A quite brilliant performance I thought. Perhaps those with more Shakey/RSC experience may disagree, but he certainly impressed me. It's performances such as this that make you want to go and see mo...

I've always been a fan of Bond - particularly the Connery years - but I hadn't really paid much attention to the later films. I think the last one I saw at the cinema was Tomorrow Never Dies maybe? Whichever one that starts at the Millennium Dome. Therefore... having heard very good things about the latest release and indeed Daniel Craig's portrayal of Bond, I was looking forward to seeing Casino Royale for myself. Due to the immense popularity, I couldn't get tickets last week, so I went yesterday. It did not disappoint. Bags of action, a little bit of lovin' and the right amount of humour (without going too cheesy) made for a rip-snorting 2 and a half hours of enjoyable escapism. It introduces the character of Bond, how he gained his double-0 status, and why he treats women the way he does. It does it all with a fair degree of style. The film is well produced, directed with the right pace all the way through and you could even forgive it a couple of places where ...

Another Russian film this one, only this time the acting was spot on. Telling the story of two young boys whose father turns up one day after a 12 year absence. Visually this is a very appealing film, showing stunning images of the Russian wilderness. It's quite a contrast: beautiful scenery that you should be happy to be surrounded by, mixed with trying to get on with a father you don't know, and who hasn't a clue how to cope with two young boys. The two young lads who play the sons put in great performances opposite the abrupt and not-a-little-unpleasant father. Sadly, the 15 year-old actor who played Andrey drowned shortly after the film was finished. The Return won a Golden Lion at Venice in 2003 along with 27 other awards, so it's pretty well though of by the experts . We never found exactly where the boys' father had been for the last 12 years, what he did or indeed, what was in the box. Worth a watch though.

Once again I've left it far too long, so this roundup is going to be of the did/did not like form, with very little useful information. Sorry about that. Ok, here we go: Ella Enchanted This is a film for kids, and girls at that. I really have no idea why I even thought about watching it. Anyway, the stop button was applied within 5 minutes. Leon Masterful. I absolutely loved this film. Well written, acted and directed. Elling The story of a couple of Norwegian guys who meet when living in a state institution. When they are released into the outside world they choose to life together and have to find their feet. A very worthwhile watch. Team America World Police Absolutely brilliant. It is, in parts, hilarious but obviously the main deal with this film is how it represents American foreign policy and attitudes. It is done so well it makes you cringe. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Sadly I can't remember the details but I remember enjoying it a great deal. Slightly bizzare...

Just read this article ; a most entertaining read, unless you happened to live in this kid's neighbourhood. It outlines levels of ingenuity that amaze as well as endanger. One thing's for sure, there was never a proficiency badge in Atomic Energy when I was in the scouts.

Turned into a bit of a mess didn't it. From my reading of the situation, the Pakistan team wanted to make a small protest following the accusation of ball-tampering, which seems fair enough to me. However, the umpire wasn't going to put up with it and so we end up with the bails coming off signaling the end of the match. It seems to me that the umpire could have done a much better job of sorting this out by talking with the Pakistani team about why they didn't take the field after tea. Listening to Mr Boycott on Channel 5, it looks as though there is some history between this umpire and Pakistan though, which really puts a big cloud over the game of cricket in general. The ICC needs to get to the bottom of this quickly. Anyway, the bails are off so there is no point in playing the final day tomorrow. However, it seems that the players wanted to play today and I'm sure the crowd wanted to watch cricket, so why not have a friendly one day match tomorrow. With a different ...

A few events on the horizon for you. First off, Newcastle Mela . This festival of all things Punjabi, Pakistani, Bengali and Hindi is in its 14th year. I've never yet managed to go but it's supposed to be a very enjoyable event. Sunday 27th and Bank Holiday Monday 28th of August 2006 in Exhibition Park. If you are interested in European produce then why not have a look at the North Tyneside Continental Market in September. It will be at North Shields on the 1st, Wallsend on the 2nd and Whitley Bay on the 3rd. For more information see the TyneTown website or ring 0191 200 5733. Also in September are the Heritage Open Days. They run from Thursday 7th to Sunday 10th. A large number of historical buildings are open to the public as well as a number of guided tours and walks. Well worth a look as a lot of these places are not normally open to the public plus it's all free. There are apparently 181 properties and activities this year across the whole Tyne and Wear area. Further ...

As it's been a while since I mentioned ways of getting away from (and indeed coming to) Newcastle, I thought I'd have a look at what new scheduled flights are available. Jet2 have added to their list of destinations with flights to Chambery over the winter (for you winter sports types) and 2 flights a week to Krakow in Poland. I flew with them in July on their Menorca route and it was a very good service (apart from a delayed departure from Newcastle.) Aer Lingus are back in the game at Newcastle with cheap daily flights to Dublin from 29th October 2006. This is in direct competition with Ryanair . Eastern Airways have added services to Cardiff and Inverness.