Musings - Eye candy...

It’s that time of year again when my favourite TV shows start to have their current season endings. You know the shows, the ones that have got you through the winter months and entertained you over Easter indulgences. And ALL mine are due to or have just finished which means I am all out of eye candy.

So I have decided to list my working week and let you know what / who I am going to be missing… it’s going to be hard.

(In order by photo and day of the week…)

MONDAY:
Arrow – Stephen Amell
TUESDAY:
The Vampire Diaries – Joseph Morgan
WEDNESDAY:
Beauty and the Beast – Jay Ryan
THURSDAY:
Nashville – Charles Esten
FRIDAY:
Suits – Gabriel Macht

So looking at them all… who would you miss the most? xx

Musings - Mama Kat's Workshop (1st September 2011)

Write a post about a childhood memory as if you're in that memory... from the perspective of yourself as that child.

I am eight and half. My favourite subject at school is Mathematics, I am currently taller than all my class mates, I am in love with Joey McIntyre of New Kids on the Block fame, I read ALL the time, I am precocious...

My bed time is eight thirty...

Hercule Poirot, my new favorite television show doesn't finish until nine...

I make a deal with my parents. The deal is that at nine o'clock when the show finishes and the credits are rolling up the screen, I have to run up the stairs with no chatter or messing about. I need to be in bed by five past with my eyes closed and the duvet tucked under my chin.

We shake hands, that was three weeks ago, the plan is working well.

But tonight, I am wide awake. I resent my enforced bedtime, even the extended one.

As the credits start to roll and the theme music plays I grin to myself in my armchair and close my eyes. I hear my Dad get up from the sofa when I don't do my usual jumping up act. He gently taps my shoulder but I stay really still. For effect I even pretend to snore slightly, he buys it! From her opposite side of the sofa my Mum tells him he might as well carry me up.

I stifle a giggle...

I feel him lift me and try to keep still, try and keep my eyes shut. I am not a small child, I am tall for my age but my build fits my frame. With my eyes closed I picture the journey across the living room to the bottom of the stairs. I hear my Mum follow, her slippers shuffle on the carpet.

My Dad whispers about how heavy I am, my mum says I look lovely when I am asleep.

I stifle another giggle...

We slowly make it up the stairs, it's awkward, my feet touch the wallpaper, I feel muscles strain around me. I can't believe I have got away with it. He has carried me to the top. I can't control myself any longer.

I start to giggle and open my eyes...

"Are you awake?!" He asks incredulously.
"Yup, the whole time." I am laughing now, whole heartedly. So is my Mum, she has sat down on a step half way up looking at my Dad as he tries to be all indignant.

Then he starts to giggle too because between me and my Mum the resistence to laughter is futile. I am chased into bed, kissed goodnight and told that next week... I had better make a run for it. :)

(This story, over the next 22 years, has been told many times, usually by my parents when I am trying to con my Dad into / out of something... it still amuses me but what I love most is that such a simple memory amuses them.)

:) xx

Writing as part of Mama Kat's Writing Workshop

Musings - One liners...

For a long time in our house we have quoted the Gilmore Girls show. They have some classic one liners, our favourite being...

Oi with the poodles already!

It is the perfect line to spout when enough has been enough.

Recently we have been watching Mad Men. They also, amongst the bizarreness, have some classic one liners of their own.  So we now have a new contender for our favourite spout...

Jesus on a cracker, Trudy!

So what do you think is best?

The son of God spread like soft cheese or the decloration that too many pups spoil the broth?

:) xx

Musings - Mama Kat's Workshop (4th August 2011)

If you were to go back to the moment you decided to start a blog, what ten blogging tips would you share with yourself?

Time Travel... it fascinates me. I think its the dreamer in me, the me who dreams, that would love to go back, forward, lateral just to learn more... perhaps change? perhaps see what I could have done better? different? at all? I would definitely avoid the flannel shirts of '95!

But I digress, again. Actually, let me continue with you on this tangent for another moment...

Recently, I started watching Being Erica. A woman, roughly my age, takes part in unconventional 'therapy sessions' where she gets to travel back through her life to try and do differently those things that, in the present, she regrets. It's amazing, the type of TV show that puts the heat in your stomach because you are slightly envious that you can't live that life, can't confront your past. Erica's therapist, Dr. Tom, gets her to write down a list of her regrets... I challenge you to do the same. I challenge myself to do it too.

But on to the workshop. What would I tip myself about blogging? If I could go back to the beginning...

1. Stop faffing with the background! You are going to spend hours wasting your time trying to make something interesting. Go straight to ShabbyBlogs and see the wonders that they have ready made.
2. What are you doing? You are going to start a weekly diary... what ever happens keep it going... you will regret it if you don't.
3. Who are they? Read more blogs, find out who people are, comment on what they have to say. Broaden your mind.
4. Snap it up! You love photographs so make the most of it. Take more, snap more, blog them. Readers love to read but let them SEE.
5. What you know... Be who you are, don't try and be pretentious because you will start to hate what the blog has become. Write from the heart but don't lay everything out on your sleeve...
6. FEED your readers! Sort out your RSS and ATOM feeds so that people can easily follow you. What is that you are asking yourself (literally)? Google it!
7. Take the time! Life is going to get emotional and crazy and then amazing but make sure you make time to blog. This is your memoir, gaps are not permitted in life.
8. Jot it down! I know you always carry a note book, but use it! Inspiration can and will strike at any time. Even the most mundane occurrences may strike you later as fodder for thought.
9. Don't stress about it. People WILL read what you have to write. You WILL connect! Life IS worth its documentation. Put aside DOUBTS and just go for it.
10. And find Mama Kat! You will meet some amazing people through her.

Now back to my list of regrets... why did I wear tartan exactly? :) xx

Question: 22

Everyone has raved about Mad Men...
I have watched five episodes so far and don't really like it..
Should I keep going? x

Musings - Mama Kat's Workshop (7th July 2011)

A list of 10 old TV shows you’d like to make a comeback.

This week when I saw this writing option over at Mama Kat's Workshop I got rather excited. There are SO many TV shows that should warrant a comeback, those from my childhood and more recent ones alike. I started listing them off the top of my head and came up with a lot more than ten, I can tell you! So to write this post I took that list and decided firstly to cross off the ones that were there because I knew people would instantly think of them... such as 'Buffy', 'The Waltons', 'My So Called Life', 'Alias', 'Friends' and several others.

Then I started to eliminate shows which, with a bit of research, I found were actually still running just on some random obscure channel and then I sobbed over the ones that could and should never been done again... Peter Falk (aka Columbo) may you rest in peace.

I was left with a list of TV shows that I could pin point with exact memories from growing up, shows I watched to avoid studying and revision and other shows which I started to get into once I had cable TV only to find that they were old reruns of shows that were no more in production.

So my list, here goes... (ooh I have also listed a cast member you might know)...

1. Sons and Daughters (1982-1987)
An Australian show centering around the Hamilton family and the trials and tribulations not to mention twins separated at birth. Big 80s hair, big personalities, bitchy women, hot young men in high waisted jeans... Aussie soap at its best!.
(Peter Phelps - went on to star in Baywatch)

2. Murder She Wrote (1984-1996)
Writer Jessica Fletcher constantly finds herself caught up in mysterious crimes, Miss Marple style, taking an episode to solve the problem with keen insight and Angela Lansbury's infectious smile.
(Jerry Orbach - of Law and Order fame)

3. Quantum Leap (1989-1993)
A scientist transports himself through history into the bodies of unsuspecting people. Dr. Sam Beckett moves from body to body solving his host's problems before he can move on to the next time in history hoping that he will one day transport back into his own body. We still don't know if he did...
(Scott Bakula - Enterprise and Chuck)

4. Stay Lucky (1989-1993)
Most of you will have no idea what this TV show is. It wasn't particularly great but it was filmed in my village! I would often watch the filming and I have got quite a few autographs from the main cast members. All I really remember is that an ex-con holes up on a barge with the added intrigue of a will they won't they love story.
(Dougray Scott - Mission Impossible 2)

5. Burke's Law (1994-1995)
A tried and failed revival of the 1960s cop show. Peter Barton plays the young Burke in his tight jeans and fetching leather jacket. (Deserves a revival just for Barton's hair)
(Gene Barry - Burke's Law) ha ha

6. The Secret World of Alex Mack (1994-1998)
 What was not to love?
A young girl, after some accident or other, finds she has the ability to dissolve herself into a radioactive glowing puddle. Fun and daft antics follow.
(Larisa Oleynik - went on to star in 10 Things I Hate About You)

7. Heartbreak High (1994-1999)
 Another Aussie show that was great because of its Australian-ness. Set in a high school, we followed the life of some odd ball students as they tried to 'deal' with being a teenager, student and love interest of someone usually highly inappropriate.
(Simon Baker - The Mentalist)

8. Sunset Beach (1997-1999)
One of the most tragically overacted and overplayed yet addictive USA soap operas. Meg moves from her small town to the glitz of the beach to track a man she has fall for over the Internet. When she gets there she meets a whole range of characters not shy about scheming to get what they want.
(Eddie Cibrian - CSI: Miami)

9. Judging Amy (1999-2005)
The life and career of judge Amy Gray through divorce, raising a daughter, working in her juevenille courtroom and coping with a fiesty Mother who has a will and heart as strong as her daughters.
(Tyne Daly - of Cagney and Lacy fame)

10. American Dreams (2002-2005)
Set in the 60s when Band Stand was all the rage, the Vietnam War was claiming sons, JFK was shot and colour segrigation was errupting as a modern world demanded equality. Fantastic cast, story lines and of course amazing music. Talking of the music... watch out for a variety of stars cameoing as various music icons.
(Gail O'Grady - currently starring in MTVs Hellcats)

And of course I have to mention....

Gilmore Girls (2000-2007)

BRING
BACK
GILMORE
GIRLS!!!!!

Musings - Holding out for a hero...

When I was fifteen I caught my first glance of Mr Darcy, Colin Firth style, and fell in love with costume drama heroes. I don't know if it is the outfits, the pompousness or the (usually) healthy bank balance but there is just something about a brooding gentleman unbuttoning his collar that makes me... entertained.

So after some thought I decided to share my favourites...

Captain Frederick Wentworth

(Ciaran Hinds / Rupert Penry Jones)

Pro: He will love you across distance and time, swoon.

Con: Being a sailor he will always be working away, darn it.

Mr Edward Rochester

(Toby Stephens / Michael Fassbender)

Pro: Dark, brooding and very intense.

Con: Well... there is the problem of his mad wife in the attic.

Mr John Thornton

(Richard Armitage)

Pro: Northern bit of rough with his own business.

Con: His Mother is bit of an interfering old crone.

Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy

(Colin Firth / Matthew Macfadyen)

Pro: Erm... he's rich?

Con: Does "not have the talent of conversing easily with people I have never met before"... so a bit dull really.

After much consideration I have decided that Mr Rochester is my favourite for his intense demeanor and desperate need he has for the woman he loves. :)

That attic door is locked, right?

Photo - Oh no, a UFC fan...

A budding telly addict...

And addicted to the tattooed, bloodied men of the UFC. Tut. xx



Musings - Day time TV...

I love my house. It has its foibles, its leaks and its typically Yorkshire set out... but when it's silent, well, it's eerie. It creaks and moans, you can hear the neighbours, sometimes the traffic but it is usually worse when you hear nothing at all. The worse thing is 110 years of history speaking silently at you through the uneven walls and narrow servant-like staircase.

So in order to avoid the eerie, and not because I am now a temporary stay at home Mum, I have taken to having the television on. And yes, day time TV is appalling. But then I came across E4 with a morning schedule that allowed me to pay little attention but at the same time not annoy me with its background buzz.

So once the husband has left for work here is what Mother, Daughter and Pooch have to watch....

8:00 - Wildfire - a strange little programme about young people, horses and tangled story lines that while tangled are so easy to follow it is almost comical.
9:00 - One Tree Hill - Basketball and babes, apparently.
9:55 - Friends - Classic old school with all the gang, currently showing the last series (I think).
10:20 - Gilmore Girls - Whoop whoop. The very show our daughter was named after. Lorelai and Luke are currently shaky while the usual craziness is going on around them.
11:20 - Desperate Housewives - Really? This is American Suburbia? How ridiculous yet... addictive!

Then at noon everything starts to repeat itself. This is when I start to introduce the 5 week old, impressionable Chicky, to the world of our DVD collection.

That however is a whole other post... :) xx

Musings - What do your series records say about you...

I was looking through our Virgin Plus box this morning and it occurred to me that our new daughter will one day be asking for her favourite TV programmes to be recorded. It got me thinking about what sort of things she will be interested in and in turn what she will think of my husband and myself.

So I decided to have a look at our series records and here is what I found...

Monday:
- Glee / Spartacus, Gods of the Arena

Tuesday:
- Extraordinary Dogs / Cougar Town / CSI: Crime Scene Investigation / Vampire Diaries / The Biggest Loser USA

Wednesday:
- Bones / Justified

Thursday:
- American Idol / Glory Days / Celebrity Juice

Friday:
- Ice Road Truckers / American Idol Results

Saturday:
- CSI New York

Sunday:
- No Ordinary Family / Hawaii Five-O

...I fear Katharine is going to be of the opinion that her parents are geeks, ha ha. :)
xx