Decided to watch the latest action film at the Vue Cinema earlier this afternoon. Olympus Has Fallen.
Who is in it?
Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman and Rick Yule.
How long is it?
Two hours
What is the BBFC rating?
15. So you need to be at least 15 years old to watch it.
What is the film about?
Bunch of Korean terrorists defy all the strong US security systems by hijacking the White House and captures the US President as well as his staff. A Secret Service agent who is best friends with the President but manages to lose the life of the President's wife eighteen months earlier comes to save the day and kicks ass.
How was it?
I was quite surprised to see how good this film was. There has been little media attention with Olympus compared to the likes of Iron Man 3, A Good Day to Die Hard and Fast and Flipping Furious 6. Surely that film must be coming out soon as I've seen that trailer three times in the cinema in the last two months. (EDIT: Just checked, it's not out until 26th May!). I saw the trailer for Olympus whilst waiting to watch A Good Day to Die Hard and thought it might be worth a shot. The film as a whole is a good ol' typical action film from he 1990s but set in the moden day. I would say the film is a mixture of Die Hard (terrorists invading a building), Air Force One (US President's life is in danger from terrorists) and Under Siege (hero is someone who is a demoted special forces guy). It also mixes the style of the US real time show, 24. The whole film takes place from the afternoon of 5th July to the early hours of the next morning. 12 hours, give or take. We get on-screen reminders throughout the film to say what the current time is. As well as on-screen messages to tell the viewer who the characters are (Vice President, Chief of Staff etc...).
Olympus Has Fallen is a perfect film for Gerard Butler for being the bad-ass hero type. His character can certainly fight with fists, knives and guns against the terrorists. Butler's character (Mike Banning) also has the odd excellent one-liner. With the best one liner being in conversation with Korean terrorist Kang (not the alien from The Simpsons). Played by Die Another Day's Rick Yune.
"Why don't you and I play a game of fuck off. You go first."
Rick Yune played an excellent villain who wouldn't stop at anything to get what he wants. Definitely better than the villain in Butler's Gamer which was played by Michael C Hall who was basically a psychopathic version of serial killer Dexter Morgan. The captured US President is played by Aaron Eckhart, who I reckon has aged quite a bit from playing Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight some years ago. In fairness he played the part of the US President similar to Bill Pullman in Independence Day. Morgan Freeman was basically Morgan Freeman playing as Speaker for the House of Representatives, Allan Trumbull[
I did find it quite funny that when the terrorist attack first happened Banning was working in an office wearing shirt and tie with paperwork and PC in hand. Where hours later he was in The White House with hand gun and wearing a flak jacket..Wondering how the terrorists invaded The White House? Think how Gary Oldman and his Russians invaded Air Force One. I had two some niggles about the action film. I felt the scenes with Banning's partner. Who worked in the Emergency Room at the near by hospital seemed pointless and was used to full screen time. Also most of the scenes in The White House were quite dark due to being no lighting with the loss of power. You would've thought the terrorists would leave the emergency lights on. I approved the final battle at the end where Banning keeps his promise. Where A Good Day to Die Hard was good. Olympus Has Fallen was better in terms of story plot and the fights being more brutal since Die Hard 5 was a 12A film, Olympus being a 15. Given the story plot, it's could've been 24 The Movie with Jack Bauer instead of Mike Banning but 24 always has done a plot where the bloke from the Candyman films invaded The White House.
Would you go to see it?
Definitely if you're into action films. Especially the ones where terrorists take over somewhere a loner fights for evening.
I rate Olympus Has Fallen 4 out of 5.
Sunday 21 April 2013
Last Night's Telly (Who Dares Wins)
Watched the usual three Saturday night shows. Britain's Got Talent, Who Dares Wins and The Cube. I tweeted about BGT and The Cube last night on twitter but I thought I would blog about Who Dares Wins since I was slightly frustrated with the contestant's tactics last night. We had returning champions Colette and Baz who won their first match last Saturday and secured £25,000. They faced Sarah-Jane and Tim.
First list was BBC Presenters at the 2012 Olympics. One of the major rules to becoming a dominate team on Who Dares Wins is to always listen to Nick's clarification on what can be acceptable on the list. Nick confirms the list contains 146 commentators, presenters, news correspondents and reporters who worked for BBC TV during the London 2012 Olympics. That's 146 names on the list. Since everybody watched the Olympic Games last year surely must remember the people who fronted the coverage. Who Dares Wins was recorded in December 2012, four months since the Olympics finished. Meaning the memories are fresh in the people's minds. Also, as it was on BBC Television, one way to winning the list to simply think of all the presenters who has appeared on BBC Sport programmes as a presenter, analyst or commentator within the last 12-24 months. Also any sports reporters who have worked for BBC News would bound to be on the list. I said last night I could early get 10 as a starter and if pushed would go higher. Given there are 146 names, the names I could think of sure would be on that list. So we go to the challengers first with their opening bid. Tim said he watched the Olympics but think it's hard to remember the presenters so they go for an opening bid of 5. Yes, that's five names! The champions decided to up the bid by a whopping two, to six. The challengers then upped it to 9 and were forced to name them.
As stated if I was playing I would go round sport by sport.
Football
Gary Linkear
Alan Hanson
Mark Lawrenson
Garth Crooks
Jonathan Pearce
Steve Wilson
Guy Mobray
Tennis
Sue Barker
Tim Henman
Tracey Austin
Virgina Wade
John Lloyd
Andrew Castle
Athletics
Colin Jackson
Denise Lewis
Then you get the people who worked on the opening/closing ceremony.
Huw Edwards
Reggie Yates
Also BBC Olympic Breakfast would count so you got
Bill Turnbull and Sian Williams reunited
Hazel Irvine
Chris Hollins
Sally Nugent
Also you got that prat Rob Walker who jumped on Ben Ainsle when he won his gold medal.
Take makes it 22 names and given what the teams had bid I would've early beaten them.
The challengers said these names
That makes the champions 1-0 up. Next list was Actors in Richard Curtis films. Basically any actor or actress who have appeared in The Tall Guy, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Love Actually and The Boat That Rocked.
Once again as there are five films you could easily get 10 if you work through then one by one. Provided you have watched them. Simply work through film by film. Also, if anybody watched Pointless recently then one of their Classic Pointless rounds were actors in Love Actually. So we get an opening bid by the champions with 5. Yes, only 5. Challengers raised their bid to seven who was outbid by the champions to 8 who had to name them. They managed to win the list and to to play on the money list. The full list contained 7 pages of names.
The first money list of the night was Countries Visted by UK Residents. Basically the top 30 countries to have been visited by UK residents in 2011. As with the money list last week they worked out a tactic to go through the list. As with this week they did the right thing by going through European countries. The managed to get nine correct answers to win £15,000. Securing a total of £40,000 over two money lists.
Second half of the show had the champions pitted against Chrissie and Joe. The first list provided a brick wall to me. Coldplay songs, including collaborations. In a nutshell I don't know any song by Coldplay at all. The challengers opened their bid with 8 but was raised to 10 by the champions who had to name them. They worked their way to 9 but lost the list on their tenth answer where Baz gave Xyloto Myloto. Which was deemed incorrect as the song they performed was Mylo Xyloto. The challengers are now one list away to dethrone the champions. Next list Cities with underground railway stations. So any city in the world that has got an underground railway. For the first time on last night's show we get a team who decides to take a risk and name 14 cities. They manged to rattle them off and became the new champions.
The second money list, first for the new champions were Greatest TV Detectives. To clarify, Nick wanted any of the 60 TV detectives that have appeared on the 2009 Top of the Cops. Which was produced to for a television show to find the nations favourite TV detectives. He goes to say the list features detectives around the whole as well as British ones. In addition. If the detectives were part of a double act then reach name can be taken as separate entries. That last bit proved valuable. My way on working to £50,000 is to think of the TV detective shows that have been popular. Not just UK shows but shows in the US like Magnum and Kojak. Also if you know any popular double acts like Cagney and Lacey, Morse and Lewis & Dempsey and Makepace that would give you eight answers already and I've yet to mention the well known ones like Poirot, Marple, Jim Taggart and Tom Barnaby. I would say this was dream list had I been playing but I wasn't. The champions climed to £15,000. Joe wanted to play on for £25,000 but Chrissie persuaded him to stop. They return to face their second pair on next weeks show.
These were the correct answers they gave.
First list was BBC Presenters at the 2012 Olympics. One of the major rules to becoming a dominate team on Who Dares Wins is to always listen to Nick's clarification on what can be acceptable on the list. Nick confirms the list contains 146 commentators, presenters, news correspondents and reporters who worked for BBC TV during the London 2012 Olympics. That's 146 names on the list. Since everybody watched the Olympic Games last year surely must remember the people who fronted the coverage. Who Dares Wins was recorded in December 2012, four months since the Olympics finished. Meaning the memories are fresh in the people's minds. Also, as it was on BBC Television, one way to winning the list to simply think of all the presenters who has appeared on BBC Sport programmes as a presenter, analyst or commentator within the last 12-24 months. Also any sports reporters who have worked for BBC News would bound to be on the list. I said last night I could early get 10 as a starter and if pushed would go higher. Given there are 146 names, the names I could think of sure would be on that list. So we go to the challengers first with their opening bid. Tim said he watched the Olympics but think it's hard to remember the presenters so they go for an opening bid of 5. Yes, that's five names! The champions decided to up the bid by a whopping two, to six. The challengers then upped it to 9 and were forced to name them.
As stated if I was playing I would go round sport by sport.
Football
Gary Linkear
Alan Hanson
Mark Lawrenson
Garth Crooks
Jonathan Pearce
Steve Wilson
Guy Mobray
Tennis
Sue Barker
Tim Henman
Tracey Austin
Virgina Wade
John Lloyd
Andrew Castle
Athletics
Colin Jackson
Denise Lewis
Then you get the people who worked on the opening/closing ceremony.
Huw Edwards
Reggie Yates
Also BBC Olympic Breakfast would count so you got
Bill Turnbull and Sian Williams reunited
Hazel Irvine
Chris Hollins
Sally Nugent
Also you got that prat Rob Walker who jumped on Ben Ainsle when he won his gold medal.
Take makes it 22 names and given what the teams had bid I would've early beaten them.
The challengers said these names
However, they came unstuck as they said Daley Thompson. Nick stated he was a guest and not part of the BBC team. I think he did work as a presenter but for an Australian broadcaster.
For those playing along here are the other answers
That makes the champions 1-0 up. Next list was Actors in Richard Curtis films. Basically any actor or actress who have appeared in The Tall Guy, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Love Actually and The Boat That Rocked.
Once again as there are five films you could easily get 10 if you work through then one by one. Provided you have watched them. Simply work through film by film. Also, if anybody watched Pointless recently then one of their Classic Pointless rounds were actors in Love Actually. So we get an opening bid by the champions with 5. Yes, only 5. Challengers raised their bid to seven who was outbid by the champions to 8 who had to name them. They managed to win the list and to to play on the money list. The full list contained 7 pages of names.
The first money list of the night was Countries Visted by UK Residents. Basically the top 30 countries to have been visited by UK residents in 2011. As with the money list last week they worked out a tactic to go through the list. As with this week they did the right thing by going through European countries. The managed to get nine correct answers to win £15,000. Securing a total of £40,000 over two money lists.
Second half of the show had the champions pitted against Chrissie and Joe. The first list provided a brick wall to me. Coldplay songs, including collaborations. In a nutshell I don't know any song by Coldplay at all. The challengers opened their bid with 8 but was raised to 10 by the champions who had to name them. They worked their way to 9 but lost the list on their tenth answer where Baz gave Xyloto Myloto. Which was deemed incorrect as the song they performed was Mylo Xyloto. The challengers are now one list away to dethrone the champions. Next list Cities with underground railway stations. So any city in the world that has got an underground railway. For the first time on last night's show we get a team who decides to take a risk and name 14 cities. They manged to rattle them off and became the new champions.
The second money list, first for the new champions were Greatest TV Detectives. To clarify, Nick wanted any of the 60 TV detectives that have appeared on the 2009 Top of the Cops. Which was produced to for a television show to find the nations favourite TV detectives. He goes to say the list features detectives around the whole as well as British ones. In addition. If the detectives were part of a double act then reach name can be taken as separate entries. That last bit proved valuable. My way on working to £50,000 is to think of the TV detective shows that have been popular. Not just UK shows but shows in the US like Magnum and Kojak. Also if you know any popular double acts like Cagney and Lacey, Morse and Lewis & Dempsey and Makepace that would give you eight answers already and I've yet to mention the well known ones like Poirot, Marple, Jim Taggart and Tom Barnaby. I would say this was dream list had I been playing but I wasn't. The champions climed to £15,000. Joe wanted to play on for £25,000 but Chrissie persuaded him to stop. They return to face their second pair on next weeks show.
These were the correct answers they gave.
and the correct answers they could've said.
I noticed Hamish Macbeth was on the list. I know the TV adaptation was a modest success on BBC One in the mid 1990s but I know the author, M.C. Beaton hated how the BBC adapted her creation for the small screen.
I said at the start of the blog I was slightly frustrated about the contestants tactics. The first few lists had the teams being too cautious with bidding as low as 5. The name of the show is Who Dares Wins. Yes, I know the actual name is The Rich List but that's how the BBC called the UK version. The whole point is to dare to win. If you play cautiously too much then you will get punished. You need to take a risk now and again, make a high bid then work your way through the list. Don't forget there is no time limit on how long it takes a team to complete. I will say when a team plays their first list then need to be careful as there is no guarantee they will be back to play for a second time. So they need to bank as much money as they possible can from their knowledge on that list. Once they do bank enough money then could have some fun if they come back. A good example were recent champions Sam and Kevin. They won the maximum £50,000 on the first list. Came back to win £25,000 on their second but won another £50,000 on their third. Securing £125,000. However, they lost on the fourth money which ended up losing but have already won £1250,000. They lost their fifth match afterwards.
Last night's show swapped timeslots with The Voice. Therefore it went head to head with Britain's Got Talent. I was gutted to read it had an all time low rating of 2.82m (12.9%) against Britain's Got Talent's 9.66m (43.9%). I know it was against the Cowell machine but I hope the BBC don't make the silly decision to axe this show on the basis they swapped slots with The Voice. Given it's a cheap show to produce compared to The Voice which cost the BBC £22 million for two series. I might be wrong but I think the timeslot swap has made the BBC worse off with their Saturday night ratings.
Thursday 18 April 2013
Just Read: A Cotswold Killing (Thea Osborne #1) by Rebecca Tope
Reading books set in the Cotsworld aren't new to me. I have read the first nine books in the Agatha Raisin series by M.C. Beaton and have fallen in love with them. I will write about her books in a future post. After reading about another series of books set in the Cotsworlds. I thought I would give it a go to see if it's as good as the Raisin woman.
All of the books featuring Thea Osborne are set in the Cotsworlds. Tope tend to use real villages and towns for the book's setting and only use fictional names for the houses, farms and characters. Thea Osborne is an early 40s widow who recently lost her husband, Carl in a road traffic accident. She has a spaniel, Hepzie and enjoys playing Scrabble online in her spare time.
She takes up a self employed job as a house-sitter. Looking after the house, garden and fields whilst the owners are away long term. Her first venture saw her looking after Brook View in Duntisbourne Abbots. A village that doesn't have a post office, local shop or even a pub (although there is one in real life, Five Mile House). The owners, Clive and Jennifer Reynolds are taking a three week cruise while they have left the house, the massive field, the sheep and their two labradors in the capable hands of Thea. After settling in, she is first met by local farmer Joel Jennison. However, sleeping on her first night at Brook View she hears a scream in the garden but doesn't investigate. The next morning she discovers a deceased Joel at the back of the house. Thea decides to investigate to see who murdered Joel by visiting the neighbours and the farm he lived on. Not everything is normal in the village as a previous murder from two months earlier is unearthed.
I felt the book was sort of in the middle. OK but not brilliant. I think the problem I had with the first book was Thea is mostly on her own and barely has any detective interaction outside Brook View. Yes, she does visit the neighbours of Duntisbourne Abbots but the people are mostly suspects and she hasn't got anybody to bounce her theories off from. She has got a brother in law, James who works for the police but when he first visits Thea at Brook View, Tope has wrote him in as a person who doesn't take any notice of Thea's theories and always looks at his watch. Also James only pops in and out throughout the book and not a permanent character. It seems of all the crime books I read the lead characters always has an aid. Like Watson to Holmes, thus.
Hercule Poirot has either Arthur Hastings or Aridane Oliver,
Agatha Raisin has either James Lacey or Sir Charles Fraith,
Carole Seddon has Jude,
Cora Felton has her niece Sherry,
Tom Thorne has Dave Holland,
and son on
Perhaps it's me but I felt Thea could've had someone by her side to help her but not all the time attached to her. If James was featured more then I would change my opinion. Given there are a lot of family members in the plot it was difficult to follow to how they're related to Joel. Also I felt the way where Thea was working out the murderer could've been done much earlier given the resources she had. The first book does have some interesting bits but it does dip from time to time.
My main gripe is how the booked ended. It felt abrupt and cut short. I thought "is that it?". When the murderer was revealed and why it happened did make sense but I felt a prologue or an extra chapter could've benefited to wrapping the book up. I will commend Tope for using actual place names for the settings to give it realism but I feel the first book overall could've been better. That said, the series could improve in my eyes as she has released another nine books in the Thea Osborne series. In comparison to the Agatha Raisin series. These books are a bit darker and doesn't have the humour compared to the love to hate character of Agatha Raisin.
Would I recommend this book to you? Yes, if you enjoy a complex murder plot featuring a family but there are better murder mysteries out there.
Would I read the next one in the series? Yes as it may improve but I wouldn't rush to read the next one straight away.
I gave A Cotswold Killing 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.
Next to read: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
Sunday 14 April 2013
Last Night's Telly (13th April 2013)
I don't usually watch much UK telly "live" these days. Most things are on the Sky+. Other than that I'm usually on the laptop or reading a book. As a family we tend to watch the main entertainment shows on a Saturday night together. Well, I say family. It was the three of us but with the loss of my dad in June 2012 it's now me and my mum. Here is a round up to what we watched last night.
Britain's Got Talent
BGT is back for their seventh series where Simon Cowell finds his latest star to make millions of pounds from whilst destroying the competition on the other channels at the same time. The new series started with a flash mob in London performing to Walking on Sunshine. It was not as good as last year's opening with Ant & Dec miming to Queen's Don't Stop Me Now but this year had cameos from 2012 winners Ashleigh and Pudsey (Pudsey is a dog for those who have been on another planet), 2012 runners up, opera singers Jonathan and Charlotte and 2009 contenders Stavros Flatley (are they still around?).
All four judges return. Strictly Come Dancing defector, Alesha Dixon, The Louie Walsh of BGT, Amanda Holden, The Dark Lord, Simon Cowell and Cowell's secret lover, David Walliams. I will admit the inclusion to Walliams on the last series was sheer genius. He was like a breath of fresh air. Interacts with the acts well and even has fun with them. Remember The Showbears? As with tradition they get the crap acts out of the way first then bring on the good ones. The crap acts included a guitar player where David claimed would probably do well on The Voice.
In terms of the good acts. There were Jack Carroll. A 14 year old Cerebral Palsy sufferer who can do comedy (EDIT: I almost typed stand up comedy but due to his condition he is required to sit down). I do admire his courage for taking the piss out of his condition but I felt the jokes were a bit flat and didn't laugh once. Maybe I got a rubbish sense of humour but he impressed the judges and got through. I suspect we will see him in the semi finals. We had Arisxandra Libantino. An 11 year old singer who sings like an older woman. She was okay, nothing outstanding. Before we switched over to BBC One the last act were Hungarian shadow dance group Attraction. With a team of eight and the power of producing shadows they created a true story of a man and woman getting together, deciding to get married, having a daughter but the man losing his life in a war conflict. In what they performed in 2 minutes was totally sensational, inspiring and nearly brought a tear to my eye. My mum said "the best two things I have seen this week are Derek (Ricky Gervais's comedy) and that shadow act".
The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
We usually watch the lottery game shows on a Saturday night unless they are crap (we mean you, Millionaire Manor and This Time Tomorrow). My mum loves In It to Win It with Dale Winton but she don't mind Who Dares Wins. I actually like Who Dares Wins as if you know your lists of useless information you can dominate this show.
We had the carry over champions, Gill and Peter. I stated on twitter last week they were lucky to beat the previous champions but also they looked weak as they could only walk away with £5,000 on the money list featuring characters from Dallas since they never watched it (yes, really). This was a list I probably would get high up although I never watched it but have got he box set and know some of the characters. They faced against their second pair of challengers Kim and Zoe. First list were performers at The Queens's Diamond Jubilee Concert. I would've collapsed on this list as I was too distressed to watch it due to my father's death earlier on the very same day. I probably would get about 4/5 from what I've read online. The champions had lost the list on their second answer by giving Take That but they never performed at the concert as a group but have done at the Olympics. Next list was English football teams that have won the premiership (1993 onwards) or the old first division (1992 and before). The champions had a go by answering 8 but once again lost the list by giving West Ham United as a wrong answer. I would've got about 10-12 as if you can name all the premiership winners you already banked 5 answers then you can work your way backwards to the likes of Leeds and Liverpool. As proven to what I said on twitter last week they lost the champions crown and left with the lowest cash prize possible with £5,000. That said, the new champions didn't fare much better. They tackled the money list with Dustin Hoffman films and walked away with £5,000. I would also struggle on this list since I haven't watched many of his films. I do know Rain Man, Hook, Meet the Fockers, Little Fockers, Tootsie and that's it.
For their second match they faced against Collette and Baz. First list were states of the USA with the letter o in them. The challenges won that list easily. In fairness it is a list you can blitz on since nearly half the states have a letter o in their name. Second list was highest grossing film franchises. In other words any of the top 50 highest grossing film franchises that have had two or more films. The key to this list is popular series of films. So the likes of Batman, Pirates of the Caribbean Bourne trilogy, James Bond, Toy Story etc... would definitely be in the top 50. It seems Kim and Zoe didn't grasp the logic for winning the list and lost the list and the match by saying Rambo. Turns out Rambo was the 51st most grossing franchise and therefore not in the top 50. Probably because First Blood and Rambo was brilliant but First Blood Part 2 and Rambo 3 were crap. What is surprising when the other answers were revealed that The Lion King was on the list. Either I am wrong but although The Lion King had 3 films, the second and third films were direct to video/DVD releases and not released in the cinema. So we've had two sets of champions who bombed out with £5,000 after winning one match. Luckily, it wasn't for a third time as the new champions, Collette and Baz secured £25,000 with female grand slam tennis champions. What I liked about Baz was he played the money list in the perfect way by working out three answers before attempting them. Also he tried to name the winners in chronological order where I would've done the same thing but from now backwards. They return for their second game next week where it will be moved earlier 7.30pm and probably get slaughtered by Britain's Got Talent, shame.
Britain's Got Talent
Back to BGT for the last 15 mins to see singer Alice Fredenham who in my mum's opinion is the new Amy Winehouse. Turns out she appeared on The Voice but failed to get through the blind auditions. I suppose Universal Music's loss is Simon Cowell's gain. There was one thing I didn't like at the start of the new series. There were hardly any mention where the auditions were coming from. It mentioned London at the start and Manchester later on in but Birmingham were hardly mentioned until a shot outside the ICC at the end.
The Cube
Last episode of The Cube from the 2012 recordings last night. First guy was Christopher from Wales. I swear when I first saw him he spookingly looks like David Bodycombe, seriously. We get to see old favourites Quantity, Balance and Bloody Barrier. He walked with £20,000 since he couldn't balance on a very small platform in Balance. Essex lad Scott followed but lost many lives the classic game Gradient. The same game that defeated Kelly Holmes many years ago. He ended up being defeated on Exchange. Although he used a simplify to give him more time to move the balls rather than give him 2 less balls.
From the last £100,000 win earlier this series, I am convinced that a member of the public will never beat The Cube, let alone go for it and risk £100,000 due to interference from friends and family in the audience. Mo Farah might have beaten The Cube last July but we will never see a regular joe winning the top prize. Same goes for a female winning £100,000. I don't think a woman will win six figures on The Cube.
Britain's Got Talent
BGT is back for their seventh series where Simon Cowell finds his latest star to make millions of pounds from whilst destroying the competition on the other channels at the same time. The new series started with a flash mob in London performing to Walking on Sunshine. It was not as good as last year's opening with Ant & Dec miming to Queen's Don't Stop Me Now but this year had cameos from 2012 winners Ashleigh and Pudsey (Pudsey is a dog for those who have been on another planet), 2012 runners up, opera singers Jonathan and Charlotte and 2009 contenders Stavros Flatley (are they still around?).
All four judges return. Strictly Come Dancing defector, Alesha Dixon, The Louie Walsh of BGT, Amanda Holden, The Dark Lord, Simon Cowell and Cowell's secret lover, David Walliams. I will admit the inclusion to Walliams on the last series was sheer genius. He was like a breath of fresh air. Interacts with the acts well and even has fun with them. Remember The Showbears? As with tradition they get the crap acts out of the way first then bring on the good ones. The crap acts included a guitar player where David claimed would probably do well on The Voice.
In terms of the good acts. There were Jack Carroll. A 14 year old Cerebral Palsy sufferer who can do comedy (EDIT: I almost typed stand up comedy but due to his condition he is required to sit down). I do admire his courage for taking the piss out of his condition but I felt the jokes were a bit flat and didn't laugh once. Maybe I got a rubbish sense of humour but he impressed the judges and got through. I suspect we will see him in the semi finals. We had Arisxandra Libantino. An 11 year old singer who sings like an older woman. She was okay, nothing outstanding. Before we switched over to BBC One the last act were Hungarian shadow dance group Attraction. With a team of eight and the power of producing shadows they created a true story of a man and woman getting together, deciding to get married, having a daughter but the man losing his life in a war conflict. In what they performed in 2 minutes was totally sensational, inspiring and nearly brought a tear to my eye. My mum said "the best two things I have seen this week are Derek (Ricky Gervais's comedy) and that shadow act".
The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
We usually watch the lottery game shows on a Saturday night unless they are crap (we mean you, Millionaire Manor and This Time Tomorrow). My mum loves In It to Win It with Dale Winton but she don't mind Who Dares Wins. I actually like Who Dares Wins as if you know your lists of useless information you can dominate this show.
We had the carry over champions, Gill and Peter. I stated on twitter last week they were lucky to beat the previous champions but also they looked weak as they could only walk away with £5,000 on the money list featuring characters from Dallas since they never watched it (yes, really). This was a list I probably would get high up although I never watched it but have got he box set and know some of the characters. They faced against their second pair of challengers Kim and Zoe. First list were performers at The Queens's Diamond Jubilee Concert. I would've collapsed on this list as I was too distressed to watch it due to my father's death earlier on the very same day. I probably would get about 4/5 from what I've read online. The champions had lost the list on their second answer by giving Take That but they never performed at the concert as a group but have done at the Olympics. Next list was English football teams that have won the premiership (1993 onwards) or the old first division (1992 and before). The champions had a go by answering 8 but once again lost the list by giving West Ham United as a wrong answer. I would've got about 10-12 as if you can name all the premiership winners you already banked 5 answers then you can work your way backwards to the likes of Leeds and Liverpool. As proven to what I said on twitter last week they lost the champions crown and left with the lowest cash prize possible with £5,000. That said, the new champions didn't fare much better. They tackled the money list with Dustin Hoffman films and walked away with £5,000. I would also struggle on this list since I haven't watched many of his films. I do know Rain Man, Hook, Meet the Fockers, Little Fockers, Tootsie and that's it.
For their second match they faced against Collette and Baz. First list were states of the USA with the letter o in them. The challenges won that list easily. In fairness it is a list you can blitz on since nearly half the states have a letter o in their name. Second list was highest grossing film franchises. In other words any of the top 50 highest grossing film franchises that have had two or more films. The key to this list is popular series of films. So the likes of Batman, Pirates of the Caribbean Bourne trilogy, James Bond, Toy Story etc... would definitely be in the top 50. It seems Kim and Zoe didn't grasp the logic for winning the list and lost the list and the match by saying Rambo. Turns out Rambo was the 51st most grossing franchise and therefore not in the top 50. Probably because First Blood and Rambo was brilliant but First Blood Part 2 and Rambo 3 were crap. What is surprising when the other answers were revealed that The Lion King was on the list. Either I am wrong but although The Lion King had 3 films, the second and third films were direct to video/DVD releases and not released in the cinema. So we've had two sets of champions who bombed out with £5,000 after winning one match. Luckily, it wasn't for a third time as the new champions, Collette and Baz secured £25,000 with female grand slam tennis champions. What I liked about Baz was he played the money list in the perfect way by working out three answers before attempting them. Also he tried to name the winners in chronological order where I would've done the same thing but from now backwards. They return for their second game next week where it will be moved earlier 7.30pm and probably get slaughtered by Britain's Got Talent, shame.
Britain's Got Talent
Back to BGT for the last 15 mins to see singer Alice Fredenham who in my mum's opinion is the new Amy Winehouse. Turns out she appeared on The Voice but failed to get through the blind auditions. I suppose Universal Music's loss is Simon Cowell's gain. There was one thing I didn't like at the start of the new series. There were hardly any mention where the auditions were coming from. It mentioned London at the start and Manchester later on in but Birmingham were hardly mentioned until a shot outside the ICC at the end.
The Cube
Last episode of The Cube from the 2012 recordings last night. First guy was Christopher from Wales. I swear when I first saw him he spookingly looks like David Bodycombe, seriously. We get to see old favourites Quantity, Balance and Bloody Barrier. He walked with £20,000 since he couldn't balance on a very small platform in Balance. Essex lad Scott followed but lost many lives the classic game Gradient. The same game that defeated Kelly Holmes many years ago. He ended up being defeated on Exchange. Although he used a simplify to give him more time to move the balls rather than give him 2 less balls.
From the last £100,000 win earlier this series, I am convinced that a member of the public will never beat The Cube, let alone go for it and risk £100,000 due to interference from friends and family in the audience. Mo Farah might have beaten The Cube last July but we will never see a regular joe winning the top prize. Same goes for a female winning £100,000. I don't think a woman will win six figures on The Cube.
New Blog
Decided to start another blog. When I mean another blog I have already set this one up for the ol'man. Me and My Wonderful Dad. I will confess I've published three posts but I will try up update that one in the coming weeks and months.
Basically this blog is about what I see also general rants and raves. I do have a twitter account. You can follow me via @travisapenery. Where twitter is limited to 140 characters. I will use this blog to expand on what I type on there. I will experiment with the display format of this blog until I am happy with it so bare with me.
Let's begin...
Basically this blog is about what I see also general rants and raves. I do have a twitter account. You can follow me via @travisapenery. Where twitter is limited to 140 characters. I will use this blog to expand on what I type on there. I will experiment with the display format of this blog until I am happy with it so bare with me.
Let's begin...
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