Oh, it was just so good. This film was well over my self-imposed two hour attention span and I was gripped all the way through. It was good old-fashioned disaster movie stuff, but it worked. All of it. Even the plot holes and the mushy stuff didn’t get in the way. I was glad that they actually had a plan to save the human race, rather than just running to the top of the nearest mountain. Loved it.

I was following a tutorial up to a point and then decided I liked how it looked in black and white without adding any of the colours. A lot of the tutorials I’ve looked at seem to like multi-coloured colour burns. I’m not so keen on them, but tutorials are there to be expanded on, aren’t they? Made with: Pixelmator Tutorial: Colorful Bokeh Effect Font: Impact Mr C and I had a bit of a discussion about Impact vs Haettenschweiler. The one time he actually got to impart some of his new-found typography knowledge onto me.

I sacrificed watching some of the Monaco GP to tune in to Franck for the second race at Assen. When I switched over, he was being interviewed on the grid, and didn’t sound too optimistic about what they could do. Franck started fourth, though, which was the only bonus of retiring from the first race. At the first corner, he moved up to third with some great work. He held station there, but closed up to the leaders as they were scrabbling for position.

I hadn’t planned to watch the racing this weekend, but I woke up with two minutes to spare, so I grabbed the laptop and watched. Franck started the first race in second, lining up on the first row. During the outlap, he backed the pack up a little, and when the pace car disappeared, he had a great first bid to try and overtake for P1. He didn’t make it stick and settled for second.

I have mixed feelings about this episode. On the one hand, it was a good romp through an unusual situation with an interesting outcome. On the other hand, it wasn’t even slightly what I thought it was going to be. Firstly, I know that it’s my fault for building it up into something it wasn’t. I’m a big fan of the time travel/flash forward/mixed up universes kind of story, ones where there are all kinds of coincidences and you have to stick with it to figure it out.

If you remember back to the first brand new food I tried as part of my New Year Resolutions, it was a fruit that did not go down very well. Slippery slimy thing that lives on in my memory. For the second two new foods I tried, I went for something I had at least heard of and understood what to expect when it came to the eating. Goat’s Cheese

Love, love, love it. The story is ridiculous but brilliant. It’s a little bit slapstick, but intelligent with it. It’s not too soppy, but you can tell the emotions are there, and the people involved really believe what they’re doing. He kills goats and bursts clouds, you know. Highly recommended as long as you don’t take it too seriously.

The first few scenes of the film put me right off. Some pretty violent stuff, followed by some law stuff that I didn’t really understand. However, once we got past that, into the real plot of the movie, it was great. Some fabulous acting, although the polite little girl was a bit unnecessary, I think.

Well now, that was a really fun experiment! For a long time Mitch was leading the vote, but Bruno snuck up from behind and took glory. Only Mason was chosen twice out of the various Other suggestions. I am intensely curious where the idea of Damon Hill came from. Anyway, on with the story. “Bruno,” Melissa sighed, throwing her hands up in exasperation. “What are you doing?” “I just wanted to see you,” he said. “I didn’t think you would come if I asked.”

A rather damp looking Franck, presumably after getting out the car: Photo Credit: chkltcow

This weekend, Franck will return to action for Girondins de Bordeaux at the second round of the Superleague Formula series. This time they are at Assen, and the official SF website describes it as thus: Better known as the cathedral of motorcycling, the 2.830 mile circuit located in north eastern Holland should prove a real challenge for the championship’s V12-powered 750bhp single seaters thanks to it being specifically designed with motorbikes in mind.

During the Free Practice commentary for the Monaco weekend by 5Live, David Croft and Anthony Davidson discussed a certain driver that we all know and love (even more so because of this!) Transcript Croftie: Sir Stirling Moss… very much enjoying the interactive tweeting that’s going on this morning and he sent us another tweet as well - thank you for this! He says in 1960, us drivers did 100 laps and we drove three and a half hours which required supreme concentration. Can you imagine, three and a half hours, around Monaco? Your eyes would be affected for weeks afterwards.

I am very impressed with how good and honest you all are: Let’s see how she takes it! Also for today’s poll, I thought we’d try out the “fill in your own” option. Much fun! “Come with me,” Mitch said, taking her by the arm and leading her through the crowd. They slipped out into the corridor and Melissa followed Mitch as he rounded the corner and walked ahead. He slowed outside a door, knocked lightly, peeked inside, and gestured for Melissa to follow him in. As she passed through the door, she saw they were entering an empty Conference Room B.

I’ve found a couple of great videos from this weekend’s racing in Spa. The first is a build up to the event and features lots of drivers - but keep watching because not only does Franck make a couple of appearances, but in one of them he is hugging Bibendum. My two favourite people! The second video is footage from the podium, in which Franck is standing to the far left. It gets a bit shaky in the middle when the camera operator tries a zoom, but if you stick with it you get some great footage of Franck leaning against the wall, and sticking his hands in his pockets. As if coming second in a six hour race is an every day occurrence.

I needed a few days for this one to come to fruition, but we’re getting there. Now we are on part seven and beyond, I know where I’m going with each outcome. We have some end goals in sight, people. Here are the results for the last vote: I thought it might be closer than that, but interesting voting, nonetheless. Now for part 7: “I’m not going to race you, Bruno,” Mitch said, and his voice had a definite edge that couldn’t be ignored.

Somehow, although I was vaguely aware of Franck taking part in the LMS race this weekend, I didn’t see or hear anything about it until after the event. I have managed to gather together the pertinent facts, though. Firstly, Franck and Sarrazin were left in the lurch when Nicolas Minassian pulled out due to some sprained ribs. He sustained the injury during some training earlier in the week, which is eerily similar to Franck’s broken leg last year - also picked up in training. Perhaps these intense training catchups are not such a good idea?

I found the brushes whilst browsing on BrushEezy and knew I wanted to use them up for something. I’m not happy with the way the one in the top right doesn’t end properly, whereas the one in the bottom left does. The idea of big brushes in the background to temper the dark foreground ones is fascinating. I played around with the text a lot and couldn’t really get anything I was happy with so I ended up going with a simple filter.

The first thing to do, I suppose, is to take a step back from my big ol’ sulk of last week. I still stand by the fact that Doctor Who, for me, is not about the romance. But I got over it. The one thing I would say is that if there’s something I’m unhappy with, usually watching Confidential makes me see it in a different light. It did not help this week. Particularly when they were all “smoochy smoochy time.” Bleurgh.

The 1st May - a Saturday - and my challenge has begun. I had a couple of options to go with for the first letter of the alphabet but I thought I would start with something simple. Aberdulais Falls is a National Trust location, just off the M4 in South Wales. The blurb reads: Set in a steep gorge, this property demonstrates the power of water and its impact on industry… Today the waters of the River Dulais are used to make Aberdulais Falls self-sufficient in environmentally friendly energy, with its waterwheel – the largest in Europe generating electricity.

At first, I was in two minds. The Julia Child storyline was annoying, it takes a while to get used to her. I wanted to watch more of the Amy Adams stuff, more cooking please. But then I really got into it and the way the two stories worked together was fabulous. I love, love, loved it. Want to read the books and start cooking more. Yay for blogging!

Whilst investigating potential places to visit for the A-Z Adventure, I came across this interesting event: the Dorset Knob Throwing festival. Now, I do try and be an adult most of the time, but sometimes there are things that you just can’t ignore. A section from the rules. Dorset Knob measured at final resting place. If Dorset Knob breaks upon landing it will be the umpire’s decision of final resting place. Indeed.

Gosh, it’s been quite a busy month in Ambridge, hasn’t it? And it’s been all about the girls in April. Pip has at least gone quiet now, after her ill-fated trip to Cornwall to check up on her boyfriend. Then he tried to kill her by recklessly driving around on a quad bike and now David has banned him from the farm. Phew. I thought it was all over, but I was disappointed. Ruth is now constantly moaning that she doesn’t see Pip anymore, as the girl is spending all her time at Jude’s. Is anyone else a bit confused that Pip isn’t allowed to come home after 11pm without getting an earful, is read the riot act for daring to drink a bit of alcohol, has managed to get her boyfriend banned from the property, but it’s perfectly acceptable that she spends all weekend over at his place?

Way back at the beginning of the year, when I made those five silly little resolutions, one of them was to go outside more. This is not a very achievable goal, as there is no attainable target, no specific timeframe and no real sense of achievement. (My resolution next year will be to stop over-thinking things!) Now that I have a bit more time on my hands, I have given this outside business some consideration and come up with this: The Amazing A-Z Adventure.

We’re entering into the second half of our story now, and things are hotting up. Old rivalries come to the fore, and new relationships are tested. There, that ought to look good on the back of the book. Here are the results of the vote: That Mitch, he does like handling things himself. “Don’t make any calls, Mason. You sound like you’re in the mafia.” “You never know,” Mason chuckled.

I went to visit my brother recently (hi brother!) and he’s the proud owner of a fancy HD TV. I do most of my media consuming online but I can appreciate a good TV when I see one. He was watching the snooker, which seemed a bit of a waste to me, but still, nice TV. We got into a conversation about 3D vs HD and we were mostly in agreement - who’s gonna fork out for a 3D TV?

I actually fall somewhere in between the two camps of whether this was better or worse than the original. I think the story was lacking somewhat, way too much goo and I got lost halfway through. However, the characters were more fun because we know them already and they play off each other better. It hasn’t aged as well, the music seemed to date it quite badly, particularly right at the end. Overall, though, a thumbs up.

As you can tell, it wasn’t until about halfway through that I really started to enjoy the film. I liked the therapy stuff much more than the process of convincing him to go there. The conversations between Matt and Robin were fabulous. If it wasn’t so long, I’d be tempted to watch the film again.

The film was not at all what I thought it would be from the trailer. Very strange throughout - but highly entertaining. It sort of twisted towards the end and I maybe would have preferred something else, but the facts are what they are, and I wasn’t left feeling disappointed which is the main thing.

I really love this one. Made with: Pixelmator Tutorial for the text: Golden Text in Pixelmator Font: Garamond Background Images Set 9

LibriVox is an organisation with a simple goal - to make all public domain works accessible in audiobook form. I’ve been involved for a long while now, part of an enormous group of volunteers who record chapters, poems and entire books to attempt to reach this goal. I have finally finished the second book in the Grace Harlowe series - Grace Harlowe’s Sophomore Year at High School. As with the first book, Grace is the plucky young hero, facing tricky situations during her second year at school, surrounded by a fiercely loyal group of friends.

Certainly a very tricky situation, and how will Mitch try and get out of it? Mitch slammed his foot on the brake but knew that stopping wasn’t an option. The track was slippery and grip was almost non-existent. Bruno was inches away. Mitch jerked the car left, as hard as it would go, and held his breath. Bruno steered the other way, but his out of control Shuttleworth continued sideways. They touched wheels. Mitch found himself bouncing away and he shifted the steering to avoid a spin. The car skidded to a halt on the grass. Bruno finally regained control and stopped just as his front wing touched the barrier.

I never really thought I was one of those fans who got angry about the idea of the Doctor and romance, but there it was. When Amy was wandering around the forest by herself, eyes closed, panic rising, I felt for her. I couldn’t imagine anything worse. Then she went and ruined it by throwing herself at the Doctor and now I don’t really like her anymore.

My timing seems to have gone all wonky now. I closed the poll late, and this post has appeared later than I’d hoped. I can only apologise. Here are the results for the poll on Part 3: Quite the majority! Awww, you guys. “Wow!” Mitch said, hugging her quickly. “Congratulations. I’ll have to take you out for a celebratory drink.” “I turned it down,” Melissa said. “A commiseratory drink?”

With about five minutes to go, I glanced at the clock and realised that the episode would be over soon and our heroes were all still in mortal danger. Either they were going to wrap this up quickly or it was going to be a two-parter. Thankfully, it was the latter, although no one I have spoken to knew it was going to be over two weeks. A bit of warning might be nice. Compared with last year, however, a week seems like a reasonable amount of time to wait.

I was bemused for a lot of this film, but that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it. The style is so unusual that it was quite captivating and even though the story is bordering on ridiculous, and the characters are not even slightly sympathetic, it was short enough to keep my attention throughout.

So, yeah, it was pretty cringeworthy but I also kinda liked it. There’s something about it being so unashamedly about gymnastics that I like. It’s not pretending to be smart or clever, it’s just something colourful, bright and pretty (and flexible!) to watch for an hour or so.

Oh, wow, I have wrestled with this next section. I wrote it. Then I wrote it again with about six different endings. Then I went back to the original ending. It may still not be right yet. But let’s go with it. “This is nice,” Melissa said, as the waiter offered her a menu. Bruno smiled. “Wine?” he asked. “No, no, just a sparkling water for me. Can’t drink on duty.”

I really enjoyed this. It was clearly not meant to be taken at all seriously, and was essentially some pretty people running around a tropical island - falling out and making up. It was funny, though, more than I’d expected, and it wasn’t really too slushy either. Win-win!

It’s fair to say that Ricky Gervais basically plays one character - someone who is pretty smart and generally quite bemused by everyone around him. When he’s doing that, he does it well. The premise of the film is good, the religious part of it was a bit much for me, but it was pretty amusing.

Instead of a page with a long list of the header images created, I thought it might be more useful to give each it’s own blog post - with notes for future reference on what I did, the tools used, and whether it was a success or a failure. The first of my brand new header images was really just a big ball of experimentation. I had never worked with brushes before so I was playing about and seeing what worked and what didn’t.

Franck tests out a new Peugeot Coupe and a scooter. It’s fair to say that he looks a lot more comfortable in the car than on the scooter, but I wouldn’t say the same about his companion. The video is entirely in French, so I can’t tell you anything about it except the scooter looks quite expensive!

This week’s episode of LOST (don’t worry, no spoilers here) wasn’t the rip-roaring ride we’ve had recently with Richard and Desmond. It was good, but it was more of a transitional piece to get all the characters in the right place for whatever is to come in the final episodes. That is fine by me. Sometimes you need a break from the mind-blowing awesomeness - a breather to gather your thoughts. Not that we have many thoughts. We love watching the show, but instantly turn to Vozzek’s recaps so he can point out all the things we missed. (There will be spoilers in there.)

Yay for the return of Mitch and Friends. If anyone wants a quick catchup on everything that has happened so far, or wants a reminder of which character was which, I created a Life in the Fast Lane page with all you need to know. Now, the results of the vote for Part 1: I am glad that everyone on the list got some votes, I thought it might be a one horse race as only one of the characters is known to us so far. I’m also glad Uncle Mortimer retains some mystery. He has not yet had a speaking part!

There’s a great post from Steven Moffat on the BBC TV blog, and whilst a little bit spoilerific in terms of the next Weeping Angels episode (no major plot points but some behind the scenes notes), Mr M’s thoughts on Matt Smith are fascinating. I think the thing that has come back with Matt is the idea that The Doctor is a bit silly at times. He’s a slightly silly old buffer in a few ways.

My goodness, there are some really fabulous photos of Yun Zi available thanks to the San Diego Shooter. Relaxing Peekaboo! Sitting How adorable is that big ball of fluff? And how soon can I get to San Diego??

The team have launched, and so this is just a note to make sure you check out the photos on the Superleague Formula Facebook album. As you might expect, there are loads of Franck pictures! FKM has also written about his first weekend with the team on his site, available to read (in French) here.

So, here it is. The return of Mitch and his friends. I wanted to write a ten-step story on a different topic but I wasn’t inspired by anything else, and I missed Mitch. Marilene sent me a tweet and suddenly the sequel was there in my head, as though it had always been there. So thanks to Marilene, and thanks to you for reading. I hope it’s okay! Melissa took a deep breath and pushed open the gate. It creaked, reassuringly, and she made her way up the crumbling path towards the church. Her toes were already protesting about the new shoes they had been forced into, but Melissa ignored the pain, pasting a smile across her face.

(Note: I really wanted to call this post ‘Don’t Cross the Streams’ but I knew people would be mad it wasn’t about Ghostbusters.) I am so very up to date with TWiT podcasts now that I have even impressed myself! I was just listening to this weekend’s episode of This Week in Google, and there was a section of it I found really interesting. About half an hour in, they started on the topic of the Library of Congress creating an archive of all Twitter streams. That led on to some fascinating conversation.

I surprised myself with this film and really enjoyed it. With such strong characters, the black and white didn’t confuse me like the last one. The story was quite slow, and the acting very ’40s, but I was engrossed. I really would like to see the remake now.

Following the revelations of Whittled Down, I now have information about things I’m adding to Smarter Than Your Average. If you visit the site, rather than a feed reader, you might notice that I’ve reverted to the old Vigilance theme. I used to use this one in the good ol’ days of self-hosting, and I got a familiar sense of wellbeing when I selected it from the Wordpress options. (Incidentally, this post on the Wordpress blog gives me great hope for the future choice of themes on hosted WP.)