Cute Cupcake

I'm a little tired of the rampaging hoard of cupcakes.  Maybe I'm too traditional.  This one caught my eye today though, courtesy of the I Can Haz Chzburger email.  Peacock and cake?  Well it must have been baked for me. Could I bring myself to eat such a work of culinary art though?


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Lufthansa Game - Virtual Pilot

Stephen Fry tweeted about this game this morning.

It really is fun, especially if you enjoy to travel in Europe.

My name on there is Mekster.  Though I shouldn't have told you that as now you'll know how awful my geography is :-S



I do have to warn you though.  It's far too addictive to be helpful in the workplace ;-)

Virtual Pilot 2 seems kinda fun.  But it's a little too slow moving for my liking.

Thanks For the Donations

I completed the Race for Life on Sunday.  I was amazed to beat my 'Personal Best' by over 6 minutes.  I came in on 30 minutes 59 seconds.  A near miracle for me!

Best of all I managed to collect sponsorship of £355 With the added bonus of Gift Aid for UK taxpayers the total donated to Cancer Research will be £439.62  To all those sponsored me and spurred me on with their good wishes I am extremely grateful.  You all helped make it worthwhile.  I expected to struggle to reach £150 in sponsorship.  People's generosity was amazing.

I need to give a give a mention to the 'Get Running (Couch to 5K)' app which started me on my journey. http://splendid-things.co.uk/getrunning/ Starting from not having run since forced to at school was daunting.  This app helped get me going.

I started off my training on the treadmill and moved onto the roads when I'd gained a little running fitness.  I don't think you'll get me back on a treadmill unless the weather demands it.  It's so much more free and refreshing running outside.

Thanks to Mum and Dad for spurring me on on the day.  The biggest thanks of all have to go to my husband Dave.  He's given me nothing but support from the day I started.  Handing out advice, nudging me on when I got all pathetic and whined.  Helped plan my routes and ran with me on my training runs whilst ignoring the fact that I was sometimes less than charming whilst struggling.  I couldn't have done it without him.  To have him there as I crossed the finish line meant the world.

Well , next year I'm hoping to double my distance.  Don't worry though I won't be boring you all throughout that training ;-)

Plea for Sponsorship.

I have signed up to do the local Race for Life.  It is a 5k, women only run to race money for the Cancer Research Charity.  http://www.raceforlife.org/

If anyone would like to sponsor Cancer Research through me please do so via the widget below.

The Ghost

I haven't read the book, The Ghost Writer, which this film is based on.  I disagree with someone making a film/writing a book that is based, or points towards real people and/or events and filling in the blanks as their imagination/political leanings see fit.  All fiction or all fact makes me rest easier.  It makes pop stars spewing politics a little more bearable.

The fact that the film was directed by Polanski gave me a push to see it.  All of his films that I've seen I've been impressed by with the exception on Ninth Gate.  I'm still  irritated by that one.  Also sitting in the cinema for 2 hours is much less work than a full novel.  I wanted to see how Pierce Brosnan was getting along post-Bond.  As well as seeing Kim Cattrall in  a more serious role.

Brosnan was excellent as Adam Lang.  He oozed charisma on the screen.  You could easily believe this man was once a well liked Prime Minister.  Although I didn't like the fact he seemed to have added bits of 'Blair' to his role I have to admit they enhanced it.  I don't remember seeing Olivia Williams, who plays Adam's wife Ruth, before.  She was great.  A perfect strong woman whose career has been virtually washed away by her husband's massive success.  You really feel for the woman who has been dragged through the mill by her husband's success and even more so by his spectacular fall.  I was pleasantly surprised by Kim Cattrall's performance.  It was nice to see her playing outside her Samantha Jones role.

I have to say I think the film fell down to its central actor.  At first I couldn't get past MacGregor's horrendous accent.  Why couldn't he play the role in his own accent.  Why distract the audience with such an awful attempt at another one.  At the end of the day though I just never believed in what Ewan was trying to put across on screen.  He was definitely not the man to hang this film upon.  He just doesn't have the chops.

Of all the Polanski films I've seen this one rates joint bottom.  It just lacked the cleverness and atmosphere of his others.  A shame really because the support cast were pretty good.

2.5 pawprints out of 5

Snoop's Ode to Sookie Stackhouse

This is one for the True Blood fans out there.  I had no idea Snoop Dogg was one of us :-)

Moviegrrl's interview with Dario Poloni, the writer of Black Death

Click on the link below for the first part of Moviegrrl's interview with the writer of Black Death.

There's more to come so make sure you bookmark it and come back for the rest.

Enjoy!

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/06/23/exclusive-interview-with-black-death-writer-dario-poloni-part-one/