Friday 5th June 2009
I was limping around all day on Monday at work. I guess I looked like a guy with either a really bad foot (the truth) or a really bad attitude problem (the perception). It has taken until tonight for my foot to finally come back to some sense of normality. Although my right calf only ached until Wednesday. Sure it would have been tempting to take the day off from the gym on Monday morning but I was in there first thing on Monday at 6.30am working on my programme. I had my review with Adam today and I need to update Daily Burn. Yes, Gyminee has become Daily Burn which I think is a much better name (when you realise it is about burning calories and not drugs or arsonists!). So much to mention but as usual I find I have only got to the point to writing this blog as the clock strikes midnight. In six and a half hours time, I am being picked up by James as we head to a wet Alton Towers for the day. I may just not bother with sleep, it is rather overrated.
The highlight of the week was Wednesday. I got permission from my manager to leave at 3pm, so I got home, changed and jumped in the car and headed to Oxford. I was meeting Pav and his work colleagues, Scott and Barry to watch Terminator Salvation. This was a movie we had been waiting several years for. In fact, ever since the disappointment of Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines. Then again, how can someone actually out play T2: Judgment Day? The Sarah Connor Chronicles kept me going for a while but I was a little disappointed that they did not do the link from the end of series two which would lead into the film, although having read the Wikipedia article I can understand it is not good to have to be forced to include certain story lines. I was not sure about Christian Bale being cast as John Connor but it did work but if you feel this movie is all about the future leader of the resistance, you would be wrong. It is the story of Marcus Wright and it is his journey that makes it so well worth seeing. Sam Worthington gives a fantastic performance as the man trying to get to grips to life as a cyborg. I was also very happy for Moon Bloodgood for her official big break into Hollywood. Particularly as I have seen her take those first steps with the television show Journeyman but also a brief cameo at the start of Win A Date With Tad Hamilton. (I recall she is credited as “Hot Girl” or something very similar). She gives a very good performance here and it is great to see her in some great action scenes. Talking of action scenes they are very good, with even a homage to The Great Escape thrown in, which I am sure only the older members of the audience will care to appreciate. There are several quotes which link in with the rest of the Terminator franchise. Bale goes through the motions as JC but I expected a little bit more and the voice is getting on my nerves. Having said that, he does what he needs to do and you do realise that character development will come in the subsequent films. This is just a introduction to the older John, the soldier John. Danny Elfman does a good job on the theme tune but I would have prefer to have seen more of the electronic elements from the original.
Oxford Vue is exactly twenty eight miles from my flat and the journey is very good, as you can practically get to the Kasam stadium straight off the A43. I got there early, just before 4pm and then had to wait while Pav and his colleagues finished work and got to the cinema. It was my first meeting with BT and it was to be a big moment. He did not let me down, having me in stitches before we even got onto the escalator to go up to the cinema. The place was dead and we walked straight through to screen six (the same place I had seen The Dark Knight in July last year). The screen was dead and we could pick wherever we wanted to sit. We of course chose the middle row and sat centrally. The only other people in the cinema were a couple a little above us, but the screen did eventually get a few more viewers. However, once again there was no Pearl & Dean titles (there were no adverts either I might add) and we went straight into the trailers and then the movie.
When I got back home I feinted the frustrated of this into a tweet. I got a direct reply back the next day, picking up the text message at lunchtime. P&D had requested I e-mail in with details of when and where there had been no P&D titles and they would investigate. I got a response from someone and then was sent another reply with further details shortly afterwards. I then later this afternoon received a reply from the Managing Director of Pearl & Dean Cinema Limited. I am surprised my query had go so far up the chain but glad it was being taken so seriously. In summary the titles only run from Friday to Thursday and only when there is a big advertising campaign from Pearl & Dean clients.
What else have I been up to this week? Well I watched the second part of Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander on Monday night (before Eastenders) and then the climax to the bike race after my first trip of the week to Albert Square. It was fantastic and I would recommend the movie to you if you have not seen it. (Subtitles are available if your Hindi is a little rusty). Rest of the week I have been busy getting down to the gym in the morning and getting back into the routine. With no more training for a run, my evenings are relatively free although there is not as much television shows to watch. GREEK was good on Tuesday evening but a Dale light episode (similar to the idea of Doctor Who light episodes) are just not the same.
What have I got planned for the weekend? Well it was going to be a quiet one with a friend coming over from East London. However, that all changed on Monday morning when James invited me along to Alton Towers with a big group from work. I could not really say no, afterall the last time I went to Alton Towers was early June 2001 (after I had finished my first year exams at Uni). The second trip later that same year (for the Halloween Fright Night) had turned into failure as we had got stuck in heavy traffic on the motorway and had to end up coming off at the exit for Alton Towers and then just turning around and heading back to Leicester. The previous trips before then were in 1998 (with my school friends) and in 1999 (with my colleague friends) so it has been a long time and I have missed out on the new rides of Air and Rita which I am looking forward to. Particularly Air as my sister Natalie said, “You will be flying like Superman!” I cannot wait! If you could have any super power what would it be?
Sunday will be a day spent down the gym, getting used to my new extended routine, then a domestic day of cleaning the flat, washing and ironing clothes and some much needed admin time. Might also try and catch a few movies before watching the final of The Apprentice. What have you got planned?