Easter Sunday 23rd April 2011

Happy Easter to you all.  It’s so good to see the trees bursting into life and (despite the lack of rain recently), watch everything turning green again, isn’t it?   Spring’s definitely ‘sprung’, but let’s hope this current warm spell isn’t Summer – as has been the case in Swindon for the last couple of years.

The Comedy night has been and gone, and I was hoping to have had a video up for you to see today, but poor Sarah’s had a busy week so it’ll hopefully be next week instead.  I’ll talk about it then rather than today, but it’s nice not to have to be learning lines, I must say.  Let’s get on then, shall we?

MasterChef

It seems from the Twitter comments I read as the show was airing that I wasn’t alone in thinking that all the syringes and dry ice stuff was yet-another step in the wrong direction this Series. Reminded me of the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes, in that there’s people pontificating about  the exquisite beauty and skill of it all, but – excuse me – spherified (couldn’t find that word in my dictionary), pea caviar – er, squirting pea puree into pea shapes … isn’t it all just a little bit pointless?

It also begs the question: why?  MasterChef bangs on about quality, freshness, flavour etc, so what are they doing turning the candidates into scientists?  “Nitrogen alters the texture and shape of any food,” they explained to us, but why would anybody want to do that?  Isn’t food just good enough as it is?

I appreciate it on an aesthetic level.  It’s highly skilled, but – be honest – would you really want to eat it?  That plate Tim served up looked like something you’d need to take a worming tablet for, and Tom’s looked like something you’d grow in a petrie dish. Molecular gastronomy?  All too much for most viewers, it would seem.

I’ve never seen John so emotional as at the end; he looked almost tearful.  I was tearful as Jackie was voted off.  It’s so sad to be so close yet so far, and it’ll be a roller-coaster ride next week.  I want Sara; think it’ll be Tim, but Tom seems to be coming up on the rails. All to play for now. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006t1k5

Candy Cabs

I almost made a prediction in last week’s blog as to what would happen this week. I didn’t, because I didn’t want to look stupid if it didn’t happen, but I wish now that I had. I’ve commented that this show is so much like other BBC shows that it even has some of the same cast.  It had the same ending too.  The crowd who turned up to support them outside the Court?  Done to death, and the speedboat scene was just plain daft.

“Where d’ya learn to do this?” 

“You are looking at a Junior Speedboat champion two years running.”

Come on; do you really imagine any Northern working class child would have done speedboating?  It was so far-fetched as to be embarrassing, and as if Jackie could have just got hold of a boat and all those outfits?  It’s ok to stretch credibility a bit, but that was a stretch WAA-AAY too far, wasn’t it?

Having said all that … I’ll be looking forward to the second Series, and anything with Jo Joyner in is ok with me!  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00yk3dp

Archer-y

Having barely recovered from the excitement of the Duchess of Cornwall’s visit, who’s this we spot arriving?  It’s a BBC Outside Broadcast van parking at the Village Hall ready to wire Ambridge up to record an Episode of Gardeners Question Time.

Maybe it’s just me being cynical, but this feels like either ‘padding’ to try and add a bit of spice to the current lack of good storylines, OR some sort of nepotism/publicity stunt.  What next: Question Time?

Baby Keira’s giving Wiww-yum the perfect excuse to put the boot in with Ed and Emma. He really is throwing his toys out of the pram over this one, isn’t he!  George’s behaviour is perfectly normal (even if his acting isn’t), and Will should be encouraging him to bond with the new baby, not fuelling the fire.

We haven’t heard Tiger roaring lately, and Puss is just quietly mewing away in the corner. Let’s get a bit of Matt’s plotting in to spice things up a bit.  The Beekeeper’s convention’s hardly creating a buzz, is it?  (Sorry!)  Glad to hear  Kathy’s a bit calmer this week though. I was getting quite concerned for her state of mind there.  Not desperately looking forward to this week’s Episodes.  The Gardeners Question Time thing is just a big yawn for me. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/the-archers

Soap-y Corner

I don’t know about Jackson; I’M losing the will to live over this storyline now, and getting the same way over Rhona’s baby.  I used to love the character Marlon, but he’s become almost a parody of himself and now just overacts way too much.  I also hate how he just stands around the bar with plates of food in his hand, and that when he does finally hand them over, plonks them down without looking or acknowledging the customer.

Debbie and Charity were looking so alike this week that I had trouble working out which was which when they were stood together.  Debbie: please go back to dark hair.  It suits you better and would make it a lot easier for us viewers!

The Kelly thing’s going to unravel this week as Jimmy starts having flashbacks.  I’ve got a feeling Nicola’s going to be regretting cutting his clothes up before too long.

I know I had this in last week, but John Barton really is turning into Jack Sugden.  He’s even developing the same personality. I’m looking forward to Adam becoming a Toy Boy too.  He’s such a cutie, isnt’ he?

This week’s EastEnders has been a bit of a disappointment for me.  As usual, Kat and Alfie have been outstanding, but I’ve just found some of the writing rather weak – especially Ronnie’s lines.  Unless it was her delivery?  I have to be honest, I’ve only ever really seen Ronnie with one expression, and that’s … expressionless. You might disagree.  Just my opinion.

Fatboy’s Dad looks NOTHING like him, does he?  I’m always banging on about how great it is that family members look so much like each other but – I’m sorry – not in this case. Maybe he’s going to turn out to be adopted, as there’s simply no resemblence.

Corrie Corner

(The following article appears in both my ‘Coronation Street Blog’ and ‘Corrie Countdown‘ blogspots this week.)

It can be hard when you feel as if the whole world’s against you (as Maria does right now), but you have to believe in what you know to be the truth – no matter what awful things people are saying about you, don’t you?

She’s not having a lot of fun right now, but it did cross my mind that I can’t actually recall having ever seen Maria laugh. Oh wait … no, my mistake; that was only half a smile in that Episode from June 2006.

I smiled – nay, laughed – as Rosie tottered across the road and wailed to Sal “Oh mum, have youseen my hair? It’s like a rat’s nest. I totally need some hair extensions. I’ve always wanted to be able to sit on my hair.” Wouldn’t you just love to go to work in the mornings knowing you were going there to write lines like that?

Now that Sally’s got half of Kevin’s money, Rosie’s working hard on both of them to ensure she’ll be getting a cut – even offering to look after baby Jack for the afternoon. Wish we’d seen a bit of that!

Talking of manipulative kids: next door to the Webster’s, Eddie Windass has already had enough of devil-child Faye and is packing his bags. What’s that? “Far-fetched and unbelievable storyline?” Answers on a postcard to Mr. E. Windass, somewhere in Germany.

Things run like clockwork in Germany – so they’d have us believe – but they’d be hard-pressed to beat the Health Centre for efficiency. As John/Colin went in for his 5.00 appointment the clock said 5.00. Now that’s impressive. They missed a trick though. Wouldn’t it have given us eagle-eyed viewers a chuckle (and been more realistic!), if the clock had said maybe 5.30 – like in a Doctor’s in the real world?

The funniest thing this week though has been Roy’s mother Sylvia. She’s another Blanche in the making. When a character has so many great one-liners that you don’t know which to choose, that’s when you know you’re onto a winner, but my Grin of the Week has to be this gem:

Kevin: “Wondered if you wanted a lift to the hearing?”

Sally: “I’d rather be driven by Stevie Wonder.”

Do we think there’s the hint of a reconciliation on the cards? I wouldn’t be surprised. Let’s hope so. Kev without Sal is like seeing Peter Barlow sober … strangely unsettling.

Quotes of the Week

“You can’t avoid unkind words from others. Whatever you do, you will never please everyone. Remember, if you weren’t worth anything, they wouldn’t bother.” – Unknown

“All this talk of genetically modified food being contrary to nature is rubbish. Today I had a delicious leg of cod.” Thanks to twitter’s funnyoneliners for that.