Part of the Daily Show Audience

I realise it's not everyone's cup of tea but we really enjoy watching the US TV show - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The show is filmed in a small studio on the west side of midtown Manhattan in New York (it's pre-recorded before later that evening being shown on Comedy Central) and the awesome thing is, if you can get tickets online when they're released, you can watch it being recorded - for free!

Norngirl knows her stuff and prior to our East Coast US trip last February, she was scouring the Daily Show website many times a day to try to get free tickets for any day we'd be in the NYC. Her persistence with the F5 key paid off and on the afternoon of February 13th 2012 we were headed across town on a bus to get to the studio so we could be part of the audience on that day’s show.

Being nerds however, we got off the bus a little early to have a quick nosey at the building where they film the spin off show from The Daily Show, called the Colbert Report. Here is the building:

... and here is one of the painted posters featuring a likeness of Mr Steven Colbert himself to be found on the walls of the studio:

It's just around the block from the Daily Show studio and so it didn't take us long to make it past the park so often featured on their shows with Jon and Stephen chasing one another around.

Once at the building we got in the queue (see photo at the start of the post). We knew already that the ticket you get online is just the ticket to get a ticket - the ticket to be in the audience you get on the day itself. That means you do need to be there as early as possible (though don't go mad and camp out or anything) to guarantee a place as they do over subscribe the tickets given out on the internet to ensure enough people come to pick up a ticket to make a full audience. So along with a lot of other likely looking characters and some not so likely, we waited a while.

At the time the tickets said to be there by, some folks who work for the show came down the line to explain what was going to happen and how long it'll be etc. It wasn't too long we'd waited, around an hour or so and we were about halfway in line. As with pretty much every day on our trip, we thankfully got lucky with the weather and it wasn't too cold. There is a canopy however so if it did rain there would be some shelter. Indeed in the end it was a breeze really as we'd waited longer in line to buy theatre tickets before, so queueing up to watch something for free was no trouble.

Once we had been checked in and given our number we had a bit of time to play with so headed up town on the bus to see a part of town we'd not really seen much of, the upper West side. The area seemed to be a haven for local schools and was packed with teenagers munching away on fast food, having a laugh and giving their friends 'tude. After a bite to eat we headed back to the studio via 2 buses, as the Subway wasn't an option for reasons I can't remember, but we still made it back early and got into the right group area they'd set up for us to wait in that was ordered by ticket number. There was then a call for last minute calls of nature before a person came to tell us some more about the how they were going to do this thing. Once we passed through the airport like security we were seated by the seating people. We were very lucky due to circumstance and ended up sat in the front row. Looking around the room we were in the main block of seating, head on to the desk where Jon Stewart performs the majority of his show. The place soon filled and then there was an introduction and the warm up guy came to get us in the laughing spirit, though to be honest I don't think we needed much warming up, just being there with the set of the show in front of us was enough.

Jon then joined the rest of us in the studio and did a some meet and greet, cracked a couple of jokes and took questions from people in the crowd. As with everywhere in New York, we weren't the only folks from the British Isles in the building. Someone from southern England asked a question about why we didn't get the Daily Show on TV in the UK any more (which back then was the case). It was on the TV channel More4 for a while but they stopped showing it. Jon explained a bit and came across very understanding. I'm not really someone who cares much for celebrities & celebrity culture but Jon Stewart has to be up there as a well known person I've most appreciated being in the same room as. His presence is huge, and in a nice way, like the American version of Michael Palin - very understanding, brilliant at what they do but also worldly wise as well as very funny.

On a side note, Boris Johnson went on the show a few months later and not long after we got back to Northern Ireland, the show was on Comedy Central - good times! It saved us having to connect the HDMI cable to the laptop all the time in order to ever have chance to see it.

The show we saw that day was great. Being a member of the audience was a fun experience. When you're there you're told to try to try to laugh a little louder to accommodate the sound levels. Though awkward at first, you kinda get used to not holding back in laughing loudly. It's not forced laughter either, there are screens showing the pre recorded clips that will be in the show and Jon does almost all of it in real time, as if it was live. Also the thing about the sound levels is true, on the TV it's like the audience are in a box yet there it's like being in the crowd at a comedy gig.

Jon did everything first time, no retakes at all, as I said, he's brilliant at what he does. Can't beat the message he sends out with his comedy too, a sanity check of the US political and topical landscape through humour. One thing I would advise to anyone going to see the show, follow the news and watch the show a lot before you go so you get the jokes. Luckily we did and do but I'm sure if you're not up to speed with some of the news stories those jokes might wash over your head.

Pretty much the only parts cut on TV when we watched later were the in-between clips quips and interaction with the audience and the part where the studio hands mopped up the water that was splashed all over the floor as part of a sketch before the guest from the FBI came out. Safety first and all that! The special guest was Ali Soufan, a former FBI agent promoting his new book. As guest on the show go he was OK but it was quite a dry subject matter so not the greatest interview. It was all over seemingly far sooner than the time suggested, I'd love to go back and watch another being recorded and also maybe catch a Colbert Report filming too, we'll have to see what the future holds!

Later that night, after we'd been shopping for odds and ends we flumped back into the hotel, ordered a take out to the room and watched the show we'd been at followed by that night’s Colbert Report. Norngirl wrote a much better account here about this day including all the other places we ended up as well as this and the earlier ride on the Roosevelt Tramway.

We're still avid viewers of the Daily Show and watch it every night, laughing at the absurdity of politics and people that with our own quite liberal (striving for equality) views, often find common grou the madness in N.I, the rest of the UK and Ireland.

One thing that did spring to mind when we were there and still holds true now is that we could really do with a show like it dedicated to events in N.I. Just something to shine a light on the absurd idiocy of our political landscape. We had a couple of shows here in N.I. like the sketch show The Folks on the Hill and sit coms like Give my Head Peace, but they're not quite the same, a late night political satire show in a similar format to the Daily Show could be awesome!

Synchronised Olympic Viewing

OK, I'm a couple of months too late with this post, ah what's new! I had planned to follow up my 'Just Days until the Olympics' post with an in-depth review of all I watched, how the games and events I saw played out and what I thought of them, the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the overall experience of watching it on TVs everywhere around Belfast - including the big screen. As it turned out, plenty of time has passed and other than the ins and outs of the games I watched, anything that might be of general interest has already been said in the media. So I'll just show a few photos and a quick paragraph summary of what I thought of the sports I chose to watch.

With Handball, the sport I'd decided to give a try before the games started along with synchronised swimming, it really did grip my attention and threw me in it's net.
I watched several games in full and the highlights of a good 75% of the rest of the games across both the mens and womens games. The thing I liked most about the sport was it's speed and not being faffy like Basketball. Even when the play is stopped as an attacking player is kept at bay, it's usually only a matter of seconds and then it's back under way. I liked that all goals were worth the same score. The scores were often close and a number of games very exciting, the slim difference sometimes made by a fine goalkeeping performance or a clever move by a forward - much like Football and Ice Hockey. Sometimes it got a bit rough too, not in a terrible way but plenty of collisions, in one game there was a series of players being send tumbling, the goalie even ended up in the advertising hoardings and being hit full force in the face by the ball. I couldn't believe I hadn't given this sport a chance before and I can see why it's so popular in the rest of Europe. If the sport ever made it to the Odyssey area or any arena close to home then I'd be sure to do my best to be there.

There was also plenty of other sports we watched a bit of, I really liked the way they had all the sports on the extra channels so you could pick and record whatever you wanted to watch. A few times from the novelty of the big screen in the grounds of Belfast City Hall... along with many other people!

Also in the grounds for the summer were the brightly coloured cows of CowParade 2012.

The other sport that we'd chosen and watched all of was Synchronised Swimming. I knew nothing about the sport before watching it other than the dancing in water part. We soon found ourselves getting pretty good at understanding the rules behind what we were witnessing but unlike Handball it was more of a learning curve as it was more of a performance art rather than a sport in the conventional sense. It was quite a spectacle at times and really amazing how they do it. Often I found myself dipping my head sideways to watch it upside down for they had some half and half over/under water shots and watching it upside down was like watching someone dance with perfect precision the right way up... but the baffling thing was they're doing it upside down in water. I was very impressed. The downside to the spectacle happened to be the excitement (or lack thereof) in the scoring. The scores the nations were getting became very predictable. A lot of the performers had no hope of a medal from the start as their routines just didn't have enough complexity to them. Never the less, it was enjoyable and it's admirable how much the athletes put into it (a years practice for the routines). I'm afraid I doubt I'll be looking out for 'synchro' meets near me, like diving or figure skating, unless you're really involved/absorbed by it on a personal level it's not a sport that would easily be followed by casual interest as a viewer. I would guess participants get more out of it on the whole. On that note, in watching on TV I think we got more of an understanding and insight into the skills used compared to if we had been there. Apart from the movement around the pool, a lot of the details would likely have been lost viewing it from high up in the stands at the poolside.

So yeah, like most people who have since spoken about it and the general reaction from the media, I thought it was great and I really enjoyed the Olympics, a lot more than I expected prior to the games. I loved the opening ceremony, the closing ceremony not so much. The BBC did an amazing job with the multi channel coverage, combined with Tivo it was a breath of fresh air to just be able to record any sport on any day and watch it back whenever we liked. The local nations did amazingly, especially Team GB who kicked ass - belated congratulations to them all and good luck to anyone planning on competing in Rio in 4 years time. Hopefully Belfast will be as on-board with the games then as it was this year, it was great :)

Just Days until the Olympics

On Friday, the London 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony will be in full swing. Which means, it's time for me to choose a sport or two so that in a months time I can tick off one of the items from my 2012 List - to follow an Olympic 2012 sport über religiously... a sport that I honestly don't care about right now.

Surprisingly for someone as indecisive as myself, I do have the sport I'm going to follow picked already - and there I was thinking I might have to pick one out of a hat. After chatting about it with Norngirl and my sister-in-law, it was decided the main sport of the summer is going to be:

*Drum roll please*



Synchronised Swimming!

A sport that perfectly fits the bill - I know nothing of the rules and until now, it's something I truly didn't care about and something I've never bothered to watch.

My current understanding of synchronised swimming (before I read the wiki page I just linked to there anyway) is that groups of people hold their breath underwater whilst 'dancing' with their limbs to make pretty patterns set to music. People holding their breath for a long time is impressive but it's not quite free diving, I'm sure I'll appreciate the skill required but will I care? I'm soon going to find out and the Olympics coverage is going to be my guide of sorts.

After just checking the scheduling for when the events are happening and it is quickly apparent that it's only a women's sport at the Olympics, with just 2 events - the Women's Team event and Women's Duet.

The schedule (according to the BBC site) is as follows:

5th-7th August - Women's Duets Event

5th: Qualification technical routine 3pm-4.50pm
6th: Qualification free routine 3pm-5.25pm
7th: Women's Duets Finals 3pm-4.13pm (seems a bit precise)

9th-10th August Women's Teams Event

9th: Final Technical routine 3pm-3.50pm
10th: Final Free routine 3pm-3.59pm

So a couple of problems there - first is that it seems these are very short events and awkwardly timed for watching live given we'll be at work at the time. The second is that the events only run for a few hours spread over a few days.

With these problems in mind, we'll have to hope that TiVo can record whichever of the BBC Olympic channels will likely be showing it at the time or that there might be highlights, extended highlights or full coverage on demand somewhere. I've also decdided to closely follow a 2nd sport closely.

This other sport is going to be Handball. I picked it because it runs from the practically the start of the Olympics for a long time, the best part of 3 weeks. I think it might be interesting to try and see what the millions of fans in Europe like about this game.

I hope by following these sports and keeping up with others that I might get into the traditional spirit of the Olympics because so far I've not been impressed by the build up to it all.

The Olympic flame came to Belfast but we had other things on whilst it was in town.
There has been a lot of doom and gloom in the press (sometimes I do wonder if they're all manic depressive or believe the populous are) though rightly so in some cases - such as the case of the private security company who are still trying to keep their 57 million management fee even though they 'failed to manage' to the point the army have had to be called in. On TV, the ads from 'official sponsors' have been driving me to shout at the TV screen, each brand seemingly trying to outdo each other in making any tenuous link to sport that they can.

Putting aside all that and then some, hopefully the Olympics will go well and we can enjoy the occasion for the sport.

I best get reading up the likes of this guide from the BBC site.

Come on team GB and Northern Ireland... flail? throw? lob? swim? tread-water? your way to gold!

A Reminder of the Movies

Please don't hate me.

With the 20+ movies I've never seen that I intend to see in 2012 as announced in my 2012 list, I've decided to record what I think of them as I watch them. That means I'm going to *cough* review them.

So welcome to a randomly strung out string of posts scattered between all the other stuff that will be imaginatively called...

A Lifeform In Northern Ireland's Movie Reviews

I hear the groans and I do understand, but don't worry! I sincerely don't aim to fall into the trap of actually knowing what I'm talking about even if I might vaguely seem like I might - I just intend to tell it how I sees it. Literally.

But no review is complete without an arbitrary score and my reviews will be no different. A score out of 10 will be awarded gauged on the following criteria.

The A.L.I.N.I Movie rating scale.

10 - Frickin awesome, classic and a half and probably another half or 10 halves, *ARMS OF YAY*!
9 - Excellent - a real classic - lets hope it's re-realsed at the cinema coz our TV is too tiny. w0Ot!
8 - Very good film, recommended and remind me to buy DeVidDeo if I haven't already.
7 - Good movie, would watch again. T'was good!
6 - Decent, I won't be in a hurry to watch it again but if it's on TV... well worth the price of free!
5 - OK, not that memorable but entertaining never the less. Just Meh.
4 - Could have probably done without watching it - not quite Meh - I suppose that makes it just Eh?
3 - All the good bits were in the trailer,  I mean really, why did we bother?
2 - A great goldfish movie - best if you've a limited memory because it was just bad - and not in a good way.
1 - Time I will never get back - why did they steal a part of my life?
0 - WTF!... WHHHHHHHY!... WHAT DID I DOOOOOOO?!

Since Norngirl and I have already watched 5 movies this year that we had never seen before and it's not even the end of January, I figure this might be a good time to start to record these. And so without further delay, well, except a day or so - you know, to give anyone who wants to the time to read this in order to maintain some sort of structure to this blog given this new low - let there be movie/film/flicks/fil'um (that last one is the local pronunciation) reviewablige!

I hereby give this post 10/10 and some serious cinematic arms of yay because it's all downhill from this point in :-D

First up is - The Rom Com: Fools Rush In (1997), well, it is as soon as I make a picture in paint that truly reflects the ambience of this piece. So turn off your cell phones and re-seal that re-seal-able bag you have no intent to ever re-seal... it'll be on your screen before you can scream "Nooooooooooooooooooooo" give or take 200,000 'o's.

How I Met Your Blog Post

Ever lived in a city? Can appreciate a Liberal point of view? Possess a sense of humour? Yes?! You might be in luck my awesome readers! Haaaave you met How I Met Your Mother?

I'm sure plenty of you have but I'm going to type about it anyway. The show has been running in the states since 2005 and on the likes of E4 over here in the UK for some time but some how it slipped by my consciouness for six years before being brought to my attention via my sister-in-law and Norngirl and I starting to watch it on holiday in Mallorca back in May. Since then we've already caught up to date on as much as has been shown. On the DVDs the shows are about 20 minutes long and into those 20 minutes are crammed some brilliantly funny lines, imaginative plots, running jokes and a concept that leaves you guessing. I couldn't believe it was a US sitcom or why I hadn't seen it before May this year. If you're old enough - like 23+ you'll undoubtedly indentify with charicteristics of most of the core group of fictional friends who we get to know quite well.

The main premise of the show is that Ted Mosby, in the year 2030, is telling his two teenage children the story of how he met their mother. To that end we follow Ted taking a retrospective and life lessons learnt approach to his past. but this is 'future Ted' and his past is our present in reality - e.g in 2009 in the story was 2009 in real life but told from the perspective of 'Future' Ted in 2030 telling his kids about his life from their present. 'Current' or 'today's Ted (played by Josh Radnor) in the episodes doesn't know what he was to learn through the motions of life, love and friendship in the big apple, and we find what he and his friends got up to as if we were his kids. The key difference being that we the audience are kept on tentahooks waiting to find out that little bit more about who their mother actually is where as you'd really hope the characters of Ted's children do have some idea.

At it's base I'd describe it as 'Friends' meets 'Cheers' but with better jokes. I also see bits of Red Dwarf in there with Ted and Barney being friends who on one hand help each other but on the other hand represent opposing outlooks on life - I mean they're a bit like the characters of Arnold Rimmer and Dave Lister though it's not a perfect comparison because Barney and Ted do get on more.

According to this interview with E Entertainment the creators of the show say the concept for it came from the idea "Lets write about our friends and the stupid stuff we did in New York".

and it really shows because it really does feel like the characters fit so well to their setting and what life is like, especially for the characters of Marshal (played by Jason Segel) and Lilly (played by Alyson Hannigan) who portray a refreshingly realistic type of relationship for TV characters in a sitcom. For the most part, the show isn't filmed in New York but it is set there and apart from some of the car scenes, they do a great job of disguising this. Being set in NYC it does feel like you're there with them, they do lots of 'New York things' and spend a lot of time in their booth at their local, the MacLaren's Pub. The relationship with what is an awesome city really does add to the show but I can't say much more without starting to give things away.

As well as Ted - Architect - and his best friend Marshall Eriksen - new Lawyer - who is in a long term relationship with Lily Aldrin - kindergarten teacher, there is also Robin Scherbatsky (played by Cobie Smulders) - TV presenter/proud Canadian, and Barney Stinson (played by Neil Patrick Harris) - who does something for a not very nice company and gets paid loads for it, womanises and encourages all sorts of other randomness. I so badly would like to describe them all in more detail and reference more of the show but I'd have hated it if someone told me all the ins and outs of the characters and plot.

I'm honestly not trying to sell anything, I don't do affiliate linking on my blog. It's paid ad free :-) but if you haven't given it a chance before, I'd really recommend you do, not least because then you'll get all the obscure refreneces to it that might slip into my blog from time to time - it'd be hard not to being so densly packed with memes. Also this post serves as a 3 month warning as it is likely that when the DVDs of series 6 and then the seasons 7 and 8 are made and shown on our TV screens, that I will end up talking about it or at least referencing to it in more detail. The info is there on Wikipedia or various TV sites if you really want to know the plot without watching it but if you can, give it a watch, it's a program that really does take the pulse of today's late 20s/early 30's generation very well, a sparkles of a show, an experience that is legend. wait for it. dary!

Right, in the meantime I'm heading to read some of Barney's Blog. someone has to!

To Hoboken and Back

On the morning of our last full day in New York we ventured off the subway lines and took a bus from Port Authority Bus Terminal station to Hoboken in New Jersey. There we visited the site of a reality TV show (Cake Boss) and enjoyed the view of Manhattan from Pier A Park.

It was a slightly overcast morning as we made our way up town to the Port Authority bus station. First stop inside the station was a quick visit to the information office where we found out not only that there were stupidly annoying 'the world owes me' type Brits in this part of the world at the same time as us (just can't avoid the afflicted) but also the stand where our bus was departing from. We didn't have to wait too long for our bus, buses world wide don't really change, the only difference between this bus and the ones in Belfast was seeming it being like a monster truck of the bus world. I wouldn't like to be trying to get a buggy or something on them anyway.

It was a short ride under the Hudson and into the State of New Jersey and it was soon after that we were keeping track of the streets in an attempt to find the one closest to our destination which was Carlos Bake shop, home to reality TV show, Cake Boss.

Personally I preferred Ace of Cakes when it was on but Cake Boss was also one of our guilty pleasures for those dull moments on TV. It's not so much the cakes but the decorations but we thought we'd check it out anyway. Turns out it does exist.We got there quite early and there wasn't a queue outside as we'd heard could be a possibility. We headed in after some photos and saw Frankie and Madeline who both get a fair bit of airtime on the show.

We bought a few sugary treats which surprisingly to me, were not all that expensive, and peered at all the cakes and baked goods on display as well as all the Cake Boss merchandise and paraphernalia.

Once we had left the shop we took our photo in front of it then had a look around the back of the building too. Curiosity satisfied we made our way to find a drink to wash our sweet goodies down, Starbucks was on the way so it was a quick trip there before strolling along the streets of Hoboken on the way to Pier A Park.

The park was a bit of a surprise as it provided some great complimentary eye candy – namely the panoramic city scape of New York City.

The sun by this point was starting to take hold in the sky and it was quite tranquil out in the park considering how close to one of the largest cities on earth we were.

We dug into our deserts. First of all we had our Lobster Tails and they were absolutely delicious! I did manage to get a photo in before I demolished it, in a Dougal type logic, they're the same size as those big buildings that are far away.

Afterwards, Norngirl had her cupcake whilst I had my Napoleon, they were ok, but nothing really to write home about.

After sitting for a while and taking in the view, we headed to Hoboken terminal to catch the bus back into Manhattan.

We were heading to visit all the big stores and department stores like Bloomingdales (which was boring) and FAO Schwarz (which was awesome – and we had great fun playing the giant piano like in Big). More about all that on Norngirls blog.

After the retail therapy we headed to the TKTS booth at Times Square again for the 2nd time of the trip.

This time the queue was crazily long and we were there for what seemed an age before getting to the front and obtaining ourselves some front row seats for Avenue Q that night.

In the time between buying the tickets and heading to the show, we did many things, one of them was heading back to the Nintendo store for me to buy a Bowser soft toy (I'll try and put a photo up in a later post) and some other souvenirs and another was heading out to see the Chrysler Building up close...

...and another to wander around Grand Central Terminal...

... before a mercy dash to see the front of the National History Museum that we'd visited but only saw from the back and the inside, sadly the place was being refurbished so was covered in a big sheet, but we did get to see the Theodore Roosevelt statue.

It was a busy but fun bucket-list-ticking hurry around the city but we made it to New World Stages to see Avenue Q with so much time to spare that we headed for a drink in a nearby café before heading in. It was our last night but like this trip over to Hoboken, we were still in for another awesomely sweet treat or two.

Awesome Day in New York at MSG

The evening of Awesome Day in NYC was our first ever trip to a live NHL game. The game was Boston Bruins at New York Rangers in Madison Square Garden - the final score didn't turn out the way we had hoped but it was still a brilliant experience.

Our feet were more than a little tired from all the walking we had done earlier on awesome day at the American Natural History Museum and so it came as some great relief when we collected our pre-booked tickets at the collection point and made our way up escalators into the stands. On the way up the escalators, of which there were quite a few because the main arena of Madison Square Garden is actually directly on top of a smaller venue (there was some circus show going on in there at the time) we were handed some free posters celebrating the 85th Anniversary season.

Free posters in hand and liking it so far, we made it to the concourse of the level where we were sitting. As a long time NHL fan I really wanted my first live-in-person NHL game to be special so I'd broken the bank a little more than I normally would look to pay for a sporting event to sit in the 200s. Before we made it into stand we found our way to one of the many beer stalls to get a refreshing beverage and were very happy to find Brooklyn Beer on sale.

(Sorry for the picture quality btw, you're not allowed to use a camera with zoom at the game so the MSG photos are courtesy of my phone's camera)

Now with beer in hand we made our way into the stand and found our seats which had a good view of the ice, close enough at least to see the finer details of the skills on show. Before the game had started I nipped to the toilets and on my way back ventured into one of the club shops and bought a programme and a giant foam hand – I've told you all many times before – we are big kids – but unlike a lot of the kids there, we'd never had a big foam hand. So there we were with beer, a giant foam hand and surrounded by a crowd as eager to have fun as we were made for a great atmosphere.

I wasn't sure before hand if I would warm to the New York Rangers, we'd bought some official merchandise for the event from K-Mart prior to the game but ever since I started watching the NHL which was only achieved through staying up late into the night into the early hours before then going to high school and sixth form totally shattered - my team were the Dallas Stars and I didn't care too much for the Eastern Conference at that time. Back then in the first season Channel5 (a terrestrial TV station in the UK) bought the NHL broadcasting rights I discovered the show “NHL on Five” hosted by Todd Macklin and Jonathan Gould. It was always after midnight and the games would go on into the early hours but I luckily had a TV in my room. The top teams of the season tended to get shown the most and Dallas were one of them. Whenever they were on I was wanting them to win as I have some distant relatives who live out in Texas (this being my only link to the USA) and more importantly at the time, I liked their goal-tender Ed Belfour + even more importantly their shirts were the closest in the league at the time to that of my beloved Leeds United. That season they went on to win the Stanley Cup finals for the very first time and that was me hooked. For my 18th Birthday, I didn't ask for anything but a replica Dallas Stars jersey and my dad, bless his cotton socks, managed to track one down.

To be honest I'd never really warmed to the Eastern Conference teams back then and even worse, with having a name like Rangers and playing in the colours they do, I was never likely to have a soft spot for them. That is because of the relation to Scottish Football and in Scottish football there are two teams I dislike – Rangers and Celtic. For anyone who can't stand the ridiculous feuds and history of Northern Ireland, having to hear about these two Glasgow sides is like having to put up with our local tribal politicians – the fact the local press here would also rather report on those 2 sides above the local league is also a major annoyance. Hopefully one day that will all be history but for now it's still a fact that hearing their names is enough to make me turn over the TV. So with the New York Rangers it was my own psychological baggage from back home that was making me feel apprehensive, as it turns out, I should have left that baggage on the other side of the Atlantic because thankfully it didn't take long for me to realise the error of my thoughts.

The game began and it was clear the only similarities besides the name and shirt colour was the fans passion for their team, in NYC – Rangers are just a hockey franchise, no Scottish football connotations should be attached.

Rather than describing the game, here are all the highlights, basically the Rangers went 1 up then the Bruins brought it back to 1-1, Seguin for the Boston Bruins then scored a brilliant goal before they got lucky with their 3rd, the Rangers then managed to pull it back to 3-2.

In the last few minutes it became a nail biter and I was happy when my favourite thing in ice hockey happened when the Rangers pulled the goalie to get a 6th skater on the ice - unfortunately it didn't pay off and sadly they were unable to level it and take the game to overtime. The Bruins kinda deserved the win but it was very even and it could so easily have gone either way - in fact the Rangers could so easily have won it if they'd have been able to convert their shot advantage into goals. Callahan and Lundqvist impressed me the most for the Rangers, Thomas for the Bruins and he was really the difference that sealed the win on the night.

My general impressions were that the consistency of skill and speed of the game was higher than the UK Elite league, the margin for error a lot smaller, the intensity much higher and the tactics more pronounced. The sad thing really is the size of the arenas, with so much demand for so few seats the prices for NHL games are a little on the expensive side and I think next time we go it'll be into the cheaper seats... all the same atmosphere but with more change left over for the beer :)

Although the Rangers lost, they won us over and that night both Norngirl and I became fans.

I do feel a sell out to have two NHL sides I now follow but I'm convincing myself it's OK by the fact one is Western Conference and the other Eastern... they can both win their respective conferences and then I'll worry about who wins the Stanley Cup final if it ever comes to it :) - I can dream, lol.

With the powers of retrospect brought to me by typing this post so long after the event, I can reveal that since our visit, the New York Rangers managed to sneak into the playoffs after winning their last game and with Carolina Hurricanes losing. Dallas, sadly, were not able to beat Minnesota Wild on the last day of the regular season in order to do the same. The Rangers were not able to overcome a strong Washington Capitals side, beaten 4-1 overall though the playoff series score probably flattered the Capitals given they were more than lucky on a few occasions. It was probably a fair representation for although Lundquist can get the team out of sticky situations quite often it doesn't help much when you're not scoring very often. The main trouble from the games we saw this season seemed to be a lack of fire power, especially when Callahan was out injured for two spells due to broken bones after putting his body on the line blocking shots. Hopefully given some maturity from the younger players, a wise draft pick or two combined with being able to keep together the core of what has been a very hard working team, the Rangers can build on this season to make a bigger impact next season. Same really for the Stars. A few decent players flourishing or brought in could really be the spark that helps them at least settle higher into those play-off spots and have a better chance of making it further in the finals.

I know it's all corporate and I do find it sad that the sides are franchises and not always guaranteed to be in the cities they claim to represent but I was very impressed by it all and my first NHL game was all I had hoped it would be having seen so many games on TV. I really hope I am lucky enough to see another game in person the future, in the mean time I'll be making the most of the free ESPN stuff we get with our TV package and looking forward to seeing plenty more of the Rangers from afar.

Walking out of Madison Square Garden we were still in good spirits though a little disappointed in the result but we knew they'd given it a good try and that's all you can ask for really. We headed on to the nearby Macy's to pick up a few presents for family back home before heading back to the hotel to sample the rooftop bar and have a night cap.

With the twinkling lights of the city around us and the memories of a really brilliant day, we knew Awesome day had lived up to it's billing and it's something we'd both love to try again... and who knows, maybe next time the Rangers will cap it off with a win?

Buffy Night at the Belfast Film Festival

Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a must watch show for a lot of us who are now 20 somethings when we were growing up - the combination of apocalyptic supernatural danger, humour and a rather tasty cast was TV gold. So when the chance came up to indulge in some of the best of Buffy at the Black Box for the 2011 Belfast Film festival, we didn't need convincing to attend.

This was my second Belfast Film Festival event this year and the second at the same venue. The set up for this one was a little different to the first. Inside the Black Box the décor was the same as with the Rocky Horror event but there was a sign above the door which highlighted that we were heading into the Bronze - the hangout/bar of choice for the youth of Sunnydale or in this case the geekier side of Belfast.

The screen was 'dead centre' and the tables were all kitted out with bunny sweets and props for audience participation during the showing of the two Buffy episodes.

The first episode was 'Hush', a creepy episode from season 4 (that annoying series with the stupid Riley character and his pointless army men friends), an episode that was great for it's jumpy moments but most noteable for it's lack of dialog - the baddies take away everyones voices so that people can't scream when they rip out their hearts whilst they're still alive.

The second episode was the feature presentation so to speak. A firm fans favourite - Once More with Feeling aka Buffy the Musical - an episode from season 6.

Events got under way with an introduction to the night from our green faced, red horned host.

As I mentioned, 'Hush' was the first screening and it was even better up on the big screen than I remembered it from the small screen, saying that, the puke worthy beginning was even worse in big. Sloppy snogging noises... ewww. Anyways, the show was over very quickly but it was awesome and I was very much in the Scooby Gang frame of mind once again - like a time machine had taken me back a decade.

Between the showing of the dark, spooky, silent episode of 'Hush' and the contrasting bright, friendly, musical episode of 'Once More With Feeling' there was a Buffy quiz. One thing the episode hadn't done (that I could of done with) was to reset my brain to an earlier point when I would have known a few of the answers to the quiz. Thankfully, I was with two people who were not just relying on details from the shows they remembered from over a decade ago. The joy of DVD boxsets and the interwebs - combined with their inner geek - meant our team ended up in an 11 way tie break at the end of the night... d'oh! The tie break question was 'how many Churches are there in Sunnydale', we didn't win.

We all won though when it came to 'Once More With Feeling' - in a Rocky Horror type sing-a-long and with a list of audience participation events ranging from constantly yelling 'Shut up Dawn' at the screen when Dawn opened her mouth to throwing plastic cutlery at the screen when Buffy was does some training with Giles. The 'Shut up Dawn' had to be the most fun, after all Dawn was a really annoying character. Here is a full list we were provided with:

Letting off party poppers when Willow is successful in 'completing' Tara was a funny moment... especially when there was a premature popping somewhere behind us.

The sing along was fun too - I'm not one for singing myself as I know I can't sing in tune to save my life, but I know all the words to the soundtrack so gave it a bit of a go anyway... helped along by the room full of people also singing along.

We ended the show mimicking the 'Grr Argh' Mutant Enemy productions character (that became the famous ending post end theme tune to the show) with the paper versions provided - much fun!

It was great to see what really is a TV show up on a big screen, both episodes the organisers had picked really suited the cinema like showing. And like all good TV shows... this event has to be a cert for a rerun!

Happy Irish Day and Nice One Chris and Dave!

It was 2 years ago when I wrote about St Patricks day and this year we've pretty much being recreating the same thing we did that day too. A sleep in and recovery from work, a trip to the gym, some household chores that needed doing, a bit of down time and now to end the day - soda bread pizza for dinner and plenty of Arthur's famous Irish Dry Stout.

The majority of the last two days however have been taken up with following someone else with Irish and Yorkshire links (other than Norn Girl and me). That person is Chris Moyles. For Comic Relief (which is tomorrow night on the BBC) he and Dave Vitty have been trying to break a Radio 1 record of a 37 hour long show and all being well the world record for the longest radio show ever (somewhere around 50 hours). All the money donated will go to the usual Comic Relief causes aimed at tackling the root causes of poverty and social injustice.

At the time of breaking the 37 hour record, listeners like Norn Girl and me had donated between us a grand total of... *drum roll*

Anyways, it's been great fun to listen to on the radio and watch via the interactive option of the BBC/on the radio 1 website. It's been an amazing amount of money raised so far and hopefully they'll carry on now and try to beat that world record and raise even more! Nice one Chris and Dave, enjoy the sleep when you get some, you both more than deserve a hard earned rest.

Happy St Paddy's Day :)

10 O'Clock Live and a laugh of fresh air.

I've been meaning to type one of those posts about current events, world affairs and the ins and outs of all that is driving me nutty in the world. From the Con-Lib coalition helping to force us towards U.K. Corp (where we'll probably just have to be glad to have oxygen we don't have to pay for), to the stresses of the work and the madness of mankind. I know, old before my time, get a life, stop listening to Radio 4 at the age of 26, etc, etc, blah blah blah. The thing is, these things wriggle their way into my conscience each day and must rub my frontal lobe against my parietal lobe or something because it's an action that makes me want to facepalm, then get sorted on some plans to emigrate.

That dissipated a little last night however. After a trip to the Gym, dinner and a short marathon of Star Trek Enterprise, I happened to catch the second episode of Channel 4's new show 10 O'Clock Live. I had meant to sit down to watch the first one but never got chance and it turns out I've been missing out. It was just the shot of comedy on the right subject matter that I needed. As they rattled through their scripts it was great to know I'm obviously not the only one thinking how messed up the system is in this country and, well, the world. Although after watching, the system and 'democracy' in which we live still feels messed up, I don't feel so alone in holding the thoughts I was going to try and express. Thankfully my favourite comedian and his colleagues managed to say it in a better way than I could. Whoever writes it has my kudos flying their way.

Jimmy Carr, David Mitchell, Lauren Laverne and Charlie Brooker are four very smart and funny people who are also perfectly suited to indulge us in what I can only describe as The Daily Show meets a hybrid of Question Time and Mock the Week sprinkled with a hint of Spitting Image - the Spitting Image thing I think is just a feeling of the show, something in the realms of the similarity of the satire rather than the appearance of the hosts.

Unlike some reviews such as this one by Kevin O'Sullivan on the Daily Mirror website, where it was declared after the first show that, 'as of now, 10 O’Clock Live is dead in the water', I found the show oozes with great humour and intelligent chatter but best of all it doesn't hold back in asking the questions you don't seem to get on other shows, though it does poke fun at the tabloids somewhat. Having now seen the same show he reviewed, I think all I've taken from Kevin's review is that he may be missing two cents of humour short of a dollar of understanding. Maybe he'll change his mind when it becomes the must-view show that I'd say it is, going by what I've seen so far.

If you share my little worries, fancy a bit of comedic release and haven't given it a watch yet, I'd highly recommend taking a look over on the Channel 4 On Demand Website for the 10 O'Clock Live show where if you're in the UK you can catch up with the series so far and choose for yourselves. Other than that, it's on Thursdays at 10pm and then repeated on a Friday at 11.20pm. Episodes are around 45 minutes long. Happy laughing :)

2010 Election: Capitalism, UK politics shadowing America and an idea.

Its less than a week now until the election and I'm depressing myself more and more investigating, researching and learning about the actual ins and outs of the financial world. For someone who thinks Capitalism has given too much freedom to large and multinational business which is just encouraging something of an Imperial dominion over the world, I find it hard to stomach listening to the ongoing debates which all seem to take for granted the long term and only seem to consider the short term.

This post is all just my view and maybe I'm being a little idealogical, but one thing that does seem to be emerging already is that the UK's Parliamentary elections are becoming more like the USA's presidential elections.

In my opinion the current situation is that the Labour Party is suffering from disenchantment since they've almost become a sub set of the conservative attitude, almost meeting them in the middle though still keeping a little more sense. The Lib Dems have taken great strides with the greater access to publicity, especially amongst the young who are starting to feel the inequality in the country for themselves as they enter further education and the work place. The Conservatives seem to have met labour in the middle from the other side of the fence and are saying whatever they think they have to to try and get elected.

It seems though, all three major parties have convinced a lot of people that the answer to the way out of economic problems caused by the financial world and wealthy people screwing us (by passing us on their debts instead of absorbing the shock themselves) is by giving the same people more freedom and opportunity for bigger profits... short term it is the only solution to prop up markets but surely aren't we setting the country up for a bigger fall? Where are the pledges to the long term overhaul to a fairer society? Where are the plans to limit the extraction of money or the slice of the pie able to be retained for those creating the value and therefore profitability of the country for us to be able to better our society and unlock potential in our children?

The lack of answers to those questions aside and this fall into a some bizarre US type blind faith that the leaders of major corporations will look after their workforce, the main reasons that I feel the UK's politics are becoming Americanised begin with the leaders of the key 3 parties in the UK taking part in live televised debates and how this is changing make-up of public opinion (should the press be trusted).

With the TV debates, a lot is down to the personalities, the two opinions that are gaining ground in the system here are starting slowly to align to the same political divisions in the US. The Lib Dems seem to be positioning to become the UK equivalent of the Democratic Party and the Conservatives matching up to that of the Republican. Labour seems to be being squeezed both ways with the class divisions in society more and more becoming income divisions due to the breakdown of the traditional British community led by Maggie Thatchers reign.

This is neither good or bad as times change so will the political landscape to meet new challenges. However the problem seems to be that the focus has well and truly started to ebb away from the local candidate (who could well be a moron or brilliant) and is probably going to be much more influenced by the personality of the leader. To me this is bad news. What I would consider the downside to politics in the US, that of celebrity culture and hype, is playing an ever increasing role compared to more in depth debate on issues and policies at a local level about what may be best for the long term prosperity of the individual, the locality, the nation and the world. The culture seems to be led by media profiteering and politics is becoming more and more a product with parties/candidates becoming brands, with TV debates selling tag lines and sound bytes, with tabloid newspapers alligning with a candidate and selling a bias view of all events to people who need education to help choose wisely not spin from someone hoping to make money from them.

With the corporate world pretty much leading society where it wants and unelected people largely focused on self gain having such a sway in the eventual laws we are governed by and public spending,  it is slightly worrying. However to be fair, since the same 'independent' advisor's, religious leaders and commercial groups with vested interests have always had a large influence over what actually happens when the country is governed its not like much is changing, only a different face to an old problem.

Being slightly cynical; at least the - 'its who you know not what you know' system will be equalled by something equally as silly. Making a mess of a debate on TV or saying something on a microphone will be blown out of all proportion ahead of policies and could end your brands chances. Combine that with the spin that tabloid newspapers spew out and even with these aspects alone it all becomes quite a farce. A farce of trying to convince a mass of people who probably don't really have a great picture in their minds of the national situation let alone the international scene that policies you have will benefit them even if it screws someone else over. On the plus side its at least making politics a more entertaining spectator sport even if our lives get turned upside down and we're paying more for less to help someone else keep huge figures in their bank statements and investment portfolios.

What an odd political time we live in. The local issues in Northern Ireland are even more perplexing and disheartening due to the further divisions and tribal politics overriding any other issue.

As for me, I've been trying to think of a way I can get along in this society in the long wait for caps on wealth that whilst not adhering to the whims of the rich or reinforcing the injustice faced by the poor. A way to help society with retaining the benefit from its own hard work and not just benefit the greedy and ruthless, the already privileged or lucky. A way that might  empower every individual to unlock their potential within the system that has evolved to how it is today.

Short of the government doing much about it - which in Northern Ireland is like hoping for a piece of an asteroid to deflect the ball into the net at a football game - and in Great Britian with the Lib Dems or Greens unlikely to get into power other than as part of a co-collision government in a hung parliament (those being the parties who I believe have the policies that would at least start a bit of positive change - so come on a score draw on the 6th May and a hung parliament!) things aren't likely going to be much different tomorrow than they were today.

I'm starting to seriously consider doing something I've long thought about as a way to personally go about it... starting a Social Enterprise. If I think of a good idea, and manage to afford some time and money besides trying to eventually find an over priced run down shell of a house to call a family home and to pay the bills and for the odd luxury to keep us sane, then I'm going to be right on it :)

Any ideas?

Last year, the BBC and some famous types.

Happy new year everyone! Blogging is back... two trips to BBC related events turned into three just before Christmas 2009. Our first trip was as part of the Audience to BBC N.I Spotlight special show on the 13th October. The 2nd trip was to a recording of a BBC Radio Ulster and likely Radio 4 show; Colin Murphy's Great Unanswered Questions. The 3rd trip out was to Radio 1’s ‘A Night with the Chris Moyles Show’.

So back to the beginning, and I guess to this, the ticket section of the BBC website. For this is where anyone wanting to join in the fun who hasn’t got slightly enthusiastic friends or loved ones to do the application bit. Well that or listen in to radio shows for ticket giveaways.

First up was a wedding build up trip to be a slightly bemused member of the Spotlight Special TV show that was shown on Tuesday 13 Oct 2009 at 22:35 on BBC One N.I.

On stage were a collection of 4 political figures from the Northern Irish political scene and not one representative with a none polarised view point. Perfect time for a few hard hitting questions you would think! Alas, the audience (which included my silly self) were first brought into a room before the filming took place and were given refreshments. Then we were given information on those to be grilled and we were asked to provide questions. Obviously the producer had an idea of a question they wanted to be asked because they came back in to ask if anyone had considered asking such a question and this meant only one thing. A thing I should probably have known... these shows prep those coming on and they’d been given a range of topics and no question was going to be asked that strayed from that. So although you could come up with any question relevant to current affairs you weren’t going to be asking it unless it fitted in with the themes pre decided.

Disappointing to me but understandable... after all most of these people (the politians on stage that is) are just spokes people, they have the final say on things but I’m hazarding a guess they aren’t exactly experts on a lot of what they talk about, without preporation they'd probably be rabbits in the headlights. The real experts are those in the civil service and those whom the civil service liaise with... the people whom, when it boils down to it, answer the questions... rather than those who are given a large salary and from where I’m sitting pretty much just stand up and read the answers. From the resultant questions and answers, this show seemed to be primarily a case of giving another showcase to the extreme view points of the N.I political spectrum - to give them a chance to vent about the issues they’d been prepared for rather than questions the public would like to ask of them. For me, an opportunity wasted by the BBC. Where was the Green Party representative or Alliance was not just what I was thinking but also a question posed by another member of the audience before the show started and it received almost an unanimous round of applause from the rest of the audience. Maybe an idea for the BBC for future shows!

I’m not even going to go into the waffle and array of only slightly meaningful discussion (to me anyway) by the members of the panel. There really wasn’t all that much interaction with the audience, just each Politian debating with another for the most part. Conor Murphy, Margaret Ritchie, Nelson McCausland and David McNarry were the politians in question. All they managed to do was re-enforce my doubt in the usefulness of a political system dominated by polarised viewpoints . Though I was intrigued how Margret Richie was trying to unsuccessfully twist a question asked to her to fit the answers and information laid out in her notes. Kudos to Mark Carruthers though, I gained a new found respect for TV presenters, especially those chairing debates! All the time he had to juggle the questions and answers whilst controlling with hand movements the next speaker and also listening to the production crew and producer in his ear piece! Not an easy task I imagine.

It was also great fun to see another TV studio, in this case the BBC’s Blackstaff House, all those lights and cameras, like Granada Studios in Manchester it’s like a whole other world heading off the street and into one.

A much more entertaining experience came when we went to see Colin Murphy. This was the recording of a radio show due to be aired next year - Colin Murphy's Great Unanswered Questions.

When the warm up is the main star of the show and the first thing said is that there will be no mention of, and I’m paraphrasing this into ‘religious divides of the Christian faith that cause a lot of problems in this neck of the woods’. My thought... this is the kind of show I can really get on board with. Dr David Booth was the resident expert and the subject matter was also right up my street, comedy with a bit of science spotted with mad facts and funny anecdotes. I don’t want to spoil the show for anyone who might catch this on the radio next year but suffice to say it was very, very funny and will be well worth a listen... I will be anyway. Here is the BBCGUQ twitter page.

Last up was Radio 1’s Chris Moyles and team visiting Belfast on the 17th December. Norn girl and I had been to the karaoke event a couple of years back in the beach club bar place the Odyssey and were determined to get to this too. Norn girl in the end was in town at the right time and spotted Aled Jones’ hiding spot. Hence 4 tickets winged their way her way and in the end 3 of us, Norn Girl, myself and my sister-in-law made our way to meet at Subway for a pre event snack. After some news of Norn Girls brush with fame and a foot long sub it was a quick bus ride up to the Queens Student union and a very long queue waiting to head into Mandela Hall.

On entering, it was to the front to set up camp and then to the bar for a drink. It wasn’t long before Aled was out to warm up the crowd with some music and a Santa hat, this went on a wee while and the crowd were warming up, well those who needed some warming at any rate which to be fair wasn’t many... thats one of the best things about Belfast... more so than any other city I’ve had the pleasure to be in, people know how to let their hair down and have fun should the occasion arise and that includes T-Totallers.

The singing begun with Santa Aled our choir master and from then on it was all more of the same - music, mass karaoke and great fun. Chris Moyles took to the stage after a grand build up and bit by bit the team were on stage caroloke’ing (as it say’s on the radio one website). Dave whacked his head off a huge speaker during a rendition of ‘My Lamb Bhuna’ whilst trying to get back on stage, Carrie was joining some of the crowd who like ourselves were just high on life in enjoying the night rather than alcohol – we would have had more but it was too much hassle making your way from the front of the stage to the bar. Rachel was being swung around in a small stage production of dirty dancing. Dom was rocking on down with the guitar and Chris was fun and star of the show and not too bad on the drums too! The majority of the crowd who got up to sing were very, very bad but all very, very game for the laugh and it was one dude who made it on stage who brought the biggest pantomime moment to the crowd... set up or not its hard to tell but it began with Chris fake hi-fiving a likeable the karaoke singer from the crowd and cruelly making him look a little silly, after a crowd pleasing performance though it was a good bye fake hi-five that Chris missed and honours were even.

Another highlight was Patrick Kielty’s memorable performance of a spoof of Robbie Williams ‘Angles’, however I don’t think he’d quite honed the jokes he tried before hand... it was revealed he’d had a bit to drink so it wasn’t so unexplainable, thankfully he could still entertain with a song none broadcastable for the radio!
It was all in the spirit of the night though and the band and all the Chris Moyles team and the crowd were all great. Hopefully it won’t be long before the team are back again.

So good or bad, this getting out there and seeing the largely positive side of the media being made seems like a good idea. Hopefully more similar nights out will follow... a lot of people might criticise the BBC, but with the value going to see these shows can bring (as long as it doesn’t include the current breed of argumentative local politicians) it might not always be perfect, especially the focus of programming in N.I to my tastes, but they do seem to do a good job. To me, that licence fee, the one that makes a wee dent in the bank balance each year, is worth it.

More comedy shows and the Radio 1 team over again please BBC :)