It is 1.45 am and I have turned my laptop back on after 2 hours of desperately trying to get to sleep or even just to block out the noise of downstairs man's birthday party. I cannot do this because he is a complete and total dick and his music is so loud. I have no idea how the people at the party are even talking to each other. 

Someone else has music on somewhere (I think it is upstairs? I normally presume next door but it's not his type of music at all) and I can't say I blame them. I had my mp3 player on for a while but had to give up. I don't want to listen to music, I don't want to be on the laptop, I want to be ASLEEP.

I actually went down to ask him to turn it down at 11.45, which is when he explained it was his birthday. I was going to go down at 1.30 but I got outside the door and I could hear a lot of dudes outside and ok, there's probably nothing to worry about but I didn't really feel comfortable going down to talk to neighbour when I'm in my pyjamas, let alone neighbour and a bunch of dudes I don't know. 

I think it's getting even louder so I'm going to try again. Will just have to deal with it. 

This entry was originally posted at http://hestia8.dreamwidth.org/48191.html.

I am reserving judgement on Life of Crime (a show which started with an episode set during the Brixton Riots which then did not have anything to do with the Brixton Riots) until it finishes (next week I think) but it's been a very strange show so far. 

In the meantime, there's recently been a two-parter on ITV called Murder on the Home Front, based on the memoir of Molly Lefebure, a journalist who became the secretary of a forensic pathologist during WW2. I haven't read the book yet but I'm hoping to get hold of it in the next couple of weeks, partly because I want to see how much of the show is directly from the memoir. 

Overall, I'd recommend the show if you've not got much on and you want something a bit fluffy and not too taxing. It's glossier than Foyle's War or Bletchley Circle (partly, I think, because it's set in London during the Blitz, so there's a different attitude at play), but the main female characters (Molly and photographer Issy) are engaging and the story bounces along pretty quickly. Oh, and it does have clips from the ITMA radio show on the soundtrack, which is a very nice touch. 

Now for the spoilery rambling:

( spoilersCollapse ) This entry was originally posted at http://hestia8.dreamwidth.org/48024.html.

First, a couple of links:

evolver.fm/2013/04/30/how-a-17-year-old-girl-won-a-hackathon-and-what-it-means-for-women-in-tech/

Seventeen year old girl enters Hackathon, wins with hack that kills spoilers on twitter. (from geekfeminism.org/)

champagneandsocks.com/2013/05/05/through-splintered-walls-art-exhibition/

Book launch goes wrong when the top line of each page doesn’t print, so they turn the books in to art (from www.galactisuburbia.podbean.com/, which is a podcast I’ve started listening to recently)

And now, things I have watched recently:

( The Raid, Foyle's War, In The Flesh, Scott and Bailey, Murder on the Home FrontCollapse )

Wow. I am surprised that I had this much to say, hahahaha.

FYI tonight on ITV there's Life of Crime with Hayley Atwell and one Sunday The Suspicions of Mr Whicher with Paddy Considine and Olivia Colman. 

This entry was originally posted at http://hestia8.dreamwidth.org/47842.html.

 Am logged in so may as well update. 

Work: frustrating. Home: pretty good, though I have no curtains in the bedroom (parents came over to put stuff up, took down blind then discovered walls were too solid to drill into). However I do have hooks up for jewellery so I'm not complaining (pictures at some point, possibly when I've checked them to make sure the room isn't a mess). London: awesome. TV: so good for me right now. 

Still loving Elementary and Person of Interest, still not in a position to be coherent about either (I keep making flaily hand movements at the screen during PoI particularly). I am enjoying Game of Thrones as well. 

Broadchurch was v good although I am not keen on a second series. 

Emmerdale is a bit annoying and was just stupid tonight, hoping the current plotline with Jai's dad pretending Jai's baby is his (long story) is over soon as it is just dim. Casualty is pretty good and Daniel Anthony continues to be lovely. I think I missed Holby last week which is probably just as well as Tara died a couple of weeks ago which would mean Oliver had a valid reason to be upset but I'd still have hated him.

Forgot Vicious was on but remembered about 8 minutes in so I'll have to catch the first part on itv player at some point. I need to watch the last 15 minutes of Doctor Who as well because the internet was being a complete bastard yesterday (Chrome refused to work so I had to use IE all afternoon aaaaaargh).

Not sure if there's anything else to add right now. I have some jewellery photos to upload for the next 42 minutes (another episode of Elementary woo!) but then will be going to bed, so I will try to update with photos of home stuff at some point this week.  This entry was originally posted at http://hestia8.dreamwidth.org/47294.html.

 TV post! I am multitasking like a loon today so while I am cooking/commenting on fics/writing a rec post/uploading photos, WHY NOT ADD SOMETHING ELSE? HMM?

ANYWAY

The last episode of Being Human was amazing and perfect and wonderful, and in case you are wondering, IT WAS A REAL HAPPY ENDING, la la la can't hear you. 

WPC 56 - about the first WPC in [somewhere I've forgotten - somewhere in the Midlands?] in 1956 was a surprisingly excellent, considering the BBC had commissioned it as one of their daytime dramas (I saw it on iplayer). Sadly it's gone off iplayer now but if you do manage to find it, it's definitely worth a few hours of your time. Hopefully it'll get a second series. 

The latest series of Foyle's War is proving very enjoyable, although I am still sulky about it being a 'series' of only three episodes. You'd think I'd be used to it by now. Anyway, that moan aside I am really enjoying how the series has opened up with new characters, and I am loving Sam and her husband's relationship. Also I had something else to say before I had to put dinner in the oven...

Broadchurch is currently very good and quite affecting, so I can't really watch with my full attention on it. This is a compliment - it's so well done that I actually find it a bit too much to cope with. 

I didn't manage to see Our Girl, though the parents have got it saved on their TV. I've also not seen In The Flesh yet, but I have it ready. I also have most of Spiral s4 but I might leave that as C has the DVDs and I've got dibs for when she's done :D

I have watched the first episode of Youngers, about two teenagers on a crappy South-East London estate trying to make their way in the world - it was much better than I expected (I only watched it because the words 'South-East London' were in the description, because I am that easy), and I really liked the characters. Not watched any more yet. 

I managed to catch the third Jack Taylor (about the Magdelene Laundries) but not the second - my goodness, this show is grim. Hardly any light moments in this one, although in the second one Jack apparently picked up a young sidekick. I'd be interested in another series but mostly for Iain Glen.

I've seen a couple of episodes of Prisoners' Wives, but that's only been because I've been round at the parents' when it's on - although Iain Glen is always worth watching (see above, haha). And Nicola Walker's in it, so that's good. 

Lightfields was pretty good in the end, although the ghost's methods were quite, quite hopeless (hey, if you're not trying to scare people, MAYBE DON'T SET THINGS ON FIRE?). I did like the resolutions for the 2012 characters though - very satisfying. 

I tried to watch Labyrinth but it was boring as fuck so I stopped. Ditto The Lady Vanishes, whenever that was on. And everyone in Mayday was so awful I stopped after 1 ep. We watched the first ep of The Village last night but it didn't really hold my interest - not sure I'm going to bother with the rest. 

Holby is going through an annoying phase, and I still fucking hate Oliver Valentine. I am a bit behind on Casualty. Not too impressed with Emmerdale either. I have been watching a bit of Coronation Street because of the fire plotline, although I am not planning on making it a habit.  

So with the UK stuff out of the way, I actually have US TV to talk about! I have started watching Elementary (which basically fixes EVERYTHING that annoyed me about Sherlock, OMG IT'S SO GOOD) and Person of Interest, which is one of those shows that basically showed up going 'hey, Han, over here! Look at meeee! I'm PERFECT for you' and IT IS. It's so good I can't even describe why right now because I am not yet in a position to be rational about it, hahaha. 

The thing is, I have been dling Elementary for a while but not had the time to watch it, and iirc I watched an episode of PoI at Dear's back in...November, maybe? And I've been waiting to get hold of it since then, so the anticipation for both shows has been quite high. And amazingly, both shows are living up to them.   

I think that's everything I've watched recently. There's some more good stuff coming up. TV scheduling is starting to get annoying, hahaha. 


Oh, and for anyone who's unaware, Scott and Bailey starts this week on Wed at 9pm. \o/
This entry was originally posted at http://hestia8.dreamwidth.org/46980.html.

So, as mentioned earlier, I got the new DM album yesterday and have now listened to most of it. There's some excellent stuff on there, although so far nothing with the immediate gut-punch of Wrong (which stood out from the first time I heard Sounds of the Universe), and I need a few more listens to work out which songs I'll have on heavy rotation.

In the meantime, here's a video playlist of my favourite DM song from each of their albums, just because:

( Taking me where I want to beCollapse )...so there we have it. Hope you enjoyed? I certainly did, hahahaha. 

This entry was originally posted at http://hestia8.dreamwidth.org/46711.html.

 I am suuuuper behind on talking about tv, I know. Will try to do an entry this evening I think. 

I have not been updating for various reasons, mostly due to being super busy at work (and work itself being pretty horrible) and therefore not having time for anything else. 

So, outside of work: I thought I had escaped pigeons on the balcony this year but now I think maybe the weather just put the bastards off, siiiiigh.

I went with the parents up to Leicester this week to see Dear etc, which was good fun if a bit headache-inducing (due to noise levels, but I knew that going in so was well stocked up with painkillers). It was very cold too. The weather has, in general, been a massive fucking pain. I don't have any sort of SAD symptoms, generally my one requirement for weather is 'not raining while I am outside', but ugh, so fed up of it. It is sunny right now but I don't know if that's supposed to last. 

Good Friday I came home and did a big clean of the flat, so it is now very nice, except of course the rug in the living room needed vacuuming again basically as soon as I finished. I am repainting one of my lamps from the living room (will do the other too if this works out) and need to get a new lampshade for it.

I went out yesterday, supposedly to go to Camden Passage in Islington, which houses a load of antique shops. However, I had only looked at a map once before I set out, so I took a huuuugely roundabout route to get there. It was a good walk though, so that's alright. I eventually made to Isligton about 2 1/2 hours after I set off, and it's a nice place to go for a short wander but I wasn't that impressed overall (although they did have Lotus biscuit spread in their Sainsbury's, and I'd been on a hunt since C told me about it*).

I then went on another very long wander with no real destination in mind and subsequently ended up at Caledonian Road & Barnsbury, which is a London Overground stop in the middle of nowhere. I then took a stupid route back down towards Greenwich because of engineering works etc, and finally made it to Greenwich to have lunch and go to the foot tunnel, which was actually fic research. 

Obviously I ended up at Island Gardens (the north exit of the Greenwich foot tunnel) and then briefly went to Crossharbour to go to Asda, where I needed to get some house stuff and the new Depeche Mode and Hurts albums (I have not listened to either yet so no response). After THAT I think my body just sort of gave up so I came back home and attempted to do some stuff on the interwebs but really just faffed and read fic and failed to post any photos (I tired myself out, basically). 

Today I am going over to the parents' so I am going to take some wips and do a bit of writing, and tomorrow I am finally going to have the 'rec/comment on fic' binge I've been promising myself for ages. And I have read some really good fic recently :D.





*and it is amazing, btw www.waitrose.com/shop/ProductView-10317-10001-231163-Lotus+biscuit+spread+smooth
This entry was originally posted at http://hestia8.dreamwidth.org/46337.html.

Few things in this entry, presuming I can remember what I’ve watched in the last week. 

Schedulers are super unhelpful, but we all know that, right?

Side note for any Sarah Jane Adventures fans passing by – Daniel Anthony is in Casualty, which is GREAT. He was brilliant in SJA and I am super super happy that he’s turned up in something I watch so I don’t have to add in a show just for him (I would, seriously, he’s brilliant).

Holby, on the other hand, is fucking annoying at the moment and I still hate Oliver.

Also - knew I'd forgotten something - I have now seen all of Black Mirror but that will need an entry to itself, which I had better work on for tomorrow evening. 

( Being Human, Lightfields, Jack Taylor: The GuardsCollapse ) This entry was originally posted at http://hestia8.dreamwidth.org/46097.html.

OH MY GOD this thing was maddening. The premise was awesome – black jazz band in 30s London get caught up in shenanigans – but the execution was muddled and frustrating as hell and sloooooooow like a snail. Also most of the characters needed a smack at one point or another. 

( SpoilersCollapse )

This entry was originally posted at http://hestia8.dreamwidth.org/46061.html.

I am so ill. I have a horrendous stomach bug that is making me sadface and preventing me doing anything of much use (I was quite proud of myself for managing to wash up this morning, put it that way).

However, one thing I have managed is watching TV/films, so:

( Bourne LegacyCollapse )

( SafeCollapse )

TV-wise, I watched eps 1-4 of Dancing On The Edge, but I'm going to ramble/complain about that when I've seen ep 5 so I won't start rambling now.

Spoilers in the cut below:

( Utopia, Ripper Street, Call the Midwife, Being Human etcCollapse ) This entry was originally posted at http://hestia8.dreamwidth.org/45759.html.

Oh, so it turned out Friday's episode was the last in the series. That had passed me by. Frustrating. 

( SpoilersCollapse )
This entry was originally posted at http://hestia8.dreamwidth.org/45430.html.

Silent Witness

Ok, so, a few things about last night even though nobody on my flist is watching:

 

( SpoilersCollapse )

 

Out tonight so will have to avoid the internet until tomorrow - was on tumblr for about 5 seconds earlier but luckily couldn't tell if I was reading spoilers or speculation. This entry was originally posted at http://hestia8.dreamwidth.org/45243.html.

 Okay, yeah, I have fallen hard for this show. I can't remember if I rambled about last week's but I just want to talk about this week's:

( spoilersCollapse )



This entry was originally posted at http://hestia8.dreamwidth.org/44983.html.

I have two fannish things to gripe about.

( Silent Witness - spoilers for this weekCollapse )

( AftertimeCollapse )

Just wanted to post these links as I'm actually getting on with posting photos lately...

Barbican Conservatory - metropolithan.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/barbican-conservatory.html

Steam train on the tube - metropolithan.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/steam-train-on-tube.html

Empty London - pictures of London without any people (not just the big central bits, residential streets, Docklands etc) - emptylondon.tumblr.com/

I have A LOT of photos of various things. I have no idea why this is surprising to me. 

(NB in case anyone is wondering about the 2012 photos of the day, I did manage to take photos almost every day - I was without a camera for 9 days or something when my old one died - but a lot of them are on the hard drive, which is currently in a coma, so I will try to get round to posting the ones I *have* got eventually. Um.)

This entry was originally posted at http://hestia8.dreamwidth.org/44643.html.

Ripper Street is actually improving week on week, I think. Matthew McFadyen is as wonderful as ever, and Jerome Flynn is just great. I mean, he's good in Game of Thrones but he's absolutely my favourite character in this. Adam Rothenberg is pretty good too, although I've never seen him in anything before this (IMDB suggests he's been in a whole bunch of American stuff). 

I will write a proper entry about it at some point (probably when the series has finished) but right now:

( spoilersCollapse )




This entry was originally posted at http://hestia8.dreamwidth.org/44070.html.

This is going to be an occasional series of links to things. Basically as I go around town to stuff I pick up cards and leaflets like you wouldn't believe, and then I mean to post about them and I usually don't. So from now on I am going to try to post a bunch of things together every so often.


    
Jewellery from emilykidson.com/

Lesley Middleton (flower paintings, sadly can't find an online gallery) www.havelockwalk.com/#/lesley-middleton/4536352242



Liz Atkin art lizatkin.com/#

Lovely bath stuff in funky shapes (only on FB, they don't have a website): www.facebook.com/bubblylicious1



Philippa Tunstill art: philippatunstill.com/



Amanda Sutherland bridal accessories and fascinators (so gorgeous): amandasutherland.co.uk/

            

John Bartlett's London Sublime, current special exhibition at the Guildhall Art Gallery: www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/visiting-the-city/attractions-museums-and-galleries/guildhall-art-gallery-and-roman-amphitheatre/Pages/Exhibitions.aspx





This entry was originally posted at http://hestia8.dreamwidth.org/43922.html.

Well I wasn’t going to do this, for the simple reason that every year sounds mostly the same to me: like a whole lot of Depeche Mode and then some other stuff. However, delgaserasca told me to anyway. However I do not have the time/patience to chase after all the sound files (especially as I don't have some of them) so the links here are videos on YT. 

I limited myself to four Depeche Mode songs in the end...

( When you're around me I'm radioactiveCollapse ) This entry was originally posted at http://hestia8.dreamwidth.org/43540.html.

Basically this is just showing off the cool stuff I got. Weirdly this year I only got two rings, one bracelet and one necklace/earrings set, which is a big drop from usual! Although mostly this was because I'd asked for stuff for the bedroom. 

( Many pictures :DCollapse ) This entry was originally posted at http://hestia8.dreamwidth.org/43486.html.

Well. Today I watched a very, very odd film. So odd that I'm actually posting about something I've watched twice in two days. It's like it's 2009 or something. 

(as per usual, this is not a review but more a ramble)

Blitz is a film adaptation of a Ken Bruen novel. I have tried to read a Ken Bruen novel in the past - possibly this one - but did not finish it as I just could not get on with the style. It stars Jason Statham as DS Tom Brant, who is a massive cliche. MASSIVE. CLICHE. It's amazing how many stereotypical tough, gritty London copper elements are packed into this one guy. 

Also in the cast are Paddy Considine, David Morrissey, Zawe Ashton and Aiden Gillen. 

Spoilers beyond the cut...

( SpoilersCollapse )

So, all in all, I would recommend this film. The first part of the film was over the top gritty nonsense, but once the film gets over needing to establish Statham as the lone cop with no limits blah blah blah and just gets on with the plot it improves massively and actually does some unexpected things with its characters. I'm also tempted to give the book another try... 

ps I thought this Mark Kermode review made some very good points: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaiNU-1wMA8
pps just realised in this whole thing I haven't mentioned the action scenes: the film is fairly violent and the Statham fighting is not quite as good as in The Transporter (which is fair enough), but the action scenes are nicely put together and there's only one point where I thought it got too violent. Actually on the whole there are some really good shots where things are implied rather than shown full-on.  
This entry was originally posted at http://hestia8.dreamwidth.org/43092.html.