Married at First Sight

In case you missed it ladies and gentle readers a staple over the last few Thursday nights has been 'Married at first sight' a show based around an experiment of getting strangers to marry.

Needless to say things did not go according to plan, the selection process was controlled by scientists who from the look of them couldn't spot a couple with chemistry if they were sat at the next table. An example of the scientists fuckery is two people were chosen for their 'traditional views on marriage' and were surprised when both of them pulled out!

On last nights final episode things weren't going to well as Emma was being rather awkward around James. There were a few awkward moments on the honey moon and things looked to be progressively getting strained. Things were however disastrous with Katie and Jason, who didn't get off to a good start when he unpacked his belongings into the spare bedroom. He then asked Ch 4 to stop filming and decided not to turn up to a counselling session. Katie then spotted him on Tinder and proceeded (to the surprise of nobody) to give him the elbow.

The one success of this show turned out surprisingly to be Emma and James (it well and truly shocked me). Emma progressively throughout the show brought down her barriers and got more comfortable around James to the extent she let him give her a foot massage - still wearing socks though. Without doubt we were watching two people become a couple and three months after filming they are still together. This blogger wishes them all the luck in the world however a lesson learnt from this show is scientists should stick to curing disease and making the world a better place, leave relationships to the experts.

The Big Finish Catch Up: June 2015

For those of you new to this section of the blog, I started listening to the Big Finish Doctor Who releases when they started back in 1999, getting them as they were released up to mid 2002 and release No 33 Neverland. At that time I left Uni and due to being a bit busy with life and what not I only heard one or two releases over the next few years. I started getting back into them around 2008 and was 6 years behind at that point. Due to wondering off into the Lost Doctor range and a relaxed listening pace I fell further behind. In order to catch up I'm listening to two releases a month (or more when its a 60 min single disc release, plus without seeing the cover or knowing anything about the story) and my mission to catch up continues;

First up this month was a detour into the lost story range featuring the 5th Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa in Hexagora. The lost story range is a bit hit and miss for me and out of the 5th Doctor stories I've heard this is the weakest. It starts off quite pacey and made me think "blimey they're cramming the introduction of this story together quite quick there must be a lot to get through later on." Sadly it wasn't the case, the story wonders around in circles, telegraphs itself badly and somewhere in the middle there were endless info dump scenes that seemed to go forever. Plus in the "grand finale" scene I wasn't sure exactly what was going on. At moments this story does feel like it wants to try something different then it falls back into quite a traditional story which I found annoying. In short if you want a 5th Doctor Lost story get "The Elite" or "The Children of Seth."

First off you may notice that a few entries back I made a big thing about getting to 2006. I regularly buy stories way ahead on discount and sometime my mate who helps me with this puts some stories into the pile early to throw me off in case I'm cheating. This is an absolute gorgeous story and can't recommend it highly enough. Featuring a 6th Doctor moments after his last TV appearance and a more experienced 6th Doctor it shows how Colin Baker and Big Finish have grown the character over the last fifteen years. What absolute brilliant idea for the anniversary year. Colin Baker gives one of his best performances which as regular listeners will know is really saying something, Bonnie Langford is also very good and deserves praise. This story is at times amusing, emotional and takes you through the ringer being lots of fun and a solid engaging plot. This is a story that I can predict I will be coming back to a lot in the future, apart from the sheer fun theres enough in the plot to make me think I'll notice new things on a re-listen.

Back to 2006 and "Red" featuring Sylvester McCoys 7th Doctor and Bonnie Langfords Mel. This is a  story I heard a few years ago but couldn't remember it and in all honesty its one I'm destined to forget again. I like a good mystery however a lot of the central mystery (I wont spoil) is telegraphed and theres a few odd things in here that are basic audio mistakes that Big Finish should have spotted at the editing stage. In saying that its ok, Sylvester gets to do some bonkers acting ala the earlier release "Unregenerate" and actually holds it all together. The production lacks a certain flair and guile for a mystery although there are quite a lot of good moments including the "slow" sequence. In short a decent little story with quite a few good bits that make me give it 5/10 but I'm left with the opinion this should (and easily could) have been a lot better. 

Fantasy Festival Set List: Paul Weller

Good afternoon ladies and gentle readers, I hope I find you well on this fine summer day. Speaking of summer that also means we're in the midst of festival season which includes Glastonbury. I don't know if I've mentioned on the blog before but I'm a huge Paul Weller (in ALL of his incarnations) fan and was a tad disappointed with the set he played during Glastonbury which can be seen here;

White Sky
The Changing Man
From the Floorboards Up
I'm Where I Should Be
Long Time
Thats Entertainment
Above the Clouds
Saturns Pattern
Going My Way
Friday Street
Porcelain Gods
Broken Stones
You Do Something To Me
Start
Peacock Suit
Whirlpools End
Town Called Malice

Now personally I say if your playing a main stage at Glastonbury it has to be a "best of" set with all the hits. Theres to much of his solo stuff in that set and quite a lot that isn't well known to a casual audience - which is a killer when playing Glastonbury. So I've put together my ideal Paul Weller set list. With caveat that its mostly hits and stuff that goes down well live, I hope you enjoy;

Speak Like A Child
The Changing Man
Out of the Sinking
Thats Entertainment
A Solid Bond in Your Heart
My Ever Changing Moods
Long Hot Summer
Stanley Road
Wild Wood
You Do Something To Me
Your the Best Thing
Broken Stones
Start
This is the Modern World
Going Underground
Walls Come Tumbling Down
Shout to the Top
Town Called Malice