Welcome Sir Fabio.

Tonight I watched Marco's Feast and I thought his menu choices were brilliant. The Gulls egg mayonnaise looked stunning.

However, he is a bit of a twat. He didnt want to be seen on camera slagging off the people who had been in the previous clip (eels) and had the resounding hump about it all.

Last week he served up venison tartare, and much as I am not a fan of raw meat, I would have given my left bollock to have a taste of that.

He did fish and chips tonight, and I was sat on the couch with the partner, screaming, 'Fuck! Thats how I make the batter! Thats how I (double) cook my chips! This Michelin star shit is a piece of piss, innit'

To which, my mate replied, 'Yes, but he doesnt fuck up gravy like you do. More chuffing lumps than Jordan and her triplet sisters'

Sergei Bodrov's Mongol was a substantial slice above my expectations. The first film I've seen in ages that uses David Lean/John Ford style panoramas with anything approaching their skill, or battle scenes with minimal CGI. Most of all I liked the way the story retained oral storytelling forms: chronological but episodic, with big chunks of exposition omitted. Watch for the kid who plays the young Genghis Khan — I was scared of him — and the actor who plays Borte, his wife, is excellent. She is every bit as heroic as the Great Khan himself (possibly more so) and the film is very much "their" story not his. I'm bouncing up and down in anticipation of the next part of the trilogy.

Lust, Caution which was very good. Not quite up there with say, In The Mood For Love, as I think despite the complex emotional situations of the plot, Lee's film lacked the extraordinary degrees of subtlety that Wong can acheive when he's at his best; nevertheless it was lovely to look at (it almost feels like cheating, making a period piece set in Shanghai and Hong Kong - how could it not look amazing?) and the performances were great. And I have to love a film in which they play mahjong constantly. A concealed kong of Red Dragons! That's pretty nice to have in your hand and probably symbolised something that I'm a bit too dim to grasp.

also The Edge of Love which was a bit pointless really - disappointing from John Maybury. Keira Knightley was OK, with her comedy Welsh accent and her grown up problems; Sienna Miller was ridiculous, I thought Caitlin Thomas was Irish but her accent veered from London posh through a kind of imitation of Keira's 'Welsh' and everything in between. And the story didn't have any kind of resonance as far as I was concerned. I think it's possible it was trying to say something about the artistic process (cf Love Is The Devil) but that just translated to Dylan Thomas being a bit if a childish twit and then reading some poems out at appropriate times. and I so cannot be doing with the 'female friendship' theme in films that think it should be handled as a mixture of jealousy, resentment, and closeted lesbianism.
Cillian Murphy was really great, though, seemed to live at a different emotional register to the rest of them.

Grundy's Northern Pride

In which writer, historian, broadcaster and all-round Northern bloke John Grundy traverses the breadth of Northern England looking at examples of great Northern architecture, with the emphasis firmly, in case you hadn't realised, on the North. This has become a don't-miss fixture recently, not least because it's a decently-made bit of regional programming that provides an agreeable and informative alternative to the slew of soaps on the other channels. And also, it's on when no-one else is in the house, so I can sink into an armchair and watch it in peace.

Currently showing, in Granada at least, on Thursday evenings.

I'm watching Tropic Thunder. It's fucking hilarious so far I have to admit.

Found myself watching On The Buses this morning - I couldn't stop chuckling whenever Arthur put down Olive, no matter that it was predictable every time.

It is a truly terrible programme though, but like a car crash or a drunken argument I feel drawn to it. I'm like Harry the mosquito heading towards the luminous bug zapper in A Bug's Life;

"No Harry. Stay away fron the shite,"
"I can't help it, it's so awful..."

New Tricks again, and

********SPOILER************
I didnt realise how good James Bolam is in it, until he came back.

********SPOILER UNDONE*****

The other 3 are absolutely great, but James Bolam is acting their socks off. I am a huge fan of Alun Armstrong, and I think he is possibly giving way due to the storyline. Superb stuff (although the storylines are starting to look a wee bit jaded)

Top Gear the other night, was brilliant, again. I am so pleased about Jay Kay (although he was smashed out of his knickers on the show)

Not current, but I had a gander at that Martin Clunes vehicle, Doc Martin last week, if only for the sight of Felicity Montagu divested of all the frumpy trappings of Alan Partridge's mousey assistant, Lynn, looking svelte, slim and convincingly washed out as the coastal town's resident alcoholic. Which is a pointer to how damn good she was in Coogan's masterpiece. Blimey, she even looked a bit...erm..foxy at times.

Carry on.

Doc Martin is great. And yeah, Felicity Montagu is a fox. Quite fanciable in Nighty Night.

QUOTE:
Top Gear the other night, was brilliant, again. I am so pleased about Jay Kay (although he was smashed out of his knickers on the show)

Yeah, he and Jeremy did come across as very excitable. They could barely sit still. And so talkative.

And it's always nice to see Sabine Schmidt swearing. Brings out my inner Max Mosley.

gratuitous Felicity Montagu shot:



sumptuous, although she does have a touch of the 'Big Brother contestant' about her.

6 hours later and still no takers. That's what's wrong with otf, you've all gone soft. Time was there'd have been a queue of people lining up to put that one away.

The last segment of Top Gear on Sunday - I mean, I really like Top Gear, usually despite/because of stuff like that, but... really?

I hope Robin Carmody didn't see it.

That's Carmen Electra in that picture.