movies 7 January 2011
I’m living a ‘hellish’ existence at the moment. For work purposes I am seeing a lot of brilliant family films, mostly animation. It has awakened the movie watching gene in general in me so I’m also indulging in all sorts of celluloid treats and there are a lot of good things out there that I missed first time round. And to reward myself (cos it’s research y’nah and EXHAUSTING) I am on a jag of reading crime novels with Michael Connelly and George Pelecanos both offering great delights to me just now. Hades on a stick but, hey, gotta be done…though I’m not expecting a lot of pity from youse lot, needless to say.
No cat news just yet, but fingers crossed.
Today was the official publication day for the paperback of THE TIME IS NOW – enjoy!!!!
Any cure for bloating? though the problem may just be overeating…and the continuing carriage of the Christmas Weight…
Cee Lo Green’s F**K YOU continues to be great to dance about to – or FORGET YOU as the radio version more politely has it.
rope 4 January 2011
We got a new en suite during the awfulness that was The Building Work. It’s lovely and of course not everything in it quite works – or at least it may but the instructions etc are gone now or missing in action, so to speak. So, the underfloor heating = a complete mystery (and not functional), ditto the heated towel rail. The shower is great, if a little finnicky from time to time. But most of all the unit is one of those beauties that doesn’t lend itself to extras, like a soap dish…so there ain’t one yet. And I have a feeling it’ll be an item that’ll take years to find, somehow. So it occurred to me that soap-on-a-rope would be just the thing to hang out of the shower. Does it even exist anymore though? I remember it from the 70s and 80s, though in my mind it’s also associated with aftershaves and men’s body sprays and the like? Can it still be got? If so, does it come in a rather more ‘uni-sex’ incarnation than the one I recall?
alcohol 3 January 2011
The festive season has decided to rest on my thighs and muffin top. And today was to be the start of the New Year’s Revolution and was to include the resuming of exercise, reducing the size and fatty (yum) content of meals and the cutting out of alcohol. I’m actually quite pleased to announce that the booze got the chop (if only ‘cos there’s none left in the house) and I’m hoping to get to the other matters on the morrow. Hey, it’s a start, folks…and on a bank holiday…
Still feeling mighty chunky though…
I wonder does anyone ever lose weight over the festives, even if they hate that time of year and don’t celebrate it much? I was very quiet this year after a challenging 2010 but I still managed to pile on a few pounds if the tight jeans are anything to go by.
A call is out to adopt two cats with an animal aid agency – hope we pass muster on the home visit test and that the mogs like the look of us. Watch this space.
In other news, the small paperback size of THE TIME IS NOW is available this week – enjoy!
Ted 2 January 2011
Some of you were wondering why I didn’t take part in the documentary on Father Ted last night. I am utterly proud of that show and I love it still (and Mrs Doyle). I’ll watch it any time it’s on and I laugh out loud at it – in fact I did just that last night and can I say that the Hairy Babies episode, as chosen by viewers, is probably my favourite too. Anyhow, I have spoken at length over the years about the show and really didn’t think I had anything more to add to that – there’s piles of archive footage out there of me telling stories about it and the behind the scenes laughs and so on. On top of which I have such happy memories of Ted that to have gone down the West without Dermot (Morgan) and Geoffrey (Perkins) would have been too sad. And I didn’t think any documentary could be ‘definitive’ without them anyhow. So, all of the above (and the small matter of me filming another Channel 4 series in Manchester anyhow) led to me not taking part.
2011 31 December 2010
My lovelinesses – yes, that youse lot – I must say I am delighted to see the back of 2010 which has to have been the worst year of my life ALTHOUGH some truly great things happened within it and I realised I have MANY wonderful and loyal friends and family. Time to move on though and hooray for that. SO have an great One (One) and we’ll talk tomorrow in the new year (phew!)
flats 30 December 2010
On an outing today I noticed a rather brown block of flats with the name Offington Close outside, which was an odd name to see in Ireland on anything and almost the kind of thing you might make up for a novel knowing no place is ever quite called that. it was also an unprepossessing sort of place. So I remarked upon it to Himself who said ‘oh, that’s after Lord Offington’ and I looked suitably impressed until I realised that he’d just made it up and when I said ‘you just made that up, didn’t you,’ he nodded smilingly, because we both know I’d never have suspected it wasn’t the truth. I am totally gullible on nearly every level, really. Therefore I have decided that a good title for my life would be Gullible’s Travels…
swiss 28 December 2010
Ireland and its economy are in a dire state of chassis, as we all know. And although I’m not one to suggest that taxi drivers are the judge of anything (and apologies to all those members of my family who have driven cabs and they are legion and close) BUT a great point was made recently by an Irish journalist (Lorcan Roche Kelly) that you’ve gotta be worried about a run on the banks when taxidrivers are wondering aloud about how to open a Swiss bank account…just saying…
playing 27 December 2010
was watching a football match recently and reminded of how alike soccer and acting truly are – yes, there’s the sheer showbiz factor BUT ALSO there’s the ‘playing age’ issue. one of the tv commentators was reminiscing about seeing Messi (surely the greatest footballer in the world presently!) play under-11s football WHEN HE WAS 13…and i have often been amazed at the ancient quality of an international under-21s side (when a lot of ‘em sign in at 25 or so). same as actors, i guess, in as much as we put our playing range anywhere 10 years up or down…of course, that range all depends on where your starting point was anyhow, which many are not QUITE honest about. in a similar vein, i wouldn’t like to tell you how many actors i know who have horse riding and fencing on their CV as skills they feel totally at home with showing publicly, very much aside from the fact that most of them wouldn’t know a foil if it sliced them or be able to check their girth while aboard a creature…just saying…and ain’t make-believe grand…
recovery 26 December 2010
My name is Pauline and I’m a recovering human being…
On the plus side the turkey made a nice curry this evening – well, strictly speaking, I made the curry with the leftover turkey and it was all very tasty.
Wine is essentially evil.
That is all…
duck! 25 December 2010
Season’s Greetings to all who are involved in such stuff. I have little enough to report in my address on this day…except that the devil is in the detail of any celebration and I don’t seem to be triumphing at that just now. For example, without the demon drink being responsible (at all at all, funnily enough, though I hit a bottle shortly after this event last night) I prepared a lovely duck yesterday and went to check on it an hour in to discover it still sitting on top of the cooker ready to go into the oven (which was working it’s little metal socks off at that stage). SO, the major note to all cooks today is to put any foodstuffs that you intend to cook INTO the oven at the allotted time…it may seem obvious, but hey, worth noting…