DVD: Pride and Prejudice

We watched the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice in all its Blu-Ray glory this afternoon (five episodes today and one yesterday!). In my view, it�s still the best adaptation ever produced

Not sure about the transfer to Blu-ray though � it looked decidedly grainy in places, and it also had a very strange voice-over at the beginning, announcing the disk number.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

�and the morning too! Unusually, neither of us had that much to do today. I got the books ready for Nick, my Accountant (it's my end-of-year), whilst Ann attacked the shower-room armed with an elbow full of grease - and the oven, with a chicken full of err.. chicken!

Lee and I caught up with the blu-ray DVD: Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince. Darker and more spooky than previous episodes with some truly amazing special effects, it didn't disappoint � check out the opening scenes showing the destruction of the Millennium Bridge!

Ely Ely Oh!

The three of us (Ann, Nicki and I) took a drive to Ely today. I haven't been there for a gazillion years.

Parking was pretty straightforward � a dedicated car-park for the Cathedral, our first stop. As we walked from the car, we suddenly realised how cold it was � but worse was to come!!

After a fairly thorough look around the Cathedral (marvellous!) and taking a load of photographs, we decided to head into town � a BIG mistake - as it got colder and colder and then it started to SNOW. Not the gentle stuff, but big flakes of the white stuff�more and more and more. We got soaked, and decided to postpone any further exploration and head straight back to the car!

Phew! - time for lunch then, so we headed for the 3 Horseshoes at Madingley. We had not been there before and what a treat it turned out to be! It was very busy, but they managed to get us a table in the pub bit. The menu turned out to be 'rustic Italian' (whatever that is!)�all we knew, was, it was brilliant! and we're definitely be going back there again.

We got home around 4, after treating Ann's car to its first visit to the hand car-wash in Finedon � a shiny motor now!!!

Time to put our feet-up, read the papers and watch a DVD. Today, we decided to go for 'Inglorious Basterds' starring Brad Pitt and directed by Quentin Tarantino. A curious film set in WWII and with its tongue firmly in its cheek! Some very, very violent scenes though and a bit strange!

Nicki here for the weekend

Nicki joined us tonight � she's been on holiday this week and staying 'til late Saturday night and then driving home. I'd quite forgotten that we hadn't 'done' Christmas pressies with her (as we didn't see her over the Christmas period) and it felt really strange doing this in February!

She also bought us some lovely silver anniversary gifts � silver napkin rings and a beautiful cat-couple ornament.

With all the pressies sorted, Jo and Janet arrived - just in time to see the chicken pie that Ann and Lee had created come out of the oven � I think it was about the size of Corby!! Guess what I'll be eating next week!!!!

The food was fab, especially the pie � I think it even surpassed previous creations in terms of flavour! (Ahh, our secret ingredient). We ate and ate, but the pie still blocked out the light coming through the window in the dining room!! We managed to squeeze round it it, into the kitchen, and served up lemon meringue pie, ice-cream and another culinary masterpiece: Nicki's home-made American brownies (a slightly different recipe this this time � more chocolatey and chewy in the middle). Fantastic food�and most of us felt guilt-free as we're giving up all the comfort food for Lent next week.

We all collapsed into the lounge and I put on the DVD 'Heat' starring Robert de Niro, Al Pacino, Val Kilmer and John Voight. For some reason, I thought this was a new film, but about three-quarters of the way through, after commenting how young all the stars looked, we all realised it was about 25 years old!! Doh!!!! It was a bit slow to get going, but if you like 'slow-burners' and want to see possibly the longest gun-battle scene ever, it's worth a look.

Midnight: We're all very tired and totally porked-out. Time for bed. Trip to Ely tomorrow.

DVD: Star Trek

I'd been to see it at the cinema in May last year. Lee's a fan, and hadn't seen it, so with Ann away tonight (who's not a fan!), it was the perfect opportunity to see it in all its blu-ray glory.

Having watched it again, I'd say it was a very watchable film � even if you're NOT a trek fan, the storyline was well structured and the re-imagined characters of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scottie, were well-realised. The likeness and mannerisms of Spock and 'Bones' to their 60s counterparts was really impressive.

As expected these days, the special effects were outstanding. The 'NCC 1701' looked even more realistic than in previous Trek movies. Director JJ Abrams did a great job with this film, injecting new life into the tired franchise of previous Trek movies.

Get it here from Amazon, with a free digital copy for your iPod!

The Packing continues/Salvation Army Concert/Ice Age

We spent part of the morning continuing to pack. It all seems to fit (but the kitchen sink was a bit of a problem!!) � so we should get away with being under the weight limits for BA.

Job done! We're all packed apart from a few last minute bits and pieces.
 
We're ahead of schedule, so we watched Ice Age 3 on blu-ray DVD. Not a bad film but perhaps not as good a story-as '1' and '2', but the animation was stunning � surely the cutting edge of what is currently possible � we think we could see every hair on the mammoths! Brilliant!!!

We drove down to town to go to the 6.30 performance of the Salvation Army Christmas Carol Concert. Snow�carol singing�Salvation Army Brass band � lovely!!! It doesn't get more christmassy than this!!!

David and Val were there and so were Val's Mum and Dad, Rose and Mike. Jo, Janet, Helen and Frank were also there and we also saw Joan and the guy who runs Windmill pet Supplies.

It was as usual, a great event. Good music, a great choir, and some well placed and well-thought-out religious messages. The event finished at around 7.45 and we took a slow and very careful drive back home because of the icy conditions. We then went round to David and Val's for toast (done the proper way, over an open fire) � a great end to a productive and enjoyable day!!!

Han or not to Han

Our original plan was to pick up Jo, Janet and Carol and head over to Han, our favourite Chinese restaurant in Market Harborough for a final pre-Christmas gorge-fest.

However, the atrocious weather here put paid to that and we decided to have everyone round to ours. As it turned out, Carol wasn't able to make it, so the four of us gorged on an Indian feast of meals courtesy of JS and M and S!

After eating, we settled down to the blu-ray DVD 'Enchanted', an unusual film, released just before Christmas in 2007. It was half cartoon and half 'real' and started off looking like an old Disney cartoon classic such as Sleeping Beauty. The heroine, Giselle (played by Amy Adams) is tricked by the Wicked Witch (Susan Sarandon, in full panto-mode!) and ends up being transported to modern-day New York, The story revolves around Giselle coping as a one-dimensional cartoon character in the 21st century and gradually changing her views about 'true love'. Ahh, bless!

It wasn't really a film that test the blu-ray capabilities of the player, but the colours were very vibrant � especially the dance scene in the park. And, apart from Timothy Spall, I didn't recognise any of the actors, although Jo pointed out that the 'hero' was the guy (Patrick Dempsey) from Grey's Anatomy. But, it a strange kind of way, it was a very watchable film with some clever special effects (especially the chipmunk) and maybe one especially suited to this magical time of year.

Anniversary Presents 2009

Given that it�s out 25th, we splashed out a bit this year!

Ann, from me�

• Daniel Craig tea-towel (but I still don�t understand why!)
• Six bottles of �Lustau Pedro Ximenez� Dessert Wines
• DVD - Pride and Prejudice (Blu-Ray)
• DVD - Ice Age 3 (Blu-Ray)
• DVD - Pretty Woman (Blu-Ray)
• Matt calendar 2010
• Diamond and Sapphire white-gold ring

Me from Ann�

• Silver Rado watch

From Rosi and David

• Smokey brown vase

From Paul and Karen

• Bottle of Champagne

Roger, Jane and Oliver here for the Weekend

Saturday
The day didn't start well weather-wise with rain, rain and more rain. Good news though, by the time they arrived at just after 11, it was starting to clear-up.

Ann had already rushed down to Waitrose for 8am to get in the food for the weekend and we sat down to pizza and salad just before 1.

After clearing up and closely supervising Biscuit in the garden after yesterday's incident, Ann, Roger, Jane and Oliver drove over to Corby for a spot of swimming (my sink-like-a-brick technique would have cramped their style) and I stayed at home and caught up with a bit of work and read the newspapers.

When they got back at 5ish, it was time to prepare tonight's meal of sausage and mash. In between the preparation, we tried to keep Oliver interested in the Blu-ray DVD: Prince Caspian, that he'd chosen from our collection, but it's a pretty slow start to the film and Oliver got bored very quickly. After pausing the DVD a number of times, we gave up, Oliver went to bed and we tucked into our evening meal. We finished off the Sausages and Mash and then got stuck into the trifle that Ann and Oliver had made earlier,

With Oliver safely tucked-up in bed we could have an adults-only meal and conversation followed by us all watching the end of the film. We eventually went to bed at 10.35.

There were plenty of potential interruptions from the 'Trick-or-Treaters', but unusually this year, we ignored them (apart from the group that came round at 2.45 in the afternoon, who because they were so early, fooled me into thinking they were someone else.
 
Sunday
It's raining hard and having let the cats out a couple of hours earlier at 5.30, I'm beginning to think that wasn't a good idea. Bon-Bon was smart enough to come in, but Biscuit was no-where to be seen! Hopefully this wasn't a repeat of recent events. Phew! about 10 minutes later, she wandered in, also soaked through!

Oliver was up just after me at 7, doing what kids do, running around and investigating everything. My Office, where the door was shut yesterday, now presented itself as an Aladdin's Cave for him � books, CDs, computers all requiring a thorough investigation and followed up with a barrage of questions � oh joy!! :)

We had a late-ish breakfast of cereals, croissants and jams and then we settled down to the Sunday papers, whilst Oliver helped Ann prepare Sunday lunch � a full roast.

Oliver's good in the kitchen � he does all the jobs you want him to�but occasionally, some of the jobs you don't! All-in-all though, a real asset.

Lunch was on time and by the end of it we were all, as usual, completely stuffed!! The kitchen carnage was quickly returned to its more normal state and we then chilled-out chatting and snoozing. It's now 3.15, it was time for them to head home.

It's been a great weekend, but a bit knackering, especially for Ann, who attempted to keep Oliver amused throughout his stay � it's easy to forget the limitless energy and the intensive questioning of a five-year old!

DVD: Iron Man (Blu-Ray)

A (very) rare morning-off today as I'm well-ahead with my work. Time to catch-up with some DVDs. I bought this DVD a while ago and then forgot I'd got it! On inserting the DVD, it immediately accessed the 'net and downloaded some extra goodies in the guise of a quiz about the film � neat!

Released in 2008, it tells the story of weapons magnate, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), who after his kidnapping in Afghanistan, and subsequent escape, builds a high-tech suit of body armour and vows to protect the world as 'Iron Man'. After a slow start start, the film livened up and turned into a very watchable film.

 

DVD: Watchmen (Blu-Ray)

Watchmen was a very unusual film. The story is about an alternative USA in 1985 where costumed super-heroes are a normal part of society. Civilisation is on the verge of nuclear war between the US and Russia and Nixon is in his third-term.

Someone is killing-off the super-heroes, most recently 'The Comedian' and those that are left join together to find the killer. (I don't remember this film doing the rounds at the cinema and that's often a bad sign!) I wonder how it'll turn out? 

Ignoring the story for a moment, the lasting impression was the cinematography � truly stunning � whether or not you're watching it in HD. Lots of slo-mo and extreme camera angles, made it very watchable (ha-ha, no pun intended!) at an artistic level.

Back to the story then. It certainly wasn't one for the family � extremely violent and disturbing in all senses of the word. 'Superman � The Movie', it certainly wasn't! And it definitely wasn't a film to watch, to cheer yourself up � dark very dark extremely dark and depressing throughout. So much blood too�yuk! 

At two-hours 42 minutes long, it certainly required stamina to watch it in one go. I guess it's always a challenge turning a comic err, graphic novel into a film - it must be difficult what to include and leave out. I watched it in two-chunks and that felt heavy going!

Definitely one for the die-hard fans of the comic graphic-novel then and not one to watch after a few lagers because of the multi-layered and complex story-line. Apparently there is a Director's Cut version that's longer and has a lot more dialogue. Be afraid, be very afraid!

Related articles

• 'Watchmen' Goes Big In DVD And Blu-Ray Sales (splashpage.mtv.com)
• Watchmen Games Coming To Retail (kotaku.com)
• Wait, what? Watchmen game-plus-movie hybrid Blu-ray comes on two discs (joystiq.com)
• Watchmen: Ultimate Collector's Edition Details & Deleted Scene (screenrant.com)

DVD: Taken (Blu-ray)

We watched Taken with David and Val tonight round at ours tonight. Starring Liam Neeson it was the 'extended harder cut' version � (ouch!). Just before we started watching the film, I served my chili-chicken for the main-course and Ann's served her brioche and butter Apricot pudding about half-way through.

The storyline? Neeson's daughter is kidnapped in Paris for no apparent reason and he sets out to rescue her � whatever it takes! A pretty violent film from start to finish, but also very watchable. Action hero is not a role normally undertaken by Liam Neeson, but he was very convincing throughout and the film had an especially tense final 15 minutes � one of our fave films so far this year, but the sugary-sweet happy-endings so apparent in modern American movies was, in my view unnecessary.
 
Karen and Paul had invited us round to theirs, but we were just too knackered after we'd cleared up.

DVD: The International (Blu-Ray)

We watched The International tonight and it was excellent! It's also the first DVD we've bought that features 'BD-Live' (more about that later).

Starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts, the story centres around a group of internationally corrupt bankers (very topical!)  and Clive Owen's attempt to bring them down. Initially a bit of a slow-burner, the film soon got going and was very Bond-like and Bourne-like in its filming style. Some interesting twists-and-turns along the way certainly kept us on the edge of our seats � and perhaps, therefore, not for those that are of a nervous disposition! For me, the most stunning scene was the shoot-out filmed in the Guggenheim Museum � visually and aurally stunning. We wondered how they'd got permission to shoot (ahem!) there, only to learn from one of the extra features that they didn't � they simply rebuilt it as a set.
The cinematography was excellent and looked stunning in Blu-Ray.

BD-Live
This is an extra feature built into some Blu-ray DVD players that does something quite clever:

• The player connects to the internet
• Downloads extra information about the film
• Allows a PiP (Picture-in-Picture) so that you can watch the film whilst also displaying a small inset screen, telling you more about the particular scene you are watching

Ralph and Karen � here for the weekend

Saturday
We drove down to Bicester Shopping Village to meet R and K. The girls did a little some shopping, (but didn't buy much) whilst Ralph and I pursued more manly activities by like heading to the BOSE shop to see the latest kit. Ralph and I then headed back to ours to chill-out and try and solve the problem of my second router not connecting to the Internet and generally bring ourselves up-to-date with the latest TV technology. However, things were to become far more complex from an electronics point-of-view later on in the day.

Ann and Karen arrived back just after 12 and we all sat down to burgers for lunch � lovely!

Straight after lunch, Ralph and I resumed our search for the solution to my router problem. A couple of hours later, we still couldn't get it to work but we had at least, narrowed it down � something to do with the main phone plugged into the bedroom socket upstairs. The router worked if that phone was unplugged, but plugging it in, just knackered the internet connection. Strange!

Even stranger, was the 'old' problem of my garage door randomly opening and closing for no reason when someone approaches it. After discounting someone nearby just taking-the-p*** with an identical remote control (how paranoid am I?), we discovered that the door was being triggered by the PIR sensor for our security light nearby. Walk into its path and the garage door began to open; and then close again � all on its own. It's not done it before, so why now? An hour later, we still couldn't solve the problem and the help-line at ScrewFix had gone home!

What a frustrating time � even with our both our sharp minds on the case, we now ended up being stuck with TWO problems!!

6.00pm. Time to bottle-out, and open a bottle of something! We're hoping to eat outside later, but some champagne and nibbles will do until then!

Time for a movie too! We settled for 'Vertical Limit' on Blu-ray, starring Chris O'Donnell and Bill Paxton. Although the story itself was a bit ploddy, it was more than made-up for by the stunning photography and stunt sequences.

 

7.00pm. It turned out to be a lovely evening so we paused the DVD and had starters of cold meats, olives and cheeses outside. Then a brief pause whilst the girls prepared the risotto.

8.15pm. Seafood Risotto time � delicious!!! Followed by Ann's 'apricot-topped egg custard thingy � more than delicious!!!

9.45pm. Karen and I cleared-up the kitchen (which was nowhere near looking like the bomb-site it threatened to be!) and we then watched the rest of the DVD.

Sunday
As usual, I was first up; unusually, it wasn't until 8am!! What a hot night though � it felt like it remained in the 20s throughout.

So, a late breakfast then � mainly of cereals, toast, muffins and fruit (we were all too stuffed from last night!).

After breakfast, (returning to the problem of our second router not working), Ralph suggested I checked the the ADSL filter on the BT line upstairs and replace it with a new one � it was worth a try even though I'd tried it before. When I pulled the bed out to access the main BT socket upstairs, I noticed that the socket had NO filter on it at all. So, I added one in and surprisingly, the router is now working perfectly! I'd been here before, but previously, the router definitely DIDN'T work - Go figure!

11.20am. Ann and Karen decided to go for a walk whilst Ralph and I faffed around with the DVD player accessing YouTube and playing media from an SD card and USB. I still haven't got it all sussed-out, but I';m getting there!

12.45pm. Time to head for The Star Inn at Geddington where we'd booked lunch. We haven't been there for a while, but we recall the food being excellent. By the time we'd made the short drive (bottling out of driving through the ford), the day had become much warmer. There were already people sitting round the Queen Eleanor Cross with their pints in their hand and it all looked very 'English'.

We were greeted with a very warm welcome and were shown to our table. The menu followed shortly afterwards. I went for the vegetarian cottage pie, whilst everyone else had the Sunday Roast. The service was excellent and servings were so large that none of us could manage dessert � not even me, not even coffee � but we were tempted by the 'chocolate lumpy bumpy'. We'll just have to go back again!

3.00pm. On leaving the Pub we were greeted by the throaty roar of a number of Ferraris travelling through the village � red, yellow, silver and even a black one!

We said our good-byes to R and K and headed home. Time for Ann to have a snooze and me to catch-up with a bit of TV.

What a great weekend � the weather's been fantastic and it's been great to catch-up!

DVD: "The Duchess"

We watched the 2008 DVD "The Duchess" this afternoon. It was a really good film � a lavish production in all senses�and even better on Blu-ray! The soundtrack was good too!

Related stuff�
'The Duchess' exhibition: costumes and portraits at Chatsworth House (telegraph.co.uk)

Nick and Celina here...

Nick and Celina are joining us today - they're here all day today and are leaving after brekky tomorrow - we're really looking forward to seeing them again.

Just after 1pm they arrived in their shiny new Honda. What a gorgeous looking car! We caught up with all their news including Celina's 'little project' involving a B and B in Haworth, West Yorkshire - must help them out with a web-site for it.

Then, after a quick bite to eat, we headed off to Houghton Mill near Huntingdon. It's a National Trust property, near the  river and features a working Mill - quite unusual these days. The place was already quite busy mainly because the weather was gorgeous - and maybe because some people didn't want to be at home watching the Cup Final!

We took a look around the Mill, starting upstairs and working down - amazing stuff. We then spent a couple of hours looking round the surrounding area and finished with an ice-cream each from the shop.

We left around 4pm heading home to Pimm's and nibbles. We sat out for about an hour before settling down to watch Transporter 3 on Blu-Ray DVD. Not a bad film - stunts, excellent...storyline, poor...Jason's eight-pack, unbelievable!


Around 9pm we sat down for our evening meal. Ann had prepared a spicy prawn dish for starters followed by Lamb cooked with rosemary with loads of vegetables - including fennel (which by a majority vote, got the thumbs down). Dessert consisted of a raspberry souffl� kind of dish - very scrummy. It was all finished off with cheese and biscuits...and Port (fatal for us two...we're going to have thick heads in the morning!!)

We sat out until 10.45 - it was a perfect evening - putting the world right and drinking far too much - the blue recycling box will be heavier this week! It then got a little cool so we came indoors and continued our conversations whilst attempting to rescue the kitchen from its somewhat disorganised state!

We eventually got to bed around midnight...

Blu-Ray DVDs: Australia & Quantum of Solace

Having picked-up the new HDMI cable from Richer Sounds after yesterday's error, I got it all connected up to our new Blu-Ray player and existing TV without any problems at all. At 89.95, the cable felt expensive, but apparently, it's one of the best you can get. The blurb for the cable boasts:

• 99.999% Oxygen Free Copper Conductors
• Individually screened pairs to ensure interference free signal transfer
• Fully shielded connectors for enhanced electrical screening
• 24K gold plated connectors
• HDMI Standard 1.3
• Certified full 1080p compatible

Apparently, all of these features make it a good purchase! I hope so

So, with everything now connected and working, we settled down to watch the Blu-Ray version of 'Australia' starring Hugh (I've got a six-pack) Jackman and Nicole Kidman. I watched it from a picture quality point-of-view and Ann watched it for Hugh Jackman! :)

Wow, what a picture - absolutely fantastic ...such clarity and richness of colours (and, also, the sound quality was ultra-clear through our hi-fi - I wasn't expecting the sound to be so noticeable).

Then, in the evening we watched the Bond film: 'Quantum of Solace'. We'd seen it at the cinema when it was first released and didn't think much of it (I'd given it three stars; much of my criticism was around the blurry action shots and the difficulty in trying to 'keep up' with the visuals). So, we thought we'd give it another chance. We really enjoyed it - and that surprised us, as we don't normally change our minds about films. I wonder if the crispness of the Blu-Ray picture cut down the 'blurriness'? Still hated the theme song though!