Diary of an old cheeser

Hi there! Like other blogs, this is my chance to wax lyrical (some might say talk utter cr*p) about a) what's happening in my life b) all of my pet obsessions in particular music, tv, movies, books and other generally connected things, quite often of the retro, old and "cheesy" variety. Hence the title of my blog. Feel free to leave a comment if the mood takes you. There's nothing like a good chinwag about one's favourite topics and besides I love to meet new people! Cheers, Simon

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Waxtastic

Just had a very nice lady round to our flat to wax my shoulders and back, which were horribly hairy as it so happens. Yeeeuch. The main justification for this is me wishing to look gorgeous on the beach in Brazil, not like some kind of hirsute gorilla (okay I'm not quite that bad, but I was getting close...) The deed is now done and I am looking smooth and super-duper. I can stroll the boulevards of Rio with pride (whilst sucking in my stomach - but thanks to those of you who recently said the size of my tummy doesn't matter - a nice boost to one's esteem for sure).

Talking of which only THREE DAYS TO GO til Brazil!! And a mere ONE WORKING DAY!! YAAAAAAY!!
I think it will only hit me that I'm actually going on holiday when I'm sitting on that plane as it lifts off from the runway. Talking of take-off, that's always been my least favourite part of flying. I think I've seen a few too many disaster movies. I also remember the first ever time I flew, when I went on a school skiing trip to Austria. We flew from the highly glamorous environs of Luton Airport on a Dan Air jet as I recall (no sign of Lorraine Chase I should add). I was quite nervous about that and it certainly didn't help with my so-called school mates saying: "Oh, as the plane takes off, you can see all the wreckages of past plane crashes next to the runway". Gullible teenage fool that I was, I believed it. Anyway, all will be fine I'm sure.

Had a nice night out last night with ex-work mates. Once again more people leaving my previous work place. Like rats deserting a sinking ship. Was fun and drunken, just for a change. On the way home I started straddling one of the poles in the tube train carriage where we were sitting. When one of the other passengers gave me a funny look I explained: "I'm just practising for my new job". She asked me what the job was, to which I replied: "I am a tax inspector". In case you hadn't guessed, I was a) lying b) rather inebriated at that point.


Talking of tax inspectors though, I watched a rather good film the other night, Stranger Than Fiction, all about, oddly enough, a tax auditor - played by a wonderfully dry Will Ferrell - who discovers that he is actually a fictional character in a book. He starts hearing the voice of the narrator - a nicely cynical performance from fruity yah-yah actress Emma Thompson - describing his every thought and move which becomes rather irritating and intrusive to say the very least. When he finds out that he is due to die at end of the "novel" he takes action... It was good stuff, to be recommended. Maggie Gyllenhal, sister of Jake, is also good as a baker who makes yummy cookies and gets p*ssed off when Will F comes to audit her shop. Go rent it out.

A few of my fellow bloggers like Minge and Dan have been commenting on Princess Diana recently. Probably because it's the tenth anniversary of her death. Like most people, I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news. I was staying at my Dad's flat in Amsterdam and was about to travel back to the UK. My Dad was actually staying at his partner's place and rang me up in his flat, first thing in the morning, to get me out of bed so I didn't miss the bus that would take me back to the cross-channel ferry. When he rang me up he said something like: "Oh by the way, it's just been on the news that Diana and Dodi-al-what's-his-face have both been killed in a car crash". (He wasn't being disrespectful, that's just my Dad's sometimes typical zany style). At the time I couldn't quite take it all in. When I arrived back in the UK I remember seeing The Sun with the highly subtle, alliterative headline "Diana Dead". Then the reality sunk in. But although it can't be denied that Diana's death WAS tragic it didn't have the massive impact on me that it did with so many others. Besides which, ordinary people die in car crashes every day and we never hear about them, do we? Equally tragic yet ignored. And when she moaned on about her loveless marriage to Charles, I thought Diana was being kind of hypocritical. If you marry someone you don't love, what do you expect? You made your bed love, now lie in it. It's not as if she came out of it badly either. I remember that Panorama interview vividly - Diana with her best "sad-panda-eyes" make-up - a classic piece of media manipulation if ever there was one. And I'm sick to death all of these Diana conspiracy theories. Give it a rest.

Meanwhile, the lovely Matty had a remarkably vivid, almost cinematographic dream about actress Ellen Burstyn recently. I totally love the dialogue. Go check it out.

Oh!! And the winner of Big Brother 2007 is now known. It's....drum roll...

BRIAN!!
The nice but dim young data entry clerk from Essex was the overall winner. I have to say I'm pretty surprised by the public's choice. My bets were on the Twins or Liam. Shows how much I know, eh?

2 Comments:

  • At 8:51 am , Blogger Steve said...

    Yeah I know what you mean regarding BB. Brian is a lovely bloke but... a worthy winner? Nah. For me it had to be the twins. Not one nomination is quite a feat. As everyone is saying though, in terms of marketability, they're going to be laughing all the way to the bank. Good luck to them I say. I was also glad that Ziggy had a decent placing. There was something about him I liked - sure he messed up but he was honest and did try and do the right thing; he just got it horribly wrong. Hell, I've been there a few times (though not with a girlfriend wailing about not wanting to play the violin).

    Diana's death impinged on me very little. Yes it was tragic but I felt more sorry for her boys and still do. I found the mass national grief rather distasteful, like it was a club that everybody had to belong to or you were somehow less than other people. I remember reading of one couple who held a street party on the day of her funeral because they refused to go along with it all. I thought that was quite admirable even on the day. I didn't like Elton John's contribution to the funeral either - just way too tacky. I was working at a nursing home on the day of the funeral so was saved from having to watch it by pissy carpets and the like. I wouldn't have had it any other way!

    Simon: Karen, the boy and I are wishing you the best holiday EVER! Have a fabulous time and take lots of photos! Take care, mate.

     
  • At 8:49 pm , Blogger Old Cheeser said...

    Agreed. I didn't realise the poor old twins didn't get any nominations, that's criminal! In spite of the fact they didn't exactly have dazzling personalities, there was something very sweet and endearing about the girls and they managed to maintain their "purity" throughout the whole thing. That's something I'd be terrified of losing if I did a show like that - getting dragged down by the behaviour of the other housemates and turning into a raging nutcase!

    Unlike you I wasn't really keen on Ziggy although I suppose he had his moments. Not a monster by any means but arrogant and annoying.

    You're right about Diana's death and how the public reacted. That is very brave of that couple having a party on the day of the funeral - a wonder they didn't get lynched! Oh yeah Elton's "reworking" of "Candle in the wind" - "Goodbye, England's rose..." Bleeeeugh!! Pissy carpets and pissy fat queens called Elton - similar territory surely?

    Thanks very much to you, Karen and your son for the holiday wishes, Steve - I am sure it will be a blast! I will indeed take loadsa pics and intend to post them on this 'ere blog! Have a good few weeks and I shall be back!!

     

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