Off Topic The Review Thread

Yes, really enjoying this - looking forward to the next two episodes. Can't quite put my finger on whether it's supposed to be serious or a comedy, especially considering the subject matter. Quality acting all round

 

Bit of both I think lol, I think you can already get the last 2 episodes on IPlayer, I watched the first 2 on there !

 

Watched Blonde on Netflix, what a truly depressing, and badly made film. If that’s really what Marilyn Monroes life was like, no wonder she ended up as she did. The film had talking babies in the womb, to sex acts on JFK, but with no story to link them all together. A very poor evening’s entertainment

 

Took a little trip this week - associated reviews:
The Mitre, Cambridge - good old pub, excellent Nicholson’s beer.
The Eagle, Cambridge - famous pub where Crick and Watson celebrated discovering the double helix of DNA, with a back bar covered in graffiti by RAF and USAAF aircrew from WW2 and after. Drank Eagle DNA bitter, alright. Bit touristy, but worth a swift visit.
The Senate, Cambridge. Restaurant. Meh, but at least it was independent, not a chain. Wine overpriced.
The Crown Hotel, Southwold. Great back bar but a bit warm, and good food. Really nice staff. Like all Southwold hostelries, range of excellent Adnams beers.*
The Sole Bay Inn, Southwold. Adnams of course, but ran out of my favourite, the basic Southwold bitter. Nice pub.
The Harbour Inn, old harbour Southwold. Brilliant rabbit warren of a pub, great fresh seafood in a very atmospheric spot on the estuary surrounded by marshes and shacks selling freshly caught fish. Devilled whitebait! Surprisingly served Adnams beers, so I had some.
The Lord Nelson, Southwold, on a trip of full of good to great watering holes my favourite, a proper old style boozer, no food served. Adnams, tasty.
The Unruly Pig, Woodbridge near Ipswich. This is a destination pub, recently voted best gastropub in the country and the food is really outstanding, priced to match. Young and very competent staff. Not really a pub, and I didn’t note the beers as this is a definitely a wine place. Requires a designated driver. Recommended for special occasions.

Obviously this research took a serious chunk of time Monday to today, but also managed to squeeze in walking tour of Cambridge - good but I reckon will depend very much on which guide you get (all ex Cambridge students); several long seaside and country side walks in and around Southwold which is a truly lovely place at this time of year but risks becoming the Salcombe of the east coast, and a visit to Sutton Hoo, where the Saxon burial ship was dug up in the late thirties, subject of the film The Dig. Didn’t really have enough time there to do it justice (had to get to the pub), very interesting but I was disappointed that none of the treasure and artefacts dug up there are on display - all at the British Museum.


*The Adnams brewery has been in the town since 1890, it’s distillery (gin) for a good few years as well. It owns a lot of property, I think all of the pubs, even an estate agency. Our guests from Chicago did the brewery tour.

 

Sounds like my sort of break.

We went to Southwold a few years ago, to do the brewery tour. Tour itself was a bit underwhelming, had romantic ideas of men with beards being masters of their craft, in reality it's lots stainless steel and automation. Interestingly they have outgrown the building and beer is pumped under the road to ferment in another building opposite. They were generous with samples though.

Made a day/night of it and visited the many Adnams pubs there afterwards. They do make some really good beer.

Southwold itself is lovely, but quite expensive. We stayed at a nice hotel in Reydon, which was within walking distance, for about half the cost of anything we could find in Southwold.

Well worth a visit.

 

We had three nights in a little Victorian terrace house we rented near the church in Southwold which was very reasonable at this time of year but I’m guessing would be an arm and a leg in the summer.

 

I've just remembered that they'd made a beer for the Brazil World Cup, which would have made it 2014. Wow, doesn't seem that long ago!

 

Film House of Gucci.

In the ‘so bad it’s good’ bracket. Ridiculous accents, overacting, a meandering plot which both extends and compresses the real facts. Hysterical. I’m pretty sure that Jeremy Irons, Salma Hayek, Al Pacino and especially Jared Leto(unrecognisable) saw the script, heard how Ridley Scott (never knowingly understated) wanted to direct it, glanced at the pay check and thought ‘**** it, I’m having some fun on this one’. Not sure if the leads, Lady Gaga and Adam Driver, got the memo on this, I suspect they were actually trying to ‘act’. Jack Huston played it totally straight, looked like he was in another film.

Once I got over the initial bewilderment of non Italians playing Italians talking to each other in English with Italian (ish) accents and also throwing in a few phrases of Italian, I did actually watch the whole thing. And read up what really happened which is genuinely bizarre, in that the film is accurate.

 

Joan Armatrading on BBC2 now, really good. Love and Affection is one of my favourite songs of all time.

I remember seeing her supporting Supertramp at Hammersmith in the 70s.

 

Who’s looking forward to finding out what Stroller’s been watching on BBC4 after midnight this week?

(only ‘aving a laff, Strolls)

 

Remember the days you went to a gig at the Odeon and looked up at the long chalkboard over the box office, with gig after gig for the next few months, where you could buy your tickets Strolls. No online trollers snaffling all the tickets, just real music fans getting to watch their favourite bands for reasonable prices. Those were the days!

 

Sam Smith. Nuff said?

No, wait a minute, Roy Orbison on Sky Arts.

 

The Massive Attack doc that was on before Sam Smith was good

 

Roxy Music - O2 - 50th Year show
Have to say it was better than I had hoped for. My worst gig was a Ferry solo show at Wembley (permanently scarred!). However he did redeem himself a few years back in Poole where he had clearly surrounded himself with a tight band and delivered. Never got to see Roxy in the Eno years (the best years in my opinion) so chose this show to tick a bucket list box. Have to say the gig was really very good with plenty of songs from For Your Pleasure (definitely in my top five albums). The original members have clearly not aged as well as The Stones have. But when it came down to the set Andy Mackay really really impressed; Phil Manzanera delivered also did a great job. Again a tight unit behind the band and three backing singers helped Ferry throughout. All in all, great night out. Can’t imagine they will tour again, so grateful to get that box ticked.

 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...wqsBegQIDRAB&usg=AOvVaw24VEN-4Wm5XzhMSrUjVzB7
Couldn't resist, sorry. Hilarious. Loved the Big O too

 

Tambayan Filipino restaurant, Kenilworth, Warks. Although I’ve been to the Philippines, briefly nearly 40 years ago, the cuisine did not make an impression on me.

Went to this place with some friends on their recommendation, tucked away with the entrance in a car park, young locals serving, Filipinos in the kitchen. Really good, south east Asian flavours, with pork featuring heavily (unlike Malaysia and Indonesia). I suspect there would be more fish/seafood in the actual Philippines. Absolutely huge portions and great value at around £30 a head including beers and a lot more food than we needed. Recommended if you are in the area.

Today programme, Radio 4. Turned on the flagship BBC hard news programme, to find them midway through a gushing review of Dr Who, including comment from a ‘super fan’ who they managed to tell us was also a ‘star’ of Ru Paul’s Drag Race.I know it’s the BBC centenary, but this self referential **** is never ending, and sticking it on the news as if who plays the lead is either interesting or important is pathetic.

 

After the success of his podcast series Grounded during Lockdown (if you've not listened, it's well worth it) Louis Theroux brings the format to TV.

First episode last night saw Louis interview Stormzy, really good, candid interview covering fame, relationships, family and his faith. Hopefully the rest of the series is just as good.