Off Topic The Review Thread

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SW Hoops said:
Had a trip to Wirral to deliver a commission and took in on a stopover in the centre of Liverpool. Decided on a late b’day celebration at Hawksmoor steak house in the city. A pleasant surprise to find that a Monday night you could bring your own wine for a £5 corkage. Next challenge was finding a decent wine establishment in a couple of hours (in Liverpool at 4pm it wasn’t easy) - fortunately found one and was led to a lovely Nebbiolo near the Barolo region.
The restaurant was superb, great ambience even though it was a quiet Monday evening; very good service and a lovely Old fashioned to start proceedings. Had to go for the filet (though was almost tempted by a rib-eye) at 350g it was a beautiful piece of meet and as perfectly cooked as you would expect accompanied with a mash and bone marrow gravy, sprouts and chestnuts and spinach/lemon/garlic. Wine was very good. An excellent meal finished with a fine Black Forest pavlova. Highly recommended restaurant. Excellent all around!
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Enjoyed that piece, shades of Hannibal Lector, making me quite hungry at 5:30am, getting up soon for our early morning swim where I complete 40 laps at the local university swimming pool (UNB), 1 km. This is a beautiful old pool, donated by Lord Beaverbrook, with a dive tank, 25 metres on way, 25 yards the other (into the dive tank) that certain authorities have wanted to demolish since 2017 when benefactor, Richard Currie built a brand new nearby recreational centre (less a pool) and Mr. Currie didn't want to see Lord Beaverbrook's 1940 structure, ugly (in his opinion) gymnasium in front of his beautiful new offering, and demanded it be demolished. Hopefully it can receive much needed renovations now that Mr. Currie has passed on. The major issue is the building "air handler system" on the flat roof above the pool that controls humidity, air flow and residual Chlorine gas in the building.
Just curious, what was the "commission"?

Update: Out for lunch myself at West Hills Golf Course, St. James Gate Restaurant and having an "Old Fashioned" myself.

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Wherever said:
That Pete Doherty can write some great melodies with clever lyrics and proper song writer. Saw Babyshambles last night at the Brixton Academy, quite a few rangers shirts around. Not a sell out, noisy, sweary support. Babyshambles were a little low key seemingly (to me) not really letting go and not rocking, (perhaps more drugs were needed) but the songs are good enough to make going worthwhile. All the classics were there and a good version of the new “dandy hooligan”, the best white reggae song since the clash. Doherty even welcomed Chelsea supporters, he has grown old but lost some weight.
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Think you were at the wrong gig - O2 Academy in Glasgow last night was BOUNCING!

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Great evening. The Academy isn't my favourite venue in town, holds about 2500. It's an old cinema that's been refurbed into a venue, with an upstairs seating area and a large standing area downstairs over three levels.

Pete was in a very jovial mood. He came on to the stage early and introduced the support act, Warmduscher. Saw them a couple of years ago so was looking forward to this...sound was a bit rough to start with, but they tweaked it after the first song and it was so much better...they're from London, although the singer is from NY, and have a grungey bass sound.

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Once support was done, the stage crew moved in to get set up for Babyshambles - good tunes from the interval DJ, with more appearances from Pete on stage, accompanied by his daughter. They sat at a small table playing games and she occasionally flashed the crowd a cheeky grin and a wave which went down well...

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Finally, on the band came. I've seen Babyshambles many times - Pete sober, Pete smacked up, Pete drunk, Pete in rehab, sometimes no Pete as he was in jail - and we've seen him solo, with The Putre Madres, and with The Libertines, and this gig was up there with them. Not quite as riotous as the early years, but then most of the crowd were 20 years younger then too! Smashed out all the favourites, interspersed with some interludes of Stone Roses, The Las and The Beatles, a rendition of Flower of Scotland and a collection of stories and annecdotes from Pete.

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Finished it all off with a bit of **** Forever

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Last gig of the year for me, and a good way to bow out. Not really any let downs, and a few belters. Already have some lined up for next year including Mogwai, Gypsy Kings, Gorillaz and Neil Young - bring it on :emoticon-0169-dance
 
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Strictly which is compulsory viewing for my wife , just finished. Followed by The War between the Land and the Sea, which we watched until the words Russell T Davies appeared on the screen, about 8 seconds in, at which we both yelled ‘oh **** off’. Only other person to get that reaction would be Stephen Knight.
 
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sb_73 said:
Strictly which is compulsory viewing for my wife , just finished. Followed by The War between the Land and the Sea, which we watched until the words Russell T Davies appeared on the screen, about 8 seconds in, at which we both yelled ‘oh **** off’. Only other person to get that reaction would be Stephen Knight.
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Grinch.
 
As a warm down from last night just spent 90 minutes drifting around the outstanding Secret Maps exhibition at the British Library. Can’t recommend highly enough, beautifully displayed original documents all of which are thought provoking. And the Library itself is a great place.
 
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Madness supported by Squeeze at the Utilita Arena in Brum. Used to be the NIA.

The venue is a real dump. Over 15,000 capacity and it seemed close to that, all kettled into a tiny zone to get in through a single door. Usual issues with standing (my preference) people moaning about not being able to see, one chap in particular who really should have brought a box to stand on he was so tiny.

Obviously these two bands made it a bit of an old persons outing. Squeeze were already playing by the time we got in. They’ve got great songs and can really play, Glenn Tilbrook is a very good guitarist. Beefed up a lot of their pop songs to make them rocky and rattled through a lot of old favourites, clearly enjoying themselves. Sound mix was a bit muddy but they were well liked by the crowd, quite brave of Madness to have them on first.

Madness’ tour is called the Hit Parade and the set list is just that, all the old favourites plus a couple of others - they played One Better Day, a favourite of mine. I was anxious about this - had read some so so reviews of the tour and heard their ska version of Wizzard’s I Wish it Could be Xmas Everyday played ‘live’ on the radio and it was dire, especially Sugg’s voice. Thankfully they were on good form tonight. As always more music hall than rock and there’s nothing wrong with that on occasion.I am absolutely certain that Sugg’s (never strong or distinctive) voice was artificially enhanced somehow, and I’m very grateful it was. They seemed to have fun and the mob lapped it up.

Enjoyable night out, though I will do my best never to return to the barn of a venue.
 
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Christmas night out for me and my business partner....we're up in Aberdeen this week, so have added a few miles on to our commute so we could.stay in Inverurie....and a meal at the Rajpoot.

Outstanding dining experience, for less that £40 a head including starters and 2 pints each...

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Chicken pakora starter

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Sweet chilli pakora starter

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Rashan Bhune - ultra garlic!

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Garlin Naan

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Now for a few more pints and a sore heid in the morning!

Apparently chargjng £160 a head for Cbristmas day!!!!
 

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Just on the second glass of Montefalco Sagrantino, red from Umbria to accompany roast rib of beef (still in the oven).

If you like wines heavy on tannin, as I do, this is as about as far as you can go. Definitely not for everyone. Not easy to find in this country but if you’ve ruined your palate over decades with tobacco, spices, English mustard, espresso the Italian way and powerful cheeses (guilty on all counts) this might just be worth a try.
 
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Delayed review of Bubala, restaurant in that incredibly developed up area behind Kings Cross. Went there the day after the Leicester game, with my daughter.. I was heavily hungover, as was she. I think there are also branches in Soho and Spitalfields.

It’s a vegetarian restaurant, recommended to me by carnivores which was reassuring. Opted for the ‘Bubala knows best’ menu where they bring you loads of dishes, all Middle Eastern in flavour. Really good, couple of the dishes didn’t quite hit for me - a very bitter radicchio salad and a roast squash with fennel - but the rest were excellent. A lively, friendly place.

While that area behind Kings Cross was a wasteland and something had to be done to it, most of what has been done is horribly bland and boring, much like the disaster which is the development of Paddington basin, but not quite as bad.
 
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Nuremburg. Russell Crowe as Herman Goring and Remi Malek as a military psychologist star in the film about the post-war trials of the high ranking Nazis. It's not fast paced, or exceptionally exciting but it is intriguing getting an insight to the Nazi psyche - it is very well acted.

May 7th 1945 and Goring is captured fleeing Germany. As second in command of the Nazi party, the highest surviving member of Hitlers inner circle. Reluctant to make martyrs of him and others by executing them on the spot, the US push to put them on trial. Whilst in jail, psychologist Douglas Kelly is tasked to analyse the prisoners and keep them from committing suicide. As he gets closer to Goring through interviews, he gives the prosecution information that will help get a guilty verdict at trial.

Based on true accounts, it's an interesting take on events. Some disturbing footage from the concentration camps that was shown during the trial. Kelly was interviewed on radio at the end and has a rant that is clearly aimed at the current administration in Washington.

A good 7/10
 
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Just watching Jay Kelly on Netflix. I quite like Clooney, but sadly this is one of the most self indulgent films I can remember. One thing Clooney usually manages is to make his characters somehow likeable and charming, but he can’t do it in this story of a Clooney like actor who is completely one dimensional and shallow. I think it’s meant to be clever and ironic, but it’s clearly made for Hollywood insiders to feel smug about their own ability to pretend to mock themselves.

That said Clooney acts it well, unlike Adam Sandler and Laura Dern.

3/10.

Downgraded to 2/10 as the attempts to mirror really great films like 81/2 become more blatant.
 
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My eyes!! My wife was flicking channels on the TV and just lighted on John Lydon on the Masked Singer!

He's a complete dick nowadays anyway, but by **** man, have some self respect.
 
I think it's now the third time I've seen Football Factory with Danny Dyer. It's a really good film.

I don't approve of the subject matter, of course, but then neither do I condone Mafia murderers.
 
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