The Chinese Elvis: Entertainment

The X Factor Live Show!

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 15:28:09 GMT

rMe and Gary took our girls to see The X Factor Live show in Brighton last night, it was brilliant! Seriously, I'm a fan of X Factor but I was quite surprised, the production quality is very high and the final 8 really can sing. Funny thing is because each of them only do a few songs each, you don't get bored.

Video: Same Difference X Factor Live Tour 2008

You probably couldn't sit through a whole concert of just one of them, with the exception of Same Difference of course, their debut single comes out in April. The song from High School Musical.

Funny thing happened half way through the concert, they bought out the auditionees, including that sweet little Japanese girl, a real foot in mouth moment.

Alisha was a surprise, she sang a great version of Mark Ronson's Valerie. Hope was a bit ropy but Futureproof did a great version of "If You Don't Know Me By Now" which was almost as good as David Brent's Version.

The final lot was Niki, Same Difference, Rhydian and Leon. All we're great. Niki especially was fantastic. SD was so, so, but I still love em, they were... AMAZING! Leon live was a surprise, he really can sing, they all can to be fair.

Ok, it's not Led Zep at the O2 but the kids enjoyed it and I had fun too, it is what it is, entertainment and I was pretty entertained and not embarrased to say so!

Five Days

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 22:09:26 GMT

Brilliant piece of BBC drama since Spooks, Five Days, dark, disturbing and brilliant acting. The finale is on Thursday, can't wait. Ok. it's not 24 or Lost production wise but storyline, it's a lot better.

Stag Do

Sun, 15 Oct 2006 13:20:58 GMT

Just got back from Brighton, I thought it was too much to ask to try and blog live while caning the drink for over 12 hours. Anyway, feeling a bit worse for wear today, for obvious reasons. Started the day with fish and chips on the pier, that set us up for a great afternoon go-karting, the track at Q-Leisure near Brighton is fantastic, 400+ meters outdoor with a bridge and tunnel, really tricky. I started of quite well winning the first race from 7th but that made me over confident and it was all downhill from there! However, it was great fun. Andrew from our group came third out of almost 40 (there was other people there) which was quite good, however the winners were this group that looked like they spend most of there spare time there, they were a full 3 to 4 seconds faster then the average and on a 42sec a lap track that’s pretty fast.

Got back to the hotel around 5.30, got dressed for a few drinks in the hotel bar, then food and cocktails at Koba, that was very nice, had our own private bar area and food which was nice too, not the usual deep friend rubbish you normally get, but chicken sates, crustini, squid, roast beef, basil and mozzarella on bread and duck spring rolls. We should have stayed longer as it was starting to get more lively with a clientele closer to our age and demographic (see below).

Stayed at Koba until 10ish, then of to Po Na Na, oh my god... What an eye opener, I didn't realize it was a club that to be honest catered for a clientele a whole decade below us! I think the average age was 21 and the average age of our group was 41! Surround by young girls in skimpy outfits made us feel really old! Anyway, we stayed, drank and had a good time. Funniest part was at one point for some reason loads of girls were joining us in our booth, we couldn't work out why until we realize that the (because of the large number of gay friends in our group) they thought it was a stag for a gay wedding which was obviously a novelty! We couldn’t be bothered explaining...

Walked back to the hotel via the beech, got a bit wet...Pat was pretty drunk.

Images - Brighton / Pier / Marina / Grand Hotel

D-Day!

Fri, 13 Oct 2006 20:01:16 GMT

Yay! My best mates stag do tomorrow in sunny Brighton. I'm the best man (one of) and am organising the stag, got fish and chips for lunch, then go karting, back to the hotel for a shit and a shave, then to a nice private bar for dinner drinks and cigars and then clubbing! It will all go to plan, im pretty good at organising.

Going to do some drunken stag blogs from my phone I recon, hope the other half don't see them!

Good to be back at work, sort of, the email backlog is mad but finally cleared it today. Anyway, got to dash and pack me bags, Brighton here we come!!!

Work Phones

Mon, 02 Oct 2006 21:18:54 GMT

We have company mobiles where I work where you can access and reply to all your emails. It's brilliant when you are working but a nightmare when you're on holiday as you're always tempted to check and get in on the discussion. However, this is the first time that I have disabled it. Want to get as much rest as possible and give my 100% attention to the family. Going to Croatia on Wednesday, so I'm trying hard to detach myself from work mode.

Just watched Spooks, absolutly brillitant, it's kinda like our version of 24 but better, well different as I'm a massive 24 fan also. Taking 25 minutes out to write this blog before I watch the next episode on BBC3.

Jamie School Dinners

Mon, 18 Sep 2006 22:04:58 GMT

Just watched Jamie School Dinners, that man deserves a medal. It really baffles me that some parents either don't understand or don't care about what their kids eat. Eating well (especially in Chinese circles) it a fundamental human right, not a treat or a luxury. It's also not expensive either, I only eat free range or organic, which is more expensive but you just eat better but less often. You can cook a meal for four for the same price as a pre-packed meal from M&S for two, in the long run that’s got to make sense.

Cooked this amazing vegetable soup for lunch yesterday, chopped onions, carrots, garlic, cauliflower and potatoes, sweated the whole lot of in olive oil, salt, pepper, herbs from the garden and topped up with stock (use Marigold Swiss Bouillon), cook for 30 minutes then chucked in some ham ends from Sainsbury’s Deli Counter (very cheap)… Serve with crusty bread, job done, fed 4 people for less then £2.00!

Forthcoming Stag

Mon, 04 Sep 2006 22:05:55 GMT

I'm best man (first time) for one of my best mates, Pat (one in the middle). I've know the guy for almost 15 year's. Got a big event happenng in early October and the organisation (by me) has been millitary. Got around 15 boys rocking down to Brighton. Fish and chips lunch, go karting, hotels for a shit and a shave, dinner at a private club (non sleezy) and then clubbing, hopefully end the night with champagne on the beach and watch the sunrise! It's quite stresfull organising everything, being lads there all pretty lazy in replying to my emails, but I'm really looking forward to it, meeting all of Pats other mates and getting a weekend away. Going to try and blog live from all the various locations, we will see!

Day Five - Oh My God!

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 19:29:54 GMT

Christ almighty!!!! Chessington World of Adventures, this aerial view of the complex is missing one detail, it must have been taken on Christmas day or something as the missing detail was the bloddy queues! You queue to get in, queue to park, queue to pay, queue to piss, queue to get on the small rides, queue for the queue for the big rides and queue to eat!!!! It a theme park build around f*****g queues!

My god, they should call it Chessington World of Queues... And guess what, if you don't want to queue, you can pay and extra 20 squid for a Express Pass, that gives you an allocated slot. So all in thats 70 notes. Family days out are bloody expensive there...

My advice, if you are going to go, spend the extra and get the express pass (we only discovered them half way through the day) which you should buy upfront.

Ended the day at my local Tapa's restaurant, that was nice.

Tomorrow, rest!