The View From Lower Down

 It's November, which means it’s the perfect time of year to start thinking about Christmas Quizzes (For you; I’ve been thinking about them since April). That’s right, it’s signup time once again for the annual Christmas movie quiz! This year, the theme (chosen by last year’s winner) is: Posters Think you can figure out which movie goes with which clue? Sign up using the following instructions: 1.        Send an email to xmasmoviequiz@gmail.com , saying you want to join the quiz. NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE AN AUTOREPLY WITHIN 5 MINUTES OF APPLYING, CHECK THAT THE EMAIL HAS SENT SUCCESSFULLY 2.        Include a team name (you can also play as an individual, but you will still need to give a team name). Your team name must adhere to the following rules: a.        Maximum four words long b.        No offensive language c.     ...

THIS POST CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR Wednesday SERIES 1. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED Ahead of Season 2 of Wednesday being released (yes, I know, I’m last on the bandwagon again), I thought I’d make a quick post about it, possibly touching on a few subjects I don’t think anyone else has tackled. I was introduced to the conceit of Wednesday through the Lego Ideas website (a site where fans can come up with their own ideas for models and submit them for review by the Lego company). Successful models which come from Lego Ideas are usually not based on existing IPs, such as the Piano and the Typewriter but that doesn’t mean that people don’t keep trying. I’ve lost count of the number of models of the Muppet Theatre that have been rejected. Lego has tie-ins with many IPs such as Star Wars and Harry Potter , so certain other IPs look ideal for Lego, but the problem comes with copyright. Every brand tie-in has to be agreed by the legal teams of both Lego and the IP owner. Anyway, on one ...

 I recently saw My Big Fat GrΣΣk WΣdding 3. OK, typing that every time I need to say it is going to get exhausting. Also, Σ is the Greek character Sigma, the equivalent of the latin character S, so although it looks cool, the franchise is actually called My Big Fat Grssk Wsdding. From this point on: My Big Fat GrΣΣk WΣdding (the movie and the franchise; work out which from context) – MBFGW My Big Fat GrΣΣk WΣdding 2 – MBFGW2 My Big Fat GrΣΣk WΣdding 3 – MBFGW3 There's a mistake in every  I have two main problems with this movie. The first is the marketing, which was sparse at best. I’m not like Duke Cody; I don’t have a phone alert for the word “movie”, but I do consider myself reasonably ear-to-the-ground regarding major releases. However, in this case, I didn’t see anything at all promoting the movie. No trailers, no posters, no nothing . If I hadn’t happened to see a single poster for the movie on the side of a bus stop, I probably wouldn’t even have known ...

Ok, bit of a weird one. Recently I was rewatching the Two Ronnies' famous Mastermind sketch: This reminded me that I've seen another Mastermind sketch in which all the answers were Pass. Your specialist subject is? Pass What is it called in basketball when you give the ball to your teammate? Pass What do you do if you don't fail an exam? Pass In computer security, what word can come before code, phrase and word? Pass Fun fact: that last one actually happened on an episode of The Chase: However, since seeing it once, I haven't been able to find it again. There are similar sketches, like the one with Russ Abbott (on the legally distinct Master brain ): However, I've been unable to track down the original. Therefore, as I have a modest following (read: 2-3 people), I thought I'd ask you if you remember it and what it's from. If you do, please say so in the comments below. I vaguely remember it being Basil Brush, but this hasn't yielded any results. I'd ...

Were you expecting that? Probably not. DISCLAIMER: This is a tutorial on how to SOLVE a cube. If you want to do it FAST, I suggest you seek advice elsewhere. Step 1

 There is a skill which I do not currently have. In 168 hours I will upload a tutorial on this blog on how to do it.  What Skill? It's a surprise. Are you going to look up a tutorial online and repost it here? No. I will work it out for myself; then I'll tell you. What if you still need to work it out by then? Then the post will be uploaded half finished. Hopefully, I'll finish it later. How do we know you'll actually do it this time? It wouldn't be the first time you've not followed through on an idea. We've been waiting for you to explain your crazed rant about Home Alone since October 2021! Because this time it'll be automatic. I've set the timer to automatically upload this at 21:30 on August 26, 2023: Can't you just cancel that? Probably, but I don't know how. Will there be pictures? Yes. If I can work out how. It's tricky because it'll be pictures from my phone; not screenshots. Is it a useful skill? Not in real life. Only in ...

It's been a while since I wrote a review, and even longer since I wrote a play review. I’ve probably forgotten how to do it, but nevertheless, here we go. I have just seen the play Bleak Expectations at the Criterion Theatre in London. Unfortunately, by the time you read this, it will have closed, so you won’t be able to share my enjoyment. ☹ However, if, as I suspect, Watermill Theatre (side note: is this the production company or the theatre where it was first performed?) notices what a good thing they have going on, it will soon be given a UK tour (unfortunately, due to the Britishness of the material, I doubt that it will break into the American market, although I am happy to be proved wrong). UPDATE: The show is apparently not as popular as I thought; in fact, even the Criterion run was cut short due to a lack of ticket sales. So sorry, but you’ve missed it. Read on to find out what you missed. Radio series - Bleak Expectations is based on the BBC radio series of the same na...