Coronavirus is getting all of the attention right now. This is what happens when diseases are named after Nineties dance bands. Here are some others to watch out for.
Sashvirus – we are living in mysterious times and we don’t want to colour the world with this bug. We do not want this to come back one more time.
Vengaboysvirus – one to watch out for in Ibiza and your Uncle John in Jamaica already has it. When this one takes off it will go boom, boom, boom, boom.
The Prodigyvirus – Don’t breathe on anyone with this as it make you feel like you’re in outta space. It starts fires!
N-Trancevirus – You might feel like you’be been set free but you ain’t stayin’ alive.
The KLFvirus – A justified and ancient disease this one might catch you at 3am.
2 Unlimitedvirus – Get ready for this as you will not want to spread your love all over the world when you have this. There is no limit to how much the beat will control your body.
Faithlessvirus – There’s no release no peace. You’ll toss and turn without peace. Insomnia is the least of your worries.
At the time, I didn’t know how much I was going to love Avicii’s music. Seek Bromance was the start of this (although I didn’t know that Avicii was Tim Berg. This is a classic song!
This song makes you want to dance!
I loved McFly’s music. This is one of their finest and it was even better because they teamed up with Taio Cruz. Whatever happened to him?
A great remix of a great song!
An underrated dance tune!
I’m not sure why this is in my top ten most played songs of 2015. It’s great but I don’t know why I played it so often!
Such a brilliant song. I remember hearing it for the first time and couldn’t believe the whole song was sung by the same man. And what an album, too!
This song still gives my goosebumps. One of the best rap songs ever.
Classic Rihanna, back when her songs were good because they had a tune.
Back To The Future has always been one of my favourite films! Of course, it’s full of pot holes and strange quirks, but it’s a classic! Over the years there has been talk of a reboot and I’ve not been sure about this. So when it was announced back in May 2019 that they were going to reboot it in the form of a musical, I was really excited. This would be something different!
It was either going to be incredibly brilliant, or incredibly bad. So when I managed to find bargain tickets for just £13 each it was worth a shot.
BTTF: The Musical opened at the Opera House in Manchester about a week ago. We went to watch it last night (what a way to remember the bonus day of 29th Feb!) and I am pleased to say that, not only was it incredibly brilliant, but it exceeded all of my expectations.
The show is more than just a musical. It’s an education in special effects. The things they managed to do with the Delorean were magical.
The show starred Olly Dobson as Marty McFly. He was so believable as the main character that you didn’t notice it was Michael J. Fox. He had the same voice traits as the actor! He was superb!
Roger Bart, who we recognised from loads of different things, was Doc Brown. He was hilarious! A knowing performance, he paid homage to the original performance whilst bringing something new to the character. He managed to include all of the silliness of the movie performance with great singing. He was sensational!
Hugh Coles as George McFly was phenomenal, as was Rosanna Hyland as Lorraine Baines. Aidan Cutler was great as the bully Biff Tannen. The character of Goldie Wilson was expanded for the musical and Cedric Neal was show stealing in the role!
The music was refreshing – funny, sentimental and catchy. But, for me, the best songs came at the end and were the classic songs from the movie – Earth Angel, Johnny B. Goode, The Power Of Love and Back In Time.
I don’t want to spoil the show by telling you what they manage to do with the time travelling car, but it is worth going to watch it just for the last twenty minutes alone!
There are some pictures and a review of the show here.
I sneaked a photo of the cast at the end! Woah, this is heavy.
At half-ttime
The programme
Of course, we couldn’t take photos during the show.
Ever since I heard that Nathan Sawaya’s The Art of the Brick Exhibition was coming to Manchester, I have been desperate to go. Today I was in Manchester for a course so was able to visit afterwards.
As a Lego fan I am always in awe of amazing designs. But I am unbelievably impressed with the exhibition. As pieces of Lego the work is impressive. As pieces of art they are fantastic!
The exhibition is at Great Northern Warehouse in Manchester on Deansgate. It’s not cheap to get in. At £14.50 it’s not cheap. I was on my own – in fact I saw two other people in there whilst I was there. If there were others to talk to I think my visit would have been longer. I was there for around 35 minutes.
The exhibition is in Manchester until 20th April and you can find further details and book tickets here.
Pinching hand – one of my favourite pieces, I love the way the hand holds the tiny piece of Lego
The solar system
Apples
Writer “Take those big ideas and set them free”
Think!
Cello – amazing
Yellow Probably the artist’s most well known piece
Gray – if the photo looks good, you should see it for real
Mask
Grasp – quite a moving piece
My Boy
Green Torso
Everlasting
Red Facemask
Circle Torso, Triangle Torso, Square Torso
Swimmer
Blue Guy Sitting
Reminding me of my dad
It’s funny how something catches you unexpectedly. There were two pieces that made me thing of my dad. Hands shows a grey sculpture whose hands have disintegrated. This reminds me so much of how my dad lost the feeling in his hands as his condition became worse. The expression and body language of the sculpture was just like him and the way he would look at his hands and the way he couldn’t understand what was wrong…
And Disintegration made me think about how his dementia completely eroded him away. It was actually very moving. I stood and looked at this for ages, thinking about how his life just faded away.
HandsDisintegration
Just look at that stained glass window – just beautiful
The Sphinx
Scream – amazing!
The Mona Lisa
Untitled
Remember that this entire piece is made from Lego bricks – even the frame
In Pieces This would make a brilliant art project for school – if only we had enough bricks!
Dinosaurium Just breath-taking…
On my way out I managed to get some great pictures of Manchester too.
I’ve been clearing out a few CDs from my car and found a copy of York band Hyde Family Jam‘s 2018 album, It’s Alive!!
If you’ve not been to York (one of my favourite cities) then the trip to try and catch Hyde Family Jam busking is worth the visit alone.
You won’t find a band with as much energy and passion with such an eclectic repertoire of songs as these guys.
Take It’s Alive for example – there are covers of Rihanna, Britney Spears, Dolly Parton, The Crickets, Vance Joy, Blink-182 and The Undertones!
The one time I caught them live was in 2018 and we saw them perform Havana which was amazing. I bought the album hoping it would be there but it’s not on.
I want to try to track down all of their albums on CD as that’s the only way to buy the songs at the moment.
You can check out a few of their performances on YouTube!
We went swimming for under an hour and a half this morning. It cost us £20. I’m sure it never used to cost that much!
Cinema
Although some cinemas are trying to reduce ticket prices and are now allowing you to take in your own refreshments, typically a cinema trip is massively expensive. £3.50 for a bag of Revels? What?? Yes, you can buy a bucket of popcorn and a jar of Coke, but it will cost you £10. And the ticket itself? Usually around £10. Look out for special offers is my advice!
Going to the park
It’s not the park that’s expensive, it’s the parking. In some places parking will rush you £1.50 for an hour. But an hour is never enough so you always need to take the next highest length of time.
Feeding the ducks
People will have you believe that feeding bread to ducks is not good for them. So taking some old bread would cost next to nothing. If you now want to feed them sweetcorn, porridge oats, peas and bird seed like it is advised, it will cost you more!
Visiting the ice cream van
Ice creams were 50p each when I was a kid – maybe an extra 10p for a flake. Now, you feel like you’ve got a bargain if you manage to get one that costs £1.50 (and that’s without a flake!).
20 devastatin’ hits feature on Awesome 2! This is one of my favourite compilations ever. Released in 1991, I caught on to it that year by borrowing it from a friend so that I could listen to The Wonder Stuff’s The Size Of A Cow.
If you can track down a copy of it, I would recommend that you do as it is amazing.
James – Sit Down: One of the best songs ever. So easy to sing along to. Everyone knows the words and it will still get a crowd singing along. Just brilliant!
R.E.M. – Shiny Happy People: One of the happiest songs ever! It will make you smile and you might even want to get your air guitar out to play along!
The Wonder Stuff – The Size Of A Cow: Me, I like to think that life is like a drink and I hope that it tastes like Bourbon. One of the most random songs ever, but an absolute classic. This deserved more success than it enjoyed, but people of a certain age will recall it fondly.
E.M.F – Unbelievable: This song is unbelievable! It still sounds brilliant, 29 years later!
The Shamen – Move Any Mountain: This hasn’t aged well, but at the time this was amazing as were most of The Shamen’s songs.
Blur – There’s No Other Way: Perhaps this was Blur’s finest song. Debatable, maybe, but it’s up there with their best.
Voice Of The Beehive – I Think I Love You: I was amazed when I found out that this was a cover version. Beehive’s version is infinitely better and it is awesome.
Deacon Blue – Twist And Shout: Deacon Blue had some great songs and this was one of them. A great song for the album.
Divinyls – I Touch Myself: As long as you don’t play this with the kids in the car, this is a cracker.
Salt-N-Pepa – Let’s Talk About Sex: In 1991 a song that mentioned sex was automatically brilliant!
Erasure – Love To Hate You: Erasure did so many amazing songs. Love To Hate You is great but it’s not one of their best, perhaps. Worth a listen though!
Oceanic – Insanity: One of the best dance tunes ever! Released in 1991 Insanity was way ahead of its time.
Utah Saints – What Can You Do For Me: It took me a few years to realise how amazing Utah Saints actually were.
Sabrina Johnston – Peace: This is the weakest song on the whole compilation. It just feels out of place somehow.
Brothers In Rhythm – Such A Good Feeling: Another classic dance tune. It is brilliant as it is, but sounds like a completely new tune when mashed up with Lola’s Theme (released thirteen years later).
O.M.D – Pandora’s Box: I love O.M.D and this is probably their best song!
Zoe – Sunshine On A Rainy Day: Another song that sounds a bit out of place. However, Sunshine is a great song so it’s allowed.
PM Dawn – Set Adrift On Memory Bliss: How brilliant is this?! The perfect chilled out summer song.
Lenny Kravitz – It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over: One of the best things about Awesome 2 is it’s attention to detail regarding punctuation. Sure, the graphic designer forgot that capital letters existed, but it gets every apostrophe spot on! This was the first time I had heard anything by Kravitz. This is great but nothing like anything else he’s ever released!
So many memories. I played this so many times that if I hear one of the songs I always expect the next one on the album to come on after. As I listen right now, I’m expecting Unbelievable to play in a minute!
Over the last few years I have become a big Lego nerd. I’m only limited by the lack of money. But thank God, because I’d rebuild the house out of Lego if I could.
Over the last year or two we have used Lego Therapy to support children at our school to really positive effects. So, I’ve become more and more interested in the positive effects of Lego. I definitely know that the thing that makes me calm is following instructions and building a model. So when I heard about the book I thought I’d give it a whirl.
Some people might say that playing is just for kids, but they couldn’t be more wrong. Playing is more than just a lot of fun – it brings many real benefits into our lives. It boosts our mood and helps us to think more creatively. It helps us develop more positive responses to challenging situations. And having a playful approach to life is also associated with good mental health and well-being
To help my own mental well-being here are just a couple of simple strategies I plan to try to use:
The simplest build – keep a couple of pieces in my pocket. Whenever I’m in thought I can fiddle with them. The book says that ‘the sensory experience of feeling the nubbly studs on the bricks can help release tension’.
Stack up your positivity – give a happy thought to each brick I pick up and connect it to the ones before, until there’s a structure entirely built of good things.
The book is full of ideas – I don’t know if I’ll be taking on loads, but just a few to help me relax and unwind and be more positive about things.
I am trying to cut down on spending this year. Most days I’m being successful with this, but ZipZero allows me to reclaim a little bit of cash back from purchases that I do make which I can use to put towards bills.
ZipZero is a free app. When you buy something from a shop (it doesn’t work with online receipts) you scan the receipt. ZipZero recognises the information in the receipt and adds about 1% of the total into your account. When you have enough money (above £1) you can withdraw the money to a utility provider or similar and it takes just a little bit off your bill.
When I read about it I thought it all sounded a bit too good to be true. But having tried it for a week, it has been every bit as good as it sounded. I have scanned in every receipt and the app recognised the info and added some money to my account. Once I had accessed the correct pay info for my utility bill provider, and I had enough money in the ZipZero account, I withdrew it and it has indeed paid off a little money from my bill. (I use Igloo so can instantly see any payment made.)
So far, I’ve used receipts from supermarkets, the post office, pubs, newsagents and coffee shops and they’ve all worked. I have had two that didn’t – one was a car park receipt and one was a receipt which was badly printed (and I didn’t realise until I got home).
How the scanning works, I don’t know, but it does.
How on earth can ZipZero afford to give you money back? Apparently: ZIPZERO and their retail partners have created a circle of user consumption. ZIPZERO provides retailers with an opportunity to offer products and services directly to app users in exchange for a system that rewards users with cash to directly pay such bills. I don’t really get it, but that’s not going to stop me using it.
Recently I’ve started playing the Live Quiz on my iPhone.
Live Quiz is a free app and you could win real money (although it’s not going to make you rich)!
Twice a day there are quizzes. All you have to do is answer all ten questions correctly and you can win a share of the prize fund. Most nights it’s £100 and one night I managed to win 83p.
The questions are usually not too challenging and are guessable in most cases. But you don’t get too long to answer and that’s where I make most of my errors!
