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This morning Tim and I got up early and headed out to the movies to see Sweeney Todd. It was really good, a bit slow in parts but overall very entertaining. The visual style is very Tim Burton and the gore isn’t excessive but artistic. The music (it’s a movie of the musical) was very good and while I don’t see any of the cast releasing solo albums anytime soon, they held up pretty well.

The story sticks pretty well to the best known version of the legend with Todd being on a revenge mission after he is wrongfully imprisoned for 15 years and returns to find his wife dead and his daughter imprisoned in the house of the man who convicted him on false charges.

Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter both play their roles excellently and Depp in particular is brilliant at being dark and bitter. If you like musicals, Johnny Depp, Tim Burton or the legend itself I’d definitely recommend you to check this out.

Technorati Tags: holiday, Movies, sweeney todd, Tim

So tonight’s games were Phase 10 and Sequence. I really like Phase 10 but I always get stuck on two sets of four and tonight was no exception. I was ahead by quite a lot and then I got to two sets of four and was stuck there for five rounds so eventually I lost but came second overall. I actually had a lower score overall but Coleen got to the last Phase before me so she won. Of course there was some hilarity, Arlene was making fun of the fact that Coleen is losing her voice and then she started laughing and went “Ow, my lip” and Tim and I were pissing ourselves again.

Sequence was a lot of fun as it’s a very tactical game. In the end Arlene and I won 3-2 against Tim and Coleen.

Technorati Tags: arlene, coleen, games, holiday, phase 10, sequence, Tim

Yesterday Tim and I got up early (7AM early) and headed up to New York. The ride was pretty uneventful but it was nice scenery. We parked in New Jersey and then got PATH (Port Authority Trans-Hudson train) across to 33rd Street in New York. The train was a bit disappointing because I thought we were gonna get to go across the bridge but it went through the tunnel.

After we exited the train station on 33rd we headed round the corner and I got my first glimpse of the Empire State Building. Wow, it’s tall. Unfortunately we weren’t the only ones wanting to head up it and as such there was a line around three sides of the block. I didn’t want to spend my entire day waiting in line so we gave it a miss. If we head up next week then we’ll do it then as hopefully the lines’ll be smaller.

So instead we headed along 5th Avenue, the most expensive shopping street in New York, until we got to Times Square. Now that was an assault on the senses. Flashing lights, billboards, people thrusting flyers at you, homeless people, noise. It was unlike anything I’d seen before. It was impressive but it was way too crowded.

Next up was Rockafeller Plaza where we got a “dirty water dog”, a hot dog cooked in water and then left to sit there all day . It was pretty tasty actually. After that we went to see the ice rink in Rockafeller Plaza, it was even smaller than the one in George Square! I couldn’t have done it with all the people that were there watching.

From there we headed around the corner to St. Patricks Cathedral which is a gothic cathedral in the middle of New York. It was very pretty inside but again, packed. Around the corner was the more expensive side of 5th Avenue with shops like Tiffany’s, Gucci, Dolce and Gobbana, Armani and Hugo Boss. Tim wanted to go into them all but I at least stopped him buying anything from them.

At the end of 5th Avenue is Central Park so we went for a walk there and then sat on a bench for a while until Paul came along. Paul is a guy both Tim and I have known for over 2 years now but have never met so that was nice. He took us to see the Time Warner Towers which was cool and then we went for dinner in an italian restaurant. I, of course, had pizza but it was really nice and the base was unlike anything I’d eaten before. The base was like poppadum it was so thin but it was really tasty and not too filling even though the pizza was massive.

From there we headed out on the Subway to The Village, which is the gay district of New York. We walked around there for a while and saw the Stonewall Inn which is where the gay civil rights movement started. I was getting pretty tired by this time so we headed into an ice cream shop and I got some white chocolate flavour ice cream that was really tasty.

After that Paul had to head off to a family gathering so Tim and I caught a PATH train back to Jersey and drove home. All in all it was a nice day and New York was pretty amazing, it was just too bloody crowded. Hopefully if we go back next week we can see more.

Technorati Tags: holiday, new york, Tim

Tim and I watched Sleepless In Seattle last night and I have to say I really liked it, it was very cute. I’d watch it again, it was very romantic.

Technorati Tags: Movies, Seattle, sleepless in seattle, Tim

Looks like we’re headed to New York tomorrow, dunno if we’re going for one day or two though. Tim’s looked at hotel prices for both in and out of New York and it’s pretty pricey so we might just go for one day. It should be an awesome trip though and I can’t wait to go.

Technorati Tags: holiday, new york, Tim

Tim and I are going to the cinema tonight to see I Am Legend, I can’t wait. It looks really good so hopefully it’ll make up for the day we’ve had so far.

Technorati Tags: holiday, Movies, Tim

Tim and I finally headed out to hit the sales today and to be honest, I was disappointed. I was hoping to get Greys Anatomy Season 2 and 3 for cheap but there was barely anything on sale at Best Buy. Tim did manage to find Babylon 5 Season 2-5 for $20 each though so he’s gonna get those and I’m gonna get the tripod I saw as it’s now on sale for $10.

We also went to Sams Club, where they didn’t even have Greys Anatomy anymore. For lunch we went to  Quizno’s which was also a bit of a disappointment. I got a Classic Italian sub and it wasn’t even warm. Luckily I got a small though so I didn’t have too much to eat. I did get a Sobe fruit punch which is tasty though.

After Quizno’s we headed to Circuit City to see what they had there. BIG MISTAKE. For a start there was basically nothing on sale but I did find One Tree Hill Season Three for $20. We checked how much The Prestige was, as I was returning that, and it was $20 so I could just exchange them and pay only tax.  But Circuit City was having none of that. While I went to pick up One Tree Hill and Assasin’s Creed, which Tim was exchanging Call of Duty 4 with, Tim went to Customer Service to start the exchange. I was walking back to meet him and he was walking towards me looking pissed.

They weren’t going to exchange it and he’d meet me in the car. So I went and bought my DVDs anyway and then went to then car, turns out they would’ve exchanged the DVD but not the game. Apparently returns over $20 cannot be given store credit, but he wasn’t wanting to return it just exchange it. The game and DVD were sealed so we shouldn’t have needed the receipt but they still wouldn’t take it. The big no no came when the woman said to Tim “Look, I’m doing you a favor by letting you return the DVD”, what a bitch. Ironically she was also the store manager.

Anyway neither Tim nor I will likely be shopping at Circuit City ever again.

Technorati Tags: circuit city, holiday, shopping, Tim

Yesterday we took a trip about an hour North to visit Tim’s Aunt Rita and all of his Dad’s family. We were supposed to be going up there on Christmas Day for dinner but couldn’t because Harry can’t be exposed to lots of people as the risk of infection would be huge. So Coleen, Arlene, Tim and I went up yesterday and it was….interesting.

First off there was a ton of people, about 25 all told I think. 25 new faces, 25 new names, 25 new judgments. Oh and to make things even more fun, Tim and I had to pretend we were “just friends” because Harry asked us to. I respect that it’s his family but the entire time it just felt like there was an elephant in the room about how Tim and I were connected. No one actually asked the question thankfully but it was pretty awkward for the time  I was there. People kept talking to me and I didn’t want to say something to give the game away so I was pretty quiet.

But we’ve been there and met the family so it’s done and next time we won’t be pretending.  It was also pretty interesting being on the outside of a large family gathering, I’ve never been on the outside looking in before. It’s very different.

Technorati Tags: Family, holiday, philly, Tim

I just realized that in all the excitement of me leaving I never said that I went to see Enchanted with Paula and I LOVED it. It was absolutely brilliant and such a cute little movie. I can’t wait till it comes out on DVD cos I will definitely be buying it.

Technorati Tags: disney, enchanted, Movies, paula

Oh my what a night. After I woke Tim and we went downstairs we decided to play Mexican Train with Coleen and Tim’s Mom. We actually managed to play the entire run from 12 down to blank, it goes a lot faster with 4 players. However Tim and Coleen were not being so amicable by the end because Coleen kept telling us rules that Arlene had forgotten, also Tim doesn’t like to lose and he was lose quite drastically to Coleen.

So it looked like it was gonna end in a tantrum, but Arlene suggested we play Catchphrase again. I thought this was gonna turn out disastrously, especially when we didn’t decide to go with the earlier teams and to chose teams out of a hat. If Tim and Col had ended up on the same team I think it would definitely have ended in tears as they would’ve got frustrated with the other when they couldn’t get it. However by chance Tim and I were on the same team again.

Anyhoo we started playing and Tim and I won the first round of categories 6 to 1 and then we decided to play a couple quick rounds. It was at this point that the funniest moment of my being here yet happened. Coleen was describing something to Arlene and her fever blister on her lip broke and she said “My lips falling off” to which I burst out laughing. What you have to understand is that Arlene has had this blister for days and it hurts when she laughs, but she’s hilarious and when we laugh, she laughs. It’s a hilarious vicious circle.

Anyway she was trying to tell Coleen to stop but Coleen was oblivious and kept going. She then said “What did you have for dinner last night” and Arlene said “Salad” which wasn’t it so Coleen said “You made it in the microwave” and Arlene said “Pie”. At this point Tim and I were pissing ourselves laughing, Arlene was somewhere between laughing and in agony and Coleen was still oblivious.

However she did then notice and her answer was “play through the pain” and at that point Tim and I were crying with laughter. I don’t know what the actual word Col had but Arlene had soup for dinner last night, which is what made it so funny because she didn’t have anything remotely resembling salad.

I think it might’ve been one of those  had to be there moments but I was in pain from laughing so hard.

Technorati Tags: arlene, cards, games, holiday, mum, philly, Tim, xmas