I love a bit of comedy, who doesn’t?! I’ll nearly always pick something light to watch over something heavy. I’d say my list of favourite comedians is quite mixed – some very mainstream, some much more obscure that you may well not have heard of (unless I’ve talked your ear off about them already!) Maybe you’ll find something new that you like here today! In most cases I’ve just picked one clip per comedian, but if you like it, go on Youtube to find more! Most of these clips are fairly random samples. Here we go, and as always, these are in no particular order:
Dave Gorman – I couldn’t decide which clip I liked more so you get 2 as a bonus!
Milton Jones
Michael McIntyre
Dara O’Briain
Adam Hills
I also really enjoy Jay Foreman who is a comedy musician, so I’ve decided that instead of including him in here, I’ll do my Friday Five Favourite Jay Foreman songs soon 🙂
You probably think I’m off my rocker, but I have real preference of some pasta shapes over others! Here are some I love – to contrast, there’s one I can’t stand at the bottom!
Spaghetti
A staple I feel, but it’s a good one because once cooked and on the plate it’s pretty dense, none of these air gaps, and it’s just a classic! Also, I never had it growing up as Mum thought it was too tricky and messy to eat, so I make up for it now!
Waitrose Fusilli
Quite particularly Waitrose, I know that sounds revoltingly snobby, but it’s quite different to normal fusilli, just look! way more twisted!
Fusilli Bucati
This was a recent discovery, it’s like someone’s taken spaghetti, twisted it in spirals, and set it! Kinda like a cross between the previous two!
Lumache or Pipe Rigate
Tesco stopped selling this recently, and I was sad! Then I found it at Sainsburys called something else, so who knows which is the proper name!
Spirali
Up until last time I went, this is what Pizza Express used in their Pollo Pesto, then again I recently found it in Sainsburys 🙂
NOT A FAVOURITE
Farfalle
We used to have this on Saturdays when I was younger with tinned ham and a jar of pasta sauce. The problem is, if you don’t cook it really really well, the middle stays a tad raw and can be a bit too solid!
A few weeks ago I had to be in work for 7am. I know some people do this every day – I do not. I am not a morning person, and getting up at 5.30am was completely vile to me.
There were a couple of things I got up before that morning, and it got me thinking, what things should you never get up before?! Here are my top five:
The Sun
In summer, easy-ish, in winter, we really shouldn’t have to get up so early, getting up in the dark is miserable.
The Hot Water
Fortunately there was enough left from the night before, but I should never have to get up before the boiler! In the winter I’d include the central heating in this one…
6am
If I set an alarm on my phone after 6am it sets it in front of a light blue sky with some fluffy clouds. If I set it before 6am it’s shown in front of a navy sky, hence it’s still night time!
The Milk Man
If you’re too young to remember when everyone used to get milk delivered to their doorstep in the early hours of the morning on an electric milk float, just lie and say you do remember, or I may get upset!
The Birds
If you get up and the little birds haven’t even begun their song, turn over and go back to sleep; It’s too early.
Need I say more? In no particular order, here we go!
Wensleydale and Cranberry
White Stilton, Mango and Ginger
Brie
Double Gloucester – this is my go to staple. Most people keep some cheddar in the fridge, I always have a block of Double Gloucester to grate over whatever I may be eating for dinner!
Cadbury Philadelphia
It may sound weird, but spread it on a hobnob and it’s like eating chocolate cheesecake! That said, I couldn’t see it in the supermarket today so I’m not sure they’re still doing it…
With all the leaders debates now over, and the news thoroughly drenched in all the manifestos, statements, spats, all sorts that’s going on, I’ve been trying to find good sources of unbiased information to inform and help me to decide who to vote for next month. I wanted to look beyond all the leaflets that just tell me why I shouldn’t vote for the other parties, or tell me that only 2 parties have a chance in my constituency and to avoid the others, and I wanted to start from scratch in looking at what parties actually stand for.
Here are five of the resources that I have found most useful in doing this!
Verto – [Quiz] – A great little app from The Independent which they’ve apparently designed to work like Tinder. You swipe left or right to indicate whether you like or dislike policies, and then put the categories you care about nearer the top, from that it will show you for yourself, your region and countrywide, on a pie chart style thing, which way you are inclined – I found it really helpful!
Vote For Policies – [Quiz] – A slightly more long winded version of the above. I loved this website for the European elections a couple of years ago as it was more concise. Now it’s quite long paragraphs, but again for each category you pick the paragraph you most agree with and it spits out a political party at the end for you.
BBC – [Info] – The BBC have produced a really helpful breakdown of each parties main policies in each area, so whereas above you’re trying to look at policies anonymously, here it lists all parties policies on education, or economy, or you could look like party, and see a list of all their policies. A nice clear, concise summary of those long manifestos.
Evangelical Alliance – [Info] – Similar to the above, put together by a Christian magazine. The EA asked five parties for their responses to a few key areas, and so again, just have a nice, light summary of all that info that’s out there.
Votewise 2015 – [Book] – This book is written by a Christian, looking at some of the major issues from a biblical perspective, which takes up the majority of the 100 page book, as well as reminding us why it’s important for Christians to be involved in politics. The book ends with members from the five major parties, some of which are also MPs, explaining why, as Christians, they have chosen to be members of the party they have.
**EDIT**
I Side With – [Quiz] – I found this one last night too, haven’t had a chance to do it yet, but it’s a lot of statements that you can select yes, no, or a variation on them, and say whether or not it’s a statement that matters more or less to you
How to vote – [Quiz] – another policy quiz, quite a simple and short one, just looks at four major policy areas, and asks your opinion on a load of bits, let’s you select which you care more about, and always offers a “no opinion” option, which is quite nice
Of course, it’s also important to look at what your local candidates are saying, while a lot of it may sound like bravado, they are the ones that will be representing you in government.
And don’t forget, there’s local council elections on 7th May too, this is where those who make decisions about the place you live get elected, and so it’s still really important to vote knowledgeably there too!
It’s a while since I’ve done one of these, but last week a friend of mine was raving about The Jungle Book, and I realised just how long it is since I’ve seen it!
The thing with the Jungle Book is, in general, I love it, however, there are an awful lot of characters I dislike in it, and a lot that creep me out, so I’ve put them below, and then balanced that out with a list of the characters I love!
Weirdly, Mowgli isn’t in either list… I’m a bit indifferent to him! King Louie is another that I part love, part don’t, so he doesn’t make either list.
Dislike:
Kaa – obviously! He can hypnotise, he can strangle… way too dangerous!
Shere Khan – another obvious one, he’s out to kill, ’nuff said.
The girl – maybe a bit less obvious, but she’s being all flirty with Mowgli, and luring him away from the life that he loves!
Bagheera – again, not so obvious. He’s way too strict and grumpy, doesn’t enjoy the fun things, doesn’t smile, and wants to send Mowgli away!
Colonel Hathi – another grumpus. General rule of thumb, I generally struggle with characters that don’t smile. Also big and scary.
Love:
The Wolves – the cubs are just so cute, and they looked after Mowgli instead of eating him…
Hathi Junior – adorable, you wouldn’t think he was the Colonel’s child. Fun loving, and welcomes Mowgli instantly.
The Vultures – it’s only now that I re-watch as a grown up that I realise they were based on the beatles! Four Liverpudlian singers with weird hair…! Hilarious though – these are the characters that we repeatedly quoted at Primary School!
Baloo – I just want to cuddle him and hang out – so much fun
Winifred the Elephant (Colonel Hathi’s Wife) – this woman has sass. Colonal Hathi might be terrifying, but she can still tell him what’s what, tell him what to do and he listens!
And just as an added bonus – last week that friend pointed out that in the clip below (at 1 minute in), Bagheera quotes 1 John 3v16… that slightly redeemed him in my eyes!
It also goes on to some of the good Vulture stuff 🙂
Quite a few feel-good, inspirational Christmas adverts around this year 🙂 Wasn’t a fan of the John Lewis one this year – I’m less against it now, but it just doesn’t explain it’s own plot very well, and definitely not worth £7million
Coca Cola – quite a different message to normal!
Boots – it’s been a bit overplayed this year, but I do like it
Sainsburys – love this one, particularly spreadsheet man, and the family at the very end 🙂
Carphone Warehouse – bit of a more light hearted one!
Marks & Spencer – everyone loves a spoof of childrens’ stories 🙂
These guys are a recent discovery of mine thanks to my friend Nisha. They do really great takes on both classical and pop songs, which are generally both clever and beautiful!
As my Dad pointed out, sometimes it’s just cello and there’s not a piano in sight, but I still love it!
Here’s five of my favourites!
What makes you beautiful
Yes, I know, it’s One Direction, but it’s technically genius the different ways they get the sounds out of one instrument! Give it a chance!
Rockelbel’s Canon (take on Pachelbel’s Canon)
A very tacky video, but a great take on a classic!
Moonlight (take on Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven)
The Cello Song (Bach)
Titanium
Which is your favourite? Have you come across anything else like this?
ineke.co.uk 