A difficult choice...

So having been to see True Grit today -

I think the Oscar for the best film should be True Grit or Inception...

I've seen 9/10 so lets see how my choice goes.

Mind your Ps and Qs...

Another two letters completed - although to be fair 'Q' didn't take very long as there was only one album!

Parachutes - Coldplay
Partie Traumatic - Black Kids
Penny Century - Clouds
Peoria - Future Clouds & Radar
Perfect from Now On - Built to Spill
Performance & Cocktails - Stereophonics
Pet - Fur Patrol
Phantom Phorce - Super Furry Animals
Phantom Power - Super Furry Animals
Picaresque - The Decemberists
Pieces in a Modern Style - William Orbit
Pink Moon - Nick Drake
The Place We Ran From - Tired Pony
Play - Moby
Playing with a Different Sex - The Au Pairs
Please Describe Yourself - Dogs Die in Hot Cars
Political Manifest - The Creekdippers
The Ponsonby DCs - The Ponsonby DCs
Porcupine - Echo & the Bunnymen
Portishead - Portishead
Poses - Rufus Wainwright
Positively George Street - Sneaky Feelings
Post to Wire - Richmond Fontaine
Postcards from a Young Man - Manic Street Preachers
Power, Corruption & Lies - New Order
A Product of the Ego Drain - The Leisure Society
Puzzle - Biffy Clyro

Queen of Denmark - John Grant

What did I think of these ones? Didn't like The Au Pairs - seemed dated and not my cup of tea at all. Sneaky Feelings are always good :-). Enjoyed more of Future Clouds & Radar and Built to Spill. Moby was tedious (goes on way too long - a couple of songs are good, but the whole album is just too much), and Richmond Fontaine was great as well.

Athough I'm realising I need to take notes as I'm listening as with some of these I can't really remember what I thought - and it wasn't that long ago!

Another birthday and a few orchids...

Twas another weekend with a birthday theme as on Friday night I was out with Divya to celebrate her birthday - we went to the Salt Yard which I've been to a few times and really like. We were half an hour late for our table but fortunately they had kept it for us! It was another lovely meal, but not a late night for us - we were both exhausted!

Saturday I met up with David, Dominic, Chris and James at Kew for the 'Tropical Extravaganza' - the (annual I guess) display of the flowering orchids. Absolutely gorgeous flowers - really stunning. And both Chris and David were full of stories of having had orchids in the past and killing them. Reminded me of Leigh! Apparently James has the knack...

It was well worth the trip. Very cool. We also checked out the Marianne North Gallery as well - again just stunning. She had the most amazing life - travelled all over the world (including NZ) and painted the plants, landscapes etc. Didn't start until she was 40 and spent the next 14 years globe trotting. Really quite inspirational - and the newly revamped gallery was beautifully done, and really quite incredible.

Yet again, Kew has not failed to disappoint. Check out the orchid piccies on Flickr if you haven't already seen them on fb.

Orchids

Orchids
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

White orchids

White orchids
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Birthday bashes and Paris...

So February started with a weekend of two birthday events. First up was Sarah's at the Alphabet Bar in Soho - I rarely go out in town on Saturday nights so it was both fun, and also a reminder of why I don't do it very often - loads of drunken young things and drunken tourists staggering around. Not always my idea of a good time!

Second up was lunch for Nicola's birthday at The White Hart - service left a little bit to be desired, but it was a lovely afternoon. Much red wine was drunk by all which is always fun I think!

And I'm just back from a quick visit to Paris for work - my second ever trip for work. The work stuff was so-so, but it was fun to go on the Eurostar again and I did have a lovely 'traditional' French dinner last night of steak with bearnaise sauce and an exquisite creme brulee!