Mia

I loved the Asterix books! Me and my best friend in primary school used to grab the latest one and read it together. We must have been so noisy, laughing like mad, but we never got told off. Maybe the teacher liked to see people enjoying reading so much! In fact, I bought a set of 10 Asterix books a year or so ago for the bargain price of

Had you done something really bad that you felt you should atone for? I watched the first three of Demons, but gave up in disgust. An abysmally poor copy of Buffy, ten years too late...

I watched half of the first episode but couldn't get into it. Usually I give things a better chance but I just couldn't be bothered!

It was an interesting programme, though upsetting. Although I am a great fan of Terry's Discworld books, I know hardly anything about the man himself. What struck me was that he seemed to be a person who cares very much about his fans. He was very generous to be writing such a lot in the front of his books at book signings (until he was forced, due to his illness, to start just signing them). I found the book reading bit at the convention quite upsetting; I really felt for him. I guess his friend Bernard who made the mould of his head was "Bernard the Cunning Artificer" who makes the Discworld models?

I completely agree, Stephanie. It was quite interesting, but I did feel uncomfortable watching it, particularly with the bullying by the older girls, who quite frankly seemed nasty pieces of work (as did Ryan in the boys' house). Not letting the younger girls have some of their food was mean, and the thing they did writing the stuff on the walls and freaking out young ones was just plain evil. I felt sorry for Sid when his mum wouldn't take him out. I got the impression she just wanted to be on TV, and was using her son to do it. I was a bit annoyed with the mums when they went into the boys' house and cleared up all their mess for them. I thought it would have been more helpful to make the children do it, and just direct them a bit as to what needed doing. They could also have just given some basic guidance while they were there, such as how to boil the kettle. Still, I suppose that would have ruined the show. It was quite interesting that the boys decided that they needed rules first; I expected it to be the girls. Trailers showed the children dealing with dead rabbits and chickens... hmm. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. I'm not sure if I'll watch next week's.

Funny you should mention Angel... I just bought the complete box set last week!! That's for when I finish Buffy. I saw James Masters in Torchwood - very Spike-ish. I've never seen any Smallwood though. Was his character in that much different to Spike/Captain John?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer! I'm working my way through all seven series in order and I just finished series 4 last night. I love the humour, the great dialogue and the drama, plus... And did I mention Spike?

I've hated all the Cadbury's ones! And I'm sick of seeing that "Welcome to Planet You - your intestines" advert for Yakult or whatever it is. It's on all the time (particularly at mealtimes) and it's rubbish. The voiceover (Griff Rhys Jones?) is unbearably smug too.

Same here, but t'other way round! Yorkshire not Lancashire! I like most northern accents, particularly Yorkshire and Geordie (lived in Newcastle for a couple of years). For some reason, I have problems understanding some Scottish and Irish accents (not all of them). I also can't understand Indian accents, which is unfortunate because whenever I get put through to a call centre I always get a Scottish or Indian person. Just my luck!

Just buy them or borrow them from the library, it'd be less hassle!

I dunno, I think he does satire very well which I consider a more "grown-up" humour. But he also does the more "slapstick" humour and daft jokes very well too. I love the Discworld books!

An interesting interview, Michelle - thanks for that.

I wish it were like that for me; when I exercise I get really really hungry!!

I rate Slimming World highly - it is the ideal "diet" if you are greedy like me, because you can eat constantly as long as you are eating the right things!! It also seems easier and less "faffy" than others, cos you just stick to red or green days and only really need to work out your "sins". I was a member a good ten years ago, and lost 3.5 stone. Unfortunately, when I reached my target weight, I decided I would just follow the plan at home and not attend the classes, because I knew what to do and it would save money. Well, you've guessed it, I didn't stick to it and so I wasn't at my target weight for very long!! I am considering doing the plan again because I have the books and I am capable of sticking to it, I just need to find the willpower. But it's gonna have to be fairly soon as my health is suffering because of my weight. I recommend that you go to the classes for the motivation. Everyone is really friendly as you're all in the same boat so they all understand. They also help support you and bring recipes etc, so I'd prefer it to an online thing. When I first joined, I was puzzled as to why there were some slim people there - they didn't need to lose weight. It was a while before I realised that they had been overweight but had reached their targets, and were attending to maintain their weight! So that was quite a motivation too! By the way, your weight is always confidential, it's not shouted out to the group and you don't get told off or anything if you don't lose anything!

I read the Black Magician trilogy first and loved it (more than the Age of Five, actually). I don't think there's that much difference between the trilogies, to be honest. The Harry Potter comparison only came about because book 2 deals with the heroine's rough time at school, dealing with bullies (which still isn't like HP anyway!). It must just be the school setting and the use of magic that made people compare it to HP. I can't recommend these books highly enough - buy them now! If you liked the Age of Five I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

I hated Bag of Bones so much that I can't even remember what it was about, and that's unusual for me. If anyone mentions it, all I think is "that was a load of , but I liked the bit with the fridge magnets". Am I thinking of the right book when I talk about the fridge magnets? Maybe I should re-read B of B to see it I like it better second time round...