Raven

I have a pile of old cinema tickets I use as bookmarks.

Good film, I must watch it again some time. LA Confidential: Organised crime and guns The Godfather: Organised crime and guns Silence Of the lambs: Serial killers ahoy! Singing in The rain: Gene Kelly I can see a pattern there! In all seriousness though, I do like LA Confidential, a brilliantly conceived and realised film.

I'm currently trying to work out a list of my top ten films for a poll on another web site. I've whittled my choices down to the following, but I'm still trying to work out the exact order: Amelie Blade Runner Sideways Close Encounters of the Third Kind The Matrix Raiders of the Lost Ark Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Jaws Spirited Away

Ah, ole Wossy is alwight, but it depends who he has on as to whether the show is interesting or not. Back on topic, I'm looking forward to seeing this, as I'm interested to see if Freema Agyerman can act any better in this than she did in the last series of Doctor Who . . . Oh, and I do like a good spot of Dickens as well!

The Da Vinci Code. I've tried reading it twice now, and each time Dan Brown's appalling writing has caused my will to live to wither like an ice cube under a blowtorch. Very bad stuff indeed.

I'm not sure who Neville is in Auf Weidersehen Pet, but I'm assuming it is the character played by Jimmy Nail, in which case Yes - they are both from Newcastle. ETA: The other one is from Barrow in Furness (though I think he lives in Blackpool now - they visit home quite often in their programs!).

Yes, because of the writers strike, earlier this year, a number of films slated for release next summer didn't get out of the blocks. A number of films - Star Trek, for example - have already been pushed back from a late 2009 release to early/mid summer 2009 to fill the gap created by the strike. If they hadn't pushed Trek/Potter back, the respective studios wouldn't have had anything big to release over the summer, which is usually their most profitable period. I thought they did an excellent job in adapting The Order of the Phoenix, I've always felt the book was about 200 pages too long, and the film cut out a lot of the flab. It's a pity they aren't doing the same with The Deathly Hallows, but I suppose two hours of Harry and Hermione go camping will be fun . . . Hmm. Not quite, at least as far as I understand it. The first film will be The Hobbit, the second is going to be based on material written by Tolkien and will bridge the gap between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

The only thing I play is CDs. Yes! Lots! (sorry, it's late, I'll come back to this again another day!). I don't really have one, there is too much to like! Beethoven's Symphony No.3 "Eroica", a brilliant piece of music, especially the first movement. The best recording I have heard is the 1963 recording by Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic. I've got several of Hilary Hahn's albums (she is a violin player, in case you've not heard the name), but I'm not sure I would class her as my favourite soloist

Clarissa Dickson Wright is still alive - I think she had a book out recently - but Jennifer Paterson died a number of years back now.

No, you are talking about the Coen Brother's remake of the classic Ealing comedy, The Ladykillers.

Film 4 Wednesday night? I really must watch it at some point (although I realise the above wasn't meant as a recommendation!).

You're right though, it was very good! She's only recently developed these powers, perhaps whe will be a teenager forever (showing ID everywhere is going to get old real fast . . . ).

I like to have a bit of time to digest the book I've just finished, but I quite often start another book the day I finish reading another.

Aha! Here's one I took, a few years back:

Is that the Wallace Monument?

I always preferred Spiras myself! (which were great if you put them in the freezer!). Commenting on posts earlier in the thread, they've bought back both Spangles and Texan bars in recent years. Spangles were done in two different flavours (orange and blackcurrant, if memory serves, and not the multi-flavoured packs of old), and the Texan bars were about half the size of the old ones* - three bites and they were gone! I'd like to have some Rowntree's Fruit Gums made to the recipe they used to use when I was a kid, I used to love them! *Or perhaps my hands have got bigger over the intervening years . . .

I need to read this again, it really is a very good book.

I voted England, but only because there is no option for Cornwall!

Too. Many. Jokes. Gah! I tend to read late at night, when the traffic outside my flat has died down and everything is quiet.

I quite like the Hairy Biker's attitude "Use butter, 'cause margarine is ****!", but I can't help but feel that most of their dishes are a little on the heavy side. I quite like watching Masterchef as well. Also, I've not seen any of her programs, but I quite like the look of Ching-He Huang*. *That doesn't have anything to do with cooking though . . .

The aliens were good, but the rest of the film was complete bobbins. Yes, we got it that Tom Cruise was a bad parent after the first five minutes, we didn't need or want that "happy" little saga rammed down our throats for the next two hours!

I think Cornwell is pretty much the same herself - she certainly seems to have a lot in common with Scarpetta.

I read all the Scarpetta novels up to Black Notice, which is when I threw in the towel. I liked the early books, the forensic detail in the stories was interesting and the characters were good as well, but with each book the plots seemed to get more and more sensational and at the same time implausible - I tried reading one of Karin Slaughter's novels a few years back, on the recommendation of a co-worker*, and didn't get very far with it because I found that to be too over-blown as well. I've not read a lot of crime books on the whole, but I have read a few of the Morse novels, and the first two Louie Knight/Aberystwyth novels by Malcolm Payne. I think the best crime novel I've read though has to be The Hound of the Baskervilles - hair-raising stuff on a windy winter's night! *She still owes me a fiver for that . . .

As much as I love the 1950's version - I do like a good 'B' Movie - I would pay real money (instead of the Monopoly cash I usually use) to see a decent period adaptation of War of the Worlds. Lord of the Rings has to rank high on my list as a decent stab at a book-to-film transfer, but the one novel I would put at the top of my list Starter For Ten, by David Nicholls. Trying not to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read or seen it, after an excellent build up the end of the book was a real let-down for me, as I felt the main character simply ran from his responsibilities. In the screenplay, which, interestingly was also written by Nicholls, I felt he corrected this mistake and gave the story a much more satisfying conclusion. In short, watch the film, skip the book!

I really like High Fidelity, it's pretty much an ode to how much of a self-absorbed a man can be without ever realising it! Nooooo! How can anyone not like Flash?! It's got Queen, and, and Brian Blessed! "Gordon's Alive?!" Classic! I'd have to venture Batman and Robin and The Avengers as entries on my list, very poor indeed. And I defy any of you to watch more than five minutes of Hawk the Slayer!