Welshrogue

December 30, 2005

The Matador

March 17, 2006

V for Vendetta

March 24, 2006

Inside Man

March 31, 2006

Ice Age 2

May 19, 2006

Over the Hedge

June 09, 2006

Cars

June 30, 2006

Superman Returns

July 07, 2006

Pirates of the…

July 14, 2006

My Super Ex-Girlfriend

July 21, 2006

Lady in the Water
Monster House

July 28, 2006

Miami Vice

November 17, 2006

Casino Royale

December 22, 2006

The Good Shepherd

At the start of the year I listed movies that I was looking forward to seeing….. I didn't get to see them all. In fact out of the 26 movies I listed, I only saw 14 of them. They were….

9 / 10

The Pacifier
Sin City
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
War of the Worlds
Wedding Crashers

8 / 10

Sahara
Batman Begins
The Longest Yard
The Dukes of Hazzard

7 / 10

Be Cool

6 / 10

Hitch
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

5 / 10

Star Wars: Episode 3 – Revenge of the Sith
The Island

9 / 10

Flight – Jan Burke
Jackdaws – Ken Follett
Night Over Water – Ken Follett
Solomon vs Lord – Paul Levine
Nightfall – Nelson DeMille
The Narrows – Michael Connelly

8 / 10

After the rain – Chuck Logan
Artemis Fowl – Eoin Colfer
Code to Zero – Ken Follett
Crossing The Line – Clinton Mckenzie
Eye of the needle – Ken Follett
Freefall – Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens
Going Postal – Terry Pratchett
Just One Look – Harlan Coben
Killing Floor – Lee Child
Radio Activity – Bill Fitzhugh
The Arctic Incident – Eoin Colfer
The Burglar on the Prowl – Lawrence Block
The Golden Rendezvous – Alistair MacLean
Twisted by Jeffery Deaver

7 / 10

Assassin – Ted Bell
Bitten – Kelly Armstrong
Burglars can't be choosers – Lawrence Block
Dark Winter – Andy McNab
Excavation – James Rollins
Golden Buddha – Clive Cussler & Craig Dirgo
Good News Bad News – David Wolstencroft
Goodnight, Irene – Jan Burke
Icefire – Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens
Liars and Thieves – Stephen Coonts
Lie Down With Lions – Ken Follett
Lost City – Clive Cussler with Paul Kemprecos
Mind Prey – John Sandford
Night Prey – John Sandford
No Second Chance by Harlan Coben
Sandstorm – James Rollins
Sharky's Machine – William Diehl
Speaking in Tongues by Jeffery Deaver
The Blue Nowhere by Jeffery Deaver
The Coil – Gail Lynds
The Confession – Sheldon Siegel
The Defender by Bill Mesce Jr
The Devils Teardrop – Jeffery Deaver
The Kill Artist – Daniel Silva
Winter Prey – John Sandford

6 / 10

Black Ice – Matt Dickinson
Deep Black: Payback – Stephen Coonts & Jim DeFelice
Deep Lie – Stuart Woods
Stalking the Angel – Robert Crais
State of the Union – Brad Thor
The Advocate by Bill Mesce Jr
The Taking – Dean Koontz

5 / 10

Blind alley – Iris Johansen
The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
The Monkey's Raincoat – Robert Crais
Weapons of Choice – John Birmingham

4 / 10

An American Spy – Christopher Hyde

2 / 10

Dead Men Rise Up Never

From the Publisher
Terry Pratchett puts his stamp on the new Discworld novel.

Moist von Lipwig was a con artist and a fraud and a man faced with a life choice: be hanged, or put Ankh-Morpork’s ailing postal service back on its feet. It was a tough decision. But he’s got to see that the mail gets through, come rain, hail, sleet, dogs, the Post Office Workers Friendly and Benevolent Society, the evil chairman of the Grand Trunk Semaphore Company, and a midnight killer. Getting a date with Adora Bell Dearheart would be nice, too. Maybe it’ll take a criminal to succeed where honest men have failed, or maybe it’s a death sentence either way. Or perhaps there’s a shot at redemption in the mad world of the mail, waiting for a man who’s prepared to push the envelope…

All about the fall and rise again for the Post Office in Ankh-Morpork. A simple enough tale of betrayal, love, and postage. Of course, this is set on the Discworld which is flat. And round. And sits on the back of four elephants who in turn stand on the back of a giant turtle hurtling through space.

Its good, very good.

Here are the books that I would choose if I was to be abandoned on a desert island, the Siberian wasteland or just my bedroom for a few days. Only limitations were I could pick only seven books and they had to be all written by different authors.

Ice Station – Matthew Reilly

From the Publisher
Anarctica is the last unconquered continent, a murderous expanse of howling winds, blinding whiteouts and deadly crevasses. On one edge of Antarctica is Wilkes Station. Beneath Wilkes Station is the gate to hell itself…
A team of U.S. divers, exploring three thousand feet beneath the ice shelf has vanished. Sending out an SOS, Wilkes draws a rapid deployment team of Marines-and someone else…
First comes a horrific firefight. Then comes a plunge into a drowning pool filled with killer whales. Next comes the hard part, as a handful of survivors begin an electrifying, red-hot, non-stop battle of survival across the continent and against wave after wave of elite military assassins-who've all come for one thing: a secret buried deep beneath the ice…

Why I love this book:

It reads like a good action movie, the pace is kept up throughout the book, the characters are wonderful (Check out Matthew Reilly's Homepage for a great fictional casting call). It is set in the Antarctica which is one of my favourite places for novels. It promises a lot, and it delivers. Oh, and it introduces a young man named Scarecrow!

Choosers of the Slain – James H. Cobb

The woman commander of the U.S.S. Cunningham leads her destroyer and crew into an all-out war in this thrilling debut novel of military suspense. 2006: When Argentines invade a forgotten British scientific outpost in Antactica and being a stripping operation of the continent's precious minerals, a lone U.S. ship must blockade the iceberg-infested waters and stop Argentine reinforcements from arriving

Why I love this book:

This is a naval warfare novel for the 21st century. A female captain with the most advanced, hi tech and deadly ship ever against a whole country. Also set near the Antarctic.

Where Eagles Dare – Alistair MacLean

From the Publisher
Eight Allied agents — seven men and a woman — parachute onto a mountainside behind enemy lines in wartime Germany. Their mission: to rescue an American general before the Nazis can force him to reveal secret D-Day plans.

Why I love this book:

It is one of the greatest World War II novels ever. With a movie that was taken almost line for line from the book (or was it the other way around), with deceptions and twists, its a fantastic book that is so well written by an author who wrote many classic books.

The Black Echo – Michael Connelly

From the Publisher
For LAPD homicide cop Harry Bosch — hero, maverick, nighthawk — the body in the drainpipe at Mulholland Dam is more than another anonymous statistic. This one is personal.
The dead man, Billy Meadows, was a fellow Vietnam "tunnel rat" who fought side by side with him in a nightmare underground war that brought them to the depths of hell. Now, Bosch is about to relive the horror of Nam. From a dangerous maze of blind alleys to a daring criminal heist beneath the city to the torturous link that must be uncovered, his survival instincts will once again be tested to their limit.
Joining with an enigmatic and seductive female FBI agent, pitted against enemies inside his own department, Bosch must make the agonizing choice between justice and vengeance, as he tracks down a killer whose true face will shock him.

Why I love this book:

Its a heist story. It introduces Harry Bosch, a great character and sets him against the backdrop of L.A. Think of the movie Collateral, and that is the L.A. that Bosch walks through. Like another cop named Harry, Bosch works his own way and gets results, although not always to the praise of his superiors.

War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells

From the Publisher

First published in 1898, The War of the Worlds was, and remains, one of H.G. Wells's finest works. Forty years later, a radio broadcast from Wells's tale fooled thousands into thinking the East Coast had fallen victim to Martian attack.
When a small cylinder crashes just outside London, onlookers are not prepared for what is about to be unleashed. Shortly after the onslaught begins, Earth fights back but is quickly brushed aside as the Martians destroy everything in their path. Soon London is evacuated and the hope mankind survives disappears.

Why I love this book:

I love Sci Fi and especially old 1950's Sci Fi movies. War of the Worlds is a book, so good, that it has inspired two seperate and different movie adaptations, plus a television show, and of course, the infamous radio broadcast and the Jeff Wayne's album. The original story focuses on an ordinary young man, swept up in the chaos when a large object lands close to where he lives. Told from his perspective, and set at the turn of the last century, it describes how everything he knows is destroyed by a seemingly unstoppable foe, of sacrifce, and of the strain of living while everyone around you is being killed. While the various offspurts of movies, and broadcasts have garnered more attention, the book is still a solid tale that stands up to anything written today.

Word of Honor – Nelson DeMille

Ben Tyson is the kind of man other men envy and all women adore. A family man and a corporate executive, Ben works long and hard to put into the past an atrocity he and his men committed in Vietnam, but it eventually catches up with him. As the press and the military seek the truth behind the pledge his men swore never to reveal, one woman is the key to setting the record straight – and saving Ben’s life.

Why I love this book:

The novel deals with a man and family that has to come to terms with things they have done in the past. The man, a soldier, is accused of an horrific crime and is drawn back into the army to face the charges. Its a tale of courage, truth, and eventually honor. A brilliant court room drama that takes place in a military court room rather than the usual civilian one.

Red Storm Rising – Tom Clancy

From the author of The Hunt For Red October, a New York Times bestseller for over 40 weeks, comes his greatest performance yet. Red Storm Rising is an alarmingly authentic portrait of escalating aggression between superpowers on all fronts–land, sea, air and space.

Why I love this book:

Written before Tom Clancy started producing the large bricks that I had no interest in, Red Storm Rising deals with World War III. A war without nuclear weapons being used and were many different battlegrounds are fought upon. Iceland, Germany and the Atlantic all come under attack as the red forces try to make a desperate powerplay. With action jumping back and forth between three friends who are spread across the conflict, the action doesn't stop and the pace doesn't drop until the final white flag. Like reading an actual account of the war.

I read on antoher blog (so please take with a pinch of salt) that the RIAA (Recording Industry Against Anyone) would want to prosecute anyone who posted lyrics on a website. Thats right. I would be in prison if the RIAA got their way.

Think of some of the big lyrics websites, they would be gone. If you heard a song that you really liked but only had two or three lines of lyrics with which to find out the artist and song, you would be screwed. Fans of bands would be unable to list their favourite song lyrics.

If this did come to pass, what would be next? Folks unable to say the words they heard on the radio? The NSA listening in on telephones (oh wait, they do that already) looking for people who sing to each other down the phone?

If poetry can be reproduced online, why can't song lyrics? Because poetry doesn't have a multi billion industry trying to wring every single possible dollar out of it. Because original poetry doesn't have companies trying to reproduce the success with manufactured 'boy' poets.

Yes, the music industry had been damaged by the downloading of music from the internet. Yes, I think that the music industry artificially kept the price of music CD's higher than they needed to be so that they could rake in the profits. Yes, I believe that most people treat music downloading like speeding. Everyone does it, everyone agrees that its not a good thing, and if caught, people accept that yes they shouldn't have done it and won't do it again until the athorities have left the vacinity.

The question of why so many people download music is easily answered. Its free and who wants to pay over the odds for an album with two good songs, an OK song and a pile of crap (probably including a cover version because the songwriters couldn't think of a new song for the band to learn to mime to).

A lot of songs on the internet, you just can't buy locally. Given the alternative of ordering online overseas for a hugh markup, its simpler to log on, check out, and download. If 'illegal' music downloads are banned (something I doubt will ever be done successfully) no one will be able to download Porky Pig singing Blue Christmas, Eric Clapton playing with Dire Straits during the Nelson Mandela concert in the 1990s performing 'Romeo and Juliet' will be lost to memory as it has never appeared on a recording. All so that a billion dollar industry can make a few more bucks.

Merry Bloody Christmas.

Bells will be ringing the glad, glad news
Oh what a Christmas to have the blues
My baby's gone (my baby's gone) I have no friends
To wish me greetings once again

Choirs will be singing Silent Night
Those Christmas carols by candlelight
Please come home for Christmas (please come home)
Please come home for Christmas (please come home)
If not for Christmas by New Year's night

Friends and relations send salutations
Just as sure as the stars shine above (yes they do)
This is Christmas, Christmas my dear
The time of year to be with the one that you love

Then won't you tell me, you'll never more roam
Christmas and New Year (Christmas and New Year's)
Will find you at home
There'll be no more sorrow, no grief or pain
I'll be happy (happy) that it's Christmas once again

At the risk of sounding like a Jackie Chan movie, "Who Am I?". I know my name obviously, although sometimes apparently it is 'mud'. I know where I live otherwise how could I have two lovely (some of the time) monsters and a beautiful wife waiting for me there. I know a lot of things, although most of what I know is either pointless, worthless, or, and this is my personal favourite, useless.

I don't know what I want to be when I grow up, and seeing as I am 35 at the moment, I had better hurry and decide before its too late. I know I want to be liked, I want to be loved, and I want to be well thought of, but only one of those three seems to be possible. I want to be comfortable with myself, my life and my actions. This is something that I doubt will ever happen.

I once saw a badge that said, "I have so much guilt I could start my own religion". I understand that completely. I still feel guilty about the way I treated the first girl I ever kissed. How in the days and weeks and months afterwards I ignored her totally. Why? I don't know. She was cool and hot all at the same time. We seemed to click (as much as you can click when you are 15 or 16 or whatever it was). I was an idiot then, and I fear things have not improved much since then.

Apparently when I was in junior school (5 to 7 yr olds) a teacher noticed that I had a problem pronouncing my 'r's. For whatever reason I didn't get speech therapy so guess what, at the age of 35 I have difficulty with certain words, and will often mumble, stumble and repeat a word until it actually sounds correct. Speech pathology probably would have helped me in the long run but a difficulty with words cannot take the blame (credit) for what I have become. Knowing me now, and how I probably would have been then, I wouldn't have actually appreciated getting any help, far from it. It would have made me angry, and embaressed. The later appears to be another one of my traits which has followed me through my life. Avoid embaressment at all costs. Cover it up, hide it, or disguise it with anger. Perhaps its because I have problems spelling it? I honestly don't know but I hate to be embaressed. I have used the word Anger several times already but I am not an angry person, definatly not a violent person, infact, I avoid violence almost as much as I do embaressement.

I don't get angry angry. I get angry pissy. I am infamous for starting arguments over anything at all, just for the sake of arguing. I only do this with loved ones so I am guessing that I am also self destructive in a 'chicken-shit, don't like to drink too much, never take drugs, and if I hurt myself, it will hurt' kinda of a way. I push people away. I am like an opposing magnet, trying to get near to people but only succeeding in the opposite.

When I was in high school, for some reason (not that I was particually stupid) I was placed in a class called European Studies. This, today, would be called a Resource class, but at the time, it was a very easy class where troublemakers, those who were perhaps a little slow, and those who couldn't fit in were placed. I was in the latter category, simply because I was not in the other two. Instead of realising that I was stopping myself for getting along in life, I sat back and enjoyed the ride, learning nothing and being proud of it at the same time. I think that makes me dumb regardless who intelligent I am.

I am selfish, concerned only with me, mine, and whatever else comes a distant second. Now and again, I have a brain fart and appear to be a caring person but I don't know if that is the real me, trying to escape or a momentary lapse of reason. It is probably Christmas that is causing me to write. I guess I don't like Christmas too much although when you have children and a family, its hard to avoid it all together. Best to put on a brave face and appreciate what I have for I don't know when I might say/do the wrong thing as usual and lose it all.

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