Mamma Mia! Breakout the blue eyeshadow and shiny leggings once again....

Because the movie I have been anticipating the most after SATC opens next week, and I am about to be sucked into ABBA mania once again in my lifetime!

I was 7 years old when ABBA burst into my life with their win at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with Waterloo, and my life was never the same again. Suddenly I 'got' the power of music on your soul, without doubt those glamorous girls set my course as a lifelong lover of all things blinging and sparkly. I wanted to be Anni-Frid the brunette and spent the next few years into my teens trying to get her auburn hair and my legs skinny enough for white satin leggings. Thanks to the wonders of Henna the first I achieved, the second I have given up as a bad job!

I knew the words to every song, played their music incessantly and rushed off to see ABBA - The Movie as soon as it was released. The tunes were just so darned catchy, the lyrics simple and easy to remember and the costumes were pure glam-pop! I had ABBA posters, pins, records (remember those!), clothing and of course all the dance moves.

I was so sad the day they announced their retirement, especially as I had never got to achieve my dream at the time of seeing them in concert. Fast forward 20 years and I did get to see Bjorn Again the best of the many ABBA tribute groups and had a very memorable night in Watford Town Hall with my friends. We all glammed up, I even had sparkly pink hair gel all through my 'do', platforms and no voice left the next day! In fact if you roll down to my 'guestbook' Lizzie has posted a piccie of us on this infamous night mid-concert.

A few years later I got to see Mamma Mia the musical in London's West End and spent the whole night up singing and dancing along. So when I heard they were making it into a movie I was thrilled. It's a fabulous musical anyway, then they cast Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth in the lead roles and ever since I have been counting down the days! If only they could have squeezed Brad Pitt in there too ;-)

We are really hoping it gets to our area before my mum leaves so we can go together, she remembers my ABBA mania only too well. Even now I still can't resist a dose of Dancing Queen, Fernando and my fave - Mamma Mia!

I am more than over ready for the fast approaching ABBA revival, now I just need to get a new copy of ABBA Gold, as I wore my previous CD out long ago!

The Other Boleyn Girl

So this is adapted from one of my all time favourite books by Philippa Gregory and I was very keen to buy the DVD. Then I read the very average reviews on Netflix and decided to rent it first, as I was expecting to be disappointed.

Well I wasn't and thoroughly enjoyed this movie from start to finish. The book was over 600 pages and there is no way the film could go into as much detail, but I thought they took all the main parts of the plot and made it work. Both the Boleyn girls were played by excellent young actresses in Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson, and Eric Bana was good as a brooding Henry VIII.

It tells the story from the point of view of Mary Boleyn, someone who was just a footnote in Tudor history but was very much a part of Henry's life. Anne Boleyn's story is a well documented part of English history and she influenced some major turning points in our history, as well as mothering Elizabeth 1st. The Tudor and Elizabethan periods have always been a pet love of mine and Philippa Gregory has done her research well and it is an accurate portrayal of the time.

This movie very much bought a much loved book to life for me, the Hubster enjoyed it but found it harder to follow not knowing the background history as I do. If you loved this book then I doubt you'll be disappointed, if you love these historical period pieces you'll enjoy it too.

Handbag of the day....Shirley!

Shirley because I can just see Dame Shirley Bassey carrying this to some 'big do'! I'm assuming y'all know who she is - most famous for singing 'Goldfinger'. She also just happened to be a great favourite of my gran and this was another handbag left to me by her.

So I have no idea of Shirley's history but I think from memory she is at least 1970's. She is beaded all over with tiny jet bugle beads in differing shapes and patterns, even the long strap is entirely made of plaited beads. Shirley has been very well looked after over the years and is still in pristine condition and I have used her a number of times for 'black tie' events.

To me she epitomises timeless elegance and will never show her age, a bit like Dame Shirley herself :-)

Fool's Gold - utter foolishness!

So generally you'd expect that a movie with Matthew McC', Kate Hudson and Donald Sutherland would be reasonably good and somewhat funny. Well don't be 'fooled', this movie will probably be up for a number of those 'Raspberry Awards' they give out every year.

It is just utter rubbish, sleep-inducingly boring and the acting is so OTT and forced it's painful. The only funny parts or action come in the last 20 minutes and were all in the trailers - it's by far the worst movie we have seen in a year. If it was me I wouldn't waste 2 hours on this, even if Matt is half naked for the whole movie, but I even thought he looked too skinny and short!

Not good people, not good at all.

Sad news

I was really sorry to read this story about the investigative journalist and presenter on Nightline, Martin Bashir.

After a blow to the head that needed stitches, doctors later discovered a brain tumor on his pituitary gland. Apparently it was caught early and Bashir is determined to continue with life and is forging ahead with a positive outlook.

I also hope the blow to the head will turn out to be fortuitous and any treatment will be successful. I have always admired Martin Bashir's work and his cool, calm questioning and delivery of the news. I wish him and his family well, my own family has experienced loss due to a brain tumor and it is a very hard thing to get through.

You know there seem to be more and more people with brain tumors nowadays and I know many are due to disease. But I still have my concerns about cellphones and all that heat and technology so close to our most fragile organ, it just makes you wonder.

The 'BIG' review (without spoilers)

Well let me first of all say I am a Sex and the City utter devotee/afficianado and we re-watched all six series this year ready for this movie and so the Hubster could see it for the first time. I have been waiting for this movie for years and I was worried it might be a disappointment.

It's fabulous! In fact that's all I thought I was going to write as I walked out of the theatre, because that's all I needed to say. But then I read your comments and knew you needed more! LOL

So as a #1 fan of the series let me assure you, if you loved it on TV this will not disappoint. The Hubster and I both agreed they did a great job on getting the same feel, and a good storyline. They moved it along quicker being a movie, but not too fast and unlike some of the reviewers, we did not feel it was overlong but just right. All the original actors have returned which makes it seamless from the TV show. Obviously having to squeeze so much into a movie, means some of the ancillary characters like Anthony, Stedman & Harry have small parts though.

Although the story mainly revolves around Carrie's life, it also brings you right back into the other girls lives too and the various issues they are dealing with. They are all older and allowed to be, which is wonderful; all a bit more hardened by life and less frivoulous....but then aren't we all as we hit our forties.

We thought Samantha despite being the oldest looked the best and to be honest she just about steals the movie with the funniest lines and scenes. Jennifer Hudson does great as the only addition to the cast and Big is just a softer even more lovable version of himself.

The old laugh out loud humour is a big part of the movie and at one point the audience in our theatre even applauded with the characters on screen! It's funny, realistic, heartbreaking, affirming, it made me cry twice (the Hubster only caught me once though) and it made us all rock with laughter alot.

I LOVED IT :-) and will be first in line to buy it when it comes out on DVD, I may also go and see it again when it reaches our local town - it was that good!

I asked the Hubster for his thoughts; he thoroughly enjoyed it too but he had one complaint and I quote him here "not enough titties from Samantha"!

Girls just go see it and escape for awhile :-)

Indiana Jones Texas style!

Why Texas style, well we went to Canadian in Texas to see this at the beautiful restored old movie theatre. Seeing as we can't seem to get through a night without yet another tornado watch, a matinee seemed a safer bet and sure enough we are again tonight! Canadian itself is an old historic town about 50 miles from home and the cinema is just wonderful and full of authentic features, like the ticket kiosk below.

So onto the long awaited Indiana Jones fourth adventure, directed and produced by Spielberg and Lucas after a 19 year break. I know alot of people haven't seen it yet so I am not going to give any specific details or spoilers. Firstly let me say we both found it highly entertaining and I didn't want to have to miss a moment to visit the loo, always a good barometer of a movie!

Harrison Ford is as good as ever, I love that they have let him age and it shows, but he has lost none of his charisma and humour as Dr Jones. He is also surrounded by a strong cast and a one new character in particular, that the ending suggested may represent the possible future of this franchise? The action sequences and special effects are as good as they ever were, there are 2 chase scenes in the movie that have you on the edge of your seat. The enemy is played by Cate Blanchett and she made a good rival, although slightly OTT for my taste. It was good to see three great British actors in leading roles with John Hurt, Ray Winstone and Jim Broadbent all acting their socks off.

My disappointment though was in the underlying plot, which for me was just too far fetched. I came out feeling like Spielberg/Lucas had tried to combine their two most successful franchise 'themes' but they just don't work together! As a result the movie ends like a fantasy adventure and Indiana Jones basic plots were always at least somewhat believable in the past. I am not going to say anymore than this as it will give too much away, but I will be interested to know if others felt the same way?

But I can't deny we were entertained and enjoyed it, I just came away feeling letdown by the plot. Over dinner we discussed it and agreed we want to get the boxed set of the original movies, but this one we will pass on probably. We both feel that when the original movies were made they were different for their time, but the 'National Treasure' franchise has successfully stolen the style of Indiana Jones. We both preferred National Treasure 2, but we'd still highly recommend this if you enjoyed the originals, as it's undeniably good entertainment.

20 years on.....

and 'Madge' is still the person I'd most like to be if I could swap for a day/month/year!

Saw her on 'Nightline' last night and she looks amazing at almost 50 (although there's no doubt she's had help!), she's witty, intelligent, driven and alot more caring than her image projects.

Plus I'd love to have her willpower, self-discipline, that body, her career and fill a few stadiums here and there. Yep I'm a total 'wannabe' Madonna and always have been.

Guess I'll make do with similar hair and the gappy front teeth! Here I am doing a little 'Vogueing' with my Madonna pose! ;-)

However this was a FAR bigger win....

Manchester United were crowned the soccer European Champions tonight in Moscow after beating Chelsea on penalties.

This was historic. The 3rd time they have won the top prize in the 'club' soccer world, 40 years since their first win and far more significantly 50 years since the Munich air disaster, when the majority of the Man Utd team at the time, known as the 'Busby Babes' were killed in a plane crash.

The last time they won and they came home for the parade, I drove 4 hours (due to traffic) from Watford to Stoke on Trent and then had to dump my car because some twat had overturned a lorry and the M6 was blocked. So then I caught a train into Manc’, spent 2 hours sprinting around the streets to get the best viewpoints along the route, wave, sing, chant and cry. Then I climbed back on a train, with an upset stomach and had to deal with ‘the drizzlings’ and a BR loo back to Stoke. Then had to hitch a lift back to my car and drive home to Watford down the M40 in the most horrendous floods and rain. Stopped for a quick kip I was so exhausted at 2am still on the M40. Made it home, got 2 hrs sleep and then went to work - BUT IT WAS WORTH EVERY SECOND.

It was also the year they did the treble of the Premier League, the European Cup and the FA Cup and I was actually at the final in Wembley Stadium for that game.

Ryan Giggs or 'Giggsy' is to the right holding the cup, my all time favourite player and soccer hero. He just broke the record for the most games played by any player at Man Utd and is a legend, he has played for them since he was a boy. This team also discovered David Beckham as a 10yr old and turned him into who is today.

Ok enough....I know to most of you this is all no big deal, but to me having been a fan since childhood, it means everything :-)

American Idol ends on a high

Great show, great result and for once I was just like Simon and really didn't care who won it! I am extremely chuffed for DC another Okie by choice, just like yours truly. I am so happy that his season long performance overcame not being the best last night.

Anyone know how old Donna Summer is because she doesn't seem to have aged at all and no 'Priscilla' signs of cosmetic work either!? Absolutely loved DC with ZZ Top and btw can someone tell George Michael he looks great, but he seriously needs to lose those 'Elvis' sunglasses! We've certainly both come a long way from Bushey in Hertfordshire ;-)

Way to go David Cook :-)

The new American Idol is.....

Our money and more importantly our votes are with David Archuleta after he totally blew David Cook out of the water tonight.

Let me deal with David Cook first because right now I am pretty frustrated/annoyed with him. He has just never learned that to win you can't be self-indulgent, you need to pick well known and popular songs to get the votes from the fence sitters like us! The moment he said what his third choice of song was (before he'd sung a note) and we'd never heard of it, we knew exactly what Simon Cowell would say and that he'd lost the competition. What was he thinking! He could have picked a Bon Jovi, Queen, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Coldplay, Lynard Skynard song, or any one of thousands of well-known rock songs that we all love! He only has himself to blame and when you're up against someone as great as David A he should have gone for it and he just didn't. I am sorry but when you're given 3 songs then 2 of them should have been showstoppers we all knew, end of story.

David A on the other hand totally changed our decision beforehand to vote for David C. 'Don't let the sun go down on me' was the performance of the season and gave me chills. What a superb choice of song for him and he just blew us away and David C! The second song was just okay but he sang it superbly again. Then he really nailed down the coffin on David C by pulling out one of the greatest and best loved songs written and knocked it out of the ballpark.

I have loved both from the start and been really torn, they are both stars of the future. But tonight David A showed his better understanding of what you need to do to win and he sang his socks off. The judges knew it by the end, the audience did and even Ryan seemed to agree. I just hope Ryan has an arm around him when he says "the American Idol is David Archuleta", because that boy is going to hit the deck for sure tomorrow night.

Just 17 years old and already THAT good...kinda scary!

>*UPDATE* Well DC may not have blown it after all - dialidol.com has him winning clearly right now and they've predicted it correctly the past 2 seasons! It's gonna be close, I'm glad for once I like them both and will be happy either way.

Do they really think we're that stupid!?

Whenever the L'Oreal hair colour ads for Recital, Preference or Natural Match come on TV, I just have to laugh and try not to be insulted!

I mean I'm sorry, but do they really think I believe Eva Longoria is buying her Recital, mixing the contents, putting on the impossibly annoying plastic gloves and then leaning over her bath or sink while she tries to evenly apply colour to her hair?

YEH RIGHT and on Saturday's I'm a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader!

And I'm pretty certain the same applies to Heather Locklear, Charlize Theron and Penelope Cruz too. These stars certainly don't buy their hair colour in Walgreens, do it themselves and then have perfect hair with multiple tones in it, out of a box!

Okay rant over, I'm off to practice with my pom-poms ;-)

Handbag of the day....Raquel!

So are any of you old enough to remember Raquel Welch in the animal skin furry bikini in 'One Million BC', a very old movie? Well that's what inspired this handbags name!

This was another excellent gift from my Mum for Christmas after I had moved here and guess where she got if from - yep got it in one, Accessorize!

Raquel is a fun, furry winter handbag and is a good size, lined in black with an internal zipper pocket and fastening with a magnetic button. She is super-soft as I'm sure you can tell and has the fun, furry hanging balls (there's just no easy way to say that!) and shiny black handles.

I am not generally an animal print person, in fact Raquel and a very similar furry hat are the full extent of animal print in my closet. But she looks great with my black winter coat or vest and a pair of furry winter boots.

Dan in Real Life

This movie is quite a departure from the usual Steve Carell movie and not what we were anticipating, but it was a good and we both enjoyed it alot.

Steve plays a widowed Dad of three girls touchingly and realistically, showing a depth of acting ability we didn't realise he had. Juliette Binoche was very believable as the woman he falls for almost at first sight and the supporting cast was full of stellar actors. It really feels like an 'ensemble' type movie, as the large cast are in most of the scenes and the story is centred around family relationships.

This is a charming movie, slightly quirky with alot of heart and not your usual Steve vehicle at all, although we still laughed out loud alot. The humour is just not as obvious or coarse as you would expect from him, but a winner just the same and one that will probably be a pleasant surprise.

We're voting for the Cook!

Well after being torn between the two David's for weeks we are finally coming down on the side of David Cook for American Idol.

We just felt he did a better job overall tonight, although we didn't think the show itself was as good as last week! We also think David A has the little girl vote and would make the final even if he had really ballsed it up - which he didn't.

I also happen to love 'I don't wanna miss a thing' and he was awesome. Okay off to vote - Pam you'd better too tonight, as Syesha was good as well!

Miss Potter (or me as a weeping wreck!)

Wow - what can I say about this little gem of a movie to possibly do it the justice it so richly deserves?

Well it made me emotional and very tearful, it just brought my whole childhood flooding back in a really good way. I loved the Beatrix Potter books as a child, had the whole set and was enchanted by them like many children around the world for over 100 years. I grew up loving Peter Rabbit and Mrs Tiggywinkle from a very young age.

This film tells not only the story of how Beatrix developed the stories and got them published, but it also tells you her own personal story.

Renee Zellweger is wonderful as Beatrix, although for the first five minutes it was like Bridget Jones again, as she only seems to have one British accent! But she just becomes Beatrix so believably that I think she epitomised the artist and person, her vision and joy in life. Ewan McGregor is also wonderful as her enthusiastic publisher and first love, playing the role with an inner vibrancy that you feel. Both Renee and Ewan have long been favourite actors of mine, for the uncanny ability they have to transform themselves so believably you forget they're acting.

For all the anglophiles who read my blog but may not be Beatrix Potter fans, then you should see this if for no other reason than the gorgeous locations in the Lake District. The attention to detail with the Victorian period costumes and sets is also very accurate.

I seem to have used alot of superlatives in this movie review and 'wonderful' has been the word that's popped into my mind persistently to describe it. I will definitely be adding this movie to my collection and watching it again many times. It takes a great movie to connect with you as deeply as this one did with me and it stirred up so many happy emotions and memories that I was a weeping wreck by the end!

So if you are a fan of these little books and loved them as a child, then beware. But whatever you do, just don't miss it.

Handbag of the day....Madonna!

So I know you're wondering why such an unglamourous bag is named for Madonna? Well two reasons actually and both entirely reasonable.

First of all I purchased her about the time Madge was going through a bit of a leather and bondage stage in her career. Well my Madonna definitely has a touch of bondage with the strapping and studs.

Secondly I suspect most girls have a bag in their wardrobe that they used alot in their nightclub days. You know the one that is small enough to get your wallet, some make-up and a hidden small bottle of licquor/alcohol in. She has no real monetary value, so if you should happen to lose her, forget her (after a few too many), or she gets kicked off the dance-floor as you jig around her, you won't lose any sleep over her loss.

Well Madonna is my 'clubbing' bag and let me tell you, she has been along on some pretty interesting nights in my life! She's the one who has been flung in with a pile of others in the midst of a group of women, boogying and singing for all their worth to 'Like a Virgin'!

I guess I am holding onto Madonna for sentimental reasons and lots of happy fun memories. Because apart from the odd Square Dance or Line Dance here, she ain't likely to see much more 'real' clubbing!

Ok the joke is over people....

Rant on.....Jason Castro made a mockery of American Idol tonight and he must now go home. He just seems to think he's 'the Dude' and doesn't even seem to take the judges comments seriously, he was a total travesty. I felt sorry for Brooke having to watch that and think I could have done so much better!

Anyway....rant almost off.... if he stays then AI will probably lose even more viewers and I swear he wouldn't have got this far without the hair that lots of little girls obviuosly think is 'cool'....rant off!

Moving on.... the night belonged to David A' resoundingly (sorry Pam but despite not liking him, surely you have to admit he sang the best?!), but Syesha was a close second and that girl is really giving the boys a run for their money, she rocked it too. David C's weakest night we thought, but we still love him, he needs to start picking popular well-known songs though before he does a Daughtrey! Simon Cowell had them all spot on tonight, let's just hope the fans listened to him.

The final will still be won by someone named David, I like them both so don't mind which....but going on tonight it's David A's to lose now.

*Jason has to go, so tonight I will finally vote - for the other 3!

Handbag of the day....J-Lo!

Meet J-Lo a cherished birthday gift from my Aunt Nicki and family a few years ago and named because she ‘glows’ like J-Lo and I could imagine her carrying this ladylike dainty bag. She is an extremely pretty and glamourous handbag for all social occasions. Her small size doesn’t make her practical for everyday use, but something that looks this good needs to be saved for special events.

One of my favourite features of J-Lo is her contrasting tortoise-shell handles against the mother of pearl and seed pearl embellishment. Inside she is white satin with one zipped interior pocket and she fastens with a magnetic closure. I happen to love geometric patterns; I was the kid in class always doodling geometric shapes across all my books! So her pattern is very appealing to this side of me, I also play around with mosaic tiling at times for the same reason.

Her mother of pearl is very eye-catching and her ever changing natural tones also work very well with just about any outfit. J-Lo is a classy little handbag and a keeper I will be using for many years.

*Last day to enter Caption Competition & win – roll down*

Handbag of the day....Posh!

So remember I said I don’t generally ‘do’ designer bags, well I lied, this one was just too darn cute to ignore when it first came out.

There’s only one possible name for her and that is ‘Posh’ in honour of Posh Spice. After all, she is the self-proclaimed queen of everything designer. I have had Posh for about 4 years and she is famously designed by Louis Vuitton, made from black leather with the widely recognised multi-colore monogram design. I don’t use her as much these days as I did in my old life, she just doesn’t seem quite the thing around school or at a rodeo!

So the question of the day:

Is my Posh really posh, or like the actual Posh Spice is she really ‘mutton dressed as Lamb’ – real or fake, you decide?

*Remember roll down and enter a Caption Competition for a prize!*