This is some of the news from todays The Times newspaper. There's a new film out about the hunt for Osama bin Liden which stars Jessica Chastain as the CIA agent who was instrumental in the search. They gave her a medal of recognition of services but also rewarded people who if anything were obstructions also when she identified the body she wept with relief because they had been hunting him for more than 10 years. There is talk among the Labour that the Tories may have scored an own goal freezing unemployment benefit because there is bound to be a swing among the unemployed towards Labour and the Tories haven't got an outright majority in parliament. A pregnant lady who was being collected from the scottish island with a population of 700 gave birth in the helicopter. It was flying her to hospital. For the first time in the results of the census more people rent their accommodation than own it. Scottish salmon has been given regional branding meaning if it has that name it must come from Scotland. There's a new Spicegirls musical called Viva Forever and the Spicegirls attended its launch. Finally TA soldiers are being brought back from Afghanistan a year early & they have had to get permission to get time off work but the government in a lot of cases has shortened their contract by 12 months. In a lot of cases that means they will be on the dole for 12 months. Obviously it's affecting morale.

There is also a Walking Dead Season Two post on this site. Walking Dead stars Andrew Lincoln as a sheriff who with a group are battling zombies and trying to survive. It's based on a graphic novel and isn't all that different to Night of the Living Dead. What is inspired is making it into a television series. It's quite gory and certainly only suitable for adults. It almost makes you wish you were a character in the series. In series one Andrew was presumed dead after being in hospital seriously injured during the plague. He meets up with a group of people who take him back to their camp only to find his wife having a relationship with his police partner. He has lied to his wife and told her that her husband is dead. Needless to say she goes back with her husband and is angry with her expartner. Her husband becomes leader of the group. The group are decimated by a huge zombie attack. Most of them then decide to go to the center for disease control to see if they can help but are in for a shock. It's an excellent series.

I am reviewing the animated film called Arthur Christmas which is excellent. The production company is Aardman who brought us gems like Chicken Run etc. I think most adults would like it but it's aimed at children. The plot is Santa has gone hitech in delivering presents but one child is accidentally missed out. Arthur one of Santa's helpers is determined to deliver the present. Together with a retired Santa Claus he tries to deliver it by old fashioned reindeer & sleigh. They have countless adventures because the Santa is no good at navigation. They also get mistaken for an UFO and shot down. Meanwhile the newspapers are interested in the story of a young girl in Cornwall not getting her present. It becomes a major scandal & only Arthur can save the day. Things do turn out alright & I think this film is a contender for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. It's also very funny with state of the art graphics.

I am reviewing the disney film Inspector Gadget which I think is very good although the critics panned it. It stars Matthew Broderick as Inspector Gadget, Rupert Everett as Sanford Scolex the baddie, Joely Fisher as the inventors daughter, Michelle Trachtenberg as Gadgets daughter & Rene Auberjonois as the inventor. Rene gets killed off early in the film. Gadget starts out as a security guard who tries to foil the murder and robbery only to get seriously injured. While he's in a critical state they decide to turn him into Inspector Gadget although the police chief played by Dabney Coleman doesn't regard him as a policeman and gives him rubbish jobs. In the meantime Scolex gives Fishers character her dream job but he has secretly developed copies of her and Gadget complete with warped gadgetry. The copy of Gadget causes mayhem destroying most of the city. Also other people blame Inspector Gadget. It's probably a little simple for adults but it's entertaining and ideal for children. Obviously it has a happy ending. I think it must of had quite a big budget. Finally there's also a very cool gadget helicopter which sprouts out of his hat.

I am reviewing the film The Polar Express which I saw on bluray & is an excellent animated film. The picture has been upgraded for bluray and is graphically fantastic. This film is one of the all time great xmas movies. It's the first feature film to be shot entirely on performance capturing animation meaning everything was done in live action first then converted. Tom Hanks is excellent in the couple of roles he plays especially as the conductor. Apparently they used a professional dancing troupe in the scene where they are serving hot chocolate onboard the train. The plot basically is a boy doesn't believe in Santa anymore and a magical train appears outside his house and takes him to the North Pole to see Santa Claus. He has lots of adventures enroute including befriending a ghost played by Hanks which lives on the roof of the train. It's directed by Robert Zemickis of Back to the Future & Roger Rabbit fame. I think practically anybody would enjoy this film especially children.

The novel I am reviewing in this post is Red Wolf by Liza Marklund which is an excellent thriller. At the time this book came out it actually became the 12th most successful novel worldwide ever. Liza was born in northern Sweden where much of this book is set and apparently the people that live there weren't happy with how it was depicted. There was even talk of removing the plaque from the house where she was born. This book is part of the Annika Bengtzon series which is about an investigative journalist in this book a freelance one who gets into various scrapes. In real life Liza has worked as a journalist and her books are often inspired by the stories she covered. You might be interested to know I reviewed another book by her called Exposed which is also on this site. Anyway the plot is a F21 has been blown up by a bomb & it appears the Russians are involved & they pull in for questioning every left winger possible. Several people have tried to research the story and they always appear to die in mysterious circumstances. Also a handwritten note is always sent to their house just afterwards. It becomes obvious to Annika that something strange is going on. Actuall there is a cover up in the government and it looks likely Annika will be the next victim. There is a happy ending however.

The book I read to research this post was A Short History of Bewdley Gas Works by Alan Scaplehorn which is an excellent book and is published by the Bewdley Historical Research Group. I got this book from the souvenir shop in Bewdley Museum. Incidently Bewdley is a small town in Worcestershire in England. If you live nearby Bewdley is worth a visit as it's a quaint market town by the River Severn.

Anyway this book is about the Bewdley Gas Works which was one of the oldest in the country. Nowadays we take things like electricity for granted. In the 19th century there was no electricity or nationwide gas supply. Towards the end of the 19th century several towns had gas works formed that primarily provided street lighting in the winter months and if you were wealthy they would lay a supply to your home or business and you would have coal gas powered lights. The coal gas was obtained from bituminous coal which would be heated and turned into coke and the byproducts including coal gas would be filtered off and cooled down. The gas works in Bewdley was by the river so if it flooded there would be a power cut & apparently the worst flood was in 1947. In 1952 the various gas works were nationalised & at first the gas works was closed and a supply was obtained from nearby Kidderminster. Eventually there was a national grid which supplied natural gas.

The book I read to research this post was A Short History of Bewdley Gas Works by Alan Scaplehorn which is an excellent book and is published by the Bewdley Historical Research Group. I got this book from the souvenir shop in Bewdley Museum. Incidently Bewdley is a small town in Worcestershire in England. If you live nearby Bewdley is worth a visit as it's a quaint market town by the River Severn.

Anyway this book is about the Bewdley Gas Works which was one of the oldest in the country. Nowadays we take things like electricity for granted. In the 19th century there was no electricity or nationwide gas supply. Towards the end of the 19th century several towns had gas works formed that primarily provided street lighting in the winter months and if you were wealthy they would lay a supply to your home or business and you would have coal gas powered lights. The coal gas was obtained from bituminous coal which would be heated and turned into coke and the byproducts including coal gas would be filtered off and cooled down. The gas works in Bewdley was by the river so if it flooded there would be a power cut & apparently the worst flood was in 1947. In 1952 the various gas works were nationalised & at first the gas works was closed and a supply was obtained from nearby Kidderminster. Eventually there was a national grid which supplied natural gas.

The book I read to research this post was The Boa Constrictor Manual by Roger Klingenberg et al which is an excellent book which I bought from Amazon. An interesting thing about these snakes is their common name and scientific name is more or less the same. At one time it was thought they were one species but now they are divided into several species. They are found in Madagascar & throughout Central & South America. There are stories of massive boa constrictors in the Amazon jungle but these are probably anaconda. It's rare for a boa constrictor to exceed 14 feet. They can also live for twenty years & the record in captivity is fourty. In captivity they are generally docile especially if you have rared it from a baby. You should also get it used to being handled as you never know you may have to take it to the vets. For an adult boa constrictor the cage should about 6 feet long & this is a consideration if you live in a flat. Also most countries regard boa constrictors as a dangerous animal & you will probably have to have a lock on the cage. Statistics show you are much more likely to get bitten by a dog, cat or even a human than a boa constrictor. In captivity people have bred these snakes to be brightly coloured and many countries have restrictions on taking them out of the wild. A baby boa will probably eat pinkies or baby mice and rats. It goes without saying these should be dead before they are fed. As it gets bigger you move on to adult mice and rats & when it's fully grown you will probably feed it adult rabbits. The food shouldn't be any wider than the midgirth of the snake. You also have to give it calcium supplements. A lot of people like to set up a landscape in the cage complete with rocks and maybe a log & the snake will enjoy exploring it. Finally they are also nocturnal and they are the most commonly kept snake.

This is some of the news that appeared in today's The Times. With Kate Middleton the duchess of cambridge in hospital with acute morning sickness. 2 australian DJs phoned the hospital and posed as the queen and prince charles. They fooled the switchboard into putting them through to the duty nurse who was also fooled. The newspaper is saying they maybe in trouble and what they did was illegal. I think it's quite funny and they should see the funny side to it.

Apparently the austerity measures in britain wil be in place until at least 2018. I'm glad they've scrapped the 3p rise on fuel duty. Apparently in 2009 a miami congresswoman took a call from someone claiming to be president obama congratulating her on her reelection. She thought it was a hoax and hung up but it turned out it was really him. An interesting story was that Stansted Airport closed due snow & yet Stockholm Airport in Sweden had far more snow, 30 cms in fact yet remained open although they ran a limited service.

Finally Virgin Trains are to sign a deal that will let them continue running a train service from London to Glasgow via Manchester until at least 2014. One story I heard although it's probably old news is that some of the regional Birmingham trains had to be rerouted to Snow Hill & Moor Street because Virgin took so many slots at New Street. All 3 stations are quite close to each other but it attracted a lot of controversy.