I've just been reading about a report that's brought out annually by The Economist Intelligence Unit. It scores all the top cities in the world on five areas : healthcare, stability, culture, environment and education. The world's top city for the last five years has been Vancouver but the top UK city is Manchester. If you have read this blog recently you may have seen that I commented on Manchester's attractions under the title "There's More To Manchester Than Rain And Football" and my observations have proved consistent with the findings of the EIU. Manchester came 42nd whilst London came 53rd.
In reality there was little to choose between London and Manchester in the scores but I am commenting because Marion and I have plans to move to London in the near future. We are attracted to the culture and the recreational opportunities to fill our retirement but, living in a pleasant detached house here in the north, we are somewhat worried about where we will find ourselves living when we take the plunge. Having enjoyed the pleasures of a decent garden and plenty of space for over twenty years we may find it hard to live in a two bedroomed flat with no open space although the ability to use London's facilities on a daily basis should help to offset that. On the other hand, property prices in Manchester are similar to what they are here. Time for a rethink? Probably not, as London scored very highly in the culture and recreational categories and its score was only lowered by perceived crime levels and risk of terrorism. And that shouldn't worry me and Marion as, being from near Liverpool, we're dead hard - honest.
We were away last week so didn't make our regular Orange Wednesday cinema visit. Hopefully this week we will get to see True Grit which has been pretty well received. As it is half term here in Southport there's not a huge choice showing for adults this week with Gnomeo and Juliet, Tangled,Justin Bieber, Yogi Bear and Paul taking up many of the screenings and, with Just Go With It and Big Mommas being as appealing as a fart in a lift, True Grit is all that's left.
I was involved in a brief discussion with a fellow blogger Rodney Willet (click here for his website) on Twitter this morning about the merits and otherwise of the iPhone. A year or two ago I wrote on my old blog about how I hated my new Samsung smart phone and that all I wanted was to be able to make phone calls and had no need for the multiple functions that it offered. And Rodney feels the same today. He is fed up with the many offers of an iPhone that have come his way and he feels that he doesn't need one thank you very much. I, on the other hand, am now a convert. The iPhone is so much more than a phone and is, in reality, a more powerful computer than many pcs that I have used in the not too distant past. This morning I had an hour in the gym. To lighten the dreariness of a forty minute stint on an exercise bike I listened to Mark Kermode's film podcast and at the same time played scrabble on the iPhone. I checked my email, worried about the plunge on the stock market (thankfully now recovered) and looked at the weather forecast. I also had my discussion on the merits of the phone with Rodney. And I have to say that I think that the iPhone is an outstanding aid to modern living. I don't make many phone calls but now I always have a camera with me plus the ability to check film times, find local restaurants, place a bet and much much more. I've been converted (but I am glad that I didn't have one while I was working - who wants work emails when you are out of the office?).
And of course there are these extra features too..
I was delighted to see Miranda Hart clean up at the British comedy awards last night and hope that the BBC won't mind my nicking their photo for the blog. David Baddiel wrote eloquently about her comedy in yesterday's Times and mentioned that some consider her very much a female's comic. This is certainly not the case in our household where I am probably a bigger fan than Marion. I've been a fan since I first saw her in her show stealing cameos as Lee Mack's cleaner in "Not Going Out" and, like Baddiel,I feel that her comedy can be appreciated by both genders equally. There is so much more to it than simple slapstick. Long may she reign as Queen of Comedy.
It is interesting to note that the people's choice in these awards tend towards comedians who aren't controversial or edgy. Comics like Miranda, Harry Hill, Ant and Dec and Peter Kay are always going to win ahead of someone like Ricky Gervais who I accused of disguising bullying as comedy in one of this week's blogs. Could Miranda's success mark a watershed in British comedy and encourage the next wave of comics to try and move away from the shock effect and back to mainstream humour. If Miranda can get 4 million viewers on BBC2 there has to be a message to producers and commissioners there somewhere.
I said that it was good to "see" Miranda scoop those awards although I didn't actually watch the awards show. We were otherwise occupied with Sky's first showing of Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland in 3D. It didn't really appeal when it came to the local Vue but with 3D still a novelty in the household we had to give it a try. I have to say that it was a triumph of spectacle over content. Although a visually stunning experience, this could not detract from the paucity of the script and the way that Carroll's story was butchered. The mad hatter was transformed from a character who was comically mad (and a hatter) into some sort of macho hero and Burton's conversion of the word Frabjous from my favourite made up adjective to a noun shows an unforgivable lack of understanding and no appreciation of the wonderful Jabberwocky. I'm surprised that there weren't a couple of mini demons called Callooh and Callay thrown in for good measure to wreck the verse that I always loved to read to the kids. If you've got 3D then by all means watch it for the effects but if you are a fan of Lewis Carroll or you just want to watch an entertaining movie then I'd give it a pretty wide berth. Twas certainly not brillig.
There's nothing nicer than sitting by a roaring fire on a winter afternoon reading a book which is what I plan to do when I finish writing this. After flying through a pile of books over the last few months I have come up against something of a brick wall with my current read - A S Byatt's The Children's Book. I like the book but there are so many diverse characters that I find myself checking back to get my facts right. Over two hundred pages in I think that I know who everyone is now so maybe the final three hundred pages will be an easier read.
The photo above was taken on the Hipstamatic iPhone app. It's a great little free app that allows you to take old fashioned grainy snaps. I downloaded a few new apps yesterday including one, iPhoneTips, that is a must for all users and has told me far more about getting the most from the iPhone and pointed me to features that I didn't know existed. Another that I've found useful is Sky Sports Football Scores and, for entertainment, the infuriatingly simple but fiendishly difficult Bubble Ball.
Back to the book now. I need to relax. There' a late night ahead. My son Paul's beloved New York Jets are in the semi finals for the Super Bowl and I want to watch so that I can talk about it with him. The only problem is that the match won't finish until around 2 am. I enjoyed their excellent performance last week and hope that they win as I know that Paul would be overjoyed if they made it to the Super Bowl.
