Chuckles Corrie Mania #1

Welcome to Chuckles Corrie Mania! I watched Coronation Street all through the late 70's, 80's and early 90's but lost touch with it by 1999 due to work. So discovering that kind Corrie viewers have uploaded a ton of classic episodes on YouTube was great! I've spent two years gathering as many as I can, ready to get watching, and as I work my way through them, I'll be reviewing what I watch and sharing my thoughts. Would love to hear the thoughts on these episodes from other fans.

Thank you to Auntie Corrie(1976-1994), Mr Magister(1961,1995-2000), Classicsoap(2001+), CLKfanvideos(2006,2010,2011), corriestuff(various), OZZY45100(1960's, 1970's), FullEps(2009), XCorrieClassicsX(2006-2009), albiondean(2012-present), Sevin Alsoylar(2006,2011), Soap Fan 2013(various), JonathanOpenshaw(various) and everyone else who has supplied episodes online.

Where better to start than at the very beginning! The 1960 disk of the 1960's dvd box set from Network features the first 8 episodes of the soap in order, and here I am talking about the first 2 which I watched last night. This is the first time I've ever seen these early episodes so I wasn't sure what to expect!

Episode 1: December 9th 1960
Florrie Lindley has bought the corner shop and is trying to get used to some of the characters who will be shopping there. Ken Barlow(right) finds that his new college education makes him ashamed of where he comes from. Elsie Tanner despairs over her layabout ex-con son Dennis not finding a job and her daughter Linda leaving her husband Ivan again. 

I was surprised to say that I did enjoy this! I had feared it might be too old fashioned but the scripts are good and the acting was better than I expected. It was interesting to see Albert Tatlock being normal and not grumpy and I loved seeing him laying into Ken for turning into a snob, trying to stop his girlfriend Susan from meeting his family or seeing his house. Elsie was one of my favourite characters when I watched it so seeing her looking so glamorous was fun! I had forgotten how scary Ena Sharples was-just watching her buy a few things in the shop was enough to scare young children! The thing that struck me most about this episode was how happy and smiling Annie Walker was and you can see the love that she has for husband Jack who is such a nice character.

Episode 2: December 14th 1960
Ken is embarrassed when Susan's dad's car gets vandalised by kids at his house and Susan gets annoyed at his apologies for his family, his street and his pub, saying she doesn't care that nothing is posh. Christine Hardman is furious with Ena(left) for calling her mother mad and Ena is delighted at the chance for a feud. Linda is determined not to go back to her husband but won't tell Elsie why. 

This had a very funny scene in the Rovers where Ena is telling Minnie and Martha that she wants to die like her mother did. 'She just sat up, broke wind and died!' I nearly choked on my sushi!

Chuckles TV Catch Up #1

This is my new feature for the summer! I have sooo many great sounding TV shows that I want to watch but because of all my reading, I haven't had time to catch up with any of them! So this summer I'm doing a Chuckles TV catch up where I hope to get a look at some TV, decide what I like and don't like and tell you all my thoughts on everything. Now, my TV watching is very much mood related so I can't predict what I'll want to watch...

This week: Elementary, starring Jonny Lee Miller, Lucy Liu, Aidan Quinn and Jon Michael Hill.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2191671/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Filmography links and data courtesy of IMDb.

Sherlock Holmes is an manic, hyper freelance crime solving consultant and a recovering drug addict. Joan Watson is a former doctor and paid companion to stop addicts from relapsing. When Sherlock starts consulting for the New York Police Captain, Watson tags along. 

OK I  saw ads for this on TV and thought it looked weird and uninspiring. The only reason I decided to give it a try was because I liked the main three cast members-Miller, Liu and Quinn. I sat down last night to watch the first three episodes-I usually decide by episode three if I like a series enough to continue watching it.

Loved it! I watched five episodes back to back! Miller is brilliant as the rude, quirky, frustrating  Holmes. Think of House(rude) meets Columbo(quirky) and Doctor Who(mad). Liu is a great foil for him and they have good on screen chemistry. I also like the relationship between Holmes and the cops-the Captain who sometimes wants to strangle him and the young hotshot Detective who finds him weird! There is humour, complex plots and it keeps you guessing throughout, which I enjoy. I loved the 'Balloon Man' and 'Angel of Death' stories in particular.

So, liking this series was a total surprise to me and I'll be grabbing the dvd boxsets as soon as Amazon lowers the price a bit! Might even continue watching series one tonight if time allows... 

Stacking the Shelves #86

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks! Click on the link under the book to find its page on Goodreads or Smashwords. 

Please note that I always leave a message on your STS/SP if you visit me, but if you use DISQUS or a similar third party I will not be able to leave a comment on your page. And sometimes, I have problems leaving messages on blogs hosted by Wordpress so you might get a double message sometimes! Blame them, not me!

       

This has been a quieter week at the Book Cave. There was restraint in what I picked up-a few interesting sounding downloads, and the last of the mountain climbing books that I ordered arrived from Amazon which was good. I have a few urban fantasy books ordered which should arrive for next week's STS hopefully. I could not resist the sound of Sharcano...who doesn't want to read about sharks made of lava popping out of a volcano to kill people? Expect to see THAT on the Sci-Fy Channel very soon! I like the sound of the Alex Hughes series so I grabbed a pile of them.  It's a small haul but there are some interesting reads there!

 

DOWNLOADS:

 

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21402185-rabbit-trick 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13543039-clean 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17417285-payoff 

 

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15808630-sharp 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18374882-marked 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21847414-vacant 

 

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18660061-sharcano 

 

BOUGHT PAPERBACKS:

 

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1156293.Everest 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1564708.Everest 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6738781-beyond-the-mountain 

 

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https://twitter.com/chucklesthescot
https://uk.pinterest.com/chucklesthescot/  

Chuckles TV Catch Up

This is my new feature for the summer! I have sooo many great sounding TV shows that I want to watch but because of all my reading, I haven't had time to catch up with any of them! So this summer I'm doing a Chuckles TV catch up where I hope to get a look at some TV, decide what I like and don't like and tell you all my thoughts on everything. Now, my TV watching is very much mood related so I can't predict what I'll want to watch each week but here are some of the TV shows that I might be considering for summer viewing!

TV I have not seen a single episode of:

Game of Thrones, The Following, The 100, The Blacklist, Homeland, House of Cards (US), The Strain, Penny Dreadful, Strike Back, Teen Wolf, The Vampire Diaries, Sanctuary, Warehouse 13, The Last Ship, Arrow, The Flash, Marvel Agents of Shield, Vikings, Continuum, Defiance, Fortitude, Bitten, Bates Motel, Banshee, Dominion, From dusk till Dawn, Helix, Harper's Island, Once upon a time, Pretty Little Liars, Resurrection, Hannibal, Lost Girl, Grimm, izombie, Flashforward, and lots more...

TV I started but need to catch up with or finish:

The Walking Dead, Scandal, Haven, Lost, Doctor Who, Supernatural, House of Cards (UK), Robin Hood, Stargate Atlantis, Nikita, Falling Skies, and more!

I think you can see the size of my task, especially when these are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head! So each week or so, I'll be posting a series update as to what I watched, what I liked and hated, series I'll stick with, series that I'm not going to watch any longer.

Comments are welcome but all are moderated (by my dad!) so any attempt at spoilers will not be put on the blog to spoil my enjoyment. So you spoilers can get lost!!!

Book Review: The True Peruvian Route by Mark Horrell

Mountaineering is an activity where true elation and deep disappointment thrive in equal measure. Nothing exemplifies this more than the story of Mark Horrell's two attempts on Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the world outside Asia, and one of the Seven Summits. This is the story of the second happier half.

In 2005 the author set off up the Normal Route on Aconcagua's western side, possibly one of the most boring routes on a big mountain anywhere in the world. He spent several weeks staring up a huge featureless scree slope, before giving up much too easily on a cold summit day at the instigation of an over-cautious guide who didn't seem particularly bothered about reaching the summit.

In 2010 he tried the other side of the mountain, a much more interesting climb, and was privileged to be guided by a man who had climbed the mountain more times than any other. It soon became clear to him that you don't get a record like that unless you really care about getting to the top every time you set foot on the mountain.

It was an altogether different experience, and one with many happy memories. The True Peruvian Route is the author's travel journal from his expedition, and will be a valuable reference to anyone who is thinking of climbing South America's highest mountain with a commercial tour operator, or anyone with an interest in mountaineering and the Seven Summits (highest mountains on each continent) in general. The book includes many photographs of the trek and climb.

My Review:
Mark is on a trek in South America to climb the tallest mountain on the continent-Aconcagua. It is the tallest mountain in the world that you can just walk up, making it very popular with trekkers. He is keen on doing the faster Polish Glacier Route but that plan is aborted because conditions are too dangerous and Mark has to go with the tourist route instead.

The biggest worry on this trip is the dreaded poo bag. You are not allowed to leave human waste on the mountain so all climbers have to wrap it up and take it away with them. Mark is all too awate that a crampon or ice axe accident could rupture that poo bag...There is the usual humour to this trek diary with the big discussion being about the base camp doctors on the trip who insisted on giving everyone a medical examination before allowing them to climb, the interference that climbers are not greatly keen on. Mark also discovers that their guide is responsible for the new route on the mountain and decides to name it accordingly.

Enjoyable read.