Mutterings for the Minority

I decided to go back to work today and break myself back into work mode gently rather than face a full on onslaught on Monday morning!

Thankfully the plan seemed to work as I managed to get the usual pleasantries out of the way and clear most of my stock piled Christmas/New Year emails.  So hopefully come Monday things should be more relaxed – which is always a nice thought when it’s your first full week back.

No doubt I’ve just put the mockers on it now though…..

As I was in work it also meant back to having a lunchtime run along Swansea Bay and my word what a run I had today!  Somehow I managed to set myself a new personal best time of 41 minute 6 second run for my regular 5 mile run.

I was all the more surprised by my time as despite having put the miles in over Christmas I personally felt that the intensity was missing.  I was also feeling physically tired and the bitterly cold wind made for rather uncomfortable conditions.  Still I’m chuffed to bits and am now more eager than ever to try and nail a sub-40 minute time!

Continuing with my recent spate of watching films, tonight was the turn of ”Ghost Town‘ starring Ricky Gervais.  It reminded me a lot of ‘Ghost‘ but without the gorgeous Demi Moore and was considerably more funny in a way that only Ricky G could carry off.  Not great but well worth watching, especially if you like/loath dentists

I don’t know what you guys think, but personally I thought the stuff served up on television (including satellite) over Christmas and New Year was pretty pants on the whole.  It seemed to be the typical re-runs of previous years ‘top rated’ films – as far back as you could imagine.

In retrospect though, is this any different from any year?

Perhaps this will explain why I spent so much time watching DVDs over the holiday period – especially as I don’t tend to watch too much TV as I’d rather be physically doing something rather than sitting on my bum.  Still it made a refreshing change I guess and allowed me some time to catch up on what I’d been missing or in some case thought I had!

I sat myself through – ‘Indiana Jones and The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull‘, ‘Quantum of Solace‘, ‘The Love Guru‘, ‘Kung Fu Panda‘ and ‘Mamma Mia‘.

As with most things people watch on TV there is a level of expectation, often raised by previous films or indeed particular actors.  With this in mind, I suppose that is why I felt ‘Quantum of Solace’ in particular was a major disappointment – the emphasis (for me) being far too much on the stunts and not enough on the substance of the script.

I’ll be honest though, despite ‘Mamma Mia’ being what I’d call a chick flick it was the one film out of the lot that I enjoyed the most.  So if I were you I’d take a chance and watch it

Mrs DDWT and I actually sat down tonight to watch Sky Movies and the premiere of ’300′. It was the first time we’d seen a movie in a few months – well even if it wasn’t that long it certainly felt like it!

As for the film, well it was certainly one for the boys (toy soldier stuff you see) as I’m sure the only plusses for the ladies would be the bare, taut and well defined/developed torsos of the Spartans.

Having now watched it, I can see why some people thought it was on the gory side.  For me the only thing that was misplaced were the sparse (yet unnecessary) sexual scenes, which felt out of context for the film as a whole.  After all it was a film about the battle between 300 Spartans (Greeks) and the Persians in 480 BC!

The acting and effects were first class and were combined magnificently to give the film a very Greek mythological feel, which obviously was the director’s intention.

I enjoyed it (unlike Mrs DDWT) and thought it was worth watching.  I’d recommend it to anyone who likes films such as ’55 Days at Peking’, ‘Braveheart’, ‘Troy’, ‘El Cid’, etc – if that’s not your bag, then I’d leave well alone to be honest.

No this isn’t an explanation as to why people from Swansea are referred to as ‘Jacks‘, it’s about a book I’ve just finished reading.

The book was called ‘The Swansea Jacks – From Skinheads to Stone Island‘ and was as the title might suggest about football hooliganism or terrace culture as it is often referred to nowadays. Now you’re probably wondering why the hell I’d want to read a book of this nature.

Well there are several reasons to be quite frank… I’m a Swansea fan and am intrigued by our ‘hooligan element’ and their literary skills (LOL); I was curious if I knew/recognised any of the ‘faces’ (which I did); but most of all it was because I have an interest in the world of football hooliganism – purely from a psychology perspective I can assure you!

As an ex-semi professional rugby player who represented his country, I’m intrigued (and always have been) as to what makes these men/teenagers (and some women believe it or not) get out of being a football hooligan. Now I’m not referring to the people who walk around clad out in the latest Stone Island, Burberry, Aquasanctum gear for bravado – I’m on about the real hardcore element who purely want a scrap with the oppositions firm/dressers call them what you want and get one hell of a buzz out of doing so.

I just find it odd that you don’t get this sort of needle between rival sets of rugby fans – well none that I’ve witnessed anyway – but you do with football. Is it because the ‘aggro’ is on the field perhaps?

I suppose I always remember what a football playing mate of mine used to say – “The real hard lads in school played rugby, whereas the lads who thought they were hard played football” – now personally I don’t entirely agree with that statement, but I can see what he means to an extent.

Anyway, back to the book. It’s pretty much a warts and all story of the top Swansea ‘faces’ over the last 30 years or so broken down into sections by each hooligan. It was an ok read, but I felt the book was let down by a lack of consistency between each section – which could vary between 2 pages to 20+ pages.

From what my memory recalls of the media reporting about various bouts of trouble involving the Swansea Jacks, the book is a pretty accurate reproduction of the facts. It certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you’re a local and follow the Swans then it should hold enough interest for you to see it through to the end.

The next book on my reading list is ‘Killer Web Content’ by Gerry McGovern – which as the title suggests is the complete opposite end of the spectrum in terms of my book reading habits!

Yes indeed, with the festive season now well and truly over it was time to take down the Christmas deccies and pack them away in the loft for another 12 months. The task didn’t go off without some rumblings of discontent from DDWT Junior however, his mutterings only being calmed by the promise of baloons et al for his 4th birthday next week.

In fact the whole day has been a rather busy affair. We’ve had umpteen deliveries – Next sale, M&S sale, Toys’R'Us sale, etc and my dad having to go back to hospital due to some post-operation problems (which thankfully turned out to be ok). Mrs DDWT got a few bits and bobs for DDWT Junior’s birthday – whilst I built aeroplanes, buses, robots and such like out of lego (in between watching Tom & Jerry, Scooby Doo and Go Diego Go). I also somehow managed to find the time to repair a broken toilet seat, don’t ask.

Our movie watching ritual has continued into the new year, with us watching ‘The Sentinel‘ last night. Quite a decent movie really, but how corny is it that Michael Douglas should be having an affair with Kim Basinger eh?!?! Must have been something to do with his self-confessed addiction to sex – and here was me thinking that’s normal behaviour

It’s the turn of ‘The Da Vinci Code’ tonight …..