Bond Begins?

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I have been discussing the future of Bond with my good buddy Sean and we were considering where they might go next.

My thoughts are that they should stick with the prequel theme. Now that Quantum has been concluded, we have seen Bond's origins. But what about Moneypenny? And Q? Plus, M was a man when the Bond stories started with Dr No. So maybe the next Daniel Craig prequel could feature the story of how the female M was replaced with a male M. Dramatic death scene for Dame Judi?

This is all good potential.

So Bond 23 (and 24 and 25) could tell the story of Bond hunting down the rest of Quantum. After detroying them, the remnants could reform as SPECTRE? Bond could also have a showdown with Mr White and leave him scarred & bald & therefore tell the origin of Blofeld! That would be an awesome twist.

I would also love to know the origins of Jaws and Scaramanga and Baron Samedi and Rosa Klebb and Auric Goldfinger. There could be cameos for all.

My vision is that Daniel Craig's last Bond film (which would be a sensible time to end the whole prequel series) could end with SPECTRE established, Dr No heading to an island near Jamaica and Daniel Craig speaking with a slight Scottish accent.

Next stop: 1962's Dr No and the circle is complete.

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Holidays Are Coming!

It's the 1st of December and I have seen the famous Coca-Cola Christmas lorry advert... this means that Christmas has officially arrived once again!

I seem to be more excited about Christmas than usual this year. I think this is because I have entered the mundane world of working 9-5 and therefore I need a little excitement. Shockingly, I have already bought a good chunk of Christmas presents and I dished out Christmas cards & candy canes to the office first thing this morning. I'm such a keeno.

Christmas highlights this year will include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. My London Santa Run with Sean & Mark (see below).
2. The German Christmas Market.
3. The Nottingham outdoor ice rink.
4. The Doctor Who Christmas special.
5. The Nottingham SU Christmas staff party.
6. Staying with the Clark's in Cornwall before Christmas.
7. The exciting, Radio-1-fuelled, driving home for Christmas magic on Christmas Eve.

And today we are decorating the office. I'm loving the festivities and it's only Day One!
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Up

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I have now discovered how to embed videos from YouTube into my blog.

This is exciting stuff, I'm sure you'll agree.

To celebrate, here is the awesome trailer for Pixar's new movie, Up. It looks incredible and will be the first Pixar film to be released in 3-D.

Enjoy.

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Santa Banter!

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Sean has recently convinced myself and Mark C Turnbull to join him in doing the London Santa Run on the 7th of December. This involves dressing like Santa Claus and joining 1,000 other people in running 5km across Greenwich Park.

I am hoping that this ridiculous festive gesture will help me rediscover a bit of that ol' Christmas magic.

We have all agreed to raise money for the Brooke Hospital for Animals (mainly because Sean works there). You can visit my fundraising page by clicking here.

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And you can learn more about the Brooke Hospital for Animals (healthy working animals for the world's poorest contries) by reading this article.

After running two half-marathons, I am hoping that this run will be easy-sailing. However, no doubt running in a Santa costume will provide its own challenges and introduce whole new levels of chaffing.

Excitingly, we are coinciding this Christmas dash with a Carnival reunion down in London so we will have lots of lovely people cheering us on. Although the plan to go out the night before could prove very detrimental to our performance.

Anyway, ten days till the Santathon!

Santa Claus is coming to town in a big way.

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Long Time, No Blog

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Shockingly, I have not blogged for a mammoth six weeks.

This is predominantly due to my workload exploding over October and November at the mighty Notts SU. Since I last blogged, we have elected the JCRs, trained them, bye-elected more JCRs and then trained them. I did a whopping 52 hours of overtime with two late-night ballot counts that lasted until midnight.

I am well dedicated to my JCRs.

Anyway, excuses aside, here is the exciting stuff that I should have been blogging about in no particular chronological order...

• I ran Birmingham half-marathon in 1:54:10. This is about three minutes slower than the Nottingham half-marathon but to be fair, I was stuck behind lots of fat people.
• I was coerced by Sean to sign-up for the London Santa Run --> www.justgiving.com/santabanter
• I have rediscovered my love for reality TV via X-Factor, Strictly Come Dancing and I'm A Celebrity...
• I attended an audition for The Weakest Link with nine others. This involved playing a mock-version of the game and having a camcorder interview.
• I was ill for three days and therefore did not see a single firework around November 5th.
• We have been having board game nights at Ellen's house. Highlights include Scrabble and Monopoly.
• I got well drunk on mulled wine last Friday with the girls, Marc and Steve. My mojo is returning.
• I have seen every Deal Or No Deal for the past three weeks.
• I bought Friends Scene-It and Laura Clark spilt orange juice over it. Grr.

Bulletpoints save the day yet again. I will blog more regularly henceforth... FACT.

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My Toilet Legacy

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Whilst helping my girlfriend move to Birmingham this weekend, I couldn't resist a trip back to the Guild to inspect the new Guild toilets.

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These toilets were the first phase of a three-year building redevelopment which I worked on during my year in office so I was more than a little bit excited about checking them out.

And whoop, they were awesome!

The musty, leaking, broken, graffitti-smeared and smelly toilets of old have now been replaced by chromatic heaven. Highlights include:

• flawless plasterboard.
• a lovely new blue colour.
• energy-efficient lights.
• dual-flushing toilets.
• separate urinals.
• more cubicle space so you don't have to edge around the toilet door when closing it.
• and most excitingly, a dyson airblade hand drier (see right).

And there are great new additions such as a staff shower, baby-changing facilities and the soon-to-be-finished toilets on the first-floor by Beorma Bar.

When you gotta go, you know where to go!

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Go Go Tokyo!

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Simon is going to Japan! Oh yes!

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I have wanted to go to Tokyo ever since I saw Lost in Translation in 2004 and next February I will be fulfilling this ambition when I fly to Japan to visit my mate Alex.

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My flights were finally booked last night and the trip is officially going ahead :)

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Despite my exciting and colourful life, I have never actually travelled outside of Europe. This will therefore be the furthest I have ever ventured and will also provide me with one hell of a culture shock.

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I am also excited about:

• temples.
• sushi.
• electronic superstores.
• a heck of a lot of comic book stores.
• drinking wine from a wooden box.
• dropping by the hotel from the aforementioned film.
• and maybe trying my hand at the infamous Japanese karaoke.

Konichiwa Japan!

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