Did Santa bring you anything nice?

We agreed I would treat myself to a 555PS for my CDS3. It arriveed 2 days before Xmas. Very nice. Oh, and 3 pairs of nice Crockett & Jones shoes. Very nice. Very Top Monkey.

Don't know yet! We are doing pressies when my two boys get back from visiting their mum. Sitting down to eat at about 5.

Not to be unduly sentimental. the best gift of all is having Rachel here with a clean billof health and my two sons happy and healthy and here with us. All the rest is just icing on the cake. (Though I am hoping for the Bourne Ultimatum on DVD - ho hoho!)

Crockett & Jones shoes - nice - I lived in those for 30 odd years then progressed/regressed to fitted trainers.

A very sparkly silver thong (XL, of course!).

Mark

Blimey Mark. That's an image that beggars belief! Expect you to model it when you next visit! Rachel will insist!

quote:

Originally posted by Chris Kelly:
Expect you to model it when you next visit! Rachel will insist!

Not a good idea, Chris. You'll lose her!

Mark

P.S. I'm hoping it was no more than Karen's way of cheering me up while I'm away from home for Christmas! PLEASE...............!

Santa managed to get an XPS2 into his sack for me!!
And I only had to drop (very unsubtle) hints for the last 6 months or so.
Many thanks to Rob & Andy for helping the missus out with the purchase, I'm fairly sure its you who would have been involved with the purchase.
Very nice.
Matt.

quote:

Originally posted by Chris Kelly:
Not to be unduly sentimental. the best gift of all is having Rachel here with a clean billof health and my two sons happy and healthy and here with us.

No substitute for that Chris, clearly the best present you could ever get.

Merry Christmas.

Mark

My best present? Apart from the DV17D3 it was a 'luxury' hamper put together in a basket by my daughter and consisting of:

A Pot Noodle (Bombay Bad Boy flavour)
Some Shiphams bloater paste
Other assorted fish paste
A packet of Smash
A tin of Lancaster chopped pork and ham
An individual tinned microwaveable(?!!) steak and kidney pudding
A tin of pilchards

I'm gonna feast tonight!

Mark

They could have put a Wagon Wheel in for your pudding

Or some blancmange!

Topped with

Hunter wellies...

Barbour jacket...

Ekornes stressless, a nice suprise and upragde for listening.

They say it's a sure sign of middle age when a man has a favorite chair. But when I put on some music, lean back in my Stressless (black), and that lumbar support pops out to coddle my back, I know I'm in the right place.

Enjoy!

Goodness that chair looks nice!! Well, for me the most fun was watching Rhiannon our nearly three year old open her pressies - she has already made a pigs ear of her 'Girls World' head thing.

As for me, well I'm really chuffed that the Space 1999 Series 1 remastered boxed set made it in to my stocking. What's incredible is the vibrancy of the picture and the way the sets and special effects hold up today as some of the best I have ever seen. It was of course made before CGI (1973) when it was all done with incredibly detailed models and looks all thre better for it in my view.

Main pressie was a Panasonic TZ3 digital compact for me to cart around when flying - I really like it ergonomically and in terms of build quality - what is amazing though is the huge size of the LCD and the incredible lens!

Merry Christmas to all of you,

Jonathan

quote:

As for me, well I'm really chuffed that the Space 1999 Series 1 remastered boxed set made it in to my stocking. What's incredible is the vibrancy of the picture and the way the sets and special effects hold up today as some of the best I have ever seen. It was of course made before CGI (1973) when it was all done with incredibly detailed models and looks all the better for it in my view.

Can you not see the strings? I bet the acting ain't any better is it?
I must admit it was a must see at the time. I have not seen any recently but after seeing The Professionals ,The Sweeny and even my beloved Avengers recently I'm not sure I want to see any more of what passed as acting back in the day.

Enjoy the camera and the purple haired ladies.

H

Big H,

That's 'UFO' the other Gerry Andersen series you're thinking of with the purple wigs and some fairly ropey special effects! I have collected that recently too but Space 1999 is just amazing and there are no strings at all on display - they've also remastered in 5.1 which will be interesting.

Only hope networkdvd.co.uk do Series 2 now as well.

It's interesting that you have been struggling to get into your old favourites, for me the reverse has been true. I have tried the modern sci-fi stuff - Sunshine, Firefly, Battlestar and it's just utter garbage compared to the magnificence that is UFO, Space 1999, Blakes 7.

The difference with 1999 in that group is that the SFX are better than anything made today (probably because they were done by the same guy who did 2001 a Space Odyssey.

Jonathan

Refresh my memory please Jonathon with a synopsis.As I seem to have both series melded into 1.
Howard

OK munch I'll do a search

Big H,

Munch is correct Space 1999 is indeed being shown at present on Saturdays I think -will need to check.

The basic premise behind Space 1999 is a bit ropey (the moon is blown out of earth orbit due to an enormous nuclear explosion due to man's stupid dumping of nuclear waste on the moon). As a result the moon careers through space with the 300 or so inhabits of its moonbase constantly searching for a planet to colonise. The series starred Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, Catherine Schell etc and a huge variety of quality actors playing aliens in guest roles such as Joan Collins, Christopher Lee, Roy Dotrice. Sets and special effects were to a very high standard - some of the best I have ever seen even by modern standards (it was made between 1973 and 1975. Plots in the first series addressed a range of serious themes such as faith, trust, class, God, man v machine etc and the fundamental quest of the human spirit to better itself.

The second series was also very enjoyable but had a more light hearted tone and resorted to alien monsters running amock a little more (though it starred the gorgous Catherine Schell so I can forgive it a lot!!

The basic premise behind UFO was that earth was being targeted by alien spacecraft seemingly for biological engineering projects and as a result a global organisation (SHADO) is formed in secret equipped with the latest in technology to repel the intruders. The public are never informed that SHADO exists and its operations are covert wherever possible. As a front the command HQ for SHADO is located below a real life film studio. SHADO has amongst its armament a range of moon based interceptor fighters, a submarine launched interceptor and a space based tracking system in earth orbit co-ordinating information. Sets, acting and costumes are first rate, the colour of the reissued DVD's is of reference quality (it was made in the late 1960's-1970) so vibrant colours (purple wigs for some ladies!) and decor are de-rigeur. The space special effects are however pretty naff and have dated. Despite this it remains very enjoyable if you enjoy decent plots and superb acting and characterisation - Ed Bishop, Michael Billington etc are role models in superb management style and effortless cool!

There's plenty more information at: http://ufoseries.com/ and http://www.space1999.net/~catacombs/

Both were produced by Gerry Anderson, both are well worth seeking out if you like high quality sci-fi.

Hope this helps,

Jonathan

Thanks Jonathon I remember UFO and now you've mention the plot I remember SPACE 1999. Didn't Catherine Schell have feathers for eyebrows?
I'll set the Sky+ box.

Big H,

Catherine did indeed have some pretty bizarre make up and hair but despite that was about the first woman I recall being attracted to at the tender age of about 8 I think!!

quote:

Originally posted by Jonathan Gorse:
Big H,

Catherine did indeed have some pretty bizarre make up and hair but despite that was about the first woman I recall being attracted to at the tender age of about 8 I think!!

Yeah I was attracted to her as well. Frequently had to tell her to get out of my dreams.

In addition to the intangible blessings I mentioned before, one of my boys gave Rachel and I a rally driving experience, which should be great fun. And by serendipity, his mother gave him the very same thing, so the three of us can go off together! And I did get the "Bourne Ultimatum" dvd too, so my cup runneth over!