h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yesterday nammettime was the monthly bookclub and this month's book discussed was 'All the Birds in the Sky' by someone. Charlie Jane/Anne? Something like that. Which reminds me I better look up the next book. Apparently it is 'Belle' by Lesley Pearse. Will it be a tale as old as time? I'll reserve a copy and find out.

The dance show went very well – it lasted about 3 hours and my son danced twice. They have lots of different dance groups, if you belong to the weekend dance clubs you do more dances but my son is in a school dance club they organise, one of seven children who performed. As he is changing school in September this will probably be his last show. They've been raising money to open a whole dance studio in Eastleigh, which is due to open in the town centre this Spring: their website is https://www.bluebutterflydance.co.uk/

On the whole though the weekend was very quiet as my daughter was ill. So while my wife was rushing my son backwards and forwards everywhere to all the rehearsals and performances and trying to feed him inbetween all weekend, I spent the weekend indoors looking after her – though we did go out to see the show. That was the only time I ventured outside the house – I even had to miss parkrun

Good to know you got to see the Egret and didn’t have to head straight to the egress.

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Intriguing book choices indeed... Quite the variety from what I see of reviews. 'All the Birds in the Sky' seems to have divided opinion - did you like it or find it unsatisfying?

Glad the dance show went well - 3 hours is a long time, but that is good that your son got to dance twice. Interesting company offering a variety of activities. That will be better for them to have their own studio rather than having to borrow schools, but mention of 'dance studio' makes me think they had better watch out for gas... http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/dance-school-destroyed-new-ferry-14381460

That was good news that your son was well enough to perform, but that was sad that your daughter then caught the bug and you had to miss parkrun... Glad she made it out to see the show, but it sounds like it was better for her to stay in for the rest of the weekend. I hope both children are fully recovered now and you managed to avoid the bug!

"Good to know you got to see the Egret and didn’t have to head straight to the egress."

Yes indeed

I've had an epic week so far, as lunchtime was even more of an illusion yesterday but today is not too bad and I look forward to my little holiday

I enjoyed the book, but it did seem to have a good set-up and lots of promising ideas, but just when you thought it was going to pay-off, it didn't really. Other than the two central characters, who were strongly realised, no-one else seemed to have much of a personality. The two central characters were always being pulled apart but not for reasons that made any sense. Still it did have Laurence declaring his love for an unconscious Patricia with the words 'she's my rocket ship!'

If you get time to spend in Southampton, if you go to the Central Gallery they've got part of the Leonarda da Vinci exhibition there – it is one of the 12 galleries across the UK to hold part of the collection to commemorate the 500th anniversary of his death. Have you been to the Walker Gallery in Liverpool to see it?

The dance studio is going to be adjacent to the Swan Centre, so if it explodes then it would take half the shops in Eastleigh with it

I wasn't too bad but I did have a couple of days off a fortnight ago. Still, the kids' half term starts tomorrow and I have four days off next week too.

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Ah, yes your review matches ones I saw online (although the didn't get a mention! )

Yes, gas explosions aren't good, to put it mildly - the one on the Wirral took out half the shops in New Ferry

It was a shame that I didn't have more time in Southampton, so I didn't get to see the Leonardo exhibition but I did have an excellent weekend - I need to get myself motivated to write a couple of Entries about transport, because my Saturday excursion to Gosport was excellent, and I can add about 10 birds to my Year List once I sort my photos out from Sunday

Excellent to catch up with you again, too Thank you for allowing me to observe your skills - I'm in awe My camera's microphone is surprisingly impressive at avoiding ambient noises from what I heard on playback so I will see what I can do on the computer soon! Does your computer have a CD-ROM drive, or a DVD drive or a USB port?

I remembered that you do have a USB port and a CD-ROM drive so if it is easier than you trying to watch on Youtube I can put the video on disc for you to check

When I listened on my computer I found the camera had picked up rather a lot of ambient noise, but the was very clear so I could use software to 'clean' the soundtrack a bit The gull still gets a prominent cameo, though

I hope you all had a great half term week

I've not started the next yet (though I've got it from the library) as it doesn’t seem to be my kind of book at all. I may be pleasantly surprised, of course. I'm currently reading a biography of Bob Dylan. That's one topic where h2g2's entry is woefully inadequate.
Talking of birds, I saw geese on the way to work today. Don't know if they've been around last week, but definitely geese today as well as the usual swans, ducks and moorhens.
My computer does indeed have USB port and my PC has a CD/DVD drive (but no speaker or internet) while the laptop doesn't have a CD/DVD drive but has an inbuilt speaker, but doesn't like Youtube. If you are able to e-mail the whistling file I'll find a way to listen to it. And the gulls are an integral part of the performance! Can you make out both the bottom and highest notes?
We did indeed have a good half term, seeing 'The Lego Movie 2' on Tuesday, which was the first time we all cycled to the cinema as a family. On Wednesday we went to Milestones, and as it was within a year of our last visit so we could go for free! There they had another Lego trail – this time replicas of many of 's tallest buildings being attacked by monsters such as King Kong, giant s and s. And on Thursday we went to a country park along with other members of my wife's former 'Mums and Minis' club she was in when the kids were toddlers. They meet up at least once a year but this is the first time I went along as I don't normally have any holiday left by now! On Saturday I was looking after the children
I hope you had a good journey home and had a good week and weekend too. So are you still keeping well ahead of the bird spotting than this time last year? Were there many at Titchfield?

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Oh, and four Oscars for 'Bohemian Rhapsody' – Actor, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Film Editing. Well, you can't deny the film sounds great.

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Yes I don't envy you having to read that from what I read about it online... Good luck with it... I'd not read the Bob Dylan Entry before - says a lot in a few words! Answered all my questions, so I enjoyed it, but yes in terms of specific detail I can imagine the book biography is very different...

Ah, your computer situation is more complicated than I realised... However, I did some testing and was able to create a video small enough for an e-mail using my software, so hopefully you received it and can listen to it somewhen soon Yes, the camera captured the full range of notes - very impressive!

Glad you've got a variety of birds to see on your journey Yes I did rather well at Titchfield Haven, adding 12 to the list, as my in-laws understood what I was trying to do this time so we went to all the different hides to see what we could see We saw a Kingfisher flypast there, but I added Kingfisher to my list properly this weekend as one was very obliging and sat down for a while so I could photograph it I'm up to 52 birds seen and photographed already, so I'm 2/3 of the way to the target of 78

The journey home was pleasingly smooth, as everything went as expected, so that was good. It has been a busy week, though, as I was given a task that was expected to take a day, but it took me a day to do the first half, then a day to do half of the remainder, then a day to do half of the remainder... I'm *hoping* to finish it today at last, but I won't be surprised if I only manage to do half of the remainder...

I did have a good weekend - as well as seeing the Kingfisher I went to see the Sleeping Beauty ballet with my parents and it was an excellent production The only minor issue was that I had a good view of most of the stage, but couldn't see the key moment where the Prince Charming woke the Princess up, so I was a bit confused for a while The music in particular was superb - I do like Tchaikovsky's score

That was a great result for the 'Bohemian Rhapsody' film at the Oscars, for Rami Malek but especially the credit for the sound

Glad you had a good half term with plenty of activities. The Lego trail sounds great! How was 'The Lego Movie 2'? Was it quite similar to 'The Lego Movie' or more like the 'Lego Batman Movie'?

Ah, I felt the entry missed basic stuff such as when he started singing and of course it was before he became the first musician to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature…

I'm glad you had a good journey back, although your task at work sounds quite fractal, I hope it isn't as impossible to complete as it would be to to Zeno's tortoise... I'll enjoy listening and watching the later, somehow!

So where did you get to see 'Sleeping Beauty'? It really is a fantastic score.
I'd say 'The Lego Movie 2' was definitely more like 'The Lego Movie' than 'Lego Batman Movie' and well worth watching.

I must confess I was a tad naughty yesterday as I spent some money, although to be fair I hadn't bought anything since last Tuesday. For the last few months I've been collecting the DisneyToon Studios films and had all-but nine that I couldn't find anywhere, and then all of a sudden I found four of the missing ones in Cex, which I just had to buy – although I'd also that day bought a Bob Dylan album ('Blonde on Blonde' (1966) – the first ever rock double-album) from Oxfam.

Though it is great news about the Oscar and that by extension Queen have gained not only but also critical respectability out of the new film, it seems a real shame they've chucked the credibility out the window with a Flash bathroom cleaner advert… Still, more Queen + announcements such as documentaries, just as Peter Jackson's supposed to be working on a Beatles 'Let It Be' documentary, and the Richard Curtis/Danny Boyle film 'Yesterday' about a without the Beatles. Mind you, we're still waiting for the so-called 'Fifth Beatle' film, which last I heard had been changed to become a television series…

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I'm beginning to think the task might be as impossible as to Zeno's tortoise... I didn't finish it yesterday and there's still a day's worth of work to do! I did other stuff this morning, anyway, so hopefully I'll find a different approach this afternoon to sneak up on the tortoise...

Sleeping Beauty was on in Chester's new theatre - I'd not been in there before and was quite impressed. It was easy to get to my space and it was quite a good view (closer than in the Mayflower, so I could see the performers' faces better, but the Mayflower space was more central so I could see the whole stage).

Good to hear Lego Movie 2 is well worth watching - I'll look out for that

Oh wow, that was too good to resist 4 of the DVDs you were missing... A tad naughty, perhaps, but not a problem on average I hope.

Yes, the Flash bathroom cleaner adverts are a bit cringeworthy. Flash's Theme is used in an advert for something else, too, but with Freddie's vocals so it is a bit better (I don't know what the product is, though )

Interesting about all the announcements, but yes it remains to be seen what makes it into production - the film was worth the wait for Queen ± though as it has achieved the objective of introducing the music to a new generation

Sorry to hear you're still struggling to catch the tortoise – is this task secretly a in disguise?

This afternoon we've been bombarded by work that Timetabling have decided we should do – they seem to have told all the academics to e-mail us without having discussed anything with us first. Some warning would have been nice, but despite promising last year that they'd learn from the chaos and confusion they keep causing, once again they've decided to act unilaterally without warning or consultation.

I'm delighted that now I own previously missing films, but it does mean that I've gone over my budget for the month and have spent about £35:68 (after food) when my planned budget for the month was £28…

Oh, I meant to say that I think I cycled along the boardwalk next to the river at the same time your train was heading that way. Unless it was the train after your train… Hmmm… How long were you waiting at the station before the train left? If it was less than ten minutes it probably wouldn't have allowed me to cycle up the hill, along the road etc and to the riverfront to get to the boardwalk as the train was going that way.

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Yes, to mix metaphors: my boss thought the task was a but when I picked it up I did find that it was actually the tail of a I caught a tortoise by sneaking up on it, but when I showed it to my boss it was the wrong tortoise Yesterday was like Groundhog Day, going through the process of finding a tortoise, then realising it wasn't the right one and starting the process again from the beginning... I have sent another tortoise to my boss just now and it is time for a proper nammet as lunchtime was an illusion yesterday as well.

Sorry to hear your work is That is particularly annoying that the lessons from last year have not been learned Good luck with it all

Ah, that is tricky that even averaging out the cost of the films put you over budget for February I hope it balances out in March

Haha - that would be amusing if you did see my train while you were cycling! I remember we were not very early arriving at the station so I had to run to the platform - it might have been 10 minutes before the train set off but was probably more like 5 minutes... Amusingly I did find out that someone I know was on the same train as me earlier that day, as we both happened to mention our train being cancelled when we were going on holiday We were in different carriages, though, so didn't meet during the journey, and changed to different trains after the cancellation so we didn't meet each other in the station either!

Do you or your family like when you watch films (or at other times)?

I hope you all have a great weekend. I don't have any particular plans, yet, but will keep a lookout for birds as usual - I went through some photos yesterday and zooming in found a couple more species for this year's list, so I'm up to 54 now!

Ah, thanks to Timetabling we're still being bombarded with e-mails saying 'We need you to update a computer system you don't have access to NOW!', so the novelty's worn off. So today's been a spot of firefighting, keeping track of the real emergency stuff and watching the inbox overflow…

I hope your bird-spotting for the weekend goes well, even if not a specific plan. I saw a couple of moorhens really fighting beak and claws on the way in this morning.

I might be naughty tomorrow as we've got to go to Romsey over the weekend anyway, and a new parkrun is starting there tomorrow. I'd like to do an inaugural event as I've never done a parkrun inaugural before, but they do try to discourage that as they don't want to be inundated with too many runners.

I do like and the kids definitely do, but I've given it up. I've got weak teeth, you see, and there's always an unexpectedly hard kernel in the bag.

I managed to see the video – I was surprised that there were pictures too but loved the smileys. It doesn't prove what I said, which was that I can while , but shows I can at least whistle.

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Gah, I can imagine the novelty of those e-mails did wear off rather quickly... I hope things have calmed down a bit for you this morning. I didn't have the best start to the morning, as someone seems to have decided to unilaterally implement a clear desk policy so I lost some stuff but luckily I took a photo of my owl before it went http://www.flickr.com/photos/sashaq99/45106123845 My hasn't come back to me yet, but I expect it will this afternoon!

My weekend was a bit mixed, too - I planned to eat out on Saturday lunchtime but the place I went to had changed since last time I was there, so I ended up with a tiny sandwich instead of a proper meal... Luckily I found some good food to cook myself for an evening meal. Sunday lunch with my parents was up to standard so that made up for it, too. I didn't see any new bird species for my list but did get a lot of work done, as I helped my mum with her volunteering as well as doing quite a bit for h2g2 I hope your weekend went well

Wow - those fighting moorhens must have been a sight to behold indeed... They must be looking for territory ready for nesting... I hope you get to see plenty of later in the year!

Would there be many differences from an established event at an inaugural parkrun? More newbies, I guess, so I can imagine it would be busy...

Ah, of course, yes you don't need to take risks... For your children the next question is whether you have a microwave that cooks at 750-850... (as with VHS, I used to but don't any more as my new one is 950 so it burns the kernels rather than popping them...)

Glad you were able to see the video and liked what I did with your skills! Would you be agreeable for me to send it to ?

I'm currently listening to Weird Al Yankovich's interpretation of 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. It is even more quirky than Rolf Harris's.

Anyway, I've managed to white the number of e-mails down to 40. Just trying to decipher the ones where people are saying one thing but appear to mean something completely different

Sorry to hear you lost an owl – it looked very sweet too. Do you know how to make another? I have an origami owl too, but it is in my drawer now because of our clear desk policy. I didn't make it, though – a friend called Romana made it for me. Romana was named after Doctor Who character Romanadvoratrelundar.

Talking of things I didn't make, I didn't make Romsey's Mountbatten School inaugural parkrun either. So I can't say what they're like. The reputation is that recently they get bombarded with parkrun tourists wanting to do inaugural events, making it difficult for an inexperienced volunteer team to cope. Previous parkruns in Hampshire have been founded from Eastleigh where members of the Eastleigh team have volunteered to help the new parkrun team and provide experience and guidance to get them off the ground, but this one seems to be formed by a new team. A few people have said they doubt the parkrun will last long - Mountbatten School have already started making demands about their playing field, banning perambulators and dogs.

Was that volunteering in the shop? I'm afraid I've no idea about the exact specifications of our microwave – I know it was a cheap one…

And yes, fee; free to send the video into . I wonder when it will appear – the photos I sent in ages ago haven't appeared yet. I think the popularity of photos has dramatically increased the number of submissions, which is good

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I checked and it is a 700 Watt microwave, or to put it another way:

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(Don't you hate it when you get the 'too many smileys' error message)

I'm not sure I've heard those interpretations, but I confess to liking the Otomatone version Quirky it is

Romana is a good name! Nearly like Ramona. Yes, I did get a sheet of instructions when I made my owl, so I can make another one, but just need to find some googly eyes (and then I will keep it in my drawer to avoid the vagaries of the clear desk policy...)

Ah, that's interesting about how parkruns can either begin from scratch or be 'seeded' from existing ones Interesting that parkrun tourism is very popular, too. That is extra difficult if the venue regulations clash with parkrun regulations, though... The council marked out 'dog-free zones' on my local playing field, but dogs are still allowed in other areas and it keeps the football pitch and play area cleaner Not sure what banning perambulators would hope to achieve, though

I did some voluntary proofreading and advertising copy for my mum at the weekend, so that was fun I tested my microwave last night (it is 1000W not 750W so it is no wonder it was powerful) and found a lower setting for so that was much better Still leaves some unpopped kernels to be careful of, but didn't burn the fluffy bits

Yes is certainly doing well for submissions these days! Did you get an acknowledgement of all your photos? I sent three the other day and #2 disappeared in the ether but it arrived when I sent it again. I only just managed to get #1 in in time for March Create, though - the other images will appear later in the year! The video queue is probably shorter than the photo queue so we shall see

It looks like the first photo will be appearing next week (it is a picture you've already seen) and I had acknowledgements for the other two, so I'm sure they'll appear somewhen. There wasn't any rush or theme to them.

My friend Romana did get quite annoyed that people didn't get her name right often, calling her everything from Ramona and Rowena – everything except Romana.

I do indeed have a VHS player – it was my 21st birthday present - but I tend not to use it often as I have to unplug the SCART lead from the DVD player. I'm currently thinking what films I own have recurring characters I can compare and contrast - the 'Dr Jekyll films' and 'Robin Hood films' entries seem to be popular. I've identified a couple of interesting topics but have been trying to think what women's lives I have multiple films about. I've definitely got a few films about both Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria but I suspect there is limited variety in historical drama films about royalty. Or at least female monarchs – television series 'The Tudors' which was just about Henry VIII was quite racy.

Were you proofreading anything interesting?

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I can't say I have ever experienced the 'too many smileys' error message so I have learned something

Aha, 700W should do nicely I have put in a box with some other little bits for your children to try At the risk of 'enabling each other's addictions', it seems some of your problems are opportunities for me and some of my problems are opportunities for you, so (as a one off - we must do better next month ) I shall take the opportunity to put some of my problems in the box as well, for you to do with as you wish, although I think you might like them

Ah - that is good that the images arrived safely, and I look forward to seeing one again next week

Yes, 'comparing and contrasting' Entries are a good idea - something different from what is already out there The film about Queen Anne that is in cinemas at the moment is possibly quite racy, but I haven't seen much about it yet (on a related note I see 'they' changed Anne Lister's blue plaque recently to emphasise the L rather than making space for the T in the LGBT as before...). Good point that multiple films about a woman's life are not easy to think of... Even single films about a woman's life are not easy to think of... Looking at Robin Hood films from Maid Marian's perspective is unlikely to be fruitful, I presume, based on the Bechdel test...

I was proofreading the Annual Show Schedule, so that was quite interesting - the children's class drawing of a garden wasn't entered in the last few years, so it has been changed to growing cress Some other good classes in there, though, so I should find something to enter

Ah, and happy belated Shrove Tuesday – and indeed British Pie Week. Did you have pancakes yesterday? We did – I made some for the kids and then my wife and then when I was making myself one we ran out of gas, so mine was a little underdone, but it was the first year I've not burnt any.

You've not had the 'too many smileys' error message?!? You mean you've never tried pasting 700 '' smileys into a post to illustrate the concept of 700 Watts?

You've intrigued me about your describing putting problems in a box… Hmmm…

I've not seen 'The Favourite' but it sounds intriguing, with great reviews about Olivia Colman's performance but historians feeling that the story has been sexed up unnecessarily. I can't think of any other films about Queen Anne, though. Nice tie-in to Anne Lister, though – from an Anne to an Anne anon. I wonder what happened to that television series…?

As for looking at Robin Hood films from Maid Marian's perspective, you're right that it wouldn't be rewarding – you'd have to watch 'Marian and her Merry Men' instead. I imagine there are quite a few adaptations of classic novels about central female characters, like 'Emma' or 'Jane Eyre'. Which reminds me that my old housemate (on h2g2 as Roasted Amoeba) once tried collecting all Shakespeare film adaptations – I wonder how he's getting on? I'll have to ask next time I see him, which isn't often as he moved abroad…

Anyway, I sincerely hope they never, ever under any circumstances whatsoever make a film of the I am currently reading – 'Belle' by Lesley Pearse. It has to be the worst thing I've ever read, yet there are good reviews! So far the 15-year-old character of Belle witnessed a prostitute being murdered and was kidnapped by the murderer from London and taken to a brothel in Paris where she was brutally raped several times, then sold on to a brothel in New Orleans where she has happily declared 'I was born to be a whore'. I won't deny that the author has talent in her descriptions, but I hate the story.

Still, in happy news did I say that we're performing tomorrow for World Mental Health Day and will be singing 3 songs? Our last venue was the Mayflower Theatre, now we're performing in a Lecture Theatre!

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