Stargate Universe : Episode 39 “Blockade”

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We are down to the final two episodes of SGU. The Tenerans have been off the ship but some of Destiny’s crew wishes that they had stayed. Volker & Brody watches from the bridge as the ship enters a gas giant to replenish it’s reserves even if they seem to have quite a bit left. However as soon as they come out of the gas giant’s atmosphere they find bezerker drones & a control ship in front of them. It will take them exactly the same amount of time to get the FTL drive active as it does for the drones to reach them. The drones reach them and begin the attack, but Destiny is able to jump mere seconds later. Rush comes to the conclusion that the drones are predicting Destiny’s course and not actually tracking them and that the crew need to find alternative stars for recharging their batteries in order to avoid the drones.

David Telford is contacted using the long-range communication device and informed of the situation. He expresses disbelief that the drones could have blockaded every available star, but Eli points out that the drones only need to be at the next one, as they don’t have the power for any more attempts. They come up with a plan to divert Destiny to a blue super giant, something that the ship would never do on it’s own. Volker objects to the plan, as the extreme temperatures would kill the entire crew. Rush explains that the crew will be evacuated, while a small team in Ancient environmental suits pilots the ship. Telford wonders why they can’t just set the ship to autopilot, so Eli explains that someone must stay to prevent the ship from aborting the attempt. Rush & Eli are the ones who stay behind along with Lisa Park who Young permission to collect the last of the medicinal plants, citing her experience with the environment suits.

The rest of the crew goes through the gate to a nearby planet, very similar to a modern town on Earth. The planet, probably a branch off from the Novus colonists, looks safe and hence two groups head off to find supplies, while the majority stay in the building that houses the gate. The groups find paved roads but oddly no vehicles and stop at certain stores. Meanwhile, Morrison has found a newspaper clipping indicating that the civilization on the planet was attacked and as he creates too much of a fuss, James is force to knock him out cold. The two groups are attacked by drones and at first hide in the stores. As they make their way back to the gate, Varro is able to  take out a couple of drones with a rocket launcher.

On the ship Park gets trapped in the hydroponics bay and they are unable to open the doors to let her out. Rush feels that her best bet is to jump into a pool of water in the bay and the environment suit should also be able to protect her. Park takes refuge in the collection pool as the garden burns around her as the ship moves through the blue giant. She is saved but loses her eyesight in the way too bright light as the dome shatters. As Eli has the doors opened to retrieve her, she cries saying that she gone blind. As the rest of the crew returns to Destiny, Young, Greer, Scott, and Varro watch as an entire Control Ship descends upon the warehouse building on the planet, though not quickly enough to stop them. Destiny now has a full tank of energy but TJ has to go and check on a despondent Park.

What’s In A Name

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In India there are these first names that are androgynous; it could be for a guy or for a girl. Like Renju for example; alternatively spelled Rinju or Ranju. And I’ve known guys & girls with this name and different spellings. Recently, someone in Twitter had posted that he had attended a wedding where they guy and girl had the same first name :D Wouldn’t that be confusing? Would you Renju take Renju as you wife? And would you Renju take Renju as your husband?

Sikh Punjabis have this same situation quite a lot. The names Maninder, Gurmeet, Manpreet, Jaspreet, Harpreet are unisex and it’s funny because you might a beautiful, sexy & curvaceous woman with one of these names and then you meet a huge, muscle hound bearded bugger the next – with the same name. You quickly forget the image of the sexy lass and get scared out of your wits on seeing the huge dude. I wonder if a male Maninder and a female Manider do get married.

I don’t know if that happens a lot in the Western world. Andrea is a girl’s name in most English speaking nations but in countries like Greece it’s a  manly name. And yes Kelly is one – it sounds so feminine to me but there are guys with that name too! Riley, Reagan are the Of the common names that when shortened can be either sex, that I can think of, you could have a male Pat (Patrick) and a female Pat (Patricia) get together. Or Sam (Samuel & Samantha). Paul & Paula or Pauline are close enough to be similar sounding.

My name can be used for women as well although it is quite rare. Spelled Roshan, although Roshen & Roshin are alternatives, I suppose and I do know a couple of women with the same name as mine but they were much older. I known an Iranian gal named Roshanara which I think is a lovely name and a friend of mine had his baby niece with that name too. Personally I would love to find a woman named Roshan and we both fall in love with each other. And watch the confusion start! Also it would great during sex, as we climax we both yell the same name ~ ROSHAN!

King Choice Of Soft Drinks

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When I very young I used to drink Pepsi a lot. It was king of the sodas or soft drinks for me. Everywhere my folks took me I ordered Pepsi. The next favourite one was 7up, especially with a little lemon flavour. Pepsi also had a Lemon Pepsi, that had a cool awesome ad, which I loved a lot. That was when i lived in Kuwait.

Moved to India and for a while we didn’t get the major drinks at all. We had to wait for a while before Pepsi & Coke made their way over here in a big way and fought tooth and nail for the Indian market supremacy. We had a big Indian version of the Cola wars that made the rest of us look away ashamed. As the smoke cleared I settled on 7up as my favourite drink for a log while until I re-discovered Sprite with a vengeance. I would opt for Pepsi or Coke if there was nothing else to drink and especially if I was drinking rum, whiskey or brandy ~ they just taste better with them!

But usually if I didn’t Sprite, I’d take a 7up or Mountain Dew. Those were what I liked best and unlike some uninitiated folks, I can tell the differences between the 3 colourless soft drinks blindfolded! As if you couldn’t do it, it’s easy. Sprite has been my fav and anytime I get a choice Sprite will be the one that I pick up. Anyway I find them the most refreshing and they go perfectly with my vodka. Vodka + Sprite or Vodka + 7up go awesomely well (I’ve never tried Mountain Dew with an alcoholic drink) with some ice. It’s perfect.

Lunch At The Attic Steakhouse @ Marine Drive

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Today Anil, Madhu and I were supposed to meet up for a long lunch as Madhu is leaving for Qatar in a couple of days. We wanted to have a little farewell lunch for him and spend a few hours hanging out as it won’t be possible to do anymore until he comes back on vacation, which is whenever. And who knows what could happen in the meantime so I was really looking forward to the lunch today. Unfortunately, Madhu’s dad fell ill and had to be taken to the hospital and hence we couldn’t all meet up.  Now as this happened just 10 minutes before we were to leave for the meet up, Anil & I decided that we would still meet at Coffee Beanz and then head to lunch or get a couple of beers somewhere.

I left my apartment at around 1pm and went to Reliance Web World at Marine Drive to cancel my Netconnect+ connection which I had taken up last July. In hindsight it was a mistake to have taken up that connection but at the time it seemed like a good idea. Due to a mess up with their customer care call center, I still had the damn thing active even though I called in a request to cancel the damn thing. Anyways, I first went there to hand in a cancellation request after taking a copy of my id proof and a passport sized photo. Once that was done I met up with Anil for lemonades on this hot, sunny afternoon as we discussed where we would go for lunch. My cousin had brought up the suggestion of a place called the Attic and since I wanted to try it out, I convinced Anil to go there.

The Attic is a small steakhouse directly above the Ela restaurant and in fact both are owned by the same people. While the Ela is more of a family restaurant with traditional style dishes, the Attic is more hip & Western. We found the place to be quite and cozy but a bit dusty at the windows (we sat near the windows) even though the view looking out at the main roads below is worth it. Nice tables, chairs and tulip style glasses. We got our menus and after browsing through them, Anil settled for a chicken steak while I selected the fish & chips.

I must tell you that I found the food a bit too pricey but boy of boy were they delicious. Both Anil & I loved our food. His chicken steak came with sizzling gravy, veggies & a large mashed potato while my fish was succulent & delicious but a bit small. I had a cup of mayo and another of chopped up onions and I had French fries version of chips. Everything was delicious. At first as we took our first bites Anil & I stopped to dissect the dishes and offer opinions but soon we stopped talking and concentrated on munching the food down. He was quite happy with our decision as initially he wasn’t so sure of the place and had wanted to get a beer as well (The Attic doesn’t have a liquor license) and it took some convincing from my side for him to come here. He managed to say good choice in between bites.

That being said it would have been the perfect place for some chilled beer which would have gone down excellently with the food we had. That was a shame. Anyhow once we finished out food, not feeling bogged down with spices and stuff, we still ordered fruit salads with ice cream. Very nice meal and a bit costly for regular outings but we might go there once in a while for a change of pace and to have some good solid steaks. The pic above is Anil’s chicken steak and below is my fish & chips. Finger licking good.

Dear ICICI

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Dear ICICI Bank

During the days between the 22nd of December 2011 & 7th of January, I have withdrawn money from ATMs that are not owned / installed by you. I’ve taken the money out from ATMs of the State Bank of India and I think from a Federal Bank ATM as well. Each time I received an extra SMS from you which informed me that I had withdrawn money from a non-ICICI bank ATM and that ICICI has many ATMS in the city, state, nation blah blah blah!

Thank you for that information. Well I don’t have an ICICI right next to my apartment; I have an SBI ATM within 2 minutes of walking distance. But both times I withdrew cash from the SBI ATM was while I had left the office where I had been for interviews. There in the very next building was an SBI ATM and I needed cash urgently and I withdrew it. Same as yesterday; I was out shopping for some stuff and looking everywhere for an ATM and I found an SBI ATM near the cafe I was going to go to right after my purchases. Had they been all ICICI ATMs I would have gladly gone in but no they weren’t :(

Please try to setup a few more ATMs near me and the places I usually go to and I promise to never step into another bank’s ATM again. Honest. Call me or email me for my address and the place I usually go to.

Warm regards

Roshan

Cowboys & Aliens

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What you get when you replace the Red Indians or Native Americans as the villains in a cowboy western movie with aliens. And the villains are super strong, highly advanced, nasty as hell and totally out of this world. Cowboys & Aliens is a Jon Favreau directed movie starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Olivia Wilde. Based on a 2006 graphic novel of the same name created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, the plot revolves around a man who has amnesia after the effects of being captured by hostile aliens and has to help save the town with the help of a motley crew gang led by a rich cattleman & an alien traveler who has taken human form.

Produced by Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Kurtzman, Lindelof, Orci, and Rosenberg, with Steven Spielberg serving as executive producer the movie does a good job of creating that isolated frontier appeal that most western movies served for us but falls short of being a truly memorable outing.  The alien villains, although fascinating in their at first seemingly almost super strong physique and quick movements, are once again one-dimensional in their quest for all the gold on earth and seemingly without any emotion and almost robotic as is the case of most of the new alien-invasion movies of late. I’m not sure I like this trend; it leaves no room for character development amongst te villains and hence they are not memorable as are the movies.

Anyways, I do like the film and Favreau’s attempt to bring the novel to life on the big screen.

  • Daniel Craig plays Jake Lonergan, an outlaw who was captured by the aliens along with his lover and several others. He was the only one who escaped while being experimented on and lost his memory. Jake managed to get his hands on on a gauntlet, a powerful weapon that the aliens use but his lover, played by Abigail Spencer, is killed just before he escapes. He comes to the town and although initially hostile towards him he leads the men to fight the aliens and save their town and perhaps the Earth.
  • Harrison Ford plays Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde, a rich & influential cattleman. He has a moronic & useless son and runs his business with an iron hand. As his son is abducted by the aliens, he brings his posse along with Jake to find their hideout and free his son.
  • Olivia Wilde plays the mysterious alien who has taken up human form. She reveals herself to be an alien who traveled to Earth to help resist the invaders after they destroyed her homeworld and tells them that the aliens are after the gold which they covet. She knows how to destroy the alien’s motheship, which is mostly buried underground and will help the humans to fight them off. She is killed in the explosion she sets off to destroy the alien ship.
  • Adam Beach plays Nat Colorado a native American who is the right hand man of Dolaryde and treats him like a father. Dolarhyde is deeply affected when Nat is killed while fighting the aliens.
  • Sam Rockwell plays Doc who owns & runs the local bar. He joins the group as his wife is abducted by the aliens.

The movie also stars Keith Carradine, Clancy Brown & Ana de la Reguera as well as Raoul Trujillo as the chief of the Indian tribe. I thought most of the cast did bang up jobs in their respective roles but the movie still falls short overall. I’d give it a 7 outta 10!

If I Had Six Months To Kill

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Provided I had the money for some of these things, here’s what I would do:

  • Shave my head completely
  • travel to Nepal and live in a village
  • the head off to Singapore & Malaysia
  • go for a wine tasting tour in British Columbia, Canada
  • drink every beer I fancy from Canada, the US, Germany & the UK
  • watch a few football matches live at the stadiums
  • watch a few NHL live at the rinks
  • see all my fav rock bands
  • attend a few seminars & discussions on atheism
  • go to Spain, Austria & France
  • convince two hot babes to join me in a threesome

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Morning Spent Outside & Photos

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Nice day out in the town. Not for too long though, just a couple of hours. It was a hot morning but still I wanted to go out to go to a couple of places. First I went to buy medicines at a medical store two kilometers away from home. Once I got myself up to the front of the cue and paid for my meds I was thirsty as hell. I first went to look for an ATM nearby and then went to Cafe Coffee Day and set my bag down at one of the tables.

Then I ordered a Kappi Nirvana and a Chicken Tikka sandwich. Ah, it’s been a while since I had either. The sandwich is great as always, with really nicely toasted bread, very crunchy too. The sandwich was delicious and I washed it down with the cold coffee. I chilled out there for a while and then went to get my hair cut short.

Here’s the sandwich below.

Oh and I forgot to post this pic up. A few days ago, I think on the 30th of December, after I met up with Anil & Madhu I took an auto back to come home. The auto rickshaw had a small tv monitor fitted on which they show tv ads and fillers plus cartoon clips. I saw a bit of Tom & Jerry on my ride back home. :) I tried to snap a pic but all I got was this – THAT’S ALL FOLKS!

Blood Creek

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Blood Creek is a 2009 horror / occult action film from director Joel Schumacher starring Michael Fassbender, Dominic Purcell & Henry Cavill. This is another one of the films, like Devil’s Rock, that references the experiments in the occult that the Nazis pursued to help them in their quest for world dominance. I find this phenomenon very fascinating and though it has been a popular topic since 1959, I’ve only known about this for 5 or 6 years.

Anyways as the movie starts the Wollners, a German family living in rural West Virginia, are contacted by a Nazi German emissary and asked to host a Professor Richard Wirth. Needing the money and under the impression that Prof Wirth is a scholar in pursuit of educational ventures, the family accepts. However the professor is less interested in science and more involved with the occult. Years ago, the family found a Viking runestone on their property and built a stable on top of it and Wirth wants to use the powers & energies from it to do evil and aid the Fuhrer’s war efforts. At night he goes into the stable  and starts to channel the powers by reading off the inscriptions. The family interrupts him before he can complete the rituals and horrified by what he is doing, they trap him in the cellar and use blood markings to keep him from escaping.

This unfortunately also means that they need to capture and sacrifice people and use them as a source for blood. Due to the rune rituals the family doesn’t age and even in 2007 they are all the same age as they were back in 1936, stuck in a life without escape or an end. However one of their victims, Victor Marshall (Purcell), who was captured while he was fishing, escapes his binds and makes his way back to his town. After many weeks his younger brother Evan (Cavill) is shocked to find his brother back at their old cabin, smelling like shit and with a long beard & hair. Victor tells Evan to ask no questions and to load up their rifles, pack up their boat and return to fight the evil. As Evan does this, Victor takes a shower and shaved off his beard & hair.

The brothers go to the farm and confront the Wollners who finally tell Victor & Evan about Wirth and the dangerous powers he possess. Initially the brothers don’t believe them until a deformed Wirth gets out and starts his terror. As for powers, he’s got:

  • He can reanimate the dead (humans and animals) and make them attack people for him
  • He’s got killer nails to slash & kill you
  • He can transform and develop a 3rd eye of DOOM!

However to control him his flaws are:

  • He can’t enter a house with blood rune markings
  • He can’t fight you if your wearing the bones of his ancestors
  • He can’t drink his own blood, it will poison him

After a lot of fighting, killing & stuff the brother manage to poison Wirth with his own blood and decapitate him. As a result the Wollners are released from their curse & suffering and rapidly age and die. However before the girl dies she tells Evan that that 8 more such Nazi agents were sent to different farms in the state. Evan finds a map that was under the farm and discovers that others like Wirth are at other farms. While Victor returns home to his family, Evan heads out to the other farms to stop the Nazis.

Interesting and a change from usual occult led monster horror movies but in no ways a classic. I’d just give it a 7 outta 10!

RIP Amit Saigal

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The man who has done the most to promote rock music in India has passed away. Amit Saigal, founder and editor of music magazine the Rock Street Journal, drowned while swimming off a Goa beach on Thursday. Saigal was swimming with his friends near their anchored sail boat off Bogmalo beach, 35 km from Panaji in Goa. Saigal’s friends who were present there said that he was asthmatic and could have had an asthma attack when he was swimming, while the entourage had anchored the sail boat mid-sea. Lifeguards responded to wild gesticulation on the boat seen through binoculars and sent a couple of guards on a ski jet. Saigal was lifted to the boat by his friends and was lain on the side of the boat with no pulse.

Saigal was later taken to hospital where he was declared dead. The police have registered the case as an unnatural death and the autopsy is likely to be conducted soon.

Amit Saigal, founder and editor of the music magazine Rock Street Journal was responsible for popularising independent music scene in India to a great extent. He started Rock Street Journal in January 1993 in Allahabad with Shena Gamat Saigal after they realised the lack of support system for Indian rock musicians. Saigal had over 25 years of experience in the music business in India, and was closely involved in the club as well as the concert market in India, and had been an encouraging entity to many emerging rock bands and musicians. Some of the biggest contributions to the music scene include the festivals started by him which include Great Indian Rock Festival popularly known as GIR, Global Groove Festival & Convention, Pubrockfest, Jazz Utsav and Rocktoberfest and the latest inclusion being the India Music Week.

I had every issue of RSJ from that first almost rustic looking copy in 1993 till around 2006. I still have a few issues lying in my cupboards. RSJ was the single most lifeline for a lot of Indian rockers because it fueled our passion for the bands & music we loved at an affordable price. I could never afford Rolling Stone or Guitar Player at the age of 17 but RSJ was easy to buy and I subscribed to it for years. Thank you Amit for being a beacon of shining light in a once desolate desert of musical journalism. The rockers & musicians of India owe you a lot.

Amit Saigal (6 July 1965 – 5 January 2012) Rest in Peace.

RIP Koshy Thomas

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About 2 hours ago I found out about the death of a former colleague and friend Koshy Thomas. He passed away yesterday after a battle with cancer. He was just 42 and leaves behind his wife Ann and two young sons.

I met Koshy while I was working in Idea Cellular’s main office for Kerala in Mercy Estate, Ravipuram. I worked there from Jan 2004 to Jan 2006. It was probably around September of 2004 when I first met Koshy while being called to get some details on the issues of a major customer. Koshy came back up upstairs to where my station was and said thanks. Afterwards I got promoted and I got to spend more time with him. We found out that we had a couple of mutual friends. He like me was also a former resident of Kuwait and we went to the same school but during different years as he was 7 years older to me. We shared similar tastes in music He treated me like I was his younger brother and used to tease me about my weight. I remember spending a couple of hours with him during New Year’s eve 2005 drinking a few vodkas before we had to leave, laughing at his jokes. I’ll forever cherish that memory.

Other than being a respected, well loved & admire long time Manager in Idea, Koshy was also a musician. From his college days he was the lead vocalist for a popular local rock band called Wrenz and later stints with Atma. When his father passed away, Koshy took up a job as a customer care rep for Escotel (which later was taken over by Idea cellular) and grew within the organization. He also met his wife Ann, who is also my former colleague & friend, at the office and there a friendship & love blossomed. Although I lost touch with them around 2007 after I had moved out, they were still in my mind as being wonderful friends. A few months back I friended him on Facebook and came to know about his battle with cancer.

Recently his friends got together to record a video of their popular single My House which was originally released a few years ago. Koshy is there singing with his beautiful voice. He’s the first one who sings, with sunglasses & bandana. Rest In Peace brother! We will all miss you. Thank you for treating me like a brother, thanks for the laughs & the friendship.

Top 3 Things For 2012 First Quarter

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1. Get a new secure & better paying job. This is number one on my list for 2012 and it’s an urgent and immediately requirement. Due to various reasons I wish to leave my current organization and it’s a sad thing. I have only good things to say about them, despite the numerous mistakes that have been made. Still their hearts are in the right place and I was treated well there. I just wish that things get better for them. I’ve completed the final round of interview at a place that is quite near here and it’s perfect for me. We shall see; fingers crossed!

2. I really have to change my cell phone. My poor BlackBerry 8320 was dropped a few times during the last 6 months and it goes out of whack every couple of days. I’m finding it difficult to part with it but I really need an upgrade. I’m sticking with RIM – once a BlackBerry fan always a BlackBerry fan. I never fell for Apple iPhones nor Nokia or Samsung. None of the other phones have any appeal for me. I hope I can buy one in the next month or so.

3. Establish myself once again in this industry. It’s only been 10 months since I left but I’ve already forgotten a bunch of stuff and a few influential people as well. I wanna get back into the groove and become the kind of employee I know I can be and interact with a lot of people once again. In short, I wanna be a player. Not in that way silly, work wise! Ok, player in the other way too ;)

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Sens Update : Long Overdue

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This season I haven’t posted much about both my favourite teams – in football Arsenal FC & in hockey the Ottawa Senators. In the case of Arsenal it has been majorly only because of the fact that I don’t get the two major sports channels for India, Espn & Star Sports, because of the stupid, lazy ass cable company Asianet’s unwilling to pay for getting those channels. Hence I haven’t watched a single game either live or recorded because my incompetent cable tv provider prefers to just keep showing idiotic Indian channels that have rehashes of the same kind of serials that bore the heck out of most of us.

But in the case of the Senators I have still watched the highlights of every game they’ve played this season (just like the last 2 seasons) online on the NHL’s official Youtube channel. So no excuse there, even if I haven’t watched a single full match. I dunno why but I just missed posting on them as these past 6 months I’ve concentrated more on movie & tv series reviews. Anyway, time to catch up on them. After struggling with a lineup squad that was predicted by most critics & experts to finish last in the league. And to be fair Ottawa are in a time of rebuilding, having sold off most of their bigger name & higher salary players. Fans were told to expect 2 or 3 seasons of finishing towards the bottom of the league while younger players & lesser known players take the time to gel and shape up. And as the season started that’s where we were headed towards. 1 win in their first 6 games.

Then things picked up with a 5 wins in a row streak. Then they started losing again and then slowly started being more consistent. Now with 40 games played, the Senators find themselves in 6th place out in the East with 20 wins, 15 loses and 5 overtime loses and a total of 45 points! Jason Spezza has 14 goals & 26 assists, while captain Daniel Alfredsson has 12 goals & 16 assists. Milan Michalek has 19 goals while contributions have come in from Nick Foligno, Zack Smith & Colin Greening. The goalie situation is our weakest link still as both Alex Auld & Craig Anderson do not inspire the stuff of legends.

Will we win the Stanley Cup this year? No but we will reach the playoffs. We need to keep rebuilding and sign one or two high skill goal scorers, maybe a top defender and a solid no.1 goalie. Still it’s very interesting at this stage. GO SENS GO!

Staying Warm During Winter

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Well being from one of the hottest places on earth where there is no winter to speak off works :D Kerala has no winter at all. You get a little chill in the air (which someone from Bergen, Norway or Winnipeg, Canada would call a heat wave) during the mornings of late December and it feels refreshing. So having no winter at all is the best way to stay warm during the months of Nov-Feb. Ofcourse it’s not that I or my fellow citizens like it that way. We would love some cold but not too cold weather. Just enough to chase away the sun’s heat and the humidity during the worst times of the year.

On the really rainy & windy days which is the only cold kinda days we get, when it gets really chilly, the best way is to watch a movie while sipping lots of hot coffee. And covered up in a sheet or a blanket. That’s the only thing we really need.

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New Anthony Gomes Album, Bluesiest Yet

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Blues guitarist extraordinaire Anthony Gomes, who also fronts a trio called the New Soul Cowboys, will be back with a new solo album this year. Called Up 2 Zero (which is also the name of one his older songs) is being hailed as Gomes’ bluesiest offering to date. Highlights according to press releases include, “Back To The Start”, “Last Bluesman Gone”, “Love Sweet Love”, “Voodoo Moon”, “Whiskey Train”, “One Last Time”, “Room 414? and “Up 2 Zero”. The disc will also feature a new version of “Darkest Before The Dawn” (appearing in both French and English) as well as a bluesified version of “Bluebird” that has been re-titled “Fly Away”. The Album was produced by Anthony Gomes and mixed by Richard Dodd.

Give his music a listen to.

She’s Got A Bum Deal!

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How do you get jobs like this and is it a long time career? A woman in the UK who works as a “bed bouncer” a Premier Inn hotels had her bum insured for 4 million pounds! Wait, am I high?

Natalie Thomas is said to be so good at checking mattresses for comfort that she’s been given the job title Director of Bed Bouncing and uses her prized asset to check beds all over the UK fr the hotel chain. Her works is to ensure that the hotels don’t have beds which are too hard or too soft. She spends about 20 minutes per bed checking for lumps, bumps and rips. An uncomfortable mattress is removed straight away and replaced with a brand new luxury mattress. She wears soft pants so she can feel out all bumps & lumps and also uses regular moisturizing sessions to take care of her buttocks!

Her and her team of bed bouncers test on average 884 beds a week, around 177 each and every day. While she says she and her team have a lot of fun bouncing on beds, they take their work very seriously.

The Devil’s Rock

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The Devil’s Rock is the first New Zealand film that I have ever watched. This 2011 horror film directed by Paul Campion, written by Paul Finch, Paul Campion and Brett Ihaka and starring Craig Hall, Matthew Sunderland, Gina Varela and Karlos Drinkwater. Set during World War 2, it is a story inspired by the tales of Nazis experimenting with the occult to find ways of winning the war against the allied forces.

On the 5th of June, 1944 commandos are sent to the Channel Islands , to draw Hitler’s attention away from Normandy on the eve of D Day. Two New Zealand soldiers are sent to Forau Island and land on a beach which is covered with land-mines and traps. Leaving the beach the two soldiers, Captain Ben Grogan & Sergeant Joe Tane, head towards a German fortification and plant explosives when they are interrupted by a Nazi soldier screaming for help from a tunnel that leads into the fortified building. Grogan stabs the man dead and they are about to set the explosives when they hear a woman’s screams from inside the building. Grogans goes in alone at first and an impatient follows in the dark. Tane finds a room in which a decimate corpse lies in a room with a radio transmitter, some books and a desk with some chairs.

A Nazi follows Tane and kills him with a shot from his gun and Grogan is knocked unconscious and captured. The Nazi turns out to be Colonel Meyer who then tortures Grogan for information on his mission. The woman’s screams are still heard from a room one level above. Grogan manages to escape his binds and in the darkness of the tunnels he shoots and injures Meyer. As he heads up, he finds himself in a room filled with occult symbols and finds a woman in chains. Grogan is shocked to find that the woman is his wife Helena who was killed in a bomb explosion much earlier. Meyer comes in and shoots the woman in the head, apparently killing her and also shooting Grogan in the leg. Grogan attacks Meyer, who explains the woman is a demon, summoned up from a book of black magic found on the island. Meyer proves this by offering Helena the leg of a dead German. The woman comes back to life, changes form into a demon and eats the leg.

Meyer explains to a shocked Grogan that the creature is a shape shifting demon that can read the thoughts of man and take different forms at will. The Nazis had planned to use it as a weapon to win the war but ealised the demon poses a world threat, so they keep it confined. The demon cannot harm the wearer of a sacred text that contains a protective incantation against it and which Meyer had kept in a small pouch around his neck. However, Grogan had stolen the pouch and switched the papers without Meyer’s knowledge and now he has the protective incantation.  Meyer offers to give the book to Grogan if he will help Meyer escape from Germany. Meyer then persuades Grogan to help him perform a ritual to dispel the demon back to Hell, but Meyer betrays Grogan at the end of the ritual. The demon, who in the form of Helena had been playing its tricks in front of Grogan, reveals that she took his wife’s form as she knew she couldn’t physically hurt him. It then devours Meyer but cannot harm Grogan because he stole the protective incantation against the demon from Meyer. Unable to complete the ritual, Grogan takes the book and leaves the demon behind, to prey on any Germans that come to investigate. One does fall prey during the closing credits.

Quite a change from the usual horror movies and I did like the plot. It’s a bit scary but overall the small budget does show up in the demon’s makeup, which is not scary at the least. Still I really liked this well acted movie and found the actress Gina Varella, tantalizingly & deliciously sexy & beautiful. Growwlll! 7 outta 10!