American Football on TVu

The Lady of the Villa is a sports fan of sorts. She has a season ticket with me at Liverpool FC (even though we live in Spain) and will watch some sports on TV.

I, on the other hand, will watch almost anything (not horse racing, no WWW (which is not a sport but Theatre) and no Sumo). So apart from that anything.

Being in Spain and not able to get Sky, I have been missing some of my favourite sports including American Football. Now the Lady of the Villa hates American Football but now I have found an Internet TV site, TVu, which not only shows American Football but a lot of other sports, world news and movies.

A Sunday night has me glued to our large computer screen with head phones on while she watches the TV.

Peace in our time!

Spain 'orgasm' video criticised by politicians

I saw this advert on one of the Spanish TV channels. However so did some of Spain’s ‘finest’. Here is their view…..

Spanish politicians have criticised a video by the Young Socialists in Catalonia in which a woman simulates an orgasm while casting her vote. Both Socialist and opposition politicians have attacked the campaign video.

In the video the young woman gets increasingly excited as she votes for the Socialist Party in this month's regional elections in Catalonia. It concludes with the phrase, "Voting is a pleasure", after she puts her voting slip in the ballot box.

I thought it was funny!

The Stig

Now that the hoot and the holler about the unmasking of the StIg, I thought that I would put my two pennies worth in.
The presenters, The producer and even the BBC have made a lot of money from Top Gear and the ‘invention’ of the Stig. So why can’t the man who plays the Stig get his ‘pay day’?
The acrimony surrounding the naming of the Stig has done nobody any favours and the vitriol from Jeremy Clarkson in any column he wrote was totally unwarranted.
Get another Stig and get over it. all of you!

Blockbuster to slash debt by $900 million via bankruptcy

Do you remember in you a long time ago your area having a local video store? In the village I lived in we had two a Betamax and a VHS. Both were run ‘part time’, one was in an off licence the other in an ‘open all hours’ store.

Not a fantastic collection but run on a honesty type of operation, if you return a day late it was no bother. As the growth of ownership in video players grew so did their business.

However in the background big brother or Blockbuster came along and shut them down by either buying them up or getting the video makers to only sell to them. The operation was rigid with fines for late return, snooty staff and overpriced popcorn and sweets. Well now its their turn!

Video/DVD rental chain Blockbuster Inc filed for bankruptcy as part of a pre-arranged deal with bondholders that would slash the company's debt by about $900 million. The company's senior debt holders have agreed to support the plan and provide $125 million in "debtor-in-possession" (DIP) financing to help support Blockbuster's operations while it is under bankruptcy.

Internet downloads no doubt taking business away. Lol. What comes around goes around.

Come Dine with Me

I don’t know if you have seen this program it is on Channel 4 in the UK.
The concept is that they get 4 people, strangers, from the same town and they each have hold a dinner party for the others (some eating if its in the same week!). The others then give marks out of 10. The winner takes home £1,000.
The dinners are hilarious and the channel 4 website has all the recipes. However, they some times have a vegetarian in the group. So the other meat eaters have to produce two menus. One meat one veggie.But when the veggie cooks they just do one, a vegetarian.
Surely that’s not fair! They should be made to cook a meat/fish meal. That will teach them. LOL

The most annoying thing is the sneering narration. Not nice and not needed.

What a tattoo!

A while ago I blogged about  the right to be naked in any public place in Spain is a part of the human rights of every person in Spain. This includes: publicly owned beaches, rivers, forests, lakes, even streets and town squares
Well as you can see from the picture above (taken in Barcelona) some people take it literaly. And Yes he is naked!

The end of The Bill

Police drama The Bill is to be by ITV and I am not at all surprised. I did watch The Bill for many years and found it interesting and entertaining. However, when it turned itself into a soap opera it definitely lost its interest for me.
However, the number of ‘stars’ that made guest appearances over the years is very long:
· Paul O'Grady, who played drag queen Roxanne in several episodes between 1988 and 1990.
· David Tennant, recently retired as the most popular Doctor Who. He appeared, in a single episode of The Bill in 1995.
· Robert Carlyle, celebrated for his performances in Trainspotting and The Full Monty, guest-starred in a 1991 episode.
· Former EastEnder and one-time chart star Martine McCutcheon also had an early taste of TV when she joined the world of police drama in 1991.
· Former Spice Girl Emma Bunton turned up in 1993, aged 17, playing a troubled teenager.
· One-hit-wonder Chesney Hawkes also had a Sun Hill role
· In 1984, Lord of the Rings and Sharpe star Sean Bean appeared in a single episode of The Bill.
· Michelle Collins, also appeared just the once
· In 1995 Pirates of the Caribbean star Keira Knightley got a break on the show. She played 10-year-old Sheena Rose in 1995.
· Knightley's Atonement movie co-star James McAvoy, also had one of his first TV appearances on The Bill two years later.
· Russell Brand appeared in the show, aged 18, in 1994.
· David Walliams landed a role in 2002, a year before Little Britain appeared on our screens.
· Roger Daltrey of The Who also appeared
The writing was on the wall when they changed The Bill from its successful drama series to a twice a week, half-hourly soap format. Old school Sun Hill veterans like Reg, June and Tony were replaced by babes and hunks. Burnside and Tosh Lines's days were over and so was the Bill’s.

The Prisoner

“Where am I?”
“In the Village”
“What do you want?”
“Information”
“You won’t get it.”
“By hook or by crook, we will.”
“Who are you?”
“Number Two.
“Who is Number One?”
“You are Number Six.”
“I am not a number. I am a free man!”
This if I remember right is the start of The Prisoner. I really enjoyed this series way back in the sixties and waited for the ending – what was it all about? Who was Number One? Would Danger Man reappear?
I read years later that Lew Grade (Head of ITV at the time) that he had in mind a series stretching to 30 episodes or more. “I simply sat down and waited for the ending, like everyone else,” he said. “I knew there would be an ending because Pat told me there would. Then one day, near the 17th episode, Pat came to me and said: ‘I cannot find an ending. I’ve become too confused with the project.”
Having no ending turned out to be the best ending of all. The enigmatic ambiguity of that series-closing episode sowed the seeds of four decades’ worth of fevered speculation about why Number Six was in the Village, who Number One might be and what the hell the show was all about.
So I hoped that the new of The Prisoner would finally solve the riddle.
Actually, it takes quite a while to realise that this is a remake of The Prisoner. The Italianate village in Portmeirion has been replaced by Namibian sand dunes and swaying palm trees, robbing the drama of its claustrophobic menace. It’s more like the landscape of Lost episode that my daughter watches.
I also missed the iconic black blazers, piped in white, that helped to make the colony’s surreal holiday camp mood and the canopied golf buggies have been swapped for 1950s-style taxis. The natives eat in American diners not in an English afternoon tea café.
The original Prisoner revolved around Number Six, (Danger Man) who, after resigning from some Secret government department is transported and kept a prisoner in a replica of his London flat, now mysteriously transplanted within the Village. But the central person in this remake seems to be Ian McKellen’s Number Two.
After so much anticipation I did not enjoy it and cannot see an ending that will satisfy the original “Prisoner”.

Apollo 13 – Forty Years On

Apollo 13 is one of our favourite films and the whole mission was called "a successful failure".
Hard to believe it was 40 years ago.We will watch the film again I think, tonight.

Apollo 13 is a film based on Lost Moon, Jim Lovell's book about the event, was released in 1995. It was directed by Ron Howard and starred Tom Hanks as Jim Lovell. Lovell  and other principals have stated that this film depicted the events of the mission with reasonable accuracy, though some dramatic license was taken. Technical inaccuracies have also been noted. The film is among several to misquote the famous statement, "Houston, we've had a problem". However, the filmmakers purposely changed the line because the original quote made it seem that the problem had already passed. The film was a critical and box office success, and was nominated for several Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.

The film engendered new interest in the history of the Apollo program and American space flight in general.

Dr Who

Maybe it’s me, it probably is, but with a new series starting with a new Doctor over Easter, I still like the older series of The Doctor. It is not so much as missing the old flimsy scenery or the ‘best we can do effects’ its the story lines.
I enjoyed all the battles with the daleks (what an invention!), the cybermen etc. more science fiction than the science fantasy it has become. I will still be watching it after all these years. Lol.
The doctors in order:

William Hartnell 1965 – 1966

Patrick Troughton 1966 –1969









                                                                                                                       Jon Pertwee 1970 - 1974

Tom Baker 1974 – 1981

Peter Davidson 1981 – 1984

Colin Baker 1984 – 1986










Sylvester McCoy  18987 -1989

                                                                        Paul McGann 1996

Christopher Eccleston 2005

David Tennant 2005 – 2010





And the latest Matt Smith

DVD's

During our non TV period that lasted about 18 months our passion for reading took over to fill in our time in the evening. However we also took to watching DVD’s and especially and series that we liked or had not watched. We soon found that we were watching a couple of episodes a night! My thoughts on:

West Wing: My all time favorite. A very watchable series full of political, personal and national (to the USA) stories. Well written, acted and filmed. I was sorry to see it end.

The Sopranos: The real Mafia, I don’t know. Totally different from The Godfather series but gripping none the less. A family story in more ways than one. Violent, yes, funny, yes, real? I don’t know but believable right to the end!

Band of Brothers: A war story of a company of soldiers from training in the USA to the D-Day landing through to the fall of Germany. It gave an American view of the World War II in Europe, warts, hero’s and all.

Kung Fu: Yes the one with David Carradine as “grasshopper”. Looked like the 1970’s series it was, but, enjoyable nostalgia. The stories when viewed one after the other were so similar.

Damages: Only one series viewed but still enjoyable. More a woman’s series I felt but strong writing and acting. The Lady of the Villa loved it by the way.

Benidorm: Comedy series based in a hotel in Benidorm with the characters depicting, singles, married couples, families and the staff. I found this very funny and not a parody of the English in Spain. Seen some of the visual ‘gags’ live!

The Wire: Read about this series so I bought it and was very disappointed. However, discussing it with others that had watched it, I should have put the sub titles on as the accents are so difficult to understand. Will try again with sub titles on.

Mad Men: Bought for me by my eldest daughter, thanks Z! Loved it for its 1960 feel, still can’t get used to everybody smoking! It’s about Advertising Company in Madison Avenue. Have seen two series but can’t get the third on TV (can’t get the channel). Looking forward to it coming out on DVD.

Sharpe: Good but not as good as the books. Loses out on the “battle” scenes (100 men do not constitute an army!). Overcompensates with love interest and does not get the feeling of a Napoleonic War.

When the boat comes in. Not the Lady of the Villas favorite but I enjoyed it. Geordies after the First World War and the depression. Class warfare at its best. Great story lines and wonderful acting. Pity about the ending.

TV in Spain (2)

Most British terrestrial television has become free to view. This means NO subscription for a lot of channels: All ITV channels, ITV1, 2, 3, 4 & All BBC channels, BBC1, 2, 3 & 4 as well as a number of miscellaneous channels.

To receive these channels it is not necessary to have a Sky digital receiver, nor a card, nor pay any subscription. This is a real case of “free TV”. So far, the only way to get British Terrestrial Television in Spain is from Astra 2 and for this you will need to get a professional to install a large satellite dish at accost of 800+ euros.

However, just recently a new British based company has started up in Spain to supply Internet, telephone and the some free UK TV channels in one package. This company Asuretel is based (with its satellite dishes) within a mile from our villa.

I have been unhappy with both the service and the cost from my current Internet and telephone supplier and was actively looking around for another provider. This combined with the purchase of a new plasma TV to replace the old one that had died was too good an opportunity to miss out on.

The other good things about this service are that’s its cheaper than the current supplier and we get TV and a bigger broadband and we get a UK number so that calls to us are local to the UK. Our calls are also local and cost 3 cents a minute. The local UK (Liverpool) number will also help the Lady of the Villa in her latest entrepreneurial adventure!

NFL Fix

After missing all of the NFL games on TV last season and this season, I can, thanks to the BBC have an American Football fix. The BBC is a terrestrial partner of the NFL in the UK, and will show live coverage of Super Bowl XLIV from Miami, Florida tomorrow. The Lady of the Villa is not pleased! She hates American Football.
I will be supporting New Orleans.

TV in Spain - 1

When we first arrived in Spain we obtained TV channels through a company called Telemicro. They transmitted using microwave and we had a receiver fitted and we got all BBC, all ITV and by paying 125 Euros a year most Sky channels including Sky Sports. Sorted. Well we thought sorted!

Just after our renewal for the second year they were taken off the air. Telemicro ceased trading following raids by the police. New Spanish legislation prevented re-broadcasting of TV channels hence the shut down. The microwave antennas along the coast and re-broadcasting systems have been removed. The system was useless. I must stress here that this was not just a Telemicro problem it applied to ALL companies re-transmitting English programmes. .

On further investigation by the Guardia Civil the company was accused of claiming they only had 17000 clients instead of 60,000 they actually had and not declaring their profits to the tax man. Fourteen people have been arrested. The court case is expected next year.

This scared all the other re-broadcasting companies who soon got their act together and for a time SKY disappeared altogether. Now they charge a lot more but use feeds (in English) from the Middle East.

In the meantime a booming industry in satellite dishes started. The dishes had to be 1.9 meters in size as the signal was weak and legitimately you could only get all the freesat channels as it is illegal for Sky to provide the Sky boxes and cards in Spain. However, just like any other ‘black market’ it is possible to get a sky box and card, just don’t ask too many questions and be prepared to lose the channels at no notice.

Two problems for me here. One the Lady of the Villa would not have such a large dish in her garden. And two our main TV, an original 8 year old plasma TV packed in. Although I had another TV I could use it was the lack of space for a dish that was my major issue.

So for the last 18 months we have been without a TV. To be honest I have not missed it much. Any sport I wanted to watch could be found in the bars in the area. My buying of books increased and we watched DVD series (West Wing, The Soprano’s, Benidorm, and Mad Men) instead.

Just before Christmas our plasma TV packed in. We had had it for about 8 years, so we had to use our back up. An old (12 years) tube one, it was situated in the lower part of the house and much to heavy to move to the middle lounge.