The Apprentice - The Final Judgment

If you missed this gem then I strongly urge you to watch it online, or wherever you can get hold of a copy.

The battle commenced at 9pm and what a battle it was!

Superb telly was provided by Paul and Syeed scrapping away trying to compete with each other selling tickets to the same group of people. They were on the same team and supposedly working together but the mighty egos bumped up against each other to magnificent effect for those of us watching and unfortunately nearly resulted in disaster for team leader Michelle.

I loved the meeting Michelle called on the street that effectively put Syeed in his place. His comment that he was "this close to getting very nasty" was only superceded by Paul earlier calling Syeed a (how shall I put it) "male chicken" under his breath. Funny, funny, funny - oh ok, it helped to have seen it. Eventually Michelle regrouped, the team pulled together, tickets were sold and the evening went off very well indeed.

Ruth's team by contrast were all chaps together. They worked well and each member of the team pulled their weight. There was a bit of a hiccup with regard to what the theme of the night would be, even Sir Alan put a call into Ruth to voice his opinion. However, they pulled off the murder mystery night complete with can can dancers and costumes. It all looked like great fun and moneywise pulled in almost twice the amount of the other team.

Money didn't talk for Sir Alan, however, when it came down to the final choice. In the end he went for Michelle.

It was a bit of a shocker in some ways but in others not really. I think he saw her as someone who would be an Apprentice in the truer sense of the word. Someone who needed to be moulded and polished. Whereas Ruth seemed to be pretty set in her ways (albeit a very effective manager).

So Michelle it is. Well done girl I wish you all the best!

As for Ruth (my favourite) she'll be more than ok.

Peace Ya'll

:)x

Woolwich Mortgage

Guaranteed to make me giggle at the moment is the new ad for Woolwich Mortgages.

It's shows a couple going through passport control on their way back from honeymoon in Jamaica. Why would that make me laugh? I hear you scream. Well watch this...

Woolwich Investments - Touch me!

It took me weeks to figure out what they were advertising because I was so amused everytime this ad played.

Oh oh, here comes the giggles again..... touch me

Peace Ya'll

:)x

Face Cream

Now, to state the obvious, everyone has to advertise their wares. It's a very necessary part of business but when they get on the telly and start telling me what I can afford it's a sure way to put me off the ad, the company and the product.

The one that gets on my wick the most for this is the one for a certain face cream with a certain Celebrity Beauty Editor.

There she is living and working the world of celeb, full of people well known these days more for scandals than for any talent or ability. All the public hears about is lavish lifestyles, spent shopping, partying, swearing at paparazzi and giving their kids daft names. They attend every premier, launch, concert, and award ceremony to not only mop up the free food, drink and publicity but goodie bags stuffed with all sorts of exclusive jewelly, clothes, shoes, gadgets, and modes of transport. This is in addition to the astronomical fees for films, commercials, PAs and opening the local Co-op.

So this is where I'm coming from. I'm being told this about celebs all the time. "The must have for this season is this blue bag made out of tissue paper that you may be able to fit the ring from your left hand little finger (and remember the ring must be made of green salami with purple mushrooms). It's a steal at only 500 squid."

Mmmmm yes, that's why you miss editor would think nothing of buying a face cream for £20. Well Honey! That may not be a celebrity price tag to you but to me (pauper that I am) that's a hell of a lot of money for something that's probably only gonna last me a few weeks. For that kind of mula I'd expect the jar to have the very finest diamonique stones embedded in the lettering.

I think I'll stick with me £3 bottle of stuff that keeps me skin the beautiful, soft and shine free!

Ok Rant over!

Peace Ya'll

:)x

The Apprentice - Aproaching the Last Hurdle

I told ya! What did I say?!! The Badger lives on!

Ok, ok so I was wrong about Paul but to be honest after the hearing the quote of the series (".... the Colosseum where they filmed Gladiator and stuff") from him, I should have know better anyways.

What was he thinking to write something slagging off the selling techniques of Big Issue sellers? For someone who purports to work in recruitment to admit that he hadn't even taken the time to write his own CV never mind (obviously) read it thoroughly, was pretty frightening.

Ansell disappointed me, not in how he's performed throughout the series but in the fact that he (along with others) hadn't even researched what goods manufactured or supplied by Sir Alan's companies.

Come on people are you seriously telling me you would go up for a £100 grand a year job with so little preparation?

School boy error!!!!!!!

Yes guys and galls, you may be applying to be Sir Alan's Apprentice but don't you think it might be an idea to be aware of what you may very well be involved in working on? If only so's you could nod and say yes at appropriate parts of a conversation with the great knight himself.

Well it's left to the ladies to hold the fort and don't go thinking I think they performed a great deal better in the interviews.

Michelle leaves me cold to be honest. Very, very ambitious and in certain ways very controlled. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad she's a successful businesswoman (who am I to criticise her. Look at me twice her age and on a fraction of her earnings) but it would be nice to see some warmth in her eyes. (Anyways what that's for to do with business I don't know - lol)

Ruth, Ruth, Ruth!!! Calm down babes. You've done well. You can come over a little aggressive at times and I think you need to let others finish what they are saying more often. When all's said and done, Ruth is my favourite for the top spot. Hence we go back to my original statement "the Badger lives on"!!! Yay!

So here we are then. I don't know about you but I know exactly what I'll be doing at 9pm tomorrow, so don't even think about calling ok?

Peace Ya'll

:)x

Masterchef Goes Large

Nothing at all like the previous incarnation. No red or blue kitchen. No Lloyd Grossman and guest chef discussing whatever up the corner. No annoying wandering around the contestants just when they are at the height of panic stations asking stupid questions like "and what are you planning to do with the stock?" (Errr how about leaving the kitchen before you find out in a not so polite way???!!)

Nope, Masterchef has gone large. The would be chefs are out of the studio for part of the show and thrown in at the deep end in a real live working kitchen. The judges consider all kinds of things not just how fancy the presented recipies are. The contestants are really encouraged to think long and hard about the why, what, how and when.

I'm sure I've missed the whole competition for this year but I seem to keep bumping into episodes when surfing the tv and then that's me, happily hooked for the next 30 minutes or so.

It's a new and improved recipe! Well done Aunty Beeb!!!

:)x

Ice Age 2

Of course I know that this is a TV blog but let's face it, with the advent of the internet, downloads and all things digital technology, it probably won't be long before this little gem (currently out in UK cinemas) will be on TV. Not only that but this is my blog so I can post about anything I want so there!

I went to see Ice Age 2 over the bank holiday weekend and it was a real treat.

I won't rant on about what everyone knows is top quality animation from the realistic looking fur, water (flood) scenes, to the scenery, the the fire to the geysers to the way the breeze moved through the trees or the colours, shades, perspectives, the marriage of actor's voices with each character, the music etc etc.

What I'm trying to say is that this film is just a jolly good yarn folks. Definately worth a visit. You will laugh from the beginning to the very last drop.

Bring the kids or don't bring the kids, just go see it ok?!?

:)x

The Apprentice

Well we've got to the last 4 and tonight it's the roughest, toughest interviews anyone can ever expect to face.

The candidates will be grilled (and I mean slow spit roast stylee) by 3 of Sir Alan's trusted people. All highly successful business men in their own right, they have gained the trust of Sir Alan. They will be sure to take no prisoners tonight. No matter your previous achievements it will take a lot to impress these people and even if you succeeded in impressing them you would probaly never know. If the candidates, 2 boys and 2 girls, think they've had it tough so far, they ain't seen nothing yet!

To cap it off, this week we lose 2 people in one go ready for the almighty showdown next week.

It'll be hard to see them go but I reckon - and here I'm sticking my neck way, way out - that we'll be saying goodbye to Ansell and Michelle. Last two standing will be Paul and Ruth. Ok, so I'll probably get shot down in flames here with these predictions but it's nothing compared to what these candidates have been through over the last 10 weeks (and it's oh sooooo much more preferable).

My quote of the series so far has to be when Paul was talking to Ansell about Rome after winning a luxury trip at the end of the last task. Here I'm paraphrasing but the conversation went something like this.

Paul: "Wow Rome! Great! Have you ever been to Rome?"
Ansell : "No. I've never been to Italy"
Paul: "Oh it's great! They've got loads in Rome. They've got the Colosseum and everything. You know the Colosseum where they filmed Gladiator"

Oh my God! How very priceless!

All the majesty and history in Rome and the best you can say is it's where they filmed Gladiator - you're after a job paying how much a year???!! Good thing it's not as a tour guide.

:)x

Oh and one more thing. I'm loving that we can now watch certain shows online at any time and of course "The Apprentice" is one such entity. It's way past time that the tv companies woke up and smelled the aroma of the internet! Yippee!!!