All the best things in life premiered in 2014. The British Real Ale Pub Adventure. Edge of Tomorrow. Errrm, that's about it. Just wanted to remind you BRAPA still exists really.
On the surface of it, any film starring scientology loony Tom Cruise battling an alien race would be a massive turn off for me, but broadening your horizons during lockdown 3.0, and being more open-minded is rarely unrewarding, and for a second week in a row, I enjoyed a highly satisfying film.
As I logged off from a tough three day working week at 4pm Friday (no really) I heard a thud on my doormat and just in the nick of time .......
Cheese & Onion as green, Salt & Vinegar as blue. THE WAY NATURE INTENDED IT! Take that Walkers you monsters!! One of the many things I'd discovered about week 1 was that Ready Salted alone could become a bit bland after the third bag, especially if drinking 2% lager.
Just as well too, as the first dice roll of the evening yielded a second consecutive 6! Hattrick this week?
At least this week's would be varied, though insane but lovely follower Tom Irvin has asked if I can randomise using further dice rolls, so I wouldn't necessarily just select two of each. Watch this space. Outer space! Ha ha. Sorry.
We had some SAD NEWS in the build up too, especially if you follow my #WWWSI account. Pet ladybird Lizzy has consumed her last Wotsit crumb and 'expired' on my carpet. Her last act, crawling onto my dumbbells as I did my daily exercises. RIP. I just hope she hadn't inhaled a Pom Bear crumb and her system couldn't take it!
Meanwhile, people on my #SiFiPieFri Twitter page had been voting for which beers I should drink tonight. Sadly, I couldn't get a lot of Sci-Fi themed ones but that is sort of a future plan for Apr/early May time.
The most popular from the two lists were as follows (*allowing for a bit of accidental mis-voting from one of our many favourite North American chums, Barbara Pierce):
63% Yorkshire Bitter, Sainsbury's (Black Sheep)
57%* Bump n' Grind, Tiny Rebel
38% Sunshine, Brass Castle
(29%* Centennial, Ashover)
I only drank three tonight so the Ashover got carried over with my Polish rye beer and an actual Sci-Fi one from Turning Point missing out. "Kitchen" beer as the pie was put in the oven, was the Yorkshire Bitter. I'm no Black Sheep fan, but presuming it was just the Best Bitter, I enjoyed it more than usual.
Over on evil Untappd, a former York TWAMRA young chairman asked why I'd dressed as a member of the Happy Mondays. Errm, it's a futuristic sci-fi outfit ACTUALLY. This folks is why you should never trust beer nuts. OR any nuts for that matter.
I had a happy 25 minutes jigging around the kitchen to the tunes of Herb Alpert (Herp Albert?) as the oven did its magic.
Pie-wise, I'd upgraded to this little delight:
In date too this week! Lovely heart shaped top, perfect with a few Branston beans. Truly delicious, pretty sure week's 3 & 4 pies aren't going to live up to this one.
In fact, it was so delicious, that as I shimmied through to the 'main event', I forgot to take the classic 'establishing shot' until I'd finishing my meal.
You will notice the 'standby' Cottage Cheese, as last week I felt like there'd been a lack of 'ballast' in my diet, and the beers just went straight to my head.
Another factor that hadn't translated across from my Wine,Western,Wotsit nights was the jug of water (or Carafe if you are posh like Quosh .... oooh it rhymes). Instead, I had a nice diluted juice ready to down before bed:
Again, legendary perma-unsatisfied follower Tom Irvin was errrm, unsatisfied, suggesting I should really be going for blackcurrant cordial, his tipple of choice. When I was a baby, my favourite tipple came from the nipple.
Anyway. Moving swiftly on. The film, ah yes. Problem being that the film I'd originally selected for week 1, the Czech 60's classic Ikarie XB-1 brewed by Theakstons STILL hadn't arrived, hence this re-roll.
But despite being way down at #90 on the list, Edge of Tomorrow was a modern day classic Sci-Fi. A bit like Groundhog Day but also not, Tom Cruise kept getting enlisted in this alien battle at Heathrow airport that they had no hope of winning (strangely, on a beach in North Devon) but when he kills an Alien called a 'Mimic' and gets its blood on him during his own death, he keeps going back to the start of the scene! Hence the 'Live, Die, Repeat' tagline.
It was a bloody exhausting watch, as Tommy and Dorking's favourite stuttering sixth former Emily Blunt have to keep dying and going back to the beginning, to work out how to finally triumph. Phew! But engrossing all the same, and plenty of moments of wry humour thrown in.
Favourite bit was about halfway through, Tom gets a bit fed up of the same 'dying' schtick, so goes for a pint in a pub on the banks of the Thames ......
Ok, so the second he drinks up and leaves, Mimics jump up out of the Thames and kill him once more, but it was worth the interlude.
Meanwhile, the Bump n' Grind was perhaps the nicest lager I've ever tried (being heavily mango and ginger flavoured like it was!), but even in a 330 ml form, it was hard to drink at any pace.
In fact, as the film finished, I was only just ready to pour my third beer, the fantastic Sunshine from Brass Castle, a brewery who never let you down,
The mushroom cloud style 'pouring' was Sci-Fi in itself:
So I loaded Football Manager 2020 and played a bit of my Hungerford Town career, hoping my one can, one bottle decision making didn't affect the outcome too much (we beat Chippenham 1-0 with a lucky penalty, I'll take it).
Meanwhile, like a bouncy floating thing in the sea, I was buoyed to learn that Preston's finest Matthew Lawrenson was having a #SiFiPieFri pastiche night. Good on him. I'd encourage you all to have a go, very rewarding way to spend a Friday evening.
I woke next morning with one of those stabby, jabby beer hangovers, not like the all encompassing grabbing, grasping, smothering one you get from red wine. Not sure which I prefer, but as I dozed restlessly at 9am, I was suddenly made to jump by a thud on my doormat. FINALLY, the Czech film, in time for next week.
And two hours later, a lesser thud. This time, my sci-fi bucket hat! It all augers well for Week 3 on Friday 19th. Join me then.
ANY OTHER BEESWAX
New followers to introduce. Patrick Hanson (#26), Andrew Mackean (#27), Greg Brown (#28), Minneapolis Cask (#29), Barbara Pierce (#30), Tony Lea (#31), Maltmeister (#32), Vaux Wanderer (#33). Welcome all, we hope you'll enjoy it on Planet PomBear.
Four of these never followed #WWWSI so it bodes well for the future, and if we can get up to 64 by mid April, we might have a crazy Alien Cup competition. Congrats to Mick Citra meanwhile for winning the #WWWSI Trophy this Sunday.
Take care all and see you on Fri,
Si