Watch Wednesday: The Great British Bake Off review

During the weeks that I've uploaded either a TV or film review on my blog every Wednesday I don't think I've ever mentioned my love of the Bake Off. If you like in the UK or England then you've probably heard of it, and you may even like it, but chances are you might not have heard of this recent British classic if you don't. As a foodie and evening telly junkie I've been hooked. But what's the recipe to this 4-series programme's success? Start with a goodie/baddie base of celebrity bakers Paul Hollywood (Mr Arctic Fox Eyes) and Mary Berry (Queen of Cakes). Then add in thirteen ('a baker's dozen') nervous amateur bakers who spread their love of cake around the country. Next mix in a show stopper, signature bake and technical challenge every week. Finish with comedy double act Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc to chivvy on the contestants. Finally, you have a British cookery competition classic, with a bit of good old fashioned history chucked in for luck. Watch it; you'll love it!

The Great British Bake Off is aired on BBC2 Tuesday's, 8pm

Carpe Diem xx

Watch Wednesday: About Time review

When I went to the cinema on Saturday it was the first time in quite a while, literally six months or so. So when I was talking with my family about seeing Richard Curtis' new film 'About Time' I wasn't too bothered that it was being given two stars or that many of the reviews I had read were disparaging. After taking the plunge and watching the romance with a remarkably similar premise to leading lady Rachel McAdams previous film The Time Traveler's Wife, I left feeling very pleased that I had. Cheesy, unrealistic and over-romanticized in parts, the film has moral overtones and a message to relate about space and time and human existence. With a cast including Domhnall Gleeson (Harry Potter), Bill Nighy (Curtis' Love Actually) and Margot Robbie (Neighbours), and a style that will leave you laughing in your seats, if you need a film to cheer you up as the days get shorter then this one's for you.

Carpe Diem xx

Watch Wednesday: Una Stubbs Who Do You Think You Are review

This kick-off to the tenth series of what is becoming a British institution proves that one of the most important elements of the show is personality. The charming, sweet character that comes across whenever actress Una Stubbs is on screen, sporting a black beret, makes the episode, but it is her family's story that's at the heart of it. As is often the case in Who Do You Think You Are, and in family history in general, you don't have to look far to unearth a hidden past. 

Una knew little of her family and learns more about her grandparents, specifically her grandmother who grew up in poverty in York and followed Una's career without her knowing, and her great-grandfather Ebenezer Howard, founder of the idealistic Welwyn Garden City. A great start to the series and a sign of good things to come, although I'm sure fellow enthusiasts will agree that  the programmes only touches on some of the more interesting stories.

Who Do You Think You Are, Wednesday 24th July 2013, 9pm BBC1 is available on BBC iPlayer

Carpe Diem xx

Avatar 2009 | Film Review

Yes, confessional time; it is 2013 and I am writing my review of Avatar (2009) having promised myself I would see it for four years now. It was only when I was ill at the weekend, when I had no energy to do anything other than lie on the sofa, as these things sometimes happen, that I got the opportunity to watch and review Avatar for you!

The 2009 science fiction action film both written and directed by James Cameron (of Titanic 1997 fame), starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Joel David Moore, Giovanni Ribisi and Sigourney Weaver. Set in the mid-22nd century, when humans are mining a precious mineral prophetically named unobtanium on Pandora, a lush habitable moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system. The expansion of the mining colony threatens the continued existence of a local tribe of Na'vi people, humanoids indigenous to Pandora. The title refers to a genetically engineered Na'vi body with the mind of a remotely located human, used to interact with the natives of Pandora and thus to colonize them and take control of the area of mining land on which their sacred 'Tree of Songs' sits.

Avatar thus alludes to the greater themes and deeper philosophy of Cameron films, as images of American military parading around an alien land machine guns in tow are reminiscent of the Iraq war and other conflicts. The plight of the Na'vi is that of long-indigenous countries across the globe and unobtanium is the collective fossil fuel resources that we sadly deplete rapidly on an hourly basis. 

What can Avatar mean to us? Does Cameron fulfil a greater intention of bringing global understanding to environmental issues in writing this film? Or does it make individuals take notice of their actions and consequence on the earth? I can't give the answers to those questions but what I can say is that with its beautiful cinemtography and mix of CGI and action sequences Avatar is bound not to disappoint, even if it is lengthy. Bring out the blue body paint and let me be a shiny, glittery nature humanoid too!

Carpe Diem xx