Wednesday 13 April 2016

… Of the Week: 13 – 20th April 2016

Film of the Week:

Lee Evans: Monsters


 OK, so it isn’t actually a movie, but it is something I do want to talk about. Lee Evans is my number one favourite comedian. His energetic, physical observational comedy brings to life his jokes, emphasising the craziness of today’s world. As he performs the show, he is usually drenched in sweat due to his physicality of his performance. When he breaks for a short intermission, Lee takes a quick shower to freshen himself up and changes his suit. It has been noted that dry cleaners refuse to clean his suits resulting in him having to throw the suits away.

Lee’s first arena performance was Manchester Arena, where he broke the world record for a solo act performing in front of an audience, with 10,108 people at the arena. That stand-up act was called “XL”. Lee’s next arena appearance was at the O2 arena in London in 2008. Entitled “Big”, it was exactly that: Performing in front of over 500,000 people over 59 dates, this was the biggest tour Lee has ever done. This would also mark the first time a solo performance by a comedian at the O2 arena, but when Chris Rock announced his tour dates, it was revealed he would be performing at the O2 prior to Lee. In 2011, Lee toured the UK once more with a new stand-up act called “Roadrunner”. This was his most ambitious tour to date, with 67 dates in total. In 2014, he toured the UK for the final time. He announced in an interview on The Jonathan Ross Show that he was going to retire from stand-up so that he can spend more time with his family. “Monsters” is his last hurrah.

I was lucky enough to see Lee live twice, both times at the Wembley Arena in London. The moment he walks on stage, the entire place erupted in cheers. No joke failed to make the audience laugh out loud. And he ended the night with his usual singing routine, with a new song.

The Monsters DVD was recorded at the NIA, Birmingham Arena with a standing ovation at the end. If you are looking for a good laugh, I highly recommend Monsters. In fact, I highly recommend all his DVDs. No two are the same. Each one comes with unique jokes that will have you rolling around on the floor.

Stand-up comedy will never be the same again.


TV Program of the Week:

Neighbours – week of 4th – 8th April 2016


Neighbours, an Australian TV Soap, which began in 18 March 1985, has been entertaining Australian and British audiences for over 30 years, and with 7343 episodes, it is still able to produce big and gripping storylines.

Paul Robinson, who has been in there from the first episode, and is the only original character since the show’s introduction. He has been coming and going since, from 1985 – 1992, and 1993 – present. Before this week’s big storyline, Paul’s personal computer data was leaked to the media resulting in him losing the hotel and the Quill family buying it from under him. He lost his home in the process and moved in with Terese Willis. He then secured an investment in a motel with Steph Scully, and they were up for the Citizens of the Year event, but due to Steph acquiring some dodgy alcohol which turned out to be stolen, they lost the event to Quill family.

Also running alongside, the hotel’s boiler has been malfunctioning for all week before the explosion. It’s unknown whether it would have erupted anyway, but someone did tamper with the boiler, increasing the chances of it exploding. Paul did tamper with the air conditioning, but that was only through wanting to annoy the hotel staff.

This week’s big storyline from 4th – 8th April 2016 started to set the scene with its usual timeslot in midday. The storyline officially started during the hour long special which aired at 10PM on the 4th. This week saw many characters leaving the show, including Josh Willis, who is the son of Terese and Brad Willis, and brother to Imogen and Piper. He sacrificed himself to save Daniel Robinson, Paul Robinson’s nephew, causing a piece of pipe to rupture his internal organs, preventing from being rescued in time. Kyle and Amy after having an argument because Kyle’s wife Georgia comes back, and asks Kyle to move to Germany with her, which he does at the end of the week, but in the meantime, Kyle and Amy are stuck in the lift due to the boiler blowing up. When attempting to escape, Kyle is electrocuted by some loose wires and collapses. Doug Willis, Brad Willis’ father and Josh’s granddad, has a heart attack and passes away.

The week ends with Toadie still trapped in the hotel, with a beam hanging precariously above him.

The weeks that follow will see the characters dealing with the loss of loved ones, and the mystery of who tampered the boiler.


Game of the Week:

Job Simulator (HTC Vive Virtual Reality)


I haven’t experienced virtual reality yet to give an opinion on it. All I can say about it is what other people have said about it, which doesn’t sound good. So, instead of relaying what other people have said about it, I will be referring to a video that one of my favourite YouTubers has made which focused on HTC Vive Virtual Reality headset. I will link the video at the end of this section.

In the video, Jack is working in a convenient store. I have had enough experience working in retail to know all about how it works, from the ups to the downs. The game simulates that experience rather well, and Jack expresses those emotions throughout the video, mainly for comic effect, but there is some annoyance hidden away in his voice as the video progresses.

He is blown away by the game itself. And so am I. The level of interactivity the game has is on a completely different level altogether. I remember thinking back when I first got the Wii console and it being so interactive, nothing could beat it. Well, the virtual reality presented in this video blows the Wii so far out of the water, it has landed on the moon. The HTC headset has landed.

The convenient store is only but one job in many that you can choose from. You can work in a fast-food restaurant, and an office. Each places looks realistic. Everything can be interacted with, chucked around the place. The customers in the convenient store is a perfect representation of what most customers were like during my experience in retail. And yes, it is frustrating.

As much as it does simulates the experience, on an equal level, I really want to be a part of that world. I would love to see the virtual reality for myself. But, with a price tag of over £800, and with a constant stream of shipping problems, if I were you, I would wait a little longer before obtaining one of these.

If and when you do, however, I highly recommend Job Simulator.



Video of the Week:

How to Count Past Infinity
(By Vsauce)


Vsauce has done it again. It has completely shattered my mind. Well, it isn’t that hard, to be honest. But even so, Michael Stevens manages to explain something that I didn’t even begin to fully understand the possibility of it being true. I mean, infinity never ends, that’s why it’s called infinity, but, it turns out that you can count much, much further than infinity. So far, in fact, that it breaks all that we know about the Universe as we know it. He wraps up the video on a rather uplifting note.

Thanks for reading
Antony Hudson
(TonyHadNouns)

My book, Sector 22: Zoey, is now available on Amazon, eBay, and SkyCat Publications' website:

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