Kingston, come in Kingston… Not sure if I mentioned it but we’ve moved house. After eleven years in our two bed Victorian terrace in sunny Barnes, about five weeks ago we crossed Richmond Park to equally sunny Kingston to a similar vintage Victorian three bed Villa. It's a 'Villa' apparently ‘cos the door is in the side of the house rather than the front which makes the building longer than normal. The location, remember the mantra, is spot on being half way between the aforementioned park (we’re now closer) and Kingston town centre, in fact we’re about 10 minutes from almost anywhere in this part of the world. Moving to a larger property has meant that the furniture we have fills about one room and we’ve had to buy some grown up stuff like a proper dinning table and my first ever lawnmower. OK it’s only a Flymo (a Vision Compact 350 if you’re interested) but a lawnmower for me is a sign that times are changing. Daft I know. More space has given me the opportunity to trade up to a flat panel TV and a Panasonic 42” PX60 now affords some serious Xbox 360 fun. Ghost Recon is still as hard as nails but at least it looks fantastic not to mention…big. The BMW ZM Coupe is now a long distant memory; I do miss its quirky, bonkers looks and warp speed acceleration but not the BMW dealer network which for normal paying punters (i.e. Not company car drivers) should be a million times better considering the wallet emptying expense involved. It’s been replaced by a Ford Mondeo Estate….I know I had the same reaction when it was proposed to me, but after a few minutes behind the wheel and the fact it was a fully loaded ST220 it was a steal. I even like the colour.

We need more explosions Mr De Mille With Bryan Singer off remaking Superman and 20th Century Fox not having the patience to wait they gave the Directors chair for X-Men 3 to Brett Ratner. Who? You know the fella that made classics like Rush Hour 2 and The Family Man. Was there really no one else? Well credit where credit's due, Ratner makes a valliant effort to carry on where Singer left off. But rather like a fake Rolex, at first glance it looks like real 'McCoy' (no Beast related pun intended) however it's just ultimately not a quality product. Gone is the emotional connection with the characters, even Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants, and it's replaced by explosions and a feeling that some studio exec wanted to cram in as many mutants as possible. In the hands of Singer the same script would have been more engaging, subtle and textured but also we'd have had the finale the franchise deserved.

How they squeal when they're caught Some of the excuses are priceless... http://bungie.net/News/TopStory.aspx?link=waaahmbulance

Leonardo wouldn't like it... And neither did I. Went to see The Da Vinci Code the other night and it's not good. Whereas the book is a veritable page turner, despite the ridiculous plot sign posting and feeble dialogue the movie is slow, leaden and just plain dull. Ron Howard was either having an off day or the script was hamstrung by what Dan Brown would allow the writers to do. A direct scene for scene translation of a book does not a good, or even passable move make.

Hello Again... Don't suppose anyone has missed me.