My family went to Italy...

And all they brought me back was this lousy... Oh, wait. It's actually pretty nice.

Valuev searching for long lost brother

Yes, folks and folkettes, this rare dip into commenting on the sporting world concerns the recent news that Nikolai Valuev is going to lead an expedition to find that rarest of cryptids, the "Russian Yeti".

Possible sighting of the Kazzbuss yeti.

He's going to Siberia for two days to hunt the beast

Lifting the gay blood-giving ban- "a step in the right direction", but not there yet

This news woke me at seven this morning. In my dozing, bleary state I acknowledged it with a smile and remember thinking that it was pretty monumental, given that yesterday there was no mention that such a decision was being made and that it was the fourth or fifth item on the bulletin. For almost thirty years any man who is gay and sexually active has been banned from donating blood, and finally the realisation has dawned on the health care professionals constantly pleading for more donors to step forward that "the ban could no longer be justified", according to the BBC.

I read up on the story on the BBC website, and have so say that while it makes an excellent soundbyte, the fact that "the life-long ban on gay men donating blood has been lifted" doesn't really address or cover the story. There's much more to it, and it's not necessarily as huge a leap forward as is perhaps being made out by "snippet news." It's worth reading the BBC story before reading any further here- it can be found at:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14824310

Done that? Read on-

We don't have the technology, we can't rebuild... your face

Listen up marketing and advertising gurus of the TV world. There's a gigantic bone I'm going to pick, with all of you, right now. So pay attention.

We do not have nanobots at the beck and call of every cosmetics company. So seriously, stop telling me that every cream, facepack, deoderant,shampoo and toothpaste is full of patented technology, illustrated by an animation in which cells or spheres move autonomously across the skin/ teeth/ hair. It doesn't happen, and won't happen within our lifetimes.

Bobbies getting beats if thinktank has its way

We don't live in an era where that's safe any more. Of course we don't. If coppers were to leave the house in full regalia and get the train, most people wouldn't bat an eyelid. But there will be the few, the few who see that one of their neighbours or a local man is leaving his house as a policeman, the few who see a lone copper on the train and taunt him as he's not on duty. The elderly and other neighbours would, perhaps, treat them with the respect that matches the respect villagers in Dock Green treated the proverbial Dixon, but only if they knew them.

"I don't do violence and guns." BBC Drama Review- Page Eight

Now this is more like it. BBC drama that actually entertains, breaks a few boundaries and doesn't sit in a nice little familiar niche. Yup, Page Eight was brilliant.

Intelligence officer Johnny Worricker, and possibly sinister neighbour Nancy Pierpan

In a nutshell- Old school espionage, relying on information and intelligence rather than clues garnered from the top secret computer, the password to which was guessed by looking at the penthouse address or super-villain's favourite book. Less adventure-based than current fare and yet more tensely put together.

Creepy, predictable and ultimately over too soon

There are two things that immediately bring that triumvirate of descriptions to mind: nighttime fumblings with Piers Morgan and the latest episode of Doctor Who, "Night Terrors" by Mark Gatiss. One of them is going to be reviewed, discussed and rated here as I've experienced it. But which?

Life Update- Haven't got a job yet

I don't normally do progress reports on things that have happened in my life. This blog was designed to be mainly about current affairs and things that I have come across, books, plays, films and the like, and then to use those as the substance which my witty cynicism and occasionally misplaced dislike is a foil to. I can't really stand talking about day-to-day stuff, or reading other "personal blogs".

London Jaunt- Metropolitan, dahlings. I'm too important to walk that far.

It was a friend's birthday this week, the friend who showed a mutual friend of ours around London for their first time (with my help/ goofing about) the other week in the first of these London Juants. Therefore, this weekend, there were cocktails to be had at a swanky, "in" bar in the capital. Capital!

It was called Be@One. I'm reliably informed that there are several establishments under this bar's umbrella dotted around London. I can safely say I'd never been in one before, but it's charmingly welcoming in that it is tiny, everyone seems to be happy and friendly in there (happy hour lasts from 4:30, opening, to 7:00) and they serve a killer Vesper that would make anyone think they were Bond, James Bond.

London Jaunt- It's life, but not as we know it

The British Library has two exhibitions on at the moment concerning things that are made up, speculative fiction and typically ancient literary traditions. One is the Out of this World science-fiction exhibition, while the other is the more permanent display of the British Library Treasures, its collection including: great religious texts from around the world such as gospels, bibles and Qu'rans; Chinese scrolls and texts; tomes of early poetry and Chaucer; Jane Austen's writing desk and manuscripts; a whole lot more, including Beatles notes.

They are both well worth looking at. I went the other day, in another London Jaunt to make myself feel better/ drag me out of my room and away from the relentless job application process, and it was immense. The best part- it's free.