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I was saddened to hear about the sudden death of actor Corey Haim on March 10th. One of his best known roles was in cult 80’s film The Lost Boys, So by way of a tribute here are some songs from the movie

People are Strange – Echo & the Bunnymen

I Still Believe – Tim Capello

Lost in the Shadows – Lou Gramm

Cry Little Sister – Gerard McMann

Who won how many Oscars at the 82nd annual Academy Award

The Hurt Locker
Won awards for
Best picture
Best director
Best sound editing
Best sound mixing
Best original screenplay
Best film editing

Avatar
Won awards for
Best visual effects
Best cinematography
Best art direction

Up
Won awards for
Best Score
Best Animated Feature

Crazy Heart
Won awards for
Best Actor
Best Song

Precious
Won awards for
Best Supporting Actress
Best Adapted Screen Play

Inglorious Basterds
Won the award for best Supporting Actor

The Blind Side
Won the award for Best Actress

The Cove
Won the award for Best Documentary

The Young Victoria
Won the award for Best Costume Design

Star Trek
Won the award for Best Makeup

The Secret in their Eyes
Won the award for Best Foreign Language Flim

Logorama
Won the award for Best Animated Short

Music By Prudence
Won the award for Best Documentary Short

The New Tenants
Won the award for Best live action short

GWR 2-6-2 Small Prairie Tank no 4566 goes to the yard for re-coaling during the SVR Spring Steam Gala

I enjoyed This years Severn Valley Railway Spring Steam Reunion Gala, which took place from Friday March 5th to Sunday March 7th, 2010.

During the event the replica of Catch-Me-Who-Can was also in operation, and books could be bought from the Second-Hand book sale. Visitors were also able to walk round the Boiler Shop, Maintainance Depot, Engineering Department and Works Shed which were all open to the public during the Gala, this gave a unique opportunity to see how engines, such as Taw Valley, are being overhauled and the amount of work that goes into them. There was also a Goods Demonstration and Shunting Demonstration which was quite interesting to watch.

GWR 0-6-2 Tank Engine no 6695 on loan from Swanage, doing a Goods Demonstration

BR Standard Class 2 Mogul No 78019, on loan from the Great Central Railway patiently awaits the off

Visiting LNER 2-6-0 Gresley designed K4 Mogul no 61994 The Great Marquess runs round it’s train. This is the only LNER K4 2-6-0 Mogul which has survived into preservation.

I am hoping to go and see this years Severn Valley Railway Spring Steam Reunion Gala, which takes place from Friday March 5th to Sunday March 7th, 2010, and will be celebrating the line’s 40th anniversary as a heritage line. As part of the celebrations, it will feature visiting locomotives which have all been past members of the SVR fleet, these have now been confirmed as:

*BR Standard 2 2-6-0 no.78019 from the Great Central Railway
*GWR Pannier no.5786 from South Devon Railway.
*LNER 2-6-0 no.61994 “The Great Marquess”
*GWR 0-6-2T no.6695 from Swanage

Incidentally No 61994 The Great Marquess is the only one of six Gresley designed LNER K4 2-6-0 Moguls to survive into preservation, so I am looking forward to seeing it along with all the others

Representing the home fleet will be locomotives which may include: Large Prairie no 5164, Small Prairie no 4566, GWR 7812 “Erlestoke Manor”, Ivatt Class 2 no 46443, Stanier Mogul no 42968 and Ivatt Class 4 no 43106 (AKA The Flying Pig).

The Engine House, Visitor & Education Centre will also be open at Highley, so visitors will also have a chance to see locomotives such as

LMR 2-10-0 no 600 Gordon, GWR 4930 Hagley Hall, The Midland Compound no 1000 and Stanier 8f no 48773

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An Australian tale

One day a koala was sitting in a gum tree smoking a joint, when a little lizard walked past, looked up and said,
‘Hey Koala! What are you doing?’
The koala said, ‘Smoking a joint, come up and have some.’

So the little lizard climbed up and sat next to the koala where they enjoyed a few joints.

After a while the little lizard said that his mouth was ‘dry’ and that he was going to get a drink from the river.

Unfortunately the little lizard was so stoned that he leaned over too far and fell into the river.

A crocodile saw this and swam over to the little lizard and helped him to the side. Then he asked the little lizard, ‘What’s the matter with you?’

The little lizard explained to the crocodile that he had been sitting with the koala in the tree, smoking a joint, but got so stoned that he accidentally fell into the river while taking a drink.

The crocodile said that he had to check this out and walked into the rain forest, found the tree where the koala was sitting finishing a joint. The crocodile looked up and said,
‘Hey you!’

So the koala looked down at him and said,
‘Shiiiiiiiiiiit dude…
How much water did you drink?’

Best film
Avatar, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Precious, Up In The Air

Leading actor
Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart),
George Clooney (Up In The Air),
Colin Firth (A Single Man),
Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker),
Andy Serkis (Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll)

Leading actress
Carey Mulligan (An Education),
Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones),
Gabourey Sidibe (Precious),
Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia),
Audrey Tautou (Coco Before Chanel)

Supporting actor
Alec Baldwin (It’s Complicated),
Christian McKay (Me And Orson Welles),
Alfred Molina (An Education),
Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones),
Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds),

Supporting actress
Anne-Marie Duff (Nowhere Boy),
Vera Farmiga (Up In The Air),
Anna Kendrick (Up In The Air),
Mo’Nique (Precious),
Kristin Scott Thomas (Nowhere Boy)

Outstanding British film
An Education,
Fish Tank,
In The Loop,
Moon,
Nowhere Boy
Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer
Lucy Bailey, Andrew Thompson, Elizabeth Morgan Hemlock,
David Pearson (directors, producers – Mugabe And The White African),
Eran Creevy (writer/director – Shifty),
Stuart Hazeldine (writer/director – Exam),
Duncan Jones (director – Moon),
Sam Taylor-Wood (director – Nowhere Boy)

Director
James Cameron (Avatar),
Neill Blomkamp (District 9),
Lone Scherfig (An Education),
Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker),
Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)

Original screenplay
The Hangover (Jon Lucas, Scott Moore),
The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal),
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino),
A Serious Man (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen),
Up (Bob Peterson, Pete Docter)

Adapted screenplay
District 9 (Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell),
An Education (Nick Hornby),
In The Loop (Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche),
Precious (Geoffrey Fletcher),
Up In The Air (Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner)

This years Shrewsbury Folk Festival will be held at the West Midlands Showground, in Shrewsbury from August 27th to August 30th. .

Headline acts this year include:
*Billy Bragg
*Ade Edmondson & the Bad Shepherds (woohoo!
*Bellowhead, (Woohoo!
*Cara Dillon,
*Jackie Oates Band,
*Adrienne Young,
*Kristina Olsen & Peter Grayling
*Tom McConville

Plus many more brilliant bands, If like me you can’t wait, Videos of previous years performances can be found on YouTube aswell as on the Shrewsbury Folk Festival, website where you can also find out more information about the event.

Here are some highlights from this years BRIT awards (Although I think the words Highlights & BRIT awards may be a contradiction in terms) .Anyway this years news views & winners can all be found here
And here, courtesy of YouTube, are a few performances from this years event
Ellie Goulding – Starry Eyed
La Roux – Bulletproof
Lady Gaga
Cheryl Cole – Fight for this Love
Dizzee Rascal & Florence Welch – You Got the Love