There is Life on Mars - A review of Ridley Scott's, The Martian

What comes first the chicken or the egg; or in this case - the book or the film?

I read Andy Weir's  The Martian whilst on holiday recently - in two days! I couldn't put it down, such was its intensity; I was gripped.

Then came the build up to the film with trailers, press previews and haughtiness from the experts who discredited some of the science featured in the film.

My advice is read the book and absorb the science and the maths involved in keeping a human alive on Mars then go watch the film and enjoy it for what it is - sheer enjoyment.

Matt Damon is majestic as Mark Watney, the hapless NASA botanist who somehow managed to miss the last flight off the planet. Well, he was impaled to the satcom antenna due to a fierce storm at the time - the rest of the crew thought he was dead!

Thus begins his heroic quest to first of all stay alive and secondly to communicate with Earth. We watch his survival and study of the human condition whilst flitting between the angst of mission control and the reactions of his crew mates - speeding back home.

Between all of them and some help from the Chinese, an audacious rescue mission is put into place. But will it work?

Ridley Scott has directed what I believe to be a masterpiece of science fiction which in the not too distant future could turn out to be almost science fact. 

Try to catch it in 3D!

Catch the train to ride the Bay Comedy Trail

Morecambe is steeped in comedic history. Of course we have our most famous son and daughter, Eric and Thora, (Now that would have been an interesting comedy duo). There was Albert Modley and at one time in her career Victoria Wood lived in the town (It's thought she wrote the "Two Soups" sketch after visiting Lubins cafe on the promenade). A fine comedy pedigree for any town.
In sight of the Eric Morecambe statue, just across the bay in Ulverston, another comedy genius was born - Stan Laurel. His fame was more international than our town's comics but his roots were just as humble.
All the people mentioned ensured they kept good links with their home towns even though they mostly lived away as they plied their trade around the UK and the world. One thing however does link them all; the fact Laurel and Hardy trod the boards of our Winter Gardens theater in May 1947. It would be good to know if  some of our home grown comedians were there to watch them.
With all this in mind I decided to take the train around the bay to Ulverston and check out the Laurel and Hardy Museum, it had been many years since my last visit and at that time it was literally housed -  in a house! After checking it out on the web it was pleasing to see the exhibition had been moved to a new venue in half of the town's Roxy cinema - very apt.
The train journey itself is a great experience, especially as when I traveled the weather was clear and sunny. First stop Carnforth, I'll have to visit the David Lean Brief Encounters experience and hopefully try out some cask ale in the Snug Bar at some point in the future. Silverdale and Arnside out of the way it was over the Kent viaduct, thankfully now re-opened after a major refit.
As the bay came into view in all its splendor the view across to Morecambe and the Bowland Fells beyond was magnificent, I even managed to see Blackpool Tower in the far distance. At Grange - over - Sands you get a perfect vista of the station flanked on one side by a green wall of conifers and on the other the bay. The station does look splendid in the sunshine.
You lose the view of the bay between Kents Bank and Cark but it reappears at the mouth of the Leven Estuary as you travel over another viaduct on the final stretch into Ulverston.
After a pub lunch in the Farmers Arms on Market Street (nothing to write home about) we made our way to the museum via the statue of the two funny men. It's situated just outside the Coronation Hall, a venue for concerts, exhibitions, meetings and the like. The obligatory photograph was taken like the many tourists you see at Eric's statue on the promenade in Morecambe.
The museum costs £5 to enter which I think is good value as you follow the story of Stan; from his early life in Ulverston to the theaters of the North East, Glasgow and finally to Hollywood where he eventually met up with Oliver. Films show all day as you wander through galleries housing personal and family effects, pictures and hundreds of items of memorabilia - an Aladdin's cave of cinema and Ulverston's history.
In an age of digital entertainment it would be easy to dismiss this type of exhibition as old hat, nothing but a nostalgia trip for sad old people - think again. When I watched a seven year old boy in absolute hysterics at the clumsy, bumbling and quite polished slapstick performance on screen by a fat man from Georgia and a thin man from Ulverston, I knew it was timeless comedy for any age. It also got me thinking that maybe Morecambe should have such a place to honour all the comedy greats that have lived or worked in our town instead of just talking about it. ( a previous plan for a Morecambe & Wise comedy museum/bar was shelved a few years ago).

Maybe, the journey I made could be a marketable asset to be lauded in future tourist guides.
Ulverston have done a fantastic job in linking the statue and the museum as well as the many artisan shops to bring in lots of tourist money into the area. A lesson surely our town's leaders should consider?

Getting There - I traveled with my wife and our return ticket from Lancaster on TransPennine Express's Manchester Airport to Barrow service cost £8.25 each. The journey only takes 35 minutes. (Download a timetable at www.tpexpress.co.uk)

Laurel and Hardy Museum - New opening times: 1st Apr - 1st Oct, 7 days a week - 10.00-1700 (last entry 16.30). 2nd Oct - 31st March, opening times variable, call or check website.
Tel: 01229 582292 - laurelandhardymuseum@gmail.com - www.laurel-and-hardy.co.uk
Prices - Adult £5, OAP £4, Family £10, Child £2.50

"Must get this done with Eric!"

Ollie visited Stan's home in Ulverston and they both received a civic welcome,

Some of the hundreds of items of memorabilia on display

Proof they visited Morecambe

"Another fine mess I've gotten into."

Country Pub - Country food heaven!

How often do your trips out to country pubs for a meal start off with a trawl of the internet to suss out the menu? Thankfully ours do owing to the wife never being able to make her mind up.

She fancied the stuffed pigs trotters to start, my eye was on the individual beef wellington as a main. That's the problem when you check online; it all sounds great on screen until you actually get there.
No such problems when we visited the Pheasant Inn at Casterton near Kirkby Lonsdale. The web descriptions were more than matched by the excellent food we were served up.

Take it easy driving through the village, the entrance looms up at you pretty quick as you drive in from Devils Bridge - plenty of parking though. You are seated round the bar area overlooking the pretty village, we booked in advance as lunch is noon until two-thirty.

Plenty in as we arrived but as this is also a hotel I expect there would be more hungry diners in the evening and at weekends tucking into Jurassic portions.

After much deliberation - see, the trawl on the internet did no good - it was the chicken livers for my aunt and me (her birthday treat) with the crab and lobster tian (that's a layered dish to you and me) for the wife. We both opted for the livers pink; a great decision, they burst in the mouth with the after taste of the Madeira cream. White asparagus accompanied the dish with sponge like toasted brioche to mop up any sauce left on the plate. Lynn's tian, accompanied by pickled cucumber and peach and chili chutney perfectly brought out the seafood flavor. Too much for her - I dutifully helped to finish it off.

I did stick to my web selection and the individual beef wellington was served perfectly. Medium rare in a crispy pastry parcel all elegantly matched with a red wine sauce. The potato cake was browned on the outside with the paper thin layers bound in a creamy glue. Spring vegetables were fresh and not the soggy offerings you get in some places.

My aunt chose the spiced lamb shoulder, almost tagine style with couscous, apricots, chickpeas, almonds and coriander, it was melt in the mouth. Lynn's baked steak and kidney suet pudding was gargantuan. The huge chunks of steak were subtly pared with tender kidney, those spring vegetables  with crispy confit potatoes completed the dish along with a shallot and pepper sauce.

Lynn went for the warm pecan nut brownie, white chocolate torte with chocolate ice cream. The latest fashion being chocolate soil, crunchy and sweet to finish off the dish. I was full - just the ice cream for me.

You just know when you read the head chef Duncan Wilson was trained at Sharrow Bay Hotel on Ullswater the food is going to be top notch - and it is!  The service is friendly and informal and those portions are just what you want - value for money.

This family run hotel is an excellent destination venue and only thrity minutes drive up the M6 from Morecambe. Think we need to book in next time to sleep off the conquering lunch and experience what could be another admirable meal in the evening and a Herculean breakfast.

www.pheasantinn.co.uk

Had me jumping out of my seat!

Don't go to see Jurassic World expecting it to be a follow on from the highly successful franchise Jurassic Park - this one stands on it's own with what turns out to be a fantastic and frightening finale.

The reason it stands alone is the fact there are none of the original cast in it, no, not even Sam Neil or Laura Dern. Richard Attenborough gets a part though - his statue!

The action is a little slow to get going as we follow two teenage lads (Ty Simpkins and Nick Robinson) journeying to the prehistoric theme park Jurassic World. Here they are supposed to meet up with their aunt Claire  (Bryce Dallas Howard), who is the resorts chief fixer. Her previous credits include The Help and Spiderman 3 but when the boys arrive at the theme park she is far to busy to see them leaving a bored assistant to to the job.

Of course this is the kiss of death and when the main dino protagonist escapes to cause mayhem, the film hots up, It's almost feeding time in the dinosaur enclosure with the boys as the main course until Chris Pratt, Raptor trainer Owen and reluctant love interest for Claire gets involved in the rescue.

From that point on the film gets its legs as the theme park turns into a smorgasbord for hungry dinosaurs. Of course there are some baddies in this and surprise, surprise it's the US military who want to capture some of the creatures for use as combatants in the field - silly boys!

I watched the film in 3D, at times I thought the action was coming straight for my seat. I jumped out of it on numerous occasions - shock factor - awesome!

A star of the Jurassic Park series makes a cameo role towards the end of the film - let's hope we see him again in a sequel to this long overdue, self- indulgent dinosaur heaven.

After movie food and drinks in the new look Sun Hotel

After falling asleep in the cinema a few years ago I vowed never to eat and drink alcohol before seeing a film again. Hunger set in after watching Spy at the Vue cinema in Lancaster and with a 4pm finish it would have been rude not to have sought out a watering hole to sustain the hungry soul.

Heads, The Sun, tails, The Study Room; heads won.

We hadn't been to The Sun for a while, the menu had become a touch repetitive although everything we had was always top notch.

After purchasing the drinks we took the new slimline menus into the dining room, that was when I noticed the change in decor. It was, well, creamier after a make over. The lines were cleaner and two new areas of fixed seating opened out the room further. Well done Matt and the team!

The 10oz Club caught my eye on the menu and I chose the Rib Eye. It was an impressive hunk of beef that arrived adorned with a medley of mushrooms, one of those mini-chip baskets of Fries, a pot of salad and crunchy sweet corn salsa but no beer battered onion rings. I asked, they appeared - no damage done. The missus had the fish and chips - always done right.

The steak was cooked perfectly, the mushrooms were divine and even a rampant salad hater like me loved the sweet corn salsa, a great way to end the afternoon.

The rest of the menu looks great and I noticed they have kept the Deli Boards, make sure you check out the Specials; always worth a try.

For the cask ale fans there are ten available at the bar to wash down the food. Now then, what's the next film I can go to see?

I-Spy - The funniest film for a long time

When you've had nearly twenty belly laughs before the titles you know it's going to be a great film; that was definitely the case with Paul Feig's action comedy romp Spy.

Jude Law plays Bradley Fine, a super smooth agent working for the CIA who is controlled back at base by Susan Cooper played magnificently by Melissa McCarthy. She takes the film by the scruff of the neck and makes it all her own, ably assisted by Miranda Hart, yes, that tall funny looking comedian off the telly!

The film revolves around a search for a dastardly villain Raina acted brilliantly by the talented Aussie Rose Byrne. Unfortunately all the agents available are known to her so a volunteer is required. Up steps Susan Cooper who chases her around Europe distracted by spurned agent Rick Ford, well hammed-up by Jason Statham.

Don't worry too much about the plot though. The laughs come thick and fast with some of the funniest lines I've heard in a film for years. The star however is definitely Melissa McCarthy who has everything thrown at her in the film but comes out of every caper with flying colours. Look out for a great cameo role by American rapper 59 Cents, he looks like he really enjoys it! Be Aware though; there's a good amount of the "F word" throughout this film and not all of it from Mr Cents.

It's undoubtebly a case of Peter Kaye meets James Bond - let's hope they are making Spy 2?

Update to Rotunda Menu

English Lakes Hotels have now updated their online pages to reflect the new Burger menu as reported last week on this blog.