Welcome to the new look blog, brought to you by beehiiv.

In this week's edition, we have one new and a couple of old film reviews, some thoughts on the TV series The Traitors now that it's over and some Christmas themed meals and recipes.

Film

'Tis the season for Christmas films and high up on my list has always been Home Alone. Released 32 years ago and after what must be 20+ viewings, it still stands up strong with some good laughs. Watching now, I spent a considerable amount of time shouting at the screen how the bandits would likely die from the various booby traps, let alone get back up and carry on chasing Kevin.

We also watched Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. I'd probably only seen this once or twice before, but it's a decent sequel and made for a good Christmas double bill. I'd completely forgotten the traps set in this film take place in a separate house and was fully expecting Harry and Marv to be chasing Kevin through the toy store. That would have been more entertaining!

Fun fact: My mum would have called me Kevin if my dad hadn't put a stop to that madness.

In my last post I talked about my new found obsession with The Traitors. The finale has since been and gone and judging by the amount of people talking about it and even a news article the next morning on the BBC showing 'the moment the Traitors winner is revealed', I'd say it was a smash hit and fully expect future series, hosted by the brilliant Clauds.

I can say with certainty that I'll be one of the first to tune in if this does happen, but must admit the last couple of episodes were disappointing. I understand that it's primarily a TV show and therefore in a game with an outcome the producers aren't able to predict from the offset, certain mechanics must be used to ensure it a) hits the intended number of episodes and b) maximises the drama. Even though I won't name the ultimate winner (or winners), if you're still intending to watch, then skip the next two paragraphs.

My first gripe is that in the party game of Traitors (Mafia / Werewolves), the game should have been over before we even got to the final day. With five contestants left in the game after the final banishment, the Traitors would have ordinarily been allowed to murder overnight, leaving an equal number of Faithful and Traitors in the game and therefore a default win for the Traitors. In order to keep the game competitive the rules were changed to give the Faithful a fighting chance. Don't try to tell me this would have happened if the Faithful were on the brink of victory.

Secondly, in the party game version if any player on the Traitors team successfully wins the game, all Traitors celebrate, regardless of whether they are still actively playing. In a format where money is involved with no share going to banished or murdered players, there is no incentive for the Traitors to work together. It certainly creates chaos and drama, but less strategy. Perhaps a split of the prize pool should go to any banished traitors, should their team ultimately succeed. Food for thought for Series 2.

I hadn't been back into a cinema since early 2020 but thought I'd better see Avatar: The Way of Water on the big screen. I remember seeing the original in 3D (my first 3D film experience) and being absolutely blown away with how incredible it looked, despite the glasses not fitting over my own and coming away with a headache. I've tried 3D films several times since then and concluded they aren't for me. So with a day off work and several hours to kill between a morning dentist appointment and an evening Christmas party, I popped along to a cinema for a 2D viewing.

As you might expect, it looks even more incredible than its original, particularly the underwater scenes. The characters are forced to relocate to the reef islands on Pandora and so must learn to navigate the waters in new ways and it's truly astonishing at times just how immersive it feels.

The problems come down to three things: Length, characters and message.

• I knew it was going to be a long one, but once you include the pre-film adverts and trailers I was released after close to 4 hours, late for the Christmas party. Some might argue poor planning on my part, others would give James Cameron a stern word.

• The characters are two-dimensional (excuse the pun). We have the strict leader and father, the emotional yet fierce mother and four children each blessed with a single personality trait (kooky, baby, trouble maker, forgettable/expendable) who fulfill their character arcs to their limited potential. I'm being harsh, but with such a long film, more time could have been spent rounding them out.

• The message feels confusing. I spent most of the film hating every human (I think that's the point) but even at the end it ultimately felt hopeless for the innocent indigenous islanders as the relentless humans will continue their colonising missions.

Rating: 5.5/10

Food

In an attempt to minimise the stress of cooking for the family on Christmas day, we went out for a meal the night before to a Turkish restaurant, Little Istanbul. I've been to this restaurant a number of times now and the food is consistently good so my expectations were high.

We shared a hot meze and cold meze platter which was very tasty, although perhaps a little small for five.

We needn't have worried though as the mains were all huge. Armed with the knowledge of the forthcoming lamb I was planning to roast on Christmas day, I went for the chicken Ali Nazik (grilled chicken, served with aubergine, yogurt and garlic) with rice and salad on the side. It was delicious but I couldn't quite finish it all.

It feels inevitable that cooking Christmas lunch will result in some combination of stress, rage, irritation and panic. This year we took to my ever-trusty friend Excel and planned out the whole process, to know exactly what needed to happen at each minute leading up to the meal. It wasn't quite cocktails on a tropical island levels of tranquility, but we managed to stay relatively calm and everything turned out great!

A simple family style starter of freshly baked bread, smoked salmon, cucumber, avocado and roasted peppers meant minimal prep and allowed us to focus on the main. For this we had meat and veggie options (roast lamb and some sort of nut roast filo pastry thing) along with roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, brussel sprouts, pigs in blankets, stuffing and gravy.

For the lamb I followed Jamie Oliver's leg of lamb recipe which came out really well. For the potatoes and parsnips I cooked a mixture of fresh rosemary, minced garlic and vegetable oil in the oven for 10 minutes and then poured onto both just before going into the oven. This works well to ensure an even coverage. The carrots had a tiny bit of the hot oil, along with some honey and the brussels were actually done in the microwave; after watching Sorted Food's microwave vs oven cooking challenge (link below) they couldn't tell the difference in taste!

Dessert was provided by my mum and aunt with my mum's legendary homemade chocolate yule log and a yummy cheesecake.

Sign Off

I hope you've had a lovely Christmas, some time to relax and be with those closest to you. Happy New Year and I look forward to continuing the blog in 2023.

If you have any feedback, please get in touch and I hope to see you again for next week’s newsletter.

Thanks for reading and have a great week.

Adam