Jeff Stein

Just finished watching the 3 ties shown/streamed last weekend, The Waterhead/Leigh Miners match was the pick I thought and I enjoyed the BBC coverage, which I thought portrayed the community game very well and was joyous. Although for much of it, the Thatto Heath Orrell St James game appeared one sided, there was an exciting finish and I thought Kyle Amor was good as commentator, in a job I am not sure he has done before. The Army RAF did look more like groups of individuals than teams, but that is no surprise given how they are brought together. There was still some very entertaining pieces pf play.

Four of the trialists were Skolars players in their final League 1 campaign

Enjoyed this week at our local micropub a couple of beers on pump from breweries I have visited previously. Brew York Clementine Chameleon is a citrus infused version of a pale ale they brew and was very easy to drink. I usually find red ales very underwhelming but enjoyed Kernel Half Brick. It is made with rye and I am not sure whether that gave it the additional oomph that I was able to enjoy it.

The Fall Guy. I don't remember being a massive fan of the TV series back in the day and don't know how close the film version is to it. It's a bit of a mess, although it did have the odd amusing comedic moment. The performances of the lead actors, Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, are just odd. I was a bit surprised that it received decent reviews, although it does appear that didn't save it in the court of public opinion.

Elizabeth Cotten was born this day in 1893. Best known for the folk blues standard "Freight Train" written while she was in her early teens, she won a Grammy for a live album at the age of 90. This is her at only 72:

The second series of Dark Winds on Alibi has been very good. It's based on the Navajo police novels of Tiny Hillerman, which were huge in the past, but now appear to be mainly out of print. Big name producers too in the shape of Robert Redford and George RR Martin.

Not a death, but Gideon Coe's Radio 6 two part obituary programme is well worth catching on BBC Sounds for the music artists who departed in 2024.

Years ago I went to see it at the cinema at Marble Arch, which at the time had the largest screen in the country. It was extraordinary.

Just back from a brush with hyperthermia having watched my lot, Brentwood Town, concede an equaliser 5 minutes into injury time to Concord. We will still be well positioned on the table, but a fair few tough games ahead.

Once I have seen something once, I rarely want to spend the time watching it again. Last night I watched The Naked Gun for the first time in about 30 years, That was still funny too.

Saw an advert for the new Ford Capri. Looks ghastly and nothing like the 70s icon

I went to the cinema yesterday in London for the first time in 25 years. As a Christmas present, I took Mrs Stein to see the Thai Oscars submission for best foreign language film "How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies". I am not sure why the title chosen is so unwieldy as the Thai title when translated is Grandma's Grandchild. Strangely the title of the other big hit in Thailand this year has also had its name change for its western release from Anong, the name of one of the female characters, to My Boo. Not sure how that helped, but it can be found on Netflix and is well worth looking out. It's a romcom with ghosts. How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies is a family drama surrounding the manoeuvrings of the children and grandson of a sino-thai matriarch after she is diagnosed with terminal cancer. If that sounds downbeat, it isn't and in places is very funny. However, by the end, it is a real tearjerker. There was quite a lot of obvious blubbing going on in the cinema, including from yours truly. The script is great and the portrayal of the way a family, which on the face of it is integrated into Thai life, but retains culture from its Chinese forebears is interesting. The acting is note perfect and a particular shout out goes to the 79 year old lady who plays the Grandmother, who had never acted before. I am still welling up thinking about the film a day on. Very highly recommended.

Rugby league remains my first love, but with the degradation of the club I support and the general state of the game in the south, I find myself watching non-league football far more. I used to follow a football league team (Millwall) but stopped going to games, because it was often quite an unpleasant experience (for obvious reasons). I don't pay any attention to the premier league simply because I have enough interests as it is, although I did stop listening to radio 5 and watching MotD because I found the endless guff talked about it grating. I follow an Isthmian North team. When I started I made it a rule just to go to the games for entertainment and not pay any attention to anything around it. At times I have not even known where we are on the league table. Generally the games have plenty of goals and I can enjoy a pint and a chat. Also, as it is rare for an away game to be any distance away, I can go to places in Essex and the adjacent counties that I probably would not visit otherwise.

There is an Ilford playing in the Essex Senior League. Not sure if they are related.

Drinking a new style on me: a White Stout. This one is brewed by Nethergate, a Brewery from Sudbury on the Essex Suffolk border. It is a real ale, but, when poured, looks like a Lager (Helles). Quite velvety with strong vanilla notes. It's certainly different.

Not sure about the recently ended Return to Paradise. It is quite stilted in comparison to Death in Paradise and Beyond Paradise. The main characters are either too weird or too bland. Still it looks like it is being given a second series

Mrs Stein and I did a city break to Bath recently. It is highly recommended, not just for the Roman and Georgian sights (and the new modern spa is great too), but also because it is a good beer town. There are plenty of pubs and quite a few listed in the Good Beer Guide. We stayed literally across the road from one and there was another further up the road. It was pretty busy and that was in Autumn so I imagine it could be pretty tiresome in high season. Best pint of the trip was Bath Gem (and also the most expensive - not sure if that is a coincidence) in The Salamander. Not sure I have ever drunk in a pub with that name. Apparently it's one of the older ones in Bath and is quite small. Bath is now brewed in Bristol, but Gem is a very refreshing pint and I think is reasonably easy to find ion bottle form (I have good memories of it from the Bristol Novotel where I stayed once for the magic which was held in Cardiff). Worst pint was in The King of Wessex, a Wetherspoons. The only interesting pint went off halfway through, but the barman still offered me that half. Err no thanks. He showed me he hadn't really been trained pouring a pint of Sharps Sea Fury, which was on. Really we were there for the food and made our excuses and left after the meal. the place was pretty dirty. Fortunately the Bath Brew House was just down the road. The brewery can be seen on the ground floor just inside the front door before you arrive at the substantial bar. As an establishment it probably wasn't aimed at people of the age of Mrs Stein and myself, giving off the vibes of and containing furniture from a 1990 student common room. However, the staff were very welcoming, as they were throughout pubs in Bath. I had a stout, pale ale and best bitter, all brewed on the premises and very good. The pub in which we spent most time was The Raven, opposite our hotel. I guess it is also pretty old with a rather ramshackle layout. On the two bars there were a good range of beers, both on pump and tap, from local breweries, such as Frome and Electric Bear. Mrs Stein had St Austell Korev lager (Korev is Cornish for beer apparently) which was much better than the usual industrial bilge. They also had on Brennans Stout, which is being produced in partnership with Theakstons as one of the periodic supposed challenges to Guinness. No chance; it was horribly bland. Last pub of the trip was the Huntsman, which was close to the station and has good views of the river, gardens and the abbey (and a certain stadium which shouldn't be mentioned). It is a Fullers pub, but is nice looking with very friendly staff. Usual Fullers range, but the Oliver's Island and Hophead Darkstar were fine. All in all, Bath is definitely worth a visit for the history, but is definitely improved by an excellent beer offering.

Watched Back to the Future tonight for the first time since it came out. Enjoyed it and didn't feel it had particularly dated, except for the Huey Lewis and the News tunes on the soundtrack. I used to like them back in the day and have a couple of their LPs somewhere, but couldn't imagine putting them on now

Dear Santa on Paramount +. Last Christmas movie of the year. I see it has got bad reviews, but all Farrelly Brothers films get these. I enjoyed it and it gave Jack Black his best role for years, as a demon summoned when a dyslexic child writes a letter to Dear Satan instead of Dear Santa, There's a fun cameo by Ben Stiller too.

Thoroughly enjoyed the Christmas special this year. Huge improvement on the Goblin nonsense last year. Particularly liked the sequence where the Doctor was forced to wait a year in the London hotel. As usual the plot didn't make much logical sense, but it was joyful and humane.

Loved Wallace and Gromit too. Great way to end Christmas Day

That Christmas on Netflix. Co-written by Richard Curtis and it shows. Usual Curtis themes only in animation. Amused to see clips of Love Actually whenever a child character mentions being forced to watch a boring old Christmas movie and Shaun the Sheep has a cameo if you really carefully watch. Really nothing special but amiable enough company while digesting a large turkey lunch

Christmas is the season to make the perpetually angry annoyed on social media but if this doesn't move you, you must have a hole in your soul

Had no idea Mansfield was still brewed. Went to Lincoln just shy of 30 years ago and every second pub seemed to be tied to Mansfield. Wretched stuff. I have much better memories of Ringwood from about the same time when I was doing postgrad in Bournemouth. They only had three tied pubs, but one was in Westbourne close to a mate's place so regularly went there. Ringwood was independent then and very good. i have generally avoided it since it got caught up in the Marstons' tour of destruction. Always liked Banks' Mild and Jennings as well