Queen's Christmas message 2013

The Queen has given her annual Christmas message.  Video of behind the scenes at Prince George of Cambridge's christening is included, which is lovely.

The Queen's message of service, duty, and love for others is really important to me.

I look forward to many more Christmas messages by HM.

Shortland Street - Cliffhanger Clue # 16

I must have eaten way too much Christmas pudding, and it's turned my brain to mush, because I have no idea what clue 16 means!

I wonder it is has anything to do with clue 11 which also has words highlighted on a product that could save lives?

Both have evil in them though.  Josh maybe?

Shortland Street - Cliffhanger Clue # 15

TK lives!

It is a Merry Christmas indeed!

Shortland Street - Cliffhanger Clue # 14

Ok, so some of the clues are not true according to the internal police memo that makes up Clue 14.

You would think the day before Christmas they'd throw us a bone!

No, no they didn't.

Maybe tomorrow on Christmas Day we'll get a hint....?!

Shortland Street - Cliffhanger Clue # 13

It's another part of that official report about Josh.

Fans on the Shorty site are trying to work out what it says.  It looks like other parts will make up other clues as we go along.

Right now 13 January 2014 seems a really long way away!!!

Shortland Street - Cliffhanger Clue # 11 & 12

Another double header tonight.  Christmas preparation has taken over the household this weekend!

Clue 11 is a medical product with some words highlighted.  Fans on the website think the letters rearranged spell "Kylie Survives".

Another fan thinks the words highlighted relate to characters:

Evil - Josh dies
Keys - Chris or Rachel die (they hold the keys)
Virus - Brooke dies due to an infection after her transplant

Clue 12 is a plan of the batch with the suspected bomb sight, and where police think people were when the bomb went off.

Harry was a surprise to me.  I went back and watched the end a couple of times and think it must of been him behind TK when TK went to find Roimata.

Here is the cliffhanger episode so you can watch for yourself and try and work out who was where.

transplant)

Cambridge family coming to New Zealand

Rumours of William bring Katherine and baby George to New Zealand next year have been confirmed by the Palace.

Still doubt over the baby coming according to the Daily Mail, but I can't imagine they'll want to leave him behind on the other side of the world.

Really looking forward to seeing the Cambridge family in New Zealand in April new year.

Shortland Street - Cliffhanger Clue # 10

Clue 10 is audio of one side of a telephone conversation at the police station.

The police officer mentions victims - plural.  Really?  Josh and one other maybe?

Anyway, a clever fan call Sam Fredericks has done some amazing ICT work and thinks they know what the person on the other end of the phone was saying.

Here's their transcript:

Sam Fredericks                     •         13 hours ago     

To days clue at a glance is one side of a phone conversation by Inspector Carol Price.

On further analysis of the audio file, I found that the other side of the call is in reverse.

It's a return call to Bruce Palmer.

After 90 mins i have managed to clean up the recording and have transcribed the call as best i can.

--------------
Call Begins
--------------

Bruce: HI Bruce Palmer Speaking.

Carol: Good Afternoon Sir.

Bruce: Hi How Are you.

Carol: Fine Thank you, i am returning your call about the bomb case.

Bruce: where are we at with that?

Carol: Well unfortunately it is as bad as you guessed, we are in a lot of trouble here,the reporters have been snooping around.

Bruce: You are kidding me.

Carol: I believe the Media have got their hands on evidence and items central to the investigation, which no doubt will be all over the headlines tomorrow.

Bruce: who's mistake was that, Jesus Christ.

Carol: I agree its a nightmare.

Bruce: Do you know how it got out?

Carol: yes i have spoken to all key personal and it has been suggested that we immediately interview members in the department to try and trace the origins of the leak, but I'm afraid we are already to late

Bruce: what do they have?

Carol: if i'm right it will be the documents and items we've been concentrating our main efforts around

Bruce: .... Debriefing

Carol : Don't worry we can contain this story to a degree, they still won't have the correct victims list, not before all the families have been notified

Bruce: I'll talk to some of my contacts and lets see if we can cross paths

Carol : yes sir i understand, i'll be in touch first thing tomorrow.

------------------
END OF CALL

------------------

Here is the clean audio file for comparison http://goo.gl/pEVkyg

Who's Who at the Queen's Buck House Christmas lunch

The Daily Mail has a series of pictures of the members of the extended royal family who attended the Queen's Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace overnight our time.

 HM Elizabeth II

 HRH Prince of Wales

 HRH Duchess of Cornwell

 TRH Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

 HRH The Princess Royal

 Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Lawrence 

 Peter Phillips

 Autumn Phillips

 HRH Duke of York

 HRH Princess Beatrice of York

 HRH Earl of Wessex

 Viscount Linley

 Lady Sarah Chatto

 Viscountess Linley

 HRH Duchess of Kent

 Lady Helen Taylor

 TRH Prince and Princess Michael of Kent

Lady Gabriella Windsor

Shortland Street - Cliffhanger Clue # 8 & 9

I forgot to post last night, so I'm doing double duty tonight.

Clue 8 is official court paper work about Josh, and Clue 9 is a recording of a man, which sounds like Josh.

Some of the fans writing on the Shortland Street home page think the recording says:

"The others won't understand why I did it. But Bella will know I did it to protect her and I will always love her" 

Creepy.

Maud Windsor is christened at St James's Palace

The Daily Mail are making a big deal out of the fact Lord Freddie Windsor's daughter Maud was christened in the same gown, and in the same place, as Prince George of Cambridge.

The gown isn't a big deal - all the royal kids wear it.  Maud's Grandfather (Prince Michael of Kent) is the Grandson of a King (George V), so she's a likely candidate to wear the gown.

The venue is a bit more interesting, but seems a logical choice when you think about it.  The extended Royal family members are all in town for the Christmas lunch hosted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace, which I think is tonight our time.

I hope we get to see some pictures of who from the extended family attends the lunch.

The close family will be at Sandringham House in Norfolk for Christmas, including William, Katherine and George according to British media reports.  I'm sure they'll also spend time with Katherine's family.  He's going to be one spoilt baby this Christmas - just as all new babies are that first Christmas.

How cute is that bonnet?!

Shortland Street - Cliffhanger Clue # 7

Two videos.

Two different videos.

How many changes can I spot in Clue 7 from the Shorty Cliffhanger? Let's see:

• Rachel looking outside the car in video 1, and then inside the car in video 2;
• Feathers on floor of the room when the coffin comes in in video 2, but not in video 1;
• TK looks at the coffin and then the ground in video 1, and only looks at the coffin in video 2;
• The rose falls off the coffin in two, in one its a rose that falls to the ground and;
• Emma moves away from the railing in one, but stays in two.

Interesting that Roimata and Chris and Josh seem to be doing the same thing in both.

Half change, half stay the same.

I'm not sure if this helps me any!

The feathers on the ground followed by TK seems to stand out for me, not sure why though. A cultural thing maybe?

Let's hope the next clue is more helpful, but I doubt it this early in.

Shortland Street - Cliffhanger Clue # 6

Coming up to nearly a week since the cliffhanger ending to Shorty for 2013, and the clues keep coming.

Clue 6 is an evidence report from Ferndale police identifying belongings of six people.

What I find most interesting is how detailed the comments sections are for each clue.  There are people out there putting a lot of thought into what happened, who makes it, and who doesn't.

Greek King goes home?

Hello Magazine is reporting the Greek King and Queen have sold their London home and moved back to Greece to live.

The King was exiled in 1967 and has lived and worked mostly London ever since.  He is close to his British royal relatives, especially Prince Charles.

They are well connected with the British and European royal families. The King's elder sister is married the King of Spain, and the Greek Queen's elder sister is the Queen of Denmark.  And of course Prince Philip is a member of the Greek Royal family.

Constantine and Anne-Marie's youngest son, Prince Nikolaos, and his wife moved to Athens two months ago, and now is seems the ex-King and Queen have followed suit.

The Greeks won't want to restore the Crown as a result of the move - that ship has well and truly sailed - but it's nice the King will get to live out his days at home.

Shortland Street - Cliffhanger Clue # 5

A neighbour has put photos on Facebook this morning showing some of the aftermath of the explosion at the Warner bach.

Clue 5 is another clever use of social media / technology by TVNZ.

It look like the material items are a Santa hat and a towel.  This points to Kylie's boyfriend Nate Clark who was Santa.  There were towels everywhere at the bach, so that doesn't help much.

Shortland Street - Cliffhanger Clue # 4

What are they trying to do to us?!

Clue 4 today is a news story about the explosion at the beach.

An eyewitness claims to have seen 4 or 5 body bags!

Really?! More than one dies?! OMG!

One I can cope with, but 5 deaths?  I don't think so Shorty!!!

What if Josh was the only one to survive?  How unfair would that be?!

And who is Paul Rimmer?!

Shortland Street - Cliffhanger Clue # 3

Today's clue is the minute long promo first seen straight after the cliffhanger finished on Wednesday night, so it tells us nothing new sadly.

I do like the song that plays underneath the pictures, but I'm not sure what it's called or who it's by.

I hope tomorrow's clue shows new material.

Shortland Street - Cliffhanger Clue # 2

A second clue has been revealed to help us work out who dies on Shorty.

It's an exchange of texts between Sarah and TK.  Sarah is trying to get through to TK, but can't raise him.

He was very close to the bomb when it went off.  Sarah and Tillie are in the USA and can't get through to find out what's going on back in New Zealand.

Shortland Street - Cliffhanger Clue # 1

Last night's cliffhanger episode of Shorty was followed by a promo saying one of 6 characters doesn't survive - but we don't find out who until 13 January.

So to keep us thinking about the show over the break, TVNZ also started a website which reveals a clue a day to help us work out who dies.

The first clue is an audio recording of a 111 call.  It sounds like Bella.

Another classic Shorty cliffhanger "rocks" the house

There was a bomb.  Josh set it.  Someone is going to die.

It sounded like another exciting Shorty cliffhanger.  In fact it was more shocking than I thought it would be. It was so real looking. It was a true Shorty Shocker.

The promo at the end showed 6 characters.  One of them isn't going to make it.  But who?

If Chris lives, will the accident turn him back into the Chris he used to be?

If Rachel lives, will she marry Chris?

If Roimata and TK make it, will they get back together?

Emma had her heart broken by Dallas, she deserves better.

And as for Josh - what a way to go out if it's him - blown up by the bomb he set.  Will he get off that easy?

Shortland Street have a clue a day over the Christmas Break to help work out who it is that dies.

The first clue tonight is an emergency call by a woman.  It sounds like Bella.

I'll be back tomorrow to listen to the next clue!

And I can't wait until 13 January to see what happens!

The Days of Anna Madrigal to become a movie?

The Guardian newspaper has an interview with Olympia Dukakis hinting that Armistead Maupin's soon to be released 9th book in the Tales of the City series, could be made into a movie.

And Olympia would jump at the chance to bring Anna back to life.

I can't wait for the book to be released in the new year, and a movie would be wonderful to see.  The first three movies were so well made. Making the rest - or even one more - would be a dream come true!

Queen Elizabeth II has made a statement on the passing of Nelson Mandela

ISSUED BY THE PRESS SECRETARY TO THE QUEEN

The Queen was deeply saddened to learn of the death of Nelson Mandela last night. He worked tirelessly for the good of his country, and his legacy is the peaceful South Africa we see today.

Her Majesty remembers with great warmth her meetings with Mr. Mandela and sends her sincere condolences to his family and the people of South Africa at this very sad time.

ELIZABETH R

Queens statement on passing of Nelson Mandela