I’d been waiting to see 500 Days of Summer for a couple of months before it eventually came out, after I saw a trailer for it online. So a couple of weeks ago (sorry!) I headed off to see it.

I was a bit disappointed when I came out. And a bit sad. It’s not that it isn’t a good film – it’s imaginative and nicely shot, and the story is strong, but it was just a bit depressing. I guess I kind of saw a lot of myself in the male character in the film, (the party sequence was in particular mortifyingly familiar), and I kind of think the same way as him. The film ends up by almost demonstrating that thinking like this is not worthwhile.

So it was kinda sad. I don’t think I’ll be buying it on DVD. That’s not to say you won’t like it though!

PS. I TOTALLY fancied Zoeey Deschanel in it.

I really wanna go and see 500 Days of Summer when it comes out. I think I probably act a bit like the guy in it, and I totally fancy the girl in it too. And she seems like the kind of girl I always fall for. So all round good reasons to go and see it. It’s had mixed reviews, but the majority seem favourable.

I am a bit concerned though that it might be a bit of a ladies’ film, but it doesn’t seem too much like it. Anyways, if any ladies want to visit the cinema with me to see it, feel free to drop me a line! The movie’s out on the 2nd of September in the UK.

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My latest series – Gary & Danielle’s Northern Exposure – is now available on the iPlayer – programme 1 went out last week, and I was really pleased with the feedback. The programme seems to be on series catch-up so will be available on the iPlayer until a week after all six episodes have transmitted. Hopefully it’ll inspire people to go out and do something different in Northern Ireland this summer (if the rain stops, boo!)

The show’s going out at 19.30 on Fridays, with a repeat at around 22.20 on Sundays on BBC One Northern Ireland. If you’re in the UK, you can catch BBC One NI on channel 973 on Sky Digital and channel 863 on Virgin Media.

TV really sucks at the minute for me! Prison Break*, The Wire and The Shield have all finished for good, leaving me with a dearth of season passes on my Tivo. Anyone got any ideas for what could replace them in my televisual viewing? At the moment I’m starting to get into True Blood which looks pretty promising, but that’s only on once a week!

Dexter is another of my faves, so I’m looking forward to Season 4 which starts in the US in September. If you’re a Dexter fan, check out the Season 4 preview here.

* I haven’t actually watched the last seven episodes of Prison Break yet, so no spoilers please!

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So Northern Exposure starts filming next week. You have one more week to suggest where Gary & Danielle can visit on their trip to Northern Ireland!

To be honest, I can’t wait for filming, I feel like I haven’t been out on the road in ages, and although it’s really long hours, it is fun. We’re filming two episodes next week, and then having a two week break, and then out for a couple of weekends after that. If you see us out and about, grab a photo, and upload it at our new Flickr group. We’ll be taking the best images and putting them on the new Northern Exposure website which will launch the week after next. You can also get updates on how filming’s going from our Twitter feed.

With the worst timing possible, I’m off to Dallas on Thursday – the day after we finish our first shoot. So I’m kinda stressed this weekend, getting everything ready to go for filming, and a five day trip to the US. It’s bad timing to take leave, but with a new series commissioned for the autumn, if I don’t start taking some leave, I’m not gonna get any taken before the end of the holiday year!

Come and say hi if you see us filming – it’ll be manic as always but I’m excited about it!

I can’t really say anything about it yet, but we start going into pre-production in September. All I’ll say is I’m hoping it will be wildly popular, and it is a kind of drama, something I’ve never done before.

Anyways, one of my appraisal objectives this year was to get two series commissioned. I’m only have way through the year and have done it. Shame we’re not going to get any bonuses at all this year GRRRRR!

It’s a bit like a male version of Freaky Friday. Middle aged man finds out one day that he has become 17 again, and at school with his son and daughter. Actually, I quite enjoyed it, yeah there were a couple of cheesy moments, but if you fancy going to see a relatively entertaining film that you don’t have to think about, it’s probably a good choice.

Lots of Zac fans were in the cinema, but what was weird was four people sitting beside me were eating Chinese food in the cinema. 1. How did they manage to get it in, and 2. How come it didn’t smell? No idea.

The Sunday film (my choice) was Let the Right One In. It’s a film I’ve wanted to see for ages, and it didn’t disappoint. It’s about two Swedish kids in the 70s, one of whom is a vampire. It’s very different from your normal vampire movie – there’s not much blood and gore, and the film also concentrates on the relationship between the young boy and girl.

It was a bit long to be honest, and the cinematography wasn’t as stunning as I’d expect given the bleak Swedish setting, but I would watch it again, and will probably buy the DVD. Once the version with the proper subtitles has been released (it’s been causing a bit of a storm Stateside).

It’s been pretty hectic recently with me, which is why I haven’t been posting that muc h. Also I haven’t found that much intersting stuff going on recently out on the ole’ World Wide Web.

Anyways, it’s been hectic as I prepared for the launch of my new series, which I’ll be working on from now until the end of August. It’s the return of Northern Exposure, which was presented last year by Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and his wife Jackie. It did well for us ratings wise, so it was re-commissioned, and this year we’ve got two new presenters – Gary Lineker (Match of the Day presenter and ex England internationalist) and his fiancee, Danielle Bux (soon to be appearing in Hell’s Kitchen).

Northern Exposure is about introducing two celebs to Northern Ireland and getting them to visit places suggested by members of the public. The aim is really to get viewers to go out at the weekend and discover someplace new. So the website is open for suggestions (suggest something here!) and the production team have started researching their own locations.

Seven weeks til we start fimling – I’m sure that will go very, very quickly!

I am totally excited about seeing this movie. It’s a Swedish vampire film and has been getting great reviews, making it all the more annoying that it was actually on at the Belfast Film Festival on Saturday night, and I only found out about it yesterday.

I really hope it will be showing at a cinema here – it’s out in the UK on April 10th. If anyone fancies going to see it with me let me know! Trailer here.

Last week (bear with me, catching up!) I helped out at Do You Remember The First Time? A gig organised by Belfast City Council and broadcast live by ATL and recorded for TV (being broadcast this Tuesday, details at the end of the post).

The gig was held to celebrate the re-opening of the Ulster Hall after a two year refurbishment. Put together by the ATL team, each act performed two songs – one of their own, and one a cover from a band that they had seen play at the Ulster Hall in the past. Acts were all local, including Kowalski, Panama Kings, Lowly Knights (attractive girls included), Ash, and a surprise appearance from Snow Patrol. Unfortunately my favourite local band, General Fiasco, were missing from the line-up.

It was a great night really – I was just looking after some of the bands, making sure they were where they needed to be when they needed to be, so I managed to catch quite a lot of the concert, and it should be well worth viewing as well – the footage does look great. The Ulster Hall has definitely benefited from a make-over as well. Although you won’t notice much of a difference in the hall, the entrance is much nicer, as are the backstage areas (although they are still being finished by the look of things).

At the end of the night, all the acts got on stage for a performance of “Teenage Kicks” which with pyrotechnics and paper cannons was a bit like some weird X-Factor final!

After the gig of course, came the drinks – first in the Ulster Hall, then the Stiff Kitten (as the shutters were coming down and the floor was being hosed in disinfectant) and then the Holiday Inn bar. I left about half four in the morning I think.

Fun night though. ‘A’ was there as well, but I managed to avoid tipsy texting or anything like that. Result!

You can catch the concert “ATL – Live At The Hall” on BBC Two Northern Ireland at 9pm on St Patrick’s Day (Tuesday the 17th of March). If it’s still available on the iPlayer, you should be able to find a link to it on this page.