Calendar Girls and The 1975 in one crazy weekend – Cheryl Gibbs

The reality actually isn’t like that at all – we genuinely do spend the majority of the time at home and quite frankly we love it that way.

We shut the door, light some candles and snuggle in front of the TV with a good movie (or series), a Chinese and if we’ve worked out enough that week a nice bottle of sauvignon blanc (Chilean, preferably, but we’ll accept New Zealand).

However, in complete contrast to what I’ve just said last weekend we didn’t stop and this week we’ve been paying the price for it. When you hit your mid-thirties it starts catching up with you.

Last Friday we went to the O2 in London to watch the band, The 1975.

I knew some of their more commercial tracks, but didn’t really have any expectations as I didn’t really know them that well but I went willingly along for Matt who is a big fan.

We got there in plenty of time, parked up and went for dinner at the O2 which was really nice.

Because we’re O2 customers we were allowed in the venue’s Blue Room where we had a couple of drinks before heading into the gig. 

I was absolutely blown away by them – they were fantastic and it wasn’t just Matt dancing to every tune.

I knew most of the songs and those that I didn’t know I just danced along to anyway because their set was so impressive – such raw talent and it was such an unexpectedly good night.

We got in at 1am and were both so pumped by the night that we didn’t sleep that well.

The next day I headed to the Mayflower in Southampton for a girly trip to Calendar Girls and we started as we meant to go on…with drinkies on the train made possible by my classy purchase of plastic champagne flutes.

We were like a bunch of kids and god knows what people thought of us, but girls will be girls…it was a genuinely brilliant weekend and on Sunday we sat back and reflected on what was a superb weekend…and finally put our feet up. 

Boobs and death make for a surprisingly uplifting show

I didn’t expect to like Calendar Girls as much as I did. I don’t know why because I quite liked the film but it wasn’t one of those shows where I thought ‘I must go and watch this’.  

We had such a great time at the Mayflower and while I wouldn’t say the show was the best one I’ve ever seen I thought the storytelling and emotion that was put into every scene was admirable.

Given that so much of the story is about fun and humour the underlying theme about one of the characters’ husband’s passing and what her friends do to commemorate him was pretty special.

I cried – of course. It’s worth watching if you don’t mind seeing naked boobies and crying at the same time!

It’s a joke that Bradley Cooper missed out on the Best Actor nod

I told you last week how amazing I think Lady GaGa and Bradley Cooper’s movie A Star is Born is. I’m delighted it is up for eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. 

GaGa apparently burst into tears when her manager told her that she’s up for Best Actress.

Bradley, who stars as the leading man and directed it, isn’t up for any nominations for himself which is an absolute joke.

His is the stand-out performance of the movie, without question.

Given that it was his directorial debut I’d be surprised if he could top it for its raw emotion and unbelievable storytelling.

It’s a must-watch!