I Am Only Making 2 Posts Today,

as one is a bit big, 

 and I have an appointment at Kings College Hospital, for a tooth extraction, which was too near my sinus for my local dentist to attempt after the tooth snapped, so on to today, and what a day! the squirrel has learnt that there are a few nuts left after the birds have been,

 so he told his friend,

 the crow seeing the squirrels called back,

 which did not seem to phase any of them out,

 then word got out to another squirrel,

 and not to be left out one of the magpies called in,

 meanwhile upstairs bubbly number 4 was was put in the refrigerator for this evening,

 next we were out,  

 passing the gas repair in the road,  

 to the leaf covered path to the bus stop,

 arriving in Bromley, 

it was time for lunch, in Miso,

 we started with prawn crackers,

 and tempura prawns and vegetables, 

 'Cheers!',

 well double 'Cheers!', as the second glass arrived a lot quicker than the first,

 and for Diana,

 a noodle dish, now full,

 we then walked to The Glades, we were gong to buy some corduroy trousers for myself, the summer lightweight ones I have from Thailand are not warm, to say the least, inside the Christmas theme in full swing,

 this wall was decorated in small mirror discs, and the sign did say 'Touch Me',

a quick pose from Diana,

 and a look down to the Christmas Express,

 shopping over and a quick look at the tree,

 bus back to the park, looking at the Christmas tree in the Foxgrove Lodge garden,

 in the side garden,

 a wicker Rudolph, shopping dropped off, a quick sit down,

 and we were out again, to the station,

 I was on a mystery tour, 

 for a Christmas present for myself Diana had bought two seats at a concert,

 at the Wembley Arena,

 but no clue as to what we were going to watch,

 I had never been here before,

so I had to have a pose,

 so it was all new to me,

 but Diana had been here before,

 when the girls went to the GOT7 concert in October,

 nearly there, 

 then oh my Lord! the queue was hundreds of yards long, but Diana had a cunning plan, she showed our tickets to one of the security guards, who took us to a door where where no one was waiting and let us straight in!

 and here we were, lovely cushioned seats, with a great view of the stage, and I now knew what we were going to see, my favourite stop motion animation with the multi talented Danny Elfman providing the music, for A Nightmare Before Christmas, played by a live orchestra,

I could not believe it, just a few days ago I was going to watch the film again, having watched it several times before, for myself it is that good, 

 and here I am gong to watch the movie with a live orchestra!

 the arena was still fairly empty, so a quick rundown on Danny Elfman whose music I like so much, especially in tonight's performance, here is a part of a post I made about him some time before, below are most of the films and television series he has written the music score for, I think you will be surprised at the number of times you have listened to him without 

realising it, so here goes,

Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) Beetlejuice (1988) Batman (1989 Edward Scissorhands (1990) Batman Returns (1992) The Nightmare Before Christmas Mars Attacks! (1996) Sleepy Hollow (1999) Planet of the Apes (2001) Big Fish (2003) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) Forbidden Zone (Richard Elfman, 1980) Weird Science (John Hughes, 1985) Back to School, (Alan Metter, 1986) Wisdom (Emilio Estevez, Robert Wise, 1986) Big Top Pee-wee (Randal Kleiser, 1988) Midnight Run (Martin Brest, 1988) Scrooged (Richard Donner, 1988) Darkman (Sam Raimi, 1990) Dick Tracy (Warren Beatty, 1990) Nightbreed (Clive Barker, 1990) Army of Darkness (Sam Raimi, 1993) Sommersby (Jon Amiel, 1993) Black Beauty (Caroline Thompson, 1994) Dolores Claiborne (Taylor Hackford, 1995) Dead Presidents (Hughes Brothers, 1995) To Die For (Gus Van Sant, 1995) The Frighteners (Peter Jackson, 1996) Freeway (Matthew Bright, 1996) Mission: Impossible (Brian De Palma, 1996) Good Will Hunting (Gus Van Sant, 1997) Men in Black (Barry Sonnenfeld, 1997) A Simple Plan (Sam Raimi, 1998) Instinct (Jon Turteltaub, 1999) Proof of Life (Taylor Hackford, 1999) The Family Man (Brett Ratner, 2000) Chicago (Rob Marshall, 2002) Men in Black II (Barry Sonnenfeld, 2002) Spider-Man (Sam Raimi, 2002) Red Dragon (Brett Ratner, 2002) Hulk (Ang Lee, 2003) Spider-Man 2 (Sam Raimi, 2004) Deep Sea 3D (Howard Hall, 2006) Nacho Libre (Jared Hess, 2006) Charlotte's Web (Gary Winick, 2006) Meet the Robinsons (Steve Anderson, 2007) The Kingdom (Peter Berg, 2007) Spider-Man 3 (Sam Raimi, 2007) Standard Operating Procedure (Errol Morris, 2008) Wanted (Timur Bekmambetov, 2008) Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Guillermo del Toro, 2008) Milk (Gus Van Sant, 2008) The Wolf Man (2009 film) (Joe Johnston, 2009)

television series, including:

Pee-wee's Playhouse (some episodes) (1986) Sledge Hammer! (1986) The Simpsons (1989) Beetlejuice (1989) Tales from the Crypt (1989) The Flash (1990) Batman: The Animated Series (1992) The New Batman/Superman Adventures, (1997) Perversions of Science, (1997) Dilbert (1999) Desperate Housewives (2004) Point Pleasant (2005)

what an amazing talent he truly has, 

 back to tonight, this was neat, the seats Diana had bought had its own app, 

 just click and pay,

I was not hungry myself, but Diana said the hot dog was delicious,

 the arena starting to fill up now,

 any second now,

 and there it was,

'Cheers!',

I was so happy,

 the orchestra, 

 started to take their places, 

 all was ready to go,

 conductor John Mauceri, Founding Director of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra made the introduction to the concert,

 then the concert began,

 it was fabulous,

 it is not often I am lost for words, but I was watching this,

 many of the original cast of voices were here,

 and here is the man himself,

 Danny Elfman who sings the lead characters part, Jack Skellington,

 also giving voices to Barrel and the Clown with the Tear Away Face,

 it was all so good, so good in fact that in what appeared no time at all, it was time for the intermission,

so for Diana,

 ice cream, 

 'Cheers!', from myself,

 in the second half, as if anything could not get better, it did!, Oogie Boogie made his entrance, 

 with Ken Page, who was the original singer, 

showing us he had lost none of his voice or Oogie Boogie's charm,

the heroin Sally was played by Catherine O'Hara, again one of the original cast, then a real treat as if there could be another, if you have never heard of violinist Sandy Cameron you have missed so much,

and here she is in full nightmare mode, playing The Nightmare Before Christmas overture, after the show had finished there was a special moment in the celebration of  Nightmares 25th anniversary, Danny Elfman came back on stage, and as a tribute to long forgotten by many, favourite of mine, he sang some of the Nightmares songs in the style of the great Cab Calloway, the reason for this tribute? have a look here,

Diana made a couple of short videos,

of Danny Elfman and the cast of voices, which do not come across as well as the film, or if you had been in the arena, here is a short review of the film from the web site, first released in 1993, Tim Burton's “The Nightmare Before Christmas” was directed by Henry Selick (“James and the Giant Peach”) and based on a story and characters by Tim Burton. The film follows the earnest-but-misguided adventures of Jack Skellington, Halloween Town's beloved Pumpkin King, as he attempts to take over the Christmas holiday. Against the advice of Sally, a lonely rag doll who has feelings for him, Jack enlists three mischievous trick-or-treaters - Lock, Shock, and Barrel - to help him kidnap Santa Claus. Tim Burton’s fantastical tale was a box office smash which received rapturous reviews across the board has become a staple part of the extended holiday season, 

 thank you so much Diana for such a wonderful Christmas present, if you have not watched The Nightmare Before Christmas, you might want to give it a try, for myself it is just such a great movie, music and all,

 back on the train to home, 

 where it was decidedly chilly, with frost on the grass, 

 at home feet up, and a glass of Christmas bubbly,

a chocolate for each of us from the advent calendar, a chat and we were off to bed.