Ok, I have to post this. Remember a couple of posts back where I was talking about QI, the BBC show that Stephen Fry presents? (No? Well, you should, it's a great show !!!). Well, a few days ago the last episode for this series aired and it contained unseen footage from series 5.

The whole episode (Series 5 Episode 13) is very funny (as they almost always are) but the last clip called "They say of the Acropolis where the Parthenon is" is simply and utterly tummy-hurting . The always perfectly poised Stephen Fry has an adorable and complete laughter breakdown and the boys there only make it worse (starts around 1:30)!

So, go on and enjoy it and ... ladies, be forewarned : it will be a major cause for wrinkles !!! At least it has been for me every time I've watched it!!

PS the title is something Stephen Fry managed to utter at some point ...

I like boys. I mean adult boys (don't get me wrong!!!) in the general sense of adult male humans! But I will change to "guys"; just to make sure that we are on the same level!!!

So... I like guys! A lot!!! All my relationships were with guys and some of my closest friends have been guys. But I don't just like them because they are (potentially) warm, strong, rugged, sexy and charming! I want them in my life because they bring another point of view, different from mine. Even when a guy is close to your personality and idiosyncrasy, I find that his way of thinking and approaching situations will definitely be quite different than the one of a girl's/woman's (which is of course natural and can only be expected for many reasons).

There is one other reason for which I like guys: I learn a lot of new things from them. I love to learn and with guys I get to come in contact with things I would not have met or known otherwise. Like one of their favourite toys: cars. And a TV show that talks about cars. A show that is featured in my tv.com favourite shows list among House, CSI, QI, Sex and the City, Star Trek: TNG, The Black Adder and the X-Files: BBC's Top Gear .

For those who do not know, Top Gear is a BBC show about cars, currently in its tenth season. But it is so much more than a show about cars. It's a very entertaining, very amusing, very laugh-out-loud show. There are three presenters: Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. Each one is very different from the other in every single aspect, but they have great humour and the kind of great chemistry and "complicité" that you get among people that know each other very well and really like each other, even if they do not agree on anything.

I really enjoy watching Top Gear but not because I want to learn the latest news on the latest models or watch super cars. After all, not only I do not own a car, but I do not know how to drive as well (I am planning to get driving lessons and my license within the next months). No, I like Top Gear simply because I really have a good time watching it. I mean, I have laughed more while watching some Top Gear episodes than I have laughed watching blockbuster comedies. Take for example an episode I watched this weekend - they decided on taking a short caravan holiday so as to explore why so many people (850.000 in UK) like going on holidays in their caravans. I cannot describe what happened but it was truly hi-la-ri-ous.

I know that it is not something for everyone and that many people dismiss it as too superficial and uninteresting. Just a show from three guys overindulging themselves. Three boys talking about their toys. And maybe it is so. Maybe it is even worse/less than that. Nevertheless, it is good fun to say the least. And this is not something to dismiss that easily.

PS each week they have a "celebrity" as a guest - Stephen Fry has been a guest too!

PPS Jeremy Clarkson has been a guest to Stephen Fry's QI quite often as well!

I have avoided so far posting anything too personal. Why should/would I anyway? But why shouldn't/wouldn't I? It goes both ways, doesn't it?

So here is my first personal-oriented post. Yesterday (11/11) it was my birthday! Which is I suppose both in some ways and in some others!! But nevertheless, one thing I did this year again and loved it is to (kind of) celebrate my birthday for 2-3 days in a row !!!

So Sunday it was my birthday and I went out with my closest friends and my brother for a Sunday brunch in a very nice (and unfortunately very expensive... ouch!!! ) hotel. And it was a day where I had a very nice time with my friends - a day full of "Happy Birthday to you / Wish you all the best / May you always be happy" and a few very nice presents. But the day before (Saturday) I had been to my parents - where my mother had cooked the meal I had asked for and gave me my present and wished me in advance Happy Birthday! And then today I went to the office with some sweets and I had some more "Happy Birthday"s. And then, tonight, I went out for a drink (from which I just came back and now I am writing this post) with this guy-friend of mine (which I wished he was more than just a friend, but that is another story) where I had a really, really good time (as we always do when we go out), three Jack Daniels (which I had not had in a very, very long time) and a very interesting and intriguing conversation (about power and dominance in relationships). Oh, and one more present, which was the book 1984 by George Orwell which I had not read and I will certainly do now.

So, all things considered, it was a very nice 3-day birthday celebration which I aim to totally surpass and excel next year !!! It's only fair after all to have a great time as you're getting old(er), isn't it?

And so here is a totally personal post with no real aim or reason for existing whatsoever !!!! Isn't that totally indulging?

PS Did I mention that I still have to receive my brother's birthday present???

PPS Could you guess that I like presents????

PPPS Did I mention that I have had three Jack Daniels (no ice, thank you)?

These last couple of weeks I developed a Quite Interesting obsession! Literally!!!

Are you familiar with QI ? QI (as in Quite Interesting) is a BBC "comedy panel quiz" (sic) presented by Stephen Fry. Each episode features four panelists/guests that try (and mostly fail) to find the answer on all kinds of impossible questions that Stephen Fry and his "elves" come up with.

So why do I like QI that much? Well, because:

a) it satisfies my Trivial Pursuit "hunger - I am a sucker for all these tidbits of information about everything and anything (and it shows when I play Trivial Pursuit with my friends )

b) it is presented by Stephen Fry who is absolutely brilliant in his role and totally in his element

c) it is so laugh-out-loud funny

I highly recommend it to anyone - Season 1 and 2 have been released on DVD and then of course there is (surprise, surprise!!) YouTube. For example, try this one & then this one
& finally this one .

I close this post with Fry's introduction of QI from Episode 1 of Series 1

"Welcome to QI, the questionnaire where the answers are much more interesting than the questions, but the questions are completely impossible, as I don't really expect anyone to get any of them right, I should be awarding points for being interesting along the way regardless whether the panel's answers are correct or even relevant. So, let just meet the panel who want to commit intellectual suicide tonight."

PS the post's title is a Stephen Fry quote

I had got my hands on BBC's programme "Stephen Fry: the secret life of the manic depressive" and I finally watched it earlier this week.

It's a 2-part, 2-hour documentary that Stephen Fry made in 2006 regarding his own fight with manic depression (also know as bipolarity). In doing so, he wanted to speak out about his illness and learn as much as possible about it, by talking to experts and, maybe most importantly, other people that have been diagnosed as manic depressives. Some are friends of his, some other strangers he met for the first time while doing this documentary.

There are so many things to say about this programme but I will content myself in saying only that if you are interested in Stephen Fry, enjoy and admire his work like I do, this is certainly something you want to watch. You will learn lots of things about him, his struggle with manic depression over the years, his suicide attempt in 1995 that led to him getting diagnosed and his life ever since. And afterwards, you will appreciate him even more.

But even if you do not particularly like him (why wouldn't you really, but that's another story), this is a very interesting documentary about a mental illness that so many people suffer from, the effect it has in their lives and the lives of their loved ones and their struggle (and sometimes agony) to take some kind of control over it.

Well, that was all. I just wanted to share this with you and tell you that you should definitely try to watch it. It was very touching in so many ways - just watch his sister talking about it/him or see the deep sadness in his eyes at certain points. No other comments are necessary.

PS By the way, Stephen Fry was born on the 24 August 1957, which means that 1+ month ago it was his 50th birthday. Happy 50th birthday Stephen!!! I wish you find all the answers you are searching for.

PPS After watching this documentary, I believe one understands much better the relationship Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry have. Two sides of the same coin.

PPPS I just found parts of it in YT (titled SLOTMD). Check the first part out - gives an idea of the mood and content ...