You've been kidnapped. You can call on the characters from one television show to make your rescue attempt. Which show do you pick?

This question has been circulating on social media, and thinking about an answer got me to remember all the TV shows I used to watch as a teenager/young adult. Surely the best rescuers would be there...

- Buffy and the gang is an obvious choice. Kick ass strength, sass and magic. I'd be free before dawn, for sure.
- the girls from Charmed! I can't even remember what all their magic powers could do... the actress from Who's The Boss could see the future, and the actress from Beverly Hills 90210 could make things move. The third sister, Piper... I have no idea. Also they had this pretty guardian angel friend, and I remember their grandmother being pretty ace.
- if they could get along, I'd give the characters from The Pretender a try. Jarod can do anything, really. They may take a bit of a while to come up and execute a plan though. But I would have all the patience in the world if I knew I'd end up in the arms of Michael T. Weiss by the end.
- I was obsessed with The X Files (even joining the French fan club and having an article published in the monthly magazine!) but Murder and Scully wouldn't be my first port of call. Only if the three groups above were busy on another mission would I contact them.
- Closer to 2016, I think the police team of Brooklyn Nine Nine would kill it. See their Halloween heist episodes for a reminder how they are a great team and can take on any challenge.

And, for a laugh... the geeks of Dawson's Creek, the jolly crew of The Nanny, the foursome of Will & Grace! Those would be hilarious.

Lord of the Dance: vom vom vom

In life, what I like best is finding myself in a situation I would not have anticipated at all only a few weeks before, doing something not ordinary or that I thought I would never do.

This week, such a moment took place. I went to see Lord of the Dance at the Playhouse Theatre in the West End. People look to me for good shows, so all of them were very surprised when I told them I was going. It's a long story, but basically I befriended one of the performers and wanted to see him/her in action. His/her backstory was fascinating, s/he was living her/his dream on that stage, so I thought it was pretty cool.

Plus I found £10 tickets.

And I knew that, on some levels, the show would be terrible, so bad it would be hilarious. So the idea of being a bit drunk in the final row of the balcony (so steep! I had a bit of a headache at the beginning) watching my friend dance really appealed.

Now, my friend was great - all the dancing cast was great. So much talent on that stage, light leaps, heavy and amazingly fast footwork from the dancers, and also a really strong female singer. Sadly they were all lumbered with the least tasteful production I've ever seen on stage.

I can only list the affronts to beauty, which had me gasping throughout:

Getting out of bed this morning

I've noticed that in the morning I need to think of something to get me out of the warmth under my duvet. I don't get out of bed for the sheer joy of living my life. I need something concrete, and often immediate.

Today though, what got me out of bed was not the thought of having a latte at Gail's Bakery on the way to work (so silky), the urge to look at overnight sales for my shows currently running in town (I know, it's sad), the anticipation of the post-gym adrenaline rush (I know, it's sad) or my plan to break my work day with lunch out of the office with a friend.

Today what made me jump out of bed and still feel its warmth as I was getting ready was the realisation that in one month I will be in Brazil! And this gave me enough strength to face the day ahead. B-A-H-I-A!

Christmas holidays cultural diet

Lots of reading and discovering done over the Christmas holidays. Many of these come from the Bloomberg Jealousy list (a list of long form articles from other publishers that Bloomberg writers wish they had written) and the Best of Books 2015 lists that are ubiquitous at this time of the year.

The Myth of the Ethical Shopper, by Michael Hobbes (Huffington Post)
We can never really know exactly where that cheap tee-shirt we bought came from: on the maze of the world's production and logistics machine. It made me think that the only way out is to, quite simply, consume less.

Learning to speak lingerie, by Peter Hessler (New Yorker)
A fascinating article looking at recent Chinese immigrants to Egypt, who somehow end up setting up lingerie shops. Along the way, it covers cultural differences in making business, women's liberation and expectations, language barrier, local marriage customs and more.