So a few weeks ago I posted about I had spent my weekend working and then about how I hadn't been given any kind of time off to compensate.
This I put down to my main boss and said that my other boss would probably have sent me home. Well, that other boss accosted me last week and said I should take a day in lieu by way of compensation for the weekend.
Rather than let it slip away and be forgotten, I therefore took the opportunity and asked on Monday about having this Friday off, and my request was granted. So, I'm therefore not going to be in tomorrow and that means this will be my last blog post of the week.
I've no particular plans for my impromptu day off. I'll probably try to get most of the boring weekend domestic stuff done, like the ironing so I can then spend my time more enjoyable at the actual weekend. I've a feeling I might spend most of the weekend scanning, as I don't want to loose the momentum and that in turn will give me a chance to get some more crunchyroll under my belt.
Speaking of which I think I've decided to write some mini reviews of the shows I've watched on crunchyroll and post them on my blog. My main website seems to have ground to a halt - I got half way into the whole update thing and then lost interest.
Thursday, 17 February 2011
Wednesday, 16 February 2011
the imaginarium of doctor parnassus
I seem to recall the reviews for Parnassus being fairly negative when it came out. I can't actually remember what about it they criticised, but I rather enjoyed the film.
I think if I were to pick on negatives I'd probably go for two. First off, the film was a little long - there could easily have been some snips made that would have tightened things up and not really lost anything. Secondly, the core story was perhaps a little simple.
The second isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just that the film itself tries to be a little more obtuse and distracting than the simplicity of the basic story needs. I think really I'd have preferred it to explored some of its sub-themes and throw-away ideas a bit more than it did over the stuff it tired to put in to make the core story seem more complex.
I'm not sure the above really makes sense, but I was trying to avoid anything that would count as spoilers. I'm also not really saying it because I disliked the film, more that there was some really good stuff in there that isn't really given enough time. Which is a bizarre contradiction given what I said about the length, but there you go.
Where the film does excel, brilliantly, is in the creativity and visual flair. This will come as no surprise to anyone who's familiar with Gilliam and his work, but I think he's really outdone himself here.
The other thing I should touch on, I suppose, is the whole issue of Heath Ledger's death. I was a little worried going in that it would be obvious where Ledger died - as in, certain scenes would inexplicably lack him. Well, as it turns out this was true, but they also managed to tweak the film such that, story-wise, it works.
So while the bits where Johnny Depp, Jude Law and then Colin Farrell step into his shoes are obvious, that obvious transition becomes a virtue. Not wanting to give anything away, the change of person becomes part of the point of Ledger's character. Indeed, if you didn't know it was done out of necessity, you'd probably think it was intentional.
I've kinda running out of things to say, because I really don't want to give any spoilers, but I also really enjoyed the film, so I can't really criticise it. As such I'll just leave it here.
I think if I were to pick on negatives I'd probably go for two. First off, the film was a little long - there could easily have been some snips made that would have tightened things up and not really lost anything. Secondly, the core story was perhaps a little simple.
The second isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just that the film itself tries to be a little more obtuse and distracting than the simplicity of the basic story needs. I think really I'd have preferred it to explored some of its sub-themes and throw-away ideas a bit more than it did over the stuff it tired to put in to make the core story seem more complex.
I'm not sure the above really makes sense, but I was trying to avoid anything that would count as spoilers. I'm also not really saying it because I disliked the film, more that there was some really good stuff in there that isn't really given enough time. Which is a bizarre contradiction given what I said about the length, but there you go.
Where the film does excel, brilliantly, is in the creativity and visual flair. This will come as no surprise to anyone who's familiar with Gilliam and his work, but I think he's really outdone himself here.
The other thing I should touch on, I suppose, is the whole issue of Heath Ledger's death. I was a little worried going in that it would be obvious where Ledger died - as in, certain scenes would inexplicably lack him. Well, as it turns out this was true, but they also managed to tweak the film such that, story-wise, it works.
So while the bits where Johnny Depp, Jude Law and then Colin Farrell step into his shoes are obvious, that obvious transition becomes a virtue. Not wanting to give anything away, the change of person becomes part of the point of Ledger's character. Indeed, if you didn't know it was done out of necessity, you'd probably think it was intentional.
I've kinda running out of things to say, because I really don't want to give any spoilers, but I also really enjoyed the film, so I can't really criticise it. As such I'll just leave it here.
Tuesday, 15 February 2011
one more to go
I was wondering if I shouldn't make a bit of a confession.
The thing about these diet blog posts just recently is they always seem to revolve around such confessions. It seems every week I've put some new obstacles in my own path that's prevented me from loosing a big wodge of weight like I did last year.
This week's was actually one of the remaining problems from Christmas. Basically, I consumed the last of the free food my dad gave me. This was actually a huge packet of custard cream biscuits.
The confession wasn't that I sat down and ate them all in one sitting or anything, it was that I'd been eating them steadily across the week. What makes it a confession is I did this without compensating for the calories, so there's a good chance that my two pound loss could have been a three pound loss, and that would have meant I hit the target I keep going on about.
But I'm kind of bored of posts like that.
I've actually decided I'm going to try and eat the stores of food I keep. Again, not as a blow-out or anything, but over the next few weekends I'll have them as my meals instead of the more diety meals. It'll be a trickle feeding of bad stuff that should mean I'll still consistently loose weight, but it'll be on the scale of 1 or 2 pounds like recently, rather than the big drops pre-Christmas.
What I'm hoping to do is end up such that by summer I've not got all this food stored and then, with the days being generally warmer and lighter for longer, a return to my full on diet combined with more exercise should see me have a good summer.
A problem that might create is that I'm seriously starting to need some new clothes. My various trousers in particular have these weird creases in them where the excess of material gets bunched up because I'm having to use belts or tied drawstrings to keep them from falling down.
This is great of course, but I've been trying to avoid the issue since it's going to be expensive to get new stuff. Especially since in 6 months I'll probably need yet more replacements.
I went for a particularly long walk this last Saturday lunchtime as we had some very pleasant weather. I then went for a particularly unpleasant walk on Sunday as we had some really horrible weather. It was weird to have such extremes in such a short period of time, but I'm pleased I did lots of walking.
The thing about these diet blog posts just recently is they always seem to revolve around such confessions. It seems every week I've put some new obstacles in my own path that's prevented me from loosing a big wodge of weight like I did last year.
This week's was actually one of the remaining problems from Christmas. Basically, I consumed the last of the free food my dad gave me. This was actually a huge packet of custard cream biscuits.
The confession wasn't that I sat down and ate them all in one sitting or anything, it was that I'd been eating them steadily across the week. What makes it a confession is I did this without compensating for the calories, so there's a good chance that my two pound loss could have been a three pound loss, and that would have meant I hit the target I keep going on about.
But I'm kind of bored of posts like that.
I've actually decided I'm going to try and eat the stores of food I keep. Again, not as a blow-out or anything, but over the next few weekends I'll have them as my meals instead of the more diety meals. It'll be a trickle feeding of bad stuff that should mean I'll still consistently loose weight, but it'll be on the scale of 1 or 2 pounds like recently, rather than the big drops pre-Christmas.
What I'm hoping to do is end up such that by summer I've not got all this food stored and then, with the days being generally warmer and lighter for longer, a return to my full on diet combined with more exercise should see me have a good summer.
A problem that might create is that I'm seriously starting to need some new clothes. My various trousers in particular have these weird creases in them where the excess of material gets bunched up because I'm having to use belts or tied drawstrings to keep them from falling down.
This is great of course, but I've been trying to avoid the issue since it's going to be expensive to get new stuff. Especially since in 6 months I'll probably need yet more replacements.
I went for a particularly long walk this last Saturday lunchtime as we had some very pleasant weather. I then went for a particularly unpleasant walk on Sunday as we had some really horrible weather. It was weird to have such extremes in such a short period of time, but I'm pleased I did lots of walking.
Monday, 14 February 2011
one or two then
So I've just gotten done sending out 140 e-mails.
Actually, it's a lot more than that in total, because I sent 40 on Friday as well, plus I've been replying to some of the people who already came back to me. But it was 140 of the standard e-mails this morning.
This is the part of my job I dislike the most, because it's so tedious sending them out, but it also get's really confusing. Because of how it has to be don, it's a lot of individual e-mails with individual replies, rather than some gigantic mail-merge. That means I have to reply individually as well as process anything they send back individually. I may well have to do some chasing for replies later as well.
It's all horribly tedious. A while ago when I was too busy to do proper blog posts it was because I was doing a similar job - it sucks up so much time it's silly.
What it does do is give you a fascinating insight into the world of e-mailing. I once heard that people only take in about 40% of an e-mail when they read it, and this sort of job really confirms that.
It's quite remarkable how many times people will come back having clearly not properly read what we want or what they need to do. Especially with things like this which are a little different to what we normally send them.
A classic example is people not processing dates - they ask when you want it for, even though there's a date on there, or they'll see Monday and assume you mean this Monday instead of next Monday.
I mean, I don't fundamentally mind - we all make mistakes - it's just because I'm going out to so many people, it sucks up even more time me having to answer their questions or correct them or whatever.
Actually, it's a lot more than that in total, because I sent 40 on Friday as well, plus I've been replying to some of the people who already came back to me. But it was 140 of the standard e-mails this morning.
This is the part of my job I dislike the most, because it's so tedious sending them out, but it also get's really confusing. Because of how it has to be don, it's a lot of individual e-mails with individual replies, rather than some gigantic mail-merge. That means I have to reply individually as well as process anything they send back individually. I may well have to do some chasing for replies later as well.
It's all horribly tedious. A while ago when I was too busy to do proper blog posts it was because I was doing a similar job - it sucks up so much time it's silly.
What it does do is give you a fascinating insight into the world of e-mailing. I once heard that people only take in about 40% of an e-mail when they read it, and this sort of job really confirms that.
It's quite remarkable how many times people will come back having clearly not properly read what we want or what they need to do. Especially with things like this which are a little different to what we normally send them.
A classic example is people not processing dates - they ask when you want it for, even though there's a date on there, or they'll see Monday and assume you mean this Monday instead of next Monday.
I mean, I don't fundamentally mind - we all make mistakes - it's just because I'm going out to so many people, it sucks up even more time me having to answer their questions or correct them or whatever.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)