There are some things on my rental list where I'm really not all that sure why they're there.
Black Swan was one of those things. I mean, I'd heard good things about it, but I can't say that the thought of watching a film about Ballet was really very high up on my list of things I want to do.
I can't really be doing with Ballet.
Well, to be totally honest I can't really doing with dance.
Oh, I've no objection to people dancing and enjoying themselves, it's the whole formalised types of dance I can't be doing with - if it has a proper name and things like "forms" it probably doesn't do anything for me.
Which, to some extent, is hypocritical, as, in general, dancers (general dancers like you see on X-Factor and the like) are almost universally "well fit".
And perhaps that's the real root of why I don't like ballet - it seems to be one of those things that acts like a grindstone, grinding away at the people involved. In particular it seems to be something that involves impressionable young girls being forced (or, at least, forcing themselves) to do horrible things to themselves - keep themselves horribly thin and dance around with their whole weight supported just on the tips of their toes.
Oh, I'm sure the reality isn't wholly like that, and those are those are clichés, but the other issues is it falls into that whole world of classical music and opera that takes itself too seriously. It taps into that whole thing of formality and "proper" ways of doing things that just rubs me up the wrong way.
Sorry, I got a bit carried away, but that's kinda the point - despite hearing good things, when this turned up I was hardly desperate to get it into the DVD player and watch it.
But I was rather wrong. Well, no, actually I was partly right in that it really is about ballet, but it's also a psychological thriller of all things. Which I was not expecting at all.
The ballet is key to it - this isn't just a thriller that happens to be set in and around a ballet performance or anything like that. Indeed, the key element - the "black swan" (from Swan Lake) of the title - is core to both the ballet and the psychological thriller elements.
I think if you know a bit about ballet you'll probably enjoy the film even more - apart from knowing that there is such a thing as Swan Lake (which was created by Tchaikovsky, who virtually rejuvenated ballet as an art form) I don't really know what it's about. So I'd say a quick trip over to wikipedia beforehand if you don't know about it would probably be the way round to do it - I looked it up afterwards, and realised there was a lot of clever stuff in there.
I seem to have rambled on quite a bit. Basically, what I'm trying to get around to is that, yes the Ballet is important and knowing a bit about it helps, but the psychological thriller part is the key bit and it's a really good film as a result.
It does leave quite a few questions unanswered, but I always think that's a good thing in a psychological thriller. Leaving it up to you to work out what happened is always the best way to go, in my opinion.
I'm not sure if that counts as a spoiler as such, but one thing I would also say is that the film really reminded me of the anime film Perfect Blue by Satoshi Kon. Which is a good thing.
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
source code
With the lack of posting I naturally also got a bit behind with posting reviews of stuff.
It's actually a short week for me as I'm off on holiday Friday (thank god) so I thought I'd post reviews today and tomorrow before wrapping the week up.
So a few weeks back I watched source code.
I actually quite enjoyed it, but I'll actually start at the end, if you see what I mean.
No, I don't either - what I mean is, I'll run through my thoughts as soon as the film ended. They went a bit like this:
"Well that was quite good. Bit of a paradoxical ending, but then the whole thing was a bit paradoxical. And if you go with m theory I guess it's not a paradox in a way.
"Actually, you know they could even make a sequel. Actually, I think it would make a better TV series. You could well imagine him popping into different people each episode and solving a different problem.
"Where have I heard that before? Wasn't that what happened in Quantum Leap? Hang on, the whole thing is really like Quantum Leap, isn't it?"
So I should explain a few things. The film doesn't quite join all the dots in terms of what's happening, but it seems to make use of m theory. M theory is one f those areas of physics that strays right into science fiction territory. It's basically the idea of multiple dimensions.
So in this film they're essentially using m-theory to repeatedly bounce into dimensions (or, potentially, they're creating them - as I say, it doesn't fully explain things) that are only fractionally different to ours and then find out the answer to a particular question. I won't go too much into the detail as it would spoiler things a bit, but it's quite a neat idea.
Paradoxes are one of things that are difficult to explain without using an example, and the classic example of one in time travel (which is sort of what this is) is going back and killing your own father/mother/grandparents/ancestor before they spawn the next generation. If you do this, then logically you never came into existence and hence you could not go back and kill your ancestor.
But as I say, if it's m-theory, then you're obviously not technically changing your own time line, you're popping back into the timeline of other dimensions. Indeed, the events "changed" in those alternate dimensions could be what originally happened or you could be creating those dimensions through the very act of your travel. It's the Back to the Future 2 alternate 1985 bit where everybody who isn't a physicist gets confused.
Anyway, the real point I was trying to make and then used up a lot of words talking about other interesting stuff was that it treads around in the waters of Quantum Leap. Quantum Leap was a science fiction show I really enjoyed as a kid where the main character hops around in time, leaping into the bodies of other people and then "fixing" or "altering" things in a positive way before he can move on. The paradoxes created in that show were never really explored, but Source Code plays with those ideas more.
It also repeatedly uses the same time slot, which makes things a bit like Groundhog Day as he 'remembers' what's going to happen.
I think you can probably tell from the above I rather enjoyed the film, because it let me think about this sort of stuff, but also, crucially it has at its core some really good character stuff. In a way it's more like a love story than it is a science fiction story, it just uses the sci-fi stuff in a clever way to help enhance that story too.
It's actually a short week for me as I'm off on holiday Friday (thank god) so I thought I'd post reviews today and tomorrow before wrapping the week up.
So a few weeks back I watched source code.
I actually quite enjoyed it, but I'll actually start at the end, if you see what I mean.
No, I don't either - what I mean is, I'll run through my thoughts as soon as the film ended. They went a bit like this:
"Well that was quite good. Bit of a paradoxical ending, but then the whole thing was a bit paradoxical. And if you go with m theory I guess it's not a paradox in a way.
"Actually, you know they could even make a sequel. Actually, I think it would make a better TV series. You could well imagine him popping into different people each episode and solving a different problem.
"Where have I heard that before? Wasn't that what happened in Quantum Leap? Hang on, the whole thing is really like Quantum Leap, isn't it?"
So I should explain a few things. The film doesn't quite join all the dots in terms of what's happening, but it seems to make use of m theory. M theory is one f those areas of physics that strays right into science fiction territory. It's basically the idea of multiple dimensions.
So in this film they're essentially using m-theory to repeatedly bounce into dimensions (or, potentially, they're creating them - as I say, it doesn't fully explain things) that are only fractionally different to ours and then find out the answer to a particular question. I won't go too much into the detail as it would spoiler things a bit, but it's quite a neat idea.
Paradoxes are one of things that are difficult to explain without using an example, and the classic example of one in time travel (which is sort of what this is) is going back and killing your own father/mother/grandparents/ancestor before they spawn the next generation. If you do this, then logically you never came into existence and hence you could not go back and kill your ancestor.
But as I say, if it's m-theory, then you're obviously not technically changing your own time line, you're popping back into the timeline of other dimensions. Indeed, the events "changed" in those alternate dimensions could be what originally happened or you could be creating those dimensions through the very act of your travel. It's the Back to the Future 2 alternate 1985 bit where everybody who isn't a physicist gets confused.
Anyway, the real point I was trying to make and then used up a lot of words talking about other interesting stuff was that it treads around in the waters of Quantum Leap. Quantum Leap was a science fiction show I really enjoyed as a kid where the main character hops around in time, leaping into the bodies of other people and then "fixing" or "altering" things in a positive way before he can move on. The paradoxes created in that show were never really explored, but Source Code plays with those ideas more.
It also repeatedly uses the same time slot, which makes things a bit like Groundhog Day as he 'remembers' what's going to happen.
I think you can probably tell from the above I rather enjoyed the film, because it let me think about this sort of stuff, but also, crucially it has at its core some really good character stuff. In a way it's more like a love story than it is a science fiction story, it just uses the sci-fi stuff in a clever way to help enhance that story too.
Monday, 24 October 2011
what a week it was
So last week I posted only two blog posts, because things were so manic at work I just wasn't getting the time to write blog posts.
I mean, I could theoretically have written them in the evening, but to be frank, I was so tired in the evenings I could do little other than watch a bit of telly and then go to bed.
So what was I so busy doing?
Well, I'd need to explain quite a bit about how my company works, but basically we were putting together a response to a particularly important framework. But what is a framework?
Well, the fundamental idea is that when somebody wants something done (a piece of work) they put out an Invitation to Tender (an ITT). That ITT sets out what they want doing and companies whose business it is to do that sort of work put together a response to that ITT. The people who put out the ITT then assess the bids they've received and pick the one that best meets the assessment criteria and offers best value for money.
That company therefore wins the work. You may have heard in the news about companies being awarded contracts and others not getting contracts they were expecting and having to cut jobs. Well that's the basic process.
However, you will appreciate that in some arenas there are lots of companies able to do the same sorts of things. You'll also appreciate that if you advertise things publicly potentially all of those companies will put in an ITT.
Also, when you put things out publicly you have to have all sorts of stuff in the assessment process that isn't hugely important, or is just the same as all the other pieces of work you want doing, but because it's a fully open competition you need to "tick the boxes".
So, to avoid that big process you can create an initial step where you compete a framework agreement. This framework can take various forms, but generally they have different "lots" (areas of work) and companies bid to get a place on that lot / framework. The idea is that you are effectively pre-assessing the companies in order to avoid the need to assess all the "boring stuff" every time and also to create a much smaller pool of suppliers.
The big advantage of this is that when each piece of work comes out it can be done in a lot less time and in a lot sleeker fashion.
And it was one of these frameworks that we were working on.
It's an absolute monster and covers a huge range of work that my company is involved in, so it took a huge amount of effort, so that's why I couldn't post.
I mean, I could theoretically have written them in the evening, but to be frank, I was so tired in the evenings I could do little other than watch a bit of telly and then go to bed.
So what was I so busy doing?
Well, I'd need to explain quite a bit about how my company works, but basically we were putting together a response to a particularly important framework. But what is a framework?
Well, the fundamental idea is that when somebody wants something done (a piece of work) they put out an Invitation to Tender (an ITT). That ITT sets out what they want doing and companies whose business it is to do that sort of work put together a response to that ITT. The people who put out the ITT then assess the bids they've received and pick the one that best meets the assessment criteria and offers best value for money.
That company therefore wins the work. You may have heard in the news about companies being awarded contracts and others not getting contracts they were expecting and having to cut jobs. Well that's the basic process.
However, you will appreciate that in some arenas there are lots of companies able to do the same sorts of things. You'll also appreciate that if you advertise things publicly potentially all of those companies will put in an ITT.
Also, when you put things out publicly you have to have all sorts of stuff in the assessment process that isn't hugely important, or is just the same as all the other pieces of work you want doing, but because it's a fully open competition you need to "tick the boxes".
So, to avoid that big process you can create an initial step where you compete a framework agreement. This framework can take various forms, but generally they have different "lots" (areas of work) and companies bid to get a place on that lot / framework. The idea is that you are effectively pre-assessing the companies in order to avoid the need to assess all the "boring stuff" every time and also to create a much smaller pool of suppliers.
The big advantage of this is that when each piece of work comes out it can be done in a lot less time and in a lot sleeker fashion.
And it was one of these frameworks that we were working on.
It's an absolute monster and covers a huge range of work that my company is involved in, so it took a huge amount of effort, so that's why I couldn't post.
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
korean gp
In this small chunk today I appear to have hit a slight lull in work.
I've basically managed to finish what I needed to do slightly early and it's taking slightly longer for someone else to finish what I will next have to work on. As such, I though I'd do a quick blog post so the blog isn't totally empty all week.
Well, I should definitely be able to post Friday and I hope Thursday we're finished, but you never know.
Anyway, last weekend it was the Korean Grand Prix, which I actually really enjoyed. I managed to make a more sensible fist of things that I did for the preceding weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, so I was a bit more alert, which may well have helped.
However, I think actually the combination of tyres, DRS, KERS and track layout worked quite well together. The layout seemed to have a good few places where overtaking would work normally and the addition of the tyres and sensible placing of DRS helped add further opportunities.
The highlight of the race was probably a huge battle between Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton. Their cars clearly had different strengths and it lead to some really close racing. Also, of course, they're both really good drivers and up for a fight.
Lewis seemed very out of sorts when he wasn't in the car. In the car he seemed well up for it, pumping in some top qualifying times and really battling with Webber.
However, out of the car you wouldn't believe it was the same guy. He actually seemed like he might have been unwell, but I think it was more a reflection of some sort of unhappiness.
The weird thing, as I say, was that, in the car, he was fine. It therefore made the out of car stuff seem deliberate - as in, he wasn't unwell, but wanted to show he was unhappy. I dunno - it was all very odd.
So yeah, overall, I enjoyed the race and it seems that last year's wet race (it was wet all day Friday so that may have helped the racing as it meant there was no dry practice until Saturday morning, making it difficult to set the cars up - last year was the first year and it was wet, of course, and we have a different tyre supplier) might have robbed us of a great race.
Unfortunately, a lot of the stands seemed empty. I mean, it wasn't as bad as some of the new circuits we go to, but certainly some of the stands clearly had no-one in them.
I've basically managed to finish what I needed to do slightly early and it's taking slightly longer for someone else to finish what I will next have to work on. As such, I though I'd do a quick blog post so the blog isn't totally empty all week.
Well, I should definitely be able to post Friday and I hope Thursday we're finished, but you never know.
Anyway, last weekend it was the Korean Grand Prix, which I actually really enjoyed. I managed to make a more sensible fist of things that I did for the preceding weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, so I was a bit more alert, which may well have helped.
However, I think actually the combination of tyres, DRS, KERS and track layout worked quite well together. The layout seemed to have a good few places where overtaking would work normally and the addition of the tyres and sensible placing of DRS helped add further opportunities.
The highlight of the race was probably a huge battle between Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton. Their cars clearly had different strengths and it lead to some really close racing. Also, of course, they're both really good drivers and up for a fight.
Lewis seemed very out of sorts when he wasn't in the car. In the car he seemed well up for it, pumping in some top qualifying times and really battling with Webber.
However, out of the car you wouldn't believe it was the same guy. He actually seemed like he might have been unwell, but I think it was more a reflection of some sort of unhappiness.
The weird thing, as I say, was that, in the car, he was fine. It therefore made the out of car stuff seem deliberate - as in, he wasn't unwell, but wanted to show he was unhappy. I dunno - it was all very odd.
So yeah, overall, I enjoyed the race and it seems that last year's wet race (it was wet all day Friday so that may have helped the racing as it meant there was no dry practice until Saturday morning, making it difficult to set the cars up - last year was the first year and it was wet, of course, and we have a different tyre supplier) might have robbed us of a great race.
Unfortunately, a lot of the stands seemed empty. I mean, it wasn't as bad as some of the new circuits we go to, but certainly some of the stands clearly had no-one in them.
Monday, 17 October 2011
work wins again
Unfortunately no blog post today as I've been incredibly busy at work just recently - so busy, in fact, that I've used up all the pre-written posts I put together and haven't had a chance to generate any more.
I've a fair few things to talk about, just not the time to write the posts.
I've a fair few things to talk about, just not the time to write the posts.
Friday, 14 October 2011
korean double header
It's the Korean Grand Prix this weekend.
As I mentioned last week I have absolutely no idea whether it's a good one or not. In fact, I don't actually have any memories of it at all.
Well, I say that. I'm pretty convinced it was only held for the first time last year and that it was the one where it was delayed because of the weather, Webber spun out because it was so wet and it ended up finishing as the sun was setting.
However, I would happily cop to having merged several races together or having gotten mixed up with another race. I certainly don't have Korea flagged in my memory banks as a classic.
One thing I will say is I don't think my scheduling plans are really going to survive contact with the enemy, which is to say that there are some things I going to have to do because 3 weeks is too long to leave them - for example, I'm going to run out of clothes if I don't do some washing.
However, I think I can do a sort of small version of most of these (just the one bag of essential washing) and then make up for it next week.
It's on at a similar sort of time to the Japanese Grand Prix, but I think I'll record it and watch it at my leisure. I was happy to get up for Japan (even though I screwed myself over), but I'm not sure I am for the Korean.
Otherwise I don't have many plans. I need to get some more bits on e-bay so that they'll finish in time for me sort them before my holiday. I also haven't done anything with the CDs I need to get rid of. I looked at a few of the "we buy CDs" sites, and, as expected, prices weren't great, but then they looked pretty crap on e-bay too.
As per usual, I'm a long way behind the curve on the medium transitions (CD to digital). In this case, I'm at a bit unsure I like the particular transition. I mean, you can't really sell MP3 files second hand at all, can you, irrespective of the other advantages they have.
As I mentioned last week I have absolutely no idea whether it's a good one or not. In fact, I don't actually have any memories of it at all.
Well, I say that. I'm pretty convinced it was only held for the first time last year and that it was the one where it was delayed because of the weather, Webber spun out because it was so wet and it ended up finishing as the sun was setting.
However, I would happily cop to having merged several races together or having gotten mixed up with another race. I certainly don't have Korea flagged in my memory banks as a classic.
One thing I will say is I don't think my scheduling plans are really going to survive contact with the enemy, which is to say that there are some things I going to have to do because 3 weeks is too long to leave them - for example, I'm going to run out of clothes if I don't do some washing.
However, I think I can do a sort of small version of most of these (just the one bag of essential washing) and then make up for it next week.
It's on at a similar sort of time to the Japanese Grand Prix, but I think I'll record it and watch it at my leisure. I was happy to get up for Japan (even though I screwed myself over), but I'm not sure I am for the Korean.
Otherwise I don't have many plans. I need to get some more bits on e-bay so that they'll finish in time for me sort them before my holiday. I also haven't done anything with the CDs I need to get rid of. I looked at a few of the "we buy CDs" sites, and, as expected, prices weren't great, but then they looked pretty crap on e-bay too.
As per usual, I'm a long way behind the curve on the medium transitions (CD to digital). In this case, I'm at a bit unsure I like the particular transition. I mean, you can't really sell MP3 files second hand at all, can you, irrespective of the other advantages they have.
Thursday, 13 October 2011
nose hair
I seem to have developed rather a lot of nose hair.
I've always had a fair bit of nose hair, but it used to be that you'd have to be really looking up my nose to see it. I mean, since puberty I've been very hairy, but in the last year or so my nose hair seems to have exploded out of my nose so that loads of hairs are poking out and are visible just from looking at me.
Now obviously I could leave these. I'm not a fan of how they look, so it wouldn't be a massive concern to me, but it's not really an option, because I find that as they get longer they tend to tickle against the edges of my nostrils and it's very itchy.
As such, there are a couple of options for there removal. Firstly I could pluck them. This obviously removes them right down to the root, but it's also absolute agony.
I'm no stranger to plucking as I actually pluck my brows. I know that probably comes across as a bit more concerned with my appearance than I'd be generally happy to admit to, but the thing is if I don't do it then I basically end up with one eyebrow.
And I don't just mean the bit between my eyebrows grows and connects, but the area between my brows and my hair line actually grows a thick layer of hairs too. Indeed, the hair even extends right down the side of my eyes, along that sort of crest area and connects up with my beard.
I sometimes wonder if I left it whether I wouldn't end up with a thick furry covering over my entire face. And that isn't a normal look, so I pluck. I generally do it at the same time as my haircut, as it sort of camouflages the change.
Anyway, plucking hairs is painful. Plucking nose hairs is excruciating. As such, I've been using a small set of scissors I've got to try to trim them back. It's an okay solution, but I seem to have to do it every other week, and it's also difficult to really get in there and trim the hairs properly, especially as I'm worried about nicking the inside of my nose.
I'm therefore thinking I'll ask for a nose hair trimmer for Chrimbo from my family. They have a really small bit on the end that's like a mini electric shaver. I can't actually use electric shavers on my beard as it's way too touch, but I think my nose hairs are more like eyebrow hairs than beard hair.
At least, I think there's such a thing as a nose hair trimmer. Unless I've dreamed it. If so maybe I could patent it and make a fortune?
I've always had a fair bit of nose hair, but it used to be that you'd have to be really looking up my nose to see it. I mean, since puberty I've been very hairy, but in the last year or so my nose hair seems to have exploded out of my nose so that loads of hairs are poking out and are visible just from looking at me.
Now obviously I could leave these. I'm not a fan of how they look, so it wouldn't be a massive concern to me, but it's not really an option, because I find that as they get longer they tend to tickle against the edges of my nostrils and it's very itchy.
As such, there are a couple of options for there removal. Firstly I could pluck them. This obviously removes them right down to the root, but it's also absolute agony.
I'm no stranger to plucking as I actually pluck my brows. I know that probably comes across as a bit more concerned with my appearance than I'd be generally happy to admit to, but the thing is if I don't do it then I basically end up with one eyebrow.
And I don't just mean the bit between my eyebrows grows and connects, but the area between my brows and my hair line actually grows a thick layer of hairs too. Indeed, the hair even extends right down the side of my eyes, along that sort of crest area and connects up with my beard.
I sometimes wonder if I left it whether I wouldn't end up with a thick furry covering over my entire face. And that isn't a normal look, so I pluck. I generally do it at the same time as my haircut, as it sort of camouflages the change.
Anyway, plucking hairs is painful. Plucking nose hairs is excruciating. As such, I've been using a small set of scissors I've got to try to trim them back. It's an okay solution, but I seem to have to do it every other week, and it's also difficult to really get in there and trim the hairs properly, especially as I'm worried about nicking the inside of my nose.
I'm therefore thinking I'll ask for a nose hair trimmer for Chrimbo from my family. They have a really small bit on the end that's like a mini electric shaver. I can't actually use electric shavers on my beard as it's way too touch, but I think my nose hairs are more like eyebrow hairs than beard hair.
At least, I think there's such a thing as a nose hair trimmer. Unless I've dreamed it. If so maybe I could patent it and make a fortune?
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
the core
the core is probably one of the biggest misfires I've seen in a long time.
It somehow manages to tread a fine line between believable science and science fiction... sorry, I should say, it manages to blunder around, stomping on the line between science and science fiction, making a general mess of everything.
The biggest crime it commits is the complete bogusness of the science it tramples over.
So the basic idea is that the magnetic field of the earth is somehow switching off. It's not clear why it only slowly slows down instead of properly switching off, or why it's happening at all, but we can chalk that up to bad science fiction.
No, the problematic elements is what seems to happen as a result. It's like someone has half remembered a bunch of stuff they've seen on the Discovery channel and turned it up to "11".
So pigeons are known to use the earth's magnetic field to navigate by. If it switches off they may therefore reasonably get confused. However, the film shows huge flocks of them all suicidally crashing into people, buildings, cars - anything and everything. But they only use magnetic fields for long range navigation - why would that cause them to fly into a building?
Or, somehow, we're supposed to be believe the magnetic field switching off would cause huge super-storms with vast amounts of lightening. Why isn't clear, but to demonstrate it, one hits Rome... and destroys everything. Including somehow managing to blow up the coliseum. You know, the big thing made out of non-conducting concrete, that, in this film, seems to act like a beacon for all the lightening ever.
And it also shows some people getting microwaved because the magnetic field protects us all against the earths microwaves. Except that the sun puts out very little microwave radiation, only a small part of it would be in the frequency needed to do stuff like boil water (you can almost see the monkey brains ticking over - "oh yeah, microwaves, they heat stuff, don't they?") and the microwaves are absorbed by the atmosphere, not deflected by the magnetic field.
What they're thinking of is the deflection of charged particles (the "solar wind") that the sun puts out.
And think abut it - if the sun was that harmful how could anyone have gone to the moon? (yes, yes, some idiots think we didn't, but then some people believe in fairies) And how would satellites and other spacecraft be able to function? Yes, if the magnetic field switched off it would not be great, but we're hardly talking the end of all life on earth within a year, as the film states.
The real problem is it also somehow manages to fail at having interesting characters, being instead stocked with paper-thin clichés and Hollywood tropes. I mean, we get almost no back-story to any of the characters and you're not really given any reason to care about them at all. However, they're all obviously brilliant. Even the guy who's broadly meant to be the 'Judas' in the group is actually a genius who comes up with a brilliant solution and sacrifices himself.
So even though you can sometimes compensate for pish science and rubbish science fiction with good and interesting characters, it can't even do that right.
and on top of all that, it was way too long. If it's a fun B-movie, like it seems to be trying to be, it shouldn't be rattling on for a chunk over two hours.
It somehow manages to tread a fine line between believable science and science fiction... sorry, I should say, it manages to blunder around, stomping on the line between science and science fiction, making a general mess of everything.
The biggest crime it commits is the complete bogusness of the science it tramples over.
So the basic idea is that the magnetic field of the earth is somehow switching off. It's not clear why it only slowly slows down instead of properly switching off, or why it's happening at all, but we can chalk that up to bad science fiction.
No, the problematic elements is what seems to happen as a result. It's like someone has half remembered a bunch of stuff they've seen on the Discovery channel and turned it up to "11".
So pigeons are known to use the earth's magnetic field to navigate by. If it switches off they may therefore reasonably get confused. However, the film shows huge flocks of them all suicidally crashing into people, buildings, cars - anything and everything. But they only use magnetic fields for long range navigation - why would that cause them to fly into a building?
Or, somehow, we're supposed to be believe the magnetic field switching off would cause huge super-storms with vast amounts of lightening. Why isn't clear, but to demonstrate it, one hits Rome... and destroys everything. Including somehow managing to blow up the coliseum. You know, the big thing made out of non-conducting concrete, that, in this film, seems to act like a beacon for all the lightening ever.
And it also shows some people getting microwaved because the magnetic field protects us all against the earths microwaves. Except that the sun puts out very little microwave radiation, only a small part of it would be in the frequency needed to do stuff like boil water (you can almost see the monkey brains ticking over - "oh yeah, microwaves, they heat stuff, don't they?") and the microwaves are absorbed by the atmosphere, not deflected by the magnetic field.
What they're thinking of is the deflection of charged particles (the "solar wind") that the sun puts out.
And think abut it - if the sun was that harmful how could anyone have gone to the moon? (yes, yes, some idiots think we didn't, but then some people believe in fairies) And how would satellites and other spacecraft be able to function? Yes, if the magnetic field switched off it would not be great, but we're hardly talking the end of all life on earth within a year, as the film states.
The real problem is it also somehow manages to fail at having interesting characters, being instead stocked with paper-thin clichés and Hollywood tropes. I mean, we get almost no back-story to any of the characters and you're not really given any reason to care about them at all. However, they're all obviously brilliant. Even the guy who's broadly meant to be the 'Judas' in the group is actually a genius who comes up with a brilliant solution and sacrifices himself.
So even though you can sometimes compensate for pish science and rubbish science fiction with good and interesting characters, it can't even do that right.
and on top of all that, it was way too long. If it's a fun B-movie, like it seems to be trying to be, it shouldn't be rattling on for a chunk over two hours.
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
tonsilloliths
When I was quite a lot younger I used to get tonsilloliths.
I didn’t know I used to get tonsilloliths, because I didn’t know what tonsilloliths were and I didn’t know they were a proper thing.
Basically, tonsilloliths are a sort of lumpy accretion that can build up in your tonsils. They don’t tend to be that deep and kinda poke out of the duct. Indeed, they can often ‘grow’ out of the tonsils an be visible in the back of the throat.
But what do I mean by a lumpy accretion?
I don’t know it you’re familiar with how pearls form in oysters, but I think it’s basically the same idea. A pearl forms when a lump of grit or other irritant gets into the oyster, and it slowly coats it until it becomes a large, roughly spherical lump. Yes, for those that didn’t know, pearls are basically solidified oyster spit.
In this case, the tonsilloliths form around little bits of food that get into your tonsils (which are like ducts at the back f your mouth / top of your throat - weirdly there doesn’t seem to be a clear explanation for what tonsils really do) and an accretion slowly builds up around them.
They’re not rock hard like pearls, but they are quite hard and they’re also very smelly. Indeed, they’re one of the causes of halitosis.
So I used to get these things, but never really knew what they were. They used to manifest for me in that, ever so often I’d get a feeling like they was something hard and course at the back of my mouth. In particular, I could feel it when I swallowed.
I’d end up basically rubbing my tongue against my pallet area (my tonsils, but I didn’t know it), scrapping the area with my finger like it itched and also trying to sort of blow the irritant away like a cat spitting up a hairball.
And as I say, I’d sort of spit up one of these hardish, very smelly, slightly yellow lumps that I recently discovered are called tonsilloliths.
I’ve not had one for years and, according to Wikipedia, they’re more common for teenagers, which is when I used to mainly get them. Also, and I’m not sure it's actually of any benefit, but after the disasters I had when I finally started going back to the dentists (after uni, when I hadn’t gone for years) I started doing everything, including using mouthwash, which I’d also gargle with.
As I say, I don’t know that it’s what prevents it, but I don’t really get them any more.
If you’re in the mood for a bit of grossness, you can look them up on you tube and see some really nasty sights of them being removed from he back of people’s mouths. Some of them on there are enormous, and I never got anything like that, but there the same basic beast.
I didn’t know I used to get tonsilloliths, because I didn’t know what tonsilloliths were and I didn’t know they were a proper thing.
Basically, tonsilloliths are a sort of lumpy accretion that can build up in your tonsils. They don’t tend to be that deep and kinda poke out of the duct. Indeed, they can often ‘grow’ out of the tonsils an be visible in the back of the throat.
But what do I mean by a lumpy accretion?
I don’t know it you’re familiar with how pearls form in oysters, but I think it’s basically the same idea. A pearl forms when a lump of grit or other irritant gets into the oyster, and it slowly coats it until it becomes a large, roughly spherical lump. Yes, for those that didn’t know, pearls are basically solidified oyster spit.
In this case, the tonsilloliths form around little bits of food that get into your tonsils (which are like ducts at the back f your mouth / top of your throat - weirdly there doesn’t seem to be a clear explanation for what tonsils really do) and an accretion slowly builds up around them.
They’re not rock hard like pearls, but they are quite hard and they’re also very smelly. Indeed, they’re one of the causes of halitosis.
So I used to get these things, but never really knew what they were. They used to manifest for me in that, ever so often I’d get a feeling like they was something hard and course at the back of my mouth. In particular, I could feel it when I swallowed.
I’d end up basically rubbing my tongue against my pallet area (my tonsils, but I didn’t know it), scrapping the area with my finger like it itched and also trying to sort of blow the irritant away like a cat spitting up a hairball.
And as I say, I’d sort of spit up one of these hardish, very smelly, slightly yellow lumps that I recently discovered are called tonsilloliths.
I’ve not had one for years and, according to Wikipedia, they’re more common for teenagers, which is when I used to mainly get them. Also, and I’m not sure it's actually of any benefit, but after the disasters I had when I finally started going back to the dentists (after uni, when I hadn’t gone for years) I started doing everything, including using mouthwash, which I’d also gargle with.
As I say, I don’t know that it’s what prevents it, but I don’t really get them any more.
If you’re in the mood for a bit of grossness, you can look them up on you tube and see some really nasty sights of them being removed from he back of people’s mouths. Some of them on there are enormous, and I never got anything like that, but there the same basic beast.
Monday, 10 October 2011
japanometric
I have no idea what I mean by that as a title.
But then to be honest, I'm struggling to know quite what I mean by anything today, as I got no sleep on Saturday night.
Well, I've a sneaking suspicion I got about an hour at 4:30AM. But certainly from 11:00PM on Saturday night I was doing stuff right through until about 4:00AM on Sunday morning.
I don't really know why I didn't get any sleep. I actually went to bed early on Saturday, but I laid there for so long totally wide awake that it was apparent that the whole effort was pretty much wasted. I think a big part of the problem was that I'd basically done nothing all Saturday. I mean, I'd been busy all day, but what I was doing was fiddly and mentally taxing, rather than physically taxing.
I'd also been eating badly (I gained a pound on Sunday's weigh in, though it wasn't a proper like-for-like consistent weigh in) all day, so I think I'd managed to kind of build up a chunk of energy that meant when I tried to go to bed, I just wasn't tired at all.
And I didn't get tired until very early in the morning, which then left me with a bit of a dilemma, because the Japanese Grand Prix was on. Now I have to confess I'd obviously gotten the wrong end of the stick the when it was on, as I thought it started at about 4:00AM. However, the actual race didn't start until 7:00AM, with an hours build up before hand.
If I'd known it didn't start until then I'd probably have tried to get a few hours sleep, but instead I was waiting for it to start and perhaps drifted off for a bit.
This tiredness did hamper my enjoyment of the race. Indeed, it hampered all of my day, if I'm honest. The race looked like quite a good one, but I kept loosing focus and being distracted, due to my tiredness.
I didn't make the same mistake on Sunday, as I did loads of stuff that included washing my car and going for a one and a half hour walk. I was truly shattered by the afternoon, which was great, but left me with another dilemma.
This time, the problem was going to bed too early. This would potentially allow me to catch up on lost sleep, but there was also the potential problem of waking up very early in the morning and therefore mess up my body clock, setting it to that I keep waking up early in the morning.
In the end I stayed up until about 8:30PM, but this morning I was shattered when I got up. I'll therefore try to go to bed a bit early tonight as well, although I'm doubting I'll manage that.
But then to be honest, I'm struggling to know quite what I mean by anything today, as I got no sleep on Saturday night.
Well, I've a sneaking suspicion I got about an hour at 4:30AM. But certainly from 11:00PM on Saturday night I was doing stuff right through until about 4:00AM on Sunday morning.
I don't really know why I didn't get any sleep. I actually went to bed early on Saturday, but I laid there for so long totally wide awake that it was apparent that the whole effort was pretty much wasted. I think a big part of the problem was that I'd basically done nothing all Saturday. I mean, I'd been busy all day, but what I was doing was fiddly and mentally taxing, rather than physically taxing.
I'd also been eating badly (I gained a pound on Sunday's weigh in, though it wasn't a proper like-for-like consistent weigh in) all day, so I think I'd managed to kind of build up a chunk of energy that meant when I tried to go to bed, I just wasn't tired at all.
And I didn't get tired until very early in the morning, which then left me with a bit of a dilemma, because the Japanese Grand Prix was on. Now I have to confess I'd obviously gotten the wrong end of the stick the when it was on, as I thought it started at about 4:00AM. However, the actual race didn't start until 7:00AM, with an hours build up before hand.
If I'd known it didn't start until then I'd probably have tried to get a few hours sleep, but instead I was waiting for it to start and perhaps drifted off for a bit.
This tiredness did hamper my enjoyment of the race. Indeed, it hampered all of my day, if I'm honest. The race looked like quite a good one, but I kept loosing focus and being distracted, due to my tiredness.
I didn't make the same mistake on Sunday, as I did loads of stuff that included washing my car and going for a one and a half hour walk. I was truly shattered by the afternoon, which was great, but left me with another dilemma.
This time, the problem was going to bed too early. This would potentially allow me to catch up on lost sleep, but there was also the potential problem of waking up very early in the morning and therefore mess up my body clock, setting it to that I keep waking up early in the morning.
In the end I stayed up until about 8:30PM, but this morning I was shattered when I got up. I'll therefore try to go to bed a bit early tonight as well, although I'm doubting I'll manage that.
Friday, 7 October 2011
suzuka here we come
So this weekend it's the Japanese Grand Prix from the famous Suzuka track.
Suzuka is one of the classic tracks, like Spa and Silverstone, and it usually produces some good races. There are a couple of spots that have always been good for overtaking and hopefully the new rules will mean it's another cracker. I'm certainly looking forward to it.
Unlike Singapore, the Japanese race is held at normal local time, which means it will be on very early in the morning here in the UK. I'm currently unsure if I will get up to watch it live, but I've set it to be recorded to give me the option.
The race will also put my whole new scheduling system to test, because the weekend after is the Korean Grand Prix. The real issue is that my schedule depends on me doing my washing on Saturday morning and then cleaning my bedsit and doing all sorts of other stuff on non-GP weekends.
However, I only have enough clothes and stuff to last me two weeks without washing. What I may do is do a smaller wash on the weekend that is the Korean GP, just to tide me over until the following weekend when I'll then do the usual cleaning schedule.
An advantage I'll have is that the Korean GP will also be shown very early, so again, it would be one I'd record anyway. I can't honestly remember whether the Korean GP is any good (in fact, I can't actually remember it at all - it is new? I know India's new this year, but I thought it was only new one, so maybe Korean was new last year?), so I don't think I'll be too worried about watching it live.
Watching the GP live is often quite important, because it's a classic one for sports announcers to spoiler. They always warn you if you don't want to hear football results, but they never do with F1 and the opening line describing it will be "Sebastian Vettel has one the Singapore Grand Prix..." which gives you no chance to avoid it.
Anyway, it will be a particularly important test, because next year there seem to be quite a few back-to-back races, so it'll be good to see if what I'll need to do.
Suzuka is one of the classic tracks, like Spa and Silverstone, and it usually produces some good races. There are a couple of spots that have always been good for overtaking and hopefully the new rules will mean it's another cracker. I'm certainly looking forward to it.
Unlike Singapore, the Japanese race is held at normal local time, which means it will be on very early in the morning here in the UK. I'm currently unsure if I will get up to watch it live, but I've set it to be recorded to give me the option.
The race will also put my whole new scheduling system to test, because the weekend after is the Korean Grand Prix. The real issue is that my schedule depends on me doing my washing on Saturday morning and then cleaning my bedsit and doing all sorts of other stuff on non-GP weekends.
However, I only have enough clothes and stuff to last me two weeks without washing. What I may do is do a smaller wash on the weekend that is the Korean GP, just to tide me over until the following weekend when I'll then do the usual cleaning schedule.
An advantage I'll have is that the Korean GP will also be shown very early, so again, it would be one I'd record anyway. I can't honestly remember whether the Korean GP is any good (in fact, I can't actually remember it at all - it is new? I know India's new this year, but I thought it was only new one, so maybe Korean was new last year?), so I don't think I'll be too worried about watching it live.
Watching the GP live is often quite important, because it's a classic one for sports announcers to spoiler. They always warn you if you don't want to hear football results, but they never do with F1 and the opening line describing it will be "Sebastian Vettel has one the Singapore Grand Prix..." which gives you no chance to avoid it.
Anyway, it will be a particularly important test, because next year there seem to be quite a few back-to-back races, so it'll be good to see if what I'll need to do.
Thursday, 6 October 2011
some tv musings
I thought today I'd try to do some musing on telly stuff, as it's been a while since I've done that.
I finished the most recent series of Torchwood. It was quite good, but it wasn't as dark as the Children one. I liked it, but it did end with quite a lot of questions unanswered.
Now some of those were good in that I think they were intended to set up future series, but the main thing, which was the rift, wasn't explained at all. I mean, what was it, were did it come from, how did it work, why was it there? None of that was really answered.
There was all sorts of odd stuff that didn't work either. It's like it showed stuff falling into the hole, but it wasn't clear where that stuff was coming from, or, more importantly, why gravity seemed to be operating sideways. Rather than the hole being below them ,it was in front of them, yet it was meant to go through the earth.
And if stuff was falling in both ways, where was it all going? And if you assume geological activity and shifting continents, how does that work? I dunno, it all felt a bit unsatisfactory.
My trumpeting of the return of Total Wipeout seems to have been quite premature. The two celeb specials, which were clearly made as if they would appear at the end of the series (there was no explanation of some of the obstacles, like you'd get if they were the first episodes) were shown and then there's been nothing else.
I was hoping it might appear now that we're in to October, but I can't see it in the TV listings. The new series of QI is on, and they usually start at about the same time. Though saying that the BBC seems to have moved away from hard seasons and tends to take a more staggered approach to starting series nowadays.
A couple of new BBC series have caught my eye.
There's the new Planet Dinosaur, which is, well, not a sequel to Walking with Dinosaurs, but of a similar vein. However, this series is more focused on the actual evidence. My memory of walking is that it purely showed reconstructions, but in Planet they'll show a bit of reconstruction and then break away to show you what the actual evidence is.
This is good in that the evidence is fascinating, but it can break up the reconstruction bits quite badly. I think, actually, each programme should have been a little bit longer - perhaps 50 minutes instead of 30 - so they could be a bit more thorough.
Another new show is "The Fades". This is on BBC3, which is the BBC's "yoof" channel and I was afraid it would therefore be crap, but actually I've been rather enjoying it. The central ideas are a little mashed together, but it's quite well written and there are some interesting characters. Certainly given how poor I found the third series of Being Human to be (not sure I ever mentioned that - it seemed to forget it should be funny every so often and instead was even more angsty) this seems like a good replacement.
The Gadget Show has returned to its Monday slot. They also seem to have dropped the annoying new competition format. These are both good things.
The latest series of Bang Goes the Theory has just finished this week. I continue to be impressed by the show - it's populist enough to keep it generally engaging, but with enough proper science bits in there to also be interesting. And it's good to see the return of a show like this since Tomorrow's World died all those years ago.
There have been a lot of interesting shows on recently about the Army. The BBC is running one of its themed seasons and there have been other random shows. These have been of varying interest and quality. One that really struck me, though, was around the guys who dispose of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). It was fascinating, harrowing and, to be frank, terrifying in equal measures.
That's really only a small sample, as there's quite a lot on just recently that I've been enjoying.
I finished the most recent series of Torchwood. It was quite good, but it wasn't as dark as the Children one. I liked it, but it did end with quite a lot of questions unanswered.
Now some of those were good in that I think they were intended to set up future series, but the main thing, which was the rift, wasn't explained at all. I mean, what was it, were did it come from, how did it work, why was it there? None of that was really answered.
There was all sorts of odd stuff that didn't work either. It's like it showed stuff falling into the hole, but it wasn't clear where that stuff was coming from, or, more importantly, why gravity seemed to be operating sideways. Rather than the hole being below them ,it was in front of them, yet it was meant to go through the earth.
And if stuff was falling in both ways, where was it all going? And if you assume geological activity and shifting continents, how does that work? I dunno, it all felt a bit unsatisfactory.
My trumpeting of the return of Total Wipeout seems to have been quite premature. The two celeb specials, which were clearly made as if they would appear at the end of the series (there was no explanation of some of the obstacles, like you'd get if they were the first episodes) were shown and then there's been nothing else.
I was hoping it might appear now that we're in to October, but I can't see it in the TV listings. The new series of QI is on, and they usually start at about the same time. Though saying that the BBC seems to have moved away from hard seasons and tends to take a more staggered approach to starting series nowadays.
A couple of new BBC series have caught my eye.
There's the new Planet Dinosaur, which is, well, not a sequel to Walking with Dinosaurs, but of a similar vein. However, this series is more focused on the actual evidence. My memory of walking is that it purely showed reconstructions, but in Planet they'll show a bit of reconstruction and then break away to show you what the actual evidence is.
This is good in that the evidence is fascinating, but it can break up the reconstruction bits quite badly. I think, actually, each programme should have been a little bit longer - perhaps 50 minutes instead of 30 - so they could be a bit more thorough.
Another new show is "The Fades". This is on BBC3, which is the BBC's "yoof" channel and I was afraid it would therefore be crap, but actually I've been rather enjoying it. The central ideas are a little mashed together, but it's quite well written and there are some interesting characters. Certainly given how poor I found the third series of Being Human to be (not sure I ever mentioned that - it seemed to forget it should be funny every so often and instead was even more angsty) this seems like a good replacement.
The Gadget Show has returned to its Monday slot. They also seem to have dropped the annoying new competition format. These are both good things.
The latest series of Bang Goes the Theory has just finished this week. I continue to be impressed by the show - it's populist enough to keep it generally engaging, but with enough proper science bits in there to also be interesting. And it's good to see the return of a show like this since Tomorrow's World died all those years ago.
There have been a lot of interesting shows on recently about the Army. The BBC is running one of its themed seasons and there have been other random shows. These have been of varying interest and quality. One that really struck me, though, was around the guys who dispose of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). It was fascinating, harrowing and, to be frank, terrifying in equal measures.
That's really only a small sample, as there's quite a lot on just recently that I've been enjoying.
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
the talented mr ripley
There's quite a clever trick in the Talented Mr Ripley where you are essentially made to empathise with a killer.
Well, I say empathise. It's more like you feel on his side. Well, ish. It's more like you feel a conflict as to whether he should get away with it or be caught. However, that's more in the beginning. Towards the end it's more difficult to feel the same as he does more and more wrong stuff.
Let me explain - the issue is that Tom Ripley is a poor kid who lives in a crappy apartment and does crappy jobs. However, through chance and the judicious application of a bit of fibbing, he finds himself thrust into the world of high society.
And we're talking about the 1950s, so poor was really poor and the high life must have seem like a completely different world. He also ends up in Italy, which just adds another sheen of coolness.
So okay he fibbed, but he's poor so you sort of feel it's okay. He then basically latches on to a guy who is very wealthy and privileged and, to be frank, is rather unpleasant. So although you feel Tom is scrounging, the guy he's scrounging off - Dickie Greenleaf - kinda deserves it.
However, eventually it all turns and to avoid spoilers I won't tell you the exact details of how it turns, but the point is you kinda realise that Ripley isn't really very... balanced. I mean, I wouldn't say he's mad, just that he's a sandwich short of a full picnic.
There's also a bit of an undercurrent of homosexuality, which would have been a serious taboo back in the 50s. So was that a contributing factor (I don't mean in a gays are evil but as in it would have been a difficult thing to deal with and he clearly falls in love with Dickie).
What I'm really trying to get at here is that these are complicated characters who feel very real. Although the circumstances are extreme, you kinda feel like it could all hang together.
Something I particularly liked was that the whole film is told through Tom's viewpoint, but eventually you come to realise that there have been things happening in parallel that almost represent another film. There's a point towards the end in particular where there's a flip in what you perceive to be happening that clearly says "well those other guys have been doing other stuff and where Tom (and therefore we) thought it was going to be a problem, now it's his salvation".
It's very clever, which is how I'd sum up the film - it's intelligent. It also looks beautiful and there are some excellent performances.
My only criticism is that it's a bit long. It is a complicated story and so brevity probably wouldn't have helped it, but there are some sections towards the beginning where it perhaps labours the point a bit heavily. Also, a couple of things don't quite pay off in as full a way as I'd thought they might, but it's not like it makes it a bad film, just more old school - there's a big build up and a lot of development before it really gets to the "thriller" side of things.
Well, I say empathise. It's more like you feel on his side. Well, ish. It's more like you feel a conflict as to whether he should get away with it or be caught. However, that's more in the beginning. Towards the end it's more difficult to feel the same as he does more and more wrong stuff.
Let me explain - the issue is that Tom Ripley is a poor kid who lives in a crappy apartment and does crappy jobs. However, through chance and the judicious application of a bit of fibbing, he finds himself thrust into the world of high society.
And we're talking about the 1950s, so poor was really poor and the high life must have seem like a completely different world. He also ends up in Italy, which just adds another sheen of coolness.
So okay he fibbed, but he's poor so you sort of feel it's okay. He then basically latches on to a guy who is very wealthy and privileged and, to be frank, is rather unpleasant. So although you feel Tom is scrounging, the guy he's scrounging off - Dickie Greenleaf - kinda deserves it.
However, eventually it all turns and to avoid spoilers I won't tell you the exact details of how it turns, but the point is you kinda realise that Ripley isn't really very... balanced. I mean, I wouldn't say he's mad, just that he's a sandwich short of a full picnic.
There's also a bit of an undercurrent of homosexuality, which would have been a serious taboo back in the 50s. So was that a contributing factor (I don't mean in a gays are evil but as in it would have been a difficult thing to deal with and he clearly falls in love with Dickie).
What I'm really trying to get at here is that these are complicated characters who feel very real. Although the circumstances are extreme, you kinda feel like it could all hang together.
Something I particularly liked was that the whole film is told through Tom's viewpoint, but eventually you come to realise that there have been things happening in parallel that almost represent another film. There's a point towards the end in particular where there's a flip in what you perceive to be happening that clearly says "well those other guys have been doing other stuff and where Tom (and therefore we) thought it was going to be a problem, now it's his salvation".
It's very clever, which is how I'd sum up the film - it's intelligent. It also looks beautiful and there are some excellent performances.
My only criticism is that it's a bit long. It is a complicated story and so brevity probably wouldn't have helped it, but there are some sections towards the beginning where it perhaps labours the point a bit heavily. Also, a couple of things don't quite pay off in as full a way as I'd thought they might, but it's not like it makes it a bad film, just more old school - there's a big build up and a lot of development before it really gets to the "thriller" side of things.
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
google+ and chrome
I gave google chrome a go the other week.
It has some nice touches. The integration with other google features is quite nice, the back-end interface is quite nice and it seems quite quick. I also got it because recent versions of Firefox seems to have some real memory leakage problems.
When I use Firefox to view crunchyroll or even do stuff on animepaper like download a bunch of scans, it doesn't seem to release the memory properly, so I keep having to restart it, which is crap.
chrome doesn't do that and also seems a little quicker than Firefox. Trouble is, it doesn't seem to have some of the things I like in Firefox - separate download window, more traditional "file" type menus - but also, it's not very customisable. So, for example, it has a bookmarks toolbar, which is basically fixed in its location, which is below the tabs and address bar, which I find annoying. But, more importantly, you can't move things around (that I can find).
Also, Ezy sent me an invite to google+, which is Google's social network thing.
I've given it a go and registered, but I have to say I really struggle with most of the social networking sites. I have facebook, myspace and twitter accounts and they're basically all totally neglected. I mean, I have enough trouble trying to blog every day, maintaining something like a social network page is just way too much like effort.
Part of the idea of google plus is that it's integrated with all the other google things you use. Now, while I like that for chrome, it actually has big disadvantages for me on something like google+.
See, a lot of the people I know have different relationships with me. So, the people I work with don't know about my interest in anime and manga. Certain circles of friend know I have an interest in it but don't know what it is or have any interest in it themselves. Other friends that's essentially how I know them - through that interest.
Now that's okay, but the problem is I keep some of those groups separate for very good reasons. While I do object to anime and manga all being classified as "cartoon porn", I'm not going to pretend it doesn't exist or that I don't enjoy such things.
And of course a lot of stuff is borderline. I'll give you some specific examples - I used to make wallpapers, a fair few of which were ecchii to varying degrees. Recently, I closed my wallpaper website down (hopefully temporarily) and moved all the images to a blog site.
That blog site was a google one and I used Google's Picasa site to host the images.
All well and good, but of course with google+'s integration, it turns out it shows all those Picasa galleries in your "my pictures" bit. So, in other words, if I was to friend (they use circles and I didn't investigate it fully) someone at work, could look in my gallery and see all the anime stuff? A good chunk of it is nearly pornographic so that would not be a good thing.
I wouldn't be surprised if you could set it up so they couldn't, but as I say, far too much like effort.
So I set all the galleries to "view only if you have the link" - but what does that actually mean? Could they do a couple of clicks and get access to them or what?
Also, what about people I'd want to see the images? Are they now blocked unless they're coming in via the blog that has them on? But I'd actually be happy for them to just brows through them on google+.
And that's just a specific example for me. Many people have flagged the whole thing google does that you have to use your real name and can't use an alias.
All these whole social networking things all just seems to open up more cans of problematic worms to me than I've got the time, effort or interest to really deal with.
But there's also something I heard recently that makes them all a bit scarier. Basically, facebook are introducing a new version / tool that, in essence, operates on the assumption that everything you do you want to share with the world. It's also facebook's vision that they will essentially become people's "portal to the internet".
Man, that sounds risky - imagine installing it with good intentions, or not understanding what it was going o do and then it broadcasts to the world all the stuff you'd rather that big chunks of the world did not know. And imagine that teamed with them acting as the portal through which you do all your web stuff.
That would open up the possibility so many potentially bad things it makes the mind boggle.
It has some nice touches. The integration with other google features is quite nice, the back-end interface is quite nice and it seems quite quick. I also got it because recent versions of Firefox seems to have some real memory leakage problems.
When I use Firefox to view crunchyroll or even do stuff on animepaper like download a bunch of scans, it doesn't seem to release the memory properly, so I keep having to restart it, which is crap.
chrome doesn't do that and also seems a little quicker than Firefox. Trouble is, it doesn't seem to have some of the things I like in Firefox - separate download window, more traditional "file" type menus - but also, it's not very customisable. So, for example, it has a bookmarks toolbar, which is basically fixed in its location, which is below the tabs and address bar, which I find annoying. But, more importantly, you can't move things around (that I can find).
Also, Ezy sent me an invite to google+, which is Google's social network thing.
I've given it a go and registered, but I have to say I really struggle with most of the social networking sites. I have facebook, myspace and twitter accounts and they're basically all totally neglected. I mean, I have enough trouble trying to blog every day, maintaining something like a social network page is just way too much like effort.
Part of the idea of google plus is that it's integrated with all the other google things you use. Now, while I like that for chrome, it actually has big disadvantages for me on something like google+.
See, a lot of the people I know have different relationships with me. So, the people I work with don't know about my interest in anime and manga. Certain circles of friend know I have an interest in it but don't know what it is or have any interest in it themselves. Other friends that's essentially how I know them - through that interest.
Now that's okay, but the problem is I keep some of those groups separate for very good reasons. While I do object to anime and manga all being classified as "cartoon porn", I'm not going to pretend it doesn't exist or that I don't enjoy such things.
And of course a lot of stuff is borderline. I'll give you some specific examples - I used to make wallpapers, a fair few of which were ecchii to varying degrees. Recently, I closed my wallpaper website down (hopefully temporarily) and moved all the images to a blog site.
That blog site was a google one and I used Google's Picasa site to host the images.
All well and good, but of course with google+'s integration, it turns out it shows all those Picasa galleries in your "my pictures" bit. So, in other words, if I was to friend (they use circles and I didn't investigate it fully) someone at work, could look in my gallery and see all the anime stuff? A good chunk of it is nearly pornographic so that would not be a good thing.
I wouldn't be surprised if you could set it up so they couldn't, but as I say, far too much like effort.
So I set all the galleries to "view only if you have the link" - but what does that actually mean? Could they do a couple of clicks and get access to them or what?
Also, what about people I'd want to see the images? Are they now blocked unless they're coming in via the blog that has them on? But I'd actually be happy for them to just brows through them on google+.
And that's just a specific example for me. Many people have flagged the whole thing google does that you have to use your real name and can't use an alias.
All these whole social networking things all just seems to open up more cans of problematic worms to me than I've got the time, effort or interest to really deal with.
But there's also something I heard recently that makes them all a bit scarier. Basically, facebook are introducing a new version / tool that, in essence, operates on the assumption that everything you do you want to share with the world. It's also facebook's vision that they will essentially become people's "portal to the internet".
Man, that sounds risky - imagine installing it with good intentions, or not understanding what it was going o do and then it broadcasts to the world all the stuff you'd rather that big chunks of the world did not know. And imagine that teamed with them acting as the portal through which you do all your web stuff.
That would open up the possibility so many potentially bad things it makes the mind boggle.
Monday, 3 October 2011
cash strapped
I've been having some serious financial issues just recently.
There are a number of causes.
The primary one is my spend-thrift ways (you don't acquire hundreds of unwatched DVDs and unread books without spending a hell of a lot of money), but extra pressure has recently been building due to the rise in the cost of living.
In particular, Petrol now costs an absolute fortune. I easily spend more than £100 a month, which is getting on for half as much again as I spent four years ago and in that time I've not had any pay increases.
But also, this last month I tried to "pre-invest" in electricity and spent a total of £150 to try to build up a bit of a cushion. Now that's a lot of money, but I felt it was necessary because my electricity supplier has increased their rates by 11%. This is particularly worrisome as I've heard serious predictions that this winter is going to be another super cold one.
Apparently we're going to have this warm spell, and then temperatures are going to plummet. I hope they don't plummet too far before I go on holiday. I'm going down to Devon at the end of October, which is a bit later than I would usually do, but I felt I needed to fit in with other people's holidays a bit. It's also already booked, so I can't change it.
My landlord is apparently going to plumb some heating in across from his place while I'm holiday, which will hopefully help a bit with heating (it's the electricity for heating that really hits me during the winter) although it's going to mean my rent will go up a fiver. Also I won't have any control over it, so it'll only be on at certain times and of course during summer I won't use it, so although it might only sound like £5 a month for heating, it's probably more like £10 a month during winter. So helpful, but I'm still going to be spending a fair old bit on heating.
I've also had to buy some more clothes. When I switched over the summer cloths I actually chucked a few clothes away. This was partly because they were getting very worn out, but also because I'd lost a lot of weight.
Back then of course I thought I'd loose more over summer, but I haven't so I'm still having to buy outsize clothes, which are more expensive. I'm not sure why they're more expensive - aren't all clothes made in sweatshops in Malaysia? I mean, I know there's more cloth in big clothes, but surely cloth costs next to nothing and there's not that much more labour involved, surely?
Anyway, point is I've had to buy a new coat, a suit, some new belts and I've also bought a new work shirt. As mentioned, I threw some clothes away and I actually threw too many shirts away, so I have to get some shirts or I'll be wearing short sleeve shirts right into winter!
I only got one shirt, more as an experiment than anything else, as I measured my collar size and, to be frank, I couldn't actually believe the size, which was 16 inches. I've a feeling that the shirt I've therefore ordered will fit my neck, but probably not my waist!
Also, I've had a review of my pension and it's gone up as a result. I'm in a bit of a weird position with my pension in that I started it way "ahead of the game" but then I failed to really capitalise on that and increase it in line with my wage. Now, the flip side to that is that there was a miss communication when I set it up and my contribution was nearly double what it should have been, but still, now that I'm on a lot more I should be contributing more so that I'll have a good pension when I retire.
Which, if you think about it, is really just another reflection of how bad I am with organising my finances.
I therefore got a bunch of stuff on e-bay this last weekend, and also identified some other stuff I could put on next weekend. But the truth is I'm running out of old stuff I could e-bay and really need to go through things I've got on my to do piles in order to sell them.
There are a number of causes.
The primary one is my spend-thrift ways (you don't acquire hundreds of unwatched DVDs and unread books without spending a hell of a lot of money), but extra pressure has recently been building due to the rise in the cost of living.
In particular, Petrol now costs an absolute fortune. I easily spend more than £100 a month, which is getting on for half as much again as I spent four years ago and in that time I've not had any pay increases.
But also, this last month I tried to "pre-invest" in electricity and spent a total of £150 to try to build up a bit of a cushion. Now that's a lot of money, but I felt it was necessary because my electricity supplier has increased their rates by 11%. This is particularly worrisome as I've heard serious predictions that this winter is going to be another super cold one.
Apparently we're going to have this warm spell, and then temperatures are going to plummet. I hope they don't plummet too far before I go on holiday. I'm going down to Devon at the end of October, which is a bit later than I would usually do, but I felt I needed to fit in with other people's holidays a bit. It's also already booked, so I can't change it.
My landlord is apparently going to plumb some heating in across from his place while I'm holiday, which will hopefully help a bit with heating (it's the electricity for heating that really hits me during the winter) although it's going to mean my rent will go up a fiver. Also I won't have any control over it, so it'll only be on at certain times and of course during summer I won't use it, so although it might only sound like £5 a month for heating, it's probably more like £10 a month during winter. So helpful, but I'm still going to be spending a fair old bit on heating.
I've also had to buy some more clothes. When I switched over the summer cloths I actually chucked a few clothes away. This was partly because they were getting very worn out, but also because I'd lost a lot of weight.
Back then of course I thought I'd loose more over summer, but I haven't so I'm still having to buy outsize clothes, which are more expensive. I'm not sure why they're more expensive - aren't all clothes made in sweatshops in Malaysia? I mean, I know there's more cloth in big clothes, but surely cloth costs next to nothing and there's not that much more labour involved, surely?
Anyway, point is I've had to buy a new coat, a suit, some new belts and I've also bought a new work shirt. As mentioned, I threw some clothes away and I actually threw too many shirts away, so I have to get some shirts or I'll be wearing short sleeve shirts right into winter!
I only got one shirt, more as an experiment than anything else, as I measured my collar size and, to be frank, I couldn't actually believe the size, which was 16 inches. I've a feeling that the shirt I've therefore ordered will fit my neck, but probably not my waist!
Also, I've had a review of my pension and it's gone up as a result. I'm in a bit of a weird position with my pension in that I started it way "ahead of the game" but then I failed to really capitalise on that and increase it in line with my wage. Now, the flip side to that is that there was a miss communication when I set it up and my contribution was nearly double what it should have been, but still, now that I'm on a lot more I should be contributing more so that I'll have a good pension when I retire.
Which, if you think about it, is really just another reflection of how bad I am with organising my finances.
I therefore got a bunch of stuff on e-bay this last weekend, and also identified some other stuff I could put on next weekend. But the truth is I'm running out of old stuff I could e-bay and really need to go through things I've got on my to do piles in order to sell them.
Friday, 30 September 2011
pre-blogging
I've been pre-writting most of my entries for the last few weeks.
I've mentioned this before on here - it's basically where I try to pre-write a bunch of posts at the weekend so that they're ready to just slap on the blog when the days roll around. The big advantage of this is that, if the week is very busy, I don't end up missing days simply because I didn't have the time to write an entry.
The disadvantage is of course that the blogs tend to be about roughly relevant stuff, but aren't 100% current. This is especially true of the later posts in the week, where something important may have happened early in the week, but I don't mention it until the week after. Or I forget and don't mention it at all.
To be fair, I don't think it's such a problem because my blog has kinda always had elements of that anyway. I mean, for ages now I've been posting mini reviews on Wednesday and Tuesday or Thursday are generally a reflection on the previous Sunday's weigh in and the previous week's dieting and walking progress. Then of course during GP season, many Friday's and Mondays have at least some content relevant to the weekend's race.
So in other words, the blog is often not really about 100% current stuff. I mean, fundamentally I try to do the blog as a Monday to Friday one post a day thing, but of course life is often not like that - loads of important (or bloggable anyway) stuff may happen during one week, but then nothing happens for the next couple of weeks.
But one thing I have found with all this pre-blogging is it's given me an opportunity to use my laptop more. I've been sitting on my bed tapping away at the laptop most Sunday afternoons, post race, and it's been quite a good way to do it.
The only real problem I've been having is that my laptop space bar seems to be really unresponsive. I don't really know if it's a reflection of my technique, or some problem with the laptop design or something that's not working properly, though.
I can't touch type. I wish I could and I did have the opportunity to teach myself when I was younger, but never really put the effort in. However, one small thing that was part of touch typing (well, I think it is) did seem to become a habit, which was using my thumb to hit the space bar.
I therefore don't really single-finger type either. My technique s an odd sort of both index fingers (one on each half of the keyboard) combined with the occasional use of the middle and ring fingers on my right hand and my right thumb for the space bar and then random occasional use of both my pinkie fingers for shift keys.
I'm very right handed, which is part of why I use some of the other fingers on my right hand, but also, most of the more occasionally used stuff, like delete keys and semi-colons is on the right had side of a standard qwerty keyboard.
But also, one of the other main features is I have a map of where the keys are in my head. So although it's not proper touch typing, I can type for long segments looking at the screen like a touch typist would.
Anyway, the point is I use my thumb to hit the space bar and a lot of the time the keyboard on my laptop doesn't seem to pick it up, so I end up with three or even four words stuck together. It's quite annoying when you're reviewing or spell checking to unpick the words.
And I'm pretty sure it is my laptop, as it's never happened with other keyboards, and I recall always having this problem. In particular when I was fooling myself into thinking I might try to become a writer I used my laptop a lot (indeed, that's kinda why I'd bought it) and had the same issue with missed spaces.
I've mentioned this before on here - it's basically where I try to pre-write a bunch of posts at the weekend so that they're ready to just slap on the blog when the days roll around. The big advantage of this is that, if the week is very busy, I don't end up missing days simply because I didn't have the time to write an entry.
The disadvantage is of course that the blogs tend to be about roughly relevant stuff, but aren't 100% current. This is especially true of the later posts in the week, where something important may have happened early in the week, but I don't mention it until the week after. Or I forget and don't mention it at all.
To be fair, I don't think it's such a problem because my blog has kinda always had elements of that anyway. I mean, for ages now I've been posting mini reviews on Wednesday and Tuesday or Thursday are generally a reflection on the previous Sunday's weigh in and the previous week's dieting and walking progress. Then of course during GP season, many Friday's and Mondays have at least some content relevant to the weekend's race.
So in other words, the blog is often not really about 100% current stuff. I mean, fundamentally I try to do the blog as a Monday to Friday one post a day thing, but of course life is often not like that - loads of important (or bloggable anyway) stuff may happen during one week, but then nothing happens for the next couple of weeks.
But one thing I have found with all this pre-blogging is it's given me an opportunity to use my laptop more. I've been sitting on my bed tapping away at the laptop most Sunday afternoons, post race, and it's been quite a good way to do it.
The only real problem I've been having is that my laptop space bar seems to be really unresponsive. I don't really know if it's a reflection of my technique, or some problem with the laptop design or something that's not working properly, though.
I can't touch type. I wish I could and I did have the opportunity to teach myself when I was younger, but never really put the effort in. However, one small thing that was part of touch typing (well, I think it is) did seem to become a habit, which was using my thumb to hit the space bar.
I therefore don't really single-finger type either. My technique s an odd sort of both index fingers (one on each half of the keyboard) combined with the occasional use of the middle and ring fingers on my right hand and my right thumb for the space bar and then random occasional use of both my pinkie fingers for shift keys.
I'm very right handed, which is part of why I use some of the other fingers on my right hand, but also, most of the more occasionally used stuff, like delete keys and semi-colons is on the right had side of a standard qwerty keyboard.
But also, one of the other main features is I have a map of where the keys are in my head. So although it's not proper touch typing, I can type for long segments looking at the screen like a touch typist would.
Anyway, the point is I use my thumb to hit the space bar and a lot of the time the keyboard on my laptop doesn't seem to pick it up, so I end up with three or even four words stuck together. It's quite annoying when you're reviewing or spell checking to unpick the words.
And I'm pretty sure it is my laptop, as it's never happened with other keyboards, and I recall always having this problem. In particular when I was fooling myself into thinking I might try to become a writer I used my laptop a lot (indeed, that's kinda why I'd bought it) and had the same issue with missed spaces.
Thursday, 29 September 2011
shelves of doom
I mentioned last week I would take some pics of my shelves, so I thought I'd present those today.
There are actually two shelves.
First is the one on the right.
A: Ink Cartridges
B: Some of my important documents.
C: Stack of important (and non-important, to be frank) documents that I haven't sorted out yet (though I'll need to go through them soon as I need to find something). Plus this is where I keep my TV listing and all my remote controls.
D: These are basically piles of anime where I've bought and imported the original Japanese anime version (and I wonder why I'm skint). I'm also in the process of collecting the western versions and my hope is that this combo will sell quite well on e-bay. I'm somewhat afraid that actually they won't sell at all well, so I'm also kinda ignoring them.
E: This shelf is where I keep all the unscanned Japanese anime magazines. As you can see, it's a fair pile, but it's a lot smaller than it was. There used to be so many that they lived on the shelf below, which is much taller.
F: These are my PC games. The ones in the front row are those I haven't really played much yet, if at all, and the ones in the back are ones I have played and want to hold on too or want to play a bit more, but feel I should really do something about those unplayed ones first.
G: And this is the core stack of anime. As you can see it's quite a deep shelf and you have to remember that these are stacked in two piles, one in front of the other. That's a lot of unwatched stuff. It's also the stuff I've prioritised to watch "first" which obviously means I have a couple of other stacks of stuff I want to watch "after" :/.
H: This stack (again, double depth) is the real life TV series (or at least non-anime and non-film) all unwatched (well, I'll have watch the majority of the actual shows when they were broadcast, but I've not watched the DVDs).
I: This stack is "films". Again, double depth and featuring a mix of live action, foreign and anime.
J: This is my cheater stack, where I've stacked up all those series I'm in the middle of. It's yet another way of excluding stuff from the to watch pile because I like to marathon things.
K: These cake boxes contain all of the audio books that I've already listened to. I like to listen to audio books while I walk. as you can see I walk quite a bit.
L: This is the main chunk of box files containing important documents.
M: My digital radio which wakes me up in the morning. I got it as a present from my Dad and was worried I might not be able to get a signal, but actually it's great. My digital telly is problematic, but I think it's because the aerial is pointing at the London region antennae, rather than the Meridian, which is a lot closer. Also we've still not switched over to full digital service in either region, so signal strength is lower than it could be anyway.
N: These stacks are original Japanese manga that I'm disassembling in order that I can scan the big spreads and dramatic images. It's really a hang over from when I used to make wallpapers and I used to find new/different/original content by doing this. Now they're just stuck in the huge scanning backlog (they're sell for a pittance on e-bay, so this way they at least get put to some use before being chucked away)
O: My right speaker, perfectly positioned so I get great stereo effect when watching DVDs or Blu-Ray... except of course I stuck a bunch of stuff in front of it :/.
Second is the one on the left.
P: The other speaker
Q: The overspill pile. It's mainly anime, but there's plenty of normal TV stuff in there too. My intention is to watch this stuff after the other stuff... yeah, because I'm ever going to get through all that other stuff :/.
R: My unread books.
S: VHS Tapes - burn the heretic! They're old anime VHS tapes that I felt guilty about chucking away without rewatching at least once.
T: Supposed to be my unread manga pile, but they actually spill down on to the shelf below. I've actually not being doing so bad recently with keeping on top of reading manga.
U: This is ostensibly my western comics to read pile, but it also has a bunch of CD old/empty jewel case I intended to use as spare parts to replace broken ones, but have never gotten around to.
V: These are the CDs I'm hanging on to for now. There's two stacking crates into eh kitchen of CDs I either want to e-bay (god, the effort required) or sell on one of those "sell your DVD sites" (bound to be a rip off).
W: These fans were headed out to the garage. Well, until this current heat wave so now they're sort of back in use.
X: I'm rapidly running out of letter, so, from left to right we've got: The DVDs I plan to take to watch on my upcoming holiday; CD cake boxes containing fansubs (I'm supposed to be sorting through them but got distracted half way); my Blu-Rays (I promised myself I wouldn't let it grow :() and a box of software.
Y: These spindles are the blank ones with DVDs and (out of picture) CDs for burning stuff on too. Oh, and some pants.
So there you go. The perfect shopping list for burglars. Well, burglar nerds. Which is very different to nerd burglars.
There are actually two shelves.
First is the one on the right.
A: Ink Cartridges
B: Some of my important documents.
C: Stack of important (and non-important, to be frank) documents that I haven't sorted out yet (though I'll need to go through them soon as I need to find something). Plus this is where I keep my TV listing and all my remote controls.
D: These are basically piles of anime where I've bought and imported the original Japanese anime version (and I wonder why I'm skint). I'm also in the process of collecting the western versions and my hope is that this combo will sell quite well on e-bay. I'm somewhat afraid that actually they won't sell at all well, so I'm also kinda ignoring them.
E: This shelf is where I keep all the unscanned Japanese anime magazines. As you can see, it's a fair pile, but it's a lot smaller than it was. There used to be so many that they lived on the shelf below, which is much taller.
F: These are my PC games. The ones in the front row are those I haven't really played much yet, if at all, and the ones in the back are ones I have played and want to hold on too or want to play a bit more, but feel I should really do something about those unplayed ones first.
G: And this is the core stack of anime. As you can see it's quite a deep shelf and you have to remember that these are stacked in two piles, one in front of the other. That's a lot of unwatched stuff. It's also the stuff I've prioritised to watch "first" which obviously means I have a couple of other stacks of stuff I want to watch "after" :/.
H: This stack (again, double depth) is the real life TV series (or at least non-anime and non-film) all unwatched (well, I'll have watch the majority of the actual shows when they were broadcast, but I've not watched the DVDs).
I: This stack is "films". Again, double depth and featuring a mix of live action, foreign and anime.
J: This is my cheater stack, where I've stacked up all those series I'm in the middle of. It's yet another way of excluding stuff from the to watch pile because I like to marathon things.
K: These cake boxes contain all of the audio books that I've already listened to. I like to listen to audio books while I walk. as you can see I walk quite a bit.
L: This is the main chunk of box files containing important documents.
M: My digital radio which wakes me up in the morning. I got it as a present from my Dad and was worried I might not be able to get a signal, but actually it's great. My digital telly is problematic, but I think it's because the aerial is pointing at the London region antennae, rather than the Meridian, which is a lot closer. Also we've still not switched over to full digital service in either region, so signal strength is lower than it could be anyway.
N: These stacks are original Japanese manga that I'm disassembling in order that I can scan the big spreads and dramatic images. It's really a hang over from when I used to make wallpapers and I used to find new/different/original content by doing this. Now they're just stuck in the huge scanning backlog (they're sell for a pittance on e-bay, so this way they at least get put to some use before being chucked away)
O: My right speaker, perfectly positioned so I get great stereo effect when watching DVDs or Blu-Ray... except of course I stuck a bunch of stuff in front of it :/.
Second is the one on the left.
P: The other speaker
Q: The overspill pile. It's mainly anime, but there's plenty of normal TV stuff in there too. My intention is to watch this stuff after the other stuff... yeah, because I'm ever going to get through all that other stuff :/.
R: My unread books.
T: Supposed to be my unread manga pile, but they actually spill down on to the shelf below. I've actually not being doing so bad recently with keeping on top of reading manga.
U: This is ostensibly my western comics to read pile, but it also has a bunch of CD old/empty jewel case I intended to use as spare parts to replace broken ones, but have never gotten around to.
V: These are the CDs I'm hanging on to for now. There's two stacking crates into eh kitchen of CDs I either want to e-bay (god, the effort required) or sell on one of those "sell your DVD sites" (bound to be a rip off).
W: These fans were headed out to the garage. Well, until this current heat wave so now they're sort of back in use.
X: I'm rapidly running out of letter, so, from left to right we've got: The DVDs I plan to take to watch on my upcoming holiday; CD cake boxes containing fansubs (I'm supposed to be sorting through them but got distracted half way); my Blu-Rays (I promised myself I wouldn't let it grow :() and a box of software.
Y: These spindles are the blank ones with DVDs and (out of picture) CDs for burning stuff on too. Oh, and some pants.
So there you go. The perfect shopping list for burglars. Well, burglar nerds. Which is very different to nerd burglars.
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
taxi
Luc Besson is a director/writer I have a bit of a mixed reaction too.
He's made some stuff I've really liked - Nikita, Fifth Element, The first Transporter - and other stuff, like the Transporter sequels, I've really struggled with. Taxi is probably a perfect example of the later.
There's a lot to like in the film - some interesting characters, some really great car chases, some nice funny stuff - and a lot that just doesn't work. The problem for me is that one of the key things that doesn't work is the plot. And for me, plot is one of the key elements of film.
Don't get me wrong, visual spectacle is one of the things that makes cinema an amazing art form and I'll happily watch something that's just purely visually interesting. Trouble is a film like this they're trying to make the plot more important than that, and, to be frank, the plot was a horrible pastiche of bits of ideas pinched from other films and stuck together in a way that can only really be described as rubbish.
Also, I have to say the acting was rather hammy. One of the things I always noticed with Hong Kong cinema was the hammy over-acting. Everyone would over-act all the time. If you were a bad guy you'd slope around making mean faces and being all menacing all the time.
Taxi seems to have the same bug (I specifically used HK as an example as Taxi seems really heavily influenced by HK cinema). It doesn't feel natural or real or even like it's vaguely attempting to be either. And it doesn't really even work as camp or something like that.
Tonally it just feels odd.
Also, there are lots of stupid bits in it that don't make sense. For example, there's one bit where the guy says he'll be back in a couple of hours and it's clearly the best part of a day before he returns. Now to be fair it's part of an ongoing gag, but even so, why he takes the best part of a day to return isn't clear. There'd have been loads of chances for him to pop back for a few hours or call - he wasn't tied up in a basement or anything.
I'm being very harsh on the film. It has a lot of fine Luc Besson stuff in it, and it's punchy and amusing and quite diverting, it's just that it feels lazily and haphazardly written and a lot of it doesn't make any real sense. It's predictable, hackneyed and a bit lazy, to be frank.
He's made some stuff I've really liked - Nikita, Fifth Element, The first Transporter - and other stuff, like the Transporter sequels, I've really struggled with. Taxi is probably a perfect example of the later.
There's a lot to like in the film - some interesting characters, some really great car chases, some nice funny stuff - and a lot that just doesn't work. The problem for me is that one of the key things that doesn't work is the plot. And for me, plot is one of the key elements of film.
Don't get me wrong, visual spectacle is one of the things that makes cinema an amazing art form and I'll happily watch something that's just purely visually interesting. Trouble is a film like this they're trying to make the plot more important than that, and, to be frank, the plot was a horrible pastiche of bits of ideas pinched from other films and stuck together in a way that can only really be described as rubbish.
Also, I have to say the acting was rather hammy. One of the things I always noticed with Hong Kong cinema was the hammy over-acting. Everyone would over-act all the time. If you were a bad guy you'd slope around making mean faces and being all menacing all the time.
Taxi seems to have the same bug (I specifically used HK as an example as Taxi seems really heavily influenced by HK cinema). It doesn't feel natural or real or even like it's vaguely attempting to be either. And it doesn't really even work as camp or something like that.
Tonally it just feels odd.
Also, there are lots of stupid bits in it that don't make sense. For example, there's one bit where the guy says he'll be back in a couple of hours and it's clearly the best part of a day before he returns. Now to be fair it's part of an ongoing gag, but even so, why he takes the best part of a day to return isn't clear. There'd have been loads of chances for him to pop back for a few hours or call - he wasn't tied up in a basement or anything.
I'm being very harsh on the film. It has a lot of fine Luc Besson stuff in it, and it's punchy and amusing and quite diverting, it's just that it feels lazily and haphazardly written and a lot of it doesn't make any real sense. It's predictable, hackneyed and a bit lazy, to be frank.
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
confusion reigns
I ate loads of crap last week and so got on the scales expecting a gain, but found I'd lost a pound.
I really found it all very confusing. The only theory I've got is that all the work I've been doing has really been sucking the energy out of me and also I had real trouble sleeping on Thursday night.
It was actually one of the weirdest bouts of insomnia I've ever had, in that I didn't actually feel tired. Well, I felt a bit tired, but not like I do after I've had one of my normal bouts of insomnia.
I've a feeling I did manage to get some sleep at the beginning and that, in effect, I actually just got up at about 1:30 in the morning. But as I say, when it became apparent that I really wasn't actually tired enough to make it even worth trying to go back to sleep, instead I watched some telly.
Usually that would then mean I'd be shattered during the day, but as I say, I was just a little bit tired - nothing particularly over what I'd expect for a Thursday after a busy week.
I did also manage to keep walking during the week. I think that helped keep the old metabolism ticking over and get the proverbial blood flowing, but I dunno, there's clearly something in the whole lack of sleep thing that means I do burn up calories. I wouldn't ever want to use it as a technique, as it's obviously not good for other reasons, but there it is.
One thing I have to say is I was particularly annoyed with myself last week eating some of the stuff I did, but I have been trying to use it to some extent to eat up some of the more random contents of my cupboards, fridge and freezer. I've managed to get through a lot of the stuff that's been kinda been "hanging about" since I started my diet.
About the only thing I've got left is a bunch of pasta meals and some rice. I'm fairly relaxed about keeping the rice, as plain rice is too boring and long-winded a food to cook for it to be "naughty eating" thing. Also, having it there means that if I sneakily buy certain meals I can cook the plain rice which is generally lower calories than the types of rice you buy, if you see what I mean.
I also felt rather daft with the extra eating too, as it was clearly... how to put it? Pointless eating driven by a desire to eat, rather than a need.
That's quite a complicated description, but what I mean is, one of the reasons people like me tend to gain weight is because we eat when we aren't hungry. A classic example of this is snacking - eating chocolate bars when you're not really hungry.
Well, in the evening what I've unfortunately been doing is eating stuff more because I'm in the habit of eating, rather than because I'm actually hungry. More often than not when it gets to evening I'm only really peckish, but because I'll have bought some extra stuff I'll eat that stuff, which is just un-necessary.
It actually represents a significant difference to how I was dieting when I first started this and I think is a reflection of the thing I was doing of buying strawberries (and other less good stuff) instead of sticking to my diet. It's that 'habit' I really need to break.
I really found it all very confusing. The only theory I've got is that all the work I've been doing has really been sucking the energy out of me and also I had real trouble sleeping on Thursday night.
It was actually one of the weirdest bouts of insomnia I've ever had, in that I didn't actually feel tired. Well, I felt a bit tired, but not like I do after I've had one of my normal bouts of insomnia.
I've a feeling I did manage to get some sleep at the beginning and that, in effect, I actually just got up at about 1:30 in the morning. But as I say, when it became apparent that I really wasn't actually tired enough to make it even worth trying to go back to sleep, instead I watched some telly.
Usually that would then mean I'd be shattered during the day, but as I say, I was just a little bit tired - nothing particularly over what I'd expect for a Thursday after a busy week.
I did also manage to keep walking during the week. I think that helped keep the old metabolism ticking over and get the proverbial blood flowing, but I dunno, there's clearly something in the whole lack of sleep thing that means I do burn up calories. I wouldn't ever want to use it as a technique, as it's obviously not good for other reasons, but there it is.
One thing I have to say is I was particularly annoyed with myself last week eating some of the stuff I did, but I have been trying to use it to some extent to eat up some of the more random contents of my cupboards, fridge and freezer. I've managed to get through a lot of the stuff that's been kinda been "hanging about" since I started my diet.
About the only thing I've got left is a bunch of pasta meals and some rice. I'm fairly relaxed about keeping the rice, as plain rice is too boring and long-winded a food to cook for it to be "naughty eating" thing. Also, having it there means that if I sneakily buy certain meals I can cook the plain rice which is generally lower calories than the types of rice you buy, if you see what I mean.
I also felt rather daft with the extra eating too, as it was clearly... how to put it? Pointless eating driven by a desire to eat, rather than a need.
That's quite a complicated description, but what I mean is, one of the reasons people like me tend to gain weight is because we eat when we aren't hungry. A classic example of this is snacking - eating chocolate bars when you're not really hungry.
Well, in the evening what I've unfortunately been doing is eating stuff more because I'm in the habit of eating, rather than because I'm actually hungry. More often than not when it gets to evening I'm only really peckish, but because I'll have bought some extra stuff I'll eat that stuff, which is just un-necessary.
It actually represents a significant difference to how I was dieting when I first started this and I think is a reflection of the thing I was doing of buying strawberries (and other less good stuff) instead of sticking to my diet. It's that 'habit' I really need to break.
Monday, 26 September 2011
singapore GP
Sebastian Vettel very nearly took the championship this weekend.
Well, let's be frank - he has the championship, but there's a mathematical chance that Button could win it. However, it's so slim a chance that it's negligible - Button would have to win every single race from here on out (a couple of the circuits - Japan definitely - suit the Red Bull car down to the ground) and Vettel would have to score no points at all.
Or, to put it even more bluntly, if Seb scores one more point in the entire rest of the season, then he takes the championship. So it's his.
The Grand Prix itself was okay. It was still horribly long and there wasn't a huge amount of overtaking. Most of that overtaking came from DRS, KERS and the tyres. Let's be frank - it's a terribly boring race that the excellent new rules helped to make okay.
Lewis was a bit in the wars again. Massa must think Lewis has a personal grudge against him, as he keeps ending up the victim. But then he must wonder at his luck full stop as everyone keeps crashing into him - Webber at Monza, for example.
I think the punishment for Lewis was very harsh, but you can understand it, as he did virtually ruined Massa's race.
I've gotta say I do think the Stewards are very inconsistent. Schumacher got the lightest slap on the wrist at Monza and Lewis has ended up with a penalty simply because it's very difficult to see exactly where the tip of your front wing is.
Anyway, I also got my haircut as planned.
I don't actually enjoy getting my haircut. I do get it cut at the same place, so I'm a bit more used to the girls they have and the environs now, but it's still something I just don't feel comfortable with.
My guess is that this is in no small part because my mum used to cut my hair. I don't mean in a random way - she used to be a hairdresser (I believe she used to have her own hairdressers before the bank stopped the funding/overdraft or something like that). As such, I've essentially grown up without the need to get used to a non-family member fiddling about with your hair and a sharp pair of scissors.
One thing that does puzzle me is, despite having the exact same cut type (number 2/3 on the back and sides, season and weather depending, and scissor trim on the top) it looks different depending on who's done it. A key difference is how high up they take the trimming bit - some do only a sort of lower chunk that doesn't go above my temples, but others take it right up the full side of my head.
Weirdly I ran into the girl who used to do my favourite version when I was out on one of my longer walks. I thought she'd been sacked or moved on, but she said she'd had an operation and that's why she'd not been in.
Well, let's be frank - he has the championship, but there's a mathematical chance that Button could win it. However, it's so slim a chance that it's negligible - Button would have to win every single race from here on out (a couple of the circuits - Japan definitely - suit the Red Bull car down to the ground) and Vettel would have to score no points at all.
Or, to put it even more bluntly, if Seb scores one more point in the entire rest of the season, then he takes the championship. So it's his.
The Grand Prix itself was okay. It was still horribly long and there wasn't a huge amount of overtaking. Most of that overtaking came from DRS, KERS and the tyres. Let's be frank - it's a terribly boring race that the excellent new rules helped to make okay.
Lewis was a bit in the wars again. Massa must think Lewis has a personal grudge against him, as he keeps ending up the victim. But then he must wonder at his luck full stop as everyone keeps crashing into him - Webber at Monza, for example.
I think the punishment for Lewis was very harsh, but you can understand it, as he did virtually ruined Massa's race.
I've gotta say I do think the Stewards are very inconsistent. Schumacher got the lightest slap on the wrist at Monza and Lewis has ended up with a penalty simply because it's very difficult to see exactly where the tip of your front wing is.
Anyway, I also got my haircut as planned.
I don't actually enjoy getting my haircut. I do get it cut at the same place, so I'm a bit more used to the girls they have and the environs now, but it's still something I just don't feel comfortable with.
My guess is that this is in no small part because my mum used to cut my hair. I don't mean in a random way - she used to be a hairdresser (I believe she used to have her own hairdressers before the bank stopped the funding/overdraft or something like that). As such, I've essentially grown up without the need to get used to a non-family member fiddling about with your hair and a sharp pair of scissors.
One thing that does puzzle me is, despite having the exact same cut type (number 2/3 on the back and sides, season and weather depending, and scissor trim on the top) it looks different depending on who's done it. A key difference is how high up they take the trimming bit - some do only a sort of lower chunk that doesn't go above my temples, but others take it right up the full side of my head.
Weirdly I ran into the girl who used to do my favourite version when I was out on one of my longer walks. I thought she'd been sacked or moved on, but she said she'd had an operation and that's why she'd not been in.
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