December 2017 – Fooyah

December 31 2017October 13 2018

Water Loss

Yesterday I went to make a morning coffee and noticed that the pressure from the tap was pretty low. This happens sometimes as I share a water main link with some other houses. Their water use can affect how well the water flows in my house!

I didn’t really pay much attention to this water drop as it doesn’t last long. Later on during the day, I had been for a run and needed to get clean.

Check out my run on Strava.https://t.co/ZHioVdEPvh pic.twitter.com/i0QN05U8x2

— Ian Parish (@iparish) December 29, 2017

I hadn’t really time the run that well as one mile into the exercise the rain started and fell quite heavily for about twenty minutes, that was slightly annoying. Once home I went to run some water for a drink and the flow was very poor. It took in excess of ten seconds to fill a small glass.

So, I went to my water supplier’s website and lo and behold there was a broken water main.

At least the website was updated regularly and the company were doing their best to keep everyone informed. I think that the British are ok with inconvenience as long as we know what is causing it and as long as it wasn’t due to some idiotic behaviour.

The water pressure is now restored. As for a post-run shower, please don’t ask!

December 30 2017

Racing The Ring

In a follow up to this communication I’ve spent some time getting to know the Nurburgring and I’m getting there. These two videos show the same lap just from different perspectives. There’s the TV view and then the front spoiler view. The front spoiler view is the main one that I race with.

Enjoy.

December 30 2017

Arctic Hiding

When I’ve finished racing in Gran Turismo and don’t have time for more detailed races I sneak over the the livery editor and create car liveries. This feature is surprisingly more fun than I had expected.

Gran Turismo has a feature where graphic files can be uploaded and then added to the cars you design. However, this has meant I have had to learn how to edit SVG files and mess around with a graphics editor. For whatever reason the file size for upload is limited to 14kB. This isn’t a great deal and means you have to be quite creative within the editor software. The SVG format is perfectly sensible but Microsoft don’t really deal with them, however, there is a free editor available, I use Inkscape.

This car livery is my own design, even the polygon arctic camouflage pattern. I think it looks good:

This is partly based on an RAF Jaguar scheme, I might try and look up some more planes and get a decent version of each. I know the car is German, but it still looks good.

Here are some snow views of the car:

December 30 2017

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

I took a trip last night to see Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle last night. I had flip-flopped about going for a good hour or so earlier in the day but decided to get out and stop playing Gran Turismo. I pay money to get to the cinema and so I should go, even if there aren’t really any films I’m that bothered about, December was a bleak month for films on my list.

I don’t recall what the tide was like but I have sought out that information online and let me tell you, the sine curve is lovely.

I know this doesn’t show the actual day I went to the cinema but just work backwards. I think it only changes by about an hour per day.

So, on to the film. As is custom within these pages I rated the film on IMDB. See this communication for an explanation of the rating system.

I rated Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) 8/10 #IMDb https://t.co/5kwI3lDnRC

— Ian Parish (@iparish) December 29, 2017

So, I really enjoyed this film. It was enjoyable, funny and well written. It was a little one-dimensional and obvious, but really it’s a kids film so I can let that pass. I do like the fact that the kids in the original film had the surname “Parrish”. They even get a shout-out in this film.

There were a few times when I thought the action was a little over-the-top, but then I realised this is based on a computer game and those things are what you would do in a game. I mean, flying a helicopter forwards at 90 degrees of roll!

I’m happy to say that I really enjoyed this film.

December 23 2017December 23 2017

A Livery Company

In the new Gran Turismo it is possible to design the paint scheme for cars, helmets and racing kit. I’ve done some terrible versions, trying to get use to the UI, and now I have finally created quite a nice looking car.

This is an Aston Martin Vantage for the Fulham Five reprobates. I’ll try and get some more shots because not all the detail is visible from here. I like the wing mirrors.

How'd It Get There? — How’d It Get There?

And, because some of us are US based, here’s some location in the USA.

Finally. This is a clip of me taking the thing around the Kent Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit:

December 23 2017December 30 2017

Star Wars – The Last Jedi

YOU ARE WARNED: There may be spoilers ahead. I don’t know yet. I haven’t written this article!

A few days ago I went to the Rochester Cineworld Cinema by the river Medway to see the latest Star Wars film and I have waited a few days before writing this as it could have been a very negative review and I didn’t want to put my dear readers off the film [unlikely].

I’m not sure about the state of the tide this time as it was dark and I didn’t pay attention as I drove along the esplanade. I have rated this film on the IMDB website and I think it gained two stars from my immediate reaction as I left the theatre. Read this communication to get an idea of scale.

I rated Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) 8/10 #IMDb https://t.co/txHQplnALZ

— Ian Parish (@iparish) December 23, 2017

And, on to the important bit:

I walked out of this movie really pissed off with it. In the initial battle [YOU WERE WARNED] why did Dameron continue to attack the Dreadnought? He is fucking stupid and shouldn’t be a leader of troops. Why do space ships have to attack in a straight line? Why didn’t the Star Destroyers just shoot the Rebel ship? Surely you disable the enemy’s escape plan first then finish them on the surface? Why do the bombers drop bombs as if there is gravity? I have so many more questions about the military tactics of the film. It was all very much lambs to the slaughter. If I rated the film when leaving the cinema I would have given it a 4! Hence I wrote this communication.

A day later I spoke to a friend about the film. He said it was pretty good fun. I wasn’t sure I agreed. We ranted about all the stupid plot elements and how much of it didn’t make sense. It took a good 40 minutes of us ranting to iron out the problems with this film. That’s not a good sign. I don’t have the time or inclination to write it all here. Clearly my problems with the opening sequence are pretty bad and I’ve not even put them all down!But, here’s the thing:

IT’S JUST A STAR WARS FILM

It’s not meant to be brilliant. It’s meant to make money. I let go of Star Wars a few years after episodes 1-3 were released because I just couldn’t stand the constant disappointment. I haven’t learnt really either!

So, here’s the best bit:

IT’S STILL MUCH MUCH AND MORE LOADS BETTER THAN EPISODES I, II, and III

I have, over the last week, relaxed in my view of this film. Yes, there was loads of bullshit and plots that were shit. The humour was OK and I quite enjoyed that. I even quite liked the porgs. So, I have rated this film an 8. I will watch it again and try to be less bothered by plot and serious things and just try to enjoy the cinematic experience.

December 22 2017December 22 2017

Sponsorship

I think I have finally figured out how to upload decals to Gran Turismo. This means I can add whatever I want (within bounds of decency) to car liveries.

The best bit is I can save video to YouTube!

Now all I need to do is colour match my decals with this website and upload some groovy KSC based colours!

December 17 2017December 17 2017

Lighting The Ring

I had to complete a Gran Turismo challenge which required racing sections of the Nurburgring Nordschleife. I’m not normally blown away by graphics in games, I tend to concentrate on the action more than anything else and so I don’t really see the quality of the graphics. HOWEVER, this challenge had me racing around dawn and the lighting of the Nordshleife was incredible. Then, there were the mist patches. There was actual mist along the track. Just amazing. Really impressive. It looked awesome.

December 14 2017December 14 2017

Quickie

It’s been a while since I’ve been here and I apologise to my followers. I will be aiming to write more over the next few weeks so get ready for a load of mind-splurge. You should know what I’m like, there’ll be rants, I promise.

I also need to get to the cinema soon, Star Wars is out and I guess I should go and see it.

I’ll also write more about Electroneum, a crypto-currency I’m interested in. If you want to send me ETN then you can do so at the following wallet:

Cheers, m’dears.

/end.

December 2 2017December 2 2017

Going Ballistic

I did a Gran Turismo Race Challenge. There were three laps around the Willow Springs Horse Thief Mile.

On the last corner I missed the tarmac and hit a bump, it was a big bump. The car launched into the sky. I managed to take some photos during the replay. They are below. A good thing is that I don’t know how the car landed. I launched and then passed the finish line in the air and so the race finished!