"Nothing but the rain"
Here we go with a Star Wars Lego kit. Just a mini one really and not worth building. It seems that the Lego people have been designing “scenes” rather than models that can create story. As an example here’s the Death Of Darth Maul Lego scene.
In the continuing mini-series of Lego season here we have a couple of superheroes:
This is Robin and Kane (?).
I’ve been corrected. It is Bane. I would embed the tweet but it’s protected so can’t.
I went to see Miss Sloane. Je voyageais par la route de l’autre côté de la rivière, c’était une marée haute. The river looked lovely and calm. I rated this film using IMDB and this one got a 6. You might find it helpful to read my communication about the scoring system.
I rated Miss Sloane (2016) 6/10 #IMDb https://t.co/wHlufz6chM
— Ian Parish (@iparish) May 24, 2017
This, was I guess, a political thriller. It was pretty good. I found the performance of the lead actor probably kept it going well. There was a little too much intrigued and double guessing for me. I haven’t worked in high management or politics but I do think that the political system largely reacts to random events and, while there may be a grand plan, it never really gets too far gone.
I quite enjoyed this film and the cinema provided some respite from the warm temperatures in this lands at the moment. This is not a complaint. I like the heat. I just dislike sun burn. Which I spent a good proportion of my youth suffering with.
I guess the amount of writing here tells you how much I was affected by this film. It didn’t really impact on me. Just have a look at films I thought were stunning or absolutely terrible. I write way more when I’m really happy or annoyed at a film.
Because we all need to have a lovely time away from it all I went to Cobtree Manor Park yesterday. Although it costs money to park there, quite rightly, the park is very nice and glorious in the sunshine.
The part of the park I have circled is the best bit. The paths have been made all weather since I was last there. The whole place has a beautiful collection of trees that even a heathen like me can appreciate. It’s really worth a visit.
I’m having a problem coping with all the bullshit around with the current general election. It is annoying me. I am stuck between voting for the person and party that most represents my views and voting for the person most likely to get the tories out of government. I do not like the tories. I do not like their aims to enrich the rich at the expense of the poor. I do not like new Labour for the same reasons.
I do not agree with privatisation of the utilities, transport or the NHS. I do not agree with PPI and PFI for schools or anything. I do not agree with cutting investment into services.
But I do think that the well off should be made to pay for services they use. Those poorest in society should have services provided free of charge and the state has a duty to look after and help these people. Part of the agreement of living in this country [if you are an honest taxpayer] is that you accept that some of your money goes to help those less fortunate than you. People already accept progressive tax rates. Surely everyone would agree that it is fair and good and right to look after the worse off in this country?
So, we come to the problem I have. The conservatives are proposing to means test the winter fuel allowance for older people and also ask that people contribute to the costs of their care in old age down to a maximum amount of capital of £100,000.
Means testing the winter fuel allowance seems reasonable. The wealthy can afford to pay their bills anyway and so let’s have the money go to where it will do most good. Please note that I do not know what the tories are planning to do with the money they save. I would make sure it went on helping the less-well-off but the tories are scum and will probably use this to give tax breaks to very rich fuckers who do their best to “reduce their tax burden” or NOT PAY THEIR FUCKING FAIR SHARE. It still seems a reasonable thing to means test winter fuel payments.
So, here’s another thing that’s bothering me. The tories have said that they will use the sale of peoples houses once they die to cover the cost of caring for them, less £100,000. Now, arguments about privatisation fucking over the NHS and social care aside, I don’t really have a problem with this. If our starting premise is that those who can afford it, should pay and also help those who can’t then this is a sensible policy. What has everyone bothered is that they cling to the idea of their home being theirs, being what they worked for. The kids who’ll inherit all this money don’t want to give any up. Well, to the people who own the houses: YOU’LL BE DEAD. To the kids who are crying that they won’t receive all of mummy and daddy’s money: IT’S NOT YOUR MONEY. People should accept the price of living longer and paying for their care.
I do probably have a chip on my shoulder over privilege and rich (er) kids. I grew up on a council estate. Everything I don’t own is mostly down to my own fault. I get irate at the rich [and richer] not wanting to pay their way.
I could, of course, change my mind on this. I am going to chat to people over the next few days and see if they convince me that I am wrong. There’s a good chance they will just annoy me and I’ll think they are money grabbing bastards. If I adjust my thoughts on this then I will let you know.
Believe me, I am NEVER going to vote conservative. I pretty much hate everything they stand for and I think they have worked to fuck over in this country in my life time. I do find it interesting that I agree with them on SOME issues, even when most of the press seems against them.
It’s a mini Lego season at the moment. Here’s 76076:
The wings on the aeroplane sweep forwards for more manoeuvrability and lower landing speed.
There’s something about the ebb and flow of a tidal river that’s organically beautiful. The mass of water that enters the Medway and travels up to Allington Lock transforms the landscape from mud flats to a rippling estuary. It’s gorgeous, even if it is brown and looks dirty. The tide was in as I drove to the cinema last night to see Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2. It does that twice a day, raising the level of water and bringing food into the marshes.
I watched the film at Cineworld in Rochester. Fortunately the cinema was quiet, unlike the previous film where there were lots of people eating popcorn through the quiet bits in the film. Popcorn itself isn’t loud but the paper bags rustle with gusto. None of that this time. I rated the film on IMDB, which is customary, and usually I tweet the result, but the app on my phone wanted me to Rate It at the same time as confirming my tweet and it wouldn’t let me tweet automatically. Somewhat annoying but I gave this film an 8.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)#IMDb https://t.co/h0z2IO2TKh
— Ian Parish (@iparish) May 15, 2017
So, 8/10 seems a reasonable score. This film was enjoyable, grandiose and anthemic. It didn’t quite maximise all those qualities though. It looked lovely, was fun and humorous. I do think it had a little bit of “too much stuff-in-it”. There were space fights and graphics with so much going on that it distracts from the story. Yep, it looks good, but it doesn’t add anything. Films can look good and be great without all this “stuff-it-in” approach. Honestly, it’s worth minimising films occasionally. But perhaps that is an outsider approach and wouldn’t make money.
There aren’t many individual comments that I can add to this film. While watching it I didn’t have sentences forming in my head to be written here as I normally do. I usually leave the cinema remembering about 50% of my in-head comments ready to share here. I just didn’t get that many from this film.
Oh, there was a massacre about 2/3 of the way through. Which seemed a little dark and a tiny bit unnecessary. It wasn’t really needed for the plot or character development.
Stan Lee cameos annoy me.
That’s it. I’ll probably watch this film again sometime. It wasn’t great but it was good fun.
On such a lovely weathered day I thought the best place to be was in the dark, air conditioned atmosphere of a cinema. I did have a lovely run earlier today and managed 7 miles or so.
So, off to Rochester cinema I went. Worriedly. The last film I saw I walked out of. I’m not sure if that was because the film was truly terrible or maybe I was just having a minor head-fuck moment. It was with trepidation that I entered the theatre this time. I was also worried because Ridley Scott’s last foray into the Alien series had distressed me so much.
This film was largely OK. Hence I rated it a 6 on IMDB.
I rated Alien: Covenant (2017) 6/10 #IMDb https://t.co/dayMsomrSR
— Ian Parish (@iparish) May 14, 2017
So, in more detail here’s some thoughts after I steal quotations from some source. If you read my Prometheus Arrrgh communication you will understand what I was worried about. I have since heard people say that Ridley Scott makes gorgeous films, but when he’s been given a shit script, it’s still a shit script.
Finally we have much more involvement of the synthetic human and he has gone mad. This pleased me because the entire series should have been about the relationship that humans have with the alien within their system, within humanity itself.
There were still some issues with this film. You don’t land on a new planet without surveying it THOROUGHLY. You’d also check toxicology reports etc. Humans are quite fragile really!
Now, if I ignore all that, I will admit that the rest of this film was pretty darn good. Really it was an horror film and an awful lot of it was filmed in the dark. Don’t wear sunglasses in the cinema, you won’t see a thing! There was gore and the Alien and stuff.
In all honesty, this film is nowhere near as good as Alien. It’s almost a cross between Alien and Aliens. I fully recommend that you go out and buy Alien and watch that instead.
Oh, and how to kill an Alien? Blast them out into space. EVERY TIME.
I had a run around Mote Park in Maidstone the other day. It was lovely and warm, slightly too warm for efficient running, but I made reasonable progress and listened to a favourite podcast, The Scathing Atheist.
One of the nice things about the park is that at points you can see trees nearby and the North Downs in the distance and nothing of Maidstone in the middle distance, the place is lovely and peaceful.
While in Cyprus I sustained a terrible injury. On the day we went to the reservoir to take part in some dragon boating I clambered up the banking to get a better vantage point for photographs.
Once it was decided that the safety equipment wasn’t good enough I had to descend the embankment, which I did with much grace and poise. I did, however, happen to place my hand down on a local plant with thorns.
These thorns punctured my skin and have left marks. This is bad form.
The marks are still there about a month after the event. Am I concerned? No. Should I be concerned? I doubt it. They’ll go away, especially after the amount of homoeopathic arnica I took last week during a class information session on homoeopathy [sarcasm intended, although I really did take loads of pillules].