Month: April 2022

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Stavelot – Belgium

I spent some time racing around the gorgeous circuit of Spa-Francorchamps. I was slightly bothered about the challenge being made in a Porsche but it turns out this particular car was very well behaved. This will be a 4k video [when processed] which I recorded and uploaded. My god, it looks amazing.

While I was watching the replay I noticed the amazing graphics of the brakes getting hot and decided to take a photograph. This was taken at the end of the long straight after Eau Rouge.

Heavy Braking at Spa Francorchamps
Heavy Braking at Spa Francorchamps

When I played this session it was far more satisfying than some recent gameplay. I’ve been attempting some races that I’ve actually struggled in! I also really love the dynamic weather but it’s a bit irritating to not know at the start of a thirty minute race what weather might be affecting you about fifteen minutes in! I will persist and get better.

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The Northman

I took a small car journey to the Cineworld cinema at Rochester – not in Rochester – to see the film The Northman. As I arrive on the esplanade I check the state of the river to see how high the water is. This gives me an indication of the level of tide in this area of our watery world. The tide was low. I think it’s about time I started plotting the relative positions of the Sun and Moon to Earth in these communications to lend more of a visual representation of what a high or low tide means for this section of our Solar System. I will have a search for some software that gives me what I need, or, I could just figure it out somehow.

After the film, I pondered for quite a while before settling on a score to rate this movie on IMBD. There is a whole communication covering the rating system and it is here. I then tweeted the result.

As you can see from my score I didn’t really like this film. I keep thinking about it and what I didn’t like. I’ve even read some reviews of the film online to try and understand what it was that made this considered a good film. I have also been questioning my own taste in films and what do I expect from them. What does a film have to have for me to think it is good and has that changed over the (many) years of my life?

I didn’t like this film. I didn’t enjoy the story and I didn’t like all the mystical bullshit that was put into the story [that’s probably more my problem than anyone else]. I can admire the colour schemes and general cinematography but that’s only worth being excellent when the story is also excellent and I hated the story. I might have to include spoilers ahead because I’m not sure I can review the film and put over my objections without mentioning particular aspects of the story. So be warned.

There are spoilers ahead in this paragraph. Apart from the weird mother son part which I just shrugged at I was most annoyed by the fact that the whole story was for nothing. The Northman’s journey and needing vengeance was partly to make amends for his father’s killing but also the taking of his mother. Who, as it just so happens, had planned the whole thing. When our anti-hero discovers this I don’t think he questions his role in life and on this planet. He almost does the right thing which is to head off into the sunset with his pregnant lover but he doesn’t he goes back to make sure we get an excellently cinematic final fight off. There was always going to be one ending.

I know the film is based on folklore and most of that stuff is fucked up but I just don’t think it worked. The film felt like a 300 for this age. Vikings done stylistically. I hated the story.

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Walk On – Boston

This has been playing while I take a flight in X-Plane.

I need your love – well constructed but bland!
Surrender to me – starts really well. Decent riff. Pretty much maintained this until the end.
Livin’ For You – slow and boring. probably a good song.
Walkin’ At Night – somehow missed this when it was playing or it was a short song.
Walk On – Amazing guitars after a slow start, very rock ‘n’ roll.
Get Organ-Ized – Decent organ solo instrumental. Very operatic.
Walk On (Some More) – Decent reprise of Walk On to make the last twenty minutes one song.
What’s Your Name – Another pretty decent song that’s written really well.
Magdalene – Look, this is a good song, but it’s boring.
We Can Make It – It’s an ok song.

Here’s the thing I’ve said before about Boston. It’s absolutely really well written music and it’s great for the car. I would imagine that if you know the songs then they would be brilliant for singing along to.

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Virtual Radar Server – Installed

Up in the dim warm loft of my house is a Raspberry Pi connected to an aerial. I’ve written about this a lot before, the thing tracks specific aircraft signals and then send those data off to a website for them to use to send to the world. I spent a little time yesterday adding the Virtual Radar Server software to the Pi so now I can see what my Pi sees in a useful format. I also have enabled this to be seen anywhere around the world using the brilliantness of the internet and such technologies. This picture shows you the UI and a long range view:

ADSB Receiver Range
ADSB Receiver Range

I think the aerial was picking up about 90 aircraft when I grabbed this screenshot. I still think that’s pretty impressive. Here’s a more local view:

ADSB - Local Details
ADSB – Local Details

I know I have some issues with range detection aligned with how my terraces rooves are arranged along with a bit of a block to the north of the North Downs, but still, I think it’s impressive.

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Hidden In The Loft

It has been years since I wrote a communication about my aircraft tracker that’s installed in the loft. I have an aerial connected to a by-pass filter and amplifier connected to a Raspberry Pi which decodes the semi-automatic radio signals sent by aircraft and plots them into a map for me. I also upload the data to a website which anyone can access for a small annual fee. I used to regularly put a “splat” on this site which shows a map of aircraft coverage over a period of time. I have stopped using that part of the software – although I might reinstall it, will have to think about that. Without the virtual radar server all I can do is get a map output of which aircraft are currently being tracked. This was the map I got a few moments ago:

Not A Splat
Not A Splat

It still impresses me how far the aerial can “see”. It would be cool if I could raise the height a little more and have the aerial outside but that would require professional installation so maybe sometime in the future.

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The Lost City

I drove the short distance – too far to walk but possibly cycleable – to the cinema in Rochester, although really it’s in Strood. As are the rules since sometime in the past I check the state of the tide and this time I was quite excited as the last time I was here the tide was quite low and now it’s was actually pretty high and I had the chance to take a contrasting photograph.

Medway At Rochester Low Tide
Medway At Rochester Low Tide
High Tide In Strood
High Tide In Strood

When looking at the two images I can let you know that I cropped the low tide one a little to remove the vast areas of mud. But you can see the difference especially when you look at the footpath on the right of both images. They were taken from reasonably close to each other and I’m quite proud of that, I didn’t even look at the old image yesterday.

After I’ve watched a film I consider a set of questions to decide on the IMDB rating I’m going to give it. There’s a communication from ages ago that explains the rules. It’s nearly ten years of these rules and I think I’ll have to celebrate that somehow. Once I’ve rated the film I then generally tweet the result:

So, you know what? I enjoyed this film. I laughed [not always at the same things as everyone else] and I thought it was a fun silly lost treasure movie. I think it was loads better than Uncharted although one of my sons does not agree with that assessment. I had fun watching this and it was right mix of silly and action that worked. This film is essentially a modern version of Romancing the Stone which, I think, was a pivotal movie from my youth. I have watched Romancing the Stone recently and it does not hold up to the ravages of time. Anyway, back to The Lost City. How does Sandra Bullock do it? She’s 57 or so and yet she looks ageless. She plays this perfectly and is great at her job – I guess you expect an actor to be good at their job so not that surprising maybe.

The lead male character was played by Channing Tatum and I’m not fussed for him either way. During the opening scene I thought he was just an older Brendan Fraser and that would have made this whole movie amazing but it was Tatum, I just didn’t recognise him. Brad Pitt’s character was my favourite and I think I actually jumped at his final scene! I enjoyed this film, it was silly and fun and worth a watch.

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Vulgar Display Of Power – Pantera

There are those people who fixate on a couple of bands and then there are others who just like lots of slightly different same sounding stuff. I’d like to think I’m in the second group but I’ve obsessed over bands in the past and some I’ve seen multiple times. Anyway, that’s a really boring way of saying that Pantera are OK but they never really hit home with me for some reason. I got this album and really like Mouth for War, Walk and Fucking Hostile. I think I remember being at a concert in Brixton (?) when Fucking Hostile came on in the before the gig music selection and I really enjoyed it. But, that’s about it. For some reason I never quite got into Pantera.

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You’ll Get Bored Soon

I’ve been playing a lot of Gran Turismo 7 because it’s fun and looks nice. There’s a photo mode which I mess around with now and then but it’s not really why I play the game. You can take a car and place it somewhere in the world where GT7 people have got high res images of certain locations. Then you can pretty much adjust every aspect of the car, position, lighting and camera details until you get the photograph you want. I then screen shot the best ones and we are at a stage in device connectivity that these media files now appear on my phone in the PS app. I quite like how it all links up. This makes it quite a bit easier for me to save the pictures rather than using a USB memory stick or sharing to Twitter and then downloading that file.

German In Germany
German In Germany

This image was set up and taken quickly for a bronze trophy within the game. You have to photograph a BMW Gr3 car at the Nürburgring. Fortunately I had won a BMW Gr3 car for completing some challenge or other so I already had that vehicle. The other photograph trophy is an Audi R18 at Le Mans and I’ve got to save up to buy that particular car as it’s three million credits in game and I only have about 1.2 million at the moment. The time will come though. In a short while I’m going to work on the Dirt Track trophy so look out for that tweet.

Bora Horza Gobuchul Racing Form
Bora Horza Gobuchul Racing Form

This is my car at the Nürburgring, I own a grey Prius like the one on the photograph except mine doesn’t have a body kit fitted to it, or a wing. While you can’t see the details in this photograph I have modified the car body as far as I can and reduced the weight of the vehicle by taking out everything that’s not needed. The engine has been tuned to a high degree and the suspension and brakes have been uprated. I’ve install some super sticky racing tyres and added a few racing details for fun. I think I’ll take a few more photographs of this car with a standard Prius next to it so the details stand out a little more.

I still don’t have the real Bora Horza Gobuchul because, oddly enough, the parts that are needed to replace the stolen parts are in high demand because too many of the catalytic converters are being stolen. I probably could get a decent one from eBay, and it might even be the one from my car, but it’s with the garage people right now and I’ll leave it there. Meanwhile I have an FR branded Ibiza which you might think was a little hot hatch but it most definitely not. I’ve counted the cylinders and I got to THREE before I ran out of cylinders to count.

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Volkerball: Live In Nimes – Rammstein

There’s a lot to say in this communication but also at the same time every song on here is covered in another communication where I review the studio album. So, there isn’t a lot to say. Except, Rammstein have the best fucking sound I have ever heard live. The show is amazing but the sound shocks me at how good it is. I’ve seen them three times and haven’t had a bad experience. Wembley Arena, Donnington, and Milton Keynes Stadium, every time it was an amazing experience and I loved it. This is a band who knows how to put on a show and knows how to create an album. See it, love it.

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