I went to see the film Anaconda on Boxing Day. It was dark when I got to the cinema but I think the tide was fully in, there were wavy reflections right up to the wharf edge. I rated this film on IMDb and there’s a communication here explaining the rules of those ratings. I used to share my ratings to Twitter but that no longer exists – it transformed into a place of hate. So now I screenshot my ratings.
This film was kinda fun. The first half was slow and boring and full of Jack Black being Jack Black. The second half was more fun and had some genuinely funny parts. Jack Black was still playing Jack Black though. The film was too “meta” for its own good I reckon. But I enjoyed it.
I recently tried to join a group on a social network. To deter bots, or at least catch bots signing up and spamming groups there will often be a question that requires some form of human intelligence. I don’t think AI has been purposed to spam these types of sites yet so it seems that is best for creating shitty pictures and doing people’s homework. The group I wanted to join had the following question:
The answer is, of course, fifty five. That’s the only way to complete this sum. But, my problem was knowing whether the person who wrote the question knew that and whether it would be expected that m people who answer it would get it correct. Maybe it doesn’t matter what answer you put as long as it’s a number? I don’t know what process the admins were using to get rid of bots. If you are expecting the answer 55 then perhaps you have not realised the level to which people will argue about this. There’s no-one so confident as someone who is wrong but has done their own research.
I took a trip to the cinema at Rochester to watch a film. I didn’t know much about the film, but I think I did see a trailer for it recently. Normally before horror films you get a load of horror trailers and this one had a real mix of trailers so I still wasn’t sure what to expect once the film started. It was dark as I arrived and I couldn’t see where the river’s edge was. I could see loads of white round things on top of the mud flats that are at the riverbank. It was nice to see so many birds resting, I’d not seen that before.
After I watched this film I rated it on IMDb and you need to know there’s a whole system existing to make sure I’m consistent with my scores. You can read about that in this communication. I gave this film 6/10.
Well, this film was ok. I was curious about how they were going to resolve lots of the issues and I think it was well done. It’s good to see films and stories moving away from the mad-woman type of narrative and becoming more realistic. We all know that men are the cause of most of the problems in the world so hopefully we can get that message across in popular culture.
I’ve been playing a game that was free with PlayStation Plus. I do enjoy the Lego games and I gave this one a go. I found it fun so I kept playing it and eventually I had completed the story mode part of the game. I then decided I would try and get all the trophies and this took an extra six hours I would say. The toughest part was maxing out the level of each playable character. I completed this yesterday and promptly deleted the game. It’s done. I’ve completed it.
This is only the second Platinum trophy I have earned on the PlayStation. The first was Gran Turismo 7 and I’m nowhere completing that game! If you could see my profile then you would notice that I have three platinum trophies but that’s because when I loaded GT7 onto the PS4 it gave me another Platinum trophy for the same game.
Lego Horizon Adventures – PSN Trophies
I enjoyed playing this Lego based game enough that I’ve bought the actual Horizons game it is based on. Hopefully I enjoy that too.
I took a trip to the cinema at Rochester to see Silent Night, Deadly Night. The river was low meaning the tide was out some distance. You can tell when the river is wanting water when the mud flats are entirely visible. I took a picture of the bridges that span the Medway at this point.
The Bridges At Medway Gap
After I have watched a film I rate it on IMDb. There is a whole communication about how the rating system works and you should read it. In the old days I used to post the rating on Twitter but I haven’t been a part of that “community” for over two years now. Although I do WhatsApp and Reddit I don’t do any other type of social media and I’m thankful for it. I am often waaay out of the loop on things happening in the village or locally but I keep myself to myself and most of these things don’t matter.
Silent Night, Deadly Night – IMDB Rating
I stayed in the theatre watching this film because I wanted to see how they ended it and not because I thought it was a good film. I do think the film was very dark and spent a lot of the runtime moaning about light switches and how modern life means we don’t have to wander around in the dark or use low powered bulbs. Maybe the darkness was a cinema error or maybe it was a deliberate film-maker’s choice but it was annoying. I’m pretty sure you can make a film scary without it being dark. Having said that I didn’t think this film was particularly scary. If anything it was a rather dark version of Judge Dread. There’s a lot of killing and the best bit was about halfway through when it was deemed important to the plot that a bunch of Nazis had to die.
I won’t be watching this film again and I won’t be recommending it to others. It wasn’t great. I know there’s a market for this sort of film but it isn’t me. You could make a really intelligent film with the same premise and it would be amazing, but I suspect it would also require courtroom scenes and as we know justice can take a rather long time.
My time at university was great. I met lifelong friends, learnt some stuff and, had a wonderful time. Oh, I also learnt stuff, I guess that’s meant to be the most important thing. I then used that knowledge to get professionally trained and now I pass my knowledge on to the latest generation. I don’t really teach them about aeronautics but I do try to help them get to a point when they can learn about it.
While at university I did some extra-curricula activities. I found hobbies that I enjoyed and people I liked being around. In my first year I found out about a radio station and joined that. I had a show on Thursdays and used that to play my favourite songs and learn about the technology. The radio station broadcast on a very low powered transmitter but the output was also piped into most of the kitchens in the halls of residence at the South Kensington campus. So there was a captive audience, if they turned the speakers up.
I learnt how to make radio jingles and the rules around the broadcast licence. I fronted the “Requests and Guests” show and even had posters up around college. In my second and third years I was an assistant station manager which meant I was responsible for the output for one day a week and had oversight of the station. At one point I wrote a radio soap opera with Jase and we performed the opening episode live in the station. There was not a second episode but it was excellent fun to do.
Also in my second year of university I was chairman of Aerosoc. Each department within City and Guld College had a social society and I ran one for a year. Fortunately my secretary did all the major organising of trips and visits so I don’t recall it being overly onerous. My position within the Union then meant that I represented students at the Royal Aeronautical Society. Occasionally students from around the country would meet and I represented Imperial at those meetings. I also because the student representative to the local branches of the RAeS. So I attended two conferences, one in Bournemouth and one in Chester. I was very much the youngest person at those so it was a strange experience but one I enjoyed. The conference in Chester had some other youngsters from RAeS headquarters and we had a great time together, especially as once the bar closed the beer taps were outside the security screen so we just kept drinking for free.
CGCU Shield
The above shield used to be placed on a wall at the entrance to Imperial College. However, about ten years after I left university the entrance was redesigned and the shields were stored away. Fortunately the CGCA has kept digital copies that are available online. During the second year the students’ union decided to create the post of Department Society Officer. This was to allow a smoother communication method from the departmental societies to the Union hierarchy. I applied for the job. I liked the idea of helping people who now had jobs similar to the ones I had just completed. When I say applied for the job I can’t remember the actual process but I did get the job.
CGCU Shield
It’s nice to see this shield. It lead to some interesting choices during the third year of university. Also, two of my closest friends are on painted on the wood and I’m still in touch with them thirty (or more) years later. Because of the work I did during the first six months of year 3 at Imperial I was persuaded by friends to apply to be elected to a sabbatical position in Imperial College Students’ Union. The argument was something like “most of us are going to be around for a forth year so why don’t you try out in the elections and spend another year with us”. This seemed a good argument and I reckoned I was going to be good at the job so I entered the race for election.
I made posters and placed them around the campus. They were defaced but I didn’t mind. I still have one somewhere and it’s got some original graffiti on it. I faced my opponents in hustings at various campuses and generally had an interesting time trying to persuade the electorate to vote for me. I was successful and became the second Deputy President (Clubs and Societies) of Imperial College Union. The time I spent doing that job after I completed my degree was incredibly formative. At times it was challenging but I learnt a lot and had so much fun. I got to live in student halls (again) for free but I wasn’t really around much for that social aspect of life. In the shared kitchen someone had created caricature sketches of each person in our zone but mine was empty because they just didn’t see me much it was labelled “never here man”.
ICSU Honours Board
The above wall exists in the Union Dining Hall in the student union building in Beit Quad, Imperial College. I was there recently and took this photograph. I don’t think I had a picture before this year and so this digital memory will last even if they decide to do bad things to the building. I’m on the right hand panel about a third of the way down. Somewhere in the mid nineties. After my sabbatical year I went to teacher training. Mainly because a friend said he enjoyed it and I applied to where he had studied. My plans weren’t to go into teaching in the state sector I was going to join the armed forces in the education branch but about four weeks into my first teaching practice I decided I loved it in schools and in schools is where I have stayed since.
I just can’t help playing Gran Turismo. I’ve always really enjoyed it. I like the challenge and the feeling of success when I’m successful. There’s a communication here about the challenge of a lap around Spa. The most recent challenge I faced was the final test before the one lap challenges. It’s around the Nordschleife and in a stupid car – I can’t remember what car it is. There’s a section you have to complete in 56:650 as you can see below. I spend a while trying this but was over a second off the time about three months ago but recently it was time to try again with the mantra that I could do it.
Each time you practice you learn the limits and get better. Sometimes you just lose it at a corner and try to remember not to do that again. I use the ghost version of my best try to gauge how I am doing and roughly what sort of time I am going to be getting. The image below is the result of an attempt that I was sure was going to be gold. But alas. I was 0.02 seconds too slow.
Gran Turismo almost made Gold
That attempt was good news as it meant I was getting close and should be able to beat the gold time soon. I kept trying and I think about another ten attempts later I secured the Gold time.
Gran Turismo finally made Gold
I didn’t try any other GT things that day and in total I had driven 100.4 miles. I think this equates to around twenty five attempts to get this licence gold. That’s not bad. The next thing I have to do is beat the single lap times for the final part of the licence.
I snuck out last night to watch the film Eternity at the cinema in Rochester. It was dark when I arrived and also raining a little so I don’t really know what was going on with the levels of the river Medway. I tried looking but there were reflections everywhere and it was not easy to tell where the edge of the water was. Other people from where I work were doing important customer relations so it felt a little cheeky to be heading out for the evening.
I rated this film on IMDb and for an explanation of how the system works you should read this communication. I rated this film 6/10.
I didn’t know what to expect with this film. All I knew was that it was about someone who had to choose between two men in the afterlife. I hadn’t realised this was a comedy and so when the first few laughs happened I was somewhat surprised but I leant into that and eventually there were times when I was the only person who found a particular instance laugh out loud. I don’t know why this happens I just think I sometimes find strange things funny. Overall I enjoyed this film, it was good fun.
Eternity had the overall feel of a film from a past era. It was kind, funny and just nice to watch. Also, and I think this is important, it wasn’t too long. There are way too many films out there going past the two hour mark. If you want to make a film that long it’s fine but you are playing with reaching the bum-seat-fidget limits.
I don’t know if Eternity would be a good idea. Who would want to spend forever in one place doing one thing. The great thing about life is that it changes, we learn from new experiences and we grow. Being stuck in a single place forever, that seems like hell to me. Bring on the void. Fortunately we know that stuff isn’t true and we can just die and be gone.
Sorry, back to the film. It was fun, well made and also good looking. There are the usual twists and turns in the plot as you would expect with someone having to choose between two people. The acting was good and I’m sure there were lots of little funny touches I missed in the background. The film was rated 15 by the BBFC with a written caution for “strong sex”. I don’t think I watch the same film they rated. There were two sex scenes, but the focus was definitely not on anything more than you would expect in something broadcast on TV during the day. I don’t know how they reached this rating.
After watching the recent film Nuremburg I was pondering a way of showing my IMDb scores on this site. In the long-ago I used to tweet my film scores and then I could embed those tweets within this site, giving a nice look and feel to the communications. However, I have deleted all tweets and so that no longer exists. I don’t do anything in social media really – I guess Reddit counts but I don’t post much, I just like looking at pictures of aircraft.
I scored the film on IMDb and then I wondered what scores I have given everything I’ve rated on that site. It turns out there’s a download data option for all my reviews. So, I now have an Excel spreadsheet with all the scores I have given. I still don’t really know what to do with that, unless I can create some sort of plugin viewer so people can see all the scores. Maybe I’ll create some overall stats to give some idea of what I think of all the films I’ve rated. I’ve also decided to rate the films I watch at home, mostly because I have found myself watching some shit film on Prime recently and can’t remember if I’ve seen it before!
