Author: Ian

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Captain America: Civil War

You know me by now. If there’s a big film then I’m likely to see it. Except for Batman V Superman that I couldn’t care about. I’m not that big on superhero films and I can’t quite figure out why. I remember the “first” Batman by Tim Burton and leaving thinking “meh” or whatever the early 90s version of “meh” was. I think now I recognise it as brilliant but not so much back then. Perhaps it’s Batman films? I don’t enjoy them.

Avengers Assemble was different, it had a good script, good action and a good director. I really enjoyed it. Some of the other superhero films have been OK, mostly the Marvel ones, although I don’t like the Spiderman films either. Perhaps it’s a solo-crime-fighter thing? I am very not sure.

So, to this. I watched this at Rochester Cineworld and rated this on IMDB. You should see this communication about my rating system, which I broke for God’s Not Dead 2.

I guess there needs to be a slight explanation as I feel this could be controversial, not that I care. The film was OK. Nothing special. Really, I mean that, nothing special. I enjoyed one bit and that was the fight scene at the airport. I only like that because there was humour. My overall impression was that there was too much fighting, one on one. Yes, I know it was called Civil War and war involves fighting, but there was too much in this film.

That’s it really. I don’t have a lot else to say. Except this should have been called Avengers 3. It was mostly an Avengers story.

Tony Stark would seriously want more regulation? Seems improbable, he’s an arse and totally self-interested.

Why, when fighting Ironman, do people swing at his chin? Why use a fist. I don’t understand.

Also, every time Ironman lands his body would be broken apart inside the suit through the deceleration.

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God’s Not Dead 2

This is Part Two of Bullshit Saturday. Part one is here.

While looking through the cinema listings in the afternoon of Saturday 30 April I booked a ticket to see Bastille Day and then looked what, if anything, to see in the evening. If I didn’t find a film my plan was to listen to some live music in Maidstone. I had decided to leave Captain America for a few days and had a look at the Bluewater listings.

Oh goodness, they were showing God’s Not Dead 2. I got very excited. I had heard a lot about this film and thought it would be brilliant to actually see it. So, I booked a ticket.

As you can see I was excited. Now, there needs to be some explanation.

I listen to a number of podcasts, mainly while running or driving. My favourites are:

  • Scathing Atheist
  • Skepticrat
  • GAM Cast
  • Skeptics Guide To The Universe
  • Skeptics With A K

I have listen to these for quite a few years and they have enlarged my knowledge and appreciation of science and humanism. I also have learnt a lot about the politics of the USA.

Now, the Scathing Atheist is hilarious and rage inducing at the same time. There is also a lot of swearing and jokes about puppy rape. I love listening and recently became a Patreon. The guys who produce this podcast also make God Awful Movies. This is a weekly podcast in which they VOLUNTARILY watch christian cinema/films and take the piss out of them. It’s funny and opens up a new world of film and beliefs.

They have reviewed a number of films about the rapture and having listened to about twenty episodes I decided it would be a good idea to sit through a film, to understand just how bad they are. I watched Left Behind, click to visit the podcast page. I will admit that almost any film can be reduced to rubble when critically appraised it’s just that these guys stick with christian cinema [mostly]. Left Behind is a terrible film, it makes no sense. At all.

Gamcast episode 33 covers the cinematic marvels of God’s Not Dead 2. I listened to this and thought it would be good to see a film with a decent budget. However, it seemed unlikely that this would head out to Kent and as much as I like a day out in London I am NOT going to see christian cinema when I go there. It seemed I would have to wait to try and download this some time in the future.

I headed to Bluewater shopping centre and bought a pair of shoes in the time between arriving and having to endure watch the film. Now, I don’t like buying shoes or spending money on clothing and the such. It seems a waste. Yes, I do appreciate wearing clothes though. Anyway, new shoes were purchased. I headed to the Showcase cinema. Upon entering the auditorium it turns out some dude was in my seat. I’m not sure how that happens but he moved and sat next to me.

I was very curious as to the make up of the audience and whether they were there purely to take the piss and experience cinema shittery. The chap next to me seemed potentially mentally ill or possibly had a terrible headache, every ten minutes he would lean forward and rub his head, almost like praying, very odd. The rest of the cinema seemed normal I guess. There were about 30 people in the theatre, some families with teenage kids and some couples. I couldn’t get the measure of it.

So, I rated this film on IMDB and you should see this communication about my rating system and then return here to see how I broke the rules.

This was a bad film. The legal aspects of the film were bad. Everything was bad. I have also broken my system for rating films. But the lowest anyone can give is a 1 and so that is what I gave. Maybe I need to update my system, I don’t know.

Normally I would give you a run down of the movie and what I thought but instead you should go and listen to the God Awful Movie podcast episode covering this. Or see this tweet.

Also, you should go and buy the parody song written about this film. You can find it here. Or see this tweet:

This film did not disappoint. I honestly want to thank GAMcast and Scathing Atheist for giving the chance to experience this. I was really excited and it live down to expectations.

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Bastille Day

You know me. Always going to the cinema and this weekend there’s quite a good choice. There are definitely three films I fancy seeing and so I will spread them out. First up was Bastille Day, which was watched at the Cineworld Cinema in [not] Rochester. As usual I have rated the film on IMDB and tweeted about the result.

Now, this seems harsh according to the scale I have explained previously in this communication. To be honest this film wasn’t that great. It wasn’t a funny film, it lacked a chemistry in the buddy-buddy aspect and the action scenes were too long. The roof top running got boring. Nope, just terrible and potentially the whole thing was in bad taste.

Perhaps I was struggling to cope with made up stuff after having spent an hour in the delightful environment of mystical stuff. I’m not sure but this film didn’t deliver.

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Indigo

This is Part One of Bullshit Saturday.

Two weeks ago a flyer dropped through my letter box. It advertised the Indigo Spiritual and Holistic fair. I decided to go. This may seem a surprising decision given my very clear declarations here that religion is bollocks along with alternative (not) medicine. I thought it would be a good idea to try the dark side and visit, to see what actually happens at these events.

I struggled a little bit because I had to pay to get in the fair. This money would go towards organising more of these things, but my paltry GBP1.50 entrance fee probably would be much among the total takings.

I was actually excited about this. I wanted to see what manner of stuff is said and sold here. I also find it utterly fascinating just how much the human brain can deceive itself.

This fair took place in a small village hall. There were stalls and talkers in the main hall, the healing room was off to the side and there was also a room where talks were taking place. I will point out now that anything I quote in this communication will be a direct quote form a leaflet. I did not have the guts to actually talk to anyone, next time I will. I felt as though I had a massive arrow above my head saying UNBELIEVER or worse SCEPTIC. I was an explorer in a strange new world.

Workshops

There were four workshops planned for the day. They were titled:

  • Aura drawings
  • Colour Therapy
  • Guided Meditation
  • Tropic Skin Care

These seemed quite awesome. It would have been brilliant to attend some of these but not this time. I felt like a fish out of water. Next time maybe. However, a few words on each might be worthwhile. Aura drawings – bullshit, colour therapy – bullshit except that we each like certain colours, guided meditation – possibly bullshit, need to listen to the claims they make, tropic skin care – seems ok apart from some of the website claims.

Tropic Skin Care

Their website makes the following claim:

Our products contain the purest naturally derived ingredients and are free from harmful toxic chemicals.

ALL make up and creams are free from harmful toxic chemicals. It’s the LAW.

Colour Therapy

Maz provides information about colour therapy. I didn’t go to the talk but I did pick up a leaflet and I will quote from it now.

Did you know . . . . . Kylie Minogue painted her bedroom pink – the colour of love – to aid her recovery from cancer.

Now, I’m not sure I am surprised. A woman paints her bedroom pink. I would be interested to know how many women with pink bedrooms or who wear pink clothes or pink anything had died from cancer. Kylie also had a load of proper medicine. Also, pink is the colour of love. How very fortunate. How do you find out what colour represents which thing? Is it tested over time with a control group? How much pink do you need in your life? What shade of pink?

Here website is here, I have read it. Maz has an advance colour therapy diploma from the British School Of Yoga, not a basic diploma. Perhaps she knows more colours. Also she reckons she defeated her breast cancer through giving up medicine:

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 it was a major turning point in my life. My decision was to refuse all surgery and non-naturalistic treatment. I had previously worked as a Script Supervisor for TV and film, but when I was told of the ‘dis-ease’ in my body I immediately started to look at my life and make significant changes.

Note her use of the term dis-ease, alternative practitioners love it. I am glad she is cured but I question her choices. I would also like to know more about the extent of the cancer and what her physicians thought, we only have her word for it. I am now about to get inot full on rage mode having noticed something on her website.

I clicked on the tab that said read more about colour therapy.

Colour is simply light of varying wavelengths, and thus each colour has its own particular wavelength and energy. Each colour of the rainbow resonates with the seven main chakras in the human body, and understanding these colours and chakra relationships can be used to restore the balance of energy within the body according to where it needs it most.

Not quite rage yet, but if you invoke chakras then you are talking bullshit. It’s the next bit that is most disturbing.

What is colour therapy used for?

  • Treating cancer illness and disorder

This is wrong more ways than I can count. It is illegal to claim to cure cancer and she does not claim that. She does claim that colour therapy can treat cancer. I wonder what evidence she has to make those claims? She can fuck right off. Even more so that at the bottom of her page it says the following:

Marilyn Humphreys makes no claims to diagnose, treat, prevent, mitigate, or cure diseases  with any advice or product(s). Any health related information for educational purposes only. None of the information should be misconstrued as medical advice. The ultimate responsibility for your choices and their effect(s) on your health are yours and before applying any therapy or use of herbs, supplements, etc. you should consult your health care provider.

She has just told us that she refused medicine and cured her cancer. She makes claims that colour therapy will treat cancer. She can stop saying this shit for her own financial gain. I’m going for a breather before writing any more on here.

The Stalls

Here are my impressions on the stuff being sold at this fair. I walked around twice to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Again, I didn’t ask any questions, maybe next time. Also, I didn’t buy anything. I did have a cup of tea, but I bought no products.

Here’s my notes from wandering and writing what I saw being sold:

  • Crappy stone/semi precious stone jewellery
  • Motivational quotes on place mats
  • Pictures of unicorns, angels and wolves howling (lots of purple)
  • T Shirts
  • Hippy hair braids
  • Angel statues
  • Incense
  • Angel mugs
  • Minerals
  • Runes
  • A “real” witch selling herbs and stuff
  • Broomsticks and models of witches and wizards
  • Clocks
  • More angels

Lots of people had their faces painted, mostly because there was a face painter there, but this did add to the hippy atmosphere. Also, quite a few women had flower loops in their hair, it must have special properties or something.

There were people giving readings and I should do this next time. It seemed to be about GBP20 for the cheapest option but I am utterly fascinated with what they might say. The readings ranged from a psychic to someone reading runes, another with tarot cards and another with a computer telling you your life plan from your date of birth. This is all clearly bollocks but I am intrigued.

Another stall was offering aura photography and interpretation. Maybe next time but it is pretty interesting. Oh, by the way, you would think that if these people can capture the “aura” then science and medicine would use it so much for diagnosing and treatment. Hold on, what’s that you say? My doctor has never asked about my aura? Of course he hasn’t because your doctor knows bullshit when he sees it (or doesn’t). If your doctor mentions an aura to you, get up, leave, say “thank you” and never go back.

Leaflets

I am going to mention some of the leaflets I picked and ridicule appraise them.

Angels For You

This lady has psychic abilities and is priced “very reasonably”. Her leaflet claims she can perform “reiki” and use “Angelic oracle cards” along with her being guided by the “Angelic Realm”. Her website is no more. She doesn’t really make any specific claims in her website but she will:

answering questions with my pendulum

Such power should only be used carefully I am sure. Oops, I just found something amazing:

We also offer Crystal Healing; we place crystals on different parts of your body, corresponding to chakras, constructing an energy grid, which will surround you with healing energy.

I love the idea of an energy grid. It sounds like the National Grid, mini pylons spread over your body to align your “energy”. So, if you want to impress people explain what the actual definition of physical energy is:

The capacity for doing work.

This means that anything that has an energy can be used to power something, however small, and, more importantly, it can be measured. See that, MEASURED.

Chakras:

reiki_chakra

Souls Intention

This woman was giving readings from her computer. I expect that she has a program that spouts loads of saved Barnum statements once you enter a date of birth and where you were born. Apparently this format of soul reading originates from “The numerology of Moses”. I am not going to look this up.

Your soul plan is a blueprint for your life, a map to guide you on your own life path. Later the leaflet explains that our

Soul contract which, on a deeper level, we chose before conception.

So, before your father’s sperm entered the egg inside your mother your soul contract was in place.

This woman also offers reiki. Of course she does. But more importantly she offers the

Usui Skiki Ryoho Technique

I don’t know how many types of reiki you can have but apparently there is more than one. Not only all this but also Mindset Therapy.

Here’s an idea of her costs:

  • Souls Intention Reading 1 hour £40
  • Souls Healing Session 1 hour £30
  • Full Souls Intetion reading 2 hours £75
  • Mindset Therapy 2 hours £50

Perhaps I am in the wrong business. But then at least I have measurable outcomes.

Hags Hollow

This chap is a witch. Yep, full on witch with spells and shit. He will undertake a reading and include a spell for GBP30. If you want just a spell then that’s GBP15. He also offers apprenticeships, for £140 you can enrol in the full course that covers the following:

  • Introduction to Ancestral Magic
  • Protection
  • Witch Lore & Craft
  • Spell Craft
  • Healing
  • Prosperity & Abundance
  • Cursing & Dark Casting

Because nothing says caring that learning how to curse. Luckily this man will also remove curses. He also goes no to explain what witchcraft is and offers the following disclaimer:

Both of these belief systems crossover into one another and there is no right or wrong way to practise the craft. These are both general explanations and in no way a reflection of anyone’s personal beliefs.. Simply follow your heart and be open to anything that the universe presents.

So, no right or wrong way to practise something that has no measurable outcome. I’m glad about that.

I have so much material I will spread this over a few communications. I also hope to attend some more of these fairs in the future. They are enlightening [but not how people there would think].

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EGSU

I was meant to be visiting EGXT today but it was called off so I detoured to EGSU. If you want more details of EGSU then you can, of course, JFGI, I have a map here.

I don’t have a great deal to say about the day, I will just leave you with a gallery of “different” photos rather than the usual full on full frontal.

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28000

Stansted Airport, 24 April 2016.

POTUS departed for Germany. I feel quite privileged to be in a position where I was able to be there and see everything.

28000
28000

It was interesting. The airport was quiet for about the hour that I was there. No flights in or out, I wonder if that played havoc with the airlines’ schedules? The photos taken here are from the closest I could get without being shot by the snipers on top of the buildings or the Met Police Helicopter constantly circling around above us.

Stansted Map
Stansted Map

This map has three numbers drawn on it. Number 1 was the position of the C-17 parked, I didn’t see that move. Number 2 is where Air Force One was parked and number 3 was the closest I could get. Fortunately I was reasonably aware of the layout of the old side of the airport.

It was quite exciting knowing I had seen the President but in all honesty all we saw were figures go up the stairs. It was also pretty damn cold and we had hail/snow at one point! I believe Stansted was chosen because it is the go-to airport for hostages and hijacking along with having plenty of space to put important planes.

I will note that events from the film London Has Fallen did not occur.

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Eye In The Sky

Took a trip to Strood to watch Eye In The Sky. You should know by now that I will have rated this film on IMDB and that there is a certain system and method involved which I explained here.

So, this is a film dealing with a hypothetical capture of fighters by the UK on Al Shabaab members in Kenya. Now, I have no idea about the types of technology used in this film. I don’t know how good camera zooms are on drone planes. I don’t know how good calculating collateral damage is and I don’t know how good communications are. The facial recognition bit seemed most unlikely to me, but then I’m not an expert.

This is a Reaper drone, the type used in the film. From looking at the photos on Wikipedia the film seems to have reconstructed the control room quite well along with the weapons and camera capabilities of the Reaper.

Initially this film is about the capture of some of the most wanted list of Al Shabaab. But the situation changes when the naughty people move suddenly from one house where the Kenyan army are waiting to another in an Al Shabaab controlled area of town. This changes the plans considerably. Also, once the beetle bug gets inside the house there is a clear justification for a Hellfire strike.

This film follows the discussions between the UK Army, USA Air Force and politicians as the UK contemplates essentially assassinating five people including two UK subjects and a USA citizen.

Oh, yeah British people. You aren’t citizens. You are SUBJECTS. You are subservient to the Queen. God Save the Queen, fuck you.

The problem with the air strike is caused by a 10 year old girl selling bread just outside the wall of the target house and so she will likely die if the hellfires are released. I won’t give away the end, I’ll just say this. This film is worth watching. All actors are good. I didn’t like the US pilot and observer and I’d like to point out that not all men and women in the forces are that good looking.

At this point I wanted to write something like RIP Alan Rickman, but that implies that he is resting or his soul is elsewhere. That’s bullshit. So, perhaps I should say he’s dead. He was good.

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Hardcore Henry

I actually spent time and money going to see Hardcore Henry. It was showing at Rochester and I had seen the trailer and was curious. It was an 18, which normally means decent violence and/or language. I rated the film on IMDB, click here to see my ratings profile.

Look, if a film has a unique thing to it, then that gets accepted very quickly and simple things like script and storyline still have to be good. A bad film is still a bad film when it is shown in 3D. 3D isn’t enough to make a film good. First person filming wasn’t enough to make this a good film. It was shit. I hated it. The filming was ok, the violence was of a dark calibre and yet the story and script were terrible.

As the New York Daily News said:

You could see Hardcore Henry or you could gulp down vodka, put on GTA, strap the TV to your face and fall down the stairs.

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God Module – Electrowerkz

Took my sister to see God Module at Electrowerkz near The Angel in London. There were three bands playing and they were all actually pretty good unlike last time. Unusually the room on the ground floor was used as the venue, I’ve been in here before but have only experienced the first floor performance room for gigs. The sound was good and the room was just the right size. There were the usual freaks and geeks floating around all evening.

First band on were Die Kur. They had a very heavy metal sound with some synth stuff. Most enjoyable. My one concern was that the songs seemed a little too start-stop and a little short. Other than that they were very enjoyable.

Die Kur
Die Kur

Second band on the bill were DKAG. It was three blokes with Apple Macs on stage “playing” stuff. It was interesting as my sister spent a while asking “what is going on”, she’s quite a metal/rock fan really. After a while she was dancing and enjoyed it. It turns out I had seen this band before, I though I recognised them and actually searched on this site to see if I had seen them. It turned out I saw them with Combichrist a few years ago.

DKAG
DKAG

Finally God Module came on. I’d spent about a month listening to their stuff a lot and although I like it and it’s my sort of stuff a lot of the songs seemed similar. The sound and structure of the music was pretty much the same for every song. Also, the singer had a distortion effect on his voice.

One of the things about the ground floor room is that there isn’t a backstage. The bands had to walk through the audience to get to the stage which leant a kind of common touch to the evening. All the band members were milling around in the bar area after the gig, they were very approachable. Not that I did. I like to think I don’t fawn and hero worship, but I think I probably do to a certain extent.

God Module
God Module

God Module did what they do very well. The singer is possibly the largest man I have ever seen in a band and he didn’t really move around that much [too much inertia]. But they played a few songs I kinda recognised and the crowd loved them. It was ok for me.

Electrowerkz has gone somewhat upmarket as the gent’s loos had this in them by the sink:

Roses at Electrowerkz
Roses

I’m looking forward to my next gig, which I hope to get out to soon. I must get looking for stuff to see and listen to. My sister liked the evening but preferred the metal sound of the first band. Maybe she’ll convert in time!

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Feeling Agitated

I’ve been feeling agitated today mostly about the news that someone found out who his biological dad was.

So, I played Gran Turismo for a while and apart from a message from my niece about Game Of Thrones I just had stuff tumbling over in my mind. I did win two races, one at the Red Bull Ring short course and another on Deep Forest (reverse). I do like the Deep Forest track. The last race I did I came third! It was at Grand Valley Speedway and I would have one having muscled my way into first place however I braked too late for a sharp corner and went straight on.

So, here’s why I’m angry. I watched a film. Actually I’ve watched many films this break but I specifically watched two that I missed over the last year. They were both critically acclaimed films. The first I watched about two weeks ago:

My communication about IMDB ratings is clear on my scoring system but I have changed the rules. This film isn’t one I’ll watch again and it isn’t one I’ll buy. More importantly than that is the message of this film. You need to go and watch it. NOW. This film is about how a few journalists uncovered the Catholic Church SYSTEMATICALLY protected paedophile priests and helped them avoid justice. FUCKING SYSTEMATICALLY. The church KNEW about this and protected priests. The church KNEW that priests were sexually abusing kids, fucking young children, and SYSTEMATICALLY covered this up.

The message here is clear. If you are a priest in the Catholic Church and you fucked a kid in the arse then you get helped by your church to avoid prosecution and justice.

This message can’t be made loud enough to the member of the church. Every penny you give these assholes goes to help cover this up and keep priests from justice.

Yes my language is brutal. But then that’s what they did. These cunts fucked kids up the arse and got away with it. The church HELPED them. Fuck the church.

The other film I watched was The Big Short. I’m still angry.

This film explained the systematic fraud and cover up perpetrated by the banks prior to the GLOBAL economic crash of 2008. This film is odd at times, but it is brilliant. Again, it explains how people in privileged positions abused that position and how it was covered up by senior members and the government [not the church this time]. Who suffered from this? Normal people who were struggling. People who lost their homes, health and possibly lives because of the greed and stupidity of a few.

The people in power, the governments haven’t intervened to bring people to justice. They haven’t changed the rules. People have paid for this over and over. The current economy is fucked. Ordinary citizens are paying the price for our governments bailing out banks and the global finance system because the entire industry was fraudulent.

I think that’s the point. Both of these stories show how the privileged are able to escape the horrors of normal everyday life. The experiences that normal people go through don’t matter to those in positions of power and trust. Both of these films show that people are self-interested and care not for you and I.

Am I angry? Yes I am. I’m angry at the establishment perpetuating itself and those who suffer are those who can do little to change it.

Child abuse, financial crisis, NHS, tax havens, private trust funds, offshore ownership, PPI, privilege, railways, utilities – these are the things we should be angry about. These things should DOMINATE the agenda and news everyday until something is done. In a month we won’t care about Tax Havens again.

 

 

 

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