"Nothing but the rain"
Ha ha ha ha.
I just noticed that I have published 666 communications. Although, the problem is that this one will make it 667. That’s a shame. If I had actually bothered to look at my stats a bit more then perhaps I could have made this one self-referential.
“Woo hoo. Father, woo hoo.”
These were my first words I ever spoke on stage when I was 11 years old. I had previously played the villain in a version of Cinderella for my primary school but this acting job was at a “proper” dramatic society show.
I think I played Japeth, the son of Noah, in the stage play Noah by Andre Obey. I vaguely remember that I stood off-stage-left when I spoke these words. Those words are pretty much all I can remember of that experience. I was in other productions, maybe more later, but this was my first. The programme is probably somewhere in my loft or at my parents’ house. I had a couple of folders where I kept mementos of all my appearances and shows in which I was involved.
As for the film I saw in the cinema, it was shit.
Along with a recent communication explaining how I am logging my life, I’ve passed a few milestones these recent weeks. I’ve passed three million steps using my posh pedometer and now Map My Run has told me that I’ve just passed 300 workouts. Pretty awesome stuff.
The next goal for me is to get rid of the last two kilograms of mass that I gained last summer and also to increase my distance that I run each work out. Recently I have been trying to increase my average pace to be in the top 25%, according to Map My Run, this appears to be about 8:30 per mile, which corresponds to 7 miles per hour.
A while ago I ordered some drum sticks from Amazon. Actually I ordered two drum sticks. They came in a box the same size as the one below. I should have written about this then, but I failed to take any photographs. I was curious when the box arrived because I had hoped that the length of the drum sticks would have warranted a 3D Pythagoras problem, but no, they were just laying lengthways in the box.
A few days ago I ordered a vertical stand for my PS4. The PS4 has lived upright for quite a while and the official stand keeps being delayed from release and so I ordered an after-market version. Amazon very kindly delivered the stand the next day. The packaging was curious. I had expected [I hadn’t learn my lesson from the drumsticks] a layer of cardboard around the stand and then addressed on top, making it letterboxable.
This package was couriered by someone in a van and they had to knock on the door. It was most definitely not letterbox sized.
The internal dimensions were:
30cm x 40cm x 10cm
Giving a volume of 12,000 cm^3
The PS4 stand dimensions were:
1.5cm x 8.5cm x 37cm
Giving a volume of 472cm^3 [3sf]
This gives a spare capacity of 96%.
Now, this isn’t a sensible use of cardboard. It isn’t even a sensible use of space or time. However, the increased cost of delivery is probably minimal. This package requires someone to be home to accept the package, or at least a neighbour. As long as the company can deliver on the first pass then I don’t see a great deal of waste.
The full title of this film is:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
I just couldn’t be bothered to title this communication properly. I’ve rated this film as a 6 on IMDB. I went to see this at Rochester cinema, my regular Cineworld venue, curiously most films I’ve seen there recently have been in the odd-numbered theatres, whereas last night I was in screen 2. I had to turn left going into the main corridor which was a little strange [left being even screens, odd being right].
I enjoyed the film. It was a good superhero film. It’s not my favourite genre as I find that the universe tweeks to create the film normally surpass by suspend-disbelief barrier. I am always willing to accept a tweek or two to a universe rules to allow a film to tell its story. Faster-than-light travel, instantaneous communications, super-strength, people flying, gods etc. Superhero films sometimes require too many tweeks to force the story and it ruins the overall effect, for me.
Overall, the plot of the film was (just) believable. I’m not one for massive conspiracies, mostly because organisations are made from humans, but the ideas behind this film seemed reasonable. The action scenes were fine, nothing stunning, they just seemed to be going through the motions. I say this with a caveat: a well made action film looks seemless and as though it’s going through the motions, whereas a poor action film highlights how hard it is to make a seemless action film. I say this because I quite like a well-made bad film, they are cute and funny, but there is a big difference between a good bad film and a bad film. Hmmm, not sure I can explain it very well, I’ll have another go another time.
I felt that this film was not just an action film. It was a story of the last 15 years of world politics [I might be reading too much into this]. A massive new Washington DC organisation [DHS] wants to protect the world from the people who disagree with they way that the World Council [USA] runs things. This is to be done using the Insight program which will eliminate all threats before they actually happen [Iraq and Afghanistan]. This is ultimately a BAD thing and so the freedom fighters [liberals] try to make sure that the system fails. This film is a critique of US and allies’ policies over the last fifteen years.
Look, this film was good fun. Worth watching. It felt quite long, which isn’t a bad thing. I like getting my money’s worth when I see a film, as long as it all fits together and this one does. Overall I would recommend this to other people to see.
Laughing
I sometimes [and only sometimes] laugh out loud in the cinema. It would appear that I find some things funnier than other people as I am the only person who laughs out loud. Is it right to laugh when no-one else does? I don’t really care. I’m not going to change, especially when I laugh at a reference to another film that others don’t seem to get.
Flinch-Gasp
Years ago when I saw The Passion Of The Christ I could hear others in the cinema flinching and doing that intake of breath whenever Jesus was beaten or whipped or whatever else happened to him. I was quite unmoved by this for the following reasons:
Recently when I saw 12 Years A Slave there was the same phenomenon when the people were being whipped. This time I understood and agreed with the sentiment a little more. At least there is documented evidence for this appalling behaviour. I didn’t really do the gasping flinch though.
In the movie last night we see a scar on the Black Widow of where she was shot. Someone did the flinch-gasp. Seriously? In a made up film about a made up universe where a superhero gets shot and recovers someone thought the sight of a scar was enough to warrant making a flinch-gasp? Arrrrgh.
Other People
Why go to the cinema to eat? It is something I don’t understand, especially when the food substances are wrapped in noisy packets. I think that Sartre was correct:
L’enfer, c’est les autres
Wow. My Up by Jawbone band and associated app have decided that I’ve completed about three million steps since I started using the Up system. See a communication here about logging my life.
I travelled to the big smoke last night to see Therapy? play at the Scala near Kings Cross. The journey out was good, the trains were on time and the sun was out. London looked gorgeous. While I waited for Smith to turn up I sat and watched the world go by. I’m sure I remember more nutters hanging around train stations when I was younger!
The venue was good. It was smaller than I expected but there were plenty of balconies and raised areas where a good view of the band could be found. We waited in the middle of the pit.
The first band on were called Only The Brave. It was guitar based music and not my stuff. I was wondering what it was about the music that I didn’t like and finally Andy told me it was Indie Wank. I suddenly understood why it did noting for me! For the last few songs I spent the time browsing various news sites and apps on my phone. I was glad to get 4G service inside the venue.
These were a funny band. The singer looked as though he had personality issues and spent his time staring at the side of the stage [which doesn’t really matter as long as he can sing], the RH guitarist never looked up, the bassist seemed worried about stuff and the frontman was too happy. All their songs sounded the same and rubbish [sorry, not my stuff].
Therapy?, by contrast, were an active band who looked at the crowd and actually seemed to enjoy what they were doing. It is twenty years since the release of the Troublegum album and they played it in its entirety. It’s a very good album and the show was dynamic. The crowd were jumping and I sweated loads in the middle of the pit. Smith had someone try to steal his mobile phone a few times and so he was disappointed with some members of the crowd. I had noticed around three people looking for their phones on the floor. I can’t imagine that you would put a phone somewhere where it would fall out so maybe their phones were stolen?
The sound was good and I really enjoyed the show. I stayed in the pit for around 3/4 of the set and then spent the last few songs watching from the edge of the pit. I will confirm to @trusmoov that it was a “normal” pit.
The real excitement of the evening was waiting for me at the train station. Smith and I wandered to Kings Cross and said our farewells. Then I headed to the correct platforms in St Pancras. There was a queue of people nearside of the barriers all talking to the railway people. I glanced a the departures board and saw that the 20 past was about to leave. I was wrong. It was the 2220 train and the time now was 2318. There were delays.
Apparently some kids had entered a tunnel near to Stratford station and so we were waiting for the police to make sure that the route was clear. I boarded the train and found a seat. I was feeling a little tired and tried to read a book on the Kindle app. There were announcements about how we could head to Victoria or London Bridge to get trains from there, but a quick check of the app on my phone told me that there were no other departures to Ebbsfleet, where my car was parked. I was stuck waiting for the fast train to leave.
At about 0130 we had the announcement that we would be departing soon. I arrived at Ebbsfleet at around 0150 and was home by 0215. I guess the journey could have been a lot worse but I was tired. I didn’t care. I was just glad to be home.
This film was a good watch. I enjoyed it although I am slightly wearisome with the dystopian future that we see. There are many stories from film and books that have this sort of future Earth. It seems quite clear to me that we are going to ruin the planet, our fiction and imaginative writers can only see bad things in the future. They look at society now and extend and widen the gaps and you end up with the world of Divergent or The Hunger Games. Wherever we look the goodness of humans is outweighed by the selfishness and greed of the few who “lead”.
So, this was a pretty standard film given the current fashion for trilogies of YA Fiction. It starts with a young girl who doesn’t fit. She then cheats the system and uncovers a massive conspiracy which she then defeats. She gains quite a bit of street-cred on the way. That, is pretty much it. There’re a few set pieces to show the world of in all its glory. Overall, it was enjoyable and fine. It was not brilliant. For a dystopian future world I still think Blade Runner is the best, or Akira if you like that sort of thing.
YA Fiction. The first time I saw that I had to look it up. Apparently it stands for Young Adult fiction. I think it pretty much covers all those stories that are aimed at teenagers but are actually read by adults on the daily commute (but with a different dust jacket). Isn’t it weird that books aimed at teenagers contain the elements of “not fitting” and “breaking the system” and “following your heart”.~
I rated this film a 6 on IMDB, but to understand what this means you need to read my communication about film ratings.
This is my current status in Gran Turismo 6. I think I’m doing ok.
OK, I’ll admit it. I have a nasty habit. I really should try and quit. I managed to stop writing about driving on this site, but, if I’m being honest, someone needs to be addicted to this stuff. I am slightly worried about my metaphorical blood pressure though.
Once again, it’s the BBC News that is being, quite frankly, shit.
Holy mother of god. This is breaking news worth tweeting about? Not only that but the headline is about the crazy randomness that a young child is awake as his parents take him off the plane. This is shit. So, a baby who was possibly asleep or awake on a plane then becomes (or stays) awake as his parents lift him up and take him outside the plane. What utter shit.
Can you tell? I’m annoyed.