Ian – Page 5 – Fooyah

December 2 2025

Eternity

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.

December 1 2025

More IMDb Stuff

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!

November 30 2025

Nuremburg

I took a trip to the cinema to watch Nuremburg. I knew it was about the trials after the second world war but that is all I knew. I didn’t know who was in it or any other details. I watched this at the Cineworld at Rochester. I think the tide was really low as I drove along the riverside. I can’t remember now, I need to make a better point of looking and remembering on future trips to the cinema. As is usual I rated this film on IMDb after watching it, but to understand the ratings guide you need to see this communication.

I thought this was a very well made film. The acting was great and the story was what the story was. These fictionalised accounts of historical events need to be carefully made and I think this film did it well. Because I didn’t know who was in the film I felt some surprise at recognising Russell Crowe although that took quite a while for my brain to filter, I’m not great at faces. There’s also something about Rami Malek’s lower lip that bothers me and I feel bad for having those thoughts.

This film is very much a story warning us that it doesn’t take much for a society to fall into fascism. If we look at the USA now and also the rhetoric of some UK politicians it’s not beyond the realms of imagination to see that both these countries could be bad places. I would argue the USA is already a bad place – the leaders are carrying out a very clear agenda against many peoples. If Reform win more in the UK then the country is fucked. At the moment they are an amusing fringe of despots that have no ideas about organising or running large organisations. The sort of chaos that follows Reform could easily wreck the country if they gain more power.

It is an amusing fact that Germany in the 1930s looked to the USA to learn how to legally create a society where racism and prejudice were accepted. Germany in the 1930s was in legal terms the USA on steroids. The UK, while not objectively racist, has many issues because of it’s descent from a feudal society and there’s an acceptance in the UK that people are where they belong -those in charge should remain in charge. Imagine what the country could do if it was really a meritocracy.

Everyone should watch this film, or better still, learn how the Nazi’s managed to corrupt an entire people and get them to look the other way while they carried out a holocaust. We are so close to this happening again.

November 29 2025

A Nice Experience

I’ve been grinding in Gran Turismo. Personally I wouldn’t call it grinding but I’m trying to play every day and get the daily bonus for travelling just over 26 miles. I guess I’m trying to complete the game by getting all the cars and golding every licence. I’ve already got the platinum PlayStation trophy so that was nice.

I recently tried an online race. In the past I have NOT enjoyed these. Qualifying somewhere in the top ten or so but then getting knocked off at a corner and ending up last is not satisfying. It’s incredibly frustrating. So with some trepidation I had a go. I was racing a Gr4 car around Spa. I chose my Honda NSX to race because Honda. I had a few laps of qualifying and was reasonably happy with my time but you never know how good you are until you enter a lobby. It turns out I qualified second. This seemed pretty good. But five laps of the race awaited.

The pole position person went too deep into a corner early on and I gained first place. Pole person ended up in third. Then for five laps second place person and I had a really hard and fair race. It was very good racing, even if I am judging that. When either of us moved for an overtake the other would indicate to show they understood what was going to happen. We didn’t touch each other and it was clean. I actually won because they went too deep into the first corner on the last lap. It was a great race and really enjopyable.

The next day I decided to have another go at an online race. I did more qualifying laps and ended up in pole position for my race. I led from the front and stayed there. I think the race finished with me around three seconds ahead. It was fun.

Now that I’m 2-0 it’s probably a good time to quit racing in that mode. Or at least no longer mentioning it here unless I do well!

November 24 2025

The Running Man (2025)

I went to see this film recently. I went to the cinema at Rochester (really Strood) and I noted that the tide was indeed quite high as I drove along the esplanade. I did rate this movie on IMDb but there is a trick rating system which is covered in this communication. In days gone by I would tweet the result of my rating, but all I can do now is say that it is a 6/10.

This film was perfectly enjoyable. There’s some grossness in the killings, a few bits of humour here and there and it looks pretty amazing. I wouldn’t go any further than that really. For me, the political message is more important and I know this is based on a book but the messaging hasn’t really changed in the forty years since the original film. Large media organisations do not have our interests at heart and they are corrupt.

I had some issues with the main character. He’s very quick to violence and it’s played as though he’s just angry. I’m not sure he’s a good character to have as the lead. But, when the revolution comes we will need a figurehead and I guess someone like that would work well. Also, I guess the chap is angry at the injustice and inequality in the world so maybe that makes it better. Remember people, government should be for the people.

November 10 2025

Amazing Detail

I’ve recently been trying to upskill in Gran Turismo. Or rather, I’ve been trying to remember how to drive cars the way I used to drive cars before flappy paddles came around. When I’m in a car that has a gear stick with H box I’m trying to use the actual gear stick on my rig. I’m also going to try to improve and use the clutch more, along with careful heel-and-toeing while downshifting into corners. Anyway, I was watching a replay within the game of me driving some Honda around Spa and I was really impressed with the level of detail of the car model.

Not only is the level of graphical detail impressive but also the dynamic animation struck me as particularly well done.

A particular animation I like is brake glow when hard braking into corners, it looks really good. All in all I’m still impressed by this game. Even if I am trying to get gold on the licences and slightly frustrated at the number of times I need to keep trying each test. The current test I am working on requires me to spaff the RC92P at speed around part of the Nordschleife and I am currently about 0.4 seconds off gold pace. I will get it eventually.

October 30 2025

Aviation Collection Four

I do find aircraft inherently interesting. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it’s the idea of defying gravity (I know they don’t really do that but it’s a simpler explanation to what’s going on). I’ve recently mentioned these items at work and searched this site but they didn’t exist here. So this is to make up for that. There are a couple of other communications about the aviation collection, search them by the tags at the bottom of this page.

My first diecast model was a Northrop F5 Freedom Fighter. I bought one of these from a stall at North Weald many years ago. I can’t remember if it was an airshow or just some event I was at. That F5 represented the VF111 Sundowner United States Navy unit. I used to have it on display at work because I would use it for cadet type things, especially explaining the dynamics of aircraft and airflow. This model was lost. More accurately I think it was stolen. It was in my room and then it wasn’t. This was a shame but I knew I needed an F5 because they are cool and also it’s an F5.

I can’t remember which unit this F5 represents. It might be an aggressor squadron. It just looks nice. The second diecast aircraft I bought was from a stall at the Royal International Air Tattoo in 2019 (I think). I took my kids there and enjoyed the day I spent watching displays and seeing the static aircraft. I wanted a memento of this trip and so I bought an A400M at, what I thought was, a reasonable price.

The A400M sits atop my NAS drive in one of the tech corners of the house. It looks pretty there, guarding the dining room.

The third and final model I have is tiny. It’s a pretty small model of a small and cute plane. I’ve written about the Baby Bus here. I couldn’t find a British Airways version of this plane, there’s still an Air France version flying I think. But this is a lovely plane.

Those are my aircraft and apart from some trinkets I have from a 1980s Brize Norton that is pretty much it for collections related to aviation.

October 23 2025October 22 2025

Finally Uploaded

I finally managed to upload a video to YouTube after about a month of trying now and then. I don’t know why things didn’t work well for that time. But, I’ve managed to upload two videos recently. I’d been trying for ages to upload my V22 flying video. It’s now done.

October 22 2025

Recent Places

Some photos from places I’ve been.

Art Work Outside St Thomas' — Some Flag Or Other But It Looked Good

October 21 2025October 22 2025

Keg

Every now and then it’s well worth jumping around in front of a crowd and hitting things. I would always suggest that you do this in a safe space and also where everyone knows what’s going on. I did this recently and I had a great time. Not sure what to do if we play more songs though. How do I top that?