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!
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.
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.
An online race win!
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.
Another Online Race Win
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!
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.
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.
Zooming Up The Straight At Spa
Not only is the level of graphical detail impressive but also the dynamic animation struck me as particularly well done.
The Level Of Detail Is Amazing
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.
