Tag: penguin

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War For The Planet Of The Apes

I went to the cinema to see a Planet of the Apes film. It is usual for me to travel to Rochester and I did the same thing for this film. I rated it on the IMDB website and you can read a discussion of how I grade films in this communication.

I wasn’t really sure whether to make this a 4 or a 6. I only went for a six because I thought it better than everything I recorded as a four, but I wasn’t that impressed. I wrote about the previous film here.

This film looked bloody gorgeous. It was beautiful. It was computerised. It was 3D which does fuck all for me. The apes looked great.

Now for the story. It was pretty shit. Maybe I missed loads of deep ape-becomes-man subtext with all the staring shots into Caesar’s eyes and face but I’m not sure. If the director was making large philosophical statements then I missed them. I’m really one for deep and thoughtful metaphors.

This was a slow war. The middle 7/8 of this film was slow and boring. Stuff happened but it didn’t really matter. There’s a virus somewhere. There are humans killing each other and apes because if there’s one thing we do really well it’s killing each other. There’s a prison break out and some stupid comedy. Mostly though, this film didn’t really matter. There wasn’t a meaning in there.

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It Was Nothing

Literally.

About a week ago I had been playing Crash Bandicoot quite a bit on the PS4 [ I have to say it’s incredibly frustrating] and one evening when I went to play it the PS4 said the disk wasn’t in. Now, I hadn’t taken it out so I assumed that it must be stuck in the drive somehow without the PS4 recognising it was in there.

I turned the PS4 on and off and tried a few things before looking online and finding plenty of pages that could offer tips on when the disk keeps ejecting but not many for when you can’t eject a disk. Eventually I found a page, and many crappy YouTube videos, of how to prise out a stuck disk. After taking off the shiny cover I had to turn a screw and the disk would slide out.

Except it didn’t.

So, the next step seemed to be to removed the optical drive and see if I could get the disk out that way. For this I needed time and screw drivers. So I spent a while following the dismantle instructions and then realised I need Torx T9 screw driver, which I didn’t have. So, I made the short trip to Halfords and picked up a set.

Once I had returned home I started taking away the screws for the power supply but even with the correct screw driver these didn’t really want to come undone. I was getting frustrated at the screws in the PS4.

At this point my son asked for a torch to see under the chest for some toys. I told him where the torch was and he reported back that he could see a PS4 disk under the chest. Well! That was a surprise. So I went and looked. Obviously it was the Crash Bandicoot disk and I had spend a week trying to get the PS4 to eject a disk it had already puked and somehow left under the chest.

Reasonably cheered by this I went to put the PS4 together again and then test putting in a disk. Check the game ran and then ejected the disk well.

The system is working fine. There wasn’t any need to stress!

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These Will Probably Get Removed

After such a busy week spending time visiting cool stuff around East Anglia, I had to spend a few more hours at work because I was playing in the band. Disaster Area has been going a while and we normally open the Rock Evenings. Last Friday was no exception although normally we have been practising the songs for a few months rather than the two run throughs we managed an hour before the show.

We opened with Crazy Train.

And continued with Learn To Fly. There will probably be official videos somewhere on Faceshit.

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Baby Driver

Yesterday, I took the vehicle to Medway Valley Leisure Park to watch Baby Driver. The tide was low. I don’t know how much leisure you need to be a leisure park but there is:

  • Cinema
  • McDonalds
  • Bowling
  • Bingo
  • Hotel
  • Gym
  • More restaurants

That’s probably enough to make it a “park”. I rated this film on IMDB and this communication deals with my system. There are likely spoilers ahead.

My overall thought was that this film suffered from a “bit too much stuff” in it towards the end, all the action became a little too much and I just wanted it to go away.

The opening twenty minutes of this movie was pretty darn good. The car chase was a car chase and nothing particularly seemed above and beyond anything else we’ve seen. I’m not sure there are always cop cars just around the corner, ready to chase and a Subaru like that would have left them standing, easily. But, movie, you can have that one for free, because this was entertaining.

I liked the idea of the music, the soundtrack to this film was brilliant but after this opening part of the film the dancing and lovely movement seemed to die. The main point for this film stopped happening. The choreographed walking and camera work stopped and this became just another heist movie. The heists weren’t even that clever.

The top man of this film wouldn’t have employed the nutter chap, I can’t remember his name. This guy was too much of a loose cannon and so wouldn’t have made the team. The plans were quite meticulous and he would’ve fucked things up straight away.

The last job these guys pull goes tits-up. It’s the aftermath of this that became too much for me and I quite like action movies. Lots of shooting and people being bad shots. Lots of driving that was quite implausible. Lots of “stuff”. And the choreography had disappeared or I failed to notice it.

I normally find that my ratings tend to mirror the meta-score on IMDB, but not this time. This was rated around 8/10 instead of my 6. I’ll probably try and read some reviews to see just what it was the critics liked about this movie. Oh, it also had a shit title.

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Width Looks Good

I wrote a while ago about moving over the BT Broadband and leaving Sky TV. I still don’t miss Sky TV. I stream most TV now and can do so with multiple devices at the same time.

I received a few letters from BT offering me a new deal for when my contract is finished. I tried to use the web address to look at these offers but I have to say that the BT web design was quite shit and I got to a point where I didn’t understand what the web page wanted me to do.

So, I phoned them and spoke to someone. This person could see my offer, explain it to me and also take my instruction to accept the offer. Essentially I could let my broadband [and phone] price increase at the end of my contract, or I could UPGRADE to the next level of broadband for the same price that I pay now.

Doesn’t seem much to that decision does there? I had to sign up for two years but as they are the only company supplying high bandwidth to my village it’s not like I’m likely to change.

Here’re my latest stats:

Quite Happy
Quite Happy

I think that’s pretty good for copper to the house, although it is fibre to cabinet.

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All Eyez On Me

A later afternoon jaunt to the cinema at Rochester revealed the inner workings of Gansta rap. My customary rating on IMDB follows, but only once you’ve read this communication about the rating system.

I’m quite happy to listen to rap music, or most kinds of music. So, I was curious as to what this film would be like and how much it would tell me about Tupac and his music. I learnt some of what his music was about and how he wanted his sound. I got a little of what his work meant to him and the story he wanted to tell.

The biggest part of this story seemed to be that even if you make it big you don’t get all the money and the record companies will screw you over.

Having just spent quite a while ranting to all who know me and in this communication about my ideas of politics then watching a film showing the inequalities of being black in the USA [or probably most countries] did not result in my mood becoming happier. However, there wasn’t really any activism in this movie.

All the scenes were shot from a Tupac point of view and I don’t know what really happened or the stories behind them. Perhaps with was whitewashing the history or perhaps it was accurate. I doubt he was an angel.

I am not going to change music style and I enjoyed listening to the tracks within the film. I would claim that the lyric disturb me, but they don’t. I have and do listen to lyrics far worse/better depending on your view.

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Where Do We Go?

I consider myself a liberal. On most matters. On some I am a capitalist and some I am socialist. But mostly liberal. Here are my personal headlines:

  • I am anti-Brexit and all it stands for
  • I am for state ownership of utilities
  • I am for state ownership of large infrastructure; railways, airports
  • I am anti-nuclear weapons, while being pro-standard forces
  • I am anti-monarchy
  • I am pro-LGBTQI
  • I am pro-gay marriage
  • I am pro-abortion
  • I am pro-helping people out with benefits
  • I am pro-everybody paying their fair share
  • I am not a progressive tax person
  • I am pro-free education
  • I am pro-keeping religion out of government and education
  • I am pro-being nice to people

I like to consider that my personal policies largely come from the idea of “being nice to people” and treating them well. This arises from having empathy.

What I find myself asking is where do I go? I used to believe that this country was largely like most of my views. I used to feel that my views weren’t extreme. It turns out that the recent events have forced me to come around to the idea that I am an outlier. This country has voted to LEAVE the EU. The politicians have right royally fucked that up since. I could rant and moan about that for a long time.

This country has voted made the Tories the largest party in parliament. A bunch of fucking horrible people who clearly work for their own interests. My distaste for their policies has only grown over the last six years. Virtually everything they do I despise. Withdraw from a HUMAN RIGHTS convention?? Who the fuck wants to do that???

And now they jump into bed with the prostitute that is the DUP, a bunch of rabid religious fucknuts. Fuck this government. They do NOT stand for anything I believe or for decency.

I am angry. I am lost.

This country didn’t really have me in the first place, which I will explain another time, but it has lost me now. I don’t really want to be here. I want to live somewhere where people care and want to do good for each other. I have no idea where that is, perhaps, if you know you could tell me?

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Lift Off

I spent a little while this weekend making a compressed air rocket launcher. I’ve had a stomp rocket for quite a while but this was something that I used to have but lost in time gone by. So, for about a year or so I’ve been thinking of making a new one. The first of these I created after a week’s training at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. There I got simple plans and used them with parts that I suspect I carried on a motorbike although how I got the tubing home I don’t know. There are photos of this somewhere, but I’ve had a quick look and couldn’t find them.

Here are most of the bits I bought.

Some Plumbing Bits
Some Plumbing Bits

These need to be put together using the compression joints.

Elbow Joint
Elbow Joint

The trickiest part of this build is drilling the end plate so that the car tyre valve fits it snuggly. Once you’ve spent a little time you get this wonderment:

Not Quite Finished
Not Quite Finished

Once the tyre valve is fitted you get a beast that looks like this:

Launcher Ready
Launcher Ready

I don’t have any video yet, I will endeavour to get some ready and will add it to this page or my YouTube area.

I pumped the tube up to about 4 Bar and then opened the gas tap. I reckon I got about 5 seconds of flight time. I’m happy with that. I don’t really want to increase the pressure too much because I don’t want the thing to blow itself apart and kill someone!

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Unlocked

I spent the morning at the Showcase Cinema in the Bluewater shopping centre. I arrived very slightly late to the screen and I was amazed that the film had already started. My ticket time said 10:00 and I got there 10:07, normally there’s about 20 minutes of adverts so I was surprised that I missed the beginning of the film.

This is also the very FIRST time I have had a cinema screen to myself. There was no one else in the cinema. The minimum that had happened before was two people. I should have used the opportunity and moved from seat to seat throughout the film [which would have been better than the film] but I did not.

As is my habit I rated this film on IMDb and there’s some information about the scoring system on within this communication.

This film was quite terrible. It was meant to be a slick spy thriller but it was shit. It wasn’t slick. The script was appalling. The acting was fine and the actors were by and large very good at their job. But the story was shit. The script [again] was shit. It was all rather obvious.

AND THE SPY PROCEDURES AND TECHNOLOGY WERE BULLSHIT.

I will comment on a couple of things because if I was to break this film down into everything that was wrong with it I would be here typing for the rest of the day. It might be fun to do that once this comes out on DVD. I could sit here, watch 10 seconds and then let you know what was wrong with.

Gunshots everywhere in London and no police sirens.

Head of MI5 always wears a bullet proof vest?

Head of MI5 goes in the field?

Resting CIA spy knows head of MI5 personally?

Orlando Bloom mistakes Helmand as being in Iraq?

The Marburg virus was ONLY picked up by one kid?????

The delivery system of the virus was overly complicated.

Why have a countdown on the delivery system?

Burglers steal massive TVs from expensive apartments?

This entire film was entirely NOT plausible. Hence it scored 4/10.

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Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul

When it’s the hottest day of the year it’s a sensible thing to go to the cinema. It might be just me but two hours in an air-conditioned room being entertained while the UK burns seems like a good idea. I even managed to park in the shadows and made sure that while the sun tracked further south the trees would still bath the car in glorious shadow.

While it might seem that I am moaning about the weather I am not. I love the weather whatever it does. Rain is good, heat is good, bloody cold is good, it’s all part of the life experience and we should relish whatever mother nature throws at us. This might change once I have to put a shirt on tomorrow and spend time at work in this heat. But, I still won’t moan out loud. The idea that Britishness is somehow defined by people moaning about the weather annoys me and I refuse to conform.

As usual I rated this film on IMDB and you should read this communication to get an idea of my scoring system.

Basically this film was the least worse of those at the cinema that I could take young people to. It was enjoyable in a “stupid American comedy” way. I have a whole subset of the comedy genre that is “stupid American”. Things like “Dumb and Dumber” etc. Stupid films where laughs come at the expense of people getting hurt or being stupid.

The film followed the journey of a family heading to MeeMaw’s birthday party. I laughed a couple of times and really enjoyed the performance of the teenage brother, I think he did a great job. The rest of it was full of puerile comedy with no sense of reality in the stunts. But it’s a kids film so that’s ok then.

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