I'm so glad it's Friday!

Friday's work is over at last and I can begin the process of coming out of work mode. It'll probably take me most of the time I have off to get over being at work. Just when I've done that I'll have to return. But still, I don't want that to grump me down.

I was walking up the road for my last session with the counsellor and I just turned my head in time to notice a cyclist coming up from behind. He went around me but he didn't ring a bell and he was on a pavement. This happens quite often, I hate it. I hate the fact that people ride bikes on pavements. Don't get me wrong, I like the fact that people use bikes rather than cars its just that cyclists are very vocal about their rights on the road - so they should respect pedestrians rights on the pavement. A couple of weeks ago I was walking back from town and about 5 small kids on bikes cycled past again on the pavement but very erratically. If I was an old person, unsteady on my legs, it would have been very scary. One of the little brats shouted "Scuse!" as if I should have to step aside to let him past, he gets 1 point for alerting me to his presence but -5 points for his bad manners. I've a mind to run the next cyclist I encounter when I'm in my car off their bike!

Someone at work has really got me wound up. I have had to stop myself from sending an email with my true feelings in it. I want to object to what they're doing but it's not my area of work anymore. I hate it though because I can see something I've worked on just being poured down the drain. It stinks that I haven't even been consulted. There are good ways to do things and bad ways. When someone comes in from outside and makes decisions without consulting people who understand more than they do, I think it's arrogant and bad for business. I hope someone does the same to them.

I don't think I'll get a chance to do any blogging or read anybody's blog until near the end of next week. I'll miss you guys, but my eyes have gone to shit recently. I could probably use the break from the screen. See you next week, my friends.

The Descent

I saw The Descent a couple of weeks ago. I've posted a review on my Multiply pages here. Check out whether I liked it or not.

The Beach Beckons...

For some time my wife and I have appreciated the need to get away from it all with the kids and have a family holiday. Today, I booked three nights away next week by the beach for us. It's been a couple of years since we last went away. I hope the weather is going to be nice and sunny for us. We'll find stuff to do if not, but it would be nice to be able to just lie on the beach without a care in the world. I've had less than 5 days off all year so far, I really need this break so I hope it will be good. The lady who owns the place we're going to be staying in sounds really nice.

New Captain Scarlet - pretty darn good

As a kid I loved the Gerry Anderson puppet shows. The vehicles were great and the stories were set into the future and had a good sci-fi slant to them. The shows are enjoyable for adults as well as kids, I enjoy watching the shows we have on VHS with my kids - who adore them. So, with some trepidation I loaned series one of New Captain Scarlet out the library. It's CGI, a medium that is quite hard to get everything right in. I've seen some shows that I thought were good and ones not so, mainly it's the story that lets them down - the graphics are generally quite good: the flexibility in camera angles can get you closer to the action. Sometimes the characters don't have expressive faces or body positions, sometimes little details like hands, elbows etc. make the CGI characters seem oddly shaped.
These comments are bout CGI in general though. I have to declare that I'm terribly impressed with New Captain Scarlet. The stories are probably the most engaging thing but the action is great and so are the vehicles. You can tell that money has been spent on all aspects from graphics, script, music, direction and actor's voices. I recommend it to anyone.

Oops he did it again!

Well done to that jazzy cat, Ryan. He has yet again proved he has a brain the size of a planetary system (or just had a misspent youth watching cartoons) - either way I'm impressed that another previously unknown action figure has been identified. This time it was a Shadowkhan Ninja Warrior from the animated series Jackie Chan Adventures. It's a cartoon series I have never seen.

Aeon Flux

I watched aeon Flux last week, and here is my review of it. Read what I liked and didn't like about it. Other films I'd like to review include Lucky Number Slevin and Descent, those reviews to follow soon.

Guess Who Again

I need help again folks. I'd like to identify the figure in these photographs. On the sole of one of his feet is 2001 API. His right arm is spring loaded and chops down if you push it up. Is he some kind of Ninja character perhaps? Any help very gratefully appreciated.

Miami Vice

I saw this on Monday night. You can read my review of it here and hear about why I enjoyed it.

Musings on the cinema

I've been to the cinema a few times lately and I thought I'd put down a few thoughts, maybe there is something in here that you recognise too?

The first thing is the screen. How much has the screen technology changed over the last fifty years I wonder. The projection machinery has probably got smaller and less prone to bursting into flame but really the picture quality hasn't drastically improved between what it is now and what I remember as a kid. It's even more stark for me since I had a bit of an epiphany as I stood infront of a flatscreen HDTV in the John Lewis store recently. Honestly, I was watching a film that was shot at various locations (by a river, by some snowy mountains, by a forest etc.) and it was like being there - or seeing a photograph. I hadn't realised or appreciated before just how clear a HDTV is compared to normal TV. Our own home TV is a cheap-ish 21 inch, with no special features really. It sort of blew me away.

The second thing is the size of the popcorn and drinks. They're giant food, no mortal human can consume that much popcorn and Coke. Surely? Actually, it is possible to eat down to the bottom of the popcorn box but it is so full with unpopped corn that, frankly, the hit rate of getting a good popped corn is very low it makes it not worth the effort. I do like the holes in the armrests to put your drink in, I wish we had those at home - that would be good.

The third thing is the adverts. Man, do they ever end? It used to be the case that you could enjoy watching an advert about a local florist or local tandoori restaurant and laugh at how badly produced they were. Now, most adverts are either about a cellphone company, an alcoholic drink or a car. They're all so bloody clever nowadays. They're over-produced so that you can't work out what they're advertising until the very last shot, when you say "Oh, I get it now". I bet the advertisers are grinning smugly about how clever they are. Gits.

The fourth is the floor. I think I know where the Coke ends up. My feet just stick solidly to the floor under my seat. I hate having to peel my shoe up off the floor to occasionally move my feet. It makes me feel urrghh. Like soiled.

The fifth thing is the price of stuff. The tickets are highly priced (unless you go on a cheapie Tuesday with all the other scruffnecks) as it is but when you add the cost of foodstuffs too, no wonder people buy DVDs - it's much cheaper.

My final thing is the selection of movies, would you believe that Garfield 2 is missing my local cinema. I enjoyed the first Garfield movie and was looking forward to taking my kids to see the second. Now I found out that I can't take them to our local to see it. How crap is that? I bet Snakes On A Plane (good grief) ends up being shown instead. It'll probably end up being a smash movie, Snakes On A Plane - who the hell thought that one up?

Night Watch

I finished this film tonight, thought it was great. You can read my review of it here.

Last night I went to the cinema with my wife and saw Miami Vice, so I'll be writing a review of that soon too.

Saturday Salvo

Perhaps this title is in bad taste, bearing in mind the rockets flying in another part of the world. However, that particular war is making it very difficult to watch the news these days. Mostly, I watch with a sense of numbness. War is just so.....violent. I read about Dr Stephen Hawking asking the Internet to respond with answers to the question:

How can the human race survive the next hundred years?

I haven't actually read his answer but I read someone's summary of it - essentially, it seemed to be saying we have to explore space and spread the human race into new worlds. Great idea, because we're going to blow this world apart with nuclear weapons.

I haven't done much blogging this week, I'm not really sure why. Maybe tiredness, listening to music etc. I like the new Muse album Black Holes and Revelations but I haven't got a clue what the songs are about. I also really like the new Snow Patrol album Eyes Open. I've also been reading a Batman compilation of Scarecrow stories from various decades.

I did watch 25 minutes of the film Domino and when I can get into Mulitply to login I'll write a sort of review, in a way it's not really fair to write a review after only 25 minutes but there you go - that's all I managed before I had to return the film to the library.

At the moment I'm halfway through the film Nightwatch. I also have Lucky Number Slevin and Aeon Flux to watch too. Reviews shall be posted, if Multiply is open for business...

What else have I been up to? I watched something on TV about British folk music and I'm a little enchanted at the moment by Eliza Carthy. I like some folk stuff and I have some friends who can play their own variations of folk tunes but it's not a scene I'm very aware of. From the programme I watched I think there are factions within the scene. Maybe that's overstating it but there seemed to be strong views on what constitutes being folk. I'm not really interested in all that, just let me hear some nice tunes and good songs.

I had a night out with a friend on Thursday. Haven't seen him for a while, we had a nice cheap meal and a pint in the pub around the corner. Some other people we knew joined us, so it wasn't all just us both. It's nice to get out, the consequence though is catching up on my favourite other blogs!

Great Night

I treated my wife to an evening out last night, thankfully I was able to get a babysitter. We enjoyed a nice meal (I had a tangy and tasty Cantonese dish) and then went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest at the cinema. I've written my review of this film here.

Today though, I've been so tired I've fallen asleep a few times. That was a long film! I've got Domino to watch before the end of the week, I may go and watch the start of that now, catch you laters folks...