Mama (2013)

Since last night was Halloween I thought it was time to watch a horror film and I recorded this one off The Horror Channel recently. It features a couple of young children, two little girls who are left alone in the woods by their father who has committed a murder. The father is taken by a sinister presence, “mama” and the girls are left alone with it. Their uncle uses up all the money he inherited from his brother to pay trackers to find the girls. The girls are eventually found after 5 years but are feral. They become the subject of a psychiatrist intent on finding the truth behind the thing they call “mama”. The psychiatrist seeks to set up the uncle, his girlfriend Annabel and the two girls up in a house used for therapeutic rehabilitation. It is there that the entity known as “mama” reappears for the girls. Over time the elder girl becomes more trusting of her uncle and Annabel, the younger girl doesn’t because she can’t communicate as well, however she and Annabel eventually bond. Due to various happenings the story behind mama emerges and it’s a ghost story about a woman who loses her baby due to locals chasing her to the edge of a cliff.

The film is reasonably well made and acted, Jessica Chastain portrays Annabel well. The two little girls do well in their roles too. It builds suspense quite well but I felt let down at the end of it. The visuals might have seemed impressive in 2013 on the big screen but didn’t do much for me, watching on a normal TV screen at normal volume (headphones actually).

The Pause

 It’s been a while since I last posted something. The reason for that is probably all about time. It’s also the fact that I am watching a lot less television and film. It’s been a trend for a couple of years now. I have increased the time I spend with music and YouTube and reduced the time watching films for myself.

Other things have been happening in my life, including becoming a community radio disk jockey or DJ, to use the familiar. This is taking up time that I would probably spend with either watching films or on my video game system.

There has also been the fact that for the last two years there has been a dog in our lives and while this is a joy, it means there are daily walks and that life is a little more constrained than it was.

So, given all of this, I have prioritised things and this blog has become a lower priority. The only reason I’m able to post this is that I am on annual leave for a week now and have a bit of time to think.

I’m not closing the blog and walking away. I will come back to this but for now, my posts are not going to be at the same frequency as they were in the past.

Second dose done

 It's the end of May Bank Holiday weekend and the Sunday of the weekend, which means the good news is that I don't have to work tomorrow. This morning I did our weekly shop at Tesco and this afternoon I have had my second dose of the Astra Zeneca vaccine. I received a text a couple of days ago that said if I had booked my second jab I could have it earlier than planned. So I had to cancel the original and could then book an earlier date, so that's what I did, nearly two weeks sooner than it was originally scheduled. I think the NHS has done a marvellous job with the vaccine roll-out. It was all so efficient and organised. Now that I'm fully vaccinated I feel like the life that was put on hold can continue on as normal. I just need my wife to receive her second dose and then it will really feel like getting back to normal again.

Yesterday there was a protest march in London about vaccine passports and the restrictions placed on us like mandatory facemasks and social distancing. They say the media and government are lying and that there is no virus. My own view is that the virus is real and is deadly enough to want to do everything to stamp it out. The people protesting are selfish and putting everyone at risk.

First dose done

Miraculously, not long after my last post I was sent a text inviting me to book my Covid vaccination appointment. It didn’t take long for the short wait to be over and last Friday I drove to Wing and it was there that I received my jab. It felt like a little scratch, not painful and I was given a card and that was it. It was all over in 15 minutes and since, over the next day or so, I felt a little more tired than usual but now I feel like normal again. I do have a tender arm but only like a bruise, not a constant aching.

I received the Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccine, the one that was being questioned in Europe for a day but worries seem to have been allayed, just scaremongers. I know that there are people who are anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine, although I don’t know if they are two opinions that have a significant overlap or not. I can’t understand them.

My next dose is due sometime in June, it’s been booked. On the day I had my first dose, it was apparently a record day for vaccinations - Boris Johnson even had his injection on the same day. Not in the same location as I had mine though!

Vaccinating the population

 Everyday life is still under the shadow of the Covid-19 virus, we're living under lockdown measures that restrict movement and how many people we can mix with from different households. I'm still the only member of the family doing food shopping regularly. There is light at the end of the tunnel though. Vaccine development has been extraordinary and there are now several vaccines that are being administered to the most vulnerable groups in society. I read just this week that people aged between 56 and 60 without underlying problems would be able to book an appointment for the first dose of vaccine from Monday this week. I'm not in that category yet but it is heartening to know that my age group would be the next after this one, so it does seem at the moment as though the phenomenal efforts of the NHS mean that they are getting through the population. It is some sign of hope that larger percentages of the population will be vaccinated by the date intimated in the government's lockdown exit strategy. That is, as long as people abide by the restrictions and don't all forego the measures that will continue to be necessary even after having the vaccine.

Deep Star Six

 This is an underwater monster movie and I watched it for a while and then fell asleep for several minutes and when I woke up it was no better. The monster was difficult to believe and I just felt no real sense of suspense. I didn't really care for any of the characters so when they did get killed it was just ticking them off of a list and I couldn't care less really. I usually like the premise of underwater thrillers but this was just no fun to sit through.

Outpost (2008)

This film felt like it was too long to me! It concerns a bunch of mercenary soldiers sent to cover a scientist while he tries to establish the true nature of an experiment in an old German bunker. I didn't really get where it was set, I assumed it was in some kind of battleground due to the need for the soldiers to maintain some kind of perimeter defence. It's one of those films that has zombie Nazi's brought to life in it. It's all very silly and not really that entertaining.

Amazon Echo (4th generation with Zigbee hub) and Philips Hue Go Light

From the money/vouchers I got at Christmas I bought myself a thermal bodysuit and a Hue Go Light, which is a standalone rechargeable lamp. I like the idea of being able to control my environment using my voice. I thought that the set-up would be easy but it wasn't as smooth as I thought it would be. I had the Hue app on my phone and updated the light's software. I managed to add the light to the Alexa app on my phone but it wasn't a simple one step thing. I had some routines set-up so that I could string together some commands that involved playing music and setting the light to come on with a colour to create a mood. But then I did something, can't remember exactly what but the connection between the Echo and the light got lost and I could not get it back despite trying numerous different combinations of things. 

For anyone who might be having the same problems, I'll document what I did and how I eventually fixed it.

1. I downloaded the wrong Hue app for my phone. The Go light is a Bluetooth lamp and you need the Hue BT app (BT stands for Bluetooth I guess)
2. I downloaded the correct app by using the QR code in the Hue instruction pamphlet that came in the box
3. I plugged the light in and turned it on and tried to pair it with the app but it wasn't working
4. I eventually read and followed the instructions and held the power button in for 10 seconds until it flashed a couple of times and turned off
5. I tuned it back on and tried pairing it and it eventually paired
6. Once I got the light working with the Hue app I found a setting to update the light software, so I updated it
7. Then I tried to add the light to my Alexa app
8. I went to add devices and saw the Hue logo so I clicked that
9. That route took me to signing in on the Hue website, which then wanted to search for a Hue bridge. I haven't bought a Hue bridge because the Echo includes a smart home hub. So I didn't want to go that route
10. In the Alexa app I went back to the devices page and went to add an individual light, which then asks what make and I chose Philips Hue from the list
11. It then wanted to scan for the device, saying it could take up to 45 seconds
12. So first couple of times it didn't find it but then I read about turning the light off and on, so I did this (the 10 seconds off)
13. It must have worked first time, not sure why but it did, it called the light First Light and I just accepted this
14. I was able to set up some routines in the Alexa app involving the light and music
15. I don't remember what I did wrong next but something happened so that the light was controllable by the Hue BT app but not via the Echo's voice control

I spent a lot of time going through what I thought was the process to get Alexa to scan and discover devices, re-starting the light many times using the 10 second restart. I looked up some suggestions about going to Settings > Apps > Alexa > Clear Cache and same for the Hue app. But that didn't work, the light was still not discoverable. I started to wonder whether the Echo and the light had to pair exclusively? I had the Hue app working and was a bit reluctant to fiddle with that but the next day I deleted the light from the Hue app. I then tried to add the light as a new device in the Alexa app but again that didn't work. I could pair it again with the Hue app, so that was something at least. I didn't find anything much online from official sources other than telling me that setup was simple and that adding the Alexa skill to control the light requires the Hue bridge. I tried adding it via the Hue Light app, where it asks if you want to control it with voice commands and then gives you the option for Alexa.

I even reset the light, this performs a factory reset on the light (the software update remains in place, so you don't need to download it again) and then re-paired it with the Hue light. After that I tried to again to discover the light in the Alexa app but no joy, not even after clicking the button in the app to make the light discoverable.

Getting close to giving up I continued Googling and found this suggestion on Reddit: "go to the light in your Hue BT app and hit reset and give it about a minute and simply ask Alexa to discover your devices again". So I reset the light again, which removes it from the hue app. But instead of pairing it first with the Hue app I tried to discover it from the Echo, the light blinked and I knew it had worked. I could control the light using my voice commands and the Alexa app.

I then added it to the Hue BT app and can now control it with either, so it is not exclusive but the order in which you pair the devices seems to be the thing to get right: after a reset, pair with the Alexa app first and then you can pair it with the Hue Light app.

Now I can either use voice commands or either of the apps to control the Go Light and it's great. There is one light effect I can't find in either app though - the candle effect is not an option. And the blinking light alarm doesn't seem to be an option in the Alexa app. I will have to search Google to see if I can find those options. 

New Year's Day 2021

Page one of a new year and I had a great breakfast of a sesame bagel with bacon and cheese, which was accompanied by an excellent coffee I made myself from filter coffee provided by a local coffee bean shop called The House Of Coffee. It was a great start to the day. My wife and I then took the dog out for a long walk to the woods that he loves. We met another dog walker who walked with us, he has the same breed of dog and our dogs love to play together. So it was nice for the dogs to be able to play together.

Back at home I finished off a cinnamon toffee swirl I'd bought the previous day. I watched a film in the afternoon. Read a bit and also sorted out how my Christmas presents can work together, more on that in my next post.

That was my New Year's Day. The weather has been cold but it hasn't rained or snowed. It did start out a bit dark and dreary and I did have a bit of trouble getting up, partly because it was dark but also because it was a fairly late night last night and I'd drunk a few beers and some 43 liqueur.

There were some fireworks that went off locally but it didn't last too long. Then I caught a bit of the fireworks from London, I didn't know whether they were having any this year and was surprised that they did to be honest, given how they didn't want crowds and were telling people to stay home.

Glad that the news didn't have any awful disaster on it.