... the IT man in LibraryLand
One watched this filmic rendition of the historic Civil War battle over a number of days last week. It was a recommendation from The Maple Maverick who later confessed that he hadn't been able to make it past the second day.
Speaking of which I consider it a brave decision by the creators to have the film last about as long as the actual battle.
Of course they did try to distract from this by filling the screen with the most amazing array of facial hair variations, including Tom Berenger in the fakest beard ever.
The film used many of the actual locations and thousands of eager re-enactors, many of whom proved to be eager over-actors.
Overall it is an interesting film with some information to be learned and visuals that will amaze you.
In short: come for the History and stay for the beards!
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Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Replication
So yesterday one ticked off the number one priority on one's performance plan as set by Supervisor Grand Chief K - a viewing of Bladerunner 2049.
It occurred at the instigation of BestFriendSincePrep who was surprised at one's availability and then further surprised when it transpired that Sneaky Pete was also available.
As to the film - nay experience - well, one still has to absorb it all before full commentary is possible.
I will say that the visuals, sounds, and feel were very close to the original, whilst also taking the plot in new directions.
I rate it just shy of 4 stars at the moment and will see how it changes with repeat viewings - which are, I believe, the second, third, and fourth priorities of one's performance plan.
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It occurred at the instigation of BestFriendSincePrep who was surprised at one's availability and then further surprised when it transpired that Sneaky Pete was also available.
As to the film - nay experience - well, one still has to absorb it all before full commentary is possible.
I will say that the visuals, sounds, and feel were very close to the original, whilst also taking the plot in new directions.
I rate it just shy of 4 stars at the moment and will see how it changes with repeat viewings - which are, I believe, the second, third, and fourth priorities of one's performance plan.
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The Double Feature
So a passel of events full of exciting happenings have occurred in the past month. However one has been too bazy (noun: to be simultaneously busy and lazy) to document them so those wondrous potential posts shall be forever lost to the sands of bazyness.
Instead I shall post forthwith about my Friday last wherein one attended not one but two picture show theatres - and most likely completed one's yearly quota for release time viewing.
Picture the first was an afternoon group bonding exercise organised by Supervisor Grand Chief K, and attended by the rest of one's supervisory coterie: Supervisor S, Big J, Lord of the Small Fries, and Alltogether Heather. The entertainment in question was Brooklyn. Twas a charming tale of Irish immigration to the USA and love against the odds and may have caused some welling up due to it's beautifully shot visuals and not at all for any emotional reasons, no way.
Afterwards there was a group discussion of the film over a drink and some snacks.
Picture the second was in the evening and was the similarly themed Deadpool. Organised against all odds by The Fungi Lady, and attended by a cast of near thousands (if one rounds up aggressively) including Duff, Amoeba, Doom, Non-Gamin' Megan, and Twin Trouble. This one was a charming tale of a possibly Irish immigrant in the USA fighting a battle for love against the odds. It too may have caused some welling up and outbursts due to it's beautifully constructed crude absurdities.
Afterwards there was a group discussion of the film over pancakes.
In conclusion, despite their broad surface similarities, you should find them both to be good in their own ways.
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Instead I shall post forthwith about my Friday last wherein one attended not one but two picture show theatres - and most likely completed one's yearly quota for release time viewing.
Picture the first was an afternoon group bonding exercise organised by Supervisor Grand Chief K, and attended by the rest of one's supervisory coterie: Supervisor S, Big J, Lord of the Small Fries, and Alltogether Heather. The entertainment in question was Brooklyn. Twas a charming tale of Irish immigration to the USA and love against the odds and may have caused some welling up due to it's beautifully shot visuals and not at all for any emotional reasons, no way.
Afterwards there was a group discussion of the film over a drink and some snacks.
Picture the second was in the evening and was the similarly themed Deadpool. Organised against all odds by The Fungi Lady, and attended by a cast of near thousands (if one rounds up aggressively) including Duff, Amoeba, Doom, Non-Gamin' Megan, and Twin Trouble. This one was a charming tale of a possibly Irish immigrant in the USA fighting a battle for love against the odds. It too may have caused some welling up and outbursts due to it's beautifully constructed crude absurdities.
Afterwards there was a group discussion of the film over pancakes.
In conclusion, despite their broad surface similarities, you should find them both to be good in their own ways.
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Guardians of the Galaxy & Gridlinked by Neal Asher
Today's post is about the consumption of media various.
Guardians of the Galaxy
This one was a birthday present from Freeloading Mum. And by that I mean that one traditionally spends one's birthday money on b-grade sci-fi and fantasy that one has missed in the previous year.
Well this turned out to be a fun little romp very much in the vein of The Fifth Element level of sci-fi. Thankfully for one's tastes there was very little superhero-ish in there although sequel talk involves many spandexians apparently.
All in all a solid 4 star fun pic with the only real cringe moment being the hero's put down of the villain at the end.
I look forward to watching mother's other present in the near future, in glorious 3D - the much vaunted by The Real Greg Dean, Pacific Rim. And I tell you if it isn't every bit the cosmically mind blowing experience that The Greg has promised there'll be some mighty vengeance coming his way!
Gridlinked by Neal Asher
This one was my latest read and jumped to the head of the pack on the recommendation of Scary Spice.
It was quite an enjoyable future space opera with loads of wow tech and obscure aliens.
Unfortunately having recently read Ian M Banks Consider Phelbas one was struck by apparent parallels and coincidii, in military tech and delves underground after artifacts - to the point that one could joke about it being extremely well written fan-fiction.
That aside though it was a solid 3 and a half stars and I will undoubtably dip into the Polity universe again in The Future.
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Guardians of the Galaxy
This one was a birthday present from Freeloading Mum. And by that I mean that one traditionally spends one's birthday money on b-grade sci-fi and fantasy that one has missed in the previous year.
Well this turned out to be a fun little romp very much in the vein of The Fifth Element level of sci-fi. Thankfully for one's tastes there was very little superhero-ish in there although sequel talk involves many spandexians apparently.
All in all a solid 4 star fun pic with the only real cringe moment being the hero's put down of the villain at the end.
I look forward to watching mother's other present in the near future, in glorious 3D - the much vaunted by The Real Greg Dean, Pacific Rim. And I tell you if it isn't every bit the cosmically mind blowing experience that The Greg has promised there'll be some mighty vengeance coming his way!
Gridlinked by Neal Asher
This one was my latest read and jumped to the head of the pack on the recommendation of Scary Spice.
It was quite an enjoyable future space opera with loads of wow tech and obscure aliens.
Unfortunately having recently read Ian M Banks Consider Phelbas one was struck by apparent parallels and coincidii, in military tech and delves underground after artifacts - to the point that one could joke about it being extremely well written fan-fiction.
That aside though it was a solid 3 and a half stars and I will undoubtably dip into the Polity universe again in The Future.
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The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
During one's recent sojourn at home with the young Hulk one had the opportunity to catch oneself up with a variety of movies. Hmmm, come to think of it, it doesn't feel so recent anymore.
One such movie was The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, which was rather enjoyable although taken in small 20 minute chunks due to having to attend to my high maintenance daughter's needs comma various.
Seeing the movie inspired me to dig out my copies of the Chronicles of Narnia and schedule them for a re-read - chronologically of course as it wouldn't be correct to read them in any other order.
Luckily for me any issue of first written versus first in the storyline are immediately solved by looking at the spines of my Fontana Lions, Lucky Book Club editions circa 1980.
Hence my return to Narnia commenced with the titular volume and it's prominently displayed number one.
It was a quickish read and crammed a lot of happenings into its 170 pages. In a way it was refreshing to have a lot left to imagination rate than detailed over pages and pages.
In any case it tells the story of the creation of Narnia - including the secret origins of the lamp post - and is quite fun with the proper young children and the nasty uncle and beginnings of the whole Chronicle. I give it a 3 star rating.
I expect the rest of the series will be read as light respite from one's usual hefty tomes of fantasy and scifi over the coming year.
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One such movie was The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, which was rather enjoyable although taken in small 20 minute chunks due to having to attend to my high maintenance daughter's needs comma various.
Seeing the movie inspired me to dig out my copies of the Chronicles of Narnia and schedule them for a re-read - chronologically of course as it wouldn't be correct to read them in any other order.
Luckily for me any issue of first written versus first in the storyline are immediately solved by looking at the spines of my Fontana Lions, Lucky Book Club editions circa 1980.
Hence my return to Narnia commenced with the titular volume and it's prominently displayed number one.
It was a quickish read and crammed a lot of happenings into its 170 pages. In a way it was refreshing to have a lot left to imagination rate than detailed over pages and pages.
In any case it tells the story of the creation of Narnia - including the secret origins of the lamp post - and is quite fun with the proper young children and the nasty uncle and beginnings of the whole Chronicle. I give it a 3 star rating.
I expect the rest of the series will be read as light respite from one's usual hefty tomes of fantasy and scifi over the coming year.
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Hulk - The Early Weeks
When one began composing this post it was rather naively entitles - Hulk, the Early Days.
Well since then the piecemeal nature at which one was able to add ones brilliant thoughts to the draft had made me believe that I was looking at having to re title it as - Hulk. Year One. While one would surely have enjoyed basking in the kudos this would have brought from such graphical story telling literati as Zombie Monkey and The Real Greg Dean, it has eventuated that my deadline has stretched out to mere weeks.
In any case many are the things that have occurred during the earlydays weeks of the time of Hulk.
One has been head down in reading materials wide and sundry - finishing long bookmark-laden tomes and making visible progress on one's to-be-read stacks, various. In fact all but the nigh insurmountable penultimate Wheel of Tedium volume have fallen beneath the scythe of my reading gaze.
One has had occasion to watch many a late night movie and has begun filling in may of the glaring holes in ones experience of the past few decades cinema. For example one now knows that Tom Hanks gets off the island.
One has even managed to make some small steps of progress in ones gaming projects in a way that may even make Fantomas believe that they could become real when one next attends the Tuesday Knights.
One has had several meetings in passing with Salsa Girl and even shared several meals.
Of course there has been some time spent with young Hulk. Why we've had special daddy-daughter time watching the mighty pies (and another team that looks similar but seems to have lost the mighty bit).
We also tried our hand at bonding over some solo gaming - managing to see off those pesky Persians at Thermopylae and winning the Battle of the Five Armies for the Orcs.
There have been visit from relatives various, a handful of friends, and late night hallucinations of the interesting kind.
As predicted by FridgePower one has been able to indulge in the ancient art of poo smearing - although much of the training I undertook cleaning up after The Tiger has gone to waste as there has been a suspicious lack of any positing (the nice word for baby vomiting) particularly of the furball kind.
In amongst all this Legion2 and the BrotherStealer have seen fit to try and steal my hard-earned spotlight by delivering their second a full six weeks early. One can only be glad that Freeloading Mum and Handy Dad have been away all this time so there would be no unseemly squabbling for the favour that is rightfully mine.
In any case this disjointed report has brought you up to date with the trials and tribulations we have been undergoing for the past fewdays weeks.
It only gets easier from here they tell me.
And then they snigger.
.
Well since then the piecemeal nature at which one was able to add ones brilliant thoughts to the draft had made me believe that I was looking at having to re title it as - Hulk. Year One. While one would surely have enjoyed basking in the kudos this would have brought from such graphical story telling literati as Zombie Monkey and The Real Greg Dean, it has eventuated that my deadline has stretched out to mere weeks.
In any case many are the things that have occurred during the early
One has been head down in reading materials wide and sundry - finishing long bookmark-laden tomes and making visible progress on one's to-be-read stacks, various. In fact all but the nigh insurmountable penultimate Wheel of Tedium volume have fallen beneath the scythe of my reading gaze.
One has had occasion to watch many a late night movie and has begun filling in may of the glaring holes in ones experience of the past few decades cinema. For example one now knows that Tom Hanks gets off the island.
One has even managed to make some small steps of progress in ones gaming projects in a way that may even make Fantomas believe that they could become real when one next attends the Tuesday Knights.
One has had several meetings in passing with Salsa Girl and even shared several meals.
Of course there has been some time spent with young Hulk. Why we've had special daddy-daughter time watching the mighty pies (and another team that looks similar but seems to have lost the mighty bit).
 |
| Hulk unable to bear the skill errors. |
There have been visit from relatives various, a handful of friends, and late night hallucinations of the interesting kind.
As predicted by FridgePower one has been able to indulge in the ancient art of poo smearing - although much of the training I undertook cleaning up after The Tiger has gone to waste as there has been a suspicious lack of any positing (the nice word for baby vomiting) particularly of the furball kind.
In amongst all this Legion2 and the BrotherStealer have seen fit to try and steal my hard-earned spotlight by delivering their second a full six weeks early. One can only be glad that Freeloading Mum and Handy Dad have been away all this time so there would be no unseemly squabbling for the favour that is rightfully mine.
In any case this disjointed report has brought you up to date with the trials and tribulations we have been undergoing for the past few
It only gets easier from here they tell me.
And then they snigger.
.
Conan and Sharpe's Waterloo
Well it seems to be the season for reviews as one finished both of the above named properties just before the very busy weekend.
The Conan in the title - who despite one's misleading title is not present at Waterloo fighting alongside Richard Sharpe - is last years remake moving picture which I was unable to see in it's proper environment i.e in the resplendent company of The Viking Hat GM, Exploding Ninja Pony, The Mad Magyar, and sundry others of a geekish persuasion.
Instead it was one's exercise machine distraction watched in 20 minute chunks over several days.
When watched in this fashion it comes up quite well and, despite Pirate Dave's lack of faith, I was able to last through until the end and in fact enjoyed it to boot.
Sharpe's Waterloo is the umpteenth (perhaps Pratcheteenth is more correct?) in the Sharpe series and sees him in attendance at the eponymous battle - in fact it sees him traverse much of the battlefield several times over the course of the day turning the tide at almost every appearance.
It was enjoyable military history fiction although unlike a previous Sharpe story one had read, involved very little plot other than the battle itself. Enjoyable and worth a read if you are inane way interested in things Napoleonic.
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The Conan in the title - who despite one's misleading title is not present at Waterloo fighting alongside Richard Sharpe - is last years remake moving picture which I was unable to see in it's proper environment i.e in the resplendent company of The Viking Hat GM, Exploding Ninja Pony, The Mad Magyar, and sundry others of a geekish persuasion.
Instead it was one's exercise machine distraction watched in 20 minute chunks over several days.
When watched in this fashion it comes up quite well and, despite Pirate Dave's lack of faith, I was able to last through until the end and in fact enjoyed it to boot.
Sharpe's Waterloo is the umpteenth (perhaps Pratcheteenth is more correct?) in the Sharpe series and sees him in attendance at the eponymous battle - in fact it sees him traverse much of the battlefield several times over the course of the day turning the tide at almost every appearance.
It was enjoyable military history fiction although unlike a previous Sharpe story one had read, involved very little plot other than the battle itself. Enjoyable and worth a read if you are inane way interested in things Napoleonic.
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The Lorax
So it was with some little trepidation that one took Salsa Girl to a showing of this motion picture over the Easter Long Long Weekend.
One, of course, expects that the resulting product of any adaption from literature will not be able to match ones previous experience of said work. So with that in mind we watched, we enjoyed, and we came away with a three star rating in mind.
Now, unlike The Bastard, I am not one to launch into a shuddering spasms of fear at the mere hint of a musical number but even I wonder at the obsession with adding musical numbers to nigh all animation.
Still that is not my biggest quibble with the movie, mostly I was disappointed with the addition of a framing story that was non-existent in the original work - understandable to a certain extent - however when said framing story encompasses fully one third of the movie while major parts of the books plot are compressed into "and then it was all over" type voiceovers, I can only shake my head.
The moral compass of this extra story is all over the place - only save the world if it gets you the girl, capitalism and environment destruction is bad because we say it is, look at all the cool gadgets and great lifestyle we have... I better stop this before it becomes a rant of Zombie Monkey proportions.
Also, of the several creatures named in Suess's original creation only the titular character (snigger) is named in the film; the style of many of the characters is changed to a standard animation film human, presumably to fit better with the standard animation film plots that are spun through the framing story.
The lack of Suessian rhyme is a sad exclusion but understandable - although a nod or two to it would have been nice.
Still it was a reasonable two star film and I give it the three because, well, it is The Lorax after all.
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One, of course, expects that the resulting product of any adaption from literature will not be able to match ones previous experience of said work. So with that in mind we watched, we enjoyed, and we came away with a three star rating in mind.
Now, unlike The Bastard, I am not one to launch into a shuddering spasms of fear at the mere hint of a musical number but even I wonder at the obsession with adding musical numbers to nigh all animation.
Still that is not my biggest quibble with the movie, mostly I was disappointed with the addition of a framing story that was non-existent in the original work - understandable to a certain extent - however when said framing story encompasses fully one third of the movie while major parts of the books plot are compressed into "and then it was all over" type voiceovers, I can only shake my head.
The moral compass of this extra story is all over the place - only save the world if it gets you the girl, capitalism and environment destruction is bad because we say it is, look at all the cool gadgets and great lifestyle we have... I better stop this before it becomes a rant of Zombie Monkey proportions.
Also, of the several creatures named in Suess's original creation only the titular character (snigger) is named in the film; the style of many of the characters is changed to a standard animation film human, presumably to fit better with the standard animation film plots that are spun through the framing story.
The lack of Suessian rhyme is a sad exclusion but understandable - although a nod or two to it would have been nice.
Still it was a reasonable two star film and I give it the three because, well, it is The Lorax after all.
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The Girls
A Caution, this instalment of The Tales involves things more on the girly side of the usual rugged and manly content you may have come to expect from yours truly.
So, anyway, Salsa Girl and I spent much of the past year watching our way through the complete Sex and the City TV series as it was being shown again on real TV.
Of course as one is blessed with a smidgeon of completionism it was eventually going to come to pass that we would seek out and watch to movies which followed the series years later.
This day arrived yesterday in the form of our very own movie marathon.
Having watched the series I found the first film to be an extended episode in the style of the series and therefore as enjoyable as the show.
The second film fell a little shorter than this with a transposition of location to the Middle East and some bizarre almost slapstick comedy which seemed quite insulting to Arabic culture with its American imperialist "everyone wants to be us" overtones.
Still remove that quarter hour from the film and it was almost as enjoyable as the series.
At least now one can bask in the satisfaction of having seen all of it.
Oh and speaking of girls, for those of you who haven't heard, here is our healthy little girl Hulk - so named for the effect that all these tests will surely have had on her - and coincidentally her name also applies for the colour she has regularly made her mother turn for the past several months.
Thursday last Salsa Girl and I went for our final test of the pre-natal variety as we attended our twenty week ultrasound. Hulk spent most of the test acrobatically doing boxing practice so we are afraid we may have purchased a 20 minute DVD of blurriness.
However at a previous she was much more daddy's little girl just laying back and relaxing and hence had a much less ghostly countenance which I shall treat you to now:
Anyway that's probably enough girl stuff for now.
.
So, anyway, Salsa Girl and I spent much of the past year watching our way through the complete Sex and the City TV series as it was being shown again on real TV.
Of course as one is blessed with a smidgeon of completionism it was eventually going to come to pass that we would seek out and watch to movies which followed the series years later.
This day arrived yesterday in the form of our very own movie marathon.
Having watched the series I found the first film to be an extended episode in the style of the series and therefore as enjoyable as the show.
The second film fell a little shorter than this with a transposition of location to the Middle East and some bizarre almost slapstick comedy which seemed quite insulting to Arabic culture with its American imperialist "everyone wants to be us" overtones.
Still remove that quarter hour from the film and it was almost as enjoyable as the series.
At least now one can bask in the satisfaction of having seen all of it.
Oh and speaking of girls, for those of you who haven't heard, here is our healthy little girl Hulk - so named for the effect that all these tests will surely have had on her - and coincidentally her name also applies for the colour she has regularly made her mother turn for the past several months.
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| Hulk in ghostly boxing action |
Thursday last Salsa Girl and I went for our final test of the pre-natal variety as we attended our twenty week ultrasound. Hulk spent most of the test acrobatically doing boxing practice so we are afraid we may have purchased a 20 minute DVD of blurriness.
However at a previous she was much more daddy's little girl just laying back and relaxing and hence had a much less ghostly countenance which I shall treat you to now:
 |
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Tumbleweeds
Well after the excitement of one's birthday not much of blog-worthy substance has occurred.
There has been the usual work and gaming. The less regular visits and dinners with friends and family. The smooth continuation of the grand experiment betwixt Salsa Girl and myself. Steady progress through my current read and not much on the film front - although I will say that I think Black Swan falls short of what it was trying to achieve.
All on all not much at all but be sure I'll inform you all should anything at all weird or interesting befall me in any part of my life at all.
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There has been the usual work and gaming. The less regular visits and dinners with friends and family. The smooth continuation of the grand experiment betwixt Salsa Girl and myself. Steady progress through my current read and not much on the film front - although I will say that I think Black Swan falls short of what it was trying to achieve.
All on all not much at all but be sure I'll inform you all should anything at all weird or interesting befall me in any part of my life at all.
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My First IMAX
So for all of it's long life in Melbourne one had, until Sunday last, neglected to pay a visit to the fine institute which is IMAX.
Well that situation has been rectified thanks to the auspices of ElfBoy. He invited myself and Salsa Girl along with many others (who shunned his advances) to experience Tron Legacy at said venue.
I quite enjoyed the movie despite it's relentless electronic soundtrack and internal logic inconsistencies (it's really hard to get there - let's jump on this data train that goes right there).
Worth a watch and IMAX does seem to suit it well
.
Well that situation has been rectified thanks to the auspices of ElfBoy. He invited myself and Salsa Girl along with many others (who shunned his advances) to experience Tron Legacy at said venue.
I quite enjoyed the movie despite it's relentless electronic soundtrack and internal logic inconsistencies (it's really hard to get there - let's jump on this data train that goes right there).
Worth a watch and IMAX does seem to suit it well
.
A History of Violence
With a few weeks of holiday remaining I am finally getting the time to catch up on my movie watching.
This one, A History of Violence, was a birthday gift from Legion2 way back at the beginning of last year.
The movie is based on a graphic novel (which one has never actually read) by John Wagner - a favourite comic writer of mine primarily for his 30 years of writing Judge Dredd.
I found it interesting and tense. Worth a watch if violent acts are something you can handle.
Three and a half stars.
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This one, A History of Violence, was a birthday gift from Legion2 way back at the beginning of last year.
The movie is based on a graphic novel (which one has never actually read) by John Wagner - a favourite comic writer of mine primarily for his 30 years of writing Judge Dredd.
I found it interesting and tense. Worth a watch if violent acts are something you can handle.
Three and a half stars.
.
Educating Salsa Girl
So last night was the occasion of an event of much import. After a weekend that included the annual cake-fest for Couch Killer - wonderfully put together by Vengeful Vic and at which Salsa Girl was able to meet the heretofore elusive Fantomas - I was finally able to make good on my promise to Doom and educate Salsa Girl in the ways of Blade Runner.
When her sad lack of any viewings of said film came to light there had been much shocked gasping from the gaming crowd and many mutterings about what one was to do. My first impulse had been to end things there and then. However Doom, ever the pillar of reliability and maturity, advised that one was overreacting slightly and that, in fact, the unfortunate situation could be rectified by merely showing her the movie.
After last night I am glad to have followed Doom's sound advice as it turned out that she rather enjoyed the film and all is well between us again.
.
When her sad lack of any viewings of said film came to light there had been much shocked gasping from the gaming crowd and many mutterings about what one was to do. My first impulse had been to end things there and then. However Doom, ever the pillar of reliability and maturity, advised that one was overreacting slightly and that, in fact, the unfortunate situation could be rectified by merely showing her the movie.
After last night I am glad to have followed Doom's sound advice as it turned out that she rather enjoyed the film and all is well between us again.
.
A Not MIFF Review - Inception
IMDB, Wikipedia
Score: 4/5
Language: English
Genre: Sci Fi/Thriller
Summary: (from IMDB)
Your mind is the scene of the crime.
In a world where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion, a highly skilled thief is given a final chance at redemption which involves executing his toughest job till date, Inception.
More information: http://inceptionmovie.warnerbros.com
Note: One would like to point out that the situation of any Candidates that may have failed to pay their own way has been well and truly rectified over the past weeks and can you all please stop bothering me about unfair representation in The Tales.
Score: 4/5
Language: English
Genre: Sci Fi/Thriller
Summary: (from IMDB)
Your mind is the scene of the crime.
In a world where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion, a highly skilled thief is given a final chance at redemption which involves executing his toughest job till date, Inception.
More information: http://inceptionmovie.warnerbros.com
Directed by Christopher Nolan. With Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page. Dist Warner Bros. Pictures. DTS.
Comments:- Special Effects (CGI) top notch
- how do you consider the boundry/crossing the line on what is acceptable risking others to quiet your own guilt
- What is real?
- Dynamics of couples and the affects on a couple of living their long life together
Note: One would like to point out that the situation of any Candidates that may have failed to pay their own way has been well and truly rectified over the past weeks and can you all please stop bothering me about unfair representation in The Tales.
The Innocuous return of Torchwood, and Movie Night
One is at somewhat of a loss.
Friday evenings "celebratory" drinks in honour of the return visit to our shores of Torchwood went off without a single noteworthy hitch or spectacle of which to write about.
Even with Supervisor Grand Chief K at her enabling best there were no sudden spills or embarassing statements and the entire night was only fun and frivilous conversation.
Sigh. How am I supposed to satisfy my content hungry readership if things continue to go well with no unfortunate happenings?
Slightly more eventful was movie night with MatrixMan, Vengeful Vic, and Couch Killer.
We had a trio of movies that fit the "good film that at least one of us hasn't seen" criteria - Big Trouble in Little China, The Losers, Martin - thanks to Fantomas and Legion2 - although I must point out that my identical copy of Big Trouble in Little China would have been superior to Fantomas's.
As has become recent tradition Couch Killer stuck himself to me and I had to control the wriggling, squirming mass for much of the first few hours. When I taunted Vengeful Vic that I was going to steal her child she replied with glee that she had a bag packed for him in the hall and we could leave straight away, so I was forced to recant my taunt.
Since that delightful eve I have had:
.
Friday evenings "celebratory" drinks in honour of the return visit to our shores of Torchwood went off without a single noteworthy hitch or spectacle of which to write about.
Even with Supervisor Grand Chief K at her enabling best there were no sudden spills or embarassing statements and the entire night was only fun and frivilous conversation.
Sigh. How am I supposed to satisfy my content hungry readership if things continue to go well with no unfortunate happenings?
Slightly more eventful was movie night with MatrixMan, Vengeful Vic, and Couch Killer.
We had a trio of movies that fit the "good film that at least one of us hasn't seen" criteria - Big Trouble in Little China, The Losers, Martin - thanks to Fantomas and Legion2 - although I must point out that my identical copy of Big Trouble in Little China would have been superior to Fantomas's.
As has become recent tradition Couch Killer stuck himself to me and I had to control the wriggling, squirming mass for much of the first few hours. When I taunted Vengeful Vic that I was going to steal her child she replied with glee that she had a bag packed for him in the hall and we could leave straight away, so I was forced to recant my taunt.
Since that delightful eve I have had:
- an afternoon of gaming with some D-Day reenactment games of Memoir 44. Attending at the tail end was Amoeba, getting back into my good books with a very late but quite appropriate birthday present of dice and chocolate Fudge.
- yet another skipped gaming night - this one due to Torchwood, and The Administrator and Lord of the Small Fries organising a last minute dinner
- several cases of mysterious chocolate overdose
- my succumbing (? succumbation) to ElfBoy's boys cold that he has been dosing me with for the past month
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An Outing for Iron Man 2
In his usual manner BestFriendSincePrep called me up at the last minute - whilst I was mid-commute - to propose an outing to see the titular film.
As my communication channel was dropping out repeatedly for tunnel related reasons he drove to our usual cinema and then, once I was home, called me to enforce the outing.
Having to go there early I was also forced to go to dinner with him at one of the nearby establishments. He was up to his usual embarrassing tactics: combining and rearranging menu options; correcting wait staff pronunciation; sprinting to finish his meal leaving me stranded still consuming mine as the wait staff came to clear the table.
I did manage to survive to see the movie which was quite good for what it was - the action was interesting for the most part, the characters developed somewhat and the effects were well done.
Bonus Caution
Should you ever change the internet provider of someone close to you, such as Freeloading Mum, you should always remember to change their email server to the new provider before the old account expires lest their email suddenly stop working only a day before their big overseas trip.
.
As my communication channel was dropping out repeatedly for tunnel related reasons he drove to our usual cinema and then, once I was home, called me to enforce the outing.
Having to go there early I was also forced to go to dinner with him at one of the nearby establishments. He was up to his usual embarrassing tactics: combining and rearranging menu options; correcting wait staff pronunciation; sprinting to finish his meal leaving me stranded still consuming mine as the wait staff came to clear the table.
I did manage to survive to see the movie which was quite good for what it was - the action was interesting for the most part, the characters developed somewhat and the effects were well done.
Bonus Caution
Should you ever change the internet provider of someone close to you, such as Freeloading Mum, you should always remember to change their email server to the new provider before the old account expires lest their email suddenly stop working only a day before their big overseas trip.
.
The First Days of Phorty
Last weekend was the grand occasion of my becoming a forty year old (in body, mind is a little harder to judge).
On the Saturday night - the actual anniversary of my birth as luck would have it - I held a magnificent soiree to which I invited friends, family, fun people, and librarians. So many were in attendance that were I to list them all the tagging system for the blog would collapse under the weight of numbers.
Instead I shall just say that it was a magnificent night thoroughly enjoyed by yours truly and, if I'm any judge, by all in attendance.
Highlights include: Freeloading Mum mistaking Spare Legion for myself "oh good Phillip I've found you"; The Great Sandro getting along famously with many; BestFriendSincePrep's whinging about missing the first round of cake resulting in him in his being presented with no less than five pieces from the second round; and Mr Prada almost succeeding in abandoning Supervisor Grand Chief K when heading home.
The end of the evening saw a small group of us walk back to my flat causing every venue we attempted to enter on the journey merely by staggering in the front door "Sorry guys we're just closing for the night" was the refrain.
Successfully making it back we proceeded to embark on a port and Pez fuelled rampage (Pez courtesy of Sister Serials wonderful present) all to the strains of Conan the Barbarian thoughtfully playing in the background thanks to BestFriendSincePrep.
I awakened the next morning with the only flat-company being BestFriendSincePrep in the spare room - well, and The Tiger busily trying to usurp his position on the spare bed.
We had a wonderful cafe breakfast and then I was on my own to use my new found oldness to justify napping my way through the afternoon.
I took the chance that evening to finally go and see Avatar lest it leave the cinemas unseen by oneself, a situation that would put a severe dent in one's geek cred.
I found it good that the story was easily digested which made it easy to concentrate on taking in the wow factor of the special effects and new 3D process. As a wearer of eyeglasses I am quite impressed with how well the physicality of the glasses works.
More of my impressions of Phortiness to come...
.
On the Saturday night - the actual anniversary of my birth as luck would have it - I held a magnificent soiree to which I invited friends, family, fun people, and librarians. So many were in attendance that were I to list them all the tagging system for the blog would collapse under the weight of numbers.
Instead I shall just say that it was a magnificent night thoroughly enjoyed by yours truly and, if I'm any judge, by all in attendance.
Highlights include: Freeloading Mum mistaking Spare Legion for myself "oh good Phillip I've found you"; The Great Sandro getting along famously with many; BestFriendSincePrep's whinging about missing the first round of cake resulting in him in his being presented with no less than five pieces from the second round; and Mr Prada almost succeeding in abandoning Supervisor Grand Chief K when heading home.
The end of the evening saw a small group of us walk back to my flat causing every venue we attempted to enter on the journey merely by staggering in the front door "Sorry guys we're just closing for the night" was the refrain.
Successfully making it back we proceeded to embark on a port and Pez fuelled rampage (Pez courtesy of Sister Serials wonderful present) all to the strains of Conan the Barbarian thoughtfully playing in the background thanks to BestFriendSincePrep.
I awakened the next morning with the only flat-company being BestFriendSincePrep in the spare room - well, and The Tiger busily trying to usurp his position on the spare bed.
We had a wonderful cafe breakfast and then I was on my own to use my new found oldness to justify napping my way through the afternoon.
I took the chance that evening to finally go and see Avatar lest it leave the cinemas unseen by oneself, a situation that would put a severe dent in one's geek cred.
I found it good that the story was easily digested which made it easy to concentrate on taking in the wow factor of the special effects and new 3D process. As a wearer of eyeglasses I am quite impressed with how well the physicality of the glasses works.
More of my impressions of Phortiness to come...
.
Movie Night
Last weekend I continued on with the tradition that heralded in the new year by holding a movie night at my humble abode.
Legion's 2 and 4 were in attendance, as was Elfboy who made a last minute dash to make it for most of the evening.
Our features for the evening were the new Family Guy take on The Empire Strikes Back - Something, Something, Something Darkside, and the fourth Terminator film Terminator Salvation.
The Family Guy film was as good as expected, not any better, but with plenty of group laughs and observations on the original film.
Terminator was good fun in a group but did have the feel of being made by people who didn't quite care about continuity with the other films - although time travel, as always, can excuse these with the ol' "changed timeline" explanation.
All in all a good night and I think this movie night thing just may become a regular occurance as we head further into the depths of twennyten.
.
Legion's 2 and 4 were in attendance, as was Elfboy who made a last minute dash to make it for most of the evening.
Our features for the evening were the new Family Guy take on The Empire Strikes Back - Something, Something, Something Darkside, and the fourth Terminator film Terminator Salvation.
The Family Guy film was as good as expected, not any better, but with plenty of group laughs and observations on the original film.
Terminator was good fun in a group but did have the feel of being made by people who didn't quite care about continuity with the other films - although time travel, as always, can excuse these with the ol' "changed timeline" explanation.
All in all a good night and I think this movie night thing just may become a regular occurance as we head further into the depths of twennyten.
.
The Missing Weeks. Part the Fifth
Contrary to unpopular belief I am not instituting a new regimen of daily posting.
The recent frequency is merely a part of the effort to catch up to the present day - a form of time travel, if you will, where the events fly past much faster than normal as we spirit forwards into the future (well, the now actually).
So let's set the controls for the new year and see how far we get...
A Lazy Xmas Day
After a nice little sleep in I collected Legion's 2 & 3 and we made our way to Legion headquarters.
With Freeloading Mum working until the late afternoon lunch was only attended by Handy Dad and the Legion. We partook in a relaxed BBQ lunch with the sun shining down upon us.
Later, when Freeloading Mum arrived, we commenced our giving of token presents and some catch up chat.
Legion followed this with a game of Shadows over Camelot which took us right up until BrotherStealer and the cousins arrived (separately).
Only one branch of cousinage was attending the evening this year on account of holidays I believe. We did see the ever reliable to be in attendance at family gatherings first-name-stealing-cos-he's-a-few-months-older-than-me Cousin Andrew, as well as Cousin Dave and wife and nearly newborn.
An evening feast was had and then the baby-burdened had to leave because of upsetness.
The rest of the 'kids' retired to the garage and thus ensued many hours of Kelly pool playing on the wonky family table.
Thankfully the behaviour of Legion4 was in stark contrast to the previous Xmas day as he had only a moderate number of drinks and was quite the enjoyable company for the whole day.
An Average Boxing Day Board Games
Upon consultation with Pirate Dave it was decided to hold the nigh-traditional board game playing day on the Sunday between the actual day and the public holiday - sort of an average of the two.
ElfBoy, however, had other ideas. Having only cleared his schedule for the actual day - and inexplicably not checking his email on Xmas - he twisted my arm and enforced card playing for the evening of the actual Boxing Day. Of course Pirate Dave and Legion2 were also dragooned into the event.
The next day we gathered for the actual boardgames, swapping Badger in for the unavailable ElfBoy. We managed to knock out a whole mini campaign of my go-to wargame - Memoir'44. However without the assistance of The Viking Hat GM we Belgians could not even muster up a single win and had to give over France to the Germans.
There was not much else happening in the week leading up to years end, a few days off, a few work days that felt like days off and otherwise life as usual.
The New Years Eve Movie Night
Our plan for this New Years was to gather at MatrixMan's to participate in what I like to call "Educating Vengeful Vic". You see MM and I decided it was the perfect opportunity to rectify that terrible Escape from New York shaped gap in Vengeful Vic's cult filmic experience.
We gathered that evening with Legion2, BrotherStealer and Pirate Dave. Of course Couch Killer was also there, hogging all the attention as usual.
We opened the evening with pizza and wine - always the best way to start a movie night - and then commenced our support feature The Ninth Gate up until that point unseen by yours truly.
It was a good supernatural thriller reminiscent of your Damiens and Rosemary's Babies, requiring some thinking to figure it out but between the roomful of us we managed to reach the level of intellect needed.
After that it was onto our main feature which still stood the test of time despite being set in the Now of 1997, and having ginormous mobile phones as state of the art tech.
And so, this brings us to the end of our little series of catch up postings. You should all be well versed in what exactly occurred to this auteur in those many weeks of blogging silence.
A new year would be the time to make all sorts of resolutions about more regular updates but, sadly, the time has passed as I write this and I shall have to wait for New Years next before the opportunity for the declaring of such a resolution arises once more.
up next: a return to the irregular scheduling you must surely have become used to over the last year.
.
The recent frequency is merely a part of the effort to catch up to the present day - a form of time travel, if you will, where the events fly past much faster than normal as we spirit forwards into the future (well, the now actually).
So let's set the controls for the new year and see how far we get...
A Lazy Xmas Day
After a nice little sleep in I collected Legion's 2 & 3 and we made our way to Legion headquarters.
With Freeloading Mum working until the late afternoon lunch was only attended by Handy Dad and the Legion. We partook in a relaxed BBQ lunch with the sun shining down upon us.
Later, when Freeloading Mum arrived, we commenced our giving of token presents and some catch up chat.
Legion followed this with a game of Shadows over Camelot which took us right up until BrotherStealer and the cousins arrived (separately).
Only one branch of cousinage was attending the evening this year on account of holidays I believe. We did see the ever reliable to be in attendance at family gatherings first-name-stealing-cos-he's-a-few-months-older-than-me Cousin Andrew, as well as Cousin Dave and wife and nearly newborn.
An evening feast was had and then the baby-burdened had to leave because of upsetness.
The rest of the 'kids' retired to the garage and thus ensued many hours of Kelly pool playing on the wonky family table.
Thankfully the behaviour of Legion4 was in stark contrast to the previous Xmas day as he had only a moderate number of drinks and was quite the enjoyable company for the whole day.
An Average Boxing Day Board Games
Upon consultation with Pirate Dave it was decided to hold the nigh-traditional board game playing day on the Sunday between the actual day and the public holiday - sort of an average of the two.
ElfBoy, however, had other ideas. Having only cleared his schedule for the actual day - and inexplicably not checking his email on Xmas - he twisted my arm and enforced card playing for the evening of the actual Boxing Day. Of course Pirate Dave and Legion2 were also dragooned into the event.
The next day we gathered for the actual boardgames, swapping Badger in for the unavailable ElfBoy. We managed to knock out a whole mini campaign of my go-to wargame - Memoir'44. However without the assistance of The Viking Hat GM we Belgians could not even muster up a single win and had to give over France to the Germans.
There was not much else happening in the week leading up to years end, a few days off, a few work days that felt like days off and otherwise life as usual.
The New Years Eve Movie Night
Our plan for this New Years was to gather at MatrixMan's to participate in what I like to call "Educating Vengeful Vic". You see MM and I decided it was the perfect opportunity to rectify that terrible Escape from New York shaped gap in Vengeful Vic's cult filmic experience.
We gathered that evening with Legion2, BrotherStealer and Pirate Dave. Of course Couch Killer was also there, hogging all the attention as usual.
We opened the evening with pizza and wine - always the best way to start a movie night - and then commenced our support feature The Ninth Gate up until that point unseen by yours truly.
It was a good supernatural thriller reminiscent of your Damiens and Rosemary's Babies, requiring some thinking to figure it out but between the roomful of us we managed to reach the level of intellect needed.
After that it was onto our main feature which still stood the test of time despite being set in the Now of 1997, and having ginormous mobile phones as state of the art tech.
And so, this brings us to the end of our little series of catch up postings. You should all be well versed in what exactly occurred to this auteur in those many weeks of blogging silence.
A new year would be the time to make all sorts of resolutions about more regular updates but, sadly, the time has passed as I write this and I shall have to wait for New Years next before the opportunity for the declaring of such a resolution arises once more.
up next: a return to the irregular scheduling you must surely have become used to over the last year.
.
... The Ahnold Afternoon
My day began with a quickish coffee catch-up with Rugrat Twin - newly ensconced across the other side of town. Much chat was had in the limited time available before the two of us had to go our separate ways for the remains of the day.
Upon returning home I soon found out - through the miracle of the internet - that a proposed afternoon of Arnie film watching was indeed on the cards.
Organised by The Viking Hat GM as a form of welcome back event for The Mad Magyar who has only recently returned from the old country. Also in attendance was Exploding Ninja Pony which made the whole thing have a feeling of "getting the band back together". Suitably armed with snacks and a cynical attitude we commenced our cinematic endeavour.
Our first film was the classic masterpiece Predator. I think it was still thoroughly enjoyed all around for it's over the top macho characters in an exciting action movie that moves along at a reasonable pace. Still holds up well after 20 years.
Our second film was chosen because Exploding Ninja Pony had never seen it before.
It was Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
The plot itself suffers from a little coincidence overload as everyone happens to just run into each other a few times too many however our running commentary on the flaws and "what the" moments of the film made it quite an enjoyable experience. Plus finishing up on the set of Beneath the Planet of the Apes earns it many many bonus points in this reviewers opinion.
With many other Arnie movies to explore within our particular group dynamic I suspect that there may well be several further Ahnold Afternoon in the offing.
.
Upon returning home I soon found out - through the miracle of the internet - that a proposed afternoon of Arnie film watching was indeed on the cards.
Organised by The Viking Hat GM as a form of welcome back event for The Mad Magyar who has only recently returned from the old country. Also in attendance was Exploding Ninja Pony which made the whole thing have a feeling of "getting the band back together". Suitably armed with snacks and a cynical attitude we commenced our cinematic endeavour.
Our first film was the classic masterpiece Predator. I think it was still thoroughly enjoyed all around for it's over the top macho characters in an exciting action movie that moves along at a reasonable pace. Still holds up well after 20 years.
Our second film was chosen because Exploding Ninja Pony had never seen it before.
It was Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
The plot itself suffers from a little coincidence overload as everyone happens to just run into each other a few times too many however our running commentary on the flaws and "what the" moments of the film made it quite an enjoyable experience. Plus finishing up on the set of Beneath the Planet of the Apes earns it many many bonus points in this reviewers opinion.
With many other Arnie movies to explore within our particular group dynamic I suspect that there may well be several further Ahnold Afternoon in the offing.
.
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