Month: March 2014

Seen a few crackers today … Which I’ve borrowed cos I like ’em.

If you see one of your’s in here, you have awesome taste in jokey pictures :

This Monday ? Had to take Friday off cos after 4 nights of critically lacking sleep I hit a wall where I dunno where I was. Needed the long weekend to get some of my marbles back where they should be. The long term answer is to try and lose some weight again as one reason I’m lacking sleep is acid, which I make when I’m too heavy.

The Daylight Savings Time change is different over here, according to Digiguide (it’s a TV guide but it can go months ahead and is the best way I have outside of Google for checking things like clock changes) it happens on Saturday 29th March. That’s incidentally the day before Mother’s Day, which is different over here too (is it ?).

Yellow Face Burns.

Sadly though, I think someone actually did wet his plants cos there was a definite smell of wee coming from the bus home. And I don’t think it was from the petrol tank … (I used to be able to detect a Liquid Petroleum Gas vehicle if I was following one)

One of the walking routes into work has street lights which have pigeons congregating on them. I keep a sharp eye on them in case they’re having similar Evil Thoughts to the birds above.

 Haha – I bet Scruff the dog had these thoughts about Patch the cat.

Remember the comment about the line between telling someone you think of them all the time and them thinking you’re a stalker ?

Yeah, I’ve thought that a few times. But not today. Although I suspect a few people have done this in response to my antics. Muahaha.

Last one – promise :

Ah ha ! The culprit for the smelly bus !

That goes way back – it’s a saying from childhood from when we lived in Northern Ireland.

That’s where I spent many a good year at primary school learning Stuff. But when we went out for day trips, it tended to be to the sea side. Also, when we visited my nan and grandad at holidays, we’d go by sea. So “I see the Sea!” was something reasonably rare but also marking things like holiday. I got my Rules Of Cricket “poster”* from one of these, it was on a visit to the Giant’s Causeway maybe 30 years ago.

*(can’t really call it a poster, it’s woven out of authentic Ulster Linen)

Enough reminiscing, for now :-). I may natter more about the Ireland years at some point. That gives me an idea actually 🙂 Been struggling for ideas to write posts about lately. I don’t believe in burdening people too much with my struggles, which seems to have been the theme lately. This week’s been a struggle, I took today off work to give me more regenerating time. Not had much sleep this week – I dunno, I put my head on the pillow and can’t find the Off Switch. So this week’s been a bit of a struggle. I disappeared from a leaving run last night after feeling the first signs of collapse.

I feel a bit better today after hitting the crash stops yesterday, hopefully I’ll be more back to normal by Monday. This part of the year is always a struggle for me, as the time between Xmas and Easter holidays catches me out. It is good to have people to grin at though, there’s a certain person who’s helped me out over the past few days and I’m sure she doesn’t realise how much that little smile brightens my day.

Wait – when does the “I think of you every minute” thing step from cute into stalker territory ? Maybe when the thoughts step from thoughts and into something more persistent and unwanted.

I dunno – that’s distracting me away from real purpose of post … A to Z time again ! I’m almost through listening to all the C albums … So what are they and what do I think of them ?

Katie Melua – Call Off The Search. Sometimes the songs don’t do the voice justice but … what a voice.

A Camp – their first album (A Camp) and Colonia. This was a band started up by Nina Persson as what she did next after the Cardigans broke up. There’s some amazing songs here, with that trademark voice leading the way. Algebra (this song gets me from the very first chords) and Here Are Many Wild Animals are just 2 highlights of many. Nina Persson just brought out a solo album called Animal Heart, which is still good just not as inspired as the rest.

Ani DiFranco – Carnegie Hall 4.6.02 – This one is ok. It’s not a favourite but there’s some good, some bad.

Carpenters Gold – these have their fans and their avoiders. Avoider is probably the best word, they stir up unwanted memories in some and unwanted emotions in others. I just hear a remarkable voice that was lost to us far too early singing pure, beautiful songs.

Catatonia greatest hits – someone laughed when they saw this in my library. I’m a quirky guy and I like variation. So I’m drawn to these weird people with their distinctive accents, strange songs and funny lyrics. You know Road Rage and Mulder and Scully but my favourite is Imaginary Friend. Not many songs take a twist in the middle like that one.

Beth Orton – Central Reservation. Can’t remember how I discovered this one, think it was an iTunes single of the week freebie. Good but not great but definitely worth a listen.

More Morcheeba ! – Charango continues their usual output. Again, it’s just that bit different to what I usually listen to which keeps it interesting. I get bored listening to the same thing over and over again.

Soundtracks – there’s a few of these in the C’s :
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Danny Elfman at work
Company of Heroes – game soundtrack, makes me think of trying the game (Steam freebie from a while ago)
Civilisation V
Conan the Barbarian – the original Arnie film soundtrack by Basil Poledaris. It adds a sense of freedom to a truly classic film.
The Core – laughable sci fi film. I really enjoy this one. Perhaps it’s the Kirsty Swanson as Astronaut factor.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – the film that brought foreign language back to popularity.
The Crow – tragic film, fitting soundtrack.

Classical :
Chopin preludes – there’s some unforgettable melodies here
Classic ads, Classical Hits, Classical music for relaxation (all stuff acquired on offer and there’s some true gems here)

Elaine Paige – Christmas ! Sickly sweet all the way but a lot of fun too.

Johnny Cash – the classics. Everyone has to have a bit of Johnny Cash in their libraries.

The XX with Coexist – not bad but a bit too manufactured compared to their first. Their XX album was that little bit different again, this one’s a bit generic and forgettable.

Two collections – iTunes has an annoying bug – it’s combined these two and I can’t split them. Meh. Buddy Holly was another taken from us too early and the other collection is from Dusty Springboard. Here’s two unforgettable classics : Son of a Preacher Man and Peggy Sue.

Sia – Colour the Small One. Again, what a voice. Highlights for me here are Breathe Me, Moon and Numb.

Norah Jones – Come Away With Me – yes please ! I would follow that voice anywhere. It has a purity, a weight, a clarity. You can close your eyes and it’ll carry you away.

Dire Straits – Communique. Not so much with this guy, although Mark Knopfler’s guitar playing makes up for his voice. He did albums as albums too. Whereas I thought Ellie Goulding’s Bright Lights had some amazing songs on it, I didn’t think it worked well as an album. Too much of the same in it. Dire Straits were another group that made albums where the sum was greater than the parts.

Madonna – Confessions on a Dance Floor. Madonna’s albums all follow themes too and they tend to be very different between albums. This one is pure disco, with thumping electronic beats all the way through. There’s stunning track after stunning track here and they all work well together. How High is one of my favourites here.

Texas – started listening to these again. They’ve made some cracking songs over the years and it was definitely worth getting the deluxe version of the Conversation for the live album on the second cd.

Enigma’s Cross of Changes – good, not as good as MCMXC AD.
Tracy Chapman – Crossroads – may have to hunt down more Tracy Chapman.

Cults – Cults. They hide their voices a bit under the instruments. Lyrics are very strange. I like ’em. Here’s Abducted.

And finally – one of the past, a truly golden oldie : Gloria Estefan’s Cuts Both Ways. Again with the purity of that voice, with some Latin fun thrown in there too.

It’s going to be a while before I get through the D’s … There’s a bunch of Doctor Who soundtracks in there that will take a while to get through ! Guess I’ll take that Wisely And Slow (little taster from the D’s …)

I think you'll like the IS, although as per usual, I'd take a test drive first to make sure it would fit with what you'd want in a car. It's an outstanding car but there's a few things that it could do better – I like hybrid personally but it's not everyone's cup of tea …

Have you watched Gravity yet ? Think you'd enjoy that one. Although it does have the "Oh hell the critics liked it" stamp of doom from the Oscars.

Often pretty to look at but I thought it had far too many problems and tried far to hard to even make my Bronze list I'm afraid.

We were blessed with quite a few decent movies in 2013. I’m watching one of them at the moment – Elysium.

What is it ? It’s a scifi spectacular based in the year 2154. Human society has been split in two, the majority live on Earth. An apparently post apocalyptic Earth with Los Angeles in ruins. The minority live in an orbiting space habitat called Elysium where they enjoy the benefits of hyper advanced technology. Things like being able to cure Leukaemia in minutes by effectively taking the body apart and putting it back together again the right way.

I’ll try and avoid too many spoilers but here’s the major characters :

Lead protagonist – Max. Who lives on Earth but dreams of reaching Elysium. He experiences a factory accident which irradiates him with a dose that will be lethal in 5 days. Desperate times indeed … The desperate measure is an exo suit that gives him super strength to counteract the radiation sickness.

With Max is Frey, who gives Max another very good reason for wanting to get up to Elysium.

Jodie Foster plays a megalomaniac defense secretary who is prepared to do anything necessary to protect Elysium.

Sharlto Copley (the breakthrough star of District 9) plays a wonderfully psychotic mercenary for hire who is Jodie Foster’s muscle. And by wonderfully psychotic, that’s definitely an understatement.

You have other characters in there as well but they take a second place to the leads and the technology the writers get to play with.

It starts with the space station – Elysium. There’s a lot done right here. If you’ve read the Ringworld books, that series has a massive ring in space orbiting a sun. It gradually spins, which keeps the air in. This time, it’s a much smaller station that is about 19 minutes travel time from Earth.

Aside – it’s not “centrifugal” force. That’s a fallacy invented to explain something without any true understanding of what’s going on. The BBC commentators in the Winter Olympics used it a lot in the bobsleigh coverage. The ball being spun on the rope doesn’t fly away due to mythical centrifugal force, it goes round in a circle due to centripetal force exerted by the rope. It’s similar with the air in a ringworld. The atmosphere wants to carry straight on outwards but is kept inside by the surface and high walls.

The average movie viewer doesn’t care about that though – it’s the visuals that count and they’re top notch.

Aside 2 – although they don’t mention it in the movie, there’s a series of Lagrange points up in space. They’re the places where things stay where they’re put. I’m assuming the Elysium habitat is at one of the L4 or L5 (between Earth and Moon – see link for more) points. Reason ? It’s in the same place in the sky. This is another sign of how they were clever, it’s presenting something complex in a simple way. People who know the orbital mechanics thing recognise it but … the average movie viewer isn’t interested.

Exo suits – these are coming. Perhaps not as gruesomely as in the movie (think chop shop but with a human having things screwed into him) but they’re on their way. Hopefully soon too because an exo suit, full or partial, will be an amazing way of getting our amputees their mobility back. The trick is to make the movement natural and precise and it’s that precision which will be the tough part of the pie. We’ll need to precision that lets us close fingers on an egg, without breaking the shell.

The progression from that is AI controlled droids – these guys are Nasty.

Using the brain as a memory store. I dunno the stats on this but we don’t use much of the space in our brains. Elysium sees data being stored in our heads. I think this is coming too, although the interface will need work. Nasty copy protection here ;-).

The medical tech – this is the true miracle. Will it be possible in 140 years ? I hope so.

Should you watch Elysium ? Hell yeah. It’s a great movie. There’s enough action and explosions in there to keep most movie watchers happy. And the science in there keeps the scifi geekster happy too. Although there are bad points that we won’t mention too much :

The engines on the spaceships. Ok, it is 140 years in the future ? Plausible ? Maybe.
Shooting down shuttles in a manner that will pepper the habitat with debris – ouch.
Having a handheld launcher capable of shooting down shuttles in orbit – want one.
Using computer speak from now (assembler language and BIOS screens) – make something else up !

Apart from that, it has pretty much everything : Great story, amazing visuals, science fiction that makes a lot of sense, excellent characters.

Well worth catching. I think I wrote about it around August when it was in cinemas, I just finished watching on Bluray and it still holds up. It’s not the best movie of last year, Gravity was better. Need to buy that.