Month: July 2015

Let’s start with that first one …

Cricket’s not going that great at the moment. We’re currently looking at an almost certain Aussie win to tie the series, unless England can pull off something extraordinary to first survive or something very odd to win. Too many runs ahead and a batting lineup that can do wonders but more often suffers fragility.

In any case, it’s potentially a long grind to a draw or a depressing slide to a loss. Unless it rains ! Come on rain ! And the target is going to be a sporting 509 in just over 5 sessions. That’s actually doable on runs per session but incredibly difficult because the pitch gets more unpredictable.

Come on England ! I won’t get to see the end because I’ll be at work tomorrow.

Dungeoneering ? I’ve been checking out a charming new game.

It’s called Guild of Dungeoneering and I’ve had a few emotions so far :

Laughter – at listening to the opening song (yes, it has an opening song)
Sniggers – at chuckling along to the minstrel narrator
Frustration – at having my dungeoneers die over and over (see later pic)
Yey ! – at finally beating a dungeon
Rejoicing ! – as you name a character “The Minstrel” and kill it

It’s a game that has you building up a dungeon, putting rooms in, putting treasure in and adding monsters. Your dungeoneers head towards the best treasure they can see, so part of the challenge is making sure they don’t head for the big boss at the end before they’re ready. Because this game is pretty hard. But also quite fun and I’ve been enjoying it so far.

Even if my graveyard after just one session is like :

Oops. I’ve not been playing that long either. A few people might recognise names there. I have a C-Kitten in my guild as a cat burglar. But I’ve not killed them yet. I’ve been looking to use names from people I know but … I’m really bad at it so far ! I don’t want to kill you.

Sleepy’s a chump (first character type you get) but I’ve managed to not kill that one yet.

It’s going to be one of my chill out games and … It’ll run on the Macbook too. One thing about the Macbook Air, it’s a wonderful little machine but to make it that small and have that much battery life, the processor is wound back a bit in speed. So I wouldn’t consider trying to run Elite on it but less demanding games ? Yep, it’ll handle those pretty easily.

Cruising ? I just mentioned Elite …

I not long ago got to the assets level where I could buy a well equipped version of the second biggest ship. The Type 9 freighter, dubbed “The Drugged Sloth”. That was surprisingly good in combat, fitted so it was bristling with weapon turrets (and could have done better) so I didn’t have to point at pesky pirates to shoot them. But I wasn’t enjoying the flying. I wasn’t enjoying the trading that much either, as I was following quite an old trading route that wasn’t totally accurate.

I think that sums up something about me – I don’t like guaranteed success where I’m ploughing a path that someone else has done before. I like new things. I like fresh experiences. Although, I’ll also fall into comfortable routine where I don’t have to think about what I’m doing.

So with my Elite experience, I like flying around the galaxy doing new things in different places. Imagine if you will, a pilot going from one station to the next and stopping off to see what’s unique about that particular place.

So when I logged off yesterday, my pilot was in the Heike system, propping up the bar looking out at the stars. (I logged off in a small outpost, not much to see there). A lot of that is imagination though, it’s not in game yet. That may be a good thing because most of the time games attempt to outreach their targets, they mess up badly and make something awful. There’s a couple of high profile competitors to Elite at the moment :

X universe – it first tacked on an industrial system to the game where you needed to build networks of factories and refineries to access the best systems and weapons. BORING !
Star Citizen – is promising all sorts of things like walking in stations, landing on planets. All sorts. They’re not likely to deliver until at least 2016 and I think the whole project will fail as vapourware because they’re trying to do too much.

Elite started with replicating much of what the earlier game great by keeping the systems simple, while expanding the galaxy around it. You can’t be an industrial magnate like in Eve, there aren’t massive player blocs which dominate where you can go. You’re a little fish in a massive galaxy but you can play as you like in that universe.

I like it. And although I’m not addicted to it, so I’m not spending all of my spare time in it and craving it when I’m not in game (been there, that’s not something I want to go back to !), I enjoy that experience of going from place to place, getting the best trades and seeing all sorts of new places. There’s also a bit of hazard and danger from breaking the trade pattern by doing missions that are … a tad dangerous. Last night I had the rozzers after me because they heard I was smuggling. They didn’t like me legging it.

The Drugged Sloth is in its garage at the moment, while I bounce around the galaxy in :

Sleeper Shuttler.

If you read Iain M Banks, you may recognise that name, although I’ve changed it a little. This ship may be one that I use to lose myself around the galaxy again. Perhaps. But to do justice to the Sleeper Service name, it’ll need to be an Anaconda. The ship in the pic is an Asp, which is designed for exploring. The Anaconda is built for being the biggest, meanest ship in the galaxy that will still fit in a space station (there are bigger ships but we can’t fly them) but you can also customise it for going off into the Black.

There’s one of the popular Elite pilots on the Elite Dangerous Community who has done the run to the centre of the galaxy in about 16 hours in an Anaconda. That triggers a bit of the “Hey ! I can do that too !” And I might try it.

But not just yet. I’ll enjoy my cruising, my dungeoneering, my watching of the cricket and … Biggest of all :

My smile and yey! when a message comes in. And then I’ll break from the game and give that Pretty Lady my full attention as I send a message back.

Because real life is far more important and interesting than games. Especially when Pretty Ladies want to talk to you.

And on that thought – cya !

Reading is good for you. You should do more of it. If you want some ideas then check my reviews [grin]

I’ve been reading again. Hurrah !

Ok, so how come I’ve been away from reading ? There’s a few reasons actually …

I’m usually reading a lot at work, so when I get home I don’t really want to be expending that much mental energy. I’m wanting to relax, cool the brain down and generally be lazy to regenerate that mental energy.

Pain in my wrists. Too much computering and a few too many awkward falls in the cricket have led to wrist pain, mostly RSI, that isn’t going away. It’s manageable through things like wrist supports and I don’t need pain pills but still, holding those books up puts strain on those sore wrists.

And I didn’t want to wreck my books. It’s only fairly recently that my forearms have gotten so much more intact. They’re not healed yet but they’re getting there. Before, I’d have a big chance of getting blood on the books. To be avoided …

But I have managed to get one new book read this week. One reason for that is using the iPad as an ebook reader (via the Kindle app). Firstly the app, I’m pleased with it. The text is easily readable to my eyes (which are in need of new glasses) and I can rest the iPad in my lap without having to tension my wrists holding the book open. Win. I’ll definitely get more ebooks to feed the iPad with.

What’s the book ?

There’s huge potential for spoilers here which may take the shine off a highly enjoyable book but I’ll try to avoid those.

It’s Andy Weir’s first book and I became aware of it after watching the trailer before Terminator Genesys. I REALLY want to watch this film now. I was super impressed with the trailer and the book has just amplified that interest tenfold.

What’s it about ?

A massive storm has led to the abandonment of a mission to Mars but on the way to the escape vehicle, the crew of 6 loses a man. Or so they think … The star of the show, Mark Watney, is left stranded on Mars with little hope of escape and a fraction of the supplies to let him hold out until rescue can come.

But he digs in and figures out how to survive on a hostile world. Along the way, drama, heroics, silliness, humour, comedy, excitement, surprise and more than a few genuine What The Hell ? moments.

It’s an excellent book and it had me laughing, giggling and chortling away for page after page. It has that genuine One More Chapter Before Bed pull. The science is top notch, although sometimes the plot is helped by things going fairly deliberately wrong. The alternative to that would be a plain sailing route where all of the ideas worked perfectly. Where’s the fun in that ! 🙂 Some of the more hysterical moments are our boy’s reaction and solution to when things go wrong.

It’s a cracker and I hope they squeeze even a fraction of its quality into the movie.

Why do we have to wait until October though ! That’s way too long to wait. From just reading the book, I think it’ll be my film of the year. Perhaps I’m putting too much expectation on and am doomed to be disappointed ? I hope not. If the film is naff, I’ll just read the book again and that’ll remind me of the chuckles.

Chuckles are awesome.

As are books. And I need to get reading more of them. They are food for the mind. I’ve been entertained by The Martian and I’ve learned a few things in there too. I hope Andy Weir comes out with more books.

I’ve been thinking back to the 2 Mars books by Ben Bova too. I enjoyed those however … the first of those is dominated by a crisis that lasts for well over 100 pages before they figure it out. The crisis well outlasts its welcome and becomes annoying. In The Martian, the crises happen, are well described, you get the impression of how life threatening they are and then the solution is enacted. The crises in The Martian are dealt with in interesting ways, which also means they don’t drag back the narrative. Oh and some of those crisis solutions are so mad they draw out the Mad Scientist tag.

I’d thoroughly recommend this book. But … I need more !

Chuck me your (fiction please !) recommendations :-).

That’s a title that could bee taken all sorts of ways.

Wrong ways, curious ways, woolly ways … hungry ways ?

It’s an event that I missed out on last time around. The creators of the Wallace and Gromit cartoons, Aardman Animations, hail from the Bristol area and this is the second time they’ve run an event in aid of local charities. This time, it’s children’s hospitals.

Here’s the link !

The sculptures will bee on show from 6th July to 31st August. Plenty of time to see them if you’re in the Bristol area. They’ll bee auctioned off after that to help those charities again.

You may have spotted a theme creeping in …

That’s Bee-Dazzled, which is in the centre of the Cribbs Causeway Mall. And … Oh My God It’s Covered In Bees !

I used to play Warcraft with a guild called Covered In Bees. I think they’re still going. I wasn’t in that guild, my Mercenaries Of Darkness guild raided with them in the earlier days of Warcraft. I think that big Guildlink partnership kept going through the first expansion before falling apart in the face of people wanting to advance through the content. The Bees ended up pulling in their choice of players from the other guilds, which was totally counter to the original ideas of Guildlink. I’d seen what was coming, plus I was very jaded with the whole raiding thing. It was a rocky exit from the Mercs and the Swedish dominated guild, Violence Reborn, took me in. But even there, I was pretty jaded on the whole raiding thing.

But while I’m on that subject, I’d like to pay tribute to 3 special Bees :
Sarai the Overqueen oh how we worship her magnificence. She ran Guildlink and managed to keep having huge amounts of fun with it. Things started going downhill after she started walking away from the game. Groups follow how their leaders are and Sarai was Big Fun. And a bit of mischief too.

There were also Sam (actual character name too long to remember) and Aella. Sam led the raids a lot too and suffered all the frustrations involved. I used to natter to Sam a lot over the whispers and I think that helped him remember the Fun. He did good things. And then there’s Suzanne/Aella, who added huge fun, both in messing up and how she was on comms.

I miss those Bees. Those were fun times in gaming and although the exit was rocky at the time, I run into the wife of the Mercs guildmaster I passed on the reins too and have friendly natters and also ran into Souleater a few weeks ago too. He had a sojourn working abroad and he’s not long been back. He’s a passionate guy (and got affected a beet too much by the gaming mindset) and was one of those angry during the guild breakups. But time passes, people forgive and we’re still mates. That’s the thing – it’s ok to be angry, just try and stay friends. Try not to say stuff you can’t take back and don’t really mean.

Oh … bee warned … there are more bee puns coming. Many more.

That’s the Fab-Ewe-Lous sculpture just outside the Mall. As you can see, it was a tad damp tonight … There was another upstairs in the shop, the Shrek Shaun (no pic).

Tonight wasn’t about the start of the Sheep Hunt though. We had a power cut/blip yesterday morning which was the end of my radio alarm. It can still bee-p … but the minutes button broke quite some time ago. That’s pretty baaad when you realise that I set my alarm for half past the hour. Ok, I could have done the engineer’s fix of turning it on at half past the hour and just shifting all the times by 30 minutes but …

I kinda took it apart last night in an effort to fix the rebellious button. It didn’t go back together. So I went bee-per hunting tonight to get another alarm clock. The old one has done well, perhaps 25 years plus of service. Can’t ask for much more than that.

I’ll bee hunting more Sheepies sometime soon. Dunno when, I’ll need to arrange some more leave sometime maybe in August and then I can go wandering :-). It’ll definitely give me an excuse to do a long overdue Forbidden Planet visit. Good place that. Lots of shiny things.

Time to bee going ? Yep.

Stay beeutiful people. That’s all of you reading this, you’re my honeys 🙂 Bee happy. Don’t beet me too much in retribution for all the horrifically bad puns.

More puns ?

Keep beelieving, Let It Bee, it’s ok to be a Daydream Beeliever. Sting may join you for Bee In The Sahara, Bee clear what situations you get into, bee wary of consequences because bad ones may sting.

And I can hear a buzzing that’s starting to get angry … I’ll bee running to the hive now.

Stay sweet my honeys 🙂

Definitely a film I’ll be looking forward to later in the year, although I doubt that character will be in it. Also looking forward to The Martian, I started reading the book last night and it’s a cracker.

Ok. Maybe not but we did get some advice this morning over the interwebs at work which could be scary, if you trust Dr Google.

It wasn’t that but with some of the behaviour around the loos, there would be less people around. (There’s a telltale opening of the stall door followed by the closing of the outer door, without a tap running or hand dryer in between. I know. Throw ’em in the lava.)

The advice was actually about someone having bacterial meningitis in my building (it’s a big building) and the things they tell us to look out for are below. Let’s take them in turn and say why Dr Google is a Bad Thing.

convulsion or seizures
Nah. Not had these. Phew !

Point is. You tot all that up and ask Dr Google what’s wrong and you’ll suddenly jump to the conclusion that you too, have the Dreaded Plaguelurgy and you’re going to die in a week. I have most of those symptoms above but I’m pretty sure I don’t have the bacterial meningitis we’ve been warned about. All of the symptoms can be explained away in various ways.

So the advice is – yeah. Do some research. Try to find out what is causing you to have problems. And then … go see professionals. See a proper Doctor. They know way more than Dr Google. And if you had the problems Dr Google tells you about, you should be seeing a doctor anyway.

I don’t think I have Psoriatic Arthritis, although many of the symptoms match that. And I’ve discussed that with the doctor too. I just think I got an infected bite which then got spread around my body due to disastrous diet decisions. (Am mostly carnivore, being veggy might kill me !) And then it’s taken years for all the damage to recede (But I’m seeing the end of it).

Serious note though – I hope the guy with the bacterial meningitis makes a full recovery. It’s a serious one and can have nasty after effects for years afterwards.

I hope you escape the nasty bugs. Be well and I hope you have the strength for :

Unless …

Cya !

PS Actually – I’m looking at that pic again. Did I steal it from a close friend ? I can’t remember but that haircut looks very familiar …

With me feeling better after the bugs of last week, I’ve been indulging in that escape of flying the Internet Spaceships again.

One thing I like about Elite is that you can do all sorts of different things in the game. There are the little ships that zip around the place, there are the tank-in-space combat ships for wrecking all ships that stand before you, there are the absolutely gorgeously designed ships like the Cookie Clipper. There are explorer ships for getting lost in the black and there are the space trucks for moving lots of things and making lots of trading money.

I’ve just traded in one of my multipurpose ships for :

That’s a Lakon Type 9, the biggest freighter in the game. My Sidewinder carried about 8 tonnes of cargo, this beast carries 496 tonnes the way I have it set up at the moment. But … it’s also the slowest, heaviest, most sluggardly ship in the game. I put a call out for ship names last night and … it may get called “The Drugged Sloth”. This thing doesn’t turn, it orbits.

That’s another advantage of the game. There are 3 pilot ratings, combat, trading and exploration. The Type 9 can make maybe 500,000 credits per run and with 900 million credits to go until the top elite trade rank, that’s maybe 1800 runs. I’ll get bored way before then and want to do something different, which is where the variety of the game comes in handy. I’ll be back in that lovely Python when the situation calls for it or an explorer if the stellar-nav gets fixed.

But enough of the internet spaceships …

Meme again !

Age: old enough that I need help to count the age, even when counting toes as well as fingers.
Birthdate: Sometime in the middle of November. It’s on the Facebook version but not here cos … internet and identity theft and all that. Still don’t know if the fella trying to impersonate me on Twitter had any success (they may have blocked my account, which stops me seeing them).
 
Crush : What my toes were feeling like over the last few days. Dunno why, can’t remember what I kicked ! Oh wait, you mean people don’t you … This is a weird one. There are a few people who have my attention at the moment. A fair few who I enjoy talking to because they are stimulating people. But there is one who has been encouraging me over the past few months, as well as being sounding boards for each other for what goes on at work. I think she’s pretty awesome. And there’s another with a marvellous bubbly chuckle and a face that’s always on the verge of a cheeky smile which lights everything up. I think they’re both very special people.
 
Do I Miss My Last Relationship: No. It was a long sequence of trying to fix someone into what I think she could have been, rather than a partnership of people who are equals but still very different in very interesting ways. A relationship shouldn’t be about fixing someone, it should be about drawing strength from each other, from making each other smile and I didn’t get much back from the other person the last time around.
Am I The Jealous Type: In the immediate term, yes. I have those emotions like everyone else. But … there is that question : “Is she happier with someone else ?” If that answer is yes, then it’s genuinely better to let them go rather than be trapped in mutual unhappiness. So in the medium and long term, no, the jealousy fades.
Ex I Would Take Back : Neither to be honest. Looking back, both seemed to be with me for what they could get out of me, rather than liking me for me. They weren’t the right people for me. But … there’s a little lady I knew in Ireland (a long time ago !). Not really an Ex cos we were kinda too young for that but I’d like to know how she’s doing now.
Last Time I Cried: Interstellar. It still got me on the watching of the bluray. There are certain themes of family, duty, abandonment, loss, gain that come together and get me when I’m unawares. Like when Coop gets back from losing so many years and sees his messages.
 
Favorite Song: Oh my. There are so many but what’s playing at the moment is awesome. It’s Hannah Peel with her distinctive style playing Song For The Sea. Wonderful song. Wonder if the film will be good too ? There are also the old and new favourites like 03.45am No Sleep by The Cardigans, Apple Tree Man by All About Eve, Laura by Bat For Lashes and The Incidentals by Alisha’s Attic. And many more.
Favorite colour: I think blue now. I really liked the colour of my last car – Tardis Blue (actually Ultra blue cos of … copyright and all that). And it’s a calming colour.

I’ll go with Red typically in strategy games after the Blood Red Banner, kinda sums up the annihilate all enemies playstyle usually although I can only think of two games now that match that. The first is Shogun Total War which had an “Execute Prisoners” option at the end of battles. Can’t remember the gameplay mechanic exactly but I can remember the Squelch … There’s also War Of The Worlds, which had human blood fuelling the Martian machines (just like in the book).
 
Eye colour: Dunno actually. Think it varies but I believe it’s grey ?
Do I believe in love: Yes. Definitely yes. There’s that catching of the breath, the quickening of the heart and the involuntary smile that happen when a message from the one you love, when you catch their eye or just happen to see their picture.
Do I give second chances: Yes. I’m a very forgiving person. Any anger will quickly fade. This world is a better place if we forgave and forget and got back to just loving each other. Except politicians.
 
Am I in love now: Yes 🙂 With a number of special people. Work people, completely-separate-from-work people, even that girl on the internet who I was following on the videos. But not so much with Kim and Hannah now because they’re … changing somehow. Is fame changing them ?

I’m confused actually. There is one who gives me those goosebumps but I really don’t know how she feels about me. I know she thinks I’m a good guy but is it an arms-length thing or would she want to know me better. And then there’s another who I think is a very special lady. Who do I give my full attention to ? I’m not used to splitting that attention, it feels disloyal to the one who isn’t getting the attention. What I do know is that when that one special lady wins my heart, there will be no more competition for the attention.
 
Favorite animal: Dogs. So much loyalty and love for their people. A good dog will look after their person. Cats are pretty cool too, if a cat trusts you then that’s a sign that you’re Good People. And dragons are awesome too.
Favorite book: Heinlein’s The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress for its analysis of AI, politics, interplanetary war, people, although Larry Niven’s Ringworld series and Lucifer’s Hammer are top books too.
Favorite movie: At the moment, Pacific Rim. Very silly, hugely epic scale and with a highly cute and strong in herself leading lady. It’ll cheer me up guaranteed for the Big Epic Robots Vs Massive Monsters and there’s that soundtrack too.
Favorite Tv Show: Falling Skies at the moment, it keeps evolving itself and has Noah Wyle there giving his magic touch.
Favorite candy: Strawberry Bonbons from Sainsburys. Not had any for a while now …
Favorite quote: Hmm. Can’t think of one but here’s an apt one from Heinlein : “Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.” And there’s also “Don’t ever become a pessimist. A pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist but an optimist has far more fun and neither can stop the march of events.” Have fun.
Favorite food: PIZZAA !!!!

Favorite drink: Pepsi at the moment. Although I do miss strawberry milkshakes (I don’t keep milk in the house now because I don’t drink enough of it, plus there’s that lactose intolerance problem building) and those Iced Mocha/Mint Choc thingys taking over.

I’ll put a copy in the comments for you too. But … one last pic :

Dogs are awesome.

I did have a few guesses about that spoiler – all of which were wrong…. [grin] Not exactly sure where they can go with the next one… Although someone really has to figure how to kill software and ideas rather than just blowing buildings/computers up!

Yeah – it was a really good movie from start to finish. Taking a nod to all that had gone before but not going down the (bad) road of being tied by it.

Take note Alien and Predator franchises …

I suspect the box office will suffer as a result of the critical spoiler that was in the second trailer, which would be a massive shame.

On reflection – as I spent far too much time watching the movie rather than just seeing it – the more I think about it the more I like it. It was what I call a 'knowing' movie, full of self references and there were lots of bits in their just for fans of the series. I lost count of the nods to previous films, the TV series and possibly even the books. I'm also intrigued that the questions left behind. Wonder if they make another? All depends on box office I guess!

I feel like I’ve been hit by the bat which takes all the energy away.

Not quite sure why, perhaps it’s after effects of :

All these problems with my outsides;
The long working day on Wednesday (although not nearly as long as some people’s were !);
Getting over this cold (the ManFluPlague is still with me although it’s going)
Perhaps needing a decent long rest ?

Not sure how much my last week off counted as a rest. I’ve recovered a fair bit since then and was still suffering somewhat that week. That was a decent week off though for rest.

Let’s see –

Outsides are steadily improving. I think it may be possibly just weeks now until I fix, instead of months. However, each time I worry at an imperfection, it’ll set the healing back more. And after years of a long term illness, it does get to you. It’s a mental strain on top of the physical strain of things just not being Right. It is that much closer though, just need more discipline to get over the finishing line to recovery.

Wednesday was a 13 hour working day (you’re not really supposed to do those) with lots of information to assimilate and lots of acting clever to do. We’re there to quickly figure out the ramifications of what we’re hearing at those meetings and to steer the discussion towards figuring out problems or identifying the problems. And sometimes there’s a lot of problems to worry about. (I can’t say anything more there … gotta have my secrets !)

Oh I’m also seen as some sort of expert on acceptance thingys too having lived and breathed it for most of the past 5 years. But that’s boring compared to what I did before, which went beyond this but can be summarised as getting multiple highly complicated computer systems to work together. Computers are very literal beasties. They’ll do precisely what they’re instructed to do. They have no room for interpretation and it’s when we assume there’s capacity for interpretation of vague and unclear instructions that things go wrong.

I think this bug is almost gone now with it going into the chucking out the dead bugs stages. Perhaps some good sleep over the weekend will see it clear out properly. That’s why I’m rather glad I haven’t had to go to the more extreme treatments for Psoriasis. It’s a condition where the body’s immune system goes nuts, so one solution is to suppress that immune system, leaving you more susceptible to colds, flu’s and all the other viruses and bacteria out there.

That’s something you don’t realise about the Psoriasis sufferers, your sniffle may knock them flat for days. See comment about gravity.

I think that’s enough whinging for just now though. Good things ?

I had today off work, mainly to avoid the chaos which is Family’s Day. It’s where we get invaded by all sorts of people who have no business on a secure site. It’s a Public Relations exercise, partly for a subset of the people who work there. But what it is is a nightmare for the people trying to get some work done. And we’re very busy at the moment.

I got to watch some cricket in the morning, with England doing pretty well in this game against the old enemy, Australia. We might just win this one …

After the lunch break, I headed into town to … watch Terminator and drink something Very Cold. The troll up there is a Discworld character called Detritus the Troll. He’s wearing a cooling helmet because troll brains work better when cold. And there was me kinda wishing I had a troll brain as my Mint Choc Cooler Thingy was steadily disappearing into me, freezing my brain as it went. I’m becoming a fan of those.

(There is a shop which the pic got raided from but … I suspect they have nothing to do with Rhianna or Terry Pratchet so … credit for the pic goes to the fella with the original idea : GNUTerryPratchett)

Terminator ? It’s a pretty darn good movie. Most of the Terminator movies have been excellent to be honest. Hopefully you haven’t seen the second trailer as it gives a massive plot point away. It borrows some things from the other movies but … it’s free to rewrite the history of the franchise and does a great job of it. However … it’s mixed depending on the performance of the characters :

Emilia Clarke as Sarah Connor – tough, cute, driven, sensitive. She does a hell of a job here as Sarah Connor. Very watchable and brings the character to life.
Arnie as the Terminator – supreme. He keeps up with the action and there’s the typical dark humour and those lines too. Where did I sit ? “Aisle B, Back”. Not really. I was right in the middle in the seats with lots of leg room.
Jason Clarke as John Connor – nah. Doesn’t work for me and I don’t really know why. Flat, unengaging, not believable, felt a bit phoned in maybe.
Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese – he ain’t no Michael Biehn. Even less engaging than Jason Clarke or Sam Worthington’s Terminator-With-A-Heart. He was awful in Divergent/Insurgent too but I thought that was mainly the character, turns out it may well be a robot actor.

But that’s me talking about something I don’t do. I don’t act. What you see is what you get, a playful guy who wants to make people laugh, chuckle, snigger or just plain smile.

Smiles are contagious ?

But I’m tired right now, looking forward to a chilled out weekend where I’ll be :

Having as much cricket as possible on the desktop (because the desktop handles SkySports way better than iPlayer)
Watching the tennis on the telly. Well, half watching because we have no British interest now. Come on Federer, you may have put our boy out but you’re a total artist.
Listening to lots of music.

Yep. Little Boots has a new album out today and I had to get it. She’s awesome. Check out Better In The Morning from the new album. Hmm. She’s done better but it still has that dainty lady with the pure voice. Taylor Swift’s 1969 also escaped with me and I’ve been steadily listening to Ed Sheerhan’s X too after finding it cheap.

Lots of music but there’s always room for some classics, like David Bowie’s Space Oddity which is random track at play of the moment.

ZZZzz. Better leg it before the sleepies get me.

Enjoy your weekend !