tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-165187672024-03-13T16:20:33.785+00:00Part FiveAdventures of a man and his family in modern Scotland. Occasional ninja, pirates and squirrels.Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.comBlogger2294125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-85970514652479591912024-03-05T16:46:00.002+00:002024-03-05T16:46:16.320+00:00Relieved<p style="text-align: left;">I am by no means a fan of Donald Trump - despite my deep misgivings about Biden's mental health I would still vote for him over the other candidate. However, I must admit I am extremely relieved at the Supreme Court overruling those states that had decided to exclude him from the ballot paper.</p><p style="text-align: left;">There are fundamentally two reasons for this:</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>In a two-party system, you really can't have a situation where one party is not allowed to stand their preferred candidate. That becomes a one-party system, and that's very much not democracy.</li><li>But more importantly, there was a distinct possibility that in a tight race Biden might 'win' solely on the basis of Electoral College votes garnered from those states where Trump was excluded. Which would have been an absolute disaster - the scenes from 6th Jan 2021 would have had nothing on what followed.</li></ol><div>So I'm hugely relieved that Trump is allowed to stand. Now I only hope Americans collectively have the sense to reject him.</div><p></p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-39597506654153641152024-02-21T20:32:00.001+00:002024-02-21T20:32:06.139+00:00Disgrace<p style="text-align: left;">I knew the House of Commons was a cesspit, but I thought there were at least <i>some</i> limits - I would never have expected them to engage in base politics over as serious an issue as the situation in Gaza.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The whole edifice is a blight on our country. We need to shut it down, and start again.</p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-66873528588491240312024-02-20T09:21:00.002+00:002024-02-20T09:21:33.418+00:00Day 51: Update on Goals<p>Slightly late, here is my first update on goals for the year.</p><p></p><ul><li><b>Books:</b> By this point I should have read 4.1 books. I'm actually very close to that - I expect to finish book 4 imminently, and have read the .1 already (book 4 took longer than expected and got bogged down somewhat, so I decided to read another book in parallel, allowing me to finish the stuck book at my leisure.)</li><li><b>Blogging:</b> As should be obvious from the fact that even this update is delayed, I've been finding it really hard both to find time to blog and find topics for blogging. So this goal already looks impossible.</li><li><b>Redecoration:</b> There has been no movement on this goal, but that's not a surprise - my expectation is that we'll aim to tackle the bulk of this task during the Easter break, in time for Surprise!'s birthday.</li><li><b>Complete my Campaign:</b> The campaign has resumed, and is about to start on part four (of four). However, I haven't managed to write any of it, which means they're about to hit the section I don't have planned out.</li><li><b>Update the Church Website:</b> There has been no movement on this one, which is becoming increasingly urgent.</li></ul><p></p><p>The conclusion there isn't good - I'm behind on just about everything, with one goal already looking lost and two becoming increasingly urgent. I have some things to think about.</p><p><b>#3: "Smart Leadership", by Jo Owen</b></p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-84248687668586888482024-02-05T15:00:00.001+00:002024-02-05T15:00:00.211+00:00The Worst Combination<p>I've talked before about the tendency to avoid tasks - when there's something that needs done but that you don't want to do, suddenly it becomes vitally important to reorganise some documents, or sharpen every pencil to exectly the same length, or to alphebetise your DVDs, or whatever.</p><p>But there's one combination that's even more pernicious: having two tasks you want to avoid. Because that then opens up whole new levels of avoidance strategy: you get to spend a whole lot of time getting one ready for action, then switch to the other, then switch back long enough to decide it needs yet more preparation, then back again, and on and on it goes.</p><p>Ultimately, there comes a point where you do just have to knuckle down and address one of the tasks, get it done, and then face the other. But there's a whole load of sweet, sweet temptation to wade through before that point.</p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-38530946149511021042024-02-05T11:00:00.003+00:002024-02-05T11:00:46.309+00:00Please and Thank You<p>The story of how we came to have an Amazon Echo 5 in our living room is almost worthy of a saga itself - initially I bought it for the kitchen as a replacement for our CD-player/radio, only to discover I really didn't like it at which point I banished it to the garage, and then find that I really wanted to leave some ambient music on to keep the dog company during the day, leading to Alexa's triumphant restoration to the living room!</p><p>Anyway, this device is now the first part of the home automation setup I talked about some months ago, and plans are afoot to start expanding the ecosystem. Because while I initially resisted getting any of these voice-activated assistants, once we had one in place it gradually started to see more and more use. We've still barely scratched the surface, largely due to my lingering disdain, but it does seem to be a good place to start.</p><p>All of which is by the by. My main point for this blog post is that we now have an Alexa device in the living room, and of course there is therefore a need to address the device and ask it to do things.</p><p>I'm also in the process of raising two small children, and one of the important lessons to be taught is the importance of saying 'please' and 'thank you'. Always and every time, nay habitually.</p><p>The upshot of that combination is that I now make sure to say 'please' when asking Alexa to do things. Hopefully Skynet will take that into account when the time comes.</p><p><b>#2: "Promise of Blood", by Brian McClellan</b></p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-17999729719727514442024-01-29T09:50:00.003+00:002024-01-29T09:50:25.182+00:00Lather - Rinse - Repeat<p>I know the blog has been quiet for quite some time. Unfortunately, I'm finding it hard to find things to talk about, as right now life seems to mostly be stuck in a loop of trying to survive to the weekend, then not quite enough rest to recover, and then repeating. This seems to be pretty common in January, but does seem especially tough this year.</p><p>The good news is that today I noticed for the first time that the sky was distinctly lighter by the time I left the house, so we're gradually getting out of the dark. Hopefully things will pick up soon.</p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-80364016874950219872024-01-08T10:58:00.001+00:002024-01-08T10:58:06.806+00:00The Forgotten Daughter<p>Over the Christmas break we took a short trip to Disneyland Paris as an extended family. Unlike a trip we took a few years ago, this was a fun adventure and one that the children, in particular, very much enjoyed. Which is nice.</p><p>On the third day of the visit to Disneyland itself (that is, not counting the day spent travelling there), young Surprise! reached a point where he just couldn't take it any more. And so, the weather being pretty ropey at that point, LC took him back to the hotel for what turned out to be the rest of the day. This left Funsize and I to enjoy our final afternoon in Disneyland together.</p><p>And we had a great time, racing from one ride to another, cramming in every last bit of fun that we could in that afternoon and evening - some new rides, a lot of repeated rides from the previous days, and even the tail end of one of the shows that we managed to catch at just the right time. Good times.</p><p>And while at the time I was rather hesitant, in hindsight I'm rather glad that the day worked out that way. For entirely understandable reasons, Surprise! requires a significant amount of our time, energy, and attention, and as a consequence he largely sets the agenda for our days. Worse, because we've then expended so much time, energy, and attention, when we are then freed up there just isn't much left. And so I'm often somewhat concerned that Funsize is just not getting a fair shake. We do the best we can... but it's a concern.</p><p>So having an afternoon like that, where Funsize was able to get some undivided attention, and where she was able to set the agenda and have things her way was very much welcome. Even if it did mean that we returned to the hotel late, and she was absolutely shattered as a result - if nothing else, it meant we absolutely got our money's worth.</p><p><b>#1: "Ariadne", by Jennifer Saint</b> (which I enjoyed, though I enjoyed "Elektra" more)</p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-40744362887771185572024-01-01T12:00:00.038+00:002024-01-01T12:00:00.148+00:00Books of the Year 2023<p>A very short list of books this year:</p><p></p><ol><li>"The Fountainhead", by Ayn Rand *</li><li>"Tome of Beasts 3", by Kobold Publishing</li><li>"Dragons of Stormwreck Isle", by Wizards of the Coast</li><li>"Tome of Beasts III Lairs", from Kobold Press</li><li>"Paranormal Power", by Rachel Williamson</li><li>"Cytonic", by Brandon Sanderson</li><li>"Flying Scotsman and the Best Birthday Ever", by Michael Morpurgo **</li><li>"Eldership", by various authors</li><li>"A Woman of Substance", by Barbara Taylor Bradford *</li><li>"Crucial Conversations", by Grenny, Patterson, Switzler, and McMillan</li><li>"Bond: With a Mind to Kill", by Anthony Horowitz</li><li>"Lion", by Conn Iggulden</li><li>"Star Wars Roleplaying Game", by various authors</li><li>"Guardians of the Wild Unicorns", by Lindsay Littleson **</li><li>"Parenting Hell", by Widdicombe and Beckett</li><li>"Firefly: Carnival", by Una McCormack</li><li>"Elektra", by Jennifer Saint</li><li>"Atlas Shrugged", by Ayn Rand *</li><li>"Firefly: What Makes Us Mighty", by M.K. England</li><li>"The Ink Black Heart", by Robert Galbraith</li><li>"The Fall of Númenor", by J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Brian Sibley)</li></ol><p></p><p>That gives a total of just 21 books - it's just about possible that I may have to come back and edit this to add a 22nd, but that currently seems unlikely. This includes no rereads, and two books for Funsize/Surprise! There are five RPG related books, making up almost a quarter of the whole.</p><p>I don't think this year really had either a 'best' or a 'worst' book - there were lots of fine works there, but nothing stood out for me as in previous years. But the major milestone was the completion of The List, which was a huge deal!</p><p>Partly as a consequence of being focused on The List, and the three "doorstop" books that were on it, I now have shelves heaving with reading material - no fewer than twenty (physical) books are awaiting my attention. Hopefully 2024 will end with far fewer sitting there, and none that are more than two years in waiting!</p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-53827787578313416022023-12-31T23:30:00.052+00:002023-12-31T23:30:00.161+00:00My Year in 2023<p>To get the most important thing stated up-front: 2023 has been a vastly better year than 2022, 2021, or 2020. It was not without its challenges, but all-in-all it has been a good year.</p><p><b>My Year in... Blogging </b></p><p>I've managed both 120 posts here and 55 on the Imaginarium, so that's good. My expectation is that next year will see much the same here, but will likely see The Imaginarium becoming fallow once the "Isles of Dread" campaign comes to an end.</p><h4>My Year in... Work</h4><p>Work has been mostly good this year, but not without its frustrations. There's not much more I can say here, so I'll leave it at that.</p><h4>My Year in... Health</h4><p>2023 was mostly a good year, up until October, and then I was suddenly struck down by some sort of nasty cold/flu/Covid type Bug. That basically incapacitated me for most of October and November. Surprise! has likewise had a recurrence of his vomiting bug, and Funsize has had some minor illnesses. All in all, it hasn't been terrible, but the recovery from my illness put a major dampener on that.</p><h4>My Year in... Gaming</h4><p>The "Isles of Dread" campaign remains ongoing, though it is now closer to the end than to the beginning. I have now definitively decided that this is the final campaign with this group, which also means it is my final campaign for a good long time, perhaps ever. I remain on the fence regarding the 2024 revision of D&D - if it were published in PDF I would buy it sight-unseen, but I'm really not sure I want another set of thick hardcovers taking up limited shelf space, especially as I'm unlikely ever to play it.</p><h4>My Year in... Band</h4><p>Band has been fine, if unspectacular.</p><h4>My Year in... Resolutions</h4><p>As always, the wrap-up of annual goals, and setting of goals for next year, are handled in another post. I set a very modest set of goals for the year, so unsurprisingly they have been largely achieved.</p><h4>My Year in... Travel</h4><p>We made it away for one overseas trip this year, introducing Surprise! to the joys of France. That was a pleasant holiday, and a good chance to get some Sun. We also enjoyed a short break in York at Easter, which was most notable for Surprise!'s amazed reaction to seeing the Railway Museum. The wee guy loves trains!</p><p>Perhaps most of note, LC and I also spent a little time away by ourselves. Which was nice, to say the least - I'd forgotten what a solid night's sleep felt like.</p><h4>My Year in... Faith</h4><p>As with many things, this has seen a small but meaningful improvement. This came in two main fronts: I actually managed to spend some time working on the church website, which has therefore alleviated a lot of the guilt I was facing - there's still quite a bit to do, but at least there's some movement.</p><p>The other is that in November I was made an elder in the church. Which is a big change, though I'm not yet quite certain of just what I've let myself in for.</p><h4>My Year in... Love</h4><p>2023 has mostly been a quiet year, which means that the only thing I really have to mention is the arrival of Lion in our family. She has settled in, and has gradually found her voice over the last several months. Unfortunately, much of that voice consists of her saying "I'm not going for a walk in <i>that</i>!", but never mind.</p><p>Otherwise, 2023 has been an in-between year - the children are another year older and another year further on, LC and I marked 11 years married, but 11 doesn't end with a '5' or a '0', so... Which is fine - some years are less momentous than others.</p><h4>My Year in... Frustrations</h4><p style="text-align: left;">For all that this year has been good, there has been one area where I've been trying to tell myself something doesn't matter and that it doesn't bother me. But the truth is that it does, and it does. I'm not going to go into it any further here for... reasons. Probably my biggest frustration here is that this could be quite a simple fix, but those who could make the fix seem absolutely determined not to acknowledge the problem (and, indeed, to insist on the opposite). Which is annoying, because I think it does need resolved, and the alternative resolution isn't the one I would choose.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Oh well.</p><h4>My Year... Overall</h4><p>As with last year, I find that my summary doesn't really capture my overall feelings for the year. Unlike last year, that's for a very different reason - I found 2022 to be extremely difficult on a number of fronts, and 2023 has been a vast improvement. It's just that it has been a smallish but noticeable improvement across the board, rather than one or two things that I can point to and say "it's that!". But that's no bad thing, and for the first time in a number of years I can go into the next year with some optimism that things might improve. Which is nice.</p><p>And with that, I'll sign off for the year. I hope you all have a very Happy New Year. See you in 2024!</p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-64933129134545627572023-12-31T12:00:00.043+00:002023-12-31T12:00:00.248+00:00End of Year Update on Goals<p> As part of the end-of-year wrap-up, here is the closing update on my goals for the year:</p><p></p><ul><li><b>Books:</b> The goal here was extremely minor, in that I wanted to finish The List. This was achieved with some time to spare. There will be a separate post with the full list of books for the year, but it's not a long one!</li><li><b>Blogging:</b> My end of year round-up will be post 120 on this blog for the year. The last month has been frantic, but this goal has been achieved. I have also managed just under the 60 posts on the Imaginarium that would have been my target had I set one, which is not bad for not having anything to say!</li><li><b>Redecoration: </b>The goal for this year was to tackle various bits and pieces... and was largely done by LC. The downstairs toilet was repainted, the carpet in the hallway was replaced, and some pictures were hung in the hallway. We have also replaced the blinds in the living room, which was not part of the goal, but had become overdue.</li></ul><p></p><p>So that's that: success on all three points!</p><p>My goals for 2024 are somewhat similar:</p><p></p><ul><li><b>Books:</b> I would like to read more books in 2024 than in 2023, so I'm setting myself a target of 30 books - approximately 2.5 per month. In years past that would be ridiculously laughable, but with my free time being so constrained I'm really not sure.</li><li><b>Blogging:</b> Once again, I'd like to post 120 times in the year. I'm still not setting a goal for The Imaginarium.</li><li><b>Redecoration:</b> The goal for next year is to redecorate Surprise!'s bedroom - this has been the nursery for the last six years, but is now no longer required (or fitted) for that purpose. So we'll look to repaint the walls, replace the carpet (and possibly the curtains and/or blind), and hang some different pictures and other decorations. In particular, one of the pictures in that room was drawn for Funsize, so would probably be more appropriate moved to her bedroom. Additionally, we'll probably look to replace the lightshades in both the kids' bedrooms. Finally, I'd like to look into the possibility of improving the heating and/or insulation in Funsize's bedroom, which can get quite cold at times.</li><li><b>Complete my Campaign:</b> I'd like to finish the current D&D campaign, but I'd also like to finally finish the writing task associated with it - I've been painfully close for an age, and it would be good to get it actually done.</li><li><b>Update the Church Website:</b> The site suffered a mini-meltdown a while back, and while the backend has been mostly restored there are a couple of things still to do. But the world-facing side has needed something of a revision since before I arrived, and it would be good to get that done, too.</li></ul><p></p><p>And that's that. Five goals, all of which have the feel of being nicely doable. I guess we'll see.</p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-48557167926105110632023-12-28T10:12:00.001+00:002023-12-28T10:12:07.209+00:00The Doctor Who Christmas Special<p style="text-align: left;">I've been somewhat negative about "Doctor Who" for several years now - sadly, much of Capaldi's run and all of Whittaker's did nothing for me, and the three most recent specials were something of a mixed bag at best. So I'm enormously happy, and relieved, to be able to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the Christmas special.</p><p style="text-align: left;">First things first: the cast. I never really had any doubt that Ncuti Gatwa would make for a fine Doctor (frankly, they've never had a bad actor in the role, and I didn't think they'd start now), but he was far better then I could have hoped - there's a freshness and a charm to his portrayal that is just <i>fun</i>. Then there's Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday, who already has the makings of a favourite companion - an Amy Pond, Martha, or Ace.</p><p style="text-align: left;">I very much enjoyed the goblins, and the "Labyrinth"-esque plot (with only the slight disappointment that they didn't have Tilda Swinton as Jareth the Goblin King). And the ship was fantastic - especially the "language of knots". Oh, and "Spelljammer confirmed!" (for those who know...)</p><p style="text-align: left;">And it's <i>really</i> nice to have a happy Doctor for once. Hopefully that will stick.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Basically episodes like this are why I keep on watching the show, even when I'm not particularly enjoying it. Because when it's good, it can be <i>really</i> good. And RTD has excelled himself here.</p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-14438027971817205862023-12-27T20:00:00.012+00:002023-12-27T20:00:00.144+00:00Gatekeepers<p>I'm always rather bemused that whenever I call the GP to try to make an appointment, there then follows the dance of the gatekeepers - what seems an ever-increasing battle to avoid actually giving an appointment to see a doctor. I do understand that they're really busy, and that the service as a whole is under-funded. But when the difference between "not a problem" and "this needs medication" can be ascertained with a very quick visual inspection (but only by that inspection), I'm not sure how to deal with the offer of a telephone appointment.</p><p>I was particularly amused recently by the question of whether I had been to the pharmacy first, partly because I hadn't had any opportunity, but also partly because if I needed anything beyond over-the-counter medicines, then access to those is blocked (for very good reason) by another round of gatekeeping - in particular, I'd need a prescription from the very person I was trying to see in the first place!</p><p>The whole system seems increasingly structured to stop people from using it. But, actually, not all people - basically, the less likely you are to need the service, the harder you'll find it to access on those rare occasions when you do need it.</p><p>Oh well. Hopefully it's all nothing.</p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-61043838120453981742023-12-27T11:40:00.000+00:002023-12-27T11:40:02.842+00:00Christmas 2023<p>Christmas this year would have been great, but for one thing that blighted the whole.</p><p>As with last year, we decided to stay at home on the morning of the 25th. We had a fairly relaxed start, followed by the opening of our presents, then lunch, and then I took the children off to my parents' for a bit. LC remained at home to look after Lion.</p><p>At my parents the children continued the Epic Unwrapping and spent a little time with some of their cousins. And then we went on to LC's parents', where LC joined us. We had a relatively relaxed Christmas dinner, then home, a quick watch of the final episode of "Ghosts" (which was great, but for my money wasn't the tear-jerker of last year; still a good way to end). And then bed.</p><p>Unfortunately, a bout of illness marred the whole thing - on Friday I started to come down with a sore throat, which just got worse on Saturday, worse again on Sunday, and then LC was hit hard on Monday, just in time for Christmas. Naturally, this kicked off just as the doctors and pharmacies were closed for four days.</p><p>We tried really hard not to let it impact on the day, but it wasn't without it's effect - hard to enjoy turkey dinner when anything you swallow feels like broken glass.</p><p>Oh well. It could all have been a lot worse - this year more than most I've been sorely troubled by the horror stories from people whose Christmases have been limited or non-existent. So, yeah.</p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-72273317125219798072023-12-23T15:40:00.001+00:002023-12-23T15:40:39.529+00:00Bad Boys For Life<p>This is a rather belated review, but I finally got around to watching this film. I consider "Bad Boys" to be one of Michael Bay's few decent films, and at the time I considered "Bad Boys 2" to be pretty much the last decent action film (though it has aged <i>really</i> badly, and there have been some better ones since).</p><p>"Bad Boys for Life" is one of the belated sequels that I tend not to like, but it's actually not all that bad - it mixes many of the things I liked about the previous two with some new stuff that is actually worthwhile, the action scenes are handled well (and the car chases rather better than BB2), so it's fine.</p><p>It's certainly not classic cinema, though! Basically, if you liked the first two, you'll probably like this one. If not, you won't. And if you're looking for something suitably brainless, this is a decent candidate.</p><p>And that's that. Hopefully, I'll watch a film that's genuinely good next!</p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-66994592842082025542023-12-21T09:22:00.002+00:002023-12-21T09:22:47.013+00:00Experimental Cookery 2023: Easy Sausage Carbonara<p>This one came from Jamie's "5 Ingredients" book, which I always ifnd interesting but never quite dip into as often as I feel I should. Unfortunately, on getting home from work yesterday I walked into a warzone, and so wasn't able to give this my full attention. One of the consequences of this was that I didn't sequence making this quite correctly, and so had everything else cooked before I even started the sausages.</p><p>Despite that, the meal turned out okay. No better than that, but just okay. That said, I now know where I went wrong, so if and when I do this again I know how to adjust it to make it better.</p><p>All in all, I'm calling this a success - we had gradually become disenchanted with Hugh's Chorizo Carbonara, so it's good to have an alternative to use for a while.</p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-31600450406682036942023-12-20T09:12:00.004+00:002023-12-20T09:12:27.011+00:00Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny<p>I had been planning to see this for my birthday, but in the event we decided against due to some truly horrendous reviews. Now that the film has come to Disney+ we watched it over the course of a few nights.</p><p>It's not terribly, but it's not particularly good either.</p><p>The truth is, these belated sequels are generally poor - somehow Stallone managed to make a decent one with "Rocky Balboa", but it is very much the exception. "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" was <i>terrible</i>, and while "Dial of Destiny" is better, it's not a patch on the original three.</p><p>There are several problems, but the biggest of these is the use of CGI in the action scenes - the characters are very obviously weightless and made of rubber, which means there is no peril and no stakes.</p><p>There is also, I'm afraid, an issue caused by Indiana Jones' age - like Picard in the Next Generation movies, he's just not able to carry an action movie, which means the bulk of it is carried by Wombat, effectively making Indy no longer the protagonist in his own movie. Which wasn't good in "Mad Max: Fury Road", but at least the rest of that movie made up for it.</p><p>All that said, and despite my comment about CGI earlier, I did find the start of the film (with a de-aged Ford) extremely impressive. In fact, we're only a few years away from Disney being able to do an entire film as a WWII period piece, and with Ford providing just the voice (or even a synthesized voice as with Vader and Luke in recent Star Wars projects). Which on the one hand sounds really grim, but on the other probably represents the best way to do any new Indy film. And we know they're not going to just let it lie.</p><p>All in all, I'm glad we skipped this one at the cinema, but I also don't regret watching it now that it has become available. That said, I can't see myself ever watching is again - for me, "Indiana Jones" will remain a trilogy, just like "Toy Story", "Lethal Weapon", and others.</p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-13624230483501492542023-12-18T18:00:00.001+00:002023-12-18T18:00:00.260+00:00Doctor Who 60th Anniversary<p>I didn't really enjoy "The Star Beast". Frankly, I felt that it was a preposterous and convoluted plot that existed solely to get to the point where the Doctor had to trigger the metacrisis to win, only to immediately be followed by a terrible handwave to just wish the whole thing away. Throw in a bit of casual misandry, and I was all set to walk away at that point.</p><p>Fortunately, the second episode, "Wild Blue Yonder", was vastly superior. This one only had a couple of actors slipping back in to well-worn roles, some nice creepy villains, and a surprising amount of tension, and it all felt like a really well-done episode.</p><p>And then there was "The Giggle". I felt that this one was fine. It's not the greatest episode ever, but far from the worst. There were some things I really liked, and for once it was a pre-regeneration episode that didn't consist of just waiting to actually get to that regeneration, which was nice. And Ncuti Gatwa was immediately impressive in the role. The only thing I didn't like was them keeping David Tennant around as an active Doctor - that feels like a way to bring him back if ratings dip again.</p><p>All that said, while I thought this amounted to some good episodes, I didn't really feel that any of them, or even the collective of them, made for good anniversary episodes - there's nothing like "The Three Doctors", "The Five Doctors", or "Day of the Doctor" there. Indeed, even the generally-terrible "Dimensions in Time" represented a better anniversary piece for the show, and that was a crossover with "Eastenders" of all things! (As fas as I know there wasn't any anniversary special for the 40th.) In fact, last year's "Power of the Doctor" was a vastly better anniversary special than these episodes, despite coming right at the end of what was, sadly, a rather poor run.</p><p>Anyway, that's that. I now find myself more or less looking forward to the Christmas special (and, indeed, it's really good that we're back to actually having Christmas specials!), where after "The Star Beast" I had thought there might be a good change it would be my final episode. So that's a good thing.</p><p>Oh, also... I really enjoyed the BBC's Musical Celebration. There has been some really good stuff written for the revival series, and it would good to hear some of those pieces in isolation. And Surprise! enjoyed them too - he loves music of all sorts.</p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-57268280146820159162023-12-18T14:51:00.002+00:002023-12-18T14:51:39.351+00:00And... Relax<p>At the weekend I hit an important threshold: unless I've forgotten someone (which remains a horrible possibility), I have now bought all of my Christmas presents. There is still one out for delivery, and three needing to be wrapped, but basically that is the job done.</p><p>And that means I've reached one of my favourite milestones: this is the point where I can actually start to enjoy Christmas, rather than it being a source of hassle and stress.</p><p>Huzzah!</p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-78173294225607648902023-12-14T18:00:00.001+00:002023-12-14T18:00:00.143+00:00Made A Mistake<p>Earlier in the year I decided to give something a go for three months and then make a decision. I did, made a decision. And, I'm afraid it was the wrong one.</p><p>And that's all I have to say about that.</p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-191559060116848562023-12-14T11:36:00.001+00:002023-12-14T11:36:03.342+00:00Transformers: Rise of the Beasts<p style="text-align: left;">I'm on the verge of cancelling Paramount+, but in a piece of remarkably good timing they've just got the most recent Transformers movie. These have ranged from mediocre to abysmal (though "Bumblebee" was okay-ish), but I've watched all the others so I figured I'd try this one.</p><p style="text-align: left;">And, surprisingly, it's okay. It's not a good film by any stretch, and frankly it's nothing we haven't seen half a dozen times before, but it's not a cinematic abomination like some of the others.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Which isn't exactly high praise. But it's still much better than I expected.</p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-51176194341961000062023-12-05T13:49:00.004+00:002023-12-05T13:49:47.841+00:00Makes a Mockery<p>I finished reading "The Fall of Númenor" over the weekend. Like a lot of the recent "Tolkien" books, it struggles to put together a coherent narrative from a great many disparate writings. This one was largely successful, however, filling in a lot of the blanks about the Second Age. (I daresay if you had read all of "The History of Middle Earth" and other books, there probably isn't anything new here for you. I hadn't, so I enjoyed it.)</p><p>But my biggest takeaway from the book is a reinforcement of just how weak "The Rings of Power" really is. This is true on three main fronts. The first is the timeline - in the book events play out over centuries and even millennia, while in the show, even if it runs for the mooted ten seasons, it will cover a decade at most. This means, for instance, that there are a scant few years between the founding of Barad-dur and the Last Alliance, instead of the half an age in the book.</p><p>The second is the handling of Galadriel, who in "The Rings of Power" just isn't the character Tolkien wrote.</p><p>The third is thematic. Númenor, as presented in the book, is as close as possible to paradise on Earth. The Men of that realm are rewarded by the Valar for their aid against Morgoth in the First Age. They are also given one instruction: don't try to travel further West. And, partly due to the nature of mortal pride, and partly due to the influence of Sauron (although the latter only towards the end), people gradually fall away from that ideal and rebel, at first in small ways and finally in calculated defiance of that one edict. And so, they bring their doom on themselves.</p><p>In "The Rings of Power", Númenor is presented as being close to that worldly paradise, and being populated by essentially good people being led by essentially good rulers. Númenor, in the show, is set to be destroyed by a natural disaster, just because.</p><p>I guess much of this is inherent to the source material that RoP is working with - they have access to only key, small parts of Tolkien's work, notably not including the work here, and so they have to make do. But given that, I can't help but feel that they'd have been better just... not?</p><p><b>#21: "The Fall of Númenor", by J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Brian Sibley)</b></p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-24464479527493400232023-11-28T11:28:00.004+00:002023-11-29T07:53:20.156+00:00Some Thoughts on The List<p>Earlier this year I finally finished "The List", my multi-year reading project. The List itself was made up of two "100 books" lists, one from the UK and one from the US - there was significant overlap, so it probably amounted to 170 or so books in all, about 30 of which I had read before I formally started. So, at the end of such a project, what are my reflections?</p><p>Well, the first of these is that it was an extremely useful source of reading material. Most of the books on The List were quite good, as might be expected, it contained a wide variety of materials, and it therefore served very well to give some structure to my overall reading goals.</p><p>On the other hand, there were some real stinkers amongst them, and I don't just mean Dan Brown. The List inevitably included a load of books that were either featured in Oprah or Richard & Judy's Book Clubs, which was a very mixed recommendation, and also a load of books that happened to be popular at the time. It wasn't quite recent enough to include "Twilight", much less "Fifty Shades of Grey", but there were books there that would have stood in the same company.</p><p>On the other, other hand, it guided me to some books that I probably would never have heard of, much less read, and some of these were very good indeed - "The Shadow of the Wind", "The Kite Runner", "The Five People You Meet in Heaven", "100 Years of Solitude". These aren't particularly obscure titles, but faced with endless bookshelves in Waterstones, or worse the digital storefront at Amazon, I would be unlikely ever to land on those. So that was good.</p><p>And, of course, it meant I tackled a load of the doorstop books ("War and Peace", "Les Miserables", "Atlas Shrugged") and a load of the classics (Dickens, Austen).</p><p>It's hard to pick a single best book from The List. I think "Shadow of the Wind" probably edges it. Certainly the funniest moment in all the reading came when I discovered that George Lucas stole a whole section of dialogue from "Gone With the Wind" for use in "The Empire Strikes Back".</p><p>Would I do it again? Well, no - it was a massive commitment, and I don't fancy going down that road. (Plus, "Twilight" and "Fifty Shades of Grey"...) On the other hand, I'm glad I've done it once, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it as an approach to someone looking to broaden their horizons.</p><p>But don't leave "Atlas Shrugged", "The Fountainhead", and "A Woman of Substance" as your last three - The List did not end on a high.</p><p><b>#20: "The Ink Black Heart", by Robert Galbraith</b></p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-58490954737743038282023-11-19T11:58:00.000+00:002023-11-19T11:58:48.916+00:00Michael Matheson Must Go<p>Back when I came to supporting Scottish independence, the reason for that was the desire for better governance. At that time, the Coalition government was the worst we'd seen, and I'd never seen a Westminster government that I'd consider 'good' or even 'adequate', while Ed Miliband's Labour offered absolutely no hope of anything better. Meanwhile, Salmond's SNP government were demonstrating that better was, in fact, possible.</p><p>Spin forward a number of years, and the Coalition government looks like a comparative Golden Age. We've now had a succession of three "worst ever" Prime Ministers in sequence followed by Rishi Sunak's best efforts to continue that streak. Meanwhile Labour are promising a continuation of all the same inhumane policies of the existing government, just executed with rather more ruthlessness.</p><p>But meanwhile in Scotland the SNP government are now <i>not</i> demonstrating that anything better is possible. In fact, the notion of independence under this shower terrifies me - an independent Scotland would absolutely have a written constitution, a good written constitution is necessarily hard to change, but the constitution written by this government (or, more accurately, the "independent" committee they set up and cherry-picked to write it) just does not appeal one iota.</p><p>Thankfully, that's something we don't need to worry about, as the SNP gave up on independence a long time ago. Yes, they <i>talk</i> about it. Of course they talk about it - there's an election coming, so they have to try to get out their vote to keep them in the manner to which they have become accustomed.</p><p>Anyway. What does this have to do with Michael Matheson?</p><p>The story is pretty straightforward: he went on a family holiday, taking his work iPad with him. A bill for £11,000 was duly run up. He then submitted this expense claim for reimbursement.</p><p>So far, so simple. But then the whole thing unravels very fast.</p><p>Because running up a bill of £11,000 over a few days is <i>ludicrous</i>. It actually should never happen (I'll get to that), but not surprisingly it gave the media something to sink their teeth into. Because the only way to run up that sort of bill is through streaming video - either lots of calls, or something else.</p><p>MM declared that it was, of course, an entirely legitimate expense - he'd run up the bill on constituency work. So, fair enough I guess.</p><p>But it was a lie - it turns out that the two days on which the biggest usage occurred <i>just happened</i> to be days when Celtic were playing football.</p><p>The new story is that MM's children, unknown to him, had used that data to stream the matches, thus running up the bill. An honest mistake.</p><p>Well...</p><p>Assuming we believe the story that "his children", and not MM himself streamed the matches (which is a <i>huge</i> assumption), we still have huge problems.</p><p>Firstly, there's the issue with the bill existing in the first place. Apparently MM was told, a year previously, that he needed to update his SIM for the parliament's new provider. And he was further told that foreign travel had to be logged, so that a roaming package could be put in place. As I said, that £11,000 bill should not have existed in the first place, and I'm afraid it is at the very best carelessness, and more likely incompetence, that brought it about.</p><p>Secondly, though, there's the issue of MM's children using the iPad to stream the matches. There are three possibilities here:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>They actually used the iPad, with MM having unlocked it for them. In which case he knew they improperly used a public device, and his story is a lie.</li><li>They actually used the iPad without MM's knowledge. Which means they must have the password - meaning it was either ridiculously easy to guess, or MM had given them the password. Either way, that's a shocking lapse in security.</li><li>Or they used the iPad as a hotspot, effectively connecting their phones to it via wi-fi. The problem with that - MM would have had to set that up for them and shared the password. So improper use of a public device <i>and</i> a shocking lapse in security.</li></ul><p style="text-align: left;">Finally, how did they stream it?</p><p style="text-align: left;">Because in the UK, the matches were available on Sky, but that only applies in the UK. To stream from Sky while abroad you would need to set up a VPN to spoof your location (which would be illegal). Alternately, there are a wide variety of "unlicensed" streams available. Which are both illegal <i>and</i> tend to be riddled with all manner of malware and other nastiness. Again, a massive security risk.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Now, in the grand scheme of things, £11,000 is a drop in the bucket of government expenditure. And, yes, compared with the torrent of corruption in Westminster, it's trivial.</p><p style="text-align: left;">But it's a matter of someone claiming expenses where they should not, then trying desperately to cover it all up. And it is <i>that</i> that makes this whole thing stink. He could, perhaps, have survived if he'd simply held his hands up at once and apologised. But now...</p><p style="text-align: left;">Fundamentally, is better governance possible? Or is the SNP exactly the same as the other parties - a bunch of self-serving grifters who should be barred from ever holding office precisely because of their desire to do so?</p><p></p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-34096004610943389352023-11-15T20:46:00.003+00:002023-11-15T20:46:35.195+00:00The Ongoing Tragedy<p style="text-align: left;">The situation in Israel and Gaza is absolutely tragic, and becomes more tragic by the day. We absolutely need an immediate and indefinite end to the killing - I don't care whether you call that a 'pause', a 'ceasefire', or any other damn thing you like; I care about a stop to the killing.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Beyond that, the people of that region will have to find some way to co-exist in peace. It is not a viable solution to simply wipe out one or other of the populations. Nor is it a viable solution to relocate one or other of the populations. Israel cannot exist under the constant threat of terror attacks on all sides; that is not viable either. And neither can Gaza continue exist with the threat of huge military bombardment, up to and including a nuclear strike; that is not a viable solution.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Finding peace in Northern Ireland was bloody difficult, and the situation in the Middle East is vastly more complex. Nonetheless, some sort of lasting peace deal <i>must</i> be found. I have no idea what that looks like, except that it needs to exclude terror attacks and endless days of bombing as reprisals.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Alas, I think we may need a miracle, and those seem to be in perilously short supply these days.</p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16518767.post-83535559900462376652023-11-14T13:47:00.001+00:002023-11-14T13:47:08.608+00:00Is it Covid? Is it Flu?<p>I'm ill. I've been ill now for a few weeks - every time I think I'm getting better, it comes back and batters me again harder. Which sucks.</p><p>Unfortunately, I have no idea what it is - it could be a really bad cold, it could be flu, it could be Covid. It could be none of these - or even more than one in sequence. Not that it really matters, since I'm essentially incapacitated.</p><p>Only I'm not, because I <i>really</i> can't afford to be incapacitated. Which sucks even more.</p><p>Oh well. The doctor wasn't overly concerned, and said to come back in four weeks if it hadn't cleared up. That was two weeks ago, when I achieved the impossible feat of getting an appointment on the same day. So we'll see. Two more weeks is cutting some things <i>really</i> fine, though.</p>Steph/venhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426600866018393167noreply@blogger.com0