Dear Disney...

I find myself more than a little perplexed by your recent actions. The thing is, via LC's subscription we have access to your "ad free" version of Disney+, only you've recently changed the terms and conditions to allow yourselves to show unskippable ads before and between shows. That's really annoying, but not actually what I'm about to talk about...

What I'd really like to know is what is the point of showing me unskippable ads for other things that are bundled into the very same Disney+ subscription that I already have? And, doubly so, what is the point of showing my unskippable ads for things that I have already watched through the very same subscription I already have? As far as I can see there is absolutely no benefit to you in this approach - you're actively annoying me while pushing me towards something that won't make you any more money.

I could, grudgingly, understand it if the adverts were for any of the infinite Disney merch that's out there, or for your upcoming cinema releases, or even for next month's upcoming shows - those all have a purpose that may put some more money into your hands (offensive as it remains to be putting ads in your "ad free" plans at all).

But to force adverts on us that very definitely aren't going to do that? What possible purpose does that serve?

(One other thing: the irony of all of this is that Disney+ was, and actually still is, the best value of all of our subscription services. Amazon Prime is good for everything that isn't Prime Video, while Netflix is rapidly dropping in my estimation. And as for NOW... But these recent shenanigans really put a dent in my appreciation for this particular service.)

"Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years?"

The above is one of the classic interview questions, and a question that people inevitably hate - it's really hard to come up with a good answer, especially one that fits with whatever job it is that you're interviewing for. And yet, it's actually a question you should probably always have an answer for, whether you're in an interview or not - "I don't know" is never great.

But there's a second question that's perhaps more useful to consider, especially since it applies much more specifically, and can be asked of any ongoing task: "What does success look like?"

Sometimes, of course, that's obvious: if you're doing the washing up, success looks like a well cleaned set of dishes, possibly dried if you're showing off, and with the various work surfaces wiped down and good to go again.

Sometimes, it's a lot harder to say. But answering the question is worthwhile, as it gives a clear indication of what you're aiming for, and indeed a clear indication of what you're not aiming for. (Returning to the previous example, when doing the dishes, the aim is to get the cleaned; it's not to also go and deep clean the entire rest of the kitchen. That's absolutely not a bad thing, and may prove to be your next goal, but it's beyond the scope of what you're currently working on.)

The major benefit of stating the goal as clearly and thoroughly as you can is that it then provides shape for the intermediate steps, and probably signposts along the way. It also helps to weed out extraneous tasks, and provides a means to identify when you're off track.

Of course, the depiction of success is not a one-and-done task - at any point, it's only what success looks like from where you are now. Once you move a bit, some things that you intended may prove unrealistic (or trivial!), while you might find that your priorities shift.

And that's all good. Especially if the goal you're setting is for your life or your career - when settling that it really should be what you want, and that doesn't lock you in forever.

So, when an interviewer asks you "Where do you see yourself in five years?" what they're really asking about is The Dream - what's the goal, and in particular, what does success look like?

Oh, and incidentally, if you're interviewing for a fairly junior position, a good answer would most likely be something like "I'm just starting out in a career in <whatever>, so for the next few years I'm looking for opportunities to develop and apply my skills. In the immediate terms, I think this opportunity will allow me to learn to <something>, and we can go from there." And, if nothing else, there's absolutely no harm in saying you want to develop expertise in working in a professional team towards a common goal, and that the longer-term (5-year) goal would be to start leading a team and/or taking the lead in developing the next version of <whatever>.

Running Out of Steam

For the past several months, Surprise! and I have been working through the "Thomas the Tank Engine" stories by Rev A.W. Awdry. They're good stuff, and always fun to revisit the classics, but...

As with when Funsize and I worked through the series, there is very definitely a sense that they become less interesting as they go - he spends more and more time with the old engines, the small railway, and other peripheral characters that just don't have the same charm as Thomas and his friends.

All of which is a shame - the early stories remain classics, and are really good. But starting by the time you get to "The Eight Famous Engines", and definitely by the time you get to "The Twin Engines", the whole venture starts to flag.

Oh well. We have three stories to go, and then "Winnie the Pooh" beckons!

Transformers: the Movie (the apology tour)

On Saturday Surprise! and I went to see "Transformers: the Movie", returned to the cinemas for its 40th anniversary in a glorious new print. (Funsize declined the invitation to join us.)

Before I talk about the movie itself, a few things about the cinema experience this time:

• The Vue in Livingston is currently undergoing a long-overdue refurbishment. This is likely to improve the experience, but in the short term it very much did not.
• There are usually two concession stands in the Vue, the Quick one and the Slow one. Alas, during the course of the refurbishment only the Slow one is currently open. I'm not at all sure what it is about that stand that makes it the Slow one, but it most definitely is very slow indeed - we were close to the point of having to abandon our intended purchases when we were belatedly served.
• We paid a little extra for the comfy seats, this being a special occasion. I don't really think they were worth it, to be honest. The standard seats are absolutely fine.

Anyway, what about the film?

"Transformers: the Movie" is a slightly bizarre one, in that it's one of the big films of my childhood, but it's also one I'd never previously seen in the cinema: the release date didn't quite match up with a birthday, and back then that was a requirement for a cinema trip. And, indeed, because we only had a Betamax player back then, it was some time before I actually saw it, eventually, on VHS. For a good long time, I actually experienced it primarily in graphic novel form.

So finally seeing it up on the big screen was nice. And the new print is suitably impressive - for a very long time the film presentation has amounted to "this was the best that could be done with what they had", while this does seem to be a marked improvement.

Given that it's been a couple of years since I'd seen it, I had also forgotten at least somewhat just how fast the film moves - like a Dan Brown novel it runs at a really fast pace from one event to another, with almost no let up. In fairness, it does seem to slow down somewhat after the opening action set piece and the massacre of the characters, but I think that's actually relative - since you don't care so much about the new generation it just doesn't have the same immediacy.

Which, of course, brings me to that massacre of the characters, the Red Wedding of its day (seriously). This is a really odd one - commercially, it might have seemed sensible to replace one range of toys with another, and wiping out the older generation certainly does that. On the other hand, starting your children's film with the deaths of six beloved heroes and then the demise of the most beloved of them all is a really odd choice. And it really backfired - the release of the movie marks the point where Transformers really goes into decline, partly because there's an obvious drop off in the quality of the toys, partly because it just slipped out of the zeitgeist, but largely because every character that got killed off was somebody's favourite.

And yet... that bloodbath is perhaps the major reason that "Transformers: the Movie" is at all relevant now. There are basically no animated films from the 80's, other than those made by Disney, that are discussed nowadays.

Anyway, it was good to see it. Surprise! enjoyed it too, which is good. But I don't think I'd go again - home viewing is enough at this point.

One other thing that was really good, and which gained a surprising gravitas recently, was the short "Optimus Prime: Awakening" that came after the film, in which the newly-deceased Optimus Prime finds himself at a crossroads, deciding whether to go into the light or to try to go back. It's a curious rumination on mortality, saying goodbye, and indeed the costs that constant warfare inflicts on you, even when on the right side of things. It really surprised me - good stuff.

(Between that and the new print of the film, I suspect I may be purchasing yet another copy of the film on Blu-Ray. Oh well.)

So, that was the centerpiece of my weekend.

#27: "The Witchwood Crown", by Tad Williams

Roll The Credits

After 19 years, the web-comic Darths & Droids has come to its end.

For those who haven't had the pleasure, this was a comedic retelling of the Star Wars films as envisaged as an RPG campaign. It started back in Episode I, and then gradually expanded from there - indeed, I recall a certain frisson of interest as they came to the end of that movie, and then again at the end of Episode III: "will they carry on?"

Well, they did, and now they've come to the end of the series of films.

(Incidentally, it appears that one of the writers of "The Clone Wars" may have had some familiarity with the web-comic: one of the running gags in their version of TPM was a spell called summon bigger fish - something Jar Jar then proceeds to do in the episode "Bombad Jedi".)

Anyway, if you fancy wading through 19 years of Star Wars RPG nonsense, this one is highly recommended!

A Job Done

My big achievement over the weekend was the completion of my "Garden" goal - this weekend that involved fixing the garden stairs and one part of a wall. It wasn't a long, complex, or difficult job, but it was one that had been sitting undone for quite some time. But no more!

In truth, the garden isn't truly complete, and indeed I don't think it ever will be. However, the task that I set for myself at the start of the year is done, and I think from here it turns into just regular maintenance, of the sort that I don't count as a goal as such - it's just something that you have to do.

Anyway, nice to have that ticked off my list!

Masters of the Universe

There were three big box office bombs this summer: "Supergirl", "The Mandalorian and Grogu", and "Masters of the Universe". In all three cases, the reason for this was at least somewhat political, or at least connected with the Culture Wars - they were basically considered too woke, in one way or another, and therefore people stayed away. In two of the cases, I was of the opinion that they weren't the cinematic abomination that I had feared - neither "Supergirl" nor M&G was a masterpiece by any stretch, but both were fairly serviceable in their own rights.

I watched "Masters of the Universe" this weekend... and I'm afraid it's astonishingly awful.

Now, in fairness, there were some things I enjoyed: the music is actually really good (and, if the law that films with a soundtrack by Queen inevitably become cult hits is true, I'd expect this to happen here too: although the soundtrack is not by Queen, it heavily features Brian May's work). The cameo by Dolph Lundgren is likewise pretty cool - although it's a really bad sign when it reminds you of an older, better, film and that film is itself pretty terrible. And having Orko appear at the end to give the moral of the story is a really nice touch - very reminiscent of the source cartoon.

(Oh, and Surprise! has declared that this film is awesome, largely because at the end Adam rides away on his big green tiger. So that's at least one recommendation.)

I guess the other thing that works is that at least the various characters do actually look like they should - the film basically has all the action figures come to life.

Otherwise, though, no. I'm not even going to enumerate the failures - it's all within touching distance of mediocrity, but ultimately falls short, to the extent that despite investing only a couple of hours into it, and despite getting it effectively free as part of my Prime subscription, I still felt short-changed.

Avoid.

The End of Summer

Yesterday was our last BBQ of the year. I still have a task to give both our BBQs a good clean and then get them covered over for the winter, but otherwise the season is now done. (I similarly gave the BBQ at work a clean last week, for the same reason.) In theory there might yet be a day or two suitable for BBQ weather, but it's my policy to draw a line of my own volition, rather than let things drift to nothing. So we're done.

This morning when my alarm went off I staggered out of bed and opened the curtains, only to discover that, for the first time since around Easter, it was still dark outside. The nights are drawing in, and the dawn is getting ever later. Of course, there's an adjustment coming when we collectively decide not to have our clocks lie to us any more at the end of October, but by then it will be dark even at the new corrected 6am.

On Wednesday it will be the 16th of September, a day of little import except for one detail: that marks the point of the 100-day countdown to Christmas. Even that's not a huge milestone, as it's far too soon to be considering the matter in much detail, except for two things: I'll be sounding out the Christmas dinner plans (at least conceptually), and I also want to have a discussion about what our "one new thing" could be this year. I have an idea, but I'm not at all sure it's a good one.

All of which amounts to one big thing: sadly, the long, glorious Summer of 2026 has reached its end.

Experimental Cookery 2026: Cheese and Bacon Burgers

This one comes from "The Handcrafted Burger". It's absolutely lovely, but it also absolutely does not warrant a recipe of its own: make some patties, cook on one side, cover the other with cheese and cook, then add bacon and other bits and pieces. And that's it.

I guess the key thing here is that none of the other options in the book include bacon as a main part (the "everything burger" being a possible exception), so maybe they thought that they needed one?

Fundamentally, while "The Handcrafted Burger" is a remarkably enjoyable book, the truth is that it's not the burgers that are the key - those are generally almost trivial. On the contrary, it's the accompaniments that are the main thing here. And while this time the accompaniment is bacon, which is definitely a worthy choice, it probably doesn't warrant a page all by itself.

All that said, we'll definitely have burgers much like this in future. So that's good.