That's What Passes for a Good Movie These Days?

The other thing I did on Sunday was finish watching "Top Gun: Maverick", which I'd made three previous attempts to watch and only managed ten minutes (the joy of Funsize and Surprise! discovering TV). It was one of a handful of things I wanted to watch before our Paramount+ subscription expires (the remaining two being "Scream 5" and a second watch of the D&D movie).

Anyway, I had been quite hopeful about TG:M, as it had had some rather good reviews.

Um...

The film follows a time-honoured formula: Maverick is a hotshot pilot who falls afoul of authority. He finds himself called back to Top Gun as an instructor, taking on the mentor role from the original film. There he deals with students with such well-developed personalities as "the arrogant one", "the angry one", "the female one", and, um, "the other one". (There only being three character traits possible for a fighter pilot, and "has boobs" is one of them.)

He also rekindles an on/off affair with Generic Bar-owner #1, in which Jennifer Connelly does her absolute best with a character with no personalty at all. (In theory, the character does also have the hook that she's a single mother. But as far as I can tell, her daughter exists for the sole reason that the two of them can have a conversation about a boat, thus passing the Bechdel Test.)

Anyway.

Maverick has to train his students for an almost impossible mission: they have to blow up a uranium refinement plant in an entirely-undefined enemy nation (might as well be Canada). The approach to this will not be easy: they are required to skim the surface to this point. Then they have to hit a target point that is only two metres wide. Oh, and they have to use missiles, presumably because the shaft is ray shielded. (They even have a bit where one of the characters has to make do without a targeting system, presumably using the Force instead.)

Throw in a couple of scenes lifted almost whole-cloth from the original (replacing beach volleyball with beach football), and then add a handful of callbacks to the first film to tug on nostalgia. And we're done.

On the one hand, it's a work of absolute genius - huge numbers of people went to see it and by all accounts had a great time, and to do that with no originality in either characters or story is impressive. On the other hand, it's just plain silly.

So I must admit, I'm perplexed as to how it can have garnered such impressive reviews - I can buy "terrific, brainless fun", but anything beyond that...?

A Lucky Escape

My big challenge on Sunday came in the form of a broken PC - after restarting Chrome to update I discovered it suddenly wouldn't load my home page (which is a page of links stored on my D drive). I then rebooted the machine as a whole, only to find that the D drive as a whole had disappeared.

Needless to say, I was less than pleased with this, given that the PC is less than six months old. I was less pleased still when I discovered that Dell's automated chat assistant was only able to point me at a couple of utterly useless troubleshooting articles. And, of course, it being Sunday there was no chance of speaking to an actual human.

Though in the event that wasn't such a big deal - the root cause turned out to be nothing Dell could really help with anyway.

In an attempt to diagnose the fault I removed the drive, plugged it into my adapter, and connected it to LC's laptop. That confirmed that the drive itself was working. I then reconnected to the other machine, and accessed the BIOS, and it was working there too. But rebooting the machine still showed the problem.

Then I got lucky. Somewhere in there the machine restarted, and suddenly it was all working again!

The reason for this is that I have a powered USB hub attached (which is on its way out) and an external hard drive (which is definitely on its way out). When the PC restarts, but not when it boots from cold, this hub often fails to activate three of the ports, including the one with the drive attached. It appears that one of those two components is causing the problem.

Which is all to the good. I'll need to get a new USB hub sooner rather than later, since the other devices that are attached are rather important. And one of these days I'll find time to actually set up our NAS, after which the external drive will be obsolete.

So, a lucky escape. Not my best ever Sunday though.

Strange New Worlds

The new Star Trek shows have been a distinctly mixed bag. I've enjoyed "Discovery", but it has been fairly workmanlike rather than a true "must see". "Picard" was okay in the first season, pretty dire in the second, and then great in the third. "Lower Decks" has been consistently great, and after a slow start "Prodigy" came together well (just in time to be cancelled).

"Strange New Worlds" is the best of the bunch. Starting with a fantastic cast, and a setting that hits just the right level of nostalgia, it then adds a whole bunch of really good episodes that just ties things up neatly. Plus, with it being more than 20 years since "Voyager" ended (with "Enterprise" doing something distinctly different), it seems like the writers found themselves sitting on a bunch of really great Star Trek stories that they've now had opportunity to pull out.

It's all great. I don't know how long they'll be able to maintain the quality, and I'm also not sure when I'll get to watch (my current offer on Paramount+ isn't for much longer, and it isn't worth subscribing to for anything other than Trek), but I have no hesitation in recommending this one - if you get a chance to see it, take it!

The Weekend From Hell

It's fair to say we've not had the best of weekends.

In honour of the schools going back, Surprise! came down with some nasty virus last week. By Friday he was mostly back to himself, or so we thought until about 10pm, when he woke up and spewed everywhere. As a consequence of this, I found myself sitting up with him until 1am, initially watching nursery rhymes on YouTube, and then later catching up on the new Futurama while he slept. (Sadly, I'm not particularly impressed with this latest reboot, but that's another story.)

I was then up just after 6am to take Lion for her morning walk. Needless to say, that meant that Saturday was essentially a write off. I'm sure I did the Broxburn Gala Day, but don't really have any memory of it.

Sunday started okay, with us getting up, going to church, and then having lunch. So far, so good. Unfortunately that's where things came unstuck - Surprise! really needed a nap but absolutely refused to go to sleep. Cue lots of crying, lots of frayed tempers, and a generally bad time had by all.

Eventually he did go down, and once he'd had a sleep and then something to eat (after another bout of crying because he was hungry but refusing to eat), all was well once again. But the weekend was thoroughly destroyed.

Needless to say, I was glad to reach Monday!

Catering for Fifty

I have recently found myself cooking BBQ for fifty people. The story of how this came about isn't something I can share here, but fortunately I can share that it went extremely well - the food all came out well cooked (well, mostly - there were a couple of very crispy burgers in there), everyone had enough, and there weren't any points where there was a big queue of people waiting to be fed. Which was all good.

The big lesson to learn from this is: never again! It was too much to take on, at least with the facilities that I had available. For cooking for fifty I think there would be a need for some other cooking facilities, such that I can produce some pulled pork, or similar options to cook for a lot of people at once - a water smoker or similar would be needed.

The second lesson is that the job was actually a lot worse in the build-up than in the reality. I had spent quite a lot of time worried that it just wouldn't work out, and in the end it turned out just to be a big effort, but not fundamentally difficult.

The final lesson, and one that is of use even for our 'regular' BBQs is that the approach of having a dedicated serving area was definitely a good idea - we had a big table set aside for all the non-meat foods, and then another table with the meats (and meat substitutes) to be served from. And these were carefully segregated to account for dietary needs.

And that's really all there is to say about that. It was a really good day, quite aside from my part in it.

Edinburgh

A few weeks ago I found myself needing to go to Edinburgh. That's something I avoid as much as possible as a matter of course, but this time there was no avoiding it. Planning the journey, though, reminded me of why I try to avoid the place.

The first thing that I discounted was driving. Edinburgh Council are famously anti-car - the roads are terrible, the parking is extorionate and quite some distance from the center, and if you do get lost it can be a nightmare.

For much the same reason I discounted the buses. Although there are some buses from close to the office that go in to Edinburgh, without pre-existing knowledge of Edinburgh it's really hard to know which bus you need, which stop to ask for, or indeed how to get back out. Plus, the roads are terrible.

There's the tram link. On the face of it, this is pretty ideal - it runs from Edinburgh Park right in to Princes Street, there's only one stop there, the tickets are a fixed price, and there's a tram every 8 minutes or so. Ideal.

Or it would be, except that there's no parking at Edinburgh Park. There is the Retail Park, which does indeed have parking... but only for customers. Which means that getting the tram means either walking the few miles from the office to the stop (which, in fairness, is quite pleasant - but which adds an awful lot to the journey), or it means driving to Ingliston and parking there - defeating the point of using the tram.

Finally, there's the train. Which has all the same problems as the tram, but also only runs every half hour.

However, in the end I did take the train - just not from Edinburgh Park. Instead I worked from home in the morning, then took the train from Livingston. Which was fine, since it has parking.

But, honestly, it's really not good. For Scotland's supposed capital city, it really should be more easily accessible. Really, how hard would it be to provide usable parking at the key train and tram stations along the way, so that the public can actually make easy use of the public transport that is available?

Oh Deer

I almost hit a deer on my way to work today. While the schools are on holiday I've switched to using the motorway to get to work as it is, in theory, marginally faster. While heading towards the motorway this morning I saw a young deer crossing the road ahead of me. Then it got spooked before crossing the other carriageway and instead ran back across the road - right in front of me.

Fortunately, I was able to stop safely and in time, and so the deer emerged unscathed. Less fortunately, I fear that may be an indication of just how my day is going to go.

#15: "Parenting Hell", by Widdicombe and Beckett

Introducing "Lion"

It has been an exciting week. In addition to the potty training/broken washing machine combination, we were visited by the new addition to our family: as of Thursday the Knigdom of Stevonia will adopt a dog!

She's a retired greyhound - huge, but very calm. She immediately took to the children, and they to her.

LC and I have been talking about getting a dog basically since we got married, but while we were living in the flat in Falkirk that just wasn't an option. When we moved, Funsize was already on the way, and then there was a small window of opportunity once she was two but Surprise! not yet on the way. So this is, in effect, the earliest this has really been a realistic possibility.

Since everyone else has a chocolate-themed "blog name", our newest addition needs one too. And since I could think of only one animal-themed chocolate bar (though I expect the immediately think of another dozen options once I post this), she shall henceforth be known as "Lion".

Bad Timing

We started Surprise! on potty training on Sunday. It's probably a little overdue, but not by too much, and children do seem to take to it a bit better if it's left later.

Our washing maching broke down on Sunday. Because, of course, the moment you start doing something liable to generate a load of extra washing, that's when you want the machine to give up the ghost.

The good news is that it's covered by warranty, so someone will be out to fix it on Thursday. But the next few days could be exciting.

#12: "Lion", by Conn Iggulden
#13: "Star Wars Roleplaying Game", by various authors
#14: "Guardians of the Wild Unicorns", by Lindsay Littleson (which started as a book for Funsize, but she lost interest)

Good Omens 2

LC and I finished watching this last night. Going in, I had serious misgivings - partly because the first series exhausted the first book, partly because sequels are just never as good, and partly because the Pratchett/Gaiman pairing had a certain magic to it that Gaiman alone necessarily lacked.

So...

Yeah, it's good. It's not as good as the first series, but then I don't think anything really could have been. But Tennant and Sheen are now a well-practiced double act and they're both clearly familiar with their roles and also clearly having fun. And the series is just that - fun.

Ultimately, I do recommend it, and I'm finding myself looking forward to the third (and, I think, final) series. It might not work out, of course, but it has been left in a good place (from a storytelling point of view), and there's a lot more fun to be had.

Good stuff.

Still Counts as One

One of my goals for the year was to repaint the painted sections of our main bathroom and downstairs toilet, to hang some pictures in the hallway, and to replace the hallway carpet.

Over the weekend, LC proceeded to paint the downstairs toilet, and also to purchase and fill some picture frames that I then duly hung. Consequently, that goals has taken some massive strides forward.

I do need to stress, of course, that almost none of this was my achievement - all I did was hang the picture frames (and not terribly well!). Still, the goal has taken a big step forward, and it still counts!

#10: "Crucial Conversations", by Grenny, Patterson, Switzler, and McMillan
#11: "Bond: With a Mind to Kill", by Anthony Horowitz

Secret Invasion

There is no MCU TV series that I have looked forward to more than "Secret Invasion". I'm a big fan both of Nick Fury and Samuel L. Jackson, and so a series starring both was almost perfect for me. Plus, the notion of a spy thriller within the MCU, and especially one involving shapeshifting aliens who can look like anyone, with all the tension and paranoia that that implies, is just great.

There is no MCU project that has left me more disappointed than "Secret Invasion". After three really slow episodes of build-up, the series then did very well with episodes four and five, or so I thought, only to blow it with the final episode.

Ultimately, I'm afraid this takes its place as yet another underwhelming MCU project, a tag that applies to most things post-Endgame. It seems that the big plan just came to an end, they've been left with a load of ideas and dangling plot threads, but ultimately they just haven't had any vision for how to build to another climax. Add to that a real-life tragedy that derailed "Black Panther" and a real-life scandal that has left them with huge issues with their new Big Bad, and they have problems.

Sadly, with Lucasfilm also having big failures on all fronts, Pixar largely seeming to have gone cold, and Disney seemingly more interested in dire live-action remakes than in producing the animation they're famed for, it suddenly looks like Disney+ may not be the juggernaut it seemed just a few months ago.

Time for Phone #6

Smartphones have many great advantages, which isn't exactly a surprise - who would have thought carrying around an extremely powerful web-enabled computer at all times would be a definite boon? However, they do have one distinct disadvantage, which is that like PCs they become less useful with time. This takes three forms: the same general slowdown that computers suffer as they are patched and repatched successively, a degradation in the battery life between charges, and storage that becomes increasingly and unavoidably full. All of which means that a smartphone probably doesn't last as long as a non-smart mobile, nor indeed as long as a PC (at least in my hands).

The upshot of all of this is that I've now reached the point where it is time to upgrade my phone again. The previous one has lasted six years after all, which is a good run by any standard, but it has now basically had its day.

Obviously getting a new phone is now much like getting a new PC (though perhaps less confusing, since there's very little by way of an upgrade path once the phone is bought - just the possibility of a Micro-SD card to provide more memory). Which means that having the new phone will be great, since it will represent a significant improvement in performance, but it also means a fairly long and annoying process of getting the new phone set up.

On the plus side, I'm keeping the same SIM, number, and contract, so much of the basic functionality should just carry over. On the downside, I have no idea what my Whatsapp login details are...

Day 200: Update on Goals

Time for the latest update:

• Books: I have recently finished the second of three books from the List. I haven't yet started on the final book, but should still finish by the end of the year (just barely). As anticipated, I have read very few other books this year.
• Blogging: By day 200 I should have completed 67 posts here, plus a further 33 or so on The Imaginarium. I was quite a bit behind at the last update, but managed to catch up in between. I'm now a little behind again, but not by a great deal - with luck I'll be up to date in both places by the end of the month.
• Redecorating: No progress here. I did have to make another small repair job on Funsize's wall, but that doesn't really count.
• Other stuff: Nothing to report here.

I remain optimistic about completing the three goals by the end of the year. The most doubtful, I think, is the redecoration, which we'll know about by the end of October.

For Our Fallen Gondorians

 Back in April, while doomscrolling on Twitter, I saw someone joking that they'd changed their band's signature tune to "For Our Fallen Gondorians". The bagpipe sheet music for this was included in the tweet.

Since then I've never been able to find this sheet music again, no matter how I searched.

Until today. It turns out that my phone quietly saved the file in a secret location, and when I found my phone once again slowing down due to a critical lack of storage, and thus began a purge of old data, I happened to find it.

Which is nice. Now I just need to learn it, remember it, and contrive a good time to sneak it past someone as a lament...

Oops!

I was speaking to a pollster a few minutes ago, and one of the questions I was asked concerned the most pressing burning political issues at the present time. I gave two answers that I thought were fairly non-controversial (the economy and Brexit), then gave a third... and promptly had to clarify what I meant.

Because the third answer I gave was "immigration", at which point I immediately realised that (I think) most people who give than answer mean stopping immigration, which is certainly not what I meant.

On the contrary, I think the way this country is treating people who want to build their lives here, and especially those unfortunates who come here desperately seeking refuge is shameful and is (or should be) damaging to our standing on the world stage.

Indeed, one of the biggest problems we have as a country is that no senior politician (at UK level) is brave enough to stand up and say clearly that immigration is a good thing. Not just because of all the necessary jobs that immigrants appear to be willing to do and nobody else is, not just because they pay in far more to our economy than they collectively take out, but simply in terms of being here.

Diversity is a good thing. It's a shame our politicians can't acknowledge that.

(And if my answer ends up getting lumped in to some Daily Mail headline about immigration being one of the big concerns of British people, I am truly sorry. I should have thought more before I spoke.)

#9: "A Woman of Substance", by Barbara Taylor Bradford (a book from The List - one more to go!)

Minor Annoyances II

Our council are in the process of changing the day for our bin collections, which is absolutely fine. This has, however, led to a big gap between the final "general" bin collection of the old cadence and the first "general" bin collection of the new cadence. That's rather more tricky, as the council have deliberately set the picks ups right on the edge of what people can manage. Still, since it's a necessary change, we could probably be a bit clever and thus cope - it's only another five days wait.

Except...

The council wrote to us offering an additional pick up of the "general" waste bin last week - just put it out, leave it out, and it would be collected. We therefore put our bin out. The council therefore did not collect it.

And that, of course, means that we didn't carefully adjust our behaviours to stretch the additional five days, and now have a bin that is absolutely rammed with almost a week to go before it is collected.

It's fair to say this is a minor annoyance at worst. But those are the worst kind.

Experimental Cookery 2023: Five-spice Chicken Wings

My Birthday BBQ was on Saturday, and in addition to the usual burgers and sausages, this year's flourish was these chicken wings. The method came from Tom Kerridge's "Real Life Recipes" - a book I've used once before with disastrous results.

The good news is that this was a much more successful effort. The chicken just needed put into a bowl with a quickly-assembled marinade, well rubbed, and then left overnight for the flavours to develop. Then a reasonably short time in the oven, turn, another short time in the oven, then five minutes on the BBQ to finish. Oh, and the application of some sesame seeds to complete.

And the chicken was excellent - well cooked, full of flavour, and just generally nice.

The BBQ as a whole was a great success, despite being madly over-catered (I'm not actually sure how that happened - I think some people must just have not eaten as much as expected). We were even lucky with the weather, which had featured showers earlier in the day, rain later in the day, but a dry spell just when it was needed.

All in all, that was a big success. We'll definitely be having these again. (Probably not at the same time as the Firecracker Chicken we've had before, which was also excellent, but there may now be a chicken dish as a mainstay of BBQs for the future.)

Minor Annoyances

A couple of the tyres on my car are slowly losing pressure. That's annoying, but not particularly surprising.

However, the reason I know that two of the tyres are losing pressure is that the screen periodically pops up with the message indicating this. It knows that that is the case because there are pressure sensors on the tyres. And, of course, it is able to detect each time any of the tyres loses pressure, so it is able to check each of the sensors individually.

Which means that the system has everything it would need to tell me which of the four tyres had dropped in pressure, thus saving me the effort of having to check each of the tyres individually.

But, of course, it doesn't do that. Because that would just make things too easy.

(I suspect the real reason is that there's a patent floating around out there which means that Vauxhall can do it on LC's car, but Ford can't on mine. Because some patents are just absurd.)

Anyway, it's a minor annoyance. But those are the worst ones.

Progress on the To Do List

Before the Christmas holiday I made a To Do list with several items on it. I completed very few of these during the holiday, but did eventually complete all but one item.

Before the February break I made another To Do list with several items on it. This time I made a bit more progress, but did eventually complete all but one item - the same item as was outstanding after Christmas.

Before the Easter break I made yet another To Do list. As of this morning I have completed all but one item on it. And, you guessed it, that one outstanding item is the same one as from Christmas.

Still, that's some progress, I guess. I wonder how I'll get on over the Summer holiday?

(Though, funnily enough, that one might actually be completed - due to the nature of that break I won't be inserting that one item on that list. It will still exist on a more general list of things I want to do, but not the list of the holiday specifically. So we'll see...)