tzanti

Star Trek 2009

Sat, 09 May 2009 19:51:46 GMT

I have now seen the new Star Trek movie. There are a lot of positive things to be said for it. The plot is good, and bit above the usual Hollywood fayre of the moment. The cast is strong, and even the cliches are are done well. If that was all that was required of it, then it would have been a great movie.

But movies need to be well-executed, and this wasn't. It was the usual thing of intense action interspersed with bland, plodding, angst-ridden drama. There is no style or flair in the direction, and even the excellent cast can't save it, because they have nothing to work with. The dialogue is uninspired, and no effort has been made to deliver anything 'special'.

I felt nothing for any of the characters, and no emotion for the events. At the end, I was just happy that it was finished.

Ariel and the Space Cats

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 10:15:45 GMT

No, not a 50s pop group, except in the minds of the Worle Operatic and Dramatic Society. Last night, they performed Bob Carlton's Return to the Forbidden Planet. This stage musical is probably the most bizarre to tread the boards of British Theatre, being the alien lovechild of William Shakespeare and Ed Wood.

Imagine, if you dare, The Tempest, with borrowed (and adapted) dialogue from any number of the Bard's works, combined with a dose of Hit Parade classics of the 50s and 60s and a photon torpedo-full of srcewball comedy. Mix this with Star Trek-inspired sets and costumes and you have, what Carlton described as, Shakespeare's lost rock and roll masterpiece.

I saw the touring version a couple of times in the early 90s, and it was quite a show. The amateur production was far less lavish, but sci-fi never needed to be lavish. Until Star Wars, we were happy with wobbly sets and spray-painted hairdryer rayguns. Why? Because these works had heart, and were unashamed of their limitations. WODS production was all that and more.

Playing in Weston's Blakehay Theatre, originally built as a Baptist Chapel, the ample cast were crammed on to a small stage, but made use of the balconies for those little asides and for flying a paper rocketship (and Jedi?) across the stage. A big viewscreen displayed black white film, wobbly special effects, and a green-eyed monster. It also replayed the narrator, in the original version Patrick Moore, BBC Points West anchor Amanda Parr.

It's a long time since I went to the theatre (Kind Hearts and Coronets about 10 years ago) and this has made me all enthusiastic for drama again. Forbidden Planet is a hell of a play to pull off as an amateur company. There must be 20 songs and musical numbers. The leading lady was a last minute replacement, and had to do much of the show from the script (however, as the science officer, she had a perfect excuse to be carrying a clipboard). Ariel, the rollerskating robot, was brilliant. Captain Tempest was Zapp Brannigan reborn. Miranda went from farmgirl to fox effortlessly.

The chorus in their guises of Zargoodians (gnomes), Zhnorgoidians (beasties), Quwadorgs (witches) and Catmdiquodianoids (our Swinging Space Cats) were amazing, wandering around the stage and the audience, along with their Earthling (human) counterparts. From the door, where we were scanned with a pink star-shaped hairbrush, to the hall ("May I see your boarding card?" and the complimentary anti-sickness and anti-madness pills) we got the whole treatment.

The set was replete with monitors, a silver BBC microcomputer, various gadgets and levers. The Monsters from the Id (Beware the Ids that march) were simple but in the character of classic sci-fi. The Shakespeare pun were truly awful, as great puns should be.

All in all a great evening out. We really fell for the Catgirls.

Swede, Carrot and Bacon Soup

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 11:03:58 GMT

(Serves 4)

500g Mixed Carrot and Swede (for Mashing) - 50p from Tesco
200g Bacon Lardons - £1 from Tesco.
1l Water - Overpriced from BWWSL
2 veg stock cubes.

Boil the water, adding seasoning (salt, pepper, herbs, etc) and the crumbled stock cubes.
Add the veg.
Bring back to the boil, cover and simmer.

Preheat a small frying pan, lightly oil and add the lardons, cover and gently fry for 5 mins.
Turn up the heat to full to boil off the excess water.
Drain off the fat, and add the large and medium-sized lardons to the soup.
Keep the small ones to one side.

Let the soup simmer for 1 hour.
Blend the soup until a few veg chunks remain visible.
Add the remaining bacon.

Stir and serve with buttered granary toast.

Maelstrom Ev1 2009

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 10:51:52 GMT

Well, I got back on Tuesday eve. It was a hell of a weekend. It did a lot for my confidence, and the preceding months of psychotherapy did a lot for helping me deal with Paul, Gimby and Wookie - my fellow refs. That probably sounds harsh on them, it's not meant to, the therapy helped me deal with rejection and criticism. These are things which would have come out through my SI in the past, but are now things I can accept.

It was a shock to find that we only had four refs for the event. Gimby is now a Head Ref, alongside Paul. Wookie is also a trader and has to balance the ref duties with the needs of Kangena/Mandala. I am trainee ref, learning things on the job, and still making huge mistakes, although making less of them as the weekend went on.

So...

If you were the guy with the 'clawed shield' at weapon check on Friday, I was dead wrong, you can't use it as a weapon at all. Sorry.

And if you were the owner of the chest, thanks for ponying up the potions, it meant I only got bollocked for giving you the chest back without properly reading Paul's indecipherable handwriting.

It was great to see Jerry and Jo again after so long. I'm glad they're moving to the player base, and not leaving the system altogether. I saw them out in ophidian kit (on Monday?) and the chemistry was electric. It was great to drum with everyone again, after so many years. Hope I'll remember to do more at home, I've got four here afterall.

The event was challenging. Power, wate and network issues made it feel like we were just starting out, rather than that we had been going for five years. But it all came together. Matt's speech from his 'chariot' said it all. We *ARE* the best team in LRP!

Ryan Inglis

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:15:52 GMT

Ryan Inglis is a singer-songwriter we saw performing last night. He was the interval act at Vamps Comedy Night in WsM. His style is laidback acoustic guitar and bluesy vocals. I bought his album, worth way more than the fiver he was charging. Frankly, he was the highlight of the evening. I'm looking forward to catching him at The Bottle Bar over the summer.

Hypernova

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:08:48 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_sxsKBVJDE

When did it become so awkward to paste a URL into WhineJournal? :(

Anyhoo, the URL above should take you to the splendid video for Hypernova's song Fairy Tales. Hypernova are no-shit indie rock band from the Islamic Republic of Iran. Now, rock music is considered by the Iranian government to be un-islamic, and thus is banned. However, acording to a CNN report this week, Tehran has a thriving underground indie scene. Their report featured the up-and-coming Yellow Dogs, but mentioned Hypernova as an Iranian act that had already broken through in the US. So, while I trackdown a Yellow Dogs video, please enjoy Hypernova and give them lots of Youtube hits.

Battlestar Galactica

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:16:58 GMT

When, some years back, a friend told me there was a reworked BSG coming out, I was sceptical and excited at the same time. I'm not a fan of all things sci-fi, and most of the reworkings or recent years are just comedy pisstakes, take Starsky and Hutch as an example. But on the other hand, the original was so rich and so alien, that nobody would take it on without wanting to do something really special, right?

It's about four years on since I bought the first series on DVD from Woolies in Eltham High Street. I didn't find the miniseries for another year or so, but that's another story. The first episode, 33, had me on the edge of my seat throughout. I watched the remaining episodes over a long weekend, then watched it all again. I was hooked.

So I've still not seen all of it, the third series eluded me, owing to not having Sky, or the money to buy the DVDs, but even so, I had the chance to watch the fourth series and took it. The irritating hiatus, courtesy of the American writers' strike led me to think that I should consider it done at that point, but I still watched the remainder eagerly.

It came to an end last night, or for me this afternoon when I actually watched it. I was not disappointed, in fact I was overwhelmed. It wasn't the ending I expected, or even hoped for. If anything, being and old cynic with some experience of TV production, I was quite pessimistic. The genre is packed with TV screenwriting glitterati who over reach themselves, their budgets and audiences. Things drag out to anticlimactic finales, loaded with fan-focussed bananlities, or crash into dwindling audience figures and critical poundings that result in abrupt cancellations.

BSG has been different to that. It has achieved what so few series of any type even approach. It has been great drama. It has managed the expectations of the audience and the critics. It might have missed out some of the nuances that sci-fi fandom demands of its entertainment, but these might well have mired it into an early demise.

It told the story of a people, through the eyes of its leaders, and of its enemies, both within and without. It carried along its audience on the waves of the story, giving them highs and lows. While there have been long overarching plots, there have also been the staples of a good story: lust, greed, hate...and the rest.

There has also been homour, but without the overt comedy character so often found in modern sci-fi tales. I'm thinking here of the Neelix and Jar-Jar Binks variety. The show has kept its own sensibilities throughout, much like another modern success, Life on Mars. It has created its own icons, and not dwelt on anything too long.

For me, it ticked all the boxes for great entertainment. It took me for a long ride, where I never found the desire to ask 'are we there yet?' I hope there is more like this to come.

I read last year that another series that heavily imprinted my teenage years, V, might get a similar revamp. That would be a big challenge, but not an insurmountable one, given what has been achieved with Battlestar Galactica.

T.

Quotes this week

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:32:31 GMT

Peter, regarding my being in therapy: "Well, it's about fucking time!"

Ludwig, regarding Dario's espresso: "What's the point of drinking this? Just inject it into your eyeball or something."

Neil, referring to Ludwig and Dario: "Where did the axis powers get to?"

The most excellent Mark Twain: "Heaven for climate, Hell for company."

Generation Kill

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:07:27 GMT

There's something about war reporting that is unusually interesting. The 'embedding' idea was something that the US military messed up in Kuwait and the Balkans in the 90's, so the world's media didn't trust it for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. This lead to Chris Ayres, the Times' Hollywood fluff correspondent, being embedded with a US Marine Artillery unit. His book, War Reporting for Cowards, was my top book of a few years ago.

Evan Wright, a Rolling Stone journalist who had previously worked on the Hustler porn magazine. He was embedded for 3 weeks with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion of the US Marines. As such, he often rode in a Humvee at the head of the American advance. His reports, and subsequent book have been described as insightful and shocking. The title, Generation Kill, refers to the youth of 1st Recon's soldiers.

In 2008, HBO dramatised the book as a seven-part TV series, in a similar style to Band of Brothers in 2000. The series has just aired in the UK on the FX digital channel, and has been an eye-opener. The idea of portraying real people, some of whom are still serving soldiers is quite novel. It has different level of responsibility from even dealing with retired soldiers in a film such as Tumbledown. In particular, the portrayal of Tromley, Hasser and other soldiers involved in civillian shootings was sensitive, within the context of the darkly comic atmosphere of the piece.

That darkly comic aspect is something unavoidable in any war story. From the trench newspapers of the Great War, to Alan Whicker's accounts of Italy in World War 2, to PJ O'Rourke's Give War a Chance, humour and conflict go hand in hand, with humour helping to balance out the daily horror of violence.

More later.

New Start

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 19:42:28 GMT

It's been a while since the last entry. Nothing particularly special about that, no special reason or anything like that. It's just not been the thing most on my mind. But I should probably come back to it. This time maybe I'll keep going for longer.

The End of the Pier Show

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 08:05:51 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/7528165.stm

The Grand Pier in Weston-super-Mare caught fire this morning. This has made national news, something I didn't expect. As I watch the news this morning, the flames have gone, and white steam is rising from the scene.

More later.

T.

More Blogs to Check Out

Fri, 30 May 2008 21:22:28 GMT

Skippy's List: http://skippyslist.com/

The author of the one and only Skippy's List (213 Things Skippy is no Longer Allowed to do in the US Army) writes the very good and very funny blog. Includes an expanded (and expanding) Friends of Skippy section, for yet more Military wierdness. Some of this is very topical, written by soldiers who've served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Qosmiq for the people: http://qosmiq.blogspot.com/

Ghislain Barbe is the artist who produced that beautiful manga-esque work in the early Dream Pod 9 books. This is his doodles page, and he is quite prolific about it. The side links have introduced me to a whole range of artists. Also checkout his side project, The Book of Aliens: http://bookofaliens.blogspot.com/

Random Acts of Reality: http://randomreality.blogware.com/blog

Tom Reynolds' ground-breaking blog about his life and times in the London Ambulance Service. Possibly the most famous UK blog. A genuine rollercoaster ride through the issues facing the service, but London and the wider population as well.

T.

Doodleblog

Fri, 30 May 2008 21:11:07 GMT

http://v1doodleblog.blogspot.com/

This is Chazymyr's new blog, the successor to 'For Yourself.' Her art is cool, and her comments just as astute as ever.

T.

Writer's Block: Home Alone

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 15:23:03 GMT

What happened the first time you were left home alone as a child?

View 503 Answers

It was much more normal in the seventies, when I was a kid. I loved it, it was an awakening for me. I was scared of everything, but I hardly ever felt lonely. My mother would happily leave me alone when she went to the shops while my father was at work. I was hardly ever babysat.

That day, I just played out in the sun all day. We had a big back garden that looked out across Royal Meadow to the railway line. I just played and waved at the trains in the distance. It was a magical time.

T.

Change

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 15:16:40 GMT

"Change means movement. Movement causes friction." Saul Alinsky, 1909-1972

Tomorrow, I start my new job. Same place, same people, just different work. I've been asked to consider applying for the role when it goes permanent next month. I'm sure I will.

This means a substantial career change. No longer will an admin job be just a fill in until I get more VFX work. It will be the mainstay of my working life. I'm scared. It's like standing in line for a rollercoaster ride. I want the ride, but at the same time I'm apprehensive about what it will be like.

It hasn't been a great weekend; in fact, it's been pretty bad. But that's OK. It's OK because I have depression, and that means that there will be bad days. As Ogrek said last night, "That means there doesn't have to be a good reason for a bad day."

I live with depression, and have done so for more than 25 years. That is changing, I have made changes to my life that have reduced my SI to a manageable level, and I am starting to find other ways to cope with the feelings. I am not taking any more drastic solutions; no big leaps.

I'm starting to sleep again, but I have more nightmares than before. Some of them are truly disturbing, haunting me through the next day. Friday night I woke up twice. Both times with my nails digging into my palms. I don't remember the dream, though.

T.

Playing 'House'

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:27:24 GMT

It's five-to-six on Friday afternoon. Back last Sunday, I felt an od sensation in my head and fell over. This happened again later on, and then all through Monday. On Tuesday morning, I'd had enough and headed for the Doctor's.

The second GP surgery I went to (I'll blog about the first one another time) dealt with me very professionally. They sorted me an appointment ASAP, passed my symptoms to the GP (this has never happened for me before, receptionists never ask or pass messages like this) and let me turn up rather early - because I told them I wanted to make it while I could stand.

The GP was puzzled, she rang the hospital for advice, then sat me back in the waiting room awaiting an ambulance to Weston General Hospital. The Ambulance (St John) crew were great, even if they were having to put up with playing Big White Taxi to a confused patient. En route we picked up a RTC patient who had been knocked off her scooter near the hospital.

I spent the rest of the day at the ATC (Assessment and Treatment Centre?) being examined by 'medics', 'orthopods' and surgeons. I was admitted about 8pm that night. Thus began 3 days on Uphill ward.

The problem was that I was missing a symptom. I had:

Pressure at the top of the spine
Chill in the same area
Sudden weakness in my limbs

If you add dizzyness and nausea to this, it becomes simple to diagnose and fairly easy to treat. It's either inner ear, or low blood-pressure. My blood-pressure is pretty low anyway, though still safe, and my hearing is a bit screwed-up with hyperacusis. There was only one problem...I wasn't getting dizzy or nauseous.

Hence, three days of an experience aptly portrayed by the TV series 'House'

More later...too tired at the mo.

Dave

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 09:52:10 GMT

Your name is Dave. You claim to be a supporter of Liverpool FC. On Saturday, you walked into the pub you call your local, to watch Liverpool play Sunderland. But the pub was showing England v Wales Rugby Union. You told, not asked, but told the barman to change the channel so you could watch the football. The barman refused. He told you that there were people, including other regular customers watching the Rugby.

For the next twenty minutes, you hurled abuse and threats at the barman. You threatened to assault the barman, the throw the TV through the window, to assault other customers. You insisted that the big TV in the pub was only for watching football. The barman and the customers disagreed. But eventually, with the barman telling the other customers that he feared for his life - FOR HIS LIFE - if he kept refusing you, the others acquiesed and went to the pub down the road to watch the second half.

As they left, you threatened to beat them up again. By this time your mates were there, so you felt safe. You continued to abuse the barman all this time, even after getting your own way. Your mates, eventually calmed you down. Everything you did in that pub is unnacceptable in British society. But you claim to be British. You are an ordinary white male. You drink cider, with a slice. You sport your LFC hat with something you think of as pride.

You are a violent thug. Don't imagine for a second that any Liverpool player would feel honoured by your behaviour on Saturday.

After the match, the people you threatened came back. They chatted with Wales fans they'd met in the other pub. They congratulated them on Wales' victory. This is what sports fans do in Britain. They watch and enjoy sport. They leave any umburrage on the field, at Twickenham or Anfield. They respect each other.

But we have one thing to thank you for...

The landlord returned to the pub later on. He apologised to the other customers for what had happened. He assured them that it was not acceptable in his pub.

You had a go at him too. So he told the whole pub, that he would show every Six Nations rugby match live. Those who didn't like it were free to go somewhere else.

You threw a snit and left. Thank you for securing us the right to watch good rugby in a good pub.

T.

50 SF/F Books List - Cribbed from PhoenixAndy

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:38:43 GMT

Bold the ones you've read
Strike-out the ones you hated
Italicize those you started but never finished
**and put an asterisk beside the ones you loved.
(underline those on bookshelf in the nearish future piles)

~~1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien~~
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
3. Dune, Frank Herbert
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
**6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
**12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
~~21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey~~
22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling
27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
**37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute (love the Australian TV version)
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

Andy Olmsted

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 09:48:51 GMT

http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2008/01/andy-olmsted.html?cid=95886692

Andy Olmsted died in Iraq recently. He was a US Army Reservist. This is the post he left with Obsidian Wings, to be published in the event of his death.

RIP

T.

Stargate

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 21:15:02 GMT

It's my first SG LRP event for nearly two years. Tomorrow should be a cool event. More than that, I'll see Smokey, Broz and co for the first time in nearly two years two.

More Moves

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 21:11:49 GMT

The move didn't quite go to plan. No van, which has left Ogrek's car, Alli-Kat's car and Ogrek and Chazymyr's spare room stuffed with my stuff. So the two carloads go to the cube tomorrow morning.

Ah well, I guess that's my free week used.

T.

Back to Work

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 20:16:37 GMT

Sometimes I regret not staying in academia. Usually just after new year, when I go back to work. FGW excelled themselves again, a 'lack of serviceable rolling stock' gave us single carriage trains from Yate to WSM. Still, work was fun. Hazel, the Yate AHO manager brought in her birthday cakes, and they'll be more from her team this week. Three people out a team of 6 have birthdays this week!

And I helped someone. I got her the call that told her she was off her four-month wait for a house. That made my day.

T.

Happy New Year

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 10:54:19 GMT

Moving house today...

Russell

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 10:52:18 GMT

His name is Russell.

According to an overheard row at Bristol Temple Meads station yesterday morning, Russell is one of a half dozen members of the station's NYE staff who decided to call in sick because they didn't get the day off.

This meant that trains got cancelled.

FGW has a pretty crap record at the mo. One line had 27 trains cancelled the other week. The Bristol to Cheltenham route gets lots of cancellations and delays. I travel Bristol to Yate daily. This service is hourly, and Yate is an unmanned station. Screw-ups only come to light by ringing the National Rail number. They cock-up, I pay.

People like Russell really piss me off. They live their lives in a bubble, and regard everyone else as nobody. If they want a day off, then any problems that causes, tough. If they can't gat the day off, they just pull a sickie instead. The railway unions are so ferocious, that disciplining malingerers and the lazy is next to impossible, so they become the role models. The cycle continues.

If Russell really was sick, and I don't mean just hungover, then that's one thing. But the staff in the argument didn't seem to think so.

Oh well.

T.