Carrying on my habit of watching crappy horror movies, I turned in to the execrable Shark Swarm. Several well known cast members - John Schneider, Daryll Hannah, F. Murray Abraham and Armanda Assante - were very much slumming it, running on autopilot through a dull, predictable script written around the scientifically dubious concept of sharks being turned into pack-hunting monsters by a Property Developer's deliberate chemical dump. His devious plan was that, by polluting the local sea and killing off the local fishing industry, he'd force the local yokels to sell their prime, beachfront properties so he could redevelop the area into posh condos.
Ignoring the flawed logic (that which kills the fish is liable to do more than just turn the sharks into aquatic zombies, and could prove harmful to humans, thereby rendering the prime, beachfront property a bit of a deathtrap on far too many levels), the film was basically crap. Everything ran by the numbers, dialogue was utterly trite, the introduction of a super weapon capable of fending off zombified sharks was just plain silly, and the lesser-known actors were terrible.
And the climax of the film, where the sharks - having devoured all the bad guys - take it upon themselves to disappear back out into the open ocean (actually quite a worrying thought, considering they had essentially become zombie sharks) rather than hang around the established larder, made no sense at all.
Far better was Deathwatch, a horror movie set in the trenches of World War I. War isn't enough of a horror anymore? Evidently not, as the German-occupied trenches the Tommies happen across is also inhabited by... Evil. Cue people getting pierced by barbed wire, dragged down into the mud, shooting each other due to hallucinations... So far, so accurate description of the realities of war back in those unenlightened times... But the barbed wire in Deathwatch is... Alive! And people get literally dragged below ground by... Malevolent Forces!
The ending was just a little bit clichéd - good-guy Tommy (played by Jamie Bell) is allowed to leave because he tried to rescue the German soldier/Embodiment of the Malevolent Force from his slightly unhinged compatriots. He disappears off into the mists, while the 'German soldier' remains in his trench, only to capture/be captured by another bunch of British soldiers, implying the whole thing is about to start over again.
I was quite impressed, overall... Not least by the genius line, spoken with the perfect tone of incredulity by Lawrence Fox as the Captain, when one of the soldiers pleads with him not to go after the nutter of the troop (played by a suspiciously typecast Andy Serkis): "I'm an officer." Deathwatch even features that guy from the current BT adverts. Though the less said about what he gets up to, the better.
On the subject of movies, I picked up TransFormers: Revenge of the Fallen recently, and also watched that yesterday... Gotta say, it doesn't stand up to repeat viewings. The plot was paper thin the first time, and the comedy fell quite flat most of the way through. I actually fell asleep through a fair portion of the Egypt section, from shortly after the heroes' arrival by Space Bridge, to the Decepticons' hunt for Sam and Mikaela in the ruins.
While I liked that the robots got more screen time in this one, they were playing second fiddle to the story of a boy striking out on his own... and it was particularly jarring watching the film at home. Worse still, having seen the early drafts of some CG scenes in the Extras, it's all the more obvious that Jolt was tacked in at the end to advertise a car.
Today, I popped over to Harrow to make a proper start on my Christmas shopping. It didn't go as well as I'd hoped and, to be honest, I could easily have come away with more presents for myself than for my family. Some presents require a little more research... More options are available than were first considered.
I did pick up a new watch (the strap on my old one was gradually being eroded) a new wallet (the coin section's zip broke on my old one - the new one doesn't have a zip!) - and a new bathmat, which came with a matching mat for the toilet.
Strangely, there were more clothes that caught my eye than there were last time I went out with the intention of buying some new clothes... but I did not pick anything up this time.
Not much else done this weekend... I got a fair bit done, all told, it just doesn't feel like much.
Oh well... Let's see how the week goes...
Sunday, 6 December 2009
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
A Further Meditation on The Passing of Time
Seriously, where did the last 35 and a half years go?
I find it unfathomable that, back in my younger days, I felt that life moved slowly... and that I had time to be bored in.
Whether life has accelerated further now that I'm living on my own, I don't know... but it certainly takes quite a lot of structure out of my personal universe, and that makes it very difficult to accurately/adequately follow the passing of time. Things that happened months ago seem like just yesterday.
Half the time, at the moment, I'm not entirely sure what day it is, because the print schedule at work is so cock-eyed and compressed in an effort to close all the January magazines before we break for Christmas. Which magazine am I working on now?
Actually, right now, I'm not... I'm stuck dealing with web ads, in a new system that I saw a demo of back in March, with the assurance that it'd be launched within a couple of months. It was lauched mid-November.
It's far easier to get everything done in this new system, but porting over information from our old Copy Control system to the new is a real chore. It's basically duplicating work just so I can upload ads. It's rather silly.
It would help if the Copy Controller operating this system had two brain cells to rub together, and could comprehend that a list of ads missing critical information like... ooh, just of the top of my head, the web address the ad is supposed to link to, is an utterly useless list of ads. It also lists ALL of the ads, individually, as being 'for December'.
I fucking know they're December ads... that's the month they're booked IN. I need to know what month they're booked TILL.
A small fraction of them list what state the ad is in... and I know they're not all done because some of them are missing.
Rocket Science, anyone?
This went so much more smoothly when I did everything, but I have been instructed that continuing with that method is not an option.
Nor is my proposed alternative, that that whole thing is operated by A.N. Other single person, working 2 days a week (if that, with the new system) for the same money I'm getting for 'managing'... Which I can't adequately do because I'm already 'managing' 5 magazines per month, and I'm not even managing them because I'm dealing with everyone else's critical lack of common sense and the capacity to use it.
There is something very wrong with a company that cannot take the best option presented to them for efficiently dealing with the work they do.
But, hey, that's my employers through and through.
I never even considered a career in this sort of thing, back when I first started in that little Pre-Press Bureau in Acton 16 years ago. It was just a way of getting out of the Dole queues, making a bit of money to squirrel away towards eventually buying a place of my own, or taking holidays.
Now I seem to be stuck with this career, because I haven't the faintest idea what else to do. Plenty of people tell me I have a good, transferrable skill set... but, seriously, whatever I do, I'm going to end up spending more time solving other people's problems than doing my own bloody job.
Wow... That could be an angsty whine worthy of Spider-Man.
Back when I was in school, all I wanted was to get involved in videogames... but then videogaming technology moved on to the point where I couldn't do what was needed, so that dream fizzled out...
I fell into a job that I could do very well... and that, frankly, I still enjoy doing... but I don't get the opportunity to do 'my job' because the people I work with are incompetent and brainless.
Am I repeating myself?
I watched Monsters Versus Aliens when I got in this evening - punctuated by a rather l o n g conversation with my mother about the state of my roof. Apparently it's quite obvious from Google Maps that something is very wrong with it. I spoke to the Managing Agents again today, and they were deeply apologetic that they cannot do anything yet because most of the flats haven't paid their service charge in a couple of years, and the fund is down to about £14.
Most of the flats are let, of course... so the occupants feel no obligation to pay. That'll be the Leaseholder's problem.
I may try to get the source of my leak fixed privately - with the Managing Agents'/Landlord's permission, of course - but it could easily be that the external source of the leak is nowhere near the hole in my bathroom ceiling...
Of course, it now turns out that several of the commercial units on the ground floor are complaining about leaks. The Managing Agent as replied by bluntly asking if that means they're now going to pay their share of the refit cost. Who knows, that might just work.
Erm. Back to Monsters Versus Aliens after that little sidetrack...
It's good... It had me giggling most of the way through, despite being full of clichéd characters and situations. Some of it was a little weak, but the voice acting was more than adequate. Unlike Shrek, there wasn't quite so much for the grown-ups in the audience, but it's an enjoyable enough yarn for the kids.
And I can't tell you how much I needed a giggle today...
More web ads tomorrow. Oh, the joy.
I find it unfathomable that, back in my younger days, I felt that life moved slowly... and that I had time to be bored in.
Whether life has accelerated further now that I'm living on my own, I don't know... but it certainly takes quite a lot of structure out of my personal universe, and that makes it very difficult to accurately/adequately follow the passing of time. Things that happened months ago seem like just yesterday.
Half the time, at the moment, I'm not entirely sure what day it is, because the print schedule at work is so cock-eyed and compressed in an effort to close all the January magazines before we break for Christmas. Which magazine am I working on now?
Actually, right now, I'm not... I'm stuck dealing with web ads, in a new system that I saw a demo of back in March, with the assurance that it'd be launched within a couple of months. It was lauched mid-November.
It's far easier to get everything done in this new system, but porting over information from our old Copy Control system to the new is a real chore. It's basically duplicating work just so I can upload ads. It's rather silly.
It would help if the Copy Controller operating this system had two brain cells to rub together, and could comprehend that a list of ads missing critical information like... ooh, just of the top of my head, the web address the ad is supposed to link to, is an utterly useless list of ads. It also lists ALL of the ads, individually, as being 'for December'.
I fucking know they're December ads... that's the month they're booked IN. I need to know what month they're booked TILL.
A small fraction of them list what state the ad is in... and I know they're not all done because some of them are missing.
Rocket Science, anyone?
This went so much more smoothly when I did everything, but I have been instructed that continuing with that method is not an option.
Nor is my proposed alternative, that that whole thing is operated by A.N. Other single person, working 2 days a week (if that, with the new system) for the same money I'm getting for 'managing'... Which I can't adequately do because I'm already 'managing' 5 magazines per month, and I'm not even managing them because I'm dealing with everyone else's critical lack of common sense and the capacity to use it.
There is something very wrong with a company that cannot take the best option presented to them for efficiently dealing with the work they do.
But, hey, that's my employers through and through.
I never even considered a career in this sort of thing, back when I first started in that little Pre-Press Bureau in Acton 16 years ago. It was just a way of getting out of the Dole queues, making a bit of money to squirrel away towards eventually buying a place of my own, or taking holidays.
Now I seem to be stuck with this career, because I haven't the faintest idea what else to do. Plenty of people tell me I have a good, transferrable skill set... but, seriously, whatever I do, I'm going to end up spending more time solving other people's problems than doing my own bloody job.
Wow... That could be an angsty whine worthy of Spider-Man.
Back when I was in school, all I wanted was to get involved in videogames... but then videogaming technology moved on to the point where I couldn't do what was needed, so that dream fizzled out...
I fell into a job that I could do very well... and that, frankly, I still enjoy doing... but I don't get the opportunity to do 'my job' because the people I work with are incompetent and brainless.
Am I repeating myself?
I watched Monsters Versus Aliens when I got in this evening - punctuated by a rather l o n g conversation with my mother about the state of my roof. Apparently it's quite obvious from Google Maps that something is very wrong with it. I spoke to the Managing Agents again today, and they were deeply apologetic that they cannot do anything yet because most of the flats haven't paid their service charge in a couple of years, and the fund is down to about £14.
Most of the flats are let, of course... so the occupants feel no obligation to pay. That'll be the Leaseholder's problem.
I may try to get the source of my leak fixed privately - with the Managing Agents'/Landlord's permission, of course - but it could easily be that the external source of the leak is nowhere near the hole in my bathroom ceiling...
Of course, it now turns out that several of the commercial units on the ground floor are complaining about leaks. The Managing Agent as replied by bluntly asking if that means they're now going to pay their share of the refit cost. Who knows, that might just work.
Erm. Back to Monsters Versus Aliens after that little sidetrack...
It's good... It had me giggling most of the way through, despite being full of clichéd characters and situations. Some of it was a little weak, but the voice acting was more than adequate. Unlike Shrek, there wasn't quite so much for the grown-ups in the audience, but it's an enjoyable enough yarn for the kids.
And I can't tell you how much I needed a giggle today...
More web ads tomorrow. Oh, the joy.
A Meditation on The Passing of Time
Fuck.
It's December.
Already.
In just over 29 days, it'll be 2010.
Fuck.
It's December.
Already.
In just over 29 days, it'll be 2010.
Fuck.
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