So... what's new in the world of //ƒuƶƶy[løgic]?
Well, today was the last day in a temping assignment that started last year... I was almost on my own in the office, and kept quite busy managing a potential disaster that occurred as a result of a misunderstanding at the Printers. The returning mum - whose maternity leave I had been covering - had been absent from the office for the last few days because her baby has been unwell (getting unwell is basically what babies do, after all), and there's no certainty that she'll be back on Monday... But I won't be there either way... I'll be taking a well-earned break. I'm intending to write a bit of a rant about the job - certainly some events from the last few months, at least - but that can wait. I am genuinely sad to leave... the work has been fun and, by and large, I like the people there... but the company as a whole is a little bit nutty.
Today is also a demi-anniversary... I know I haven't said much about my successful dating on this blog, and that is likely to continue to be the case... Still, six months, eh? I somehow resisted the urge to post something 'subtle' on Facebook. Then again, I dislike Facebook, and try to keep my interactions with it to a minimum anyway.
So now I'm free to do my own stuff for a bit, and happily in a relationship. Nice coincidence.
In weird news, I almost bumped into another actor recently... While strolling to the station on the way home from work, Douglas frickin' Henshall wandered along the road right in front of me. This sort of thing hasn't happened since I worked in Notting Hill Gate (when it was such a regular occurrence, it almost became passé... Though seeing an unshaven Charles Dance lugging around a pair of Sainsbury's carrier bags laden with groceries can surely never be truly passé) but I guess actors can occasionally be found near the great shopping streets of London... Especially where there are theatres nearby.
Then there's the strange dream I had, in which my girlfriend left my home (actually my parents' home in terms of the way it looked) in such a hurry, she left a whole load of stuff behind, and I had to go after her. Or the dream in which I sort of became Spider-Man (the Tobey Maguire/Internal Web Shooters version, rather than the Andrew Garfield/Truer-to-the-Comics version), escaping from some pursuers in a damp labyrinth by swinging up to a higher level using webbing that seemed to come out of my wrists.
And for the last few days I've been rather ill... I seem to have picked up some kind of stomach bug (and, going by the sound effects in the gents at the office, there's a lot of it going around) which has been most unpleasant, and is the reason for me being here, at home, blogging, rather than with my girlfriend, celebrating six completely amazing months (or more, were we to include the full length of time we've known each other).
If my stomach doesn't clear up over the weekend, I shall be visiting my GP first thing on Monday... Really don't want illness getting in the way of my doing stuff with all this free time I have now...
Friday, 7 June 2013
Monday, 27 May 2013
Trekking On, Geeking Out
I took my folks and girlfriend to see the new Star Trek movie, Into Darkness, on Saturday evening. It's certainly an enjoyable movie - virtually non-stop action the whole way through - but with some decent twists to keep the audience engaged on a more than visceral level. It was just as full of eye-scorching lens flare as the first, but it felt as though they'd toned down somewhat on the humour.
This new, young Kirk is puzzling. At times, he's as whiny as one of the crew from the TV series Star Trek: Enterprise, and some of his bickering exchanges with Spock made me wonder how he's ever going to become the bold, heroic Kirk of the original Star Trek... but that's kinda the point, I guess: he isn't.
A couple of things struck me in the negative column. First and foremost is the scale of the USS Enterprise. Considering the size of its shuttle bay, and the shuttles within, there's just no way it could accommodate an 'engine room' of the size it seems to have - it would take up the rest of the ship and more. Then, it appears to be positioned between the shuttle bay at the rear and the dish-thing at the front, meaning that people - such as John Harrison in this movie - are paraded through the engine room to get them, for example, to the brig. I'm also a little dubious about a ship like the Enterprise being capable to flying in-atmosphere. Weird enough that Star Fleet's shipyard was on Earth in the first movie, this one has the Enterprise 'hiding' in the ocean right at the start... so, not only does it fly in an alien planet's atmosphere, but it parks itself underwater, then flies itself out again before leaving the atmosphere. Given the construction of the ship, I'd agree with Scottie, that hiding underwater was ridiculous. There's also a massive deus ex machina that cheapens the protagonists' success, and connects this movie to Abrams' original in a way that was unnecessary (given a decent story which, for the most part, this had) and made things far too convenient.
In the plus column (kinda) it's continuing the traditions of Kirk getting the crap kicked out of him at every opportunity, Spock being pretty handy in a fist-fight, and Uhura doing a bit more than connecting phone calls.
Then, in the 'I'm not quite sure' column, it didn't so much reference one of the original Star Trek movies as lift scenes and dialogue, almost verbatim, just switching a few characters around.
On balance, though, I really liked it... It'll be interesting to see if Abrams continues with Trek while also working on Star Wars (wouldn't it be cool to have the series releasing one movie every alternate year? Though that would probably leave Abrams exhausted after a couple of each).
Yesterday, I spent the first half of the day at the MCM London Comic Con (nee The London Expo) at ExCel. It gets bigger each time I go... and yet it's never quite big enough. Attendance was far higher than I'd expected for a Sunday, so the place was almost unbearably crowded at times (despite another hall being opened up as an additional lunch area, people still flooded the main drag), even though there were still more people (Cosplayer, in the main) larking about in front of the ExCeL centre. Supposedly, for future events, they're basically going to occupy the entire centre, with the front and back entrances to the building being the entrances to the show (where you buy tickets or present your pre-booked tickets), and all the halls open from the start. This would put it on a par with Memorabilia, at which I've never had to queue - or wait - for entrance, even when buying tickets on the day.
On the retail front, it was very good... and yet also disappointing. I managed to nab a videogame-related statuette that I've been coveting for years, and one third-party transforming robot toy. Beast Hunters was certainly in evidence (on one stand, anyway), but the prices weren't great (£16 for a deluxe!), and the range was much reduced. Since I expect the toy range to turn up in the shops any day now, I wasn't tempted to get anything that was available there... though my decision may have been different if they'd had the one particular character I was keen to get my hands on.
I also got a bunch of t-shirts and a mug from Genki Gear, and the old friend who'd accompanied me got me an Optimus Prime t-shirt - basically a red t-shirt with a depiction of the Autobot leader's chest - for my birthday.
One thing that's getting rather weird is the cross-pollination between Collectormania, Memorabilia and the MCM Comic Cons, specifically in the 'star guests'. The former was always rather random, including stars from TV, movies, sports... and glamour modelling. This now seems to be bleeding into the MCM Comic Cons. Consider that title - Comic Con - and decide for yourself how appropriate or fitting that is.
This new, young Kirk is puzzling. At times, he's as whiny as one of the crew from the TV series Star Trek: Enterprise, and some of his bickering exchanges with Spock made me wonder how he's ever going to become the bold, heroic Kirk of the original Star Trek... but that's kinda the point, I guess: he isn't.
A couple of things struck me in the negative column. First and foremost is the scale of the USS Enterprise. Considering the size of its shuttle bay, and the shuttles within, there's just no way it could accommodate an 'engine room' of the size it seems to have - it would take up the rest of the ship and more. Then, it appears to be positioned between the shuttle bay at the rear and the dish-thing at the front, meaning that people - such as John Harrison in this movie - are paraded through the engine room to get them, for example, to the brig. I'm also a little dubious about a ship like the Enterprise being capable to flying in-atmosphere. Weird enough that Star Fleet's shipyard was on Earth in the first movie, this one has the Enterprise 'hiding' in the ocean right at the start... so, not only does it fly in an alien planet's atmosphere, but it parks itself underwater, then flies itself out again before leaving the atmosphere. Given the construction of the ship, I'd agree with Scottie, that hiding underwater was ridiculous. There's also a massive deus ex machina that cheapens the protagonists' success, and connects this movie to Abrams' original in a way that was unnecessary (given a decent story which, for the most part, this had) and made things far too convenient.
In the plus column (kinda) it's continuing the traditions of Kirk getting the crap kicked out of him at every opportunity, Spock being pretty handy in a fist-fight, and Uhura doing a bit more than connecting phone calls.
Then, in the 'I'm not quite sure' column, it didn't so much reference one of the original Star Trek movies as lift scenes and dialogue, almost verbatim, just switching a few characters around.
On balance, though, I really liked it... It'll be interesting to see if Abrams continues with Trek while also working on Star Wars (wouldn't it be cool to have the series releasing one movie every alternate year? Though that would probably leave Abrams exhausted after a couple of each).
Yesterday, I spent the first half of the day at the MCM London Comic Con (nee The London Expo) at ExCel. It gets bigger each time I go... and yet it's never quite big enough. Attendance was far higher than I'd expected for a Sunday, so the place was almost unbearably crowded at times (despite another hall being opened up as an additional lunch area, people still flooded the main drag), even though there were still more people (Cosplayer, in the main) larking about in front of the ExCeL centre. Supposedly, for future events, they're basically going to occupy the entire centre, with the front and back entrances to the building being the entrances to the show (where you buy tickets or present your pre-booked tickets), and all the halls open from the start. This would put it on a par with Memorabilia, at which I've never had to queue - or wait - for entrance, even when buying tickets on the day.
On the retail front, it was very good... and yet also disappointing. I managed to nab a videogame-related statuette that I've been coveting for years, and one third-party transforming robot toy. Beast Hunters was certainly in evidence (on one stand, anyway), but the prices weren't great (£16 for a deluxe!), and the range was much reduced. Since I expect the toy range to turn up in the shops any day now, I wasn't tempted to get anything that was available there... though my decision may have been different if they'd had the one particular character I was keen to get my hands on.
I also got a bunch of t-shirts and a mug from Genki Gear, and the old friend who'd accompanied me got me an Optimus Prime t-shirt - basically a red t-shirt with a depiction of the Autobot leader's chest - for my birthday.
One thing that's getting rather weird is the cross-pollination between Collectormania, Memorabilia and the MCM Comic Cons, specifically in the 'star guests'. The former was always rather random, including stars from TV, movies, sports... and glamour modelling. This now seems to be bleeding into the MCM Comic Cons. Consider that title - Comic Con - and decide for yourself how appropriate or fitting that is.
Saturday, 25 May 2013
About Things
Another mostly random stream-of-consciousness post, which could be excruciatingly dull or slightly entertaining... Hmm... Let's see where this goes.
Starting with work... My current assignment ends in about two weeks, and I'm still in two minds about it all. On the one hand, it feels too soon (I keep picturing David Tennant's excruciating "I don't want to go..." from his final Doctor Who appearance (yeah, I know, till the special later this year...) but it's unlikely I'll start spewing out regeneration energy and become a different person on that day. Well, not a physically different person. For a while, at least, I'll be a gentleman of leisure, able to do whatever I want, whenever I want... as long as I have money enough to cover it. Once the novelty of not having to get up for work wears off, I'll likely be hit by a wave of apathy, and I'm not sure how that'll work now that I'm dating. I'm hoping it'll be possible to just put it aside and get on with things, the way it's been when she and I spend a weekend together (certain other blog projects have been far more productive - almost regularly so - while the two of us sit around working on our separate things for a few hours a day).
I'm also hoping that the period of 'rest' will not be indefinite. I've finally heard back from a new agency, recommended to me by a friend. Took almost two weeks, which just ain't impressive, but apparently their clients offer quite stupidly high day rates, which can only be a good thing. If I can get the next job lined up quickly, I'll have less to worry about.
I've had the sense that my current employers really are keen to hang on to me, and that I may have shot myself in the foot somewhat. In pointing out that more of my time is spent on things other than my regular monthly title, it has become less likely that anyone would think to employ a separate body (or me, specifically) to work on these 'other' projects. Hey ho.
There have been lots of discussions about how things are going to work (or, more often, how they're really just not going to work) when the maternity-leaver returns, and it sounds as though a whole new system will be created to take certain company politics into account. Elsewhere, there are discussions about the myriad other ways the situation could be fixed but, naturally, the higher-ups just don't want to know. They're too busy with their knee-jerk reactions.
It's this kind of thing - and the hopeless lack of organisational skills exhibited by some folks in other departments - that leaves me feeling that I'll be glad to get out of there. It'll have been almost a full five months on this run, with only a couple of half-day holidays to deal with the ants in my flat. It's been mostly fun, and I rather like the people I'm working with... but some of their office-inappropriate conversations have been getting on my nerves a little...
Still, it seems that my concerns about being unable to return to office work for an extended period were unfounded.
It occurs to me that I could probably add to my last post about Doctor Who by writing a little bit about this series in general and, perhaps, the finale. It's true to say it's had it's ups and downs. Clara's introductory episode (the proper one, 'The Bells of St John') was a bit random and a bit clichéd... or at least unoriginal. It seemed to be setting up something big, connected to the Christmas special which preceded it. If that's the case, even the series finale didn't really explore it thoroughly... It's almost as if we're in for another two-series arc, like 'The Girl Who Waited'. That's no bad thing, and I'd welcome Richard E. Grant returning as the disembodied villain for a third (fourth?) time... but I am beginning to feel that Moffat is stretching his arcs to the point where they're barely curved, and filling in each series with gradually patchier standalone stories.
They haven't been terrible, though... still nothing to rival the majority of RTD's run and, as always, my major complaint is that they need more time to develop the stories and get the most out of the characters and situations. I honestly think that, at this point in the series, it should switch format so we have two or three stories per year, each of three to five episodes.
That said, certain specific episodes from this series probably wouldn't benefit from such treatment. 'The Rings of Akhaten' harked back to the David Tennant era, not least because of the Doctor's grand oration toward the end, and his 'self-sacrifice' seemed like a direct lift from Torchwood's series 1 finale. 'Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS', meanwhile, was a tight story, that would just have become flabby if it had been extended.
'Cold War', hopefully heralding the return of the Ice Warriors, was similarly tight - not to say claustrophobic - but it might have been interesting to explore the Grand Marshall in a little more detail (perhaps explaining his relationship with the Doctor, since it was clearly intimated they knew each other... was this a reference to Classic Who?), not to mention the terrestrial Cold War politics... and also the vague similarity to The Thing, in that the 'monster' was brought aboard the submarine encased in ice.
'The Crimson Horror' desperately needed another hour or two to fully explore what was happening, from the mysterious Mr. Sweet' to the strange, almost Stepfordesque gated community of Sweetville. There was potential for cliff hangers aplenty, but the single episode format didn't allow for such luxuries.
Neil Gaiman's second episode, 'Nightmare in Silver' could have squeezed in far more tension with another hour, since the newly-upgraded Cybermen didn't really get to do very much... Though I'd imagine they'll return soon enough.
The finale left me a little nonplussed. Certain bits I liked, certain bits didn't make a whole lot of sense. Tying it all in with Classic Who was pretty cute, especially with this being the 50th Anniversary year but, ultimately, it was another finale where Moffat teased a lot, and delivered surprisingly little. One of these days, he's going to have to start properly answering some of the questions he opens up... but I can live with not knowing the Doctor's actual name...
And John Hurt's appearance? Well... I was speechless for all of about three seconds, then said - out loud - "You're shitting me". If the captions are to be believed (and one never knows with Moffat), this is an amazing coup, and I can't wait to see more. Weird thing is, it seems to pin Moffat down and force him into an explanation of something important, though we don't yet know what that important thing is. Some have theorised that it's to do with the Time War that 'destroyed' Gallifrey... but, to me, that seems unlikely since those events, we are given to believe, occurred before Ecclestones' turn as the Doctor... but this is a show about Time Travel, so anything's possible.
In other news, I had a rather bonkers dream last night, which started out in a large, sprawling shopping centre which seemed to have been built in a rather hilly area without first levelling the terrain. The main drag through the shopping centre twisted and turned, went up and down small hills... Reaching the centre point and looking back the way I'd come, it almost looked like the sort of landscape that occurs in the more contemporary Japanese RPGs like the increasingly inaccurately named Final Fantasy series or Xenoblade (particularly the field on Bionis' leg). It appeared that I was there to meet my girlfriend, and I had a rather uncomfortable time trying to separate myself from a guy who'd started talking to me along the way... ending up claiming that I'd walked past where I'd intended to go, just so I could walk the opposite way for a few minutes, thereby getting away from him.
And when I met up with my girlfriend, we were accosted by a comically Italian older gentleman, who claimed to have been under some enchantment which my girlfriend had broken. He believed, therefore, that this was evidence of further fairy tale shenanigens. When my girlfriend started talking about her 'burnt-out wreck' of an ex, it began to seem that I'd been sidelined, and it slowly dawned on me that she was talking about a very recent ex-... like, only ex- for a few moments... as in me.
When I queried this with her, she confessed to feeling that it was over between us - I don't remember the specifics, but it all sounded pretty reasonable - so I hugged her, wished her well... and half-jokingly threatened to do her harm if she ever referred to me as a 'burnt-out wreck' again.
Which brings us to this very weekend... which is pretty busy. Well, comparatively busy. While I'm just going to be doing personal stuff for most of today, I'm taking my girlfriend and folks to see the new Star Trek movie tonight, then going to the London Expo (MCM Comic Con London) with an old mate tomorrow, and probably to a concert on Monday. This could be another of those weekends that actually feels like a proper holiday...
...But we shall see...
Starting with work... My current assignment ends in about two weeks, and I'm still in two minds about it all. On the one hand, it feels too soon (I keep picturing David Tennant's excruciating "I don't want to go..." from his final Doctor Who appearance (yeah, I know, till the special later this year...) but it's unlikely I'll start spewing out regeneration energy and become a different person on that day. Well, not a physically different person. For a while, at least, I'll be a gentleman of leisure, able to do whatever I want, whenever I want... as long as I have money enough to cover it. Once the novelty of not having to get up for work wears off, I'll likely be hit by a wave of apathy, and I'm not sure how that'll work now that I'm dating. I'm hoping it'll be possible to just put it aside and get on with things, the way it's been when she and I spend a weekend together (certain other blog projects have been far more productive - almost regularly so - while the two of us sit around working on our separate things for a few hours a day).
I'm also hoping that the period of 'rest' will not be indefinite. I've finally heard back from a new agency, recommended to me by a friend. Took almost two weeks, which just ain't impressive, but apparently their clients offer quite stupidly high day rates, which can only be a good thing. If I can get the next job lined up quickly, I'll have less to worry about.
I've had the sense that my current employers really are keen to hang on to me, and that I may have shot myself in the foot somewhat. In pointing out that more of my time is spent on things other than my regular monthly title, it has become less likely that anyone would think to employ a separate body (or me, specifically) to work on these 'other' projects. Hey ho.
There have been lots of discussions about how things are going to work (or, more often, how they're really just not going to work) when the maternity-leaver returns, and it sounds as though a whole new system will be created to take certain company politics into account. Elsewhere, there are discussions about the myriad other ways the situation could be fixed but, naturally, the higher-ups just don't want to know. They're too busy with their knee-jerk reactions.
It's this kind of thing - and the hopeless lack of organisational skills exhibited by some folks in other departments - that leaves me feeling that I'll be glad to get out of there. It'll have been almost a full five months on this run, with only a couple of half-day holidays to deal with the ants in my flat. It's been mostly fun, and I rather like the people I'm working with... but some of their office-inappropriate conversations have been getting on my nerves a little...
Still, it seems that my concerns about being unable to return to office work for an extended period were unfounded.
It occurs to me that I could probably add to my last post about Doctor Who by writing a little bit about this series in general and, perhaps, the finale. It's true to say it's had it's ups and downs. Clara's introductory episode (the proper one, 'The Bells of St John') was a bit random and a bit clichéd... or at least unoriginal. It seemed to be setting up something big, connected to the Christmas special which preceded it. If that's the case, even the series finale didn't really explore it thoroughly... It's almost as if we're in for another two-series arc, like 'The Girl Who Waited'. That's no bad thing, and I'd welcome Richard E. Grant returning as the disembodied villain for a third (fourth?) time... but I am beginning to feel that Moffat is stretching his arcs to the point where they're barely curved, and filling in each series with gradually patchier standalone stories.
They haven't been terrible, though... still nothing to rival the majority of RTD's run and, as always, my major complaint is that they need more time to develop the stories and get the most out of the characters and situations. I honestly think that, at this point in the series, it should switch format so we have two or three stories per year, each of three to five episodes.
That said, certain specific episodes from this series probably wouldn't benefit from such treatment. 'The Rings of Akhaten' harked back to the David Tennant era, not least because of the Doctor's grand oration toward the end, and his 'self-sacrifice' seemed like a direct lift from Torchwood's series 1 finale. 'Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS', meanwhile, was a tight story, that would just have become flabby if it had been extended.
'Cold War', hopefully heralding the return of the Ice Warriors, was similarly tight - not to say claustrophobic - but it might have been interesting to explore the Grand Marshall in a little more detail (perhaps explaining his relationship with the Doctor, since it was clearly intimated they knew each other... was this a reference to Classic Who?), not to mention the terrestrial Cold War politics... and also the vague similarity to The Thing, in that the 'monster' was brought aboard the submarine encased in ice.
'The Crimson Horror' desperately needed another hour or two to fully explore what was happening, from the mysterious Mr. Sweet' to the strange, almost Stepfordesque gated community of Sweetville. There was potential for cliff hangers aplenty, but the single episode format didn't allow for such luxuries.
Neil Gaiman's second episode, 'Nightmare in Silver' could have squeezed in far more tension with another hour, since the newly-upgraded Cybermen didn't really get to do very much... Though I'd imagine they'll return soon enough.
The finale left me a little nonplussed. Certain bits I liked, certain bits didn't make a whole lot of sense. Tying it all in with Classic Who was pretty cute, especially with this being the 50th Anniversary year but, ultimately, it was another finale where Moffat teased a lot, and delivered surprisingly little. One of these days, he's going to have to start properly answering some of the questions he opens up... but I can live with not knowing the Doctor's actual name...
And John Hurt's appearance? Well... I was speechless for all of about three seconds, then said - out loud - "You're shitting me". If the captions are to be believed (and one never knows with Moffat), this is an amazing coup, and I can't wait to see more. Weird thing is, it seems to pin Moffat down and force him into an explanation of something important, though we don't yet know what that important thing is. Some have theorised that it's to do with the Time War that 'destroyed' Gallifrey... but, to me, that seems unlikely since those events, we are given to believe, occurred before Ecclestones' turn as the Doctor... but this is a show about Time Travel, so anything's possible.
In other news, I had a rather bonkers dream last night, which started out in a large, sprawling shopping centre which seemed to have been built in a rather hilly area without first levelling the terrain. The main drag through the shopping centre twisted and turned, went up and down small hills... Reaching the centre point and looking back the way I'd come, it almost looked like the sort of landscape that occurs in the more contemporary Japanese RPGs like the increasingly inaccurately named Final Fantasy series or Xenoblade (particularly the field on Bionis' leg). It appeared that I was there to meet my girlfriend, and I had a rather uncomfortable time trying to separate myself from a guy who'd started talking to me along the way... ending up claiming that I'd walked past where I'd intended to go, just so I could walk the opposite way for a few minutes, thereby getting away from him.
And when I met up with my girlfriend, we were accosted by a comically Italian older gentleman, who claimed to have been under some enchantment which my girlfriend had broken. He believed, therefore, that this was evidence of further fairy tale shenanigens. When my girlfriend started talking about her 'burnt-out wreck' of an ex, it began to seem that I'd been sidelined, and it slowly dawned on me that she was talking about a very recent ex-... like, only ex- for a few moments... as in me.
When I queried this with her, she confessed to feeling that it was over between us - I don't remember the specifics, but it all sounded pretty reasonable - so I hugged her, wished her well... and half-jokingly threatened to do her harm if she ever referred to me as a 'burnt-out wreck' again.
Which brings us to this very weekend... which is pretty busy. Well, comparatively busy. While I'm just going to be doing personal stuff for most of today, I'm taking my girlfriend and folks to see the new Star Trek movie tonight, then going to the London Expo (MCM Comic Con London) with an old mate tomorrow, and probably to a concert on Monday. This could be another of those weekends that actually feels like a proper holiday...
...But we shall see...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)