Films I've seen of late (Jan '18)

#1 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013)
An inauspicious start to my year of film watching admittedly. This sequel to the food-based animation (which I haven't seen BTW) is decent enough. The concept is kinda weird, but you probably need to see the original to truly get it. Some funny ideas and good performances (although it feels like some concepts have been ripped off other films) ... but forgettable all the same.
(6/10)

#2 Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
I revisited this after watching Infinity War, and enjoyed it more than the first time I saw it at the cinema. It's good to see the Avengers working properly together as a team, and good to see early threads of the Thanos storyline slowly coming together. Good clean fun.
(8/10)

#3 I, Daniel Blake (2016)
A worker with a heart condition is cruelly forced to look for work in order to receive money from the state, but the system is up against him even though he's done nothing wrong. This is a deeply distressing account of life on welfare in 21st century Britain, and tragically things don't seem to have improved since this film was made. The only glimmer of hope is the small moments of kindness and generosity that permeates this story from the ordinary men and women without any real power.
(9/10)

#4 The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
Based on the German stories from the 19th century, the titular Baron comes out of retirement – in the middle of a seige no less – to set the record straight about his wild and fantastical exploits. Notorious for its out-of-control budget, this final film in the unofficial 'imagination' trilogy of Terry Gilliam is full-on spectacle and weirdness with some great set pieces and memorable performances from the likes of Oliver Reed, Uma Thurman (in her first movie role) and Eric Idle.
(8/10)

#5 Bird box (2018)
Sandra Bullock takes on an unseen enemy in a world where demonic-like creatures have invaded the earth causing people to commit suicide if they see them. What could be a fairly by-the-numbers post-apocalyptic thriller is actually quite nuanced and moving as the heroine struggles to keep herself and her family alive in a world where they must cover their eyes whenever out in the open. A refreshing piece of work.
(8/10)

#6 Fyre (2019)
This documentary about the ill-fated festival is both tragic and hilarious. The sheer ignorance of the organisers about what it takes to run a successful festival is mind-boggling. Even so it's kind of funny to watch a load of millenials rock up to a building site in the Caribbean and effectively turn into cast members from Lord of the Flies because they have to sleep on water-soaked mattresses in disaster relief tents.
(8/10)

#7 Free Fire (2016)
Disappointing comedy thriller that starts well but ends up just being an extended shoot-out. Interesting idea and a great cast but it’s a one-trick pony with no depth.
(5/10)

#8 A Quiet Place (2018)
Aliens have invaded earth and their one weakness/strength is that they can only hunt their human prey using their highly-developed sense of hearing (so, what - they can't smell?). In the resultant post-apocalyptic world, a family struggles to survive whilst under the constant threat of these baddies coming along should the slightest loud noise be made. An interesting and well-crafted tale, its only letdown is the slightly flawed logic surrounding the beasties as well as the confusing choices made by some of the characters during the course of the film.
(6/10)

Orange Cardiff Buses - Yay!

A looooong time ago I blogged about Cardiff's buses and lamented the fact that they weren't orange anymore. They had become mostly green with a slight orangy bit somewhere and plastered with ads that made them roving billboards with people inside.

I'd always liked the fact that Cardiff's buses had a distinct colour (bright and highly visible), much like London's.

I have begun to notice, however, that the iconic orange bus has made a reappearance on our Cardiffian roads – which I am very pleased about. Here's a pic to prove it.

This week I have been mostly... wb 21/01/19

Week beginning 21/01/19

No. of evening meetings: 1
Films watched: 2
Healthy eating: Very Good (except for the weekend!)
Mental health: Good

This is my first diary entry of 2019 after a bit of a blog hiatus.

This week I have been mostly obsessing over kitchens, trying to think positive and mulling over work challenges.

We are in the process of getting a new kitchen. Our current one is literally falling apart and came with the house when we bought it ten years ago. I dread to think when it was actually installed.

Our loverly cupboards ... note the wrecked flooring too

Having been to a couple of kitchen vendors (I won't name names), I am astonished at the list price of a bunch of wooden panels cobbled together with screws and glue. Buying one without any discount will easily set you back tens of thousands of pounds, and yet when you haggle (which is never challenged) the quote is a fraction of that. There is something morally questionable about that, I feel. Thanks capitalism...!

I have started a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy course and it has been going well. The stuff we've looked at so far seems to centre around managing your thoughts and trying not to let your mind wander into a spiral of negativity. All good stuff, but not necessarily easy peasy in practice, especially when you start reading the news (yikes!). Still, I feel like just the act of going to a group sepcifically to help me wrestle with my low-level depression has helped enormously.

Work continues to be a challenge – not in the work itself but more the continual worry about where the next job is coming from. Last autumn I was pretty much out of work for two months and that meant we took a huge hit financially. Things have picked up since, but I really need to find a more secure extra stream of income to help us when things do slow down.

I am trying to write more short stories at the moment and will be posted them here in this blog – watch this space!

Hurry up with the self-driving cars already!

I occasionally get to drive rental cars because of work, which means I often drive different makes of car. I never get my hands on any luxury vehicles, though – none of that bourgeousie nonsense for me, oh no.

Usually they're mini cars like a Fiat 500 or small compacts like a Vauxhall Corsa i.e. cheap and chearful 'runabouts'. Even though they are cheap, they usually come with basic – but in my opinion vital – features like DAB radio, a USB connection, power steering, parking sensors and cruise control.

One thing, I've noticed, however, is that these cars can be really distracting – which is pretty dangerous.
 
I guess this applies mainly to rental cars, but when you first step inside a new car you have to familiarise yourself with all the different controls. Granted, the basic stuff – gear stick, wipers, indicators etc. – are usually pretty much the same whatever you end up driving. But when it comes to things like the climate controls or stereo system they're all completely different.

This is really annoying because you have to re-learn how to do something as simple as changing a radio station (because you do it in your own car all the time, it's second nature). Even if you spend some time getting to know your car's controls before setting off (something I often don't really have the luxury of having), it still means prodding a screen or twiddling knobs until you get used to them.

And that's the dangerous thing – you shouldn't be looking at a screen or down at the fan knob, you should be looking at the road. In that split second when you're trying to figure out where the DAB radio settings are, or trying to stop a gale force wind blasting your face, you could miss someone walking out into the street.

What's worse is that these controls are rarely intuitive. Entertainment systems often employ a UI that may look funky but is badly thought-through in terms of logic or clarity. I've even spent time stabbing the plastic rectangle in front of me, assuming it was touch screen when it actually wasn't.

The gear stick is relatively universal. There's little variation from car to car and most people don't have to consult an instruction manual to use it. Why can't entertainment systems be standardised in a similar way?

This dashboard from a Vauxhall Adam I drove recently is a great example of bad design. The touchscreen is quite low to start with, so if you need to look at the sat nav your eyes have to look right down away from the road. Worse still, the vent and air con controls are tucked away at the bottom with the gear stick in the way. Plus, the symbols for the knobs are too small. It looks nice, but you're gonna have a bad time interacting with it.

Apple's CarPlay is sort of a step in the right direction but not everyone has an Apple phone (they could use Google's rival option instead of course, if they're on Android, which I've not tried), or – shock, horror! – they might not have their phones on them when driving.

CarPlay does have big app buttons and it's Siri-enabled, but it's still like having a bigger version of your phone on the dashboard. Again, a seriously bad distraction especially when text messages or Whatsapp messages appear onscreen.

Yes, I admit you should have certain settings turned on so you don't receive messages while driving – but I think maybe these should be active right from the start rather than us having to remember to implement them.

With all of these distractions, I can't help thinking we need self-driving cars as soon as possible. At least that means we can be distracted with music, text messages, videos and phone calls without careering into a lampost or a bus stop full of people.

Finally Star Wars makes sense

Warning: slight spoilers here!
Having watched The Last Jedi recently, I was reminded of the fan backlash it generated and all the moments in the film that people derided. Granted – it's not a perfect movie, but I enjoyed watching it again having been able to slightly distance myself from all the negativity when it was released. I am, however, trying to grapple with the reasons why people have such a problem with it.

I know one of the main reasons: it's because it didn't go the way people wanted it to. They wanted Luke to come in and kick the First Order's ass with some super-duper Jedi moves (a la Phantom Menace's Darth Maul fight scene). Instead, they got layered messages about the industrial war complex, failure, pride and the inevitability of repeating mistakes made by those before.

Of course, people are entitled to their own opinions ... but the way the backlash exploded across the internet by entitled fans was sad. If only people could channel such energy into making the world a better place, huh?

A long-lost documentary about The Empire Strikes Back surfaced recently on YouTube (https://youtu.be/YeB-uXGGaEU) and it featues a snippet from director Irvin Kershner who said something very telling: "Science fiction has certain qualities, you have to respect. All kinds of scientific jargon. We've eliminated all scientific jargon. We've almost none. Just a touch, like salt and pepper. It's not a science fiction movie."

That was a bit of an 'a-ha' moment for me. No, not one where I fantasised about Morten Harket. Rather, I was able re-frame Star Wars in my head not as science fiction but fantasy. It's not 2001: A Space Odyssey.

I think one of the reasons people are struggling to appreciate TLJ – other than the fact that it didn't suck up to fan pressure to stick to the tired old routines – is because they fail to see it for what it is:  a space fantasy for kids. It's about space wizards with laser sword, for crying out loud!

Of course, I kind of always knew this. I mean, you can't hear sound in a vacuum (so Star Wars space battles should technically be silent), and being able to magically lift inanimate objects by the power of thought alone is pretty far-fetched. I've always taken things in Star Wars with a pinch of salt ... but it helps to not see it under the sci-fi banner. Yes, it has space ships and robots in it but those things are secondary.

Like any good story, the focus should be about the characters and their journey from the beginning of the film to the end. There needs to be learning, progression, redemption ... something that changes in the character or characters over the course of the movie. Everything else (including TIE fighters, alien cantinas, blasters, laser swords etc.) is just set dressing.

Saying all that, I still think the prequels are garbage.

Looking forward to 2019

Happy New Year!

Not wanting to sound overly dramatic but 2019 is potentially going to be a big year for me.

Big – as in lots of changes and significant stuff happening, rather than I'm going to get a massive record contract or I'm going to cure cancer. Sorry to raise any hopes.

Firstly, we have some house renovations to do. We are planning to extend our upstairs area by converting our attic into a new room, adding a shower and expanding the existing top toom. Also, we are going to get a new kitchen. This is sorely needed as we have doors literally hanging off their hinges and flooring with great chunks missing.

We have two trips to France planned for this year. One to celebrate Wifey's brother's wedding and one to celebrate my mum's 70th birthday. Hopefully our travels won't be adversly affected by Brexit.

Ah, Brexit. That big, fat, country-sized turd of spite and selfishness that is making HM Government eat itself. As an ardent remainer, I have watched with bewildered morbid fascination at the Brexit Bunch jumping over themselves and stabbing one another in the back in order to keep their self-destructive fantasy on the wobbly rails. It's worse than car-crash telly.

Our leaders are fudging governance so badly it may lead to civil war, Russian annexation or worse (being Trump's 51st state?). And that's after we crash out of the EU with no trade deals or agreements whatsoever with anyone. An island adrift, tready to be devoured by voracious states or immoral multinationals.

So, I hope I look back on this and am able to laugh at my silly pessimism and thank the Lord that common sense prevailed.

As for the rest of 2019, I am mulling over the idea of crowdfunding a short film, researching new ways of expanding my freelance business and doing some more work on scripts and ideas I've been working on.

We are also going to explore fostering in earnest this year, once we have done the work on the house. This may take a while, so I have no idea how long it will be before we are ready to start – but this will be another big change in the JC household.

It's hopefully going to be a fairly creative year – even while the world comes crashing down around me.