Oblivion

I watched the Tom Cruise film Oblivion over the weekend. It was an interesting spectacle of film, but many of the ideas didn't really hold up. Given how crap the plots of the films usually are, it is amazing that the lead character is always obsessed with reading great literature. It is a pity that the writers don't read them. OK, perhaps a better idea would be that the writers read more Philip K. Dick. That is what I missed, was the paranoia of a Dick vision.

From Dusk to Dawn (TV series)

Netflix have remade and extended the film: "From Dusk to Dawn" as a TV series. I enjoyed the original film, when it came out, but I don't view it as a really great film. It was fun, but still a little bit
pointless.

So now there is a TV series. Given that I managed to watch all ten episodes, it is clear that I enjoyed it, because I normally give up, if a TV series is crap. It was strange to watch the early parts of the TV series, because they just expanded the film. The later episodes were essentially all new material, but these required some of the expanded earlier sections. So I guess I agree with the earlier review in the guardian.

One advantage of the film is that Tarentino is not in it. so the acting is a lot better.
The crazy brother is more sane from a crazy point of view.

Mexican night ruined by memories of drinking in a pub in Liverpool.

I have meaning to have a Mexican night. I got some Corona beer, Tequila and some kit to make Mexican food. In the end last night, I was too tired to do anything, but drink a few beers. The bottle of Tequila was at the bottom of a cupboard, so I couldn't even raise the effort to get it.

I am not a total slob. I did manage to cut a few limes to have with the Corona, well you have to make the effort sometimes. When I started drinking, I actually remembered waiting for the bus in Liverpool, rather than the old holiday I had in Mexico city. I used to order a Corona, while I waited for the bus. The tangy taste of lime open up memories.

Who would have thought that I would be writing about what beer I was drinking while I watching TV, when I started writing this blog, nearly ten years ago. Ok, nearly everyone.

The Stochastic man

Last night I finished reading The Stochastic man by Robert Silverberg. I really enjoyed this book. The ideas are so clever, but the prose is so sharp, simple and clean.  There were issues of free will. A marriage fell apart because the woman wanted chaos and the man wanted to be able to predict the future.

I have read the "dice man", but it wasn't for me. After reading this book, I now renounce randomness. 

Sleaford mods

I used to buy a lot f music, but since I started to listen to radio 6, I mostly just stream stuff. I did recently but two albums by the Sleaford mods. They were recommended by a writer in the Guardian. I really the sound. Also they have a really great video below.

On the importance of voting

Why the f*ck was Farage on the Today program this morning. He is always on, but why? I thought he was on three days ago.

Another pointless pub crawl in PLymouth

I was late out of work, but I felt the need for a quick crawl around Plymouth. Now that most of the students are gone, I thought I could try a few student bars, because they are now half empty. I first tried "The Professor and the fresher" . The place was empty, but then most people wanted to drink outside. They had a choice of absinthe for shooters. These students are spoilt. They also had something called a sake bomb. Really rice wine and red bull. Really?

I next went for a beer at the Tika bar and diner. I liked the feel of the bar, but I made the mistake of ordering a real ale. This was almost undrinkable and tasted of vinegar. I only drank half the beer., but really if I feel like shit tomorrow, I will play the "bad pint defence". There is a venue under the bar, so next time I will stick to the bottled larger any maybe hear some bands.

Next I went to the roundabout pub. This seemed like a weird mixture of students and  locals.  The magic of the Internet tells me it is a scream pub. It seemed a lot bigger on the inside than the outside.

Somehow at work it is some kind of vegetarian week, so I fell hungry all the time. So I went to MacDonald's for a hamburger. Then I had a quick drink at Noah's bar before I caught the bus home.

How "A bullet to the head" sold me a bottle of Bulleit Bourbon.

The last two evenings I watched Bullet to the head, a film staring Stallone. It is kind of a strange film. there are bits which are gritty, but there are parts which are really cheesy. From the amazon site I see that the same guy who directed the warriors was the director.

The person who wrote the dialogue should have been shot. It was so wooden.  Of course what did I expect.

I am now going to have to try Bulleit Bourbon. F*ck I can get it from Amazon.

Bigger stronger faster

I just watched: the documentary called: Bigger stronger faster. This was an interesting documentary about body building and steroids. The narrator focuses on his two brothers who are heavily into lifting and wrestling. They both take steroids, but the narrator doesn't. There are also a lot interviews with people for or against the use of steroids.

There is one great bit where he goes to interview Arnold Schwarenzengger , but Arnold uses the meeting  as a photo opportunity. All the guys friends are jealous, because he got to pose with the big man.

I liked the way he folded all this up with the American dream.

The man in the maze

I had planned to spend an evening doing something profitable, but in the end I just read The Man in the Maze by Robert Silverberg.   This was a great book about meeting aliens and feeling very bitter. I now want to live in an alien maze -- it is the thing to do. It reminded me a bit about Gulliver's travels, where after one final voyage, he can no longer stand human beings.

The prose was crisp and simple, but I liked the big ideas.

The Expatriate

I watched "the expatriate" on netflix last night. It was sort of an enjoyable thriller, but as usual it was also kind of annoying. The central emotional thread of the film is the father trying to mend his relationship with his estranged daughter. This would be fine, but the problem is that in action movie, a lot of people end up dead. Somehow he is vindicated as a person, because he is trying to wins his daughter's love, even though everyone around him ends up dead, and he doesn't care or even notice.

As the comments on the Amazon page for the film state: the film is very similar to "Taken."

Why I would study the dark side of the force.

While I ate my dinner I watched a bit of the third Star Wars movie. I enjoyed the Star Wars films when I was going up, but I am not some weird freak, who worships them. The lead actor in the third film pisses me off a lot, because he such a brat. Anyway I didn't mean to complain about him again.

If I was studying the force, I would try and study both good and dark side of the force. Of course when I study the dark side I would not go crazy and kill a bunch of kids (like some mad f*cks I could mention. ) So I would have been impressed to hear the Chancellor's speech on the dark side. I would do this for strategy reasons. It is always good to understand what the opposition is thinking.

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” 
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Of course this may be a bit deep for George Lucas.

Who is chasing the chasers ?

Do I even understand the words I use? In the last post, I mentioned the word "chaser". An online dictionary, has many definitions of chaser.  These all involve spirits with another drink, but sometimes the spirit is the chaser and some times it is the other drink.

As part of my research for this post i found this useful information.  I had this horror that I would be regarded as uncultured, because I ordered a beer with whisky chaser, but really I should have ordered a whisky with a beer chaser. You may not thing this matters, but the upper class worry which direction the bottle of port is passed.

Absinthe not gyms for Craig last Friday night.

Ah the pleasures of an empty page. Oh the irony I went to my gym yesterday to pick up my ID. I didn't have my training gear, because I was worried that they would force to do an induction. Some fitness instructor wold learn how weak and flabby I was. In fact, the induction consisted of the woman telling me where the fire escapes were.

I then went for a couple of beers around the Royal Parade in Plymouth. Kind of a pointless, after work session. I did find that I can order absinthe in the Plymouth Walkabout . I saw the green bottle tempting me, while the slow barmaid flirted with some young guys. I just got a small shot, but it trashed my mind, as a chaser with a pint of Heineken drunk out of a plastic glass. The bar is vast, dark and cold. It was also mostly empty, but it was a bit early for the night time party time.

There was music outside in a square, but I went home around 20:30, full of beer and emptiness.

Can fried bread talk?

I think fried bread can talk. I heard it talking to me while I drank a beer in the pub last night. The cafe near my office sell a reasonable 5 item breakfast. I hear your command. I hear the words "eat me."

A few pointless beers in the early evening in Plymouth

I went shopping after work. So after some chores, I felt I deserved a few beers. There is a weird feel to drinking beer in the early evening. I first went to the voodoo lounge, because it is close to the University. It was fairly empty at 18:30. I did start reading a bit more of the man in the maze. I next moved to the Brass Monkey -- a Wetherspoon pub. The place was full of old guys starting at their drinks . I had given up reading at this stage. I stood by the bar, but I left after a nice smelling woman stood by me as she waited with her man to be served.

The final pub I went to was close to my bus stop to get me home. A least that was my excuse. The pub was the Noah's Ark pub. This is not a student pub, so does tend to collect harden drinkers. I was just there to wait for my bus. When I went it there were two women at the bar. After a while, they left, as one woman pulled out a smoke. This just left us dad guy drinkers. After a while the  chick came back and she ordered a pint of beer. She looked as dejected as us beer staring classes. The woman serving started cleaning the menus in front of me in an aggressive manner.

I had enough, so I blasted the rest of my pint and went to the bus stop. The driver was smoking. When he had finished I got on the bus and we were away. At the first stop, an attractive woman with black hair got on the bus and sat close to me. The woman was perhaps late 30s or early 40s. I was planning our future together, before she got off. A few stops later, I got off and I walked home.

If I had not drunk the beer I would have read more of the man in the maze.

The flaw

This weekend I manged to finish watching the Flaw via a streaming service. This was a documentary about the 2008 mortgage crisis. the name of film: the flaw comes from a quote by Alan Greenspan, which he used when he was trying to explain how he messed up the world economy to a committee .

The film contained interviews with economists, as well as real people who had lost, or where in the process of losing their house. There was an important point about wealth inequality. In the 50s and 60s wages went up, but in the 70s and beyond, people started getting payed in being allowed to go into debt.  It is much like the guys who built the railways in the us getting paid with credit at the local store.

Dylan Thomas

When I was around 18, I was  very much under the spell of Dylan Thomas. I liked his prose work best, perhaps because of the tales of drunken fun. I still remember the line "he still loved her, but he didn't like anything she said or did." I am not a great reader of poetry.

In my early 20s I got some tapes of him reading poetry. I liked his rich powerful voice.

I think we studied "Under Milk Wood" at school, but that didn't put me off.

Still I am not sure I am so interested now everyone is getting ready for 100 years after
his birth.

The mystery of the moving toilet roll

If there are any regular readers of this blog, who have not been turned to the dark side, then they will notice a gradual decline in my adventures. Where once I travelled to Egypt or Cuba, now I sit in my room and watch Netflix. Well once you have a 42 inch TV, there is not much point in leaving my flat.

Anyone who drinks a few beers in the evening, often worries about what happened the night before.  Did I send a bad email. Two days ago, I noticed that a toilet roll had moved from close to the toilet, to the entrance of the bathroom. Why would I have done that?  I think someone moved it while I slept. Well I said, someone but maybe I meant something. F*cking aliens!

Love, hate and charmed on TV.

If you want to watch TV on Saturday or Sunday morning, there is not much choice in viewing. Apart from the news, there is usually a lot of teleshopping. The show that I can just about stomach is "charmed".  Given it is about supernatural stuff and their is a bit of fighting, I can't actually manage to watch a full episode.

Part of the problem is that although the main three characters are witches, they are also American chicks, with a mall fondness. Normally I view the the ability of a woman  to punch and explode things with their minds, as a bit of a turn on. But some how, their typical American girl net door vibe gets on my nerves.

Some kind of thwarted sexual desire of course. Anyway in my flat I control the TV remote, if nothing else.

How travelling from Plymouth to Exeter by train nearly drove me insane

On Thursday I had to go to Exeter for a quick meeting. I decided to go for a train around 8:10. I walked to the station, with a reasonable amount of time to spare. I had planned on eating a bacon roll, but there was not enough time, so I went straight to the platform. The screen then showed that the train was late by about 15 minutes. There was another train at 8:20 but that was late as well.

The announcements started. They first said the first train was late by 16 minutes. Then they announced that the second train was late by 18 minutes. Then it was time to say that the first train was late by 17 minutes, followed by an announcement about a slight change of the lateness of the second train. All the time more and more people were filling up the platform. And can you guess what happened next. Yes the first train was now 20 minutes late, so they told us about that, followed by an update on the second train. This announcement war of sound continued for another 5 minutes, when for a change they started to announce that a third train was now 5 minutes late, because the other two train were late. It was so fu*cking loud. I thought my head was  going to explode

But the train did come and all was quiet in the carriage. I just could stare out the window at the nice coast line and dream of the train falling into the sea.

When I took the train back from Exeter to Plymouth. I was stopped and asked o join a focus group about the trains. A figure of 30 pounds  was mentioned. Payback time mother f*ckers.

The dreams are gone

I awoke confused this morning. The last dream of last  night involved a virtual reality room. I was very confused in the dream, but it made sense when I awoke. Later today, I am full of beer and the morning  moment has gone. The dream is over.