Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

My wife and I had started to watch this before, but finished it tonight.  I love watching films with her and while this would not be my first choice in film, it was just nice to be around her.  I presume she liked the film, which was okay, but not my favourite.

While I like Benji, as played by Simon Pegg, I just do not warm to Ethan Hunt they way I do to Jason Bourne or other characters like Bond.  I am not sure if that is because I associate Tom Cruise as playing similar characters a lot of the time.  Or it could be that he does not want the warmth that other characters have.  While it has some interesting female characters, the fight scenes involving them are sadly stereotypical.  When I compare it to how characters like Buffy The Vampire Slayer fight other women, it comes up very short.  And as you can see from the attached image, one of the characters goes sky diving, but later, there is no indication that the presence of a dead blonde falling from high above has taken place.  Looking at the success it has had, I know that this was liked by many, but it is not one of my favourite films.  But I love watching films with my wife.  Even on days where she has tried to jinx me.  

Before I went to work, with a huge grin on her face, she wished me a quiet day.  And she knows how that curses things.  However, things were not as bad as they have been recently and I got home at a more reasonable time that I have been doing recently.

My son beat me again

We have had David round which has been great as we have not seen him in ages.  I have been working this weekend which has meant that I have not seen him as much as I would like but it has been great for me to catch up.

While I have known him he longest, my wife and he have a stronger bond that he had with me.  It is stronger now than it was in the past as I think that he has realised that I am not a complete fool.  I knew him before I became friends with my wife, and he and her clicked when they met, no stereotypes with my wife being a fag hag there!  But when my wife and I started to go out, it was in secret. When we came out, my wife spoke to him while I spoke to some other of our friends and when my wife admitted she was seeing someone he said “Well we know it is not...” but he has accepted me fully now.

Anyway, my son, daughter, David and I played risk.  My son won after he and his sister formed an alliance and David and I foolishly attacked each other.  The kids deserved the win, them working together makes me feel proud.  But I hate to lose, and my son has now said he will not play again in a very long time.

Monopoly

Today, the kids and I played a rare game of Monopoly.  And my son won.  This is the first time this has happened, and he did need he help of his sister who gave up and passed all her money and properties to him.  But he won.  And he loved it.

Wilpattu National Park

My Pokémon was knocked out of the Pokégym at  Wilpattu National Park today.  It as been in there for sometime, but has not beaten my personal record for a Pokémon in a gym.  I just have one left in Sri Lanka now.  Not that we will be visiting there for a while...

Passengers

First of all, Arsenal won yesterday.  I did not post about it before I went to bed, but I knew the score.  When I woke this morning, I felt I must have dreamed it.  But I watched the highlights and was pleased.  I suspect that if Man City had pressed more, things would have been different.  Maybe the victory they had over us earlier led to a sense of complacency that helped us to win.  I doubt that will be the case when we play Chelski in the final, but I am hoping that the team has more confidence in itself, for they certainly have the ability to overcome our rivals.

I also was taken on a cycle ride today.  Nick, one of our friends had offered to take me biking.  So we cycled to Wivenhoe.  I had tried to do this before with the children years before, but due to an encounter on the way, we turned and I never got round to trying it again.  It was a gentle trip and it is something I may do again, though ideally on an early morning cycle.  We met a few walkers and runners on the trip, and it was threatening to rain, which means there will be lots more on a sunny day.

I finished watching Passengers, the version from 2008 with Anne Hathaway.  It was an interesting film, annoying me at parts, but it all made sense in the end.  Slow after start, it draws you in and is certainly worth watching.

I also watched some Rebels with my son before watching The Last Jedi with my daughter.  While essentially The Empire Strikes Back in places, it was a good film, lacking plot/physics issues seen in the other two episodes, though why hyperspace weaponry has not been used at other times is unanswered.

Am back to work tomorrow but I feel that the long weekend has given me a much needed rest.  I will find out for sure tomorrow though.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Another busy day.

After a quick shopping trip with my wife, I went for a quick bike ride before we went to see the kids grandparents.

The visit was as socially distant as possible considering the kids have not been seen in person for a while, but my mother and my wife’s parents were very grateful to see them.  And I guess, my wife and me as well.  I got to see my brother as well, as my youngest one is staying with my Mum.

Getting back, I went for a walk with my daughter to get some milk.  We could have driven, but I need the exercise and it is nice to talk to her when we walk.  I don’t get to exercise with my son anymore, but that may change in the future.

And on getting back I watched Rebels with my son.  We have not watched an episode together in a while and I suspect he watched it to please me, but it was nice to spend the time with him.  Afterwards it was The Force Awakens.  Compared to The Saint yesterday, this was so much better.  I do get annoyed at how physics is ignored an example being laser bolts travelling across the galaxy slowing down so that people on the planets can see them arrive, and how they were seen in real time across the galaxy rather than years/decades/centuries/millennia later.  I know that this is science fiction, but some laws of physics need to be constant.

But I still love it.  I can forgive the errors (along with how sucking the sun should have boiled the planet) as the direction, plot and acting was of sufficient standard.

The Saint

Today was quite busy.  I had taken it off as I have not taken much time off this year, and let’s face it, it has been quite stressful!  We went to Aldeburgh and spent some time on the beach and the other bought some books.  It was warm and sunny with a slight breeze and we had a pleasant walk.  We had some Seafood & Grill at The Brudenell Hotel afterwards, the meal there being our first outside in a restaurant in quite a while.

After that it was a trip to Snape Maltings.  While my wife had a look in the shops, the kids read in the sun and I went for a walk.  It was beautiful there, hence the picture.

So by the time we got home, we were quite tired.  While my son did other things we watched Iron Man 3.  It was a good film, though the plot was a bit convoluted.  But while I thought this film had a few issues, it did not have the issues seen with The Saint.

While The Saint started off well, it started to unravel with issues with continuity, overacting and a story with gaping holes.  Since Buffy, I have had a soft spot for Eliza Dushku, and she was okay in the film.  I am glad we watched it on Netflix as I would have hated to pay money to watch it.    

Iron Man 2

First of all, my son does not have the plague.  We got his test results just before lunchtime. Although we did not think that he had it, he is young and the symptoms he would have would be different to what my wife or I would have if we had caught it.  So it was a relief.  

On the downside, Arsenal lost.  Watching Match of the Day was frustrating as our defence let us down.  I work with two Spurs fans who are going to be unbearable tomorrow, so I will have to do the best I can to avoid them.

Now it is legal, we did have some friends round for company.  With the plague being an issue, I am happy to isolate with just the family, but my wife requires more social interaction.  It is understandable as I get to enjoy her company while she has to put up with mine.  It was great seeing friends, but I was still nervous about the risk of contracting infections.  Especially with the way that social distancing is increasingly being ignored.  

Now onto Iron Man 2.  I have not watched this film before.  I have wanted to, but kept missing it when it was on television.  Being on the Disney channel, I suspect that some scenes may have been cut (to make it more acceptable to smaller children) but my daughter and I watched it (with my wife watching bits of it).  And like most the Marvel films it was good.  Iron Man was never my favourite superhero, but the films make me warm to him more.  In essence, he is just a souped up version of Batman who I did love when I was a child.  I am looking forwards to watching the third film with my daughter later.  Personally, I would prefer to watch the Marvel films in order, but she is not too keen on this.  Maybe later and hopefully with my son who refuses to watch them...

My mother had me tested

This morning my son woke up with a new continuous cough. So we are in isolation and are waiting for the test results.

Yesterday he tidied his room.  I have commented in the past about how interesting an experience this is, but tidy it he did and today he had a cough.  He is well, no temperature, active and no change in behaviour.  While both my wife and I agreed that this was probably because of him tidying his room, we could not risk it.  Especially as we had planned to have some friends over, now that such visits are legal.  So we rang NHS111 to arrange some testing.  A work colleague sent me information on how to book it on line, but that was after I range 111 to see about arranging a test.  By the time they rang back, we were booked and ready to go.

COVID-19 testing is not nice.  Though not as horrible as it was when I had it done, it is still traumatic for those who have it carried out.  So I showed my wife how to do it, as I felt he would let her do it instead of me.  A drive to Ipswich later, and he was very brave letting my wife test him.
Afterwards it was home, food and quarantine while we wait for the results.  We played a game, and the first games were scrabble.  I have played this since a child with my mother who kept beating me over and over again.  And I have been playing Words With Friends,  which meant that I had an advantage.  So I won the first game.  And while my daughter was not keen on it at first, she was keen for a second game.  Playing it on line means I get to have breaks.  Playing it in real life stresses out my brain.  And despite a mild headache, I agreed to a third game.  But after I used all me letters in one game, my son left, and my wife and daughter ended the game afterwards when I continued to increase the score gap.  I was proud of my score, though understood it when they both decided to end the game.

We played Labyrinth afterwards while my son talked to his friends online and later watched bits of Iron Man 2.  Or rather watched most of it until we got too tired and had to go to bed.  Love he film though and am looking forwards to the rest of it.

We discovered too many care homes didn't really follow the procedures

"We discovered too many care homes didn't really follow the procedures in the way they could have."

There has been a lot of comments about what Boris said about how COVID19 spread through care homes.  Later a No 10 spokesman insisted Johnson was not blaming care homes, saying they “have done a brilliant job under very difficult circumstances”. He added: “The PM was pointing out that nobody knew what the correct procedures were because the extent of asymptomatic transmission was not known at the time.”

People have commented about how the comments that Boris made were wrong and that he was wrong to blame care homes.  And the government have not apologised but have deflected the comments.

But Boris was right.

Care homes didn’t follow the procedures in the way that they could have.

And that was because of a lack of PPE.

Exercise Cygnus, in 2017 reported on the importance of PPE.

Despite this, the amount of PPE available when COVID19 spread across the UK was far short of what the nation needed. 

But do not take my word for this. A study at the UEA has shown this.

If care homes had enough PPE, an issue identified in 2017, procedures would have been followed.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Yesterday it was time to watch a film after working from home.  The downside of Wednesday is working from home.  The plus point of Wednesday, is working from home.  I do not work as well as I do when at the office, and also cycling there on a Wednesday burns off a lot of calories (another downside of working from home).  But it is nice to be around the family.

After work, I went for a haircut with my son, or rather I went and my son, brought by my wife later, went in afterwards.  It is strange to have less hair, but I knew lock-down was coming which is why I had my hair cut as close to it as I dared and when the barbers opened, I booked an appointment on line.  He was not too keen and acted surprised by this, despite having been told about this on many occasions.  But he liked his haircut as well.

And later in the day, we watched Guardians of the Galaxy.  My son did not want to join us for this, which is a shame, but it was great to watch it again.  My daughter is working her way through the Marvel films and while I would want to watch them in time order, my wife wanted just to watch this, so that is what it was.  And as before, I loved it.  Of all the new Marvel films, I think I like these the most.  My best one was Blade, but it has been a long time since I watched that and I am not sure if I would like it as much if I watched it again.  Guardians has great characters, classic lines and for me, the sci-fi nerd, it is also set in space.  I love this film!

Frozen 2

Just a quick post on this film.  Got back late so did not get to spend much time with my son before he went to bed, but I did watch some television with my daughter, this being Marvel Runaways, but we finished the series and I need to look into being able to watch it on demand as we missed the third series.

Frozen 2 is a sweet film, but I am very glad the children refused to watch it with me as it was not anywhere near as good as the first one.  Saying that, my daughter told me she did not like the first one that much!

Memories of that and how so many children loved it (and still do) bring a smile to my face.

Maleficent

First of all, I missed the #ClapForTheNHS, mainly because I was knackered.  A late few nights caught up with me and I had taken a nap, but slept through it!

As a family, we watched Maleficent which I think is a far better film compared to the sequel.  We had watched it many years ago but could not remember it all.  Of course we have a dark sense of humour which is prevalent in the film to a point, but notable by not being present as much in the sequel.  Ultimately, it is a fairy tale, but this interpretation is one I love as well as its sound track.

Anyway, good night all!

The pubs are open!

First of all, an update on the children. They are doing well though they are coming up to the end of term and it will be interesting to see how they have done.  My daughter is still working from home, while my son goes into school for most of the week.

My wife and I went to visit some friends now that we are able to.  It was nice to mix, though a bit nervy for me.  But I got to watch the Arsenal match and saw a rare away win.  Performances like this are going to be important if the team is to qualify to play in Europe next season.  We have no chance of playing in the European Cup (or as most call it, the Champions League) but, depending on other results, we may qualify to play in the Europa Cup.

It was nice to see our friends, and it was nice to see the players clap for the NHS before kickoff.  Driving into town tonight, many more may need it in four weeks time.  Loads were in Colchester and many were not social distancing.  While they are young and therefore at low risk even if they get infected, most will not be affected too badly.  But they will infect others, which means that we may see a jump in numbers in four weeks time.

Which means that those risking their lives to treat the ill be under increased risk again.

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Today we finished watching Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.  We started to watch it yesterday but finished it tonight.  It was an enjoyable film, but not as good as what I remembered of Maleficent itself.  Saying that, it was a long time ago that we watched it, 2014 in fact and the memory of it may not actually match.  But we have decided to watch Maleficent later to see if it compares.

It is a nice film, but being a fairy tale for children you have to forget how enemies become friends very quickly.  Good in places, average in others, it is not a classic sequel, but it will do.