Now the midterms are over it is hard to tell what Trump will do to conclude his war with Iran. While some have speculated that he may use nuclear weapons against Iran, I doubt he will do so. After January with the Democratic Party to dominate both chambers, they will be able to bring him to justice for such an abhorrent act.
Sadly, thanks to our Ocado delivery arriving at 1100, I was not able to take part in the two minutes silence. There has been understandable outrage at Nigel Farage taking part, this based on views that many consider racist, as well as the views he has been accused of expressing when younger. While he denies saying such things, he also has admitted to playful banter and has said that he never intended to hurt anybody.
The bottom line, like it or not, is that many people from across The British Empire fought and died for our rights to hold views, views which include that which they fought against. I am glad that we honour and remember their ultimate sacrifice.
Not as bad as I thought it would be. But first of all, our day. We had a lazy day. My son has not been well and my wife is only just starting to get better after two weeks of being ill, which started with my cousins wedding two weeks ago. My wife does not like to stay at home and needed to get out, so we went for a drive to Eye to visit a shop. While there we also met with David. We have not seen him in ages and Leia got to meet his dog (again). The shop we went to see literally was a small shed, and we can get the produce where we live, but we have been there now and have seen what it does, and does not, offer.
Later in the day, my wife played Boggle with my son, she was not too happy with his skills at the game. At the time I was doing some work so did not join them. After that, we went to get some food, but got caught up in a large queue after a traffic accident on the A12. We had been stuck for ages when the passengers from one of the cars ahead got out and started to walk on the grass to the right of us. We were wondering what they were doing when they got back into it and drove across the grass to the other carriageway. Other cars followed, and we joined them as well. My wife wanted to drive a bit more in Colchester, but I convinced her otherwise. With traffic for Bonfire Night as well as the A12 closure I felt we would be late home. Reluctantly, she agreed and we returned home.
Once at home, we ate the takeaway that we had collected, put an order in for a further delivery (which we had not got due to the traffic) and watched Masterplan. My wife chose it and I will admit that at first, I was not keen on this. But it was not as bad as I thought. The plot had some holes and did not make sense at times, but for a film to watch with a takeaway, it was good enough. I doubt I would watch it again and while it was not my choice, I am glad I watched it with my wife.
This is an awful film. The plus points are the scenery, but only at times though. Also, it makes you appreciate other films. I have heard actors explain how hard it is to act when the other character will be added in later and that may be an excuse for the terrible acting. Overall, I would have to say that the best part about this film is the poster. And that it ended. Do not watch this film.
As those who follow my blog know, I am no fan of Trump, but he and his accomplices should be judged on what they have done and said, not on things they have not done.
While this came out a while ago, I have watched this only recently. When I say that, I think that I have watched it before, well at the very least, most of it. Overall, it is a good film, and I would consider watching it (yet) again. For those who wish to watch it, it is set just before The Blip and after Captain America: Civil War. You do not need to have watched the previous films to enjoy this, but obviously this will help. But the main reason I watched it is because I want to watch the latest film in the series. If any others wish to do the same, enjoy it. Ant-man is a hilarious superhero, not my favourite, as that is probably Spider-man, or Deadpool. If you love Marvel films, you will probably like this.
Concerns have been raised about cyberattacks on our infrastructure. Already hacking has taken place to disrupt food storage. The government has warned us about this, telling us to stock up on essential supplies, including bottled water and wind up radio's. I am confident in the ability of governments across the globe to take action, notably, to ensure that some systems are not networked together.
In the remade series Battlestar Galactica, networked defence systems were taken down by a hack and malware, the sole surviving Battlestar only surviving as it had not no networked system. Networks are used in many parts of the UK however, an example being the NHS so hackers will have tempting targets to strike at. It maybe that the only solution if it is hacked is literally to take things off line for a period of time.
The rise of AI in a world where there are too many people with no, or few morals is concerning, but sadly, I do not think that people will act to reign things in, for now at least.
Elections in the USA appear to be taking an Islamophobic turn. Or rather more of one. Abdul El-Sayed may fail to keep the US Senate seat a Democratic one. Things have taken a turn for the worse for him when his Democrat rival to challenge for the seat decided to endorse his Republican opponent. He has faced Islamophobia including rants from Donald Trump. Fear of Islam is something that has been spread a lot. While I understand that many associate the religion with terrorism, people are wrong to do so. I grew up in London during the time that the IRA (with funds from the USA) were blowing things up, helping to treat survivors of one attack (though I have to admit, I ended up doing next to nothing as most the casualties were sent elsewhere). I also had friends who faced danger when a member of the Far Right went about trying to kill and maim. I do not judge all far right supporters, Catholics or the Irish to be terrorists.
I think that Abdul El-Sayed should be judged on his eloquence, notably when asked about The Muslim Brotherhood. I do not think that he should be judged with the bigotry that has been shown to Zohran Mamdani. Sadly Sadiq Khan has faced such bigotry as well, but while London can be so much better, many things have improved with him in charge and he has not turned it into an Islamic Emirate.
The US elections are coming up and people will get to vote about a lot of issues. BlueSky has given be a selective view of politics in the USA, but there are some from the right who are now posting on the site. JD Vance had done so previously, but has not posted in a while. One of the people who post has raised case of a previously deported illegal immigrant to the USA, named Gerardo Miguel Mora. My view is that if found, illegal immigrants (not those seeking asylum) should be deported, especially if they abuse the hospitality of our country by committing crimes. The outrage at the crimes this man has committed is understandable. The acceptance (by too many on the right) of some of those crimes if the accused is white is not.
I have posted last month about how many in the GOP appear to excuse paedophillia. I have also posted about Donald Trump and his adultery. For those who do not remember, that was his affair with Karen McDougal and his fling with Stormy Daniels. That does not include the numerous allegations of sexual assault, both adults, and if the emails are true, thanks to Jeffrey Epstein, minors. But while these are allegations, Trump himself has boasted about sexually assaulting women.
I am shocked with how so many on the right of American politics excuse or ignore this. While they are hot on the topic of segregation of women and transwomen, they appear to have a problem condemning privileged white men when they are accused. We saw Brett Kavanaugh get appointed to the US Supreme Court despite the allegations made by Christine Blasey Ford or rather, despite his defence. But we have seen it all too many times since, including now with the Cornell seven. That Trump backs them is not surprising, but these way Megyn Kelly has defended them, when she herself has been the victim of unwanted advances is even more shocking to me.
To me the choice is simple as I do not have one as I am not a US citizen. But the man in the video says it best when he talks allowing your daughters to be around the rich, as there is the risk that if anything happens, justice will not happen. I suspect many, who consider themselves to be moral, will vote for politicians who are alleged of, or have ignored, sexual assault.
For those who know what kind of films I like most of the time, they will probably be surprised to find out that I liked this film. It flowed well, had decent acting and an amazing Fairy Godmother.
I have to say, I like this franchise, as did my daughter who decided to watch this one next in the series. However, I did not like it enough that I am going to watch it again. It has been surprisingly not awful. The acting in this film was suspect in places, but again, this is another worthy addition to the Purge Universe. I do not watch many films like this, and it is refreshing to see one which does not focus on middle class white people. Well, one which does not just focus on middle class white people. If you liked the other films in the series, this will be one to watch as well.
On the topic of middle class white people, Jean-Luc Picard is dead, specifically Patrick Stewart. I have to admit, I did not like The Next Generation, but the films from it were better, notably what I consider the second best of them, Star Trek: First Contact. He is also known to many as Professor Xavier, again a character who served as a role model for many. However while he was a celebrated Shakespear actor, I will remember him for his video on the ECHR. I was not aware about the way he spoke out against Domestic Violence until today.
I know I am not watching these films in the order they came out, but my daughter picked which one we would see. She does not get a chance to watch films like this at university as her housemates are not into films like this. Class is an issue in this film, but not as much as in others, well, most of the time anyway. Like the other films, I am glad I watched it, but also I am glad I did not pay to do so. The strength of the film is that it has a different plot to the previous ones. It is not just a copy and rehash but can be watched as a film in its own right. But I will not be bothered to watch it again.
So, the second instalment in these films. Again, I liked it and again, this was watched with my daughter. It actually makes the first film appear more logical in the way it focuses on class, specifically race, and not gender. While it is set in The Purge universe, it is a different film to the first in that this one focuses on those further down the ladder. There were bits that did not make sense to me, but I will not post a spoiler about the film. I am glad I watched it. I am also glad that I had not paid to watch it in a cinema, but I will not be watching it again.
While my daughter is back, we have been watching films and we have watched The Purge. I have heard a lot about it, but I was not sure if it would live up to the hype. I have to say, I liked it. So much that I will watch the next one in the series. But, I do think that there would be a lot more violence towards women during it. In fact, it is unfair to post that it is just me who thinks this. My daughter does as well.
Our daughter is back at home and yesterday I watched this film with her. My wife was in bed unwell and my son was resting having had an eventful night when friends of his stayed over.
The film was a good one. The description of it on Netflix, which is where we watched it, does not do this justice. The film is not one for the faint hearted. If you wish to watch the Anna Kendrick from Pitch Perfect, this is not the film for you. I was not sure what to expect when I watched this. I am glad I did and it certainly deserves the four out of five review that it has been given. I doubt I will watch it again, but I am very glad I watched it, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to be reminded of how we have moved on with sexism, though it also shows that we still need to move on more.
As for Brazil, what a result! The importance of voting has been shown here with Lula becoming President despite losing the first round. This may be a feature in the USA where turnout for mid-term elections is not as great as it is for Presidential ones.
Pete Hegseth made a joke about how NATO forces (and those of other nations) acted in Afghanistan. Needless to say, this is not appreciated by nations who lost soldiers serving. In my job I have encountered many a former veteran who served in Afghanistan, including one who did so serving there for the USSR! One person I have met has major life changing injuries as a result of life there. Sadly, many Americans will believe this lie.
As noted in the video below, a refusal to accept the sacrifices made will mean that nations will be less likely to help America again. The video is not completely accurate. Georgia was invaded twice by Russia the video forgetting the invasion of the 1990’s. And the reason that NATO members have not aided Israel and the USA in The Epstein War against Iran is because it has no proper goals (other than working to distract people from Trump being in The Epstein Files) and has no legal or moral basis.
Sadly, all organisations will be infiltrated by paedophiles. Some will attract others more, notably ones where children are being looked after, as to put it simply, a lion hunts at the waterhole. I work in an organisation which rightly has security checks to check for suspicious activity. The same happens with political parties. They become infiltrated, but it is how they deal with such matters which is important.
The Republican Party have been found wanting under Donald Trump, on more than one occasion. At the moment, the main issue in the media is the attack advert of Vivek Ramaswamy. This features the mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton, saying that she lied about being raped. The step father of Amy Acton had previously been charged for incest, this being the man that Vivek Ramaswamy's advert appears to be defending. The mother of Amy Acton, decided to stand by her man rather than her children, and from the advert, continues to do so. That in itself is bad enough.
But the elephant in the room is Donald Trump. They man who went to war after he was named in The Epstein Files as having an intimate encounter with a minor. It will be interesting to see if US voters and the media join the dots and fixate on this issue. Sadly, I do not think that they will.
Lots of people have asked about the sexuality of Donald Trump. Recently comments which have been made about men’s bodies have been reported a lot, but The Epstein Files refer to Bubba. While people have been wondering about this, few mention that the man who is also in The Epstein Files with allegations involving a minor, may be bisexual.
We are back at home after an enjoyable by exhausting long weekend in Bristol.
Over our time there we had some great food. But sadly, I was not able to taste it and therefore not appreciate it like the others. I suspect I have had COVID recently as my smell has also changed. But despite this, it was great for us all (without the dog) being together for a few days.
I was expecting this film to be terrible. It was not. However, I can see why The Guardian rated it two out of five, but I honestly think it was better than that. When it comes to the plot making sense it was overdone at times or just made little sense, an example of which is keeping a lot of prisoners locked up with a tiger for over a decade. But, at least for the first part of the film, it was fun. It was so much better than the version from the 1980’s, but I do like the link it had to it.
If you want to relax with a fun film where you switch your brain off, this is worthwhile. Despite the fact that it has a very generic story at times, I liked it. My son is interested in watching it and I am hoping I get to watch it with him. It may be appreciated more in years to come.
What is interesting is how the American public appear to be fine with the way that Trump is helping a nation that has aided Iran in killing Americans in the Middle East.
The Prime Minister spoke on The Rest is Politics, a podcast that I listen to, saying that Russia interfered in the EU referendum on Brexit. Despite the outcry over this, he is right.
The USA have decided to execute a mass shooter by firing squad. He was serving as a US major at the time in 2009 and I do not have an issue with him facing the death penalty (he would have known he might face this if he survived) or even a firing squad.
I think that it is insane for the USA to livestream it. I suspect that US citizens abroad will face an increased danger of being abducted to have the same "punishment” meted out by people who pervert Islam to justify hatred. We have seen how Unislamic State have live-streamed executions before. I hope I am wrong about this and that innocents are not abducted and murdered because of this.
I doubt that I will watch this again. Based on a book, I suspect that the film is aimed at those who have read it. When it comes to direction, the film flows well, I have no concerns with the standard of acting and you do feel for the characters. But as a film, the film is ponderous and slow. I would not have paid to watch it in the cinema and would have been disappointed if I had. However, based on the film, I suspect that the book is as good as the reviews (see earlier links) say it is.
As for yesterday, it was a slow day. I have had a few days away from work and today I felt the benefits of taking things easy. We took our son to Gaia, had a brilliant brunch, but then I spent the day ferrying the family about. While not exciting, it was what I needed. My son and wife went to a Jo Malone evening in town, my wife also went to book club and while she was away I bonded with my son by taking him to ASDA. I am feeling my stress reduce and am glad of the day.
First of all, the film. I am not going to watch Barbie ever again. If I remember right, my daughter was not impressed by it when she watched it. In fact, it has mixed reviews, some liking itmore than others.
Like many films with a lot of hype, it had a lot to live up to. But I am not its target audience. It is aimed at teaching/reminding women and girls across the globe that it is okay for women to be different and that they can do what men do. Watching it how also is more interesting with the outcry over how the poor woman from Cornell has been treated. Barbieland, a place where women make the rules is discriminatory to men, but even then is not as bad as our world is to women. A more serious film would not have had the appeal this has had, and this means that the message which it did give has a wider reach than otherwise. If a sequel is released, I suspect I will not be bothered to watch it.
Anyway, time with my wife. We went to a meal hosted by Maria Elia. She has events hosted on her property and this is the second that we have been to. Like before, this was amazing. We met a lovely couple while waiting for it to start. The only downside of the event being how the weather changed to being seasonal and therefore cold. They did have a fire-pit, but being fussy, maybe two would have been better. That is the only negative about the evening. The food was awesome, and at the table, as before, we were fortunate with the company we had. The lady I sat next to knew Maria Elia and had cooked for her in her home. My wife had fun with the couple next to her. As the lady I was sitting next to said, a meal is not just about the food, she was right and she, along with my wife and Maria Elia (who signed her books) made it such a fabulous night.
It is strange to post on this the day after the anniversary of the attacks but this way I can reflect on the coverage. Let me say that while Israel has every right to defend itself and retaliate against attacks against it, it has been too heavy handed by essentially levelling Gaza, increasing its ethnic cleansing of The West Bank as well as its actions in Lebanon.
I understand the desire of Palestinians to strike back against the oppressive rule of Netanyahu, one of the chants I do not engage with on the Sunday weekly protest (when I attend) refers to the right to resist. The October 7th attacks, while genius in the way they were carried out, were a war crime against civilians and had to be punished (within the remit of international law). It was not just the targeting of civilians, it was the atrocities carried out during the attacks. They had tried to do things peacefully, and after coming to an internationally acclaimed agreement, Israel ignored it.
But the actions of the Israeli government have been inexcusable. There are too many crimes resulting in death in Gaza as a result of this. While Israel claims that the IDF takes every precaution to avoid civilian deaths, two examples show just how much of a lie this is. One is the killing of some escaped hostages by the IDF who had a white flag. The IDF only investigated this once their identities were discovered and if not, they would have been labelled terrorists and the way they were killed would never have been looked at. The other is the ambush, murder and attempted disposal of evidence when Palestinian paramedics were killed by the IDF which had to keep changing its story as more evidence came out.
I had not realised that I had missed this when watching the series. I found it by accident, this being released after the remake series finished.
I loved the original series. As bad as it was it was great for the child that I was back then. The remake series was great. It is not a brilliant film, it is made for fans of the remake series and I doubt it has any appeal to anyone who has not watched it. Watching a film about genocide today was in hindsight, surreal.
For me it was good to watch it again. But I would not recommend it to anyone who has not watched the remake series. I do think that there were some plot holes, but not having watched the series for many years, I cannot be certain.
Suella Braverman is an interesting person. I have discussed nationality before and sadly it is time to do so again. She is right to state that she is not ethnically English. But she should also be clear that she is English. I am biased over this. As an Arsenal fan, we have had many a player who represents our country who is not white. Bukayo Saka is one of several Arsenal players who play for England but are not white. If Suella Braverman had her way, a lot of the England team would not have played against Croatia on Saturday. Something many Croatian fans would have been pleased about.
My wife and I have just watched this. Our son made a choice not to do so, he stated that he is too old for this. Which has been a theme for several of the films in the series.
I did enjoy the film. It was lovable, but parts of me were annoyed, notably by battery life and toys being waterproof. (Sorry about the spoilers.) It was great to watch it with my wife however, as it brought back shared memories of our children, including how my son played with a box with wheels on over his actual toy cars once. While it is the worst film in the series, it is still a good film to watch. I would possibly watch it again, but overall, I am glad we watched it at home instead of in the cinema.
My view is that the Oslo Peace Accords should be honoured and that any settlements in The West Bank should be transferred to be administered by the Palestinian Authority.
I guess it all comes down to what people consider to be Zionism. Despite the claims in the video below (if it works), there are Israeli's who want a two state solution.
I am sure that there are to be legal appeals, but fans of other teams are celebrating that justice appears to have been done.
Personally, I feel that they should face a points deduction, one point for each infringement, but with the option of spreading this across ten years. Which would mean a ten point deduction this season if they took this up. Or they can take it now, but that would mean demotion at the end of the season but due to the number of infringements, that should mean a demotion of more than one league placement. I would favour to the old third division, which means League One.
I did try to share a video at work about this, but I did not realise that Paddy Power have two of them. One in English, one in Arabic.
Toy Story 5 is out and I could not remember watching this before. But I had. I have watched recap's for Toy Story 3, as it was a long time ago. I have to day that it was a good film. Not as good as the original, it still has the magic of the original. It was well worth watching and is a film that I would certainly watch again.
Our son recommended that we watch this yesterday. He does not make too many requests so we listened to him. He has been unwell over the last few days. So when my wife and I travelled to London, we did not take him with us when we popped into see my mother. She was sad that he was not with us, but understood that he needed to rest.
We had intended to travel earlier in the day, but got caught up in traffic for the Spurs game. I know a few people who went to it, so I had to look at the result before Arsenal played. I laughed, but little did I know that would jinx us in our kick off. Arsenal, in the last few seasons, had a habit of dropping points if ahead in the table and playing an early kick off. This time we were level on points with the team that rhymes with City, but dropped points. I think that all would agree that Brighton deserved to win. Our son will be there next year as he will be going to The University of Sussex and he did watch the game with me. Hopefully he will end up an Arsenal fan though.
Anyway, back to the film. I will admit, I expected it to be terrible. I did wonder how they got so much set up with props, but the film was enjoyable. We all were glad to watch it, but I do not see me watching it again.
Elections for the Russian parliament are to take place. In two months time, elections will be taking place in America, the mid-terms where voters will get to decide if they want to stick with the party of high inflation, or the radical [insert Trump insult] Democrats. It is widely predicted that the Republicans are going to face a kicking in the elections. Trump has said different things about the state of the economy, including blaming (sleepy) Joe Biden as well as saying outright lies about petrol prices in the USA. He has even promised a handout to voters if they vote for him, legal, but something he has promised before.
Trump has been trying different ways to “prevent election fraud” and it will be interesting to see what his reactions to what will happen in Russia during these elections will be. I may be being unfair to Putin and Russia, but they have form when it comes to fixing other elections. A famous image involves Russian votes adding up to 146%, but apparently this was a genuine mistake when reporting the 2011 elections as opposed to fraud. The same cannot be said for an election in 2012 when one electoral district had a 107% voter turnout, strangely the same district having a huge number of votes for Putin. I hope that the elections in the USA and Russia will be free and fair. I suspect only one will be, but I will have to admit that I cannot be as optimistic about that as I was two years ago.
