The Empire Strikes Back

Turns out that the Clone Wars film on Disney is not the only series, but rather is the first episodes featuring Ahsoka Tano, in order.  My son and I have started to watch it, though it is not the film we are looking for.

As for my daughter, we watched The Empire Strikes Back today, but he best bit was going for a long walk earlier.

Anyway, good night.  I am tired and would love to type more, but need my beauty sleep.

Clone Wars Series 7

Have finished watching the seventh series of Clone Wars with my son.  He insists on watching all of Star Wars in order.  So we watched Revenge Of The Sith.  I do like the film, it is just that the chemistry between Padmé Amidala and Anakain is very lacking.  It was only after that when we remembered to watch the original Clone Wars film.  But that will need to be for another day.  Saying that, this series ties in quite well with Revenge of the Sith, the last few episodes more so.  But Anakin is quite likeable in the series, including this one, while in both Revenge of the Sith and Attack of the Clones, he is not.    

It was nice going for a walk with my son in the evening, almost as good as spending the rest of the day with my wife earlier when I drove her to get some vinyl that she had been looking for.

Who wants to play in Europe anyway?

I doubt that Arsenal will be playing in Europe next season.

A defeat against Manchester City was bad enough but we had a game in hand before then.  We needed to win all our remaining league games to have any chance to qualify for European football by finishing high enough in the table.

So the defeat to Brighton was a bad one.  A misfire by the Gunners.   Which means our only hope of qualifying to play in Europe is the FA cup.  We are up against Sheffield United in that and even if we get past them, with teams like ManUre, Chelski and the Team That Rhymes With City in it, we are unlikely to win it.

Saying Black Lives Matter does not mean that other lives do not. Every life matters.

Well, the last few weeks have been interesting, when riots have occurred during some Black Lives Matter marches, those engaging in horrific behaviour have been termed rioters.  When the far right attack police in London, they are protestors.   

I have had a few interesting discussions on Facebook with an old school friend about BLM.  I would never have considered them to be racist, and to be honest, I do not consider them to be one now.  But they have shared the views of racists like Mark Collett on their timeline. Needless to say, I suspect that this has caused considerable upset despite posts also showing how the police work with all communities.

I do not agree with all of what every BLM supporter says. Most find violence against the police abhorrent, most do not agree with racism against anyone, and most do not agree with the violence and rioting that has taken place with some of the protests.  

When it comes to those in the USA calling to defund the police, they forget what has happened in Britain when the police has been underfunded by the Conservatives since 2010.  Crime has gone up.  The people who want the police to be defunded the most, are those that the police protect us from.  I treat police officers and none that I have met went into into the force (or service as it is called now) wanting to do a terrible job.

But reform is needed to address how people who are not white are treated.  Here it is harder to bring that about as the police has been defunded.  In the USA, there have been several examples of how police brutality is not just whet on black.  Non-white police officers stood by as George Floyd was killed, and non-white police officers were involved with the death in custody of Freddie Gray.

I have worked in high stress situations where you have to make a snap decision based in the information you have, not hindsight.  So I do understand how decisions that would not be made in hindsight were felt to be the appropriate decision at the time.  So unlike many, I do not think that the police officers making those choices when it came to the deaths of Mark Duggan or Jean Charles de Menezes, were wrong BASED ON THE INFORMATION THE OFFICERS KILLING THESE PEOPLE HAD IN THAT INSTANT.  

But as the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd have shown, a lot more needs to happen in the USA.  And we need time and money for the police to improve here in the UK as well.  

Sideshow Bob

Another depressing defeat for Arsenal.  On the weekend, I had predicted the score would be 3-0, but said that it would be to Arsenal.  

When I saw the team line up, with Xhaka playing, I said that we would be down to ten men but that we would win 3-2.  I was right in that he was the first man to be taken off, and David Luiz came on.  He gifted Sterling the first goal (you could argue that the rain played a part) with his attempt to clear the ball allowing The Team That Rhymes With City to score just before half time.  And he brought Mahrez down in the penalty area.  The foul started outside the box, but did not need to continue into it.  And while Mustafi might have been able to get back in time, it did not look likely.  Which meant that after coming on as a sub, he gave away a goal and a penalty and was sent off.  That is four penalties that he has given away, double that of the next closest contender, and no other player has made more errors in the Premier League leading to a goal in 2020.  What a record.     

Which meant I was right about then men as well.  And the picture for this post is for Sideshow Bob.  Assuming he ever puts on an Arsenal shirt again.

Star Wars, or as some call it, A New Hope

Still cannot find my daughters iPhone.  She appears to be coping well.  This evening, the kids spent time together, not watching anything but being nice to each other.  That does not happen a lot.

We also went on a drive to collect the birthday present for my wife.  We put it together (creating the space for it required input from all the family) and my wife loves it.  The drive involved the kids waking up earlier than they normally do and both, despite being warned about his before hand, found this a bit exhausting.  We may need to look at bed times again which have become later for them during lockdown.  I suspect that they will resist any such improvements though.

And of course, there is Star Wars, which we watched earlier in the week.  And I still love it.  It was the remastered version, so there was differences with some of the CGI, we got to see Jabba, in a scene that was not in the original film, and of course, the controversial scene where Han Solo no longer murders the bounty hunter before he is killed, but instead, the bounty hunter shoots first, and misses, despite being across the table.  Needless to say, while most of the improvements do add to the film, the original scene makes more sense.

Last of all, series seven of The Clone Wars appears to involve a clone based on Charlie Sheen.  Have not watched it as much as my son or I would like, but hopefully that is to change on Sunday.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Today was a good day.  I went for a long morning walk with my daughter which knackered her out during it, and me afterwards.  The sad thing is that I have gone on this walk and more in the past with no issues but this was not the case today.  It was great to chat and bond again and I think she liked it as well.

When it came to my son, we bonded while watching Clone Wars.  We are now on the final series, which excites him.  I am going to have to take him to Tub and Cone again, but that means placing an order which means eating earlier.  Dinner today was another amazing meal made by my wife before she had a Zoom school reunion.

And of course, the kids and I watched Rogue One.  Well, my son watched bits of it while playing Animal Crossing.  I do love this film, almost as much as the holy trilogy of the original films.  Well made, it such a shame that episodes seven, eight and nine fall so short of matching up to it.  Probably the darkest of the films, it shows the grey that is absent in most of the other films.  Of course, there is the issue at the end of the film about how The Empire were unable to obtain the location of the rebel base from the prisoners that they would have captured or the data banks of the ship they boarded.  But other than that, no major plot issues.

Star Wars next or as some call it, A New Hope.