Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

 

This was not terrible. The previous Dungeons and Dragons film from 2000 was truly awful. This was not. It was good to see some places from the Baldurs Gate games and it was lovely to have the adventurers from the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon present as well.  It was fairly true to the Dungeons and Dragons that I knew, though the game has since evolved and I was able to recognise quite a few of the spells that were cast.

If you are a fan of D&D, this is a must see film. I have to be honest and say that it will offer less to normal people, but should still be fun to watch.

Three Thousand Years of Longing

 

We loved this film. My wife and I watched it on Amazon last night. I thought I would like it. I did not realise how much. I am not sure that it deserved a six minute standing ovation, but this is a film I would certainly watch again and would have been happy to pay to watch. In fact, it is a film that I would recommend to others who like a story well told.  While a fantasy, it is not your typical fantasy film with action, magic and monsters, but rather has a magical setting (as well as an enchanting story). 

It was great to see people wearing face masks, something that I think more people should wear in public spaces, but it was filmed last year and times change.  

Girl in red

 

The children went to watch a concert on Monday.  I was mean to go with my son, but issues with getting time off work prevented this and therefore my wife took them and stayed overnight with them in London.  They liked it and my daughter has made contact with two boys from South London who she is keeping in touch with.  I have reminded her that in general South London is a wasteland which should be avoided.

That would have been better if I had not just returned from there with my wife where we had lunch in a Sri Lankan restaurant. It was great to spend the day with her, and the meal was amazing.  We look forwards to returning, though I do not think that they are dog friendly.  If that is the case, our return trip may be a bit more of a challenge if we take the children with us!    

A celebratory meal

 

We went out for a meal today as my son had got a distinction in his English oral exam. The Whalebone, where we ate was quiet, but the staff said that this was not because of the start of the Easter Holidays for many schools.

One of the staff has a brother who managed to get to Belgium for a school trip over this time, though like many, he had his trip delayed due to the queues at the border. When people have called for the government to stop the boats, I am sure that this was not what was envisioned! 

Yesterday we had been for drinks and food with Nick and Lyndsay which was a change from our normal routine. We might return tomorrow for the quiz they have. Though if we do go more regularly, I might need to conclude the discussion with one patron about politics. He had his views on refugees which I disagreed with. 

Finally, Arsenal. We needed to win after Liverpool had been soundly beaten in the earlier kick off. The victory against Leeds will help our goal difference as it is not too bad compared our closest rival. It was great to see Jesus playing well and his return maybe what is needed to help us if we are to win the title. Though it will be a tough game when we play Liverpool who will not want to lose two in a row. 

The Massacre of the Innocents (again)

 Let me start by saying that I respect the decision of Americans to value the right to bear arms over the lives of children, the deaths of whom are an acceptable price for guns being available.  I just do not understand it. 

Another school shooting has taken place in the USA.  I am sure that there will be people who will blame this on issues of mental health, or transgenderism, rather than the issue of having decent gun controls. Living in the UK, we have legal firearms here. My job includes among other things, providing information on licences to the police who are responsible for the decision to issue them and I have no issues with legal firearms being used for hunting and also for sport.   

In the UK, in 1996, following a mass shooting killing primary school children and their teacher, a ban on handguns was imposed. Years before this, following a mass shooting in 1987, semi-automatic weapons had been banned. Since then, we have had incidents where the murder of more than one person has occurred, but these have been relatively rare, one example being, how Derrick Bird killed many innocent people, followed by the murderous rampage of Raoul Moat. But this was in 2010 and while mass murder has occurred since then on several occasions our most recent high profile case being in August 2021, we have lower rates of mass shootings than the USA. Gun crime exists here, but the rates are far lower than in nations like the USA, just like how the overall murder rate in the USA is higher than in other developed nations.

The call in the USA by many is for weapons like the AR-15 to be banned. Those who are against it cite the second amendment to the US constitution which allows the right to bear arms. But this was made in a time when a well trained person would take almost a minute to shoot three times. I have discussed this with my wife, and she is of the view that nothing will change in the USA. And to be fair, she may be right. Despite the murder of many young children in Sandy Hook, the AR-15 and similar weapons are still legal. This is probably due to the campaign contributions made by organisations like the NRA to protect the right of Americans to have them, though this has meant the continued murder of children in schools. Something that does not happen anywhere near as often outside the USA.

There is an argument for firearms to be used to defend schools in the USA, but they forget how Scot Peterson was the "Good Guy with a Gun" at the Parkland mass shooting affecting the Stoneman Douglas High School.

Basically, the only honest excuse for the USA allowing people to own more guns than the population of the USA is because guns are valued more than children.  I respect people who admit that, though obviously, I disagree with that equation.

And for those who point out the issues of knife crime in the UK, it is far easier to defend yourself from a knife than a gun.

Should the right to protest stop freedom of speech

I had been thinking about blogging about this in the past, but had got distracted and did not do so. Issues about this have been brought up by what happened in New Zealand last week.

A woman, linked to the Far Right, was meant to speak on matters relating to the areas where the rights of women and TransWomen collide and was prevented from doing so.  Allegations were made that violence occurred which have been denied by the side accused of this.  

This brings up an issue of where freedom of speech can be infringed by the right to protest.  This has happened in the past with Jacob Rees-Mogg (as well as others on the right). I will admit to laughing when Nick Griffin of the Far Right BNP was egged outside Parliament, and when Farage had a milkshake thrown over him. But such attacks are wrong and I understand why some subjected to this respond.

Basically, while I disagree with the far right, they have a right to free speech. Action taken by anyone to hinder free speech through violent protest, or drowning them out is wrong.  I would consider this wrong if anyone from the left was subjected to it, and the same applies to those I disagree with. 

While I agree that the anti-trans activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, also known as Posie Parker, should be allowed to speak I find it hard to be vocal in defending her as I would do with others, mainly because of her links to the Far Right.  While JK Rowling has spoken out against this violation of free speech, I am going to sit this one out.

There have been some calls for women in this situation to have men protecting them against those Trans-Rights activists who would engage in the same behaviour.  Sadly, I suspect that there will be members of the Far Right who would be happy to protect them.    

The bottom line is that we do have a right to protest and should be allowed to engage in this, but we also have a right to free speech and the right to protest should not infringe the right to free speech.  

Hustle

 An interesting film which my wife and I watched yesterday. To be fair, I would not have picked it, and she picked it thinking that it was a different film! 

Normally films about US sports are not that relevant to me. Fever Pitch was different, only because I wanted to see how it compared to the original.

This was actually a decent film. It is strange to see Queen Latifah and Adam Sandler in their roles. Ultimately if I had watched this after reading the reviews, I may have been disappointed, but watching it expecting the worst, it was quite good.  However, if you do wish to watch it, do not watch the trailer as it gives away too much. 

Family wise, things were relaxing, mostly. It did involve a bit of cleaning and some paperwork but we had a chance to relax at the end of the day at least.