deKay’s Blog

When this first came out, I watched it three times in a single weekend, as it seemed necessary to do so in order to make sense of the story. This time around, however, despite not having seen it in more than ten years, I didn’t have to. I don’t know if that’s because I subconciously remembered the bits I needed to pay attention to, or whether I got lucky, but still - you have to concentrate or things really do pass you by.

Bruce Willis’ character, Cole, is sent back in time to find out where a virus that wiped out most of humanity started out. Unfortunately, he’s initially sent back too far, and his scrambled brain ramblings about the future gets him locked up in an asylum. There, he meets Goines (Brad Pitt) who tries to help him escape. Cole is taken back to the future (his present), and then sent back in time again, correctly, to just before the virus outbreak begins.

There’s a major twist in the plot, when it seems that Cole, because of his conversations in the asylum, actually planted the seed of the idea of wiping out humanity in Goines’ head, as Goines goes on to form The Army of the Twelve Monkeys - the group blamed, in the future, for the virus. Phew, eh?

But that’s just the start of the complication. Cole’s assigned psychiatrist, Kathryn Railly, had been researching claims of people throughout history who suggested the world was going to end. Their stories match up with Cole’s, and it turns out that they’re all other people who had been sent back in time, like Cole had. Then there’s another twist when Cole starts to believe he is actually insane, and his time in the future is entirely in his head. And then there’s another twist at the end.

It’s all very confusing, unless you’re paying attention. But it’s cleverly done, and covers so many topics (mental health, germ warfare, time travel, animal rights) that it plays out like an expertly woven tapestry.

Verdict: 5/5

You know that there iTunes, what recently got an upgrade to version 8? I finally got round to installing it this morning. The “big thing” with this release is Genius, iTunes’ way of looking at what songs you’ve got, and using that information to recommend other songs and artists.

It’s been well documented that it makes some slightly… confused suggestions. Perhaps recommending Sepultura when the majority of your library is Kraftwerk or something. But I’ve not heard of it being actually totally stupid like it has been with me:

That’s right - Genius is telling me that I’m missing some Blondie tracks. Tracks that are RIGHT THERE in my library already. Amazing.

I went to use my 360 this evening, and as soon as it powered on and logged in, it froze. Restarted it, and the same happened again. Zomoniac off of ugvm reported similar problems yesterday.

After some faffing around, I tried disconnecting my network cable and starting the 360 up again - and this worked. Plug in the cable, connect to Live, and it freezes. Naturally, and following the problems with Live all week, I assumed that it was Microsoft’s servers up the spout.

Then a post on rllmuk linked here. Turns out than an incomplete download of the new Pro Evolution Soccer game is to blame. And what was I part way through downloading when I switched my 360 off last night? Exactly.

So I disconnected the 360 from the network once more, started it up, deleted the incomplete demo download, and reconnected to Xbox Live. The result? It works once more! Phew!

We went back to the midwife for the 28-week checkup thing this week. Once again they put the baby on speaker-phone so we could hear its heartbeat (and it was more badum-badum than waka-waka again), and they also measuring my wife’s bump - 31cm.

Although not really important, they tend to prefer the size to be 1cm-per-week, +/- 1cm, so 31cm was good. Everything else was normal and as expected!

Anti-natal classes start next week!

Well, my wrist is. I’m partly blaming it on not fully recovering from Guitar Hero DS, but the rest is possibly due to sleeping on my hand at a funny angle or something.  My left wrist and little finger have been hurting for a week or so, but it’s been agony for the last couple of days.

And now today, as if it was feeling left out, my right hand has started to ache. Maybe it’s because I’ve been compensating for the loss of use of my left hand a bit, or perhaps it’s sympathy pains, but I feel I’m going to end the week pretty much handless.

…to see the sun for the first time ever.

That’s right - Xbox Live is down! And on forums the world over, it’s as if civilisation has collapsed. People are having to do other things! Like go outside! Or play with Lego!

Or just get on with it and playing offline like we used to in the Dark Ages.

I’ve realised recently that I have some sort of obsessive compulsive disorder. Trivial OCD, yes, but it’s still there. It’s apparent in several ways:

• I can’t watch people at work use an interactive whiteboard if it isn’t exactly calibrated. Even if the pen and the on-screen pointer are merely millimetres out of alignment, it drives me up the wall. I genuinely can’t watch them operate it, and last week I actually stood up in the middle of a meeting, took the pen from the speaker, and calibrated the board myself as I couldn’t go on.
• All sets of stairs must have a handrail or bannister. This isn’t for safety reasons, as I rarely use it anyway, it’s just in my head I can’t abide seeing them without one.
• Games, CDs, DVDs and books must not, ever, be organised alphabetically. Usually, alphabetically arranging such items is a “socially acceptable” OCD, but in my case I insist they’re not. I can arrange by type, by date, by subject - but never, ever, alphabetically. It makes me uneasy.

I’m not the only one, right?

A deeply religious police sergeant travels to a island village to try to solve the mystery of a girl who disappeared there. On his arrival, he finds that none of the residents have even heard of her. As his investigations progess, he is exposed to more and more of the “heathen” traditions of the island’s pagan ways, realising the girl’s disappearance is somehow linked to them.

Although described as a horror, or a thriller, I wouldn’t really class The Wicker Man as either. It’s a mystery, with a somewhat horrific realisation at the end, but for the most part plays out like some sort of musical fantasy film.

Remarkably, much of the ritual side of the plot is actually based in reality, which adds even more to the story. Thoroughly recommended.

Verdict: 5/5

I don’t even know what it actually does that my current phone doesn’t do, but I still need one.

It doesn’t look amazing, but the HTC G1 - the first Google Android phone - is, for some reason, a necessity. It’s not even vastly different in size to my Vario III, although it’s slightly narrower and thinner, and a mite taller:

Wii Samba de Amigo is here! Have can you not love it, with this advert?

Shh!! Lets just pretend the “issues” with the controls don’t exist, yes?

And this is clearly the best track: