Ratburger

This lovely film teaches people about the value of friendship and how you can overcome any problem by working together. Walliams plays the spooky rat catcher and fast food vendor, but he doesn’t oversell his role for the sake of others. Every person plays their part well and has equal time in the story, and each character has their own backstory, even the bloke in the newsagent who seems to play every stereotypical newsagent. I think the story would have worked even without a dancing rat, and the animation is a bit poor. Perhaps another animal would have been better. With Walliams’s connections, they could have got the dog off Britain’s Got Talent. The story also would have worked without the school’s talent competition altogether; it simply seemed to just pad things out a bit. A bake-off would have been more original, but perhaps that wasn’t in at the time. It’s a shame that we didn’t see more rivalry between him and the chef that the school hires to encourage healthy eating.

Where's Your Hat?

I’d been in a group of seats at a beer festival. It had been a fun day, but some of the younger folk were playing tricks on the older ones by hiding their stuff under piles of coats. It was close to getting time to head off home, and some had already left to visit a few pubs. At one point I was the only member of our group who remained and other people were looking to use the table so I invited them over. Then one of the younger ones came back looking for his hat; and went absolutely apeshit that he couldn’t find it and left in a rage. Half an hour later it was my turn to depart and got my coat from off the chair. As I turned to leave, one of the newcomers said that I’d left a hat behind. And there underneath where my coat had been was the hat of the young one. I smiled as I took it and even sent him a Facebook message of me wearing it on the train. I then thought of all the places I’d planned to visit that year and imagined me taking it on tour with me, sending him pictures as I went. Eventually I relented and gave it to one of the old folks to return it to him.

A Modern Shopping Centre #dreamdiary73

Our current shopping centre is modern enough inside, but from above it’s much less visually appealing. It was built in the seventies, so a lot of square brick has been put into the design. Luckily, most of it stands on the bottom of a valley so it doesn’t stick out too much like a sore thumb apart from when you walk up the hill. Even some of this is disguised by a dome and some high street shops on the outside. At Christmas they used to put up a thin wire of lights in the shape of a tree on top, though lately they haven’t bothered as it looks a bit crude. In the future, it would be nice to change to change the tower into a dome structure of a sleek silver hill with corridors feeding into it with a nice open space below and a raised ring road to amplify the views.

Derby Winter Ales Festival

I fancied a trip out to Derby. They were hosting a Winter Ales Festival at the famous Roundhouse building just next to the train station. I’d previously tried to get to it when it was being run as the National Winter Ales Festival; but failed on many occasions. This year, the national event had moved to Norwich, but the local branch decided to give it a go on their own. And with a venue that’s fairly central for the country to travel to, they weren’t mistaken. I arrived ten minutes before the doors opened to see a huge queue snake down the road. I passed some fellow members who graciously saved me a seat, and luckily I only had to wait ten minutes before the line started moving. We were ushered into a metallic building which served as an entrance, then once we’d been issued with glasses we were free to explore the building. Amazingly, the building also acts as a library for a local college, while the main room that hosted the beers was used to turn the engines around. It’s worth a visit if you get the chance.

The Devil's Daughter #devilsdaughter1

Luke was tired from all the drinking and decided to call it a night. He’d queued up for ages to see the buxom beauty, but his credit card had been maxed out at the bar and he could no longer afford to gaze upon her sights. With a sigh, he got into the lift and headed up to his penthouse. He opened his jacket to take out his key, and couldn’t find it. He patted all around his jacket and dug into his trousers but he still couldn’t remember where he’d put it. Perhaps he put it in his rear pocket next to his credit card? He was just running his hands over his rear pockets when he heard a voice behind him.

‘Now, there’s an interesting view.’ 

As he turned round, he saw that his eyes were level with the nine-foot buxom beauty in her stunning glittery red dress. Her head was scraping the ceiling, while a small trail of dress was flowing two feet behind her.

The Canal House

Colin had built the perfect den. He’d bought an old warehouse in the middle of the city next to the canal. He’d ensured that every side had an extended balcony with ample supplies hidden behind each wall. There would be a secret basement hidden underneath the building which would be submerged so that a secret getaway could be via a mini submarine or a pipe walkway connecting to a canal boat that looked seemingly unrelated on the other side of the wharf. The roadside access would be a small narrow street leading into a car park with apartments facing either side- which he’d rent out to his friends. It would be the perfect ambush for any unsuspecting nark, and he could dispose of the evidence quickly. There was even an option to make an escape on foot through a network of pathways which the novice visitor would find difficult to pursue; and the number of steps involved could divert any motorbike.

The Log

Isn’t it annoying when you have to fill out an on-line form and you have to read the text in an annoying font? Is it an ‘a’ or a ‘q’? Do capitals count? Oh no, I’ve done it wrong; it’s given me another one. It’s much simpler when there’s a box to tick declaring that you’re not a robot but this doesn’t seem a secure way of verifying that you’re not. Apparently, Google tracks your mouse’s movements to determine whether you’re a robot. But of course, that can easily be simulated. There’s now a video of a robotic arm doing that very thing. The other option is to click the pictures that contain specified images; usually from traffic scenes. This in itself seems more credible; although some of the images are debatable for humans if you look into the distance of each image. But with the amount of scanning technology on our roads today, it’s only a matter of time before a system will be able to do the same. If only people could just be honest and trustworthy, then there wouldn’t be a need for all this verification. It’s just another hoop that we have to jump through to ensure our safety.