The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

I had high hopes for this film. The trailer looked good and I really enjoyed the mocking in the first scene. But that looked to be the only humorous scene and things got far too serious after that. There were a couple of ‘god-mode’ executions that just made it unrealistic, and the penultimate scene was something akin to watching one of your mates play a computer game. The off-battle scenes were mostly too predictable. It’s a shame that the script got too close to the truth, and I think a better angle live a love interest could have been told. It also seems unrealistic that a ship could be declared ‘unsinkable’ just by reinforcing the hull. I did spend some time wondering where I’d seen these actors before playing similar roles. Cavill performs well in his role as leader and it’s nice to see him fully clothed for once. Kinnear merely plays dress-up in his role as the Prime Minister.

Pop-up Peekaboo: Stitch by DK Publishing

Pop-Up Peekaboo! Stitch by D.K. Publishing
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a lovely little book that had a surprise at every turn. The pages were colourful and the story was simple; though I had trouble revealing the first character. I didn’t expect the shelter to fold out that way. I was particularly thrown back by some of the characters as I never expected something that size to appear. I wasn’t expecting any scantily clad characters to appear. Perhaps Disney should save that for other publications. The ending was cute; though the main character had disappeared and the story invokes a bit of anticipation that finding him will be the end. It’s all done through verbs and you don’t learn much about the characters though. I would have liked to learn a little more about the aliens. I suppose I will have to get round to watching the film. It will probably be more informative. And I’m more likely to pursue that again.

View all my reviews

A Test of Strength

Lots of breweries pride themselves on brewing high-strength beers. In the past there’s been a race to see who could brew the strongest one. Tactical Nuclear Penguin and Sink the Bismark are just two examples of beers that have exceeded the 30% ABV mark. But who could sit down and drink a whole serving of these in one sitting? The cost would also be extortionate. I know of one bar that charged £5 just for a shot of this beer. I hope that the whole bottle was used. But sometimes you don’t want a strong one, especially if you’re driving. And if the choice isn’t offered, it might persuade you to go elsewhere. The point is that people want to enjoy these drinks. If they’re able to finish them, the only reason that they’re likely to purchase them again is for bragging rights. But there’s also been challenges to produce the lowest, bitterest and hoppiest beers.

Wild Goose Chase #warwick 24

You wouldn’t think it, but there’s lanes in the water. There’s circular ripples that geese drift on to get to where they need to go. Occasionally they have to change lanes to keep on track to their destination. And that’s where the chaos begins. Whether it’s a commute or a migration, the whole flock is constantly on the move. Their aim is to either position themselves for the best viewpoint, or put themselves forward in an ideal place to be the first in line for food, or to help protect the flock. As different birds have different objectives at different times, this often means bumping into each other. Some might use it as an excuse to copulate or assert dominance, others may find it a nice gesture. Be prepared or a lot of arguments as they chase each other, especially when the defender has had enough and flies off with the attacker in pursuit to either assert or explain their intentions.

If I win 8 million at the casino and leave immediately, what will be the consequences?

If you’re leaving immediately, then I’m assuming that you’re not stopping to cash any chips. That means that either the money is already in your account because you’re playing an on-line machine, or you’ve had a payout in cash. It’d be very hard for you to get far with two million quarters. Someone might help you or you might drop a few on the way. You’re also expected to tip the staff, but that depends if you’ve availed yourself of their services. They’ll certainly attempt to congratulate you if they find out. You can leave a bit more anonymously if you’ve been using a video machine, though there’s also the chance that it’s notified someone and they can follow you via the security cameras. You can perhaps expect some sort of hired goon to follow and stop you until they’ve engaged with you, unless you’ve physically left the chips on the table.

Visitors #warwick 23

What are all these people doing here? There’s so many of them. Some of them do help out. They mainly wear black or traditional dress and walk around slowly and purposefully leaving feed in bowls hidden from the eyes of others and carrying tools. Sometimes they ride around in shiny boxes carrying their equipment. The others park their boxes in a cluster outside of the green. Some of them work slow and build smaller carts for their young charges while others march purposefully in front of others, either to beat the queues or show their eagerness to explore. It’s these ones that look around then disappear at the end of the day, never to be seen again or at least for a long time. But when I give them the feather and show them my arse they love it and take loads of pictures. At least it encourages them to buy my merchandise from the shop.

Keeping Time

These timers have shrunk a bit. I suppose that it’s partly to save on the cost of producing plastic and partly because the technology has moved on and everything is being controlled by smart speakers and phones. Upon first use, I thought it would be really tough to use because I couldn’t push any of the time segments down. Then I discovered that they came pre-pressed. The smaller scale of the dial markers makes the time segments difficult to view. It’s also difficult to view the time needle, but if you’ve used one before then you don’t really need to read the instructions. There’s also a simple override switch for those times when you want on for a bit longer without having to re-program it. And there’s not much point in using it for anything other than a lamp, unless you were going to rig up something technical for a trap.