Smart phone

Posted on 15th Sep 2012 by essiep

17°C sunny.
Got a new phone today.
This is going to take some getting used to. I got a Samsung Galaxy Mini 2 in the end. For this post, I’m trying the touch screen T9 keypad. Finding the apostrophe in mid-sentence is rather tricky. Phones like this can cost tonnes but I chose the Mini 2. Physically more practical, though the keys on the touch screen are very small.
Impressive features are the GPS, wireless internet and mapping. Perhaps the lasting judgement will come from the valueof any apps, like this WordPress one.

Samsung Galaxy Mini 2 review (atradiginews.wordpress.com)

Peleliu layered

Posted on 30th Jun 2012 by essiep

19°C, showers later.

Peleliu looks much better in FSX. The island, like most in the Pacific is built on a seamount (a volcano), with some jungle and edged with coral reefs. Waves actually break offshore over the reefs and not so much on the beaches which is the tricky bit in FSX.

This screenshot shows it from the top, there should be shallow white water with coral to the right (East side). After all these years I have learnt new stuff about the way the sim handles water. The sea surface is generic but tiles placed underneath give the water its colour. FSX documentation is uneven on this, but it claims to cover everything from muddy river deltas to oceanic depths with or without plankton. There are, it’s said, sixty textures to choose from.

Peleliu

Posted on 29th Jun 2012 by essiep

18°C, wind & sunny bits

Ill and off work but after a monster sleep, you find me feeling better.

Making Scenery for FSX like old times. The default land texture for Peleliu in the Pacific is a joke. It should be all tropical jungle, but MS have put dry farmland on the little coral & volcanic island.

What is should be like is closer to this:
The island’s shape is still wrong, but I’m not sure how much more I want to do on this one. There is plenty of detail that could be added, there are coral reefs, beaches with black sands and channels in shallow waters (The German Channel) and of course, other small islands slightly to the north. Visually, the result could be rather appealing. All this tropical island paradise conceals a grim human history- The Battle for Peleliu during WW2. The US Marines invaded and forced the Japanese occupying forces out with a huge loss of life to both sides. The jungles now conceal tank wrecks, demolished bunkers and crashed planes. There are, of course, memorials on important sites there.
I’ve been watching a series called Pacific on blu-ray which tells the story from the USA side.

So there is an ugly story hidden under the canopy of palm trees on this beautiful tropical island paradise.

Caravaggio

Posted on 12th May 2012 by essiep

14°C, sunny bits & windy

Film: Carravagio by Derek Jarman. A good film has the ability to occupy your thoughts for the next day, or even days after that. Carravagio had some good ingredients- the cinematography was matched to the painter’s style. The sets were minimal and no scenes were shot outside. Rooms were mostly bare and light to draw ling inky black shadows just like the paintings. Tenebrist in style, apparently. Tilda Swinton supported along with various other well known British actors. In a few places, modern props were used to disconcerting effect.

Today, I’m left wondering why this film failed to light any spark in me. A few times I even looked ay he video player’s remaining time display. Not a good sign.

Never Let Me Go

Posted on 18th Mar 2012 by essiep

11°C Sun CK:44 miles.

From the same writer who gave us Remains Of The Day, this is a sad but beautifully shot film with a rather forgettable name. For me, the film stood out for the feeling of inevitable doom, and a haunting resignation in the characters who knew and accepted their fate.
I loved it, but many commentators on the web have pinned it as a poor relation to the book. I tend to feel that this criticism is unfair. A book takes, what, fifteen hours to read? To compare with a film that lasts 90 minutes is no real comparison in my view. I’d have been happy with a longer cut than this, it could easily sustain a 2 or 2½ hour film.

Can you tell that I’m reluctant to give away any synopsis of this one, so make do with the trailer

VIDEO:Trailer

The Artist

Posted on 29th Jan 2012 by essiep

3°C, light cloud. light wind

Film: The Artist. A lot of people will be put off going to see this film. It’s black & white, barely any sound, and it’s a homage to pre-talkie cinema and worst of all, it’s only the art-house cinemas that have the courage to show it. A lot of people are going to miss a real gem there. They probably fear it as an art-house difficult cult film. But it’s not, it’s utterly charming, old fashioned love story shot with a nostalgic fondness for the “golden age of film”. There are many ways that the film plays games with the audience, there are visual tricks, jokes, teases and no doubt- references to films of the 1920s. There are times when it’s hugely heart-lifting, moving and funny too. This is a pure feel-good film that lacks the insincere kitsch of many others. It’s so good that it may even convert many of us who believe the old films were naïve, childish and played to a simple audience.

44 Inch Chest

Posted on 16th Dec 2011 by essiep

1°C, clearing to ice

Film: 44 Inch Chest: more like a play with fine acting from established British actors like John Hurt. It was all atmosphere and dialogue a story about a group of London old criminals. My fellow audience were non-plussed, but I liked it.

44 Inch Chest (mrmovietimes.com)

We Need To Talk About…

Posted on 26th Oct 2011 by essiep

13°C, clear, fresh colourful

You know a good film when you talk about it on the way home, a great film has you chewing over it all of the next day too. We Need To Talk About Kevin had this effect on me today. We saw it at FACT in Liverpool last night. A very nice Cinema, but sorry Liverpool, it’s not as stylish as The Electric in Birmingham. Immediately, I was struck by how clear and sharp the picture is on these modern digital screens, especially on the adverts oddly. The films idea is well documented on the web, and in many places, more articulately explained than I could. I am, however, glad that I didn’t ready many reviews before going, the final culmination of the plot revealed itself to me in the film, not in the papers beforehand.

The best thing for me was that I didn’t feel patronised by this film. The plot appeared in small clues, amid pictorial sequences and focus on details of the characters’ lives. Each of those pictures would have stood as a ‘short’ in itself. The tension slowly built up throughout, images added on top of images seen earlier in the film. The whole story was fed to us, no need to spell out the plot and tell us what each bit meant. We worked it out for ourselves.

Animal Kingdom

Posted on 8th Oct 2011 by essiep

14°C, grey sky.

Film: Animal Kingdom. Review. It had all the tension of a David Lynch film, I was gripped and genuinely anxious about what would happen next. The film contained violence but didn’t indulge in a butcherfest as some films do. It met my need for fine cinematography, sound-scapes and therefore mood. I recommend.

However, I’m having trouble with this TV set because it makes that high pitched transistor whine. It reminds me of those mosquito alarms.

Four Lions

Posted on 16th Jul 2011 by essiep

17C, rain then bright.

Just a quick note this time. I know most of my posts are short, terse even.

Film: Four Lions, a comedy about some none too bright would-be suicide bombers from Sheffield. I say ‘comedy’ since that’s what it says on the label, but I didn’t notice that many funny bits. It did get better towards the end. It reminded me of Citizen Smith, the TV series from the early 80s, unfortunately it shared a similar characteristic where the parody was expressed through characters who were rather dim witted. A pretty feeble way to get laughs I’d say.

Micycle

Mike thinks b/hikes

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