Winter has returned. It was a lovely 14 degrees on Friday, now it’s around 0, and there is snow on the ground. Luckily the weather is expected to improve in the coming week. On the work front, Standish is now going through edits. This is going to be a long slog. I’m using Grammarly to help me edit, and it detected close to 7,000 errors that need to be addressed. Combing through all of those is going to take a considerable amount of time, and there are some holes in the story that need to be filled. All in all, a lot of work left to do.
We lost two icons of very different industries and disciplines this week, both close to my heart. Hubert de Givenchy and Profession Stephen Hawking. Both titans in their respective fields, and both icons.
Another loss to deal with this weekend, and last was the poor run of England’s rugby team. Defeated in Paris last weekend, and then losing to Ireland at Twickenham on St Patrick’s day. England finished 5th in the tables, not a good look.
I’ve recently gotten into The Wire. Love it. Great cast. Some many of the actors I recognize from other shows and films. Really enjoying it so far, in fact, I’d put it above the Sopranos in my estimations, but that’s just my opinion.
I also watched Annihilation on Netflix. What a mess. I don’t care that the Guardian thinks it’s cerebral, it was a hot mess. Here are some of my notes, and no, they won’t make any sense to you id you haven’t see the film
-How did Kane get from what is clearly the Gulf Coast to Baltimore in the beginning of the film -I don’t really buy Portman’s PHd wife who happens to teach at John’s Hopkins, being married to an SF guy.
-Really annoying flashbacks
-There’s a scene where the ladies are in an elevated tower, yet come down to the ground to investigate something, because yeah, let’s leave a defensible position
-The ‘I’m going off on my own to look for our missing colleague’. Portman’s character is ex-military, as such, would know that you don’t go anywhere without your battle-buddy.
-Natalie, the ex-soldier, put her M4 down on the ground with the ejection port down. Nope!
-Too gruesome
-Is Benedict Wong the go-to smart Asian dude these days? Sunshine, The Martian, Prometheus, the list goes on.
-Not clear on what is really going on throughout the entire film regarding the Shimmer and its powers.
-At the end of the film, are Kane and Lena aliens? Or what.
-Another attempt at trying to be too clever with sci-fi
Speaking of Sci-fi, got the Dredd soundtrack for some editing motivation. This soundtrack has got some great tunes on it. Good for the creative juices, and good at keeping the mind focused on fixing my space-opera.
Got back to the Victoria and Albert museum after some time for the Ocean Liners exhibition. Takes me back to the time I did a crossing from Southampton to New York on the Queen Mary 2. The golden age of travel when it was more sophisticated and elegant.
As this week draws to a close, I’m looking forward to getting Standish finished and into the hands of my beta-testers, then getting stuck into Love in a time of War.
Until next week, dear readers, stay frosty.