Seb Palmer

Hmmm!? Not sure about this film. The constant wibbly-pibbly soundtrack, and the near constant mumbling of the dialogue… These do not add up to the grandeur or gravitas that this movie seems to assume it has.

‘I confess, it’s wearing on me…’ says Roy McBride, Brad Pitt’s character, at one point. This is about halfway through the film. An hour in to two hours. And boy do those hours feel long. Damn right, Roy. Me too!

Numerous elements really grate, such as the frequent references to Christian religion/belief, the themes of relationships (all of which seem strangely neutered), and the total lack of credibility in the quantum leap from Mcbride’s very believable getting digitally ‘locked out’ at one point, to the totally bizarre way in which he hijacks the Cepheus, not long after.

To me, even though there are some strong visual moments, this is a mess of a movie. And not a very compelling ness of a movie either. Something to be endured, rather than enjoyed. It has the feel of Christopher Nolan, i.e. pompously self-important whilst actually not very interesting.

So, Pitt finds Pops (Tommy Lee Jones). Dad’s lost it, and killed all his crew. Dad then opines that he must not fail, but must continue to seek… ‘To find what science tells us doesn’t exist’.* Eugh….

It comes over like something written by a teenager. A cosmic tantrum dressed up as if it were deep. ‘Why go on? Why keep trying?’muses Pitt, as he drifts, lost in space. But then he quite literally ‘sees the light’. Uuuugh… spare us!

This film seems like a big budget reminder of how solipsistic modern culture is continuing to grow. Other characters drift in and out, including some played by Donald Sutherland and that rocker’s daughter, who played Aragorn’s elvish chick. Who are they? I simply don’t care. That’s modern cinema in a nutshell. A vacuum where one might hope for character or humanity.

Best avoided, in my view.

* This reminds me of that joke about the search for intelligent life in outer space… cause there’s none here on Earth. Ba-dish!

I haven’t read this book, so this isn’t a book review. Indeed, successfully resisting the temptation to buy any books at this Topping Books author talk was a major achievement!

I have one or two Max Hastings books, such as Overlord and Das Reich (which I haven’t read, as yet). I’m interested enough to have been seriously tempted by Operation Pedestal. But lack of fundage and beaucoup de books means I must resist! Read not spend!

Sir Max Hastings (eugh, I’m not a fan of such class-laden honorifics) being a very establishment journalist – former employer of Bojo the Clown! – raises some issues for me. But most big name military historians, e.g. Anthony Beevor, are cut from the same tweedy public-school cloth.

Still, he proved to be an entertaining public speaker, mixing in some WWII documentary footage (from the IWM archives), and even voicing some of his quotes ‘in character’ (Cockney ratings and Churchill included!).

The story he told tonight, and that he tells in far greater detail in his book was/is fascinating. Basically bringing this particular re-supply of Malta off, and not losing the island, was more about a shot in the arm morale wise than strategic goals.

And it was equally important to prove to the US and Russia that we weren’t as pathetic as some of our misadventures up to that point, from the fate of the BEF to the failed Norway campaign, might make us appear.

I think I will get and read Pedestal at some point. But I’ll wait for a cheap used paperback. Simply ‘cause needs must. I flew solo tonight, as well. Usually Teresa accompanies me that these talks. But not this time!

The talk itself was enjoyable. And the venue, the Lighthouse Auditorium, Ely, was new to me. I’d estimate it was both full and that there must’ve been about 200-250 attending. A fun little evening out.

Soooo… Sunday, and the main vice is looking and working great. I’m very pleased. I sanded off some excess wood-filler (the white stuff!), along some of the seams. The flat work surface is fab!

The side of the bench, or the rear face of jaws that face out towards work/me are less contiguous. But the new insertion is better/truer that the former side of the bench itself was.

I put a nice meaty large-ish jaw on the front/opening face. So hopefully I can clamp up big chunky stuff! Because my bench is made of pine floorboards, it’s not as heavy as might be ideal. And despite all the stuff – five full toolboxes filled with hefty toolage! – certain things can still make the whole bench move a bit. Which is obviously annoying and disappointing. Still, this is my first ever DIY workbench. So it’s hardly surprising it ain’t poifeck!

A second Fuller 3 & 1/2” clamp sits clamped in to the main vise; a useful addition to and extension of what the main vice facilitates.

In other less happy news, my two home-made plane handles have both failed. And both in exactly the same weak spot. What one might want to call the Achilles’ heel of the plane ‘tote’, albeit it’s actually midway between the ‘ankle’ and the ‘toe’! My knob is faring fine tho’!

More Knobs!

Another knob. This one’s from a harder, denser wood. Mind, it’s not my knobs that’ve failed thus far, but my ‘andles. The wood is from a load of evergreen for tree type wood we got off Freecycle, for firewood. I wish I knew exactly what kind of wood it is!

Making these is great fun. Now I’m into the sanding and varnishing stages. Sand, varnish, sand, varnish, sand, varnish, sand, varnish, and so on.

Looking for movies on Prime I saw Pacific Rim. It’s not at all the kind of thing I’d normally want to watch. I’m not a fan of Guillermo del Toro, at least not what I’ve seen by him. And modern sci-fi/monster movies? Naaah!

But call it my woman’s intuition, or whatever, I thought let’s try it. It is as dumb as I worried it might be. And it is like a Playstation Game turned into a movie. Another modern trend I’m not very keen on.

But, in its favour, first it’s just good silly old fashioned matinee movie fun. Second, it’s visually stunning enough to make up for its dumb-ass silliness. Too many modern movies like this rely on visuals, and do that quite well, but still fail as films ‘cause they’re so awful in just about every way possible.

This suffers from some of the most egregious of the faults of so much modern film entertainment, with the boneheaded reduction of human culture to a muscle bound masculinity that’s apparently totally unaffected by any form of post-Enlightenment waves of awareness, from Feminism to Woke.

But ironically it’s not regressive, so much as hyper-modern. It’s a complete and bizarre paradox of our times. A form of ultra-contemporary moron-ism, that attempts to shroud itself in anything from allusions to religion (Stacker Pentecost!? A scientist called Gottlieb, German for ‘God-love’!?*) to cyber-spirituality (the whole ‘drift’ thing’). And it’s incredibly infantile

I can’t say exactly why, but in this particular instance I just let my inner child enjoy the spectacle of the film. And that’s ultimately what it is. A spectacle for children (whatever their actual age). And a fairly fun one at that.

* God-Love’s ‘other half’ – mind-meld in ‘the Drift’! – is Newton; so science and religion can resolve their troublesome real world issues in the dark and watery neon-lit imaginarium of cinematic CGI!!! Nuts…