I thought it went fairly well: although I though I should have mentioned extended warranties in the role playing* section, rather than the case I did discuss.
However?
The decision’s ultimately not down to me: much as I’d like to get the job …
~≈¥≈~
As an extra thought?
While I was prepping various bits and bobs for the episode of Mr Robot I caught, last night?
I got a call from another potential employer, last night.
I’ve got another interview on Monday …
~≈¥≈~
And, just as another extra thought?
Google’s released its Stadia games streaming service, today.
Along side the micro console it can be played on.
Personally?
I wouldn’t mind a go at that: and think it possibly could be a good birthday or Christmas present for my nephew.
Possibly.
Unlike Netflix, you don’t pay a subscription for the service, and get access to a lot of free games.
You pay a subscription … and, with a basic subscription, have to pay extra for games.
Frankly?
I don’t know if that’s going to generate big sales for Google.
You can tell something’s got my goat, can’t you … ?
And, at a guess … ? You’re thinking “Hello: Paul’s seen a movie he’s not entirely convinced by, hasn’t he … ?”
Can I be frank … ?
You’d be right … !
~≈†≈~
Let me just try and explain a few things, shall I? Just in case you’re new to Nik Nak’s Old Peculiar.
I’m not working, at the moment: but DO have just enough budgeting skills to make sure that, every so often, I can afford an iTunes gift card.
Usually the cheapest ones on the shelf, before you ask. Being a recovering smoker helps, I should add: the money I used to waste on so much tobacco every week, now tends to go towards both bills, and towards that once-in-a-blue-moon gift card.
The reason I mention it … ?
Is that, spun out over the course of a few months, the money that card represents, is the money I entertain myself with.
It’s that, tobacco or booze and frankly, I’ve given that up, as well.
I’d rather explain myself, than have you assume.
~≈†≈~
Moving on … ?
Well, you guessed correctly: I’ve rented myself a film, tonight. And in case you’d not worked out which film … ?
And, yes: you’d be right about ‘… not entirely convinced’ …
~≈†≈~
4th January, 2014
Right … I’m back …
Blogging …
And frankly, using Gerty, my spare Mac, as Bruce is busily processing some of the Teaser videos for the next few days: JUST in case the text looks a touch inconsistent.
It would, using two different versions of Safari.
At ANY rate, I was telling you about Elysium, wasn’t I? Let me see if I can’t summarize it, for you.
Set in 2154, Elysium tells us the story of Max, played by Matt Damon.
Max is a reformed car-thief: and one of many of the poorer members of the human race, living on a massively overcrowded, and heavily polluted, Earth.
A human race whose richest members live quite some distance above the surface, on a space station called Elysium: one that’s the film’s equivalent of the most high-tech version of a gated community that you can imagine. A gated community that’s not only beautiful, calm and peaceful, but ALSO got the most advanced medical facilities available.
Available only to the stations inhabitants.
Inhabitants defended by Secretary Delacourt — Jodie Foster — who’s determined to seize power on the station by taking control of the stations computers.
And who’s the employer of Kruger (Sharlto Copley): a (mildly) psychotic hired gun.
Who only gets put back on the books when his boss realizes she has to capture Max, to get hold of important information stuck in his head.
Max … ? Max just wants people to stop shooting him: all he wants to do is get to a med bay, before he dies of radiation poisoning.
~≈†≈~
Hmmm …
I’ve possibly made a dogs dinner of that, haven’t I … ?
Or, at least, more of one than I intended to.
At ANY rate, I was going to tell you what I thought, wasn’t I … ?
I have to admit, Elysium is entertaining: I’ll have to confess to that.
At least, it tries it’s best to be: the villains are villainous, Damon and co are suitably heroic, and the setting … interesting … ish.
You can tell there’s a ‘But’ coming, can’t you … ?
But, as entertaining as I think it’s trying to be, I don’t know that it quite hits the mark: the characters seem to be well drawn sketches rather than fully rounded characters, the setting itself doesn’t seem as fully complete as it possibly could be, and the ending just a touch too happy.
On top of that … ?
On top of that, it struck me the basic plot — a man with a short time to function, having to get a computer virus onto the systems of a space station — vaguely reminiscent of William Gibson’s Neuromancer. But without Neuromancer’s sleaze, or designer cool.
To be frank … ?
Elysium is entertaining.
But it’s not going to be the first film I’d suggest you reach for, on a quiet night in.
And have to admit: it’s not until you go through someone’s entry on either site, you realise — ESPECIALLY in the case of Ms Foster — quite how impressive a list of gongs she has.
Well deserved gongs, at that, I think!
Which I believe saying what I’m going to say, all the easier.
The Brave One … ? Is Ms Foster and co, on some VERY good form.
~≈Ç≈~
28th October, 2013.
Phew … !
That was quite some day: I’ve been to Basildon — as part of the Work Programme I have to attend — and seeing the amount of downed trees en route was quite something.
Saying that? Storm St. Jude seems to be on its way out of the UK, having done its damage.
I think we can be thankful it wasn’t worse.
At ANY rate … ? The storm WASN’T what I was telling you about, was it?
No.
No, I was telling you about last night’s film: the 2007, Jodie Foster film, The Brave One.
Foster plays talk show radio host, Erica Bain: a woman who — in the middle of her busy career — is organising her upcoming weeding to long term boyfriend, David (Naveen Andrews).
And at the start of the film … ? The couple are walking their dog through Central Park, when they’re mugged.
David is killed. Erica … ? Left seriously wounded, both physically, and mentally.
After she recovers, Erica tries her hardest both to get herself out of her front door, to get back to a normal life.
Something she finds not helped by the time the police take to try and find her lovers killers: and the initial refusal she receives in trying to buy a gun.
Something that, in her desperation and anger … ? She eventually buys illegally, from one of Chinatown’s more … ahh … dubious residents.
With results that leave Erica feeling profoundly changed.
~≈Ç≈~
Now …
Good form … ?
I should say so!
I feel that, between them, Foster, Jordan, et al, have made a wonderfully taut variation on the Deathwish theme.
One that both recognises the need for revenge, AND when to stop seeking it.
Personally?
Personally, The Brave One is one heck of good film.
17th February, 2011. You know, I’ve got to admit, there’s one thing I know that BBC series, Outcastshas managed to do.
APART from seriously split critical opinion, cause intense discussion amongst fans of TV sci-fi and become as divisive as Marmite* … ?
Well, means that the usual Tuesday night movie got missed, last week.
And shifted to last night, this week.
Not that I’m complaining, too much.
It meant the when Movie Night Adrian, Kevin D, Sarah and I all got together last night, we had a bit of catching to do: Sarah was keen to explain her thinking on a band she was in, Kevin to borrow my shower, and Adrian to …
Well …
Mostly be Adrian, and eat popcorn …
It also — also — got us all nattering about exactly which movie we should actually watch.
I know Kevin and I wasn’t impressed by a western that Adrian had picked up from Brentwood Library.
And I think all of us were a touch intimidated by the sheer length of Night Watch.
Notice I didn’t mention a genre in that sentence … ?
More on that, later …
•••••
Based on the 1988 novel of the same name by Thomas Harris, The Silence of the Lambs sees trainee FBI agent, Clarice Starling — played by Jodie Foster in the second of her Oscar winning roles° — co-opted by Special Agent Jack Crawford — played by Scott Glenn — to run what he calls “… an interesting errand”.
Crawford is — ostensibly — overseeing the building of of the Bureau’s VICAP‡criminal profile database, and wants Starling to interview the one they’ve not managed to get talking, just yet.
To quote Crawford and Starling’s exchange … ?
Crawford:The pyschiatrist, Hannibal Lecter.
Starling:Hannibal the Cannibal …
Underscoring all this … ?
Crawford wants Ms Starling to deal with the figure that’s now such an icon, ever since that initial introduction …
Not that’s any urgency, of course …
•••••
Now …
You notice I didn’t mention the genre of The Silence of the Lambs, earlier … ?
That’s deliberate …
You see one thing I know that both Kevin, Adrian and I had noticed, over the years, was the simple amount of times that The Silence of the Lambs gets a mention in various ‘Top Horror’ type lists you see infesting movie magazines like Empire.
Whether that’s accurate is a whole other matter.
Speaking personally, though … ?
I think I can appreciate the reasoning behind that.
After all, why bother with the likes of Freddy, Jason, Michæl, et al, when the genuine article — especially when played with the Oscar winning conviction that earned Anthony Hopkins both the Oscar and the knighthood — can be so much more chillingª.
The Silence of the Lambs ★★★★
*Marmite’s anti-malarial properties are an urban myth, dating back to 1934/5. Apparently …
ªJust as a thought to ponder, here, though, about the evils that people do: in the original novel, Thomas Harris has Dr Lecter saying “I collect church collapses, recreationally. Did you see the recent one in Sicily? Marvelous! The facade fell on sixty-five grandmothers at a special mass. Was that evil? If so, who did it? If he’s up there, he just loves it, Officer Starling. Typhoid and swans - it all comes from the same place.”
