CRRRaSh! 266 Return of the Rambles

By Roy Mathur, on 2019-05-19, at 23:44:21 to 00:34:24 BST, for Captain Roy's Rocket Radio Show, Listen

Top of the Show Rambles

I said I'd keep these to a minimum, but I think it's nicer to ease into the main geek subjects of the show, rather than jump right in.

Besides, what's the rush, especially in the all encompassing, multi-topic weekly show. Prepare from randomisation!

Safety Boot Dance

Ouch! I forked my foot. Oh, the irony of safety boots. Pinched between fork prong point and sole, plus no energy dissipation--entry and exit force bruise. Oh, how I danced.

Lucky, I'm OK, and it was minor, and, though it is still saw, I only limped for a day. It was the thick leather, more than anything else that saved my foot. Sure steel toecaps, but nothing's ever hit my toes outside, whereas indoors, I've stubbed my toes. Maybe I should wear them in lieu of slippers?

Metatarsal plates? Too much, like ski boots. Sole plates? Yes, actually that has saved me from stupid pointy sticking up stuff.

My advice? The problem with wearing them in the garden is the cleated soles, which really destroy the lawn. I thought of DMs, with those soft soles, but they are expensive and the leather isn't thick enough to survive. Whatever you do, if you decide you need safety boots, learn what the standards kite marks mean and avoid anything that does not encase your plates (feet) in thick leather. Avoid the fabric boots or steel toe wellies. They aren't stab proof.

Exhausted

Too much DIY landscaping, too much podcasting, not enough writing time, which includes just getting my novel out on Kindle. And yes, I know I have an ongoing serious problem with Amazon, but where else am I going to sell it?

And my eye... add that to the sinus problems, the IBS, pain etc. That light sensitivity is now beyond the usual joke of whether I'm a creature of the night. Some young idiotic airhead wag asked, more than a year ago now, if it was glaucoma. No, it isn't, but it is something that makes my eye painful, crusty, itch constantly, and water in sunlight. So, sunglasses. Creature of the night.

But the podcast output is now back to roughly once or twice a week--no specific release day or time.

Avengers: Endgame

I cannot believe I haven't talked about this. I actually saw this at the cinema a few weeks ago, but what with all the GoT excitement, I completely forgot to talk about it.

For what it's worth, at this late stage, I thought it was good, as good as Avengers: Infinity War. It really cleverly tied up the loose ends of the Avengers series. It used time travel to reverse the mass disintegration. It didn't shy from violence, but wasn't gratuitous either. It could have done with more and a higher rating actually, but it's aimed at teens over 12, so...

We also got a few character deaths--Thanos, Black Widow, Iron Man, and there were probably more...

As much as I don't like super teams in the comics (apart from X-Men), I must admit, Marvel did a bang up job. I actually saw the first film, Avengers Assemble at one of the Cinemas on Haymarket in London, back in April of 2012, a few months before I started podcasting. I remember asking the woman in the box office about the movie. She said it was really good, and it was. The whole series was great, and managed to reel me in, in a way that the super team comics never really did.

John Wick 2

A master class in action cinema. Only one step away from being a martial arts movie. The story is just a thin wrapping around great action sequences and a lot of famous character actors thrown in to validate the bare plot.

I'll wait for the third movie to come out on small screen.

War for the Planet of the Apes

Spectacular and mostly clever 2017 finale of the rebooted Planet of the Apes saga.

Woody Harrelson's Brando/Duval clone from Apocalypse Now is average. The films lean too heavily into Apocalypse Now--there's even "Ape-Pocalypse Now" graffiti to remind you, if you didn't already know, which is pointless, as some of the audience won't have heard of the Vietnam movie, and they whole thing will be lost on them.

But it's spectacular, the Nova character tie-in was a nice touch, and I loved Bad Ape. The ending made me cry.

The Batman

Robert Pattinson vs. Nicholas Hoult.

Can Pattinson do funny, because the grim dark knight is not quite so grim in the movies. Bale could do funny, "really big dogs".

Clooney, though physically was perfect for Batman, sucked, but maybe that was Joel Schumacher’s fault.

Outage from Hell

Stupidly early, c. 0100, on Tuesday the 14th May, after taping the big Game of Thrones podcast (#CRRRASH 264), I had the outage from hell.

First, right at the end of editing the podcast, a Windows update took out my computer.

Then I had no internet for hours. Not just trouble with the internet... without WiFi, even my remote control, i.e. my phone running Kore, couldn't connect with my RaspberryPi/OpenElec set top box; so no TV. No podcasts to listen to on my phone either. Thanks BT. Thank you very much. Roy has left the building.

Tech Update from Mum About Her New Nokia 6.1 Plus

Without my grumpy tech support from hell, Mum has managed to sort out photos, internet, and WhatsApp on her new Nokia 6.1 Plus. Cue, me jabbing at my ear, while Mum tries to figure out how to unmute WhatsApp. 100 calls later... (I have created a monster).

Barring frustrations and some very funny tech hiccups, if you are an older user, you can do it. You really can. BTW, Mum also managed to disassemble and put back together her laptop. She has, in fact, in some ways, surpassed me in technical prowess. So don't get left out. Don't let the young whippersnappers patronise you or have all the tech fun. The young ones don't always know what they are doing.

Oh, and this will make you laugh, Mum stopped following me on Twitter. So, I unfollowed her, and also unfollowed everyone else... out of spite. Apparently, I was a accidental unfollow. Sure, Mum, that's what happened.

Computer Shopper

The classic, long-running UK computer magazine is not what it was, or maybe I've changed.

Patreon?

I totally missed signing up with Patron before they hiked their take. But I could still sign up for a simpler tierless Lite account. It's not something that's on the forefront of my mind yet though.

Tell me what you think about that. Would you pay something to help support the show? (A better mic is on the shopping list).

See you in the pod, pod people.