Eeek!
I spend the Monday away on a course, come back on the Tuesday expecting to begin a feasibility study as per my line manager’s instructions from last week, only to find my section boss demanding that I do a visual plan of deliverables against milestones and oh by the way can you look after this mysterious work experience student who has been dropped on us!! Like I keep saying, ever since I got promoted I just never know how my week is going to pan out. It adds excitement to the beginning of every week I have to say!
And to think it was such a nice blissful weekend. I sorted out a load of crap, did some shopping and lazed away a sunny afternoon in the park. I really did not feel motivated to do very much so I watched a bundle of really good and thought provoking films.
Film Reviews:
I started things off by watching Outlaw starring Sean Bean which is about an ex soldier returning to the UK, but failing to get to grips with the crime and degeneration of modern society. Thus he (Sean Bean) and a like minded group of men go on a bit of a vigilante rampage. The ending was rather unusual and rather sobering. Not a great film, but good nonetheless and certainly nice to see that the British film industry are willing to push the boat out and not create Hollywood style plots and endings. Was a really good think about vigilante justice which is a theme for one of my novel concepts.
Then watched Man on Fire with Denzel Washington which is a story about a former and now alcoholic soldier taking on body guarding duties of a little girl born to a rich family in Mexico where kidnapping and ransom is rife. Naturally man gets attached to daughter, swears off the booze, little girl gets kidnapped and soldier has to get her back blah blah. However, this was also done differently to what I expected and the ending was also rather unusual and sobering. Another theme of vigilante justice and vengeance, but raises some interesting questions about how far is a man willing to go in terms of sacrifice. This also tied in with a PC game I am playing with at the moment (Boiling Point, Road to Hell, see below)
Watched Prime Cut starring Lee Martin and Gene Hackman. Good old fashioned American mafia ‘rent collector’ movie. Lots of pretty naked girls in it and gratuitous chase and revenge scenes peppered with gunfire. An interesting theme of vengeance and rescuing the down trodden (hey spotted my weekend theme yet?!). An improbable and fairly low brow film, but fun for all that.
I have also got back into playing a PC game I have not played in ages - Boiling Point, Road to Hell. The theme is a former soldier’s daughter going missing in Colombia so of course daddy comes to investigate, guns a packin’. This has to be the most underrated PC game of recent years thus worthy of a mention. It is underrated, because when it was initially released, it was shockingly buggy and unreliable. Two monster patches have cured most, but not all of the ills. What makes this game so unique is the free form gameplay. You are given a country to wander around in… That is it! You have to investigate the daughter’s disappearance, there is no set linear game play. You make money to fund your investigations by taking on missions for various factions in the game, you have to sleep, travel, figure out clues etc and all in as close an environment to real time as possible. Bizarrely for a 1st person shooter game, you actually feel the need to avoid shooting your guns as much as possible and focus more on solving the clues, only starting a war Rambo style when you have to. You quickly learn gunfire just draws unpleasant things to you such as sinister helicopters, guerrillas, snakes and occasionally an enraged and armed civilian! Anyway reviews are all over the internet for those who want to know more. For those who liked Deus Ex, I would say this game has gone even better. You do have to live with a lot of buggy flaws however, which really wrecked this game from getting the accolades that it deserved.
Ah well, back to the reality of work and juggling a number of conflicting tasks. Responsibility and competence definitely comes at a price!
And to think it was such a nice blissful weekend. I sorted out a load of crap, did some shopping and lazed away a sunny afternoon in the park. I really did not feel motivated to do very much so I watched a bundle of really good and thought provoking films.
Film Reviews:
I started things off by watching Outlaw starring Sean Bean which is about an ex soldier returning to the UK, but failing to get to grips with the crime and degeneration of modern society. Thus he (Sean Bean) and a like minded group of men go on a bit of a vigilante rampage. The ending was rather unusual and rather sobering. Not a great film, but good nonetheless and certainly nice to see that the British film industry are willing to push the boat out and not create Hollywood style plots and endings. Was a really good think about vigilante justice which is a theme for one of my novel concepts.
Then watched Man on Fire with Denzel Washington which is a story about a former and now alcoholic soldier taking on body guarding duties of a little girl born to a rich family in Mexico where kidnapping and ransom is rife. Naturally man gets attached to daughter, swears off the booze, little girl gets kidnapped and soldier has to get her back blah blah. However, this was also done differently to what I expected and the ending was also rather unusual and sobering. Another theme of vigilante justice and vengeance, but raises some interesting questions about how far is a man willing to go in terms of sacrifice. This also tied in with a PC game I am playing with at the moment (Boiling Point, Road to Hell, see below)
Watched Prime Cut starring Lee Martin and Gene Hackman. Good old fashioned American mafia ‘rent collector’ movie. Lots of pretty naked girls in it and gratuitous chase and revenge scenes peppered with gunfire. An interesting theme of vengeance and rescuing the down trodden (hey spotted my weekend theme yet?!). An improbable and fairly low brow film, but fun for all that.
I have also got back into playing a PC game I have not played in ages - Boiling Point, Road to Hell. The theme is a former soldier’s daughter going missing in Colombia so of course daddy comes to investigate, guns a packin’. This has to be the most underrated PC game of recent years thus worthy of a mention. It is underrated, because when it was initially released, it was shockingly buggy and unreliable. Two monster patches have cured most, but not all of the ills. What makes this game so unique is the free form gameplay. You are given a country to wander around in… That is it! You have to investigate the daughter’s disappearance, there is no set linear game play. You make money to fund your investigations by taking on missions for various factions in the game, you have to sleep, travel, figure out clues etc and all in as close an environment to real time as possible. Bizarrely for a 1st person shooter game, you actually feel the need to avoid shooting your guns as much as possible and focus more on solving the clues, only starting a war Rambo style when you have to. You quickly learn gunfire just draws unpleasant things to you such as sinister helicopters, guerrillas, snakes and occasionally an enraged and armed civilian! Anyway reviews are all over the internet for those who want to know more. For those who liked Deus Ex, I would say this game has gone even better. You do have to live with a lot of buggy flaws however, which really wrecked this game from getting the accolades that it deserved.
Ah well, back to the reality of work and juggling a number of conflicting tasks. Responsibility and competence definitely comes at a price!