Actually catching up a little

With Fiona still being somewhat incapacitated after her surgery I haven't been doing too much or going away for too long just in case she needs help with something, the end result of that has been I've been home a lot more than usual, this has enabled me o catch up on my reading a bit, in fact I've read three novels in three days, they were just Doctor Who novels not War and Peace or something like that but at least it's a start, now I only have about 50 unread novels to go and I'm all caught up.

Tax time

It's tax time and I guess most people are making appointments with accountants or maybe if they are feeling confident doing their tax returns on their own.

Fiona's had been done and sent off ages ago but a couple of days ago we got a letter in the mail from the tax office saying that there was an error on one of the calculation sheets to do with claiming a housekeeper as an expense so she'd need to re-submit her tax return.

So I'm thinking this is no big deal since we don't have a housekeeper but I'll call them and let them know we were sent the letter by mistake, their response was that it was automatically sent out to everyone that claimed a housekeeper as an expense last year since they assumed the same people would want to claim that expense again this year.

That's fine but we never claimed a housekeeper last year either, we've never had a housekeeper much less tired to claim one as a tax deduction - however it took nearly 4 hours and multiple phone calls to convince the taxation department that there wasn't a problem and in fact she didn't need to re-submit her return, the best part was the fact they simply didn't want to look at any of her previous returns and check if she'd tried to claim a housekeeper as a deduction - bunch of frigging idiots !

Star Trek: Captains' Summit / Evolutions

I really like the Star Trek movies ( well most of the movies, Insurrection and Nemesis are ok) but for some insane reason Paramount decided that people couldn't cope with a bit of film grain and went made trying to filter the original Trek films to remove it for the Blu-ray release and from what I understand they got rid of the offending film grain but the resulting picture quality was pretty sub-standard and in some places just horrible.

As the studios often do Paramount commissioned some new material for the two Blu-ray boxsets. one of the discs, The Captains' Summit was something I really wanted to see since I had read that it was the first time all four captains would be interviewed together, for some reason I thought this would feature the captains from each show but instead interviewed by Whoopi Goldberg were William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes and while the approx 70 minute interview was interesting I still felt slightly disappointed when it was done.

The second disc Star Trek: Evolutions was a collection of mildly interesting featurettes about aspects of Star Trek including the now defunct Star Trek: The Experience, I would've liked to see a proper documentary about Star Trek: The Experience and maybe both rides fully captured on video for the fans who never had the opportunity to take the trip to Las Vagas while the exhibits and rides were still running but I enjoyed the glimpses provided on the Evolutions disc.

I was lucky enough to pick up my copies of the bonus Blu-ray discs on eBay pretty cheaply and when I was looking there were plenty of other copies listed for sale and they seemed to be selling for pretty reasonable prices.

It looks like I'll be making do with the Star Trek movies on DVD unless Paramount addresses the issues on their flawed Blu-ray discs and do a proper restoration job on them and thats a real shame because some of the clips used on the Evolutions disc looked really nice in High Definition.

Day of the Dead ( 2008 remake )

I'd be one of those people who often bitch about remakes of movies and the lack of original ideas in Hollywood these days, my other complaint about remakes of movies is that they are often nowhere near as good as their source material.

Remake or not the 2008 version of Day of the Dead is the worst movie I've seen in the last couple of years, it's total rubbish.

The movie's director Steve Miner has been around for a while and he is certainly no stranger to horror movies but this movie is a bland mess from beginning to end.

A terrible movie that should be avoided at all costs.

Greenfinger

Apparently there are people ( sick and twisted individuals ) who find gardening relaxing, I am not one of those people so I'm not sure how exactly it happened but that's pretty much all I did today.

I'd been saying for a while that I'd go over to my grandfather's place and and do some stuff over there for him, nothing amazing just cutting lawns and that sort of general maintaince, then I cam home and pruned a few bushes and things here, that kept me busy until early afternoon.

Later in the day the In-Laws called in and the were moaning about how they needed to get someone in to do some work for them since now they are getting older it's all a bit beyond them so off I go to prune some trees  and other bit's and pieces which took up the rest of the afternoon.

The plan for the rest of the night is to fire up a games console and shoot things, then bloodier the better.

I need some "Me Time"

Well I guess actually I don't but it sure feels like it, I've spent the last few days running around like a madman doing things for other people and then coming home to try and get everything done around the house as well since Fiona is still fairly incapacitated after her surgery.

I'm hoping to finish the second series of the original version of Survivors this weekend along with a couple of movies and maybe finish my replay of Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City - The Ballad of Gay Tony.

All's Well ( thus far )

Fiona had her knee operation and came home yesterday and apart from the obvious stiffness and pain caused by the procedure she seems to be doing well.

Now the only probelm is that she's always in my great big movie watching recliner, I'm tempted to spend some cash and buy another one.

Movies on a Rainy Afternoon

Today was another day of crappy weather so I wound up watching a few DVDs that had been sitting in my unwatched pile for a while.

Prom Night


My daughter bought this on DVD for us to watch a while back, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be but it was a routine and predictable teen horror.

Quarantine

I haven't seen the movie this was based on so I don't know how it compares, this was a great idea that was poorly executed, I didn't find it as annoying as a lot of the movies where the camera operator is a participant in the story such as Cloverfield or Diary of the Dead but there was no sense of suspense whatever and that was a shame because the whole movie just seems like a wasted opportunity, there was a nice stunt at one point but that was the only clever thing about the movie.

Gattaca

I hadn't seen this movie since it was in the theatres, I really enjoyed it then and I enjoyed it again today, it just goes to show you don't need massive budgets and insane special effects to make a good science fiction movie.

The Last Castle

I've had this on DVD for a couple of years but I just never got around to watching it until today, I really liked it.

Cartoons, cartoons and more cartoons.

It was a cold and miserable Saturday today so I took the opportunity to finish off a few things I was part-way through and as it turned out they were all animated shows, I watched the final disc of the 90's Iron Man series, it was OK I guess, for me it was really odd how they completely changed the animation style in the second season, the show could've been better but I've also seen a lot worse.

Next it was the second volume of  The Superhero Squad Show or as I call it Marvel Babies, I imagine there are a lot of die hard comics fans who probably hate this show but I think it's fun and it's a good way to introduce kids to the Marvel Universe and it's characters.

Finally I watched the last few episodes of season seven of Family Guy, for me the show has lost a lot of it's charm and the producers seem to be running out of steam, I'm far from prudish but it seems that the shows writers have decided that crude is the same as funny, every now and then the show has occasional flashes of brilliance but there are often episodes where I don't smile let alone laugh, if my daughter wasn't a big fan of the show I probably would've given up on it by now.

Ends with a whimper.........

I reinstalled and made myself finish the extremely disappointing Command and Conquer 4 yesterday, don't know why the developers felt they had to mess with the game but it just didn't feel like Command and Conquer, this was some dumbed and stripped down version of a classic game series and since it's supposed to be the last game in the series an once proud game franchise ends with a whimper instead of a bang.

18th Wedding Anniversary

It's our 18th wedding anniversary this weekend and I don't have anything planned, I'm not sure Fiona could do too much at the moment anyway with her bad knee - maybe I should buy her that new Doctor Who DVD  boxset I'm sure she'd love that !

The gift that keeps on giving.

My wife and daughter were in a car accident on Christmas day last year, the car was written off and they were both injured, no-one was killed and cars can be ( and were ) replaced, barring our lawsuit against the guy who hit them ( which is a special kind of pain in itself  ) things were getting back to normal or so I thought.

Now that winter is setting in Fiona had been complaining of pain in her knee, the same knee she injured in the accident, one morning she heard a loud popping sound and her knee gave out, two visits to a surgeon and an MRI later and we find out her knee needs surgery, we haven't heard from the insurance company as if the surgery has been approved yet ( I can't see why it wouldn't be but you never know.... ) but it's been booked and she goes under the knife in a little over a week.

I know no-one was killed or suffered any permanent injury but I'm getting really sick of this, the accident has cost a fortune so far, we've had to sue the guy in the hope we might eventually recover some of the money it's cost, Fiona will now be off work for an unknown period of time because of her knee and there is no guarantee of a full recovery even after she has had the operation.

As you might expect the guy who decided the road rules didn't apply to him suffered no injury and in his response through his lawyer had the audacity to suggest the accident was at least partially Fiona's fault because she didn't make enough of an effort to get out of his way.

I'll be glad when the whole bloody affair is over and done with.

Who Watches the Watchmen ?

I've had the director's cut of Watchmen on Blu-ray for months but I've only just gotten around to watching it today and I really enjoyed seeing the movie again, at some point I'll have to check out the ultimate edition, it's not a movie for everyone and certainly not for the kids but if you haven't seen it any version of the movie is worth checking out.

New Poilce Story

I'm not really a fan of Police Story ( it does have some nice stunts ) and I haven't seen any of it's sequels but I was pleasantly surprised by New Police Story.

I've never seen Jackie Chan play a character that is as flawed as the inspector in this movie and he remains pretty dark throughout the movie, in fact this isn't really your typical Jackie Chan movie at all, yes there were a couple of stunt sequences ( the descent down the side of the building was ruined by the bloopers at the revealing how they did it ) but it's the tone of this movie that was different, if anything Nicholas Tse's character is more typical of the roles Jackie Chan usually plays.

There are a couple of instances of bad CGI and blue / green screen work but overall I thought this was a pretty decent movie, not one I'll be in a hurry to see again but I did enjoy it.

Where do the days go ?

I'd like to say I've been amazingly busy over the last few days, sure I've seen a few movies but I know where the time has gone.

Anyway I watched Island of Fire which I really liked and Master with Cracked Fingers which did absolutely nothing for me.

I'd seen a trailer for Island of Fire which suggested Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung would be kicking ass for it's entire running time ( I got both movies as part of  the Jackie Chan - From Past To Present DVD box set ), of course both actors only play supporting roles although Sammo steal the movie whenever he is onscreen as a Steve McQueen type character who keeps escaping from the prison.

Island of Fire wasn't the action packed film I thought it was going to be but I still enjoyed it.

Is it..... Bill Bailey ?

Bill Bailey is coming to Launceston... BILL BAILEY IS COMING TO LAUNCESTON !!!!!!!

I have a cunning plan my lord............

I was walking past a shop this morning when I spied Blackadder series 2 remastered, I had no idea such a thing existed, as it turned out they had the other three series as well so I grabbed them all, I haven't seen Blackadder in ages so I'm really looking forward to seeing the show again.

I wonder if they have remastered the specials ?

More Survivors

I've finished the first series of the original version of Survivors and I really enjoyed it, there were two weaker episodes but overall I thought this was an excellent first series of the show.

I enjoyed the recent remake of Survivors but so far I have to say I think the original series is the better of the two, it is slower paced but the original series is more atmospheric and in a few episodes there was a sense of real dread, something I never got from the remake, I believe the show goes in a different direction next series which worries me a bit, hopefully they will continue to tell gripping stories.

The Eye

I first saw The Eye on TV a few years ago ( well it seems like a few years ) and while I did like it the subtitles weren't exactly accurate, it wasn't in widescreen and it seemed like the movie had been badly edited in a couple of places, I recently got a copy of the movie on DVD and I was very impressed with the DTS surround sound mix, the use of sound in this movie really helps sell what is happening on screen, it was also nice to see it in widescreen with decent subtitles.

When I first saw the movie I didn't find it as creepy as it's reputation suggested and on my second viewing I pretty much remembered what was going to happen so there were no real scares to be had, I imagine if you were lucky enough to see the movie in a cinema with a decent sound system The Eye would've been an effective little thriller.

Here there be Dragons

I watched Eragon last night, I'd heard nothing but bad things about the movie and while it was nothing special I wouldn't say it was as bad as it's reputation suggested, I haven't read the book the movie was based on but it felt like this was an extremely dumbed down version of a book and all that was left was the bare skeleton of a story, the film wasn't helped by the fact it's leading actor was inexperienced and it had a first time director at the helm.

I doubt I'll ever bother to watch the movie again in the future but I can at least say I've seen it, I don't know if the books are something that would appeal to me, I might pick up the first one if I see it on sale one day.

Eragon certainly wasn't a great movie but I've seen a lot worse films in my day.