After all the seriousness of recent days, I can report that I have achieved 101 games of level 3 chess against the computer with 368 games won from 377, 6 drawn and three lost. Given that I moved on from level 2 after failing to reach 101 win game succession over the greater part of the year this is notable progress reflecting concentration and determination which I must now redirect into something creative.
There was political development with the continued crashing of markets in the USA with everywhere else following suit demonstrating how difficult a time we are all going to have to have, except those who created what has happened and who will have insulated themselves from such a situation. There was also the problem of UK local authorities who have invested several hundred millions in now frozen Icelandic banks, with Britain retaliating and seizing Iceland assets in the UK using legislation to combat terrorism. (I wonder how many fund managers went on freebe trips to Iceland and were given first class hospitality and presents before investments were made?)
Iceland is being punished for taking unilateral action. It would be interesting to know how many people moved their assets from British to Iceland banks when the crisis developed and Iceland announced it was guaranteeing all deposits in a situation when the Government was not in a position to do so.
I enjoyed the TV political review sessions of the day with the lunchtime politics show, Any Question and the late night session with Andrew O'Neill. There was significant contempt shown across the political spectrum for the views and lack of experience of Governor Palin, reflecting a fundamental weakness in the system. I disagree with aspects of her position but I suspect she is more in touch with what the average voter feels, thinks and lives with stock politician who listens to the international corporations and the money men without checking out their ethical behaviour, or how the money was made.
There was insider information that the civil service welcomes the return of Peter Mandelson and Margaret Beckett and even the behind the scenes activities of the enfant terrible media manipulator. When someone is disliked within his own party so much for being one of the originators and driving forces of New Labour and bringing them to power for three Parliaments I am inclined to support him than them because it usually means he did the right thing for the right reasons.
This all heralds a significant truce between Brown and Blairites in the face of the common enemy. However I am not sure that Michael Portillo is right in believing that given the ongoing nature of the crisis and economic recession it will not be possible to overcome the present level of public support for the Tory Party and that if this situation does not reverse it will be Mandelson role to advise Brown that it is time for him go before a General Election is called. Portillo reminded that although there is the experience of Margaret Thatcher and the Falkland there is also that of Church who was responsible for the British involvement in the defeat of Germany and of the more recent example. To counterbalance this there is the Kinnock factor if Brown stays because the public are hesitant to move to someone new in a time of crisis or prolonged difficult. Portillo echoed the fear of everyone there was something frightening when one could not trust any bank with ones money.
I sat down this afternoon to watch the Golden Compass which had just arrived in the post, in preference to Masjavlar a Swedish film in which the youngest of three sisters returns to her family hone for the 70th birthday her father. While the second film remains to be experienced I suspect I would have considered the time used watching more worthwhile.
The Golden Compass was released in the UK at the end of last year but I had seen advance trailers for a year and the hype suggested it would fill the void created by the end of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and the spacing of Harry Potter movies. Sadly if comparisons are intended it is an inglorious failure.
Having checking with Wikipedia I remembered I had picked up something of the controversy surrounding this first film of a three series book. This centred on the suitability for children, (and adults for that matter), because the author is said to be an atheist who carried over his view of the universe into the book. From a combination of the film, reviews and Wikipedia I gather that his conception of the universe is that it contains different worlds and dimensions, some existing on parallel times and where it is possible to travel between dimensions and different worlds by cosmic dust. In the world of the first book there is one authoritarian superpower called the Mysterium who are not only trying to establish one world domination but destroy the free will of the human like creature but who each have with them a soul which is external to the body and usually in the form of an animal called the daemon (not demon hee hee). The star of the series and the film is Dakota Blue Richards daughter of a London now living in Brighton social worker. Ms Richards has not disclosed the actual name of the father of her daughter, which is interesting as the girl she plays believes she is an Orphan without knowledge her true parents and is brought up as the ward of an Oxford University College.
Hence within the first moments of watching and reading about the film and its young star there is the connection with London to Brighton, the story of a pre teen teenage runaway and Oxford where I am awaiting the DVD's to continue with the story of Charles Ryder during his second and third years at Oxford University and where the fictions characters Lyra in the Compass, the girl in London to Brighton, Charles Ryder in Brideshead, and the actress on the film and myself all have parental losses in childhoods and issues of identity, meaning and purpose in relation to our places in the universe. I mentioned the non disclosure of the name of the father of the actress because her mother has explained to the world that his nickname was Blue and Dakota is where mother spent a year with the Sioux on a visit to the USA. With a unique real name like Dakota Blue what else could she become but an actor?
Although an orphan, Lyra has an uncle, (reminding of my aunt who turned out to be my mother), who is a non conformist and because he has evidence of the particles of matter called dust which is contrary to the doctrine of the Magisterium. He also asserts that it is possible to travel between dimensions as the dust connects with the human creatures via their daemons and he sets off to the far cold and dark north in order to substantiate his theories, Back at Oxford children have commenced to disappear and we quickly learn that they are being held by the Magisterium at a special centre in the far North where they are experimenting in separating the children from their daemons as a form of inoculation against the dust and the dangerous new knowledge.
The story is that the Magisterium tries to kill the uncle, (Daniel Craig), before he can disclose his findings but are thwarted by the heroine and he goes of to verify his findings but is kidnapped. The heroine meets Nicole Kidman who offers to take her to the north to see the fighting bears and she is given the Golden Compass by the Master of the College. This enable her to get correct answers to questions by moving three hands to symbols and as a consequence by concentrating on the Compass the answers are revealed within her mind. She does not get on with Nicole who is part of the Magisterium and therefore runs away, putting herself in far greater danger than the recent two films about teenagers living in a contemporary Europe which I recently commented on.
Among news item today and discussion on the radio I learnt that another attempt is being made within Parliament to abolish the ability of parents to smack their children, so technically while we remain out of step with many countries in Europe in this respect, I can say without fear of prosecution that this young lady demonstrated the problems that can arise if parental chastisement in appropriate circumstances and in an appropriate manner is outlawed. (Seriously I do believe that the ratio of parents who deserve slapping because of their parenting failures to children is about 1000 to one)
After running off the young heroines various bands of undesirables terrorists or freedom fighters and such like depending on viewpoint. It is not clear how many deaths she becomes involved with or in fact if the creatures die or are simply transported through their souls to another dimension. I was reminded of the dematerialization process in the Star Trek series, however she is instrumental in the rescuing of the children and the blowing up of the soul separator after learning that the dreaded Nicole Kidman is her mother and that her uncle is in fact her father.
I suppose I am unsympathetic to her because there is a lot of me in this character.
Whereas in the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Star Wars for example they are all part of an integrated whole but each part is self contained so that you feel everything is explained and resolved in relation to this part, but look forward to the next, there is a great sense of being cut off in the Golden Globe and not caring if there is a second instalment or not. I did not find myself being connected with any of the principles but I did enjoy the brief appearance of Derek Jacobi. The voice of the armoured fighting bear is that of Sir Ian McKellan and Ian McShane is the voice of the combative bear King who he defeats animal combat, Tom Courtney is the second in command of the terrorist freedom fight band called Egyptians, Kathy Bates plays a Daemon and Christopher Lee plays a member of the Magisterium High Command. There are high and expensive production values without ever achieving the sense of epic or anything originals, It was an expensive film to produce over 180 million but eventually amassed twice as much through international showings and sales. The film did win a Bafta and an Oscar in the Visual Effects.
I was left wondering who this film is for. It is dark, frightening and violent, a kind of James Bond with magic, but featuring young people. I suspect its appeal is to 12-15 year olds who will enjoy playing a role through the video game.
I did begin the clean and tidy of the patio and made a start to plant flowering bulbs and worked out where what will go.
I added one energy light bulb to the patio/garage/cloakroom area and will replacing the two others. I bought this bulb to replace one in main work room but it was the wrong shape so will go again next Wednesday. I needed to replace one of the pairs of side lights in the work room and here it was only after bring them home that I found that instead of the usual bulb shape there were short twists which bring a contemporary look to the wall fixture but will need to match the other pair as well as going for the original replacement. I enjoyed a salad for lunch and then sardines on toast with tea, then bottle of beer with a small piece of breaded haddock the remaining six pieces of breaded scampi and bake beans. I forgot that I had some bananas for the second day. Later I had a night snack of cereal. I cleared the site of music videos but have not checked yet and will do so before going up to be shortly.
There was political development with the continued crashing of markets in the USA with everywhere else following suit demonstrating how difficult a time we are all going to have to have, except those who created what has happened and who will have insulated themselves from such a situation. There was also the problem of UK local authorities who have invested several hundred millions in now frozen Icelandic banks, with Britain retaliating and seizing Iceland assets in the UK using legislation to combat terrorism. (I wonder how many fund managers went on freebe trips to Iceland and were given first class hospitality and presents before investments were made?)
Iceland is being punished for taking unilateral action. It would be interesting to know how many people moved their assets from British to Iceland banks when the crisis developed and Iceland announced it was guaranteeing all deposits in a situation when the Government was not in a position to do so.
I enjoyed the TV political review sessions of the day with the lunchtime politics show, Any Question and the late night session with Andrew O'Neill. There was significant contempt shown across the political spectrum for the views and lack of experience of Governor Palin, reflecting a fundamental weakness in the system. I disagree with aspects of her position but I suspect she is more in touch with what the average voter feels, thinks and lives with stock politician who listens to the international corporations and the money men without checking out their ethical behaviour, or how the money was made.
There was insider information that the civil service welcomes the return of Peter Mandelson and Margaret Beckett and even the behind the scenes activities of the enfant terrible media manipulator. When someone is disliked within his own party so much for being one of the originators and driving forces of New Labour and bringing them to power for three Parliaments I am inclined to support him than them because it usually means he did the right thing for the right reasons.
This all heralds a significant truce between Brown and Blairites in the face of the common enemy. However I am not sure that Michael Portillo is right in believing that given the ongoing nature of the crisis and economic recession it will not be possible to overcome the present level of public support for the Tory Party and that if this situation does not reverse it will be Mandelson role to advise Brown that it is time for him go before a General Election is called. Portillo reminded that although there is the experience of Margaret Thatcher and the Falkland there is also that of Church who was responsible for the British involvement in the defeat of Germany and of the more recent example. To counterbalance this there is the Kinnock factor if Brown stays because the public are hesitant to move to someone new in a time of crisis or prolonged difficult. Portillo echoed the fear of everyone there was something frightening when one could not trust any bank with ones money.
I sat down this afternoon to watch the Golden Compass which had just arrived in the post, in preference to Masjavlar a Swedish film in which the youngest of three sisters returns to her family hone for the 70th birthday her father. While the second film remains to be experienced I suspect I would have considered the time used watching more worthwhile.
The Golden Compass was released in the UK at the end of last year but I had seen advance trailers for a year and the hype suggested it would fill the void created by the end of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and the spacing of Harry Potter movies. Sadly if comparisons are intended it is an inglorious failure.
Having checking with Wikipedia I remembered I had picked up something of the controversy surrounding this first film of a three series book. This centred on the suitability for children, (and adults for that matter), because the author is said to be an atheist who carried over his view of the universe into the book. From a combination of the film, reviews and Wikipedia I gather that his conception of the universe is that it contains different worlds and dimensions, some existing on parallel times and where it is possible to travel between dimensions and different worlds by cosmic dust. In the world of the first book there is one authoritarian superpower called the Mysterium who are not only trying to establish one world domination but destroy the free will of the human like creature but who each have with them a soul which is external to the body and usually in the form of an animal called the daemon (not demon hee hee). The star of the series and the film is Dakota Blue Richards daughter of a London now living in Brighton social worker. Ms Richards has not disclosed the actual name of the father of her daughter, which is interesting as the girl she plays believes she is an Orphan without knowledge her true parents and is brought up as the ward of an Oxford University College.
Hence within the first moments of watching and reading about the film and its young star there is the connection with London to Brighton, the story of a pre teen teenage runaway and Oxford where I am awaiting the DVD's to continue with the story of Charles Ryder during his second and third years at Oxford University and where the fictions characters Lyra in the Compass, the girl in London to Brighton, Charles Ryder in Brideshead, and the actress on the film and myself all have parental losses in childhoods and issues of identity, meaning and purpose in relation to our places in the universe. I mentioned the non disclosure of the name of the father of the actress because her mother has explained to the world that his nickname was Blue and Dakota is where mother spent a year with the Sioux on a visit to the USA. With a unique real name like Dakota Blue what else could she become but an actor?
Although an orphan, Lyra has an uncle, (reminding of my aunt who turned out to be my mother), who is a non conformist and because he has evidence of the particles of matter called dust which is contrary to the doctrine of the Magisterium. He also asserts that it is possible to travel between dimensions as the dust connects with the human creatures via their daemons and he sets off to the far cold and dark north in order to substantiate his theories, Back at Oxford children have commenced to disappear and we quickly learn that they are being held by the Magisterium at a special centre in the far North where they are experimenting in separating the children from their daemons as a form of inoculation against the dust and the dangerous new knowledge.
The story is that the Magisterium tries to kill the uncle, (Daniel Craig), before he can disclose his findings but are thwarted by the heroine and he goes of to verify his findings but is kidnapped. The heroine meets Nicole Kidman who offers to take her to the north to see the fighting bears and she is given the Golden Compass by the Master of the College. This enable her to get correct answers to questions by moving three hands to symbols and as a consequence by concentrating on the Compass the answers are revealed within her mind. She does not get on with Nicole who is part of the Magisterium and therefore runs away, putting herself in far greater danger than the recent two films about teenagers living in a contemporary Europe which I recently commented on.
Among news item today and discussion on the radio I learnt that another attempt is being made within Parliament to abolish the ability of parents to smack their children, so technically while we remain out of step with many countries in Europe in this respect, I can say without fear of prosecution that this young lady demonstrated the problems that can arise if parental chastisement in appropriate circumstances and in an appropriate manner is outlawed. (Seriously I do believe that the ratio of parents who deserve slapping because of their parenting failures to children is about 1000 to one)
After running off the young heroines various bands of undesirables terrorists or freedom fighters and such like depending on viewpoint. It is not clear how many deaths she becomes involved with or in fact if the creatures die or are simply transported through their souls to another dimension. I was reminded of the dematerialization process in the Star Trek series, however she is instrumental in the rescuing of the children and the blowing up of the soul separator after learning that the dreaded Nicole Kidman is her mother and that her uncle is in fact her father.
I suppose I am unsympathetic to her because there is a lot of me in this character.
Whereas in the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Star Wars for example they are all part of an integrated whole but each part is self contained so that you feel everything is explained and resolved in relation to this part, but look forward to the next, there is a great sense of being cut off in the Golden Globe and not caring if there is a second instalment or not. I did not find myself being connected with any of the principles but I did enjoy the brief appearance of Derek Jacobi. The voice of the armoured fighting bear is that of Sir Ian McKellan and Ian McShane is the voice of the combative bear King who he defeats animal combat, Tom Courtney is the second in command of the terrorist freedom fight band called Egyptians, Kathy Bates plays a Daemon and Christopher Lee plays a member of the Magisterium High Command. There are high and expensive production values without ever achieving the sense of epic or anything originals, It was an expensive film to produce over 180 million but eventually amassed twice as much through international showings and sales. The film did win a Bafta and an Oscar in the Visual Effects.
I was left wondering who this film is for. It is dark, frightening and violent, a kind of James Bond with magic, but featuring young people. I suspect its appeal is to 12-15 year olds who will enjoy playing a role through the video game.
I did begin the clean and tidy of the patio and made a start to plant flowering bulbs and worked out where what will go.
I added one energy light bulb to the patio/garage/cloakroom area and will replacing the two others. I bought this bulb to replace one in main work room but it was the wrong shape so will go again next Wednesday. I needed to replace one of the pairs of side lights in the work room and here it was only after bring them home that I found that instead of the usual bulb shape there were short twists which bring a contemporary look to the wall fixture but will need to match the other pair as well as going for the original replacement. I enjoyed a salad for lunch and then sardines on toast with tea, then bottle of beer with a small piece of breaded haddock the remaining six pieces of breaded scampi and bake beans. I forgot that I had some bananas for the second day. Later I had a night snack of cereal. I cleared the site of music videos but have not checked yet and will do so before going up to be shortly.
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