London Loop Sections 10 and 11

I got a new warmer walking coat lately, that makes walking practical in somewhat colder conditions than previously. After a five-miler around Becontree and Chadwell Heath to make sure I could do it, I engaged on Friday in the longest batch of walking in my life - 11 miles on this stretch, with a total of nearly 16 for the entire day.

That included the long Elizabeth Line-Tube interchange at Heathrow Terminals 1, 2 & 3. Well, really 2 & 3 as Terminal 1 has closed. 

These two sections go from Hatton Cross via Hayes to Uxbridge, mostly along the River Colne and the Grand Union Canal. It doesn't start very nicely:

There wasn't that much actual activity along the canal - it was after all a fairly cold Friday in February.

There was a persistent drizzle until around 2pm and much of the route was slightly muddy, although I have seen a lot worse. It's also pretty flat for most of the two sections, which makes things easier. There's a bit where the canal goes over a river:

The final bit was rather nice, including a boat called Almost There, which seemed rather appropriate as I was getting a bit worn out!

It took me around six hours overall, including the lunch break.

I plan to do Sections 12 and 13 in the next couple of weeks before RL stops me for a while.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Saw this on Thursday evening after work - I like to go at times without noisy kids - and found it to be OK. It works best as a set-up for Phase 5 and not as a stand-alone story. There's certainly some entertaining moments, but it doesn't have enough to really fill the whole two hours and none of the guest characters are memorable.

The main thing is the huge number of effects, some of them a bit ropey, most notably MODOK, which looks like something from a 1990s comedy show. There have been reports of "crunch" caused by late reshoots and artists being pulled off to work on Black Panther - I wonder how bad it was before any "crunch".

In any case, while the MCU is still good, four films and four TV series a year is too much. Robert Iger's return as Disney CEO will hopefully lead to a focus on quality over quantity; The Marvels has been put back to November. Three and three is a decent amount - two and two might be even better.

6/10

Ukraine #4: One year on

It has been one year since Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine began, forcing millions to flee for their lives and causing devastation for much of the east of the country. The damage will run into the hundreds of billions for Ukraine, a country that has fought far better than anyone thought in February last year.

This war could end tomorrow if Russia agreed to withdraw, but it sadly seems Putin is unwilling to back down despite his massive losses. The fighting - and the suffering - will continue for months yet.

Letters from Watson

Thought I'd plug the rather excellent Letters from Watson blog:

Letters from Watson link

With the 'canon' now completely public domain in the States, a British woman is doing a serialisation of the short stories in broadly chronological order, allowing for a bite-sized experience of arguably the greatest of fictional detectives. There's also a very friendly Discord that allows for critical analysis of the characters and the world they operated in.

I strongly recommend you check it out.

Racist, pure and simple (Review: Star Trek 3.3, "The Paradise Syndrome")

It's been nearly a year since the last post in this series. I've had more modern Trek to watch - and with Picard about to start, it might be a while before you get some more posts here. But I will try to get one more in at least.

I'm not going to outline the plot etc. like my previous posts, but will instead list some of my thoughts in no particular order:

• There is some very nice scenery in this episode, but I believe it's pretty much the only location shooting done for the third season, with its vastly reduced budget.
• How on Earth can Spock identify the different tribes from that distance?
• Uhura is entirely absent from this episode.
• The depiction of the Native American characters is bad - simple minded "noble savages" with limited language skills who must be saved by a white guy. Once people realised that this episode lost nearly all of its popularity - and it was considered one of the best of Season 3 to that point.
• Scotty, Spock and McCoy all have some good stuff while in the ship... but it stretches credulity somewhat.
• Also, they're all played by white actors in brownface. Sigh...
• If this is one of the better ones, how bad are the others?
• There's a very weird CPR scene involving moving a kid's legs back and forth. Apparently, this is something called the Silvester Method, which is no longer taught.
• There's a mind meld that allows Shatner to thoroughly chew the scenery.
• Kirk gets a woman pregnant. She and the baby die at the end of the episode in what is actually one of the sadder moments - or would be if I wasn't distracted by Sabina Scharf's chest. What kind of bras did these people have?

Conclusion

The on-ship stuff does not make up for the surface plot, which as dull as it is racist.

2/10

The F-22 gets its Morrisette Moment

The F-22 Raptor originated in the Advanced Tactical Fighter programme in the 1980s, intended to counter Soviet fighter jets like the MiG-29 and Su-27, along with posited future development. The Soviet Union collapsed before it entered service and Russia was not exactly a threat to the US after that in anything bar the nuclear department; still arguably isn't considering their problems in Ukraine.

I don't think the developers on that programme for one second imagined that the first time the F-22 would engage in air-to-air combat would be against... a balloon. However, it is likely the highest altitude air-to-air kill of all time, which is something.

The pilot of that F-22 is going to have an interesting remainder of his or her life, that's for sure.

Holocaust Memorial Day

I'm currently watching the Ken Burns series The U.S. and the Holocaust, which is available on BBC iPlayer. It discusses the action that the United States took when faced with the persecution of Jews by the Nazis. Or rather the lack of it.

The immigration quotas were maintained. Jews seeking visas needed $5,000 bonds to cover them, a huge sum of money back then. And antisemitic views were publicly expressed by many influential people, including Senators and preachers with national radio shows. Only FDR really emerges with much credit out of the top people.

I think it's a reminder that evil generally has a lot easier time of it when good people do nothing - or there are other evil people in charge of organisations with the means to help.

The Holocaust was a German crime, but a global failure - and we must make sure actions like that do not happen again.

The Last of Us

Watched the first episode of this last week and got to say that's an excellent drama even if - like me - you've never played the games. There may well be a full review of the season once it's finished.

2023 Plans

I know this blog has been a bit quiet lately - I assume someone still reads it. Hopefully, I will get this a bit more active in 2023. For one thing, I hope to get round to watching original Star Trek at some point, but I've still got too much modern TV to watch including Strange New Worlds.

There's a number of Marvel movies out - and the new Indiana Jones - so I might well review them.

We shall see though. Make sure you follow me on your RSS feeder of choice.

Edson Arantes do Nascimento aka Pelé 1940-2022

Quite simply put, the greatest football player of all time and an inspiration for many millions. Went from shining shoes and triumphed over racism to win three World Cups and scoring 1,281 professional goals when you count the friendlies, which were often against high-profile European sides.

He is to football what Muhammad Ali is to boxing and Don Bradman is to cricket. His name will never be forgotten.

Rest in Peace.

Merry Christmas

Wishing all my readers, wherever you are, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May the love of God be with you and all your loved ones at this festive time.

Looks like it might be a cold winter

Snow is outside my house right now and I may end up having to work from home on a day that I normally go in.

With the current energy price situation - and the government needs to do all it can to get them down - this is going to be a tough winter for many poor people and we'll likely see a lot of "excess deaths".

It will be even worse for those in Ukraine, who are dealing with Russian attacks on the electricity supply designed to demoralise them. But those sort of attacks will likely motivate their soldiers even more. 

In any event, the best way to end this situation is to end that war  - with a Ukrainian victory, because we can't give Putin a chance to rearm for a second go.

59 Years of Doctor Who

Wishing this show a happy 59th anniversary. With a new production team in charge and making some good decisions already, the Diamond Anniversary next year should be a good time. 

In any event, a lot is riding on it, considering how problematic the current ratings are. But I am confident in the skill of Russell T Davies.

Qatar World Cup

Probably won't be watching very much of this at all, except the England games, maybe not even those as the Monday game is at 1pm UK time and I will be in the office. I am in the work sweepstake, but that's supporting charity.

Alas, this isn't the first major sporting event to be held in a dodgy country and it won't be the last. Boycotts have an appeal, but they tend to not actually bring change; that usually comes from within.

So, yeah... let's hope for some good protests.

Remembrance 2022

We are now dealing with another war in Europe, the first for over twenty years, fought over much of the same territory where the World Wars were fought. Millions have become refugees, millions more have suffered.

Please remember them and all those who still suffer from past wars.

London Loop Section 9

Decided to do one last bit of the Loop before the clocks changed and the daylight hours became too short for it to be done safely. It was a warmish day and I worked up a bit of a sweat, losing around half a kilo all in all.

Section 9 is a long one at around nine miles and is pretty much entirely level, although it was a bit muddy especially near the end. It includes Bushy Park with a large wildlife collection, including deer (which are being culled now to control their numbers) and coots.

You also go over what is left of Hounslow Heath, which was a notorious haven for highwaymen, but the route is poorly marked here, and the Inner London Ramblers are discussing with Hounslow council about changing the path to follow the River Crane instead. Most of it has now been built on and the only daylight robbery you'll see now are the car parking charges.

As you go through Donkey Wood and the duck boards, you're under the Heathrow 27L/09R flight path, with aircraft passing over you around every minute and you can read the aircraft numbers.

There are a couple of places to eat in Hampton Hill and other spots on the route; I still got round in just over four and a quarter hours. My walk ended at the 1970s-built Hatton Cross tube, for a long train and bus ride home.

I plan to do Section 10 and 11 together in March next year; when the weather and light is suitable. The aim is to do the other twelve sections of the Loop by the end of 2023, so watch this space.

Doctor Who: The Power of the Doctor

I watched this pretty much live a week ago and I've got to say that I rather enjoyed it. The plot was pretty razor thin - a Chibnall habit - but there was a lot of enjoyable callbacks to the past, as appropriate for a Centenary special.

Jodie Whittaker did a fine job with her swansong and had a good final speech - handing over to a rather different successor than some might have anticipated. But Doctor Who really does need some better security for its production, because it would have even better to be surprised in that case.

Dan wasn't particularly well served, while the ending to Yaz's tenure seemed a bit perfunctory, although perfectly in character for the Doctor, who doesn't seem to like long-term commitments to humans who have a much shorter lifespan.

Ace and Tegan were definitely enjoyable; the former has never really left the show due to her long association with Big Finish.

The Master was crazy as usual and the "Ra Ra Rasputin" dance was highly memorable; I get a feeling Sacha Dhawan's time in the role is probably done though.

Daleks and Cybermen need a rest; they're massively overused now.

Anyway, the Whittaker era is now over - and with Disney now on board, hopefully the show gets a much bigger budget.

8/10

Exit Thirteen

Today marks the end of the Thirteenth Doctor's era, with her regeneration episode, "The Power of the Doctor", airing at 7.30pm tonight in the UK.

It's reasonable to say that this hasn't been the most successful era in the show's history - ratings have declined, popular interest has gone and the quality of stories has been uneven at best. Chris Chibnall, despite previous good work, was not ultimately suited to the Doctor Who gig.

None of this is Jodie Whittaker's fault - she did the best she could with the material - and hopefully she'll find some better stuff with Big Finish.

So, onto Ncuti Gatwa and RTD2; they've got a big challenge ahead of them.

Exit Liz Truss

The fastest failure of any Prime Minister that actually managed to form a government in the first place; Truss was utterly unsuited for a Cabinet role, let alone the top job. She now ends her career as a joke - I wouldn't be surprised if she steps down at the next election.

Hopefully they don't re-elect Boris Johnson. Sunak seems the most competent of that sorry lot.

A general election would be best to clear the air, but why would the Tories vote for Christmas? We'll just have to cope with this shambles as best we can.

Robbie Coltrane 1950-2022

Best known for Cracker, Valentin Zukovsky and Hagrid, he was a brilliant actor who added a lot to anything that he was in.

Rest in Peace.