Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in beckyL's LiveJournal:

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Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
5:53 pm	Some thoughts on Shark movies Through the actions of random chance, plus Sci-Fi having done a Shark Week a while back, I've seen several 'Shark' horror movies recently. I've been bored enough to think about them, and what makes a good or bad shark movie, and thought other people might have opinions on this. Or not. The following is my blathering, and you're free to ignore it as you like. Undoubtedly, the best shark movie I have ever seen is the original Jaws. The things that make it such for me are the perfection of the score, the (relative) realism of the shark's behavior, the 'less is more' technique mandated by the balky mechanical shark while filming, and the solid to outstanding performances turned in by the actors. Acts of 'willful movie stupidity' are at a minimum, and the final means of dealing with the shark is reasonably believable. The things that make a shark movie frightening, as opposed to comical, gorey, or just awfully bad, tend to be the subtle techniques of horror movies in general - the alien-ness, the sense of being out of your depth - literally and metaphorically, the concept of trying to deal with something that can't be reasoned with, and the basic fear that this thing sees you as lunch. Movie sharks as the 'villain' always need to at least give the impression of low-human-level intelligence. Big dumb monsters have stopped being particularly terrifying in the CGI era. Big is no longer enough on its own. That said, make your shark(s) too intelligent and you stretch my suspension of disbelief far enough that it will snap. At that point the movie goes from a horror to an unintentional comedy. Same thing goes for having it behave in a manner completely at odds with basic animal drives, or displaying speed, strength or invulnerability too far beyond the 'large-but believable for this species' marker-point. Size can feature in this category as well, but is not *on its own* a deal-breaker for suspension of disbelief. At least provided it's kept consistent. If you haven't got the ability in your special effects budget to consistently make a shark that meets the criteria of 'doesn't look like an obvious fake' - take the 'less is more' Jaws option and minimise the time it's on screen, so when it IS, you can focus more of the FX budget on getting it to look really good for a short while. If you have an incredible FX budget, don't get tempted to put the shark(s) on screen for too much time - they'll lose impact. Please, dear little fishes, try not to have your characters act in a way that makes us believe that the 'Movie Stupidity Field' is turned up to eleven. You can usually ignore whatever gimmick has set up the man vs shark dynamic in the first place (Why is the shark research station built underwater, being more expensive and dangerous, rather than on land? or please ignore 'implausible reason $foo why prehistoric shark(s) of type $bar are suddenly swimming in a modern ocean). Once in the thick of the tussle, scripts tend to lobotomise the characters. It's not just shark movies that do this, of course. Almost all bad horror seems to have a 'check all commonsense at the door' policy for its victims. Additionally, not telegraphing who the victims will be and who will survive is something to strive for. This rambling nonsense has been brought to your screens by the movies 'Shark Hunter', 'Deep Blue Sea', 'Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus', and 'Malibu Shark Attack'. Capsule reviews of all follow briefly. Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus - Awful acting, awful script, poor sets, nowhere near enough 'giant monsters duking it out', Mega Shark resizes depending on what he's biting (747 in mid air, destroyer, GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE!!?!). Don't watch - see the trailer and then grab a still off the web of the bridge-nom. Shark Hunter - Barely competent acting and script, Megalodon is marginally believable but revenge obsessed. Damned with faint praise but stellar next to Mega Shark and Malibu. Deep Blue Sea - CGI Sharks look good, but are too intelligent, and on screen too much. Best bit - Samuel Jackson cut off in mid rousing speech by shark. Best of the bunch here, but the characters are all seriously affected by Movie Stupidity. Malibu Shark Attack - Utterly Implausible Plot, involving lifeguards surviving a Tsunami in the hut-on-legs which is the lifeguard station. The Tsunami floods the near shore areas, leading to prehistoric Goblin Sharks woken up by the earthquake that caused the tsunami tenaciously trying to eat the lifeguards by breaking into the hut. Evacuation to a nearby beach house being built on a higher bit of ground suffers casualties, but the sharks are eventually dispatched with power tools and a satchel full of blasting caps. Interesting note - the sharks were dubiously rendered in CG to look as though they had human-ish faces, but are an Actual Real Species. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
10:50 am	Fancy that... Ipods are a good thing! It turns out that I can hear noticeable difference between £5 in-ear headphones and £40 (£30 in the sale) headphones. Now I just need to work out if I have £30 spare at the moment to get my own set, having borrowed Darrell's to test. I did notice that the £40 pair had a better seal for blocking out background noise, which (I think) had a tendency to increase the amount of noise transmitted to my ear by the wires rubbing together. Still, I think this is going to be something worth spending some money on. I love my new ipod (less because it's an ipod and more because it's a music player 4 times the size of my last one, which gives me more choice). For all of those techies and audiophiles among you out there, I'm sure there are probably technically better/cheaper/less DRM ennabled/whatever MP3 players, but this one is EASY, and it's what I've got, and I'm rediscovering that listening to music is more than just a way to pass a dull train journey. The apps are generally fun - sooner or later I'll start putting proper useful ones on there, I suspect, but for now it's one or two games and one or two puzzles. Ones I've happily paid for are Puzzle Quest and the official Thnkfun Rush Hour app. Last night saw the discovery that the BBC iPlayer can be comfortably watched on the ipod, which means if I get a bit more organised and find out what I want to watch, I can actually start watching some programmes regularly. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, January 18th, 2010
4:35 pm	Thnigs you run across while googling... This is entirely worksafe, just a bit beyond my comprehension. I mean, clearly drivel, but still, it appears to take itself seriously. http://www.bibletruthonline.com/index.html How did I stumble on it? I was googling 'mene, mene, tekel, upharsin' which rang bells in the back of my head as to 'I know this, where do I know this from?'. And I did know it, and I have refreshed my memory. Why was I googling it in the first place? City of Ashes, book 2 of The Mortal Instruments trilogy, which I will happily recommend. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010
5:15 pm	From the other end of the day Still cold, still tired. Less wanting to cry, slightly more hovering possible panic-attack symptoms. Sales definitely justify having come in. I have not managed to attempt any of the business tasks I need to do that require anything more than serving customers. I have served customers helpfully and cheerfully. Win? Evening event is going ahead, because the difference in getting a cab home at 6.30pm and getting a cab home at 10pm is actually negligable, I'll still have to walk the last bit anyway because the cabs won't go onto the ungritted two roads between the treated and mostly clear bus route and my house. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
12:58 pm	I has a sad (and a distressing tendency to LOLspeak) I'm tired. I want to cry, for no very good reason other than I'm tired and cold. I'm in the shop - total sales today = 2, people through the door = 7. I'm really growing to hate the snow, and the cold, and the slush, and the way the snow seems to have made the world unreal to me. It's screwed up my sleep pattern for some reason, and it's impacting the business, unsurprisingly. I shall go and make hot cuppasoup and see if that makes things any better. (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, December 26th, 2009
12:55 pm	Advice if you lot can be bothered As part of a seriously wonderful Christmas, I am now the proud owner of an 8GB Ipod touch. (I'm not interested in why I should have got another flavour, or anything else. This is what I have, and what I want advice on.) I'd like recommendations on two things - what should I fill it with and what should I use to listen to the music? I have the opportunity to broaden my musical horizons, so this is where you recommend things you think I ought to listen to. I'm happy to listen to stuff people recommend, because I know there are a bunch of you out there with much wider ranging collections than me, and I'd like to peer over your shoulders. I am specifically looking for a couple of recommendations though, in the 'sounds a bit like Leftfield - Leftism, and Madonna's Ray of Light album' category, so ambient, trancy? I'm not actually sure of the correct terminaology I'm abusing here. It's going to definitely be loaded with albums by Tori Amos, Garbage, Billy Joel, Enya, Sarah Maclachlan, Beatles, Beachboys, Tara Maclean, Squeeze, Meatloaf/Steinman, Enigma, Pink Floyd, Doors, Eagles, The Who, Queen, Dire Straits, Eurythmics/Annie Lennox, Sisters of Mercy, Del Amitri, All About Eve, Evanescence and Madonna. People can look at that list and possible get some idea of what I like listening to (or groan in horror at my incredibly uncultured, populist and indiscriminate taste!) The other thing I would like recommendations on is Headphones. I have a couple of criteria, which are a £20 ish budget, a comfortable and durable pair of in-ear phones which I should be able to wear for about 3 hours without them being painful, and reasonable sound quality. Sound quality does not have to be any better than reasonable, because empirical testing has proved that I can't distinguish between cheap, ok headphones and decent but not insanely expensive 'phones. I can spot the difference between 'bundled with the player' ear buds and Bose £150 and up stuff, but the difference between a £15 set of headphones and a £60 set is basically price tag to me. Bonus Question - are there any free or sub £1 apps you would recommend for me to have fun with/find insanely useful? (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, December 21st, 2009
7:26 pm	Safe home in the warm Darrell and I are both now at home. I'm concerned about my in-laws who are stuck somewhere on the road on the way into Reading. Unfortunately both their phones are off, so there's nothing we can do beyond having hot drinks and possibly warm blankets ready when they finally do manage to make it to us. ETA: 21.30 They've just arrived safely. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
6:18 pm	Snow impacts shop. Right - Reading Town is completely gridlocked. We're abandoning the car where it is parked, and walking home. It will be a lot quicker, if colder. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, December 18th, 2009
9:15 pm	TotC 10 man clear Eventually (2 and a half weeks of extending the lockout, I think?) I've now been part of killing everything in there. Beasts is mostly a matter of not making stupid mistakes, Jax is fairly easy, Faction Champs appears to depend entirely on what combo of opponents we pick up and is the hardest thing in there, Twins and Anub were completed last night with no more than 4 tries on each. Hopefully, we'll be able to do it all in one raid lockout period after the Christmas break. (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
7:36 pm	Rare television review Has anyone else been watching Paradox on BBC1 on Tuesday nights? I've seen all three episodes so far, and I've actually been motivated to put some thoughts down about it. The premise is that someone or something is sending a specific set of images that relate to something that hasn't happened yet to an astrophysicist working for the MOD. He has asked for a team of three from the Manchester police force to help him in an 'identify and prevent the bad thing happening' effort. Usual deep questions about pre-destination, fate, God, changing the future. Multiple universes and Trousers of Time effects, along with the questions of 'Who' and 'How' with regards to the images of the future. Available of course on iPlayer, but I'm not absolutely sure I can recommend spending the time to catch up over doing something else. More spoilery stuff is ( hidden under an LJ cut just in case anyone cares... ) (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, December 4th, 2009
4:45 pm	Christmas list for Darrell to pass on to relatives Some suggestions for things I know I would like. Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks for DS (released Dec 11th?) Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords for the DS Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon for the DS Professor Leyton and the Curious Village for the DS Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings for the DS Silver Tongue by Charlie Fletcher Clothes vouchers for new jeans etc. Contributions towards an 8GB Ipod Touch? Nice single malt whisky Hat like Darrell's from Altimus (size small!) Some sort of gaming mouse? (will try and find one I like to play WoW and update with more details) (Comment on this)
Sunday, November 29th, 2009
11:33 pm	Random snippets that are currently irritating me in TV advertising 'Flash Forward mid-season finale' All the Windows 7 ads I've seen so far - patronising, stupid, and misleading "and I got Norton to protect against viruses and identity theft" I may add more later as they come up. Feel free to list your own favourite pet hates in the comments. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, November 23rd, 2009
1:56 pm	Wow post - kill tally. My main has finally ended up in a regular 10-man raid slot. So far, Naxx was cleared a while ago, I've done bits of Ulduar (Flame Lev, Mad robot thing, Razorscale, Kologarn, Auriya, Hodir) and last night we took down Northrend Beasts and Lord Jax in the Colisseum. I'm not looking forward to Faction Champs. Raiding with a regular, reliable and non-crap group is turning out to be a bit easier and more fun than I thought it might be. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, November 19th, 2009
12:41 pm	Bruises Today I have a Really Interestingly Shaped Bruise on my little toe where I wrenched/stubbed it yesterday. It aches a bit. I'm in the shop on my day off (bad Becky!) mainly because I don't want to have to walk in later, and I need to be in town from 6pm. I'd like the world to start buying their Christmas presents from me, rather than just coming in and looking for ideas. Shortly, there will be Sweeneys Christmas pie for lunch. This can only be a good thing. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
10:29 am	Today is going to be a long day Early morning extremely painful stubbed little toe - not a good start. Still Aching. Incidence of numptiness: High. Incidence of highly aggravating 'well-meaning advice': Very High Incidence of legal wrangling over money: Moderate Weather - Very Windy, which translates to a banging shop door as it gets blown open. Becky Stress Factor - Moderate but growing. Time? 30 minutes after opening. Little fishes can guess what I'm going to be like by lunchtime, let alone time for the evening events... On the plus side, I have music, and may end up eating Darrell's mince pies. I can replace them tomorrow. (Comment on this)
Saturday, November 14th, 2009
11:26 am	Best Birthday wishes... ...to Lady K! May your lewts be Shiny Purplz, and please excuse me while I die of envy of your kung-fu companion. Here's hoping you have a really good day! (Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
3:55 pm	How do you know the Christmas season has begun? ...A researcher from Radio Berkshire phones me up to talk about boardgames. Anyone wanting to listen again, it's the Sarah Walker 'Business Lunch' segment at about 13.40 today. Darrell reckons that three more researchers will phone between now and Christmas, I'm reckoning only one. I seem to be defaulting to 'Beach Boys' whenever the radio asks me for a request. I wonder what that says about my subconscious at present? (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, November 1st, 2009
10:23 am	Been a little while... Firstly, thanks to everyone that wished me happy birthday for yesterday - I had a great time. Battlenet merge appears to have been fine. The annual trip to Essen for Spiel was successful, productive and even fun. There was a slight hiccup on the Wednesday evening when we arrived at our hotel after 10 hours of traveling to find they'd lost our reservation and double booked the room, but we got it sorted out, and ended up in the local Ibis (with a couple of our better customers as it turned out!). We'll probably stay in the Ibis again next year, as it was a solid improvement over the guest house, and not significantly more expensive. The SatNav died on the morning of the journey back, but we managed with good old-fashioned map navigation and reading roadsigns. (This was helped by the fact that the route is pretty much a single straight line, with the only complicated bit being getting into the Ferry port at the end in Dunkirk.) Games at the show this year were almost universally 'solid' - there was no one, single, exceptional game that was a 'MUST BUY', but a good dozen that I'm very happy to stock, will sell well, and were really fun to play. We made some very good contacts, picked up a couple of new suppliers and brought back some great games for the demo library. I was very, very good, and didn't take any of my own euros, nor did I buy anything for me. I have more than enough unpainted minis at present, and no occasion to wear any of the really pretty corsetry/costumes/larp stuff. Plus I'm not sure there would have been room in the boot of the car... I came back with some random 'Con Crud' which knocked me out for a couple of days, and still lingers slightly in a chesty cough, but overall it was a really good trip. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
12:05 pm	WoW post - ignore if not relevant to you So - news about forced Battlenet merger/account creation on the front page of Blizzard linky http://www.wow-europe.com/en/index.xml Anyone out there already got a Battle.net account? Anything odd about it, or do I just go 'Free Penguin! Squee!'? Cross server chat would be cool, so I can be on my main and still natter with you lot on Bronzebeard and Earthen Ring... Interested in people's reactions to this. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, October 12th, 2009
2:55 pm	Dead Dragon Was part of a 10-man that killed Onyxia last night. First time I've been in on a kill, not having done the old version. Should be possible to do it again now. (4 Comments |Comment on this)