The Vietnam War (2017)

September 29, 2017 / Roger Edwards

After watching several hours of the documentary, The Vietnam War, one has to wonder at the utter inability of the US government of the time, to think outside the box during the period of that conflict. Seldom does a military, political, and social analysis of an historical event go this deep. During its eighteen hour running time directors Ken Burns and Lynn Novick cover a wealth of issues associated with this conflict, exploring it from multiple perspectives. Not only do they shine a light upon the hubris and folly of both respective governments, they manage to keep a very intimate and human perspective. Personal stories from both sides are told and if there is a common theme, it is sadly one of tragedy and regret.

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categories / The Vietnam War, TV, Documentary, War Documentary

Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)

September 27, 2017 / Roger Edwards

James Wan is a clever film maker who knows and fully understands the mechanics of his trade. Perhaps a little too well, because therein lies the problem with Insidious: Chapter 2. It is a succession of well-crafted set pieces that seamlessly follows on from the previous movie. Yet it is a little too enamoured with its own cleverness. I found myself frequently praising the director after a well-constructed shock, instead of revelling in the unease a horror movie is supposed to create. A great deal of scares and jumps are due to the clever sound design, superb editing and the creepy score by by Joseph Bishara, who previously collaborated with director James Wan on the first movie as well as The Conjuring. Fortunately, the film still provides viewers with a family that are likeable and an ensemble cast that help lift the story beyond its somewhat formulaic limitations. As I've mentioned before, Wan has an eye for depicting families.

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categories / Movies, Horror, Insidious: Chapter 2, Insidious

Insidious (2010)

September 26, 2017 / Roger Edwards

Shortly after moving to a new house, parents Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renée Lambert (Rose Byrne) life is shattered when their eldest son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) slips into a coma. Doctors are unable to explain their son’s medical condition and the family subsequently assailed by a series of supernatural happenings. Eventually, Josh’s Mother Lorraine (Barbara Hershey) invites paranormal investigator, Elise Rainer (Lin Shaye) and her team, to help the family. Her investigations soon determine that Dalton has the gift astral projection and has become trapped in “the further” by a demonic force. Lorraine reveals that Josh had a similar when he was a young, that he has subsequently forgotten about because it endangered his life. Can he revive his gift, enter "the further" and rescue Dalton before he his lost forever?

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categories / Horror, Movies, Insidious

Star Trek: Discovery

September 25, 2017 / Roger Edwards

Finally, it’s arrived. The first new Star Trek TV show for twelve years. Star Trek: Discovery became available for Netflix UK customers to watch at 8:00 AM this morning. Needless to say, I cleared my schedule in advance so I could sit down and watch this much-anticipated show. Furthermore, I made it my business to avoid Twitter and the internet until I had finished viewing the first two episodes because I knew in advance that Star Trek: Discovery was going to be controversial and divide fans. Having now seen The Vulcan Hello and Battle at the Binary Stars and taken time to reflect upon both episodes, I have reached the following conclusion. From what we’ve seen so far, the spirit and emotional heart of Star Trek, is reflected in the new show. I found the characters to be interesting and well defined. Lead performances by Michelle Yeoh, Sonequa Martin-Green and Doug Jones were good and there’s an intriguing crew dynamic. The story has already touched upon numerous canonical themes and I am eager to learn more about the main characters and the universe they inhabit. I therefore shall continue to watch Star Trek: Discovery. However, not everyone feels the same, as my subsequent forays online have shown. Much has changed in this new iteration of Star Trek and as we know, some fans do not like change in any way, shape, or form.

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categories / TV, Star Trek, Star Trek: Discovery

Unlocked (2017)

September 24, 2017 / Roger Edwards

CIA specialist interrogator Alice Rancine (Noomi Rapace) is on secondment to MI5 while she nurses her guilt over a previously failed operation that left civilians dead. Her old boss Eric Lasch (Michael Douglas) thinks it’s time she returned to what she does best. Rancine then receives a request from the CIA London Station to crack a terrorist courier who can provide access to a major cell. However, it soon becomes clear that the operation has not been officially sanctioned and Rancine has been duped by rogue elements within the Agency. Alone and on the run from the CIA, MI5 and independent contractors, Alice finds an unexpected ally in ex-Marine Jack Alcott (Orlando Bloom) who she finds robbing her apartment. Together, the pair pursue the lead she obtained while interrogating the courier and attempt to stop a biological attack from happening on UK soil.

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categories / Movies, Unlocked, Action

The Driver (1978)

September 23, 2017 / Roger Edwards

Walter Hill is a much underrated director, whose back catalogue is often overlooked. After several years as a writer, Hill moved into directing. His second major film, The Driver is a neo-noir, minimalist thriller, with characters named by their profession (The Detective, The Driver etc.) and a plot that extols Hills favourite theme, of a man being defined by his actions. The title character (Ryan O’Neal) a professional getaway driver, plays a game of cat and mouse with "The Detective" (Bruce Dern), who is determined to bring him down. “I’m gonna catch the cowboy that’s never been caught,” he tells "The Driver". "The Detective" becomes so obsessed with his foe, that he sets up a bank job in order to trap "The Driver". Yet the plan does not run smoothly and "The Driver" learns that he being set up. Does he walk away or does he take the bait and face the inevitable consequences?

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categories / Movies, The Driver

Is Shared Fandom a Bridge to Reconciliation?

September 22, 2017 / Roger Edwards

There are and always will be books that have a clear political agenda or make a very particular statement. Orwell’s 1984 springs to mind as an obvious example. Then there are also books that attract political interpretations by the nature of their plot or the subjects that they explore. Whether the author intended such a debate about the work or not, is a secondary issue. I have always taken Tolkien’s work at face value and to be what he stated they were. Epic and intricate faux histories, free from allegory. Furthermore, I appreciate that the moral position and themes of his work stem from the authors world view, personal experiences as well as the prevailing social dogma of the time. I find it interesting how his work attracts praise and adulation from a wide variety of groups. Catholics will naturally gravitate towards Tolkien’s writings due to his faith and that is the prism through which they will critically view his work. There are of course other examples about how The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings appeals to different people in different ways. It is a common aspect of fandom.

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categories / Editorial, Fandom, Fans and Communities, JRR Tolkien, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Daniel Hannan

Elysium (2013)

September 21, 2017 / Roger Edwards

Dystopian futures, oppressive regimes and the inequalities between the haves and have nots, have been the mainstay of science fiction for decades. The political dimensions of such narratives are usually glossed over and seldom garner any attention from critics as they are simply plot devices, designed to set up a more specific story. Yet for some reason Neill Blomkamp's Elysium, seems to have been labelled "sci-fi socialism" upon its release by certain institutions. In today's unsophisticated language is meant to have negative connotations. Such comments should be dismissed as they frequently come from quarters that have a poor understanding of what exactly socialism is and little interest in genuine film reviews.

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categories / Movies, Science Fiction, Elysium

Classic Movie Themes: Zeppelin

September 20, 2017 / Roger Edwards

Zeppelin is an often overlooked, World War I action movie made in 1971. Michael York plays a British Officer of Bavarian decent, who goes under cover for British Intelligence to thwart a German plot involving a new prototype dirigible. It's a very straightforward ripping yarn, that benefits greatly from Alan Hume’s superb cinematography. The visual effects credits are a veritable "who's, who" of British artist from the time, featuring the likes of Cliff Richardson, Cliff Culley and Wally Veevers. One of the stand out elements of this movie is the fine score by Roy Budd. Budd was a completely self-taught musician who was hailed as a child prodigy. Over the course of his career Budd wrote a diverse selection of film scores and was adept at many different styles.

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categories / Classic Themes, Movies, Zeppelin, Roy Budd

Diary of a Podcaster Part 9

September 19, 2017 / Roger Edwards

As I surmised, in its current state Squarespace has proven an inadequate host for my current podcast. After exchanging several emails with Apple support, I was informed that “the server for your episodes does not support HTTP HEAD requests. To enable streaming playback of episodes, ensure the hosting server allows HTTP HEAD requests and has byte-range requests enabled”. To cut a long story short, there is no scope for me to alter any of these things at present within the Squarespace dashboard. Nor did I want the work involved in using a third-party feed managing service such as FeedBurner. So, I decided to open up an account with a commercial hosting service. After some research, I determined that PodBean could cater for all my needs and at a competitive price. Submitting the new RSS feed was easy and Apple approved the podcast within 36 hours. As of today, the Contains Moderate Peril podcast is back on iTunes.

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categories / Podcast, Podcast Diary, Podcasting

The Darkest Hour (2011)

September 17, 2017 / Roger Edwards

The Darkest Hour should have been more appropriately titled The Stupidest Hour, or Darwinian Natural Selection in Action. It really is a microcosm of all that is wrong with mainstream Hollywood at present and it saddens me that this film was made by director Chris Gorak. His previous movie Right at You Door was the exact opposite of The Darkest Hour, being intelligent, well scripted and focused. Prior to directing Gorak has had a successful career as an art director, working for such luminaries as David Fincher, the Coen brothers, and Terry Gilliam. His flair for the visual is present in The Darkest Hour but it would appear that the production design and visual effects were given priority over a good script. I shall endeavour to summarise the plot and provide a brief overview of the films respective merits, although there are precious little.

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categories / Movies, Science Fiction, The Darkest Hour

Tradesmen

September 16, 2017 / Roger Edwards

I don’t care for the popular interpretation of the “Renaissance Man”. IE someone who attempts all jobs around the house. I’m a firm believer in deferring to professionals. If I need electrical work carried out, then I’ll happily hire an electrician. The same goes for plumbers, builders and decorators. I even employ a handyman for those niggling trivial jobs. There are several reasons why I take such an approach. First and foremost, I am fully aware of my limitations and what I can and cannot do. It’s a philosophy espoused by Harry Callahan, so who am I to contradict? If I want a job done, I want it done properly and not bodged. Secondly, if you formally employ someone to undertake a job that has been fully costed via bona fide quotation, then you have legal recourse should things go south. Thirdly, I do not care for manual labour. That is not to say I think it’s beneath me. Quite the opposite. I admire anyone who earns their crust through their physical toil. Nope, I just don’t like such work. I prefer using my mind not my back. Finally, I value my leisure time and do not want to see such a precious resource squandered. So, considering all these points, whenever certain jobs or chores arise, I pay others to do them.

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categories / Editorial, Tradesmen, Personal

Gaming and Voice Chat

September 15, 2017 / Roger Edwards

I was reading through the patch notes for the latest test build for LOTRO (Bullroarer Update 21.2 - Beta 1 Take 2) and was interested to find down at the bottom of the list, a reference to some changes that are coming to in-game voice chat. Namely, party member voice volume can be adjusted individually. Party volume control visibility can be toggled by clicking on the party voice chat icon for party members. Default Group Volume preference are to be added to the Voice section of Audio options. The volume slider can be used to set the default voice volume level of new group members. Its 75% volume by default. Well, huzzah with highly polished brass knobs on. I’m pleased that this is being done but isn’t it somewhat late? We could have done with these improvements a decade ago.

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categories / Gaming, Voice Chat, TeamSpeak, Discord, LOTRO, Star Trek Online, Overwatch, GTA Online, PUBG

Imagining the Worst

September 14, 2017 / Roger Edwards

I was technically not old enough to see Outland when it was released in the UK in 1981. The film was rated AA, a now defunct certificate, which required the viewer to be 14 years or older and I was 13. I have strong memories of feeling quite tense going into the cinema. My expectations were based purely on what I had read in the press and from seeing the trailer just once, a few weeks prior. That is how it was before the internet age. You had less advance knowledge of a movie. Furthermore, at this point in time I had not become so inured to cinematic violence, as my viewing habits back then were very much dictated by my parents and the fact that there were only two televisions in our home. Although we had a VCR, we hadn’t yet got bitten by the renting bug. So, I went into the movie theatre expecting to be shocked by Outland based on the movies marketing which promised a head explosion. However, it turned out to be a thoroughly entertaining space western. Yet I vividly remember my sense of relief that its hadn’t been as shocking as I had imagined it would.

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categories / Editorial, Movies, Imagining the Worst, Horror

Star Trek Online: Beyond the Nexus

September 13, 2017 / Roger Edwards

One of the major selling points of Star Trek Online is that it features voice acting from artists who appeared in the various TV shows and feature films. From Star Trek: The Original Series, Leonard Nimoy and Walter Koenig reprised their iconic roles, bringing Spock and Chekov to the game. Michael Dorn and Denise Crosby beamed in from The Next Generation, adding the voices of Worf, Tasha Yar and Empress Sela to several featured episodes. Chase Masterson and Aron Eisenberg came to us from Deep Space Nine to reprise their roles as Leeta and Nog. From Voyager, we have the talents of Tim Russ, Robert Picardo, Jeri Ryan, Ethan Phillips, Garrett Wang, Robert Duncan McNeill, Kim Rhodes, and Lisa LoCicero. Kipleigh Brown and Matt Winston from Enterprise recently joined the roster. The legacy of James Doohan was represented by his son Chris, reprising his father’s role as Scotty. And Zachary Quinto and Joseph Gatt from the Kelvin Timeline Star Trek film franchise have joined the ranks of esteemed Trek alumni in the game.

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categories / Gaming, MMORPG, Cryptic, Star Trek Online, LeVar Burton, Geordi La Forge

Baby Driver (2017)

September 12, 2017 / Roger Edwards

There’s rhythm in every scene of Baby Driver. And Michael Mann may want to consider early retirement because Edgar Wright lights his movies better. These are just some of the thoughts that crossed my mind during the films 113-minute running time. It becomes very apparent when watching Baby Driver that it’s not just a standard heist movie with car stunts and hard-boiled dialogue. This film is definitely something special and totally deserving of all the praise that has been heaped upon it. But then again, it’s not every day you get a story that bears all the hallmarks of a Hollywood musical, slickly and intelligently transplanted into a hybrid of the road and caper genres.

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categories / Movies, Baby Driver, Action

How Do You Solve a Problem Like You Tube?

September 11, 2017 / Roger Edwards

You Tube like any other online platform has a wealth of rules, term and conditions and other policies. Sadly, what we have seen over recent years is an organisation that has precious little inclination to use them. The facilities that are currently in place are often abused and there are no consequences for misusing the “disputes” procedure. Furthermore, there are still multiple You Tube channels that peddle hate and You Tube personalities that endure without any real sanction for their transgressions. It seems that popular You Tubers are not held to any standard but their own. There is no formal regulation from an external body for this or any other comparable platform. The rules that govern conventional media don’t apply here. It’s a classic example of the law falling behind the technology and change.

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categories / Gaming, You Tube, Influencers, PewDiePie, Editorial, Adpocalypse, How Do You Solve a, Problem Like You Tube

Diary of a Podcaster Part 8

September 10, 2017 / Roger Edwards

Whenever I encounter a word or term that I’m not familiar with, I will usually Google it. That’s the way I’m wired. I prefer to “know” rather than “not know”. However, it is not the concept of continuous self-improvement that I wish to discuss in this post but something else. Namely sociolinguistics. Earlier today I saw someone mention vocal fry on Twitter. I had no idea what that was so I checked on Wikipedia, watched some You Tube videos and finally read some newspaper articles. An hour later I was aware of not only vocal fry, but run-ons, uptalk, glottal Ts and the fact that the way we speak has a major impact upon our lives, just like education and class. According to sociolinguistics, the manner in which you speak has a major impact on the way you are perceived by others. Sadly, like so many other social markers, it can be used in a discriminatory fashion.

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categories / Podcast, Podcasting, Podcast Diary

The Limehouse Golem (2016)

September 09, 2017 / Roger Edwards

In Victorian London, a serial killer dubbed The Limehouse Golem by the press, leaves a trail of victims in his wake. The seemingly random murders span across the social with the only clue being a series of cryptic messages written in the blood of his victims. With few leads and increasing public pressure, Scotland Yard assigns the case to Inspector Kildare (Bill Nighy), a seasoned detective who has a sneaking suspicion that he's being set up to fail. Kildare career has stalled due to rumours that “he’s not the marrying type. Investigations eventually yield a list of four potential suspects. The music hall actor Dan Leno, the author George Gissing and revolutionary Socialist Karl Marx. However, Kildare finds that the forth, John Cree, is already dead; poisoned by his wife Elizabeth (Olivia Cooke) who awaits trial for murder. Is the key to the Golem’s identity to be found through further investigation of his murders, or by solving the truth of the Cree case?

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categories / Movies, The Limehouse Golem

Games That Pass You By

September 08, 2017 / Roger Edwards

Like many gamers I try to keep abreast of new releases and titles that are in development. Because of my personal likes and dislikes, I filter out a lot of material I don't personally care for. For example, I'm not really au fait with the sports genre or real-time strategy games. I read several news websites and follow a few "gaming commentators" on Twitter and that usually keeps me informed about the things I feel I need to know. However, it is not a full proof system and every now and then I become aware of a title that has completely passed me by. In some respects, this can be quite beneficial as it means I have bypassed several months of hype, marketing and general bullshit and can now potentially jump into a new game without any major prejudice or baggage.

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categories / Gaming, Games That Pass You By, The Bureau, XCOM Declassified