Cat Flap Technology

I like my cat. Which is quite something, since I'm not a cat person... at all. My wife wasn't really a cat person either. We were both dog people. But we didn't have a lifestyle that could fit in a dog, without having to leave it alone all day, which we didn't want to do.

So we got a kitten. Sooty. Jo soon grew to love her; I slowly grew to tolerate her; then eventually to quite like her... sometimes.

This is her when she was little... she's 10 years old now. And a few months ago we started getting unwanted visitors coming in through the cat flap at our house.

I remember it happening once before, a few years ago. We solved it then by getting one of those cat flaps that only triggers for cats wearing a special collar with a magnet on. The problem was that Sooty kept losing the collar. I think the magnet probably caused it to snag on fences or something. Which is a problem because (a) you have to keep replacing the collar, and (b) the cat is locked out if she loses the collar. Anyway, as soon as I switched back to a normal collar she didn't lose any more... and the foreign cats had stopped coming in by then so I just switched back to the old flap.

But recently a persistent invader has been coming in. I've scared it off a few times when I've found it in the kitchen. And Sooty has scared it off a few times too... but I think it has been stressful for her to do that, now that she's older. It probably leaves it's scent in the house too, which isn't nice for her.

I didn't want to go back to the magnetic flap again, but thought I probably should. So I was moaning about it to a friend. I said something along the lines of "wouldn't it be great if a cat flap could read the microchip in the cat's neck and let her in without any need for a special collar!" ... and my friend said "mate, you can buy those!"

Oh. Technology leaps way ahead of me.

So I bought one. They aren't cheap, at about £60, but it is brilliant. No more invaders and no more worrying about her losing her collar and getting locked out.

Isn't it great when technology actually delivers just what you need?!?

The Homesman (2014) review

This is a bit of an odd film. It has a stellar cast, which can either mean potential classic or sad vanity project...

And somehow I think it is actually a bit of both.

I was really enjoying it, but then something happened which completely threw me. I understand that the film is based on a book - so it is hard to say where the fault lies in my disappointment... the original author, the film adaptation or myself for not understanding.

SPOILERS

The character of Mary Bee Cuddy seemed to me to be a strong woman. Surely she must have been made of stern stuff to take on the journey and to cleverly manage Briggs into helping her.

So why did she kill herself when the job was nearly done? It seemed completely out of character and came as a huge surprise. Until then I was enjoying the film. After that I thought "have I completely missed the point of this?"

The film does seem to go off the rails at that point. Briggs just seems very inconsistent. I didn't understand the dynamic between him and the people of Iowa. And why would someone kick a gravestone into the river?

So I enjoyed the first 3/4 of the film and then just didn't get the last 1/4.

Deadpool (2016) review

When I saw the teaser trailer for Deadpool I thought "wow!" but wondered if the actual movie might not be able to sustain the wow-factor for its whole run time.

Fear not. Deadpool is brilliantly funny from start to finish.

And funny is what it is about. Many action films have humour thrown in to lighten the mood. But Deadpool is the opposite of that - a comedy with action thrown in to darken the mood.

The action is still great though. Much darker than you would be able to pull off if it weren't embedded in the comedy.

The comedy isn't something my mother would approve of... very sexual and what she would call "crude". But certainly adult humour. There was plenty of laughter in the cinema I visited - even during the opening credits - read them!

Deadpool is famous for breaking the fourth wall, and that does happen in the movie. The writing is very clever. Deadpool even talks to other characters as if they are part of the audience... "anyone would think the studio couldn't afford any more X-men".

I tried to keep my expectations low for this film, because Fox have screwed up Marvel characters a few times. But they have really nailed this one. Ace!

The Originals

The biggest advantage that Netflix has over TV channels and disk rental outfits is the phenomenon of binge-watching.

It's both a blessing and a curse, in some ways. When you are off sick with a cold like I was today, then it is brilliant being able to watch 8 episodes back-to-back. On the other hand, when you have to get up for work the next day, watching one more episode at 2am probably isn't as great an idea as it seems at the time...

In the few months I've been 'flixed so far, I have watched Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Gotham, House of Cards (3 seasons), Sense8, Orphan Black (2 seasons) and now The Originals (2 seasons).

I've even started calling them seasons now, in the American style, rather than series. Which is somewhat ironic given that I am watching them in my own time and not on an annual broadcast schedule.

So what is so special about The Originals that has made me want to write about it? Maybe just the timing, because I was going to write something about Netflix TV series sooner or later. But there is something else.

There are several great characters in The Orginals who all play off against each other. Ultimately though everything revolves around one character... or actually a pair of characters... Klaus and his daughter Hope.

Initially Klaus is annoyingly unreasonable. Other characters seem cleverer, more noble, and less inclined to screw things up at every turn...

But as the episodes went by I came to realise something almost uniquely noble about Klaus. He is totally driven to do anything to protect his child. Anything. He will sacrifice his short term interests, alliances and those things most beloved by those closest to him to achieve his long term goal ... to protect Hope.

He is such a tragic character. As much as I hate the things he does; his love for Hope and his unswerving devotion to her are surprisingly admirable.

Legend (2015) review

The only thing I didn't really like about Legend was the title. Why Legend, I wonder? Is it trying to hint that the film is more myth than history?

It is a very different film from The Krays (1990) which focussed on the twins growing up and their relationship with their mother. In Legend we are looking at the grown up twins, already gangsters, their relationship and the relationship between Reggie and his wife Frances.

Another difference is that we have identical twins here... since Tom Hardy plays both men. The Kemps are similar but not identical... and neither can act in the same league as Hardy.

The story is well known. And this film doesn't add much to what I already knew. Instead it tries to add to our understanding of what it might have been like to be involved in the crime scene of London in the 1950s and 1960s.

For me it worked. I found the twins very convincing. Often forgetting for a while that it was one man playing both. And Emily Browning does a great job too as Frances.

The interesting thing about the Kray twins is that they have two sides. On the one hand they are well-dressed club owners who mingled with aristocrats and celebrities. On the other hand they were brutally violent gangsters who intimidated, beat, tortured and killed people to get what they wanted.

Legend gets that across really well.

Burying the Ex (2014) review

Not scary. Not funny. Not worth wasting your time on.

King's Game (2004) review

Danish reporter tries to scupper baddie politician and his spin doctor.

I think the film falls a bit flat because we've seen all this before in the back story of The Killing and on Borgen. It's not that I didn't enjoy it. I did. But it felt like it should be one episode of something else... rather than a story on its own.

Gentlemen of Science

I always wanted to be a scientist. Not the white-coated genius who just manages to come up with a world-saving miracle cure for the hero to deploy at the end of the movie. No. More of a gentleman scientist like Charles Darwin... plodding away patiently for years to gather evidence supporting a theory.

How many people with great ideas have never had the time to explore them?

Darwin had money. He didn't have to get a job to support his family. Instead he spent his time working on his scientific ideas. The ideas he wanted to work on.

I know a couple of people who you might describe as scientists. One works in a University - she complains that she spends most of her time trying to get grants to fund work, rather than doing any work; and can only work on what will be funded. The other works for a commercial company - he complains that he can only work on things that can be patented and make a good return on the investment.

Neither of them are working on the ideas that they really want to.

What are we missing out on by forcing them to work on other things?

If I was a billionaire I would give out grants to smart people to allow them to work on whatever they wanted. Maybe there are such billionaires out there... as well as the ones who buy football clubs, stupidly fast cars and yachts?

If I was in charge of Universities I would set aside funds for sabbaticals so that individuals could follow their hunches and work on ideas that might only play out after a few years.

Most people aren't good at explaining why they think something is a good idea. And most people aren't good at choosing between risky options. Leaving the management of ideas to the market is a terrible idea.

Circle (2015) review

When indie films hit the spot they can really be something special; and Circle is one of those that deserves to become a cult classic.

The premise is simple - fifty people wake up standing in a circle around a high-tech looking device and have to figure out what the hell is going on.

There are very few special effects. It's all in the script and the performances.

At first I was quite interested but thought it might become too much like The Cube or Fermat's Room. It doesn't. Instead it manages to draw you further and further in by creating a constantly changing dynamic between the participants. Just when you think you understand who is who, something changes (either subtly or dramatically) and you have to re-think again.

I loved the way it played out. It had me gripped right to the end.

Give it a go. It's only about 90 minutes long. Intriguing and surprising.