Month: January 2023

Watched Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) by an author from letterboxd.com
A rogue band of resistance fighters unite for a mission to steal the Death Star plans and bring a new hope to the galaxy.

I hated this when it was first released. Maybe I just didn’t want to like it?

I couldn’t get over the fact that we knew almost all of these characters were going to die, otherwise we’d have heard of them, right? I guess you could call it the curse of the prequel. On that basis I found it pretty hard to warm to them.

This time round, I was just focussed on what was on the screen much more. And, while there are still some fairly clunky lines and moments, the overall story plays out well and the battle scenes might be some of the best in canon. Looks gorgeous too.

★★★★

My review

Listened

This is my current favourite for work focus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNN7iTA57jM

“I remember as we were walking out General Gerasimov said, ‘Never again will we be humiliated. We used to be the fourth army in the world, we’re now number two.”

I think he was right, they have shown themselves to be number 2 💩

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jan/30/boris-johnson-says-putin-claimed-he-could-send-missile-to-hit-uk-in-a-minute

You now need photo ID to vote in the UK. Even if you don’t need one because you have valid ID, I strongly recommend you apply for a Voter Authority Certificate here https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate

Read Phillips apologises but wants to stay WRU boss
Chief executive Steve Phillips says he believes he is the man to lead the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) after apologising following accusations of sexism, racism and misogyny.

Meh. Good luck to him. He’s hardly the first person to fail to resign from a job he is clearly unfit for.

Loving Brian Tyree Henry’s Oscar nomination. He was excellent in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse too.

Watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) by an author from letterboxd.com
Returning for his fifth year of study at Hogwarts, Harry is stunned to find that his warnings about the return of Lord Voldemort have been ignored. Left with no choice, Harry takes matters into his own hands, training a small group of students – dubbed 'Dumbledore's Army' – to defend themselves against the dark arts.

It’s hard to fault this film for the turgid story upon which it is based. In fact, the film actually excises a lot of the cruft. But even stripped to the bones very little actually happens to further the story.

★★★

My review

I could listen to @KyleBrandt talking about how the Bengals beat the Bills all day. The Bengals may not beat the Chiefs but this was still a great win.