T.S. Sharp's Blog, page 2

10 Reasons Why Being Unemployed Is Good For You

10 Reasons Why Being Unemployed Is Good For You

Unemployment – The Best Time Of Your Life?

Get to know your local park.

For a brief period in the mid-noughties I was unemployed. I’d finished a fixed-term contract for a games company where I worked as a games tester, and decided I needed to find a permanent job rather than slide into another temping position.

So I signed up for Job Seekers Allowance benefits and did all the normal job-hunting tasks. I tweaked my CV, browsed job sites, and searched listings in local papers.

Before I go into full-on wistful reminiscing mode, there were several factors that made my joblessness more comfortable than it could otherwise have been.

My girlfriend was working full time, so in effect I was free-loading off her in the unspoken understanding that I’d find a job soon and all would be well.

We didn’t have kids, our rent was small, and we had no crushing levels of debt, all of which would have made the whole experience hellish. So with that in mind, here’s why I look back on that time in my life with a strange fondness.

More Time



Without a job, I had time. And I could do whatever I liked with it. Of course, I spent some of it looking for a job, as well as convincing the benefits agency I was looking for a job, but when I wasn’t doing that I was free. Not just to do fun stuff like playing video games or surfing the net, but to get all the mundane stuff done too, but this time without all the pressure of having to fit into the evenings after work or in my precious weekends. Laundry, tidying up, minor DIY – all of it could be done on my time, and when it was done, I was free once again. Knowing this kind of crap didn’t need to be done in a smaller and forced timeframe made things less stressful in a way that only now can I appreciate.
Discovering Creative Frugality



Of course, the biggest issue with being out of work is lack of money.While I had the luxury of low overheads and (for the time being) an understanding partner, I didn’t have to worry about this too much, but it was always at the back of my mind. But this brought about a new way of thinking.

Frugality. If something cost money, did I need it? Could it be found cheaper elsewhere? Could I make money?

I can remember dabbling with eBay, selling a few books and CDs, but looking back I could have expanded this massively given the time and resources I had at my disposal. Especially since those were the wild-west days of eBay, when it was mostly casual private sellers and buyers.

I took a big plastic Jelly Baby container full of coins to one of those change converting machines you find in supermarkets and cashing it all in. It didn’t amount to a great amount of money, just over £25 I think. But when your benefits are about £50 a week, that’s a massive boost.

What did I do with the money? I can’t recall, but I remember it coming in really handy. It was probably burnt up in small increments of minor but necessary purchases – buying a pint of milk, parking, paying for newspapers with job listings. But it was money created from almost nowhere, and now it almost doubled in value because I was conscious of where it came from and what I was doing with it.
You Can Explore



While I wasn’t working I acquainted myself with my town. I recommend you do this at some point. However long you’ve lived in one place, there’s always somewhere you haven’t been before, or has changed since you were last there. Admire the architecture, stroll through parks and partake in the activity normally reserved for old people and children – feeding the ducks.

Feeding the ducks. Not just for old people and kids.

Being unemployed meant I could browse shops without them being busy like they are at weekends. At the time we lived in a tiny town-centre flat in a Georgian building (it wasn’t as grand as that sounds – it had five small rooms if you include the hallway) and I was walking-distance from pretty much everything. I discovered lots of little independent shops I’d never seen before, as well as interesting side-streets I’d never have known about otherwise.
More Time To Read



I was able to read books, most of which were bought from charity shops, which of course I had plenty of time to browse through. The amount of time I have to read today has dropped almost to zero, whereas the number of books to read has only multiplied to the point where I’ve consciously had to stop acquiring them.
No Commuting



Other than those who have worked from home all their working careers, we can all relate to the hell that is commuting, even if yours is relatively short. Car problems, traffic, train delays, and the inevitable cost in terms of both time and money are immense. When you stop to consider how much time you spend travelling to and from work, it’s soul-destroyingly depressing.My grandfather lived across the road from the factory he had worked in for decades, and he attributed the high quality of life he enjoyed during his career and on into his retirement to the almost zero commute he had. I’m sure there’s some truth in that.
No Alarm Clock



Not having a job meant I had no need to get up early. Let’s face it, you don’t get up early because your job starts early, you get up at that time because you need to allow (waste) time for traffic and delays. You wouldn’t normally get up when you do, your job forces you to. Unless of course you’re getting up to do something you enjoy, which I’m guessing isn’t sitting in traffic or standing in a packed commuter train carriage. And even if you love your work, I bet you hate your commute.
More Sleep



Without time constraints you sleep better. Having a decent amount of sleep is invaluable, and having it regularly is even better. If you don’t feel rushed or pressured, you can do things properly, even if they are just every-day things.What do you hear people say all the time?“I’m so tired…” whilst wearily rubbing their eyes and looking defeated.

They usually say this after a hard day’s work. You never hear it being said after someone has spent the day doing stuff they love.
Get To Know Your Neighbours



We’re all guilty of not knowing those that live around us, and you can blame work for a large part of that. You spend almost as much time at work as you do at home (and a large portion of this is spent sleeping), so it’s not surprising in a way. Your new-found time means you’re far more likely to cross paths with those you simply wouldn’t otherwise see. These things make life in general a lot more pleasant. Unless of course your neighbours are meth addicts who like to share their love of techno. But even then you can avoid them by using the tactics in point three.
You Might Learn Something



A friend of mine used a break in contracts in the IT industry to do a short massage course. Using a Groupon discount voucher he signed up to some sessions and spent a couple of days doing something he was interested in. You can safely assume he’d never have done it if he had to shoe-horn the activity into his weekends or take time off work.Local colleges and libraries offer all sorts of courses and craft sessions, but the opportunity to learn or develop skills is enormous if you’re not working. You could do anything from a single-session massage day, to earning a trade qualification. If, for example, you worked full time as a management accountant, when could you possibly do a brick-laying course (or even vice-versa)? The answer in most cases is never.
Planning Ahead



Related to the above topic, not being in work gives you time to figure out what you’ll actually do when you return to work. More of the same? Something totally new? A different location? Never work again, but find a way to support yourself?Continuous employment doesn’t afford you this kind of luxury – it’s the kind of thing that only comes about during a period of contemplation. So while being unemployed is often a scary experience, it does offer several opportunities that would otherwise be rare.

 

What did I do after being briefly unemployed? Nothing life-changing is the short answer. I got a job at a large University and I’ve been there ever since, but all of the above are things I’ve come to appreciate since my time out of work. If I’m ever unemployed again, (but this time with the added pressure of a mortgage and children), I’ll be looking at it like this to blunt the sense of despair it can often bring.

Unemployed? Know someone who is? Share this post with them and it might help them look a bit differently at their current situation.

The post 10 Reasons Why Being Unemployed Is Good For You appeared first on Sharpist.

Steal My Idea; Jihadi Fakes Death And Returns Home

After watching the first episode of the latest season of Homeland, I came up with an idea for a film, book, video game, or TV show. The only problem is that I will probably never do anything with it. But if I put it ‘out there’ someone else might (or maybe already has?). So feel free to steal it and do what you will with it.

~

Aleppo, Syria – a possible setting? (Javier Manzano/AFP/Getty Images)

A young man or woman grows disillusioned with life in the West (be it Europe or North America), and goes to fight in Syria/Iraq/Afghanistan.
The family they leave behind are naturally worried about them. The security services are keen to trace them and the networks they used to get to the warzone.

We follow them in Syria/Iraq/Afghanistan through the chaos, war, and camaraderie they encounter.
The protagonist is killed in action.
The family find out through social networks/friends of the protagonist. Media attention. The family have to adjust to life knowing their relative died fighting a war that has split opinion and communities. Time passes.
Then the protagonist reappears in their country of origin, but with a new identity.
Does he/she contact the family who believe them to be dead?
Why has he/she returned? Why the new identity?
Are they back to carry out homegrown terrorism?
Are they on the run from the networks and organisations they joined in the past?
Are they working for the intelligence services? Are the intelligence services trying to recruit them?
Is there a larger conspiracy at play, or is the person just trying to escape the clutches of IS or similar jihadi groups?

~

Some of the ideas here sprang from thoughts I had after hearing about mostly young men that have gone to fight in the Middle East.

We mainly get to hear about them when they die. Their deaths are briefly reported in news stories about air or drone strikes, or in gun battles between warring factions overseas. But it occurred to me that a reported death would provide the perfect cover for that person to re-invent themselves elsewhere. Especially given that the circumstances surrounding these matters are often sketchy and unreliable at best. Someone killed in a drone strike or even a suicide bombing is not likely to leave behind many clues as to what actually happened, even if the opportunity to investigate was even possible.

These ideas are not particularly new. The first three seasons of US TV show Homeland is based on the same premise, which in turn adapted the story from the Israeli TV show Prisoners of War. But the opportunity exists here to put it into a new context. We are yet to see how the war in Syria and Iraq will directly affect us, as many commentators are sure it will.

Salaheddin, Aleppo – courtesy of SyriaFreedom

If the urge to join the fight is so strong in some people, what else would they do if the circumstances were slightly different? If this has already happened, and someone previously thought to have died has returned home, I’d be fascinated to know about it.

The post Steal My Idea; Jihadi Fakes Death And Returns Home appeared first on Sharpist.

Mini-Review – Far Cry 3

Far Cry 3 – UbiSoft – 2012

Like a travel show. But with murder.

If the video game Far Cry 3 teaches us anything, it’s the importance of decent travel insurance.

 

Jason Brody and his friends find themselves on a tropical island somewhere in the Pacific, and after several days of sky-diving and partying Spring Break-style, they get themselves kidnapped by psychotic pirates. Brody’s brother Grant is killed in an escape bid, and Brody, the party animal frat-boy, now has to turn his hand to jungle survival, guerrilla warfare, and oddly, botany.

Far Cry 3, like its forebears, is an open-world first person shooter, meaning you can play the story-mode to free your mates and escape the island, or you can spend hours killing komodo dragons and picking herbs. I did a mixture of both.

“My name is Vaas. I’m your tour guide for today.”

I loved the mix of FPS narrative and the more trippy, other-worldly essence the game’s backstory presents the player with. Drink herbal potions provided by the natives and you end up floating around psychedelic nether-worlds. It might sound strange, but it melds perfectly with the run-and-gun sequences you have to perform throughout the game.

Far Cry 3 is beautifully rendered. More than once I found myself cresting a hill and being stopped in my tracks by the sight of sunlight falling across a valley at sunrise, or gazing at colourful birds in long grass. But the compulsion to defeat pirates and murderous slave-traders pulls you back into the game. And when you’ve finished that, there’s Far Cry 4 to look forward to.

However, I wouldn’t like to be Jason Brody when tries to make a claim on his travel insurance.

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How To Predict The Future

The ‘Global Data-Net’? Where can I get an app for that?

Whilst reading an old graphic novel recently, I was surprised to see a passing reference to what is basically an iPhone or smartphone of some kind.

One of the characters in Sinister Dexter, a series that ran in 2000 AD (the home of Judge Dredd) from the mid- to late 90’s,  shocks another by producing the device and telling him he’s run a check on him using his ‘Fact-Totem’, enabling him to access the ‘global data-net’. Wow. Imagine that!

Written in the 1990’s when mobile phones were not as commonplace and nowhere near as sophisticated as they are today, the idea that someone could access information on a handheld device would have seemed futuristic to contemporary readers. In fact, even the character being shown it seemed pretty awestruck, as if even in the future it seemed outlandish.

The ‘Fact-Totem’ – Or just an iPhone?

Little did the creators of the graphic novel, Dan Abnett and Simon Davis, know, that in less than fifteen years after publication data-surfing handheld devices would be everywhere. Or maybe they did?

So in the future, data-connected devices are new-fangled, but smoking in public is perfectly normal.

In the frame above, Sinister is seen explaining to his young protege that the Fact-Totem enables him to look up work information whenever he wants. No doubt he looks up the future equivalent of Craigslist or Gumtree and flicks through the ‘Hired Guns’ section or something. What I find more interesting from a modern, jaded point of view however is that the protagonists live in the near-future, where being able to search the internet from anywhere is an amazing development, but smoking in restaurants is perfectly normal. I bet the creators had to stretch their imaginations to come up with the technological advancements, but totally neglected to consider public health law.

Also slightly weird to see in other parts of Sinister Dexter is a couple of references to ‘Googol’, the mathematical term the creators of Google, Larry Page and Sergei Brin, bastardized for their company name. In the graphic novel it’s used as the name of a bay, Googol Bay. But in a postcard seen in one of the comic frames, you can clearly see an address written as ‘Googol Plaza’, not a million miles away from the name of Google’s HQ, the Googleplex in Mountain View, California.

Later, what appears to be for all intents and purposes to be an iPad-style tablet is produced by a law enforcer to show mugshots of the main characters. Again, this would have been a flight of fancy for the creators of the story, but by today’s standards it’s de rigueur, as every day as TV or say, obesity.

Wow – a futuristic tablet computer thing!

The weirdest thing is considering I was reading this old graphic novel at about the same time Apple were announcing the new iPhone 6, like some kind of ‘time-versus-technology’ interface was taking place around me and I was being subtly made aware of it through twenty-year-old comics!

I wonder if these devices run iOS8?

Old sci-fi comics must be full of these weirdly prescient glimpses of the future. When I was a teenager I had a metre-tall stack of 2000 AD comics in my collect. I eventually ditched them when I realised that it would take about a hundred years for them to be worth anything. I should have kept them to see which crazy devices have crept into our lives, like a neighbourhood cat who decides you’re its new owner.

Got any examples of your own? I’d love to hear about them.

The post How To Predict The Future appeared first on Sharpist.

Future Shock – The Art of Accidentally Predicting Future Technology.

The ‘Global Data-Net’? Where can I get an app for that?

Whilst reading an old graphic novel recently, I was surprised to see a passing reference to what is basically an iPhone or smartphone of some kind.

One of the characters in Sinister Dexter, a series that ran in 2000 AD (the home of Judge Dredd) from the mid- to late 90’s,  shocks another by producing the device and telling him he’s run a check on him using his ‘Fact-Totem’, enabling him to access the ‘global data-net’. Wow. Imagine that!

Written in the 1990’s when mobile phones were not as commonplace and nowhere near as sophisticated as they are today, the idea that someone could access information on a handheld device would have seemed futuristic to contemporary readers. In fact, even the character being shown it seemed pretty awestruck, as if even in the future it seemed outlandish.

The ‘Fact-Totem’ – Or just an iPhone?

Little did the creators of the graphic novel, Dan Abnett and Simon Davis, know, that in less than fifteen years after publication data-surfing handheld devices would be everywhere. Or maybe they did?

So in the future, data-connected devices are new-fangled, but smoking in public is perfectly normal.

In the frame above, Sinister is seen explaining to his young protege that the Fact-Totem enables him to look up work information whenever he wants. No doubt he looks up the future equivalent of Craigslist or Gumtree and flicks through the ‘Hired Guns’ section or something. What I find more interesting from a modern, jaded point of view however is that the protagonists live in the near-future, where being able to search the internet from anywhere is an amazing development, but smoking in restaurants is perfectly normal. I bet the creators had to stretch their imaginations to come up with the technological advancements, but totally neglected to consider public health law.

Also slightly weird to see in other parts of Sinister Dexter is a couple of references to ‘Googol’, the mathematical term the creators of Google, Larry Page and Sergei Brin, bastardized for their company name. In the graphic novel it’s used as the name of a bay, Googol Bay. But in a postcard seen in one of the comic frames, you can clearly see an address written as ‘Googol Plaza’, not a million miles away from the name of Google’s HQ, the Googleplex in Mountain View, California.

Later, what appears to be for all intents and purposes to be an iPad-style tablet is produced by a law enforcer to show mugshots of the main characters. Again, this would have been a flight of fancy for the creators of the story, but by today’s standards it’s de rigueur, as every day as TV or say, obesity.

Wow – a futuristic tablet computer thing!

The weirdest thing is considering I was reading this old graphic novel at about the same time Apple were announcing the new iPhone 6, like some kind of ‘time-versus-technology’ interface was taking place around me and I was being subtly made aware of it through twenty-year-old comics!

I wonder if these devices run iOS8?

Old sci-fi comics must be full of these weirdly prescient glimpses of the future. When I was a teenager I had a metre-tall stack of 2000 AD comics in my collect. I eventually ditched them when I realised that it would take about a hundred years for them to be worth anything. I should have kept them to see which crazy devices have crept into our lives, like a neighbourhood cat who decides you’re its new owner.

Got any examples of your own? I’d love to hear about them.

The post Future Shock – The Art of Accidentally Predicting Future Technology. appeared first on Sharpist.

Did The Makers Of Ray Donovan Steal The Idea From Grand Theft Auto V? – Part II

Ray Donovan & Michael De Santa – Separated At Birth?

Following on from a previous post about the TV show Ray Donovan and the video game GTA5, there are further similarities to consider, adding to my theory that the two could have been conceived together.

Michael De Santa on the couch.

Both Ray Donovan and Michael De Santa/Townley use therapists.

Ray and Michael visit shrinks in an ultimately futile attempt to address their violent and anti-social behavior, with both of them coerced into it by their respective wives. In Ray Donovan, Ray’s wife Abby insists he attends in an attempt to save their marriage in the early stages of the first season. It’s pretty similar for Michael, the only main difference is that his therapy sessions revolve around repairing the damage done to his increasingly dysfunctional family life. Both Ray and Michael are reluctant recipients of the professional services offered. Swearing and dramatic walk-outs occur in both, from family members and the protagonists alike. Like the famous Tony Soprano-versus-psychiatrist scenes in The Sopranos, the couch scenes in both the TV show and the game offer fantastic opportunities for well crafted dialogue. It seems no crime drama is ever complete without a psychotherapy session.

 

  Both seem to spend an absurd amount of time in their walk-in wardrobes.

Ray Donovan’s wardrobe. One of his favourite places to argue with his wife.

The generous wardrobe space afforded both characters serves to show the success they’ve enjoyed. Ray is often seen picking out expensive watches and cuff-links, often while mid-argument with Abby. Likewise, Michael De Santa spends long periods standing in front of closets and drawers, choosing outlandish outfits. The only difference between the two is that in Michael’s case, the player is picking clothes in which to dress the character. I like to keep him in simple dark suits and open-neck shirts, but the game gives the player the ability to make him look ridiculous. Hawaiian shirt and a monkey mask, anyone?

Everyone loves a walk-in wardrobe. Even murderous gangsters.

 

Both Ray Donovan and GTA5 have storylines involving dodgy film producers.

Being set in Hollywood/Los Santos, both the TV show and the game inevitably get involved in the film industry. Ray is a fixer for producers and film moguls, and his father Micky Donovan even has ill-fated film deals dangled in front him before his past catches up with him, like a corpse floating back to the surface of a lake. Michael De Santa, much like Ray, finds himself working for a film producer after helping to clear up some dirty business for him. In return, Michael becomes executive producer on one of the studio’s films. But in reality, he’s just being exploited. Cue film awards ceremony, car chase, gun battle, and even an escape on a Lear jet (if you play the mission properly).




Both characters spend hours on the phone.

Always on the phone, but never out of signal or having to charge the handsets. To be fair, this is a charge that can be leveled at pretty much any modern film, TV show, or video game. Characters are always on their cell phones. The proliferation of mobile technology is a godsend to story tellers of any medium. No longer do characters need to arrange face to face meetings with each other, or just happen to be within reach of a land-line when an important plot twist crops up. The main difference here is that Michael’s phone is generic, whereas in Ray Donovan, ever the home to product placement, it’s an Apple iPhone. I just hope he has a good talk package.

I look forward to the episode where Ray discovers Apple have foisted an unwanted U2 album on him, and he has to work out how to get rid of it.

 

The post Did The Makers Of Ray Donovan Steal The Idea From Grand Theft Auto V? – Part II appeared first on Sharpist.

Did The Makers Of Ray Donovan Steal The Idea From Grand Theft Auto V?

Did Showtime, the makers of the TV series Ray Donovan, steal the idea from the video game Grand Theft Auto 5?

The short answer is probably not. But the similarities between two of the protagonists are quite striking on several levels. Season 2 of Ray Donovan is on air at the moment, and with each new episode I’m noticing various parallels with Rock Star’s latest game in the Grand Theft Auto franchise.

Let’s take a look at some of the similarities;

Ray Donovan, played by Liev Schreiber, and GTA’s Michael De Santa Could Be Brothers

Ray Donovan & Michael De Santa – Separated At Birth?

GTA’s Michael De Santa (formerly Townley) looks like he could be one of Ray Donovan’s many brothers. They’re the same build, wear the same types of clothes and look roughly the same age. Ignoring the fact that players of GTA 5 can dress Michael up in a variety of hilarious outfits, his default look is a smart suit, worn without a neck-tie. Ditto with Ray.

Borderline psychos with short tempers, prone to excessive acts of violence.
In GTA5, Michael forcibly tattoos a cock and balls onto the chest of a man because he thought he was exploiting his daughter. In Ray Donovan, Ray, played by Liev Schreiber, breaks the arm of a business associate when he threatens to bar his daughter’s entrance into good schools.


Out-and-out criminals, with a very thin veneer of respectability.
Ray Donovan is a Hollywood fixer. The go-to guy for studio execs, film stars, and NBA players who need something, anything, resolved. Inevitably this leads to threats, blackmail, and violence. This is totally aside to the murder and corruption that stalks his private life. Michael De Santa is, well, I’m not sure what he’s supposed to be, apart from an ex-con who should be lying low in witness protection. But he spends his time stealing and murdering like the rest of the GTA characters.


Extensive networks of criminal colleagues
Both Ray and Michael’s activities are enabled by a network of criminal associates, making for great narrative tension as loyalties are continually tested to breaking point. Ray’s right hand man is an ex-Mossad agent who does all the surveillance and violent donkey-work for him, [SPOILER ALERT] which also involves him getting shot in the process. Michael’s associates include the other playable characters in GTAV, Trevor Philips and Franklin Clinton, who perform various driving/killing/stealing tasks alongside Michael. There are a host of other minor characters, all contributing to the illegal activities which make up the game’s narrative.


Dysfunctional families and on/off marriages.
The long hours and disreputable company they keep inevitably leads to problems at home for both Ray and Michael. Some of the funniest cut-scenes in GTAV are between Michael and his wife and teenage kids. Michael’s wife Amanda before walking out on him;

“You are ALONE, you pathetic psychopath!“

It’s no better for Ray Donovan, the above quote could just have easily been from Ray’s wife Abby. His flings and dubious business practices make him pretty much the worst husband and father in LA.

Fast, flashy cars.

Ray Donovan’s Mercedes CLS550. Always valeted and ready to go.

GTAV is full of cars. Nice shiny cars for you to steal. Michael De Santa’s default model is this sweet black saloon.

At times, Ray Donovan is like an elaborate Mercedes advert. His shiny black Mercedes CLS550 is often seen roaring up to the kerb in glorious close-up, or gliding down neon-lit boulevards in Hollywood. The car is (almost) the star. In GTAV, and all the previous versions, the entire city is awash with cars for you to steal. The beauty of the game is that you can drive a variety of vehicles, but Michael’s default ride is a black saloon, which resembles something like an Audi A6. Whilst Ray often drives his car fast, the player always drives fast in GTAV.

Los Angeles twinned with Los Santos
Each release of GTA is set in a fictionalized US city, closely modeled on a famous location. Vice City is Miami, Liberty City is New York, etc. GTAV is set in Los Santos and its environs, which is basically LA and Hollywood. Ray Donovan lives and works in, you guessed it, Los Angeles.

Los Santos. Or is it Los Angeles? No matter, they’re both rendered brilliantly in both Ray Donovan and GTAV.

It’s not surprising they’re both set in LA or its GTA facsimile, Los Santos. Where else would you get vain media types, ruthless criminals, and stunning sunsets all in the same place?

Corrupt FBI/FIB officials
Neither Ray nor Michael are unable to stay beneath the radar of Federal law agencies for long, and inevitably they gravitate towards corrupt and self-preserving agents. Blackmail and simple survival mechanisms mean they both have to undertake increasingly risky missions to stay alive and out of jail. Just as they head-off one crisis, a family member or business associate creates another. Great twisting and turning plot developments, one after another in both mediums.

I’m a massive fan of GTAV and Ray Donovan. In a strange dimension that only exists in my head, when an episode of Ray Donovan ends, it starts again when I play GTAV, but this time I get to do all the shooting and driving fast cars.

Farewell For Now, Netflix

Not many films, even fewer that I want to watch.

Netflix and I are parting company. We’ve been together for a year or two, enjoying an infrequent, on/off relationship, but it’s finally come to an end. The decision is entirely mine. I just wasn’t finding enough time to make use of the service, and the £5.99 a month was a regular reminder of this fact.

I signed up using their free-for-three-months deal, plus I got £20 via a cashback site, so I in effect got seven months’ worth for free. During our time together I watched the whole of the last season of Breaking Bad, which pretty much justified having Netflix altogether. I may have watched a handful of films and comedy stand-up shows, but in general I wasn’t consuming enough of it to make it good value. Having a toddler in the house makes these kind of things harder to commit to, as well.

Earlier this year I discovered that I could access the US Netflix library by amending the DNS in the Netflix settings on my Xbox 360, which although not strictly legitimate meant that I had a far wider range of shows and films to watch. Seeing as I was a paying customer of Netflix I don’t really see anything wrong with this. Once I had it set up, I watched a bunch of films and TV shows I could never have watched on the UK version. This deal ended once Netflix amended their DNS codes, and although I could have sought out another one that worked via the plethora of forums and Youtube videos available, I couldn’t really be bothered, especially since I was hardly using it any more, anyway. So I cancelled the service.

Respect to Netflix by the way, for their no bullshit cancel option on their website. You log in, go to My Account and there’s a big ‘cancel’ button. You hit that, confirm it, and you’re done. No navigation to the depths of the website, no filling in forms to justify yourself, and best of all no ‘call us to cancel’ bullshit, where you’d have to negotiate menu options and then discuss the whole thing with a sales person intent on retaining your custom. You can also resume your service at any point.

Because I cancelled mid-billing period, I have until 6th July to use what I’d paid for, so I’ve been trawling the site to find things to watch in my snatched spare time in the evenings. Bearing in mind I am now back to the UK-only library, there are fewer items to choose from. I find myself watching films and documentaries on Netflix via my iPad, usually whilst multitasking with household chores, like ironing, washing up, or making/eating breakfast.

Given the less than full concentration I’ve been affording my recent Netflix viewing, I’ve been looking for decent documentaries to watch/listen to, rather than films with a plot I could miss out on. But I’ve watched a mix of both recently.

Here’s a list of my recent consumption;

Only God Forgives – I didn’t realise this was a Nicolas Winding Refn film until afterwards, but it has all the hallmarks of his films – slow-moving, sullen, and violent. Refn also directed Drive, which I loved, but Only God Forgives is not as good in my opinion.
Craigslist Joe – This is an independent documentary made by a guy who documents his travels across the US only using Craigslist to find accommodation and places to eat etc. It’s interesting, but I found the music soundtrack a bit annoying, which started to grate on me after a while.
Route Irish – An independent British film about a military contractor struggling to cope with the death of his best mate. Enjoyed this, but I found some of the acting a bit strained, I suspect this is due to the script being semi-improvised in places to make it more naturalist. Plus, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that some of the cast weren’t actors, but people who had lived and worked in those circles.
Narc – About an undercover cop in Detroit. I haven’t finished this one, but it looks OK so far.

If I manage to cram in any more films/shows before my subscription ends I’ll make another post.

I’d like to check out more documentaries on Netflix, but nothing has really caught my attention from what I’ve seen. I loved Indie Game: The Movie, and I’m looking for more stuff like this. The more witty, intelligent, and unusual the better.

Gimme ideas… (but they probably won’t be on UK Netflix anyway)

England – The All-Important First Game

This was meant to be published on a fantasy football blog I write for, but never made it, so I’m posting it here instead, just hours before time renders the article obsolete.

England’s hope at this World Cup might rest on players such as Barkley.

England’s World Cup campaign starts with a game against Italy in what has been dubbed the ‘group of death’. Over-used footballing clichés aside, the result of the first match is going to have a huge bearing on the rest of the tournament. So what do England need to do to get the most out of their opening game?

Given the heat and the conditions in which the match will be played in, I think it’s fair to say that neither team will want to over-extend themselves and risk injury and defeat in their first game. The Italians play a naturally cautious style of possession-based football, so England can’t expect them to come charging out of the blocks and leave themselves vulnerable at the back. Likewise, Roy Hodgson has been shown to adopt a tentative approach in his use of tactics, so it seems likely that England’s first game will be a cagey affair, with both teams looking to secure points in the remaining group-stage games and not conceding them early on.

Hodgson faces performing a delicate balancing act between being cautious and displaying a lack of ambition he could later regret. The opportunity to beat Italy is certainly there. The Azzurri haven’t won a match since September, recently drawing 1-1 with Luxemburg, and are notorious slow-starters when it comes to tournaments. If either team score early we’re likely to see long periods of protecting the lead rather than the applying of pressure. On the other hand if it’s goalless mid-way into the second half, both teams are likely to settle for a draw.

A well-drilled defence and a protective layer of midfielders is likely to be the key to keeping a clean-sheet in a cagey affair such as this. In fact, a repeat of England’s Euro 2012 performance against Italy will be just what the doctor ordered considering it’s likely to be the hardest game of the group, on paper at least. But maybe with a little less of the Andrea Pirlo passing masterclass, this time around.

I think it’s fair to say that both England and Italy will be looking at this opening match as a ‘must not lose’ scenario. A good result, draw or victory, will be an excellent confidence builder, especially given the pessimistic forecast that has foreshadowed England’s campaign before it’s even started. As for team selection, I can’t see it being much different to the one that started against Honduras, and if the game is flagging in the last third then the introduction of Raheem Sterling or Ross Barkley could certainly open the game up.

The key to a game like this at this stage of the tournament is to not do anything silly. Simple passing, retaining the ball, and not allowing Pirlo et al to dictate the terms in which the match is played. Remembering that Italy will be looking to see the England game through and then turn their attention to winning all three points against Costa Rica in their next match is important too. Factors like this should mean we see a delicate sparring match of a game, rather than any high-intensity attacking football. But sometimes boring is good.

The Importance of Character Building

Not the characters in your shitty novel.

I’m talking about your own character. To be an interesting and rounded person you have to have had some interesting and informative life-experiences, all of which collectively add to your personality and approach to life in general. The things that you do and see inform who you are. Events and experiences that are character building can come from almost anywhere, but most of them are universal to all of us.

Some of the most obvious ones;

Driving a shitty car. Only when you’ve driven a car that looks and drives ugly can you appreciate good cars. A lack of features, bad bodywork, unreliable performance and basic undesirability is what you need here. Years of driving showroom-new models or company pool cars is not going to build you any character for later in life. On some level, a crap car teaches you things about being resourceful too, especially if it’s unreliable or has a bunch of strange quirks that you have to live with.

A bad flat or apartment. Most people have lived somewhere shitty at some point in their lives, especially when they were younger. College or university often dumps young people on the cheaper side of town, with unscrupulous and uncaring landlords, in conditions that are less than desirable. You know it’s shit, but you can’t afford to live elsewhere. Sometimes bad housing comes to us when we buy our first place. Like with the bad car, you get resourceful. You learn to adapt. You save and cut corners, you know what to avoid and what to do later in life. You’ll have conversations years later that go something like ‘remember when we used to live next to that freight railway line/upstairs from those junkies/in that shack with rats…’ In a perverse way you’ll be glad you did it.

Being broke. To some degree, most people have experienced a lack of money at some point in their lives. Sometimes you start off like this when you leave home or go to college or university, but often it comes to you after you’ve had money, in the form of redundancy or a change in circumstances. Looking for work and having no money teaches you something about yourself, and let’s face it, being broke in the West is a totally different from the experience elsewhere in the world. In the developed world it usually means a change in lifestyle and a period of job-searching or working hard for little pay, but all of this makes you richer in terms of your character. Not that you’d appreciate it at the time, because being poor sucks. But it certainly teaches you the value of things.

Apu demonstrates the importance of character building – by wearing a skirt and a breast-plate, holding a tarot card and a club.

A job you hate, working for someone you despise. This one is really important, and most people run into it at some point. If you don’t, you’ve either been really lucky or have found your perfect working niche early in life. You need the money so you take the job, but it’s not interesting or rewarding, and to make matters worse the boss is a fucking jerk. This teaches you important people skills, as well as informing you about your career goals (or lack of them, in my case).

The interesting job. This might not necessarily be a good or well paid job, but you enjoyed your time working there. Remember this line from the film American Beauty?

: No, actually it was great. All I did was party and get laid. I had my whole life ahead of me.

That about sums it up. The work might have been dull, but the people you worked with made it worthwhile. No responsibility? Even better, you just take the money and spend it on the stuff that makes you happy, let the jerk boss worry about inventory and tax returns. I worked as a video games tester for a year or so, where all I did was hang around with other gamer nerds, talking about and playing games. The money was bad and it did nothing for me career-wise, but I loved it. Like Lester Burnham flipping burgers, I also spent an entire summer constructing chicken feeders in an agricultural warehouse, just so I had enough money to buy beer and hang out with my mates.

Bad relationships. Thinking back to these will probably make you cringe, but they’ll probably help you out in the long-run. That guy/girl you spent ages chasing and dating, just for it to end painfully and/or humiliatingly? Just tell yourself it was character-building and you’ll see it totally differently. There are mistakes there you’ll never make again. There are things you’ll never say again, or things you will say next time. There are types and models better suited to you, but you didn’t know it at the time. But you do now, because it all helped to build your character.

It’s strange how the things that were essentially bad in our lives take on a new value later on in life. How many times have you seen a piece of shit car that reminded you of one you once drove and thought ‘I used to have one of those…’ , or thought back to the freezing cold apartment that you hated at the time, whilst smiling to yourself? It happens all the time. That’s all character you’ve built for yourself.

Cars, jobs, houses, partners, poverty. I must have missed some other important character-building experiences…