Much to do about nothing

To make up for the anticipated sheer horror of  Sharknado  I agreed to take my girl to Joss Whedons contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare's Much to do about Nothing.  Small films like this do not last overly long at the cinemas and my girl had wanted to see this for ages.

Synopsis:

Don Pedro(Reed Diamond), arrives to spend time and celebrate with his friend and ally  Leonato (Clark Gregg) after defeating his brother Don John (Sean Maher). While there Claudio (Fran Kanz) intends to pursue Leonato's daughter Hero (Jilllian Morgese).  Don Pedro offers to help the shy Claudio by wooing Hero at the masquerade party that Leonato is holding in Don Pedro's honour. 

Meanwhile Don John, who has been taken prisoner along with his lover Conrade(Riki Lindhome)and his henchman Borachio (Spencer Treat Clark), discover Claudio and Don Pedros plan and are determined to interfere and create as much discord as they can.

But while this is going on the real focus is on Beatrice (Amy Acker), Leonato's neice and Benedick (Alexis Denisof), a henchman of Don Pedro's constant bickering and repartee. This has its basis in a failed affair set before the story.  While Don Pedro and Leonato are happy for Claudio and Hero to be wed, they decide that Beatrice and Benedick should also wed, and concoct a plan to bring these two enemies together.

Ensue Shakesperian hijinx!

While you may think  "well you can't go wrong with Shakespeare right?" you would be wrong. Having seen Romeo and Juliet the musical, I know you really can.  But this film does the bard proud. Simply but cleverly shot in Joss Whedon's own home, he  manages to combine a good ensemble cast of friends to present an excellent adaptation. This play is a comedy, and the script and direction is a nice balance of slapstick and wit. A little of the former and a lot of the latter.

While the cast is made of "the friends of Whedon club" of actors, that should not put you off. Clark Gregg, Sean Maher and frequet favorite Nathan Fillion are excellent in their respective roles. The scenes with Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof are hilarious and also poignent. Whedon may be casting his friends, but he is also making the right choices. 

Tom Lenk and Nathan Fillion as Verges and Dogberry

If you like Shakespeare you will enjoy this film. If you are a fan of Whedon, you should see this film. It is a clever little project that he snuck into his schedule somehow. I hope he does Macbeth. 

7 Monkeys from me.

Happy birthday Jon Pertwee

Ok so I'm a day late. but he was my favorite Doctor.

Anyway here's to him.

The best of Ford

Some guys at work asked me;  Han Solo or Indy?

This is a difficult choice as these characters are two of the most influential and coolest characters of my generation. Women want them and men want to be them. Hell women want to be them!

 

 Do I prefer Han the lovable rogue with a heart of gold over the maverick academic adventurer whose ethics outweigh scientific and financial gain?

 

I need to examine the characters more carefully.

 

Han Solo

Han is a swashbuckling smuggler, an unashamed  criminal who will kill to survive. Han shot first!

He flies a souped up space ship which can out fly and out shoot anything else in the galaxy.   His companion is a is a giant alien warrior who manages to sound threatening and whiny in the same conversation. 

Hilarious! 

Han, gives up his life on the edge and joins what seems to be a lost cause out of friendship. That choice of loyalty for his friend not only saves the day but changes the fate of the galaxy. He becomes a general without losing his independence or changing his nature.

 

He marries a Princess, and by joining the rebellion gives up a life of smuggling and shoots space Nazis.

 

Also on a mythological front like all the central characters in the star wars movies (episodes 4,5,6) he is a classic archetype of narrative. The trickster who transforms into a warrior.

 

Doctor Indiana Jones

 

Indiana Jones is a highly intelligent academic, whose expeditions to recover lost treasure in the golden age of adventure take him around the globe. He battles evil villains, find lost tribes, gets beat up a lot, kisses beautiful girls, avoid death traps, punches Nazi’s and has Sean Connery as a father.

 

Unlike Solo, Dr Jones has always exhibited a high degree of ethics.  While he is no stranger to death, it is obviously not something that he is entirely comfortable with.  However when the stakes are high he will face that consequence straight on.  Also unlike Han,  Dr Jones is his own character. While born out of the dilettante gentlemen  adventurers of the late 19^th century to the 30’s, his character is of a style than an archetype. After Raiders of the lost ark he inspired thousands of boys (and  girls) to become archaeologists and to injure themselves with bull whips.  He also blew up a tank using a horse.

 

Han Solo is a hero of high fantasy, Doctor Jones is an intelligent adventurer,  both characters are fun, funny, tough and cool.

 

I think I would have to choose……

 

Indiana Jones. 

Indy has more depth to his character, his relationship to his father, his fear of snakes, his imperfect relationship with the women he loves.  I think that he is the more developed character and we can relate to him more.  Han is swept up in a space opera that doesn’t allow us to delve too deeply into him as a character. Han is certainly cool and we want to be him, but we can identify with Indy.

 

Tough choice but I am ok with it. 

While discussing this a friend threw in Jack Ryan into the mix. This got me thinking that it is no coincidence that these three great characters are played by Harrison Ford. Also that as I age my choice may change as well. As a  boy I liked Han Solo, as I grew up I preferred Indy. Maybe when I older and a father I will prefer jack Ryan, a kick arse dad saving the day, and his country?

Perhaps, but for now I think I will dream of exotic locations, swords, hidden treasure and the lovely Karen Allen. 

But I am interested what do you think, Indy or Han?

It is that time of the year again when management start discussing where you want to be in five years time. Apparently drinking cocktails in Milan is not a proper answer. 

As I ponder this super important  question, my mind and imagination wandered and I thought of this. I thought it was appropriate given what day it is.

My individual developmental plan as a Manager of a maritime economic redistribution team. Here is how I will develop my position  this using the capabilities below.

 

 Collaboration

I understand the need to foster open dialogue and develop an effective team harmony. To be an effective team we require a diverse skill set and personality mix, who can still all work together for an exciting and productive life of maritime economic redistribution. I am also hoping to work with other stakeholders in various ports to meet our targets and to provide the best customer service. If we meet our targets I recognise that we should share that success as a team and celebrate our strengths. With working with such a diverse and mixed team it is important recognise their perspectives. Even if they are Spanish.

 

 

Communication

I pride myself on having excellent communication skills. I hope to utilise them effectively during team meetings, negotiating with customers and resolving conflict swiftly in the cut and thrust environment of maritime economic redistribution. I am confident that I will communicate with authority and conviction while negotiating with clients and I have achieved excellent results in the past. In this industry, you do deal with a varied mix of clients, stakeholders and even competitors so it is important to adapt your communication style to your recipient. Whether it is a local Governor, or a Dutch merchantmen I an a strong believer of courtesy and open dialogue to get my point across.

 

Client Focus

I am entirely client focused. The entire industry of maritime economic redistribution must have a swift and actionable process where we can identify our clients, communicate our strategy and our objectives in a timely manner, so we can achieve maximum outcome and profitability. While I am always seeking feedback on improving my service, I pride myself that I maintain a high professional standard regardless of circumstances.

 

Self-Management

Obviously it is important to be able to operate independently from time to time. The nature of the industry means that there is no real upper management due to the franchise nature of maritime economic redistribution. I believe I have the skills necessary to operate independently and to manage my team. However, I am also willing to learn new strategies, develop, and adapt to changing circumstances. I am able to remain calm during adversity and I can adapt through adversity to try to resolve issues promptly.

 

Action Oriented

I am a firm believer on taking responsibility for my own actions, and not claiming responsibility for any success unless it is deserved. I think it is not only important to identify, but to create opportunities for effective client service. Thus I try and network through various external stakeholders and research various client profiles so I can preempt and seize rewarding prospects before they get away

One of my prominent stakeholders.

 

 

Another important stakeholder

 

 

Judgement and Decision Making

I think that I have a unique perspective into the industry because I think it is important to examine the humanitarian aspect of the service we provide. If you are entirely results orientated I believe that it will damage the industries long term productivity. Strategically this will effect the work environment and will reflect on your team and individual performance when you are called to account.  Also you need to make rational decisions and be a clear about any potential emotional aspects to any decision made.

Recieving feed back regarding past performance.

 

Leading

I like to think that my strong leaderhship style does get the best out of my team. Plenty of Grog, wenches and booty does create an enthusiatic approach to our work. And if there are any challenges to my leaderhship I find that my skill set swiftly eliminates the problem. 

 

 

                 Happy international speak like a Pirate day!

Fear and loathing in the civil service

Yes, it is that time of year again where budgets are spent hastily in philanthropic excess after months of shylockian restraint. Managers who consider employees a necessary evil in achieving their targets suddenly transform into inspiring enthusiastic leaders. It is the end of the financial years and I have to write my end of year performance document.

I loathe it.  I don’t think I am alone in this. Even the managers seem to despise the whole process. Still it is a necessary evil. Or at least an evil they won’t let us avoid.

I have no inclination or ability for self promotion. A previous manager of mine would constantly criticise me for sharing credit with other team members instead of expounding on my own achievements.  It is not something I have ever been confident about.
But my manager asked me very kindly for me to complete it on time so she could attempt to meet her objectives.  I may have several faults but I could set her up to fail so I knuckled down to write up my document for the year.

And by knuckling down I mean procrastinate.

But after I had almost exhausted every possibility to procrastinate, I really decided to have a go at completing it. But I knew that in the normal course of things I would get distracted by my colleagues asking for an opinion or for my assistance with a query. Knowing that I would happily discard my performance document at the first opportunity I decided to set up a process to avoid such distractions.

So I created  THE BOWL OF KNOWLEDGE 

 Inside the bowl was the potential answer to any question that a colleague would put to me. All they had speak their question out loud and then pick a answer out of the bowl.
Here are some of the answers. I have removed some as they are either too work related, or or mention people I should not mention on a public forum. Even if they do need a slap.

So here is an insight into the bowl of knowledge.

• You are making the baby Thor Cry
• Perhaps a milk shake and a pie will settle things
• Somebody needs a slap
• Bollocks to that
• That’s rubbish
• Genghis Khan knew how to resolve issues
• What would Lemmy do?

• Perhaps a five minute break would help?
• Raspberry slice is the ticket
• Daniel is on Crack Cocaine
• Ask Rachel
• No exceptions
• I doubt that would mitigate your concerns.
• And does that sound plausible to you?
• No I can’t
• Maybe for a beer?
• Maybe tomorrow
• Wild horses could not drag me to do that even with the promise of a meat pie and a beer
• No!
• I don’t want to!
• Stop it.
• If instructions say you may, then it is your discretion.
• I don’t care if it is just for sex, it is still a marriage
• Will that make a difference to the outcome?
• Harpoon!
• Try to be systematic
• Declines make me smile
• Their tears taste like champagne
• You and your hippity hop music
• What would Johnny cash do?
• What would Darth Vader do?
• Hippy!
• They don’t drink shandies in Valhalla
• Windows 7 sucks, but then most of our IT systems do.
• Perhaps Rome?
• Human trafficking, cigarette, guns and drug smuggling
• Army, police, Military, militia and government
• Unless they confess we will never be 100%
• Lying scumbag
• It’s arbitrary
• There is no logical reason. It’s better just to proceed
• Orcas are Dolphins not Whales
• That’s never genuine
• I wouldn’t trust him to put himself out if he was on fire.
• No I am Warldorf. Marty is Statler.
• Smash him
•  Red wine over white
• I’m more of a cavalry man
• AK 74
• Tea?
• Coffee?
•  The secret is to cook the meat slowly
• I think every which way but loose was a low point
• I suggest your ipod and loud music
• Angolia
•  No the other Rachel
•  You should always address the character issue
• Despite what the law says it can be around 14
• Pies are good for any meal
•  If you have tried twice is there any benefit to a third time? You are not Robert the Bruce.
• Have you tried turning it off and on again?
• It’s a combat zone.
• No NoNoNoNO!
•  Smash his face in
•  Winston Churchill
• Gustavus Aldolphus
•  Sweden

 

• Sausage
• Muppet!
• Have you asked the Library?
•  If you understand the history then you understand the problem
• A detailed chronology is always needed
• Woot!
• They need to provide satisfactory evidence
•  

I hope you enjoyed that. My colleagues certainly did. 

have a great Saturday.  

Rest in peace Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury is dead.

He died this week aged 91 and the news of his passing has made me sad.

22 August 1920 - 05 June 2012

Ray Bradbury was a fantastic author of short stories and novels, also he adapted his works for Television in for the Ray Bradbury theatre and wrote screen plays for  movies like Moby Dick,  starring the fantastic Gregory Peck. This film in my opinion is the best adaption of Herman Melville's book. 

Ray Bradburys  most famous books are Farhrenheit-451  and the Martian Chronicles. Although personally I always liked  Something wicked this way comes which is about evil evil carnies.

I hate evil carnies.

When I was looking for photos for this post I noticed something. Ray Bradbury is almost always smiling or laughing.  On his website I found this quote

"In my later years I have looked in the mirror each day and found a happy person staring back. Occasionally I wonder why I can be so happy. The answer is that every day of my life I've worked only for myself and for the joy that comes from writing and creating. The image in my mirror is not optimistic, but the result of optimal behavior."- Ray Bradbury.

http://www.raybradbury.com/index.html 

 He was creative and he was happy because he loved what he did, and I cannot imagine a better life to live. 

He was a prolific writer and wrote every single day. He was also important for not just writing great science fiction, but like H.G. Wells, and Jules Verne he was a writer of great literature. He believed that all his great works are based on something personal.  He loved cats, comic books, fairy tales, collectables, films and life.

"Love is in the centre of your life. The things that you do should be the things that you love. And things that you love should be things that you do. And that is what you learn from books" - Ray Bradbury.

He believed that books were deeply personal, and that when you read writers like; Emily Dickinson, John Steinbeck, Edgar Rice Burrows and Edgar Allan Poe that you became the authors, and by reading their stories you live through their creations.

" You have to go to the library for a an education. The Library is the answer."- Ray Bradbury.

He loved books and believed that the act of reading a book was more than just stimulation for the mind, but for the senses. The pictures, the cover, the smell. He believed that the act of reading from a book was better than a computer. I can't imagine that he would appreciate a kindle very much.

If you are interested in Mr Bradburys works then I suggest you investigate his website in the link above. If you want a recommendation of what to read, well as I said I liked Something wicked this way comes. But maybe in a world full of  terrible things like; the Kardasians, The GC, Hekia Parata, the Twilight books, the Twilight movies, the book  A shore thing  by Snooki, and Snooki, if you like me find these things shallow and terrible then you might find Farhrenheit-451  a great book. 

 I think that sums that up.

Good night Mr Bradbury you were a poet, a creator of worlds, a lover and advocate of books and you seemed to love of life with every atom of your being.

 I want to end now this post on a fun note, because Ray Bradbury was a fun man who adored life. And his death and writing this post has made me terribly sad.

I deliberated about adding this link for longer than it took me to write the rest of this post. I was worried that  it would be disrespectful to his memory. But I found this picture so think he wouldn't mind. 

Rachel Bloom and her hero Ray Bradbury

Here is a tribute by the funny Rachel Bloom. The video makes me laugh and I think with due respect to his greatness, we should remember important people with laughter rather than tears.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1IxOS4VzKM&feature=plcp

Good night

Snippets and things

No major topic today but I have a few snippets to blog about.

Ahem

On my recent road trip to see Florence and the Machine, (which was excellent!) my partner confessed that watching Conan the Barbarian  had ruined fantasy movies for her. At least for the time being.

Florence is a massive fan of this blog. As soon as she starts to read it.

 That made me consider that in the future I must pick my review movies that I will watch with her more carefully. Try to keep her exposed to a better sort of film. I doubt I will as I love schlock horror and fantasy too much. But I am sure the promise of a nice Rose and peanut butter Whittakers chocolate will dull the pain of my bad monster movie cravings

She has forgiven me for Conan of course, but I have not forgiven myself.


I am really looking forward to seeing   Brave, Prometheus  and  The Raven  over the next few months.

 I intend to see all at the cinema rather than wait for them on DVD. I love movies, but going out is expensive you I pick and choose what I think I should see on the big screen I chose poorly with  Immortals,  that was a big screen spectacle.  Some movies I can happily wait until they are released on DVD.  Like  Abraham Lincoln: Vampire hunter.   Now who would have thought any one would be saying that sentence ever?

Anyway to round off I some times write up a daily quiz for my work mates. One of the questions I asked in the last quiz was "Which American president used to slay vampires before he took office?"  The team got that right of course, however one particularly special member of the team asked

"Is that true?"

To which I answered.

"Yes."

Good night everyone.