No power in the condo yesterday as we were installing what is known in the trade as an RMU, known outside the trade as a large, expensive cabinet full of wires and switches which controls the feed of electricity into the condo.
The job is done by ABB who seem to know exactly what they are doing, and have even sent the man responsible for the connections to an extended training course in Sweden. Given that most electrical connections in Thailand are made by twisting wires together then covering them with tape, this was of some comfort.
Anyway, this meant no electricity in my unit, which meant no toys to play with, which meant I needed to amuse myself by reading books and magazines, including the latest issue of Wired which is guest-edited by Mr. J.J. Abrams, the annoyingly talented bespectacled geek who is making plot lines up as he goes along with the TV series Lost. An interesting read, so after I finished the magazine I headed out to the cinema to catch his new movie, Star Trek.
I am not a fan of Star Trek. I watched the occasional TV show with little interest and saw none of the spin-off movies. Even so, I am familiar with Kirk and Spock etc., so could relate to the characters in this new movie who are shown in their early years. It’s like Batman Begins but with fewer cloaks and more galaxies.
As mindless entertainment goes, it’s not bad. Space, or at least the stuff that hangs around in space, looks beautiful. There is humour, action and a story of sorts. Clearly it’s a set up for a whole new assault on the franchise, and I may be persuaded to hand over another 100 baht or so for the next one, if only to see more of Simon Pegg as Scotty, who arrives far too late into the story to feed us enough jokes this time around.
While at the cinema, I bought two tickets for Angels and Demons and took the dog-rescuing she who must be obeyed along in the evening.
I enjoyed The Da Vinci Code book. I hated the movie. Long descriptions of puzzles and historical background work well enough when being read, but not when being monotoned by the annoying Tom Hanks for more than two hours. I never got round to reading Angels and Demons, reckoning that Dan Brown is the sort of author who is capable of one good book and no more. As for the movie, well it is better than The Da Vinci Code; but only by a little.
There is more blood and unpleasantness, which is good. There is still a load of earnest explanation along the lines of “Oh look, there’s an X, that must mean Y”, where X is obvious upon visual inspection and Y is obvious to anyone with a mental age of more than six who has been following the story.
Which brings me to my main complaint. There is a twist at the end of the story. I didn’t know there was going to be a twist, and even if I did I would likely not have spotted what it was going to be. But, and she does this ALL the time, she who must be obeyed had worked out what was going to happen about half an hour before it did. And even after she had spoiled the surprise by telling me, I did not believe her (thereby not actually spoiling the surprise).
Never mind, Terminator Salvation is coming soon. Let’s see her discover a plot twist in that movie, or even a plot.
Comments 🔗
2009-05-19| jan saysDO try the book please. I read while in Jakarta Billy snaffled it of course. Digital Fortress another good read. All totally unbelievable of course but a good read none the less.
Really glad you seem to be fully recovered after your accident.
2009-05-19| Billy saysI’m pretty sure I gave it you back … in any event for a linear thinker it was all too much I’m afraid …..