California Day One
Traveling to California
07/05/16
14:49 GMT
I know it’s been a while since I posted anything but to be honest nothing interesting has really happened to me. For the last few weeks I’ve been waking up, going to work, coming home, going to sleep, waking up and repeating. So a couple of things have changed since then. I recently finished the six month secondment that I was on and because of that I will no longer be doing Monday to Friday 9-5, I’ll be going back on shift work. In this case Monday, Tuesday, Saturday, Sunday for the first week then Wednesday, Thursday, Friday for the next week and repeat. So although it means that I’ll be working longer hours it means that I’ll be spending less time a week communting and less time in between days off as well. But that doesn’t start until the end of May because…drum roll please…I’m on my way to California!!
This won’t get posted for a while because of internet issues when I travel but I plan to just type as I travel to update. I’m travelling with Delta from Heathrow to Salt Lake City, I’ve then got to recheck my bag for my next flight onto Palm Springs. Apart from rechecking my bag (which is a pain but I get because (by the sounds of things) Palm Springs is a tiny airport so I’ll have to do customs stuff in Salt Lake City) Delta have been great. The flight’s pretty dead so I’ve got two seats to myself, I could probably move down and get three seats to myself as well, might do that later as I get sleepy.
But the plane has USB ports and possibly wi-fi. I’ve had a beer and a cola, and peanuts and pretzels. Looks like lunch is coming now too :). I’m going to sit back, chill out, watch Zoolander 2 and work on my screenplay. More updates in a bit…but ya know…still on this post.
18:07 GMT
We’re just over Canada now I think: 
The camera’s a little shakey because we’re going through some turbulence. I’m not fussed on the turbulence though because look at this!
Again, shakey, turbulance but I’m stretched over three seats! How awesome’s that!? Now I’m going to put on my complimentary eye mask on and close my eyes đ no screenplay writings done yet.
13:19 Salt Lake City time – I’m not sure what time zone that is but it’s 20:19 UK time
I was able to get my eyes closed with the eye mask and get a little bit of sleep. I got to stretch out over three seats, it was great. The film selection on this flight is actually pretty good. I’ve watched Zoolander 2 (Neil DeGrass Tyson’s cameo is awesome!), Casablanca (well I had it on while I slept, I’ve seen it 100 times!), and now I’m watching Goldfinger, another classic!
Unfortunately the wifi on this plane isn’t working for me. I have no idea if it’s free or not because it won’t let me on so I’m resigned to using what I have access to. Fortunately, like I said, the entertainment on the flight is pretty good. So, like I said – it’s half 1 in the afternoon in Salt Lake City and the tv screens and flight info are showing up as time to destination in 2 hours and 45 minutes. That puts my arrival squarly at 16:25. I mean my maths isn’t wrong, right? 13:30 plus 02:45 = 16:15… I mean the only reason I’m asking is because my slated time of arrival isn’t until 17:38 Salt Lake City time. So, apparently I’m due to get in almost an hour and a half earlier than anticipated!
I won’t really believe it until I land and see clocks in SLC saying the same time as my phone. But even if my phone is, for example, an hour behind what SLC time actually is (I don’t know why it would be, I clicked Salt Lake City in the date & time settings) then I’m still due to get into SLC earlier than anticipated. Which is always good because I’ve gotta collect and recheck my luggage. Also, I’m craving a philly cheesesteak sandwich. I don’t know why, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to find one in the SLC airport in the time I’m there but it’s all I can think about eating at the moment!!
I still haven’t written any more of my screenplay. Actually, that’s a lie, on the flight I have written ‘EXT. DAY. DECK OF THE’ and that’s it, I haven’t even put the name of the ship yet!! Why aren’t I furiously tap, tap, tapping away you ask? Because the most up to date version was on my laptop which I’ve left at home instead of bringing with me (because it’s bloody heavy and unnecesary for a three week holiday!) aaand unfortunately I forgot to back up the bastard thing before I left. I remember where I was and what I was going to write next, so I’ve just had to start a new script that starts where I left off and when I get back home I’ll combine the two and hopefully that’s all I’ll need to do to be finished!
As I sit here watching Goldfinger I can’t help but think it would be an excelent racing game if you took all of Bond’s cars and put them on tracks, like Mario Kart with weapons and stuff! Although now that I think about it, I think it’s been done and I don’t think it was done well. So let me just say that a Bond racing game has a lot of potential. But then again, you could just play Mario Kart! Do the PS4 and XBOne have their equivilent of Mario Kart? I’m not sure any more, The Playstation used to have Crash Team Racing, but I think that was for way back on the original Playstation.
Goldfinger used to be my favourite Bond film, and it’s still good but now all I can do is watch it and think “That’s not how that works! That’s not how any of this works!!” Paint suffocation!? Let’s be fair, it’s just an excuse to have a naked woman covered in paint, which we all love. And a bullet hole ripping the cabin of a plane apart (which I’m curious if they’ll add on the plane version). Geez, watch an episode of Mythbusters 1970s!! In fact, that goes for every show and film that has people being sucked out of bullet sized holes in planes. Watch Mythbusters and stop using it as a plot point!
22:25 GMT – 15:25 SLC
Still in the air for another 50 minutes. I’ve made a startling observation today. When I fly, my farts get foul. Maybe it’s something about the air or the altitude but sheesh!!!
16:01 SLC time.
Seats are in an upright position. Tray tables are stowed. We’re coming in for landing to Salt Lake City!!
16:19 SLC time
Fuck that was a bumpy landing!!
17:10 SLC Time
Hey everyone! I’m in Salt Lake City, Utah! Here for three hours before my flight to Palm Springs. The weather isn’t great but look at those hills!!!
17:50 SLC Time (00:50 GMT – 21 hours since I left the house)
Just had a wonderful conversations with 2 Americans about guns. The woman works for TSA so she’s telling stories about people accidentally leaving guns in carry ons. I say:
“That’s something we don’t have to worry about in the UK.”
“Why not?”
“We don’t have guns.”
*In disbelief* “Not even the police?”
“We have special teams that do, like SWAT, but just the average cop in the street, no. No guns.”
*Mind boggled* “But the bad guys do, right? So how do they deal with that?”
“No, no one has guns. Maybe farmers, for hunting and stuff. But if there’s a gun crime in the UK it’s a big deal and a huge surprise.”
*A little dejected* “Oh.”
Me…thinking of a way to, for lack of a better word, bond with them “We get a lot of knifings though.”
18:05 SLC Time – 01:05 GMT
I have Internet so I’m uploading what I’ve written so far. I’ll do more posts later and obviously when I arrive etc.
-Luke
Gazpacho Soup Day
For those of you who get the reference you’ll know what I’m going to talk about. But for those of you who don’t I wanted to post about something I found out about last night. For those of you who like the classic BBC sci-fi show Red Dwarf I have good news for you (unless youâve already heard it) Red Dwarf has been renewed for another two seasons!! Season (or series if youâre nasty) XI comes out this year and XII comes out next year. This makes me insanely happy!
Red Dwarfâs been part of my life for as long as I can remember. One of my earliest memories is being in the car with my dad after heâd just bought the series III part 2 VHS tape. Series III aired itâs last episode on the 19th of December 1989 so he probably picked up the VHS in 1990 some time. I wouldâve been three, thatâs how entrenched in my psyche it is.
The last episode of series VIII was aired in April 1999, I was eleven and Iâd seen every episode numerous times before and then was bummed out when they announced it was the last weâd heard of the Dwarfers. I got the DVDs as they came out individually, not as the box set you can get now, read the books, read the scripts, even tried to get a stage version of the first episode done at my school. Red Dwarf is as big a deal to me as The Curse of Monkey Island is and you can imagine how happy I was when they announced a three episode return called âBack to Earthâ in 2009, about as happy as I was when I found out about Tales of Monkey Island, but I digress. Back to Earth wasnât fantastic but it did what it was meant to in that it got interest in the show back up again and got the support of a whole new series, series X, which aired in 2012. When X finished I was happy, that was a better ending than VIIIâs, everythingâs good and theyâre going to bring it back for another two seasons!
Iâm not worried about seasons XI & XII bringing the show down for one strong reason, and I believe itâs the main difference between UK and US sitcoms.
Grabbing two sitcoms from each country as an example, in the UK weâll be using Red Dwarf (1989 â Present ) and Absolutely Fabulous (1994-2012 (2016 if you include the film)) and for the USA weâll be using F.R.I.E.N.D.S (1994-2004) and The Big Bang Theory (2007 â Present). I love all of these shows equally so thereâs no bias when it comes to that, I also watch a lot more US TV than UK TV which is why my UK TV examples are older than the others. The biggest difference between US & UK Sitcoms is character development from the first episode to the last episode. In F.R.I.E.N.D.S Chandler becomes less sarcastic and hopeless and more grounded and loveable. Phoebe is no longer the crazy woman she was at the start. Rachel isnât as shallow and materialistic. The only one who didnât make any real changes was Joey, and they ruined that with his spin-off!
In The Big Bang Theory (There may be some spoilers here, youâve been warned) Leonard and Penny get married. Sheldon has sex. Howard stops letching, settles down, and is now expecting a baby. Raj can talk to women and is the stable one in his most recent relationships!
Letâs compare to for the UK shows, in Absolutely Fabulous, Edwina is still crazy, Patsy still enables her, Saffron still canât stand her, and mother is still oblivious. In Red Dwarf Kryten is still obsessed with cleanliness, Lister is still a lazy slob, Rimmer is still up up up the ziggaraught lickity split, and the Cat is still as vain as ever. Sure, in both of the shows some of the jokes have been played down a bit so they donât break the law of diminishing returns (Kryten isnât as controlled by his programming as he used to be) but the basic gist of who they are hasnât changed.
Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Honestly, itâs neither. US TV shows take you on an adventure with the characters which is great, I cried at the end of F.R.I.E.N.D.S, I know Iâll cry at the end of The Big Bang Theory, but that was never something that happened at (what I thought was) the final episode of Red Dwarf or Absolutely Fabulous. But it means that every new episode of Red Dwarf or the Ab Fab film will be greatly received because theyâre not straying from the principle that made people fall in love with it in the first place. Kinda like a film adaptation of a book, the people who love it would be happy to have an eight hour long film that includes every line of dialogue exactly as it was in the source material, but it doesnât happen so weâre happy when it does. Another example is the Final Fantasy VII remake (not out yet so sheer speculation) but itâs been said that they wonât just do an exact remake because people wouldnât buy it. YES WE WOULD! THATâS WHAT WE WANT!!
So why the difference between the UK and the US when it comes to sitcoms? I think it comes down to quantity. Red Dwarf has been running for 18 years this year on and off, but they only produced 61 episodes, less than three seasons of either of the US shows. Plus the years between the shows really donât allow for change, Red Dwarf was off the air for 2 years between series 3 & 4 then 10 years between 8 & 9 with only six episodes a year. Thereâs no time to develop an overarching story arc when youâve only got six 30 minute episodes in which to do it.
My wife also points out Midsomer Murders as a show that hasnât had any growth or change in its tenure either, actors come and go but thereâs never anything the leads up to it, one episode theyâre just gone.
Anyway, the point of this blog was to talk about my love of Red Dwarf and Iâve completely gone off track! Before I go Iâm going to do a quick top ten of the Red Dwarf seasons from worst to best.
10- Series VIII
This didnât feel like the Red Dwarf Iâd grown to love, there were other people in it and it was just generally off. Ending on a cliff hanger didnât help.
9- Series IX
Works as a Blade Runner inspired three part episode of Red Dwarf, doesnât work so well as a standalone episode.
8- Series IV
Dimension Jump brings a great character to the team of Ace Rimmer and Camille is an excellent Casablanca homage.
7- Series III
I love Timeslides, the whole premise being that nothing ever goes right for Rimmer!
6- Series V
Holoship opened this series really strongly and almost gave Rimmer some character development, fortunately he realised how ridiculous that was âI cannot believe I just said that!â and proceeded to wear a gingham dress with army boots later in the season!
5- Series VII
Tikka to Ride answers one of the classic conspiracy theories in the most convincing way I know! Stoke Me a Clipper sees the return of Ace Rimmer and is the closest thing Red Dwarf has to character development, I did cry a little at this one. The rest of the series is great, especially Duct Soup.
4- Series VI
Rimmerâs perfect backwards faint in âPsirensâ, Legion threatening the Dwarfers with the scalpel in a dangerous place! The entirety of Gunmen of the Apocalypse is genius with the classic riding off into the sunset at the end.
3- Series I
From humble origins, we really get an introduction of the group and has one of my favourite back and forths in the show between Lister and Holly about erasing all the Agatha Christie books.
2- Series X
Such a monumentally brilliant return, meeting *a* Jesus (not *the* Jesus), lamp shading the impossible escape with the series VIII cliff hanger, Lister dealing with his bizarre family arrangements, all brilliant episodes.
1- Series II
My favourite Series, the introduction of Kryten, which humiliates Rimmer. Stasis Leak (âItâs a leak right, in Stasis, hence the name *a*Stasis Leak.â) where Rimmerâs genius plan doesnât work because of freaky fungus. Better than Life, where Rimmerâs brain tries to destroy him! Thanks for the Memory, where nothing goes right for Rimmer. Queeg, where Rimmerâs life is made miserable with exercise and studying, and finally Parallel Universe, where things go terribly for, youâve guessed it, Lister!! Ha threw you a curve ball on that last one!!
What do you guys think? Do you watch Red Dwarf? Do you watch more US TV or more UK TV? Which do you prefer? Do you agree with what I said about the differences between the two? Send me a comment!
Also like to say thanks to everyone who now follows my blog! I really appreciate it and hope to keep you entertained, informed, or whatever it is that you get from me!!
-Luke
The Doctor Who (and Cardiff) Experience
–UPDATED WITH GOOGLE PHOTOS–
So I went to The Doctor Who Experience today and got to experience Doctor Who and Cardiff. I’ll say a quick bit about Cardiff as all I did was walk through it (and now sat at a bar in it). I only saw the city centre and the docks (where the experience is) and it’s pretty cool. Very much like Bristol except people talk funny here.
Now to Doctor Who (which as we all know is the main reason I’m here!!!) the Experience is excellent and well worth the trip for any Doctor Who fan. When you get in there they say you can’t take any pictures in ‘The Museum of Gallifrey’ but you can take pictures after. I thought that was a little weird but it’s because the first half hour is an audience participationy bit where you have to help The Doctor rescues his TARDIS from space squid.
That sentence sounds a little ridiculous to non-who owns but I swear it’s awesome! It’s interactive and you get to fly the TARDIS (sort of) and then you go out into the museum. In the show you end up on Skaro surrounded by decommissioned Daleks but as soon as you get one of the energy crystals they wake up and start moving towards you. I’ll admit that as grown up as I am it was a little freaky but not as freaky as walking through the dark where Weeping Angels flash and move when you’re not looking at them.
I found the crystal in the Weeping Angel section so I got to reach in and grab it. The curator then felt it a good moment to grab my arm which did make me jump a little bit! Then we went into the workshop from The Idiot’s Lantern where you find the last crystal, put it in the doohickey and save the day. After that you head into the museum where you can take as many pictures as possible!!
I took SO many pictures there so I had to put them all here in a Google album! But here are the highlights!
After the you go out into the little shop (“Oh the little shop! I love the little shop!”) where I got my merchandise pack because I got the ticket that included that.
I also bought the iconic Tom Baker scarf! Which was pretty fortunate as on the walk from the docks to the city (with a slight detour to The RHS Flower Show – I didn’t go in) it was a little chilly and I was thankful for the scarf!!
It was such a great experience and well worth the money! Now I’m going to kick back, enjoy my Strongbow, watch some Doctor Who, and maybe order a bowl of chips!
Allons-y!!!
-Luke
Heavy Metal Doctor Who Cover – 331 Erock
Wales!
I’m in the car on my way to Wales today. Despite being half Welsh I’ve never been to Wales before! In the car is me, my Nan, my Grandad, my sister, and my mum. My step-dad’s meeting us there as he had to drive from London instead of Plymouth.
I’m pretty excited because like I said its my first time there but also because tomorrow, while everyone else is at the Royal Horticultural Show (flower stuff) I’ll be at The Doctor Who Experience. I’m not 100% what is exactly there, but I’m assuming I’ll get to experience Doctor Who. I have my Eleventh Doctor outfit with me, so pictures of that to come tomorrow!
Today’s also a big deal because I have a phone interview today for a new job. That’s in about five minutes so I’ll need to get prepared in a second.
Wish me luck.
-Luke
Netflix vs Amazon Prime- which is the best?
So Iâve wanted to share my two cents on this for a little while. What I think are the pros and cons of each service. For the sake of transparency I have both services and I just have the Prime streaming service not the full delivery service. The only reason I have the streaming service is because I didnât have the ÂŁ79 upfront for the full service, so chose to pay monthly for just the streaming service. I donât really buy stuff from Amazon a lot either so it doesnât make much of a difference to me.
So, first comparison is the price difference. Netflix has three subscription options. The basic plan, giving you one screen at a time is ÂŁ5.99, the standard plan is ÂŁ7.49 (a recent hike from ÂŁ6.99) which gives you two screens, and the premium plan of ÂŁ8.99 which gives you four screens.
Amazon Prime has two price tiers, one is ÂŁ79 for the year. This gives you access to everything Amazon Prime related, so that includes the videos but also the next day delivery feature, amazon music and ebook access. The other option (the one Iâve gone for) is a flat ÂŁ5.99 a month. I canât find anything that says how many screens Amazon Prime allows though and I havenât been able to test this myself yet. Iâll give it a try later tonight and post an update. But for now Iâll assume it allows at least two screens.
Netflixâs average price per month is ÂŁ7.49 ((5.99+7.49+8.99)/3) for an average of two screens ((1+2+4)/3)
Amazon Primeâs average price per month is ÂŁ6.30 (((79/12)+5.99)/2) for two screens (like I said, an assumption at the moment)
So the winner for price is Amazon Prime, itâs only saving you an average of ÂŁ1.19 a month. It doesnât sound much but itâs the little things that count.
Supported devices. I mainly stream on four devices, my iPhone, my iPad, my PS4, and a PC when needs be. We also have a smart TV in the living room with a BT TV box. Netflix works on all of these without issue. Amazon Prime, however, does NOT work on the TV or the BT TV box. I think this is mainly a manufacturer thing as opposed to an Amazon thing through as BT also has an issue with Now TV. Iâve also heard that Amazon Prime doesnât fit well with Chromecasts or Apple TV yet, but Iâm sure this is due to change.
The winner for supported devices is Netflix, but I canât imagine them staying that way for long.
The first two comparisons are objective but the next comparisons are pretty subjective. What I mean is that theyâre true for me but you might see them in a different way.
Library viewing and amount of content. Like I said, I mainly do the streaming on four devices and the layout for each of them is pretty universal across all platforms. This is great because I canât stand it when different services vary wildly across different platforms. So they both get an A for their cross-platform development but thereâs got to be a winner and, in my honest opinion, itâs Netflix. Prime is great in that it allows you to search everything but, when I say everything I mean EVERYTHING. If you search for something on Netflix and you might find it then you can watch it, simple as that. If you search for something on Amazon Prime you WILL find it. The only problem is it might not be part of the Prime package. If youâve bought or rented the series or movie then you can watch it on Prime but the whole reason I started streaming stuff is so that I donât have to buy or rent things any more. So technically Amazon Prime has more in the library but it might not be under your Prime Membership.
Convenience. Before the most recent update Amazon Prime would have won this by a LONG way, thatâs because Netflixâs iPhone app didnât support post-play, you know, the thing where the next episode plays once youâve finished with it. Netflix does that now so itâs pulled up some, but not enough. The thing that puts Amazon Prime as the winner of this is that you can download the videos to watch offline which is brilliant if youâre not on an unlimited data plan. I assume thereâs a limit to it but I downloaded all the episodes of Black Flag, Lucifer, Fear the Walking Dead, and the first season of The Walking Dead and it didnât stop any of them for me downloading too many. I also assume that thereâs a time limit in the length of time youâve got to download them but as I watched all of these within a ten day window it didnât seem to affect me at all. So Amazon Prime has beat Netflix until they can provide this.
Interface. Netflixâs interface is fancy looking but fundamentally simple. Thereâs a play pause button, a back 10 seconds button, a list of episodes option, and a back to library option. Thatâs about it. Amazon Prime showed me what I didnât know I needed. Not only do they have a back ten seconds button but they also have a forward 10 seconds button, not much Iâm sure, but when a TV show has its credits 5 minutes in itâs really great. But the thing I love the MOST about Amazon, and that I find myself missing a lot in Netflix (and even on the videos Iâve downloaded), is the IMDB X-Ray integration. For those of you who havenât heard of this (as I hadnât until I got Prime) IMDB X-Ray eventually ends the whole âWhoâs that guy?â or âWhatâs this song?â discussion. If you tap your screen (like I said, mainly touch devices) youâll get a list of the actors and characters in the scene (which you can tap to get a short blurb about the actor) as well as the song thatâs playing at the moment in the episode and even just general trivia about the episode or location or actors or whatever. I never knew I needed this until I didnât have it but until Netflix gets something like this theyâll always lose out to Amazon in my opinion.
Winner: Amazon, by a long way.
Quality and range of shows. Like I said technically Amazon has everything so long as youâve rented or bought the stuff on Amazon first so Iâll only be looking at whatâs available for free through Prime. I stress that this bit is INCREDIBLY subjective and you may not agree with it but itâs my two cents at least. So which platform has a better range and quality of shows completely depends on what you want the service for. If you want to just turn your brain off and veg out Netflix has definitely cornered the market on that. They have a better range of comedies and sitcoms than Amazon Prime does, and so if youâre just in the mood to kick back and relax definitely go for Netflix. But if Netflix is âNetflix and Chillâ then Amazon Prime is definitely âWine, Dine, and Amazon Primeâ (I hope that catches on, Iâm hoping to make it a thing). Everything Iâve found on Amazon Prime is quality but itâs not casual watching, itâs Walking Dead, itâs Black Sails, itâs Vikings, fantastic shows with an incredible level of quality but itâs not something you put on in the background and veg out to, itâs something you watch with the intention of sitting down and watching a decent TV show. In that regard I would say that they tie for winner there because they excel at different things but Iâll be giving the point to Netflix because of the niggly fact that it shows everything, even the stuff that isnât part of prime.
Exclusive shows. Whilst they excel at different things this is where Netflix really pulls ahead. The Marvel shows alone would put Netflix above Amazon (IMHO) but they also have House of Cards, Better Call Saul, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and a few other brilliant shows. And even though they do have some bad shows (Fuller House is atrocious and only made for nostalgia value) their good shows far outweigh their bad ones.
Winner: Netflix, no contest.
One other niggly thing that Netflix has over Amazon is that it skips the opening part of a show, the credits and the âpreviously onâ bits which is great when youâre binging. But the skip 10 seconds forward button does something to alleviate this so it becomes more of a minor irritation instead of a tedious start to every episode.
So when we analyse it and add things up where do we stand? Out of seven sections Amazon won three, Netflix therefore won four. So from a simple pass fail stand point Netflix just beats Amazon. But some things should be weighted more than others, convenience is a higher factor for me than price. So, in MY order or importance (I stress *MY*) is: Convenience, Exclusive Titles, Interface, Quality and range of shows, Library, Price, Supported Devices. Iâm not fussed on the other supported devices. So with Convenience being a seven and Supported Devices being a one it averages out with the following scores:
Amazon:
Convenience – 7
Interface – 5
Price – 2
Total: 14
Netflix:
Quality – 4
Exclusives – 6
Library – 3
Supported Devices – 1
Total: 14
A tie. And honestly not an orchestrated tie so I could say theyâre both as good as each other and sit on the fence. My personal preference is Netflix over Amazon Prime, I only really use Amazon Prime for when I want to watch shows out and about without destroying my data but thatâs about it. If I had to make the choice between Netflix or Amazon Prime for good then I would go with Netflix, but Amazon Prime does have its benefits and (by the numbers) itâs just as good as Netflix. The other thing to note is that Amazon Primeâs full subscription of ÂŁ79/year is an average of only ÂŁ6.58 a month and when you bundle that in with the ebooks and the music itâs instantly better, especially when you consider the money youâd save if you have something like Spotify.
What about you? Which streaming service (if any) do you use? Do you agree with me? Do you disagree with me? Have I helped you make your mind up on a decision between the two? Send me a comment with your opinion.
-Luke
If I Had a Heart â Fever Ray
P.S. I just started watching Vikings today (as in whilst Iâm writing this post) and If I Had a Heartâs the opening theme for the first episode (donât know if they keep it for other episodes yet) I hate to get all âhipsterâ but I liked this song before it was cool đ
