Second Shot

I only really concentrated on the first of the three X-Men film based on hearing from other people that the second was a bit of a farce. I remember watching X-Men 2 with a vague interest, so I was wondering if I would get what was happening in this third and (possibly) final part.

Well, it didn’t seem to matter too much as you were more or less brought up to speed about the main issues as quickly as the one-line, wise-cracking began. Nah, it wasn’t at all a long comedy but Logan (Hugh Jackman) was ready with the quips as ever before. And they were funny too.

The film tells of the human society having found a cure for the mutants, providing those with mutations the chance to lead a normal life. This cure comes from a child although how they are actually extracting these vials of potion are unknown – what with the boy being kept in a white room seems all a little suspect to me.

Storm and Logan finds an unconscious Gene who they assumed was dead (apparently she was killed in X-Men 2; I told you I didn’t concentrate) and to save the writers any hassle, they simply get her to say they don’t know how she managed to survive – excellent stuff(!). Turns out that Xavier (Patrick Stewart) has been keeping Gene undercontrol for many years as she’s a mental nutcase with super-duper powers of destruction. And they are indeed, as the special effects show.

The good guys don’t think it necessary for the cure, and go about in a peaceful manner to make themselves heard. The baddies also don’t think that the cure is a cure, and that human society is trying to wipe them all out. They go about killing everyone to show them who’s the boss.

Gene goes AWOL because she’s nuts, Logan locates her, gets some more info on where the baddies are going to be next (to destroy the source of the cure), and they saddle up and head off. Sides clash, bad mutant extras get cured in ensuing firefight, and Gene just blows them all away. Or do she?

Quite a few main X-Men characters end up ‘pushing up the daisies’, but I won’t tell you which so you’ll have to watch it. And it all seems to have been wrapped up nicely with mutants still being accepted into society, and the teaching school is still around for those in need in the future.

Or is it? What you must do is wait til the very end of the credits as there’s a nice surprise there for all those with enough patience.

Oh, and Kelsey ‘Tossed salads and scrambled eggs’ Grammer features as the big blue furry man. Nice to see Dr Krane doing some cinema work.

As a secondary birthday present from my brother, I was allowed to help him partially destroy his kitchen. With new kitchen furnishings, we set about taking the doors off the cupboards and removing the tiles from the wall.

The times I hear people talk about detiling some room, they always seem to make it sound difficult. However, it doesn’t actually seem that bad and wasn’t difficult at all. A little dusty and noisy, but I don’t think that there’s anything more enjoyable then destroying things. In a couple of hours, we had removed the tiles that spanned five or so high, across the length kitchen and some on the other walls. Easy peasy, I really don’t know why people moan about it.

So much fun in fact, we challenged each other to get the largest ‘accidental gouge of cement’ from under a tile. I think my brother won. His prize was to fill in the gaps.

Wooieee! Another year older, making me 271 years old. Older than the Queen. Anyway, story time:

At the end of this day every year in Uni, I always say ‘No drinking so much – it hurts!’ But do I listen to myself? Do I fu–.

Today, the first in a long while (except last Saturday when I went out for my brother’s birthday), I shall be growing wiser without the drinks, but anyone out there can have one for me. Cheers. I’ve not got anything planned today, bit of a shame really as I do miss the visits to the pub (and it’s a Friday, too!). Maybe I should allow myself this one year off from binge drinking. The End.

Also, got my first birthday card just now, so thank you very much to those that signed it – you Soton guys know who you are. That’s an awesome pants card, by the way. Thank you!
(Parents are on holiday, brother’s at work, and sister sleeping from doing late-shift last night – so no-one here but me at the mo).

Right, I’m off to get my slippers and pipe, and sit by the fire-side. Ta-ra.

Really, I don’t mean to be rude and I hate to be rude to those that are actually standing at my front door, but won’t you please get the hint and just bugger off.

This morning, not five minutes after getting washed and being downstairs, there’s a knock at the door. It wasn’t the postman but some middle-aged man in a casual suit asking me if me if the world was going out of control and heading in a bad direction (or some such). I won’t tell you my response because:

a) it was the only thing I could think of to get rid of him (it was too early in the morning for me);
b) it’ll make me sound like a pleb, which is fine;
c) I don’t want to discuss it right now.

And then I tell him that I don’t have a belief and am science orientated, not believing that everything was created as it was and that evolution was what caused it all. He tells me that “you’re an intellegent person” (at which point, I forced myself to stiffle a laugh – he really doesn’t know me) trying to get me to relax and into a better conversation. It doesn’t work and I become paranoid. I really wanted to stop talking to him as soon as he said the word ‘belief’, but as hard as I tried with the short replies and non-exploratory answers, he kept going. And, following on from the evolutionary thing, he then said:

“So what do you think about the unexpectedness of when a baby was born into the world?”

And I say jokily: “Well, it’s wasn’t really unexpected if it was unprotected sex.”

No smile from him.

I drop my smile.

So anyway, change of tack for the man as he offers me a book to read (saw one large word on the front saying ‘Creator’) which I decline two or three times. He then tells me that he sees the world going in the wrong direction and that it will turn out bad, but because of this things will eventually become better again for there is Hope. I mean, great, thanks for that semi-uplifting thought of us all perishing and not being able to see the good side of things because we’ll all be dead. Remember Mister, I don’t have a belief and don’t believe in life after death. Boy, what a great way to start the day. Finally, he leaves.

So, is it okay to imagine that there was no-one at the front door (having already opened it) and just close it in their face? It’s something I’d really like to do, it seems quite comical to me.

I don’t normally put up holiday photos but this is something well worth sharing. During the Las Vegas trip, we went to the Grand Canyon and lunched with a view that rivals with the best of cityscapes.

You’ll find it in the Photography section, but here’s a quick link.

I’ve managed to get the panoramic view into a Quick Time VR movie file that allows you to scroll the around picture with ease. You might need to download a plug-in, but hopefully it will automatically ask you if you want to install this ActiveX plug-in/controller – click Yes/OK if you want to proceed.

Enjoy.

I completely forgot that the Eurovision Song Contest was on yesterday as I had more important things to attend to (my brother’s birthday), but it didn’t surprise me to read on BBCi that the UK came way down the table at 19th (out of 24) with 25-points.

This was especially so after reading the title of our song ‘Teenage Life’. And it probably didn’t help that the singer’s name was that of a washing powder, Daz (Sampson). Oh my god, I’ve just found his website… Thank God he didn’t win; what a spazzy looking guy with spazzy looking women around him. Hmm… apparently he’s quite a well-known dance-music person.

Anyway, maybe it is the way to go, what with Finnish’s pantomime of a ‘horror rock’ music show. I remember when it was all sensible and proper singing, but in recent years it has just become a stage for prancing around on and not much else. There used to be famous people singing but now it seems like those on it are using Eurovision as a stepping stone to further their careers.

If we wanted to win, all we’d have to do is pull out any one of the current ‘Top 10′ artists we have and blow them all out the water. Of course, none of them actually want to waste their time with Eurovision, and fair play to them. It would probably be a step backwards anyway.

Oh, and well done to Ireland for getting 10th position.

And lastly, Terry Wogan said: ‘Every year I expect Eurovision to be less foolish, and every year its more so!’

I couldn’t agree more.

I spent the last few days out in Las Vegas, Nevada, with my sister to experience the gambling scene as it should be. We stayed at the Egyptian-themed Luxor (the large, famous pyramid hotel) on the south-end of The Strip along with other hotels that seemed to cater for the mid-20s and above (so no screaming children). The number of hotels was phenomenal – I’ve never seen so many enormous hotels in a 4-mile stretch in all my life (and I doubt I’ll see anything beat Las Vegas) – and each had a uniquely themed edifice and interior (like New York or medieval Excaliber). Basically, it’s like a giant Disney World/Universal Studios for adults but more expensive (just).

When you think 4-miles, that really should take an hour to walk, but in 30-odd degrees Celsius it takes twice as long. Luckily, there were enough hotels, casinos (and hotel casinos) and shops with air-conditioning to dip into to keep the sun-burn at bay. No doubt you’ll have seen movies with such casinos, the rows and rows of slot machines and tables, the bells-buzzers-and-whistles of the electronic One-Arm Bandits, and the whooping and disappointment that table betting brings. It’s all there, more so in certain casinos than others, but it seemed that there were at least a few people gambling 24/7. What was missing was the clinking of winnings as the majority (if not all) of the slots print out tickets of your winnings that you cash in – gone are the ways of finding large buckets to hold your change (the slots only accept notes and tickets with very few taking in coins). I reckon it’s a lot quieter because of this, but it can still get pretty noisy in the evenings.

Mainly playing on the slots, I didn’t do too badly although not all that great as I didn’t win any large amounts. I played a few rounds of Blackjack (a.k.a. 21) but eventually lost my initial $30. Any each and every casino had some sorts of rewards scheme – much like a Tesco loyalty card – where you spend money and gain points. Points can be turned into prizes although the top prizes generally would involve you pumping enough cash to have probably bought that reward two or three times anyway. I’ve collected a nice number of these Club cards (as they call them) as a souvenir although I’m going to lose all my points before I get back to Las Vegas.

I also did a bit of sight-seeing; looked through all the hotels and their casinos, other casinos in the Downtown area (which is North of the Las Vegas Boulevard strip, something I find semantically odd) and the free outdoor displays fronted by a number of hotels. But the biggest and best trip was to the Grand Canyon, and boy it is something that everyone has to go see.

We (and four other tourists) booked a tour in an MPV 4×4 thingy, stopping by the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead briefly. We then continued through rough and rocky terrain to the West rim of the Grand Canyon and this excursion itself was an adventure. The superbly experienced tour guide drove at a good pace for us to experience the ups-and-downs of the bumps and hills, all adding to the overall experience. And not only did we reach the Canyon’s edge, but we took a short helicopter ride 4,000-feet down to the valley – and that was truly awesome! First time in a helicopter and it was kind of hairy; the rocking of the take-off, flying close to the Canyon walls, and the 45-degree slant of turns were mind-bogglingly enjoyable. At the bottom, we took a short pontoon ride with another guide, most of the time we were just gawping at the sides and size of the surroundings. After that, it was another helicopter ride back up for a lunch with a view.

And yup, you guessed it, it was lunch at the Grand Canyon’s edge. No railings or any such safety measures; just us, the open space and sun, and a fantastic view that you can only dream of from postcards. I’ll stop throwing in more adjectives but, really, you must save up some money and a few days off work for this alone. Finally, we took the 4×4 back to the hotel, but not before stopping at a few other little places of interest. It was the best experience. Ever.

Now I’m back in England, still with a slightly queasy stomach and spinning head from the flight back, and I was actually appreciative of the cool breeze that welcomed us home. Truly, it’s something that is missed when you trudge around in the sun, dipping and diving into shadows to keep one- or two-degrees cooler. Really, you can go to Las Vegas an infinite number of times because every time after the first, it’ll just be for the gambling. My tip is to take five days to do some sight-seeing and dabble in a bit of gambling and fun, and you’ll know all there is to do in your next visit. And there’s any chance that I’ll be back there again and again.