Review: Van Helsing

I bought this DVD yesterday. Enjoyable hokum with a decidedly non-Hollywood ending, though it's telegraphed early in the movie.

This is a copy of a post I made on the SDMB.

Is it just me, or could NASA's new moonshot program be easily improved? The idea of sending up the crew seperately to the transit vehicle is good and cool, but would it not be better to repeat the exercise at the other end as well? I mean that there should be a station in lunar-stationary orbit with which the transit vehicle docks, then the astronauts transfer to a landing vehicle and descend to the lunar surface, returning with the whole vehicle to the the station in lunar orbit, transfer back to the transit module, then back to Earth - or to a station in Earth orbit and then back to Earth.

I see a number of key advantages:

Nothing left on the lunar surface - a longer term cost-saving.

Transit vehicle is also re-used - another cost saving.

Fuel for the landers and transit vehicle can be sent seperately.

The stations can have multiple landers and transit vehicles attached - handy for rescues. And other emergencies.

The station can be used to build a test beanstalk. I mean, we're not going to build the first one on Earth, are we?

Goodwood Revival

I went to the Goodwood Revival on Saturday. Quite fun dressing up in blazer and tie; the alternative - dressing up in a sports jacket - felt too much like normal. Good spectacle and an opportunity to meet a good friend. Yay!

But why are people such numpties on the road? I was tailgated by some idiot whose numberplate ended in VNU in some BMW(?) penis-extension, and a kid almost autoDarwinated in front of me. That resulted in a visit to the local police station.

Oh well...

Ear infections suck

So I've had an ear infection. It's going but it ruined my Bank Holiday Weekend. It's also made it very difficult to get to sleep - it hurts and then it feels all squishy - so I've only been getting 2-3 hours of sleep a night. This means that I only have two speeds at the moment: slow and dead slow :( .

England win the Test Match

And it was a close-run thing. A typical England batting collapse left me on tenterhooks. But Australia are too dependent upon Warne and he can't bowl every over.

Do we still need the BBC?

Never mind accusations of bias, with the proliferation of channels via satellite or cable, do we still need the BBC as originally chartered? Why not just cut it back to the World Service and two Parliamentary channels - one for the Commons, and one for the Lords?

Edward Heath

So he's dead. Regardless of his other qualities he was a dreadful Prime Minister.

Oh no!

Kim du Toit is taking a break.

Well done, Murray

Well done, sir! I'm sure Wimbledon will see you back next year.

Go, man, go!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/4124764.stm

There's life yet in British tennis

Good cartoons

http://www.coxandforkum.com is a site I always enjoy.

First post

I wonder how long I'll keep up at this?