General

April 17, 2021

Random Thought: Are James Bond and Batman Timelords?

Had some time last year and an though hit me “Are James Bond and Batman timelords?”

I am probably not the first person to have thought of this but bear with me on this one.

So Doctor Who has been running since 1963, the premise is of a Timelord who travels around in their Tardis (effectively a time machine that looks like a police box). The ingenious element of the show is when the first actor William Hartnell left the show they regenerated (Replaced) him with a new actor Patrick Troughton.

This process has been pretty much being happening now for the last 50+ years for this show.

The list of all of the Doctors:

First Doctor: William Hartnell (1963–1966)

Second Doctor: Patrick Troughton (1966–1969)

Third Doctor: Jon Pertwee (1970–1974).

Fourth Doctor: Tom Baker (1974–1981)

Fifth Doctor: Peter Davison (1981–1984

Sixth Doctor: Colin Baker (1984–1986).

Seventh Doctor: Sylvester McCoy (1987–1989, 1996)

Eighth Doctor: Paul McGann (1996, 2013)

The War Doctor: John Hurt (50th anniversary episode)

Ninth Doctor: Christopher Eccleston (2005)

Tenth Doctor: David Tennant (2005–2010)

Eleventh Doctor: Matt Smith (2010–2013)

Twelfth Doctor: Peter Capaldi (2013-2017)

Thirteenth Doctor: Jodie Whittaker (2017-present)

Now lets look a James Bond and Batman, both are long running shows that have had different actors play the role but this doesnt seem strange to the recurring characters around them.

Batman incarnations:

James Bond incarnations:

I would go even further and say that other characters in these universes are also Time Lords eg All of the Batman Villains (Joker) Alfred, Commissioner Gordon in Batman and in James Bond M, Q and the villain’s as they also change actor without it seemingly causing any issues

The scenes we are are missing are the regeneration scenes where they change over to their new bodies, my theory is all of these Timelords fled Gallifrey to Earth and have been hiding here ever since.

Just my thoughts on this one, but it sort of makes sense.

December 15, 2020

The Hunt : A Job for 2021

So I’m on the job hunt again. Being made redundant at the end of 2020.

Funny thing is, it’s not because of Covid-19.

Oh well. Shit happens.

So I’ve been applying like crazy to anything that I’d be suited to with my skillset.

Process is :

Find suitable job listing
Compare requirements to my skill set and experience
Apply for position
Wait.

….. and wait…. and wait…. and then an email arrives.

“Sorry, but your skillset does not match our clients requirements”

*blink*

I go back to the advert thinking Ive missed something.

Nope.

Advert asks for skills 1,2,3,4,5,6.

My CV shows my having skills 1,2,3,4,5,6.

I seem to be hitting this a LOT.

Am I too experienced for the position and theyre worried I’d get bored ? Have they listed the wrong skillset ? Or the wrong job ?

The other thing Im encountering, is the lack of personalized response as such. Sure, use a template, but make it seem personlized. Like using my name, or sending the response from a legitimate email address that I can reply to rather than a robot response via Seek.

The hunt continues…….

July 24, 2020

Lego Osprey – Why so much ?

Lego recently shipped a new Technics set to retailers – however have since recalled as many as they can……. the set – LEGO Technic 42113 Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey Helicopter.

Why ?

Because its “war/weapon” related – Lego has a policy of not releasing realistic war/weapon related items. Which is great to keep the image clean.

But somehow this one slipped through, because it is marketed as a Search and Rescue vehicle – however many anti-war groups have complained causing Lego to recall the sets.

For stock which is already in storerooms of retailers, they will be able to sell the set – we just wouldn’t be shipping any more copies.
For sets in our warehouses, we are currently working through our plans for the sets and will explore ways to reduce waste and reuse elements – that AFOLs are interested in them has been raised!

So of course, Lego collectors quickly hit the streets to find as many of these sets in stores as they could.

Now, because New Zealand is the “first” to see each calendar day, they were shipped stock of these sets, due to be released August 1st. But due to the recall etc, stores that had stock put them on the shelves early.

Retail pricing is $260NZD.

They are now being sold on TradeMe (NZ’s version of Ebay) for $1000NZD+ with a few being listed at $2000.

Now thanks to a good friend, I’ve managed to obtain one of the sets at retail pricing but the question is, do I flog it off while the craze is fresh, or hold it and maybe in a year or more, it will be worth even more….. ?

Who knows to be honest. Its actually quite a cool set, so I may just hold onto it and one day, build it….

So if you see one of these sets in a toy store for $200 odd, grab it, it’ll be worth it.

April 29, 2020

Game Over for Gameplanet

A long time New Zealand based gaming site, Gameplanet has fallen victim to the hard times for media during COVID-19.

Gameplanet has been on life-support for a while now, as some readers may have observed. We’ve held out and sustained the financial losses for as long as we could, but there is, sadly, no realistic prospect of the business recovering, and so the decision has now been made to turn off the machine and put it to rest. The website will be shut down in the next few days.
https://www.gameplanet.co.nz/news/g5ea8aa13d2038/Gameplanet-is-shutting-down/

I have been a member of the Gameplanet community (although not very active I admit) pretty much since they started out.

Compared to other forums, it was bit of a free for all to a degree, but once you got use to the sarcasm and attitudes, it was full of some truly funny, and knowledgeable users in all sorts of different areas.

The forums are being moved to Tapatalk, however if it continues to keep the same feel about it, remains to be seen.

“Don’t be dismayed at goodbyes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.”

April 16, 2020April 23, 2020

Lockdown geeking

Earlier this year I sold my gaming PC.

I was not expecting to be in lockdown for a month or else I would have held onto the PC.

I purchased an Arrma Granite RC truck to keep me entertained after I sold the PC, however right before lockdown, a part on it failed – so thats out of action.

Also work advised that we would be working from home as we are an essential service (IT provider).

But I did not have a PC to work from apart from my Lenovo X230 – grat machine but going from a 28″ 4k screen to 12″ was going to be a bit hard. So I was sent a 28″ 1080P screen and a thin client.

Thin client has remained in its box as its not running Windows, which I required.

So I looked around and found that I still had my Pentium G3258 setup (in parts) – so threw that into a cardboard box (literally) and thankfully found 8GB of RAM and a decent PSU.

Stole the SSD from the X230 and I was away.

It’s been working perfectly except for when I want to play some Overwatch with mates – I’ll just say its playable but not pretty.

But due to the lockdown, I’ve been unable to source a 2nd hand video card.

Until NME mentioned he still had an old 6970HD floating around. Score!

That’s on its way courtesy of work’s courier company – hey, its an essential item and I’m an essential employee.

So in the mean time, my gaming has been limited to classics such as Sid Mier’s Pirates!, UFO Enemy Unknown, Team Fortress 2, and real classic such as Police Quest, Leisure Suit Larry and Kings Quest.

Love those last three games. Lot of memories from my Amiga days.

So I sit here now waiting for the courier to deliver the video card.

Some day, I’ll be able to order my RC parts, and maybe even get a case for this PC.

And hopefully stop wearing stupid things on my head.