seascape – Fraggle's Otherverse

Not the 365 ~ movies,cats,Spring etc

March 22, 2021March 21, 2021Posted in birds, FujiX-T2, Iphoneography, Mondays, Movie Reviews, movies, Photography, seascape, UncategorizedTagged cats, Fraggle, FujiX-T2, iPhone11, life, Monday Movies, movies, Photography, Stuff25 Comments

Thought I’d do a little catch up as I’ve been busy with the 365 over on the Universe Blog and I just know y’all are missing my Movie Monday reviews. We are still watching movies, so I’m going to do quick dash through what I thought about them.

Dead Presidents 1995 and Phil’s choice as he had it on DVD and I hadn’t seen it. Starring Larenz Tate, Keith David, Chris Tucker, Freddy Rodrigues, N’Bushe Wright and Bokeem Woodbine. It’s based partly on the real-life experiences of Haywood T. Kirkland (aka Ari S. Merretazon), whose true story was detailed in the book Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans by Wallace Terry, it chronicles the life of Anthony Curtis (Tate) and covers him from high school to the vietnam war and then home again to where he and his pals rob a bank. A well made film focussing on the experences of black veterans, well acted and paced, co-written, produced, and directed by Allan and Albert Hughes with skill and obvious passion. I imagine Spike Lee watched this and made notes for his Da 5 Bloods movie. I enjoyed this one much more. Fraggle Rating: underated and well worth seeing.

The Mule 2018. Clint Eastwood produces and directs from a script by Nick Schenk. Also based on the true story of a New York times article by Sam Dolnick “The Sinaloa Cartel’s 90-Year-Old Drug Mule” about a WW2 veteran called Leo Sharp who became a drug courier for the cartel in his 80’s. Well this was fun, Clint has still got it and commands the screen even though he’s in his dotage now. Not sure how but he looks good even with that many wrinkles. Anyway it’s his movie though he’s ably assisted by Bradly Cooper on his tail as Colin Bates a D.E.A agent, Michael Pêna as Bates sidekick Trevino, Dianne Wiest as Clint’s estranged wife and a fairly small part for Lawrence Fishburn as Bates’s supervisor. Fraggle rating: Top Notch, especially for Eastwood fans.

The Alamo 2004. I’m sure someone out there will say this isn’t as good as the original Alamo movie made in 1960 starring John Wayne as Davy Crockett (perleeze 🙄🥴 blerk, I do NOT like John Wayne one bit) but Phil wanted the 2004 version as he really liked it so that’s what we did. No need to explain the plot I think, but just in case. In the 1830’s Texas had a revolution, small groups of Texians (that’s what they were called back then) gathered at a little town on the Mexican border called San Antonio where the Alamo compound is, and the Mexican army under the President Santa Anna came and killed them all. Dennis Quade plays Sam Houston, Billy Bob Thornton ~ Davy Crockett, Jason Patrick ~Jim Bowie and Patrick Wilson as William B Travis. I enjoyed this, the characters are well drawn and acted, and John Lee Hancock directs with a steady hand, giving the main characters room to breath. It’s a good history lesson too as we are ‘doing’ American History documentaries at the minute and it all ties in. Fraggle Rating: Good +++

Aquaman 2018. A D.C superhero movie that I hadn’t got round to. Well I have now and it wasn’t totally great, however it does have good points. Firstly it is stunningly beautiful to look at. The CGI under sea world building is easily as good as Avatar which sprang to mind straight away. Jason Momoa who plays him is well, how to put it, built like a brick s**t house as my Mum used to say, has a twinkle in his eye and gave a committed performance, as did Amber Heard as Princess Mera of Atlantis who wants to stop her brother King Orm (Patrick Wilson again) from going to war with humans and needs Aquaman (named Arthur Curry of all things) to step up, return to Atlantis and save the world. William Dafoe is phoning in a performance as the Vizier of Atlantis, and Nicole Kidman looks entirely out of place as a renegade queen who escapes atlantis, washes up at a lighthouse where the keeper Thomas Curry (Temuera Morrison) rescues her, falls in love with her, impregnates her and then shortly after has to be a single parent after Atlantian soldiers come to take her back to marry whoever she ran away from. Also Dolph Lundgren is in the mix as an ally King to King Orm. There’s plot holes, a daft script and some dodgy dialogue, BUT this is one of D.C’s more light hearted movies after the darkness of Batman et al, and it was a blast from start to brilliant finish. Fraggle Rating: A mixed bag but well worth seeing.

That’s it for movies!

As most of you who follow this blog also follow the Universe blog, you already know I’m doing a 365 weekly post over there, but other life still goes on of course, and I take photo’s of that along the way. Last Sunday was Mother’s Day here, and Phil’s lovely daughter popped over with an afternoon tea for Phil and I to enjoy for the day. So nice of her to do this.

Afternoon tea. And dinner. And sandwiches for work the next day!

We still have Sophie’s cats! It’s been over 3 months now and Sophie isn’t back until at least the end of May/beginning of June so we have a ways to go yet. They are a pain in the arse and a total joy depending on what mood they are in, and I can’t resist taking pictures of them.

For two of these shots I had to get the stepladder out to retrieve her 🙄

I’ve been enjoying having a few non rainy days and getting out to take photo’s for the 365, and also found other things along the way.

I found these fragments on the coast. I think it’s a letter of heartbreak, or castigation, I can’t make it all out, but it’s on a broken plate or something. Strange.

The hedgehogs have woken up and are visiting every night now, but we’ve also had a little one that visits during the day, so managed to get a couple of shots.

Hedgehogs are not usually out during the day, and this one is quite small, but she appears to be well, eating, drinking and running about well, so we are not too worried.

And finally, Spring is happening, at last, and soon the Happy Eater tree will do it’s glorious display, I can’t wait for warmer times!

Day 229

August 17, 2019Posted in 365, B&W, Castles, FujiX-T2, landscape, Photography, seascape, UncategorizedTagged 365, 365 project, august 2019, Bamburgh Castle, Black&white, day229, Fraggle, FujiX-T2, Photography10 Comments

Phil was feeling a bit better today, so I finally got to go out with Sophie and Juan, whomst we call Mentat, which is his last name, but the one everyone uses for some unfathomable reason. 🙂 Sophie had shown him photo’s of castles we have visited and told him to pick one, and so off we went to Bamburgh Castle.

It was fab to get out and see the sea and take some photos. (This one’s for you Pete 🙂 )

The 50 picture Project

August 11, 2018Posted in FujiX-T2, landscape, nature, Photography, reflection, seascapeTagged 50 picture project, beach, Fraggle, FujiX-T2, Little Haven Beach, mirror, nature, Photography, South Shields, The Mirror Project, UK15 Comments

Had a lovely late afternoon with the grandkids down at the beach in South Shields, took the mirror along for the project.

I got lucky with that last one as the waves magically aligned in the mirror.

Film Friday

April 27, 2018Posted in Film, landscape, nature, Photography, seascapeTagged Druridge Bay, Film, Fraggle, Fujifilm Superia Extra 400, Minolta Riva AF35EX, nature, Photography, UK29 Comments

More shots from the dynamic Minolta duo.

Sticking with the Minolta Riva 35EX loaded with fujifilm Expedia 400.

I took it with me to the Spoon at Cramlington and to Druridge Bay, so regular readers of The Universe blog will recognise them.

End of year Photography review.

December 30, 2017December 30, 2017Posted in B&W, birds, Cat, Frego, Friday, FujiX-T1, FujiX-T2, landscape, Mundanity, nature, Photography, seascape, Uncategorized, urbanTagged adventures, Fraggle, Frego, Friday, FujiX-T1, FujiX-T2, nature, Photography, thoughts, weather39 Comments

I like looking back over the year, and reliving the places and events I got to see, my travels and my outings with Sophie. This is the first year I’ve had 2 blogs on the go, so am picking my favourites from across both blogs and posting on both. I am multidimensional!

Back in January I decided to embark on a walking project to do 1000 miles over the year, and do a 365 photography project. This was a complete debacle as 9 days into it I got really ill with the flu, and it took me a month to fully recover by which time the impetus for both projects had disappeared. Frego accompanied me on the walks I did do and we got some nice pictures around the area I live in spite of the freezing weather.

February was the first opportunity to go on a photography trip with Sophie, and we went off to shoot the bridges of Newcastle, a sunny day but cold. We also visited the quayside market which was full of interesting arts and crafts, and yummy food.

Phil had a joint birthday party with 3 of his colleagues from work, and though his is the last one in March, the party was organised for the end of February. Family and friends of all the birthday people attended, some in fancy dress, and a good time was had by all.

March came in with Phil’s Birthday on the 2nd and we celebrated in our usual fashion.

Phil also started work on getting my shed ready for habitation, but also a sad time as our cat Skye, who had been diagnosed with an inoperable tumour, declined in health, and finally at the end of the month had to have that last trip to the vets. Our hearts are still not mended.

April was a busy month, I went with Phil to the model show at Darlington, then the following weekend an outing with Sophie to the food festival at Bishop Auckland. They had opened up the castle for the day and so we took the opportunity to visit.

then at the end of the month, off to Poland to meet Eddy, Gosia and Malina. What a fab long weekend! Days out with Eddy and his lovely family, delicious home cooked food from Gosia, just great company and good fun. Can’t wait to go back and see the new arrival!

Another busy month in May. Sophie and I went to another food festival, this time in South Shields.

Phil’s daughter Shelley had bought a nights stay (with evening meal!) in lovely Dunsley Hall near Whitby in Yorkshire for Phil’s Birthday present, and after we got there, we went off to visit the abbey in the late afternoon.

Phil’s son Carl had got him a day out in a tank so we did that too!

In June Sophie and I had a great day out visiting Tees cottage pumping station in the morning and Hardwick Park in the afternoon.

Phil and I had a day out at The Hoppings Fair in Newcastle, on the hottest day of the year, there were fairground rides, army displays, police dog displays all in 32deg C which we are not used to at all! Of course I got sunstroke 🙄 but for a colour~junkie like me it was worth it!

July wasn’t as hot, thankfully and Sophie arranged us a trip on the River Tyne. Lots of riverside industry to see from a different perspective out on the water, and many bridges to sail under.

We also managed a trip out to Teesmouth nature reserve which is a mix of coastline, meadows and industrial complex.

Also in July I went down south to dogsit for my son, and had a couple of days out photographing with my pal Helen. We visited The Swiss Gardens at Shuttleworth, beautifully landscaped gardens with follies and quirky buildings to come across. And peacocks!

She also took me to Jordans Mill which has a smallish garden but is great for macro photography. Although it was raining we walked a fair way up the river Ivel too so got some mileage done.

Sophie was away a fair bit in August but we did manage a day out first to Cresswell Hall ruins, and then on to Druridge Bay where they had a vintage rally going on.

Another busy month in September, Sophie and I visited Pow Hill Nature reserve which is the current Fraggle report over on the Universe Blog

and Northumberland Zoo was a great fun day out.

We also visited Bolam Lake just as Autumn was beginning to take hold, and the 1000 yr old St.Andrews Church nearby.

I also went to a work conference with my boss and friend Brenda, stayed in a posh hotel and had fun meeting people I hadn’t seen in ages. They put on a swish dinner in the evening and the guest speaker was Ben Cohen, formally a rugby player, then on Strictly Come Dancing, and now runs his own charity which he gave a talk on. So I did my first ‘celebrity’ shot ever! He is quite buff in the flesh!

In October Phil and I did a mini tour through Belgium and Holland, visiting loads of WW2 sites and museums, what a great holiday! We ended up in Veldhoeven for a big model show where Phil was judging. Hard to choose a favourite as everywhere we visited had some great photo ops, but am going with this shot taken outside the Arnhem museum, of an old chaps hand feeding the deers so I could get a good shot of them. Nothing beats the kindness of strangers when in different lands I think. That touched my heart.

Of course it was Halloween at the end of the month and I did the usual thing of swapping treats for a photo when they knocked on the door.

November saw Sophie and I off to Jarrow Hall and the Bede Museum. They have an outdoor medieval village and Sophie tried her hand at grinding flour for bread.

We also did a long walk around the Rising Sun nature reserve, but man was it windy and cold!

I did a B&W project for 30 days too.

December has been switching between very cold and very mild, and Sophie and I went off to an open day at the 17th century Guild Hall in Newcastle, afterwards we watched the sunset over the Bridges and got some lush photo’s of it.

We also went to the Camel Parade in South Shields, and as well as camels they had drummers and light walkers on stilts followed by a firework display.

Frego came round to do a fashion shoot with the Orientals.

and we had a Christmas party with our family.

So that’s the end of the year just about. Not a bad one, except for Skye.

Thanks to all who follow this blog, and also to the Fraggles Universe followers ~ you all make blogging a fun thing to do 🙂 so Happy 2018 to all 🥂🍻

And stay tooned!

Thursday Thoughts.

September 14, 2017Posted in Frego, FujiX-T1, landscape, nature, Photography, seascape, UncategorizedTagged beach, Fraggle, Frego, FujiX-T1, nature, Photography, sea, South Shields, thoughts, Thursday, UK, weaponry14 Comments

I knew I should have just done the crossword and the word scrambler in the newspaper this morning, but I went and spoilt it all by reading the news as well, and as always ended up being incensed. Apparently in order to make our way in the world after bloody Brexit, we will be increasing our arms exports internationally. The Defence & security Equipment International (DSEI) event is happening in London and our Defence secretary, Sir Michael Fallon was there doing a talk. We’ve already secured £5.9 billion in defence (I use that word because he did) orders in 2016 and are already the world’s second largest weapons exporter. Well, isn’t that something to be proud of. By 2018 our ‘defence’ budget will be £37 billion. (But we can’t afford pay rises for our public servants, or pay for mental health care). Our new weapons include Dreadnought subs, Apache helicopters, F35’s and frigates. We’re also working to develop artificial intelligence for use in warfare. At least that’s good because real intelligence seems hard to come by. Sir Fallon also told everyone “there are robust safety measures to allow ethical defence exports to flourish, protected by a licensing system to ensure exports are rational and lawful and which guarantees that we do not in the process violate international law, create tensions, promote terrorism or endanger global security”. That should cheer up the civilians being bombed in Yemen with British weaponry supplied to the Saudi’s. The Rohingya muslims currently undergoing ethnic cleansing at the hands of the Burmese military in a training programme by the UK will also breathe a sigh of relief I’m sure. Coincidentally the DSEI is on at the same time as International arms control talks are going on in Geneva, the hypocrisy is staggering.

My country does not look after people, not our own and certainly not anyone else’s. Our considerable research and resources do not go into making the world a better place for anyone anywhere, but we are extremely good at defending ourselves, and subjugating and killing other people, and it was ever thus.

So I took my camera out to the coast at South Shields, my go to place when the world gets me down, and I took Frego with me for company. It was really windy with dramatic skies, but peaceful all the same.

We saw some police horses being excercised

and more weaponry! A Disappearing Gun on Trow Point was first placed there in 1887 when the army were experimenting with coastal defences. The gun was forced down into a pit for re-loading by the recoil after the gun fired, so affording protection to the crew and obscuring the gun from direct enemy fire. The structure was sunk deeply into the ground to accommodate the water upon which the platform rose and fell, actuated by air pressure pumps. Trials of platform took place on 15th and 16th December 1887. It was found that the raising and lowering of the platform was too slow and the system was abandoned in favour of the quicker and cheaper Elswick hydro-pneumatic mounting. The replica gun was installed in 1997. The graffiti not long after!