Test Screening Squared

I attended the 5th London Festival of Science Fiction & Fantastic Film today.

I saw a test screening of Captain Eager & the Mark of Voth, starring Tasmin Greig who has also starred in Doctor Who, Black Books, Green Wing & The Archers. She co-stars with Mark Heap, who also on-screen with her in Green Wing as well as playing characters in Brass Eye, Stressed Eric, Happiness, and Charlie & the Chocolate Factory.

The film is a 50s B movie pastiche. Think of the eponymous hero as Flash Gordon in Red Dwarf with the look of Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow, as directed by Ed Wood. It was filled with jerky effects and plastic sets. We were warned that a scene was missing, replaced with a caption, saying "Crowd scene" and there was a cardboard dog as they hadn't raised the money to send him into space, yet. The plot concerns the middle-aged hero who hadn't changed whilst the Universe had moved on - seemingly recalled for one, last mission.

The director, Simon Davison, took questions at the end and handed out a questionnaire asking the audience's opinions of the characters and acts of the film. I asked him what was his biggest challenge in making the film. He replied that it was finding the money, especially as the tax-relief status of film investment was being tightened up whilst the film was being made.

I enjoyed the film and thought the CGI was excellent for the limited budget.

I also saw a test screening of Intergalactic Combat. It's a wireless martial arts film with an alien background. The plot has aliens landing on the Earth and inviting the planet to join the galactic federation but there's a catch. The planet has to send fighters to compete in a tournament. The film was made as a trailer for a TV series so it's focused on the qualifying rounds to select British fighters, who would then battle international opponents to represent the planet. However, there are terrestrial and extraterrestrial shenanigans.

The martial arts action is realistic with a variety of styles demonstrated, set against the gritty urban-scapes of East London. However, there were too many characters (to introduce them for the TV series) and the film lost the plot in the 2nd half whilst it fitted in the bouts. The action replaced dialogue and character development. I thought the film had lots of interesting ideas and it too, had excellent CGI.

Its director, Ray Brady, also took questions. I also asked him what the biggest challenge was (apart from finding money) and he replied it was keeping staff who kept being lured to Eastenders or better-paying martial arts films.

A Spanish audience member unjustly complained the film was just Martian arts with SF-elements added at the end. I thought there was enough SF in it and Ray Brady said that if the TV series was commissioned, there would be more SF content. Overall, I thought the film was OK as a pilot and look forward to the series.

I also saw the UK Premiere of The Place Promised in our Early Days directed by Makato Shinkai who made the acclaimed short, Voices of a Distant Star, which featured the consequences of the speed of light limit on space communications.

His full-length film had 2 students building a jet to fly to a mysterious tower in Hokkaido, which had been partioned by the mysterious Union. I'm not sure if the Union was Russian, Korean or Chinese. The film had excellent visuals but was rather slow moving and had an underwhelming finale.

Fast financial feedback

After attending an interview for a financial planner, I asked how long they would take to tell me I was being invited to a 2nd interview. The interviwer replied there and then that he was going to invite me to a second interview. Of course, this verbal offer is not worth the paper it's not written on.

Unfortunately, the interview won't be till June - I will have to decide if I want to assist the teaching of English in Japan before then.

Heard on the Box: Insult of the Year

"I couldn't care less if Tuan gets fired. He's quite nondescript" - Michelle on the Apprentice.

We don't need no assistant

The day after I attended my interview for an Assistant Project Manager, I received a phone rejection stating that they were looking for a fully qualified Project Manager and they found one, so there was no need for an Assistant Project Manger to be trained up.

However, he said if they were looking for an assistant, I would have been offered the job.

Goes nowhere

2 days after attending the multi-day interview at a chain of private Japanese English-language schools, I received a phone call rejection. Apparently, I wasn't genki enough.

Looks they want me to Botox my smile in place and have a lobotomy to find things so hilarious that I laugh inanely every 2 minutes - like the teacher in their demonstration video.

Past Perfect Beatles

I went to day 1 of my 2.5 day-long interview at a chain of private language schools for an English-teaching job in Japan.

We were given a test that had the bizarre combination of grammar and general knowledge. The latter section included questions on astronomy, music, sport, geography, history and politics.

Of the 13 of us being interviewed, I and 2 others passed.

In a further strange development, the other 10 were told that they could have another go tomorrow. As we successful 3 left, the others huddled together to compile the test questions.

Video made a radio star

-with apologies to The Buggles.

I have just heard BBC Radio 4's Front Row arts programme review 2 video games.

I was shocked!!

The BBC rarely mentions video games and it's good to see this form of entertainment treated as seriously as plays, books & films. The men from the Beeb even played the games on air.

On the rare occasions it does mention video games, it's usually in the context of excessive sex or violence with calls for banning or censorship, usually with an emotional topping of "games caused murder of my X".

This time the games involved the less controversial subject of musicmaking as they were Guitar Hero for the Playstation 2 and Electroplankton for the Nintendo DS.

I was fortunate enough that Pochan briefly relinquished his strangle-hold on the eponymous instrument of Guitar Hero to let me have a go. You gain points by pressing buttons corresponding to notes from guitar anthems. I enjoyed the experience more than playing air guitar.

The BBC's reviewer failed to complete Blood on the Water whereas Pochan leapt into the High Score table with a 50K+ score, showing-off his Star Power (TM).

You can Listen Again to the programme anytime until next Tuesday's programme.

Enervating Employment Enquiries

Today, I woke up and commuted 1 metre to work in my home/office and did the following:

1. Responding to an email, I arranged a phone interview with a Dutch company for an 8am chat on 20 April about a product control engineer vacancy.
   
2. Responding to an email, I phoned a to re-arrange a flesh interview for a risk management consultant vacancy to 28 April.
3. Responding to an email, I phoned to re-arrange a deferred (as I was travelling in Asia in March) 2.5 day long interview at a chain of private language schools for an English-teaching job in Japan.
4. Responding to a snail mail shortlisting offer letter, I phoned to arrange a medical exam for a job at an Assistant (English) Language teacher at Japanese government schools.
   
5. Responding to a lack of email, I phoned a FCMG company to find out if they had been assessing my Supply Chain application form. I had to complete it online but their faulty system did not enable me to finalise it so I had to resort to sending a PDF file of my form to their "Enquiry@Careers.X" email address. Their HR person said that had my application form but hadn't got around to sending me a confirmation email.
   
6. I phoned a financial services employment agency to find out if they had any suitable vacancies but was told to keeping sending my CV in to any vacancies I was interested in.
7. I completed a utility company's online application form for a Commercial management trainee vacancy by giving answers to their Superhero questions ie describe a time when you flew faster than a speeding bullet, leapt a tall building, etc.
   
8. Responding to a lack of snail mail, I was phoned up by an industrial company to reveal why I hadn't accepted their job offer as a project planner yet. I told them I had only received it today. The HR person tried to intimidate me into giving a verbal acceptance followed by an immediate written confirmation. I refused saying their offer gave me 30 days to accept. He asked me why I wasn't going to accept it now. I replied that I was waiting for other offers. He claimed that the job offer wasn't my first choice. I countered saying that it and other potential offers had advantages and disadvantages. He threatened me with images of "frustrated managers" if I didn't agree although he back-pedalled saying that a slow acceptance wouldn't have adverse consequences. He asked me when I would make a decision and I replied I would do so ASAP and within the 30 days they had given me to accept. He then said I shouldn't have been given 30 days but 14 days but that was his colleagues' faulty policy.

Over the weekend after I finish my interview (3), I plan to:

1. Research and produce a presentation for my Assistant Project Manager interview on 24 April at a university entitled, “What makes a successful research – intensive university?”. Well, I haven't a clue but I think being 700 years old helps. Alas, my pontential employer is only about 1/5 as old.
   
2. Prepare for an interview on 27 April as a financial planner at an accountancy firm.
   

Looking for a job is a full-time job.

Unfortunately, none of the above options is my dream job but perhaps I have to grow up and give up dreams. Unfortunately, I've learnt the hard way that doing work that is different from what I had been told I would be getting / have been doing or is far from ideal works out very badly in the end.

Smell Colin Farrell

The BBC reports that Colin Farrell is starring in "The New World" and Japanese cinemas will be wafting 7 fragances during performances. Love scenes will be floral; Sadness will be peppermint and rosemary.

The fragrance-emitting machines can be programmed with software to emit smells for other films. They're also being sold to homes for ₤510.

Overhead on a Bus: Men

Man: "What's your phone number?"
Woman: "I don't give my number to strange men"
Man: "Men!? I'm not a man. Men go on about beer, curry & who's going to win the Premiership."

It's all Greek

Overheard whilst watching QVC, the shopping porn channel:

"You're from the town of Greece."

Hot texts

The Times reports that Hotxt is a newly-launched cheap text service (less than 1p each for subscribers to text each other). It's co-founded by Doug Richard, one of the entrepreneurs who gave advice to would-be entrepreneurs pitching for money on Dragons’ Den on BBC Two.

Almost Autistic

After reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, I suspected I was a borderline Asperger's Syndrome (AS) sufferer, which is a mild version of autism or, more precisely, autism without the language delays.

So, I push-buttoned the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) test created by Simon Baron-Cohen and et al. at Cambridge's Autism Research Centre and got a score of 26 which is between the control group score of 16 and the autism threshold of 32 (which 80% of the autistic reach or breach). Hence, my self-diagnosis may be right. Their paper in Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 31, 5-17 (2001), also claims their test:

"replicates....earlier studies finding a link between autism spectrum conditions and occupations / skills in maths, physics & engineering."

Also:

"Our recent single case studies of very high achieving mathematicians, physicists, and computer scientists with AS show that this condition need not be any obstacle to achieving the highest levels in these fields."

So, that's all right then.

What about their performance in other areas?