Monthly Archives: February 2020

Recent Films

Posted on by

Notes on films I’ve recently watched.

1917

Seen at the cinema. Very good but not quite on a par with 2017’s Dunkirk. Like all of these faux-low-cut films, I found myself distracted by looking for the seams between shots. Oddly, I found Cumberbatch’s depressed and nihilistic ‘Colonel Mackenzie’ the most affecting character; what must have it been like to know that you were going to order a good number of the men under your command to their deaths and that the only uncertainly was if it was going to be this week or next?

Bladerunner 2049

A home rewatch. Still very good and, out of the two Bladerunner films, my preferred one. The Harrison Ford segment still creeps up and surprises me by its presence. Better on a huge screen.

Cats

Seen at the cinema. A terrible film – disjointed, oddly paced and full of mushy, uncanny-valley visuals. If I squint really hard I can just about understand why someone might enjoy the stage musical but, having seen the film version, I am in no hurry to see it on the boards.

Jojo rabbit

Seen at the cinema. A well constructed dark comedy with a number of brave turns. As with ‘Under the Skin’ and ‘Lost in Translation’, Scarlett Johansson shows she can do far more than just stand around in a catsuit. It’s probably one that would survive the transition to a small screen without much loss.

Flash Gordon

A home rewatch of a cult classic. Still campy, cheesy fun with an excellent soundtrack. This is probably the first time I’ve seen it sober this millennium.

Masters of the Universe

A home rewatch. Better than I expected but still very much a product of it’s time – it’s certainly not high art. Both Dolph Lundgren and Frank Langella ham it up well. I suspect that there’s a fun drinking game to be paired with it.

Tags

Posted on by

More site potterings; I have now implemented blog post tagging with jekyll-archives and some hacked together template pages. A list of all tags can be found here and each post will have links to it’s own peer group at the bottom of the post in question.

Glass Works: The Late January Update

Posted on by

After my early January update, I had not planned on doing another of these until mid-February (at the earliest!). However, given the current pace of construction and the discovery of several new viewing location, I have had a change of heart.

Right click on the plan image and open in a new window to see a larger version.

The south-west entrance taken from the Cheapside Hill. Very little has happed over the last month and this unit appears to be waiting for it’s external cladding and glazing to be installed.

The south-west entrance with a better view of the canopy structure that will protect the pedestrian concourse form the elements.

The roof of the previous building taken from the Alhambra Centre’s rooftop carpark. To the right you can see the structure of the new carpark.

The new car park peaks over the top of the old. I believe that this has topped out and that there are no additional floors to be added.

The new car park. The core of the structure appears to be complete however the floors have yet to be installed.

The new Glassworks car park taken from the north-east end of the Alhambra Centre car park. It is significantly taller than anything in the immediate area.

A composite image taken from the Alhambra Centre car park entrance on Lambra Road. With the new structure, Lambra Road is significantly more canyon-like than before.

The east end of the car park and the centre frame for the car parks’ access rotunda.

The car park and rotunda. The car park access road will branch from Lambra Road at roughly the point where the left blue site offices are. This branch will also serve as access to the shopping centre’s goods access road.

The future bowling alley and restaurants from the west end of Kendray Street. In the past month the steel work has crept west across the site and the first elements of the Eldon Street frontage have been installed. Passage along Kendray Street towards the Interchange has also been reduced to a narrow pedestrian walkway.

A closeup of the bowling alley and restaurants’ structure from Kendray Street.

The east end of the bowling alley and restaurants’ structure. This area has now been closed to taxis and will, in the future, be landscaped as a pedestrian area at the west end of the new railway footbridge. The taxi rank will be retained (to the right) on Midland Street with the taxis returning along Midland Street to their destination.

Facing south along Midland Street. To the left is the Interchange. To the right is the structure of the new bowling alley and restaurant complex. Behind is the cinema, shopping centre, and carpark.

The north end of the cinema. This was taken approximately where the former junction to Midland Street from Kendray Street was located.

The north end of the cinema with the future access road to the left.

Panorama taken from the pedestrian footbridge over the railway.

From left to right:

  • Access road.
  • Cinema
  • Public square (now partially obscured by the cinema)
  • Phase one’s library.
  • Bowling alley and restaurant complex.
  • Interchange.

The future square and shops – taken from about half way along Kendray Street. Like the shops on Cheapside, there has been very little change here over the past month.

The cinema, square and shops from the west end of Kendray Street. Now that the cinema has started to reach it’s final high you can see just how enclosed the square will be.

A ‘Henry Boot Construction’ information board as displayed on Kendray Street.