LeMarchand

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (Cinema) Set 200 years before the OG trilogy, this tells the story of a civil war in Rohan through the eyes of the king's daughter. I'm not a huge fan of anime or Tolkien's writing (never been able to get further than the first LotR book) but loved the movies. I wasn't expecting to enjoy this, but it turned out to be much better than I was expecting. That said, I'd much rather have seen it as live action - though I guess this would have cost around 10x the price. I can't help but feel the trailer above may only have reminded people how much they loved the originals and made them feel the same as me. Worth a look if you're interested but be quick - it's not got a second week at our cinema. That said, expect an early release to streaming.

Rebel Ridge (Netflix) Whilst cycling with a backpack containing over $30k ($10k to bail out his cousin and the rest to buy a pickup for their putative new business) an ex-marine is run off the road by corrupt cops and the cash is seized with little chance of it being able to be reclaimed. So he must use his particular set of skills to try to get at least the bail money back as the clock is ticking because if the cousin ends up in the main prison his chances of survival are low. OK action flick but a bit "A Team" like in that the hero somehow avoids actually killing anyone. The ending is a bit of a damp squib and the title is misleading, though.

You can get wireless HDMI transmitter/receiver kits. Never used one, but there are a few 4+ star ones on Amazon. Most look like they need USB for power. Depending on how big you need the screen, a tablet + the app might be another option. If you're lucky and your TV is connected to the network you might be able to cast from your phone to your TV. Come to think of it, can you get the app on your TV? If not, how about on an Android box?

Can other devices (like her phone) see the SSID? Wondering if the brother has hidden it.

They are aware of the W11 timebomb, but have yet to give me a budget to do anything about it (probably have yet to read my report from months ago!).

I think that I survived the recent rounds of lay offs due to how much it would cost in redundancy. TBH, my wife wants me to take early retirement and it's not my main site so, while I'd rather stay working for as long as possible, if they want to give me a golden handshake it wouldn't be the end of the world. I'm reasonably confident that I could pick up those hours elsewhere if necessary and it would be survivable, as well as giving me more time with the wife, if not.

Good point. TBH, I fully expect this to be one of those things where, once I get some idea of how much people want to get paid to even look, will fall back to me. Then I will be told there is no money!

The whole lot, from network cabling to keyboards and mice. I'm the IT Team and seemingly not, or they don't believe me that many years of "only if it's breaking" replacements mean pretty much everything is outdated. That's a fair agreement, but what worries me is that the "wrong" advisor will try to put in their most expensive kit and/or the rubbish they want to get shot of. Not to mention sell their managed service...

How to make increasingly outdated tech look like even older tech.

Has anyone ever paid an external company to come in, look at the equipment provision and make recommendations on what needs replacing and when? If so, any recommendations, and an idea of cost? I guess my summation wasn't acceptable. I can't help but feel that the head may need to sit down before reading how much getting things up to scratch will cost.

Time to get your inner dwarf on in "The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria", this week's freebie at Epic. Supposed to be better as a co-op.

From Reddit around 3 weeks ago.

Middle clicking a bookmark folder opens all the bookmarks therein. Items 4 and 5 on this list were also new to me: https://zapier.com/blog/windows-middle-click/

Not Dead Yet on Disney+. A journalist stuck with writing the obituaries at a struggling newspaper finds that the ghosts of the people she must write about appear to her. One of those "comfortable" sitcoms that are easy 1/2 hour fillers. 23 episodes over 2 seasons. Nothing amazing - you won't be in tears over its cancellation - but a bit like the televisual equivalent of a mug of hot chocolate. Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Disney+ Watched the first episode. In its favour it wasn't as ponderous as most of the SW TV shows as it played like the Amblin version of the universe. Given that, the prologue was a bit brutal. The lead kid was annoying, though.

I've heard you need to be diligent with your procurement procedure if you don't want to get sued...

I generally enjoyed Discovery. It wore its heart on its sleeve a bit too much, but kept me hooked. Never seen that one, but do have a lot of blockers etc running! Section 31 were first introduced in DS9. It makes sense to me that not everyone would play by the rules in a Marxist utopia, so people who would also not play by the rules would be needed to combat threats. I do agree with this to some extent. Not sure why this is a thing in SF shows as the conclusions rarely live up to the build up, or they try to gloss over things so quickly that the audience doesn't have time to work out it makes no sense. Doctor Who, I'm looking at you!

I don't get it. I'm pretty sure that on the motorway to work I frequently get overtaken by snails.

The "dwarves" comment was in reference to an earlier claim that there wouldn't be dwarves in the movie and that they were being replaced with "seven magical creatures". This may have been prompted by the Daily Fail's unauthorised set pics that showed what were probably the reference stand-ins for the CG crew. As the movie has had a number of reshoots it's also possible that the seven have since been replaced by things closer to the animated version.

Coming on Paramount+ Jan 24.

Alien: Romulus (Mid range rental) Trailer NSFW due to F Bombs Desperate to break free from want amounts to an indentured life in a mining colony, a group of young people plan on salvaging equipment from a ship in near orbit so that they can get to a better life in a different colony. What they don't know is that the ship was a research vessel. For Wayland Yutani. Starring a bunch of up-and-comers including Cailee Spaeny (Pacific Rim: Uprising, Devs, Civil war), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone) and Isabela Merced (Dora the Explorer, Madame Web, Instant Family), who looks like a young Karen Allen in this, along with an extended cameo this is basically "Alien/s: The Greatest Hits" but it works wonderfully. Heresy alert: I think it's probably my favourite "Alien" movie as I found the first a bit overhyped and the second completely overhyped. Well worth a look. Wish I'd seen it theatrically.

Gotta say that trailer isn't selling it to me. The dwarves (are we allowed to say that, or are they still "magical creatures"?) don't look right, and the forest animals are too cartoony. Plus the plot seems to be being changed to make Snow White a more active. Nothing wrong with that but either make it its own thing, or do a remake. Also the mirror lies. Even in that headdress Gal Gadot's beauty is > Rachel Zegler's. If anyone wants a revisionist take on Snow White I'd heartily recommend "Mirror Mirror". It has a beautiful Snow White in Lily Collins who gets to do more than wait for her prince to save her*, actual dwarves (made before Peter Dinklage got famous enough to stir that pot) and a great musical number: *Though more recent revelations suggest that he's more likely to want to eat her.

Did the other trailers use "time" songs? Can't remember but, if not, may it could be a thing: "Time After Time", "If I could Turn Back Time", "Hammer Time" there must be more than enough to cover all seasons.

Rustlers: Sorry, this was the only selling point we could come up with.

Not quite sure how it's going to work, but apparently Paris Has Fallen is set for a second season. The Red King on Alibi. A loner cop (Anjli Mohindra - The Sarah Jane Adventures, The Lazarus Project) is posted to an island where the a strange pagan cult still holds sway. Things seem a little off, but she soon finds herself investigating the murder when the corpse of a presumed missing boy turns up. If you're thinking, "Hang on, isn't this just going to be..." you're not far off the mark but there are enough red herrings and twists to keep it from being a complete remake. Kinda worth a look if the premise sounds interesting., though shame about the murky colour palette. The ending seems pretty final, despite an attempt at a cliffhanger that seems to make no sense until you realise that a second season is planned. Another that makes you wonder how it will work. Although Alibi think it's worth a second season, they don't seem to have bothered to cut together a proper trailer for this one.

This week's Epic offering is the Lego Skywalker Saga.