192 - Break

 Got other things I need to do that are rather more important that this waffle, so I won't be posting for a little while. 

I'm on a break...

191 - Hundred

 So,  mentioned a while back about starting to watch the occasional bit of cricket during the pandemic era... and I expect I will continue to do so, and maybe actually get around to watching a match or two.

And apparently there's a new format of the game coming, based around each team having a limited number of bowls per innings - 100. 

Now, call me a cynic, but I can't see the point of this at all. Whilst I can understand why someone might not want to watch a match lasting five days ending in a draw, I can't see the need for a 100 bowls per side match.

I mean, there's already the T20 matches, where 20 overs - a total of 120 bowls - are played per side. Are there really any people out there who will be thinking "Oh, I couldn't sit through 120 a side, but 100... yeah, that sounds fine."

It just seems superfluous. 

And there's also even shorter formats anyway; there are tournaments with 60 bowls a side. 10 overs. The ones I've seen of these are quite exciting; proper attacking play.

Oh, and that's another thing; this hundred thing is doing away with 6 bowl overs and are having some kind of 10 bowl equivalent. 

Hmm. I dunno...

190 - Jolene

 So, every time I happen to hear Jolene, by Dolly Parton, on the radio - whether this is on Radio 2 or Greatest Hits Radio - I can't help but have the same feeling...

She begging Jolene not to take her man... but surely she should be saying the opposite. Go ahead, Jolene, take my man. But bear in mind that if he's cheated on me with you, he'll probably cheat on you, too. 

And if "her man" is going to cheat on her with Jolene, surely she deserves someone better than him, someone who won't cheat on her and appreciate her for how great she is. 

I dunno...

189 - Angry

 I think that's my word of the day. 

Angry.

Maybe one day I'll tell you why...

But that day is not today.

Sorry.

188 - Vaccine

 So, today's the day when people of my age become eligible to book a Covid-19 vaccine; but I gather the demand has been rather high. I tried to book, but the only locations it showed me were 20+ miles away, and I know there are places a lot closer than that. 

I guess I'll keep on going back to the website to see what pops up, as I'm told that's what you need to do as locations showing fluctuate. Why it can't just show you all the locations close to you, I don't know. It could just say "no available slots - try again" for those close, but unavailable. 

I dunno. 

Still, the time approaches. I won't feel close to being safe until about four weeks after my second shot, though; as I understand it that's when your body's built up the maximum protection it's going to get. 

And I want to feel safer again. 

It can't all go on forever. Something's got to give. 

187 - Rocky

 Flicking through the channels, I see ITV4 is showing Rocky 3. So, being a massive sucker for the Rocky film, of course I watch. 

This is despite the fact it's only in SD, has a flippin' DOG in the top left corner, and has adverts. And yet, just over to my side is a Blu-Ray boxset of six of the Rocky films that I could put on instead...

There's no logic, 

Like I say, I do adore the Rocky films. I had a binge of them last year, one a week over eight weeks, with my son (who was seeing all of them for the first time), and it is a glorious series of movies.

Of course, the first of them is the best. Goes without saying. But the rest are all damn great movies, too. Yes. All of them. Even that one you're going to cite as being a bit rubbish. It's not. It's great. Fine. You disagree. But you're wrong, and you're a grotesquely ugly freak. 

Yes, Rocky 4 doesn't have a second act. 

Yes, there's not a proper fight in Rocky 5. 

Yes, Rocky should be waaaaaaaay too old to fight in Rocky Balboa. 

But, you know what?

Absolutely NONE of that matters. 

It's a glorious series of movies. So much to love. The underdog becoming champion, becoming has been, becoming the inspiration for the next generation. You absolutely feel for Rocky across all eight movies. 

And that's one of the things that's not going to be the same when we get Creed 3; Stallone has said he's not going to be playing Rocky in it. And that's a real shame. I would at least have like to have seen a cameo from Rocky; maybe if it's even just a single scene of Rocky telling Adonis Creed that he's taken him as far as he can, and that he needs someone else to take over. A symbolic passing of the torch. HIs absence will be felt. 

Still, there is the new "director's" cut of Rocky 4 to come; hopefully they'll find that second act. 

As I watch, Rocky 3's getting very close to the point where Mickey's going to die. I would actually say that he's my favourite of all the characters across the 8 movies (I realise this may be sacrilege to some!), as Burgess Meredith is such a damn brilliant actor that I would gladly watch anything he's in. He's a brilliant Penguin in the Batman TV show, and I recall seeing him in a movie of the Steinbeck novel, Of Mice and Men as well. He just gave a brilliant performance in everything he did.

I just love these films...