Bloodlands is a police procedural set in Ireland.
Intense with unexpected twists and turns.
Veteran detective Tom Brannick is still looking for his wife who disappeared 20 years earlier. Her possible assassin, code-named Goliath, might be back.
It’s well done. But too dark for me to continue to season 2.
Also, there’s no character I particularly like.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
A new upgrade to my life is this lightweight minimalist wallet.
It carries only 2 cards (driver’s licence & credit) along with some emergency cash.
I don’t attach it to a phone. Instead I keep it in a a dedicated zippered card pocket which most of my pants and shorts feature.
What I like best is using it as a phone kickstand.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
As a teenager I loved Follett’s World War II thriller, “Eye of the Needle” (1974).
Follett got even more famous writing historical fiction: Kingsbridge Series ➙ Century Trilogy.
In 2021 he published a geopolitical thriller — Never. Quite a departure.
Never is set in today’s world.
The sprawling saga is a fictionalized story of our world stumbling towards a nuclear war that nobody wants.
It begins in the Sahara Desert. Islamic terrorists, drugs and human trafficking.
The American President Pauline Green is a 4′ 11″ Republican. A former gymnast. Of course she’s challenged on the right by a Trumpy populist. Top of the American agenda is a revolt in North Korea. Rebel military have seized the nuclear weapons.
A high-ranking Chinese Intelligence official offers insight into the mindset of that superpower.
This book is terrifying as you can see how a nuclear war could start. In fact, I’m affected enough to no longer want to travel to Taiwan or Korea for hiking. They are both too close to nuclear attack.
As always, Follett writes great love stories. It’s the human stories that separate his work from other authors.
Click PLAY or watch an interview on YouTube.
Another book with a similar plot is 2034: A Novel of the Next World War (2021).
I pretty much like any and every British murder mystery TV show.
I picked this show at random out of dozens of options.
And I enjoyed it though the only character that really appeals is Bailey Patrick as Rob Brady. He’s got the look.
Jennie Jacques as Amber Saunders, a street person, is well done too. A well crafted performance.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
One reason I bought the Trek Checkpoint was to be able to cycle more rugged trails with a fully loaded touring bike.
How did that work out for me?
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I’ve experimented with many tripods over the past 2 years. CRITICAL gear as I mostly travel solo and want to take photos and videos of myself while adventuring.
Weight and volume are super important. I can take them all on some bikepacking trips. But for hiking, I usually only take two of the smallest. All of these tripods can hold any of my 3 small cameras.
My favourite is the Miggo Splat. Super tough. Very reliable. BUT I did manage to break one.
Even better — but not as durable — is the Fotopro uFO 2.
Like the Splat, it can wrap around fence posts, tree branches, almost anything.
Least likely to make a hiking or bikepacking trip is my Neewer 56 inches/142 centimeters tripod. It’s good — but 2.73 pounds/1.24 kilograms is often too heavy.
I’m not much of a selfie stick guy, but the new-to-me 3m / 9ft Insta360 Extended Edition Selfie Stick has me intrigued. I MIGHT even end up getting one of their expensive Action Cameras.
I’ll often take it along despite the 365gm / 12.8oz load.
I bought the lightest JOBY GorillaPod I could. Only 325 Grams. But it’s pretty flimsy for anything more than a phone camera. I’ve never had much luck with JOBY. Those arms break easily.
So far I’m really liking my new DJI Mini SE drone. Until I crash it 🤔 … drone footage can replace tripod for long establishing shots.
Shooting video of yourself when alone can be tricky. Here’s how I’m doing it, so far.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
As my low end DJI Mini SE has NO OBSTACLE AVOIDANCE, I wanted to see how difficult it would be to shoot in the trees. 🤔
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Still good — but not as good as earlier Christie, in my opinion.
The Big Four is a secret international crime cartel with 4 leaders who want to dominate the world.
Claude Darrell, known as the Destroyer, is worst of the worst. He dies when their hidden lair of the Four explodes — or did he?
Perhaps the book seemed less precise because it evolved out of 12 short stories.
Others speculate that this novel was assembled at a low point in Christie’s life. She was arguing with her husband. They were soon to be divorced.
In fact, at one point in 1926 she disappeared for weeks. More than a thousand police officers, 15,000 volunteers, and several aeroplanes searched the rural landscape near where her car was found.
Eventually she was discovered in a hotel under an assumed name.
When I get fed up with dark, heavy TV shows I switch back to charmingly hilarious Doc Martin.
Doc is grouchy, abrupt, and lacks social skills. His direct, emotionless manner offends many of the villagers, made worse by his invariably unpleasant responses to their ignorant, often foolish, comments.
None of the townsfolk can understand why the lovely Louisa Glasson (Caroline Catz) has his baby — and then tries to marry him. Twice.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Rick McCharles 