kingandy | Beds and Rangers

Yesterday myself and

ghostbritain both bought "backpacker" airbeds and battery-powered pumps from a camping shop. Having had a quick go, I have found that the pump is almost but not entirely incompatible with the bed. Rather than having a single large nozzle, the bed is structured like a lilo, with six separate sections that need to be inflated separately, and each has a smaller nozzle, again in the style of a lilo. These nozzles are far too small to fit the adapter on the pump - they're clearly mouth nozzles. After some experimentation I found that the pump's vent fits over the nozzle without the adapter in, which will probably save me a few lungfulls of air, but the whole process is enormously fiddly. I will probably be trying to get hold of a proper airbed before Maelstrom...

In other news, I finally got around to watching Power Rangers: The Movie. It's, yeah, okay. The plot is a fairly standard one for Power Rangers (the Upgrade Needed To Thwart Villain plot, Temporary Substitute Powers variation, with a side-serving of Ninja), the effects are mid-to-high for the period, dialogue is clunky but functional. Cinematography is a great improvement on a standard episode, with the increased budget allowing for more sweeps, pans and general camera motion on effects shots. The movie has, however, won me over with a single element - the "For Emergency Use Only" button. Yellow Ranger smashes the glass, slams the button - and the Megazord knees its grappling opponent in the crotch. Sure, they're fighting another giant robot, who theoretically has no gonads, but it's the idea that the Power Rangers Fight With Honour except in emergencies that just cracks me up. So, overall, I enjoyed it. The painfully obvious CGI Zord fight is still a lot of fun, and the brightly-coloured ninja costumes were cool. And after all this time Tommy is still the hot. So a general "Thumbs Up" there.

Is it just me, or were Rocky and Adam a couple?