Really haven't been here in forever

Life is a bitch, but awesome at the same time - Which basically keeps the balance equal all at the same time I suppose.

What have I been doing in the...3 and a half months since I was last here I hear...Hopefully someone ask...

Well, I've got college sorted out and my new subjects for me going back at enf of August, I've being overlooked by the lovely NHS and everything now I have 'ME' or 'Chronic Fatigue Syndrome' - But I don't care, my mum's after referals and stuff but we'll see what happens, I think i'll be able to cope okay now I understand myself more and know to stop whatever I'm doing when I feel too tired - Before I get to the dizzy/faint from tiredness stage and such.

Other stuff happening is I've got my social life back..Which is just AWESOME! It gives me such an adrenaline boost and it's so much fun.

And me and my mates make so many plans and suggestions - And I'm determined to do them all - I say within reason because I'm of course not 'better' - But I've decided not to let anything stop me by making me think 'oh I can't do this' when if I'm determined enough I can, and I am like a clinical planner, so by the time everything starts to happen I will be prepared for every eventuality. Plans in particular is Glastonbury 2008, but even if something did happen - Like me blacking out, I wouldn't be too worried, I'll be with my best friends who I trust completely and such and I wouldn't really be travelling round the field on my own if I was on the verge anyway.

Okay. So what's prompted me to revive this - And do I still want to be a journalist?

To answer the second question first: Yes!

But English and History, the subjects I'm focusing on, lead down so many different career paths that you just have to see what happens further down the line, but to be a journalist or radio broadcaster, or something like that would just be amazing still.

And as for the first question - My friend. And she doesn't even realise it. It's all to do with fashion, and I just feel like there's a lot to be said and done that isn't - Or maybe has been said but isn't getting done. And if anyone's stumbled on here and is confused, don't worry I'll be posting an article explaining all soon, right now my adrenaline has officially worn off, I'm dead, and going to sleep...

Most pedantic man of the year award goes to...

Photo from www.bbc.co.uk

Jeremy Clarkson!

He truly is the most pedantic person ever - As a lot of you will know, he announced not long ago in The Sun that even though the continuity announcer had said after their last episode in the current series, that Top Gear would be back in the summer - It won't be.

Thus sparking a whole load of controversy - Is Top Gear canceled? Is Jeremy Clarkson leaving? Is Clarkson just messing with us?

Answer - A little of the latter and quite a lot of secret option D - Top Gear is back in the summer but only as a one off special. The actual new series doesn't start until Autumn 2007.

I think Clarkson really enjoys pointing out these little mistakes...I feel a little sorry for the continuity announcer - He makes one tiny mistake and Jeremy pounces on it and makes a big national story of it.

Ah well, what else can we expect from Mr Clarkson really? Anyway - At least it means Top Gear's future and that of Clarkson, Hammond and May is fine and so all is good with the world...Except the longer we have to wait for each new series, the longer those on the ticket waiting list (me included) will have to wait to go to one of the recordings...

Political correctness takes the bacon

Photo from www.ardnamushrooms.co.uk

First of all; Apologies to the terrriblepun - If it even can be called that... And now on to the story. Okay, so I had BBC 5 Live on in the background the other night, when suddenly they mention Honley C of E Primary and Kirklees - Kirklees is the name of our local government and Honley is two villages over from me. I went to Honley High - Would have gone to the primary too but there was a clerical mixup and I lost my place...

Anyway, I instantly turn up the radio and turn up the sound wondering why on earth Honley C of E would be mentioned on a national radio station. Turns out the school is putting on a play for the parents. Okay, so nothing new there - It's a dramatizization of the story the Three Little Pigs....Again - Nothing strange there.

But the school had made the decision that the play the 'Three Little Pigs' would be insensitive to Muslims because they don't eat pigs, and of course in the story the wolf tries to, so instead of pigs it would be the... 'Three Little Puppies'...For heavens sake!

That has got to be one of the most idiotic things I have ever heard in my life! For a start Honley Primary is a Church of England school, meaning it's a Christian school - So technically there should be no Muslims there to be offended in the first place!

That said, my C of E in the next village over had about half a dozen Muslim students when I was there, as well as some Jewish and an odd Jehovah's witness - The school bent over backwards to not offend them and kind of forgot it was supposed to teach Christianity...We never even read from the Bible - Just some good morals and ethics book.

Anyway, the 'best' part of this story has got to be the fact that nobody even complained about it being called the Three Little Pigs, plus a man who phoned in because he was Muslim himself said that the idea anyone from his religion would be offended by the story was just not true.

5 Live then interviewed a member of Kirlees council who said the decision was all the school's own decision, and had nothing to do with them.

Actually no - the story's 'best' part is that about ten minutes after the interview with the 'man from Kirklees' a statement was issued that Honley wouldn't be changing the pigs to puppies after all. Probably because they got told off for being so idiotic.

I must admit when they first started talking about changing the pigs to puppies i couldn't think why they would do that - The only reason I came up with was that fat people were somehow offended - The Muslim/Kosher aspect didn't even enter in my mind at all.

I suppose now is when I should write a summing up paragraph about the state of education today and the problems/stupidity of excessive political correctness..But I think the story kind of speaks for itself...

YouTube is getting sued

Picture from www.youtube.com

You Tube and it's parent company Google are being sued with a £517 million lawsuit ($1 billion) by Viacom for copyright infringement of the clips available on You Tube for people to watch for free.

For those who don't know Viacom is the US media company that owns MTV and Comedy Central, and today they filed the law suit in New York, bringing the copyright argument between Viacom and Google to a head.

Viacom claims that they own the rights to over 160 thousand illegally uploaded clips on YouTube, and have being demanding for months that pirated clips are removed - Along with several other high profile companies such as Disney, Time Warner, and ABC.

I also read on Guardian.co.uk that Viacom released a statement attacking You Tube, saying it had; "built a lucrative business out of exploiting the devotion of fans to others' creative works in order to enrich itself and its corporate parent Google.''

I think that the whole thing is getting slightly out of hand now, I mean surely a line should be drawn on what is and isn't copyright infringement? Sure all those copyrighted music videos and tv show clips are uploaded, but in a lot of cases you can't actually buy them on dvd or people have being recommended a show and want to see what it's like first.

Also, with YouTube you are only viewing the clips, it's not designed as a watch and download site, so it's more like a large TV station with hundreds of chanels you can choose to watch than anything. If all these clips keep being removed I think it will it just mean less advertising for the companies in general and a huge increase on illegal downloads.

Plus I don't see a lot of these companies creating YouTube accounts and putting the clips up themselves - Sure CBS has an account and uploads things, but not like whole episodes or movies, etc... Of things that won't be released to DVD or haven't yet.

Anyway, I don't believe that YouTube 'exploits the devotion of fans', I think it's up to the people who own the copyright to help make their material accessable in the first place, so if it exploits anything, it's the weakness of the companies to supply for the demand in the changing technological world, etc... But that's just my opinion.


To read the full story go to Times Online or Guardian.co.uk.

Stories I missed reporting on part 1...

Photo from www.celebrity-gossip.net (edit by me)

On Friday 23rd of February in Amsterdam at Hugh Grant's Dutch premire of Music & Lyrics - Where a woman jumped out from the crowd and handcuffed herself to him, where she stayed for ten minutes till she was cut free by firemen and hauled off to the local police station.

The woman - Cielke Sijben, a Dutch journalist wasn't a mad stalker fan or anything. She did it as part of a stunt organised by her and her crew from Dutch network 101 tv. They wanted to see if Cielke could walk down the red carpet with Hugh, so decided handcuffs were the way to go, because if she just dashed over and took his arm, body guards would easly haul her away.

Cielke didn't actually think they could do it (otherwise she would have dressed up for the occasion) but thought she'd try anyway, so was suprised how easy it was to reach Hugh and slap on the cuffs.

She introduced herself and explained, etc... So as to not worry Hugh too much, and when she was cut free she was taken off to the police station, but wasn't actually charged.

I got most of the story from Cielke herself from when she appeared on BBC radio station 5 Live to talk about it, though additional information came from starpulse.

I don't think doing what she did makes her a maniac as such (who wouldn't want to walk down the red carpet with a celebrity?) and if she had asked they probably would have said no - even for a publicity stunt, afterall celebrities and journalists in general don't have that great a relationship.

No, in my opinion the only thing that posibly be a bit mad is that she chose Hugh Grant - No offence to him of course, it's just I can think of a few celebrities I'd much rather handuff myself to on the red carpet, (not that that is really my style of course though) and no, I'm not going to give examples...

What did you find in your inbox this morning?

Okay, so I didn't quite keep my promise from Tuesday, or post the review of life on mars, but I don't think any one's really reading them - If I get a couple of requests I will, otherwise I'll leave it.

So, onto today. I opened up an inbox to find a forwarded email from one of my friends, I don't usually read them because, well - They are almost always those damn chain mail things like send this to 10 people in the next five minutes or you will have a cursed love life, or will get visited at midnight by the dead girl in the closet with a knife, etc...

Anyway, I was bored, so I opened it - And I was pleasantly surprised, and it made me giggle - So I've decided to copy and paste it for you guys to read too:

THEY WALK AMONG US

Some guy bought a new fridge for his house. To get rid of his old fridge, he put it in his front yard and hung a sign on it saying: "Free to good home. You want it, you take it." For three days the fridge sat there without even one person looking twice at it. He eventually decided that people were too un-trusting of this deal. It looked too good to be true, so he changed the sign to read: "Fridge for sale $50." The next day someone stole it.

One day I was walking down the beach with some friends when someone shouted...."Look at that dead bird!" Someone looked up at the sky and said... "where???"

While looking at a house, my brother asked the real estate agent which direction was north because, he explained, he didn't want the sun waking him up every morning. She asked, "Does the sun rise in the north?" When my brother explained that the sun rises in the east, and has for sometime, she shook her head and said, "Oh, I don't keep up with that stuff."

I used to work in technical support for a 24/7 call center. One day I got a call from an individual who asked what hours the call center was open. I told him, "The number you dialed is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week." He responded, "Is that Eastern or Pacific time?" Wanting to end the call quickly, I said, "Uh, Pacific".

My colleague and I were eating our lunch in our cafeteria, when we overheard one of the administrative assistants talking about the sunburn she got on her weekend drive to the shore. She drove down in a convertible, but, "didn't think she'd get sunburned because the car was moving."

My sister has a lifesaving tool in her car it's designed to cut through a seat belt if she gets trapped. She keeps it in the trunk...

My friends and I were on a beer run and noticed that the cases were discounted 10%. Since it was a big party, we bought 2 cases. The cashier multiplied 2 times 10% and gave us a 20% di scount.... (maybe I should have bought 10 cases)

I couldn't find my luggage at the airport baggage area. So I went to the lost luggage office and told the woman there that my bags never showed up. She smiled and told me not to worry because she was a trained professional and I was in good hands. "Now," she asked me, "has your plane arrived yet?"...

While working at a pizza parlor I observed a man ordering a small pizza to go. He appeared to be alone and the cook asked him if he would like it cut into 4 pieces or 6. He thought about it for some time before responding. "Just cut it into 4 pieces; I don't think I'm hungry enough to eat 6 pieces."

Yep, they walk among us
AND they reproduce!

Not dead yet!

Hey everyone, I'm still alive and interested in my blog, though wow it's been a long time since i've posted! I apologise for that, (almost two weeks to be exact) and I've missed commenting on a few stories I've come across in the meantime which I'm annoyed about, so will have a recent newstory round up of the best ones tomorrow.

But I do have a relativly good excuse for not posting for so long - That thing some people know as 'real life'.

From Thursday 22nd of February to Sunday my little cousin (12) was staying over, and with him being here, and sleeping on the floor of my room, it was impossible to be able to concentrate long enough to post once - let alone every day, due to the fact he seems to have the mental age of about 6, so he wouldn't leave me alone, and kept closing my programs, stealing the mouse, pulling on the keyboard, writing gibberish, jumping on me, turning off my computer from the power button, etc... And he refused to treat me as an authoritive figure/adult because I'm 17 - so in his mind just a kid, so telling him off/hitting him round the head/banning him from watching a dvd/me reading to him/whatever else he wanted, etc... but that would do either nothing to stop him misbehaving, or make him go into a full blown tantrum.


The reason I'm explaining this is because it has hit on an (I think) interesting subject. I say this because I know several children, (mostly boys) around the 11-13 pre-teen age who act as if they are half the age they are - & the one common factor between all of them is the fact their parents had them late in life. Which makes me wonder if it's not just coincidence, but more a behavioural and mental pattern due to how a lot of parents in their early to mid (and in some case even late) 40's raise their children and how the chirldren in turn react to their parents when they become more aware of things like the fact their parents are much older than their friend's parents, etc...
But I'll save that article/discussion/debate, call it what you will for later in the week.

Anyway, on Sunday night my useless immune system got hit by a virus, so considering the fact I was ill to begin with, getting a fever, throwing up, hallucinating (pretty whacked out ones too), sneezing and coughing, (also setting off my tonsillitus) wasn't the best thing to happen...But got rid of that now, except for my cough which has stuck around with the tonsillitus.

And finally, the past couple of days didn't have time to post as I was busy planning a week trip to Cleveland, Ohio in America with one of my best friends in July. Yes - Not one of the most obvious tourist spots in the states, but one of my other friends is moving out there on March 12th, so it's a chance to see her, and there's a gig we want to see in Lakeside on while we're there. Reason for telling you that is because i'll be doing a diary on the trip when it happens, and also a few articles in relation to planning it. (Not least a few rants on certain policies in some/all of the American states.. And then there's the little matter of 'Amendment 2', but not going to go into that now...)

Okay, so that's pretty much me up to date, thank you all my readers, and especially those who leave comments, and sorry for not replying to some of the comments left on or after the 21st of Frb that I wasn't able to reply to, and i'll try and catch up on all your blogs within the next couple of days.

Is Jackson's star treatment to blame for a woman's death?

Picture from www.michael-jackson.com

On Friday, the family of Manuela Gomez Ruiz told "Good Morning America" A show on ABC how on February 15th 2006, their mother who was in a Californian hospital after suffering a heart attack was moved from the primary trauma room to a smaller room in the hospital to make way for Michael Jackson who was being admitted with flu-like symptoms. Mrs Ruiz who was 74 had two more heart attacks the following day and died whilst Mr Jackson was discharged on the 16th.

Family members of Mrs Ruiz are appalled at the treatment her grandmother was given just because Michael Jackson was a celebrity and are planning to sue both Marian Medical Centre and Mr Jackson himself for being to blame for her suffering the second and third heart attacks which led to her death.

The hospital said due to legal restrictions couldn't comment on Mrs Ruiz's case in particular, but did say:
"We are confident, however, that our patients have and continue to receive high-quality, compassionate and timely care."

A statement from Michael Jackson's publicist Raymone Bain deny's the accusation, saying that the singer offers his condolences to Mrs Ruiz's family but also:
"It is outrageous that Michael Jackson's name would be invoked into a situation of which he had no authority or control... He was a patient himself."

Well, it seems to me trouble and lawsuits are following Michael Jackson wherever he goes, but this is kind of getting into murky territory. There's no doubt in my mind that celebrities like Jackson do get special treatment, even when they are being blacklisted - Michael actually went into hospital during the start of his child molestation trial, stalling procedures. (Some say on purpose.)

However, can Michael be blamed if the hospital made the decision themselves to move Mrs Ruiz, because we don't know certain facts like whether or not Jackson demanded star treatment during his overnight stay as a patient.

Then there's the question of whether or not Mrs Ruiz suffered the extra heart attacks in response of being moved, or if she was still going to die regardless. So as I said, it is really murky territory.

My sympathy goes out to Mrs Ruiz's family, and I'm not saying if they do file charges that they are doing it for the money, a lot of people can't take the fact that it was just their loved one's time to go, so start looking for scapegoats.

But even though I am not a fan of Jackson, I do think it rather interesting that it took Mrs Ruiz's family just over a year to speak out on the matter...

Full story found on courttv.com.

Life On Mars S2E2 (Contains episode spoilers)

Photo Copyright of www.timetravelreview.com and the BBC

I have to say, I think this is the best Life On Mars episode yet. Partly because it doesn't overly focus on events surrounding Sam being stuck in the past. Except for the newspaper switch about 7 or 8 minutes in, and then the phonecall near the end. Instead it was a much more physiological and character based episode, which I don't think we get to see enough of. Especially not for Gene, not that properly explores his character like this did.

The episode starts off simply, Sam, Chris and Ray are moving Dickie Fingers, a safe cracker from prison back to the station to ask more questions about a few robberies he was involved in. A van gives chase, and a gang of armed men run the police car off the road (not that Chris's driving did them any favours) and the men take Dickie.

Arnold Malone is their number one suspect for robberies that have being happening in the area for years. However Malone tips them off about the next robbery.

Another plot is that one of the first black police officers is transferred to the station - And he also happens to be Sam's mentor. Sam due to a little time shifting or whatever the writers want to call it, knows Glenn Fletcher is dead back in the present, but is surprised to see him back working along side him. But is even more surprised how weak and scared of challenging ideas he is, so sets about trying to give Glenn some back bone and be the first to change how people treat Black officers and racism in general - So pushes him to be the man Sam learnt from when he first became an officer.

Back with Dickie Fingers they find him red handed and question him. But Dickie instead of dropping Malone in it, points the finger at Superintendent Harry Woolf, the officer who happens to be presiding over the case and has been trying to get Malone sent down for years. Not to mention the fact that he's Gene's mentor...

As I said before I really did like this episode, I thought the dynamic between Sam and his will-be mentor and being disappointed, mirrored with Gene and his past mentor and still being disappointed was very well done, and the showdown scene as it were with all four was just brilliantly done.

I especially loved the camera angles as Gene's arm shook with holding the gun, and Sam was stood in the background, watching seeing what he would do. Because in a way I think Gene and Sam kind of mentor each other and are great friends, as the final scene in the pub helped to show.

There was a bit of humour in the episode, mostly from Annie and Chris - Such as Annie half threatening to shoot Gene after being refused gun training, and Chris forgetting whether they were staking out a Post Office or a bank.

However it was still a mostly character based episode and touched on both police corruption and racism within the force, but in a way that didn't seem too trivial.

I think my favourite moment for me was at the end when Gene said that even after everything Woolf had done, he would still stand by him when he died of cancer in a few months. It would have been all too easy for Gene to just hate him and walk away, which he would have being doing really had he let Woolf escape, but he proved he was a better man by not letting him get away with it, and proving it again by sticking with Woolf to the end.

Life On Mars isn't on next week so the next review for it will be in two weeks time.

Ah, don't you just love irony?

As I said in the lovely titled 'Blog Babies' post, I mentioned that I had submitted my site to various site engines and such, to try and 'build traffic' and I have got a few readers *waves little flag* though I highly doubt any advertising had anything to do - Like Ron says it's all down to connecting and communicating and other words excecutives in expensive suits use in meetings.

Anyway, so It's been nearly a week since I did that, and I was bored, so I searched my name on Google to see what came up, and I took a print screen of the first few results, - As you can see...And my blog doesn't come up - Not even further down but that doesn't matter. I just thought it was pretty ironic that the first and forth posts on the page were both links to a post I wrote on the help group about the things you can do to help advertise your blog.

And here's the link to said post for reference I suppose.

Most useless documentary maker ever

Okay so i'll explain the situation.

On my estate one of the split level bungalows is being taken down and replaced with 3 two storey houses with roof space. I decided this would be an interesting project to film and get reactions from the builders and residents, then put a spin on it from a more general point of view about housing development and such.

Okay?

Simple.

Errrr not really. My mum is 100% against the building development and has being trying to stop it. She failed but nevermind. I personally don't know what I think, I'm on the fence - Or I would be if they hadn't pulled that down this morning along with the house's garage.

So anyway I just need to go down with the camera and talk to the builders - Easy peasy right? Again no.

I am really not that confident and I am pretty paranoid, so I thought I'd work my way up to that so would do some test shots looking down on the site from the back garden. So I did that, and the angles were rubbish so I deleted them.

My mum got pretty obsessed about them blocking the road, cue me sitting in the sitting room in the window taking photographs for her that I can't use because they aren't related to what I'm trying to get across in my documentary, and there's the glare of the window so they are...Well really crap.

Then someone got out a camera and started taking pictures back - Equals me freaking out, mum having a go at me and me throwing the camera at mum, mum dropping the camera, me getting blamed for mum being the worst catcher in the world, and then getting banned from using the camera.

Then the builders come up, and are naturally pretty pissed at the photography, mum yelled at them about various things she's not happy with to do with the site in general, then said I was trying to do a documentary (Cheers mum for putting all the blame on me when I didn't want to take anything inside in the first place) So I come down and explain as best I can what I'm trying to achieve and that I'm not that most confident of people, (Ha! Understatement of the year) and if I go and talk to them direct they won't mind. But now I'm tempted to just scrap the whole thing, I mean due to paranoidness I'll still be afraid of all the builders.

And now children, I think the lesson for the day is - Don't listen to my mum, and don't ever hire me to do a documentary, I'll probably get arrested...Or committed to a psych ward...

British teenagers & gangs targeted by new gun laws

Picture copyright of

http://www.brentbrain.org.uk

As I scanned the headlines on the web, a story from Times Online stuck out in my head. It was about how Tony Blair has today announced that the government will be reviewing the laws and proposals for crimes involving guns, in particular making the minimum age someone can go to prison for being in pocession of a firearm 17 rather than 21 as it is now. - So as to discourage gangs from giving younger members guns.

The full story as reported can be found here.

Now, I totally agree that a crackdown on gun crime in the UK is the way to go, especially in the light of the rising amount of gun crime in London in recent weeks. However in the article Mr Blair is quoted as saying:

“It is about a specific problem within a specific criminal culture to do with guns and gangs, which doesn’t make it any less serious, incidentally, but I think it’s important therefore that we address that actual issue. How do we make sure that these groups of young people within these specific criminal cultures, who are getting into gangs at an early age and using guns, how do we clamp down on them very hard and provide solutions for that?”

I'm sorry but I really don't believe it's just a few misguided teenagers entering into gangs causing the problems - What about those smuggling them in in the first place, or manufacturing them here. Then there's the theives and drug racketeers, etc... It's not just people joinging gangs at a young age who are 'packing heat'.

But the fact remains that this is Britain, not America - Nobody should be packing heat except possibly special branches of the police.

It is probably easy to tell I am not Tony Blair's biggest fan, but I do agree with what he's doing, I just don't like the fact that he's putting all the blame onto today's youth, and not admitting that maybe if his labour government had been more tough on immigration and smuggling laws - As well as actually having a decent policy of 'Education! Education! Education!' like he was always banging on about, then maybe there wouldn't be any major problem with gangs now.

Tony Blair isn't even admitting that the plans to review the UK's gun laws have come because of the sudden influx of gun crime and murders hitting the headlines (Most occuring in London) in the past month or so. Because I'm pretty sure that if they hadn't happened, or more specifically hadn't happened in such a closed time period, Tony Blair wouldn't have made that announcement.

After reading the article I went on good old Google and I found the below chart from this page on the BBC news site.
Ok, technically this doesn't go up to 2006/7, but it does prove that Labour didn't do much to put a stop to the crimes being committed with firearms over their first term in power - Not that the figures the Tories left behind were great either.

I think today is actually one of the first times Tony Blair has properly and publically addressed the problem in any form, and even though I have no evidence in front of me to back this up, judging by the chart on my left, the gun crime figures for the present can only be even higher.

Now I don't know what those of you reading think about the story, or of the opinions and conclusions I have drawn from it, but I'm interested in hearing what others think, so leave a comment and tell me.

Is 'Back In Business' the business?

Poster copyright of "Back In Business" & New Light Films

On Wednesday when I was in Manchester I went to see an all British low budget movie called 'Back In Business' It's only showing in the Apollo cinemas, so not many across the UK.

I should should probably start by explaining a bit more about the film;

Will Spencer (Martin Kemp), a middle aged aristocrat who in his younger days would pull governmental scams with his acting buddy and partner in crime Tom Marks (Chris Barrie). Over the years the two have lost contact but Will and his neice Fiona (Joanna Taylor), who works as head of marketing at the British Space Centre have a plan. - To scam the Russian and Chinese governments for millions of dollars for making them believe they can have Britain's new space buggy "Explorer" - A triumph in technology that could save the world from the looming energy crisis. So they approach Travis (Stefan Booth), Tom's accident prone but computer whizz son to get Tom on board. Soon the team set their scam underway - Just three problems:

1. The Chinese and Russians won't hand over the money until they get Explorer.

2. Jarvis (Dennis Waterman), An ex police officer who has worked as Will's butler since Will lost him his job, however even after all these years Jarvis is still trying to pin something on him.

3. The Explorer hasn't actually being built yet - The British have the plans, but never made the Explorer due to lack of funds...So the gang have to build their own using the plans.

Ok, so what did I think of this all British movie made to encapture the real heart of British cinema at it's best?

Answer - Not a lot.

I am almost ashamed to say that it grated with me quite a bit - That's not to say I didn't enjoy it, because I did, and I found myself sniggering quite a lot at various things. But on the whole it wasn't that slick;

I hated the chopped up camera shots - When interesting action like the breaking into the space centre, etc... happened, the shots would peal off into 2, 3 or 4 different shots which split up the action and at times made it confusing to clearly follow what was going on.

There were places where the acting lacked too - The chemistry needed in a couple of father/son scenes with Tom and Travis could have been more convincing, and there's one particular scene that just had me cringing and audibly groaning in my seat. Basically Tom as a master of disguise is pretending to be the head of the Explorer space project Trevor Pilkinton (Brian Blessed), when in the meeting with the chinese. However it is actually Brian himself in the chair, with Chris Barrie's voice lip synced. Easily the worst and most unconvincing part of the film for me - despite the sillyness of the plot on a whole.

However I do like the way the cast worked together on the whole, as well as general sillyness of the plot - It was a bit like a spoof of Mission Impossible, and in it's own way the movie is really sweet and charming. As are a couple of the subplots - Like Travis wanting to be a full member of the team instead of just being there because he's Tom's son and is good with computers - He wants to prove his worth, and there's also a slight romantic interest between Fiona and Travis which is very understated and I think suits the movie well in that way.

I don't know how long this film will stay at the cinemas as it hasn't been doing very well, and is barely advertised, but if you live near an Apollo, and fancy seeing something a bit different then I certainly won't discourage anyone from seeing it, - in fact it was a nice movie to see to pass the time, and I give it 7/10 after weighing up the various factors such as budget, cast, plot, how much the bits that grated with me distrupted my enjoyment of the film, etc... Though admittedly I did have to give it an extra point just for the sheer comedic value of seeing the talented Chris Barrie dance around in a banana costume and later appear in Queen of England drag...

Additional: Back In Business is being released on DVD with a few extras on March 17th so if you don't fancy seeing/can't see it at the cinema, you can pre-order it here.

Official Back In Business Site Apollo Cinema Listings Teaser Trailer

Blog babies

Okay, so obviously I've not been a blogger for very long, but already I've realised it's a lot like having a baby. And you think your baby is better than everybody else's. So because of that you want to give it the best start in life - Advertising it on the forums, submitting it to all the search engines and basically giving your little blog a nice big fan base and hopefully some rankings.

Bit of a bad analogy but it does fit, and I do admit - I've been submitting my to various places. And I've looked around a few people's blogs - Not posted much on the forums. Mainly because I don't want to act like a newbie going "Come read my blog - pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaase!" - No offence to anyone of course but that's not my style.

I do still want people to read of course and tell me what they think. But because they want to instead of me begging. But then it all comes back to advertising really.

I'm thinking of building a links section for other blogs that I've read and enjoyed, but I'm not sure when I'll get that set up. Been feeling less great than I usually do so the last couple of days I've been shying away from stuff - which I'm now kicking myself for of course, I've decided to try and do one of those daily goal list things, so I get my side projects finished sometime before the next millennium, whilst making sure I'm not neglecting my little blog baby...Yeah, I'm gonna stop calling it that for a start...

What *is* she wearing?

Yesterday I left the comfort of my bed and went across to Manchester to see my friend Bex, her sister Vix, and go see a movie. Okay, so it doesn't sound that thrilling - But considering I haven't had that much of a social life lately it is a semi big deal.

The movie we saw - Back In Business, I'll talk about later in a review attempt but for now I'd like to concentrate on something that was the topic of conversation for most of yesterday afternoon while we were looking round the shops:

Fashion.

It seems to have become a huge part of our culture, without us (or at least me) even realising it. But I'm notso sure if that's such a good thing. Everyone being obsessed about what they are wearing. Sure there's supposedly clothes to suit everyone, but how easy is it to get them when they all have +£50 price tags on?

I personally like a range of stuff - from Soho type cult clothes to Next and Monsoon, but my tastes don't particually stray too far into goth land or the girly-girl type stuff. I have a balance. Technically though most of my clothes are just plain jeans, baggy tops and arty shirts - Mostly because the clothes I would like to have more of are just so expensive.

Bad fashion is also very popular right now, but I suppose this is getting into an opinion thing. Honestly though, those grey stripy hot pant things or tiny skirts with lycra leggings/tights, then those tube type grey smocks and tiny jackets that end roughly at the same line as your bra does - Why do people even want to wear them?

Because it's cool apparently. And why is it cool? Because fashion models and companies tell us it is I suppose. I don't actually know if I'd suit clothes like those I described in the previous paragraph - One thing's for certain though. You'll never catch me finding out...

However I don't kow if I suit some of the styles I do like either. Because when I'm looking round the shops I feel like such a fraud as I know I can't afford them, so I chicken out of trying them on.

My mum wants to have a girly day out in Manchester soon, just me and her - Go see a movie, show her the clothes I like then maybe treat me to a couple of things, make note of other styles then come back and design/make my own.

Though that sounds cheap, making my own clothes the way I want them does preserve originality. Which a lot of people seem to have lost since everybody is buying the same things. Yesterday I saw at least half a dozen people wearing the same black and white coat, and hundreds in the smocks, leggings and hot pants - And it wasn't exactly a boiling hot day so it's a wonder everyone wasn't freezing...Unless the blue hypothermia look is in this year and I've just not being told.

Now I wouldn't say I'm fat - I mean, I'm 5ft 1, weigh just over 7 stone, and my shoe size is about 3.5. So I'm a size 8, sometimes a 6 and very occasionally a 10. But when I do have the courage to try some clothes on, I still feel semi ugly and wrong. But that's not me - It's the fault of the designers who just seem to be making clothes to fit their 5 ft 9 models who are the perfect size 0 - So in other words people who are anorexic, bulimic or freaks of nature the celebrity way.

I just wish that I could walk into a shop to buy some trousers or jeans and not have to have them turned up when I get home, or I look at a really nice and for a change affordable top, and not have to leave it on the rack because the designer has stupidly decided that someone my shape is going to have a natural bust that will fit into their otherwise gorgeous top. Is that so much to ask?

I think not. But then I'm just a normal customer with a natural figure and not a lot of money - What on earth would I know about fashion?

Life On Mars is back on BBC1

Photo Copyright of www.timetravelreview.com and the BBC

Just like the title says, and I for one was certainly not let down. I know I should be going into more detail but I'm really at a loss for words. For one thing Marc Warren's cameo as Tony Crane was just so creepily good. Though that fur coat he wore did make him look more than a little pimpish.

One big change you notice is the dynamic between Gene and Sam - In a twist of irony it is the 70's coppers doing everything by the book while Sam is trying to fit Crane up any which way he can to stop him from being able to commit crimes he knows Crane is going to do in the future.

I have to admit a lot of last series is a bit of a haze now, but that gives me an excuse to watch the series again so I'm not complaining. However, one thing that does stick out in my memory due to the pure creepyness factor is that girl from the BBC testscreen, and the whistling in tonight's episode has a similar effect.

One problem I do have with Life On Mars though, is that while it is a fantastic 70's cop drama, it can sometimes be hard as a viewer to believe in all the back in time, or back in a coma business considering just how real and gritty the rest of the show is - It's not like Life On Mars is any real sci-fi show, it's supposed to be real within our own physical laws and reality. But at the same time I guess that just adds to the charm and originality of the show.

On another note, I could see the ending coming - Not the ending where Sam got that phone call about his predicament being a 'job' of course - I'm talking about how he got rid of Tony Crane - Like all cutting edge and smoothly done shows nowerdays they don't include little extra scenes like the 'stringer/stinger' scene and to some extent the scene where that man was getting sent to a padded cell, without it meaning something to the plot later on. Then Sam goes and tells Tony 'the truth' and you kinda know that that is going to come back later and bite one of them in a very sensitive place - And as we're only on episode one, it's kinda obvious that it's not going to be Sam.

All in all a very enjoyable episode with good support acting and as usual more fantastic one liners than I can mention - A great start to the new series in my opinion and I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest pans out, as well as finding out how the writers have decided to end the series - Though all I can say on that front is that I'm glad I'm not responsible for the final episode, but I of course have no problem in watching and seeing what brains much more brilliant than mine have decided to do.

Episode Two is of course now airing on BBC4, but I think one ranty episode 'review' is enough for now, besides - I don't want to spoil my Tuesday evening for next week.

Paranoia Is Power

There's a few classic dreams aren't there? The naked in a crowded place one which causes maximum embarrisment for a start. I must admit I've never had that dream, but last night I had one that to me is worse, and it could in the not too distant future come true.

It was today and I had come on to write a review for series two, episode one of Life On Mars - which I will be doing at 10pm. Anyway, there was a comment for my first post and I can't remember the entire comment but it basically it said this:

"I don't agree. I think you should stop trying to be something you're not. I know I wouldn't want to open the paper and read things written by some pathetic wannabe who whines about how hard everything is and acts like a child. So just give up now."

I know it was just a dream, but it still made me feel very paranoid - What if people really will think like this about my writing? Though I always will get some critisism I guess - Everybody does. I'll just have to toughen up and treat this as a learning experience - Never listen to the paranoid voices in my head.

Diving into the world of blogs

Okay, well it's a dark, rainy evening on Monday the 12th February 2007, and I am writing the first entry in this, my new biography-log thing or blog. I suppose everyone has a story on how or why they got a blog, so here's mine:

I am trying to break into journalism, and to be honest from where i'm sitting right now it seems like the only way i'm going to realistically manage that is if I actually broke into an editor's office and demanded a job at gun point...Which would probably put me in the spotlight, but not really for the right reasons.

In September 2006 I started at Greenhead College in Huddersfield with the plan of joining the college paper and doing some other journalism related enrichment courses to help me gather experience and connections that would help me be taken on for work experience in the summer at a local paper and thus help me prepare for the NCTJ prelim certificate.

Unfortuantly life has a habit of tripping you up and screwing up all your plans, and now i'm stuck at home on a year out, feeling ill and dizzy a lot of the time and the only noteable experience I've gained so far is what I've learnt on my hospital visits, which is basically - Receptionists are rude, porters are hypocrites, and if there was really a fire nobody would have a clue what to do and everyone would die.

Right now I feel totally useless, and though I've written an odd piece for my friend Bex's college paper, it doesn't feel like I've achieved anything this year so far, and more specifically - Won't at all.

My mum says to just relax and concentrate on getting well, but I am going insane, I just have to write and do something!

So that's why the other night I was researching online journalism courses, and I came up with a couple that sounded really good - But I can't do the hands on experience yet eventhough I'm not really doing anything (so infuriating) and each course is so expensive - I have a really poor income right now and there is now way I can spend £395 on the 6 months - 2 year course, and then £36 on 6 exams - however much I would like to...Plus I don't hold much faith in my shorthand ability but that is another problem I'll just have to deal with in time.

So I came to the conclusion I'll just have to wait till I'm back at college and my life is back on track as it were (though where that track is eventually going to lead I have no idea) for me to do anything about getting qualifications, but that doesn't stop me becoming a freelance journalist, working from home.

But I started thinking - Am I technically freelance when all I have to show is a just begun blog site and a couple of articles in someone else's college magazine? To be honest I have no idea, but if any editorial was willing to approach me with a job offer I certianly wouldn't be turning it down!

I do have a few things I could do though to try and prevent this year from being a total loss though:

1. Sign up officially with a site that represents freelance journalists. The most promising that I've seen will cost me £35 a year plus VAT, which doesn't seem bad at all, but I'll have to mull that one over a bit more.

2. Get in touch with my mum's friend Marion who has a DJing spot at Holme Valley Hospital, and see if I can do a music/talk show slot once a week for a couple of hours - I should be ok to do it, and it will be good practice. Plus I can see just how well I work in a media environment that is vocal because I do have a lisp which makes me a little unsure.

3. Get in early with learning shorthand. This will be no easy feat but I promise to try.

4. Pass my driving theory - Mum has actually banned me from trying to pass my actual driving test, in case I pass out and cause a pile up on the A64 or something...I see her point.

5. Try and get people interested in my blog so I can write my articles and thoughts, post them here and know people will read them instead of me just talking to myself - To be honest I don't care about money or anything, I'd just like to know that even if I'm not writing anything in a local paper or magazine, that my voice is still being heard and my opinions and stories might mean something to some of you out there in cyberland.

I feel like I've probably just written the longest post of absolute ranting rubbish ever, but after re-reading it I stand by every word, so I suppose that makes me either very honest, or possibly pretentious...I think I'll leave up to anyone reading to decide...