Sorry, but…

I’m kind of glad that Big Brother is about to stop airing. Not least the friend on Facebook who posts anything about Big Brother, or that guy with the really strong accent (methinks he milks it a bit).

I hate the Daily Mail

… and the way it conveys teenagers, racism, bigotry, bad science, and pretty much every news topic this side of Baby P.
Obviously Baby P’s case is atrocious, but the Mail’s constant slagging off of anyone involved gets on my nerves, after… what, 3 words? And this battering ram of opinion hitting you round the face…

Along with the Sun, News Of The World, and every other newspaper. The Daily Sport isn’t even sport.

And on its website, Mail Online, you’ll find the commenters really enjoy hopping upon the high horse. Topics such as ‘Broken britan’ [sic], ‘immigrents’ [sic] and ‘National Heal Servic’ [sic] are regularly discussed. ‘The woman is one of our Nulabour illiterates’, one commenter screams in your face. ‘God help Britain because our children won’t be able to.’

But that comment stood out more than any slanging match between Jordan and Peter, documented as breaking news on the Mail website.

The fact that this man relies upon a non-existent non-entity to fix the world in the absence of ‘our children’ really upset me. He has the arrogance to believe his ‘generation’ is the last to have ‘moral values’ or use ‘proper language’.

We have teenagers interested in science, in maths, in politics, in literature.

Our teenagers are capable of doing anything they could possibly want to.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of people slagging us off.

Please make a stand. Because I’m too lazy to do it myself.

Kthxbai

horrible sounding films of the week: 7 August

I know I haven’t done one of these for about a month, but still.

Two more films that nauseate anyone but the cheesiest of Hollywood producers:

Sandra Bullock stars as Margaret, a high-powered book editor who will walk over anyone to get to the top – not least, her long suffering assistant, Andrew.

So when Margaret faces deportation back to her native Canada, and therefore losing her job, she decides she needs to get married fast – and informs Andrew he is now her official fiancé.

Now, the not so happy couple must persuade everyone that their relationship is real. But Andrews’s parents in Alaska are going to take some convincing!

If you liked ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ and ’27 Dresses’, you’ll love ‘The Proposal’.

‘The Proposal’ – showing at your local cinema.

GOLLY!!!! Another farce. But why does she face deportation? Because she’s a regular “female dog” if you understand me.

But there’s nothing sickening about the description, but the films that it’s likened to – “The Devil Wears Prada” or “27 Dresses” – make you feel queasy at the very least.

Yes, I know the next film is a children’s film. But wait! It’s not Disney!

Neither is it High School Musical 24 (but I thought we could play basketball forever!)

No, this is Bandslam. Still, they’ve taken Vanessa Hudgens out of HSM and dumped her right into this strangely familiar film:

A foot-stomping, laugh-out-loud, music-driven comedy, ‘Bandslam’ tells the story of Charlotte Banks, a talented singer-songwriter.

When Charlotte asks new kid in town Will Burton to manage her new rock band she has only one aim in mind – to beat her musician ex-boyfriend, Ben, in the Battle of the Bands event.

However, to everyone’s surprise, the band begins to develop a great sound – now they have a real chance at success. But when disaster strikes, they must make a choice – admit defeat, or face the music.

If you liked ‘The School of Rock’ and ‘High School Musical’, you’ll love ‘Bandslam’.

‘Bandslam’ – showing at your local cinema.

ANOTHER battle of the bands event? And another talented singer-songwriter? Oh dear, we’re just going to have to capitalise on little girls’ pocket money again. Posters! Badges! Sweets!Aspire to yet another false goal. Don’t worry. I’ve tried it.

So that’s another round of films I’ve not seen but for some reason I can critique.

Prices for an adult Uxbridge Odeon ticket stand at eight pounds twenty – put two quid on to that if you want to sit in a slightly more comfortable seat and not sit with those lower than you.

BYEEEEEEEEEEEE

Horrible Sounding Films of the Week: 6 July.

Haven’t been to my local pictures recently cos there’s mainly studio horrors, studio comedies, and studio thrillers.

Their synopsis of ”The Hangover’ is enough to make you feel sick:

“‘The Hangover’ is a crazy comedy about a bachelor party that goes horribly wrong.
Two days before his wedding, Doug (Justin Bartha) and his three friends head to Vegas, for a weekend they’ll never forget. But after their first night, they wake up with huge headaches and can’t remember a thing. All they know is, the hotel room is trashed and Doug is missing.
Now the trio must find out where things went wrong, find Doug, and get him back to LA in time for his wedding.
But as the hangovers wear off, and their memories return, they realise just how much trouble they are in.
If you liked ‘Wedding Crashers’ and ‘Zack and Miri Make a Porno’, you’ll love ‘The Hangover’.
‘The Hangover’ – showing at your local cinema.”

‘Crazy comedy’. ‘Hotel room…trashed’. ‘Zack and Miri Make a Porno’. Just….. eurgh.

Let’s take another example: Night At The Museum 2. As if the first film wasn’t all cutesy and studio-ey:

“Ben Stiller, returns as a hilarious night watchman Larry Daley in the sequel to the hit film ‘Night at The Museum’. This time Daley is faced with a whole new kind of mayhem inside the world famous Smithsonian Institute!
Packed full of rip-roaring gags and hilarious cameos, ‘Night at the Museum 2′ is a comic treat not to be missed!
If you liked, ‘National Treasure: Book of Secrets’ and ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’, You’ll love ‘Night at the Museum 2′.
‘Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian’ – showing at your local cinema.”

You are not going to sell me a film whereby the producers describe their own film as ‘hit’. Nor are you going to sell me one with Ben Stiller in it.

‘Rip-roaring gags’. ‘Hilarious cameos’. ‘Hilarious night-watchman’.

Errrrr, no.

And also it’s over-priced. Eight pounds twenty for a standard adult ticket. And the popcorn and drink is a fiver.

Pffft. That’s why I haven’t been.

ALAN, changeable weather, a lack of glasses in the house, and Dr Ben Goldacre

Point One. This ALAN, it’s not a person. It’s an exam (Adult Literacy and Numeracy). I took it back in December, and I passed first time. The reason I took it is rather complex. There are seven Maths sets in my school. Sets 1-4 have taken Higher tier Maths GCSE, while 5-7 would have taken the Foundation Tier. I was in set Four. But we took the Higher paper, which gave us a better chance of getting a C, though we may not pass because the maths in the Higher Tier is relatively hard from a Set 4 point of view. So, sets 3 and 4 took this ALAN test, which is worth a GCSE. The idea is to compensate for the GCSE that might have been lost in the Maths Higher Paper. So now to the principle. I was so happy, and so were my classmates, about taking this test. This test came as a good surprise. Now then, proficient set 1 and 2 decided to stick their oar in, and try to take this ALAN test. But a few have gone round annoyed that they have to go in for another exam. Not happy that they have been given an easy GCSE. And it’s not the fact that they have the upper hand again that severely annoys me, but the fact that some are decrying ALAN as a waste of time. Ha, but of course they’re still going to take it. The moral of this rant is: Never dismiss an opportunity that you weren’t entitled to before.

Point Two. Last night we had this rather strong bout of rain, which was nice to sit awake and listen to it at midnight. I don’t know, there’s something comforting about listening to rain from indoors. Hmm.

Point Three. There are few usable glasses in the house, possibly because some of them are broken.

Point Four. I have bought Ben Goldacre’s book Bad Science, and I hope that he doesn’t mind that I give him a paragraph, albeit a very unseen paragraph. Erm, so far I have read up to page 27, and I’ve already learnt about ‘detox’ baths, Hopi ear candles (which sound quite painful) and crafty sales pitches disguised as science. I’m looking forward to the next two-hundred-odd pages. Most of the ‘treatments’ that are investigated in the book are often clever, I’ll give them that, but deceptive and unsatisfying; and since one might pay £10 for one of these odd jiggery- pokery sessions, damaging to the pocket. And jeez, Brain Gym is just total woo. There’s not much you can say about schools’ money being spent on silly exercises when all you really need is water, food and regular breaks. And, erm, I think I’ve done quite well on just that.

Revision

… can go and stick itself in the sticking place.

Currently I’m doing half hourly strikes of maths and english, inbetween little breaks. This is a break.

Aaaaaagggghhhh!

See Crunchynut Gallery for a few pictures of my Dad’s recent gig.

This nanny state is scaring me

On the BBC website, a reporter named Mark Easton regularly analyses current affairs and adds general opinion. However, his news tone is very neutral.

The post talks about a book released in the UK called Nudge. This book is about public behaviour and we can use  alleged psychological ‘nudges’ that, instead of educating blatantly and outright, make subtle attempts at trying to inform or change someone’s behaviour.

Of course, the political plants are gasping to get this book.

Think of it.

It’s probably being done right now without us knowing.

Why should we be subject to such pressure and surveillance, when this ‘should’ be a free country, and we should be able to do as we please without being watched?

Wrap

Today we wrapped, which can be nothing short of a bad thing.
I had quite a nice day today, apart from it raining.

Rain. Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain.
From the moment I stepped out of my front door it started raining.
Rain on the M4.
Rain on the Severn Bridge.
Rain during the night.
Rain during the morning.
And then…
Out of nowhere, a lovely patch of blue sky appeared revealing a fantastic view (pictures coming soon) and my happy side.
Which thankfully, remained unsheathed.
It’s a bit windy now, though.

So, anyway, I had a nice day. The camera crew didn’t, having to suffer multiple camera failures etc, and being way, way off from schedule.

Yes. That’s it.
And I’m coming back home tomorrow, which is nice.
Must go.
Au revoir