Official: Life is unfair…

What with St. Ed’s being a school (go figure) it’s a legal requirement that they filter the content that comes into the school from the internet. The internet connection has had it’s ups and downs, unfortunately there has been more of the latter. Internet completely cutting out at the worst time for example. But now I’m fed up: I must be the only person in boarding who can’t get on Facebook. As sad as it sounds, those who don’t board have no idea how boring it gets here. Facebook, at home, is one of my prime sources of entertainment and I can’t use it where I spend most of my life! I have come to the conclusion that I hate school. I hope Uni will be a HELL of a lot better. 3 months, that’s all I have to wait until I finish school FOREVER. That’s right, FOREVER. I feel old and I bet my parents do to!

I’m back…

Hello there, miss me? Didn’t think so :D

I’m back because I thought it best to use this blog for what it was originally created for: A brain dump for my Media Studies work. I’m not saying that that is all I’ll be talking about but I used to find it helpful for my Media work. Thus why I thought that bringing it back for this purpose was a good idea.

So, critical research. Now that I’ve finished my coursework (bar the write-up) and exam stress is at a minimum, this is a good time to concentrate on my research. Here’s a reminder of my question: “How is the perception of Muslims and Islam affected by TV and film?” I have a number of things I can do:

• Re-watch “Shoot On Sight”, a film based on the 2007 London bombings, and analyse how they are treated in and out of the film.
• Re-watch “24 – Season 2″. Season 2 specifically because the antagonist is a Muslim terrorist group.
• Re-watch “Body Of Lies”. A complex story about secret terrorist organisations in the Middle East.
• Explore my own views on the Muslim world, as well as others that have had an experience of living around Muslims.
• (Somehow) talk to real muslims whether or not their lives have been affected by racial prejudice.
• Ask people, who only know Muslims through the Media, what their personal views are.

As you can see, I have a lot on my plate. One question still remains: Where the hell to start?! My instinct would say watch the films first, but Body Of Lies doesn’t come out on DVD until May and I don’t have 24. I need MONEEEEY.

I’ll leave you now for the time being, I think it is safe to assume that I’ll write more often so stay tuned!

An apology

Woah, I haven’t written here in a while… There is a reason, don’t worry. I’ve been caught up in school work really so I haven’t had the chance to keeping a blog up. I’m taking the time now to tell my raving readers (if any) not to expect regular posts for the next five or six weeks because I’m now playing catch-up at school.

I won’t forget about my blog though! I’ll try to write here every now and again :)

Unexpected leave of absence.

I haven’t written here in a while! Sorry, I have no excuse. I suppose my mind has been on other things and I’ve been excited about going home for the week! So yeah I’m at home for half term and life is SWEEEEET. I’m sat here watching Saturday night TV, result! Life can’t get better, really.

So yeah, recent stuff… I saw a few films in the last week, I’ll go from the least impressive to the most. Bolt 3D had a lot going for it: A dog who plays a super dog in a hit TV show but is made to believe that all his powers are real. Now knowing Pixar, who made a robot have feelings in Wall-E and made fish AND cars talk, I thought that this could work. It did, to an extent. It wasn’t as funny as I expected it to be. It started with a really cute sequence in which we see Bolt as a puppy. The way they re-create a dog’s actions and add a bit of human emotion is superb. This is followed by a clip from this TV show which is truly spectacular and quite funny. But when he finds himself in the real world it kind of loses it’s magic… It would be better if the film WAS the TV show if you catch my drift. That way it would be another action packed spectacle like The Incredibles. Now there’s all this hype about seeing films in 3D, I can see why because the quality of the 3D image is stunning. But there is nothing special about it. When you see a 3D film you expect to be confronted by, what seems to be, real objects almost hitting you in the face (if I wanted that I would’ve stayed in school and played pool with George…). But this was just showing a regular film in 3D, there’s no point really. The only thing you get out of it is a sore head and eye strain. 5/10

Now for something more sensible. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button won 3 BAFTAs and has been nominated for 13 Oscars (The Return of the King WON 11) and I can see why. I had my apprehensions about the basic plot: A story about a boy who grows young. I wondered how it could work. But then when I saw it… I honestly don’t know how to describe my reactions… It is possibly one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen. It was touching, it was funny, it was tragic, it was fascinating and it made Abigail cry. From a Media Studies Student’s point of view, it was exceptionally brilliant… Yet so heartbreaking. I thoroughly recommend this film, don’t bother with Bolt because THIS is the one to see! 9/10

There is a God!

I woke up on Monday morning to see a blanket of snow outside my window. Instantly, I thought, “superb, snow day!” And it was!! I was so pleased! My prayers were answered. It was a great day. Snowballs, playing guitar, singing “Shine, Jesus, Shine” with all the right percussion. I was amazed at how much it snowed: Flakes were falling constantly from 6pm on Sunday evening until about 3 in the afternoon on Monday. When it did stop we had at least five inches. Probably the thickest snow I’ve ever seen. Snow… I love the stuff. The other great thing I thought when I saw it that wonderful morning was “There must be some great photo oppourtunities today”. I’m sure you’ll agree with my saying that I had a successful day for photography looking at the new picture in the header. I must apologise for the lack of pictures. I’m having problems with WordPress and I can’t insert pictures…

The heavy snowfall wasn’t the only thing out of the ordinary that happened. George and I were playing pool on Sunday evening, feeling excited about the possibility of a snow day the next day. He threw the cue to me in such a way that butt spun out  of his right hand into my left. I thought that was pretty cool so I returned it to him in the same manner. We ended up throwing it across the length of the common room. You can probably see where this is going! It was bound to hit SOMEONE eventually. Unfortunately, it was my turn… He swung the cue with considerable force and it left his hand with a high speed and spun through the air. I saw it coming towards me, but it was coming STRAIGHT AT ME so I panicked and stood still. I put my hand up just a millisecond too late to find the butt striking me in the face, just next to my right eye. Ouch, but not for long. It really hurt me, well I’d be worried if it didn’t, but when I took my hand away from the wound it was covered in blood. I realised then that I had to go to the infirmary. For some strange and masachistic way, I was laughing?! I have no idea why because it was GUSHING blood and it was all over the side of my face. Perhaps it was a slight concussion… I went over to the infirmary with Chris and Minh. The pain was overcome by the cold, snow and pure shock of my face bleeding! I narrowly escaped having stitches, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be wearing sterry-strips for a while.

Let it snow, let it snow, please for the love of God let it bloody snow!

It’s Sunday, if you hadn’t realised, so that means that the week begins tomorrow. That means that I have school tomorrow. I’m pointing out the obvious (excuse the pun) but the reason I’m doing so is because it might not actually happen! I’m sure you all have faith in mother nature, especially tomorrow because the man on TV says that it’s going to snow HEAVILY during the night and continue through to tomorrow morning. Seeing as St. Edmund’s is at the top of a hill the roads leading up to it will be extraordinarily slippery, thus we will have a snow day. The one thing that every single student at the school prays for every year might just happen tomorrow. Our fingers are crossed with an ice lolly stick between them!

If there’s one thing I hate… Well there are a number of things I hate but this one is more predominant at the moment: Call centres. They make a 30 second job take 3 minutes. For example; I topped up my phone’s credit today, in order to do so I have to call 2345 and follow the instructions. I swear, Vodafone are getting worse… This over the top cheerie voice is telling me about price plans that I can’t have as well as my current one, but I don’t realise this until she tells me RIGHT AT THE END just before I join the new price plan. If that’s an obvious thing to you then forgive my ignorance. After the unnecessary information she tells me the options, three times. Imagine if you had to pay for this service! You’d run out of credit before you type the first digit of the top up voucher! More call centres are coming into my life: The AA Driving School. Every month I have to embark on this lengthy process to buy more tuition hours. Last week I had to call the DSA because, foolishly, I lost my theory test certificate number. I phoned them to get it, which took 15 minutes… I then tried to book my practical test the other day, put my certificate number in and they told me it was wrong… I have to try again when I have the patience.

“Highly disgruntled at this present moment in time…”

Last night was supposed to be judgment day for me, Rhys, John Bish and Mike. As you’ve probably guessed it wasn’t…

Yesterday I woke up with excitement because I was going to Brixton Acadamy that night to die… I mean see the last show of the Kerrang! Relentless tour 2009. Black Tide, Mindless Self Indulgence, Bring Me The Horizon, In Case Of Fire and Dir En Grey were playing so I knew I was in for a rough night. When the time came to enter the queue line there was an unexpected turn of events. A shop alarm went off and there was no-one there to set it off. We were told that there had been a slight power cut in the area. 10 minutes later the same guy came out saying that the power was back but there was no guarantee that the show was going ahead, but they were going to get us inside anyway to keep us warm. So an hour and a half after we were supposed to be in there we made it to the standing area. It was another half an hour later when all the bands came onto the stage… We knew what they were here to do, and it WASN’T to play music. A spokesperson said that due to technical failures they were unable to get the show on the road, thus the show was cancelled. In the words of Dir En Grey: NANDAYOO?!?! I couldn’t believe how unlucky we were and how unlikely that is to happen! I never thought that it would happen to me. We were all “highly disgruntled” as a passer-by said outside the venue after the payload was delivered. The only upside to all this was that I managed to bump into some old friends: Graham (my best friend at St. Bernard’s in Slough before I moved to Riyadh) his girlfriend and Ashleigh (ex-girlfriend but good friend). It was such a huge surprise to see them in BRIXTONof all places! We managed to catch up with each other and talk about his 18th so (almost) all was forgiven.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Friday morning welcomed my last exam of the January session. I went in feeling somewhat under-confident because I share an unusual bond with ICT: I hate it and it hates me, do two hates make a love? I thought to myself, “I’m not expecting to do well in this, so stop fretting and get it over and done with.” I did so, with surprising ease. My ICT teacher, Mr. Fry, agreed with my saying that this lot of ICT exams were easy compared to others. He also said that he reckons that I’ve done better than I think I have. I just hope he’s right, then that’s another June re-take off my list. So my exams are over! That, unfortunately, doesn’t mean that I can’t slack… Ooooh no, not only do I have to do a LOT more Maths work I also have two pieces of coursework on the go which need to be finished… I never thought I’d say this but can I have exams instead?! I haven’t looked at my ICT coursework in just short of two months, thus I have NO idea where I’m at. Fortunately, my Dad was listening to Mr. Fry at parents evening when he was saying that I need to get a clear view of the problem I’m trying to solve. So I have a rough plan. Unfortunately, coursework is like a military operation: things RARELY go according to plan.

That last sentence was from a film I saw recently: Valkyrie with Tom Cruise, Bill Nighy and a few other familiar faces. It’s based on the last of 15 attempts on Adolf Hitler’s life during the second world war. I think I’d call it a gripping, tragic and exceptional display of a side to the Nazis I thought never existed. It was fascinating from the first scene and it was filled with subliminal messages, explosives, tension and superb acting. The only criticism I have against it is that I don’t think Tom Cruise was the best choice for the lead role. Yeah he was great but a Brit would’ve been better. All I can say to you now is: SEE IT!

Just to even things out, I saw a shockingly bad film on Saturday: 30 Days Of Night. I was told that it was a horror and that it was the best vampire film around, boy were they wrong. It’s just another typical American movie with wannabe heroes and people making stupid decisions: “I must sacrifice myself in order let the one I love live, despite the fact that I have no idea how the hell I’m going to make this relationship last seeing as I’m now a vampire…” See what I mean? Not only that, the vampires weren’t actually scary after you see them talk for the first time. The first 30 minutes or so is good because you can’t see them properly. Then all of a sudden, they’ve turned into a civilised race that wants to kill everyone in the town for no reason. In the end it all ends with the ‘hero’, as a vampire, fighting the chief vampire while the rest of them watch! I’m sorry, but due to the apparent ruthless nature of these creatures the one thing they wouldn’t do is watch one helpless human fight their leader. They would descend upon him and rip him to shreds. All in all it’s a bit of a risky storyline to work with, because you know that all the vampires will die when the sun comes up anyway. It makes you think “why are they trying to fight back when they know that in 30 days they’ll all die?” I should’ve directed that film!

A day to be proud to be black.

As, I’m sure, most of you know today saw the United States’ first African-American President being sworn into office. And they said it couldn’t be done, Barack Obama did it. I have a feeling that he will be a powerful yet modest and righteous leader. Good luck to him. But I can’t help but feeling that he won’t last long. If you think about it; there are a number of traditional Americans, if you like, that might think that he doesn’t belong in office because of his skin colour. A horrible and disgusting idea, I know, but you never know… America’s a huge country and there might just be someone who thinks like that.

Recently, I found out that RE is a contradiction in itself. I shall tell you the theory behind my apparent madness: RE is all about learning about the great things of Christianity and God. However, I, along with my fellow peers, think that RE is a long, painful and strenuous way of extracting one’s soul and feeding it to the devil. It is crazy and unnecessary.

My Mum sent me a rather amusing email today. The Darwin Awards 2008: Where the stupid people of the world are comemorated for their contribution to real-life humour. Here it is, prepare for laughs:

1. When his 38-calibre revolver failed to fire at his intended
victim during a hold-up in Long Beach , California , would-be robber
James Elliot did something that can only inspire wonder.  He peered down
the barrel and tried the trigger again. This time it worked.

2. The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a
meat-cutting machine and, after a little shopping around, submitted a claim to his insurance company. The company, expecting negligence, sent out one of its men to have a look for himself.  He tried the machine, and he also lost a finger.  The chef’s claim was approved.

3. A man who shovelled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her.

4. After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus
driver found that the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from Harare to Bulawayo had escaped.  Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies. The deception wasn’t discovered for 3 days.

5. An American teenager was in the hospital recovering from
serious head wounds received from being hit by an oncoming train. When asked how he received the injuries, the lad told police that he was simply trying to see how close he could get his head to a moving train before he was hit.

6. A man walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill on the
counter, and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $ 20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got from the drawer… $15.  [If someone points a gun at you and gives you money, is a crime committed?]

7. Seems an Arkansas guy wanted some beer pretty badly. He
decided that he’d just throw a cinder block through a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run. So he lifted the cinder block and heaved it over his head at the window. The cinder block bounced back and hit the would-be thief on the head, knocking him unconscious. The liquor store window was made of Plexiglas. The whole event was caught on videotape.

8. As a female shopper exited a New York convenience store, a
man grabbed her purse and ran. The clerk called 911  immediately, and the woman was able to give them a detailed description of the snatcher. Within minutes, the police apprehended the snatcher. They put him in the car and drove back to the store. The thief was then taken out of the car and told to stand there for a positive ID. To which he replied, “Yes, officer, that’s her. That’s the lady I stole the purse from.”

9. The Ann Arbor News crime column reported that a man walked into a Burger King in Ypsilanti , Michigan , at 5 A.M., flashed a gun, and demanded cash.  The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn’t open the cash register without a food order.  When the man ordered onion rings, the clerk said they weren’t available for breakfast. The man, frustrated, walked away.  [*A 5-STAR STUPIDITY AWARD WINNER]

10. When a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked on a Seattle street, he got much more than he bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find a very sick man curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage. A police spokesman said that the man admitted to trying to steal gasoline and plugged his siphon hose into the motor home’s sewage tank by mistake.  The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges saying that it was the best laugh he’d ever had.

A blast from the past

My Dad found this and passed it on. I thought it was a nice touch so here goes:

The Best Of 2008:

1. One of my most fondest memories of 2008 was:

Visiting India with the school.

2. One of the most happiest moments for me in 2008 was:

Owning my Staffordshire Uni interview.

3. The best album I downloaded/bought in 2008 was:

Guns ‘N’ Roses: Chinese Democracy.

4. The best book I read in 2008 was:

I don’t read books anymore, unfortunately.

5. The best movie I watched in 2008 was:

Magnolia

6. The most beautiful place I visited in 2008 was:

Key West.

7. The best quote I heard/received in 2008 was:

Too many to specify!

8. The best gadget I bought for myself in 2008 was:

I didn’t buy myself gadgets last year, how depressing…

9. The best web site I came across in 2008 was:

WordPress.com

10. The luckiest moment for me in 2008 was:

 

11. A new food/drink I discovered that I really enjoy:

Deep fried Mahimahi/Sherry.

12. The best restaurant I dinned at in 2008:

Conch Republic Seafood in Key West.

13. The best bargain I picked up in 2008:

6 DVDs for £30!

14. The best blog post I wrote in 2008 was:

I’m a mathematician, get me out of here!

15. A blog I discovered in 2008 which I highly recommend is:

 Best return the favour: bloodymarvellous.wordpress.com

16. The best xmas Christmas present I received in 2008 was:

Laptop!

17. My 2008 addiction was:

 Song-writing.

18. A goal in 2008 that I did not accomplish::

 Play Fagin in the school’s production in Oliver.

19. But that’s okay, because I did accomplish:

 Improving my singing voice.

20. The web site I visited most in 2008:

Facebook… That’s how sad I am…

Now for something hilarious. If you’re bored go to Google, type “find Chuck Norris” and click “I’m Feeling Lucky”. Classic, infinite respect to the guy who did that!