Music That Made My Noughties Part Three

The last half of the decade was, musically, a wasteland for me...



Wild Dances - Ruslana



Hung Up - Madonna



Boys Boys Boys - Lady Gaga



Pretender - Foo Fighters



Bulletproof - La Roux



Danzing - Verka Serduchka



Même Si - Lucie Silvas & Grégory Lemarchal

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Music That Made My Noughties Part Two

World Of Our Own - Westlife



Everyway That I Can - Sertab Erener



Leave Right Now - Will Young



All The Things She Said - t.A.T.u



Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back) - Eamon




Heaven (acoustic) - DJ Sammy. Reminds me of Jim so much.


This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

Music That Made My Noughties Part One

Toca's Miracle - Fragma



Disposable Teens - Marilyn Manson



Taste In Men - Placebo



"Can't Get You out of My Head" - Kylie



Gotta Get Thru This - Daniel Bedingfield


This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

999 "Please help, I'm STUPID!"

Yes it's that time of the year again... for silly 999 calls. Man stuck on patch of ice on path. Woman annoyed by playful kitten. Check them out here

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

Avatar

There's been a lot of people moaning about Avatar's "simplistic" story. Well I'm sure these same people turn their noses up at the great myths of humanity from Greek through Native American. Those too are simple stories but also enduring ones which still continue to thrill and entertain us to this day. There's nothing wrong with a simple story when expertly told and in Avatar this is done with skill.

Avatar is, without a doubt, the most visually stunning film I've ever seen. I was concerned, very concerned hence the delay in seeing it, that the mixture of CGI and real actors was going to be jarring and distracting. I needn't have worried. This is the Jurassic Park of this generation, seamlessly merging reality and fiction to the point where you can't see the joins. And this film comes with a message, a simple and straightforward one about greed and our relationship with the world around us be it others or nature.

This film has the emotion, the cinematography and je ne suis quoi to make it well up on my top ten list of all time. I cannot be complimentary enough on this one.

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

Doctor Who 4.17 The End Of Time Part One

If you read Doctor Who forums you'll find there is a significant minority of Whovians who hate this episode. I, for once, am not one of them. The episode see's the return of the Master, Wilf, Donna and... THE TIME LORDS! I think anything could be forgiven for those last two minutes where they are revealed. Awesome! But the rest of the episode has it's good points too. John Simm plays the Master extremely well, showing us his obvious insanity in grim/hilarious detail. Wilf and the Doctor are both great as they play melancholy characters and the Doctor crying as he tells Wilf he is going to die is EXCELLENT. Seeing Donna again is always good and I hope we see more of her next episode.

The plot... well the plot was the sort of thing you'd find in Marvel Comics in the early 80s. Silly, weird but ultimately alright.

The episode reminded me a lot of Survival (the last story of the original run) with it's grim reality of a down and out London where it's hard to find a smile or a job. It was far more realistic than the end of series 4 trilogy that was just pants. I hope that the follow up episode is as dramatic, exciting and funny as it needs to be in order to give the Tenth Doctor a good send off. It'll be sad to see David Tennant go but if they do it right it won't be all that bad!

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Leader Debates: Healthy For Democracy?

For many years the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition have been very important positions in our land. They are flattered and insulted in our press depending on the political mood and looked to as leaders. That goes without saying really doesn't it?

But despite these natural developments, our system is not a Presidential one. Well, at least, it shouldn't be. The Prime Minister should be the "First Among Many", working with powerful allies in their Cabinet to carry out the business of Government. That's how it should be. But these days, and I suppose (with a brief exception for the Major years) since the days of Thatcher, our system has begun to tend towards making the Prime Minister all powerful and destroying the power of the House of Commons in the process. Once the House was littered with rebels, strong orators and those of an individual character. But now, as all attention turns to the Prime Minister at the expense of all others, they have seemingly disappeared.

Now we have the much heralded leader debates, that shall precede our impending General Election. Here the leaders (of those parties carefully selected by the media, of course... can't have the crazies rocking the boat!) will appear groomed and rehearsed to engage in a game of political jousting little seen outside of PMQs. It shall be so much fluff, and these extra Parliamentary debates will no doubt be low brow stuff, aimed at the less intelligent voters with soundbites and easy to digest "policies" (for which read: things we'll change later). And all it shall serve to do is to allow the Prime Ministerial position to take on ever more characteristics of a President in the American style.

This will only encourage people to blindly vote by Party preference for candidates they don't know, just because they like their leader.

This is wrong! We must speak out in defence of our Parliament, of our representatives, in defence of our very way of being. The Prime Minister will always be top dog, but they must never become supreme. It's time the Government got off our telly's and back into the Houses. It's time for leader debates to be kept in Parliament where other Members can intercede and hold the leaders to account.

Grr.... Parliament needs to act, and act soon, to stop the Westminster way from becoming extinct!

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Extremist Nationalist Organisations Linked To BNP: No Surprise There!

The Herald is reporting Scottish Defence League members having BNP connections despite the BNP banning such things.

As I've reported before, nationalist organisations having links to racist parties are ten a penny. Just look at the English Democrats and their England First Party friends, reported during the European Elections earlier this year.

Nationalism and racism don't need to go together, even an old fashioned Unionist like myself can admit that, it's just sad that they usually seem to. Well sad for the nationalists... ammunition for those of us who believe in a united, progressive future.

Fight the fascists, the racists and the nationalists who seek to destroy our tolerant country and create a white version of the Taliban, hellbent on creating a fixed, inflexible culture. Down with religious fundamentalists. Down with racist scum. Down with all who wish to impose their way of life on others.

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For The Flag

This country is full of, so-called, "patriots". Most of them don't even appear not know which country they are in (i.e. the United Kingdom NOT England) but regardless of that I'm flabbergasted at the disrespect these people show to even their own flags.

There's a pub near me, thankfully closing down soon, called the Royal George. Outside they fly, quelle and surprise, the St George's flag. Now I'm putting aside my unionism for this post so no insults from me here. But these flags are shabby, dirty and ill cared for. I have to ask: why bother? What is the point of making a big show of having flags, things which most countries have laws protecting how they are displayed, and then not caring for them. It's hardly patriotic, but based on my travels around London and Kent the flags there are actually far better than some. I've been past some pubs that actually have HOLES in their flags.

The same was true for the Greenwich Police Station who, until recently, was flying a dirty, holed Union flag. This is a Government body, and they can't even fly a decent looking flag. If there was some deeply interesting history behind the flag, perhaps they can be forgiven, but I doubt that was the case.

I know, we don't have a tradition of respecting our flags like America does nor do we have any rules or regulations governing civilian use of flags. In fact the Union flag isn't even, officially, the flag of the country (it is officially a flag of the monarch). But still... if one is to claim to be patriotic (which I think flying a flag is a statement of) why don't people care for them more?

Let's look at two examples from yesterdays "English" "Defence" League protest.

Firstly we have a bizarrely featured Union flag. Let us first ignore the strange juxtaposition of "English" and "Union flag" and instead focus on how they are holding that flag. Surely, if these folks are so passionate about their country, they would be treating the flag a little less like a "Happy Birthday" banner flying off a motorway bridge?

Then we have these rather delightful fellows holding DEFACED St George's flags. These people need to learn about flag poles. But then again this might involve some sort of education which they are clearly lacking.

Despite my rather irrational, and rabid, dislike for the St. George's flag, I'm not looking forward to the World Cup. Around that time people will drape St George's flags out their windows onto dirty walls, hang them from their cars and generally cause me to grow increasingly angry at their obviously FAUX patriotism.

I know, this is very petty stuff. But this a blog and a blog's main raison d'etre is the petty stuff not fit to print! Honestly folks... if you are going to do something, at least do it properly!!

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist