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| Monday, July 13th, 2009 | | 5:52 pm |
I'm amused by some vitriol that gets thrown at critics online for not liking films like Transformers ROTF, especially Roger Ebert, for being ivory-tower critics who just hate popular fun films and want everything to be arty... ...cos Ebert gave a good review to the 2007 Transformers film, to five of the seven Star Wars films (and the CGI Clone Wars is the only one he gave under two stars to), Gamera: Guardian Of The Universe*, Evil Dead II, and the first four Star Treks; and is on tape defending Empire Strikes Back as a good film against another critic who claimed it was soulless and kid-destroyed. Whoops! * "How, you may ask, can I possibly prefer this Japanese monster film about a jet-powered turtle to a megabudget solemnity like ``Air Force One''? It has laughable acting, a ludicrous plot, second-rate special effects and dialogue such as, ``Someday, I'll show you around monster-free Tokyo!'' The answer, I think, is that ``Gamera'' is more fun." | | Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 | | 11:17 am |
Warren Ellis says:"We spend a lot of time looking for our spaceships and jet-packs, but – and consider this bit, it gets bigger and weirder the more you think about it – in a matter of days we can genetically sequence a mutant virus that’s jumped the species gap. People try to make an ordinary thing of that. There’s a strong tendency to cast the present day, whenever that may be, as essentially banal and not what was promised. Stop looking for the loud giant stuff. The small marvels surround us." | | Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 | | 11:21 pm |
There is an awesome scene in the Angel ep Five By Five where Faith battles Angel only to end up having an emotional breakdown, taking place in torrential rain and booming thunder. I have since found out that's because it actually started pissing down during the filming, and they decided to keep it for the atmospheric effect. Now THAT'S budgeting. | | Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 | | 5:35 pm |
British Bog-All for British Workers
On Monday, I saw this amazing pledge by Gordon Brown – from January 2010, any under-25 that’s been unemployed for a year will be given a job, work experience, or training placement! Excellent! So on Tuesday I went into the local JobCentre and asked them if I’d be eligible. Funnily enough, it turns out Brown told a bit of a porky. It’s not unemployment per say, you actually have to be claiming benefits for a whole year. Luckily any benefit can count, I can register and just get national insurance contribution (which is all I’m eligible for). But wait! If I leave the country for any reason, the benefits are halted and the clock is reset at zero, and I’d have to wait a year from the day I signed back on. Once I got home, my dad decided to phone up the Department of Work and Pension’s press office to check this. The nice woman at the other end agreed to most of it, but as far as she knew the clock wouldn’t be reset if I went abroad. A call to the JobCentre, eventually going up to the senior people, revealed nope, it would be reset. It also revealed that this includes if I go abroad to look for work. It also revealed that the clock is reset if I do any unpaid voluntary work or internships, unless it’s for a registered charity. Because in both cases, I’m “unavailable for work” (what work?). Graduates are pushed towards doing unpaid voluntary work and internships; we’re told this will get us “experience”. I don’t recall being told “and you won’t be counted as unemployed during them!”. It doesn’t matter what the internship is with, the JobCentre said it has no local discretion; it has to follow the commandments from on high. So, to recap: under the PM’s scheme, I can get a job or placement as long as I am on benefits for a year, never leave the country, and never do any unpaid work to gain experience that isn’t for a charity. So that’s most under-25’s not eligible for the scheme then. Oh, and if you’ve got enough savings to your name that you won’t get jobseeker’s allowance, you have to put in a claim and get insurance contribution to apply for this scheme. Meaning I have to waste my time going through a process that I don’t need; worse, I’m wasting the JobCentre’s time and resources, right when they’re desperately needed by millions of people, because there’s no other way in. Thanks, Gordon. | | Sunday, June 28th, 2009 | | 9:57 pm |
| | 12:23 am |
| | Friday, June 26th, 2009 | | 11:32 pm |
| | Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 | | 1:45 pm |
I am rewatching Angel S1. In it, we learn Los Angeles is secretly infested with demons and the supernatural. Secret except for everyone Angel saves, of course. And every street kid and gang, the entirety of a law firm, many corporate types, all the people who went to the underground demon pit-fighting, Koreatown spa owners, shop owners, the vast majority of the criminal underworld, people who work at the docks and captain boats, civilians who are dating benign demons, every nun or priest, workers at the Regency Hotel LA... Oh, but the LAPD's detectives and beat cops, most of them don't know. Despite, y'know, seemingly half the deaths in the city being paranormal related and the people they bust knowing. I try not to think about this too much cos it's less realistic than the vampire-with-a-soul and he isn't real. Current Mood:  confused | | Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 | | 11:49 am |
Vote Dalek IX: Legal Action to the Daleks!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8114619.stm"The British National Party could face legal action over its membership policies, the the Equality and Human Rights Commission has said. The commission said it had written to the party over possible breaches of the law in the BNP's constitution, membership rules and recruitment. The BNP was asked to undertake to make changes by 20 July or face a potential legal injunction. In a statement, the commission said the BNP's constitution and membership criteria appeared to discriminate on the grounds of race and colour, in breach of the Race Relations Act. The party's rules appeared to restrict membership to those within what the BNP regarded as particular "ethnic groups", the commission added. John Wadham, the commission's legal director, insisted it had a duty to take action against possible breaches of anti-discrimination laws." AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. :D Current Mood:  ecstatic | | 2:29 am |
| | Monday, June 22nd, 2009 | | 8:30 pm |
A reviewer wonders:"What the hell is with [Satan's] goat head anyway? What did goats ever do to anyone to draw such religious ire? I think Luke or John or one of those guys was sitting around in a field, doing some work on their chapter of the Bible, and a goat came by and ate some of the pages. The pages were originally about Jesus or something, but the apostle was so pissed at the goat ripping up his work that when he rewrote them, he decided to make them all about how Satan had a goat head and hooves." | | 4:51 pm |
I'm seeing a guy trying to claim the protests in Iran are solely about the economy (which is a factor) and demands for greater freedom aren't part of it. Even though the protestors are openly saying it is, and social reformist policies were attracting people to Mousavi. Cos, y'see, Iranians don't understand freedom. That's his argument, they can't comprehend the concept. Cos they're in Iran. You skeezy racist dipshit. | | 2:51 am |
Alas, Politics
Been prodded to do politics articles (of varying tones) at least once a week, to get into the habit of writing. So here's a first one: - Brown has been giving a series of interviews with the Guardian this month. In one, he said he’d wished he had imposed a stronger regulatory system on the economy. However, he “didn't want Britain to be outside the mainstream”. He also claims he’d been under pressure to deregulate further. That sounds a lot like an admission that the current tripartite regulatory system – the one he brought in – is partially responsible for the economy’s mess. However, on the 17th of June, after this… Darling said the regulatory system wasn’t at fault, and that he does not plan to reform their structure. He also claimed regulation did need to be improved. “It needs to be more intrusive and needs to ask harder questions,” he told the BBC. So wait… it needs change, except it doesn’t because it’s not at fault, except that Brown wishes it was tougher… There is a garbled message coming through here. It sounds like Darling wants to admit there’s some fault but can’t for fear of upsetting his boss… the same boss who admitted to some mistakes. Fun fact: Brown also admitted to the Guardian that when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, he didn’t know a lot about banks buying up sub-prime mortgages. That’s an exact quote, “didn't know a lot about”. He is admitting that during his ten-year period as the man in charge of the economy, he didn’t know about a widespread, publicly known practice carried out by banks. How can Labour continue to claim he’s an economics whiz when he’s admitted he didn’t know about that? Hell, as a sign of further obliviousness, Labour MP Tony Wright told the BBC “He's the prime minister who is having to preside over the worst financial and economic crisis for 60 years”, in the sense that he’s under great pressure and is a Man Of Character by not walking. Except Brown helped cause the crisis! Ten years as a powerful, near-autonomous Chancellor and two as Prime Minister, you could not say that had no effect even without Brown’s own comments, or county councils having funds trapped in Iceland, or etc. Some of their obliviousness is staggering. PS the last Guardian interview he did, Brown claimed, “I'm not interested in what accompanies being in power”. That must be why he spent over ten years trying to get the top job and some of those years deliberately undermining Blair to get at it. | | Sunday, June 21st, 2009 | | 8:00 pm |
House to Astonish on Captain America coming back: "It's almost recursive, isn't it? Its failure to be news is actually bigger news than the originally intended news was EVER going to be." "That is in itself news, in fact - the news about the news about the news..." - "Thing is, Ms Marvel for a while was Carol Danver saying - I'm gonna take down Norman Osborn! War Machine, James Rhodes is saying - I'm gonna take down Norman Osborn! The current Spider-Man story, Spidey's saying - I'm gonna take down Norman Osborn! Now Moon Knight's doing exactly the same thing. I reckon it'd be brilliant if the story is all of these heroes getting in each others way and COMPLETELY screwing up ANY chance of taking down Norman Osborn..." | | Monday, June 15th, 2009 | | 1:04 pm |
Norman Osborn: "I'm sorry, Mr Wisdom. I recognise a fellow player, sir, but my hands are tied by... international agreements. I just wanted to tell you that in person. Osborn out." Pete Wisdom: "Brilliant. Nothing. Except the fucking Green Goblin thinks I'm a bit like him." - Cap Britain and MI:13 #13 | | Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 | | 1:46 pm |
Vote Dalek Part VIII: Operation Up-Theirs
Warren Ellis is a cunning and great man. "I'm possibly not the only person it'll occur to, due to ideaspace, and I hope it goes far and wide anyway. Right. Here goes: 1. The BNP winning European parliament seats means they have a budget to employ staff and various sub-contractors. 2. These budgets and staff positions are subject to anti-discrimination laws, as they come from public funds. 3. Watch out for when these positions are advertised. If anyone sees them advertised, chuck the ads about on as many social networks, blogs etc as possible. 4. Man the Harpoons - If you fall outside of the BNP's discriminatory membership criteria, due to being black, Jewish, whatever, apply. If you are white British and want to help out this plan anyway, just spread the idea about. 5. When you/they don't get the job, take it to an employment tribunal. 6. ???? 7. Profit. Even if you're not especially bothered about taking the BNP to an employment tribunal, spreading this idea about, and forcing them to consider it and raaage over how unfair to the poor ickle racialists it is, it's still funny." Current Mood: amused | | Monday, June 8th, 2009 | | 2:23 am |
Vote Dalek Part VII: Vote-counting of the Daleks
The BNP have two MEPs now, the new one in the North East. FUCK. This is going to also be a direct result of less people voting, isn't it. Weeks of every other political party and half of the media pundits saying "hey, the BNP will make gains if people don't vote!", and people still didn't and in large enough numbers to swing two regions. Thanks a fucking lot, guys. | | 12:14 am |
Vote Dalek VI: The Dalek Invasion of Europe
The European parliament results are coming in, the BNP have won their first MEP in Yorkshire and Humber. They may get a second one by the end of the vote count. However, they won that MEP - out of the area's six - with less votes than the last European parliament election. They did not win because of increased support, their support's dropped; they won because less people turned up to vote. After the huge furor that the BNP might make sweeping gains and the BNP's bragging, three councillors and a by-default MEP are a crappy little gain. If they get a second MEP seat, that'll be worrying, but this is symbolic of Yorkshire and Humber being apathetic about voting rather than any grand thing about the Dalek Party. | | Sunday, June 7th, 2009 | | 11:45 pm |
| | Saturday, June 6th, 2009 | | 7:13 pm |
Vote Dalek V: The Counting
The BNP gained three seats in the English local council elections. Which is a full three seats less than the Green Party gained. And that's the only three seats they have. AHAHAHAHAHA. |
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