Occupy: My Mind

So all the commotion of Occupy Wall Street and, more recently, Occupy LA have got me a'thinking. After over 200 arrests made last night during the LAPD raid of the downtown protests, and plentiful more over in NYC, what are we actually learning from all this? Are the police just making things worst by making arrests and potentially sticking up for the "1%"? Or does this whole thing need to be put to bed now, because let's be honest, nothing's really happening.

That has got to win  the Best Sign of the Protest award.

  But then again that is an unfair statement in itself because things are happening. People are watching and hearing and understanding these people -- their motives, their drives, their mission. Every time the press get turned away from reporting, it just becomes more and more sickening. The mere fact that I'm writing a piece considering the issue proves that it's on my thoughts. The result may not be change (not immediately anyway), but instead mere thought; a message to the people. A single message, containing a single idea that just needs to be planted (Inception style) into the international population's head: We are not happy.

  And if it is how they say, that they are "The 99%" then shouldn't that include you and me as well. I'm not saying go pitch and tent and yell at bankers for weeks, but I'm saying you should at least spare it the thought. Surely no one appreciates the economic imbalance and corporate greed that plagues the western world's society. Because this isn't just an issue for a niche audience, like protesting for animal rights or for Firefly to come back on TV: this is money we're talking about. And without money, there is no structure, and with no structure there is no world.

Pictured: Misdirection

  So you begin to understand the importance of merely passing the subject across your mind. And then you begin to understand why it's kind of a big deal. And then you begin to wonder why it hasn't been given much coverage across the pond to our humble abode of the UK. While there has been a few unwashed folk camping out by St Paul's Cathedral in London, we're not getting half the response America has had. Our guys haven't even thought it through; you're campaigning against economic unfairness yet you choose a church to place your stakes? Nice going guys...

 But that is beside the point, because the real issue is that we are only being fed fragmented pieces of the story from our US buddies. Go ahead, go watch a news channel or read a UK news site. What do you find? The small print, identified as an unimportant story, even in international news. Some reading this may have no clue what I'm even talking about. The only way to get at it is through hunting the web space, which to some is too much effort and to others just plain unheard of. And it is this kind of, dare I say, censorship that is making us question the insecurity of  our news outlets and governments.

  It's fair enough for them to be a little paranoid after the looting and riots of this past Summer, but you can't help but beg the question of whether they are worried about what that level of peaceful protest could do to their institutions. After all, who knows the British public better than those who have to watch them everyday and who, more than anyone, needs to keep the equilibrium than those who have to serve it. This could very well be a pure example of the 1% in action...

So although we may not agree with everything that Occupy Wherever suggests, it should be at least rudimentary to process the ideals it is promoting to decide your stance on the argument. After all, odds are you're classed as the 99%...

Vote on the poll to the right to have your say on all things Occupy!

Enjoy learning about economic inequality? Then maybe check out the In Time Review!

ATR

Once More With Feeling

I've been feeling rather disconnected from the blog for the last month or so, in case you hadn't noticed from the lack of near enough anything. I'm missing my weekly features (Supdates, Trailers), not doing anything particularly new and have overall just become bored with the whole process.

  The problem is I've become too structured; it's all "This is for today!" and "I'll plan this for tomorrow!" or whatever, and it's got to the point at which I frankly have no feeling in my stuff. After looking at other niche blogs I realised something. Something crucial which I really think I've drifted from. And that's just winging it. Logging in and just writing whatever comes out of my head at that time. Like this, I've just gone out on a whim after looking at various future plans and feeling that enough is enough. (Is enough, I can't go on). See, now that's what I'm talking about, just finding myself randomly quoting cheesy 70's pop songs! 

  It's like I've been writing in this odd, almost essay like way that would be treated like some exam piece or something. I'm not saying I won't do stuff like that, but when in comparison to other blogs and such, they've got so much more. Yeah, I'll keep my features but ultimately I want to stray from just that style of writing and lean toward a new more personal and emotive technique alongside all that "professional" jargon.  And I'm not promising daily blogs, but just a little personal dump of memories and feelings and thoughts in response to internal and external affairs of my little world. 

   Now it's at this point where I might say "So you can expect... blah blah blah", which would be a critically contradicting statement to what this little blog is all about. So how about you all just stay tuned and wait for what might just pop up, and enjoy this blog for just being a blog.

ATR

The Sunday Supdate: 08/05/11

Well, the word of the week was absence (not to be confused with abstinence). I'm aware that there hasn't been much movement this week, and I apologise to those craving some ground-breaking weekday blogging. Why, I hear you ask? Well, I don't know to be honest, just haven't had the time or the ideas. But don't go expecting a sudden surge in activity now though, as I've still got various exams and the like to be dealing with, and you know how priorities go. I'll still keep the Trailer Tuesdays and occasional RE:Views in, and the odd piece if I have the time.

But I am still endeavoring to keep it all fresh, and recently brain-stormed some ideas. I'm toying with the idea of a couple new weekly features that could or couldn't go ahead in the coming weeks. There's also this field-study/research thing I want to kick off if I can get the commitment for it in. But I must keep my silence on it all if I wish to pertain the dramatic hype or whatever you want to call it. Stay tuned...

Attack The Block invades cinemas this week, and for those who don't know what it is, check out this trailer here. A friend and I have been disputing whether it'll be any good throughout this week, me saying yes and him saying no. However, I hope to prove him wrong come this Wednesday(opening day!) when I go see it. After all, it has been described as the next Shaun of The Dead, so I have high hopes. RE:View? You'll just have to wait and see.

What do you think about ATB? Have a say on the poll >

Also started watching Firefly last week, the hugely popular sci-fi show from 2003 which gained a cult-following for it's inventive combination of the sci-fi and western genres. However, the SOBs over at FOX cancelled the show after one season for some bizarre reason, but it's a mistake many fans will not forgive them for. So I decided to see what all the fuss was about and even though I'm only a couple of episodes in, I am loving it. Everything is just so bang on, from the characters and dialogue to the sound and action. Pure awesome. So, taking inspiration from a HSSS video, what shows were you pissed to see cancelled? Vote on the poll to the right.

Yay, more polls! Good to see them return after a little hiatus. Right, that's all for now, so here's a song I've been listening(and playing) to recently. Enjoy!

The Monday Supdate: 02/05/11

Or should that be Mupdate?

Anyway, it's another week and another update and the biggest story today; Mr Bin Laden. Yep, as I am sure you know, big-bad-Osama has finally been found and killed in Pakistan. Now obviously this a great thing, that the world's most wanted man has been brought to justice. But is it really justice though? The man responsible for killing 1000s of innocent civilians gets his comeuppance by a couple of quick, near-painless bullets to the face? Surely that's getting off a little easy for a man capable of such evil? But then again, I guess torture or drowning or having him ripped apart by wolves would cause a lot of disruption through the Al-Qaeda community... Oh well, at least we can all be thankful that the murderous SOB has been finished once and for all. I did hear an interesting quote on Twitter though: "This weekend's been a lot like a Disney movie... The princess gets married and then the villain is defeated.". Very true, methinks.

Moving away from "World Hide and Seek Champion 2001-2011" now, and this week also saw... well not a lot as far as this blog's concerned. My Thor RE:View went live, picking up quite a few hits, largely due to it being posted before the actual movie came out. HIGH-FIVES FOR PREVIEW SCREENINGS! All professional-like! Anyway, apart from that there was the piece on HSSS and the triple trailers. And this weeks trailer will be a proper breakdown by the way.

Anyone been watching Doctor Who? Because seriously, that two part series opener blew my mind! Steven Moffat (writer) has reached a new level of excellence in my opinion and I can't wait for more of his stuff. And if you've seen the first episode of the modern-day Sherlock, you'll know how good Moffat is. Which reminds me how psyched I am for the upcoming animated Tintin movie. I'm not really a fan of the quippy-haired boy adventurer, but have you seen the line-up for this? Spielberg and Peter Jackson producing/directing, Edgar Wright and Moffat writing and John Williams composing while Pegg+Frost, Andy Serkis and Daniel Craig all star alongside Jamie Bell as Tintin. I don't know if that means anything to you, but for me this is awesome. Can't wait for December.

Don't worry, It's not as creepy as it looks.

But that'll have to wait as I do believe I've got a Summer to enjoy first. Have a good week now and I'll meet you back here next Sunday for more Sups. Chow now everybody.

Charlie Sheen: An Honorary Douche

The face of a loser

Charlie Sheen -  America's (ex) highest paid actor -  has been all over the news recently, in relation to his drug scandals, porn-star problems and wife-beating, but what is it that people really think of him? Well, in a recent investigation, I found out...

 Now, the past few years seemed to have been quite the struggle for the Two and a Half Men star, as the effects of drugs, booze and sex have landed him in rehab/prison more than a few times. Countless marriages and children have been and gone for this obviously deeply troubled man, and with the ridiculous amounts of money he's paid, it's no wonder he's constantly hitting the coke.

 So surely, every good and decent person must hate the man, right? He's possibly the worst example ever of a successful actor and the best example ever of a class A knob-head, making him instantly despicable by the general public. But, strangely enough, that's not the case.

  Some people believe that this drugged-up girl-basher is cool, that the man is an inspiration. Of course, these kind of ideas have sprouted from this recent interview, where Sheen sits there, cigarette and beer in hand, casting off all criticisms as "passion" or "winning", even making up his own crazy little catchphrases like "Can't is the cancer of happen" and "I'm bi-winning". Describing his parties as "epic" and likening Frank Sinatra to, get this, a "droopy-eyed armless child", Sheen casually owns the interview with, dare I say, some sort of style. It's easy to tell that Sheen really does not give a shit, and from that aspect I can understand people admiring this kind of quality. But isn't this just sheer ignorance rather than apathetic attitude?

  Another word that came up when asking peoples opinions on Sheen was "courage", and this is something I can understand. You can't deny the man of his humongous balls, especially when he goes up onto roofs and shakes a machete around like he's freaking Danny Trejo. I certainly wouldn't have the kahunas to declare myself as a "winner" after all that stuff, although maybe that's also just a matter of ignorance and lack of a properly functioning brain.

 Thankfully, the majority that I spoke to regarded Charlie simply as "an idiot" and that "it's about time he got his comeuppance". His consequent firing from Warner Bros over his "moral turpitude" serves the smack-head right, and it's about goddamn time he stopped getting $1.8 million a week, just so that he could blow it all on his precious tardust and pot. But, naturally, Sheen claims he "never liked that show anyway". Yeah, just like how you got "bored" of drugs...

  In my opinion Charlie Sheen is a douchebag that can't handle the fact that all the terrible things he's done have finally caught up with him. All the domestic abuse, the drug addiction and everything else has pulled his world down around him, and fortunately he's suffered as a result, and I for one am happy to watch this over-paid bastard crumble to the ground.

 So Charlie, are you still "Winning"?

The Sunday Supdate: 06/03/11

14+1=15

To me!

  Yep, in case you hadn't guessed it, I turned 15 this week; yesterday to be precise. Well, 12:34 yesterday to be really precise. It was good and I got some new stuff to keep me busy; a keyboard, some books and a few pairs of socks, to name but a few of the goodies bestowed upon me for simply living over 15 Summers. Being fifteen is cool too, seeing as now I can watch 15 rated movies legally and feel safe in the knowledge that my RE:View's aren't breaking the law in some way. Just you wait mister Indian cinema man who didn't let me into a movie once, because I'm gonna flash you my ID so hard your eyes will burn in the flurry of fifteeness!

 This week also saw my Hangover 2 analysation, roping in an impressive 29 views in just 5 days, and that was  just from individual hits on the post itself. Overall, I've gained over 90 hits in a mere week, boosting me well past the 700 hundred mark. If we carry on at this rate, 1000's going to be a breeze!

 Anyway, onto the future. I'll try to come up with another original article soon, along the lines of the "Phoenix Jones" and "Troller" pieces. The subject of said article is yet to be decided, but I've got a couple of ideas circling my brain like electrons in an atom (sorry, I've been doing a lot of science this week).  Maybe some news stories are in order too? Plus, I'd like to get some sort of book RE:View out there, just so I can have a little more to talk about than the bog-standard movies or games. Talking of books, I am completely swamped with them right now, juggling about 3-4 stories at once. Hopefully I'll be able to burn through them this week, freeing up some space on my bedside table.

Not much else to really say this week, and to be honest I don't think I've actually said that much here anyway. Keep checking back though, because I have feeling it's going to be a busy week on here. I don't know why... I can just sense it. Have a good one.

Colin Firth Triumphs Again

Bloody good show, old chap!

Well, that's another week and another poll. Last weeks topic was "Favourite Actor/Actress" out of either The Kings Speech or The Fighter, and for all of who voted, heres a pat on the back. But of course, there could be only one winner and it was, without a shadow of a doubt, the excellent Colin Firth. So that makes it a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and now the prestiged Dude Meister Poll Award. And in joint second place, for any of you who care, were The Fighter stars, Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale.

Next up poll-wise will be something in conjunction with my recently published Troll article, so remember to vote on that. That's all for today, but come back very soon because I've got an exciting new project brewing in the fore front of my mind... Plus, tomorrow is Trailer Tuesday so you can expect some more analysing and dissecting of a recent trailer and my next RE:View is due soon, this time focusing on a certain downloadable game... Stay tuned people.