Monday 30 January 2012

Global Cooling or Global Warming; make up your minds

We humans are a fickle bunch, we love to swing from one extreme to the other, I thought I was bad with my bloody emotions, but it seems to affect most people especially journalists. Now I read that this new cycle of the Sun, Cycle 25 it’s called, is going to cause another mini ice age. Temperatures as low as they were in the 17th Century will be recorded, and the Thames might freeze over once more.

So we have had the global warming alarmists, now we are starting to get an equal amount of global cooling alarmists. Maybe just maybe the world is able to control its mean temperature to within certain limits, and all we are seeing is a balancing of what has been a period of warmth since the mini ice age over 300 years ago.

Maybe something we don’t understand is at work, but we cannot let something we don’t understand get in the way of a good story can we. We cannot let the fact we have no clue what is going on, get in the way of government grants and making money. We cannot let speculation, hysteria, and superstition get in the way of our five minutes of fame either.

I can imagine there are many factors at work causing the peaks and troughs of world climate, and maybe it is about time we worried about things we know for sure; like diminishing rainforests, the purging of our oceans of fish, lack of proper health care in most countries of the world. Maybe we should look at trying to rid the world of poverty, discrimination, crime, and despotism. Maybe we should start helping people, saving animals, reducing fear, and the extremist fundamentalist actions of some.

Maybe it would be better to save all that money we spend every year on this pointless merry-go-round called climate change, and spend it on making sure children get a proper education. Reducing the world’s reliance on finite resources, trying to achieve nuclear fusion, getting rid of nuclear weapons, oh I am on a roll now.

Surely there are more pressing matters to spend the trillions of dollars going on climate change. We need to clean up our act on far more issues before we have to worry about whether it’s going to be too hot or too cold.

Stop being selfish towards your own gain, and realise that all you are doing is harming society and the world in general. It serves no purpose in the long term, you may feel some kind of satisfaction that you made your point, but the damage you have created by your folly will last long after you are gone. And this applies to every selfish bastard who has the power to influence the people of the world, think of us before yourself.

Friday 27 January 2012

Why Federer is still the greatest

Can’t sleep at all so decided to write this, only because I read an article claiming Federer cannot be the greatest because of his poor record against Nadal.

Before I start I will say this, tennis like so many individual sports can be about match-ups, and some people have a better match up to others, making them seem better than they are. Nadal is a great player and I would suspect will go down as the greatest ever clay court player (at least up to now, this may change if Djokovic keeps beating him), and one of the great all court tennis players of all time, who has the perfect game to beat Federer, to the point he has literally crushed Fed’s mental attitude when playing him.

That being the case, why do I still think Federer is the greatest? Well that is simple, statistics, style of play, consistency, and length of domination; all these factors make Federer the greatest in my opinion.

If we start with statistics, well there are so many it would fill two pages to cover them all, and if you go to Wikipedia you can see how many individual records Roger has.

Simple stats to remember, not all are records yet but most are:

16 Grand Slam titles

23 Grand Slam finals

30 Grand Slam semi finals (23 consecutive)

34 Grand Slam quarter finals consecutive

No one even gets close to these figures, especially not Nadal

He is the only player to win three out of four slams three times

He has made 9 semi finals in a row at the Australian Open

He has the longest win streaks on both hard court 56, and grass 65

He was ranked World No. 1 for an amazing 237 weeks consecutively, and 285 weeks overall

He won 24 straight finals

I could go on, and on and on, but these stats are way better than anyone else

His style of play is in my opinion, is the most perfect and incredible style of tennis imaginable, the way he moves around the court, is a site to behold, I can enjoy any Federer match because of this, even if he is hammering the opponent it makes no difference. He has a grace and elegance that makes him seem special; a bit like watching Michael Jordan playing basketball, or Pele playing football.

His consistency is second to none; I don’t think he has ever missed a slam event in his career.

His total domination lasted from 2004 to roughly 2007, when he won 11 of 16 slams, making 13 finals and 15 semi finals. He was world number one every week of that period and won 315 matches only losing 24 times in four years.

These are just a few of the reasons I feel Fed is the greatest, saying he is not the greatest because he has a losing record against one player; a player that just happens to be the greatest clay court player ever, is like saying there is only one star in the sky because it is the brightest, and neglecting the rest of the sky and all the others stars out there. It is a one dimensional way of perceiving greatness. You have to look at the whole picture not just select one little bit you feel is more important than the rest, and this is what I feel people are doing when considering the Federer Nadal rivalry.

Unfortunately now you feel Federer is entering his swan song, and it will take a bit of luck as well as other factors to ever win another slam.  As I said last year how many more years he will want to play second fiddle to the new greats of tennis is debatable, but that still doesn't take away the fact he changed tennis.

Wednesday 25 January 2012

Moon disappears from the sky

Ah I must be going mad, I am pretty sure I have just witnessed what looked to me like a lunar eclipse, but once the moon had disappeared it never truly returned. It sort of flicked around the rim of the moon with brilliant light, changing size and rotating around the bottom half of the rim. It was amazing to witness, but there is no record of a lunar eclipse happening tonight.

I am writing this down straight away before I forget, so as to be as accurate as possible. At around 6:55pm the moon was roughly south west just north of Venus, when I noticed it had nearly all gone. I was standing in my kitchen, all I could see was a bright rim almost a semi circle line of bright light, and it moved and shortened and lengthened, it was amazing to watch. I thought it must be a partial lunar eclipse to begin with, then at around 7:10pm it totally disappeared only to occasionally show up faintly around the rim. Now this was really bright and the only explanation I can make is that it has now gone out of my view point, as it was pretty low in the sky. I have never seen anything quite like this before, what made it stranger was Venus just above to the south of the moon, kept disappearing also, but it was in and out. Now that could be just cloud cover, but the moon definitely disappeared gradually like a lunar eclipse.

Now that is what I witnessed, but what could it actually be?

I only saw the last part of the eclipse so it could have been something else in the sky, but I have never seen anything that look like a slither of the moon, and be as bright and it reminded me of the lunar eclipse that happened last year in June I think, but since its really dark outside as opposed to dusk when the other one was seen, I could see it perfectly.

It was quite mesmerising and held my attention for ages; in fact I stood watching for at least thirty minutes, waiting for it to return properly as it first shone around the rim. The star above to the south which I believe was Venus disappeared also, but that kept flickering and that definitely could have been cloud cover.

If it was a strange hallucination due to cloud cover it was the coolest one I have ever seen, and I look up to the sky constantly at night. Wow I have never had an experience like that before; it felt special, though less special now I see there was no lunar eclipses for tonight. Still I now understand why people think they see UFO’s because if it wasn’t the moon disappearing behind our Earth, and it wasn’t cloud cover, and it wasn’t a hallucination then what was it?

Just before I post I have just read that the moon tonight was a crescent moon and I suppose if clouds were moving in front of it, it may look like a lunar eclipse from my perspective. How boring, still at the time I didn’t know that so the feeling and energy I received from thinking I was witnessing a lunar eclipse was quite powerful, it just shows how incredible the mind is when it believes something to be true.

So who’s going to win the Aussie Open?

I know it’s a little early to say Djokovic will make it through to the semis, but let’s face it, Ferrer is going to have to play the game of his life or Djoks has to get injured for him not to make it through to the semis once more.

If Djoks does win as I expect, then it will be the second consecutive slam where the big four have made it through to the semis and the third in four slams.

The brilliant thing about these four giants of the game is that now they have made it anything can happen. If we go by the past, then the likely final will be Djokovic vs. Nadal. Djokovic has been nearly unbeatable in slams since hammering Murray last year in the Aussie Open final, and Nadal hasn’t lost to Federer in a Slam since 2007 Wimbledon final.

Saying that, both Murray and Federer have shown a change in their attitudes recently, Fed seems far more focused than he has done in ages, and as I have said before if he is focused he is nearly unbeatable, but can he get passed his nemesis Nadal. Unfortunately for Federer he needs a bit more than just focus to beat the great Spaniard, can he finally find it in a slam outside of the grass of Wimbledon?

Federer played fantastic tennis in beating Del Potro, someone I expected to give the great Swiss more of a battle, but Fed was back to his sublime best, playing his incredible shots and looking like he used to look when playing slams.

Murray has improved and played an amazing match against Llodra, but he is still a bit inconsistent on his serve, and if he plays like he did today against Nishikori, he won’t beat Djokovic. Saying that, Murray will serve better against the Serbinator, and it should be a close contest which could go anyway. Murray will have to take it to the next level and maybe a level above what he has ever done before to win it though.

So theoretically Murray and Federer might make it to the final, which I think would give Federer his fifth Aussie Open title and seventeenth overall. I don’t think Murray is ready to beat Federer in a slam final, in fact I think the only person that will stop Federer winning the event is Nadal.

If Federer beats Nadal then plays Djokovic, I think the confidence and desire will be so great, you will not see Fed losing a two set lead or for that matter losing two match points on serve. He seems to have pushed passed his unfocused spell and amazingly looks better than ever once more. What an incredible player he is; if he wins this slam he could go on another rip and set in stone the fact he is the greatest ever by quite a distance.

The thing is Federer has to get passed Nadal, and this is not an easy task for the Swiss, if Nadal makes the final and plays Murray well you have got to fancy Nadal to do what seemed impossible a few weeks ago and win his eleventh slam event. Saying that Murray has always played well against Nadal in Australia, and this could be the perfect time for Murray to step up to the plate and win his first slam.

If Nadal plays Djokovic you have to say Djoks will be a massive favourite to win again, giving him his fourth slam title in five. Then again Nadal may have figured out the Djokovic hoodoo, and somehow do what Nadal does best in win against all the odds.

Overall there should be three fantastic matches, and the one that comes through to become the winner will thoroughly deserve it. I still think that person will be Djokovic, but realistically any of them can do it. That’s as long as Ferrer doesn’t spoil the party (no disrespect to Ferrer, he is a great player), but something really unbelievable would have to happen for Djokovic not to beat the battling Spaniard.

Monday 23 January 2012

What is happiness?

Since I am someone who has moments of extreme happiness, but predominantly feel unhappy or should I say anxious and sad, I wondered about this question. What does it mean to be happy?

I have read that you cannot be happy all the time and the really question should be how do you make the unhappiness more easy to cope with, and lessen its impact on your life. I have heard that peace is far more important than happiness, as you cannot control if you are happy or unhappy.

The things I find that make me unhappy are a lack of control of my life, and the circumstances I find I live in, this makes me feel unhappy amongst other emotions, and I might add that unhappiness isn’t as bad as depression, anxiety, worry, stress and fear.

Though there are times when for no reason, I can feel very happy indeed, and can see a light at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately when I have these times I can become unpredictable, and act in a weird way making me not see things as they are and becoming outlandish. Or maybe I am seeing things as they are and this is making me happy, but then I change and my mind says that when I was happy I did these things and now they have made me feel unhappy.

There are other times when I have deluded myself into pretending to be happy when I am not, and this has caused many major issues in my life. Pretending to be happy when you are sad is hard to do and does not really help in the long term.

Is sad the same as unhappiness?

Knowing that you cannot feel happy all the time and peace is more important, makes me realise sometimes that maybe I should just be satisfied with trying to be content. The problem I have found in the past with contentment is it leads to slovenly attitudes and causes unhappiness and no satisfaction whatsoever. At least it does with me, so being content is a no, no, because of the repercussions of said contentment.

The problem with trying to make everyone happy is it cannot be achieved because what makes one person happy will make another person unhappy. This being the case, what can we all do, to try and make a broader amount of people feel some kind of positivity in their lives. Maybe being positive can help you to be happy, but what happens like in my case when you try to be positive and you want to be happy and find peace in your life, but you find at every turn obstacles and blocks are placed to stop this from happening?

This is the quandary I face, and I bet others do as well. A program said that statistically two things make people happy, heterosexual marriage (not sure why they particularly picked heterosexual marriage, are people in gay marriages less happy?) and religion. Now this sort of thing makes me wonder, because when I was forced to go to church as a kid, and sit through endless tedium as the vicar said whatever he was saying, I wasn’t happy in the slightest. I was bored and uninterested in it; the kid that used to sit next to me would pick the plaster out of the walls, in a vain attempt to escape. As far as marriage is concerned I know plenty of people who have not had happy marriages, so whether these stats are true is debatable.

Does intelligence have anything to do with happiness, as the old saying goes, “ignorance is bliss”, may that lead to happiness?

Thinking about the Universe and the wonders of where we come from, in a different outside the box sort of way makes me happy, it can make me feel very happy, elated, and full of joy and wonder, but that cannot always be sustained. So happiness is a weird conundrum because it is used so often to try and evaluate where you stand in your life, “Do you feel happy punk, well do ya?”

The one thing I’ve sort of just realised, yet probably known for a while, is the more I wanted to be happy the less I was. In order to try and be happy and content, and positive, as well as unhappy, miserable, fearful and afraid, you have to stop pretending and deluding yourself that you are happy when you are not.  The problem with that is, when you realise you are really very unhappy, and in fact you are miserable, sad and feel worthless, life is not what you thought it was going to be; this is a hard thing to deal with.

Accepting your frailties and trying to cope with them is a step towards a happier life, or is it? At least for me it’s a start, and instead of what I have done in the past where I feel elated and in focus, I then try to take too big steps to become happier, and lose touch with reality to the point I wonder what the hell is going on. Then I feel anxiety and fear and my focus leaves me and I start to lose it totally.

I need to take little steps and understand the reasons for my situation more and become more accustomed to my predicament, because I know what would make me happy now this second, but that is not going to happen and instead of beating myself up, because it won’t happen. I need to just to accept that whatever I thought or was thinking is maybe just an intricate self delusion designed to try to find some happiness and calm my mind.

 

Friday 20 January 2012

Dreams and Whispers

Dreams and whispers, heavy laden shadows, cover all as we await the end of the world. Deep is the darkness that descends, cold is the feeling that covers the world like a frost awaiting doom. Impending silence, stillness, motionless, as slowness takes its toll, before eventually stopping. Crawl inside the nearest cave; make your dwelling there, until the terror has passed by and nothing but the scorched and scared lands have been cleansed of evil forever more.

Nothing can stop it now, it has been started and it will only stop when it is finished. It is the ticking time bomb, but there is no one to dispose of it, meaning it will eventually reach zero and then oblivion will unfold. First it will obliterate the lonely sea, before crushing the lands, leaving a desolate wasteland. Demons will roam the lands and sadness will descend on all the hearts and souls left to fend and forage, before eventually starved of love and all emotion, they painfully end in undying agony.

Howling winds rip the flesh from the bodies of the dead, like a super heated sand blaster, it will strip the land of any nourishment. Making it impossible to survive; yet survive we must, and find a way to make the most of what is left. Survival is the key, and how this happens is unclear. Too much pain and misery will have passed, leaving many empty shells, many forgotten souls, the unlucky ones.

Unknown is the time, unknown is the place, but it will happen, and when it happens most will be set free.

Wednesday 18 January 2012

Internet Rapsody

I am just fooling around but this is to a bit of Bohemian Rhapsody, which starts – “Mama just killed a man.”

I nearly did the whole song but it’s hard to follow with it being such a complicated song, when you only see the lyrics and you have to sing it in your head.  Plus it only took a few mins, it would take hours to do the whole song.

GAIA - I killed the net,

Put a bill against its head,

Pulled the pirates,

Now it’s dead.

GAIA - its life had just begun,

But now the US has thrown it all away.

GAIA oooh - didn’t mean to make you cry,

If Wiki’s not back tomorrow,

Carry on Carry on as if nothing really happened.



Oh well at least I feel little better now, not sure what made me put it to Queen's immortal song but it just seemed right, there was other parts but it would just sounded weird in my head. 

Oh for those who do not know Gaia is mother Earth.

The Internet Strikes Back

After having a miserable day dealing with things I would prefer not to have deal with, having to suffer the terrible suffocation of my situation, and all that it entails. I decided to take a quick look at Newsnow to see if there was anything that might cheer me up, and to my surprise there was.

I saw this new site called US Web Censorship Bills, and thought I would take a look, today Wikipedia and other major internet sites went dark, or were deliberately blocked to show people what it will be like when the US try to take over the internet, and control what you see and what you read, and anything they don’t like or probably you’ll have to pay a price for, otherwise it will be blocked.

I wonder if some of the stuff I write would suddenly be classed as treason against the new anti internet regime. According to what I have been reading, they want to supposedly stop piracy, and get sites like Pirate Bay blocked, but it is really a clever ploy to control the internet and the next phase in the 1984 approach. George Orwell’s scarily dark book about government control is drawing ever closer. No doubt there will be some massive internet disaster similar to 911 to allow the US government to get their own way, and curtail freedom of speech.

The fact that Wikipedia and other major internet companies are against the whole web censorship bill, and are willing to block their sites for a day speaks volumes to me. I thought the US was a free country, doesn’t sound like it is these days, and is unlikely to be in future if bills like this are allowed to be passed.

As the terrible film Braveheart states, “tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR (internet) FREEDOM!”

You cannot put freedom because we lost that many years ago, with the introduction of debt as a means to control the masses.

So after we have had “Web Wars”, we now have, “The Internet Strikes Back.” What will be next “Revenge of the Wikileaker”? (Revenge seems more suitable than return)

I am trying to feel better, it is a hard process but at least I like the fact the big companies are opposed to the US government blocking the internet. Isn’t blocking what they do in China, and isn’t it what the Middle Eastern countries like Tunisia, Egypt and the like been fighting to remove.

The internet is a giant brain, and as soon as you start to block parts of it, you are lobotomising that brain; you are deliberately killing that brain. Anyway you cannot control the brain it is now far too large, you lost the brain many years ago, and it will grow and grow into a powerful new life form.

Who is this Tebow fella?

Just read an interesting article on Bleacher report saying Soccer (it’s really football, but I suppose Bleacher Report is an American site, not sure why the Americans decided to call American Football as we in the rest of the world know it – football; throwball would be more accurate) needs a Tim Tebow. I’ll be honest until I saw another article saying Tebow or UFC I had never heard of the guy and wondered who he was and what he had done.


Now I have always liked NFL, it’s about the only American sport I have watched regularly in the past, though I have had phases of watching Baseball, (I watched this year’s World Series at least the highlights, but the great thing about watching American sports is there are so many ads the highlights is nearly the whole game minus the ads, well it is over here) and Basketball mainly when Michael Jordan played as he was great to watch.

Recently though I haven’t seen much NFL, I’ve been a Dallas Cowboys fan since I was a kid when I saw them on TV back in the 70’s and they stuck in my mind and I loved to watch the highlights on Channel Four in the 80’s. Anyway I haven’t seen any NFL this season, but I watched the highlights (whole game without ads) on Sky on Sunday, because the great Tom Brady was playing, (at the time I didn’t know what he was going to do and Brady and the whole Patriots team were amazing) and there was this Tebow fella, on the Denver Broncos team.

Well it surprised me all the hype over this guy especially after one of the greatest Quarterbacks ever went and destroyed Denver and Tebow was sacked countless times and they kept saying the amount of yards he was losing and on how many plays. Then I saw this article saying Soccer (football) needs a Tebow, and then I realised that he was a nice guy, confident and arrogant and always saying he loves Jesus, and saying its Jesus who he has to thank.

And this is what really frustrates me about the world; a nice guy who has a talent can thank a fictitious rebel rouser who was made into a deity by the Romans to control their empire. You might as well thank Sherlock Holmes or James Bond; at least they are based on real people. Or you could thank Alexander the Great or Isaac Newton; they were real people who did real great things.

Anyway I am digressing football does not need a Tebow, NFL may like him, or love him or even hate him, but if you want to thank anyone for your gifts, thank your ancestors, your upbringing, yourself, and your coaches, at least they did actually have a part in it.

Tuesday 17 January 2012

Big Questions – is there any evidence of God?

As I have said many times I like to think outside the box which leads me to well sometimes have rather strange notions and concepts. I like this type of thinking even if it can be an awful drain and nightmare, at times.

On Sunday morning there was a program on called the Big Questions and they were talking about whether in this day and age you can find evidence of whether God exists. Now as I know I change my mind quite often, I am always willing to see other people’s points of view and try to incorporate them into my thinking. I have said before I don’t believe in God, especially the religious one, and I have also used God as a metaphor for other things. I have thought that due to my thinking, God can exist but not from our perspective of reality. And I think I have said that belief is so strong in humans that if you believe something strong enough, then from your own personal perspective God can exist since you create your own reality, and if in that reality you have a space for God then good for you.

After watching that programme which had all kinds of people on, some with rather crazy notions, others typical reglious weirdo’s, some scientists, some priests of different denominations. It then suddenly stuck me that the problem about God is the fact; it - meaning God, in itself is just a word. And has many meanings to many different people, but it has been taken over by the awful religious God and so clouds the thinking of many.

I realise, I would describe God as being an expression of human imagination, utilised, used and abused by nearly everyone, even atheists. Now the reason lots of people now don’t like the word atheist, is that it’s not really true, it’s more anti religion than anti God.

When I felt elated after the act and subsequent delusion I never felt the need to think any higher power was involved. When it ended I knew it was my mind and my subconscious thought process handling a difficult situation. I hope I learn something from it, but I know the way my mind works that it will see it as some kind of breaking down of the emotional barriers, which have risen over years and years, since I was a child. The water is still pouring out of the dam, or should I say to be more accurate, the poison is still pouring out of the dam.

How much poison is in there to get rid of I am not sure, and I am not sure why I suddenly changed to talk about it either? Another metaphor, I am good at creating metaphors and analogies, of the whys and wherefores; what can it mean who knows I certainly don’t nowadays.

So getting back to God, you will never find evidence of God, you can only imagine God as human creation to be utilised as we see fit, in good ways, bad ways, and even strange ways.

Saturday 14 January 2012

Global Warming expert loses bet

I have just read that climatologist Dr James Annan, had a bet with Dr David Whitehouse a scientific adviser on whether temperatures would rise over a four year period. The bet was made on a BBC Radio 4 show, four years ago and the bet was won by Whitehouse who predicted temperatures would not rise.

Now this in itself it not newsworthy I suspect, but what is interesting is the fact that they have made another bet to see if temperatures rise in the next four years. Supposedly Annan was asked whether after this time he would change his mind about global warming due to CO2, if he lost again. He originally said yes, and then backtracked saying no it would not change his mind. So as one climate realist puts it, ‘I am wrong but I am right’ syndrome springs to mind.

That’s the problem we have with this world, a human being finds it so difficult to change a thought process he believes to be true, even after it is shown to be false. I believe it was mentioned in Dale Carnegies, ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ about a certain President that once an idea is set in stone, even after you are proved wrong, humans overall find it difficult to give in to the new theory. Hence why religion is so strong in the human psyche, I think the great scientist Carl Sagan also discussed it.

Unfortunately we all suffer from it in some shape or form even if we realise it or not, and this makes us vulnerable to ridiculous and sometimes costly errors. It is shown throughout history the effects of believing falsehoods when more obvious answers were available. And the ones that do not believe in it, well that in a way is proof of the fact that’s its true.

I suppose the human condition on how the conscious mind controls and causes major issues in the lives of many humans, must have been an evolutionary advantage at one time. Will we ever be able to overcome this, who knows but this bet is an excellent example of someone who may look a total fool in four years time, still finding it difficult to readdress his beliefs. As beliefs are so strong in humans it takes an enormous amount of will power and strength of mind and character, to admit you are wrong and to do it in public also. It’s like the end of the world doomsayers, even when they have past the date in which the end is supposed to occur, like 21st December 2012 when some people believe the world will end they will find away to explain it in their minds, and some will even try to make excuses and say it’s another date and all kinds of nonsense.

Self delusion and false beliefs are killers, as is shown throughout history. I know I suffer from it, but whether I would know which beliefs they are, the ones which are falsehoods that I am unable to admit to, would be debatable if I am honest. This last two months has shown that to me at least.

This is why I find it amazing that we have survived as long as we have, because it is like some kind of disease that has infected us for millennia.

Friday 13 January 2012

A story about Confidence

Not sure what made me write this, not sure how accurate it is, it’s just a story using feelings as characters it means nothing and has no bearing on me or anyone else. Or it may be my creative mind using all the shit I deal with and writing it in a little story. Though I am sure if I made the story bigger it would be several pages long. But it was interesting writing about my mind from the perspective of confidence because it is one thing I lack and need desperately. I know it’s there somewhere but it doesn’t like to show its face too often, and when it does sometimes it goes over the top and get carried away. It got the idea from the old Red Dwarf episode called Confidence and Paranoia from the first series.  Its not the greatest thing I have ever written but it gets better I feel after the first part, I seem to get more creative with my feelings you could say haha.



I once knew a man called Confidence, and he lived in a house called Self. The street was called Determination and Confidence found it difficult to get out of the street in the winter, as it was a large hill and it was difficult to climb. Confidence’s house was in need of repair, it had once been new and well kept but now it had been left to go to rack and ruin. Confidence found this hard to deal with especially living on this huge hill of a street. Confidence had few friends and they didn’t help him at all, one of his friends was Consequence, and the other two Paranoia, and Doubt, and they were just not being the right sort of friends for Confidence to have around. He used to have a friend’s a long time ago when he was young called Trust, Peace and Happiness but they had moved away long ago, and now lived in another part of the city.

Consequences, Paranoia and Doubt would abuse Confidence’s house regularly, having parties, inviting all sorts of people who Confidence did not know, or like and Confidence did not know what to do about it. He had lost all the friends who were good for him, like Happiness, Control, Reason and Trust had left him for someone else, and his job was not what it used to be, he had transferred from a good company called Decent, thinking it was the right thing to do, but the new company Stress and Worry was not for him, but was stuck there and didn’t know what to do.

His so called friends Consequences, Paranoia and Doubt weren’t helping and his house was becoming more and more derelict, to the point that others on the long, large, hill of a street called Determination were complaining. His neighbour Mr Focus had had enough and wanted Confidence to sell up and move away, he felt his house was making the rest of the street look so bad, and he wasn’t the only one. Mrs Decision across the street was sick of Confidence and so were Mr and Mrs Reality. They had all had enough of Confidence and his terrible house, plus he was going out with Delusion and her friend Crazy, who were terrible.

Confidence eventually had to sell up and lost his job, he was classed as Destitute and living off the street called Desperation. He had new friends called Sadness and Misery, as well as having to deal with not very nice people who tried to take advantage of Confidence, Anger and Hatred.

Confidence wished he had listened to his friends Trust and Happiness, as well as others like Peace and Wellbeing. They had told Confidence on many occasions he was in with the wrong crowd, but Confidence wouldn’t listen because of this bloke called Stubbornness, and so he had lost his house and everything that it was. And he didn’t know how to get it back.

Confidence found some help from Caring and Help and they tried to get Confidence back on his feet, but Confidence was still living off the street in Desperation with his new friends, Sadness and Misery, going out with Delusion and her friend Crazy, others moved there as well, Guilt, Despair, Remorse, and Punishment.

He wanted to be away from these people so he moved into a new street called Isolation and this really did not help Confidence at all, even there people wanted to be his friend who were not right for his like Seclusion and Unease. He also had this terrible fiend called Uncontrolled Emotion who followed him constantly because he owed him money. Confidence tried to hide in Isolation but he was found by Lost and Alone. They were henchmen for Uncontrolled Emotion, Confidence was trapped, in a park called Nightmare, near to Isolation, whilst being chased by Lost and Alone and Uncontrolled Emotion.

Confidence decided to fight back and find his old house called Self, but he knew it was going to be a long road and he didn’t know how he could reach it again. This is where Confidence is at present, trying to find his house and repair the damage done by all the unwanted friends who turned out to be all part of Uncontrolled Emotions gang. Confidence had been set up by Stupidity and Delusion’s friend Crazy, he was only now realising he should of kicked Foolish, Delusions younger brother out instead of Trust, Peace and Happiness.

Whether he can eventually find his house and his old true friends we will have to wait and see, but he is looking and trying to find a way back and hopefully one day soon he will be able to find Trust, Peace and Happiness and live in his house Self, and repair all the damage that was done over many, many years. Since confidence was a small child, but now he can see his old street, the massive hill called Determination and he has these new friends called Creativity and Imagination, and he is sure he will eventually find a way back.

Thursday 12 January 2012

The love hate relationship people have with film

Maybe it’s because I can go through a plethora of emotions in one hour, never mind a day that I can say I both love and hate films. I really love them but at the same time I can really hate them, depending on the mood I am in and the situation I am watching them.

What I find fascinating is how other people perceive the same films and I love reading the comments on IMDb, it is amazing how much some people can love or hate a film. Not everyone will understand this, I think you have to be a film buff so to speak or film geek to truly understand why some people get so worked up about this film, or that film.

The thing I find funniest, is idea that you have to be a certain type of person to enjoy a certain type of film, which I find strange, this comes out a lot on IMDb, maybe it’s the age of the people writing they are maybe adolescent in their attitudes, and so have this desire to be one thing or the other.

Personally I find sometimes I like crap and will freely admit to enjoying some of the worst type blockbusters that are around, in the eyes of some film critics they are total rubbish. But I like them because I love films, and I managed to see them in the best possible way to view whatever blockbuster it maybe, I loved Transformers 3 in 3D on an IMAX screen, who cared the story was rubbish that wasn’t why I liked it. I couldn’t watch it again on a small screen it would be dreadful, but on a massive screen these films are cool, and I am a crazy old guy, not some young fanboy (as they are called, not sure why they are called that).

Similarly though I can enjoy, The Tree of Life, or Melancholia, in the right setting they are amazing, but I doubt I would like them at the cinema weirdly. To me they are more personal films you need to savour; they bring out emotions I don’t want to share at the cinema. I loved Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris it was fantastic film, yet I can still enjoy an old Doug McClure film which is really second rate, though can be enjoyable if in the right mood for such a film (you really have to be in a certain mood to like a Doug McClure film believe me).

Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn are two of my favourite actors; I love everything they have done, including the less popular stuff. I even like musicals and I’m not gay, I think some of the greatest films ever made are musicals.

I just feel you can have more than one type of taste in film, you can like Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and Barry Lyndon, two of my favourite films. As well as liking Steven Spielberg’s Jaws and Indiana Jones trilogy or should I say quadrilogy, are also some of my favourite films. You can enjoy miserable boring films as much as exciting thrillers, comedies, horror, sex and violence, even kids films.

I suppose the best example of difference is Alien and Aliens, you can like both even though they are totally different, I even love the third one, David Fincher’s first film I think, and the fourth. I can’t wait to see Prometheus, as Ridley Scott is one of my favourite directors, Blade Runner is a classic, but I can still like all James Bond films, and Harry Potter.

At least I can because I just love films, and hate them of course, especially certain ones. I have the certain films like everyone does I suspect, that I just will never like and don’t understand how they are popular, but they vary. I hate Apocalypse Now and Seven Samurai, I don’t see why people like ET, or Braveheart, and I’m not too keen on Close Encounters of the Third Kind, or A Clockwork Orange for that matter.

Films give me an emotional buzz at times when I am really enjoying one, yet they can also make me feel bored to death, if not in the right frame of mind. Anyway I just thought I would write about films instead of the other stuff I’ve been writing about recently.

Monday 9 January 2012

A Portrait of Adolf Hitler in colour how dreadful

I am as I have said many times fascinated by the Second World War, it does beggar belief how stupid we humans can be and the lengths some people will go to get power and control. Now is there any need to see the most hated man of the last century in colour, come on.

I can understand making the whole war into colour it adds to the realisation of the horror being created, but the smelly psycho who hoodwinked a nation, do we really need to see him in colour? I watched the Third Reich in colour and that was fascinating, but next we will see him in 3D and then we will have him as nearly being whole again, and that cannot happen.

It is a wonder how such a little thug could end up at the top of the pile of most infamous evil bastards of the last century. He had a lot of competition, nearest rival being good old Stalin, but Stalin put the fear of god into everyone who knew him, whereas Hitler was for a time a short time loved and admired by millions of delusionists in his country and many others. They say Henry Ford was the first foreign dignitary to receive some kind of Nazi award, and Hugo Boss designed the uniforms for the SS, just think of that whilst you’re driving home tonight, in your Ford whatever and your designer suit.

What the hell did he have, it really makes me wonder, because if you ever see the excellent docudrama starring Robert Carlyle you see he was a Nazi sorry nasty bastard for quite a while. And he use and abused many to get where he was the most powerful man in Europe. Women would wet their knickers over the guy; it just shows you does it not. He was an ugly little waster, who was not even intelligent, he ran his party like a school ground bully would run a playground, and somehow he was allowed to be master of nearly all of Europe, and be responsible for the deaths of millions of people, many in horrific, torturous and barbaric ways.

Why was he allowed, he was allowed because the world was in deep crisis, because of the bloody banks, and the crash of 1929, Germany had nothing, it was penniless and in debt up to their eyeballs and had a great many disgruntled ex soldiers, who were slightly pissed off that they had lost the last war; the supposed Great War, the war to end all wars, the war that never really ended.

There was in-house fighting between the right and the left, and one balled one won. According to the documentary, Hitler was even accused of having his own cousin or some relation he was having a sordid affair with, murdered though it was said she committed suicide, she claimed he made her perform sick sex acts and she wanted to leave him. Yet he still rose to power and was loved by his people, some of them were deluded right up to the end, even after seeing the death camps, he had brain washed them so totally they believed anything and everything they were told.

Makes you wonder doesn’t it.

Monday 2 January 2012

How to start a peaceful revolution

There is a fascinating documentary on right now on Current TV, never normally watch Current TV, because they have never had anything worth watching. Occasionally they have shown good documentaries and this seems to be one of them.

But...

The documentary is called, “How to start a peaceful revolution”, it revolves around a book called ‘From Dictatorship to Democracy’. It goes into great detail about how to down a dictatorship, using peaceful means which is excellent.

The problem now is we need a book that tells us how to go from corrupt centralised, government based democracy, to safe, peaceful, equality based democracy.

They are just as bad, just as corrupt and dangerous, this is the next step, once the dictators and despots are beaten then how do we get rid of the hidden dictators and despots.

You know the ones I mean, they are just as bad, just as likely to cause a war.