Bit busy at the moment but have realised that on twitter I mention lots of people who mean a lot to me but followers who don't really know much about me will not have a clue who I'm talking about. I will usually explain who people are but there are some names that I use so much, there's no point explaining every time and it would be a waste of my 140 characters anyway. So in these cases, you've either figured it out or have been thoroughly confused since you started following me. So here is a vague guide if anyone is wondering who I'm talking about. You may not really care but just in case...
Mum/Kate/@kateeroberts – my wonderful mother
Dad/Nick/@NickKRoberts – my amazing father
Ben/Benedict/brother – my lovely but occasionally difficult autistic 12-year-old brother
Granny – my Granny (obviously)
Harry – lovely ginger cat
Phoebe – mad black kitten
Emma/@emmadpearce – best friend
Izzy/@_izzyy – best friend since I was born
Most other people I talk about on twitter are on twitter themselves so I mention them with their @username. There are probably more but you are probably bored now and my back hurts and I need to go to bed. Bye bye x
Sunday, 19 December 2010
Friday, 26 November 2010
Education, Education, Education (Part 1)
On Wednesday, students all around the country walked out of their lessons protest at the rise in university tuition fees, the cutting of EMA and general cuts to education. I think these new policies are appalling. Yes, we are in a huge amount of debt and the government need to make serious cuts. But I think that they're cutting the wrong things. Why not cut the bankers' bonuses or reduce the enormous amount of money being spent on renewing Trident rather than the next generation's vital education? The government have no idea what they are doing. They help the rich and leave the poor and in this particular instance, they are leaving middle class people too. £9000 a year is not on. How do they expect us to make a life for ourselves with £27000 (for a 3 year course) debt to pay off.
People keeps saying, 'Do you have to go to Uni?' or 'Higher education is a privilege, not a right.' I understand that far too many people have been encouraged to go to university who aren't suited to it, just for the sake of getting a degree or because it now seems to be the 'done' thing. A huge number of people would be better suited to something more specialised like a vocational course. But this does not mean that all the people who can't afford to go to uni should have to do a vocational course or apprenticeship. Not just rich people are intelligent enough to get into university - people in all situations are capable of getting in and whether you go or not should depend on whether it is right for you and not your position in the British class system. This country needs educated people who have been to uni in order for this country to run. Education benefits everyone, not just the individual. A generation of well educated people will help the economy even more in the long run. We as a country have so much to gain from having the right balance of people who have a good general academic background and people who have specialised in a certain area. The two work hand in hand and we as a country should support both equally.
Addendum: This is part one of a couple of blogs I am going to write on the subject of education. The next one is about the actual student protests. I have half written it but it didn't sound right so I'm going to edit it and post it tomorrow. I might also extend this blog to include an exemplum ('exemplum, exemplum, an example from one's own life, etc, etc' - only Watsonians and Radio 4 listeners will understand this) involving myself and my good friend Emma. The relevance of this will become apparent tomorrow or whenever I post it. This has been rather a long addendum. I'm going to bed now. N'night x
EDIT: As you may have guessed, I never got round to the second blog and now I'm not in the right frame of mind to attempt it and my draft was pretty rubbish anyway. Actually this blog was a bit rubbish and angry and ranty too but it's less rubbish than the one I didn't post. So I'm not going to post it. Sorry everyone. And sorry Emma who was looking forward to being in a blog. She will be in one one day. Bye bye x
People keeps saying, 'Do you have to go to Uni?' or 'Higher education is a privilege, not a right.' I understand that far too many people have been encouraged to go to university who aren't suited to it, just for the sake of getting a degree or because it now seems to be the 'done' thing. A huge number of people would be better suited to something more specialised like a vocational course. But this does not mean that all the people who can't afford to go to uni should have to do a vocational course or apprenticeship. Not just rich people are intelligent enough to get into university - people in all situations are capable of getting in and whether you go or not should depend on whether it is right for you and not your position in the British class system. This country needs educated people who have been to uni in order for this country to run. Education benefits everyone, not just the individual. A generation of well educated people will help the economy even more in the long run. We as a country have so much to gain from having the right balance of people who have a good general academic background and people who have specialised in a certain area. The two work hand in hand and we as a country should support both equally.
Addendum: This is part one of a couple of blogs I am going to write on the subject of education. The next one is about the actual student protests. I have half written it but it didn't sound right so I'm going to edit it and post it tomorrow. I might also extend this blog to include an exemplum ('exemplum, exemplum, an example from one's own life, etc, etc' - only Watsonians and Radio 4 listeners will understand this) involving myself and my good friend Emma. The relevance of this will become apparent tomorrow or whenever I post it. This has been rather a long addendum. I'm going to bed now. N'night x
EDIT: As you may have guessed, I never got round to the second blog and now I'm not in the right frame of mind to attempt it and my draft was pretty rubbish anyway. Actually this blog was a bit rubbish and angry and ranty too but it's less rubbish than the one I didn't post. So I'm not going to post it. Sorry everyone. And sorry Emma who was looking forward to being in a blog. She will be in one one day. Bye bye x
Monday, 13 September 2010
My nice thing
Last Friday, Mark Watson set a task on his daily blog. This was the task: "Help someone. Do it however you want and to whomever you want." This made me think about things. I made a list of all things I have done and will do in the next couple of weeks to help people. They are all quite trivial but I hope they make a few people's lives a tiny bit better. But then in an RS lesson at school today, I suddenly realised what I could do to, not so much help, but certainly make someone feel good about themselves. I wasn't really sure whether to go through with it because what I was thinking of doing could seem a bit odd and out of the blue. But I imagined how I'd feel if someone did the same thing to me and it made me feel all warm and happy so I decided to go for it.
So at the end of the lesson I went up to my teacher, who had taught me History in Years 7, 8 and 9 and had just started teaching me RS. I asked him whether he remembered the time when he told our class in Year 7 how he had gone into teaching history and religious studies because he had had a fantastic teacher who had completely inspired him. I remember how happy it made me to imagine myself telling people the same story, about how I too, had had a wonderfully inspiring history teacher who had fuelled my fascination of the past. But I never told him. It was only today that I realised the impact that this teacher had had on me and how all of my current ambitions are a result of my interest in history that he had stimulated and encouraged when I was 11.
He said he remembered, and I went on to say - slightly embarrassedly - how this was the same case for me and how I was now hoping to do A Levels in History and Politics and later a degree in history because of his amazing and inspirational teaching. I attempted to express the huge gratitude I felt towards him and when I had finished talking, he was nearly in tears. I suppose we teenagers tend to not think about how much better it makes a teacher feel when a student says thank you for teaching me. I think that if every now and then, a student did something as simple as thanking their teacher for their lesson, it would make teachers feel an awful lot happier. My teacher said that what I said to him really made his day and that made me so pleased that I'd actually said it. My friends commented on how I was smiling for the rest of the day and I hope that my teacher was too. Because I really owe a huge amount to him.
So thank you Mark Watson for giving me the guts to say something to him. And thank you to my teacher for my interest in history, for which I will always be grateful. x
So at the end of the lesson I went up to my teacher, who had taught me History in Years 7, 8 and 9 and had just started teaching me RS. I asked him whether he remembered the time when he told our class in Year 7 how he had gone into teaching history and religious studies because he had had a fantastic teacher who had completely inspired him. I remember how happy it made me to imagine myself telling people the same story, about how I too, had had a wonderfully inspiring history teacher who had fuelled my fascination of the past. But I never told him. It was only today that I realised the impact that this teacher had had on me and how all of my current ambitions are a result of my interest in history that he had stimulated and encouraged when I was 11.
He said he remembered, and I went on to say - slightly embarrassedly - how this was the same case for me and how I was now hoping to do A Levels in History and Politics and later a degree in history because of his amazing and inspirational teaching. I attempted to express the huge gratitude I felt towards him and when I had finished talking, he was nearly in tears. I suppose we teenagers tend to not think about how much better it makes a teacher feel when a student says thank you for teaching me. I think that if every now and then, a student did something as simple as thanking their teacher for their lesson, it would make teachers feel an awful lot happier. My teacher said that what I said to him really made his day and that made me so pleased that I'd actually said it. My friends commented on how I was smiling for the rest of the day and I hope that my teacher was too. Because I really owe a huge amount to him.
So thank you Mark Watson for giving me the guts to say something to him. And thank you to my teacher for my interest in history, for which I will always be grateful. x
Sunday, 11 July 2010
Art
Yesterday my parents and I went to the Tate Modern in London. It is a fantastic building and most of the artwork is amazing. I really like modern art - especially art with bright colours. I don't really like boring art and going round boring art galleries can be horribly tedious. In an art gallery I went to in Venice, almost every other painting was of Jesus or Mary or some other religious person. And all the colours were really dull and dismal, like brown and grey and black. Even the reds and yellows were quite dark and faded. So I didn't like that.
But the Tate Modern is full of bright, bold modern art - the kind I do like! When we went round yesterday, I saw loads of stuff that was brilliant. I particularly liked the Pop Art section. We studied Andy Warhol's stuff when I was in year 4 and even then I loved the colours and style of painting. There was also a room of Russian propaganda. There were loads of posters of Stalin and Lenin (I recognised Lenin because I drew him in my English book last year - I was bored) There was also a huge amount of photography which was nice. Some of the pictures were absolutely mind-blowing! A lot of the sculptures were great, such as a large black felt thing that had squiggly bits coming off it. But there were a few which I really didn't like.
One piece of 'art' was an ordinary mirror, supposedly encouraging you to see yourself in a different way. The 'artist' who made that is probably making thousands from buying a cheap mirror and making up a nice, thought-provoking story to get it into the Tate Modern. That can't be real art! And some of the paintings - I could have done them when I was in nursery! There was one which was just a canvas painted white. On the little description next to it said that it was meant to make you think about how even things that are difficult to see are always present whether you want to see them or not. Or some rubbish like that. These pieces really annoyed me.
I don’t like art that looks like it took 5 minutes to make. Some modern artists are making thousands from ideas that are vaguely linked to the actual piece of art. It's not fair on hard-working artists who spend a lot of time on their work and give it a huge amount of care and attention. It seems that nowadays, some artists just make something easy and come up with a complicated meaning to explain it afterwards. Art shouldn't need words to explain itself. It should express itself in the actual artwork, not the hidden meaning.
Addendum (never thought I'd use that word!)
I don't actually know much about art. I just have very strong opinions about things that I don't think are fair. If in an art lesson, I presented a mirror with a description next to it saying was showing the 'real you', I would be told not to be so lazy. I don't see how people are making thousands of pounds from doing the same thing! However, that is just my opinion and I'm sure lots of people love mirrors. But I don't think it's art. But then I don't know anything about art. So really I shouldn't have an opinion. But I do. And you shouldn't have to know about art to have an opinion of certain paintings and sculptures. But again, that's just my opinion.
Anyway, this addendum is going on for too long so I will stop now. Bye bye.
But the Tate Modern is full of bright, bold modern art - the kind I do like! When we went round yesterday, I saw loads of stuff that was brilliant. I particularly liked the Pop Art section. We studied Andy Warhol's stuff when I was in year 4 and even then I loved the colours and style of painting. There was also a room of Russian propaganda. There were loads of posters of Stalin and Lenin (I recognised Lenin because I drew him in my English book last year - I was bored) There was also a huge amount of photography which was nice. Some of the pictures were absolutely mind-blowing! A lot of the sculptures were great, such as a large black felt thing that had squiggly bits coming off it. But there were a few which I really didn't like.
One piece of 'art' was an ordinary mirror, supposedly encouraging you to see yourself in a different way. The 'artist' who made that is probably making thousands from buying a cheap mirror and making up a nice, thought-provoking story to get it into the Tate Modern. That can't be real art! And some of the paintings - I could have done them when I was in nursery! There was one which was just a canvas painted white. On the little description next to it said that it was meant to make you think about how even things that are difficult to see are always present whether you want to see them or not. Or some rubbish like that. These pieces really annoyed me.
I don’t like art that looks like it took 5 minutes to make. Some modern artists are making thousands from ideas that are vaguely linked to the actual piece of art. It's not fair on hard-working artists who spend a lot of time on their work and give it a huge amount of care and attention. It seems that nowadays, some artists just make something easy and come up with a complicated meaning to explain it afterwards. Art shouldn't need words to explain itself. It should express itself in the actual artwork, not the hidden meaning.
Addendum (never thought I'd use that word!)
I don't actually know much about art. I just have very strong opinions about things that I don't think are fair. If in an art lesson, I presented a mirror with a description next to it saying was showing the 'real you', I would be told not to be so lazy. I don't see how people are making thousands of pounds from doing the same thing! However, that is just my opinion and I'm sure lots of people love mirrors. But I don't think it's art. But then I don't know anything about art. So really I shouldn't have an opinion. But I do. And you shouldn't have to know about art to have an opinion of certain paintings and sculptures. But again, that's just my opinion.
Anyway, this addendum is going on for too long so I will stop now. Bye bye.
Saturday, 22 May 2010
My Saturday - (sort of) Live Blog
Hello all. Today is Saturday which is the day I've been looking forward to all week! Firstly, it's the weekend and that's always good. Secondly, we are getting two kittens today!!! And thirdly, IT'S DOCTOR WHO LATER!!!!!!!
So I am doing a live blog of today. It's just occured to me that Twitter basically is a live blog of your day, every day. So this isn't as exciting as i'd thought it would be. But oh well! I'll just have to keep the stuff I put on Twitter quite basic and put all the good stuff in here! Also, this isn't exactly live. It's live when I write it but it's quite a while after all the stuff's happened when I put it up. So there will be two parts. This is the first part of my day:
9:41 am
I am currently sitting on my bed, putting my socks on. We are meant to be going to collect Georgia in 10 minutes and I'm not dressed yet.
10.01
Yay! 10.01 is a palindrome! Well I'm dressed now and we are in the car. I am wearing nice trousers, my Royal Air Force t-shirt, stripy socks and my awesome red Converses! I have just had a banana muffin, a babybel and paracetamol for breakfast. Yes I am that cool.
10.16
We are now in Oxford. I like Oxford. My mum grew up in Oxford. I didn't. We lived in London (Chiswick) until I was about 4 and then we moved to Oxfordshire just after Ben's first birthday and just before Christmas. I still remember all the boxes! Anyway, Oxford is nice. They have good shops and good cookies. Ben's Cookies in the Covered Market are the best cookies IN THE WORLD!!!! Yum.
10.22
It's soooooooooooo hot in the car! We are playing 'Spot the Expensive House' - it's very easy to play in Oxford. Oooh we've just been past Granny's old road! That's brought back lots of good memories :-)
10.26
Okay we're here! Now to get Georgia!
10.44
Got her! She's terrified, poor thing. The lady that was looking after her (Niki) is lovely and has given us loads of advice and information. Ben is talking to Georgia in the back seat and she is trying to get out of the cat basket. It's fascinating to see Ben connecting with a new animal. He really wants her to like him and keeps saying 'Hello. Do you like me?' It's very sweet.
10.54
She's very chatty! She's meowing a lot and sticking her paw out of the cat basket which is adorable but also shows she is scared which is sad.
11:43
We're home and Georgia is getting to know the sitting room. She's very timid and scared but she seems okay. She's veeeery sweet! She likes going behind the sofa. Her head keeps bobbing up and down because she's sniffing everywhere she goes. Now I'm going to find old, staggering Molly in case she feels left out.
11:49
Molly is covered in muck, outside in the leaves. I thought she was dead at first but then I saw she was breathing. That would've been a real downer. When my dad has finished teaching, we are going to get Harry. We're a bit worried about Harry because he doesn't seem to have had a very good start to life. He's grown up on a farm without much attention so he may need to be house-trained and fed up a bit. But hopefully he'll be okay.
12:13
Georgia has just eaten some dry kitten food! Now she's washing! We're making progress! She almost went to sleep minute ago. She must be knackered! She likes the wand thing we bought. She loved playing with it when she was at Niki's house with her brothers and sister.
Haha now she's on the Wii Fit Balance Board!
12:36
Now we're in the car again on the way to the farm to collect Harry. I'm eating Mini Chedders and they are tasty. I am also wearing Dad's Indiana Jones hat. I look very good in it (if I do say so myself) and it suits me much more than it suits him. He only got it because it was the only hat that would fit on his head! He has a very big head.
12:56
We're here! It's very farmy. Lots of pigs and horses and chickens. The kittens are all a bit dirty. Harry is very sweet though. A bit scared. His sister was VERY VERY LOUD!! The farmer was talking about them with the same terms you would use for horses and pigs and he said he's never had kittens before so I doubt Harry and his siblings have had much housetraining.
13.12
He's sitting quietly in the corner of the cat basket, staring out at Ben and the front of the car. I think he's going to need a lot of care and attention (or TLC as people seem to say.)
13:58
Harry was terrified to start with and cowered under the chair. But he seems okay now. Hahaha Phoebe just hissed at Harry! She is terrified of him but Harry isn't bothered! He's just tucking into his kitten food. He must be starving! Oooh Phoebe's very annoyed! He's just drunk HER cat milk! Her fur is standing on end and she's creeping around, staring at him.
14:12
He loves the litter tray! He doesn't seem to understand that it's where you're meant to pee. He's rolling around in the litter, purring!
14:14
Harry is absolutely tiny compared to Phoebe! He's only a week younger but I think he's slightly malnourished :-/
14:19
Harry is purring! He likes me! He doesn't run away anymore when I stroke him! This has made me very happy :-)
15:27
Phoebe is asleep on the top of the sofa, above Ben, where she had been watching him playing Zelda. Harry is asleep on mum's lap while she is on her laptop. I think we've worn them both out!
15:34
Ooh Ben's taken Phoebe off the sofa and has plonked her into the bed/scratching post we bought. Not sure if she wants to be there. I expect she'll jump off soon.
15:35
Yep she's jumped off!
15:37
Humph I'd better do some homework.
So I am doing a live blog of today. It's just occured to me that Twitter basically is a live blog of your day, every day. So this isn't as exciting as i'd thought it would be. But oh well! I'll just have to keep the stuff I put on Twitter quite basic and put all the good stuff in here! Also, this isn't exactly live. It's live when I write it but it's quite a while after all the stuff's happened when I put it up. So there will be two parts. This is the first part of my day:
9:41 am
I am currently sitting on my bed, putting my socks on. We are meant to be going to collect Georgia in 10 minutes and I'm not dressed yet.
10.01
Yay! 10.01 is a palindrome! Well I'm dressed now and we are in the car. I am wearing nice trousers, my Royal Air Force t-shirt, stripy socks and my awesome red Converses! I have just had a banana muffin, a babybel and paracetamol for breakfast. Yes I am that cool.
10.16
We are now in Oxford. I like Oxford. My mum grew up in Oxford. I didn't. We lived in London (Chiswick) until I was about 4 and then we moved to Oxfordshire just after Ben's first birthday and just before Christmas. I still remember all the boxes! Anyway, Oxford is nice. They have good shops and good cookies. Ben's Cookies in the Covered Market are the best cookies IN THE WORLD!!!! Yum.
10.22
It's soooooooooooo hot in the car! We are playing 'Spot the Expensive House' - it's very easy to play in Oxford. Oooh we've just been past Granny's old road! That's brought back lots of good memories :-)
10.26
Okay we're here! Now to get Georgia!
10.44
Got her! She's terrified, poor thing. The lady that was looking after her (Niki) is lovely and has given us loads of advice and information. Ben is talking to Georgia in the back seat and she is trying to get out of the cat basket. It's fascinating to see Ben connecting with a new animal. He really wants her to like him and keeps saying 'Hello. Do you like me?' It's very sweet.
10.54
She's very chatty! She's meowing a lot and sticking her paw out of the cat basket which is adorable but also shows she is scared which is sad.
11:43
We're home and Georgia is getting to know the sitting room. She's very timid and scared but she seems okay. She's veeeery sweet! She likes going behind the sofa. Her head keeps bobbing up and down because she's sniffing everywhere she goes. Now I'm going to find old, staggering Molly in case she feels left out.
11:49
Molly is covered in muck, outside in the leaves. I thought she was dead at first but then I saw she was breathing. That would've been a real downer. When my dad has finished teaching, we are going to get Harry. We're a bit worried about Harry because he doesn't seem to have had a very good start to life. He's grown up on a farm without much attention so he may need to be house-trained and fed up a bit. But hopefully he'll be okay.
12:13Georgia has just eaten some dry kitten food! Now she's washing! We're making progress! She almost went to sleep minute ago. She must be knackered! She likes the wand thing we bought. She loved playing with it when she was at Niki's house with her brothers and sister.
Haha now she's on the Wii Fit Balance Board!
12:36
Now we're in the car again on the way to the farm to collect Harry. I'm eating Mini Chedders and they are tasty. I am also wearing Dad's Indiana Jones hat. I look very good in it (if I do say so myself) and it suits me much more than it suits him. He only got it because it was the only hat that would fit on his head! He has a very big head.
12:56
We're here! It's very farmy. Lots of pigs and horses and chickens. The kittens are all a bit dirty. Harry is very sweet though. A bit scared. His sister was VERY VERY LOUD!! The farmer was talking about them with the same terms you would use for horses and pigs and he said he's never had kittens before so I doubt Harry and his siblings have had much housetraining.
13.12He's sitting quietly in the corner of the cat basket, staring out at Ben and the front of the car. I think he's going to need a lot of care and attention (or TLC as people seem to say.)
13:58
Harry was terrified to start with and cowered under the chair. But he seems okay now. Hahaha Phoebe just hissed at Harry! She is terrified of him but Harry isn't bothered! He's just tucking into his kitten food. He must be starving! Oooh Phoebe's very annoyed! He's just drunk HER cat milk! Her fur is standing on end and she's creeping around, staring at him.
14:12
He loves the litter tray! He doesn't seem to understand that it's where you're meant to pee. He's rolling around in the litter, purring!
14:14
Harry is absolutely tiny compared to Phoebe! He's only a week younger but I think he's slightly malnourished :-/
14:19
Harry is purring! He likes me! He doesn't run away anymore when I stroke him! This has made me very happy :-)
15:27
Phoebe is asleep on the top of the sofa, above Ben, where she had been watching him playing Zelda. Harry is asleep on mum's lap while she is on her laptop. I think we've worn them both out!
15:34
Ooh Ben's taken Phoebe off the sofa and has plonked her into the bed/scratching post we bought. Not sure if she wants to be there. I expect she'll jump off soon.
15:35
Yep she's jumped off!
15:37
Humph I'd better do some homework.
Friday, 21 May 2010
The second last of the Time Lords
I think my dad is a Time Lord. I really do. He knows absolutely EVERYTHING!! The other day, we went round to some friends' house and we were talking about the election and things and he suddenly started talking about some political movement that happened in the 50's (or some other time - I wasn't really listening.) He talked about this thingy for about 5 minutes with huge passion and intelligence while the rest of us just sat there, nodding, completely bemused! But my dad has a brain like.... the opposite of a sieve. He reads long history books and remembers all of it! He literally knows everything there is to know about Oliver Cromwell and the Civil War and most of everything about the rest of history. He's also reeeeeeeally knowledgeable about science (probably mainly chemistry, although I have no proof of this.) And he knows everything there is to know about politics. Trouble is, he's very, very opinionated. Which is good but can get in the way sometimes. Like when he loudly tells Cameron to "Sod off" in the middle of his speeches. It is quite funny though!
For his job, my dad is a cellist so he knows all there is to know about music. This comes in useful when you do music related things at work all day. He got a scholorship for the Royal College of Music so he left school at 16. This really worked out for him, in a way that it doesn't for others because my dad is awesome at playing the cello. Mum says he is one of the best in the country. Which he probably is. When I have been to his concerts, I have noticed that he is very good. I never really notice that at home though because he's always practising rather than performing. And also I would rather listen to my own music than hear Schoenberg blasting out of the music room. Dad is now in a quartet which is nice. They have recently got a new viola player called Rose and she is very nice.
Anyway, apparently my Grandpa Joe used to say that if my dad had gone to university, he would have almost certainly got a 'first.' And I agree with him (although I'm not entirely sure what getting a 'first' means.)
And therefore, I think my dad is a Time Lord because he is the cleverest person I know and he is brilliant and he has a magical cello case which is very light because it is made of carbon fibre or something so it could also be a TARDIS. And he could be a retired Time Lord because he enjoys being with my mum and me and Ben more than he loves travelling the universe so he has decided to stay on earth. Or he could have just seen all of the universe already so he thinks it's time to settle down. Which is nice of him.
However, you may be thinking, "Ah, but why hasn't he regenerated?" Well, silly, if there are no alien threats or monsters around to get involved in (he leaves all them to David Tennant and Matt Smith), he won't necessarily get killed so he won't regenerate. Unless he gets hit by a bus, in which case he will have to tell us that he is a Time Lord and prove he is still my dad in order for us to trust him again. What with him being in a different body an' all.
And so, there we are. He is a Time Lord.
For his job, my dad is a cellist so he knows all there is to know about music. This comes in useful when you do music related things at work all day. He got a scholorship for the Royal College of Music so he left school at 16. This really worked out for him, in a way that it doesn't for others because my dad is awesome at playing the cello. Mum says he is one of the best in the country. Which he probably is. When I have been to his concerts, I have noticed that he is very good. I never really notice that at home though because he's always practising rather than performing. And also I would rather listen to my own music than hear Schoenberg blasting out of the music room. Dad is now in a quartet which is nice. They have recently got a new viola player called Rose and she is very nice.
Anyway, apparently my Grandpa Joe used to say that if my dad had gone to university, he would have almost certainly got a 'first.' And I agree with him (although I'm not entirely sure what getting a 'first' means.)
And therefore, I think my dad is a Time Lord because he is the cleverest person I know and he is brilliant and he has a magical cello case which is very light because it is made of carbon fibre or something so it could also be a TARDIS. And he could be a retired Time Lord because he enjoys being with my mum and me and Ben more than he loves travelling the universe so he has decided to stay on earth. Or he could have just seen all of the universe already so he thinks it's time to settle down. Which is nice of him.
However, you may be thinking, "Ah, but why hasn't he regenerated?" Well, silly, if there are no alien threats or monsters around to get involved in (he leaves all them to David Tennant and Matt Smith), he won't necessarily get killed so he won't regenerate. Unless he gets hit by a bus, in which case he will have to tell us that he is a Time Lord and prove he is still my dad in order for us to trust him again. What with him being in a different body an' all.
And so, there we are. He is a Time Lord.
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
The Lovely Bones
Hello. I apologise for the lack of blog for so long. I have been very busy with one thing and another, e.g. cat, granny, friends, Tweenies, Doctor Who, twitter, Easter, London, homework, Ben and various other things. In the last few months, I have been to 2 films which is a record for me. Before I went to The Lovely Bones about 3 months ago, the last film I had been to see was Harry Potter 6 (which incidentally, I really enjoyed and rank it lower than HP 3 and 5 but higher than 1, 2 and 4. I didn't like the beginning because I thought it was unnecessarily confusing but I loved the end which I thought was a fitting tribute and had a great soundtrack - which my dad played the cello in!) anyway...
I went to see The Lovely Bones with my friends Emma and Amy. I was looking forward to it because:
a) I like Emma and Amy,
b) I hadn't been to the cinema for ages,
c) I wanted to be able to be smug because I don't have to pay full price for cinema tickets whereas they do because they're 15 and I'm 14,
and d) we have a family friend with the same name as the main character so I could chuckle all the way through, happily pondering the hilarity of this coincidence.
We went into the film with plenty of time to spare so I read an article about Alistair Darling on the Guardian app on my iPod while Emma and Amy talked about things like pop music. Or something similar. I wasn't really listening. Then the film began....
Unfortunately, some annoying people at the back of the cinema chose that moment to start giggling and shouting about something or other. It was very tedious and I was agitated by the quality of their grammar. It was appalling! Then a woman turned around and started shouting at them and saying that she wanted to watch the film because she had paid for it. This provoked more giggling but they eventually settled down. Good.
Now the main problem I have with this film is its creepy-ness all the way through!!! It started off with the main character going on and on about her death and trying to make you suspect certain people before saying that actually it wasn't them, it was this person - no actually it was this person... or was it THIS person? No it wasn't. These attempts did not succeed and just left me feeling rather confused which is not the best way to start a film in my humble opinion. We then had to endure the boring, wet, annoying scenes of adolescent love. Yes - the main character fancied a boy and oh no, he doesn't know she exists! Oh yes he does. Now they're talking to each other and he's going all lovey-dovey and quiet and - ooh they're almost kissing! Oh dear, someone's burst in and broken the moment. I felt myself thinking, 'who cares?' while everyone on screen was looking sad and awkward as though it was the end of the world. Those sort of moments have been done over and over again in films and on television. Its got so boring!
Then there was a spooky bit with a big field and a scary man and an underground den. Then it cut to the protagonist's family wondering where she had got to. Again, that's been done so many times. Then lots of other things happen and the police decide she is dead while the murderer consoles the
family and then goes back to playing with a dolls house. I didn't really see the point of the dolls house. It didn't seem to serve any purpose other than allowing the film makers to do some clever camera shots through the miniature windows and doors.
And then some other stuff happens (I wont specify because I can't be bothered and some people might still want to see this film so I don't want to give to much away. But my advice to them is: Don't.) Then we get to see the afterlife. As my favourite film critic Mark Kermode said, it looks like something from Super Mario Galaxy. It actually does. There are spherical fields and seas and enormous ships in bottles, (oh yeah, the main character's dad has an obsession with making ships in bottles. Don't ask me why. He just does.) there's even a magical tree.
In my opinion, no one should even attempt to put the afterlife on screen because everyone has a different idea of what it is. Personally, I don't think the afterlife exists - just like God doesn't exist. I believe that when you die, you just stop. Your brain shuts down and that's it. It's fine for other people to believe in heaven and paradise and stuff and I wish them well but this is how I see things and I am confident enough of my opinion that death doesn't really worry me. Not my death anyway. Hmm, this review has got rather morbid. But I suppose that sums up The Lovely Bones. It is a horribly morbid film.
But the thing I really hated about this film was that I was allowed to watch it. I shouldn't have been allowed in, it should have been a 15. Not a 12A - a 15. I am 2 years above the recommended age limit and I have been completely traumatised by this creepy film. There's one scene where the evil guy is in a bath, cleaning up after murdering the girl, and there's blood and mud everywhere. First of all, it is disgusting! Now that would be okay if the scene was justified, but there doesn't seem to be any point to it. It doesn't add anything to the film, it just doesn't fit. All three of us were confused by that one scene. It's not explained properly and it just adds unnecessary gore and confusion. And the fact that this film scared me certainly doesn't make it a good film! It's a rubbish film with a stupid set-up, a very confusing storyline and a rubbish script. The actors did their best, the creepy man (played by Stanley Tucci I think) was brilliant - he alone is the reason I can no longer feed the rabbit in my garden in the dark without someone next to me or watching from a window. But even exemplary actors could not make up for the poor camera work, lack of interesting plot and stupid film cliches. And I talk about exemplary acting, but the main actress was awful! She was wingey, boring and wet. The voiceover all the way through the film was agonising! I was literally cringing in my seat!
So as you may have gathered, I didn't like this film. I am told that the book is good but creepy, however I have no intention of reading it because I'm only just about getting over my fear of evil child murderers - 3 months after I saw the film (very, very late review - I apologise) As I have said, the one good thing about this film is the spectacular performance by the guy who plays the evil murderer guy. His performance really freaked me out which from an acting point of view, can only be a good thing. Except he's not the one having to feed the rabbit in the dark every night, convinced that there is an axe-murderer hiding in the shadows of the bushes *shiver*.
So yes, good evil guy, terrible film. That is all. Goodnight!
I went to see The Lovely Bones with my friends Emma and Amy. I was looking forward to it because:
a) I like Emma and Amy,
b) I hadn't been to the cinema for ages,
c) I wanted to be able to be smug because I don't have to pay full price for cinema tickets whereas they do because they're 15 and I'm 14,
and d) we have a family friend with the same name as the main character so I could chuckle all the way through, happily pondering the hilarity of this coincidence.
We went into the film with plenty of time to spare so I read an article about Alistair Darling on the Guardian app on my iPod while Emma and Amy talked about things like pop music. Or something similar. I wasn't really listening. Then the film began....
Unfortunately, some annoying people at the back of the cinema chose that moment to start giggling and shouting about something or other. It was very tedious and I was agitated by the quality of their grammar. It was appalling! Then a woman turned around and started shouting at them and saying that she wanted to watch the film because she had paid for it. This provoked more giggling but they eventually settled down. Good.
Now the main problem I have with this film is its creepy-ness all the way through!!! It started off with the main character going on and on about her death and trying to make you suspect certain people before saying that actually it wasn't them, it was this person - no actually it was this person... or was it THIS person? No it wasn't. These attempts did not succeed and just left me feeling rather confused which is not the best way to start a film in my humble opinion. We then had to endure the boring, wet, annoying scenes of adolescent love. Yes - the main character fancied a boy and oh no, he doesn't know she exists! Oh yes he does. Now they're talking to each other and he's going all lovey-dovey and quiet and - ooh they're almost kissing! Oh dear, someone's burst in and broken the moment. I felt myself thinking, 'who cares?' while everyone on screen was looking sad and awkward as though it was the end of the world. Those sort of moments have been done over and over again in films and on television. Its got so boring!
Then there was a spooky bit with a big field and a scary man and an underground den. Then it cut to the protagonist's family wondering where she had got to. Again, that's been done so many times. Then lots of other things happen and the police decide she is dead while the murderer consoles the
family and then goes back to playing with a dolls house. I didn't really see the point of the dolls house. It didn't seem to serve any purpose other than allowing the film makers to do some clever camera shots through the miniature windows and doors.
And then some other stuff happens (I wont specify because I can't be bothered and some people might still want to see this film so I don't want to give to much away. But my advice to them is: Don't.) Then we get to see the afterlife. As my favourite film critic Mark Kermode said, it looks like something from Super Mario Galaxy. It actually does. There are spherical fields and seas and enormous ships in bottles, (oh yeah, the main character's dad has an obsession with making ships in bottles. Don't ask me why. He just does.) there's even a magical tree.
In my opinion, no one should even attempt to put the afterlife on screen because everyone has a different idea of what it is. Personally, I don't think the afterlife exists - just like God doesn't exist. I believe that when you die, you just stop. Your brain shuts down and that's it. It's fine for other people to believe in heaven and paradise and stuff and I wish them well but this is how I see things and I am confident enough of my opinion that death doesn't really worry me. Not my death anyway. Hmm, this review has got rather morbid. But I suppose that sums up The Lovely Bones. It is a horribly morbid film.
But the thing I really hated about this film was that I was allowed to watch it. I shouldn't have been allowed in, it should have been a 15. Not a 12A - a 15. I am 2 years above the recommended age limit and I have been completely traumatised by this creepy film. There's one scene where the evil guy is in a bath, cleaning up after murdering the girl, and there's blood and mud everywhere. First of all, it is disgusting! Now that would be okay if the scene was justified, but there doesn't seem to be any point to it. It doesn't add anything to the film, it just doesn't fit. All three of us were confused by that one scene. It's not explained properly and it just adds unnecessary gore and confusion. And the fact that this film scared me certainly doesn't make it a good film! It's a rubbish film with a stupid set-up, a very confusing storyline and a rubbish script. The actors did their best, the creepy man (played by Stanley Tucci I think) was brilliant - he alone is the reason I can no longer feed the rabbit in my garden in the dark without someone next to me or watching from a window. But even exemplary actors could not make up for the poor camera work, lack of interesting plot and stupid film cliches. And I talk about exemplary acting, but the main actress was awful! She was wingey, boring and wet. The voiceover all the way through the film was agonising! I was literally cringing in my seat!
So as you may have gathered, I didn't like this film. I am told that the book is good but creepy, however I have no intention of reading it because I'm only just about getting over my fear of evil child murderers - 3 months after I saw the film (very, very late review - I apologise) As I have said, the one good thing about this film is the spectacular performance by the guy who plays the evil murderer guy. His performance really freaked me out which from an acting point of view, can only be a good thing. Except he's not the one having to feed the rabbit in the dark every night, convinced that there is an axe-murderer hiding in the shadows of the bushes *shiver*.
So yes, good evil guy, terrible film. That is all. Goodnight!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)