A Few Days Away

So I'm back...
Just spent a long weekend in my favorite city of Rotterdam (Nederlands or Holland to the rest of us). Had a chance to see a number of films that where showing in the 34th International Film Festival Rotterdam and my favorite had to be Un día sin Méxicanos or A day without Mexicans for the non Spanish speakers among you.
I must admit I was not holding out a lot of hope when I first read about it, but it is a VERY funny look at what would happen if all the Latinos in California where to disappear. It confronts the myths and truths of the immigration argument (some thing you my have guessed I have strong views on), is filled with a number of interesting facts and informational pieces (such as not everyone who live south of Texas is a Mexican, there are Brasilians and Argentinians down there as well) and generally makes you come out feeling like you've spent a worthwhile time in the cinema.

However there was one down side to it... There where two short films as support. I have to say I'm not a big fan of short movies as a rule, always seem to but a bit pretenious for my liking. The first one was unmemorable in it's pointlessness, no I really mean I can't remember a thing about it, it was that pointless. The second... It was five minutes of a horse standing by a road as trucks drove by, at night and then the camera started going in and out of focus. WHY!!! It doesn't mean anything, and if it's surposed to, well it's lost on me and the rest of the audience.

So in short:
Un día sin Méxicanos - Excellent.
The two short movies - pointless art-house dribble and a waste of film.
Lastly, if you haven't gone to the Netherlands, go.... and make sure you spend time in Rotterdam and not just Amsterdam.

Oh I love what you want to do with my country

Oh Micheal Howard what a lovely person you are. Wanting to shut the door on all those undeserving asylum seekers. But wait, didn't your family move from Romania in the 1930's because of the rise of anti-semitism? Now I'm sure your family deserved to come, unlike all those other freeloaders...

Now don't get me wrong I think we should keep an eye on how many people come into the country, I think we should help them become part of the British culture, help them learn English and learn the rule of cricket (ok, maybe just football and rugby). I also think we should learn what we can from them.
Britain is a mongrel nation. We have been invaded, accepted immigrants, invaded countries and traded with most of the world. There are very few places you can go to where you won't find one of us. Assimilating other cultures is one of the things we seem to be able to do well (better than play football anyway).

My own family is part Huguenot (French Protestants) who moved to London from France to escape persecution. They brought with them weaving skills that led to birth of the British garment industry. Should they have been left out in the cold because the quota had been filled for that year? Should the likes Micheal Marks (Founder of Marks & Spencer) and other entrepreneurs who came from our immigrant communities have had the door slammed in their faces?
Immigration can be and should be a two way street, with the new commers bringing new idea's, skills and cultures and us blending them into our society. The best of both worlds. People forget that if it wasn't for our trading links with India, washing and Pajamas (from the Hindi "paejama") would be alot less popular here.

I know what Mr Howard, lets put through a law where anyone who's family cannot trace it's self back, say 100 years in the UK gets kicked out?
Well that's you gone for starters, and good riddance!

Guardian article on Mr Howard's father

Muggers, Yobs and Adicts

Have children always been the cruel evil yobs, muggers, drug adicits and murders that the press tell us the world leaders of tommorrow are? I can't believe that humanity has changed so much in the last 20 years, since I was a kid, that we are now surounded by miniture Charles Mansons. Maybe, and I know this sounds radical, it's us, the "Children of the Eighties" who are the ones with the issue. I'm sure when I was young that drugs, football violence, punks and many other things where the issues of the day. Does that mean we all turned into phycotic killers? No. Does it mean we all got out unharmed? Equally, no!! Some of us where damaged but the majority are alive and in most cases well.
What I think has happened is that the children of the eighties have become the sad, old and misserable adults of the new millenium. This has led to a number of us, mostly in the media and politics it seams, to get into that standard grumpy old man syndrom. What I think is that these people have forgotten how to have fun!!
I have radical message for those in power, both elected and unelected (the press):
GET A LIFE AND STOP MORALISING!

Welcome all to the weekend

It's Saturday, it's the afternoon, it's FOOTBALL!!!
It' that weird time of the weekend when grown men find any excuse to get to either a football ground, Radio, Internet connected computer, Mobile phone with WAP or T.V. the has a Teletext facility so that they can find out what the scores are. It's a trandition that's more important than Christmas, Easter, Queens Christmas Message and Democracy combined.
For anyone reading this who is a football fan, you'll understand, for anyone in a relationship with a football fan you'll know this, but not neccessarily understand and for the rest just accept that this is more important than the first day of the New Year Sales.
I am no different, here I sit every Saturday in the season, praying that Huddersfield Town will win, that any team near us in the league will lose and that all the first players for the team we are playing come down with food poisoning.
Then there are days like today.... Derby days... We are playing Barnsley... a local team to Huddersfield and also a team supported by a friend of mine. We HAVE to win..... If not it will be ritual humiliation tonight when I see him down the pub.
Only 90 minutes to kick off.....

Update.... it's now 5:40 pm and we lost:
Barnsley 4 - 2 Huddersfield
Oh well, the pubs going to be great fun tonight.

Why do I have a problem with Christians?

Now theres a provocative question.
Why do I have a problem with Christians? I think I'll start with a little background on this one.
For starters it's not all Christians I have a problem with, it's the moral minorites that go on TV and preach, but never listen.
I was watching the news over the last weekend, and the BBC was showing “Jerry Springer the Musical”, a production, for those who don't know, that contains rather a lot of bad language and a number of scenes that are a little on the blasphemes side. Now I didn't get to see it due to a combination of forgetting to set the video, forgetting the time and wanting to get down to the pub before I have to pay the £5 entry fee (and yes I am that cheep).
But my not see the program in question is not really the issue, what REALLY gets on my nerves was the huge number of “Christians” who came rushing out of the wood work to complain and try to stop it being shown. It's very simple, If you think a program will offend you, CHANGE THE CHANNEL!!!! Do not inflict your views on those of us who wish to see it. I, personally don't like “Songs of Praise” (a religious program on BBC1), so I simply don't watch BBC1 on a Sunday evening when it's on. Simple really. What I don't do is stand outside the BBC shouting that I find it offensive and as such it should not be shown.

Now I know this sounds a little simple, a little stupid maybe, I mean I'm obviously not a Christian, and therefore, in the eyes of at least a number of the religious people I have met, one step from a little child. So I thought I might try a simple thing to show these people a thing or two... I am thinking of starting a campaign to remove ALL religious programming from the BBC. See if they like that!!

Now, lets be truthful, I really don't care if I succeed or fail, but I want these self appointed moral minorities to understand that part of living in a culturally diverse and accepting society means that you have to allow people to do things that you may not like or approve of.

If it does not hurt someone, then, in general, is it an issue??

New Year, New Experience

So I hit 34 the end of last year.

You wake up one morning, get out of bed, look around and realise that your still alone, that no one's going to make you breakfast in bed, and that the only person who is going to see the birthday cards is you. You sit there staring into your morning cup of tea, listening to breakfast TV so that you can hear a human voice and Mother Nature decides to hit you with a million plus years of genetically engineered warnings to get your arse in gear and do something with your life...
So what do you do???

1. You can get VERY drunk.
This works from no more than 48 hours (I did try it for a whole year at university, but they threw me out, something about not doing any exams). The problem here is you can easily lose your job.

2. You can sleep with as many people as you can.
This usually goes with plan 1. This is fine except that you can end up waking next to some.... ummm.... "interesting" people and, if your very unlucky, hetrosexual and male, being chased by fathers, mothers and the Child Support Agency.

3. Decide to change your life.
Thats right, finally do all those things you've been putting off so that you can work all those extra hours in the office and try to impress the boss, who, by the way, thinks your either a threat, prat or an opertunity for a shag. Yes I mean it, sign up for that Mongolian basket weaving evening course, go to that Amnistry International local area meeting you always miss because it's at the same time as Big Brother and finally travel to somewhere where they don't all speak English (America's a good choice.. :-))

So this year I decide plan 3 was the one.... (Having tried plans 1 and 2 in previous years). And this Blog is part of this life changing plan, along with quiting my job, taking three months off to go travelling and making a porn movie.... (ok the last one's a dream rather than a plan)...

So I hope you enjoy these stories, thought and view from victem of a rather young mid life crisis, accept the fact I can't spell to save my life and, maybe, get a few ideas for yourself...