The Daily Mail is one of those papers that has the power to make one feel stabby just glancing at the headlines. I don't even understand even if they're right wing, they seem to hate everyone and everything with a passion. They thoroughly dislike anything which might be fun and which ladies knitting groups across the country might disapprove of.
They do save their vitriol for one particular group though, immigrants and anyone who has anything to do with immigrants. Not just the typical immigrants who steal our jobs, women, food, money, culture, language.....no, there are also immigrants ruining street signs, eating swans, and god forbid even opening their own pubs and bars. This little toy explains all. Quite interesting for a paper which probably has the highest circulation number in the UK. I can't but disguise my contempt when I see anyone reading this in public. Of all the media sources they could choose to spend their money, they buy that rag. I wouldn't feel sorry for them if they were attacked in all their funny places by a swarm of immigrant, lesbian, gypsy bees.
The reason is, probably stories like this. If you don't have time to read all of it, it is about a couple who are divorcing, and they are splitting their assets in half, as the law states. In this case it is the apparently the man who benefits more, but what is shocking is that he is a...."kosovan refugee". Dum dum dum, now that makes it a front page news story at the Daily Mail .I thought this was a story about a teenage chancer who shacked up with a middle aged housefrau and struck gold. I suppose that would have made it into the papers.
However, this poor man has been in the country for over 20 years, has since built a successful business and still he is the "penniless kosovan refugee". What's more, she isn't some deluded old lady who lost her inheritance going for a young buck. They had a 12 year old marriage and have 16 year old son. Her ex husband is perfectly within his rights to ask for everything he is entitled to, but because he applied for asylum 25 years ago the Daily Mail must take it's opportunity to highlight how immigrants are not only taking the women, they want the old family inheritance from 1963 as well. I hope this man wins his case. If nothing else, as repayment for spending 12 years with a woman who'll abuse in the papers the father of her child. I hope it was worth it sir, it sure doesn't look like it.
(oh and please,though this lady does look like an old version of Paris Hilton, I doubt £500,000 over 45 years makes her much of an heiress )
Rant over.:)
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Obligatory
Valentine
Not a red rose or a satin heart.
I give you an onion.
It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.
It promises light
like the careful undressing of love.
Here.
It will blind you with tears
like a lover.
It will make your reflection
a wobbling photo of grief.
I am trying to be truthful.
Not a cute card or a kissogram.
I give you an onion.
Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips,
possessive and faithful
as we are,
for as long as we are.
Take it.
Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding-ring,
if you like.
Lethal.
Its scent will cling to your fingers,
cling to your knife.
Wishing you all a day filled with love, and as little cheese as possible.:)
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Monday, October 01, 2007
Onslaught
Pretty powerful message. As well as running their self-esteem fund,and trying to save us all from the beauty industry, Dove spend the remainder of their time selling
firming,glowing, tanning,smoothing, brightening,anti wrinkle lotions and potions.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Friday
So it went something like this.
Breakfast: 2 pieces of dark chocolate
Lunch: Bites of chicken tortilla. Water.
Dinner: 5 Celebrations
chocolates. Bounty, Galaxy,Mars, Maltesers. No caramel,yuck.
Snacks: 3 cups of tea, no milk, one sugar. 5 paracetamols.
Aarghhh!
Breakfast: 2 pieces of dark chocolate
Lunch: Bites of chicken tortilla. Water.
Dinner: 5 Celebrations
chocolates. Bounty, Galaxy,Mars, Maltesers. No caramel,yuck.
Snacks: 3 cups of tea, no milk, one sugar. 5 paracetamols.
Aarghhh!
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Is it really so bad?
The much awaited first episode of Michael Palin's New Europe screened tonight on the BBC. I say much awaited because for the first time a travel show was including Albania, so it adds a much heightened sense of interest.
Tonight the focus was on the Balkans, starting with Slovenia, then moving on to Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia. Although Michael Palin is a seasoned traveller,covering five countries in one hour proved too much even for him. We were given glimpses of these countries, which although very interesting, did not really give the viewer enough time to learn anything about the places. Memorable were the boys jumping 70 feet from the bridge of Mostar, and a colourful restaurant owner who announced he "will hang" if a McDonalds opened in his town. Predicably, all these places were blue, bright and very beautiful. Even the war ravaged towns looked artistic in the sunshine and clever camera shots.
And then...then there was our poor Albania. The presenter had never been here, and it was being presented as a closed off country, very mysterious and needless to say expectations were not high from the outset. Even the Croatian singing sailor advised the presenter not to go, adding the country was so isolated that "only about 50 Croatians have ever been there". Considering the tight schedule, why this man was allowed to give pointless opinions about a country which was not his own I don't know.
Anyhow, the port of Durres appears on the horizon. It doesn't look too promising. Instead of the brilliant white boats you see on sunny mediterranean ports, there are a few rusty, ancient ships bobbing along the grey waters. Seems like a miserable day in Durres, and immediately the cameras focus on a few shacks, some barefoot children running around and of course, the ubiquituous bunkers. From a personal point of view, this is a shock. A few minutes before there were images of beautiful shores and blue seas,and in painful comparison Albania looks like an absolute hellhole. The presenter,well, he doesn't take the kind route, but simply confirms that this is indeed a backwards country which probably should not even be called Europe. A few shots of half finished buildings, weeds and a 100 year old train seem to agree with him.
From Durres, on to Tirana. Again, it seems this documentary was filmed on the only 2 days of the summer when it poured with rain, so everything looks even more washed out than usual. A shot of grey Tirana from above instantly makes me think of a programme about North Korea I saw a few months ago. I'm ashamed to admit who comes out looking better. Since the show focuses on people as well as places, the presenter spends the day with a few young couriers who distribute letters and important business documents, since the post is not reliable. He speaks to a young guy called Ilir,(pronounced Ilyah) who is born in the capital and in reasonable english becomes a little nostalgic.He says during communism, it was much better, since there weren't many cars, it was emptier and not as many people. I assume he means there were not as many people not born in Tirana like he was, but a programme such as this does not have time to dwell on deeper social issues.
About the next place shown, I thought wow, how amazing. It was a massive looking hall,very new, very shiny surrounded in red wood, huge ceilings, grand windows and tastefully decorated. Seemed like a palace,and such a contrast to the blandness of the city shown so far. Then a tall figure appears, and it becomes clear this is the office of the mayor, Edi Rama. The presenter is visibly amazed at such opulence, it looked like an expensive art gallery in France. It seems Edi wanted to do some good PR and who better than the man who credits himself with changing the face of Tirana.
He was frankly, for want of a better word, absolutely crap. Very gruff, not very welcoming, and strangely not eloquent. Of course he started talking about the now boring subject of Tirana's colourful buildings, all his vision. Cue some shots of said buildings, which looked dull in the rain. He says the paintings were done to show the people the new system was capable of change. Openly admitted he was just painting over the cracks, not fixing anything. The started to talk about how awful it was under communism. I couldnt help but notice during all this how tired Tirana looked. I have seen pictures which look amazing, but in film it looked old and boring at best, dirty and resembling a third world country at worst. By now I was resigned to the fact nothing positive would be shown in this programme. Edi Rama's arrogant personality did not help matters either.
Oh, but it would get a lot worse. As thankfully Albania is more than Tirana, it was a good idea to try and explore some other parts. Not a good idea to film Zogu i Zi though. In comparison with the beautiful Balkans shown so far, it looked horrible.It is incredibly humiliating to know this monstrosity is just in the outskirts of the capital. And just a few minutes ago Edi Rama had been rambling on about painting and bringing colour to people's lives. How about not making your office resemble the Taj Mahal and spend those funds building a road instead Mr Mayor? How stupid did we appear, instead of the mayor tackling essential issues like roads and health, he talks about whether green suits downtown Tirana. The presenter was not going to be polite about this, his leaving words from our capital sadly were "You can't polish turd". Really, that's what the colours were, just trying to mask what was beneath.
The next destination looked a little more appealing. He went to Kruja, the historic little town and spoke to a local man also called Ilir. Weird, out of 3 people in Albania he speaks to, two of them have the same name.To be honest I didn't even hear what this second man had to say, it was all too depressing to watch. I did catch him saying they were going to kill a sheep though, sign of respect and good luck to all the immigrants out of the country. When asked what they will wish for them when killing the animal, the man replied "work and documents". The sad reality creeps even into travel documentaries. The sheep is killed somewhere up a mountain, where the crew are then invited to celebrate, with meat,raki and aheng, albanian style. A nice enough ending, but it can not gloss over the harsh exposures of the previous few minutes.
From a personal point of view, this was very difficult to watch. Maybe I should admit that I haven't been to Albania for a very very long time, so I have many images stuck on my head of what I think/want it to be like. They were so instantly crushed, and I was truly taken back as to how negatively this little country of mine compares to its neighbours. I do agree that the show was not very representative though. Realistically it can't compare to the likes of Belgrade, the lush Croatian coast and even Sarajevo, but the editing and the timing was such that those few good parts of Albania were not given a chance to shine.That is a real shame, for it would have been nice to see some beauty rather than bunkers and drabness. So to make myself feel better I went and found plenty of pictures and videos which do show the place in a good light.
PS: Final thought, if Edi Rama is meant to be the best politician in Albania, we are seriously screwed. He came across as part psycho, part corrupted dreamer.
Tonight the focus was on the Balkans, starting with Slovenia, then moving on to Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia. Although Michael Palin is a seasoned traveller,covering five countries in one hour proved too much even for him. We were given glimpses of these countries, which although very interesting, did not really give the viewer enough time to learn anything about the places. Memorable were the boys jumping 70 feet from the bridge of Mostar, and a colourful restaurant owner who announced he "will hang" if a McDonalds opened in his town. Predicably, all these places were blue, bright and very beautiful. Even the war ravaged towns looked artistic in the sunshine and clever camera shots.
And then...then there was our poor Albania. The presenter had never been here, and it was being presented as a closed off country, very mysterious and needless to say expectations were not high from the outset. Even the Croatian singing sailor advised the presenter not to go, adding the country was so isolated that "only about 50 Croatians have ever been there". Considering the tight schedule, why this man was allowed to give pointless opinions about a country which was not his own I don't know.
Anyhow, the port of Durres appears on the horizon. It doesn't look too promising. Instead of the brilliant white boats you see on sunny mediterranean ports, there are a few rusty, ancient ships bobbing along the grey waters. Seems like a miserable day in Durres, and immediately the cameras focus on a few shacks, some barefoot children running around and of course, the ubiquituous bunkers. From a personal point of view, this is a shock. A few minutes before there were images of beautiful shores and blue seas,and in painful comparison Albania looks like an absolute hellhole. The presenter,well, he doesn't take the kind route, but simply confirms that this is indeed a backwards country which probably should not even be called Europe. A few shots of half finished buildings, weeds and a 100 year old train seem to agree with him.
From Durres, on to Tirana. Again, it seems this documentary was filmed on the only 2 days of the summer when it poured with rain, so everything looks even more washed out than usual. A shot of grey Tirana from above instantly makes me think of a programme about North Korea I saw a few months ago. I'm ashamed to admit who comes out looking better. Since the show focuses on people as well as places, the presenter spends the day with a few young couriers who distribute letters and important business documents, since the post is not reliable. He speaks to a young guy called Ilir,(pronounced Ilyah) who is born in the capital and in reasonable english becomes a little nostalgic.He says during communism, it was much better, since there weren't many cars, it was emptier and not as many people. I assume he means there were not as many people not born in Tirana like he was, but a programme such as this does not have time to dwell on deeper social issues.
About the next place shown, I thought wow, how amazing. It was a massive looking hall,very new, very shiny surrounded in red wood, huge ceilings, grand windows and tastefully decorated. Seemed like a palace,and such a contrast to the blandness of the city shown so far. Then a tall figure appears, and it becomes clear this is the office of the mayor, Edi Rama. The presenter is visibly amazed at such opulence, it looked like an expensive art gallery in France. It seems Edi wanted to do some good PR and who better than the man who credits himself with changing the face of Tirana.
He was frankly, for want of a better word, absolutely crap. Very gruff, not very welcoming, and strangely not eloquent. Of course he started talking about the now boring subject of Tirana's colourful buildings, all his vision. Cue some shots of said buildings, which looked dull in the rain. He says the paintings were done to show the people the new system was capable of change. Openly admitted he was just painting over the cracks, not fixing anything. The started to talk about how awful it was under communism. I couldnt help but notice during all this how tired Tirana looked. I have seen pictures which look amazing, but in film it looked old and boring at best, dirty and resembling a third world country at worst. By now I was resigned to the fact nothing positive would be shown in this programme. Edi Rama's arrogant personality did not help matters either.
Oh, but it would get a lot worse. As thankfully Albania is more than Tirana, it was a good idea to try and explore some other parts. Not a good idea to film Zogu i Zi though. In comparison with the beautiful Balkans shown so far, it looked horrible.It is incredibly humiliating to know this monstrosity is just in the outskirts of the capital. And just a few minutes ago Edi Rama had been rambling on about painting and bringing colour to people's lives. How about not making your office resemble the Taj Mahal and spend those funds building a road instead Mr Mayor? How stupid did we appear, instead of the mayor tackling essential issues like roads and health, he talks about whether green suits downtown Tirana. The presenter was not going to be polite about this, his leaving words from our capital sadly were "You can't polish turd". Really, that's what the colours were, just trying to mask what was beneath.
The next destination looked a little more appealing. He went to Kruja, the historic little town and spoke to a local man also called Ilir. Weird, out of 3 people in Albania he speaks to, two of them have the same name.To be honest I didn't even hear what this second man had to say, it was all too depressing to watch. I did catch him saying they were going to kill a sheep though, sign of respect and good luck to all the immigrants out of the country. When asked what they will wish for them when killing the animal, the man replied "work and documents". The sad reality creeps even into travel documentaries. The sheep is killed somewhere up a mountain, where the crew are then invited to celebrate, with meat,raki and aheng, albanian style. A nice enough ending, but it can not gloss over the harsh exposures of the previous few minutes.
From a personal point of view, this was very difficult to watch. Maybe I should admit that I haven't been to Albania for a very very long time, so I have many images stuck on my head of what I think/want it to be like. They were so instantly crushed, and I was truly taken back as to how negatively this little country of mine compares to its neighbours. I do agree that the show was not very representative though. Realistically it can't compare to the likes of Belgrade, the lush Croatian coast and even Sarajevo, but the editing and the timing was such that those few good parts of Albania were not given a chance to shine.That is a real shame, for it would have been nice to see some beauty rather than bunkers and drabness. So to make myself feel better I went and found plenty of pictures and videos which do show the place in a good light.
PS: Final thought, if Edi Rama is meant to be the best politician in Albania, we are seriously screwed. He came across as part psycho, part corrupted dreamer.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Cringe,cringe, cringe
Nice to see beauty pageants take into consideration all the key attributes of their contestants. Fully functioning brain cells not included.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
