Gangland = Beckenham

Monday morning it was all over the news - a teenager got himself killed here in Beckenham, thankfully the other far side of Beckenham. I feel badly for his mother, his family - you can't not feel bad for them.

The article from the Beeb here sets out the story. Naturally, the victim, eventhough he was in a gang and they actively took part in gang-related violence in the area, has suddenly become a saint. He was a lovely loving boy. He wouldn't do anyone harm. Blah blah blah.

My god - they act like hooligans - we've seen enough of the way they act, the way they break car windows, the way they taunt the elderly people in the area and frighten them so much that they don't want to leave their homes. They honest to god think they own the world, they fear no one, not the cops, not their parents. They live by their own "standards" and see being in a gang as cool - mainly because it's been glorified by shows like Prison Break, music video's - these kids have NO IDEA what they are doing. Because society prefers to look the other way, with the nanny culture in this country, no one is prepared to take a stance. Thanks to these so called pissy gangs, people are moving out of the area, because the police can't do anything - the kids aren't scared of them because what's the worst that's going to happen? Community sentence? A few months in juvie? Nothing to be scared of. In fact, it just gives them more street cred. Woot.

Back to the sweet talking of the innocent lovely dead boy. Why doesn't anyone ever stand up and say "You know, this guy was a shit. He behaved abysmally and he was never really liked. He fell in with the wrong crowd, got into trouble and was a genuine nuisance to society?" Is it because newspapers sell sympathy more than the truth?

Anyway - now there is going to be retribution. Yay. More bloodshed on our streets. I can't wait.

Apocalypto

We madly splurged on the new release of Apocalypto on DVD. The extras suck, big time, but the main movie is completely awe inspiring. The scenery, the costumes, make up, the - dare I say this of a Mel Gibson movie - passion of it, is just complete muse-fodder.

Not for the faint hearted, Jamie! Pretty gruesome and tense, but worth it.

Weight in gold

The above is a 1 kg bar of gold. I have lost over 12 of them. In excess of 26 lbs = in excess of 2 stone.

Beam.

Countdown to Greece = 7 weeks. Hopefully that is one more stone down or a further 6kg's. It will be hard work, but it is possible.

Mature Student

Today I received fab news.

Preen.

I have been accepted to the College of Estate Management to do my Diploma in Surveying Practice. I also discovered that I could do my ATC through the RICS at the same time...which means that I can be a Technically Qualified Member of the RICS in two years time. How cool is that?

Preens some more.

Naturally this means no life for two years starting from September. But it does go a long way to fullfilling FG's dream of becoming a househusband. He is a much better housekeeper than me. And the coolest part about all of the above - the company is paying for it. Which is amazing and fabulous and stonking - I even did a little dance at the office this morning. Fortunately no one was around to see the madness.

Preeeeeeeeeeen.

Awful movie

OMG, cycling through the channels I came across a movie which I have not seen in a million years.

Kickboxer starring Jean Claude - Damme I'm Good - Van Damme.

The awful cheesiness, especially the "dance scene" where he has to prove to his sensei he has "grace and style" is just so cringeworthy, I wanted to loll about on the floor crying out in pay. Also, badly dubbed on the oriental's conversation. Twenty seconds of speaking but only five seconds of lip movement. Now, I am all for OTT martial arts movies, but this is just something beyond the call of duty, even for a martial arts movie nut like me. I even prefer Jackie Chan to this! Even his old stuff!


Speaking of the 80's and 90's and heroes from the silver screen: I am so glad we've grown with our heroes, like John McClane. To be older and grubbier and broken. And to be so bad ass you take down a helicopter with a car.

All I can say is: Yippy Kai Ay!

Watch this space for a review!

Countdown to Greece

We visited our friends Tracey and Taff on Saturday. They are the couple who are getting married in Greece within the next few months. The party was really to celebrate their daughter's 4th birthday...but then they invited a lot of their mates who are going to the wedding too, so that everyone could at least meet up and know who we all are. Which was a very good plan.

What a bunch of complete and utter nice people. No qualms in saying that - we fit straight in, as the laughter lines which I discovered this morning in the mirror can testify to. It is always my biggest fear when there are those dead lulls in conversation when groups of people come together who don't know one another. This wasn't like that at all. And there was no need to feel uncomfortable at any stage during the visit. We stayed till after half ten, I think, when we eventually made our way home (only half an hour's drive, which is even better) and we were exhausted by laughing, eating and generally having such a good time. I am really please she invited us - we discovered that the one couple going to the wedding have a fear of: sand, water, bugs, the sea, open places, any drink that is not alcoholic, seen in public with no make-up...(for the wife, that is) so naturally the piss was taken royally out of them. It's a Greek ISLAND, for heaven's sake.

All in all, a fantastic time. Today we went to gym, took Sparrow for a looooooooong walk in the park, crashed on the couch. I slept and FG went online and tried to convince a friend of his in Scotland to send her daughter to military school as it's hormones have gone into overdrive. Waste of time. It's probably in the family way already. Can a fourteen year old go on benefits and get money to get its own home and money for the baby? Who needs a responsible life, eh?

Dinner is chilli con carne cooked for two and half hours. Yum!

Entertainment for the braindead

I can't help but wonder what the talentless idiotic oafs will be coming up with next. BB is crap, rubbish, awful shitty tv and personally I resent that we have to pay television licences to be saddled with television shows this ludicrous. The producers take a shedload of money and piss it into the wind. Why not plow it into the British television and film fund?

There are phenomenally talented artists and writers out there, who would live off bread and water to have the opportunity to have their brilliant scripts made into shows and movies.

Personally, I think people who create trash tv like BB are cowards. Every single one of them - they know what lures the audience. Braindead tv. Create something stimulating, another Spooks or Hustle series, even more Torchwood, for God's sake. Why dumb down tv? Is it indicative of the way the country's going? Stupid tv for stupid sheep people?

Look at the debacle the last time around with that mentally deficient Jade and her tirade at the Indian girl - can you get anyone more backwards? And believe me, ignorance is not an excuse, in any shape or form. Not when you are on tv and you know that whatever you do and however you will act, will have an effect, detrimental in Jade's case, on your career.

The creators of BB are whipping a dead horse. They can't come up with anything else. Oh, actually, they did. In Holland, they now have a show for people to compete with one another, I think three contestants, compete for the kidneys of a dying man. WTF is that?

I cannot fathom how tv station bosses can think that's a good idea. I am so glad my tv has an off button. I only wish to the heavens that the newspapers would not back the idiocy. Or that the people I work with, otherwise relatively normal and intelligent people, can stop pondering the intricacies of freakshow tv. I can't help, honestly, to feel pity for them.

Give tv back its coolness. Give us decent shows. Things that make sense. Not crap reality shows where you actually want people to kill themselves and others, just to make it stop. Forever.

Oh, shyte, did I just say this out loud?