Hello.

 

1) I'm on Facebook (just filled in my details). 

 

2) Remember to exercise.

 

Hello all.

 

After much soul-searching, I have decided to stand as a representative of the Bognor/Felpham area in the West Sussex Youth Cabinet elections. You can have a look at my manifesto here. Voting will start (on the same website) from the 28th of January. There are some massively experienced candidates running against me, but I'm still hopeful... either way, it should be a great experience, and it's good to see democracy in action. (Even if we younglings can't yet vote in general elections )

 

Anyway, I refuse to go into a big self-promotional spiel about how everyone should vote for me; but please, do make sure that you vote. Get your voice heard!

 

Matt [steps off his soapbox]

In advance of my final general studies exam tomorrow, I thought I'd put together a quick blog entry. Mostly in defiance of the subject itself. You'll notice I haven't deemed it worthy of capital letters. (All complaints about elitism should be sent via email: in perfect Latin.  NB: this is a joke. Grammatically dubious Ancient Greek will do fine.)

 

Here's a fragment from AQA's general studies specification, showing one of the course's aims:

"think critically, logically and constructively"

 

 

 

 

Are ideas a commodity, like beer, shoes or shares? Or are they free, like jokes or emails? 

 

Do we have the right to take ideas and creations away from their originators? Do they have the right to charge us for music, or information?

 

Where's my cup of tea?

 

In my November 9th entry from last year, I discussed the speculation surrounding the new Doctor. As we found out, it turned out to be... not Howard Brown.. not Billie Piper... not Catherine Zeta-Jones... but some bloke your probably haven't heard of: Matt Smith.

 

For a moment I was rather pleased, as I misread the headline and thought it might have been Smithy from Gavin&Stacey. There's inspired casting!

 

Anyway, the BBC is under fire again. You would think that this would be because of the new Doctor's age. After all, in the modern relaunch, the average age of the Doctor's actor at the time of taking the role has reduced by 8.5 years each incarnation. Now I've got no problem with young actors, being one myself, but if this trend continues, the Thirteenth Doctor will be a ten-year-old. Surely there are enough veteran actors around? After all, back in the Sixties, the original concept notes by children's writer Cecil Webber describe the Doc as"a frail old man lost in space and time". Then again, Webber wanted Britain's favourite Gallifreyan to travel around in a giant soap bubble. 'Tennant Attacks Rumble Daleks (In Soap)'?

 

The actual reason the BBC has been facing difficult questions is not down to the choice of Time Lord. Nor is it due to Steven Moffat's script for the first three episodes, in which the Doctor saves a wind turbine from climate-change sceptics. (Just joking, Mr Bellamy. Dear me, some people do get worked up!) The controversy surrounds odd betting patterns about the new Doctor, in which the odds on Matt Smith fell from 33-1 to 10-1 "after a flurry of bets were made on the relatively unknown 26-year-old". It wasn't exactly monstrous syndicate behaviour, but enough to raise concerns. The Beeb, meanwhile, denies that any of its people were involved. Just think: if the BBC had bet half a million pounds at 33-1, they would have made enough money to offer another £18,000,000 deal to Jonathan Ross! Or give a few thousand journalists secure jobs, perhaps.

 

But the excitement isn't over yet: we may yet see Lily Allen as the new assistant. I suppose she does have the qualifications: her 2008 Glamour Woman of the Year Awards 'Editors Special Award', for example. What's more, she hasn't used alcohol since September, according to the dubious Wikipedia. Nevertheless, do Tardises have mini-fridges?

 

Allen is also politically conscious, if not always physically conscious. She is credited (again by Wiki) with "helping inspire a parliamentary rebellion". No, not by smoking weed with the Right Honourable David Cameron - she wrote to all MPs asking them to support an amendment to an energy bill. This does deserve applause.

 

Until we find out, we shall have to be content with watching the DVDs. Or maybe camcorderizing our own episodes.

 

Jonathan Ross? £18,000,000. The bloke next door as a cyberman? Priceless. There are some things money can't buy...

 

 

Welcome back to David Watch!, the informatve series which is probably better than Bernard's Watch and might even give Springwatch  a run for its money. Just to remind you, this strand keeps an eye on an assortment of celebrity Davids. Let's see what they've all been doing: complete with colour pictures!

David Miliband has sought to emphasise the positives of 2008 on his blog. "The year that was will be remembered for the economic crash, and for very difficult conflicts from Afghanistan to Sudan.  The pain of Zimbabwe's people deepened.  The shadow of terrorism hit India hard." But it's not all doom and gloom in Miliband's eyes: "In Iraq progress on security and economy was maintained."  I imagine it's not a Labour government in Iraq, then. He even managed to annoy Iran by saying that Iran's nuclear programme was a threat to world security. Fair point.

Miliband has also bigged-up the EU's efforts to tacke piracy in Somalia. In return, he got rinsed by the public, who chipped in with comments like "Is it just a coincidence that as the US backed occupation of Somalia by Ethiopia goes tits up it's all Somali pirates this and Somali pirates that?" by 'Mark'. 'stu' added "And stop backing warlords." Miliband also celebrates more than 100 countries' decision to drop (e.g. stop using) cluster bombs; but, as 'Paul' pointed out, "Shame that the definition of cluster bomb / multiple munitions excludes the next generation of weapons that we are buying from the Americans..."

British politics' second-most-famous modern David has plenty on his New Year to-do list: sorting out Gaza, sorting out Afghanistan and Pakistan, sorting out Africa, and sorting out climate change. Superman, doubtless, fears for his job.

My favourite sentence on his blog? "Coal is a reality."  That must be a deep, Confucius-style philosophical statement with profound implications about the modern world. Maybe? No? Has he been watching too much Heroes? (See 'The Book of Suresh'.)

Miliband's fascinating factoids #1: "Kabul now has blackberry coverage." Presumably that's the alternative to cluster bombs.

 

David Bellamy has joined in with the public's new favourite sport (BBC-hating) and has had a bit of a tiff with George Monbiot of the Guardian, in the process. The unreliable Wiki reports that "Dr Bellamy complained in November 2008 that his dissent from global warming has resulted in rejection for his BBC TV program ideas." Nothing to do with the BCC's preference for clear speakers, then?

Monbiot disagrees with Bellamy's claims. He observed that Bellamy had not worked with the BBC since 1994, despite only publicly disagreeing with global warming since 2004. Mombiot correctly pointed out that Bellamy had supported the global warming theory until the turn of the milennium. Who says research skills are dead?

Bellamy does deserve applause for being the first of our Davids to dissent against the political heavyweights of Tinky-Winky, Dipsy, La-La and Po. He commented: “Have you noticed there is a wind turbine on Teletubbies? That’s subliminal advertising, isn’t it?”

That man really doesn't like wind turbines. In December he was in Llandudno to oppose one of the world's largest offshore windfarms.

It's all rather strange.

 

David N'Gog created the fifth goal in Liverpool's 5-1 win away at Newcastle. Within eight minutes of coming on, the mighty 19-year-old was tugged down by Edgar, a penalty was given, and Xabi Alonso scored to complete the rout. He has made several other substitute appearances, too.

N'Gog also started Liverpool's Champions League match away to PSV, and slotted home the third goal as the Red won 3-1.

 

David Dickinson caused a severe shortage of orange paint when the "Bobby Dazzler" appearing in Star Portraits with Rolf Harris. Obviously the BBC don't care about Dickinson's views on the environment: probably "cheap as chips!"

 

David Bowie has done nothing of note, it would seem. However, his work was credited as an influence for the brilliant La Roux. Go and download Quicksand. Do it now.

 

Anyway, I'll be examining the next diabolical deeds of our Davids in April. Until then, bye-bye, and remember: erect a wind turbine at your own peril.

Hello, reader, and a Happy New Year. I hope you have enjoyed the festive season. Seldom in recent times have we been so able to experience the true spirit of Christmas: that is to say, we all know where Bob Cratchit was coming from when he asked for another shovelful of coal for the fire. Although now of course it's massive nuclear power stations rather than coal fires; and we have to ask the French for our power, rather than Scrooge. Ooh-er.

 

Alas, this Yuletide has been marked by the passing of one we all held dear: Woolworths. Note: I was trying for another knowing comparison to 'A Christmas Carol' there, but there are no easy connections between Woolworths and Tiny Tim. (Though I thought I saw him working in there, when it was still open...) We will never again be able to choose CD singles and pick-and-mix in the same shop. Woolworths in Bognor went through rather a lot. It was bombed by the IRA (bastards: there was a perfectly good Littlewoods nearby). It endured a devastating stock-room fire in 1974; a disaster which, judging by some of the coverage in the Observer,  was a more terrible tragedy than the Dresden bombings.  More than fifteen hundred jelly babies were lost in the blaze, along with two dozen tins of Roses and and an unspecified number of Carl Douglas' Kung Fu Fighting singles.

 

Sorry Woolies. We loved you really.

 

Elsewhere, Bognor Town have been getting into the festive spirit by generously improving everyone else's goal difference. We've now shipped twelve goals in our last three games. Optimists would argue that we have scored ourselves in each of these, and it's true that we have played some attractive passing football. Although, thinking about it, it's rather difficult not to play passing football. What else are you going to do with the thing?

 

Anyway, the new year is finally here, and with it some new fresh news and comment. You will soon be able to hear me on the airwaves (more on this to follow), and it's not long until the college's Charity Week. 

 

While we're on the charity topic, congratulations to Mr Swann for winning the John Wiley Award for services to the college or community- probably both, given his workrate!  On a lighter note, well done for winning the Expert On The Life And Works Of Elton John Award. Here it is.

 

 

Plus, if there's anybody out there, why not make a comment on this site, or send me an email? You know you want to! New takes on events, or ideas for fresh topics, are always welcome. In the meantime, why not check out 'Teh Thoughts of Soul. ;o', as he explores the artificial intelligence used in Left 4 Dead. Always remember, if you want your zombies to randomly wander around a section of the map, use "randomization values for changing the x, y, z values of the entity itself, through a node waypoint system". Enjoy!

 

 

Matt.