Palestine & Israel

Congratulations to Palestine, on becoming a non-member observer Satate of the United Nations. the Palestinian people deserve equality and recognition, and have finally achieved it. Let's hope that they now put all of their efforts into coming to some sort of peace agreement with Israel. The tensions between these nations is tearing the Middle East apart, and causing people worldwide to pick sides, creating bitterness and resentment. This is not the wish of either party, I'm sure, and they should work even harder to eradicate the barriers which have been erected by time, mistrust, and past deeds. Every country has a difficult past, full of war and strife, but nations cannot be allowed to use others as a scapegoat, or justify their current behaviour by past atrocities committed against them. Please, if anyone is reading this in a country where there is no freedom, or little (or no) peace, stand up for the rights of all, and call upon your governments to live peacefully. One of my favourite quotes is "when the rich wage war, it's the poor who die". Never have truer words been spoken. Please, please, work for peace in your lives, not war.

Dabbler

One Piece at a Time - Johnny Cash

Great song, great singer! Maybe not a PG life, but then, whose is?

Dabbler

Off to the Races - Lana Del Rey

This is a brilliant song - the first of hers that I ever heard, and I hope you enjoy it!

Dabbler

Nothing On Us

While I watch a game

Of stabbing steel and

Snapping necks twisting

With a sound of dry leaves

Underfoot, I wonder just

What we have become.

 

No longer the mighty judges

Are we, nothing more

Than a howling audience,

Screaming for the fatal

Blow. Pacifists may weep

For all the good the

Silence brings, but I

Have one thing to yell

Over the expectant hush:

Lord of the Flies ain’t

Got nothing on us.

Prometheus

I recently went to go see Prometheus. Now, while I have not seen any of the Alien movies, I know what happens in them and have played one of the PS2 games. Ah, the PS2...those were the days...

Anyway, back to the film. Firstly, the facehuggers? Not actual facehuggers, as portrayed in the original films, but new, weird cobra things. Also, what I have been told of the original films' suspense is completely absent from the new film. Nothing is left up to your imagination. Blood, guts, mutations (completely out of sync with the old series) and fiery deaths are vividly shown on-screen. It's violent to a gaudy, unnecessary level. No-one lives. It's annoying. By the end you're sitting in your seat thinking "I liked that guy. And that one. And those two. The only human left (there is only one) is decent, and I love the actress, but come on!"

It appears that not only are you forced to leave your squeamishness outside, you also have to leave any scientific knowledge you have, however basic, out with it. The Predators are portrayed as being an 'exact DNA match' to humans. This is completely ridiculous, and was the last of many straws for me. I can safely say that whatever film or strange sequel planned to this, if ever there is one, I shall studiously avoid it.

Michael Fassbender looks spookily like Peter O'Toole by the way. Hint: never trust robots, they're sneaky.

All in all, the bits of the film I could watch were dreadful. In a review out of 10 I'd give it...4/10. All because of Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace, whom I adore. They aren't good enough, however, to save a film that never should have been made.

Dabbler.

Burn It Down - Linkin Park

This is a brilliant song, and I actually really like the music video. Admittedly, the end positions look a bit weird, but it really fits in with the song, unlike some videos. :/ well, enjoy!

Dabbler

Poem - Days

Days

 

In cold weather the

Icy mist that cars

Excrete looks just like

Giant, shivering breaths

That, heaving, bring the

Lumbering beast to life, and

On dark nights the

Lights that shine in

Fiery colours blink like

Stars in deepest night

Warming us with dancing

Patterns, but on those

Days where nothing seems

So special, when names are

Nought but names, we see only

The bare carcass, the

Ruins without the dreams

To fill the gaps. Those

Are the days when artists

Hang their heads, and

Cry in shame.

 

Dabbler.

1,000 Views

Hello viewers. I do apologise about the lack of posting recently, but what with debates and creative writing I have been very busy. I have, however, just checked my stats and the pageviews have broken 1,000! 1,013, to be exact. Thanks so much for reading this blog, it means so much that this has been seen worldwide. At least 1 person in every continent (bar Antarctica, of course) has seen this blog. Look, and know that someone around the world is looking too. :)

Dabbler.

Debating

After having debated:
a) In opposition to Nanotechnology,
b) As the proposition for research and healthcare funding being aloocated in a population dependent manner, even for serious rare diseases,
c) In opposition to embryonic stem cell research,
and
d) In opposition to Genetically Modified Foods as a significant benefit to human health at present,

Myself, my fellow speaker (new one for the last round) and our wonderful research team won the Leinster Science Debating Championships! We will now be against Ulster, and are inordinately happy!! On the other hand, we're now pro-embryonic stem cells and possibly pro-animal testing. :P Wish us luck!!

Dabbler

The Muppets Film

Now, I'm a fan of The Muppets. So much so that I have a Muppets poster up on the wall of my room, right next to the Ed Hardy one and the street-racer one. When the film came out, then, you can guess how excited I was. I'm now telling you how disappointed I was afterwards.
Admittedly, the film had a few good points. Some of the lines were good, and some references brought back old memories for fans. But on the whole, it wasn't great. Firstly, Rizzo wasn't in it, and that lovable, cowardly rat is basically my favourite character, along with Sam the Eagle (who only had one line). Animal was the star of the show, with most of the good scenes centring on him. The whole human/muppet dance routine with the cheesy grins just let down the show, in my opinion. The Muppets were always good for a laugh, and whether you were 7 or 70 you were likely to laugh. For this film, the plot was boring (saving the Muppet studios? How many of their films have involved that?) and the characters were very flat. I have to say, as a fan of the old and amazing show, I was disappointed and, frankly, embarrassed by this film. I'd been telling my friends about how great they were, and then, during the film, found myself sinking as low as possible into my seat. Hard luck lads, better luck next year.

Dabbler

Duck in a Glass!

Seriously, what could be cuter??? :)

Dabbler

David Guetta - Paris

After listening to this in our form tutorial I have fallen even more for this song! :) enjoy! Oh and please, do dance. :)

Dabbler

Comments - Again

Okay, honestly, enough with the damn spam comments. The flattery you use does you no credit, are not the deadliest snakes also the most beautiful?
Take a hint and leave websites and blogs alone for people to read and (hopefully) enjoy.

Dabbler

Comment

Apologies for anyone who was looking at the Fencing post and saw the spam comment. I didn't put it up, and I don't know who did but I detest spam comments and the moneymaking schemes that go with them. I merely wanted to point out a sport that I enjoy immensely. Anyone out there who's thinking of spamming up my blog, please don't. It's impolite and dishonest to try to push your websites or companies or whatever on people who aren't interested. Thank you.

Dabbler

Fencing

I've started a short fencing course in my school and I've got to say, rubbish though I am, I love it! Foil and Épée more than Sabre but really there's just something profoundly fun about learning it. As I said, I'm not that good at it; I've only had a few lessons with a smallish group of people in my year, but I think it's brilliant! Definitely something worth considering as a sport in college. I would recommend it to everyone, but then again I know that not everyone in my class feels as excited about it as I do. Still, it's a really good sport, and it's so fast! Apparently at a high level, the matches will normally be over in a matter of minutes!

The two types I prefer, Foil and Épée, are 'point' games. That means that to score a point you have to hit your opponent with the (blunt) point of your sword. The rules are very difficult and as I've already said that I'm not very good at it and haven't been doing it long, I don't feel bad about not explaining them. Mainly because I don't know them. I do know, however, that in Épée you can hit your opponent anywhere. Legs, toes, head, they all count as long as you hit with the point.

Sabre is different; in fact, one of our coaches described it as 'real, proper pirate swordfighting'. In sabre, you can use the point and the side of the blade, and you are allowed hit the person in their torso, head and arms. Don't worry, you're head is protected by a mask and you also wear a protective jacket.

Anyway, just to reiterate, fencing is awesome/amazing/fantastic and you should try it out if you get the opportunity! A lot of colleges have fencing clubs, if you are a student and interested in learning. If you want more information here's a link to the encyclopaedia of all Earthly knowledge, Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fencing

Please give it a go you won't regret it! Enjoy! :)

Dabbler

Thnks Fr The Mmrs - Fall Out Boy

This is a great song, even though the title annoys the hell out of me, but hey. :P Enjoy!! :)

Dabbler

Bring On The Wonder - Susan Enan

This is one of my favourite songs, Bring On The Wonder by Susan Enan. It's such a beautiful combination of wonderful lyrics and a brilliant melody. I originally heard it in a Bones episode, which involved a tragic take on Romeo and Juliet. It was the perfect song for the story and that really made it even more special! Enjoy! :)

Dabbler

Tom Dice - Me and My Guitar

I voted for him!! :) he's brilliant.

Dabbler

Beaker - Feelings

It's Beaker singing 'Feelings'. Enough said. :)

Dabbler

Pageviews

That's 400 pageviews worldwide! :) America, Europe, Asia, Australia...it's absolutely brilliant. I never thought it'd get this far thank you all so very, very much for looking at my blog I hope you all found something interesting and enjoyable! :)

Dabbler

Inheritance Cycle

I'm a big fan of the Inheritance Cycle. The first three books are absolutely perfect, and the fourth book is amazing, don't get me wrong, but the ending seemed kind of rushed. He could easily have made it into two seperate books and made the ending brilliant. It just seems too perfect now, that Arya just appears with a dragon, and him and Saphira are at least interested in each other, and now Eragon and Saphira have to leave. I think there's definitely more to come from Christopher Paolini; there has to be, otherwise the world he's created is going to go to waste. Algaesia's just too well made to ditch. :) here's hoping for another series, longer this time! :)

Dabbler

Torchwood Books

As a massive Jack/Ianto fan, I was of course disappointed with the ending of season 3. Don't get me wrong, it was well written, but I miss the banter, so I've started looking for Torchwood books. I now own 'Pack Animals' and 'Almost Perfect' and am already looking to see if there are any more good Jack/Ianto books out there. Please, please comment if you know any good books! :) I'm getting desperate here! :D

Dabbler

Writing

I'm a keen writer, incredibly interested in poetry and stories, both to write and to read. However, not a lot of schools will offer a class or a course/club outside of regular school hours to help with what I would probably consider my main hobby. I think that it should be taken into account that the Arts, including writing, should be given the same amount of importance as sports or other extra-curricular activities. Luckily, I've gotten into a Creative Writing module in school, just for this year, but sometimes I just think that a small group of people who are as committed to writing, who have a teacher there to help and talk us through parts of writing, would be preferrable. I really, really don't want to spend the rest of the year with a class of people who don't even want to be in that group. :/ still, anything to do with writing is fun once you get used to it. Maybe more colleges will start offering courses in it soon? I hope so. :)

Dabbler

Lady Gaga - Marry The Night

Not only is this a brilliant song that I play regularly on my iPod, the start of this video really gives you a glimpse into her world and how tough it was to start again, with an almost unbelievable determination and a belief that she could do it all again and be a star, that's oh so close to childlike in its persistence and faith. I'd say that I hope you'll enjoy it, but I know you will. :)

Dabbler

Torchwood

From left to right, Characters (Actors): Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles), Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), Ianto Jones (Gareth David Lloyd), Toshiko Sato (Naoko Mori), Dr. Owen Harper (Burn Gorman)

I have recently become mildly obsessed with the amazing series that is Torchwood. I have watched all of seasons 1-3, but at that point my interest wanes. I will watch season 4, just to see John Barrowman as the amazing Captain Jack, but they killed Ianto. They wrote him out well, I'll give them that, but he was the perfect romantic interest for Jack and now only two of the original five team members are left, and they're separated by a little thing called the Atlantic Ocean. It shouldn't have been brought to America, Wales was perfect for it (plus the accents are much better) and also this strange 'forbidden love' thingy that Gwen and Jack have is just strange. Aside from the fact that she's, ahem, been 'involved' with everyone, she's now married to a brilliant guy and it just seems like she's being a bit of a cow to him. Leave the promiscuity to Jack, John Barrowman is good at that sort of thing. :P Anyway, the books have saved me. There are plenty with Ianto in them, so for now I shall simply wait and see what happens. I would recommend it though, just watch from the start. By the way, I'm not even a Doctor Who fan, so it just goes to show how great this spin-off is in its own right. Watch it now, and thank me later. :)

Dabbler