Friday, April 18, 2008

News and Politics with Shaft

Magibon in Japan!

Yes yes thanks to the magibonfan blog for this information, which seems pretty accurate after checking out the footage. That video is here not sure how long it will be there though. Magibon more than most seem to generate a whole lot of derision and criticism, her videos are weird so I can partly understand some of it but a lot of it is just the same nasty remarks you always get on youtube videos with more than about 5 comments but with her it just goes on and on.

From my initial research, which I may have mentioned before it, seems she was part of an anime based forum community and fell out with them. I have no idea why Magibon has got so big so fast or well I have a couple of ideas, she is as cute as your average anime girl with hmm lets just say a great body so that must help.











Terrorism???







There have been some more terror convictions today including Abu Izzadeen, the muslim preacher who came to prominence in 2004 when he heckled Home Secretary John Reid has been convicted of terrorist fundraising and enciting terrorism overseas. For me it does make me wonder, all these new terror laws in my opinion effectively take one look at Free Speech before blowing its face off with a sawn off shotgun at close range. It seems that in the UK we have a problem with anything remotely to do with government or society at large that things have to go one way and not the other. Taxes MUST go up, like the tax rates on alcohol, fuel and council tax. Laws must be tightened and never ever relaxed, we need more CCTV cameras and speed cameras and we must be able to lock up people without charge for longer.

Let me tell you what I need more of, MORE DEMOCRACY, that doesn’t mean more pointless votes in almost empty chambers in parliament but more talking to people on the street, MORE real information and less of this SPIN that allows the media to lead the majority of the public around by the nose, immigration anyone there is so much bullshit slung around by both sides of the argument here we might as well be living on a pig farm. Anyway enough of a rant onto the next story.




Iran and the sailors
Do you remember way back when those sailors were picked up because they were supposedly on the wrong side of the waters between Iran and Iraq. Do you recall for awhile there it really looked like things were about to go into full ass kicking gun shooting mode? Well you also recall it didn’t and in the end we had soldiers selling stories which did not go down well and it seemingly ended there. Strangely enough after hearing this on BBC FiveLive for like 2 minutes a search of the BBC news websites reveals nothing but then to be fair that site has never been the easiest to search through for specific stories unless they are the absolute headlines.



Zimbabwe


A bad joke. If you are the world affairs/political type then you know about Zimbabwe and the election that never was. Unfortunately the UK and aftermath of colonialism means thatthings don’t always run smoothly and even those with noble intentions can be seduced by power. I do not believe that Mugabe was the way he is now when he was first leading an independent and vibrant Zimbabwe and I can even understand that the UK does not want to intervene due to its past connections. However once you set the line by joining up with the American idea of righting wrongs wherever you view them, after all Iraq certainly wasn’t about oil and we sort of proved that it was not about immediate danger from phantom weapons so it must have been about increasing democracy so lets go spread some more democracy now.

China


Another bad joke and another reason why I ended my love affair with the Olympics. First off why do we have Chinese security types running through the streets of London last time I checked we pay taxes so we can have our own police and what not to take care of things in our own damn country it is an insult to say we could not take care of it ourselves and I believe it helped to make the protests worse than they otherwise might have been. To stand by an allow China with its human rights record to hold the Olympics is just insane, INSANE. We go to Afghanistan and Iraq accuse Iraq of working with Al Qaeda with no proof, yet we all remember the videos of the horror seen at Tiananmen Square if that is not worth a few precision guided American missiles I don’t know what is.

For all those sports stars who want to keep politics out of sport they must have missed the UK based commercials from our last election, which basically said politics is everything. Also look at Apratheid and what the UK did then apparently now that we are hosting the Olympics after them and might lose some money we suddenly don’t mind tyrannical and oppressive regimes. I always thought the UK was a place that had integrity I was wrong.

Damn I am all ranted out and I did not get a chance to talk about Throttling the Internet which Sexy Phil pointed me too. Check his video for details.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

One computer down but not defeated

It has been crazy at the new place what with the move and things. Unfortunately promises made to me by companies have proved to be false so now the business is running on less than broadband speeds which is disappointing and means that my endless march to 70 has been somewhat curtailed on good old WoW.

So it has still been unpacking, cleaning and setting things up to make things as comfortable as possible. Even got to watch some TV which was nice but soon my replacement charger will soon be here and the other computer will be back online soon.

Not much else to report here so will talk soon.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Moved Premises

Hello it is me again!

I'm back but different. I have moved the operation and myself to new digs in fact as I write this I am starting my first full day here. It has some problems probbaly down to my love of the high life but overall this place is great. As a result of the move over the last few weeks and copious amounts of paperwork and form filling I am a bit behind in my usual consideration entertainment available either by TV and the Net.

Things I am looking forward to:
  1. Battlestar Galactica
  2. Naruto Shippuuden

Don't really have anything else that I am aware of to be honest but I will be checking my podcasts and checking various sites to see if there is something that at the moment I am missing. Don't worry though it just means most likely that the next few posts will be about news items as opposed to TV.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Shafts Word

YouTube Video of the Year









Hands down. Hands down. This video sums it up for me shows the best part of YouTube and talks about some of the worst parts of being a YouTuber. I don’t even usually watch FiveAwesomeGirls but I know people who watch it obsessively and I recognised the young lady and clicked because she was on the videos being watched right now animated thingy and I was glad I did.





TV Trauma
Hmm I like that name might have to make me a logo for that.





Kyle XY
Its OVER ZOMG!
















The one show to keep it real and go 23 episodes in this rather messed up TV season, very strange especially when you think the first season was like 10 or 12 episodes and the third season is being reported to be a half season of 10 episodes. It has never failed to keep me entertained for a single episode. I think the acting too has stepped up to the next level where in the past it was a little wooden from time to time which is understandable if you have to play a teenager who doesn’t even know what emotions are.

Jericho
Died and then came back while the first 2 episodes were strong I was not so sure about episode 4 and it got me back into my old habit of leaving Jericho episodes till the end of the week after watching all the other things I like to look at from around the world. It is getting better though, it is good to see the Mayor back in town.

Music news
Leona Lewis Number One in the US who’d have thunk it. I think it is very impressive even if I am not a fan of the show that spawned her success, lets just hope she does better than Robbie did over there.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Sorry but I am back now

I know I have been away for a time but something HUGE came up so it was taking all my time. Over the next few weeks I will be moving so as you can imagine that is a source of stress. No phone line WHAT! Indeed so not sure when the next time you will be hearing from me will be. Anyway enough about my problems lets get to a few news stories that I find interesting.

UK oath of allegiance
(See it at http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/03/11/uk.oath.ap/index.html)

Lord Goldsmith has written up plans for school children to swear allegiance to the queen to promote a sense of British culture. This has been big on Radio Five Live, which is all I listen to radio wise. If Radio Five is a reasonable reflection of the public then the public is not wholly behind the idea. Indeed it seems the most contentious issue is swearing allegiance to the Queen and I tend to agree, the country please and the not the outdated idea of the monarchy. I heard the allegiance for new citizens which mentions democracy and being a loyal subject all in the same paragraph. Also the Scottish Government are going nuts about it so that should prove interesting.

YOUTUBE review
Too much time on my hands means that I am forever having a look around to see what is to be seen on YouTube and these are the channels I think are pretty good.

Hotforwords
(http://www.youtube.com/hotforwords)

Making education sexy saw this totally by accident as a result of looking at the next person on the list. You can look at this one of two ways of course I prefer the good way which encourages men and women who have never looked at education before to give it a shot.

http://www.youtube.com/sxephil

The Phillip DeFranco show which in fact is a guy Vlogging about various news stories of the week. This is more than its description my first lead you to believe it is definitely worth taking a look at. This guy is funny and at ease in front of the camera, yes he brings his own views but he does not shove it down our throats.

Anyway that is enough from me might be again away for awhile subject to Internet access at the new place but I won’t be of for too long I couldn’t stand it.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The Week

Strike is over... WHERE ARE MY SHOWS!!!
Hey I’m very very happy to see that in all likelihood the WGA strike is over but me probably like most of you are wondering about how much damage has been done to the TV schedules. Living in the UK looking at the way that the US organises it TV scheduling gives me a headache. By the look of things having a quick look at a few news sites tells me Heroes won’t be back (which I knew from spending so much time on TV.com forums) and also it seems Chuck won’t be coming back till the autumn which is a real shame it is the first comedy show that I have deemed worthy in years most new comedies just seem to pass me by. Hmm thinking about it this also means that the Oscars will be ok if you are into your awards ceremonies.

Fallout
According to Cash Peters the following shows that matter as edited by me are gone as in cancelled.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Absolutely awesome I really hope that Cash has got it wrong in this case and that it will stick around for a season or two I mean the hype alone got most of us prepared to give it some time and I like what I have seen so far. There was like a 2-month teaser campaign in the UK that’s crazy and unheard of in most cases.








The Bionic Woman
I didn’t think I would like this show but I do now maybe it is the British attraction I don’t know but I am sorry to see it go. It is interesting to note that Flash Gordon managed to make it to the end of its run but that is probably down to being on the Sci-Fi channel, it is a shame that networks can be so timid. Flash Gordon was actually pretty intriguing I rate it more fun than forcing myself through Smallville these days more Lana drama than I can manage.

Moonlight
A guilty pleasure but no more apparently this one has called it quits too.

Diana
You know what they are still doing that inquest thing, biggest waste of money I can think of at the moment soon to be eclipsed once the national ID scheme goes ahead though. Diana’s death is one of those incidents people either buy the cover story or they won’t simple as that no amount of hearings will change that. It is best we just let it drop of the news radar surely.

Mosquito
Nope not the little bloodsuckers but something else entirely. Apparently hearing loss begins in your twenties so this one security expert guy made a siren that only young people can hear and has successfully marketed as a way of keeping children away. I say children the public would call them ‘scum’, ‘feral youths’ or ‘ne’er do wells’ ok maybe not the last one but I’m feeling a bit old school. I was just surprised that this technology existed I honestly thought it was a joke for awhile.

And that’s the week that was. Goodbye and be safe.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Random round up

Back once again people sorry about the wait. First of does anyone want a chicken strip? No… they’re spicey. Hmm more for me then, anyway on to it. I live in the UK I think it says on the side and the mood of the nation right now is well just a little bit down. Actually a LOT down. The economy and the mortgage rates problems are really starting to scare the public and have an actual effect too like in America the amount of repossessions are up. You take that and couple it with Northern Rock and we are lucky that they are not rioting in the streets.

People are talking about recession not that it affects me my main concern is procuring full time employment which in my view is just a s hard as it always has been. Slightly annoyed too had to turn down some part time work as the people who wanted it done called me the morning of, to somehow get to the place of work which is 40 miles away in around half an hour which was just stupid.

I’m still waiting to here about a job I applied for I will definitely be mailing them on Monday. It is a joke how companies treat people who are just trying to get a job, I was told that I would be informed regardless of the result 2 weeks ago and nothing.



This girl is going to be huge.

That’s enough of the negative, recently I have been just beginning to see past the surface of YouTube. Getting involved as much as I can without ay decent equipment, I have been branching out from the mostly Harry Potter related stuff that I look at to some music artists and the 5awesomegeeks channel.

ZOMG! Shaft is on the TV.

Not with Richard Roundtree at the helm but Samuel L Jackson. I caught it myself awhile ago it is an alright film, very different from the original but hey times have moved on.

Anyway that is enough for now.