R.I.P- The Golden Rule of Three!

Today (well yesterday now as it's very early morning Saturday) has been a strange day. Only one thing has really dominated the majority of the media, from the papers to music channels. The King of Pop- Michael Jackson died at age 50 on Thursday 25th June 2009!

Michael Jackson released some of his biggest hits during the eighties!


His death is still in high speculation of whether it had anything to do with the drugs he seemed to be on which has ranged from Morphine to Demerol. I'm sure this headline isn't going out of the public eye for some time so we are sure to know soon!

Many 'avid' fans- well there is a difference between avid and slightly stalkerish- have either stayed at the hospital in LA to show their respect or go to the other extreme by saying he is still alive- or one fan exclaiming he had been abducted to share his gift with the Universe. Hmmm... feel a bit of de-ja-vu here. Is this the same fan who exclaimed a similar story after Elvis' death.

Anyway, staying away from the press stories about him in recent years, he was a great artist and left behind some amazing music.

Earlier in the day, we had heard news of Farrah Fawcett's death who lost her battle with cancer. She was a renowned sex symbol and widely known in her role as one of Charlie's Angels.


After these two deaths had been announced, everyone began speculating that old wives tale- Celebrity death's ALWAYS come in threes! Well if I'm not mistaken, it didn't in that day, but the week's not over yet.

However, someone did decide to try and freak a lot of people into believing this tale to be true. Verging on midnight (G-time) the Internet began lighting up with posts of Jeff Goldblum's death, saying he fell from a cliff in New Zealand while filming his next film. At one point there was even a rumour about Harrison Ford's death, but that shortly fizzled out. I was shocked when I heard the news, even more than Jackson. This is probably because I knew that Jackson had already been rushed to hospital and Goldblum's death completed the trio- "perhaps there is something to the 'bad things (including celebrity deaths) come in threes' ploy," i thought quite innocently. I feel a fool for letting myself be sucked into that strange realm people live in- not picking up knives if you have dropped them, no shoes on the table, don't ever let a black cat cross your path, no umbrellas open inside the house and the most famous don't walk under that ladder! Bad things will happen! Of course they will- you'll step on a knife, get mud on the table, trip over the cat, smash the light fitting trying to open your umbrella and knock the can of paint hanging dangerously off the edge of the ladder!

Superstitions... hmmmm... bit superstitious of them myself.

Still with us- Nasty rumours stated Goldblum's death & even Ford's at some point the same day!

'Misanthropy' is Universal...

House MD. was the most watched show of 2008!

I'm ecstatic. A decent programme at last getting the credit it deserves. Fear took over when I contemplated other shows that stood a chance, although it baffles me as to why; American Idol- can't be classed as Reality TV as it is the biggest work of fiction since the Bible or Desperate Housewives- well it's all in the title! (Unfortunately it was the biggest comedy worldwide- how?)


House is a show about a cynical, drug addicted, misanthropic and extremely sarcastic diagnostician void of a bedside manner. However you can't watch the show without romanticising the man, Doctor Gregory House, well if you are a woman anyway. And if you're a guy, you like to think you are as cool and witty as said man.

Suffering an infarction, House is in constant chronic pain from his right leg and also suffers with a limp which has resulted in the use of his infamous cane.

Each week a new baffling case will be thrown at him, (usually by his boss Cuddy) and his team of doctors to solve or the patient faces immediate death. Not only are the cases and patients interesting and medicine baffling, but the characters are all so unique yet strangely familiar, the show is able to haul in a large audience who find themselves hooked after the first scene before the opening credits.

Its huge popularity is not only due to the amazing writing and creations that David Shore and Katie Jacobs have managed to formed, although lightly based on Sherlock Holmes (e.g. Holmes-House, his sidekick Watson- House's best friend Wilson, both addicted to drugs) but the performances by the actors are mind-blowing at times.

Hugh Laurie has done an incredible job of adopting the American accent, and although some people will always moan about actors not originating from specific countries, if you didn't know he was British, you wouldn't know. His performances in the 80's and 90's in Britain in shows such as 'Blackadder' and 'A Bit of Fry and Laurie,' or even later in the forgotten gem that was 'Fortysomething,' to his films such as 'Maybe Baby' and 'Girl From Rio,' range in character personalities but have always kept that element of comedy. And the same can be said for House. But no other character he has played has been even slightly close to Greg House. It just shows what a hugely talented actor he is and the diversity he is able to contribute to the screen. Let's not also forget that he is still looking sexy at 50!

Another thing we must not forget is the hugely talented ensable that surrounds Hugh Laurie including Lisa Edelstein, Robert Sean Leonard and Omar Epps!

So if you haven't seen this show yet! Where have you been? The whole world has been watching, literally...
It just goes to show sarcasm and misanthrophy is a universial language- understood by everyone, and we wouldn't have it any other way!

Not "Knowing" is sometimes better...

I've never been a huge fan of Nicholas Cage. Along with Keanu Reeves both could win the "I'm only going to use one facial expression in this movie" award. However, I thought I won't let this stop me going to see a film with him in.

The Knowing. Not an Oscar winning film, but fairly decent 3/4 of the way through. Unfortunately it breaks one of the fundamental rules of cinema! Making it probably within the top 20 worst films I've ever seen!! Number 1 possibly being Lord of War- a coincidence that it is another Nicholas Cage film?

This rule is:

When an unexplained, surreal storyline is unfolding on screen never ever conclude the film with "It was just a dream," or "Aliens coming to earth to abduct humans and put them on a new planet." The second one is unfortunately the conclusion of The Knowing. I think I would have rather Nicholas Cage woken from a deep sleep admitting it was all made-up!

It would have been a more effective end if we didn't know!

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On another note, for weeks, months even, I've been trying to think how to sum up how Labour has completely screwed up Britain over the last decade! And how Brown is continuing to make appalling decisions by stating how we are going to "buy our way out of recession!" Literally, what's happened?
I'll leave you with the fantastic speech by Daniel Hannan. At least someone knows what he is talking about!

'Dial-up' to 'A Bit' of 'House!'

There is the reason for my lack of blog writing, well several:

1: Work, work and work
2: Writing, writing and writing
3: Drinking a lot of tea
4: Catching up with House, Arrested Development, The Big Bang Theory and Samantha Who

and 5...

Possibly the main and most important reason is that I have been back home for a while where the internet server is merely that of Dial-up!

Could this be the most irritating thing about modern life?
Now in 2009 and Britain is still not completely digitalised to the extent where a village can't receive broadband when it is only 5 miles from the town!
It took me over half an hour to load my e-mails and god forbid can I try to load anything with a picture. The record for a video stream on YouTube just under 3 minutes long took an hour and 4 minutes to load fully.

Another small rant which coincidentally goes back to point four on the subject of House. Amazing, truly inspiring show but the UK are yet to air Season 5! First January, then March and now I'm hearing claims of Autumn! The broadcasters seem to have no problem airing awful shows like Hollyoaks or endless mind-numbing shows about health such as "Honey we're killing the kids," with ridiculous titles to that effect. Soon we'll have "Stop eating fatty!"

I also discovered something truly shocking and painful this week! One of my housemates had not heard of the show "A bit of Fry & Laurie." Now if he was any nationality other than British I would understand. I would even understand if he was a new born baby! But a British lad not knowing the show at the age of nearly 20, I was shocked. Yes he was too young to appreciate it when it was originally aired as were I, however this is the kind of thing generations should pass down to their children rather than awful habits such as daily soap viewing. Appalled I posted my disappointment on Facebook to receive many replies by people also claiming they have not heard of the show!



If you too have not heard of the show, any ethnicity, nationality, colour, size, age, gender, shoe size etc. go now to:

www.youtube.com and type in "A Bit of Fry and Laurie"

or

HMV or Amazon where you can buy all four seasons on DVD!

Do Something Funny For Money...

The BBC recently aired the programme "Comic Relief: The Fools's Guide," an uplifting show about past Red Nose Day's the origins of the concept and who our donations help.

Most people are aware that Comic Relief helps to bring aid to Africa as well as many organisations in the UK. A night full of laughs and tears as one minute you'll be crying of laughter at a naked Billy Connelly, the next actually crying as you are subject to a heartbreaking film of a family suffering here in the UK or the immense poverty in a small shanty town in Africa. It is impossible not to display any emotion of sadness!

In our current economic crisis it may be a hard year for us to donate as much money and beat current year records! So far I have donated seventeen pounds, buying three noses, a t-shirt as well as a small donation. I hope to give a bit more but just imagine if everyone in the country, roughly 60 million of us just gave a pound, what an amazing start!

The Comic Relief site is full of cheap and easy fundraising ideas, but if you're too busy or too skint, just buy that one pint in the pub instead of two and give that extra money you would have spent to Comic Relief! Or simpler still buy a Red Nose! It's a pound!

This year, the comedy single will be sung by Uncle Bryn and Nessa from the amazing show Gavin & Stacey- a show that has put faith back into television and writing. It's a must see! Uncle Bryn, an optimist who is fascinated with technology such as "Sat Nav" and is constantly trying to keep up with the latest gadgets, however always seems a couple of years behind, is played by the hilarious Rob Brydon, probably the funniest I've ever seen him! Bryn also "can't get enough" of Brokeback Mountain.

Nessa is played by Ruth Jones who writes the show (amazing comedic writing) along with James Cordon- "What's Occurring?"

The song was sung on the show but for Comic Relief we see them entering a competition in Las Vegas where they meet the legendary Tom Jones!

So give as little or as much as you can to Comic Relief this year! It's going to be an amazing night of television for us and a life changing experience for those who our donations go to, whether that is a child in Africa or even someone on your street.

Clarkson... Half right?

Political correctness is a strange term. Often used in the sentence "political correctness gone mad!" Which I myself have used many a time, and I hate it! At first it seemed so new and fresh but now it's so generic it almost seems obsolete as a phrase.

With more and more news headlines having a "dig" at certain terms, words or phrases people have said who are in the public eye, does this mean we are having to be increasingly cautious about what we say, or are we going backwards, into a time where ignorance showered the globe causing racial hate?

All I want, as I do believe a large population will also agree, is equality, freedom and peace for everyone, without trying to sound too Miss United Statesy!

Jeremy Clarkson is the newest figure to come under attack for his insult at Gordon Brown. OK I believe what he stated about the man's disability was wrong and I agree he should apologise, which he has done. But I have to agree with the second part, Gordon Brown is an idiot. But which political figure isn't?

Our current political policies are a shambles, and it's going to get a lot darker before we see a glowing light out of this depression we're sinking into.

On a lighter note, half of the country is no longer sinking in snow! However more is said to come! Bad for the economy, but you can never have too many lay-ins can you!

Rant over. Back to script writing...

YouTube...

How amazing is this site. I just wanted to dedicate a post to it!

I know it has its bad points, especially the fact that it is one of the main causes for the decline in television ratings, the career I wish to go in to, but on a night where I can't sleep it's incredibly entertaining!

Eddie Izzard's Death Star Canteen!

Another week...

I'm about to finish my third week of semester B of my second year of Uni!
It may not make sense to a large population but to a student, especially everyone on my course as we have no exams, that's roughly 60 days left of my second year!!

I love Britain but everyone is laughing at us! A couple of days of snow, max of ten inches in some places and the whole country comes to a standstill! Don't get me wrong, there are benefits- no school, uni or work for many, but our economy has actually lost billions of pounds, not good with the current economy crisis! But it snowed! So that makes up for it! The glistening blanket was a spectacular site!

Also I am amazed at how fast the social networking site "Twitter" has taken off. I heard of the site over a year ago claiming to be the "New Facebook" and now it is beginning to make headline news!

Stephen Fry got stuck in a lift today!
Headline news?

I admire Mr. Fry, as an actor, writer, comedian he is the top of his league, I just find it amusing that this is headline news!

Well it's better than hearing of awful things that are occurring currently all over the world, although I'm sure he didn't appreciate being confined in a small space.

So I've joined Twitter, and kind of... like it. One thing that is slightly disturbing is instead of having "friends" you have "followers." Currently one of my "followers" is 10 Downing Street!

I'm still getting used to blogging, it's a new thing to me but I am determined to keep it up!

The end of a great comical figure...

Change Can Happen!

With the new president stepping into the White House today, it makes me wonder why as Britons we don't celebrate our elections in the same fashion as American's. They take a great pride in their country, something I feel sadly we have lost.

Britain needs a change!

Good Luck Barack Obama! I wish you well! Let's face it, you can't do any worse than this:

This man is a great loss to comedy!

Introduction:

Let's start off simple! If you haven't seen already, my name is Bec; however known as Becca by most, but the latter takes slightly more time to type.

Ok, so now you're probably thinking I'm lazy! Well half true, it depends on the obstacle in front of me. Ask me to write an essay, I'll almost certainly leave it to the last minute and you would find me pulling an all nighter the day before the deadline. However ask me to travel and explore the world, then I'd be off! As I haven't got the funds to just set off on any trips right now, I'm stuck at University.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad thing. I love University, although as I mature I'm being exposed to a world full of subjects I have never encountered before. A good example is politics. Of course I've had my sketchy views of modern policies but like any average kid, I didn't have a great knowledge of the subject; a major fault I feel in the current education system. However I feel myself being absorbed into more and more political debates. Subjects like this can be so intense it's good to have a form of escapism, mine of which come in a variety; writing, sport, travel, film and television. It's no surprise I'm a Media Production student.

NOTE: MEDIA PRODUCTION IS NOT MEDIA STUDIES!

I feel I have to defend my degree. I don't sit around all day watching films and television. I make film and television. Currently I am specialising in television production and script writing and having a dam good time although it can be difficult and stressful.

So don't be surprised if you see a few classic television clips cropping up from time to time.

There is so much to say and so little time!