Being someone who went to a boarding school from the age of 7 to just 19, I can never wrap my mind around day schoolers, day school is a very foreign concept to me. Hearing of truants, worried parents, undisciplined pupils seem very prevalent in day schools.
Apparently, the UK government has decided that parents of truants will be penalised if their suspended kids are found wandering all over the place, on the other hand the government is trying to get parents into work. So, what happens if a working parent has a kid who has been suspended from school, does the parent take time off work to stay at home with the kid?
Thursday, 6 September 2007
Wednesday, 5 September 2007
Celebrity Fanatic! (Cont'd)
Well, I continue my rehabilitation from yesterday and as I said yesterday, it won't be easy. I just peeped into one of the fan sites a few minutes ago for about 2 minutes, looked around and left. So after about 22 hours, I just had to take a look. I think I did OK because I felt really down all day even when I was doing other things and I would say depressed, I felt nauseated and quite weak because I hadn't been to these fan sites.
I checked out some Internet addiction sites but they were of no help, too general in their topics. I find that while I can hold off surfing the Internet in regards to other things and spend my time for other things, I can't pull away from this celebrity and reading about whatever is happening in regards to this celebrity. Funnily enough, I don't feel the need to Google, Yahoo to find news on them, I don't buy magazines or check them out when I go into the shops, it is staying away from fan sites that is the problem. I wonder if others have this problem.
Off I go again, fingers crossed.
I checked out some Internet addiction sites but they were of no help, too general in their topics. I find that while I can hold off surfing the Internet in regards to other things and spend my time for other things, I can't pull away from this celebrity and reading about whatever is happening in regards to this celebrity. Funnily enough, I don't feel the need to Google, Yahoo to find news on them, I don't buy magazines or check them out when I go into the shops, it is staying away from fan sites that is the problem. I wonder if others have this problem.
Off I go again, fingers crossed.
Tuesday, 4 September 2007
Celebrity Fanatic!
For years, I have been a fan of a celebrity and more and more, I keep wondering why I am? I understand the fact that I love the work this person does but why do I feel the need to want to know about the world this person inhabits?
Celebrity fanaticism is not an easy thing to endure, it is not easy being a fan of somebody. It is almost as if you are intertwined with the person. You hurt when you read offensive or hurtful things about them, you want to fight battles that they are not aware of for them, you are happy when they are, you are in the slumps when they fail at something and it almost seems that their lives are a lot more important to you than yours. It is quite crippling when you think about it, it demands a lot from you emotionally and financially.
I have been a fan of this star for more years than I care to mention and in that time, the interest in what this star is doing seem to have eclipsed my accomplishments. I was an avid reader but now, I read less because I am on the net reading about this star, reading and posting on various blogs and forums, fighting their corner with faceless, nameless and aliased posters that I have probably walked past on the streets not knowing who they are/were or people I have never met, looking for sightings on sites, blogs and forums, anticipating their next work and with all those things, my time, my hours and minutes are frittered away. Even at work, I use Google to find the latest news, I can't wait to get home and log on. This is something that I have done for years, now, years I feel ashamed to mention.
I watched a short documentary on TV last week, it was about how the internet was as addictive as drugs or alcohol, I watched a man who lived solely for the Internet try to give it up for 72 hours but couldn't and I see myself in this man. Morning, noon and night devoted to this person even as a loner that I am, it is extreme and I wonder how many people like me are out there. I have been online since midnight and it is now close to 6pm, I have been to a few sites about this person all through this period and I wonder why I do this?
I have tried to fight, conquer this thing but any attempt to not log on to fan sites every day takes me into an area of depression, I can always feel my heart getting heavier and heavier, my throat working at a lump, I feel nausea, my heart pumping and my blood getting hotter under my skin but as soon as I power up my computer, connect to the Internet and go to my favoured sites about this star, calmness is restored.
Today, I go into personal rehabilitation to heal or cure myself. I am closing a chapter on that area of my life. I still admire this individual enormously but I will do it by paying attention to the work when it is made public. I made a lot of friends at these places that I go to but real life demands more than I am giving it, if I do not stop now in my 30s when will I stop, I was a lot younger when my admiration started and it hasn't waned but if I don't stop the assimilation, exploration of information about this individual then what will I be doing in a decade? a 40-something year old still in the same spot or just barely moved on?
I hope I succeed because something tells me that it won't be easy, not at all.
Oh well.
Celebrity fanaticism is not an easy thing to endure, it is not easy being a fan of somebody. It is almost as if you are intertwined with the person. You hurt when you read offensive or hurtful things about them, you want to fight battles that they are not aware of for them, you are happy when they are, you are in the slumps when they fail at something and it almost seems that their lives are a lot more important to you than yours. It is quite crippling when you think about it, it demands a lot from you emotionally and financially.
I have been a fan of this star for more years than I care to mention and in that time, the interest in what this star is doing seem to have eclipsed my accomplishments. I was an avid reader but now, I read less because I am on the net reading about this star, reading and posting on various blogs and forums, fighting their corner with faceless, nameless and aliased posters that I have probably walked past on the streets not knowing who they are/were or people I have never met, looking for sightings on sites, blogs and forums, anticipating their next work and with all those things, my time, my hours and minutes are frittered away. Even at work, I use Google to find the latest news, I can't wait to get home and log on. This is something that I have done for years, now, years I feel ashamed to mention.
I watched a short documentary on TV last week, it was about how the internet was as addictive as drugs or alcohol, I watched a man who lived solely for the Internet try to give it up for 72 hours but couldn't and I see myself in this man. Morning, noon and night devoted to this person even as a loner that I am, it is extreme and I wonder how many people like me are out there. I have been online since midnight and it is now close to 6pm, I have been to a few sites about this person all through this period and I wonder why I do this?
I have tried to fight, conquer this thing but any attempt to not log on to fan sites every day takes me into an area of depression, I can always feel my heart getting heavier and heavier, my throat working at a lump, I feel nausea, my heart pumping and my blood getting hotter under my skin but as soon as I power up my computer, connect to the Internet and go to my favoured sites about this star, calmness is restored.
Today, I go into personal rehabilitation to heal or cure myself. I am closing a chapter on that area of my life. I still admire this individual enormously but I will do it by paying attention to the work when it is made public. I made a lot of friends at these places that I go to but real life demands more than I am giving it, if I do not stop now in my 30s when will I stop, I was a lot younger when my admiration started and it hasn't waned but if I don't stop the assimilation, exploration of information about this individual then what will I be doing in a decade? a 40-something year old still in the same spot or just barely moved on?
I hope I succeed because something tells me that it won't be easy, not at all.
Oh well.
Thursday, 16 August 2007
Memo to Warner Brothers
In 2005, you commissioned the ridiculously talented Oliver Hirschbiegel (The Experiment, Downfall) to direct a new version of Jack Finney's Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the novel was semi-adapted by David Kajganich, produced by Joel Silver, Roy Lee, Doug Davison, Susan Downey, Steve Richards, Ronald G. Smith and Bruce Berman. Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Jeremy Northam and Jeffrey Wright were the main actors paid to star in this project.
In September 2005, the director, writer, producers, Kidman, Craig, Northam held a press conference to talk about this movie. When asked, Hirschbiegel, Kajganich et al., explained that this would be a very character driven movie and not an action, explosive, noisy movie:
http://www.movieweb.com/movies/film/20/3520/videos/?s=interviews
The press conference ended and everyone went on their merry way. The movie filmed for three months between September and January and wrapped without any drama or event. Then the director took his first cut to the studio that asked him, a director who excels in claustrophobia and intense movies, to make this movie for them but after viewing the first cut, the studio decided that the cut was not what they expected, they wanted more action in order to have more thrills, they wanted a commercially viable movie. So, what did the great Warner Brothers do? they re-wrote parts of the movie, commissioned the Wachowski Brothers (not known for subtlety in recent times), they hired the generic Jamie McTeague (V for Vendetta) to direct the scenes they'd written. The reshoot took some 3 weeks and cost WB an extra $10m - $15m.
A few questions arise:
* Was Joel Silver lying at the press screening when he said this movie will be in the vein of Downfall?
* At what point did he think or believe that the Wachowski Brothers, Jamie McTeague could step into Hirschbiegel's shoes?
* When will studios stop messing with well-made movies simply because they don't believe or think it will make them money?
and more importantly:
* When will we see Hirschbiegel's version of The Invasion?
A director, an excellent cast and crew spent 3 months making what looks to be a great movie, only for Warners to mess it up and create a debacle that will cost them millions. At least, with this movie, the critics are well aware that it is not the script, direction or performances that are found wanting, it is the suites at WB that should be skinned alive for this mess.
In September 2005, the director, writer, producers, Kidman, Craig, Northam held a press conference to talk about this movie. When asked, Hirschbiegel, Kajganich et al., explained that this would be a very character driven movie and not an action, explosive, noisy movie:
http://www.movieweb.com/movies/film/20/3520/videos/?s=interviews
The press conference ended and everyone went on their merry way. The movie filmed for three months between September and January and wrapped without any drama or event. Then the director took his first cut to the studio that asked him, a director who excels in claustrophobia and intense movies, to make this movie for them but after viewing the first cut, the studio decided that the cut was not what they expected, they wanted more action in order to have more thrills, they wanted a commercially viable movie. So, what did the great Warner Brothers do? they re-wrote parts of the movie, commissioned the Wachowski Brothers (not known for subtlety in recent times), they hired the generic Jamie McTeague (V for Vendetta) to direct the scenes they'd written. The reshoot took some 3 weeks and cost WB an extra $10m - $15m.
A few questions arise:
* Was Joel Silver lying at the press screening when he said this movie will be in the vein of Downfall?
* At what point did he think or believe that the Wachowski Brothers, Jamie McTeague could step into Hirschbiegel's shoes?
* When will studios stop messing with well-made movies simply because they don't believe or think it will make them money?
and more importantly:
* When will we see Hirschbiegel's version of The Invasion?
A director, an excellent cast and crew spent 3 months making what looks to be a great movie, only for Warners to mess it up and create a debacle that will cost them millions. At least, with this movie, the critics are well aware that it is not the script, direction or performances that are found wanting, it is the suites at WB that should be skinned alive for this mess.
Tuesday, 14 August 2007
Here we go
Well, this is it. I am joining the blogging brigade. I will be posting my thoughts on the daily events, news, etc. Sometimes, I will rant and other times, I will rave. Sometimes, I will ask questions and other times, I will give answers to questions.
Well, here's to this becoming a fun-filled blog!
Well, here's to this becoming a fun-filled blog!
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