The internet is often used as a forum for hate and anger, I have noticed this fact recently when I have read some "professional" political blogs as well as some opinionated rants and moans elsewhere on the net.
Anonymous people often find rudeness easy on line, of course there is no comeback when you hide behind a pseudonym or a character, and harsh words can be fired easily when no one knows or can see the "shooter!"
My mother had a saying
"If you can't say anything good about someone, say nothing"
This amused me somewhat seeing that my mother was an expert moaner about EVERYONE!
But I kind of agree with her general sentiments- badmouthing someone can make you look somewhat mean and ever so, well, bitter.
Or As Eric Hoffer once said "Rudeness is a weak man's weapon"
Perhaps there should be several pre agreed rules before anyone should blog
1. Never blog when you have just had a row
2. Never blog when you are pissed ( sorry US readers I mean drunk)
3. and never blog when you are pissed AND angry!
Stormy Weather
I know it is lazy blogging of sorts but I took the following video this morning at dawn when I went to sort the animals out, and believe me the wind had dropped from the gales we had on Friday!
A little act of cruelty
Chris has not been well today, and has spent most of the day on the sofa with a stomach bug and the duvet.
I made him breakfast and left him in peace and quiet to take the dogs up to my brother's house way up in the hills. There I let them run themselves silly in their garden and pond, and spent a hour or two with my sister in law. My brother remains very fatigued at the moment and was asleep when I was there. I will catch him later in the week.
When I got home, I was making Chris some lunch when there was a knock at the kitchen window which faces the lane. Thinking it was an egg customer I ambled outside to find a neighbour from down the road. She hurriedly explained that she had witnessed a guy walking past one the tame st Trinian hens who had escaped into the lane. She told me that he had actively allowed his two dogs a free run on their extended leads to corner and attack the single hen, and that they had ripped out a large number of feathers before the hen had somehow escaped
I ran out to find the guy long gone and the somewhat fraught and battered hen safely back in the field. She didnt "look" injured or shocked to I decided to leave her well alone, but I was incredibly angry if this guy had indeed purposely allowed the attack to happen.
The darker side of human nature never ceases to surprise me. The moral code which keeps you and I in check for most of the time does not apply to some, who allow themselves to inflict little acts of cruelty on the weak without a second thought or guilt.....I wonder just how this happens so very easily?...........This nastier part of human motivation saddens me greatly
I made him breakfast and left him in peace and quiet to take the dogs up to my brother's house way up in the hills. There I let them run themselves silly in their garden and pond, and spent a hour or two with my sister in law. My brother remains very fatigued at the moment and was asleep when I was there. I will catch him later in the week.
When I got home, I was making Chris some lunch when there was a knock at the kitchen window which faces the lane. Thinking it was an egg customer I ambled outside to find a neighbour from down the road. She hurriedly explained that she had witnessed a guy walking past one the tame st Trinian hens who had escaped into the lane. She told me that he had actively allowed his two dogs a free run on their extended leads to corner and attack the single hen, and that they had ripped out a large number of feathers before the hen had somehow escaped
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| One of the tame St Trinians walking in the lane |
The darker side of human nature never ceases to surprise me. The moral code which keeps you and I in check for most of the time does not apply to some, who allow themselves to inflict little acts of cruelty on the weak without a second thought or guilt.....I wonder just how this happens so very easily?...........This nastier part of human motivation saddens me greatly
Black Swan
Well from my previous and rather bad home movie to something a little more sublime
Black Swan is not a particularly original movie. We have seen its themes of cultural obsession, mental illness and the fight for artistic perfection many times before in such movies as The Red Shoes, Amadeus, Repulsion and Magic and I must admit that the movie's use of such iconic and to many, hackneyed ballet movie stereotypes ( the faded star, the young ingenue battling for the prima ballerina role, the predatory director and The Swan Lake ballet itself) could have failed miserably in their repetition......but in Black Swan, for the most part, all of these stereotypes work (including the old face in the mirror), thanks primarily to some great performances and dazzlingly creative cinematography.
The story centres around Nina (Natalie Portman), an emotionally fragile and sexually immature ballerina who coverts the role of Swan Queen in a new production of Swan Lake. When she is finally given the role over aging prima ballerina Beth (Winona Ryder) the stresses of the new production, coupled with the worries of her role being stolen by a more vivacious and sexually confident Lily (Mila Kunis ) and separation issues with her delicate mother (Barbara Hershey ), Nina descends into madness.
Portman is rather impressive in the very difficult role of Nina. Her character is unsympathetic, abrasive and rather unlikable, but she holds the audience' attention throughout, and perfectly captures Nina's brittleness, fear and latent destructive streak. Hershey is fine as her intense and delicate mom, and the cameo by Ryder reminds a new movie going audience just why she was a big BIG name in the 1990s. However, the real star of the movie is the stunning cinematic treat that is the ballet sequences. With the camera never really leaving Portman's angst face, we are totally immersed in the innovative new ballet production, with it's artistic swoops, and turns and all at the same time we are witnessing the devastating disintegration of a delicate, and flawed personality
Black Swan is not a easy watch, the subject matter is too uneven for that, but I gave the whole thing a compulsive, slightly campy and enjoyable 8/10
Black Swan is not a particularly original movie. We have seen its themes of cultural obsession, mental illness and the fight for artistic perfection many times before in such movies as The Red Shoes, Amadeus, Repulsion and Magic and I must admit that the movie's use of such iconic and to many, hackneyed ballet movie stereotypes ( the faded star, the young ingenue battling for the prima ballerina role, the predatory director and The Swan Lake ballet itself) could have failed miserably in their repetition......but in Black Swan, for the most part, all of these stereotypes work (including the old face in the mirror), thanks primarily to some great performances and dazzlingly creative cinematography.
The story centres around Nina (Natalie Portman), an emotionally fragile and sexually immature ballerina who coverts the role of Swan Queen in a new production of Swan Lake. When she is finally given the role over aging prima ballerina Beth (Winona Ryder) the stresses of the new production, coupled with the worries of her role being stolen by a more vivacious and sexually confident Lily (Mila Kunis ) and separation issues with her delicate mother (Barbara Hershey ), Nina descends into madness.
Portman is rather impressive in the very difficult role of Nina. Her character is unsympathetic, abrasive and rather unlikable, but she holds the audience' attention throughout, and perfectly captures Nina's brittleness, fear and latent destructive streak. Hershey is fine as her intense and delicate mom, and the cameo by Ryder reminds a new movie going audience just why she was a big BIG name in the 1990s. However, the real star of the movie is the stunning cinematic treat that is the ballet sequences. With the camera never really leaving Portman's angst face, we are totally immersed in the innovative new ballet production, with it's artistic swoops, and turns and all at the same time we are witnessing the devastating disintegration of a delicate, and flawed personality
Black Swan is not a easy watch, the subject matter is too uneven for that, but I gave the whole thing a compulsive, slightly campy and enjoyable 8/10
Organic Hand Warmer
The weather has turned again, torrential rain has flooded much of the field, and I have spent the last few hours filling the coops with warm dry sawdust to comfort the wet animals after a day foraging.
This is a brief "instruction" video to city slickers on "How to keep your hands warm without mittens"
(The hat is Chris')
Tonight we are off to see Black Swan.....
This is a brief "instruction" video to city slickers on "How to keep your hands warm without mittens"
(The hat is Chris')
Tonight we are off to see Black Swan.....
Postscript
Just a quick note to add to the previous post
The wind has increased again
I have lost the ghost hen house roof ( they were still sat in their nest boxes when I got to them) and the turkey house roof went for a burton at 5pm.
What's with the weather?
The wind has increased again
I have lost the ghost hen house roof ( they were still sat in their nest boxes when I got to them) and the turkey house roof went for a burton at 5pm.
What's with the weather?
Positive Reinforcement
No one must underestimate the power of positive reinforcement. Every day since Constance arrived , when she has appropriately "done a whoopsie" I have hurled myself into a performance of pure thanks, praise and rapture worthy of Sally Field's 1985 Oscar acceptance speech.
Its been a long haul
I have been subject to the ridicule of neighbours, ("He's off again" I can hear them say as I bounce excitedly around a newly "laid" doggy stool) and have been drenched in winter rain storms and snow more times than I care to mention willing her to wee on the wet grass!...but finally the incontinent bulldog is now clean!
Mind you I think I have made a bit of a needy monster there, for every time we now go out on a walk, Constance makes sure she performs and will stop afterwards with the look of a circus acrobat when they shout "tarrrrrr rahhhhhhhhhhh!" waiting with tip toe excitement for me to make a fuss of her!
Its amazing what a little praise will do for a girl.
I am feeling jet lagged today. Yesterday I was cooking on adrenalin for some reason and after a full night shift completed a ton of chores when I got home without stopping, Subsequently I just cant get going today. We have had dreadful stormy weather since yesterday and gale force winds have again buffered the cottage and field. It was so bad last night that when I took the dogs out , I dug out my trusty wind up torch and checked on the weighted down hen houses to see if they were ok.The houses all looked ok but I had to stop at the gate to check on the guinea fowl who were all hanging on to the Churchyard elm branches with a hard frozen looking hysteria!
As I was gazing up at them torch poised , a local farmer stopped in the lane and asked if everything was ok
I explained that I was checking up on the guineas up in the tree and she laughed asking what I could actually do to help them!
"Oh I know I can't do much" I explained "I'm only giving them some morale support"
She gave me a look
Hummm , I know , I know.,......I sound like a loon
Its been a long haul
I have been subject to the ridicule of neighbours, ("He's off again" I can hear them say as I bounce excitedly around a newly "laid" doggy stool) and have been drenched in winter rain storms and snow more times than I care to mention willing her to wee on the wet grass!...but finally the incontinent bulldog is now clean!
Mind you I think I have made a bit of a needy monster there, for every time we now go out on a walk, Constance makes sure she performs and will stop afterwards with the look of a circus acrobat when they shout "tarrrrrr rahhhhhhhhhhh!" waiting with tip toe excitement for me to make a fuss of her!
Its amazing what a little praise will do for a girl.
I am feeling jet lagged today. Yesterday I was cooking on adrenalin for some reason and after a full night shift completed a ton of chores when I got home without stopping, Subsequently I just cant get going today. We have had dreadful stormy weather since yesterday and gale force winds have again buffered the cottage and field. It was so bad last night that when I took the dogs out , I dug out my trusty wind up torch and checked on the weighted down hen houses to see if they were ok.The houses all looked ok but I had to stop at the gate to check on the guinea fowl who were all hanging on to the Churchyard elm branches with a hard frozen looking hysteria!
 |
| The guineas after their difficult night |
I explained that I was checking up on the guineas up in the tree and she laughed asking what I could actually do to help them!
"Oh I know I can't do much" I explained "I'm only giving them some morale support"
She gave me a look
Hummm , I know , I know.,......I sound like a loon
Police.uk
I spent most of my twelve and a half hour shift "specialing" a distressed and potentially self harming patient. The night was not technical as ITU generally is, but it was emotionally draining.
When I got home,I needed a few minutes "downtime", but couldn't sleep for my usual hours catnap, so I spent a fascinating hour or so trolling through the new crime website Police Uk, which was only launched a few days ago.
The site gives an indication of the crime statistics in your General geographical area and will specifically give you results of crime on your very road!....as you might image the results from the whole of the Trelawnyd area for December is low ( 2 crimes in total -none on our road) where as the results for our old Road in Sheffield was 8 crimes ( 7 of them antisocial behaviour problems) and 307 in total for that general area of the city.
I am not quite sure how useful these statistics will be ( apart from a vague curiosity value)
But it is worrying as it is interesting!
ps for a more interesting view of world policing ( this time from rural Alaska...have a look at this police beat website........-thanks Ina)
Unalaska Crime
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