Peace On Earth... When The End is Nigh!

With Christmas soon upon us, the one wish many ask for every year is peace on Earth. Something you and I know will never happen in our live time, in fact, probably never - well until the end of days perhaps.

Its sad thing really for someone to actually say that. But, with the ways of the world and how many monsters roam our lands, could we honestly believe that one day the world will actually be at peace? No, not really, but I'm not saying you still can't cling on to that fine thread of hope. You can wish it all your life, but in reality it will never happen. In fact, you've probably got more chance of winning the lottery than the world becoming a peaceful place.

Now, I'm not a religious person, however, if I was to believe that Heaven and Hell existed, then I would firmly say that we're living in Hell right now. Yes, we've been put here for our sins in a former life.
How can I say such a thing? Well, lets put things in to perspective. The Earth is filled with death, famine, greed, pretty much all of the twelve commandments have been broken since Moses appeared on the mountain side and said "Hey, look at these! I'll place them up here so when you're arsed, you can take a look at them okay".
The world is more of a savage place to live than ever before. You can't travel to some places without wondering - am I going to see tomorrow without some mentalist trying to kill me?
Religion plays a huge part in the violence that reigns across the world. Ooh, and don't you dare sit there and say it doesn't! There many religions out there that are guilty of crimes. What really pisses me off is that some religions are very wealthy. Yet, while people like the Pope sit in their chamber, surrounded by gold and expensive items, they're praying for the end of famine. What a bunch of hypocrites! You're surrounded by wealth, yet your telling your followers to dig deep in their pockets and help while you gloat. Why don't you help if your so proud of the Almighty's work? Hell, if its true to what the bible says, then famine is the doing of God, as punishment to mankind for what Adam and Eve did in the garden of Eden. So, why do we pray and worship a being that is torturing humanity and going against his own commandments. Hmm?
I actually feel sorry for those who devote their lives to religion, as its those that are getting their hearts broken by extremists and others who abuse their position and beliefs.
Its claimed that the western world is the most hated place on the planet. But why? Because we have different religions, beliefs or are of free mind? Well that can prove my point about religion being the cause of hatred in the world, or is it because of our moronic governments? Who don't know what the word 'trust' is any more and can't help but spy on each other, including their so-called 'allies'. If that's the case, then you really don't know the western world at all. Yeah, perhaps you've seen propaganda videos on social media sites, but anyone can make those up and claim its real. But you get the dumb-arses that do believe its real. In reality, the western world is a very generous and caring place. The UK alone donate money (even though we're on our arses financially) to pay for aid to areas that have been devastated by war, earthquakes or extreme weather conditions. We help people in the Third World more than their own government do, and the west is classed as the bad ones. Go figure!
The Muslim and Islamic communities is full of hatred. Not for the western world, but for the extremists who have tainted their beloved religion, killing in the name of God and not preaching the correct beliefs of the Quran. Yet, these extremists have got the western world paranoid about Muslims and Islam. The press have actually had a part to play in all this too. So who the hell can you really trust other than ourselves?

One of the most asked questions by humanity is 'Are we alone?'.
Common sense should really kick in there as we are proof there's life on other planets. But how come we've not encountered other lifeforms from out of space? Well just think about what I've said above. If you were an alien, who is capable of travelling through space, who is more advanced and intelligent than the human race. Would you show your face if you saw how inhuman the planet is? Erm... no! And could you blame them? With the internet being used to show how cruel and barbaric humans can be. Would you risk your life to say 'hello'? So, until we stop killing each other and live as one, in peace as its preached by all religions. I can positively say we will not see any alien lifeforms make an appearance on Earth at all. I think they'll observe us all from a safe distance until we change our ways.

Maggie Thatcher Dies

Milk Thief

Well, who would have thought Maggie Thatcher would be causing more problems after her death?
The people of the United Kingdom have cheered, mourned and even got the record 'Ding-Dong The Witch is Dead' into the UK Top Ten charts. 

I grew up in the 1980's, when Mrs Thatcher was beginning to make a right old noise and showing true Conservative power by pretty much shitting on the poor to make the rich more wealthy. Hmm, similar kind of story with our current Conservative government today.
She crippled the working class by hiking VAT from 8% to 17.5%, stopped free milk for school children, caused a massive rise in unemployment, tried to reduce what powers trade union's had resulting in several strikes including the massive miners' strike, which saw the closure of several mines and the loss of thousands of jobs across the country. But the best was yet to come with the introduction of the Poll Tax which would see rioting in London before eventually being forced out of power by her own party and leadership handed to John Major (erm.. sounds familar *cough* Tony Blair and Gordon Brown).

As soon as her death was announced on the BBC News at One on the 8th of April. The country was soon divided by the news. Many celebrated and held street parties, while other's mainly supporters of Thatcher mourned and vented their disgust at people's comments and celebrations. But what's really annoyed many of the UK citizen's is that Thatcher is to have a ceremonal funeral with full military honours costing the tax payer £8 million. Money which the current Conservative government claimed we didn't have resulting in job cuts and tax increases. Then, oh no, Maggie dies and we now have £8 million to spend on a person more than half the country hated, and had every reason to do so. But this just proves my point regarding the government, they take from poor to give to the rich. Maggie Thatcher in my opinion doesn't deserve such a send off unlike many previous Prime Minister's that did. She was just an old lady with health problems who didn't give a shit about the people of this country, she was someone who did a job and was sacked by her own government and I bet if this country was still under a Labour government, she would not have got the funeral the television networks will ram down our throats on Wednesday. But not many of us will be watching that crap as they'll be thousands of tax payers lining up outside the tax offices across the UK demanding a refund.

May God have mercy on her soul!

Tribute: Richard Griffiths

Richard Griffiths (1947 - 2013)

On March 28th 2013, we said farewell to one of Britain's greatest actors Richard Griffiths.
He was known for his role in the TV series such as 'Pie In The Sky' and a long list of movies such as 'Chariots of Fire', 'Superman II', 'Harry Potter' series, 'History Boys' and more famously as Uncle Monty in 'Withnail and I'.

He came from a small suburb in Teesside called Thornaby, and along with Wendy Richards and Brian Clough. Richard is one of the greatest actors to have emerged from Teesside and made his mark in the world of entertainment. He was admired and loved by many colleagues from whom he worked with throughout his career, and no doubt will be greatly missed.

You did Teesside proud Richard. Rest in Peace.

Exploitation For The Love Of Money

A Good Day To Die Hard - Out Now In Cinemas

Should the BBFC allow studios to make changes to their adult themed films in order to receive a lower rating?
I say a big fat - NO!

This comes to light since the release of the new Die Hard movie in the UK, where Fox and the BBFC have received a slating from fans of the franchise.
Fox approached the BBFC with a workprint of the movie and asked what rating they would receive.
Originally, the BBFC offered a '15' rating uncut, however they gave them optional changes which could be made in order to receive a '12A' rating.

For those who aren't familiar with UK ratings. 12A is like the PG-13 rating, where the film is suitable for persons aged 12 and over, but persons under 12 can view the film with an adult or guardian. The film content is limited on its violence, sex and strong language however, a limited use of the f-word can be used throughout the film.

Fox came back with a finished print taking the suggested cuts on board and the BBFC rated the film '12A'. However, it looks like the UK are the only country (could be wrong) who have received a watered down version of the movie.

So in a time where people are blaming games, movies and television for violence in society (and not the fact that violent people have issues to begin with). Is it right, the BBFC should be making suggestions to studios so adult themed movies like Die Hard can receive a rating where kids can see these films? No is the answer! The BBFC should be looking movies like this and ask 'Is it really suitable for kids?'.

Now in all honesty we know full well why Fox have opted for a lower rating - money! So here we have another argument. Exploiting kids to adult themed movies at the cinema in order to receive a few extra bucks. Shouldn't the BBFC be doing something to stop this explotation in censorship by not offering suggestions to studios so films like Die Hard can't receive a lower rating?
Another reason, especially more-so in the UK is releasing 'uncut' versions of movies on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Ripping Off Customers with Uncut Versions

Customers in the UK have always in my opinion, been victims to a rip-off market, more so with DVD and Blu-Ray films.
Live Free or Die Hard aka Die Hard 4.0 in the UK, suffered the same treatment at the cinemas. It was butchered in order to receive a '12A' rating, then on DVD received a '15' rating uncut. Why? To make more money.
Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind 'uncut' or 'director cut' versions of films such as 'Big' or 'Blade Runner' where the additional footage wasn't cut from the cinema release in order to receive a lower certificate, but the director's chose not to use the footage as they didn't think it was suitable to use for running time or pace purposes.
But more recently, I've noticed films that have received a '12A' rating are getting the 'uncut' treatment later on and it is down to ripping off customers as a majority of these 'uncut' versions only have minutes of extra footage where strong language and minor cuts to violence have been restored.

Overall then, should the BBFC put a stop to studios exploiting kids to adult themed films by not offering them alternative ratings? Yes is the answer!

How The Mighty Fall

As the UK Prime Minister says the country is out of the recession. Within a week of photographic giants Jessops going into administration and closing its shops after 90 years. Big music giant HMV today have also called in the administrators.
HMV has retail stores worldwide and has been seen as the main retailer for music and video - until now that is.

So what the hell happened? Is the recession to blame along with the Government for not doing enough to save businesses from failing? Or is technology bringing down retail giants to their knees?

Personally, I think both have had a part to play. The Government hiked VAT up from 17.5% to 20% raising prices and increasing the cost to run a business. This rise in VAT was frowned upon by many, but the Government stood their ground and raised it to 20%.
Recently, the Government announced plans to raise VAT further to 25%, which could mean more well-known businesses could end up knocking on the administrators door, putting more people out of work. It would also mean less money in the customer's pocket as fuel would become more expensive amongst other household bills.
However, this has yet to be given the green light as the announcement has angered many MP's and members of the E.U. have actually spoke up telling the Government to lower VAT and not raise it to help move the economy. But as per usual, this plea has fallen onto deaf ears and the Government continue on to put us back into the recession.

In saying all that with the growth of technology, faster broadband and cheaper online retailers - is there really any shock value to the news of HMV going under? Not really, no.
I personally found HMV to be expensive on a lot of its goods. For example, last year I bought the Alien Blu-ray box set for £18 in Tesco. It was also the same price in other high street and online retailers who sold it for around the same price. However in HMV, you could buy the same box set for £40. That's a big difference, but in their defence, HMV have had decent sales on such as 5 Blu-Ray discs for £30 and the more recent blue-cross sale knocking 25% of its displayed price.
Unfortunately, these sales haven't helped the company from going under because the online market is under cutting their competition with ease.

What high street retailers should be doing is taking on these cheap online retailers head on and match their prices. At present, customers would be willing to wait three days for a item which they bought a hell of lot cheaper than what they could in a high street store. If a high street retailer matched or under cut its online competition they could see a rise in profits as people would most probably opt to make their purchases in store rather than waiting those three days.

However, with faster broadband speeds now available in the UK, a lot of people are preferring to download their music, games and films rather than buy a hard copy. Why? Space saving is one reason with no CD or DVD cases cluttering up room space. As for other reasons, well, shopping from home is the big thing now. People would rather buy online in the comfort of their own homes, plus you can shop with non UK online retailers being able to buy a product not available in the UK.

Overall then, are we really surprised to see well-known high street retailers disappear? I think not.