Hey diddle diddle
Monday, 9 July 2007
I'm too tired to do anything properly. Here is a random video from my favourites then. None of this chatter beforehand.
posted by danny @ 02:14,
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Creation Science - surely an oxymoron?
Friday, 6 July 2007
Argh Creationists. I think they are rubbish.
No but seriously. They are lame. What makes us people is that we are self-conscious and rational. For me, faith in a God is a betrayal of our rational aspect. I am not convinced by any argument for God, telelogical, ontological or cosmological. I accept that science is not indubitable knowledge, but it has an awful lot of support for it. As hypotheses go, it's probably a good bet.
I went to a Christian Union meeting about a month ago as they were having a lecture called, 'Why there is a God.' Pretty loaded title. The guy leading it was completely blind to debate though, and I was so disenchanted, having gone in with an open mind, ready to hear what would be said. His defence of God ended up with him saying no one would really be able to understand and accept this 'truth' until they let God into their hearts. I told him this was essentially a tautology, that we would only believe in God when we beleived in God, but he just mumbled something about faith.
Still, I would rather kids in America get taught Creationism and Evolutionism side by side then not got taught about contraception at all.
Labels: philosophy, youtube
posted by danny @ 03:33,
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ZOMG BNTM!!!11!
Tuesday, 3 July 2007
Arghh. I have been ill for the last week or so. I'm pretty sure it's going now, but it's not been cool. I had a date yesterday, and my nose was streaming, it's not a good look. Also it has meant no skipping, which has been annoying. Luckily all the free time stuck on the couch has meant time to catch up on Wimbeldon. All 42 minutes that have been played allowing rain.
Episode 4: A New Hope (for modelling)
Today I am going to talk about Next Top Model. I feel it is very applicable, given that the latest cycle of Britain's Next Top Model has recently started. I don't know if you watch it, nor do I know if watching it puts a dark mark next to my sexuality, but I watched the first episode, and I clearly like that Lucy charachter the best. Because she is FIT.
FIT in huge gaping, HOLLYWOOD-esque 40 foot letters splayed up on some glamarous hillside. It helps she is a redhead too. Incidentally, I am actively pursuing a redhead girl at the moment. Who is also incredibly fit. I envisage my life as a kind of TV series, Danny's Next Top Girlfriend perhaps. Be honest, you'd would blatantly watch it and enjoy it.
Anyway, this is all mildly relevant to this clip which I have on offer today. It's a bit of a joke at America's Next Top Model expense, when Tyra Banks the presenter really lost it. Although the Family Guy version is, as ever, reassuringly bizarre.
posted by danny @ 09:43,
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I've got a brand new combine harvester
Monday, 2 July 2007
Episode 3: Revenge of Tractor Boy
No words really needed here..
Labels: youtube
posted by danny @ 05:23,
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Manuscripts Don't Burn
Saturday, 30 June 2007
YouTube Episode 2: Attack of the Cloned Comedy
Great comedy. That's what this post is about, because not all comedy is created equal. This clip is one of my favourites, and literally kept me laughing out load when I first heard it. Of course, Black Books is a favourite of mine, so I am slightly bias towards the peculiar misanthropy of the Irish bookseller, but regardless, I think the clip, with or without knowledge or appreciation of the series holds up pretty well on its own. What do I love about this clip? To be honest, I think a lot of it is about the camera work. And the fact that it's not some kind of rehashed joke in a slightly different setting (a la Little Britain series 1 + 2, or all of those terrible Catherine Tate shows, or anything like that. For me, sketch shows have a very limited range. The Fast Show was probably the greatest sketch show of recent time, and now I believe it's time for a return to the truly hilarious sitcom. Fawlty Towers is still in my mind the greatest series ever produced in comedic history, and I think a return to sitcom roots, with more of a focus on edgy laughs rather than cheap family chuckles is what we need to be aiming for. So, with that in mind, I recommend Black Books, and here is the clip of the day.
P.S. Why is it that almost no one can be a good stand-up AND a good charachter in a series/contestant in a gameshow/presenter of a TV program, etc? For my mind, the only person who really does this is Bill Bailey, and possibly Russel Brown, who is excellent on radio, but pretty rubbish on TV. His standup is first class though. SImiliarly, Noel Fielding may be an absolute legend in the Boosh, but when it comes to working the stage at the Comedy Store...he's just not good. Comments?
P.P.S. Ol, if you don't watch Question Time then my last post might not have made a huge amount of sense, but basically the show next week is being produced by sixth-formers, and one of the pannelists (the one who is slected by the public based on the merit of the videos they have produced which you can find in the link) will be an ordinairy member of the public aged 18-22 I think.
posted by danny @ 08:23,
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Top Gun Philosophy
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
I have run out of idea regarding this blog. Therefore, I have decided to do something very savvy. I will base each one of my future posts for the foseeable fguture upon a video that I have favourited on YouTube, and of course then embedd that video into the post at the end so you can see what I was on about, or if what i was chatting about ended up having any correlation with the video what so ever.
EPISODE 1: The Fly-by Menance
Top Gun was one of the greatest films ever made. Fact. Despite some arguably very flagrant homoerotic undertones, Tom Cruise (shock horror) was quite good in it. So was Val Kilmer. So was pretty much everyone to be honest. The aerial shots were amazing, and the soundtrack, 80's and dated as it is, still manages a little frisson of delight when you hear the opening sequence from the aircraft carrier. Let'sbe honest, screw Navy recruitment on television or anywhere else;if this film didn't make you want to be a fighter pilot then...well it did didn't it. I have Top Gun on VHS and DVD, and a HD version recorded on my Sky +. Trust me, I love this film.
Luckily, Top Gun is a film everyone loves for the very reason of it's faults. It's camp, it's silly, it's full of one liners, and Jerry Bruckheimer produced it. So a parody would seem to go down well. Well...maybe, but the thing is with films like Top Gun is that they become completely absorbed into our public consciousness, they form a kind of backbone of reference for our popular culture. And because they are so fundementally important in our referencing of any other film, book, piece of music, sub-culture, whatever, parodies often fall short. Reducing a film which has (*love it or loathe it) become so ingrained in us seems almost exploitative. It's like a kind of scepticism as to whether what we appreciate, and what informs our ideas about media is really worth while, and for me at least, after watching this video, I felt a little bit hollow.
Perhaps I am talking absolute proverbial doggie bits, but gosh, I felt a little bit ashamed of Val Kilmer in this video. What do you think (Cal and possibly Oli, and maybe that guy who tried to sell Cal a t-shirt)? Enjoy the clip:
Labels: film, philosophy, youtube
posted by danny @ 05:15,
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The rise of the British Political Personality
Friday, 11 May 2007
Whilst chatting to a guy named Sam today in college we got onto the subject of Labour party leadership. We were discussing how Gordon Brown, who almost inevitably will get the position, although, not nessecarily without competetion, was widely mistrusted by the public. I jokingly said it was the scotsman in him, but we had raised a fairly valid point. Despite, in our minds at least, Brown doing very little which could be seen in a negative life when compared to Blair, many people just seem to prefer Blair. Brown's economy has been pretty decent, Blair took us to Iraq. Go figure. The question is, how much importance do the public give the charisma orcharm of party leaders when voting? How much of voting is manifesto led, and how much is run by charachters, the big names in politics?
The film above shows just such views in the supposed emulation of Blair by Cameron; the man with fingers in every policy-related pie. After disappointing results for the Lib-Dems, I have to wonder, how much are the Yellows at a disadvantage having Campbell; generally not in the news to the extent Cameron or Blair are, as their leader? As people seem determined to make comparisons between Blair and Cameron, and even wider comparisons to modern Labour and Cameron's reformed vision of the Conservative Party, just how much is Campbell edged out of what, in terms of media, if not politically, is increasingly looking like a two'horse race? Is it no news is good news, or there's no such thing as bad publicity? With poor results across the UK, I expect the LibDems would have to say the latter...
posted by danny @ 17:02,
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