Typecast

Time for a mini-rant. I can't seem to read a British newspaper without being faced with stories about glorified prostitutes shagging very famous married blokes.  In turn, these very famous blokes then get a bit scared about their fame and fortune being threatened so slap a gagging order on the prostitute to stop her selling her story.  Said prostitute manages to employ the services of one very renown PR consultant who encourages the sale of "teasers" to the papers.

When I'm scouring the gossip pages online magazines or newspapers for my latest fix I am treated to many a shot of attention seekers  the celebrity-of-the-moment looking like something from Death Becomes Her . Holly, Janet, Rihanna Where did this trend for the chin-on-shoulder look come from?  Is it supposed to look as though the zleb in question has been caught unawares?  Fair enough - but that doesn't exactly work if they are facing the sponsor board in the press area, pre-event, does it?  Yes, Paris... walk on my love... *bump* oops, never mind, chuck.

* big sigh * Recently a number of celebrities have been caught up in public spats on Twitter and it's all getting rather boring now.  Can someone make it stop please? The latest few appear to have featured Sir Alan Lord Sugar and whoever has narked him today.  His most recent 'victims' are  Kirstie Allsopp , Chris Evans and Piers Morgan .  Having said that though, the latter has embroiled himself in a battle with Sugar for the highest number of followers.  The 'loser' pays out a few thousand pounds to charity.  I'd yawn but there's a nasty taste in my mouth and I need to get rid of it. I did initially consider the fact that the Sugar and Morgan accounts were not real.  The people behind the @sy_cowell and @walshlife accounts could have concocted this little saga too as part of their marketing profile - showing the power of Twitter and how it can be used for promotion purposes.  The only spanner in the works of that little theory is t...

I saw a link on Twitter last night that just said "shocking picture on the front of Time" and was accompanied by a link.  You may have already seen it as it has been shared on Twitter (direct from the article) over 1600 times and has almost 18,000 "likes" on Facebook.  Nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to see and read. The cover picture on Time magazine  (August 2010) is not mine to reproduce here on the blog but you can view it by clicking on any of the links within this blog post.  It is a picture of an 18-year old Afghan woman who was sentenced, by a Taliban commander, to have her nose and ears cut off for attempting to flee her abusive in-laws.  An abridged version of the story can be viewed online or on the iPad version of Time magazine. For this young woman to speak out about her experience (whilst living in a secret location which is protected by armed guards and supported by the NGO Women For Africa) and allowing herself to be...

* * SPOILER ALERT * * If you haven't yet seen the final episode of Season 1 and want no hint of what happens then STOP READING NOW!! You're still here?  Oh, OK then.  Let's groove! If you follow me on Twitter you will have noticed that I may have made the odd remark  commented rather a lot about Glee.  I was a bit nervous about the final episode, "Journey", as I'd got a little tired of seeing Rachel sing with her eyes shut with emotion and the story lines over the past few weeks had seemed to lack...  I don't know... something Gleeful?  There have been some fabulously genius moments like Artie's flashmob in the shopping mall... ... but, I digress. My favourite bits: Sue Sylvester mentioning her autobiography - "I'm A Winner And You're Fat" ( rated: 4 tears of laughter ) Finn telling Rachel that he loves her and pursing his lips into a tiny air kiss before they went on stage ( rated: 1 tear ). The way in which Quin...

people sitting on a sofa watching people sitting on a sofa (Marcus Bentley - Big Brother voiceover, 2000-present day) Picture Credit: Channel 4 It's almost open season on the  victims chosen few that have been lucky enough to be catapulted to their 15 minutes months of worth of fame.  For the next thirteen weeks the nation will be divided between those who watch Big Brother and those who don't.  You are being given fair warning that I will be watching and most some of my tweets and blog posts may be BB-related. After 11 series, various spin-off shows, memorable and forgettable (in equal measures) contestants, tasks, fights, friendships and more, the door of the Big Brother house will close for the final time.  Until then, I will be glued to almost every episode, offering my opinion to anyone who will listen or read and trying to work out who is worthy of the money that the fame generated by this programme provides. I think that the applicants are wi...

Wow! 9 minutes in and already I want to punch at least eight of the contestants in the face I feel that I have wasted my life and I am totally inadequate at everything I do.  Here we have 16 and 17 year olds who have had their own businesses for three years and more whereas MY sixteen year old is languishing in his bedroom playing war games on the X-Box with some other no-mark from America and hasn't even got a Saturday job.  He should be revising for his GCSE's, which start next week but, let's face it, if he doesn't know it now, over-cramming isn't going to make it any better for him. I am thinking of making him sit in the room with me - we shall both wear suits - and hope that some of their business acumen rubs off on us both but I daren't venture into the room of stiff sheets and boy smells to drag him out.  Plus, his "suit" (out of school uniform, which actually IS a suit - ironically, he attends a business college) consists of trackies, train...

I saw this video mentioned in the b3ta newsletter and thought I'd share with my readers here.  You may need to watch it twice to appreciate the message.  It's a very, very clever commercial from Germany for Epuron . PS. The b3ta website may not be suitable for work/children.  Just saying.

I was conducting a bit of follow-up research for an article that I'd had published on Mumable and found this statement on the Zoo Magazine Twitter account yesterday... Today, all becomes clear.  It seems that British film star "Celebrity Agony Uncle" Danny Dyer has advised that a jilted and heartbroken ex-boyfriend should "... cut your ex's face, and then no-one will want her..." Yes, "he" advised that!  See... Now, maybe someone from a production, editing or journalistic background can verify this, but surely that article (whether written actually by Dyer or not, or some back-room boy emulating one of his film characters) has had to be approved by a number of people before the magazine actually went to the printers?  These articles do not magically appear in the correct font, in the correct place, with the correct amount of words in any publication, do they?  Writer, proof-reader , sub-editor, features editor, typesetter, wh...

How many times have you heard that, with regards to organ donation? Or have you heard " Oh yes, I carry a donor card but they're not having my eyes "? Personally speaking, once I'm dead, nothing in my body is of any use to me so, if it is going to help someone to prolong their life they I'm happy to help.  I have proudly carried a donor card since I was 14 years old and have informed my family of my wishes. The Sunday Telegraph reported yesterday ( 11th April 2010 ) that a blunder created by "database errors" meant that details collected from driving licence applications since 2004 (or even as early as 1999) had been mixed up after being transferred to the NHS database.  Some organs will have been taken/donated without the appropriate consent and other organs have not been taken/donated, meaning that lives may have been lost as a consequence. I am ASTOUNDED that important information such as this can be 'mixed up' or 'lost',...

Recently, my attention has been drawn towards the UK's leading anti-bullying charity - Bullying UK - and their attempt to use social networking to raise awareness and support over half a million people a year . Bullying UK is a web-based charity run by founder and Chief Executive John with the help of Liz and Stuart.  They promote their services through their website and by using social networking: on Facebook - as Facebook.com/BullyingUK on Twitter - as @BullyingUK They are reliant totally on public funding and fund raising activities with their running costs at just £50,000 a year.  Hang on a minute... that means they are supporting each person for approximately 10p per person.  That is amazing! However, we all know that the recent recession has hit everyone hard and it's not easy to find the spare cash to donate to worthwhile causes such as this.  Nor does their budget doesn't stretch to fantastic television campaigns or hiring extra staff to help wi...

The World Wildlife Fund are promoting their annual " Earth Hour " which is due to take place on Saturday 27th March at 8.30pm (local time).  Whilst the positive promotion of this event ticks all the "environmental friendly" boxes, surely the surge from the switching back on of lights at 9.30pm will cancel out most of the "conserved" energy? After all, we've all heard of the  power surge after a popular programme on television!! Oh, and don't forget that no major power company will be "switching off" and even if they did, they have preserved energy. You all know I'm no eco-warrior but I'm not a planet abuser either.  I recycle as much as I can but I have to drive a car to get to work (and there's no way round it).  I tried to make my house more "energy efficient" but the walls are too weak to have cavity wall insulation (the house was built around 1900).  * shrugs *   This is not a scientific or a protest pos...

Ok, I'm sat here on a Sunday evening, I've watched the first part of Dancing On Ice, I've saved my part-written assignment to my pen drive to have a look at during my lunch break tomorrow and I'm having a nosy on Twitter before I watch a film. Most of my Twitter friends are denouncing the ITV programme -  Boyzone: A Tribute To Stephen Gately .  I'd decided not to watch this because I have never been a massive fan of Boyzone but, you know me, I can't resist a quick flick over to see what is so bad. I wish I'd not bothered as it is more awful that even I envisaged.  The remaining band members are reading an autocue badly talking in between songs and they keep calling their departed band member "Steo" for some strange reason.  Every time they sing they are out of tune and they've got guest singers who are also crap; everyone looks really uncomfortable.  There are video clips interspersing all the bad singing and 'tributes' from peo...

M y first ever published piece.  Oh yes it is! Related Links:   Flying Start Magazine (Online) FlyingStart-Mar10 This article has previously appeared on my blog in 2009 Link

It was during the trailers that I knew " Glee " was going to be my type of programme.  However, I didn't think that it would constantly re-introduce me to music long forgotten but always loved - I had not felt "chills" when listening to a song for ages.  It started with  Don't Stop Believin' by Journey  wafting out of my speakers and me remembering this: I just want to be one of the "ba-ba-ba" people - that would be enough. I'm just listening to Radio 2 and hear the song "Don't Stand So Close To Me" (Police version) .  Immediately I think of this version from last week's episode of Glee: I hear Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond  but cannot help but think of this... and drool ever so slightly: ... sorry... where was I?  Oh yes... Who else now believes that Beyonce's Single Ladies dance is now actually possible? and because of this next song I now NEED to go and see Wicked as soon as possible!! Glee has capt...

Sally over at " Who's The Mummy? " complies and publishes a list of the UK's Top (Parent) Bloggers each month.  The "scoring system" is wonderful for statistics geeks and you can read all about how the rankings are created  if that is what floats your boat.  The list is created to find fantastic blogs to read and to highlight the most popular and influential bloggers writing in the UK today. I'm all for a bit of blatant self-promotion so I submitted my blog address somewhere around the end of January and just carried on spewing out the crap  writing the random posts that you keep returning to read. Imagine my surprise when I checked the list this month and found myself as a NEW ENTRY at number 44 !!! YIPPEE!!! (*cue canned applause*) I know this doesn't mean a lot to you as a reader but, for me, it validates a great deal about what I write, who reads it and everything else in between.  It also clears up a few doubts I've had over...

I originally wrote this piece for a blog called ' Breaking The Silence ' which aims to discuss issues and highlight articles related to mental illness.  This article is in response to an earlier post on the blog which riled me up a bit.  My thanks go to Lyn Jenkins and Linda Jones for allowing this piece to be published on their blog.

I have a daughter.  She is now almost 19 years old and now has her own ever-growing family (one child, and one on the way at the last count).  She has been fascinated by make-up and hairstyles since she was little.  She used to steal the dregs of my eye shadow and lipstick and attempt to copy me when I put on my make-up - mimicking the funny faces I pulled when putting on my mascara.  She was took such care when applying 'her make-up' but always looked like a clown.  I'm sure she'll experience the same when her daughters get to a certain age. Dressing-up like mummy and copying mummy putting make-up on is all part of the process of a little girl growing up.  The recent report and subsequent picture of Princess Tiaamii Andre show her caked in make-up and adorned with false eyelashes.  Peter Andre, her father, is "absolutely disgusted" and the world is outraged!!  In my opinion, the only mistake here is that Princess' aunt uploaded the photograph...

I had some *fantastic ideas last night and mused about them on the way to bed. The first was that I should conduct a Plog - a Picture Blog (see what I did there?  It's like doing something connected to Twitter where you just replace the first two letters of any word with "Tw").  Anyway, as I took pictures of my toothbrush ( which needs replacing as it's knackered. And orange ), my make-up bag ( who really wants to see all the slap I put on to look half decent? ) and my son's lunch box ( no, ma'am, there is no cake in there at all.  It's just a figment of your imagination ) I decided that my life is so much like other people's that it's not going to make an interesting Plog. So my next bright idea was to try and contact Jedward 's marketing people (and what a fantastic job they're doing at the moment) to suggest that their next cover should be in collaboration with MC Hammer and it should be U Can't Touch This . Finally, I decid...