Its odd how very wrong one can be about a person if one only judges them by first impressions. I have a friend, called Marcie: she always struck me as a tomboy, overbearing, loud, and patronising towards me. I did not like her very much, and hated to see her coming. I had her down as the type of girl who automatically assumes I am her friend just because I am a crip.

then, one day, we got chatting over a coffee in the wes. A few of my friends were there, and we were just talking about this and that. In Marcie the patronising tone vanished, or rather I no longer detected it. I realised I’d misjudged her, and a nicer girl you will never meet. She’s cool.

Tonight I’m going round to Steve’s again. He has to watch Titus Andronicus for his course, and Marcie will be there. I’m looking forward to this evening very much.

Oh brilopads! I think it’s starting to snow – the first snows of winter, and its still officially autumn. It’s either global warming or the next ice age! Plus, the sky is falling!

Its really starting to fall now. Usually I do not mind, but later I’ll be going out in it, and I would far rather stay hunkered down in my room, by the radiator. I hope this clears up by the weekend.

Saturday sees the 1voice Blackpool event. Some of you may recall I went to a similar one this summer in Lilleshall. I found it life-affirming – there is nothing, I feel, more worthwhile than helping kids: nothing more fundamentally important than hearing them talk. A life without the ability to communicate is bleak – you have all choices made for you, and therefore your dreams remain unfulfilled. Its not as if these kids are unable to express themselves, they just need to be shown what is possible.

Come snow, or come sleet, or come glaciers, I will be in Blackpool by Friday night. This project means a lot to me. I am in a position where I can help these children, and it is thus my duty to do so.

I have never seen bbc news this cynical before. In this article, it is being openly sarcastic about our progress on climate change. It’s amusing, ad although I have to agree with its conclusions, is it not being a teeny bit biased?

A few days ago, I mentioned how I found beauty in ‘nature – both it’s aesthetic beauty, and the beauty in it’s interlocking web.’ I may not have made myself clear. I meant I love the way every living organism is related to everything else. However, today I found this site, which illustrates the point perfectly. Although, naturally incomplete, it shows the relationships between every life form on earth. Its thoroughly researched, very impressive, and quite quite fascinating.

Although the ‘making of’ segment tagged onto the end of the programme seemed in some respects like an advert for the next programme, I found tonight’s life in the undergrowth totally fascinating. This term, my good friends Chris and Steve have regularly invited me round to their place to watch and talk about films; it’s great sitting, chatting with friends and sipping larger. I go round to theirs one night a week, and we watch films from their collection.

As luck would have it, they’re also Attenborough fans (well, Steve is). I had began the conversation ‘I know it’s geeky, but…’ but they were more than happy to watch BBC1 at 9. in fact Steve seemed more keen than me! So at 9 this evening, after our film had finished – the meaning of life, by the way – we turned their TV over, and we were in for a treat. In some respects, it was typical Attenborough fare, showing the mating techniques of a variety of insects, but the shooting was phenomenally beautiful. At one point you saw animals no bigger than a pinhead; at another, a tiny fly in flight. While the subject matter is fascinating, I was amazed by the technical aspects of the film. As a potential filmmaker, I found it inspiring. There are similarities, in terms of shot, between such nature films and, say, the matrix.

Great lads they are, they have invited me round the same time next week. I gratefully accepted: one should never miss the chance too see images that beautiful, and technically impressive. I cant wait for the DVD to come out!

There is something about college that makes me want to work. Tonight, for the hell of it, I decided to see if I could A. finish off a 2000 word essay, which needed 900 words, and b. write a 1500 word short story. Working solidly and merrily from 6pm, I did both, after selecting tunes by holst, rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky to listen to. I’d never do such a thing at home, but here, in the midst of academia, I feel more like it. Strange eh?

Although the thought of an exploding dog kind of amuses me in a maniacle, infantile way, I thought I might submit this evidence that disabled people are bearing most of thee brunt of toughened security laws in america. It cant be right that disabled people might be abandoned in subway stations in an emergency.

I’ll begin this review by explaining a term used frequently in film studies as a starting point for much of the Freudian analysis we do. Scoppophilia refers to a love of looking. The word derives from greek. Most of us are scoppophiles – we love looking, observing, and today my scoppophillic tendencies were in overdrive. Inn short, the new harry potter film is a visual joy, from the very first frame.

The first thing to note is that it is dark: this is most certainly not a kid’s film. The very mise-en-scene is almost oppressive, inasmuch as the camera seldom strays from the characters. As with Prisoner of Azkaban, Hogwarts itself is frequently shot in the rain for establishing shots. This is reflected in the characters, who are more fleshy, more ‘real’ – as in the book, goblet shows them bickering and fighting, as kids of their age are wont to do.

There was one shot in particular which struck me as especially fine. After a scene in which Longbottom’s past is alluded to, the class pass a stained glass window, on which the rain is beating from thee outside. The picture upon it is that f lady – this might be the Madonna – and she appears to cry, a particularly large drop of water descending from her face. This, needless to say, reflects the emotional intensity of the last scene, highlighting the poignancy of Neville’s situation.

Indeed, the theme of parenthood is a major source of emotion in this film, if not the whole series. Harry is, after all, an orphan. It is a subtle, but ever-present, thread. The absence or presence of Lilly and James can always be counted upon to have an emotional impact. Thus, when they appear in the denouement, the audience is elated.

This is not to say that this is a feel-good movie. This film has some very raw emotion. The sight of mr. diggory crying over his son is especially potent, as is the sheer horror in Harry after he returns from the graveyard. Thus I found this film extremely emotionally draining, mum continually having to tell me to stop squealing. There were also points, I must admit, when I felt myself welling up.

Both the shooting and acting were very impressive indeed. Daniel Radcliff, I felt, gave a fine performance (he has been criticised by some for being too melodramatic). He, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint seem to be growing up as actors just as the characters they portray are becoming adults. They portray the tension of their situation well. Michael gambon’s Dumbledore was more impressive than Azkaban.

This is not to say this film is not flawed. It is, inasmuch as it leaves out most of the detail within the book. For example, the audience have very little inkling that moody is a traitor until suddenly it is revealed to us. I suspect that it would have made little sense had I not read, and loved, the book/ however, as I have done so, I can forgive Mike Newell his little inconsistencies and enjoy the film for what it is – visually spectacular.

One last note: this is in no way a kids film. It is truly scary and highly emotive. It seems scroogesque, but it got my goat how many kids were there. It may be about children, but this is no fairy-tale. Parents shouldn’t take their five year old and expect him not to be upset.

Zark knows why, but I find this site funny. Its anti-disabled people, but in a humorous way. Its in very poor taste, yet I had to laugh. It states that ‘mongs should be supported in the community, helped to get nice jobs in supermarkets, and some of us even want to go to college. If it was written by a disabled person, it would be ironic, but it wasn’t, which gives a slight bitter taste to it. Nevertheless, as stated here, nothing should be out of bounds, and everything should be game for humour.

i must go now to my balloon holding class.

I was just reading of how sir David Attenborough has been speaking about climate change. I must admit, it is one of my major concerns: report after report shows that our use of fossil fuels and greenhouse gasses is effecting the climate. Of course, there’s a null hypothesis that this change correlates with a natural earth cycle, and there is evidence to support this, but can we run the risk of being wrong? Thus, as sir David says, we must act soon.

I would like to say I like nature, but what I like is watching it on TV and reading about it in books and online. Our world is absolutely beautiful, and one just needs to watch sunset n the football pitch to see that, but on television it’s simply breathtaking. Take, for example, the bait balls of ”blue Planet” or the shots f kangaroos at sunset in ”life of mammals”. The cinematography and shooting of these films has to be seen to be believed. This is why I like Attenborough programmes so much they are stylistically astonishing. Not to mention, sir David himself is a master storyteller. He opened my eyes to the beauty of nature – both it’s aesthetic beauty, and the beauty in it’s interlocking web. I look at birds and imagine dinosaurs.

I’m looking forward to his forthcoming series, ‘Life in the undergrowth’‘. It goes to air when I’m at college, so I’m hoping for the DVD for Christmas, hint hint.

Ok, no more advertising for the bbc – ed.

Last night I was out and about (ok, I was coming home from the pub); it was a crystal clear night, and the stars were out. looking due east, about 45 degrees from the horizon, I saw a point of light. It was bright – too bright to be a star, I reckon. I think it was a planet, but the question is, which?

The closest to earth are venus and mars, so it was one of these two. Using my weird form of logic, I think it was the latter: the sun had just set in the west, and I was looking east. Thus I was looking towards the outer solar system, so I must have been looking at mars. Of course, this is probably totally wrong – maybe it was just a bit of dirt on my glasses – but nothing quite so captures the human imagination than the thought of glimpsing another world.

yesterday I received the following. It made me smile, and I’m still smiling this morning.

[quote=”Michael Palinurl:www.palinstravels.co.uk”]Feet Beginning To Itch Again. A new message from Michael.

Rumours are already out concerning a new travel series. Although we’re in only preparatory stages of early preparation which, if successful, could lead to full-time preparations for the preparation of a series, I’d hate to think you have to rely on the Daily Express for news of my travel plans, so here goes.

The BBC are very keen to do another series. The crew, though ageing rapidly (some of them are almost as old as me) are very keen to do another series, and my only reservation was the that the success of Himalaya made it a hard act to follow, and there’s no point doing another series unless your heart is really in it. Whatever they say, it’s mind first and body second on these big projects.

We’ve come up with the possible – and I repeat possible as no definite decisions have been taken yet – idea of a journey through the New Europe. Those countries to the east that are part of our continent and yet about which we know very little. If our early researches prove fruitful we’d aim to set off on the road again sometime next year and to produce a book and a series for the Autumn of 2007. Watch this space !

Recently I had plans to travel with Basil Pao to China and Tibet, purely as a holiday and to accompany Bas who is taking photographs in preparation for his upcoming book on China. Those who might have read the account of my trip in the Times travel section on October 15th will know that some bronchial curse laid me low before leaving. I did get to see the Great Wall for the first time, and the Forbidden City and the grasslands of Manchuria – oh and the giant pandas at Chengdu but was prevented from revisiting the magnificent Tibetan plateau on the orders of a Beijing doctor. Tibet, dusty and 4,500 metres above sea level, is probably the worst place in the world to recover from a persistent cough. A bit like going to Barbados to recover from sunburn.

So I returned home and, apart from a great 4-day visit to user-friendly Barcelona, I’ve remained happily home-bound, editing the first volume of my diaries for publication next autumn. With luck I shall be in the middle of a Slovakian forest when they’re published, and out of range of any lawsuits !

One final thing. The problems of those affected by the Pakistan earthquake are actually increasing as winter makes movement from the remote mountain areas almost impossible. Help is still needed and yet the response has been far less than that for the tsunami. These are great, tough people who would not ask for charity, but many of whom will die without it. So, if like me, you feel a bond between yourself and the people of the Pakistan Himalaya, give now and, if you’ve already given, give again.

[/quote]

It’s getting ridiculous! Would you believe I just spent £1.50 on a cheeseburger. A mangy cheeseburger at that, devoid of relish, lettuce or ketchup. Here at MMU students eat at the canteen using pre-paid ‘meal cards’, upon which they get around £30 a week. However, this figure hasn’t gone up, but the prices have, meaning we all eat less. Now, food in the wes isn’t bad: I grew up with mum’s food, so I know what good food should taste like. Wes food isn’t the best, but nor is it the dire pulp we were dished up at hebden green. Having said that, it’s not worth the prices they are currently charging. I am therefore not a happy cripple, nor is most of the student body (although they aren’t cripples). The pizzeria around the corner is probably profiting from this though.

along with a dangerous experiment involving chair spinning, I was sent the following by mum, who incidently sined herself off as M, furthering my suspicion that dad’s a double-o agent.

”

A Russian couple was walking down the street in Moscow one night, when the man felt a drop hit his nose. “I think it’s raining”, he said to his wife. “No, that felt more like snow to me”, she replied. “No, I’m sure it was just rain, he said”. Well, as these things go, they were about to have a major argument about whether it was raining or snowing. Just then they saw a minor communist party official walking toward them. “Let’s not fight about it”, the man said, “Let’s ask Comrade Rudolph whether it’s officially raining or snowing”. As the official approached, the man said, “Tell us, Comrade Rudolph, is it officially raining or snowing?”. “It’s raining, of course”, he replied, and walked on. But the woman insisted: “I know that felt like snow!”, to which the man quietly replied: ”Rudolph the Red knows rain, dear”!

I just tried the ouch disability sex thing, to be found here. This is what it said about me.

[quote=”ouch”]You have some clue and are approaching the whole shagging game with enthusiasm, but you need to increase your sexual knowledge as well as your confidence in your shagability. Try reading the Kama Sutra, soak up the essence of it and don’t get too hung up about the fact that you might end up in hospital if you attempt some of the sexual positions depicted.[/quote] ha! chance would be a fine thing!

Its been a long day. It was going well until four, when my last seminar finished. I have my lessons in Crewe on Monday, and get a taxi to Crewe in the morning and the mmu bus back to alsager. However, the public transport busses are currently on strike, so the university busses have their work cut out ferrying students between campuses. And guess who was forgotten in this hubbub?

We – that is, myself and Esther – must have waited half an hour in the cold. I was starting to shiver, so we went back to the canteen, where est said I should have a warm drink. We waited until five, when we ‘phoned Bill. Quite what I would have done without bill tonight I do not know: he was there in twenty minutes, saying that he’d asked the kitchen to save me some dinner and was lamb Rogan josh ok? It was, and by six I was tucking into it with a huge slab of crusty, fresh, delicious bread. I could really hug bill – never was I so pleased to see his jeep!

To all those who proclaim childhood reading dead, I would say click this link. Rowling has re-invigorated kids literature, forging a phenomenon which appeals to children and adults alike. It was being discussed around our dinner table this weekend. At whatever level it is read upon, potter is a great, great story – not literary greatness, in a classical sense, but in the sense that it has characters and themes we can all relate to. Sadly, there are no cripples though.

As usual, I’m home again for the weekend. Muucch to their frustration, mum and dad can’t get rid of me. (i’m joking guys). For once, my brothers are here too, so the place is full of nonsequeteurs and rainman quotes, which have merged to random cries of ‘definitely not a hundred dollars.’ yes, I kknow, ‘what?!’

anyway, I love this house – I was born here – but it just did a strange thing to me. I was about to cclimb the stairs, and noticed the thermostat on the wall. I could read it clearly: 21 degrees celsius. ‘odd’, I thought, ‘I remember that was higher up the wall, well out of my reach.’ Thats the problem about growing up in a house you love – the sword cuts two ways: it’s how you remember, but you cannot recapture the time you had.

Nevertheless, piano music is oncce again being played throughoutt the house; mum is in the kitchen,; luke is being luke, dad is…soomewhere about. Time to go join them

I’ve had a busy day. On Tuesday my friends reminded me I had an essay due In December, so I thought I might as well start it. The word limit’s 2k, and, after getting 400 of them down yesterday, I have 1787 words. The remaining 200 I’ll get down later or, more likely, tomorrow morning.

I was in the library after lunch. I needed material to quote from. I noticed the row of PHD thesis they keep there, and decided to ask to see one. This was not a random whim – I wanted to see how easy it was to look at a PHD thesis: there has been some debate over the thesis of Kent Hovind – an extremely vocal creationist. He has proclaimed himself doctor, but when one fellow investigated, this thesis was very hard to get hold of. link.

Anyway, without hesitating, the librarian got a leather-bound thesis off the shelf. It had a slip saying it wasn’t to be taken from the library, but otherwise it war free to peruse. What is ‘Dr. Dino’ hiding.

my chair has needed a wash for a while. much to dad’s chagrin, I take it onto the football pitch – how else do I speak to bil when he’s coaching the team? It thus got verry muddy, especially it’s undercarrage.

I told my p.a we needed to clean it sometime this week. I do not think she relished the idea, although I thought it might be fun. either way, we were provaricating about itt.

We were returning from the library this afternoon after going there to do some photocopying after lunch. When we noticed a couple of workmen washing off the university van outside the flat there is a small appliance shed where they store stuff like hoses. This gave us an idea, as I was in my chair at the time, I rode up to them and asked very politely if they wouldn’t mind washing the F55 down. They happily abliged and right now the chair is in the hall off the flat, drying off.