Back to Reality
This is my first post in almost 2 weeks. Part of the reason for this is that after the events in America it just kind of felt like anything I had to say didn’t really seem important in the wake of the terrorist attacks. But things have to get back to normality.

Dr. Know – there is nothing he doesn’t
For the first time in a few months I went to the cinema on Monday night to see the newly released “A.I.” starring Jude Law and Haley Joel Osment. It was a project of Stanley Kubricks’s for reportedly 15 years before being turned over to Steven Spielberg at Kubrick’s request. The film is set in the near future (I think) and seems to take place in 3 distinct stages, each having a very different theme and mood from the others. It seemed obvious to me where Kubrick had influenced the film and even more obvious where Spielberg had influenced the film (such as the ending). The special effects were phenomenal and the world in which the film took place was well realised.

The Blue Fairy
I liked the film, I really did, but for me 2 things stood out that I have a problem with. Firstly, Gigolo Joe (where shall we go?) played by Law was a great character but didn’t really fit in with the film, was only in it for an hour, and ultimately had no real role to play in the movie. He was more of a glorified extra than a pivotal character. Secondly, the last 20-30 minutes of the film were, in my opinion, a little too surreal for my liking and just began to get a little silly. I won’t describe the ending because that would ruin it for everyone that hasn’t seen the film, but suffice to say if someone had told me how it ended about half way through I probably would have laughed at them. The ending just sort of came out of nowhere really.

The Bottom Line
I think it’s definitely worth seeing and Haley Joel Osment was excellent. Many reviews have compared aspects of the film to other movies like “Mad Max”, “Blade Runner”, “Robocop” etc. but funnily one review compared it to “Babe: Pig in the City” which I found quite amusing. I thought the film was overly long and if it had ended maybe 20 minutes before it actually did without the sentimental ending I would probably give it a 9 out of 10. As it stands however, I’m only giving it a 7. Also, if you don’t trust me, check out the expert’s opinion with my favourite film reviewer, Roger Ebert.

Donnie Brasco
Speaking of films I saw “Donnie Brasco” starring Al Pacino and Johnny Depp on Sunday night. It was a sort of typical mafia film – great acting, great script and one of Al Pacino or Robert de Niro (and who says actors are type-cast?). Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the film but like “A.I.” I didn’t like the ending. I thought the viewer was kept guessing how it was going to finish right up until the end and I just felt a bit let down because it seemed so flat after such a big build up. It was more “Goodfellas” than “Heat” or “Carlito’s Way”. We can't really fault the ending properly as the film was based on a true story. Bah. As I well know real life is never as interesting as Hollywood makes it out to be. Anyway, I’d still give it a solid 8/10.

The Long Goodbye
Since I’m going off to University in less than a week it means I have to leave work. Obviously I am absolutely ecstatic gutted about this as it means I no longer have a stable (and extremely rubbish) source of income. However, I’ll miss all the people I work with and even though it was work we still managed to have a laugh from time to time. I’ll probably buy them all a big box of chocolates or something and get the manager a bottle of wine or champagne. Just my way of saying thanks.

Quote of the Day
“Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute" - Josh Billings

el-ev-ation

Following critical comments regarding the design of this template, some minor tweaks will be made soon. As a side note, J.E.E.t.B. is set to be unleashed on the world on October 31st. I for one believe it will add a new dimension compared with the existing group blogs any of belong to currently, and if everyone puts in equal effort it could become better than I expected.

To those still wondering what the frell J.E.E.t.B. is anyway...wait and find out. In a nutshell, it's a group blog that's been in development for months with some great unique ideas that will help us enslave the human race share our thoughts and opinions in a much more organised and fluid way. You want to join? Well, it's not as easy as getting into the Corp...

The Day the Earth Stood Still
The International blogging community 3-day silence is over. I’m back and I have no idea what I’m about to say but I can assure you all that whatever does come out will be from the heart. Tuesday September 11th 2001 will be a day that will forever go down in history. I think everyone knows what happened. Terrorists struck in America causing death and devastation beyond anyone’s wildest nightmares. I was playing a rented game on my PlayStation2 when my mum shouted to me that two planes had crashed into the World Trade Centre. My initial reaction, like when she told me Princess Diana had died in a car crash, was that she was joking. But when I switched on the TV and saw the pictures for myself I realised the truth.

I couldn’t believe it and to be honest I still can’t. I am still in a state of shock and disbelief. A lot of people have said to me it’s something like out of a film. I don’t live in America nor have I ever been there but I feel deeply affected by Tuesday’s events. More than once I have been close to tears and it seems with every passing minute the situation gets worse and worse. This whole event has put everything in my life into context and I feel like nothing matters in comparison to what has happened. Some of the scenes and descriptions given by people are beyond words. People jumped out of a 110-storey building to escape burning to death. Whilst people around them rushed away from the scene emergency workers bravely tried to save as many lives as they could. One firefighter said in the aftermath that although they’d saved 6 people from the rubble he couldn’t begin to say how many dead he’d seen and how many body parts were scattered around the area. I don’t think words like “atrocious” or “tragic” begin to scratch the surface.

What is also becoming apparent in the aftermath is that the terrorists who did this seemingly took over 4 passenger planes armed with only knives. They told the people on the plane that they were going to die and let them phone their relatives to tell them they would never see them again. I can’t imagine how awful that must be. People will never feel the same about stepping on an aeroplane again. Security has been tightened world-wide but I can’t help feeling a little vulnerable now. If it can happen in America why not anywhere else?

George Bush has promised that it was an “act of war” and the US will get the terrorists that did this and most fingers seem to be pointing at Islamic extremist Osama Bin-Laden who was responsible for the bombing of the World Trade Centre in 1993. However, Bin-Laden has denied that it was him but “thanked Allah” that it happened. Bin-Laden has apparently declared war on all American citizens and is one of the few people in the world with the knowledge and resources able to carry out an operation like this.

When I saw pictures of people from Middle-Eastern countries celebrating in the streets what happened it made me feel sick to the stomach. Little children were dancing in the street at the news that thousands of Americans had been killed. I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to be joyful at someone else’s death. Nearly every national leader has condemned the terrorist attacks, even Yasser Arafat, except Saddam Hussein. How can anybody celebrate the deaths of thousands of innocent people?

The death toll is expected to reach into the thousands. For anyone who has suffered a loss because of this terrible tragedy I send out my heart-felt condolences. The Pentagon and the New York skyline will never be the same. I wish there was something I could do to help. I already give blood on a regular basis so maybe it’s a start. I sincerely hope that many more people are recovered alive from the rubble. And although it sounds heartless, I sincerely hope that whoever did this gets what is coming to them.


God bless America and the American people in their time of need. It could take a long time for everything to return to normal. If it ever does. This is the sort of event that will change the world. My perception of it already has.

My heart goes out to the families of everyone involved in the terrible events of today. I don't really know what I can say. It seems like the whole world has come to a stand-still. I'll try and organise my thoughts into something more semblant for tomorrow.

Mr. Monday Night
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about what direction my life is taking and what sort of things I’ll end up doing in years to come. I haven’t really set myself any sort of goal – just a general “get a really well-paid job and marry a beautiful woman” sort of thing. Nothing specific. I’m at that period now where life-changing events and decisions are to be made and I keep wondering if I’ve taken the right fork. Should I have done things differently? My philosophy has always been to have no regrets – mistakes are all a part of gaining wisdom and experience. But what if I have made a fundamental error of judgement somewhere along the line? It’s too late to change it now. I once wrote a play in school that I performed with a friend and a passage from that springs to mind now:

“The past was and the future will be, ‘ifs’ are ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ are ‘buts’. All we can do now is look back and think what might have been.”

Mr. Pay-Per-View
I don’t really know if the previous paragraph is referring to anything in particular or just a random outburst. I guess it’s just the whole 9-5 working in an office all day mentality that dominates society. Most jobs, let’s face it, are dull and never amount to much. Not many people get to become actors, writers or sports stars (and yes, that includes wrestlers). I don’t want to do the same job for 30 years, go home to my wife every night and only spend time with my kids at the weekend. I want something different, something varied, something stimulating. But at the same time I do want some normality for the future. I definitely want to get married and have children. Where am I headed now? Well, University for the next 3 years, possibly 4, and then… well, let’s just say from there on it’s clear highway.

The Whole F’n Show
A film called eXistenZ was shown on TV last night and although I’d seen it before on video I remembered it as being pretty good so I watched it again. The plot basically revolves around a computer game designer who is having multiple attempts made on her life and tries to find out if her game has been damaged. Released in 1999 (I’m surprised it’s been on TV so early) it was originally billed as being similar to The Matrix. It features one of those cliff-hanger endings where you’re not entirely sure what the hell just happened and second time through I understood things more clearly. I thought it was a good film, although I didn’t think much to Jude Law’s American accent, and it raised some intriguing questions and issues about one possible future for computer games. A good ending, kept you guessing until the end, and of course any David Cronenberg film wouldn’t be complete without gore galore.

Rob Van Dam
RVD continued his meteoric rise to the top of the wrestling industry with a clean pin over Austin on this weeks Smackdown. Yes, that’s right, a CLEAN pin (albeit with a little help from Kurt Angle). Since Austin came back, only William Regal and HHH have managed that. Considering RVD has only been in the WWF for about 3 months he’s already had phenomenal success – 2 PPV wins over Jeff Hardy, the task of reigniting interest in the Hardcore division and now a clean win over Austin. It reminds me a bit of Kurt Angle when he first started because within a year he had won the World Title and many critics argued that he hadn’t “paid his dues” and gone through a period of doing the job and proving themselves a company player. RVD has reportedly been humble and polite backstage and not shown any signs of his ego taking control. I’m sure the fact Paul Heyman has so much pull and respect backstage helps his cause no end but even I’m surprised Vince has let RVD rise through the ranks so quickly. I understand that he is incredibly popular because of his high-octane style and constant posing to the crowd but it is surprising how well he’s done and even I didn’t expect him to have such an immediate impact. Maybe the win over Austin will just end up with Austin taking revenge by beating him up backstage or squashing him in a match next week. Either way, his inevitable face turn could be just around the corner.



Quote of the Day
“The secret to success is to know something nobody else knows” - Aristotle

The man, the myth, the legend... D'lo Brown

Enema of the State
After my last blog entry about men making moves on women and vice versa I have been bombarded with e-mails on the subject (1 so far and counting). In fact I had the perfect opportunity today to start talking to a beautiful young lady on the bus to town but instead of taking the plunge I sat in silence, admiring from afar. So, after thinking about it some more, I have come to the conclusion that the less you think about matters such as these the better. Could someone pass me the Alka Seltzer please?

The Next Episode
So, England 5-1 Germany. What a scoreline. What a victory. The Mirror had a headline entitled “R.I.P German Football” whilst The Sun devoted 14 whole pages to England’s historic victory. In the space of 90-minutes we had gone from having a mediocre football team with some potential to the best team in the history of football. Ever. Well, that’s more or less the press reaction anyway. Sure, England did well but let’s not forget we had everyone fit and played a German team that is a mere shadow of it’s former past glories. To say that we are now up there with France and Holland is a little premature. What I find interesting is if England had lost the game Sven Goran Erikkson would probably be no better than Kevin Keegan in the eyes of the media but because they won, and so resoundingly as well, he is now officially (yes, that’s officially) the best thing since sliced bread and can do no wrong. That is, if England win their remaining games. I’ll admit that England did play well and do have the potential to do well in the World Cup but I just think all the newspapers have maybe blown things out of context a bit. If England beat Albania 10-0 then I might jump on the bandwagon, otherwise you can just call a cynic.

Anorexia Nervosa
After watching Enter the Dragon on Sunday I am now a big Bruce Lee fan and feel it is such a shame he died at only 33. What makes it worse is his son, Brandon Lee who starred in The Crow, also died very young whilst shooting said film. Enter the Dragon would never win any awards for it’s screenplay or acting but the fight scenes, choreographed by Lee, were exceptional. The plot was a bit thin and the ending pretty lame but man those fight scenes! Bruce Lee, I lay down my hat to you.

Bulimia Nervosa
Here’s a useless fact for you all on the subject of self-defence: I used to do the ancient martial art of Ju-Jitsu but gave it up after only a year. If someone attacked me today I’d be more likely to defend myself with a Stone Cold Stunner or a Rock Bottom than a well-timed karate kick or judo throw. I wonder which would be more effective? I mean in wrestling, those 2 moves can usually devastate an opponent for at least 2 seconds. But I think one day I will take up a form of self-defence again, if only to do those stupid high pitched screams every kung-fu person does before striking an opponent. HI-YA!

Quote of the Day
“Only people who look dull ever get into the House of Commons, only people who are dull ever succeed there” – Oscar Wilde

Hung like a Donkey
This will be short as my head hurts from too much alcohol consumption and I've got to go and see some relatives today where my parents have the exact same conversation with them every time we go. "You can choose your friends but you can't choose your family." Or maybe as my manager at work better put it "You can't choose your family but you can kill them". Anyway, onto one of life's delicacies and I am very happy because England won 5-1 (an absolutely ridiculous result in hindsight) and everyone was just ecstatic in town last night, even the people from where I work. You know things are different when "Vindaloo" and "3 Lions" (football songs) are played in nightclubs and everyone is dancing to them like headless chickens. The only bad thing about the night was that all the goals were scored by Liverpool players [spits on floor]. Just imagine what the scoreline would have been if Andy Cole had played...

I'll be back with a better post and press-analysis later in the week when my liver has sufficiently recovered.

Quote of the Day
"I think it'll finish 1-1" - me just after England equalised. (Shows what I know about football)