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Campion Boats

regt — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:52:18 +0000

Campion Boats offers over 37 models and 48 variations of boats. No other North American boat manufacturer offers this many choices. Choices such as, High-Tech, High-Performance, Express Cruisers, Sterndrives, Outboards, Sport Cabin and Bow Riders to name a few.

Campion Boats is Canada’s largest independent boat builder. As a customer, that means, you get the boat you want and the best value for your money. To many boaters the name “Campion” means quality. Every boat is beautifully finished & the award winning APEX hull design outperforms all others in speed, handling and fuel economy.

With dealers in 30 countries, boaters of all kinds can see, feel and test drive a Campion Boat.…Visit Campion Boats

jane oh jane you failed

iseeispeak — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 22:21:12 +0000

the pianos of the world have drowned into forgiveness and forgetting

the melodies, the stitches, so beautiful the leaves, the sand

but how you failed the adequate portrayal of a love so beautiful

like any true love, however painful

your gravest mistake – how ignorant you paint history’s harshness

no trouble at all no trouble my dear

they loved, he died, she lives

she loved no more, his fame immortal

such is the fate of woman

and such is the victory of the male as artist,

however dead.

CAMPION 09 - Final Report

Arunanand T A — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 05:30:55 +0000

Dear all,

CAMPION is the Annual Intra-IHRD Football (Fives) Tournament conducted by College of Engineering Chengannur (CEC). Every year CAMPION is held at CEC with participation from all the 9 IHRD Engineering Colleges in Kerala.
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CAMPION 09 was conducted by the students of CEC with the ad-hoc Executive Committee of selected students from 2006-2010 Batch.
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This report has been submitted to Mr. C R Ajith Sen, Lecturer in Physical Education, Sl. Gr., and Staff-in-Charge of CAMPION 09, CEC.
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Download CAMPION 09 Final Report

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Note: Some pages have been left blank, as they will be replaced by certain hard copies in our hand, as they cannot be added here as soft copy.
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CAMPION 09 Official Website: http://campion.ceconline.edu
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Regards,
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ARUNANAND T A,
Organizing Secreatry,
CAMPION 09.

CEC 2010 CS.

Mister K.O.

Ionut-Alexandru — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:57:05 +0000

Înainte de meci

În timpul meciului

Şi..

Pentru o galerie mai ampla aici

Lucian Bute ramane campion

eugenplesa — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 16:13:39 +0000

In aceasta dimineata Lucian Bute l-a facut KO pe Librado Andrade.Mai jos aveti ultima runda,si momen

mica-ra-phones

nrratapu — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:47:41 +0000

Ugh, sorry world. Why have I spent more of my time watching Wonderfalls then writing on my blog?

Because Wonderfalls is great thats why. Uh huh. As is V, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and stupid campy Logo-movies of the week. If I ever have a spare moment where I’m not studying, reading, gymming, or out doing stuff in the ‘real world’, my time is best spent in nostalgia of when I actually owned a television.

So I saw Jeffrey and Cole’s Thanksgiving Casserole on Thursday. And I was a little squicked, I’m not gonna lie. Tis a strange unholy week when you have a triple dosing of pedophilia, especially in both a serious and comedic genre. The Symposium just has way too much child rape, I’m sorry. It’s a great book, I know that, with witty criticisms of Sophist rhetoric and Socratic methodology but please, why all the talk about sex with underage minors? I know that it was acceptable for men to marry women when they were 14, but seriously people, building your entire concept of Love on the glory of passing down ‘wisdom’ to young boys who fufil your ‘needs’. Didn’t y’all ever listen to Sufjan Stevens “John Wayne Gracy Jr.”? Not good, Pausanius, not good.

On a lighter note, Thanksgiving is around the corner! Turkey, cranberries, bloated euphoria. Ahh. Pumpkin Pie! Ahh. Can one make up for their gluttony at Dodge Fitness Centre, pre-feast? Ah gimme some turkey, I really could care less – food is glorious.

As are eggnog lattes. Starbucks Winter Menus are commended.

Who here has read Genesis? Ok, so I’m reading that for Literature Humanities at the moment – and how did I not realize that Adam and Eve take up like, two paragraphs? Like, the entire plot of Children of Eden takes place over 10 pages of the 50 page chapter – what’s all this about a Tower of Babel? And Abram/Abraham? Did I ever learn this at Catholic School? Was this ever part of our Chanel Shield improv drama scenes? How do I know so little about the Bible? And may I point out, vengeful angry God is also commended.

Some security guard is complaining outside my room about the clogged sink in Furnald 2. Yeah security dude its a legit problem! Don’t you be complaining into your mica-ra-phone that we be putting food in that sink, where the hell are we going to rinse out our dishes? You’re sign says “Don’t use this switch” or the garbage disposal, but this sink’s been full of sewage for a week! And while you’re there, where is the TV chord for our TV? Is it ever coming?

Exclamation points in txt messages are censored.

Wow, I can literally turn my light back on by reaching my hand up in the air and pointing my finger. That’s either magical, or seriously worrying.

And a last commendation goes out to poems written in the style of Phillip Glass about children stuck/or not stuck in balloon’s which was filmed on footage that was/was not faked. “At first no-one could believe it. Then no-one couldn’t believe it. I am a news channel, I need a dead child, I am a news channel I need a dead child!”

Loves the Kandinsky exhibition at the Guggenheim, and really need to get to the Tim Burton exhibition at MoMA after Thankgiving weekend, it looks excellent. I’ve come to the realization that my childhood has been built on a strange dichotomy of Disney and Dark-Disney Burton Surrealism which has undoubtedly warped my mind in dangerous dangerous ways. I still think of Christmas and think “Sandy Claws”, and I still look at pale white faced middle aged men and think “candy-man”.

Adieu.

Secunda fatala! Boxer de 22 de ani a murit in ring, la antrenamente!

apexutzuu — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:29:24 +0000

Gongul inceputului de meci nu va mai rasuna niciodata pentru un tanar boxer. Sportivul in varsta de

Micul dejun al campionilor

thorski — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:55:05 +0000

Fiecare invingator are propriul sau mic dejun si din pacate, al meu nu contine nici fructe, nici suc de portocale si nici macar paine prajita.

Pot spune ca meniul este extrem de usor de alcatuit, dat fiind faptul ca nu avem nevoie de tigaie sau alte ustensile greu de utilizat, ci doar de 5.50 lei si cateva minute de pierdut in magazinul din coltul strazii.

Micul dejun este alcatuit din doua elemente esentiale:

1 – Twix. Dupa cum puteti observa, e absolut necesar sa optati pentru variata King Size (supranumita “Xtra”). E de la sine inteles ca toate efectele pozitive, pe care vi le aduce meniul meu, sunt reduse de orice abatere de la cuvintele scrise aici.

2 – Powerade (Mountain Blast – ceva ce seamana cu fructele de padure, sau cam pe acolo). Din punctul meu de vedere, Gatorade si Powerade sunt bauturile care aliniaza planetele in sistemul nostru solar. La micul dejun, dupa cateva ture de parc sau in orice alta situatie, Powerade se potriveste perfect.

Bineinteles ca exista abateri si aici: sortimentul de portocale este folosit doar in situatii de urgenta, in timp ce varianta cu lamaie e atat de proasta incat nici n-as mai pomeni-o. In orice caz feriti-va de ea, daca vreti cu adevarat sa o incercati, preparati-o acasa: 1 pahar cu apa, un sfert de lingurita cu sare iodata si o lamaie. Acum serios, vedeti-va dracu de treaba. In orice caz, stelele s-au aliniat pentru mine si la magazinul de pe strada nu exista decat cel albastru,singurul demn pentru micul dejun al campionilor.

Pro tip #1 : Beti inainte sa mancati. Stiu ca n-re niciun sens, dar taci! Twix-ul e mult mai dulce, daca iei Powerade-ul dupa, nu mai are niciun gust si nu faci decat sa ne irosesti timpul, banii si intelepciunea.

Pro tip #2 : Am inteles, de la un adept al micului dejun, ca in cazul in care aveti carii, aceasta combinatie poate provoca neplaceri. Acum, pula mea, de parca am eu vreo vina ca n-aveti voi plombe.

stomacul afrodiziac

c.m. — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 08:53:02 +0000

verstă dioptrie butirină cartogramă

boroboață eudistă zdruncin ascuțit

ciconiidă parametron furtunar pavecerniță

prince de galles fotocartograf vodeasă înapoiat

asimptotă aproximare hăci factură

pneumococic marnos caracterizator animalică

palafită atropism încunjur ohabnic

balograf verigea belgian fierbincior

pogonaș prîsnel țapină fibrinogen

ptoză hadîmb fucsină argila uscată

Campion School, Hornchurch - RE Day

cafodbrentwood — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:23:37 +0000

During the first session, students from Yr 13 discussed their Christian response to poverty around t

Television Walk-on

ezekiel99 — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:18:00 +0000

I got into doing television extra work quite by accident. I had always loved theatre, but in particular I had wanted to get into television, with the idea of working in drama. I was told by the BBC, at around the time I left school in the late 1960’s that if I worked in theatre, particularly in stage management, then, once I had a few years experience behind me I might be considered for work as an A.F.M. (Assistant Floor Manager.) I wrote what looked like endless letters to theatres all over the country to see whether I could get a job in their stage management departments, and eventually got a job at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham as a Student A.S.M. This was really a good way for the theatre to get cheap labour, as I wasn’t paid a real wage, getting the princely sum of something like £2.50 a week, which meant that my parents had to subsidise me, although I was getting some sort of training for the time I was there, just under a year. The hours were extremely long, but I suppose you do that sort of job ‘for the love of it.’

I seem to be wondering off the track of what I had intended writing about, so I should skip quite a bit and get on to talking about television ‘walk-on,’ or ‘extra’ work, although in some cases the term ‘extra’ is wrong, and in some cases rather derogatory. I will explain why as I proceed with writing this. This was the time when to work in theatre you needed to be in the union, Equity, and unless you had a card, then you couldn’t work and particularly you couldn’t do ‘Walk-On’ work. The agencies were quite hot on this. I managed to gain my Equity membership when I worked in Stage Management. My main reason to do this sort of work was that I was really interested in the making of films and television, and this always seemed a really good way to see, first hand, how a television show was made. The idea that you could be paid for it was a bonus, but at the time that side of it had never occurred to me. Being paid for doing something you like doing was even more of a bonus.

I think I must have answered an advertisement in the Stage to join an agency to do ‘walk-on’ and must have forgotten, because, quite out of the blue I got a telephone call asking me if I was interested in doing a day’s filming on a television series called ‘Jenny’s War’ which was on location at the Nene Valley Railway, just beyond Peterborough. I said that I was, and I was then told that I needed to go there almost immediately for a costume fitting to be a German soldier. Not only was I fitted with a costume, but I was also given a haircut, not your average sort of hair-cut, but a very severe short-back-and-sides sort of haircut that would have been executed on German soldiers of the Second World War period. All this I did, and was then told that the next day I needed to return bright and early to work on the ’shoot’ as a walk-on. All this was very new to me, but I managed to report to the correct person within the film unit and we spent the rest of the day getting in and out of carriages and pretending to be German soldiers, and generally enjoying the whole experience of being on a film set.

I heard from several of the other ‘Walk-Ons’ that I really needed to join another agency, as they had far more work than the one I had got the day’s work from, and based just outside Norwich. I was given their address and telephone number. So, next day, I rang them, and was immediately told that they wanted Walk-Ons on a B.B.C. television film being made at the time called “The Burston Rebellion.” The nice lady at the agency told me that, if I wanted to do more work with them, I ought to send them some photographs of myself, and more details of my height, hair colour, waist measurements and so on, to be put on their files, so as to make casting me in future productions easier. As a result I had to get some photographs taken of myself, which I sent off to this agency. I seemed to get quite a lot of work from them, and worked on such shows as “Lovejoy”, “Campion” and “Middlemarch.” Infact, I did quite a lot of ‘bits’ in “Lovejoy” over the years, and always looked forward to April, when it begin filming.

I worked on another series which used the Nene Valley Railway as a location, and called “Christabel.” We were German soldiers once more, and we had to do a night shoot. We were called at around 2.00 and told that we would be rehearsing a sequence which would require us to sing a song, in German, and which was to be part of a scene on a train which was supposed to be stuck in the snow on the German border, and the R.A.F. were supposed to be bombing in the background. We had to learn this song phonetically, and it was rather like the number “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” in the film of “Cabaret,” where it’s set outside a tavern, and one boy starts to sing, and gradually the rest of the people sitting at tables join in, until the whole screen is filled with singing. Well, that was how this song was supposed to be shown in this scene, set on board a train. When it came to actually filming, quite late at night, it took endless takes, and with the principals (the main actors.) doing their bit whilst we did our bit in the background (incidentally, the actress playing the title character in this, was played by Elizabeth Hurley.) Anway, you can imagine how difficult a lot of this was, in a cramped railway carriage, with a load of other walk-ons, all dressed as German soldiers, together with the added extra of the rifles and back-packs we had to carry with us, and also all the camera and sound equipment and unit personel, director, cameraman and so on that were involved in the making of this film. It was during all this that one of the walk-on’s had something fall on their head, from the luggage rack in the railway carriage, and they had to be taken by a member of the crew to Accident and Emergency at the local hospital. To this day I don’t know what happened to them.

When this show was eventually shown on television I watched it, and the scene we had filmed, with us singing that song, was cut so that there was no singing at all! Perhaps the show ran too long so they decided to cut that sequence. Who knows? All that work and effort for nothing, it would seem.

Having a scene cut is quite often the case on things I’ve done. Don’t do Walk-On work if you expect to see yourself in every scene, as generally you won’t see yourself. You can end up behind a pillar, or so far back in the scene that you are little more than a speck on the screen, or you walk past and are gone in a split second! Generally you are in the background and the principals (those actors in speaking roles) are the centre of the scene being filmed. The general rule is don’t stare at the camera, don’t trip over the scenery and do whatever is asked of you. If you don’t you will get a reputation as a trouble maker and won’t be used again. And the golden rule is, never speak to the principals unless they speak to you first, and NEVER, EVER ask for autographs! Or take a camera with you onto the set, as it will most likely be taken off you. On most set-ups. you will be directed by one of the floor crew or an assistant director. It is quite rare for the director of the production to direct Walk-Ons, although I have been directed by the actual director of a production. You will be told what you have to do and then the scene is rehearsed, and then several ‘dry-runs’ attempted. Then, when it has been decided that everything is as the director wants it, they will ‘go for a take.’ You then have to remember what it is you have to do and begin on ‘action’ or ‘background action.’ If the director is satisfied then they will move on to the next set-up or several more ‘takes’ will be shot. The Walk-On’s will then be told to wait somewhere off-set until they are needed again, and usually there is a great deal of waiting around, but you have to be ready and waiting for the call to go back on the set for another scene. Always take something with you on location to keep yourself occupied when not filming, such as a book, a newspaper, a Nintendo DS or an iPod.

I got called by the agency one Saturday morning. I needed to be on location immediately to film on the BBC series “Campion.” I drove to the location and got there in about an hour and a half. I was to be a policeman in a scene with Peter Davison and Brian Glover, who were in a vintage car (the show was set in the 1930’s). I was to ride a bicycle and they were held upp by a man hearding sheep along a country lane. The sheep behaved impeccably, working really well and did as they were told, but the car that the actors drove in didn’t appreciate all the waiting and being left to idle, so it kept cutting out, which meant that there were endless takes for the scene in question.

We did quite a few scenes on that episode with me as a policeman. On one such scene there were several of us in a car, which was supposed to stop and we were supposed to get out and chase after the villain (I think it was the climax of one of the episodes, but I can’t remember the name of the story.) We attempted several rehearsals, but then it was decided that, if we took our helmets off we’d find it easier to get out of the car, which was quite small. So, on the next attempt we did it helmetless, and it worked perfectly.

Another “Campion” story I was in I was the opposite side of the law, one of the villain’s henchmen (played with real gusto by Iain Cuthbertson, who seems to have made playing ‘heavies’ his forte.) It certainly made a change from being a ‘goody.’ We were dressed in suitable 1930’s garb, and I wore a long leather coat and broad-brimmed hat, and the make-up department had given me a scar across one cheek, which had been made with a substance which came in a small bottle rather like nail-polish and was applied with a brush. On drying, it made the skin of my face contract and produce a really convincing scar. When it was dry, another layer was applied, and on each application, the skin seemed to contract even more, making the ‘scar’ appear even more convincing. And, to make things even more menacing, I was given an eye-patch to wear over one of my eyes!

We did quite a few scenes driving around the North Norfolk countryside in some marvellous period cars, which didn’t always behave as the crew would have wanted, and didn’t appreciate being kept idling in the warm sunshine, so, whenever a take was required and the director called ‘action’ they didn’t always move on cue.

On one particular occasion we were taken by bus to another location, a wood, and myself and another Walk-On were supposed to be spying on Peter Davison (as Albert Campion) as he walked through the woods (no doubt looking for clues or something.) We weren’t supposed to be seen by him, for obvious reasons, and we had been detailed by one of the assistants to stand by a dilapidated shed and look menacing. They had wanted me to smoke a cigarette, but, as I don’t smoke, I was given a match stick to chew. The sequence started with the camera full on us, I chewed on the matchstick, and then threw it away. The camera then picks up Campion moving through the trees in mid-distance, and I signal to my companion, and we walk slowly through the woods, being as stealthy as possible, presumably so as not to be seen by Campion. The crew had marked a line on the floor where we were supposed to stop, so that we were at the front of the shot, and Campion was in the background. We rehearsed it several times, but, because of the eye-patch, I could never see the mark on the ground! We did eventually complete the sequence successfully, and I have seen this in the finished production, but I still can’t recall the name of the story or the episode it is in!

I managed to keep the scar once we had finished shooting, and drove home with it on. It lasted a day or so, but eventually I had to peel it off!

There are one or two scenes in other shows where I am quite prominent, and not hidden behind a lamp-post and just a fleeting, passing shadow. I worked on an episode of “Keeping Up Appearances.” It’s the one where Hyacinth persuades the hapless Richard (her husband) to test drive a Rolls Royce (just another attempt to put one over her neighbours and look down her nose at the socially-inept.) He agrees and drives the Roller off the forecourt of the garage where they have been looking at the cars on show. They drive off into the country, much to Richard’s dismay, but as usual Hyacinth is goading him to ‘put his foot down.’ They eventually arrive at a country hotel (which is actually a few miles outside Stratford-Upon-Avon.) This is where a friend of hers is staying and she hopes that arriving in a Rolls Royce will be the icing on the cake to cause envy. And who else should arrive at the hotel, but her sister Daisy and her uncouth husband Onslow and Daddy, in a clapped out banger which has an exhaust which explodes unexpectedly and leaves clouds of smoke as it goes along. Anyway, as they get to the hotel, the car breaks down (really unlikely, as Rolls Royce vehicles never ‘break down’ or at least they are never supposed to.) It is at this point that some of the guests appear at the windows of the hotel and come outside to have a look to see what all the noise is about. (I think Richard sets off the car alarm on the Rolls or something.) and I am one of the guests who is seen quite clearly in the centre of all the action, hamming it up for all I’m worth! In fact, I’m in several of the shots in this sequence, making disapproving faces and generally having a good time. Well, as we weren’t allowed to speak, I had to make some sort of expression and ‘act’ accordingly.

I did some work on something else which wasn’t actually classed as a ‘drama.’ It was a documentary series called “Soldiers” which was about fighting men through the centuries and they used dramaticised sequences where we were used, but didn’t speak. A lot of it was filmed in the army training area near Thetford, in Norfolk. There was a sequence which was filmed in a disused church in the battle area, and we were dressed in period soldiers uniforms and were laying around on the floor (!) being treated by medical people. It was really quite uncomfortable. There was another sequence which showed a soldier having his leg amputated and they had a false leg which had be taken off a soldier. I recall one of the Walk- On’s being chosen to be the poor soldier who has his leg cut off and having to lie on this make-shift operating table and his leg having to match as near as possible the false leg!

We were put into these soldier’s uniforms, beautifully made, and they must have cost a fortune, whether they had been hired from a costume company or been made specially for this production I don’t know, and then they wanted us to look as if we’d been injured in battle and the costume department had to rip great holes in these uniforms, tear chunks out of the arms or legs and then we had to put mud on them to make them look as if we’d been injured in a battle, and to cap it all we had stage blood and gore applied to make it look even more authentic. Some people had latex scars put on their heads and arms and other parts of their bodies, and what made it even more grotesque was when these bits of latex came off, and usually at inapropriate times, such as when we were having coffee or lunch breaks, and then the make-up ladies had to stick them back on again!

One sequence we did which was quite complex was shot at night. It was supposed to be after the Battle Of Waterloo, and we were supposed to be the dead and dieing. A special camera track was set up, which would be used for a long tracking shot, while a large camera crane was bought in to do some ariel shots. If I remember correctly, the whole shoot was held up beccause this crane got stuck in some soft ground or something and they had to get it out before the shoot could begin. This was all done in the evening as the sun was setting, but to be historically accurate it was actually supposed to be the morning with the sun setting. Another actor was used to ride a horse through the dead and dieing and was made up to be the Duke Of Wellington, and at a given cue people were supposed to appear, carrying lighted branches and loot the bodies. Now, we were laying on the ground, which wasn’t exactly comfortable, and it was also really quite cold, as this was quite early in the year, around April. So, there we were, laying on the ground, pretending to be dead, and it’s cold, so we were shivering, the camera is tracking along this specially constructed railway-line, and we’re trying our hardest not to shiver, because, remember, we’re supposed to be dead, and then Wellington comes along on his horse (or, at least, and actor pretending to be The Iron Duke.) and the horse has to carefully tread over us bodies on the ground, and we mustn’t react to this at all (as we are supposed to be dead.) and then one of the stage crew notices that our boots which we are wearing have 20th century soles to them, so the set-up has to be re-taken after we have moved our feet so that the soles of our boots aren’t seen by the camera!

This entire sequence took something like six hours to set up and film, and when it was shown in the finished programme which I saw when it was broadcast, the sequence lasts no more than 45 seconds.

When we had finished filming for the day, we had to change out of our costumes and put our every-day clothes on again to go home. We had been covered in stage blood and gore and had the chance to use a shower to wash it all off, but it was really late, or rather, very early morning when we had finished and I just wanted to drive home, so I didn’t bother to wash the blood and gore off. I drove away, and then realised that I needed to fill the car up with petrol and went to a filling station on the A14 somewhere near Newmarket. I don’t know what the cashier thought when he saw me coming towards him to pay after I’d filled the car up with fuel, as I must have looked like one of the walking dead as I was covered in this stage blood and gore!

” ‘Allo, ‘Allo” was another show I worked on and used the Thetford battle area for some of it’s scenes. It was partly written by David Croft, responsible, with Jimmy Perry for many classic sitcoms of the sixties and seventies. “Dad’s Army” is perhaps the best known, and many exterior scenes were filmed in and around Thetford, Thetford Forest and the battle area. There was one sequence that was a sort of spoof of all Word War 2 films, a sort of cliche being that someone is rescued from a prisoner of war camp by escaping through a tunnel to the outside world. Well, this being ” ‘Allo, ‘Allo”‘ the characters are trying to get IN to a prisoner of war camp! (just to make sure that it gets maximum comic potential, of course!) ” ‘Allo, ‘Allo” used Swaffham as the unit base for the production, and we filmed quite a lot around that area. I was dressed up as a German Soldier and had to go to a hotel in Swaffham for a costume fitting before the week’s shooting began a few week’s later. A lot of scenes were done at Lynford Hall in Norfolk. This is a rather imposing country house, in the style of a French chateau, which makes sense as the show is set in France. I believe the exterior of the house was used quite extensively in the show. The stable courtyard at the back of the house was made up to be the village square and the exterior of Rene’s cafe. Actually, not a lot happened to tell you here, and it was a rather ordinary week’s filming, but I am in quite a few scenes. These were usually of me outside Rene’s cafe, sitting at a table, drinking either coffee or wine. (You have to remember that these were the exterior scenes, and the scenes inside the cafe were shot in a studio at B.B.C. Television Centre in London, so I’m not in any of those scenes, unfortunately.)

This series, together with “Keeping Up Appearances,” is constantly being repeated on either the UKTV channels, or on BBC 1, usually at Sunday lunchtimes.

Another series I did quite a lot of work on was “Middlemarch.” I have a feeling that this adaptation of the George Eliot novel was what started the current trend for doing costume dramas, as the BBC hadn’t done one for quite a few years prior to this series. Most of it was shot in and around Stamford in Lincolnshire. This particular scene involved several hundred Supporting Artistes, and we were supposed to be watching Robert Hardy as a totally inept politician, give a speech. We had to arrive at around 6 a.m to get into our costumes, and once we were dressed we went to a car park in the centre of Stamford (Carol and I went to Stamford recently and parked in the same car park during our visit.) and we were tried out to see what our reactions were like. We had to cheer and generally make a lot of noise, as if we were reacting to someone giving a speech. It was during this that the stage crew selected a handful of the assembled mass to be at the front of the crowd, myself included, as we would be seen extensively during the finished scene, and would need to take quite a lot of direction and therefore had to react to the actors. We worked most of the day on the scene, which barely lasts ten minutes in the finished episode, but I am quite visable and really managed to over-act, which made the day more interesting than merely standing in the background (which happened to the rest of the Walk-Ons.)We had to hurl rotten fruit at the poor Robert Hardy (he is such a likeable person that throwing anything nasty at him seemed so awful!) and he also had an egg thrown in his face at one point, which had to be re-shot several times, which cannot have been very nice for the poor man.

Another sequence I was involved in filming on “Middlemarch” was in one of the streets in Stamford, near where the hustings scene was shot. We were passers-by, and some of the principals were doing their scene the other side of the street. There were horses being ridden past and carts, drawn by horses, as the traffic in the street, and myself and another Walk-On had to cross the road, on cue, but it was timed just before a horse and cart went by. We did several rehearsals and it was then that I realised how dangerous this was. A car can stop dead, when the brakes are applied, but a horse is somewhat unreliable and might not stop dead when commanded to do so by the driver who was in control. Also, as it rumbled past, I could feel the whole road vibrate with the weight and sheer strength. I really was relying on the driver of the cart to know his stuff and make sure he could stop if there was an emergency. We eventually did several ‘takes’ and it went well enough, but it was somewhat hairy, to say the least!

Another show I did, about a year later, was partially shot at Burleigh House, just outside Stamford. This was called “Buccaneers” and was based on a novel by Edith Wharton. We were supposed to be guests at a society wedding. The interiors for the actual reception were shot at another location, Grimsthorpe Castle, near Grantham, actually not too far from Stamford. We had done those scenes about two week before the shoot at Burleigh.

One scene we shot was of the married couple leaving at the end of the reception. We were supposed to be watching, through a metal fence at the front of the house, and the camera was set up to get our reactions as we watched the carriage driving away. As we were facing away from the departing carriage, the camera obviously couldn’t see it. A member of the floor crew was detailed to run across the park behind, waving a clip-board in the air, to give us an eye-line as if he was the departing carriage! When the film was cut together you would have seen the carriage going away with the happy couple, and the reverse shot of us watching through the fence!

Not all the television work I have done has been directly as a Walk-On or Support Artiste. I got called one day by a London agency to work on a Dennis Potter production which was being shot at Ealing Studios, called “BlackEyes.” I was to be a stand-in and double for Nigel Planer. I was told ages ago that there was a close facial resemblance between myself and this particular actor. I had to report to the unit management of this production early the next day at Ealing. I was going to be working with a young lady who was going to be standing in for one of the other principals in this production, Gina Bellman. We had to ‘walk-through’ certain scenes from the production, and speak the lines of the actors, as the camera and lighting crews set up the shots that the actors would later film, as the ‘takes’ were to be really long (about ten minutes) without any ‘cut-aways’ as is usual in making a film or television drama. It meant that, once the scene started, the scene would continue with the camera moving around the actors, and wouldn’t contain any sort of ‘cut-aways’ in all that time.

The work of a stand-in is to assist the cameraman, lighting director and sometimes the director as they light certain scenes, and you have to be generally the same height and body-shape of that actor. The principals, meanwhile, are in their dressing room or trailer, and don’t come onto the set until all the technical bits-and-pieces have been sorted out.

So, we spent two days on this work, and I was also used as a double for Nigel Planer, being dressed in exactly the same costume as he wore, and was supposed to be watching from a window across the street, looking into the flat where most of the action was taking place. There was also a man walking on stilts outside in the street, who walked past and also looked into the windows of the flat. I seem to remember that it was actually a mews flat, and the set was built as a ‘cut-away’ section of mews flat and the street outside, complete with a section of pavement, tarmac-surfaced road and cobbles, stairs up into the flat, which was complete with lounge, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom, although none of it was plumbed in, but it was all very realistic. There was even a tiny garden at the back, planted very realistically with plants, trees, flowerbeds and a tiny bit of lawn.

It was really exciting to be working with Dennis Potter as the director, and I have a feeling, looking back, that this would have been one of the last projects he worked on before he died. I did see the finished production when it was broadcast, and I will admit that it wasn’t something I particularly enjoyed. I didn’t see myself in it, or if I was in it, it was only very briefly, and I never did see the stilt-walker. Having said that, it was a really interesting experience. I do wish now that I had taken a camera with me onto the set, as I’d have loved to have had a photograph of myself with Nigel Planer, as it was rather like looking into a mirror as we do look similar. Do I look like him, or does he look like me? I was thinking that, if his career really took off, I could be his stand-in on more films he gets involved in, but he doesn’t seem to be one of those actors who makes very many films. Some people make quite good livings as stand-ins for famous actors and go to Hollywood, but it doesn’t seem to be the case with me. Oh well, there is always another day!

Although this blog is about television walk-on, there are other areas of work in the non-speaking field. I’m not a trained actor and have never been to stage school (although I did have interviews for stage management courses at R.A.D.A. and the Central School of Speech and Drama but never got in, hence getting into stage management as a student at Cheltenham.) I have done one television commercial, for water privitisation and some modelling (for a magazine called “Moneywise.”) These areas of work can be far more lucrative than mere ‘Walk-On’ and particularly if you are featured.

The “Moneywise” shoot was done in a studio in London. It was to go with an article in the magazine called something like ‘How to Get Rich Quick’ and I was supposed to be Mr Scrooge. They lit me in a rather garish green light and I was supposed to look greedy and rub my hands together (in the style of Ebenezer Scrooge.) Later in the shoot, I was joined by a lady who was supposed to be Mrs Scrooge (I know, there wasn’t one!) and we had to grab £10 notes which were dropped from a height. No, we weren’t allowed to keep them. These photographs were used within the article itself. The photographer took Poloroid shots to get the lighting correct and to see that what he was shooting was in accord with the creative director’s plans for the cover design and layout. Once this was right he took the actual photographs. The whole shoot took no more than three hours.

Un alt sport

sasha6 — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:42:29 +0000

Ultimii ani au fost foarte incrancenati pentru microbisti. De la duelurile Steaua-Rapid in Cupa UEFA, pana la lupta dintre echipele bucurestene si cele din provincie pentru titlul de campioana. In afara de iesirile sporadic in Europa, de pe vremea lui Olaroiu, fotbalul romanesc s-a zbatut in mediocritate si a devenit tot mai mult o mocirla. Intr-o perioada lipsita de rezultate, Dayro Moreno deschide programul de stiri sportive de la majoritatea canalelor TV lesinate dupa audienta. Si-a facut loc, timida, pe la jumatatea jurnalului, si stirea care anunta performanta istorica a lui Marian Dragulescu, dublu campion mondial la 29 de ani.

Recunosc ca nu am fost un mare fan al acestui sport, poate prin simplul fapt ca nu se poate practica in spatele blocului. Tocmai din acest motiv ar trebui sa ne aplecam in fata unor oameni precum Dragulescu, sportive care si-au sacrificat copilaria si adolescenta in salile de sport, pentru a performa intr-un sport din care cu greu poti trai, cel putin in Romania. In timp ce unii castiga sute de mii de euro pe an jucand fotbal odata la trei etape in campionate mediocre, altii gasesc motivatia de a reveni la cel mai inalt nivel intr-un sport in care varsta pensionarii bate spre 25 de ani.

Imediat dupa incheierea exercitiului la sarituri, Marian Dragulescu a cerut steagul Romaniei, pentru ca stia ca e campion mondial, si era mandru ca e roman. E trist cum uneori se strang milioane de telespectatori pentru a vedea 11 fotbalisti imbracati in galben care mimeaza fotbalul, si in acelasi timp ignoram marile valori care fac performanta la nivel international. Atletii care fac cinste acestei tari incercate merita mai multa atentie, mai mult respect, mai mult interes si de ce nu, mai multi bani. Multumesc Marian Dragulescu.

Cam(p)ionul săptămânii

lempereur — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:32:07 +0000

Din categoria aşa nu …

Incepe declinul Champions League?

Mihai Pintilie — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:24:36 +0000

Awareness-ul Ligii este deja maxim, competitia fiind transmisa de televiziuni de pe toate continentele. Intrecerea a consemnat o crestere masiva de-a lungul timpului, de la opt echipe la actualul format cu 32 de echipe.

Acum cativa ani majoritatea echipelor erau din campionate vest-europene, echipe ce dispun de structuri complexe de promovare si vanzare articole pentru fani, stadioane de capacitate mare prevazute cu facilitati – masa, bauturi, shopping – magnet pentru un numar mare de consumatori.

In ultimii ani UEFA Champions League a fost invadata de echipe din Cipru, Belarus, Romania, Ungaria, Bulgaria, echipe fara un marketing consolidat, fara facilitati generatoare de venituri pe masura oponentilor din vest.

A crescut insa expunerea TV prin cuprinderea acestor tari ca piete directe (tarile fara echipe fiind considerate piete indirecte) motiv de a adauga venituri suplimentare la bugetul competitiei. Insa plecarea unor sponsori pe fondul crizei si rezultatelor economice nesatisfacatoare a lasat loc altora (ex Unicredit) care insa nu au operatiuni in toate tarile vizate de liga. Vizibilitatea este maxima dar efortul lor este partial eficient. Sponsorii vechi ramasi trebuie sa compenseze lipsa celor plecati pe anumite piete prin fonduri suplimentare, mai ales ca bugetul competitiei creste de la an la an, fonduri care nu se regasesc insa in venituri data fiind criza. De aici pana la a renunta mai sunt doar cativa pasi.

Pentru echipele mari jocurile cu formatiile estice starnesc un interes mai scazut decat inclestarile anilor trecuti cu echipe de acelasi calibru. Cu cateva exceptii – Barca, Man United, Liverpool, unde spectatorii vin mai mult pentru fenomen si atmosfera – am vazut destule locuri goale in tribune. De cealalta parte a camerei de filmat, telespectatori mai putini duc la dificultati pentru televiziuni in sustinerea costurilor cu drepturile de transmisie. Veniturile UEFA se vor plafona sau chiar reduce si corespunzator valorile premierilor pentru castigarea trofeului, accederea in etapele superioare ale intrecerii, victorii si egaluri. Premieri mai mici inseamna interes mai scazut din partea echipelor mari pentru competitie.

Iar in cazul unei generalizari a nemultumirilor, ideea organizarii unei ligi separate, cu participarea exclusiva a echipelor bogate, prinde tot mai mult contur.

Peter Davison (2003)

drwhointerviews — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 15:28:12 +0000

This is a transcript of part of a US interview with Peter Davison from 2003, in which he talks about his career, about typecasting, about the audio adventures (which were pretty new back then) and about advice he received from Patrick Troughton to be careful about staying in the role for too long. You can see the original video here.

Q: You come over to America to do conventions fairly often. Do you enjoy coming over?

A: Yeah, I mean it’s a work experience. When we first started doing conventions, many years ago, all the actors leapt at it, the chance to visit and do the conventions, but in many ways it’s harder work than doing the job, because there you’re playing a part, here you’re having to be yourself. Some of us aren’t that good at that. (laughs) We prefer to hide behind the mask of whoever we’re playing.

Q: Do fans ask you about other work you’ve done, such as ‘Campion’ and ‘All Creatures Great and Small’?

A: Well they ask about things they’ve seen, and the first thing they’ve seen over here (in the US) is ‘All Creatures Great and Small’, so yes, they definitely do. And also ‘Campion’, which came out under the ‘Mystery Theatre’ heading. They’re always interested in other work I’ve been doing, although I was very fortunate in the early years that I was doing a lot of stuff that was shown in America, I’ve been doing a lot of television stuff more recently that hasn’t normally appeared on American TV.

Q: You left ‘Doctor Who’ around eighteen years ago, and you’ve had an incredibly versatile career in stage and television, and even some film. If things were very different and they were making ‘Doctor Who’ now, and they only now approached you for it, how might your choices be different?

A: Well I’m still playing him in a way. I’ve no idea, is the answer… I’d be less youthful, is the honest answer, I wouldn’t be running down the corridors quite so quickly.

Q: Wiser?

A: Yes. I thought the way I’m doing it on the audio CD’s, although I’ve not consciously made it different to how I was playing the Doctor in the series, it’s necessarily different, because you do grow older.

Q: Let’s talk about the audios for a moment. After you left the show, you must have known there would always be fan interest, conventions and things, but in your wildest imaginings did you think there’d be books and audios and conventions still going on?

A: Well the audios very definitely fill a gap. I didn’t do anything connected with ‘Doctor Who’ while the programme was being made because I didn’t want to, really. I mean the thing about the audios is I think they fill a gap, and in the absence of the programme being made, which I think’s a shame, it’s nice to give the fans something. I think if another Doctor took over, if the TV series was back on and another Doctor took over, I think I’d probably stop doing the audio CD’s. I think there wouldn’t be a need for it, and I’d feel that I was stepping on another person’s toes. In a sense it fits in perfectly because all the Doctors are ex-Doctors, so we can all do our audio CD’s.

Q: Do you feel that the quality of the scripts gives you a chance to stretch…

A: No, I think they give the writers an opportunity to stretch, I don’t think they give the actors an opportunity to stretch, I mean I don’t think you can stretch the part of the Doctor very much, but they give the writers an enormous opportunity because of course you can deal in any budget you like in audio, you can put yourself in extraordinary scenes and conjure it up simply by the sound effects and the acting. From that point of view, it’s marvellous for the writes, because they can do whatever they want.

Q: Do you enjoy working on the audios because there’s no make-up, you don’t have to wear the costume…

A: Well it’s mainly that you don’t have to learn the lines. You can go in there with the script, I mean obviously you have to research it, read it a couple of times, but what I like is that it’s instant, and you can get tremendous energy on the audio CD’s.

Q: Let’s talk a little bit about the work you’re doing now, the projects you’re involved in these days…

A: Well I’ve got a couple of things going, there’s a series that’s been running at home for about four years, which is called ‘At Home With the Braithwaites’, which is about a family that wins £38m on the lottery, and how it affects them, and I play the father in that. And then recently I’ve made a series called ‘The Last Detective’, a detective show, hour-and-a-half shows, that’s currently airing in Britain.

Q: Among your contemporaries, because you do some stage work, do you get some teasing that you’re in not just one but several shows that have strong fan followings?

A: Well I’ve always been teased by people who’ve perceived me as working far too much. So yeah, I mean, when I was doing ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘All Creatures…’ and a couple of comedy series, I was on virtually every night of the week. And then I had, after ‘Campion’ and ‘A Very Peculiar Practice’, for me, a sort of quiet patch, but in other peoples’ terms it wasn’t a quiet patch at all, I was still making televisions shows and one-off programmes, and now I’m doing lots of stuff again, so I feel a bit fortunate, maybe I should hand over a few of the roles to other people but I don’t feel inclined to do that. I think the secret is that I’ve been able to move easily from one genre to another. A lot of actors get unfairly stuck in sitcoms, or very serious drama, or soap operas, and I’ve managed to dodge from one thing to another.

Q: When you took the role in ‘Doctor Who’, you’ve said that Patrick Troughton advised you to limit the amount of time you played Dr. Who, to avoid typecasting. Do you think that was good advice?

A: Yes, I very definitely had a choice to do a fourth year of ‘Doctor Who’ or leave after three, and it was a close call, it wasn’t a foregone conclusion that I would leave after three. I wasn’t very happy with season two of my time, we were beset by money problems and strike problems, and had I been happy at the end of season two, which was really when I had to make a decision, I might well have gone on and done a fourth season, but I don’t think that would have been the right thing to do. I mean, when I left ‘Doctor Who’ I went up for a very good part in a BBC2 classics serial and I know there was much discussion about whether I should be offered the part because I’d just done ‘Doctor Who’, and that was something that would have got worse had I done ‘Doctor Who’ for longer. I mean fortunately they did offer it to me, but I was very aware that if you stick to long to something it just takes longer to recover from it, and I think Tom found that.

The Piano (1993)

nickshogun — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:52:33 +0000

Director: Jane Campion

Genre: Romance

Summary: A mute woman named Ada is married off to a frontiersman, Alistair. She loves to play the piano and has trouble adjusting to her new life. She meets another man, Baines, and the two men start battling for Ada’s affections.

Impressions: Why the fuck did I rent this movie? I don’t like romantic movies at all, because they’re so cookie-cutter. This movie, to me, seemed like the worst type of romance novel ripoff, about a woman torn between two men, bound to her life by a fucking piano.

Anyway, I just couldn’t get into it. And I don’t think Harvey Keitel as Baines is aptly suited to play a leading man. I prefer him in supporting roles like Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, etc. Also, waaaay too much male nudity for me in this movie. Reminded me of Walk Hard, except in this case it wasn’t supposed to be funny.

2 out of 5

Comic-Con First day

gsdesign1 — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 01:22:06 +0000

This Saturday I’ll be interviewing Brnadon Ragnar Johnson (Little Cartoons: http://www.littlecartoons.com/), and Pascal Campion (http://pascalcampion.com/), both incredible graphic designers/illustrators whose work is mid-century modern influenced, and posting those as videos as well.

On a side note, I ran into Jorge Garcia of Lost, aka Hurley. Asked him for a quick photo and he said no, though I had much better experience with other celebrities on the show floor, including Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), Andy Serkis (Lord of The Rings), the voice talents from Clone Wars, and others. So I kinda thought Jorge isn’t as nice as the guy he portrays. His blog though was pretty nice concerning Comic Con: “Hey sorry if I didn’t take a picture with you when I was in the exhibit hall. It’s unfortunately too busy of a venue to accommodate everyone who wants a photo with me.”

Okay, I’ll let it slide. However I think they (the Con folks) should give some time for celebs to stop briefly for a 10 second photo. I do hope I can run into him though and tell him what a great job he’s doing on the show. One last season of Lost. Bummer.

Cel mai puternic copil din lume!

Tanaku — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:01:56 +0000

Este chiar un romana, la 4 ani. Sta in maini cu o lejeritate incredibila, in timp ce alti copii se j

Roger Federer castiga Wimbledon-ul si redevine numarul 1

Cehy — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:48:18 +0000

Federer bate record dupa record si redevine numarul 1 intr-o finala dramatica in fata lui Roddick: “Tenis de vis”!

Partida a durat mai bine de 4 ore, aceasta avand nevoie de set decisiv pentru a decide castigatorul. Scorul final al meciului a fost 3-2 pentru elvetian: 5-7, 7-6(6), 7-6(5), 3-6, 16-14.
Sursa

Un meci cat o istorie a tenisului

paulgsandu — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:53:07 +0000

Federer a reusit sa castige cel de-al saselea titlu al sau la Wimbledon impotriva unui Roddick care a imprumutat parca, pentru acest turneu, toate marile lovituri ale marilor castigatori ai Wimbledonului. A jucat pana la ultima minge aruncand totul in joc, impotriva unui Federer surprins uneori de tenacitatea si rabdarea adversarului sau, de precizia si determinarea sa. A aruncat totul, numai ca impotriva lui Federer trebuie sa joci intotdeauna mai bine decat joci pentru a-l invinge si inca ceva pe deasupra. Si nici asta n-a fost de ajuns. Asa cum flacaului pe urmele caruia erau creaturi inspaimantatoare nu-i mai ramane, pana la urma, nici un piepten care sa se transforme in padure si nici o naframa care sa faca un ocean, lui Roddick nu i-a mai ramas, in final, nimic.

Loviturile au inceput sa se desire, ca un ghem prost alcatuit, iar din racheta au inceput sa creasca peste tot rame. A pierdut, si totusi ar fi putut sa castige. Probabil. Numai ca in ultimele game-uri, nu s-a mai jucat cu mingi, ci cu pietre. Cu nervii intinsi ca niste coarde pe punctul de a plesni; si cuiva trebuia sa-i plesneasca, mai intai.

Bute va boxa cu Librado Andrade în Statele Unite

sportleague — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:55:15 +0000

Lucian Bute, campionul mondial IBF, îşi va pune din nou în joc centura la supermijlocie în faţa mexicanului Librado Andrade, deoarece licitaţia de organizare a meciului a fost câştigată de firma Golden Boy, cea care îl impresariază pe mexican. Conform presei canadiene, meciul urmează să se dispute în Statele Unite ale Americii.

Golden Boy a câştigat licitaţia cu oferta de 1.211.000 de dolari, aceasta fiind cu 16.000 de dolari mai mare decât cea a celor de la Interbox. Data meciului va fi stabilită de promotorul mexicanului în maxim 15 zile. De asemenea, nu se ştie precis unde se va disputa meciul, dar presa canadiană a informat că va fi organizat pe teritoriul Statelor Unite ale Americii. Lucian Bute va avea o bursă de 908.000 de dolari, reprezentând 75% din suma totală.

Referitor la acest meci, Bute a spus: “Sunt dezamăgit că nu voi boxa la Montreal, dar sunt gata să lupt cu oricine, oriunde. Cel mai important este că voi lupta din nou cu Andrade. În fiecare zi intru în sala de antrenament cu dorinţa de a înlătura toate îndoielile apărute după ultimul minut al rundei a 12-a din meciul cu el”.

Lucian Bute şi-a apărat ultima oară centura de campion mondial la versiunea IBF în luna martie când l-a învins pe Fulgencio Zuniga prin KO tehnic, în repriza a 4-a. Bute şi Andrade s-au întâlnit în octombrie 2008, când românul şi-a păstrat centura învingând la puncte după 12 reprize.

Bute a devenit campion mondial la 20 octombrie 2007 după ce l-a învins pe Alejandro Berrio

Revue de presse : trois mois de NZ dans le rétro

Yann — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:01:45 +0000

A une semaine de mon arrivée “down under”, je vous propose de (re)découvrir quelques uns des rares articles consacrés à Aotearoa dans la presse francophone depuis le mois de mars…

Ça y est, le compte à rebours peut commencer : J-6. Dans moins d’une semaine, je serai à l’autre bout du monde, en Nouvelle-Zélande, à Christchurch. Encore quelques verres d’adieu à descendre et il va être temps de préparer mes valises, en veillant bien à ne pas oublier mes vêtements d’hiver ! J’essaierai de vous proposer un article détaillant ces ultimes préparatifs dans le cours de la semaine prochaine. Mais pour l’heure, flashback, plongée dans les médias de ces trois derniers mois, à la recherche de la perle rare : le mot-clé Nouvelle-Zélande…

Si vous aimez le sport et si vous avez été vigilant au cours de ces derniers jours, vous n’êtes pas sans savoir que l’équipe de France de rugby est sortie victorieuse d’une série de deux test-matchs contre les All Blacks. La première confrontation a eu lieu à Dunedin et a offert aux Frenchies une victoire en “coup de tonnerre” selon Le Télégramme. Sous le déluge de Wellington, la seconde opposition a ensuite permis aux Kiwis de prendre leur revanche face aux Bleus, avec quatre petits points d’avance, et ce malgré l’éclair d’Heymans. Mais l’histoire retiendra sans doute l’affaire Bastareaud, du nom de ce joueur français dont l’agression fictive et surtout mensongère a choqué tout un pays, frisant l’incident diplomatique. Et le tonnerre de gronder à nouveau en Nouvelle-Zélande, dixit Rugbyrama. De mon côté, je retiendrai aussi cette charmante tradition à Dunedin : les matchs All Blacks vs. France disputés par des étudiants… en tenue d’Adam !

Le haka à poil (crédits photo : Valmito)

La Nouvelle-Zélande a ses champions, elle a aussi sa Campion, Jane Campion. Seize ans après sa Palme d’Or (et 3 Oscars) pour La leçon de piano, la réalisatrice néo-zélandaise était de retour au Festival de Cannes le mois dernier pour y présenter Bright Star, “une histoire d’amour plus forte que Roméo et Juliette”. Repartie de la Croisette sans récompense cette année, Jane Campion n’en reste pas moins la seule femme à avoir déjà remporté la fameuse palme – ce qu’elle déplore d’ailleurs…

Les femmes et la Nouvelle-Zélande, une longue histoire, notamment politique. Entre 1999 et 2008, la Nouvelle-Zélande, premier pays à avoir accordé le droit de vote aux femmes en 1883, fut gouvernée par une femme, Helen Clark. Lourdement battue aux dernières élections par le National Party, l’ancienne Premier Ministre travailliste a réussi à rebondir en mars dernier, en se voyant confier le poste d’administratrice du Programme des Nations Unies pour le Développement (Pnud). “Une très bonne nouvelle pour la Nouvelle-Zélande et pour le Pnud”, a affirmé à l’AFP Phil Goff, le successeur d’Helen Clark à la tête du Parti travailliste.

Crédits photo: AFP.

Vue de France, la Nouvelle-Zélande a parfois eu des airs d’animalerie. En effet, ces trois derniers mois, moutons, porcs et pingouins ont été à l’honneur dans les médias… Cela a commencé avec cette effroyable nouvelle : “les moutons britanniques menacés par une pénurie de tondeurs“. En effet, de nouvelles procédures d’immigration ont récemment été mises en place au Royaume-Uni, faisant naître la crainte que les stars de la tonte – à savoir les Néo-Z et les Australiens – soient moins nombreux que d’habitude à venir aider les tondeurs de Sa Majesté cet été. Du coup, c’est toute la communauté ovine britannique qui est menacée d’étouffer sous sa toison…

Les uns étouffent, les autres attrapent la grippe. Souvenez-vous, la Nouvelle-Zélande a été l’un des tous premiers pays à être touchés par la pandémie de grippe porcine (euh, grippe mexicaine… euh, non, zut, grippe A), en avril, lors du retour d’un groupe de lycéens d’un voyage au Mexique… Alors que l’hiver vient d’arriver dans l’hémisphère sud, de nouveaux cas ne cessent de se déclarer (+ 67 entre mercredi et vendredi), le niveau d’alerte a été relevé le 21 juin et le Ministère français des Affaires Étrangères a publié des recommandations pour les voyageurs se rendant dans le pays.

Et pendant ce temps, les pingouins néo-zélandais travaillent leur sociabilité en jouant au foot…

Si la Nouvelle-Zélande a des airs d’animalerie, elle a aussi des airs de Monopoly. Tirant la carte “Erreur de la banque en votre faveur”, un couple de Kiwis a ainsi quitté le pays avec l’équivalent de 4 millions d’euros en poche. Europe 1 s’en est fait l’écho.

Le mot “Nouvelle-Zélande” est également revenu à plusieurs reprises dans les débats en France sur la loi Hadopi. En effet, une loi de ce genre était sur le point d’être adoptée en NZ à la fin mars. Finalement, au grand désespoir de l’équipe de la Ministre française de la Culture Christine Albanel, le passage polémique a été retiré. Google y est peut-être pour quelque chose…

Enfin, pour finir sur une bonne note à quelques jours de mon arrivée en terre kiwie, retenons cet article du Courrier International qui présente la Nouvelle-Zélande comme “la nation la plus pacifique du monde“, en s’appuyant sur le dernier Indice mondial de la paix. On y apprend notamment que “le risque de manifestations violentes est au plus bas”. Et là on se dit que, vraiment, Mathieu Bastereaud aurait dû y réfléchir par deux fois avant de simuler une aggression en Nouvelle-Zélande…

Campionul şi repetenţii

marketer82 — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:53:48 +0000

7 iunie 2009. Ziua când un mare campion a jucat la adevărata sa valoare şi a oferit exemplul personal de muncă, talent şi fair-play tuturor copiilor şi numai. A câştigat singurul trofeu ce-i lipsea: Roland Garros. Şi a plâns de bucurie de data aceasta. Bravo, Federer! Tot respectul!

Nu am votat! Dacă ar fi fost să merg la vot, aş fi ales între a le adresa apelative direct pe buletinul de vot şi a-i trimite pe toţi la Bruxelles de simpatici ce sunt… Sau, dacă aş fi ales răul cel mai mic, aş fi ales lista PNL. Dar mi-am petrecut timpul mult mai bine, am mers la iarbă verde, am vazut meciul campionului Federer de la Roland Garros şi m-am uitat la televizor.

La ora aceasta, îi ascult pe cretinii analişti politici care stau să se gândească cu voce tare de ce nu au votat românii. Unul mai breaz zicea că nu e nimic deosebit la noi pentru că au fost scoruri mici în aproape statele Uniunii Europene. Ei, bine, analiştilor… eu – cel puţin eu – nu am votat pentru că nu aveam pe cine alege. Da, nu aveam pe cine alege aici în ţara lui Choice.

Stai să vezi cum va fi în zilele următoare cu acuzele de fraudă electorală. Mi se rupe! Să-şi scoată ochii, să verse sânge… mă doare în vârful p… papucului.

Întrebările mele, câteva dintre ele:

Îl suportaţi pe Geoană când acuză Guvernul din care face parte el şi partidul ce-l conduce?

L-aţi fi votat pe Stolojan? Omul politic Stolojan, din punctul meu de vedere, e compromis; până la cursa aeriană pentru Bruxelles se răzgândeşte de trei ori.

Oamenii care au votat EBA, pentru ce au votat-o? Ăştia sunt sănătoşi la cap?

Gigi Becali şi Vadim ne vor reprezenta în Europa? Frumos, nu?

Oh, nu! Alegerile nu merită nicio atenţie pentru că ciolanul se împarte între ei. Pentru noi, nimic nou: vom plăti oalele sparte ca şi până acum.

Asta e tare: întrebare pe TVR1, un fel de Radio Erevan – românii nu au votat din cauză că au ceva cu UE sau sunt siguri pe statutul lor în cadrul Uniunii? BĂ, ANALIŞTII P****, ROMÂNII NU CRED ÎN POLITRUCII ROMÂNI; EUROPA E CEL MAI BUN LUCRU CE S-A ÎNTÂMPLAT ROMÂNILOR MĂCAR PENTRU DREPTUL LA MUNCĂ ŞI DREPTUL DE A CĂLĂTORI LIBER. Dacă se putea, votam bine-mersi un candidat din alt stat, mai rău nu avea cum să fie.

Îmi reproşez mie însumi faptul că mi-am consumat energie gândindu-mă să merg la vot.

Aşa că 7 iunie 2009, va fi pentru mine ziua când Roger Federer a reuşit să câştige printr-un joc perfect singurul trofeu ce-i lipsea. Sau o zi frumoasă cu mult soare.

în sfîrşit

Dan Iancu — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 15:13:38 +0000

Roger Federer