M.A.N.D.Y. – My Clubroom Guestmix ,LocaFM

Mirror

Mirror


Mirror

Dear Jonas boys!

I used to think you are trash. But today you are making my day with Mandy, S.O.S., Year 3000 and When you look me in the eyes. Thank you, boys. You are awesome. You can’t sing but who cares, you make great music which lets me forget you kinda suck at singing. I mean, don’t take offence, it’s not like you are Mariah Carey. You like The Beatles sans singing skills. BUT you compose great stuff. I mean REAL GREAT. THANK YOU. And since it’s Thanksgiving in your homeland – THANK GOD you are.

Love, M

p.s. sorry, I just couldn’t praise you without saying how you should improve singing cause it spoiled me a couple of first listenings to you. now I got used to it so I can enjoy the actual music and rhythm which are awesome!!!

ich will kreativ sein aber bin zu depri ich sehe meine fehler wenn ich zu bett geh wenn ich wach werde und wenn ich aufstehe wenn ich aufs klo gehe oder wenn ich mich anziehe und langsam kotzt es mich an aber ich kann es nicht rückgängig machen alles was ich anfasse wird schlecht und meine wohnung sah auch schonmal besser aus geld wird knapp und meine motivation von tag zu tag geringer ich hab noch nicht mal mehr lust auf körperliche gelüste ich bin nicht stolz und schäme mich ein wenig aber das bin ich und so war ich und so werde ich denke ich auch bleiben

höre grad naja sehe vielmehr ne live acoustic version von mandy und es ist wunderschön werde mal heulen

Peter Mandelson was brilliant on the radio this morning. He and Evan Davies got into one of those tedious scraps where everyone is shouting and nobody can be heard – usually a signal that it’s time to turn off the radio and get out of bed, because it’s impossible early morning listening – but somehow Mandelson managed to stop it with a very patient, very measured “Evan, with the greatest love and respect I think I’m going to have to take some time to answer your questions.”

Whereupon Evan shut up for a good ninety seconds. It was lovely, and I wish more of Today’s guests had the guts, or the presence, or both, to try it.

But you don’t want to listen to Today when you don’t have to. Here’s Barry Manilow instead.

Polystyrène TV, c’est une télévision-vision en matériaux modernes visant en résumé à réviser les usures imprévisibles du désir télévisuel. C’est aussi, un tout-nouveau-tout-beau label-musical qui dévoilera au public son écurie de jeunes poulains fraichement signés lors d’un show télévisé en direct et en public le 27 novembre à La Loge (Paris 11e).

Au programme de cette soirée BADABOUM: news, interviews, débats, jeux, tombola, duplex (Kyoto, Japon). Avec, pour la première fois réunis sur scène, les artistes du label : Mandy (rock spatial), Marinette (chanson d’amours minimales), MayuMayu (chanson traditionnelle onirique (en japonais) à la sauce synthétique, depuis Kyoto), les Brushing Brothers (duo rock-pop ou disco-punk libano-français) et UNIT731 (poésie décapée illustrée). Avec (sous réserve) un invité exceptionnel : Skippy-le-kangourou, vrai maire de Paris et probable candidat à l’élection présidentielle de 2012. Et en clôture, un concert du PDG-sans-parachute : Monsieur Untel (love-songs en français), escorté de Stéphane Cochet, au Fender Rhodes.

Si vous aussi êtes bien décidés à en finir une bonne fois pour toute avec les chanteurs-pour-poney et la variété avariée qu’on nous sert à la louche, rendez-vous vendredi 27 novembre à La Loge. Badaboum.

Ecouter Polystyrène TV
Regarder Polystyrene TV

M.A.N.D.Y

Mirror

Mirror

Mirror

Boys Noize 

Mirror

Mirror

Mirror

Anthony Rother

Mirror

Mirror

Mirror

This sweet woman is my wife’s Jump Rope for Heart coordinator for her school. Alie has such the passion for Jump Rope for Heart before I got sick, and especially now since all that has happened. Mandy was such a wonderful spirit and for being pregnant with twins, she was quite the trooper and willing to go the extra mile for a beautiful shot. This maternity shoot was quite the change from working with children. I am not used to having a client, such as Mandy, who I can interact with and give direction. She was very enthusiastic throughout the entire session and she had so many ideas that I tried my best to accomodate all of them. I think we were able to capture this memorable moment in such a way that she and her husband will have beautiful pictures that they can enjoy for a long time. Just take a look!

This last one has to be one of my absolute favorites!

M.A.N.D.Y

Mirror

Mirror

Mirror

Boys Noize 

Mirror

Mirror

Mirror

Anthony Rother

Mirror

Mirror

Mirror

Well.

“24″ week continues with a (hopefully) quick look at some of “24’s” Greatest Villains.

Again, spoilers lie ahead…be weary, fair traveller.

Seven: Jonas Hodges, Season 7, Redemption. (Jon Voight.)

Angelina Jolie’s biological father was born to be a “24″ villain. And the man did not disappoint. Chewing the scenery with gleeful abandon every step of the way, Jon Voight proved to be a formidable opponent for Jack Bauer – and whoever else got in his way along the way. Hodges fast became one of my favorite Big Bads in the entire series, and I had high hopes on his returning in the future to antagonize Jack over and over again. Sadly, it turned out that he actually wasn’t the dude in charge, and was just another pawn in an increasingly ridiculous operation, and he exited the series…well, kind of lamely.

Too bad…he coulda ranked a helluva lot higher! Still a fun ride while it lasted, though.

Six: Habib Marwan, Season Four. (Arnold Vosloo.)

In Season Four, Jack Bauer was menaced by the Mummy. That’s right, the Mummy.

I kid you not.

Okay, so it was just the dude who played the mummy in those horrible Brendan Frasor films, but still.

The Mummy.

I have nothing else to add here.

Five: Christopher Henderson, Season Five. (Peter Weller.)

So we had the Mummy terrorizing Los Angeles in Season Four – that’s a tough act to follow. But the producers were more than up to the challenge.

They brought in RoboCop.

Christopher Henderson was once Jack’s mentor, and that’s cool – he’s basically an older, grizzleder, meaner Jack Bauer. The perfect nemesis, in other word. Not only can he predict Jack’s methods, but Jack can predict that he can predict his methods, so he realizes that his normal methods are all but useless – forcing him to find new methods, which I guess means Henderson didn’t really predict anything at all.

Still pretty badass, though.

Four: Tony Almeida, Season Seven. (Carlos Bernard.)

If Christopher Henderson is Jack in twenty years, than Tony Almeida is Jack now – which is far more lethal. Add to that the emotional element of discovering that your best friend, partner, and really the “only man you can trust” is now your adversary, and we have the makings of the ultimate “24″ villain. Or so I thought.

The writers didn’t seem to want to commit to Tony one way or the other – they wanted him to be the bad guy but didn’t seem to want him to be, you know, evil. Key element there.

So instead we got a mostly bad Tony, but a Tony who was bad for the right reasons. It turned him into a more tragic figure than an outright villain, and while I enjoyed the more complex journey he ended up taking, part of me still really wanted to see some hardcore Bauer vs. Almeida action.

Oh well…at least they didn’t kill him off this time.

Three: Mandy, Season One, Two and Four. (Mia Kirshner.)

Here’s a character that needs to return, like yesterday. While appearing in three separate seasons, Mandy has only appeared in seven episodes. Yet she still clocks in at Number Three.

That’s pretty incredible.

Mysterious, deadly, and, let’s face it, hot, Mandy has been a thorn in Jack’s side long before the two even came face-to-face. She always seems to appear at the worst possible moment, shocking the viewer and messing things up for Bauer and Co. even more. Whether she’s leaping out of exploding planes or poisoning presidents with a simple handshake, she’s generally pretty awesome. She’s still alive as well, which is a rarity for “24″ characters, let alone villains, and hasn’t shown up since Season Four.

I’d say her unique brand of havoc is long overdue.

Two: Nina Meyers, Season One, Two and Three. (Sarah Clarke.)

Of all the enemies on this list, I think it’s safe to say that Nina Meyers has had the most impact on Jack. She was kind of his arch-nemesis over the course of the first three seasons, and a seemingly unstoppable one at that. She started off as Jack’s most trusted ally and friend, and ended the day by killing his wife, Teri.

Jack was never a very good judge of character.

Nina would return in Season Two and Season Three to once again tangle with Bauer, and haunt him about his wife’s death. I’ve always said that a really solid, returning antagonist would really up the ante of the shows threat level, and Nina was perfect in the role.

And then, in the third season, Jack shot her like sixty times.

One: President Charles Logan, Season Five. (Gregory Itzin.)

When it was revealed midway through Season Five that it was the President who had been behind the events of that day, no one even questioned it. It was unexpected, it was terrifying, it…didn’t make a whole lot of sense. But we bought it. Without question. Because the writing was quality, but more importantly: because Greg Itzin, who had played Logan since his introduction in Season One, was just that good.

Logan’s characteristic bumbling and poor decision making skills had been an act – and we believed it because of Itzin’s performance. He (and Jean Smart, who played his wife Martha) were unbelievable that season, treading the fine line between duplicity and outright lying to your audience. They had great chemistry; and they both knew their characters inside and out.

But never mind the acting…the mere thought of the president, the most powerful man in the world being a terrorist was just too delicious for the writers of the show to pass up. Even if Logan’s turn to the dark side hadn’t been telegraphed from the very beginning (they say it was, but I think they’re lying) it was an intriguing premise – one that led to one of the best seasons of the show, and undoubtably, the show’s best villain.

]]> http://onthedisco.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/meu-submarino-amarelo/ Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:48:42 +0000 onthedisco http://onthedisco.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/meu-submarino-amarelo/

Bom, pra quem não me conhece, Sou Thiely, 18, Paulista-paulistana e santista que torce pro grêmio, também.

Sou aspirante à Arquiteta, brega e curto um rock’n'roll. Mas não qualquer rock’n'roll (não me venha dizer que Fresno é rock, por favor). Nada contra essa wave do verão, que vem fazendo parte do mundo atual, eu só acho que uns terninhos e um pouco de conteúdo fazem muita diferença, no que chamamos de Músca.

Bem, o motivo desse post é totalmente outro, enfim. Como alguns sabem eu tenho que fazer um trabalho de conclusão de semestre, e não é uma tarefa muito simples. (porém, é algo bem divertido de se trabalhar) Meu professor (Rômulo Russi – o cara mais lindo do universo *-*) pediu para que fossem feitos bancos para compor uma Pça daqui da Capital paulista. Tarefa fácil? Mais ou menos… Os bancos precisam ter uma composição legal, funcional e sustentável. Por esse motivo, (apesar de muitas divergencias) eu e a Mandy (meu caso gay com cheiro de melância) tivemos uma idéia que vai unir o útil ao agradável. Mostrarei aqui a base do nosso projeto, para que vocês possam ver e comentar.

Vamos colocar uns vinis para que ele fique ainda mais com uma cara retrô’rock. Assim que estiver pronto, postarei aqui para vocês!

Beijos à todos.

I love the things that just feel “right”: the brush sliding between my fingers, the scratch of the pencil on the page, the mixed satisfaction and the concern when I know I’ve bugged you long enough, you’ll finally be a little honest and stop trying to be so tough.

I love crashing, raging storms when the rain makes the window panes shake, the hail tries to make off with the shingles, the bang of the thunder makes my skin crawl and my heart race. I like natural disasters and I get excited when I see the destruction on TV (I have to remind myself that people are hurting)

I like having a plan for those dark alleys.

I love to get down on the floor with some hula hoops and maybe a giant bouncy ball and  play hard with the little kids. I love to tell them they did a good job. I love to ask them to teach me how. I love asking them “Why?” They give the best answers (and what’s even better, their answers make sense to me) I love a good day of hard work outside

Maybe it’s just the Mama in me, but I love it when a little tike falls down and scrapes his knee. I love to scoop him up, say “Hey big man, hang on a minute. I’ll go get a band-aid and I’ll fix you right up.” When I get back there’s a tear hangin’ on his cheek and his lip bleeds a little. I love to tell him how brave he’s being and watch his face light up with pride.

I like hearing people breath. *Shrug* call me weird.

I love being with my extended family. Extended that is, not adopted. Well, I love that too, but that’s not what we’re talking about right now. I love being in the kitchen while we’re getting supper. Nana’s checking the roast, Austin is snitching the green beans. Mama’s asking Tracye how work is going, Kathryn’s telling Mama that the rice is ready and complaining about how ridiculous her professors at nursing school are. Scott pinches Tracye’s butt as he walks by. She roles her eyes; he chuckles, steals piece of bread; she swats his butt in return (it’s ok, they’re married. Two kids.) Austin gets kicked out of the kitchen. Being a senior and a big boy, he is in the way. I sit at a bar stool and watch the fun. Garry comes in search of sweet tea, Rhonda is attempting to tell Daddy about when Steven got into Poison Oak, but Daniel and Hannah (the younger two of she and Garry’s three kids) keep interrupting with small tales of their own. Nana calls me every name of every child and grandchild except for my own before she gets frustrated and says, “YOU! Get me some flour.” We make a little fun of her, but she smiles reluctantly and takes it well. After dinner Mama, Tracye, Kathryn, Austin and I will all snuggle together on Nana’s couch and fall asleep (or at least come close) watching a movie. Scott will have to go to work ( he works nights). Garry and Rhonda are trying to get the kids to settle. Sarcasm flies back and forth like it was a hot potato, but that’s ok. It’s just like saying “I love you” but with an eyebrow, a hip, and a southern drawl.

I like a hard, painful sob when it’s needed, but silent and less violent tears are better for the next morning ( I tend to do my crying at night)

I like to close my eyes and count my steps. In case I ever go blind, maybe I’ll be ready? I don’t know. I just like it.

I love to sing until my voice hurts (which is different than one’s throat hurting) and dance until I feel my own weight when I am sitting down.

I love to walk on my toes. Not like tip-toes. Like a monkey. Toes curled all the way under, I stand on my knuckles. There are a few things (that I know of) that have been a part of me since day one: my “excited” face, (I saw a home video of me on my first birthday and I made the face even back then) I’ve always picked and chewed at my thumbs, and I’ve always walked on my toes. There ya go.

I like not going over my text limit for the month.

I like the feeling of well-worn pajamas and lived-in jeans. The same goes for people, I supppose… except I don’t wear them or live in them. Same principle though.

I like to touch things. I like to know how things feel. Do they feel they way they look like they’d feel? I like to smell things as well. For instance, right now I smell like Adam through and through. Four of us sat friendly on the couch and watched a movie. He slept on my shoulder. There is a shirt in my dresser that smells of Cheyenne, a box on my shelf that smells like cigars. If you put carpet samples in front of me I could tell you which one is on my bedroom floor just by smelling it. My Daddy smells like books, leather, and spearmint oil. Amanda smells like McDonald’s onions, coffee, and apples. Cheyenne smells like leather, dust, shampoo. But everybody has something else to their smell that I can never put my finger on… that one final ingredient that is just “them”. Those that are far away right now (Mandy, Kody) are hard to identify. I think of their smell and I can’t make it be specific, even though I’d know it anywhere. It’s the same with my Mom, even thought I see her everyday… she just smells like Mom. Camp smells like sunshine, rain, dust, tears. I’m not being sentimental, it really does. Chris smells brown and red. Don’t laugh. My senses bleed together on that one. He just smells like him, and when I think of him I think brown and red. Nevermind. Cait smells… Cait.

I like to sleep. I like to dream in my sleep. I like to wake up slowly, but not stubbornly. When I wake up or can’t sleep, sometimes I sing in the dark. One morning mom said to me, “I was up last night and I was going to come check on you, but I heard you singing and I know you like to do that when it’s just you and Jesus, so I left you alone.” She was right. Thanks Mom.

I like to pray out loud. Sometimes very loud. Sometimes in complete sentences and paragraphs and monologues. Sometimes in fragments that finish in my head. One day after school I slammed my door and immediately began ranting and praying about some  frustrating part of my day. Mom came down the hall, poked her head in and said, “Honey… Who are you talking to?” Embarrassed that she heard me and slightly amused, I replied, “Uh… Jesus. It’s ok, Mom.” Mom nods as understanding dawns, “Oh yes. Yes, that’s fine. I thought somebody was IN here!” And back down the hall she went.

I like calling Cheyenne and talking about boys. Girlfriends are fun for that reason anyway… but she’s my only sister who’s my age. That makes it better. She’s here, she’s now, she gets it not because she’s been there, but because she LIVES there. It’s great. Just had a boy conversation today actually. It was wonderful. I love her. She just… gets me. Mandy and Amanda, Cait and Trish will know what I mean (at least I’m fairly certain that they will).

I like coming to school in the morning and finding Hannah waiting for her hug. She has no idea how much it means to know that it matters for somebody. She wants me to love on her, and she lets me do it. It’s so encouraging.

Wow this is getting really long. Goodnight.

Diving Bag to keep flash unit dry

Picked up an underwater case the other day, so I can now place my light around or even in the water. This is also my first time testing out the ST-E2 unit. I have been staying clear of these infra-red unit for the reason that it won’t work as well outdoor due to sunlight. But for something that you need to adjust the power constantly or work in a fast past environment, then this might work for you. It did take a bit of time to adjust the ratio until I got it right.

Barry Manilow’s

Voice makes my heart skip a beat

When he sings “Mandy”.

One of my Trademark very long reports:

I’ve been walking around with a beatific smile on my face this week, as I keep thinking how delighted I am that the Sheffield ‘Town Takeover’ went so well.

Though I should write a quick note, before it entirely fades from my failing memory, to record what went on for those, who couldn’t be there, or the obsessively interested.

Basically Town Takeovers are a series of events taking place around the country organised by the National Union of Students, aimed at starting a debate around how Higher Education is funded, and making sure the general public are aware of the injustices and inequalities inherent in the current funding system of tuition fees, and the danger to students, Universities, and indeed society posed by suggestions of increasing tuition fees.
Holding events in towns around the country (although last time I checked London, Birmingham, Sheffield et al seemed to be cities…) also provides a good opportunity to hold MPs and would be MPs from all parties to account, and demanding to know their views on tuition fees. This is particularly important with a general election hoving into view, and the leadership of the main parties staying as weirdly silent as the P in pterodactyl on this issue.

In Sheffield, where the ‘Town Takeover’ was being organised jointed by Sheffield Students Union and Hallam Union, we decided it would be beneficial to particularly focus on how students and graduates are suffering from debt, which allowed us to have a nifty ‘In the Red’ theme. The event also gave us the chance to showcase some of the good things students do for Sheffield, after weeks of bad publicity for students, over what I’ll politely call ‘War Memorial Gate’.

The day started for me when I woke up with a horrible sinking feeling in my stomach, they I always associate with exams. I was worried that the event would turn out to be a hideous, humiliating disaster.
However, I resolved to try my best to prevent a smouldering disaster, and set off on a mad shopping spree, buying red cakes (Thank you post-Halloween reductions!), red sweets, red face paint, red hairspray, and a bag of I love Sheffield badges [Which later vanished – come on own up, who took them?].

Weighed down with my red shopping I quickly went home and changed into all the red clothes I could find – a hideous red jumper was donned, as was a women’s red coat borrowed from my friend Simon. I put on some red flares, which probably hadn’t been worn in public since c.1975. Unfortunately they were comically too long, and dragged along the wet ground. After a bit of walking on tiptoe I hit on the solution, and tucked the ends into my red-socks, golfer style. It looked as if I were singlehandedly trying to get ‘spats’ back in fashion. Somebody did comment that I looked like I’d stepped out of P.G.Wodehouse, but surely the idea that I’d ever be mistaken for an upper class twit is ridiculous…

I also found an old cherry red ‘Wes for Pres’ T-shirt leftover from Wes Streeting’s election as NUS President, which I pulled on, although I did notice that I’ve got too Wes T-shirts (from different elections) and both have the labels ripped out. I may be on the edge of uncovering a massive scandal. Why was this? Were they made by a particularly unethical company? Or worse by the same supplier used by the OIs?

After getting not a few odd glances in street, I arrived at the Union about 12, to help load placards and other protest paraphernalia into cars, and do a hasty bit of last minute promotion.
With the concourse full of students milling around, we thought it would be a good idea to stick I sign up in the Officers’ er Offices which overlooks it, to promote the event.

After hastily printing out some giant letters on A4 paper, Grace Crook and I started putting them in the windows – spelling the highly informative ‘4PM PEACE GARDENS STREET PARTY’, however we found our plan hampered by the fact that the windows already had giant posters depicting the Union Officers’ faces in them. Undaunted we began to take them down.
I swear when I took the poster of Martin Bailey down a cheer went up from the concourse, similar to the cheer when that Statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled.

Amy Sutherland’s office was locked but I managed to track down a key, and get it, which lead to the slightly awkward situation of Amy returning to find me in her office in the act of ripping down a poster of her.
Having put the sign in the window, we were then infuriated by the fact that none of the students walking past ever seemed to look up. I banged on the window trying to ignite a flicker of interest, while Amy commented mournfully ‘To be honest you could wave all day up here and no-body will ever notice you…’
Having done our best to plug the event to passing students, the Sabbs then headed down to Hallam, leaving me in charge of leading people down to the Town Hall where our protest, or ‘Street Party’ as we’d cleverly marketed it was to take place.

I’d sent out messages to various people saying we’d meet on the Concourse at 3pm. Predictably enough, 3 o’clock arrived and I waited, and waited, and waited.
Nobody turned up. Literally nobody. This wasn’t good. As someone who’s not the best at time keeping myself I decided I should wait until half past 3 before giving up.
I saw various people I know but no-one was particularly eager to go. Ben my former housemate wasn’t interested ‘Unlike you Joe, I actually do my work, so I need to do that tonight…’, and the Chair of the University Tories, was even more dismissive; ‘I’m not attending something organised by that Communist organisation! (NUS) Besides I’ve only got one red item of clothing – which is a tie – and even that’s burgundy!’

Eventually however, a friend of a friend did appear who wanted to come. I was delighted and he instantly became my new hero. We set off down to the Town Hall, with me still feeling pretty sick, as I’d hoped for rather more than one student to turn up.

Arriving at the Town Hall we found a hive of activity as the Sheffield and Hallam Officers bustled around with various protest props such as a string of debt with giant £50 notes which we strung up outside the Town Hall, to demonstrate the ridiculous amount of debt your ‘average’ student will get in from doing a degree, boards full of photos of students showing the amount of debt they’re in (not that we’ve ever used that idea before…), a giant sign reading ‘SAVE OUR STUDENTS’, various bill boards detailing all the positive things students do, a huge clump of coloured balloons which would have delighted me circa 15 years ago, and the placards made by Education Committee – including the one I made, which was derided by Neil Mackenzie as ‘Quite hilarious pathetic’.

Various familiar faces from NUS arrived. Aaron Porter strode up rather incongruously clutching a megaphone. Shane Chowen turned up full of enthusiasm despite knowing next to nothing about HE. Ed Marsh bravely donned a bizarre costume to help the cause. Most people I spoke to assumed it was a dog, although I think it looked most like some sort of Jewish Kangaroo. Anyway, Ed danced about gamely and gave sheets out to confused children, nobly humiliating himself in the name of a fairer HE funding system.

However, despite the abundance of placards, free stuff, and a giant Marshian kangaroo, there was still one tiny problem. As the event was scheduled to start I looked up to see Vic Langer bearing down on me, with an urgent query ‘Joe…where are the people?’

It was a good question. My stomach sank as I feared the Cassandra-like churnings of my stomach that morning had been right. This was going to be a poorly attended disaster.

Then suddenly there was a flash of red in the distance. I ignored it, assuming I was hallucinating, like a drowning man who sees a mirage in the desert. But when I glanced in that direction again it was still there, and was growing bigger. Soon a merry band of people dressed in eye-wateringly bright red were upon us, drawn from the ranks of Education Committee, other Union committees, and even some ordinary students. Our numbers had now swelled to about a hundred people and one kangaroo, which I thought was impressive given that darkness was descending and it was now absolutely freezing!

A few passersby had been politely taking our flyers, and expressing vague interest, but now a small crowd actually gathered to watch because the cheer leaders arrived! They put up the Arctic temperatures with only pom-poms for protection, and performed various death defying fetes such as throwing one of their number up in the air and catching them moments before they splatted on the pavement. Was it bad that I thought as Aaron and I watched in horror, ‘If they drop her at least we’ll certainly get on the news.’?
As it was, we did get on the news without the need for grotesque physical injuries, as various reporters did show up, and waited patiently to interview people and take photos. We had coverage in the Sheffield Star, Sheffield Telegraph, BBC Sheffield, and the Forge Press.

We took various photos with our Sheffield and Hallam foam hands, SAVE OUR STUDENTS signs, balls and chains of debt (I had tried to buy some handcuffs of the sort used by kids playing policemen for this, but in the end we used some link chain so I got tired of the odd looks I got from going into toy shops and asking ‘Er…Do you sell handcuffs? And if so would they fit adults?)

However, there was one aspect of the event which could safely be called a disaster – our giant globe. The giant globe is owned by Leeds Student Union, and has to be seen to be believed. Towering above even Paul Tobin, the giant inflatable globe, bearing some slogan like ‘World Class Funding for World Class Universities’ can be rolled along, and is a cast-iron guaranteed crowd puller.
I remember in a meeting when somebody asked why we needed a giant globe, I stared at them in amazement; ‘It’s a GIANT GLOBE, why would we not need it?!’ Anyway, after much cajoling Danni Beckett heroically drove to Leeds to collect it last week, and various Sabbs and students wrestled valiantly all through the morning to get it blown up and ready. However, as it was being rolled up from Hallam Union to the Town Hall, already attracting interested spectators – disaster struck!

‘Was it punctured?’ I hear you gasp, ‘Deflate?’, ‘Roll away?’, ‘Stolen by an opportunistic Bond villain?’ I’m afraid it was worse than that – it was stopped by a ‘City Centre Ambassador.’

For those of you lucky enough not to have encountered them, the Sheffield Ambassadors are basically a feral gang of blue-coated busy bodies of the sort who couldn’t progress in the Neighbourhood Watch, so need another avenue to pursue their dreams of self importance. They now roam the city centre proffering unwanted advice and generally making a nuisance of themselves. So as our globe was being wheeled along the street, bringing joy to the people of Sheffield, an ‘Ambassador’ suddenly popped up like an unwanted zit on a young girl’s face. Displaying a conspicuous lack of the sort of diplomatic skills Ambassadors should require she demanded we take the globe down. When asked why, she replied with thinly disguised glee that it was a matter of public safety. When we expressed polite scepticism towards someone who clearly contained more hot air than the globe, we were told to show more respect, as somebody had died in Sheffield as a result of an inflatable balloon before.

Now, I don’t wish to make light of the very serious issue of giant balloon-related deaths, but I will just say, nobody I spoke to, including the Leader of the Council, seemed to have any knowledge of this alleged tragedy. Sadly however the ‘’’’Ambassador’’’’ was insistent, so being good, law abiding students, we tragically had to deflate our globe. I think the people of Sheffield ought to know that we tried to bring them a giant globe, but were thwarted by the kill-joy, puritanical City Council. Please take this into account at the next elections – Sheffield City Council are against the Earth.

As Neil Mackenzie commented it was also ironic that the Ambassadors had a problem with a lovely inflatable globe, but not with the cheerleaders throwing each other into the earth with only concrete to break their fall.

But we made the best of a bad job, ending the protest with Aaron Porter making a stirring speech, like Olivier before Agincourt. We cheered Aaron, we booed the foul spectres of fee-demanding Vice Chancellors and the CBI, and we shouted some of Susan Nash’s chants (with their poor rhyme schemes) before breaking up, and in time honoured tradition with anything that relates to NUS, heading to the pub, before the Panel Debate later that evening.

One we’d finally found the pub we were looking for, we all had a nice drink together, warmed by alcohol and by our burning hatred of City Centre Ambassadors. Sadly my chief memory of this social occasion was accidentally getting some salt from a crisp in a cut on my hand. The pain was excruciating! I got the cut while removing a giant poster of Kate Rickard so I might consider suing the Union.

I then headed down to the station to collect President of the NUS, Wes Streeting, whom I assume had spent the afternoon in London, or perhaps more likely been on a very slow connecting train. There was a big football match kicking off in Sheffield later that evening, which meant that my lurid red clothing drew some cutting comments from discerning fashion critics amongst the Newcastle fans arriving.

When it got to 6.58, with the debate scheduled for 7, and there was no sign of Wes’ train, my stomach began to give of it’s ‘It’ll be a disaster!’ rumblings again, when Wes, beaming like the Teletubbies’ sun, came rushing down the main staircase.

We rushed through the dark streets of Sheffield, arriving at City Hall, where the debate was taking place to a gratifying round of applause. (I’m going to assume most of it was for me.)

The debate itself between Wes, Paul Blomfield, the Labour Candidate for Sheffield Central, Paul Scriven, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Sheffield Central and leader of the globe deflating Council, and Spencer Pitfield, the Conservative candidate for Penistone and Stocksbridge, went rather well in my biased Pollyanna opinion. Unlike this week’s Question Time, I wasn’t bored and was interested to hear everything the panellists had to say.

Wes began in true Dickensian style by telling us a tale of two cities, or rather of the social divisions between rich and poor in one city – Sheffield, and the effect this has on widening participation in higher education. He highlighted various depressing statistics about the differences in standards of living in the prosperous Parliamentary constituency of ‘Sheffield Hallam’, and in ‘Sheffield Hillsborough’, one of the poorest constituencies in the country. He also show-cased some even more worrying statistics about the differences between the cities two Universities, with Sheffield Central admitting many more privately educated students than Sheffield Hallam, and many fewer students from C2, D and E social groups. (‘Which used to be called the ‘working classes’, but apparently referring to people as numbers is less offensive…’)

This theme has also been taken up by Hillsborough MP David Blunkett, this week who’s commissioned a report on the inequalities between Hillsborough and Hallam, and, always one for a good headline, has suggested Hallam be detached from Sheffield for the City’s own good.
Wes also set out how he believed morally that Higher Education should be free, but given how unlikely it is that any parties are going to be progressive enough to offer this, NUS is advocating [what is basically] a graduate tax, which would be paid by graduates in proportion to what they earn after benefitting from Higher Education.

Spencer Pitfield the Conservative candidate talked about his parties stance on Higher Education, including David Willet’s recent welcome speech, in which he said the case hasn’t been made by Universities for charging £3000 worth of fees yet, let along lifting the cap and raising them.

However this did lead Paul Blomfield to point out that the Conservatives have been sending out rather mixed messages on this, with Mr. Willets previously hinting that fees would certainly rise under a conservative government. Dr. Pitfield then claimed this was one of the areas where the Conservative Party was willing to listen and had changed.

Dr. Pitfield also promised a Conservative government would take students views into account and wanted to ‘get NUS round the table’ when discussing Higher Education Funding. This seemed particularly topical with the Governments Review of Tuition Fees and Higher Education Funding finally being announced on Monday, so I asked a question later, on how precisely students could get involved with the debate, when the Government seems to give rather more weight to the views of Vice-Chancellors and the CBI et al at present. Dr. Pitfield gave an answer, which won’t be popular with some in the student moment, saying it was best for students to put direct action out of their minds, as you ‘don’t need to let it get to that stage’ if you ensure ‘NUS representatives are represented and listened by the Government’, and added that of course NUS should be represented on the Fees Review Board.

Paul Blomfield agreed, and quick as a flash the chair, Aaron Dimbleby, asked if he’d follow this up by writing to Lord Mandelson. Paul said he would.

Paul Blomfield himself said he campaigned within the Labour Party against tuition fees, and declared unequivocally that he would ‘Not vote to raise fees’. He also backed NUS’s proposals for a graduate tax, and taked about the need for a national bursary system. He praised Labour’s record on funding Higher Education, and widening participation significantly.

Paul Scriven then pointed out that Paul Blomfield was voicing his own opinions rather than what his party believes.

Mr. Scriven then set out the Liberal Democrats policy of believing in free education and an end to tuition fees. When asked why Nick Clegg had recently talked about dropping the pledge, he insisted that the party agreed with providing free education there was just a question of ‘whether we can do it in one parliament or two’.
He also spoke about his own background and how ‘I began life in a poor family, and after working as a road digger, achieved everything I have due to going back to Higher Education.’ (This section made me think of Little Shop of Horrors ‘Oh, I began life as an orphan, a child of the streets, here on Skid Row…’ – but that’s probably just me.)
He disagreed with NUS’s proposed graduate tax as ‘you’d be paying it off for the rest of your life’. (Which as the NUS blueprint actually suggests it would be paid in instalments over 25 years after graduating, raises the worrying prediction that we’ll all die at around 46.) He also attacked Labour’s target of getting 50% of young people into Higher Education; ‘Where’s that come from. It’s a random figure.’ Wes then pointed out that although they attack the 50% target, the Liberal Democrats are the only main party that won’t commit to funding extra University places. However the Liberal Democrats clearly have the most progressive policy of the three main parties on fees (not that that’s saying much!).

There followed various questions and contributions from the floor, apart from my own about how students could get involved, there were questions to Paul Scriven from people none too happy at Nick Clegg’s seemingly weak commitment to his own party’s policy, and his neglect at not mentioning student support or bursaries.

The debate was then evened up by one man who said ‘I’m 25. My early childhood was blighted by the Thatcher Government, and now I’m in over £20 000 of debt, due to going to University under a Labour Government. I just wonder if the parties are proud of what they’ve done with our education system?’ This drew a sympathetic round of applause.

Spencer Pitfield responded with the curiously cryptic and off-message comment that ‘I know you didn’t like the last Conservative government, and I listen to what people say about the last Conservative government, but the fact is we haven’t had a Conservative Government now for 12 years.’ But then I don’t suppose he’ll win many votes in Yorkshire by praising Thatcher.

Everyone was then attacked by a gentleman from the SWP for not calling for Free Education, and in Wes’ case being a scab for not supporting the University and College Union in industrial action. Aaron Dimbleby eventually quietened him, saying that next time there was a debate he’d invite him to give a speech. Wes then responded saying ‘What I actually said when asked about the prospect of industrial action was that ‘Students need industrial action like a hole in the head’ which is true. I remember the lecturers’ strike in 2006 which caused massive disruption to marking, teaching, and students’ education. I’ll look after my own members first, which is what any Union should do.’ He also laid out how he’d like free education, and believed in it, but he thought calling for it was unrealistic in the current political climate, and would just lead to NUS being sidelined in the debate. This drew applause from most of the audience, whether because the audience contained natural Streeting-sympathisers, or because the SWP et al have become largely irrelevant in the student movement, I’ll leave to others to judge.

Another question was whether Scottish MPs should be allowed to vote on bills with have to do with students in England, which is a very good question, although I did sympathise with Aaron murmuring ‘Can we not get into the West Lothian question…’

Of course there was a lot more said than what I’ve recorded here, which I’ll leave out for reasons of space. Suffice to say I found it a generally interesting debate, and I was sorry when it was wrapped up.

A group of us hung around for a while, chatting and taking advantage of the free wine (appropriately red), and asking the assembled questions important questions, such as ‘Do you remember anyone being killed in Sheffield by an inflatable balloon?’

Some of us, showing shameful disloyalty went down to the Hallam Union bar where we continued the evening in style, and I may have made a fool of myself by having a tad too much to drink. I think a low-point was reached when Aaron and I arrived in Dempsey’s in the early hours of the morning to fine we made up about 50% of the people in there, and – if I remember rightly – while I struggled to sit up straight, Aaron checked Ednet on his Blackberry.

But despite the messy end, and the loss of our globe (let it go Joe…) I think the event was a great success at mobilising students, and keeping the issue of Higher Education funding and fees in the public mind.

Fala galera!

Essa com certeza você estava procurando!

Musica Iradaaaaaaaa!

Essa música embala geral nas pistas cariocas!

Mandy Vs Booka Shade – Body Language (Tocadisco Remix)

link para download: http://www.4shared.com/file/63803429/1478ce16/12_-_MANDY_vs_Booka_Shade_-_Body_Language__Tocadisco_Remix_.html?s=1

—

abraços, Sassá

This is what I’m up to these days. Just insert whatever music you’d like.

Alpaca loft maintains itself...even throught the felting process! *cue angelic chorus*

Patiently waiting in the Kiln Queue. The one with copper filings will be dunked in vinegar just out of the kiln in the grand tradition of ancient french manufacturing of Lake..... hahah.....yep.

My first real foray into kyak design. With Sharpies.

A scratchboard tribute to the everyday via film noir.

First semi-successful raku firing! I'll go into it in greater detail later for the benefit of those who would but know not how....the blind leading the blind...

Looks like an old bronze.

Not sure if that's how it was supposed to go...but I like it anyway...

This weekend I’m headed out to Savannah, GA, to be at my dear soeur’s thesis show. Never been to Savannah…I plan on taking lots of pics and posting the best of the best. And a pic of Soeur + Sweater! Look forward to it!

1. mandy
2. manders
3. maynerd
4. m&m
5. peanut
6. slim
7. doochis-dochisness
8. andy
9. andrew
10. fauser
11. manners
12. many
13. DEE
14. mandi
15. mandy michelle
16. blastedgoat
17. trunks
18. malfreak
19. shellie
20. brat
21. minemz
22. haruka-chan
23. cherricola23