Brought to you by our friends at Conservative For Change, President Obama just can’t seem to stop bowing to leaders of the world.  http://www.conservativeforchange.com/2009/11/obama-bowing-before-more-royalty.html

Just couldn’t resist sharing a bit of humor.

Open wide, say ahhh and check out more posts from Ahrcanum including our Swine Flu report that started  in April and is updated regularly at http://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/swine-flu-report/

SUBSCRIBE NOW for further updates in the top right margin.

NO PEOPLE LIKE SHOW PEOPLE: Good news for Mel Brooks fans — his Grammy-winning comedy collaborations with Carl Reiner, The 2000 Year Old

MIRREN: seeing Red

Man, have been remastered and repackaged for a 50th anniversary four-disc reissue (three CDs and one DVD), The 2000 Year Old Man: The Complete History, due in stores this week. Not only that, Toronto audiences well finally get to see Mel’s Broadway musical version of Young Frankenstein, now slated to play March 16 – April 18 at the Princess Of Wales … Helen Mirren is set to co-star with Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman in a new thriller, Red, after she brings the National Theatre production of Phedre to Broadway with Dominic Cooper, the Mamma Mia boy toy currently on view with new scene-stealer Carey Mulligan in the hit TIFF star-maker An

MERCER: Rodeo daze

Education … 40-year CHUM radio veteran Roger Ashby will be inducted into the Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame at a Canadian Music Week dinner March 11 at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel … and talk about yer urbane cowboy! Rick Mercer goes a-ridin’ and a-ropin’ at the Edmonton Rodeo tonight, and actually lives to tell the tale, on CBC’s Rick Mercer Report at 8 pm.

FANGS FOR THE MEMORIES: He became David Frost in Frost/Nixon, shone as Tony Blair in The Queen, and plays legendary maverick U.K. rugby coach Brian Clough in The Damned United. So what does Michael Sheen have to do with that mess of a man pictured beside him? Yup – that’s

SHEEN: he sucks, but only in THIS movie

him. Sheen plays the vampire leader Aro in last weekend’s top boxoffice sizzler, The Twilight Saga: New Moon. And he makes no bones about why he took the role. “I knew it would make my 10-year-old daughter, Lily, very happy,” he confesses. And it has. “She’s got pictures from Twilight and New Moon everywhere in her bedroom,” he notes. “And now, she’s put her dad up there as well.” Just wait ‘til she sees him as The White Rabbit in Tim Burton’s bound-to-be-peculiar re-telling of Alice In Wonderland.

MAY IN NOVEMBER: Toronto Western Hospital’s Fracture Clinic and Medical Imaging Waiting Room is a happier place this morning after renowned

KARP: a gift to last

Toronto photo artist May Karp gifted 22 pieces to TWH. Karp’s uplifting photography is already on view in a number of Canada’s larger hospitals. In 2004 she donated 27 framed images for Toronto General’s new Surgical Centre waiting room, adding warmth and a new visual focus for the families of surgery patients. After seeing the impact of her photography in the Surgical Centre, Tennys Hanson, President and CEO of Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation, asked her to consider a similar project for Toronto Western Hospital. “Hospital waiting rooms are for patients, sometimes for their relatives or friends,” Karp notes. “Most visitors are frightened and anxious. Time passes very slowly as they wait for results or treatment. One can almost ‘taste’ the emotions. Over 20 years ago I spent a lot of time in rooms like this. I experienced all the emotions many times since then.” Which is why her colourful, eye-catching and blissfully distracting works are brightening TWH this morning.

TOMORROW:

Glee & Nine go on the record.

-/-

Metro Lyrics reports that Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, better known as the phenomenal Lady Gaga has been booked to perform at the Royal Variety Performance in front of the Queen next month. A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “I really don’t know if the Queen or Prince Philip have listened to Lady Gaga, or are familiar with her. But the Royal Variety Performance is a well-known charitable event which they support, and they meet all the stars involved.”

The 23-year-old singer’s first album The Fame had two international number-ones hits: “Just Dance” and “Poker Face”.
Lady Gaga is inspired by glam rockers such as David Bowie and British rock band Queen, as well as pop icons Madonna and Michael Jackson. She is also inspired by fashion, which she has said is an essential component to her songwriting and performances. To date she has sold over 20 million digital singles and more than four million albums worldwide.

Are you as starstruck as I am? And how you like “Bad Romance”? Let me know @twitter.com/HauteCouturista!

“Je veux ton amour et je veux ta revanche. Je veux ton amour –  I don’t wanna be friends.”

I have been based at the Human Institute in South West London now for a number of years. I maintain a modest homestead just up the road and generally commute back and forth by foot, or sometimes even feet.

What may surprise some, being that I work in the country’s capital, is it that outside of the modest borough of Wandsworth where I reside and make science, I have never ventured into the centre. I have never seen the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Nelson’s Column, the apple store or even met the Queen – all the things many people might take for granted of us London residents.

Now of course when I do take myself away for the twice annual Charles Human holiday expedition I often make the most of exploring new areas, often meeting with fellow scientists and trading amusing stories about Bunsen burners. So why should it be that I have all the alleged wonders of one of the largest and most exciting cities in the world, a mere stone’s throw away and I have never attempted to rectify this obvious deficiency in my cultural learning.

Well I could argue that you reading this have never visited the Human Institute, you probably don’t even know where it is, so I do have that one up on you.

I suppose the theory might go that when it’s on your doorstep, there is the feeling that you could go anytime, and so then by default never do. I’m not so certain that applies in this case however. As it stands I am currently running an experiment where I have inserted a small electronic chip in my wrist. The idea being that when I approach doors at the institute they will automatically open for me without the rather tiresome business of using door handles. The technology is fairly rudimentary at the moment, and so my movements to and from the institute are hampered some by the fact the small chip inserted in my wrist is powered by a 5K generator that I have to wheel around behind me. Don’t ask where the power cables enter my body.

Still if this prototype is a success (there are a few teething problems at the moment, and I have walked straight into a number of doors in anticipation that they will simply open up for me) I can though see this type of tech applied for more general use by the public. My hope is by this time next year for us all to have these chips inserted in our wrists and franchise the technology out to major retailers (supermarkets for instance) and opening and closing doors will become a thing of the past.

Not even the Queen’s arrival in Ely could faze this amazing writer. Topping and Company had originally planned to hold an evening with Alexander McCall Smith in the Cathedral for it was bound to be a sell out but plans had to be changed when it became known that the Queen was visiting Ely the next day.

Completely unabashed Alexander McCall Smith had the audience in stitches. The building works on the stage of the Hayward Theatre the King’s School had kindly offered became the latest of the artistic entries for the Turner prize, the police outside protecting such valuable works. The listeners knew all this was fallacy but with his unique light-hearted and guileless humour, this giant of a man poked gentle fun at the world and his characters in such a way that we knew he spoke profound truths while we laughed.

His list of books is phenomenal. Just to mention “44 Scotland Street”, “The World according to Bertie”, “The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” and his Sunday Philosophy Series is enough to indicate what a household name he has become.

As he spoke, we were privileged to share this author’s preoccupation with his fictional characters and their lives. His antics with the Really Terrible Orchestra in which he plays ‘part’ of the bassoon (only up to high D) and his frank admissions of ignorance with regard to the way cars work were just two examples of his disarming honesty. Only he would ring up a certain psychiatrist to find out details of what can go wrong with cars before he wrote about it in one of his books.

His kindly relationship with his editors, publishers and readers and the pressures he is under to create certain types of events brought forth more hilarious discussion. He did not succumb directly to the call for a car chase – in his own inimitable way, he solved this problem by having a shopping trolley chase. The anomalies in his characters’ development – just how long, for example, should an apprenticeship last? – just how long can Bertie remain so young while all the characters around him grow old? It became clear that it simply did not matter, for such strong characterisation by this author meant that we readers, too, did not want Bertie or the apprentices to grow old or mature. With such strong writing, anything can be made to happen, and in the hands of Alexander McCall Smith, anything does happen. His highly fertile imagination swept us along in his wonderful, tender world of human beings of all different kinds and their respective dilemmas that we share. 

contacts: http://www.alexandermccallsmith.co.uk   www.toppingbooks.co.uk

Watching an old episode of ‘Friends’ the other night – the one where Ross says the wrong name during his wedding to Emily -  I was reminded of the night I played some songs in front of Jennifer Saunders. Jennifer’s daughter was playing that night too as it was an open mic night at a local bar. I was due to go on after her and it only dawned on me as I was checking my guitar was in tune over in a quiet corner that Jennifer was in the front row, having come to watch her daughter’s performance. She looked softer than her ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ persona and seemed to be enjoying the evening. When I stepped out onto the stage for my slot I tried not to stare directly at her as I knew it would make me feel nervous. I don’t know why, there was a time when I kept randomly bumping into celebrities. Then again, when it is random you don’t ever really get a chance to get used to the idea. I mean you can’t wonder around life think ‘Oh I’m Mr Planet, I bump into famous people.’ Not unless you want people to use the word ‘arrogant’ when they describe you.

But it is true that I’ve encountered celebrities in unexpected situations. Once I was heading to a band rehearsal and walking over a bridge in town. Coming the other way was a blond chap who seemed a little familiar. ‘He looks like David McCallum out of ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’,’ I thought to myself as he drew nearer. “You’re David McCallum,” I suddenly said. “Yes I am,” he replied, “And who are you?” “Oh I’m just a bloke on the street hassling you,” I said, realising that it was really rather rude of me to just blurt out my thoughts at him. He extended his hand and said “Hello bloke on the street.” “Hello David McCallum.” He then pointed at my guitar case and said “You playing tonight?” “Rehearsing with my band,” I told him. “You any good?” he wanted to know. “I’m not bad.” He smiled and said “Well I’m not bad at acting so you never know.” And that was that. He had to go, I was late for rehearsal and I forgot to ask him the most important question which was, ‘What are you doing in this two-bit nowhere town I call home?’

Some years later, when I was at university, I was standing at the queue for the ATM with my son, who was probably about eight or nine years old at the time. There were two ATM machines and the guy alongside me in the other queue looked familiar. Oh my word, he was Dave Davies, guitar player of The Kinks, one of my favourite sixties bands. “Hello guitar man,” I said. He turned round and smiled and said something quite softly. I remembered as he spoke that he’d suffered a stroke a few years back so he might not want people bugging him on the street. So I just gave him the thumbs-up, which he returned. We both stepped forward to the cash machines at the same time and when he’d done he tapped me on the shoulder and said goodbye with another thumbs-up. “Who was that?” asked my son. “He was in a huge band in the sixties.” “Bigger than McFly?” he asked (for the Americans, McFly were the equivalent of the Jonas Brothers over here for a year or two). “Well sort of,” I replied, “But even bigger and much more talented.” “Cool.” And I had to agree, how very cool to just bump into Dave Davies while waiting to draw some money out of the bank.

In similar fashion I have met Donald Sutherland, David Suchet (who plays Poirot over here in the UK), Hugh Cornwell of The Stranglers, Tony Robinson (Baldrick from ‘Blackadder’), and several other minor celebs. But the famous person I refused to get excited about was a member of the royal family. It was my first year at university and I was walking down a corridor talking with a friend. My shoulder brushed against the shoulder of somebody coming the other way. “Sorry,” I said and carried on walking. My friend was agitated. “Oh my god! Do you know who that was?” “Nope,” I said, as I hadn’t even looked up. “That’s Peter Philips.” “Er, and he is?” “Princess Anne’s son. The Queen’s grandson.” I wondered what my friend expected me to do with this information. Run after Peter Philips and throw myself prostrate before him uttering profuse apologies? I grinned. “I doubt very much he’ll have me sent to the tower for brushing his shoulder, especially as I’ve said sorry. He probably likes being treated like a normal person anyway.” My friend still looked doubtful but, as my head was still attached to my shoulders, I assumed I was right and carried on walking.

The Queen has defended criticism of her official speech at the State Opening of Parliament, insisting that the policies announced within had better be carried out, regardless of who wins the next general election, or there will be trouble.

Her Majesty was responding to allegations from the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats that the speech, delivered yesterday in the House of Lords, was little more a thinly-veiled pre-election manifesto for the Labour Party.

“Just shut up and listen”: the Queen

“This is simply not the case,” Queen Elizabeth said, in a rare press conference this morning. “It’s a common misconception that the incumbent government writes my speeches, in order to set out their policies for the coming year. I’m perfectly capable of writing my own speech, thank you.”

Conservative leader David Cameron, who is expected to sweep to power in 2010, had accused Prime Minister Gordon Brown of engineering the Queen’s speech to resemble a “Labour press release”. His comments provoked a scornful response from the Sovereign.

“I’m not a puppet of the government — quite the opposite in fact,” the Queen retorted. “When I say ‘My government will do this’ or ‘My government will do that’, I mean just that: they’re my government, and they will ruddy well do what I say.”

“If I tell them to jump in front of a bus or throw themselves off a cliff, I expect them to do that too,” she added, angrily jabbing a finger at journalists.

Given the government’s dismal showing in the polls, political commentators have questioned the inclusion in the speech of plans for 13 new bills. With the general election due to take place before June next year, many have noted that this would not leave enough time for all of the bills to be passed. The Queen responded to this by saying she expected any Conservative administration to stick as rigidly to the pledges in her speech as the current government would.

“I don’t care who’s in power next year — they’ll do as they’re told,” the Monarch insisted, before adding: “When I say I want something doing, it had better f***ing get done…or else.”

O diretor Zack Snyder, conhecido de filmes como 300 e mais recentemente, Watchmen está no cargo para dirigir o longa em animação 3D “Guardiões da Ga’Hoole”. De acordo com o Hollywood Reporter, trata-se de um filme com elementos de fantasia.

A produção é australiana e será realizada em Sydney. Na história, Soren é uma jovem coruja que é fascinado pelas histórias épicas que seu pai conta sobre os Guardiões Ga’Hoole, guerreiros míticos alados que lutaram numa grande batalha para derrotar o puro mal.

Alguns nomes já estão fechados para fazerem vozes dos personagens. São eles: Sam Neill, Geoffret Rush, Hugo Heaving, David Wenham. O projeto também contará com atrizes australianas e inglesas, como a vencedora do Oscar por A Rainha, Helen Mirren. Não está implícito na notícia quais personagens os respectivos atores emprestarão suas vozes.
A Warner Bros. e a Village Roadshow Pictures cuidam da produção, visando o lançamento na Autrália no dia 9 de dezembro de 2010.

Sem dúvida um projeto bem diferente de juntas homens sem camisa em um fundo verde ou dar vida para heróis que até então estavam fracassados. Parece interessante. Não custa nada ficar de olho no trabalho de Snyder. Não dá pra negar que é um cineasta talentoso. Se agrada, aí fica por conta de cada um…

Guilherme Jr.

This is one of a multitude of reasons why I don’t read the Daily Mail.  I found this “sick foul mouthed tirade” bloody hilarious and pretty much spot on social commentary:

Ben Elton:

Then, when playing a word association game, he was given the phrase ‘the Queen’.

He replied: ‘She’s an ordinary woman. She’s a sad little old lady who lives in state sponsored accommodation, her husband is a mad old bigot who wishes it was still the war, three out of four of her kids’ marriages have failed – that’s very common.’

About her children, he added: ‘The eldest one is a disillusioned ex-hippy, the middle one a bit of a yob.’

He then made a gay reference to Prince Edward, before adding: ‘That’s a bog-standard British family in all its rainbow glory.

‘If she had a black one and a disabled one, she’d have the full deck. She represents Britain more than any head of state represents their country.’

Brilliant!  Anyone who disagrees should pull the stick out of their arse.

With few exceptions it is in fact most pages of the Daily Fail that are foul mouthed tirades.  Also, their spelling and grammar seems to be getting hideously worse.  Not that the general readership would notice.

Hello again. It’s time for another short sharp burst of invigorating security news. Enjoy!

Here’s some video of a gang of robbers – UK robbers, no less! – who have smashed and bashed their way into a Dutch shop to access its ATM. What bounders.

And here’s a lovely award for Integrated Design Limited. It’s from the Queen and everything!

We’ve learnt today about IFSEC India attracting a whole heap of business for its exhibitors; about the establishment of a new video analytics firm by some of the folks who used to work for Dowshu; and about some new analogue JVC cameras – with a little video demo for your viewing pleasure.

There are also other things!

www.info4security.com, www.ifsec.co.uk

Derrin Hosts a Magical 3D Show on Channel 4

Two shows down, and the verdict? I still love it. I have always been fascinated by 3D much in the same way as Brian May described it in The Queen Part 1. I too can’t understand why 3D hasn’t took off before as it adds this extra level of immersion that allows you to better perceive an event.

I do have some criticisms though. Having to take your glasses on and off so much through The Queen was both distracting and annoying. It takes a while for the eyes to adjust to fully allow the brain into being tricked. Taking them on and off like that didn’t allow you enough time and some of the close up stuff relies on the brain to be already fooled. As I’ve noticed with a lot of the older footage is that there always seems to be a considerable amount of ghosting, the blue layer in particular and this too can be distracting and degrades the viewing pleasure slightly.

Out of the different coloured 3D things I’ve watched I have noticed that blue and amber, the colour code used by Channel 4 is least distracting when watched without glasses. This is obviously intended so not to alienate those viewers who could not obtain a pair of 3D glasses, I do also feel however that blue and amber are not the best colours for a true experience, it is a good compromise for none glasses viewers but I think Channel 4 should have had a bit more guts and said “TO HELL WITH THOSE WHO DON’T HAVE GLASSES” and chose a better colour code. So far green & magenta is my prefered colour code, not so good for those without glasses but better colour reproduction and less distracting, unlike the blue filter on C4’s glasses.

Derren Brown I thought was a lot better visually, still some ghosting but not as bad as it was in The Queen. Did 3D add anything to this show? Not really. I’m already a huge fan of Derren but I think the show didn’t really use the full potential of 3D. The magic tricks were not made for 3D and I have seen some of them before so I know these tricks were not created especially for the show. Knowing that show was going to be screened in 3D I think at least one of the magicians could have come up with a trick that used the 3D in some way.

Overall a good start I think, plenty of activity on C4’s 3D Week page, a lot of disappointed viewers unable to get glasses having a moan. One unfortunate soul complains that “we turned the lights off and sat facing the screen as instructed….nothing. There were no 3D images at all, why is it not working??”….this was posted at 2016! They have obviously not noticed that the 3D goodness doesn’t start until 2100!

So onwards to the week ahead, I will post my thoughts after every show so keep me bookmarked!

1.  Today is Friday the 13th.  I really hope I see someone dressed up in a hockey mask with a knife in hand or else the hype of this day will be lost. 

2.  Take my advice:  don’t eat a banana and then immediately drink from a soda can.  Trust me on this. 

3.  *Burp*  ugh…gross.

4.  Guess what?  Painting for 5 hours straight will kill your arms.  I know, I was surprised too.

5.  I totally stole the Hubs’ new jacket.  I’m not giving it back.  Ever.  *cuddling in the soft squishiness of the jacket*

6.  Pennies are money.  Except guess what?  No one likes it when you use pennies in the Self-Checkout lines at Wal-Mart.  Trust me on this.

7.  Ever wanted to be a Ninja?  Alls you gotta do is learn to Glare.

8.  Now in case you’re like me and end up stabbing yourself in the forehead and eyeball trying to do the complicated hand gesture thingy, here is a tutorial.  Yes I’m serious.

9.  You’re welcome.

10.  I have obtained three more Christmas gifts.  That makes a total of five.  I am still very very very behind. 

11.  I’m very glad to say that my love for Party in the USA has waned.  I only watch the video like…three times a week.  Tops. 

12.  I let some folks in on the upcoming Adventures with Edward posts.  There was a whole lot of staring.  Most of it was by The Hubs.

13.  Do you think the Queen gets on the innernets? 

14.  Do you think the Queen reads my blog?  I know, she’d totally love it.

15.  Do you think Stephenie Meyer reads my Adventures with Edward?  I know, she’d totally LOL.  Or sue me, one of the two.

16.  I’ve given up on making risotto.  It’s just too much pressure to be a good cook. 

17.  Hubs and I just switched sides of the bed.  Which means it feels like I’m totally getting up on the wrong side of the bed.

18.  Today is the last day to enter this giveaway:  http://www.wendiwinn.com/2009/11/giveaway-13.html

19.  I super hope I win. 

20.  Happy Friday!

Remembrance day or Poppy day is celebrated on the 11th day of the 11th month, to remember the end of the First World War. As it was the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month that the war came to an end.

A two minutes silence is observed at 11am on the 11th (and on Remembrance Sunday as well). I was watching on TV live from Westminster, so had the 2 minutes silence. On Saturday at the Newcastle match we had a minute’s silence before kick off for remembrance day, as did all other matches across the football league. 

The Queen attends Westminster and the silence is followed as soon as Big Ben strikes 11.

The Poppy quickly became part of this remembrance and are on sale for weeks before, and everyone on TV are seen wearing them. Which I think shows a fantastic type of togetherness.

We will not ever forget those who lost there lives in battle for us all to have a better life.

Estamos en tiempos de mirar hacia atrás antes de dar el paso que nos depositará en el próximo decenio. El diario británico Times se pronunció en este sentido y confeccionó una lista con las mejores 100 películas que estrenaron en el Reino Unido desde el año 2000.

Escondido, de Michael Haneke, la mejor según Times

En el ranking predominan las producciones inglesas por sobre las norteamericanas. Pero ese es un dato menor. Lo que más salta a la vista es que mientras hay algunas presencias un tanto inexplicables (Exterminio, Los Rompebodas, El Diablo Viste a la Moda, Un Santa No Tan Santo o El Orfanato), abundan las ausencias significativas (Wall-E, Amelie, Million Dollar Baby, Snatch, Match Point, El Pianista, Kill Bill, por nombrar algunas).

Estos son los primeros 20 puestos, el resto los pueden revisar desde acá.

01. Escondido (2005)
02. La Supermacía de Bourne / El Ultimatum de Bourne (2004/2007)
03. Sin Lugar Para los Débiles (2007)
04. Grizzly Man (2005)
05. Team America: Policía Mundial (2004)
06. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
07. El Último Rey de Escocia (2006)
08. Casino Royale (2006)
09. La Reina (2006)
10. Hunger (2008)
11. Borat (2006)
12. La Vida de los Otros (2006)
13. This Is England (2007)
14. 4 Meses, 3 Semanas y 2 Días (2007)
15. La Caída (2004)
16. Eterno Resplandor de Una Mente Sin Recuerdos (2004)
17. Secreto en la Montaña (2005)
18. Let The Right One In (2008)
19. Vuelo 93 (2005)
20. Donnie Darko (2001)

As a potential member of Team England for next year’s Commonwealth Games I had been invited by my governing body to take part in a weightlifting exhibition which was taking place today at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham as part of the “Queen’s Baton Relay”.  (In the year before a Commonwealth Games the Queen’s Baton makes a tour of Commonwealth countries, including England).

Although I’d said I really wanted to do this, especially as it meant I’d get a chance to meet up with 2 of my GB team mates (Hannah Powell and Ben Watson), my coach declined on my behalf as he was concerned that the unnecessary travelling wouldn’t be good preparation for this coming weekend’s competition in Sweden.  To say I was disappointed would be something of an understatement!

But as one door closes so another opens and I received an invitation for today via my local Council, Greenwich, to visit the Olympic Park where I would meet a VIP whose name couldn’t be disclosed to me.  There was a hint that the VIP would be a member of the Royal family and I guessed it might be Princess Anne because of her Olympic connections.

I had to make my own way from home to the Olympic Park which meant looking the journey up on the internet (where would we be without the internet and Googlemaps?!)  As usual my mum “helped” with my travel plans which actually meant that I arrived about 45 minutes too early – I think she factors in every conceivable problem that I might encounter but, of course, I encountered none and at least I know now how quick and easy it will be to get to the Olympic Stadium in 2012 !

After some waiting I was met and taken inside. There was quite a bit of waiting around before any members of the Royal family arrived, but after a while a few other athletes turned up so again I had fun socialising with more young people like myself. At this point I still had no idea who I was going to be meeting, so when somebody told me that it was going to be THE QUEEN I was absolutely shocked. What a once in a lifetime chance!

When she arrived, everyone in the room suddenly fell silent and you could actually feel the suspense, I could tell it was going to be an experience I wouldn’t be forgetting any time soon. I actually got to shake her hand, which was then later featured on the BBC News – which I discovered when I got a text from my friend in Manchester alerting me!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8341306.stm

All in all, quite a day to remember!

As a potential member of Team England for next year’s Commonwealth Games I had been invited by my governing body to take part in a weightlifting exhibition which was taking place today at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham as part of the “Queen’s Baton Relay”.  (In the year before a Commonwealth Games the Queen’s Baton makes a tour of Commonwealth countries, including England).

Although I’d said I really wanted to do this, especially as it meant I’d get a chance to meet up with 2 of my GB team mates (Hannah Powell and Ben Watson), my coach declined on my behalf as he was concerned that the unnecessary travelling wouldn’t be good preparation for this coming weekend’s competition in Sweden.  To say I was disappointed would be something of an understatement!

But as one door closes so another opens and I received an invitation for today via my local Council, Greenwich, to visit the Olympic Park where I would meet a VIP whose name couldn’t be disclosed to me.  There was a hint that the VIP would be a member of the Royal family and I guessed it might be Princess Anne because of her Olympic connections.

I had to make my own way from home to the Olympic Park which meant looking the journey up on the internet (where would we be without the internet and Googlemaps?!)  As usual my mum “helped” with my travel plans which actually meant that I arrived about 45 minutes too early – I think she factors in every conceivable problem that I might encounter but, of course, I encountered none and at least I know now how quick and easy it will be to get to the Olympic Stadium in 2012 !

After some waiting I was met and taken inside. There was quite a bit of waiting around before any members of the Royal family arrived, but after a while a few other athletes turned up so again I had fun socialising with more young people like myself. At this point I still had no idea who I was going to be meeting, so when somebody told me that it was going to be THE QUEEN I was absolutely shocked. What a once in a lifetime chance!

When she arrived, everyone in the room suddenly fell silent and you could actually feel the suspense, I could tell it was going to be an experience I wouldn’t be forgetting any time soon. I actually got to shake her hand, which was then later featured on the BBC News – which I discovered when I got a text from my friend in Manchester alerting me!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8341306.stm

All in all, quite a day to remember!

This isn’t mine as I got this from one of my friends. But I just have to share it! LMAO!

The European Union..hang on, how to spell it?

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the EU rather than German which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty’s Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a five year phase-in plan that would be known as “Euro-English”.

In the first year, “s” will replace the soft “c”. Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard “c” will be dropped in favour of the “k”. This should klear up konfusion and keyboards kan have 1 less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome “ph” will be replaced with “f”. This will make words like “fotograf” 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be ekspekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of the silent “e”s in the language is disgraseful, and they should go away.

By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing “th” with “z” and “w” with “v”. During ze fifz year, ze unesesary “o” kan be dropd from vords kontaining “ou” and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.

Ze Kveen of Inglend!!

After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi to understand ech ozer. Ze drem vil finali kum tru! And zen world!

Could Canadians handle a King Chuck?

THIS WEEK’S visit to Canada by Prince Charles and Lady Camilla has renewed an age-old debate about whether Canada’s constitutional monarchy should be replaced by an elected head of state.

A former British colony, Canada still retains a significant connection to the Crown, right down to having the Queen E. on our currency. (The governor-general is our resident head of state, the Queen’s viceroy here; but the GG is largely a ceremonial position.)

Friends of mine in England were amused recently when I pulled out a Canadian $20 bill with the Queen’s face on it. I think they enjoyed feeling like they were still our colonial rulers or something.

Canadians have had a lasting fondness for Queen Elizabeth II.

The majority of Canadians seem to hold Queen Elizabeth II in high regard – or are indifferent to her at worst – so the idea of cutting ties with the monarchy has never gained much momentum. There’s a sentimental attachment to her. When the Queen came to the throne back in 1953, Canada was in its adolescence, still trying to figure out who it was in the post-war world. We weren’t British, but not American either. (Unfortunately, it’s an identity crisis that endures to this day.)

In the not-so-distant future, though, the Queen will be gone, and I’m pretty sure Canadians do not feel the same affection for Prince Charles. Indeed, the Toronto Star had a poll that showed 49 per cent of Canadians viewed Charles “unfavourably” (Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, fared marginally better: only 51 per cent didn’t approve of her.)

Diana: Would she have helped keep the royals relevant?

Perhaps things would be different had Diana lived and stayed with Charles. I’m sure she could have given the institution of the royal family renewed staying power in the former colonies. They’re perfectly intelligent and gracious people, Chuck and Camilla, they just don’t have anything close to the same appeal as Diana (could anybody?)

But this is not really about people or personalities. The fact is, it’s high time Canada officially grows up and elects its own head of state (I’m guessing that would be a president?)

I realize ditching the Crown is a lot easier said than done and that a change like this would be complex and complicated to carry out.

It doesn’t have to be the end of everything. Just because we’re breaking free, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t retain certain things. The legal system we inherited from the British, for example. Or our membership in the Commonwealth, an affiliation that offers obvious advantages.

And we still have the cultural ties and places whose names pay homage to the old empire (Prince Edward Island, British Columbia, Alberta, Victoria, Regina, and the list goes on…)

Let the sentimental attachments prevail, but when Queen Elizabeth II’s reign comes to an end, Canada should move toward electing our own independent head of state.

It might not help to solve our identity crisis, but it’s a start. And it sure beats having King Chuck on our $20 bill.

ryan@roadtostarrdom.com

>> Related: Monarchy in Canada would end with Charles, film argues

Frankie Boyle a soon to be forgotten talentless comedian

A ‘grossly offensive joke’ about the Queen broadcast on BBC2’s satirical panel show Mock the Week was yesterday cleared by the corporation’s governing body.

The highly personal remark about the monarch was made by comedian Frankie Boyle and aired at the time of the Andrew Sachs scandal.

Boyle joked that you would not hear the Queen say during her Christmas broadcast: ‘I’m now so old that my p**** is haunted.’

The episode had first been shown in 2007 but was repeated in October 2008 during the furore over messages left by Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand on Mr Sach’s answerphone.

A complainant said the joke was grossly offensive and added: ‘It would have been objectionable at the best of times but coming as it did in the midst of the Ross and Brand controversy it was quite unforgivable.’

An initial complaint to the BBC’s management had been rejected saying that, while the joke ‘was near the knuckle’, it was in keeping with the show.

The viewer then took his complaint to the BBC Trust which also rejected the complaint, despite admitting the joke had ’sexist and ageist overtones’.

Richard Tait, BBC trustee and chairman of the editorial standards committee, said the joke ‘was well after the watershed, well signposted and within audience expectations for the show’.

He said: ‘The committee did feel this joke was in bad taste – it had both sexist and ageist overtones.’

However, a gag on a different episode of Mock the Week about Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington was deemed to have broken rules. In August last year, Boyle said Adlington looks ‘like someone who’s looking at themselves in the back of a spoon’.

He also made a sexual innuendo about the gold medalists’ love life, saying Adlington’s boyfriend looked like a male model and continuing: ‘So from that I have deduced that Rebecca Adlington is very dirty – I mean if you just take into account how long she can hold her breath…’

One viewer told the BBC he was ‘appalled’.

The show’s producer later responded to the complaint, saying the ribbing might have gone ‘a tad too far’ and apologised.

The trust said that 75 complaints were received about the item, originally aired in the week that Team GB returned from the Olympic Games.

It found that, while Adlington was a public figure, she had not courted media attention.

The judgment said: ‘The joke about her appearance and the sexual innuendo were humiliating and there was no demonstration of a clear editorial purpose for the inclusion of these comments.’

The committee also noted that the commissioning editor had made her views known about preferring not to include the joke.

It said it was concerned she appeared to have been unable to obtain the edits she would have preferred.

Mr Tait said: ‘The committee felt that the comments about Rebecca Adlington were humiliating, and this was exacerbated by the fact that she had not sought celebrity status or courted media attention.’

The BBC said earlier this month that Boyle had quit Mock The Week after seven series, due to ‘other television commitments’.

A spokesman for the show said Boyle had been ‘a brilliant member of the team’ and the door was always open for him to return.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1221505/BBC-comedian-Frankie-Boyles-bad-taste-joke-Queen-didnt-breach-editorial-guidelines.html#ixzz0ViRtymNh

Frankie Boyle has upset an olympic gold medalist with a few quips about her appearance etc and has supposedly left the programme he was on ( Mock the Week ) not caring one jot, well what concerns me is not the fact that this comedian has made fun of an olympic athlete but the fact that he thinks he is a dangerous and highly alternative comedian, well Mr.Boyle let me tell you that you are neither, the real comedians who had talent who are no longer allowed on TV because of Political correctness are people like the late “ Bernard Manning, Freddie Starr, Roy Chubby Brown, these are and were talented people who were not afraid to push the boundaries of comedy but you are neither talented or dangerous or alternative.

A joke is a joke, I am not moaning about his target of his joke but I doubt he would dare take the mickey out of Muslims or Black people or Indians or Jews or anything about peoples cultural failings, Oh no Boyle just wants to be known for outraging people, there have been comedians doing this for decades before him and they will be remembered but he will just fade away into oblivion, Let Roy Chubby Brown take his place on Mock the Week then we will see someone who is as they say ALTERNATIVE?????????????????????????