silentflute

Blog

  • Why do all the pretty girls smoke?

    This multi-layered question has plauged me and my friends for years.

    Why do all the pretty girls smoke? For example, you have Liz Hurley, Nicole Kidman – all beautiful ladies, yet they all smoke. And it’s not just restricted to the celebrity class.

    We spent ages around the pub table trying to work out why this paradox occurs. On the one hand they are really pretty, but on the other hand they smoke. It’s got nothing to do with actually smoking or they’re lifestyle.

    We don’t really care why they smoke and we certainly never, ever look down at a person because they smoke, it’s your right – so enjoy it.

    This question is more of a mult-layered one. It can’t be about looks, it can’t be about weight loss.

    But then again, it could just be that they smoked when they were younger and they are addicted to it. I think that’s the most likely reason.

  • Insurance and Olympic Champions don’t mix

    We was watching TV the other day and I saw an advert for Car Insurance.

    My friends joked away at the lame actor selling the insurance, whereas I interrupted with an even better observation:

    “What the hell has 5 time olympic gold medalist Sir Steve Redgrave gotta do with Car Insurance? I’ll tell ya shall I? Jack all.”

  • Brosnan officially says ‘No more Bond’

    Pierce Brosnan has finally said “No More Bond” and has revoked his licence to kill according to this article.

    Having decided to walk away from the Bond Franchise, a number of possible actors are being lined up to replace the 47 year old actor, including Clive Owen amongst others.

    Also on the Rumor Mill is that Orlando Bloom will star as Young James Bond. I spit out my coffee when I heard this news.

    “Orlando Bloom….as James Bond?” “Orlando *f-ing* Bloom?” “Young James Bond?” Those were some of the expletives that were heard to come from my general direction.

    Well, as far as I can tell, it looks like the whole Bond franchise is dead. Some cynics may argue that the whole Bond franchise died years ago, and perhaps I can agree to that. But Brosnan was a good Bond, albeit one who didn’t seem happy with either the scripts he was given or the plot-lines.

    Anyhow, as Donald Pleasnace might have said…

    “Rest in peace meeeester Bond”.

  • Trial of Saddam: The next reality television show

    As soon as Saddam Hussein, former President of Iraq, stepped into the Iraqi court with his colbalt blue suit and died black hair nearly all of the 24-hour television news shows went ballistic trying to get a ‘piece’ of the action.

    I began thinking. What is this? The next reality TV show? The 24-hour news television shows such as BBC 24, ITV24 and Fox News tried to analyse everything and anything regardless of how pointless it was.

    What happens if the Judge hands down a death penalty, which according to the media – is simply a formality; will the TV news show the actual hanging or whatever form of death penalty they inflict? If they do, doesn’t that make us worse than Saddam himself?

    I am not indicating that Saddam is guilty nor innocent [edit], that is for the Judge to decide[/edit]. But I am feeling quite uneasy about the way this trial is being put onto our screens. I think that the TV shows try too hard to make us think a certain way. How do they do this? By repeating certain stories every 20 minutes.

    I stopped reading newspapers a long time ago because they put on a certain level of ‘this is the way you think’, and I’m moving away from the whole ’24’ hour news culture and I’ve learnt to read various stories from various sources to form my own mind.

    Of course, there’s always the ‘off’ button.

  • The Apprentice comes to BBC2

    “You’re fired”, the famous catchphrase of Donald Trump is coming to the BBC with Sir Alan Sugar in place of Mr Trump in a new show that will showcase Britain’s entrepreneurial spirit.

    With the prospect of earning a six-figure salary and working for Sir Sugar, the opportunity is certainly an exciting one. Although I personally didn’t see the original NBC version of this show, it is something I would watch.

    The 12-week long show will show case the toughest interview process with the prospect of 14 final contestant’s being divided into two teams, competing to excel at the business challenges set by Sir Sugar and his team.

    It certainly sounds like an interesting TV show.

    More info: BBC Two’s The Apprentice Website

  • Job Title Generator

    I found dithered.com’s Job Title Generator quite amusing.

    It allows you to generate your own e-job title. I always seem to end up being the Chief Architect of Scalable E-Business Deployment.

    Here’s another Job Title Generator, but focusing on the Web Economy.

  • 7 Grandmasters

    This movie had a lot of praise on IMDB and to honest I wasn’t expecting a lot out of this movie. I was, however quite impressed.

    The movie has Jack Long, a superb kung fu master who wants to retire, safe in the knowledge that he is the best fighter in the country – and even has the Emperor praising his unique fighting style.

    However, an unknown master throws down the gauntlet to the kung fu master to prove his worth before his retirement.

    Instead of finding out who issued the challenge, Jack Long goes on a long tour of the Chinese provinces to take on all comers to ensure he is the best fighter.

    There is a lot of fast-paced kung fu action and excellent fighting styles on display, but it didn’t really connect with me as a viewer.

    One thing I really hated about this movie is that parts of the plot are introduced half-way into the film – for example, an integral plot of this movie is a coup de tat of Jack Long’s Chinese province – but it isn’t introduced until the final part of the movie.

    We’re told, halfway through the film, that the tour of china has taken 2 years – what happened in the teacher’s home town? Weren’t the villagers angry at Long for taking so long? Why didn’t the white-haired super-villain bad guy take Long’s throne?

    Aside from the plot there is a lot of kung fu action – however its ruined by lack of imagination. Every fight is in the same grassy field with similar same moves. Jack Long’s fighting skills are impressive, but he isn’t really challenged until Mr Long must take on a ‘weapons master’ – however this is the only real time that weapons are introduced into the film.

    Along for the ride are Jack Long’s family / kung fu students – who are marginally impressive. There is also a comic sidekick who becomes Jack Long’s best student. But the comic sidekick’s motives are far from good. He wishes revenge on the person who killed his father.

    The comic sidekick finds solace with a mysterious white-haired man who tells him to become Jack Long’s number-one student so that the mysterious master might complete his secret, deadily kung fu technique from learning what Long does.

    By the end of the film, the comic sidekick takes on Jack Long in a battle. It reminded me of the whole ‘star wars’ story where the student turns to the dark side.

    But alas this doesn’t happen – the sidekick discovers that the real murderer of his father was the mysterious white haired super villain.

    The final fight is incredibly impressive but ends on a highly comical moment where the comic sidekick kicks the super villain in the crown jewels – topped off with stock footage of the sidekick’s kicking of a pottery vase. Ouch! That was painful!

    Overall, if your into old-style kung fu movies you will enjoy this movie – however if your expecting a well made kung fu movie then you might as well look elsewhere. I know I will.

    Overall: 4/10

  • Where are the Buffalo Gone?

    “The Great chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. How can you buy or sell the sky? The warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. Yet we do not own the freshness of the air, or the sparkle of the water. How can you buy them from us? Every part of this earth is sacred to my people.

    We know that white man does not understand our ways. One portion of the land is the same to him as the next, for he is a strange who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The earth is not his brother, but his enemy and when he has conquered it he moves on. He leaves his fathers’ graves and his children’s birthright is forgotten.

    There is no quiet place in the white man’s cities. No place to hear the leaves of spring or the rustle of insect wings. But perhaps I am a savage and do not understand – the clatter only seems to insult the ears. And what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lovely cry of the whippoorwill or the arguments of the frog around the pond at night.

    The whites too shall pass – perhaps sooner than other tribes. Continue to contaminate your bed and you will one night suffocate in your own waste. When the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with the scent of many men, and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires. Where is the eagle? Gone. Where is the buffalo? Gone. And what is it to say goodbye to the swift and the hunt, the end of living and the beginning of survival.”

    Chief Seattle to President Franklin Pierce, 1855