Tribute To Bill

Just visited the entertainment section of the BBC News website and discovered that David Carradine, Bill in Kill Bill Vol.1 & 2, has been found dead at the age of 72 in a Bangkok hotel room. The Kill Bills are two of my favourite movies and Carradine's performance in both is magnificent.

In Vol.1, Bill is the faceless, enigmatic and sadistic boss-man that coldly slayed the woman carrying his baby without batting an eyelid. Carradine manages to convey the brutality of Bill simply through his creepily calm, seductive voice. Bill, thinks the audience, is nothing but evil.

But it is in Vol.2 that we look a little deeper and see the real Bill, a loving man whose brutal actions were spurred on by a broken heart. Filled with remourse, Bill accepts his defeat and graciously allows the bride the revenge she deserves. Carradine effortlessly succeeds in transforming the way we look at snake-charmer Bill, completely overhauling his villainous character from the first film into some kind of an anti-hero one cheeky wink and sparkling smile at a time.
By the conclusion of Vol.2, we too have been seduced by Bill, by Carradine, and like the bride we feel strangely saddened by the death we all expected to find the most satifying.

David Carradine was truly brilliant actor who I'm sure will be sorely missed. Here's one of my favourite scenes from Vol.2, where we get our first proper look at the "villain", Bill.

Photo Courtesy of areavoices.com, Video Courtesy of youtube.com (user ericholmgren)

My pieces on Brazil

In keeping with the whole "maintaining the blog and being a serious journalist" malarkey, I thought I'd post two of the articles I wrote as part of my International Journalism module. Both stories are about the South American country of Brazil. If you're stupid, here's what it looks like...

The post below is my coverage of the opening of a Brazilian Soccer School in Ealing. I did the interview myself (go me!).

This post is my "analysis piece" on the impact Brazilian shanty towns are having on the country. Hope you like it...

Are Brazil's shanty towns sabotaging it's rise to dominance?

Last month, Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the man Barack Obama described as “the most popular politician on earth”, came crashing into the public consciousness after he pushed for his country to have a bigger role at the G20 London summit.

His argument was that Brazil, as the largest country in South America with one of the world’s most rapidly developing economies, deserved to be sitting proudly amongst more developed nations and have a greater stake in the process of finding a solution to the global economic crisis.

It is difficult to disagree with Lula, as Brazil’s growth suggests that it is indeed on its way to becoming a economic powerhouse and therefore a key player on the world stage. Its economy grew by 5.1% during the whole of 2008 and it is expected to be one of the few countries to come out of the recent financial downturn relatively unscathed.

But even though Brazil continues to grow richer, there is still a rather substantial problem standing in the way of their rise to power, one that undermines the many financial gains of recent years and must be resolved if the country is ever going to make itself heard.

The problem is poverty and almost a quarter of the entire Brazilian population suffer from it, even as the economy grows. The issue is clearly marked across the country for all to see in the form of crime ridden shanty towns known as favelas, home to millions of Brazilians.

Often crammed onto steep hillsides on the outskirts of sprawling cities, these slums are self erected and illegally occupied by the impoverished. Their constant and unavoidable presence in otherwise booming areas continue to seriously mar Brazil’s reputation.

Most of the modern day favelas dotted around the country were originally built during the 1970s, when a rural exodus saw many travel to urban areas in search of a better life, but ultimately end up in a favela.

The fact that these structures are still standing and continue to be the only option for so many unfortunate Brazilians thirty years later is a major hindrance for a country claiming to have changed so much.

The favelas also serve as a reminder of Brazil’s long standing and well documented problem with violence and crime. There are 25 murders per 1000 people and this is even more common in the cities with the most favelas, such as Rio, where 4000 are killed annually, and Sao Paulo, which less than three years ago saw the worst outbreak of violence in Brazilian history that left 141 people dead within three days.

Brazil of course is trying hard to shake off this image, but it can’t possibly while favelas continue to exist. Most are ruled by gang warlords and drug related crime is rife, attracting regular police raids that often end with fatalities and turn the place into a war zone. In the eyes of many, the favelas have become symbols of lawlessness in an already dangerous country.

As well as tarnishing the image of Brazil, the favelas also showcase the economic inequality amongst the population. Urban overcrowding means that the favelas usually stand side by side with mansions and skyscrapers, a literal demonstration of the rich/poor divide that plagues the country.

Nowhere in Brazil is this more noticeable than in Rio de Janeiro, where most of the 750 plus favelas around the city offer panoramic views of the prosperous and tourist ridden downtown area. Indeed the largest favela in Rio, Rocinha, is situated on a hill only a mile away from the legendary Copacabana beach. Glamour, wealth and beautiful people are dangled literally outside the window.

In Brazil the economic inequality, the difference in income between the rich and the poor, is vast. The richest 10% of the population earn 50% of the country’s income, while the poorest 10% get less than 1%. This division has led to doubt over whether Brazil’s troubled economy really does have the ability to develop to superpower level.

So what is being done about the favelas, and how will this affect Brazil’s image? President da Silva, or Lula as he is more popularly known, promised on the campaign trail to help poverty stricken Brazilians and provide a better quality of life for those in the favelas. His pledge struck a chord with the poor, as previous governments had turned a blind eye to their situation, and in 2003 Lula was elected by a landslide.

He increased the minimum wage and pushed through long term welfare programmes that provided financial aid to the poor. Following the success of these in reducing the rate of poverty, he was re-elected in 2006 and chose to focus on the quality of life in the favelas.

In 2007 he pledged $1.7 billion to improve conditions in the favelas around Rio de Janeiro, while increased funding for other favelas around Brazil has brought about greater sanitation systems, safe water supplies and electricity.

But although Lula has worked hard to increase the quality of life in Brazil, the favelas continue to stand strong on the outskirts of the cities and in the minds of others.

There doesn’t seem to be any indication that this will change either, with Lula choosing to concentrate on the people and the issues inside of the favela, rather than on the settlements themselves.

But it’s worth remembering that Brazil has continued to gather strength despite the continued presence of the favelas over the years. They stood on the hillsides as the country excelled and grew from the brink of financial ruin to having one of the fastest growing and most important economies in the world.

Perhaps Lula has the right idea and what Brazil needs in order to be respected is not a removal of the favelas but an improvement on the issues of crime, violence, poverty and inequality that continue to hold the country back. Only when Brazil proves to be as successful at eradicating these problems as it has been in making substantial economic gains will it be treated by the world as the superpower it aspires to be.

Photos Courtesy of safetravel.govt.nz, peixelaranja.wordpress.com, en.wikipedia.org and news.bbc.co.uk

The secrets of Brazilian Football

If you stopped a random person on the street and asked them to name one fact about Brazil, there’s a good chance they’d turn around to you and say, “they’re good at football”. So good in fact that the Brazilian national football team has won five World Cup tournaments, more than any other country in the world, and is the only team to have played in every single one.

It makes sense then to want to play like a Brazilian and now children between the ages of 5 and 17 in West London can learn to do just that, following the launch of a Brazilian Soccer School in Ealing this month.

The West Acton based school is one of over 700 worldwide that teach children about Futebol de Salao, a popular Brazilian 5-a-side variation of the beautiful game proven to be more effective than the traditional teaching methods used at other football academies across the UK.

“Lots of professional footballers learn through Futebol de Salao and believe it’s the way to go” says Naveed Urmani, a football coach and West London franchisee of the Brazilian Soccer Schools. “They’re happy to promote it”

Former pupils of the schools include premiership stars such as Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen, while Brazilian football legends such as Pele, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho all name Futebol de Salao as the reason behind their talent and success on the pitch.

While similar to regular football, Futebol de Salao is a more skill based game due to the use of smaller, heavier balls that don’t bounce. Familiarity with the ball, flexibility and fancy footwork are required over strength, speed and high kicking.

Naveed believes that teaching Futebol de Salao is the best way for children to learn how to play football.

“In the UK kids are kicking the ball and running after it and the fastest and strongest are going to score. That’s not what Futebol de Salao is. It’s about getting kids comfortable with the ball and having the knowledge of what to do with it once you’ve got it. This is very much the way Brazilian footballers play”

“At an early stage we tend to focus on individual practice. In a game of normal football you’re maybe going to get the ball for about three minutes in the whole game. What are they going to learn from that?”

But the coaches at the Brazilian Soccer School don’t just aim to improve their pupils’ game. They also teach their pupils to respect and encourage their fellow players.

“In Brazil they have samba dancing, which means they can use their hips and flow with the ball. Kids are afraid do to do all that in the playground because if they fall they get laughed at. Here if they fall they just get up again and carry on. No-one laughs at them”

The first school was founded in Leeds in 1998 by primary schoolteacher Simon Clifford, who witnessed Brazilian training methods, including Futebol de Salao, firsthand during a trip to the country and created a learning programme for British children based on his discoveries. Ten years later, over one million children in 61 countries receive coaching at a Brazilian Soccer School.

With 140 children attended the taster sessions for the new school in Ealing, Naveed is optimistic about the future.

“A couple of parents came up to us last week and said that they were taking their kids out of their regular football classes and sending them here instead”

“We don’t care about money or anything like that. We just want to teach kids the right way to play football”.

Photo Courtesy of bbc.co.uk

Video Courtesy of youtube.com user BSSchannel

Evaluation Of Module Blog

Overall I enjoyed my Online Blog project...for the most part. The Blogger software has really tried my patience with all the random "I didn't tell you to do that!!" paragraph making, font changing, pictures not resizing issues, which meant I spent far too much time reviewing and editing pretty much every post I did just so it looked readable. 

But in terms of the actual project I really do feel like I've learnt something about the online sector of journalism, which I had never really explored before. I learnt all about RSS feeds, Twitter and Google Reader, some useful tools that I had never heard of before this module and I had never kept a blog before, despite their obvious usefulness to journalism students. 

I enjoyed being able to write about literally anything I wanted for pretty much the first time in the course. In the feature I could write about a subject which I have a great interest in, and ideally would like to specialise in after I graduate. It also gave me a chance to practice all different kinds of journalism, for example for my feature I had a mix of reviews, lists and other stories.

In the blog I could talk about anything I wanted, no matter how random or seemingly irrelevant. It felt like a more personal kind of journalism, which I felt really made the lecture enjoyable, as well as informative.  

Connor Cruise debuts in Seven Pounds, but where are Mum and Dad?!

I saw a trailer while waiting for that god awful movie Four Christmases (Vince Vaughn being Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon being Reese Witherspoon really should work, right?) for a new film with Will Smith called Seven Pounds. It was a good one, big, bold and so so serious. Blatent Oscar baiting, but I can overlook that because it did actually look quite good, even though I’m not entirely sure what the damn thing is about. Here’s the trailer, the very same one I saw, for you to make up your mind. 

So where am I going with this? Well the film marks the screen debut of one Connor Cruise, adopted son of Hollywood's former golden couple, Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise. Here he is, smiling away:

I never knew the lad existed, let alone that he is apparently a skilled actor. The problem is that when I, and most other people I'm guessing, think about Cruise/Kidman sprogs we only really think about Suri, Tom's baby with Katie Holmes, and Sunday Rose, Nicole's "miracle baby" with Keith Urban and forget about poor old Connor. I mean, how can he possible compete with a miracle baby??!!

Even though we, the stupid public, forget about Connor, you'd think that Kidman and Cruise would still have a place in their heart for their little boy, right? Apparently not, as both were absent from the LA premiere of Seven Pounds on Wednesday. Now if your son had landed a main part in a film, you'd go along to the premiere, right?  Consider as well that this is their son's first ever film, that Tom lives in the same city as the premiere and that both Tom and Nicole have gone to god knows how many of these things over the years, it's not like they were too intimidated to go along or anything like that. 

I agree with The Inquisitr, not bothering to turn up to your child's premiere is poor form and clearly shows favouritism amongst your children. Do you think a wrinkled Old Tom and Nicole would shun a premiere starring Suri or Sunday Rose? No way!

So why did they not bother turning up? Babble can't work it out, but I think I know the reason. I reckon they took a look at Seven Pounds' page on Rotten Tomatoes and read the reviews. Perhaps we shouldn't be so harsh on Tom and Nicole after seeing that!  

Video Courtesy of youtube.com

Photo Courtesy of huffingtonpost.com

I Feel Like Hating on Christmas Films...'Tis the Season

Only 6 days til Christmas folks! Yep, that's all. Funny how it sneaks up you isn't it. But alas, I'm not really feeling all that Christmassy at the moment. I wish I was, I really do, but I've got too much other stuff to worry about, like work and buying presents before it's too late. So when I wandered onto Merry Christmas On The Net and spied their cheery graphics and their list of 3 Christmas Movies Everyone Loves, It's A Wonderful Life, The Grinch and A Christmas Carol, for some reason I'm not quite sure of, I felt determined to ruin their good time. So in response, I'm going to point out the reasons NOT to love these movies. Bah Humbug! 

A Christmas Carol

I feel kind of bad about ripping into such a classic and beloved tale. I mean, it's Dickens!! But still, I'll give it a shot. First of all, it's been done too many times. Way too many. Oh yeah, there's the Ghost of Christmas Past, Tiny Tim, yeah, yeah, bla bla...whatever! We've all been forced to star in/sit through far too many school plays, why do we want to see a film of it as well. And second of all...it's not really that good a story is it? Yes it's Dickens, but it's rubbish Dickens. Really, there are so many other great books that need to be adapted and tons of brilliant screenplays out there to be made. Why do they keep making films out of a story from the Victorian age with ghosts and a smart businessman who gets guilt tripped out of his hard earned money? 

  

The Grinch

I hate Jim Carrey. He's not that funny. His "wackiness" just annoys me. That alone is enough reason to give this movie a miss, but quite a few people do actually like Jimmy so I guess I'll have to say some more stuff. 

The main reason you should avoid The Grinch is because it is extremely boring. I'm not talking about the original Dr Seuss book here, because that's brilliant. But it's also short. The movie tried to turn the book's 32 pages into a full length film and in doing so failed spectacularly. As a result, the film feels stretched and drags along desperately. The kids will be bored senseless and of course the adults weren't even interested in the first place! 

It's A Wonderful Life

Is it? Is it really? Some people may consider this film a classic, but I just consider it old and cheesy. I mean just look at that DVD cover up there, all smiles and the like. The whole plot of the film, an angel coming down to tell a suicidal man just how much rubbish things would have been if he had never existed, is ridiculous. In Wonderful Life, James Stewart sees that had he not been born, his neighborhood would become a slum, his girlfriend would be a spinster, his uncle would go nuts and his younger brother would have died. That's all well and good, but let's be truthful here...nobody really has that big an impact on the world. Sure we'd be missed by our friends and family, but would everything really go so crazy and weird if we were not around. Why this is seen as an inspirational movie? If anything it just makes you more depressed when you realise that, unlike Life's protagonist, in reality you meant nothing to the world...Merry Christmas!

Photos Courtesy of murderofravens.org, dannysdesktop.themesunlimited.com and teachwithmovies.org

I'm a friend first and a boss second...probably an entertainer third

My housemate handed in his last essay of the semester. He's now done! All he has to worry about now is whether he'll be able to make it through the chocolates, dinners and puddings on the 25th without throwing up. The only thing he has to write now is a Christmas list. Even as I write this, he's packing up to head off home. And how is he choosing to spend his last day in Harrow? With a hearty Pizza Hut buffet (four hours ago, and we all still feel stuffed) and a marathon of Ricky Gervais' hugely popular TV show, The Office.

Yup, 7 hours 20 minutes of back to back David Brent. It doesn't matter that he can quote the whole thing off the top of his head anyway, he wants to celebrate the end of all that work with one of the most loved comedy shows ever. It's also lovely background noise for a student trying to finish off his module blog.

Whether or not it's a good way to spend your last full day in Harrow is a matter of opinion, but the true genius of The Office cannot be denied. Take a look at some of the show's best moments...

Video Courtesy of: youtube (user rob1969in)