Study Leave.

I am not a motivated person.

I have the will-power of a lion at a wounded gazelle convention.

It's when the exam season comes around, that I discover my passion for new hobbies, such as editing photos, or watching niche podcasts (I can now make cakes for birds in a jiffy) and this year: blogging.

If anybody could give me some hints on revising...that'd be just dandy; every time I sit at my immaculate desk to work, I end up looking at photos from the last few years... I became angry.
I was angry that my friends had allowed me to look like that, and not said anything to me; not even a cursory: "You might want to sort your hair out, mate". Pah. I'm not an angry person, but seeing myself outside Durham Cathedral, looking like Onslow from "Keeping Up Appearances" was not a happy experience.

Anyway, back to the desk of betrayal.....

London Olympics Logo

It's a real shame that London as a whole hated this design so much. Maybe it's a display of our lack of vision, but I think it would be more accurate to assume that the Committee doesn't trust Londoners to come up with their own ideas.

That said, the disaster has sparked a HUGE amount of creativity among the millions who hate the design; creativity that without the alternative, wouldn't have been ignited. If it wasn't for the 80's throwback design, we wouldn't have the amazing (homemade) creations that have been shown in the last few days.

Every cloud has a silver lining; 5 years from now, we could be eating our words, as the 80's make a comeback, and we all wear brightly coloured spandex to our Junior school reunions. While we wait, here's some of the best alternatives.

Oli Lo Tech
Hackney










Brandfire

Little Miss Sunshine - Review

This was a funny one. I don't mean funny in the raucous, giggling way, but in slightly more of a chin-rub way.

The film starts with the arrival of suicidal Frank, (Steve Carrell) at his sister's house. It's there that he meets his new family: a mute nephew, a competitive brother-in-law, a precocious niece and a drug-addicted granddad.

When I got past that fact that the father is played by Greg Kinnear, who was also Benjamin Hobart in Friends: "Spell mboscodictiosaur" and the silent boy was a geeky character from The Girl Next Door; the plot carried itself along nicely.

The acting was impeccable, and the dysfunctional family created a contrast with the seemingly normal world around them. When they scratch the surface however, and enter the youngest daughter into the Little Miss Sunshine Beauty Pageant, it becomes clear that they are the rational ones in an imperfect (and often creepy) world.

Not knowing what to expect, the film neither surpassed nor disappointed my expectations; it was charming, yet the uncomfortable subject matter made me squirm a little, and most of the laughs were of the nervous variety. I wouldn't call this a comedy; I'd call it a darkly comic farce.

Maybe I'm just being a pleb....I still enjoyed it though.