Alcon 2009

Well after just getting back from Alcon and having un-packed everything from the car I am pooped! I thought I'd give a diary post review of what our weekend involved and what it was like. Its quite long but I hope I covered everything and don't sound too negative!

On friday morning I packed 5 dresses, 7 changes of clothes, 8 pairs of shoes, 3 suits, 11 belts (I know!) 3 pairs of gloves and a basket full of accessories as well as a packed lunch and some pot noodles. (essential for saving the pennies for merchandise - priorities people!) Due to the late arrival we missed a couple of things on friday. In the evening atmosphere was a bit slow, I got the impression that it was a private party and we didn't know anyone there - which of course we didn't. Despite this we had a good evening and I made friends with a fabulous man called Matthew who had on the most impressive velvet platform boots : D



On saturday I was raring to go, we went to the anime breakfast club at 10am and watched a wonderful anime called "the girl who time travelled". After that we had fun in the video games room and David came 2nd in the Mario kart Wii contest : ) They also had this awesome Rock Band drum kit with 4 cymbals and a hi-hat : D The DDR tournament had a bit of a delay but we eventually got going although disappointingly Alex got cut out in the first round!

Later in the day was the masquerade. There was a couple of great costumes but most, unfortunately, left a little be desired. I admire the effort put into costumes as a cos-player and costume lover myself, maybe I'm getting cynical or maybe I'm just getting too old for this but it did seem like a bit of a lame convention >_> I did have a good time, found some new things, I totally glomped Bowser and was very excited by the portal girl, kudos to you my friend!

Saturday evening had a better atmosphere but I felt quite "old" as Dave and I sat out from the dancing although he did have a burst of Michael Jackson-esque popping which was appreciated by everyone ; ) I also loved the group dance (despite the "d**k" being a pain as he was all weekend) and would love to learn it myself! Otaku or what ; )



On Sunday breakfast club was cancelled and we found out too late we were supposed to check out at 9.30am but we got it sorted pretty quickly and didn't loose our deposit. Once again not very well organised was the rockband competition, actually it was guitar hero and we won anyway so who cares : D The other things I wanted to do clashed with this so I missed out : ( We didn't go to the cosplay cafe as £3 is a lot of money for a cup of tea and some cake!! We did enjoy the AMV chillout though, for a couple of hours we sat reading our new mangas (Alex with his new Magic cards) and David had a nap ; ) The band that played, Machina Shogunate, we were really good too.

The over all feel was that we spent too much time hanging around waiting for things to happen. Also some of the big things clashed and you had to prioritise between them. It was a nice weekend but I would have been happier with a more professional/not so immature atmosphere and more to do. A convention should be like a music festival, always lots to do and lots to see and never a dull moment. Unfortunately this didn't quite work at Alcon, although the organisers say it was their best year. Well I think I will stick with the bigger more experienced cons next year : )

Shooting stars

Last night as previously posted, I sat and watched the Persid Meteor Shower. My husband and I headed into the meadow out the back our house with a blanket & Thermos to enjoy the show. We waited a while as the dusk took a long time to leave, it wasn't even completely dark before the moon rose but I got a look at 3 or 4 good ones and about a dozen little ones. Towards the end of the window - which is really the start of the real show - we saw the most awesome shooting star! It burned brightly and strongly for a few fractions of a second but it was so brilliant and bright, with several colours it looked like a rocket or firework.


Its a shame about the moon which is in its last quarter, I would have loved to have seen more but feel grateful for the chance, that rocket-star was unbelievably beautiful. I am still smiling even though it was last night! I love watching the stars and its even better snuggled up with my David on our anniversary, what a fine night it was indeed :)

The Perseid Shower

Every 130 years the comet Swift Tuttle passes through the solar system and obits the our sun, the most recent visit was in 1992 and since then once a year in august we earthlings are lucky to witness the Perseid Meteor Shower; this is when the earth passes through debris left by the comet on its last visit. The shower is a stunning collection of shooting stars!

This year there is a small window because the shower collides with the moon which will be nearly full. The moonshine will brighten the sky and make spotting meteors harder, but the bright one's (and the best for armature star gazers) should still be visible. The shower lasts most of this week but best time is tonight between 9.30pm after dusk and 11pm which is when the moon rises, Tuesday or Wednesday being the peak. I don't know about you but I am sure to be grabbing a blanket & thermos and heading to the meadow : )

Home grown

Apparently carrots are very hard to grow in a small holding, and many allotment holders have tried many times only to fail. I seem to have lucky green fingers despite my inexperience - I have no idea how I am doing it! Maybe its naive of me or the pride of my first crop but my carrots are perfect : )

were pride of place in my now full to bursting vegetable patch. I decided to pull them even though they are still very small, I was worried about the second wave of carrot fly and also the mulch I had mistakenly used last week on the whole veg patch.

So I pull my prized baby carrots: out of 20 I only got one green top and one split carrot, the rest were small and looked knobbly and I grew them from seed, the first edible plants I have ever grown and - in till today - they wonky but they cleaned up wonderfully and tasted perfect : ) I am happy to have pulled them and a bit annoyed at the mulch error, they might have been prize winners; i even got a funny one ; )

I won't be growing root vegetables again, they take too long to grow and take up too much space, and offer little harvest for the investment. After the plants I have tested this year I much prefer peas, beans and fruits that are quick to grow and harvest, which means I can show them to friends and family more often ; )

Friends for life.

Despite a tragic start I have to say 2006 was a fantastic year. I have no doubt that I and many of my friends dealt with our grief and shock by reminding ourselves we are lucky to be alive, the summer which followed was unforgettable.

At the beginning of the summer Dave signed up and was away for 6 months training, I still lived and home and was only working part time, I was foot loose and fancy free not to mention itching to be busy. We had parties all over the place and they were all full of music, dancing and good times. A whole gang of us went to download music festival which for many of us was our first festival, and boy what a goodun it was. We went out dancing every weekend, stayed out till late and went wild (in a well behaved kind of way lol). As autumn approached I was overflowing with enthusiasm for life and determined to see through the plans that had been made.

3 years later a lot has changed and the same group of friends go to the seaside for the day. Its a celebration and one of my dear friends is engaged to be married, everyone is ecstatic! We had a fantastic day, I bought a picnic, we spent out time chatting and paddling in the sea, Noggs even had a kyte. It was a great day full of fun and friendship and towards to end of the day I started to think where we would all be in another 6 years. Watching my husband play with the dogs, and the love birds cooing together it isn't hard to imagine us together with our own kids in tow.

We are already half way there, of those at the beach there are 2 couples already married, 3 engaged and 2 have bought their own houses. Not to mention pet owners ; ) I hope that in the next few years I still have the joy of company with the same friends I have shared my life with.

Circle 2003 from left Frank, Mark, Alex, Noggs, Little Matt, Me, Abe and Jig. (whos flat we are in, the first to move out.) We are all 17 in this photo.

Bagheera

On May Day we adopted Baggy. He is very friendly and sometimes vocal, he loves fuss and is a big tart! He is black and has a slim face (maybe some Siamese in him) and is quite big but not fat, just long and slender. We have called him Bagheera, which is Indian for panther as used in The Jungle Book. He does looks like a little panther and in the Disney movie Balo the bear calls him baggy for short so it fits in more ways than one ; )



Baggy came from the RSPCA center down the road. We went there 6 weeks before and were quite taken with Baggy but he came with a 2nd girl cat. We couldn’t commit to 2 cats at once so we left. On the 2nd of may we went back and they were still there! They didn’t come from the same home and the staff had decided that very day to separate them. Of course we wanted to take Baggy home straight away!



We have been slowly introducing Mr Toffee and Baggy, the first meeting went well. I don’t anticipate any problems as Mr T came from a house with 3 curious cats and wasn’t bothered by them. He has settled in well, he seems very happy and comfortable, we are very glad to have the new addition : )

Lookit lookit!

All together now: "Its cold outside, there's no kind of atmosphere...." Well this was a pleasant surprise, I had not heard about this intill today even though it has been on the cards for over a year now. I'm not sure about you guys but I know I am looking forward to see if it is good.



Can they really make the frequently dysfunctional group of individuals know as the surviving crew of Red Dwarf as funny as the first brilliant shows nearly 20 years ago? After 8 series -the last ending 10 years ago- will it be as funny? What with the now hardened actors and without the poor cgi and graphics? We shall have to wait for April 10th to see! I am really looking forward to finding out and and looking forward to Easter weekend when we catch up with the smegging gang : )

PS did you know Ronnie Barker auditioned for Red Dwarf?? I bloody well didn't! I'm glad Chris Barrie got the job instead, he is a brilliant actor and what holds the whole show together in my book, although its rather a close call with Danny John Joules who is just genius! I love that little shuffle dance the cat does "Woow!" He is just too cool for school : D

Police Abuse in USA

Warning, this is a distressing blog post and very information heavy. The following youtube video shows the highly reported and alarming story of Hope Steffey from Salem Ohio USA who sued Stark County Sheriff department and 6 of their deputy's in early 2008 for assault and harassment.




The video does not show the events leading up to it when Hope Steffey called the police for help after an assault at her home and was then arrested herself but does show the worrying scenes in which Hope Steffey was admitted to the cell and strip searched against her will. According to The-Review.com Hope Steffey was not asked to remove her clothes, nor explained why a strip search was needed. She asked them why several times while being forced as shown in the video. There were several male officers present against county policy as well as the video camera. As the tape progresses you can see how Hope gets more and more distressed by the ordeal.

Not only was she treated appallingly on several counts, abused and humiliated but there are several accounts that she would not have behaved in such a way without the head injury's and trauma from the initial attack, which left her unconscious with patches of hair missing.

Regardless of her innocence police abuse cases like this should not happen. Full stop. I was keen to read up on this story no matter how distressing it is, because her ordeal and others like it is my worst nightmare. The idea of being a) physically held down against my will and b) locked in a cell would be pure hell for me. It seems clear to me that this event was handled very oddly. Why would 8 or more members of staff be ready with gloves and the video camera? Why do half the night shift turn out to watch? And why was she left waiting alone in the cruiser for 5 minutes while the deputy talked privately? And afterwards why hide tapes and evidence from prosecutors and press? And why not give her clothes back after the search?

What worries me the most is that this is one of only who knows how many abuse cases. After doing a bit of research I found 5 other women have so far complained of similar treatment in this county. The bill of rights says you need a warrant to have your home or property searched but basically the police can FORCE a strip search on civilians at any time or place. Even in a public place in view of bystanders or your neighbours, let alone at the station with a disorderly conduct charge.

Compared to the story from Alcart police station where as a result there was 1 firing, 1 resignation and 4 suspensions, in June 2008 it was found by Grand Jury that the Stark County officers did nothing wrong. The event was as a result of precautions against suicide and self harm, and apparently in Hope Steffey's best interests. This was also said of "Elizabeth" another women who was strip searched at Stark County Jail. In November 2008 the sheriff finally spoke to press. I really hope the outrage and negative reaction's of the public to reports in the media as well as blogs and forums on this case and others like it shine some light on the system, I believe it needs a serious re-work to protect people in the custody of American police, the Sheriff and his deputies.

I can only say out of the several times I have been involved in violent crime here in the UK the police officers and their teams have been nothing but supportive, helpful and accommodating. I can only prey that incidents such as this are isolated, dealt with fairly and those responsible are punished accordingly.

Anime adaptations part three: Future productions

Future productions



Cowboy bebop is my favourite anime bar none. It has a seamless link of sci fi and realistic action (and fist fights) with anime and music, it is easy going, funny and cool. The characters are space cowboys who have a lot of our present day life in their story from their costumes to what they eat, which really makes you feel connected. This funky anime has impressed many including Keaneu Reeves who is really pushing it for production, they have a script but no one has come forward yet to take the rights for a movie. I think as an American actor in a very westernised anime he would make a good Spike Spegel and I look forward to some more information on it, Watch this space.



There is a big retro culture for our generation and as adults we love our 80’s cartoons, the top dog of which is Thundercats (although my favourite will always be Brave Starr). There have been several rumours about this live action movie and the rights for a CGI movie have been obtained for realise in 2010, not other information at this time. CGI sounds good as like Dragonball Z live action it could easily look silly, there are so many things that could go wrong. To prove me wrong here is a fan trailer – which took 18 months to produce btw- with a dream casting; Brad Pitt, Vin diesel and Hugh Jackman. So much eye candy! They look great and convinces me live action could be the way to go. Vin Diesel is the perfect Panthra, plus I’m sure he would look great in spandex lol They all look great, even Garfield and the spykids : D

Anime adaptations part two: The big boys

The big boys

Japanese anime classic Akira has a live-action remake. There will be two movies and both will be based on the 6 Manga graphic novels rather than the 1988 anime movie we all know and love. The first of which is due to be realised summer 2009, although there is no date and no trailer as of yet which is a bit worrying. It is being made by Warner Brothers and directed by Leonardo DiCaprio who also plays Keneda, a 34-year-old white man to play a Japanese teen? It is odd that a Japanese story will be played with American actors and I’m not sure without “americanising” it and there for ruining the atmosphere they can pull it of, but then it was always much more popular in the west than in Japan. Casting aside the cyberpunk story should translate well into live action; loads of action scenes, motorbike chases, government coups and sci-fi powers, all set in a post-apocalyptic city I can’t wait!



Ghost in a shell made in 1995 is one of the biggest anime movies of all time, it asks a lot of questions about future technology (it heavily inspired The Matrix) and I love it. It has 2 sequels, a series, several books and 3 computer games, all based on the Manga by Masamune Shirow in 1989. Dreamworks have the rights and Steven Spielberg is directing it, and an ex Marvel boss is producing. They have a script but no information on casting or a release date yet, and all the news I could find was nearly a year old. Even though it looks to be American made I’m sure the high-class production team and the 3D effects will be spectacular. I hope they don’t tone down the story line, and it’s a shame they cant use other content rather than remake the 1995 movie but I have faith in Spielberg (he is a fan of the movie himself) and I trust him with my 2nd favourite Anime Movie.

Anime adaptations part one: This Year

There is a big anime/Japanese culture among our generation here in the UK and after the last 5 or 6 years worth of live action comic book and 80’s cartoon blockbuster movies (transformers was awesome) it is only natural progression that they move onto anime and Manga adaptations. All together this would a be a long post so I will spilt it into 3 and try to embed trailers where possible.

This year

Blood: the last vampire is about a 16 year old girl who is really a 400 year old vampire. Set in post WWII Japan it has lots of action and samurai demon slaying, it looks good. This movie is being released on June 12th 2009 but only in the UK, no USA cinema release that just shows how large the Japanese culture is over here.



I’m not a big fan of Dragon ball Z but Dave is and the new movie is due to be realised April this year. Unlike Blood, this movie will be realised in the US and has an American cast. As with Akira I’m not sure the cast can pull it of and to a non dragonball fan the trailer does not look overly interesting - bordering on silly if im honest. This movie looks likely to disappoint fans with its attempt to draw in non-fans, and is likely to be a flop in the western world. (Sorry Dave)