Lion King

Weekly update.

"There isn't a person anywhere who isn't capable of doing more than he thinks he can."
-- Henry Ford

Andy Williams. RIP. He will be remembered as one of the all time greats. Crooning, “Moon River”, Cookie Bear and most of all at Christmas.

This week saw the publication of JK Rowling’s first adult novel and I guarantee that because its title doesn’t start with the words, ‘Harry Potter’ no one knows its name!! It is for the record called “The Casual Vacancy”. So now you know!

On an unusual political note for me, I just feel that with the upcoming US elections, I really have to say this, more as a warning than anything else. You Americans are intelligent beings and can decide for yourself which way you are going to vote and I well understand you may not like your current ‘man’ and may think a change is due. BUT. Please be very careful associating yourself with a party that has among its ‘Top Guns’ people that use the most damaging oxymoron I have ever heard, “Legitimate Rape”. Maybe, just maybe, the time for change is later when the Republicans have eradicated these inhuman monsters from their leadership.

This week had within it, Arthur Guinness Day! One of the world's best ever marketing promotions and was celebrated the world over by painting the town(s) black!!

Hopefully you should be able to view the amazing UK commercial, "HERE" 

It's of course never to late to celebrate with a pint of the black stuff!!

Sunday.......

For my regular feature at my photo blog click

HERE

31 years ago today, Liverpool FC and the entire football community lost the one man that in the realms of football strategy and planning has never been replaced. 
Bill Shankly the greatest football manager in the history of the game. 

Never replaced, never forgotten.

F1 Fun.....?

Speculation is due to end today about Lewis Hamilton's $100 million move from Mclaren to Mercedes, when the F1 team sign off on the deal at their Stuttgart headquarters.
This will end two months of rumour and indeed rumour mongering.
It is unknown at this time whether Michael Schumacher, seven times world champion, will have any ambassadorial part to play with Mercedes, the team he came out of retirement to drive for three years ago.
Good luck to both Michael and Lewis in their future careers. 

Bosses at Wilko News are as yet unsure whether allegiances may be forced to change next year as previously they have never supported a German based team.... even with British drivers!!

Right.... so within an hour of reluctantly accepting we may have to get to like Jensen Button, Lewis Hamilton's replacement at McLaren is announced..... 22 year old Sergio Perez!

Let the F1 fun begin!! 

Blind dogs!

There are a number of reasons that makes this picture newsworthy!
First of all the topicality of the replacement referees and the harm that they did to the NFL in the three weeks that the 'real' officials were on strike.
I posted this pic on Facebook purely for its comedic value in relation to 'blind' referees!
This however was a charity event for Guide Dogs held in Liverpool and the person being led by Rayma, the three year old Labrador is Luciana Berger, the Labour MP for Liverpool, Wavertree. 
I respect Luciana for donning the blindfold and to be led through a set of obstacles by the Guide Dog. A commonplace bit of work for the dog, but can you imagine how traumatic that could be for the partially sighted or the blind. More people should do this to raise funds and awareness for the Guide Dogs and those that train them. Well worth every penny of the £12,000 that it takes for every guide dog to be trained.

Update time!

ITV Drama sponsored by Sky Broadband……….. interesting and slightly confusing.

“The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people.” Unusual concept these days! Especially in the realm of American politics. Made altogether more intriguing by the fact it was originally said by Woodrow Wilson, the 28^th president of the United States.

CSI in one of its varieties is apparently shown somewhere in the world all day every day, an absolutely amazing fact and certainly not worth disputing. The one thing I do know for sure is that the one person most grateful of this state of affairs is the writer of the theme music for all three varieties, Pete Townshend! CSI’s success is apparently keeping him financially in the manner to which he has become accustomed.

Ok, now I’m really confused – can anybody explain exactly WTF is the day celebrated this week - International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Jeez I don’t know! However by the end of the day and many Oooo Aaaargh’s and walk the planking phrases, I did warm a little to it!! Captain Jack’s quote sufficed at first, “Shoot him and cut out his tongue, then shoot his tongue! And trim that scraggly beard!” Then remembering that there has always been different kinds of pirates to our fictional heroes, “This is Caroline on 199, from the Mi Amigo, your all day music station!” Though you may have to be of a certain age and upbringing to fully appreciate that. 

It's Sunday so time for the Sunday Supplement, over here.

The World of Food.

You've got to love this haven't you?

Stupid thing to say really.... No you don't have to love it at all!! But I do and I would maybe like it that you loved it too!! Or maybe I couldn't care? Maybe!!

The missing Facebook pictures!!

"My Granddad says that I should eat my breakfast and not wear it...... I think it's trend setting!"

"This is me practicing my cat walk look, like it?"

"My Mummy and Daddy didn't like these pictures that Granddad took of me and posted on Facebook, but I do!! Publish and be damned Granddad!!"

Weekly update...... again!

Well eleven years ago this week was one of those days when you will always remember exactly where you were and how global events impacted on you. 9/11 of course, but the nature of the event made it go on for all day so it is much easier for us to remember. Much easier than a single shot or a ‘small step’. Maybe that’s good because we must never ever forget the atrocities of that day in 2001.

So what a good race and consequent result for the Italian F1 Grand Prix from Monza last weekend. Monza of course the home of Ferrari and irrespective of which cars were successful in the race itself the whole weekend epitomizes the passion the Italians have for Ferrari and rightly so! However it did come as quite a big surprise to see the commercial for “Scuderia Ferrari, new fragrance for men”! Ok I’m sure it’s really nice, that is if your significant other likes the smell of petrol and burning rubber!! Whatever turns you on!!

I don’t think you will have seen this if you are not in the UK, (this may not even work but click here for the commercial) but I absolutely love the Bruce Willis commercial for Sky Broadband, especially the whispered, “It’s Bruce Willis!” from the Unlimited ‘As am I’ young lady!!

The word ‘randomly’ seems to be used and maybe even overused a lot these days and now even more so for me because I realized this week that it is an anagram of ‘My Ronald’. Referring of course to Ronald MacDonald on whom I and a number of friends “Blame Ronald” for almost everything.

Great to see the return of the series on the trucks and drivers of Eddie Stobart and the photographers and spotters of the trucks, ooops that’s given the game away a tad hasn’t it? 

Time for the Sunday Supplement over 

...............HERE!!!

Liverpool Biennial

2 of 180 life sized multi-coloured pigeons that are adorning
 the Walker Art Gallery as part of the  Liverpool Biennial.

For full details of Liverpool Biennial 2012, the UK's contemporary art exhibition click HERE
For more pictures of 'Pigeons of Colour' click Here!
Also featured on My Photo Blog.

Did you know.....

........ that today is National Policewoman Day?

In 1910, the Los Angeles Police Department hired the world's first female police officer, Alice Stebbins Wells, a former social worker.

Wells toured the nation starting in 1915, promoting the hiring of women police officers. She also founded the International Association of Policewomen. In 1934, she was appointed the historian of the Los Angeles Police Department. By the time she had retired in 1940, Wells had been a policewoman for 30 years.

9.11

Eleven years ago today, September 11^th was also a Tuesday and one of those days in history that you will always remember exactly where you were and how events shaped up for you.

Eleven years ago today, September 11^th 3,000 people died in terrorist attacks in America and more specifically at The World Trade Centre, New York City.

Today in 2012 on September 11^th please spend 5 minutes to remember those dead.

WE MUST ALWAYS REMEMBER TO PREVENT THESE ATROCITIES FROM EVER HAPPENING AGAIN.

A friend of mine alerted me to this poem, one of thousands that have been posted all over everywhere in the years since 9/11 and I am reposting it here as my way of remembering the horrendous chain of events and the loss of life that happened on this day in 2001.

ONE

As the soot and dirt and ash rained down,
We became one color.
As we carried each other down the stairs of the burning building
We became one class.
As we lit candles of waiting and hope
We became one generation.
As the firefighters and police officers fought their way into the inferno
We became one gender.
As we fell to our knees in prayer for strength,
We became one faith.
As we whispered or shouted words of encouragement,
We spoke one language.
As we gave our blood in lines a mile long,
We became one body.
As we mourned together the great loss
We became one family.
As we cried tears of grief and loss
We became one soul.
As we retell with pride of the sacrifice of heroes
We become one people.
We are
One color
One class
One generation
One gender
One faith
One language
One body
One family
One soul
One people
We are The Power of One.

We are United.

We are America.

Eleven years further back in history in January 1990 I was in New York City and took some pictures of the World Trade Centre, I am posting some of those pics as my own memorial of that terrible day.

Thank you for reading and remembering.

September 9^th 2012 eleven years on.

"Didn't we do well!!"

Hey listen these Paralympics, we did well!! We meaning ParalympicsGB. We ended up 3rd but needless to say if it was done on number of medals as opposed to number of Golds we would have been 2nd. An absolutely amazing achievement it just has to be said.
Here's how the medal table finished : 

                        
                                      G                 S                  B                TOT 
CHINA                         95                71                65               231
RUSSIA                       36                38                28               102
GREAT BRITAIN      34                43                43               120
UKRAINE                    32                24                28                 84
AUSTRALIA              32                 23                30                 85

Another weekly update.

So it’s awards time and this time the MTV Video Music Awards, great, I’ll be able to be really cool and comment on it, because I’m not such a boring old fart that I don’t like a lot of the top music videos, especially the ones good enough to be winning awards. Sky plus it while the Paralympics are on and catch up on Saturday, great!! I guess the writing is really on the wall when you haven’t a clue who the main presenter, Kevin Hart, is? Then a seemingly endless parade of people reading out the nominations and receiving the awards that I had not even heard of let alone anything they had done. Yeah ok I gave up and so what I’m old and a boring old fart that listens to Planet Rock but at least I know my limitations. Anyway it saved my Googling every single name I heard!

Did you know that the unofficial name for Wheelchair Rugby as played in the Paralympics in London is Murderball ? There was a film called Murderball which featured members of the USA Wheelchair Rugby Paralympic team and what an absolutely amazing sport it is!! Aggressive in the extreme but exciting? Wow, yes!! In fact if you were not feeling it, just a bit, then I would recommend you have your adrenalin glands looked at!!

Sticking with the Parlaympics and the wheelchair based rugby and basketball, both hard aggressive games that depend a lot on precise passing of their respective balls and subsequent tactical and necessary time outs. Time outs which of course are used to refuel and refresh the team members with bottles of liquid and towels. All of which are thrown at them for speed by the teams support staff. Good job the game is stopped for this important interlude because the number of dropped towels and drinks would lead to a lot of big turn overs and lost points!!

I love free stuff!! Coca Cola true to their word as part of their sponsorship of London 2012 promised a free Coke for everyone in Britain, which I do believe was always a possibility. With the TV adverts and huge publicity, this week saw the final part of this promotion. So I printed off the voucher took it to Boots and got my free bottle of Coke! Simple!! Tasted so much better because it was for nothing!!

Sunday Supplement.....

.........over here!

Saturday quote!

"Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none."

~ William Shakespeare 

Kids!!

TEACHER: George, go to the map and find North America.
GEORGE: Here it is!
TEACHER: Correct. Now, class, who discovered America?
CLASS: George! 

Did you know.....

that today (6th September) is 

BARBIE DOLL DAY!!

The first Barbie Doll was put on sale, this day 1959. 

So Happy 53rd Birthday to you Barbie dearest!!

This is what she looked like at birth>>>>>>>>>>

Creator Ruth Handler watched her daughter Barbara play with paper dolls and noticed that she often enjoyed giving them adult roles.
Ruth used a German doll named Bild Lilli as her inspiration and named the doll after her daughter.

I guess at this point it may be a good idea to thank Ruth for naming her daughter Barbara, imagine how much worse it could have been!! Her own mother's name was Ida, I leave the consequences to your imagination!! Her son's name was, surprise surprise, Ken!!

. 

High Five!

.........................

"It was only a sunny smile

and little it cost in the giving

but like morning light

it scattered the night

and made the day worth living."

~ F Scott Fitzgerald. 

Weekly update!

Well it’s been quite a week I have to say!!

First off these Paralympics are the most amazing spectacles of human achievement I have ever witnessed in all my life. Extraordinary Superhumans! Every single one of them wherever they are from , whatever their disabilities, whatever their stories and however they are classified. ParalympicsGB are doing very well but that’s only part of the story. The sports are merely another part. Think on this for a moment, partially sighted Judo, wheelchair basketball, swimming for double leg amputees, blind 5 a side football! Sitting volleyball and Goalball stretch the imagination just that bit further. If you’re watching you’ll know, if you are not, you should! For me incredibly humbling and in so many ways! How dare we even mention minor health ailments or go back to bed when we are not feeling 100%?

Secondly I have to say how incredibly stressful it is when you are concerned about great friends that live thousands of miles away and they are living through a natural nightmare in the shape of Nasty Bastard Isaac, also known as Hurricane Isaac. Yeah ok also huge relief when this Hurricane goes back to a Tropical depression, power is restored to houses and everything starts to return to normal and they are all ok. But even so!! That may appear to be a very selfish viewpoint but when you are totally powerless to do anything it really is a horrible situation to be in.    

Thirdly and this is the non selfish side of pretty much the same thing. I had already done a post on here to remember the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina on Wednesday. As there were some horribly ugly comparisons to be made between Hurricanes Isaac and Katrina, right down to the date, time and place of landfall on the Gulf Coast, I felt it slightly insensitive to allow for any type of Remembrance for Katrina while many of the same people were going through all kinds of the same emotions involved with natural disasters of this sort. Only now through this post do I feel it timely to Remember Katrina. Now obviously is as good a time as any to go visit the memorial as featured in that post as maybe now the need for some calm is greater than ever!

Most of you probably know I am a big fan of Formula 1 Motor Racing but today from Spa in Belgium saw the return after their August break to the racing and the first time ever I have watched it on my own satellite TV system. Welcome to my home Sky F1 HD channel, awesome, one and only word!! Yes I am eating my words to do with BBC and Rupert Murdoch and blah de blah. Serves me right maybe for being so opinionated!!

Finally and a big WOW! Doctor Who is back!! How good was that? How much did I miss it?

Sunday so here is my ............

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT!!

Did you know that the infamous 'Nokia ringtone' is actually based on a 19th century Spanish guitar composition?