The School (Hit and) Run

Teenagers are a total pain in the arse and seem to have no regard for their own safety. It doesn't seem to matter whether they're on foot or on a bike - but the menace is definitely worse on wheels.

As I am walking to work, so too are teenagers walking to school. They cross roads when the man is red and cross at the last possible moment before getting run over. If a motorist beeps their horn at them the kids often glare, shout abuse, make rude gestures and on one occasion I saw a lad kick a car (it was stationary at the time).

They do a similar thing on their bikes - they'll whizz round corners on the pavement nearly knocking over pedestrians and rush across roads without checking if anything's coming. There have been several times when I have seen lads flying round corners on their bikes, not looking to see what was coming and nearly crashed into a car that was approaching the junction.

It's a wonder more children don't die on the way to and from school because they behave so recklessly. There was recently an accident involving one of those mini moped things where two teenage lads collided with a school bus and were very seriously injured. But they just don't seem to care and they keep on leaping into the roads.

The Karen Curse

I seem to have a blog curse, especially when it comes to Mutterings and Meanderings' blog (see my link list). There will be several comments clocked up, I will add my thoughts on the subject and then no one else will say anything. I kill off the blog. The blogging equivalent of tumbleweeds roll by.

Now I know why I get so few comments on my own blog - because everything I say is deathly dull.

Those lovely people at AQA

I sent off my lottery winning story to AQA to let them know that they'd aided me in winning a tenner.

Today I got an email back saying that they liked my story and did I have any photos to accompany it - such as of my new umbrella?

I had to email back and say that I'd try my best as I didn't have the internet at home, only at work. Vince will have to take a photo of me with said umbrella, I'll put it onto a floppy disk and send it to them tomorrow.

They said they would let me know in the next couple of days if I had won the competition!

WOO HOO! £100 is almost mine!

Lottery

There is a wonderful text service called Any Question Answered (AQA) which kind of does what it says in the title. It is a bit pricey as it costs you £1 a pop, but if you're really flummoxed or are too lazy to look it up in an encyclopedia/online or like me, don't have the internet, it's a very good service. It's also quite fun to ask them daft stuff if you have a spare quid.

I decided to ask them what the most drawn lottery balls were. AQA said: 11, 17, 18, 21, 42 and 43.

They also said that the most overdue balls for a winning draw were: 2, 14, 20, 27, 36 and 41. They're quite good at giving you a little bit of extra information. They also wished me good luck.

I therefore entered two lines on Satuday and won £10 on the overdue numbers line! So I don't want to waste a quid so thank you AQA :) So far I have spent £4 of my winnings on a new umbrella as my old one had turned inside out and it was raining on my lunch break today.

Milk jug

As I have searched in vain for a 60s/70s milk jug in all the charity shops in Carlisle I have had to resort to ebay. I am currently the winning bidder on the above pictured milk jug. The auction ends just after 8pm on Monday 23rd.

All the milk jugs available in Carlisle are incredibly boring and plain or horrible floral patterns.

I ideally wanted a jug that had a blue/green pattern on but this one will do nicely.

So what do you think - hideous or cool retro?

Xerxes

OK so in my last post I had a picture of Xerxes in the film 300. In the film he is uber-camp. I thought he must be played by a cross-dressing basketball player as he towers over everyone in the film.

To my shock and disbelief, it is not a cross-dressing basketball player that plays him but an actor called Rodrigo Santoro, pictured above. I can't believe it's the same person. I mean the man pictured above is sexy and Xerxes was hysterically funny! Also Mr Santoro is only 6'2" and Gerard Butler who played King Leonidas is also 6'2" so they must have used some computer trickery to make him tower over Butler.

300

Well Vince and I had been wanting to see it for a while so when a friend of mine from work asked if we wanted to go and see it with her and her boyfriend we jumped at the chance. Not only was it my birthday but it also meant that we didn't just sit and fester at home. As we only moved to Carlisle at the end of August we don't have a social network at all really so it's nice to finally have a couple of friends.

The film is based on Frank Miller's graphic novel and follows the Spartans' battle against the hordes of the King of Persia at the Battle of Thermopylae. It seems highly unlikely that 300 soldiers will win against millions but you do wonder how long they'll last.

It is very visually stunning - there is exaggerated use of colour and lighting probably to mimic the look of the original graphic novel. Sometimes the colour is almost bleached out of the shot with just a hint of red in people's lips and whatever their eye colour is to show that it is not in true black and white.

There is lots of gore - people have limbs and heads hacked off, blood sprays everywhere but it is not sickening because of the stylisation. It makes it seem quite cartoon-like, again reflecting the original graphic novel.

The only downfall with the film is the amount of cheese. The script is pretty bad but the worst thing is the narrator - he states the bloody obvious all the time, often repeating something that has only just been said by one of the characters.

Then there is Xerxes' hareem of freaks. Ephialtes was cast out by the Spartans at birth because he was deformed. He wants to fight with the Spartans but his deformities prevent him from being able to do so and King Leonidas casts him out once more. Ephialtes is a bit of a Gollum figure. He then decides to betray the Spartans as Xerxes offers him riches etc. etc. just for kneeling before him. Xerxes has a bit of a God complex you see. He then goes to the hareem of freaks and gets some kicks from other freaks.

Xerxes is camper than a row of tents and creates much of the cheese in the film but makes it an absolute hoot. He has weird cheek piercings.

Does he really look that scary to you - like he'd be able to command hoardes of countries and rule almost the whole world? Not if you ask me.