Well, hello there..

So I'm just going to come right out and say it. Technology is ruining humanity. 

NOW NOW NOW.. before we get ahead of ourselves, I admit I am a slave to my mobile phone. It's like my upmost most prized possession. However, I'm old enough to have one as I have friends to communicate with and social networking sites that need my opinions and randomness to excite their news feeds. 

What I don't understand is why children that are 10 have mobile phones. Nonono I'm not talking about your average nokia brick phone, that has the oh so mesmerizing snake game. Hell no! I'm talking about blackberrys, iphones and so on.

Yeah yeah okay I understand that some parents may need to contact their children if they work and need to pick them up from school or somewhere. Seriously, HELLO YOU CAN DO THAT ON A £15 MOBILE PHONE. 

Picture this.

You're at a dinner party with family and friends, just ate a beautiful plate of homemade biryani with salad that isn't just green, dull and ugly. You're sitting down on a sofa surrounded by people you love (well they have to be likeable at least otherwise you wouldn't be at the dinner party.. don't complain they have fed you!) anyway moving on.. yeah so you're all talking, laughing etc. When you turn your head slightly to where some of the younger children are sitting at. Then you see the following.

They are all just sitting there, either on: ipads. iphones. blackberrys. or even samsungs.

So whatever they may be playing a game but come on, when I was like 7 I used to play ludo or hide and seek and irritate my mother by nearly bashing into the table because I was running around like a headless chicken.

Being free, playing around, not taking anything seriously, isn't that what being a child is about? I thought people get stuck behind a computer screen when they are working! Gosh I would do anything to become a child again, or just have that free mind. Where you don't have to worry about failing in life, because you're doing what you want to do. Adults that are happy in the career that they are in right now are really lucky, it freaks me out that I don't even know what my favourite subject is. PFT. And I'm expected to attend university next year, god help me. Please.. pretty please.

Well, I think thats enough of some sort of rant, or blog, or well I think I've just complained tbh, if that counts as anything. Time to leave off on a random note..

' I'VE GOT THOSE HAPPY FEEEET' :'D

- Hen-nah

Cats...

You all knew this was coming...(here's some cat facts before you start reading my post)

My cats are literally like my babies. I’ll probably end up like one of those crazy ladies living with 50 cats, and that thought doesn’t even bother me! Honestly though, something happens to my heart whenever animals are mentioned. Most of you probably know that I have this( totally amazing) obsession with cats, but honestly, it’s not that bad. Trust me guys.

It’s strange though, like I can sit there talking to my cats for hours when I’m in a bad mood, but then when humans try to talk to me, I get all angry and they’ll probably make my mood worse. My cats though, they’ll sit there silently with their gorgeous little eyes just staring at me. They might throw in a couple of pieces of advice here and there, but mostly, they just sit there and listen. You’re probably thinking ‘what?’ and I don’t know how else to explain this…but I can understand cats. You can just tell what they’re saying from the way they meow or the way they look at you, it’s crazy, I know, but it’s true. I think people who love cats as much as I, will understand what I’m trying to say here, but if you don’t like cats, then I have no other way of explaining this to you, and you should probably stop reading this post.  

If you hate cats, I hate you. If my cats dislike you, then I don’t like you either. Simple as that. One thing that really annoys me is when guests come to my house who don’t like cats and my mum agrees with everything they say, and make them sound so bad, but my babies are so good! I’m then forced to take them out, and it breaks my heart when I see them scratching at the window, with their cute little eyes, practically begging to come back in. Why don’t the guests leave? If you don’t like what’s in my house, get out, simple. Then as soon as they go, my parents love my cats again. No, that is NOT how it works.

Seriously, do not cross paths with me if you hate animals, because you will not leave my presence without crying. I will make you feel absolutely terrible, sit you down, and lecture you with all my facts, okay? I’ll tell you about how animals have feelings too and they understand when you say you hate them. I’ll tell you how you have no right to say those things. I’ll tell you that I like animals more than you.

 

I would like to make an animal shelter when I’m older and rescues all those stray animals, because seeing them in the rain and cold every day actually breaks my heart *tries not to cry*. Animals have feelings too, and we should love them, because when an animal loves you, it really loves you.

That’s the end then I suppose, I could continue if you want me too though...

Candy :)

Fluffy :)

A.P ~

Are Oranges the Only Fruit?

............................................................................................................................................................well, the easiest way to answer that question would be NO.
This brings me onto the whole idea of what i'm trying to get at here and it is... dan dan dannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn - FRUIT

We all underestimate the stereotypical fruit bowl, with a not so yellow banana, bruised apple, 1 grape and if your lucky a pear, reaching out to be consumed and freed from the glooms of that dreaded bowl...

Whats more important is,  are we eating enough of our fellow 'healthy' fruits? Again this answer to this is NO.  Research has found that fewer than a third of adults and only one in 10 children are eating their recommended "five-a-day" of fruit and vegetables... so i've come up with a couple of ways to glamorize your fruit bowl and make it that oh so much more exciting:

The perfect fruit bowl recipe

Equipment needed for your new and improved bursting bowl of flavor:

• A snazzy, hip and 'cool' fruit bowl 
• And a selection of your new founded love of exciting fruits 

Suggestions for your new fruit bowl (its good to keep somethings the same)

• Bookey Bananananananasss 
• Addictive Apples 
• Glamorous Grapes 
• Kicking Kiwi's
• Cheeky Cherries 
• Dangerous Dragon-fruit 
• Naughty Nectarines 
• Raunchy Raspberries 
• Mega melons (we like em big) 
• Unusual Ugli Fruit

Method:Go to the shop, buy your fruit, put it in your new fruit bowl and there you have it, your a changed person, icier than ice, cooler than cool, your fruit bowl will blow everyone else's out the water, you run your fruit bowl now, so go on.... EAT EAT EAT!!

If you find any of the things i've said confusing or upsetting then find me and we can work through your befuddling situation and get you on your way to your new lifestyle with your oh so important and cherished fruit bowl

Despicable Lea :) 

Pre-prepared Apple Pie Filling

http://www.waitrose.com/shop/ProductView-10317-10001-255720-Pie+Perfection+Bramley+apple+fruit+filling

There’s something quite joyous whist strolling down an aisle, food shopping with a parent. Shopping for the household is seen as quite a stressful task, I however, tend to find it quite enjoyable on the rare occasion that I tag along. Perhaps it being because I’m not in the parental position. So down the dessert aisle of Waitrose I went, my dad some distance behind me leisurely pushing the trolley along. I then came across the wondrous creation that is ‘fruit filling’. That drive home, I spent my thoughts on the evolution of food products in the past 100 years, also wondering how else they may develop in the future.

I found this astonishing, is it just me? I've never heard of such a thing, but with today’s advances, surely it was only a matter of time until it filled the shelves. Pastry is one thing, but central to the pie is that wholesome, apple goodness, of which I believe should be produced in the hands of the cook! Tradition somewhat seems to be declining, though innovation is forcing through.

We’re not exactly inclined to do an awful lot of cooking in our teen years until we reach a mature age, and most of us certainly don’t. Including me. However, food is the basis of our lives, and in one moment I thought deeply about the complexity created which simply began from much more plainer, refined items, without the snazzy inventions of food companies nowadays, all mostly primarily produced for convenience.

Surely ‘pie perfection’ relates to a purely homemade effort, but I suppose our taste buds vary person to person when it comes to a good pie. Rich and fruity chunks of bramley apples under a butter enriched, sugar coated pastry is the foundation of a good one. Agreed? Well, finished off with that luxurious serving of the custard, of course. Bird’s Custard Powder, anyone?

M Chacko

Miley Cyrus - What Happened?

What you have just witnessed is the unruly music video to Miley Cyrus' latest single, 'We Can't Stop'. The video sees her grinding and writhing all over the place, and shows how drastically her image and music has changed since her days as a star of Disney Channel.

Many people would call her latest attempt at trying to re-invent her image as an artist as a step in the right direction, but I however, disagree. I think that in this video Cyrus tries exceedingly too hard to be someone that deep down she really is not. It was only a few years ago that she was portraying the role of 'Hannah Montana' on the hit Disney Channel show, so such a drastic change is astonishing and quite shocking for young fans of the star.

I am sure that there are many young girls all over the world who view Miley Cyrus as an inspiration, and no matter how hard she tries, people will always recognise her as a sweet, innocent child star. Her recent behaviour could be deemed as ineffectual, and she may now be seen as a bad role model for all of her young fans, who are easily influenced by the ways women are portrayed in the media.

Lyrically, the song is a typical run-of-the-mill party anthem, with Cyrus claiming that 'it's our party, we can do what we want'. However, some of the lyrics of the song have caused controversy with their ambiguous meanings - for example, Cyrus sings the lyric 'dancing with Miley', but it is actually unclear whether she says 'Miley', or 'Molly' - another name for the drug ecstasy. She also sings 'everyone in line in the bathroom, trying to get a line in the bathroom' - this immediately suggests connotations of taking the drug cocaine. These lyrics may have completely different meanings, but their implications may not have such a positive effect on young people who look up to her.

Overall, the song isn't entirely bad, but I think that Cyrus should have a long, hard think about the consequences that her new image change can have on young people who see her as an inspiration and a positive role model. If she carries on at this rate, the younger generation will not shape up to be a very pleasant one.

Charlie Stockwell

The Sun

The only way I felt

Warmth

Was in your arms.

The only way I felt

Eased

Was the touching of our palms.

The dark side had took 

Over me.

Control I once achieved was

Stolen away.

Unwillingly,

 I felt.

...

The only way I feel

Safe

Is in your essence.

And the only way I simply

Feel okay

Is in your presense.

The bright side has taken

Over me.

Control I once achieved

Melted away.

Willingly,

I feel.

Your sunshine has taken

Over me.

Control which I no longer

Need,

Has melted away.

Willingly,

I feel -

The power of the sun.

- Hasna Maliq



Italo Calvino: Invisible Cities

Jeanette Winterson (some of you may remember her – she wrote that book about fruit) once wrote that Invisible Cities by Italian writer, Italo Calvino, is the ‘book I would choose as pillow and plate, alone on a desert island’, and while I wouldn’t recommend eating off this book (it’s quite small) or using it to rest your head upon (again, it’s quite small – and hard), I would definitely recommend reading it.

Published in 1972, the novel takes the form of a conversation between the 13^th century explorer Marco Polo and the Chinese emperor Kublai Khan (also immortalised in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s virtually indecipherable, opium-fuelled poem Kubla Khan, but that’s another story), during which Marco Polo describes a number of cities he has supposedly visited on his travels. These descriptions become increasingly imaginative and imaginary as the novel progresses. For example, take this description of the city of Argia:

What makes Argia different from other cities is that it has earth instead of air. The streets are completely filled with dirt, clay packs the rooms to the ceiling…We do not know if the inhabitants can move about the city, widening the worm tunnels and the crevices where roots twist…everyone is better off remaining still, prone; anyway it is dark.

From up here, nothing of Argia can be seen; some say, “It’s down below there,” and we can only believe them…At night, putting your ear to the ground, you can sometimes hear a door slam.

Or this one of Eutropia:

On the day when Eutropia’s inhabitants feel the grip of weariness and no one can bear any longer his job, his relatives, his house and his life, debts, the people he must greet or who greet him, then the whole citizenry decides to move to the next city, which is there waiting for them, empty and good as new; there each will take up a new job, a different wife, will see another landscape on opening his window, and will spend his time with different pastimes, friends, gossip.

Calvino’s fictional Polo goes on to describe a city built on a cosmic plan, a city built on stilts, a city that never ends, a city constructed entirely of water pipes, a city divided between the living and the dead, a city divided between work and play, and many more (including Octavia, ‘the spider-web city’). In these descriptions history, fantasy and reality are inextricably intermingled; they are, in the words of Kublai Khan, ‘consolatory fables’.

This is the second novel by Calvino that I have read (the other being If on a winter’s night a traveller – which consists of the opening chapters of ten different novels!) and there are definite similarities between the two books. Both are incredibly original, imaginative and inventive, and both dispense with a traditional narrative structure in favour of an episodic approach with the different elements of the novel held together by the themes and ideas that Calvino is exploring. In the case of Invisible Cities, it seems to me that it is the nature of cities and the importance of travel and consequently of home that is being explored; Polo has travelled extensively across the world, but it is his home, Venice which seems to be always on his mind as he tells Khan that ‘Every time I describe a city I am saying something about Venice.’ It is the schizophrenic nature of cities, in all their multifarious splendour that interests Calvino (as well as Polo, Khan and the reader); it is their duality, their insatiability, their unlimited capacity for expansion, their horror and their delight.

Cities, Polo contends, are the ‘inferno of the living…the inferno where we live every day, that we form by being together.’ What could be a more appropriate description of London in 2013? There are, Polo tells Khan, ‘two ways to escape suffering it’, but you’ll have to read the book to find out!

Mr R.

Ivor Cutler: I'm Going In A Field

When he was alive, Ivor Cutler (1923-2006) was a quite brilliant poet, singer, songwriter and musician. He was also Scottish.

Cutler first experienced nationwide fame when he appeared in The Beatles’ film Magical Mystery Tour as bus conductor Buster Bloodvessal. Following his role in the film he made an album with Beatles’ producer George Martin, called Ludo, on which I’m Going In A Field appears.

Cutler’s music is gloriously silly, and seems to hark back to a simpler time and a simpler life and serves in the 21^st century to remind us all that everybody takes everything FAR TOO SERIOUSLY. It’s not all work, work, work you know!

Mr R.