19/11/18: Some Truly Fantastic Beasts and No More Cameos

Intro

Week 14. So, strangely this week I met a famous person. The poet Laureate was at my Uni, and somehow I wound up managing to get an interview.

Film

I went to the midnight showing of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald on Thursday, and I have to say, it was brilliant.

Not many films make me feel things, but this one really strikes a chord. The reason is down to Johnny Depp' portrayal of the eponymous villain, and while he is excessively powerful, Grindelwald is made terrifying because of his words.

Where Voldemort was undeniably a figure of evil and united everyone to fight against him, Grindelwald makes things personal. Throughout the film, he seduces almost everyone he meets, appealing to their desires, and as a result, he tears people apart.

The best comparison for him I can think of is David Tennant's Kilgrave, from Marvel's Jessica Jones. He had the power to literally brainwash people and for me that's what makes a truly horrifying villain: someone who change the way you think, without you being able to stop them.

Culture

It was a sad day for Marvel fans last Monday, as news arose of the death of legendary comic creator, Stan Lee.

Earlier this year, Lee revealed to the public that he had been fighting a battle with pneumonia and in February, he was rushed to hospital after his condition apparently worsened.

Lee was universally loved for his work, from the creation of characters like Spider-Man and The Avengers to his small cameos in most Marvel films to date, and social media has been flooded with tributes to the writer.

(Source: Wikipedia)


Lifestyle



Now for a story that has gone viral. A couple got engaged this week in the most Geordie way possible: the groom-to-be presented the ring in a Greggs Festive Bake.

Apparently, Tony Brown got down on one knee and popped the question to partner Rebecca, but the only thing he had on hand was the bake 'in case he got peckish'. According to him, he had been trying to work out how to propose for a few years by this point and the moment just felt right.

Afterwards, the pair and their two children then decided to celebrate in a fitting way: they got more food from Greggs.
(Source: Metro)


Legal Things

Donald's back at it again (sadly without any white Vans). CNN and Trump have been in legal battle after the President and Jim Acosta had a fiery exchange at a press conference.

When Mr Acosta, who works for CNN, questioned the Commander in Chief about the issue of a caravan of immigrants from travelling from South America, the President attempts to shut him down. A female intern attempted to take the Microphone from the reporter and Acosta can be heard saying 'Pardon me, Ma'am'. The White House alleged that he accosted (budum-tish) her, but footage shows this was not the case and he himself said that it is an outright lie.

Afterwards, Mr Acosta's 'hard pass' (a press pass for reporting in the White House) was revoked, and CNN sued the White House. The Judge who heard the case temporarily restored the licence, but the battle between Acosta and the POTUS is far from over.

Just today, a letter was sent from the White House saying that he will 'hold his credentials until the Judge's 14 day order is ended'. 

Do you think the President is right to hold Acosta to account or is this the enemy of free speech?
(Source: ABC)


Brexit



While this is rather terrifying, it's quite funny. While before, the country was wondering whether or not Brexit was a good idea, now many more people are sure: Theresa May's cabinet have buggered off to a man.

A little indecent and maybe not accurate, but I'm not far off. Over the course of 6 days a total of 8 MP's have resigned, 7 of them being in the same 8 hour stretch. The most important however is Dominic Raab. For those that don't know, he was the Brexit secretary, but said he cannot i good conscience support it.

By saying this, he has basically said he doesn't want to pull the trigger that may very well kill the country. If the man in charge of Brexit is saying that, then the public should start to ask some serious questions as to where things went wrong.
(Source: Sky News)

27/08/18: Karma's using hacks and Trump's Wild Week

Intro

So, week two of the blog and I hope you're enjoying reading it, 'cause I've become invested in writing it. Also there's no order to what I write, it just depends on what I write first and if I can joke about it... mostly.

Gaming



First this week, the Call of Duty (CoD) world championships took place, conquered by E-sports team Evil Geniuses, who won the $600,000 grand prize. While the prize is sizable, the tournament itself isn't very news worthy per-say, but the story preceding it has bred shock across the world.

Earlier this year, Douglas 'FaZe Censor' Martin made waves on the internet when he announced that he had broken up with his girlfriend of three years, weather-girl Yanet Garcia. At first sight, this seems like an issue that everyone has experienced at some point or another. However when one considers that miss Garcia is considered one of the 'top 10 hottest women on the planet' and the reason Martin ended things was to focus on his Call of Duty career, many would and have called him mad.

Arguably, Martin possessed the dream, rockstar-gamer lifestyle that every teenage boy could be EnVyUs of: playing videogames for a living and a supermodel on his arm. But while many would lambaste him as a noob, it is understandable. E-sports as a career, among others in the gaming world, can be incredibly lucrative, if one has the talent to back it up, and Martin, taking third place alongside his team and the $100,000 prize, clearly has the talent. So in truth, he's appears simply to be following his dreams over a relationship at the moment which is hard to argue with.

However, as he only came third after claims he would win in his video detailing the break-up, could the universe be sending him a sign? One that reads: 'Dude, just take take the L'.
(Source: Business Insider, Newshub) 


Sports



I know I said not to expect a sports section but, much like the first story of this weeks post, my interest is not in the match itself, but more the participants.

YouTube heavyweights (masterful pun), Olajide 'KSI' Olatunji and Logan '-REDACTED-' Paul, competed in a highly advertised boxing match this week, the latest in a series of events, sparked after Paul's controversial vlog in Aokigahara Forest AKA the 'Suicide Forest'. In the down-spiral that followed, KSI proceeded to challenge Paul to boxing match during his victory over fellow YouTuber Joe Weller. 

It could be that KSI sought to enact social justice upon Paul for his bad taste in vlogging location, that he intended to simply further his boxing career or to take advantage of Paul's current public focus. However, the reaction of fans and the outcome of the fight largely suggest the latter.

The fight ended in a draw, with both sides claiming they thought they had won. Many have since suggested the fight was staged in order to make money and with each walking away with around £30m-£40m or more, it's not hard to see why. The adage of an upcoming rematch in the face of this result, increasing that number exponentially, only seems to add fuel to the fire.

The two fighters are not the only YouTubers with skin in the game, however. Felix 'Pewdiepie' Kjellberg, posted a video weeks before the fight and regarded them both as 'Scumbags' for their respective chequered pasts, both of which seem to mirror the other on a number of issues. However, Pewds is not completely without sin himself arguably ruining the lives of many YouTubers by catalyzing the demonetization issue, and receiving reprimand for a number of inappropriate comments. This suggests that Paul and KSI aren't the only ones seeking to make something from this fight and that we're all just getting sidemanned.
(Source: BBC News, The Express)


Politics




This past week has been described as one of Trump's 'worst weeks' and its not hard to see why.

In a torrent of legal trouble, two major associates of the Trumpalump, his former campaign manager and his personal lawyer and fixer, went to court over eight separate felonies, each, Making for a grand total of sixteen. The campaign manager, Paul Manafort was convicted on eight felonies relating to various financial frauds while, on the very same day, Michael Cohen, his lawyer pleaded guilty to eight felonies of his own, two of which involved payoffs to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, regarding two of Donald's less pure moments.

Not only this, Cohen then went on to state under oath that payments were 'for the principal purpose of influencing the election' and were made 'under the direction of Trump', thus implicating the President as an uncharged co-conspirator on two admitted crimes.

Trump made a number of other blunders, in various interviews that seem to simply add fuel to the fire, but his week has been rounded off with something satisfyingly inane: at a visit to an Ohio children's hospital, he managed to colour the American flag wrongly by adding a blue stripe to his own version of the star spangled banner.

It seems the copious layers of fake tan he applies aren't the only things making him look like an orangutan lately.
(Source: Forbes, The Independent, Sky, GQ)


Religion



Over the weekend Pope Francis made a historic trip to Ireland, the first papal visit to Ireland since Pope John Paul II's visit in 1979.

However, the 90 minutes he spent on Saturday with the survivors of clerical sex abuse are the most striking. The leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin, remarked that the Pope was 'moved and shocked' by what he heard and he told the survivors he though of the abuse suffered as 'filth'.

After the meeting, Pope Francis made a 'personal handwritten' prayer in which he begged for forgiveness for a number of abuses perpetrated by Church leaders. 

It was read during Mass the next day.
(Source: BBC News)


TV



It was announced earlier this week that Declan 'Dec' Donnelly will receive a new co-host on the reality show to fill in for his long time partner, Anthony 'Ant' McPartlin.

McPartlin, earlier this year, was convicted on a drink-driving charge which led to a 20 month ban from driving and an £86,000 fine. In response to this, the presenter announced that he would be taking a year off from television, to attend rehab.

In the meantime, a number of shows have been affected due to Ant's hiatus from the screen. One example being Saturday Night Takeout, which bears the names of the duo, will not air during McPartlin's break. However, ITV have announced that Dec will continue to host I'm A Celebrity, with a new, currently unnamed co-host.

ITV's director of television, Kevin Lygo, stated: 'It's going to be Piers Morgan. No I don't know, it could be Jeremy Corbyn. I can't say'. This has led to mass public speculation, with bookies listing Scarlett Moffat and Stephen Mulhern as favorites for the position.
(Source: BBC News, Sky)