Cool Manchester

This year has flown by so far hasn't it? Like most other years I seemed to have spent a big chunk of my time watching movies again [thank you Cineworld Unlimited]

It’s fair to say most of 2012 has been pretty dull and uneventful with many sequels, remakes, reboots and "reimaginings" being churned out at the cinema on a weekly basis... it hasn't all been bad though!

Special mentions go out to 21 Jump Street, Rock of Ages, The Hunger Games, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, The Five Year Engagement and Seeking a Friend For The End of the World but here are my top five movies of the year so far [not including July!]

5. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Judy, Celia, Maggie, Penelope and Bill... what a cast! This film was based on the 2004 novel, These Foolish Things and told the story of a group of people from different backgrounds entering their "Twilight Years" meeting in a run down Indian hotel.

Some critics were very harsh on this film, comparing it unfavourably to Carry On Abroad. Proof that people talk utter sh*t! The film so far has made over $125 million at the box office; I think that makes it a hit

4. The Avengers Assemble

If you thought £125 million was a lot of money, that's nothing compared to the $1.5 Billion that this film made. It was HUGE! Everything about it is epic from the eye popping 3D, the nonstop action sequences, some meaty visual and sound effects and a witty script from Sci-Fi legend Joss Whedon. You may question why I only put this film at number four, it's an obvious choice for the number one but there were some different and more "quirky" films that I enjoyed more....

3. The Muppets

It's time to start the music. It's time to light the lights...

Could this be the happiest movie ever made? As soon as the music starts and the cast burst into "Life's A Happy Song" I didn't stop grinning all the way through this film. You can call it nostalgia if you like but I BLOODY LOVE The Muppets and this film did not disappoint. How many other films have you seen that include a Barbershop version of Smells Like Teen Spirit?

Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, Miss Piggy, Animal and now Walter. I salute you!

2. Chronicle

I hated The Blair Witch Project; nothing happened other than a loud girl screaming in the woods carrying a camcorder and making the audience dizzy. The reason I mention this is that there are obvious comparisons with this movie. The whole thing is recorded with various pieces of equipment such as i-phones, camcorders and even helicopter cameras throughout.

The main difference between the two films though is that the characters here are much more believable and likeable. I don't want to tell you too much more as I didn't know that much about it before I saw it and I was really pleasantly surprised at what I saw. Brilliant stuff!

1. Jeff, Who Lives At Home

At the moment I am addicted to American Sitcoms, particularly those on NBC [The office, 30 Rock, SNL, Parks and Recreation...], and 98% of the films that I have watched over the last couple of years have someone from at least one of these shows. I have called this my "NBC rule" and it seems to be pretty accurate!

I mention this because "Jeff, Who Lives At Home" is a very small movie [seen by approximately 157 people when it was on] and I probably wouldn't have watched it myself had it not been for the two main leads - Ed Helms [from The Office] and Jason Segel [from How I Met Your Mother.]

I'm so glad I have been one of the few people who has saw this film though as it was just so warm and sweet. Jason Segel plays Jeff [he lives at home] and he doesn't do much other than smoke pot and obsess over the terrible film "Signs". As a result of his two main hobbies he believes everything happens for a reason and throughout this film he is proven right.

This film is not exactly what you would call "fast paced," if anything it crawls at a snail's pace at the start, but that really doesn't matter as the two main characters are so interesting and charming that you get caught up in their little worlds.

I know that this film won't appeal to everybody, but people who are willing to give this film a little time and patience will be greatly rewarded!

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So they were the best movies, here are the worst in no particular order [I only picked two]

Dark Shadows

Tim Burton directs Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Chloe Grace Moretz and Michelle Pfeiffer in a movie version of a 60s US soap, what could go wrong? Plenty it seems...

The whole film should have worked, it has a lot going for it, the cast was perfect and Johnny Depp is a very reliable lead star. However, the whole movie comes across as DULL. The action sequences are disjointed, not making much sense and the "story" is about as interesting as seeing someone's holiday slides for the 34th time.

Mr Burton could and should do much better than this.

Snow White and the Huntsman

Imagine a version of Snow White where the main character is played by the girl from Twilight. Yes, it IS as bad as it sounds!

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So that is the year so far, there are still plenty of big films on the way. Its very possible that the top five at the end of the year may be very different. We'll just have to wait and see!

This afternoon Mr Cameron issued a statement on the Official Number 10 website:

http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/pm-message-world-pride/

“The UK has been judged to be the best country in Europe in which to live if you’re gay so it is great that World Pride is being celebrated here in London – especially during this Diamond Jubilee and Olympic year.

“I’m very pleased that the Mayor of London has enabled the march and events in Trafalgar Square to go ahead and I want to thank all the volunteers who will be stewarding the event and contributing to it.

“It is 40 years since people first marched in London calling for equal rights. Since then we’ve come a very long way and progress is still being made. We have just finished consulting on how to introduce same sex marriage and we are working with countries across the globe to bring about greater equality.

“I hope you all have a happy Pride and remember all those who have, and those who are still fighting for, greater rights and protection for the LGBT community.”

Do you agree that the UK is the best country in the world to live if you're gay?

On the surface this statement makes me feel proud to be British. Its seems we have come long way in comparison to other countries in the world. The PM didn't have to make that statement and the fact that he has is quite a big deal to me.

My only worry is that the prime minister may be one of only a few Conservatives supporting LGBT issues. The party has a history of some very homophobic policies - section 28 being the main issue of concern. . . I just worry that any move forward would be stalled by his "back benchers"

What do other people think? Do you think this statement is a big step forward or just words to appeal to the "pink" voters?

Let me know your views

Organisers of Manchester Pride, have announced that G-A-Y will be bringing pop royalty Steps to the Big Weekend festival, headlining the Gaydar Main Arena. Fresh from their reunion and Ultimate Tour, Claire, ‘H’, Faye, Lee and Lisa will be wowing a packed arena at the UK’s leading Pride event.

During my spell of illness I have spent a long time online, especially Twitter, and I have noticed a lot more heated "tweets" with people throwing really personal insults about because of the most trivial things. I had a few insults thrown at me recently just because I said that Madonna's "MDNA" album "didn't do it for me." Within seconds I was branded a "hater" who "had no entitlement to an opinion" from obsessive Madonna "trolls." I wouldn't mind so much but I'm a huge Madonna fan so I don't really appreciate being branded a "hater" [what a stupid word anyway!] I've had it lucky though as some people have been told to "Die, Die, DIE!" by grown up Lady GaGa fans who fail to comprehend that people like other female singers.

Last week Twitter acknowledged that the amount of "hate speech" on their site needed to be dealt with:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tech/news/a390471/twitter-pledges-to-clamp-down-on-abuse.html Twitter has pledged to clamp down on abuse on the microblogging website. Chief executive Dick Costolo described some of the recent comments he found as "horrifying", and vowed to introduce new measures to tackle so-called "hate speech". The news follows reports of racist abuse directed towards members of the England football team following last weekend's Euro 2012 exit. Ashley Cole and Ashley Young were targeted after the defeat to Italy, prompting a police investigation. Costolo went on to say that any action taken to curb such behaviour will not compromise freedom of speech on the social network. "The reason we want to allow pseudonyms is there are lots of places in the world where it's the only way you'd be able to speak freely," he told the Financial Times. "The flip side of that is it also emboldens these trolls... How do you make sure you are both emboldening people to speak politically but making it okay to be on the platform and not endure all this hate speech? It's very frustrating." Earlier this week, Coronation Street star Shobna Gulati revealed that she was forced to quit Twitter over "violent, vitriolic" racist abuse.

The sad fact of the matter is that there are nasty people about with hateful opinions. Twitter gives them a mouth peace where they can hide behind a keyboard with virtually no recrimination. The chances are that these people would not dream of saying such things in "real life." Twitter though does have many positive things going for it too.

The social network tool played a massive part in last year's Arab Spring:

http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/facebook-and-twitter-key-to-arab-spring-uprisings-report

I have also managed to meet many interesting people online who I never would have come in contact with anywhere else. Many news stories also break on Twitter before hitting the main news sites [as well as a few fake ones!] and the site is extremely addictive!

Twitter is what you make of it, the "block" feature is very useful if you don't want to be seeing all the "haters" and if your follow the right people [*cough* @bluejovanka and @cool_manchester] it is also a lot of fun. I don't think I'll be leaving Twitter in near future. Facebook though, that's a completely different story....

Neil Young

Album By Album Career Retrospective

Part 3

– The Birth of the Hurricane -

1975 / 1978

By Andrew Barclay

‘Zuma’ 1975

With the depression and angst of the previous albums now behind him, Young reunited with Crazy Horse (Whitten now replaced by Frank Sampedro on rhythm guitar). Although the live one take philosophy adopted on the previous few albums was not used on ‘Zuma’, the ragged sound of Crazy Horse gave the impression of a similar first take recording technique. The massive difference though is the songs themselves, Young is no longer wallowing in the trenches of mental unrest, here, he’s soaring with Crazy Horse, much in the same way he has ever since.

‘Zuma’ could be said to be the album that all other Neil Young and Crazy Horse albums would be judged. The two and a half minutes of ‘Don’t Cry No Tears’ fly by, and its commercial sound must have been a boost to those Young fans who’d been lost since ‘Harvest’. Sampedro shows his chunky rhythm guitars blend well with Young searing needle point lead attacks.

Next up was the dense, brooding guitar work out of ‘Dangerbird’. The track is strange on the ear, a slow, seething number, Lou Reed announced that upon hearing it, he knew instantly it was Young’s best playing yet captured on record. Musically a distant cousin of ‘Cowgirl in the Sand’, ‘Dangerbird’ is an absolute triumph in every respect, and bolstered Young’s position as alternative axe hero, a reputation he first garnered from his first album collaboration with Crazy Horse.