When it’s still a tree? When it’s just some sheets of paper stuck together? Well for some people the answer is actually “When it’s a graphic novel”. Now I’m not going to get into a rant about the difference between comics and graphic novels but before we start let me just make a quick distinction between the two by showing you some pictures to explain the difference.

If you already know the difference, please feel free to skip this paragraph. Here are some pictures of comic books: All Star Batman and Robin and The Walking Dead. And now some graphic novels, Watchmen and Freddie and Me. And just to confuse everything there always the compilation which is a lot of comic strips thrown together in a book, which is technically a graphic novel but is closer to a collection of stories, like Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes, or the compilation of the Clerks comics. Hopefully that has cleared it up a bit. A comic book is one of those little regular books which you get to read every so often and only get part of a bigger story. These compilations put them all together, normally in chronological order, so you have a nice bound copy of the story lines without needing to worry about reading lots of the comics put together. Now technically Watchmen is a compilation of comics, however they all tell one continuous story, unlike Clerks or Calvin and Hobbes which tell a set of stories. Freddie and Me is a true graphic novel in the sense that it is a novel, an autobiography to be exact, in picture board form. So there’s your difference, on with the purpose of this rant.

Many people seem to feel that because a book isn’t all large chunks of text thrown together then it doesn’t constitute a worth while text and so they have the attitude that it isn’t a real book, made entirely for kids and anyone who is over 12 and still reading these comics clearly has no concept of great works by ‘real’ authors. OK so maybe the content of these books doesn’t contain the high standard of writing from the literary greats, but if we look at these books some actually convey a meaning that people fail to understand. Let’s take Watchmen. If you have never read a graphic novel before this is the one to start with.

Originally from DC comics with a 12 issue, monthly run, this re defined the industry in ways that were unimaginable. With the question of who watches the watchmen Moore, who also wrote V for Vendetta, and Dave Gibbons, Art Director of 2000AD, took the idea of ‘normal people’ who become costumed adventurers despite not having any super powers, well save one. But Watchmen changed everything, the dialogue, the symbolism  and the way we look at those strange masked people.

The story is one of people facing ethical and personal problems, whilst they also happen to be masked adventurers. The differences in people’s morality is also explored within the novel. And all this set against beautifully drawn artwork. This is far from a book aimed at kids, the subject matter is clearly for a more mature audience, so why do people simply see it as a child’s book?

The same can be said of Wanted, or of V for Vendetta, but how about Freddie and Me? It is something that to me seems like an interesting idea, an autobiography, in graphic novel form. As the author states, the format lends itself perfectly to autobiographies. People’s memories are often made of those fuzzy images you can see in the corner of your eye, still frames, so why not just draw them and put the words over the top. Freddie and me tells the life of Mike Dawson who grew up, and indeed remains, a Queen fan, and he relats how Queen’s music has been with him throughout his life.

It is a wonderful book, well illustrated, and far from a children’s book, why would a 12 year old want to read about an American Cartoonist and his obsession with some old band? Then of course you look at a novel like Tales from the Clerks and, just like the films, this book is not for the kids. OK so Calvin and Hobbes is a comic strip that appeals to kids and grown ups. Whether Calvin grows to take the lead in Fight Club or not we all know, deep down, we were that kid once, sort of.

So there you have it, a look at some of the graphic novels. There are so many out there it is impossible to list them all. Wikipedia has a list of the award winning ones, and they are a good place to start. If you’re new to this whole thing and think, maybe I should take a look at some of these things, or if you still aren’t convinced grown-ups can read and enjoy them I suggest you start with Watchmen. Yes, OK the film’s coming out some time soon, but don’t do this how you did your book reports, read the book, you won’t regret it. Following that go and pick up 300, Compilations of Peanuts, or Calvin and Hobbes are always good for a laugh, Freddie and Me may interest you, I would also suggest Cages and there is always Maus infact the list goes on, but that should start you off. If after that you still don’t think these are real books, then oh well, at least I tried.

Back on 21st March a Spanish horror film was released over here. The film was from Guillermo Del Toro, and with a name like that backing it, there was no doubt it had to be worth a watch. It’s very rare that a film by Del Toro will disappoint you, and let me assure you, this is no disappointment.

There are those who won’t watch a film like El Orfanato just because it involves reading, and who goes to the cinema to read anyway, it’s far too dark. That said there have been some very good foreign language films recently, Kite Runner for instance, and of course Pan’s Labyrinth, also from Guillermo Del Toro. This film was wonderful in the cinema, and now it’s out on DVD I suppose I should correct my mistake of failing to give it some space on my blog.

So often now do we see horror films from Hollywood that rely purely on blood guts and gore to justify their name and use the cheap trick of a stinger, that sound that makes you jump before something happens on screen, that these new horrors really fail to provide anything that truly matches the films from days gone, such as Halloween (the original), The Omen (original) or the Texas Chainsaw (original). Wait.. I;m spotting a pattern with these films and the appearance of remakes, oh well. But this raises the question, despite the fact The Orphanage succeeds in getting you scared without these techniques, for the most part, is it actually a horror film?

It is, undoubtedly, a ghost story, the same vein as Del Toro’s Devil’s Backbone, but it is far more a psychological thriller than a straight up horror. With horror we have the idea that the ghosts are there to scare people, zombies will eat them, sheep will make you into a sheep, sorry, I watched Black sheep the other day. But with this you can either read it with ghosts being there, or maybe it is part of a fantasy from a woman whose son has some very interesting imaginary friends.

Without giving too much away the story revolves around Laura. An orphan who has returned to the orphanage where she spent the early part of her life with her husband, and son. She wants to retun the old building to an orphanage for disabled children, but her son makes some new friends, six to be precise, but none of them seem to be real. Laura slowly finds that something sinister may be lurking in the house, something she must confront if she is to have a chance to save her family.

the fear of ghostly children was explored, with great effect, by Del Toro in Devil’s Backbone and he does it again here. It seems that whilst a child who is dead is scary, a child who is dead, and has a mask made out of a sack is even scarier. But as with the Devil’s Backbone, perhaps that fear isn’t needed.

Something that’s always interested me about horror films is that they never seem the same when you are alone at home as when you are in a cinema. I had the cinema almost to myself when I saw this film, and in a nearly empty dark large room this film is great. in a small dark room at home, it’s almost a little better.

This film deserves to be seen by the world. It is a great step back into what can make a horror/thriller really worth watching. It is a shame that less people will see it, just because it is in Spanish and you have to read the subtitles. If you missed this film in the cinema then buy the DVD, go, it’s out now. If you saw this film in the cinema then you almost certainly have the urge to go and get the DVD anyway so I won’t bother telling you to. And if you are sitting thinking “It’s in Spanish, I’m not watching that”, you are being silly, stop it and watch this film.

As I followed this story through the mass of controversy it seems right that following the latest up date I should resolve the story line.

Before I start I will direct those of you who have no idea what fanboys is, and the past story to some of my previous posts, (starting with the earliest) With or Without the Meaning, That Fanboys Thing, and There Is Still Good In Him.

The news appeared yesterday on the Stop Darth Weinstein website and was met with a giant cheer around the globe of Star Wars fans who have been waiting to see what would happen in this epic fight of good versus evil. No lightsabers were drawn however but the light has conquered the dark at long last.

The news that everyone wanted to hear, that the original director would be editing his film, reached the ears of the boycotting fans who have duly recalled their boycott and will once again go and see Weinstein films without fear that they are providing money to a company who stole their film.

Rumours have been announced of a San Diego Comi Con preview. We all remember the scenes of standing ovations from adoring fans at the Celebrations last year, and now a year on, after much turmoil, a near-cinematic version could be seen, and hopefully the response will be the same.

And so with cheers of ‘Yub nub’ sounding across the galaxy Fanboys will appear, in its original form, with original plot line, and the fans will enjoy it.

MTFBWY

Now I’ve made my opinion on religions fairly clear in past posts. This post is not going to be a rant against religion, this is against people withing a religion doing silly things that really don’t come across too well to us people out here in the real world.

Last night the Church of England’s Synod voted to allow females to take the post of bishop. Now that, in all fairness, seems like a very nice idea, we are in 2008 after all, even if the earliest real opportunity for a woman to become a bishop is 2015. However the main leads in articles seems to be shock that there is no ruling on the idea of ‘ Super Bishops’. As you are no doubt aware there are members of the C of E who feel that women should not hold the position of bishop, many still find the idea of female priests entirely against the will of God.

I will admit I find the idea that a member of the C of E can say Jesus would be most upset to see women taking a leading role in the church but say nothing of how he would feel seeing images of him dying on a cross, because obviously at the second coming he would love to be reminded of the last time he was here.

The idea of a ’super bishop’ is that those parishes who don’t think they could handle the idea of a woman boss can listen to a man instead. For those of us living in a world controlled by political correctness this seems like a very interesting idea. People are employed, correctly most would agree, regardless of age, race and gender, why does the Church operate under different rules? The main reason for a lack of legislation on super bishops would be because it would be illegal, but the chance of a “code of practice” change that allows super bishops is still a possibility.

And just to make the debate even better, some 1,300 clergy have said they will leave the Church of England should a woman become a bishop. Yes, that is 1,300 people who still appear to be living in a time where women only stayed at home and did house work. 1,300 people who teach about loving thy neighbour who are incapable of accepting that a woman could possibly hold a higher place in the church than them, because they are female, and females weren’t disciples.

I would like to make a small point on this matter. Now, I;m not an expert on the bible, but to the best of my knowledge wasn’t the first person to see Jesus after he became a zombie arose from the dead a woman. If Jesus were to reveal his newly alive body to a woman the first time, why would he turn and run the second time because a woman was actually telling people what to do in ‘his’ church?

So, there can, at some point, be a woman bishop, isn’t that terrible, the Earth will implode all because of it, or am I overreacting? Well, we’ll all find out when it happens, some time after 2015.

MTFBWY

So, I’ve just returned from Wanted and have been told that I will review it, and so to keep my one reader, that would be you Jordan, happy, I will fulfil his wish and get to work.

For those still in the dark Wanted is a film about some highly skilled assassins who follow the will of a strange binary code hidden in weaving, of all the thousand year old traditions, this is an interesting one. Based on Mark Millar’s comics of the same name this film strays quite some way from the original source, but still there, hidden deep down, the two works share the same core.

For those who have seen Fight Club you may sit thinking ‘this seems slightly familiar’, but there is one major difference. Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) is unlike Edward Norton’s narrator in that he has no wish to improve the world with his violence, he is simply in it for himself. Oh, and there’s no Tyler, but hey, we all know what happened with him any way. So, to join Fight Club you also get a smidgen of The Matrix and you have Wanted.

So, a white collar who finds violence and kills people, it’s an interesting idea, and could either go the way to greatness that Fight Club went, or it could just be a horrible film that no one likes.This film however seems to walk a happy middle, erring towards the good.

If you like a touch of believable in your films then go and watch Indy IV, because you will get more there than you do here, and as soon as you see the opening scene you will understand what I mean. After some mad driving, bullet bending, bridge jumping and an interesting train crash you reach a part that had me reciting Star Wars lines.

This film manages to keep a solid pace throughout and your adrenaline levels will be raised to that level that mans you move closer to the edge of your seat than you normally like. Having said that it’s a film that no critic would ever be able to say “it’s completely wonderful’ and keep their job. It has the stunts, it has the stars and it most definitely has the CGI, which undoubtedly make it a summer movie. It is however the violent, incomprehensible fun that blends crazy and good in that wonderful description “crazy-good”.

The biggest fault, for me at least, was how far it went from the comics, but, as I have always said with any book adaptations, you never want to compare the film to the book, because you will always be disappointed. So I will take this apart from the source and say, it is a great film with the undeniably predictable ending, but with such slick film-making it really doesn’t matter. At the end of the day it is a good summer film.

As for The Guardian’s review stating that the film should have ‘Not’ put in front of the title and that it appears to have been written by some 13 year olds, maybe a reviewer without a Cambridge degree would have been more suited to watching the film.

MTFBWY

It has been 30 years since those evil invaders launched their first wave, like blocks from Breakout that shoot back. The defenders have been many, and only ever face the waves one at a time, except some Japanese defenders. There have been many deaths on both sides, but there is always someone to take over. 30 years is a long time for one war, but it still continues and shall continue for many more years.

Sounds like a bloody war doesn’t it? but I have no doubt that most people reading this have taken part in this dreadful war. And everyone who has will have enjoyed it. That’s right, I am not describing an attack on Afghanistan, nor Iraq, but the invaders are not of this world. They come from outer space. One of them may well be called Spay, and these are his men, well, his aliens. Space Invaders has been going strong for 30 years.

30 years is a long time for a game to survive and still be played by kids in a version so similar to the original it’s unbelievable. In this world of HD graphics, motion sensitive controllers and hard drives in your console how can a game that is in 2D game made for an Intel 8080 (that was 2MHz and pre x86) still have the support of so many people? If any game can be held up as an example that graphics don’t make a game then Space Invaders is it.

Space Invaders was inspired by that ball game ‘Breakout’, you know the one, you are a paddle there is a ball, you need to bounce the ball at some blocks to get rid of them and earn points. Well, a certain Mr. Tomohiro Nishikado thought, one day, “what if those blocks could shoot back?” and so after combining Breakout, War of the Worlds and Star Wars (everything links to Star Wars) Space Invaders was born. And it has stayed here for 30 years. Going through Arcade, Atari 2600, the Atari 400 and 800, the 5200 and the NES. We had Space Invaders part 2, we even had Pepsi Invaders for Coca Cola employees. and so the list goes on, through Return of the Invaders, Space Invaders 91 and the latest installment, Space Invaders Extreme.

I have fond memories of playing Space Invaders on my uncle’s old Atari 2600, and those really nice flash versions. It’s such a simple game, shoot the evil baddies who are slowly moving toward you, and occasionally the UFO that flies over head. But how many other games could someone play for 38 hours and 30 minutes (That’s the record for the longest game by a 12 year old with a special pause button for bathroom breaks). The highest score puts me to shame really, 55,160.

Who knows how much longer Space Invaders will stay around. I’m sure that there will always be someone willing to play Space Invaders, and on that note, I have the portable version sitting here, so I think I’ll have a game or two.

MTFBWY

So, the issue of net neutrality has been circulating for some time now, but two recent news items may well have an effect on internet users as much as net neutrality, they come from two different countries. One is from Sweden, the other the US, and both strike at the core of the internet.

Firstly the Swedish problem. Last week the Swedish government decided, that despite a great deal of protests, they would introduce a wiretapping law. It gives the government the right to monitor phone calls, and internet traffic, within the country without the need for a court order, or other authorisation.

I can already hear the cries of “if you aren’t doing anything illegal then why does it matter” being screamed, but think this through. It means that if you connect to a Swedish website, one hosted in Sweden, then you are going to have the details of your connection sent to the Swedish government, so that it can be saved and stored. I have no objection to being treated like a criminal if there is a reason to believe that I am doing something illegal, however if I am sitting at my PC happily surfing the net, why is there a need to log my activities?

Let us also not forget what the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has to say in article 12:

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

I am well aware that ISPs are able to track, to a certain extent, what web pages I view, and other related information, but there is a difference between someone who I pay to provide me with net access having details stored in a database somewhere about my surfing habits and a government storing information on what sites in that country I visit.

The infamous Pirate Bay have put out a call to all ISPs to block any and all traffic to Sweden. Whilst an entertaining idea, and one that would probably give cause for concern in the Swedish parliament, it isn’t going to happen. No ISP in the world will block traffic to a while country purely on the say so of a pressure group. In the mean time TPB is going to offer SSL encryption, and set up a VPN or all the nice international users.

From a government monitoring your traffic to a country who clearly has no concept of the internet. 49% of Americans believe that the federal government should regulate the internet in the way it does TV and radio. Yes, that’s right the same way the FCC throws a hissy fit when there is a ‘wardrobe malfunction’ will be applied to the internet. Now, I’m not an expert on the deep dark depths of the internet, honest,but I think there would be lot of blocking of a lot of websites.

Would there also be restrictions on the websites depending on the amount of swearing in it, would a website which doesn’t fully agree with the government suddenly become inaccessible? The internet, as it stands, is open, free and anyone can say anything they want, as I’m sure this, and any other WordPress blog is proof. This is one reason thatnet neutrality is such a big deal. As soon as you start to filter the internet to something ’safe’ then you get the old familiar website “bringbacktheporn.com” (I don’t actually know what’s on that site so please don’t go there and blame me for what you see).

The other question is why do people in the US feel the US Government has the right to filter the internet, even if it would just be for people in the US. It would, in theory, extend to sites hosted in the US, which is quite a large percentage. The internet is an international entity, no one government can truly lay claim to it all, it is out there, don’t mess with it. People here in the UK have suggested a ‘watershed’, how would that work exactly, 9pm, or whichever time is decided, in which time zone, and does it apply to people who are old enough to see the material whenever they want?

The internet is almost impossible to control, unless you are BT who throttle anything non-HTTP, or you are Virgin and your CEO believes net neutrality is “A load of bollocks”. I find it hard to believe that 49% of Americans voted in this poll and really understood what they were saying.

So, who does own the internet? The ISPs? well, they provide you with access to it. A Government? They may have control over sites in their country, but not else where. Tim Berners-Lee? Well, maybe. I have a better idea. The people who use the internet, the people who make content, the people who aren’t the annoying 12 year-olds who can’t type, they are the ones who make the internet what it is, and they are the ones who ‘own’ the internet.

Well, not me, I wouldn’t want all the responsibility.

MTFBWY

Well, I have finally finished my final exam, so technically I have finally left Shenfield, so I suppose that I should do some form of look back at the seven years there, just in case some people think I don’t care.

Seven years is a long time, not quite as long as 10, but longer than five, you get the idea. It doesn’t seem seven years ago that I walked into Shenfield High School for the first time. I didn’t actually know anyone there on my first day, simply because all the kids from my old school had gone to the other local secondary, but by the end of the day I knew quite a few people and it would appear that I still have pretty much the same friend seven years on.

There were of course those who left for another country, those who changed school after year 11, those who decided to go to a posher school down the road and re-do year 12, but for the most part, the same core group who used to stand on a strange cracked path opposite all the important offices at break and lunch are still at Shenfield. We’ve migrated, in fact we did when they chopped out beloved tree down, but we still see each other most breaks and lunch times, or at least did until we finally left.

It’s strange how even after 7 years of seeing each other five days a week for most of the year we still find things that we can talk about, and we even find topics when we talk over the internets and whenever we feel the need to spend some sort of quality time together outside of school.

The gaggle was pretty much formed 7 years ago, it’s changed slightly, it’s got the name, but the foundations were laid that day in September 2001. We all have those little things we can remember from the 7 years. Well, some of us do, Paul’s memory isn’t that great though.

I could, now, launch into things about the X-Team, but that will come later, instead how about the memories of 7/7. Adam, Paul and myself were in an IT lesson with a cover teacher. that teacher happened to be a deputy head. When a technician comes in and tells the deputy head to go on Reuters you know some thing’s happened, especially when it involves the projector being turned off. Quite a few people failed to do any real work that lesson, most were sitting on the BBC website, or Reuters, but no-one stopped us.

But from the tragedy to celebration, a few months before that Paul and myself were pulled out of our History lesson by a different deputy head, along with Josh, Anthony and Ben we were told we had won a competition. A national competition in fact. One that would take us to a different country for 10 days. Pakistan to be precise. That is one day, and one trip that I’m not likely to forget in a hurry.

Memories of coming in one day and reading graffiti on the Sports Hall wall, the open evenings we’ve been there for, the teachers we’ve had, the lessons we’ve been in where we’re supposed to be helping but just end up chatting with either the teacher, the kids, or each other.

People rave about the quality of education in private schools, but you can’t pay for the sort of education I have received at Shenfield. There are so many different kids at Shenfield, and I’ve had the chance to meet them all. I have had to dodge small children running into me, put up with the kids who think they know it all, seen kids who try so hard but just don’t get it finally work out how a Macro works, and that is something I am very grateful to Shenfield for.

I have had some truly great teachers in the past. It is a shame that Shenfield students from now on will never meet teachers like Mr. Diamond, Mr. Mackrory, Ms. Burns or even Mr. Berry. But it’s nice to know that Mr. Graham will still be there in IT, Mr. Garrett still down in Art, Mr. Sheriff teaching kids English and 6th formers Media and film.

No more will I be in a school with a hovercraft that I helped build, I won’t be sitting in the editing suite helping year 12s do their coursework after the PC has corrupted it twice already, and I won’t be standing at the back of a year 7 IT lesson trying to work out why it is kids can’t follow simple instructions.

It has been great fun at Shenfield, there may have been a time I wished I’d gone with my friends from primary school to that other local secondary, but now, after 7 years, I’m glad I didn’t.

Only one thing can truly sum up my memories of Shenfield lessons of the past:

Die kamera ist kaput.

I suppose I should really post some form of update regarding the beautiful flying machine that is the Shenfield High hovercraft. It is quite simple really. IT FLIES.

Well, by ‘fly’ I suppose I really mean that it is able to limp quite happily accross the school field and carry two people. There is a slight fuel problem at the moment however with some extra part arriving on Tuesday we hope to have her flying properly around by the next time the club meets on Thursday.

It has been a long, hard slog. Somewhere in the region of 20 months so far, and it is finally capable of transporting a pilot (Mr. Adams) and a passenger, if only for a short time before it cuts out after the fuel fails to reach the engine. A slightly cut version of a video of the flight is available on google vids and the photos are available, as always, on my Flickr account in the Hovercraft set.

There has always been doubt sitting in our minds that us 6th formers wouldn’t see it finished before we left, let alone have a chance to fly it. However that chance is now very real, well except some idiot who left Shenfield before the rest of us.

It isn’t ready for any races just yet, and chances are that it will be a while before she would pass the safety checks, however she is a very nice toy and safe enough for flying round the school field.

She has been officially named as “The Tuppercraft” and will shortly have a dedicated website on which all updates, photos, videos etc. will be collected and it is doubtless that it will lay un-updated after the gaggle have left Shenfield, but it’s there for now, and will serve as a nice little place for us to see what it is we did during the last two years at the school.

So that’s the end of that update, and quite possibly the last on this blog regarding the hovercraft, but hey, she flies, that’s all I really care about.

MTFBWY

–Update–

The website has now gone live and is available here. including the full video and my Flickr photoset.

I mentioned before the possible death of county cricket, it would appear that perhaps Scykd Berry was correct to say that county cricket was soon to die, as new plans the ECB have unveiled may mark the death of the county game as we know it.

As it stands the county cricket championship is split into two divisions, with the 18 counties playing 16 matches a piece, this appears set to change. The ECB have announced plans to change the format to 3 divisions with a 12 match format. This seems to be a drastic shift away from the 5(well, now 4 day) game towards the increasingly popular one day game, or even the one evening game that is Twenty20. The plans are for the gaps to be filled primarily by a new T20 league the “English Premiere League”, does that name sound familiar to anyone else?

The EPL will consist of the 18 current first class counties and three other teams, possibly from abroad. There will also be a change to the Pro40 game. Instead of the current 40 over innings being delivered in one chunk the innings will be split into smaller chunks of, you’ll never guess, twenty overs. Yes, that will make Pro 40 effectively two Twenty20 games tacked together. but the 50 over game, that will remain pretty much unchanged.

Now, I am aware that we are living in a society with an increasingly short attention span, but why is it that a game which is most easily identified as cricket being cut back in favour of what is effectively an English baseball. The England side performs fairly well in the test game, as has just been proved by the series win over New Zealand, however the England Captain Michael Vaughan, has warned over this shift in emphasis.

The test match is the basis for cricket, why do we now need to cut it back? The players love the game, OK so the crowd drawn at a Twenty20 match is greater than that at a day of a test match, but combine the crowd of all 4 days and you will see that the draw still exists. The players enjoy playing the game, it is where many of them started, but it would appear that all the ECB are concerned with is the money that can be drawn in, and of course we can’t have Sky losing viewers of their shiny cricket coverage because the game is too long.

The Ashes is a series of test matches, and it will hopefully remain that way. Now it is clear that we aren’t exactly the team with the best record in that particular series but there is one way to improve. Let the future country players get a bit of practice at surviving five days on the field. That isn’t going to happen by taking four games out of the county calendar and training the team up in Twenty20 matches.

The atmosphere at Twenty20 matches is clearly a plus, and it isn’t there for the 4 days of a county test match, but why is it that we need to split Pro40 down as well as taking out test matches? These changes seem to be a road towards the death of the game, and it’s something the ECB really need to think hard about before 2010 when they plan to implement all of these changes.

MTFBWY