Rally to Restore Sanity

The Rally to Restore Sanity finally happened. The demonstration happened yesterday on the National Mall in Washington where an extimated 250,000 people gathered. But they weren't shouting about terrorists or health care or anything like that, they want sanity.

The rally, led by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert (in character as his satirical self-obsessed right-wing commentator alias) was a call on America to return some commonsense to politics.

On the website they call on people who if they had to sum up their political view... they couldn't. "That's sort of the point."

"We're looking for the people who think shouting is annoying, counterproductive, and terrible for your throat; who feel that the loudest voices shouldn't be the only ones that get heard; and who believe that the only time it's appropriate to draw a Hitler mustache on someone is when that person is actually Hitler. Or Charlie Chaplin in certain roles."

Stewart wanted to come out against the over-exaggerating American media. The Beeb quoted a Tony P, from Maryland. He said: "This is about moderation, and less about right and left. There is too much hyperbole and not enough sanity." Which I think describes it nicely.

It wasn't just about sanity though. The event poked fun at the extreme views in American politics. and it was also seen as a counter rally to right wing Fox presenter Glenn Beck's "Rally to Restore Honour" back in August and Sarah Palin's Tea Party protests in 2009.

This wasn't about politics. It was about commonsense.

The Octonauts: Explore, Rescue, Protect.

I'm sleepy, in need of a nap, but my body disagrees. In this state of mind there's only one thing to do... watch children's television. TV shows bore me, I don't care about the news and finding something to listen to involves far to much effort.

And so I found myself watching a delightful show called The Octonauts.



The show follows Captain Barnacles (according to the website, a "polarbear extrordinaire"), Lieutenant Kwazii (a kitten with an inexplicable eyepatch... he still has both eyes!) and Peso the penguin (who's apparently a nurse) along with the rest of the crew of the Octopod.

To be quite honest I was genuinely surprised about how much the pretty colours, and cute animation pleased me. I genuinely laughed out loud when Dr Shelllington (a seaotter) had his foot trodden on by Peso. Though that may have been out of fatigue because the adult inside of me was well and truly awake enough to be concerned by why an Octopus had ears.

My sleepiness had subsided by the time a narwhal appeared (Russian, of course) and I was suddenly bombarded with facts about narwhals. Damn children's television; I was enjoying the story about the Octopod freezing in the Arctic waters when it wasn't moving quickly enough and having to be saved like a passing narwhal. Why did it have to ruin itself by teaching me about narwhals?!

I know all I need to know about narwhals from this song, thank you very much, Aunty Beeb!

Blog your relationship?!

One of the "assigned stories" for my News, Features and Reportage unit was entitled "Blog your relationship".

Blog your relationship?! I don’t think so. Yes, I have my own personal blog but my security’s tight. And I have a blog (here!) on an entirely different platform for my more journalistic ramblings. And on my Livejournal (my personal blog) I throughly vet anyone wanting to add my as a friend. You’ve got more chance if you live in a different country. But what about Facebook? I’m clearly in a relationship on Facebook and if something ever goes wrong in that relationship the break-up is broadcast to the world.



Has the “Facebook Status” become a milestone in the blossoming relationships of young people today? Where does dating fit in with being “in a relationship”? Should we even be telling the online community about our love lives? Or are we breaching our own privacy by moving our inner thoughts from locked diaries kept snug underneath our mattresses to their very own domain name?

Would you want a stranger reading your diary entries? How about your friends, your ex or even your boss? It’s not just your privacy that you’re toying with online when you blog about your life.

Popcorn, anyone?

Anyone fancy some popcorn? I just watched these sacks of pre-popped "delicious" popcorn arrive at the Odeon out of the back of a lorry. There's me put off Odeon popcorn for life.