"Well" I hear you cry, "What did you get out of this weeks lecture?" I'm tempted to say 'fuck all' but that would be rude, so I shall instead say... "I found the lecture very heavily orientated towards the animators and found difficulty in relating anything mentioned to my practice." Also, I hate loony tunes. Something about them just gives me seeeeeeeerious heebie jeebies.

HIS SUIT WAS BETTER CUT THEN ONE OF FRED WESTS VICTIMS

After a lecture I found overly orientated towards the gaming community an a technical hitch, I was not to excited at the prospect of a seminar going over the same old drivel. However, as the kids these days would say, it was ACE.
There are so many different things to talk about relating to violence in the media, that I am not entirely sure where to start. Untill decided, I shall reacount some of the seminar content...
For years, I have seen this picture knocking about the place, but I never knew where it came from...

Thankyou Ivan! It came from a short surealist film by Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel entitled 'Un Chien Andalou.' I'm not entirely sure was relevent to the violence theme other then this scene, but it is testament to its makers that it can still make a room full of twenty somethings cringe and as a fan of surrealism, it was pretty bloody good.
I remember Catherine mentioning something about a film in which someone, is told to bite the curb as their head is kicked in. There were a few reports of people doing this back home, and it makes my legs turn to jelly every time I think of it. The scene didn't contain any sound of the incident, but then it doesn't really need to. Teeth and eyes are just one of those things... Also reminds me of a friends pal, who was held down as his legs were driven over in a car... there are some seriously sick people around.
The media makes it seem as though there is a spiralling number of paedophiles, rapists, and murderers year on year, however, if you look back several hundred years, my suggestion is that things are suitably improved. I certainly know which era I'd rather live in - I mean, people used to go to public executions in this country for a laugh. I know you have the fruit loops who revel in watching the decapitation of Ken Bigley and suchlike, but as I said, a marked improvement.
I'm not really someone who is impressed by violence or marvels at horrendously gut clenching films, so I find people who revel in it, a bit bizzare. Things like tours to see Fred and Mary Wests house (which incidently is no longer there as far as I know!) and Jack the Ripper tours just boggle my mind a bit. Not in the way that aeroplanes boggle my mind (I know, it's to do with lift, but still- its mad!!) but in the way I cant quite fathom what is so interesting or grasping. Humans are capable of incredible cruelty we know, but I'd rather live in lala land thanks.

Ace. Look at that. I worked out how to put a video on this allll by myself. It seems the people on this course are as flakey as myself as I have failed to obtain anybodies notes. This is essentially just an excellent song, but is also highly relative to our theme of science fiction, with many a reference to the genre.
Earlier today I went onto the students failsafe that is wikipedia to peruse their list of science fiction films. It turns out, that what with genre cross overs ect, the umbrella of science fiction is a lot larger then I first imagined it to be. This is no bad thing. As I sit here watching the Fifth Element, rubbing my hands together at the thought of Mila Jovovich, it has suddenly occured to me how camp and tacky alot of the films can be. I don't say this in a derogatory way at all. There is nothing quite like a bit of tack, but interpretations of the future are so touched by the era they are created in, that they never seem anything but hyperbole of the current situation.

Writing this bastard essay we have been set, I had an interesting thought (unrelated to my essay of course..) on sci-fi films set in the future, and I'm almost certain it's something Ivan has mentioned before. It goes thus; futuristic films are not about the future, but about the present. Suck on that all ye lesser mortals.

Fainting in the hall and hitting my head, and then the revelation of a raging case of tonsilitis was not enough to keep me from yesterdays lecture...but as a result I didn't pay so much attention to the content and had to go home before I passed out and the seminar began. Feeling super nauseous as an alien rips its way through a mans chest is a bad combination. I do not recommend it. I shall post once more upon the arrival of some notes more reliable then my own incoherent scrawl.

Farewell Ivan...Hello Bill...

This weeks lecture was themed on new media, and being somewhat technologically retarded, I must admit - this was not my idea of gripping stuff. I've had 2 phones in the last 6 years, and only graced a playstation once, so alot of the content floated gracefully some 2 feet above my head. However, watching the old methods of composing a film contrasted with more recent creations was pretty interesting; things have come a long way from the early twentieth century. When cross cutting and body snatching is what youre accustomed to seeing, it looks incredibly amature and simplistic to watch something as though you are a member of a theatre auditorium.
Not only this, but the scope for consumer creationism! Mobiles are no longer just for phoning and texting! (My housebrick included!) Honestly, I've never seen anything more imaginative then a happy slapping filmed on a mobile phone, but I'm sure it exists. Many a time I have confused MP3 players and phones, and even if I can't figure out how to use them, I can appreciate their technological brilliance.
All this talk of technology, I should probably turn my laptop off. It hasn't been turned off since I arrived at Hertfordshire and I'm told that's not good...

So I got thinking about this anomalous reigon, and one thing hit me much harder then anything else. The one thing in life my nan loves more then Cliff Richard and dripping sanwiches is the ladyboys of Bangkok. I'm pretty sure it's only because she thinks they're glamorous women (seeing how scandalised she was upon learning Dusty Springfield was a lesbian) but this only goes to show how convincing they are - hell, they're more convincing then me. But they dance around this grey area we were told about during the last lecture.

It's a really interesting area of discussion, because gender and sexuality is such a subjective yet constantly defined issue. Infact, it's so immense, I'm going to stop right now before I do myself a mischeif thinking about it.