Scoville Units Unite

Slumdog Millionaire looks set to sweep awards at every ceremony for the next few months. The rags-to-riches love story covering three time periods in the main characters lives is brilliantly shot, directed, cast and acted. It certainly lives up to the hype. If you enjoyed Boyles previous films – Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, 28 X Later, Sunshine etc, you will enjoy this too.

The question is, underneath the main plot of the film what does it show of the slums and poverty in which the majority of the film is set?

The first thing you notice about the slums is the grime, the cameras chosen really show off the filth everywhere. Danny Boyle chose to shoot parts of the movies in the real shantytown of Mumbai rather than sets. The kids play cricket on the only available flat area – the airport which backs on to their homes. After being spotted they are chased and beaten by the Police. After a short period seeing their basic lives the turning point is a sectarian attack by a gang of thugs angry at people having a different religion to themselves. The police are now turning a blind eye to the brutality of the sectarian mob. The children are rendered homeless and living in a garbage dump, an even worse situation than they had been in before.

From here you see a number of different routes out of the lives of the slum dwellers. There is begging in a Fagan style gang. Involvement in criminal gangs and as a teaboy in a call centre. No positive or progressive lifestyles are shown for those in poverty in the film. This narrow look at life only focuses on the main characters and not the wider society they live in and really limits the film to be a love story set against a backdrop of abject poverty rather than a film that takes a serious and detailed look at this life. This has been the basis of most of the criticism of the film, and I admit slightly disappointed me when I had watched it. To be fair though it was never marketed as exploring these issues, I had just hoped it would spend a small amount of time looking at them rather than featuring them as the fluff for the background of the love story.

Review after review have described it as a feel good movie. Certain parts of it were certainly cheerful, laugh out loud moments. The ending is as feel good as the reviews train you to expect. Other parts of the film are far from feel good. Part of the opening of the film is seeing Jamal, the main character being brutally tortured. Seeing the poverty in the shantytowns, the exploitation of a young woman was not a cheerful part of the movie. One early scene had me squirming as some reviews had mentioned child abuse being an issue in the film and I had mistakenly thought it may be sexual rather than physical, verbal and emotional. Those last three are certainly aspects of the movie although thankfully the former was not, although it was certainly implied that a girl was to be sold to a man.

The movie is certainly entertaining, deserving of its praise and all the Oscars which may fly it’s way. It is a film I would highly recommend anyone to see. It is not however one you will be laughing all the way through as the reviews imply. When I saw it on opening weekend in a packed screen the end was greeted with complete silence. Probably the most suitable way to digest the complete story you have been shown.

Recently on UGS I started a thread to keep any UGSers blogs in one place as we kept posting all over the place when someone created one. I figure I can make an exception to the post a paragraph on every link rule to help support the bloggers in that community. Loads of random reads, the one unifying theme is a desire for self improvement. From tackling mental health issues, improving writing skills, improving physical health or learning new skills.

Two posts in a row with Day One song names as titles!

Reading the Grauniad on-line I note that I am apparently in the age group 50-65. Oh well.

Yesterday was spent on the new bike, at the cinema seeing Underworld – Rise of the Lycans and then watching Being Human.

It was quite amusing seeing the vampire clan head in Being Human after Victor in Underworld earlier in the day.

One of my favourite Day One* tracks was Trying too Hard given the hip soundtrack to Skins it really should have been used on Series 3 Episode 1.

I really liked Series 1 and 2, there was a willingness to explore topics few other series would as well as quite good character arcs. With the cast moving on and a new one starting I had high hopes for the new series.

What we seemed to get was Skins to the XTREME!!!!!

We had Cook being more Tony than Tony. We had JJ playing the most annoying traits of Sid and Anwar. We had Pandora as Cassie after being dropped on her head as a child and we had Effy as Effy Max with extra smoking at every possible moment.

Hopefully this was just showing all the extreme character traits so you could identify each person easily in future episodes and this won’t be their characterisations on every single episode. On the positive side we had Effy as a pretty similar character as before, her arc will probably be the main one in the show. Katie and Emily interaction is going to be quite good if the writers show even half the skill as the previous series of showing episodes from individual characters points of view. We saw Katie being a complete bitch to her sister, but not really any insight into what her view of Emily is. Neither Freddie nor Thomas made much of an impression. I sense Naomi being the token activist with ever changing obsessions every week, much as Hollyoaks** have done with that annoying character.

I almost forgot, all the teachers were pretty bizarre too. Previously all the characters had some sort of flaw, so far everyone appears to be completely dysfunctional. Not to mention cliché person in Communications who has trouble communicating. As soon as her title was announced I groaned as it was soooo obvious given what had happened already in the episode.

It can only improve.

* Who I recently found out have finally gotten round to releasing that second album. It was quite good too. And I have just discovered they will be in Glasgow soon.
**Usually on at tea time, occasionally interesting, mostly boring.

*** Note to self, 8am = grammar broked

I think that Graham Linehan* sums it up.

* He of Father Ted, Black Books and IT Crowd fame.

Dundee showed Solidarity with Gaza on Saturday. At least 500 and probably 800 people turned out at short notice for a march and demonstration on Saturday. Really lively vibrant demo, positive atmosphere. Some good speeches afterwards, some cringe worthy ones, I certainly do not support Hamas, I support the Palestinians right to resists, but that does not mean I can give uncritical support for Hamas, never mind the enthusiastic support some were advocating.

I have been trying to get my work to enter the Cycle2Work scheme. Looks quite positive although it is on hold until the new office is complete around September. Unfortunately that’s the time of year I’d be least likely to start cycling seeing as it will be starting to have heavy showers. I figure if I get even an entry level mountain bike for kicking around on just now I will get in the habit of cycling and get fitness up so I would then be having to make excuses to not cycle.

So off I trotted around town after the Palestine demo in city square. After my 7 mile adventure what I found was:

Nicholson Cycles: Orbea Tuareg reduced from £230 to £172.
Spokes: Giant Rock for £200.

Now price wasn’t really an issue between them, whichever was the best bike I would go for. I had heard of Ridgeback and Giant before but hadn’t heard of Orbea. When home I did a search and found out that:

• They are based in the Basque country and switched to make bikes after the Spanish Civil War
• They are a co-operative
• They operate a 1:3 wage ratio – no one can earn more than three times anyone else in the factory.

I think that’s me sold then. Next Saturday I should be popping round the shops and I will have a test-drive to see if it’s what I need. For the Cycle2Work scheme I would be looking for a Hybrid, I really like the Ridgeback Hybrid but if the Orbea are any good I would have to go for that again.

After checking imdb, I have watched twenty three movies with Johnny Depp in them. Some of them great (Donnie Brasco, Edward Scissorhands), some good, (Pirates of the Caribbean) some of them unwatchable dirge (Secret Window, The Brave, Dead Man, Pirates 2, Pirates 3 etc).

Having picked The Astronaughts Wife up for one and two thirds of a pound in Grouchos I wasn’t really expecting much. Checking imdb also shows an average rating on 4.9. It was actually surprisingly good and I would definitely watch again. The film was scary, intense and quite riveting. In places you grew annoyed as some of the characters but Charlize Theron totally pulled you in. Loads of wee subtle things (Depp feeling her temperature to see if she’s ovulating) and things I hadn’t quite worked out (the constant focus and emphasis on hands moving) mean I will watch again at some point to see what I can pick out.

If I haven’t mentioned before I always spot wee things in the background of movies and TV shows, some examples include:

• Random extras and what other films they’ve been in.
• David Boreanaz doing some amazingly silly things on Angel whilst someone else, Lorne or Wes mostly, is the focus of the camera.
• Shaun in This Is England having me in stitches slyly letting someone sniff his fingers as he passes them on his way into the living room after being out the backs with a girl.

After his spineless publishers gave in to legal threats from mercenary Tim Spicer, Craig Murray has pushed his latest book online for free.

The Catholic Orangemen of Togo and Other Conflicts I Have Known is his autobiography from 1998 to 2002. It is also available to buy online through links on his site.

At the start of December I entered a competition on the SciFiNow blog

It lists loads of prizes:

• VIP tickets to an exclusive Hellboy party
• Hellboy scarf
• Hellboy beanie
• the movie on DVD
• Cygnett MP3 player accessories pack

I got an e-mail saying I had won a prize and thought woo, hope it’s the DVD, and have been holding off buying it ever since.

Well, I got a package through the mail today, in it was:

• Hellboy scarf
• Hellboy beanie with horn stumps
• the 2 disc special edition of the movie on DVD £12.98
• earphones £14.98 on Amazon
• charging battery for iPhone/iPod £12.96?
• iPod nano silicon case ~£14
• mini rechargable speaker £20.96
• mini fm transmitter for iPod/iPhone £37.99
• larger rechargable speaker for iPhone/iPod £41.99
• speaker dock/alarm clock/radio for iPod £67.79

Holy shit!, that’s over £200 worth of iPod accessories.

The hat/scarf and DVD are mine. IPod owning friends were drooling over the rest of the kit and nabbed it all.