T'eyla Minh

So, Nightmare Before Christmas has been re-re-released in 3D for a three-week period, and obviously, depsite there being FIVE wholly appropriate cinemas in Birmingham where it could be shown, none of them appear to be showing it. AGAIN. For FUCK's sake, we have an IMAX, a VUE, a Cineworld and an AMC cinema all within a few miles of each other - WHY are none of them showing it?

(Of course, even if Cineworld did show it, it would be on for a week, at 10.00am, and then never seen again... because Cineworld is teH suck.)

Clearly Birmingham is the wrong demographic.

The nearest Vue showing it is apparently in South Wirral. And, obviously, London, which is the centre of the universe.

I don't want to go all the way to London just for the privilege of seeing it, thank you. I would rather see it in the comfort of my own city, and more to the point, I can't afford to go to London to see it.

I hate the fact that the UK gets the short straw where anything remotely interesting is involved. And that Birmingham never seems to bloody well exist at times like this. HELLO? We're the second damned city - we're big enough to see. STOP PRETENDING WE DON'T EXIST.

GAH, things like this are frustrating. It makes me want to kill things.

Good Things:

1. Thanks to Google and a random download, my keyboard is now British again.

2. Between us Paul and I managed to install a 4-port USB 2.0 PCI card into the PC, with the help of a screwdriver and some PCI screws from my old machine (the new one had none, for some reason) so I can now, at least plug in high-speed devices such as my Creative Zen MicroPhoto...

Bad Things:

3. Except that the bloody thing still won't work. It connects, the PC finds it, but then it says it's not working properly and won't do anything else. Also, because I haven't managed to do anything with it since buying it, the battery is completely dead and you can't actually do anything with it unless it has some small amount of battery life. It refused to charge at all through the wall charger but I've left it charging anyway (it also refuses to charge via the PC like it's supposed to - apparently you have to set it as a 'removable disk' but if I can't turn it on I don't quite see how)... Since I've had to essentially buy a new PC and a bloody PCI card to boot, I've essentially paid full price for the bloody thing anyway...

4. Apparently Windows XP Essential (my new OS) doesn't actually have any support for the UK (INternational) keyboard layout. Well. Screw you then, Microsoft, you American bastards.

Further Good Things:

5. Anyway. At least I now have a functional scanner. Paul will be making use of it later.

6. To make up for the crappy MP3 stuff, I hunted through IMDb for an old Garfield movie I remembered from my childhood, and have subsequently bought Garfield: His 9 Lives on VHS from Amazon. Thank you, Internets.

So, Jerry Springer: the Opera was on BBC2 tonight.  I've taped it and will be watching it tomorrow.  Actually, we nearly saw the show in London back in October but decided there wasn't enough time given everything else I wanted to do, so I'm quite pleased the Beeb decided to show it.  Even though they nearly didn't.

Oh, for fuck's sake...  (Link from killer___queen's journal.)

Okay.  I'm an atheist, which is fairly common knowledge.  I'm not anti-Christian, or even anti-religion. I think faith and belief is a wonderful, powerful thing.  I know lots of lovely people from lots of different religions.  But they're not annoying evangelist extremist idiots trying to force their beliefs onto the rest of us.  And this rant is going to be incredibly incoherent as I'm tired and trying to fight off a cold and failing horrendously, but bear with it.  I'm not intentionally trying to upset anyone and I apologise if such happens; it's nothing personal to anyone who reads this.  (And if frightened wants to take this and run with it, I'll let her. ;) )

Some points.

Firstly: burning your TV licences.  Yeah, that's a good plan.  You'll be the first to complain when you get a huge-ass fine.  And really, it doesn't do anything.  The BBC probably couldn't give a damn whether or not your TV license is intact or a pile of ash, because you've already paid for it anyway, and they're not going to make a special list of people who've burnt their licences then remember not to fine them when the time comes to check people have got one.  It's not a protest, it's pathetic attention-seeking.  You are not martyrs, and in all liklihood, the executives up in their warm offices are staring out of the window laughing at you while you freeze your backsides off, and are about three seconds away from throwing a fire extinguisher out of the window in the hope it knocks one of you unconscious.

Secondly: "The use of foul language together with mocking Jesus Christ and portraying him wearing a nappy with sequins is highly offensive to Christians and we felt that it was totally wrong," apparently.  Is that a royal 'we'?  Just how many protesters are there in all of this anyway?  A whole country's-worth of church-goers?  I doubt it.  Most likely it's a few fundamentalists with nothing better to do than find things to complain about as being 'offensive' and 'wrong'.  Guess what?  Not everyone cares what you think.  Some people like foul language and obvious visual humour.  Get over it, and stop trying to shove your morals into our faces.

Thirdly: "He said the BBC would not risk upsetting minority faiths like Islam or Buddhism."  He's right, they wouldn't.  And they're not trying to upset the sodding Christians, either.  The BBC didn't produce the show; they didn't write it, and they weren't responsible for Jerry Springer's chat show in the first place.  They're not sitting there thinking, "oh, let's show this, it'll really upset those Christians."  They're just trying to provide an entertainment service, for those who cannot afford to go to London and see the show live, for those who've already seen it, for those who are morbidly curious.  They're highlighting the fact that this is a unique, interesting show that, yes, may not be to everybody's taste.    Deal the Hell with it.

Fourthly: "Because we are Christians they think we are fair game for any insults..."  When you act like morons, what more do you expect?  Shut the Hell up and follow your faith quietly like everyone else in the world, and we'll leave you alone.

Fifthly: "Religious leaders fear the hundreds of swear words the Springer show contains would cause offence when broadcast."  It's on after the watershed.  Also, human beings have this amazing little thing called 'free will', even though half the time they choose to ignore that fact.  Don't like it, don't watch it.  Yes, it's really that simple.  The television has an off-switch.  There are at least four alternative channels to choose from.  Nobody is forcing you to sit down and watch it.

Sixthly: I get the distinct impression that most of the hoo-hah is revolving around the fact that it's being shown on the BBC.  If it were any other channel - Hell, even another less-establsihed BBC channel like BBC3 or 4 - then the level of complaints wouldn't be so high.  If it was on Channel 5, nobody would bat an eyelid.  But because it's the almighty holy BBC, which - of course - never shows anything with swearing in, never shows anything controversial, suddenly everyone's up in arms about it.

Seventhly: leave my nightly entertainment the Hell alone.  Do I come into your Sunday communion or your carol services and complain that they're anti-atheist?  No, I don't.  Just because Christianity is one of the largest established religions in the world does not give you the right to inflict your beliefs on those of us that choose not to follow them.  I do not want to be saved; I will not be going to Hell, because that's your belief, not mine.  Go pray for someone else's salvation.  Put some of that energy you've been using to burn your TV licences and shout about it into, say, raising money for the tsunami appeals.  Do something useful for a change, and maybe we'll stop "insulting" you.

I think I should probably stop there.

This rant is brought to you by the letters O and Y, and is a product of having redisovered the truly terrifying Chick tracts last night.  Thank you and goodnight.

And, again, it's not directed at anybody I know. :)

you know, one of these days i really have to get control of that sodding Bad Idea Complex of mine. after gaining all the closure i could possibly want on the fic issue, you see, my latest mission is follow him until he's famous. i'm so sure that'll happen, and he deserves it. only now, you see, my brain just poked me, and said "hey, you remember that episode of lesley garrett tonight when she had michael ball singing with her? find out when the new series starts and email lots!"

*sigh*

for christ's sake, brain. this isn't funny any more... i'm not his goddamn agent.

courtesy of sweet thing in her random travels through cyber-space, i present: god-awful fanfiction.

i warn you in advance right this minute. it's really not very pretty at all...

mental images, in fact, to which i have been subjected...

1) by eve, accidentally, pre-sunset - james marsters, playing joe gillis (in a tux, of course, although it's not strictly necessary...) this one resulted in my going "oooooo" for a good hour.

2) suddenly, thinking about 'little shop', i'm stuck with the image of jeremy playing seymour, and it's too bloody adorable for words. and now i can't stop going "aw!" in a sort of hyperventilated way...