Arse nuggets

I didn't get the Uni library assistant post I was after. I think I'm getting repetitive strain injury from flicking between the 5 websites on the whole internet that I can be bothered looking at. In the words of Yosser Hughes "Giz a job".

To good health!

Why do I see so many super-healthy organic tofu fans, who swim everyday, never go within 10 yards of a ciggie and ride a bike everywhere not wearing a helmet while out in traffic? For all the work they put into keeping their bodies healthy, you'd think they'd pay a bit more attention to the rather important organ sat inside their bonce.



P.S, I just like moaning about healthy people whilst sitting in my flat smoking and drinking a gallon of wine. Makes me feel slightly superior for one fleeting, glorious moment.

The Simpsons former glory.

I recently came across a quote from Mike Reiss, current consulting producer and former writer (seasons 1-8) of The Simpsons. In an interview with The New York Times, Reiss said that ''much of the humanity has leached out of the show over the years. I see it especially with Homer. We used to say, 'Homer is my dad' -- a bluff, hard-working guy. Over the years he's gotten stupid and callous. It hurts to watch it, even if I helped to do it.'' (NYT, Nov 4 2001). I think this hits the nail on the head. I first noticed this 'humanity-leaching', to paraphrase Reiss, in the episode The Secret War of Lisa Simpson, the season finale of series 8. The final scenes of this episode show Marge and Homer giggling as they trick Lisa and Bart into thinking they are going on a family trip to Disneyland when in fact they are taking them for a dental check up. Something about this just didn't sit very well with me. The Simpsons, for all their dysfunction and whatever may have happened within any given episode, always redeemed themselves by the end of the episode and were revealed to be a loving and tight knit family. It was usually the Simpsons against the world, not against each other. As Chris Suellentrop, a blogger on Slate.com has said "Episodes that once would have ended with Homer and Marge bicycling into the sunset (perhaps while Bart gagged in the background) now end with Homer blowing a tranquilizer dart into Marge's neck. Homer, arguably the shows most lovable as well as pivotal character, has been dubbed "jerkass" Homer by fans of The Simpsons disillusioned by the change in Homer's character.

Fans of The Simpsons (not a homogeneous group by any stretch of the imagination) have put forward several theories ranging from; a change in the writing staff and creative process, the death of Phil Hartman (Troy McClure), a reliance on celebrity guests playing themselves in order to raise their profiles (and the show allowing this to happen) to a conspiracy theory of a secret desire on the part of Matt Groening to run the show into the ground in protest at the cancellation of the wonderful Futurama.

My own view is that it is a culmination of the lack of regular input from the writers that helped propel the show during it's golden years and the fact that it is very difficult (if not impossible) for any tv show to consistently attain the levels of greatness which The Simpsons did.

In my humble opinion seasons 4-8 of The Simpsons are evidence enough that The Simpsons is the best television show ever made. That is what hurts so much to see that it has become not only a pale imitation of it's former self, but also of crude and (as the Simpsons themselves pointed out) low-brow adult cartoons such as Family Guy. That's not to say that I don't enjoy Family Guy. In the last 10 years it has provided many more laughs than The Simpsons has done during the same period. However, unlike Family Guy, The Simpsons' humour was-during it's most successful seasons-intelligent, irreverent, sometimes delightfully slapstick and silly, sometimes wonderfully urbane and never crude or offensive. Of course, it often offended people, but that was more to do with the iconoclastic nature of the show and the targets of its often satirical wit than the content of any given joke. Take for example the Bart's fantastic retort to George Bush Sr's promise to strengthen America's family values and help families to be "a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ervjj_qRXXQ

The fact that The Simpsons has now been given brand new opening credits and has recently been broadcast for the first time in High Definition suggests that Fox has no plans to cancel this show any time soon, which is a great shame to those of us that remember the good old days when the Simpsons were a more accurate (if exaggerated) reflection of real families and their highs and lows than any other show on television and Homer was a lovable clown rather than a "jerkass". Put him and us out of our misery, I say.

Haven't been around much

Or is it just that i haven't had anything interesting to say? Ok, ok, I admit, I lost my login and couldn't be bothered to reset it until I wanted to post on Ghostwatch's blog! BTW, if there are any fans of the show, check out the blog I am following for more information on an upcoming behind the scenes documentary. I can't wait!

In November I moved into my first flat all on my own. No boyfriends, flatmates, family or even pets to worry about. Needless to say, the time I spend on the net has shot up.

I am (hopefully) about to start a trial at a local University library if I can ever find anyone 'in the know' to tell me if my application has been succesful.

Now please excuse me while I scream like a crazy old cat lady at the kids that just threw a snowball at my window.

Bye for now! xx

Over 3.6 Million Adult Children of Alcoholics Suffering

Over 3.6 Million Adult Children of Alcoholics Suffering

Until recently, I wasn't even aware that there was any interest in or reserech on the impact of alcoholism on family members (especially children). Now I know that not only does research exist, but there is also a movement of adults that grew up with alcoholic parents, a "laundry list" of personality traits and issues that adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs) face and meetings/support groups to help them.

Just a quick one

I'm not feeling great today, but just wanted to write a quick one on a topic that has really been getting my goat. This week the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority have admitted that in tha case of some rape victims, their compensation has been reduced because they were drunk at the time of the attack. Alcohol, the CICA claims was a "contributing factor" to the rape and so the amount of compensation awarded has been slashed. Excuse me? Isn't this tantamount to saying that it was partly the victimn's fault? I think I must be confused, because I thought this was 2008, but clearly we're back in the 1950's. The CICA's decision is not only offensive but downright dangerous as it is in essence laying a portion of the blame for rape at the feet of the vunerable women that have had to endure this humiliating, mis-understood, under-reported and least prosecuted of assaults. Rape campaigners have spent years and years helping rape victims to realise it is not their fault and to educate us all on the fact that rape is about violence and domination of another person, not sex. So it does not matter what a woman is wearing, how drunk she might be, how close she might have been to her attacker. The blame lies with, and only with, the rapist. To cut a victim's compensation based on her "contributing" to her attack is repulsive beyond words.

First blog.

I doubt very much that I will be writing about anything of any interest to people other than myself, but I thought I'd give this blogging thing a whirl since I often have a lot of rubbish cluttering up my mind and and what better way to get rid of it than to clutter up the internet, I say!

So about me...I'm Lilith, and I'm interested in rock and metal music, human rights and my big passion...horror films. My posts are likely to be mostly about those subjects or a bizarre concoation of all 3.

I'm currently busy trying to get my hair up into a beehive to house my army of bee zombies (don't ask), so will just post a previous myspace blog for now. If you like it then say hi,leave a message. If not, then, well I'll just have to cry about it.

xx