Pirates & A Titanic Week

Another week has passed and not a great deal has changed. My attempt last Tuesday to reap some kind of reward from my private pension pretty much failed, though the chap we went to see did comment that it was one of the largest he'd seen for someone of my age. Sounds good I know, but a fat lot of good it will do me at the moment. At 55 (in 16 years from now), I will have access to it but nothing can be done with it until then. It is possible, he told us, to transfer the fund to the bank but it couldn't be used as security against our house. So that's that. I'm sitting on a small fortune but can't do a thing with it.

On Monday of last week, my wife and I took our son to see the new Pirates film at the King's Lynn cinema. We were determined to treat him ourselves after his trip to London and found that tickets were being sold at half price - £3 instead of £6. So we booked them online, which turned out to be a good thing as when we got there, it was sold out and the queues were very long indeed. It had been some time since we had been to the cinema and it was the first time we had ever taken our son. The film was in 3D so we each had a pair of 3D specs and found seats down at the front. I'd never seen a 3D film before and had thought it was all a little over-hyped but I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it and found the whole effect quite wonderful. My son was quite enthralled and at several points during the film he raised his hand to touch whatever he thought had appeared in front of him. I have only one complaint and that is to do with the brightness and contrast of the film. I'm aware that they now use digital projectors over the traditional film and I did find the whole thing a little dim. But all in all it was a very nice experience and the film was pretty good too. I tell a lie, there is another little niggle and that's to do with the people we had to share the film with. The constant up and down of people to relieve themselves and the consuming of food really was quite irritating. A child behind us could be heard crunching its way through a boiled sweet and someone else a couple of rows away rustled a bag of some kind from beginning to end. You've probably guessed that I'm not a big fan of the cinema - I much prefer to recreate the experience in the comfort of my own home.

This week will be remembered for the 100 year anniversary of the Titanic disaster. Now I know there are some who are frankly a little sick of the numerous documentaries and general media coverage and I suppose there is a level of sympathy for this. I do though think it is important to mark the event and for those who have links to the lost, this anniversary has a special significance.

I've written of my fascination for Twitter and I have to say that I have certainly developed a keen fondness for it. I'm not quite at the stage of checking every two or three minutes but I do find myself updating my status at least once an hour. I do also really quite heavily on it for news and celebrity gossip. Breaking news does seem to appear on Twitter before it does anywhere else and where else could you discover what  your favourite celebrity had for breakfast or what their pet looks like? Trivial I know but for me it is another source of information. It's a constant stream of 140 character nuggets. Most of them are rubbish, but once in a while you do come across gold.

I am toying with the idea of keeping an audio journal. I think I've mentioned it before but this time I'm pretty determined to get it going. I really want to leave something in addition to the usual written thoughts and photographs. They won't be very long in length unless I have a lot on my mind. They will simply journal my life, as it is, day by day. I do already listen to a couple of audio journals, one from Richard Vobes and the other by Lloyd Bayley. They are both quite unique and in their own way very interesting.

I was going to complete a job application I had started a few days ago. It is for the role of IT Technician, again at a local (ish) school. I had pretty near completed it this afternoon when I discovered the position reported to an IT Manager. This immediately precludes me from the role as I have held senior positions previously so I didn't take the application ny further. It's a shame as it's the sort of role I'm looking for. The problem I have is the fact that I've held very senior positions and therefore applying for and being accepted for lesser roles is damn near impossible, such is my dilema.

As for my 'elephant in the room', I've been pretty much OK this last week, apart from the constant financial worries and fear of the post. I hate receiving post, particularly anything in a brown envelope or marked 'personal' or 'confidential'. I've written before that it's a constant struggle to stay above the water. Provided we managed to avoid a crisis, then I seem to cope. We're contributing a little toward the mortgage which is keeping the wolves from the door but it can't continue indefinitely. I know this. I'm made to feel worse this week as, because of our wonderful government's tax changes, my wife now has to work an additional day each week for us to continue to receive working tax credit. My wife had always wanted to reduce her hours to spend more time with our son, and hopefully care for a second child. This all seems further away than ever and I simply cannot see any remedy to the situation.

Digital Cinema and My Thoughts for the Day

I love technology. It makes things easier, more accessible and provides more choice. But I heard something this morning on BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House that made me think again as to whether it is all good. Apparently more and more of our cinemas are being converted to digital. The film projectors are being replaced by digital high definition LCD and LED projectors. Projectionists were actually lamenting the loss of film and describing how they no longer need to supervise the screenings, thread the film and switch reels in the middle of a movie. It's all being done automatically. In fact, they don't need many staff at all. Someone can visit just once a week to prepare the automated schedule and all the films are shown in the correct order and at the right times. So there are huge savings to be made - less projectionists and less staff overall. But what is lost is the quality, that film grain you get when light is shone through celluloid. The movement you get with film. With natural colours and tones, you know it's alive and real. Now it's all about crystal clear clarity, high definition images and digital sound. I understand that the complete switch to digital is inevitable, just like 35mm camera film, pretty much consigned to history and something I'll need to tell my son about one day.

I'm no expert on world events, but you don't have to be a genius to know that all is not right with the world. In fact, like many, I have little optimism and I fear for our future. The Occupy movements that have sprung up in cities across the world are lampooned in the mainstream media. But if you look at the message - the real message, you will see that the protesters too believe something is seriously wrong. They cite capitalism as the reason but it is in truth our system of capitalism that makes the rich richer and untouchable and the poor poorer and vulnerable. It's about fairness and opportunity for all. And that certainly isn't working and is wrong. So what happens? Well, I am just waiting for them to elect an official representative and form a political party. I wonder then how many people would support and vote for them? I suspect the number would be high. When you are desperate and when you have lost all confidence in the system that looks after you, that provides and offers you security, you look elsewhere. You are desperate, perhaps with nowhere to go in life, no money, in crippling debt and hungry. You will do anything to find a way out. So if someone comes along with a message, someone who understands your hardship and someone who promises a real alternative, you will follow them. Unless something changes in our current system of government and if the standard of living for everyday people doesn't improve, then this is something I can see happening.

My despair for our broken world is somewhat lessened by the marvellous work of the BBC's Children In Need appeal and the £26 million raised for our vulnerable, poor, disabled and abused young people. For a country that claims to be broke, when it comes to good causes, we always come up trumps. The same has been true of past appeals - famine in Africa and natural disasters - we always manage to find the funds to help. This makes me feel good and it's something we should be proud of, and rightly so.

So where will the world go in the coming new year? The prospect of conflict over Iran's nuclear programme gets nearer by the day and seems inevitable given their recent rhetoric. And what of their supporters, China and Russia. Do we really want to provoke them into choosing sides. I think not. And now we have renewed protests and violence in Egypt, when all had thought the country had been reborn. And of course there's Syria and its brutal crackdown on protesters, its own people. Again, any intervention could only result in wider conflict - and Syria too has its supporters who would make dangerous adversaries.
And finally we have our own continent of Europe and the financial crisis facing the Euro. Where will this end? Pessimistic, moi? You bet.

Finally, I've been reminded by a regular broadcaster on YouTube that the messages we receive through our UK mainstream media may not be complete and may be lacking facts. I would encourage people to look outside, to get a different view and perspective on world events. I cite the Occupy protests, particularly those taking place in London. Why do we think of the protesters as hippies and disillusioned students? Because that's what we're being fed. Look deeper and you'll find that the protests are made up of a broad spectrum of different people from all walks of life - all of which have come to the same conclusion. Watch a report from the BBC on the Occupy protests and then compare this to one from say Russia Today... Some could argue the different perspective is to emphasise the natural opposition to Capitalism in general over a perceived 'fair' system of communism. Maybe... Time and public opinion will tell.