GOOD WEEK!

It’s been a pretty good week so far and I’m in the mood for a big blog.
I’ve been on annual leave and preparing for Xmas, but with that said, I did still have to do a placement day, which was actually quite enjoyable!

Anyway, Tuesday evening we went to a secret screening at Cineworld.
I love these events because we have absolutely no idea what film is going to be shown until it starts. All we know is that it is a film due for release at some point over the next couple of months. Two cracking films in the past, and shown a good 8 weeks before their actual release dates were ‘Love Simon’ and ‘The Incredibles 2’. This time it was ‘Green Book’.

When it started, the whole audience did a collective ‘whaaaat???’
I’ll admit, I haven’t seen a thing advertised about this film and knew absolutely nothing about it.
It’s a bit of a slow starter……BUT…..stick with it. As you get more and more invested in the characters and the humour of the film, it’s actually really good. Viggo Mortensen is almost unrecognisable, and Mahershala Ali is wonderfully amusing.

Based on a true story, Green Book is a comedy-drama set in the 1960’s about the classical and jazz pianist Don shirley, played by Mahershala Ali and the Italian-American bouncer Tony Vallelonga, played by Viggo Mortensen. The pair take on a tour of the Deep South, not a safe thing to do for people of colour in the 1960’s! Tony is initially quite prejudiced but the two slowly form an amazing bond and end up as life-long friends.
The film itself is named after ‘The Negro Motorist Green Book’, a mid-20th century guidebook for African American travellers, written by Victor Hugo Green, to help them find motels and restaurants that would accept them.

Would I go and see it again?
Possibly, but I will, in all likelihood, add it to my DVD collection.  

Not so good this week, was the announcement by Tumblr to ban ‘ALL’ adult content from the 17th December.
This is a real shame and to be quite frank, I think it will kill Tumblr!

Banned content includes photos, videos, and GIFs of human genitalia, female-presenting nipples, and any media involving sex acts, including illustrations. The exceptions include nude classical statues and political protests that feature nudity. The new guidelines exclude text, so erotica remains permitted. Illustrations and art that feature nudity are still okay — so long as sex acts aren’t depicted — and so are breastfeeding and after-birth photos.

They have already started to flag posts and inform users that their content is not suitable, but something is very wrong if they think that this kind of photo is ‘explicit’!!

I have been on Tumblr for almost three years and it is a wonderful place to find any kind of weird and wonderful content you’re interested in.
I would never have fallen into the Kylux fandom and started writing fan-fiction if I hadn’t found this site!
It has always been a safe space for people to find like minded people to share content with regardless of what that content is. Artists have found it a great place to showcase artwork that would probably never get to see the light of day due to censorship restrictions elsewhere.
The failure of the site is their inability to control ‘bugs’ and ‘porn bots’ and their inability to ban sites that include pedophilia. Their answer to the problem is a blanket ban.

They seem to think that everyone who enjoys a bit of ‘adult content’ is automatically looking for ‘porn’ and this is simply not the case.

10 years ago, the same thing happened to ‘Livejournal’ and all that happened was that the users migrated to a different platform and Livejournal died.
I have already seen this happening on Tumblr. A lot of the people I follow are setting themselves up on Twitter and Instagram and getting ready to jump ship if they need to.
Michael Stokes, the photographic artist who I’ve discussed on my blog recently, has had to purge around 90% of the photos he has on Tumblr, including all of his wounded veterans photos because they have been deemed inappropriate! 

Anyway, I wait for December 17th with baited breath. I have a feeling that Tumblr will become quite a desolate and boring place very quickly.

So now that I’ve had that rant what’s next?
I’ve made a start on my three reflective essays for my portfolio. That’s not exactly going well but at least I’ve made a start.
I have been really enjoying ‘I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of here’ this year and last night had me and the kids in floods of tears as the five remaining contestants got visits from family. When John clapped eyes on his husband Scott, I just melted!
I really don’t know who’s going to win this year, after James left, the four remaining contestants are all fantastic for different reasons.
Personally I’d like to see John crowned King (or Queen!) of the jungle.
The annoying thing is, that I won’t be able to watch the final on Sunday because I’ll be in Birmingham at a Hozier concert.

WAIT…WHAT?!!!

Yep. Sunday evening, I’ll be at a Hozier concert!!!
I’ve only waited four years for this.
I AM SOOOO EXCITED!!!

This is the moment, almost four years ago, after falling asleep on the sofa, waking up in the early hours with the TV still on, showing a re-run of Graham Norton. I had been woken up by an angel singing and that is when I became mesmerised and totally fell in love with Hozier.

So, back to today, better bring this blog to an end.
I’ve got a few small chores to do, clean car windows, fill car with petrol, de-wookie the husband, pack for an overnight stay in Birmingham and then head to the cinema to see Mortal Engines!

I will ‘hopefully’ bombard my blog with photos and possibly some videos of the concert when I get back on Monday.

TTFN!