weekly news 

Serial Killer drugged victims 

A man has appeared in court charged with poisoning and murdering four young men. Stephen Port, 40, is accused of killing the men, who he allegedly contacted via dating websites, between June 2014 and September this year. Prosecutors told Barkingside magistrates he gave the men large amounts of the drug GHB. Mr Port, of Cooke Street, Barking, east London, was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on Wednesday. 

The charges relate to the deaths of:  

• Anthony Patrick Walgate, 23, from Barnet, who was pronounced dead on Cooke Street on 19 June 2014. 
•  Gabriel Kovari, 22, from Lewisham, whose body was found near the churchyard of St Margaret's Church, North Street, Barking, on 28 August 2014. 
•  Jack Taylor, 25, from Dagenham, whose body was found near the Abbey Ruins close to North Street on 14 September this year.  
• Daniel Whit-worth, 21, from Gravesend, Kent, whose body was also found near the same churchyard on 20 September 2014. 

The Article was by BBC and was very sympathetic to the boys who were killed. In my opinion I believe that it is right to be sympathetic but only up to a certain point. Because if the news article starts becoming more of a sympathy letter it displays an altered version of the truth and ignores the true facts.  

How middle aged/old men are represented in film today 

I will be explaining and analysing how middle aged and old males are represented in the film industry today. I will be focusing on men over the age of fifty. There has be three main ways which this type has been represented. There is the old buffoon who has become delusional with age and is crazy with his words, there is the old and wise man who over his many year of being alive has become knowledgeable and experienced with his life and finally there is the "old but not useless". This is the middle aged man who still thinks he's got it in him. The man that is not at that age where you can call him the wise old man but he's not young enough to be called the big shot. So he is a hybrid between the, two becoming an old but still useful.  

The first example I thought of was Abraham Simpson from the TV show "the Simpsons". The Simpsons is a TV sitcom which has been going on for 26 years. One of the characters in this TV show is Abraham Simpson. He is the father to Homer Simpson. The reason why I have picked this character is because he suits the crazy old guy representation very well. There is a scene from the Simpsons film where is sleeping in the church and suddenly gets up and starts shouting all these weird fraises and runs around all over the church. the family doesn’t know what to do with him and when it the family finally restrain him put him in the car he completely forgets that anything has happened and wants to go get ice cream. I believe that this a perfect example because it displays old men as delusional and crazy men. Author Bruce Evan Blain wrote in his book, “understanding psychology of diversity”, that Abraham Simpson is typically portrayed as “Doddering”, "senile" and "dependent" person who is "trivial" and "often disposable figure" in his son’s life. This then backs up my representation of Abraham Simpson being the crazy old delusional guy.  

My other representation of middle aged /old men is the wise old man. This is where the character has a huge amount of knowledge and always chooses the most moral decision. An example of this representation is the Alfred from the Dark Knight (Batman series by Christopher Nolan). Alfred in the Dark Knight is Bruce Wayne butler at his mansion. He provides as a moral compass throughout the Dark Knight Film series by telling Bruce Wayne various experiences about his past life and what it has taught him. For example, there is a scene in the Dark Knight Rises when Bruce is trying to find out who stole from his safe. Alfred says he should stop looking for trouble and has a monologue to Bruce telling him how he has a fantasy. The fantasy is that he saw him in a cafe in Florence with some kids and a wife. He's telling Bruce to hang up the cape and suit for a normal life because Alfred knows from his experiences and knowledge that he coming to old for fighting crime. Another example is in the Dark Knight he tells Bruce Wayne about a story which explains why the joker does what he does. Another example of the wise old man is yoda of Star Stars the empire strikes back. In the scenes where Luke is trying to learn how to use manipulate the force yoda tells him that he must have patience and be able to let the force come to Luke. Yoda never tells Luke that his father is Anakin Skywalker this is because yoda believes that this will stop Luke from killing him. These two examples support the theory of the wise old man representation.  

The final representation of my middle aged/ old men is old but not useless. This is when the man is not old enough to be the wise old man but to to young to be the big shot so he's in the middle. The character will use his knowledge, experience and his physical skills to conquer the day. An example of this representation is DR. King Schultz in Django Unchained. This character is aged 55 and is a former dentist turned bounty hunter from Dusseldorf, Germany. He is very skilled with a rifle and pistol. An example of this man in action is in the sheriff scene at the beginning of the film. He is called outside of the bar by the sheriff. The doctor then walks outside and shoots the sheriff in broad day light in front of everyone. He's not afraid of what the town’s people think because he knows in the eyes of the law he is protected and has done justice. Another incident when he displays this representation is the first scene when he shots the two men in head very quickly and with no remorse. He is a cold blooded killer even though he is older than usual action hero's therefore making him in this category of old but not useless. Another example of this representation is Mr. Mayagi off Karate Kid. There are scenes such as the scene where Daniel is being beaten up by the group of young thugs dressed up in skeleton outfits and Mr. Mayagi jumps over the fence and fights the young thugs and beats them. These two examples support the representation of old but not useless.  

My research consisted of a questionnaire, interview and watching films and analysing character roles. My questionnaire was answered by my friends and family. There was a total of 10 results. Knowing that they were my friends and family that they may be lenient towards my theory, so I told them to be honest and truthful throughout the questionnaire. The results concluded that 10 out of 10 people agreed with my theory. One of the questions was "what is your initial thought of how old/ middle aged men are represented in the media". My brothers, Sam Slade, response was "they are represented as crazy, stupid and cookoo types of characters". My grand dads answer to this question was "I believe that old/middle aged men are represented as educated and sensible characters" both of these responses support my theory. I interviewed my step mum to see what she thought of my theory and see if she agreed with it. My step mum was not included in the questionnaire. I told her to be as honest and truthful as she could be. I asked her, who was her favourite old/middle aged character in film today. Her answer was Ian McKellen in lord of the rings playing as Gandalf. I asked her why she liked the character Gandalf. Her response was "I like him because he is not shown as a fool or idiot and he is shown to have great deal of courage and responsibility for the hobbits". This interview with my step mum supported the theory.  My final part of secondary research was watching films and analysing certain the old/ middle aged character in the film. The films i watched were, Last Vegas, Harry Potter (all of them), Django unchained, The Simpson Movie, Dark Knight (all of the Christopher Nolan's ones), Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back and Karate Kid (1984). I then analysed each of the old/middle aged male protagonists by watching the characters key events and roles in the film. Such as Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back. The scene where Yoda is teaching Luke Skywalker to be patient and let the force come to him. This scene represents Yoda as the old and wise character. All of the key scenes analysing strengthened the theory. 

In conclusion there are three main ways in which old/ middle aged men are represented in film today. Old buffoon, Old and able and old and wise. My research methods have backed the theory. 

British Film Institution Trip

On the seventh of October I went to go see six short film films at the BFI centre in London. My favourite film out of the six was operator.operator was about a a fire fighter phone operator and how she deals with one of her phone calls. It was my favourite because I liked the minimalistic way it created tension and a sense of urgency. The camera throughout the film was only on the fire-fighter phone operator and never showed us the woman on the other end of the phone the sound of the woman on the phone sounded terrifying which made me want to see her and what her situation was but the camera stayed on the phone operator. It was almost like the audience was positioned to be the phone operator and it was to give a sense of what it was like to be a 999 phone operator.

I was interested in what the director of black sheep had to say. I was interested in why he wanted to create and what he had to do to get on the sides of the two boys in his film. The director of black sheep is Christian Cerami. The film is about how and why young white British boys are attracted to the English defence League (EDL). He wanted to create it because he said he grew up in the area and despised the EDL but he wanted to know why boys are joining the group so he did a film on them. I found it interesting that to get along with the boys in the film he had to agree with the EDL views and go along with what they were saying. I found the boys in the film incredible ignorant for what the EDL stand for. The boys simply joined because they wanted to be in a group. The film gave of a sense that the EDL group was tightly related group and the views of it have passed down from generation to generation.

Elements you could use from some of the shorts are representation for example the strong and independent woman is shown in the short film operator. The short film operator, does it have the conventions of a thriller. yes it does by having a sense of enigma and mystery by not showing the woman, on the phone, face or the activities she is doing.

Weekly News 

Cardiff University studies the science of hallucinations.  

Scientists at Cardiff University believe they can help explain why some people are prone to getting hallucinations. Researchers worked with colleagues at the University of Cambridge to study the predictive nature of the brain. They looked at the idea that hallucinations happen due to the brain's tendency to interpret the world using existing knowledge and predictions. Research published on Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences studied 18 people who suffered from very early signs of psychosis who had been referred to a mental health service run by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust.

 They compared them against 16 healthy volunteers and they were given a black and white picture of a baby trying to grab a toy of the wall. All of them were then shown the full colour original picture to improve the brain's ability to understand the ambiguous image. There was a larger performance improvement in people with early signs of psychosis compared to the healthy control group. 

The university of Cambridge say the finding are important because, not only do they tell us that the emergence of key symptoms of mental illness can be understood in terms of an altered balance in normal brain functions. Importantly, they also suggest that these symptoms and experiences do not reflect a 'broken' brain but rather one that is striving  in a very natural way to make sense of incoming data that are ambiguous."   

I believe that these findings and studies are incredibly important to future knowledge and understanding because it allows doctors and scientist go into further depth in the human mind. Off topic but it can also explain why people see ghosts or spirits.

Weekly news 

Hover boards 

They're known variously as "hover boards" or "rideables" and are the latest must-have at the feet of celebrities - but the Crown Prosecution Service says riding them on public UK roads is illegal. What is this futuristic new breed of transportation - and how practical is it? within the first five minutes teenagers or anyone who uses it learns how to go round in circles. Next it going around in circles one footed. Urban dictionary have called it the "swegway". Others call it the hover board. Doesn't matter what it's called all you need to know it is a two wheeled motorized vehicle which is a cross between a skateboard and a segway.   

But despite becoming a relatively common sight on the streets of the UK's main cities, "self-balancing scooters" are actually banned under section 72 of the highway act  for use of public roads and pavements in the UK. According to the Department for Transport, the only place where it is legal is on private property, with the owner's consent. One man was caught on a segway scooter and fined £75 for riding it on the pavement.  

I believe that these motorized segway scooters or hover-boards should be legal to ride along the pavement but not roads. This just because it is to slow and may create a danger for the riders the other drivers around him/her. And even if there was to be a faster one made to keep with the speed requirements on the roads I believe that it would be too dangerous and people may hurt themselves. I also think that people riding the "swegways" should wear a helmet or some type of decent head protection.  

Weekly news 

Salford boy and mother shooting "linked to gang feuds" 

The shooting of a seven-year-old boy and his mother in Salford is linked to armed feuds between gangs in parts of Greater Manchester, police have said criminal gangs are using guns to settle disputes. the shooting of a mother and child may be linked to the murder of Salford "Mr big", Paul Massey. Security boss Mr Massey was shot outside his home in Salford and there is a possible link to a feud between rival gangs in the Swinton and central Salford areas. Deputy Chief Superintendent Russ Jackson of the Greater Manchester Police said rival gangs were understood to be involved in drug dealing, loan sharking and extortion, but the gang war may also be over other issues. Russ Jackson also says how these incidents are not always started over drugs but are also started over a disrespect of each other which causes gang members to turn against each other.  

Deputy Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said gun crime was "absolutely not" out of control in the city.He said a major police operation involving 50 detectives was already running in Salford  targeting organized crime. He said 30 guns had been seized since January there had been dozens of arrests and armed response units were working around the clock. 

I believe that the murders are related. They are all within a specific area and if it is not the same gang doing it is a group of gangs doing the murders. Maybe working together or trying one up each other by killing more people. I agree with the police when they say that this killing was "a sickening and cowardly attack" and I think that this gang violence and killings should be stopped as soon as possible.  

Weekly news
Lord rose joins the campaign to stay in the E.U

One of Britain's top businessmen is to lead the campaign to keep Britain in the European Union. Lord rose, the conservative peer who was in charge of marks and spencer's for 6 years between 2004 and 2010, has now joined the "in Campaign". There is also Will Straw, Lord Mendelson, Lord Sainsbury and Roland Rudd. This campaign in must close ties with No 10 to succeed, but many around the prime minister and chancellor are suspicious about the involvement of some promoters such as Lord Mandelson. It may suffer from having to many competing interests.

The campaign out, VOTE leave has Dominic Cummings, Matthew Elliot, Owen Patterson, Douglas Carswell, Fredrick Forsyth and Kate Hoey. Leave EU is Aaron Banks Nigel Farage and toby Blackwell. There weakest part is that it falls to get cross party support, little sign of labour support and heavily focused on Ukip.

I believe that it was good idea of brining in Lord Rose because he is conservative. Since many of the Campaign outs people are right wing. This will Cause people from the conservative right wing to side with the campaign in because they have one of their own campaigning for staying in. If it someone was to be elected and had left wing views there would be more disagreements with the other campaign and may spiral into more arguments.



James Bond and Kingsmen comparison

The genre for James Bond skyfall is Action and thriller. It has key conventions from a action film . such as male protagonist, damsel in distress and guns, cars, helicopters and explosions are used all the way through the film. It is a thriller since it has the conventions of a thriller. For example it has the swarve suits which James Bond wears and the sense of mystery of not knowing who the enemy is. The genre of Kingsmen is Action, Comedy and adventure. It has the same conventions as James Bond in the action genre. The conventions for the comedy are the villain which is taken seriously because he has a lisp, the final scene with the princess and the part where Egsy shots the balloon on top of Roxie's head. The adventure conventions are that he travels all over the worlds and the whole saving the world incident. The James Bond film definitely takes the action side of the genre much more serious then Kingsmen. this is because their target audience would be different. James Bond would be for the older gentlemen aged between 35 to 50. But Kingsmen audience is much appealing to a much younger audience with its different styles of genres. Kingsmen audience would be between 15 and 30.

The narrative is linear in James Bond. It does not have any flashbacks or flash forwards. It is a single stranded narrative line. That is James Bond trying to kill Mr Silver. It has one main villain or antagonist which is Mr silver and has James Bond as a protagonist. Kingsmen is linear narrative story line and is multi stranded. It has three stands within the film. It has Egsy training to become Kingsmen and fill the Lancelot placement, Killing the Antagonist Mr. Valentine and him trying to stop his mums boyfriend from hurting her. They all link in a certain way but they're all different story lines. For example Egsy joins Kingsmen because he wanted to become what his father was. But within his training he comes across the saving the world and killing Mr Valentine story line. So the Two story lines are linked through joining the Kingsmen but are different. The similarities are that The protagonist has to kill the Antagonist.

The representation of middle aged upper class men were similar. Harry in Kingsmen is upper class and middle aged and represented as a very posh, well mannered, sophisticated and subtle. James Bond is represented in the same way. James Bond is well mannered, sophisticated and swarve. the main physical appearance about them both is their suits. At the beginning when James Bond has not got has supposedly died he does not wear a suit. In the raining he scores very low in his physical and mental exams in the film. It's only until he puts his suit on for his first mission he changes dramatically in his physical and mental performance. This is the same in Kingsmen when Harry says you have a suit to be a gentleman. As soon as Egsy puts his suit his performance changes drastically. These two examples emphasize how the suit changes you in to a gentleman and somehow increases your performance.