“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.” -Mother Teresa

Have re-read this book, Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman. It is amazing. Go get it on your kindle of head to the book store to go and get it.

The Cure for Being Trapped in Wonderland

So I have been away and unable to post. I was walking along a country lane and fell down a rabbit hole. My time there was a mixed bad. I'll explain to you my tale of Wonderland...here we go.

Where is Alice? Where did she go? She left quite a while ago. I am trapped in Wonderland. Addicted to caffeine; so many cups of tea. I am tripping. I keep slipping. What is the difference between pretending and a real life? Every day is different with the same scenario. I keep spinning. Round and round and round I go. Please can you direct me to the ground.

Where is the rabbit? He is late again. Goodness gracious is this Vegas because I can't tell what is up or down, day or night or if the Cat is smiling; maybe it is a frown. I keep on going, flying, swimming but why can't I recognise why I am upside down? 

Out of space, out of place, out of time. I am going to a place where you see me and see me now you don't. Along comes a beautiful lady; her eyes dark and a little shady as she held out her hand. "Let's go" she said and away she led. She was so much fun, playing in the sun with her flying monkeys and wand that she used like a gun. She quickly turned evil though, green skinned as she ripped out my heart.

She shackled my hand and threw my in a dungeon. It was so cold lying there on the filthy floor. I lay there in the darkness; my whole body so sore. I did try to escape but she makes me feel so sad, so low. I fight her, even bite her. I did clench my fist so tight but I failed to make a blow. So I stayed there until i could hear the screams of the Munchkins saying "Mr Mad, wake up, wake up. It is time to go."

Rebellion won. We all celebrate all day. Parties and cake with a little cheese on a stick. Life is good. The sun shines so bright every day. Here comes Alice. She finally arrived. A bit late but that is okay. Here’s your glass of Orange Juice and Rose. We get to talking but what am I trying to say?

Hugs all night long but we have to wake, wake up. I watch you do your hair and make-up. All that fake stuff to impress the world. But what you don’t know is that I rang your boss to say you won’t be in today. He was a little shocked when I told him that we are going to be in bed all day. Making love and then will duck….under the covers.

It’s okay. If I have my way we will stay in bed until two o clock midday. Look at each other and say “hey”. We should just stay right here. Lay right here. Because everything here is okay. Anything else would be the waste of the day. Everything else can wait. There is no need to do anything else so you can’t be late.

Alright. It may not quite be love but it could get close. If we work it out. Maybe one day from the rooftops we will shout. This is not sugar coated. Its real, it’s free. We don’t need no dough, no money. Because if we get dipped in gold we will never grow.

Poetry Corner - A Flashback to the Past

So here is a poem I wrote in two thousand and three and I heard a song which made me dig it out. It was hand written in Philosophy and Ethics because it was better than paying attention.

 

So all I need from you is to see you tomorrow and then the next day just follow your heart.

Is it too much to ask to see you on Sunday, really it is only a plane ticket away.

See I know we live in different countries and it is not the ideal way to start.

But let’s face it you are all I can think about all day and every time we are together all I want to do is stay.

 

I know people have made your promises, they tell you that all I say is just a line.

But that is rich coming from a guy who took out your heart with a knife and blamed you for you not be willing to give it, physically.

All you need to know is that we stick together then all will be okay, it will all be just fine.

See I will be the guy who will heal your wounds over time, see I will persevere and be patient because you are worth it, totally.

 

Just be there at the airport when I arrive and you will see you just have to take my hand to find out what dreams are meant to be.

Soon we won’t have to wait, we will get a place and I will always be the last voice you hear at night and again, again for all the nights that there are.

Every morning we will wake with me there saying “hey” and you will smile staring back at me.

 

Yet anyway, I can’t wait to see tomorrow. It is your birthday, Yep, me and your friends have a wonderful surprise.

Don’t ask me what it is, I do know I just am so awful at telling a lie. So just let it be.

I have got you another present though, yep another teddy, it is the guise.

Although, hopefully it will be a little thing to help you realise that it is not such a bad thing to be in love with me.

 

So I wrote that when I was 16. I am glad I made the words true for 8 years at the least. See if you think that the above is similar to a song. A current song on an album. I’ll let you have the fun of guessing.

 

Marky Mark Mondays - Three Kings

Three Kings

So this weeks is a bit of a Marky Mark classic. It hit the cinemas in 1999, which makes it over 10 years old and therefore in my mind can be classed as a classic. Also a classic for its timing. A film set in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War and released 4 years before Bush’s and Blair’s invasion of Iraq in 2003.

 

The film is an action packed comical adventure in which 4 soldiers embark on a journey to steal Kuwaiti gold from Saddam’s army in a village just outside of Kabala. Mark Wahlberg plays a Troy Barlow, who on a search of Iraqi prisoners finds a treasure map wedged between the bum cheeks of a prisoner. Troy takes it to his good friend Chief Elgin, played by Ice Cube and the two of them begin to come up with a plan to get the gold but before they can George Clooney, as Archie Gates, wastes no time in taking charge of the opportunity and the Three Kings. are born.

 

The three of them, with Marky Mark’s shadow Conrad Vig in toe, head off with dreams of being rich. However, when they find what they are looking for necessity dictates that their selfish incentives must turn in to more selfless ones. Through the witty jokes an the shambolic heist the thieves become saints as they help refugees escape the butchery of Saddam’s army.

 

The light hearted action holds a more serious undertone with all questioning why the Americans were ever present in the conflict and during the torture of Marky Mark the producers answer is clearly provided as Oil is poured down his throat with the aid of Western capitalist goods. Saddam’s army even use chemical weapons of destruction, which prove not to be very lethal for the victims who all survive the attack and with a strange twist the film manages to predict the future that at the time had not happened yet.

 

The film ends with the refugees being helped over the border by the Three Kings who are prevented from doing so by the American army leaving the Iraqi refugees helpless. That is until Archie Gates reveals they know where the Kuwaiti gold is. This persuades the Americans to help the refugees but reminds the viewer that they were only willing to do so when money is in sight.

 

The film does make it clear that Iraq returned most of the gold to Kuwait, suggesting that some went missing over the Iranian border and possibly in the pockets of the Three Kings. But really the film leaves you with one question; what was the point of it all? What was the point of the American presence in the first Persian Gulf War and what really was the point of the Iraq war in 2003?

 

So for the reason of a film that came out in 1999 which managed to question the reasons of both of the wars involving Iraq, one that happened before and one that happened afterwards, The Cure to the World gives Three Kings a five out of five star rating.

For other Marky Mark films see:

Four Brothers

http://thecuretotheworld.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/marky-mark-mondays-four-brothers.html

The Fighter http://thecuretotheworld.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/marky-mark-mondays-fighter.html

Contraband http://thecuretotheworld.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/marky-mark-mondays-contraband.html

The Curing Sunday - Blog 5, The Hidden Sense of Normality

Blog 5

The Hidden Sense of Normality

 

“The club was dark and dingy but not in the usual form. I expect most night clubs to have subdued lights to an extent, but this was different. It was as if the darkness was hiding something, something horrific, something unimaginable. It was; it was hiding the interior decor. Once, my eyes eventually adjusted to the lack of light I managed to observe my surroundings. To the right there was the bar with two waiting staff trying to attend to the customers that overcrowded it, blocking the gangway to the dance floor where the bodies moved in tandem to the drone of the beat. The place was packed with a mixture of half-dressed girls, which was definitely not appropriate for the Winter time in Britain, and with the more sensibly dressed guys, who all typically were clothed in jeans and either a t-shirt or shirt. It did not seem to fit Mark’s original description. It looks like any other late night drinking establishment, which is in need of a little love and care with a paint brush and a few hundred sprays of fabreeze.”

 

The above paragraph is just one taken from The Cure and highlights that even though sometimes not all is what it seems, what it seems is sometimes very normal. Such is a constant underlying theme of the novel. Michael, as introduced in last week’s blog, is different, some say unique, some say special and some say strange. Yet whatever he is, he is still a normal kid living in a normal world. It is just not as normal as he thought it would be. However, when has this world of ours ever been normal? For Michael his life begins to change and it changes quickly; some of the changes are for the better and some will probably fill his nightmares, most of which are due to his new girlfriend. It is the usual comforts that he wishes will return knowing that they never will. Yesterday’s normal has gone replaced by today’s normal. Tomorrow’s normal will arrive tomorrow. The only thing that will stay the same is that Michael will face whatever the day brings, whether it brings up an old normal or a new, strange and supernatural normal.

 

 

Anything Goes on a Friday - The Cure for Man Flu

The Cure for Man Flu

 

So firstly I must apologise to all my avid readers for not posting much this week but I have been ill, I have been suffering. I have been suffering from an illness that is as catastrophic to the family home as the Black Death used to be, yet thanks to modern medicine it is not as morbidly devastating. It is flu but not any ordinary flu. In fact just like the Spanish Influenza it has been given its own name; a recognition of its severity, a recognition of the pain endured by all the sufferers of Man Flu.

 

Now Man Flu cannot be confused with any type of flu. You know those flus where you can still take the kids to school, go to work, do the food shop and any other every day task that comes up. With Man Flu you cannot do any of this; you are too weak. With Man Flu all you can do is lie in bed and do nothing except for moan and whine to anyone who doesn’t want to listen.

 

It is not known why Man Flu is worse than other flus. I was speaking to a medical expert the other day and when I asked her why Man Flu is worse she just raised her eyebrows, smiled and chuckled. Clearly she was too embarrassed to even try to provide an explanation because she was just baffled by this medical mystery. Another doctor used the phrase “completely flummoxed” when I was talking to him about a completely different health concern with no reference to the topic of this post.

 

The symptoms of Man Flu and normal flu are both similar and very different. The similarities include raised temperature, coughing and that yucky guckiness along with a few others. However, Man Flu, unlike flu, also causes day bed or sofa ridden syndrome with TV remote in hand requiring someone else to do everything for you as you moan and groan about how this is more awful than anything in the world.

 

Normally it is so bad that other family members rally around to care, possibly the wife, girlfriend, mother, sibling or even a flatmate arrive at the door with soup or a hot drink as you pretend to be sleeping. You let out another moan to show how ill you are when really the moan is for the fact that you were just getting to the point in Midsummer Murders where the killer is about to be revealed but now you have to pretend to be really, really ill; missing it all.

 

Yes it is that bad. If you doubt it then let me ask you this. How many other illnesses cause as much self-pitying as Man Flu? Not many in my knowledge, not many at all. How many illnesses require you to stay in bed all day doing nothing except for watching rubbish daytime television? It is quite inexplicable really but strangely the symptoms of Man Flu are also its Cure.

 

I should make it clear that I did not invent this Cure. I imagine it first came about when the first man to own a TV got flu; a flu that was a bit worse than the usual flu and hence was the first victim of Man Flu. I imagine it was he who first came up with the remedy. I imagine it was he who refused to get out of his bed as his wife catered for his every need and did everything else, it was probably he who then realised that by doing this for a few days and then stringing it out for a few more made him feel so much better. It was he who probably first perfected The Cure by enforcing constant sympathy from every person he came across during his horrifying experience.

 

He then must have handed it down through the generations. No one else has come along and thought of a better one. People have tried. There has been nagging, arguments and all sorts. Mainly about a non-Man Flu sufferer saying that she doesn’t spend all day in bed watching TV when she has the flu. However, the answer to this is a simple one. She never had Man Flu. She had another flu that was not as bad as Man Flu. If it was as bad someone would have named it Woman Flu but they didn’t because it is not as bad.

 

It makes perfect sense right? Or is that perfect nonsense? Man Flu is awful and there is only one Cure. To do nothing, well nothing of any use anyway. But then again that is like most days whether suffering from the illness or not, according to an unspecified source.