Entries Tagged 'Gossip' ↓

ON Israel and Gaza,  Shmuel Aweida, an Israeli Arab pastor of a Hebrew-speaking Israeli Messianic congregation, writes to everyone:

Dear so-called “peace-seeking people”, “pro-ceasefire people” and “peace and reconciliation activists”,

Forgive me for not taking your nice dreams and peace demonstrations and wishes so seriously… People who didn’t care about the suffering people in Gaza under the Hamas regime for years can’t really be considered morally superior to any IDF soldier that’s on the ground there now. You might seem to be better and kinder, but not really… Sorry…

If you really care, then free Gaza from Hamas and other Islamic jihadist organizations! How can you feel sorry for the innocent children hurt accidentally by Israel when you don’t care that the same children grow up to learn to hate intentionally? You claim to feel sorry for the hungry children while ignoring the poison they are fed every single day at Hamas and Fatah schools and on TV.

How can you feel sorry for the women crying now when you didn’t care that they’ve been humiliated, discriminated and even raped and killed regularly for years?

Here’s another thing I don’t get:

These kind, sympathetic, peace-loving people who automatically want and pray for a ceasefire in Israel’s war(s) against the evil, anti-Semitic, anti-human, blood-thirsty terrorist organizations like Hamas (not against the Palestinians) – they make Israel never finish “the job” and then on the top of it all, their governments and NGOs send billions of dollars of “aid” to this corrupt evil system.

And guess what happens time and again – instead of feeding the hungry with food, they feed themselves with weapons. Instead of teaching the children math, they teach them hate and jihad against the Jews. Instead of building houses and hospitals above the ground, they build terror-tunnels under the ground.

The tunnels found in the past days have cost hundreds of millions of US dollars to build! The IDF blew up millions of your money, dear nice people in the naive West!

I’m not saying that Israel is without any fault here, but sometimes I really wonder if the Palestinians’ best friends are in reality the ones that maintain their oppression under this Islamic regime?

I simply don’t get it! Someone here needs to get a better grasp of reality!

As much as I hate this war and the price that’s being paid by our dear soldiers and the innocent civilians on both sides, I hate the fact that it’s necessary! May the needed pain of war bear good fruit of peace for all! May the Lord of Hosts and Armies give us His Shalom!

There has been quite a lot of activity in the social media in the past month. I was disappointed and frustrated of some my Facebook friends and the level of naiveté and blindness with regard to the real situation and the roots of the conflicting the Middle East.

Do they really not see what the Hamas is all about or what Islam really is? Are they all so blind to what’s happening around us in Syria, Iraq and all over? Don’t they see what Hamas is doing to the poor population that lives under this terror daily? I don’t know why I keep being surprised…

To my anti-Arab friends:

But what really surprised me was that, with regard to this operation in Gaza, the hatred, revenge and racism that filled the [Facebook] statuses of those who support Israel.

They expressed such joy over going to war and causing destruction (a joy I’m glad our leadership doesn’t have). The fact they quoted Bible verses didn’t make it any less stinking. So I threw those people out of my Facebook just like I did with others that posted pornography and other disgusting stuff. Trash is trash is trash.

Praying that God may protect our soldiers who are serving us and giving their lives for us – proud of the moral code of the IDF and the legitimacy of this necessary operation. Praying for those making the tough decisions – but with much more humility.

I guess we need to pray that we’ll all guard our hearts from hatred, revenge, racism, pride and other destructive things that do not honor us, nor the God of Israel.

 

Photo: Pro-Palestinian display a Palestinian flag with the Hamas sign during a banned demonstration in support of Gaza at Place de la Republique in Paris, France, Saturday, July 26, 2014. French police fired tear gas as clashes broke out at a banned pro-Gaza demonstration on Saturday as thousands defied a ban on the protest. The interior minister had earlier called on organizers of the Paris demonstration to observe the ban imposed to halt potential anti-Semitic violence. (AP Photo/Benjamin Girette)

The Mill (Channel 4)

Penguin Post Office (BBC 2)

Outside the sun was shining, inside The Mill was on the telly, dragging all light and hope from the world. The first series of Channel 4’s historical drama based on the archives of the Quarry Bank Mill in Cheshire was one of the broadcaster’s biggest hits in 2013, presumably acting as a kind of televisual cosh for viewers. Series 2 is shaping up to be no less gloomy with a script that levers in historical references with all the skill of a bemused GCSE student flicking through Cliff Notes.

“Wages are down.” “Blame the Corn Laws.” “It’s not your fault! You’re a victim of the Poor Law!” Outside of the leads – Kerrie Hayes as plucky young apprentice Esther Price and Matthew McNulty as swarthy engineer Daniel Bate – most of the characters are like dirt-splattered mannequins posed to illustrate the travails of the poor. This series rejoins the characters four years on from the first, in the wake of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act which defined “deserving” and “undeserving” poor, so there’s a catalyst for even more misery.

The Mill was originally pitched as an antidote to Downton Abbey but it indulges in the same kind of cartoonish simplifications. Where Downton makes life downstairs seem far more enjoyable than it can possibly have been, The Mill turns its working class characters into ciphers in a unrelentingly dour history lesson. There’s a drought of wit, humour or humanity outside of one cheeky line noting that “it’s grim down south”.

The writer, John Fay, is desperate to make parallels between the 19th Century and today. You can see his workings when a union man tells the workers: “The English labourer did not cause the downturn – a banking criss in America started it.” Then there’s the flood of migrant workers albeit from the south of England causing discontent among the frock-coated Farages.

Hayes’s performance is the one chink of light in the gloom. She flirts and cajoles her way to a better life but is always on the cusp of losing it all. And if you start to feel hopeful, there’s always her destitute sister Martha’s story to reignite your depression – begging on the streets because her husband has died of smallpox. Things are made even bleaker by the ominous string score that swamps every scene.

Tricked by memories of Happy Feet, I turned to Penguin Post Office as an antidote to The Mill-induced misery. At first Andrew Graham-Brown’s excellent documentary about the women who run the Royal Mail’s outpost in Antarctica for five months a year and the penguins they live amongst was pretty cheering. But it wasn’t to last. It turns out penguins can be pretty unpleasant to each other too.

Two female penguins scrapped after one nicked the other’s mate, some stole stones from each other’s nests and a young penguin was killed by a group of adults. When one of its siblings lay down beside its dead body , it was a scene that outstripped any of the sad tableaus The Mill had to offer. If it hadn’t been for dancing Tunnock’s teacakes in the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony, I might have sworn off TV for good…

The Mean Girls actress has reportedly held a string of meetings with publishing houses in London to discuss writing a tell-all book.

The pretty brunette, 42, got a little frisky with Adereti Monney, 38, as they sunbathed while surrounded by other park-goers.

IF you go down the comic book shop (and you should – they are never as intimidating and bewildering as you might think), you’ll notice that there’s a lot of men reading comic about other men.

To say comicsville is a bit of a sausagefest is an understatement.

However, that isn’t to say that things aren’t being done about and, more to the point, the small matter of their being a history of cool women in comics and graphic novels. And have you seen the amount of amazing women in amazing costumes at the various Comic Con shindigs around the world?

Exactly.

In the news this week, Guardians of the Galaxy screenwriter Nicole Perlman, the first woman to be credited on a Marvel film, which is great news. And now, it seems, there’s going to be a film developed which focuses on a female superhero.

You may have heard that Thor is now a woman – not gender realignment surgery, but rather, the powers have been passed-on and now, Thor is a female.

The women of Watchmen are pretty fantastic and X-Men has some ace female characters.

So, let us celebrate the women of comic fiction and you can decide which one you’d like to see in a film in the future (of course, they won’t all be Marvel, but as soon as they do it, you bet your sweet arse the rest of the field will want to get in on it). We can only hope they’ll be better than Supergirl and Spiderwoman’s screen representations.

Please note, we’re aware that some of these have been in films already, but it isn’t like Hollywood is shy of a reboot at the minute.

Wonder Woman

Everyone knows Wonder Woman as she’s one of the most famous superpeople ever!  One-third of DC Comics’ The World’s Finest Trinity with Batman and Superman and has whipped her Lasso of Truth in the successful TV of the 70s and the less successful version in the ’00s. Why she hasn’t had a film yet is something of a mystery.

Raven

Goth-face Raven is the product of a human mum and an inter-dimensional demon father (and you thought your parents’ divorce was hard), raised in an alternate dimension and in possession of an incredibly dry wit. She was rejected by the Justice League of America, so helped set up the Teen Titans.

Vampirella

Get this – Vampirella is a vampire because she needs blood to survive, however, she doesn’t have any of the usual weaknesses you associated with vampires, which is cool right? Sent to Earth to kill all the evil vampires, she could make for a tip-top film.

The Runaways

The Runaways are a group of teenagers who run away from home. Why? Basically, they see their families murder and sacrifice an innocent girl for some grim ritual purposes. Then they find out that one of them is part-alien and another is a mutant. There’s only one thing for it – SUPERHERODOM! Could make for a great film that appeals to young women.

Ms Marvel

Carol Danvers accidentally gets subjected to the same super duper radiation that transformed Captain Marvel, and subsequently her, into superhumans. Ms. Marvel can cut it alone, as part of the Avengers and, in the mantle of Captain Marvel. Could she have her own film in the making?

Black Canary/Birds of Prey

There’s been more than one Black Canary and there’s a lot of history to play with, not to mention the fact that the current BC is part of the super ace female crime-fighting team, Birds of Prey. Who wouldn’t wanna see that?

Red Sonja

Game of Thrones angle here, and Red Sonja is referred to as the “She-Devil With A Sword.” She’s bad-ass and there’s dragons and all that fantasy stuff that people gobble up. Want some tragedy? She got her superhuman powers in exchange for a vow that she’d never love any man who could not defeat her in fair combat.

Harley Quinn

Comic Con outfit fave, Harleen Quinzel, is the Arkham quack who hooked up with the Joker. She is also a member of the brilliantly named Suicide Squad.

Purgatori

Want something pompously grand? How about an Egyptian slave girl and lover of the Queen who gets betrayed by all and transformed into a vampire by Rath’s blood? That could make for a preposterously fun movie.

Talk about awkward timing! One day after news breaks that Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult have split for the second time, Nicholas attended a press conference with his new co-star, Kristen Stewart, to talk about their new movie, ‘Equals.’ Kristen and Jennifer are often considered professional rivals as two actresses around the same age who have headlined major franchises (Kristen with ‘Twilight’ and Jennifer with ‘The Hunger Games’). Nicholas and Kristen talked about their on set chemistry for ‘Equals.’ RELATED: Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult split again.

Kristen joked:

I can’t stand him.”

That doesn’t seem likely; they’ve been seen hanging out and eating sushi as they prepare to film. She added:

It’s always a weird position to be put in any film where the director chooses two people and is saying, ‘Hey, potentially in this world I’m creating you two could fall in love.’”

Nicholas said:

Sometimes [this kind of situation] feels forced and tricky and awkward, but the kind of environment [director Drake Doremus] created was straightforward and easy. Kristen is a great actress, and that just makes it very relaxed and my job very easy.”

‘Equals’ is about a future where humans no longer feel emotion until a few people start to feel again. Kristen said the topic wasn’t intimidating to her as an actress.

I’m definitely not afraid of ‘feels.’ My life revolves around it, actually. Finding the balance between the head and the heart is important – but I’ve always been very driven by the gut.”

‘Equals’ sounds interesting; I’m going to keep an eye out for the trailer!

Photos by FAMEFLYNET

THIS is one of those little stories that can make you very worried indeed about the future of the human race. Some Twitter hashtag about Gaza (the place being bombed) was mistaken by fans of retired alcoholic footballers to be about Gazza. Confusion ensues:

Fans of former England footballer Paul Gascoigne, popularly known as ‘Gazza’, were left confused and fearing for his future as a Free Gaza campaign took off online.

Tweets with the hashtag #freegaza have been trending on Twitter in response to the violence in the Middle East, with users using their posts to urge Israeli forces to stop their assault on the Gaza Strip. The conflict, which started on July 8, has led to the deaths of more than 1,200 people.

But followers of the troubled player, who has become known for his battles with alcohol and drugs, mistakenly thought that he had been arrested and that the campaign was in support of his freedom.

Oh Dear God.

Can we hurry up and find a way of getting off this planet please?

And if that doesn’t scare you then perhaps this will: the people with sufficient brains to still keep breathing but insufficient to get the difference here are also all voters in our shared democracy. And they’re all also licensed to have children. Feel better now?

Denise teamed her colourful lower half with a sleeveless black blouse and strappy, Roman themed sandals after leaving the studios of Magic FM, where she hosts her own afternoon show.

This has to be THE oddest Hollywood couple I’ve seen in quite a while. Zac Efron and Michelle Rodriguez appeared to be getting cozy earlier this summer while vacationing together with friends in Europe. Now Zac is back in Europe, and he’s reunited with Michelle. These pictures are of the two of them hanging out on a luxury yacht in Ibiza. The pics were snapped yesterday. RELATED: Zac Efron said he needed a “social lubricant.”

TMZ even has video of them making out in an Ibiza nightclub, so I think it’s safe to say they’re more than just friends. At the very least, they’re friends with benefits.

Former Disney star Zac has always just seemed to squeaky clean to me! We know he’s not after two trips to rehab, but I guess I still can’t quite shake it. And Michelle… Michelle’s always struck me as being one of the Hollywood “bad girls,” for lack of a better name. I also didn’t think she was into guys, but she could be bisexual. Sexuality does exist on a continuum, despite our love of putting people into categories. Regardless, it’ll be interesting to see where this goes…

Photos by FAMEFLYNET

And no, it’s not just because of what Barbie said, “Math is hard”. We really are seeing evidence in empirical (that is, when people go out and study the real world rather than just theorising in ivory towers) studies that men are, on average, better at maths than women on average. But do not that this is about averages: plenty of women are better than most to nearly all men at maths. This tells us nothing about any one individual however true it might be of the population:

Men’s and women’s brains really are different.

Researchers say that if both sexes had access to the same levels of education, they’d expect women to do best on tests of memory – and men to excel at maths.

The prediction comes after an analysis of how the sexes’ abilities varied across Europe across time.

More than 31,000 men and women aged 50-plus from 13 countries were put through three tests of brainpower.

They did all the things you should do, controlling for education levels for example (this being very important as it wasn’t all that many decades ago that women in southern Europe were educated to a very different standard than men. Where I live in rural Portugal it’s not unusual to find women in their 60s or 70s who are profoundly, completely, illiterate and innumerate).

And they found that in verbal ability it all looked about the same, in maths men were better and in memory women were. All of which solves one great confusion of modern life, why can women remember anniversaries and birthdays and men not? But which leaves us with another: why can men not calculate these things with their better maths?