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A funny sibling scene

From the Waltons

Australian comedy show on the anti-Halal lobby

Jim Henson on Making Muppets 1969

'The Muppet Country Trio - "Can I Get To Morrow Today?"'

'A biologist's Mother's Day Song'

When books have deeper lessons...

'an unexpected briefing' courtesy of Air New Zealand and the Hobbit (!!!)

Lockie Leonard

 A rather good series. If you like 'Everybody Hates Chris', or 'Malcolm in the middle', you will probably very much like this.

some recently shown episodes on the iplayer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search?q=lockie%20leonard.
Some episodes are up on youtube. Alternatively DVD's are available.

This review on amazon gives quite a good description.


'Best kids/tween drama I've seen in a long time 11 May 2012

By Michael Cater

I'm not anywhere near the target demographic for this (male, early 20s), but I've caught much of this show with younger relatives and it's easily one of the best 'kids' television shows I've ever seen. The scripting, acting and cinematography surpass that of most adult shows around today.

It has a ton of warmth, humour and great characters. Praise for the latter must go wholly to the actors; everyone in this is superb. Sean Keenan in the lead role is ridiculously likable and believable. Corey McKernan, who plays his brother, might be even better - he's the perfect support character, hilarious, with great facial expressions and fantastic comedic timing, also able to convey plenty of pathos. The parents are also superb - in so many dramas aimed at kids and teens the older characters are stereotyped and the actors have a tendency to overact. No so here, every adult has a distinct, multi-dimensional character that avoids cliche and are played believably. Without people to care about a show like this doesn't work, so the fact that everyone, despite their flaws, is engaging and sympathetic, leaves you watching on to see what happens to them.

Thematically, the show is wholesome without endlessly moralising; it tackles issues like the environment, friendship, family, depression, parents splitting up and religion, but it is always part of the plotline and not forced. The bright surfing locations and Australian scenery appeal to young audiences, as will the fact that the actors are at the right age; no twenty five year olds playing school children like in similar shows from the US. I imagine it's very relatable as a coming of age drama, and manages to be 'everyday' (i.e. no absurd plot twists or storylines) whilst still engrossing.

So all in all, this is one of the best series of the last few years, of any genre, and one that parents can watch with their kids without being bored senseless. It's simple enough for children but not juvenile by any stretch of the imagination - much of the comedy and general scripting is actually more sophisticated than most of what you'll find in primetime adult shows (certainly when you think of how intelligence insulting most UK television is, whether its the painfully cheesy and obvious narratives on the X-Factor to the latest Peter Andre show about nothing of consequence, this is like The Sopranos by comparison...).

Your only gripe as a parent might be that some themes here are unsuitable for young children - while there's no swearing or sexual references, there is the usual 'coming of age' stuff like wet dreams, embarrassing bodies and bullying, although the latter is tame and done with a smile rather than too seriously. I'd say this is more for tweens than those under ten. Otherwise, I can't recommend this enough; it was so refreshing to find a show for young people that was both safe, ethical, cool and highly entertaining, but not patronising.'

From penguin publishing....

Via Boing Boing

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/03/17/future-of-publishing.html

All those young folk on their bicycles...

Wow! Their skills are incredible! I can't begin to imagine the amount to time and effort spent on gaining and developing those skills.




via howithappened.com

Christmas in Baghdad - story

For those who don't know Arabic (mine is very rough).

Baghdad at Christmas has no electricity. Abu Na'aal (old man) notices a little boy called Hamoodi standing in the cold. He asks him why he is standing there. Hamoodi answers that he is waiting for Baba Noelle (Father Christmas in Arabic) to bring him a bicycle. Abu Na'aal explains that Baba Noelle doesn't visit Baghdad and only distributes toys to children in America. Hamoodi is upset, and says Baba Noelle is known to distribute toys to children all over the world, so why won't he visit Baghdad, why? At this point Abu Na'aal has an idea (indicated by the gas lamp above his head, the narrator reminds listeners that there is no electricity, hence no light bulb to indicate the idea), and decides to call Father Christmas himself to ask if he could visit Baghdad. Santa Claus is not happy that Arabs call him Baba Noelle, doesn't want to visit Baghdad, and is generally not nice (there is a bit of bad language here). On being rejected by Santa Claus, Abu Na'aal then calls Noor Al-Maliki (leader of Iraq) to see if they can organise Christmas. Al-Maliki explains this isn't possible because there are 42 different departments, and it would take at least 100 years to organise things, and he decided to go for a smoke (found it difficult to understand this bit). At this point Abu Na'aal decides to organise Christmas himself. The man who came with the generator asked how important this all was because he had wanted to watch Massi playing for Real Madrid (??). Anyway, a massive tree was put up, beautifully decorated, and lit the whole of Baghdad, and it was so bright and beautiful it could be seen by the astronauts in space. Abu Na'aal appreciated the worth of this beauty. He understood that if you want something done you should not depend on others to do it for you. So, he then got himself a little carriage and a flying donkey and flew through the Baghdad skies distributing toys to all the children (the narrator notes he has no idea how the donkey flies, but recommended you ask Santa Claus how his reinder flew). The end.

Abstract city by Christoph Niemann

For the New York Times

The haunted household


Let it dough!

nice rings

'clarity'
'sunrise'
hawaian trinity ring - not so sure about this one, but different

Maile Nui leaf ring

Whoever said Google can not reassure!

I typed 'I give up' in Google and got this.

So this be the message...
When you feel all:

Take heart, and:

You've got to:

Remember to:

and:

Believe in:

Always:

and:

irn bru snowman

Irn Bru Snowman advert

(For those that don't know, Irn Bru is a soft/fizzy drink made in Scotland, orange in colour, distinctive in taste and filled with sugar. I have no idea how they make it, but it tastes great on a summers day.)

The original Snowman

Popeye...

...celebrated via google.
Loved this cartoon when I was little.

A tip...

www.snoopy.com

study skills

time management

how to study