Wednesday, 13 January 2010

Will the 'naked rambler' do time forever?

Naked rambler, Stephen Gough, naturist
According to the newspapers today the naked rambler, Stephen Gough, faces life in prison if he continues to appear nude in public.

The 50 year old is famous for his two "boots only" treks from John O'Groats to Land's End. During his first hike he was arrested 15 times and spent 140 nights in jail.

The famous naturist was yesterday found guilty of causing a breach of peace by walking naked after being released from Perth prison in December after finishing a 12 month sentence for the same offence.

He has been warned that he will be jailed every time he steps out of prison with no clothing on- which at the moment is one big vicious cycle. Thus posing the threat that he will remain in jail forever. An offer to send him home in exchange for him to put clothes on was presented to him but he has rejected it stating "this is about individual freedom".

But is it right to continue placing someone so adamant to walk around naked back in to prison when it will achieve nothing? There is no law against being nude in public in the UK and to continue putting someone who poses no real harm back in to prison is only costing the tax payer more money.
So far placing Gough in prison has cost the taxpayer £200,000 and it is set to rise. Also it must surely be taking up a space that could be taken by someone who has committed a more serious crime?

I can't say that I would personally be offended if I was to see the naked rambler walking past me. But I suppose a person with children may think differently. But then what is it that they're really seeing? Just a naked man- surely something they would see or learn about in sex education?

Yes I can understand that breaking the law needs to result in punishment and if they let one person off then they open the flood gates to letting other people get away with things. But is nudity really such a crime when really it's just all about being natural? It's not as if he is flashing his sexual parts randomly at people or being perverted about it; its not anything sexual.

An extremely thought provoking debate between law, the ideals of a naturist and what's truly acceptable within our culture and society.

Sunday, 10 January 2010

'Wanted'....or not

Somewhere between the snow and the over indulgence of chocolate during the Christmas holiday I got very bored and was somehow talked in to seeing a film I knew I already hated- 'Wanted'. OK so hatred is a pretty harsh word and there are most definitely worse films out but this one just seemed to irritate me so much that I feel extremely foolish for watching it a second time round!

Sure if you like the whole Hollywood bullshit narrative and characters then go right ahead and watch it but for me it all seemed so "samey" (can you tell I'm good at English?) and laughable.

We have the stereotypical wimpy guy character (played by James McAvoy) whose life amounts to nothing and then is changed in some dramatic way and he decides to grow a pair and become someone.Wanted, Angelina Jolie

Then off course the sexy woman with attitude (played by Angelina Jolie who doesn't amount to much more than a skeleton in this one) with a stereotypical nick name such as "fox" who pulls these "I'm a hard ass bitch with a gun" faces about a million times throughout particularly when bending bullets. ha.

We have the classic older wise guy character who holds all the power and thus putting him in the easy position to screw everyone over in the end (played by Morgan Freeman).

There are also other samey characters along the way like the hard guy who likes to punch McAvoy's character in the face and calls this training and the Russian who likes vodka and explosives.

The main stupidity of the story lies in the idea of what drives this team of assassins. That is "the loom of fate". And from this Freeman's character can determine who is to be killed next just because "the loom of fate" dropped a stitch or two. There surely could have been a million other more believable and substantial methods that the writer could have chosen other than some sort of magical loom.

Of course lets not leave out the ridiculous idea that 'Fox' can drive a car with her legs whilst lying out on the bonnet shooting at the person behind and flip a car and land perfectly and drive off. Oh and as if bending bullets wasn't impressive enough she does it so well that she can kill everyone in a circle with a single bullet going through every one's skulls and finally in to her own! It's also worth noting that the bullet in the head is heavily focused on throughout the film and the makers have gone heavy on the CGI, forcing us to see every one's heads bursting open by each bullet with the splatter of blood, brains and bone. We get it- you know how to use a computer.

It isn't all bad and there are some watchable parts and twists and I'm sure Angelina showing her naked ass will keep a lot of male members engaged. But this is most definitely a film I will never watch again, no matter how boring the Christmas holidays are!