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The 82nd Academy Awards
So it’s that time of year again, can’t believe it’s coming round already, I nearly forgot to write my post thanks Trev for reminding me! First really a few comments about this ‘Oscar’ year of movies. I say ‘Oscar’ year because we get some movies later than the US so I have not always seen them before the big night!
Overall I have felt that the standard of movies this year has not been as high as last years. Last year I spent a really long but enjoyable night at the cinema where I saw three of the movies up for best motion picture and I thought they were all absolutely brilliant movies and I think any of the 5 nominees could have won it, this year? well I’m not so sure. It’s been a year which has seen 3D movies become more popular, especially with the highly successful Avatar. I’m still not convinced, I’m also not convinced that sequels, CGI, big explosions, etc is what cinema should be about, I’m sure there’s room for them but not every movie. I truly believe going to the cinema is about the experience and as I say that doesn’t mean…
continue reading …Invictus
Invictus is the latest offering from Clint Eastwood. The movie tells the story of the South African Rugby team in their historic Run to the 1995 Rugby World Cup final. It’s much more than that though. Although the back story is some what limited we join the story as Nelson Mandela has just taken power of the New South Africa, a South Africa after Apartheid.
For those who don’t know Apartheid was a system of legal racial segregation enforced by the National Party government in South Africa between 1948 and 1994, it was a pretty unfair system which basically gave the majority Black population few rights and maintained a minority White rule.
When President Mandela took charge the country had many issues, it remained a nation that was racially and economically divided. Mandela decides that he can bring the country together through the universal language of sport. As the rugby world cup is in South Africa in 1995, a year after he takes charge, he decides to get behind the South Africa rugby team and try to inspire them and a nation to victory.
Morgan Freeman stars as the inspiring Mandela and although his accent seems to wander…
continue reading …A little about Glaucoma
So it’s been ages since I wrote a post about eyes when I said I would do it regularly, I’m such a bad blogger! I thought I would continue my basic introduction to eye conditions, so after my basic guide to what a cataract is I’ll try and give you the basics of Glaucoma.
Glaucoma is quite a big topic and it can give complicated very quickly. There are a quite a few different forms of the condition, but in simple terms Glaucoma is damage to the optic nerve head (this is the the point at which the connect between the eye and brain joins the eye). The damage is usual caused by raised pressure within the eye (which is not the same as raised blood pressure). If you think of the eye like a football (bear with me), if you pump a football up too much then the pressure causes the stitching to be put under tension, instead of the the stitching (which your eye doesn’t have!!) in the eye the tension is put on the optic nerve head and if this happens for a long time it causes damage.
The pressure in the eye is controlled by…
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