Normally, I don’t watch television programmes like “Britain’s Got Talent” because to me, they are all a bit the same. Furthermore, I am in agreement with a comment made on my 80smetalman’s Blog many years ago which said, “Simon Cowell is a moron with tin for ears.” Mrs. 80smetalman, on the other hand, likes watching “BGT.” So, while I was plinking away on the computer, she was watching it the other night and I just happened to pop into the living room for a moment when this act was coming on. It was a dance troop called Born to Perform but what I noticed immediately about them as that all of the members had some form of special needs. Many had Down’s Syndrome and I am sure there were some who have Autism. Discovering this, I had to watch their performance which I am sharing below.
Were you impressed? I was. Sure, if one wanted to nitpick, there were times where they weren’t totally in sync with their dance moves but the passion they showed in the performance was just phenomenal! They won over the crowd and the judges. All four of them simply gushed over the group and rightfully so. Of course, I can point out that Simon Cowell and Amanda Holden (she’s the blonde lady on the panel) learned their lesson many years ago when singing sensation Susan Boyle walked out on stage and they acted patronizingly towards her. Anyway, I digress, but the best part was when judge David Walliams pushed the Golden Button ensuring the group’s place in the semi-final.
Because all the members of Born to Perform have some sort of special needs, they were probably victims of bullying. After all, they were prime targets. Being a bullying victim myself, I am already envisioning the negative comments being thrown at them, although to be fair, I haven’t come across any yet. Bullies will cheapen the group’s hard work and success by saying that they only got through on account of playing the ‘special needs card’ and if they were ‘normal’, they wouldn’t have done so. Here’s my take: The members of Born to Perform have been at a disadvantage from day one. Often shunned by society, even the targets of bullying, they threw off the shackles of their disadvantage, worked their socks off, went on national television and totally wowed the audience, the judges and all of Great Britain and hopefully, my non-British readers have seen the above clip and they are wowing the world.
While I won’t start watching BGT on a regular basis, I will watch the semi-final and will be cheering Born to Perform on to victory. Saying that, they have already won a great victory, they have not only won me over but an entire nation.
For some reason, the Amazon link to “He Was Weird” is going nuts. Still, you can buy the book by emailing me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com
The main topics of Peaceful Rampage have always been around bullying, school shootings and issues related to autism and of course to plug my book, “He Was Weird,” I sometimes find it necessary for me to post about other topics which are of interest to me. Sometimes, I need to take a break and post about something different. Maybe that’s related to Asperger’s Syndrome. Therefore, slightly influenced by the recent Oscar’s although nothing to do with ‘the slap,’ I have decided to make this post about movie trailers because it’s been something my unusual mind has been thinking about recently.
It’s obvious to everyone that movie trailers tend to show the best parts of the film in order to entice moviegoers to see the film. However, I have been able to break this down even more, into specifics. Certain types of films will show the scenes which pertain largely to the theme of the movie. Therefore, I am going to go through a few genres and point out what I mean.
Comedy films: On trailers for comedies, you will see the funniest parts to the film in the trailer. This is the case of the vast majority of these types of films. Two notable exceptions were from two comedy films which are the two biggest party films of all time. Both came out in 1978. When the trailers for “Cheech and Chong’s Up in Smoke” came out, I don’t ever recall seeing the above picture in any of the trailers. Those who followed the famous comedy duo knew that the film was going to be about smoking weed but obviously, they couldn’t show that in the trailer. Still, the above scene was the funniest bit of the film. The other was “National Lampoon’s Animal House.” Another great party film but most of the funniest bits were sexual innuendos which couldn’t be shown on TV trailers. Still, most comedy trailers will show the funniest parts to the film.
War films: Guaranteed when a war movie comes out, the trailer will mainly show the combat portions of the film, no matter how disproportionate they were to the rest of the movie. This it to get men into the cinema to see the film. One notable point is that these days, filmmakers will not hold back in showing the horrors of war in their film but they, for obvious reasons, can’t show the most horrific scenes in the trailer.
Romantic films: Naturally, the trailer will show all the luvy-duvy bits to encourage the ladies to get their significant others to take them to see the movie. There might be a split second where the trailer shows the conflict between the loving couple but the trailer will leave you with the impression that the couple will make up and love each other forever.
Now, here’s something else my strange mind has realized about movie trailers. If the film being advertised has a female fight in it, it’s almost guaranteed that a snippet or sometimes the entire length of that fight will appear in the trailer. I remember a film for television back in the 1970s called “The Daughters of Joshua Cabe.” As a hormone charged teen, I watched the film because most of the two-minute trailer focused on the fight between the daughters in the film. The fight lasted between five and ten minutes which was at most, one-tenth of the film. But with me and probably a lot of men and teenage boys, the trailer got me to watch the entire movie. Some films might only have a brief tussle between two ladies or even just a face slap but you can almost bet that it will be shown in the trailer.
Now, here’s something amusing. I have just watched the trailer to “Fast and Furious 7” and although I have called female fight in the film, the best one in cinema history, it doesn’t appear in the trailer. This could be more down to all the death defying stunts which are carried out in the movie. Which is another point, in action films, you will be entreated to all the stimulating action scenes in the trailer.
I thank all of you for indulging my insane mind and letting me post about movie trailers. Sometimes, my mind likes to wander and it’s best for my own sanity to allow it to do so. While most of what I wrote is stating the obvious about trailers, it’s something I like to write about.
Bullying is not just a problem in the West, it happens all around the world. Today, I have sadly learned that a young girl in Japan committed suicide on account of the bullying she was suffering. From the report, which you can read by clicking the link, it seems that school authorities weren’t too bothered about the bullying and did not investigate properly. As a result, a beautiful young girl, (we’re all beautiful). has taken her own life.
Sadly, once again, I have to play this song in loving memory of another person who has taken her life due to the cruelty of others. I hope and pray that this will be the last time I have to post this song but I know it won’t be.
Now a new feature on Peaceful Rampage. Well not particularly new because I post certain songs after a school shooting occurs. However, from now on, whenever I learn about a child who has taken their on life due to bullying, I am going to post this song by Matt Kennon.
Maybe people might start to get the message and actually do something to end bullying all together.
I promise that this will be the final post in regards to the slap at the Oscar’s. The whole thing is beginning to get boring now but with my Asperger’s, it has awakened something which lingers in the back of my mind. A lot of memories do that which has left me suffering from ‘intrusive thoughts’ but that’s not the point of this post.
When I first heard about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock over Chris’s comments about Will Smith’s wife, who suffers from alopecia, my first thought went back to a stereotype I had held about African American men for many years. That stereotype being that all black men use violence as a way of settling things. Now, I have encountered some African American men who do fit this stereotype. Likewise, I encountered white men who do, and if I want to stereotype further, a lot of those would be regarded as hillbillies or rednecks. However, while that might be true, it does seem that it’s the black men who are more likely to get labelled with the stereotype.
Race related buzz has been circulating all throughout the media since the slap occurred. There have been laments about how Will Smith has set the black cause back many years and the usual speculations that Will wouldn’t have come under such criticism if he and Chris Rock were white. Of course this has led to further shouts of ‘playing the race card’ and so on. I had to stop reading about the whole thing as it would have sent my brain into complete confusion. In fact, now that I got it all out on screen, I feel like my head has been cleared of it all, not that it was a major source of my thoughts this week. All I wanted to do was to relate the incident to bullying.
Therefore let me close out with the thought I posted yesterday and something Will Smith and anyone else who thinks they can use violence to achieve their ends should pay attention to:
A superior man uses his words, a common man uses his fists.