"Who is mystery blonde girl found in Greece gypsy camp?" Roma/Gypsies need a Hollywood PR Counselor, stat! Channel 4 News video is devastating reproach to many well-intentioned but naive people who just thought Roma were victims who had bad PR.; #childtrafficking

Channel Four News video: 19 OCTOBER 2013 -Greek plea over mystery girl found in Roma gypsy camp
http://www.channel4.com/news/roma-missing-girl-gypsy-madeleine-mccann-abduction

"Who is mystery blonde girl found in Greece gypsy camp?" Roma/Gypsies need a Hollywood PR Counselor, stat! Channel 4 News video is devastating reproach to many well-intentioned but naive people who just thought Roma were victims who had bad PR. No, in Sweden as in England, genuine facts and reality re Roma must trump holier-than-thou platitudes and good intentions/guilt; #MadeleineMcCann, #childtrafficking

I received this disturbing news on Saturday via my daily Snowmail from Channel Four News at 12:06 p.m.

With this news on Saturday, it appears to me that the year of all the naive pro-Roma stories written in Europe are about to come to a thud, esp. in the U.K. and in Sweden.

As I've previously mentioned to some of you via an email or two, this past summer, a week after Nationalsdagen, a sort of Swedish July 4th but without the military angle but with picnics, a nationally-televised TV show fusing Swedish traditions, music and the Royal family,



a college in the Stockholm area, for security reasons, ordered all of its students out of their dorms near a campus parking lot after Roma took it over with their vehicles and set about transforming it into a  place to live, and soon engaging in some unruly criminal behavior, to boot, which got the attention of everyone in the area.

TheLocal (Sweden)

Students forced out over traveller safety fears 
14 Jun 2013 18:26 CET
By Oliver Gee

http://www.thelocal.se/48504/20130614/

The reason that the college felt obliged to require the students to get out toute-de-suite was that the Police did NOT want to intervene right away and remove the new arrivals because, as we'd later learn months later, there were some complication.

Complications and secret efforts that very few people in Sweden knew, which is to say that about 99.99% of the country did not know anything until later this summer:

http://www.thelocal.se/50378/20130923/

http://www.aftonbladet.se/ledare/ledarkronika/karinpettersson/article17530426.ab

http://www.thelocal.se/50400/20130924/

http://www.thelocal.se/50532/20131001/

Plus,

a.) Sweden has what is, alternately, a charming/quaint/preposterous law that is treasured by many and lamented by some that allows people to use/camp/hike on unoccupied private land if it's not specifically prohibited, but with that comes certain responsibilities.

In this instance, and not for the first time you suspect, the Gypsies involved intentionally conflated and stretched the limits of what is permissible under Allemansrätten and the Police knew that if they tried anything, they'd cite their rights under Swedish law.

Clearly, a university parking lot is not one of those places envisioned by the law, which was/is geared towards allowing the public free access to nature, near private property on lakes, forests, etc.

(NOT asphalt and concrete and proximity to a 7/11, which are on every third or fourth corner in Stockholm for reasons I'll get into in a future blog post.)

Owing to the fact that it was summer break for most college students, so the parking lot  was obviously more empty than usual- and,

b.) Police were very concerned that in light of the riots in immigrant-intensive Husby this spring in the town NW of Stockholm, professional Leftist community activists-types and 

the area's legitimate political players would immediately criticize the Police for trying to remove them, as we'd expect to see happen here  in a similar case of trespassing.

So in essence, the Police wanted a green light first from these political players that they could proceed rather than simply walk into what they perhaps rightly perceived a no-win trap, and

subsequently find everyone criticizing them for just doing their job.

That's the part of Sweden and Swedish life that you never read about in the U.S. news media, and which consistently drives many people there -like my friends, par exemple- quite crazy, since some things in a society DON'T need a consensus, they simply need people prepared to do their job correctly and as professionally as possible, however difficult sometimes.

My friends and their neighbors want the same thing that people here in Broward County want in their interactions with and expectations of local and regional government, and especially the Police Department. 
They want PREDICTABILITY.
The same thing the individual police officer wants.

But politics and good intentions often gets in the way of that, just as it does in England as well.

The Telegraph YouTube Channel video: Truth about the Romanian beggars of Park Lane. Uploaded July 28, 2013. http://youtu.be/SNhhJh81GxE

By the way, here's one of the possible reasons why the Police in Skåne had a registry of Roma children in the first place: http://www.thelocal.se/50464/20130926/

So that when, oh, hypothetically, blonde-haired, green-eyed girls were found that are clearly not related to anyone they are traveling with, Police know to immediately put out an alert.

Or to quote the piece, "Channel 4 News has been told the story reflects

a common trend in Eastern Europe." 

Right, because sometimes, a list is composed NOT to keep track of who belongs in a group, but rather for who doesn't, no?

Exactly.

Yes, as always, context matters.

More in the The Daily Mail:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2468431/Police-probe-claims-Ben-Needham-spotted-gypsy-camp-Maria.html

Australian sports world rocked by scandal! "Project Aperio" details Aussie sports world's secret: widespread drug use by top athletes, organised crime's connections to athletes, possible match fixing and much more; Australian Football League and National Rugby League are cooperating with Australian Crime Commission, but fallout is expected to be heavy; @krishgm

Channel 4 News video: Australia's Justice Minister Jason Clare and Sports Minister Kate Lundy discuss  shocking details of "Project Aperio,' the year-long findings of the Australian Crime Commission. Aired February 7, 2013. http://bcove.me/rsmlfpgg

Australian sports world rocked by scandal! "Project Aperio" details Aussie sports world's secret: widespread drug use by top athletes, organised crime's connections to athletes, possible match fixing and much more; Australian Football League and National Rugby League are cooperating with Australian Crime Commission, but fallout is expected to be heavy; @krishgm

SNTVonline YouTube Channel video: Aussie sport doping scandal revealed by Australian Crime Commission. Uploaded February 7, 2013.

http://youtu.be/OhZ9QPeRSQs

Australia's Channel 10 sports presenter Brad McEwan tells Channel 4 News presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy, "The country is aghast..." It's "the blackest day in Australian sport." Aired February 7, 2013.
Video at: http://bcove.me/wlhtx8w2
Article at: http://www.channel4.com/news/drug-use-widespread-in-australian-sport-video
-----

Read the full Crime Commission report here:

http://www.crimecommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/organised-crime-and-drugs-in-sports-feb2013.pdf

http://www.youtube.com/sntv

Growing anger in Great Britain as foster-care scandal widens by the hour as party leaders & pols of all stripes condemn Labour-led Rotherham Council Social Services removal of three children from experienced foster-parents -with spotless record- because of their political beliefs

ITV News YouTube Channel: UKip leader Nigel Farage on Rotherham fostering case. Uploaded November 26, 2012. http://youtu.be/Gc_lw7V6iTM
This is from today and was uploaded this afternoon, U.S. Eastern time

Growing anger in Great Britain as foster-care scandal widens by the hour as party leaders & pols of all stripes condemn Labour-led Rotherham Council Social Services removal of three children from experienced foster-parents -with spotless record- because of their political beliefs. 

The three children involved are a baby girl, a boy and an older girl, and the couple who have been foster parents many times before consist of a retired Royal Navy reservist who works with disabled children and his wife who is a is a licensed nursery nurse. Political correctness run amok!

ITV News YouTube Channel: Conservative Party co-chair Michael Fabricant on possible pact with UKip that would allow a straight-up Yes or No referendum on EU membership if UKip doesn't oppose them. But today UKip has pulled their willingness to participate in such a pact because of Prime Minister David Cameron's comments. 
On Saturday, though, Channel 4 News' "Snowmail" news email, which I subscribe to had a subject header that read, "Cameron's U-turn on Ukip: they're 'not closet racists.'" But then Downing Street retracted the retraction! Uploaded November 26, 2012. http://youtu.be/6hbadVRcKdo 

BBC News, Daily Politics show: Rotherham Council faces fostering legal threat from UKip. Party leader Nigel Farage has suggested taking legal action against them after it removed foster children from a family who are members of his party. November 26, 2012. Video at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20496707



View Larger Map
Rotherham is located in South Yorkshire

Now here's more on the story in chronological order...

Saturday...

Channel 4 News video: The Rotherham Borough Council's Social Services' decision to remove three happy and well-adjusted foster children from emergency placement from their experienced foster-parents is 'indefensible' says Minister of Education Michael Gove. This report gives a timeline on the situation. Posted November 24, 2012.

http://bcove.me/7ysg4chv

Article at: http://www.channel4.com/news/ukip-couple-have-foster-children-removed-from-care

Channel 4 News video: UKip leader Nigel Farage responds to questions from Channel 4 news presenter on 'racist' tag. Posted November 24, 2012.
Video at http://bcove.me/2fjaiir8

BBC News video: Labour leader Ed Miliband: 'Urgent investigation' into fostering row. Posted November 24, 2012. 
Video at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20475812


UKIP Webmaster YouTube Channel video: Foster-parent scandal in Rotherham. Various news bites from SkyNews and BBC. A solid case of Political Correctness run amok that's taking children from parents with a spotless record? Uploaded November 24, 2012. http://youtu.be/WwpNYUvaLfk

On Sunday morning, as more and more people have learned the facts, people woke-up to this shocking news in The Daily Mail...

We were RIGHT to take foster children away from Ukip couple insists social workers as they blame party's 'extreme' views for decision
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2238155/We-RIGHT-foster-children-away-Ukip-couple-insists-social-workers.html


UKIP Webmaster YouTube Channel video: On the BBC's Sunday Politics show, host Andrew Neil spoke to Tim Loughton, a conservative Party MP and the former Labour Minister for Children and Families and Liam Byrne, a Labour MP, and current Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, on the story that has everyone up-in-arms and wondering if there's something rotten in Rotherham? Uploaded November 25, 2012. http://youtu.be/P86iRpSc9tc
The complete interview between Neil and Byrne is at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20495841

Liarspoliticians YouTube Channel is at: http://www.youtube.com/user/liarpoliticians

Updated news and videos on this story at http://www.bbc.co.uk/search/news/rotherham

Looter who started the infamous Croyden fire during last August's riots, which resulted in the destruction of the iconic 144-year old, family-run Reeves furniture shop, causing damages of £3m, has been jailed for 11-and-a-half years

BBC News video - 2011 Croydon riots arson case: Trevor and Graham Reeves comment on the sentencing of Gordon Thompson and losing the town icon - 'Losing shop like a bereavement' April 11, 2012. http://youtu.be/hrZH5dAA3tg


Gordon Thompson, the looter who started the infamous Croyden fire during last early August's riots in England, which resulted in the destruction of the iconic 144-year old, family-run House of Reeves furniture shop, causing damages of £3m, has been jailed for 11-and-a-half years.
No word on whether he will be prosecuted for the two fires he started at other stores before setting a sofa afire at the House of Reeves shop in south London, which consists of a series of shops on the block.


This is the logical follow-up to my August 9th post of last year, titled, Listening to BBC's 5 live Breakfast reports LIVE from Croyden reporting on rioting aftermath; www.riotcleanup.co.uk

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/listening-to-bbcs-5-live-breakfast.html

That post featured these two videos: 

Channel 4 News (U.K.) Monday's 7 p.m. newscast: Police braced as clashes erupt across London http://bcove.me/j4tah6mb

And this was before the fires in Croyden later that night.

Croydon: on the edge of riot, http://youtu.be/crSATCwwUYk

Eight months ago I mentioned having heard for myself on-air via 5 live the mournful words of

A woman who owns a maternity boutique described seeing her life's dream literally going up in smoke, finding small hangers on nearby streets that had fallen from the clothes that were stolen. The hangers got in the way of how much they could carry out.

If you've gone back to read the that post from last year, and I strongly suggest you do, then I'm here to tell you now that my own thoughts then are the same as they are now with respect to the Labour Party's mis-guided notions that simply "communicating" with society's have-nots was the things that was missing. It wasn't.

Some people can never accept the fact that their high-minded approach, however well motivated, has failed, which the last three nights has thoroughly proven. Or recognize that some people are, in fact, criminals.

-----
http://www.facebook.com/pages/CROYDON-CLEAN-UP-CREW/264330046925822

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_radio_five_live
To keep up on the latest from Channel 4 News: http://www.channel4.com/news/catch-up/

Channel 4 video: The Great British Property Scandal series starts Wednesday; host George Clarke pines for days of pre-Thatcher nationalized housing

Channel 4 video: Architect and campaigner George Clarke invites you to join the campaign to fill Britain's empty homes.

http://youtu.be/GnGo_C7sDY0

Newer longer video at: http://youtu.be/GnGo_C7sDY0

The Great British Property Scandal | George Clarke | Channel 4

http://youtu.be/e82xiYVHLzQ

While I can understand how, in the face of lots of seeming misery, it's easy for the host to throw stones and pine for the days of pre-Thatcher nationalized housing, that's hardly the answer now, anymore than simply allowing squatters in the U.S. to "occupy" expensive homes in Cambridge, Chevy Chase or Santa Monica that have been foreclosed, but which still have value, is the answer here for inadequate housing for some.

Thatcher's efforts, while frequently knocked and reviled now among the professional Left, would NOT have been possible without her and the Conservative Party having had something positive and tangible to offer by way of a public policy that the majority of the British people believed was long overdue

And what was that you ask?

Yes, the 'legal right' to buy the council homes they lived in.

How normal.

But THAT is what the Labour Party was vehemently opposed to.

Think about the ethical contortions you have to bend yourself into in order to justify that sort of anti-social policy.

Telegraph TV video: Prime Minister David Cameron -pictured here alongside coalition partner Nick Clegg of the Lib Dems- discusses the government's £400m investment in housing, 95% mortgages, and principles of home ownership. November 21, 2011.

http://youtu.be/XDU5RFp0VoQ

My own experience in living in different parts of the U.S. -with often very different norms and customs- is that the one constant in this country regardless of where you are in the social order is that most people who are given something for nothing -or almost nothing- rarely fully appreciate it or properly maintain what they are given as long or as well as people who actually earned it.

And the same with their kids.

The Telegraph

The Great British Property Scandal, episode one, Channel 4, review

Andrew Marszal reviews the opening episode of The Great British Property Scandal, part of Channel 4's week-long focus on the nation's housing shortage.

By Andrew Marszal

10:00PM GMT 05 Dec 2011

Margaret Thatcher’s time in office left many enduring legacies – crippled unions, privatised industry, even a pop at a third Oscar for Meryl Streep. But few can be as divisive as her “right-to-buy” policy of selling off government-owned council houses, which is now being revamped for the twenty-first century by David Cameron.

Read the rest of the review at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8936067/The-Great-British-Property-Scandal-episode-one-Channel-4-review.html

George Clarke's official website, full of more info about this effort, is at:

http://georgeclarke.com/

This website should be working soon: www.channel4.com/propertyscandal

I've already alerted my stealthy covert affairs team members in Chelsea and Notting Hill to record the show and try to get it to me in fairly short order, though I strongly suspect that some vids of it may start appearing on YouTube within the week before they are pulled off for copyright violations.

As always, if members of the team are captured, the secretary will disavow all knowledge of their actions.

----------

http://www.youtube.com/user/telegraphtv

Channel 4 News (UK): Gaddafi could've used an underground escape route from his compound to airport says engineer who worked on its renovation

Channel 4 News video: Gaddafi could have underground escape route -engineer.

The battle for Gaddafi's compound, August 23, 2011. Foreign Affairs correspondent Jonathan Rugman reports.

http://bcove.me/pz4g8nm0

Muammar Gaddafi could have an underground escape route from his military compound to Tripoli International Airport, an engineer who worked on plans to renovate its infrastructure told Channel 4 News.

Read the rest of the article at:

http://www.channel4.com/news/gaddafi-could-have-underground-escape-road-engineer

You're entitled to wonder why you aren't seeing these sorts of enterprising stories about the fighting in Libya in the U.S. news media.

Where are they?

Why do so few American-born network TV reporters actually speak passable Arabic?

-----

Catch-up -Watch Channel 4 News whenever you want and catch-up to past newscasts and segments:

http://www.channel4.com/news/catch-up/

LIVE BLOG: Rebels breach Colonel Gaddafi's Libya compound

http://www.channel4.com/news/live-blog-battle-for-tripoli-rages-in-libya

World News Blog:

http://blogs.channel4.com/world-news-blog/

Worst Timing of the Year Award? Yes! Matthew Newton of Forbes.com skewers newest Levi's jean ad - "Romanticizes Youth Riots At The Wrong Time"

Levi's® Legacy (English), July 20, 2011, http://youtu.be/KT16DcHcjRA

Levi's Latest 'Go Forth' Ad Romanticizes Youth Riots At The Wrong Time

Matthew Newton

8/10/2011 @ 01:37PM

As London burns and violence creeps north into Manchester and Birmingham, Levi’s launch of an advertising campaign that features images of rebellious youth clashing with police in riot gear comes at a bad time. That’s the reality the brand is facing with “Legacy,” the latest spot in its often controversial Go Forth series. And according to Creative Review, such synchronicity has led Levi’s to postpone the UK release of the ad.

Read the rest of the post:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewnewton/2011/08/10/levis-latest-go-forth-ad-romanticizes-youth-riots-at-the-wrong-time/

But if it makes them feel any better, a lot of their jeans were stolen from legitimate stores...

Ah, the San Francisco counter-culture approach to selling jeans!

Despite all the inevitable media backlash and offense this ad would be sure to cause, and despite the fact that they won't be running this TV advert in England for obvious reasons, Levi's "Favorited" this ad on their YouTube Channel yesterday.

Yeah, that'll show the critics.

LOL!

And when DO they run this precious Wieden + Kennedy ad on TV in the U.K., anyway, given public sentiment?

Play with fire, you get burned.

Especially when you play with poseur fire!

Channel 4 News video: Reporter Jane Deith describes the police's seven-hour battle of endurance in Manchester, where they were usually on the wrong side of a cat-and-mouse game with looters, to the dismay of shop owners and residents.

http://www.channel4.com/news/manchester-riots-end-after-seven-hour-battle

Listening to BBC's 5 live Breakfast reports LIVE from Croyden reporting on rioting aftermath; www.riotcleanup.co.uk

Channel 4 News (U.K.) Monday's 7 p.m. newscast: Police braced as clashes erupt across London http://bcove.me/j4tah6mb

And this was before the fires in Croyden last night.

Croydon: on the edge of riot

http://youtu.be/crSATCwwUYk

Listening to BBC's 5 live reports LIVE from Croyden on rioting by thugs and the devastation they have wrought, while Police did nothing but mill about

Tuesday August 9th, 2011

2:30-4:20 a.m.

Below, some things I've learned while listening to BBC's 5 live reports from Croyden in South London as one successful shop -owner after another describes rioting by gangs of teens and the devastation they have wrought, destroying small shops that in some cases have been there for 40-50 years, as well as Ye Olde Dominos Pizza..

One business destroyed has been there for 140 years -made it thru WWII, but destroyed by people in their own neighborhood.

It's located on a street that's named for the business...

Nearby is a safe in the middle of the street.

A woman who owns a maternity boutique described seeing her life's dream literally going up in smoke, finding small hangers on nearby streets that had fallen from the clothes that were stolen.

The hangers got in the way of how much they could carry out.

Guess we'll finally see what all those CCTV cameras can do, since there is clear shots of what took place and who was doing it .

I also think we will be hearing lots of talk about future reprisals against the guilty.

Many business owners think that the military needs to get involved and wonder how 13-year olds are out on the street at 1 am without their parents knowing?

And ask why there were no water cannons or rubber bullets?

Lots of people interviewed there -and listeners at home- texting in to the Breakfast show are taking the Police to task and criticizing the Police establishment for their failure to adapt to changes -social media, Internet, cell phones- and to stop acting like it's fifty years ago and the problem is just juvenile delinquints out on a lark.

Lots of criticism of The Met following an outmoded Police model of civil cooperation that is simply fantasy-land.

Business owners and BBC listeners are saying over-and-over that the criminal element isn't interested in cooperation or "working with the community" but the Police establishment will be slow to change their tactics and strategy.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, is being interviewed now and wants to say that it's "sheer criminality" -and she has said it 6-7 times- but she is avoiding answering the host's question about whether or not these are, in fact, race riots, since most of those involved are poor Blacks/Carribean and in many cases, it's Asian-owned shops that are the ones that seem to be targeted for destruction.

Many think that while there's an element of wanton opportunistic destruction, there's definitely an ethnic angle, too.

It's also been mentioned that the European press is already saying that the riots show the failure of multiculturism.

All the affected areas in London are ones with the highest concentration of gangs.

The past Labour government's notions of empowering social workers to reach out to the community is a completely failed policy in the view of the majority of the people I've heard today.

One such woman calling for more of that now is getting withering criticism on the radio from others and is actually blaming the necessary govt. cuts for the troubles.

Some people can never accept the fact that their high-minded approach, however well motivated, has failed, which the last three nights has thoroughly proven

Or recognize that some people are, in fact, criminals.

The UK-Netherlands "friendly" at Wembley Thursday night is now in the hands of the Metropolitan Police, not the FA, with a decision expected later today before Dutch team flies out from Amsterdam.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8690418/London-riots-residents-use-Twitter-to-organise-clean-up.html

http://www.facebook.com/pages/CROYDON-CLEAN-UP-CREW/264330046925822

http://www.facebook.com/londoncleanup?sk=wall

London riots: live:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8687177/London-riots-live.html

www.riotcleanup.co.uk

Suggest you take a listen when you get a chance.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_radio_five_live

To keep up on the latest Channel 4 news video of this, check here:

http://www.channel4.com/news/catch-up/

For latest YouTube video about Croyden riots:

http://www.youtube.com/results?suggested_categories=25&search_query=croyden+riot%2C+this+week

Kudos to Breakfast co-host Rachel Burden for walking thru Croyden while doing her report and keeping it together while seeing such signs of devastation.

It made me think of ABC News' Diane Sawyer and her well-known ability to do the same, regardless of circumstances, at world and national hot-spots, which is why she does that so often -and so well.

And at 4:20 a.m., I sign off...

Headline of the year thus far, re 'Smurfs' in TheWrap: "Cheesy Reboot Will Annoy & Disgust Audiences of All Ages. Obnoxious blue imps..."

http://youtu.be/6CloK28bXtD

A few months ago after hearing that a new feature film called Green With Envy was coming out that featured an actor whose TV show I watch every week, Jason Segal of CBS-TV's How I met Your Mother, I looked for any teasers or trailers of it at the usual places.

I eventually found one, above, and discovered the female lead was someone I really liked, too -the radiant Amy Adams.

So far, so good.

The first 51 seconds or so seemed okay, but then... Muppets.

Ugh-h!!!

What a train wreck!

And I'm here to tell ya, Smurfs are even worse!

http://youtu.be/ku40DEMg57k

Poor Neil Patrick Harris!

Smurfs, Bratz, Strawberry Shortcake and My Little Pony are just some of the toy world's diabolical offerings that have literally given me the creeps and made me shudder for as long as I can remember whenever I've walked thru a retail store like Target, Walmart, CVS, et al, and see something from their evil empire.

So banal, so uninspiring, so unambitiuous...

All I could think was that some poor kids were going to be stuck getting this junk when some confused older relative of theirs freaked-out as a birthday or Christmas approached and they realized they had nothing for seven-year old Britney, Brittany or Chloe, so rather than showing some originality, they panicked and simply let their fear take over and became one of the consumer lemmings who took the easy way out.

(When they were younger and not the ambitious college students they are now at Washington & Lee and UVA (University of Virginia), yours truly, in his doting uncle mode, bought his two oldest nieces stuff from the Smithsonian Museum shop on The Mall at the American Museum of History -my favorite!- or, The National Geographic Scociety store at their HQ on 17th Street, N.W., a few blocks north of The White House.)

Which is the predicate for understanding why, so far, the headline of the year, seven months in, comes from Sharon Waxman's The Wrap:

Alonso Duralde reviews 'Smurfs': "Cheesy Reboot Will Annoy & Disgust Audiences of All Ages. Obnoxious blue imps do for children’s entertainment what lead paint does for children’s toys."

I smiled when I saw that and knew immediately that I would have to share it with you here, so pleased was I to see anything like it.

TheWrap

'Smurfs': Cheesy Reboot Will Annoy & Disgust Audiences of All Ages

Published: July 28, 2011 @ 10:17 am

By Alonso Duralde

Call your Congressman and demand that Central Park be federally protected from Hollywood.

This cherished New York institution was already overrun by Jim Carrey and a gaggle of pooping seabirds in this summer’s “Mr. Popper’s Penguins,” and now it’s being invaded by obnoxious blue imps in “The Smurfs,” a film that does for children’s entertainment what lead paint does for children’s toys.

Read the rest of the post at:

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/family-entertainment-goes-bad-worse-smurfs-29534

His previous columns at: http://www.thewrap.com/deal-central/column/alonso-duralde

See this gem involving the creator of The Simpsons, Matt Groening, whose books of cartoons I bought so many years ago at the Olsson's Books at Dupont Circle:

Fishbowl LA

eBay Gem: A Pre-Simpsons Matt Groening and His ‘Smurf House’

By Tina Dupuy on September 2, 2009 10:25 AM

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlla/ebay-gem-a-pre-simpsons-matt-groening-and-his-smurf-house_b9370

MEDIABISTRO'S FISHBOWL LA

Mediabistro's Fishbowl LA -Click the icon to see what's new inside Hollywood U.S.A. and the Left Coast.

After lunch today, I came across this in my inbox, my daily Snowmail email from London and Channel 4 News, with Carl Dinnen writing the news preview today:

Carl Dinnen here and I'm looking at Smurfs.

Smurfette, Papa Smurf and Clumsy Smurf to be precise.

Someone at the New York Stock Exchange thought it would be a swell idea to have them ring their opening bell today. But just four days and a few hours before the US federal government runs out of money due to a political squabble between the White House and Congress, putting the Smurfs in charge on Wall Street looks somehow appropriate. President Obama has been speaking this afternoon and Sarah Smith will have the latest from Washington while Siobhan Kennedy will be here to explain what happens to your mortgage (or pension or savings) if the US can't get its act together by Tuesday.

Obama 'running out of time' to solve US Debt crisis

http://bit.ly/pCGh28

But who's counting? London 2012 Olympics is 500 Days and counting -and a Clock to do just that in Trafalgar Square!

http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=7001629133953783160&postID=2946762817853573856

Australia's TEN News' Europe correspondent Brett Mason interviews London 2012 Organising Committee chairman Lord Sebastian Coe about comparisons to Sydney 2004, and a clock at Trafalgar Square to drive home the deadline. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRTixVFPeBs

The International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Executive Board meets in London on April 5 and 6 and will get updates on preparations for the upcoming Olympic Games: London 2012, Sochi 2014 and Rio de Janeiro 2016.

Countdown Clock unveiled to mark 500 days to go to the London 2012 Olympic Games: http://www.london2012.com/news/2011/03/countdown-clock-unveiled-to-mark-500-days-to-go-to-the-l.php

Olympic Tickets are now on sale: http://www.tickets.london2012.com/



Channel 4 News: Olympic tickets go on sale on Tuesday but just how much will you have to pay to see the spectacle as speculation for ticket touting prices escalating into the thousands?
http://bcove.me/qykioeiw

Former GB rower Sarah Winckless, Chair of the BOA Athletes Commission, blogs on seeing the Olympic venues up-close and personal since her last visit and is very impressed:

Athletes Commission Inspired by Olympic Park Visit
Posted by Sarah Winckless
March 15, 2011
http://www.olympics.org.uk/News/c8211e-athletes-commission-inspired-by-olympic-park-visit/

See also:
Sarah Winckless disease proves that sport does matter
By Matthew Syed, April 29, 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/matthew_syed/article6187946.ece

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Official London 2012 Olympics website: http://www.london2012.com/

Olympic webcams in London: https://www.london2012.com/webcams/

Official blog: https://www.london2012.com/blog/

Official Mascots homepage, Wenlock and Mandeville:
http://www.mylondon2012.com/mascots/

BBC's London 2012 Olympics homepage: http://www.bbc.co.uk/2012/

Team GB: http://www.olympics.org.uk/

Team GB blog: http://www.olympics.org.uk/News/category/blogs/

26 Sports, One Team: http://www.olympics.org.uk/sports/

See also:
Full sports competition schedule for the XXX Olympic Summer Games, July 27-August 12th
http://www.olympic.org/london-2012-summer-olympics?articlenewsgroup=-1&articleid=115995

http://www.tickets.london2012.com/olyschedule_p1.html

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Iran call London 2012 logo racist: report
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/sports/223972/iran-call-london-2012-logo-racist-report



Sebastian Coe WR 800
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0e1yaMIM08

Libya may change in 24-36 hours; WSJ's Alan Murray, social media expert Clay Shirky on effect of Facebook, Twitter, et al in revolts in Egypt, Africa

Facebook and Twitter Are Changing the Middle East 2/18/2011 9:42:59 AM
In an interview with WSJ's Alan Murray, social media expert Clay Shirky discusses the effect of Facebook, Twitter and other social media in the recent uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, and what it could mean for the Middle East at large.

http://online.wsj.com/video/shirky-facebook-and-twitter-speed-up-revolutions/E0BAA515-5056-4F4A-AC5E-C684BADE46CA.html

When Clay Shirky speaks, very smart people with resources and connections listen -and so should you!
He believes that Libya is the next domino to fall... ker-plunk!

Pull-quote from the Shirky interview: "Governments are NOT afraid of informed individuals, they're afraid of informed synchronous groups."

Hmm-m... that's Joy Cooper's biggest fear at Hallandale Beach City Hall.

http://www.shirky.com/

http://www.shirky.com/weblog/

New York Times video: Tunisia, After the Revolution

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeTY4zl02-4

Libya teetering on the brink of great change...
I've been listening intently this morning to the 6 a.m. BBC World Service World Today broadcast and have heard a fascinating interview with a Libyan-born expert in the U.S. who actually knows Colonel Qadafi and his son, Sayf.

Following a BBC correspondent's report from Tripoli, scene of so much violence this weekend, and even now, the scene of sustained gunfire, the expert in the U.S. being interviewed was quite negative about the speech Qadhafi's son made today on Libyan TV, and what he characterized as the very strange behavior he exhibited.

He said that Libyan people would not respond well to the behavior or words, esp, his wild gesticulations during the speech as well as the very threatening manner, which made it seem like it had not been rehearsed.
Almost like the first time he saw it was when he was reading it.
Hmm-m...

See it for yourself.

BBC video of excerpts of Sayf al-Islam Qadafi speech:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12520550

The situation is moving very, very rapidly...
How will Libya transition into next phase of development?

Another expert said that it's his sense of things that with the eastern part of the country basically opting out of central control, Qadafi will be out of Libya within the next 24-36 hours because the army and police are starting to realize that they have no future if he is around.

He no longer is able to control things and "the genie is out and can't be put back into the lamp."

BBC's Middle east Protests web page:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12480844

BBC-TV video segments on http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12513941

Listen LIVE to BBC Radio's World Service here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/audioconsole/?stream=live

Facts on Libya at the CIA Factbook:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ly.html

The Channel 4 News Snowmail that I received by email on Sunday afternoon, written by Krishnan Guru-Murthy, said as follows on Libya:

LIBYA

The Libya uprising is showing its differences and difficulties. While Tunisia, Egypt and Bahrain have been playing out on television cameras, amateur video, mobile phones and Twitter the Libyan protests are much harder to follow. International journalists have not managed to get in the way they did with the others. Access to the internet is restricted, and websites such as YouTube which can upload video, and social networks seem to be disrupted. However the phones still work so we have been gathering testimony the old fashioned pre-internet way. Amid reports of hundreds of people now killed in the protests in and around Benghazi there is clearly huge determination by the demonstrators. We spoke to one man there who told us "A lot of people are dying in the streets. There are a lot of cars with troops from outside Libya, I think they are Nigerian, from African countries. They have guns and they shoot anyone they find on the streets...From the eastern part of Libya, the protesters have received some heavy artillery, they haven’t used it yet – they're telling us they are going to now. Nobody knows the number (of dead) because there are many hospitals – they go to four or five different hospitals. Most of them are being shot by snipers, from far away in the head or the chest by Africans. Most of them don’t speak good Arabic, they speak French." Obviously there is no way for us to check these claims on the snipers but they give you a good idea of what the talk is going around the protesters at least. Heavy gunfire could be heard in the background and the man had to break off to shout at friends to get inside.

And it is clear Tripoli is far from calm too. We spoke to a woman there who told us "I live in the east side of Tripoli but I cannot go out. My husband went out this morning, he said the streets were empty, people were scared. So I said, ok let my son go to the store but my son – he didn’t come back and I hear from people – I call them and they say why did you send him? People have gone to the court – I hope he didn’t go there because he’s young and very nervous. For two days I kept him in the house but I hope he didn’t go there. Oh my goodness, there’s something happening now – they are shooting I’m sorry I have to go.". So we are gathering what we can, and will have the latest. We will also be discussing what the West can and should do about Libya. The US ambassador Louis Susman was pretty unsubtle in a diplomatic way this morning with Andrew Marr - it was clear he thinks Britain has been wrong to deal with Gadaffi in a way that makes him seem like a legitimate leader.

Here are the two news segments they aired last night on Libya.


Channel4 News February 20, 2011 Libya unrest
http://bcove.me/4tbtcgj2


Channel4 News February 20, 2011 Libya discussion
http://bcove.me/idmo6ot5