My top reviews of the year - Top 12

So, I’ve been blogging for a little more than a year now and have reviewed loads of things. Thanks to the Western Regional Section of the LAI and the Rudai 23course I’ve gotten off to a great start and published over 100 blogs so far. I’ve reviewed loads of books, movies and TV series. It would have been cool if it were a top 10 list, but it turns out I gave 12 reviews a 10 out of 10 planet, so here is a round-up of the best of the best:

I have to start with Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda(Book Review). This is by far one of my fave reads in the last year, an amazing book written by Becky Albertalli telling us of the story of Simon, how he is as normal as most other teenagers with the same problems and – oh ya – he’s gay.

 

Quote: "Your real friends will not have a problem when you come out and if they do, well they weren't true friends in the first place. You can go and find some better ones"

 

This is closely followed by Love Simon, a seminal movie for the LGBT community, the first proper – big budget – big production of a young teens coming out story based on Albertalli's book.

 

Quote: "You get to exhale now, Simon ... You get to be more you than you've been in a very long time”

  

Deadpool 2 (movie review) is the fab sequel from the Marvel Universe; it's possible the odd occasion where the sequel is better than it’s predecessor.

Quote: "the soundtrack, it's just amazing. Songs like Celine Dion's "Ashes", Dolly Parton's "9 to 5," and even "Tomorrow" from Annie accompany some of the movie's most violent scenes, making for a delightfully weird playlist.  Weird yes, perfect also yes "

  

History is all you left me  (Book Review) is an amazing book dealing with love, loss and rebuilding one's soul. The author Adam Silvera is great, check out all the other titles he has.

Quote: "The short sticatto sentences are brutal and honest. In one paragraph we learn so much about Theo. The last sentence is just perfect. Sums up the whole book really. It’s been one month since you lived. It’s a beautifully written story of grief, rebuilding and hope. A must read"

The supernatural horror - The Lodgers (Movie Review) - was amazing and to see something filmed in my home town of Wexford is great. An awesome screenplay by talented writer David Turpin makes this a must see. 

Quote: "When you see the interior parts of The Lodgers, the closest movie I can compare it to is Crimson Peak. Seriously, the visuals and feel of the crumbling building stack up against the multi-million-dollar creation of recent Oscar winner Guillermo Del Toro" 

Noah Can’t Even  (Book Review) is one of the funniest reads I've gotten my mitts on in ages. Another must read by the very talented Simon James Green

Quote: "Skittles and Haribo will solve all problems"

 

 

Ant-Man and the Wasp (movie review) is another great movie from the Marvel universe. A great plus is that it is stand-alone and can be viewed without extensive knowledge of all the Marvel movies over the last few years (of which there has been way way too many)

 

 

Quote: "The fight scenes are awesome, the special effects are brilliant but more than anything the story, dialog and interactions between the characters are really funny"

 

 

As part of the Rudai23 course I was doing, here's a blog on using the App Quik which allows you to make a video/photograph slideshow with a soundtrack 

 

 

Quote: “ It was really intuitive and with no instructions one could use it straight “out of the box”

 

 

 

Logan (movie review)

 

One of my fave ALL time movies, Logan is the story of (Wolverine) and Charles (Professor X), in this time-line they are the only two superheros left in the World.  Patrick Stewart (who might return as Captain Picard) proves yet again that he is one of the best actors to ever grace the screen. We also cannot discount Hugh Jackman - possible the Greatest Showman on Earth, only gets better with age.

 

I also speak about the "Disneyfication" of movies in this review. 

Quote: "Stewart is amazing, portraying the role of an old man losing control over his mind with poignant understanding and realism"

 

 

 

I came across this gem of a book in work and just had to add it to my blog - Declaration of the Rights of Boys & Girls.

 

 

 

Quote: "The illustrations are fun and cheerful, girls having the right to be dirty and boys having the right to wear pink ... the book does a fantastic job of spreading a message of equality without being preachy or insulting to anyone’s faith ... It is quite frankly a book that every child from the age of 3 should have on their shelf"

 

 

 

Last year we saw the remake of IT by Stephen King, hitting our screens with mixed reviews but I loved it.

 

 

 

I talk about remakes and then review IT. The second part is due to be released in September 2019.

Quote: "Final Verdict:  A massive success that will instil a fear of clowns for generations to come"

And finally, my first podcast (but hopefully not last) I reviewed 3 movies together with Black Panther getting the highest marks. All I can say is it's an awesome movie and of course #Representation Matters

That's me all done. Please like and follow me on FACEBOOK to keep up to date with all my blogs.

Thanks for reading and thanks for all the fish.

John The Captain Ryan

Tess Holliday is amazing. End Of.

Body image activist scores huge with Cosmo magazine.

Firstly, I've said it before and am saying it again. When did we start using the term fat-shaming and body-shaming. Let's call it what it is. BULLYING. Plain and simple. And it's not just "banter" either.

Being a larger than life person myself, I just love the story of Tess and her battle against body-shaming. She is an inspiration to anyone that's not a size zero and she has bad-ass tattoos also. 

I've previously blogged about fat-shaming in the LGBT community it's refreshing to see the issue hasn't gone away, much like neither myself or Miss Holliday couldn't be swept under the rug without leaving a large hump in the middle of the living room floor. The uproar on the internet the last week has been crazy although not surprising with a bevy of keyboard warriors complaining but an equal number of people replying to them to sling their skinny assed stupid ideas back where they belong.

Piers Morgan tops the list of stupid comments tweeting ...

as if skinny people don't use the burdened public health system in Britain. And let's face it, Piers isn't the best looking with that stupid tan anyway. As his twitter quote says "One day you're the cock of the walk". He is just a cock (IMHO).

But here's what matters, when all is said and done, Holliday said she's just pleased to finally be happy in her skin: "I'm at the heaviest I've ever been in my life and it took me being the heaviest to finally love myself". Mental health and well being is the most important thing. We need to start teaching our children to be proud of who they are and how they look. Yes, being physically healthy is important, I wish I was 4 stone lighter - purely to alleviate back pain -  not to stop OTHER people making comments and assumptions about me.

I love the message she is sending that she would have loved to see a plus-size woman in a magazine and how it would have stopped her spending so much of her youth agonising over her size and appearance. Sasha Brown-Worsham agrees and hopes her daughter doesn't waste her formative years. 

And to those prudes out there that don't want to see large people wearing underwear and being (and feeling) sensual they must forget that for every shape, size and colour out there; there is someone that likes and loves that look. And no, that's not being a fetishist, that's living in the real World. Whilst pictures of Tess in underwear do nothing for me (hello! Gay here) I can appreciate that others would like and love her. And anything would be better that the emaciated size zero look of Keira Knightly:

A note of caution though, whilst actors can be self deprecating and poke fun at themselves and their own size (and I'm thinking of you Amy Schumer) sometimes they can be hiding deep-down worries and insecurities. The layers of fat can be literally covering over huge problems. Comedy can't fix what's broken inside and anyway Melissa McCarthy is soooooo much funnier than Amy Schumer. Check out Melissa's latest movie The Happytime Murders to see what I'm talking about.   

Not enough has been written about body-shaming and fat-shaming - correction BULLYING - for men and I hope this changes.  In the meantime that's my tuppence worth. And to all those out there that love the larger person I would applaud you if I could get my chubby short lazy arms around my ever expanding belly.

Thanks.

John The Captain Ryan

Back-to-school time not so joyous for some students (All Parents of school going children - Please Read)

Shocking news came out of the great U S of A earlier this week of a nine year old boy taking his own life after being bullied in school. One student actually told him to kill himself.

Jamel Myles had come out to his mom earlier this summer, and started wearing fake fingernails on August 20, the first day of school for his fourth grade year. Thursday, 23rd August at 11:17 p.m. was his time of death. 4 days back at school was all it took. 

   ...   4 DAYS   ...

(It's taken me longer to put this blog together)

Read more HERE, HERE and HERE.

As a parent of a school going child, are you aware that the school, under current guidelines from the Department of Education (Ireland) are supposed to have an Anti-Bullying policy? The full 45 page policy document from the department can be found HERE.Of course it is 5 years old at this stage so if school followed the guidelines back in 2013, they need to update their policy.

But, if you don’t have time to read it, here’s a summary:

1. All Boards of Management must formally adopt and implement an anti-bullying policy that fully complies with the requirements of these procedures. A copy of the policy must be available to parents, pupils, all staff and the Parents Council (if one exists).

2. The Department were very kind to provide a template document to schools, unfortunately a lot of schools have copy-and-pasted the template document and inserted their school header. Very little thought, in some cases, as been put in by the schools.

3. The policy should outline the actions to be taken in the instance of bullying, the procedures the school should take and a step-by-step recording and evaluation of ALL instances of bullying that have occurred.

4. All instances of bullying should be reported to the Board of Management and the BOM must undertake an annual review of all reported instances. This review must also be made available to parents. The school must put in place an action plan to address any areas for improvement identified by the review.

5. Descriptions of best practice, types of bullying and actions to be taken are all explained. Initiatives, programmes, awareness and prevention SHOULD also be a major part of the policy.

6. ALL instances of bullying of a serious nature and/or are ongoing SHOULD be referred to the HSE Children and Family Services and/or Gardaí as appropriate

7. The effectiveness of the school’s anti-bullying policy should be subject to continuous review in the light of incidents of bullying behaviour encountered.

Homophobic and transphobic bullying are specifically mentioned in the policy as areas that need attention. This is because of the following statistics:

70% of LGBT students do not feel safe in school

Half of all LGBT students reported that they had been bullied in the last three months. - One third reported frequent (weekly/daily) verbal abuse, with a slightly higher number (34.3%) stating that they experience frequent verbal abuse about their sexuality.

1 in 4 missed or skipped school to avoid negative treatment due to being LGBT+.

1 in 4 reported indirect verbal bullying through spreading of rumours and lies

1 in 3 young LGBT+ people aged 14 – 18 have attempted to take their own lives because of bullying, rejection and pressures to hide who they really are. 

1 in 10 young LGBT leave education early.

Sources HERE , HERE and HERE. 

Now, here’s how you as a parent can help.

Contact your school and ask for the following:

a. A copy of the Anti-Bullying Policy

b. A copy of the latest review by the Board of Managament

c. A copy of the action plan the school has to address the findings of the BOM.

AND FINALLY...

d. To highlight the concerns for LGBT pupils please ask the school to take part in the Stand Up against LGBTI+ bullying event that Belong to run every November.

(Belong to is a fantastic organisation that supports young LGBT people in Ireland. Find out more about them here: http://belongto.org/ )

Please pass this on to other parents you know. Between all of you, you can make your child's school a safer place. Please let me know if you get a satisfactory answer from the school.

Thanks

John The Captain Ryan.

We all have closets - YES, really!

And they are all dark and lonely inside...

Just watched this video from TedX in Boulder. Ash Beckham is just fantastic. 

She just hits the nail on the head. We all have our closets, whether it's talking about having cancer, talking about your divorce or talking about your sexuality.

All our stories are hard because they are HARD stories to tell. We should stop comparing them because they are all hard.

Instead we should support each other.

What's important is to get out of that closet because it is dark and lonely in there and it is no way to live your life.

Fini.

Are you attending your first Scrabble Tournament? If so, read on

What to expect at your first tournament...

The most important thing is to try and enjoy yourself and meet new friends. We are a friendly bunch of nerds and you will always be welcomed with a smile (and probably some sort of comment like “I cannot get any decent letters, how about you?”). That being said, your first event can be a bit of a shock.

I've done a few really popular blogs for Scrabble beginners, check out the list HERE.

If you have never played Scrabble with a clock, try and get a practice game before the tournament starts. If you are arriving only a few minutes before the event is due to start, when you register ask the person at the desk to get someone to show you how it works. You will probably struggle during your first few games, but don’t worry you will get the hang of it and most opponents will remind you about it. Ideally, if you are local to where the tournament is happening or staying the night before, make your way down to the bar and you WILL find some Scrabble players about, explain you are new and they will help you out. Remember I said we were a friendly bunch, yes some of us will – SHOCK HORROR – be in the bar having a laugh. So do join us.

You might find the day tiring. YES, REALLY. Be prepared, it’s a long day. Ever play 6-8 games of Scrabble in a day?. And even though you might do that on a computer or tablet, it’s different playing in real time, there’s a lot going on. So, to help, make sure to take a break between games, even though it’s tempting to just sit and wait for your next game, get up, wander around, maybe go outside. Also, if you’ve ever had trouble with your back it’s really important to get up for that walk, sitting in the one position for many hours can get painful. Lots of people bring a cushion. If you had a bad game and made some mistakes don’t worry too much, shake yourself off prepare for the next game.

So, generally, how does it work? Well sometimes there are a few groups, other times all players are in one group. We use a computer program to determine which player plays whom. The program matches players by their performance. It also tracks who has already played whom and will engineer pairings to avoid playing the same people. (this is called repeat pairings). This is normally turned off for the last 2-3 games. Normally the first 3 games are random and then after this, players have “found” their place and performance pairings start. But, you needn’t worry about any of this. The moral of the story is that there will be a sheet of paper put up on the wall detailing who you will be playing and who goes first (the computer gives all players an equal number of starts during the event also)

There are only two things to consider. Whether you win or lose and by how many points (spread). These are then accumulated over the whole event. For example...

Game 1 – WIN by 73 points....................1/0/+73

Game 2 – LOSE by 124 points.................1/1/-51

Game 3 - WIN by 3 points.......................2/1/-48 

Therefore your cumulative result is 2 wins, 1 loss and a spread of -48 points

In game 4 you will be paired with another player who has a similar cumulative result as you.

The governing body for Scrabble in Ireland is WESPA. Full rules are HERE

Order of play

There is a lot going on during the game but keep this order of play in mind. This might seem a bit pedantic but it makes things easier and you get into a routine. It also helps when it comes time to challenge a word. You can do one of 2 things, play a word or exchange.

1.       Play your word

2.       Announce Score

3.       Press clock

4.       Record Score

5.       Draw replacement tiles (always have 7 tiles on your rack)

6.       Tile track if desired

Or

1.       Check to ensure there are at least 7 tiles in the bag

2.       Declare you are going to exchange and how many tiles you are going to exchange.

3.       Place the tiles you are going to exchange to one side (NOT in bag)

4.       Hit clock to indicate end of turn.

5.       Draw replacement tiles and place face down

6.       Return other tiles to bag

    

Tile Draw

Tile drawing etiquette. It is customary to draw your tiles in a manner that makes it very clear you are not cheating. Whatever you do, don’t have the tile bag below eye level as your opponent “might” think you are looking in the bag at the tiles.

1.       Hold the bag above the board, above eye level

2.       Draw tiles one at a time placing them in plain view on the table

3.       Count how many tiles you are taking

4.       Try not to overdraw*. (*see below)

5.       Only place all drawn tiles on the rack when you are happy you have pulled the correct amount.

Overdraw.

It happens at every tournament that someone overdraws. YES, every event, so don’t feel bad. If you are not sure what to do, stop the clock and ask the TD about the ruling. In fact if you are not sure of anything, ask your opponent or ask the TD. Don’t be afraid to ask, it’s the only way to learn.

(This is where point 5 of tile drawing comes in useful.)

(WESPA Rules V3)

What to do when your opponent plays a word you don’t know.

If you have never played in an event, don’t be surprised to see some players scoring 400 and even 500 points against you. Remember they are playing for decades and know lots of really crazy words like ATONIES. But, if you don’t know a word; challenge it. This is how we do it...

1.       Wait until opponent presses timer. This indicates the end of their turn. If they forget to hit the clock, as soon as they reach INSIDE the tile bag remind them to press the clock.

2.       Announce you intention to challenge the word CLEARLY and stop the clock.

3.       Declare which word(s) you are challenging. Some players chose to write down the words on a slip of paper.

4.       Both players cover the tiles on their rack (or turn them over) and proceed to check the word.

5.       The challenger types in the word on the device

6.       The other players hits button to check.

7.       If the word is ok, no harm, no foul. Play continues

8.       If the word is wrong it is removed from the board and player loses turn.

9.       Restart the clock

If you type the word in incorrectly on the device or when you return to the board & realise you spelled the word wrong (e.g. you checked TRAELED but the word on the board was TRAILED) you can recheck the word.

Other things to note

During the game when a blank is played, declare what the blank is CLEARLY and make a note on the result sheet. Later in the game this might be important if both players think it was something else

At the end of the game, both players agree the score and fill in the result sheet

Once the scoresheet is filled out & signed hand it up

When the game is over, leave the playing room if you want to talk

Here is an example of a completed scoresheet; 

The first blank was a Q and the second an X.

John (player no 23) beat Mary (player no 21).

John scored 350 and Mary scored 325.

The spread was 25 points.

Both players signed the sheet indicating they agree with the result.

Well peeps, that’s it. I hope I haven’t scared you off and we will see you at a tourney soon.

Live Long and Prosper and may the tile faires be with you.

John The Captain Ryan