Xmas adverts we love 2014

I don't personally celebrate Christmas, mainly because I'm not Christian. But, it's impossible to ignore the most festive season of the year in the UK (unless you lock your doors, stay indoors and turn off your TV, social networking sites and the internet between now and Xmas). I have to say, I quite like this time of the year- Xmas sales, cards, presents, decorations and stuff. Whatever the weather, there'd be people on the high street and in shopping malls and supermarkets, all buzzing with excitement and anticipation. It's only November but some stores like Tk Maxx have already started playing the traditional same-old Xmas songs, and not to mention, Sky Movies is now showing

In my opinion, you don't have to be Christian to celebrate it, except going to Sunday mass and stuff. Xmas is becoming more and more of a secular festival each passing year. I think it's be fair to say that it's now a tradition rather than a religious festival for Christians.

One of the best things about Xmas is the adverts. No kidding, I think this year's got the best ads. Each of them costs about millions of pounds to produce but at the end of the day, the amount of profit that they make from selling their products is far greater. I don't know about other countries but it's really nice watching them-instead of seeing the usual annoying ones like GoCompare and Cillit Bang cleaning products.

John Lewis (retail store)

with Monty the penguin

Sainsbury's (supermarket)

This one is done also in commemoration of 100th anniversary of WW1  when the Germans and British soldiers joined hands on Christmas Day. 

M&S (retail shop)

#Follow the Fairies

 

These are just a couple and it's only November, I'm sure there'll be loads of ads coming out in December. So, I'll be doing a final run-through of all Xmas ads by the end of Christmas. 

Well, that's it for now...

I'm currently listening to...

Wow, I have heard of their name numerous times but never actually paid any attention. I've only watched Fantastic Baby, which just made me think of them as crazy and hectic. But, while I'm now being forced to do my sister's English homework on an article from The Metro and listening to these two songs, I feel so bad that I've been choosing to be totally oblivious of their existence, and not to mention their talent.

Blue, Big Bang

Love Song, Big Bang 

It's been a while since I've actually seriously listened to these types of songs.

I think I'll do a more in-depth blog on Big Bang later on. 

For the time being, let me listen to them...

and do that homework obviously...

My sis is so lucky to have such a reliable and intellectual big sister like me (hehe).  

[LittleOrange] Happy with Kpop

Finally, I have finished!!!

If you didn't know already, I not only like watching different types of programmes and media but I have developed a tendency to actually critically analyse them unintentionally. So, now I love the idea of being able to create my own videos and editing them to tell stories. But unfortunately, as you can obviously tell, I'm not a professional or a student of Media. I also haven't got good enough camera equipment or people to actually make my own home-made videos. Let's just say, I'm a bit of couch potato/not-really-an-outdoor-person. So, YouTube is like my haven for hunting down good interesting videos so that I could later gather them and edit them together often with a music soundtrack of my choice on Windows Movie Maker- again not that professional but the software deserves credit for being simple and effective.

I have created numerous videos before but didn't feel confident enough to upload them. So 'Happy with Kpop' is the very first time I'm sharing my work with the world.

PLEASE NOTE: this video has been created for pure entertainment and personal purposes ONLY. It is not for commercial use or promotions. PLEASE DO NOT SUE ME!!!

The following videos and music have been used:

• Darling, Girl's Day
• Catallena, Orange Caramel
• Gangnam Avenue, Orange Caramel
• My Copycat, Orange Caramel 
• Happiness, Red Velvet
• Lipstick, Orange Caramel
• Happy, Pharrell Williams (audio only)

(copyright belongs to the rightful owners and makers of the videos and artists. I do not own the videos, just the editing skills used to create my video). 

So, enjoy...: ) 

(but do not watch it full screen- the quality is extremely bad)

[LittleOrange] Happy with Kpop

The quirks of going to a girls school

First of all, I ain't going to tell you the name of my school, the whole of its history and why it became a girls school in the 20th century and not forgetting the address and telephone number- plus my full name and date of birth just so you could stalk me down!!!

All I can really say is that my school is a small, all-girls secondary school of about 600 pupils (aged 11-16). Because it's small, we pretty much know everyone- even then I still forget some people in my year group.

My school is taking the issue of people's privacy very seriously nowadays and it has actually frustrated the whole school pretty much. It's all because some students were 'posting videos of their classmates changing in the changing rooms on the internet' or 'taking pictures of other girls in the school playground without permission'. To start with, we weren't allowed to use our phones in school so if you did want to bring them to school ( like me), you had to hand them into the school office, which is such a pain in the bum after school because the line for collecting phones stretched all the way down the main corridor! But, most of my friends just keep their phones on them and hide them in their bras and stuff but some of them eventually gets caught during unexpected bag checks. This may seem as if I'm going to military school or something but that's just how most schools in London are (the disciplined ones anyway).

If you think that's bad, well, I don't know what you'll think of what the teachers decided to do now. WE ARE BANNED FROM HAVING ANY FORM OF ELECTRICAL DEVICES. That includes, tablets like iPads, don't even think about laptops, iPods, Kindles or even headphones! Why headphones? Even if they spot just a pair of headphones in your bag, they will confiscate them. I don't get it- how on earth can you communicate or use them of you have nothing else to plug them into? I just think they're trés over the top. 

(to be continued)

It saddens me to say this but do you really care?

‘Once the writer in every individual comes to life (and that time is not far off), we are in for an age of universal deafness and lack of understanding’ 

Milan Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, 1980 

As mentioned in the novel, A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki 

This really makes me wonder if the only real purpose of being a blogger is nothing more than to satisfy one's own need to share their existence with the rest of the world, which if proved to be true, would be unfortunate to all bloggers. In other words, if we're all truly passionate about our blogs, we wouldn't really give a crap about other blogs, like you with mine. 

Honestly, I can't believe I just wrote that- it sounds perfectly gloomy...

A bit of History: Britain 1890-1919 (PART 2)

The Liberal Party formed the British government in the early 20^th century and came up with reforms to improve the lives of the citizens, namely children, old people and workers.

Why did the Liberal Government introduce Welfare Reforms from 1906 to 1912?

1.       POLITICAL CHANGE

•          Was worried that the Labour Party might take over.
•          The majority of the country lived in poverty and working class men had votes.
•          They also feared the growth of trade unionism and people turning to communism if they didn't help the poor.

2.       SOCIAL & ECONOMIC CHANGES:

•          The 1899 Boer War showed that working class men were unfit for work or the army.
•          Britain could not compete economically with Germany and USA with a poor, unfit work force.
•          Local councils have taken responsibility and raised the possibility of what could be done nationally.

3.       CHANGE IN ATTITUDES:

•          The ‘laissez-faire’ policy has been changed
•          The philanthropists influenced many to help

4.       POVERTY:

•          Realised poverty was widespread
•          It affects the country, hence their work

5.       OUTSTANDING NEW POLITICIANS:

•          David Lloyd George (Chancellor of the Exchequer) and Winston Churchill began to challenge the ‘laissez-faire’ policy.
•          They wanted to gain good reputations as young politicians.

The Liberal Reforms

1906- Free School Meals

This applied to children of the poorest families.

1907- School Medical Inspections

This applied to all children in school but free treatment was not offered.

1908- Children’s Act

There was a Children’s Charter to help children in need or in trouble, to stop cruelty.

1908- Pensions Act

It was for over 70s with an income of less than £21 but excluded those in prison or out of the country. 

But very few lived up to 70 to receive the benefits.

1909- The Labour Exchanges Act

This benefitted the unemployed and employers as jobs can be found more easily.

1911- National Insurance Act (1)

This was to provide a considerable amount of income to ill manual and low-paid white collars when they were out of work. But this did not consider the dependents of the workers.

1912- National Insurance Act (2)

This applied to seasonal workers at times when they couldn’t work.

1912- School Clinics

All children in school where the clinics were set up benefitted but there were some local councils who did not implement the law. 

In 1906, the Liberals defeated the Conservatives with a ‘landslide victory’ and had the power to bring 

in many important reforms. 

However, some reforms were controversial and led to opposition. The Liberals won the next two 

elections in 1910 but just had a couple more seats than the Conservatives. 

So, why had there been opposition to the Liberals?

The reforms involved increased expenditure and they meant higher taxation.  For instance, the Pensions 

Act was particularly expensive. Lloyd George introduced the ‘People’s Budget’ in 1909 and then things 

went a bit pear-shaped...

The Budget increased taxes on luxury goods and the incomes of the wealthiest people but also led to a 

constitutional crisis. The Budget was unsurprisingly rejected in the House of Lords, where the rich 

Conservatives had a majority. When the Budget was then re-introduced, the Lords passed it but rejected 

the Parliament Bill that limited the powers of the Lords.

Then, much to Liberal’s advantage, the King agreed to create enough Liberal Lords to cancel the Tory 

majority if the House of Lords did not pass the Parliament Bill. The Lords had no choice but to accept 

this time.

The Parliament Act, 1911, said the Lords could only delay a Budget for one month and other Bills for 

two years only- provided they were passed by the Commons three times.

Arguments for and against the Reforms

For	Against
The infirm (ill) and the unemployed need help.	Britain is built by the independence of the British people
It’s not the poor’s fault to be living in poverty.	The poor will become lazy.
The dependents like the children are suffering.	High taxes are unjust to the rich.
It’s the business of the state to deal with.	This is a form of extortion.

Everyday's a Girl's Day

Their song Darling is really refreshing at a time like this when I am going ballistic over my revision for my December mock exams- so I thought I'd share this!

They're not usually this colourful, this is just one of my favourite songs from Girl's Day. I also equally love Something and Expectation and now I miss You. In my opnion, they have got the best vocals out of any k-pop group I could think of- but it's just my opinion at the end of the day.

I miss You

Expectation 

Something

The mvs for Something and Expectation can be found on YouTube.