*****I AM MOVING THIS BLOG TO WORDPRESS.COM*****

Hey Guys,

As of today, this blogger blog will no longer be in use. After much consideration I have decided to move from Blogger to Wordpress. All of the posts that are on this blog have now been transferred to Wordpress. The new blog address is www.garyrcunningham.wordpress.com and after 3 weeks I am deleting this blog permanently . Thanks for all your support and be sure to go to the new address so you cam keep up to date with what I am writing!

Are British soap opera’s becoming too predictable?

Britain has become famous for many things throughout the years and one of those things is the good old British soap. All families love to gather round the telly in the evenings and watch the latest scandals and tragedies unfold on Eastenders or Coronation Street. Soap opera’s have been around for years and are a great way to get the family together!

It has also been known that some storylines in soaps have helped viewers resolve their problems and sometimes even recognise the symptoms of an illness they never knew they had in the first place! Who knew programmes on the telly could be so useful?! However, as good as programmes like Eastenders are, I feel that they are becoming a little too predictable.

For example, during one of the recent episodes of Eastenders, as soon as Phil and Carl got into the car and started to argue, I knew there was going to be a car crash. I think the reason why soaps are becoming so predictable is because they are basically running the same angle again and again! I have seen so many car crashes, fires and killing during my time of watching soaps that it is very easy to predict when they are going to happen!

I know it’s sometimes hard to come up with different ways of “killing off” characters but come on, why can’t they come up with a more inventive way of doing it? How about having just scripting them in to walk away like a normal person would do, I know it would be boring so wouldn’t really fit the image of a soap but at least it’s somewhat new! Or if the writers are dead set on having the characters die in some horrific way, why not have them drowned or buried alive? And if that’s not gruesome enough why not have the character cut up with a chainsaw! It may be hard to watch but at least we haven’t seen it happen a million times over, in fact, we haven’t seen any of those ideas played out on any soap ever as far as I know!

With these ideas, you might have people writing in to complain about the episode giving their child who is 10 years old nightmares, well I’m not being funny but a 10 year old shouldn’t have been watching soaps in the first place! That’s why they are put on quite late, the younger kids should be in bed!

Having said all of this, I sure hope the producers of Corrie and Eastenders don’t read this article and use the chainsaw idea otherwise even I will have nightmares! I wouldn’t be able to sleep for a month! Leave your comments below and let me know what you think.

Miley Cyrus – Another innocent pop star turned sour by the modern music industry

Lets be honest here, it was only a matter of time before another innocent girl was turned into a monster by the many powerful record label owners and agents that have taken over the American pop music scene. What has happened to the girl who starred in Hannah Montana and recorded motivational songs such as “The Climb”? I can tell you what has happened, her fame and fortune has corrupted her and turned her into the  monstrosity she is now!

That  is, sadly the way of the world nowadays, everyone who makes it into the big time of the music industry feels they have to conform to stereotype. Miley has unfortunately fallen into that trap, she feels she has to wear loads of makeup, sing outrageously dirty songs and act and dance like a slut! To a certain extent, this saddens me a lot because, although I didn’t watch Hannah Montana (obviously) I remember what Miley used to be like, she used to be someone for young girls to look up to for inspiration, she used to convey good messages to the public about how not to act! messages like, go to school, be respectful to your parents and all the usual stuff and now she has completely turned that message the other way!

As a musician myself, I have aspirations to make it to the big time an be famous and all of that but I certainly don’t want to end up having to conform to the “standard” that has been set nowadays, it is a very low standard and it makes me cringe every time someone says to me, “I really want to be famous like Miley Cyrus or Justin beiber or One Direction” because they, unfortunately, have no true idea of what the industry is like and are looking to all of the wrong people for inspiration!

Whenever I have a gig, the first question my friends ask me when they come to see me perform is “are you getting paid”? and when I say no they say “what’s the point in doing it if you don’t get any money out of it”? and no matter how many  times I try to explain to them that I perform for the enjoyment of performing and showing people my talent they just refer to the usual famous pop stars saying that Miley Cyrus would never do a gig if she wasn’t getting paid and I reply simply it’s because she is doing it for the money and I don’t think she has any talent anyway.

Unfortunately, I think it is clear to everyone that Miley is a lost cause that has been poisoned by the industry, this is sad but there are plenty of other musicians that can be steered away from the people that have infected Miley and be shown the right way of doing things!

I have a solution to prevent the constant fire station closures around the UK

About a year or so ago, I wrote a post on here giving my opinion on the fire station closures that were happening in London and around the UK because the government does not have enough money to fund the firefighters.

I was walking my dog the other day (as you do) and was thinking about all of these closures and what a negative effect it has and will continue to have on the British public. Then it hit me, there is a very simple solution to stop these closures from happening! In America, the majority of states have a volunteer fire department that is staffed mainly by college students and other people looking for work. I don’t see why we can’t have a similar system over here because if the firefighters are volunteer’s then they won’t have to be paid so the government would be saving money. Also, if you allow students of the age of 16 and above to join the fire service as volunteers you will also be keeping teenagers from hanging around street corners, it’s a win win situation!

Allowing teens to join their local fire station as volunteers will also give them essential life skills. Such as teamwork, respect, discipline and the ability to work under pressure. They have this system in America as I have already said and as far as I know, not one fire station has been closed!

Leave a comment and let me know what you think about this idea! I will also leave a link to my other article about station closures below.

Original article about the station closures in London

My thoughts on the current situation in Syria

As the days,weeks and months go by, Syria is turning more and more into a warzone. Many world leaders (such as the British Prime Minister David Cameron and the president of the USA Barack Obama) have been having several meetings to discuss the best solution to the ever growing problem that is Syria. Until recently, the leaders have decided to just keep an eye on things and have tended to stay away from getting physically involved and sending troops into the country to calm the situation down. However, upon the recent discovery that Syria’s government have chemical weapons at their disposal (which they have already used) all leaders are in a state of debate as to whether they should intervene. According to BBC News, a final decision still has not been made and many of the leaders want to stay out of it for fear of another “endless war” like Afghanistan.

My argument for this is the following, Troops should have been pulled out of Afghanistan a long time ago, with the death of the taliban’s leader osbama bin laden they are going to crumble under their own strain anyway so there is no point in fighting them anymore and with the death toll rising day by day the right thing to do would be to pull our troops out whilst there are some left. The only reason the fight in Afghanistan is endless is because both sides are refusing to give up and leave, the soldiers should teach the friendly forces in Afghanistan to defend themselves competently and move out! Also, a country with chemical weapons is far more dangerous than a country with a crumbling enemy who don’t have the technology,knowledge or nerve to fly bomber planes over to our country and our allies.

However, there is nothing currently stopping Syria from flying chemical weapons over to Britain and America and all the other countries, detonating it and devastating the lives of it’s inhabitants,that’s why we need to destroy the threat before it becomes too big to handle, I’m not saying we should send troops there permanently, just send a large enough number to send a strong enough message to the government to leave their people alone and destroy the weapon.

I’m not sure about you guys but I think the time for words is over, it is time for action!

David Cameron needs to move the winter Olympics away from Russia!

 Broadcaster Stephen Fry has called for David Cameron to move the winter Olympic games to another country after Russia had announced it's new anti-gay laws. He compared the treatment of gays in Russia to that of the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany and from what I've heard I would agree with hm.

Openly gay Russians are being severely beaten and ill treated by the Russian government and quite frankly it is unnecessary and uncalled for! I know Russia's politicians operate in a different way to that of the UK but surely they are in the 21st centenary too? also, If I am not mistaken it was Russia that joined us in the fight against the Nazis in World War One and Two, I know that Russia's leader has changed since then and that their current leader has different views but he should keep them to himself and not take it out on his people!

David Cameron always says that people should be treated equally no matter what their religion, race or sexual preference yet he refuses to move the winter Olympic games away from a country that is beating gays? it really does baffle me and it also proves that all politicians are two faced hypocrites!  Cameron may feel that it is not affecting his country so it is not his problem but what about the athletes from his country that have to go over to this dictatorship and hell of a country to compete? what if one of the athletes is openly gay and the Russian government find out and have him/her beaten, will it be Cameron's problem then? OF COURSE IT WILL because the victim would then come from his country which believe it or not is his responsibility!

During an interview with BBC News earlier today, Fry said the following very true statement "If no one tell Putin no, sooner or later then the man will go mad". I don't think anyone could've put it better. Yet again we are being let down by our Government when we need them most and I've had enough of it! It's about time we as a country took action along with Stephen Fry and the rest of the people that are protesting today! We need to tell David Cameron to do the right thing and not stop protesting until he does!

It just doesn't sit right with me that there is a country in trouble due to a dictator of a leader and our Prime Minister who is supposed to protect us is letting our athletes go into this country to compete when they could end up getting hurt just for being gay. It's about time Cameron woke up, smelt the coffee and took action!

 

Do parents know enough about social networking sites to keep their children safe?

After watching an episode of Supernanny last week where a 10 year old girl was talking to sixteen and seventeen year old boys on Facebook without her parents knowledge, it did make me wonder if parents really know enough about social networking sites to keep their children safe when they are using them and why did these parents not research the site and perhaps sign up for the site themselves before allowing their children to have access to the site? The mother didn't even know what the age limit was!

My mum is on Facebook and she insisted that I add her if she was to allow me to use the site, at first I thought this was out of order and an invasion of my privacy (as every 13 year of boy does) but now that I am older (15) in hindsight I feel that this was possibly the best thing that my mum could've done to ensure that I was being safe and responsible.

I feel that parents that do not research a social networking site, videogame or any type of software that their children are downloading are irresponsible parents, I am not saying that their overall parenting is bad but I am saying they are irresponsible for not conducting research on the site beforehand. Luckily, I am responsible enough know what to do and what not to do on social networks and have the knowledge and capability to sort my own privacy settings out without any help ( I did however let my dad look over them, just in case).

There may be a very simple reason as to why parents are not doing research. maybe it's because they don't really know how and have know way of being taught. In this case, the simplest solution would be for some companies to offer free courses that teaches the parents about the "scary" world of social media and schedule the classes for in the evening so that working parents are able to attend. Or maybe Facebook should offer a free course on their website that the parents could either watch and participate in on the internet or attend a venue.

There are many ways to allow parents to learn the right skills and have enough knowledge to keep their children safe, all people need to do is make it accessible enough for the solutions to be put into practice.