Milk

Last Tuesday I watched the film Milk with my class. I had seen it once before but I did not mind seeing it again because I think it is so good. It is a very serious and important film that is grounded in historical events. Howard Milk was a real person who lived from 1930-1978. He was the first openly gay man to be elected to any substantial political office. He was murdered on November 27, 1978. Milk is a film about Harvey Milks journey from being a gay man living in the closet to being the first openly gay person to be elected to major office.

The film is set in two different time zones. The first scene is from the “future” where Milk sits at his breakfast table talking into a microphone. He starts telling his story before the film travels back in time. Milk meets a gorgeous young man whom he falls in love with. This young man eventually becomes not only Milks boyfriend but also his campaign manager, at least for a period. Their relationship makes you smile because they are so cute together. As I have already told you this story is real. Harvey Milk was real. I get chills already in one of the first scenes where Milk and many homosexuals march down the streets in San Francisco as an attempt to be heard. I think the film is absolutely fantastic. It is touching and I think that Sean Penn does an amazing job in the lead as Harvey Milk.

I find myself writing down and then deleting what I have already written over and over again. This is because I am afraid to give anything away. There are so many important events happening in the film and I think I should stop writing before I ruin the film for you. You just have to see it yourself! This is probably a given by now, anyway I think I should tell you one more time that I strongly recommend this movie to everyone.

“His life changed history – his courage changed lives”
His goal was to make homosexuality legal. You are definitely missing out on something great if you do not watch this movie. Watch the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLC5SzczC44

Loony Parties

In the UK the three major parties are the Labour Party, the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats. These parties are taken very seriously by British citizens. But there also exists smaller parties which are not taken so seriously. They have been founded to show how absurd politics can be. The Official Monster Raving Loony Party was established in 1983 by musician and politician David Sutch, also known as Screaming Lord Sutch. Even though there exists hundreds of candidates with ridiculous names none of them have ever won a seat in the Commons. One of the loony parties proposes a lowering of the school-leaving age to nine.

Examples of crazy proposals:

-Re-introducing hanging (but only for offences like throwing away banana skins on the street)

-Conquering France

-Placing an electric shock collar on the other politicians, the type to stop dogs barking, so they can be shocked every time they lie

-All football team's should wear the same colored shirts, shorts and boots, wear big red noses and bright green wigs, as this will lead to a more exciting and interesting game.

-Semicolons should be banned; No-one knows when to use one anyway.

Not many people vote for these parties, but a few actually do. The fact that loony parties win a handful of votes indicates that some people are quite bored with conventional politics – and that many have a good sense of humor.

Screaming Lord Sutch (1940-1999)