1 year to go until the Olympic Games London!

   So it is official! We only have a year to go until the Olympics hit London! As you know by now I seem to get excited about anything London! I love the city so much and I am still very glad that London has a chance to host the Olympics again after all this time. One thing that has surprised me if I look back all of those years ago is the design of the stadium. I am not sure if many of you will remember the original design that was used to win the big but it was a breathtaking stadium that looked like the bud of a flower made of glass. Sadly we never got this design and to be completely honest, if I was older I would have probably realised that even when they were showcasing the designs. The stadium would have been ultra expensive and only a place like Beijing or Dubai would have truly gone for a design so extravagant. The new stadium however, white, clean, smooth and just simple yet effective! I really am growing towards the design and I cant wait for them to “wrap” the stadium to get rid of the one thing that I think makes it slightly ugly, the fact that you can see its underside! once this is gone I really do believe that the stadium will be up there with some of the best designed stadiums! yes it is not actually that hard to be up there as I swear that there are only four stadiums that really stand out in the Olympics history. People are going to judge and I think this was very apparent from the offset of the Beijing olympics. I do not think it is a competition and even though I really enjoyed the Beijing olympics, the stadium and the amount of money and effort that went into the games, I think that London will give a very different yet brilliant show. I understand that the Olympics is about sport however I am not a huge sport fan, I am interested in the architecture, benefits and ideas that come with the games so sadly that is all I can talk about (you will have to go to a sports blog if you want all this sporting crap!) It is not just the stadium that stands out in the architecture of the games. 

   There are three other structures that are screaming about and I shall talk about two. The third one that I will miss out (because I have already talked about it) is the London orbit click the link http://thatmfeeling.blogspot.com/2011/03/londons-orbit.html to see my take on this sculpture thing! The second of the three buildings is the aquatics centre. This building is so sexy! I mean look at it! okay, it does have wings at the moment which I think do not do the building any justice but the nice thing is that you can still see the main part of the building all shiny in between. Once the games are over those rather nasty cardboard wings will be removed and glazed over to create large windows on each side. These windows will reveal the massive sweeping roof which will really define the building and give it that ultra sexy look. Like it was in the Beijing olympics, I think the aquatics centre architecture will be focused on a large amount throughout the games.

   The third and final building in my rather long talk is the velodrome (yes I did have to look that up because I completely forgot what it was called!) now this building is a cool one because it just reminds me of a pringle! what I really like about this sexy pringle is that the sides are cladded in some sort of pine wood which makes it stand out when you are on the ground! That and the fact that the roof itself could have an article dedicated to it! All in all I think the architecture is a mixed bag of sweets. Some are amazing like the buildings that I have mentioned above and some are rather gross to be completely honest with you, no names mentioned as I am sure that you can see them for yourself. I shall be counting the days down to the games, will you be!?

Thank you for reading and lets have it! one year until the games! signing out, Thatmfeeling

Amy Winehouse Death: She Deserves the Recognition

Well everyone knows the news by now! Amy Winehouse is no longer with us. Whilst it does not come as a shock to me, it does. I think in the back of our minds we did not expect Ms Winehouse to live for a long stretch but it is always shocking when you actually hear the news. What shocks me even more is the response that she has gotten from some people. Yes she has dominated the news recently and so she should! She is a British icon and her death would be heavily publicised, just like her life was. I recently joined the RIP Amy Winehouse fan page on Facebook and what really annoyed me was that every other comment it was someone writing something like “Don’t you think that the 93 people that died in the terrible Norway shootings should deserve a little more notice” erm. To be blatantly honest, no they should not on an Amy Winehouse tribute page. They can have all the notice that they deserve on the victims of the Norway killings page but I really do not think that they should have notice on a page dedicated to Amy. These two news stories have been intertwined on Facebook in some sort of “Who deserves to be dead more” face off and I think it is disgusting. I understand that there are many people out there that do not like Amy Winehouse and to them I say “then don’t listen to her music and read news stories about her then” Yes she was addicted to drink and drugs and yes this is the probable cause of her death but just because she was addicted to drugs and alcohol really does not make her any less of a person in my eyes. Its not like she killed anyone or was a truly horrible person to anyone, it was herself that she has taken it all out on so why are so many people adamant that she is a horrible worthless person. She had an amazing talent that will be recognised for many many years to come. Her songs were different, her writing amazing and that is what I will always remember her for. A great musician. She may have cut her life short but I guess that not many of us know the powers of addiction and the pains that she may have been going through. We only have her music to peer into the windows of her life. I am not saying that these poor people in Norway deserve any less recognition but I am saying that Amy still deserves hers. I will miss her, I did not know her but through her amazing talent we all got that little bit closer to her,

Signing out, Thatmfeeling

The Evil & Corrupt Make Us Stronger

Not that this question has just entered my mind, I think it has been sitting in many of our minds ever since our brains started to process thoughts. I cant even begin to think about how evil some people are. It always intrigues me to how people actually get to the way they are. Are these people born evil, brought up evil and why do they do the things they do. Take the terrorist attack in Norway today. How can people be so evil to do these things? If someone blew up their families they would be so angry about it yet they feel that it is fine to destroy other peoples lives. I am glad I do not understand it because I would never want that evil frame of mind and I would never ever want to be anything like these people. I know that there can be another side to this argument and we do have soldiers in their countries but even if we did not I am sure that these people (me saying these because of the whole array of completely different people that can be placed into this category) would find some way to interfere and destroy peoples lives still. Nasty people as a whole, I just wonder what they see when they look in the mirror. Are they proud of themselves? another situation that happened recently is a friend of mine got attacked in a street whilst trying to help someone that had passed out/fainted on the floor. I know I do not know the whole situation but how low can one person be to attack someone that is firstly trying to help someone, secondly is completely helpless themselves and has no links with them at all. These people need to be analysed and then just killed to rid them from the the world that they are polluting with nastiness. This guy that beat my friend up, I would love to know what actually went through his mind “I feel like beating that helpless guy up” smack “oh I am so hard because I beat someone up that was easy to pick on and that probably couldn't defend themselves as well as I can” I mean honestly that is not anything to be proud of. These horrific people are so proud of themselves yet achieve something that is just as pathetic as they are. You are not gaining power, you are not becoming something bigger! beat up someone that is stronger than you... don't hide behind bombs and surprising innocent people, make yourself known, talk about it, negotiate it! (I am mumbling to myself!) One thing that does come out of these situations is pride for myself and the people I know around me for not being like this. You may be corrupt but at least you make people stronger and better around you. you may be proud to be who you are and do what you do but I am proud because I am not you and I would never do the things you do. 

World Trade Centre Development

Now for any of you that have read my blog before or know anything about me, I LOVE architecture! I always find myself looking up architectural news whenever I have a spare minute and even when I am going to bed I am still looking and reading about the goings on in the architectural world! The world trade centre has been a site that I have been interested on ever since I can imagine. I loved the twin towers and love the whole look, style,feel and sense of pride that you get from New York. Sadly I never got to see the twin towers and it churns my stomach even to this day in the way that they were forcibly removed from such an amazing city and skyline. I have visited ground zero and when I did it sent tingles down my back. Yes it looked like a building site and my brain does not have the capacity to actually process what would have gone on that day but it moved me. What gives me such great pride however is the progress with the world trade centre site. It has taken such a long time but the building, development and progress is really starting to speed up. I really do believe that designs have been handled so well and really show a city that is willing to progress yet remember the people that helped it get there. The memorial itself is two pools that take up the ground space of the original twin towers. around the pools are the names of the people that died in the towers, the surrounding world trade centre buildings, the flights and the pentagon. There will be a museum situated in between these two pools which will also be surrounded by trees. The whole concept is just so flattering and beautiful that it takes my breath away. I understand that many of the families of people who died in these attacks wanted the site to remain a park but I think that this concept is even better. The site will also contain office buildings on it as it did before and I do understand the need for them to be there. New York barely has any space and is in desperate need for more buildings but I think that these buildings can be forgiven with their exceptional design. The freedom tower is the most striking and is the tallest building by far (I think it will stand taller than the original towers) I think personally for me that it represents progress, pride, determination and strength. I understand that I did not know anyone who died in these attacks but I hope that these buildings will be admired and thought of in a similar way by those who did. I have attached some images below of the current progress just two months before the memorial site opens to the public for the anniversary of September 11th. I am not a New Yorker (even though I feel like one) but it is so nice to see a city that is so proud and amazing to progress and not be put down by such an awful act of terrorism.

This photo was taken of the WTC site in June 2011

See the progress of the last four years

an artists impression of what the memorial pools will look like with the names arranged around them 

a recent picture of one of the pools and the scale of it

Phone Hacking Scandal... And The Rest!

 

The phone hacking scandal! It seems to be hitting newspapers around the world and all I can say is that I really just want it to go away! What these people did was really horrible, how they think they can rise above the law and hack into innocent peoples phones. Messing around with voicemail messages on a phone that belonged to someone that had sadly been murdered, I mean there was clearly a line that they ran across as far as they could possibly go. What started out a very serious news story that showed the media in its worst light seems to have just fallen over itself and has turned into a drama of people quitting work that really do not need to quit and people being sacked that really do not need to be sacked! then, the people that do need to be sacked seem to still have their jobs (well luckily the evil red haired Rebekah Brooks is no longer there!) I know I am only one voice in a sea of thousands on this topic but the media have seemed to lost the point of this whole story and spun it out of control. For the very first time in my life I had to actually turn Sky news off because I could not stand what they were talking about (I am actually gobsmacked!) Why are we hearing about police officers quitting because they had links to some people that had done bad things at the News Of The World? I mean I thin it is more honorable if they stay on, after all they did not really do anything wrong (or maybe I have not read the full story) Why on earth did the News Of The World paper shut down?! it was not the paper that had done wrong, it was some of the people who worked for it! and what makes things worse is that half of the people that were involved in the hacking scandal did not even work for the paper anymore so there are people out of their jobs! The whole situation has gotten too far out of control and not only does it make our media look bad in the eyes of the world and the UK (not that we actually care because they are the nasty media after all) but I think it makes our country look a sham! I mean it is so embarrassing for the Met, the prime minister (who may have made some bad choices) and just the people that run and mess with our country! I hope people do learn from this mistake because it is costing many people deep pain and embarrassment (some that do deserve it but also some that really do not) Move on news and country just sort your bloody self out! 

signing out, Thatmfeeling

BOOOOOOOOO!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Internet from above!

Okay its completely random but I just had to show you! I love the whole lights from above photography that you see all the time in newspapers and in documentaries etc but I come across one that is slightly different. These images are not lights from above but markings from internet use. So I am told, blue dots are tweets, red dots are flickr and white dots/marks are both (high internet usage) I think its really interesting to see how this leaves an invisible mark on our world!

Do I really need to tell you that this is Manhattan!?

London from above! Love the fact that you can see the river!

The worlllllddd!

clearly in the UK all we do is use the internet lol!

and finally the good old U S of A!

enjoy! signing out, Thatmfeeling

Horrid, Rude, Nasty People

I am so surprised how rude some people can be! When I am out I really try to be polite and welcoming (I am sure that it does not always come across like that but I am sure people know I am trying at least!) I was on a tube journey home after work, it was extremely busy because it was also Gay/London pride so I understand how people could be agitated by this because believe me, I was! but the fact that some people thought they were more important and direct and shout at people in the train carriage I just think is completely unacceptable. As I was entering the train this man was about to punch another man because he didn't let his girlfriend on first I mean, come on its just a train and we are all going to get on eventually! Once I was inside and luckily sitting down, this man entered the carriage and started shouting at a woman “move down! you think you are a bloody princess” he then decided to hit her and her kid (not hardly but it is still awful) I feel so sorry for these people because firstly they were tourists and they have probably never been to London before, it gives an awful impression of the people in London and secondly because she was standing in a small enough gap so why should she have to compress herself so she cant breath standing under another man. If you don't like how packed it is then don't get on the train, walk, cycle or simply just move out of London. The situation really made me think, I really wanted to do something but there was nothing I could do. Luckily a man did stand up for her and stood in front of this nasty italian man that was shouting. I know the world is full of lovely people and there are many in London but it always shocks me that there are some people that have no manners, that look awful in the minds of others because they think of no one but themselves. Yes it is best to look after yourself first because no one else will but that does not mean that you should loose respect for the other people around you, after all you may need them one day and they may then not be there for you 

sorry to end on such a serious note, happier blog next time 

signing out, Thatmfeeling

The video above just shows how bad some people can be, I actually feel embarrassed for the woman, she is making a commotion that makes her look bad. I love the fact that the man never looses his temper and that really makes her angry!

Gay Pride / London Gay Pride

The question that I got asked more than enough today was “are you going to Gay Pride?” and my usual answer to this question is “I don’t think so” sometimes it is responded with “are you not proud” or “why on earth not” and my answer to this is because it just simply is not me. I really love being gay, I think my life would be awful if I was straight and I am so thankful for the people that fought and stood up for Gay rights and have got us to where we are now but the one thing that just puts me off about pride is the type of people that it seems to attract. Yes I know that sounds awful and I do not mean it in a nasty way but pride has become an idea of slutty people that want to use it as an excuse to get naked, slut around and perv over people. I know its not all like that but when I walk past Soho on a pride day this is all I see. I am sure that this is what many other people see to! The day should be a day of celebration but I don't see how people walking around with small pink boxer shorts on screaming and singing to Britney down a road really represents gay people very well. I know that there will be many people who disagree with me on this and will say it is freedom to be what we want to be but I just do not see it as that, I see it as fitting to a stereotype that still gives us the negative view of people to this day. It is very surprising to see someones reaction that meets a normal gay person when they have never met someone gay before “how are you gay, you don't speak like a queer with your hands out” I have actually heard someone say that and this just shows that we have this label attached to us. I am proud, I am grateful and I feel extremely lucky but this does not mean that I will be skimping on down to pride if I have something better to do

love you all and have a great pride, signing out, Thatmfeeling