What a week, something for everyone from naked men to a moon shot, pantomime in the Commons to the horror death of Alexei Navalny in Russia and his brave wife supporting his work and his poor mother at last being given the body of her son.
The media seems over the moon about the un-crewed US lunar lander Odysseus. It’s lauded as “the first commercial mission to ever touch down on the moon and a huge step toward new human landings.”
And that’s the problem for me – human landings. We have a full moon at the moment and last night it was etherial as it made it’s statement appearance in a clear sky. From opera to pop songs, from stories to poetry and in it’s shadow many young lovers have strolled and whispered their promises. Now it looks like there will be factories up there excavating and leaving piles of junk in their wake, townships will be established and soon the moon will be another estate with ticky tacky houses. Who will control what’s going on now that commercial companies are shooting off their rockets.
The other story under scrutiny is the appearance of the Pleasure Boys XXL at a girls night out in the Devenish complex. They are thrilled with the response, indeed as they say “we have definitely left our mark on Belfast” when X-rated videos were circulated online.
Plenty of criticism for the performance at a Valentine’s dinner show with nude male dancers after videos of female patrons mimicking sexual acts circulated on social media showing dancers, fully nude, dancing with the girls. Pretty rough stuff but it would seem totally approved of and enjoyed by those who were there.
Irish actor Barry Keoghan has made a name for himself in the film Saltburn – which I thought was pretty gross in places – by dancing around the big house wearing nothing but a satisfied smile, the boy has rhythm! Apparently he’s capitalising on this by appearing nude in magazines. Now he’s becoming famous for all the wrong reasons.
It always amazes me that anything that can be described as ‘sex’ causes a hullabaloo yet brutality doesn’t exact the same attention. I also think it’s sad what happened in the House of Commons. It was terrific to watch but when you realise that such a serious debate degenerated into school children in a playground rumpus. The whole focus was lost and now comedians are making jokes about what should have been a definitive debate with a positive conclusion. When a little child in Gaza was asked what she wanted her wee face crumpled and she looked into the camera and whispered “bread.” It’s reckoned more than 11,500 under 18s have been killed and many more than that suffering life changing injuries and no one to take them home and nurse them, no homes and no family, no hugs. And those so called responsible adults sitting in comfort, some slumped back on their green bench half asleep, their full bellies hanging over their belts, can’t even get their act together in support.
Compare with children here in Northern Ireland, some are living in unhappy surrounding with cruelty and neglect and others are in loving homes with a positive and happy life.
The NI Science Festival has been running for two weeks with many events for children and a huge number of families have taken advantage of this – today is the last day with a lovely opportunity for the very young. At 2 Royal Avenue today there’s a free drop-in event between 10 a.m and 4 p.m. Still time to visit Mimi’s Rainbow Adventure where young ones and their families can ask questions about the world, get involved in exhibitions laid on by the Institute of Physics with creative activities and real live scientists to talk to, making memories to encourage an interest in science later in life. Maybe a budding astronaut amongst them!
A pencil drawing by a 16 year old Irish girl has won a National Art Competition. Shania McDonagh is tipped as a future top artist. The man she drew is a Fisherman and Seaweed Harvester named Coleman Coyne. There’s a story in every line.
Let’s end on a high. The Irish rugby team forged ahead, with 31-7 win over Wales. Are they on the way to a Grand Slam. If I was a betting woman I would put money on it! I am sometimes a betting woman so a fiver on the nose!
