Now, the beard was defending one of his favourite films the other day.... the magnificent 8Mile, which is, to be honest, not the sort of film that many would associate with the Beard... but then, most people would prefer not to associate with the Beard.... and who can blame them...but I digress... for those who have not seen the film, suffice it to say that it stars Eminem, who I've always had a certain respect for, despite not being into this hippity hop stuff... but anyway, the rapper plays a would be rapper called rabbit, who can't rap due to stage fright.... now, I went to see the movie grudgingly, expecting a gang filled rap fest... really i should have known better....

as I say, I've always respected Eminem... from the little i've seen of him, he seems to be a quite intelligent and humourous man, with an eye for satire and irony... to my mind the film sends a valuable message to the yoof.... because, contrary to the general run of similar films, our hero's life does not change when he gets a pretty girl and becomes a rapper... no, it changes when he realsies that the girl he wants is not worth it, that some of his no hoper aquaintances are just that, and when he decides to grow up, and figure out what really matters... and that that is not bigging himself up to other rappers, but making sure that he looks after his family, and knuckles down to some hard work... and the main trigger for this, subtley and subliminally, is getting a job stamping car panels... during which he gains the respect of his immediate superior by knuckling down... and therefore gets enough self respect to overcome his stage fright.... also the film has great views of the unfortunately late Brittany Murphy in a leather mini skirt.... but of that, more later....

Valentines day has of course been and gone... and the Beard found himself watching a great concert with the FMB, after an incredibly lucky train related incident enabled him to actually reach the greta metropolis of Birmingham on time, despite everything conspiring to prevent this... and the Beard is not ashamed to say that he shed tears when he was presented with a beautiful poem by said beautiful young lady... a lovely chinese take away (with the almost obligatory crispy seaweed) and a fantastic night later, and the pair were shopping in Tamworth, and watching romantic movies together... well, Mama Mia and Zack and Miri make a naughty film anyway.... which was nice.. and later in the weekend, a stroll around a lovely privately owned country park where one would least expect it led the Beard to ruminate on the nature of nature... but yet again I digress...

talking of trains, a while back the Beard was waxing lyrical.. well, waxing anyway.. about the reasons that trains were preferable to women.. a view which hee has severely modified in these more modern times.... but in the interests of the non advancement of sexism, I have been working on the reasons why men are worse tahn a certain item.. of which more later... but it grows late, and sleep beckons... so all I will say now is that I hope your weekend was a s good as mine was, and that until all our valleys are blythe, Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Zack and Miri....

made the Beard giggle today, along with a certain young lady of my aquaintance... and may I say that Traci Lords still looked hot... just as I remmeber her from the old days... but I digress... I'm a big fan of films, and I'm especially a big fan of the old "good friends realise they're actually in love" plot.. Some Kind of Wonderful and Gregory's Girl spring immediately to mind.... and I got to thinking how strange it was that some of us seem to like films that others would not expect us to... for example, Beard junior loves, as well as the obvious Bond and Diehard stuff, "Photographing Fairies," "Picnic at Hanging Rock" and has expressed a wish toi see the new Eastwood opus, "Changeling.." none of which one would usually expect of a teenage boy.... but expectations are never the surest of things.. now, whether its the truth, or whether they're just scared of admitting it, none of his friends seem to liker anything other than the sorts of films they're supposed to like.. now, if this disparity is the truth, it makes the Beard wonder why.... is it some innate propery that enables him to enjoy Falling Down (the movie that is, not the accident...) and to understand the concept of said film... or is it simply that he's used to seeing me watch that sort of movie...?? or is it simply that like and dislike are too complex by far?? or even that the nly reason most young uns don't enjoy these films is simply that they've never sat down next to a parent with a big bag of doritos, a bottle of shandy and a few biccies, and actually attempted to watch it... one thing I saw the other day, which I always find irritating, was a young boy asking his mum if he could watch such and such a program on the tv.. only for his mum to reply in the negative, adding the qualifier, "you wouldn't enjoy it..." how on earth can she say that, without giving him the chance to actually watch it...???its one thing I've never said to the smaller Beard of teh family.... I let him watch (based on content, obviousy, which is a different thing altogether.. a five year old and Alien do not really go together...) and then he decides for himself... and ocasionally he'll watch something he didn't enjoy, to see whethr he now does..... which i feel is a good sign.. but then it has always been my philosophy that one should always try a thing twice... after all, the supposed dislike may be simple unfamiliarity... but as usual I'm in danger of rambling and losing the plot.. so all I will say is that my weekend so far has been very very good.. definitely up to WOW!!!! standards.... thanks entirely to a good movie, a good home made meal, and some extremely good company..... so until we all get asparagus with our fish and chips, Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!