Monday, October 13, 2008

What Is Past Is Prologue...

"Whereof what is past is prologue, what’s to come is at your and my discharge."
This is a quote from William Shakespeare's "The Tempest". From my understanding, it means that whatever's happened up to now only sets the stage for where we are - the main story starts now and it's up to us what happens in the future. It can apply to any time, but I feel it is especially appropriate to me at the moment. We (Dee and I!) are finally getting married on Saturday. This is obviously a major event in life and will considerably effects.

I have had a very fortunate life and been very well looked after by fantastic parents. They have been, and done, more than I could have asked for. I haven't always agreed with them, but they have been a great source of inspiration, comfort and guidance. I don't want to play down events that have happened so far and the influences that people have had on me. However, there is a part of me that can't help but feel as though the past has all been preparation for what's to come - the rest of my life lies ahead of me. Shakepseare was right:
"Whereof what is past is prologue, what’s to come is at your and my discharge."

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

House Hunting Frustrations

We're looking for a first house to buy and have a rather limited budget. Everything we've seen is either too small or in a "dodgy" part of town. Except two. They are close enough to ideal in almost all respects - just one snag: I might not be able to get a signal on my work mobile (kinda important). Need to go back again to check...

So frustrating!

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Britney's Family Fighting Back?

I'm not normally too interested in the lives of celebrities, and the up's and (more significantly) down's of Britney Spears' life has quite happily passed me by. Recently however, it has started to catch my eye. Over the last couple of years, she has gone from one minor disaster to the next, with the media/paparazzi lapping it up - always there with cameras followed by the inevitable negative press reports. I have always felt little bit sorry for Britney. The life of a celebrity can't be an easy one - especially for people like Britney who get thrust to fame so rapidly at such a young age. How can these people be expected to know how to deal with it all - the sudden press attention, following and scrutinizing their every move; not to mention the vast sums of money (and all the temptations that go with it)?

In my mind, the responsibility is with the managers of these celebrities. It is up to them to manage the media and help the person live a sustainable life. In the case of Britney, it seems that her manger, Sam Lutfi, has not been doing this. The BBC quotes her mother as saying "He yells at her. He claims to control everything - Britney's business manager, her attorneys and the security guards at the gate". From the rest of this report, and others, it sounds very much like this man in particular is ruining her life. But her parents are trying to take action - they have succeeded in getting a restraining order against Mr Lutfi, and now her "father has been given the power to fire her business manager [Howard Grossman]" (BBC). We can only hope that her parents, over time, are able to remove the people from Britney's life that are causing harm, separate her from the negative publicity and media scrums that surround her, and get her the treatment she needs.

Good luck to the Spears' family!