Super Powers - Teleportation

In this series of blogs I will be observing the various super powers that we'd all love to have. I'll look at the pro's and cons and see what we all think we could do with the powers. These powers won't necessarily be needed to act as a super hero, they could simply be thier to make your life easier. At the end of the each blog i will give a verdict on these abilities - Super? or Stupid?

There have been a number of television shows that have explored the idea of teleportation. Mainly animations, but generally it's a power that we would all love to have, simply because of how easy life would become. But surely thiers a risk of life becoming too easy. Would we become lazy and too relient on this power. And how restricted would it be? Could we teleport to Pluto? Surely this super power would lead to nothing more than anarchy?

Positives
Easy transport
No need to travel on busy trains and dirty buses anymore.
Never late
You could wake up with just a few minutes to spare with a destination thats miles away, and yet you won't have to worry, you can arrive thier in a second.
Sneaky
You can pull tricks, sneak up behind people and get up to all kinds of shenanigans.
Easy Escape
You can escape danger with ease, the muggers won't know what hit them!
Become a hero
It would be easy to rescue people from danger if you could just teleport to them, pick them up and teleport to a safe place.


Negatives
Anarchy?
If this was a super power that everybody had, we wouldn't be able to live, we would have people breaking into homes, commiting crimes without ever being caught. It would be a disaster.
Control
How do you control the depth and height of the power. You could end up teleporting into a wall, or worse.
Is it comfortable?
Surely teleporting wouldn't be a pleasant thing to endure, I imagine it could cause headaches, nausea and more.
Unhealthy
You'll never walk anywhere, you'll likely become incredibly unfit. And that's not a good thing.

What you had to say
What would you do with the power to teleport?

Jaime Carroll ‏@JaimeCarroll

@danielmackrell I would use it to cause maximum mischief - pranks, stealing things, go places where others can't get you.

George Berridge ‏@George_Berridge

@danielmackrell use it to frighten people and get cheap holidays.

danny ‏@dannyhiggins

@danielmackrell probably teleport to selena gomez house. Wine her, dine her, you know the rest

AKA... Sarah ‏@itssarahmore

@danielmackrell never use public transport again :P

Graham Marshall ‏@GrahamMarshall_

@danielmackrell Basically I'd be Nightcrawler from the X-Men.

Margot ‏@margotlily

@danielmackrell teleport to foreign countries: fast way to go on a trip! No time wasted with transport! Teleport to work, too!! Saves time!

Tom Morgan ‏@00Tom00

@danielmackrell Teleport to a world where you don't ask me questions about teleportation?

Sir Tom Jones ‏@GeorgeRoff

@danielmackrell I'd do what I always dreamed of doing - visit the places I want to.. and home in time for tea! :P

Conclusion
It's a dangerous power, and one that could destroy a person if they get lazy with the power. It would be incredibly tempting to use it for all the wrong things, and it can easily turn you into a fat, lazy slob.

But, as long as you can master the art, and know what you're doing with it, and have enough will power to restrain yourself a bit, then this power could prove very useful.
This is one of the toughest decisions so far.

Verdict - Super



Your View
Do you agree with what I've said?
Comment with your views below!
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Teleportation at work
Here's a video that I think highlights some of the pros and certainly cons of teleportation.

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Why Celebrities Annoy Me

This post is merely a recycled entry from my other blog. However, I feel like it is a lot more relevant on this blog, and also, it is still very relevant to my feelings on what still goes on in our celebrity feeled world. Enjoy.

“A celebrity is a person who works hard all his life to become well known, then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognized”

I think that with the end of Celebrity Big Brother, it is only fitting that I address the world of celebrities, and explain exactly what is wrong with it.
We all love gossip, and hearing rumors about famous people, there’s nothing wrong with that. But why do we care about the lives of people that are just like anybody else? Who cares about Katie Price? What makes her life so exciting, because I just don’t get it. They make so much money from pointless interviews and guest appearances, and half the time nobody wants to see them!

However, despite all that, they remain celebrities, and make so much money from doing practically nothing except selling their soul to journalists, and even more depressingly- appearing on game shows.

I am a big fan of game shows. However, I HATE celebrity game shows. I find it much more exciting to see a ‘regular person’ fighting for everything, using the very limits of their (usually) small brain. Instead we have the air heads we call celebs having a bit of a laugh (among themselves) with not much of a care when it comes to winning or not.
What I really don’t understand is the charity part of the shows. They’re basically saying that if a celebrity can’t get through some hole in a wall, or get a multiple-choice question right, then their charity doesn’t get money. WTF?! That’s insane, has any produce actually ever stopped for a second and think about what they’re basically showing to the public? They’re deciding how much they donate to charity through the abilities of an idiotic celebrity. WHY? They should just give the money to the charity; they’re not going to do much else with it. Otherwise you’re just teasing the charities.

Next time you watch a celeb on a game show playing for their charity and fail, just take a few seconds to absorb it, and you’ll see just how ridiculous it is. Half the time they applaud afterwards! And then say the classic “well I had fun”. Give me a break! I’ve had enough of talentless celebrities having an easy ride through life, making so much money from random stupid TV appearances.

I respect those that truly deserve fame and fortune, and I congratulate them. Those are the ones that don’t resort to appearing on I’m a celebrity or Hole in the Wall. But for those that just try to tag along and to claw their way into the starlight, move out of my way, because I want to watch the real stars, not your plastic face!

“A celebrity is known by many people they are glad they don't know.”

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New Facebook - A Step Too Far?

[If you enjoy this post, please check out my main blog for more updates and news on social media]

Ever since Facebook launched its new design, there have been a number of complaints from its users. Of course, these are the same people that complain every time a change is made, yet they still stick with it.

However, is their anger and frustration justified this time? After all, these weren't just minor tweaks to the layout, or a new look to the chat feature. Facebook has undergone a big makeover. A makeover that has once again made the experience feel too 'intimate'.

I'll start with the 'live feed' or 'ticker' that sits on the top right-hand side. It allows users to see exactly what their friends are doing every single moment, whether that’s commenting on a picture, on their status, becoming friends with someone else. Put simply, it’s a dream world for stalkers. You don't even have to click onto somebody’s profile to see exactly what they're doing. The only way to avoid this is to alter the settings for every single friend that you have. Now for some of us, that won't take too long, but for some people, we'd be talking about thousands of friends, who must have a 'ticker' updating at enormous speeds to keep up with the updates. I suppose it might teach them a lesson.

But maybe this is a good thing; maybe it will make people now question whether they really should add someone as a friend, maybe Facebook should in fact become a more personal experience, so that you can feel more comfortable in sharing your personal interactions in front of all your 'friends'.

Now onto the new layout. We know longer have two feeds to choose from, it's just one big feed that we can gradually 'perfect' by informing Facebook of who want to know about. This seems like a pointless addition, especially now that we have to scroll down just to see what the latest relevant updates are. This seems like a pointless change, simply placed there to give the design a slightly cleaner, sleeker look. Perhaps in the long run it will prove a success, but right now it just looks a bit messy. Which I’m guessing isn't the intention.

Also, if facebook knows we have preferences to who we want to read about, then why have a live feed where we can see what everybody’s doing? It should be obvious to them that we simply don't care.

I understand Facebook's desire to evolve as a social network, especially with competition such as Twitter. Also, Google+ is now slowly starting to grow. However, some of these changes feel like they are trying to compete by taking ideas from Twitter and Google+ but slightly tweaking them. Now this could easily not be true, but on the surface, I feel like I can get a much better service on somewhere like Twitter. A place that isn't too complex, and gives me exactly what I want from it. I get simple updates from the people I want to get updates from. If I don't want to see them on my feed, I can simply unfollow. But if I still want updates, I can alternatively put them into a 'list' and just see they're tweets when I want. And if you only want certain people to see your tweets, you can simply set your profile to private. It's very basic, simple and does what you want from it. Something that Facebook has gradually distanced itself from, with more and more features being added, and complicated privacy settings (which are now even more complicated if that was ever possible).

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The Inbetweeners Movie Review

The Inbetweeners has been a huge success ever since it debuted on E4 bck in 2008. It captured not only its target teen audience but also a huge number of adult viewers.

Thier was bound to be fear that The Inbetweeners would struggle to make the leap from tv show into full blown movie. In the past we have seen many great tv shows suffer 'tv special syndrome' where the attempt of a full length feature falls flat on its face. Luckily, this transition was pulled off with great success, and many will view it as a fitting end.

While the cast can be congratulated for performing with excellent comic timing, a lot of credit has to go to the writers - Damon Beesley and Iain Morris for thier great job in creating more memorable moments that even the most uptight parent can sympathise with and relate to.

Even though thier are some 'in' jokes relating back to the series, it is also catered to people that have no knowledge of the four boys beforehand. We get a quick introduction to thier quirky (and mostly strange) personalities within the first 5 minutes which helps us know what we can expect. And by that I mean poo jokes, sex jokes and a lot of heartbreak.

The setting of Malia was a perfect environment to see the stars Will, Simon, Jay and Neil squirm and struggle to fit in. Thier immediate arrival introduces bad luck and disgust. I think I heard as much 'argh' and 'ewww' as I did laughter, which is what made the film much more of an emotional rollercoaster.

It was this balance that made the movie feel complete, and by the end your left knowing why the series has been such a success. The Inbetweeners Movie has become a huge hit in the UK becoming the number 1 box office draw. It's success has lead to a number of companies in the US trying to get thier hands on the film as it prepares to launch over in America in November. Could this film be a surprise blockbuster hit? After all, many ave compared it to the likes of American Pie and Superbad. Finally Britain has a new fresh comedy film to compete.

In the genre of Comedy, thier aren't many films that do it better.
Rating - 9/10

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Hanks Hints at a Toy Story 4

When interviewed by the BBC, voice of Woody - Tom Hanks has hinted that thier may be a 4th Toy Story in production.

During an interview promoting his new film ';Larry Crowne' , Hanks was asked whether thier would be another sequel to the animation.

He replied saying "I think there will be,", and further added that "They're working on it now".

Would you want to see another Toy Story film? Or do you think it would be better to leave to leave the franchise with the great ending it was given in Toy Story 3?

Meanwhile, early reviews suggest Cars 2 is far from the standard that we are used to seeing from Pixar.
However, a new trailer showing next summers Pixar blockbuster suggests they should be back on track in time for next year. You can watch the trailer for thier next film 'Brave' down below.

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Death of the Video Tape...How long until DVD's are next?

Well, it's safe to say RIP to the video tape.
Over the year, video players have been disappearing across my university to make way for top quality DVD players. Let's face it, they've been dead for years now, nobody uses them anymore, at least not very often.
Back home we still have a huge pile of video tapes of great films ranging from Disney classics like The Lion King and Jungle Book, to Eastenders videos and some wrestling ppvs. In a way they show a bit of our history and for people my age, they show our childhood. I remember the days before things like Sky Plus; I used to record my favourite shows on a video tape so that I could watch them again later.

It makes me feel old thinking that they were the way to watch your favourite shows and films whenever you wanted - now it's become so easy. When you finished watching a video you had to actually rewind it if you wanted to watch it again, and it made that loud rewinding noise while you waited.
You couldn't skip scenes; you had to fast forward to where you wanted it to be. Those were the days...

Thinking about it, DVD already look like they're going to be making their way out the door sooner rather than later.

Digital copies are slowly growing in popularity as they enable you to watch content 'on the move', although is that really a good thing. Music is great on the go, because you can still keep focus on what you're doing, but tv shows and films usually require a lot more attention.
Blu-Ray is also becoming a challenger to the DVD, but the obvious safety net is that you can play DVD's on a Blu-Ray player.

They can certainly still put up a fight, I know a lot of people that still buy them instead of a digital copy. But we can be certain that sooner or later they'll fade away just like the video tapes. And then I'll just feel really old - all over again...

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Super Powers - Super Speed

In this series of blogs I will be observing the various super powers that we'd all love to have. I'll look at the pro's and cons and see what we all think we could do with the powers. These powers won't necessarily be needed to act as a super hero, they could simply be thier to make your life easier. At the end of the each blog i will give a verdict on these abilities - Super? or Stupid?

Super Speed is one of those powers that often gets mentioned when discussing what abilities we would love to have. I guess because it creates a sense of invulnerability, nobody can touch you because you're just too quick. We've seen the power put to good use in numerous films, comics and tv shows. But in reality is it really all it's cracked up to be?

Positives
Quick journeys
You can pop to the shops and be back in no time. Easy.
Escape danger
You can run away from anyone(or anything) no problem.
Be a real superhero!
We already know that it's possible to become a proper super hero with super speed alone. The Flash did it, so if you wanted to go around saving the world, then maybe it's a possibility.
Easy wait loss
Any extra weight will just fall off of you [see negatives]
Eco Friendly
No need for cars or anything like that, save the environment, and save a lot of money too.
Run on water
I'm guessing(another 'Incredibles' reference) that if you run fast enough, then you can run across water without sinking. You just have to make sure that you don't stop half way through.
Race?
You would win all the races you want..if you want....i guess...meh
[Note to self] Stop getting ideas for super speed positives from The Incredibles.
Negatives
Trip over
If your running incredibly fast and suddenly trip - it's going to hurt...a lot
Catch fire
I know in 'The Incredibles' they have friction proof clothing, but in the real world, that clothing doesn't exist. Your clothes would burn, and your atualy body won't feel too great either.
Shoe issue
What kind of shoe can sustain such fast speeds, i'm guessing it would bave to be extra strong trainers or something like that.
Too much weight loss
I'm guessing you'd lose loads of weight without even realising it, could be a frustrating balancing act[see positives]
Dodging
Must be hard to avoid rnning into objects when our running fast - do your reflexes become fast as well? They'd would need to be pretty quick!
Bugs
You're running fast, you're loving it. Then suddenly a bunch of flys, and others insects smack into your face. They land in your eyes, all over your clothes, and worst of all - in your mouth. Not good.
What you had to say
What would you do if you had super speed?

@ricky_compton Challenge Usain Bolt to a race, knock him down a couple of pegs.

@GeorgeRoff Wouldn't buy a car. (Y)

@CapitalW23 Easy, I'd run over to ya'll.

@JaimeCarroll I'd wee into empty bottles and sell it as energy drinks as my power will be passed down.

@TheIceMan5000 Super speed! That would save me time, and I'd never be late again. but I can't help but feel people would abuse it.
Conclusion
This is one of the toughest decisions so far in this Super Powers series. Thier have been some good positives, but also some very convincing negatives. It seems that in films and comics, a lot of the realistic flaws are hidden, and if that was the case from these blogs then Super Speed would get an automatic 'Super' rating. It's not a one trick pony, it's a diverse power that would enable you to do so much more than you first imagine. But is thier just too much there that is holding you back and stopping you from taking this power to it's highest potential.
We'd need to have lightning fast reflexes to get the most out of the power, and for this conclusion i'm going to assume that the reflxes come with the speed.
Even then, we would need to create non-friction clothing, and sort out the weight issues and maybe construct a shield from the bugs. Maybe then it could have potential to be a great power. But despite all the impressive postives, the negatives are just too big for me to consider this a 'Super' Power.

Verdict - Stupid
Your Views
It was a tough decision. So do you agree or disagree? Could you pursuade me that I've made the wrong decision by declaring Super Speed as 'Stupid'? Let me know in the comments below!

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