A Flying Fuck At A Rolling Doughnut.

The quotation I used for my heading has to be the best quotation. EVER. It comes from Blood Brothers and is said by Eddie Lyons to his posh school teacher. He says it after the teacher demands to see his locket, it results in him being excluded and I highly doubt I'll ever forget that quote.

So anyway. My second post of the evening is on Blood Brothers. Here's my summary of the characters -

Mickey -

• In love with Linda
• Blood brother
• Poor
• Swears, smokes
• Calls Edward soft
• Plays with guns as a child
• Shoots Eddie, gets shot by policemen
• In trouble with police at young age
• Has an influence on Eddie
• Jealous of Eddie
• Job and home eventually provided by Eddie
• Gets Linda pregnant
• Takes ages to ask her out

Eddie -

• Rich
• Good education
• Given away
• Protective mother
• Wears locket
• Shares sweets/cigarettes
• Upper class
• Uses dictionary (and doesn't swear)
• Has affair with Linda
• Gets shot
• Becomes councillor
• Blood brother
• Jealous of Mickey
• "Flying fuck" = wants to be like Mickey
• Swears at his mother under Mickey's influence
• Gets Mickey a job and a house

Linda -

• In love with Mickey
• Has affair with Eddie
• Gets pregnant with Mickey's child
• Faithful to Mickey when in prison
• Always hits target with gun
• Encourages Eddie to back-chat to policeman
• Dare devil (wants to throw stones)
• Working class
• Doesn't like Mickey taking pills
• Protective over Mickey
• Cheeky + flirty
• Alone when twins die

Mrs Johnstone -

• Has seven kids
• Loves the bones of every one of them
• Superstitions (shoes on table)
• Compared to Marylin Monroe (sexy, but had a hard life)
• Heart made of stone
• Gives one child away
• Poor
• Signs for stuff from catalogue she can't afford
• Lives at No. 13

Mrs Lyons -

• Rich
• Big house
• Lots of money
• Can't have children
• Uses Mrs J's superstition against her
• Hides adoption from husband
• Runs away from Mrs J
• Tries to kill Mrs J
• Manipulative
• Doesn't like Eddie wearing locket

The end :) Not so bad after all, gonna have to use this method of revision more often.

As a lil update, I also have my Welsh Listening exam tomorrow, but I can't really revise for that, so I won't be posting again tonight :)

The Equivalent of a Jerkline Skinner.

My mocks start tomorrow, and my first one is English Literature. I'm dreading it, so here's my revision on Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. I might do Blood Brothers too, depending on how I'm feeling.

SLIMMM!

1. Provides relief for the reader - He's welcoming and acts as an ally on the ranch. He speaks to George with a friendly tone and don't question the fact that they travel together. He describes Lennie as a "nice fella" who "ain't mean". To add to this, he tries to defend Lennie when Curley attacks him.
   
   
2. Sets the moral tone and has notable qualities - Slim is a skilled jerkline skinner, unlike the rest of the men who're primarily for labour. Steinbeck praises Slim more than any other character and talks about how he can remove a fly from a horse's back without harming the horse. Slim's word is "law", and this is displayed when Candy looks at Slim to find "some reversal". Candy does this because he knows Slim is the only one with the power to save his dog.
   
   
3. Ensures justice is done - As mentioned above, Slim doesn't save Candy's dog (although he could). Slim says that Curley "had it comin' to him" when his hand is crushed.
   
   
4. Is supportive - Slim is supportive of George and Lennie. He's on their side and even gives Lennie one of his pups. This kindness is extended to Candy when his dog is shot. Slim also consoles George when he kills Lennie, and even helps him make the hard decision to do so.
   
   
5. Has authority and universal respect - Slim doesn't need to wear high heeled boots (like Curley) to be called the "prince of the ranch", in fact he's described as moving "with a majesty only achieved by royalty and master craftsmen". This again backs up the fact that Slim is skilled. Slim's word is taken on any subject and Steinbeck describes him as "ageless" and even "godlike", which makes him seems supernatural and above the other men. Even Curley has respect for him, and this is displayed when he accepts the 'machine' alibi for his crushed hand and apologizes for accusing Slim of an affair with his wife. The other men on the ranch respect Slim, such as Crooks who calls him "Mr Slim" and Carlson who lets him "precede him" as one might do with royalty.
   
   
6. Has confidence - Slim's confidence is displayed in the way he moves (as mentioned above) and he also draws confidence from others, such as when he encourages George to tell him about Lennie almost drowning. His eyes are also describes as "calm" because this instils a confidence in others.
   
   
7. Is kind - Finally, we know Slim is kind because he gives Lennie one of his pups and offers to give one to Crooks too. He's kind to George and Lennie and acts as an ally on the ranch. He tries to defend Lennie when Curley attacks him and provides him with an alibi. He's also cruel to be kind, such as when he drowns some of his pups because the mother couldn't feed all of them. Similarly, Slim supports George and helps him make the decision to kill Lennie, rather than him be shot in the guts by Curley. He also tells Carlson to take a shovel to bury Candy's dog, so he doesn't have to see the dead body.

Wow, that was actually quite a lot. I can't be bothered to do any more right now :P

Laters :)

PS - There's the website:

http://www.shmoop.com/of-mice-and-men/

Woah. Neek Alert.

I'm a lucky bugger who gets two short course lessons of ICT a week. Cue Gabs, her teacher and TWO revision lists for TWO exams. Much love for unfairness.

So, Paper 1 ICT.

What do I need to know?

A load of mumbo-jumbo that I'll cram the night before and never use again?

Probably yes, but here it all is anyway.

• DTP (Desktop Publishing)
• Databases
• Input devices (keyboard, mouse...etc)
• Output devices (screen, printer...etc)
• Barcodes (first two digits are country, next five are manufacturer, next five are product code, last one is check)
• Spreadsheets
• OCR (Optical Character Recognition, used for passport applications)
• OMR (Optical Mark Recognition, used for lottery tickets)
• MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition, used for bank cheques)
• LAN (Local Area Network, Intranet)
• WAN (Wide Area Network, WWW.)
• Security (locking doors, user-names and passwords, alarm systems, firewalls, anti-virus software...etc)
• GUI (Graphical User Interface)
• Health and Safety
• RAM (Random Access Memory)
• ROM (Read Only Memory)

All that is just one side of paper. There's at least another side to go... bear with me!

• CPU (Central Processing Unit)
• Types of computers (mainframe, micro, laptop, PDA)
• Embedded systems (microwaves, guided missile)
• Cache (temporary storage)
• Printers (laser printers are expensive but efficient, while inkjet are cheap but guzzle ink)
• CAD/CAM (Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufacture)
• Key fields (on databases, unique and identifiable)
• Operating system (controls running of software)
• WIMP (Windows Icons Menus Pointers)
• HCI (Human Computer Interface, such as keyboard)

And thissss....

http://www.theteacher99.btinternet.co.uk/theteacher/default.htm

... is the brilliant little website that's gonna help me remember all of it.

Woooooo. So glad that's over.

I'm off to chillax ;) x