Chapter 62: YouTube Subscriptions #4

Hi Guys,

It's about time I did a follow up to my previous posts about YouTube subscriptions/Youtube Subscriptions #2/YouTube Subscriptions #3

So today I thought I would tell you about a few more of the channels I am subscribed to on YouTube. Some of them are popular well known channels, and some of them are smaller lesser known channels, please do subscribe to them if they take your fancy. (if you click on their channel names at the beginning of the paragraph it will take you to their channel)

20) Browney

Browney is a dutch YouTuber whose channel is a mismatch of lots of different things, such as vlogs, challenges and parodies. I've only been subscribed to Browney for about 6 months but I always enjoy his videos.

21) Jason Manford

Jason Manford is a comedian who has recently created a YouTube channel in order to 'try this YouTube thing'. His videos have so far been Q&As, 'chat' style videos and behind the scenes footage.

22) The Late Late Show With James Corden

The Late Late Show With James Corden is the channel for the American TV show with the same name. The channel features clips from the show which range from chats with guests, games with the audience and the hugely popular Carpool Karaoke. My favourite video is the Tom Hanks Filmography.

23) Draw My Life

Draw my life is a channel that parodies the popular 'Draw My Life' trend but with popular or trending celebrities. They upload weekly and tend to be entertaining. My favourite is Colin Furze.

24) Smosh games

Smosh Games is a spin-off channel from the popular youtubers SMOSH. On this channel you see the various members of SMOSH playing games. I only watch the Game Bang videos which is where the 6 SMOSH games hosts play a game together with a punishment for the losers, they also sometimes have extra people to play with them.

For now, that will be it, but I'll be sure to let you know about other channels that I am subscribed to in the future.

Again, make sure you go and check out all the channels, and subscribe to them if you want to.

Until Next Time,
Stay Happy,
Subscribe to one of those channels,
and goodbye.

Mitch x

Chapter 61: The A Word

Hey Guys,
(Warning: this may be a tear jerker, I cried towards the end of writing this)

April is Autism Awareness Month and although it is coming to an end, I think it's still important to get my word out there. (It's been brought to my attention that Autism Awareness Month is heavily linked with an organisation called 'Autism Speaks' who do not support Autism - ASAN or NAS on the other hand are good charities who really do help)

I have a few things to talk about in regards to Autism so allow me to start things off with a question that can often be heavily asked but hard to answer.

What Is Autism?

The Dictionary definition is as follows: 'A mental condition, present from early childhood, characterized by great difficulty in communicating and forming relationships with other people and in using language and abstract concepts.'

Now, I don't know much about Autism or what is known as the Autistic Spectrum but I do know that everyone's experience and diagnosis is different and it's from that view point that this post is written...and with that in mind, if there is any autistic people reading this post that find anything about it incorrect or offensive, please do not hesitate to leave a comment correcting me...I would love to know more about autism and how it has affected different people, but without further a do, let me continue.

I recently came across a video of Daniel Blixa Reed singing a song that he had written called 'Life on The Spectrum' and felt it was appropriate to include it in this post as it shows someone's experience with autism and the lyrics are quite hard hitting, so here it is:

This song helped me to understand more about 'The Spectrum' and how it can sometimes feel to be labeled as something that is unfortunately not always accepted into the world we live in.

As you may know, I am a very keen watcher of TV and when a new programme came up on BBC1 called 'The A Word', I was instantly drawn in by the name, what I wasn't expecting was it to be a drama about a family coming to terms with a young boy's diagnosis of Autism...I have really got in to this show and have even been driven to tears by some of the more emotional scenes, again, I do not know how true to life it is, but as a Media student I do know that The BBC prides itself on being Accurate & Reliable so I'd like to think that it is well researched. For anyone like me, who is particularly interested in Development Disorders and it's affect on the individual and those around them, I would highly recommend this show as it was one of the major reasons as to why I decided to write this post. Here is a link to iPlayer where the programme will soon not be available, so be quick: The A Word

Another of the main reasons that I decided to write this post was because of a trip I recently took to Austria, now, those of you familiar with the way my blog works will know that I always write a post to go with my videos, but I have not put one up with my most recent video, which was about my ski trip, this is partly because that video needs to be changed slightly but also because I wanted this post to be paired with it but I was not ready to post this at that time as I wanted this to be perfect...Anyway, back to the point, I recently went on a Skiing trip with my school, Cowes Enterprise College, to Austria where we were joined by another school run by the husband of the lady who ran our trip (Mark & Lindsay Hughes respectively). Mark is the head teacher of St. Johns School, St. John’s specialises in autism and autistic spectrum conditions, but more generally in a wide range of complex learning disabilities and emotional, behavioural and social difficulties. We were joined by 5 students from St. Johns who all became very good friends within hours to a point where it was extremely hard to tell that they were any different from us, they were all such nice, genuine, funny and hugely talented people that were so lovely to be around for the week.

From Left: Alex Fisher, Sammy Basford(Top, From Cowes), Daryl Webster(Bottom), Myself, Charlie Ries-Coward, Josh Phillips and Charlie Bennett.

These five people showed me that it really doesn't matter who you are, where you come from or what your story is, but that it's the person who you make yourself that matters and these guys taught me so much about themselves and myself that I will keep with me for the rest of my life.

Thank you to every single one of these great people, and thankyou for taking the time to read this post, Please take this opportunity to spend as little as 10 minutes to go and find out more about Autism or another development disorder because it really pays to know about these things.

My final thought, which stems from a note that I was given about this post is that Autism is no longer something that needs awareness...it's now something that needs acceptance and through my experiences it is so easy to accept those with development disorders and I think that you should do the same.

Until Next Time,

Stay Happy,

Meet Some Incredible People,

And Goodbye.

Mitch xx

P.S. If you would like to support St. Johns, which I would love you to do as I've seen the incredible young people they support, you can...They have a just giving page which I will leave here for you

St. Johns Just Giving

Chapter 60: Hoperil (2016 Goals)

Hey Guys,

So, My good ol' friend Georgia over at Saltwater Sunset is doing 2016 Goals blog posts, in which she outlines that she will be setting herself goals every month, and then she gave a list of her goals.

I think this is a really cool idea, so, complete with awful punny titles, I shall give my own goals...
These will be on the 15th of each month

PLANUARY SUCCESS RATING: 62.5%

FEBRUAIMY SUCCESS RATING: 62.5%

MARCHINATION: 75%

• Keep a consistent Hygiene & grooming routine
• Learn lines for the 3 plays that I'm in
• Learn to ski
• Complete my Media coursework

HOPERIL OK, so it's hope, like this are my hopes for the month...with April...it's close enough

• Learn Lines for the 2 plays that I'm in
• Add some extra bits to my completed Media coursework
• Do well in my drama exam
• Begin saving money for 'Austria 2017'

I'm gonna do a new thing which is a Health/Fitness/Hygiene/grooming Focus for the month

This week it is - Teeth

I've only started with a small list as I want to make sure I'm setting achievable targets.

In May, I will review my success of 'Hoperil', and then create a new list of goals for May, which will have an even worse pun.

Until Next Time,

Stay Happy,

Set Goals,

And Goodbye.

Mitch x

Chapter 59: The Greatest Friend I Have!

Hey Guys,

So, I've just uploaded my dream house video:

So, I didn't really have a blog post to put with this video so I thought I'd write a long overdue post about the greatest friend I have.

Now, I've got a few best friends that I categorise differently for different things but this particular person, I wouldn't describe as a best friend, but more like a vital friend.

I haven't known this person as long as many of my other friends but she has helped me through so many problems, nothing disastrous or massively life changing, but things where I really needed a friend to speak to and she was always there with the right advice...and it's because of this that she is my greatest friend ever.

Not only is she great with advice, but she shares lots of my interests such as acting. We also do a lot of the same subjects at 6th form which means we can talk in those and about those too.

This person is Georgia Prangnell and I just wanted to say thankyou for everything.

Until Next Time,
Stay Happy,
Appreciate a True Friend,
And Goodbye.

Mitch xx

Chapter 58: The British Soap Awards

Hey Guys,

Ok, so in October & January you'll remember that I told you I love awards ceremonies and I voted for the NTAs, well, another awards show is slowly approaching and the voting has opened today for the British Soap Awards.

According to the website 'Britain’s soaps are the biggest and boldest shows on TV' which I would have to agree with. Now, my favourite soap is Eastenders and recently that has been the only one that I watch regularly, I occasionally dip into Coronation Street & Emmerdale and I do not watch Hollyoaks & Doctors, therefore, you can presume that my votes will mostly(if not all) go to Eastenders which I think would be deserving as they have had a massive year for story lines & characters...but let's get started.

To make it easier for me to write, and you to read, I will not list all the nominees, only those from Eastenders. Coronation Street & Emmerdale (unless for some reason I would rather vote for a Hollyoak/Doctor)

*The way this will work is, I will give the name of the award, with the nominations from Eastenders, Coronation Street & Emmerdale...I will then pick one from each soap and say why, and then one overall.*

Best Actor

Nominations: 

From Eastenders: Danny Dyer, James Bye, Davood Ghadami

From Coronation Street: Alan Halsall, Ben Price, Jack P. Shepherd

From Emmerdale: John Middleton, Danny Miller, Dominic brunt

Eastenders: Davood Ghadami as Kush Kazemi - by far the best actor of the 3, has had tough stories.

Coronation Street: Alan Halsall as Tyrone Dobbs - Very good Actor, had some good storylines

Emmerdale: Dominic Brunt as Paddy Kirk - Great character who has recently had some big storylines

My Nomination - Davood Ghadami as Kush Kazemi

Best Actress

Nominations: 

From Eastenders: Lacey Turner, Diane Parish, Rakhee Thakrar

From Coronation Street: Kate Ford, Alison King, Paula Lane

From Emmerdale: Lucy Pargeter, Zoe Henry, Charlotte Bellamy

Eastenders: Lacey Turner as Stacey Slater - Incredible actress & character with great storylines

Coronation Street: Alison King as Carla Connor - One of my favourite TV actresses, always amazing

Emmerdale: Lucy Pargeter as Chas Dingle - great character & actress

My Nomination - Lacey Turner (was tough between her and Rakhee, as she has had an incredible story recently)

Best British Soap

Nominations: 

Eastenders, Emmerdale, Coronation Street, Hollyoaks, Doctors

My Nomination - Eastenders, my easy favourite soap, tackles the best issues in the best ways.

They are the only ones I can vote for at this time, In May, I will reveal the shortlist & vote again and then later on I will tell you the winners of these awards as well as the others decided on the night.

You can cast your votes HERE until tuesday 26th April

Until Next Time,

Stay Happy,

Vote,

And Goodbye.

Mitch x

Chapter 57: The Story of Wendy & Jill-Again

Hey Guys,

So, I'm finally back from Austria! there will be a video all about that in a couple of weeks, but this week, I spoke to you about my latest play, 'The Story of Wendy & Jill'. See the chat here:

So, the play is called 'The Story of Wendy & Jill' and is written by my friend Olly Fry. It is based upon the story and characters of J. M. Barrie's 'Peter Pan' but from the perspective of a reflective Wendy.

Myself and Olly have been extremely lucky to acquire such an incredible cast of local talent to be in this show. The cast is made up of friends and people from previous casts that myself and Olly have hand picked as well as a few new faces that we stumbled upon or who were recommended to us by friends, this combination lends itself to a really nice atmosphere between the cast. Some of the cast have come from 'The Wight Strollers' who you will know I did a review about their show 'Snow White' and this theatre company is a pretty large one on the Island, others have come from the 'IWSC' which you will know I have worked with and are all brilliant actors, others have come from the Apollo Players and then some have come from a combination of those 3, other shows that were brilliant, or from my school where I've seen them acting as part of their drama/performing arts courses and so the cast really is a beautiful selection of island talent.

The music for the show has been composed by someone called Lorna Brownsword from the RWCMD and will be performed live by herself and some of her colleagues. After listening to the amazing music, I can tell you that this will add such an incredible atmosphere to the show as it really is fantastic and I can't believe how lucky we have been to acquire such talent.

To find out more about our cast, check out the play's twitter page: @WendyJillPlay

We also have an event on Facebook which has all the details & ticket information: HERE
To donate to The Great Ormond Street Hospital, the charity we are raising money for, visit our JustGiving Page: Click Here

Thankyou for reading

Until Next Time,

Stay Happy,

Never Grow Up,

And Goodbye.

Mitch xx