For Laura and Rachael

Hey girls. As promised. A guide :)

Keepvid.

1. Go to youtube. Find the video you want. Copy the url.

2. Go to keepvid.com and paste the url into the box

 3. Press download. The small grey rectangle one at the edge of the box. NOT the big blue one. Thats a pop up. You will get a list of results. Click to download one of the mp4 ones.

Freemake

1. Download freemake. It will only take a few minutes. When done, open it.

2. Click the + video button at the top. You will get this box.

3. Click the video you want and press open. It will go into freemake. If downloaded from youtube you can normally find them in your download folder :) 

4. press "to WMV" at the bottom and press convert. The longer the video the longer it will take but it still shouldn't take too long. 

It will save to your files and will now be in a format that will open in Windows movie maker. 

There you go girlies :) xx

To doubt is human

Now, I am no fan of The Archbishop of Canterbury and that might sound weird coming from an Anglican (almost like hearing a Catholic say they're not a fan of the Pope, but they exist too!) but something he has said quite recently is something I agree with (and I promise that is not likely to happen again anytime soon).

About a week and a bit ago, Mr Welby stated that he often has doubts about the existence of God. I grant you thats probably not what you expect to hear from the leader of the Anglican church but there you go!

I've read some peoples comments about that. Shouldn't the Archbishop be one of the few people on the planet that doesn't doubt? Well, no, he's not a robot. Does that make his faith any weaker? No. Why should it?

I'm a Christian. And I sometimes have doubts too. But it's human to doubt. I'd be worried if people didn't. But as Mr Welby says;

"It is not about feelings, it is about the fact that God is faithful and the extraordinary thing about being a Christian is that God is faithful when we are not."

Seriously, this is the only thing I actually agree with him on.

I'm a Christian. And I doubt. But no matter how much I've doubted his existence, I still believe in God. That doesn't weaken my faith. That makes it stronger.

Disney blog

For those who aren't aware, I now have a Disney blog called Life of a Disnerd

Also, for Tumblr users I have Once Upon a Disney Wish

:) xx

Sid Cordle - not at all Christian

A very brief post.

Just yesterday I saw an article about the leader of the Christian Peoples Alliance, Sid Cordle. According to Mr Cordle "God is angry over gay marriage" and that "God can show that anger." Mr Cordle believes that the passing of the same-sex marriage bill caused the horrendous floods seen in Britain.

For the full article, please click here.

I going to keep this short and get right to the point.

1. God is not anger. God is not hatred. God is love. To all Christians who do not realise that; you're not doing a very good job at being Christian.

2. The floods were most likely caused by global warming or some other kind of atmospheric conditions. Or maybe we were just having a bad winter/spring.

3. God made everyone. Including gay people. So how can He be angry when they find happiness? I thought He made no mistakes. How dare you suggest the LGBT community is a mistake?

As a Bisexual Christian, I laugh at you. Good day Mr Cordle, don't get caught in the floods of happiness and rainbows that is the LGBT community.

Dear UKIP, I am perfectly ordinary thank you

In a recent leaflet, UKIP claimed that if you didn't believe in same-sex marriage then "you are in the huge majority of ordinary people who think this way."

ORDINARY?

So people who do believe in it aren't ordinary?

Dear UKIP, the following is a list of things that I do. Pretty ordinary things.

The Basics 

1. Eat
2. Drink
3. Sleep
4. Use the toilet
5. Wash
6. Breathe

Emotionally 

1. Love
2. Laugh
3. Cry
4. Get angry
5. Feel happy
6. Feel worried

Things that your party would have me be ashamed of (but you have failed and I bet you do them too as well)

1. Swear enough to make a sailor blush
2. Masturbate
3. Watch porn
4. Read porn
5. Write porn
6. Have/have had a friend with benefits
7. Eat junk food

Others

1. Read
2. Watch TV
3. Write
4. Go on the computer
5. Sing 
6. Dance
7. Hang out with friends
8. Go to uni
9. Keep things of sentimental value
10. Hang out with friends
11. Shop
12. Use public transport

And much more. Sounds pretty ordinary right? You do a lot of this list right? A lot of people do. These are perfectly ordinary things. Guess what? I'm bi. Yep, bi. Shocking isn't it? Am I less ordinary now? Nope. Still pretty fucking ordinary. And fucking proud of it. 

"I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing–that it was all started by a mouse."

This really is just a short post to say thank you to a man that I will, sadly, never get to meet.

He is a man that changed my life and the lives of millions throughout the world. You don't have to be a child to appreciate what he gave us. Anyone can. Anyone at all.

In 1928, a 26 year old American man created one the most iconic characters ever to grace animation. This character would signal the start of a story telling industry that has captured the hearts and minds of countless people. It would signal the start of a magic that has yet to die.

That characters name was Mickey Mouse. And his creator was a man by the name of Walt Disney.

Mickey debuted in a 7 minute short film called Steamboat Willie and it was this that started the animating magic of the Walt Disney Studios.

After a short while, a cast of characters slowly joined Mickey; his girlfriend Minnie debuted with him in Steamboat Willie, Clarabelle Cow followed in 1929, Pluto in 1930, Goofy in 1932, Donald Duck in 1934 and Donald's girlfriend Daisy in 1940. Disney's first feature film also came out during this time; in 1937, Snow White became the "princess who started it all" and began the tradition of Disney adapting fairy tales. These characters and the magic they created went a long way to help the world through the struggles of World War II with their cartoons sporting pro American messages and giving the hope of winning a better world.

I know I can speak for countless others when I say that Disney has changed my life. They gave us stories that give us hope that everyone can have a happy ending. Disney has taught us to be true to who we are. That we can have the Prince, the Princess, we can be a housewife, a warrior, an outcast, a dreamer, we can live without the true love, we can fix bonds we thought to be forever broken. That sometimes just believing in the possibility of a happy ending is a very powerful magic. They taught us to see beneath appearances, that not everyone is as they appear to be. A beast may be more human than man. That, if we want to be more than we are, we can be so as long as we try. That if we want to be exactly who we now, we do not need to change. Most importantly, Disney has taught us that can be who are are, and we can be proud. We do not have to hide. We can be anything we want whether that be the princess or the outcast, the housewife or the warrior. This is the true message of Disney. This is the true magic. After all, Walt did say "If you can dream it, you can do it." 

And so, I say this to the man who gave us all of this. Walter Elias Disney, thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." - Walt Disney

Supporting women's choices - what some feminists don't do.

I am a feminist.

But it's almost scary to say those words because of those people who give feminists a bad name. Those are the people that say women should be able to do what they want to do and yet criticise the choices they make.

For example, if a woman should choose the traditional role of housewife because that it what she wants to do then more power to her. Good luck and have fun! And yet some feminists will turn around and say that she is betraying feminism because she is fulfilling the traditional role. No, she is not betraying feminism by doing this. She is choosing to do something she wishes to do. That is feminism.

If a woman wishes to be a sex worker because that is what she wants to do I say fair enough. Again, good luck and have fun! Yet some feminists see this work as immoral and degrading to women thus bringing down the standards of feminism. The only thing that brings down the standards of feminism is the "feminists" who criticise women for the choices they make. Again, this sex worker is choosing to be a sex worker. That is feminism.

And then there are these feminists; "You were born a man so you are not a real woman. Feminism is only for women, not men."

I really hate those people. For one thing, women who were assigned male at birth are women. Feminism is for all women so stop picking and choosing. Its Transphobic and that is just not on. Secondly, feminism is not just for women. Men can be feminists as well. They are not all patriarchal snobs who think women are only useful in the kitchen. Yes, they do still exist, but don't tar all men with the same brush. Many men want women to be free to make their own choices and do more for the cause of feminism than some women.

I am a feminist. I believe all women should make their own choices in life and I will not criticise anyone for the choices they make. That is feminism.

Feminism should empower women to make their own choices, not bring down women because you don't approve of their choices.

"Thou Shalt Not" - Except for...

I was watching QI just the other day and I heard an interesting little bit about the Ten Commandments. Being one to love hypocrisy, I thought I'd point out some lovely little hypocrisies from the Bible. While I could take my pick, I'm going to elaborate on the QI one. The piece from the show was as follows;

"Well, in the list of those commandments that were taken down from the mountain, there are actually fourteen in both Exodus and Deuteronomy, not ten, but in Exodus generally speaking there are 613 commandments, including the really important ones which should be, as you say, put in bold, like ‘You shall not suffer a witch to live' or ‘You shall not vex a stranger'…"

Now then. Where shall I start?

"Thou Shalt Not Kill" - It is made explicitly clear by the commandments that murder is a big no no. However in Exodus, as pointed out by QI, there is a commandment which states that "you shall not suffer a witch to live." So what do you have to do the uphold this commandment? Simple; kill her. Oh, but wait, thou shalt not kill. Hmmm, bit of a pickle. I'll let you figure that one out. Oh, and just to add, right after Moses received the commandments, he proceeded to have half of his tribe killed. Seriously Moses, what did God just get through telling you? Oh, and the crusades. And the Inquisition. And every other murder committed in the name of God. And in America, the states that have large Christian base tend to favour the death penalty. I don't think He's happy.

"Thou Shalt Not Make Any Graven Images" and "Thou Shalt Keep Holy the Sabbath" - I've put these together for one reason; I have been asked how I can worship God properly if I'm not in church. Well, I'll tell you. He's everywhere. So I do keep the Sabbath day holy because on Sundays I always send up a prayer. But there are some people who would say I'm doing it wrong because I'm not in a church. I say this to these people; the church is full of graven images. That doesn't bother me in the slightest. But to the ultra religious, I ask this; to successfully uphold the "Sabbath" commandment, do I have to go somewhere that is breaking the "graven images" commandment. Again I'll leave that with you to decide.

What do Christians look like?

I was on the metro this morning and two middle aged women sat opposite me. They were obviously friends (or extremely polite strangers) as they were having quite the conversation. I was reading my book so I don't really know what the conversation was about, but I can tell you that it wasn't about religion. Nothing they said on that train was about religion (why is that relevant? It'll soon be explained.) As the sun was shining through the windows, the metro basically became a green house and, as such, I had my coat unfastened. I didn't have it off. It is only February. As my coat was unfastened, the small silver cross I wear was on show and could easily be seen and I could feel eyes on me. I looked up and the two women hurriedly looked away from me and returned to their conversation.

As the metro pulled into Sunderland, the two women stood up to get off and as they walked away from me I heard one say to her friend,"You know, people shouldn't wear crosses if they don't believe in God." I'm sure you're confused by this statement. I can assure you, I was. But I didn't have time to question anything as they had already got off the metro. As they hadn't mentioned religion any time before that, it couldn't simply be an expansion of a conversation. As they were sitting opposite me, could see my cross, and blatantly stared at me, I can only assume this statement was about me.

Why did they assume that I don't believe in God? Did they think I was too young and, that because the majority of my generation believe religion to be a lot of mumbo jumbo, I must think that too? Or was it because my bag is the shape and design of vampire fangs and thus I must be evil? Or was it because I had purple jeans and two different colour shoelaces and thus someone as colourful as me cannot possible believe in the normally conservative religion of Christianity.

Clearly, as I am not a middle aged man who carries a Bible under one arm and holy water in another, I cannot possibly be a Christian. How can someone tell if you're religious or not from just looking at you? Short answer, and in fact the only answer is, they can't. And anyway, why shouldn't people wear crosses if they don't believe in God? Some people just think they're pretty and want to wear them. No harm in that.

Personally I think God has more important things to worry about.

Bless me Father for they won't

Before the act was passed, the Church of England was banned from performing same-sex marriages despite a significant majority wishing to perform them. They shouldn't have been banned from performing them; individual churches should have been given the choice to perform them or not but I will rant about this some other time. However, despite same-sex marriage becoming legal, the Church of England have recently announced that they will not even bless the married couple, allow priests to enter same-sex marriages or allow anyone in a same-sex marriage to be ordained.

This saddens me as this means that, should I fall in love with a woman and marry her, I can't marry her in a church nor have my marriage blessed. What kind of message does this give to LGBT Christians in England? I consider myself very fortunate; I have easily reconciled my faith to my sexuality. I love God and He loves me. However, there are too many LGBT Christians who don't have this personal reassurance and this new revelation will not help them. Those already struggling with their sexuality who may turn to the God and the Church for help cannot get an answer from one and have been given a painful answer from the other. The Church of England says often enough that they wish to help the LGBT community but they are not showing it through their actions. How can they say "we are here to help LGBT Christians in their search for God" at the same time as saying "we will not bless this same-sex marriage because we believe it to be wrong" and think they are doing good?

Furthermore, they allow straight priests to marry the opposite sex and anyone in a Heterosexual marriage to be ordained but they do not allow priests to enter a same-sex marriage or allow anyone already in one to be ordained. This is pure discrimination hidden behind religious freedom. Yes, religious freedom is a good thing but it is not an excuse to discriminate based on sexuality. In the Bible, we are told to love one another for we are all Gods children. He created us and He makes no mistakes. So how can the Church of England make the LGBT community feel like a mistake? Were we not born this way? Did God not create us in this way? They like to make us think that we are going against God by loving others of the same sex. But it is they who are going against God by daring to say that He made a mistake when creating us. They call us sinners but they are the biggest sinners of all. 

Lesbian Pride: Bisexuals welcomed

So today I was browsing on Facebook and I saw one of the adverts that always pops up on the side. It was a group that said Lesbian Pride: Bisexuals Welcomed! Join if you're bi and have lesbian pride. 

First of all, I'd like to start off by saying thank you to this group. Too often, Bisexuals are prejudiced against by the one community we are a part of; the LGBT community. Too many people who have experienced prejudice forget that the B exists. They say we are closeted homosexuals too scared to come out, that we are promiscuous, that we are lying. So thank you to this group for saying we are welcome.

However, this group have to stop and think a moment. Why would a Bisexual have Lesbian pride? If they are proud of who they are (as I am myself) surely they would have Bisexual pride? Another example, perhaps, of erasing the B from LGBT. As I am a woman who is attracted to women, some people have asked "are you a lesbian?" The answer is no. Some accept this and some are confused by it. "Yes, but don't you fancy women?" The answer is yes. But that doesn't make me a lesbian. And being attracted to men doesn't make me straight.

So Lesbians; have lesbian pride. More power to you.
Bisexuals; have Bisexual pride because too often we are the only ones who remember we exist.