Monday, June 02, 2008

Paediatric supplementary exam and "Britain's Got Talent"

I took my supplementary written examination in Paediatrics this morning. It wasn't difficult with many of the short answer questions having appeared before in the past papers and none of the multiple-choice & extended-matching questions being very taxing.

The biggest scare of the day happened before the examination. When I was on the minibus going up to my destination, a man wanted to get on the vehicle with his mother. However the driver told him he couldn't alight the minibus as it was at a traffic lights and there was a designated bus stop with people already queueing just a few metres away. Then something happened I have never seen before - the man slammed the minibus door open, barged into the minibus and started to argue with the driver. At one point I thought the man was going to get physical. The driver rang the police and had to wait for them to arrive. I thought I was going to be late for my exam but, since the man walked away and the driver cancelled the police coming, we were soon on our way. Obviously that man has issues.

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To relax before my exams, I've been mainly watching "Britain's Got Talent" clips on Youtube and their main website. I know many people are familiar with the format but for those who don't know, it's basically a live talent contest with three celebrity judges giving their opinion.

I usually don't like "reality" shows on the basis it is not really reality. When do sixteen people get stuck on an island and have to perform tasks to win US$1000000? Real reality shows are documentaries, not programs as "Laguna Beach". Probably the worst reality show is "Big Brother" since it seems to make stars out of complete morons such as Jade Goody. I don't mind gameshows such as "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" or "The Weakest Link". Yet some of these gameshows are too easy (you have a 25% chance of getting the answer right in WWTBAM) while some are ridiculously too easy. "Deal or No Deal" is not a gameshow. The program is made for thick stupid people to pick boxes and it has been made worse by the Americans by putting models in. They obviously knew they needed some eye candy to attract viewers.

I don't mind "Britain's Got Talent" for giving people a chance to show the public what kind of talent is on offer in their country. I do have problems with other aspects of the show. Firstly one of the celebrity judges - Piers Morgan - is a totally dick. This is somebody you wouldn't trust and wouldn't want as a friend. People may think his persona is made for the cameras but I think he's genuinely like that, having seen him before in "Have I Got News For You" and before as sleazy tabloid editor for "The Mirror" and "The Sun". Secondly is the voting system. ITV (the channel which "Britain's Got Talent" is shown in UK) has been found guilty of rigging phone voting in many of their programs including "Saturday Night Takeaway" - hosted by the same presenters as "Britain's Got Talent". It has been pointed out the acts which performed last in the semi-finals have come first, something which is far too coincidental. They have also been complaints from the public that they couldn't get through to vote.

That said (or should that be "that written") nothing can be taken away from the contestants of the show. Initially I thought the winners were going to be "Signature" - two man dance group mixing Michael Jackson and Bangura dancing. They were totally electrifying in their audition and upped it during the final stages. However my favourite was "Kate and Gin", a shy sixteen year old girl with her six year old collie performing canine freestyle. You have to watch the videos to get a real sense of what they were doing and most of them can be found on Youtube or the "Britain's Got Talent" website. I knew it would be difficult to decide a winner but eventually it went to George Sampson, a fourteen year old breakdancer. I think many people voted for him because of his background - impoverished, busking on the streets of Manchester and doing it for his family instead of fame and fortune (well, he was doing it for fortune but to benefit his mum). However I think he deserved to win since he's great at what he does - think a younger version of Justin Timberlake and you're not even close.

I think many of the contestants will benefit from being on "Britain's Got Talent" with the added exposure. Here's to Kate & Gin especially.

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