Short: Film Premiere - Robots of Brixton

I am really gutted that whilst I'l' be sunning myself on a beach in Puerto Banus tomorrow the premiere of the amazing looking Robots of Brixton will be showing at Brixton Village market. Okay so maybe not that gutted, I badly need a holiday after all but after hearing and becoming excited about this film it will be a shame not to see it. So someone please check it out for me!


Robots of Brixton is a short animated film, created by Kibwe Tavares, an architecture student from London. It depicts a dystopian future, years from now, when robots do man's dirty work and are discriminated against by human's. Tavares used the riots of Brixton in the 1980's as a reference point for the film and inspiration for some of the scenes.


He created the film for his Masters in Architecture and this shows in the impressive imagery (he would like to combine animation with architecture). The robots in the film live in shanty town like structures tacked onto buildings and Tavares has transformed the Barrier Block, AKA Southwyck House, in Brixton and the Town Hall. 

A imaginative reworking of the Barrier Block (Southwyck House)

The film has attracted lots of attention, the BBC even ran a feature on it and it would surprise me if we didn't hear a lot more from this obviously very talented young man.


The film will be shown tomorrow night, Saturday 25th June, at 7pm at Brick Box, Brixton Village (formerly Granville Arcade).


There is a short trailer from the film below. Check it out and let me know what you think of it?


From Kibwe Tavares on Vimeo.

Mr Musing Thinks: Car Insurance Equality

The one thing about trying to mix hi-brow and lowest common denominator posts in one blog is that the hi-brow ones always take longer to write, needing a bit of research and thinking before they can be published. I find there is a tendency therefore to post less intense fillers just to let my small (but growing) number of followers that I am still here and posting.

I have a couple of interesting (well I think so) posts on the go at the moment, which will take a few days to complete but today I thought rather than resorting to knocking something out about the latest Lady Gaga video (self indulgent but entertaining nevertheless) I would do a quick 'Mr Musing Thinks' feature, where I comment briefly on one of the current news stories.

So here is the first one... Car Insurance Equality 

Image Source: Daily Mail (I don't read it BTW)

This week it was announced that the EU has ruled that insurance companies can no longer discriminate based on gender and set insurance premiums that differ due to a person's sex. This is likely to mean an increase for women and a slight decrease for men and many commentators in the press thought this unfair.


My first thought however, as a male driver who has never had an accident (well not since passing my test anyway) is it's great news. Why should I be lumped together with other drivers and charged more just because I have a penis? 90% of accidents may be caused by young male drivers but not by me - and yes, even at 31 I am still young!


Imagine if insurers used racial profiling and charged Black and Asian people more for their insurance (and I am not saying Black or Asian people are more likely to have an accident - I haven't the faintest idea if there are even statistics on it)? There would be an outcry, so why is it acceptable to profile based on gender?


Of course, it is unlikely to stop with gender and surely it can't be long before insurers cannot set premiums based on age either? So no discounts for the middle-aged driver.


In reality though it is only the insurance companies themselves that will benefit from this ruling. The premiums for men will not drop by the level that they increase for women, meaning that insurers will be laughing all the way to the bank.


Though perhaps, the biggest issue in all of this is whether, stripped of their ability to offer bonzer car insurance deals - girls will bother getting onto Sheila's Wheels? In fact that's another reason why it's a good idea, we may never have to hear that annoying advert (below) again.


What do you think - fair or unfair? Let me know below.


Ps...check out the Sheila's Wheels parody video below (bottom).