So I'm back, after a year’s absence I've decided to update this damned thing. Lots to tell? Maybe. Interested? Unlikely. In all seriousness the past year has been an interesting one, and personally one of the best years of my life, I can only hope that whatever awaits me around the corner will be as exciting and rewarding as the experience I had in my final year at University.
Although writing a blog entry on me would be both easy and damn enjoyable for someone as self-absorbed as yours truly, this is not why I decided to return to the blog.
I go to the gym; it's one of my hobbies. Most gyms screen music channels so to encourage and motivate those using the facilities to train that extra bit more, sounds stupid, it is, but it works. Not my gym though, no, we get BBC News 24. I don't follow the news, personally it depresses me and, being a depressive, cynical so and so by nature I try not to encourage these thought processes. Still, over the last 3 months I've been paying slightly more attention.
Tabloids such as News of the World have been accused of, among other shenanigans hacking into the phones of various individuals, including victims of the 7/7 bombings, relatives of British soldiers fighting overseas and Katie Price. Granted, I don't know all the facts and I'm too lazy to take my research beyond the much maligned Wikipedia and what I see on the news everyday but there's something about the situation that really bothers me.
I love how fickle the public can be, it would perhaps be unfair to blame the British public specifically but it is they who I have been most exposed to. Whether it's the News of the World, The Daily Star or, my personal favourite, The Sun, it seems that the public will lap up any story fed to them, believe it and spread it willingly as gospel, no matter how dubious or hurtful it might be. More often than not, these stories are best received when they are at the expense of a celebrity.
First world celebrity culture is another one of my main gripes. There are celebrities out there who actually have talent, who have achieved the level of celebrity by setting themselves apart from everybody else and showcasing their talents. Then there are those who exist solely in the tabloid solar system, people who achieve fame and fortune almost exclusively through tabloid journalism and magazines aimed at a predominant female demographic. Even sadder is that some of these celebrities were once talented individuals who went out and achieved something but have since fallen from grace.
It saddens me greatly that in 2011, publications such as The Sun and The Daily Star are able to not only exist but thrive within our culture, the blame however cannot rest at the feet of the editors and 'journalists' behind these publications but instead with the British public who happily spend money out of their own pockets to not only keep the papers alive but those working for them rich and successful. How then, does this tie into the recent phone hacking scandal.
As I mentioned before, tabloids such as The Sun thrive off spiteful journalism, exploitation and heckling those who are on the verge of self-destructing with a sadistic voyeurism and glee. It has proved a recipe for success. However, when the means to these horrifying ends are exposed as underhanded, the world goes up in arms and labels the papers reprehensible.
"Say What?!"
Say what indeed. Still, this didn't really strike a nerve until 2 weeks ago by the unfortunate news that Amy Winehouse had died at the age of 27. I got some flak for this at the time, but it is an opinion I still believe has some truth to it and I'm going to share it with you all again now. Amy Winehouse is not a role model, should not be looked up to by future generations and should not be heralded as a national treasure.
Young Amy was admittedly a talented (very) young lady who wrote and performed some great music, she was certainly unique and I was, in fact a fan. Of her music. Personal demons plagued her throughout her career and she was, no doubt a troubled young woman, her personal life, drugs and alcohol problems span out of control so fast that it was amazing she stayed alive as long as she did. All this by the way, was played out for the world to see and brought to you in colour by the British press.
For years this went on, story after story of a woman whose life was spinning out of control, a woman who desperately needed help and support. She received none; the public of course, lapped up stories like this and apparently enjoyed watching someone’s life tailspin before their eyes. So when young Amy finally reaches ground zero, the public mourn, the same public who sat by and watched laughed at her expense and sat around doing nothing suddenly are in mourning, and what do the papers say.
Well I don't have an image for this, but let's just say there was an abrupt about face, urging the public to sympathise with her family and remember what great talent she had, both factors which were seldom discussed when she was actually alive. The sad truth is Amy's star fell long ago into that aforementioned tabloid solar system where a star's life is played out in a bricolage of scandal, shame and disgrace. Was she talented? Very much so. Should she be remembered as an icon or national treasure? Certainly not.
I'm sure there will be those who do not agree with me and think I am being rather callous, that is of course fine but the fact remains, she is dead and we all sat by and watched and what's more, it will happen again.
I told you the news brings out the depressive cynic in me.
Although writing a blog entry on me would be both easy and damn enjoyable for someone as self-absorbed as yours truly, this is not why I decided to return to the blog.
I go to the gym; it's one of my hobbies. Most gyms screen music channels so to encourage and motivate those using the facilities to train that extra bit more, sounds stupid, it is, but it works. Not my gym though, no, we get BBC News 24. I don't follow the news, personally it depresses me and, being a depressive, cynical so and so by nature I try not to encourage these thought processes. Still, over the last 3 months I've been paying slightly more attention.
Tabloids such as News of the World have been accused of, among other shenanigans hacking into the phones of various individuals, including victims of the 7/7 bombings, relatives of British soldiers fighting overseas and Katie Price. Granted, I don't know all the facts and I'm too lazy to take my research beyond the much maligned Wikipedia and what I see on the news everyday but there's something about the situation that really bothers me.
I love how fickle the public can be, it would perhaps be unfair to blame the British public specifically but it is they who I have been most exposed to. Whether it's the News of the World, The Daily Star or, my personal favourite, The Sun, it seems that the public will lap up any story fed to them, believe it and spread it willingly as gospel, no matter how dubious or hurtful it might be. More often than not, these stories are best received when they are at the expense of a celebrity.
First world celebrity culture is another one of my main gripes. There are celebrities out there who actually have talent, who have achieved the level of celebrity by setting themselves apart from everybody else and showcasing their talents. Then there are those who exist solely in the tabloid solar system, people who achieve fame and fortune almost exclusively through tabloid journalism and magazines aimed at a predominant female demographic. Even sadder is that some of these celebrities were once talented individuals who went out and achieved something but have since fallen from grace.
It saddens me greatly that in 2011, publications such as The Sun and The Daily Star are able to not only exist but thrive within our culture, the blame however cannot rest at the feet of the editors and 'journalists' behind these publications but instead with the British public who happily spend money out of their own pockets to not only keep the papers alive but those working for them rich and successful. How then, does this tie into the recent phone hacking scandal.
As I mentioned before, tabloids such as The Sun thrive off spiteful journalism, exploitation and heckling those who are on the verge of self-destructing with a sadistic voyeurism and glee. It has proved a recipe for success. However, when the means to these horrifying ends are exposed as underhanded, the world goes up in arms and labels the papers reprehensible.
"Say What?!"
Say what indeed. Still, this didn't really strike a nerve until 2 weeks ago by the unfortunate news that Amy Winehouse had died at the age of 27. I got some flak for this at the time, but it is an opinion I still believe has some truth to it and I'm going to share it with you all again now. Amy Winehouse is not a role model, should not be looked up to by future generations and should not be heralded as a national treasure.
Young Amy was admittedly a talented (very) young lady who wrote and performed some great music, she was certainly unique and I was, in fact a fan. Of her music. Personal demons plagued her throughout her career and she was, no doubt a troubled young woman, her personal life, drugs and alcohol problems span out of control so fast that it was amazing she stayed alive as long as she did. All this by the way, was played out for the world to see and brought to you in colour by the British press.
For years this went on, story after story of a woman whose life was spinning out of control, a woman who desperately needed help and support. She received none; the public of course, lapped up stories like this and apparently enjoyed watching someone’s life tailspin before their eyes. So when young Amy finally reaches ground zero, the public mourn, the same public who sat by and watched laughed at her expense and sat around doing nothing suddenly are in mourning, and what do the papers say.
Well I don't have an image for this, but let's just say there was an abrupt about face, urging the public to sympathise with her family and remember what great talent she had, both factors which were seldom discussed when she was actually alive. The sad truth is Amy's star fell long ago into that aforementioned tabloid solar system where a star's life is played out in a bricolage of scandal, shame and disgrace. Was she talented? Very much so. Should she be remembered as an icon or national treasure? Certainly not.
I'm sure there will be those who do not agree with me and think I am being rather callous, that is of course fine but the fact remains, she is dead and we all sat by and watched and what's more, it will happen again.
I told you the news brings out the depressive cynic in me.
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