No news is good news...
I haven't updated in an age. There are many things that have happened recently... but I either haven't had the time or the inclination to post. This will be remedied... eventually!
Short version: I'm fine, life's treating me well, I still have work (sometimes too much!), I've been to see some gigs.
But I wish to tell you about an amazing coincidence! It's starts like this:
Last night I received The Secret Polieman's Ball: The Ball in the Hall (2006) which is very good (if a little rife with swearing.) and worth getting as some of the proceeds go to Amnesty International who are probably my favoured charity of the moment.
Russel Brand (of recent scandal) did a stand up routine where he described The Sun as his best friend who talks shit about him behind his back... he then went into a rabid attack on the tabloids and read out stupid letters people had written in that The Sun had deemed worthy of printing.
I found myself laughing... and worse than that... agreeing with him. I am still feeling a little dirty and used, but on the way in this morning The Star (we are original with our tabloid names!) had a banner headline Ban Evil Christmas (warning: following that link can lead to a loss of IQ points) and I was reminded of some of Brand's points from the previous evening.
Why do people read these poor excuses for the press?
The "Mad Mullah" (repeated initials score extra tabloid points, if you can add in a pun the points double!) has said that Muslims should not celebrate Christmas. I believe he is entitled to his views, and compared to some of his other rants our tabloids have kindly informed us of, this one isn't particularly mad at all. I think he needs some chill pills - but his basic point (Christmas is a Christian holiday and celebrating a Christian holiday is against the teachings of Islam) is probably true. Why the hell this needs to be reported in the newspapers is more to the point. It seems to me to be pandering to the xenophobes and bigots by giving more ammunition for the "get them out of the country" where in this case the "them" are Muslims.
(Warning all the following links to shitty tabloid sites... the content of which is not guaranteed safe for work, and guaranteed unsafe for mental health)
I have objections to all organised religions (but not the religions themselves) yet this low-brow scaremongering makes me nauseous. Every year there's another scandal as someone bans Santa or Christmas decorations and then you read the detail and find out it's not actually the minority who asked, or even wants for it to be banned, but some bleeding heart liberal do-gooder who has got their pants in a wad about someone else getting offended.
The key is "then you read further"... because a large percentage of your average tabloid "reader" only gets their paper for the sport results, some celebrity gossip, the TV listings, and a pair of tits on page 3. Yes... even in this so-called enlightened age... you can still get soft porn with your "daily news!"
They read the headline... but don't read further... and so they get all riled up about "those bloody bastards coming over here and demanding we change our ways..." and then write to Have Your Say with their xenophobic, bigoted rants.
I'm sick of it.
In other, slightly related, news:
It's the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We've come a long way in 60 years... but the road ahead is longer still.
Short version: I'm fine, life's treating me well, I still have work (sometimes too much!), I've been to see some gigs.
But I wish to tell you about an amazing coincidence! It's starts like this:
Last night I received The Secret Polieman's Ball: The Ball in the Hall (2006) which is very good (if a little rife with swearing.) and worth getting as some of the proceeds go to Amnesty International who are probably my favoured charity of the moment.
Russel Brand (of recent scandal) did a stand up routine where he described The Sun as his best friend who talks shit about him behind his back... he then went into a rabid attack on the tabloids and read out stupid letters people had written in that The Sun had deemed worthy of printing.
I found myself laughing... and worse than that... agreeing with him. I am still feeling a little dirty and used, but on the way in this morning The Star (we are original with our tabloid names!) had a banner headline Ban Evil Christmas (warning: following that link can lead to a loss of IQ points) and I was reminded of some of Brand's points from the previous evening.
Why do people read these poor excuses for the press?
The "Mad Mullah" (repeated initials score extra tabloid points, if you can add in a pun the points double!) has said that Muslims should not celebrate Christmas. I believe he is entitled to his views, and compared to some of his other rants our tabloids have kindly informed us of, this one isn't particularly mad at all. I think he needs some chill pills - but his basic point (Christmas is a Christian holiday and celebrating a Christian holiday is against the teachings of Islam) is probably true. Why the hell this needs to be reported in the newspapers is more to the point. It seems to me to be pandering to the xenophobes and bigots by giving more ammunition for the "get them out of the country" where in this case the "them" are Muslims.
(Warning all the following links to shitty tabloid sites... the content of which is not guaranteed safe for work, and guaranteed unsafe for mental health)
I have objections to all organised religions (but not the religions themselves) yet this low-brow scaremongering makes me nauseous. Every year there's another scandal as someone bans Santa or Christmas decorations and then you read the detail and find out it's not actually the minority who asked, or even wants for it to be banned, but some bleeding heart liberal do-gooder who has got their pants in a wad about someone else getting offended.
The key is "then you read further"... because a large percentage of your average tabloid "reader" only gets their paper for the sport results, some celebrity gossip, the TV listings, and a pair of tits on page 3. Yes... even in this so-called enlightened age... you can still get soft porn with your "daily news!"
They read the headline... but don't read further... and so they get all riled up about "those bloody bastards coming over here and demanding we change our ways..." and then write to Have Your Say with their xenophobic, bigoted rants.
I'm sick of it.
In other, slightly related, news:
It's the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We've come a long way in 60 years... but the road ahead is longer still.