Strings of the Unconscious

Songs I like

2012-04-04T15:49:00.000-07:00

Just a random little little blog with a few songs that I'm really liking at the moment.

1. Alabama Shakes - Hold on

Absolutely love this song, a kind of modern Southern America Soul, Blues, Funk song; the singer has an incredible voice and the music is beautiful. Lyrically it's pretty cool too. Playing Manchester in May, very tempting.

2. Arctic Monkeys - R U Mine

It's been out there a while now I suppose, but it just isn't getting old. If they produce a new album anywhere near as good as this it will be amazing. I'm a firm believer that the Monkeys are getting better with age, each album is an improvement on the last, enough of that first album was the best rubbish - it was great though.

3. Miles Kane - First Of My Kind

A bit different to his first album, more refined maybe, but just as good. Read somewhere that it sounds like a Bond theme, great shout, and Miles is definitely the man to do one at some point in his career. Lyrically astute as always, the song seems to go to a really cool crescendo cementing Miles' musical credentials. Definitely need to get Miles and Alex Turner back together for another Puppets album soon!

4. Michael Kiwanuka - I'll Get Along

A great song from an equally wonderful album. I could have easily put any song up here for Michael Kiwanuka, I think this is my favourite from his debut album, its beautiful.

5. Ben Howard - Only Love

I put Only Love up because its his current single, however, he has got a few songs that are as good, if not better, The Fear is my personal favourite, but I also really like Old Pine, Black Flies and The Wolves. I've literally been listening to this album on repeat for the past two or three months, it is incredible. His lyrics are insightful and deep, and his guitar playing is almost ludicrously exquisite.

6. The Strokes - 12:51

I spent some alone time with Julian on a train, metaphorically of course, and for the first time in my life I realised that I actually quite like The Strokes, a bit of a revelation for me in all honesty as I've never been a huge fan. I think I've finally seen what everyone else has been seeing all this time.

7. The Courteeners - Why Are You Still With Him

Purely because The Courteeners are my favourite band, and pretty much one of the best and most underrated bands around today. One of the new songs here, best quality one available really, but the other new stuff sounds incredible and the new album when it drops will, if radio and people have any sense, take over the world! Great Band.

There it is then, a random little short blog about songs I like, I hope people enjoy, if you don't like any of the songs then your music taste is simply wrong and you need to sort your ears out.

Britain's Gay Footballers

2012-01-30T18:40:00.000-08:00

I've just finished watching Britain's Gay Footballers on iPlayer and I have to say that it is probably the most thought provoking things that I have seen on television in a very long time. There are many reasons as to why. Not only does it provide some insight into homosexuality in the footballing world, but on a larger scale how our race, gender, sexuality and even upbringing in life affect where we go and how we live.

It must be said that the main downside of the program is the presenter, John Fashanu's daughter, and thus Justin Fashanau's niece Amal. She seems to have no knowledge of Football, not in a sense that she doesn't know the offside rule, but in the sense that she doesn't understand the world, she struggles to comprehend why a man may not want to come out in such a microcosm.

Football, as a microcosm, is very backwards, stuck sometime in the eighties where people are damning Thatcher, screaming abuse - racially, sexually etc - and eating cheap pie's - cheap in quality not price. Now whilst we should not accept the footballing world as this,we do, and if you want to make a documentary involving it you should really take the time to understand it.

At a Brighton game Amal says, almost frightened, 'It grew into a heated match with both sets of fans singing and shouting'. Oh my, they didn't sing at Football did they? Of course they did, it's football and that is what happens, how she can attempt to ask why there are no gay footballers baffles me when she cannot understand the world.

To most people football is a release from normal life, where larger socio-political issues have no real presence, therefore when such an issue arises we see a large reaction, Hillsborough, Evra-Suarez, Ferdinand-Terry etc. A gay footballer would be viewed in the same way, there would be people that are wholly acceptant of it, but others who will be outraged, worse still some will simply disregard it.

Sexuality should never inhibit an individuals progress in life, and in most cases it wouldn't, but if ever there was a profession, or culture in which it would is football. The whole demographic of football is one that is set to be masculine and harsh, the opposite of homosexual.

Amal's lack of football knowledge extends to sporting knowledge when she questions why rugby was much more accepting of Gareth Thomas' sexuality. The reason is clear. As a sport rugby is much more civilized, not in aspect obviously, but in mentality. The typical rugby player is more - or better - educated and more aware of social issues, therefore they are more modern and thus more accepting of change and sexuality.

Her knowledge of her on family isn't even satisfactory, she had to consult archive footage to find out about Justin's coming out, and her own father's reaction to it. Surely it is not asking to much for her to know about her family?

If ever there was a man with a chip on his shoulder it's John Amaechi. The man is hung up upon any issue relating to any social grouping. He says something along the lines of "[Football is] run by a group of straight white old men[...] not that comfortable with women in board room, not comfortable with black people in management." Well John, there are a variety of people working in the FA, for example they send a black woman, Funke Awoderu FA Equality Manager. However, I do accept that this seems somewhat sinister of the FA to send her, it seems they are ticking the much loved modern equality boxes.

The FA is most definitely a backward organisation full of institutionalized belief's that normal society would shun. However, it is not wholly representative of football. In relation to Amaechi's comments on women he seems to completely neglect Karen Brady, for example, a woman who is proven in the footballing and business world. Then black managers, he forgets Paul Ince and John Barnes, they have not been restricted because they were black, in Ince's case simply because he was not very good.

Amaechi looks for conflict. I genuinely believe that people such as him, who constantly strive for equality amongst humans of all kind, race, gender sexuality etc are the people that create the boundary. By constantly say that someone wont get a job because they are female, by saying that someone can't go to university because they are black, or cant play football because they are gay they create the issue. They, activists, protestors, whoever, cannot accept that the majority of people are decent and do not ostracize due to race, gender or sexuality.

Joey Barton's cameo is somewhat cringe-worthy. His agent clearly heard of the program and thought, "you know what, our Joey needs some good publicity, lets get him to talk about gay people in football, what's that Joey, you have a gay uncle". I may be pessimistic and a bit harsh, but it took her weeks to find someone and she gets Baron, one of football's most disgraced who would do anything for positive PR.

At the end of the program she comes to no real conclusion, she hasn't found a gay footballer, or anyone gay in football for that matter, she hasn't even answered why there aren't any. She only seems to have discovered that her father isn't a nice man, or brother for that matter - he calls Justin selfish for coming out.

However, Amal owes everything to her father. One year out of Uni, perfect flat, perfect job in fashion - yes fashion, nothing to do with football - she has clearly had it all handed to her which explains why she is so incapable of understanding football and the role sexuality has within it. She obviously got the job because of her surname, no football knowledge, surely nor presenting knowledge(unsure of this) and to be honest no real knowledge of her family.

The program is flawed in a multitude of ways and whilst it constantly attempts to find significant reasons for the way football is it fails, it does, however, manage to show how society is caught up in the idea of perception and inequality. It is insightful in this sense and asks you to ask questions of yourself and life, so it is worth a watch.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01bncfg/Britains_Gay_Footballers/

Oh and because he was amazing. Best goal ever?

That Pro Green, He's alright.

2011-11-29T12:26:00.000-08:00

On Sunday night I went to see Professor Green in Liverpool with Rizzle Kicks supporting. I was not sure what to expect but it turned out it was pretty damn good.

First off though, there was a downsize. Missed all of Rizzle Kicks apart from Down With the Trumpets, which, in all honesty, is the only song I like/know. It was quite annoying though because it was the first time in a while I wanted to see the support band. I turned up at half seven, doors were at seven and I didn't get in until quarter past eight-ish. It genuinely was the longest queue I have ever been in for a gig, aside from festivals.

So I missed most of Rizzle Kicks then got to stand around for half an hour. Then Pro Green's hype man and DJ come out. Now the hype man did hype man things... Basically, he shouted, "Wooo, C'mon Liverpool" etc etc, so yeah, he was pretty annoying. But the DJ, DJ IQ, I believe, was awful, he just played chart music; Tinie Tempah, Example, Labrinth etc and the usual Liverpool Chav tune, whatever it is. All he did was press play and pause, and move the volume dial a bit. He even played a remix of Adele as though it was his and just left it playing. Poor DJ.

Pro Green smashed it though! I have never been to any kind of rap gig before, apart from Lethal Bizzle at Reading 2010 - who was also epic - but now I cannot wait to go to another. He played a good mix of songs from his new stuff and old stuff, even Upper Clapton Dance which did surprise me a bit. He was top quality. DPMO was probably my favourite, but then that is my favourite of his songs in general.

The best bit was when he brought to other rappers out, I don't know what song it was but it was easily the best bit of the night. It was like proper English Grime music, which is what I wanted to see. All in all he was pretty epic and I would actually go an see him again, which I never thought I would say. Although, I did look really really out of place.

Onwards and upwards to more Gigs now, Miles Kane this Thursday and The Courteeners next Thursday. Just a little bit excited for them.

'She's an apricot they do weird things like that"

2011-11-15T13:29:00.000-08:00

As I was sat writing on my laptop Leonie was doing some work. The work that she was doing was for an Equity and Trusts module and she had a powerpoint handout which I decided to read, to prove that I can do Law because I am amazing.

I picked it up and started looking through it and found that there was pictures of cats on the slides. Hmmm? Very weird.

Me: Leonie why are there pictures of cats on the slides?

Leonie: Because she's (the lecturer) an apricot.

Me: What??

Leonie: She's an apricot they do weird things like that.

Me: What the hell does that mean?

Leonie: She's from New Zealand.

Me: (Whilst laughing) You mean a Kiwi?

Leone: Oh...

Unprecedented intelligence there. It made me laugh though.

Urgh!!

2011-10-22T09:35:00.000-07:00

I have a cold, and when I have a cold I feel like dying. As I said earlier today, when I have a cold I find it unbelievably difficult to man up and deal with it. I try, but I epically fail just a little bit every time; it's tragic.

To try and deal with it I'm well stocked up on Nurofen and Strepsils, the latter, by the way, are bloody expensive!! £3.10 for a packet. OK there is thirty-six in that packet, but £3.10!! For Strepsils... I may as well go to the doctors and waste my money on a prescription that will ultimately have no affect at all. Medicine is rubbish, it doesn't make me feel any better, it just encourages me to be more of a self-pitying, miserable person.

Oh, and I have to go to work tomorrow, it's only for five hours, but five hours is a long time to bear when you have a cold. I've just been to the library reading about T. S. Eliot and he wanted to quit his job because it was making him feel ill and overrun, and stopping him from focusing on his writing. But he couldn't because he needed the money.

I know how he feels. Fair enough I can't blame work for me feeling ill and overrun, I've been off for a week. For that I can blame Blackpool, where it's bloody windy and cold. But still, it infuriates me that I have to work through University and therefore can't spend as much time as I'd like to on my writing.

But such is life. It's shit.

Recently I fear that I may have turned into the typical morose English person that wallows in misery dreaming of winning the lottery. I suppose I am morose and wallow in misery, but I've never before wanted to win the lottery and quit work etc. etc., but lately I have done. However, I did resist the temptation to do the lottery, so I'm not as sad as everyone else. Though, that said I'd have probably won it, and I wouldn't turn it down.

But yeah, that kind of sums up my boring life. I went to the library on a Saturday, read about a man who feels like I feel, feel like death, can't man up and deal with it, don't want to go to work, and, most depressingly, I kind of maybe want to win the lottery and go along with all that rubbish.

Ah -The Wonderful World of Literary Study

2011-10-10T16:16:00.000-07:00

It comes as quite a shock to me at this very moment in time I have come to the conclusion, once again in my life, that I actually do quite enjoy studying English Literature, and that my degree is going to be worthwhile, and will, hopefully, hold some relevance to my life.

Frankly, Shakespeare has annoyed me today, I don't know why... I usually love the man, he is epic. But he annoyed me today and thus I decided I didn't want a degree anymore. Obviously that's just impetuous and quite stupid.

Anyway, I'm over that now.

I think that it is down to Ezra Pound. I've always understood that he is an important figure in modernism, moreover he is an important figure in literature, but I have never quite understood why? I've never "got" his poetry. His philosophy and outlook on literature is really quite beautiful and makes complete sense to me, but his poetry had never struck the same nerve. For the first time ever, after first reading "In a Station of the Metro" some four years ago, I finally "got" it. Not "got" in the sense of understood what it means or what he is saying, but in the sense that the beauty of the lines, that the ideal behind the poem finally hit me. And without a doubt it has instantly found a place up there with "Prufrock" as a joint favourite.

But, whilst Pound made me want my degree again, another writer reversed the feeling once more. Purely because when reading his book I came to the conclusion that I could write a better book that would prove every point he made wrong, because fundamentally his arguments were all flawed and wrong. But that is my delusions of grandeur, I probably couldn't do that - I'd have a good go though.

Also, today I argued with a man on twitter that I don't know because he said that poetry about poetry was bad, apparently it's old, been done too many times and by better people than me. Well, yeah that's all very true, but I did it anyway and I hope deep down within me that it really annoys him. Anyway, I won the twitter war because he didn't reply to my last tweet.

All in all I have had a very literary day, supplemented with the wonderful music of Miles Kane and Laura Marling, really need to see Laura Marling at some point.

I Blame The Parents...

2011-08-09T14:24:00.000-07:00

In some cases a riot isn't exactly a bad thing. In a modern society where media coverage doesn't look twice at anything that doesn't involve violence or crime it can become something that people turn to. Mainly to be heard. Which is, kind of, I suppose how this all started.

What was a peaceful protest over the shooting of a man in London turned into a riot. And, do you know what, that's not that bad. If it had of stayed peaceful it probably wouldn't have gained any press. So violence is what people turn to. It is obviously not right, but to get heard people have to do things like that.

The problem comes with the 'copycats'. Now I'm not going to wax lyrical about the riots and point out how wrong they are, or say how offended and distraught I am, because as we all know, most of you have already done so on Facebook. No, what I want to talk about, to moan about, is the people behind it.

David Cameron said something along the lines of, 'if you are old enough to commit the crime, you are old enough to take the punishment', key word being old. The age of our reckless rioters. Children, teenagers, young adults. All of whom are of the age where they still live at home, under the guidance of their parents.

Now my question is who are these parents? Where are they? What are they doing? Surely it is their job more than anyone else to control their children, not other people, not the police, it is their job. If you have a child you take care of that child, you guide them in life, and this is precisely what they should be doing now.

The youth of today is often criticized, and that is fine, because quite often they are in the wrong. But everything comes down to the world that they have been brought up in, and, ultimately, the parents r guardians are the ones to be held accountable.

Don't blame the police, they might not be great but they provide a damned good public service that our society needs.

Don't blame the government, they are terrible and, well, we didn't vote them in, but it is not their fault.

Do blame the parents, those that don't stop them, that willingly allow their children to act in such a manner.

Watch the Throne..

2011-08-08T08:58:00.000-07:00

Watch the Throne is the new joint album by Jay Z and Kanye West, and, do you know what, it's actually a bit of alright.

Album Artwork

When two people of such stature in the music world come together they often provide us with a number one single, a good song or two with some interesting verses and a cool chorus. But rarely have two musicians come together to produce a joint album as such. If anyone in the rap industry were to do this, and pull it off successfully, these two are probably the only that could.

The record could be viewed as a competition between the two hip-hop big hitters, and pound for pound they match up, it's Ali Vs Ali here.

First song on the record, No Church in the Wild, features Frank Ocean, and I like it. Jay Z's verse is great, typical Jigga-man dropping some great lyrics as usual. Kanye follows suit with some more superb lyrics, of the two he's probably the better, but Jay Z will be back. Ocean sings the chorus and it's interesting. It's not a massive sing-a-long that you might expect after recent trends on hip-hop and grime songs,; it's more intricate and you actually want to listen to the lyrics.

Jay Z

Second track Lift Off sees Beyonce add a catchy chorus that is sure to claim the song chart success, and, really, there's nothing wrong with that, it doesn't risk the credibility of the song so it's OK. West raps, 'lLift off / Lift off / Taking my coat off / Showin’ my tattoos / I’m such a show off' , highlighting to us his vanity, because we've never noticed, how could we? It's not like he steals stages from people and makes them cry. Jay Z comes through strong, 'Lift off / Rappers hear watch the throne / They gon be pissed off', showing that they mean business.

Ni**as in Paris comes next with the most interesting beat of the album so far. Strangely it feels somewhat oriental, maybe they don\t know where Paris is? It wouldn't be a true rap song without references to some famosu faces, Jay Z, 'Psycho, I’m liable to be go Michael, / Take your pick / Jackson, Tyson, Jordan,', got to get all the good ones in there. The songs cool, I doubt that it'll be a single, or be recognized much past the album.

Then they take it Old-Skool with rumored first single Otis. The modern take on the classic tune is quality. Nothing else to be said. Great sounds, great lyrics. Jay Z. 'I invented swag', bold, but probably true. West comes into his own, finally I feel his seamless flow coming back, the two giants are here, 'Jay is chillin’, ‘Ye is chillin’, what more can I say? / We killin’ ‘em'. They actually are.

Gotta Have It sees a relationship between the two develop, they flow easily together, taking a few lines each, rather than, my bit, your bit, chorus etc. It;s nice to see them interacting so well together, it shows their quality coming through.

New Day sees West showing some emotion. 'I never let my son have an ego', he even says, 'dont be like your daddy that would never budge'. Is west really trying to atone for his negative actions, really? Either way it makes the song better. He still has a dig though, 'I mean I might even make ‘em be Republican / So everybody know he love white people', dudes bitter, racism is so last year. Jay Z i similar, but he's got a good reputation, but he should apologize for Wonderwall at Glasto. Ruining a classic isn't acceptable

Who says misogyny's dead. Kanye doesn't in That's My Bitch, 'paid for them ti**ies, get your own', gutted to be you Kanye, your a famous rapper and your still paying for it. Owned. Jay Z joins in. Bit harsh guys. Racism and Sexism. sounds like a Tory wet dream.

Kanye West

Welcome to The Jungle. Well Pro Green's English jungle sounds a lot more frightening, and a lot better, to be honest. Kanye, 'asked her where she wanna be when she 25. / She turned around and looked at me and said “alive”', the harshness of American life demonstrated here, so much for the land of hope and all that American Dream nonsense.

Is that Dubstep? Who Gon Stop Me sounds like some weird American Dubstep. According to Kanye
'This is something like the Holocaust / Millions of our people lost', I don't actually know what he's on about, I mean, I am pretty sure that nothing like the Holocaust has happened, well, since the Holocaust. Maybe he should've stayed in college.

Murder To Excellence, contrasts beautifully musically to Who Gon Stop Me, dubstep to acoustic guitar riff's. Is this Chase and Status? The Americans learning from their better English cousins. This song is brilliant. Easily the best so far. Unfortunately it paints a damning picture of American Culture, but the music is amazing. West reluctantly raps, 'and I’m from the murder capital/Where they murder for capital/ Heard about at least 3 killings this afternoon', sad but apparently true. Jay Z croons about the hardships of black people in modern society, 'Only spot a few blacks the higher I go', it's a great message but is it still relevant in this society.

Frank Ocean's back on Made In America. The American Dream that has seemed so distant and fake in the previous songs is all of a sudden amazing, they made it in America, so it is amazing. Well, it's not is it. I like the song musically, but the whole idea and lyrics are just worthless, everything bad in our country is a resultant of something America has done. Sorry, but America is just a bit rubbish.

Mr Hudson guests on the last track, which samples a song I know, but I don't know where from... Musically this piece is great. An absolute hit, chilled but powerful. Possibly one of Jay Z's best lyrical outings, 'The circle got smaller / The castle got bigger / The walls got taller / And truth be told after all that said / Ni**as still got love for you', his evocative lyrics are as string as ever, the song just suits him so well. The ending sees the return of that seamless flow between the two of them, it's brilliant.

It seems fitting that when the album finished my iTunes plays She's A Genius by Jet. Genius is the only word to describe these guys and this album.

Two of hip-hop's biggest stars have crafted a beautiful beast of an album that's sure to get critical acclaim and chart success.

Irish Rap? - The Original Rudeboys

2011-07-27T07:48:00.000-07:00

Irish Rap? - The Original Rudeboys

I've been looking around for interesting music to listen to lately, mostly to no avail. Today Reading and Leeds released the lineup for the BBC Introducing Stage and I click the link to a band called The Original Rudeboys, an Irish group that sing, rap, play guitar and play ukelele. I must say at first it was rather shocking, but now I quite like it. Don't know what most people will think though?

It opens with, what I deem, a pretty nice guitar riff, the singing isn't amazing, but it's decent and the words are interesting. Then the rapping. I didn't expect it at all; it comes as a shock, but it is a good shock, I think.

Lyrically it's brilliant, the words are deep and meaning full. It is a nice chill out song, it inspires, intrigues and makes good listening. Not a lot more that you can ask of music. I like it but I'm not too sure what other people will think.

It's cool and different, and it's got ukelele!!!!

I love Noel Gallagher, and I'm going to tell you why

2011-07-25T11:48:00.000-07:00

This morning Noel's comeback, as Noel Gallagher and The High Flying Birds, was really set in motion with the video for debut single 'The Death of You and Me"finally being premiered on his website. And I may I take the opportunity now to say a very big well done to Mr Gallagher, this guy just churns out quality music like he's a production line.

Mr Gallagher, by all means, is a hero of epic stature in music. No doubt countless morons will say something along the lines of "the other prat from Oasis is back", and wrong they all are. Noel is a very very talented musician.

His guitar playing capabilities are really quite magnificent. He uses simple chords, simple riffs, and uses his talent to play them in a way that brings joy and happiness to the masses. His songwriter is not up for discussion. Ever. He has wrote some of the most beautiful, evocative, but modern and relevant lyrics that we have seen in musics history. "Wonderwall", 'Don't Look Back in Anger", "Fade Away", "Cast No Shadow", and now, "The Death of You and Me", are but a few examples from the vast catalouge of quality songs that Noel has wrote through the years.

Me saying that he is lyrically amazing doesn't really mean anything, but I can prove it.

Way back in 94, a little band called Oasis releases their debut album "Definitely Maybe". And on that album of quality music we find "Live Forever", lyrically one of Oasis' best songs, in my humble opinion. Liam sings;

Maybe I will never be
All the things that I want to be
But now is not the time to cry
Now's the time to find out why

One of Oasis’ songs wrote for the people and about the people. Noel deals with the issues of not amounting to what you want to be, but he wants his audience to accept that, get over and find out why. He links himself into this audience; back then he would probably have felt the same way. Noel appeals to people like himself, he’s wrote the song that they want to hear. What more can you ask of a musician? To do more? Well, he does.

“Supersonic”, also on the album, is a classic sing-a-long song. “You need to be yourself, you cant be no-one else”, stresses the importance of individuality in life, the importance of being who you are. “You can have it all but how much do you want it”, gives hope to a hopeless generation, the guy that they could’ve walked past one day is singing to them.

Then we have the second album, possibly the greatest second album by any band ever, “What’s the Story Morning Glory”. And let’s face it, there is no way that anybody can argue that the album isn’t amazing. The simple message of, “you gotta roll with it, and the more surrealist ideal, “slowly walking down the hall, faster than a cannonball”, are brilliantly evocative and thought provoking. Noel’s lyrics continue to amaze, they are relevant, at time literal, at times metaphorical, all of which mounts up to make impressive music. Liam’s singing is alright as well, I suppose, but I’m a Noel fan.

“Cast No Shadow”, which, in my opinion, is one of the most beautiful songs Noel has ever composed, also features on the same album. Liam sings;

Bound with all the weight of all the words he tried to say
Chained to all the places that he never wished to say
Bound with all the weight of all the words he tried to say
and as faced the sun he cast no shadow

The words that we say in life hold us back, as do the places that we don’t want to stay in. The idea of having no shadow implies you have no soul. The life that we lead and the things that we do steal the soul. With lyrics like this Noel deserves to be recognized as an artist, or a poet.

Oh, and might I add that this album contains two of the most iconic anthems that any British band, moreover any band, has ever produced. “Wonderwall”, and, “Don’t Look Back in Anger”. Noel is back at his surrealist best;

Slip inside the eye of your mind,

Don’t you know you might find,

A better place to play

The world that we create for ourselves, in our minds is much better than reality, a message that is sure to resonate with Oasis fans. This song, in fact, is so brilliant, that when Noel played it live at Wembley in 2010 he didn’t bother to sing, he let the fans do it.

The songs mentioned are only a select few of the masses of brilliant things Noel has wrote over the years. His new track easily finds a place on a shelve full of hits, it’s sure to bring Noel more mainstream success, and probably rattle Liam and Beady Eye. It is, without doubt, a lot better than anything they’ve come up with so far. The track is well worth a listen, and if it’s anything to go by I’m sure the album will be great too.

Just remember, in Noel’s words, “While we’re living, the dreams we have as children fade away, away, away”.

Why I Hate People...

2011-07-23T13:26:00.000-07:00

What does it mean to hate?

Hatred (or hate) is a deep and emotional extreme dislike, directed against a certain object or class of objects. The objects of such hatred can vary widely, from inanimate objects to animals, oneself or other people, entire groups of people, people in general, existence, or the whole world.

(Wikipedia doing a sterling job as usual.)

To me the word hate is very important; it’s up there with my favorite words. People call it a strong word, say that it’s nasty and hurtful. But that’s why I like it, it’s so powerful and holds real meaning. If I were to say I don’t like something you wouldn’t pay attention; if I told you I hated the same thing you’d perhaps be shocked and ask why.

There are many many things that I actually, genuinely, hand on heart, hate. Most of them are futile thoughts and relate, as the definition says, inanimate objects, or things that I could never possibly have a chance of affecting

Most of my friends will recognize that I am quite a miserable person, I’m anti-social and I’m probably the biggest pessimist or cynic you could come across. And I think this is probably why I hate people.

How can you hate people? You might ask, well I intend to answer that question very comprehensively.

The individual human being has so many faults, and they vary so widely across everything, social-groups, racial identities, whatever. Not anyone group of people or any one person is faultless, myself included. But some people are much more at fault than others, and they deserve to be ridiculed for it.

The scope of human idiocy is so vast that I couldn’t possibly cover all things in this blog, I could write books on it. In fact, maybe one day I will do so. However, there are a few things about people, and my hatred for them, that I have to share with you.

Stupid Questions. What’s that? What does that do? Is this PC World?(He asks whilst looking at a sign, a shirt a leaflet and everything else that is completely different in colour, and, right, get this, says the name of a completely different store that in no way resembles or sounds like PC World, to which I calmly, and rather too nicely say, no PC World has moved). People like to asked stupid questions that they could quite easily answer if they applied a small amount of logic to the problem at hand. For example, a man picks up a butter knife and asks what it is, well it’s a butter knife, how can you not know that, your clearly of a mentally sound disposition and your in your thirties, so how could you have not encountered a butter knife before in your life. Okay, that’s maybe a bit of a creative example, but people really do asks such pathetic questions that they could easily answer themselves with a bit of thought. It really grinds on me, why do people expect to get through life with other’s answering their pathetic queries?

People think you owe them something. At work because you’ve got a name badge and uniform on people think that you owe them the world, and that because you owe them this they can take any attitude they want, they can shout, be rude, swear, whatever, because you have to be nice. Well, guess what, I owe you absolutely noting, if you show me respect I feel that I owe you respect in return, show me disrespect and, yes, your right, I feel that I owe it you right back.

I also hate old people that think that young people are a problem. “Oh, the youth of today are this that and the other”. Actually, the youth of today are quite pioneering, they are intelligent, generally quite well mannered and can be very nice and helpful. What is really the problem is the old people that say this about the youth. I suppose this relates back to people thinking that you owe them something, Old people think you owe them respect because they are older, and you don’t, people have to earn respect, or show it to get it in return. “Respect your elders” is way too Victorian.

Attention seekers. The worst kind of attention seeker is the one that doesn’t know that they are one, moreover the worst is the kind that is told they are one and gets upset and starts crying, bellowing out amongst the tears, ‘”I’m not attention seeking am I?” Why, yes, yes you really are. Then there is the kind that completely goes out of their way to be the moron in the group, you all know the one, it’s the guy that shouts everywhere you go, the first to get drunk and do something stupid, and ultimately, it’s the friend that, when in public, you try to pretend that you don’t know. These people really grind on me because they just don’t shut up and go away, they just sit there, in the corner of your eye winding you up. Get a grip of your lives, stop writing pathetic self-pitying Facebook statuses and grow up.

People who have had “hard lives”. My mum once said to a room of people that my brother had a “hard life” because he used to get into trouble at school, nothing too bad though. Well, no mum, he really didn’t, he had the exact same upbringing as me and you wouldn’t say I had a “hard life”. I would never profess to having a “hard life” and I so understand that some people Have quite genuinely had setbacks and what not that have impacted their lives; it’s not their fault and I sympathise with them for that reason. But my problem comes when a people try to justify moronic actions with the fact that they had a “hard life”. How dare they? Some of society’s most successful and brilliant people came from hard backgrounds and have struggled at points in their lives, Alan Sugar came from a poor background, Stephen Fry suffers from depression; do we ever see them using this as an excuse? No we don’t . So why, when we see someone do something so idiotic it’s dangerous, do people justify it by saying, “well, it’s not her fault, she just had a hard life”. I don’t just hate people who say that having a “hard life” holds them back (and for the record I have friends who you could say have had a hard life, but they aren’t pathetic and don’t use it as an excuse for anything), no, I hate those that try to justify their stupidity because of it.

I’ve given four reasons as to why I hate people, and even if they seem extreme, they really do make me hate people. People always try to ascertain what the problem with society, why is it we cant live in a Utopia? The answer is really quite simple. People. People will always find some obscure way to ruin things, no matter what it is.

I hate lots of people for these reasons and others. Maybe your one of them. If you are please just stop.

Amy Winehouse's Death isn't really that important

2011-07-23T12:10:00.000-07:00

Instantly you might infer that the title of this blog is harsh, or in some way offensive, but read on and you'll realise that it is by no means harsh or offensive.

Fearn Cotton tweeted, "Can not believe the news. Amy was a special girl. The saddest news.", in light of recent events is this really the saddest news miss Cotton, because I really don't think it is, and I am sure that there are many others out there that would agree with me, maybe the families of the 92 people who were savagely murdered in Norway would agree, maybe the relatives of the 32 people who died in an horrific train accident in China might. I certainly think they would.

It is is shame that Winehouse's death will quite probably take precedence over these events when it comes to the news, and I think it's quite legitamate to say that it definitely will in the tabloids. But that's not her fault, it's our fault. People have created a society in which celebrity is more important than natural disasters, or murders.

Now I'm not saying that I am happy she has died, it is sad. Nobody wants to see people die, and death, in whatever shape it may take is always a sad thing. Similarly, I am sure we would all pass on our condolences to the family and friends of Winehouse, because yes, her death is sad, and I'm sure it will have a profound effect on the lives of those around her. But surely over things should be more important. After all, Winehouse is a poor role model for the children of this country; how can we expect our youth to be brilliant and civilized people when the celebrity culture that we live in provides us with people like her.

"people like her", sounds horrible, and I don't mean it to be. But the fact remains that the way she lived her life was wrong. I believe in liberty and the right to live how you wish as much as anybody else, but ultimately her lifestyle has led to her own downfall, and along the way it has quite probably had a serious impact on those around her.

Now when Amy Winehouse makes the front page of all the papers, people will be sad, they'll be upset, maybe even cry. If your one of these people, then I beg that when your crying think about the families of the Norwegian victims, the Chinese, and all the other honorable people that die through no fault of their own, through natural disaster, murder and war. Think about them, because really they are the ones that deserve to be in our thoughts.

Yo, you might hear me make a racket like Wilson Cause I love summer no Rachel Bilson

2011-07-20T14:39:00.000-07:00

I'm getting down with the trumpets!!

My favourite group at the moment, Rizzle Kicks. Antique, classic, old-skool. Modern, contemporary and relevant. Quirky, witty interesting lyrics, beats that you can nod your head to. What more can you want from music. Two cool guys playing it. Well, they've got it all.

"Down With the Trumpets" is a beast of a tune. Cool lyrics interweave with old-skool hip-hop beats to create a song that's perfect for the charts these days. No musical credibility is jeopardized in making this chart hit, and that's something that a lot of bands would struggle to say these days. They've found a gap, and filled it.

Two different voices, one singing and one rapping, have rarely worked as well together as theirs do. The soft, evocative voice singing greatly complements the harsher rapping. What people like Plan B fail to do, and he does fail, they manage to do with ease.

Of all of the new bands that I've listened to lately, nothing comes close to Rizzle Kicks. They're different, they have their own sound, and it's incredibly refreshing that they're able to do this in a contemporary environment that is made up of an eclectic mesh of genres. "it's blaters we've got our own style, you know now, so go wild and get hosed down". These guy's mean business and they're here to stay.

The best thing is yet to come. They've got other quality songs. "Miss Cigarette" has a similarly old-skool beat, but it sounds different, they're not going to get boring or repetitive any time soon, and they've got more intelligent lyrics. Again, "Prophet" does the same again, and it sounds different.

I hear they have a celebrity fan.... Stephen Fry. Just goes to show the universality of the tunes that these guys are getting out. If Fry's a fan, whose not?

These guys have created themselves a place in music, and they could easily hang around for some time. When the album drops it's going to be BIG. Hopefully we'll see a UK tour in the autumn, maybe taking in some nice northern venues, Liverpool maybe, so that I can go.

Lets get down with the trumpets.....

Why public transport really is quite poor.

2011-07-20T02:50:00.000-07:00

I'm more often than not the first one in the group to start moaning about something, to criticise things, and, in general, I am really quite cynical. But, until now, public transport is something that I haven't really targeted as a source for me to vent cynicism at. Now, however, things have changed; I can no longer say that I am a fan.

Last night I had a train to catch at 21:50, at 21:00 I have a dilemma; do I walk to the train station? Or, stay at home, have some dinner and get a taxi? Usually I would walk, it's not too far, and I don't really want to pay for a taxi. But, I worked 9-8 and had barely sat down all day, and my feet were hurting. So at 21:00 I order a taxi for 21:30, which would get me to the station with at least ten minutes to spare before the train arrives.

I eat my dinner, get everything ready, go downstairs at 21:25 to wait for my taxi. 21:30 no taxi, 21:35 no taxi. So I ring them to moan. As I said earlier, I like to moan, it gives me great pleasure, but one thing I truly hate is complaining to business, restaurants, shops, whatever, I really don't like doing it. I work in customer service so I know how annoying it is. But, I need to get my train so I ring and he says he'll get on to it.

21:40 no taxi, but they've called to say they're here, but they aren't. 21:45 no taxi, so I ring again, he apologizes and makes up stupid excuses and I have to cancel it; however, he still feels that I need the taxi and doesn't want to cancel it. But he asked me what time my train was, and he knows you have to be extremely lucky to make the station in five minutes. Chester Radio Taxi's, I will not be using your services again.

So I cancel it, I'm not making my train. Wrong!! I find my night in shining armor, in the shape of my miserable Scottish house mate. But believe me, he performed in the name of his fore-fathers, of Wallace of Burns, and, you guessed it, McCoist. He runs up stairs, three flights I might add, gets his shoes and keys, we run to the car police chase style, I consider sliding over the bonnet, but I don't, because I'm not an idiot. And were off!!!

We make it four minutes, we hit red lights, we hit an old man going twenty on a forty, but we make it in four minutes. I jump out of the car, run through the station, up the stairs, down the stairs, and I see my train, on the platform it's always on, the doors are open. Hallelujah.

No. I go to get on the train, "Do Not Board That Train It's Out Of Service!!! Where Are You Going??" screams that miserable moron that is the train driver. "Manchester", I cower, protecting myself from the mighty venom. "Round There", he says, calmly.

I run round the corner, it's still there, but the doors are shut, it's leaving, and I miss it.

I don't blame the trains, I rather like trains. I blame Chester Radio Taxi's. I gave them half an hour's notice that I needed a taxi, I gave them twenty minutes to do a journey we eventually managed in four. And they couldn't do it. Now, to me, that's really really poor. From now on, I'm walking, my feet aren't as stupid as them.

Harry Potter and other films

2011-07-16T13:31:00.000-07:00

On Friday, I, like most of the world, ventured out of my pit and went to see Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part Two. I know what you're thinking; this guy's cool, wow, I wish I was him. But really, we all like Harry Potter, we grew up with it.

The film itself is quite good, thematically speaking it's decent, we all know the Harry Potter story, and yes it is gripping - respect to J K Rowling where it's due - it's action packed, there's romance etc etc. Basically, all the things that should be in a film are there, so it's good, right? Well no, to me it's not actually that great. It moves too fast, splitting it in to two films is a good idea, but in part 1 they drag things out too long, so everything seems a bit rushed. As a fantasy fight scene goes I couldn't help thinking that Lord of The Rings is so much better. The dramatic death of he who should not be named is rather disappointing, it's just like every other wizard fight, two colored beams aimed at each other, one overpowers the other, bad guy dies. And then there's the fact that we all know what's going to happen, not just because we've read the book, but also because it's too cliche in every sense. As a piece of filmography it is an interesting watch, and it's just one of those films you absolutely have to watch, but, in reality, it's just not that great.

Also, the service at VUE cinema was awful. I bought tickets online before hand, thinking it could be a sell-out, seeing that there's masses of Harry Potter geeks out there, but it wasn't. Anyway, I bought Student tickets, because I am a student. Collected my tickets and went to that annoying guy that tells you which screen your in, and believe me he was extra annoying. He tells me I can't go in because my student card isn't valid as it doesn't have an expiration date, but he completely disregards the fact that I used it at another VUE cinema about a week earlier and they said nothing. No disrespect to this guy, obviously he's just doing his job, but sometimes you can forget procedure to make everyone's life easier, I am quite obviously a student. In the end I asked the lady for a refund and she said I could go in at teen rates which meant lying about my age, and I did feel bad about that, but this guy annoyed me.

Brief interlude on the poor customer service of VUE over I return to other films.

I rented four films from Blockbuster, on Blu-Ray, ooohhhhh, aahhhhhh. The Dilema with Vince Vaughn and the fat guy that's got famous recently from comedy's. It was decent, can't say I was blown away by it, or that it bored me, it was a nice film to watch when I couldn't really be bothered to do anything else. There were a few laughs, but nothing noteworthy.

Then I watched Unknown with Liam Neeson. Another one of his stupid films which hold no logic other than the fact the Neeson is a beast and he can take on the world and win. The film is flawed, I'm sure they made it up as they went along. It goes on for too long, it's not interesting and I haven't really got that much to say about it.

Now, to The Adjustment Bureau. The principle at heart of the film is poor because it's just not possible, but then the same could be said of Inception. But despite this flawed principle it is an extremely endearing film, I truly feel that I need to know what is going to happen, but what happens isn't that great. It seems to die a rather painful death at the end with a "moral", that is that life can change to your feelings. Wow, well done Sherlock if you work at something you get it. The idea of a life plan is silly anyway, I believe in Existentialism anyway, so take that Adjustment Bureau.

Finally, I borrowed Submarine, Richard Ayode's acclaimed indie comedy. Yes it's funny, and yes I enjoyed it, but it seemed to drag out and got a little bit annoying, in fact, I dont actually know what happened in the end.

My week of films has been fun, re-reading this it appears that I didn't actually enjoy any of the films, but I did, it's just that reflecting on them I seem them as opaque; there's no depth to them and they can all be explained away, or mocked...

Freedom is strength.

Im back and want to moan about something....

2011-07-16T12:48:00.000-07:00

Hello, it has been a while.

I have missed my blog and although I have rarely used it I'm itching to get back. But the truth is I've got writer's block, and, whilst there are many small things in the world that incense me I don't think that there is one thing that I can quite focus in on....

So, writer's block, in itself it is quite an interesting thing really; if your a writer, or you want to write, and you have nothing to write about then you're in deep water - biblical style. So what do you do? Heaven knows, it might even get so stupid that you start writing about writer's block.

Anyway, I think that's the end of this mini blog, I'm going to start a new one about Harry Potter and other films, or maybe the lack of allegiance in modern football, yeah, they sound fun.

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

bumble bees and honey pots

2011-06-16T09:57:00.001-07:00

bumble bees and honey pots

the single Black Rose that lies on her bare stomach

the single White Lilly on the coffin top

the way that you trip when you walk up the stairs

the way that you work out things unknown

the smell of the morning that rises from bellow

the light of the night that lets you see more

the tiny pitter-patter of the baby’s small feet

the loud chimes of your grandfather’s clock

all this and so much more

means nothing when the honeys all gone and the bees stop buzzing.

My frist short story

2011-06-16T09:38:00.000-07:00

Over the past two days I've been working on my first short story. It is a strange genre crossing texts with science fiction elements, dystopian elements, political satire etc and its form, too, varies throughout. I'm on to chapter four now, following this message is chapter one. As of yet it is untitled. Also, this is the very first draft, therefore changes will be made.

Chapter 1

“CAMERON OUT, CAMERERON OUT, CAMERON OUT” the masses sang in union, swamped by placards; “I HATE TORY’S”, “GET OUT”, “STOP RUINING OUR COUNTRY”, “MONEY GRABBING FATCATS”, “CAPATILIST SCUM”. Riot shields everywhere, pigs with truncheons and Tasers and CS spray, this was a fight, to the death maybe.

Unsigned Article, The Times, 2016

We moved through the streets of London looting anything we passed, but those with red stickers on store fronts were spared, for they were not the dirty Tory scum whose fault this all was; they were allies, considerably less vocal allies, but allies all the same. And that’s what came to be key to us, allegiances. Since the Conservatives won that election back in 2010, all because of the idiocy of Nick Clegg, public enemy number one, agreeing to that incredulous coalition, loyalty has become the single most important thing to us. Seriously, Clegg thought that he could leave the coalition and still have his reputation intact, he actually attempted to continue leading the Liberal Democrats after a vote of no confidence, and all the public shame that lingered around him. He drove that party to political abyss and they wonder why we don’t accept them.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter; we’ve all been driven into hiding now anyway. Anything that’s political and non-conservative is deemed a crime and your instantly put away, rumour has it the government have some new scheme they want to use to keep us all away from society, a new super prison, but their calling it a social project for the time being.

Most of our old members are a shadow of what they used to be, everyone’s so quiet and reserved these days, careful not to say anything just incase it’s deemed anti-conservative, but not me. I am a Socialist and proud, and so are my people. One of them has been approached for this social project, and we’re going to send her in, undercover. They’ll never know, they asked her specifically. We hope she finds out how it works, then she’ll leave and we’ll be able to mount a full-scale attack based on its flawed principles and bring the whole organisation to a halt.

They’ve had their time now; all they’ve done is drive this country further into the ground. All the major companies have gone apart from the ones whose CEO’s managed to get themselves in the cabinet, under dubious titles like ‘Chancellor for Business-to-Business operations’. There is no talk of recession anymore, but mostly because nobody knows what it means, they made it out to be good then did away with it. We could be in recession but how would we know, we never see any figures or data telling us how the economy is doing, but I don’t think many even know what the economy is now.

Schools have ceased to be, they said they couldn’t be dong with the funding, but their old schools are all still open, but its only their kids that go to them. These days your either home schooled or not at all. And they wonder why youth violence is on the rise. It’s their fault; they’ve taken this beautiful country into disrepair.

Life’s a bitch these days, but we live it.

My new job.

2011-06-14T12:19:00.000-07:00

As of right now I'm embarking on my new career. I am now working under the official title of Literary Man. I have started planning my very first novella and I shall attempt to get some poetry and articles published. No idea whatsoever about how I can do this, so first task in my new position is research. But, research is fun so no problems there.

I guess that my first task should be investigating possibly literary magazines that I can publish poetry in. I have started planning my first novella/short story, maybe even novel if it turns out to be that that long. Its working title is 'Panopticon'.

Articles is really me just trying to sound clever, I have nothing that I can write an article on let alone how I'd get anyone in the world to look at it.

Poetically speaking I have wrote poetry before, but I am not sure if any of it is really that good, although my experience of contemporary poetry, whether it be that of a famous poet like Duffy or some unheard of aspiring poet, is that it is all quite definitely terrible. Modern poetry lies in my hands, and I suppose Wendy Cope, she's quite interesting.

SO, off I go into the literary world. Watch out and remember the name!!

T S Eliot and anti-Semitism

2011-06-12T12:56:00.000-07:00

Eliot's not anti-Semitic, people who say he is just don't understand what he means, or what poetry means. Just because he writes something in a poem does not mean that he thinks it. A poem is a fictitious creation. Eliot is merely a puppeteer controlling the puppets in his show, maybe he has anti-Semitic puppets.

The only reason people think that he might be is because they are idiots that listen to bigger idiots that have a platform from which they can share their idiocy, no names mentioned - critic Anthony Julius.

I Cant wait to write a dissertation on Eliot's alleged anti-Semitism, rather than a defense of Eliot it will quite probably end up as an attack on people like Julius.

Fools!!!

Kasabian

2011-06-08T06:03:00.000-07:00

BOOOOMMM!!!

The new Kasabian track 'Switchblade Smiles' is bang on it.

First song we hear from the new album jumps out and smacks you in the face. Nice techno-ish intro with some cool vocals into some quality drums and a deafening guitar riff that'll go off big style live!!! Tom croons out 'can you feel it coming" and I can. Velociraptor! is going to be BIG!!

Serge is on top form!! Great music and great writing!!

iPhone Vs Blackberry

2011-06-08T05:27:00.000-07:00

Ive just watched the video for ios5, WOW!!! Bye bye to my thoughts of maybe getting a blackberry!! Now all I need is for my contract to run out and I can get myself a nice new iPhone 4!!!

Maybe an iPad!!!

Strings of the Unconscious: My First Blog

2011-06-08T05:24:00.001-07:00

Strings of the Unconscious: My First Blog: "Hello Blogging world. Pretty sure nobody will ever read this."

My First Blog

2011-06-08T05:24:00.000-07:00

Hello Blogging world.

Pretty sure nobody will ever read this.