... not written.
But I managed to collect some beefs while I was away.
In no particular order:
- Germans have no idea of personal space. None whatsoever. They breathe down your neck whether you're queuing for coffee, the loo, to get on the tube or you're speeding 200 km/h on the highway. People, THIS IS ANNOYING!
- Another driving trick I do not get in Germany: why do they speed up when the light is obviously red? What is the use?! The breaking space get shorter and the risks of accident get higher. Germans usually plan their holidays two years ahead, still they have no foreseeing capacity to lift the foot from the gas pedal and hit with it the bloody breaks in time?
- Radios play silly music. Music nowadays is silly. Lady Gaga gets steadily on my nerves and I don't know if you have noticed, but in 'Poker face', there is an extra 'ma' in the second line of the chorus, or whatever that is, with 'my, my, my poker face', the second time there is an extra 'my/ma' that is definitely asymmetric and spoils the rhythm. Not that I care, but I am bothered by it every time it's on the radio. I tried switching the radio to another post, the bloody thing is too popular, it is practically impossible to miss it if one chooses to listen to the radio.
- In the same musical category: lyrics are either silly or depressing. If they are not silly, they are smart, and if they are smart, they are implicitly depressing. Happy and smart do not go together as far as lyrics are concerned. Which is depressing. Although my algorithm may not be all that smart. Perhaps because it does not rhyme.
- What's the use of paying 35 euros for private cable and have absolutely nothing worthy to watch on telly? How pathetic it is to zap all Friday night and end up blogging? This is pure rhetorical, I expect no answer.
- When you look for some recipe on the net, you find some with pictures, and you think they are helpful. They are not, because no matter what you do, whatever you are cooking will never look as the pictures posted with that recipe. I am not talking about the taste, I am talking about the looks. Yes, I have starting trying my hand at baking cookies.
- Wordpress is a bit cooler than blogger, but my biggest beefs with wordpress concern the font style and font, which are unchangeable and once you choose a theme, you are stuck with the puny little font that strains your eyes.
My crème brûlée must have cooled down by now.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Britain got talent AND some common sense left
I am an addict to "pop culture". Especially the televised one (here I include movies as well, because nowadays all cinema movies are often seen on TV not in cinema per se).
The accent in this addiction falls on British and American pop(ular) culture, with everything that is involved.
In other words, I know a LOT about who does what where on TV and in the movies and, by extension, in real life, because I believe there is a close connection between the character played in a movie and the actor.
Following closely the entertainment news, I am up to date with all the trash peddled by the tabloids. And here I must take a moment to vent about this issue.
Tabloids are the scum of the scum from the bottom of the human pond. They lie, cheat, lie and lie some more, making and more oft than not destroy lives of public figures and more importantly, they destroy the very fabric that makes journalism great. Have I mentioned just how much I abhor the lies mongered by the tabloids?! I particularly "enjoy" the pieces that start from the "truth" said by someone, i.e. the "journalist" harasses someone that is famous in order to get an "exclusive" statement - "Mr. X, Mr. X, tell us something!!" - 'Something!' says the poor depleted man; what do we read next, naturally labeled exclusive? Well, the entire story how the celebrity's marriage or relationship with a close relative hangs on a thread due to alcohol and drug abuse caused by... SOMETHING. Twisting words beyond recognition is a must for tabloids' survival. Vent over. For now.
I have so largely explained my liking for 'pop culture' and the extent to which I try to keep up with it in order to come to the point of this post.
Very few people outside UK knows who Jade Goody is and how she came to be known/famous. She was an ignorant (she thought Pistachio painted Mona Lisa), racist (she was thrown out of a Big Brother, can't and refuse to be bothered which one, for bullying an Indian contestant), strident, chav loud mouth. Last August, while taking part in yet another Big Brother, she was announced that she had got cervical cancer and needed treatment. Naturally, everything happened on the telly, how else?! She died this March. Everything was closely followed by TV and tabloids, from her hospital apointments, to her one-month-before-her-death wedding to her boyfriend who, you must know, had just been released from prison for having swung a golf club at someone else, injuring that someone pretty badly, and finally to her death and very public funerals.
What is very annoying is that the same tabloids who slanted her on each occasion, now turned her into no less than a saint ! Her funeral was compaired to that of Lady Di's !! The cheek of compairing such very oposite women !!! Even "serious" newspaper felt compelled to cover this story, not in extenso, but way too much and with too many details for their higly raised noses.
Another reason why this entire story should be not much publicised and Jane Goody should not be held in the public eye as the woman who raised the awareness on the cervical cancer issue is the fact that she died because she was such an ignorant twat! She had problems early on, which were discovered and treated thanks to a smear pap. Than, as if this experience came with a two-month shelf life, she ignored no more than TWO reminders following her cervical screening, which should have alarmed her, not lulled her into oblivion. How's fault is it then? Of course, it is a pitty that such a young person should die, it is a pity her two young boys are left without a mother, but frankly, she was no saint and she should not be treated as one!
Now, fianlly, after so many puke-inducing articles about how Goody inspired so many women to go get their overdue controls, I am very pleased to read this and this. FINALLY!!!
I will give The Book of Dave and its very fine print another try after all.
Will Self, Sir Parky, chapeau !
The accent in this addiction falls on British and American pop(ular) culture, with everything that is involved.
In other words, I know a LOT about who does what where on TV and in the movies and, by extension, in real life, because I believe there is a close connection between the character played in a movie and the actor.
Following closely the entertainment news, I am up to date with all the trash peddled by the tabloids. And here I must take a moment to vent about this issue.
Tabloids are the scum of the scum from the bottom of the human pond. They lie, cheat, lie and lie some more, making and more oft than not destroy lives of public figures and more importantly, they destroy the very fabric that makes journalism great. Have I mentioned just how much I abhor the lies mongered by the tabloids?! I particularly "enjoy" the pieces that start from the "truth" said by someone, i.e. the "journalist" harasses someone that is famous in order to get an "exclusive" statement - "Mr. X, Mr. X, tell us something!!" - 'Something!' says the poor depleted man; what do we read next, naturally labeled exclusive? Well, the entire story how the celebrity's marriage or relationship with a close relative hangs on a thread due to alcohol and drug abuse caused by... SOMETHING. Twisting words beyond recognition is a must for tabloids' survival. Vent over. For now.
I have so largely explained my liking for 'pop culture' and the extent to which I try to keep up with it in order to come to the point of this post.
Very few people outside UK knows who Jade Goody is and how she came to be known/famous. She was an ignorant (she thought Pistachio painted Mona Lisa), racist (she was thrown out of a Big Brother, can't and refuse to be bothered which one, for bullying an Indian contestant), strident, chav loud mouth. Last August, while taking part in yet another Big Brother, she was announced that she had got cervical cancer and needed treatment. Naturally, everything happened on the telly, how else?! She died this March. Everything was closely followed by TV and tabloids, from her hospital apointments, to her one-month-before-her-death wedding to her boyfriend who, you must know, had just been released from prison for having swung a golf club at someone else, injuring that someone pretty badly, and finally to her death and very public funerals.
What is very annoying is that the same tabloids who slanted her on each occasion, now turned her into no less than a saint ! Her funeral was compaired to that of Lady Di's !! The cheek of compairing such very oposite women !!! Even "serious" newspaper felt compelled to cover this story, not in extenso, but way too much and with too many details for their higly raised noses.
Another reason why this entire story should be not much publicised and Jane Goody should not be held in the public eye as the woman who raised the awareness on the cervical cancer issue is the fact that she died because she was such an ignorant twat! She had problems early on, which were discovered and treated thanks to a smear pap. Than, as if this experience came with a two-month shelf life, she ignored no more than TWO reminders following her cervical screening, which should have alarmed her, not lulled her into oblivion. How's fault is it then? Of course, it is a pitty that such a young person should die, it is a pity her two young boys are left without a mother, but frankly, she was no saint and she should not be treated as one!
Now, fianlly, after so many puke-inducing articles about how Goody inspired so many women to go get their overdue controls, I am very pleased to read this and this. FINALLY!!!
I will give The Book of Dave and its very fine print another try after all.
Will Self, Sir Parky, chapeau !
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