I got some pretty sad news yesterday. Borders, the book shop, has gone into administration. I know administration doesn’t mean it’s gone forever, but it means that outcome is looking pretty likely. They’ll probably keep the stores open over Christmas, glean whatever profit they can from them, and then close them. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that some shops, if not the whole chain, will be bought up and kept open as retail outlets. Hopefully they’ll remain bookshops. The Borders at the top of Briggate in Leeds (where I mis-spent my youth) will always hold a special place in my heart. I’ll be gutted if it becomes a Poundland.
I have a very strong affection for book shops. It’s not just the big Waterstones-Borders-Blackwells ones, it’s all of them. I especially like second hand book shops, although they’re getting very thin on the ground. There’s only a handful in Manchester. Sob sob. I also quite like rifling through the book shelves in charity shops and the book departments in WHS Smiths and general department stores. There’s something wonderful about holding a book in your hands, reading the blurb, flicking through it, even if you’re completely skint and couldn’t afford a charity shop Penguin paper back. If I ever need to waste some time I’ll be in a book shop shuffling through pages and covers. The addition of coffee shops to many has really made my life. As a closet yuppie and caffeine addict I like nothing better than to fondle my new papery purchases over a coffee.
Yeah, I know you can get books online, and they have a bigger range, and they tend to be cheaper, but I’ll always prefer actually looking at the stuff I buy. I like to examine it closely, and if I hand over real money I get a better idea that it’s actually just cost me currency. You also get it straight away. This doesn’t just go for books, it goes for everything.
So, although it’s not the end of the world, I will be sad to see Borders go, and I've got my fingers crossed that this isn’t the start of a trend. I hope that old school shops of all kinds don’t disappear. I don’t really like shopping. I never have enough money and people stress me out (that’s why I mostly communicate through the internet) but sometimes I do just like to rummage, even though I hardly ever buy anything.
Meh.
Peace and Love x
28 November 2009
27 November 2009
Dark Angel
Last night I attended a screening of the short animation Dark Angel that was commissoned by make up company Illamasqua. It was made in memory of Sophie Lancaster, who was savagely beaten to death in a park in Lancashire while trying to protect her boyfriend, Rob. The only reason Sophie and Rob were attacked was because they were dressed as 'goths'.
Since then Sophie's mother Sylvia has campaigned tirelessly, spreading a message of tolerance. Last night's screening, to mark what would have been Sophie's twenty third birthday, was part of a much broader mission to try and stop what happened to Sophie happening to anyone else.
I've posted the film below. It's a beautiful and very moving piece, but please be aware that it shows the attack on Sophie and Rob. I would, however, encourage everyone to watch it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB0PHDkY7dI
www.myspace.com/inmemoryofsophie
www.illamasqua.com
Since then Sophie's mother Sylvia has campaigned tirelessly, spreading a message of tolerance. Last night's screening, to mark what would have been Sophie's twenty third birthday, was part of a much broader mission to try and stop what happened to Sophie happening to anyone else.
I've posted the film below. It's a beautiful and very moving piece, but please be aware that it shows the attack on Sophie and Rob. I would, however, encourage everyone to watch it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB0PHDkY7dI
www.myspace.com/inmemoryofsophie
www.illamasqua.com
23 November 2009
Kick Ass Web Comics
The internet is a wonderful thing, isn't it? Where once I would have spend my hard earned government scroungings on actual, paper, environmentally unfriendly comic books I know get to indulge my short attention spanned desire for stories for free. Ain't that grand?
Ooooo! Look! Pictures! I have no idea how well this is going to work, and I think the sizes of the images are going to vary greatly, but at least I'm trying to make things a little bit interesting for you.
Anyway, Bunny. I actually discovered Bunny on Saturday (paid hard currency for the book too). The art style is simple and easy on the eye and although there seems to be an over arching story the strips on their own make a good giggle. It's centred around a group of (you guessed it) bunnies) who are trying to make sense of this crazy, crazy world and have fun doing it. Sounds like me really.
Awwwwww! So cute! Another easy to look at, easy to follow little comic. The humour isn't as 'random' as Bunny, but is just as family friendly. It follows the adventures of a group of gothically inclined 'beans' (have yet to establish what type of beans. I'm thinking Jelly judging by the variations on colour in the strip) who work in a shop. Sometimes the simplest ideas work the best.
Yeah, alright, so she's not strictly a web comic, but if you live, like I do, in a area heavily populated with students when you do have to brave the buses (usually due to torrential downpours) all the Metros are covered with hangover vomit, so getting your daily Nemi fix online is the best bet.
I have to admit that I've fallen out of touch with this one over the last month or so, but when I was reading it religiously it was, quite simply, awesome. It's not as reliable as some of the others, but that's mainly to do with the sheer length of the episodes (each installment is six pages long). The quality of the artwork is incredible and done in a very 'old school' comic style. Unsurprisingly, the hard copy version has sold very well (though not to me, yet).
Back to a less traditional art style now. Orneryboy (aside from Bunny) is my newest discovery. Like many of the others it's inoffensive and easy to follow. It follows the adventures of Ornery, his girlfriend, her band, his zombie friends and his cat. There's also haunted drum machines and cheap coffee shops thrown in there for good measure as well.
http://www.orneryboy.com/index.php
6. Foamy the Squirrel
As well as being grand for those of us who have to subsist on £120 a week (hmmmm, so minus rent that would be £50 then) it's also grand for very talented people in similar financial situations and want to get themselves known. Yes, the internet is a wonderful thing.
We'll overlook the fact that, despite my abject poverty, I was at the much underrated Thought Bubble Comic Book Convention in Leeds on Saturday and did trade hard currency for paper, environmentally unfriendly copies of said comics. They're wonderful and worth every penny by the way.
So, for your delectation, I present to you the best of the absolute best of web comics. Enjoy!
1. Bunny
Ooooo! Look! Pictures! I have no idea how well this is going to work, and I think the sizes of the images are going to vary greatly, but at least I'm trying to make things a little bit interesting for you.Anyway, Bunny. I actually discovered Bunny on Saturday (paid hard currency for the book too). The art style is simple and easy on the eye and although there seems to be an over arching story the strips on their own make a good giggle. It's centred around a group of (you guessed it) bunnies) who are trying to make sense of this crazy, crazy world and have fun doing it. Sounds like me really.
2. Gothy Beans
Awwwwww! So cute! Another easy to look at, easy to follow little comic. The humour isn't as 'random' as Bunny, but is just as family friendly. It follows the adventures of a group of gothically inclined 'beans' (have yet to establish what type of beans. I'm thinking Jelly judging by the variations on colour in the strip) who work in a shop. Sometimes the simplest ideas work the best.3. Nemi
Yeah, alright, so she's not strictly a web comic, but if you live, like I do, in a area heavily populated with students when you do have to brave the buses (usually due to torrential downpours) all the Metros are covered with hangover vomit, so getting your daily Nemi fix online is the best bet.She's actuallu pretty good for the resident of a newspaper that's owned by the same people as the Daily Mail. The comics are tiny snippets of Nemi and her friends amusingly ordinary life.
4. Freakangels
I have to admit that I've fallen out of touch with this one over the last month or so, but when I was reading it religiously it was, quite simply, awesome. It's not as reliable as some of the others, but that's mainly to do with the sheer length of the episodes (each installment is six pages long). The quality of the artwork is incredible and done in a very 'old school' comic style. Unsurprisingly, the hard copy version has sold very well (though not to me, yet).The story is very daring. Set in a not-too-far-away post apocalyptic London a group of friends with psychic abilities try to survive.
5. Orneryboy
Back to a less traditional art style now. Orneryboy (aside from Bunny) is my newest discovery. Like many of the others it's inoffensive and easy to follow. It follows the adventures of Ornery, his girlfriend, her band, his zombie friends and his cat. There's also haunted drum machines and cheap coffee shops thrown in there for good measure as well.
http://www.orneryboy.com/index.php
6. Foamy the Squirrel
Oh my word! How much do I love this squirrel? There is nothing than can accurately do justice to my feelingd for this animated little rodent. It's on the verge of bestiality (or maybe technophilia...?). Again, not technically a comic. Foamy is a cartoon posted on the web (and apparently a few late night indie TV programmes in America as well but, never having lived in America, I cannot verify this).
Why do I love Foamy so much? Simple, because he rants and he sings offensive songs and is abusive to everyone around him. What's not to love? As well as wonderful insights into his personality (he loves bagels with cream cheese, creamy creamy cheesy cream) and that of his owner, Germaine, he also rants about topical issues. Some apply more to America then here, but are still worth a watch.
If you ever get the chance, watch The Amityville Toaster. I was in stitches.
That leads us on nicely into our final comic...
7. 4y Records
As you can no doubt see (sorry for the crummy picture quality by the way) 4y is done by the same guy as Foamy, but instead of an irrate squirrel it focuses on an irrate record shop owner who vents his disillusionment against the state of modern music, popular culture and the world in general to unsuspecting (but really quite deserving) customers.
This was a lot of fun actually. I like using pictures, I'm going to use them more often. And get back into Freakangels. And maybe the next time I can't be bothered railing against the various injustices of humanity I'll do a 'Best of YouTube' blog.
Peace and love, and please, please, check one or two of these great works out. x
16 November 2009
The Most Irritating Advert to Ever Clog Up the Airwaves
Adverts, eh? Who actually likes them? Even the good ones have a false kind of enjoyment about them. Yeah, that meerkat is cute, but he is preventing you from watching Buffy. These things need to be taken into consideration.
Recently I have been confronted by, what I think, is easily the worst advert ever. It’s one that most people think is pretty inoffensive as well. It’s one that people sit back and think oh, isn’t that kind! It’s very informative and could be potentially averting the health crisis that we are told is imminent every waking hour of our lives. Yep, it’s that odious, smug, self satisfied rant to free choice that is EAT LESS, MOVE MORE, LIVE LONGER. Change4Life.
Before we move onto anything overtly political I need to point out the grammatical problems. I need to, OK? Just let it go. They couldn’t be bothered to keep the alliteration going through all three of the slogans. That’s just laziness. It’s not that hard to do either. They could have had Eat Economically, or Consume Consciously, or Scoff Stringently. And then there’s that dreaded ‘4’. Trying to be all cool and trendy are we? Knob off. You’re the government. You’re not supposed to be cool and trendy. You supposed to be steadfast and wise and not subject to pathetic (and irritating) little fads. If the government really wanted to be ‘down with the people’ we’d have had an election already. If you’re gonna run a country, at least know how to speak its language.
Clearly the government thinks that the people it’s talking to are too stupid to be given proper English. Or maybe they don’t want to use words that might be too ‘difficult’ for all those poor little mites out there who just *sniff sniff* don’t know how to look after themselves.
The people who made that advert must have a pretty low opinion of the population of Great Britain. We all need to be told that exercise is good for you, spending your entire life sat on the sofa eating chocolate is not so good and being unhealthy gives you a worse quality of life. And what’s worse is this opinion is spreading. Now the comfortably off middle classes, who even in this recession can afford organic vegetable and fat free tofu, are convinced that we’re over run with obese, ignorant snobs and jeer and pity those on council estates who can’t shop at Waitrose not because capitalism has given them a dud hand, but because they’re too stupid to know what to feed themselves. Being a university student I'm exposed to this point of view a lot and every time someone espouses it I want to punch them.
The new one is the worst. It actually sits there and tells people how to look after their kids. People jump up and down when an issue like increased tax breaks for single parents comes up. The Nanny State has gotten too big! Well, this really is the Nanny State. Looking after the next generation because, clearly, we cannot.
And the science is dodgy. That advert claims with pride that deposits of fat in the body can lead to cancer. The dreaded ‘C’ word. One of those words that silences debate dead in its tracks with its taboo connotations. Can’t argue with it. it causes cancer. Except it doesn’t. The links between obesity and cancer and tenuous to say the least. Most scientists agree that it’s a classic case of correlation not causation. People who are more likely to be overweight are also more likely to smoke, live in substandard housing and work in jobs that expose them to things like cleaning products and asbestos dust. You know, things that have a much sounder scientific link to cancer.
But ultimately this represents the loss of free choice. You’re not allowed to eat what you want. You’re not allowed to feed and bring up your kids how you want. You must live exactly the way we tell you too.
Not that I'm not supporting healthy lifestyles, I just think that there’s been a convenient lack of acknowledgment that there’s more than one way to be healthy coupled with an almost Orwellian desire to keep the general public in check. As far as I'm concerned there’s only two people who can tell you whether you live a healthy lifestyle or not, you and your doctor.
Change4Life, fuck off!
Peace and love to everyone else x
Recently I have been confronted by, what I think, is easily the worst advert ever. It’s one that most people think is pretty inoffensive as well. It’s one that people sit back and think oh, isn’t that kind! It’s very informative and could be potentially averting the health crisis that we are told is imminent every waking hour of our lives. Yep, it’s that odious, smug, self satisfied rant to free choice that is EAT LESS, MOVE MORE, LIVE LONGER. Change4Life.
Before we move onto anything overtly political I need to point out the grammatical problems. I need to, OK? Just let it go. They couldn’t be bothered to keep the alliteration going through all three of the slogans. That’s just laziness. It’s not that hard to do either. They could have had Eat Economically, or Consume Consciously, or Scoff Stringently. And then there’s that dreaded ‘4’. Trying to be all cool and trendy are we? Knob off. You’re the government. You’re not supposed to be cool and trendy. You supposed to be steadfast and wise and not subject to pathetic (and irritating) little fads. If the government really wanted to be ‘down with the people’ we’d have had an election already. If you’re gonna run a country, at least know how to speak its language.
Clearly the government thinks that the people it’s talking to are too stupid to be given proper English. Or maybe they don’t want to use words that might be too ‘difficult’ for all those poor little mites out there who just *sniff sniff* don’t know how to look after themselves.
The people who made that advert must have a pretty low opinion of the population of Great Britain. We all need to be told that exercise is good for you, spending your entire life sat on the sofa eating chocolate is not so good and being unhealthy gives you a worse quality of life. And what’s worse is this opinion is spreading. Now the comfortably off middle classes, who even in this recession can afford organic vegetable and fat free tofu, are convinced that we’re over run with obese, ignorant snobs and jeer and pity those on council estates who can’t shop at Waitrose not because capitalism has given them a dud hand, but because they’re too stupid to know what to feed themselves. Being a university student I'm exposed to this point of view a lot and every time someone espouses it I want to punch them.
The new one is the worst. It actually sits there and tells people how to look after their kids. People jump up and down when an issue like increased tax breaks for single parents comes up. The Nanny State has gotten too big! Well, this really is the Nanny State. Looking after the next generation because, clearly, we cannot.
And the science is dodgy. That advert claims with pride that deposits of fat in the body can lead to cancer. The dreaded ‘C’ word. One of those words that silences debate dead in its tracks with its taboo connotations. Can’t argue with it. it causes cancer. Except it doesn’t. The links between obesity and cancer and tenuous to say the least. Most scientists agree that it’s a classic case of correlation not causation. People who are more likely to be overweight are also more likely to smoke, live in substandard housing and work in jobs that expose them to things like cleaning products and asbestos dust. You know, things that have a much sounder scientific link to cancer.
But ultimately this represents the loss of free choice. You’re not allowed to eat what you want. You’re not allowed to feed and bring up your kids how you want. You must live exactly the way we tell you too.
Not that I'm not supporting healthy lifestyles, I just think that there’s been a convenient lack of acknowledgment that there’s more than one way to be healthy coupled with an almost Orwellian desire to keep the general public in check. As far as I'm concerned there’s only two people who can tell you whether you live a healthy lifestyle or not, you and your doctor.
Change4Life, fuck off!
Peace and love to everyone else x
4 November 2009
A Sickening Attack in Sheffield
I've just read a blog posted from the Sophie Lancaster Foundation's MySpace page. A woman was attacked on her wedding day simply because a few random twats didn't like the way she was dressed.
This is absolutely appauling. What on earth did those idiots feel gave them the right to first pass judgement on this poor woman and then proceed to physically assualt her? What kind of insecure moron enjoys ruining other people's wedding days?
Please click on the blog title for the full article or go to www.myspace.com/inmemoryofsophie
This is absolutely appauling. What on earth did those idiots feel gave them the right to first pass judgement on this poor woman and then proceed to physically assualt her? What kind of insecure moron enjoys ruining other people's wedding days?
Please click on the blog title for the full article or go to www.myspace.com/inmemoryofsophie
3 November 2009
The Most Random Weekend in the History of Humanity
I didn’t rant or tell you anything vaguely useful last week principally because I wasn’t here. I was chilling out in a little cottage up in Northumbria. Chilling being an appropriate word. It was very cold, and very windy, but it was nice to have a little relax. I also had a birthday while I was up there. Twenty one. Now I'm a fully functioning social adult in old money as well as new.
I don’t want to be accused of false advertising so I better get on with telling you about the Most Random Weekend in the History of Humanity. OK, maybe that’s a little bit of an exaggerated claim, but it was a lot of fun. There’s probably a fair few blogs floating out there in there in the mists of the internet describing various incomparably fun Whitby Gothic Weekends had by folks up and down the country, so I’ll spare you a blow by blow account of the entire four days of debauchery. That, and I didn’t really do much in the way of ‘official’ stuff (Sexy Sunday and saw two bands in the Res on Saturday. Well...kind of saw them) so I’ll leave the people who were actually there to tell you about the good stuff. I think the easiest way to do this will be a list of the incidents that made the weekend so much fun.
1. On the Thursday night I had a genuine ‘wardrobe malfunction’. My friend decided that my corset wasn’t laced up tightly enough to tightened it up for me, and snapped the cord. So before everything came flying out I legged it into a shop doorway for some damage limitation. Now being left with a much shorter cord I couldn’t lace up the top or bottom two eyelets so I was nowhere near as secure and spend the rest of the evening paranoid that the girls were going to make a bit for freedom.
2. My friend got attacked by a bat. How goth is that? She did not, however, cradle it gently, pat it on the head and whisper some Poe to it. Instead she shrieked and whacked it. I’ll be having some of those goth points back then. This is after she fell of a step and managed to take a photo mid flight (keep watching Facebook) and before my other friend fell down some different steps. I didn’t fall down steps, although I deserved it after laughing at the others. I did fall off a bed though.
3. The next day we ran into Random Hug Guy who was so famous he’d taken on an apprentice. The apprentice had the honour of wearing a sign around his neck proudly proclaiming the legend FREE HUGS. We gave them their hugs and then they decided to do an experiment. Would putting the sign on a girl increase the number of received hugs? So then I was wearing the sign and I did, actually, get more hugs. And some random guy who whipped me with seaweed. And someone else who yelled down the cliff top to his mate; ‘I've found a girl for you!’ I hid after that.
4. We went to the Res to see Uninvited Guest. They really were rather good, but it was too hot in there so we spent most of the night sat in the corridor by the ladies’ toilets. Then I lay down because I was tired and we had another five minutes of fame as people started taking pictures. Those were the ones who didn’t think I'd fainted.
5. Then it was the turn of the Creepy Guy. We had the honour of having the hotel room next to his. He introduces himself to people by asking if they like cake and then explaining that he makes friends by offering them cake. No one wants cake for breakfast. Few people want conversation at breakfast. He seemed to be providing an abundance of both. Then he started following the poor girls who worked in the hotel around. Then he came back so drunk that they had to call the police. I missed the last bit as I was actually doing something organised (Sexy Sunday) so my poor roommate was on her own.
6. Dancing the Macarena to the Sisters of Mercy. Hell yeah!
We also seemed to spend a disproportionate amount of time wandering around (in silly feet aching boots) looking for food, and it took a long time for the poor guy working at the Shambles on Friday night to get our drinks order right. We did, however, discover the joys of Archers and
Coke. Not a patch on Sourz and coke though.
A good weekend was had by all! Bring on New Year!
Peace and Love x
I don’t want to be accused of false advertising so I better get on with telling you about the Most Random Weekend in the History of Humanity. OK, maybe that’s a little bit of an exaggerated claim, but it was a lot of fun. There’s probably a fair few blogs floating out there in there in the mists of the internet describing various incomparably fun Whitby Gothic Weekends had by folks up and down the country, so I’ll spare you a blow by blow account of the entire four days of debauchery. That, and I didn’t really do much in the way of ‘official’ stuff (Sexy Sunday and saw two bands in the Res on Saturday. Well...kind of saw them) so I’ll leave the people who were actually there to tell you about the good stuff. I think the easiest way to do this will be a list of the incidents that made the weekend so much fun.
1. On the Thursday night I had a genuine ‘wardrobe malfunction’. My friend decided that my corset wasn’t laced up tightly enough to tightened it up for me, and snapped the cord. So before everything came flying out I legged it into a shop doorway for some damage limitation. Now being left with a much shorter cord I couldn’t lace up the top or bottom two eyelets so I was nowhere near as secure and spend the rest of the evening paranoid that the girls were going to make a bit for freedom.
2. My friend got attacked by a bat. How goth is that? She did not, however, cradle it gently, pat it on the head and whisper some Poe to it. Instead she shrieked and whacked it. I’ll be having some of those goth points back then. This is after she fell of a step and managed to take a photo mid flight (keep watching Facebook) and before my other friend fell down some different steps. I didn’t fall down steps, although I deserved it after laughing at the others. I did fall off a bed though.
3. The next day we ran into Random Hug Guy who was so famous he’d taken on an apprentice. The apprentice had the honour of wearing a sign around his neck proudly proclaiming the legend FREE HUGS. We gave them their hugs and then they decided to do an experiment. Would putting the sign on a girl increase the number of received hugs? So then I was wearing the sign and I did, actually, get more hugs. And some random guy who whipped me with seaweed. And someone else who yelled down the cliff top to his mate; ‘I've found a girl for you!’ I hid after that.
4. We went to the Res to see Uninvited Guest. They really were rather good, but it was too hot in there so we spent most of the night sat in the corridor by the ladies’ toilets. Then I lay down because I was tired and we had another five minutes of fame as people started taking pictures. Those were the ones who didn’t think I'd fainted.
5. Then it was the turn of the Creepy Guy. We had the honour of having the hotel room next to his. He introduces himself to people by asking if they like cake and then explaining that he makes friends by offering them cake. No one wants cake for breakfast. Few people want conversation at breakfast. He seemed to be providing an abundance of both. Then he started following the poor girls who worked in the hotel around. Then he came back so drunk that they had to call the police. I missed the last bit as I was actually doing something organised (Sexy Sunday) so my poor roommate was on her own.
6. Dancing the Macarena to the Sisters of Mercy. Hell yeah!
We also seemed to spend a disproportionate amount of time wandering around (in silly feet aching boots) looking for food, and it took a long time for the poor guy working at the Shambles on Friday night to get our drinks order right. We did, however, discover the joys of Archers and
Coke. Not a patch on Sourz and coke though.
A good weekend was had by all! Bring on New Year!
Peace and Love x
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