I've lost count of the amount of times with my friends that I have just totally lost it with laughter. When I have been in physical pain from the hilairty that my peers and I can conjure up together. The innumerable times I've caught the eye of someone who's spotted exactly what I've just spotted. The times the upper sixth at school take it upon themselves to rabidly and hilariously pretend to molest some of the boys in my year. It seems to me that being a teenager is a time when, despite exams, the opposite sex and all that other meaningless rubbish, you spend absurd amounts of time joking, pissing around and, as a result, laughing until urination is a probability.
And a worrying thought has gripped me. Is that going to stop soon?
I'm in Year 12, about to take my AS exams. This time next year, I'll be taking my A2 exams, to get into University. If I get in, I'm sure several years of loitering and inconvenient student jokery will ensue. But then what after that? Work, marriage, kids, piles, contracts, modems, moving vans, redecorating, new faces, loss of contact. Is the painfully incredible laughter I experience nearly every day with my friends going to vanish? Is time going to slowly erode the hilarity?
I'm scared of few things. The classics obviously- losing loved ones etc, chickens. but I suppose I'm also scared of waking up one day when I'm older and thinking "I haven't laughed til my sides hurt and I was crying like a baby with a rash since I was 17".
Think about it. How often do you see adults laughing as much as you probably do in a school day, or when you hang out with your friends? I don't know if it's anything to do with maturity. Surely stuff doesn't get less funny as you get older?
I want to laugh. I love the times I get to laugh. I love the things I laugh about. The in-jokes, the observances, the scenarios, all of it. And I'm going to try my damn hardest, God willing, to keep laughing. I want to keep in contact with the people who I know and love so much that we can cackle to embarrassment. Laughter is an incomprehensibly wonderful and bizarrely designed blessing from God. I want to make sure I hold onto it and get the best ride out of the thing I can. I want my lungs to be shredded, my sides to be split open like volcanic eruptions and my cheeks to be reddened and drowned with tears- all from laughter! And I hope you'll join me in making sure that we grow up gibbering, guffawing, joking, mirthful, giddy wrecks of joy!
Thursday 13 May 2010
Monday 10 May 2010
What is Football?
If you've know me for long enough to see me move, you'll probably know I'm not the world's greatest sportsman. Stick two bits of wood on my feet, push me down a snowy hill with a bunch of other skinny white middle class people and I'll be okay, but other than that, fail will inevitably ensue.
However, I've been Chelsea fan due to family-default since I was born. And over the last couple of years, this season especially, I've gotten into football (following, not playing. Oh no.) more than ever before; to such a degree that I've started to think about the whole idea of football a little more.
So, here's my question. I hope you'll reach an answer with me.
What is football?
Obviously, it's a game of foot and ball. Haha. But what is it really? Or what is it now? In terms of locals teams, which have grown into the teams and leagues we see today?
I suppose it all began as healthy sporting fun. We spiced up the competition by playing against people from elsewhere. The locals would turn out and support their team and so football became part of COMMUNITY. That, I think, was a massive step for football. Possibly the biggest. It became part of expressing and supporting your community, your tribe, your colours, your boys.
So it grew from there; and as we moved into the 20th century, television grew with it. The face of football began to change. Especially in the higher tiers. I think football nowadays has become mainly ENTERTAINMENT. That's not inherently bad, I'm sure people always watched it to be entertained as well as to support their locals. But now, especially in the Premier League, it's almost purely entertainment. The sense of real community, as far as I've seen and heard, is slowly evaporating. The bigger stadiums get quieter. I went to Old Trafford this season where Chelsea beat them 2-1, and the Man U fans, at a match that could potentially have decided the Premiership, were deathly silent! It was a travesty! The real fans there, I'm told (and at other Premier League grounds) are broken up by fans who buy tickets simply because they're a big premiership team. According to older football fans I know, lots of Koreans and other non-English people, who don't really know or love football like the locals do, buy up the tickets and that just kills the atmosphere. Because the season tickets are priced beyond the reach of normal, local fans and bought up by wealthy foreigners or fans who live at the opposite end of the country. People only there for entertainment. But then you have a manager like Mourinho who is an incredible manager and creates champions, yet plays football that is severely uninteresting to watch. But we still pour out to be entertained by it. Why?
I think, on the flip side of the fairweather fans, you have people for whom it's just HABIT. Plenty of people turn out every week at the home ground because it's what they've always done, even if the community aspect is vanishing. It's still part of their IDENTITY. For some people, it's everything. It's what their friendships are based on, what their weeks aim towards and what their weekends revolve around. That, to me, is genuinely saddening. I have met peope for whom, genuinely, their team is everything. It's the highest pursuit in their life. And that's so sad. And I think I know why they're like that, partly.
Linked to football becoming simply entertainement is the fact that it is a massive testament to the power of MEDIA AND ADVERTISING. The sporting press and media in Britain pump out this insanely funded and orchestrated campaign to put football everywhere, to suck as many untold millions out of it as they can. It's advertising and media that convince us that, what is arguably just 22 blokes play footy is an industry worth billions. That it's worth paying hundreds for a guarantee to watch that every week. That it's worth paying to watch that at home, and, of course, in HD. Essentially, we get this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MusyO7J2inM
Those are a few thoughts on what I see football as, at least in the Premier League in 2010. Maybe you disagree. Maybe I'm totally wrong. I'm far from the fount of footballing knowledge. Do feedback to me.
QUESTION: Is football more than 22 blokes kicking a ball around for 90 minutes?
However, I've been Chelsea fan due to family-default since I was born. And over the last couple of years, this season especially, I've gotten into football (following, not playing. Oh no.) more than ever before; to such a degree that I've started to think about the whole idea of football a little more.
So, here's my question. I hope you'll reach an answer with me.
What is football?
Obviously, it's a game of foot and ball. Haha. But what is it really? Or what is it now? In terms of locals teams, which have grown into the teams and leagues we see today?
I suppose it all began as healthy sporting fun. We spiced up the competition by playing against people from elsewhere. The locals would turn out and support their team and so football became part of COMMUNITY. That, I think, was a massive step for football. Possibly the biggest. It became part of expressing and supporting your community, your tribe, your colours, your boys.
So it grew from there; and as we moved into the 20th century, television grew with it. The face of football began to change. Especially in the higher tiers. I think football nowadays has become mainly ENTERTAINMENT. That's not inherently bad, I'm sure people always watched it to be entertained as well as to support their locals. But now, especially in the Premier League, it's almost purely entertainment. The sense of real community, as far as I've seen and heard, is slowly evaporating. The bigger stadiums get quieter. I went to Old Trafford this season where Chelsea beat them 2-1, and the Man U fans, at a match that could potentially have decided the Premiership, were deathly silent! It was a travesty! The real fans there, I'm told (and at other Premier League grounds) are broken up by fans who buy tickets simply because they're a big premiership team. According to older football fans I know, lots of Koreans and other non-English people, who don't really know or love football like the locals do, buy up the tickets and that just kills the atmosphere. Because the season tickets are priced beyond the reach of normal, local fans and bought up by wealthy foreigners or fans who live at the opposite end of the country. People only there for entertainment. But then you have a manager like Mourinho who is an incredible manager and creates champions, yet plays football that is severely uninteresting to watch. But we still pour out to be entertained by it. Why?
I think, on the flip side of the fairweather fans, you have people for whom it's just HABIT. Plenty of people turn out every week at the home ground because it's what they've always done, even if the community aspect is vanishing. It's still part of their IDENTITY. For some people, it's everything. It's what their friendships are based on, what their weeks aim towards and what their weekends revolve around. That, to me, is genuinely saddening. I have met peope for whom, genuinely, their team is everything. It's the highest pursuit in their life. And that's so sad. And I think I know why they're like that, partly.
Linked to football becoming simply entertainement is the fact that it is a massive testament to the power of MEDIA AND ADVERTISING. The sporting press and media in Britain pump out this insanely funded and orchestrated campaign to put football everywhere, to suck as many untold millions out of it as they can. It's advertising and media that convince us that, what is arguably just 22 blokes play footy is an industry worth billions. That it's worth paying hundreds for a guarantee to watch that every week. That it's worth paying to watch that at home, and, of course, in HD. Essentially, we get this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MusyO7J2inM
Those are a few thoughts on what I see football as, at least in the Premier League in 2010. Maybe you disagree. Maybe I'm totally wrong. I'm far from the fount of footballing knowledge. Do feedback to me.
QUESTION: Is football more than 22 blokes kicking a ball around for 90 minutes?
Monday 3 May 2010
The Decline of Glee
Some people find it odd that I watch Glee. Others find it very fitting. I've defended it for most of this series, fobbing off the criticisms of non "Gleeks" and even ignoring some of the things in Glee which grated with me personally. I think, however, it's going too far.
Glee has had, in my view, a pretty bipolar level of quality. The hype before it was released here in the UK made it seem like a new, exciting, vibrant show. The idea of a programme having new renditions of songs every week ppealed to me. The fact that it was billed as having an equal ratio of pop songs to showtunes really appealed to me.
When Series 1 began, I was a little underwhelmed. It wasn't too funny. The characters were pretty standard. But that was made up for by the generally impressive vocal performances and arrangements, Sue Sylvester, and the fact that it still seemed the show had "heart".
As the series moved on, it gained momentum. It went up in my books, I can tell you that much. It developed its own quirky sense of humour, Rachel's persistent diva-ness began to grow more amusing and the pregnancy storyline was quite interesting. The show was promoting acceptance of the outcasts, the geeks, the losers. It had become a really solid, well performed, unique TV show. The renditions of songs from musicals were especially brilliant. I still think the best performance so far is Kristin Chenowerth and Lea Michele singing "Maybe This Time".
I had a few niggling issues though. And gradually those issues have grown. They've corrupted the show, lessened my enjoyment of it and besmirched the series as it has gone on.
1) Relationships
This was the first thing that really bothered me. Throughout the whole series you were made to root for Will to leave his wife for Emma. Yes, his wife is a crazy, selfish harpy, but they are still married.Gradually, the show's presentation of relationships has worsened. Take Rachel: she's gone from Finn, to Puck, to Finn, to Will, to Finn, to Jesse, with no lasting repercussions, no condemning of the fact that you should't flit from relationship to relation ship like that. Even Will has had it off with two women immediately after he left his wife and the show has had no consequence or condemnation of it. It makes relationships seem dispensable and insignificant.
2. The Story is Going Nowhere
This has become an issue more in the second half of this series. Everything since they won sectionals and Will left his wife has been almost pure filler. The songs simply draw out a very insubstantial plot, most episodes are driven by the pointless, shallow romances; flippantly thrown in to mask the fact that the writers can't write a whole episode. Mercedes and Kurt joining the cheerios, when they've spent the whole series learning to accept their uniqueness? Amber making an utterly pointless return? Kurt's dad and Finn's mum falling in love just like that? Please. Have some respect for your audience.
3. The "HSM" Factor
This has nothing to do with the misspelt abbreviations for the ships of our wonderful British navy. No. It's the High School Musical factor. That is: the message is supposedly all about accepting the outsiders for what they are, saying you don't have to be popular or beautiful. But that's totally undermined as all of the main characters are played by very attractive actors and actresses, who have their voices autotuned. Heck, even when they try to return to that message, it's done ineloquently and unoriginally i.e. the performance of "Beautiful" this week. Good pop song, hardly an inspired choice though. And the delivery hardly original either.
4. Less Showtunes!
The show has had progressively less songs from musicals, which really upsets me! Musical numbers have been the highlights for me. Their gradual disappearance signals the dumbing down of the show, and how it's becoming gradually more commercial, losing the heart and flare that endeared it to me at first.
So there are what I think are the four key factors in the decline of Glee. I'll keep watching. Until the end of this series at least. See if everything I've raised is resolved. I haven't looked up what happens next, so we'll see. If I'm honest, I don't anything will change. Maybe you disagree though.
Question: Do you think Glee has gotten worse as it's gone along? Why?
Glee has had, in my view, a pretty bipolar level of quality. The hype before it was released here in the UK made it seem like a new, exciting, vibrant show. The idea of a programme having new renditions of songs every week ppealed to me. The fact that it was billed as having an equal ratio of pop songs to showtunes really appealed to me.
When Series 1 began, I was a little underwhelmed. It wasn't too funny. The characters were pretty standard. But that was made up for by the generally impressive vocal performances and arrangements, Sue Sylvester, and the fact that it still seemed the show had "heart".
As the series moved on, it gained momentum. It went up in my books, I can tell you that much. It developed its own quirky sense of humour, Rachel's persistent diva-ness began to grow more amusing and the pregnancy storyline was quite interesting. The show was promoting acceptance of the outcasts, the geeks, the losers. It had become a really solid, well performed, unique TV show. The renditions of songs from musicals were especially brilliant. I still think the best performance so far is Kristin Chenowerth and Lea Michele singing "Maybe This Time".
I had a few niggling issues though. And gradually those issues have grown. They've corrupted the show, lessened my enjoyment of it and besmirched the series as it has gone on.
1) Relationships
This was the first thing that really bothered me. Throughout the whole series you were made to root for Will to leave his wife for Emma. Yes, his wife is a crazy, selfish harpy, but they are still married.Gradually, the show's presentation of relationships has worsened. Take Rachel: she's gone from Finn, to Puck, to Finn, to Will, to Finn, to Jesse, with no lasting repercussions, no condemning of the fact that you should't flit from relationship to relation ship like that. Even Will has had it off with two women immediately after he left his wife and the show has had no consequence or condemnation of it. It makes relationships seem dispensable and insignificant.
2. The Story is Going Nowhere
This has become an issue more in the second half of this series. Everything since they won sectionals and Will left his wife has been almost pure filler. The songs simply draw out a very insubstantial plot, most episodes are driven by the pointless, shallow romances; flippantly thrown in to mask the fact that the writers can't write a whole episode. Mercedes and Kurt joining the cheerios, when they've spent the whole series learning to accept their uniqueness? Amber making an utterly pointless return? Kurt's dad and Finn's mum falling in love just like that? Please. Have some respect for your audience.
3. The "HSM" Factor
This has nothing to do with the misspelt abbreviations for the ships of our wonderful British navy. No. It's the High School Musical factor. That is: the message is supposedly all about accepting the outsiders for what they are, saying you don't have to be popular or beautiful. But that's totally undermined as all of the main characters are played by very attractive actors and actresses, who have their voices autotuned. Heck, even when they try to return to that message, it's done ineloquently and unoriginally i.e. the performance of "Beautiful" this week. Good pop song, hardly an inspired choice though. And the delivery hardly original either.
4. Less Showtunes!
The show has had progressively less songs from musicals, which really upsets me! Musical numbers have been the highlights for me. Their gradual disappearance signals the dumbing down of the show, and how it's becoming gradually more commercial, losing the heart and flare that endeared it to me at first.
So there are what I think are the four key factors in the decline of Glee. I'll keep watching. Until the end of this series at least. See if everything I've raised is resolved. I haven't looked up what happens next, so we'll see. If I'm honest, I don't anything will change. Maybe you disagree though.
Question: Do you think Glee has gotten worse as it's gone along? Why?
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