It's been a while since my last post, I've been busy with real life these last couple of weeks. I know it's hard to believe comic nerds have lives, but there you go. I'll probably blog about it in the near future, including my drunken hiking trip in the wilds of Worcestershire, but I'll wait until a bit more dust has settled on what my youngest brother now refers to as 'The Bewdley Incident' before I tell you all the gory details.
This post is about the Olympic Games that are happening at the moment. Whilst I'm pleased that Team GB has won so many medals this time, there's one thing that pisses me off about it all, and that's when our national anthem gets played when they're on the podium. What a horrible, dreary, out-of-date tune.
From a purely musical point of view, it's dull. In my opinion, a national anthem should be rousing. Not the same note over and over again. It's the lyrics and sentiment of it that bugs me. There are sixty million people living in Britain, why should we focus all our thanks on the one person, who, by accident of birth, happens to be our head of state? Especially at sporting events. I mean, for example, was it the Queen who got up at five every morning to go to the local swimming pool and train for years? Nope.
It's the same whenever the English football team play. I get embarrassed when the anthem is played. Only half of the team sing along. I've noticed that it tends to be the southern lads who sing along, and the northern lads who just stand there stony-faced (unless it's a northern lad that's the captain, he kind of has to or the newspapers will moan at him).
No other European monarchy's national anthem is so arse-kissy. You don't hear the Spanish football fans singing about their king (but that's probably because they're too busy making monkey noises at the opposing team's black players).
And what do the Scottish and Welsh athletes who win gold think when the national anthem is played? I can't see them giving much of a shit about our Queen. Since devolution, the Scots and Welsh have their own anthems now, so in that respect, God Save The Queen is outdated. It's a throwback to the days of the empire, and seeing as the empire no longer exists makes the song obsolete.
Maybe it's because I'm from an Irish family that I have a bit of disrespect for the royal family (my grandad used to spend his mornings writing funny comments all over the royals' pictures in the paper, and he never calls Prince Charles by his name, always referring to him as 'Lappy Lugs') but I do think of myself as English, and I'm proud of my Englishness. I just think that in the 21st Century, the thought of bowing and scraping to someone just because they happen to be from a cetain family is ridiculous. At the very least, we should change our bleeding horrible national anthem to something that's a bit more celebratory and inclusive.
Showing posts with label snobbery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label snobbery. Show all posts
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Hypocrisy: The Curse Of The Brummie Nerd.
Sorry for the big gap between posts, but I've been a busy Brummie boy lately. There's been lots of things I've wanted to comment on while I've been away, so this post is a quick roundup of my thoughts on said topics:
My accent:
It's been reported in a few newspapers in the last week or so that the Birmingham accent is the least liked of all the regional twangs. Apparently, prospective employers equate the Brummie accent with stupidity. So, do all companies in the West Midlands employ from outside the region because all the locals are stupid? Of course not. I'm sick and tired of the stick we Brummies get from the rest of the country. For example, in a recent episode of Ashes To Ashes, there was one character (played by Matthew MacFadyen) who was a famous charity fundraiser, who suffered from OCD, embezzling the money he'd raised by pulling a bath along, or some other bollocks.(As you can see, I was far from impressed with the return of Gene Hunt.) MacFadyen gave his character an unconvincing Brummie accent. This had no bearing on the plot, and seemed to be used just as shorthand for making the character a bit laughable. It's the same with Timothy Spall in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. It's just an accent, no better or worse than Scouse or Geordie or Cockney. And I couldn't really give a toss if people like my accent or not, it's part of who I am and where I'm from, and I'm not going to change it. I'm proud of where I'm from.
Sausages:
Apparently, sausages give you cancer. Does that mean that, in a couple of years, every time I want to munch on a sausage, I'll be forced to do so outside, whatever the weather? Forced to brave the elements, exiled, risking hypothermia just for the crime of being addicted to pork?
If sausages do give you cancer, then Germany is fucked.
Charlton Heston R.I.P. :
No good will ever come from kissing apes. Now old Chuck's dead, I can finally get his gun off him, at last!
As much as I disagreed with his stance on gun ownership, it's a shame he's no longer with us, he did make some great films. He's probably best remembered for his epics, Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments, etc., but generally, those biblical movies leave me cold. I liked Charlton's SF efforts from the late '60s and '70s: The Omega Man (much better than Will Smith's version of Matheson's I Am Legend) Soylent Green, and, of course, Planet Of the Apes:
Ta-ra, Chuck.
Return of the Doctor:
Doctor Who returned, and it was okay. Catherine Tate wasn't as annoying as last time, and the return of an old character at the end made me want to stick around to see what happens. The thing that gets me is how a lot of my female friends fancy David Tennant like mad. Besides the criminal jealousy this instils in me, I still think it's wrong that women should fancy the Doctor. When I was a kid, the Doctor was Tom Baker! Hardly a sex god. I don't remember my mother rushing to finish in the kitchen so she could rush in and swoon over him, anyway. Generally, all the Doctors have been a bit funny-looking. It goes against all tradition for women (or men, for that matter) to have a crush on Doctor Who. Actually, it goes against tradition to have women interested in SF in the first place!
(Not that I'm saying that it's a bad thing, by the way. It just tends to be a certain type of male that's really into SF. I don't know, one minute I rail against the stereotyping of Brummies, then I go and stereotype all SF fans. I know I'm a hypocrite, but as a Brummie nerd, it's just another reason for everyone to dislike me!)
That's all for this update. More from me soon, I promise!
My accent:
It's been reported in a few newspapers in the last week or so that the Birmingham accent is the least liked of all the regional twangs. Apparently, prospective employers equate the Brummie accent with stupidity. So, do all companies in the West Midlands employ from outside the region because all the locals are stupid? Of course not. I'm sick and tired of the stick we Brummies get from the rest of the country. For example, in a recent episode of Ashes To Ashes, there was one character (played by Matthew MacFadyen) who was a famous charity fundraiser, who suffered from OCD, embezzling the money he'd raised by pulling a bath along, or some other bollocks.(As you can see, I was far from impressed with the return of Gene Hunt.) MacFadyen gave his character an unconvincing Brummie accent. This had no bearing on the plot, and seemed to be used just as shorthand for making the character a bit laughable. It's the same with Timothy Spall in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. It's just an accent, no better or worse than Scouse or Geordie or Cockney. And I couldn't really give a toss if people like my accent or not, it's part of who I am and where I'm from, and I'm not going to change it. I'm proud of where I'm from.
Sausages:
Apparently, sausages give you cancer. Does that mean that, in a couple of years, every time I want to munch on a sausage, I'll be forced to do so outside, whatever the weather? Forced to brave the elements, exiled, risking hypothermia just for the crime of being addicted to pork?
If sausages do give you cancer, then Germany is fucked.
Charlton Heston R.I.P. :
No good will ever come from kissing apes. Now old Chuck's dead, I can finally get his gun off him, at last!
As much as I disagreed with his stance on gun ownership, it's a shame he's no longer with us, he did make some great films. He's probably best remembered for his epics, Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments, etc., but generally, those biblical movies leave me cold. I liked Charlton's SF efforts from the late '60s and '70s: The Omega Man (much better than Will Smith's version of Matheson's I Am Legend) Soylent Green, and, of course, Planet Of the Apes:
Ta-ra, Chuck.
Return of the Doctor:
Doctor Who returned, and it was okay. Catherine Tate wasn't as annoying as last time, and the return of an old character at the end made me want to stick around to see what happens. The thing that gets me is how a lot of my female friends fancy David Tennant like mad. Besides the criminal jealousy this instils in me, I still think it's wrong that women should fancy the Doctor. When I was a kid, the Doctor was Tom Baker! Hardly a sex god. I don't remember my mother rushing to finish in the kitchen so she could rush in and swoon over him, anyway. Generally, all the Doctors have been a bit funny-looking. It goes against all tradition for women (or men, for that matter) to have a crush on Doctor Who. Actually, it goes against tradition to have women interested in SF in the first place!
(Not that I'm saying that it's a bad thing, by the way. It just tends to be a certain type of male that's really into SF. I don't know, one minute I rail against the stereotyping of Brummies, then I go and stereotype all SF fans. I know I'm a hypocrite, but as a Brummie nerd, it's just another reason for everyone to dislike me!)
That's all for this update. More from me soon, I promise!
Friday, October 26, 2007
Egg-chucking.
I know this isn't exactly topical, with it all being finished last week (I've been a busy boy), but I'm glad the rugby world cup is over.
I know there's a lot of rugby fans out there. I can understand the appeal, it's a fast, violent sport, and I was pleased England got as far as they did (which pissed off my Scottish girlfriend. Sport's always good for rubbing the sweaty socks' noses in it) and was genuinely disappointed when they didn't win it.
What really pisses me off is the response to the tournament in the newspaper's letters pages that I've read in the last week. It's all been the same old "our football players could learn a lot from our rugby players" cobblers that was being spouted after the last rugby world cup. (These same letters pages were all saying the opposite at the beginning of the tournament, when England were playing shite.) Football , (or 'soccer' if you're from across the pond. I hate that term) is Britain's most popular sport. Always has been. Always will be. Rugby Union may be popular for the next fortnight or so, but it'll soon fade, just as it did four years ago, and that was when we actually won something!
I know a lot of Premier League players misbehave. I also know a lot more of them do loads of charity work and support a lot of schemes helping their clubs' local communities. I also know that, because of football's position as the number one sport, these players are under a lot more scrutiny than their egg-chucking counterparts, so any bad behaviour by a football player is going to turn up immediately in the papers. In fact, I seem to remember Lawrence Dallaglio making the papers for an alleged cocaine scandal, and Will Carling's various alleged trysts with women who weren't his wife, one of whom was the wife of the future king of England. (There goes the knighthood, eh, Will?) so, the paragons of virtues that are rugby union players aren't exactly that pearly white, are they?
And this is what pisses me off. All this moaning about our football players is just downright snobbery. Professional footballers are generally working class men who piss some people off because they make lots of money. (which is only right, in my opinion. I've never believed that footballers shouldn't make a lot of money. They are part of an entetainment industry, which in itself makes a lot of money. It's only right they should see some of the profits, as they're the ones punters are paying to see, and it is a very short career. I don't blame them for trying to make as much money as they can when they can. Hardly anyone moans about Tom Cruise making twenty million dollars a movie, which I think is more abhorrent. Have you seen Days Of Thunder?!)
Rugby players are, on the other hand, mostly middle-class. Until recently, they weren't even paid for playing rugger as they all had posh jobs like being accountants or quantity surveyors or company directors during the week. It seems to me that it's okay for rugby players to get pissed up (with members of the royal family, no less! I think I might join the army, if it's anything like Prince Harry's time in the forces, you get to get pissed as much as you like, go to swanky nightclubs and big sporting events all the time, and not actually do any fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan.), as it's just high spirits. If footballers do the same,(especially after losing an important match) it's another indictment of the sorry state of our national sport. It's just out-and-out snobbery and it shows that the class system is alive and well in our country, despite protestations to the contrary.
Right. I'm off to get pissed, now.
I know there's a lot of rugby fans out there. I can understand the appeal, it's a fast, violent sport, and I was pleased England got as far as they did (which pissed off my Scottish girlfriend. Sport's always good for rubbing the sweaty socks' noses in it) and was genuinely disappointed when they didn't win it.
What really pisses me off is the response to the tournament in the newspaper's letters pages that I've read in the last week. It's all been the same old "our football players could learn a lot from our rugby players" cobblers that was being spouted after the last rugby world cup. (These same letters pages were all saying the opposite at the beginning of the tournament, when England were playing shite.) Football , (or 'soccer' if you're from across the pond. I hate that term) is Britain's most popular sport. Always has been. Always will be. Rugby Union may be popular for the next fortnight or so, but it'll soon fade, just as it did four years ago, and that was when we actually won something!
I know a lot of Premier League players misbehave. I also know a lot more of them do loads of charity work and support a lot of schemes helping their clubs' local communities. I also know that, because of football's position as the number one sport, these players are under a lot more scrutiny than their egg-chucking counterparts, so any bad behaviour by a football player is going to turn up immediately in the papers. In fact, I seem to remember Lawrence Dallaglio making the papers for an alleged cocaine scandal, and Will Carling's various alleged trysts with women who weren't his wife, one of whom was the wife of the future king of England. (There goes the knighthood, eh, Will?) so, the paragons of virtues that are rugby union players aren't exactly that pearly white, are they?
And this is what pisses me off. All this moaning about our football players is just downright snobbery. Professional footballers are generally working class men who piss some people off because they make lots of money. (which is only right, in my opinion. I've never believed that footballers shouldn't make a lot of money. They are part of an entetainment industry, which in itself makes a lot of money. It's only right they should see some of the profits, as they're the ones punters are paying to see, and it is a very short career. I don't blame them for trying to make as much money as they can when they can. Hardly anyone moans about Tom Cruise making twenty million dollars a movie, which I think is more abhorrent. Have you seen Days Of Thunder?!)
Rugby players are, on the other hand, mostly middle-class. Until recently, they weren't even paid for playing rugger as they all had posh jobs like being accountants or quantity surveyors or company directors during the week. It seems to me that it's okay for rugby players to get pissed up (with members of the royal family, no less! I think I might join the army, if it's anything like Prince Harry's time in the forces, you get to get pissed as much as you like, go to swanky nightclubs and big sporting events all the time, and not actually do any fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan.), as it's just high spirits. If footballers do the same,(especially after losing an important match) it's another indictment of the sorry state of our national sport. It's just out-and-out snobbery and it shows that the class system is alive and well in our country, despite protestations to the contrary.
Right. I'm off to get pissed, now.
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