I write this while listening to Mumford and Sons, wanting to marry Matt Smith and/or David Tennant and sitting under a Monty Python poster, all whilst sipping a cup of Earl Grey.
Most people who are considered "discerning" have come to grips with this simple fact:
Stuff in Britain is just better.
From comedy to music to beverage choice, British popular culture is seeping into America. And I couldn't be happier. In my opinion, American entertainment has become too polished. The color is more vibrant, the actors more beautiful, the puns wittier, and the situations more dramatic, all to combat a growing level of desensitization. It's all about the next best thing. Who can be bigger. Flashier. Cooler. Push the envelope more. Put the most poop jokes in a 90-minute movie.
And I'm tired of it.
Which is why I like British stuff! Very few British television actors are drop-dead gorgeous. Special effects are comparatively substandard. Mumford and Sons isn't auto-tuned to all hell. The humor is low-key plays on words and situational irony. It all serves to make British entertainment both more approachable and enjoyable.
So many of the things that have become indispensable to my entertainment had their genesis in Great Britain. Hats off to the Brits and God save the queen.
TV: Dr. Who, The Office, Whose Line is it Anyway, Antiques Roadshow, Hell's Kitchen, The Daily Show, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Undercover Boss, What Not to Wear, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and more.
Music: The Beatles, Mumford and Sons, Coldplay, Muse, The Smiths, Radiohead, Keane, Franz Ferdinand, David Grey, Dido, James Blunt, Natasha Bedingfield, The Gorillaz, to name a few.
Books: William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, George Orwell, JK Rowling, William Golding, Agatha Christie, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Phillip Pullman, Neil Gaiman, Oscar Wilde, Ian McEwan, etc.
And we thought The British Invasion ended in 1966.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Something's Wrong Here...
I debate for my college, which means I pride myself on my ability to follow what's going on in the world.
Has anyone else noticed the huge discrepancy in coverage between Libya and Japan?
For my readers who live under a rock, let me give you a quick rundown on what's been going down.
Japan: A couple of weeks ago, the biggest earthquake in the last hundred years rocked the country and caused massive devastation. 9,000 people are dead. 13,000 people are missing. Nuclear power plants collapsed, spewing radiation everywhere, including into the ocean and agricultural areas.
Libya: Moammar Gadhafi has been a despot since 1969. There have been a series of protests running through the Middle East and northern Africa (the most notable being Egypt and Tunisia). Libyan rebels decided to follow suit. Things have gotten a bit hairy. And by a bit, I mean that there was military action against the rebels, the French actively came out in support of the rebels, Gadhafi vowed a blood bath, the UN supported the rebels, Obama spoke out against Gadhafi and the US bombed Tripoli (Libya's capital), 48 people died, the US is backing off a little bit, and Gadhafi is still defiant.
Don't get me wrong. They're both a big deal. But if you take a look at the implications and potential damage of both of them, one vastly outweighs.
(Japan, if you didn't figure it out.)
Which one is getting the most media coverage and attention?
Libya.
Huh.
Has anyone else noticed the huge discrepancy in coverage between Libya and Japan?
For my readers who live under a rock, let me give you a quick rundown on what's been going down.
Japan: A couple of weeks ago, the biggest earthquake in the last hundred years rocked the country and caused massive devastation. 9,000 people are dead. 13,000 people are missing. Nuclear power plants collapsed, spewing radiation everywhere, including into the ocean and agricultural areas.
Libya: Moammar Gadhafi has been a despot since 1969. There have been a series of protests running through the Middle East and northern Africa (the most notable being Egypt and Tunisia). Libyan rebels decided to follow suit. Things have gotten a bit hairy. And by a bit, I mean that there was military action against the rebels, the French actively came out in support of the rebels, Gadhafi vowed a blood bath, the UN supported the rebels, Obama spoke out against Gadhafi and the US bombed Tripoli (Libya's capital), 48 people died, the US is backing off a little bit, and Gadhafi is still defiant.
Don't get me wrong. They're both a big deal. But if you take a look at the implications and potential damage of both of them, one vastly outweighs.
(Japan, if you didn't figure it out.)
Which one is getting the most media coverage and attention?
Libya.
Huh.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
In Honor of Friday
It is currently 12:04 AM which means it is officially Friday. Thank God. This has been one of the longest weeks of my life, simply because my already-abnormal-college-kid sleep cycle has been seriously screwed with by my trip to Costa Rica. A small price to pay for how awesome it was, but still.
In honor of the fact that it is now Friday, I am going to share something that lies very close to my heart. Move over, Justin Bieber! There's another teeny-bopper "musician" with inane, obvious lyrics out to spoon feed us repetitive lyrics.
The anthem of our youth.
SPOILER ALERT: Watch the video before reading what I have to say about it.
This video has gone viral, but not in a good way. More in a "Watch this. It's horrific." kind of way. I actually debated with myself whether or not I wanted to blog about it, for fear it would gain this song more attention. However, the part of me that wants to participate in a social commentary won out.
The things I find wrong with this video (besides the obvious musicality deficit):
1. The kids driving look twelve. In every other media depiction of high schoolers, twenty-five year old actors are used. This is why.
2. She doesn't use proper English by any stretch of the imagination.
3. I never went to a house party that cool when I was in high school.
4. Her biggest moral conundrum is whether or not to sit in the front or the back of the car.
5. She totally ditches out on her bus.
6. She needs to remind herself (and us) of the order of the days of the week.
7. It's Friday morning and she's already worried about her weekend ending.
8. It isn't imperative that you eat cereal for breakfast.
9. She wakes up with eyeliner on.
10. No. I don't know what IT is.
11. Wait. She wants time to fly?
12. What about the girl on her left? Apparently they aren't friends.
13. I still don't know IT.
14. Riding out the top of the convertible like that is dangerous.
15. "Sunday comes afterwards." Enough said.
16. What's with the awkward guy rapping in the middle of the song? He is entirely too old to be hanging out with a bunch of high school freshmen. There are a series of uncomfortable questions that need to be asked if he's cruising with them.
And I thought that what I listened to in 8th grade was bad...
In honor of the fact that it is now Friday, I am going to share something that lies very close to my heart. Move over, Justin Bieber! There's another teeny-bopper "musician" with inane, obvious lyrics out to spoon feed us repetitive lyrics.
The anthem of our youth.
SPOILER ALERT: Watch the video before reading what I have to say about it.
This video has gone viral, but not in a good way. More in a "Watch this. It's horrific." kind of way. I actually debated with myself whether or not I wanted to blog about it, for fear it would gain this song more attention. However, the part of me that wants to participate in a social commentary won out.
The things I find wrong with this video (besides the obvious musicality deficit):
1. The kids driving look twelve. In every other media depiction of high schoolers, twenty-five year old actors are used. This is why.
2. She doesn't use proper English by any stretch of the imagination.
3. I never went to a house party that cool when I was in high school.
4. Her biggest moral conundrum is whether or not to sit in the front or the back of the car.
5. She totally ditches out on her bus.
6. She needs to remind herself (and us) of the order of the days of the week.
7. It's Friday morning and she's already worried about her weekend ending.
8. It isn't imperative that you eat cereal for breakfast.
9. She wakes up with eyeliner on.
10. No. I don't know what IT is.
11. Wait. She wants time to fly?
12. What about the girl on her left? Apparently they aren't friends.
13. I still don't know IT.
14. Riding out the top of the convertible like that is dangerous.
15. "Sunday comes afterwards." Enough said.
16. What's with the awkward guy rapping in the middle of the song? He is entirely too old to be hanging out with a bunch of high school freshmen. There are a series of uncomfortable questions that need to be asked if he's cruising with them.
And I thought that what I listened to in 8th grade was bad...
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Facebook Means Never Having to Say Goodbye
I have 647 Facebook friends. I know all but one personally. I recently culled out nearly 100 people because realistically I knew I'd never talk to them again.
People from my class in high school. People I met once. People I swore I'd never lose touch with but then did by the time the next summer rolled around. Facebook tells me tritely that these people are my "friends" but in reality, they never have been. I interact with (optimistically) 1/6 of the people I call my "friends".
Before facebook, life had a natural ebb and flow. There's all sorts of corny quotations...like this one:
Facebook makes it so we rarely have to deal with someone walking out of our lives. We can forever keep tabs on them, see what they're up to, creep on their pictures, see if they're in a relationship. I maintain an illusion of closeness with that one girl in high school I used to BFFFFFFFFs with because I know all about her life. I just don't actually talk with her about it.
Facebook is going to kill the Christmas letter. Christmas letters are how my parents' generation (and those before) kept in touch with all of the people they felt obligated to keep in touch with and fill in on the details of what happened in the previous year. Now, if they're on facebook (and chances are they are), all that lazy bum has to do is look at your profile and coast through your pictures to see what's been going on in your life. It saves on both effort and postage.
It gives me pause, though. Right now, I'm carrying 647 people around with me. A good portion of them represent periods in my life I don't really want to go back to. A good portion of them I will never talk to again. Facebook has saddled me with them because I feel I should carry them with me. I have saddled myself with them because facebook makes them accessible.
Facebook has made it so much harder to leave the past in the past.
People from my class in high school. People I met once. People I swore I'd never lose touch with but then did by the time the next summer rolled around. Facebook tells me tritely that these people are my "friends" but in reality, they never have been. I interact with (optimistically) 1/6 of the people I call my "friends".
Before facebook, life had a natural ebb and flow. There's all sorts of corny quotations...like this one:
“Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same.”
Facebook makes it so we rarely have to deal with someone walking out of our lives. We can forever keep tabs on them, see what they're up to, creep on their pictures, see if they're in a relationship. I maintain an illusion of closeness with that one girl in high school I used to BFFFFFFFFs with because I know all about her life. I just don't actually talk with her about it.
Facebook is going to kill the Christmas letter. Christmas letters are how my parents' generation (and those before) kept in touch with all of the people they felt obligated to keep in touch with and fill in on the details of what happened in the previous year. Now, if they're on facebook (and chances are they are), all that lazy bum has to do is look at your profile and coast through your pictures to see what's been going on in your life. It saves on both effort and postage.
It gives me pause, though. Right now, I'm carrying 647 people around with me. A good portion of them represent periods in my life I don't really want to go back to. A good portion of them I will never talk to again. Facebook has saddled me with them because I feel I should carry them with me. I have saddled myself with them because facebook makes them accessible.
Facebook has made it so much harder to leave the past in the past.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Buy American Stuff!
I've been chillin' in Costa Rica with sixteen other pretty awesome people for a biology study tour that will actually garner me school credit for the last week or so. It's been pretty great. No lie. I've been hiking in some pretty sweet mountains, seeing some pretty sweet plants, wanting to pet some pretty sweet mammals and being scared out of my mind by some pretty sweet birds that are flying too close to my head.
Today we hiked down from the study station we've been staying at to the nearby town of San Vito. Let's be honest. You've never heard of it. It's not exactly tourist-central and the only thing of note nearby is the study station where a bunch of septuagenarians get really good at bird watching. You have to be looking for San Vito for a reason to find it.
We hiked down a ridiculously long trail (especially for an out-of-shape-non-athletic college student like me), up a road (which we happened to turn the wrong way on which resulted in us walking about 4 miles out of our way), up a few thousand hills, down a couple, up a few thousand more, all to get to this town.
Our goal? Buy cutesy touristy stuff for our friends and family to commemorate a trip they weren't on.
What we found? An American-centric community like I have never seen. We walked through shop after shop and found none of the hand-carved bird statues to sit awkwardly on mantels. We found fake Nike shoes (the swoosh had an extra little bump in it), overpriced Aeropostale and American Eagle purses, clothing stores modeling after American styles and (my favorite) a store called The American Store, which was basically our Goodwill, but for American clothes.
A simple explanation was offered by a lady from Costa Rica who had spent time living in New Jersey: "It's what the people want."
My question: Why?
Today we hiked down from the study station we've been staying at to the nearby town of San Vito. Let's be honest. You've never heard of it. It's not exactly tourist-central and the only thing of note nearby is the study station where a bunch of septuagenarians get really good at bird watching. You have to be looking for San Vito for a reason to find it.
We hiked down a ridiculously long trail (especially for an out-of-shape-non-athletic college student like me), up a road (which we happened to turn the wrong way on which resulted in us walking about 4 miles out of our way), up a few thousand hills, down a couple, up a few thousand more, all to get to this town.
Our goal? Buy cutesy touristy stuff for our friends and family to commemorate a trip they weren't on.
What we found? An American-centric community like I have never seen. We walked through shop after shop and found none of the hand-carved bird statues to sit awkwardly on mantels. We found fake Nike shoes (the swoosh had an extra little bump in it), overpriced Aeropostale and American Eagle purses, clothing stores modeling after American styles and (my favorite) a store called The American Store, which was basically our Goodwill, but for American clothes.
A simple explanation was offered by a lady from Costa Rica who had spent time living in New Jersey: "It's what the people want."
My question: Why?
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Of Free Speech and Just Being a Jerk
As anyone who pays any attention to anything knows, the Supreme Court decision about Westboro Baptist's right to picket a military funeral came down today. It's a blow to humanists everywhere, but the right to free speech has been upheld.
There's a constitutionally protected right to free speech. There isn't a constitutionally protected right to live out your days without being seriously offended.
Does it suck?
Yes.
Does Fred Phelps make my soul bleed?
Undoubtedly.
Do I think the Supreme Court actually did their job?
Yes. Yes, I do.
There's a constitutionally protected right to free speech. There isn't a constitutionally protected right to live out your days without being seriously offended.
Does it suck?
Yes.
Does Fred Phelps make my soul bleed?
Undoubtedly.
Do I think the Supreme Court actually did their job?
Yes. Yes, I do.
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