Grammar

Quick gripe.

Just need to know why some people type in these following ways:

-wthowt usng th prpr srt ov wrds nd nt mkng mch sns n da prcss.
-By Putting Capital Letters At The Start Of Every Word.
-Repeatingggg theeeee lasttttt letterrrr offfff everyyyyyy wordddddd.
-writing large amounts of text that span several pages that need to have punctuation but never seem to not even commas colons hashes or full stops then they dont have any paragraphs or capital letters anyway

Email/tweet me explaining why, I can't seem to get my head around it.

Much love, Steve

I can't take it anymore!!

For the best part of the last 3 months, there have been numerous arguments on Twitter between myself and a few people from my school. This argument has been about the infamous boyband McFly. I woke up this morning to see several tweets about the band and after throwing a few insluts about McFly, I thought about actually writing my exact thoughts of the boyband that are plagueing this country and it's charts.

I'll start by saying that I think these 4 lads are actually quite talented. One of their songs - Lies - is probably in my top 100 favourite songs. I think it's great that they play their own instruments and write their own words. Even if these instruments sound like they've been bought on the cheap at Argos and the vocal talent leaves much to be desired.

They also have a good stage presence. Watching them at the Isle of White festival, they really electrified the crowd. Even if they made a lackluster performance and the song composition changed from cheesy pop to soft rock. In other live performances, they seem to make the crowd ecstatic and bring girls to tears with their looks.

In fact, I think that the only problem with McFly is that they aren't real music. They are a manufactured pop band that sit on the same seat as Busted and Girls Aloud. People can like them all they want but the real musical afficionados who appreciate well written lyrics and strong beats will always have a hatred for them.

After writing this, I'm actually persuading myself that they're quite reasonable. I keep comparing them to other popular acts like Oasis and Blur but they're not anything like Oasis and Blur. Those bands were popular because they made revolutionarily good music that fitted the times. It just seems that McFly are doing the same thing. They're making manufactured pop music on Argos guitars and drums that put people in a good mood. And unfortunately, thats what teenagers and kids are into these days.

It has to be said that McFly are alot better than these Disney 'musicians' who spout out crappy albums every other hour (Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus are good examples). McFly went from a group of four boys supporting Busted to a band that outlived Busted themselves and are probably just as good. Actually no, Busted are better, solely because Charlie is an absolute legend and Fightstar are awesome.

So Twitter people who keep arguing over McFly. This is my statement. McFly are ok. They are not good, but they have really worked hard to get where they are. They're music is obvious pop-orientated so they shouldn't be compared to Radiohead or Kings of Leon. They should be compared to bands like Jonas Brothers and soloists like Sam Beeton. And if you look at it that way, McFly are acutally quite a good group. I'd much rather listen to Lies than anything 'written' by Miley Cyrus.

Still, their cover of Don't Stop Me Now was the second worst thing to ever happen to music. The first being the birth of Alexandra Burke.

Hope that settles it!

-Steve

Not another review

I used to hate everything about metal music. Loud, shouty and repetitive. Then I found Pearl Jam. Admittedly they aren't metal, they're more soft-rock if I'm honest. But if you look at some of their early stuff, they successfully combine soft-rock with metal. And I think this comes up on their best album, Ten.

Even Flow and Black are easily the best songs. I'd go as far to say that Black is in my Top 50 awesome songs. It'd probably sit around the low 20's. Even Flow is the defining track on the album though. It puts the sounds of shrill guitars and ballad-like vocals together seamlessly, much better than any DJ could but two songs together.

The album dips towards the end with Last Kiss. Sounds very reminiscent of Bret Michaels. It's a good song, just sits uncomfortably in the album. Imagine a goth at a 50 Cent concert. Now put Last Kiss in place of the goth and the album in place of 50 Cent.

But apart from that slightly 'bleh' moment, I'd easily give this album a: 8/10

For some odd reason, I've become obsessed with Journey. I don't know why but I seem to be listening to their music all the time. I'm now trying to find a way to follow each member of the band on Twitter so I can stalk them like some other people do. Although I'd be stalking a decent band and not a band with two good songs. Yes...anyway.

Journey. They grew up as city boys, and they were born and raised in South Detroit. Then one night they decided to pack up and take a midnight train that happened to be going to a small town called "Anywhere". There, they met a small town girl, who was - at the time - living in a lonely world. Oddly enough, she had arrived at the town of "Anywhere" via this train which departed at midnight.

This group of 5 young city slickers realised then, that they had the Eye of the Tiger and that they would become famous in any way they wanted. Because after all, that's the way they needed it.

Time to stop using lyrics and actually review the album.

It's good. Very good. Not as good as Ten, but still very good and very catchy. I would like to hope that at least half of you (so near enough 400) will now be clicking on to youtube to listen to one of their songs but I know you probably aren't.

So yes, good album in which all of the songs are good. But it's good and it's not great, so it can only get 6/10. Also, the album art is awful.



Blur and Oasis are my two most favouritest bands ever. I can't fault any one of their songs, and that's honest. I'm normally very critical and if an 'indie' band go mainstream I virutally explode and yell about how the mainstream ruins bands. This is why I listen to folk and techno, becuase they're both so awful as genres that they can't be mainstream.

Parklife is the best album done by Blur - or at least the best non-compilation album. It's title track is their best but Girls and Boys doesn't sit too far behind it. Badhead and Clover Over Dover should have been released as singles over This Is a Low and To The End but I think that the fact they weren't singles increases exclusivity and shows that the people with real love for the band will listen and enjoy that track.

The title track, Parklife, is my favourite Blur track, mainly because Phil Daniels executes the vocals in such a fantastic way: "I feed the pigeons, I sometimes feed the Sparra's too. It gives me a sense of enormous wellbeing." And the lyrics are just genius. "I get up at eight, except on Wednesday's when I get rudely awaken by the dustman." The video is downright genius with a young looking Albarn acting as a work-experience victim.

Alex James is mediocre while Rowntree and Coxon exceed, creating a very strong atmosphere of brit-pop guitars. This album, and this song, really exceed expectations. And although Midlife is what I'd suggest for new-comers to Blur, I would say that this is the quintessential Blur album.

Easily a 9/10.

-Steve

Heirachy

Now to consider the heirachy of Britain in a wider aspect.

That café in the photo sits nicely in the middle of my hometown, Bournemouth. Recently, while in town, I sat on a small ledge just to the left of where this photo was taken. With a coffee in my hand, I watched the world go buy from the cover of my heavily-tinted glasses. In that short space of time in which I was waiting to meet up with some people, I saw a lot of things.

The first thing was (as I said previously) a man in a fairly nice suit, the trousers were quite short and showed a pair of white socks though, how tacky. He looked quite distressed, with his left hand covering his face and his right holding a fairly scratched iPhone. He had a cup of coffee in front of him and a copy of The Sun (or The Star). As he put the phone down and walked away, you could see he was annoyed about something. Perhaps it was the way he marched off or the fact he had just realised that he had lost something. He did that thing people do when they're confused, sort of flap about and check every pocket two or three times, even though they know it's not there.





Then as he marched off, the charity worker came into view. He seemed like a fairly nice chap, unshaven and wearing a vest promoting some sort of animal welfare charity. A smile seemed to be stuck on his face and it seemed every time my eye was cast on him, he was always saying pleasentries to another shopper and wishing them a 'good day'. The businessman marched through him and shot a glare at the chap who had just wished him 'good day'. This sort of thing can really make a person sad. Not sad like when you see a puppy with a missing leg. But sad in such a way that you are saddened by the way it reflects us. (Pardon my awful sentencing there).

Heirachy. It's a very interesting term. I think it's basically showing the class system in a pyramid form. The working class is at the bottom, with the largest amount of people. The middle classes sit in the middle, with an average amount. And the upper classes sit just above the middle, right at the top, with a much lesser number. Perhaps it's good to have a heirachy that puts people 'in their rightful place'. Or perhaps it isn't. Perhaps it's a bad thing that splits people and makes people feel ashamed for talking to people below them in the pyramid.

Considering my recent change of heart, I now think that classes should be abolished. Why should people think they're above others because they've got more money? Here's a quote from my mother: "Does the fact that Wayne Rooney is rich mean that he is also upper class?" No it doesn't. If we are going to have a class system, then it should be based around something else.

Heirachy. It's a very interesting term. All it does is boost and break people's egos.

Hopefully this poster will give a better representation of the problems with class and heirachy:

-Steve

Youth Culture

Well I said I'd give my views on our current government in my last post but I had a change of heart and wanted to talk about me and my peers instead.

I've recently been talking to a 'friend' of mine who I 'met' a few months back on a game called World Of Warcraft. He's about 30 and no, he is not what you are thinking, be mature. He said that the problem with kids today is that the parents have no control. I don't agree, though I found it interesting.

A look around my largest nearby 'city' (Bournemouth) presents the eye with a very interesting array of people. The Big Issue seller, the Buisnessman, the Teenager. The Buisnessman sits on his own, gazing into a cup of off-brown coffee, talking on their iPhone to another Businessman sitting on his own, gazing into his cup of off-brown coffee. It's quite a sad and mundane life if you think about it.

The Teenager(s) sit, regimented, in their baggy uniforms, jeering at other teenagers who aren't like them. Teenagers have a sub-culture where they feel that they're cooler and will earn more respect if they take the mickey out of someone who is an 'emo' or a 'goth' or whatever the hell else there is these days. This is also a sad life but it's also a very sad thing for someone else to see.

The Big Issue seller should be having an awful life. They're (probably) quite poor and in need of some sort of help. They might have family issues or they might just have a personal issue to do with some sort of substance, that's not for me to say. But they're happy. They always sound cheery and always wish people a 'nice day'. So why is the Big Issue man happier than the teenager or the businessman? Because we have developed a heirachy.

I'll look at the entire heirachy next time (maybe I'll keep to that), and today I'll look at the teenage heirachy.

There's a lot of pressure being a teenager. You have to wear the newest clothes and have the best hair and the most money. Then you have to be part of the big clique and have all the cool people as your friends. But then there's another extreme. Some teenagers wear the cheapest clothes and have the scruffiest hair and have the least money. These teens are part of the 'chavvy' group and think that to be cool, you have to have respect. And you gain respect by being 'hard' and stealing things and whatever. How sad.

So the heirachy isn't in a triangular shape. It's sort of like a weird semi-circle with a hole in the middle. The people at the bottom are (unfortunately) seen as the 'geeks' who play too many computer games and don't have many friends. The weird thing is that these 'geeks' can actually be very intelligent and might just be quite shy. But becuase they don't have the most money, or don't have the best hair, they get shunned and people from the trendy clique look down on them and people from the 'chavvy' clique take the mickey out of them.

What a sad thing to see in the 21st century. I sometimes wonder where I fit in. But I don't think I fit in anywhere on there. I'm just sort of...not like that. I'm not one of the uber-popular kids, I don't regard myself as a 'geek' and I'm not even slightly 'chavvy'. Is this a good thing? Is it good to be outside the mainstream? Why do I keep writing rhetorical questions? That's your decision. I like being the sort of person I am. I don't sit in Bournemouth and take the mickey out of other people. I don't look down on the 'geeks'. I don't even have a problem with 'chavs'. Maybe it would be better if we just stopped with all this grouping and just were who we wanted to be.

Maybe in 10 years time everyone will get along and there won't be any more knife-violence. People might not be grouped by how much money they have or what clothes they wear. But from what I'm seeing now. There's more chance of Ahmadinejad admitting that the election was rigged than that happening.

Peace out readers. (How ironic is that photo?)

-Steve

MMR

For some completely unknown and obscure reason, I have suddenly lost all interest in the idea of being a smarmy right-wing teenager and have decided to become a smarmy left-wing teenager In fact, an extreme left-wing teenager. I used to have mad love for the Conservative party and would defend them to my death. But suddenly I've become a supporter of the most left-wing party in Britain.

What does this have to do with MMR? Not much now, but it will. Why do I always start paragraph two with a rhetorical question? For effect. Anyay, MMR. The 'one size fits all' vaccine that is given to children at birth so as to stop them getting measels, mumps or rubella. Good job world, you've made giving vaccines a lot easier, you all deserve medals saying positive messages.

Well no you fecking don't!!

I was born amidst a 'crisis' in Britain. Several children (whose mothers were over 35 at their birth) had become autistic after getting the MMR. I was imeddiately pulled out and wasn't vaccinated. Then the next time the same happened and I was pulled out again. So I never received the injection because I fell into this category. I also showed early signs of autism and getting the MMR was not a good plan.

Today I went to "The North" and had a nice woman stick a needle in me. Then I was told I could go. "Hold on a second" says anyone reading this with an IQ over 12 - "why didn't you have it done nearer?" Well because of the NHS and our government. That's why people. Because they don't want people having seperate injections: Me and the family had to drive about 150 miles to the north and then pay £100 to have a very kind woman stick a needle full of disease into my arm. Then I just left.

Thanks to the nice people at 10 Downing Street, I can't get the measles jab in my area. They think that it is coincidental that children who are born when their mothers are over 35 seem to get autism in higher numbers than children who are born when their mothers were under 35. Because of this, they've sent all incoming mumps vaccines to the NHS to put into MMR jabs instead of the single vaccine.

Governments lie. It's a simple fact of life. The people who we elect and trust to lead our country lie and cheat, using our tax mon- wait, I'll save that one for next time.

In short. I'm a socialist who is pissed off at our free healthcare system. Hypocrisy is a beautiful thing.

-Steve

Tea

Several hundred years ago, some chinese people thought that adding water from their hot springs onto some leaves would be a good plan. It wasn't and they all became horribly addicted to a very dangerous strand of opium that is about 20 times more powerful than the strongest form of heroin. But that didn't stop them! They tried warmer water and new leaves. Eventually, they found the modern day "Afternoon Tea" and grew more. This pleased people worldwide and suddenly China became a prosperous tea-producing country.

Then Britain put a big flag in the ground and stole all the tea and sold it for stupid prices to a city called Boston in the USA. They tried to sell it for stupid money and the Boston folk got (for use of a better word) pissed off. So they rebeled and stole the tea. This apparently revolutionized America and led to the independance of the US of A. Good for them, but Britain still sold and stole tea. Selling it for extortionate amounts to countries around the world. And this trend hasn't changed.

But now the noble Chinese are fighting back. And no, not as ninjas.

Green tea! What a fantastic idea. A back to basics tea that needs no milk or sugar or little single-serving packet of British Airways creamer. This is literally just some leaves and some hot water. It tastes good too. Though to be fair it doesn't taste of anything, it's just nice I s'pose. And green tea has changed everything to do with hot beverages.

It used to be coffee vs tea. Simple enough. Personally I prefer coffee to tea. A nice steaming cup of peruvian coffe is much more attractive to me than a plastic cup of luke-warm milky horse piss. And also, what the hell is up with creamer? It's just not right. You shouldn't be able to make your tea go milky by adding some sort of alien crystallized stuff to your concoction of murky water.

Back to the point. It would seem that green tea is a big player in the hot drinks industry now. In fact, imagine green tea as the Snoop Dogg of the hot drinks industry. It's not in your face and popular like 50p (coffee) and M&M's (Tea). It just sits back and will suddenly jump out in a moment of what can only be called: "pure freakin' awesomeness".

The other good thing about green tea is the flavours. I f***ing hate Lapsang Suschong. And I can't stand camomile or lemon tea. But green tea with peach is bloody beautiful. Mint green tea isn't great though, tastes like really weird chewing gum. And not good weird like Lee Evans. Bad weird like a 40 year old who still lives at home and plays computer games 25 hours a day.

So yes. Try a mug of green tea today. Or tomorrow, because it's almost midnight now and it might look odd you going downstairs or to the local co-op to buy/brew some tea. Word of advice though, let it brew for like....10 minutes. Otherwise it tastes like slightly watered down apple juice. And that may sound nice but it really isn't. In fact, it's like warm milk that's almost about to go mouldy but is actually still ok and you won't get ill if you drink it. But you think that if you do drink it then you might get ill. And when you tip it away you feel guilty for all the hard work the cow did.

Night night readers.

-Steve

European Elections

I'm suddenly very annoyed. Actually, bugger that. I'm downright disgusted!

We as a country have gone slowly downhill recently. I always thought that the racism situation in the UK was improving to the point where racial tensions had almost disappeared. But it seems not.

I have been following the news about the elections recently and was under the assumption on two points: 1) Labour have a problem, 2) Our PM might be gone by next week. Now I'm not a Labour supporter. I actually think that the SWP have the best ideas and would be the best party to get us out of the current recession. Odd isn't it. I'm a capitalist, consumerist middle-class teenager who thinks that the socialists have the best ideas. Oh well aren't I a bit radical.

Anyway. I've just been flicking through the Guardian's breaking news section and something has just ruined my day. I don't even think my law exam in the morning could ruin today any more. In fact, even if I got my foot run over by a car as I crossed the road, I still think that would be better than this news.

The BNP have a seat in Parliament. What a freakin' joke. Obviously I've just spouted a load of swear words and opinions with a smattering of distaste over Twitter/Facebook and have recieved an odd message telling me to stop cussing from an automated response thing. But he can go to hell because it was said for good reason!

Why is it that in modern society - a society built around morales and values - we have a racist and atrociously simple-minded party sitting in our government? I'd rather see Jeremy Kyle sitting on the bench than this chap. I think I'd rather have Jeremy Kyle sit a term as PM than have the BNP anywhere in our government.

And the same applies to UKIP as well. Why should we stop immigrants entering the country? Why should we move away from the EU?

1) Without the influx of immigrants from Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. We would have a problem with jobs on our hands. Polish plumbers, builders, denists, doctors. These are people who are trained to do these jobs (well most anyway) doing the jobs we don't want to do. And then when we do want those jobs, we get arsey because the Poles got there before us. Well good on the Polish to be honest. Same applies to other Eastern-Europeans and whatever.
2) The EU supplies us with valuable trade routes that help our economies and provide fundature for Britain. Moreover, if we had never joined the EU; we would have to seriously bolster our port customs so as to make up for the jobs which the border patrols in other countries do for us. And anyway, who really minds if we have a few people from the A8 coming to work in Britain? It means they spend more (although some do just send money home and live on the bare minimum).

As I said on Twitter just moments ago: What the f#@& is wrong with society these days?!

-Steve

No. Britain has not got talent.

I hate reality TV. There is something really awful about watching people make utter pricks of themselves. Last year we had Alexandra Burke destroy a Jeff Buckley classic and then disappear from the face of the Earth. Then we had celebrity(?) Big Brother in which some z-list stripper porbably won. And now we have normal Big Brother. The cesspit of entertainment.

But the awfulness of all those shows is dwarfed by this one. Britain's Got Talent. I think I've found the best way to define this show: "It's a bit like an orgasm. It feels so important at the time but two weeks later, no body cares." And that's so true. Last week everyone was talking about Susan Boyle or Diversity or Stavros and Flatlpack Furniture. But now, about 10% of those people are going on that tour they do and the rest couldn't give two shits if I'm honest.

The worst thing about the show is that it has it's 'obvious winners' who - completely out of nowhere - suddenly become unpopular. Why does this happen? Probably becuase it means that the smarmy Simon Cowell can buy another house in the peak district that's built inside a mountain.

Then the winners. Oh christ. I feel so sorry for our Queen. Having to sit and watch to the drooling cretin that win that show. Last year she got some 12 year old who just got wet and threw himself around the stage. No flippin' wonder he has back problems! And Diversity. Why the hell would the Queen want to watch some teenagers doing the robot? I would really like to see the camera pan up to the Queen to see her drooling on Prince Charles' shoulder.

Then Susan Boyle. AHHH. Another person Max Clifford can grab onto until they die .

I just wish that all these shows would disappear and they show decent television instead. Then they could show quality TV like Scrubs, Everybody Loves Raymond and Two and a Half Men.

Also, new album out soon by me. Not for free, might try to set up some downloading thing. I'll have a chat with people.

Much love, Steve.

E3

I normally blog about the in depth details of what happened at E3 this year (well I did on my old one). But I think I can sum it up in one paragraph:

The wii is now obsolete. The computer is now obsolete. The PS3 is (and always was) obsolete. The xbox is now ruler of the free world, allowing people to wave their arms around as if holding a wii remote but not actually holding anything. Also, Twitter and Facebook on the xbox. Praying that Bill Gates puts 4chan on there too. Perhaps an instant application that takes you straight to the site.

And that's as far as E3 went this year. Nothing spectacular. Just that.

-Steve

Iceland

I wrote a list of things I want to write about in the next 20 posts. I thought I'd start with Iceland seeing as it's the easiest. It's also a very interesting and quite quiet little country that sits just north of Scotland and is part of Scandinavia. It's very mountainous and also very cold. There is quite a bit of snow and some parts look very very desolate. And this is why I want to live there.

If you've followed my blog then you'll probably realise by now that I'm a fairly 'different' chap. I want to go to war with Finland and I am scared of Russia. This is different though, becuase it makes perfect sense! Most people want to live in France or Spain. This is all good, but think about how bad the economy is and how bored you'll get of the heat. It's nice in a short spell but shouldn't be lived in I am to believe.

Iceland has two very nice things about it:
1) Everything is cheap as dirt.
2) They have Bjork and Sigur Ros.
Furthermore, they have a very low unemployment rate and they are some of the happiest people in the world. They're quite good at Eurovision and they have beautiful cities. Houses are big and cheap. See, why move to Spain if you have Iceland. So what if it's a bit cold, it can be very warm. It is also sunny more often than it is in Scotland. The people are supposedly lovely as well.

The main reason I would move to Iceland would be becuase of my favourite 'acoustic' band in the world. Sigur Ros are my pet sound. They would take up all 5 of my desert island discs as well. Not many people like/have heard of Sigur Ros unfortunately. But that's unfortunate because they are very talented.

I'm watching their live DVD (Heima) right now. It's really fantastic and cheap as chips, so buy or download it. I've alos just downloaded their whole back catalogue. And let's be honest. You can't hate a band that has the sound of hammers hitting ice as the backing to one of their songs.

So yeah, in short. Move to Iceland and listen to Sigur Ros. You don't have to listen to Bjork though. She's not very good.

-Steve