Hello people
I went to see a play tonight, which was both fantastically disturbing and disturbingly fantastic, or vice versa. And while I was watching it, I had a number of confused thoughts, but the one that took priority was: I must write about this on my blog while it's fresh in my mind!
It basically centres on this old couple, Fred and Doris, whose whole lives are spent sitting in watching TV. They never, ever go out. (It's never really made clear how they survive without ever going out, but the play is nonsense really, and a lot of things aren't explained properly.) While he appears to only think about the TV shows, it is made clear how much Fred depends on Doris, and is scared that she will leave him and go 'into the outside world'.
Someone knocks on the door and starts gibbering about religious nonsense. Then, a girl in a hoodie, carrying a knife and a gun, breaks into the house, claiming to be 'the result of what this country has come to.' It becomes clear to the audience at this point that the entire play is about stereotypes - Fred and Doris represent the boring older couple with no life, the voice outside represents a super-religious person, and the girl in the hoodie represents the 'teenage hoodie culture' person, that the media seems so very fond of condemning.
Anyway, the hoodie girl becomes very scared by the voice from outside, saying that she is disturbed by what he is saying, because she wants to be more than that. Then a policeman comes in - a very stupid policeman - as in, the ''Ello, ello, ello'' types from fifties and sixties comedies. He's another stereotype! And then, he goes out and comes back with a massive gun, as a stereotype of a different kind of policeman!
Anyway, the hoodie girl forms a bond with Doris, who adopts her as 'the daughter she never had'. Hoodie Girl persuades Doris to come into the outside world with her, and Doris reluctantly does so, leaving Fred in front of the TV. Fred eventually notices, and becomes very scared and disturbed. The TV goes wrong and stops working - but occasionally the news comes on, with the newsreader reporting very disturbing things that are supposedly happening in the outside world.
Doris and the hoodie girl come back, and Fred is very relieved. Next time the news comes on, Doris warmly greets the newsreader - and it is revealed that he is not in fact on the TV, but actually in the room with them. Then eventually Rosie, a tart with a heart, comes in and reveals that they now all need to leave Fred on his own, because his TV license is expiring. No one, apart from Fred, is real - they are all TV characters! Stereotypes!
All the fake characters take this very well - except hoodie girl, who is terrified about leaving, and wants to be a real person with real free will. But they eventually leave Fred on his own - and then Fred dies.
As I said, I found this play to be really, really disturbing. It might not be so intriguing the way I say it here - but from where I was sitting, I felt a real connection. I found I could relate particularly to hoodie girl - because she is terrified of being a stereotype and wants to be a real person. I feel exactly the same way, because I'm very much a one-off - I'm not a stereotype at all, but only because I've forced myself not to be. I'm also scared of becoming like Fred, because I do watch a lot of TV, but I think that there must be more to me than that, if you know what I mean.
Anyway - this play has kind of inspired me to make a new start. I get inspirations like that every few weeks, but this one has been über-strong. This blog post probably seems a bit random to any reader, but I felt a particular revelation tonight, and I just had to get it written down. So I hope this has been entertaining in some way.
No entries for 'People to Love and Admire' this week, I'm simply not in that kind of mood.
I have a lot of projects over the summer - but I hope I'll be able to update this from time to time, or whenever.
Take care, guys! Have a great summer, and remember to keep checking back here!
Saturday, 16 July 2011
Tuesday, 5 July 2011
My optimistic ideals
Hello guys!
Okay, so it's been over a month. Yes, I'm taking the shame. Every day I think about this blog and I feel guilty for letting it fall by the wayside... but I'm updating it now, so never let it be said that I never do anything for you.
Something has been occurring to me recently which I feel I need to share on here. In a few months time, it will be a year since I decided to be a political activist, and over the last few weeks I've realised that sometimes, I'm just an activist for the sake of complaining about something. Which is stupid, I know. So it's something I'm going to improve.
For example, I'll get an email from Avaaz.org or 38 Degrees or another NGO that I subscribe to, I'll sign their petition and then I'll forget about it. I don't do any research into it or anything. It's just because something I have learned to have confidence in has asked me to do it, I just get on with it without a second thought. This is obviously something that I'm going to try hard to stop doing, because independence is the most key part of my values. This is why I'm not loyal to any particular party; because if I was, I'd end up supporting something that I wouldn't normally support (or condemning something I would have supported.) So, anyway: it's never too late for a new start, and today I've decided I'm going to research more into the causes that I believe in, so that I can justifiably quote my opinion without just jumping on a bandwagon.
Now, this post is called 'My optimistic ideals'. The reason for this is because after my own independence, another thing that is very important to me is seeing the good in people. I know it's naive, but I genuinely believe that everyone has a good side, and that once they realise that, then they can use it to really help people and to make a difference. I think that a lot of the time, people can get so lost in the practicalities and politics of situations that they forget what is really important: people feeling secure and satisfied. Statistics mean nothing if people are not benefitting from them. (Sorry, I am fully aware that I am rambling here, but it makes sense in my head.)
Okay, People to Love and Admire. Now, for this post it's a bit unusual, because for the first time, both my people are fictional characters, but they are two of the best and most inspirational fictional characters I have ever come across!
1) David Reynolds
David Reynolds is a very intellectual, sharp, gay teenager in an online series called the Naptown Tales. I don't usually mention people's sexualities when I'm talking about how cool they are, but with David it's pretty vital. Basically... at the start of the series he meets and falls in love with a boy called Jeremy, and everything after that happens as a result of this occurrence. David and Jeremy decide to publicly come out (in a very conservative state in America) and play a fundamental part in changing people's attitudes towards the LGBT community, not just in their state, but right across America and even further. Politically-minded David takes no liberties in his campaigning - I think he's a politician through and through, but a very kind, compassionate one. He obviously has other issues that he feels strongly about other than LGBT, but that is the thing the series focusses strongly on. They're well worth a read...
2) Flora Poste
Flora Poste is the main character in a book by Stella Gibbons called Cold Comfort Farm. In the book, she goes to live with her cousins, the Starkadders, who are the most cut-off, reclusive and frankly boring people in the world, kept at the farm by the domineering Aunt Ada Doom, who apparently 'saw something nasty in the woodshed'. Flora (who is strong, capable and a bit arrogant) walks into their lives and single-handedly decides to sort out everyone's lives for them - which inevitably leads to a happy ending for everyone, including the great aunt. I love Flora because she is so charismatic and so cool that she can just walk in and take control like that. I like people with this power, it's a good power to have. Obviously it can be misused, but on the whole it's a really useful (and pretty awesome) trait. (Again, this book is a really fantastic read if you have a bit of time.)
I'll see you guys around, I guess, if I can be bothered to update this any time soon... hopefully I can...
Okay, so it's been over a month. Yes, I'm taking the shame. Every day I think about this blog and I feel guilty for letting it fall by the wayside... but I'm updating it now, so never let it be said that I never do anything for you.
Something has been occurring to me recently which I feel I need to share on here. In a few months time, it will be a year since I decided to be a political activist, and over the last few weeks I've realised that sometimes, I'm just an activist for the sake of complaining about something. Which is stupid, I know. So it's something I'm going to improve.
For example, I'll get an email from Avaaz.org or 38 Degrees or another NGO that I subscribe to, I'll sign their petition and then I'll forget about it. I don't do any research into it or anything. It's just because something I have learned to have confidence in has asked me to do it, I just get on with it without a second thought. This is obviously something that I'm going to try hard to stop doing, because independence is the most key part of my values. This is why I'm not loyal to any particular party; because if I was, I'd end up supporting something that I wouldn't normally support (or condemning something I would have supported.) So, anyway: it's never too late for a new start, and today I've decided I'm going to research more into the causes that I believe in, so that I can justifiably quote my opinion without just jumping on a bandwagon.
Now, this post is called 'My optimistic ideals'. The reason for this is because after my own independence, another thing that is very important to me is seeing the good in people. I know it's naive, but I genuinely believe that everyone has a good side, and that once they realise that, then they can use it to really help people and to make a difference. I think that a lot of the time, people can get so lost in the practicalities and politics of situations that they forget what is really important: people feeling secure and satisfied. Statistics mean nothing if people are not benefitting from them. (Sorry, I am fully aware that I am rambling here, but it makes sense in my head.)
Okay, People to Love and Admire. Now, for this post it's a bit unusual, because for the first time, both my people are fictional characters, but they are two of the best and most inspirational fictional characters I have ever come across!
1) David Reynolds
David Reynolds is a very intellectual, sharp, gay teenager in an online series called the Naptown Tales. I don't usually mention people's sexualities when I'm talking about how cool they are, but with David it's pretty vital. Basically... at the start of the series he meets and falls in love with a boy called Jeremy, and everything after that happens as a result of this occurrence. David and Jeremy decide to publicly come out (in a very conservative state in America) and play a fundamental part in changing people's attitudes towards the LGBT community, not just in their state, but right across America and even further. Politically-minded David takes no liberties in his campaigning - I think he's a politician through and through, but a very kind, compassionate one. He obviously has other issues that he feels strongly about other than LGBT, but that is the thing the series focusses strongly on. They're well worth a read...
2) Flora Poste
Flora Poste is the main character in a book by Stella Gibbons called Cold Comfort Farm. In the book, she goes to live with her cousins, the Starkadders, who are the most cut-off, reclusive and frankly boring people in the world, kept at the farm by the domineering Aunt Ada Doom, who apparently 'saw something nasty in the woodshed'. Flora (who is strong, capable and a bit arrogant) walks into their lives and single-handedly decides to sort out everyone's lives for them - which inevitably leads to a happy ending for everyone, including the great aunt. I love Flora because she is so charismatic and so cool that she can just walk in and take control like that. I like people with this power, it's a good power to have. Obviously it can be misused, but on the whole it's a really useful (and pretty awesome) trait. (Again, this book is a really fantastic read if you have a bit of time.)
I'll see you guys around, I guess, if I can be bothered to update this any time soon... hopefully I can...
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
The death of Osama and The Cut
Hi there
Now, I'm really sorry I haven't posted in a couple of days... but still, it's only been a few days, and I have some exciting news to make up for it! But more on that in a bit.
The first thing I'm going to talk about is the death of Osama bin Laden. Now, I won't pretend I know very much about Osama, or the intelligence that led to his death. In fact, I know hardly anything. But in my opinion, from what I have heard, his death was not justice, but simply revenge. I'm not saying I support what he did - I absolutely do not support it at all, he was a terrible man and he did not deserve anything good at all in his life. However, I don't condone the death penalty for anything; the inflictors of the death penalty are just as bad as the victims, in my mind. I know this is controversial, but I don't care. Revenge is a very easy thing to inflict and also to justify, and this is why I never condone it; because it is too easy to justify. Better to not kill anyone and take the moral highground.
Anyway, on to my next topic. I'm really excited about this one. Probably some of the people who read this blog will know that I was a massive fan of a BBC teen drama series called The Cut, which aired from 2009 to 2010 on BBC Two. It was cancelled at the end of the third series. Anyway, it was always marketed as a viewers' drama, so viewers were encouraged to give their input, like storyline ideas and music ideas and that kind of thing. Anyway, when it was cancelled, a few of us fans took it upon ourselves to write the next series ourselves. And I am happy to say that things are in motion now! I am in charge of our team of writers, who will be deciding what happens in Series 4. It won't be aired, or even filmed, but it will be written. I am really chuffed by the amount of dedication from my team, and I thought they deserved a mention, so yeah... I just wanted to talk about this here.
People I love and admire: has to be my new team of writers!
By the way, I apologise that this isn't really a great blog post. It's not one that I've been immensely proud of, possibly because the two subjects are so completely separate from each other. But, it's what was on my mind today, and they can't all be excellent.
Ta-ra!
Now, I'm really sorry I haven't posted in a couple of days... but still, it's only been a few days, and I have some exciting news to make up for it! But more on that in a bit.
The first thing I'm going to talk about is the death of Osama bin Laden. Now, I won't pretend I know very much about Osama, or the intelligence that led to his death. In fact, I know hardly anything. But in my opinion, from what I have heard, his death was not justice, but simply revenge. I'm not saying I support what he did - I absolutely do not support it at all, he was a terrible man and he did not deserve anything good at all in his life. However, I don't condone the death penalty for anything; the inflictors of the death penalty are just as bad as the victims, in my mind. I know this is controversial, but I don't care. Revenge is a very easy thing to inflict and also to justify, and this is why I never condone it; because it is too easy to justify. Better to not kill anyone and take the moral highground.
Anyway, on to my next topic. I'm really excited about this one. Probably some of the people who read this blog will know that I was a massive fan of a BBC teen drama series called The Cut, which aired from 2009 to 2010 on BBC Two. It was cancelled at the end of the third series. Anyway, it was always marketed as a viewers' drama, so viewers were encouraged to give their input, like storyline ideas and music ideas and that kind of thing. Anyway, when it was cancelled, a few of us fans took it upon ourselves to write the next series ourselves. And I am happy to say that things are in motion now! I am in charge of our team of writers, who will be deciding what happens in Series 4. It won't be aired, or even filmed, but it will be written. I am really chuffed by the amount of dedication from my team, and I thought they deserved a mention, so yeah... I just wanted to talk about this here.
People I love and admire: has to be my new team of writers!
By the way, I apologise that this isn't really a great blog post. It's not one that I've been immensely proud of, possibly because the two subjects are so completely separate from each other. But, it's what was on my mind today, and they can't all be excellent.
Ta-ra!
Sunday, 29 May 2011
The royal wedding
Hello
Okay, so I can see that with my promise of daily posts for a while, I'm going to end up doing them very late at night. I'm not always this disorganised, honestly.
Today, a month later, I'm going to talk about the royal wedding. Yesterday I told you that my views on this would be very negative. In fact, you will have noticed that they are so negative, I purposely don't capitalise the R and the W when writing the words 'royal' and 'wedding'.
The reason it pisses me off so much is because our useless Government goes on and on and on and on and on about how we have so little money and how we have to cut all the important things, like EMA and the National Health Service and youth groups etc... and then they can spend such a huge amount of taxpayer's money on this stupid wedding which is going to benefit absolutely no one! And I totally despise Will and Kate for going along with it. Someone said to me once that it's not really the couple's fault, it's just the system. I responded that they have a choice about whether to go along with the system, so it is their fault really. If they had any decency, they would have got married in Chelsea Registry Office, with Kate wearing jeans and a T-shirt. If they wanted a bit of glamour, they could have had the Queen along as a witness - and that's it.
In fact, the whole 'Royal' family really annoy me. For three reasons:
1) They cost the country a hell of a lot of money.
2) They are the ultimate example of posh and upper-class people being better than everyone else.
3) They are very insincere, and smile and wave at complete strangers all day.
I always say that if I was Royal, I'd be very unfriendly to everyone. People would stop me in the street, and I'd be like: 'Leave me alone! I'm in a mood, I feel a bit sick and I don't want to talk to you.' At least that way I would be honest with people, and not just let them lick my shoes for the sake of it. Honesty is the best policy, and I'm a firm believer in what you see is what you get.
I am proud to say I did not watch the wedding. I was at the theatre, enjoying a very gruelling rehearsal for our performance the next day. The majority of our group were good enough to sacrifice their precious wedding to turn up on the day, which I am immensely grateful for.
I think that's about all for today. I am aware that this is more of a rant than a post, but there we are. Tomorrow I'll either talk about the death of Osama or the Bristol Tesco riots, whichever takes my fancy.
Ciao!
Okay, so I can see that with my promise of daily posts for a while, I'm going to end up doing them very late at night. I'm not always this disorganised, honestly.
Today, a month later, I'm going to talk about the royal wedding. Yesterday I told you that my views on this would be very negative. In fact, you will have noticed that they are so negative, I purposely don't capitalise the R and the W when writing the words 'royal' and 'wedding'.
The reason it pisses me off so much is because our useless Government goes on and on and on and on and on about how we have so little money and how we have to cut all the important things, like EMA and the National Health Service and youth groups etc... and then they can spend such a huge amount of taxpayer's money on this stupid wedding which is going to benefit absolutely no one! And I totally despise Will and Kate for going along with it. Someone said to me once that it's not really the couple's fault, it's just the system. I responded that they have a choice about whether to go along with the system, so it is their fault really. If they had any decency, they would have got married in Chelsea Registry Office, with Kate wearing jeans and a T-shirt. If they wanted a bit of glamour, they could have had the Queen along as a witness - and that's it.
In fact, the whole 'Royal' family really annoy me. For three reasons:
1) They cost the country a hell of a lot of money.
2) They are the ultimate example of posh and upper-class people being better than everyone else.
3) They are very insincere, and smile and wave at complete strangers all day.
I always say that if I was Royal, I'd be very unfriendly to everyone. People would stop me in the street, and I'd be like: 'Leave me alone! I'm in a mood, I feel a bit sick and I don't want to talk to you.' At least that way I would be honest with people, and not just let them lick my shoes for the sake of it. Honesty is the best policy, and I'm a firm believer in what you see is what you get.
I am proud to say I did not watch the wedding. I was at the theatre, enjoying a very gruelling rehearsal for our performance the next day. The majority of our group were good enough to sacrifice their precious wedding to turn up on the day, which I am immensely grateful for.
I think that's about all for today. I am aware that this is more of a rant than a post, but there we are. Tomorrow I'll either talk about the death of Osama or the Bristol Tesco riots, whichever takes my fancy.
Ciao!
Saturday, 28 May 2011
Bassett
This one is just a quick one to do with my acting work. I'm sorry if you feel a bit cheated because of the hurry, I'm just not in the mood to write anything particularly insightful right now.
Basically, last week I auditioned for something called Bassett at a popular theatre in Bristol. We read through the script (which was amazing, by the way) and basically they assessed how well we performed each character. Anyway, I hadn't thought I had got in, because there were some great people there and I hadn't heard from them at all. But anyway... turns out no one has heard yet, so seems like they're taking longer to decide than I thought. So I still have a chance! So wish me luck!
Tomorrow I will talk about my rather negative opinion of the royal wedding (deliberately spelt without capital letters.)
Basically, last week I auditioned for something called Bassett at a popular theatre in Bristol. We read through the script (which was amazing, by the way) and basically they assessed how well we performed each character. Anyway, I hadn't thought I had got in, because there were some great people there and I hadn't heard from them at all. But anyway... turns out no one has heard yet, so seems like they're taking longer to decide than I thought. So I still have a chance! So wish me luck!
Tomorrow I will talk about my rather negative opinion of the royal wedding (deliberately spelt without capital letters.)
Friday, 27 May 2011
Andrew Lansley's 'listening exercise'
Hello
Now, I said I'd update this blog every day for the next few days or so to make up for the long gap, and that's what I'm doing. I've chosen today's topic because it's really quite urgent and that is: Andrew Lansley's 'listening exercise' concerning the NHS.
Andrew Lansley is doing this 'listening exercise' so that when he announces plans to privatise the NHS, he can claim he's talked to the public and listen to what they have to say. It actually doesn't mean anything at all like that, because all the meetings have been kept very secret and hushed up, so not many people actually get a chance to make their voices heard.
However, 38 Degrees (I can't remember if I've mentioned them before? Anyway, they're an NGO that tackles this kind of nonsense) have made a petition to sign, and a feature where people can write to the Government to make it very clear that our National Health Service is not being privatised. Here is the link to the petition:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/Protect_our_NHS_Petition#petition/
And here is the feature where you can send your comments:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/speakout/nhs-listening-response?js=false/
Please respond to both of these at once. The exercise ends on Tuesday, so it is important to get as many names as possible. On the last day, 38 Degrees with deliver Andrew the petition - in full view of the media! So come on guys! Be part of it! Take a few moments to sign your name.
I don't have anyone to love and admire today. Okay, that sounds very harsh, and it didn't sound like that in my head. I'm just not going to mention someone in every single post. Suffice it to say I will love and admire you if you sign the petition!
See you guys!
Now, I said I'd update this blog every day for the next few days or so to make up for the long gap, and that's what I'm doing. I've chosen today's topic because it's really quite urgent and that is: Andrew Lansley's 'listening exercise' concerning the NHS.
Andrew Lansley is doing this 'listening exercise' so that when he announces plans to privatise the NHS, he can claim he's talked to the public and listen to what they have to say. It actually doesn't mean anything at all like that, because all the meetings have been kept very secret and hushed up, so not many people actually get a chance to make their voices heard.
However, 38 Degrees (I can't remember if I've mentioned them before? Anyway, they're an NGO that tackles this kind of nonsense) have made a petition to sign, and a feature where people can write to the Government to make it very clear that our National Health Service is not being privatised. Here is the link to the petition:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/Protect_our_NHS_Petition#petition/
And here is the feature where you can send your comments:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/speakout/nhs-listening-response?js=false/
Please respond to both of these at once. The exercise ends on Tuesday, so it is important to get as many names as possible. On the last day, 38 Degrees with deliver Andrew the petition - in full view of the media! So come on guys! Be part of it! Take a few moments to sign your name.
I don't have anyone to love and admire today. Okay, that sounds very harsh, and it didn't sound like that in my head. I'm just not going to mention someone in every single post. Suffice it to say I will love and admire you if you sign the petition!
See you guys!
Thursday, 26 May 2011
I'm going out in the world to save our planet, and I ain't coming back until she's saved!
Hello my lovely readers
I am so, so sorry for the gap. As you probably know, I'm in my first year of A-levels, and I've been really busy with exams recently, so I haven't had time to update this blog much in the last month or so. It's been heartbreaking, because there are so many things I wanted to talk about, but there you are.
Anyway, to make up for this, over the next couple of days I aim to put lots more content on this blog, with talks about the royal wedding, the death of Osama, the AV referendum, Andrew Lansley's 'listening exercise' and anything else that comes to mind. I really want to start updating this blog more regularly, I hate it when I fall behind.
Anyway, for the first time with this post, the 'people I love and admire' section is going to be the main bit, because I have quite a lot to say this time. My person to love and admire this time is someone called Axel Ehnström, better known by his professional name, Paradise Oskar. He is a Finnish singer, and I first came across him nearly two weeks ago when he represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'Da Da Dum'.
Now, if you watched it, you will know that the title of this post is a lyric from the song, which he wrote himself and sang solo with a guitar. The song was about a nine-year-old called Peter, who is told that the planet is dying and someone needs to save it. He naively tries to tell everyone to stop what they're doing and to save the planet with him, but no one listens to him because he is just a child. Peter decides to continue to persevere, no matter what anyone says.
I think the message in the song is that anyone can be Peter. We have all become so cynical, and whenever it seems like we could help, we think, 'Oh it's more complicated than that.' I feel that I am Peter in a way, because I am persistent and I never will give up on what I believe in. Maybe it's just because I'm a young idealist, but I actually do want to save the world. And I want everyone to know about it.
So come on, people! Join me! Make a difference! Do something decent with your life! I'm doing it by being a political activist and writing this blog! Come on, don't let the world down!
And of course... here is the song!
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