Tell you what, I had a lot I wanted to write about tonight. Serious intellectual discussion, philosophical debate, all that kind of thing. But I’m actually far too tired. Here’s a joke:
There were these two old boys, Hector and Willie, and I’m sorry to report their minds were both on the way out. Not what they used to be, you know? So one day Hector and Willie are sitting on the park bench when they hear the chime of an ice-cream van.* Hector says “I’ll tell you something, that’s really put me in the mind of an ice cream.” Willie agrees, “aye, I could handle an ice cream myself.” So Hector stands up, “alright, what are you having?” “I’ll just take a large cone,” says Willie, “but let me go with you.” Hector says “don’t be silly, sit there and I’ll be back with two large cones. No sense in both of us going.” Willie says “aye, but I know what you’re like Hector, you’ll forget something.” Hector says “What am I gonna forget? It’s two large cones…” and Willie says “nah, but I’m after a flake though.” “alright,” says Hector, “two large cones and a couple of flakes.” Willie’s still not convinced, “I’ll have to come with you Hector.” Hector says “you will not, I’ll remember.” Willie says “the thing is though, I want sprinkles. I don’t want to confuse you with sprinkles.” “Don’t talk pish,” Hector says, “I’m not about to get confused with sprinkles, now will you let me go?” Willie won’t let him go. “Hector you know very well you’re not up to this, something’s gonna get forgotten.” Hector says “it is not,; two large cones, flakes and sprinkles.” “And strawberry sauce,” says Willie. “Good grief, now he wants strawberry sauce as well?” “Aye I want strawberry sauce, that’s why I’ll have to come with you, cos you’ll forget.” Hector’s getting agitated; “listen, nothing’s getting forgotten alright? Two large cones, flakes, sprinkles, strawberry sauce; I’ve got it.” Willie fixes him with a hard look. “You’ve got it?” “Aye I’ve got it.” “You’re sure you’ve got it?” “Listen, I’ve fucking got it…” So Willie relents; “alright, away you go then…”
Willie sits there waiting. Minutes pass: five, ten. Hector’s not back yet. Willie’s checking his watch, wondering what’s taking his pal. Surely it doesn’t take this long to get a couple of ice creams? Eventually Hector returns and he hands Willie a package wrapped up in newspaper. Willie looks at it for a second a then he says “Hector, what the fuck’s this?” Hector says “what does it look like? It’s a single fish.” Willie’s aghast, he says “single fish? where’s my chips?”
*I had an uncle that went into business with an ice cream van once. It melted...
Thank you very much, I'm here all week...
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Saturday, 24 April 2010
I Got A Flow Make A B*tch Do A Cartwheel -or- Sound For Language -or- American Slang
Hey it’s good news everyone: I’ve been web-sensed. I don’t know if web-sense is a big thing or whatever, so here’s just a brief explanation: if you happen to work for the council or something like that and you’re reading this on your council-provided internet… well, the point is you won’t be reading this on your council-provided internet, because I swear too much and they won’t let you get on here any more. Either that or the photo I’m displaying was getting all the woman council employees too giddy and flustered and no work was getting done, but I’m pretty sure it’s all the swearing and wank-talk.
Now, you’ve heard the argument that swearing too much makes a person look like an idiot, shows your lack of a decent vocabulary or whatever. This is bullshit, here’s why: language exists the way it does for a reason, and to claim that there’s no need or excuse to use swear words betrays a very deep ignorance of the way it works. Did you ever see that experiment they did with the two pictures, and they told the participants that each picture had a name? They called one Kiki and the other one Bouba and asked people to say which one they thought was which, and something like 95% of people all said the same thing. Go and google it the images or something, see if you get it right. The point here (yes there’s a point) is that the way you speak isn’t just a random collection of sounds, words have a reason to sound the way they do and that’s why swearing exists. Remember ages ago when they did that stupid poll to find the nation’s favourite word? The winner was “serendipity.” Now here’s why that whole idea was bullshit: serendipity is a good word, but it’s only good for it’s purpose; the way it sounds sort of conveys, well not its meaning per sé, but the idea of it, you know? What I’m trying to say is that it’s a good word, but it’s not any better than fuck, for example, because they both exist to serve a certain purpose and they both succeed in doing so. Try it yourself, next time you step on a plug or whatever try yelling “serendipity” at the top of your voice, see how far you get. Ok, that’s all I’ve got about that.
Have you heard that Chiddy Bang track by the way? He’s got the trendy, by-assholes-for-assholes indie band sample, he’s got some very sketchy rhymes, he’s got the novelty gimmick video that he presumably initiated when the standard issue original failed to perform… in short, everything about it says “Luke, you hate this track.” But here’s the thing: I actually think it’s fucking great. Really. Ok, what else? Here’s the thing about sunglasses indoors/at night: this isn’t cool or lame in and of itself, how it works is that it’s about twice as cool or lame as the person doing it. Long story short - if you’re lame to begin with, don’t fucking do it. Also, I saw a guy in a G-Shock watch the other day. G-Shock watches - what happened there? And on a related note, does anyone know where Cilla Black is?
But seriously though, the new Gaslight Anthem record: on the first listen it sounds pretty good. Not the best they’ve ever done, but pretty solid y’know? Definitely worth a listen if you get a chance. It’s not “The Monitor” but it’s ok. And on that note, “The Monitor” by Titus Andronicus is fucking amazing. Listen to it immediately. Alright that’s enough, time for me to go to work and make dinner for assholes. Cheerio.
Now, you’ve heard the argument that swearing too much makes a person look like an idiot, shows your lack of a decent vocabulary or whatever. This is bullshit, here’s why: language exists the way it does for a reason, and to claim that there’s no need or excuse to use swear words betrays a very deep ignorance of the way it works. Did you ever see that experiment they did with the two pictures, and they told the participants that each picture had a name? They called one Kiki and the other one Bouba and asked people to say which one they thought was which, and something like 95% of people all said the same thing. Go and google it the images or something, see if you get it right. The point here (yes there’s a point) is that the way you speak isn’t just a random collection of sounds, words have a reason to sound the way they do and that’s why swearing exists. Remember ages ago when they did that stupid poll to find the nation’s favourite word? The winner was “serendipity.” Now here’s why that whole idea was bullshit: serendipity is a good word, but it’s only good for it’s purpose; the way it sounds sort of conveys, well not its meaning per sé, but the idea of it, you know? What I’m trying to say is that it’s a good word, but it’s not any better than fuck, for example, because they both exist to serve a certain purpose and they both succeed in doing so. Try it yourself, next time you step on a plug or whatever try yelling “serendipity” at the top of your voice, see how far you get. Ok, that’s all I’ve got about that.
Have you heard that Chiddy Bang track by the way? He’s got the trendy, by-assholes-for-assholes indie band sample, he’s got some very sketchy rhymes, he’s got the novelty gimmick video that he presumably initiated when the standard issue original failed to perform… in short, everything about it says “Luke, you hate this track.” But here’s the thing: I actually think it’s fucking great. Really. Ok, what else? Here’s the thing about sunglasses indoors/at night: this isn’t cool or lame in and of itself, how it works is that it’s about twice as cool or lame as the person doing it. Long story short - if you’re lame to begin with, don’t fucking do it. Also, I saw a guy in a G-Shock watch the other day. G-Shock watches - what happened there? And on a related note, does anyone know where Cilla Black is?
But seriously though, the new Gaslight Anthem record: on the first listen it sounds pretty good. Not the best they’ve ever done, but pretty solid y’know? Definitely worth a listen if you get a chance. It’s not “The Monitor” but it’s ok. And on that note, “The Monitor” by Titus Andronicus is fucking amazing. Listen to it immediately. Alright that’s enough, time for me to go to work and make dinner for assholes. Cheerio.
Sunday, 18 April 2010
Hey Everyone! Come And See How Good I Look!
Ok, did anybody see the Leaders’ Debate the other night? I missed it myself but frankly I think there’s not nearly enough half-cocked bullshit political rambling on the internet right now, so it’s time for my two cents…
For all our non-UK readers out there (hi Paco!) the Leaders’ Debates are a stupid bullshit idea that someone decided to import from America to celebrate the General Election we’re about to have here in Britain and to give the leaders of our three main political parties an opportunity to go on TV and do their best John Kennedy impression while managing to look like a satisfied boy, a factory-rejected Ken doll and a lump of granite. And they’re bullshit for this reason: their whole point is to turn the election campaign into some sort of a bizarre popularity contest instead of an intelligent political debate. I don’t understand why so much stock suddenly has to be put into the leaders’ personalities, it’s seems like now we ought to care as much about their favourite colour as we do about their actual policies. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I was under the impression that a General Election is a thing designed to elect a new government, not the Nation’s New Best Pal. Here’s a good example: sidekicks. Have you noticed they all have sidekicks now? Gordon Brown and David Cameron have their wives and Nick Clegg has Vince Cable. Now the easy joke to make here, and it’s already been made ad nauseam, is to be like “what a gaffe by Clegg! Cameron and Brown have pretty wives for sidekicks and he has an old man! Lol!” but think for a moment… What’s happening is that Nick Clegg appears to be saying “vote for me, my right hand man is an astute political mind and arguably one of Britain’s most progressive economic thinkers,” whereas Brown and Cameron are both saying “no vote for me, I have married a stylish woman.” I don’t know about you, but I know which of those arguments makes more sense to me.
The trouble, though, is that they’ve got to have these debates and here’s why: because British politics, and it’s major players, in recent times they've started to look exactly the same; and the reason for this is pretty depressing. The way I see it, it’s as if our main parties don’t care about what they themselves believe anymore, they just want to convince the people that they’re out for their best interests, apparently attempting to follow a madcap “let’s please all of the people all of the time” sort of a policy, and that’s really not what it should be about. There’s been a lot of rhetoric about “broken politics” recently, well I figure if Labour and the Tories still had opposing ideologies then it might actually work, know what I mean? If politicians had any dignity or integrity they’d go ahead and say “forget about what the public want, here’s what I belive, take it or leave it.” That way maybe they’d get into power because they actually wanted to change something, as opposed to wanting to get into power for it’s own sake. By the way am I rambling at the moment? I suppose this is what happens when I try to be smart and don’t write about wanking. If this doesn’t make any sense feel free to stop reading at any time. Umm, back to the matter. Careerist politicians, to make an easy comparison with musical artists (do I do this too much?) are sort of like x-factor hopefuls or something. They’ll literally say or do anything if they think it’s gonna make them popular, which is pretty much the opposite of the integrity and honesty that some of the campaign’s popular soundbites have promised.
I could be wrong, but I think that brings us back to the beginning. I don’t want to vote for the guy that I‘d most like to have a beer with, or the guy that seems most convincing when he’s talking to a TV camera; the dude could have the charisma of JFK or be a one-eyed man o’ rock, if he’s got integrity then I’ll vote for him. So I suppose it’s just a shame Vince Cable isn’t handsome enough to be Prime Minister any more am I right? Ok, that’s enough of this.
For all our non-UK readers out there (hi Paco!) the Leaders’ Debates are a stupid bullshit idea that someone decided to import from America to celebrate the General Election we’re about to have here in Britain and to give the leaders of our three main political parties an opportunity to go on TV and do their best John Kennedy impression while managing to look like a satisfied boy, a factory-rejected Ken doll and a lump of granite. And they’re bullshit for this reason: their whole point is to turn the election campaign into some sort of a bizarre popularity contest instead of an intelligent political debate. I don’t understand why so much stock suddenly has to be put into the leaders’ personalities, it’s seems like now we ought to care as much about their favourite colour as we do about their actual policies. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I was under the impression that a General Election is a thing designed to elect a new government, not the Nation’s New Best Pal. Here’s a good example: sidekicks. Have you noticed they all have sidekicks now? Gordon Brown and David Cameron have their wives and Nick Clegg has Vince Cable. Now the easy joke to make here, and it’s already been made ad nauseam, is to be like “what a gaffe by Clegg! Cameron and Brown have pretty wives for sidekicks and he has an old man! Lol!” but think for a moment… What’s happening is that Nick Clegg appears to be saying “vote for me, my right hand man is an astute political mind and arguably one of Britain’s most progressive economic thinkers,” whereas Brown and Cameron are both saying “no vote for me, I have married a stylish woman.” I don’t know about you, but I know which of those arguments makes more sense to me.
The trouble, though, is that they’ve got to have these debates and here’s why: because British politics, and it’s major players, in recent times they've started to look exactly the same; and the reason for this is pretty depressing. The way I see it, it’s as if our main parties don’t care about what they themselves believe anymore, they just want to convince the people that they’re out for their best interests, apparently attempting to follow a madcap “let’s please all of the people all of the time” sort of a policy, and that’s really not what it should be about. There’s been a lot of rhetoric about “broken politics” recently, well I figure if Labour and the Tories still had opposing ideologies then it might actually work, know what I mean? If politicians had any dignity or integrity they’d go ahead and say “forget about what the public want, here’s what I belive, take it or leave it.” That way maybe they’d get into power because they actually wanted to change something, as opposed to wanting to get into power for it’s own sake. By the way am I rambling at the moment? I suppose this is what happens when I try to be smart and don’t write about wanking. If this doesn’t make any sense feel free to stop reading at any time. Umm, back to the matter. Careerist politicians, to make an easy comparison with musical artists (do I do this too much?) are sort of like x-factor hopefuls or something. They’ll literally say or do anything if they think it’s gonna make them popular, which is pretty much the opposite of the integrity and honesty that some of the campaign’s popular soundbites have promised.
I could be wrong, but I think that brings us back to the beginning. I don’t want to vote for the guy that I‘d most like to have a beer with, or the guy that seems most convincing when he’s talking to a TV camera; the dude could have the charisma of JFK or be a one-eyed man o’ rock, if he’s got integrity then I’ll vote for him. So I suppose it’s just a shame Vince Cable isn’t handsome enough to be Prime Minister any more am I right? Ok, that’s enough of this.
Thursday, 8 April 2010
Just Go Ahead And Think "Horsies"
I suppose rationality’s sort of a big thing just now. One of those buzzwords or whatever. It’s a pretty strange thing but even he smartest of people, even the staunchest defenders of a rational standpoint can get kind of ridiculous. So, I’ve been away for a little while recently; when I came back I found my bedroom not quite the way I left it. Just little things: some things had been moved and it looked like someone might have slept in my bed. Now it’s possible that while I was away some beautiful woman might have broken in, and while she was in there suddenly succumbed not only to nymphomania but also to agoraphobia and what d’you know? Looks like for the foreseeable future I’m stuck in my bedroom with a beautiful, sex-addicted woman who refuses to leave. Like I said, it’s a possibility but do you know what? It actually wasn’t the first thing that crossed my mind when I realised someone had slept in my room. Cos, y’know, be reasonable…
Now don’t get me wrong here, I know that irrational fears are pretty much an inherent part of the human condition. I’m well aware of that, ask me about snake-men some time. The thing is though, that you’re an idiot if you let your irrationalities take possession over the reasonable part of your mind. Let’s use terrorism as an example. (Yes I know it’s lazy and an easy analogy to make but what can I say? I’m stupid and lazy.) So we’re told that our country, our families and our pets or whatever are constantly at risk from terrorism and that as a result we have to let whatever failed nightclub doormen they have at airport security look at our dicks on the x-ray machine whenever they want to. Acceptance of the frankly ridiculous security rigmarole they have at the airport is a very clear example of irrational fears overtaking our reason. I say fear of terrorism is irrational because, by and large, terrorism doesn’t fucking happen. And don’t think it doesn’t happen on account of dick-viewing airport security men; terrorists can attack whatever the fuck they want. Have you ever been on a train? Or a bus? Or a busy street? All of these things would be pretty easy to blow up if you knew what you were doing, the fact that our cities, as a rule, don’t on the average day look like the set of Die Hard leads me to the fairly rational conclusion that terrorism isn’t really that big a threat. The message here, as I’ve said already, is simply this: be reasonable. Just because something's possible it doesn’t mean you have to assume that it’s actually going to fucking happen. And I understand the problem. I know that we don’t really have a sense of community the way I’m told we used to, that nobody speaks to each other any more and the result is a crippling emotional disconnect that’ll make you feel impotent and powerless and redundant at times, but personally I don’t think that’s an excuse to try to manufacture some sort of drama where there really isn’t any drama at all. So next time you come home to find your bed slept in, don’t go and assume that Zooey Deschanel’s car broke down outside and your flatmate invited her in to sleep in your bed and bone you. It was probably just that your friend came to stay or something. Ok, That’s all I’ve got to say about this.
Now don’t get me wrong here, I know that irrational fears are pretty much an inherent part of the human condition. I’m well aware of that, ask me about snake-men some time. The thing is though, that you’re an idiot if you let your irrationalities take possession over the reasonable part of your mind. Let’s use terrorism as an example. (Yes I know it’s lazy and an easy analogy to make but what can I say? I’m stupid and lazy.) So we’re told that our country, our families and our pets or whatever are constantly at risk from terrorism and that as a result we have to let whatever failed nightclub doormen they have at airport security look at our dicks on the x-ray machine whenever they want to. Acceptance of the frankly ridiculous security rigmarole they have at the airport is a very clear example of irrational fears overtaking our reason. I say fear of terrorism is irrational because, by and large, terrorism doesn’t fucking happen. And don’t think it doesn’t happen on account of dick-viewing airport security men; terrorists can attack whatever the fuck they want. Have you ever been on a train? Or a bus? Or a busy street? All of these things would be pretty easy to blow up if you knew what you were doing, the fact that our cities, as a rule, don’t on the average day look like the set of Die Hard leads me to the fairly rational conclusion that terrorism isn’t really that big a threat. The message here, as I’ve said already, is simply this: be reasonable. Just because something's possible it doesn’t mean you have to assume that it’s actually going to fucking happen. And I understand the problem. I know that we don’t really have a sense of community the way I’m told we used to, that nobody speaks to each other any more and the result is a crippling emotional disconnect that’ll make you feel impotent and powerless and redundant at times, but personally I don’t think that’s an excuse to try to manufacture some sort of drama where there really isn’t any drama at all. So next time you come home to find your bed slept in, don’t go and assume that Zooey Deschanel’s car broke down outside and your flatmate invited her in to sleep in your bed and bone you. It was probably just that your friend came to stay or something. Ok, That’s all I’ve got to say about this.
Sunday, 7 March 2010
I'm Too Cooooool For Music
Hello assholes and she-assholes. It’s been a while hasn’t it? I’m actually considering changing the title of this thing to “Luke McGinty Drinks and Doesn’t Write All That Much.” Not only is it true it’s also pretty snappy, am I right? If I could be bothered to go into the inner workings and change things around I might actually change it. Until then you’ll just have to imagine it. From now on imagine the title at the top saying Luke McGinty Drinks instead ok? Ok. Agreed. Hmm… I seem to be typing a lot and not thinking too much at the moment and that’s usually a bad sign so let’s try and be serious for a moment.
Alright, have you heard about this bullshit Owl City? I don’t know whether it’s a band or just one guy or what but it’s like the dude decided “ok I’m gonna make this band, it’ll be EXACTLY like The Postal Service but, I don’t know, it’ll be sort of like The Postal Service for cunts…” Well bad news jackass, they already made a Postal Service for cunts. It’s called The Postal Service. The real trouble, though, is that Owl City’s fucking fan base is mostly made up of so-called rock & roll guys. I don’t just want to pick on these assholes, but they’re symptomatic of a pretty horrifying state of affairs. Man, I don’t know exactly what’s going on with music just now, I really don’t. But I’m gonna write about it anyway. Welcome to the internet, assholes.
I think a big part of the problem is a sort of confusion that seems to exist between music people like and music that’s actually good. Have you ever heard the phrase “can’t you just enjoy something and not have to over think things all the time?” You probably have, and if you’re an idiot (you probably are) then you might even have used it. The answer is yes, but you have to understand that the fact you enjoy it doesn’t make it good. For example, I really like this band The Briggs. They have all these well-written, catchy songs, their aesthetic is pretty cool and their attitude is broadly in line with mine; long story short, I like The Briggs. Also, they’re fucking shit. They’re generic, by-the-book punk bullshit, they’ll never progress their genre and they’ll never do anything that hasn’t been done before. You’re probably thinking “Luke, wtf lol, why do you like them if you think they’re shit?” The answer is that it’s alright to enjoy something that’s shit, just don’t try to soothe your pride by trying to claim that it's something it’s not. I also enjoy You've Been Framed, wanking and McDonald’s but I don’t hold any of those things up as the pinnacle of human fucking achievement.
What this all leads to (I’m trying to stay on-topic tonight) is a culture that accepts, even encourages shit music because people are idiots and seem pretty unwilling to accept that they’re idiots who listen to dogshit. That’s pretty understandable, and I’m not saying you need to stop listening to it, just be realistic and give up on the idea that Paramore are the best fucking thing ever.
Here’s another thing: I can remember a time not too long ago when not everybody listened to music. Serious, it was like there was a minority of people who would put the effort in to find their niche and research the music they liked and everyone else was happy to just listen to the radio when they were in the car and buy the occasional Will Young CD. This was a time when music was still cool, and you could tell whether someone was cool by virtue of whether they liked cool music or not, and this was possible because it wasn’t like nowadays, when everyone listens to exactly the same dogshit. Some idiots have sometimes said “just because something’s not popular doesn’t mean it’s cool you know…” These are the kind of people who think that fish and chips is good for you and that liking The Replacements better than Paramore makes a person pretentious. In fact the converse is true: being unpopular doesn’t necessarily make something cool, but being popular sure as fuck makes it uncool. That’s why it was such a dick-punch when they turned hip-hop into an advert for trainers and rock & roll into Miley Cyrus and everything you used to think was cool suddenly wasn’t all that cool anymore.
Unfortunately that’s not even the whole story. If you don’t have any integrity then music is a pretty alright business to get into, and there are plenty of guys out there who will happily jump in front of any parade if they think it’ll make them some money, get their dick sucked or make their hair look better. Whether you’re into hardcore or rock & roll or hip-hop or whatever, you’ll inevitably have come across some disneyfied version of it produced not for love of the music but solely because someone figured they could capitalise on it. The logic continues like this: “if we can make a parody of one beloved culture for fourteen-year-old girls to listen to in their bedrooms, why can’t we do the same with all of them at the same time?" *thunder-clap, maniacal laughter* This is where we get the unfortunate practice of assholes watering everything down to make idiots like it, then trying to appeal to as many fucking demographics as happen to be fashionable at the time. And the result? The awful result is assholes like this motherfucker.
Oh, and Owl City.
Alright, have you heard about this bullshit Owl City? I don’t know whether it’s a band or just one guy or what but it’s like the dude decided “ok I’m gonna make this band, it’ll be EXACTLY like The Postal Service but, I don’t know, it’ll be sort of like The Postal Service for cunts…” Well bad news jackass, they already made a Postal Service for cunts. It’s called The Postal Service. The real trouble, though, is that Owl City’s fucking fan base is mostly made up of so-called rock & roll guys. I don’t just want to pick on these assholes, but they’re symptomatic of a pretty horrifying state of affairs. Man, I don’t know exactly what’s going on with music just now, I really don’t. But I’m gonna write about it anyway. Welcome to the internet, assholes.
I think a big part of the problem is a sort of confusion that seems to exist between music people like and music that’s actually good. Have you ever heard the phrase “can’t you just enjoy something and not have to over think things all the time?” You probably have, and if you’re an idiot (you probably are) then you might even have used it. The answer is yes, but you have to understand that the fact you enjoy it doesn’t make it good. For example, I really like this band The Briggs. They have all these well-written, catchy songs, their aesthetic is pretty cool and their attitude is broadly in line with mine; long story short, I like The Briggs. Also, they’re fucking shit. They’re generic, by-the-book punk bullshit, they’ll never progress their genre and they’ll never do anything that hasn’t been done before. You’re probably thinking “Luke, wtf lol, why do you like them if you think they’re shit?” The answer is that it’s alright to enjoy something that’s shit, just don’t try to soothe your pride by trying to claim that it's something it’s not. I also enjoy You've Been Framed, wanking and McDonald’s but I don’t hold any of those things up as the pinnacle of human fucking achievement.
What this all leads to (I’m trying to stay on-topic tonight) is a culture that accepts, even encourages shit music because people are idiots and seem pretty unwilling to accept that they’re idiots who listen to dogshit. That’s pretty understandable, and I’m not saying you need to stop listening to it, just be realistic and give up on the idea that Paramore are the best fucking thing ever.
Here’s another thing: I can remember a time not too long ago when not everybody listened to music. Serious, it was like there was a minority of people who would put the effort in to find their niche and research the music they liked and everyone else was happy to just listen to the radio when they were in the car and buy the occasional Will Young CD. This was a time when music was still cool, and you could tell whether someone was cool by virtue of whether they liked cool music or not, and this was possible because it wasn’t like nowadays, when everyone listens to exactly the same dogshit. Some idiots have sometimes said “just because something’s not popular doesn’t mean it’s cool you know…” These are the kind of people who think that fish and chips is good for you and that liking The Replacements better than Paramore makes a person pretentious. In fact the converse is true: being unpopular doesn’t necessarily make something cool, but being popular sure as fuck makes it uncool. That’s why it was such a dick-punch when they turned hip-hop into an advert for trainers and rock & roll into Miley Cyrus and everything you used to think was cool suddenly wasn’t all that cool anymore.
Unfortunately that’s not even the whole story. If you don’t have any integrity then music is a pretty alright business to get into, and there are plenty of guys out there who will happily jump in front of any parade if they think it’ll make them some money, get their dick sucked or make their hair look better. Whether you’re into hardcore or rock & roll or hip-hop or whatever, you’ll inevitably have come across some disneyfied version of it produced not for love of the music but solely because someone figured they could capitalise on it. The logic continues like this: “if we can make a parody of one beloved culture for fourteen-year-old girls to listen to in their bedrooms, why can’t we do the same with all of them at the same time?" *thunder-clap, maniacal laughter* This is where we get the unfortunate practice of assholes watering everything down to make idiots like it, then trying to appeal to as many fucking demographics as happen to be fashionable at the time. And the result? The awful result is assholes like this motherfucker.
Oh, and Owl City.
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
Where The Hell Is Your Vagina?
Alright, I know I said I was gonna write something today but I’ve been out instead so this is just something short. Man, it’s twenty past four as I’m writing this and if I hadn’t said I’d be back I’d definitely be asleep already. But I can’t let you assholes down can I?
Ok, I don’t know if there are any nightclub DJs out there reading this but if there are - you have got to stop playing “I’m On A Boat” in your fucking nightclub. And if any of you are nightclub patrons - stop dancing to it, stop signing along to it, in fact stop knowing the fucking words to it. Where did this even come from man? Alright, the video was pretty funny the first time but that was a comedy video; there’s no excuse to play it in the nightclub and there is absolutely no excuse for motherfuckers knowing the words and singing along. It’s stupid as hell. And if you’re thinking “Luke wtf lol, it’s just a song and it’s pretty catchy and everything, can’t I just enjoy it if I’m out in the nightclub?” you can if you’re a total moron. It needs the fucking video to work. Plus there are literally thousands of other throwaway, catchy, poppy hip-hop tracks that are tenfold more appropriate to a nightclub environment. What about “Slide Along Side” by Shifty Shellshock? Or “It Doesn’t Matter” by Wyclef Jean feat. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson? ...Singing along to “I’m On A Boat,” don’t you have any dignity at all?
You people honestly make me fucking sick. You probably all own Tenacious D records and listen to them regularly and think Will Ferrell is the funniest fucking guy who ever lived. Fuck off.
Ok, I don’t know if there are any nightclub DJs out there reading this but if there are - you have got to stop playing “I’m On A Boat” in your fucking nightclub. And if any of you are nightclub patrons - stop dancing to it, stop signing along to it, in fact stop knowing the fucking words to it. Where did this even come from man? Alright, the video was pretty funny the first time but that was a comedy video; there’s no excuse to play it in the nightclub and there is absolutely no excuse for motherfuckers knowing the words and singing along. It’s stupid as hell. And if you’re thinking “Luke wtf lol, it’s just a song and it’s pretty catchy and everything, can’t I just enjoy it if I’m out in the nightclub?” you can if you’re a total moron. It needs the fucking video to work. Plus there are literally thousands of other throwaway, catchy, poppy hip-hop tracks that are tenfold more appropriate to a nightclub environment. What about “Slide Along Side” by Shifty Shellshock? Or “It Doesn’t Matter” by Wyclef Jean feat. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson? ...Singing along to “I’m On A Boat,” don’t you have any dignity at all?
You people honestly make me fucking sick. You probably all own Tenacious D records and listen to them regularly and think Will Ferrell is the funniest fucking guy who ever lived. Fuck off.
Monday, 15 February 2010
I'm Luke McGinty, And That's Why I Drink
Well ladies, how was it? You know what I’m talking about. Did anybody get unsatisfactorily boned by some Phones4U-haired dolt who reckons a fancy, ideas above his station meal out entitles him to grope ineptly at you and slobber for all of about five minutes? Or are you part of the Notebook DVD, pissed on red wine, weeping into your Haagen-Dazs set? Either way, I truly do not care. I shouldn’t have to tell you people how much bullshit Valentine’s Day is so we’re not going to bother with it. Instead, we’re talking about a subject much more appropriate to your poor unfortunate narrator’s situation: hangover cures! What they are, why they’re bullshit, and what they can do for you!
We’ll begin with a classic - the full cooked. This is a massive error; I think whoever decided that a full cooked was a good idea on top of your already churning gut must have been fully cooked when they came up with this gem. You’re gonna feel badly sick, the scent will haunt you and your inevitable massive shit is gonna smell horrific and be browner and stickier than the picture of Rihanna I keep under the mattress. A big dine is a necessity mind you, but you’ve got to save it til later in the day. Start with something simple, something like…
Shitting - Alright it’s not a cure per sé, but a decent shit early on always works out well. And let’s face it, most of the time you don’t have many options as far as this one’s concerned do you?
Drinking - Here’s something: in the Dark Ages people believed that if a dog bit you, the way to ward off the evil spirits (i.e. rabies) that it cursed you with was to take some of that same dog’s hair and rub it on the wound. Hence “hair of the dog.” Anyway, this can go well or it can go really sour. (I'm talking about drinking, not dog hair rubbing. That never goes well, believe me...) The important thing here is to have the mental and physical fortitude to push on through how bad you’re gonna feel during and immediately after the first couple. After that you should stop feeling hung over and start to feel pissed again. Depending on circumstances this can work in your favour or against you. The trouble is, again it’s not really a cure, more of a diversionary tactic; which is usually a good thing. If you want to feel better you have to do something to focus your attention and take your mind off the miniature oompah band who seem to be playing a sold-out residency inside your head, something like…
Wanking - Sorry to be crude, but it fucking works.
Action - Maybe you noticed a theme with the rest of the entries on the list. That’s right, none of them really work to completely cure a hangover. In my experience only one thing does, and that’s action. If you’ve got a job to go to that‘s nectar, go to work. If not, get up and do fucking anything. I mean it, set an alarm, wake up and set about yourself. Don’t mope around, don’t even consider staying in bed and you’ll feel like fucking dynamite, I promise.
Ok this is boring so it’s tangent time. I got the idea to write this when someone mentioned El Barrio to me a few days ago. El Barrio is a Mexican themed bar on Edinburgh’s prestigious Rose Street and it provided the set-up for one of the worst hangovers I’ve ever had, which commenced with me coming to in the morning naked as the day I was born, save for a neckerchief which curiously didn't feature in my night's attire. Very strange, somewhat confusing. The story of that night and morning after, though, is fucking hilarious, and is one of my favourites. Let's watch on…
So me and a few people went out and found ourselves in El Barrio and we got, not too put too fine a point on it, fucking mortal.* This was during Edinburgh’s prestigious International Festival so it was pretty busy everywhere. Erroneous, I’m just putting you in the picture. Well when we got home myself and my two friends Birdseed and Delaney suddenly realised it was imperative we immediately remove our clothes and take to the back green. The logic, if memory serves, was that it was raining. So there we were: three men in my block’s communal garden, naked and shouting at the night sky. But it doesn’t get funny until the next morning, when Delaney had to go out and tend to the potatoes he was growing out in the garden at the time . My insane neighbour, who we’ve discussed before, was out in her garden too, taking care of some sort of business. “Oh, morning Delaney. I didn’t see you there. How are you today?” she says over the fence. Now Delaney’s not keen for a conversation as you can imagine, but he’s got manners so he’s got to respond. “Not too bad. I didn’t sleep well last night so I’m afraid I’m a bit off this morning.” Here’s where the story turns. The neighbour says “I’ll tell you what, I’m in the same boat, had a terrible night’s sleep. And I had the strangest dream…” “Oh yeah?” says Delaney, beginning to worry. “Yeah, I thought I was looking out my window, and the drying green was full of people, and they were naked having a party…”
Well. Suffice to say Delaney excused himself from his potatoes and exited that scene quick-time. What a story though. Alright I am far too tired to write anything that’s in any way coherent so I’ll wrap this up.
…Alright if you insist; Valentine’s Day. Twist my arm, why don’t you? What about that scenario I mentioned earlier? That old cliché with the lonely single woman fending off her depression with high-fat content foods and sloth. I’m moved to ask the question, is that the right way to go about things? Let’s have a think about why you might be single in the first place. We’ll just brainstorm for a moment. See, if you want my advice, try making salads and mineral water your comfort foods, instead of all that ice-cream and so on. Just a thought, you might have a bit more success in the love game that way. You ugly fat bitch.
Ok, probably best if we leave it there. I’m back tomorrow.
*Here are just a few of my favourite euphemisms for drunk: singing hymns, well refreshed, done-in, sunk, cooked (or any derivatives thereof - roasted, boiled, fried, poached, well done, medium rare, char-grilled, oven-baked, pan-seared, you get the idea...)
We’ll begin with a classic - the full cooked. This is a massive error; I think whoever decided that a full cooked was a good idea on top of your already churning gut must have been fully cooked when they came up with this gem. You’re gonna feel badly sick, the scent will haunt you and your inevitable massive shit is gonna smell horrific and be browner and stickier than the picture of Rihanna I keep under the mattress. A big dine is a necessity mind you, but you’ve got to save it til later in the day. Start with something simple, something like…
Shitting - Alright it’s not a cure per sé, but a decent shit early on always works out well. And let’s face it, most of the time you don’t have many options as far as this one’s concerned do you?
Drinking - Here’s something: in the Dark Ages people believed that if a dog bit you, the way to ward off the evil spirits (i.e. rabies) that it cursed you with was to take some of that same dog’s hair and rub it on the wound. Hence “hair of the dog.” Anyway, this can go well or it can go really sour. (I'm talking about drinking, not dog hair rubbing. That never goes well, believe me...) The important thing here is to have the mental and physical fortitude to push on through how bad you’re gonna feel during and immediately after the first couple. After that you should stop feeling hung over and start to feel pissed again. Depending on circumstances this can work in your favour or against you. The trouble is, again it’s not really a cure, more of a diversionary tactic; which is usually a good thing. If you want to feel better you have to do something to focus your attention and take your mind off the miniature oompah band who seem to be playing a sold-out residency inside your head, something like…
Wanking - Sorry to be crude, but it fucking works.
Action - Maybe you noticed a theme with the rest of the entries on the list. That’s right, none of them really work to completely cure a hangover. In my experience only one thing does, and that’s action. If you’ve got a job to go to that‘s nectar, go to work. If not, get up and do fucking anything. I mean it, set an alarm, wake up and set about yourself. Don’t mope around, don’t even consider staying in bed and you’ll feel like fucking dynamite, I promise.
Ok this is boring so it’s tangent time. I got the idea to write this when someone mentioned El Barrio to me a few days ago. El Barrio is a Mexican themed bar on Edinburgh’s prestigious Rose Street and it provided the set-up for one of the worst hangovers I’ve ever had, which commenced with me coming to in the morning naked as the day I was born, save for a neckerchief which curiously didn't feature in my night's attire. Very strange, somewhat confusing. The story of that night and morning after, though, is fucking hilarious, and is one of my favourites. Let's watch on…
So me and a few people went out and found ourselves in El Barrio and we got, not too put too fine a point on it, fucking mortal.* This was during Edinburgh’s prestigious International Festival so it was pretty busy everywhere. Erroneous, I’m just putting you in the picture. Well when we got home myself and my two friends Birdseed and Delaney suddenly realised it was imperative we immediately remove our clothes and take to the back green. The logic, if memory serves, was that it was raining. So there we were: three men in my block’s communal garden, naked and shouting at the night sky. But it doesn’t get funny until the next morning, when Delaney had to go out and tend to the potatoes he was growing out in the garden at the time . My insane neighbour, who we’ve discussed before, was out in her garden too, taking care of some sort of business. “Oh, morning Delaney. I didn’t see you there. How are you today?” she says over the fence. Now Delaney’s not keen for a conversation as you can imagine, but he’s got manners so he’s got to respond. “Not too bad. I didn’t sleep well last night so I’m afraid I’m a bit off this morning.” Here’s where the story turns. The neighbour says “I’ll tell you what, I’m in the same boat, had a terrible night’s sleep. And I had the strangest dream…” “Oh yeah?” says Delaney, beginning to worry. “Yeah, I thought I was looking out my window, and the drying green was full of people, and they were naked having a party…”
Well. Suffice to say Delaney excused himself from his potatoes and exited that scene quick-time. What a story though. Alright I am far too tired to write anything that’s in any way coherent so I’ll wrap this up.
…Alright if you insist; Valentine’s Day. Twist my arm, why don’t you? What about that scenario I mentioned earlier? That old cliché with the lonely single woman fending off her depression with high-fat content foods and sloth. I’m moved to ask the question, is that the right way to go about things? Let’s have a think about why you might be single in the first place. We’ll just brainstorm for a moment. See, if you want my advice, try making salads and mineral water your comfort foods, instead of all that ice-cream and so on. Just a thought, you might have a bit more success in the love game that way. You ugly fat bitch.
Ok, probably best if we leave it there. I’m back tomorrow.
*Here are just a few of my favourite euphemisms for drunk: singing hymns, well refreshed, done-in, sunk, cooked (or any derivatives thereof - roasted, boiled, fried, poached, well done, medium rare, char-grilled, oven-baked, pan-seared, you get the idea...)
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