Fifth estate

After a delightful interview with political cartoonist Martin Rowson, I've had a surge of energy towards my love of satire. he'll be the star of my second issue of my political magazine. Check out the first issue if you haven't already, you've severely missed out!

http://issuu.com/jessicaeee1989/docs/pdfinnnniittt

‘I chose not to choose life: I chose something else’

Have you ever had that feeling, where something's put you in a great mood and it seems to set off good luck like a line of dominoes, and the world just seems to be a beautiful place? Well, I've learnt that that can happen the other way round, too. If something gets you down, that negative perspective seems to magnify all the other insignificant things that can go wrong, things that usually would go by unnoticed. For instance, finding out that I've just bitten into a seriously bruised apple, under normal circumstances, would result in a deformed noise and a 'head meets bin' moment. However, when there's something getting you down, these little things seem to be a bigger deal. I wrote off my whole day as being 'not my day' after this incident. Funnily enough, the day before that wasn't my day either, after realising I'd put my pants on inside out.

Well, I recently bored a friend to death talking though what's on my mind [see 'Scarf Girl' post for reference to said friend], it's made me wonder. Why can't we follow our own advice? Scarf Girl is particularly gifted when it comes to cheering me up and making the world seem like a brighter place again. However, when it comes to her own life, sometimes I wonder, 'if only she could listen her own advice...', but we don't, do we?

Why is it that we can listen to someone else's anguishes and know exactly what to say to gain perspective on the problem, and make it all better again? Whenever someone comes to me with a problem, which, understandably, isn't often, I dismiss them quickly with a 'it's not the end of the world, why let it worry you?', is that because I can see past what's worrying them? Either that or I'm just a bad friend...we'll stick with the former!
Friends can see your problems in the bigger picture, they know you from an outsider's perspective, when all you can do is focus on what's getting you down.                             

If a friend's nervous about something, I can tell them to calm down, tell them that they'll be fine and to enjoy themselves, and I find myself believing what I'm saying. However, if it were me suffering with the nerves, I'd be hopeless at calming myself down.                 

Scarf girl's recent consolation and advice has made me question- who do we listen to? We make decisions every day, every hour, even if most of them only consist of deciding when exactly to breathe next, they're still important. Sometimes, to make a decision, is to lead yourself down a completely different path full of other decisions, and sometimes, certain choices stay with you the rest of your life. How do we know when to listen to ourselves, and when to trust the instinct of others?
Sometimes it's hard to pinpoint the exact decisions that shape us. Many people are angered by homeless people that stare up at you, longingly asking for some change. People say 'it's their own fault, they made the decision to be homeless', and as much as that point of view angers me, it is kind of true. There must have been some point in their lives they thought 'I'm going to put alcohol before everything else', or 'I'm going to spend all of this money on drugs'. And whilst it isn't their fault, they have made decisions along the way that probably haven't helped their situation.                            

I've been researching, today, the reasons as to why people have such trouble being monogamous. I've found that, as nice an idea it is, it's not actually a natural act to stay faithful. So, basically, the perfect example of when we follow what other people demonstrate as being the right thing to do. The decision to decide what should influence your decisions is a decision in itself. With so many voices and views in the world, sometimes it would be nice to be told who to listen to.

Fish out of mainstream.

I'm a little bit disappointed, readers. As I unwrapped my Christmas presents this year, I was quite excited when I uncovered comedian Jason Manford's new stand up DVD. I saw him about a year and a half ago, and I loved him. He came across humble, accessible and his comedy had a light, happy feel to it that left me smiling all night. However, as I watched his new DVD, I felt a sinking feeling of de ja vue. By the end of the DVD, I realised that, to my horror (I'm not exaggerating) about 80% of his material was from a year and a half ago. And yes, it was funny, but it wasn't funny enough to be excusable for retelling it a whole year and a half later. What comedian can't think of new jokes in that amount of time? And not just any comedian, a well established comedian who regularly appears on our televisions on quiz shows and 'live at the Apollo'.
It made me wonder, there must be funnier people out there that don't take so long to think of new jokes, people that aren't as famous. One of my favourite bands of all time, Mesh 29, http://www.myspace.com/mesh29, aren't famous. So what is it exactly that decides what reaches the mainstream?
A recent article, entitled 'The Best Albums You've Never Heard In 2009', lists albums that missed out on the 'commercial love' that they deserved (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8426925.stm). The 'c' word makes me feel a little bit sick, really. But it proves a good point - I checked out the music that's mentioned, and they're not all that bad. Why is it that the majority of people just let the radio decide their favourite songs? Why is it that we can't think for ourselves? We get spoon-fed the same music and films all of the time, and because it's there to make money and appeal to everyone, there's nothing special about it.
My favourite music is from the 70's/80's, when there was almost a rebellion against mainstream music. And the music has passion behind it, and gives the impression that it was made through enjoyment, not greed.
Going back to Jason Manford, why is it that he gets the career that many people can only dream of? When there's probably funnier people talking to sleeping alcoholics in dingy little pubs? I guess it's our own fault really. We're too mindless to go out and find talent, so there'll always be crap churned out for us to buy. Rage Against The Machine's recent two fingers up at mainstream music is exactly what I'm talking about.
I'm really trying not to make this blog too subjective, but really, do you not think that we have a bit of a weird music industry these days? It seems the less famous a band are, the more talented they are. I'm aware that that's a sweeping statement, but just click on the link to Mesh 29 to understand what I'm saying.
When was the last time you looked for music yourself instead of following music channels? There's something to think about, maybe. And as the theory goes, my blog is definitely not well known. Just saying….

Is my chuckle vision too narrow?

Comedy. It’s the key to laughter, which is the pathway to happiness and good health, and us Britons have definitely got the best sense of humour around. I’m sure you have your favourites; the people that make you laugh the most. Have you ever thought though; about what is it that makes things and people funny? I’m not about to answer that monstrosity of a question. However, I’m going to attempt to offer you a slight bit of insight.
A conversation I had yesterday about this has been resounding in my head ever since; it seemed to be a matter of my own opinion that only men (and women with...masculine tendencies/weight issues) seem to have the ability to make me laugh; with Joan Rivers being the only anomaly to this theory that I can think of.
I don't know what it is at all - but it seems that if a man and a woman said exactly the same joke, it would be a lot funnier coming from the man. I don't know at all if this opinion is shared with anyone else, but if it's not - then it must just be a happy coincidence that the stand up comedy profession is more male dominated than any other I can think of. The most popular comedians are predominantly males, and that isn't just an opinion.
Let’s take a look at television, ‘8 out of 10 cats’ - 3 males, ‘Harry Hill's TV burps’ - male, ‘Live at the Apollo’ – typically always males. Looking at 8 out of 10 cats in a bit more detail – it seems that amongst the four guests they have each week, there’s usually one or two women. These women, if you pay particular attention, are never really that funny. At all. I could go one step further and say that they always just look as if they’re preoccupied with making sure the camera catches their good side, but that would be terribly sexist of me...
I’m not a particularly hilarious person, but if I was, it would seem that stand up comedy would be an amazing job to do. However, I’d never do it due to the belief that no matter how funny I could be on paper, I wouldn’t be able to transfer it to the stage, as I wouldn’t be funny.
‘Gavin and Stacey’ is a very popular comedy show - and what is that I hear you protest? The character 'Ness is hilarious? Funny you should say that,because I agree. However, referring back to my theory - she is larger than your average woman, and therefore, an exception.
It seems that the female comedians that are funny, seem to only be the ones that don't come across as caring about how they look. Joan Rivers, Ellen DeGeneres, and Ruth Jones are good examples of this. I'm not trying to say that they're bad to look at, they just project an image that they put their comedy before being a woman. I know that is harsh, but it is true,which is coincidentally the combination that makes most jokes funny.
I don't want to come across as anti-female, I'm not exactly a feminist but I do think women are, of course, the better sex, just not when it comes to making me laugh. I feel this blog may have let down the side a bit, so off I must go now to burn my bra