My 100th Post

This marks my 100th post. I'm sorry if this feels like a long time in coming; I have, it has been noted, reluctantly overseen my blog from time to time. I started almost exactly four months ago, and it has been a very interesting experiment. The key to a successful blog is frequent updates, as exemplified by the workaholics, Amanda and Bryan. However, I have thoroughly enjoyed my journey into the blogosphere, enough so to make me continue in the new year, perhaps donning a new look and possibly a pretentious wikipedia page too. From here until the end of 2007, I wish you all the best, for I must leave you now as I have arrangements to undertake and relationships to nurture, particularly that of my neglected girlfriend. And so, I hope you have enjoyed my forays with music, film, literature, and the quasi-intellectual, politically redundant rants that, if I may say so myself, have defined this blog. Perhaps I will branch out and let others hold the all-important password to update this site, who knows what the new year will bring. Thank you.

More on music...

More relevant music news for us to devour. Led Zep have done the Othello thing and decided to play a stupidly small venue for one night only. That does remind me of a certain band...a band which, coincidentally, were cleverly interviewed by the Observer/fans about their latest, In Rainbows; I'm sure you remember my repeated dedications.

Declan de Barra

You heard it here first, Declan de Barra is the new Damien Rice. This may sound like a fawning testament of sequestrial awe, but, as my friends and family would testify, I do not say this lightly. Dealing with issues like relationships, travel, long-distance love, immigration, unwanted pregnancy, and general discontent, he's playing right into my hands. What's more, this isn't off-the-cuff lyricism, this is poetry. Supported by a harmonic voice and simple melodies this guy will go places. If you needed proof, this video speaks for itself.

BBC in Deep Holy Water

The BBC have found themselves once again at the centre of controversy. This time, however it's not for misleading the masses, but rather, for supposedly impressing upon the masses. Firstly, they've been cleared for airing Jerry Springer The Opera on television, and secondly, they've been forced to apologise for 'insulting Islam' on the radio. this is all very interesting because it highlights a point that needs contention. One wonders what would have happened had the Jerry Springer Opera centered around Mohammed rather than Jesus, and the radio broadcaster called a dog Jesus rather than Mohammed. Is this showing respect for religion or is it showing fear of Islam? Islamophobia? Ask yourself that question.

The Atrocity Ends

It appears the Gillian Gibbons case has come to a somewhat successful conclusion; we've been reminded of the religious recidivation of Islam and the infuriatingly passive stance of our laissez-faire, 'respectful' government. At least reason, logic, sense, and discussion prevailed over atavism. As I initially noted, it did become an 'us against them' scenario where the turmoils of a dilapidated country were seen in the true light of day behind a thinning veil of oppressive superstition. Unsurprisingly, Gordon Brown had little to say on the matter, whilst my arch-nemesis, David Milliband, seems to have come up trumps. Funnily enough, Bryan has grown ever vocal over Gordon Brown's reign and made it very clear that he doesn't like the man; "the more he does", he says, "the worse he gets". This may be the first time that I've covered a news story that has grown to dominate our news agenda (it even featured on the US news networks for a brief period of time), but don't worry, I'll revert back to the insignificant cusps of intrigue in no time.

I'm Back

My tiny excursion to Austin, Texas has come to an end, and I'm pleased to report that my endeavors went well and I'm all too glad to expand my American experience; Austin is equivocal to towns like Loughborough or Bath, centered around a university campus where the only ulterior high-rise buildings mainly crop up as hotels. I was pleased to note that Texas isn't necessarily the detached quasi-nation that other Americans have come to view it as. Granted, the architecture is decades old and visibly stagnant, but the culture is far from regressive. I was disappointed not to have more opportunity to explore and search, but such is the life of a student.

Childish Religion

One point I forgot to mention earlier in my post regarding the Gillian Gibbons incarceration was that the blogger stated: "All but one of the children in her class are Muslims." As the frequent readers of this blog will know, no child of 6 or 7 years-old is a Muslim. They simply do not have the educational grounding or the experienced learning capable enough of identifying themselves as Muslims. Consciousness needs to be raised on this matter. This is just as absurd as stating 'All but one of the children in her class are postmodernists and Marxists'. These are self-conscious decisions that can be made when the facts and opinions are explicitly presented. As I write this I find that one of the children has spoken out and told the press that the teddy bear was named after himself. Typically with issues surrounding religion, children pose the most pertinent questions. Moreover, Mosques have today been issued with a code of practice; basically outlining how Muslims should follow their own religion. Is it not telling that the British government feels the need to condescendingly prescribe recommendations that bemoan arranged marriages and extremism? I must take this opportunity to tell you all that I won't be posting again until Monday because I'm away in Austin, Texas and I will be without an internet connection for the duration. I do apologize, but I will make it up to you somehow...

Very Bad Sex

A survey conducted on behalf of the book, Sex in America, revealed that only 61% of 18-24 year-old women regularly, or usually, achieve orgasm during sex. C'mon guys, sort it out. On a much more humorous note, or shall I say posthumous, Norman Mailer has been awarded the literary Bad Sex Award for 2007. Apparently, the likening of male genitalia to "a coil of excrement" swung it for the judges. Coincidentally, the Vagina Monologues are set to play throughout February at my university, and given my student-induced open-mindedness I shall look forward to it with interest. If the judges were influenced by the reduction of male piety to faeces, then I'm sure they would have enjoyed Ian McEwan's wonderful On Chesil Beach where the male protagonist was reduced to a quivering premature ejaculation sufferer. It's book-ended a disappointing year for McEwan, but I'm sure he'll come back with another resounding comment on love and relationships to sweep the annual awards.

The Atrocity Continues

Here's the latest from the Guardian Unlimited website where an ex-colleague and friend of Gillian Gibbons, the woman incarcerated for using Muhammed as the name of a teddy bear, speaks up about the growing insanity of this case. In the comment section someone writes: "May I urge posters to show restraint until this case is resolved? Anyone in Sudan with a computer, such as a government official, can read CiF." Interestingly, the moderator has gone to town over deleting people's comments here. For whatever cause the above poster reports to, I am not going to violate our right to free speech just so a bigoted, infantile individual in Sudan can have his twisted way with a respectable Western woman. People are going to look upon this case as 'us against them', which, even if we don't want it, has already been established by the Sudanese. "The police station had been surrounded by a mob baying for Gillian's blood." - All this does is confirm the observation that religion provides a canon for people's debauched blood lust. Peaceful Muslims will decry this as a misinterpretation of Islamic teachings, which, frankly, is no excuse what-so-ever. As is the case with militant Islam, they're no stranger to self-hatred, self'-pity, and self-righteousness. They're besotted with poisoning our society with their own cultish teachings, rather than keeping their beliefs to themselves. If someone wants to call the hate-speech police upon reading this, feel free, but I'm sure there's another delusional martyr willing to strap an explosive vest to themselves for your cause. This is really serious. Where do you stand, comrades? Ask yourself what you believe in, today where a white, western woman is potentially flogged and imprisoned for allowing her pupils to name a teddy bear Muhammed in the name of a transparently plagiarised religion.

An Atrocity

Readers of this blog I hope would be alert enough to have come across this story (with interest) already - a British teacher has been arrested in Sudan after "offending" the Muslim faith. Strangely, the articles I can find make no statement as to her ethnicity, however, either way, this is a modern day travesty, equatable to the barbaric, primal, atavistic, and down-right appalling backlash to the Danish cartoons. We live in a world of perpetuated fear, by fanatics who insist, not only on vehemently following their religion, but by forcing it upon others also. This action is regressive, provocative, and absurd. After all, the children of her class named the bear, should they be scoured, flagellated, and abused likewise? Adopting my Dawkinsian guise, I must remind everyone that these children are no more Islamic themselves than the British teacher - they're simply too young to understand the fundamental prejudices of their force-fed faith. This categorically violates freedom of speech, conveniently tying into my post yesterday. I hope the British government grow some balls fast enough to step in and react to this international scandal. I shall be following this one with you.