Because I thought it was time for a bit of culture. Sorry, there isn’t a video, I’m guessing he was too busy curling that wig to make one.
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It’s March 15th and we are two days away from St Patrick’s Day, I would therefore like it to be known in advance that anyone who sends me lime green leprechauns, or wishes me a Happy St Patty’s Day will be the subject of some extremely unpleasant thoughts. Ideally, I’d like to see such people rounded up and placed in stocks, but apparently that kind of thing is frowned upon.
It’s not that I object to the day itself, it’s great, and should be an opportunity to celebrate all that is good about Irish history and culture. Instead it has become an onslaught of tackiness. Lime green pixies that practically glow in the dark are unbelievably naff, and frankly, quite insulting – would you like your entire culture to be distilled into plastic tat?! And why the bagpipes and kilts!? They are Scottish*! As for the aforementioned greeting, really, no Irish person ever says that! Trust me, I’ve spoken to many, and not one ever uttered those words. Of course, they were real Irish people, not the type whose grandmothers once spent a fortnight in Tipperary.
* A completely separate country, try Google maps if you are confused.
ps: Anyone know why my Disqus comment widget thingy isn’t working? It’s ok, I’ve fixed it!
Currently listening to: Even Flow by Pearl Jam
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Mar 072009
Today, there is a change from the usual stream of random witterings I offer you in the form of a guest post from Liam, who kindly offered to save you from yet another meme.
Errol Flynn is reported to have once said: “Any man who is not a Communist by the age of 18 is mad, and any man who is still a Communist by the age of 30 is also mad.”
Despite its patriarchal tone (to which I’m sure the owner of this blog will object!) I’ve always been quite fond of this quote. I was an ardent Communist as a young man but by my 30s a gradual loss of faith in human nature led to a growing cynicism towards such utopian ideals. While Flynn’s amusing line might seem to hold some water, more recent developments may well be proving him more wrong than right.
On one level it is easy to agree with Flynn, but has there ever been a Socialist society? Regimes like the USSR and China have much more in common with Fascism than Socialism or perhaps even with Orwell’s 1984. Wherever social revolutions have had a Socialist intention, predatory elements within communities always subverted them to their own power hungry desires. The plot is usually similar to Animal Farm; the pigs end up with their snouts in the trough and the hell with everyone else. Telling Socialists to ‘go back to Russia’ never really made sense; it never was a Socialist regime by any stretch of the imagination.
So am I drawing an incredibly long bow in trying to find any Socialist currents in the online community? Many people have commented on how much people use online communication to share things; free information, images, software etc. etc. with no thought to personal gain at all. These resources are provided by individuals who invest many hours of their time in their distribution with little reward other than sharing as an end in itself. Of course the internet will always be a bastion of capitalism, but is buying and selling necessarily at odds with a Socialist ideal?
People may not be ready to throw away their modern conveniences, march behind a red flag and live on agrarian collectives, but that part never sounded like much fun anyway. As far as egalitarianism and altruism go, the internet may well develop into the new Socialist El Dorado.
(guest post by Liam Alexander)
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Mar 062009
I’m trying out the Disqus commenting thingy, I’m not entirely sure what it does, but it’s supposed to be good. Anyhoo, if you have any problems accessing the blog or leaving a comment please let me know.
That’s all; have a nice Friday 
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When you spot a link to a Daily Heil* Mail story about a radioactive paedophile** while browsing the Guardian’s CIF section, you do tend to think it’s a joke. But it’s not, and really it’s not funny. However, it did make me wonder just how excited the staff at the Mail were when it came in over the wires. Think about it; it’s the perfect storm of a story for them! Perverts and public health scares! (It could only have been better if the paedophile was an immigrant who had some connection to Princess Diana.) They must have been beside themselves with joy, their miserable little faces, for once, beaming with delight at the thought of writing something that didn’t involve scraping the bottom of a very shallow barrel, or discussing whether Kate Winslet was obese/borderline anorexic/healthy and curvy this week.
On a more pleasant note***, the video is The Dark is Rising by Mercury Rev posted for Musical Monday. If anyone recognises the music used at the beginning please leave a comment because it’s been bugging me for weeks.
* This is a newspaper – I use that word loosely – that supported the Nazis.
** While you’re there, check out the sidebar – apparently Katie Holmes went outside sans make-up! Sod the recession, this is the stuff we need to know about!
*** That was a bad pun wasn’t it? Sorry.
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Jack Yan
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