Saturday, March 15, 2008

You Say We Need A Revolution?

Okay, I'm in, where do we sign up?
I don't often wander into politics any more, there doesn't seem to be much point as both main political parties have become so populist that they lack any major points of difference, let alone an idealogical basis, but I do wonder what the hell is happening to this country. We seem to be under the almost total control of an allegedly socialist government that is so terrified of it's own people that it constantly legislates to limit our freedoms. And perhaps what's worse is that they don't know their arse from their elbow. I think it was Wednesdays budget which really annoyed me, as the idiot chancellor stood there and told us how well the British economy is rolling on (despite it being obvious to anybody who lives in the country that it really, really isn't) and then increasing our already almost unbearable tax burden. There'd been a lot of other dumb shit before this too, as the government floundered about looking for something to do, some way to paper over the cracks of our increasing social inequality and complete lack of social cohesion and coming up with such cretinous ideas as a pledge of allegiance to the Queen, or a massive tax increase on alco-pops. Here's a thought; you want to stop kids binge drinking, why not make a country where their existence actually has a point? As for the pledge, I'm not sure when I last heard such a ridiculous idea. Not the pledge so much, although that is in itself quite anathema to me, but why allegiance to the Queen? How about this instead; fuck the Royal Family, let's get rid of 'em and become a republic? Sound good to you? We can start again in this country, finally destroy the old divisions and build a society based on merit, rather than who your father was and where you went to school! I have nothing personal against the Queen, I'm sure she's a perfectly nice person for someone who has never wondered where the money for her next meal is coming from, but I cringe every time I hear "God Save The Queen" as our national anthem! Bollocks to monarchy, it puts us on the wrong foot to start with; no matter how much the government says we're citizens of the UK we fucking aren't, we're SUBJECTS. I think that's so ingrained into the social fabric of this country that people don't even realise how it limits their aspirations, but we KNOW in the very core of our beings that we're never gonna be diplomats or corporate leaders or anything of the sort because that's just not how the system works.
Of course I think the chances of any sort of revolution are minimal; let's face it we did manage to have a revolution once, but even then the working man couldn't be bothered with it and we switched back again. Maybe that's the true British character, that we're born subjugated, born defeated. Even if we did want a revolution there's simply no way to make it work in the modern world; the government have very craftily used the "threat" of terrorists to protect itself at the expense of the erosion of our civil liberties to a point where I'm quite sure I could be arrested under the terrorism bill for even posting this, and I'm not talking about bombing anything or killing anyone, all I want is full on civil insurrection! Which, okay, is asking for a lot, but a man can dream can't he? Mind you, even if we did manage it we'd have the bloody US army in here to return "stability" to the region again, wouldn't we? Not that the internal politics of a country is their business, but that's never stopped them before, has it?
And I guess that's the problem; everything went wrong so long ago and nobody did anything about it. I'm not sure things can ever be put right now. But we can hope.

Friday, March 14, 2008

The Incredible What Now?

I've just seen the trailer for the new Hulk movie.
Oh boy.
It's not that it's actively bad particularly, although it seems bent on achieving the cheesy aesthetic of the 70s TV show, it's just that after the sheer poetry of Ang Lee's Hulk this looks so... ordinary.
I know not everybody liked Ang's version, but then everybody who didn't like it was wrong, plain and simple. And now we hear rumblings from the studio that they're trying to take final cut away from Ed Norton (whose baby this really is) to take out "things that shouldn't be in the movie". And I'm guessing that according to studio folk those things would include characterisation. Also, what the hell is up with Hulks haircut in the trailer? Are bowl cuts in for super folk now?
I suspect there will be other posts later, particularly on the state of the country and it's politics, but I can't be bothered to foment revolution right now, I haven't had my tea yet this morning.

Friday, March 07, 2008

TW3

Well that's the end to another week of pointless crap. I'm no happier with work than I was before, but at least I'm still getting paid and that's what matters. Although today I did fuck all until the boss called me up and asked me to go stand in a queue and get him tickets for a football match! Yes, that was my days work. Great. Still I did sixteen hours yesterday, so that more than made up for it, I just wish I'd know in advance that I was gonna have a morning to myself then I could make better use of it.
I don't know why but that's all there seems to be in my head. I used to think about stuff all the time, but all I have these days is tiredness and random bits of annoyance.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Critical Hit

Oh yeah, I knew there was something important (or at least important to me); Gary Gygax has died. That's another one of the men responsible for so many of the ways I waste my life gone. Still, from what must have seemed like a pretty crazy idea at the time (and I remember as a kid trying to explain it to people in the early 80s) mighty empires arose, and a whole new way to entertain ourselves and generally geek out was born.
Cheers Gary, see you on the planes!

Pointless

Well here we are what, two weeks later, and things aren't really getting any better. I can't deal with the unpredictability of this ad-hoc nonsense, somedays (like last Wednesday) I don't work at all, but sit about waiting on the off chance that work might appear, whilst other days (like tomorrow) I'll start at 5am and not be home till about 9pm. It makes me angry and frustrated, and it's spoiling my other plans too!
Two weeks and that's all I have to say?
Pff.
I suppose my reluctance to move is partly down to loyalty (ah, good old misplaced loyalty) and the fact that last week the boss had a really horrific smash, and quitting now just seems like kicking him when he's down (and he is down, make no mistake about it), but on the other hand how long do I hang on at my own expense? I'm rarely good at putting myself first, and this seems like no exception.
Why is it that when I sit down to blog my head seems so empty? Is it because all I seem to do these days is work and sleep? Hell I can't even watch a movie without crashing out halfway through!