November 2009

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The Arrogance of People

November 13, 2009 in Rants | 2 comments

English people are generally stereotyped as being rude, ignorant and arrogant. I couldn’t agree more.

Anyone remember those sign posts of the late eighties / early nineties? They would be found in public areas; a cartoon of a face (for some reason, orange) with a speech bubble saying, Mrs Baggit says please pick up your litter.

I really feel that they should bring them back, but with an extended family. Mr Manners says please mind your p’s and q’s. Or, perhaps along the lines of Miss Arrogance says slam the door in someone’s face as you walk through it. Or maybe, Mr Self-Importance says walk into people instead of saying ‘excuse me.’

Sadly, the latter examples would be the ones people pay heed to.

I find it incredibly frustrating the sheer rudeness and arrogance of people today. Perhaps I am in the minority, but I hold the door open for people. I pick things up for people and hand it back to them if they’re laden down with bags. I have been known to help a lady carry her pram down a flight of steps. With the exception of the lady with a baby (who was lovely), I very rarely get thanked.

Now, I know like the term you shouldn’t give to receive, you probably shouldn’t help to be thanked. However, it’s this type of attitude that puts people off helping.

We whine about how nobody gives up a seat for a pregnant lady or an old person anymore. We whinge that people let doors shut in our faces. I’m not saying it’s right, but perhaps once upon a time, these people were polite and became jaded through the lack of thanks. Not saying thank you is just as rude as not offering in the first place.

So, next time someone helps you, regardless of how small, say thank you! It doesn’t cost a penny and you may prevent that helpful person from becoming jaded. And what a harmonic world it would be then, eh?

X Factor aka Simon Cowell’s Goldmine

November 10, 2009 in Music, Rants | 2 comments

Ah, long time no blog and what better subject to blog about than The X Factor?

For those of you living under a rock or perhaps residing in the US of A, The X Factor is our version of American Idol. The craze sweeps the country and it’s all that everyone talks about. There is no escape. Even if like me, you claim to dislike it and everything it stands for, you will still watch it. It’s like a drug. You would be hard pushed to find someone in the UK who has genuinely never seen an episode. And even if they say they haven’t, they are probably lying.

Moving on.

The X Factor, whether you like to admit it or not, is good entertainment. We laugh, we cry, we cringe and we get angry. However, for me, a lot of my personal entertainment comes from the sheer stupidity of the General British Public. Oh, Simon Cowell, I take my hat off to you. He also realises the stupidity of the GBP and he milks it, oh how he milks it. Let’s face it, if the GBP had a brain, I doubt the show would still be going.

Let me start with the audition rounds. A lot of meticulous planning goes into these and it really amuses me that still so many people believe that the judges see everybody. Oh no, it doesn’t work like this at all. I’m unsure of the exact number, but anyone wishing to audition for the show has to go through three (I think) rounds of auditions with the producers. They will then select who gets to audition for the judges. The judges see a very small proportion of all the hopefuls.

The crowd scenes? Filmed at the auditions for the producers. Dermot does some links and that’s about it. Applicants are told to wear the same clothes for the producers auditions and the judges auditions, in case they’re picked out in a crowd scene. The producers will generally pick those who are shocking bad or downright weird or those who are fantastically good. The bad picks are of course part of the elaborate ploy to give the illusion of everyone auditioning for the judges. They also pick some of the ‘middle road’ people – people who are decent singers but not overly outstanding so that we can then have the drama of the final judge’s decision.

Really, it’s quite a formularic process and one that the GBP continue to buy into.

Fools.

I’m sure I don’t need to explain that the televised audition shows are also cut and edited to look like the good people come on, just as there have been a run of bad auditions, to send the judges into the pits of the deepest despair.

Onto the live shows…do people really think that Simon Cowell gives a toss who wins? Of course he doesn’t. He will give the public what they want. The general public WILL buy the winners single and the winner WILL be the Christmas Number One, regardless of who wins it. Yes, they win a record contract worth a million pounds. They don’t see any of that – or if they do, very little. That money pays for the promo, the mixing, studio time and all those other things. Simon Cowell isn’t going to be losing anything and he will get royalties for all the singles sold. He doesn’t care who wins – it’s a win win situation for him and his record company. There is nothing to prevent him from signing other acts who don’t win but who do have potential. There is however a clause preventing losing acts from signing with other companies or releasing a single within a set amount of time after the show.

Simon Cowell is LOVING the Jedward craze. I feel sorry for the young lads as they come out and make a spectacle of themselves every week. They were probably in it for a good time and they will earn a good bit of money from magazine articles and dodgy reality tv shows for washed-up celebrities. However, they are now the prime tool in this X Factor money making machine. There will be a big backlash against them as they prevented a decent act from remaining in the competition. However, Simon Cowell made that final decision to go to the public vote and he knew that they would stay in.

He doesn’t really hate them. He knows that The X Factor is getting more pubicity than ever and it’s all because of them.

Wise up, GPB.