If you're anything like me you're probably apathetic towards our celebrity culture because we are constantly glorifying the wrong people.
Role models and heroes are a great idea- they encourage us to want to achieve, and they give us hope that our lofty aspirations are actually possible.
There will always a place for actresses, musicians, and athletes- they make our lives brighter after all- but it can't be denied that these are not the people who shape our daily lives, discovering, making, exploring, and generally changing the world for the better. The people who do the really useful, clever stuff, are rarely celebrated in the way that they should be. In truth, I doubt that they care, they have more important things to think about.
Even so, it's unfair; not just to them, but to the general public. Why should we constantly have mediocre individuals thrust in our faces?
Like cows being fed inferior fodder, we grow intellectually fat and lazy, staring ever forward with unthinking stupefied gaze at the gamboling of the fools. It's amusing, in its place, but surely we deserve better?
Wouldn't it be great if we could work towards a well balanced society, where the focus is on honouring and celebrating individuals who really deserve it, rather than encouraging obsessive interest in individuals who are talented in their way, yes, but whom would be of little use to anyone in an Apocalypse...:P
Realistically, only a minute section of society will end up being successful actresses, musicians, or athletes etc., and realistically, if we didn't laud them constantly and publicly, a lot fewer young people would aspire towards these careers anyway.
There are many challenges ahead- energy being perhaps the most pressing- and if we don't put the appreciation and money where it needs to be, with the scientists and their ilk, we'll end up being very well entertained whilst the world falls down around our ears.
This is why I'd like to hold regular short interviews with people who are actually doing worthwhile things. They'll be well known and respected within their communities, but most of us probably won't have heard of them- which is an oversight which we can only gain from rectifying.
So now I just need to find one of these awesome people to grill- wish me luck!
If you're interested in Vintage eBooks, please check out my site:Lady Vanguard Books
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
Tuesday, 8 March 2011
The Cunning Plan
* A plan so cunning it's the Managing Director of the Global Top 10 Share Index, Corporation of Cunning.
This is a real Baldrick Special this one.
Really I should go with a nice sensible idea that hasn't been done a million times before, but I'm still too full of hope for that, so I'm going to go with what I would really like to do in an ideal Utopian world, which is to start a Blogazine.
I'd like to call it Lady Vanguard.
The "Lady" part of the title I like because the magazine will hopefully appeal to women who are apathetic about this culture of glorifying mediocrity and; if the popular magazines etc. are to be believed, of the subversion of women's areas of interest to fashion, relationships, and celebrity.
The sad truth is that, society, or perhaps more accurately society's mirror, the media, tends to reflect the views and lifestyles of the lowest common denominators.
I know myself, as a reasonably intelligent female, that I'll read Heat or Cosmo if I find one lying around. Depravity has its own dark fascination, true. However, afterwards you feel trivialised and almost ashamed. Or at least, I do.
Whilst not being in favour of a Nanny State, it does seem that in some areas like popular culture we have gone too far the other way. It's heresy to let a young child walk home alone from school, but for some reason it's okay to subject them to a daily onslaught of glorified banalities through the media.
Queen Victoria was reading adult novels by the age of six. Now I realise that's taking it too far- but it serves to illuminate the fact that the majority of the Western World, particularly women I think, are so encouraged to underrate ourselves intellectually- that we don't even think to demand better material.
It might be argued that we are fed such rubbish because there is a huge market for it. This is certainly possible, but I really believe that most of our choices stem less from an informed choice, and more from convenience and laziness. There are ten trivial magazines to every edifying one, and it seems so much easier and also guilt free, as it is culturally acceptable, to just pick up the Sun. It doesn't matter that the reading of it is a complete waste of our time- everyone's doing it!
Our purchases depend entirely upon the choices available to us at the moment of purchase- and yes, reading about someone else's relationship problems is sort of interesting, and you have to be a strong woman indeed to choose the apple instead of the cupcake, if both are within arms reach- but in the long run, is this going to build the kind of society and legacy that we want to build?
A culture of instant gratification, excess on every level, obsession with the trivial.
I think no; and surely it is the media who are responsible for reinforcing the Zeitgeist- as they are the cultural glue which pass on and reflect our cultural norms.
The concern is that they're not in fact reflecting cultural norms accurately, but in fact picking and choosing those elements most designed to shock- as if they were scripting an action movie. This is fine if the distinction is made between fact and fiction, drama and real life- but too often it's repackaged as reality.
"Vanguard" is defined, according to the thefreedictionary.com, as "The foremost position in an army or fleet advancing into battle. 2. a. The foremost or leading position in a trend or movement"..
Well, we all secretly yearn to be revolutionaries, don't we? :)
For lack of a better plan, and being somewhat impetuous (and also rather importantly in possession of too much free time as I'm unemployed!) I'm just going to start writing articles and hope that there are some like-minded people out there who might do me the honour of following my blog.
Refrain: If you're interested in Vintage eBooks please do me a favour and check out: Lady Vanguard Books Thanks!
This is a real Baldrick Special this one.
Really I should go with a nice sensible idea that hasn't been done a million times before, but I'm still too full of hope for that, so I'm going to go with what I would really like to do in an ideal Utopian world, which is to start a Blogazine.
I'd like to call it Lady Vanguard.
The "Lady" part of the title I like because the magazine will hopefully appeal to women who are apathetic about this culture of glorifying mediocrity and; if the popular magazines etc. are to be believed, of the subversion of women's areas of interest to fashion, relationships, and celebrity.
The sad truth is that, society, or perhaps more accurately society's mirror, the media, tends to reflect the views and lifestyles of the lowest common denominators.
I know myself, as a reasonably intelligent female, that I'll read Heat or Cosmo if I find one lying around. Depravity has its own dark fascination, true. However, afterwards you feel trivialised and almost ashamed. Or at least, I do.
Whilst not being in favour of a Nanny State, it does seem that in some areas like popular culture we have gone too far the other way. It's heresy to let a young child walk home alone from school, but for some reason it's okay to subject them to a daily onslaught of glorified banalities through the media.
Queen Victoria was reading adult novels by the age of six. Now I realise that's taking it too far- but it serves to illuminate the fact that the majority of the Western World, particularly women I think, are so encouraged to underrate ourselves intellectually- that we don't even think to demand better material.
It might be argued that we are fed such rubbish because there is a huge market for it. This is certainly possible, but I really believe that most of our choices stem less from an informed choice, and more from convenience and laziness. There are ten trivial magazines to every edifying one, and it seems so much easier and also guilt free, as it is culturally acceptable, to just pick up the Sun. It doesn't matter that the reading of it is a complete waste of our time- everyone's doing it!
Our purchases depend entirely upon the choices available to us at the moment of purchase- and yes, reading about someone else's relationship problems is sort of interesting, and you have to be a strong woman indeed to choose the apple instead of the cupcake, if both are within arms reach- but in the long run, is this going to build the kind of society and legacy that we want to build?
A culture of instant gratification, excess on every level, obsession with the trivial.
I think no; and surely it is the media who are responsible for reinforcing the Zeitgeist- as they are the cultural glue which pass on and reflect our cultural norms.
The concern is that they're not in fact reflecting cultural norms accurately, but in fact picking and choosing those elements most designed to shock- as if they were scripting an action movie. This is fine if the distinction is made between fact and fiction, drama and real life- but too often it's repackaged as reality.
"Vanguard" is defined, according to the thefreedictionary.com, as "The foremost position in an army or fleet advancing into battle. 2. a. The foremost or leading position in a trend or movement"..
Well, we all secretly yearn to be revolutionaries, don't we? :)
For lack of a better plan, and being somewhat impetuous (and also rather importantly in possession of too much free time as I'm unemployed!) I'm just going to start writing articles and hope that there are some like-minded people out there who might do me the honour of following my blog.
Refrain: If you're interested in Vintage eBooks please do me a favour and check out: Lady Vanguard Books Thanks!
Monday, 7 March 2011
The Problem:
Human creativity seems to blossom when there's a fairly sizeable problem in evidence; as can be seen by all of the inventions inspired by war. (Slinky's, Silly putty, tampons, to name some of the most important...)
I have a problem, and I too am very much hoping that sheer desperation won't fail me..
The background boredom:
I'm a German with Creative Writing graduate (2:1) from the University of Wales, Bangor. I have had various types of work experience, most of which were pretty random as opposed to being a well thought out game plan for future world domination (Waitressing, TA in Austria with the British Council, Payroll Clerk, Charity shop assistant, Project and Placement Developer...) Stupid me! My last job, which I was proud to get, and which ended in January 2011, was as a Marketing Executive for a successful language services company in London. This involved maintaining marketing collateral generally and writing tenders and ITT'S/PQQ's for public sector jobs. After a 3 month contract I was told that they would be unable to keep me on any longer- which, reading between the lines was probably due to the fact that although I can write tenders, they needed someone who was also good at SEO and various other online marketing techniques, which being a fairly recent graduate I didn't know; and which they didn't have the resources to train me in. Fair enough. Phew!
So the problem is thus:
I'm a jobless wonder.
(Me in a few months time...)
Photo: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=987
And this is further exacerbated by a couple of other details:
1) Whilst the last job I had was relatively interesting, it still seems no life at all to spend the majority of your week pursuing someone else's dream. Especially when you consider how lucky we are to have life at all in this comparatively minute flicker of a time period when the universe can actually support life before the stars begin to go out like lights, leaving only photons succumbing to entropy...(Thank you Dr Brian Cox, Messiah bringing Physics to the masses!)
So whilst I really want to work and earn money, in an ideal world it would be as an entrepreneur.
An urban hamster
Copyright: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=721
2) I like living in Cornwall, but graduate level jobs here are so few that they often end up going to someone with a lot more experience who just wants to move to Cornwall for the lifestyle; and who don't mind living on a pittance because they're basically choking on smog and have to move or they may asphyxiate...That's my (very jaded!) theory anyway.
So basically, this supports point 1) as I'd like to be able to work from home, or at the very least, not in a rat-run, ahem, a city.
If you're still reading this self indulgent tripe then you deserve a medal, but to sum up, the challenge is to become self employed and to make money from home.
If my shelf of inspirational and self help books are to be believed, this should be a cinch. Shall we test the theory?
Chorus:
I don't have a real business yet, but if you're interested in Vintage eBooks and Victorian or dressmaking you might like to check out my website here: Lady Vanguard Books
Thanks for looking.
I have a problem, and I too am very much hoping that sheer desperation won't fail me..
The background boredom:
I'm a German with Creative Writing graduate (2:1) from the University of Wales, Bangor. I have had various types of work experience, most of which were pretty random as opposed to being a well thought out game plan for future world domination (Waitressing, TA in Austria with the British Council, Payroll Clerk, Charity shop assistant, Project and Placement Developer...) Stupid me! My last job, which I was proud to get, and which ended in January 2011, was as a Marketing Executive for a successful language services company in London. This involved maintaining marketing collateral generally and writing tenders and ITT'S/PQQ's for public sector jobs. After a 3 month contract I was told that they would be unable to keep me on any longer- which, reading between the lines was probably due to the fact that although I can write tenders, they needed someone who was also good at SEO and various other online marketing techniques, which being a fairly recent graduate I didn't know; and which they didn't have the resources to train me in. Fair enough. Phew!
So the problem is thus:
I'm a jobless wonder.
(Me in a few months time...)
And this is further exacerbated by a couple of other details:
1) Whilst the last job I had was relatively interesting, it still seems no life at all to spend the majority of your week pursuing someone else's dream. Especially when you consider how lucky we are to have life at all in this comparatively minute flicker of a time period when the universe can actually support life before the stars begin to go out like lights, leaving only photons succumbing to entropy...(Thank you Dr Brian Cox, Messiah bringing Physics to the masses!)
So whilst I really want to work and earn money, in an ideal world it would be as an entrepreneur.
An urban hamster
2) I like living in Cornwall, but graduate level jobs here are so few that they often end up going to someone with a lot more experience who just wants to move to Cornwall for the lifestyle; and who don't mind living on a pittance because they're basically choking on smog and have to move or they may asphyxiate...That's my (very jaded!) theory anyway.
So basically, this supports point 1) as I'd like to be able to work from home, or at the very least, not in a rat-run, ahem, a city.
If you're still reading this self indulgent tripe then you deserve a medal, but to sum up, the challenge is to become self employed and to make money from home.
If my shelf of inspirational and self help books are to be believed, this should be a cinch. Shall we test the theory?
Chorus:
I don't have a real business yet, but if you're interested in Vintage eBooks and Victorian or dressmaking you might like to check out my website here: Lady Vanguard Books
Thanks for looking.
The Big Fizzle
Writing is, according to Terry Pratchet anyway, "the most fun you can have by yourself"; but nature is better...
I doubt that anything except perhaps the Magna Carta or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights could improve upon this background, but like a typical dumb human I doubt that will stop me.
This is a picture of where I live- (with human muppet i.e me in attendance...)
And just to set the scene a little, the picture is the reason why I'd like to be self employed- so that I can stay here and write and not have to go and live in dingy old London and be a wage slave*sigh* but it's challenging getting a half decent graduate job anywhere at the moment, and in Cornwall the endeavor seems to resemble a project called "Grow your own Stalagmite in 3 easy steps"...
Which would be, coincidentally, just in case anyone is so awesome as to be wondering right now-
1) Acquire a relatively dry cave in a dampish country fully equipped with gravity, preferably with a very long lease, and preferably made of porous rock to encourage capillary action.
2) Wait anxiously beside said cave for approximately 136 000 years (if you're aiming for a good big one, nine inches or so) with a big stick to beat pot-holers with so they don't mess with your Stalagmites. Of course natural human lifespan would make this a bit tricky, but cultivate a "can-do attitude" and you can do anything, as bosses everywhere like to say. So, set up a trust fund for your future relatives, and hope they're loyal to the family business. Or something like that.
3) A distant relative harvests your Calcite Gold with a small hammer and chisel, and a manic grin, they deserve it. This is, of course, if they don't have better things to do than study ancient history- like saving for their latest brain upgrade, for example.
Photo copyright: Excodus
I'm tempted to plant some in little upside down pots and call it my next big career move. I could take orders 134 000 years in advance, maybe even offer a payment plan with only 3% interest...Failing a business empire I might get given some medication and put on benefits to languish out a mediocre existence- but this would be deeply unsatisfying- as it's what the government seems to want me to do anyway; so I wouldn't even feel that happy little flush of triumph you get from kneeing the establishment in the groin.
So, probably I'd get some Epsom salts and a length of yarn for a rather more quick fix solution- possibly more akin to self-employment, but requiring resources such as Epsom salts which I don't actually have...Like I can't even afford a domain name right now! (Thank you Google Sites for my free website- joy!)
If you want to help me out of my little jobless hole, you could always buy one of my vintage books here at aforementioned free website, https://sites.google.com/site/ladyvanguardbooks/. This shall be my constant refrain, sorry, think of it as the chorus of my erm, can I call it a Social Commentary? :)
I doubt that anything except perhaps the Magna Carta or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights could improve upon this background, but like a typical dumb human I doubt that will stop me.
This is a picture of where I live- (with human muppet i.e me in attendance...)
And just to set the scene a little, the picture is the reason why I'd like to be self employed- so that I can stay here and write and not have to go and live in dingy old London and be a wage slave*sigh* but it's challenging getting a half decent graduate job anywhere at the moment, and in Cornwall the endeavor seems to resemble a project called "Grow your own Stalagmite in 3 easy steps"...
Which would be, coincidentally, just in case anyone is so awesome as to be wondering right now-
1) Acquire a relatively dry cave in a dampish country fully equipped with gravity, preferably with a very long lease, and preferably made of porous rock to encourage capillary action.
2) Wait anxiously beside said cave for approximately 136 000 years (if you're aiming for a good big one, nine inches or so) with a big stick to beat pot-holers with so they don't mess with your Stalagmites. Of course natural human lifespan would make this a bit tricky, but cultivate a "can-do attitude" and you can do anything, as bosses everywhere like to say. So, set up a trust fund for your future relatives, and hope they're loyal to the family business. Or something like that.
3) A distant relative harvests your Calcite Gold with a small hammer and chisel, and a manic grin, they deserve it. This is, of course, if they don't have better things to do than study ancient history- like saving for their latest brain upgrade, for example.
I'm tempted to plant some in little upside down pots and call it my next big career move. I could take orders 134 000 years in advance, maybe even offer a payment plan with only 3% interest...Failing a business empire I might get given some medication and put on benefits to languish out a mediocre existence- but this would be deeply unsatisfying- as it's what the government seems to want me to do anyway; so I wouldn't even feel that happy little flush of triumph you get from kneeing the establishment in the groin.
So, probably I'd get some Epsom salts and a length of yarn for a rather more quick fix solution- possibly more akin to self-employment, but requiring resources such as Epsom salts which I don't actually have...Like I can't even afford a domain name right now! (Thank you Google Sites for my free website- joy!)
If you want to help me out of my little jobless hole, you could always buy one of my vintage books here at aforementioned free website, https://sites.google.com/site/ladyvanguardbooks/. This shall be my constant refrain, sorry, think of it as the chorus of my erm, can I call it a Social Commentary? :)
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