I went to see a World Press Photo exhibition to distract myself from the greyness of July with some world class photography. Turns out, it was rather depressing.
Main news stories 2011 AD were the tsunami in Japan, the revolution in Libya and the general unrest all over the world - rubble, young men with masked faces waving weapons, dead bodies, blood covered children and destruction. Social stories covered child brides, illegal wrestling and police violence in Ukraine - distress, desperation and hope slowly draining away from people's tired eyes.
Even the animal stories that usually are a bit more uplifting could not make you smile this time. Illegal shark hunting, last 30 rhinos that need guards standing around them 24/7, escaped tiger shot dead...
All of a sudden the rainy, cold July did not seem like a big deal. So I guess it kind of worked as a distraction, but I would really like to see more variety at 2012 exhibition. Surely, not each and every one of us is a violent, aggressive, perverted, egoistic, unhappy individual ready to explode given an excuse of the mob.
On second thought...
Sunday, 29 July 2012
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
It's a good time to be alive!
Yes, a rare, for me, optimistic take on reality today.
Childhood infection will not kill you. Your peers might knife you to death after school, but it is more avoidable than pox.
You don't have to start working at the age of 11 in the environment that would not pass any health and safety checks. You might not have to start working at all if you stay on top of every benefit reform.
You will not starve. You might become morbidly obese by the time you grow pubes, but die smiling, knowing your ancestors would be jealous.
You don't have to get married and procreate or become a social recluse if you don't. Desperate loneliness might drive you insane, but still you will find like minded people online.
You have a good chance to live so long that you will actively wish to die and be done with all the annoying illnesses plaguing you.
Ah, nothing like a good dose of positive thinking once in a while. Good night.
Childhood infection will not kill you. Your peers might knife you to death after school, but it is more avoidable than pox.
You don't have to start working at the age of 11 in the environment that would not pass any health and safety checks. You might not have to start working at all if you stay on top of every benefit reform.
You will not starve. You might become morbidly obese by the time you grow pubes, but die smiling, knowing your ancestors would be jealous.
You don't have to get married and procreate or become a social recluse if you don't. Desperate loneliness might drive you insane, but still you will find like minded people online.
You have a good chance to live so long that you will actively wish to die and be done with all the annoying illnesses plaguing you.
Ah, nothing like a good dose of positive thinking once in a while. Good night.
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
There's only one place they call me one of their own
You know you've been in Scotland for a long time when:
Almost seven years...
- You don't notice wearing winter jacket in June much.
- You watch news about hooligan wars in Warsaw and Polish "Policja " and "Ambulans" look kind of strange on emergency services cars.
- You can have a conversation with inebriated Glaswegian.
- You don't observe any religious festivals, which are a Polish equivalent of bank holidays.
- You make sure your top has a hood or take umbrella with you when leaving the house for longer than two hours, even if it's a perfect sunny day.
Almost seven years...
Thursday, 7 June 2012
Torn between who you are and who you want to be...
The world is on our doorstep, knocking.
These days, you can go and get support to become whoever you want - but so many people are just not interested.You can, if you really work on that, go and study in another country and then get a job there and stay - but people are avoiding having to work at all. For the first time in history if you're a woman you can decide not to have children without severe social repercussions - but every day on the bus you can see neglected children with unhappy mothers who became mothers just because they didn't really have a better idea on who to be.
I don't understand.
Why are people satisfied with so little? Why do you get comfortable in a council house that can never be truly yours, living with someone you're with because you're too scared to be on your own again, just with your thoughts and telly blaring to cover the silence? Why do you cut down your dreams to fit in what you have, year after year, until there's nothing left but shreds and a vague sense of regret?
Don't you dare say life is crap and there's nothing that can be done. There's a whole world on your doorstep. Just open the bloody door.
These days, you can go and get support to become whoever you want - but so many people are just not interested.You can, if you really work on that, go and study in another country and then get a job there and stay - but people are avoiding having to work at all. For the first time in history if you're a woman you can decide not to have children without severe social repercussions - but every day on the bus you can see neglected children with unhappy mothers who became mothers just because they didn't really have a better idea on who to be.
I don't understand.
Why are people satisfied with so little? Why do you get comfortable in a council house that can never be truly yours, living with someone you're with because you're too scared to be on your own again, just with your thoughts and telly blaring to cover the silence? Why do you cut down your dreams to fit in what you have, year after year, until there's nothing left but shreds and a vague sense of regret?
Don't you dare say life is crap and there's nothing that can be done. There's a whole world on your doorstep. Just open the bloody door.
Monday, 4 June 2012
Notes on the zombie apocalypse
The zombie is quite a popular concept these days. It must have overtaken vampires and werewolfs by now, after the first ones got degraded to shiny teenagers (thanks, Twilight saga) or messy monsters (thanks, Skyrim) and the second ones to muscly teenagers (thanks, Twilight saga) or equally messy monsters (thanks, Skyrim). Zombies are in fact such a powerful concept in pop culture right now, the guy made a fortune on writing a Zombie Survival Guide.
But it's already too late.
If you look into the empty eyes of that third generation benefit scrounger in the post office line behind you, observe the automatically gum chewing gob of that thirty something suit lost in the rhythmic noise leaking from his headphones, or try to walk past a Next shop during the sale avoiding the claws and teeth of the mindless horde trying to grab what their rotten brains tell them they need - you will realise that zombie apocalypse has already happened. If you managed to read all the way to here - congratulations, count yourself the survivor. If you're skimming the text attracted by the word 'zombie' - you're probably infected. To the zombiefied I have nothing to say cause they will not read this.
But it's already too late.
If you look into the empty eyes of that third generation benefit scrounger in the post office line behind you, observe the automatically gum chewing gob of that thirty something suit lost in the rhythmic noise leaking from his headphones, or try to walk past a Next shop during the sale avoiding the claws and teeth of the mindless horde trying to grab what their rotten brains tell them they need - you will realise that zombie apocalypse has already happened. If you managed to read all the way to here - congratulations, count yourself the survivor. If you're skimming the text attracted by the word 'zombie' - you're probably infected. To the zombiefied I have nothing to say cause they will not read this.
Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Mean nature of nature
Human body, such a wonderful construction.
Our eyes are built to see any prey or danger in the distance and cope well with different weather conditions.
Muscles in our backs, legs and circulation system are well designed for a life of wandering around in pursuit and production of food.
There's never enough of food, so when we manage to eat we store fat and our stomachs are well used to not being full regularly.
Our joints can carry the weight of our erect bodies for hours and allow us to be swift, sneaky predators.
Nimble fingers delight in a variety of everyday activities, weaving, making, cooking, gathering, carrying, never a repetitive strain on them.
Human bodies, such wonderful constructions. Just not for a looking-mostly-at screens, sitting-nine-hours-a-day, typing-furiously-continuously twenty first century humans with fridges full of food.
Oh, we are so screwed...
Thursday, 24 May 2012
Come to castle Gormenghast
If you're in a mood for a sprawling novel wrapped in grey shadows and filled with characters that won't leave you alone for a long while, come to castle Gormenghast. Its corridors and towers and secret rooms are filled with some of the strangest characters you will ever encounter as a reader. There's a countess who, after giving birth to the heir of the title of the Lord of Gormenghast, The Seventy-Seventh, turns back to tending her flocks of wild birds and requests not to be bothered with the child until he is seven. There's Fuchsia, her daughter, who spends her time up in the secret attic, playing with figments of her imagination. There are bright carvers who live in the shadows of the castle walls and who present their work to the melancholic Seventy-Sixth Lord once every month, for him to choose the best three carvings and burn the rest. There's Flay, Lord's main servant caught in a deadly waiting game with Swelter, the murderous chef from the cavernous kitchens. There's Sourdust, librarian and keeper of bizzare traditions that rule the daily life of the castle. And the castle itself is like another character, enormous, confusing, neglected.
This is not an easy read. The language is rather elaborate and the three books that Mervyn Peake finished before he died (a curse of ambitious authors, announcing that they will write long cycles, it seems) add up to more than a 1000 pages. Characters drift through the dusty corridors and ponder and argue and explore. The plot itself unwinds unhurriedly but it is intriguing and keeps you hooked. The strangeness of names, of places, of events is at times almost overpowering, it's almost like wandering through a half remembered dream. All in all, if you can read your way into the language and have time to curl up with the book undisturbed, it is well worth it.
What's the point of being a reader after all, if you don't challenge yourself every now and again to try something different?
This is not an easy read. The language is rather elaborate and the three books that Mervyn Peake finished before he died (a curse of ambitious authors, announcing that they will write long cycles, it seems) add up to more than a 1000 pages. Characters drift through the dusty corridors and ponder and argue and explore. The plot itself unwinds unhurriedly but it is intriguing and keeps you hooked. The strangeness of names, of places, of events is at times almost overpowering, it's almost like wandering through a half remembered dream. All in all, if you can read your way into the language and have time to curl up with the book undisturbed, it is well worth it.
What's the point of being a reader after all, if you don't challenge yourself every now and again to try something different?
Saturday, 19 May 2012
The Big Depression
As of first quarter of 2012, the main role models for young female teenagers are singers, actresses and wooden puppets from fake reality shows like The Only way is Essex. Fathers are out of the top ten. Mothers are slightly higher, but nowhere near Rihanna. Less than a quarter interviewed thinks that a successful businesswoman is a person to look up to.
So, the biggest aspiration for the next generation seems to be dressing in sparkly, pretty, expensive clothes, landing a wealthy boyfriend or husband or manager and spending your empty lives growing more and more bitter as talent is one of these things you can't buy and having children out of boredom.
It's like the last century and a half never happened.
All the independent, hard working, self sufficient women are once again invisible, covered with an avalanche of telly- and pop- and cyber-drivel that managed to convince girls that there's nothing like being glamorous, beautiful, photographed, groomed and vacuous. Bring back the corsets and coming out of age balls!
Well done, guys, you Simon Cowells and Hollywood producers and television executives, smirking down from what ten years ago looked like last bastions of male supremacy, where guys still earned more than woman and climbed higher in the food chain, with ambitious woman constantly snapping at your heels. Well done, you now managed to successfully promote 1800s mentality to scores of easily influenced girls.
Are we now facing another century and a half of going back to equality of thinking?
So, the biggest aspiration for the next generation seems to be dressing in sparkly, pretty, expensive clothes, landing a wealthy boyfriend or husband or manager and spending your empty lives growing more and more bitter as talent is one of these things you can't buy and having children out of boredom.
It's like the last century and a half never happened.
All the independent, hard working, self sufficient women are once again invisible, covered with an avalanche of telly- and pop- and cyber-drivel that managed to convince girls that there's nothing like being glamorous, beautiful, photographed, groomed and vacuous. Bring back the corsets and coming out of age balls!
Well done, guys, you Simon Cowells and Hollywood producers and television executives, smirking down from what ten years ago looked like last bastions of male supremacy, where guys still earned more than woman and climbed higher in the food chain, with ambitious woman constantly snapping at your heels. Well done, you now managed to successfully promote 1800s mentality to scores of easily influenced girls.
Are we now facing another century and a half of going back to equality of thinking?
Friday, 11 May 2012
Ignorance is bliss
Welcome to an ongoing end of the world!
We live in a world of overspecialisation.
We know who to call, email, write to if there is a problem with internet, water, gas supply. We know which company to choose to clean our carpets, tidy the garden and deliver shopping, based on internet reviews. We get others to trim our hair, make our shoes and bake our bread. We become people who take photos, design rock gardens, translate, write sarcastic reviews or walk other people's dogs for a living.
I know that most people faced with some apocalyptic scenario will stand up proudly and declare that it is not so bloody difficult to grow crops and skin prey and make shelter. To survive cold and sew clothes and make a fire. To make a knife and a bow and a toilet.
Is it really such an easy task to all of a sudden be responsible for every single aspect of your own life to an extent not known to most humans for the better part of the last hundred years, my proud friends? Without a collective knowledge of wikipedia, foras and instant communication with people who have hands on experience: farmers, hunters, tailors, plumbers and mums? Without ever handling a dead animal, not being faced with manual dexterity task since P3 and gagging at the thought of wearing same clothes for a month?
Species that overspecialise die out.
Welcome to an ongoing end of the world!
We live in a world of overspecialisation.
We know who to call, email, write to if there is a problem with internet, water, gas supply. We know which company to choose to clean our carpets, tidy the garden and deliver shopping, based on internet reviews. We get others to trim our hair, make our shoes and bake our bread. We become people who take photos, design rock gardens, translate, write sarcastic reviews or walk other people's dogs for a living.
I know that most people faced with some apocalyptic scenario will stand up proudly and declare that it is not so bloody difficult to grow crops and skin prey and make shelter. To survive cold and sew clothes and make a fire. To make a knife and a bow and a toilet.
Is it really such an easy task to all of a sudden be responsible for every single aspect of your own life to an extent not known to most humans for the better part of the last hundred years, my proud friends? Without a collective knowledge of wikipedia, foras and instant communication with people who have hands on experience: farmers, hunters, tailors, plumbers and mums? Without ever handling a dead animal, not being faced with manual dexterity task since P3 and gagging at the thought of wearing same clothes for a month?
Species that overspecialise die out.
Welcome to an ongoing end of the world!
Sunday, 6 May 2012
Kidhood
Kids scream and run around falling down a lot to draw attention to themselves.
Kids stay in their pyjamas all weekends.
Kids want to have friends over all the time and stay up as late as possible.
Kids love rubbish fast food, chippies, chinese and fear fruit and veg.
Kids want to play with babies.
Kids swear for the fun of watching people cringe.
Kids want to have fun, expect to be taken care of and don't understand responsibility.
Lots of kids around on council estates and most of them are pushing thirty.
Kids stay in their pyjamas all weekends.
Kids want to have friends over all the time and stay up as late as possible.
Kids love rubbish fast food, chippies, chinese and fear fruit and veg.
Kids want to play with babies.
Kids swear for the fun of watching people cringe.
Kids want to have fun, expect to be taken care of and don't understand responsibility.
Lots of kids around on council estates and most of them are pushing thirty.
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