REVOLT!

Oddly enough I feel now, at half past three in the morning, motivated enough to try and write something that will be hopefully interesting, maybe inspiring and perhaps insightful to anyone reading.
   This motivation comes from watching the latest episode of BBC3’s ‘The Revolution Will Be Televised’ on BBCiplayer.
   I don’t consider myself as someone who is knowledgeable in regards to the news, though nor am I completely ignorant of what is going in the world. I read the news most mornings via the internet but usually only skim through stories, clicking haphazardly about the screen until something pops up that appals or humours me. Though watching ‘The Revolution Will Be Televised’ made me discontented with being a passive spectator, someone who just listens but doesn’t put what they have just learnt to any use.
  For those who haven’t watched this enlightening yet hilarious program, you are genuinely missing out. The format is similar to programs like Dom Joly’s ‘Trigger Happy TV’ or Channel 4’s ‘Balls of Steel’, where the humour comes from real people being victims of absurd comments and characters. Though as you may have gathered from the title’ The Revolution Will Be Televised’ is politically motivated. The two brave individuals behind this program, Heydon Prowse and Jolyon Rubinstein openly insult and humiliate politicians, diplomats and celebrities using a series of satirical characters and comments. The majority of the program relates to injustices committed by countries and institutions, which we are told, ‘are all true at the time of the recording’, as well as some general mocking of stereotypical rightwing opinions.
   Despite it being essentially a comedy program I can’t help but feel riled up by the end of each episode, like I should be an active participant in trying to engage a revolution. One of the reoccurring themes within the program is tax avoidance and abuse. The program highlights malevolent moguls like Phillip Green (owner of TopShop and Aracdia) who avoid paying hundreds of millions of pounds in income tax by having accounts overseas. As well as Chris Grayling, an MP who used taxpayer’s money to payoff mortgages on multiple houses within London. Those are two of the living atrocities I can remember from the program that; have helped to confirm my already strong belief that Capitalism is a greed encouraging system of shite, and makes me want to succeed where Guy Fawkes failed.
  I don’t really have confidence that we will all unite and rise against the powers that be, because too many people are simpletons, content spending there lives aspiring to be like those creatures from ‘The Only Way Is Essex’ who actually detract from what the Human species has achieved. However there are people who try to incite change even if it’s just by boycotting certain shops or only buying fairtrade. With all the corruption you hear about it’s hard to see it ever changing but I’ve decided that it won’t stop me from trying.
  I’m not sure what I hope to achieve but this post shall be the start of it. I shall write again on this topic once I have achieved something.
Viva La Revolución!
   

Student life begins once more...

Today was the first day in a number of weeks where I actually had to get up for something. Admittedly I only had to get up at ‘midday’ but it started to make me wonder how I’ll establish a routine again, or if I will actually bother.
  Today was the induction into my second year of university, which involved sitting in a large but sparsely populated lecture theatre, to listen to various things that we had already been told at some point over the last year. Needless to say my mind began to wander and the notes that I planned on taking soon became a drawing of a wolf in a suit. On completion of the wolf I realised I hadn’t really listened to a word the lecturer had said, though looking up at the PowerPoint briefly, reassured me that it was all stuff I’d seen before. However it made me wonder how difficult people find getting back into the whole university swing of things after being home for months on end.
    I discovered today that I only have lectures and seminars on three days a week. It occurred to me that my routine needn’t change as long as I spend more of my conscious hours doing the work that needs to be done, but importantly I’ll be able to maintain my current precious sleeping habits. Though this isn’t the case for some people who have to get into a strict regime of waking up at 9am to a breakfast of earth and being back in bed before 12pm if they hope to get any work done.
   As well as sleeping patterns the other thing that I contemplated whilst day dreaming in the lecture was my inability to hold concentration whilst sitting in lectures. Hopefully this will change once I actually start my course and people are saying fascinating things but my minds quickly wanders when reality isn’t interesting enough. I’m not sure how to conquer this inability to actually listen to monotone people and boring subjects. Water is meant to be good for brain activity maybe drinking lots will reveal new tones to the drone like voices.
  Moving back into student accommodation is something I’ve had to get used to as well. At home the cupboards were rarely bare and when they were someone was usually out gathering tasty things to fill them with. Though when I stared into a barren cupboard this evening I knew that I’d have to cycle down to the shop if I wanted to eat. Cycling down there isn’t a problem it’s deciding what to purchase that defeats me. Every time I go to Sainsbury’s I find myself wandering back and forth down the same isles staring blankly at a wall of tins and boxes thinking to myself “what the fuck was I here for?”. Despite writing lists occasionally we always seem to run out of sufficient eatables within a couple of days. I’m going to attempt a ‘big shop’ tomorrow and get as much shit as I can crammed into my backpack and more still in carrier bags attached to my handlebars that way it’ll save me returning for a few days.
   Then of course monitoring money. Surviving gets expensive if your not careful with your cash. Living in Manchester where it isn’t unusual to pay over £3 a pint can easily lead to spending too much over a weekend finding yourself having to ration supplies. Though this could be looked at as a valuable life lesson. If you can learn to ration food and make what you have last as long as possible, when the apocalypse eventually arrives with its zombie hordes or nuclear fallout, (those are the best ones) you’ll be able to outlive your greedy equivalents.  

Just a Little Update

Amazingly it is already the beginning of September. Summer is probably over, though it’s hard to tell since the climate is on par with Michael Phelps for records broken these past two years.  This time last year we were making the most of the final days of warmth, preparing for the icy weather that was surely soon to follow, then a month later a week in October was warmer than any week we had in ‘Summer’.  So I shall keep my hopes up that winter will give us a miss this year and be replaced by vibrant rays of sunshine and some kind of hot snow which doesn’t go all slushy and brown making everything look bleak and polluted a few days after its fallen.
   Anyway my summer holidays have pretty much drawn to a close as I have now returned to Manchester to try and conquer my reading list before the start of term. It hasn’t gone entirely to plan since I returned as I’ve been… Sidetracked. When I moved into the house everything about it seemed void of vibes. The off white walls were blank and bare, mould hung above the sinks and the whole of the downstairs smelt of stale cigarettes and forgotten milk.
  The first thing we did was explore what we could do with what was already in the property. The key to interior design, I found, was the creation of spaces and focal points. In the living room we achieved this by trying to keep an open space within the centre of the room placing all the furniture bar one coffee table against the walls. In the downstairs bedroom we achieved this by placing a cat’s tail we found under the bed into a jar and putting it on a shelf.
   We soon ran out of interesting stuff already there so I bought some gnarly Indian bed sheets to hang about the place to hide the state of the walls. My nan provided us with a Sony stereo, that’s as old as I am, complete with vinyl player. She said it was broken but I don’t know what she thought was wrong with it because it all works fine. This prompted me to buy some vinyl which is how I discovered the magical and vibe producing band that is ‘Goat’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swOjaFXnDeA. I spotted the vinyl in the ‘psychedelic rock’ section because it had a trippy case, which was enough for me to buy it. Turned out it was a good move because there the most original band I’ve listened to in ages (LISTEN TO THEM DAMN IT!). So now with ‘Goat’ playing, and things hanging from the walls and ceiling the living room at least, seems more homely.
   Even though I might only live here for a year I can’t help but try to make it feel like a home opposed to the staffroom feel of the student halls last year. As I’m living with two of the people I did last year, one of them being my cousin, there’s no issue with people leaving their possessions lying about indiscriminately or with the consumption of whatever’s in the fridge by whoever feels hungry for it.
    All in all it’s starting to feel like a home and perhaps I’ll feel comfortable enough to finish my reading list within the next couple of weeks.