Oh my god, I love Caffreys. It's so smooth and creamy, and lulls you into an extremely satisfying mellow drunkness. Spirits are the worst for me. I can get hyper and start shouting. Beer and wine are fine, happy drunk - the best drunk. But why do I get drunk? I don't know, analyse my life and tell me if you disagree with what's about to come. I like being drunk amidst large groups. It's a coping mechanism. I become less aware of myself and more chameleon-like, feeling like I blend into the surroundings.
I don't understand why some people are so judgemental. I watch Big Bro and I read Heat magazine. Have you classified me yet? I suppose you have. What if I also told you in my CD collection there are numerous pop and dance albums. Yes, you can put your brain on auto-pilot and decide what kind of person I am. It's a natural reaction. A short-circuit to the brain so we require less thinking time. The official clarification? A stereotype. We all do it, I know I bloody well do it. What annoys me is the people that look down on me for watching Big Bro or reading Heat. Sure, that's where some people stop. But then if I told you I read biographies about dead Russian presidents or that I have in my CD collection anything and everything from Paul Simon and Miles Davis to ?. Or is that me over-analysing others' reactions?
Think abouy it. A conversation. We are going to take Heat magazine as an example. I read Heat magazine. You can see the reactions of others. Some raise an eyebrow, some ask why. Why not? Sure, it's the gossip, it's about the only crossword I can do without asking someone else the answers and it also has the TV guide. I don't need to justify it but for people who can think they are better than me, will (in an obvious way) look down their noses at me. It's fun, it's light entertainment, and god, after all the crap that happens on a day to day basis we could do with something light.
OK, so then we come onto the morals of such a magazine. It's an invasion of privacy, blah de blah. I guess it is a vicious circle, I can't jutisfy it. The media do create and maintain a celebrity's status. But I do think it is part of the territory, and some people crave it. For example, the whole world seems to know a lot about Posh & Becks. What do we know about Tom Hanks?
I digress, but the point I want to make it don't judge me on it.
I loved the film ??? (forgotton it's name - Robin Williams is the therapist with the two young guys who also wrote it), and his character explains go out there and breathe the air of a country, soak in the culture. Basically live it, don't read it. I've just spent over a year living in another country. I can talk about the people of that country, their values, but I will also never know what it is like to be bought up such a country. Even if I moved there when I was 18 and lived there for the rest of my life, took their citizinship, I would never have their in-built cultural psyche.
For people that visit another country and get frustrated (and I mean REALLY frustrated) don't go there. Respect the country you are in. Respect the people, respect the values.
Oh, time for a ciggy and TV viewing. Catch you later. From one semi-insightful person to another over and out (that's from me to me, har har).