You know who your bullies are
People complain about adverts on TV, but sadly, they’re here to stay. Luckily, there are a few that raise enough of a smile from the viewer for them to forget it’s the nineteenth bloody commercial in a row, you’ve grown stubble since the first and all you want to do is watch old Scrubs repeats without being sold something.
Unfortunately, certain adverts have a habit of annoying the hell out of viewers, and specifically me; I find myself getting really quite angry at some of them. Ambulance-chasers demanding you seek compensation. Ringtone commercials that refuse to end. Halifax adverts that get an awful parody of an awful song stuck in your head for the rest of the day (Howard Brown has a lot to answer for).
We’re ready for you now
Last week I went for my first job interview since finishing my degree. And suffice it to say – bloody hell. Perhaps it’s three years of learning about semiotics and moral panics, maybe it’s working at gair rhydd or just maybe it’s something to do with Fun Factory and £1.19 doubles at Metros, but I’d forgotten how terrifying the prospect of talking to someone for a short while could be.
It was for a temporary contract as a sous chef at a centre in Banff to earn some cash towards buying a round-the-world ticket. Hardly a life-changing job, but one I was determined to get.
In the papers: The Times
I was furious to hear two academics at Nottingham University – one an employee and one an MA student – had been arrested under the Terrorism Act for possessing an al-Qaida training manual, essential to the MA student’s research.
This time last year, gair rhydd reported on initiatives to track library books related to terrorism and requesting lecturers to look out for signs of extremism among students. The situation has only exacerbated.
In the papers: The Guardian
So the government is looking to crack down on smokers. Again.
Cigarettes are going to be brandless, more expensive and kept under the counter alongside hardcore porn, pointy objects and other social taboos.
Enough outrage – engage
U nless you’ve been holed up in your room slaving laboriously over notes, Powerpoints, and the more classic ‘revision cue cards’ in preparation for some form of assessment (I don’t know, like exams) – and even if you have – you’d be hard-pushed not to have heard that change is afoot at the Union.
Like most, I was shocked when I first heard the plans; the prospect of losing the Taf and scaling down Solus for the sake of more shops and a domination of social learning and network space sent a shiver down my spine – despite the fact I’d be long gone before construction even started.
... I digress
It may be shamelessly self-indulgent, but this week I’m forsaking news to state my case as to why The Apprentice is currently the best programme on the box.
It’s feel-good TV, especially for final-year students, such as me, as the candidates’ (frequent) displays of stupidity demonstrate that even a group of proper ‘grown-up’ people can sometimes fail to summon a single iota of common sense between them. For instance, who sells a lobster for £4.95, and thinks they are still making a profit? Or even better, who asks a Muslim butcher to make a chicken kosher? Ergo, the job market instantly seems a little less competitive; as long as the interview involves purchasing/selling some form of poultry or fish…
That’ll be the day...
I know it’s a little premature (hehe), but May 7 is National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. So how do you prevent teenagers getting pregnant?
I guess the most obvious solution is to keep boys and girls apart, so perhaps (to be heinously chauvinistic) all the clothes shops should put on late-night sales and TV channels should replace usual schedules with 24-hour sports. Or maybe some ‘love police’ force where teenagers holding hands are issued with an ASBO and kissers imprisoned for the night.
...in the papers
The Guardian
I welcome the housing minister’s decision to review laws surrounding student housing.
Graduation trepidation
It’s meant to be the pinnacle of a student’s time at university – at least the academic pinnacle – but the only thing that comes to my mind in the run-up to graduation is dread and a high degree of stress.
All I’ve heard from former students who have undergone the ‘ordeal’ is bad things: we had to wait for ages; it was sweltering in the robes; I tripped up on the way to/back from the stage; or the photo made me end up looking like a five-year-old/fifty-year-old/an inmate with a day-pass from the asylum, to name just a few complaints.
That’ll be the day...
Sometimes you just have to wonder at the sanity of humanity, and there seems to be no better a day to ponder this than February 20 – Northern Hemisphere Hoodie-Hoo Day.
According to the holiday’s creators, this day is all about people stepping outside at noon, waving their hands above their hands and chanting “Hoodie-Hoo”. Supposedly, this is the optimum solution to eradicating the ‘winter blues’ (sufferers of Seasonal Affective Disorder, pay attention). Or perhaps, just maybe, it’s the optimum solution for getting sectioned?
About gair rhydd
Search
Atom RSS Feeds
