Friday, May 19, 2006
And so the population drops their collective IQ
I rarely watch TV; this was primarily because I couldn't receive a signal in my room at uni. However, once I move into my new house which can receive TV, I will continue along this same route and not purchase a TV licence. I watch House, that's my lot, and on speaking to several people at the TV Licence I am fully allowed to use my TV set for DVD watching only. I resent having to pay over £100 to watch absolute shite. Eastenders. My Family. Coronation Street.
Big fucking Brother.
To conclude this mini rant, I will copy out the review from a well known newspaper television supplement.
"Sorry, but if people will keep watching
Big Brother, it won't go away. That so many do is a sign of the continuing wannabe culture, and the lack of anything else worth viewing. The house has been revamped (whatever), and Davina McCall once again shouty-presents. A series of desperately sad people, prepared to endure months of boredom just to be on television, will troop out of limos, feeling a million dollars, but with a true collective worth of about 6p.
Big Brother was indeed an ingenious format - seven series ago. It's time to switch off."
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
It's like an experiment
So, perhaps the least intelligent thing I've done recently is decide not to read either of the set texts for English. It means that, in order to do my timed essay tomorrow and come out with at least a D- I need to read all of Katherine Mansfield's
Bliss and Other Stories to answer the question:
"In the context of modernism and the conventions of the short story, explore Christine Baker's assertion that one of Mansfield's greatest strengths is 'the externalising of emotion by association with some material object'", and Kazuo Ishiguro's
The Remains of the Day, to answer
"Critically assess the notion that, with regard to its themes, [the book] is a product of its time".
The first question I can pretty much get my head around; This was one of the seminars I did attend, and am kinda regretting my laziness and complacency with regards to attendance. You watch, I'll get into the exam hall tomorrow to find I've been struck off. That'd be genius.
But yeah, part of the deal is that you write a 150 word essay plan for each question and take it into the exam - and it's worth 10% of your overall mark. Which is something at least; I get a mark before even looking at the question. Haha, just 90% to go, eh?
I think, to use laymens' terms, I'm fucked. But we shall see.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
You can't mistake my psychology
In psychology at A level, we learned about depression. Ms Williams, who will go down in my memoirs as the absolute best teacher I've ever had, went off on a tangent as she tended to do. The tangent was about her counselling; she was told in training that she would get people telling her that they were suicidal, and that this would probably shock her. She was also told that if people told her they were suicidal, she should not indulge them and tell them that they were wrong to think that - you know, that "you have so much to live for" crap, but instead talk it over like a regular conversation.
Her trainer told her that this determined if the person was genuine or just "crying for help". The logic behind it was if the counsellee would get feaked out by the normalising of the conversation then they probably weren't genuine. She was told to ask the person how they would kill themselves. If people were genuine they'd have thought long and hard about it to make sure they could go through with it.
I think about my own death on a regular basis. I don't know how I'd do it but I've ruled out a few definite options (slitting wrists, walking into traffic, jumping in front of train) but I'm still not 100%. I was just sitting here wondering what Ms Williams would think, as a counsellor, about my deliberations on the subject.
