Digital Inclusion

Ben was at the Digital Inclusion Conference in London yesterday. It's a big thing in an age where online communities are becoming more and more central in people's lives, and the debates go on as to whether these online relationships - via Facebook, Twitter etc - are any real replacement for physical relationships. Here's a video of him talking to a protester, in a conversation that scratches the surface of the whole issue:



Fascinating stuff, especially to me with my sociology studies. I think this is the sort of thing that the team behind the course I've been doing should consider including when they update it (it came out in 2002, so parts of it are looking very dated now).

Chris

The Other Side of the Weekend

Birmingham this weekend was good - met Ben's boyfriend Mike and they a lovely couple. Also Mike's six guinea pigs (three boys and three girls, carefully segregated to avoid a population explosion). We didn't see Home of the Wriggler in the end as it was sold out, so instead we went bowling. Unbelievably I've managed to get through thirty-one years of existence without once throwing a bowling ball (except on the Wii). Needless to say I was a bit rubbish, although it was amusing seeing my two opponents get ultra-competitive. And thanks to the experience, I now can't get this tune out of my head:



Helpful subtitles so you can sing along, you'll notice;-)

Also went to see this fascinating exhibition of photographs of the Obama administration at one of the main city art galleries:

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/magazine/2009-inauguration-gallery/index.html

There are some really intriguing photographs - not least that the ones who are in their thirties already look very middle-aged, yet those in their forties or fifties look hardly any older, almost as if one stops ageing after a while in that environment and achieves a state of grace.

And now back to reality, rain and swine flu...

Chris

Friday afternoon

Things are winding up for another week here at work. I'm off to Birmingham tonight to spend the weekend with my mate Ben and his squeeze. We're going to see this tomorrow night:

http://www.stanscafe.co.uk/homeofthewriggler/index.html

I don't see enough theatre. I think it's because it requires a different sort of commitment from watching a film (that and the fact that it's more expensive). Last piece of theatre I went to see was Spectacular by Forced Entertainment. Here's some stuff about it:

http://www.forcedentertainment.com/?lid=1081

They've been going for 25 years. Ben's a big fan and another friend of mine, Sarah Cockburn, is their Marketing Manager, and set up their official Facebook group. Their plays are challenging, provocative and all sorts of other adjectives that hacks like to bandy about regarding anything vaguely more left-field than Andrew Lloyd-Webber - but in this case, those adjectives are well-earned.

We're also going to have a barbecue... if the weather holds. Sod's law dictates that the arrival of the weekend and the merest mention of "barbecue" will be enough to open the heavens after a period of fine weather that one has been unable to enjoy due to being stuck at work. My mum also finds that washing the net curtains and/or cleaning the windows is an excellent domestic alternative to summoning the Rain God/dess. Fortunately there's a Plan B if it does tip it down.

Enjoy your weekends - I won't be able to blog as Ben's boyfriend has a malfunctioning connection to t'internet, but I'll be back on Sunday night.

Chris

PS - I was just about to hit "Publish Post" when we had a campus-wide power cut. And Sod's law also dictated that, at the very moment we were told we could go home, the power came back on;-)

That's the badger

I tend to exist in a bit of a time-lag where slang's concerned, hence I've only just cottoned on to this. It essentially means "that's right" or "that's the one". Puts me in mind of Ruth Badger off the Apprentice. Or indeed, of this, which always makes me giggle:

http://www.badgerbadgerbadger.com/

I did think I'd coined a new word the other night, "manimosity", meaning highly acrimonious, horn-locking rivalry between two men, but sadly it already seems to be in existence with a different meaning, so I'll just have to think of something else...

Chris

Britain's Got 10 Years Younger

Here's that artist's impression of a made-over Susan Boyle, just so you don't have to dirty yourselves by going on the Daily Star website:



Does anyone else think it makes her look like a man impersonating a cross between Jackie Collins and Sarah Palin?

More pertinently, does anyone else think that, if she'd appeared on our screens and given the exact same performance, only looking like Katherine Jenkins, we'd still have been going on about it two weeks later? It's the gulf between assumption (oh lordy, here comes another tuneless car-crash) and reality (oh okay, she's got a decent singing voice) that's led to over 5 million YouTube hits, gushing tweets from Demi Moore and disturbing tabloid headlines involving the vile porn dwarf and Piers Morgan. As well as this blog post, of course...

Chris

PS - I've just double-checked I remembered that last "and" before I hit "Publish Post".

More homophobia

Yeah, I know. I'm starting to feel like Peter Tatchell here, spotting it everywhere, as though it's not just the economy that's going into recession, but people's attitudes. Anyway, this happened a bit earlier today whilst I was sat outside on my lunch break.

Group of students sat along the bench from me on campus, one of them talked about going out in gay clubs, referring to one that was full of “b***y boys”. Her friends tried to shush her. Then later, as she got up, I said: “Excuse me, but next time you consider using “b***y boy” to refer to a gay man, why don’t you try Googling “Jamaica” and “homophobia” first.” To which she responded “Well I’m gay, so what?” I remarked that the fact she was gay made it worse. She shrugged her shoulders (having talked loudly and incessantly for most of the preceding hour, I’d gathered she wasn’t the sort of person to consider the finer feelings of others) and stomped off. As a parting shot, I remarked to her friends that they should explain to her that, regardless of her sexual orientation, she shouldn’t be perpetuating hateful language.

Gah. Honestly. I mean, I know that “queer” has been reclaimed, but that was part of the ongoing struggle to assert identities and rights. Using the gay-bashing language of the Jamaican dancehalls smacks of ignorance or, if used knowingly, a crass attempt at irony.

What do you think? Was I over the top or totally justified?

In the meantime, the misguided young lesbian in question could perhaps do with a visit to Paul Harfleet's website:

http://www.thepansyproject.blogspot.com/

In this ongoing project, Harfleet plants beautiful flowers at the sites of homophobic assaults, be they physical and/or verbal (and, in some cases, fatal). Sometimes the most angry acts of defiance are also the most beautiful, a lesson I think many of us have forgotten.

Chris

Homophobia on the box

A couple of articles to consider:

http://tinyurl.com/c9ge64

http://tinyurl.com/d6s6v9

Of course, one has to say that, in the case of the latter, this may be an attempt to use controversy to generate ratings, rather like the racism incident on the show a couple of weeks ago. If it isn't, then there need to be seen to be consequences for the person who makes the offensive remarks, as there have been in the former, otherwise it's using unpleasant and outdated views as cheap viewer bait, which is unforgivable.

The other question it begs is: is H from Steps now making the jump from pop star to heavyweight journalist..?

Chris