Not much to say. Just kinda don’t feel anything this morning. Happens quite often I think. I look at the news and I think – nothing surprising there, same old same old. People dying, infection ruining the NHS, govt useless and full of liars. Sometimes I wish I was more obsessive about sports things or bands or any other drama type thing, but mostly I just take what I enjoy from those things and ignore the rest. Who cares if a drummer argues with the rest of the band? I struggle to see the healthy response in being so emotionally attached to a band or TV show or similar. I think that’s why I don’t really enjoy soap operas. It’s all incredibly boring. They need drama and so more things happen to those characters than would in real life and it’s just boring. They aren’t real.
My google app likes to give me news items based on things I search for. This is weird because I searched for best Metallica songs as rated by fans and, apart from the fact I disagreed with the list almost entirely, I now get loads of news feed items about Metallica and I couldn’t give less of a shit about them. I even get things like “What Mustaine thought about Kill ‘Em All”. I mean, I don’t care what Mustaine thought about that album. I know I like it and so who gives a crap? I was asked recently what my favourite Metallica song was and in the pressure of the moment I said Creeping Death. I think that still stands as once when I saw Metallica they opened with that song and it was great.
Also, the google app likes to send me news items based on emails I receive. So I have ordered food to be delivered and I now get news items covering the hygiene ratings of restaurants in Kent. Yes, I live in Kent but I don’t care about those ratings. They are unlikely to include the restaurants I use. These articles come from some local newspaper websites and the headlines are too click-baity. Like: “This Restaurant Has A Zero Hygiene Rating”. Just fucking tell me. I’m not going to your shitty website with all its adverts and more clickbait articles. They also like headlines such as “These Areas In Kent Have Reducing Infection Rates”. Quite clearly this is about getting clicks on sites and advertising revenue rather than actually being a news platform and informing the public.
A while back when I met Penguin we chatted about the media and he reminded me that newspapers and news media are companies and therefore their main priority is to make money. Their primary aim isn’t to publish the news and inform the public. Their aim is to make money. That is why you need to have a funded but fully independent news service. The issue with that is, in our country, that the BBC are funded but those in the company-media and those in power don’t like the BBC telling the truth or existing and so they either slag off the BBC at every opportunity [The Daily Mail – a shit piece of media] or continuously call for funding changes – the politicians. Funding changes sound like they benefit the taxpayer but really politicians just don’t want their wankish attempts at organising anything to be broadcast impartially.
The weather isn’t even real snow here. I live in one of the milder areas of this country but I would like to see snow now and then. I can’t even travel anywhere to see snow at the moment. I also can’t get to Istanbul to see Smith.
