Superheroes, What happened?

For today's post, I'll try and hit up something a little less controversial than my previous few posts, I don't have a very good track record here.

Morality is a strange concept. Probably one of the strangest, most manipulated and twisted concepts to ever by thrown around in the world as we know it. (Yeah, good start Josh.)

We all have a secret love for cliche superhero movies, whether it's the characters we see, the beliefs and principles fed to us or the downright awesome action scenes. We love 'em! They carry something for everyone!

Yet, as I flicked on my Netflix the other day, craving a bit of action and emotion together, I decided finally after a lot of deliberation (It takes me a while to pick films... too long.) The Avengers. I thought to myself - "What in the bloody fuckery has happened to Superhero films?"

Am I seriously the only one that has noticed such a divining line between what Superhero films are aiming to achieve, and what they're achieving?

Let's take for example two of the biggest film series' in the industry right now, The Dark Knight Trilogy and The Avengers Series.

The Dark Knight series has always been, for me, one of the most captivating, emotional and action-packed film trilogies I have ever watched. Each film carried with it a new mood, a new theme, the same characters who've come and gone different ways. It is film at it's very A class.

With 3 absolutely horrifying villains, and quality actors behind them each time. The films boast absolutely insatiable praise from me... and I'm a tough one to please. (Believe it or not.)

The clear aspect of The Dark Knight trilogy, is that it's dark. It's twisted. It's taken the classic, stupid, wacky Batman from the past and created a heart-clenching new ground for the DC Universe. This, to me, is what a superhero film should have, some depth, some raw emotion and raw action, a certain grittiness to it.

It has humour too, not lame jokes that leave us cringing in our seats, (thankfully Christopher Nolan's script never uses the word 'Catwoman') but the right moments that give us light relief from the emotional battering in other scenes. Maybe I am praising the film far too much, for this sort of thing may not be for everyone, there are people in this world that sit back and watch a film just to cry, just to laugh or just for the visuals. But personally, I like all three, I like a script that envigorates my life with new purpose and teaches me things I could previously never comprehend.

The Avengers, has absolutely none of this. It has, rightly or wrongly, attempted to manipulate the plot and it's moments in order to cater for a much wider audience, being such a Blockbuster film, you can sort of understand it. Much like The Hobbit, Peter Jackson has chosen to favour a wider audience and downgrade the maturity of the Middle Earth series. I am not a fan of that.

At the beginning of the film, we're given, one by one, a buffet of superheroes. A literal smorgasbord of superheroes given to you on a plate. Captain America, The Hulk, Thor, you name it. The film opens with potential, yet seems to just crumble into cliche jokes and an utterly mindlessly generic plot about the bad guy taking over the world. Originality is key in film-making these guys, let's make it happen.

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Feminism and Misogyny. (But mainly Feminism.)

I have always found I have an incredibly abstract mind in comparison to the people I spend the most time with. Mind you, I do not say that boastfully.

I'll forever hear people upset, distraught or incredibly happy about current affairs news and I will almost always remain totally nonchalant about everything. It may just be a quirk of being an incredibly laid-back person. There are only three things I have ever seemed to have a solid opinion on: Herbal Tea, Justin Bieber and Feminism. 2 of those opinions are negative, I'll leave you to guess.

The other day, I came across a page on Twitter - '@NoMorePage3'

My immediate thought was "oh for crying out loud."

Feminism, in the nicest possible way, is bullshit. As is misogyny, it's all utter bullshit.

I am, in every sense, going to try and attempt to talk about this from the most neutral perspective I can (yeah, you've already done a fantastic job there, Josh).

The 'official' definition for Feminism is,

"Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights for women. This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment. A feminist advocates or supports the rights and equality of women."

I should clarify at this point, I have absolutely no issue against feminists, misogynists or any of their personal reasons for being such. My issue, however, is how these, coined, 'gender defenders' are portraying and delivering their ideals. If a man were to joke about a woman, let's go with the all time classic - "get back in the kitchen and make me a sandwich" joke that seems to circulate the Internet like a virus; it is immediately construed as a sexist joke and the male behind it is almost immediately a 'sexist pig'. Yes, the joke is most definitely not right and does give a sickening male authority vibe.

And yet, when a woman jokes about, let's say "men always leave the toilet seat up!" it is a perfectly socially acceptable comment to make. I for one am fairly good at keeping my toilet seat down, clean and ready for my co-inhabitants. What does that make me?

The concept of Feminism is innocent, and frankly has been a fantastic movement. However the general social stigma that has come along with it, is disgusting. I, as a man, do not want to be considered an authoritarian male hell-bent on dominating and infantalising women, I want to be equal.

I hope it goes without saying that I am trying not to generalize against all feminists, there are thousands of feminists that represent their beliefs soundly and do not adhere to typical social conventions.

"NoMorePage3" is not one of those.

Sexual marketing has been in place since marketing began, making use of sex appeal has and ALWAYS will be on of the primary selling points in a newspaper, magazine or product... Well, depending on what type of product. I wouldn't expect to see Miley Cyrus' arsecrack stuck to a box of tic-tacs.

If a newspaper is happy to publish boobs, so be it. If a consumer is willing to purchase said newspaper with boobs, so be it. If the boob-wielder (I really laughed at that) is happy to have her boobs printed, then so be it. The Sun is renowned for it's page 3. Simply, if you don't agree with it, don't buy it or read it?

The same goes for Male publications of the same sort; I can't even count the amount of times i've seen Channing Tatum's oiled up nipples stuck to a magazine, or David Beckham's tight boxers hugging his penis plastered onto an advertisement. It sells, so they continue to do it.

Hypocrisy is society's greatest downfall. If both genders are to respected EQUALLY then it is not a question of who is a feminist or who is a misogynist, it is simply a matter of respecting each other as human beings, not as a woman or a man. 

Yes, society may have some catching up to with women's rights, but it is vital that these movements do not get carried away with themselves. Al Qaeda are one of the world's biggest testaments to what happens when a pure and righteous belief turns sour and begins to become warped.

... Wow, I just compared Feminism to Al Qaeda.

It is high-time that people across the world begin to realise that petty squabbling about age-old jokes is an extremely primitive way of behaving as human beings. It is no longer a matter of treating a woman as woman, nor a man, a man. It is about treating everyone as a human being, no matter what religious orientation, gender, ethnicity they may be."Treat as you like to be treated", as they say.

If history has taught us anything, it's that dwelling on the past is not the way to progress.

Think new.

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Social Awkwardness and Self Harm.

*I URGE THE UTMOST CAUTION IN READING IF YOU SUFFER FROM DEPRESSION, SELF HARM OR DEPRESSION, SOME READERS MAY FIND THIS POST TRIGGERING*

I'm socially awkward. In fact, I am almost so socially awkward I make Michael Cera look like Michael Buble.

I am forever saying the wrong things with perfectly sound intentions, making awkward conversation with people I consider myself even friends with. How on earth I have done a pretty good job as a salesman on high street retail is beyond me.

Socially awkwardness is usually something to giggle at, something marginally cute. I mean come on, we all find Michael Cera adorable. 'Superbad' is probably the biggest testament in all of his career to how socially awkward he is capable of acting, heck, he may even be that socially awkward.

If you haven't seen Superbad. I suggest you watch it.

Being socially awkward doesn't sound bad. It just sounds like a quirky trait to have. But at what stage does being socially awkward change into being depressed and anxious, and what stage does depression and anxiety become associated with self-harm and suicidal thought tendancies?

Now, do not get me wrong, I am, in nearly every sense perfectly average, nor is this a pity-party for little old socially awkward me. Because I am neither a self-harmer nor have I ever in my life had a suicidal thought, yet I am still a socially awkward person in general. So what's defines it and what spawns the self harm?

It is fairly self-explanatory if you just consider why on earth has it become, to a degree, 'fashionable' to put on the act of being socially 'rejected'?

This runs down many routes and paths, from modern metal bands creating fan-bases that romanticize self harm and suicide. Which, is both good and bad, yes of course awareness is brought up and more people are at least trying to help it. But is it really right that it's possible to see little clusters of self-harming cults cropping up on Twitter, Tumblr and fuck, I've even seen some on Vine... a video sharing app.

Of course, is not to be misconstrued as a huge long rant at people who self-harm, nor am I attempting to generalize all self harmers to metal band fangirls/boys. I think the real message I am always trying to convey, is that everyone should always devote their lives to helping people in the RIGHT way. That does not mean, America, let's 'protect' our country and families by retailing guns as if they were candy. (I couldn't resist that little jibe at the American Government)

There are, because of these little self-harm cults, teenage girls AND boys, young people in this world that truly do not understand the gravity of their own self-harm. When you go to a job interview, when you go on a date, when you spend the rest of your life attempting to live an ordinary life, you will always be reminded of your ridiculous teenage decision to harm your own body.

For people that are not primarily exposed to social media to such a broad extent as I, imagine in a sense a chain reaction. A certain sequence of actions lead to a sharing of those actions, and eventual viral attention. 

*WARNING* - Do not read further if you suffer from self-harm, as the following picture is graphic.

A picture like this, is posted to Twitter.

(From Google Images)

Before you know it, it gets retweeted by thousands, shared for everyone else to see, something that was intended to raise awareness has thus become a trigger for thousands of self-harmers across the world, worsening the problem. It's like trying to contain chlamydia by having sex, and during the sex telling them you have chlamydia. It just doesn't work. It's sickening to see, more often than not.

You're probably thinking, well shit, we've gone from Superbad, to depression and self harm.

Yeah... I didn't structure this blog as fabulously as I should have.

It's difficult to comment on self-harm and this sort of topic without, to put it bluntly, being a dick, really. Self-harm is not something to be taken lightly, joked about or in any way emphasized as fashionable. It just shouldn't be shared, it needs to be dealt with fast, otherwise, like any other form of OCD, it will embed itself into the behavior of a person.

I do apologise that this has been such an emotionally dampening post. But it isn't said enough that social media is truly corrupting the minds of young people in more ways than one.

There is, simply, something fundamentally wrong and sickening at the very core of how the people behind Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr are making money.

Aaaaaaand on the bombshell...

I'm going to go and watch Superbad.

If you suffer from self harm and require help, please visit this website.

http://selfharm.co.uk/home

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Bus Etiquette

I've had this account for a while now, thinking nearly every day - "What on earth will people want to read about me, my life and the absolute bollocks I talk?"

And yet, AND YET.

Something that has always had a way of eating away at my very inner soul as I have gone through my adolescence, is the general etiquette of society. I am always trying to convince myself that I have a fervent passion for respecting others, myself and the community around me. In truth, well, that probably isn't 100% correct, the hypocrisy I seem to radiate is astonishing.

But, I digress. I spend an awful lot of time on the bus. I'm talking, a LOT of time here. I spend more time on a bus than your stereotypical single white mother dragging 3 half cast children behind her into town for their "big day out in town.", spending most of it in McDonald's and Primark.

Yeah, okay, that joke was in poor taste. I love McDonald's and Primark... Just not most of their customers.

Again, breaking off into a poor tangent; I probably hop onto a bus at least over 20 times week, and spend a minimum of 30 minutes on it each time. If you work that out, you have 10,080 minutes in a week. I spend 600 of those minutes on a bus. 600 hundreds minutes of my time, a week. 600 hundred minutes, sat on a cramped Stagecoach bus, stifled by the overwhelming smell of piss and the inane whining of lower year school kids.

I mean, to an extent, you can't really ever take out such standards on companies like Stagecoach, because, it's not as if they couldn't possibly hire bus drivers that look like they'd rather have a terminal illness than be at work. It's not as if they could even DREAM of attempting to clean the buses properly, or even, design buses that seemed to at least feel relatively comfortable. That really would be just pushing reality to it's edges, wouldn't it Stagecoach? And well, at the current standards it almost feels worthwhile paying extortionate prices for bus journeys!

I wish I could bring it upon myself to apologise for such an onslaught against Stagecoach, but guys, you're shit. Sort it out.

Today, I boarded the bus ready for my journey home (I was again greeted by a bus driver with a contorted face that was reminiscent of a bulldog's arsehole). I put my fancy 'travelcard' onto the scanner and sat down. Then plugged my headphones in and switched on some Snow Patrol. I tend to do that, just plug in the headphones and ignore the world on bus journeys. 

Now, I have headphones that were marginally expensive. It takes a CONSIDERABLE amount of noise for me to lose focus on music. But, somehow, somehow, christ. I don't think there are words in the English language that will honestly portray and do justice to the absolute level of raw frustration I was basically emitting to the entire bus as 5 little first/second year walking backpacks shouted and screamed for the entire bus to evidently love.

This situation however, is something I am relatively used to by now, as I said, Stagecoach buses aren't exactly the Dolce & Gabbana of the Transport Industry. But these little fuckers seemed utterly intent on pissing off the entire bus perpetually.

My tolerance is usually rock solid. I am usually an indefinite steel wall of emotion.

... Not today. Not when I receive a ball of paper hitting the back of my precious head.

At this point in the epic tale of the bus journey, I'd have preferred to have told a different version of events - more along the lines of...

"I STOOD UP, AND CHALLENGED THE LITTLE ONES PUBLICLY, CONDEMNING THEIR ACTIONS, CONFISCATED THE PAPER AND LEFT THEM TO CONTEMPLATE WHAT THEY'VE DONE."

That, sadly, is not the truth. I remained sat, with my headphones still on, furrowing my eyebrows occasionally in disgust. In fact, a girl sat to the left of me was the only one with the apparent balls to do anything about the bastards, and might I add, she did a fantastic job of it.

Now that I have confessed publicly to being too much of an utter man-child to stand up to misbehaving children 5 years younger than me. I will actually attempt to get to the point of this post.

If you were to ask yourself, when do you ever, truly, consider how the person sat next to you on a bus feels?

If you responded in your mind - "all the time.", you are the epitome of what it is to be a moral human being, congratulations!

... I'm kidding, it makes you strange. It's human nature to be a little bit nonchalant about others sometimes, we are both social and self-dependent creatures, I think it's important to have a balance.

But why, at such a young age of 11/12, are these children behaving as if nothing matters, as if everyone around them in a separate dimension to themselves. Of course, it's quite possible I've just forgotten what it feels like to be a child and I'm now stuck in the arrogant student phase, which is very, very plausible. Perhaps I am overly sensitive about how people behave in public places like that. Perhaps those kids at the back of the bus really were a little bunch of mischievous twats. 

Either way, I need to find a new means of travel.

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