So I'm about halfway through Fall on Your Knees and it's better. Looks like we'll make it to the end. I would have read farther but my boss lent me a copy of Private Eye, an English satirical magazine focusing on politics large and small and on the media - it used to be partly owned by Peter Cook. It was neat. There's a similar thing in France - le Canard enchaîné - half the price and twice as frequent, though electronically incompetent, ho hum, isn't that the continent versus the Green and Pleasant Isle for you. Anyways. Both of them get sued for libel a lot and it doesn't stick and I like that.
I can't think of any other finger-poking mags of their circulation and at the moment that's a problem because of how tame and shitty mainstream media is. What's happened to muckraking journalism anyways? I mean real, dirty, filthy muckraking journalism. Going around and nosing out a problem or a situation and crying foul. Maybe I'm just reading the wrong papers.
Although to be honest with you since I started reading fiction again I haven't wanted to read anything real, even the Economist. Maybe that's why I had to stop school - for the kajillion years it took on my masters I don't think I read or had the desire to read one single work of fiction, and now that I've found a cheap and lovely used bookstore my desire to understand the political world around me has gone on holiday, satirical muckraking rags notwithstanding. Of course I'm still dealing with that feeling of impending doom I mentioned last week and that always steers me away from the papers a bit.
BTW, the F-word thinks I should become a muck-raking journalist. I'm still thinking massage therapist, but less so now, since that's only practical if we move to Australia and after last week I'd rather move to Portugal. Any votes?
Anyways. Switching gears completely.
Work is very, very busy right now because I have two market reports in the next week and a half. The research for them is 80% done so that means I spend lots of time typing and listening to music. And the 2004 Nick Cave double CD which I just got, finally - okay, listening to it while you work isn't the best way to appreciate it because he's so wordy, but The Lyre of Orpheus half of it is really good, at least. Abattoir Blues has been harder to listen to with half a mind but that sounds good as well. Now I will beat a path to buy the Grinderman album. I love being financially solvent.
And yesterday I got the new Benjamin Biolay CD, Trash yéyé, to see if overall I like the man enough to go to his show here at the end of October. The first few tracks were shitty. And the last half was great. I've come to accept that singing talent is not a feature of this genre of French music, and Biolay is so good at using instruments to make very pretty combinations of sounds - I wish he'd let his voice fade into the background more . . . okay, he's wordy too, and they're poetic words, sure, but I wish he'd listen to the Arcade Fire and let his raspy immelodious voice out of the limelight. We'll read the lyrics, for heaven's sake, don't be so pushy. Anyways, I'll just mess around with my speakers until I can't hear him much anymore.
Off to work and then Dusseldorf for the weekend.
I
love
Europe
I can't think of any other finger-poking mags of their circulation and at the moment that's a problem because of how tame and shitty mainstream media is. What's happened to muckraking journalism anyways? I mean real, dirty, filthy muckraking journalism. Going around and nosing out a problem or a situation and crying foul. Maybe I'm just reading the wrong papers.
Although to be honest with you since I started reading fiction again I haven't wanted to read anything real, even the Economist. Maybe that's why I had to stop school - for the kajillion years it took on my masters I don't think I read or had the desire to read one single work of fiction, and now that I've found a cheap and lovely used bookstore my desire to understand the political world around me has gone on holiday, satirical muckraking rags notwithstanding. Of course I'm still dealing with that feeling of impending doom I mentioned last week and that always steers me away from the papers a bit.
BTW, the F-word thinks I should become a muck-raking journalist. I'm still thinking massage therapist, but less so now, since that's only practical if we move to Australia and after last week I'd rather move to Portugal. Any votes?
Anyways. Switching gears completely.
Work is very, very busy right now because I have two market reports in the next week and a half. The research for them is 80% done so that means I spend lots of time typing and listening to music. And the 2004 Nick Cave double CD which I just got, finally - okay, listening to it while you work isn't the best way to appreciate it because he's so wordy, but The Lyre of Orpheus half of it is really good, at least. Abattoir Blues has been harder to listen to with half a mind but that sounds good as well. Now I will beat a path to buy the Grinderman album. I love being financially solvent.
And yesterday I got the new Benjamin Biolay CD, Trash yéyé, to see if overall I like the man enough to go to his show here at the end of October. The first few tracks were shitty. And the last half was great. I've come to accept that singing talent is not a feature of this genre of French music, and Biolay is so good at using instruments to make very pretty combinations of sounds - I wish he'd let his voice fade into the background more . . . okay, he's wordy too, and they're poetic words, sure, but I wish he'd listen to the Arcade Fire and let his raspy immelodious voice out of the limelight. We'll read the lyrics, for heaven's sake, don't be so pushy. Anyways, I'll just mess around with my speakers until I can't hear him much anymore.
Off to work and then Dusseldorf for the weekend.
I
love
Europe
9 commenti:
Why don't you write a few stories and try to get them published in newspapers before you consider being a journalist. Better yet, write for magazines. You can take longer to research and write pieces that people will savour - that would suit you better, I think. Although there would be less money.
Uhm, Sugar, I'm already a journalist and making good money doing it . . . what I'm thinking about is muckraking journalism over the long term, the future, the long day's journey into night, etc..
Although the advice holds, I suppose. I should write some muckraking things and see if I like it.
maybe this should be a poll on yr blog: should spliffe become a) a muckraking journalist or b) a massage therapist? (my vote is for muckraker!)
PS-Dusseldorf has a KILLER museo, but you doubtless knew that.
I can't speak for what you should spend your days going..but imagine if you split up your time between the 2 places, depending on who was experiencing summer! Mmmm....
Enjoy Dusseldorf!
Oops, I meant days doing, not going..
Right right. My mistake. I meant sending stories into the magazines that you read and those outside of your comfort zone. Try freelancing and writing what you want to write. (Or muckracking as you call it.) Just to see if you enjoy it.
Well, it turns out we're going to Amsterdam, which I prefer because I want to go the Van Gogh museum as every time I've gone to Amsterdam in the past those sorts of 'plans' have morphed into sitting around in coffeeshops. I'm a walking cliché.
Mel, that would be fucking lovely! But I'd make it a three way split and spend August/September in Canada - just while we're in dreamland about it.
Hmm, Sugar, I don't really read magazines so it'd all be outside my comfort zone, but that's okay.
Muckraking by you would be something I'd pay to read let me tell you.
Good going on the Nick Cave, the double CD was my official introduction to him and I love it. The Grinderman is pretty raucous too at times although I haven't fully listened to it closely.
Thanks Dale! I know lots of people who would pay to see me raking muck but from you it's special!
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