All 3 entries tagged Popular

I… respect(!?!)... Tony?

May all who are are holy have mercy on my soul. Today, I find myself commiting an act so contrary to my nature that I have to question my sanity. I am going against almost a decade of doctrine and every natural, base, bestial and transcendental nature in my body. I agree with Tony Blair. Yes – that Tony Blair.

Tony (I feel we are now close enough to converse on such personal terms) has made a statement on the issue of the Muslim veil. Naturally, he has been condemned by certain groups for prejudicing the court case against the teaching assistant who refued to remove her veil in class and for inflaming the argument regarding Islam. I don’t want to discuss my personal views on the veil (yet) as they are currently pretty poorly thought out and require some real attention. However, I absolutely believe that as it is a subject that has entered the public conciousness, it should be properly debated and not swept under the rug of political expediancy as some argue.

Tony has taken a position (unlike some of his more toadying peers) and as such has expressed a point of principal. Too often politicians attempt to avoid points of principal because they run contrary to the practicality of administration. (I think this is why Oppositions are usually more attractive than Governments and the Liberal Democrats are still with us). Tony at least has popped a flag in the sand – for the first time since he invade Iraq but lets not get on to that. He may withdraw his comments later (or more likely have an anonymous Downing Street Spokesman clarify his comments) but for now he has my respect. I want politicians to have opinions and to be honest about them and I don’t think I’m alone. Take Boris (the Johnson not the Boar) who is beloved by half the population and hated by the other half; to have a 50% approval rating is probably 20% higher than any other MP even though most of them elicit a sturdy “Who!?!” when mentioned to the electorate.

Ever since New Labour have come to power, conviction politics has fallen out of favour (actually probably Marg. Thatcher’s fault for being such a visible advocate) and I’m glad it’s back. The role of government is to represent the will of society and that will is often contradictory. If such arguments are hidden from view, then of course society will begin to view politicians with contempt. As long as there is one maveric for every populist politician then all is healthy.

Now all we need is a robust opposition…

: 17 Oct 2006 23:51 |  Tags: Argument Blair Government Iraq Islam Muslim Politics Popular War |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Beer photographs go big!

Being a connoisseur of the finer things in life, I enjoy the odd drop of ale. Obviously, I prefer to enjoy my beer in the most sympathetic of surroundings, the pub, however I have been known to partake of the bottled variety at home. Given my other half’s intolerance of the smoke and noise of our local hostelries (in other words; the good bits) the phenomenon of domestic imbibing is becoming more common. To this end, I had a snifter on Friday nights and, being a sort who like to catalogue things, I kept a record of my adventures in beerland on flickr via phone-camera shots of the bottle labels. To date Coniston Bluebird Ale has been viewed nine times: which can be contrasted with pictures of very pretty girls that are on flicker and have only been viewed twice. What I don’t understand is why Bluebird – a fine ale but featuring a rather dull and uninteresting label – has been the veritable blockbuster of the digitally imaged beer-bottle world whilst the far more intriguing Dorothy Goodbody Golden Ale, Black Sheep Riggwelter and Black Wych Stout have received nary a look.

The Goodbody in particular deserves a glance for it’s ultra-masculine combination of ale and pin-up beauty. A real victory for the marketing men. I just love the thought process on this one; can you imagine the meetings with the brand consultants?
“Right chaps, we have a brand that’s going nowhere. It’s a golden ale; Dorothy Goodbody.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Dorothy Goodbody.”
“And what do you have on the label?”
“Oh, you know… kegs… hops… that kind of thing.”
Cha-ching!
“Put a half naked blonde on there. That’ll be twenty thousand pounds please. Plus expenses.”

: 16 Oct 2006 12:06 |  Tags: Beer Drunk Flickr Photographs Popular |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Comics, popular culture and the internet

Writing about web page http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2319460.html

Two factors led me to write about this topic. Firstly, I was reading a piece by Umberto Eco about comics the other day and it got me thinking about the place of comics/graphic novels within popular culture. I don't claim to have the insight of an internationally renowned linguistics Professor and novelist but I do quite like comics. The second factor I will explain later.

I find it interesting that comics, on the whole, have been such a minor presence within popular culture and largely looked down upon outside of a certain niche constituency. This is surprising since people tend to be more easily stimulated by visual stimuli than cerebral (compare the popularity of television to reading; how many of us haven't slumped in front of the telly because we're too tired to do anything else?). Yet most children are exposed to comics throughout their youth, most adults enjoy newspaper strips and cartoons, the church saw pictorial narrative as the primary mechanism of reinforcing the gospels to an illiterate, Medieval population and some of the earliest forms of writing were basically figurative pictures.

However, this is a peculiarly Anglo–Saxon issue. On the continent and in Japan, comics were a hugely popular adult medium through the latter half of the last century; not on the scale of television or cinema, but on a level, perhaps, with something like jazz. A myriad of genres continue to flourish (particularly in Japan) and there is little of the monoculture exemplified by the American fetish for super heroes and the UK's (now almost forgotten) love for war and sci–fi, both of which were targeted largely at children or a very niche audience. Outside of the UK and US, comics were (and are) cheap and disposable and, unlike newspapers, pure escapism for commuters.

In recent years, however, something has happened to the role of comics within Anglo–Saxon popular culture. Comics are moving up the food chain and increasingly targeting an intelligent, adult market rather than the adolescents of the past. Not only is Umberto talking about the medium but comic books are entering the popular press as news items (see link and link). Alan Moore - perhaps the most renowned contemporary creator (even if you haven't seen a comic since one was thrust into your grubby, seven year old mitt, you may have heard of 'Watchmen', 'V for Vendetta' or 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen') - has kicked up a storm of controversy by releasing an unashamedly adult and literary piece, Lost Girls (see link). I won't go into the controversy here but it has been widely reported and can be read across the net (see link and link). At the same time you have works like Neil Gaiman's Sandman being released in £65 hardback volumes (link) that are clearly not aimed at the fifteen year old goths who may have driven its popularity when released in its 'singles' form (I use Warren Ellis' terminology). I'm not saying that graphic novels haven't crossed over into the mainstream before (Maus comes to mind) but this is the first time that there has been the consistent and sustained flow of products indicative of an industry changing and a flow of professionals from the respectable medias in to comics (Jos Whedon, Ian Rankin et al). The change may have begun in the late 80s but only now is it going to reach critical mass.

£3) which are sold in specialised shops miles from the high street. Works like Sandman and, to a lesser extent, Lost Girls prove both media interest and the market but they are too expensive and too inaccessible to most readers.

Which brings me on to the second factor prompting me to write about this. I noticed that someone on Warwick Blogs was writing a web comic. It was okay and critically, it appeared to be written by someone not exposed to the geekier side of the industry I've outlined above. It led me to search google for Web comics and I found 127,000,000 hits (including a useful directory at www.thewebcomiclist.com). It seems to me that comics and the web go perfectly together. The web is the ultimate democratisation of information and comics are the perfect, democratic artistic medium; you don't need the skill or talent of a musician, the money and facilities of a film maker or the stamina of an author. Furthermore, I would argue that the web browsing public will find comics more palatable than film (the quality of which is years away from broadcast parity)and pure text because you need to commit so much time to read a sizeable enough chunk to realise what you reading is dross. On the other hand the quality judgement on comics can be made very quickly based on the art alone (or a very quickly read sample). Finally, unlike music (and film to a lesser extent) people write web comics in the same way people write blogs; to put an opinion out there or just to be creative.
So, will comics remain a nerdy, niche medium or will it complete its maturation via the web and become a viable top tier medium? Thoughts?

: 24 Aug 2006 16:28 |  Tags: Alan Changing Comics Culture Gaiman Girls High Ian Industry Internet Jos Lost Moore Neil Niche Popular Rankin Sandman Web Webcomics Whedon |  Comments (3) |  Close comments |  Report a problem