I let the melody shine, let it cleanse my mind, I feel free now,
But the airwaves are clean and there's nobody singing to me now ..
That film Knowing was on telly the other night. What an anti-climax that was.
It started off well, with some great special effects and some half decent acting. And then somewhere down the line, somebody stole the film's plot, ate it, shat it out and wiped it all over the last third or so of the film. Not since Kubrick has there been such a poor attempt to meld science fiction, piss-poor science and a healthy religious undertone in a way which doesn't scream 'trying too hard'.
The only redeeming feature was watching the poorly-executed shebang of a last third being incinerated by a solar flare. Oh, and the fucking terrifying disaster scenes. Like, genuinely. That bit with the plane messed me up good and proper.
For the sake of clarity, here is my christmas list 2011.
- Modern Warfare 3. Yeah, I'm a slave to Call of Duty but come on. That shit is good.
- A new belt. My current knackered one is still clinging to life but it's got past the stage where I can pretend it's vintage.
That's actually it so far. I'll keep updating as things come to mind.
It's come round to that point on the eve of christmassy stuff being acceptable where the political correctness thing comes into play. I forget where I read it this time round, but somewhere, the debates been re-opened as to the use of the word 'christmas' as opposed to such religion-neutral phrases as "The Winter Festival" or "The festive season". Stuff like this comes around each year because some hardcore atheist or Shinto worshipper tries to sue their local council for wishing them a merry christmas.
I know the governments not supposed to endorse one religion over another, but really, who fucking cares? Christmas isn't a religious holiday any more, it is a celebration of consumerism, of our love for material goods, a statement of our belief in capitalism. Gifts are always nice. Gifts are a sign of how much we love people. True, the price tag probably doesn't always equate to the amount of love being given, but I imagine generally there's some correlation. In the words of cheapskates throughout history the world over, it's the thought that counts.
The one regret I always have at christmas is the whole santa complex. How great did that used to make christmas? As a child, I believed both of those lies: number 1, that santa exists and number 2, that he will bring you presents if you're good. This lie began to unravel when you went to school a week later and you compared with the kids who were complete gobshites and they'd always got the best stuff (no disrespect to my parents, who always did great at christmas).
The paradoxical opposite of most peoples paranoid fantasies of losing all their stuff: an overweight guy breaks into your house to give you things.
But in the days when santa was real, you often began to wonder what you'd done wrong, or what kind of a fat cruel bastard santa was to reward these kids better than you.
I just had a brainwave; is that meant to be the message to set kids up for later life? If you do good, you'll be rewarded accordingly? Wow, I never even considered that til I spelt everything out. But meh, the only thing reality really seems to preach is that the cirumstances of your birth are the only real factor that affects what you get in life.
