Our Culture

Cultural Confetti

I'm sick of Jennifer Aniston . Not that I have anything against the woman, it's just that hers is the face that seems always to confront me from the magazine rack at the supermarket as I wait to pass through the check-out. Oh how well I know that long blonde-streaked hair, the hard little jaw and the superbly neat rows of bleached white teeth paraded through a tight but spectacular grin. Merely from glancing at the headlines over the years I know she's been through a rough time what with Brad and Angelina and that new one and all ....if only I really cared?

But it's not just Jennifer...

I've had it with The Biggest Loser , American sit-com, sepia-toned British drama's about lawyers, cops and doctors ... please, I never want to set eyes on another forensic expert, whatever the nationality...talent shows, stars dancing, celebrity gossip, sports *personalities* flogging caffeine drinks, fast-food eating and fast-food ads...endless ads, alcho-pops, hype, excessive mobile phone use, playing Snake while I'm waiting for a train, watching female singers imitating fetching whores as they writhe around the screen in 3 minute grabs that pass as music videos, cross-promotion masquerading as news, mindless web surfing, reading blogs like this one....the cultural confetti goes on and on.

Over the years I've digested too much rank content and now I want to purge it all in one giant cultural enema. I've had enough. I'm freezing the wide-screen tv and turning high-brow! I'm going to see a symphony orchestra, meander through an art gallery, discuss Voltaire in a coffee shop with earnest companions, read Thomas Hardy..or at least get out the dvd's. It will be hard...yes, fiercely hard...my brain has been trained to absorb only a certain kind of popular slush but I'm going to make an effort. Call me foolish, call me an aspiring snob or pretentious wanker,...I don't care. It's time to try selective cultural engagement rather than passive absorption. Wish me luck...