♪♫Ikky Loves To Cha-Cha♪♫

I often find myself writing long journals about my feelings and then deleting them when I am finished. While I never set out to destroy my words, by the time I have exhausted my feelings I often find myself cringing at my innermost thoughts.

Every year I promise to myself that I will change who I am. I will procrastinate less and be more conscientious in my studies. I will make new friends. I will get out more. I will lead a more exciting life. I will loose weight. These last two years I wonder if I have fulfilled any of these vague resolutions. I am certainly not a party animal and I have few friends. I sit alone in classes usually, and eat lunch with my laptop. On the other hand, I have also travelled across Australia and to overseas, been incredibly drunk and found my first boyfriend. Am I getting better? Am I too hard on myself? I am not sure. But I am unsatisfied at who I am and where my life is leading.

At the heart of it, my studies are going well, and I should really worry less about them. I do well no matter the lack of effort put in throughout the semester. I will never have perfect marks and I will never fail. I should be content with my grades and use the time spent worrying about them towards more productive things.

I need to be more creative. There is no point owning an expensive camera and having had years of art lessons unless I use them.

I need to be more social. Being exciting and spontaneous takes time, but having friends will make this easier. I have this insane social anxiety where my mind goes totally blank when trying to think of things to say to people. Not all people - some people I find it very easy to converse with, and can spend hours discussing any given topic at length. Others take great effort on my part, and I know I bore them with my awkward, fumbling small talk. I need to be more confident at making friends. I can stand up and rant for 8 minutes about the Isreal/Palestine conflict during a debate, but I can't work my way through a conversation about what someone thinks about class. I can talk at people, but I find it more difficult to talk with them.

I am so used to doing my own thing and keeping my own company that I seem to have completely underdeveloped social skills. This probably comes across a fair bit here, and it feels silly writing it here. But I need to express myself more and be more open about who I am. I know this is just the internet, but its a start. 

I guess here is a crash course in who I am-

I am a introverted, thoughtful person, who overanalyses absolutely everything. I seek spontaneity, but I fear the unknown. I find it difficult to sleep at night because my mind is constantly racing. I am shy and awkward in social situations, but confident about my intelligence and creativity. I am often melancholy, but I often suspect I prefer it this way. I feel guilt about the way I treat others, but quickly forgive those who mistreat me. If I could change any part of myself, it would be to improve my ability to socially interact.

Who will I be in twentyten? Much the same person, but hopefully a little less introverted.

This woe-is-me journal is in terrible need of deletion.

While on the surface, Blood on the Dancefloor seem fairly uncontroversial. They have typical scenester gender-bending members, music that sounds like it was made on Garageband and the typical rainbow coloured spew everywhere on their myspace and albums. In fact, the unassuming person might well dismiss them as yet another shitty scene band not even worth listening to. This attitude is only partially correct. While BOTDF are certainly unoriginal, and should not be listened to by any person wishing to maintain their sense of sanity and personal dignity, BOTDF are not just another Medic Droid or Dot Dot Curve. They are really, trully, soul-crushingly awful in every way, bringing them a cut above (below?) the pack.

Dahvie Vanity will haunt me in my sleep in a scary way, and totally not in a sexual way.

And yes. That is a man.

No, really.

To add a little context to this band, their lead singer Dahvie Vanity was once accused of raping and sexually assaulting a 15 year old girl. Absolutepunk commenters rather succinctly added "Normally, they're only raping people's ears. Seems they've stepped their game up now." and "For Girl's Sake: Hope it's not true. For Music's Sake: Hope it's true." This just about summarises the situation - the members of this band are disgusting human beings who make disgusting music. While the charges do not appeared to have been pursued further, the content of the band's music suggests to me that even if this poor girl wasn't raped, Dahvie Vanity has absolutely unhealthy and unsatisfactory attitudes towards women and sex. The lead singer looks like a hag, and perhaps under the gunk, shitty hair (apparently he is a qualified hair dresser, idk?), and photoshop, he might be nice looking. But I really doubt it.

Starting at this top, this band is horribly, horribly cliched in every possible way. "Success is the best Revenge" is just one internet meme after another. When a band has a song called "IDGAF" which literally spells letters out, you know that that band is completely devoid of any kind of creativity or style.

Their music has a mediocre at best grasp of crunk, which is made entirely worse by the autotuned screams. Their beats seem to have very little to do with the lyrics, but are kind of incidental background music. I cant say the music background is terrible because its just too bland and garagebandy for me to hate properly. The lead singer's voice isn't even that terrible - again, its just too generic for me to hate properly. The music itself, aside from the standard shitty screams, is fairly unoffensive. It's the lyrics that are the killers.

I'm not suprised he was accused of raping someone - their lyrics in songs such as "success.." make casual references to rape. Their attitude towards sex is frankly demeaning and alarming given their popularity with young girls.

• "Cyber cheat" glorifies online cheating.
• "Ima Monster" - supersocker on your chests, let it drip down on your breasts
• "IDGAF" - shut the fuck up bitch .... so suck my dick
• "Scream for my Ice Cream" - Got a monster in my pants/ And if you ever get the chance/ Gunna cram it down your throat/ Watch you gasp for air & choke/ I'm gunna jizz all in your face/ I'm gunna wreck this fucking place/ Pull my hair smash the chair/ Break the bed & give me head
• "I Heart Hello Kitty" - You scream "meat sucks!" / Well you're out of luck / I'll fuck you in the face / And leave a nice taste / A hot mess [ ....] H-E-L-L-O Blasting through your stereo K-I-T-T-Y Let me slip between your thighs H-E-L-L-O Coming straight from Tokyo K-I-T-T-Y My sex will leave you satisfied H-E-L-L-O Show me how you're such a hoe K-I-T-T-Y Bitch I'll make you fucking cry H-E-L-L-O Get down on your knees and blow K-I-T-T-Y You're such a fucking cutie pie!
• "Bitches Get Stitches" - Talk your shit watch you get hit. Save the drama for your mama [...] Bitches get stitches they end up in ditches, So get the riches
  

Whats most disturbing is the combination of "cutsey" hello kitty imagery with sex and violence. Disturbing because the cutseyness is obviously aimed at young girls (as evidenced by all the scantily clad 13-14 yr olds photos on their myspace), but yet they're sexualising their youth in a really creepy, almost pedophilic, kind of way. The appeal of this band to young people, combined with the attitudes towards sex being pushed upon their fans makes this kind of music very dangerous.

Of course, no scene band is complete without songs about the haters, such as "Ima monster" and "Bitches Get Stitches" (You can talk your shit, you're only making me famous). O rly.

I hope everyone is sitting down before I make the following announcement:

Blood on the Dancefloor is worse than Brokencyde

I did not believe that this day would ever come, in which music sunk to worse lows than Brokencyde. Unfortunately, this journey to find the worst musical act of all time has brought me to this horrible, intolerable place in which I find myself taking back all the things I said about Brokencyde being the worst thing to ever happen to music. BOTDF's music itself is probably tolerable than Brokencyde, but their lyrics are incomparably worse. Worse in terms of being even more demeaning and offensive, but with the additional dimension of shittasticness in being cheesy, lame and poorly constructed (somehow, in some evil way, this is possible).

This band is the love child of Brokencyde and Jefree Star, taking the worst aspects of Brokencyde with their horrid interpretation of crunk combined with pig squeals, and marrying it with the meme-licious, cutseyness of Jefree Star, resulting in a monster far far worse than either. A monster that has come to life and will haunt the nightmares of all who dare to listen. What the fuck music, WHAT. THE. FUCK.

Seriously, youtube? 4 1/2 stars? I dont even know!

I'm going to go off and have a cry now.

Yoko Ono is often referred to as the woman who split up the Beatles. This analysis is perhaps a little untrue and perhaps a little unkind. It would also be untrue and unkind to say that she is a woman who sings like a cat being strangled. Untrue because a cat being strangled can probably stay in key far better, and unkind because being compared to Yoko Ono would hurt the cat’s feelings.

To be fair, some of her later music is somewhat tolerable, mainly because someone must have pulled Ono aside and told her that singing 2 keys above her natural tone sounded like a school choir being massacred. But her pre-1970’s music is actually quite bad, especially when she starts to screech, a sound which could probably strip wall-paper.

I will give her some credit, most of her songs have interesting ideas or messages behind them, but its her execution which lets her down and makes me question how on earth she managed to chart at all. Considering that everything she sings is either too sharp or too flat, I don’t know how having an interesting idea was ever enough. Maybe I just don’t understand avant garde.

Woman power is a good example of a song where she isn't that bad, except when she starts making those weird screechy deafening noises. In fact, it seems almost universally accepted that Yoko Ono’s music is good when she's not trying to sing. This is fairly worrying, considering she is a professional singer. The worst is when she is singing in her “haunting” voice, which rather than being emotionally touching is mostly bizarre. Ditto with her... I can’t even label it voice. It’s like she is pretending to be an ogre, imitating an out of tune guitar with a faulty distortion pedal. It is about as intolerable as that sounds too.

Will anyone ever take Brokencyde's crown?

The Munted Guitar Voice:

The Haunting Voice:

An example Ono actually being good when she is not really singing

Skip to 4:17 for some lovely Yoko-screeching->

An example of choir children being massacred, in the third person:

An example of a song I can't tell whether is good or bad, but I'm leaning towards out-of-key.

AND JUST FOR TEH LULZ - MUSIC WHICH SOUNDS LIKE SOMETHING DYING:

To quote the youtube comment: "Excruciatingly nauseating in its conception and repulsively vomitous in its execution. About as charming as a screaming rat being burned to death with a blow torch."

So there you have it - Yoko Ono. Next time, I will be covering 'Blood on the Dancefloor'. Also remember to join the Hunt for the worst musical act Group if you already haven't.

I don't know about you, but my favourite aspect of shows like American Idol has always been to watch the audition stages, and laugh at all the trainwrecks of singers that audition. There are many reasons for this, the schadefreude of watching the suffering and humiliation of others, the ego-stroking effects with regard to my own pathetic singing voice at hearing others who are worse, and laughing at how conceited these talentless-hacks are. Contrary to popular belief, public consumption of the spectacle made by those who can not sing is not a new phenomenon. Au Contrare. Allow me to introduce you to the 1920's version of William Hung: Florence Foster Jenkins.

Florence's family and husband heavily discouraged her from pursuiting this passion (and with good reason). After the death of her folks and divorcing her husband, Florence decided to blow through her inheritance and take singing lessons.Despite her complete lack of rhythm, pitch, tone, and overall singing ability Florence became very popular. Audiences loved to watch her perform, her onstage antics of costumery and dramatics making up for her lack of ability to sing.

This leads me to the conclusion that Florence would have loved the internet age - dismissing her critics as having "professional jealousy" over her abilities, is oddly reminiscent of Kiki "haters make me famous" Kannibal. Florence may have filled concert halls, but the people only came to satisfy their curiousity and be amused by the spectacle she made of herself *Cough Any form of reality TV cough*.

While some people have suggested her entire career was an elaborate joke, by all accounts, Florence took herself and her career incredibly seriously. Her and William Hung would get along famously.

But hey, don't take my word for it. *Video-tiem*

(Incidently, after recording this song, Florence told the sound engineer that no second try was required as she had sung perfectly).

As you can see, Florence is a terrible, terrible singer.

*Bonus Points*

I came across this trainwreck, and thought you'd enjoy their horrible-ness. I can't find any more of their songs, or I'd do a proper write up for them.

People often request bands for me to include in the hunt, and I often listen to the band and either feel so traumatised there are no words to describe my pain, or alternatively, think the band is not horrible enough to deserve to be compared to Brokencyde. As such, I've been spoiling you all. As much as we all hate Brokencyde and the Millionaires, they do actually know how to operate Garageband/Auto-tuner - they're just void of any conceptual worth. It's time for the hunt to get back to basics. Very basic. So basic, the bands I am about to introduce can't even operate their instruments.

King Uszniewicz and the Uszniewicztones

I want you to imagine that garage band you were in when you were 14. Remember how bad it was? Ok. Now I want you to imagine that no one in your band actually knows how to play their instrument. Now I want you to imagine if all of your band members were playing to a different time signature. Now imagine everyone in your band is drunk and your saxophonist is high. Just let this simmer in your mind for a moment. Have you visualised how horrendously painful this is? How utterly unlistenable this would be?

King Uszniewicz and the Uszniewicztones are worse.

There are no words.

Ok, so maybe there are a few. Suckful. Out of time. Painful. WHYYYYYY.

Someone get a rifle and shoot the saxophonist. And the whole band, while they're at it.

The Shaggs

I have a theory about the origin of this band. They had never heard music before, and decided to make music with only the loosest idea of what music should sound like. None had ever even seen a fucking guitar before the moment they were put in a recording studio. The result is pure tragedy, so horrible and gut-wrenching not even Shakespeare could have thought it up. Their drummer is several beats infront, their guitarist several behind. Their lyrics are so cliched and Forrest-Gump-esque that not even the Disney Channel would touch them. And their voices are so grating that Chad Krueger begins to sound like an angel.

This band is probably one of the worst I've encountered.

Ready to kill yourself yet?

Nevermind who are the parents, WHERE ARE THE PARENTS AND WHY ISNT THERE A "MOTHER'S AGAINST GROUP"?

The band's accolates include rated being rated the 2nd best band  ever by Frank Zappa and (somehow) having a tribute album named "Better than the Beatles".

There is no God.

The best thing about Daily Music Dose is that it means ordinary users on the site (like you!) get to contribute articles about the bands that matter to them, and have them posted to the front page of the website. Yay!

We realise that doing write-ups can be scary for some of you, particularly if you are shy about writing or English is not your first language. Never fear! Ikkyg is here to give you a quick run-through of how to write a fantastic-magical-awesome write up that you will want to print off and stick on your refrigerator with a big gold star and "A++" written in red pen.

1. Content

The first thing you might like to think about is what you want to talk about in your write up.When I do a write up there are three main things that I like to talk about:

a) The Band

b) The Music

c) Critical Response

People like to know the "human element" of the band they're about to hear about. This might include giving a quick history of the band (but not too long or people will be bored!), how they started, the names of the members, the genre they belong to, and other interesting or quirky pieces of information about the band and it's members. Remember - you want people to take an interest in your writing, and talking about the band is like a teaser to hook in readers.

Next I talk about the music of the band. There is no "right" or "wrong" way to do this, but here is a good scaffold that I think about:

• Look at their music from a "big picture" perspective ie, "their sound", the genre, features of their music which set them apart from other bands.
• Then talk about individual albums, and about the merits of individual albums, comparing them, or discussing how the band has grown through their career
• Finally hone in on individual songs that you think are particularly good. Describe what makes their music so good - talk about their instruments, lyrics and whatever else you think is necessary to convey this. Also, give your opinion - tell us a bit about how the music makes you feel.

Finally, I often write something very short about the band's career in terms of charting/accolades/awards/response of critics. This can be quite short.

You should try to spend the most amount of time talking about the music - a band can have a fascinating history, but if their music is uninspiring people won't listen to them. Give your opinions about their music, talk about any experiences you've had meeting the band or seeing them live, and talk about what exactly sets them apart from other bands.

2. Structure

Usually structure comes naturally, but if you're having trouble put things in order, then it makes the most sense to look at it like an upside down "triangle" - start general, and become more specific as the article continues.

ie- General info about Band -> General info about Music as a whole -> Individual albums -> individual songs

Then wrap up by talking about their critical acclaim and posting some video links.

3. Check spelling and grammar

You should take pride in your writing! It gets to go on the front page, and you should feel proud that something you wrote will be placed in such a visible spot on the website!

Using correct spelling and grammar will make it easier for people to follow what you are writing about. If you write in a confusing way, people will spend more time trying to work out what you're saying, than thinking about the content of your words.

It's a good idea to spell check before you post. No one is expecting something perfect or professional quality, but you should write something that people would want to read. No one likes reading things that looking a chimpanzee threw their fists down on a keyboard (although, eventually, one MAY produce a Shakespeare :P).

If you need help with your grammar, it is often useful to read things out aloud to see if they make sense. If not, message me the article before you post it, and I can help you fix it if need be. :)

4. Add images/videos

The easy part! Find a couple of videos you like on youtube, and add them to the journal. Cut the HTML code from youtube, then in your journal editor, go to html view (in between the picture button and preview button). Paste the html code in down the bottom and click "update". Now you're good to go!

The other day I watched a documentary about Ancient Egyptians and their religious beliefs, and I felt a certain amount of twenty-first century smugness about how quaint their beliefs were. Souls shooting out of pyramids and worshipping men with jackal heads seem almost laughable.Their stories about the creation of the world and gods & goddesses all make for a good yarn, but are far too unrealistic for me to give up my agnosticism hat and start worshipping Ra.

The Ancient Egyptians took it all seriously though; their belief system endured for over 3000 years. Ditto to the Roman, Greek and Norse Mythologies. Their explanations of the world all seem inadequate to the sophisticated modern man though. They're interesting enough to read a book about (or at least watch a few episodes of Xena) but the ridiculousness of the God of all Gods raping a maiden whilst disguised as an injured swan seems too farfetched to belong to a system of religion worth believing in.

But this got me thinking; to what extend is this whole "religion" thing relative? Will Christianity and Islam, two of the biggest religions for the last few hundred years, eventually be seen as entertaining narratives for history geeks to study up on? The fodder of Discovery Channel documentaries in 3009? Will the tales from the bible be far-fetched, but entertaining stories that eventually become a TV1 series featuring some decendant of Lucy Lawless and Kevin Sorbo?

Sure people say that Christianity is the one "true" religion, but I'm fairly certain the Egyptians felt the same way about their beliefs. And the Druids. And the Mayans. How do we know that we're not screwing up by putting all our eggs in the Christianity basket? What if the Ancient Egyptians had it right? What if Ra is the true god, and when we all die we're fucked because we laughed at all those Creation Stories, and our souls will be crushed by the underworld demon Ammut.

Better to have our souls shattered into oblivion than face eternal damnation though, I suppose.

PS: How is everyone?

(x) Rocky Horror Picture Show

Do you like presents?

Do you like the holidays?

Are you someone who enjoys buying gifts?

Look no further than Buzznet Secret Santa!

In 2009 Buzznet Secret Santa is going to be be bigger than 2008- but we still need another 6 people to join up AT LEAST so that we can beat last year.

To join up, all you need to do is:

1. Post that you would like to join here

2. Post a video of yourself to the group [http://www.buzznet.com/groups/buzznetsecretsanta] saying

a) your buzznet username,

b) the date and,

c) that you would like to join Buzznet Secret Santa

3. In October I will allocate you someone to buy a present for.

4. In December post them the present

5. Receive your present!

How a secret santa works

Everyone has one person to buy for, and someone else buys for them. Say, for example, I buy a present for Alexher123, he buys for Hidedontseek, and Hidedonteek buys for Me. Everyone buys for someone different than bought for them. The idea is to spread the buzzlove over numerous people, and send buzznetters in far away places a little piece of your IRL home.

Safety and security

The only two people who will have your postal details are me and whoever sends your present. I am very conscious that the internet has lots of strangers, whcih is why I make everyone post a video/photo to verify that they are who they say they are. If you're still worried, maybe get a Post Office box to deliver to, or have it delivered to a parent's workplace.

What kind of gifts you might receive

Last year people got all kinds of weird and wonderful things!

• Toys
• Food
• Clothes
• Hand-made gifts
• Local trinkets and items
• Jewelry
• Books
• DVDs/CDs
• Stickers
• Bags
• Photographs
• Posters

For more ideas/specify what you might like see The Wish List.

If you have any more questions, feel free to leave a comment below!

I can easily read a novel a day, and have read hundreds of crime fiction novels. So its not very often I read one that does something new. Where the majority of crime fiction uses cookie-cutter archetypal characters to propel the plot into predictable waters, Larsson has created rich and interesting characters that feel like real people. His first novel, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, originally published in Swedish, is a fantastic piece of literature. It is not often I read a book and feel the need to rave about it- but Larsson is just that good.

The novel is multi-faceted- there are multiple plot lines, but they all mesh so beautifully and are inhabited by such daring and psychologically engaging characters that you can simply not put the book down. Larsson exposes a side of Swedish culture I'm sure most people never knew about, and is able to engage in both stimulating and intriguing plot, while subtly providing a social commentary.

His second novel in the Millenium Series -The Girl Who Played With Fire- picks off a year after the events in the first novel. Where the social commentary and intriguing characters were brilliant in the first novel, Larsson manages to further develop his social commentary and characters. The plot does not read like a soapbox- it is subtle and emotionally engaging in a way which few other novels manage. In particular his character Lisbeth Salander, is a fascinating study in psychology. Where many novels portray people with mental and social illness as outsiders, Lisbeth is strong and captivating in her own right. Propelled by her own sense of morality and justice, while her actions could be considered as abhorrent by some, her lens of looking at life and her treatment by men means that the reader emphasises with her perspective.

While the second novel's plot was less captivating than the first, it is still one of the best crime thrillers I've ever read. Where Larsson really comes into his own is his development of his female characters. They are strong, savvy, unique and intelligent. He characterises them as true individuals in a world where many men victimise and belittle them. That is not to say Larsson presents gender relations as black and white- but rather there are individuals existing in various shades of grey, and morality itself is an incredibly grey area. Larsson's character development of his female characters in particular- not as needy and dependant, but existing within their own aspirations and sense of justice, makes Stephenie Meyer's Bella Swan look like an absolute joke. Larsson writes real characters, people that both men and women can aspire to and empathise with. Even the bad guys are fascinating characters.

His third novel, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, is to be published in an English translation later this year. I eagerly await the final installment of the series, as the second book ends on a cliffhanger.

The saddest element of all is that Steig Larsson died before he could see the enormous popularity and critical acclaim for his books. He died of a heart attack at 50, weeks after handing the trilogy to his publishing house. He had planned to write another 7 books, and had one unfinished manuscript at the time of his death. In 2008 Larsson was the second best selling author in the world, and his novels have reached number one on various countries bestseller lists, having been translated into several languages. He has won a number of post-humous awards and his novels have become a television mini-series in Sweden.

In a nutshell; why the hell aren't you reading Stieg Larsson? His novels are psychologically complex, fascinating, and provide a critique of society that everyone should know about.

It seems to me that the stars of Twilight are intentionally trying to destroy Stephenie Meyer from the inside. No, really.

RPattz got his rocks off with another dude in Little Ashes,

Now Kristen Stewart is set to play a homeless, antisocial prostitute in an upcoming indie flick.This seems a clear departure from the bland lovesick teenager she plays in Twilight. She will love you for an eternity... as long as you can pay.Not unlike Bella Swan, this character also can't wait to get nekkid with creepy guys in volvos.

"Me Love you long time, you pay fiev dollah!"

Anyway, all of this begs the question, where WILL the stars of Twilight be in 20 years, will their stardom shine brightly? Or hit the downward spiral of low-budget telemovies and alcoholism? Kristen Stewart is already on the spiral:

"Mary Jane: The Gateway Drug, and occasionally fenceway drug as well."

Homegirl looks baked out of her brains in almost every interview she does, its only a matter of time before she turns her back on the morality of her Twilight days and either becomes a lesbian or has a kid out of wedlock. It will all be downhill from there. Because If you have sex, you WILL get pregnant, and you WILL die*.

*An important lesson imparted on us by both Breaking Dawn AND Mean Girls.

After his sexual repression in Twilight, Robert Pattinson tries his hand at the adult film industry, making vampire themed porn, aiming to please a highly lucrative Twi-fan market.

Oh wait, he's already there.

It turns out however that teenaged girls aren't actually the largest consumers of porn. Pattinson is snubbed from the industry, with leading adult film critics finding him to be "too much of a nancy-boy" "need[ing] a bigger wang" and "he needed to turn her [around for anal]". Disillusioned, Rpattz decides to put all his practise of being obsessive, creepy and stalkery from Twilight to good use, and becomes a serial killer.

"Take that for making those ridiculous unfunny RPattz Trufax!"

After faceraping Bella Swan, Taylor Lautner gets into a series of compromising positions in his new found career as a Catholic priest, resulting in him being wanted by authorities for questioning over some "alleged" "molestation" "charges".

"Sure he fell in love with a new born baby, but how could we have ever possibly seen this coming?"

The rest of the cast, after doing a number of crappy low budget Horror Films this summer, will fade to obscurity and just end up doing coke with Billy Black, who starts dealing to the Las Vegas ex-pop-punk-band-members market.

"Wait... this looks awfully familiar"

The "self-esteem" thing has been hammered into our brains for decades, based on the belief that high self-esteem types achieve more in school, make and keep more friends and, in general, function better as a member of society.

Pretty much every single high school movie is a huge proponent of this theory. The fat, dumpy pariah, tired of years of depressing abuse, digs deep down and discovers his/her own self-worth in time for the big dance/game/senior trip. Then the entire student body takes notice of this radical change and raises this loser up to the most popular kid in school (roll credits to a Green Day song).

Numerous training programs and self-help books take this idea and run with it; promising that building self-esteem is the key to overcoming obstacles and failure. Even elementary schools jumped on board and started giving self-esteem classes to kids, because as all Americans know, the key to happiness is constant rewards for little to no actual accomplishments.

Why it is Bullshit:

This seems to be one of those deals where they've confused correlation and causation. Rather than thinking, "Maybe kids with high self-esteem feel good about themselves because they get good grades in school and have lots of friends," they decided that it's the other way around, that they succeed because they have self-esteem. So they tried to teach people to feel good about themselves for no other reason than pure entitlement, figuring the actual reasons for feeling good about themselves would follow at some later date.

This results in some kids having too much self-esteem, a breed of human that scientists classify as "douchebag." [See Figure 1.1]

Figure 1.1

We're not kidding. Research shows kids who have an inflated sense of self-worth become aggressive when their sense of superiority is called into question, leading to a more damaging fall for little Billy when he realizes what a loser he is (whereas fat Ralph already knew himself to be a loser and is therefore immune to disappointment).

We're certainly not experts, but it would, you know, seem like the solution would be to teach the stuff that leads to success (like social and communication skills, better strategies at dealing with stress, etc.) and just let that lead naturally to success and thus self-esteem, rather than just bypassing all that and going right for the self-esteem part.

Mr. Miyagi didn't teach the Karate Kid to believe in himself. He taught him how to kick people in the fucking head.

Copy pasta from cracked.com [credit]

DISCUSS

I haven't posted for a while, so I thought I'd let you all know what I've been up to lately. Mostly I've been busy with university; just doing readings and completing assignments. Nothing too tricky, just time consuming really. I also have a boyfriend now, which is nice, we spend lots of time together and are nerdy about all the same things, which means I can send him xkcd comics and links to advice dog memes and he will find them funny. He is originally from Illinois, and his mum reminds me of one of those stereotypical soccer mom types on TV. She is a professor of economics though; go figure.

At the moment I am half employed, by which I mean, I have been offered a job but as yet, have received no income and gotten no work. Which is annoying, because I'm seriously broke at the moment. Last semester I made do with babysitting and debating coaching money, but at the moment, once I pay my credit card I will have about $30 bucks in my account. I thought my lucky stars had been answered when I got a cheque from the tax department for some weird reason (I was going to complain!) but because of aforementioned brokeness, I couldnt afford the full bus ticket to uni and so I naughtily overrode on a shorter ticket and got caught and fined for the about the same amount as the random tax money. Which places me approximately back at square one, except slightly more desperate.

Also, my computer broke, but its fixed now, which is nice. (Yay Toshiba! And their wonderful warranty repairs scheme!).

I have a half dozen other things, but I think I'll refer to dot points because I'm feeling too lazy to keep writing in full prose

• my best friend who is 19 is pregnant. Do not even get me started on this fact.
• I hurt my toe when I saw Parkway Drive last Saturday, and now the nail has turned black, which means it will probably fall off; charming.
• It was probably my fault for wearing flip-flops to a concert anyway
• I lost one of my favourite charms on my charm bracelet which cost like $80 and is uber annoying
• I managed to get a position as an unpaid intern at a lawfirm which will look good on my CV next year when I apply for 3rd year law student jobs.
• Somehow managed to get amazing marks last semester, having done ridiculously badly through out the semester.

Enough about me though, how are you all? Have you signed up for Buzznet Secret Santa yet? If not, DO IT.

My favourite website at the moment is Sociological Images, which looks at advertisements, tv ads, graphs, and photographs to examine what social norms and messages about society can be extracted. An article I found to be particularly interesting was one on Leftist Balkanization. Balkanisation is the geopolitical process in which countries break into smaller, competing and antagonistic countries. The girls on Sociological Images describe Leftist Balkanisation as when social justice groups pursuit one issue, and ignore the rest, sometimes antagonising or exacerbating them. This sounds a bit theoretical I know, so here is some examples:

A) People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (aka PETA)

The name of their organisation kind of spells out which social justice cause they pursuit; animal rights and encouraging people to become vegan/vegetarian. Here are some examples of their advertising/protests (NSFW?):

(Because women's natural bodies are unattractive!)

I'm sure PETA probably thinks sex is a great way to sell animal rights to people, and no doubt, animal rights are a good social justice issue. What is of interest here is that pursuiting animal rights seems to be at the expense of these women's clothing. I'm certain these women (and men) were all willing volunteers, but when I see these ads, my first thought is not, "I'm going to become a vegan" its "Good god, Holly Madison has a giant rack".

While the first image seems to be expressing that people are not treated as pieces of meat and killing them is murder,  this seems fairly incongrous with the rest of their pictures, which all say to me, "animals are not a piece of meat; but women are".The overt sexualisation of activism seems to be at odds with other social justice issues, in particular, feminism.

From a feminist perspective, these images seem to be portraying women not as strong or concerned with animal rights; but as sexy. If you become a vegan, maybe you can look like this! Or date a girl who looks like this! They play on our insecurities about how we look, and present these stars or activists not as intelligent, caring people. But as people who are sexually attractive.

As Sociological Images points out; here PETA seems to be protecting our sensibilities by covering up Cloris. Perhaps Cloris didn't want to get her kit off, but this seems to reaffirm the message that the nude body of an older woman is offensive.

B) American Apparel

Again, to skeeze ideas off sociological images, American Apparel uses the same tactics as PETA to promote their clothing, which apparently stands for fair labour laws and anti-sweatshop clothing. Sex is used as a means of promoting this end.

Again, the message these ads seem to send is that women are sexual objects. While American Apparel stand for good ideas on labour and manufacturing, the way they have pursued this seems to be at odds with other issues, like feminism, by presentating women as sexual objects. Maybe some could argue these images present women as strong and sexy. But their focus certainly isn't on fair labour laws.

C) Sex Work

Sex work is not in itself an issue of a social justice per se, its more how different social justice groups decide to tackle the problem that is interesting. (I got some ideas for those from the site)

Here is an ad from a Christian Group trying to end sex work.

The interesting thing is not that they're ending sex work because its damaging to the woman's virtue, but rather, that men shouldn't damage the property of another man (ie her father or future husband). Many feminists are also trying to put an end to sex work; saying its degrading to women and perpetuates their position in society as purely sexual objects.

There are other considerations both groups seem to be missing; is sex work really so damaging for the women involved? It seems preferable to poverty, and there are plenty of practical measures which can make  conditions better for the woman, including safety buttons, contraceptives and unions. It seems that [some] Christians and [some] feminists seem to concentrate only on thier issues; in exacerbation of other issues. If sex work was somehow magically ended, where would these woman go? What kind of jobs could they hope to get? Would they end up on social welfare or dealing drugs? Or would they magically enter the middle class? By removing what (in many places of the world) is a legitimate income stream, seems to ignore the need to prevent people, particularly women, from unemployment and poverty.

D) Pro Life/Pro Choice

Pro Choice:

Pro Life:

That last one commits the logical fallacy of a false dichotomy; as if there is a mutually exclusive choice between killing fetuses and killing terrorists.

As Sociological Images points out, the women are often portrayed as voiceless; it is other people or the fetus that gets to do the talking. When I showed my boyfriend these pictures, he told me about this interesting survey that was conducted with pro-lifers & pro-choicers. When asked 'If there was a procedure so that the fetus could be safely taken out of the woman who does not wish to carry it to term, and transplanted in a surrogate mother, would you be happy with this?'. Most Pro-Lifers said no because it interfered with natural conception. Most pro-choicers said no because it would detract from abortion being a legitimate choice. I

t seems to me that we get so busy yelling about our own point of view that we forget about the consequences of our pursuit. The pursuit of pro-life is at the expense of woman who wish to make their own choices about thier body and their parenthood. Pursuit of pro-choice seems to ignore the rights of the fetus. All this seems to suggest a danger in pursuiting only one social issue.

Here is an interesting comic for you:

Not entirely related to my conversation on Leftist Balkanisation, but its nonetheless interesting how the double standard exists.

E) Female Genital Mutilation

This is a very interesting topic, the Sociological Images blog on the topic really changed my perspective. Female Genital Mutilation is the practise in which the organs of sexual sensation are removed from the woman.

Some ads from Spain about Female Genital Mutilation:

The message is that by removing a woman's organs of sexual stimulation, they are reduced to nothing more than a sex toy. This seems to be linked in with ideas of the sexual revolution and women enjoying sex as liberated people. Ie, FGM is being framed as a feminism/sexual liberation issue.

However, to a woman who has FGM, this ad would be patently offensive. The procedure does not rob her of her humanity; she still thinks, feels, loves, and has sex. Many women with FGM when asked about whether they would rather not have had the procedure said that they would still choose it; it enables them to participate in society and marriage. Without the procedure they could be socially outcast, without prospects of getting married or being supported by their parents. The women said they would rather the effort expended by feminists on removing the practise be shifted to improving their health and socio-economic status. By framing the issue as a feminist issue, other social issues, like poverty, would be exacerbated, as women without FGM would be discluded from society.

Is feminism knowing what's best for other women? Do we have the right to tell other cultures what they should be doing?

Is the practise actually a poverty/development issue? Should we focus first on improving women's development opportunities?

Or is FGM a health issue? Should we be focusing not on eradicating it, but ensuring that villages have adequate health services to perform the procedure safely?

F) Guns

Here there seems to be a promotion of the safety of homosexuals... at the expense of gun control. *Le Sigh*

In conclusion, the message of this blog is not that the safety of gays or that becoming a vegan is bad, just that the ways some groups try to pursuit one social issue, can result in the exacerbation of other social issues. By framing problems as being a particular kind of issue; a minority social issue, an environment social issue,  a homosexuals social issue, a feminist social issue, we can ignore the other complex social issues at work.

Inevitably there is a clash; environmental destruction in China is bad. So is the poverty of ethnic groups who rely on money  and employment derived from China's rapidly developing economy. Pursuiting one of these issues without regard for the other is bound to have bad consequences.

This is not in abstraction from our little internet world in Buzznet. We have popular issues we like to talk about, like feminism and Twilight, and the Millionaires and Brokencyde. But it's important for all of us to think about how we are pursuiting our social issue, may be at the expense of another.

With Twilight, for example, I was very angry that the saga presents Bella as little more than Edward's bimbo who wants to get married and have babies. For a long time I saw this as an insult to feminism. But blindly pursuiting this has been at the expense of recognising the valid choice some women make; understanding that they can have a career, but  deciding  that their  idea of the good life is to be a stay at home mum. Their choice is no less valid than mine to go to law school. It's merely a different choice, and feminists should be trying to support women no matter what their choice is, not denigrating those women who do not become career high-fliers.

By framing it as a feminism issue, I have forgotten what Twilight really is; a literary issue. Stephenie Meyer simply can't write. I should be supporting her by encouraging her to get some writing lessons. Or perhaps reading some Oscar Wilde. Or Both.

DISCUSS.

And before anyone gets mad/butthurt, I would like to present some interesting facts to you:

A) 40% of our online interaction is misinterpreted. Maybe if you hate what I'm saying [or just plain hate me] you are misinterpreting my badly written blog. Although what is worrying is that 40% of my online friends potentially only like me because they think I'm saying something that I'm actually not.

B) Online responses to things people don't like are usually insults. These are ridiculous and I pay little attention to them. If you want me to really listen to your dissent, it needs to be a proper criticism, not OMG I HATE YOU, YOU BITCH TWILIGHT IS AAWESOMES!1!. Real criticism is something lacking on the internet, alas. People just tend to either agree or disagree without any real interaction with your points. eg "Omg thats awesome I love Fall Out boy".

I've finished my exams! Hurrah! It only seemed fair to celebrate this fact, and the return of the Hunt by restarting this thing with a little chat about ICP. Enjoy!

I feel like the only fair way to preface this write up is to show you a picture of these charming lads:

How you doin'?

The funny thing about these guys is that they're actually somewhat decent at rapping. Like if you can ignore their ridiculous lyrics, their ridiculous face paint and their ridiculous film clips, some of their music is actually listenable. They're like insane, carnevale versions of Eminem, except with more cellulite and cheap frosting facepaint.

Of course this facade of decency falls apart if you scratch below the surface, you see these chaps have wonderful lyrics, all of them about drug, bitches, and killing people. It's a rough time in the life of a juggalo.

"I could love you and treat you with class

You'd have babies falling all out your ass

But thinking about that... I feel I'd rather kill you

[''cause I got you in my car, and you ain't going nowhere bitch, you're dead] "

This lyric pretty much epitomises the message ICP sends out to the fans. Shooting people... fucking up bitches... getting high... the list goes on. While 'horrorcore' went on alright for 5 or so albums, then the fame got to their head, and the band got deluded and decided to write their own version of the bible in which juggalos/juggalettes (fans of the band) get their own version of heaven called Shagri-la (coincidently sharing its name with the popular hotel chain). I wish I was making this shit up.

Welcome to my exibit i be the shaggs, sit back and enjoy, relax yo nipples and nut bags. its only juggalos here you know what we about, swinging hatchets, faygo and a dick in yo mouth. so they call us a circus, we accept the role. we been sayin that its comin for like ten years or so. and everywhere that we go from alaska to spain, im seein juggalos dancin in the faygo rain.

[blah blah blah, variations on the themes of carnevales and murder]

welcome to the show, dead dead dead dead. when its your time, death is near, step right up on over here. games, prizes, shows and rides, its that carnival paridise. [X2]

Welcome to the show, shangri la of the dark carnival. welcome to the show, its that carnival paridise. [X2]

when its your time, death is near, step right up on over here. games, prizes, shows and rides, its that carnival paridise. [X2]

So on and so forth.

I mean there's a lot I can say about adult white men who get around in facepaint and sing semi-serious songs about murdering people. I honestly really can't tell if they're serious, they sing these songs about turning into serial killers, but thiei film clips are so blatantly lurid and comical its really hard to hate them. Where the real lulz lie is with their fanbase. While I have disdain for Brokencyde fans, my feelings towards Juggalos and Juggalettes are something along the lines of "KILL IT WITH FIRE".

They're also massively obese:

This girl is charming:

""I get this shit below posted on one of my pictures from some jackass who CLEARLY not only has NO respect for juggalettes but NO respect for me. Does this idiot even have a clue that Philli would KILL him if he saw him? Apparently not judging on the "juggalo speak". WOW. English anyone? I think this mutha fucka needs to get his ass back in school or at least some one send him a fucking dictionary instead of hate mail."

IRONY.

So attractive

KILL IT WITH FIRE.

Anyway their youtube comments provide the lulz pearls of wisdom

"ok the stupid fucker that siad this is shaggy your a jack ass and fuck all u icp haters.... JUGGALO 4 LIFE!

listen girl u dont have to listen to icp in order to be a juggalette. if u date sum1 who likes them then u can be a juggakette or not. thats cool ur a juggalette,ive been tryin 2 make my gf a juggallete 4 almost 2 yrs now:(

message to all juggalos fuck every1 else ignor the outside world just stick with your juggalo family mmfcl

fuck off all u haters! fuck off my girl! aint yo buesness. who dopnt eat food? and who dont smoke erb? mad fuck off anyways u dont like it

Unfortunately, Juggalos not only live for ICP, but they also breed.

Poor kid doesn't stand a chance.

Oh, and then theres baby Annabelle Lotus born to proud mother Juggalette-Julie:

MY LITTLE NINJETTE DIED 1 IN A MILLION MEDICAL ERROR..FOR NO REASON. THE DOCTORS SHOOK THERE HEADS AT ME AND SAID WERE DONT KNOW WHY OR HOW. WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT? MY DAUGHTER SHOULD BE IN MY ARMS RIGHT NOW AND SHES GONE AND THATS PRICELESS TO ME!!! I PROMISED MY LOTUS I WOULD GET JUSTICE FOR HER DEATH TO MY VERY LAST BREATH! PLEASE HELP A JUGGALO FAMILY OUT..... EVERY & ANY JUGGALO & JUGGALETTE IS INVITED TO MY BABY NINJETTE ANABELLE LOTUS KRAWCZYK FUNERAL..WERE ALL A FUCK'N FAMILY AND OUR LITTLE LOTUS IS GONE TO SHANGRI-LA... PLEASE WRITE ME BACK HERE OR EMAIL IF U WILL COME. IM STILL MAKING ARRANGEMENTS. ON DATE OR TIME YET.. BEST WISHES ~ PLEASE WEAR ANYTHING DARK LOTUS OR IF U FONT HAVE LOTUS ANYTHING PSYCHOPATHIC GEAR TO HER FUNERAL PLEASE JUGGALOS IF U CAN DONATE ANYTHING EVEN . 01 OR $1. OO WILL HELP US TO GET A HEADSTONE FOR OUR DAUGHTER. YOU CAN DONATE AT THE FUNERAL OR IF U CANT ATTEND PLEASE FEEL FREE TO STILL DONATE ANYTHING TO OUR HOME AND EMAIL ME ON HERE AND I WILL SEND U MY ADDRESS... PLEASE BRING A LOTUS FLOWER THEY ARE SO RARE TO FIND. OR PLEASE TELL ME WHERE I CAN FIND ONE.. IM HAVING A LOT TROUBLE FINDING IT... PLEASE FAMILY COME AND SUPPORT US IN OUR DARKEST HOUR...NINJA DOWN MCL JULIE & JOE

CAPSLOCK ON CRUISE CONTROL Y'ALL.

In my opinion, Anabelle took one look at her parents and had the good sense to do the human genome a favour and cark it.

So there you go. Insane Clown Posse. Their music... eh... comparable to Brokencyde, but I think having fans as bat shit insane and deluded as this, it feels a lot like ICP hold the trump card in terms of contributing to the general degradation of the human race. Let's just hope they all take ICP lyrics to heart and start killing one another. In my mind, ICP are secretly geniuses and this whole thing is just a scam by them to try and brainwash as many people as possible. Kind of like what L.Ron. Hubbard did. But with more facepaint.

From badgods.com

Well, actually there are two entries. I couldn't decide which one I liked better, so I'm entering them both:

Mark often Z-snaps when n00bz get pWneD.

He is more fierce than Tyra and more fabulous than the entire fab-5 put together.

Him, Bree and Elrich like to get orange mocha frappacinos in between moderating.

I was going to add Bree and Elrich into this but i cbf.

=]

Apparently RPattz's mummy never taught him how to cross a road, because everyone's favourite vampire heart throb got hit by a taxi in Manhattan.

Being chased by an army of crazy Twilight fans, Pattinson tried to escape the twi-hards by running across a road. Unfortunately he couldn't run, nor could he fight them off. Pattinson was clipped by the taxi.

Never fear though, Pattinson walked away from the scene unscathed; the Twilight franchise is not in jeopardy. If Pattinson was injured, it would be curious what would happen with the franchise. Edward Cullen in a neckbrace does not have the same ring to it. Let it be a lesson to all the Twi-hards: you keep stalking and harrassing Rpattz and not only will he hire more private security, but we're going to end up with a Mark David Chapman kind of situation.

None the less, this is what I hope Pattinson's accident looked like:

For more information:
PICTURES:
here and here
NEW INFORMATION:
Here - near constant updates
Here - ONTD_political live post
ON TWITTER:
@StopAhmadi, @IranElection09, @persiankiwi, @NextRevolution

دنیارابگوییدچطورآنهاانتخاباتمان دزدیده اند
Tell the world how they have stolen our election

- original post by one_hoopy_frood

IMPORTANT ETA:

If you have Twitter or you don't but if you are not in Iran, please read these simple steps that you could help the people there: http://emsenn.com/iran.php Now the Iranian Government is watching Tiwtter closely and the users in Tehran might be in grave danger.

OH HAI GUISE

So I've had this project on hiatus for a while, but it's high time I brought it back. I know that Brokencyde is a hard act to follow, but I believe we can do it.

Bands I have covered thus far in the journey:

The Millionaires

Brokencyde

Jefree Star

All Time Low

Annotations of an Autopsy

Family Force 5

What I need you to do is start suggesting bands for the short list. I will check out who you post, then add it to the short list if I deem it worthy.

Bands that I will NOT be short listing:

Avenged Sevenfold. Because I like them.

Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana/Jonas Brothers/Demi Lovato/Vanesse Hudgens and all the other disney people. They're childrens entertainers, adults arent supposed to like their music.

Good Charlotte/Simple Plan/Other generic pop-punk band. Yeah they're really bad, but I really don't score any points paying them out. It's like making fun of Michael Jackson for being a pedo, a bit passe. I already made fun of All Time Low and they all sound the same so if you really have your heart set on me covering one, go to the All Time Low write up, cut and paste into word, click ctrl+F, replace all the references to All Time Low with the name of the band you want me to do. The jokes will still be relevant.

Slipknot, Kanye West and T-Pain. They're not everyone's cup of tea but I can get why people would like them.

~*SHORT LIST*~

William Shatner

ICP

Pearl Jam

1-800 Zombies

Unicorn Kid

Soulja Boi

Color Me Badd

Skinny Puppy

Crash Test Dummies

The Medic Droid (Suggested by panasonicyouth)

Attack Attack! (Suggested by panasonicyouth)

Nickelback (Suggested by woohoo23)

Mindless Self Indulgence (Suggested by Crash13)

Celine Dion (Suggested by Crash13)

Heidi Montag (Suggested by Jerryfetus and seconded by a half dozen people)

Angels & Airwaves (Suggested by Emisforily)

I Set My Friends On Fire (Suggested by Baylie)

Dot Dot Curve (Suggested by Raqualalovesj)

Blood On The Dance Floor (Suggested by PaulaZtnew)