January!

This week has been a bit slow, but as this is my first proper blog post I’ve decided to write. After all this mostly a writing exercise. My week was simple, yet it was exciting for me as life tends to be monotonous if you don’t notice the changes. On Tuesday I had a haircut in town, at a really hipster-y place called “Keeping the Faith” that was recommended to me by a friend of a friend. Originally I was only going to fix my phone but I decided to hit two birds with one stone, I’d been wanting to try out a younger barbers for a long time, to surrender creative power to the guy with the scissors just once and see if it looked better different.


Keeping the faith was a nice place, clean and monochrome with quotes and random images around the wall. I sat there silently, considering what was about to happen. I felt weirdly anxious, as if my change of hairdresser and potential change of haircut was going to have a large impact on my life. I watched as the two barbers worked on the people before me. There was a guy in a beanie with a beard who reminded me of Rhett from “Rhett and Link” (if he was a young hipster with doodles covering most of his upper body.) He worked alongside a barber with shaggy artificial blond hair and piercings that seemed rather gothic. Being a rather conservative person – more of a Quentin than a Margo – I was beginning to get concerned. I started hoping that I’d get the hipster over the Goth.

The moment the seat was free I met the hipster. I asked him for advice and he referenced to a few signs, checking over his decisions before orbiting me a bit more. He looked at my hair like a bird in a nature documentary would look at a camera, cocking his head fascinated before continuing to make small talk about his tattoos and his awesome denim apron after he finished with me I paid him with tip and he handed me his business card (@thatbarberjaime on Instagram) I went home, unaware of how impossible my hipster hair would be to recreate, it was nice while it lasted.

The next day I visited ignite, the most middle class and most intelligent events on my calendar for a few months. It was my second time and it didn’t disappoint. When I ordered at the bar I recognised a familiar face that seemed as a ghost in my memory … then it hit me! She was a welsh vlogger (albeit one that doesn’t post often) who I watch on occasion. She was cute, in a very natural, indie way. Kind of like Anna Kendrick’s character from pitch perfect if she was welsh, I had to shake the smitten feeling away and order food/drinks for the event that took me a moment to do. In other news I’ve concluded that wales is tiny, one welsh blogger down, one to go!

I managed to get the table number wrong down to my crap memory and had to dash to apologise, looking slightly flustered as I went. When the event finally began it was good, introduced by a woman called Rhiannon who worked in a sex toy shop and did a talk last year. She was very entertaining and managed to warm the crowd up with a variety of games cheer triggers. This time the talks were considerably more interesting than my last visit with two anonymous guests, shout out to the ‘medical gimp’ who talked about crime analysis, he totally knocked it out of the park *Insert crime metaphor/pun here.* that being said there were a few boring talks but I don’t want to dwell on them. Over all it was a brilliant night and even my plus one (a creature of habit who went skeptically) ended up actually enjoying it.

Top ten awesome things that should kick off in 2016

I’m attempting to experiment with listicles, cause that’s how you get views, or at least according to Buzzfeed.

Sidenote: It took me ages to decide between all the awesome photos of cool stuff

1)    Henna

As much as I love how awesome tattoos can look It has also occurred to me that A) I don’t want to brand myself with some cheap gimmick that I thought was cool for the time and B) normal tats seem painful. Henna however clean, smart looking is and will vanish to avoid tragic mistakes. This argument also expands to sleeves that can be removed due to the situation. (http://tattly.com/)

2)    Capes

 Impracticality aside I disagree with Edna Mode from the incredible. They look dramatic and badass flowing through the wind as you move like some bold hero from game of thrones or assassin’s creed. However there is the minor issue of what happened to Madonna last year.

3)    Subtle hair dye/ highlights

Everyone goes for a full on haircut and it seems like it’s a hit or miss situation. However I reckon that subtle hair highlights like Michael Aranda’s stripe or Fish Mooney’s fringe will stand out more and have less room for fatal error.

4)      Sword umbrellas

They are just so badass. (by that I mean umbrellas that look like swords not vice versa. I am in no way responsible for any injuries caused by people reinacting Kingsman.

5)    Linsey Sterling

She’s awesome and yes I am aware that I’m late to the party a bit. She’s a professional YouTube violinist whose music goes from dramatic metaphors for anorexia to the Pokémon theme tune. Usually she’s rocking unusual clothing and stamping around rhythmically with many special guests. (https://www.youtube.com/user/lindseystomp)

6)    Postmodern jukebox and genre play

I really like how people take lyrics from songs yet change the instruments and manipulate the speed in order to completely change the feel of the song. It allows for the ability to sing along to the lyrics whilst also reinventing the song completely at an impressive quality, I want more. (https://www.youtube.com/user/ScottBradleeLovesYa)

7)      The 50’s look

Despite the 50s being a time associated with lots of people not having rights, it did a very good job at fuelling the American dream via the optimistic feel it had and the retro look of pretty much everything in the movies I’ve seen. I love the idea of the American diners and the leather jackets and even the huge Elvis hair.

8)    Celtic patterns

I may be biased due to my heritage but I think the Celts need their patterns found more. I see so many pretensious tattoos and doodles of ancient tribal markings and foreign writing yet nothing a bit closer to home. They are simple, vibrant, blue and usually worn by warriors. This also includes the bangles (torks?) I’ve seen in the museums.

9)      Noir

Despite my apathy towards the “Sin City” series I really like the dark tones and writing of a noir, However I do believe that some of the sterotypes are outdated (ie the pathetic damsel.) I think noire could be revamped for the newer generation. Add to the argument the sinister tones of Gotham (the most badass show ever) and it’s perfect. Also check out Gin Wigmore if you get the chance. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwZkk3oLmho)

 

10)   Dub smash

This one might actually happen. Basically you get celebrities to mouth to songs and film quotes online and it looks hilarious. Especially when the actors who play agent Carter and Jarvis wage war against the agents of shield cast for charity.Top ten awesome things that should kick off in 2016

In defence of millennials

I often hear people say that my generation is “losing their social skills” or how we apparently “are dependent on computers” and it pisses me off intensely. Not only because people creating this argument are taking the first pause of the day from their Ipads for casual drinking and bitching, but also because they’d do the exact same if they had the ability. Now I’m not going to bring up how my generation are the closest to equality that we’ve been or the minimisation of smoking and teen pregnancy in young people. I could spend ages with stats and facts about us. But instead I’m going to convince you that we have it better than the baby boomers.

Firstly we live in the fast lane, but there’s nothing wrong with that. We have the potential to do in a day what it would have once taken a team of people a week to do. We have maximised productivity providing enough time for entertainment and personal projects. We have free utilities that allow people an audience for their particular talent that wouldn’t get one before. It isn’t just the entertainment industry either, people can create projects on Kickstarter and receive the financial aid they require without a crippling loan. Often when baby boomers say that us kids are “impatient” what they really mean is “They have an advantage over us and we’re jealous.”

Secondly it isn’t just the speed at which we can access the word either. We have an all access pass to the internet which allows us to see things we’d never see anywhere else. I can order an Australian surfboard or a Japanese TV and it’ll arrive within weeks. I can contact people over the other side of the world just for a catch up and or meet attractive strangers briefly and intimately without leaving my house, let alone going to a bar. I can track down any piece of information available and use it to my advantage, learn any skill within a three minute video. With the internet the world is literally your oyster.

Third is a pressing issue, a main argument is about how vain our generation is. People view apps such as twitter and Instagram as a place for smugly attractive people to plaster their face over, but in reality that’s far from the truth. It’s used to boost self-esteem sure, I’ll give you that one, but it’s closer to a time capsule or a scrapbook. People use social networks to look back at fond memories and smile. They also provide instant news from the people I care about, be them famous or otherwise, about their day to day life and how their doing. This means I don’t need to constantly contact people and ask the way a nosy parent would. Social networks allows a portal into the world of the user, the closest we’ve come to seeing through another’s eyes. What’s not to like?

Finally our social skills aren’t decreasing, I contact hundreds of people each day. I have the potential to talk to anyone from any background and get opinions from anyone. We have dozens of new things to talk about and share including an extensive collection of world shattering and emotionally intense new TV shows, constant news from all four corners of the globe and dozens of enlightened professionals who can whittle very serious issues and inspiring ideas into 5 – 20 minute shots of information. So next time you see a teenager glued to three devices at once, don’t judge them, because the odds are they’re doing twice the work you ever could.

for further persuasion check out author John Green's view on the subject: 

http://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/stop-patronising-young-people-and-start-listening?utm_content=bufferac21d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer