Growing Up Is Optional

So another year goes by.

Another birthday and here's Gus to perform one hop for every year,

hop hop hop hop hop hop hop hop hop hop hop hop hop hop hop hop hop hop hop hop hop hop hop hop hop hop hop hop....

Oh dear, he seems to have collapsed though exhaustion.

From the first album I bought, which while not The Beautiful South's best album, Choke is a creditable choice and the cover art was brilliant.

I Know That You Want To Try

When I finally get round to writing something new on the blog I find Blogger has crashed. Which, like many, prompts me to consider moving to Wordpress or at the very least backing-up my published entries. A few days later and I still don't have anything new and exciting to write about, the usual job/ family/ tranny stresses and not a lot else. 

Not long from now I will in all likelihood be dreaming the details of which are almost always only of interest to the one whose had the dream. I tend to stumble across comments where mtf trans/ trans historied  people say they've dreamed they're a woman and that means its destiny. Maybe it is a subconscious signal but I'm wary of being guided by dreams, I've dreamt of eating a bacon roll and playing in central defence for Aston Villa (me neither, try to interpret that) I can say with confidence neither will happen even with Villa's position in the EPL table.

Although I did have a very pleasant lesbian dream which I haven't written off happening.

Here's a band I've revisited, whatever happened to Dubstar?

Ageing Celebrity Buying A Toffee Crisp

I made the mistake of flicking a copy of the Daily Mail while in the coffee shop which contained a frankly startling revelation.

I'm still reeling from the news a well known person looks different than they did 30/ 40/ 50 years ago. Apparently its something called ageing and I for one applaud all the newspapers and magazines for informing their readers week after week of this stunning new discovery by using celebrity examples. These articles are often so similar that I've suspected that they were written using a template and yesterday I was proved right when a file marked peopleageshocker.docx was accidentally forwarded to me, the gist goes as follows

[Insert name of well known person] NOT SO [insert reference or pun to what they are most famous for]

Back in the [swinging sixties/ glam seventies/ electric eighties] they [reference the field the person was successful and popular in] but today [essentially call them a slob].

(insert a small picture of person professionally taken, well lit and with make-up on, place hastily taken Paparazzi shot at a very unflattering angle of person 30/ 40/ 50 years later out walking dog or quickly popping to shop to buy a Toffee Crisp over at least half the article space).

The reality is that people age, admittedly some do so better than others helped by good diet, exercise, beauty regime and a bit of luck. If someone after a successful career wishes to not do that and put their feet up and have that second helping then that's their wish.

Not Angry, Just Disappointed

I probably have mellowed out a little over the past year over trans representation in the media my view seemed to have veered to a slightly parental 'I'm not angry, just disappointed' bent however the sketch based on newspaper report of Thai airline hiring "ladyboy" hostesses which featured on Russell Howard's Good News is worthy of complaint.

The sketch perpetuates negative and offensive images of transgender and in particular transsexuals which encourages transphobic abuse, ironically given the story was about an initiative designed to help a marginalised group in Thai society.

On a comedic level it was lazy stereotypical writing from writers who can do better.

Running On

The Whitehouse Bridge apparently it has the dubious distinction of being one of the most struck bridges in the country and despite awareness campaigns and some very prominent signs being installed some people still insist on ploughing on trying to get their vehicle under despite the very obvious evidence to the contrary. I was going past the area a while ago and a van driver was still try to drive on despite the roof scraping along the top of the bridge and drivers both behind and going past shouting out things, I couldn’t hear exactly what was said but I think it was along the lines of “I think that’s a jolly foolish endeavour you’re embarking upon” and “oh dear I think you should turn round” though it could be that the language was slightly more Anglo-Saxon. Unlike many bridges trains can still run over despite the strike and rather cool tests like this one in 1996 at 40 mph can be done.

Like that driver I’m sure there are things we continue to do despite all evidence to the contrary there’s plenty of research into the psychology of investors especially during bear markets that make them unwilling to ditch a dud clinging to a dead cat bounce as the sign that they might make their money back until its too late and the fear and panic hits whereby they swear they’ll never make the same mistakes again as they start buying flats to rent out. 

Mistakes? Never made one myself.

Meet Jet

Meet Jet. He's a rough and ready go-getting type of guy. Jet by name and Jet by nature, smooth and self assured, he with his good hair and designer stubble. He'll take credit for good ideas his minions came up with. He'll talk about 360 degree synergistic strategies. He'll list his strengths ending with making lurrrve at which point there'll be some god-awful boast about his penis-fencing prowess.

Yes I hate him as well.

Ask me to list my strengths and I'll um and er my weaknesses are quicker to mind and I could go on and on to the extent of making myself sound like a totally hopeless case. Its probably my fear of appearing to be bragging, a degree of modesty, some shyness and total dislike of any form of public speaking which holds me back.

There are some things, heck bugger modesty there are many things I am not just good at I'm bloody brilliant at them and I don't have to resort to using meaningless buzz words either.

Modesty is a great, almost laudable trait though there's a time and a place. If you don't promote yourself then chances are unless you've the budget for PR (even then the best promoter of yourself is almost always yourself) nobody will do it for you. If you don't knob heads like Jet will run the world.

Just A Bit Of Banter

Oh my word! I seem to have been transported back several decades to some office and I'm a secretary and that must be my boss.

SMACK!


He knows I love a playful pat on the bum really.

GIGGLES.

Sorry about that. Thankfully we are past the time when being a bit of a sexist dick can be dismissed as banter or playfulness. The fuss over Gray and Keys being two total twonks has abated, the anonymous Youtube poster with their job done disappears. Though it wasn't surprising that Sky had tolerated such outrageous behaviour when a just a few years ago they were advertising their sports news shows by how attractive their female presenters were.


Had a look on the recently released crime map which revealed that I live in a slightly dull area and my local PCSO has a magnificent moustache. It also revealed, and you might want to be prepared for this revelation, that the area where all the pubs and clubs are had a few incidents. So all in all money well spent because I never would have known that. What it didn't display was any context or detail, the uninitiated observer might just think it a total danger zone whereas its fine outside of a Friday or Saturday night.

BUZZZZZ

Oh I'll have to stop now the boss wants me to step into his office and take down some particulars.

Bear Up A Tree

I hope this year is treating you well so far. I imagine those exercise equipment bought are already gathering dust or being used as expensive clothes horses.

Not a lot has been going on there's been work and the inevitable allowing of the mind to wander resulting in me trying to fit (or crowbar) Wiltshire place names into film titles which is a variation of numerous Twitter memes admittedly. So a late afternoon war spent coming up with films like Scenes From A Marlborough, The Rodbourne Supremacy, The Ogbourne Ultimatum, Park South The Movie, Wild Wild Westbury. I could go on and on but you'll be mercifully delighted to hear, I wont.

The bear up the tree I photographed along the bridle path on my way home having suffered the rather soggy and cold weather and looking definitely worse for it. Makes a change from the symbol of modern Britain, a bag of dog poo being tied to a branch which always made of wonder why, especially when there were designated bins nearby. When I was growing up (and even in the mid 90's) there were no bins and owners were not as thoughtful. In Marlborough there was one such lane from a well-to-do part of town to the High Street which was so befouled it was commonly referred to as dog shit alley where you would be lucky not to end up with something horrible on your shoe.

MMXI

Happy new year.

Just been giving the blog a spring clean and clearing dead links. I also had a look at the search keywords used to reach the site, a lot of these are searching for others I have linked to on the side or in the past some are no longer there, searches for Stephanie's Pillowbook are numerous as are the Candyfloss Girl, Abi and others. I probably disappointed the student who I presume had a upcoming tutorial when the searched for "workshop on wednesbury unreasonableness" and as for "lesbian lust transv tvchix estate sex" I don't know what to make of.

So without further to do, here are my ambitions for the year, just don't call them resolutions.

Ambitions for 2011.

• Work toward obtaining my professional qualifications.
• Make new friends.
• Get fit and lose weight.
• Travel and explore more.
• Learn another language. 
• Start a thread on the Angels Forum which gets locked. But I can't be a troll about it, as that wont count.
• Practice make up skills.

Here's to 2011.

Merry Something

Three posts in a week, I've hardly done that most months recently let alone a fairly busy week like this one has been The photograph was taken outside Christ Church which is near the top of the hill in Old Town and can be seen for miles around especially when illuminated at night.

Here's a cold looking plastic pig outside the County Ground.

The last post was about traditions, this one is the traditional Christmas entry. Thank you for reading in 2010 and merry Christmas.

Tradition

During Christmas day at home when I was growing up the television was on the whole day starting with the children's programmes. The strand generally ended with a very poor festive cartoon film called something like Flossy Reindeer Saves Christmas. Where the eponymous hero learns something about the true meaning of Christmas and other moralising messages pausing only for some really bad songs. Nobody's really watching it though because its presents time!

Television at Christmas time thrives on tradition, turning over just as the Queen's speech is starting and only tuning back once its safely finished. watching The Snowman on Channel 4. Which I see is being shown again, although no longer on Christmas day. Repeats give rise to that great pre Christmas traditions the newspaper article complaining about the amount of repeats. The Daily Mail managed to excel this year by publishing the piece before the schedules had been released.

Tradition is why the Sound Of Music gets another showing, personally I'm not a fan of over saccharine type films with the possible exception of Its A Wonderful Life. The great thing about tradition is that every family's traditions are different and there's probably a new one starting this year.

The Worm That Turned

Forced feminisation and emasculation of men featuring a stern but skimperly leather clad women including the woman from the Shake-N-Vac adverts.

It sounds like some premium top shelf adult goods but believe it or not it was a series of sketches called The Worm That Turned on a prime time BBC family show.

In the serial women rule Britain while men wear traditionally women's clothes and law and order is maintained by a secret police force led by Diana Dors. It is, simply put, one of numerous anti-feminist satires where extremist feminists take over which popped up from the mid 60's showing what a awful place it would be (for misogynists, especially television writers) if women had equal pay and opportunities. In the end the evil feminists plan is throated because deep down all they want is children, fluffy things and a penis inside them.

A lot of just makes one groan rather than feel bothered, its just dated like a time capsule into a time long gone like the Miss World. Society has moved on for instance attempts by Sky and Channel Five to broadcast Miss World Contests in the UK flopped despite the publicity.

I was reminded about The Two Ronnies for some reason on the one hand they produced some of the finest sketch comedy ever (even at the time of Not The Nine O'clock News' Two Ninies parody) produced but there was also some quite naff or hideously sexist items.

Great Trans Cliché's

A number of overused word and phrase's used within the transgender communities in no particular order. Yes this writer pleads guilty of uttering at least one and asks for a series of other transgressions to be taken into consideration.

• Transition or die.
• Real Self (or Selves or me).
• True Self (a variation on the previous)
• Its not about the clothes.
• En Fem.
• I'm not interested in (sport or a particular sport).
• Passing
• Stealth
• Hun

Any more suggestions?

Thought It Ended 5 Years Ago

The Jerry Springer show is 20 years old which is surprising to me as I thought it ended at least 5 years ago. Twenty years where a millionaire invited mockery on people who were mainly poor and stupid. But then the well off have been mocking the poor for essentially being poor for centuries. Perhaps the nastiest recent example was the use of words like pram-face which more than one tv executive thought was an acceptable term to put in a shows title.

From a trans perspective it also helped to perpetuate negative and unhelpful transgender stereotypes, Jerry's Transsexual Surprise, Guess What, I'm Really A Man, High School Transsexual being some of the episode titles .I personally find it depressing that transgender (and I use the general rather than the specific transsexual because the results radiate out, affecting all) people are displayed in such a way to barely disguised titters. 

Much like trans Big Brother contestants where you just know there's a gag about there being a knob under that skirt round the corner before they show a prosthetic penis to emphasise the point.

In its defence it doesn't claim to be anything else but silly, mainly scripted, trash, no pretence of "after-care" and unlike Jeremy Kyle there's no smug bullying lectures mid way though a segment. But it does annoy the hell out of me to see trans peoples portrayed in such a way.

Altogether, JER-RY! JER-RY! JER-RY! JER-RY!

Death of a Transwomen

A death happened. The victim died instantly after being struck by a tube train. Someone else is charged with allegedly murdering the victim. A tragic event, one for the investigation team to try to piece together the events leading up and a subsequent jury or jury's to decide if there is culpability based on the facts presented to them.

The victim was transgender. This made all the difference to how it was reported in several outlets and what this post will focus on along with disgraceful online muckraking and tedious labelling.

In newspaper land Sonia was not a talented solicitor instrumental in the formation of several legal precedents and helping many people but just a transvestite or a "man in dress" with wilful insertions of the male pronoun the reporting was horribly sensationalised by several outlets including the Daily Mail, Evening Standard and The Sun. To compound it journalists started sifting through her online life, destroying her memory and suddenly the transvestite became a "a transsexual escort" who was living "a secret life".

Even in reporting the touching tribute from her family which showed true love and acceptance by calling her Sonia not David they had to ruin it.