Reading.

I've read some fascinating articles recently and I wanted to share them! 

http://greatwen.com/2011/08/11/london-riots-and-football-hooliganism/

This shows the similarities between the recent spate of rioting/looting in London and football hooliganism. Living in Leeds I have to admit that I've seen so many rampaging football fans I've actual become a bit blasé about the whole thing. I'm always surprised when people are shocked to see the city centre crawling with police on a match day. But I digress! I couldn't agree more with everything written in the post - in fact this is something that I've found myself repeating over the past week... 

"There are always lessons to be learnt from the past, if you look in the right places."

 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/04/0407_030407_snakehandlers.html

They shall take up serpents...

Snakehandlers are something totally foreign to us UK folk. And maybe that's where my interest in them comes from. More than anything I would love to visit Appalachia and travel round photographing these small churches. 

Side note - I have a tattoo on my stomach of a snake and apple - obviously fall of man themed. I find the symbolism of serpents really interesting.


http://rachelrabbitwhite.com/atheists-are-sexy-a-secular-reader-round-table/
A reader round-table I took part in. It's about how your religious beliefs (or lack thereof) influence your sexuality, morality and views on life and death.

http://pervocracy.blogspot.com/2011/08/sinsational.html
When did "sin" become synonymous with sex? She raises an interesting point... gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins but when was the last time you saw fundamentalist Christians picketing outside a fast-food joint?  



http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5847315.ece
Coal not dole...
So the author of this article visits Pontefract to talk to people about the miners strike. This won me over straight away for two reasons. 1- I'm from Pontefract and 2- my grandad worked in the Prince of Wales Colliery there. I really believe the 84/85 miners strike and the outcome of it has a lot to do with the way things are in the UK today. From how we view the police to the lack of any real sense of community in a lot of areas - the end of the strike and the closure of the mines ushered in a new Britain. This article asks some interesting questions. Is it fair to compare the strike a civil war? What if someone other than Arthur Scargill had led the strikes? Maybe it wasn't a civil war but there's no argument that the miners strike was Britain's most important postwar social confrontation. 


Okay, this isn't a blog post/article it's a video but just let me have it yeah!
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/74ffb8b7d6/we-hate-music-bon-iver
I managed to find some other people who really dislike Bon Iver. Unfortunately this video isn't even that funny. SIGH. Man I fucking hate Bon Iver. I only mention this because facebook and twitter is all blah blah Bon Iver blah at the moment. I get the feeling it's going to stay that way until like a month after they tour the UK or something. I guess the problem is - I don't get it. I just don't get it!! It sounds like the kind of music you would hear on an advert for feminine hygiene products. To put it bluntly - this music has no balls. Listen to it. Now imagine going to one of their gigs! I'd be trying to gnaw my hand off out of boredom within ten minutes. Fact. NO THANK YOU.   


I'll leave you with two questions - 
Which of the articles did you prefer?
Do you like Bon Iver? Explain it to me!!