trust

trust is important. it is a simple fact of life.
one of the reasons the credit crunch has hit so bad is that we trusted the banks and they ended up screwing the pooch on us.
the main reason i buy the observer newspaper is that i trust it. while i may not always agree with it, i trust it.
it is the end of the year this means that newspapers are smaller than usual, it is not that less news happens at the end of the year just that more journalists are taking time off. a result of this is the countless reviews of the year just gone and the previews of the year ahead. i enjoy looking at the cultural reviews and previews. the collector mentality in me wants to go “seen it, got it, seen it, heard it, got it, didn’t want it” when it comes to the reviews (sadly most of the broadsheet newspapers are a little too highbrow for me so most of the books and films i have never even heard of. and i am not going to admit to what i may have seen from the daily sport’s listing). the fanboy in me loves the previews as i can get all excited about what is coming up in the year to come. are there books i am going to want to buy (and maybe even read): well yes to the buying and perhaps to the reading part. will there be cds i will have to have to make my heart sing with music and will there be a prog masterpiece among them? i hope so. what films will make me go to the cinema and sit and munch popcorn with delight, is there a slight chance that both quentin tarantino and guy ritchie can make decent films? (slight but not impossible, similar to my chances of winning the lottery.) what artistic shows will there be, which artists will be gracing the galleries of london.
in short so much to look forward to.
in truth there is almost too much to see, read and listen to. choices made, filters used and happiness found.
the previews are a starting point.
trust comes into play. trust that the experts can guide my way, can light a path.
it all comes back to trust.
so what in the name of all that is fucking sensible are the observer doing? what is their game? are they neo-nazi sadistic bastards? oh sure they have bold banner across the top of the front page and a promising one it is too. “pick of the arts events for 2009” it proclaims. just the sort of thing i want to read on a cold winter sunday evening, dispelling the gloom with the promise of gems to come. i am almost giddy with anticipation.
hold on. hold on.
something is wrong here.
they are having a laugh (as some cheeky chappies might say), but they are not. no not a laugh, more a cruel joke. this is taking the trust issue too far.
let us quickly look at that promise again “pick of the arts events for 2009” that is a promise and a half. it sends tingles down my spine with expectation. just imagine what artistic pleasures that there could be in store. imagine. go on do it, dream the impossible dream. twelve months of glorious art events, fifty-two weeks of pleasure. an amazing year ahead. already the gloom has lifted. i am ready. tell me what i can look forward to.
lily allen.
what. the. fuck.
who in their right minds gives a rat’s arse about a new lily allen album? no really, who?
even worse which retard thinks that a lily allen album is an art event for 2009?
i am sure she is a sweet lass, but so are most of the girls doing karaoke in pubs up and down the country, yet they are not part of the pick of the arts for 2009.
even in a postmodern ironic way it is not funny. not in the slightest bit.
the observer may as well have told me that a new “now that’s what i call music” compilation was coming out in 2009 for all the use that telling me a new lily allen cd was coming out.

right now the observer and me have trust issues.