Anti-social Socialized Medicine

Most Britons are unhappy with their socialized medical system, the NHS. There are long waits for necessary treatments and surgeries. Refusal to cover drugs that we Americans consider mandatory (mood stabilizers, for example). At least this old guy had a creative solution:

http://www.londonist.com/archives/2006/08/i_did_the_right.php

Britpop Renaissance

First, you should read Heather Armstrong's great column about how she found herself immersed in British music during her college years and what bands like Oasis, Blur, and Elastica mean to her.

During this time in music, which was middle school for me, I found myself in the middle of a war between the kids that liked Nirvana and the kids who liked Pearl Jam. I was in the latter, but that was until a.) Kurt Cobain killed himself and there was no more Nirvana and b.) I found Oasis. They were heavy enough to appeal to a 13-year-old who considered himself an outsider and they were interesting enough because they were English. To this day, I consider What's the Story (Morning Glory)? one of the best albums ever. I'd never heard the word "bollocks" before, but I knew I liked it. I never really got into Blur because "Song 2" was the only single that really hit down here in Florida and I didn't think it was that great at the time. Elastica also only had one song down here.

So what else could be found over there? Then, unfortunately, there was Bush. After that was more of a "pop" period in Britain, with Robbie Williams and groups like the Corrs and All Saints taking up space in my CD player. I would stay up late at night on the weekends, use dial-up to get on the Internet (remember that?), and listen to Capital FM to find the groups that would attempt to "break America". As you have noticed, no one really has.

One of our family's necessary expenses is our Sirius radio subsciption, especially since I drive so much. On there, I listen almost exclusively to the BBC Radio 1 feed. It's been a dream come true. Luckily, our purchase of Sirius happened to coincide with another Britpop renaissance. Radio 1 prides themselves on staying on the cutting edge of British music, which is refreshing compared to your typical American pop station that tries to get as much mileage out of a song as it possibly can. For instance, when I was last in my hometown, the pop station I grew up with was playing "Baby Got Back". Not as some sort of funny retrospective, but as a serious member of their playlist!

Here's an example of how fast Radio 1 moves: James Blunt had already come and gone by the time he reached #1 here. We don't hear KT Tunstall, Arctic Monkeys, or Corinne Bailey Rae anymore, all of whom appear on up-and-coming artists lists consistently in the States right now. So, as a favor to you, here is what will be coming from Britain by the end of the year:

The Kooks
Lily Allen
Boy Kill Boy
Razorlight
and maybe a new album from Kaiser Chiefs

It's a very exciting time in popular music.

I'm the Tiger Woods of...

Although currently I find myself disenfranchised from the American culture, I have always wanted to represent my country in a sporting event. I fell short of being able to play for the US in golf's Ryder Cup. I wasn't fast enough to play hockey in the Olympics. I started playing soccer too late to play in the World Cup. But finally, they have a sporting event where I truly feel I have no equal. USA! USA! USA!

The first annual International Masturbate-A-Thon 2006: Come for a Cause!

I will be accepting donations and sponsorships to send me to London to participate in this prestigious event.

Football is football, unless it's football

Yesterday the (rest of) the world and I watched our planet's Super Bowl, the World Cup final game. I had to TIVO it, which caused me to miss most of the overtime and all of the penalty kicks. Therefore, unfortunately, I was forced to catch the rest courtesy of "The Worldwide Leader in Sports". This worldwide leader then felt the need to replay Zidane's headbutt 50,000 times*, but only showed the real goals from the game once. By the way, Worldwide Leader, it's pronounced Zi-Don, not Zi-Dain. Also, you may want to send a memo to your #1 color commentator during the World Cup. The English captain's name is not David Beckman, Ian Beckman, or Michael Beckham**, it is rather David Beckham. Your memory may not be very good where he was concerned, but you certainly were able to identify his wife every time she was shown on TV, including her Spice Girls nickname, and a brief synopsis of her "musical" career. He even had a favorite Spice Girls song!
*Which, admittedly, kicked ass
**Honest truth. He used all of those names during the England/Paraguay first round match



My point is this: the 5.7 billion other people in the world who care about football don't make fun of Americans for not appreciating the game. They don't even make fun of us for watching NASCAR. However, whenever you bring up "soccer" in this country to someone who doesn't appreciate it, you immediately just signed yourself up for a 30 minute argument where your opponent's main point is "There ain't enuff scoring". Stop being ignorant. I'm sorry, but I think even a soccer match between two German teams I've never heard of is about 50 times more exciting than a.) baseball and b.)NASCAR.

This sporting haughtiness is what caused ESPN to treat the most exciting sporting month of the decade with just the same respect as they show for the Lumberjack Games.

Introduction

As a long-time blog reader, I've found that often the best blogs are ones that deal with a specific subject, rather than someone just blathering on about how unfair their parents are, why their job is the worst in the world, or why Angelina Jolie is hotter than Scarlett Johansson. Annie Mole writes a blog specifically on the London Underground system. Michael K writes a blog making fun of celebrities. Pauly, among others, writes a blog about poker. So that is what this blog is. It's about something that I address on a daily basis, usually after watching the news. It's about how I feel totally unrelated to the American culture, and probably always have.

Let me start by saying I'm incredibly grateful that I was born in this country more than any other, even Canada or Britain (which will appear a lot within these posts). Because of my birth location, I was able to access one of the world's best educational systems, attend college nearly free-of-charge, and live a life of luxury when compared to most other people on this planet.

I have no political agenda when it comes to this blog. Personally, as you will be able to tell soon enough, I am quite liberal in my views. But I will not use this as a forum to blast the current American administration or the people that allowed such a group to be elected. Just like most other blogs, I will use this space as a place to vent, mainly about how this country has so much promise but has been hijacked to the point where I don't even recognize it anymore. I don't think it recognizes itself.

First, let me answer a few questions that I anticipate being asked sooner or later about this subject matter:

1. If you're so unhappy with this country, why not just leave?

Good question. The current political majority in this country (white, Southern evangelicals) was not always the majority. They spent most of the twentieth century complaining about the moral decline of this nation, but they weren't asked to leave. They just waited until the climate was right to become the majority. Everything's cyclical. Eventually common sense and secularism will return to the nation. My goal with this work is to point out that countries that we consider "inferior" have reached their enlightenment a lot sooner than we have.

2. Is this strictly political?

No, it's not. This is more of a sociological exercise. How did our society, which has been successfully exported around the world, come back to suffocate intellectual thought here at home? What causes other cultures to be (what I consider) far more advanced? Do social issues, such as entertainment and liberal policies like abortion, gun control, and drug legalization play a part?

3. Is this just in response to the current government?

No. I've been interested in the other cultures of the world for a long, long time now. I've had the ability to spend a lot of time in Canada as a teenager, for example. I've listened almost exclusively to British music for ten years now. Even during the glory years of the 1990's in the US, I was always looking across the borders wondering what was over there. I've always thought the way to enhance the global society was to learn from each other. This country doesn't seem interested in participating anymore. We'll drive German and Japanese cars, listen to British pop music, and drink Canadian beer but we won't learn from anyone elses successes in terms of politics, policy, and liberty.

4. What do you have against Southerners?

Nothing. I grew up in the South. I prefer sweet tea compared to regular iced tea. I like fried chicken. Southern people, on a personal basis, are the nicest people in this country. Part of my business is to travel to the inward reaches of Florida and visit with people who, it's fair to say, are not quite cosmopolitan. What I don't appreciate is religious doctrine dictating the direction of this country rather than common sense. I'm pro-religion, no problem. Everybody needs something to get through the day. But I'm against religious government.