GQ | AUGUST | 2017

A Message In A BlogLeave a comment

It’s so so strange to be writing a blog post after so long! Especially a GQ post; they’re my absolute favourite and it feels so good to be planning one out right now. Plus, you know, it’s an excuse to buy a GQ, I suppose. One quick thing, I’m not a massive fan of going to length on the feature articles of GQ, I like to leave that to you to search up and i’ll leave a link somewhere near the end of this post. I just want to give you the low-down on August’s issue. It’s my favourite GQ issue in a very long time, for quite a few different reasons and I had to write a post on it.

But actually, before we start, lets talk about the first few pages of any GQ issue. Traditionally cluttered with gaudy images of far too skinny and rough-looking male models and clothes that look as though they come straight out of an 80’s futuristic television series; GQ’s front pages are odd, to say the very least. This month, however, apart from a very average double page spread from Prada (nothing new there then) it’s a different story altogether. Patek Phillipe, Cartier and  Breitling watches (all stunning by the way). From the off, August’s GQ has a touch more simplicity and frankly, at last, some class about it. I like it.

I’ll skip very swiftly passed the Fila sliders a little further in…

…Even quicker passed the ‘Party Page’. Absolutely not, GQ!

BUT! It gives me great pleasure to bring your attention to… PAGE 42! WOOO YEAH!

“Why are you so excited to talk about page 42, Danny?” I hear you say. Well it’s a good thing you asked, dear reader. I’ll let you know. You see the headline on page 42 of GQ August 2017 is ‘Why You Need Liberace Hands’, followed by a large image of a hand covered in big rings. They include, Alexis Dove, Gucci (obviously, it wouldn’t be GQ without a bit of Gucci), Thomas Sabo, Alexander McQueen, Dior and Versace. Why does this make me happy? Well apparently, these rings are now ‘in’ and everyone has recently started wearing them, apparently, allegedly, some say – the bit that makes me happy is that I myself have been wearing my Thomas Sabo Falcon ring (not featured) since August 2016. Which would mean, dear reader, that I am one whole year ahead of the UK’s most fashionable men’s magazine, thank you *drops mic*.

Here are the rings:

  1. Alexis Dove – Buddha Signet Ring – £110-£135
  2. Gucci – Lion Head – £275
  3. Thomas Sabo – Black Ceramic – £149
  4. Alexander McQueen – Signet Ring – £225
  5. Dior – Rhodium Finish Ring – £460
  6. Gucci – Feline Head – £205
  7. Thomas Sabo – Skull – £198
  8. Versace – Greca and Medusa – £180 (This is the closest match I could find on Versace’s website)

Prices can be a bit steep but if your aim is to make a statement, well, ain’t no better way, my friend. My personal favourites out of this list are the two by Gucci, because I love big and wild rings, and these two have so much character.

We’ll skip, again, swiftly by the small ‘filler article’ on ‘male camel toes’ by Dylan Jones. There really isn’t any need, Dylan.

I had to take a minute to compose myself before this next bit. ‘Geezer Chic’ – Mark Francis (If you know you know) would be beside himself! Let me start with the associated brands:

Stone Island, Champion, Moschino, Lacoste, Reebok. They have a couple more but I do consider ‘Off White’ and ‘Ralph Lauren’ to be more acceptable.  The ones I have listed should never be considered ‘Chic’ in any sense of the word. Also what they refer to as ‘street’ I have always known as ‘chav’ (#SorryNotSorry) and any form of the ‘Shell Suit’ style track suit should be left firmly in 1995. Don’t even get me started on the silly little man-bags that these little boys carry these days, I mean what the actual Ffff-ashion faux pas!

Now let’s move on before I break my keyboard.

I’m going to skip the McLaren spread. I’ve no time for boring super cars (#JustNotSorry)

I’ve never really rated the ‘Taste’ section. Always looks a little rushed and last-minute in my opinion. Skipped.

GQ’s ‘Style’ section this month is on point. I mean, you know, besides Mr Chapman looking like a complete berk on the D&G runway. But my favourites include:

  • Gucci’s outrageuosly priced £640 Cuban collared silk shirt… (not on the website for some reason but here is a similarly priced ‘Flora Snake Print’ silk shirt.
  • Filson’s snazzy bag – £195 – Again, the actual bag seen in GQ isn’t on Filson’s website but in my opinion this tote bag is actually nicer.
  • North Skull’s incredible ring – £115 down to £80.
  • And finally, very unlike me, an absolute YES to Giuseppe Zenotti’s Kyoto Loafers £665 (again, they’re not on the site… but these William Velvet ( £715) loafers are very nice indeed, and are little (a lot) more toned down and understated than the Kyotos.

‘Bachelor Pad’ has gone all summer (obviously). You know the drill, here are my Top 3:

GQ, by all means hype up cycling, but surely not Chris Hoy (I refuse to add the Sir because I truly do not believe he deserves it). Doesn’t he spend his career cycling in a big lopsided circle?

As I said at the start of this post, I won’t mention Cara Delevingne’s feature article. Only that I will say I respect her drive, her ambition and absolute couldn’t-give-a-f*** attitude. Very good article, you can find that right !here! on GQ’s website. Go have a read.

Ahhh, my favourite section, the back pages – AKA ‘The Fashion Collection’. I’m just going to link my favourite items and let you go have a good look:

And last but certainly not least. The House Section. What can I possibly say?  A man can dream, can’t he?

OK so, if somehow for whatever reason you’ve made it this far in to the blog post, I love you, thank you. You’re a champion. I hope you enjoyed reading and are already itching to click the follow button *cough* please *cough*…

I’m definitely going to try my hardest to post every SUNDAY from this point onward. Again, if you would click the follow button on my blog, it helps me out immensely, doesn’t take any time at all and you’d never miss a post! and please do share it around, that’d be great. Thank You very much for reading.

Until next time…

BYE!

 

Get Yourself a Happy Place

A Message In A BlogLeave a comment

happy-place-find-your-happy-place

I suppose everyone’s got some form of Happy Place, haven’t they. Whether it be in physical form; somewhere they visited as a child, which holds fond memories or times spent with loved ones or whether it be just somewhere they go in their mind to escape everything; a state of mind which relaxes them and calms them.

I myself kind of enjoy both; I like to be alone sometimes, I think it’s good for you; it allows you to be alone with your thoughts and not have any distraction keeping you from focusing on yourself from time to time. I like writing, it’s what I do, and in some ways it’s the only thing i’ve ever really been any good at. For me to sit alone at home and write a blog post, or a short story, makes me happy.

I also enjoy coffee shops, whether that be a big named place or a small independent coffee shop; there’s something about them that calms me, people just seem nicer when they’re sipping on a cup of coffee or a nice cup of tea than anywhere else. It’s quiet (usually) and I feel that sitting in a coffee shop is when some of my best words are written. Coffee shops are a ‘Happy Place’ of mine.

If you’re an anxious person, or someone who simply can not stand to be constantly around other people then you, my friend, need yourself a ‘Happy Place’. It seems so silly when I put it like that, like i’m telling a child to go outside and play, or something, but it’s true. Having somewhere to which you know you can go, alone, and chill out, is so important. You need it.

Often it doesn’t matter where I am. For example, right now i’m currently sitting on a rather packed train on my way home from London and i’m chill as you like, because i’m writing, and that, as you know, is my ‘Happy Place’. Writing anything; blog posts, poetry, lyrics, even short stories, it’s therapeutic for me, I love it.

Not a particularly long post, but I think it’s important that you know that you can spend some time on your own; and be alone with your thoughts. Because sometimes that’s exactly what we all need.

Until next time…

BYE!

 

 

 

 

 

A Whole New Social Media?

A Message In A Blog2 Comments

Social Media Logotype Background

I’ve posted about Social Media before, and no doubt, there are countless blog posts about this subject all over the World Wide Interweb. But ever since I published my previous Social Media posts, things seem to have changed. A lot. Social Media has darkened, it has become a place of confrontation, trolls and sarcastically dry humour. And I love it.

Social media, it seems, moves with the tide of ever-changing society and it, again, seems to evolve and adapt to current affairs and, more importantly, how and why people react to things. That’s why it’s such an important aspect of modern life. It’s an entirely organic form of web-interaction.

troll_internet

When it comes to so called social media ‘trolls’, the most important thing to do is simply to ignore them. It’s so easy to keep replying to the bait, to keep feeding them more ammunition so that they can continue to ‘troll’ (or just bug the hell out of) you. I always find it curious that people become so wound up, or hurt or are emotional because of internet trolls. Let’s use Twitter as an example here, Twitter uses the system of following, so that each member of the Twitter society can follow each other and see what all of their favourite people are up to. Unless of course you want your social media private, in which case there is the private option, whereby only people you allow access to your feed, get to make any contact. You can also ‘Block’ and even ‘Report’ any suspicious or potentially harmful activity, or for the sake of this paragraph, any Trolls. This is the case for almost all social media website these days, so there really is no excuse to allow internet trolls to have any affect on you.

My favourite form of Social Media has, for a long time now, been Twitter. Facebook is old and out-dated; it’s struggling to keep up. Vine burned bright and extinguished hard and fast. And Tumblr is massive, but I still think it needs time for everyone to actually know what it does and more importantly, how to use the damn thing. In fact the only form of Social Media that seems to be keeping up with Twitter’s appeal, in my opinion, is Instagram, which, ironically, is owned by the incredibly dull and very tired Facebook.

_87772655_87772653

Although it faces the same level of so called ‘trolling’ and sees a never ending stream of bad feeling in some comment sections, YouTube still has a wonderful sense of community to it. If you’re a fan of YouTube; and by fan I most definitely do not mean watching cat and angry  driver videos. I mean if you are a fan of YouTubers who upload regularly to their channels and create consistent and entertaining content for dedicated viewers, then you’ll know what I mean about a community feeling. It’s really quite a marvellous thing. But as I said, you won’t know if you don’t watch YouTubers. Their fans are some of the most loyal, dedicated and often ruthless people. Sometimes more so than fandoms of pop-stars or actors. These people will defend their favourite YouTubers to the end and it’s a relationship between YouTuber and fan that only grows organically over time, that lasts. Fascinating really. There is no room for a ‘viral’ YouTuber. And certainly (for most fans) absolutely no room for ‘vine’ users to think they can become YouTubers. Leave it out.

Isn’t it weird how society has moulded itself around social media. In some ways it’s rather concerning, I mean, we spend more time speaking and interacting with people on social media rather than people in real life, and by doing so, gradually distance ourselves with the more important things in life. But on the other hand, you could say that we meet new people all the time on Social Media and really it’s not as dark and scary as your parents want you to believe. YouTube is such an amazing place to find new friends, I mean like real friends, not cyber friends. I’ve met a few people through YouTube and they’re the best. So it can be a good thing, when you actually end up meeting your YouTube friends, but when these people remain on the internet, it’s probably time to get out of the house.

Social Media is very quickly becoming one of the most common forms of interaction between young people. It has its ups and downs, its pros and cons. It has it’s wonderfully innocent and beautifully like-minded communities and it’s incredibly small-minded internet trolls. One thing is for sure though, it’s growing, and it’s growing fast.

Here are a few statistics:

  • YouTube has over a billion users–almost a third of all people on the Internet–and every day, people watch hundreds of millions of hours of YouTube videos and generate billions of views.
  • YouTube overall, and even YouTube on mobile alone, reaches more 18-34 and 18-49 year-olds than any cable network in the U.S.

And of course, the big statistic…

  • The number of channels earning six figures each year on YouTube has increased by 50% y/y.

YouTubers are earning BIG. And it’s only going to get bigger. TV, watch this space. This YouTube Space.

I love mostly everything about social media and am a self confessed addict.

But what I want to  know is what YOU think of social media, Good? Bad? Not quite sure? Leave a comment!

 

And Until next time…

 

BYE!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Positivity! Positivity! Positivity!

A Message In A Blog3 Comments

Be P

Life is all about how you decide to spend your time. And if your time is spent focusing on negative thoughts, it stands to reason that your life will be negative. So it then obviously makes sense that if you focus your energy on positive thoughts, naturally, your life will be a more positive experience.

I’ve spent so much time in my life thinking negative thoughts. And this does’t mean always thinking something negative; oh no, but your brain (or my brain at least) can’t decipher when the thought is negative or positive. So even if you’re thinking, ‘Hmmm i’ll not have one single negative thought today, nothing negative will happen.’ Your brain will pick up the word negative, as that is the type of thought you are technically thinking at that particular point, and !walacalam! (it’s a word…) you’re thinking negative thoughts. So again, it stands to reason that if the only thing you’re thinking is ‘Hmmm ONLY positive things will happen today, I will only think positive things’, you will experience your day in a positive atmosphere. Not entirely sure if there’s much science behind that, but it’s a nice thought at least (Ah see what I did there?).

Basically, what i’m saying is that everyone, including myself, needs more positivity in their life. Think positively and it will happen!

positivity-1

Blimey that was a long introduction for a blog post.

There’s a quite brilliant story of two men in a hospital room, and one of the men is blind. Every day the man who is able to see gives a lovely description of what he can see out of the window, which happened to be right next to the blind man. Across the road from the hospital was a park, filled with beautiful flowers, families running around and playing, there was a huge lake, where couples rowed boats and children played with their toy boats. So much fun, love and excitement. And on this particular day the weather was perfect; it was sunny, warm, not a cloud in the sky and the birds and all other animals were all out in force. And each day the blind man would thank him for making his day a little brighter. The thing is, the view outside the window of the hospital room wasn’t quite as the man suggested; in fact, outside was simply another building, a flat brick wall, part of the hospital. But the man made up a beautiful image for his friend so that every day he had something that would make his day that little bit more special.

blind-man

I think that’s such an important message. The man knew that the real description of a brick wall would be a straight up negative thought for the blind man, and so creates a much nicer image of positivity and natural beauty to help the man’s day consist of more positive thoughts. A simple positive thought in the morning can change your outlook for the rest of the day.

Some people always look around and wonder why it is that others are so happy. Is it money? Maybe their job is amazing? But I don’t think that really matters, I think if you think positively and never allow negativity to become even the slightest bit involved in your day, then surely happiness comes from that.

I try (or at least lately I’ve been trying) really hard to remain positive throughout every day because it allows me- even in the most difficult of times- to see the bright side in all situations. I try to stay in the moment, not thinking about past events or stressing over future ones, and I can stay positive, in the moment and be happy and grateful for everything I have; not everything I wish I had. If something goes wrong or someone does something that I don’t necessarily agree with, I just, as a wise woman once said, Shake it off!

Just a thought.

(A positive one, obviously)

Feel free to comment on WHATEVER makes you happy and how you try to remain positive throughout the day.

 

Until next time…

BYE!

 

I find it very…Pinteresting.

A Message In A BlogLeave a comment

pinterest

Obviously one of the best blog post titles ever devised by a human being. Extremely witty; full of pure banter. Completely original in every single way.

So Pinterest, eh.

Do you need ideas for your office? Pinterest. Do you want ideas for your new living room or for the perfect bedroom? Pinterest. Are you looking for beautiful tattoo designs or pictures of your dream car? Pinterest. “Oh no, where am I going to find designs and decoration ideas for my birthday party, or the wedding?” Keep Calm and Pinterest.

Coat1  Suit1  Watch1

Pinterest is the homeland of pictures, for anything and everything you could possibly be looking for. Create boards and Pin images to them so people looking for the same things as you, can find them quickly and easily. And as you search, and search, and search for hours, upon hours, upon hours your Pinterest experience is tailored to suit you personally as a professional Pinner. Any images that Pinterest thinks you might like, go directly to your homepage. So you can log in, or open the App on your phone and you have a mixed selection of office designs, cars and bikes, dogs, cats, gardens, tattoos, music. I mean, literally everything, just waiting to be liked, and re-pinned to your own boards and profile.

Watch2 Shoes1 House2

I found Pinterest when I was looking through the app store for something new, saw that fancy looking P and thought it looked… interesting (I never pull the same pun twice), that would look Pin..diotic, ok maybe not. But you can see why I don’t try puns too often. I started using it for pictures of bands I enjoy listening to, then I gained an interest in cars and bikes. My main focus, however, is my ‘Fashion’ board. It has almost 300 Pins and is the pride and joy of my Pin..file (Profile…). I use it to Pin everything I can find about Men’s fashion. I also love my ‘Chic’ and ‘Architecture’ boards, I know, I’m SO Tumblr these days.

House2 House1 House3

You know my favourite thing about Pinterest is the fact that it is one of the more PG Social Media sites. It’s quite a chilled community and i’ve only ever really had any poor comments once or twice on one of my pins. Generally people are quite helpful or more likely they’ll keep to themselves and just enjoy pinning away. In fact, a lot of Pinterest is used by mums and their hobby craft addictions.

House6  Lux1Lux3

I think one of the things people often find weird about Pinterest is its friendly feel. Most other social media sites have darkened over the years, and have gathered a bad reputation for being confrontational and full of internet trolls. Pinterest is a social media site and App where you can just chill and not worry about any ‘keyboard warriors’ ruining your day.

Pinterest is a wonderful thing and I strongly urge everyone to give it a go. You might feel a little alienated by it at first, but trust me, you’ll be pinning like a pro in no time!

Here, I’ll leave a link to my very own Pinterest profile ‘MiddleFloorDan‘ so you can have a look and see for yourself. Then it’s up to you to set yourself up and get pinning.

 

Until next time…

BYE!

 

 

Love Yourself!

A Message In A BlogLeave a comment

Have you ever asked yourself, Does anyone care?

Yes?

Let me give you the simple answer. No, they don’t. Unless they are your closest family or tightest friends; they will only ever care when they can gain something from you. It seems like way too much of a dark and pessimistic view to have on your fellow humans, but it’s true. No one truly wants to spend their life helping someone else’s dreams become a reality.

I think when it comes to moving on in life and being your own person, one of the most important things to remember is that it really does not matter what anyone else thinks of you. I know that sounds extremely cliche and overused, but again, it’s true. And when it comes to believing in yourself you don’t need anyone else, you need to begin with you. I recently read a book by a man called  Kamal Ravikant called ‘Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It’, and what he writes could change the way in which 1. You see yourself, as you become to ‘love yourself’ and accept yourself, and 2. How the rest of the world sees you. According to Ravikant, given time, you’ll (apparently) begin to notice that your life simply gets better, or in his own inspirational words ‘Magical’.

There’s a quote from the amazing film ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’ which tells us,

              ‘You got a dream… You gotta protect it. People can’t do somethin’ themselves, they wanna tell you you can’t do it. If you want somethin’, go get it. Period.’

You see, people will always want to see you fail because they didn’t or couldn’t do it themselves. People like that can’t stand to see others become more successful than them, and so they’ll put you down; tell you to stop; that there’s no point; that you’re not good enough or- to make themselves feel like they’re actually giving advice- that you should try other things and see if there’s anything else out there. They want you to have the life that they have, because they don’t want to see you having the life they couldn’t achieve.

In this day and age you really have got to know someone very well in order to be able to trust and rely on them. So I think ultimately what it boils down to is being able to rely entirely on your own efforts and trust your own abilities enough to be able to live your life confidently, with the safe knowledge of knowing that you’re not in a state of mind in which you need to depend on anyone for anything.

There’s something going around Social Media recently- started by DJ Khaled. He quite frequently, in his Snapchat, refers to some people as ‘They’; ‘They don’t want us to be successful’; ‘They don’t want us to be happy’; and, for some strange reason, his personal favourite, ‘They don’t want us to eat breakfast’. ‘They’ (I assume) refers to ‘Haters’ or anyone out to stop you from becoming something more than them; or, They. Stay away away from ‘They’. This is weirdly perfect; his grammar may need some tweaking, but the sentiment is perfect.

I read a little something recently which said:

                ‘Cut anyone and everyone out of your life that makes you feel small, hurt, humiliated, stupid, worthless etc. Do it swiftly and without remorse.’

I read it, and then I did it. Simple. I went to my Facebook friends list and deleted so many poisonous people and old ‘friends’ I thought I needed to keep in my life just because it was Facebook and, well,  that’s the whole idea. But after I removed them, with literally no strings attached any longer, I felt so much better. Right then and there I chose who I wanted in my life and that was my decision. The people I deleted had a part in my story at one point, but their time in my life is over, their part, done.

They’ll get over it, i’m sure.

And trying not to sound too cliche, as the author of your own life-story, only you get to make that decision; not Facebook, not family, or friends (however much they protest or tell you otherwise). You.

You just need to learn to love yourself enough to get it done.

Phew.

Until Next Time…

BYE!

 

So What’s Going On With You?

A Message In A BlogLeave a comment

Have you ever been asked that question by a member of your family and then subsequently wanted to (and I apologise for the violent language) batter that family member until there is no way of them ever being able to ask you that question again? I get asked it all the time by almost every member of my family every time I see them; and it drives me mad.

What do they want me to say? “Oh yeah, everything’s absolutely perfect with me. Since the last time you asked me that question 5 MINUTES AGO, I’ve become unbelievably successful in my writing career; married the woman of my dreams; and we now fly around in my diamond-encrusted pug-shaped spaceship.” I mean what are they really expecting me to say?

I actually can not understand why people feel the need to constantly ask me ‘what’s going on with [me].” When I’m doing OK in life and i’m feeling like telling everyone how i’m doing; or that my life is going particularly well; i’ll tell you. But please stop pushing for an answer that isn’t there. Sometimes i’m not doing OK; sometimes I am feeling a bit shitty; and down in the dumps, maybe a bit depressed and sometimes I don’t feel like telling anyone how my life is going, when it isn’t necessarily going the direction in which I like it to. Give me some damn time, people.

One of the worst things to say to a person who is feeling a tad depressed, or down, or anxious is ‘Oh, just smile, it could be worse’. Because to that person, at that particular time in their life, it couldn’t be worse, that’s why they’re depressed, damn it. To that person, Their life is at its lowest point and they don’t want to talk to anyone, and especially don’t wish to be told to wear a false smile just to make people think they’re doing OK. OK yes, occasionally the thing to do in this situation might very well be to approach the person and ask them how it’s all going, this is OK because they may need some company. But if they don’t want to talk; or they don’t want interaction with anyone. Let them be. It takes time.

 

Until next time.

 

BYE!

 

 

 

 

 

It’s In Our Nature. But Why?

A Message In A BlogLeave a comment

world_peace_by_unfulfilledcanvas

  • 30 people killed in a suicide attack at a market in the northern Nigerian city of Yola,
  • 43 People Killed and at least 239 others injured when a pair of suicide bombings struck southern Beirut.
  • Bomb kills all 224 people on board a Russian airliner over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula last month.
  • 147 killed  in an attack on Garissa University, in the north-east of Kenya, by the Somali militant group al-Shabab. April 2015.

The list could go on and on and on. These too were disasters caused entirely by monstrous militants or ISIS terrorists.

But how many people changed their Facebook profile picture to the flags of Nigeria, Kenya or Russia. How many trending Twitter hashtags were there for #PrayForNigeria/Kenya/Russia? How many of your followers or Facebook friends focused all their prayers on good thoughts and love toward the people of Beirut during it’s time of need just one day before the Paris incident? Or any of the other countless disasters which have hit our world in the past year.

The simple fact of the matter is, we feel more sensitive and give more sympathy towards any terrorist bombing or outright genocides that happen on our doorstep than to that of people living three thousand miles away. And what’s our excuse? ‘Oh, well, it happens all the time over there so we’re all used to it’… Are you kidding me.

Don’t even get me started on the countless people who completely disregard religion and God for most of their lives and then break in to #PrayFor tweets whenever shit gets crazy. It’s almost as if we as humans feel like we can completely shun the idea of religion and then ‘find’ it whenever we feel we messed up the most. It disgusting.

I’m an atheist and therefore didn’t pray for anyone in the Paris attacks, because I don’t believe that I, as a non-believer of God could do anything for those poor innocent souls. Nor can anyone actually help in any way by changing their Facebook profile to a French flag.

This type of thing has happened so many times in the past few years that I can’t actually be bothered to list every single incident. But i’ve brought it down to the ‘snowball effect’; once enough people have seen enough posts, or news stories, or #hashtags, they join in, regardless of whether or not they actually know anything about what has happened, because they need to be seen by their peers to be doing something to contribute to the ‘united front’ against terrorism. It makes them more liked by their Facebook friends. Or GETS them more LIKES, as is probably the case for most people.

One thing I can’t stand is when people actually believe their lie. They actually begin to believe that they care for these people; that they care for those effected by terrorists around the world. But did they care even just a little for all of those other people killed in recent months? Have they taken ANY notice of more than TWO MILLION innocent souls taken by these evil creatures over the past decade? (Yes, I referred to them as ‘creatures’, these things are NOT human). For anyone who can commit such atrocities is not a civilised being.

If we absolutely must stop everything we’re doing to #Pray for a disaster, then how can we, as some of the most privileged people on the planet, really pick and choose which ones we back? How can we stand by and just let the killings of 147 innocent students at a university go over our heads, and then in the next breath completely devote our entire social media presence and  news rooms to a single disaster? However horrible it may be. We can’t, is the simple and honest answer the that. If you’re going to ignore some attacks, the ignore all of them. Otherwise we need to start caring for our world as a species; and stop simply sticking to our own.

Think about it. Please.

Until next time…

Bye.

BINGE by Tyler Oakley

A Message In A BlogLeave a comment

Tyler_Oakley

I’ve read a few autobiographies in my time, most of which blab on and on about how they began from nothing and clawed their way to the top in their respected fields. I’ve never, however, read an autobiography by someone who provides such inspiration and genuine love for their supporters as Tyler Oakley’s ‘BINGE’. In his Youtube videos, Tyler exudes positivity and confidence, but his book tells the story of his life from child to present and positivity and confidence were definitely not always a part of his personality.

I won’t ruin the book by telling you everything that has happened in his personal life and career, but I will give a little insight as to how Tyler manages to take his life, however crazy it may have been so far, and set such a great example for his millions of online followers. A lot of Tyler’s followers are in fact at that age in life during which they will possibly go through a lot of what he went through, and so having someone they look up to so dearly letting them know that everything is going to be OK, is a very warming thing indeed.

Let us be honest, a book with chapters named ‘Thtory of My Life’ (dedicated to his lisp) and ‘What Michelle Obama Smells Like’ (all about his interview with the first lady!!) was never going to be boring. Tyler takes us on a VERY personal journey through his life, from eating disorders of both extremes during which time he was at at all time low, to 2014/2015; two of his most successful and influential years ever.

Tyler manages to somehow inspire his audience with every video he uploads to YouTube, and that’s possibly why he has now got 7,754,141 subscribers! He knows that they love him; adore him and would do anything for him. He says that when he feels he is in a rut he knows that he can turn to Twitter (one of his most prolific social media accounts) and whether it is 3pm or 3am there will always be someone awake somewhere in the world who will be tweeting him some sort of motivational quote, message or gif.

One of the biggest ways that he supports his fans is by telling them and reassuring them all the time that no matter what they think of themselves; or what other people think of them, they must stay true to who they are, and be unapologetically themselves. His struggle with his being accepted by certain people/members of his family because of his sexuality resonates with a hell of a lot of his fan-base, and his influence on social media has helped a lot of those people accept who they are and live with it, again,  ‘unapologetically’. He does go in to his lowest times, in which he did consider suicide.

This is where he found the Trevor Project. The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ young people ages 13-24. He called them and they helped him, like they help countless others who are so lost in life that they can only think of one way out. He now plays a huge role in lending a hand with getting the word out about The Trevor Project. This year Tyler raised $532,224 for the Trevor Project with the help of his army of loyal fans. He is very much changing the world. And in 2014 he met with The President of The United States of America no less, to try to raise the numbers of young Americans signing up for the government’s health-care plan.

The book is outstanding and if you’re a Tyler Oakley fan you’ve probably already bought it and have promptly read it twice over. But the best thing about it is that you don’t even need to have heard of him to love this book. He is a highly intelligent, modest, loveable, hugely influential loon. What isn’t there to love?

Tyler if this ever gets to you, know that I use the word ‘loon’ in the most adorable way it can possibly be used. And on behalf of everyone one of your subscribers/fans and now READERS! because you’re a freaking published author as well now!…

Thank You.

@tyleroakley

Until next time…

 

BYE!

 

 

 

Productive People Watching

A Message In A BlogLeave a comment

People watching is fun, very fun. Mostly, when someone says they ‘people watch’ it basically means that they look at the person and judge what they’re wearing; what they look like; and typically, they will guess their name. But when you really focus on the art of ‘people watching’ you begin to think about some deeper aspects of their character; where are they going? Who are they meeting? Are they an alien life form come to mingle with he humans? (no? just me?).

You begin to try and put together the entire life of this person, and that’s the fun of it all. Because usually, for me anyway, this is the beginnings of a story. I tend to watch people; listen to conversations, things like that and then get home and begin to construct a fictional character from this and put that person in to whatever story I might be writing at that particular time.

‘People Watching’ is very common and lots of people do it without even realising. However, for me at least, as a writer, this can sometimes be the most productive part of my day. I like writing, it’s what I do and if I could do it for a living then i’d be set. So when I go somewhere I believe to be particularly interesting I love to carry a notebook with me so I can jot down all the things I see, and then gather it all up at the end of the day in to something read-worthy.

This all stems from a project I did at University about four or so years ago. My lecturer told me that one of the best ways you will find inspiration for stories is by taking a notebook and writing down what you see and hear around you. This kind of just stuck with me and I’ve been doing it ever since. Trying to work out where the story of someone is going to go simply by jotting down a single conversation-of which you will often only hear half because the person will be on the phone- is so exciting; and it also means that you’re not trying to magically conjour up a story from thin air. See, that’s today’s top tip. Eavesdrop, it’s handy.

I guess it has become a habit of mine. But fortunately it’s not an annoying one, like when I bite my nails too much or when people have a habit of talking FAR too much, even through my favourite songs, at which point I have a ‘habit’ of telling them to “shut the hell up!” This is a nice habit which allows me to be far more productive than I would usually be. It allows me to make notes for blogs, stories, poems while I don’t really even realise it. I can chill out and simultaneously be doing work at the same time.

What I think i’m trying to say here is that people watching can be far more productive than you might first think.

Channel your nosey lifestyle in to something you can be proud of. Try it, trust me, it’s fun.

 

Until next time…

BYE!