blog.djstead.net

This evening was supposed to be my night off. Yet in the past hour I have - without resistance - had to process all of the following (in no particular order): the tail end of a Morecambe and Wise compilation show Hank Green’s latest vlog brothers update a Sexual Assault PSA on Tumblr a rather bombastic BBC News outro to Scottish Dependence Day some Friends GIFs (of which there have been a number lately…) some interesting Tweets reacting to a variety of events in the world a familiar but still-frightening post about the double standards of law and order in racist America some Facebook pictures of cats Without even realising it, I have worn my brain out. And yes, it is completely my choice - I could have just stuck a single film on; ignored my phone and called it a night. I recognise my failing there. But it served as a reminder that the early 21st Century is being defined by a global ‘livestream’ that a significant population of the world subscribes to - certa...

I started writing a really long and almost essay-like post about the Scottish Independence debate. But - realistically - no-one is going to read or care about it (in any defining sense anyway). All I’ll say is it has been fun to see how divisive the issues have been if my Facebook feed is anything to go by (and that really is a sad indicator of how this debate has been over-exposed). Largely the ‘No’ side seems driven by logical, business and sometimes class-based arguments - all about businesses moving out of Scotland, the economy suffering more; whereas the 'Yes’ side seems much more driven by their heart and desire for a truly independent Scotland, which effectively resurrects at least a metaphorical Hadrian’s Wall in terms of where the buck stops. Power to the people is my instinct - remember that this is a unique opportunity to get closer to running your own country. That’s something I doubt I’ll see in my lifetime - sure I get a single vote every 5 years, bu...

I think unless you’ve been living in a war zone { nope, not even that… }, I’m sure you’ve heard of the Ice Bucket Challenge by now. It is essentially a way to - in the nicest possible way - guilt-trip your friends into donating to the ALS/MND charities: No doubt a worthy cause; whilst also giving you the enjoyment(?) of seeing your friends getting drenched in ice-cold water. And so it was almost inevitable [in fact I think mathematically it has taken far more time than it should have for me (and everyone else in the world) to be nominated] that some of my dear, dear friends would nominate me to take part. Now for those of you who are regular viewers of The Dan Show™ {you both know who you are…}, you will know that my camera skills are barely in focus at best; and not having any form of glamorous assistant/trained koala somewhat adds an unnecessary element of ‘challenge’ to the already aforementioned challenge. So I have taken a pragmatic view - not just on...