I'm Nottingham born and bred despite what little my accent may betray. Yet despite this I've never really been on a 'night out' in Nottingham.
On a weekend back to the homeland with the missus and bridesmaids to try our wedding meal, a friend of Cambridge Girl In Preston said he'd show us round a bit.
But we cared not for that. The first thing we wanted to do was go to Hooters.
And yes, by 'we,' I refer to myself, my wife-to-be, two other women and a guy three of us had only just met.
It's always a rowdy night at Hooters, right?
Wrong.
I'm not sure I've ever found a building or its contents as depressing as I did Hooters.
Apart from the fact that one drink cost me £3.55, the place was just awful on every level.
The girls looked like they had somehow been airbrushed in person. And some of them clearly considered this 'their living,' as at least one of them had giant fake breasts stapled onto their beampole frames.
Despite this, they were all utterly miserable. I don't think I've ever been less enthusiastic about seeing a scantily clad woman.
The whole place reeked of sleaze (although that shouldn't have been unexpected). But the problem with it was, it felt quite unlike a strip club.
Strip clubs are a niche market. They know what they're about and what you go there to do, so they carry themselves with a certain level of class.
Hooters is a poor man's strip club. People go there because they haven't got the guts to go to a real strip club, and they ogel women who have no class, but still have enough class not to actually get naked.
It's purgatory, basically.
And I for one don't care to repeat the experience.
Showing posts with label cambridge girl in preston. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cambridge girl in preston. Show all posts
24 January 2010
13 October 2009
Faking it in journalism
Not twenty minutes ago, my Print Journalism Practice lecture was completed. The lecture constituted a list of invaluable tips for interviewing as a journalist, such as checking the facts and doing your homework ahead of time.
On the way home, I discussed with everyone's favourite Cambridge native some of the things that weren't mentioned in the lecture that might be useful.
As a music journalist myself, I had one big tip - contextualise what you're doing.
My somewhat cynical tip I've given to other music journos before is that our job is 50% knowing what you're talking about and 50% pretending that you do. But I think maybe that's more accurate than I'd otherwise like to admit.
Yesterday on our way to another lecture, an amusing argument broke out amongst my friends and I over whether Trivium sound like Megadeth.
I am no fan of either band. I listen to plenty of Metallica - though not enough to call myself a fan, my favourite song is 'Mama Said' after all - but never Megadeth. And Trivium I just hated from the few notes of their music I had heard.
However, through my hours of background reading online and in press releases, I know enough about both bands to distinguish between the two without even knowing their music.
Megadeth are icons of thrash, probably second only behind Metallica themselves. They've been around since the 1980s and they still sell respectable amounts of records.
Trivium have existed for about a week and a half, aren't particularly acclaimed and are infamous among most 'real' metal fans for sounding like a rubbish version of Metallica.
I'm not about to kick at Trivium here, nor am I going to defend them, because whether or not the above statement is true is irrelevant. The point is, public opinion is against them.
If I was to write a biography of them in ten years time, the early chapters would involve discussion of how much 'real' metal fans hated them alot of the time.
Megadeth are hugely respected, Trivium are not; Megadeth are original, Trivium are not. They may have some similarities in sound at a basic level - and to the untrained ear - but they are by no means the same group.
Now this may all seem a bit roundabout, but it illustrates my point pretty well. I could contribute to this argument - and indeed write a blog post - despite having virtually no knowledge of either group.
Knowing historical context is vital in music, and not knowing it can make you easily look like an idiot. This is something even mainstream news sources and papers get wrong - such as when E! news managed to refer to Nirvana's Nevermind as their debut album.
So there you have it. My big tip for music - or at least, creative media - journalists; know what you're talking about even if you don't know what you're talking about.
On the way home, I discussed with everyone's favourite Cambridge native some of the things that weren't mentioned in the lecture that might be useful.
As a music journalist myself, I had one big tip - contextualise what you're doing.
My somewhat cynical tip I've given to other music journos before is that our job is 50% knowing what you're talking about and 50% pretending that you do. But I think maybe that's more accurate than I'd otherwise like to admit.
Yesterday on our way to another lecture, an amusing argument broke out amongst my friends and I over whether Trivium sound like Megadeth.
I am no fan of either band. I listen to plenty of Metallica - though not enough to call myself a fan, my favourite song is 'Mama Said' after all - but never Megadeth. And Trivium I just hated from the few notes of their music I had heard.
However, through my hours of background reading online and in press releases, I know enough about both bands to distinguish between the two without even knowing their music.
Megadeth are icons of thrash, probably second only behind Metallica themselves. They've been around since the 1980s and they still sell respectable amounts of records.
Trivium have existed for about a week and a half, aren't particularly acclaimed and are infamous among most 'real' metal fans for sounding like a rubbish version of Metallica.
I'm not about to kick at Trivium here, nor am I going to defend them, because whether or not the above statement is true is irrelevant. The point is, public opinion is against them.
If I was to write a biography of them in ten years time, the early chapters would involve discussion of how much 'real' metal fans hated them alot of the time.
Megadeth are hugely respected, Trivium are not; Megadeth are original, Trivium are not. They may have some similarities in sound at a basic level - and to the untrained ear - but they are by no means the same group.
Now this may all seem a bit roundabout, but it illustrates my point pretty well. I could contribute to this argument - and indeed write a blog post - despite having virtually no knowledge of either group.
Knowing historical context is vital in music, and not knowing it can make you easily look like an idiot. This is something even mainstream news sources and papers get wrong - such as when E! news managed to refer to Nirvana's Nevermind as their debut album.
So there you have it. My big tip for music - or at least, creative media - journalists; know what you're talking about even if you don't know what you're talking about.
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