I inhabit a world that I dont understand, and care increasingly less for.

So I've been at my job for a month now, and i can firmly say that regardless of whether i enjoy teaching or not, I'm not cut out to be an office Capitalist.

For a start, i just don't have the same mentality as some of these people. For example the biggest Property Agency in the business are potentially going to go bust in the new year, because despite making over £800m in profits, they have taken out over £1.5bn in loans! And this is a company that doesn't even buy its own property, it just facilitates the process for others. wtf do they need £1.5bn for?!

I'm also, i think, too easily satisfied. When i hear that a building used to be worth £600m but is now ONLY worth £400m, my first thought is "well what could i have done with the extra £200m anyway? I've still got enough cash for a money swimming pool."

It's also really easy to feel the creative part of your mind slipping away here. Don't get me wrong, its not a bad job, the works relatively easy, and everyone is nice. But the work is pretty uninspiring. But they all really enjoy it, and seem to think that if i get involved enough, I'll enjoy it too. but so far i don't think thats the case.

I have therefore resorted to creating post-it cartoons. In an effort to get my creative juices flowing a little, combined with my bubbling dissatisfaction with office life, I have started drawing small scenes which pastiche/poke fun at the world of the Office. I'll try get get them uploaded soon.

The end result of this post is; Do something with your life that makes a difference! Society only works because we work together - if your doing a job that makes you a bit richer and one other person a bit richer, your not really doing much with yourself, in the long run.

How to milk a good idea.

It seems today, that all you see is...perfectly good TV shows going on a good 2-3 seasons too long, and becoming terrible.

This is (mostly) the reserve of American shows. Unfortunately, as British public broadcast television begins to dwindle in terms of the money it has available, American shows are increasingly becoming the only good thing worth watching. On the internet, admittedly, but still.

The problem lies in the very concept, unfortunately. American shows get made with 20+ episode series' and high production values, which makes good tv, which people watch, which makes money. Then the creators dont want to give up on a good idea, so they keep it going, often long beyond a shows creative shelf-life. The money driven system which CREATES the good American TV shows is the same one that drives them into the dirt, creatively.

The list of shows that got worse and worse as they went on is impressive. Off the top of my head i can think of Friends, the Simpsons, Scrubs, Lost (season 2-3), 24,The OC, Buffy, Angel, Prison Break, The X-Files.

The most frustrating thing about all this, is that the situation IS avoidable! South Park has stayed fresh over 12 seasons by the creators keeping very tight control over the shows direction and integrity. ER manages to keep going by having no over-arching storyline, and no irreplacable characters, focusing solely on good drama. The Office and Twin Peaks, whilst being vastly different shows, both realised that their appeal could only be stretched so far, whilst brilliant creations, they were both essentially one trick ponies, and thus the wise decision was made to end after two seasons each.


Im not sure what the resolution to this problem is. I wanted to avoid sounding like a raving Commie, but the most obvious solution is the one we are least able to affect; until the creators of TV shows start to care more about artistic integrity and QUALITY instead of money, we will continue to have Simpsons episodes with 2-3 laughs, Scrubs episodes where the colouring is even MORE pastel and JD/Turk gay it up/fall over more, and the survivors of Lost still not having a fucking CLUE what is going on.