Back when times were pure and innocent, only a few select events took up room on our calendar; such as birthdays and the elusive annual leave. Now, more and more meaningless events are cluttering our calendars as television bullies its way into our lives, sits down on top of us and angrily demands that we perform oral sex on it.
August used to be the time when advertisers would pester us with commercials about Christmas hampers and store cards. Now, when we see this particular month approaching, we know that the booming narration of X-Factor is set to begin and for a few weeks, we get to see slew of modern-day freaks being paraded in front of four berks for our amusement.
Every Saturday, everyone rushes all their errands so they can watch TV with strong continental lager and a fatty takeaway. Only then can you make snide comments about how someone singing their heart out is inferior to you. Hell, maybe you even tweet about it. Incessantly.
This has quickly become a British pastime, but even the camp antics of Johnny Robinson can melt the icy heart of Sinead O?Connor.
Once upon a time, you'd have seen Sinead O?Connor showing her disgust at Pope John Paul II by ripping up an image of him on Saturday Night Live. But that was back in 1992 when times different and the Catholic church weren’t as hip and groovy as they are now. Back then, there was no such thing as Photoshop, so O?Connor was forced to rip up a picture of the then Pope live on stage. Now, she could have manipulated an image of John Paul II with a thought bubble coming from his head that read ?mmm child abuse.?
Can you imagine the world without Twitter? Neither can we and this would have been another perfect tool for Sinead O?Connor to use in her protest against the Catholic Church. Hashtags can almost solve any problem. So if tags such as #thecatholicchurchistotesrubbish and #fuckthechurchnotakid were used, maybe a wave of momentum could help get her message across. Pff. The days when we tore pictures. The dark ages.
Without even having to go in to why Sinead O?Connor has issues with the Catholic Church, what's up with the X-Factor? She said:
?I find it hard to watch it because I can’t stand the way some of the judges treat the performers. That guy Gary Barlow, he has this horrible way of looking at people. If he was my son I’d be having a serious word with him about the way he’s talking to people or treating people. I find it excruciating to look at.?
We?ll agree with her there, although us saying that Barlow isn’t very nice to people is like Pol Pot giving the Manson Family a hard time for their commitment to murder. Although, in saying that Gary Barlow does have the look of a respectable Victorian gentlemen who might walk you home through a dark forest; but in actual fact would end up forcing you to eat ghost chillis until your bum exploded. But anyway, O?Connor didn't stop there:
?I don’t think the people running the show are the kind of people who think about the effect of their behaviour upon people. But when you look at the panel they’re crying all the time – it’s like therapy.
Watching someone cry all the time? Haven?t we been there before?