Paradise Lost - Nottingham Review

I have been writing gig reviews on last.fm for ages now, so despite the fact I have this blog now I shall continue to write them there to keep them all together. However, I will post links to any new ones I write here so you can read them there on last.fm. Here is my review of yesterday's gig by Paradise Lost in Nottingham:

http://www.last.fm/user/samlewis45/journal/2012/04/27/5fwjm7_paradise_lost_-_nottingham_review

I will not post links to all my old ones as there are loads, but those who are interested can read back through them if you are interested :)

Rant: Supermarkets

Now I am aware that supermarkets are often quite an indifferent, and necessary, experience; but I just cannot help but be annoyed at many things to do with them. Before moving to Leicester to go to university, I did not really go to supermarkets very often. They are now very much a part of my routine and it is very rare that the local Morrisons does not get a visit from me. While it is a perfectly good shop, with everything I want easily avaliable; I cannot help but notice plently of things that annoy me as I trundle around with my trolley on a monday morning.

The first thing that annoys me is old people who seem to see it as some great social outing, rather than a necessary part of one's day. Despite the fact most of them have come together on the free bus anyway, they still insist on blocking up the aisles to have a chat with "Doris who I haven't seen since last thursday". This makes it totally impossible to get down the asiles often, especially if their conference call takes place right by one of the big support pillars (which is usually does). This coupled with minimum-wage John stacking the shelves with his enormous cage on wheels make the supermarkets a treacherous place to navigate.

In a similar vein, the second thing that annoys me is people who abandon their trolleys at the end of the asile, across the Butcher's counter or infront of the toilet door. Granted, this is usually so they can get past Doris and Marjory's weekly meeting about Eastenders and the Daily Mail to get to a pint of milk; but leaving the trolley totally in the way of everyone else is just a pain. If I see a trolley left unattended I put the most expensive thing I can see in it; so if you have ever found some fancy olive oil that you never wanted in your shopping when you get home you now know why!

Thirdly, what annoys me also about supermarkets are robotic checkout staff with no common sense. Yes I am aware that many people I know have or still work in Waitrose in Saltash and this does not apply to any of you, as it is usually the 50-something year old woman who sees the Leicester Morrisons as a career option or the 16 year old from Scumbag college. I am aware that checkout staff are indoctrinated to say certain lines to me such as: 'Do you want any bags?' or else face the wrath or supervisor Adolf with absolutely no sense of humour; but if I have two huge bags for life already opened ready do I really need more? The other thing that gets me is 'Do you want some help packing?' Do you think I really need someone to move my shopping from the end of the till less than a metre to my bag in the trolley? I do not think so.. I seem to get more sensible conversations from the self-checkout machines, and if they were designed for weekly shops I would gladly use them more often. 

I am sure that other people will have different things that annoy them about supermarkets so intelligent discussion is always welcome. :)
 

Who is Sam Lewis?

I guess, in truth, I'm actually way behind the blogging curve. With the rise of the social networks, blogging seems to have been pushed to one side because greater connectivity can be found on Facebook and Twitter; with Myspace and Bebo before them. However, I have come to think that blogs represent a much more 'personal' form of internet interaction. Facebook has become very cliquey and is not always the best place to air opinions, especially if they can be seen as 'controversial':

*posts an opinion which is slightly outside the norm* - *gets abusive status comments and sees friend count go down* - *deletes status to preserve one's sanity*

This seems to be the same for everyone and I have deduced that Facebook really is not the place for most of my musings. This is why I have decided to create this blog, as Facebook trolls are unlikely to be bothered with it and only people who actually have some interest in what I have to say will read it (or possibly no-one but we'll see..). I'm sorry that this has been a rather long introduction but I felt the need to explain the purpose for this blog. I chose the name 'Who is Sam Lewis?' in direct reference to the famous line 'Who is John Galt?' from Ayn Rand's 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged which has had a profound difference on my world outlook. Despite the overt literary reference, it is not supposed to be witty, pithy or 'creative' in any shape or form. It seems that these days everyone is trying to create an image for themselves; but I try to remain as indifferent as ever, above all trends - which although is probably a trend in itself (thank you marketing people..) I really do not feel the need to qualify reasons for anything and use the Atlas Shrugged reference purely to amuse myself.

Ok, so what will be covered here? The answer is as of yet unclear to me. I expect this will be where I air my opinions on whatever my mind will ponder over in the future. General rants are the going to be the most likely blogging 'subjects' because I enjoy pontificating about various things. As a general rule, I am very one-sided and will not sit and objectively weigh up the pros and cons of each little subject. This isn't an academic piece of writing so I do not feel the need to please everyone here. Politics will also be covered at times, as this is what I am studying plus I have an interest in it. I shall most likely argue from a neo-liberal point of view, which I make no apologies for. I know this is seen as 'radical' by many young people who seem to be embroiled in the virtues of the left, but I sit firmly on centre-right ground and I do not pretend otherwise. Music will probably also be covered here, as I will link to my concert reviews on last.fm and may just post other musical musings here too (for example: I am listening to Aqualung by Jethro Tull as I write this is anyone is interested..).

I am not going to claim that this is going to a coherant blog, particularly intelligent, or even frequent. I shall write what I want, when I want. It will be a very indifferent blog. I think indifference is an underrated quality these days, as everyone decides that they need an opinion on everything! Linking Facebook to The Guardian newspaper hasn't helped this.. But anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you pop back when I get round to writing some more stuff :)