25 September 2010

Weekend Reading List

Isn't it lovely to be in bed surrounded by books and papers on a Saturday night knowing that all the people one doesn't like are frantically out there doing whatever hectic things they do that make thier lives meaningful? I'm talking about those Formula One things of course, for this is the weekend they've all been living for, apparently. Those chattering, glittering people! One wonders if they ever stay in of a night. One shudders.
I'm plowing through the thick stack of Financial Times Weekend's Life & Arts section that PH has sweetly collected for me over the months. It's such a good paper (and such an agreeable colour!), and filled with all sorts of interesting columns written by such a raft of excellent writers. I even read the gardening and cooking columns, for the pure joy of the word. It's a jarring contrast against our newspapers, and I mean the quite sad weekly Urban, which this week carried a cover story (F1 Style Guide: What to Wear to the Tracks and Post-Race Parties) with tips telling you "how to get ready for some of the most be-seen events of the year". Can you imagine anything more vulgar? Most be-seen, excuse me! They also tell you "Where the Action Is", six parties where you can listen to celebrity DJs spin, and drink Mumm. I don't understand the appeal of this, do you? International DJs? Fashion shows? Mumm? Really?
Tacky, desperate and vulgar is what it really is.

3 comments:

  1. "how to get ready for some of the most be-seen events of the year". Can you imagine anything more vulgar?

    now have i got a quote for you or what. here's how the late political philosopher ms hannah arendt defined a cultivated person:

    'one who knows how to choose his company among men, among things, among thoughts, in the present as well as in the past.'

    quite appropriate as a critique of the F1 party crowd, yes? :)

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  2. Dear Anon: I love this definition - it is exactly how i feel.

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