Perhaps (short story)

Being a popular labour MP in Salford, Janet was a natural politician both in her career and in her family life. She could negotiate, compromise and debate her way to hell (most recently referred to as moss side) and back. That was why it was still a mystery that even with all these skills at her disposal, she was still utterly hopeless when it came to men and relationships. Taking a leap of faith along with a swift shove of encouragement from Mandy, her older, married, sister, she agreed to go on a date with Darren, an ex- goalkeeper turned supermarket manager of whom she had met on an online dating service.                                                                                                   Usually being known as one of the most direct, self-assured people in the room, Janet’s unforgiving nerves for the upcoming date surprised even herself. It was a new ball game this whole internet thing she thought, especially with never having met this Darren person before. After all there is no diplomatic way of telling someone that they have bad body odour and that their evening together should be immediately terminated. No, she would have to sit there looking all content no doubt while he withered on about his failed football career and torturous ex-wife, only for him to scarper at the end of the evening when she happened to mention that she already had a son.                                                                                                     With a gulp of liquid encouragement or three, Janet made her way to the Eccles multi-plex where Daren would hopefully be already waiting outside the dinning extravaganza they had both agreed on, Chiquitos. Stomach clenched expecting the worst, she was pleasantly surprised to actually recognise the man waiting outside the restaurant from the photograph on his profile, something she immediately took as a good sign. Janet also took comfort in the fact that there would be photographic evidence available if their evening together should go terribly wrong, you never know she thought, chuckling to herself at her evident optimism.                                                                                                     Although whilst trying to find a parking space in the typically overcrowded car-park, Janet couldn’t help but to soften slightly towards Darren, as when every time she glanced over at his pacing and awkward attempts to lean against a light post, it became more and more obvious that he was just as nervous as she was. Pondering a moment in the car, bracing herself to make a confident yet subtle entrance, she studied his features. A distinctive break on the nose which she immediately took to be war wounds from his days as an armature goalkeeper and a knock above his left eye, perhaps was from his time in the TA in his twenties, working for the council had its advantages recently, well she had to do her research didn’t she. He had kind green eyes, she thought almost feeling guilty for writing him off so soon. With one last comb of her fringe in the rear view mirror, she tried to stifle her rising hopes, after all this wouldn’t be the first time she had been fooled by appearance. “What the hell”, she uncharacteristically said out loud and, with a deep breath, left the fortress of the parking bay.

Career Appraisal

Up to now I think I am accumulating a good verity of work experience. However in the next 6 months I am going to aim to focus in a lot more on gaining placements that are more specific to my chosen field of magazine journalism/ drama writer. I am going to aim to get a least 2:1's in all of my assignments whilst also carrying on this blog and doing at least one post a week, covering any news stories that are relevant to my field with entertaining personal posts and my own short stories. After finishing university in the next 3 years I am going to attend shorthand writing course and, using the connections I have made, see if I can find a job in the journalism sector. During this time I am going to write as many articles as to possible to submit to newspapers and websites and also continue to write scripts and short stories to present to the "writers room" at the BBC and other platforms. Also depending how my studies go in my final year, I am considering doing a post-graduate degree in either Journalism/ Drama writing, depending on which field I decide to pursue full time.
So far I think I am making reasonable progress in my attempts to carve a career path, although I do think I could approve a lot when it comes to staying in touch with the people I have made contact with during work experience, for advice and to acquire connections. I need to make sure I am collecting a wide portfolio of material, outside of my university course that I would be able to present to employers and also I need to make a final decision on my career path, in order for me to focus more heavily on gaining the work experience and implementing a portfolio that is focused for that particular job.

CV

Personal Profile

I am an aspiring magazine/online journalist. I always work hard in the position I am in and constantly strive to complete it to the best of my ability. I am creative and efficient when it comes to writing articles and enjoy going the extra mile to make sure that I make an outstanding member of any workforce. I pride myself as being a punctual and reliable employee and I hope you seriously consider making me a member of your team as believe I am very suited to the role with my large experience, interest and enjoyment of the profession.

Experience

I have a wide variety of work experience and placements under my belt, having branched out within different areas of the media to see where my talents lie. I have enjoyed a period of work experience at Key 103, a Manchester based radio station. Here I had the opportunity to gain training in what it is like to be news journalist, having shadowed a reporter while they were covering a case that had to be completed by a deadline. This experience allowed me to gain insight on what precis detail needs to be obtained when covering a story and how to obtain it. Also during my time at Key 103 I was entrusted with writing news bulleins for both them and their sister station Kerrang FM, which I completed to a very high standard.

I am also an active member of the radio station at my university, Scratch FM. Here I work within the news team to research, write and present news bulletins that are announced throughout the day on the network. I am able to be very efficient when identifiying stories that would be of interest to my fellow students and deliver them with confidence.

Another period of work experience I completed was at the Oldham Evening Chronicle, a local newspaper. I gained countless experience at my time with the paper, who entrusted me with writing a large proportion of their special edition newspaper that was covering that year’s 10th anniversary of the "Pride in Oldham Awards". In order to complete this task successfully I had to locate previous year’s winners contact details, with often being given no details at all on the individual, I managed to gain contact to 90% of the names I was given. I then had to conduct short interviews with the previous winners over the phone and with the information gained I would then write up an article on each winner's progress since they had won the award which was to be published in the special edition paper. I was given great praise for my quality and delivery regarding my articles published in The Oldham Chronicle.

Following this I was awarded the chance to have a two week placement within the BBC's Radio Drama team. My time here really enabled me to improve my writing skills, having been consulted regularly on scripts along with having the chance to study and edit them myself. I had the privilege of being invited into the studio to observe and help out with the producution of the radio dramas, recording scenes and giving my input on how they were acted out. I also completed general tasks for the BBC such as casting calls and recording of final production documents along with many other exiting opportunities that allowed me to gain real knowledge when working in entertainment and writing.

Qualifications

I attended Hulme Grammar School for Girls where I obtained 10 GCSE's including: Maths: grade B, English Language: grade B, English Literature: grade B, History: grade B and ICT: grade B.

I then went on to Oldham Sixth Form where I obtained 3 A-Levels in English Lit/Language, History and Philosophy.

I am currently at Birmingham City University in the second year off my English and Media course.

Personal Details

Age: 19

Interests: Music, Tennis and Literature.

Better the Devil you Know?

Better the Devil You Know?

In recent years there has been a surge of bands, both rock and pop, reuniting to have one last stab at the big time. Some reunite because there has been as genuine demand and some just purely jumping on the bandwagon in order to make a quick buck. I have come to wonder, does it ever really do turn out to be a good decision?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 As if it wasn’t painful enough the first time around, the crème de la crème of 90’s pop groups seem to have taken it upon themselves recently to give us another taste of their manufactured talents including; Steps, Blue, East 17 and most recently, S Club 7, the list goes on. However, the more you look at it, the more the “Due to high demand (enter predictable pop group) are reuniting to give their fans one last hooray!”  story that record company’s put out seems to be completely unfounded, in more ways than one.

1)      As most university students would realise, these sudden “reunions” are not quite what they seem. Many of these bands have been, with maybe a member or two short, doing the circuit of student unions for a good while now…it’s just that nobody has cared to notice. Until that is when the record labels want to officially announce it worldwide for publicity, and just like that, it becomes news worthy again.

2)      There isn’t a demand. With a few exceptions, most of the bands reforming recently fan bases have, hate to say it, grown up. It was fun at the time however with the target audience of groups like Steps and S Club 7 at their prime being barely teenagers, it is highly unlikely that the fans of the first time round, who will now be hitting university leaving age, feel the need to go back that far in their childhood, with the exception of a drunken night out maybe.

Take That of course are the shining exception that all of these “wanna be” reformations aspire to, having enjoyed unprecedented success since their return to the limelight, even exceeding that of the first time they were on our screens. However one of the minor details that many reuniting groups seem to forget when deciding to follow Gary and co.’s lead and enjoy chart success once more is that, unfortunately, they never really compared to Take That in the first place.                                                                                                                                                                           Rock bands seem to enjoy substantially more success when hitting the road once more, having a generally more dedicated fan base and therefore a lot higher demand. The Stone Roses recently reformed to thousands of fans delight, instantly selling out shows and going on to have headlining spots in festivals around the world. After Oasis recently called it a day it was merely a matter of days until rumours of them reuniting began circulating, even the band members were adding flames to the fire in interviews themselves when questioned on  a possible reconciliation in the future. It’s nearly undeniable that when this day comes it will wreak success for the unpredictable band. Many of course choose to stay separated in order to maintain and not risk their legacy, Johnny Marr of course recently remarking that he would only reform “the day the government decides to step down”.                                                                                                                                      Whichever the group in question, there is always a substantial risk when resurrecting something that had once been buried. Deciding to give it one more can, for the band individually along with their fans, put the past in jeopardy, not just the future.

Hidden Treasures

Artists these days get a lot of stick for not being up to scratch, especially when in comparison with   music that been produced in generations gone by, and, if you look in the charts, that is a point that could be easily justified. However, contrary to popular opinion, an unlimited supply original innovative music is indeed out there, the UK TOP40 just isn't the place to find it. Here in "Hidden Treasures" I hope to introduce you to some fresh new artists that are under the radar but not short on talent..



Sleigh bells here with "Tell 'em". The American Synth-Punk duo here giving us a taste of their ability to make a what sounds like lazers, a scorched bass mixed with angelic vocals fit together harmoniously in a disco trance rave that epitomises, and discards the pressures of youth conformity and oppression. Whilst all the while makes you want to get up on your chair and jump.

Imogen Heap has been in the industry for over ten years now and with the exception of  singles "Hide and Seek" and "Goodnight and Go" that did reasonably well after featuring on TV programmes, she has not had much commercial success to speak of. Despite this in my opinion Heap is one of the UK's most underrated artists. Only recently did she speak out over the struggle faced by fringe acts to stay commercially viable in this cut- throat industry, especially when it comes to funding tours and live events. "Speeding Cars" is just another stunning example of Heap's production of a genre of music that you cannot quite classify. It's electronica that doesn't sound like electronica, personal but not intrusive, the type of music that you could sit looking out of your window and listen to all day.

If it's a good old fashioned guitar band you're after, Glasvegas are another majorly underrated British export to check out. It's difficult to believe that a band of this calibre has recently been dropped from their label, but it's not entirely surprising given the cut throat nature of the music business today. Nonetheless.. Glasvegas are a force to be reckoned with and this track being no exception, with James Allan seemingly getting more Scottish as the song goes on, it does nothing to take away from the modern heartbreak and heart soaring rifts encapsulated here, it has to be something rather special.

The Best Of The Worst Lyrics Of This Year So Far

Let’s face it, in the charts these days you’re hard pressed when it comes to finding something both mainstream, and meaningful. Browsing across this week’s top 20, an alien creature would be able to deduct 3 earthshattering facts about the human race…

1) We enjoy clubbing

2) We enjoy having relations with one another

3) We enjoy clubbing

One dimensional doesn’t quite cover it (cue predictable dig at the prime example that is One Direction), in short the most successful labels and artist lyrical content doesn't seem to be anywhere near as deep as their ever expanding pockets. Therefore I thought I would create a compilation of the best of the worst lyrics produced this year in music so far, lyrics that are so bad they deserve recognition. Starting with number 5…..

Frequent offender Flo- Rida here at number 5 making his first and no doubt not last appearance on my collection of soul-less lyrics.. the particular lyrics in question here are the deafeningly deep chorus, “hey, I heard you were a wild one, ooooooh” and Flo-Rida’s own pro-found take on being intoxicated, “Got a hangover like too much vodka, can’t see me with ten binoculars”. There’s really no excuse when you can’t make a genuine rhyme out of it.

Correct me if I'm wrong to say, for example U2's, "You broke the bonds and you, Loosed the chains, Carried the cross, Of my shame" to the unrelenting repetition of "you a stupid hoe, you a you a stupid hoe, stupid stupid, you a stupid hoe" in comparison doesn't quite match up to a heartbreaking degree. Nicki Minaj's classic at 4.

 

One direction comes in at a respectable third with their summer anthem that made thousands hearts of teenage girls a’ flutter this year with, “What makes you beautiful”. It’s a shame that with this vast opportunity to influence these ever-absorbing teenage minds, the only profound words record producers could muster up included, “the way that you flip your hair makes me overwhelmed” and “so c-come on, you got it wrong, to prove I’m right I put it in a so-o-ong”. Waste.

 

In at 2 is the most philosophical “Sexy and I know it” in which the ever so intelligently named “LMFAO” unashamedly executes an infectious song of self-appraisal. The lyrics in the firing line here include the legally questionable, “I got a passion in my pants, and I ain’t afraid to show it” and a beautiful insight on his holiday routine, “And when I’m at the beach, I’m in a speedo tryna tan my cheek, What?” Remind me to avoid this holiday destination at all costs.

 

And finally I’ve had to make a timeframe exception for this lyrical master piece as no compilation of bad lyrics can be complete without the hilarity that is Desree’s classic, “Oh life”. Purely for the comedy factor, it’s got to be the best of the worst. "I don't want to see a ghost, It's the sight that I fear most, I'd rather have a piece of toast, Watch the evening news” The rich intensity of the lyrics are somewhat… underwhelming. This song encapsulates the classic notion “something so bad it’s good” which completes my top 5.