"A Man's a Man for all that!" - Rabbie Burns

"Religion? No thanks. I prefer not to outsource my brainwashing."
Trying to get your average Joe creationist to understand the phrase scientific theory is as hard as getting a fish to enjoy mountaineering. Its an unimagined world for them - it requires a complete reversal of their normal modes of thinking and being. The fact that humans could explain the complexities of this world without a creating God is a world view they cannot grasp. It's like asking a tuna if it appreciates the view from the top of Mount Everest.

Dec 16, 2009

Rage against the X Factor Machine

Here's a funny video of the X Factor stars doing Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name of". The X Factor is an incredibly popular talent show for singers here in the UK and last year it produced the unexpected singing sensation Susan Boyle. Many people though are unhappy at the success of the X Factor and it's "plastic pop" version of musical talent.

The X Factor presents itself as discovering undiscovered talent but many have argued that it is simply an overblown Karaoke program - because almost all the singers simply do cover versions of songs made famous by other musicians. the program has little if any room for real musical talent - the sort of talent that creates new musical genres and creates new music.

Simon Cowell, the owner of the X Factor Franchise and senior judge, has come to be seen as weilding an unhealthy influence over popular music in this country and he and his program, it is argued, are stifling the chance for real creative talent to come through.

Such is the dissatisfaction with this state of affairs that a viral movement has started on the Internet to try to ensure that the latest X-Factor winner does not get to number one in the Christmas charts with another piece of plastic unchallenging pop. It's not so much that people don't like festive number ones but more that they see this as an opportunity to stick one in the eye of the program and its overbearing owner Simon Cowell. It's a very British campaign - bring the big man down a peg or two...

This protest has taken the form of a campaign to get Rage Against The Machine to number one for Christmas- and judging by the way sales are going this campaign may well succeed. I must say I have some sympathy for this campaign.

One bright spark , who goes by the name of Mr Rageism, has used his talents to create a YouTube video of Rage Against the Machine using X Factor Footage so that the X Factor "stars " appear to be singing the song. Whether you agree or disagree with the campaign you should find this video amusing.
A warning to my more sensitive readers - the Rage Against the Machine Song does have some swearing - it was bleeped out when I posted this but I can't guarantee the bleeps will still be there when you watch it. I would still recommend it though because it is quite funny. or maybe that's just my sense of humour.
BTW - Rage Against the Machine royalties are being donated to children's charities so this bit of fun is in a good cause - keep the money out of Simon Cowells already well lined pockets and give it to charity this Xmas!


10 comments:

Marf said...

When I hover over your plugin widget thingy, the video disappears! It's like magic!

Bunc said...

Weird - I am using Firefox portable just now so dont see them. My guess is that its because the widget pops up over the area used by the video which supresses the embedded video display. Did you watch the video though?

nick said...

Clever video. I never watch those dreadful synthetic talent shows, or any of the "reality" shows come to that. But anything that tries to subvert them is okay by me. I'm looking forward to "I'm an X Factor Big Brother, Get Me Out of Here".

Marf said...

It happens even if it doesn't pop up over the video. But yes, I watched it.

Bunc said...

Hi Nick - nice to see you here - dont spread that program idea round they may do it!

@Marf - what browser are you using? I'll need to try to work out whats causing that. I.ve been thinking of replacing that social bookmarking widget with something more streamlined anyway. Maybe this is the push I needed.

Marf said...

Firefox version 3.5.5, however it also does it in IE for me as well.

Works as expected in Google Chrome, though.

Bunc said...

I have just removed a comment from "Scottish Unionist" which was as follows;
" What a F****g rubbish blog".

Let me be clear on some things;

1) If you are incapable of making a one sentence blog critique without the use of the word F*****g then perhaps you should go visit blogs that are more at your level of English Language comprehension.

2) I don't remove critical comments - yours is the first and it's been removed because of your language.

3) I am a Unionist myself and would suggest that if this is the way that you approach political debate then the Unionist cause is lost.

4) In short please go and crawl back under whatever stone that you crawled out from and don't bother visiting here again because you are not welcome. ( By the way I have seen your commenting style at The Scotsman before)

I trust I have made myself clear?
( You may need to read the above a few times to understand it given that I used no swear words)

Marf said...

I'm a bit more lenient with language in my comments on my blog. As long as it at least makes sense. If it's just a string or profanity without any meaning, I'd probably delete it.

I really should write up some commenting guidelines.

Bunc said...

Marf- To be honest the odd swear word if someone uses it with "flair" probably wouldn't bother me personally on my blog.

I'm conscious though that there are followers of my blog who would probably prefer not to have to have to read it.

I enjoy the varied company on this blog and for that reason I control it probably more than I would otherwise an dI dont plan to change it.

A comments policy is what I am about to post.

rakeback said...

I like the idea a lot. Im so sick of the bubblegum pop music with these talentless kids selling music purely based on their image...Miley Cyrus is the name that comes to mind immediately. I hope they make it to #1.

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