News To Me

Published August 2009

The beauty about conducting ones daily reading via online news portals is that the temptation to deviate towards attention-grabbing headlines is huge. The best thing about pages like Yahoo! for example, is that it not only covers international, local and financial news, but also entertainment round-ups and features that keep me clicking for hours.

Take today. I’m in my office. I’m staring at the computer. I’m thinking about what to write for my next column. Nothing comes to mind. I’m stuck. So I figure I’ll do my usual scouring of new updates online hoping to find some sort of inspiration somewhere. And true enough, I find articles that catch my eye.

MATTHEW ROBSON

In today’s reading I find myself grinning at an article written by one Ben Patterson, in which a 15 year old intern for global financial service firm Morgan Stanley has written a scathing report on the likes and dislikes of his current generation. The great thing about this is that the captains of the media industry are actually listening. Young Matthew Robson’s findings have got many around the world agreeing that this kid is on to something. And it’s not earth-shattering brand spanking new information, mind. It’s very simply someone taking the time out to say his piece and finally have the big guns listen. "One of the clearest and most thought-provoking insights we have seen,” stated one Morgan Stanley executive.

Some of Robson’s findings about his counterparts are:

*Teens don’t Twitter. When utilizing this application by mobile phone, they would much rather text and ping friends directly them rather than resort to Twitter with no guarantee of their messages being read.

*Access to free, easily downloadable music is a serious priority for them.

*Hardly any pay attention to banner advertisements on websites, with many finding them highly annoying.

*Most prefer to read their news online.

The ensuing online commentary from teens and adults alike on this feature was an interesting one, with many young adults claiming the contrary to the above points, and some middle-aged individuals confessing to being Twitter hounds and the like.

SIX TUNES TO TORTURE WITH

Freelance writer Danny Gallagher presents a list of six (once) popular songs based on an article by an NYU musicologist in the Journal of the Society for American Music. I was surprised to find out American military and law enforcement bodies include playing one or more songs repetitively during interrogation as an effective way to get detainees and suspects to divulge information without having to resort to physical force or violence.

In this highly entertaining write-up one would be initially hard pressed to understand how seemingly harmless songs which you probably know all the words to (and are guilty of having belted out at least one of them during a karaoke stint) can be responsible for inflicting pain. But I suppose after extreme repetition, it wouldn’t be hard to see why the following tracks could wreck some serious damage:

1. “Born In The USA” – Bruce Springsteen
2. “Dirrty” – Christina Aguilera
3. “These Boots Were Made For Walking” – Nancy Sinatra
4. “Shoot To Thrill” and “Hells Bells” – AC/DC
5. “Anything” – Barry Manilow
6. “I Love You” – Barney The Dinosaur

Make of this list what you will. I for one could see myself cracking under the strain.

ONWARDS

I then decided to allow my reading to stay within the confines of the lighter variety and continued exploring. While still on the same stream I gravitated towards MSN UK’s Entertainment channel and chuckled as I went through a list of the best TV catchphrases.

Catherine Tate’s “Am I bovvered?”, Little Britain’s “Yeah, but no, but” and Sacha Baron Cohen’s Jamaican patois salutation “Booyakasha” from Da Ali G show were listed as some of the UK’s most well loved catchphrases. Not exactly scientific findings or nuclear research papers, but quirky and fun nonetheless.

Today’s column may seem a little rudderless but I assure you that this is not the case. It’s hard to pin down and define what each and every person out there enjoys reading. When it comes to me, I know what I always choose to avoid: Most things related to politics (I simply feel I don’t have a good enough grasp of it to fully understand the ins and outs) and anything even remotely attached to Japanese anime.

The next time you are online, read and explore as much as you can. If anything, whatever you find should make for interesting dinner conversation at the very least.