never a frown...with gordon brown?

I wonder if he is as intimidating as the press makes out. Obviously Downing Street denied it (how could they do otherwise?) - but reading The Observer today (front page as well! - but I suppose that's because it's one of their journalists publishing a 'breakthrough' book - well done Mr Rawnsley) I remained unconvinced. Probably because in it were claims along the lines of "He looked like he might throw a newspaper on the floor" (!) or "He hit the back seat of the car with his fist" (!). I'm obviously not advocating violent behavour (and what some may categorise as 'bullying'). But I'm sure I'd be throwing newspapers on the floor if I were Gordon Brown - the amount of stress which comes with the job must be astronomical. Especially in his case - the media doesn't really seem to be his friend at the moment. It never was, either. And probably never will be. And the media, we all know, is the information filter by which the masses are fed.
But some really do seem to be nitpicking.
I'd like to read Andrew Rawnsley's book though. However iif the claims are true, I think The Observer should've printed some jucier incidents. Rather than "Gordon Brown clenched a fist once".

misery

This should'nt take too long.
I'm slightly less toothy - got my wisdom teeth out today. It went absolutely fine - although the anticipation was horrible (the nurse had to give me a 'happy pill' to relax me) - combined with a 6 o'clock wakeup and not being allowed to eat or drink for a number of hours - it was fine. My face is less swollen that I thought it would be, there certainly isn't any excruciating pain, I was in and out in a few hours.
This isn't really a story then, is it.
And note, I've even added a few minimal bad things, purely to embellish my nonexistant story, to give it more bulk (early wakeup, needed a happy pill, etc.)
It would be a lot more interesting (for the unconcerned individual) if the doctor took out the wrong tooth. Or did some horrible damage.
It would be a lot more interesting if it wasn't a story about how miraculous medicine is these days - that surgeons can keep you alive in a semi-coma with the flick of a switch, so that you don't feel pain - and you wake up, and they've managed to pull out four of your back teeth, and stitched the gums up.
Or, as was the case last year, shoved three metal rods into your shattered wrist to help it heal. Again, minimal pain for what it was (and there again, I've inadvertently gone back to a horrific image story)
I wonder why this is. Humans obviously revel, in some way, in other's misery. Maybe a Jeremy Kyle-style "phoar - I'm glad I'm not her!" scenario.
Newspapers and websites get a lot of slack for digging out the most 'orrible 'eadlines (The Sun: Boy, 9, Dies After Stabbing. The Guardian: Rain Brings More Mysery to Haiti. BBC: Repentant Woods Sorry For Affairs - to name a few).
But it sells, and unfortunately, newspapers have to sell, especially these days, as so many papers are folding (do you know anybody who buys a paper every day?)
Humans are attracted to misery, it seems. Depressing as it is, this is what we want to see, or read about, or hear about.

blogging for...

I've started a blog now, as well. Going with the flow. Advancing with incessantly advancing technology, ever growing, ever difficult to keep up with. And why? I'm not really sure, actually - to share my views with the world, probably - subjective opinions, that kind of thing. A passion for journalism, yet nothing (I believe) journalistic of the sort - and yet journalists are encouraged to keep blogs. Since when is good journalism, that is, current affairs, reporting and the likes, as blatantly opinionated as a blog (granted, nobody can be entirely objective)? And since when do random people want to know about my opinions (lest it be in the 'comments' or 'editorial' section of newspapers, magazines, or in trivial chitchat 'down the pub')? I'm not really sure. But I suppose that's the way the world's going at the moment. And I suppose I should disengage myself with my journalistic training of trying to be as objective as possible and attempting to report the facts. So let's use this as a place to rant. Or discuss.
Hey, I'm ranting right now. Or discussing. Fancy that.
I've seen other blogs, and they show various aspects of a person's personality. Everybody keeps a blog for different reasons - whether it be a hormonal release into the virtual world of the web, a project for a degree course, a reason to keep fans updated with various goings-on. I'm yet to get a specific direction. Maybe a commentary on the goings-on of the world around me.
Perhaps I'm yet to get the hang of this.
I think I'm going to give twitter a go too. Yeah.