The original superstar?

Revelling in the after glow of a magnificent ManU victory last night, I was flicking through the channels looking for something to wind down to. Came a across a program looking at celebrity religion (kabbalah, scientology, P Diddy with $7MM diamond encrusted crucifixes etc) and yes, I know most of this is history now, but it did make me think about what is really going on here. Okay, I am not a religious person but I do try and respect other people’s views. So what is it about a celebrity that makes them think they can hijack someone’s religion in the name of cool? More to the point, what gives them the right to stamp their personal brand all over it? Okay, Kabbalah might be represented by only a piece of red string (that retails at about $26 a length by the way) but why does Madonna feel it necessary to build a Kabbalah hotel? And as for Kanye West (or is it Jesus Christ, I can never remember; they’re so similar aren’t they?) the less said the better. There are more examples but I won’t go on, suffice to say that these people are truly missing the point. I mean, if we look at JC for example, he was surely one of the biggest celeb’s of his day, and in a very competitive market too. Imagine if T shirt’s had been around then? He’d have cleaned up. Don’t the modern day celeb’s realise that daubing themselves with 2000 year old icons isn’t cool, it’s both naff and disrespectful to those who truly understand what their religion is about.

Egg on your face Mr Tesco

I see Tesco’s have been named and shamed (winners of the ‘Bad Egg Award’ apparently) for not removing battery hen eggs from their shelves. In accepting the award they reminded the Compassion In World Farming group that ‘Tesco’s always listen to customers and many of them tell us they are on a tight budget and rely on us to provide affordable good quality food.’ Excuse me but what the hell has that statement got to do with cramming chickens into ridiculously small cages and squeezing eggs out of them? Do Tesco’s honestly believe that anything is acceptable in the name of consumer choice? Anyway, thought I’d nip down to the local store and check out the price difference (needed some milk anyway) and bugger me, it’s big. You get about 150% more bang for your buck. Still, not sure that even poor people agree that you can’t make an omelet without imprisoning chickens ‘til they die. Personally, I reckon that Tesco’s should take another look at this and do their bit to shut the battery farm industry down, not just because its bad but because if nothing else their failure to do so highlights an arrogant disregard for public opinion as well as (and perhaps more ridiculously) a strategic blunder. Has nobody told the CEO that UK battery farms are going to be shut down by 2012??

Snakes on a plane

Imagine you’re cabin crew and a bloke refuses to take his seat for take off. You have no choice but to throw him off the plane in the name of passenger safety right? Now, imagine you’re orthadox Jew and it just so happens that your god demands that you stand near the toilet and pray to him at exactly the same time as the plane you’re on has to taxi. Your god’s a higher authority than the airline yeah? His word holds more weight than the young kid demonstrating how to put a life jacket on and pointing to the emergency exits doesn’t it? Stand off. But this isn’t about the god vs United Airlines, this is about two people who are both suffering from severe OCD. Each is compelled to obey the rules that they’ve been indoctrinate with. The Jewish bloke should have had enough common sense to realise his god would probably understand that, as part of society, he may have to cut his prayers short every now and then, for example whilst he sat down and buckled up. Similarly, it isn’t beyond reason for the cabin crew to appreciate that the bloke will be done praying long before they reach the start of the runway and that he isn’t going to die because he’s stood up while the plane trundles around at 25 mile an hour. Personally, I think the pair of ‘em should have been thrown off the plane; preferably at 30,000 feet (with the life jacket on ofcourse).

Recycling Jimmy