Fiasco Skateboarding.com – Live from the South Coast

And it’s about time.

Occupy the London Stock Exchange

Tony Baloni is, the Vigilon

Haslemere’s got a new skatepark. Charlie, Coatman & Felix have hopped the fence and given it a warmup. Click the picture.

I don’t know what I’m doing with this blog. I’ve just had the best summer of my life full of festivals parties and I went travelling round Europe for 3 weeks. Pictures here.

I’m about to move to London to start work for a wine company doing their YouTube channel, which I’m excited about.

I want to film skateboarding again.

Paget has a new video part:

I might start posting here again, maybe…

The following words are all jumbled up. Can you find the true meaning?

is freedom what rather,
than not Know you can be free

I’ve started watching the new series of The Apprentice. I’ve never watched it before and to be fair I’ve gotten into it, however it has made me realise how much I disagree with the business world.

In the first episode one of the women introduces herself by saying something along the lines of “I couldn’t care less about my social life, I just work, work, work.” - Why? To make thousands and maybe millions of pounds, but for what? When will you say “Right, enough is enough, I’ve made enough money now to do the things I want to do”, unless the thing you want to do is to keep making more money? But what’s the point of that if you’ve already got enough? Why alienate yourself from your friends, family, and other people in the world just so you can drive an Audi TT and walk around in a more expensive suit than your colleague? Who gives a shit? You’re just an empty shell, money isn’t your friend, and it’s not even yours, it’s property of the Government. The way I see it is that she (and most people) are overwhelmed by their own sense of greed that they think in order to be happy they need to rake in as much money as possible. I get the impression that in the business world, people aren’t regarded as human beings, but a resource that makes the company money, and this is definitely wrong. This leads me on to something Lord Sugar said in the first episode: “And when you’ve done it, you won’t get a pat on the back, you’ll be told to do it even better.” I.e “I don’t care how hard you’ve worked, I’m not going to praise you for it, I just want you to make me even more money.” I strongly disagree with this, and it is completely opposite to how it works in the creative industry. Say if a director makes an amazing film, he will be praised by endless amounts of people for his hard work and creative genius. He won’t be told to work harder – he’s done a great job! Another difference is that a director will make a film because he loves making films, and the output, seeing something come together exactly how you imagined it and seeing the emotional impact it has on the audience, will be the main, and most satisfying reward of the job. The extensive pay cheque is just a bonus. He is driven by his passion, not greed, whereas the business world is entirely driven by the craving for as much money as possible.

I also hate the fact that business is built upon so much negativity. In the creative industry, people support each other and work together in order to create something above the quality of what they normally could, i.e musicians working together (proper musicians I mean, not pop stars), photographers & graphic designers working together etc. In the business industry, similar people, or companies, are not seen like this, they are seen as enemies. Companies will only work together if it means greater profit, and if it doesn’t, the other company will be tossed aside like a scrap of rubbish. Success is based upon the failure of others. A typical example of this is supermarkets killing off small, struggling, family owned businesses. They don’t care about the people who have poured their heart and soul into starting their business, they don’t care that that business is probably supporting a family, keeping children alive, they just care about their profit, and maximising it, by whatever means it takes. They will happily open a chain next to a family run, steal all their business, and not turn a blind eye. What have they done to deserve that? It’s so unnecessary. I’ve got a mate who lives in Brighton, and none of the houses on this particular street have gardens. There was a plot of land which was used by everyone as a public garden – it was a beautiful, friendly communal area. It seemed like a very small thing, but it meant a whole lot to a bunch of real people, and added something amazing to the community. What happens? Mr Big Man at Tesco decides that he wan’t to buy the land and build a Tesco Express there. Now no one on that street has a place to have a barbecue, a place to meet friends and have a drink or smoke a cigarette, no grass to sit on, no where to relax outside, all because some nasty greedy ‘human being’ wants a bigger number in his 7 figure bank account. This was also a place where people came together to create art. I don’t understand how someone can be so heartless and simply not give a shit about anyone. Where is the compassion we’re supposed to show for each other? Before money I bet everyone treated each other completely differently than we do today; with consideration, charity and love, simply because we would have all been in the same boat. Don’t even get me started on the health service in America, that is greed on an entirely new level. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend you watch Michael Moore’s ‘Sicko’, you will be shocked.

I know this is a very broad statement, and of course it’s not going to apply to everyone. I’m sure there are people who work in the business sector and get strong self satisfaction from their job, and aren’t doing it just from the money. But that is a question that must be asked – Is your career satisfying you emotionally, are the day to day tasks stimulating for you, and are you enjoying what you’re doing, or are you just enjoying the pay cheque? There’s a difference, and a big one at that. Obviously this doesn’t apply for people in part time jobs, I’m refering to people who are perusing their career.

Basically what I’m getting at, is that I believe that the business industry is driven by greed, whereas the creative industry is driven by passion.

Philip Bloom is a freelancer. He does what he loves. He is certainly not doing what he does for the money, it has just turned out that he can make enough from what he does to support his family. This is the way it should be.