Bad Bieber

I keep hearing news reports, well I says news, more like gossip sites headlines that Justin Bieber has recently tweeted, saying he has “bought” a tiger.

According to the reports I have read, he was visiting a zoo in Sao Paulo, Brazil when he tweeted a picture of a white Bengal tiger, saying “Look what I bought”. Hmmmm.  He is, apparently, and I say apparently because I have no interest in him whatsoever, quite fond of pranks so the news may or may not be true.

He was however the cause of my blog today.  Mainly because, me being me, I saw the headlines and said to myself, apart from the fact that surely his advisors, parents etc would have advised him against it, how could he possibly have a “pet” tiger in the US?  Turns out, unbelievably, you can.

In a world where three of the nine subspecies of tiger are now extinct, with the remaining six on the danger list thanks to hunt, deforestation, poaching and trophy hunting, how can you possibly justify keeping a tiger for a pet?

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums have estimated that there are up to 12,000 tigers being held in the US.  Considering that the wild population is considered somewhere between 3,500 and 5,000, this figure is astounding.

There are only (please correct me if I am wrong here) 19 states in the US that ban the private ownership of a tiger.  How in this day and age is that possible?
 
Just think about it, where you would prefer a tiger to be?  Here:


That’s where they should be.  Where they were born to be.  I can’t imagine the privilege of seeing a wild tiger, in it’s own habitat, living and doing exactly what it was meant to. 

Or, would you prefer to see it hanging on your wall or as a rug on the floor?  Being shot for pleasure?  Being killed and cut up to be used for Chinese medicines which have been proved not to work?

I know what I would prefer.

If you are interested in conservation and the preservation of the wild animals of this planet,  link on this link: Four Paws

And So It Begins

X-Factor is back on our screens.  It is a guilty pleasure of mine.  I'm not one to watch soaps or even many TV programmes.  Am more of a movie person.  But X-Factor I quite like.

I like watching the different acts, figuring out who I like and who and I don't.  Watching them progress, or crumble, during the weeks.  What I don't do, and for the life of me I can't understand why others do, is invest my emotions into it.

At the end of the day it is just a reality show, with people you don't know, and won't care about three months after the show is over.

What I hate is not the X-Factor itself, but how people get so invested into it.  It's a competition, some will lose, one will win.  It's that simple.  There will always be the people in there put in for entertainment only, this year it's Johnny Robinson and would also have been Goldie, if she hadn't figured out that she was a fun factor only.

Every single year people get irate about the fun factor people staying in and others who can sing getting voted out.  But in the end, the best people are usually in the final, so who bloody cares?  People get so mad about people getting voted off, with cries of "I'm never watching again, it's a farce!"  But of course, they do still watch.

Get a life, realise it is only a reality programme, and enjoy it for what it is.  Rant (mini) over.

Your Music Mood

Music, the thing that you can sit back and listen to, dance to, cry to, use to uplift your mood and make your day a little better.

The thing I love about music is how it makes you feel.  How you can be in a bad mood, then the right song comes on and it completely lifts you out of the doldrums.  Songs hold your memories, you listen to them and it takes you right back to the memory of the time that you heard it.  Good memories, bad memories, memories you never want to forget.

Here are a (very) few of my favourites, some with an explanation of the memory I hold.  The first I will post the Youtube video here because it is so special, the rest are links to listen to if you wish…

Teitur – The One and Only

This song is one of my favourite memories.  This was the song my best friend walked down the aisle to on her wedding day.  We had all jetted off to Cyprus for the wedding, just 14 of us, all the best of friends.  Listening to that song brings me right back to that day, without doubt the happiest I have ever been for someone else.

Livin' Joy - Dreamer
An oldie (in relative terms) but again one packed full of memories.  A dance tune from the 90’s which takes me back to when I first started hitting the town when I was young(er).  The excitement of going to a club for the first time, hearing the music, it makes me smile every time I hear it.

Bad Reputation - Joan Jett

No explanation needed, if you love punk rock music from the seventies, you will and probably already do love this.

The Way we Were – Barbra Streisand

The most painful song I own.  Nothing to do with the movie, this was the song my mum played at my dad’s funeral.  I rarely listen to it, but I could never be without it.

Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen) – Baz Lurhmann

This song changed the way I thought when I heard it as a teenager, and now when I listen to, I realise how true it is.

Great Balls of Fire – Jerry Lee Lewis

A “get me of out of a bad mood” song.  I defy you not to smile when it plays.

Inside – Stiltskin

It’s beautiful.  The video is not great,but I implore you, get the song.

Song 2 – Blur

Pure driving song, if you love to drive and this comes on the radio on the motorway, watch the speedo!

Well that is just a very few of the songs I love.   Enjoy!  I do not own the rights to any of the materials, right or songs above.

First, a Little Rant

I do have a blog post I want to put on here tonight but first, a little rant.

Sometimes I feel that being on Twitter is setting yourself up to be discriminated against.  We, as a Twitter collective are all lumped together, by people who have never been on Twitter and therefore don't know what it's about, as being people who do nothing but tweet what they had for breakfast, who follow millions of celebrities and are generally brainless.

I have had this argument with various people, all of which have never been on Twitter.

I have come up with this "conversation" as an alternative example which either proves my point, baffles or alternatively I am told I am a little bit mad.  The last one is probable.

Person One: I don't like apples.
Person Two: Have you ever had one?
Person One: No, they taste of sardines.
Person Two: What are you talking about?  They are juicy and delicious!
Person One: Well that's not what everyone else says so I am not trying one.

Twitter by the way, does not taste like sardines.