Cool? No, thank you.

I've just been watching this TV show called virusproject and I could not have slept peacefully without expressing my disgust at its incredible presumptuousness. I guess this show purports itself to be some kind of underground subversive alternative to the mainstream stuff we usually get on Maltese tv. Well, while I appreciate the effort these guys made to try to come up with something different, what they came up with is something we have seen ad nauseaum and, to be honest, got quite tired of, on stations like mtv and mtv2. What's wrong with that, one would ask? Isn't it laudable that these people are trying to be more in tune with what's going on on foreign youth-oriented television? Perfectly so. But what is so disgusting is the self-satisfaction that oozes out of these people's every pore, when they're not even capable of being original. They break their backs trying to be cool and the result is that what they do seems forced and lacks substance.

Gianni, the "cool" presenter, speaks like he has something stuck up his derriere and I'm starting to agree with my mum in thinking that he's an incompetent big-headed jerk with not much more than fluff in his head. His guests aren't any better. They sit on the sofa, acting all laid-back and, yes, you guessed it, cool. They punctuate their singing with sounds such as "woohoo" and "yeah" to ensure that we are fully aware of their overflowing confidence and coolness. I simply couldn't bear this nightmare for one more minute. To add insult to injury Gianni proceeded to display his belching talents. Wtf? This programme is just another way to celebrate mediocrity by disguising it as edgy originality. And why the forced coolness? I was well beyond trying to be cool at least as early as my 16th birthday. I had to lock myself up in my room and listen to the entirety of Keane's Hopes and Fears, so that maybe I'd listen to something untinged by such endless pretensions and coolness and shake off this feeling of contempt. And yes, maybe Keane are sometimes a bit too naive and squeaky clean, but at least they're honest. I consciously refrained from using the phrase "be themselves" because such a phrase is often used to describe supposedly edgy shows such as virusproject. The thing is, there's a really fine line between true and genuine originality and edginess and the appearance of it. Here in Malta we must learn to hesitate before labelling anything which seems slightly different as a groundbreaking novelty.

As you might have noticed, I'm not in the best of moods. Tomorrow I wake up bright and early for the Group Skills seminar in Bahar ic-Caghaq, which for a Fgura resident qualifies as Far Far Away. P.S. a final note of thanks to my sister, who spurred me on to write this blog through her witty comments which always hit the nail right on the head.

Take care everybody,
Lizzy
xxxxx