February 3rd, 2013

HELP THE RICH, SCREW EVERYONE ELSE

Hai guys, I’m back! Does anyone remember me? Probs not. Is anyone going to read this? Maybe not, anyhow! During my hiatus… Christmas happened, that was busy and stuff. I FINALLY got my folio site up and running, you can visit it here if you like. I still don’t have a design job :( and I’m going back to University this year to be eligible to work as a middle years and high school teacher, I’ve also kept up my exercising and can now run for up to 45 minutes non stop. :D My friend and I are also thinking about starting an online store. Anyway, who gives a shit? I have bigger things to discuss.

Before I get into this, may I just apologise for my absence of articulation and eloquent writing skills. I am by no means a decent writer, that is one of my greatest and most unfortunate flaws, I can NEVER express my thoughts through words in a way that does my thoughts any justice. In fact, compared to intelligent ladies like Bebe, Madeline, Arabelle and Meagan, amongst many many others, actually, most of the people I follow to be honest, I’m just another… well, I don’t even know. In my mind, I must come across as another naive, fairly ignorant idiot. My intelligence, or rather lack of, compared to brainy women like those who I have mentioned is, quite frankly, highly embarrassing. So yeah, please don’t think that I think I’m some high and mighty person who knows exactly what I’m talking about, because dude, for real, I actually feel humiliated when I consider my lack of knowledge. I’m going to attempt to explain how I feel and hopefully some of you might comprehend what it is that I am thinking. No one has to agree with me, it’s probably better if you don’t, huh?

This year, is an election year for Australia. September 14th is the date our current prime minister has set for us to all cast our votes and evict somebody out of the tribe. Oh… wait, sorry, this isn’t Survivor, mah bad. I already know who I’m going to vote for and it definitely isn’t going to be for the Liberal Party. For the American readers, the Liberal Party in Australia is the conservative right-wing party. I know it’s confusing, with a name suggesting liberty. In fact, there is no way in hell I will ever vote for the Liberal Party, I just do not agree with conservative values at all.

Seeing as the election is slowly approaching, I thought it might be a good idea to begin learning about political issues and economics and all that exciting stuff, and I’ve realised, that we live in a really, really fucked up world. I mean, I knew this before, but focusing on these issues has opened up my eyes to how unfair life truly is. For instance, why do third world countries even exist? How did we even allow that to happen? Why are first world countries faced with unnecessary medical problems caused by obesity due to over consumption? Why does a terrible meal at McDonalds cost less than a healthier alternative? Why are people dying of heart disease and strokes directly related to their poor health while people elsewhere are dying of starvation? I mean, why, WHY do we all allow this shit to happen?

Why are there people on the planet jet setting in their private jets, eating at the fanciest restaurants, and discussing the share market? While other people are born into dreadful conditions with absolutely no hope of ever breaking out, and living a half decent life. How is that fair? Why are some people perceived as better than others? We’re all of the same species. How can rich people in first world countries sit there and complain about how they lost a million dollars in their superannuation, when other humans, just like them, are forced to survive on merely a dollar per day? Or, I’m sorry, do people in third world countries not ‘work hard enough’ to survive? Because that is the sort of bull shit that I’ve been hearing a lot lately.

This relates directly to first world societies. There is an arrogant belief that those who are not rich, simply ‘didn’t work hard enough’. I struggle to comprehend that people actually believe this absolute garbage. You see the thing is, sure, some rich people did work hard to get where they are, but guess what? Just because you worked your ass off to be the owner of a successful company, doesn’t mean you’re not lucky, because, sorry to break it to you, but you’re exceptionally lucky. There are so many others who work incredibly hard, but don’t get the lucky breaks it requires to reach that level of unprecedented financial success. What blows my mind even more, are unbelievably wealthy people, who attack the ‘lower’ class. As if they have any idea what life is like on the bottom.

Take this infuriating article for instance. Gina Rinehart is the richest person in Australia and the richest woman on the planet with an estimated fortune of A$29.17 billion. There is one main thing you should know about Gina, she inherited her wealth, her father, Lang Hancock, was an iron ore magnate. She didn’t ‘work hard’ for her wealth, she was just ‘lucky’ enough to be born into an incredibly wealthy family. I could become very, very successful if I had millions of dollars backing me too Gina :) I mean god, I could start an awesome fashion label, I could start my own design firm, I have loads of ideas, but err, it’s kind of difficult when you don’t have a shit load of money backing you up, and no matter how hard I work, I’m not going to accumulate that shit load of money any time soon. Gina thinks the Australian government should lower the minimum wage of $606.40 a week to ‘stimulate employment’. Erm, are you fucking kidding me Gina? You make a reported, 1 million dollars every 30 minutes and you want the minimum wage lowered? Why don’t you try living on $600 a week? Seriously, do you know how difficult that would be, let’s break it down here.

Most people would spend about $50 on petrol even with a small car, going to and from work, I believe a weekly myki pass is about $50 too. Food would cost at least $100, which is about $14 per day. God help anyone trying to pay off a mortgage on a wage like that, but say somebody is renting, most places, even small places cost at least $250 per week, then you have all the bills, let’s say that was roughly $50 a week. That’s $400, so you have a mere $206 left to, occasionally purchase clothing, toiletries etc. Then you somehow have to try and find a way to still save money and maybe have a life. Oh no wait, if you don’t earn much, you’re not allowed to have a life according to Gina. Because someone working 40 hours a week full time, should simply work more and somehow, they’ll make enough money to be well off. LAUGHING MY ASS OFF AT YOU GINA, SERIOUSLY, YOU ARE SO NAIVE, I DON’T KNOW IF I SHOULD LAUGH OR CRY. Why does she want the fucking minimum wage to be lowered anyway? So she can pay her workers less and make more for herself? Because you know, a net worth of billions of dollars isn’t quite enough. Fuck, is it possible to be anymore greedy?

I don’t like people like Gina, they make generalisations about most ‘poor’ people. Like they don’t work hard enough, they’re lazy, if they wanted to make more money, they could, simply by ‘working more’. I hate job snobbery, I hate the fact that we’re so judged by what we do for a living. If someone tells a group at a party that they own their own accounting firm, everyone will be all, “aah, ooh, how interesting, wow”. If somebody else announces that they clean public toilets for a living, they’ll probably get a very awkward, uncomfortable response. The truth is, one is not better than the other. The only reason they’re seen as such is because one occupation earns a lot more money than the other, and I’m beginning to wonder why.

A lot of upper class people seem to have this idea, that anybody can get to where they are, as long as they work hard. The thing is, that is so far from the truth. The truth is, that in the society we live in, it is not possible for every single person to get rich. It’s just not feasible. Who is going to work in restaurants catering for the upper class? Other rich people? Who is going to work as a maid cleaning a rich person’s house? Another rich person? I was reading a comment left by one very ignorant woman on an article I read. She stated that if people aren’t happy with their lives, they should merely “get a better education and a better job” Uh huh, like it’s that easy. What if all the maids on the planet decided they wanted to just ‘get better jobs’. Who the hell would clean houses for rich people? What if all the nurses decided that they wanted better jobs? Who the hell is going to look after you when your body is weak and you’re terribly ill? Why do certain occupations earn SO MUCH MORE than others?

It’s unfair. Without all these little people, society wouldn’t function correctly. Even if we all decided to take the advice of these all mighty, all knowing, success stories, there would be some of us who would get forced to work for a lower wage. If everybody  who works as a public cleaner, refused to work as a toilet cleaner and aspired to be a lawyer, imagine how unhygienic public toilets would become. If everybody who works as a garbage cleaner decided they wanted to pursue accounting, because it’s a ‘better’ job, imagine how dirty and disgusting everything would be. If I and all my co-workers refused to work on the shop floor and instead decided to aim for higher paying positions, who the hell would sell products to anybody? You see, even if EVERYONE tried, worked as much as is humanly possible and aimed to ‘get ahead’ in life, it would simply be impossible. We can’t all be rich, especially in the capitalist society we live in. So looking down on ‘poor’ people like they’re some disease in society is so ignorant and shows a lack of understanding of how the community runs.

I personally don’t think that such a wide wage disparity should exist. I don’t believe that a company with financial issues should be able to make 1000 of its workers redundant, yet give the CEO a one million dollar pay rise the following year. I don’t think it should be possible for someone to be making millions of dollars a year, while somebody else is struggling to feed themselves. It’s not fair, because that struggling person has to be in that position in order for the other person to be attending high tea at some expensive hotel every weekend. If even ONE human has to struggle for the rich to be SO rich, than that sort of financial success shouldn’t be possible. It just shouldn’t. Not one person is better than the other. Unless you know, you’re a murderer or something. In the end, WE ALL DIE, we all become nothing, no one is going to remember Gina Rinehart in 1000 years anymore than they remember me. I’m not better than the next person because I’m interested in style and they are not. I’m not better than my siblings because I have a degree and they don’t. I was simply born with the capacity to achieve in an academic environment, and they weren’t. It’s not better, it’s just different, it’s only perceived as ‘better’ because of the world we have created for ourselves. We have decided that certain attributes are more favourable than others. Making everyone competitive as hell, no wonder anxiety and depression are on the rise.

I don’t like the idea that I could eventually be in an Art Director position, potentially earning $110,000 a year while my sister could be a senior hair stylist, potentially earning $50,000 a year, why such a huge gap? I mean, hair stylists work long hours, they work hard, and people still complain that hairdressers are a ‘rip off’, a lot of people who make ‘good’ money say this too. Shit like that makes me sick. Speaking of ‘good’ things, why are wealthy families often referred to as a ‘good family’ I mean, what’s up with that? Is my family, ‘bad’ because we’re not loaded? It’s so tragic, that we all only ever live once, yet some of us have to struggle through our entire lives, never achieving and doing all the things we want to do, while others have seen and done everything, only to feel bored because apparently it can’t really get much better. How is that fair man, how?

How is it fair that rich people believe they should be taxed at the same rate as everybody else. I mean, what is wrong with some people? The human species is so greedy it’s not funny. Say somebody is making $55,000 per year before taxes. In Australia, I believe a wage like this would be seen as fairly below average, apparently the average is about $90 grand per annum. So, if a person making $55k a year is being taxed at a rate of 17% (I believe the taxation rate is actually higher than this, but I’m just estimating) their take home pay will be $45,600. Hm, not so great. Now, what if somebody was making $1 million per year. EVEN IF THEY WERE TAXED AT A RATE OF 90% THEY WOULD STILL  TAKE HOME $100K PER YEAR. Fuck, is $100,00 not enough for you? Seriously? I think I could live comfortably enough on that sort of money. Oh, but not if I wanted to have a private jet and shit, because come on, those are necessities in life. So to all the rich people complaining that they pay more taxes, srsly, STFU. If you hate paying the extra tax, why don’t you swap your wage for someone paying tax at a lower rate? No, don’t want to do that? I thought so.

It’s so tragic that I can sit here on my laptop, while there are children in other parts of the world rapidly deteriorating due to starvation. There are girls in poverty being sold like objects in underground sex slave industries, and there are other people, buying $20,000 dresses in a boutique.

The world is so messed up up. Come on dudes, how can we truly call ourselves evolved and modernised when we allow our fellow people to live in such unfathomable conditions?

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I have so many images to add since the beginning of the hiatus. Ten is enough for one post though, right?

November 26th, 2012

GOOD BYE

EDIT//UPDATE (20.01.2013)
I’M CURRENTLY PREPARING TO POST AGAIN. EDITING THE SITE LIVE, SO, IF THINGS LOOK FUNNY FOR A FEW DAYS, THAT’S WHY.

This is a message, to let you all know that DARK VICE will be having a hiatus indefinitely. I love blogging, I’ve been doing it since I was 13 years old, blogging and the internet and teaching myself web design and blah blah blah, is what got me into graphic design in the first place. But right now, it’s also in the way of me actually pursuing graphic design as a serious career. I’ve been blogging on Dark Vice for over a year now and it’s been great, but it’s also heavily distracted me from doing something a lot more important. Actually focusing on getting a design job. I’ve been out of University for an entire year now, and I’m still just a casual in retail. An old casual who is probably going to lose her job to people who are a lot younger and can therefore be paid a lot less. If I don’t stop and focus seriously on getting a design job, I feel like I might have a mental breakdown. It’s time to get real. Most people who were in my course have design jobs or internships now. All I have is a low paying, dead end job… and a blog, that’s it. I thought sticking with the blog might get me a few design work opportunities, and editing images for my posts is good for my creativity. But let’s face it, it’s not enough, it’s no where near enough and this blog is obviously not going to really help me get a job anytime soon.

I didn’t start Dark Vice to get a job through it, but I’m a motivated person. If I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it properly, which is why I put so much work into the images on this blog, why I think so hard about the topics I write, why I don’t just type about how trendy the 90s are right now, and I love this blog but I can’t survive through its existence. I need to shift my motivation to something that will actually help me achieve my goals in life. Like moving out of home, moving to another country, travelling, starting a clothing label with my prints. Money isn’t everything, but I need to make some of it to have a life.

I’ll be back, soon, I hope. It might take a few weeks, a month maybe, much more than a month, and I’d be procrastinating. I’m a speedy worker when I set myself deadlines, so I’ll be back soon and this time, I will actually have something proper to showcase to the world.

Thank you to my small group of followers who have left such kind and thoughtful comments. Thank you for the support during some of the darkest moments of my life last year. AAH, I’m getting teary just typing this. I’ve felt like a loser for the majority of my life, but you guys make me feel like… maybe, just maybe, I do belong somewhere.

Enjoy the holiday season :)

- Sophie.

P.S I’ll still update the FACEBOOK page occassionally, I mean, as if I’m not going to share my Black Friday purchases! You can always contact me through my Tumblr ask box, or my e-mail: dark-vice@hotmail.com and I’m obviously always free for design work. ^_~ 

October 27th, 2012

I (DON’T) HATE EVERYONE

Alright, I’ve become pretty shit at blogging in the last eight weeks, and I’m sorry. No, I’m not apologising to you, or you, or anyone else, but myself. I’m apologising to myself for allowing yours truly to become distracted to the point of not having sufficient time to maintain my beloved blog properly. Well Sophie, as long as you get your act together, I am willing to accept your apology.

Hmm. No, I’m not strange at all :)

An image of me, obviously, making an expression that I use to convey sadness, because my lovely Lime Crime lipstick broke :( ah well, at least it’s still usable. It’s a sad day when one of your favourite cosmetic items is damaged.

Ok, so, during the last week, I have thought about quite a few different topics. I guess they’re all somehow related to one another. If I sat here typing about them all, the word count of this post would most likely easily exceed 5000, so I’ll discuss them one day at a time.

D  A  R  I  A

I’m referring to the (coolest cartoon EVER) television show. I have officially decided that if I ever happen to give birth to a girl in the future, her middle name shall be Daria, after, arguably, the best character ever. I watched Daria when it originally aired, I enjoyed it, but in an extremely shallow or I should say… in a rather innocent sense, in a, “hey, look, cartoons! colourful pictures” way. I was 6 – 11 years old. Man oh man, do I wish I was a few years older. Daria would have been the perfect show for me to get into at the beginning of high school, it would have helped a lot. As I got older, I think it started when I was 15, people began to compare me to Daria. One of the first times was when I was working at Subway, I was 16 at the time, an older 19 year old who referred to me as a dero kid (weird.. I’m not a fucking dero at all -_-) once turned to me and said, “you know, you’re like freaking Daria!” and I don’t think she meant the comment to flatter me. My only memories of the show were those from my childhood, so one of the main aspects of the show I could remember, was that Daria was quite monotone and cynical. I am very monotone most of the time, especially when I am bored, which is often (bored with life in general) and I was unbelievably cynical in my early teens. I literally thought that everything and everyone was lame.

I bought the entire series about a week ago, seeing as I have been compared to her so many times, I decided to watch the show again and decide for myself if I really was like this Daria character. Being monotone has been a problem for me for a looong time, (well not me, it seems to be a problem for other annoying people) but watching Daria made me feel better about that :) I seriously love Daria, I love that show, that character gives me a reason to not hate myself. Daria doesn’t seem to be interested in drinking, smoking, piercings, drugs, tattoos or socialising. She doesn’t seem to enjoy close personal contact. I don’t like hugging, the only person I can hug without feeling any awkwardness is my boyfriend, I also struggle to tell people that I love them. I can’t throw that word around easily, I don’t even tell my parents that I love them. Apparently these qualities make me a cold, distant person. Anyway, back to Daria, she really is a ‘brain’, she actually is just genuinely interested in gaining knowledge. That was pretty much me in high school, I pretty much was a nerd, that is still me now. I would rather stay at home and read about a variety of things on the internet, than go out and socialise. I’ve always been apprehensive to tell others that I don’t really enjoy drinking alcohol very much, that I’ve never truly desired to ever have a tattoo, that I have no interest in smoking (actually, I hate it and I find it disgusting) it’s hard to tell people that you’re not cool (in the conventional sense) at all. It’s difficult, because for some reason, most people seem to aspire to a certain image of what cool is. That’s fine with me, but it sucks that the way I am isn’t very fine with others, or, rather, not cool enough for them. Yeah, I definitely would not be cool enough for the fashion club.

You might think I’m over exaggerating. Why, surely people wouldn’t actually judge someone on such a trivial basis? But oh my friends, they most certainly do. In the past, I have been on ‘friend’ terms with people. Once some of them discovered that I didn’t (still don’t) have an elaborate social network, that I’m not into drinking or smoking or being ‘cool’, they decided to… basically ditch me. Apparently not being intrigued by these things makes one boring. This has happened with new friends and people I had been close to for a long time. It sucks dude, despite the fact that I have little interest in the activities that most people my age participate in frequently, I don’t judge those I meet based on such preferences. I’m not interested in smoking, or doing drugs, or drinking every weekend, but I wouldn’t decide to distance myself from someone I previously liked because they didn’t live up to my own personal standards. Hell, my boyfriend drinks a lot more than I do, but I still love him :) Hmm, I don’t know what I’m getting at here to be honest. I guess, long story short. Daria is awesome (IMO) and I wish people actually thought that some of the real life Darias were cool too, well I don’t know, I can live with the thought that I’m not cool, but it would be nice to not be perceived as the token weirdo for a change. That would make life a lot easier sometimes. Maybe people would stop telling me to freaking smile, maybe people would stop asking me why I look ‘so sad’ so often.

For any Daria fans out there, you know the episode when that Football legend dude accidentally dies? everyone goes to Daria for advice, because they just assume she constantly thinks about morbid, depressing things all the time. During a conversation with Jane, Daria becomes frustrated.

Okay, but you know what I’ve been hearing? “You know how I feel, Daria. You’re gloomy. I knew I can talk to you, Daria. You’re always miserable.” Tragedy hits the school and everyone thinks of me. A popular guy died, and now I’m popular because I’m the misery chick. But I’m not miserable. I’m just not like them.

That’s how I feel when people ask me why I look so sad etc etc. I’m not sad all the time, I’m not depressed (I never have been depressed, anxiety, yes, I have dealt with, but not depression) and I’m not constantly angry, being realistic about the world doesn’t mean you’re constantly unhappy. It means you can accept that a lot of chaos and negativity exists on this planet. What is the point of being oblivious to all of that? Ignorance may be bliss, but I don’t want bliss, I want the truth. I’m not like a lot of people, smiling doesn’t come as easily to me, it doesn’t mean I think about death all the time, or something like that. I suppose cartoons are so different to the real world though, for instance, Daria behaves in her usual way while she works at her first job. If I ever behaved in my true natural element in the work force, well, let’s just say, I would NEVER be employed. Also, despite being incredibly cynical and gloomy and what have you, as I’ve aged (because I’m such a wise old lady now) I have realised that things aren’t that terrible. You just have to make an effort to see the bigger picture, as difficult as that may be sometimes. Sure, for me, my life has been kind of shit (really shit) at times, but hey, my situation could have been far, far worse. The fact that I can even sit here and think about what to type makes me incredibly lucky. Is it sad that I just thought of all of this because of a cartoon show? Maybe? Oh well.

La la la la la.

September 11th, 2012

SEPTEMBER 11TH

I know it was eleven years ago today, (I can’t believe it’s been over a decade actually, holy shit) but unless I unfortunately have Alzheimer’s  when I’m older, I don’t think I’ll ever forget that image of a plane being used as a weapon, flying into a building, in New York City. I still remember sitting there, in front of the T.V at 7.30 in the morning thinking to myself, “WHAT is going on?!” I was only 10 at the time, yet I felt shocked, afraid and so incredibly sad for all those innocent people involved. Nine years later, I found myself in NYC, finally. My friend and I decided to visit Ground Zero and go to the memorial museum that was set up. Despite the fact that I don’t know anyone who was personally involved in the tragedy, reading transcripts of telephone calls that were made, about how families were effected. It was too much for me. I was fighting back tears, and I’m pretty sure my friend was too. The entire experience (visiting that museum) was so sad. That day started a war, which in turn has destroyed countless more lives.

I feel like the people on September 11th died so unnecessarily. A few nights ago, the movie, United 93, was on Television. While watching it, I was instantly overcome with rage. I got so angry, soo angry, that all those people died, because a few people decided that they would sacrifice themselves and hundreds of other innocent lives for some stupid, totally pointless cause. People who can actually be manipulated to become suicide bombers are so mentally weak, at least I think so.

I don’t want this post to only be about September 11th, 2001. Because the reality is, that people die every single day, for completely pointless and preventable things. There are so many people, and I’m talking generally now, who are so freaking willing to do evil things. Since September 11th, thousands upon thousands of people have died. Of course, dying is a part of life. You start to slowly decay, from the moment you begin to live. But dying, so unnecessarily… is just plain depressing. There are people who die, every single day, because of human greed, corruption and all things evil. Those people aren’t just statistics, they’re not just numbers, they’re humans. Like you and me, they have feelings, consciousness, hopes, desires, aspirations, fears, they have a network of people who love them, and they’re prematurely taken away, for such pathetic reasons. Through mass murders, terrorist attacks, war, random drunken bashings, a fucked up, massive, fast food industry (hello hypertension, atherosclerosis etc.) Innocent people lose their lives to stupidity, every single day.

So for me, September 11th not only reminds me of the American tragedy, but of the tragedies that our entire species goes through every single day. It reminds me that despite all my problems and issues and blah blah blah. I’m still, pretty fucking lucky. There are millions of people, so much worse off, and it’s so unfair. I almost feel guilty for even having a blog or using the internet at this point. Or for even posting the following outfit images.

I truly dislike my own appearance most of the time. You know what though? There are so many people who don’t even have the time to think, “Ew, I’m so ugly” There are people on this planet, who don’t even own a damn mirror, so whatever. Be thankful for what you all have today, because you all have a lot more than most people, and you never know when everything you take for granted could be stolen from you.

August 25th, 2012

NO DISCO

Not sick anymore (yay!) but my entire family is, and we live in a small house. Trying to avoid illness for the fourth time this year is not going to be easy. Fuck my first world life. I’m not in the mood to type much right now, so uh yeah. Here are images for you to look at while seeking time to waste or whatever.

My sister is an apprentice hairdresser and she used her new skills to do this to my hair a few weeks ago. I hated it. I think I would like a pink leopard print jacket/coat thing, that would be splendid, would it not?

I was at Coles (supermarket) earlier, buying a few things for my sick dad. I noticed quite a few party ready people around. I haven’t been out on a weekend for such a long time. In your opinion, is that lame? Not that I really care to be honest, I’m just curious. Hmm not caring… we should all care less. Especially about what other people think, because caring about what other people think is pointless. Because life is pointless, and trends, and blogs and comments and everything… pretty much. Shoes, jobs, school, money etc. is just there to distract you until you die. See this post. Even Albert Einstein will literally mean nothing when the human race eventually and inevitably ceases to exist. Fuck everything I typed, I hate telling people what they should do, but why does it matter that I hate it? My negative emotions mean jack shit as well. I’m just thinking about morality and the fact that morality is a human creation and is also pointless but kind of inevitable due to the fact that we have consciousness and now my brain is figuratively melting. L8ERZ.

One day, when I’m about to die, I would like to end my life by flying into a black hole, it’s either that or being cryogenically frozen so I can see the future.

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