Trending in my generation

Lots of people have suggested that the current generation of young people are at risk of becoming a lost generation, we can't get jobs, we can't afford houses and many of us are leaving Uni thousands of pounds in debt.  I could just go on and have a moan about all this but I won't instead I want to take a minute to look at what our options are. More on the whole lost generation idea can be found here.

Go back to Uni

I've seen lots of people doing this, they have taken a variety of options from Journalism (practical), Business (a bit practical) to History (interesting but less likely to open doors to a new career). However even those with postgrads seem to be struggling for work, too many qualifications not enough experience. There are some exceptions to this in particular Journalism, the course most people take is very applied and there are still jobs if you are willing to slog it out as an intern for a while or work on minimum wage. I guess the thing that really comes out from this is the importance of experience. Degrees with a year in industry seem very good value for those doing them, I know a fair few people who've had this option and it has worked for them. The real thing is, doing a postgrad will not be the same as your treasured undergrad years, the work is harder and there are no student loans to fund your way. Career development loans are an option but for me I'd rather avoid them as they are much more imminent debt than your easy going undergrad loans.

Take a "crappy" job

Most of us have to take this option at some point, I don't know about everyone else but I would rather have a low-paid job than be stuck on the dole, it also looks better when you are going for jobs. The sad thing is that most of the work you are going to do won't really help you in the long run and most graduates have the problem that employers will look at your CV and be instantly wary, "they're just going to leave" and to be honest much of the time this is probably true.

Leave the Country

Seems a bit extreme but I'm not sure if it really is. Other countries do have more opportunities at times but with much of the world experiencing the same problems we are you probably won't have all that many options. If you've got good languages skills you've more of a chance but this is something our education system has been poor at for years and years.

Sit on the dole

Keep plugging away, do what's required of you but be prepared to see savings evaporate and to live what to be honest is a bit of a depressing life. As time goes on you find yourself being able to do less and struggling to find any saving that you can. To be honest unless you can do something like live with your parents it's going to seriously affect your quality of life. For me I don't see this as an option, in the short term the dole is there for a reason as are housing benefits but in the long term it's really not that appealing.

Films and Music

I'm currently mainly listening to film soundtrack albums, obviously from films I enjoyed so I thought I'd chuck a couple of recommendations out there...

Across the Universe

The film is based around Beatles tracks in a similar way to Mama Mia for ABBA, the difference here is that this was never a stage show just a film. I didn't realise it existed until a friend lent me the DVD (which I really need to return...).

The thing that I love about the music apart from the fact it's all Beatles tracks that I know and love is the way it is all performed. So much music is just performed to be perfect and lacks character but in this film the characters themselves come out not just in the songs but in the way they sing them. My favourite character from the film is probably Jo-Jo.  I also find the setting very enjoyable, it all takes place around the time of the Vietnam war giving good usage of the music. Favourite song found below...

Scott Pilgrim VS The World

This quite simply is one of my favourite films and as with many other great films it has a soundtrack that really fits in. Lots of the films is based around the music so it's pretty fertile ground making a soundtrack. The film has so many pop-culture references that are bang on for my generation its amazing. As soon as I heard it was coming out I heard nothing but good things, I know some people haven't enjoyed it but I have (and that's what matters).

The chosen song is a bit of a classic from Frank Black, hope you are a fan too.

Obviously there are a huge number of films with great music, Romeo and Juliet stands out as one, some of the music from 28 Days Later is also very good but for my final choice I'm going to suggest Badly Drawn Boy's soundtrack for the film About a Boy.

About a Boy

The film is quite cheesey but the whole way through you are greeted with the sound of Badly Drawn Boy. I am a big fan of BDB with The Shining probably being one of my favourite songs ever mainly down to the intro. For About a Boy the music fits well and he manages real variety, lots of instruments and a few different styles. I still remember seeing about when he tried busking and everyone thought he was rubbish but that for me just added to the quality.

Chosen track this time is File Me Away, it's something a little bit different but still pretty damn good IMHO.

One blog... delayed

So, It's been a rough couple of days and a strange couple of weeks. The blog has sadly taken second place to job hunting and more lately some minor health issues (probably gallstones). Hopefully things will kick off again later this week once I've caught up with everything else! More soon...