Thursday, August 16, 2007

Party pooper says her piece

My cousin Abi sent me a very amusing Guardian article that echoes my opinion of clubs and the clubbing lifestyle as a whole (read it before proceeding). One passage I found particularly funny and spot-on was where the writer described something "frightening" that struck him about the crowd in the "fashionable London nightclub" he went to:

"They were all photographing themselves. In fact, that's all they seemed to be doing. Standing around in expensive clothes, snapping away with phones and cameras. One pose after another, as though they needed to prove their own existence, right there, in the moment. Crucially, this seemed to be the reason they were there in the first place. There was very little dancing. Just pouting and flashbulbs."

I can sense several of my students glaring at their computer screens and Ms.Lim's blog post right now (bato-bato sa langit...), but hey, they hafta admit the guy's got it right. One need only scan their Multiply albums for the incriminating evidence. :p Not that a camwhore like me is in any position to criticize, but I digress...


A few weeks back, over dinner with my cousin Joy and her boyfriend Steve, we got to talking about how we don't understand the allure of clubbing: dancing on a crowded floor with strangers' asses grinding up against you,
smoking or inhaling vast clouds of second-hand smoke, enough to shave a good few years off your lungs' lifespan, and drinking overpriced beers and cocktails until you're wasted enough to do something stupid like climb up on a ledge in a micromini and stiletto heels (or worse, flirt with someone who looks good in the dark, but turns out to be some butt-ugly perv in the light of day). Or, as the Guardian article puts it, clubs are "cramped, overpriced furnaces with sticky walls and the latest idiot theme tunes thumping through the humid air so loud you can't hold a conversation, just bellow inanities at megaphone-level". And it's hard to comprehend how anyone finds them cool or fun.

I pretty much skipped that entire partying phase of my life during my teens and early 20s (my friends weren't and aren't the type who enjoy having to scream in each other's ears), and now, even if I did want to unleash my inner Tim Yap (*gag*), I just feel too old to be fighting for elbow room with hordes of college kids high on E or whatever designer drug is in right now. I have no regrets about not having been a wild child, and when I see photos of my students at "Emba" or Alchemy, drinks in hand, party poses honed to perfection, I only feel a mixture of wry amusement and faint concern. I don't judge them and their idea of a fun way to spend a weekend night, and I'm certainly not about to go Sister Dina-ballistic on them and lecture them on the evils of alcohol and short skirts, but when I see those pix I can't help thinking to myself that if I have a daughter someday, I'm chaining her up in her room until she's 30. Hopefully by then, people would have gotten sick of clubbing and come up with alternative ways of passing weekend nights, like clay pigeon shooting, quilting circles, or Chinese checkers tournaments.

15 Comments:

At Thursday, August 16, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

hi! you don't know me, but i love reading your blog. i don't even remember how i found it but i've bookmarked it and look forward to your updates.

anyway, i don't really leave comments because i think it's a bit stalkerish (you seem to know all your commenters!), but i just HAD to comment on this one. i agree with you completely! and i don't think that having this point of view about going to clubs and bars has anything to do with age. i'm 21 but clubbing is hardly my idea of a good time. actually, it's my idea of torture. i really can't understand what's so fun about what those party people do every weekend, but whatever floats their boat. personally, i'd much rather spend time with friends elsewhere, like at a good restaurant lingering over dinner or having great conversations over coffee. at least we can actually breathe (relatively) clean air and hear each other there.

also, isn't it annoying how people refer to Embassy as "Emba"? maybe it's just me, but i swear if i hear anyone refer to Alchemy as "Alche", i'm going to stab that person repeatedly with a fork.

one last thing.. i'm an ICAn alumna, and i just have to say, props for the use of the phrase "Sister Dina-ballistic." i'll have to remember that one for future use.

 
At Friday, August 17, 2007, Blogger Ailee Through the Looking Glass said...

Thanks for leaving a comment and letting me know I have a faithful reader who agrees with my (low) opinion of clubs. ;p I don't mind being stalked by someone who says "if i hear anyone refer to Alchemy as "Alche", i'm going to stab that person repeatedly with a fork." Haha.

If you're 21 and an ICA alumna, then that means you're from the same batch as my Cyrenz students? I might know you after all. :)

 
At Sunday, August 19, 2007, Blogger Jen said...

How coincidental -- I went clubbing Wednesday night (ladies' night) and my experience is almost similar to what the writer wrote. It was jam packed, I barely had space to dance, I couldn't hear my friends, my friends were too busy drinking, and we kept camwhoring to the point that it seemed pointless since we were all in the same shot every single time smiling the same smile. At one point, I was so tired that I was half-dancing, half-sleeping. Yes I didn't know it was possible. All I did was close my eyes and moved my body and the next thing I know, time has passed and a couple of songs have finished playing. (And no, my drink wasn't drugged or anything, I was just tired from school, MOM :P )

I think I prefer going for drinks while listening to a live band, or coffee over a good conversation. I'm growing up! Take care doc :)

 
At Sunday, August 19, 2007, Blogger Ailee Through the Looking Glass said...

(And no, my drink wasn't drugged or anything, I was just tired from school, MOM :P )

-I'm DAD, remember? Hahaha.

Just don't grow up too fast ok? ;)

 
At Sunday, August 19, 2007, Blogger Unknown said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

 
At Sunday, August 19, 2007, Blogger Unknown said...

this is abi, the purported SENDER of the article, and i want this stated on the record: I LOVE CLUBBING. i absolutey honestly LOVE IT. i would choose to go clubbing over dinner, over drinks, over dessert, over a DVD night in, over a slumber party, over a lasagna bake-off, over a pyjama party, over a spa session, over a picnic, over a date with paul walker. over pretty much ANYTHING. i am dead serious. clubbing is about great laser light effects and fantastic music that is spun by a master DJ -- ever so superbly, that time actually warps and a 6 hour set feels more like 30minutes...

everyone is a clubber, you just either havent (1) found your choice of music or (2) was malas enough to have gone to a club that's full of sleazebags and posers (3) or you like josh groban (in which case, i rest my case)

now, you have to be careful NOT to equate clubbing with the posers and feelers and douchebags of this world. just because these people exist (and for some reason, just LIKE going to clubs), doesnt mean clubbing per se is shit. trust me, you'll just as easily bump into these posers in a FHM party or GLOBE launching party or TIM YAP'S BIRTHDAY party or a BARBIE ALMABIS concert, as you would in a club.

it's up to you if you want to be the douchebag's catch for the evening. there's a reason why there are BOUNCERS in every club my dears. as for the girls who complain about getting sleazy lascivious looks, eto lang sasabihin ko: if you dress like a 'ho, DONT BE SURPRISED IF YOU'RE TREATED LIKE ONE. try covering up for a change. jesus. you'd think it's the end of days and everyone is dying to get some.

all in all, yeah the article's good fun and i sent it out because hinde naman ako natatamaan. so yes i love love love clubbing. i love techno music and you'll never catch me alive in a destiny's child concert (yun ang totoong BADUY!!)

 
At Sunday, August 19, 2007, Blogger Unknown said...

ailee pa lipat na lang sa multiply! ayaw na magload eh :( grrrr!

 
At Sunday, August 19, 2007, Blogger Ailee Through the Looking Glass said...

Like I told Bens, I'm just not into the kind of music "spun" at clubs, no matter how good it is (I can't tell the difference between good and bad club music anyway). And laser lights make me dizzy. Haha. Manang na kung manang, but it's just not my thing.

P.S. Barbie Almabis? LOL!

 
At Sunday, August 19, 2007, Blogger Unknown said...

Like I told Bens, I'm just not into the kind of music "spun" at clubs, no matter how good it is (I can't tell the difference between good and bad club music anyway

-- that's exactly what ake said about my "gym" music. but well well, turns out, he likes AXWELL ang ANGELLO's "Tell me Why", and RICHARD DURAND'S "Sunhump 2006".

Tell me ailee, how many tracks have u actually listened to? :) i have to know!

And please, Daft Punk is like, in the very pits of the pits. lets put some standards in here :)

 
At Monday, August 20, 2007, Blogger Ailee Through the Looking Glass said...

I've heard the stuff on Bens' iPod (which are supposed to be by "good" DJs like your darling Tiesto), and I've heard stuff on TV (be it from press coverage of a club event or the soundtrack of a show). It all sounds the same to me. I just can't appreciate that type of music, just as how I can't appreciate opera. :)

 
At Monday, August 20, 2007, Blogger raymond said...

hey, what's wrong with daft punk? haha, nice blog by the way.

as for my take on the topic, i don't go to clubs too often, but i think the crowd is a big part of what makes or breaks the experience (so maybe i haven't found the right crowd yet...)

 
At Monday, August 20, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

haha fair enough. at least you gave it a fair try. and if u dont like it still, then, u just dont and never will.

all in all, your perspective of clubbing IS who you are.

1) if you dont even care to try, then u dont know what you're missing (and you wouldn't really care anyway. so it's all good. and i respect that)

2) if you bitch about how much it sucks, then you are one of those posers you yourself so vehemently attack (bec somewhere along the way you got peer-pressured into queueing up for that golden ticket.) bakit nga ba kung magcocomplain ka rin lang?

3) and if you really truly like it, then you just do! and you'll keep banging at it until you feel that it's time to give it up! :)

und so ist das Leben. some things will be corny 20 yrs from now. some things you'll regret missing 20 yrs from now.

i am lucky that i didnt ever have to put up with horrible, "feeling-DJ" DJ's. I got to see the best of the best and i really like it. so i dont ever feel the need to go to embassy or alchemy, not even to ZOUK (again), the supposed BEST club in asia. to each his own. and yes i apologize for calling destiny's child and daft punk baduy heheheh. truly sorry.
:)

 
At Monday, August 20, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

hay naku ailee, let me take you to Escape in Amsterdam sometime. and we'll go to QUEEN together (Champs Elysees). If you dont like it, then i'll pay your 20euro cover charge! and no no dont even think of going to TORONTO for clubbing!!! noooooo! (and yes i'm saying this to piss off the canadians)

--abi (again)

palipat na lang uli sa multiply.

 
At Tuesday, August 21, 2007, Blogger Ailee Through the Looking Glass said...

Hi Raymond, thanks for stopping by. :)

Abi, I love you and all, but I'm not posting any potentially Canadian-antagonizing comments with my user pic beside it! :p

 
At Tuesday, August 21, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

LOL! sorry if i got too carried away! yeah, no probs. age fixes everything (and consider me fixed)

abi, aged!

 

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