"Woos, oohs, hahahas and claps!"

For the first time last night, I got the chance to be a member of a studio audience, and what an eye opening and entertaining night it was. Luckily, I won tickets from the Applause Store to watch Britain Unzipped, which is hosted by presenters Russell Kane and Greg James. The show exploits what goes on behind closed doors and in our minds! Entertaining quizzes, interviews and VT’s allow the audience to compare and question ‘How normal are we?’

Russell Kane and Greg James in the Studio

The night began with a warm up, hosted by comedian Rob Beckett, an absolutely loveable character with unbelievable energy and enthusiasm. He kept the whole experience running smoothly, whilst the chaos of makeup artists, camera crews, runners, wires, pick-ups  and technical hitches were all going on! He got the audience involved by cracking banter and prepping us for some “woos” “ooohs” “hahahas” and applauses. We even had a running theme throughout where we had to mime taking shots whilst chanting “shots” everytime the music was played. (You’ll understand if you watch it) Huge credit went out to him because when the audience started to become drained after 3 hours of constant applauses and cheers, he was him who kept our spirits lifted. You wouldn’t think it would be hard work being an audience member, but we really are relied upon to keep the aura and intensity of the building... because what’s the point in a show, with no audience? Interaction and communication was key, especially in this show, as it relied heavily upon audience’s reactions.

After the whole studio experience and witnessing how a show is filmed first hand, it really made me appreciate how hard everyone on set has to work. In particular how tough it is to be a presenter and read the autocue correctly and naturally, without making it look like you’re starring and squinting in to the distance. I was amazed how they had the will power to keep going even though they had to cut and repeat the same line or joke numerous times till it was perfect. A lot of preparation and hard work goes into production, and the team really do pull together to make it work. It was extremely insightful and interesting to watch; I wish I could be a part of it. They all seemed to be happy regardless of the tiring nature of the work; there are not many people that can say they do a job they enjoy.

I’m looking forward to it being aired on Tuesday, and seeing how it has been edited together and which parts will be used... and of course to see whether I get my 1 second of fame as an audience member!  To top it off, Christine Bleakley, (TV presenter and fiancée to footballer Frank Lampard) was the guest celebrity, she won the last round winning all the audience members a prize, and what better prize then free white wine! Happy days.

Schopenhauer and Nietzsche

Schopenhauer's work is within the general school of German Idealism of the 19th century. This was around the same time as Hegel who he hated. He believes in immaterialism, which is to say that material things have no existence, and thus the world we live in does not exist independently of perception. He is similar to Kant in terms of deducing by reason that there is a pre-existent formless 'something' which is a necessary condition of the existence of anything. The concept of 'will' in Schopenhauer is the same according to Nietzsche, it is the will to power, or the will to be.


Birth of Tragedy 

Nietzsche's book 'The Birth of Tragedy' was published in 1872, he renamed it as Hellenism and Pessimism in 1886. It outlines the contrast between Apollonian and Dionysian, both of which are sons of Zeus. Apollo is associated with the sun, a god of light, dreams, knowledge and reason. Dionysus is considered to be a sensual god, a god of night, ecstasy, wine and intoxication. Nietzsche holds that a combination of the two god's creates a Greek tragedy.

Nietzsche is full of hate, he believes evil is better than good as it is powerful. He criticises religion, in particular Christianity. He admires the pre-Socratics apart from Pythagoras and he is close to Heraclitus, however he hates Socrates. Nietzsche has a passionate admiration towards Wagner, he wrote The Birth of Tragedy to celebrate Schopenhauer as well as Wagner and his love of both. 

Nietzsche was not an inventor of technical theories, he focused on ethics and being a historical critic. He is not a Romantic, he is more so Hellenic. Nietzsche holds two sets of values, firstly ruthlessness, war and aristocratic pride, and secondly his love for philosophy, literature arts and music. He is not a nationalist, nor a worshiper of the state.


Russell sums up Nietzsche's philosophy in a nutshell:

I will do such things,
what they are yet i know not
but they shall be the terror of the earth. 

There are two saints, the saint of nature, and the saint of fear; Nietzsche only imagines the saint of fear because he is full of hatred, and the idea of showing love to mankind is impossible to him. Nietzsche also preaches against sympathy, and is famously remembered for saying "god is dead".