OK, bear in mind guys, this is just an entry from my website. Someone who saw it liked it a lot and then another completely hated it. I posted it hear because I'd like to see your opinion. It won't change mine, but I'd like to know as to not to offend people with it :( I'm interested most in the context and the arguement I try to make, but you can talk about grammar and presentation if you wish. I've tried to edit out any explicit words, but sorry if I missed some! So if this is actually very offensive to people, let me know. I hope it's just an opinionated rant that doesn't do much harm. Your opinions on the matter are gratefully accepted too! Why I hate The O.C. Ah, The O.C., or as I like to call it: The Rich Man's Hollyoaks. How many of you I have heard bellow in your panic-struck voices "Z0MG! Did u c da O.C last nyt!?!" Now, many of you watch it and it has many fans in America as well, so you may be questioning my somewhat unfounded statement of: "The O.C. is a bag of haemerroids". Well let me explain to you why: First of all, the acting. You know, when I want empathy from a character, I don't usually result in bawling in laughter at the sight of tears. A good actor will not even attract your attention to you to see they're acting, until they enter a significant storyline, which makes you appreciate how good they are even more. The O.C's actors fails this, in every regard. Second, the storyline. Can someone explain to me what has actually happened over The O.C's seasons that has been reversed...or has actually mattered. I think of none. Gathered, I don't watch it anymore, but when I listen to you mindless slo - I mean, friends - all I hear are the same story line and relationship problems over and over again. It's like that bloody rape triangle thing in Hollyoaks, oh no, even worse "Elle and her conscience" over Toby which dragged out...for 3 smegging years. Next up, it's the whole scene of The O.C. Yes, I like California. Yes, I like money. No, I don't like The O.C. The people in the O.C (now I mean the characters, not the actors - they might be fine young people, regardless of their acting ability) are nothing more than frat boys and girls, fueling parties and shopping trips on daddy's plastic magic. That's not drama! That's not a crisis of conscience! It's not even realistic, yet, the undoubted influence it has on people I know makes them want to grow up in the same vain. Well, sorry to disappoint you sugar, but life's not like that. And finally, the thing that annoys me most of all about The O.C. - its effect on music. As if ruining Phantom Planet for me wasn't bad enough (and the trip to last year's Rosslyn Park on the mini-bus - Bill Barr playlist: California, something else, California, something else, California, something else, California, something else, etc) they have absolutely murdered (excuse the pun) the enigma of Jeff Buckley and ruined the modern day classic of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". There are the repeated hallelujahs of the soothingly hymn-like chorus, and there is a gently rocking tunefulness about the whole thing. This, if you didn't listen too closely, was what made it such perfect material for that supremely vacuous show The OC. Young, rich people - especially in California - often feel the need to look soulful and deep on camera, and the sound of doomed, youthful Buckley sighing Hallelujah as they all pondered the state of their relationships must have seemed about right. But look closer, Goddammit! You vain smegs! ...Sorry, just a bit annoyed. The point is, the producers of The O.C. take a song which has so much underlying meaning, semantic fields of The Bible and secrecy, and just turn it into another generic piece of slush that's been crapped out of that comic book Geek's permed arse. Look at the lyrics. Just by reading it can fill you with overwhelming joy and yet foreboding pain. Jeff Buckley did a fine job in the cover, but ultimately left it open to this Hollywood slandering, in the same way Kurt Cobain did for Nirvana; by committing suicide to escape the corporate regime, he did nothing but bring it further into the public eye and popular culture. Poor guy. Buckley's version actually had a great effect on the episode of "The West Wing" it appeared in (which came before The O.C. for all you fan boys out there). It seemed to adhere and fulfill all of Cohen's many connotations in that scene; a mgihty piece of production work. We can thank Buckley, however, for making the song "popular" if you could call it. Because for every 50 or so blasphemous covers, we are treated to a gem. None more so than John Cale's version. Ah the enigma that is John Cale already, it seemed so fitting that he should cover the song (Which I think was sang on an episode of Scrubs? - Now there's a good show. Irreverant humour one minute and then something extremely meaningful and emotional the next, like that scene). Someone said to me that it was "pure, cold and scarcely inflected at all, it sends shivers down the spine." and I whole heartedly agree. A new version I heard which sounded great to me was Gavin Degraw. I don't know how well-known he is, or the version, but he sings it with great emotion - but unlike Wainwright who doesn't - he takes it to a new level. His voice is very powerful and raw, and hautingly, it sounds like a cross between Cale and Buckley. Anyway, that's my rant of The O.C. Such a shallow show should never be able to ruin timeless classics of true meaning. But then again, that's modern day T.V. and Hollywood culture for you.