Are you stressed? I’m always stressed. I think a lot of stress is to do with anger - little things piss you off and get in your way during the day, then it all just builds up over a number of months. Before you know it you’re in a clock tower with a high powered rifle picking off people you don’t like the look of. The way to avoid those kind of Falling Down type situations is to relieve your stress in small doses, maybe with some swimming or twenty beers, or even just recognizing the things that piss you off and doing something about it. For instance, you could start a blog like Flip Stuff Off, and just swear at the things that rile you up. I spoke to the owner and manager of Flip Stuff Off, a nice chap called Rory, and he told me about swearing with his hands.
INTERVIEW: ROBERT FOSTER
What drives you to flip stuff off?
I originally wanted to flip stuff off because people were telling me that I’m way too easily pleased. I took this on board and decided to raise my entertainment threshold a bit. I figured that the best way to do that was to swear at a load of stuff.
What was the hardest person to flip off?
The hardest person to flip off by a long way was HRH the queen. I don’t mean hard as in ‘my conscience took a beating’, I mean hard as in technically hard. She was about 300 metres away in the Royal box at Ascot. I had to borrow a friend’s camera which had better zoom than mine. It was then a matter of trial and error as i tried to position my hand correctly. It took about 5 minutes to get the right shot and even then you can’t really make her out. The whole time i was doing it i was imagining a red sniper’s dot on my forehead. I would love get a better flip off of her where she has noticed me doing it, and gave me one of her ‘not amused’ faces. That is the dream.
Who or what would you most like to flip of that you have yet to?
I don’t usually plan flip offs. Because i take my camera everywhere they are usually spontaneous. The Queen was naturally up there on my list. I think a good one would be Robert Mugabe. It would be cool to take it in a more political direction – you know, really make a difference?
Are you, generally speaking, a negative person?
I’m a remarkably positive person. I get excited about quite boring stuff. Although i have found that making this blog has been a good way of relieving stress. Is it lame to say that the blog has been a kind of therapy for me?
The blog has been a kind of therapy for me.
Do you have any other favourite hand signals?
Oh god, there are so many good ones out there. Who hasn’t gone to a nu-metal gig when they were 15 and made the devil horns with their hand? I know it isn’t cool anymore but I do have a soft spot for the Ali G finger flick. BOOYAKASHA!
Which is your favourite flip off on the blog?
This is a hard question. It’s like asking someone to choose their favourite child. But seeing as you’re putting a gun to my head I am going to go for the exhibitionist tigers having sex at the zoo.
It was a great moment as there were loads of kids around and their parents were actually trying to lead them away! Obviously the kids couldn’t tear their eyes away. There were a lot of life lessons learned that day.
What is your favourite swearword?
My favourite swearword is nipplefart. As in, “Stop being such a fucking nipplefart”
