Archive of ‘Independent’ category
So last week I turned 19, and thus a birthday-related post was obviously necessary! Spent the day running around the city redeeming free birthday food with my uni pals, managing to score a burrito from Salsas, boost juice from Boost and a 6inch sanga and drink from Subway. Unfortuately I was too full for free churros from San Churro, wehhh. After a long day, I came home to more food and more of my favourite people. The following Saturday saw a birthday gathering with my co-birthday-girl Tori (aka Torz, Tortellini) and a group of our closest friends from school. Thanks to all of those who made my day/week special!
Shoutout to my boyfriend Riles for the beautiful flowers and my parents for the super cool ‘pouffe’ which feature in this Instagram snap I posted!
Feeling like my bedroom is looking fresh with some new birthday bling! #flowers #pouffe #ishka #hippievibes #decor #cutest
View on Instagram
The tragic story of the loss David Cassai, the victim of an unprovoked attack in 2012. Awareness much be raised about how severe a single punch, or any act of senseless violence, can be. Please support the ‘STOP. One Punch Can Kill‘ campaign.
Credit to Vincent Petrilli and Jack Wright for the documentary.
Another React episode for y’alla: Teens React To 90s Internet. Very entertaining!
Throwback Wednesday… Reminiscing about our school trip to the Northern Territory in 2012. Craving a holiday!
Emma Watson has taken the UN and the world by storm with her astounding speech on gender equality for the launch of the new campaign, ‘HeForShe.’ Watson stresses the need for men to be advocates for gender equality as it not only a woman’s issue, but a human rights issue. Being a feminist myself, I completely agree with everything Watson has to say and think everyone should get behind this campaign. I must say it has also risen my respect and admiration towards Watson a great deal – what a woman!
Take a news story and unintentionally hilarious interview subject. What do you get? A ridiculously viral Internet sensation! You may have heard of and/or seen the currently globally known clip ‘Apparently Kid.’ Check it out below:
Five-year-old Noah Ritter has since had his world turned upside down, featuring in interviews on The Ellen Show, Good Morning America, Today News and recently starring in a new Fresh Pet advertisement. It’s crazy how being in the right place at the right time can pretty much get you what some people work for their entire lives, overnight. Sigh. Anyway, props to the kid!
I know I’m not the only one who’s a sucker for reality TV shows. Something about them is frustratingly addicting, whether it be the characters you love to hate, the over-dramatisation of EVERYTHING or the desire to know who will be eliminated and who will win. Right now in fact I’m trying excruciatingly hard to sit down and blog instead of succumbing to the realms of X Factor, my not so guilty pleasure of the moment.
…Oops, I gave into temptation. X Factor just finished but I am back! Reigan Derry for the win guys!
Back on topic. So recently I tuned into the ABC’s Reality Check, which gives viewers an insight into what really goes down in the production of reality TV. Host Tom Ballard and a panel of industry experts analyse current and past programs and the reveal the secrets of their make up. The show really appealed to me as being a fan of the genre myself, it was interesting to gain insight into the perspectives of those involved in the production process.
One of the topics of discussion of last week’s episode was the representation of culture on Australian’s TV screens. In this case, the panel discussed the tendency of producers to either undermine or exploit the multiculturalism that exists within our nation. Whilst shows like X Factor and The Voice tend to feature competitors of a range of ethnic backgrounds, others such as The Block have a track record of an exclusively Ango-centric cast. In what appears to be an attempt to solve the issue noted by many, it is likely that their culturally rich Sydney couple Chris and Jenna intend to challenge the stereotype. Reality Check showed a controversial clip from The Block introducing the mixed-race couple, in which the pair were literally labelled (can’t find a visual, but it involved on-screen text and arrows) with their cultural background.
Way not to be subtle, Channel Nine! I respect that they are branching out and attempting to showcase a more realistic sample of our multicultural society, but I’m not sure if this was the right way to go about it. The debate is never ending however as there seems to be a fine line between cultural diversity and racism on our screens.
Nonetheless, Reality Check is definitely worth a watch. Check it out on ABC iview here.
So I thought I’d give my fellow media pals some love! I picked one post from each of Kerri’s, Evan’s and Michael’s blogs to respond to – check them out below!
Kerri’s post: Livin’ la vida Lecture #1
Kerri’s sassiness in this blog post is simply on point and it makes for a wildly entertaining read. She doesn’t shy from her honest opinions and uses her humour to get them across. I think we all felt a bit lost after the first lecture, but many of us responded in a way that sugar-coated the shock we had just been through. Kerri’s post actually had me laughing out loud as let’s be honest, we were all thinking it. I truly think she could go places with her aptitude for writing in this style. Social media is her platform! You go, Spagkerri!
Evan’s post: What’s all the Hype about?
Having not read the reading myself yet, Evan’s blog on hypertext taught me a lot. His writing style is easy to follow, informative and yet still very entertaining – his gag linking to a Ludacris video actually had me laughing for a good minute. This term ‘hyper-text’ is thrown around so much, and Evan’s approach to explaining this seemingly complex concept was refreshing. I’m quite glad I read his blog before facing the reading myself, as it offered me a basic understanding to prepare myself for whatever George Landow is about to hit me with. Cheers, Ev-Dogs!
Michael’s post: Off Topic | A Very Quirky But Excellent Cover
One of the great things about this whole blogging thing is the way that us students are able to share great content with each other. I know I can always rely on my fellow media students to post something that’s worth my while watching! Michael’s blog post diverted me to a really interesting mashup by Kasabian of Sesame’s street’s theme song ‘Can You Tell Me How To Get To Sesame Street’ and The Beach Boys’ ‘Good Vibrations.’ Weird, right? I was immediately curious and found the cover to be surprisingly good. So thank you Michael (I don’t have a nickname for you… apologies!) for that peculiar yet feel-good viewing experience!
It’s funny how we can enjoy watching another person react to just as must as we can enjoy (or not) an experience ourselves. Ben and Rafi Fine, also known as ‘TheFineBros,’ are the creators of the ‘React’ webseries’ on Youtube. It all began with ‘Kids React,’ in which children are shown viral videos and are then asked questions about what they just saw. Due to the shows immense success, Ben and Rafi expanded the series and created a multitude of different versions – ‘Teens React,’ ‘Elders React,’ ‘Youtubers React’ and more recently the special edition ‘Celebrities React.’ To date, TheFineBros Youtube channel has close to 10 million subscribers.
A relatively new feature of the show is that instead of watching a video, participants react to unfamiliar technologies. I thought the following episode was very appropriate to this week’s reading – also very entertaining and cute!
Sorry blog, I’ve neglected you this week!
Picking a favourite television series is a big call to make. There are so many great shows out there that we are almost overwhelmed for choice. Before you make the be all end all decision (just kidding, but seriously), there are several things that you must first consider. In my opinion, the following signs are indicative that a show could in fact be your all time favourite:
-You’ve seen every episode at least three times (and still find it entertaining).
-You find every day situations reminding you of the show.
-You quote it so much that you drive your friends insane.
For me, that show is without a doubt (drumroll please)… FRIENDS! I know it’s a bit of a generic answer, but let’s be honest, it’s the best show ever. It’s not often series that finished ten years ago still resonates with viewers today. Unfortunately I was a bit young for it’s initial release, but discovered it soon enough and it has since been my go-to program. Credit to the creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman, the brilliant crew and of course the awesome cast for piecing together such a timeless series.
My reason for bringing this up is that I came across an entertaining BuzzFeed article titled ’61 Things You Didn’t Know About Friends.’ Although quite a few of these facts were familiar, a fair amount still came as total surprise. One of my favourites being…
‘53. James Michael Tyler was cast as Gunther because he was the only extra who knew how to operate an espresso machine.’
How hilarious! Any Friends fans out there NEED to check this out. Click here!
