Strategical Shoe Shopping

hmm.. There's two amusing things about this

1. It clearly demonstrates how obsessed I am with online shopping, I'm not even crazily in love with them either, they are just your standard comfortable friday night wedges yet still I somehow know these shoes can be found at 3 different prices...
2. WHAT AN OUTRAGE, put a fancy brand name on them and suddenly you have to pay (disregarding the pathetic "sale" price, an extra $130! You may argue quality over quantity ($) but hey, when you're a uni student, saving $130 off something that will most likely end up accommodating shards of glass and unknown stickiness from a night in the valley (Please tell me you can relate) I can go without the fancy name.

I understand this is mindless blabber and I apologise to the ABC worshippers and political enthusiasts who feel they are wasting precious braincells reading anything that isn't slightly academic. Perhaps I could discuss consumer affairs? Or perhaps not.....
:)

Welcome to my paradise

I’m not a political activist. I openly admit that the thrills and spills of politics don’t ignite a passion from within. However, when my beautiful hometown of Noosa becomes involved, things get serious. For those of you haven’t heard of Noosa, basically your missing out. This breathtaking scenery was the backdrop of my childhood and teenage years. 

When I was in year 10, 2008, there was a big uproar around town; Noosa council was becoming amalgamated with Sunshine Coast Regional Council. If anyone has been to Marcoola or Coolum you will understand why Noosa locals petitioned against this relentlessly. If you haven’t, its because these other coastal towns have been spoilt by high rises and tourism development, Noosa is the only remaining coastal town on the Sunshine Coast to maintain its natural and unspoilt beauty, offering a unique lifestyle like no other.

Since council amalgamation, rates in the Noosa Shire have been increased, services such as waste management have decreased, paid parking has been proposed, and the tireless efforts of the community have managed to ward off or delay potential developments. The recent LNP victory has ignited hope for Noosa to once again become an independent council.

“The man expected to be the next LNP leader has confirmed that he will honour the pledge made by his predecessor to ‘Free Noosa’ from the Sunshine Coast Council. Within 100 days of LNP victory, a Boundary Commission will be established to consider appropriate shire boundaries (including analysis of “communities of interest” such as Eumundi, Doonan, Verrierdale and Peregian Springs)”

For a small, relaxed little town, all I can say is the locals know what they want, and how to get it. Noosa has reached this milestone by working together as a community, and not taking no for an answer.

Commercial Media - Week 6

Week 6 Lecture – Commercial media

Another Monday came round, as did another JOUR1111 lecture. This week the lecture concentrated on commercial media. To be honest I didn’t really know what I was going to think of the lecture, because I had never really put much thought into commercial media, my thoughts went as far as oh yeah that’s a good add, or, I really don’t understand what the marketing person was thinking when they created that add. But it turns out commercial media isn’t just about adds, its actually a monstrosity of an industry. They say you learn something new everyday, excuse me if I sound extremely clueless but I never knew ABC and SBS were government owned, therefore deemed public media, where as all the other popular TV channels are privately owned and therefore commercial media.  

Commercial media is profit driven meaning it succeeds and fails on the success of the business.  Its business is to generate an audience to which it can sell advertising. Dr Redman explained why commercial media exists; it’s the eyeballs and eyes to advertisers. You would think that viewers, readers and listeners of commercial media would be the primary customers, however the advertises are the real customers. We were shown the big players of commercial media such as, WIN Corporation, TEN, nine entertainment co., News Limited, Fairfax, Southern Cross broadcasting, seven west media and APN Media. Dr Redman then went through and explained what each company produced; I found this quite interesting to find out which companies owned the media I consume routinely.

Dr Redman made a point that commercial media has resulted in general dumbing down of content. This statement is clearly supported by this quote included in the presentation. “Commercial = corrupt; lack of quality; profit over- rides social responsibility” John McManus. This may be the reason mainstream news channels such as 7 & 10 feel its necessary to report on the arrival of UK x Factor winners “One direction” over much more important and worthy news, but I guess if their audience includes infatuated teenage girls then they’ve got to keep them happy too. The question was posed: Can commercial media deliver on both commercial (profit) and social (‘public trust’) functions? (or is it really just about the mighty $ dollar?)… I think no it can’t, and yes the mighty dollar is paramount. Stay tuned for next week’s installment where public media will be explored.

Radio is the theatre of the mind - Week 5

For week 5 lecture we were treated to an online sound lecture. We had the honour of listening to Carmel’s interviews with professional radio broadcasters Richard Fidler and Steve Austin from ABC Local Radio. Richard, from the program “Conversations” accidently ended up in radio, lucky duck, while Steve Austin basically ‘kissed butt’ to get where he is today. I found both interviews to be rather inspirational, especially because of the enthusiasm and passion both broadcasters had regarding the survival and triumph of this traditional medium. 

Richard originally came from the field of television, but when he converted to radio the first thing he realised is that it’s an extremely different medium. Richard explained that radio is a much more intimate affair, the voice seems to come from within your own head and its imperative to make the listener feel included at all times.  He said to make good radio, you must be genuinely interested in what people have to say, and above all, be emotional human beings. Its also important for the interviewee to trust you, so they feel they are safe to reveal themselves, which is why guests are always pre-interviewed so they know what to expect.  Something that resonated with me was when Richard talked about the moment when guests surprise themselves by recollecting a moment that had been buried deep within them. To be part of such an experience would be so compelling, which is exactly how Richard described it. To finish up Carmel asked Richard to share some advice for the fresh, aspiring JOUR1111 cohort; his words of wisdom were read, ask questions, be worldly, inquisitive and most importantly stay away from the ideological ghetto of the internet.

 For someone who’s career path was founded while riding a motorbike, Steve Austin turned out to be quite the seasoned and professional journalist. From radio courses to volunteer graveyard shifts Steve eventually made the change from commercial radio to public radio and ended up on ABC local radio. From this change it dawned on him that radio is not about yourself, but the audience. Steve also expressed that your annunciation of words is paramount. It helps bring down the barriers.  His words of wisdom were “As it is in life, it is in radio”. I’d like to sum up this week’s lecture with a quote from Steve.

“Radio is the theatre of the mind”

Procrastination turned productive... i think!

Right now I’m supposed to be writing about Week 5 and 6 lectures, oh and studying for multiple other exams, but instead I’m doing what I always to do, procrastinate.  My procrastination almost always comes in the form of online shopping, or should I say online browsing. The amount of time I spend vigorously scrolling through pictures and pictures of all these perfect models wearing all these amazing clothes that I just WANT and I just CAN’T have because of my occupation (student) and financial status is actually quite depressing. Incase I somehow come into money, whether it be by some miracle I win the lottery or I accidently create something like Facebook ( or Instagram for that matter, it did just get bought by Facebook for a billion dollars, no biggie), I have a list going in my mind of things I would buy, just because when I wanted them I couldn’t have them. I know this sounds selfish, because of the whole appreciate what you have thing, I completely agree with that, I’m so grateful for the life I have, but secretively we all have those moments where you just need to have that gorgeous and oh so cozy winter coat or those shoes that scream out to you from the window (or website) “Just buy me who cares about your rent and food for this week”….. Or maybe that’s just me. So, because I waste so much time looking at things I shouldn't really buy, I thought maybe I should somehow make it productive. From now on, I shall blog the top 3 things I want (I’m talking realistically, not like a new bmw or anything) every once and a while, whether it be clothes, shoes, home décor, beauty products, food, basically anything that tickles my fancy. Oh, I’ve just had a thought, perhaps this isn’t productive at all, and perhaps this is only encouraging my procrastination and making me want more things… Oh well, I’ve already written all this, so here you are my top three wants for the week!

An all round seasonal skirt in
this delightful plum/ grape colour......
pretty and practical!

This cute little felt stick on tree to brighten up my dull just-moved-house walls of my bedroom, more of this wall cuteness can be found at lovemae.com.au

I know winter is fast approaching, those crisp mornings and nippy afternoons...but it's never to cold to want to purchase a Zimmerman bikini, right?  ( I wouldn't mind having her body either, but this isn't about body image) 

Lecture 3 - All About Text

Okay, I know what your thinking. ( Thats if anyone is reading this ) Why is she writing about our week 3 lecture when we are in week 6? Well I will answer your question in the form of another question… Where do you serial and punctual bloggers get the time to sit down and type about the lecture you just sat in? Maybe I just need to get a grip on my time management and perhaps spend less time doing things that are much more riveting…

Anyway! Week 3 lecture oh wow what an eye opener. Just to mix things up a little we had a guest lecturer, Skye Doherty. Before working in UQ’s School of Journalism & Communication Skye worked on Fleet Street in the UK, dabbled in foreign correspondence and has done lots of local work around Brisbane as a journalist.  As you can tell from the heading, her forte is text. This was made clear to me when her first words were “I like text, text is great”. It was then that she went on to introduce us to the big scary world of text. Text is many things, it’s fast, flexible, controllable, portable and we can mold it to do what it is exactly that we want.  It was then that the good old “Inverted Triangle” flashed up on the screen. We all know what this is; we had it taught to us by our year 5 teachers when we had to write a recount of our weekend (oh they were the days). But just to refresh your memories here it is AGAIN

After giving a brief overview of the inverted triangle, Skye talked about news values. News values define your job as a journalist, Skye informed us budding journalists to learn them, and suck them into our souls. An example from ‘The Sun” online newspaper was shown to demonstrate a practical example of how the inverted pyramid and news values work together. Then hyper text was explained, hypertext is when you see a news story online with words and a picture, and on the side there are all other links you can click to explore different angles of the story. Skye then went on to explain the layouts of stories on front pages of newspapers. This then lead to how to write a headline, which Skye explained was a very fine art that took years to perfect. What makes a good headline? Always use a verb, make sure they are true and correct and in the early stages of headline writing stay away from puns. Skye also talked about lots of other text related things, with a focus on how the social media revolution impacts textual journalism.

It was inspiring to hear Skye’s career path, knowing that she was once to a novice and aspiring journalism student. It excited me that she worked in Thailand and England alternating between freelance work and foreign correspondence.  It was then question time and a few people were intrigued on her view on the whole news of the world scandal. Skye said everyone knew what the News of the World journalists were doing, it was only when the parents of missing child Maddie McCann phones were hacked that it came into the public spotlight igniting rumors and outrage over phone hacking scandals. Overall I found this lecture to be quite informative and somewhat inspiring, it’s always good to hear from someone who has done something along the lines of the career path you have in mind. So voila, theres week 3's lecture, better late then never !