What to look forward to

By Casey Macpherson

Bathurst TAFE showcase, December 3
Today we met with Paul Basha, a Cert 4 Multimedia student from TAFE Bathurst Campus. Paul is one of the students who will have work shown at the showcase. His short film is based on his Lebanese background, an attempt to show his culture in a much different light to how we know it from the media.

After being sat in front of our TVET Media class, he opened himself up to an array of difficult and some slightly intrusive questions on his opinions on the stereotypes and racism aimed at Lebanese people in Australia. From this I can tell you that he is an easy going guy who believes the minority let down the majority when it comes to setting an image of the Lebanese. He thinks the media presents stories in a predetermined way, but he isn't resentful, stating “It’s their job to twist stories”.

He is not a "fully-sick, doof-doof Leb", but a Multimedia student with a different approach. You can see his film at the Bathurst TAFE campus on December 3, alongside the work of many other TAFE students. All are welcome so come along and enjoy the variety of work from a variety of people.

New film confronts stereotypes - by Fran Vinall

Paul Basha is a 19-ish TAFE student filming a 5-8 minute movie for his class. He’s all smiles, attempting to coax conversation out of our awkwardly silent class, while our teacher runs around printing various things off. His friends stand in the corner, filming this interview, and they joke around, relaxed. "Are you a terrorist?" one mockingly asks Paul, who laughs heartily. Oh, and Paul is Lebanese. Don’t worry though, this isn’t going to be another "What is the problem with our Middle Eastern youth?" paranoia-infested article. Quite the opposite, in fact. Paul is filming a movie about his Lebanese family, in an attempt to disprove the prevalent all-Lebs-are-violent stereotype running rampant in Australia’s media.

The stereotype of the aggressive Lebanese gang has been around for a while, long before the Cronulla riots, but it was the riots which really sparked things up. It would be a hot day in July when the newspapers don’t present some story or another about a crime committed by someone of "Middle Eastern appearance." Yet when the perpetrator is Caucasian, his description of race in the papers goes mysteriously missing. There is a problem in many Sydney suburbs, with the Lebanese demographic being worryingly overrepresented in crime, yet the problem, caused by the media, is that this results in people assuming all Lebanese people are out to get you. Which, when you look at people like Paul, is obviously not the case. As he puts it, "There are some who ruin it for the rest of us, who are honest and hardworking." He maintains he and his family are not the "fully sick ones with the doof doof music."

Paul’s grandparents migrated to Australia before the civil war began tearing Lebanon apart. They moved because they wanted a change: "To raise the family in a non-third world country was probably good," says Paul. Paul himself wants one day to visit Lebanon, calling it the "Paris of the Middle East."

"It’s a very picturesque country," he says – but don’t worry, he has his priorities straight, citing the food as a good reason for visiting his grandparents homeland.

Paul believes the stereotyping of Lebanese in the media is due to a bad attitude by the media – they must have a story in their minds before they go out there, he says. A fair point, and somewhat true – journalists are often told their angle before they go to investigate a news item. How many times do you think one has been told, oh, it’s a Lebanese crime, go for that? He also says that his culture is an easy target, especially after the neurosis-inducing riots.

Paul himself has been relatively free from racism growing up – he attended Stannies (St. Stanislaus College) in Bathurst, and says he only ever received anything race orientated from friends, as a joke. Still, sometimes people will ask him where he’s from, and when he replies that he’s Lebanese, the reactions can be starkly different. The majority will be cool with it, but there are the occasional bad apples who will treat him with him a disdainful "oh," and walk away. "Sometimes it’s ok to say you’re Lebanese, but sometimes you’re ashamed," he says. "Most of the time, I’m ok with it." Since he is generation Y, Paul believes he has escaped much of the racism of earlier times. His uncles and grandparents however, received some trouble fitting in in a new country. "Too Aussie to be Lebanese, too Lebanese to be Aussie," Paul says.

His movie is a documentary about his family and Lebanese culture, which he has been working on for about a term. His migrant grandparents will be a particular focus of the movie. "I wanted to do something completely different," says Paul. The movie can be viewed on December 3, 2009 at the TAF Campus on Panorama Avenue, Bathurst, as part of the Bathurst Information, Arts and Technology Showcase.

Every country has its idiots - by Nick Wade

Today we were given the opportunity of interviewing Paul Basha on the subject of his short film which is currently in production. Paul’s film deals with the sensitive issue of racial stereotyping in Australia, in particular towards the Lebanese culture and people. Now before you turn away or stop reading thinking to yourself “yes, yes I’ve heard it all before”, what separates Paul from the rest of the drab crowd who constantly whine and bicker about racism is that Paul makes some damn fine points.

The point that hits closest to home for me is his reference to the minorities and basically how they are the root of all negative stereotyping. I can easily relate to this because when the world looks at Australia what do they see? They see middle aged men with beer guts and sausage stained singlets living in the middle of the desert and keeping kangaroos as pets. How many of us are actually like this? This was Paul’s main point, that because some drongos in Sydney with too much testosterone sparked a riot and because America is at war with the Middle East does this make every Lebanese person within Australia a criminal? His exact words were: “It’s the minorities ruining it for the majority.”

I can sympathise with this point of view as I’m sick to death of tourists coming to Australia and being disappointed that I don’t know how to surf, I don’t have a tan and of course most shocking I don’t have a pet kangaroo.

Of course for an interview it wasn’t actually what was being said that sold Paul's case for me, it was the fact that Paul entered with his two mates laughing and joking being able to talk about the sensitive issues calmly and with good humour. When asked, “What in your opinion is the biggest difference between Australia and Lebanon?” he was unable to think of an answer but instead gave similarities between the two saying “they are good people, easy going”.

While I don’t doubt there are Lebanese people out there who I wouldn’t understand and wouldn’t particularly get along with I’m certain there are just as many Australians that fit into the same category. At the end of the day Paul's point is that every country has its idiots and we have to all try our best to not them tarnish our nationality's reputation. This is what Paul's film aims to do and can be viewed on the 3rd of December at the TAFE Showcase.

Newspaper extinction - how sad

By Chelsie Webster

I just read an article that claimed conventional media such as newspapers and magazines will be "dead", as technology is taking over, and people are turning to reading the news online, blogging and of COURSE the awesome twitter updates - LOL!

Yeah, maybe. I don't really know how to respond to this. Lets face it - Australians are bloody lazy. I don't know many people who leap out of bed at 6am to go fetch the paper to be read over brekky. Okay, so maybe we get it delivered now - but I haven't put much faith in the deranged man who drives that crappy little red car around Bathurst, hurling the paper at targets. Personally, I read the paper - 3 kinds of paper. The Blayney Chronicle which is of course an exciting read, the Daily Telegraph for all things sport only, and the Western Advocate for laughs.

So the internet is a great place to access blogs - but blogs don't have the facts, and newspaper stories are most of the time 70% fact. How do we know that some random nobody blogger is telling the truth? Television has been around for a long time, if we wanted to get rid of newspapers, we would of decades ago when we started accessing the news on television. I don't believe that newspapers are going to go "extinct", many people love to read the paper or magazine of a coffee during their lunch break. No blog or internet will ever replace that.

But once again, I really don't care. As long as the TV is feeding me my sport news, I wouldn't care if the paper went extinct. But then again...how would we get the tab guide?

Kyle at it again! Chelsie Webster

I'm sure you've already heard. And if you were unfortunate enough to hear it live on air, then I think you're an idiot for listening to Kyle Sandilands in the first place. Naturally, Kyle has obviously become bored with his miserable, greasy life, and has decided to bring down the hard efforts of Magda Szubanski's weight loss, by saying she could lose more weight in a concentration camp. I must admit, he's really outdone himself this time. Not only offending one person, but the survivors of Hitler's concentration camps, any Jew, Jewish group, families of those who died in the concentration camps...oh the list goes on! Well done Kyle! You've successfully managed to get the whole population of Australia to vomit in our mouths a little.

But I must think to myself...does Kyle sit around, while eating 3 family sized pizzas, and think of outrageous things to say on air to offend people? I think he's playing a game with us Australia...the more people he offends, and the more media time he gets, he gets more points! And maybe his crappy singer wife will feed him a little more dinner at night! Or maybe its some geniuses at 2day fm who come up with these awesome ideas?

Honestly Kyle, you are fat and greasy. Since you think Magda could go lose a little more weight, maybe you can become the new face of Jenny Craig? No, please don't. Nobody likes looking at you - maybe that is why you are on the radio.

Hitler still killing years later - Nick Wade

A new advertisement set to be released on German television depicts Hitler in a steamy encounter with a woman and a tag line that reads “AIDS is a mass murderer”. The ad campaign is aimed to counter a fall in public awareness about the virus and promote safe sex.
For those of you who don’t find this to be utterly hilarious and stupid, stop reading now you obviously don’t understand basic humour. For those of you who wish to learn, listen closely. AIDS is tragic, and by itself is not funny, Hitler was a meanie and by himself is not funny. However Hitler + AIDS = Very funny. So you see this is my proven formula that two wrongs make a funny.

Dirk Silz creative director of the Das committee agency is quoted as saying “We asked ourselves what face we could give to the virus, and it couldn’t be a pretty face”. Well Dirk Silz your right, up until now I myself thought aids was a walk in the park, but if Hitler’s concerned it must be bad. On the bright side we may now have a cure to the deadly virus, I’m pretty sure last time Hitler got up to his devious old ways we rounded up an army of Allied troops and marched right on over there to give him a slap on the wrist. By my reasoning this trusted solution ought to work like a charm on the pesky old AIDS virus.

As if the topic of AIDS and Hitler wasn’t serious enough this whole situation could actually be breaching a much larger and in my opinion far more important issue. I speak of course about the age old debate of “how soon is too soon?” This question has plagued comedians the world over for generations and in a recent poll has been discovered to actually be a much more pressing issue than finding a cure for aids.

You see Hitler and his holocaust was roughly 70 years ago and yet it’s still not funny, where as the untimely death of Steve Irwin was a mere 3 years ago, his family lives on without him and despite this the situation is already hilariously funny. In my opinion the solution to this problem should be next on our scientists list of things to do, a quantifiable formula to determine exactly how long it takes before a tragic situation ceases to be heart rending and starts to be laughable.

Alice's nightmare a dream come true - Fran Vinall

Sydney Entertainment Centre
August 24, 2009
Alice Cooper’s ‘Theatre of Death tour’ was everything one would expect from a man who more or less single-handedly invented his own genre, shock rock. He was decapitated, hung, electrified and lethally injected, usually by a deranged nurse, played by his real-life daughter. He murdered (by strangling), murdered (by stabbing with a mike stand,) necrophiled, threw money and diamonds into the crowd while brandishing a sword and played with a very true-to-life model of his own head. His costumes included an outfit with 7 extra, spindly metal arms, a straightjacket, and a blinding suit completely covered in glittering silver sequins, with matching cane and hat. And all this decadent cavorting took place under huge, hovering letters spelling alice.

Naturally, the music was at least as good as the spectacle of a stage show – the ‘seated’ section of the crowd surged to their feet and head banged like crazy as Alice (whose real name is the even more gothic cool Vincent Damon Furnier,) growled out tune after classic tune. He deviated between sludging, shaking guitar in songs like ‘Mr. Nice Guy’ and ‘Cold Ethel,’ to soulful crooning, even *gasp* sitting down for ‘Only Women Bleed.’ Thankfully, he didn’t make the mistake many of his contempories have in trying to focus on more recent material, and dedicated himself instead to his roots, with a nice helping of Billion Dollar Babies, School’s Out, Killer and so on served up with a smattering of more recent releases, that didn’t sound overly out of place amongst the old school anthems. The band was superb, slicing out the rock with professionalism, while at the same time sounding like they were having fun – it takes a mighty fine combination of musicians to take the stage with Alice, and they did it with finesse.

The support band, Electric Mary, were annoying, sending forth wave after wave of indistinguishable rock which hailed to the great, classic rock n roll of the 70’s but didn’t quite get there. The front man was either wasted or acting wasted, the latter seeming more likely, as he told jokes that weren’t funny and tried a little too hard to impress us with how Aussie and cool he was.

I was a little worried pre-concert about the prospect of watching someone who has lived nearly 6 decades stagger about the stage – the fact that the majority of the audience were in the 40+ age bracket did nothing to disperse this – but I had nothing to worry about. The heavy lines accumulated over the past 59 years only added to Alice’s leering, Goth/serial killer look, and this man is one example of ageing, if not gracefully, then at least with style – even if it was slightly ironic to hear him belt out “I’m eighteen! I don’t know what to do!” The concert started, and finished, with the fiendishly catchy rock anthem ‘School’s Out’ - the oldies in the crowd even sung along! Alice Cooper proved to Sydney tonight that he truly is one of the great rock institutions.

Nothing we didn't know - Casey Macpherson

I found an article today in The Sydney Morning Herald titled ‘the downside: alert as infection rates soar’. It is a brief article filled with statistics on sexual intercourse in teenagers and how they are on the rise. The whole article being very straight out and dull, telling us nothing we didn’t already know. Although the final few paragraphs do bring up a point almost leading to the direction of how to fix this issue. ‘”Young people are becoming more experimental with their sexuality and they don’t see the barriers to it now that we did in previous years as it’s more acceptable in the community now,” Ms Michealson said. The readily availability of pornography and representations of teen and adult sexuality in advertising and popular culture could negatively influence the way children and teenages view sex, she said. “Young people who are not informed or ready for sex education are being inundated with messages encouraging sexual behaviour that they are not ready to process and do not understand the consequences of.”
This statement is one step away from the best way to fix this issue and start sex education at younger ages. Something I believe should have been done a long time ago, and don’t understand why it was not. It has been recognised that advertising and media play a big factor in the lowering age of children becoming involved in sexual activity, it is also recognised that those who aren’t informed don’t understand the consequences. This leaves us with two solutions, remove sex scenes or anything sexual what so ever from every movie, the internet, TV show and ads. Sexuality being one of the major features for ad’s, with profiteering soaring, in this money driven world I doubt sexual references will ever be banned within the advertising industry. This leaves one other option, start sex ed at an earlier age, I’m constantly hearing of year 7 students at my school ‘getting around’ with an array of people in ages up to 20, pretty messed up if you ask me. As far as I remember year 6 sexual education is sugar coated cartoons of ‘what’s happening to me’ and a brief mention of actual sex in the form of ‘where did I come from’s’ and it’s for grown up’s who love each other. What’s that going to do for someone when they leave the sugar coated world of primary school and enter high school. A 13 year old girl gets to high school and an older guy shows some interest in her, all of a sudden she is cool cause she is ‘in’ with older kids, young, impressionable girl is going to go a long with what is supposed to be cool, and what does she know of the risks of diseases, pregnancy and everything else sex brings? Nothing other than old wives tales that her friends older sibling who also hasn’t reached the time of sex ed that actually educates you, tells her.
I recently attended a sexual health presentation only showed to senior high school students filled with graphic images and extensive information on STI’s. Something that made the whole room cringe and many swear to abstinence. With most likely about 50%+ of the people in that room already sexually active it was scary how many questions were asked and how much new information was given. I suggest they show presentations like this to age groups as young as year 7, as isn’t it better for them to make their own informed decisions, than with no knowledge or understanding of what their getting into by become sexually active.

My big day - Kate Lucas

Last week, I went down to the Western Advocate and I was interviewed by Miriam Siers on the trip to Italy next year. My interview was in the paper today.

Basically, I got a grant from the Spastic Centre-what a name for an organisation that deals with disabled people-so I can go on the trip to Italy with school next year.

I’ve also agreed to take part in a program run by the Spastic Centre, called “Just Like You”. It’s where I go around to schools in the Central West and talk to the students in Year 5 about having a disability and what it’s like. I haven’t actually done a session yet.

Anyway, I haven’t really got anything else to say on that subject.

Two hundred and forty-five thousand - Siobhonn Shannon

Two hundred and forty-five thousand is one of the most important statistics in Australian medicine today. It’s a fairly obscure digit, and you’ll probably have forgotten all about it by the time you go to bed tonight, which is, when you think about it, painfully ironic. Two hundred and forty-five thousand is, in fact, the current number of Australian citizens affected by Alzheimer’s disease, and many of them can’t even remember their own names. The least you can do is remember a number for them.

Finally, decades of intense research have led to the discovery of three genes which increase an individual’s chance of developing dementia in old age. Scientists in France, Britain and Australia have been able to compare the DNA sequences of those both with and without the debilitating brain condition. Alzheimer’s is characterised by the build up of plaque-like lesions in the brain, which impair the functions of important connections within the brain, causing memory loss and occasionally, the ability to from even the simplest thoughts and ideas. According to one scientist working on the project, the study has shown new pathways within the brain which lead to the disease, and therefore, hopefully, new ways to avoid it. The most specific Alzheimer avoidance technique so far is ‘a healthy diet and exercise’, which is really not enough to make those seriously at risk, or even those who are in the early stages of the disease feel confident that they are doing all they can to preserve their mind.

My maternal great-grandmother (who died before I was born) had Alzheimer’s, and from the very little that I’ve been able to understand about a person whom I’ve never met, it is clear to me that the disease has a tremendously poisonous effect on not only those who suffer it, but their loved ones as well. Not only must they suffer the pain of watching someone close to them slip away before their eyes, they must also, in time, come to fear the hereditary characteristics of the illness. If your ancestor had Alzheimer’s, there is an slightly increased chance of you developing it in old age. You won’t necessarily end up with dementia, but an increasing the risk of something always brings it just a little closer to home. You could go outside and get hit by a bus, but at least your descendant’s chances of getting hit by a bus won’t be higher than anyone else’s.

My grandmother, my mother and I all look incredibly alike, and every time we get together, there is always a tiny, unspoken fear that our minds will one day be alike as well, in the worst possible way. So, for us, and the memory of my great-grandmother’s suffering, every scientific development is a brightening of the light at the end of the tunnel.

Bored to tears ... Casey Macpherson

Do blogs run the threat of replacing conventional media?

No. That was my opinion before reading "the epistemology of blogging" and after boring myself to tears trying to take in the intellectual words of a man with a love of rambling with crap my opinion remains no.

This radio interview brings up no real issue other then the depth of the unnecessary thoughts of Australia’s brains. How stupid do they think the world is? Sure, the people of today aren’t geniuses. But I think it is pretty well known that you don’t pay too much attention to what you read on the internet, and the amount of people that do are far too insignificant a number to affect the existence of conventional news.

Next point, these days so many people spend their day at a computer screen - even a check out chick spends the day staring into a computer screen of sorts. How many people really want to come home and read copious amounts of nonsense from bloggers? They watch the news whilst cooking dinner, and that’s something people have done for a long time.

These days the world is down to trying to simplify everything, they want it as to the point and quickly as possible, so a threat of blogs full of opinion pieces really doesn’t seem to be a likely threat to that of conventional news. If by some chance it does, who cares? If it becomes dominant enough to take over then obviously everyone is going to think it’s just great at the time, so putting depthy thought into the matter now is unnecessary.

I always knew there was a good reason as to why I don’t waste my time listening to things like that, now I’m reminded why. There are much better things to do.

No beige hat ... by Nick Wade

This week we were given the opportunity of an interview with Park Ranger Steve Woodhall. Sorry to disappoint this blogs many avid readers but no Steve Woodhall didn’t have a beige broad brimmed hat, he didn’t have aviators, he didn’t have long socks and most shocking of all he didn’t have a gun. Steve Woodhall is quite frankly the last person you’d expect to be wearing the green jumper of a Park Ranger.
After our friendly little chat with Steve I found all my preconceptions of Park Rangers and their adventures utterly shattered leaving me broken and empty. As it turns out Park Rangers are pacifists who care about nature (who knew).

Though I disapprove of the lack of gun and aviators Steve answered all our interview questions patiently and in detail which makes me eternally grateful as now my job of blogging about the interview has been made much easier.

While some in the class asked Steve important questions about economy and tourism impacts on nature, being a male teenager my mind was set on one thing and one thing only…conflict. So it wasn’t surprising to know my questions centred around what kinds of problems and dangers a Park Ranger faces in his job on the frontier of nature. As it turns out the leading problem facing Park Rangers in our area is the spreading of weeds, which can consume thousands of dollars each year as the Park Rangers valiantly battle against the spread of the scourge.

You see once upon a time in the area surrounding Mount Canabolas the farmers enjoyed fertile soil where their crops grew and flourished in the volcanic soil. Life was good and everyone was happy, completely oblivious of the horrors that lay ahead. One fateful day a fire (some speculate it was from hell) ravaged the land destroying the farmer’s precious crops and leaving them broken and helpless. It didn’t take long for the homicidal weeds of the land to seize the opportunity and infect the now bare and empty soil, crushing any hope the farmers had of regrowing. Thus it is that to this day the noble Park Rangers fight for the farmers very lives…stock.

I learned today that you don’t need aviators to be a hero (shocking I know) and I now plan to hang a poster of Steve on my wall at home.

Photo of blackberry flower (a noxious weed) by Tony Wills and published here under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License. Source:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blackberry_flower_01.jpg

Dog Baiting by Chelsie Webster

My extended family have all lived on the land at some point. My closest uncle is an active farmer, and I know all too well the issue of wild dogs. Wild dog or not, as soon as a dog walks onto a farmer's property, the farmer is allowed to destroy the animal. When I spoke to Steve Woodhall from the National Parks and Wildlife, we discussed the issue of dog baiting. I don’t see it an issue at all, however a lot of people see it as cruel and inhumane – the baited meat takes an agonising hour to kill the dog after it has consumed the bait. In control programs, up to 16 tonnes of meat laced with 1080 poison is placed in areas where it is most likely to be found by wild dogs and not other native animals.

I find this the easiest way to bring these dogs under control – wild dogs, domestic dogs roaming the land and hybrids (dingo x domestic dog) destroy countless head of sheep and calves, and while a farmer may only lose a few head from their stock, these numbers add up to thousands a year. Steve Woodhall said that with dog baiting comes an increase in pests such as kangaroos – however, it is the risk a farmer is most likely willing to take, culling the dogs in favour to save a few cattle, and opting for culling the kangaroos in their own time.

I don’t see it as an issue, and I think the majority of people that do, need to spend time with a battling farmer, and consider the fact that these animals are the sole income for most farmers and it is not fair to have these wild dogs destroying their stock.

But in the end, I have more important things to worry about. And considering I live in suburbia, wild dogs aren’t an issue. And if a wild dog does wander into my street, I am most likely to give it a home – as long as it is semi vicious and resembles a pit bull.

Photo of restrained pit bull terrier by Tatiana Sapateiro used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 licence. Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pit_bull_restrained.jpg

New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife push on tourism by Casey Macpherson

During our short interview with Steve Woodhall of the Western River Region National Parks and Wildlife the topic of the recent push on tourism within New South Wales National Parks arose, giving a bit of an insight into Steve’s opinion on the possible increase in tourism and its effects on the National Parks.
After being asked of the opinion of him and other rangers he responded that it is a mixed bag for them. Touching on both the detrimental effects of increased traffic throughout the parks and the positive effects of people getting out and getting an understanding for nature conservation. Although much more time was spent discussing the effects of having all of the extra traffic, and within that mentioning that the rangers had no say in the push on increased tourism. The way I read this statement and from bits and pieces I have seen on the internet, I gather this push is a not so well researched government idea, with Steve saying if extra funding was allowed then adequate prep for popular tourist area’s could be done prior, saving extensive damage to areas and making the job of conservation much easier and in the long run possibly cheaper.
In his argument of for tourism Steve mentioned things like its great if people are going to go get a feel for the nature and wildlife and if their doing some walking getting some exercise that’s also great, however I feel these things don’t relate to what the National Parks are about. Sure it’s great if people go and get a feel for the wildlife and nature, however the advertising for activities and holidays within national parks don’t appeal to those interests. Where will it lead once an income comes from new found tourism? Will our national parks still stay about preservation of nature, or like most things will profiteering take control.

About Steve Woodhall by Kate Lucas

Steve Woodhall, the ranger for the National Parks in the Bathurst region was a guest speaker at TAFE today. He spoke about his role as the ranger of the national parks and the different things it involves.
Steve works in the general area around Bathurst where 23-25 major areas are situated. There are similar offices across New South Wales which basically do the same thing as the Bathurst National Parks offices which is controlling animal population and similar things.
Steve also volunteers as a fire fighter for the state, although if there is a major fire, he is able to go and help out.






Photo of Mount Canobolas, from the Pinnacles. Photo taken August 2005 by Takver and released under the GNU FDL Mont Canobolas, en Nouvelle Galles du Sud en Australie
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mount_Canobolas.jpg

Shedding tears for the conventional media (not) ... Nick Wade

On the radio program the Philosophers Zone it was argued by Professor Alvin Goldman that blogging threatens the conventional news media and that this threat could potentially impoverish society. I tend to agree with Tasmanian Professor David Cody that while conventional media provides the public with the raw news it’s the blogosphere that gives us a deconstructed analysis of the day’s events.
I can’t see blogs posing any serious threat to conventional media and the fact that people worry about it proves that western society undoubtedly has its priorities in order. Gone are the days of starving African children on infomercials begging for food now we can shed a tear over the underprivileged media, infomercials packed full of men in suits mercilessly forced to take a limozine instead of a private helicopter. If anything the blogosphere is helping the average consumer by creating competition for the media and preventing them from having a monopoly which would be the real tragedy for society. The sheer power the media would have over what people were able to see without the competition of the internet and the blogosphere is terrifying. Just knowing that uncensored and unbiased reports of current events do exist out there in vastness of the internet is a comfort to the average consumer not a threat. Who among us hasn’t noticed the supposedly impartial news is a wee bit biased. Were being fed the stories we want to hear, rather than the stories that are true. Were being encouraged to feel strongly about the situation by being not so subtly encouraged to pick a side based on emotion, regardless of the facts.
So readers have no fear the blogs are here to help, we won’t bite, about the only thing the blogosphere could hurt is the medias precious ratings.

The main danger of blogs is... Fran Vinall

The main danger of blogs is, of course, that they will replace conventional media as a source of entertainment or news. Critics fear that since blogs are more accessible and more widespread than the mainstream media, the public will stop relying on newspapers and magazines, and instead turn to blogs for their information. Truth be told, if this phenomena does occur, and there are many a problem in it doing so, would this really be a bad thing?

The key issue critics have with blogs is that they can be written by anyone, about anything. All well and good, when it comes to blogs like cake wrecks, showing funny pictures of professional cakes, or personal blogs about what you ate for lunch and what your favourite Beatles song is.

But this is not so good when it comes to things like politics. Blog writers are writing up their opinion on the fat cat world of politics, and their opinion is only ever one side of the story. Take, for instance, Etalkinghead’s directory of political blogs. The links are these: conservative, liberal, independent (of ideology,) religion, humour, etc. Basically, the reader can choose whichever side he or she agrees with and only peruse blogs on that topic, nodding and sipping tea over a blog instead of a newspaper. Journalists have a responsibility to be non-biased and present both sides of the story.

Well, that’d be nice anyway, wouldn’t it. The facts are though, that as the media becomes less of the voice of the people and more of the voice of Rupert Murdoch and a few other kingpins, it is becoming increasingly biased. I saw a news report a few months ago about the government cutting money spent on wildlife, or a shelter closing down, or something like that. The report was given with the news reader holding a baby wallaby, shoving it into the camera and pleading “what about poor Joey here??” This is hardly non-biased reporting. Newspapers have the same one-sided bent. A recent article about Qantas, published on Ninemsn reports “The spokesman told ninemsn the plan centred on growth and retaining jobs. However, he admitted that "no company can rule out job cuts",” implying the spokesmen had let this information slip and was ashamed to say it. It seems like minor wording, “admitted” as opposed to “said” or a number of other words, but the implications are there when perhaps they shouldn’t be. Blogs are in no way delving into new territory by having a biased slant

The other, more annoying, thing about blogs is that many of them are amateur written. This can be easily avoided however, by digging out the blogs that interest you and avoiding the rest. Blogs provide the public with a chance to both get their opinion out into the world, but also to read a wide variety of opinions and insight they wouldn’t have access to in the world of mainstream media. Blogs allow the knowledge of every user of the internet to be accessed – they are most definitely a good thing.

Do We need a Media Filter? - Siobhonn Shannon

When I sit down and read the paper, watch the six o’clock news, check the Sydney Morning Herald website, or choose to utilise one of the many other ways in which the news is available, I like to know that what I’m reading is the truth. Don’t get me wrong, I love a bit of fiction every now and again, but it doesn’t belong on the front page of the newspaper. I’m not the only one who feels like this, and for exactly this reason, your average journalist uses multiple sources, which they check and cross check against all the other information they’ve gathered. Essentially, a news story is filtered down to its essence, all the false information carefully teased away by journalists who have the time, contacts and resources to do so.

For decades, we’ve been fed news by a media who is able to verify every last detail, so it’s not surprising to see that many people are against the constantly increasing popularity of blogs. Anyone can publish a blog, and they can put anything in it. The blog is limited only by its author’s imagination, and because of this incredible freedom, blogs are difficult to consider as a legitimate news source. While many bloggers cite their resources at the bottom of the page, most don’t, meaning that a lot of the time, the filtration process so highly valued by the conventional media does not occur. This makes a lot of people uncomfortable, even more so with the endless speculation that blogosphere will eventually take over the media world, leaving the news-craving public at the mercy of anyone with a computer.

Personally, I think the media can breathe easy. Blogs are, above all else, opinion pieces, written from the point of view of the person sitting at the keyboard. It is simply not in their design to be mind-bogglingly accurate. To filter the blogosphere would be a desecration of the very concept of blogging, which is to give the everyday citizen a safe and judgement-free outlet for their opinions and thoughts. The filtration of information has its place, and that place is only to make sure that the truth is told, not to censor the opinions of the masses.

Robertson is the Real Criminal - Frances Vinall

Nathan Rees, premier of New South Wales, is a man who looks constantly on the verge of tears. He runs his party more like the current coalition than the labor federal govt – with more bitching and bickering than any real policy making. Perhaps the constant state of mutiny in your backbenchers is telling you something, Nathan? The plots and constant treachery underfoot amongst the NSW labor kingpins is somewhat reminiscent of Tudor England. One real piece of action Rees has instigated, however, is his plans to relinquish government control over the state’s jails (specifically Parklea and Cessnock, to begin with) and place them into the hands of the highest-bidding-corporation – who are in general a greedy, soulless and hard minded bunch of money-suckers. The sale would be a big one, working towards minimizing the all-absorbing black hole the state treasury has become.

Rees knows he won’t get too much opposition. Criminals aren’t people, after all, or at least in the eyes of good, law-abiding citizens. The move has solidified Rees’s image as the same type of middle class mummy’s boy as the majority of voters. No one who thinks for themselves can honestly think that everyone who has been to jail is Evil and out to get your children. Because the law is flawed. Necessary, but flawed. There are a lot of laws out there that are either outdated, only benefit certain demographics, or don’t take personal circumstance into consideration. The Chaser proved that when they waltzed into a hotel with a pony and informed the shocked receptionist that according to Australian law, the hotel had to stable and feed their four-legged friend for free. And the fact is, middle class white collar workers like politicians (it’s called white collar for a reason,) cannot possibly understand the kind of life that leads to breaking the law (and were not just talking about murder and rape here, which are obviously much greater crimes than say insurance fraud and burglary.) being necessary.

A man more directly responsible for the move than Rees is Minister for Corrective Services NSW, John Robertson, who protesters have labelled as “Judas,” and for good reason. He used to be the head of Unions NSW, and is now at the head of a move which is likely to put many prison officers out of work. He was an avid fighter of the government’s plans to privatise electricity services in 2001, stating at the time that it was “only the beginning.” Apparently so. Robertson was personally responsible for the overturning of a government ban forbidding the privatisation of jails. He has also already shifted 110 prisoners from Parklea and Cessnock, as well as a number of prison officers, to prisons that are not planning to be privatised. In a secretive, almost criminal-esque manoeuvre, the transferees were transported in the dead of night, without the knowledge of other workers at the prison.

But let’s look at privatisation, of anything. Basically, this is taking a business out of the control of the government, who answer to the people, and putting it into the control of a corporation, who answer to shareholders. The government has a responsibility to not screw things up too badly, or they won’t be re-elected. In this case, the government has a responsibility to ensure prisoners, and prison employees like guards, are being treated fairly. A corporation answers to no such responsibility. They are out to Make Money. That is the creed of any business. It has to be. That is the point of a business. And that’s fine, when we’re talking about a retail outlet or a fast food joint, or something in which making money depends on treating the customers, the people who are in your care, with good service. But prisoners aren’t paying to be in jails. A corporation would gain nothing from treating them with fairness. They can treat them however they dam well please.

But, there are laws in place! You may say. They can’t get away with anything! Maybe, in theory, they can’t. But by giving control of a jail to a corporation, the government is also signing away its right to closely examine the inner workings of the jails – the paperwork which details exactly what is going on inside. And besides, do you really think they’d bother keeping an eye in? By attempting to sell the jails, the government has provided us with a pretty clear sign they are well and truly washing their hands of any responsibility – do you think they’re going to continue to keep a close watch on the jails once they don’t have to? They have bigger things to worry about. “Commercialisation compromises accountability and justifies restricted access to critical information about prison operations and agreements with government.” Said Jnana Gumbert, president of the Australian Lawyers Alliance NSW, to the Lithgow Mercury.

The privatisation has met vehement opposition from the Union, as well as the prison workers affected. They have managed to stop the Government’s plans to privatise Cessnock jail, at least for the moment, and are working to halt the plans still in motion to privatise Parklea. 500 people walked in protest from Hyde Park to Macquarie Street in April, in front of State Parliament. Hopefully they will succeed in their efforts, and the government will stop all plans to privatise NSW jails.

I Love Poetry, Just Not What You Write - Jay Marshall

I think I may have now earned myself a reputation for being a cynical, pessimistic and egocentric Journalism student considering that the majority (if not all) of the things I have written have been highly critical with very little praising. So since I’ve created a nice little clique for my writing I may as well keep up with that attitude and complain about society even further, this time about poetry. Oh yes, I’m going there, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me. It may just be my fault for having far too many emotionally unstable “friends” on MySpace, Facebook and various other networking sites. But then again, maybe it’s their fault for being too damn melodramatic and attention-seeking. I think I’ll choose the latter, only because that makes me feel better about myself.

But in all seriousness, what is going on with my generation? Do they honestly think everyone cares about their problems? I’m sure that none of the hundreds upon hundreds of “friends” they have never met on their networking sites don’t care; I certainly don’t. I mean, sure I’d be worried and concerned if something was actually wrong with their life, but when they decide to write long poems about how the world hates them oh-so-much through extremely grotesque, blood-and-guts metaphors and similes, I’m just going to assume you’re a whiny little brat who should get the hell off the internet.

Sure, I enjoy the occasional venting session, but if I’m going to do it it’ll be direct. If someone made my day a living hell, I’ll let them know and won’t hold back, but these people run home and hide behind their computers and start writing unoriginal poems with no real meaning or emotion in it. Shakespeare isn’t happy, and nor am I. Seriously, I’m absolutely cool with sharing your problems and getting a little sympathy, so why not tell us all what’s wrong? Am I really expected to translate “An eternal struggle in the blackness, as black as a decomposing body” to “My Mum grounded me for being in the bathroom too long”?

Don’t view this as a vendetta against people expressing themselves, because I know that poetry is a great place for people to share their innermost feeling and thoughts on things. My vendetta is against people who abuse the hell out of poetry for no other reason than to gain sympathy from as many people they can in the form of comments. I’m appalled that this phase has arisen from my generation, let alone the fact they’re desecrating an ancient art. Come on kiddies, get over the angst and start doing your schoolwork rather than make every poet’s work to bring poetry to the mainstream go to waste.

Scattered Human Remains Found - Kate Lucas

I found an article in the Western Advocate with the headline “Third Grisly Discovery: Police unsure if remains from one person”. The article tells of how a pet dog found a human leg and took it home to its owner. It was said in the article how police believe the murdered person's body was dismembered and scattered between the southern end of the Hume Highway and bushlands nearby. The remains were later identified as a 33 year old Sydney woman and a man was charged with the murder.

How come it took police this long to find the victim? She was after all, missing since late July.
The thing that’s on my mind after reading a few related articles was what sort of person would kill someone, mutilate them then scatter the pieces everywhere?

And did the man who was arrested for the murder actually commit the crime? It seems pretty strange to me that someone was arrested so soon after the body parts were found.

Another monumental stuff-up - Nick Wade

Ok I’m going to start this week’s blog by asking a very simple question. Who among us actually expects NSW public transport to get us from point A to point B without dramas? Nobody, none at all? I didn’t think so, and so it doesn’t come as a shock that this week, you guessed it, RailCorp made yet another monumental stuff up at the expense of its unfortunate patrons. Just another classic case of a poor defenceless elderly couple and an underprivileged youth being mercilessly kidnapped and driven half way around the country against they’re will by the villainous corporate machine. Well…not exactly but as a young writer it’s sometimes hard not to embellish things a bit.

The truth is that because of some ingenious RailCorp regulation thought up somewhere by a man who made up for his lack of brain with an expensive suit, buses are not allowed to let passengers off anywhere but at a bus stop. How many bus stops were available for the bus in question between Newcastle and Brisbane? Not many is the regrettable answer to that question and so our unwilling travellers found themselves in quite the predicament. 10 hours of infuriating boredom later the weary travellers were released from their perpetual prison (excuse the dramatic embellishment once again) and allowed to taste the sweet air of freedom.

However the taste soon wore off as they again remembered they were in Brisbane and thanks to the generosity of RailCorp they now had to pay their own way home. Lucky for them its common knowledge that the media loves to harass Australian public transport and so after a story published in The Sydney Morning Herald a now humbled RailCorp offered compensation to the poor souls who were forced to endure the uncomfortable tediousness of public transport for a full day.

I for one believe that if we as a nation can glorify a man like Ned Kelly who challenged the corrupt system, these brave Aussie battlers deserve no less. In an age devoid of heroes who can sling guns and wear tins on their heads we need people like this who sacrifice (almost) as much as Ned Kelly in the fight against corporate villainy.

Internet Sensations - Jay Marshall

Feeling down or just need a bit of cheering up? Well, ever since the glorious world of the internet was created, many websites have been created specifically for making us laugh and giving us all a bit of a pick-me-up. These internet sensations, whether you’ve heard of them or not, are probably the most amazing and unique websites you’ll ever see. What’s even better is that I guarantee that they will make you laugh. You can’t get a better deal than that from a guy who has a lot of expectations when it comes to comedy. I’ll provide the links below and a description of what you can expect, just make sure you visit them some time in the very near future, or you’ll be missing out.

I Can Has Cheezburger
http://www.icanhascheezburger.com/
An amazing website where users place captions on pictures of cats. However, these aren’t just ordinary cats. They’re Lolcats, a comedic breed of cats that combines the internet colloquialism “LOL” (Which stands for Laugh Out Loud) with the already natural comedic genius of the domestic cat. Hell, these Lolcats even have their own language, Lolspeak, complete with many grammatical errors capturing the stupidity and complexity of the English language in a tasteful way. The captions are funny, the pictures are funny, and it’s not just slapstick or silly humour. The majority of the time you’ll be wondering what genius came up with such a witty caption all while laughing your head off. I highly recommend this website as it is absolutely fantastic, just make sure you have tissues handy when you laugh so hard you cry.

Fail Blog
http://www.failblog.org/
Yet another great website that is similar in design to I Can Has Cheezburger with the picture and caption layout, but it introduces a brand-new and unique concept: Fails. Every picture has the caption “Fail” and depicts extremely funny events taking place in which the people, animals, funny signs and more are failing at what they do. It’s very hard to explain, but really worth checking out. This website certainly shall have a long life due to its hilarious concept and the never-ending amount of Fails that we go through every day.

F My Life
http://www.fmylife.com/
Oh, boy. Human misery is certainly a pick-me-up for those who are down. This website is a place where anybody can whinge about the events that made their life hell that day. All in all, it’s a great concept with great, humorous results. Not only do you crack up at almost every post you see, but sometimes you’ll even be able to relate to what these people have gone through which makes it so much more real. It’s the perfect blend of humour and sympathy that makes this website a must-see for almost everyone. Just a warning though: as the name of the site suggests, it can contain profanity.

Church Of The Flying Spaghetti Monster
http://www.venganza.org/
Originally created as a joke to parody Christianity and other religious groups that demanded Creationism to be taught in schools, this website has now gained a cult following and will blow your mind. Not only is it absolutely hilarious, but if you think about it, the possibility of a Flying Spaghetti Monster deity is completely plausible based on the evidence on the website. It even has quotes from REAL top scientists and professors that support the Church of the FSM. What tops it off, however, are the photos from believers all around the world with evidence that the Flying Spaghetti Monster truly exists. He turns up in cloud formations, dinner plates, flower vases and much more. Check out this site, but keep an open mind if you’re highly religious.

Albino Black Sheep
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/
Welcome to the wondrous world of flash animation. Albino Black Sheep is the place to be if you’re looking for some animated goodness, complete with hilarious home-made music videos to series of full-length cartoons. Hilarity is sure to be experienced while on this website that has hundreds of amazingly funny and creative flash movies. And if that’s not enough for you, it even provides you with tools to create your own sources of fun, such as Soundboards (Which are great for prank calls. I recommend the Arnold Schwarzenegger one), interactive games and even prank movies for your friends to watch that will scare their pants off when a scary face and loud scream pops up out of nowhere. Albino Black Sheep, as the name suggests, is just plain weird but completely awesome.

Intelligent life? - Nick Wade

So, whose excited about writing text messages to send to the “possible” intelligent life out there in the vastness of space? I know I am, no doubt they will receive our text messages on their little mobile phones and read with avid excitement (for some unknown reason aliens can now understand English) and when they are through reading they will jump right on their space shuttles and rush out here to meet us embracing us like long lost brothers… My god when did the world all of a sudden become retarded. Yes its NASA who’s in charge of this, all the brightest minds earth has to offer and what’s their latest project? Oh that’s right, its sending text messages 29 light years away to a planet that could “theoretically” house life. Why don’t we stop wasting time texting the dam planet and start figuring out a way to get there. As fun as text messaging can be am I the only one to notice that earth is on a downward slope? We finally find a potential saviour for our race, a new planet for us to colonise but what do we do? We freaking text it. Parents on Oprah always complaining always worrying, do my kids text too much? Is texting bad? Will they develop necessary social skills? Stop worrying about teenagers, start worrying about NASA. I think perhaps the second we as a species adopted the idea to send texts to a planet we proved to the universe that we don’t deserve to colonise it and spread the noxious waste that is the human race.

We Are All Invaders Of Privacy - Jay Marshall

What is the deal with our obsession with celebrities? Everywhere I look a new celebrity scandal has popped up. Britney shaves her head, Lindsay Lohan went partying, even Paris Hilton being caught spread-eagled without underwear. We consume this utter refuse every day, whether it is on the news, a gossip show, a newspaper, a blog or even in ads that pop up on our computer screens. There is no escape from celebrity drama, but what’s worse is that fact that nobody really wants to escape. Are we so incredibly miserable with our own lives that we must follow the every move of someone we don’t know? I believe the answer is yes. I, for one, don’t give a damn about the new Hollywood couple, the new babies that have been adopted or someone’s sudden breakdown. We are ruining our lives and the lives of these celebrities.

How would you like to be chased down and had photos taken of you even in your most intimate moments? Do you have any idea how it would feel to have private photos leaked that should have stayed locked away in your photo album, or worse, your drawer? This is damaging to the people we basically stalk. These “breakdowns” we hear of celebrities going through are the result of us buying into this junk and promoting more abuse. But what about the public; we’re also damaging ourselves. Think of the young children who idolise these celebrities. They imitate their every move, and if all we see of them is sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, then we’re not setting a good example.

We obviously have nothing better to do than pay attention to the lives of others, and that to me is just sad. We are invaders of privacy and that makes us no better than the media that hound them. Maybe, for once in our lives, we should stop prying and focus on ourselves and our community. Maybe then we could pay more attention to the economy, parliament, family values and events that could potentially affect our lives to make the world a better place.

Horse Owners of Australia BEWARE!! - Chelsie Webster

Farmers are calling for a cull of flying foxes after an outbreak of the Hendra virus which has infected 8 properties in NSW and Queensland. 3 horses from a central Queensland horse stud have already fallen victim to the Hendra virus.

The Hendra virus does not appear to be very contagious, humans and horses are susceptible to the disease. The Hendra virus in Australia is transmitted by the flying fox. It is not clear how horses become infected, but this may occur by them eating food contaminated by bat feces. The Hendra virus became well known in September 1994, after a prominent Queensland horse trainer Mr Vic Rail, his stable hand, and most of his horses fell ill to the Hendra virus. Within several days, the trainer and 14 horses were dead.

Three horses including the Hendra-infected filly that died on Saturday were destined for the prestigious Magic Millions sale on the Gold Coast this weekend, however fortunately the virus was detected before the horses were transported. If the horses had of arrived to the sale, they could of unknowingly infected 100’s of horses which would of then be transported across Australia and possibly overseas, causing an outbreak of infection similar to the EI (Equine Influenza) disaster in late 2007.

There is no vaccine against Hendra virus. The most important means of preventing Hendra virus infection is to avoid animals that are known to be infected. Symptoms in humans have included; an influenza-like illness, which can progress to pneumonia; or encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) type symptoms i.e. headache, high fever, and drowsiness, which can progress to convulsions or coma. Horses develop an acute respiratory or neurological syndrome quickly leading to death in most cases. There is no vaccine to the virus, treatment infected with Hendra virus may need to be admitted to hospital for supportive care such as intravenous therapy and mechanical ventilation.

Considering the potential for this virus to become out of control, the Queensland Government currently has a ban on the shooting of the protected species. Debbie Brown, managing director of the J4S nursery said she believed it the flying foxes that had infected the horses, however rejects calls to have the species culled, “should we wipe out a species because of six cases of the Hendra virus in humans?” she said.

John Brady, the owner of the infected horse stud, said he was “absolutely bloody disgusted” when health authorities refused to test himself and two other staff members for the virus, which not only killed Vic Rail in 2004 but also a Brisbane vet in May last year. He said it wasn’t until independent MP Peter Wellington had pushed the health department for action that he was tested. Queensland Premier Anna Bligh blamed a “breakdown in communications” for the poor treatment of Mr Brady and his staff, who were finally visited by Rockhampton hospital staff yesterday afternoon. The horse handles face an agonising few weeks wait to discover if they are infected with the virus or not.

The body under the bridge - Casey McPherson

I was surprised to find that the police have already arrested somebody in relation to the body parts under the Pheasants Nest Bridge. Turns out the remains were those of a 33 year old Sydney woman, who was reported missing on August 3rd. As I read through a few news articles I couldn’t help but think this story was all too simple and open close, even for real life. When do we ever hear of someone getting murdered, dismembered and scattered throughout bushland by a possible acquaintance, just because. That was a story that had the potential to be able to horrify this desensitised society of ours.

However the Kara Lawrence from the Daily Telegraph’s more researched article revealed that the reason behind this murder will emerge very soon. As the arrested man is actually her 33 year old husband. Wonder if he did it, wonder why? Guess we’ll have to wait til those answers are all over the news, once they are done scouring through every detail of their marriage and personal lives, sharing their new found information with the rest of Australia, not because we need to know, but because people will watch. Maybe the story will provide some people with comfort knowing there are worse marriages out there then there’s. Maybe I’m in a slightly pessimistic mood today towards society, but is it really right that money from sold newspapers or TV ratings influence’s stories about death.

Karmichael the traitor - Chelsie Webster

I’m sure you’ve heard the tragic news. Karmichael is leaving. He is betraying his club, and his fans by switching to AFL for the new Gold Coast team in May 2010, after a season of Rugby Union - a massive blow to not only myself, possibly his biggest fan, but to an already suffering side and if not already suffering football code.
Who cares you may say? Well you should care; AFL selectors are targeting your team’s star players right now. But the big question is, can an NRL player cut it in AFL? I am no expert on AFL; in fact I can’t stand the game. It’s a mess of players running for a ball with no evident structure at all. However, what I do know is an AFL midfielder can run up to 15 kilometres per game, and Karmichael Hunt certainly doesn’t have the fitness for that. Sure, he could probably do an alright job on the flanks, but will his mysterious constant cramping tolerate all that extra effort required per game?
So why would Karmichael want to leave his beloved Brisbane Broncos? In media releases he has stated "If I had to leave Brisbane then I preferred to change codes rather than change teams as I did not want to play against the Brisbane Broncos," and that he wants to continue playing sport at the highest level whilst remaining in Queensland. So a $3.3 million contract over 3 years had no affect on your decision, Karmichael?

The pecking order - Casey McPherson

In life, we’re all a part of hierarchy. However I must say pecking order in the world of high school seems to be the most daunting and complex. It’s what determines how someone will be treated, and how they’re going to treat everyone else. What is acceptable differs from school to school, or town to town. They say in life every action has a consequence, but why is it the consequence is based upon what you have and who you know.
We see examples of this everywhere, in the movies we watch, at school and out at parties, the cruelty people will apply to other for a various amount of reasons. But no one seems to be able to answer how much is too much, when have things gone too far? And even then once someone decides it has gone too far, can they intervene or do they become a victim as well? Why it’s up to their social status of course.
Recently I was at a party where a boy was tied down to his chair and tormented by a group of boys abusing him and pouring drinks over him. The story being that he was with someone who threw ice cream at one of their car, and he may have thrown some himself. After hearing the story it was left to people to decide whether they thought that was fair, and majority laughed in a “that’s what you get” kind of way.
Had this boy been more popular with ‘tougher’ more outgoing friends would he have been treated like that, and would everyone sat back and watched, most likely not. If he was someone else the whole situation would have been sorted in a completely different manner.

www.bellabathurst.com/journalism10.php

Five blogs... by Casey Macpherson

One week ago, I was forced into acknowledging the world of blogging, something that until now I was happy to ignore. Devoting my focus to the things going on around me rather than that of someone with too much spare time and no writing abilities what so ever. But then I looked around and to my amazement found there is a lot more to the world of blogging than sad lonely souls who think their lives are interesting. There are blogs about everything you could imagine, and some of them are rather helpful, semi interesting, and even intelligent. What a shock.
http://www.kingblind.com/
Kingblind is apparently a very popular blog, completely about music, arts and entertainment. It is filled with album reviews, band tour updates and gossip and opinion pieces on bands and all other creative sorts of entertainment. With posts having titles like ‘Radiohead's Thom Yorke writes song for 'Twilight' sequel’, it is kept straight to the point and easy to decide what you’re interested in reading and what you’re not. It’s my kind of blog site, and from what I’ve heard from blog review sites it appeals to a wide range of bloggers.
http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/
This blog drew me in as soon as it was one I had heard about, possibly the only blog I had ever heard about. It is the blog of Salam Pax an anonymous blogger, living in Baghdad, Iraq. His blogging became well known during the heat of the war on terror, as he was telling the story of his everyday life, living in the middle of the war. I found this blog something I could easily become addicted to, he talks of things with depth and meaning in a witty and understandable way, which really allows the reader to relate.
http://www.shauny.org/pussycat/
The blog of a 25 year old Australian woman, living in Scotland, writing about what ever random thing she feels for one day. One blog post I read was ‘Dream Job’ merely her talking about how she would love to be the person who chops up makeup for magazine ads. The topic was dull and I couldn’t take a lot of it, but she has an entertaining and quirky way of writing. It was light and entertaining but not something I’d crave to read again.
http://loobylu.com/
Loubylou – By Claire Robertson. This blog is one of those based upon someone’s life, the kids, the job and what not. She is into crafty things however, something that could be very appealing to someone with similar interests, age and kids maybe. To me however it sucked.
http://you.dontquestion.me/
You don’t question me- Loubylou’s husband. This was blog is from a different angle, he posts photo’s of unusual funny signs he has seen or art works that have made him think, he writes no more than a line about them and keeps and short and simple, something you can just skim over and enjoy. Leading you to have a chuckle, or put you in a contemplative mood.
Even though I found this wide range of blogs, that I enjoyed none the less. I’m still not convinced blogging is all that great, after all I sourced these from ‘smh.com.au’ list of the world’s best blogs and I still managed to find things not that great, I’d hate to see a list of the most terrible.

Five blogs... by Kate Lucas

1. http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2009-06-09-status-writing-online_N.htm?csp=Tech – this is a blog by Maria Puente discussing how social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are used to tell people what you are doing. Maria Puente’s opinion is that the statuses are too short and pointless and how if you are going to update your status, you should make it interesting. I like it because it has a very good point about making status’ interesting. It goes on forever and repeats itself a bit.
2. http://www.quietlikehorses.com/ - this site is a series of blogs written by Sobrina Tung called The Quiet Horse about her husband who has been diagnosed with cancer. The blogs are quite personal and focused on the one theme. She writes them as if writing in a personal diary and they are very deep and meaningful.
3. http://www.ohmishka.blogspot.com/ - this is a series of general themed blogs written by Michelle called Oh Mishka. They are all generally about lifestyle, ranging from exercise to what Michelle was planning to do on her weekend.
4. http://melissabxoxo.blogspot.com/2009/07/return-of-redheads.html - this blog is written by Melissa Blake and how she wants to fit in with everyone else but thinks that because she has bright red hair and thousands of freckles that this will never happen. All in all, the blogger is constantly whinging throughout her story. And just because of her looks. As a redhead myself, I understand where she’s coming from, what with all the different names but I don’t think whinging in a blog is the way to solve your problems.
5. http://missus-emm.blogspot.com/ - this blog is written by Emm and is about her various trips overseas. This particular blog, called Emm in London is about how she went to see the War of The Worlds 30th anniversary live show. I wasn’t that interested in what she was writing about as she sort of went off track a bit towards the end.

Five blogs ... by Frances Vinall

Now, I’m not generally one to get into blogs. Basically because I am an intensely cynical person and I simply Don’t Care about your dog, your weekend or your children. However, here assembled for you today are five cyber-masterpieces, or at least in my eyes. Enjoy.

1. http://www.girlwithasatchel.com/. This is a blog about the (sometimes not so) glossy world of the glossy pages. It is run and written by Erica Bartle (nee Holbourn,) who writes with expertise and style about the comings and goings of Vogue, Yen, Oyster, InStyle and all the rest of their competitors. Personally, I find this blog appealing because it’s about a medium I want to get in to, but it’s also likeable because of its light hearted style and frothy, DIY layout – the pages of the magazines it writes about are splashed like borders down both sides and relevant cut outs and clips are scattered throughout the posts.

2. http://mamamia.com.au/. This is a personal blog written by professional columnist Mia Freedman, focusing on the subjects most applicable to her somewhat-stereotypical, clearly female target audience. She writes like she’s having a conversation with you – albeit a clever, witty conversation, about topics ranging from shopping to childbirth to pop culture to a discussion about something you’ve come across in a magazine. Don’t get me wrong though – mamamia is a far cry from the women’s weekly, “How to make the perfect eggplant quiche” type read. It has a distinctly feminist edge, all wrapped up in anecdotes about pushy sales girls. The only downside I could see, and this is just my personal preference, was the childish, purple diamante-and-newspaper-cut out theme, which came off as a bit tacky. This blog is a gem for anyone relatable – if you think “wedges” are a type of fat chip, this isn’t the blog for you.

3. http://www.yenmag.net/news/page/211/. This is a blog run by Yen magazine; Australia’s artiest, indie-est, publication for women. It’s written by a range of contributors, and is somewhat of a noticeboard for all things so-weird-they’re-cool. It’s a valuable source if you’re looking for woollen necklaces or the latest electro-folk band, and the kitschy style is attractive, but the number of contributors means it can lack consistency, and sometimes the writing style is, well, amateur. Still, it’s an interesting read with some truly fascinating posts. Shoes in a birdcage, anyone?



4. http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/. This is a blog about; hear me out here, professional cakes. But it’s hilarious. Feast your eyes on a collection of the best in accidental misprints, bizarre ideas and the fabulously wrong. The site is easy to read, with satirical commentary accompanying each picture and the generic, navy-blue-and-white-writing BlogSpot design. A truly original idea, and it is genuinely entertaining.

5. http://www.thetypingmakesmesoundbusy.com/. This blog is very well written. The proof? I found myself getting caught up in a story about someone I don’t know who isn’t famous going to the dentist. I actually experienced a feeling of suspense as Jelisa Castrodale sat, agonised, in the chair, and laughed-out-loud (well, at least chuckled,) at her description of her own unemployment. It’s a completely personal blog, with drawn-out anecdotes that don’t actually seem that long, as they move forwards at lightning speed and are practically exploding with wit.

Five blogs... by Nick Wade

http://www.mattresspolice.com/?PostID=48
I like this blog because of its humorous take on all the mundane and pointless things in life that may only slightly annoy people but are written about regardless. It is a personal blog about random situations that annoy the blogger on a range of subjects. The blog has a very comedic tone and creates the feeling that the blogger is more a stand up comedian rather than a man sitting at a computer writing about his life.

http://www.bestweekever.tv/2009-07-28/penn-state-named-1-party-school-now-that-im-no-longer-there/
I like this blog because it doesn’t follow any real structure or even language rules but is just a funny rant. It is focused on a particular subject within the media though not important or relevant to most people as it is concerning an American university. It has a very conversational and colloquial feel to the blog which only raises interest as the reader feels as if they are being talked to personally rather than just talked at.

http://www.smilinginfidel.com/2009/07/dance-and-world-dances-with.html
I like this blog because it details funny occurrences in the life of the blogger. It is a personal blog that focuses on good story telling aimed to make the audience laugh and feel good. It is perhaps so appealing to an audience of today because it deals with what some may view as mundane issues though embarrassing none the less and just about all readers can relate to that kind of situation.

http://www.defamer.com.au/2009/07/the-kyle-and-jackie-o-show-hook-teen-up-to-lie-detector-on-air-with-disastrous-results/#more-338839
I liked this bloggers take on a serious news issue. The blog was focused on the most recent Kyle and Jackie O radio scandal and showed no mercy for the “appalling” radio segment unleashing insult after insult upon the mother of the child involved and the radio hosts.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/a-brave-new-teen-world-in-blog-land/2007/03/12/1173548110242.html
This is an interesting blog from a parent discussing the shift from diaries to blogging. While she uses personal anecdotes within the blog the issue she’s discussing is very focused in the media. The blog is set out as an opinion peace, addressing the issue but with a little bit of colour so the reader isn’t forced to read an article made up of cold hard facts.

Five blogs... by Jay Marshall

Today was my first ever glimpse into the world of blogging, so to gain a little taste of what blogs had to offer, I decided to click upon the following five blogs that were recommended to me by Blogspot, the very website that hosts them. Mind you, these are listed in no order of quality, but rather in the order I viewed them. I must say, I wasn’t extremely impressed by what was on the menu concerning blogs, but it showed me the potential they had when in the right hands. Read on to hear about my experiences, if you dare, but don’t expect me to be forgiving - I’m extremely critical and judgemental.

1. “Thinking Out Loud” by Kim Salyer. I believe this lady has a flair for writing; however the stories of her life she relays to her audience aren’t my cup of tea. It seems only the despondent pages of her history are offered up for us to read, and it really depresses me and no doubt every other reader. When I read a blog, I usually do it as an escape from the real world, but if I’m suddenly bombarded with far more drama than I already have to deal with, it really defeats the purpose. That being said, I still maintain the way she articulates and expresses herself is of a high standard. All she needs to do is cut down the proportions of her woe-is-me mentality and plate up some more stories about overcoming her adversity instead of drowning in it.

2. “Life of the Jet Setter” by Diggy. When I go to Blogspot and see the recommendations the website provides me, I expect to go to a quality blog. Let’s think for a second what makes a “Blog of Note”. It should be something interesting, witty, intelligent, well flowing and have good grammar. Diggy fails at all of these qualities throughout his entire blog. In fact, I hardly see what any of the blog has to do with jet-setting. His blog is just a medium for him to advertise clothing he buys and to spread gossip on all his celebrity “friends”. I highly recommend giving this blog a skip. All it is is a waste of internet usage.

3. “Madness and Beauty” by Violet Dear Canada. The name speaks for itself, this blog is completely mad but the messages it conveys are absolutely beautiful. This blog is by far the best in this list, combining true meaning and absolutely marvellous writing that manages to balance the perfect blend of subtlety and sarcastic humour. The blog focuses on the personal life of Violet and how she is trying to influence the world. Ranging from exposing the audience to an Orang-utan Rehabilitation Centre to showing the state of Orphanages in Africa to just her activities at home, this truly is a blog of meaning. Violet offers a side to herself that is truly inspiring, while not always dragging down her audience with the lachrymose stories by adding some good, tasteful humour. Go to this blog now if you haven’t already. It’s amazing.

4. “So About What I Said…” by Melissa Blake. I may come off very cynical and mean here, but I really must say this. Shakespeare does NOT like your emo, teen-angst poetry. And neither do I. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for self-expression, and believe poetry is one of, if not the best, mediums in which a person can reveal their inner feelings and true selves because they can hide behind a mask of metaphor and other techniques. But I can also tell when someone is exaggerating for the purpose of gaining an audience out of sympathy. Her poems are so melodramatic, I swear I’m watching a badly-scripted soap opera rather than reading an emotive and meaningful poem. Each stanza, though beautifully written, makes me cringe when I just see the same things over and over. That being said, her photography that accompanies her poetry is simply sublime, elevating her blog from receiving a “Do Not Disturb” sign from me to recommending opening the door for all to view.

5. “Yogabeans!” by Elastigirl. If you want a cheap laugh, go here. If not, stray away from this blog. The entire blog chronicles the yoga lessons of various super-hero action figures through captioned pictures. Although you are sure to get a laugh out of this one, some jokes just seem so incredibly silly that you’d swear a ten year old came up with it. But then again, that’s probably true. I was amused by this, but it didn’t keep my interest for that long, so it’s great for whittling away at least a few minutes while at work or school.

Welcome to TAFFY!

This blog has been set up to showcase the work of students in the Bathurst TAFE News Media class in 2009. Stay tuned for more content soon!