'The Amazing Spider-Man' Really is Amazing

Today I went with a friend to see the new Marc Webb reboot of the Spider-Man series - The Amazing Spider-Man. Currently falling short of the first film in the previous series, Spider-Man (earned $821,708,551 in box office total), The Amazing Spider-Man sits on $341,600,000 as of 8th July, setting a new record for a Tuesday opening previously held by Transformers (2007).

While reviews swing back and forth on preferences between the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man films vs Andrew Garfield in the new adaption of The Amazing Spider-Man, I and all for the new adaption in more ways than one.  

I'll try to keep it as spoiler-free as possible!

The biggest criticism that The Amazing Spider-Man seems to be receiving is repetition of plot. Now, I can see where reviewers are coming from, but I also ask the question - what did you expect? Of course the reboot of a series is going to start again with the origins of the superhero - this includes being bitten by the spider (duh) and Uncle Ben still needs to die (no matter how much we love Martin Sheen). I do think Marvel and Marc Webb have completely aced it this time around. The story is much closer to the original comics (aside from Gwen knowing who Spider-Man is early on), we have insight to Spider-Man's parents and the mystery surrounding their disappearance and just how it affected Peter Parker - plus it's modernized: Peter has to deal with bullying (on both ends) and lets face it - he's freaking good looking.

Andrew Garfield's performance as Spider-Man is charismatic, funny and believable. And he lets Peter Parker's intelligence shine through, something we only saw snippets of in the previous series. Emma Stone as Gwen Stacey is completely exhilerating. There were moments I wished I was the one taking her out, completely mesmerized by her smile, eyes and voice. Combined, the chemistry is undeniable, with Andrew admitting in interviews the hardest part of filming was the romance scenes with Stone, as she was in his words: terrifying. It's easy to see how the two became a couple in real life.

 
 
 Garfield put his heart and soul into this movie, and you can see it on screen. Skateboarding was added into the script due to Garfield's input, and a whole scene involving a carjacking and Spider-Man taunting was included as Garfield remembered as a kid how important the humour and wit was of the original comics. "That was a fun night, because it was all improvised and free. There was nothing scripted about that. That was awesome." To me, that was the biggest problem with the old series of Spider-Man movies - it took itself way too seriously. And by the time they really got a feel of Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man in the 3rd movie - the maze of story lines just created a headache for viewers rather than an enjoyable experience.

Instead of being just another superhero movie, The Amazing Spider-Man is a film that deals with acceptance of change, of being lost and found and overcoming struggles in the face of adversity. As Uncle Ben says, "with great power comes great responsibility", and this film embodies this entirely. 
I can honestly say there was no point I was bored (like other Marvel movies that have been released the past few years), and I even shed a tear or two. Again, Garfield and Stone were absolute perfect casting!

A great movie for all ages, 2012 really seems to be the year of the Superheros!

Ten Reasons I Love Audrey

Walk in to my aparment and you will see a huge Audrey Hepburn portrait sitting right by my dining table. Go by the kitchen and each month you are greeted with a different image of the beautiful Audrey. Meander into my bedroom and the shimmering eyes of Audrey watch over you as you rest. Open my mind and you'll witness my thoughts of my icon Audrey racing around, and if you open up my heart I like to imagine you'd find the same love that was in Audrey's heart while she was alive. Finally, if the name of my late cat, Audrey, didn't give my poker face away...I wholeheartedly adore Audrey Hepburn.


Now, here's why:



1. She's a style icon - considered by Evian as "the most beautiful woman of all time," despite being so different from the heartthrobs of Marilyn Monroe and Kim Novak, Audrey's style was that of femininity and simplicity. Hepburn once said, "What is more beautiful than a simple sheath made an extraordinary way in a special fabric, and just two earrings?". While in her movies she was often seen in elegant gowns, Audrey always opted for what she felt comfortable in.

2. She broke free from traditional concepts of 'Beauty' - her malnourished figure, thick brown eyelashes and absolutely massive eyes led Audrey to become an icon for those of us who do not have the sultry curves of Miss Monroe. Audrey was also open about her own opinions of beauty, even admitting to feelings "of insecurity and inferiority." Most importantly, she left us with this gem of a quote: "For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone."

3. Moon River in Breakfast at Tiffany's - a hauntingly beautiful performance that always wants me to start a new journey of my own.

4. Humanitarianism - an ambassador for UNICEF, Audrey devoted so much of her life to helping those in need, being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992.

5. Independent Woman - while she was with a few men in her life time, Audrey Hepburn was not defined by them. She made a career on her own, was an ambassador due to her own beliefs, and you remember her for the good things she achieved in life, not a scandal with the president...

6. Not defined by her past - her childhood was spent in the German occupied Arnhem during WWII witnessing "trainloads of Jews being transported, seeing all these faces over the top of the wagon". Yet, through mulnutrition and respiratory problems, Audrey kept composure and never let these experiences define her. Instead she used it to fuel her passion for helping others, and inspired millions around the world.

7. Portrayed strong female women - like her real life, Audrey accepted roles that (for the time) portrayed amazing female characters dealing with real issues (for the most part). Holly Golightly deals with self worth and inner demons, Princess Ann falls in love for love not a title, Audrey was careful of which rolls she accepted once she reached stardom. Her film "The Children's Hour" was one of the first ever films treating what was then dubbed 'lesbianism'.

8. Introvert - she has admitted that playing an extrovert in Holly Golightly was the hardest thing she has ever done. Not only that, but Audrey preferred the company of her family and close friends to that of Hollywood parties and lifestyle. "I love being by myself, love being outdoors, love taking a long walk with my dogs and looking at the trees, flowers, the sky". As an introvert myself, I relate wholeheartedly.

9. Incredibly humble - "If my world were to cave in tomorrow, I would look back on all the pleasures, excitements and worthwhilenesses I have been lucky enough to have had. Not the sadness, not my miscarriages or my father leaving home, but the joy of everything else. It will have been enough". Need I say more?

10. Stayed true to her own values - as her life continued on, her heart only grew bigger. Audrey sold many of her own personal belongings to donate to charities and never made her humanitarian work into a press release. In her dying days, Audrey spent time surrounded by family in the privacy of her own home surrounded by the love of a whole world. Audrey never turned her back on what she believed was right, and fought for human rights until her dying day.

If you need more reasons to love Audrey Hepburn as much as I do, I will gladly take you to lunch and talk about how the words and wisdom of one intelligent woman have changed my life and inspired me to follow in her footsteps, helping whenever I can.

And my final, favourite Audrey Hepburn quote:

Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'!

Ace of Hearts Accessories Stitching Up Beginnings

Ace of Hearts Accessories humble owner and bow maker, Cailey, describes her online store as a "place to find adorable handmade hair bows and earrings of characters, because it makes me happy". Arguably, there isn't a better reason to start any thing in this life!

A brief selection of the types of bows Cailey currently has in stock at Ace of Hearts Accessories.

Cailey, 23, lives in Sydney with her partner and their collection of comic books. When I asked her to describe herself, the inner ramblings of a truly modest woman responded with "cats" and "Disney". While she may not be sure how exactly to summarise herself, what she knows for sure is that she is happy.


It all began when on a whim months back Cailey bought a sewing machine after buying many products bought from retailers like Diva, Equip and other online stores only to have witness them "fall apart in my hands after only one wear". She thought to herself, "I can do a better job," and before she knew it, she was selling handmade bows all around the world.


"I was gob smacked," says Cailey, "I couldn't believe the ridiculous mark-up on especially flower-stud earrings in Australia and after some research just decided to do it myself".

One of many of Cailey's superhero bows, this one featuring
Spiderman and Captain America.

While she had trouble at first getting the hang of it, making bows was almost therapeutic for her. She explains, "I wanted to create something, to be productive...Once I started doing it, I just wanted to keep doing the activity." Having been diagnosed with social phobia when she was 18, Cailey has found bow making her own creative outlet, and says the most important thing to stay in control is to "just be occupied".


A lot of the things she stocks in her store are simply things she wanted for herself, so bought the materials and made them (plus a few dozen extras, just in case there were like-minded people somewhere in the world). And she believes honesty and trust is key - posting pictures of the packs of all her bows so you can see the stitching, whether she used a hot glue gun, or what type of pin the bow is attached to, to ensure you see EXACTLY what you are buying.


Her real fun comes in sourcing fabrics and following the trends - if you look at her page now, you'll notice a collection of Superhero bows, completely fitting for all the superhero action films being released this year. She stocks all types of pop-culture related accessories, from Marvel to My Little Pony and is hoping to incorporate her customers further in the future with taking requests.

And it's not all just a hobby to her. Cailey has recently listed some adorable hair pins with rainbow hearts (pictured above) at $3.00 a pair, with all proceeds being donated to Australian Marriage Equality to support LGBTI marriage rights here in Australia.


Sarah (pictured left with the Rose hair bow), her cousin and model, volunteers her time to help Cailey with the endeavour, and since she's stepped on board Cailey's page views have grown thanks to a different way to display the bows, and her magic smile.


Even though she is on her journey to fullfil her dream of becoming a florist (weddings in particular), it's a long journey that will take plenty of time. Cailey is happy moving one step forward and hopes to expand her small business even further. At the moment she is in the process of mastering bow ties, although they are a lot trickier and require more fabric, however the concept of Thor and Spiderman bow ties is no doubt something that will be in hot demand!


As a returning customer of Ace of Hearts Accessories, it is no doubt that they are good quality, value for money and most importantly, made with love. What more do you need? Go and buy one already! ;)




 Her online store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/AceOfHeartsAU
 Her blog: http://aceofheartsaccessories.com/

Being Completely Oblivous

One of the promotional photos taken for Lara Bingle's new show.

If you missed Channel Ten's first episode of their highly publicised new series, "Being Lara Bingle", GOOD! 


The show was an attempt at making an Australian "Keeping up with the Kardashians" and a complete failure at that. While I mean nothing harsh to Lara Bingle personally, the show has left her portrayed as nothing but a completely spoiled ditz. From driving without a license to walking around in her bedroom in the nude with blinds open, Bingle's absolute common sense mistake's have become trivialised to the point where she is completely un-phased from breaking the law, but in her defence it's probably too hard for her to comprehend. I mean, I know 6 year olds that aren't that oblivious!


However, my description really does not do the episode justice. At all. Other misadventures we are witness to the frustration of moving from a perfectly decent apartment, to an even more lavish one living with her brother and best friend. But the real punchline - it's all in an attempt for us to relate to Lara Bingle as just another Aussie girl.


You might ask yourself, why do they even bother?! 


Well, the peak of over 1 million viewers would be why. (But lets not mention that the ratings soon halved that number before the show was over)


But the Twitterverse united in making there opinion known of Ten's new "hit":

And, my personal favourite, lets make the best of a bad situation...

I'm closing the book on this one, and I think I'm not the only one. Lara Bingle is just another superficial, spoilt and immature girl who does not need her own reality television series to further add to her empty fame from her vacant, good looks. While she does seem like a fun girlfriend to have on your nights out (aside from the fact she would no doubt constantly be the attention seeker she came off as on the show), she is definitely not the type of person I would want to subject my kids to as a roll model. Unless of course you're the type of parent that's into "Toddlers in Tiara's", in that case - go right ahead (or seek professional help, you're choice).

What's in it for me?

Final Lecture - 28/05/12

I Am The Journalist!

The final lecture of JOUR1111 really did have a finale vibe. However Steve Molk, television blogger, knew exactly the right words to say to get my journalism juices flowing!

What we do with our brand, thanks to the power of the internet and social media, starts now. We are responsible for our own future and we now have the ability to get in touch with everyone and anyone if we take control. 

So from today, I am making the firm decision to continue running this blog (although once this has been marked for the final time I will be changing the URL to something a little more personal...) and keeping my opinion coming, while strengthening the writing muscles that will in turn become my future portfolio to my perspective employer.

Bring it the hell on!

Investigative Journalism

Lecture Week 12 - 12/05/12

Change the world, one truth at a time.

Since I decided as a 13 year old naive girl who finished reading her first Hunter Thompson novel that I wanted to become a journalist, investigative journalism has been my hearts desire. The lecture on Investigative Journalism opened on a really interesting thought - that most good journalism is, or should be, investigative journalism. I couldn't agree more!

For those who aren't familiar with investigative journalism (and, lets face it, Today Tonight and A Current Affair have altered a mass nations perception of true investigative journalism), investigative journalism is about discovering the truth and identifying the lapses from it, and exposing what someone somewhere wants to suppress. Journalists however need to use innovative and reliable methods and traits to pursue these stories:

 INTELLIGENT

 INFORMED

 INTUITIVE

 INSIDE

 INVEST

The purpose of investigative journalism is to use critical thought, be custodians of conscience, a voice for those without one and act as a fourth estate or a Government "watchdog" to protect and serve the population (minus weapons and force).

A huge trait is we need to be as journalists skeptical NOT cynical! In my opinion, this is where commerical media companies like ACA and TT fail at providing for the people. Ethics ALWAYS  matter in journalism.

The truth of the matter is whether you're looking at Julian Assange and Wikileaks, or the author of this wonderful article regarding homophobia and Gloria Jeans, investigative journalism has the power to change the world.

Agenda Setting

Lecture Week 11 - 14/05/12

Our Chosen Reality

Agenda setting is the reality that describes the ability the media has on influencing the salience of topics on the public agenda. Reality is shared and constructed through social life, and the media plays a huge role in the mediation of that social life.


Public media (what the public perceives as important), policy agenda (issues decision makers think are salient), corporate agenda (issues big businesses and corporations think are important) and the media agenda all overlap and influence what we are subject to in news stands, on Facebook updates and office conversations. The mass media presents certain issues more frequently and prominently (in regards to news values) so that the general public perceive it as more important. In summary, the media has the ability to filter and shape what we perceive as important, and in turn shape our reality.


While you may think this holds several ethical issues, it does not (at least in most cases) intentionally manipulate viewers. The mass media instead is inadvertently focusing the news, but this does not mean it is devoid of problems. Questions we can ask ourselves as a reality check include:

1. Media Gatekeeping - How do individuals control the flow of messages and what the media chooses the reveal?
2. Media Advocacy - is there a purposeful message?
3. Agenda Cutting - Is what happening in the world truly represented?
4. Agenda Surfing - "Bandwagon effect" as the media follows and creates trends.
5. Diffusion of News - Who decides how, when and where the news is released?
6. Portrayal of an issue - different aspects regarding different news sources
7. Media Dependence - Why is there a growing need for Facebook/Twitter and instant access to information?

All of these are things to keep in mind when consuming the news, in any form.

News Values

Week 10 - 30/04/12

Pick Me! Pick Me!

News Values (sometimes also referred to as news criteria) are the elements that determine what prominence a media outlet gives to a story, and the audience reaction to it as a result. In simplest terms, news values are determined by the following"

IMPACT- Makes you say "Gee, whiz!"

AUDIENCE IDENTIFICATION - relating to viewers.

PRAGMATICS - the 24/7 news cycle needs all news to be current!

SOURCE INFLUENCE - regarding public relations

These change depending on the news outlet, the news values will be different, for example a local newspaper will focus on local stories leading, where a nightly news broadcast on a commercial network will most likely adopt the "if it bleeds it leads" policy.

But why are they important?

News values determine what gets reported on with prominence, and journalism is often called "the rough draft of history".

Need I say more?

Ethics

Lecture Week 9 - 23/04/12

Right or Wrong?

In the media we are often faced with a moral decision we must make in regards to what stories we persue, how we persue them and how we portray them to the public. However, the increase in technological advances has meant laws struggle to keep up to protect individual rights and the question what is right, and what is wrong is increasingly hard to answer.

There are 3 main types of ethic models in regards to Journalism in use today:

1. Deontology - the normative ethical position that judges the morality of any action by following the rules, pricipals and duties of a Journalist.
2. Consequentialism - idea that it doesn't matter how you get there, the end justifies the means. The idea of the greatest good for the greatest number of people.
3. Virtue Ethics - the intrinsic values of courage, justice, temperance, prudence and "golden mean" of behaviour through habits of character.

While there are many codes available outlining Ethics and Morals in journalists, often they are not followed. Advertising has led the greater public to confuse what is considered ethical, with that of bad taste, mixing there own perceptions and projections with the reality.

Although this one has got to be an advertising campaign I can't believe got approved:

A Fitness First advertisement that lights up how much you weigh as you sit on the seat waiting. Not only for yourself to see, but the whole public. If anything, it makes me defintely not want to join Fitness First! What if someone is dealing with body weight issues?

What do you think?

Exam exhaustion!

It's been a while since I have had my last exam in REAL exam conditions, since I sat my HSC in the gymnasium of rival High School back home in Coffs Harbour. Today was my first university exam and while the test conditions were more or less the same, the exhaustion afterwards was so different.


Now, while I'm sure this vary's person to person, or course to course, finishing my exam right on the clock today had nothing like the relief of walking out of the HSC never having to look back. Instead, I sat exhausted, overwhelmed to have finished a course, but completely terrified at thinking that the follow on courses I am enrolled in for next semester are not only going to draw on what I've just learnt, but the course material is going to get harder.


Today is just the start of a whole lot more of something!


I think it's about time I look into some more exercise and diet plans to keep myself a little bit more fit, so exhaustion doesn't get the better of me.
Tomorrow night, I will celebrate with one glass of wine!


But for now, time to catch up on JOUR1111 blog post reports...

Assessment - Annotated Bibliography

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Reese, S., Rutigliano, L., Hyun, K. & Jeong, J. (2005) Mapping the blogosphere: Citizen based media in the global news media. Austin, TX: University of Texas School of Journalism.

The authors, researchers at the University of Texas, analyse the link between weblogs and mainstream media internationally. They investigate this by specifically analysing the top 6 major news and political blogs that generate the most traffic, as well as track the sites they lead to. Their findings suggest that globalisation and the internet have in fact lead to a more complimentary relationship between weblogs and traditional journalism than previously assumed. The journal article discusses how weblogs act as an important secondary market for material to push readers to what they otherwise might not have read as blogs can be aligned with individuals and/or communities. Conversely, the commercial journalism traditional role is that of being unable to take readers off their own web pages. The study found weblogs have also allowed for a greater encouragement among readers to discover more about an issue as the location of ‘authority’ has been changed promoting higher citizen interactivity and a shift in the global news agenda. The opposing view of our reliance on blogs is also included greatly reducing bias. The significant use of citations throughout the journal article and access to the findings in comprehensive tables adds credibility to the view of blogs and citizen journalists improving media.

The following 3 annotated works are all online articles in relation to the announcement of the selection of the Australian Wheelchair Rugby team. Through different means of webpages they have all taken different approaches in announcing the selection, and subsequently different reactions to readers.

McDonald, M. (2012, May 21). Ryley Batt spearheads Australia's tilt for wheelchair rugby glory. The Australian. Retrieved from http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/london-games/ryley-batt-spearheads-australias-tilt-for-wheelchair-rugby-glory/story-e6frgdg6-1226362772913

Margie McDonald, the author, works as a sports journalist for The Australian, giving her decent credibility particularly related to sports reporting. The article outlines Ryley Batt’s recently announced selection in the Australian team emphasising his goal to win a gold medal in London 2012. The article is mostly direct quotes from Ryley Batt, and as a result further emphasises credibility as it is straight from the source. However, the article on the website does not make use of any ‘tags’ and has not once been ‘shared’ on Facebook social media plug-in. This lack of tags makes the article inaccessible and unless someone was specifically searching for ‘Ryley Batt’ or ‘wheelchair rugby’, it is very unlikely they would find this article. The only other person quoted in the article is Jason Hellwig, APC chief executive and London chef de mission, from a press release regarding the completion of Paralympic Stadium days earlier that subsequently add no additional value to the article regarding Ryley or the Wheelchair Rugby team. The author concludes with further quotes from Batt, leaving a bias impression as the article showing no significant indicators of research or fact checking by the journalist reflecting the tabloid nature of The Australian and the large amounts of news articles they are required to produce daily.

Steelers set for London Paralympics. (2012, May 4). ABC News. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-05-04/steelers-set-for-london-paralympics/3992242

ABC News is a public news company, rather than commercial, gaining credibility immediately. The article outlines the selection of the Australian Wheelchair Rugby team and has interviews from the team coach, star player Ryley Batt and Jason Hellwig (Australian Paralympic Committee CEO). The article also contains tournament results, dates of the Paralympic and concludes with a list of all selected team members. This article is greatly informational and by providing information on a whole team instead of singling out one player it balances the weight of the article. Accessed online, this article makes use of multiple ‘tags’ and has been ‘shared’ on Facebook social media plug-in once. By also being part of the 24 hour news cycle, the focus is less on feelings, and mostly on facts regarding the team and their goal for gold at the Paralympics. However, the author has chosen to include that the Australians can’t afford to be complacent about the early stages of competition, emphasising that there is still competition and no victory yet. The article is also accompanied with an on location photo of Ryley Batt playing Japan (during the tournament the team was announced) further adding credibility of the article.

Bond, C. (2012). Chris Bond: Training to medal, not just to impress the girls. International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved from http://www.paralympic.org/blog/chris-bond-training-medal-not-just-impress-girls

Chris Bond has written this blog post in first person about his own journey and feelings regarding his selection on the London 2012 Paralympics team for Wheelchair Rugby.  This style of writing adds credibility as we are privy to the stream of conscious style writing including what they feel is important from one of the players rather than a journalist’s interpretation and editing. As a new player, rather than returning star Ryley Batt, Chris’s opinion is different to any currently available in the news as other players are often overlooked.  This works in favour, as the article is fresh and new, yet the comparison of himself to Batt gives readers someone to identify with and become interested in the article. Bond makes use of a light-hearted approach discussing how he never expected to be in a wheelchair, let alone represent Australia providing again a subject to relate to and empathise with, rather than just straight facts. This page has been ‘shared’ on Facebook social media plug-in 79 times. By being on the Australian Paralympic Website, the article is also directly available to people most likely to be interested, while adding even further credibility for a story surrounding the Paralympic games.

Having read these 3 citations, it is clear the use of ‘citizen journalists’ with aid from globalisation and the internet can in fact influence journalism in a positive way. The angle of the last story by Chris Bond was so easy to understand and relate to that it had the most ‘shares’ on Facebook, which in turn means its audience was much larger, particularly to that of the first article which did not even use tags for the article to be found online. However, regardless of platform or author, all articles maintained credibility and provided audiences with different and appealing approaches to the same story whilst somewhat proving the “Mapping of the Blogosphere” idea that blogs and news articles are becoming blurred, true.

The Highly Sensitive People Network

This morning I decided to check the Highly Sensitive People Network Facebook group. A few days ago I shared my video to the admin of the page, hoping that if even one person watches it, I will have succeeded with what I set out to do, and that is help people who identify with H.S.P. traits.

To my absolute surprise, not only had the pages shared it on the wall (with then other people sharing the page from that post) but there were some really heart warming and wonderful comments left by people who had watched the interview.


I went to the YouTube channel to see how many people had watched it, and for something I thought maybe a dozen people would watch, it's almost sitting on 200!!


It made it even more special that my dad found the link and has become someone people can identify with, and relate to. And, I honestly can't believe there are people who are sharing my video with their doctors! I am absolutely overwhelmed. 


For a first time interview, and telling someone's story - even if for the assignment I may have lost marks because of the length, I do not regret leaving in a single second of this YouTube video after seeing this result.


And this is why I want to be a journalist!


What a wonderful way to start a morning!

Speaking of today's election...

I woke up this morning to yet another ad campaign for Ray Smith that I hadn't seen before. Now this one happened to include images of damaged roads and an explanation about how the previous council failed in basics.
Yes, I can vouch for this to an extent.
On Brisbane north side our roads are still full of road damages that only get worse every time it rains.
For JOUR1112, I reported on a story that I started before anyone had made a single mention of road damages. After pestering the politicians in my ward, in the last week they changed policies leaving a lot of very confused residents. Rhys joked around that I started it, but I like to think I had some influence ;)


Here is my article:

NORTHSIDE STREETS STILL STURGGLING

The Brisbane flood aftermath has left streets on the north side still suffering and they won’t stop any time soon.

One of many inadequate drains on busy Zillmere Road

Many main and busy streets including Zillmere Road, Handford Road, Beams Road and Robinson Road East faced constant flash flooding this wet season and remain littered with pot holes, inadequate drainage systems and dangerous quick fixes in attempted repairs.

The Summers of 2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12 have seen 484.8mm, 952.6mm and 638.0mm of rain respectively, all classified as ‘high’ recorded rainfall according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

While the ‘la nina’ weather pattern over Brisbane that caused the severe rainfall for this wet season has now broken, the damage remains the same, and is likely to worsen next Summer time.

The streets became a danger to both pedestrians and motorists as sink holes were opening up damaging vehicles while pedestrians were made to wade through rising flood waters on busy roads with no alternative routes. One sink hole opened in Geebung to measure over a 1 metre diameter before anything was done about it.

The loss of Labour in the March election meant Leanne Linard (ALP), who was planning on addressing these road problems has now stepped down. The newly elected NLP Member Jason Woodforth’s focus is instead centred on “cutting costs”.

In the upcoming Brisbane City Council election the focus for the Deagon and Bracken Ridge Wards roads are familiar. The representative responses of Victoria Newton (ALP), Gordana Blazevic (LNP), Georgia Farrell (Greens) and John Harbison  (Independent) all believed that the focus regarding transport was on the much needed Geebung overpass and nothing at this stage was on the table for road repairs.

Yet in local letterbox leaflets distributed through the week, Ray Smith announced an $800 Million Local Roads Package to be used on road maintenance for flood aftermath if elected, but north side suburbs have again missed out. The package does not include resurfacing or maintenance.

“In the last 4 years, the current Council Administration has failed to deliver more than half of their promised Road Action Plans and our roads have been left in a deteriorating state,” Ray Smith explained in a press conference this week.

The elections this year have meant a backlog of promises from politicians without any clear indicators they will honour them. The added confusion of last minute changed minds and policies regarding budgets have left residents fed up.

“It really is an important issue. It’s becoming quite dangerous when it rains,” said north-side resident Paul Hoffman, “It’s definitely going to affect how I vote.”

Trevor Newton - Highly Sensitive Person.

JOUR1111 at University of Queensland Assessment 3
Factual Story Telling

Cailey, Ben, Myself and Trevor. 

Trevor has had many huge challenges in his life time. He married young, was the father of a disabled child, divorced and has suffered with being put into labels of 'depressed' and 'anxious' through his adult life.

In 2010 Trevor became aware of 'HSP' and since then has come to terms with accepting himself.

Trevor is my father, and having seen him struggle for many years accepting himself I could not think of a better story to tell than his. In an intimate interview with him, we recorded over an hour of what now defines his way of life, and how he has finally found happiness.

For more information on HSP, visit www.hsperson.com


If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or anxiety, help is always available.
Visit: www.beyondblue.org.au 
Phone: 1300 22 4636
Email: infoline@beyondblue.org.au

Winter woes!

As the winter season is now well underway, I'm finding myself exhausted, sniffy and migraine full. The past few years however, this has been common and the combination of University and work is not treating me too kindly.


Today was the 3rd day this week I found myself in bed unable to journey in to UQ for my tutes, and even my eyes so sensitive that it hurt to do much study at home. I'm currently squinting as I write this, tucked underneath a warm blanket on the lounge.


For me though, it's not just your regular head cold, it's something a little more intense that my Mother has had to deal with for a long time, but especially the past 4 years. Just this weekend I was in Coffs to visit her, and as we said our goodbyes and she could see the exhaustion in my face she said "take it easy". Now, while I assured her I was fine, 4 days later all I can think is my mother knows me better than I know myself.


My whole life I have had allergies, the biggest of all being dust. Yup, dust would set my hay-fever off like nothing else, having sneezing straight after one another reaching double digits, and occasionally hives would break out on my arms and chest. Then,when I was about 9 we found out I was allergic to bees, as my hand swelled up to the absolutely blistering size that my skin could physically stretch to, and continued along my arm until we raced to the 24hour clinic. Now the dust always triggered small skin irritations that a slob of Sorbolene could fix, but when I was about 10 years old, I began to get severe eczema that I suffered through until I was about 16 years old we finally figured out what things to avoid. I was always so embarrassed, wearing long socks to hide the rashes, wearing gloves in winter time to cover the flaky skin and when the eczema spread to my entire face when I was 13, leaving my skin scale-like and painful, I even refused to go to school for about a fortnight.


Now I have had my fair share of allergic reactions, and now at 19 going on 20, my skin loves me for the expensive shower creams, body lotions and even washing detergents I need to use (and my boyfriend doesn't mind their nice smells either) to keep it under control, but I am still struggling with me internally. This one is a bit more of a long story...and it isn't something I generally talk about.


In October 2008 when I was just turned 16 and about 2 weeks away from my School Certificate, I woke up at about 3AM choking. Once I sat up I felt pain in my chest, but my natural reaction was I must have swallowed air the wrong way. I went to get out of bed I stood on my feet, only to have them give way underneath me. I was in complete darkness as I had no lamp in my room and the light switch was a good 3 metres away. My feet felt like I had just stepped on needles and I went to touch them to see if I had mistakenly left a hair brush on the floor and the same sensation ran through my fingertips as they made contact with anything. Eventually after some strenuous effort, I stood up and walked on the sides of my feet to the bathroom to check what was wrong with my feet. But I was mortified.

An example of lip swelling in anaphylaxis from
http://www.science4u.info/ 

The hives I mentioned earlier were all over my body. I was entirely covered by a rash, and the skin was splintering where the pressure from clothes touched: my waistline, around my back where my bra sat and my whole feet from falling asleep with socks on. But that wasn't the scariest part. The reaction to the bee sting I described earlier - imagine that everywhere. My lips were literally 5 times bigger than normal, my ears were purple because the skin was stretched so far and I realised that I could hardly hear anything, and the little I could hear was muffled. I was in too much pain to panic, and slowly walked to my mother's bedroom to wake her up in order to get to the hospital.




Now, waking up at 3AM isn't the easiest thing to do and initially my mother's reaction was like my own, it took some time until she was fully awake to realise the extent of what has happened. I was in the middle of anaphylaxis, and judging by the fact we could physically see the size difference after about 5 minutes of the swelling particularly on my legs and my throat, we knew we had to move fast. We got to the hospital emergency room and luckily I got a bed straight away, they gave me the shot of adrenaline, put me on a drip and then induced sleep and I can't remember anything else until about 6 hours later when I woke up in the hospital emergency room to some breakfast and being told my Mum will be back soon.


While our family has a history of hospitals, this was the first time I was ever the patient in one, other than my birth. Let me tell you, waking up in an emergency ward, with a hazy memory of how you got there (of course this came back as the day progressed and I wasn't so groggy) in a lot of pain, a drip in your arm and being alone - it's not a good feeling. But Mum did come back and with orders to stay in bed until all swelling was down, to rest, to see my GP immediately and to get in touch with an allerginist, we were off home where I slept for almost a full 2 days.


Now the reaction alone is one of the scariest things I have ever experienced, and I couldn't help but think to myself for the next few weeks - what if I didn't wake up from myself choking? Or, what if something had happened so we couldn't get to the hospital right away? Answers which I should be thankful that I will never need to know the answer. But anaphylaxis is a lot more than the initial reaction.

An example of a skin allergy test I had to under go for
weeks on each arm after the incident.

A few weeks later, and many blood tests down the line I was told from my body being in such shock, I now had glandular fever. Not only that, but it did take some time before my allerginist could figure out what caused this reaction. Around the same time I had my reaction, a new study was being made with the connection to ticks and red-meat. Basically, the venom in a particular type of tick has very similar enzymes to that which is found in types of red meat - particularly beef. But the reactions are not immediate like other anaphylaxis. My Doctor described it to me as we digest food and some of it passes our system, but some days we may have more of that one thing in one day, and our body has more than usual to digest. It is these days that our body recognises it as a threat, and does not think it will simply pass. That is when the reaction happens. You can read more about it here and here.


As the weeks progressed, my Doctor explained to my mother and I that my immune system was not recovering well, and I was at a huge risk of my glandular fever becoming chronic fatigue. Our family had a member who suffered chronic fatigue for most of his adult life, and honestly, the whole time I can remember having known him. So this was not something we wanted to hear. My diet changed dramatically and conditions did improve, but even today, 4 years later, whenever I get the tiniest bug or virus my body slowly begins to shut down. A common cold that my partner might get over in 3 days can have lingering affects on me up to 1 month later. 


Thankfully, I am able to eat red meat again as just like my doctor predicted, the venom from the tick phased out, but even still I prefer eating chicken if I can get it!


Today I am sitting at home, just reminding everyone to be mindful this cold and flu season. While it may not matter to you, there are a lot of us (any many worse than me) that having a greater difficulty getting better. 

• Wash your hands when you can! You'd be amazed at how much bacteria can be spread just from the things you touch.
• Cough and sneeze into something, whether it is your elbow or a hanky.
• If it gets to a week and you're still feeling ill, visit your GP! Over the counter medications aren't good enough and you could be spreading a nasty virus.
• Rug up this winter and stay at of the rain when you can.
• Rest as much as you can!

If you can avoid getting sick at all this winter, consider yourself my new best friend!
Hopefully this time next week I'll be up and running again...

'Battleship' sinking

What do a chicken burrito and a soccer game have in common?
They both had absolutely no purpose in the film.


Hasbro, You really did sink it.
You managed to turn a much loved children's board game into a multi-million dollar colossal waste of my time. While I was accompanied by some who enjoyed the film, I found it 2 hours of plot holes, unnecessary scenes an ridiculous sound effects. Yes, Transformers earned Michael Bay a lot of money - but how about for next films, Peter Berg (that use almost the identical story premise), you use actually some different sound tracks and special effects. Even the cinematography and computerized graphics I should have been impressed with only left me thinking "seen that, what's new?".
As for the direct and memorable movie quotes that were stolen - only Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher can get away with saying "I've got a bad feeling about this".

Scenes in Battleship (above) bore striking resemblence to special effects used in Transformers films (below)

And where did Rihanna come from by the way? Her acting is almost as brilliant as her voice without auto-tune. If you missed the sarcasm, she was terrible. The few actors that could have potentially saved the film from a complete dud to something semi-entertaining (Liam Neeson and Alexander Skarsgård) were in it nowhere near enough and Taylor Kitsch only showed us what we already learnt from John Carter: he has worse acting skills than my brother's old cat.

The only think Rihanna made me believe, was that she
was in fact terrible at being believable.

And if you are still interested in watching the train wreck of a film (you will regret it), do not see it with the tiniest inkling of a headache. The constant screeches of robotic (for some reason when it was supposed to be alien...just one of many flaws) sounds and more flashing lights than a Skrillex concert will leave you physically covering your eyes and ears on the verge of walking out of the cinemas. I wouldn't even take my younger male cousins to see this as a typical fast-paced explosion type movie - it honestly was that bad.