Death of the Book.

With the recent closure of two of the biggest book store company's in Australia (Angus & Robertson, and Borders), I've has begun to wonder if this is the death of the book? Not only have we suggested that its demise is in the near future, but in a fit of panic, have run out to buy every e-book/electronic reading tablet we can get our dirty paws on.

Coincidentally, Apple opened its iBook store the other day, leading to a whole new realm of market ownership, with the store only selling books that are compatible with Apple products. Just like the iPod and iTunes, Apple will now have a huge monopoly on the market.

But what happened to the good old paperback? The Beatles sung about wanting to be a paperback writer, so will Rebecca Black now release a song declaring her desire to be a Kindle-typer? Bad jokes aside, I'm not yet ready to enter a world where the book has become but a mere memory of yesterday, thrown into the pile of unwanted technological junk next to the Nokia 6110. There are but a handful of book stores left in the world, with the common man sitting on his daily train ride flipping through his copy of 'Catcher in the Rye' on his iPad.

I just can't see how anybody could actually enjoy the idea of reading an entire novel, or even a text book on a screen. I struggle to get through this 200 odd word rant without having to stop and stare into the abyss that is reality for a few seconds, for fear that my eyes may well turn square. I already need the assistance of spectacles in day to day life and I doubt very much that by spending my spare time reading off a bright screen, that I will be able see my own reflection by the time I am 30.

There is so much that is beautiful about reading a book. The smell, tagging the pages and writing little notes or circling your favourite phrases. Even being able to see how far you've gotten into it as it sits on your desk is a part of the fun of reading. I take a huge amount of pride in my book collection. It make sit on my shelf all dusty and piled up like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but each book tells a story. Not just it's own narrative, but a time in my life. I suppose they are kind of like photos for me, as each one brings back memories. My childhood books are my favourite- the entire collection of Roald Dahl stories sits on my shelf and every time I see it it gives me that warm feeling inside and reminds me of being a kid.

When my generation is dead what will they pass on to their children and grandchildren. Their hardrives? Their USB stick full of e-books? Their 2009 Macbook filled torrents or their FIRST iPod?
How can we throw away one of the most beautiful pieces of art that man has made. Stories are told in many forms, but the book is a medium that HAS to stay. I don't want to look at my kids one day and have them ask what a book is, or a novel or even a magazine. How someone can become completely divulged in an electronic screen that probably has that many distractions and links etc is beyond me.
So PLEASE, save our books, because it may just be the last bit of reality we are holding onto.

This picture was taken at my favourite bookstore- Shakespeare and Co. in Paris. It sells new and used books and is just about the cutest place you'll ever see.

Going Hungry for Fashion

Ever spent your last $20 on a cute top and spent the next two days starving until your next pay? I'm currently in a bit of a famine after spending over 8 grand in 12 days whilst on a shopping trip to the USA. Most people look at me when I tell them that and they probably think 'Oh what a silly young girl'... Whilst it may be one of the more stupid decisions in my life, it brought me the greatest amount of satisfaction.

Everyone goes on and on about how young people today are in more debt than ever before. We are materialistic, technology savvy, blah blah blah. All of this is true, but does it necessarily have to be a negative thing?

Most of our parents and our grandparents went through tough periods of their life, working their asses off to get to where they are today. They then spent the second half of their life trying to give their children everything that they never had, creating an entire generation of spoilt rotten little brats. I wouldn't say I'm spoilt rotten, I live in a lower-middle class household and since I was about 15, I've paid for almost everything I need in my life myself- minus of course my high school education and the roof over my head. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones, in that my family has ingrained in me a certain sense of hard work, and a crazy sense of play!

Most people in my family work more than 2 jobs. I work 3, and I study full time at uni. Most people think I'm crazy, and while I may be, I look damn good doing it. On my trip I happened to acquire myself a Chanel purse, it cost more than what my car is worth and I'll eventually have to put it under insurance, but buying that bag was one of the most satisfying experiences.
I had a similar experience this time last year, when I went on a six week holiday to europe. The last leg of the trip was Paris, I'd been waiting all my life to get there. It took 18 months of working my absolute ASS off, missing birthdays to get up at 4am for work, driving everywhere because I couldn't afford to drink, but I did it and when I got there I burst into tears.

There is no better feeling than achieving your goal. While a good part of our generation will take advantage of mummy and daddy's trust fund, the free car and allowance, many of us are just as hard working as our parents, and their parents. We just chose to spend our money in different ways. Things that make us happy now are much different to those in 1960, you can debate all you want about how society has crumbled to globalisation and I'm an absolute sucker for buying that bag. But lifestyle has changed since then, and I'm sure that your parents thought the same about you. I may never get the chance to 'throw away' money like that again, with mortgage rates the way they are. So why not just go all out and be young and stupid?


I found this interesting video on Hungry Beast about the company Zara. I haven't included it in this post to validate anything I've said, I just thought that it was extremely interesting. Check it out if you can on the ABC. I constantly sit in awe at their ability to tell stories.

A red wine a day keeps the doctor away

Over the past couple of years I have seemed to acquire a taste for red wine. I'd always thought it was a bit of a 'wanker' drink and preferred to humbly suck away at the valve of my goon bag. But tough days come and beggars can't be choosers, so eventually I was forced one fateful (and extremely intoxicated) night to drink a bottle of red from my parents cupboard. I'd already gone through the cupboard and cleaned my parents of any spare christmas gifts over the last 5 years (neither of them drank wine at the time), and so it was time to turn my taste buds onto the red.

This morning after 2 hours of bootcamp and pilates at the gym, the only thing I could think about was WINE, and lots of it! I actually considered how bad it was that my habitual saturday morning routine was gym, then bottleo. Most people would question whether that is a question for concern (or alcoholism) but as i trudged through the front door, face red, fringe plastered to my forehead all I could say to myself (and my confused family) was that red wine is good for your heart. That's what I heard on Today Tonight or Kerry-Anne or some shit. It got me thinking why. There was also that small shroud of guilt I felt for having gone to the Bottleo at 11am on a saturday morning, greeting the cashier by his first name and him asking several questions about how my life was. I'm not sure how many other people are THAT close with their local alcohol supplier.

With that, I jumped on to good old google and started to research a few things. Normal when I google doctor I always end up convinced in plagues with some kind of cancer and retreat into a blubbering mess. However when researching the medical advantages of red wine I was only more convinced that I should march myself back up to the shop and buy a few more bottles. Just to get me through until it opens again tomorrow. So here are a few (revised) reasons as to why we should drink more red wine:

1. As mentioned previously red wine is good for your heart. Now there is a million, big explanations all over the internet for this one, but I'm going to put it plainly for you- it lowers cholesterol levels. So for all you cheeseburger loving fatty's out there, next time you supersize make sure you have a handy glass of Cab Sav near by to counter balance the cholesterol and give those arteries a bit of a rest!

2. It helps keep your immune system up and running! Apparently most alcohol makes your immune system fall to shit, but red wine DOESN'T (ta da). So if you like your booze but don't want to spend your days with your face stuffed into a box of kleenex then hit up the old rouge!

3. It's a great form of antioxidant! So when you get up on a monday morning after that weekend-long bender, and you say to yourself "I'm going on a detox", don't stock up on green tea, fad shakes or cranberry juice, just by a case of Merlot and it'll clean you right out!

4. It relieves stress. Well I think this one is a no-brainer. Any type of alcoholic drink is going to make you relax a bit more, especially when you chuck in a few panadine fortes as well. But basically doctors say that drinking a glass with dinner is an excellent way to wind down after a stressful day at work, or if you like, kindergarten.

5. It supposedly makes you live longer! It also prevents you from dementia. Whether that is really true I'm not sure, maybe you get all the 'crazies' out of you if you spend half your life pissed as a tick off a couple of bottles of red, so that when you finally sober up your brain mechanism all spring back to normal. Most probably not but that's EXACTLY how I imagine it.


6. Now this one has no been academically or medically proven but basically you should drink red wine because it tastes so damn good, and you look like a complete badass whilst doing it. I was in Paris last year and I took no better pleasure than ordering a red wine in a swanky bar and sipping on it like I was fucking king shit.

All information was taken from the following websites:

http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/10-health-benefits-of-red-wine.html
http://www.meteck.org/wine.html
http://www.dumblittleman.com/2008/01/8-straight-benefits-of-red-wine.html
http://www.healthcastle.com/redwine-heart.shtml

Cloudstreet

Tim Winton's classic Australian novel Cloudstreet has been adapted into a TV mini series and is currently airing on Showtime.

I'm absolutely devastated that I hadn't read the novel before I started watching the miniseries. It's one of those books that's been sitting there on my to-read list for about the past 3 years. It's funny how you associate certain books with school and are hesitant at reading them at first because they remind you of your ugly, ranting english teacher from year 8. For years I'd hated Oscar Wilde's The Portrait of Dorian Gray, and when I came back to it a few years ago I was so enthralled with it I was almost ashamed at having disliked it the first time.

Cloudstreet was one of those novels I'd associated with the HSC, and so I hadn't considered reading it until I saw a review on the First Tuesday Book club about a year and a half ago. I will pretty much read anything that Marieke Hardy recommends (she first introduced me to A Confederacy of Dunces, my favourite book of all time- behind Harry Potter of course). So its title has been sitting in my moleskine diary for a few years now and I am absolutely kicking myself for not having read it before it graced my plasma screen every monday morning (thanks IQ!).

I'm always a little unsure when it comes to film adaptations of books, most of the time they lack the detail, description and flow that's so imperative to the storyline of a book. Yet Matthew Saville's portrayal seems to be dreamlike, I actually feel as if I am reading the novel when I watch it. I wish I were able to sit here and compare the two mediums but looking at the series as a stand alone piece I think its fantastic.

It's hard to bring to life a novel, but even harder to do it with relatively minimal dialogue. Saville seems to be able to bring these dream sequences to life, and get right into the heart of Fish Lamb. These characters are not likeable in the normal sense, each one of them disturbed by their past and unsure of what they can make of their future. I am only two episodes in but I can already feel a connection to the characters, and the house that seems to be its own character, living and breathing.

The costumes are incredibly well done (I would kill for a few of Rose or Dolly's dresses). And the acting is inspiring. I tend to not like typical Australian stories but I think that this story transcends culture and becomes a modern Australian story- the story of struggle and perseverance that most Australians (from any culture) have had to endure in this land.

If ANYONE has the book and would like to lend it to me, hit me up! I'm already addicted...

Like, how funny is that?

So a new trend has started up on the old Facebook with people 'liking' pages. OK so I guess it's not really a new trend, but it has recently started to get WAY out of hand.
People have begun to 'like' pages en masse, pages such as: 


 Im hungary" "czech the fridge" "im russian to it" "find the turkey? 


I get it, some of them are quite funny, some even have me in stitches rolling around on the floor (ROFL).
I am a fan of the 3456 'nan' pages that have sprouted up over the past month, and who doesn't love a good pun here and there?
Yet the ones that seem to bother me are the pages that simply state boring everyday observations. People these days are just liking this for the sake of it, it's as if they have a permanent twitch in their thumb and they can't help but press that god forsaken 'like' button.


Dear bed, im sorry i left you this morning, take me back? ):


Closing your textbooks after a hard day of doing zero study.


I don't want a job, I just want money.


 Encouraging your DVD player as it plays through a scratched part 


That one person you feel like you NEED to talk to everyday.


I mean really? who took the precious time out of their day to start these pages anyway? I would never sit there and think 'oh wow that mundane observation about life would make a GREAT fb page'. And to think that some of these pages have about 15,000 likes just baffles me. 


Are we so obsessed with the little things that we create entire pages on social networking sites dedicated to them, with people commenting about their personal experiences with that subject? It's about as interesting as that middle aged woman who always updates us on what household chores she has completed right before she sits down to watch Dr. Phil. We don't care, well I don't care but apparently 15,000 other people do. I guess I'm crazy one!

Colourfest

This weekend I am volunteering at the 2011 COLOURFEST!
The film festival is aimed at filmmakers in Australia from culturally diverse backgrounds. This weekend it is screening in Marrickville on Friday (3/6), and Saturday at the Parramatta Riverside Theatre (4/6).
I will be helping out with the technical aspect of things with a few of my mates from uni (UWS Penrith).
It's a great platform for emerging filmmakers of different backgrounds to tell their story.

 I believe that as a multicultural society, Australia is really lacking in the film industry in displaying avenues for the different voices of our nation. While the film industry itself is in dire territory, the only films that do get made and shown to wider audiences are that of traditional 'typical' Australians. There are so many amazing stories that just aren't getting the chance to be heard which is extremely embarrassing for our nation as a whole.

The festival has established a stage for not only emerging filmmakers in australia, but those that come from diverse backgrounds who have such amazing ideas, fresh new stories and who are constantly giving us so much to learn from.

Check out the website: http://colourfest.com.au/

God help them.

Yesterday I watched a documentary called 'Jesus Camp'. It absolutely shocked me and aside from making me shake with anger, it made really quite sad.  All I've been able to think about for the past 24 hours is how can people let children so young become victims of an all fearing god?

The documentary explores the ever growing evangelical christian community in America's south, more notably it explores the teachings of one particular woman Becky Fischer and her summer camp for young children.
The camp teaches the children that they must fear God, teaching them to speak in tongues and preach to others in the world in the hope that they may 'save' them. The film is FULL of images of children as young as 5 or 6 sobbing their eyes out, convulsing and shaking, absolutely petrified of what may happen to them if they do wrong by god.
One particular child brought me to tears, as he stood in front of the crow and told them how he couldn't forgive himself for all the sinning he had done, and the others looked at him with shame.

These children are innocent people, they do not go around murdering or raping people. They do not commit 'sin' even if we were to go to the OH MIGHTY HOLY BIBLE and go through the 10 commandments I highly doubt that any of these children had done anything wrong. WHY then are they spending their entire summer apologising and crying and being made to feel worthless?

It is a complete and utter manipulation and pollution of children's lives. Even Fischer herself said that children are the best people to preach to and teach because they are innocent and will believe it more.
A child is not born a Christian or a Muslim or a Buddhist, they are born to parents of a particular religion. I myself went to catholic school, I was baptised and raised as a christian. But I am NOT a christian. I was born into a religious family and I have now chosen to live my life free of any religion. I don't think that if I had the chance I would have taken back my faith as a child, because it allowed me to get a decent education, not only at school but a better understanding of religion as a whole.
The difference with these children is that they are being made to FEAR. They constrict themselves of a childhood because they aren't allowed to ready Harry Potter, or listen to Britney Spears or hang out with the other kids because they are sinners. They don't even go to school with the other children. And 30% of the USA is made up of these bible bashing freaks?

I don't want to get into the political side of all of this because I would end up going on forever. I respect that some people have faith in whatever religion that they choose. But I do not condone the polluting of children's minds, creating a life full of fear and shame because of what some guy said 2000 years ago.
A child is a child- that's all there is to it, they do not understand the fundamental aspects of religion and the purpose that it (supposedly) serves.