My Year With Christie

Today is a very historical day in my life. At sixteen years of age I have read all 80 of Agatha Christie’s novels.In case you haven't picked up on it yet, this blog makes me a very delusional person; I seem to be under the impression that people actually care about the insipid and only vaguely interesting events in my life. But I digress, the accomplishment of reading all Agatha Christie crime novels seems to me a very blog-worthy event. 

My choice reading material of this year has not been very socially acceptable; most girls at school still secretly pull out an installment from the Twilight Saga to stimulate them...  I have futilely tried to spread my Agatha Christie epidemic to my friends by lending them my novels. This task in itself is out of my comfort zone as my novels are my equivalent children. I could not love a human child more than I love my leather bound collection of Jane Austen’s works (legitimate analogy folks).  My library of Chrisite's were all returned politely in the same pristine condition..

This social rejection for my fetish did not deter me and in the past year I have filled my head with enough murder to make any sane person deranged (I had reached this mental state long before I commenced my Agatha Christie reading).  My slumber is filled of visions of me parading through the English countryside with Jane Marple on one side, a gun in my hand and murder mystery to solve.

As I approach these Easter holidays I am at a loss as to how I will spend my time. Given I have twice watched all the Agatha Christie film adaptations  the Holland Park Library has to offer, it hardly seems constructive to view them three times in a year.

Perhaps I will raid my Grandma’s movies; maybe Mary and I will have a Agatha-marathon.

Let's Be Honest: Dried Fruit Discrimination- It Exists

I had a revelation while eating a box of sultanas at morning tea the other day. I’m perplexed as to why I haven’t been angered by this previously and I’m still trying to reach a logical explanation as to why sultanas are so special. Among these mixed emotions,  I can confirm is that the bright spark who named dried grapes, sultanas clearly didn't consider the feelings of other dried fruit.

Please consider the aisle in the supermarket which stocks sultanas. Among it are arrays of various other dried fruits which are equally as fit for human consumption as the dried grape. Visually the sultana is not exactly the most appetising nor attractive looking dry fruit. In fact, to utilise a simile: sultanas are like dried rat faeces. Small, brown and shriveled. So, to be frank, what makes dried grapes so god damn special?

Sultana is not even a logical name for a dried grape. If they were referred to as drapes, maybe I would accept it more easily. It would certainly make it easier to allow the other dried fruits to feel more accepted as they could adopt similar names. Dried apple- drapple, dried banana dranana or dried pear drear.

In protest I have replaced the word sultana on every piece or packaging in my house with a strike of black permanent marker. I will now refer to sultanas as dried grapes, because that is what they are.

Kony 2012 Rocks Social Networks

Unless you have been residing under a rock for the past couple of weeks the title Kony 2012 or name Joseph Kony should arouse some form of activism or scepticism within you. If you are just emerging from your rock and want to know what Kony 2012 is here is a short 18 syllable sentence to enlighten you;  Kony 2012 is a short thirty minute film uploaded onto Youtube.

Kony 2012: Something we all agree on?

The video was uploaded by the non-profit organisation, Invisble Children; it informs the world of Joseph Kony (and his army) who allegedly organise the systematic kidnapping of Ugandan children. Boys are brainwashed into fighting for Kony’s army and girls converted to sex slaves, the uncooperative are killed. As of March 12 2012, Kony 2012 had over 74 million views on Youtube.

The publicised story to stop the evil Joseph Kony is believed by the Invisible Children to be one thing we all agree on however, the short film has has aroused not only activists but cynics. To discredit or critise the Kony 2012 campaign seems fallacious as its allure is derived from the way it toys with our hearts. The natural reaction to the Kony 2012 campaign as a human being is to desire justice for Joseph Kony’s victims by wanting to donate and assist in bringing Kony and his army down.

In this way, the film absolutely accomplished its goal, after thirty minutes of viewing, majority of the western world has acquired a social conscience. The Kony 2012 epidemic emphasises the way in which social networking sights are evolving into a tool in which people try to mobilise change in their world. Sadly there will always be another warlord out there. Many activists living in Africa are urging for an intellectually driven campaign to establish polices and enforce change. They believe this to be a more successful fix to not only overthrow Kony situation but ensure a situation like this never arises again.

Supporter or cynic, Kony 2012 has enabled society to see that changing the world is within reach, you just have to emerge from rock.

Instant Qualification

Warning: I am an apprehensive blogger. I have commitment issues; I have never maintained a diary, my sea monkeys always die and I will probably be wicked old spinster in fifty years. I apologise as JOUR1111 has inflicted my insipid life into not only a blog, but the twittersphere.

Lecture One.

I am a self confessed couch potato. I am lazy and generally unmotivated. As the large the Schonnel Theatre chairs comfortably molded around me in my first lecture I was pleasantly delighted by the course philosophy which flashed on the screen before me, you are the journalist. This made me feel satisfied with my subject selection: I had not even endured a whole lecture yet and I felt qualified.

It was only as our lecturer, Dr. Bruce Redmen commenced discussing our course outline that I became distracted upon what my new qualification as a journalist truly meant. According to good old Dictionary.com, a journalist is a person who writes about factual events for a living. Today’s technologically savvy society creates ample opportunity for open expression, regardless of qualification. Voices which previously have been silenced in society are reaching an audience! Which leaves me with the question, just because people in society have the ability to be a citizen journalist, should they?