Crazed maniac fires off bow and arrow at innocent bystanders

A man believed to be on drugs at the time, last night ran through the streets of Oak Flats in the Illawarra, dressed in camouflage, armed with a bow and arrow.

He allegedly stabbed a man in his garden, before attempting to fire the arrows at several members of the community out walking in the early evening.  Residents were warned to stay inside, while police attempted to track the man, described as "caucasian, skinny and balding", down.

He managed to escape on foot into the surrounding bush land, however the police later arrested him when he was found by police sniffer dogs, hiding in a creek about a kilometer from the original crime scene. He was arrested and taken to the local police station where he was charged with assault occasioning grievous bodily harm

The victims were taken to Wollongong hospital and are in serious but stable conditions.

Little bit awake, Little bit asleep

It's been a garden variety weekend. Beach, work, playtime. It's been monumentally unproductive and strangely comforting. I slept more than I should have and I still feel sleepy.

I have been in a super arty and creative mood of late and I can't wait until winter holidays. I might start writing a novel. It's hard to be creative when you feel guilty every time you go to create when you should be learning about much less exciting things than you would be creating.

Sorry about the shit posts. Soon I will make more effort. Promise.

Summer fruits on autumn days...

It seemed so wrong to be sucking on sweet summer fruit when the air outside seemed so bitter. It tastes the same but somehow feels different. Juices squirt across the floor, and watermelon seeds propel forward into nothing. Strands are caught up in my teeth and the taste lingers with the smell on my fingers, and I never want to wash it off.  Then I have too.

Harry Potter Pick up Lines

As a Harry Potter fan, I was appalled at these. As an immature, technically still a teenager uni student, I found them quite to my liking. I encourage anyone to use these as much as possible. If someone picked me up with lines like these... how could I resist?

Harry Potter pick up lines

1. Hey, baby. Want to see my magic wand?
2. Who cast a sexifying charm on you?
3. You can tame my Hungariam Horntail any time.
4. Care to go for a ride on my Firebolt?
5. Is that a wand in my pocket or am I just happy to see you?
6. Do you like quidditch, ‘cuz I want to catch your golden snitch.
7. No, I didn’t cast a growth charm on myself. I’m naturally that huge.
8. I’m hung like a hippogriff.
9. Me and Hagrid are a lot alike, except I’m only half-giant downstairs.
10. I got 10 O.W.L.’s in Magical Sexology.
11. Those pants look awfully uncomfortable. So does that shirt. If you like, I can transfigure those off for you.
12. I like to do it skrewt-style. Do you?
13. I’m the heir if Slytherin so let me into your Chamber of Secrets.
14. I kick ass at Divination. Want to hear a prediction? I forsee you taking off your clothes.
15. Do you mind if I apparate into your pants?
16. Whoa! I didn’t know any vela lived around here.
17. You are the portkey to my heart.
18. I cast a summoning charm for the perfect woman, and here you are.
19. Do you have a Harry Potter?
20. Well, I’m a gryffindor, but something in my pants is definitely a-slytherin….
21. Shall we play put the sorting hat on the slytherin?
22. Want to see what else I’ve got shaped like a lightning bolt?
23. Do you mind if I apparate into your pants?
24. Hey Draco…how long did you say your wand was again?
25. hey harry…can i ride on your broomstick.?
26. let’s play quiditch together…..u’ll get to see my balls
27. its not the size of the wand that matters, its how you use it
28. hey how’d you like to help me polish my wand
29. i’ve got a snake waiting to meet you, no, it is not nagini
30. let’d play quidditch. you grab my quaffles and i’ll find your snitch.
31. Save a broom, ride a quiditch player
32. It’s true, quidditch players often have 4 feet of wood between their legs
33. We may not be in Professor Flitwick’s class, but you still are charming.
34. I don’t have an invisibility cloak but do you think tonight I can visit your restricted section?
35. I want to get my basilisk into your chamber of secrets.
36. My love for you burns like a dying phoenix.
You know, Hagrid’s not the only giant on campus.
37. Do you think you could take on a mountain troll in the bathroom like Hermione did? Would you be ready in five minutes?
38. Wanna make some magic together? My wand is at the ready.
39. If you were a quaffle and I was a chaser during a quidditch match, I’d score with you.
40. I must have had some Felix Felicis because I think I’m about to get lucky.
41. Without you I feel like I’m in Azkaban and dementors are sucking away my soul.
42. You know, the Sorting Hat placed me in Gryffindor. I think it’s because like Godric Gryffindor himself, I too have an impressive sword.
43. Want to go to the Hog’s Head, if you know what I mean?
44. Being without you is like being under the Cruciatus Curse.
45. Want to have a Tri-Wizards Tournament? Well not really “Tri-Wizard,” I was thinking more one wizard and two witches.
46. I’ve been whomping my willow thinking about you.
If I was to look into the Mirror of Erised, I would see the two of us together.
47. Do you know the Petrificus Totalus spell? Because you make me stiff.
48. I’m not an Animagus but sometimes I can be real animal.
49. How ‘bout you and me go look for the Room of Requirement?
50.You know Platform 9 and 3/4? Well I know something else with the same exact measurements.
A couple nights with me and Moaning Myrtle will have to get a new nickname.

When I get sad I stop being sad and be awesome instead.

Sometimes people let you down. You go numb. And then you just want to sleep because it's better than being awake.

And then you have to pretend not to care. Because no one else does. Not really anyway.

And then you must do handstands. Because handstands are grand. Or You go to the beach and let the sand stick to your body just so you can wash it off in the ocean. Or you find something pretty to look at, like ribbons or fairy lights. And then you realize that you just went through all that for nothing, because life is life and you are fabulous. 

Image Credits

I'd do a cartwheel for you.

I found these delightful pictures on daydreamlily.

They reflect my mood at the moment. Creative, and yet some what nostalgic. Overwhelmed by thoughts.     I had a dream while I was napping before about my coca cola happiness sunglasses breaking. It was a little bit sad. Happy midweek! 

It's not media waste, it's just retro.

So this weeks blog task was about ewaste. Yay ewaste!

"For this week's blogs, I'd like you to take a picture of your own personal stockpile of obsolete technology. Then incorporate the picture in a blog post where you reflect on your own consumption of technology, and your relationship to issues of ewaste. Think about what you've replaced recently and why, and what's impelled you to buy new things. You need to relate your discussion strongly to the Sterne reading, and as always it will be helpful if you find and link to other material online. Don't forget to include a Harvard reference list.

Just remember, for this task we're not looking for you to explicate your guilt, or to be moralistic about your own behaviour. Read Sterne again, and think about how he explains his own behaviour in relation to larger, systemic or structural issues. Then try to do the same!"

I have two words for you. Stylistic Obsolescence.  It's the bane of my existence. And according to Jonathan Sterne the environment doesn't benefit from this concept either (Sterne 2007, pp 20). I am, like a very large portion of the population, the proud owner of a very impractical phone because it looks fabulous, and what was a highly overpriced Apple blackbook which I bought because... it looked fabulous.  These things were the very latest and greatest back in their day, although they have been long superseded by better looking models which serve exactly the same purpose and look even sexier.

In an interview, on "Apple Matters"  it was stated that "Dell people buy computers to get a job done. Apple users buy a computer to make a statement." In many instances, a person buys a certain kind of computer because it looks better than another kind, even if its functionality is lacking.   People, as a general rule, do not care about what happens to their old things once they replace it. It is not something they have to deal with directly and therefore it doesn't matter to them.  They are much more concerned about polar icecaps melting because of our carbon waste. In fact lot's of people arn't even worried about that. No one really stops to think about the media footprint, because that is seen as a job for the academics, the government and the scientists. 

The media waste I have collected for this blogging task are essentially all the old things I have, and yet couldn't let go of because to me, they are not waste. They are retro, and right now, retro is cool.  As valid as the idea of obsolescence is, we need to consider that each person will have a different outlook on media in terms of waste and obsolescence. To be honest, my old Minolta camera and my record player, are just as loved, used and enjoyed as they were when they were first released. They are just not as popular anymore. So maybe they arn't obsolete or media waste at all. Maybe they are just old.

Reference List:

Apple Matters, accessed  March 14 2010 http://www.applematters.com/article/the_apple_matters_interview_seth_godin/

Sterne, J 2007, 'Out with the trash: on the future of new media', in CR Acland (ed.), Residual Media, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, Minn, pp 16-31

I'm so post modern.

I'm so postmodern that I just don't talk anymore, I wear different coloured t-shirts according to my mood.
I'm so postmodern that I work from home as a surf life saving consumer hotline.
I'm so postmodern that all my clothes are made out of sleeping bags, I don't need pockets, I'm a pocket myself.
I'm so postmodern I go to parties I'm not invited to and locate the vegemite and write my name on everyone.
I'm so postmodern that I write reviews for funerals, and heckle at weddings from inside a suitcase.
I'm so postmodern I'm going to adopt a child, and teach him how to knit, and call him Adolf Diggler.
I'm so postmodern that I breakdance in waiting rooms, play Yahtzee in nightclubs, at three in the afternoon.
I'm so postmodern I only go on dates that last thirteen minutes, via walky talky, while hiding under the bed.
I'm so postmodern I invite strangers to my house, and put on a slide show of other people's nans.
I'm so postmodern I went home and typed up everything you said, and printed it out in wingdings, and gave it back to you.
I'm so postmodern I held an art exhibition - a Chuppa Chup stuck to a swimming cap, and no one was invited.
I'm so postmodern I make alphabet soup, and dye it purple, and pour it on the lawn.
I'm so postmodern I request Hey Mona on karaoke, then sing my life story to the tune of My Sharona.
I'm so postmodern I only think in palendromic haikus - (insert palendromic haiku).
I'm so postmodern that I sit down to wee, and stand up to poo, at job interviews.
I'm so postmodern that I dress up as Santa, in the middle of August, and haunt golf courses.
I'm so postmodern that I cut off all my hair, and knitted it into a beanie, and threw it off a bridge.
I'm so postmodern that I stole everyone's mail, and cut them up into a ransom note and hid it in a thermos.
I'm so postmodern I take my leggo to the supermarket and build my own shopping trolley, and only buy one nut.
I'm so postmodern I wrote a letter to the council - ...I think it was 'M.'
I'm so postmodern I bought a round the world plane ticket, and stuffed my clothes with eggplant and pretended it was me.
I'm so postmodern I've got a tattoo of my pin number in heiroglyphics on my neighbour's guide dog.
I'm so postmodern I fought my way into parliament, and made a law banning Nuttelex, and then moved to Spain.
I'm so postmodern that I iron all my lettuce leaves, put my shirts in the crisper - they're real crisp.
I'm so postmodern I give live mice to buskers, dirty tea towels to the Mormons, and pavlova to crabs.
I'm so postmodern that I live in a tent, on a platform of skateboards that's tied to a tram.
I'm so postmodern I write four thousand-word essays on the cultural significance of party pies.
I'm so postmodern I recite Shakespeare at KFC drive thru's, through a megaphone, in sign language.
I'm so postmodern I'm going to watch the Olympics on a black & white TV, with the sound down.
I'm so postmodern I go to the gym after hours, push up against the door, then cry myself to sleep.
I'm so postmodern I wrote a trilogy of novels from the perspective of a possum that Jesus patted once.
I'm so postmodern that I marry all my friends, soak myself in metho, and tell them that they've changed.
I'm so postmodern I bought every book written in 1963 as a reading challenge, and clogged up a waterslide.
I'm so postmodern I think I might be a god in my undies rolling in sugar, in the carpark of a rodeo.
I'm so postmodern I prerecorded this song, and laced a message subliminally telling Shane Porteous to buy a smock.


-The I'm so post modern song.

Tunage

Today I learnt how to embed youtube videos into my blog! Yay! What an exciting
development. It isn't particularly difficult, I suppose I have just never tried it before.
So I have included a couple of my favorite music videos for your viewing pleasure. Actually one of them isn't really a video, it's just a song. A great song. That you should listen to right now. Or you could just go to youtube... but hell, they are right here. Just do it. You know you want to.
x

Separation of Powers

Let me first of all just say, that while I love the Doctrine of the Separation of powers,  I learnt today, that is has some very fundamental flaws that I am just not happy about. 

This Doctrine, for those who are unawares, essentially provides checks and balances through the constitution on the institutions of government. We have three arms- The legislature, which is comprised of those who make the laws, the executive, which is those who put the laws into operation and last but not least, the judiciary, who interpret these laws. That's the basics. In a nutshell.

In my administrative law class today, we were discussing how often the line between these branches is somewhat blurred. The executive is often part of the legislature and the judiciary, although supposedly the most independent of all the branches, often overlaps with the executive and let's face it, it's hand picked by the government anyway. 

And then there is the issue of accountability. Okay, so the judiciary is accountable to the people. Who are "the people?" How can they be accountable to all citizens as a collective whole when in fact, no one shares the exact same opinions on anything. At the moment, there is an enormous push from the government, who are essentially all from older generations, for more conservative policies. Those ministers affiliated with religion in particular, and its associated morals seem to be pushing the country backwards. All the hard work done to revolutionize Australia, and make it a free world to live in is being undone with people wanting abortions banned, drinking ages raised, bans on homosexual marriage... The list goes on.

So this got me thinking, does this really lead to a fair and just system, or is the potential for and likeliness of, corruption just too overwhelming? Would the government really pick a judge who was against their government stances? I think not. Would a judge who was part of an executive body really be able to act equally fairly in both? I would imagine it is unlikely. It all looks so great in our all encompassing constitution, which gets placed on a pedestal and worshipped for its brilliance and yet, it seems to me so fundamentally flawed. What hope does this country have of moving forward if scientific research is being blocked as a result of a governments moral whims. What hope of happiness do homosexual couples have if they arn't even allowed to be recognized as a proper couple? What hope does the country have of peace and unity, if it goes against the wishes of its youth on a daily basis? Suffice to say, if the legislature makes these conservative laws, the executive implements, the judges enforce them, and in the end it's all the same people with no real separation, what will become of Australia? 

Manic Digitization

(Picture from http://aejmc.org/topics/2009/06/teaching-journalism-in-a-digital-world/ )

I have officially begun my journalism related subjects this week at uni. *EXCITEMENT*. One of my tasks, would you believe is to keep a weekly blog. I have decided to post them here also, as it seems like a good place to start practicing. The blog topic is as follows:


Thinking about athe day you came to the lecture, which digitial communications technologies and platforms did you use, and for what purpose? Think of devices (computers, phones), locations (home, uni, Internet cafes), platforms (Facebook, WWW, SMP) and all the tasks you achieve. Reflect on how much you depend on digital technologies in everyday life. 


In response, I have written the following:


Oh Yes. I have a facebook account. I have a blog. I have a smartphone though, it's not a great one. It's got nothing on the iphone. I have a computer, I have a digital camera, I have an ipod. These things mean that I fit in with the rest of generation Y and their manic digitization of absolutely everything. At least we arn't like generation Z. I hear they have video games on their TV. 


The day I came to the lecture I utilized almost all of my digital toys. I definitely checked my facebook because not checking facebook means you are out of the loop on what's happening in your own world, and no body wants to be left in the dark. I listened to my ipod on my run because if I don't take it people I know might try and talk to me and then I would have to stop running. Also, without Lady GaGa, I would never make it up the last hill home. I sent a few text messages to friends and received a few text reminders from google letting me know times and locations of lectures, because google knows everything so why would I bother writing them down or memorizing them?


We are living in a digital world, and yes, I am a digital girl, but how much do I depend on digital technologies? I don't. I use them because I can. They are there, they are part of life, and they are readily available, but I know how to write notes by hand. I know how to walk over to someone else's dorm room and ask them what they are doing, what their relationship status is today and usually from facial expression, I even know what mood they are in. I know how to use a written diary to keep appointments and work out lecture times. I even know how to post letters. So no, dependency is not how I would describe my relationship with digital technologies. I don't think I need to check myself into dig-a-holics anonymous just yet.

Eclecticism

                                

Everything is everywhere today. There has been no set pattern. There has been no familiarities. Uni has gone back, I've met new people, I am living in a new room with new decorations. I'm reading new books by new authors and looking at new photos by unknown people. It's a new season, and the temperature feels like it has dropped already. 

Hopefully tomorrow will be just as unpredictable. I don't like structure. It makes things uninteresting. 

:)

PS. Todays photos mean nothing. They are just random and inspiring.