Video of the day

I was just revisiting an episode of The Vicar of Dibley that I watched when I was with my mum in the UK during Christmas. Dawn French (French and Saunders) is as funny as ever, and Richard Armitage (Robin Hood, North and South) is super yummy! This is such a great clip. Worth watching over and over!!

Does journalism make a difference?

I read an interesting article from the New Statesman about journalism and whether it makes a difference - especially to international situations in Darfur and Zimbabwe etc. Are journalists just content providers? Do readers really care about what they read? And why do people think the media is powerful when they are not?

Here's an extract from the article. Click on more to view it all.

When journalism is powerless

Brian Cathcart

Published 02 April 2007

Despite years of fine reporting and many furious editorials, the bloodshed continues in Darfur and Mugabe hangs on in Zimbabwe.

Sixth-formers who apply to study journalism at university often explain their interest by referring to the power of the news media, saying something like: "Journalism shapes the world in which we live." It is a sort of commonplace in an age when ministers live and die by headlines, and no doubt there is truth in it, in the philosophical sense that journalists have a role in defining perceptions of the world, but it always jars with me. That is just not my experience.

In day-to-day terms, much of the job is a desperate struggle to interest the readers and give them what they want for their money - not an endeavour that leaves you with an overwhelming feeling of power. And when it comes to the things that really matter, I suspect that most journalists are conscious of how little difference they make, rather than how much.

Darfur is a case in point. How many times have you read that 200,000 people have been killed and two million more displaced in a vicious campaign, backed by the Khartoum government, against the people of western Sudan? Every time you have read it, some journalist has had to write it, struggling to find a new way to communicate the horror behind a message growing staler by the month. And whether those journalists were reporting from the field or sitting at desks in London, they were probably hoping, however faintly, that this time something would change. ... more

Video of the day

A video clip of a song performed but who else but Fry and Laurie! Great social commentary on the US and hilarious too!



Enjoy!

When feelings suddenly die

Have you ever liked someone for a long time, and then suddenly woke up one day and realised that you didn't have those feelings towards them anymore?

I had such a thing happen to me recently. I woke up one day and it just hit me that I didn't like that person in that way anymore. It was kinda strange - on the one hand, I felt like I was finally released from these strong feelings that I've had, and it was a relief. But on the flipside, I felt very empty too - it was as if I had lost something very dear to me.

I guess this experience is most dramatically seen in some marriage breakups. One day, a person realises that they don't love their other half anymore, and they tell them so. The partner is confused and shocked - "Where did this come from?" they ask. "I dunno" is the usual answer.

Do you think that such a sudden change in feelings is possible? Or is it an accumulation of months and years of doubt about the relationship that come to a head - and the person suddenly realises that they've lost that "lovely feeling"?

Perhaps what's frightening is that it could happen to any one of us. Of course, people shouldn't go into a relationship or marriage thinking of the day when they might breakup with that special person - relationships are a calculated risk to a certain extent after all, and nothing is a certainty in life. But isn't it kinda scary to suddenly lose your feelings about someone?

Where are the football fans?

I went out with a friend to watch the Australia v China pre-Asian Cup friendly in Guangzhou in Sydney last night, and had quite a hard time finding a place that was screening the match live.

An NRL match was on, and while NSW is big on rugby league, I was still very disappointed to find that almost every establishment was screening the NRL match instead. Anyway, it was Star Bar of all places that was screening the match, so at least I managed to get some nasty pub dinner (Bangers & Mash - yum yum!) and down some beers while watching our Socceroos easily beat China 2-0.

I guess the first thought that came across my friend's and mine's minds was that support for football (or soccer) would never increase if there aren't places that are regularly screening football matches. It was great to see the high level of support for the Socceroos during the World Cup last year, but the World Cup only comes once every four years, and the national team needs to feel loved during the intervening years too.

I was also at the Sydney FC v Arawa Red Diamonds match at Aussie Stadium on Wednesday, and was disappointed that only 21,010 spectators turned out (I think the capacity of the stadium is about 45,000). I know Sydney fans are a fickle lot, but hey, get behind your team man! This is Australia's chance to be part of a truly international game that can really ignite passions and - I would even boldy say - help ethnic communities in this country connect with each other better. More embarrassing for Sydney is the level of support that Melbourne Victory gets (or even Adelaide United for that matter). I'm sure that when the Asian Champions League is played in Melbourne next year, there will be sold-out crowds and passionate cheering everywhere.



... and, the Urawa Red Diamonds fans - of which that were about a 1000 of them - really put The Cove to shame with their crazy chants, millions of banners and huge flags. That's the beauty of playing international matches, and I hope Sydney FC learns from this and comes up with a few attention-grabbing banners and flags themselves!

One-year-old Aussie

Yes, I am finally celebrating my first year as a fully-fledged Aussie - beer-drinking, backpack-carrying, sports-loving Aussie ...

How does it feel? For one, I actually forgot all about the anniversary, and it was actually my friend who reminded me about it. I don't quite know why I forgot actually, cos it was a pretty big decision for me to take up Australian citizenship, but my memory can be quite woolly at times, and lots of things have been happening in my life recently, so that's my excuse!

Things haven't really changed that much since I got my citizenship. Most people still think I'm not Australian because of my accent and my appearance, and I still pay as much tax as I used to(!!!). What was exciting though was travelling overseas on an Aussie passport. For some reason, the moment I said I was Australian, all the other backpacking Aussies (and there were plenty of them) were very friendly and I immediately had a whole bunch of new companions to travel with even though I was travelling alone!

Prolly the one thing I have been looking forward to is voting at this weekend's elections. The vote itself is a bit of a farce really and there isn't really much of a choice for us voters, but to actually be voting - that's a biggie for me!! I'm sure I'll soon turn into a political-apathetic Aussie, but not just yet ...

Better than sex?

I finally scored my second goal in indoor futsal. It was an amazing strike - a beautiful curl around the player guarding me and the goalkeeper and straight into the top left-hand corner of the goal. I was so excited that I even wanted to take my shirt off, which is not really something I can do as a female player. It was almost like an out-of-body experience. I can still replay the shot in my mind in slow motion and for once, I felt like a proper player, not just some huffing and puffing weekend warrior trying not to twist my ankle on the court.

Some professional football players have said that scoring a goal is better than sex, and it did feel a bit like that. Imagine playing in front of 70,000 screaming spectators in a stadium and scoring a spectacular goal. How amazing a feeling that must be! It's like having sex with 70,000 people - a million times more adoration is thrown at you! Ok, maybe I'm taking the sex analogy a bit too far, but it was a good goal, and I'll milk as many analogies as I can just to remind myself of that one second.

Another strange thing about the goal was that I scored it with my left foot - the same foot that I scored with for my first goal. I am such a right-hander and right-footer with everything that I do that I'm really surprised that I can do anything at all with that left foot of mine, let alone score such a fanciful goal. But hey, I'm not complaining!