Music Festivals

Music surrounds us! Everyone has a preference on what genre or style of music they enjoy listening to and specific genres are held in big music festivals, for example Groovin the moo aims at a range of genres including alternative, indie, hip hop and techno. Other festivals are mainly aimed at one or two genres such as Future Music festival aims for techno, dance style while Soundwave looks for metal, screamo, alternative genres.

Soundwave is metal music festival that attends Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and sometimes Perth. This year Soundwave celebrated their 10^th anniversary and gave the audience the opportunity to see some most well-known musicians in the world such as Metallica, Linkin Park, Blink 182, Paramore, The offspring and many many more.

Soundwave is Australia’s most popular music festival for this certain genre and is mainly held within February and March every year and holds around hundreds and thousands of people. The festival opens at 10-11am and finishes around 10pm.

Australia should have more of these festivals because it is great for our economy, people from other countries are attending these festivals and if we created more, there is no doubt that more people would attend these festivals and this would result in more money for the cities that they are held in.

http://soundwavefestival.com/lineup

http://www.gtm.net.au/landing-ie.html

 

 

The unusual story of a Zombie falling in love with a human

The unusual story of a Zombie falling in love with a human

No this person was not on any type of drugs or bath salts, which are known to have zombie-fied effects on a human. The new, hyped movie “Warm Bodies” has hit cinemas with a blast! Teenage girls are going crazy over the different style film which stands aside from the usual boy meets girl…blah blah blah they fall in love, the end! No! it plays along the lines of a world wide epidemic, causing humans to turn into corpses. Main character R stumbles around the airport where he calls home, questioning why he can’t connect, why he can’t feel, then realising he’s dead. R is different from all the other corpses, he feels the need to become alive again and connect. Although the world has not fully ended, inside New York behind a great, big, iron wall lives the rest of the alive human beings trying to survive off what they can. In need of medicine a group of humans head out of the shelter and look for medication. Suddenly a group of zombies, including R raid the humans where R eats main character Julie’s boyfriend Perry. After eating Perry, R sees Julie and falls into a love daze where his heart pumps once. R covers Julie in blood and takes her back to his home “the airport” and saves her from the other zombies. Days pass and they begin to start a relationship, R saves Julie multiple times and they share every waking moment, well R does because he can’t dream, he spends time with Julie, repeating “Keep you Safe”. Julie protests that she has to go home so R agrees to help get her there. After one last time of Julie escaping R’s safety she reaches the iron boarded home. R is heartbroken and returns home to then come across his best zombie mate and others who have also felt “alive”. The bad guys in this film are the Bonies, Skeletons who use to be corpses, who use to be humans. They don’t feel anything and will eat anything with a heartbeat, hence why the zombie’s who are starting to feel again have been chased out of the airport and are now hunted by the Bonies. R is told that Julie is in danger and goes to find her beyond the iron boarded shelter, trying to hide his corpse-like body. He finds Julie and is revealed to Julies friend Nora, where R explains that the Bonies are coming for them and that all the corpses are changing, “dreaming”. Julie goes to her father who is chief of the military, with R and tries to explain that the corpses are changing. Expectedly he didn’t believe her and R and Julie are forced to run from the army to meet up with the other waiting corpses. A fight breaks out between the zombies and bonies and the military are left to be confused on what to shoot. The corpses and humans join forces to kill all the bonies and R and Julie are left after falling to the ground into a fountain, passionately kissing. He then transforms into a human and the world is saved because the corpses become human again. R and Julie are now in a relationship.

Although this movie similarly falls into the category of beauty and the beast love, like other films like Twilight. This film is one of a kind, something fresh, something new, something that I have fallen in love with.

 

 

Two sides to every story

There are two sides to every story

North Queensland Police Officer was heavily criticized late April 2013 by the media for not fulfilling his duty to protect even when his life was put in danger. Townsville’s Police force chased two criminals into Pallarenda’s crocodile infested creek, while one convicted criminal was caught the other fled into the creek, leaving a police officer standing helpless on the bank. This police officer was criticized because he didn’t go after the criminal. Queensland Police Union president, Ian Leavers defended the officer by saying that the creek is known to be full of crocodiles and he wasn’t prepared to have an officer risk his life, also the officer was carrying heavy, expensive equipment that could lead to drowning the officer. So in both ways the officers life was at risk and was not worth loosing. Luckily the sex offender was caught the next day but the police officers reputation is still tainted.

Schapelle Corby

A journalist strives to seek the truth in searching and gathering information about anything that will capture the audience’s attention while also distributing news to the public. Well known Australian convicted criminal, Schapelle Corby has been the highlight of many media companies. Guilty until proven innocent, Schapelle was sentenced 20 years in an Indonesian jail due to drug trafficking charges. Certain mediums used are Schapelle Corby’s autobiography, “My Story”, television interviews with 60 minutes, official website and print newspaper article. These mediums portray similar and different opinions about Corby to create and built a larger viewing audience while gaining profits.

Bonella, Kathryn “My Story” Schapelle Corby, Sydney, Australia, Pan Macmillan, 2006, pg. 65, print.

Although the book, “My Story” is authored by Kathryn Bonella it also includes excerpts of Schapelle’s diary. Kathryn Bonella worked as a producer for 60 minutes for many years while living in England and Australia. When she heard about Schapelle’s case, Kathryn was determined to help, therefore she moved to Bali and wrote a book with Schapelle about her experience. Chapter 6, “The ‘Celebrity’ Prisoner” explains how fast the Indonesian and Australian media reacted when Schapelle Corby was arrested and how the media exposed and exploited her situation. “The Bali press were the worst, making up pungent and ridiculous lies. Three big ones in the first week were: I had a drug factory in Bali that converted marijuana into heroin; I’d claimed in my interrogation that I fed marijuana to cattle in Australia; and I was known as the ‘Ganja Queen’ and used the code word ‘lemon juice’”. (Bonella, K., 2006) This style of writing is used to persuade the audience’s thoughts and opinions about the victim. The Balinese news press constantly exploited Schapelle by creating lies in the headlines.  This event holds great newsworthiness to all travellers around the world and especially to Australian citizens. There are 3 other different mediums relating to Schapelle Corby’s case that express their opinions through differences and similarities.

Howard Sacre, Kathryn Bonella, 60 minutes “The inside story”, resource creation: 28/05/12, Television, accessed: 17/04/13

60 minutes journalist, Liz Hayes interviewed Schapelle’s sister Mercedes Corby 8 years after Schapelle’s arrest. 60 minutes, owned by Win which is a form of commercial media where audiences are portrayed as customers. This interview was on a high public demand, Australians and many others around the world were intrigued to see what Schapelle Corby was experiencing. The video shows footage of Schapelle in her court trial, her everyday living and Liz Hayes interview with Schapelle and Mercedes. The audience is shown only the most important and intriguing details unlike Schapelle’s book “My Story” which exposes the truth and the whole story. The video shows Schapelle walking freely around the prison while according to “My Story” Schapelle was hardly allowed out of her cell and when she was, she was always accompanied by guards. Although the 60 minutes interview represented Schapelle as a desperate, in need of help, innocent Australian, this video did not express the whole truth and was minimally dramatized to captivate customers.

 Morpheus, Schapelle Corby: Don’t walk away, 2008, web, accessed: 19/04/13  

Over the years, Schapelle has gained a large amount of believers and also a fair amount of sceptics. Some kind human beings who have no relationship and have never met Schapelle, have organized and created a website to help free her. The official website of “Schapelle Corby: Please don’t walk away” shares information on how to help, details about Schapelle’s former life and present life. This website is a public media site so therefore it doesn’t strive to receive money although they have options to donate and they suggest buying Schapelle’s books. Even though the Schapelle Corby official website doesn’t attract a large audience, people who are interested in her case will come across this website. It holds some newsworthiness with regular updates about anything Schapelle related. In contrast to widely known commercial media television show 60 minutes, the official website provides more in depth information compared to the edited videos that contain the most intriguing news.

Corby must admit her guilt to win parole, The West Australian, 15/04/13, web, accessed: 19/04/13

Newspapers were the world’s primary source of information until technology was born but newspapers have not faded away, they still produce important, updated news. The West Australian newspaper distributed a piece about Schapelle Corby with the interesting headline, “Corby must admit her guilt to win parole.” “The 35-year-old, who has maintained her innocence, would have to admit to attempting to smuggle four kilograms of marijuana into Indonesia in 2004.” (AAP, 2013) Commercial media player, The West Australian used this captivating headline to catch the customer’s eye so that they gain more profits. Schapelle Corby is an ongoing story, any news piece containing information about the Corby’s holds a great deal of newsworthiness due the huge impact on Australians. This news article contains useful information and explains but doesn’t exploit the truth similar to the official Schapelle Corby website and the book “My Story.”

Journalism is constantly feeding the world new, interesting information through different or similar mediums. Some mediums are not as newsworthy as others and similarly some don’t receive a major audience. Auto biography “My Story”, 60 minutes, official website Schapelle Corby: Please don’t walk away and The West Australian has presented different views, opinions and persuasive techniques on Schapelle Corby’s case.

 

MLA STYLE REFERENCE LIST

Bonella, Kathryn “My Story” Schapelle Corby, Sydney, Australia, Pan Macmillan, 2006, pg. 65, print.

Howard Sacre, Kathryn Bonella, 60 minutes “The inside story”, resource creation: 28/05/12, Television, accessed: 17/04/13

http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/stories/8473217/the-inside-story

Morpheus, Schapelle Corby: Don’t walk away, 2008, web, accessed: 19/04/13 http://www.schapelle.net/

“Corby must admit her guilt to win parole”, The West Australian, 15/04/13, web, accessed: 19/04/13 http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/16379448/corby-must-admit-her-guilt-to-win-parole/

Mopar Country

Mopar is made up of Chrysler, Dodge, Valiant and Jeep, which are all well-known car manufacturers. On Saturday the 25^th of May, Mopar celebrated its vehicles in Townsville by holding a poker run. The poker run started at Chrysler in the city to Pallarenda to the Bohle Barn, then to the Stuart Hotel and finishing at the Victoria pub hotel. The poker run involved receiving cards at each stop and then seeing who had the best hand at the finish line. There was at least 30 old style cars ranging from the 30’s to the 80’s all with uniqueness.

The next day, Sunday the 26^th of May, Mopar held a large car show at the go-karts track out at the Bohle. It went from 10am till 2pm and had a jumping castle and little go-karts for the kids entertainment while the adults looked at the old and the new Mopars. There was a competition, who had the best new Mopar, the best old Mopar and people’s choice.

Ethics within Journalism

Ethics within Journalism

Ethics is described as a bunch of prescriptive rules, principles, values of character that inform. Ethics are vital to a journalist’s career because it allows a journalist to follow set rules at a professional standard.

Ethics govern behaviour on a theoretical level and a practical level, journalists should behave professionally while following the ethical codes and conducts. It can vary from a socio context, a historical and political context.

These are some situations in which ethics arise in Journalism: borrowing the work of others (copyright), heavily relying on secondary sources, assessing the news values of a story, confidentiality, privacy, stereotyping, image manipulation and privacy and celebrity stories. Journalists must be careful with copyright rules, if they publish something they must do the research beforehand to check if a story has already been done and that their sources are credible. They must also be aware of the privacy of people and or celebrities by making sure everything is confidential and not stereotyping.

The students of JN1001

The students of JN1001- a practice of interviewing

Nick Palmisano is a 21 year old student currently studying a bachelor of multimedia journalism at James Cook University. Nick was born in America but calls himself a kiwi because he lived in New Zealand for at least 16 years. He moved to Australia because he was financially better off and was offered better education. Nick says that he is interested in everything and follows all sports. He has a passion for radio broadcasting due to the fact that he loves his own voice. Nick’s love for radio broadcasting started in Melbourne then he moved to Airlie beach where he was host of 88vox fm. In the future, Nick hopes to relocate to Melbourne and do more radio broadcasting and in the distant future, thanks to his degree he wants to spend time as a foreign correspondent.

Don’t underestimate by her small appearance, Danaella Wivell is full of an exciting, bubbly, smart personality. Born in Darwin, Dana has travelled to nearly everywhere in the world within her 18 years of living of this planet. Although she currently lives in Townsville, Dana has lived in Malaysia when she was younger and has travelled through Asia, Australia, New Zealand, America and in a month she is heading to Europe with her family. Dana dreams of becoming a world known actress but always staying true to her country, Australia. She has participated in community theatre in her high school productions as Alice in Wonderland and also an upcoming production of Blackrock. Although she loves the stage, she strongly believes that her current studying of multimedia journalism will be a steady, secure job that she also has a passion for.  

James Cook University is home to some overseas students, Yunki Baek, 25, is from South Korea. He is currently studying here in Townsville. He plans to become a Drama director and has a passion for film. At age 20, Yunki, had to join South Koreas military because it was compulsory, he has no comment he had a choice about joining the military. Before joining, Yunki had no hate towards North Korea but once joined to the South Korea military, they used propaganda and now Yunki has a dislike against North Korea. He says that the military changed him but he was only required to train and not to go to war. He says that it didn’t change him psychologically. His best experience in his life was to study in Australia and luckily for him, Yunki stated that he has had no bad experiences in his life.

Jess is Townsville born and has been through many things only at the age of 20. She is one tough cookie and has had to endure a best friend passing away from cancer and her family having to suffer from other diseases aswell. She has learnt that you don’t take things for granted and that a bucket list is important to have. Jess is currently studying writing media and plans to travel while receiving money as a PR, preferably in the mines.  

Polictical economy and Investigative Journalism

Political economy of the media

Political economy has core concepts for the media such as, ownership, control, regulation, audience labour and surveillance. In the media there is nothing natural about society, the media manipulates to receive as much profit and views. There are gatekeepers for the political economy which are the mass media, they decide what information is shared but once again it all depends on the money.

If the mass media gatekeepers viewed a program and a member of the public thought it was inappropriate, the gatekeepers would call this negative feedback “Flak”. Constructive criticism is always good but the mass media shouldn’t be receiving “Flak” because they are the gatekeepers, who are there to protect society of what we are and aren’t allowed to see. The mass media are controlled by money, they sell audiences to programs to receive bulk profits.

Investigative Journalism

Some say that investigative journalism is in-depth journalism, it deeply digs into a public interest issue and pulls out interesting, true facts. Investigative journalism requires a whole lot of research and in a way investigate journalism is like being a detective because you have to go out on field and find the facts yourself, so that you know they are credible. Also important factor within investigative journalism is that it needs to have a public interest.

A picture can tell a thousand words

A picture can tell a thousand words

A photojournalist’s job is to take photos to accompany written work. The photograph is to express in detail and give the reader a more in depth view of what’s happening. A photojournalist travels the world and sometimes views the most horrific events especially in third world countries, war zones or even natural disasters.

A good photograph follows the rule of thirds (golden mean). If a grid is put over a photo and the focal point of the picture is within in the middle of the grid it therefore follows the rule of thirds. What makes a great photo is the framing, focus, the angle or point of view, exposure, timing and “capturing the moment”.  If a picture is framed well it creates a finished look making the picture look more professional. A photograph needs a main focus point, to capture the readers eye, if the picture has a great focal point it can create emotional outlook. The angle or point of view of a picture is vital, throughout all different magazines on one special topic, there will be many pictures from all different angles trying to capture the one that speaks the best. Exposure or light of a photograph is important, if a picture has little exposure it could be done purposely to create a dark feeling, similar if the photograph had too much exposure. It is the photographers view on whatever topic. Similar to exposure, timing is key! Timing is important in certain areas like war or natural disasters. A photographer might spend minutes to even hours trying to capture the right moment or sometimes a photographer could be doing something and quickly take a snap and that picture could turn out great.

Pictures have been around since the cave paintings and it has progressed through religious window, stained paintings and for photojournalists is all started when pictures were put in newspapers in 1860’s. Over the years photojournalism has developed dramatically along with cameras. With the help of the internet, photojournalists can now take a quick snap and upload their picture while still on the field. Some other developments is the manipulation of photographs especially with celebrities, making them look completely fake but also using the headline “perfect figure, perfect body” making society fixed on so called perfection but in reality its fake because of digital manipulation. This is also used to emphasize or dramatize natural disasters or other disasters to receive more buyers therefore more profit. Other digital manipulation can be the change of a person due their race or gender to make the photograph look more appealing to a certain customer.

Sometimes words aren’t enough and a picture can do it justice if it follows the golden meaning. A picture has no meaning at all, if it can’t tell a story.

Get your facts right!

Well known morning show, Mornings, aired on channel WIN. They showed a section on overseas holidays where people are getting more than a normal holiday, they are also getting cheaper plastic surgery. I personally felt that their facts and information were untrue and not researched. They were degrading professional surgeons without supplying any credible sources. They were only receiving information from cases that have had a bad experience.

They had slides showing what the advantages and disadvantages there was for overseas plastic surgery in countries such as Thailand and other south East Asian countries. Some disadvantages were that you don’t know the doctors qualifications, you don’t know who is operating on you and they mainly focus on the bad results, blaming the doctors because the patient didn’t take care. I believe these accusations are false. From personal experience, there is a hospital website which shows all the doctors qualifications, and they have also trained in either the US or the UK. The doctors are accessible by email and speak very good English. The international hospitals are very clean and are technology up to date (for a 3^rd world country). Of course with every procedure there are risks but if taken care of properly by the patient, the risks are minimal.

They said that there was no advantages to plastic surgery over in foreign countries which is completely wrong, there are many advantages to plastic surgery, it doesn’t matter which country it is performed in. The morning show presenter warned travellers to go for a holiday and get plastic surgery in Australia. The main reason Australian and other people in the world get plastic surgery in Asian countries is because of the extreme price difference. It is usually more than half price to have surgery in Thailand and other Asian countries.

In my opinion, I believe that if Australian plastic surgeons are complaining about clients travelling to Asia for work done to them, they should lower their high, demanding price!

The presenter, reporting this section on the Morning show was ignorant and arrogant. He clearly focused on the negative aspects, relying on stories from people who have had a bad experience while not naming or supplying credible information or checking if these people actually had surgery in Thailand. They could have even had a bad reaction or post- surgery complications which is not the doctors’ fault. It is simply the patients’ laziness or didn’t follow the doctors’ instructions.

The presenter should have done more research instead of listening and arguing one side with no back up evidence of the other side.

Rant over!

There is hope. There is a light at the end of the tunnel: Trauma within Journalists

There is hope. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Horrific events affect the world daily, some we don’t hear about but others we do. Thanks to the hardworking, courageous Journalists who go out on field and find the information to release to the public. Some of these stories affect the readers emotionally but what toll does it take on the Journalists who are directly exposed to the event?

War reporters are the most obvious affected, they face many challenges such as a decrease in public interest in international crises also while in a war zone, a war reporter is always on edge but lack preparation because things in war come unexpectedly. Military censorship is another challenge that a war reporter has to face, while under protection of the army, in a foreign country and most likely right in the middle of a war zone, it is important to keep the military positions and other things confidential.

 

There are safety laws and requirements a war reporter must be aware of. A journalists safety is not always guaranteed.

1.       Commitment

2.       Free will

3.       Experience

4.       Preparation

5.       Equipment

6.       Insurance

7.       Psychological counselling

8.       Legal protection

 

War reporters are not the only journalists who are affected by trauma, any reporter, reporting natural disasters, terrorists attacks, epidemics, crimes or car/bus/train/plane crashes can be deeply traumatised and require some help.

There is special help dedicated to journalists from all over the world. Dart Centre is an organisation with a website that provides articles, interviews, journalist-to-journalist advice, tips and other resources to cope with trauma.

http://dartcenter.org/

The Multicultural man behind the beard.

The multicultural man behind the beard

American born, Nick Palmisano caught the travel bug at a young age, having lived in California, Auckland and various parts of Australia. At 21 years of age, Nick has been the host of Airlie beach’s 88voxfm radio station and also worked in Melbourne. Nick has a passion for the stage, writing fiction novels and radio broadcasting because he loves the sound of his own voice.

Behind Nick’s witty and charming personality he has strong opinions and views on the world where he likes to express them on his blog.

nickpalmisano.blogspot.com.au

In addition to Nick’s personality, his quick thinking mind which he used to his potential during high school. Nick said, “I would have an oral presentation due but I’d never be prepared, I would just wing it.” Although Nick also stated that he promised to be better prepared for his university work.

After graduating university, Nick hopes to relocate back to Melbourne and in the near future work as a foreign correspondent.

Three Little Pigs

The Inverted Pyramid
Three Little Pigs

A wild, hungry wolf, hunted down three innocent little pigs on Saturday afternoon at 6pm.
In the small town of Whistershire, local pigs had been chased out of each of their homes until the wold reached the last out of the three houses. The third pig's house was built out of brick. This made is difficult for the wolf to blow down the house.The terrifying momet became worse when the wolf's hunger increased and he climbed the chimney to get inside the home. The three scared little pigs, cleverly lit a fire inside the fireplace and the wolf was severly burnt and died.

The pigs were very happy to be alive and slowly began to rebuild their homes out of brick, just incase another blood thirsty wolf comes.