BALI!

At the end of this year, me, my dad, brother and sister are going to Bali together! Im so excited to feel a million dollars for a week and stay in a 5 star hotel! Everything is so cheap there is it great. We usually stay in Sanur because its less crowded and more family friendly. However, this time dad wants to change it up and we will be staying in Leggien, which is about 15 minutes or so from Kuta's main beach. We are planning on eating lots, getting pampered and buying lots of touristy things! The food there is amazing and I'm so excited to eat the delicious foods that are at ridiculously cheap prices. I have also saved up a lot of money to get massages everyday, as well as manicures and pedicures. We have discovered that it is better off paying an extra couple of dollars to go to a salon, rather then the massaging at the main beach. This is because it feels more hygienic and private. Its a tad uncomfortable when you're getting massaged half naked and people are casually walking past! I'm also keen to visit the two Poppy's Lanes that are jam packed with markets and cheap clothes. You generally have to sift through the clothing a bit to get something nice as well. But that doesn't bother me too much when everything is under $5! When you're arguing with the shop keeper about a few cents high or lower regarding pricing of clothes, i figure that money means a lot more to them then it does to us, so i give in! Some aren't as generous. But really, 30 cents is hardly generous. I'm looking forward to go riding along the main beach. It is about $5 to hire a bike for the day so we all go riding along the foreshore and stop for food and interesting markets we find along the way! I honestly cannot wait, and it is also a great opportunity to catchup with the Family as i live down in Brisbane now.

Media Conference #4

Todays guest speaker is Dr. Peter Milne, the COMU1999 Lecturer. He discussed the use of Visual Culture Jamming and using humour to bring the message across in visual language. Other visual tools he mentioned were religious icons, art such s mona lisa and the scream, and the American flag. He talks about how changes to these icons convey certain messages to the targeted audience. This sort of power can be a dangerous thing, as if not used well can be executed badly, and thus giving across the wrong message. As i study COMU1999 i recognised the lecture as one we were taught a few weeks ago. Therefore, i found the presentation boring and repetitive. In our COMU1999 classes we get taught the same thing over and over again, with different examples and situations. So, everything Dr. Milne was discussing i already had heard a million times. He talked about how ads and billboards have been changed to invert and subvert specific audiences. If not executed well, they can not give across the right impression or idea. At the end of the lecture, i felt as though i hadn't learnt a lot as i had heard it all many times before!

Holidays!

It’s the holidays! Such a relief to get a break off Uni however short it is. I unfortunately weren’t able to go home to Darwin these holidays (as I attend Cromwell College) but fortunately my mum lives in Brisbane so I was able to spend some time with her. My brother and sister also came down from Darwin for a few days, which was nice as well. We went night kayaking on the Brisbane River, and went under the story bridge that was both thrilling and daunting! College was very quiet; there were about 20-30 people there when there are usually at least 250! I had planned to get a lot of Uni work out of the way, but it never happened. One of my good friends from College, “Gump” (fresher name) lives in Mooloolaba and invited me to stay there for three nights. When I first arrived at her house I couldn’t believe it!! It was one of the most prestigious houses I’d ever seen in my life, right on the marina. Everything you can possibly imagine in a house she had it! But she is so unbelievably modest I had no idea her family was that wealthy. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t ideal beach weather while I was there, however we were lucky for about an hour on one of the days to head down to the beach! While I was there I discovered my love for second hand shopping, where I bought 8 items of clothing for about $30! We did too much shopping, but we had a lot of fun in the process. Gump and I also caught up with one our friends from College, Shrim (fresher name). We had breakfast right on the beach, which was nice. Overall, I had an amazing time and am so lucky to have made so many great friends at College! By the time Gump and I returned to college, the majority of people were back. It was good to catch up with everyone and hear what have had been up to over the holidays!

Cromwell Ball

Last week was our annual Cromwell Ball.  All the girls got their hair and make up done, and saved money by wearing their formal dresses from their year 12 formal. I, on the other hand had to pay for it all my self, so I decided on doing my own hair and makeup, which in the end, worked out well. The location of ball was a secret that the third year socials had organized. When we got off the bus we discovered the secret location was the Victoria Park Golf Complex. It was so nice, and we were welcomed with fancy beer and champagne. As the night progressed we had entrée, mains and dessert along with many photos taken and alcohol all night! The food was delicious, and a nice change to college food. Everyone looked amazing, and tore up the dance floor. All in all it was a great night! Following ball was ball recovery, which was held at the Paddo. The idea of recovery is to dress up as ridiculous as you can and get extremely intoxicated! It was a great day, cheap drinks and good company. A lovely way to end the Ball!

COMU1152 - Media Conference 3

In todays lecture, we had guest speaker Luke Royes, who is an ABC Online Journalist. He discussed the use of different social media's to keep up to date with what people are doing, and allowing people to know what he is doing. Firstly he discusses Twitter, which is his most used form of social media. He discusses how Facebook has some strengths Twitter doesn't have such as photo albums, videos and check in. 4square is another form of communication and is used to check in via mobile. Luke mentions that this media isn't as popular, as Facebook can check in as well as many other things 4square can't. Instragram is used to send out photos of what people are doing and is good for keeping brand recognition. Pintrist is another form of internet communication, and works in with Facebook and Twitter,  as an online pin board. Luke continues to discuss that ABC joined social media 5-7 yrs ago, and even since have used Twitter and Facebook to drive what theyre doing, and enables others to share and discuss their stories. Twitter is used to generate traffic to the site, and is good for getting in contact with people, and asking to send through photos. Personally, Luke first used Facebook 4-5 yrs ago, and was initially asked not to mention work related issues via social media. Now however, it is encouraged for employees to share what they are doing and where they are going. An interesting aspect of social media Luke discussed is how mistakes and negative opinions on social media can reflect upon you in a professional aspect, as well as your company. Therefore it is vital to be careful with what you say even if it isn’t work related, as well as the basics such as no typos with what you write. I found it interesting that businesses and companies can take advantage of what you post on Facebook and Twitter and use it against you personally and turn it around to look bad on your company also. Learning about how companies use social media gave an insight into the advancement of the technological world. It also made me weary that what you post doesn't only impact on you, but also the company you are working for.

COMU1152 - Media Conference 2

In this lecture, we had Guest Speaker Frances Whiting, who is an author, journalist and public speaker. Firstly, Frances gave us some background information of how she became a journalist. From being a primary school teacher, a 28 she studied a batchelor of business/journalism over a time of 6 years. Following her studies, she got a job on a small paper on the North Coast, where there was little pressure to perform well and a great way of learning. Starting off in a small regional newspaper was her advice to get an opening into the industry. Soon after, Frances was offered a job in the Brisbane Sunday Mail, doing a piece for the EKKA, and has since continued for 16 years. She now has her own column in the Sunday Mail. Frances finds this an intimate form of writing, where viewers enter your world and feel they know you personally. She also gets an insight into the readers, which improves her writing career, as you know whos reading it, and who is writing to her. As she is also a feature writer for the Q weekend magazine, Frances has had to learn a few different style of writing. Her advice was learning to be flexible and versatile to suite your audience. As such, the Sunday Mail readers want to smile and laugh, whilst Q weekend is advertised as a formal magazine, where readers want to learn something and be directed to do something to help somebody. When referring to PR, she comments that if you don’t get a job, you can create your own job. This is as the industry is changing, but with this comes opportunity and new ways to get your voice heard. She recommends to build up relationships with journalists and to continually follow up after each story. Frances discusses the importance to love what you do. As you go into the world of PR, don’t forget your basics, build up your contacts, and be professional in every form of communication you can. I found this speech very inspirational, as I am concerned about the limited amount of jobs for PR out there. But she believed there are always jobs, sometimes you need to make your own.

COMU1152 - Media Conference 1

In todays lecture, we had Guest Speaker Robert discuss his Journalism work in the Russian Foreign Affairs. Robert is an investigative journalist and war correspondent. He first studied Journalism and Communication, and after his studies began working for the Nation Media Group.  A highlight in his career is having been the first person to have interviewed Joseph Kony. During that time, he was captured and put into a detention centre, where a bag was kept over his head for four days. Following this, he was disposed of somewhere on the street. Whilst working in this particular industry, he found that due to arrests, stress became too much and there were signs of him becoming depressed, and psychologically challenged. After discussing a bit about his struggles, with having to see psychiatrists to keep him sane, he gave many tips and hints of the trade. Firstly, he mentioned that when you move up in the Public Relations world, you are going to confront Journalists who are very curious, and want to now more then what you show them. Content that you do provide to the print media should be planned differently to that of radio and television media as they only want a couple of paragraphs. By doing this, he recommended that you also take advantage of media as much as you can, with well researched information and lots of complex questions. In conference rooms theres no room for mistakes or carelessness as cameras and recorders are on at all times and can use this against you. Roberts final words were images of war scenes, where he said it was very traumatising and ultimately becomes a part of your life. He is still dealing with the impact it has had later on in his life, and 90% of his friends are on drugs to maintain the high of war scenes. The many counselling sessions is what has kept his sanity. I found Robert very inspirational, in practically giving up a lot of his life for his work. He has achieved a great deal post his time in the war scenes and that is also very impressive.