Long

Something wonderful has happened.

You know that Qantas ad where they cart around a bunch of pesky little kids who sing a song on beautiful landmarks some of us could only dream of visiting? They’ve made another version! And thank god for that, I was always wondering how to sing “I Still Call Australia Home” in an indigenous language. Not to mention they finally had something to talk about on The Great Outdoors.

Here is the synopsis (yes, they have a synopsis) from the Qantas website:

The commercial opens with Tyus, a young Torres Strait Islands boy from the Gondwana National Indigenous Children's Choir in a spectacular, remote Australian location - the Bungle Bungle Ranges in Purnululu National Park. As Tyus sings out, his voice travels to the far corners of the globe where other choristers hear his call. These choristers are placed in iconic locations around the world, including the Statue of Liberty, The Great Wall of China and Westminster Bridge in London. Responding to Tyus' voice, they leave these overseas locations and start their journey home.

The second verse begins in English, as all the choristers join in (National Boys Choir of Australia, Australian Girls Choir and Gondwana National Indigenous Children's Choir). The boys and girls are now home on Australian soil and continue their journey across the vast and magnificent landscape, all heading towards Tyus and the Purnululu National Park. They join Tyus as one fully assembled choir, their beautiful voices united in Australia as they sing the final stirring chorus of I Still Call Australia Home.

Source: http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/i-still-call-australia-home/global/en

Beautiful. Simply beautiful.

The synopsis also saves me from outlining what the advertisement denotes. Of course, the average Joe would merely refer to “Tyrus” as “a kid” and those who aren’t too good at geography would call “Bungle Bungle Ranges in Purnululu National Park” either a “remote Australian location” or better yet, “a rock”. But you get the gist.

It connotes all sorts of lovely things which you can figure out for yourself, but I’m going to address the three types of readings.

Dominant/ Preferred Reading:
Qantas, an Australian airline, unites everyone around the globe through song dance; let’s disco.

• This mainly revolves around patriotism, acceptance and unity. One would feel so inclined to travel on Qantas, feeling that it welcomes them to Australia.
• The sense of patriotism appeals to Australians given that Qantas is an Australian airline and would understand what it means to call Australia home.
• The repertoire of locations in which the commercial is filmed also evokes a sense that Qantas can take you anywhere and everywhere. Qantas is the shizz.

Negotiated Reading:

• Would perhaps come from someone who is not Australian and while they appreciate all aspects of the commercial and it appeals to them to an extent; they may feel more inclined to travel on say Air New Zealand, or British Airways merely due to their own sense of patriotism.
• Likewise, an Australian who is already loyal to another airline may watch the ad and understand its connotations, but remain grounded (unintended pun!) in their airline of choice.

Oppositional Reading:
Personal favourite of mine.

• Why is Qantas spending all this cash to fly kids too and fro? Maybe they should try hiring better engineers instead.
• They clearly don’t care too much about the environment if they can use up fossil fuels to travel and film.
• What was wrong with the first commercial?
• How unoriginal that they should change one or two things in the new commercial which is otherwise exactly the same as the old one.
• Qantas? eww.

Oh I could go on. But this is enough of an essay already.

Watch it:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAXjB08aPJg

Short

“Pass me a Kleenex.”
“I used a texta.”
“She’s listening to her iPod.”

These poorly constructed sentences are a mere few examples of branding.

Last night at dinner, I said something about pouring cola on my brother’s laptop. Instead of lashing out in violent objection, as he so often does, he looked at me and said, “Why do you say cola? It’s Coke.”

I’m pretty sure Coke is a brand of cola.

Flabulous

I was going to go with flabtastic. The cheap jokes never stop.

Though we rarely hear “good news” these days – bombarded with war, natural disasters and the likes – news stories and events which are very entertaining indeed pop up every now and again.

There is one released a few days ago which I love, here are the highlights:

Obese Inmate Uses Fat Rolls to Smuggle Gun

Fatty felon wedges gun between his fat folds

A 500 lbs. inmate at a Texas prison was able to sneak a gun past guards after cleverly using his fat flab to his advantage.

The gun was finally discovered when the corpulent convict finally fessed, showing prison guards the gun during a shower break.

George Veras hid a gun in his flab.

Houston Police Officers Union president Gary Blankinship said officers were trained how to search obese people. "We teach officers to lift up and look under," he said. This would have been an interesting class to attend.

Source: http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/weird/Obese-Inmate-Hide-Gun-in-his-Fat-52795392.html
and http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3430966.html?menu

Unfortunately there are no actual images of the gun flab. I would have posted them for sure.

I should write posts which are actually related to the readings. Maybe next time.

Typecast

When Michael Caine becomes Wolverine’s Alfred, you get an angry Batman…or two.
What on earth am I harping on about? The Channel Nine Friday Night Family Movie, but of course. Up until Friday night, I had neglected to watch The Prestige, having been misinformed about the films genre.

During the ad break, as I attempted to explain the plot to my mum who, as usual, sat in half way through the film, I found myself referring to the characters as Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, the girl from Coyote Ugly and Scarlet Johansson.

I began to wonder (as I often do), is it just me, or have the celebrity status of actors and actresses detracted from the integrity of dramatic performance as an art?

As opposed to immersing myself in the lives of the characters in the film, I often find myself watching Keira Knightly fall in love with the guy from Death at a Funeral, or Brad Pitt with a Pikey accent pretending to box.

I’m not suggesting that the actors in Hollywood lack theatrical talent; I am however, questioning our recognition of them as performers over our preoccupation with their personal lives and public personas.

On a more removed but related note (loving the contradictions), I am also a perpetrator to victims of typecasting. Simply not able to see past the Hobbit in Elijah Wood, I remain convinced that it was Frodo who gnawed off that girl’s hand in Sin City. I also look forward to watching Seth Cohen as The Flash.

Through a strong focus on Hollywood celebrities’ personal lives combined with the recycling of these popular actors, the integrity of cinematic performances and character illusions are somewhat threatened. Or maybe I need to stop downloading watching movies and get out more.

Pilot

Hello. Hi. My name is Natalia.

Culture, media and everyday life. Now available to the public.

"Contemporary culture IS media culture".

It just is apparently, no arguments allowed unless you want to fail this subject. I was originally a little sceptical about the idea that everyday life has essentially been consumed by the media; the suggestion seemed a mere exaggeration.

But then, as I approached this little contraption, reality hit me, or rather… dried my hands.

As I placed my hands under the sensor, the television screen whirred into life and over the noise of the dryer; a woman was asking me if I showed any symptoms of depression. Meanwhile, a message scrolled along the bottom telling me to visit their website for more information on how to advertise on hand-dryers – so I did.

It turns out that we can thank Convenience Advertising, a Melbourne-based company, for this ingenious innovation. According to their website, they have been active since 1984 – I don’t recall watching television on public hand-dryers during the 90s, so I was surprised to discover this has been around since the mid-80s.

Nonetheless, it seems that the media has indeed permeated the most intimate aspects of our lives. Even now as I type this I’m simultaneously watching Freaks and Geeks - this is either more evidence towards the notion that a mediatized society is inescapable or that I watch too much television. It’s most likely the latter.