Wealth Distribution, Inequality and Sadness

March 8, 2013 in Current Affairs, Finance, Home, Human Rights, Lifestyle, Money, News, People, Politics, Self, Society, Work

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about money. I hate money. I hate it with an absolute passion. As a child I wanted to be rich, purely because I didn’t ever want to have to think about money. I just wanted it to be there when I wanted it and never have to worry about it again. I’ve reached a point now where even that would not be enough. I would need to be completely, totally, stinking rich, so not only could I not think about money but I could give most of it away to others without it mattering [...]

Video: Will Ferrell Encourages Voting

November 5, 2012 in Celebrity, Entertainment, Film & TV, Politics

If, like me, you have an amazing sense of humour, then you will love Will Ferrell and the latest in a long line of celebrity endorsements as the US Presidential Election race comes to a head this week. In this short clip, Will Ferrell is encouraging Americans to vote on Election Day (Tuesday November 6) by promising them a number of things. Dancing and eating human toenails are some of the things he promises he will do if you decide to vote as voting isn’t compulsory in America. He also throws in a little “Vote for Obama” at the end. It seems many [...]

Is Australia Becoming Too American?

November 5, 2012 in People, Society

Last week we posted an article where Maree and Tamsin discussed whether Halloween should be celebrated by Australians. One of the common arguments against the celebration of Halloween in Australia is that it is yet another American custom that has been imposed on us as a by-product of being exposed to the cultural behemoth that is the US of A. Or to put it another way, Australia is becoming too American. But are we? I know I voiced an opinion that we shouldn’t celebrate Halloween, but that was more because I don’t like the commercialism that has accompanied Halloween into Australian society. [...]

Romney to Close PBS: Bye, Bye Birdy?

October 8, 2012 in Current Affairs, Film & TV, News, Politics

Though I like to think of myself as being informed about politics, the truth is there is quite a lot that I don’t know about our political system and there is even less that I know about US politics. As we draw even closer to the next United States presidential election, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have been filling the news channels and news websites with their pledges and what they will do as President of the United States of America. I don’t know much about what they stand for because, as ignorant as this is, I don’t get a [...]

Book Review: ‘The Help’ by Kathryn Stockett

September 5, 2012 in Books, Entertainment, Film & TV, Human Rights, Politics

Today’s book review is The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Written in 2009 and now a major motion picture. “Enter a vanished world: Jackson, Mississippi, 1962. Where black maids raise white children, but aren’t trusted not to steal the silver…. There’s Aibileen, raising her seventeenth white child and nursing the hurt caused by her own son’s tragic death; Minny, whose cooking is nearly as sassy as her tongue; and white Miss Skeeter, home from college, who wants to know why her beloved maid has disappeared. Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny. No one would believe they’d be friends; fewer still would tolerate it. But [...]

The Bacon Sundae: Food Nirvana or Nightmare?

June 14, 2012 in Entertainment, Film & TV, Food & Recipes, Health, Lifestyle, Nutrition

Whenever I go to the United States, something strange happens. I experience an odd bursting sensation at my hips. My arms swell up inexplicably, struggling to wrangle their way into the too-little sleeves of my tops (which must have shrunk in the dryer, surely). My figure becomes less hourglass-shaped and more reminiscent of a charcoal chicken, particularly in the thigh region. Okay, okay, so the phenomenon of prodigious weight gain isn’t exactly unheard-of for tourists in America. But if I go over there for a month and feel like I need a wheelchair to take me from Arrivals to Long-Term [...]