Movies...

The girl in me can't wait for...

The nerd in me can't wait for...

The child in me can't wait for...

Guess what...

My hockey team, the Vancouver Canucks are going to the Stanley Cup Finals!!!

Yarr! Walk the plank!

So this is my second blog post I've written for my assignment. This one looks at audience research and the recent Facebook trend - planking.

Enjoy :)

Every few weeks or so a new fad seems to emerge from social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. In the past couple of months I’ve fallen victim to the onslaught of “the awkward moment when...” (2011) and “Kate’s Party” (2011) groups amongst others. However, the last week or so saw a new trend emerge from Facebook, one that was thrust into the media spotlight and has resulted in the death of a Brisbane local with another in a coma.

Some people just say it like it is

Planking started out as nothing more than innocent fun involving participants having photos taken of them “planking”, lying horizontally on a surface with your arms beside you, and uploading them to various planking group pages such as the Planking Australia Facebook page (2011). In the past week, this trend has been foreground by the media after an event leading to the death of a Brisbane man, another ending up in hospital and in a coma and the termination of employment for six Woolworths employees. Planking can see people lying flat across an array of objects, from the safe – surfaces, shelves, tables and chairs to the insanely moronic – balconies, between two cars and even across train tracks. This stupidity is what has labelled planking as a moral panic.

Caught between two poles and a hard surface

Sternberg (2011) states that a moral panic is when “a condition, episode or group of people become defined by the media as a threat to societal values and interests”. Planking wasn’t seen as a moral panic until those doing the planking started being more risky and dangerous with this trend and caught the attention of the Queensland Police Force. The force issued a press release stating their concerns for the safety of citizens, which was criticized by the public for bringing this popular trend to light and giving it the attention, it did not need. Just three days after the release, a 20 year old local man from Kangaroo Point plummeted to his death from his seventh story apartment after a drunken act of planking. This began a media frenzy and it seemed planking wasn’t off limits to anyone with both Karl Stefanovic and Kerri-Anne Kennerley demonstrating the move to viewers of their shows (Calligeros 2011).

Karl Stefanovic demonstrates to the viewers of Today how to plank

As Sternberg (2011) states, a moral panic only “occurs when events are represented by the media out of proportion to the actual threat posed”. Planking began as nothing more than a bit of harmless entertainment for youth and had the Queensland Police not drawn attention to planking then this would not have been seen as a moral panic nor would it have become a headline in the nightly news all over the world (BBC News Magazine, 2011). How did planking become the phenomenon it is today? Is it a case of history repeating itself?

Ahh, the trifecta of planking

Jackass started in 1999 and was the brainchild of now-actor Johnny Knoxville as stated by one of the TV shows webpage (2008). The show centres on Johnny and a few friends performing what most sane people would deem unsafe and highly stupid stunts often resulting in physical pain. Although the aim of planking does not result in pain, the parallel to Jackass can be drawn from the simple fact that some people are mimicking the level of stupidness by planking in highly unsafe locations – rooftops, train tracks and balcony rails to name a few. This act of literally trying to reach new heights is what has drawn such attention from the media and has illustrated planking to be a dangerous and unsafe trend when in the beginning, it was simply for a bit of fun and a laugh.

Jackass 2 Best Moments

As Olivia King discussed in her blog post, Are you numbed by video games?, “people are motivated to expose themselves voluntarily to messages they agree with (or enjoy) and avoid messages they disagree (or don’t enjoy) with. People are therefore selecting their exposure…” Although she discusses this concept in terms of video games, it can also be applied to planking. Like most things these days, people have the choice of whether or not to participate. While I take much amusement in seeing fellow gen-Y’ers plank themselves between or over objects, I personally choose not to partake whereas those who clearly enjoy the activity have chosen otherwise. I’ll be the first to admit that some have clearly taken it too far and are being dangerous in their planking, however I take my hat off to the creative person who started the trend. Harrington (2011) states that in the modern age of the web there’s been “massive increased opportunities for vernacular, convivial, ‘everyday’ creativity”. This has resulted in what Harrington has dubbed participatory media and a ‘making-and-doing’ culture which has drawn in a huge amount of audience engagement. Planking is proof of this.

Most common form of planking - sleep

While planking has been embraced by a large percentage of the younger Facebook community, I can’t help but wonder at what point does the craze and the need to be creative become a threat to society? Is Facebook creating the next generation of Jackass’?

Hold your breath, make a wish, count to three...

Pure Imagination - Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

Seeking: one potential boyfriend

Must be a combination of these:

Nerdy/geeky & smart see Zachary Levi

Funny see Hamish Blake

Must love animals see Dr Chris Brown

Good cook see Jamie Oliver

Suave see Jon Hamm

Great smile and dreamy eyes (not to mention a rocking body!) see Jesse Williams

I'm not picky, I swear...

Shameless name dropping

So I like know this guy who's on his way to being, well, famous.

He's been one of my best friends since grade 5 (so over 11 years now) and he's super talented. His names Philip Hancock and he's an absolutely amazing singer. You can find him on Facebook, Twitter and at his music page on MySpace. He performs quite a bit too, mostly at the X&Y Bar in the Valley (for those who are Brisbane).

This is just one of his songs:

Phil Hancock - Night & Day (Original)

Anyways, I was listening to my iPod today and I found a heap of songs that he would sound amazing on if he did a kind of acoustic cover. So, here's my list:

• Isn't She Lovely by Stevie Wonder (more Glee version though)
• Songbird by Eva Cassidy
• Somewhere Only We Know by Keane
• Turning Tables by Adele
• Just Breathe Anna Nalick
• Rumour Has It by Adele
• This Guys In Love With You by Herb Alpert
• Warwick Avenue by Duffy
• Penny Lane by the Beatles
• Overkill by Colin Hay
• Fall At Your Feet by Crowded House

That's all of the ones I can think of for now.

xoxo B

Five people in the world I would love to have over for dinner.

So I recently thought to myself, "if I could have anyone over for dinner, who would it be?" My first answer came to me while catching up on his TV show, Food Revolution, but after some deliberation, I came up with another 4 to join us at the table. So, this is my list of the five people in the world I would love to have over for dinner.

Jamie Oliver

He is who everyone should want to be. 

He's a brilliant chef but most of all he is an amazing human being. He's helped kids from rough backgrounds start fresh and trained them to be chefs, he's taught millions of people about how to live a healthy lifestyle but I think his best contribution to this world is changing how children are fed in schools with his Food Revolution. I myself have signed the petition and I think you all should too - http://www.jamieoliver.com/us/foundation/jamies-food-revolution/home

Nigella Lawson

She is my without a doubt, my absolute favourite chef. 

She cooks how I cook - she takes shortcuts, she doesn't always measure ingredients but most of all she makes simple yet delicious and easy to make meals. Between Dad, Mum and I we have nearly all her cookbooks.

Michael Palin

Hilarious comedian, brilliant travel writer/documenter.

I've loved him ever since Dad showed me an episode of Monty Python and I've watched all of his travel documentaries with the rest of the family. I think he would be a really interesting person to have a conversation with and I would love to get some travel tips from him.

Zachary Levi

Simply put, he'd be there to bring the funnies...and the good looks.

Jokes aside though, I think he is a talented actor and not that bad of a singer either (don't lie, you swooned over him as Flynn Rider in Tangled too). Plus he's making nerds cool again not just from Chuck but also his Nerd Revolution thing he has going on (I blogged about this a few posts ago, the one I made those "Keep Calm and Carry On" type posters for).

Delta Goodrem

What can I say? She's a beautiful singer and an inspiration to young women everywhere.

Like most, I've been a fan of hers since Born to Try came out nearly 10 years ago. I have every CD she's ever released and went to her most recent concert which Kaity took me to. I just love her down to earth personality and her songs are so amazing. She's a great actress too and she's such a good role model for girls of all ages.

Which 5 people would you have at your dinner table??

Where were you when...

There are few moments in your life that you will always remember. These are just a few.

September 11, 2001

Terrorism on the USA

I had just woken up to go to school. Went into mum's room and it was all over the radio and the news on TV. I went to school and we talked a bit about it. 

I will never forget the images of the two towers crashing down or those of the many men and women who spent countless hours rescuing those trapped under the rubble.

I was 9 years old.

January 11, 2011

Queensland Floods

I was at home when I first heard about it. I remember sitting on the couch, glued to the TV all day. 

I will not forget the images of people hanging on for dear life to the top of their car or those spending hours and days on their roofs waiting to be rescued.

I was 19 years old.

May 1, 2011

Osama Bin Laden is dead

At about 1pm I logged onto Twitter to see the headline: "CNN Reports: Osama Bin Laden dead." I spent the next 3 hours watching the news.

I will never forget the reactions of people as the news spread. Within an hour, there went from being a small crowd of about 50 people outside the White House to thousands. Reactions were mixed - some were crying, some were cheering and partying but as one they all waved their flag proudly and sang the national anthem.

I was 19 years old.

Like I said, there are few moments in your life that you will always remember. I've been around for less than 20 years and already I've had so many things in my life occur from acts of terrorism to acts of heroism and bravery, I've seen first hand how destructive mother nature can be, but also the spirit that comes after from those affected.

The one lesson that I've taken from all of this is that in the end...

Good will conquer over Evil.

So over it.

Eczema everywhere: legs, arms, back, chest, face; won't go away or get better.

Oww lump/egg on the back of my head from where I hit my head on the bath when I passed out in the bathroom yesterday, also resulting in 2 bruises on my arm, a sore back and a really sore and stiff neck.

I'm so over it.

Especially the eczema after 1 year of medication and injections not to mention 19 years of actually having it.

To sum up my feelings...