debate issue 15, 2011

issue 15 2011

Nba: No more shooting hoops

the fall of news of the world

48 hour internet famine

re:orientation photos

Winter Warmners for Him and For Her

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issue 15 2011

ISSUE 15 2011 5 Editorial 6 Letters/Creative Corner 7 Re:Orientation Photos 10 News 11 News Quiz 12 Sport

James Wheeleer looks at the horrifying prospect of no NBA next season

13 Pres Sez 14 How To/Recipe 15 Debate Page

on the cover

Brendan Kelly and Danielle Whitburn argue about celebrity glorification

Untitled

by Angel Guanlao

all rights reserved.

editor

Samantha McQueen samantha.mcqueen@aut.ac.nz

designers

Deanne Antao

sub-editor Alisha Lewis

contributors

Stephen Allely | AuSM | Jo Barker | Petra Benton | Nicole Brown | Matthew Cattin | Alicia Crocket | Laura Dooney | Angel Guanlao | Brendan Kelly | Ksenia Khor | Rebecca Lee | Sebastian Mackay | Caitlin Madden | John Madrisa | Ben Matthews | Katie Montgomerie | Ashleigh Muir | Jonny Talbot | James Wheeler | Danielle Whitburn | Jarred Williamson

advertising contact

Kate Campbell kate.campbell@aut.ac.nz

printer

This publication is entitled to the full protection given by the Copyright Act 1994 (“the Act”) to the holders of the copyright, being AUCKLAND STUDENT MOVEMENT AT AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED (“AuSM”). Reproduction, storage or display of any part of this publication by any process, electronic or otherwise (except for the educational purposes specified in the Act) without express permission is a break of the copyright of the publisher and will be prosecuted accordingly. Inquiries seeking permission to reproduce should be addressed to AuSM.

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Material contained in this publication does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of AuSM, its advertisers, contributors, PMP Print or its subsidiaries.

debate is a member of

16 Picture Perfect, Pathetic 16 The Truth Behind Chick Flicks 17 The Fall of Rupert Murdoch Stephen Alley looks at the News of the World hacking scandal

18 Spotlight on Clubs 20 48 Hours Without The Internet

Rebecca Lee switches off for two days in the name of journalism

22 Tim Carlsen Interview 23 Little Bright Champo

Brendan Kelly tells a fable of Eskimos and narwhals

24 Columns 25 Agony Aunt 25 The Voice of Blogging 26 Suggestions/Horoscopes 27 What Are You Wearing 28 Fashion

Petra Benton looks at clothing much warmer than our current climate

PMP Print Ltd.

29 Reviews 33 Spot the Difference 34 Microcelebs

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3.

Who can be on the student executive?

AUT University students who meet the criteria for the position that they are standing for.

Example: If you are thinking of standing for the position of Disability Affairs Officer you need to have self identified with the University on enrolment as a student with a Disability. You need to be an enrolled student at AUT now and an enrolled student at AUT next year.

If you do not meet the Charities Commissions eligibility criteria for Officers of a registered charity you are not eligible to stand for a position on the AuSM Executive Council.

There are different criteria for each position and you will need to check the criteria for the position/(s) you are interested in when you receive your nomination info email.

How to Nominate yourself?

Look out for an email you will receive in July within nomination period - this will have all the details of how to nominate yourself.

What positions are available?

1 full time (37.5 hours per week) paid President, 1 part time (up to 10 hours per week) paid Vice President, 1 faculty representative from each faculty, 1 Maori Affairs Officer, 1 Pasifika Affairs Officer, 1 International Affairs Officer, 1 Postgraduate Students Officer,1 Disability Affairs Officer.

Faculty Representative & Office holder positions are eligible to receive an annual expense payment of up to $1,500.

When do these positions start and finish?

1 January 2012 to 31 December 2012

What are the functions of student executive?

The key function of the Executive council is to govern the student association through policy-setting and budget monitoring. Furthermore the Executive council, through its chairperson, the President, is the representative voice for all students at AUT. As the representative voice the Executive council liaises with interest groups at all levels within the University and in the wider community.

What are the benefits?

Being on the student executive provides you with the opportunity to be of service to your fellow students. Acquire new skills which will be a great addition to your CV and will help you stand out from the crowd when you step into the workforce.

How much time does it take up?

The Student Executive meets monthly. On top of this there will be some committee meetings to attend. Additionally you will have to prepare for the monthly meeting and keep on top of AuSM issues. All up expect to spend about 2-3 hours per week (yes, that’s all).

4.

issue 15 2011

directory

I

’ve always wanted to be a writer.

I’m not saying that in a clichéd, everyone says that, kind of way. When I was seven, I was spending my days with a pencil and refill, writing stories of adventure and mystery. Ok, they were usually about me being a princess or a mermaid rather than Dan Brown-esque novels but it got me pushing a pen to paper.

Nowadays the only things kids are pushing are buttons on their latest gadget. I even started writing my own version of John Marsden’s Tomorrow When The War Began series when I was 12. It was fairly the same premise: world ends, up to kids (including me as the heroine, of course) to save it. I had a goal to be a published writer by 18, even wrote it down in my diary. I got to 4000 words and then one day just deleted it all. To think, I could be swimming in riches with J.K. Rowling right now.

Journalism seemed to be the natural step in fulfilling my writing dream. I liked writing stories and that’s what journalism is: telling stories. I spend three years here at AUT, where I wrote tens of thousands of words in dozens of essays and stories.

Then I landed this job, which got to see me write what I want, interview people I could only dream about meeting and make loads of people jealous because I have already seen Captain America.

But journalism is rarely a glamorous profession. For every Peter Travers, Roger Ebert and Oprah interviewing celebrities and hosting their own shows, there are hundreds of Hilary Barrys and John Campbells getting their hands dirty, reporting through danger, terror and political jargon to put together news that the general public will want to read about. And with news being so available to everyone nowadays, that’s not as easy as it sounds.

There are the off-handed comments of “can’t trust journalists” or “why don’t you get a real profession” when I tell people what I studied, but I’m mostly proud of what I do. That’s why I cringe when interviewees call out certain journalists for misquoting or taking things out of context (actress Zooey Deschanel recently called out a LA Times journalist online for misquoting and calling her a snobby cow). And when this News of the World hacking scandal unfolded, I was embarrassed. This is not what journalism is about. No one should resort to illegal means just to get the latest story.

News has become about the sensational. If there’s a comment about sexuality or religion or political agenda hidden in the transcript somewhere, journalists will take it out, blow it up and make that the cover of the story. If no one is talking, they’re snooping; hiding in dark alleys, doing deals with dodgy people, all because they want the prime spot on the front page.

And everyone’s reading it, from the educated businessman who has grown up with the morning paper and evening news, to the 16-year-old schoolgirl, who just jumped on a website to do the daily quiz and ended up clicking on a link because it had the word scandal in it.

I’m proud of what I do. I just hope Rupert Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks don’t think the same thing about what they do.

reception

City Campus Level 2, WC Building 921 9805 8am-5pm Mon-Thurs 8am-4pm Fri North Shore Campus Level 2, AS Building 921 9949 8.30am-3pm Mon-Fri Manukau Campus MB107 921 9999 ext 6672 9am-3.30pm Mon-Thurs

management

Sue Higgins General Manager 921 9999 ext 5111 sue.higgins@aut.ac.nz

representation

Veronica Ng Lam AuSM Student President 921 9999 ext 8571 vnglam@aut.ac.nz

advocacy

Nick Buckby Liaison Manager 921 9999 ext 8379 nick.buckby@aut.ac.nz

marketing/events

Kate Campbell Marketing & Communications Manager 921 9999 ext 6537 kate.campbell@aut.ac.nz

media

Samantha McQueen Publications Co-ordinator 921 9999 ext 8774 samantha.mcqueen@aut.ac.nz

sports

Melita Martorana Sports Team Leader 921 9999 ext 7259 melita.martorana@aut.ac.nz

vesbar

Zane Chase Vesbar Manager 921 9999 ext 8378 zane.chase@aut.ac.nz For a full list of contact details plus profiles of AuSM staff & student executive and information on clubs visit:

www.ausm.org.nz

www.ausm.org.nz

5.

Letter of the week wins two movie tickets for Event Cinemas!

Letter of the week: “I have something to tell you and its really hard to say…”

These are not the words you want to be reading at 2am on a Saturday night. Nevertheless that’s what happened. No I wasn’t being dumped if that’s what you were thinking. It was my lovely, enthusiastic, hard working friend explaining that she wouldn’t be continuing her studies with me this semester.

I want to shed light on something that affects many of us students at AUT. Don’t turn your eyes away now just because this doesn’t directly concern you. I could say the same and go on my ignorant way, coz hell, I wasn’t born overseas.

I’ve never even left the country. I am a pure bred, kiwianified? New Zealander. Just like

(probably) a lot of you.

But this does concern me. Because some of the best friends I have ever made are from overseas. International students that come here to learn, work their ass of doing it, and have to pay a shitload of money. Why? Why does it cost so much more for international students?

I understand that given the exchange rate and current economic status of course it would be more than NZ citizens have to pay. But it shouldn’t have to be this much. Uni tuition fees should not be increasing almost $5000 in the space of a year on top of the already over priced fees. This is of course not including accommodation and day to day living costs.

IT’S A FOCKLOAD, believe me. I am not writing this to criticize our uni in all its glory

debate letters policy: Letters need to make it into debate’s mailbox before Wednesday, 3pm each week for the following issue.

You must give us your name when submitting letters to be eligible for letter of the week, but you can use a pseudonym for publication if you wish. Any letters longer than 250 words may be subjected to editing. Spelling and grammar will not be corrected. The editor reserves the right to decline without explanation. Most importantly, the views contained on the letters page do not necessarily represent the views of AuSM. Send your letters to debate@aut.ac.nz or if you want to kick it old school, PO Box 6116, Wellesley St, Auckland.

and AUT-ness. This goes for all universities, and I just don’t see why. Yes its hard times for all, but stop making it unnecessarily harder?

So hard that some students, as I have sadly seen, are left with no choice but to quit their course halfway through because its simply too costly. For all the students who are affected, I would run around campuses like a wild hyena if it helped, painted from head to toe in words like “oy with the poodles already!”… or rather, “lower fees, increase graduation probability, mother fockers.” Really, I love studying at university. But why lose other capable students that love studying too. And.. leave students like me crying about the empty seats left next to them D: - Bones.

Corner will The winning piece for Creative for a week day each k win one free hot drin from Piko*! only. The *Coffee, tea and hot chocolate k a day for five drin hot free one have will er winn they redeem their week days, starting from the day first drink.

Angel Guanlao Live and Love

6.

John Madrisa Untitled

issue 15 2011

PUB QUIZ/FREE FEEDS/COWBOY PARTY/PHOTOBOOTH/ EATING COMP/BITCHIN’ BINGO/MINIGOLF Photos by Anupam Singh and AuSM

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COLLECT REGISTRATION FORMS & REGISTER YOUR TEAM AT AUSM ENTRIES CLOSES 10TH AUGUST, LIMIT 15 TEAMS SO BE QUICK! F O Rwww.ausm.org.nz MORE INFORMATION VISIT FACEBOOK.COM/CLOUD9CLUB

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9.

AUT Vice-Chancellor is homeless – for one night only

by Laura Dooney As AUT University Vice Chancellor Derek McCormack inspected his bedding, he looked over at Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei snuggling into her sleeping bag to pose for a photo.

“Green sleeping bag,” he said with a smile, “I wonder why?”

McCormack and Turei shared a bed on July 7: the cold hard concrete of AUT University’s Hikuwai Plaza. Nestled against the wall the library building, to avoid the forecast rain, the two took part in the second Lifewise Big Sleepout, an event hosted by AUT to raise money for the ultimate goal of ending homelessness by 2020.

McCormack and Turei were joined by 72 other well respected Aucklanders. Politicians, business leaders and local personalities came together to listen to the experiences of former homeless people, and get a taste for it themselves by sleeping outside. Included in the mix were four AUT staff as well as ex staff and alumni.

“It’s a real AUT party,” said McCormack.

All participants were sponsored by friends, family, colleagues and the wider public through the Lifewise website. Several raised over $1000, contributing to a grand total of over $105,000.

For McCormack the second Big Sleepout was his first. His motivation stemmed from the fact AUT hosted the event, as well as a desire to contribute to a great cause.

“It will be harder than last year. Last year it was in a sheltered car park in October, this time it’s outside and if it rains, we’re going to get wet.

“The worst thing will be sleeping on the concrete.”

Director of facilities management at AUT Ian Robertshaw, who also spent the night in the plaza, was responsible for helping Lifewise hold the event on campus.

“I thought it was a mighty fine idea. We were happy to host it here, and worked to make it as easy as possible.

“It’s a really good cause, and I wanted to do my bit to continue to develop the relationship AUT has with Lifewise.”

Development manager for Lifewise Lesley MynettJohnson said the event could not have gone ahead

without the support of the university.

“We are really humbled by the way they’ve helped out. We couldn’t have done the Big Sleepout this year without AUT.” This relationship began six years ago when then community relations manager for AUT, Ian Leader, began working with Lifewise to address the issue of homeless people sheltering on campus.

Leader, who is now in a similar role at Westpac, also took part in the Sleepout, and explained how AUT came to be involved with Lifewise.

“Back then homeless people sleeping on campus was flagged as a security issue. As homelessness was a community issue, I was responsible for sorting it out.”

AUT began working with Lifewise to train staff and security officers to deal with encounters with homeless people sheltering on campus.

As Mynett-Johnson explained, the training was more of an educational exercise.

“It looked at giving an insight into why people are homeless, and understanding how they got there. It was also about trying to channel the homeless into support services, such as Lifewise.”

Leader said that people having a snooze on the bench are not causing harm or damage.

“In terms of community responsibility, we need to do more than tell them to move on.”

Robertshaw agreed. “It’s not an open invitation for them to sleep on campus, but this way we can do more than ignore them, or rough them up.”

At around 10pm on the night, those involved in the sleep out were either networking in the café, or doing their best to get comfortable for the long night ahead.

Despite having “the worlds sexiest, oldest duvet” managing director and chief executive of FundraiseOnline Limited Nigel Sanderson was tempted by the close proximity of his home.

“It’s only 300 metres away. I had this temptation . . . but no, no I can do this,” Sanderson said with a laugh.

“This event is huge; it’s something that I really, really wanted to do. And it’s a lot of fun.”

Fashion graduates come up trumps at awards Two AUT fashion graduates, both inspired by their heritage, have come up trumps at the 2011 Miromoda Maori Fashion Design Awards.

This year AUT graduate Adrienne Whitewood from Rotorua not only won the established designer section but was also named the overall winner.

This will see her under the mentorship of Sydney based Miromoda Co founder, Rex Turnbull and be guided and mentored in fashion business by Jack Yan, publishing editor of international fashion magazine Lucire.

“I’m trying to obviously get my label out there.

Now I’m hoping to go to Fashion Week to look for a buyer.”

Whitewood’s three-piece collection was called ‘Te Aho Tapu; The Sacred Thread’. She says her inspiration came from looking at Maori history and seeing the value they placed on clothes.

Executive officer at Fashion Industry New Zealand Mapihi Opai says, “It’s always a

10.

challenge to draw inspiration from a traditional indigenous source and create contemporary garments that appeal to a fashion audience, but Adrienne succeeded in doing that.”

Other aspects of Whitewood’s prize include a ticket to attend Australian Fashion Week, the chance to be part of a show at New Zealand Fashion Week and part of the REAL New Zealand Festival that runs alongside the 2011 Rugby World Cup. “I’m just so excited. I know this is going to be an awesome opportunity.”

Tara Warren, another graduate, who is living in Brisbane, was the first international entrant to compete in the awards and won the Emerging designer section.

Her knitted menswear collection was called ‘Childhood Memories’.

“The design concept for my range is mainly inspired by tukutuku panels which can be found in maraes. I love the look and texture

of them and wanted to incorporate them into my collection. I was also inspired by the men working on the marae.”

She says entering the Miromoda Awards was a great step for her and her career.

“I’ve been struggling to get into the fashion industry and missed being around creative, inspiring people. I was also excited to be working with Maori designers. I saw some really beautiful designs from the competition.”

And winning her section was just an added bonus.

“When they mentioned my name I froze for a bit. For me the prize was flying over to Wellington to present my stuff to these experienced judges and get some feedback and be around these amazing creative people.”

issue 15 2011

Even the law won’t stop students downloading

by Jonny Talbot

The new internet anti-piracy law will not stop the majority of students - who already illegally file share music and films - from stealing content, if an informal survey of AUT University students is anything to go by.

A straw poll of 40 students found that of the 58 per cent who illegally file share, a hefty 77 per cent said the new legislation will not deter them.

Of those who would think twice, some said they would start the practise again if they can find a way to bypass the law.

“I’ll start downloading again, if I can find a loophole,” said one 20-year-old student.

However, there is some good news for the music and film industries, as 42 per cent of those surveyed do not illegally file share any material.

The new Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Bill, which carries large penalties for offenders, will become law on 1 September 2011.

Illegal file sharers will receive warnings for their first two infringements and can have their internet account suspended if they infringe a third time.

They can also be fined up to $15, 000.

Thomas Beagle, from Tech Liberty, a group that, according to its website “is dedicated to protecting people’s rights in the areas of the Internet and technology”, thinks the law will not be effective.

He points out that people are already finding ways to get around the law.

“More technically able people are already doing new things to get content. RapidShare for example

1

and UseNet is coming back as well,” he says.

Mr Beagle thinks part of the problem lies with the legal downloading sites themselves.

“People will be more accepting of paying, if there is a good model for buying online content. The content industry needs to be a lot smarter about how they make money,” he says.

Anthony Healey, of the Australasian Performing Right Association, which collects performance royalties for New Zealand musicians, hopes the law will change people’s habits.

“One of the most important factors in changing habits is to present them with legal alternatives. There’s no incentive to change if there are no legal consequences to doing so,” he says.

The legislation, now in the

4

Rebekah Brooks has been in the headlines recently because of what? a) She wanted taxpayers to pay $2500 to remove skinhead tattoo from forehead b) Allegations of hacking into the telephones of British celebrities while editor of News of the World c) Was found not guilty of killing her two-year-old daughter after a two year trial in Florida, USA d) She paid $288,000 for a lifetime parking spot outside Harrods in London

Which of these is a Led Zeppelin album? a) Coda b) Physical Graffitti c) In Through The Out Door d) They all are

2

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Which of these is not a middle name for Harry Potter’s Professor Dumbledore? a) Percival b) Wulfric c) Brian d) Albus

3

What is the fastest time a male has run a marathon in? a) 1 hour, 59 minutes, 32 seconds b) 2 hours, 1 minute, 15 seconds c) 2 hours, 3 minutes, 2 seconds d) 2 hours, 3 minutes, 59 seconds

5

What is the national currency of Brazil? a) Peso b) Real c) Kuna d) Krona Which country won the women’s football world cup earlier this month in a penalty shootout? a) Japan b) United States c) Paraguay d) Uruguay

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How many Bronte sisters were there? a) Two; Emily and Charlotte Bronte b) Three; Emily, Charlotte and Anne Bronte c) Four; Emily, Charlotte, Anne and Branwell Bronte d) One; Emily

submissions stage, was passed under urgency on April 14 and will come into effect on September 1 this year.

While Mr Healey believes the law will be effective, he also points out that people should consider how cheap buying music already is.

“Can anyone really say $1.80 for a song is not worth it? With songs they’re not like films, which you might just watch once or two times.

With music you might listen to a song thousands of times,” he says.

Exactly half of the AUT students surveyed said they are in favour of the law. Surprisingly even some who said they will continue illegal file sharing were also supportive of the new legislation.

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Before she was Victoria Beckham, she was Victoria…? a) Adams b) Spencer c) Chisholm d) Swinton

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Who is the newly appointed captain of the Black Caps? a) Tim Southee b) Daniel Vettori c) Brendan McCullum d) Ross Taylor True Blood’s Jason Stackhouse (played by Ryan Kwanten) was previously known for his role as Vinnie on which soap? a) Neighbours b) Shortland Street c) Home and Away d) Melrose Place

Answers: B, D, C, D, B, A, B, A, D, C. www.ausm.org.nz

11.

by James Wheeler

A

s the occasional or curious NBA fan tunes in this October to see the start of a new season they made find nothing on television.

There’s no mistake, just blame the conflict between the NBA ownership group and the Players Association as they work towards a new collective bargaining agreement. Don’t understand what this all means?

In short, it leaves every NBA fan with nothing to watch until a resolution between the two sides can be found and the players can go back to work.

The term used for this type of work stoppage is a “lockout” and in essence it’s exactly that. An agreement that had been set between the players and the owners (called a Collective Bargaining Agreement or CBA) expired on June 30. With no agreement in place, the long standing rules between the NBA and the players association no longer apply and because a new CBA could not be agreed upon before July 1, we find ourselves in this situation. It hurts all stakeholders. The players lose because they can’t play and earn money. They can’t practice, talk to their agents, talk to family members or other players. It hurts all owners. Arenas that usually sell out 41 times a year are now dark, empty and unused.

Why aren’t the players and the owners agreeing on a new CBA? It’s not like they haven’t been trying. For the past two years meetings after meetings have been trying to avoid this very day, but with the sides still far apart on a new 10year plan for the league, a lockout seemed inevitable.

It may shock you but for a league that just had one of its best ever seasons, it lost approximately $300 million dollars. NBA television ratings were as high as they have ever been (even when Jordan was in his prime), the league was seeing millions of views on related YouTube videos and NBA players on Twitter were gaining hundreds of thousands of followers. The league couldn’t have been in a better position with its fan base and yet the climax of all this is a work stoppage, which could potentially put a lid on all the positive momentum the league had created so far.

Even five years ago the need for a new CBA emerged. In 2004-05 the season was under threat of being shortened as concerns about the current CBA emerged. However, before any games were lost an agreement was made to continue on until the deadline ended on June 30, 2011. Somehow the league wasn’t making a profit and contracts larger than life were being given out to players who didn’t have the talent to match. It’s a league driven by cash. Often free agents take the highest bid and run instead of honouring prior loyalty to a team, knowing their next payday may not be as rewarding. A key reason why the league is in this state right now can be summed up in a few case studies.

Jerome James, a big man out of Florida A&M University impressed New York Knicks scouts with a few solid playoff games with the Seattle SuperSonics in 2005. He showed some heart, averaged 12.5 points per game and almost seven rebounds per game and in doing so caught the eye of people who had him pegged as the next big thing. More importantly he caught the attention of the man who writes the cheques.

The Knicks thought they were getting a steal and jumped at the chance to sign him in the off-season. Unknown to the Knicks, they would only get 89 total games out of him in four seasons. Take into account that a normal NBA season is 82 games, Jerome played little more than one NBA season in the time many played four. While rehabbing various injuries and doing things other than playing professional basketball, Jerome was paid a staggering $29 million dollars.

Gilbert Arenas, a former all-star for the Washington Wizards but now on the Orlando Magic, was once a superstar. He could score 30 points

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any day of the week and once dropped 60 points against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in Los Angeles, something quite rare in the basketball world.

Unfortunately the last few years haven’t been so magical for him.

He’s had recurring knee injuries and since returning he just hasn’t shown the same athleticism that once made him one of the leagues best scorers. All of this sounds very normal. A man returning from injury can’t be expected to perform at his prime. However, despite his large dip in production his superstar contract, which was signed while he was still healthy, stands and still applies. For a guy who only averaged 11 points a game last year, he is still owed a monstrous $19 million in 2012, $21 million in 2013 and in his final year stands to earn $22.3 million dollars. He’s now recognised as one of the worst contracts in basketball and will now make all of this money, even if his injury prevents him from playing to his once all-star level. Considering there are players now better than him in the league getting paid 1/3 of that, it seems like the system is broken.

So we have guys like Jerome, who caught the eye of a few officials during one playoff series and we have Gilbert who will never be the prolific scorer he once was. Combined, they will earn close to $81 million dollars when their contracts have been honoured. These are just two of many staggering examples where money is thrown at talent and they simply don’t earn it. Part of the blame must go to the NBA owners, who write the cheques for these men and are foolish enough to pay them. But, it’s shone the spotlight on the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement and brought to light the fact that 30 teams cannot be profitable in this environment. All 30 teams share revenue and share in the collective profit of the league. But obviously the owners do not want to collectively share debt for much longer and it’ll take a new CBA before all this goes away.

The owners are calling for two things: 1. To have a 30 team league where each team has the chance to be competitive.

2. To have an economic framework laid out where all 30 teams, if managed properly, can make a profit.

The NBA has had this before. The 1999 season was shortened from 82 games to 50 games as the collective bargaining negotiations continued long after the June 30 deadline. The players don’t seem to think an outcome is likely. Several have already signed contracts for next season in Europe. Deron Williams, a NBA all-star guard, will play for Besiktas of the Turkish Basketball League. A few years ago this would have been an April fool’s joke. With the serious threat of no basketball next season in the NBA more and more players are considering overseas basketball. The thought of seeing Kobe Bryant in a uniform that isn’t the Lakers is as real as it has ever been.

The talks between the two sides have been very quiet since the deadline hit. The first payouts to the players won’t be missed until early November. With that being the case it doesn’t look likely that any urgent talks will be happening in the near future. With both the NFL and the NBA in lockout situations, next season could be a quiet one for any keen sports fan.

issue 15 2011

Veronica Ng Lam AuSM President 921 9999 ext 8571

veronica.nglam@aut.ac.nz Welcome back to the second week of our second semester! I hope the first week of Orientation has been exciting, full of fun times, new friends, good memories and most of all hope you made the most out of all the freebies we have been providing for you throughout the week.

The free feeds have been intense with the queues spanning all the way through the quad! Don’t worry guys and girls we will be here all year long!

Now with the fun and games of our Mexican fiesta, Chopper and all the free eating in between, AuSM is very proud to bring you your free events, make sure you look out for our upcoming FREE movie screenings (check below for details on the first one) and join our Facebook page – we can never have too many friends.

planetoftheapes_half page.pdf

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19/07/11

As some of you settle into the beginning of your university life and for our returning students the usual ups and downs of it, I hope you all remember that AuSM, your student association, is here to help and support you during your time here. Whether it is informing you on who we are, or assisting in welfare or all the issues that normally face us as students, we are here for YOU! As your student president it is my job to ensure that your voice and rights are represented throughout all levels of the university. As there are more than 26,000 students here it is sometimes difficult to capture what the different types of interests, tastes and entertainment types that students like, therefore I encourage you to get involved in all the events happening around campus. If you feel there is a need for something that you believe strongly about please do not hesitate to contact me.

In the world of student politics some of you may recall the campaign we ran to fight the Voluntary Student Membership Bill. Although AUT students put up a good fight coming in with the highest amount of submissions AGAINST the Bill we will unfortunately be facing this reality in 2012. So this year 2011 is going to be the last year that AuSM will exist in its current form. The changes we anticipate will be primarily around continuous funding and the balance of maintaining the level of service delivery that we currently do. We urge you to use the services that AuSM provide for you as they are there only for YOU and join with us in rocking this year out in style and the best way we know how! As it also my last semester as your student president I for one am keen to make this semester count!

All the best with your studies this week, see you next week same time and place – ia manuia Your fellow president

Veronica

2:29 PM

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13.

by Alicia Crocket

by Alicia Crocket

Sometimes it’s so hard to know which choices are the best ones to go for in a cafe. There’s nothing worse than paying mega bucks for a meal at a café and eating a meal less satisfying than at McDonalds. For me, I want a café meal that tastes good, but is not too heavy or fat and salt laden. Ideally it’ll have fresh vegetables in there that aren’t cooked past recognition. Students can’t afford to eat out in cafes every day, so when you do treat yourself, you want to know that you won’t regret the money your spending.

So here are some golden guidelines for choosing food in cafes.

First and foremost is the issue of portion size. All foods (even fruit and vegetables) are less than ideal if you have oodles and oodles of them. If you know you are going somewhere that has generous portion sizes try and share with a friend or if you want different things, ask for a smaller serve or get them to bring you a takeaway container BEFORE you start eating so you can put half aside. Put some aside before you start eating, because otherwise, chances are you’ll keep eating until your plate is empty.

Secondly, salad can be pretty deceptive. You might think you’re ordering a nice, light lunch with lots of fresh veges, but often what you get is some wilted lettuce leaves that is drowning in dressing. To avoid that, ask for the dressing on the side, and look out for salads that have more than three high fat ingredients such as cheese, olives (yes, olives are high fat), nuts and seeds, avocado, bacon or mayonnaise dressings.

Finally, avoid anything that says crispy if you’re not a fan of deep fried food. That includes bacon, noodles, onions and whatever. If it has crispy before the name, it’s probably deep fried. It also pays to ask what type of bacon a café uses, if you are planning on paying extra for bacon on your salad or with your eggs. If they use streaky bacon, I’ll ask for the meal without bacon or find something else to order. I’m not going to pay $4 extra to eat fat rather than real bacon instead.

I care about what I put into my body, so I like to pick choices that are good for me. It’s all about finding a balance that you’re happy with. Eating in a cafe should be a treat, or at the very least not make you feel guilty and overfull for the rest of the day.

Serves 4 Dairy free, gluten free Cost per serve: $1.10

This is a nice no-fuss Friday night kind of dinner. You don’t have to do much prep and all the ingredients are generally in your cupboard already. The pumpkin is optional, but I really like the taste that it adds. This would also be lovely with roasted capsicum or kumara, or another option is to add some sunflower, pumpkin seeds or sesame seeds. Or if you really feel decadent, this is great with some feta.

Ingredients

200g dried chickpeas, soaked for a couple of hours or overnight OR 2 x 400g cans of chickpeas 2 cups diced roasted pumpkin (I roast mine at 180° with a sprinkling of curry powder) 1 Tbsp oil 1 onion, finely sliced 2 cloves of garlic, chopped OR 2 tsps minced garlic Good handful of spinach or silverbeet leaves, roughly chopped ½ tsp minced chilli OR ¼ tsp dried chilli powder

Dressing

2 Tbsps olive oil Juice of ½ a lemon ½ tsp cumin powder ½ tsp coriander powder Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1 If you’re using pumpkin, roast at 180°C for approximately 20 minutes or until soft 2 Put a pan of water onto boil to reheat the chickpeas and cook the silverbeet 3 Mix together dressing ingredients 4 Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in a frying pan and sauté the onion and garlic until they are soft 5 When the pan of water is boiling add the chickpeas and the silverbeet/spinach. Cook for approximately two minutes and drain 6 Put the drained chickpeas and silverbeet into your serving dish, add the sautéed onion and garlic, roasted pumpkin and the dressing 7 Check seasoning and serve warm or cold

14.

issue 15 2011

Should we glorify celebrity?

by Brendan Kelly

by Danielle Whitburn

Celebrities have always had a lot to teach us.

Years ago, if you were famous it was usually for having some sort of talent. Perhaps you were Muhammad Ali, and you had the ability to throw a punch so hard you’d kill a man to death inside of three rounds. Maybe you were Joni Mitchell, and after years of practice you could silence a packed theatre with a single sustained note. Or maybe you were Frost, or Sinatra, or Harrison fucking Ford. And fame was deserved, and life was grand, and all the little kiddies had role models to look up to and they’d say, “hey, maybe one day I can become an intergalactic fighter pilot, or failing that I can get an office job that pays a decent wage and have a large family, but not so large that it becomes a drain on the government!”.

Today, celebrities still have a lot to teach us.

If you flick through any trashy women’s type magazine (the magazine is trashy, the woman reading it may or may not be. I don’t know her that well, I don’t really feel comfortable commenting), you will read of orgiastic evenings packed with cocaine, strippers and cocaine packed strippers. And that’s just in the two pages about Charlie Sheen (Sheen jokes are still fresh, ya?) You will see suicide attempts and sex tapes, drug overdoses and dresses made of ham. And the fame is contrived, and life is grey, and all the little kiddies have to look forward to is another dose of Snooki, and venereal disease.

When we hear about the latest celebrity debacle, we don’t try to emulate the stupidity. When we find out that Ryan Dunn has killed himself driving drunk, when we hear that Owen Wilson has attempted suicide, when we learn that David Carradine has died from choking himself with a belt while having a tug, we think how fucking stupid can you get? We don’t immediately jump in a car swigging a bottle of Red Label with our pants round our ankles. The nature of celebrity has changed. We no longer look at celebrities for guidance.

I hope I am right in saying that anyone with even a fragmentary grasp on reality knows that Ryan Dunn, nor any of the Jackass crew, are or ever have been role models. I hope we don’t have an entire generation of kids who are looking up to a man who catapulted to fame for being the only person willing to insert a model car into his sphincter. I think I would have noticed thousands of toothless, leering bogans walking gingerly down the street, cradling their ravaged behinds. If I have missed it and this phenomenon is actually occurring, we may be doomed as a species anyway. On the plus side, at least the 2032 presidential election campaign videos will be worth watching.

People were once famed for being exemplary human beings. Now they are exalted for being the worst of the lot. I don’t think many people look at Snooki and think that’s what they want to do with their lives. I don’t think Britney Spears’ 14 second marriage has become a popular activity to re-enact. And I don’t think hearing that Ryan Dunn has been burnt beyond all recognition because he was driving drunk is going to lead to copycat stupidity.

Today, a celebrity is a walking, breathing rule book of how not to live our lives.

Which means that building up a celebrity death puts a warning label on stupidity. A damn effective one, complete with mascot – a cold, grey corpse.

Celebrities are everywhere. They have invaded our newspapers, magazines, internet pages, television, and life. People talk about them as if they were just Brad and Angelina from down the road, not Brad and Angelina the power couple of Hollywood.

The question is, what is so interesting about them? Being a public relations student, one can see that really they’re normal people with a feisty agent behind them. Being a celebrity is no longer actually about having talent, like it once (or at least we thought it once) was.

It’s about presenting yourself in a light that’s in line with the times, that gives people something new and apparently interesting to look at that’s just a bit different to what’s already out there (not too crazy; then you won’t be mainstream enough to be popular). Being a celebrity, it might seem, is all about presentation.

Presentation is a facet of our world that, especially in the last century, has come to dominate what we see, how we look at it, and whether we buy it or not. So, if much of our world is presentation and presentation is always something a little better-looking or better placed than our real selves, does that mean that we’re continuously making a commodity of ourselves and our world? Additionally, if celebrities are the pinnacle of the sexy, perfected image that we are looking for, does that mean, subconsciously, that they are some form of super commodity? It all warrants extra room for thought.

If our world is commodity and celebrities are super-commodities, then the question of societal celebrity adoration simply takes another angle. Celebrities become not just another person we admire because they are the best (or in some cases, the worst) in their field, but because we want to replicate their look. Their look is our ideal. And because ideals never die (but the outfit and the premiere does) we can continue to turn the pages of the latest NW and sigh at the latest. As the post-modernist author Nicholas Carr would argue, humans are suckers for the latest. Celebrities represent distraction, and they have just that bit of sexy we want to inject into our lives.

We are attracted to celebrities in that, they too, are tools of distraction. When you turn the pages of a magazine, or the channels the TV (especially E), one celebrity competes with another for your attention, brawn bodies over reclusive geniuses. Movies, good or bad, are made like revolving doors, spurning your interest away from your current duties (which most of us want to be distracted from anyway) and onto their glitzy, glamorous selves. These Prada-preened goddesses and steroid studs tell us what society wants us to be: ideals, which we must buy their products to attain. To know about these products, you must be distracted by their presentations first. It all makes sense in the consumer cycle. So it would be safe to say, behind the masks of their agents, celebrities are perhaps so alluring because of their promise of the unachievable. They are distracting because flashy, desirable because unreal, objects of adoration because they represent the everyday perfection we mostly achieve only on nights out.

So as for the question of whether we should adore them or not; well, do at your own peril. It is a rather fickle fantasy to admire something that in many ways is not real. Drugs or not, celebrities are just people hiding behind an agent or an image, a representation of what we ourselves would like to see: societal perfection. It’s just good to remember that in this age of distracting commodities, all you’re really luring after is the flash of the camera.

www.ausm.org.nz

15.

by Sebastian Mackay Conventional beauty has saturated the society we live in, from the advertisements for men’s apparel to the advertisements for Tui. “Beautiful” people plague our screens. These icons of conventional beauty are the false idols and paper Jesus’ we all at some stage or another aspire to be aesthetically similar to. My question is, what is it about these photoshopped princesses and mesmeric men that we find attractive? Is the conventionalism deeply comforting; does it allow for us to aim for aesthetic perfection to maintain purpose in shallow lives?

Or is it our unspoken, believed false prerogative that holds them in high regard, whilst destroying the lives of the unconventionally beautiful? The endless screeds of images of picture perfect men and women teach us, that to be different, is to be ugly. A message condoned with each mental judgement and whispered remark.

Each of us spends our days judging the other. You, by this point have certainly judged me. Yet, here we sit, knowing there are things about ourselves that we would change in a heartbeat, even if we won’t admit it. For some of us, we’ll have to dig deep under our own sense of self security, or lack thereof, for the things we hate; for others, it is hidden behind the mask of foundation. We are the lucky ones; we have the luxury to hide behind make-up masks and spend hours in front of the mirror perfecting society’s ideal of beautiful. For those who haven’t

I

by Ashleigh Muir

16.

that luxury, those who each of us pass in shop doorways and gutters possessing signs and little hope. They are the ones deemed too ugly for society’s acknowledgement, bearing their tortured souls for the world, yet they are human like us. We distance ourselves by averting our eyes, we see them helpless and see them as ugly. Yet unflinchingly we enforce society’s ideals. With each aversion it is us who decides that the homeless man with the beard and sign is ugly and helpless. It is us who decides that the girl with the addiction is hideous, yet the addiction itself remains unfortunate and is not considered the ugliness from which she suffers. And are we ashamed? No, because as long as we can keep averting our eyes and turning our attention elsewhere, we see a difference between ourselves and the homeless man and the girl with the addiction. Because of this, we will never look beyond ourselves to discover the beauty within the displaced stranger. Perhaps they are no different to you.

If you’re still with me (and I applaud you for it), beauty goes beyond the homeless man. Beauty is outside of our infected hearts and souls. I challenge you to look into yourselves and redefine what ‘ugly’ means to you. Look toward people for their beauty, instead of toward them for their difference. Find out what it is that makes you judge, for it is not our arms, legs or feet that make us beautiful, nor does beauty reside in our nature to judge. Does it make us the ugly ones for condoning the definition of beauty as something to be held by the conventionally beautiful and not the beautifully unconventional?

t has been said that fairy tales and chick flicks lead to unrealistic romantic expectations in the young women of today.

There was even an academic study that backed up these notions. I have one word for those of you who agree with such an obscure notion.

Codswallop.

In my opinion it is quite the opposite.

Firstly, chick flicks are not all gooey and mushy. I think you will find they all have some sort of romantic problem somewhere in there. That is after all, the point.

For the most part, these problems are realistic. Seemingly perfect man has a fault, the past catches up with you or a little white lie turns into something much bigger. On rare occasions the problem is a little more, shall we say, unrealistic? (cough, Twilight, cough).

The point is, chick flicks present a problem and a solution. For the most part they represent a form of reality and it is therefore reasonable to say that they do not lead to unrealistic romantic expectations. While 99 per cent of the time, there is a happy

ending, they wouldn’t be nearly so successful if everyone ended up miserable.

Chick flicks are filled with reality. Spinsters, divorce and marital spats are all part of the various storylines I’ve seen over the years. They have been part of storylines for centuries, in the form of fairytales, novels and the like. Cinderella wanted to go to the ball. Didn’t you?

So what then, you may ask, has led to the situation where romantic issues are being blamed on age old, timeless stories?

Action films.

Action films are filled with unrealistic situations and give men the understanding that they too can be just like James Bond.

Let’s take a look at James. He is the man of mystery. Fast cars, fancy boats, guns, good looks and that’s right, plenty of gorgeous women. That right there is the problem. Mr Bond has shown men that they can walk away from women because there is going to be something better waiting just around the corner.

Never mind that in Bond’s world these women are photoshopped, airbrushed and tucked by a couple

of computer nerds and a slimy surgeon.

Exhibit B. Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code shows Robert Langdon finding love with one woman in the first book, only to dismiss her completely in the next book when a different woman becomes available.

Serial monogamy is encouraged, especially when films become a series. Each film contains a single romantic interest; however, the second film in the series shows the same male protagonist with a different female lead. When these series become as long and successful as the Bond franchise, serial monogamy becomes more and more obvious.

The Spiderman franchise is another example of action films encouraging non-committal men. Peter Parker, despite being in love with Mary Jane, refuses to commit to her. While Spidey believes this is all for her own good, shouldn’t she be able to decide that for herself?

We are modern women here. So what if we like a good chick flick with the girls. That doesn’t mean we’re unrealistic. issue 15 2011

Rupert Murdoch: The most corrupt man in journalism?

by Stephen Allely

So finally the scummy tabloids that make millions prying into people’s privacy with little or no ethics or morals are bein g exposed to an investigation more thor ough and transparent than any of their own immoral hacking activities.

Murdoch faced a court in London last Tuesday and outright denied bein g responsible for the hacking of victi ms’ phones by News of the World tabloid reporters. He claimed the people to blame were the “people he trusted”, or alternatively, “the people they trust ed”. This attempt to push the guilt down the chain of command by the apex of the news empire Murdoch controls worldwide show s the lack of accountability for operation s that is common in executives in this era.

The whole idea of a company is a legal entity that cannot be sued for man y damages that an individual can. The idea of one man being responsible for the actions of the tens of thousands emp loyees around the world is as ridiculous as the obscene aggregation of wealth that such an agglomeration causes. The $US1.75 billion decline in the worth of News Corp oration shares since the scandal broke is indic ative of the ripples spreading on the pond of a globalised, networked and co-depen dent global media landscape.

It is a fall from grace in more than just financial terms; there is also the hum bling reality that the relationship between the media mogul and politicians in the UK has inverted its deferential direction dras tically.

The previous fear and respect polit icians had for Murdoch has all but dissolved and he now cowers at their mercy.

The hacking scandal was a sufficient, but perhaps not even necessary, cause of the rejection of News Corp’s bid to acqu ire the entire cable channel in the UK that it currently owns a large share of. Ther e was already widespread opposition to New s Corp’s acquisition of the cable chan nel, the scandal was more than enough to tip the balance.

The tables were turning on Murdoch ’s empire with the first allegations of immoral, illegal, phone hacking and this was worsened with each subsequent allegation coming to light in the last few weeks. September 11 victims were iden tified www.ausm.org.nz

ce as hacking targets, widening pertinen ’s doch Mur UK. as to the US as well impulsive reaction of closing down the News of the World tabloid at a one cent week’s notice caused dozens of inno yrs mart jobs journalists to lose their their to the corruption of others within newspaper and above. e Meanwhile Murdoch denies knowledg paid of the “hush-money” of $US1 million to a victim of the hacking in the early stages of events, even though his son ars James signed off the payment. It begg of such know not ld wou er fath a that f belie by his inflammatory settlements approved .

Corp s New of head UK son - the senior The connections between multiple is e Polic litan ropo Met the members of sector, embarrassing for the whole policing tion nisa orga an of top the at as corruption ading as often as not is reflective of a perv That culture of corruption throughout. ing a turn only not edly alleg were e polic ely activ but ity, activ blind eye to hacking king shoc e mor even is it, with them assisting f chie pany com onal than a corrupt multinati d cribe pres the have e polic the as , executive job of enforcing the law. not And as for the political sphere, it was ’s top immune either, with David Cameron ected communications advisor being conn y for to the scandal also. Enough of a worr a Afric h Sout in trip a ail the UK PM to curt media brief a in ng talki in, Brita to rn to retu ure release of the pressing need to “ens tinuity Con ”. force e polic the in y continuit out’. rats the ing being euphemism for ‘gett dly ubte undo is o fiasc this of lt One resu is the loss of face for Murdoch. There for utive exec f chie new a of already talk to the News Corp companies afoot, not ysts anal by on ulati spec mention financial in e mor h wort are es pani com the that . So isolation than they are amalgamated up t wen es shar Corp s New y, icall iron ce, slightly in the US after his appearan g an eein fores are rs ulato spec indicating ain increased worth once the current capt d. boar over is thrown The whole circus has had the feel of ingly tragedies of old, with a grand, seem

invincible, leader dethroned and humiliated.

At the London hearing, a man attempted to throw a foam pie at Murdoch, an appropriate action perhaps. Murdoch himself indicated that it was “the most humble day of (his) life” . Which is perhaps not saying much; humility wasn’t really in his vocabulary until now.

It is a media circus but the circus master, who once directed the proceedings from on high, now fights it out in the round, like clowns juggling more and more allegations the crowd throws at him.

Ironically, Murdoch appealed to those at the proceedings “not to forget the good that he has done for Britain”, but the “good” to be gained from amalgamating the news production empires of the world into one behemoth with an amoral tycoon at the helm is not perhaps productive of any “good”, in the sense of public interest.

The famous quote comes to mind “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely”.

The question on all journalists’ lips now is ‘which was it’? Is he telling the truth that he genuinely did not know of the hacking and pay-offs, or he lying and knew all along?

Either scenario is shocking.

A democratic capitalist system and media homogeneity of ownership are effectively mutually exclusive, their coexistence is impossible. So perhaps it is ultimately for the best that these hacking events occurred - the victims could be honoured in times to come as the martyrs of the revolution in media that broke up the old order of Murdoch’s domination. The cracks are spreading. The benefits and dangers of operating such a large multinational are proportionally increased with its growth.

The other exquisite irony was hackers changing Murdoch’s Sun tabloid’s online edition to an article describing the mogul as having died in his garden. They claim it is the first of a sustained and unprecedented hacking attack on Murdoch’s empire, along with the UK Police computer system. There is a media revolution gathering speed, and we are in for some interesting changes.

The “man who owns the news” may be losing his grip on his own creation, like Frankenstein with his monster.

17.

Spotlight on AuSM Clubs

Uni isn’t all about classes and assignments. You want to have fun and make friends too. Here at AuSM we understand it’s sometimes difficult finding people with similar interests as you. So we’ve put together a selection of some of the many clubs we have on campus.

AUT Christian Fellowship

AIESEC AUT is one of the fastest growing local committees in AIESEC New Zealand. With more than 100 members in the Auckland region, AIESEC AUT has full support and endorsement from the Faculty of Business and Law at AUT University.

We provide leadership opportunities as well as internship/work abroad programmes to students at AUT. Through AIESEC, you will meet leaders, team members, experience a new learning environment, opportunities and challenges. You will also develop skills including efficient time management, crisis management, develop leadership skills, public speaking, software skills. This could also include specific skills such as human resource, external relations, accounting and finance.

So what are you waiting for? Apply for membership today and be part of AIESEC AUT! Please apply at http://www.aiesec.org.nz/join/aut or email aut@aiesec.org.nz for more information.

Cloud 9 CLOUD9 is the new social club at AUT available to all students and the general public. We’ll host a number of memorable events throughout the year ranging from pub crawls, flash mobs, The Amazing Race, off campus parties and weekly poker competitions at Vesbar, just to name a few!

You can find us selling memberships and tickets to upcoming events between 10am-2pm on Tuesdays at the North Shore campus outside AF building and between 10am - 2pm on Wednesdays in the City campus quad. Memberships cost $10 and last until the end of 2012. Please note CLOUD9 is an R18 social club.

CLOUD9’s first major event is the “When I Grow Up I Want to be...” Pub Crawl on Thursday, August 4. Starting off at our very own Vesbar, we will head over the Harbour Bridge to the Backyard bar, onto Shooters in Kingsland where the mechanical bull will be waiting to be tamed, then finishing at Fort Street Union in the city with a free shot on arrival and the DJ waiting for us to tear up the dance floor. CLOUD9 has organised cheap drinks at all destinations. Tickets are $20 for members and $30 for nonmembers. Tickets are limited.

Weekly poker nights start at 6pm, from Wednesday, August 3 at Vesbar. Prizes and bar tabs to be won! Like our Facebook page www.facebook.com/cloud9club, follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/cloud9aut or send us an email to cloud9.uni@gmail.com for more info.

18.

AUT Christian Fellowship (AUTCF for short) is an active group at AUT’s Wellesley campus. We operate under the umbrella of TSCF (Tertiary Students Christian Fellowship) and IFES (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students). We are a group of Christians who come together to study God’s word in the Bible and live it out in our daily lives. TSCF has camps that students can attend throughout the year where you can meet lots of other students from around New Zealand and attend seminars with local and international speakers.

We are active around campus, helping with Milo Mondays, university events such as Easter outreach and Orientation, and have Bible studies twice a week.

We welcome any students at AUT to come join us at Bible study and we also have prayer meetings where we come together to pray about personal and shared matters. If you want to know more, you can contact us on autchristians@gmail.com or talk to Raymond on 0212315188. With help from our staff w orker, we hope to be a strength in students’ lives as we continue to engage with God’s word and what He has done for us.

flatline

Go back to your high school years and picture the infamous dance circles in the middle of the dance floor. The music is pumping. The crowd is going crazy. There is an empty space in the middle. You ask yourself, “do I jump in?”. Not many have the confidence to jump into a dance circle. And this is where dance can help you.

Dance helps you gain confidence. It teaches you to block out the thoughts of others, to focus on yourself, and give yourself a certain style; an identity. This is my philosophy.

Flatline is a social club where anyone can come to learn how to dance, for free. Our main styles include breakdancing, hype, waving and popping; with a bit of jerking and shuffling if the mood strikes. People always say they can’t dance, but that’s because they don’t learn moves step by step. They watch a fluid set that seems to be impossible to copy. In Flatline, we break down each move for you and help you become like those you see on YouTube and on TV. Flatline is in need of passionate people who are committed to dance. Please don’t be afraid to raise your voice.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact Eddie Lo, president of Flatline on 0210529328 or Eclipse248@ hotmail.com.

issue 15 2011

We are a queer/LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) university social group for students, staff, and friends. Our aim is to help, support, and provide a friendly and accepting environment to all our members.

“Queer” is often used to describe everything “non- straight, bent, diagonal, or skew”. And that is just what we are. A nonboring, out there social group of diverse individuals. We meet up to celebrate our diversity, socialise and make friends.

We have weekly socials on Thursdays from 5.30pm till late at Mezze Bar, 9 Durham Street East (off Queen Street). In addition we have ‘drop-in’ sessions every Tuesday from 122pm at WF409, where you can drop in for any information on LGBT help and support, or even just for a chat.

On September 10 we are having an Auckland wide LGBT youth glow party at Rising Sun. You will be able to interact with a diverse range of queer youth in a safe and fun environment.

For further information and updates on events, ‘like’ our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/outataut or email us at outataut@hotmail.com So join us if you are queer, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, confused, gay friendly, or simply just different.

Wassup! Here’s what REAL all about. We are a Christian group on campus and are planted on AUT, Auckland Uni and Massey campuses! We exist to serve students and to reach them with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our club is not based on sitting around camp fire singing hymns and such, but we love being active holding a variety of activities and events. These mostly include food, food and more food – something students can always relate to!

Every month we hold a big event, ENCORE, that is open to all aged between 15-35. Themes and topics in this event are what we are surrounded by everyday such as identity, fashion, music, etc. Each week on Thursdays we also hold a free lunch for all students while at the same time equipping them on leadership skills and encouraging them on their faith. We believe that students of this generation are the world changers for the next and strive to push them toward greatness! We are REAL and we are not ashamed of helping students to know their purpose and their CREATOR, Jesus Christ!

Visit us on our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/realcampus, to find out what we’re doing, where we’re meeting and where

w w w. a u s m . o r g . n z

I think the worst part was not having any flat mates around to yarn to… but if they were here they would probably be lapping it up online.

Ten hours has past since I logged off, only another lifetime to go!

Wednesday, 11.20am:

The internet. Fifteen years ago, people didn’t know what it was and those who did only used it to check their Xtra accounts. You could make a snack while you waited for your computer to finish connecting. There was no such thing as Google, YouTube or Facebook (in human years, both YouTube and Facebook are still in primary school). We were all rich with vitamin D, spending our days outside in the fresh air, rather than hunched over a laptop conducting a witty tweet about the weather or the chocolate bar you just ate.

It’s sad but true – we’re dependant on the internet. But can we break up with our best friend? Rebecca Lee bravely stepped up to the challenge, cutting off all ties with the internet for 48 hours to see if her life would be enriched. Apparently, it wasn’t.

Tuesday, 12.30pm:

Challenge begins. I have until Thursday, 12.30pm. This seems like an okay time frame; I mean, if I do something today and tomorrow, then town, the time is basically all taken up, right? It just means no drunk tweeting, no Facebook yarns, no Skype call to my best friend in Dunedin, no stumbled upon, no flash games and no rage comics. But only 48 hours, that’s nothing. I plan to finish an application for an internship and perhaps go food shopping. Or just watch Labyrinth on repeat until my life starts back up.

Tuesday, 12.36pm:

Lying on my bed, thinking about what my last tweet was. I think it was along the lines of “ffs I put my hand up for 48 hours with no internet. What was I thinking?”. I downloaded a movie the other day (I mean, hired it legally) about the Paul McCartney conspiracy, I might watch that…

12.42pm:

The movie just started, George Harrison talked with the cutest little accent. That would have been a tweet but alas, no internet.

2.21pm:

11.52:

Had the longest shower. Everything is slower without the world wide web.

12.38pm:

I went to text someone but turns out I don’t have anyone’s number. I always use Facebook or Twitter to contact people. I don’t know anyone in Auckland with a home phone, unless they live with their parents (and even then, I couldn’t tell you what their number was).

1.11pm:

Ok so I RANG someone and got given an address for a place I need to walk to. I have NO idea where to go and I can’t google it. Does anyone even own a map anymore?

3.11pm:

Guess you could say I cheated a bit and text someone for directions instead of googling it.

The movie finished. I feel cultured. I would research more about it, but I don’t have the internet. That’s what the internet is good for, knowing what you want, when you want to. Ah well, I’m going to go make a feed instead.

The lady at Barfoot and Thompson told me to go to their website to keep house hunting. I couldn’t tell her that I wasn’t using the internet for 48 hours so I just nodded and said, “yeah, I’ll do that”. Came home and ate.

I have the physio in 45 minutes. I want to go to sleep, but I can’t google the phone number to make up a lame excuse about something and not turn up. Guess having no internet makes you more motivated.

Now it’s raining and cold so I am in bed. Going to watch ANOTHER movie.

2.46pm:

Wow, what good is a Macbook Pro without the internet? Come on Apple, there aren’t even any games on it! Maybe I’ll have to clock plants vs. zombies again.

5.55pm:

I’m really bored now; it’s 6pm and all I want to do is go on Twitter, it’s cold and I have no movies that I haven’t already seen. I could eat more but I basically ate a horse already today. I don’t even have a television so it’s like 48 hours without technology. Someone asked me if internet on my phone counted. I know it does but I was ready to make a million excuses why it didn’t.

8.45pm

I watched the same movie again.

10.33pm

Just watched another movie and contemplated watching the entire Harry Potter series. I’ve never even seen one of the movies. I want to research The Beatles and Maori legends for another story for debate…

But I can’t. I even had to waste 20 cents sending a text to my friend in England instead of sending a tweet!

What an expensive day.

20.

Had the biggest sleep in to avoid doing nothing in the morning. I’m awake now. I want to check my emails to see if anything happened. I can’t though.

But… it is kind of cool not reading about all the crap things everyone has to say, Facebook is full of such useless nonsense sometimes.

6.37pm:

I regret not knowing anyone’s phone numbers.

9.06pm:

I have a friend catching the bus to my place in a minute; she probably googled the bus times. I’m grateful I live in town.

I don’t really care about not having the internet anymore. It’s just a time waster and I’m finding other ways to waste my time.

Thursday, 12.37pm:

It’s over. It was hard in the beginning but now I am at peace with it. I liked not being on Facebook. Twitter was a bit harder because I use it on my phone and tweet everything I’m thinking.

Friday:

I have the internet back and I have already wasted around five hours of my day on the internet just checking Facebook and Twitter, not actually doing anything.

I have decided I’m not going to use the internet as much an try to do more productive things with my time. But it’s easy to say, not so easy to do.

issue 15 2011

forward create

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ad ver tiser s

sources

concept

gain experiencekey tomentoring success JOURNALISM networking profes si o nal

ability

reputation INTERNSHIP gain the edge

discipline

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career growth industry apply knowledge

cultural

rely

strive

strength

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get ahead discussion debate

c o ntex t

valuable transparent

reliability fAIRfAx credibility interesting MEdIA minds

background fac ts

knowledge

exposure your future invaluable

sig nifi c an c e

abilit y

common

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p ower

strive

confl ic t

communic ate

fir st

THIS IS yOUR OPPORTUNITy

Fairfax New Zealand Journalism Internships FAIRFAX MEDIA, publisher of the country’s leading newspapers, magazines and websites, is again seeking bright, aspiring journalists to become the outstanding journalists of tomorrow as part of our intern scheme.

We want the best people to be part of our multi-media organisation. The scheme is now in its fifth year and already those chosen are making their mark not just in newsrooms but in national media awards.

The successful applicants are chosen by editors and editorial leaders throughout Fairfax after they prioritise the Fairfax Media organisations they would like to work for.

After undergoing exceptional training at one of our five preferred journalism schools – the University of Canterbury, Massey University, Wellington, the Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec), Aoraki Polytechnic, Dunedin, and the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) – interns join their chosen newspaper or website.

www.ausm.org.nz

We will reimburse the fees of those who pass and provide challenging work afterwards in our newsrooms. As well, we provide ongoing training and opportunities to advance.

We are seeking highly motivated people from all walks of life to join us.

A relevant tertiary qualification is preferred but we will consider candidates who have minimum qualifications of NCEA Level 3 or the relevant life skills.

For further information and to apply online at: http://www.fairfaxmedia.co.nz/careers/journalism-internships.dot before noon on Monday, August 1, 2011

21.

by Katie Montgomerie set up rules so you don’t lose sight of the story and yourself.

What research did you do in order to recreate the character John?

One of the key resources we have used is a great article that Vanity Fair published [in 2005].

We’ve been using that and the playwright used that as one of his key resources as well.

“He has a pretty bad home life and I would assume he’s not very popular at school.

[But] when he hops onto the internet he is suddenly in control and he is loved.”

Do you find it difficult to portray an obviously damaged young man?

I Love You Bro is the true story about the exploits of a 14-year-old boy called John.

Inspired by the Vanity Fair piece “U want me 2 kill him?” published in 2005, I Love You Bro follows John’s online life as he struggles to make a connection with someone to counteract the lack of love in his everyday life. This struggle leads him to create many different online identities in order to draw his ‘friend’ Mark closer to him and ultimately to orchestrate his own murder.

Tim Carlsen stars in Silo theatre’s production of this one man play directed by Sophie Roberts. Carlsen graduated from Toi Whakaari in 2009 and has since performed in One Day Moko at the Basement and also dabbled in television, appearing in Legend of the Seeker last year. I caught up with Tim to get his take on what it is like to be performing in such a controversial play.

What appealed to you when you first read the script of I Love You Bro?

I did think it was pretty hard hitting. It’s quite remarkable about what this 14-year-old was capable of and his intellect considering his age and background. Each persona [he created online] was very specific in the way they spoke and acted.

He played a mum, his chat room geek friends, a teenage girl, a spy and they were all very different.

How is it to play a character that is 14 when you are 24?

In the show he was looking back on himself as a 14-yearold so we haven’t made a concrete decision about what age he was in the show. But he recreates eight or so different characters throughout the show.

Technically it’s quite challenging because they all have their own unique rhythms and it takes some practice and getting used to. But once you’ve got it, it’s a lot of fun

In some ways, but when you break the play up and look at it in a really simple way, he is teenage boy looking for love and for some connection. When I look at it that way it sinks in to me and makes sense. He is just hunting out love and some sort of connection. He has a pretty bad home life and I would assume he’s not very popular at school. [But] when he hops onto the internet he is suddenly in control and he is loved.

Do you think this is a show for all ages?

Yeah, even for someone who doesn’t know anything about online chat rooms, there is something that will strike a chord with anyone. It’s kind of a love story in a weird way and everyone is attracted to that. It’s a rollercoaster.

Written by Adam Cass, the play provokes audiences to think a little differently about the anonymity of the internet and the inherent dangers associated with this. The show is on at the Herald Theatre in the city from this Thursday (July 29) until August 20. Tickets range from $25-$35 and are available from The Edge at: www.buytickets.co.nz or (09) 357 3355 Photo credit: Patrick Reynolds

Is it tough to carry an entire show on your own?

Yeah, for a solo performance your rules in which you work with the audience in must be very clear and you have no other actor’s energy to bounce off. You

22.

issue 15 2011

I grew up with fables. This was primarily as a result of being born in Greece, circa 636 BC. I know to let sleeping dogs try on wolf’s clothing, and to always judge a sheep by its cover. But the children of today don’t have such firm guidelines. There is no modern moraliser, no urban Aesop. I think I’ve discovered a niche market. Here is the first in what may be a trilogy, an analogy, or a eulogy of modern day fables for youth on the go.

by Brendan Kelly Once upon a time, in a land abundant with ice, there lived an Eskimo. His name was Little Bright Champo, and his favourite thing in the whole world was to go ice fishing with his father, whose name was Big Stupid Champo.

One day, Little Bright Champo’s father was devoured by a narwhal. Thankfully, Little Bright Champo had been desensitised to violence from watching Rambo and playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and he remained calm enough to escape. As he turned to run, he saw that the beast crushing his father’s severed head beneath its slab-like teeth was completely white, shimmering like an evil, head-crushing aquatic sea ghost in the cold sun. He ran back to his village and told his mother, Bitchy Old ChumboChumbo, what had happened. He scuttled to his room like a baby crab and cried his little eyes out; he cried and cried, until his eyes were sore from crying. When his eyes hurt too much or he ran out of tears, his mother cried for him while he played Nintendo Wii. After a brief memorial service and some light refreshments, Little Bright Champo decided that it would be super badass if he hunted down the narwhal and dragged it back to the village to be turned into sausages. So Champo packed his rucksack with six chocolate biscuits, a bottle of apple juice and an M203 grenade launcher, and set off in search of the Great White Narwhal.

Little Bright Champo searched day and night. He searched high and low, near and far; he searched above the ice and under the ice.

Sometimes he searched hard, other times he got lazy and just pretended he was searching when really he was up to fuck all. He stopped for a rest, and then he tried high and low again because he didn’t think he did a particularly thorough job the first time. Champo searched

www.ausm.org.nz

and searched, but to no avail. All Champo could find was ice.

But suddenly, just as he had sat down to eat one of his six chocolate biscuits, the young Eskimo heard a rumbling noise coming from the beneath the ice. An enormous, golden horn stabbed through the frozen wasteland with an almighty cracking sound. Champo almost had a coronary, entirely unrelated to his morbid obesity, as the Great White Narwhal he had so desperately sought emerged from the newly formed hole in the tundra. It was even bigger than he remembered, perhaps bloated from feasting on more patriarchal figures. Loading up the M203, he looked deep into the face of the Great White Narwhal and prepared to blow its mammalian head off.

But to Little Bright Champo’s surprise, he couldn’t pull the trigger. He had looked into the creature’s leviathanic eyeballs, eyeballs that spoke of compassion, sorrow, and intelligence.

His trigger finger trembled like a blade of grass in the wind on a winter’s eve; his legs wobbled like gelatine in a carrier bag. His mind longed for his mother’s embrace and the familiar sensations of home.

Champo’s weak heart leapt with shock when the creature, in a monolithic tone, started to speak.

“Hello, Little Bright Champo,” boomed the aquatic sea cow. “I am sorry I devoured your father. I only did it because climate change has limited my food supply to such a severe degree.

Did you know that with the current rate of change, the Arctic is expected to be ice-free by September of 2037?”

The Great White Narwhal’s eyes welled with tears, just like the tears Champo had shed when his father’s face got eaten. He told Champo a

horrendous tale of corruption, pollution and the wave of decadence sweeping the globe. Finally, with a forlorn plea, the narwhal begged for the mercy of Little Bright Champo.

“Please, Little Bright Champo. There are no fish left in the sea, and my home is more polluted than Lindsay Lohan’s vagina. My family have all starved to death. Only I have survived.

Can you ever forgive me?”

At these words, the icy shards of vengeance in Little Bright Champo’s heart melted like chocolate in a pottery kiln. Flicking on the safety catch of his grenade launcher, he smiled at the narwhal.

“Of course I can forgive you, narwhal. I’m sorry for hunting you so relentlessly,” apologised Champo, gazing trustingly at the enormous animal.

Then it ate him, and the rising sea levels killed everybody.

And they all lived happily ever after.

The deluxe edition moral of the story is this: with the current rate of climate change, narwhals are relying more and more on people as a source of nutrition. If conditions continue to worsen, they will be forced to develop even more sophisticated methods of trickery and deception in order to survive. Therefore, climate change leads to dishonesty among sea life. And that’s a change you can believe in.

The short moral: don’t trust anybody, especially a hungry sea mammal with a taste for human flesh.

The moral that breaks the wall between author and reader: you should have listened to Goethe. Who the fuck is William Feather, anyway?

23.

by Nicole Brown

Behind Closed Doors – Animal Abuse in NZ

A

nimals are a very precious part of people’s lives, however man’s best friend isn’t receiving the pampering they should. There are currently 99 animal abuse cases listed in New Zealand which range from people drowning animals to burning them to death. What is the penalty for such devastating acts? Mere community service and a ban from owning pets for five years.

From studies and stats, it can be seen that people who commit such violent acts against animals proceed to re-offend against animals and then move on to people, committing violent crimes that include rape and murder. An example of this was New Zealand born Taffy Hotene, who was guilty of strangling kittens and then murdering Kylie Jones in August 2000. The progression of her animal abuse through to theft, aggravated robbery, rape and ultimately murder may have been prevented had she been given harsher punishment for her animal abuse crimes.

The origin of animal abuse is a signal to everyone around the criminal that something is wrong. By allowing our government in this democratic society to let these criminals become unstoppable monsters is unjustifiable. Usually, these people are committing acts of abuse on animals to get noticed, they feel like they are invisible and need to threaten authority by showing ‘what they can do’.

What can you do to help?

- Thinking of getting a little puppy or kitten? Why not adopt?

Almost half of all animals that are cared for in shelters don’t make it because there are not enough people to adopt them. It is also a much cheaper option – you’ll have to save your money for the repairs your pet will cost you later on.

- Support animal abuse organisations. Paw Justice is a New Zealand based organisation that support harsher punishment for animal abusers. By ‘liking’ them on Facebook you can keep up to date on their media campaigns and help out by signing petitions to support better legislative policies in New Zealand.

- Don’t buy animal tested products. Ladies, be careful what make up you use as most of these products are likely to be tested on animals. Shop around for quality products and don’t be afraid to ask if that lippy is animal-friendly.

- Volunteer or donate to your local animal shelter. As well as giving you the warm fuzzies when you get to give the kittens their bottle, this is great experience for you. Helping in your community is a great way to show that you’re not all talk and is a chance to meet new people. If you don’t have the time, why not just drop some pet food to your shelter? Most Countdown supermarkets have a box for donations.

- Be aware of the people around you! If you suspect animal abuse is happening, tell someone. By letting go of suspicions, you give criminals the opportunity to do terrible things – don’t make this an option.

The more people that are involved in stopping animal abuse, the closer we are to a resolution. Show your support and make a difference!

24.

by Jarred Williamson

‘Quite Frankly’

Are Youth Rates discriminatory or not?

M

any people, including myself, like to complain about the lack of employment and pay we see in our bank accounts. Yeah that’s right, the rate of youth being employed sucks. It’s quite alarming that around 27.5 per cent of youth are currently unemployed; that’s far more than the older workforce. Recession you say? Well, here’s the thing, it’s not only to blame.

To combat the issue the ACT Party is putting through a proposal to reintroduce a minimum wage for youth aged between 16 and 24, at a rate of $8-$10 an hour. Don’t read ACT and stop there, this is something decent to come out of them. I think it’s a pretty good idea and as usual there are some who do not agree. Metiria Turei and Jacinda Ardern, to name a few. The main argument is that it won’t change anything and that it will ‘disadvantage’ and ‘discriminate’ youth.

Here is where they are so wrong: Firstly, how can it disadvantage youth? If there is one of the highest youth unemployment rates, surely it will make it easier for youth to get jobs when employers have a slightly lower rate to pay. They could even hire two people. This can only be good, as you get a job and there is less strain on youth benefits from the government. The idea of age discrimination needs to be looked at. Sure we’re not equal to the adults, but this is for a reason. It is more a skill discrimination than anything, who are we, with only NCEA Level 3 (or even less) to demand an equal wage to older people who are probably more qualified and experienced than ourselves?

Nowadays we have Australia as a benchmark for where we should be. There’s even a taskforce suggesting how we can catch up with our Aussie neighbours. Guess what, Australia still has their youth wage, and they have a lower unemployment rate than we do. We may be ahead of Australia in offering ‘equality’ but we stumble and fall at the rate of employment.

Take a look at Pak ’n Save. I remember only a few years ago walking into their stores and seeing an abundance of high school students working all over the store. Since the change in law, Pak ’n Save’s policy has changed and now we see a largely older workforce in their stores. This is representative of the 27.5 per cent youth unemployment rate.

If I can criticise one piece of this proposal, it is the age gap for this wage. It has been set at 16 to 24 year olds. To me, the gap is too large. It’d be better to see a maximum age at 20. At the older ages, the norm is to usually move out and go flatting. Living on that rate of pay isn’t manageable and by this time people usually have tertiary qualifications, certificates, apprenticeships or work experience to justify a higher wage.

Some would say the dole is better. A benefit from the government (funded by the taxpayer). According to ACT, a rate of $8-$10 an hour is higher than $4.50 on the dole. With less on the dole and more working, the economy grows and the welfare bill goes down. Thumbs up to that I say.

Frankly, the argument that we shouldn’t have a youth minimum wage is quite short sighted. If anything, the previous government’s move to abolish the youth minimum wage has given the need for one a stronger case.

issue 15 2011

also a good time to have swabs taken for sexually transmitted infections. Why not? You might as well get everything done at the same time and it’s good to know for sure you are not harbouring any unwanted infections. The result usually takes about one week and the nurse will send you a letter with the result.

This Agony Aunt column is brought to you by the team at Health, Counselling and Wellbeing. If you have a question you would like answered email debate@aut.ac.nz and put Agony Aunt as the subject or drop it in to the Health, Counselling and Wellbeing office.

Dear Agony Aunt

If I go out at the weekend I usually drink up to five bottles of beer and 4-5 vodkas each night. Is this a binge? I don’t drink alcohol during the week.

From worried drinker

Dear worried drinker

Dear Agony Aunt

YUP! This amount of alcohol in one session is defined as binge drinking whether you are male or female. Binge drinking is the most dangerous type of drinking. The recommended upper levels for safe drinking for men is 21 standard drinks per week and 14 standard drinks for women, with no more than six standard drinks in one session for men and four for women.

Dear No Idea

How do you know what a standard drink is?

Most containers of alcohol now have a standard drinks measure on them and it is a good idea to check so that you can judge how much alcohol you are drinking. If you drink a 330ml can of beer OR a 100ml glass of wine OR a 30ml (pub measure) of straight spirits you are drinking approximately 10 grams of alcohol = one standard unit. Be careful with Ready to Drink’s (RTD) as these will vary and can contain in excess of two standards drinks per bottle.

So if you are drinking five beers and five vodkas a night you are having approx 10 standard drinks in one session, depending on whose pouring the vodka!

This is twice the recommended upper safe limit.

I have had a text from the nurse asking me to make an appointment for my cervical smear. I have no idea what this is?

From No Idea A cervical smear is a screening test for women to see if they are at risk of developing cervical cancer in the future. Cervical cancer is a long progressive disease and takes on average 10 to 20 years to develop. It is necessary to get checked regularly (every three years) so that changes can be detected early and you can have treatment before it ever reaches the cancer stage. It sounds scary but it’s really nothing to be worried about. The test is done by a nurse or doctor and takes about 20 minutes. If you have never had sexual intercourse then you do not need a cervical smear and your risk of developing cervical cancer is minimal. In this case ring the nurse and let her know you are not at risk and will contact her in the future when you are sexually active. All sexually active girls at the age of 20 and three yearly thereafter should have regular cervical smears.

So what happens? Once you have made the appointment you will meet with a nurse or doctor who will explain the procedure to you. A smear involves having a small plastic speculum (kind of like a beak shape) inserted into your vagina. The nurse of doctor will then look at the cervix and very gently brush away a few of the cells and send them away for laboratory examination. The cervix is a doughnut shaped structure that is approximately the size of a $2 coin and sits at the top of the vagina. This is

Tips on safer drinking - Keep a track on what you are drinking - Watch out for those people who keep on topping up your glass - Eat a meal before drinking alcohol.

- Alternate alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks - Avoid participating in drink games - Watch out for drink spiking.

- Don’t mix drinks with drugs - Look after yourself and your friends.

- Arrange safe transport home.

Blogging: more than an online diary that everyone can read by Ashleigh Muir I have a right to be heard. I have a voice.

There is a stigma attached to blogging. It somehow says I have an ego, I have something to say and YOU should listen because I am right.

What is wrong with having something to say?

Blogging, I have discovered, is not just about you as a writer.

While it serves as a medium and an outlet for your inner creative or suppressed opinion-ist, it opens up a whole new world of writers and perspectives on everything you could think of.

There are such a huge variety of blogs people write, not only to be read but to share knowledge, recipes, ideas and ramblings. Whether it’s a blog with a goal or project in mind or a blog that is aimed at keeping distant family and friends updated, there is usually something worth reading somewhere amongst the endless posts.

When I first started a blog, I simply wanted to write. I was not interested in people reading it, it was something for me.

For the first six months or so, I didn’t tell a soul I even had one. But I had a voice and there were people listening. And by listening I mean reading.

The turning point came when after publishing a simple post I had over 30 views in a single day. I hadn’t thought I was that www.ausm.org.nz

interesting. And so I slowly began to tell people.

The point is blogging isn’t entirely narcissistic if you don’t want it to be. Writing and expressing can be entirely private – an online journal as such. Or it can be more as a way of sharing recipes or ideas about cooking, crafting, making a home homely.

All bloggers are not Julie Powell (from Julie and Julia). It is highly unlikely that you will turn into a highly strung, tantrum throwing, weeping mess simply because you started a blog. If on the off chance you do… well perhaps blog a little less.

What’s that? You don’t know what to write about?

Start by having a read. Read magazines, blogs and books – anything you can get your hands on. Let the creative juices wash over you and out into your new blog.

Oh wait, it doesn’t happen like that.

If you want direction for your blog then find it. Decide what really gets you going – current events, music, film, art, popular culture – and write about it. What you know is always a good starting point. Find a project for yourself. Julie Powell had a project. It wasn’t just about blogging. It’s about doing something for yourself and recording it. Whether you want to paint your own versions of Picasso’s life work or learn to knit. Just remember, it is not so much about the blogging, but about taking time out for yourself.

Find yourself a little space in the big world wide web – away from Facebook.

25.

horoscopes VOLUME 15 Now Watching

True Blood, 9.30pm Mondays on PRIME

With the copyright infringement law mere weeks from taking effect, it’s time to start appreciating television again. And Prime has made it too easy for us, putting season four of True Blood on our screens a mere three episodes behind the US. Like most, I was curious to see what direction Alan Ball and co were going in for that fairy storyline that saw Sookie dive into another realm at the end of season three but the opening episode last week didn’t disappoint. We have so much to look forward to this season (fairies, witches, more shapeshifters and homeless panther people), including the much anticipated possible relationship between Sookie and towering hunk Eric Northman.

So save your bandwidth for a show like Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead (shows that aren’t gracing our airwaves anytime soon) and settle down on your couch with Bill Compton and Sookeh.

Now Reading

The Help – Kathryn Stockett

“Ladies, did you know that 99 per cent of coloured diseases are carried in the urine?” This one sentence sums up the viewpoint of nearly all white women living in Mississippi in the ‘60s. This riveting debut novel by Kathryn Stockett looks at racial tension in the South. It’s written from the perspective of two maids – Aibileen and Minny – who have been cleaning white homes since they were teens and Miss Skeeter, a white 23-year-old back from college who wants to write a book from the perspective of the help. From the very first chapter you are drawn into a world that seems unbelievable, but less than 50 years ago was a reality. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry and you’ll find yourself heading to bed earlier just to find out what unspeakable thing Minny did to Miss Hilly. One of the best books I’ve read this decade.

Now Watching

Captain America: The First Avenger

Comic books adaptations have mostly managed to escape the same fate as book adaptations, thanks to unlikely directors, kick ass action scenes and some witty one liners (see Iron Man and Thor). Captain America: The First Avenger is the latest hero to get his name on the silver screen and while some fans have doubted Chris Evans’ ability in the role, the trailers and clips released so far make it look like another victory for Marvel. I’m sure excited to see how well pre-hero Evans stands up, thanks to the wonder of movie magic. Plus, it’s got one of my favourite actors, Stanley Tucci, in what will hopefully be another stellar supporting role. And let’s not forget that this carries the winning blockbuster formula (American patriotism, war and evil Nazis). Watch in preparation for the highly anticipated all-star Avengers movie that comes out next summer – but remember to stay until after the credits.

Now Laughing

Talk like Kristen Stewart parody video

Search for this on YouTube now and marvel at how accurate this actress nails the awkward Twilight star.

Then take these new skills and apply them to all uni presentations for semester two.

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

Everything is either black or white this week. You’ll either laugh your ass off at Chopper or get laughed at because of your fat ass by Chopper. The choice is unfortunately not yours.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

You did absolutely nothing over the break and now everyone knows it. Why? You have a newly acquired internet gut.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21)

Your word of the week is mono! Buy a monocle, monogram all your towels, find a monorail and try not to get sick! From mono.

CANCER (June 22-July 22)

Your impatience at not waiting for True Blood to come to New Zealand will be punished this week with a fate worse than death. Dial up.

LEO (July 23-August 22)

The stars see a lot of broccoli in your future, which is weird, because your vegetable of the week is the beetroot.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22)

Your bank account can’t afford a new winter wardrobe but you can afford a pair of needles and some wool. So get knitting! What else would you use needles and wool for? Seriously?

LIBRA (September 23-October 23)

Jupiter has finally lined up with Uranus to make you the funniest person on campus this week. Lead with that Uranus joke, that shit’s gold.

SCORPIO (October 24-November 21)

Never has there been a more important time to learn telepathy. The stars say you have the gift, so get thinking!

SAGITTARIUS (November22-Dec21)

Your stars are aligning perfectly for a TERRIBLE week. Tomorrow will be particularly awful.

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19)

There are eerie forces at work in your sign this week.

Expect to see a lot of stray dogs, crop circles and chalk children carrying rakes.

AQUARIUS (January 20-Febuary 18)

The stars know what you did last week. On the bus.

When you thought no one was looking. And they are disgusted.

PISCES (Febuary 19-March 20)

Only 37 days left of winter! Time to get those white legs in the sun!

If you think you’re on the pulse with what’s happening in Auckland, email debate@aut.ac.nz with your own Suggestions.

26.

issue 15 2011

storm scissorhands Bachelor of Communications (second year) Denim Jacket: Vintage Top: Peewee Herman top Jeans: Glassons Shoes: Vintage final.pdf

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9/02/11

theodore keats Bachlor of Fashion Design (third year) Jeans: Gucci denim Boots: Stolen Girlfriends Club Cardigan: Fendi Scarf: I Can’t Believe It’s Black AUT futsalchamps2011.pdf

10:57 AM

Write now or forever hold your pen.

esther leonardo Second year Visual Arts Jacket: Vintage Top: Lonely Hearts knit Jeans: Ksubi Boots: Doc Martens 1

13/06/11

1:24 PM

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AUT Sport & Fitness Centre North Shore Campus

For your entry forms email melita.martorana@aut.ac.nz $60 per team. Entries close 27 July. debate is looking for awesome contributors for 2011.

If you are a news hound, sports nut, political guru, pop culture fanatic, columnist, reviewer, feature writer, camera happy, cover designer, cartoonist, general know-it-all or astrologer get in touch.

For more info on how you can get involved with debate, www.ausm.org.nz email Samantha at debate@aut.ac.nz or pop into the AuSM office for a chat

27.

With Auckland weather acting decidedly moody over the semester break, the Northern Hemisphere resort 2012 collections were a wonderful escape from the chill, allowing the chance to dream of sunnier futures with flimsy hemlines and sun-kissed skin. More than 200 designers showed in the resort shows, with this number firmly cementing resort’s position in fashion as more than an “in-betweener”. Amongst the beautiful – and the horrific disasters – were clear trends. Both those freshly emerged and those which have been loitering for several seasons.

These trends are dictating what the high-street stores will be presenting remarkably soon, due to the fast-fashion movement. So while we students are currently bundled up in layers knit, here is a preview selection of what your summer threads may possibly consist of.

Pyjama vs. cigarette

Buttoned-up

‘Tis not the season for cleavage. One predominant trend for resort 2012 was the buttoned-up to the top necklines. Ample-bosomed ladies steer clear – but for those flat-chested girls (and boys), buttoned-right-up is the way to go. Collared shirts and dresses were present at Jason Wu, Celine, Marc Jacobs, Monique Lhuillier and Carolina Hererra. Designers split their preferences between prints and block colours, but all featured were hugely wearable and provide an excellent alternative to the summer-staple t-shirt.

Trousers were positioned at opposite ends of the spectrum, with pants for resort 2012 in either wide-legged pyjama varieties, or slim-legged, cropped cigarette styles. Those in the former category include Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Jason Wu and Missoni. Looselegged in muted tones and subtle prints, these styles are figure-friendly and offer the always welcome comfortfactor. Designers focusing on cigarette styles include Helmut Lang, Monique Lhuillier, Elie Tahari and YSL. Also working mostly with muted colours, these trousers create a slim, sleek figure and will be perfect for summer paired with sneakers, wedges or flatforms.

28.

For those who get dizzy easily, perhaps steer clear of mirrors whilst donning this trend. Front and centre was floral on top of floral on top of stripe on top of abstract print. Presented in a number of shows from Gucci to Thakoon, designers on all ends of the spectrum are hopping aboard.

Compared to the recession-heavy mood of the past few seasons’ resort collections, the brilliant pops of colour and crazy mix-matching were perfectly cheerful and playful. From patterned evening dresses and crazy sundresses to mix-matched printed suits, the full-print look was favoured by Louis Vuitton, Suno, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Celine, Thakoon, Givenchy, Stella McCartney and Marc Jacobs.

Lace

Described by Style.com as ‘Lace goes Electric’, this trend offers an exciting alternative to the little lace dresses which have been loitering in high street stores for the past few seasons. Christopher Kane’s sheer rainbow lace dress was wonderfully eclectic and Louis Vuitton’s navy lace shorts suit so perfect for summer.

Also notable were Alexander McQueen, Lanvin, Valentino, Alberta Ferretti and Monique Lhuillier. If you’re superbly ballsy then wear this trend sans slip underneath.

Colour blocking

With warmer temperatures comes beautifully vibrant and heart-lifting colours.

Notably present lingering over the past few seasons, colour blocking plays a firm role here. Rachel Roy, Bottega Veneta, Alice + Olivia, Derek Lam and Celine all jumped aboard with electric colour combinations. So perfect for the upcoming warm weather, this trend is also hugely wearable at present – brighten up AUT’s campus with bright and beautiful colour combinations and clashes. With the spring/summer seasons about to hit stores, no wait will be necessary to colour block your way into warmer days.

Head-to-toe prints

Orange and Red.

Neon brights

Previously reminiscent of Supre circa 2006, never fear as this turn around neon hits the right chords. Christopher Kane displayed this trend wonderfully, with his playful use of neon colour blocking. Neon rainbowtechnicolour prints played centre stage in Kane’s collection, with prism-inspired prints and pieces. With all the right mixes, Kane presented pieces that were more lust-worthy than hurl-worthy. Beautiful printed dresses with metallic and neon combinations, hot pink trousers and neon ombre blouses ticked the boxes that high street copiers will no doubt be pouncing all over. Rochas was another standout hit, with awkward neon pieces which will look just as fantastic separate and paired down with basics as they do together in their coloured haze.

When it comes to colours, orange and red stole the show. Block hits of orange featured predominantly, most notably at Bottega Vennetta, Phillip Lim and Diane Von Furstenberg. While these designers presented block-orange dresses, the Alexander McQueen team excitingly went that bit further, with a top to tail orange look including strappy heels and skin-tight orange cropped pants.

Somewhat more forgiving on the complexion, and therefore less likely to make you look moderately sickly, red also played a central role in the colour wars.

Erdem, Donna Karan, Gucci and Carolina Herrera all gave their different takes on the little red dress.

Elegant in cut and therefore steering clear of redlady connotations, these dresses are hugely wearable and will most likely prove to be a popular piece in retail chain stores when it comes to Christmas and New Year’s attire.

issue 15 2011

Project Nim

Directed by James Marsh Film Festival Review by Ashleigh Muir

(A-)

Project Nim is going to grab each and every one of you and squeeze your heart. I don’t care if you aren’t much of animal lover, you simply cannot help yourself when it comes to this documentary.

The project explores the idea that language is peculiar to humans. Nim was taught sign language to see if he could form his own sentences and communicate with humans.

Project Nim is a strong and emotional documentary about the life of Nim Chimpsky, a chimpanzee who was taught sign language as a scientific experiment, and the people around him. It is primarily his story, told by those who witnessed it.

This documentary is bathed in its time period.

The events told take place in the 70s, and as I am sure you can imagine the footage and the stories could not come from any other time. It truly captures the free-thinking-hippie lifestyle.

Early on, the documentary starts to show the betrayal and deceit that becomes a reoccurring theme in Nim’s life. The raw emotion shown in the interviews that narrate the documentary is so strong even after so many years. These people were so clearly attached to Nim. When you see the image of Nim, a baby chimpanzee, in his little red jumper, how can you not fall hopelessly in cinematic love for this little being? Combined with narration of those from his past, Nim is shown to be a truly three dimensional character.

Despite the gorgeous pictures and black and white footage of Nim as a young chimpanzee, this is not a documentary to drag your younger siblings to. Nim, despite having human contact for all of his life and being raised as a human child, Nim will always be a chimpanzee.

This is the perfect documentary because you simply do not feel like you are sitting through a documentary. Forget the high school docos you watched with your hand distorting your face.

This is a story. A true story that pulls you in, so that you care as much about Nim as the people telling the story.

The Tree of Life

Directed by Terrence Malick

Film Festival Review by Matthew Cattin (C)

www.ausm.org.nz

I honestly don’t know where to begin. The character’s eldest son stole the show with a best way to describe The Tree of Life is a trailer performance beyond his years, so keep your eyes that has been stretched into a two hour film. peeled for him in the future.

It’s disjointed, has hardly any dialogue, there One sequence I think deserves a mention is are numerous plot holes and most of all, it the 20 or so minute scene of creation which, doesn’t have an ending. You know the way although hugely irrelevant to the story, was trailers keep you in the dark? Showing you a beautiful cinematic experience. It looked just nonsensical snippets of scenes with the incredible and it was backed by nothing but promise the feature length film will fill in the intense, opera music which just added to the gaps? Well that is the general premise of The feelings of awe and wonder. If you have tickets Tree of Life. to the film, I would recommend sitting in an After seeing it at the film festival and reading aisle seat and leaving after this sequence – it’s through scores of reviews, it seems the film left the highlight. two reactions in its wake; regular people who Call me mainstream or tell me to go and watch thought it was a pretentious pile of shit and a Michael Bay blockbuster - I don’t care; I like pretentious people who also thought it was films with plots. I had high hopes and I expected a pile of shit but gave it a five star review on to be a bit bewildered at the end but Terrence their blogs.

Malick has gone too far. It was long, boring, selfThe plot is a bit of a non-event. There is indulgent, nonsensical, pretentious and so artsy an average white family in the 50s and they it hurt. If you want to have a two hour nap, go do average white things and later on one and see it but if you want to be entertained, go of the kids dies. That’s about it. Throw in a and see Kung Fu Panda 2 instead. It’s twice the few random scenes of nebulas, dinosaurs, awesomeness. a dog with scabs on its back, a masquerade mask sinking in the ocean and a paedophile in an attic and you have, as stated earlier, a pretentious pile of…

I read an interview with lead actress Jessica Chastain about Terrence Malick’s directing style.

She said that after acting out a scene from the script, Terrence would say “Great! But can you do it again without talking?”

Critics probably called this edgy and exciting artistic direction but in Do you love a challenge, work hard and want to make the reality, Jessica ended up with two most of an amazing summer job opportunity? Then selling on-screen lines in Christmas Cookies is for you! the whole film. The rest of the time Learn about running your own business, have fantastic she spends looking pensive or running earning potential, and be well rewarded! Positions are around the yard available in towns and cities across with her kids. Cool New Zealand for Terrence. Cool.

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29.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Directed by David Yates

Film Review by Samantha McQueen

(A-)

It all ends. It’s the words Harry Potter fans (and Warner Bros.) have been both anticipating and dreading for 10 years. After the credits roll on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, that’s it – there are no more books to line up for, no midnight screenings to dress up for.

This is where the big showdown between Harry and Lord Voldemort – good and evil – takes place; the one we have been waiting 10 years for. This film definitely has that end of an era feeling; for those not initiated with Pottermania, this is not the movie to test the waters in.

Being as spoiler free as possible, the film picks off exactly where Part 1 finished; Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) has retrieved the elder wand, and Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and the gang are trying to figure out where the remaining four horcruxes are (horcruxes are objects Voldemort has split his soul into so he can always live).

It is surprising that considering this is the biggest climax of the series, Part 2 is the shortest film in the series, zipping by just over two hours.

But then again, six of the previous seven movies take place over a schooling year; this takes place over one life-changing day.

Harry is no longer the boy in the cupboard under the stairs; he is a man (with stubble and sideburns), and even though he’s had help breaking into bank vaults and destroying horcruxes, he must face Voldemort alone. This means our final moments with the rest of the characters we have grown up with are not as long as we hoped. There’s no “bloody hells” or “brilliants” from Ron (Rupert Grint), whose light-hearted one-liners has been the premise of his character and Hermione’s (Emma Watson) ‘eureka’ moments are almost non-existent.

But at least we have plenty of Voldemort, with his powder white skin, browning talons, yellowing teeth and slit nose, stepping over dead bodies and sinisterly hissing with his beloved snake. And let’s not forget sneering Snape (Alan Rickman) who finally gets the back story we only saw a short glimpse of in The Half Blood Prince.

But director David Yates and screenwriter

30.

Steve Kloves have done their best to make sure as many characters get their moment of glory. It’s great to see the legendary Maggie Smith leaping into the spotlight after six films on the sidelines (and one where she was absent altogether) taking charge to seal off her beloved school from enemies, but still letting out a gleeful smile at finally being able to use an ‘emergency only’ spell. And Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis) gets the chance to prove to all on screen and off why he was chosen for Gryffindor all those years ago.

Watching it unfold on screen, the team have definitely pounced on the “it all ends” theme.

Alexandre Desplat’s score is filled with epic crescendos that have your heart pounding and the film’s production team has brought to life some of the visually spectacular moments in this franchise’s history (the fire blazes that rip through the Room of Requirement and tear down the Quidditch pitch are astounding).

There are rousing speeches of allegiance, spontaneous applause for its hero and plenty of slow mo action. But it’s hard to tell if Part 2 really is the most spectacular film of the lot, or if it’s just being viewed with rosetinted glasses.

But coloured specs or not, it’s clear the cinematic world won’t be the same without J.K. Rowling’s magical world and the boy with the lightning scar on his head.

Arctic Monkeys Suck it and See

Album Review by Ksenia Khor

(A-)

they are here to stay and presented to the world a blend of exquisite songwriting and melodic tunes. Though this time the lyrics are much more romantic and tender, influenced by Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, they still remain edgy and ambiguous. The band obviously grew out of the adolescent aggression of their earlier compositions.

The album opens up with a dreamy She’s Thunderstorms. Like many other songs from the record, it’s about love. Not surprisingly it is quite slow and not likely to rock at music festivals.

However, it deserves more than one listening to appreciate the gentle tune, sometimes desperately sounding guitar and lovely lyrics.

Don’t expect Brick by Brick, the first single released from the album, to sum up the sound of the whole record. It sounds like a careless garage band song and nothing like the rest from Suck It and See, which carefully and smartly written.

My personal favourite, Don’t Sit Down Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair, is the darkest song from the record. Full of Turner’s volatile suggestion like “bite the lightning”, “go into business with a grizzly bear” and “wear a shell suit on a bonfire night” this song makes you wondering what Turner meant when he was writing it. It also has the presence of some of that weirdness that could be an echo from the Humbug era.

Not to mention that Suck It and See sets the overly auto-tuned and refined modern compositions far apart offering some rawness and not at all perfect Alex Turner’s voice. The record could probably come straight from the 80s. However, the album leaves you with the feeling that the Arctics could have been a bit more daring. Maybe, it’s because of my overly high expectations. Don’t get me wrong, this is a brilliantly played, solid record but it just lacks some exhilarating vibe and inspiration.

The Vines Arctic Monkeys, a prodigy indie band from the Albion, finally returned with a highly anticipated record under the provocative title, Suck It and See. Their previous album, Humbug, with its gloominess, weirdness and psychedelic lyrics was a disappointment for many fans, though I think it was a trip out of the comfort zone and an expansion of their musical palette.

Fortunately or not, Suck It and See sounds completely different and much lighter from Humbug, though it doesn’t sound like the much adored Arctics’ early works either.

Since their 2006 debut, Whatever People Say I am, That’s What I’m Not, the band has been growing tremendously in terms of both music craft and songwriting. The Arctics proved that

Future Primitive Album Review by Ben Matthews

(B+)

The Vines are a weird band. Appearing in the early 2000s, they were title d as the new Nirvana, rescuing rock from all its clichés.

Unfortunately, The Vines became a cliché with song titles such as Don’t Listen To The Radio and He’s A Rocker. As lead singer Craig Nicholls’ eccentric behavior became more obvious, even

issue 15 2011

their original bass player wanted out. Despite all of these things against them, their last few albums haven’t been that bad. Their previous album Melodia was underrated, a short burst of punk energy. Although Future Primitive might be more fleshed out and refined, it still has the same sort of energy as their past albums.

Gimme Love starts the album off with a scream – literally – as Nicholls storms through his trademark garage rock performance. Although it might be cliché, it catches your attention, with its fast paced movement. Leave Me In The Dark and A.S.4 are slower ballads, featuring acoustic guitars and dream like vocals. Weird Animals builds the pace up again, with faster acoustic guitars and screaming vocals. It slows down at the bridge with dirge styled guitars, slow and haunting.

Black Dragon is a heavy psychedelic song with echoic vocals. Yet again, the song slows down at the end, where it drifts off into shoe-gazed dream like state. Outro is possibly the weirdest song The Vines have written. It is also possibly the worst song on the album. It is a long extended instrumental, using electronic sound effects and other weird techniques, but despite this, it feels as if they are scraping at the bottom of the barrel – a bit like Revolution 9. Good Bye is a rare solo performance of Craig Nicholls and his guitar. It is a soft ballad and possibly the best song on the album. If he recorded more songs like this gem, more people might actually like The Vines.

Despite their unfortunate beginnings, The Vines have managed to overcome their problems and produced good music. Although it might not be perfect, its unpolished feel gives it its charm.

Future Primitive might not win awards, nor top the charts, but fans of The Vines – and garage rock in general – will be satisfied with their new album.

many songs in a single album. The break-up album is all too common, along with the justfell-in-love album. And Some Where Meant for Sea is something more; it’s taking something figurative and keeping it fresh and new with each song.

Old as the Hills is the first song on the album and it really gives you a sense of what is to follow. It is one of those songs that right from word go; you just want to sway to. That’s right, I’m swaying right now. While mid-sway you get a sense of this melancholic beauty. This is not an album to listen to when you need a lift. It is beautiful and soft and incredibly fresh, but it will not give you the warm fuzzies. It’s heart wrenching and has the potential to set you off at any given moment, but instead you just keep swaying.

Little Notes carries a similar feel, but it is less melancholic and it is not as strong as Old as the Hills in terms of overall gut-grabbing emotion.

It is the kind of song that lulls you into a doze.

It starts out clear and strong but soon softens.

Running Through the Night is slightly different again; starting out with an almost pop guitar melody, but as soon as the lyrics begin a few seconds later, Tiny Ruins brings her husky, almost mournful style back to the song. But as much as it is melancholic it doesn’t leave you feeling that way at all. It’s slow and expressive but it almost lulls you into passivity.

This unique and timeless singer has the ability to leave you all tingly but fully satisfied at the same time. It is an odd feeling to come out of an album such as this. But there is no other way to explain it. Somehow it just works for her.

The Book Thief

Written by Markus Zusak Book Review by Lisa Arthur

(A-)

Tiny Ruins

And Some Where Meant for Sea Album Review by Ashleigh Muir

(A-)

Think Gin crossed with Hollie Smith and Mumford and Sons. Odd combination but it really works for New Zealand Artist Holly Fullbrook (Tiny Ruins).

It is really nice to come across an album that can take a metaphor and extend it across so

www.ausm.org.nz

Death is the narrator. He is an almost benevolent overseer who states certain facts baldly, but without malevolence. He is like a bird, cocking his head and taking in a situation completely objectively. Set in Nazi Germany, you feel the overshadowing of a history almost too cruel and twisted to bear thinking about.

The main character is Lisel, a young German girl who takes the step of questioning her Kaiser when her family take in a young Jewish male. Her best friend is Rudy, a seemingly perfect Hitler Youth member until his defiance lands him in trouble. A delicate love story blooms (of course), whose innocence contrasts sharply with the ugliness of the impending genocide.

The title relates to Lisel who, while attending a funeral, steals The Gravedigger’s Handbook which had fallen in the snow. This brings her to the attention of Death, who becomes intrigued in this young girl’s life.

Books and knowledge are bound together, knowledge and free-thought being an almost counter-revolutionary act. A crushing scene exemplifies that when a compassionate Lisel gets beaten for daring to give a starving Jewish prisoner a piece of bread, daring to think that he is worthy of compassion in a place where they are taught the Jewish people are substandard.

All the while, the inevitable rise of the Third Reich and its consequences loom over the reader with impending doom, yet there is always hope. It raises interesting questions, as always. What would you do, how would you handle the same situations? Would you have the courage to stand up to something that seems impossible to resist?

The themes of love, hope, and courage are not complex, but they are compelling. It’s a good read, and while I didn’t find myself as emotionally engaged as I would have thought, it’s definitely on my list of recommendations.

This depressing yet life-affirming novel had been on my reading list for a long time, and I wasn’t really sure why (apart from when I requested it from the library I was number 436 on the waiting list). But aside from that I was mystified over what it was about and why I had to read it.

“Fact: You are going to die.”

31.

WITH SUPPORT FROM:

32.

issue 15 2011

e h t t Spo nce e r e f f Di

Correctly identify the five differences in the two photos then circle them and drop your entry into your nearest AuSM office, or the box on the side of the red debate stands, or post to debate PO Box 6116 Wellesley St before 12pm Thursday.

What’s up for grabs? Two “squawk burgers” vouchers for Velvet Burger on Fort St, Auckland CBD! Congratulations to our issue 14 winner, Rose Cunningham, City Campus.

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33.

George Harley

Bachelor of Communications

What is the most exciting thing you did these holidays?

I chopped down a tree for the first time. It was fun Who is your favourite Harry Potter character?

Dobby because he’s really funny How many times do you hit snooze before you wake up in the morning?

Just once What was the first phone you owned and how old were you?

It was a Nokia, the brick Nokia, and I got it when I was 13 Favourite band of the moment?

Kings of Leon

Lesley Haufano

Diploma of Tourism

What is the most exciting thing you did these holidays?

Catch up with friends Who is your favourite Harry Potter character?

I’ll say Voldemort because he makes it interesting. And I love the actor in real life How many times do you hit snooze before you wake up in the morning?

Three times What was the first phone you owned and how old were you?

An Alcatel, I was 16. I got it for my 16th birthday Favourite band of the moment?

Maroon Five

Straan Wadsworth

Diploma of Tourism

What is the most exciting thing you did these holidays?

Seeing the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Who is your favourite Harry Potter character?

I’d say it’s be Sirious Black because of his close relationship to Harry Potter How many times do you hit snooze before you wake up in the morning?

Once What was the first phone you owned and how old were you?

I don’t remember the model. It was a Sony Ericsson and I was 15

Zach Pinfold

Bachelor of Communications

What is the most exciting thing you did these holidays?

Well, I’m from Gisborne… It’s just typical Gisborne culture, got on the piss with my mates Who is your favourite Harry Potter character?

I’ve gotta say that Neville Longbottom because he’s just a goober and he saves the day How many times do you hit snooze before you wake up in the morning?

Two What was the first phone you owned and how old were you?

It was a Nokia. It was similar to the 2280. It was the next model up I think; it was grey and the old one was blue Favourite band of the moment?

Shit, that’s a hard one. I’m going to go with John Butler Trio

Erica Tilley

Bachelor of Business

What is the most exciting thing you did these holidays?

I went back home to America. I guess that’s pretty exciting Who is your favourite Harry Potter character?

That’s hard! I guess I like Dumbledore because he knew everything that was going to happen – that was pretty cool How many times do you hit snooze before you wake up in the morning?

Two times What was the first phone you owned and how old were you?

I was 13 and I think it was a Nokia

HIldegard Rothmann

Diploma of Toursim

What is the most exciting thing you did these holidays?

Spent time with my sister’s baby Who is your favourite Harry Potter character?

Ronald Weasley because he always stresses about everything but he’s also pretty funny How many times do you hit snooze before you wake up in the morning?

I don’t hit snooze otherwise I won’t wake up ever What was the first phone you owned and how old were you?

It was that Nokia one with the blue and big screen.

I was 15

Watchout for debate around campus - you could be the next micro-celeb!

34.

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