Your words are all you have, CEO stands up for good grammar

Hallelujah, thank you Mr Wiens.

The CEO if iFixit says on all our communication mediums our words are all we have. No one will respect us if we can't tell the difference between their, there and they're.

It's a happy day in word nerd world.

Grammar rules: CEO stands up for grammar and why that's important

Lauren

Revolutionary in 2012: what does that look like?

Sleepless on Sunday meant I watched Paper Giants: the birth of Cleo. Fantastic, what a great mini-series. I adore Asher Keddie as an actress and she did such a great job of playing Ita Buttrose.

For someone like me, who is a child of the 80s, Paper Giants showed me just how different things were 'back then', in the early 70s. Women couldn't get a home loan on their own, they didn't have access to information about birth control. Things we would find outrageous today in 2012.

Cleo was certainly a revolutionary publication. It covered everything from love, sex, fashion and of course the infamous sealed section. I remember my own Nanna buying me a Cleo magazine when I was about 13 for the 12 hour drive to Exmouth from Perth. I tried to keep the sealed section quiet but my brother had other ideas. I felt his breath on my shoulder as he squealed: "Ewww, Lauren's looking at...." yeah you know what I was looking at.

Anyway, it got me thinking. What would be revolutionary today? It seems that nothing is off limits so what on earth would we write about?

Does it mean we are becoming to desensitised to events in the world?

If you had to produce the first issue of Cleo today, what would you write about?

PR toolbags

PR Daily posted this and I love it.

What I don't love is that I have heard two of the 'toolbag' words in just one hour of being at work.

http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/12253.aspx

However, it was a very good 'prezo' indeed.

Lauren

Hey Mofo, do you love vino?

Has anyone else noticed there are a lot of omo's popping up lately?

Fomo - fear of missing out

Yolo – a word used by R&B artist Drake to mean “you only live once.” (PR Daily)

Are we really that lazy we can't say the whole sentence anymore?

That isn't the point of my blog post today though. It's this:

The mofo bomb is back!

That's the headline that greeted me this morning in a daily email update I get from a discount voucher website.

https://vinomofo.com/catchmofobomb?utm_source=scpn&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Newsletter19/07/2012&utm_campaign=mofo_bomb

Now I'm sure it means something awfully hip and cool that I am too old to understand. But I clearly remember mofo being short for well....something that I can't repeat here.

Does anyone else feel confused and weird over this company's name?

Red wine and mofo are two words that shouldn't be in the same sentence.

Lauren

The new dictionary list, yikes.

I love a good portmanteau and making up words as much as the next nerd but...

Please don't let these actually make it into a dictionary. Please. Please. Please.

Amazeballs, mantyhose..and more. Sadly.

http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/12169.aspx

The Shire: dire

I've tried to write an opening sentence to this review four times. I don't think I can say anymore than what many have already said. Here's a few of my favourites:

"The Shire makes Lara Bingles show look like Q & A."

http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-triumph-for-the-white-vacuous-botoxed-minority/

"Australia's poor attempt at Jersey Shore/Geordie Shore."

But in all seriousness, I especially feel for Sutherland Shire Mayor Carol Provan. She tried desperately to stop the show airing. I've never been to Cronulla, probably never will, I certainly feel no loyalty, pride or responsibility for the area and I couldn't watch past the first ten minutes so I can only imagine how she's feeling today.

I must say though, I am inspired by how many people are saying this show is rubbish. Finally, are we starting to realise that tanned, plastic, shallow people are not worthy of air time?

I never thought I'd say this but, at least the Kardashians are (mildly) entertaining.


Lauren

Soil yourself for $11.95: why proofreading matters

Say Her Name

Some reviews of this book by Francisco Goldman say it's hard to tell what is fact and fiction in Say Her Name.

Goldman's wife, Aura, really did die in a bodysurfing accident in 2007.  Unfortunately that is a fact. I beg to differ with those who say there is much fiction in Say Her Name, this book is written as only a grieving person could write.

It has no logical structure. Goldman slips from memory to present to future at a steady pace. At moments it's hard to remember where you are - like when he talks about the 'daughter that wasn't born on 19 January'. I felt as though I was riding the rollercoaster of emotions with him. And that scatterbrained inability to think is exactly what grief does to you. Among other things. But thankfully and cleverly, it is only subtley centred on his grief because he is remembering her and telling the world about her. There are a few well-placed moments of heavy drinking and one night stands.

Say Her Name documents Francisco and Aura's four years together and it isn't until the end of the story that he details the way she died. We know from the beginning it was a bodysurfing accident but that's all. Small details throughout the book give us enough until I personally got a little bored about three quarters through and then miraculously things started to turn. More feeling appeared, Goldman's thoughts levelled out and he began to talk about himself a little more.

'I wonder where Aura's wave was born,' is one of the most haunting lines in my opinion. Stephen King once said something like: identify the monster and it takes the fear away but in this case identifying Aura's as having a personality makes it more menacing.  It starts as an innocent structure of water and ends up a murderer.

I enjoyed this book immensely. It is the most unselfish account of losing someone I have ever read.

If you enjoy an introspective journey through someone's mind rather than character, action, dialogue and plot-driven stories you'll like this.

Of to start The Great Gatsby now.

Lauren

Griddles, not the grilling kind

I saw a new toilet paper advertisement this morning and it is really...gross.

Lip curlingly gross.

A sweet little labrador puppy goes around to people crouching down and yes, smells their bottoms.

A voiceover describes how the new 'griddles' in said toilet paper will help you achieve the ultimate cleanliness in that region. (Getting a visual yet?)

Is it just me being old fashioned or is that really quite disgusting?

Clearly, boundaries are moving at a rapid race throughout advertising.

1. Durex massage oil advertisement

2. Adult marshmallows

Youtube them and you'll see what I mean.

Now I'm not saying we should go back to the days of ladies draping themselves over cars (or worse, ovens) but come on. These ads aren't creative they are crass.

Yours in good old-fashioned nerdiness.

Lauren

So much for consistency

Well it's been a while since I last posted but in my defence it's been a very busy couple of weeks!
I was on holiday in Sydney to meet my partner's family and I am slightly ashamed to say it was also my first visit to the  Eastern States-based city. I'm 31, it really should have happened before now.

What a beautiful city I had been missing out on too. I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art and there were a few good pieces there but two floors were closed of to set up for a new exhibit. Overall, not my style, it only reinforced my love for the impressionist era and Edvard Munch. Now that's art.

NAIDOC week

What a great week.

29 June - went to the opening of Jimmy Pike's Artlines at the University of Western Australia. You can read my story and review here:

Pike pens practical, personal art

2 July - had a lovely lady called Jacqui Oakley speak at my work about NAIDOC Week and particularly the Tent Embassy. I did not know that the concept began 40 years ago in Canberra, there was a tent embassy here in Perth a few months ago and sadly no one seemed to know why they had set it up or what they wanted to achieve.

40 years ago Aboriginal people had no rights. While we still have a way to go, especially in terms of health care, it's good to see how far we have actually come in those years.

6 July - Black as Michael Jackson at the Blue Room Theatre. Really looking forward to this one tonight. A collection of monologues by two Aboriginal women on the topic of racism and generally what it's like to be Aboriginal today.

Have a great day and enjoy what's left of NAIDOC week fellow Australians.

Lauren