This is what happens when a political dead brain writes about politics…

How was your night last night? Did you go out for dinner, or watch a movie? Bad move. Last night’s ‘leadership spill’ was an epic political moment if I ever did witness one. I’m not going to delve too much into politics itself a) because I’m a political no-brainer and b) I don’t want to make a fool out of myself. But I am going to delve into the politics of the politics of the last 24 or so hours. Let’s break it down.

8.30pm(ish) 23 June 2010- Twitter starts

A friend tweets this. Automatically, I think about the BP oil spill. But no, I find on the skynews website there is going to be a leadership spill.
Uh oh, welcome to the world wind that is Australian politics.

9pm 23 June 2010-It becomes clear

Through newsbreaks, twitter and the Sky News website it all becomes apparent. It’s a leadership spill and basically that means Australia could have its first female PM. Just over two year ago Kevin ’07 was one of, if not the most popular PM (my brother says since Whitlam). Wow. How did it all go so wrong? How did the cool PM that went on shows like Rove go from hero to zero? That’s what happens when you try to fool your public, that’s what happens when you don’t deliver. The Australian public can be a volatile bunch.

10.20pm(ish) 23 June 2010- Rudd’s speech

Just to recap- politics aren’t my thing. But I sat up straight, listened intently and was 100% without a doubt impressed with Rudd’s speech. He was strong and determined and should have sounded like this throughout his entire term. Laurie Oakes reports that afterwards, Rudd breaks down.

Late 23 June 2010- The aftermath

Twitter’s going into melt down, new coverage is going bonkers and my hearts finally recovered. I’m confused and full of adrenaline.
What does it all mean? Check THIS out for a 2 min cheat sheet on what’s going on.

8.00am 24 June 2010- Leading up to

News coverage is bonkers (still) and everyone is discussing the possibilities. A hot topic- What’s Julia Gillard’s partner Tim going be called? Overwhelming support for ‘First Bloke’.

9am 24 June 2010- The vote begins

Or so we think…

9.24am 24 June 2010- No ballot?

Ben Fordham just revealed that a journo from The Australian has tweeted that Rudd has given Gillard the PM spot; no ballot vote. (I wonder what Barry Hall thinks?- Remember when she Gillard said "there's more chance I'll line up at full forward for the Dogs than topple Kevin Rudd")

9.34am 24 June 2010- Australia’s new PM

The federal secretary reveals Gillard was appointed PM unopposed; Wayne Swan elected Dep. PM unopposed. This means THERE WAS NO VOTE: Rudd handed it over to Gillard.



What happens now; we’ll have to wait and see. Personally, I think the Labor party have just secured the next election. Tony Abbott must be shaking in his boots.
(Julia Gillard should be having her first press conference as PM... any second... now)

An open letter to Alex Fevola

Dear Alex,

You don’t know me, but I definitely know you.
Sometimes I feel for you, I really do, because no one deserves to be in a cheating relationship, no one deserves to be lied to, and no one deserves to be humiliated in some of the ways you have been.
However, you do frustrate me to the high heavens.
People would sympathise with you a whole lot more if you didn’t go media hunting.
Glossy women’s mags (no matter how addictive the damn things are) are not a source of credibility. Dancing with the stars (could you just enlighten me as to when you became a star…?) will not help the general public forget that your (ex) husband cheated on you, sent a nude photo of Lara Bingle around and has a severe gambling problem.
You have three ridiculously cute daughters; do you think they need to see mummy and daddy on the news-stands every day?
Do you think constantly dredging up your (unfortunate) past is going to help?
No, it’s not going to.
For the sake of your daughters, your family and yourself- stay out of the media spotlight.

I look forward to not reading about you tomorrow.

Yours truly,
Morgan x

Reality TV... What has you hooked?

One of my earliest reality TV moments was from Survivor season one, and it includes a naked Richard Hatch, and yet so many years later, I find myself reality TV addicted.
I like all kinds of reality TV, everything from Survivor, to Project Runway, to Masterchef. Let me watch it from episode one and I’ll be hooked. It’s in that very first episode that I pick my favourite, and I go with them the whole way through until they’re eliminated. Then I usually crack the shits and watch the remaining episodes with somewhat of an evil glare.

So what makes reality TV so mesmerising? What makes it grab you, shake you by the shoulders, and not let you go?
Reality TV isn’t always a popular genre- anyone remember Big Brother? Even though it was successful, that caused nothing but controversy from season one. Anyone need reminding about this or this?And yet it still had its fans (admittedly I was one for the first couple of seasons).
I tend to find that people either love reality TV, or hate it. There’s no in between with such a confronting genre. And the main ‘type’ of person that dislikes the reality genre- the academics. Especially those who specialise in studying the effects these types of shows have on reality.
But why?
The media has always had a power of its audience; its influence often questioned. (Is it possible for media to actually cause this (?), people argue so).
Reality TV rose to its fame in the 2000s, and this is when audiences were at their worst and often passive. Meaning they sat there, and absorbed the information that is being fed to them. The rise of reality made audiences sit up and become active, and get involved within the program. This was by giving audiences power, the power to choose the fate of each reality contestant.
It’s difficult to argue for or against if this was a positive thing or not. You have those that argue it’s good; you’ll have those that will argue it’s not.
Is it safe to get so engrossed in a ‘reality’ show, showing ‘real’ people doing ‘real’ things in ‘real’ situations? I say this with Survivor in mind- a show that clearly doesn’t have a ‘this would happen in real life element’. In saying that though, is that safer to watch then something like Big Brother, which does have a better element of ‘real’; but because of this, could have audiences trying to copy what they see (turkey slap, anyone?). It seems much more plausible to suggest that people would copy what they see from Big Brother then Survivor- purely based on the ‘real’ element.
This is an entirely different issue though, and not the point of this post.

As I sat in a group meeting tonight, I constantly refreshed my twitter feed and followed every tweet posted with a masterchef hash tag (basically a Masterchef forum on twitter). This is because I couldn’t stand to not be watching the show, and even though I was taping it, I was biting my nails because my favourite, the one I’d picked at the start and followed the whole way through, was up for elimination.
Why I am so hooked on this reality show that I can’t even stand to miss an episode? And why Masterchef? It’s definitely not because I have a flare for cooking. My speciality is eggs on toast, but I must admit- I make them pretty damn good.
I find myself addicted to reality where other people make the decisions for me. Not to suggest I don’t watch the other types of reality, I just don’t vote.
But then why do I feel it’s outrageous when my favourite goes home?
I damn near wanted to cry when Matthew Caldicott was eliminated from Masterchef tonight. I have a few witnesses that could vouch for that too.
BUT WHY?
Do I know him? No. Can I relate to him? Not really. Does he have a ridiculously tragic story? Nope. Is he cute? Definitely. Just had to throw that last one in there, sorry.

Or why do people detest contestants? Search Joanne Masterchef in facebook and look at some of the groups that come up- they’re doozies.
I understand when people watch reality shows and relate to one of the contestants, but what basis do I have for Matt being my favourite? I don’t, I just chose him in the first episode (well actually, technically not true because it was top 24 episode) and it was decided, he was going to be my favourite.

Reality TV has a knack of drawing you in and making you completely engrossed from the get go. And once you give yourself into reality TV… there’s no turning back.
It has a power- a power that grips you about 6 times a week (ahem, Masterchef), or those select few shows that manage to grip you for one hour every week (ahem, Survivor).
They make you tweet your face off, they make set up day with your friends where you do nothing but watch YouTube clips of the shows and play the game on the Wii (that’s normal yeah?) they make you laugh, they make you cry and they make you fall in love. (Stalker love is not encouraged though).
They draw you in with emotional stories, likeable contestants and fun challenges.

I am… a reality TV tragic.
Are you? If so, what do you watch? How involved do you get? And why do you believe it has you obsessed?

Taboo- The idea of plastic surgery and young girls

The number of young girls turning to plastic surgery to enhance their looks is alarming, and honestly, quite disturbing. We live in an age where society is so transfixed on looks that every one forgets what really matters. And as ridiculously cliché as that sounds, it’s the truth and if you don’t think so, unfortunately you’re kidding yourself. Of course that’s not to say that there aren’t some really special people out there who are fighting to change this, and aren’t giving up any time soon.
The idea of plastic surgery has always been a bit taboo for me. There is a part of me that absolutely detests it. The idea of people changing their body because they don’t like the way it looks really gets on my nerves and sometimes I feel like strangling people like Heidi Montag (or Montag-Pratt, depends if you believe the latest gossip). The ‘popular’ (and I use that term VERY loosely) The Hills star has sent her body through the ringer. All because she wasn’t happy with the way she looked, and felt she needed to enhance herself if she was going to be in the public eye. Now I think she’s gorgeous before she had any work done. So why on earth did she? It was because she needed to be beautiful… duh. This sort of plastic surgery, I don’t agree with at all. I think she’s stupid, she’s going to regret it and it’s is the worst possible message you could send to any girls. And don’t get me started on the money aspect.

Before Image (http://www.honeymag.com/wp-)

After Image(http://www.layoutlocator.com/graphics/dldimg/d928cb8bc4d8422a84fbe949c6ca666d_heidi_montag-5370.jpg) Sorry for the long URL but it's being a pain and wont let me change it.

However, there is plastic surgery that I do agree with, and I can fully sympathise with the people wanting it done. Burn victims, abuse victims and other such people I can understand wanting to have something done if they’d somehow been disfigured. Then again, this is trying to get something back, not trying to have something that was never there. There are cases that warrant plastic surgery but who judges who is deserving of it and who isn’t? Well, not me, but I’m still entitled to my opinion. Which if you haven’t already gathered is that most plastic surgery is silly and most motives behind it is a personal gain for the worst.

This has been a subject widely discussed for years, but it caught my attention again in the last few days. Mainly because of 18 year-old single mother Ambah Young. She’s heading to Malaysia to have a boob job, and a tummy tuck, and, uh, a ‘designer’ vagina procedure (wow, awkward). This is because Ms Young gave birth to her daughter two years ago and has struggled to feel young again. I honestly don’t know how I feel about this. I don’t agree with it, but who am I to say that this girl isn’t seriously depressed and something needs to be done? The issue is that it is plastered across TV and in magazines that even after you have a baby, your body needs to be ‘perfect’ within a month. Thank you celebrities for fuelling this ridiculous need.
Also in today’s paper, it’s been reported that girls as young as EIGHT are going to beauty salons. And apparently there are a lot of young girls asking for a body wax. I’ll leave it at that and let you use your imagination for that one.

That’s disturbing. Where are these girls’ mothers telling them that they are beautiful in their own skin, and teaching the next generation that it’s not okay to change yourself just because other people want you to. It’s not only disturbing, but it’s downright upsetting. It breaks my heart to think that school aged children are so unhappy and depressed about their looks because some people thing they’re the Queen. Where are the people making sure that we don’t lose anymore girls because of low self esteem due to looks? Who are the people the young girls need to look up to? They are out there, they just need recognition. And they need to be seen as accessible by young girls (and boys).

Firstly, and one of my favourites, is the National Advisory Group on Body Image. This government funded initiative has the likes of Sarah Murdoch, Sports Minister Kate Ellis and journalist Mia Freedman on board. Now this is a fairly ‘big’ initiative and although it’s pretty much the best thing to happen in regards to body image in a long time, sometimes things a little smaller are best.
I’m talking local youth groups- which are amazing for promoting positive body image, and embracing the person within. These things are what is important.
I’d love to think in the near future, that people will actually take into consideration what’s on the ‘inside’ not just the physical. One step at a time hey?
Now this is where I make my plug. Lead On is a youth group that operates in a few areas around Australia. And I’m lucky enough to be involved in Lead On Ballarat. The aim is for youth to have fun, feel great and meet new people. In October Lead On Ballarat will have its first youth event- ‘Paint the Catwalk’. The event will promote positive body image, address the issue of negative thinking, celebrate individuals and promote youth. There will be a fashion show; featuring young talent, and modelled by all sorts of people from the community. There will be local bands, art work and lots of other surprises. Maybe even a celebrity or two.

Get involved- One person can make a difference.