Photography that matters

I want to take photos that change the world, or in the very least someone's state of mind.



































Photos that aren't just beautiful, but shocking, tantilising, entrancing, moving.

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JAG

People Should Smile More

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JAG

Recent Addictions

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JAG

Avant Card: How Very Punny

This one never fails to crack me up.

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JAG

Tina Fey is my pin up girl

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JAG

Credit Where Credit's Due

Credits are usually synonymous with that really boring bit at the end of a film where the filmmakers are obligated to acknowledge every single person who ever helped with, touched, or brought coffee to those making the film while the audience files out, discussing in loud voices whether or not they liked it. In short, credits suck and are universally ignored. Well, with the exception of people like my parents, who like to sit and watch them to pick out the actors they know so they can say "ah! I thought so." In fact, the only purpose credits serve for me are telling me the awesome song they played during the love scene so that I can download buy it later.

But some credits are truly awesome (this is usually a Disney/Pixar phenomenon) and actually enjoyable. I think this serves not only to consolidate a good film (so that you walk out of the theatre singing or generally feeling hyped up and happy) but also draws attention where, perhaps, it is most deserved. These are some of my favourites and most memorable (it is no surprise that these are also some of my favourite films):






I couldn't find a clip of the Madagascar credits (the first film), but they were played to this song, so enjoy:



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JAG

Trivial

For O week and Wine Soc(iety) trivia nights, I wrote questions for the history/lit round. Since I'm on holiday, reading, sleeping, and generally avoiding my essays, try your hand.

History

1. Which was the last to become a state of the USA? Bonus point for year.
2. Who was the longest serving Prime Minister of Australia? Bonus point for how long he served.
3. What year did the Berlin Wall come down?
4. What did Victoria celebrate 100 years of in 2008?
5. How old is the University of Melbourne?
6. US Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on the same day. What was it?
   a) Thanksgiving
   b) 4th of July
   c) Washington’s birthday
7. In 1492, who “sailed the ocean blue”?
8. What were reported as the famous last words of bushranger Ned Kelly?
9. True or false: Mud throwing was an official event at the 1904 Olympics.
10. In Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire, he sings “England’s got a new queen.” To which queen does he refer?

Lit

1. Who is the only Australian author to have the Booker prize twice? Bonus points for the books that won
2. Name a novel that has sold more than 10,000,000 copies worldwide.
3. Of all the words Dr Seuss coined, which is the only one to remain in the English dictionary?
4. What were the titles of the two so-called autobiographies Oprah championed in her book club, only to discover they were, in fact, works of fiction?
5. What position does (or did) the author who won the first Australian PM’s award for fiction last year hold at the University of Melbourne?
6. What is Mark Twain’s real name?
7. Which fictional character was famously ‘outed’ by their author in 2007, despite a significant lack of evidence about this sexuality in the books?
8. Which television series is thought to have inspired the first so-called fan fiction?
9. Fill in the blanks in this quote from the Twilight books: “And so the _ _ _ _ fell in love with the _ _ _ _.” (bonus point if you can name the book this quote is from)
10. Who are the 3 characters at the tea party Alice joins in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland?

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What is the price of a human life?

Last night the uni World Vision society showed a dusk screening of Trade on campus. It was a very confronting film, horrific and uncomprendingly tragic. To be bought and sold in the human traffiking industry is, perhaps, the worst fate known to man. The film itself is very moving, extremely emotional and very, very well told.

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Avant Card: Fit But You Know It

These postcards are produced by Nokia to advertise the fact that when you buy one of their phones you get so much worth of music downloads. Or something. I just think they're cute and clever and quirky.

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JAG

Shrink-wrapped car? Be sure to check the date...

Dozens of Melbourne residents received a rude shock this morning when they emerged from their homes to find their cars shrink-wrapped, while many were outraged to hear of new plans to dam the city's Yarra River.

But as they rushed to drop children at childcare or school, they may have been relieved to hear of a new Federal Government service where local MPs will now offer child-minding at their electorate offices.

April Fools' Day pranksters are out in force across Australia, carrying on a worldwide tradition that dates back centuries.

A Melbourne radio station appears to be behind the shrink-wrap gag, with dozens of parked cars in suburbs including Clifton Hill, Richmond and East Melbourne shrouded in plastic overnight.

Shocked drivers found a pair of scissors and a little note reading "Happy April Fools, love Evie" on their cars. At least one car had an additional note from breakfast announcers at Gold 104.3FM.

A newspaper advertisement purportedly signed by Kevin Rudd introduces a new personal childcare service at local MPs' offices.

"Each MP's electorate office will today be accepting newborns for a free child minding service. This is another example of Labor's commitment to working families," it says.

The ad was taken out by GetUp!, an independent lobby group making a point about Labor's election promise to introduce paid parental leave.

A paid parental leave scheme, recommended by the Productivity Commission and being pushed by trade unions and business, is tipped to be a casualty of a tough May budget.

"Research shows that paid parental leave is good for babies, good for parents, and good for the economy," GetUp! says on a linked website, where it admits the advertisement is an April Fool's joke.

"The Rudd Government made paid parental leave an election commitment and the time to deliver that commitment is this year's federal budget."

On ABC radio, Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle announced a plan to dam the Yarra, which he admitted may flood Scotch College but would protect Melbourne's parks by maintaining fresh water levels in the river. Talkback callers responded furiously.

A NSW engineer tried his hand at an April Fools' Day prank by sending out a fake media release that said funeral directors will need to be careful handling the bodies of smokers because it could be carcinogenic to their health.

"Any employee who is transporting a deceased who was a tobacco smoker to any extent should be using respiratory protective equipment compliant to Australian Standard(s)," the release said.

The spokesman named on the release, Abril Chanza de Tonto, loosely translates from Spanish to April fool joke.

"Considering the quality of what goes on in the media, this can't be any worse than some of things that goes on here anyway," said the engineer-cum-prankster, Andrew Fleischer.

Among the most famous April Fools' Day hoaxes was the BBC's television report in 1957 of the bumper annual spaghetti harvest in Switzerland. Many people contacted the BBC asking how they could grow their own spaghetti trees.

In 1998, a British radio presenter pretended to be the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair when he called the then-South African president Nelson Mandela for a chat. They talked for some minutes before the presenter outed himself when he asked Mandela what he was doing for April Fool's Day.

Meanwhile, Victorian Tourism and Major Events Minister Tim Holding was keen to show his sense of humour, issuing an early-morning press release stating that Melbourne would bid to host the Running of the Bulls through its iconic laneways.

Mr Holding said the event's regular host, the Spanish town of Pamplona, had monopolised the event for too long and it was time Melbourne "grabbed the bull by the horns''.

The bull analogies continued as Mr Holding said discussions were underway with musical producers to rename the smash hit 'Bully Elliot' during the bull-running event.

But a warning - after noon, those playing April Fools' Day pranks become the fool.

theage.com.au

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JAG

Let's Get Shaggin'

Anahita tagged me at my request:

1) Comment to this and I will give you 3 people.

2) Post this meme with your answers.

3) Provide pictures and the names of 3 people.

4) Label which you would marry, shag, and throw off a cliff.

01. Hugh Jackman
02. Robert Pattinson
03. Emile Hirsch

Oooh. Tough choice!

Marry: Emile Hirsch

He's cute, funny and an incredibly talented actor...




























Mmmm...



























Shag: Hugh Jackman!







How could you say no to that?!
















Throw off a cliff: Robert Pattinson

I'm sorry Robert, you were quite something in your Cedric Diggory days, but in your current Edward era, you've descended into something quite dirty and repellent. I mean, please, it wouldn't kill you to shower every once in a while, or - god forbid - wash your hair, comb it and/or cut it.



OK, ok, he's cute (or was), damn him - but please, come on!



Also: LOL!



Besides, with the choice of the other two...well, can you blame me?!

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JAG