Unbiased? HA!

I was watching an article on A Current Affair tonight. And i remembered why exactly i never bother much with the news - it is appalling. I don't mean in terms of content; the world is always going to be full of people shooting each other, blowing each other up, stealing warships, blah blah blah and i'm sure it would do us some good to know how many people disembarked international boats and took up residence on our soil today. But when i was watching television tonight, i was appalled to see such biased crap. 

The article was about the Scientology convention being held on Hamilton Island. The issue was that the Scientologists had hired the entire island, and didn't want the channel 9 news team to be allowed onto the island. Naturally, channel 9 felt that they had to try their luck anyway. They booked tickets. However, when the Scientologists found out, they asked the Hamilton Island PR people not to allow it. HIPR made many calls and sent numerous emails, text messages, etc informing the crew that they had been informed that there was no intent to visit the island for a vacation, and that they were not welcome in an investigative capacity. They said that if the crew arrived on the island, they would be politely asked to leave. Of course, the crew went anyway. And were asked to turn around and leave, upon arrival. Surprise, surprise. 

The article claimed that this was 'unbelievable'. The way that it was presented, and the arrogant tone of the presenter, who clearly believed that Scientology was a despicable cult that was corrupting people, coupled with ominous music, the camera shooting from inside a bag, and from stupid angles like between aeroplane seats, added up to an impression that there was something underhand going on, that there was a conspiracy - and that the Scientologists were actually doing something wrong. Politician Nick Zenophon came on to say that it was appalling and unacceptable, blah blah blah.

Here are the facs that they skimmed over; Hamilton Island is a PRIVATE island. It is not public property. That, in itself, gives the HIPR team the power to decide who is and isn't allowed on the island. The channel 9 news team has no right to go there. And yet they swaggered around as if deprived of a basic human right. Furthermore, if the Scientologists had hired the island for a conference, then they should have some say over who else stays there - they didn't hire the conference rooms, they hired the ISLAND. If the conference had been made up of an international delegation of politicians, and they had refused publicity until such a time as they choose to release a statement, there would have been no talk of an 'unacceptable' conspiracy. If they knew that there was a camera crew headed towards them, with the express idea of uncovering something shady, and making bad publicity for them, why would they ever be allowed on the island? There was never any intention to present an unbiased report of the conference. 

I was appalled by this piece. It was so biased that i could really place no reliance on the few facts that they did present. The tone of the piece was anti-Scientology from start to finish. I am not saying that i agree with the Scientology doctrine, but this was not an issue of their beliefs. This was not a case of a religious suicide pact, or a discovery that they had been practicing polygamy, or any other dastardly act. They were merely holding a conference, and didn't want to be interrupted by people whose sole aim was to discredit them. It was an issue of rights - did the channel 9 crew have a right to visit the private island for investigative purposes? No. 

So really, they created an article about nothing, making their 'point' to suit their own personal beliefs, rather than representing the facts accurately and relevantly. I'm appalled that an apparently reputable news show would be so biased. I'm actually furious that the Australian public, many of whom will accept this article on face-value, have been presented with such rubbish. 

I'd be interested to know if anyone else saw this article, or has something to say on the matter...
If you want to see the article, click here for the link to the video clip.

Double Standards Have Me Seeing Red

I HATE double standards. In this particular instance, i'm infuriated, because it effects something that is very important to me. You see, there's something that i've always been told that i'm not allowed to do. However, someone else who's in the same situation as me has just been told that it's ok for them to do it. Exact same situation, but i've always been told no and he's been told yes. You see, he never got the lectures about how it wasn't ok. So he went ahead, told some people, had some conversations and got the go ahead. I, however, was always under the impression that there would be serious repercussions should i press ahead. Therefore, there was no going ahead, telling some people, having conversations... due to the fear of the serious repercussions.

I'm rather incensed at this moment. To think of all the trouble that it's caused me, as i've tried to avoid these serious repercussions... where as this other guy, who's avoided all of the lectures in the past, just gets to do things as he likes.

Now, i'm not saying that people have purposely decided to disadvantage me. But that's the way it's turned out, due to the fact that people always seem to have double standards when it comes to me and expect me to hold myself to a higher standard. Tomorrow, some heads will roll. Well, i'm not really a hugely violent person... so it's less likely that heads will roll and more likely that conversations will be had. I damn well better get my point across, because this is 100% not ok with me and i don't want it to be one of those times that my message gets lost in translation.

Hopefully all goes well and by tomorrow night my life will be a hell of a lot easier. Of course, my life never goes that smoothly, so we'll just have to wait and see... wish me luck.

Wearing My Annoyed Face

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Craaaaaap....

Ok, so i realise that i've spent far more money than i usually would in the last few weeks. At first, i had my little shopping spree when i got my tax return. Spent lots of money. But i had some to spare, so all was well. Over the next week, i fell into a very dangerous trap. The trap of believing that you have more money than you actually do. This belief means that i've been walking into shops and saying 'well, i wouldn't normally, but i have some money to spare, so i suppose i can splurge...'. Unfortunately, i just checked my bank balance. It has become apparent that i most definitely could not afford to splurge in the degree that i did. A large chunk of my savings (meagre as they were and only just reaching a point that i deemed acceptable) is gone. I'm rather devestated. I like to have a nice buffer in my savings account that is no longer available. Granted, i'll get paid at work and get some monet from the rentals in the next month... but that period in between where i have very little in my account makes me very uneasy. I suspect it has something to do with my lovely obesessive compulsive tendencies that make me desperate to have things in otder. Gah, this is going to drive me insane and leave me very ill at ease. Bring on the next paycheck.

To add stress to stress, i had about four hours of meetings today, which led to my biting my fingernails. Their situation isn't dire, but they're quite a lot shorter than they were earlier. Which is distressing, because they were so lovely and long! I saw it coming, of course, but was hoping i could stave it off... apparently not. Grr for short nails. I'll have to paint them again and go back to square one in the growing process.

My OCD is not at all at ease this week. GAH! Huge amounts of frustration. HUGE.

Tradition...

Apparently, i'm turning out to be quite traditional.

Now, this isn't a complete surprise. Unfortunately, i am my mother's daughter in many ways. SHE is very traditional. Same sex marriages, no sex before marriage, various other slightly archaic trains of thoughts... I'm not like her on many of these points. Same sex marriage doesn't really bother me, that's for that couple to decide and not for me to judge. But it's starting to look like i'm leaning towards her train of thought on the no-sex-before-marriage front.

As a 20-yr-old loser who's never had a date, much less a boyfriend, the issue hasn't really come up in a major way. I know for a fact that sex isn't happening until i'm in a very serious relationship. Whether i wait until i'm married remains to be seen. But whatever, that's not my point.

My point lies in the fact that people seem to have a bit of a problem with my standpoint. All of my close friends have slept with people. Whatever, that's their call. But i get 'comments' from my friends, all of whom know i've not gone there. "You're being hell traditional dude" *negative inflection* was the one i got today. "You'll cave, trust me" was another. They think they're being funny, and they thing they're being all-knowing, predicting that i'll give in. I won't. I don't want to do that any time soon. I not not doing it to be traditional, or to make a statement, i'm just not going to do it. I don't need people snickering at me, thinking i'm naive or stupid. I'm not going to cave just because other people think that i should.

I know that some of my friends caved to peer pressure, or rushed things because they thought that it was pathetic to get to 20 and not have slept with anyone. I don't know if they regret it. But i don't want to regret it, so i'm not taking any chances.

I know i go with the flow. I know i conform and i don't like to go against what people think i should be - most of the time. But if it's important, i'll hold my ground and do what's right for me. People shouldn't judge and mock me for it.

It's important. I'm not budging. Apparently, i'm more traditional than i thought. People should stop paying me out!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

My freaking computer just blew itself up. Not in the explosion sense, but in the 'won't turn on, is completely useless' sense. I have stolen my brother's computer to work on the 3000word essay that i have due on wednesday, which i now have to re-research, as everything i'd already found is locked away in the dumb shell of a computer which i loathe to call my own. Grrr... I now have to make ANOTHER trip to the computer shop tomorrow. I want a new freaking laptop that isn't going to kill itself every two months. That would be nice.

In other news, i'm starting to understand my hard topic at uni, i had two coffee dates today with various people, the uni girls want to take me to dinner for my bday on thurs (i LOVE it when my birthday stretches for over a week!) and the thing that was making me doom and gloomy is now resolved - the outcome is making me smiley instead, which is an excellent change.

Now, i'm exhausted, but have to at least find all the research that i've lost. Time to weed through the bajillions of articles on the internet.... so much fun (not). I suspect i won't get far before i pass out in front of the computer and retire to bed. But i do have some other stuff to blog about when i get a chance, so i'll get back to you asap - probably sooner than i should, as blogging is ever preterable to studying.

May the computer gods look after your computer better than they do mine!

Body Image

I'm watching season 3 of One Tree Hill and am currently up to the part where everyone finds out that Rachel Gattina was once fat.

Rachel Gattina (played by Daneel Harris) is gorgeous. Skinny, toned, tanned, gorgeous red head, cheerleader, popular and confident. On the outside, you wouldn't be able to find a flaw (the inside is a whole different matter). However, half way through the season, you find out that Rachel used to be 'fat' - though the pictures of her merely showed her as a chubby young girl. She got her stomach stapled, starved her self, got half a dozen cosmetic surgeries... and because the skinny, popular person that we all see.

On the show, Rachel is clear that what she did to her body was extreme, dangerous and not for everyone. But she also admitted that it made her life worthwhile, to shed the fat and become someone that everyone else would accept.

I've always had a bit of a problem with this plotline... first, the character was never really 'fat'. Secondly, it just seems to say 'hey, if you're fat and you try hard enough, you could end up looking like a model'... i don't know, it just seems unfair. Daneel Harris clearly has never been ugly. To give such a plotline to someone so gorgeous, who has probably never come close to feeling what a 'fat' outcase might feel, seems almost like it's making light of the problem. I know that's really not the intention of the show - in fact, i'd assume they're trying to do the opposite; they're clear that the transformation didn't make Rachel happy, even if it made her gorgeous... But realistically there's no way that this girl was ever fat and miserable...


From someone who consideres herself to be the kind of chubby girl that Rachel was before the transformation, i'm just really unsettled by the whole thing. I would kill to look like little Miss Maxim here. I know that i'm never going to turn into someone who looks like the new and improved Rachel, i probably will never have that confidence or style. And surgery probably wouldn't change that.

Ahhhh, i know i'm ranting and not making sense. I don't really know what my problem is. It's just got my hackles up. You shoudn't be suprised - you all know i'm crazy by now.

Insanity

In their original contracts for the first two seasons, each main cast member was paid $1,600 per episode. Before the third season, the cast threatened to go on strike unless they received pay increases, which resulted in each actor receiving $100,000 per episode. For the series' sixth season, the cast members were offered $250,000 to return. The cast members again entered negotiations before the sixth season, receiving $750,000 per episode, and during the eighth season, receiving $1 million per episode.
(Wikipedia)

This is insanity. I love Friends as much an anyone could - but is each episode really worth paying the characters a million dollars? I can't believe there are people in the third world starving, and these guys are making millions just to be on tv...

Valentine's Day

Ahh, the day when the hallmark card Mafia make their killing. And single girls all over the world do anything they can to keep themselves busy, so as not to eat their weight in chocolate. My personal distraction technique? It had two parts.

Part One.
Go to youth group, decorate shoeboxes for the 'Shoe Boxes of Love', discover horrifying piece of news about a friend's personal life which falls into the 'too much information' category, show off my new can and be called 'young and nubile' by one of the boys in his attempt to cheer me up (after my enormous freak out following my learning that information).

Part Two.
Arrive at Bri's where a host of the girls was pre-drinking, then eventually hit the Havvy. What was at the Havvy? Three gorgeous guys (none of whom were interested in me as being more than 'that fun friend of theirs'), dancing, hanging out with the girls, some creepy guys who put their hands where they're not wanted and consider this an opening line... I was just getting over my freak out and gearing up for a night out (which should have been Part Three), but then one of the girls got drunkenly upset and i had to take her home, fullfilling the 'good friend' duty. In the process, removing the chance of my being able to party away my sorrows and creating the inevitable instance of my crying myself to sleep.

Valentine's day is wonderful for all of those happy people out there. For everyone else, it's rather hellish. I don't understand why it's needed. Surely those coupled up happily out there can just have a nice dinner out, without having the need to draw attention to the singletons everywhere - who, on this day, get asked more than on any other, 'are you seeing anyone?', and get to see people's pitying faces when you answer in the negative. Grr!

I Never Said 'I Do'...

It's interesting when you say one thing and people hear something completely different.

I never said i love you.
I never even said i like you.
I never said i want you.
I never told you i wanted to be with you.
I never said any of that.

Yet, in your bizzare mind, you decided that i'd said all that.

Somehow, this led to you doing something crappy. Me getting mad. Me apologising. You not speaking to me. Me getting angry for apologising for getting angry, when i was completely within my rights to.

Where are we now? Not speaking, apparently. I'm not going to be the first one to cave this time. I'm not!

People are stupid.

Men Are From Mars

I was at a friend's birthday gathering last night. Eventually, the group of girls i was talking with dwindled to two, and a trio of greek boys joined us. I, being the only 'non-greek', was dubbed 'the Russian' (easier to remember than Annabel) and made an honourary greek for the remainder of the evening. They thought i was quiet, later realising that maybe they'd been wrong, and thought that Miha and i laughed a lot... which i suppose is true. We spent a few hours talking to these boys; they were funny, flattering and a little bit ridiculous. Miha and i were driving, so we watched as two of the boys got drunker with some curiosity.

One of these boys was clearly the 'leader'. He was a smooth talker and had his sights set on Miha from the get go. Another was very laid-back, funny and cute. He apparently made loads of money. The third was the anomaly. He was smaller than the other, the butt of half the jokes and was trying very hard to make himself look cool. First, he tried to hit on Miha, having met her before. Then, he spent the next hour or so desperately attempting to crack onto me, despite my being very reserved. At the end of the night, when he realised that his attempts with me may not be fruitful, he tried it on with another girl (no success).

I could handle his ridiculous attempts to win me over, even though they were annoying and made me fairly uncomfortable. He kept offering me cigarettes, trying to make me smoke. I didn't want to, so i said no. He was all 'hey, good, don't do what you don't want to'... and ten minutes later he'd try again at getting me to smoke. At one point, he asked for his drink. I went to pass it to him, but his friend got there first and handed it over. 'No, no, no! Put it back! Let her pass it to me.' Everyone paused and there was a general air of 'what the hell'. Eventually, his friend put the drink back down, i grabbed it and handed it over. He was thrilled. He was a crazy person. However, when his friend scored Miha's number, he decided that, no matter what, he was going to have mine. He handed me his phone. I paused. Then he started in on the guilt... 'you'll give me you're number, won't you? won't you? come on...' blah blah blah. Easily guilted into things, i gave him the damn number, but didn't take his. I said no, so he pranked me anyway, and saved his freaking number into my phone. From that point i pretty much ignored him. I hate it when guy's are pushy...

The end of the night ended with some of the girls having a huge fight, so we all skedaddled out of there fairly quickly. Miha said goodbye to one boy, i said goodbye to the other - i ignored the pushy guy, who protested at being 'left out' but poo to him. Miha and i went for a theraputic drive, and the pushy guy messaged to say how great it was to meet me, and we'd go out for coffee next week. Whatever.

I planned to ignore the message, and blow him off if another one arrived later in the week. However, at 10am this morning, the phone rang. It was a private number, so i thought it might be work and (stupidly) answered. It was Pushy. First off, he asked why i hadn't replied to his message {i pretended i'd been asleep}. Then he asked what i was doing tonight {thank goodness for church, and pack up duty}. Then he asked what i was doing every night this week {ok, so i may have stretched the truth and said i was busy every night}. Then he asked if i'd be at the market on friday, where the others were thinking of meeting up {i said perhaps. He took that as a yes}. Now, hopefully, i won't hear from him; and at least i'll have a week to come up with an excuse to get out of friday. Some people just won't take a hint. If a girl isn''t interested, then drop it!!

Most annoying thing? The nice guy, the other one, asked Pushy for my number and Pushy wouldn't let him have it, he didn't want him 'bothering me'. Stupid pushy. Boys are so stupid.

Do You Trust Me?

My family resemblance is what's left me with chubby little fingers, big palms, a pudgy tummy, awful metabolism, curly hair, blue eyes, a stubborn streak a mile wide, a tendancy to let people walk all over me... Our family apparently had very strong genetics, because these are traits that are fairly common in the entire family. Some are good, some are bad. In my travels, i haven't met too many families that have such strong resemblance. There's one that springs to mind immediately - i know the kids in that family are very similar.

It's no secret (or perhaps it is? who knows) that i have some major trust issues. Sure, i have an annoying tendancy to believe that people can screw up and it was just a one-off. Even after the second or third time around. But when it comes to the kind of trust that leads to telling people the real answer when people ask 'how are you?', or feeling comfy enough to call someone and ask them to hang. That requires a whole other level of trust. I can think of one person who i've voluntarily trusted completely and a few who've accidentally figured out/found out/wheedled out those lock-box secrets, but i've never volunteered the info.

One person has spent the last few months trying to break down the ridiculous amount of barriers that i keep up. Promises were made of the 'i promise, i'll never hurt you', 'i love you' , 'i'll never do what he did' and 'i'll never abandon you, don't even let the thought enter your head' variety. You can see how such niceties could go a long way towards building the trust - especially when the promises seem to be backed up by actions. And then i make my mistakes. I start believing them, getting the feeling that i can trust them - bah-BAUWM (that's the 'you lose' sound, by the way). Big mistake.

The lesson i've learnt? Ignore all declarations of loyalty and friendship. No matter how honest they may seem. It's always going to blow up in your face. I've made the decision to live alone forever and have a fleet of cats from the RSPCA. And possibly a turtle. And lots of DVDs with happy endings, so that i can live vicariously through others. No need to trust anyone. Perfect.

Don't You Hate...

There are a few things that i despise. On the whole, i'm reasonably difficult to upset. Granted, disorganisation gets to me, but i can survive it (usually, i just fix whatever is disorganised!!). But there are a few things that really get my hackles up.

I hate liars. I hate being manipulated. I hate playing games.

There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, i like honesty, i like knowing what people really think. I understand that people tend to lie though, so i can live with people keeping things to themselves - so long as it doesn't end up hurting me in the long run. Secondly, i'm fairly perceptive most of the time; when people are lying, or trying to manipulate me, i can tell. Their attempts at being subtle are not lost on me. Personally, if i wanted to play games with you, or mess with your mind, i could do a damned good job of it - but i'm doing my best to leave that kind of crap in high school. If i have a problem, i'll ask you about it. People who mess me around and think i'm too stupid to notice that they've regressed to immature and ridiculous - not to mention transparent - drive me crazy.

Seriously. If you have a problem with me, tell me. Don't just try and manipulate me. I can tell. And all it serves to do is piss me off. Time to grow up people. We're not meant to act like kids anymore!

Heads Or Tails

So, i'm going to tell you about Phil.

A week or so ago, LozK and i were out on the town. We decided to initiate the 'Randoms Game' (basically, take as many photos as possible with as many randoms as possible). We took photos of 21 randoms and were pretty pleased with ourselves.

This is the tale of Random #1. His name was Phil, he was from England and he left the club to get more money so that he could buy us drinks. We did not ask for these drinks. We did, however, take the photo... maybe in England that is construed as asking for a drink? Anyhoo... LozK and i went dancing, did some more photo taking, had a blast. Just before we were leaving, Phil turned up again. With more drinks. That we accepted, just to be polite. However, when he pulled my phone away from me to put his number in, then pranked himself so that he had my number, i was a little annoyed. The old, scrawny englishman had crossed the line. We left. Au Revoir Philly!!

We thought that was the end of Phil. Nope. Not so lucky. I woke up the next morning with about four messages from him on my phone... hey, gorgeous, i miss you... my night would be so much better if you were here... hey, i've got concert tickets for tomorrow night, come with me, i'll pay for everything... overboard. I told him i was working, but thanks. Polite. No, he couldn't visit me at work. No, he couldn't call me afterwards, it would be late. I thought that the message was clear - hey Phil, i won't be seeing you again. The next day, i recieved another slew of messages... Hows work today... how was last night... you looked amazing the other night... can i take you out for dinner? Geez. Persistant. I blew him off again - legitimate reasons, thank goodness, i didn't have to lie. Finally, FINALLY, after 14 messages over two and a bit days, he says that it was lovely to meet me, but he has to fly back to England in an hour or so. Phew!!

There is such a thing as trying too hard. This is it. Phil barely spoke to me. There was no reason to think that he and i were a match made in heaven. No reason to suggest that i would enjoy concerts and dinner with a stranger. No effort to get to know me, just unfounded, clique, smarmy compliments. It was creepy and weird. Annoying.

Men in bars, especially older men, should not hit on young girls/think that young girls are interested in being hounded by them. They should also not think that buying you a drink equals earning a date. Nor should an accent be reason to think you're charming. Phil was annoying and overbearing, and i think we exchanged all of two sentences. I am so glad Phil has flown back to the other side of the world. English bar-people are annoying. Grrr...

A.R.K

Friday night was the A.R.K movie fundraiser; we hired a theatre to show Run, Fatboy Run and Get Smart. When we arrived, we realised that we didn't have the snacks that we thought we did - which led to Loz and i racing around Richmond looking for a Woolworths, a scared shop assistant due to our frantic demands for popcorn and some super nifty driving. We got back to the theatre in time, phew!!

The actual movies went well; they were funny/dramatic/exciting. Although there were a few inappropriate moments (which, naturally, i was loudly and publicly 'blamed' for throughout the movies) and the popcorn was yummy and movie-esque. I enjoyed the movie watching part, it was pretty fun. And the cinema was nice and cosy, so there was a good atmosphere.

We had 70 tickets... and sold 24. Which was appalling. I couldn't believe that so few people were willing to support the cause. Much of the congregation didn't turn up, and i had a bunch of friends who didn't even have the courtesy to send a 'no' message, let alone an affirmative one. The SouthAfrican and i were pretty disapointed, to say the least... even more when we counted the money and realised that we'd made $70 profit. Which, loosley translated, means that we wasted our time. And the line 'it's better than nothing' hardly applies - because the amount of effort and money that we'd expended ourselves meant that we may as well have just chipped in to put $70 in the funds and saved ourselves the effort.

It was a learning experience. And it wasn't a bad night. So i'm looking on the bright side when i say that it wasn't a terrible time. But, if there is a next time, i'm not going to be too involved. Because i don't take it well when people don't give up their friday night for a good cause. End of story.

Heads Or Tails

I think the university may need to hire an armoured guard. To protect one of our lesser-loved 'teachers'.

Today, we had a revision lecture for our torts class. Our lecturer further confirmed our suspicions that she is, in fact, an evil cow. When one of the women was stuggling to understand a point that, admittedly, we'd already covered, she kept asking questions. She said that her tutor had said something different (which was true - i was in her tutorial group). The lecturer wasn't too pleased with that. She started in on a tirade; Who's the topic coordinator? No, don't interupt me. Just answer me. Who is it? Who's the topic coordinator? Stop talking, You're tutor is wrong; i'm right. I'm the topic coordinator, you do it the way that i say to. It was horrible. Her tirade (in her awful accent) was degrading and uncalled for. It WAS confusing that the tutors were saying different things to her, and it was perfectly reasonable to ask further questions. There was absolutely no reason for her to react this way and treat a women a few years her senior with such disrespect.

We were all appalled. Even more so when she made mocking comments about how some of us did the wrong thing in our assighments. Or when she refused to mark the late assignments with any kind of haste, as if it were some kind of punishment. So, we were eagerly awaiting our chance for retribution... we couldn't wait to get our hands on the Student Evaluation Sheets.

At the end of the lecture, some brave soul asked when we'd get our evaluation sheets. Then came the bombshell... the lecturer told us that we wouldn't get to fill in evaluation sheets. Because it was her perogative to give them to us, and she didn't feel they were necessary. She was going to 're-vamp' the program... but that still gave us no opportunity to rebuke her for her appalling teaching. We were all furious. In no way was this fair. She said that if we had any complaints about the teaching staff we could write her a note and give it directly to her - like that would be any good! There's no way that complaining about her, to her, would do any good.

I'm furious. My entire class is furious. I wouldn't be suprised if someone hired a hit man to take her out. Hence the guard.

McLibel

Yesterday in our tort law lecture, our teacher was away so we watched a video. Basically, this is a teacher's way of torturing us in her absence, because these videos are always awful.

McLibel was no exception. It covered the lonnnng, drawn out trial that McDonald's faced in the early 90s. A group of people were handing out leaflets that aimed to tell the world how awful Maccas was, 'exposing' their nutritional defecits, environmental faults, employment malfunctions, false advertising and animal mistreatment. Maccas sued, and only two people refused to apologise. Helen and David, with no legal experience, stood up for themselves. The court case went for seventeen years, before the final verdict was handed down by the European Union.

I'm not sure if this was meant to be a heartwarming tale - two people taking on a multi-million dollar corporation. However, these people neglected their family and worked themselves to the bone for seventeen years. I'm all for people standing up for their beliefs, but i much prefer it when they do it in a way that isn't completely self-righteous.

It may seem like i'm over-reacting, and should be supporting the little man... but you should have heard these people!

Helen and David claimed that Maccas was borderline evil, because they advertised predominately to pull in the children. Their television ads were all about happy kids, playing games and making their lives better by eating Maccas. Apparently, this was both false advertising and hideously wrong because Maccas is so un-nutritious. Now, personally, i don't think that their advertising campaign is wrong. They're doing no more than any other company would do to sell their product. And yes, their food is unhealthy. But nowhere on the ads do they encourage people to eat it every day. If Helen and David decided to sue Maccas for false advertising, surely they'd have to sue every other company that puts their company forward as one that will make all of their consumers happy.

Then we watched a good 20 minutes about the horrible working condions that Maccas employees face. Apparently, working for minumum wage is just a travesty for the poor, hard working people of Maccas. Now, that's absolute rubbish. Minimum wage is there for a reason. It's a government decided wage. It's reasonable. And for all of those people who flip burgers and press oven buttons, i'm pretty sure they're lucky to be making that much. As for their hiring as many people under 18 to fulfill such easy job restraints - what's wrong with that? It seems fairly sensible to me. Annoying, but sensible. A conclusion which most companises like Maccas agree with.

As for the cruelty to animals? I'll admit that watching thousands of tiny little chickens being slaughtered was upsetting. But are Helen and David vegetarians? Nope. Are they going after every company in the world that kills animals? No. How is Maccas any worse than those companies? No idea.

The video was incredibly annoying. It served less to educate me on the ins and outs of the system of defamation than it did to drive me up the wall and asking what the hell was wrong with these two people. In the end, Helen and David were supposed to pay Maccas 40, 000 pounds (but they never did - because they're 'outside the law'.). Obviously, the court agreed that Helen and David were a little nuts. Granted, the courts did agree with Helen and David that some of their defamatory comments were based on truth. But was it really so important as to take up 17 years? I felt so sorry for David's little boy, who was filmed saying that he missed spending time with his dad.

The whole program just drove me nuts!! People making a huge fuss over nothing. How about the next time they feel like making a stink, they go after sweatshops in thailand, rather than attacking the slightly misguided people at Maccas who are just out to earn some money, like the rest of the world. Grrrr....

Grrrrrr...

Ok, so i'm watching Veronica Mars while i enjoy my afternoon of absolutely nothing. I love this show (and, more specifically, i love Jason Dohring who plays Logan Eckles). However, i've run into a speed hump that's interrupted my otherwise uninterrupted VM flow.

Logan Eckles has just found a new girl. She's skinny, she's blonde, she's perfect, she's tiny, she's giving off that air of 'oh, please, protect me'. Somehow, i've tricked myself into watching a version of my own personal hell. Essentially, i hate these people. I hate the boys who fawn over them, hold their hands, carry their books, worship them - because they're blonde and perfect. While people don't admit it, guys are immediately drawn to their blonde helplessness. It doesn't matter that they learn to love them for other reasons. The kick-starter is the blonde and skinny.I, on the other hand, am tall, pudgy, imperfect and definately don't give off a 'protect me' air, no matter how much that may be the case. The people that try to hold my hand are either hammered, over 40, or complete scumbags. I have to do things the other way around - convince people that i'm not a psycho before they even start thinking that i may be worth a second glance. Yes, you can hear a touch of bitter.

Why, exactly, i'm continuing to watch this stupid little blonde girl have Logan Eckles fall over himself because she's pretty and blonde probably has something to do with the fact that i want to know who exploded the bus... and something to do with the fact that i know this stupid girl isn't a season regular - which means that Logan will break up with her at some point. I'm looking forward to it.

Grr...

It came up that i always like the wrong people. Fact. Then one of the girls pipes up with this little gem; haha well ***** wasnt wrong u just didnt know when to let go when it wasnt working.

I take offense at that.

Everyone assumes that it was a huge mess because of the way i felt about him, that i wouldn't let go. They seem to forget the fact that i was willing to leave it at friendship, because i'd take what i could get, and that he was just as bad as me when we were left alone together - worse in fact, because he'd lie about wanting to be with me, and couldn't help leading me on. Somehow, now, it's all my fault. Why? Why was the whole big mess not partly his fault? Why do i have to take all of the blame for us? There's no denying that it was a mess. But it wasn't my fault for 'not letting go'. I was in love with him and there's no reason that i shouldn't have been, or any reason why i should feel that that was wrong. There's no timeframe for letting go; don't judge me and think that i'm stupid because of the way that i felt.

Real Women Have Curves

Who says all facebook groups are rubbish?
Check this one out...
Here's the sales-pitch for the group 'REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES'

So I was recently talking with a friend of mine when she brought up this amazing historical fact that made me think about body image in a totally different way... a healthier way. I thought it only right to share it with other women (and men) to attribute to the fact that real women come in different shapes and sizes - and damn ladies, we're HOT!

Without further ado:

Back when drop dead gorgeous, curvy, influential women like Sophia Loren and Marilyn Monroe were modeling for major labels, the companies found that people to paid much more attention to the models gorgeous bodies than the clothing they were promoting. So for marketing purposes, smaller, emaciated women began to take the run way - and it worked. As people stopped paying attention to the woman's body, the clothing she wore sold better...

Now isn't that unfortunately ironic that in modern day we are trying to get to an unhealthy skinny in order to be pretty when the reason we originally switched images was because we were too sexy in the first place? Something to think about for sure.

This group is for anyone and everyone who appreciates *healthy women's bodies* - in whatever shape they come in - and believes in shouting that "I LOVE MY BODY." Here's to all the gorgeous women out there just being themselves and proud of it : )