So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu

    No I have not been watching The Sound of Music recently..... but here we are. The end of a semester and the end of JOUR1111.

I never thought much of blogging until I started this. Apart from fashion blogs which I actually find useful and interesting, I thought blogging was for a bunch of old crazies spilling out their guts on the internet. But I've actually found that when I'm blogging, I finish with a sense of clarity on the topic I was writing about. The process really gets everything out and afterwards I feel slightly empowered, a bit fresher and I always find that while blogging I'm learning more about the topic, getting a better understanding of it, or if I'm just venting, I realise what the true source of my concern was and I feel like I can and know how to resolve it. Phew. Deep breath.

Although some posts may take a lot more time than others, I don't mind writing them at all. It's enjoyable. I thought it would be a tedious task to just blog away, but it's kind of like a breather to me and once I start I have to keep going until I'm done.

Anyway I just wanted to wrap up this semester and this subject with a nice little farewell blog. So thanks Bruce, Carmen and to anyone who's reading this. It has been a pleasure.

Here's 'So Long, Farewell' from The Sound of Music. Watch it. It's awesome and definitely in HD.

I would also like to point out how similar Kurt from Glee and Kurt from The Sound of Music look. And they both have alarmingly high singing voices. Molto strano...

Cheerio!

By Johnny.

    I would like to introduce a brand that I have newly discovered and have absolutely fallen in love with! You may already know it but it's new to me so listen to what I have to say! The brand is called By Johnny and it is designed by the second runner-up of season three of Project Runway Australia, Johnny Schembri from New South Wales - not gonna lie, he was my favourite and totally should have won! Screw you Dylan. Screw. You.


Now, how did I come across this brand I hear you say? Well meine freunds, I was browsing on theiconic.com.au, as I frequently do these days in my endless procrastination periods, and I came upon an awesome dress that is, very unfortunately, way out of my budget. It comes in black and white (I must say I prefer it a lot more in black) and it retails for $499.95. WHYYYYY. Why do you people insist on doing this to me?! Ugh. What makes it worse is that my lovely boyfriend reminded me of a Scoopon deal for The Iconic that appeared in our inboxes early this year. A $200 voucher for $50. Why.

 Johnny's whole 2012 winter collection is quite awesome really - this dress being the most awesome of all in my opinion. Unlike his collection for the finale of Project Runway Australia, which was made up of a lot of pastel hues and embellishments, this collection is a lot more experimental in terms of silhouette and texture. There are a lot of watercolour and digital prints along with body-con, peplum and cut-out styles. This collection is a very strong representation of femininity. It is bold and highlights his versatility as a designer. You can check out the collection here. Can't wait to see what he does next!

Anyway, to finish off I would also like to point out how similar the grinch and Michael C. Hall from the Showtime series Dexter look. Coincidence? It's in the mouth. And kind of the eyes. But mainly in the mouth...

That's what she said. Ha ha ha.

Sixty years.

    So the Diamond Jubilee of the ever present Queen Elizabeth II has come and gone. The Diamond Jubilee marks the Queen's sixtieth year on the throne. And it is now that I would like to acknowledge how very sorry I feel for Prince Charles.

Poor, poor Prince Charles. Whenever the Queen is involved in conversation at home, it always turns to how bad we feel for him. How bad we feel that he is almost 64 and is still not the King. And then we go on to rant about how the Queen should just retire from being the Queen and just hand it over to Charles so he at least has a good few decade before he can pass it on to Prince William. Oh how it must suck. I mean come on old Lizzy, don't be greedy now. Not that I have anything against Queen Elizabeth. She seems like a lovely old lady. And man, can she deliver a speech! I mean, the lady is 86 and I would expect her voice to be all quivery and frail with lots of pauses but oh no. Perhaps it's one of the perks of being royal. I must say, her posh little accent is so cute. Here's a speech she gave this year at the State Opening of Parliament.

Anyway moving on. As per usual, Kate Middleton's fashion choices were followed greatly throughout the media. What did she wear? Who was she wearing? Gasp! Kate is known to mix high and low fashion and has become a great trendsetter with her use of colour and sense of style. And she always look so darn elegant! Sigh. Can't get enough of her. 

During the Queen's Diamond Jubilee she stepped out in an Alexander McQueen dress and he seems to be one of her favourite designers - she also wore an Alexander McQueen wedding dress (okay it was Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen but still). Since she is a great recycler of outfits (yay for those of us who are poor uni students!), it was nice to see her out and about in a new dress. Here is a picture of her looking lovely as always.

There was also a bit of 'scandal' as she stepped out in a dress that Kim Kardashian had worn previously. Most celebrities would turn their noses up at wearing an outfit that has already been seen on someone but Kate Middleton is not a typical celebrity. Again this dress was Alexander McQueen and she looked great. And it goes to prove, just because something is last season doesn't mean you can't wear it again. Here's a photo of the two girls in the dress. Kate has classed it up, adding in some sleeves and pairing it with nude heels (I'm a worshipper of nude heels), while Kim looks alright in it but I can't say much for those snakeskin heels. Shudder. 

What's in it for me?

   If someone introduced me as a blogger, I too would cringe, just like this week's guest lecturer, television and entertainment blogger, Steve 'Molks'.

Molks starts off by talking about how we brand ourselves. How we should start marketing ourselves now so future employers would want us. And this is exactly what he's done with his name 'Molks'. Instead of Molkington, he shortened it to Molks which suited his brand. We have to be invested and know how to write any kind of story any kind of way. But when he talks about branding I can't help but think of the Kardashians.

Don't judge me, but I love the Kardashian shows. I haven't been able to enjoy them as of late due to the fact that my dear mother cancelled Austar because I'm only home every now and then but still. Sigh. And although their whole 'famous for being famous' thing is kind of stupid, they are entertaining (to me at least) and are more than capable of branding and marketing themselves extremely well. If they really were so terrible then it is unlikely that they would be in the midst of filming their seventh season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians and have had three spin-off shows. It's also unlikely that Keeping Up With The Kardashians would be the highest rating television show (among men and women aged 18-34) on the E! network if they were unable to market and brand themselves successfully. Their DASH stores are also very successful as is the Kardashian Kollection - spelt with a K of course. You may not like them, but you know them. Anyway, I shall stop ranting about the Kardashians now.

This lecture summarised the very basis of this course for me. Molks let us know that journalism is not necessarily about about trying to claw your way up the career ladder, not caring about who you stomp on to get there. It's not a dying profession. It's just moving on and making way for the many new types of media. And nobody can deny that. Do we not compulsively check our iPhones every two minutes? Are we not addicted to Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram? And this relates back to branding, as Molks so rightly pointed out, "Brand management began the moment you signed up for Facebook or MySpace, so watch out!"

We've got to start building a readership now. We've got to be proactive and we've got to be passionate. Or else what's the point really? We've got to get out there and be a part of it all!

For example, old Snapey really threw himself into it all.