Tuesday 10 May 2011

Rationally, it's just my Rationale


The blog ‘If You’re Anything Like Me’ with its series of posts is a Creative Response to the concept of New Media. It has been used as a form of entertainment to all types of audiences through humour, internationally known holidays, seasons and special occasions, and relativity.
The name suggests that the author could either be extremely pig-headed and a know-it-all or either a person who relies on their humour to get readers. In this case, the latter approach has been taken. The background of the blog also symbolises that it is about an eclectic collection of things, in this case, holidays, seasons and special occasions.
Targeted at teenagers to middle-aged audiences, the main idea for this blog is to entertain and to humour people at the expense of the author. This is achieved through the use of easy and informal language as if the author was talking to the reader as if they were there themselves. Modality is achieved through the obvious use of facts and trivia of the post’s theme, and the links that have been created throughout it. Corresponding images to the relevant piece of information was effective as it interested the reader, catering to whether they preferred text or images.
The first post ‘Easter Warfare’ is based on the holiday Easter. The central topic is chocolate however the subtopics are of death by chocolate and the fun and joy of the holiday. By stating the fact and then commenting on it, the reader is drawn into the author’s perspective and opinion and sees the personality that is shown through it.
The second post ‘An Occasion to Remember’ (based on the title of the movie ‘An Affair to Remember’) is about the royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton. Though this wedding was not a major holiday or season, the amount of media attention that the affair gained was incredible and therefore made the author interested in seeing what kind of reaction that would come from the audiences when they placed their own opinion into it.
The third post ‘For the Mothers’ is centred on the international day for Mothers – Mother’s Day. Though the use of images and text is important to all of the posts posted, it was especially vital to this post as there was more information and detail, leading the number of images to text equal. Each interesting mother fact corresponded to an image, drawing viewers into the main idea of the post.
The fourth post was ‘D-A-D’, spelling out the name of the theme of the post which was for Father’s Day. As a sequel for the Mother’s Day post, this post was short and brief, and quickly outlined what some of the things that the other posts had done. The author did not intend to actually make a Father’s Day post however, it would have seemed unfair, even discriminatory if it was not added too.
The fifth and final post was based on Christmas with the title ‘Tis’ the Season’. Though the language of this post seems different (the author appears to take a slightly more critical and harsher point of view), the post takes on the similar tone and style as the others. The season was also used to signify the end of the year, besides being known as the biggest holiday in the world.

Easter Warfare

“There are four basic food groups: milk chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate and chocolate truffles.” – Anonymous

The holiday is synonymous with chocolate, eggs, bunnies and baskets filled with fun surprises.




If you’re anything like me, your family is a big believer in anything cocoa-related, so the chance of you getting more than a few chocolate treats is surely guaranteed. Indeed, over the few days of the holiday, I had seemed to have collected a small army of chocolate bunnies and a few of their offspring too. Lucky for me, the challenge of eliminating this army was sweet (pun intended) and altogether delectable. No one was left behind and all members of the enemy were taken into account.


You may have noticed my intended use of war connotations so far. This is because (if any of you can recall), the Easter holiday weekend also merged with the ANZAC holiday falling on Easter Monday.


Well, back to my subject of Easter, I was wholly caught up with the season (and its cravings), so I ‘Googled’ random interesting things about CHOCOLATE. Here are my top facts for thought:


1. 1960’s iron pills were chocolate-coated. They resembled and tasted so much like candy that many children ate them – resulting in a few deaths.


2. A 19-year-old male was found dead by fellow employees in a factory – he had become submerged in a giant tank of molten choc.


3. Ever heard of the Le Whif? Well, you’re in luck, because I just found out what it is too. The Le Whif is in fact a chocolate inhaler, pretty much exactly the same as a normal inhaler for an asthma patient. Created by a Harvard professor, it’s apparently the ‘new big thing’. The link for the official website for the Le Whiff can be found here.



Just like an inhaler - only better!

4. And if you have ever dreamed for a replica of yourself in 3D made of chocolate then dream no longer! It’s called lifecasting and is most popular with certain body parts. I’ll leave that to your imagination…

Death by chocolate has always held some appeal for me but after my findings, I have almost reconsidered. Compared to other ways of death, it would seem fairly pleasant I would think. At least I would be dying sweetly. :D

The links below are for those of you who are interested in more random facts and quotes about chocolate:

For the Mothers

Mothers of teenagers know why animals eat their young.” – Unknown
First and foremost, to all the mothers out there, Happy Mother’s Day and wishing you all a great day!
Now if you’re anything like me, you and your immediate family usually make a fuss when it comes that time of year – Mother’s Day.
When the thought of Mother’s Day comes to mind, what do you picture? Flowers? Presents? Hugs? Chocolates? Pink? Yeah, those do come to mind. But after that I usually think of the media attention surrounding the day – those annoying television ads that tell you to “Spoil your mum and get her a [insert name of artist and their new promotional CD or DVD, or some electronic device that enables her to ‘communicate with you better’ or the like]”.  There’s nothing like those ads that just tell you to spend on more money that your mother is probably better off without.

So anyway, we all know that all mothers have super powers (some more than others).


Check out the following facts about mothers and then judge for yourself:
1.   A female oyster over her lifetime may produce over 100 million young.

2.   A mother giraffe gives birth while standing, so the newborn’s first experience outside the  womb is a 1.8 metre drop.



3.   The world’s youngest mother is Lina Medina from Lima, Peru. In 1939, at the age of 5 years and 7 months, she gave birth to her first son. Meanwhile, the child was raised believing that his mother was his sister – until he found out the unfortunate truth when he was 10.


4.   The highest officially recorded number of children born to a mother is 69. Between 1726 and 1765, the mother gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, 7 sets of triplets and 4 sets of quadruplets. Only 2 of this number did not survive infancy. Now that’s what I call a baby maker!


"When do you think they'll get to us?"

Hope that you learnt something from the above notes of trivia on mothers. If not, best put it to good use and spread the word. I recommend telling your mother about the woman on the last point with the record amount of babies – that way you’ll know she really means it when she says that she was lucky you came out this way (and only you if you’re an only child). I have yet to try that on my own mother...

Tis' the Season

Let’s be naughty and save Santa the trip.” – Gary Allen
Okay, so I know that it isn’t Christmas, let alone close enough to say that it is even halfway through the year to say Christmas in July. But if you’re anything like me, you love the Christmas holiday season.
Being lucky enough to live in Australia, Christmas is usually hot and means going over to an aunt’s or uncle’s house, gathering up other family members and having a big lunch that goes into the night. Not to mention the giving and receiving of presents that comes with a big family.
While I do love the Christmases that I have spent here in Australia all my life, I do get wistful when I see the pictures of White Christmases, especially in America. It is an impossible request to the weather of Australia, but I can always dream.

Research on Christmas led me to these interesting facts about Christmas:
1.     Americans eat 10 million turkeys over the Christmas period. (And you wonder how they weren’t the first country to contract swine flu...)
Do you like to 'gobble, gobble' too?
2.   During the Xmas buying period, Visa cards are used an average of 5340 times per minute, just in the United States. Financial crisis anyone?
3.   Originally, candy canes were straight sticks of candy. This changed when the Master of the Choir at Cologne Cathedral decided to bend the ends to look like a shepherd’s stick. He then passed them out to children to keep them quiet during a service. This was also helpful as people were able to hang the candy canes on the tree. Smart man if I ever heard one.
I also forgot to mention, an extra perk for Christmas in Australia are the Boxing Day sales. Now that’s what I call fun! Except for all the people. And the rush. And the people. Yeah, it’s fun.

Christmas is the Disneyfication of Christianity.” – Don Cupitt

D-A-D

"By the time a man realises that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he's wrong." - Charles Wadsworth

So I'm not actually going to make a big long post out of this occasion, but that's only because most of what I said for the Mother's Day post is what I would probably be writing in this one.



But if you're anything like me, you think of the lamest jokes and make the smart decision to say it out loud. You then use that awkward silence to check if you told the joke right. When you figure out that you did say it right, everyone's now laughing at the expression of your face - a mixture of confusion with 'Why me???'

Just check out these facts about Father's Day:

1. In 2000, there were approximately 2 million single fathers in the United States.

2. Greeting cards are the number one purchase for Father's Day - 92% of all these greeting cards are bought by women.

Jimmy Piersal on 'How to Diaper a Baby':

"Spread the diaper in the position of the diamond with you at the bat. Then, fold second base down to home and set the baby on the pitcher's mound. Put first and third base together, bring up home plate and pin the three together. Of course, in case of rain you gotta call the game and start all over again."

An Occasion to Remember

“Kate’s got a naughty sense of humour, which kind of helps because I’ve got a dirty sense of humour.” – Prince William

(Wow, I don’t know whether to be slightly shocked, or ready to congratulate Wills just based on that quote…)



If you’re anything like me (besides feeing slightly flustered after reading the above quote), the royal wedding held little appeal to you. The amount of media attention that this marriage gained was humorous if it weren’t so ‘key’ to the future of the British royal family.


Possibly the most watched wedding in royal history, the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton of England was held on the 29th of April, 2011.


After some quick (and admittedly shameful) research on the net, I found some interesting facts that you may have not known about the wedding:


1. The wedding has been estimated to have cost between 50 million and 100 million pounds. (Considering Harry’s track record, then it was probably appropriate to spend this amount on William)


2. Approximately 1900 guests were invited to the wedding ceremony in Westminster Abbey. Of this number, names such as Rowan Atkinson, Sir Elton John, Julia Gillard, Ian Thorpe and David and Victoria Beckham were glimpsed by the crowds.


Just kidding...


3. Proving that patriotism is not dead, English plumber Barmy Baz Franks had his front teeth tattooed with a picture of the happy newlyweds. Costing about 6 hours and £1000 (about $1523 in Australian dollars), the pictures were hand painted by dental wizard Dr. Neil Gerrard. The image will last for an estimated 3 months, unfortunately for Franks (and fortunately for everyone else).



Look at them pearly whites!


For some light entertainment, check out the T-Mobile Royal Wedding Dance on YouTube. It’s sure to brighten up your day - especially if you were like me and actually had to endure watching the whole real wedding on TV.