the 'R' word

Everything it seems can be blamed on 'the recession.' Most of us are sick of the mere mention of it, but it is difficult to ignore when television, newspapers, radio, internet and magazines keep fanning the flames of the 'R' word. The media reports on the recession, possibly causing people to worry and tighten their spending habits, therefore lowering the demand for products. This means less income for businesses, and some companies cannot afford staff so they cut their wages or enforce redundancy. People have difficulty finding more work, and in turn the media uses this and reports on it. Would the recession exist in a world without the media?

The media has the power to sway opinions or completely shape them based on what they present as fact. There is a very fine line between what is truth and what is opinion on any information about the recession. In our Land of the Long White Cloud, people may be tightening their spending habits because of an anxious ideology that they shouldn't be spending money in a recession. Could the media be influencing society to be minimalist consumers?

Imagine if there was a public relations meeting held and the government formulated a plan for the headline on the front page of tomorrows paper to read, 'The recession is over!' People could relax and start spending money again, and thereby 'fix' the economy. Preposterous? What would happen if we declared New Zealand 'recession free?' That's what the Cook Islands have done. They have declared their country recession free and are experiencing growth in the tourism sector. A media release on the 18th of May announced they had decided not to take part in the world wide recession, making it the first recession free oasis in the world.

The Cook Island Minister of Tourism Wilkie Rasmussen said everyone is tired of hearing about the global economic doom and gloom. "Travelers are now being given the opportunity to escape the recession by coming to a country where it doesn't exist."
Air New Zealand Deputy CEO Norm Thompson, said "we are seeing interest and growth in bookings for flights to the Cook Islands despite slow downs in other markets. It's currently Air New Zealand's number one Pacific Island destination."

Is the recession psychological? There's reality, and then there's perceived reality. Has the word Recession been slapped on willy-nilly? Comparing it to the Great Depression of the 1930s in which it is reported that 7 million people in the United States died, are we literally starving, or just forced to buy budget brand toilet paper?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/article.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=10573198

reading is for geeks?

Have you ever walked in to a second hand book shop and thought ah, the smell of knowledge? A peculiar odor of old wood and musk. There’s nothing like the smell of books, old or new, where I have on occasion opened one up just to take a big whiff. I love books. I’ve grown up with them. I owe my vocabulary and spelling to them, half of my imagination! But with the fascinating affinity of reading comes a juvenile label, a socially manufactured stereotype. People who read books are geeks.

I remember the first novel I ever read. I was 9-years-old and my teacher gave me Black Boots and Button Hooks by Phyllis Johnston, which I have read numerous times since and remains a favorite. From J.K Rowling to Dan Brown, reading is a past time that runs in my family, and I couldn’t imagine life without it. The list of books I have read is shorter than the list I want to read. I get overwhelmed when I go in to a library, so many books so little time! I am puzzled and slightly offended whenever my friend sniggers and calls me a geek when she finds me reading. She will mock me, and say in a sarcastic tone ‘Is that fun?’

From primary school, all through high school, and even in to tertiary study (can you believe it!?) I have experienced being called a geek solely because I love to read. People feel it is original to use a socially constructed label. To me it is the height of arrogance. I can’t stand the stigma attached to people who read excessively.

I remember reading a line in a book from The Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, something along the lines of ‘well read people are less evil.’ I thought about that and strongly agreed, although I hadn’t researched it. But what I did find when I researched it on the internet were pages and pages of information on the benefits of reading, such as one claiming that if you read you are able to identify much better with how people and think and feel, with health benefits of stress and anxiety relief. It enables you to empathize more with others. We should have shut Hitler in a library.

I understand some people aren’t big readers, with some telling me it is too time consuming, it is boring, or they lack the imagination and the attention span. Others have told me they think that people have to have been brought up to read from a young age. Everyone would share my lust for reading if they had the right book. Rap star Akon claims to have read over 500 books when he was in prison. See kids, reading is cool.

In the literary world you wouldn’t dare catch someone calling someone else a geek for reading. Books are amazing. Centuries pass, technology develops, people die, people are born, yet McDonalds remains, and so do books.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Five-Health-Benefits-of-Reading

books vs. movies

When I read a book and fall in love with it, I am always skeptical to I hear it is being made in to a movie. Some books are so amazing, and so personal that the little world designed in your head with what the characters look like is at risk of being destroyed. Is the story going to be done justice? Will the producers remain loyal to the details?

It is the norm to make bestselling novels in to movies as they do it every single time. A cast of actors famous enough to adopt an African child fast-track does not ensure the magic of a book is transferred on to the big screen. I remember my stark disappointment at The Horse Whisperer movie after it became my favourite book. Tom Booker didn't even die! Annie MacLean didn't have his illegitimate child. They didn't have a sex scene...I was very disappointed.

Angels and Demons, My Sister’s Keeper, and The Time Traveler’s Wife are all just a few recent ones, but more epic films such as The Lord of the Rings, Forrest Gump, and The Power of One are remarkable films. The most challenging thing that results in the original story being altered is the length. A classic example is Gone with the Wind, where Scarlett O’Hara’s two children by her first two husbands were completely cut out of the story. The Lord of the Rings was altered for cinematic effect. Does this betray the author’s integrity? Peter Jackson is quoted with saying "Sure, it's not really The Lord of the Rings ...but it could still be a pretty damn cool movie.” http://www.theonering.com/page3-25/TheMoviesTheCompleteListofFilmChanges this link is to a website that lists differences between the books and movies.

Why don't they make films in to novels? 'Wow that was such a great film I can’t wait ‘til they make it in to a book.' It is all about money and convenience. Movies are easier to watch, they are less time consuming and take no effort as it is all played out before you and doesn't require imagination. Books require your own vision, your own private ideas, but they are both vices of escapism.

anguish languish

Do you find it ironic that the word lisp has an 's' in it? Or that phonetics is spelled with a phonetic device? Words are very interesting. Did you know that the Hawaiian language only has 12 letters? And that the highest scoring word in scrabble is 'quartzy'? As irrelevant as this probably is to you, there are some very intense studies done in to the dynamics of the English Language, or more appropriately, the Anguish Languish.

Look at this exert from a popular story and read it aloud...

Wants pawn term dare worsted ladle gull hoe lift wetter murder inner ladle cordage honor itch offer lodge, dock, florist. Disk ladle gull orphan worry putty ladle rat cluck wetter ladle rat hut, an fur disk raisin pimple colder Ladle Rat Rotten Hut.

For the full story go here http://www.crockford.com/wrrrld/anguish.html#Ladle%20Rat%20Rotten%20Hut

Did you figure out what the story is? Did you even understand the words? Chances are you didn't. These words, when spoken the correct way, become completely different words. This type of translation comes from a group called SPAL (Society for the Promotion of the Anguish Languish) who are trying to create awareness about the versatility of words and the different ways they can be used. Let me translate the beginning of that story...

Once upon a time there was a little girl who lived with her mother in a little cottage on the edge of a large, dark, forest. This little girl often wore a pretty little red cloak with a little red hood, and for this reason people called her little red riding hood.

Can you make out the the Angiush story now you can see the link? It becomes easier with practice to decipher the stories by the sounds of the words.

The website with information written by Howard L. Chace explores this idea that words can be replaced by other words but derive an original meaning by the way they are sounded.

"The experiments described above, and hundreds of similar ones conducted by SPAL show that an unbelievable number of English words, regardless of their usual meanings, can be substituted quite satisfactorily for others. When all the words in a given passage of English have been so replaced, the passage keeps its original meaning, but all the words have acquired new ones. A word that has received a new meaning has become a wart, and when all the words in the passage have become warts, the passage is no longer English; it's Anguish.”
http://www.crockford.com/wrrrld/anguish.html