I'm Back!

Apologies for my lack of blogging for so many weeks!

Lots has happened in the past few weeks, working, filming, drinking, the norm of a student life. There has been highs and lows but that's the normal life of a teenager. Extremely weird saying that, teenager, I won't be that soon, in 17 days I'll be twenty. Twenty, half way to forty, oh my goodness, now I feel old!

With only a short holiday I haven't really had much time for relaxing and writing in this blog, but I'm hoping you all like this piece. 

So, in my gap I have been working at the Express and Echo newspaper in Exeter. This was a fantastic experience as it showed me how a bigger newspaper organisation works. I only have previous experience working at my local newspaper, Andover Advertiser, which basically consisted of 5 desks. However this newspaper had over 5 desks for every section. Editorial, sports, telesales, creative etc. The week did start off quite slowly, I started off by watching people do their jobs, which sometimes just consisted of answering the phone, little dull. However by the end of the week things picked up. Working on sports was probably the best part. Which was very surprising for me, I never saw myself as being a good journalist writer for sports, but it was really fun, I did also get a piece in their newspaper. Of course I came back with about 8 copies of a 70 odd page newspaper and my segment was at the bottom of one of those pages, but who cares! Portfolio people!

A big event that has happened these past few weeks has been meeting a band called Wah Wah Club. This band  is from Buckingham and are an indie/rock band. They formed  in 2011 and have been working extremely hard to get where they have got themselves today. 

I went to meet them last week and filmed an interview with them. The band consists of 4 men, so there was never a dull moment during the interview. When filming the interview it seemed that their personalities began to come alive, which was great, especially from the lead singer. From the interview and watching them perform a couple of their new releases I have pieced together a short video of them. 

I really would love it if more people could watch it and tell me what you thought. As this is my first time I have ever produced something like this before, I am pretty excited to see what people think. 

Let me know!

Graduation Day

Yesterday was the last day of my first term at the University of Buckingham, and what a day it was. Starting the day at 8 o’clock to film the University's graduation day. The class of 2013.

Everyone was dressed up so beautifully for the occasion. Women in their gorgeous dresses that flattered their figure, hair sticky from hairspray to make it perfect and make –up done and re done again so that they were happy with their appearance. But all of them looked stunning. Men were all arriving in their suits and ties, looking extremely smart. Excited families were everywhere, all dressed and ready to help if they were needed to.  I filmed them putting on their gowns and having photos being taken by professional photographers. They all looked so happy, with a smile from ear to ear and all very excited about having their gowns on and wearing their hats.

The next stage was to walk to the church. Watching the girls struggle, in their enormous high heels, to walk down the hill from the building where they collected their gowns, was a comedy show in itself. They still had a 10 minute walk to endure along the horrible car park floor as well. With holes in the ground and mud everywhere it was a shot not to be missed. I captured a girl who had brought trainers to wear instead of heels for this walk. The girls next to her in high heels looked extremely envious.

Unfortunately due to a mess up in  my exam timetable, I had an exam at the time of the graduation ceremony, so I missed that. But watching the footage back, that one of my group member filmed, was so lovely. So many proud parents taking photos of their sons and daughters, standing up and getting in the way of our filming, but not caring just so they could get a good picture of their child.

The happiest scene was when everyone was outside the church. Everyone was hugging each other and all the students were gathering together to throw their hats in the air, even though one got theirs stuck in a tree, it was still a happy moment for all of them. It was a truly magical day for everyone and the weather was very much on their side, even though it was windy it was beautiful sunshine and gorgeous blue sky.

In two years time  I will be there collecting my degree and graduating!

Who Could Go Wrong With a Bowl of Ice Cream?

Oh the beauty of ice cream. After a long hard day, I always enjoy a nice bowl of mint choc chip ice cream. Exactly what I am having now after filming for 2 hours straight. Even though there are chocolate chips in the ice cream I never feel that I could go wrong with some extra chocolate sauce. Pile on even more calories. Although it is Spring and extremely cold outside I still enjoy a bowl now and again.

The toppings for ice cream are boggling, ranging from sauces such as chocolate, toffee, strawberry, raspberry, caramel, cherry. Then food toppings such as, whipped cream, nuts, cherries, wine gums, more chocolate, marshmallows, sprinkles, an endless list of possibilities.

I believe the all-round favourite ice cream for most people has to be Ben and Jerry’s. With over 50 different flavours, Ben and Jerry’s is one of the best ice cream brands worldwide. Even when you think that all the possible ice cream flavours have been made, Ben and Jerry’s come out of no-where and hit you with another. 

Their new ‘Core’ flavours consist of two flavours of icecream that are magically separated by a soft centre of caramel, chocolate or raspberry jam. My personal favourite is the Karamel Sutra, chunky chocolate ice cream and caramel ice cream with a parting of soft caramel.   They have proven their outstanding method of thinking outside of the box and creating magical products with ice cream.

The Weight of Being a Girl

Weight seems to be a huge importance to girls. It does effect guys, but in a completely different approach. Whereas men focus on their weight by body building, women focus on losing weight. To help them become slimmer and feel more confident about themselves. However there is an approach that all women should take. To just eat right and exercise regularly.

Even though I say this I don’t always take my own advice. I am one that sometimes if I eat a big slice of cake I will normally miss lunch or dinner as I feel that I have already eaten too much. I also have a tendency to do around 100 sit ups if I eat something really bad for me. Yes I know it is just easier to eat healthily but you can’t help it when the body craves bad food. Although this is a bad way to eat for my body it makes me feel better about myself and that is very important. To feel confident in your own body is extremely difficult for a girl. We are always criticized; don’t be too thin, or fat, short or tall, don’t wear unflattering clothing or tight clothing, it’s very difficult to be perfect in this world.

The amount of pills out there just to help weight loss is ridiculous and just isn’t needed. Yes I have my times of browsing through websites to see if I could find something to help me lose weight quickly. But then I just realised, what is the point? Who am I trying to impress?

Media today never helps as well. As I am sure most of you are aware, the media rips models bodies to pieces, the amount people are photoshopped to look as though they have the perfect body, is not only cruel but humiliating for girls like me that feel that we have to live up to this expectation. When watching your favourite TV show and seeing the female characters on it have fantastic bodies makes me jealous and self-conscious.

Even though at the moment I am happy with my appearance and I exercise regularly so that I feel confident with my figure, I still have those days where I feel inferior to everybody else and worry about my weight. 

The Other Woman

As a woman, I am very looking forward to The Other Woman being released on 25^th April 2014. The story line of this comedy romance is about a woman who realises she is not her boyfriend’s main lover. The plot unravels when she discovers that he is married and also has another girlfriend. With these three women meeting, they join together to take revenge and use the mans trust against him. With actors such as Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, Kate Upton and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau being in the cast, hopefully the film will be extremely entertaining. With Nicki Minaj being casted for a role as well, it has already illustrated the success of comedy for the film. 

The Power of Time

How is it that time moves so fast? Everyday gets away from us so quickly. Already my first term is nearing the end, I’m in my last week and it feels like yesterday I just started my brand new university. It really does make me realise how precious time is.

It saddens me sometimes when weekends go quickly. As those are the times to see family, friends, loved ones. It saddens me, how ever much you plan beforehand, it always speeds up and escapes from you. Even though you can look back and remember the wonderful memories that have happened in your life, you wonder, why can’t the days last longer? Why does everything speed up when you are having the most fun or finally relaxing for that short period of time you have?

Also, when working time seems to escape from you. How has it been 2 hours and all I have written is a paragraph? I constantly find myself asking that question. I am not one to procrastinate, when I’m given work I always do it on the day, but I still struggle with time and trying to fit everything in. Sometimes I wish we had more hours in the day so I could do more, and maybe have a few extra hours in bed. But time always seems to be against you.

In many cases I have found time to go very quickly, however there have been others where time goes extremely slow. Sometimes in a good situation, mainly in negative ones. Last week was a negative time especially for me, being ill all I wanted was to be better again, but everything seemed to be going so slowly. My body was taking forever to recover and time was dragging on, so when I wanted to sleep I had to wait otherwise I wouldn’t sleep during the night. I’m guessing this has happened to lots of other people as well. The worst case is when you are waiting for that weekend when you can go home and see your family, friend, boyfriend, and every day just seems to tease you with time as it ticks on so slowly. It’s cruel.

Even though I moan, I have made some fantastic memories in my life, even though time speeds everything, my mind still remembers it all. 

Mother and Daughter Time

I have to say, the best part about coming home, is being able to sit with my mum and watch a brilliant TV series, ‘As Time Goes By’.  With Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer as the main characters, the show was never going to be boring.

A British, romantic series about two lovers that were separated when they were young, but meet each other again years later and continue their life together.  

Every time I return home, whether it be for the holiday’s or just for a weekend escape, we always sit down when having a coffee break or eating our dessert  to watch As Time Goes By. Even though we have watched all 9 series many times over, it always makes us laugh. I remember the first time I watched it with my mum, I was in hysterics, and she was in hysterics because I was. From then on it’s been our little thing that we always do together, besides shopping, Café Nero and general chattering.

Café Nero has always been a big thing for my mum and me. Whenever we go anywhere to shop, Basingstoke, Winchester, Salisbury, we have to find a Café Nero. It is our perfect little place to have a coffee, tea for me, and a good pastry. We will now and again settle for Costa Coffee, but Nero is our place to go. We have struggled in Buckingham to find a new coffee shop, as there are no high street ones, Buckingham has local coffee shops. However, we do not give in, each time my mum visits me we try out each one to decide on the best.

It’s mother and daughter time. 

The Power of Advertisement

The one thing that companies can do to promote their brands, products, reputation, is to advertise. Sometimes it can be as simple as word of mouth, mainly illustrated by social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Skype etc. Other ways to advertise are television, radio, magazines, newspapers, billboards, collaborating with another brand, the list just goes on. However, it isn’t how you advertise it is the way you advertise. Is your message getting across the way you want it to?

The starting point is always, who is your target market. If you are advertising for adults, make sure it is in magazines that adults will read, or make sure it is on channels that are for an older audience, or if it is on the radio, have it on in the morning when people are driving to work. It is as simple as that. Familiarise your audience with your product.

A personal example of a terrible advert has to be this guy.

There is too much continuous repetition and it has been badly overplayed. I think it has definitely got on everyone’s nerves now and again. Yes it was funny the first time, but please, spice it up a little. I will give them credit that now everyone knows who they are, but it has not come off in a particularly credited way.

A company that has amused me with their new advertisement and slogan is O2.

Their recent decision to ‘Be More Dog’ has shown a massively humorous approach from O2, and has considered a wide audience. Even though it might not have been aimed towards cat lovers I bet it has brought a smile to their faces.  

Of course it does all come down to budget as well, the bigger the budget, the better the advertisement. But when a person changes their opinion on a brand or product due to its advertisement, you know you have done a good job. 

Being Ill and Coming Home

I find it difficult being away from home. When living in Nottingham it was extremely hard for me as I couldn’t hop on a train and be home in 2 hours. It was a 4 and a half hour journey. Living in Buckingham has made things a lot easier for being closer to home. This is extremely nice in this certain case, as I have been ill for the past week and needed some tender loving care.

Unfortunately having a very sore throat means I haven’t been able to appreciate my mother’s home made cooking yet. I’m hoping that finally being able to go to the doctors, as Buckingham doctors are appalling, will answer my questions of what is wrong with me. Hopefully a nice dose of antibiotics will do the trick.

•  Just to point out, for those who wish to understand my previous comment of Buckingham Doctors, they are absolutely dreadful. I had not registered with the doctors, but as I was in a lot of pain and suffering with a migraine as well, a friend of mine helped me by organising an appointment with our local doctors. They said I could come down but I would have to register first. I arrived and they refused to see me as I didn’t have my student ID. An absolutely outrageous reason not to see a patient. Baring in mind I was standing there red hot and in pain from swallowing my own saliva, they still wouldn’t see me and turned me away.

Very glad I am home now. 

Paper = Elephant?

Looking back, I remember sitting in one of my Secondary School classes - probably maths- being exceedingly bored. Being this bored I would create different animals/objects out of sheets of paper, a box, swan and my personal favourite, the origami fortune teller.  

I believe you could sit me in an empty room, with a stack of paper, and I would be absolutely fine. However the creations people make from a piece of paper really is ridiculous, for example this elephant:
http://home.bt.com/news/oddnews/origami-master-folds-lifesize-elephant-video-11363883995404

One sheet of paper, that is all it took to create this life size animal.  By the end of the art piece it was three metres tall and weighed 100 kg. It took dozens of helpers and it was formed over a  4 week period. The end result is a beautiful masterpiece of our lands beast.

How someone found the time to create this masterpiece maybe shows they don't really get out much. But they definitely made me aware that maths is needed to help with beautiful pieces, such as this one.

Maybe I should have paid a bit more attention in my classes.

Cadbury Keeps Music Going

As I seem to be updating you all on my passion for Cadbury's adverts, mainly looking into their musical, humorous features, this is another advert from January 2014. Even though this particular advert is around one minute long, it still has the classical musical phenomenon towards the advert.

This particular advert has a logistics manager as the main protagonist. His squinting eyes and comical shaped moustache immediately creates the comedy genre of the advert. After a bite of Cadbury's chocolate the musical beat takes over. Forgetting that everyone is aware of his presence in the work environment, he lip syncs and jiggles to Baccara, ‘Yes sir I can Boogie’.

A classic song known for a classic chocolate.

FreetheJoy

Young and in Love

Everyone seems to have an opinion of 19-year-olds. Young, kids who are only interested in sex and alcohol. Whether that being at University or on a gap year. That isn’t the case for me.

People say we should experience whatever we can when we are young. However, no one took into consideration experiencing love. That feeling of a smile growing bigger on your face when they look at you, your heart pounding when they touch you, a large feel of emotion towards them, to protect and standby them, no matter what.

I’ve always been told that I’m lucky.  To have found such a perfect person at the age of 16. I know that a lot of people are going to read this and think, what a load of dribble, doesn’t happen that young, or it definitely won’t last. But why can’t it? And if it doesn’t, well that is my problem. If I look back on my life and feel the exact same way as I do now with another person, then I know I will be fine.

Part of me wishes that I hadn’t fallen in love so early, but then I think, well what kind of person would I be if I hadn’t. Who I’m with is me now, he has changed me into a better person, and vice versa. We bring out the best in each other. I can’t imagine going back to my life before him. Just doesn’t feel possible. Doesn’t feel normal.

Already we have lasted a year at different Universities together. He’s at Exeter and I was at Nottingham Trent, around a 5 and a half hour train journey. Visits were not very often. But we managed, with each of us putting in effort and being considerate of the other one if they were busy and socialising, we coped extremely well.

I don’t know where the future will take us, but right now I’m happy, I’m young and I’m in love for the first time. 

Monuments Men

Monuments Men, a film full of culture, history and sadness. Based in World War II, this film watches 7 men take on a mission to return historic artefacts back to their rightful places. These artefacts were stolen by Nazi thieves and hidden. The German army were under strict orders to destroy all these masterpieces if Germany fell.

George Clooney produced and directed this true story, he created a film that portrayed the essence and passion of art in each countries eyes. He proved just how much effort and sacrifice these men went through to retrieve the world’s most precious and meaningful pieces.

Even though the seriousness of this story was brought out, the writing from George Clooney and Grant Heslov created a humorous and positive relationship between the men involved. This helped through the particular casting, with  Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville and Cate Blanchett.

Some might argue that the humorous quality defects the serious notion of this film, however it does not lack in the Monuments Men bravery and team work to bring back rightful, artistic pieces, to their owners.

Fluffy Poodle Takes the Trophy on Crufts

Who would have thought that Ricky, the standard poodle, wold take Best in Show, at this year’s Crufts dog show. With only two-years of age, this dog stole the show with his beauty and agility. His stunning large posture and beautifully fluffed up coat would catch anybody’s eyes.

Jason Lynn handled Ricky at the event and brought him to victory.  An excellent dog to win Crufts for 2014.

In second place was a  beautiful snow white Samoyed called Dan the Man.

This championship show for dogs is the biggest dog show in the world. The past four days has seen some intense judging on dogs’ agility, breed and figure. Crufts brought in 22000 dogs from 45 different countries. 194 dog breeds came from around the world to Birmingham, where this competition took place.

Crufts is hosted and organised by The Kennel Club, which is a registration that focuses on canine activities.

This fantastic dog show illustrates the beautiful relationship between dogs and their owners.

Thinking Too Far Out of the Box

Every now and again I read articles in the newspaper that utterly surprise me. Some shocking me in a good way, others for terrible reasons and some that are ridiculous.

This week I read an article on BBC News called, “Can an ‘electronic lollipop’ simulate taste?” (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26487218).  It is supposed to be used to fill every one of your senses when you are watching a TV programme or reading a recipe book. So what you see, you will also taste. Of course my first reaction to this was to read it, I wanted to know how a machine could create taste. However watching the report showed me how people really do waste their time in life.

This contraption is basically two bits of metal that are placed on top and underneath the tongue. An electronic signal is sent through to trick people’s taste buds. However, it only has four of the five basic tastes, these are: salty, sweet, sour and bitter. So what happens if you have found something that requires the fifth basic taste, umami (savory)? You’ll just have to ignore what you wanted.

So not only would you be sitting at your laptop looking absolutely ridiculous, with two bits of metal stuck to your tongue, but you might not actually get the full flavoured taste of what you’re looking at.

I do appreciate the concept of the idea, but seriously, when is this going to become useful for people? Why are scientists at the National University of Singapore creating this? 

Cadbury's is still humorous

From my previous post ‘Egg ‘n’ Spoon’, an analysis of Cadbury’s advert, explains how Cadbury has always had a focus and theme of music.

This theory has been emphasised through their newest advert with James Corden releasing an instant moment of joy.

James Corden performs an amazing lip-sync, through the streets of London, to Estelle’s song ‘Free’. A noticeable feature is how Cadbury has included a splash of purple colour in the background of every frame to continuously relate the advert back to Cadbury’s. This is shown by objects and pieces of clothing being purple, such as, headphones, tie, hat, gloves, sign, building, umbrella and even a telephone box.

Including the actor Corden was a positive collaboration for Cadbury’s, as he is so well known for his comical acting. He creates a humorous approach towards the advert.

Having a celebrity endorsement is a helpful attribute for a company to help promote their product to a large audience. As Cadbury’s have been around for so long it doesn’t desperately need a celebrity endorsement. However having one does increase people’s awareness of the products being sold.

As Cadbury’s adverts have been made in a humorous and comical approach, they are able to aim towards a large market group. Audiences ranging from young children, to adults. 

‘a GLASS and a HALF FULL of JOY’

A Morning is Never Fulfilled Without a Cup of Tea

About three years ago I always repulsed tea and coffee. Now I have become obsessed with drinking tea, coffee is still not on my agenda to have every day.

Traditional British tea is a perfect way to start my morning. Especially from the superior brand Twinings. Earl Grey, English breakfast and Assam tea are three of my favourites. All these teas are extremely tasty with a little bit of milk and a sugar, it is absolutely tranquil.  Typically British accompaniments to a cup of tea are of course the well-known custard creams, or for a classic afternoon tea, scone with jam and cream.

I have also started to take a liking to green tea, a Japanese tea, to help fasten the metabolism. Instead of just drinking green tea I have branched out to drinking green tea with cranberry. The cranberry in this drink helps to flush away any toxins that are in the body. I would thoroughly recommend this drink for those with a very slow metabolism.

Has Heston Lost His Flair?

His scientific experiment with food has made Heston Blumenthal a culinary genius over the years. His un-conventional methods saw him create some inspirational, whacky and surprising dishes. His 3 Michelin star restaurant The Fat Duck showed people his reinterpretation on British cuisines. With dishes such as snail porridge, "Sounds of the Sea" and powered Anjou pigeon, really showing off Blumenthal’s witty but brilliant mind.

He created mind blowing dishes and experimented to enlarge foods to an unknown scale. Creating TV shows such as ‘Heston’sFantastical Food’ and ‘Heston’s Feasts’.

However the experimental genious doesn’t always get his ingredients right. In 2009 The Fat Duck was closed down due to diners and staff becoming sick with the norovirus, a common stomach bug. However this has occurred again this year, but it was his two Michelin-starred Dinner at the Mandarin Oriental hotel on Hyde Park in London this time. An article written for News London (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-26006223) wrote that, ‘A total of 24 diners and 21 members of staff were taken ill’.

Has his culnery genious lost his touch with creating taste sensations? Or is he experimenting too far?

PANCAKES

As I am doing a blog every day, today seemed very appropriate to write about Shrove Tuesday, aka Pancake Day.

Instead of writing lots of recipes and examples of what you can put on top of pancakes, (Hint – lemon and sugar, chocolate and banana, maple syrup and strawberries – Just saying) I have decided to talk a little bit about the history of Shrove Tuesday.

Shrove Tuesday is a Christian tradition for people to confess their sins. The word Shrove comes from the English word shrive which means confess. It is for Christians’ to ask for God’s support to help them with their changes or corrections in life.

Pancakes were made to use up rich food before Lent. People would traditionally fast instead of giving up one thing for lent. People would not eat pleasurable food.

Many celebrate Pancake Day by making pancakes, traditionally there is also an annual pancake race done in many places. Many races are to raise money for charities; these races bring everyone together and create a truly memorable day.

‘How do you like your eggs in the morning?’

‘How do you like your eggs in the morning?’

When making my meal of dippy egg and soldiers I was amazed at how many meals you could actually make with just an egg and a piece of bread. 

Poached eggs on toast, scrambled eggs on toast, eggy bread,  fried eggs, egg salad and so many more. All are extremely simple meals to make. With only 77 calories in one egg, they are one of the healthiest foods we have.

A good, healthy meal has always been a good omelette. They are always an easy meal to make when you have eggs left over in your fridge. Anything can go into an omelette, aubergine, ham, cheese, tomato, anything can go into an omelette and make it taste good.

These meals are all exceptionally cheap, especially for a student.  

The Olson Twins

Ever since I was little, I have always loved Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. I used to collect all of their DVD’s, even the ones from when they were children. Also I would always try and watch their TV programme ‘Two of a Kind’.

The Olsen twins started acting when they were infants. Throughout their years they have always been seen as naturally beautiful and have a good sense of style. Once they were 18 they produced a film called ‘New York Minute’, which they of course acted in. They finished their acting career then moved on to focus on fashion designing.

Mary-Kate was labelled in New York as a fashion icon with her boho-chic appearance, of oversized sunglasses boots and flowing skirts.

Luxury fashion brands such as The Row and Elizabeth andJames were set up by the Olson twins. Their recent Spring 2014 collection, has shown their designs, in both brands, extremely elegant and sophisticated. Their Elizabeth and James brand includes an authoritative, army-green coloured garments, along with a thick gold chain as an accessory. Their use of navy, white and black colours, illustrate their simplicity and elegance towards the line.

The Row brand, uses similar simplistic colours, also including a lot of burgundy red, conveying a sense of heat and urban imagery.

Overall the Olson twins have always been an inspiration for young girls, for their style and young acting careers. I’m sure they will both pick up their acting career in the near future.