However, I want to share this with you. Last Saturday I was out and about my beautiful home town of Brighton, and I saw (and immediately had to acquire) this awesome journal.

Here’s a picture of the cover.

And here’s a picture of the inside (note that the Comments Section is disabled. Hehehehehe.)

Love this journal. Haven’t used it yet, but surely will start any day now. Go get it for old school blogging i.e. diary writing on – shock horror – paper, without – double shock horror – anyone else reading or commenting it. Wow!

Hallo Iris,

ich weiß nicht inwieweit du über die Geschehnisse hier in Wien bescheid weißt (kommt wahrscheinlich immer darauf an auf welchem Teil der Erde du dich gerade tummelst ),
aber hier wird seit Donnerstag der Audimax der Uni Wien von einigen/vielen StudentInnen bestetzt (die Bildende ist bereits seit Dienstag besetzt). Das ansich ist vermutlich nicht so spannend, ABER das was für dich von Interesse sein könnte ist, dass das ganze meiner Meinung nach – für so eine kurze Zeit – ziemlich gut von der Social Media Seite her aufgezogen wurde:
D.h. zuerst gab es eine Demo, dann wurde der Audimax besetzt und kurz darauf gab es eine Website, einen Blog, es wird ständig getwittert, es gibt eine facebook-Seite und einen Live Stream (immer wenn ein Plenum abgehalten wird bzw. vorhin gab es gerade einen Vortrag von einem englischen Professor). Verschiedenste Leute posten auch immer wieder Fotos auf flickr (Stichworte: unibrennt, audimax) Abgesehen davon ist seit Donnerstag jemand vom Standard vor Ort und beschreibt das geschehen beinahe viertelstündlich.
Diese Online-Aktivitäten und die Kontakte der Studierenden haben dazu geführt, dass es mittlerweile Solidarisierungen aus dem In- und Ausland gibt und die ZIB bereits darüber berichtet hat.

Roughly translated, this is what she said:

Hi Iris,

not sure how much you know about what’s happening here in Vienna at the moment (probably also depends where in the world you are;)), but the Audimax (the big lecture hall at Vienna University, it holds about 1000 students) has been occupied by a growing number of students since last Thursday. That’s not that exciting, but what might interest you is how this has been organised using Social Media: first there was a demo, then the Audimax was occupied, shortly after there was a website and a blog, people are constantly tweeting, there’s a facebook page and a live stream (each time there is a discussion). People are also posting pictures on flickr (tagging them unibrennt, audimax). Since Thursday there has also been someone from Der Standard there who is covering what’s happening, almost every fifteen minutes.

There online activities and the student’s contacs have led to international and national student solidarity, and the ZIB (the evening news on Austian National TV) have also covered the occupation.

Marion also sent through some links.

http://freiebildung.at/wordpress/   –> blog with all infos and the student’s demands

http://audimax.ie.bagru.at/           –> the website of  the student base, where twitter, live-stream and chat can be found
http://twitter.com/Unibrennt          –> Twitter account
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Audimax-Besetzung-in-der-Uni-Wien-Die-Uni-brennt/158948343468  –> facebook page
http://derstandard.at/fs/r1035/Uni –> Der Standard coverage
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/unsereuni   –> Live stream

Check them out if you want to follow this, I think it is really very interesting in terms of how fast movements can get media coverage with no big PR force behind them. And how quickly things can spill into mainstream media. Cheers Marion for the interesting news!

And I don’t have anything bad to say against this picture

- even the heels – hell, if that kid is wearing them and not kicking them off, go for it. Put on stilts! Get a tattoo early on! But the commentary??? Yuk, yuk, puking my guts out, yuk! I can barely copy/paste that into here, it’s that retarded. But before you go over to their retarded website and give them just one more hit on that story, I’d rather keep you here and NEVER EVER link to it. So, this is the cringeworthy commentary from INF Daily:

If there’s such a thing as a fashion icon for kids, then Suri Cruise is way ahead of any other celebrity offspring currently on the scene.

This little cutie has really got it down when it comes to putting together a cool outfit that the paparazzi wants to see.

And when Suri decided to go shopping with her mom Katie Holmes today, she showed she really has got style and taste.

Who would put high heels a ra-ra skirt and a stuffed elephant in the same ensemble? GENIOUS!

If you excuse me, I will go and post this as a comment on that retarded website now. And then never look at it again, ever, ever, ever! No matter how often Huff Post tries to get me there.

Coming out October 2nd in the US, this is compulsory viewing for the readers of this blog. Though I think that Michael Moore doesn’t convey as much information and background in his docos as the guys behind the fantastic The Corporation, or Enron, he does a very good job at making a point to a wider audience (which normally might not think about these things quite so much), and a good one at that. Go see this movie!

Truth is, I don’t own a Dirndl – yet! I am gonna buy one with my friend Eva in August, because having been an ex-pat for over 5 years now I really need one. I do sing, and I’d like to say quite well (at least when I and everybody around me are drunk), but not that randomly, and certainly not in a yodelling fashion (though I would love to be able to do that). And: before I moved to New Zealand, I had never, ever seen the Sound of Music before. Shocking, I know! Especially as a media theorist/activist I feel it is my obligation to watch, deconstruct and churn out what it means to people on an individual level and on a shared consciousness level with all sorts of products of popular culture.

Well, I finally did watch it 3 years ago. And something never quite sat right with me. Why on earth is that movie so popular? Ok, Julie Andrews twirling is beautiful. I knew the songs by heart after just seeing this thing once. For a movie geek like me: first big scale aerial shot at the beginning of the movie: that is pretty awesome. As movie goers, we do have a good excuse to watch it: wholesome family-ness resisting evil Nazis. But it is a pile of crap, really.

Now, Matthew just sent me this video, and this guy is totally onto something here. It pretty much sums up the underlying awefulness and twistedness of the visual messages in The Sound of Music. Watch it, remember the movie, and go “aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!”

Watch this beautiful Disaster Porn 2012 extravaganza. If that doesn’t sell you on going and seeing it, I don’t know what will. November 13th! Marked in my calendar.

Anyway, David Bowie: I will get to play with another one of his awesome songs, and you can play, too: Space Oddity is being re-released in remixable tracks to commemorate the 40-year moonlanding anniversary (has it only been 40 years? Seems more like 60 to me…). Coming out July 20th.