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Under (or over) the influence

The difference between a celebrity and an influencer I’m not sure when we stopped using the word celebrity…
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The bottled water ad I keep thinking about

Cool Ridge has an ad campaign with the tagline "When you can/When you can't". It both offended and intrigued me. And it got me thinking about the ethics of bottled water and why we do (or don't) good.
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To tweet or not to tweet?

Sometimes I wish I was good at Twitter. It would be proof that I'm not just intelligent but super witty and have something to say about the state of the universe. There may be no "I" in team, but there is definitely "wit" in Twitter. If I was a tweeter, here's what I would tweet Here are a few things that have crossed my mind to tweet but never made it to the Twittersphere ...
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Converse and convert

I stumbled upon an interesting website this week. In the wake of the failed plebiscite and planned postal…
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Half-time: the benefits of alcohol

I'm halfway through my commitment to match my charitable giving with my alcohol spending. See how much I've paid for booze so far. And see which charities are going to be better off for it!
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Australia: Not the place I thought you were

The other day after work, I was flowing with the peak hour crowd down Anzac Parade, when I witnessed something awful. An Aboriginal man was heckling and shoving an East Asian man. The Indigenous guy was yelling obscenities and things like "Go back to where you came from!" to the suited up Asian guy, who was trying, literally, to shake him off. That was Awkward thing Number 1. People just watched. And did nothing. That was Awkward thing Number 2. By people, I mean mainly Asian people. The University of New South Wales appears to be predominantly Asian, even the law faculty - a contrast with the College of Law at my own alma mater. That was Awkward thing Number 3. And I did nothing because, frankly, I'm both Asian and female. I actually thought I might get hit. That was Awkward thing Number 4. It made me think about how Australia is not the place I thought it was when I was little.
Re-entry. Still from the movie Gravity.
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We the Internauts

I love the word internauta. The English translation is “internet user” – an accurate but boring term. The…
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Making fashion ethical, and ethics fashionable

The 2017 Ethical Fashion Report is out today. I had the great privilege and pleasure of being part of Baptist World Aid's research team. Read the report ... and read some of my reflections, about what I've learned and why ethics in fashion matters.
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The problem with American

Last week, on my flight from New York back to Sydney, I binge watched Season 1 of The Newsroom. It’s a series created by Aaron Sorkin, the guy behind The West Wing, with Jeff Daniels playing Will McAvoy, an anchorman on cable news. In the opening scene of the series pilot, Will is on a panel with a Democrat and a Republican at a university, when a student asks the panel: “What makes America the greatest country in the world?” The question triggers an epic and rousing outburst from Will, who dresses down both major political parties and rails about why America is no longer the greatest country on earth. “But it could be”, he then says in softer tones. That first season of The Newsroom aired in 2012, before Donald Trump ever campaigned for president, promising to “make America great again”. Coincidence? I doubt it.
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My love-hate relationship with reality TV and the concept of marriage

Commercial TV is an evil genius. I don’t watch much of it these days, but somehow I got suckered into Married At First Sight. It’s just, y’know, I’m making dinner and my housemate likes to unwind in front of the box. So there I am, innocently frying my fish when she begins hooting with laughter. So I get drawn away from the stove (I am a walking fire hazard) and find it’s that show the boys were talking about the other day. The one I made fun of them about. When they refer to the battle for the watercooler, this is exactly what they’re on about. Commercial TV has perfected the art of balancing the ridiculous and the relatable, the beautiful and the ugly, attraction and revulsion, to create programs like this. Shows you love to hate on and hate yourself for loving. Shows you can’t help but talk about. Like I’m doing right now, on the night of Valentine’s Day, incidentally.
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Any sport will do: absurd but awesome

I love sport both on an emotional and a philosophical level. Here’s why. I love the contradictions in sport. I love how it is rational yet irrational, meaningless yet so imbued with significance, universal yet elite, aggressive and divisive yet a unifying force.
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Sorry, what do you mean?

I’ve been considering whether National Sorry Day would be more or less controversial if we spoke Spanish. There…

Bryan Adams v Joe Hockey

What can I say, I’ve always had impeccable music taste. But no, seriously – I haven’t posted this…
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Self-censored

I’ve always valued my education, and I know a significant part of my identity and beliefs are shaped…

boring Christian music

This afternoon, for the first time in a long time, I listened to Christian radio.  And tried to…