We the Internauts
I love the word internauta. The English translation is “internet user” – an accurate but boring term. The…
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sorry, what do you mean?
I’ve been considering whether National Sorry Day would be more or less controversial if we spoke Spanish. There…
Old people push up charity overheads
I spent all of Friday afternoon handwriting Christmas cards to people I don’t know. A regular day at work…
Why finding a house is like finding a husband
It was my cousin’s wife who said it: Finding a house is like finding a partner. You see a…
Bryan Adams v Joe Hockey
What can I say, I’ve always had impeccable music taste. But no, seriously – I haven’t posted this…
Self-censored
I’ve always valued my education, and I know a significant part of my identity and beliefs are shaped…