WINOL (week two)

Unfortunately this week i was absent due to "garden flu" the lesser known form of Swine Flu and spent the week in bed unable to move!

For week three i hope to feel better and help the team get lots of stories and help out in order to make up for missing week 2!

WINOL (week one)

WINOL has arrived...!

Having secured a job on the sports team, i looked forward to the week ahead, and my first taste of proper journalism action at the university! I immediately set about securing stories for the team and even managed to uncover some information about a potential protest by the students of the university regarding the sports times allocated to university teams at the local Winchester Sports stadium. Maxine took this story off my hands as Mark and her decided it was more news worthy , although i helped them obtain an interview with Jez Davis the vice president of the university.

On Tuesday 3rd November, myself , Mark and Grant set off to get a match report and footage of the New Milton FC VS Winchester FC football match.

We drove in the cold and rain over an hour down the coast to Fawcett's Field the home of New Milton FC and promptly set up our cameras in the sound and did all the necessary checks.

We braved the weather and captured some good footage in what was a relatively dull affair until Winchester notched a winner late on in the game, securing a valuable three points.

We managed to get an interview with the Winchester manager Stu Hussey, who was understandably delighted with the win

The following day the tape was edited and Grant did his voice over, and voi la the piece was completed. Success in the first week!

Overall, i enjoyed the experience , and am slowly gaining more confidence with the cameras however my editing is something i need to work  on as i am a complete technophobe and haven't the foggiest with Final Cut Pro.

For next week my aims are to make sure i have more stories and to continue trying to improve my editing. 

Over and out

Ulysses by James Joyce - A Student's Review...!

After reading the novel, which i actually found quite tasking due to the complex nature of the novel's aims, i decided to scour the internet for professional reviews in the hope of allowing me to gain a further understanding of what the novel symbolized.

After reading it, my general view was that the novel was slightly satirical and completely went against the literary conventions at the time it was written. It attacked the causes of World War I and those responsible for it.

1922 was a key year in the history of English-language literary modernism with the appearance Joyce's novel Ulysses and T.S. Eliot's poem, 'The Waste Land'. T.S. Eliot, was an American poet who had lived in London, and his powerful poetry gave modernism a new channel to direct its messages to the public through.

When reading the novel i noticed that each chapter of Ulysses employs a different literary style, referring to a specific episode in Homer's 'Odyssey', and has a specific colour, art or science and bodily organ associated with it. The formal writing, schematic structure of the novel, and the constant comparison to Homer's 'Odyssey' are all examples of the major contributions Joyce made to the development of 20th century modernist literature.

The novel uses several different themes and below i have tried to link in some examples in the book to the themes i think are portrayed throughout the novel :

Infidelity (Molly Bloom and Blazes Boylan)
Guilt (Stephen Dedalus and His Mother)
Anti-Semitism (The Citizen Insulting Bloom)
The Influence of Shakespeare at the time of the novel(Dedalus and His Shakespeare Theory)
Sexual Temptation (Bloom Ogling Gerty Macdowell and Others)
Religion and its Influence (Numerous References and Allusions)
Camaraderie (Bar Scenes, Bloom and Dedalus)

Before i read the novel, i was unaware of the true meaning of modernism when it was referring to famous authors so i got out the trusty old dictionary perched on the end of my bookshelf and found out the definition, Modernism = Modern thought, character, or practice.

My view is that the 'Modernism' Joyce was involved in was a revolt against traditional literary forms and subjects that manifested itself strongly after the destruction of World War I.

It's clear to see from the novel, that Joyce was an extremely optimistic modernist. His technical innovations and use of language are largely responsible for the modern novel that represents a break with the traditional naturalistic novels of the 18th and 19th centuries of Henry Fielding, Charles Dickens, Gustave Flaubert and Daniel Defoe among many others.

A book review of Ulysses published in the New York Times calls the novel "the most important contribution that has been made to fictional literature in the twentieth century.It is likely that there is no one writing English today that could parallel Joyce's feat, and it is also likely that few would care to do it if they were capable."

In my mind there is no doubt that the novel was a significant development in the history and context of literature that has shaped the way we as journalists write and think, as without the English language, journalists are nothing. Joyce's refusal to conform to literary conventions at the time make the novel what it is, and prove him as a modernist writer.

Overall, whilst the read was tasking, i feel i have benefited from reading Ulysses, as it was a different type of novel to my average read and the only comparison i can think of would be to Don Juan by Lord Byron, which for those of you who don't know is a satirical collection of poems that capture the voyage of Don Juan a serial womaniser and trickster across Europe.

I now look forward to reading the next novel, and am finally feeling satisfied within myself and the course.

Would appreciate some feedback from others to see if they agree with my views on the novel..!

New Academic Year

So that time has come again, we are back at university, back in annoying 9am lectures, but for some reason i'm slightly optimistic about the forthcoming year.
The course seems to be much more organised and has a visible structure unlike last year and this has left me full of optimism as to what lies ahead.
So here we go, don't let me down Journalism!

Shadid Malik owns up -How many more?

Taken from bbc.co.uk :

Allegations about MPs' allowances are to be examined by a panel of police officers and lawyers amid growing calls for action over the expenses scandal.

Met officers and Crown Prosecution Service lawyers will look at complaints made against individual MPs to see if they merit a criminal investigation.

Labour minister Shahid Malik stood down on Friday pending an inquiry into his expenses, and has defended his actions.

MPs from all parties have repaid thousands of pounds for claims made.

A week after the Daily Telegraph began publishing details of expense claims, many MPs felt events were now "spiralling out of control", said BBC political correspondent Jo Coburn.

TYPICAL , whilst the rest of us sit here in a economic crisis , making a hard honest living, the SCUM we are obliged to adhere to break rules and spend OUR money. And the UK is a fair democracy - my arse! Pardon my french but im fed up of these ignorant no good politicians living the life whilst the rest of us honest people suffer.

Hence why for my politics essay i have decided to answer the question : It has been asserted (by Lord Hailsham and others) that the UK is not a democracy but that it is an elective dictatorship. To what extent is this true, and if it is true, does it matter?

YES ITS TRUE AND OF COURSE IT BLOODY MATTERS!!

Post 1900 Politics

Right back from the very first lecture where we discussed Jean Jacques Rousseau, a French Politician and Tom Wolfe, one of the founders of the New Journalism movement in the 1960's and 70's i have been thinking of the relevance of discussing politics from this period of time in reference to the politicians of today. 

Of course its important to have an understanding of the foundations of the politics that todays society are built on however i'm of the opinion that today's politics are completely different to how they were in the early 1900's. The change in tactics and different politics goes hand in hand with evolution of society, however i believe that studying individual politicians today would be far more interesting and beneficial rather than discussing the likes of Tom Wolfe etc. 

I would far rather discuss current political parties plans etc than to previous politicians , as personally i think it would benefit all of us if we knew more about the politics hidden within journalism.

I believe this because todays society has to be so politically correct its unreal. A politician in Tom Wolfe's time could air his views on anything and had his freedom of speech, however, if any politician from any party was to air his own views and plans in todays society, they would be frowned upon and most likely action would be taken against the offender. This controversy makes for good debate and would allow others to gain a greater understanding of the different political parties within the UK.

Whilst i enjoy learning about politics as i think its quite intellectual and allows for good healthy debate i question its relevance to our course in some ways. Whilst politics are pivotal within Journalism i don't believe that early 1900's politicians are necessarily applicable to the modern political agenda. 

Thoughts please...

Monday Media Lectures

Does anyone even like these? Or think they are in the smallest way relevant to our course?

Tuesday Lectures

Now i know there has been a lot of debate amongst journalism students about Tuesday lectures with the legend that is Chris Horrie. Most students have been saying that the lectures about religion (A-Priori and Empericism) are a waste of time however, whilst i'm not a fan of religion and am agnostic, i think the lectures do provoke some interesting and intelligent debate. We as students are now documenting our thoughts on any subject or topic via these blog websites, and i am thoroughly enjoying the use of the Internet within the course. Thumbs up Chris , but can i request some more sporting debates rather than religion? A guy can dream can't he....?

Student Union Elections

Now, i fully understand the reason behind the elections and understand the positions people are running for are important and integral to the university and how it is run. However, the ways in which people go about trying to get you to vote for them seem to be a tad extreme. I think interviews should be conducted with each candidate recorded and put on to the winchester site for people to watch in their own time and at their own will rather than being disturbed and being spoken to with salesmans' tactics...

Sports Journalism

The subject of sports journalism has me completely bemused...

In our first semester here, we learnt about libel, slander, defamation etc and i thought i had got to grips with it with the help of the Mc Nae's law book. When a reporter is writing a piece on a celebrity or just any story there are certain areas that they have to be extremely careful....

However, it seems to me that with sports writers, the same rules don't apply, some of the transfer stories that appear in The Sun and The News Of The World are simply moronic and don't have an ounce of truth in them, yet they get printed and nothing comes of it?

Please someone explain to me why?