Thursday, December 22, 2011

My newest creative outlet!

What's going on everyone? I'm not even sure how many people will still be reading this but if you are - I have a request. Not a big one, but one which will help me out and give me immense satisfaction.

And you all want that, right?

Well I've started a Youtube channel based around gaming. I'm sure there is at least a couple of you who are familiar with this type of thing...gameplay commentaries, montages, all that good stuff based around video game footage.

If you have a Youtube account, it would make my day if you'd head over and subscribe to my channel. I post frequently and I have been really pleased with the support I've been getting to start me off!

Anyway guys, head over, subscribe and leave some feedback if you have time! :)

http://www.youtube.com/user/AussieLoads

Cheers guys,

Loads

Thursday, September 22, 2011

New blog!

Fear not, I won't be straying from this one...although admittedly I have neglected it for months now, which upsets and concerns me to no end and I will do my best to rectify this.

But in better news - I have started a new blog. It will be very different from this one, the premise being a generally humorous and cynical observation of things that get to me. It will be possibly offensive and probably edgy, but it is all in good fun! So if you could, do us a favour and head over to check it out! If you find any sort of personal benefit from following it, please do.


Have a good weekend! Cheers,

Loads.


Sunday, September 11, 2011

Rugby World Cup 2011 - Best Parts

So it comes to that time again when 20 of the best rugby countries come together to crouch, touch, pause and engage in one of the highest regarded tournaments, this time held in New Zealand.

Being an Australian, I have high hopes in our Wallabies that they can once again do the country proud and show the world how we like to do things. But as always, there are some things about these tournaments that are highly anticipated and always entertaining. The best parts of the World Cup have to be (and in no particular order)

The New Zealand Haka
If I get tingles down my spine when I watch this, then I can't even imagine what it is like for someone who it actually means something to. While I applaud and have genuine respect for the Haka, and I think it always makes things interesting...I sincerely hope the All Blacks get whats coming to them.


Quade Cooper's sidestep
You don't see that in some of the best nightclubs in Sydney - Enough said...


Learning three times tables (watching South Africa)
No need for rote learning this stuff kids, just watch a Springboks game and as the kicking game flows just watch the scoreline and there you have it!

The Scottish National Anthem
I would just take this opportunity to give the Scots a mention (regardless of a pretty poor showing) and that listening to them give a beautiful verbal abuse to the English is always a pleasure in itself. The Famous Grouse!

The Wallabies
Being a proud Australian rugby supporter, this one was always a given. Go you good things!!


In particular I would like to send best wishes to Kurtley Beale, a fellow old boy of St Joseph's College. Watching you grow and play was a pleasure and Australia will be behind you in your first quest for World Cup glory. You'll never walk alone.

World in Union
What world cup post would be complete without the rugby anthem, and one of the reasons sport always makes itself known to be a common denominator and language across cultural, social and global divides. I have always loved this song and for it to be used so fittingly...


I look forward to seeing the Wallabies shoulder to shoulder, lifting the Web Ellis Cup to the sound of that song. As always, may the best team win (Not England).

Loads.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Around the World

So this post came about because of two things. Firstly, a request to post something as well as a thread about this that made me think it might make for a decent post.

I am going to go through a few of the more interesting places around the world I have had the pleasure of visiting. For logistic purposes, we will go chronologically...why not?

America & Canada - Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Banff & Seattle

While I was quite young (8 or so) I remember and have quite vivid memories of this trip. My most memorable part would have to be going up Grouse Mountain in Vancouver, mainly because this was my first real experience of snow, and coming from Sydney this was quite different to what I was used to.

England, Scotland & Austria
So to be honest, Austria was a bit of a side note and we really only spent a couple of days mulling around Graz and getting lost somewhere. England and Scotland was where I have most of my memories. I think some of the more impressive experiences (from my 9 year old point of view) would have had to have been Edinburgh castle as well as climbing Arthur's Seat with dad. Honestly England and London more specifically just seemed like a more crowded Sydney with shitty weather and a bit more traffic...I guess I was yet to develop an intense passion for the round ball game...

Japan
While learning Japanese starting from around age 12, I had the opportunity to visit various parts of Japan three times between 2005 and 2007. All three trips were fairly similar bar the family winter trip up north which was incredible. Spanning the country from Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Nara and Nagano I was able to witness the traditional architecture such as Himeji Castle, Kyomizudera Temples, as well as the buzzing modern parts of Tokyo such as Harajuku and Ikihabara. Naturally Hiroshima is a sobering experience, and on explaining to a Japanese man that we were Australian as he abused my father for being an 'American terrorist' one can truly scope the impact and subsequent demonstration of national integrity that came about following the unfortunate end to World War Two.

England & Spain
In 2009, quite possibly the most amazing opportunity arose in the form of a football tour to various parts of the UK as well as Barcelona. I have previously written a post about the trip but quite honestly anything I write would not do it justice. For this purpose, I am considering posting up the diary I used to account the trip in a day to day fashion. If you would be interested in this, please leave a comment and let me know!! From training at Liverpool's academy to watching Espanyol at the old Olympic stadium to playing against a team of semi-professional Welsh players...all with my best mates, it truly was one of the best two weeks of my life. Once again please leave a comment if you would like to have a look at what I got up to!

Anyway, I know this doesn't seem like much, but each place I have had the pleasure of visiting has its own individual set of memories that would be impossible to sum up in a single post. Hopefully this can kick start my involvement in my blog and give me a chance to get back into the swing of things!

Whenever, wherever you are reading this, have a good day and I will see you on the dark side. Cheers,

Loads

Monday, June 6, 2011

The things you do...

So end of semester exams start next week, and it has been quite a stretch of my procrastination abilities to draw out not studying.

Not only have I cleaned my room for the first time in several years (it got to the stage where there was a defined path from my door to my desk to my bed), but I called my boss and offered to open/close the shop today - so a day without any of the casuals in.

So yeah, exams. I finish on Saturday the 18th (yeah, a Saturday exam is less than desirable), and once that is over I'm free until the end of July (Freedom meaning more work). So once that comes along I will be posting hopefully a little more regularly.

Time to load up on energy drinks, clean my desk and learn some shit.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Rich kids have it better in life

This post was inspired by a comment made in TCS tonight, the title of this post was that comment.

So if we look at this idea, the notion that children brought up in a 'rich' environment tend to be more successful later on is an interesting one. Now if we are going to be pedantic, we can always argue that 'rich' doesn't necessarily refer to relative economic wellbeing, but for all intents and purposes (thank you Bagle), that was the intended definition and one which we will follow through with.

When it comes to the implementation of governmental economic reformist policies, there has been an emphasis on creating 'equality', and 'equal opportunity'. An example of this would be the public school system. What these fail to take into account is the place of inherited opportunity - to which the title of this post refers to. The idea that people born into economic comfort are given an irreversible 'head-start' so to speak. They have access to more. Simple.

But is it simply access to more economic capital that grants these 'rich kids' the ability to be more successful in life? I think to some extent, other factors rest on it. The idea of capital can be observed as multidimensional. While it does have a physical sense, such as money, resources, property, savings etc, there are also social and cultural dimensions that shape peoples abilities to move forward in their life.

Cultural capital refers to non-economic assets that can be used in the further production of other assets, such as education, books, and things like that. Obviously, these assets can help to ensure the maintenance of structural inequalities within a society.

Similarly, the notion of social capital refers to the idea of 'community connectedness' - or social networks/involvements. What having relationships does, is grant access to individuals and groups through durable networks, which acts as a catalyst for resource accumulation. Once again, this allows children born into such an environment to create stronger networks and hence have access to further resources. This can further be broken down into 'bonding' and 'bridging' capital, which refers respectively to the close and weak interpersonal ties we have which serve different purposes in and of themselves.

So we can see that it is not necessarily, or simply the fact that a kid is 'rich' that allows him/her to 'have it better in life', but there are several aspects (few of which I have even mentioned) of inherited advantage that allows one to progress with relative ease.

In finishing (I could go on all day), I would like to propose something further to which I encourage you to express thoughts in the comments. It is on the idea of 'habitus'. What this is, is a suggestion posed by the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, referring to the way that individuals internalise their objective chances at success. That is, people actively want to be in their inherited position regardless of the supposed affluence that is attached to it - class consciousness does not necessarily lead to a desire of class mobility. For example, children who's father is a builder often wish to follow through with a similar career path, despite the potential ability to access more lucrative sections of the labour market.

Do you think this notion of habitus is likely to determine potential success, or is it simply an abstract concept that may or may not empirically challenge the inherited opportunity detailed above?




Saturday, May 21, 2011

Just a small thing

We interrupt your day to bring you this community service announcement:

For those who comment on my posts, firstly thank you.

Just one thing, I reply to comments in a new comment. If you ask questions in your comment, I suggest subscribing via email (underneath the comment form) so that you can reply. Yes I am talking to you Rash and Furree (Thats right, feel special). Everyone else, just take it on board for future reference.

Anyway, sorry for giving you the false impression that I had once again graced your blogger homepage with my usual brilliance. (I am kidding).

I will be back soon. Maybe.

Cheers, Loads.