Freedom

Although I’ve been meaning to for ages, I finally find myself writing an actual blog post. I’ve been spamming everyone with my page for a while but most of the stuff on here so far was written for uni or a long time ago. I will be putting stuff like that on here (gota get published as a journalist somewhere even if I have to do it myself lol) but I will also do the odd ramble, like now.

Speaking of being a journalist, I guess I should be working on that degree. I’m in the last year of Journalism with Psychology, well in the last month. In the next few weeks I need to get my dissertation done (I would say finish my dissertation but that only applies if it was actually started..), get some press photography work experience (it is much harder than it sounds) and revise for a law exam (that’s as hard as it sounds). As you can see I’m working very hard on all this, so hard in fact that I choose this time to start blogging lol. Such is procrastination.

Review – San Francisco mobile phone

Most mobile phones these days come with Smartphone technology, but this is usually accompanied by a hefty price tag. The latest offering from Orange however has everything you need at less than half the price of its competitors.

Costing just £99, the San Francisco is one of the cheapest Smartphones out there. It runs on Android 2.1 software which provides you with the same features as the popular HTC. The Android market is now loaded with Apps so it doesn’t come far behind the iPhone in terms of the features it can provide you with. Compared to the other Smartphones at the lower end of the market,

Is privacy dead?

With Data Privacy Day celebrated last week it highlights the question, is there any privacy left in today’s world of information sharing?

A survey by the Information Commissioner’s Office found that 80% of people are concerned about their personal details online. That doesn’t come as a surprise looking at all the privacy issues arising almost daily, even just from the two most popular websites, Google and Facebook.

Google has a history of treading on thin ground when it comes to privacy. Street View managed to cause much controversy by capturing people in embarrassing situations. Some countries such as Greece banned Google from carrying out the service. The controversy became lawsuits when the Street View cars started tapping into people’s unsecured Wi-Fi networks and collecting their personal data. The court battles continue

Press Photographers and Privacy

It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Visual journalism is a very important form of media which allows people to learn more about issues by seeing stories with their own eyes. Photographs document society through images. Most popular press photographs are taken by ‘paparazzi’, who specialise in taking candid photographs of celebrities and politicians. However, often the photographs need to be taken without the subjects’ permission which brings about an important issue of ethics or even breaking privacy laws.

All journalists, as well as press photographers, must follow various codes of ethics and have to ensure they do not break the law. But when it comes to privacy, especially that of celebrities, rules are often ignored

RKZ

Rikesh Chauhan is a 19 year old Commercial Music student at Westminster University. He also has a job, like many students. His job title however is a little different to most students. Rikesh is a singer, known as RKZ.

Luton-born RKZ is multi-talented, describing himself as a singer, songwriter and rapper. He also performs a variety of genres, namely UK urban, hip hop, R&B, spoken word and dubstep. RKZ has worked with other British artists such as Raxstar as well as supporting Tinchy Stryder in Wembley.

Singing is not a very traditional career choice, particularly for Asians, but RKZ is supported by his Indian-born parents.

Review – The Blind Side

The Blind Side is based on the true-life story of Michael Oher, a homeless African-American teenager who is taken in by a wealthy white family, the Tuohy’s. They encourage and help him to go on to become a professional American Footballer.

Sandra Bullock plays the mother of the family, sassy Leigh-Anne Tuohy. She certainly proves she can pull off a more taxing role than her usual ditzy characters, but whether she deserved an Oscar for Best Actress is arguable.

Rather than being a football drama, the film is actually depicted the inspirational journey of Oher from the streets of Memphis to the home, and hearts, of his adopted family. The rest of the characters are small but played well, with Tim McGraw as Sean Tuohy and Kathy Bates with a memorable role as a tutor. But what makes the film is Quinton Aaron’s depiction of Michael Oher.

Tomorrow, Pinky, we take over the world!

Since its humble beginnings in 1996 (an age ago in digital terms) Google has been growing at a worrying rate. What started out as a research project is now taking over the world. Google seems to either buy out, or create their own better version of, everything.

The search engine alone has dominated the market. Google has since acquired Blogger, the web log host. The hugely popular video site YouTube is now owned by Google. They have bought Picasa photo editing software. The mobile operating system Android now belongs to Google. They have recently taken over Aardvark, a social network search engine. These are just to name a few; the list goes on and continues to grow.

As well as the many acquisitions, Google are continuously developing their own products. They offer an email service, Gmail, which is increasing in popularity.  Google recently launched a web browser, Chrome, which boasts faster speed than the other popular browsers and is rapidly increasing its market share. They offer desktop search applications as well as Google toolbars. The list of mobile phone applications Google offer is endless.

British Bollywood

Indian culture has been embraced by Britain in many ways, from the colourful fashion trends to the curry being the nation’s favourite dish. The Asian influence is also becoming increasingly apparent in UK cinemas.

Britain is the largest market for Indian films outside the sub-continent. The International Indian Film Awards (their equivalent of the Oscars) were held in Sheffield a few years ago. The number of Bollywood movies released in the UK is constantly on the rise, and in 2005 a record 74 Indian films were released here compared to 61 British-made films.

The increase of Indian films in the UK is affecting both the Bollywood and the British film making industries.

Love

“Love is when there are a million things you want to say to someone, but when they look you in the eyes and hold you in their arms nothing in life matters other than being with that person at that moment.”

Small, with such a big effect
Aimless, yet the reason for everything
Peaceful, but bringing so much pain
Simple, causing complication
Pure, somehow the source of much evil
Strong, leading to great weakness
Common, but often impulsive

Love is blind
Sounds like such a cliché but I must admit I agree, I think love is blind.
Not in the sense of ‘appearances don’t matter when it comes to love’, because they do.
I mean love is blind in that someone in love can’t see beyond it.
Actually, love isn’t blind.

Love is blinding

Inspired

Everyone has an inspiration, someone they look up to and aspire to be like. For many people this is a rich and famous celebrity. For the more down to earth it might be a member of family or someone they know. I think there’s many people in my life who inspire me and who I have learnt from, but if there was a single person I was to say is my inspiration, it would be Albert Einstein. Probably an unusual person for a teenage girl to come up with; at this point I probably sound insane or like somene who needs to get out more. Most people associate this name with science, he’s that genuis who came up with some equation in physics right?
I do think he was a genius, but not just for his discoveries in science.