week thirteen: goodbyes

Well, this week was a special week not only because it marked the end of Semester 1, 2012, but because it was the final week of my tertiary education. Yep, I'm graduating! I can't quite believe how quickly time has passed. Sometimes it feels like it has been ages since I first started college, but most of the time it just feels like everything happened so quickly and suddenly I am just a few steps away from crossing the finishing line. Although I am happy and proud of my achievements, my heart cannot help but sink a little when I think of receiving my scroll in my graduation robes come July, because this means I will have to close yet another chapter in my life. A chapter that I have enjoyed through and through, right from my very first day at HELP University College to my very last at The University of Queensland. My heart sinks because I know I will miss it. I already do. What a truly wonderful adventure the past four years have been.

Also, it's been a real delight to have been able to finish my last semester with WRIT3050. I can't say enough good things about this course, my lecturer, and my tutor. Cam, I hope you're reading this because I just want to say thank you. Really and truly. Thank you so much the incredible guidance you have given to us wee budding writers throughout the past short but fruitful three months. Your constant encouragement and reminders to be confident in our work and to believe in ourselves are something I will always be grateful for. You have not only further equipped us with the tools necessary to pursue our writing, but have shown us the importance of kindness and respect, too. Thank you for remembering our names.

Well, it's time to leave my little wonderland here to go back to my perpetual reverie at www.lowlaloves.com. Until we meet again!

Julia

week twelve (and a half): more cab stories

And while we're on the theme of taxi stories, I stumbled upon this truly fantastic piece in the QWeekend. It's also about the night in the life of cabbies, but with a slightly different feel, angle, and tone. Plus, the article was laced with humour at just the right places and in just the right amount. I enjoyed it so much more than the NYMag article I talked about in my previous post. To be fair, Trent Dalton (the author of the QWeekend piece) probably had more leeway in terms of word count, etc., so he was able to develop the story further. And develop it he did.

I have no idea how I happen to find all these random articles on taxi drivers, but I'm glad I do. It reminds me of the respect we have to give these people who work tirelessly into the night. I love discovering what goes on in the lives of interesting people with interesting jobs. And I love reading great pieces by great journalists who are able to capture the experiences and translate them into words ever so eloquently.

Julia

week twelve: taxinomics

Taxinomics: A Night in the Life of a Cabbie

If there's one article you should read today (we've all got to do something while waiting for the next Game of Thrones episode, right?), it's this interesting piece by NYMag on the night in the life of an NYC can driver whose name is Lucky. Once I started, I couldn't stop. By the end of the 2,000 word count, I was entertained, enlightened, and guilt-tripped into tipping more next time.

Admittedly, I did put on my "WRIT3050 glasses" while reading this piece, which I think may have contributed to my greater appreciation for it. I felt both a little sneaky and delighted at the same time, as though I was part of a secret that only we CNF students (and teachers, of course) knew. With those "WRIT3050 glasses" (I really am that lame/such a dork), we are able to recognise the minute details that actually have the power to turn a regular, "bland" piece of writing into something brilliant; or, at the very least, more engaging. To wit, this observation by writer Jennifer Gonnerman:

"His two-year-old cab appears to be in excellent condition — no dents or scrapes. But the odometer tells another story: 129,000 miles."

How brilliant is that?

Okay, maybe it's just me who thinks so, but if there's one thing this course has taught me, it's that careful observations make all the difference. An inexperienced journalist would've probably overlooked something as insignificant as an odometer during an interview, but a seasoned journalist would not. Instead, he or she would take note of everything in their surroundings, because even the slightest detail has the potential to make their story, or even provide journalists with a great hook or angle.

Now, to apply, apply, apply (everything I've learned so far).

Julia 

week eleven (and a half): media talk

Speaking of Girl With a Satchel, here's another piece I wrote on the present state of mens' magazines sometime last year. Writing this report was both a fun and humbling experience because Mitchell Smith and Ravi Pathare were so incredibly kind and generous with their time despite their hectic schedules (Mr Pathare was at the airport when he responded to my questions via e-mail.).

Media: A new manuscript for print
By Julia Low 
 
Just three months after alternative men’s magazine Smith Journal was launched comes MANUSCRIPT hot on its  loafers.MANUSCRIPT is a new quarterly Australian publication that revolves around fashion, art, culture and design created for the growing generation of forward-thinking men. Helmed by author and journalistMitchell Oakley Smith, MANUSCRIPTtargets like-minded men who enjoy reading extensive profiles and visual essays on respected individuals in the industry.

“It seems that the magazines that do exist [in the Australian market] are extremely broad – encompassing every subject for every possible reader – and I wanted to create something that really honed in on what we know best,” Smith told GWAS.

“[You] won't find cars, food or alcohol in our title, nor do we objectify women. Beyond this, our content has international relevance, as we acknowledge the globalised society we live in, but there's a distinctly Australian twist to what we do: you can see it in the simplicity of the magazine's design and also in the tongue-in-cheek nature of the fashion pages, under the direction of Jolyon Mason.”

The sudden upsurge of alternative titles suggests that an increasing number of men are edging away from the typical lads’ mags and gaining a deeper interest in arts, culture, and lifestyle magazines. Recent magazine readership numbers have revealed that lads’ mags such as FHM, Zoo Weekly, People, andPicture are flailing.

According to the Roy Morgan September 2011 readership survey, men’s interest title readership has suffered a decline of 31% since October 2010, while men’s lifestyle titles have dropped 14.6%. However, Men’s Fitness, Men’s Health, and music mag Empirehave all seen an increase in readership (52.7%, 1%, and 7% respectively).

Could these numbers be a reflection of men’s floundering interests in lads’ mags or are they just in search for more inspiring content, as Michael Pickering, editor of Men’s Style Australia, told The Sydney Morning Herald: “It's just magazine land reflecting society [and] men's greater interest in wider things like etiquette, society and finance [and wanting] a bit more depth than what they'll get with Zoo magazine.”

The managing director of Mag Nation, Ravi Pathare, too believes that the success of alternative titles isn’t due to men's growing interest in culture, arts, craft, and lifestyle; rather, it simply shows that, up until recently, these existing interests have been ignored.

“Most publications in the past have looked upon the male reader as a petrol head or a sports nut and dished out rehashed content issue after issue with an occasional half-decent article thrown in,” said Pathare. “Men have always been interested in culture, arts, craft, [and so on], but the industry had failed to recognise and address this need. Publications like Fantastic Man, Smith Journal, The Travel Almanac, and Carl’s Cars simply met the pent up demand and became overnight hits.”

If the success of Smith Journal’s inaugural issue is any indication, Pickering and Pathare are right. Since the launch three months ago, the magazine has almost sold out its first run of 20,000 copies. With a 16-page spread on typewriters, a feature on artist Troy Archer’s collection of treasures found while rummaging through rubbish, and a tribute to vintage cars, Smith Journal is a magazine that “smart, creative guys [can] peruse without shame, slap down on the coffee table, whack in their favourite old satchel or display proudly on the toilet reading rack.”

And, if typewriters aren’t all men’s cup of tea (ahem, jug of beer), then they always have the option ofthumbing through Dumbo Feather, a magazine that appeals to men as well as women with its photographic storytelling and extended profiles on interesting figures involved in various areas such as science, politics, arts, and education. In the latest issue (Issue 29), Dumbo Feathertalks to Alex Gibner, an American documentary film director and producer, and Paul Jennings, a renowned Australian writer whom the magazine simply dubs as “unreal”.

According to Pathare, other magazines that are currently popular among men include Monocle, The Economist,Fantastic Man, GQ, Apartamento, and Vanity Fair. Despite having different target markets and niches, these successful magazines have one thing in common: “[Content that is] informative and international in outlook,” said Pathare. “Vanity Fair is a case in point and also whyMonocle is doing well. Content is now king and that's whyMaxim and FHM are close to having a postmortem being performed on them.”

Since its inception four years ago, Monacle has grown steadily and now boasts of a global circulation of 150,000 a month, while the long-established Vanity Fair’s total circulation of paid subscriptions is 873,966. FHM's circulation pales in comparison as it struggles to maintain its circulation of 40,208. 

With the diverse range of topics and stimulating reads, both the existing magazines and growing number of alternative titles are sure to satiate the appetite of creative thinkers, fashion-conscious folk, business moguls, and adventurous men.

“There's so much out there; men are spoilt for choice,” said Smith. “I think the future, as a result of the fragmentation of the media landscape with the rise of digital technology and the internet, lies in niche publishing—titles that serve a specific purpose, as opposed to covering all subjects, and as such are put together by people passionate about the content. The reader can sense this.”

As alternative titles continue to proliferate in the market, mainstream magazines may need to reassess their content strategies if they are to survive. Simultaneously, niche magazines will also need to maintain a strong enough following to ensure they are commercially viable. Nevertheless, with promising new titles such as Smith Journal and MANUSCRIPT continuing to emerge, there is no doubt that the future of niche magazines for men looks handsome.

See also:
Media: Could men's magazines have a new sheen?
Brains over porn @ SMH 

Julia @ Girl With a Satchel

Julia

week eleven: review

This week's topic was on reviews, and as always, 'twas an eye-opening lesson. Before this, I had never thought too much about the technical side of a review, although I do enjoy reading them. I particularly enjoy Roger Ebert's movie reviews and appreciated him so much more after reading Esquire's inspirational piece, "Roger Ebert: The Essential Man", about two years ago. Ebert is absolutely inspiring, strong, eloquent, and utterly gifted. Plus, he absolutely loathes the Transformers movies. Credibility? CHECK.

So after this week's lecture and tute, I decided to revisit a short review I wrote for Erica Bartle's Girl With a Satchel website to see if it was anywhere close to having the important elements of a review that I learned in class. I am by no means a review buff, nor do I write reviews on a regular basis, but I did enjoy watching Hugo and thought GWAS readers might appreciate it, too. Erica loves a bit of warmth / heart in the articles she publishes on her website, and so I wrote the following with those values in mind:

Film School: Hugo wins five Oscars--and our hearts

By Julia Low

On the same day Hugo won five Academy Awards from its 11 nominations, with cinnamon churros in hand and 3D glasses worn over my actual glasses (yep, I’m just your average happy, hungry dork), I was ready to be whisked away on Martin Scorsese's fantastical adventure of loss, discovery and purpose in a Parisian setting.

If it wasn’t Asa Butterfield’s heartfelt performance as Hugo that kept me captivated, it was certainly the visual splendour of the film. Each scene was a spectacle that felt at once both real and whimsical —it was as though we had walked through a wardrobe and discovered Narnia, filled with winter beauty and flights of fancy. For two hours, I was a child again. 

Based on Brian Selznick's novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Hugo is set in the 1930s and follows the life of Hugo Cabret, an orphaned child who lives inside the walls of a Paris railway station, where he secretly maintains the giant station clocks everyday.

Devastated by his father’s death, Hugo embarks on a mission to uncover a secret message from his father by fixing an automaton his father had found. Hugo steals spare mechanical parts from an old toyshop in the train station, but is caught out by the cantankerous toymaker, Georges Méliès (Ben Kingsley), who confiscates Hugo’s notebook, which is filled with drawings and instructions on how to fix the automaton. It is Hugo’s determination to retrieve his notebook that finds him at Méliès’s home, where he meets young Isabelle, Méliès’s goddaughter (Chloe Grace Moretz) with a penchant for adventure. 

Soon, the two children discover that Isabelle owns the heart-shaped key that will activate the automaton. It is when the automaton comes to life and sketches a drawing of a rocket and the moon that both Hugo and Méliès come to a crossroads: for Hugo, the sketch holds the possibility of connection with his dear father (a secret message, perchance?); for Méliès, it brings back the long-forgotten past.

We soon discover Méliès is a downtrodden filmmaker who was once a celebrated magician, actor, and pioneer of early filmmaking—most notably, the Le Voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon), which was Hugo’s father’s favourite film. Despite years of thriving success, Méliès’s filmmaking business suffered after the First World War ended, and it was not long before he let the once fiery passion of his dreams and brilliant imagination become but embers.

Hugo, in search of purpose after his father’s death, realises that the world is like a complex machine.

“Right after my father died, I would come up here a lot,” explains Hugo as he shows Isabelle the beautiful Parisian skyline from inside the giant clock tower. “I'd imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn't be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason—and that means you have to be here for some reason too.”

Hugo's desire for meaning in life and determination to uncover the mystery of Méliès ultimately reignites a spark in the ageing filmmaker, who, thanks to Hugo, eventually, albeit begrudgingly, rediscovers his love for films. “Maybe that's why a broken machine always makes me a little sad, because it isn't able to do what it was meant to do,” muses Hugo. “Maybe it's the same with people; if you lose your purpose, it's like you're broken.”

Hugo’s journey is not one without trials, but it is his child-like faith in hope that helps him find comfort in his father’s death, discover his purpose as well as others’, and ultimately, find refuge and a fatherly figure in Méliès, who, at the end of it all, calls Hugo his own.

Hugo, in all its marvellous cinematography, poignant characters, and intricate storyline, reminds both children and adults alike of the importance of courage, selflessness, and dreams. Our journey affects not only our lives, but others’, too, as seemingly separate journeys are inextricably intertwined—much like the cog-work found in clocks, which turn in opposite directions but are always pushing each other into motion, unable to function without the other.

“I am standing before you tonight because of one very brave young man, who saw a broken machine and, against all odds, fixed it. It was the kindest magic trick that I've ever seen,” declares Méliès. “And now, my friends I address you all tonight, as you truly are: mermaids, travellers, adventurers, magicians! Come and dream with me.”

And so we do. 

Julia @ Girl With a Satchel

Hugo is now available on DVD, Blu-ray Disc, and Blu-ray 3D.

If I had to identify the angle I used in this piece according to Stuart's list of angles presented during the lecture, it would be a mixture of:

• A summary or description of the work
• Re-telling of stories from the work
• Using material from the work itself
• Characters from the piece

It would be interesting to see what would be the end product of this Hugo review if I rewrote it using a different angle, perhaps, "drawing from production techniques: mis-en-scene, music, editing, etc." or "place in history". Now that Cam and Stuart have taught us a lot more about the ways to write and approach a review, I'm excited to apply those tips, tricks, and techniques to any future (and more in-depth) pieces I may write.

Julia