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September 26, 2008
Who is the craziest of them all?
After watching this and then reading about yet another overly PC language rule in Norway, Ingar asks: "Julie, who is the craziest, Americans or Norwegians?"
If I only knew... That just might be the one most important question in my life. Maybe I was born to forever search for that answer, because sometimes it seems that both Norwegians and Americans are trying to convince me that their side of the Atlantic is more insane.
(However, I do think in this case that electing Palin is hard to beat, crazywise.)
Posted by Julie at 12:19 PM | TrackBack
September 25, 2008
Dagens ord: betafset.
Ordforklaring bør ikke være nødvendig. Takk til Maren og hennes venner for ordet.
Posted by Julie at 4:04 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 13, 2008
Posted by Julie at 3:15 PM | TrackBack
President Palin
Video via Eirik
She says she is ready to be president, but she does not know what the Bush doctrine is.
I haven't really blogged about the American election much, although I've written about it in Argument. It's hard to know where to begin, and once I've started it wouldn't stop. But I thought I would share these videos with you at least.
(What is the Bush Doctrine? Urban Dictionary has the answer.)
Updated September 14th 2008: In case you need more, Elisabeth sent me a link to "Lipstick on a Wing Nut" from The Nation. Includes a list of questions for Sarah Palin, such as "Approximately how old is the earth?" and "You've suggested that God approves of the Iraq War and the Alaska pipeline. How do you know?"
Posted by Julie at 10:37 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
September 12, 2008
Journalism online - some thoughts
1.
The American press is struggling to adapt to the internet, according to a study by the Pew Research Institute's Project for Excellence in Journalism
2.
Meanwhile in Norway "circulation figures confirm the future is online", according to journalist/blogger Kristine Lowe and financial daily Dagens Næringsliv. Kristine writes that not publishing articles online means newspapers "cut themselves off from the world" and "print just has a different sell-by date".
3.
When I got into journalism school, Eirik and Jorunn both reacted with: "You don't want to write on paper, do you?" I assured them that I prefer writing with links, and that I assume I'll be working online for most of career. That's just the way the world will be, right?
My school seems to agree. By the end of the first week, we were linking to external sites from our articles and searching for Creative Commons illustration photos on Flikr. Journalen, the journalism students' newspaper, is completely online, and most of my assignments this semester will be published there. And we've been told that chances are, our first jobs will be online writing.
So it came as a surprise when I learned today that only one (1!) of the faculty members has any experience with internet journalism.
4.
Last week, one of our lectures was about how readers percieve newspapers - how many articles the average person actually reads, and how they pick these articles. We saw Powerpoint slides of giant newspaper pages, with numbers indicating what part of the page the average reader will look at first. People focus on other peoples' faces in photographs, headlines, block quotes, fact boxes, really anything except the actual article. The text that goes with the largest picture is usually the first text people read, but by then, they've already scanned the whole page. And of course, photos are very important in determining whether the corresponding article will be read by anyone.
This was interesting, but sounded foreign to me. I don't really read paper newspapers that much. And when I read online, I focus on the text. Most articles I read by RSS, so the layout will look the same (Bloglines style) no matter what the editor thought would get my attention. Headlines are important of course, but usually I just want them to tell me what the article is about in a somewhat catchy way. I'll admire clever headings - but usually after I've read the articles.
The lecturer lamented the poor quality of press photographs online - laptop screens just don't do the original images justice. Ok, I guess they don't. But the real "problem" for newspapers is that they can't control the layout when they can't control the size of the screen. Readers have a choice in their own news layout today.
I don't want to see a "front page" with a picture so big there isn't room for any text on my laptop screen. The actual web browser + big, animated ads at the top of the page + a large newspaper logo + links to the different sections of the newspaper + gigantic "front page" photo = I have to scroll down before I can see any actual news. That's like waiting until the second page of a print newspaper to run the first story.
Writing in itself must adapt to the laptop screen, but the same goes for the theory of how to get readers' attention.
Posted by Julie at 4:05 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 7, 2008
Forelesningscrush
English translation below. (Sorry, Julie - I fail at acquiring a webcam, I fail at Radiohead, but I will not fail at blogging in English)
Aina bruker ordet forelesningscrush, og linker til meg i den tro at jeg har forklart dette begrepet. Tror ikke jeg har det her, men nå kommer det:
Forelesningscrush - person man liker å se på forelesning, og som ofte er eneste grunnen til at man gidder å dra på forelesning. Ofte er denne personen også årsak til at man møter opp noen minutter tidlig, fremfor noen minutter for sent, og med rent hår, gjennomtenkt antrekk og uten synlige blå ringer under øynene.
I en verden "according to Julie", ville Programutvalg og andre elevrådslignende organisasjoner vurdert å ansette modeller som kunne deltatt på viktig undervisning på morgenen. At disse ikke var egentlige studenter, ville motvirket det store problemet med forelesningscrush: at man kan bli kjent med dem, og at dette forstyrrer lesingen. Forelesningscrush er nemlig nært beslektet seminarcrush og lesesalscrush, men må ikke forveksles med venn eller kjæreste. Det øyeblikket man tar kaffepauser sammen, har crushet blitt noe annet enn et crush. Fra å være en oppmuntring til å møte opp på skolen, blir det tidligere crushet alternativt tidsfordriv mens man er på universitetet.
Aina uses the word forelesningscrush,and links to me, believing that I have the definition somewhere in my blog. I didn't, but now I do:
Forelesningscrush - Norwegian term for "university crush" - someone in your class whom you like, and who is the main reason you show up in class at all. This person often inspires you to show up a few minutes early, with clean hair, a coordinated outfit and only a few rings around your eyes.
In a world "according to Julie", student governments would hire models to attend important, but not mandatory morning classes. The fact that these strategically placed university crushes would not be actual students, would solve the most common problem associated with these people: actually getting to know them distracts you from your studies. While the university crush is similar to the intellectual crush and the library crush, he or she must not be confused with a friend, boyfriend or girlfriend. The moment you and your university crush take coffee breaks together, he or she will no longer improve your grades. From being an incentive to get up in the morning, this person will become an alternative thing to do at university - where you should be spending your time studying, after all.
Posted by Julie at 10:08 AM | TrackBack
This week
Sunday morning. I have a wheaten terrier sleeping with her feet in my lap, and luxury pesto for breakfast. (Both a direct result of a visit to my parents yesterday). My plans for the day: a walk in the woods with my dog and my best friend, and hopefully skyping with another close friend this evening. Life can be so quietly fantastic sometimes.
This week...
I watched
Jonas Gahr Støre speaking to students about the UN. Støre is the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs. For International Studies students at the University of Oslo, having a thing for this guy is as required as passing exams and handing in papers on time.
Steven Fry talking about the internet
A video on how men should hug - Glad I'm not a guy.
I read
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (started between Thailand and Cambodia, almost finished now)
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (read the first hundred pages while waiting in line with other Jonas fans - ahead of almost all of them actually)
Hjorthen's example of how statistics can be misinterpreted (in Norwegian)
Futurese - how will we speak English in 1000 years?
Linda Grant on the two populations of the United States
The Clothes Horse on missing friends
Posted by Julie at 9:06 AM | TrackBack
September 6, 2008
Kosmetisk kirurgi
Min første reaksjon til temaet kosmetisk kirurgi - rent kosmetiske endringer av friske mennesker - er: "nei". Ikke "NEI! Aldri! Uakseptabelt og forkastelig!", men "nei". Dagens Næringslivs D2 skrev om plastisk kirurgi i dag. Det er en ganske balansert artikkel, om hvordan nordmenn kjøper kosmetisk kirurgi stadig oftere, at teknologien er blitt langt mer avansert, og at det er delte meninger om skjønnhetsidealer er uforanderlige eller resultat av endringer i moten.
Jeg leser, og jeg begynner å lure på hvorfor jeg ikke liker kosmetisk kirurgi. Når jeg påberoper meg å kunne være politisk motstander av alt jeg bare ikke liker, innebærer det at jeg må begrunne hvorfor jeg ikke liker noe. I hvert fall overfor meg selv.
Jeg kan ikke forsvare hudpleietimer og designundertøy og så fordømme kosmetiske inngrep fordi det er overdådig, jålete luksus. Selv om det er det. Og det er ikke akkurat slik at pengene som i dag brukes på silikonpupper, ellers ville blitt sendt til fattige barn på den andre siden av verden. De ville heller blitt brukt på mer hudpleietimer og designundertøy (altså noe jeg er politisk for, men det er nok ikke et godt argument i seg selv...)
Jeg kan heller ikke si som jeg gjør med for eksempel narkotika eller dumhet på fly: "Det er i teorien ens eget valg, men dessverre berører det alltid andre. Dermed forbyr jeg det med belegg i Kardemommeloven." Enn så lenge tror jeg nemlig staten slipper å betale for vedlikehold av silikonpupper. Man kan kanskje problematisere det at legers ekspertise brukes til å utvikle mer "naturlige" rynkefrie ansikter fremfor å kurere kreft, men jeg synes det argumentet er litt søkt. Ikke mye, men litt.
Jeg ville ikke selv vært fornøyd hvis en del av kroppen min ikke egentlig var kroppen min, men jeg kan ikke akkurat påtvinge den tankegangen på noen.
Akkurat i det jeg lurer på om jeg må revurdere mitt "nei", blir jeg reddet av Wenche Steen, daglig leder i Hud og Hårklinikken.
Hun sier: "Jeg har aldri tatt en plastisk operasjon, bortsett fra det alle gjør da. (...) Jeg synes nesten aldri jeg kommer over noen som har naturlig pene pupper."
Så forklarer den australske kirurgen Daniel Fleming "Det som ser naturlig ut for dem [hans kunder], er det forstørrede utseendet. Man ser ikke naturlige bryster i bladene lenger."
Jeg beklager, men dette liker jeg ikke. "Æsj, nei." Jeg kan ikke fordømme enkeltpersoner som velger kosmetiske inngrep, men et samfunn der man ikke er pen før man har betalt for det, er bare fælt.
Posted by Julie at 4:18 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
September 1, 2008
Fritid!?!?!
Jeg er journaliststudent! Jeg har med andre ord flyttet fra Blindern. Og plutselig sitter jeg HJEMME kl. 17, og har FRI! Fri? Hvorfor er jeg ikke på lesesalen på Blindern, med en alt for stor bunke pensum ved min side? Fordi på Høgskolen i Oslo har man skoledager, og etterpå er man ferdig for dagen. Er artikkelen levert innen deadline har man fritid. Fritid? Men da bør jeg vel dra på lesesalen for å lese litt mer, da? Nei, det er visst ikke meningen lenger.
Dette betyr at det plutselig er mulig å sløse med tiden. Er man pensumlesestudent, er man hele tiden i gang med lesing, eller man tar en helt nødvendig pause fra lesingen. Er man skoledagsstudent må man fylle fritiden med noe fornuftig.
Heldigvis finnes det MYE å fylle tiden med. Jeg har kommet over semesteret i utlandet, og jeg er klar for å gjøre noe annet enn å nostalgisk oppsøke stamstedene jeg har savnet. Her i Oslo finnes det uoppdagede kaffebarer, bøker på tilbud og turer jeg burde ha gått for lenge siden. Jeg vil gå tur i skogen med familiens hund. Jeg har rundet 20 kaffekort, og jeg kan godt samle flere. Jeg hører rykter om caféer uten ammetåke. Jeg har en ny venn som har lovet å gi meg et ett-årig kurs i film, og stadig venner som tar ansvar for at jeg skal ha variert musikk- film- og boksmak. Og skulle alt dette virke litt overveldende, kan jeg få meningen med livet forklart på ca. 100 sider.
Det blir en bra høst. Det har jeg bestemt.
Posted by Julie at 7:34 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack