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Just Browsing

submitted by Kahlee Rose — last modified 2008-08-27 16:16, published at http://www.vibewire.net/

With the strength of the Australian dollar, the joy of having a credit card application approved (which is a gripe of mine better saved for another day!) and the convenience of parcel forwarding, online shopping has never been so easy or popular. Ebay has spawned an online shopping craze that has spread faster than Stella McCartney’s Target range disappeared from shelves. Kahlee Rose investigates this new phenomenon with the assistance of online forums dedicated to the subject.

“I can do it whenever I want – and I’m not limited to store hours,” Danielle says, and she’s not wrong.

Never has it been so painless to buy Manolo Blahnik’s from New York City, care of the likes of Neiman Marcus or Nordstrom, or Australian fashion labels including Sass & Bide or Alice McCall via Mycatwalk.com.au.

The Vogue forum has thousands of posts from its members dedicated to online shopping, and just recently Jyesmith.com posted an entry divulging the sensational Retailmenot.com, complete with discount codes for around 15,000 online stores, including Victoria’s Secret, Domino’s Pizza, and Magshop.com.au.

Annik, 22, of Sydney, also likes the convenience of shopping online, and frequents sites such as dymocks.com.au, sanity.com.au, and contactlenseshop.com.au. That’s correct, contact lenses.

“It’s cheaper to buy them online,” she states.

If you want beautiful stationery, try Australian site Littlebirdblue.com.au, run by the fabulous Kylie Wakely, who does everything from birthday cards to wedding invitations, or P.S. Pearl Stationery’s shop on Etsy.com, who will ship to Australia – just send her a message.

Lulu, 23, of Bathurst, isn’t so keen on shopping online, because she likes to try clothes on before she buys, and she’s one of the few who still enjoys browsing through shops. Admittedly, she has bought make-up online, but only after first trying it out in the flesh. Another shopper who is not so keen to purchase online is Kellie, 28, from Darwin, but because of the “now factor – and having to wait.” Kellie is also a little “dubious” of online shops without PayPal, and she raises a valid point.

PayPal increases the ease of transactions internationally, allowing its customers to send and receive money in a total of 18 currencies worldwide. It also protects buyers, to a certain level – but it’s not fool-proof, with a number of users complaining about the rigmarole in obtaining a refund on dodgy purchases.

Never fear, the Vogue forum is to the rescue again – with members naming and shaming corrupt websites, or shoddy sellers on eBay. If that wasn’t enough, all buyers and sellers receive “feedback” every time they buy/sell an item, which is scored out of 100%.

Pam, 29, also of Darwin, loves Strawberry.net for cosmetics, and Steve Grace via eBay for day, corporate, and glamour wear.

Danielle from Newcastle adds that a big part of online shopping is that she can “covet items that (she) otherwise wouldn’t feel comfortable looking at… as (she) wouldn’t want to waste the attendant’s time.” If you’re after Chanel pre-loved bags in top condition, her suggestion is to look at Malleries.com, and her secret love? The Tiffany & Co. website, much to the worry of her husband.

“You can indulge in fantasies…. Entertaining the ‘what if I win lottery’ thought,” Danielle says.

Now isn’t that something that we all dream of…

Other sites of mention include:

www.frockyou.com.au – Bargains are added almost daily to the sale rack!

www.shopbop.com – Juicy Couture, Vera Wang Lavender, Zimmerman, plus many more…

www.net-a-porter.com – Another American site, which is currently having a 20% of Summer stock! Another perk of shopping online – when Australia is going into summer, the USA is going in to winter and trying to get rid of ‘old’ stock.

www.bloomingdales.com – Again, another U.S. website having sales to get rid of summer stock.

www.thepetloo.com – Perfect for those in apartments – it’s your “backyard in a box.”

www.seewantbuy.com and www.catchoftheday.com.au for top bargains here in Australia.

www.bendigowoollenmills.com.au and www.woolshack.com.au for all things yarn!

www.myus.com or www.shopaholiques.com if you need a parcel forwarded from an online store that doesn’t ship to Australia.

Image by liewcf licenced by Creative Commons

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Facebook Provides Forum for Anti-WYD Groups

by Kahlee Rose, published at http://www.projecteye.org

Since Pope Benedict XVI announced in August 2005 that Sydney would host World Youth Day (WYD) 2008, emotions have run high. As the event, which will see Catholics from all over the world come together to pray for world peace, draws near, pro and anti WYD groups have appeared all over the internet.

Jesse Walker, an Atheist, started the Facebook group “I am vehemently opposed to ‘World’ Youth Week,” which he created just two months ago, and has since attracted more than 1,000 members.

Walker is amazed that the New South Wales Government would pay for an event that only caters for one quarter of Australia’s total population.

“[Events like] Muslim Youth Week, Jewish Youth Week or Scientology Youth Week would be absurd in a place like Australia,” Walker said.

He can’t help but associate the anti-homosexual, anti-condom and anti-contraception stance of the Pope and the Catholic Church “with evil,” stating that such stances deny people of a healthy life – “because it doesn’t encourage procreation.”

Facebook ‘Events’ protesting WYD include the “NoToPope Rally,” and until recently, a “World Youth Day Raid,” which was cancelled after the event organiser (and Executive of the Atheist Society) allegedly received threats of arrest from police, and was consequently concerned for the well being of family.

This follows the extra powers that NSW police were handed for this month’s religious event, which Walker describes as the catalyst for “all this insanity.”

The controversial laws that have been introduced to prevent people from causing annoyance to over 200,000 pilgrims, and attract fines of $5,500, have brought plans to wear t-shirts with slogans such as ‘Down with the Pope’, and ‘He’s not the Messiah – he’s a very naughty boy’, while handing out free condoms to Catholic youth, to a grinding halt, with many fearing arrest.

Walker agrees that police should attend WYD events.

“That’s what they’re there for (to control crowds), to maintain order, to ensure that people don’t get hurt,” he said.

Walker says that he finds it such a “laughing matter” that police have been given such powers, to fine and arrest protesters for wearing a t-shirt that has not been ‘authorised’. He says that he thinks the laws have stripped youth of their freedom of speech, and this is “unconstitutional, un- democratic, and wrong.”

“If there are protesters throwing bottles at people, then arrest them, because that’s violent and no one should support that… but it’s called a non- violent protest,” he said.

Kevin Thomas, a “veteran pilgrim,” and Chairperson for the World Youth Day Coordinating Committee of the Northern Territory, met his wife at the WYD in Poland (1991).

“I seriously doubt free speech has been compromised due to this legislation,” Thomas said.

Thomas believes the laws will have no great impact on the greater public.

“I’m confident that the police will be using an abundance of common sense when exercising the law,” he said.

“This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase Australia to the world.”

“Other benefits include a better understanding for non-Catholics as to what Catholics are – or can be – about.”

Walker, who describes himself as “quite sensible,” doesn’t want to do anything that will get him into serious trouble. At the same time, he doesn’t want to “spend the whole weekend, sitting in his room, chatting on Facebook while drinking tea and eating toast,” either.

Walker plans to just ignore it for the week, admitting that he will be a “very surly Sydneysider… and may even run away to the Blue Mountains for some of the time.”

He encourages people to “not give up on what they believe in,” but at the same time urges them to avoid doing something reckless.

“[I would] not be happy to be fined that much money for one hour of trouble making,” Walker said.

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Northern Wordstorm

submitted by Kahlee Rose — last modified 2008-05-27 11:03, published at http://www.vibewire.net/

Northern Territory correspondent KAHLEE ROSE attended this year’s writers festival at the top end, Wordstorm, and picked up some handy-advice on waterproof writing paper, editing tips, and developing a thick skin.

He walks into the room, and nobody looks up. If it weren’t for the assistant scurrying behind him, projector in hand, you would never know that he is the man at the helm of the Travel Writing Workshop. Outside, the cool morning light filters through the trees, the water laps at the shore, and people of all ages are bustling around with notepads, eager to soak up the knowledge of authors and editors from Australia, East Timor, Indonesia, Singapore… Welcome to Wordstorm, the NT Writers’ Festival of 2008.

Wordstorm is an annual, four-day event, and this year centered around current issues in the Northern Territory – including the Prime Minister’s apology to the Stolen Generation, the Federal intervention in NT Indigenous communities, the turmoil in Timor-Leste, and the passing of Indonesia’s ex-President Suharto. More than 50 writers have traveled to the Territory’s capital to participate in a number of panels, workshops and social events, including Charles Firth, Ursula Dubosarsky, William McInnes, Anita Heiss, Patti Miller, and Dorothy Porter.

Amongst them is Ian Connellan, a Sydney-based writer who is the current editor of Australian Geographic, co-author of numerous Lonely Planet cycle-touring and walking guides, occasional photographer – and at Wordstorm, the Travel Writing Workshop presenter.

With an Undergraduate degree in History and Literature, and a Post-Graduate degree in Professional Writing, Connellan is not what you would pick as a stereotypical editor.

Dressed in a black t-shirt and shorts (which in the Territory is almost a sin – think of the heat his clothes must absorb!), Ian is warm, animated, and friendly – and if truth be told, he is so passionate about writing and educating others, he could “talk under wet cement.” Readily admitting that it is “going to sound daggy” he “really likes mentoring people, and thinks it’s very important.”

The Australian Geographic editor admits his surprise at walking in to find a room full of people, eyes staring up at him, hoping to magically absorb some of his success by the process of osmosis. He discloses that he has no teaching experience, and is in fact rather nervous about speaking to the masses, but he needn’t have worried – his workshop was sold out. He captivates the entire room, engaging all in conversation, divulging secrets of the travel writing industry, seemingly thrilled to be in what he calls the “thong and sandal capital of the world.”

And what does Connellan not leave home without? His camera, iPod with microphone attachment – good to catch that “great conversation (with the locals) midway through the fifth drink” – and, something you’ve probably never considered, waterproof notepaper.

He describes the editing tool in Word as an “instrument of the devil,” advising, while wiggling his eyebrows, that “unless you have a critical partner… which fortunately I do,” it is important to have an impartial person who can read over your musings before you go about submitting them to every Tom, Dick and Harry in the industry, and to avoid using clichés.

His advice to would-be-travel-writers is to avoid “obvious destinations, such as Paris, London, Uluru, Beijing, and Tokyo, for example”, to be “low maintenance, and prepared to sleep in a tent,” and to be ready to take off at a moment’s notice. He recommends subscribing to tools such as ‘Word of the Day’ on websites like dictionary.com, and to make a genuine effort to get published. Finally – “don’t be afraid of being told ‘no’ – journalists need to have thick skin.”

Travel writing wasn’t the only workshop on offer – other workshops included ‘So You Want to be an Author’ and ‘Professional Issues for Writers,’ both with Jeremy Fisher, and ‘Writing Across Media,’ with Deepika Shetty.

Terri Janke, Jo Dutton, Alice Garner and William McInnes took the ferry across the bay to the Mandorah jetty for wine, fresh-oysters and a spot of fishing, and Gayle Kennedy, Barry Jonsberg, Terry Whitebeach and Ursula Dubosarsky discussed “sex, swearing and playground punch-ups” in their panel on writing Young Adult Fiction.

Children from the age of 3 years were catered for in ‘Kim’s Cubby’, which was named in honour of the NT children’s author, Kim Caraher, where they were read to, and guided in their own writing and illustration.

Wordstorm went out with a bang, on Sunday 18th May, when the Territory’s Megan Spencer interviewed The Chaser’s foreign correspondent, Charles Firth.

The beer and wine flowed freely in the evening, and the amphitheatre hummed with conversation, as a mix of those barefoot in sarongs and singlets, amongst others in heels, suits and pearls, listened to Firth’s (presumably) drunken slurs of life as a “gonzo journalist.” His current mission in life is to “shake George W. Bush’s hand,” and give him a “good job, mate,” with the opinion that “Bush doesn’t understand sarcasm.”

As conversation eventually comes to a close, so too, does another year’s Wordstorm.

Image provided by Kahlee Rose