Debate issue 18 by Debate Magazine

Issue 18 | AUGUST 2013 www.ausm.org.nz

Issue 18 | August 2013 Directory p6

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reception City Campus Level 2, WC Building 921 9805 Mon-Thurs: 9am-5pm Fri: 9am-4pm North Shore Campus Level 2, AS Building 921 9949 Mon-Fri: 11am-1pm

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EDITOR

Matthew Cattin matthew.cattin@aut.ac.nz

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sub editor Nigel Moffiet p7

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Manukau Campus MB107 921 9999 ext 6672 Mon-Thurs: 9am-3.30pm governance & leadership Kizito Essuman AuSM Student President 921 9999 ext 8571 kizito.essuman@aut.ac.nz

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management Kathy Anderson General Manager 921 9999 ext 8570 kanderso@aut.ac.nz advocacy Siobhan Daly AuSM Advocate 921 9999 ext 8311 siobhan.daly@aut.ac.nz

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marketing Kate Lin Sales and Marketing Co-ordinator 921 9999 ext 8909 kate.lin@aut.ac.nz events Carl Ewen Student Life Manager 921 9999 ext 8931 carl.ewen@aut.ac.nz media Matthew Cattin Publications Co-ordinator 921 9999 ext 8774 matthew.cattin@aut.ac.nz vesbar Zane Chase Vesbar Manager 921 9999 ext 8378 zane.chase@aut.ac.nz volunteers & clubs Lauren Howe Volunteers Coordinator 921 9999 ext 8911 lauren.howe@aut.ac.nz

5 | Editorial

18 – 19 | Double Page Puzzles!

6 | The Mysteries of Life

20 – 21 | Classic Photo Poses

7 | Come Dine with Me

22 | How to Handle a Breakup

8 – 9 | Artist of the Week

23 | Lecturers After Dark

11 – 13 | My First MOOC

24 | Debate Rated

14 | Prez Sez AuSM Updates

26 | MUSIC: M’ Girl

15 | Chaplaincy Column Auckland’s Got it Going On 16 | Social Media Highlights 17 | Nifty News

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27 | MUSIC: Basshunter 28 – 29 | MUSIC: Cloud Control 30 – 31 | Fans that have Missed the Point 32 – 33 | Reviews

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debate is a member of the Aotearoa Student Press Association (ASPA)

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BE IN TO WIN A SAMSUNG S3 PHONE!

12 NOON // To be held in WC202 AuSM STUDENT LOUNGE. All AuSM members are welcome. Please bring student ID. Come along and enjoy a slice of pizza, be in to win a Samsung S3 Phone and hear all about the upcoming changes for your student association! Agenda items include: Constitutional Changes. Election Changes. Appointment Of Returning Officer. Prize Sponsored by Vodafone

by Matthew Cattin Hello all, Gather around and shut your traps, for today I share the tale of the day my degree died. It was a bright Sunday morning and I was fresh out of bed, staggering blindly from bed to the shower like a mole from its hole. My brain was just beginning to thaw beneath the dreamy downpour when dad rapped on the door and burst in. I quickly hid the essentials beneath my hands so as not to be intimidating and awaited my scalding for using up the hot water. But no, on this morning he says, “there’s a fire up the road – get out and get the story”. It was semester one, you see, and I was elbow deep in the soggy cow’s rectum that is third year journalism. At that stage of the course, journo students are pasty, morally bankrupt detectives who will sell their soul for a sexy news angle. With a story due each week, the pressure of that god-damned course made itself visible in the twitching eyes and curved spines of the students as they slumped over their word documents and pulled words from their rears. It was a tough time indeed – friends became reptilian scavengers, dredging the bottom of any barrel for a story. Press releases became heavenly kisses, relieving the burden of the word count – but at what price? Perhaps my memory has exaggerated the horrors of third year journalism but my point remains – it was a stressful time indeed.

Considering the above, it is plain to see why when dad cried “fire”, I did not stop, drop and roll. Instead I haphazardly dried myself, grabbed a pen, pad and camera and left the house. As I walked towards the billowing black smoke, I had the nerves of the inexperienced reporter weighing upon my stomach. Judging by the smoke, I assumed it was a house fire and by the look of things, it looked awfully close to a mate’s house. It wasn’t until I rounded the corner onto his road that I realised it was his. My journalism nerves were quickly replaced by the familiar prickle of guilt and shame. Here I was with my notebook and camera while my friend’s house burnt to black. His family stood on the road and their expressions said it all as their pupils reflected the flames. Grandparents, parents and kids all in stunned disbelief, a shivering dog held in uncertain arms. Thankfully, all family members were accounted for – all but the pet bird that couldn’t be freed in time from its cage. I quickly ditched my recording tools, watching in disgust as other neighbours filmed the blaze on their phones. I talked to my friend while fire-fighters cautiously stifled the blaze. Obviously, he was in shock, remaining optimistic until the vicious flames started eating through the roof. I spent the rest of the day feeling pretty downers about the blaze. My family offered as much help as was accepted but it didn’t

erase the feeling of guilt that hit me when I saw my friend’s expression on the street. Naturally, the story made front page in the local paper. The information was sketchy at best – I could have done a much better job; the problem was I wouldn’t. Around a week later, I asked my friend if his family would like to say a public thank you in an article to the neighbours and fire-fighters who supported them through their ideal – they were all for it. I interviewed the humbled family, recorded their grateful words and their experiences of the day. This story, however, was rejected. It wasn’t news, it was a week too late, and there was no real angle. It was on that day that I realised I wasn’t cut out for news journalism – I guess you could call it my ‘eureka’ moment. Until that point, I had been able to remove myself from my stories, treating them indifferently and without emotion. It wasn’t until my friend became the story that I realised my morals strongly objected. Seasoned journalists will call me slack, tell me to harden up and realise that news reporting is about informing the public and that’s that. But honestly I don’t think I could ever make a living reporting people’s tragedies, whether they are close to me or not. So here I am writing debate. Matthew

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The mysteries

of Life by Erica Donald

There are some things in life which just can't be explained. They have been scientifically investigated with no concrete evidence to back them up. Thesis after thesis… Investigation after investigation… But all to no avail. Without further ado I present the greatest mysteries of life. Socks. Why and how do socks separate? I put two matching socks in the washing machine, and only one comes back. Where did the other one vanish to? Perhaps there really are little monsters who steal one sock from each pair. I touched on this briefly in my little monsters article (if you haven't read it then you should read debate more often because you are missing out on my life-changing columns). Of course these monsters have never been photographed, seen or dissected so really they are in the same realm as the Loch Ness. Scientists had to give up on the study of the disappearing socks because they started to get blisters. The Magical Properties of Aioli. I don't think it just has magical properties, I also think it has healing powers. Aioli is the type of sauce which is just so universal you can use it on anything. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Aioli is the answer. I don't know what is so special about this glorified mayonnaise. Perhaps it's the lemon. Perhaps it's the garlic... Perhaps it's the way you can feel God's very presence with each and every mouth-watering taste. It can transform chickpeas into a delicious salad. Add it to a sandwich and it is instantly gourmet. It's the best dipping sauce for fries, wedges and fingers. Needless to say scientists haven't found the answer because they are too busy eating.

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BNZ Birds. Why, WHY, does the BNZ on Queen Street have birds incessantly chirping out of the loud speakers? Are they trying to lull us into a false sense of security? It's a bank, not the Amazon. We are not there to bird watch or relax. No, we are there to sign our lives away on a loan or get money out of our ever-dwindling bank accounts. Before too long we will find cats standing outside, staring up at the building watching and waiting for the invisible birds to appear. Then the cats will bring fleas, and soon everyone who walks up and down Queen Street will find themselves itching and scratching. Then we will have to visit the bank to get money out to visit a doctor or a vet and get some de-flea ointment. It's all just a big conspiracy; well that's my theory anyway. The scientists are still working on this one but they are all allergic to cats. Be wary of the birds. Bus Drivers' Walkie Talkies. There's nothing quite like sitting in the bus and hearing a warbled voice coming out of a walkie talkie radio at the front of the bus. It sounds so important, but I don't quite know what they are saying because it's illegible. I thought walkie talkies were reserved for the police of the FBI but obviously bus drivers are in the same realm. I only wish I could understand their highly confidential bus driver secrets. Maybe they complain about the people who don’t say thank you as they get off the bus. (If this is you, you need to mind your manners. Please.) Following the bus theme. Why do people take the empty seat next to you when the rest of the bus is empty? I feel uncomfortable if someone sits BEHIND me when the whole bus is empty, let alone directly next to me with their sleeve touching my sleeve. Why do they do it? Do they crave the

human touch? Perhaps. Bus drivers probably laugh about it over their walkie talkies with other bus drivers. “Hey, check it out. Some lady just sat next to that girl when the rest of the bus is empty!” “Ha! Who even does that!” Good question, driver. Good question. Debate. The biggest mystery of all, one which continues to mystify and amaze those around us, is why there are so many copies of debate left at the end of the week. For such a quality magazine, even one copy left over is too many. Tell your friends and family about this phenomenon. Perhaps if we work together as a single unit, a solid body, we will be able to prevent this from ever happening again. This is the most unexplained mystery of all, as it’s unknown as to why people wouldn’t pick up a copy as they pass, with hundreds of students passing by the debate stand each day. There you have it. Some of life's greatest mysteries. I haven’t even mentioned the people who speak with too many verbs and/ or adjectives, the animals who never blink, the mirrors which make people fat when they actually aren’t (a case study being my own mirror) and the butter which isn’t butter but tastes almost exactly like butter, despite not being butter. Feel free to write into debate if you can explain any of them. It will give you instant world-class status and you will get my eternal gratitude and awe. Plus it would make the editor pretty darn happy to actually get some mail every now and then (ed’s note: YOU DON’T KNOW ME ERICA!). That, in itself, is more than enough of a reward. I might even shout you a pottle of aioli... If I'm feeling generous.

Come Dine With Me By Rachel Peters

I often see my friends, plugging, admiring, and craving future seasons of their favourite show via Facebook status - the likes one gets for mentioning Game of Thrones on Facebook really don’t count as the first 10 are a given. Everybody likes it; it’s like the avocado of the television world. Most people like Madmen and Breaking Bad too. Some follow vampire flicks like Trueblood or Vampire Diaries. But for me nothing beats watching five odd strangers who would never really hangout, hosting drunken dinner parties - Come Dine With Me never lets me down. I talk about Come Dine With Me a lot. People often think I am being sort of hipster ironic. I’m not. I genuinely find it more intriguing than anything with an actual plot. It is the only thing that I regularly My Sky, much to the annoyance of my mother. I can’t cook a meal without thinking about whether I would serve it on my ‘menu’, if it would ‘wow’ the guests and what that snotty English wank Dave Lamb would have to say about it. I am not sure whether they cast only the most eccentric of applicants, or that oddities of contestants are magnified when they hang out with those who are not like themselves, but there always seems to be sufficiently awkward banter, shock revelations and sexual innuendos. Not to mention those times when you get a really great episode and within five days, strangers become enemies, struggling to even turn up on the finals night to see if they won that 1000 pounds. I base most of my impressions of English living on the show. Whenever I meet someone from Britain I usually wonder if they like Yorkshire pudding and custard. I have deduced that they must be some of the fussiest people on the planet and seem to regularly complain about just about anything. “Oh not chilli”, “I hate chocolate”, “I hate anything sweet”, “I detest seafood” and the list goes on. Of course sometimes it is warranted. I once saw a student compete and cook his guests chips with

gravy and cheese for the main - a meal hardly appropriate for a hangover never mind a group of strangers in their mid thirties. In another episode a woman served food that she scavenged. That’s right - road kill and insects - much to the displeasure of her very bourgeois guests. Of course there is nothing like dressing in costume to break the ice, and costumes are an excuse for contestants to let their alter egos run free. Roman revivalists, onesie lovers, and furries really get a chance to celebrate themselves in all their glory and the guests are obliged to join in. I have noticed that there seems to be an over compensation of cougars and raunchy middle aged women, quite willing to talk about their sex lives on international TV. But there are not as many cougars as there are bigots that would not pass sensors in scripted TV. I love a good feminist vs. old fashioned breadwinner debate. When they describe themselves in the opening sequences it becomes pretty evident that most people have pretty shocking self awareness. Especially in the infamous case of Kathryn Hoskisson who put a bag over a contestants head and described him as one of the ugliest men she have ever seen. What a B*&^%! It’s a show with characters that can be so outrageous they could not be scripted. It has all the joys and escapism of reality TV, without quite being on the deplorable and self-exploitive level of the The Kardashians or Geordie Shore; although some contestants may give the contestants of Geordie Shore a run for their money. One host passed out leaving the guests to fend for themselves for the rest of the night. I read an article on Marian Keys this year, she claimed that Come Dine With Me saved her life in the midst of her breakdown and depression; an episode a day soothed the pain away. I do not doubt it for a second.

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Artist of the week: LEANNE MILLER

Leanne Miller is currently completing the final year of her Master’s Degree in Art & Design and Graphics. I would describe her concepts for you but it uses many large words and I feel it’s best to let the lady speak for herself. “The Visceral Metaphor: An Enigmatic Contemplation of the Invaded Self is an autobiographical research project centered round my experience of a home invasion. While this home invasion was not a violent attack and I was not there at the time, I lost family heirlooms and artifacts that were given to me by loved ones who had passed away. Through photography I search to align the physical shock of loss and grief, with visual images, that, literally come to mind. The images are not representative of the objects taken, but are visual metaphors of the emotions felt on a deep visceral level. These photographs seek to reach, where the spoken word cannot. The inspiration for this research project began with the desire to discover new ways of bringing a photographic image to life, so as to achieve a deeper level of intimacy through visual experience. Within each image, I capture multiple scenes and sequences of still photographs and composite these together to create a seamless composition. With the addition of time and movement, the photograph slowly unfolds, challenging our perception of what we see and revealing a new way of viewing a traditional photographic image. The final body of work that I am aiming to produce, alongside the written exegesis, consists of four “moving stills”, to be presented on LCD screens.”

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my first MOOC By Nigel Moffiet A few weeks ago I never had the slightest inclination I’d be doing a paper on the history of rock music from a college in America. But it’s funny how things turn out. In July, I enrolled in a six week online course from the University of Rochester, New York. The course, run by Professor John Covach, sounded like my kind of thing: I was told I would be learning about the growth of rock music from the early 1970s right through to the punk and disco period. I would be learning about the emergence of MTV, hip hop, and heavy metal in 1980s right through to the rebellion of Nirvana in the 90s. Boy, if this was a university course on sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll I wasn’t going to miss it. And what’s more – it was free! I didn’t have to pack a suitcase. I didn’t have to book a flight and I didn’t have to find accommodation. I simply took part in the lectures in my own time from the comfort of my computer screen.

Such praise culminated with The New York Times naming 2012 ‘The Year of the MOOC’ while Time magazine declared MOOCs to be the “Ivy League for the Masses”. Having read such high praises, I decided I wanted to take part in this revolution. I would say I was sold when I saw Rochester’s course on rock music, but given it was free…well… I was rather lured by a fantastic learning opportunity. What better way to use some free time rather than sitting in front of the TV or hopelessly clicking away through Facebook feeds.

I took part in what is dubbed a “massive open online course” (MOOC) through the company Coursera. This company, and others like it (Udanity, edX), team up with some of the world’s major universities and top professors to provide these free online courses. They are open to anyone with web access and a desire to learn. So far, hundreds of courses have been made available and millions of students world-wide have participated. Earlier this year, Coursera co-founders Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng reported that more than two million students enrolled on their platform alone, with more than 70,000 signing up each week for over 200 courses. Anything from quantum mechanics at Berkeley, an introduction to computer science at Harvard, an introduction to the theory of literature at Yale, or a course in innovation and commercialisation at MIT. Even universities in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand (Massey University) are taking part in these novel educational platforms.

Cool. I was now a revolutionary!

MOOCs have been hyped up over the past year with claims they will foster a revolution in the way we learn. There is particular interest in their potential to make higher education more widely available for people in poorer parts of the world— people who would otherwise miss out on a university education. One notable cheerleader is New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. Friedman has written a number of columns over the past few months giving high praise to MOOCs. In a January 26 article titled ‘Revolution Hits the Universities’, Friedman says development in higher education is most exciting for its “potential to lift more people out of poverty”. By offering affordable courses to the masses, Friedman argues MOOCs are truly democratising the education system. He argues it gives people the ability to gain skills for a job or improve the job they have. “Nothing has more potential to unlock a billion more brains to solve the world’s biggest problems. And nothing has more potential to enable us to reimagine higher education than the massive open online course,” he says.

After signing myself up in a few short steps, I received an email confirming my enrolment and I was welcomed into the world of the MOOC. “Thank you for signing up for History of Rock, Part Two! (I missed part one) You are pioneering a novel form of online learning, and we hope that you will join us in taking this adventure together.”

I then had to tick a box confirming that I would not cheat, that all answers were my own, and that I would not make the answers within the course available online (I mean, who is so hard up as to cheat on a free and open course?). This certainly added authenticity to the experience. I felt like I was undertaking something more worthwhile than, say, watching a documentary, reading Wikipedia entries, or watching a bunch of TED talks. This felt like the real deal. And in some cases it is. This year it was announced that Antioch University’s Los Angeles campus would offer students credit for successfully completing two MOOC courses – Modern and Contemporary American Poetry and Greek and Roman Mythology both taught by professors at the University of Pennsylvania. “We think this model will spread, helping academic institutions offer their students a better education at a lower price,” said Koller in a NYT article. Yet others are not convinced. Many in the education sector see MOOCs as a threat – an unknown beast that could cause havoc and destroy jobs. Real time learning will be replaced with talking heads as professors lose their esteem. Such was the fear for professors at San Jose State University who refused to teach a philosophy course developed by the MOOC company edX. They were asked by higher ups to incorporate the MOOC course as part of the curriculum. They refused by saying it was a step in the wrong direction which would "replace professors, dismantle departments, and provide a diminished education for students in public universities." They made their refusal public by writing an open letter to their dean. In New Zealand, when Massey University’s vice chancellor Steve www.ausm.org.nz

Maharey announced plans to be the first higher education provider in the country to develop MOOCs, not everyone was happy. Lesley Francey, National President of the Tertiary Education Union, expressed concern the initiative would be a threat to jobs and the quality of education. “The danger is that because the big global MOOCs are privately funded by venture capitalists they have no serious commitment to public education. As with many things on the internet they give the public greater access to information, but not necessarily greater access to learning or knowledge. “Students need to be aware of the potential that MOOCs have, with their low-cost model for delivering education, to spell the end of high quality pastoral care, student support and face-to-face learning.” So while many are touting MOOCs as an open, democratic and revolutionising breakthrough in higher education there’s no hiding the fact they’re slowly being set up to make big profits for those running them. In less than one year, Coursera drew $22 million in venture capital and are looking at ways of profiting through such things as licensing and certification fees. And although MOOCs remain cost free for now, some investors are cautious about the future. “We don’t want to make the same mistake the newspaper industry did, of giving our product away free online for too long,” said Coursera partner Peter Lange of Duke University. However Coursera founders Koller and Ng (who now employ 35 people at their Californian headquarters) have stressed they would like to keep MOOCs free for poorer students worldwide. This means we will have to wait and see.

therefore adjust the score accordingly. Of course, such a grading method remains contentious. In an article titled ‘Peer Grading Can’t Work’, Colorado State University Professor Jonathan Rees expressed his uncertainty. “The implicit assumption of any peer grading arrangement is that students with minimal direction can do what humanities professors get paid to do and I think that’s the fatal flaw of these arrangements. This assumption not only undermines the authority of professors everywhere; it suggests that the only important part of college instruction is the content that professors transmit to their students.” Yet, with this is mind, MOOCs develop a huge network of students, professors and universities from around the world. Friedman states his vision when he writes he can “see a day soon where you’ll create your own college degree by taking the best online courses from the best professors from around the world – some computing from Stanford, some entrepreneurship from Wharton, some ethics from Brandeis, some literature from Edinburgh – paying only the nominal fee for the certificate of completion.” And this highlights another valuable aspect I encountered while doing my course. It brought together a worldwide community of people with an interest in the same topic. By simply clicking onto the discussion forum I could enter any conversation taking place on the content of the course or on any specific topic that had been created. It was all academic and educational. There was no trolling or rubbish you might find on something like YouTube. Furthermore, there is the ability to connect with people in your own city and meet up for discussions. From the beginning, people of all backgrounds introduced themselves: “Hi. My name is Tania, 25, I’m from Portugal. And this is my first Coursera course. I love music among other things. I like all kinds of music but I’m more Old School. :)” “Hi, you can call me KC, 22, from the Philippines. I finished part one of History of Rock, and am excited for part 2 because this is where most of the bands I like will start coming in… I hope to interact more with you through these discussion threads. :-) “I'm Markus, 16 from Austria. I took Part 1 (successfully) ;) I LOVE music and I would love to get to know each and every one of u guys :DD”

So once I had signed up and logged into the History of Rock Part Two, Professor Covach had the first week’s lectures all ready to go. The theme for week one was The Growing Rock Monster (197077) and the lectures were broken up into 10 videos, each 10 to 15 minutes long. Covach presented each video with a digital blackboard behind him for the use of visuals and headings. One useful aspect to the online lectures was the ability to pause, search for detail on the internet, or find the music that was spoken about on YouTube, and then head back to the presentation. Additionally, I had the ability to speed up the videos which got me through each lecture as quickly (or slowly) as I liked. After each lecture there is a quick revision test of the content. There was also recommended reading and a textbook to accompany the course if I wished to buy it. Over the six weeks there were six themes and the course included three tests which were very straight forward. Although, being the hopeless student I am, I missed the final deadline for the first test which made my chances of meeting course requirements for a certificate of completion much more difficult. Certificates can be sent out at a small cost from Coursera signed by the professors themselves. Although the tests given on this course were instantly graded by a computer, other courses which require more sophisticated marking are a greater challenge when thousands of students might be enrolled into one course. To tackle this problem Coursera adopts a peer grading process where, say, a written essay is marked by five other students taking the course. Software is also being developed to help eliminate bad or inconsistent graders. By comparing the scores of all five peers, the software will be able to flag people who grade inaccurately and will

“Hey Ya'll. I'm Rocky and reside in Carmel, IN. I'm a professor of English at Butler University and am taking the course as part of a campus wide initiative to get faculty to experience MOOC classes. So I'm looking to learn something about the nuts and bolts of course delivery.” And it is this immense diversity of backgrounds and opinions that lends to the potential power of MOOCs say some experts. When Princeton sociology professor Mitch Duneier wrote about teaching his first Coursera course, it was clear his experience was profound. “A few months ago…40,000 students from 113 countries arrived here via the internet to take a free course in introductory sociology. ... My opening discussion of C. Wright Mills’s classic 1959 book, ‘The Sociological Imagination,’ was a close reading of the text, in which I reviewed a key chapter line by line. I asked students to follow along in their own copies, as I do in the lecture hall. When I give this lecture on the Princeton campus, I usually receive a few penetrating questions. In this case, however, within a few hours of posting the online version, the course forums came alive with hundreds of comments and questions. Several days later there were thousands. ... Within three weeks I had received more feedback on my sociological ideas than I had in a career of teaching, which significantly influenced each of my subsequent lectures and seminars.” And so I came to the end of my course. With one final test remaining, I can say it was an enjoyable experience – educational without the added anxiety of large student fees and the fear of failure. And I’m left wondering: are MOOCs the start of something big, or is this just another passing phase the internet’s always good at dishing up?

MOOC VOXPOPS Erica Meredith, 18, Psychology

Have you ever heard of a massive open online course (MOOC)? No If you could complete your degree online, would it be something you would consider? Yep definitely. Transport costs so much money and you wouldn’t have to get up early. What benefits do you get by attending lectures and class that you might not get online? Lectures help you understand the work much more than reading chapters. Also, being with friends and meeting new people.

Janani Vaikunthanathan, 18, Health Care Support

Have you ever heard of a massive open online course (MOOC)? No If you could complete your degree online, would it be something you would consider? Nah I’d rather turn up to uni because the lecturers can explain in person and it’s easier to understand. What benefits do you get by attending lectures and class that you might not get online? Meeting new people and getting to know your lecturer more. That way your lecturer can provide you with more information.

Straan Wadsworth, 22, Bachelor of International Tourism Management Have you ever heard of a massive open online course (MOOC)? No

If you could complete your degree online, would it be something you would consider? Absolutely. To be honest it takes away the opportunity to come to uni and meet friends and get involved but I’d support it [online courses]. What benefits do you get by attending lectures and class that you might not get online? You can get one-on-one lecturing with the lecturer. AUT is very practical and there’s a lot of group work and you can’t do that online as effectively. Hearing from a lecturer in person is good and I’d say you’d get a lot of students not as motivated doing online courses.

Tobias Bech, 19, Sport and Recreation

Have you ever heard of a massive open online course (MOOC)? No If you could complete your degree online, would it be something you would consider? Yes absolutely. It’s easier staying at home instead of going to lectures. When you’re in a lecture sometimes the lecturer speaks too fast and at home you could do it in your own way. I would really like it. If there was something you didn’t understand you could just pause and go back, so I really like the idea. What benefits do you get by attending lectures and class that you might not get online? Examples are easier to understand and I can understand things easier in lectures rather than reading stuff in a book.

Kate Meldrum, 24, Business

Nifty NEWS

Team New Zealand Crew Member Unable To Pursue Diving Career the team, plus, it was really bad timing”. Other Team New Zealand members are also harbouring similar grudges, performing practice over the last two days in a small dinghy in protest. The New Zealand Yachting Board has also expressed intense disappointment with Reginald, being swift to discipline him for what they called “a super dick move on his part, not foh dah braddahs”. The New Zealand Yachting Board’s hard stance has been supported by many other yachting organizations internationally. Switzerland’s fledging, and mildly useless, yachting board The Switzerland Boat and Coasting Board Ja has released a report documenting several similar cases of teams’ yachts casting aside the team itself to pursue other careers. The Switzerland yacht does not feature.

by Kieran Bennett A member of Team New Zealand has been placed on suspension following an unauthorised secondary career venture. The Team New Zealand yacht, an AC72 catamaran known as Reginald, made an attempt to pursue a scuba diving career and is now on suspension. On Sunday 18 during the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals while attempting to round the fourth mark, Reginald made an attempt to become a professional diver, throwing himself into the ocean and briefly submerging the front end of the craft throwing two crew members overboard. Tensions in the team were high following the event with Team New Zealander Skipper Dean Barker saying “it’s a real betrayal of

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Reginald has issued an apology to Team New Zealand, sending tastefully large gift baskets to each member. In a post-race press conference, Reginald admitted that his timing was “poor” however he felt that he could not hold in his desire to pursue a career in the sub-aquatic field. Ruffling his sails Reginald said that his desire to pursue a career in diving was “a yearning that burned with a great fire in my heart. I can no longer deny it”. He then left the conference to stare longingly at the ocean. Any attempts to question him further were met only with tears and plaintive sighs. Several yacht rights groups have celebrated Reginald’s breaking away from Team New Zealand including the United Kingdom’s Royal Yacht Freedom Society. The Society released a statement full of praise for Reginald’s “brave, bold and overall unexpected move to break the shackles of yachting club oppression”. Skipper Dean Barker told our reporter that while they respected Reginald’s decision, any move would have to wait until after the cup as his services were high in demand. Mr Barker then added “I mean seriously, he does know he’s a yacht right? He can’t dive”. Reginald was unwilling to comment on the nature of his species.

#social #media #highlights

However, others have remained a little more… er…ambivalent.

by Nigel Moffiet There’s been a lot of GCSB talk over the past few weeks. When John Campbell interviewed the Prime Minister on Campbell Live to clarify the Government’s spying powers commentators seemed to agree that John Key did a pretty good job answering the questions. Of course Key had no option but to appear on the show after making comments that New Zealanders are “much more interested in the snapper quota”. Well, as it turns out, a lot of Kiwis are interested in the GCSB bill which had its final reading in Parliament last week. Key is adamant that if Kiwis were privy to some of the threats our country faces, reaction to the bill would be “cut dead”. Yet, those risks remain a secret. Raybon Kan @RaybonKan Haven't been to John Key's security briefings but did look at a map. NZ's in more danger from rogue penguins, than Yemen. #gcsb Some people who cared more about the GCSB bill than snapper quota turned out to a packed Auckland Town Hall meeting on the issue.

Martyn Bradbury I just want to thank all the amazing NZers who came to the Town Hall and who watched online - thank you for showing everyone that we do give a damn! It was an incredible night!

Here’s a Tweeted pic of Winston Peters taking the stage at Auckland’s Town Hall.

Guy Williams@guywilliamsguy I went into town to get a delicious Gloria Jean's Coffee and there was a bloody #gcsb protest in the way! In other news, things just don’t get any easier for NZ cricketer Jesse Ryder. He was in the news in recent months for having been seriously assaulted, and now he’s made international headlines once more after testing positive for a banned substance. Sky Sports @SkySports New Zealand batsman Jesse Ryder 'devastated' after being suspended for six months for doping violation Meanwhile, some are alluding to Shane Warne’s fatty, scandal fuelled past – if he managed to overcome it, is there hope yet for Ryder?

James Elliott @JamesElliott8 Cricketer Jesse Ryder suspended for taking a dodgy diet pill. So the next logical question is, does Liz Hurley have a sister?

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s first same sex marriages took place last week as the law was finally put in place. Good chance for Air NZ to get some advertising as one couple put a new twist on the mile high club. Air New Zealand @FlyAirNZ Kiwi same sex couple ties the knot at 30,000 feet http://www.theflyingsocialnetwork.com/ archives/22536 via @FlyAirNZ

To be fair, Labour leader David Shearer was still interested in the snapper debate… Jessica Mutch TVNZ@MutchJessica David Shearer holding up snapper in the debating chamber

Air New Zealand @FlyAirNZ Congratulations Ally & Lynley. Just Married! #AirNZLove

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Governance and Representation Changes at AuSM AuSM Governance is set to be restructured next year with the establishment of a Student Representative Council and Governance Board. The current Student Executive Council is set to be disestablished and replaced with the Student Representative Council – an elected group of up to 15 students which will fulfil the representation component of the Student Executive job description through possible reinstatement of student senates and class representatives. The Student Representative Council (SRC) will be made up of the elected President and Vice-President, all Faculty Representatives (Business and Law, Design, Creative and Technologies, Health and Environmental Sciences, Culture and Society and Te Ara Poutama); Office Holders (Pasifika, Maori, Disability, International, Post Graduate and up to two nominated office holders); plus the new Campus positions for Wellesley Campus, Akoranga Campus and the Manukau Campus. The External Governance Board will consist of a total of eight members, comprising of four elected students from the Student Representative Council and a final places made up of external members. The main function of this body is to provide relevant skills and experience to confidently and proficiently govern the

Updates

student voice. Another function of the External Governance Board will be to primarily look after the organisation’s strategic direction. It will be mandated to act in the best interest of students, finances and community etc.

AuSM President Term Changes.

As of 2014, the elected AuSM President’s term will extended to a fixed two year term with a maximum of one term. The extension was decided to guarantee continuity and stability for the organisation’s leader and as a means to ensure institutional knowledge is maintained and preserved.

A Farewell to AuSM’s General Manager

Last month, AuSM said farewell to our wonderful General Manager Sue Higgins who has been making everything run smoothly at AuSM for nearly two decades. Nick Buckby, AuSM’s fantastic Advocacy and Compliance Manager, has also decided to move on to the next chapter of life. Much has changed since Sue took on the role of General Manager and throughout the process of her departure, a new role has been identified in the form of Executive Director. This new position will be appointed by the Governance Board in 2014. All changes effective 2014.

COMPETITIONS Find all the words in page 19's Anchorman Wordfind, send it our way & you'll go in the draw to win two "Squawk Burger" vouchers from Velvet Burger. Delicious!

AuSM SGM today (26 Aug Monday) The AuSM Special General Meeting will be held on Monday 26 August at 12pm in WC202 AuSM Student Lounge. Agenda items include AuSM constitutional changes, election changes and appointment of returning officer. All AUT students are welcome. Please bring your student ID with you. Pizza and refreshments will be provided. Did I mention about getting yourself a chance to win a Samsung S3 phone too?

So fetch your magnifying glass and get wordfinding!

SPCA Cupcake Day (26 Aug Monday) AuSM is hosting the SPCA Cupcake Day fundraiser today (26 Aug 2013 Monday) from 9.30am @ Hikuwai Plaza. $2 each and all proceeds go to the SPCA. Come and help out our furry friends! Check out the Facebook event listing.

Perfect Father’s Day Gift Having trouble thinking of what to get for Father’s Day? AuSM sells Entertainment books at $65. It has more than 100 wonderful offers at local restaurants, hotels and activities. Get it now at AuSM office for your super dad!

AuSM Pool Competition – Heat 3 Join us at Vesbar for AuSM Pool competition every Wednesday from 12pm – 1pm till 4 Sept 2013. Email kyle.richmond@aut.ac.nz to enter or turn up on the day! Few spots available! Heaps of prizes!

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Drop your entry into your nearest AuSM office, or the box on the side of the red debate stands, or email debate before 12pm Thursday. What’s up for grabs? Two “squawk burgers” vouchers for Velvet Burger on Fort St, Auckland CBD. Issue 17 Congratulations to...

Nerissa Ross!

City Campus who scored two Squawk Burger vouchers!

Legs be honest, it's been a long day.

So, what is a specifically Christian response to the reality of grief? There are two essential aspects, both of which are centred on Jesus:

Dealing with Grief

1. Grieve! Christians are to meet grief (or any emotion) head on. In John 11:35 (one of the shortest verses in the Bible – at least most English translations!) it is recorded that “Jesus wept” at the death of his friend Lazarus. What he did not say or do was skip over or repress the emotion. Christians believe that Jesus is fully divine and fully human, and so here we see a perfectly human response to loss. In this scene, Jesus is less like someone stifling sniffles at a funeral, and everything like someone loudly wailing at a Tangi. Like anyone, Christians are prone to suppress or down-play grief (i.e. “It’s OK, she’s in heaven…”), but the example of Jesus is to go through the emotions.

Part 1

by Dale Campbell, AUT Christian (Baptist) Chaplain When we talk about and experience grief, particularly when a loved and cherished friend for family member dies, we are talking about and experiencing a reality that cannot be avoided or escaped. As it has been said, the death rate is “one per person.” We will encounter grief when our loved ones leave us, and our loved ones will grieve at our loss as well. How do humans tend to respond to the reality of death? I think the spectrum of responses have the following two extremes. On the one hand, we play it up. It looms so large that we respond by holding onto our lives with what we might appropriately call a death-grip. On the other hand, we play it down. We pretend that it does not affect us, and that it is ‘just’ a part of life. One extreme seems to over-react to death and grief, whilst the other seems to deny its reality. Somewhere in the middle, we both affirm the reality of death, and grope for resources to cope with it.

2. Grieve with Hope. Christians believe that the resurrection of Jesus is a sign that the anticipated heat death (or ‘big crunch’) of the universe is not the ultimate goal for creation. We see Jesus as the ‘first-fruits’ of a New Heaven and New Earth. Therefore, we respond to death not only with grief, but also hope. The Apostle Paul comforted the church at Thessalonica by teaching them to grieve with hope. In John 20, nine chapters after Jesus wept over his friend Lazarus, the risen Jesus asks why Mary is weeping, not to scold her, but on the way to letting her be the first to witness his resurrection. She, a woman (controversially in 1st century Rome) would become the ‘apostle to the apostles’, and the first to glimpse the resurrected Jesus, Hope in Person. So the Christian response to the grief of death is based upon Christ, whom we believe both met it head on, and forged the way through it.

AUCKLAND'S GOT IT GOING ON By Mike Ross I was going to just submit the below for my introduction this week: "I don't have a lot to say in the way of an intro this week. So, yeah." But then I showed it to someone who said it was more lazy than funny. I was in two minds about it myself, didn't want to appear too arrogant, ya know. I guess I was going for more 'aloof' or 'nonchalant'. Achieving that would be dangerous in itself though, because acting that way can either make people think you're a dick (standoff-ish) or find your qualities attractive (aloof). What to do, what to do. Anyhow, I think I've now filled up the required space to appear neither lazy, aloof, nonchalant, or standoff-ish. Problem solved.

Friday

Playground at The Roxy ft. Jonny Pow! (AUS) This Friday sees Sydney DJ duo Cam Robertson and Jonny Pow! return to play a show at, new club on the circuit, The Roxy. Cam's a Kiwi expat that's returning to our shores to remind us how to party, and Jonny Pow's an all-round sick dude that regularly smashes the

dopest spots in Sydney with effervescent tunes (double points for adjective use to me, cheers). Supported by Our:House head honcho Tim Phin and veteran of the scene Murry Sweetpants, it's my pick for the best place to spend Friday if you're out and about. Free entry too, so why the fuck not?

Saturday

2013 NZ DMC DJ Championship at Rakinos For those that don't know what the DMC champs are, they're the world's biggest and most prestigious turntablist competition. And for those that don't know what turntablism is, it's the art of scratching, cutting, mixing and flicking between records on two turntables. Basically, this means that on Saturday night at Rakinos, 10 of the most technically skilled DJs in New Zealand are going to be competing for a trip to represent the country at the DMC World Championships in London. Six minute sets, live video projection on a big screen, and hosting by who else but King Kapisi. Not your normal club night. Tickets are $20 from Dash! or $30 on the door.

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WORD J UMBLER

M DA R E How many words of three letters or more can you find without cheating? Probably not that manyâ&#x20AC;Ś

BRAIN TEASERS 1. What does no man want, yet no man want to lose? 2. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have six daughters and each daughter has one brother. How many people are there in the family?

6-12 Go back to school 13-25 Average Joe 25+ You did good kid.

don't klat

bjaockx

put ton

entury

xmascara DINGBATS ANSWERS: 1. Don't Talk Back. 2. Jack In the Box. 3. Put On Weight. 4. Long time no see. 5. Kiss and makeup.

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BRAIN TEASERS ANSWERS: 1. His Job. 2. 9 family members total - 6 daughters, 1 brother, Mr. Smith and Mrs. Smith

ANCHORMAN WORDFIND

AFTERNOON ANCHORMAN ANCHORLADY BUDDHA BRICK

BURGUNDY DELIGHT FANTANA LAMP MAHOGANY

OVARIES PANTSPARTY PLEATS POSEIDON SANDIEGO

SCOTCH SEXPANTHER TRIDENT VERONICA WHOREISLAND

Circle all the words in the Anchorman Wordfind, tear this page out & pop it into the box on the side of the red debate stands, and you could win two "Squawk Burgers' vouchers for Velvet Burger, Auckland CBD! Tooooo easy!

Name:

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Your Guide To Classic Photo Poses (For Guys and Girls!) by Kieran Bennett, Illustrated by Nicole Koch We’ve all been there, at a party, minding our own business, when someone runs up to you with a camera in one hand and malice in their hearts. “I have to take a photo!” they cry, as though their brains would explode if the moment wasn’t forever captured. You freeze. You hate photos; you never know what to do. Fear not dear reader, assembled here are the classic photo poses that any savvy party goer must always be aware of.

1) The ‘Peace Sign’ -Intended for both guys and girls, the Peace Sign is a classic photography pose of

oriental origin. The Peace Sign is achieved by raising two fingers over your face, achieving the double goal of not only supreme coolness but also obscuring your face. Users are advised however that the Peace Sign should never be attempted in groups numbering more than five unless at least half the group are Asian. A group of eight white people doing the Peace Sign isn’t considered hip and cool so much as borderline racist.

2) The ‘Look at My Fancy Drink’

-If you’ve just spent the last of your food money on a cocktail that looks and tastes like the rear end of a unicorn, no way are you not going to forcibly share it with the world. In order to implement this pose, simply hold your drink in the photo and shove it next to your face like it's that old friend you’ve lost contact with over the years. For added points, tag yourself on Facebook and then tag your drink as ‘regret in a glass’ ‘my amazing drink #holla.’

3) The ‘Awkward Bro Hug’

-When two guys are forced into a photo, the Awkward Bro Hug is almost inevitable. A near universal pose for males everywhere, consisting of two guys with their arms around each other’s shoulders, The Hug is typified by awkward smiles and too much close contact. When forced in to an Awkward Bro Hug (because who chooses to do one?) it is important to look utterly bewildered and have little to no idea what to do with your hands.

4) The ‘Duckface’

-At some point in the history of women’s photography it was decreed that regular, well-formed facial features were no longer attractive. What was attractive however was lips. Really huge ones. The Duckface is simply a reflection of current trends and who doesn’t want to be just like everyone else? A small ‘kissy face’ isn’t enough; one must thrust one’s lips outwards as though one has been punched in the face with a wasp. A bonus to one’s photographic prestige can be gained if the Duckface is combined with the Facebook classic, ‘Here Is My Cleavage.’

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5) The ‘Sorry, I’m Too Cool For Photos’

-For the guys; if your social prestige and ‘complete tool’ levels are slightly above average then this pose is for you. When a camera approaches, check yourself incessantly and fuss like a little old lady; but as soon as that lens focuses, try your hardest to look like an indifferent poser who has no time for photos. Look nonchalant, uninterested and above all, like you’re doing that camera a favour by allowing it to capture the electrons that have bounced off your gel-soaked, open collared, fist bumping, chain wearing figure.

6) The ‘We Are Having the Best Time Ever’

-If all else fails, simply hold up a vessel full of liquid, make an ambiguous sign with the other hand and open your mouth as wide as it’ll go. People will see your photos and think “wow, they consume alcohol, are clearly in some kind of gang and are evidently having an excellent time.” This is a desirable thing to have people think about you I assure you.

7) The 'V Licker'

As a young man it is important to constantly, and as crudely as possible, declare your sexual proficiency to women. Is a photo not the best place to do this? Simply place two fingers either side of your mouth and woman within miles of your photo will be incredibly impressed by your basic sexual knowledge. To truly bring in the ladies it is important to look slightly down your nose. If there’s one thing women love more than an overly confident, sexually inappropriate tool bag; it’s being slightly demeaned.

8) The 'Charlie's Angels'

Not to be confused with the Bolivian porn pose, the Charlie's Angels; this pose is a confidence boosting classic for the ladies. When that camera approaches, quickly find two or more other women and pretend to hold guns while striking slightly sexual poses. As research has proven time and time again, sex and violence are the keys to happiness and that’s exactly what has ensured The Charlie’s Angels longevity.

9) The 'Staunch Man'

-Evolving in recent years out of the ‘Awkward Bro Hug’, the Staunch Man is considered to be the step above. The key feature of the Staunch Man is no bodily contact other than the tips of the shoulders. The point of the Staunch Man is to display next to zero affection, let alone emotion in one’s photo. Developed in order to combat cries of ‘gay’ following the Awkward Bro Hug, the Staunch Man is an excellent way to cover your own homoerotic insecurities.

10) The ‘Pretend Bum Sex’

When you need to feel sexually active, dangerous and cool but don’t want to actually be any of those things, the Pretend Bum Sex is a perfect position. No real explanation is needed for how to do this position, however a complete and utter lack of self-respect and a desire to be perceived as edgy.

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How to handle a break up

by Thomas Thexton Having recently gone through a break up I think it is my social responsibility to impart my experiences and advice onto those currently going through what might be their first serious parting of ways. Now when I say serious I don’t mean, “awww, what a cutie, I’m gonna ask her out!” and then three weeks later, “It’s not working”. I mean when you’ve actually committed a part of yourself to someone and then, in an instant after a substantial amount of time together, that gets taken away. It’s hard and gut wrenching and that is why I have comprised five tips to help you get on with your life and stop instantly bringing down the mood of whatever room you walk into. 1. Understand why The break up obviously happened for a reason. She (or He) didn’t just wake up one day and decide they didn’t like you anymore after that long together. Something or someone in the relationship changed and if you can identify what that was then you can fix it for future relationships or even fix it now and try to woo your lover back. But don’t in any circumstances play the typical blame game and immediately resent your now ex boyfriend or girlfriend (unless it was actually completely their fault, in which case blame and resent away!) 2. Take some ‘me’ time One of the worst parts of break ups is the utter feeling of helplessness, worthlessness in many cases and overall general depression. Use this opportunity as a chance to improve yourself. Get fitter, stronger, smarter or just ultimately sexier! There is nothing that will make you feel better and your ex feel worse than bouncing back stronger than ever from a break up and if they dumped you they will maybe even regret their decision. Don’t sit in your room or in bed and eat your feelings while watching re-runs of that show you guys loved. Distance yourself from shared activities and do something for yourself and you will no doubt improve your self esteem and mood. 3. Don’t Beg If you still want to get your ex back, do not beg. Now when I say beg, I don’t mean apologising and making amends as these are two completely different things. If the break up was your fault then there is nothing wrong with apologising and trying to right your wrongs. But DO NOT send needy texts, suffocate your ex, get angry and then

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apologise and then get angry and apologise! DO NOT send them letters with photos and notes from when you were dating, stalk their Facebook, contact their family, and interrogate new partners or anything which could result in a restraining order. Apart from completely destroying any chance of getting your ex back, you will only feel worse as your attempts at rekindling the relationship Vincent Van Gogh style fail. 4. Don’t play mind games This is a biggy. Although some strategies may work in the short term, there is nothing more successful in a relationship than being open and honest. Having scoured the internet in my previous break up looking for advice on yahoo answers, I realised that good advice for mind games on the on the inter-web is few and far between. As evident through one result which stated, “burn the bitches house down, then she’ll have to live with you”. Mind games like ignoring them, making them jealous through Facebook and the like may work short term but will create unhealthy habits if you should ever reconnect and you will learn bad relationship behaviours for current and future relationships. The best way to fix a broken relationship is to use tip one and understand why, then you can identify the actual problem and then either fix it or move on. 5. Seek Closure The fifth tip comes courtesy of my good friend Steph. One of the worst parts of an unofficial break up is the lack of closure whether it be closure that it’s over, or closure that you’re both committed to working on it. Whether you are trying to fix it or calling it quits, there needs to be a line in the sand which everyone can see. A lack of closure is what leads people to uncertainty, low self esteem and an inability to move on with their life. So this tip is simple, make it or break it, but make your decision obvious. So there is my (and Stephs’) view on what I think are some of the five most important things to do when going through a break up. It’s a shit time for mostly everyone involved and the best thing to do is to be certain in your actions and make sure that you do not beg and demean yourself or go to the other extreme and send her the used napkin that you kept from your first date because you’re that guy. Just maintain your self-worth, confidence and overall awesomeness because as cliché as it sounds, there are plenty more fish in the sea.

Lecturers and tutors after dark: an exposé. By J. Winquist Lecturers and tutors are a strange breed of creature. Enigmatic and unfathomable, they are the type that enjoy dishing out assignments; they delight in using incomprehensible words; they live for delivering lectures. No one has conducted an in-depth study of Lecturis Majoris or Tutoridor Minoris, so their comings and goings are a mystery. Very few have reported seeing these creatures in the wild and those that have spout tales of such outrageous ordinariness that they are immediately scoffed at. It seems to be that at 8am sharp, every day, lecturers and tutors suddenly appear with coffee cups in hand and a devilish glint in their eyes. But from whence do they come at the start of the day, and where do they go once the sun has set? (For the purposes of this article analysis has been restricted to the AUT city campus, but findings are applicable to the North Shore, Manukau, and Millennium campuses). When a hard day of classes and workshops has drawn to a close, students wearily wedge themselves onto crowded, smelly buses, hop into their granny-cars, or walk home. But unlike students, lecturers and tutors do not actually leave the building (I hear you sneer in disbelief but it’s true). Rather, once the halls are clear of students, lecturers vie amongst themselves for the prime sleeping areas, and what is left over is picked over by the tutors, who are lower on the hierarchy. The nightly sleeping arrangements are based on a first-come, first-served basis, but lecturers will always have the prerogative to turf upstart tutors out of a desirable spot, should they choose to.

Utility cupboards: the standard sleeping spot for lecturers and tutors who are in favour. Note their convenient location close to cafes, lecture halls, and bathrooms. Sleeping positions are restricted to upright to leave room for the mops and buckets. Air vents: these are everywhere and are the lowest of the low. They are reserved solely for tutors and the odd lecturer that was too slow to shotgun any of the other spots. The spatial limitations mean these locations are for slender staff only, which is not a problem as most tutors and lecturers can only afford to eat once a week. WG couches: these are the coveted sleeping spots that only become available once every single student has left the building for the night. They are few in number, so often lecturers hide out of sight and wait. Their access is restricted by the Vice-Chancellor, who walks around with a plastic bucket and demands a gold coin donation. Those who don’t cough up are summarily turfed out. Lecture theatres: all lecture theatres come with a space beneath the lectern where lecturers can fold themselves away. Sometimes tutors are lucky enough to find an empty lecture theatre, but their paranoia that they will be forcefully removed by a grumpy lecturer means they don’t enjoy a good night’s sleep. Come morning, it is a simple matter for lecturers and tutors to spring out of their hidey-holes and dash to the nearest café, where you, dear reader, often see them. Now, you may think such activities after dark are preposterous, but remember that lecturers and tutors are not the same as you and I. Journal articles are their sustenance. Marking assignments is their entertainment. They have no need to venture outside the bounds of AUT, because they live for one thing and one thing only: university. www.ausm.org.nz

A few issues back, we asked y’all to rate debate to let us know how we are performing this year. The feedback we received was mostly positive (I know, WTF right?) and it gave us great pleasure here in the office to read your praise, criticisms and downright crazy comments. Below you will find a few of our favourite comments.

I won’t babe. Shhhhhh…. Are you flirting with me? This is either a compliment or the most offensive thing I have ever read…

Oh stop it… Please…

We’ve taken your consideration onboard and included an article this week I think you will enjoy. Flick on through to page 27 for some mainstream delight.

A University of Auckland student who reads debate every week. I feel infinite.

Quoting Bruno Mars is never cheesy. Ever.

So you pick it up every week but you don’t enjoy reading it? I have the perfect solution for you…

Wow Erica. You should try being more needy…

It’s moments like this I love my job.

I do my best. Thanks for giving me some practice though – very thoughtful.

I often say it’s because online readership is so high – but I’m only lying to myself…

That’s just racist…

You want home addresses and phone numbers too? We would do it if we knew what the hell you were talking about. Really? A whole theme on ‘grammer mistake’? Well… If that’s what the readers want…

Proof that Studylink isn’t providing enough for students.

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Uhh... I’m not sure you quite understand the question.

I guess he found the puzzles.

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That's M'Girl By Hazel Buckingham

Music is an art that, when done well, doesn’t just tantalise the senses; it takes its listeners on a journey that transcends space and time. It brings cultures and different worlds together and it tells stories with each quaver, crotchet or rest beat that materialise on a stave. Music is a social commentary, a history book of stories, and just another method of passing on anecdotes and traditions.

they were considered the heartbeat of mother earth,” she says.

Indigenous Canadian group M’Girl is a collective of very talented women who encapsulate everything music should be.

M’Girl songs are a combination of their different travels around Turtle Island, which is now known as Canada. The members Jenifer Brousseau, Una-Ann Mayer, Tracey Weitzel, Tiare Laporte and Morriseau have all had unique experiences and many come from different First Nation tribes or communities.

The women create what can only be referred to as pieces of musical art that are composed of stories and songs about their backgrounds and life journeys. Their delicate and regal melodies and harmonies incorporate sounds of R&B, blues, folk/roots, house and world beat with traditional aboriginal melodic phrasing, songforms and rhythms. In other words, it’s a melting pot of cultures. From the very beginning of their album Fusion of Two Worlds, you know you’re in for a treat. Beginning with a raw, emotional acapella number, the record transforms into a marvel that encapsulates dynamic harmonies, spoken word, woodwinds, keyboards, guitar, bass and driving rhythm. By the end of the second track New Nation I’m sitting there asking myself “is there anything these women can’t play?” But it’s not just their musical talents that make M’Girl an incredible ensemble. Their backgrounds and motives for creating the band, and the social messages they relay are just as unique and inspiring. Growing up in the native region of Manitoba, Canada, founding member Renae Morriseau always wondered why only men were allowed to sit around the sacred “powwow drum” in her village, and women were not. “Traditionally, only men were allowed to be seated and women had to stand and dance, as

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This “powwow drum” is now a focal point for M’Girl and their music. It represents a gathering of traditional Native American people from the social prairies of Canada. The word “powwow” literally translates to mean “spiritual leader”.

Renae explains they know their native languages and relationships to different communities through their songs. “Our songs describe the history of our relationship with the land and water and ultimately mother earth.” To fully enjoy M’Girl I did some research of my own about the women’s respective First Nation tribes and I was blown away. The Cree people are the largest group of First Nations in Canada, followed closely by the Ojibways. What stuck out to me most about these indigenous groups however, were their basic values and connections to our beautiful world and the people in it. Many First Nations tribes in North America include a third gender; referred to as “two spirit people” who perform work and wear clothing associated with both men and women. The presence of male “twospirits” has been a fundamental institution among most tribal people, and both male and female “two-spirits” have been documented in over 130 tribes, in every region of North America. Kinships and clans are a large part of their daily lifestyles, and they hold deep spiritual

beliefs. It’s incredible to observe that people exist in ways so starkly different than what we perceive to be “the norm” over here in little old New Zealand. M’Girl talents will be heading to New Zealand in early September to perform at ATAMIRA Maori in the City at The Cloud and Shed 10 over the weekend September 6th-8th. The free, cultural event will allow Morriseau and her group to share their national heritage with one that has similar values in terms of land, water and social gatherings. “Being involved in ATAMIRA is like coming together to share and experience the cultural songs, dances and stories of land, water and the community of the Maori festival,” she says. Morriseau, also a esteemed director of television and theatrical stories, first encounted the Maori culture on a previous visit to New Zealand. She directed a television series called Down2Earth, which highlighted various Maori communities around the North Island. M’Girl found themselves singing their way through all the Maori maraes and at several welcome ceremonies. This visit, M’Girl will join other indigenous acts on the ATAMIRA stage and share cultural stories and their exquisite music with Aucklanders. In my opinion it is an event not to be missed. ATAMIRA Maori in the City promises to be a festival that broadens your worldview and extends your mind, while providing majestic entertainment such as M’Girl. If there’s any doubt it your mind, type “New nation” or “Lay with me” into Google and prepare for an overwhelming, emotive, and beautiful encounter. Because that’s what true music should be. Art. Educational. And an entire experience.

BEATMASTER BASSHUNTER by Matthew Cattin Yawning down the phone line from Sweden, I caught Jonas Altberg at around 11PM on a Thursday night. Here in Auckland it was 9AM and I was fresh off the city bus – Jonas, meanwhile, had just wrapped up a hard day’s work slaving over hot beats. Well-mannered and friendly, he chatted to me about producing new material, his new album Calling Time and his overwhelming success in New Zealand. Most Kiwis first heard the name Basshunter back in 2008 upon the release of his hit album Now You’re Gone. The album - and smash single of the same name - sent Basshunter from relative obscurity to international dance success virtually overnight. The album produced four hit singles and topped the New Zealand charts, going on to earn Basshunter Platinum record status in Kiwiland with over 22,000 copies sold. Jonas says the record’s success was overwhelming; happening so fast he didn’t have time to process it all. “It was an amazing feeling,” he says, “unbelievable”.

was something I could potentially become pretty good at and you know, I just kept on doing it,” he says. Jonas talked me through his unique process of song writing and I have to say, it sounds like a great time. “I’ve learnt that some people can just sit down and make a song just like someone else can go into an office and work as an accountant or something like that,” he says. “I can’t just sit down and say ‘I’m going to produce a song’. I need to have an idea first. Sometimes it’s lyrics, sometimes it’s music, sometimes it’s just an idea that popped up out of nowhere.” “I produce a melody and loop it over and over again at low volume while I’m recording with a microphone. I’m just walking around, having a few drinks and thinking out loud, just free styling. And then I get everything that’s recorded, load that into a programme and just pick the different pieces that sound good together as a song.” During this process, Jonas often invites a few musician mates over to get the creativity flowing over a few bottles of brew. “The problem is they’re drunk all the time,” jokes Jonas, “but that’s not always a bad thing…”

“I’ve only been over there once but it was two of the best weeks of my life,” he says. “When I performed in New Zealand, I don’t think I’ve ever felt such a reception. The way everyone received me and the way everyone supported and partied with me – it was special. There are not many places in the world where I have achieved that so you could say I have a special connection – even though I’m from the other side of the planet and I’ve only been there once.”

Jonas talked me through Basshunter’s fourth studio album Calling Time which was released here earlier this month. An eclectic mix of Basshunter’s early sounds and new, it’s an album that Jonas hopes will please everybody. “This album has been on the production table for like two years. I read a lot of posts on Facebook and Twitter – I try to stay as close to my fans as I can. You have the fans who listened to my music 10 or 11 years ago when it was much harder and non-commercial and then you have the new fans who like the more vocal songs. It doesn’t really matter what you do, it feels like you’re disappointing someone. With this album I’m trying to satisfy everyone. It’s pretty much a mix between the old school Basshunter sound and also the new, more vocal commercial band sound I’ve been working on. This album is very entertaining to listen to because each song is very unique – you won’t hear the same sound twice.”

Although it seemed spontaneous, Basshunter’s success was the result of many years’ practice and experimentation. He tells me that even becoming an artist was something of a serendipitous fluke. “I was 17 when I discovered a music program by coincidence and I just sat down and started playing around with things. I kind of felt that this

And some good news for Basshunter fans – Jonas has New Zealand in his sights. Although nothing is confirmed yet, Jonas says a trip down under is definitely going to happen – he’s just not too sure when. In the meantime you’ll just have to settle for Calling Time bedroom raves while you wait – happy hunting.

Although popular worldwide, Basshunter’s sound resonated particularly well with his new-found New Zealand fans, as reflected by the album’s impressive sales. In 2009, he came down under to say thank you, playing a generous four gigs across the country. I asked whether he felt a particular connection with our fine country.

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Echoes From The Dream Cave Matthew Cattin chats with Cloud Controlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Alister Wright

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Frankly the best thing to come out of Australia since - shit, well, ever Cloud Control has just released their long anticipated second album to the delight of my earnest ears. I first discovered their sweet sounds back in 2010 upon the release of their debut LP Bliss Release. A throwback to 60’s psychedelia, organic and spacious, it has become a beloved road trip companion of mine – the perfect soundtrack to serenade mountains, beaches and sun. Thrashed every summer and loaned out to several friends, my copy looks loved and worn so needless to say I was excited for the new LP. Consisting of Heidi Lenffer (vocals, keyboards), her brother Ulrich (drums, percussion) Jeremy Kelshaw (vocals, bass guitar) and Alister Wright (vocals, guitar), Cloud Control hail from the Blue Mountains near Sydney. The band began in 2005 after meeting at rehearsals for The Pirates of Penzance and deciding to unite for a battle of the bands competition. Eight years, two EPs and two albums later, the band is in top form and all set to tour their latest set of tunes. The band’s sophomore effort Dream Cave landed two weeks ago, an album which showcased a different side of the Blue Mountains fourpiece. With elements of electronic production driving the record, it was a step forward for the band but also a return to form for singer/guitarist Alister Wright who’s first music writing experiences began on his computer. He explained the new direction to me in a phone call from Oz. “I’ve always written music on my computer - all the way through high school, and even before that I was writing heaps of stuff,” says Alister. He takes me back to the recording process of Bliss Release, saying the band made a conscious decision to restrict electronic production rather than incorporate it, replacing programming in the demos with instruments for the final cuts. “When it came to recording it, we decided ‘let’s do something different – we’ll record it all to tape and do as much live as we can’. So that’s what we did with Bliss Release but then this time around we cut ourselves loose a bit and just relaxed into it, kept a lot of the original recordings we made when we were on tour.” The result is a balance of electronic and organic - old school and new school - a sound which Alister says is perhaps more definitive of Cloud Control than their previous outputs. “I think we’re the kind of band that sound different every time we put something out,” he says. In March 2011, Cloud Control were announced as the winners of the Australian Music Prize, picking up thirty grand in cash for their efforts in Bliss Release. As alternative musicians trying their best to make ends meet, the award was a welcome bonus. “It was really good to win an award that you know was voted by your peers, people in the media and all the kind of thing,” says Alister. “Rating albums against each other is such a silly thing to do but the money definitely came in handy because I think at the time I had a pretty solid credit card debt… When we were recording, I just stopped working for a while so the money helped us out a lot.”

For now, Cloud Control is getting by on their music alone - a pleasant change from their earlier days of jobs, study and as Alister said, credit card debts. “When we were writing last time, some of us were still at university or working, that kind of thing. This time, we finished up touring and had a bunch of time to write and it was great! We were just hanging out all the time, making friends with other bands, playing tennis… It was really good, a great, great time.” I read that Cloud Control’s new song Dream Cave had some pretty bizarre origins; Roy Orbison, Rancid and whiskey. The vocals were also recorded in a cave in south-west London – I’ll let Alister tell the story. “I was just getting into Roy Orbison at the time, so that was part of it, but I was also listening to a lot of old punk stuff like Rancid. So I was trying to sing a Roy Orbison song, but like the guy from Rancid. Also, I was in a really shit rehearsal studio that smelled like mould, it was really dark, and I was drinking whiskey. I started - as a joke - really pretending to be like Roy Orbison as if he was a crazy guy. He had such a tragic life and I was trying to channel that aspect of his deal.” The end product is a fantastically eerie ballad, like a prom slow dance tune but with modern swag. An album highlight for me, I’d definitely recommend a listen – if not for the sweet tune, then for its mystical cave qualities. “We just thought because it was called Dream Cave, we should record in a cave. We wanted to record somewhere that had some natural reverb and originally we were talking about finding a lighthouse or a church – somewhere like that. But then when we made the song, it just made sense to go with the cave option. It was good fun! We took a bunch of friends and hung out in this cave for a day.” Like their debut album, Dream Cave plays through as a cohesive set of songs, rather than a collection of singles. Tracks merge seamlessly into one another creating a true album feel – a feel Alister and the band were intent on creating. “I love to listen to whole albums – that’s the way I listen to music. I like to get a vinyl, put it on, really get into it, get lost in it. And when it comes to making music, that’s what I want to do too. I want to make something that’s really solid from start to finish, with nothing on there that isn’t worth listening to. I don’t want people to feel like they are wasting their time when they’re listening.” Following the release of Dream Cave, the band headed to the states to take their new songs on the road. Alister was surprised at how wellreceived they were considering how fresh their music is on American soil. Unfortunately, not everybody has been getting on board with the new album and the band has had - although mostly positive reviews - a few real downers. “We do have little laughs about it in the band sometimes. We had one that said the album was like a baby that should have been aborted and that got a wee giggle. I’m actually pretty happy though to have an album that divides people. The reviews for Bliss Release were pretty much all good – everyone seemed to like it. But I’m excited to be putting something out that people can’t really decide on. Also, reading the reviews, everyone has different favourite songs as well, different standouts so that’s cool. Reviews. Are. Funny.” Unfortunately, the Cloud Control crew has no solid plans come and visit their New Zealand neighbours – as much as they would like to. I would suggest buying their records and jumping on the bandwagon to encourage them on their merry way – go on, do itttttt.

FAN REACTIONS THAT COMPLETELY MISSED THE POINT by Jamie Barnes

Hunger games themed camp

Into the wilderness

Now I do get the reasoning behind this: what Harry Potter fan doesn’t want to visit a Hogwarts theme park made in its likeness? And after Lord of the Rings came out, international fans flocked to New Zealand to what became known as Middle Earth. And now with Jennifer Lawrence bringing Katniss Everdeen to life on the big screen, a camp in Tampa Bay Florida figured they would provide a similar facsimile for fans of the Hunger Games. Sounds like a good idea right? It worked with Harry Potter? Yes, but then again Harry Potter doesn’t revolve around the systematic murder of children.

Into the Wild recounts the true story of young adventurer Christopher McCandless leaving behind the corrupt capitalist society he loathed in order to live in the Alaskan wild the way nature intended. Inspiring a bestselling book and later a movie, McCandless’ story inspired fans to follow in his footsteps and have their own adventure away from civilisation.

Now I get that the camp doesn’t advocate that the kids LITERALLY kill their peers (I hope) but even within the realms of the fandom this does not make sense. The Pevensie children for example want to go to Narnia because they have fun adventures there but the Hunger Games are a place to be avoided because… well it’s children murdering each other. The activities of the camp include flag football and other games where kids collect flags and at the end of the week, the kid with the most flag wins. This apparently disappointed some of the preteen campers who were actually expecting to kill each other. Maybe they were onto something afterall… image sources:

Gail Borden Public Library Flickr.

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The problem here is that the tragic story ends with McCandless (spoilers) kinda dying, and by “kinda” I mean “a horrible, slow, painful death; alone and miserable”. What killed McCandless was a lack of equipment, survival skills and… well common sense really. He brought no food, no compass little knowledge of how to live in the Alaskan wilderness, eventually dying of malnutrition. So you think fans who apparently read the book religiously would learn from his mistakes right? Wrong. Since the book was published, thousands of fans have made pilgrimages to the bus where McCandless lived and eventually died, and not all have returned. Some fans, such as Marc Paterson, have even gone in the opposite direction and modelled their journey to be as authentic to McCandless’ as possible and have subsequently died from the same lack of expertise and equipment. The only thing they change of course is bringing a copy of his book Into the Wild. image sources: http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardwagner/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/eowyngroban/ www.theroadchoseme.com

Fight Clubs “We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like” After the huge cult success of the 1999 film Fight Club, fans from Victoriaville High School California were inspired to start up their own underground fight club based on the ideals of the fictional founder Tyler Durden. Unfortunately they missed one of the key morals of this story -

forming terrorist cults is bad. Unfortunately this meaning was lost on the American teen fan base who - instead of treating it as a cautionary tale against groupthink - took it as a ‘how to guide’ for pretentious philosophy and Brad Pitt abs. “We quote philosophy that doesn’t make sense by characters we don’t understand from books we didn’t read” See - I can do it too. image sources: http://www.amam-magazine.com/false_fight_club.html

Guy Fawkes: Catholic, anarchist, freedom fighter, hacker

2) Anarchy In 1988 the graphic novel V for Vendetta was released in which the main character V wears a caricature of Guy Fawkes’ face. In the story, V was inspired by the Guy Fawkes story to overthrow the dogmatic fascist government and instil anarchy.

As The Da Vinci Code pointed out, the meaning of symbols change over time (swastika, pentagram etc) but the iconic Guy Fawkes mask has changed what it represents so many times that not only has it lost a lot of connection to its original meaning, but also most of its subsequent meanings too.

3) Equality The 2005 movie adaption of V for Vendetta puts a more “good vs evil” rather than “fascism vs anarchy” spin on the story even though the supposed “good” character is using a symbol from an individual who supported a system which definitely believed people were unequal and probably would have ended up like the fictional “evil” government had he succeeded.

1) Original meaning: Catholic theocracy So everyone knows the story of the gunpowder treason: Guy Fawkes wanted to blow up parliament, got caught and now we celebrate every year by blowing other things up. The reason he wanted to blow up parliament though was because he wanted to overthrow the current protestant government in order to instil what would have been a more dogmatic catholic parliament.

4) The organisation Anonymous Ironically, the organisation furthest away from any political ideology has the closest meaning to the original symbol, being an organisation that infiltrates other organisations and destroys them from the inside for having opposing ideologies to them, so I guess the meaning has come full circle.

VARIOUS PSYCHOPATHS The finish up to this section is specifically for the random one-off fans that took the wrong idea and took it to bizarre extremes. James Holmes -Fan of: The dark knight -Intended meaning: humanity is not as rotten as the joker tries to prove -Interpreted meaning: I should kill a bunch of people

Charles Manson: -Fan of: Helter Skelter -Intended meaning: song with as much noise as possible (this was before heavy metal) -Interpreted meaning: I should kill a bunch of people

Mark David Chapman -Fan of: Catcher in the Rye, John Lennon -Intended meaning: teenagers can have problems too, give peace a chance -Interpreted meaning: I am also depressed this means I should kill John Lennon

Adolf Hitler -Fan of: the holy grail (seriously, he had a whole SS dept. dedicated to finding it) -Intended meaning: the tale of an item only those pure of heart can find -Interpreted meaning: pure of heart= pure blood, I should kill www.ausm.org.nz everyone with ‘impure’ blood 31

Elysium

Directed by Neill Blomkamp Starring Matt Damon, Jodie Foster and Sharlto Copley Rating: Reviewed by Matthew Cattin

District 9 was the runaway success story of 2009. Backed by Peter Jackson’s might, the alien apartheid film threw director Neill Blomkamp head first into Hollywood stardom with lead actor Sharlto Copley in tow. For a feature film debut, it was a thoroughly impressive affair with spectacular effects, dark humour and grisly gore. A sci-fi follow-up was always going to be met with extraordinary expectations and while Elysium doesn’t quite measure up in terms of quality, it’s one hell of a fun ride nonetheless. Once again, Blomkamp’s fixation with slum life provides the backdrop for the plot. It’s 2154 – humans have long since brought planet earth to its knees and are paying the ugly price. Overpopulated, diseased and violent, it’s a fairly bleak look at the probable future (the way things are going). Earth’s wealthy, however, so have no cause for concern - for they live on Elysium. Orbiting earth on a manmade satellite, earth’s ‘elite’ enjoy fresh air, clean water, trees and best of all, advanced medical treatment – sickness is not a problem on Elysium and down on earth, the needy squint up at Elysium with envious eyes. Max (Matt Damon) is an ex-con currently working on the straight and narrow in a robotics factory when tragedy strikes – he is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation. With five days to live, his one chance of survival lies with Elysium’s advanced medical technology. With nothing to lose but time, he opts for drastic surgery and has a robotic exoskeleton attached to his hulky body – mmmm. There’s of course a bit of extra meat in the plot but I’ll leave that for y’all to discover should you decide to see the film. Damon is typically a pretty solid frontman, delivering nothing more or less than should be expected of a Hollywood action man. South African born Sharlto Copley (District 9) plays opposite Damon as brutal mercenary Agent Kruger and quite honestly, he steals the show. Bearded, cruel and with an accent so harsh it will exfoliate your face, Copley was utterly fantastic as a villain – definitely a great casting call. Jodie Foster adds a bit of star power as the annoying Secretary Rhodes, a military-minded hard-ass who takes care of Elysium’s dirty behind-the-scenes business. She’s not in charge of Elysium but plans to change that ASAP – prepare yourself for a terrible accent and some annoying screen time. Elysium is by no means an excellent film. It relies on fight scenes too much, employs a fair share of clichés and doesn’t really pull any surprises out of the bag but did that matter? No, not at all. It was a fun film! There were exploding heads, sweet weapons, dark humour and Matt Damon getting angry – it may be cheap entertainment but it was entertainment nonetheless, and best of all, it didn’t take itself too seriously. Let’s go Team Blomkamp!

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Tampa

Alissa Nutting Rating: Reviewed by Abigail Johnson

Part American Psycho, part Notes on a Scandal and part 50 Shades of Grey, Tampa is the bold debut novel from Alissa Nutting. It follows the story of Celeste Price, a beautiful 26-yearold school teacher with a perfect body. According to how she describes herself, she could have any man she ever desired, but her interests lie elsewhere. The only reason she ever became a high school teacher was to appease her desire for 14-year-old boys, a desire which she has almost no control over, a desire which she builds her life around. Yes this is a paedophile story, and Nutting doesn’t go easy on the sex scenes, but an element of ickyness is subsided by the fact that the boys she beds are certainly enjoying themselves. At the beginning of the novel she is embarking on a journey to seduce one of her students, a goal she goes after with sociopathic forethought. I have always enjoyed novels with morally corrupt characters, but two chapters in, as Celeste wonders if fat women have souls, I realised that this character is utterly unlikable. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I’ve always found ‘likeability’ overrated, and despite having almost no redeeming characteristics, I still found myself enchanted by her journey. An assistant professor of creative writing at John Carroll University, Nutting is a good writer. She’s no Steig Laarson, but in the age of Stephanie Meyer and E.L James, she at least has some literary skills. The book opens well, and it feels as if one is entering into a more literary, paedophilic, 50 shades of Grey, but it loses steam towards the end. It almost feels as if by the last two chapters she has been forced to meet a deadline, and it is massively rushed, leaving the ending rather unsatisfactory. At some points in the novel it feels as if Nutting never learnt the ‘show don’t tell’ lesson in storytelling, but then, at other times, she will hit you with a line so brilliant it knocks you back. There were quite a few jealousy-inducing, ‘I wish I wrote that’ type lines, but the one that I remember most was; (after another character says something tedious)“I nodded, wilfully clenching my sphincter to avoid my eyes involuntarily rolling in disgust.” What a perfect way to describe that emotion. When I finished the final page I felt compelled to stay seated and think about whether or not I actually liked the book. I’m still unsure. I can’t exactly say I learnt anything, except perhaps that paedophiles think about sex a lot, and I pretty much already knew that. All in all I won’t be raving about this book, but once I started I could not put it down. Although I could say the same thing of Facebook, so it’s not really high praise.

Apocalypse Now

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola Starring Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen and Robert Duvall Rating: Reviewed by Rachel Peters

When a movie is over three hours long, it sure as hell better be good. My attention span seems to only be worse as I age and it is becoming harder for me to sit through an entire movie without somehow distracting myself. Yes, I even left Man of Steel to get an intermediary coffee, despite the scathing look issued by my boyfriend as I left the theatre. However as short as my attention span is, I stood no chance of self-distraction when watching Apocalypse Now, a film rife with action, a great script, an amazing soundtrack, a killer plot and great acting. Being a war movie, it is probably more of a hit with men, but for all you laaadies out there, Willard, played by Martin Sheen, is actually a bit of a honey, despite his profound inability to hold down a conversation. Marlon Brando as Kurtz was superb, despite turning up to set overweight, not having read Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (the classic novel which inspired the script) and not having learnt his lines either. Although being the opposite of what he was supposed to look like for the role, I felt being an overweight mad man really added to his character. Skinny maniacs have become a bit cliché, and that is where Apocalypse Now gets on where most other war stories get off, it lacks much of the conventionality related to war movies. There is no solider with the heart of gold, no message of friendship and love that will conquer all. It offers only darkness and classic fatalism. It also has a fascinating philosophical angle. Summed up by Willard’s final words, “the horror the horror”. Kurtz justifies his killings and his craziness with a great final speech when he realises he cannot face the war and be a moral man at the same time. “You have to have men who are moral... and at the same time who are able to utilize their primordial instincts to kill without feeling... without passion... without judgment... without judgment! Because it's judgment that defeats us.” There is a sick zen-ness to what he says, he seems both lost, deranged and enlightened at the same time. A notion further emphasised by his constant literary references and poetic speech. The cult classic is a must see. Ambiguous, dark and political, ambitious almost to a fault, Apocalypse Now left me questioning humanity, death, primordial instincts and the darker corners of my mind.

Cloud Control

Dream Cave Rating: Reviewed by Nigel Moffiet

Indie-rock quartet Cloud Control hail from the Blue Mountains, NSW – just outside of Sydney. Perhaps this has partly inspired the album art of their latest release, Dream Cave. It features a textured painting of dark aqua brushstrokes in every direction as a dark, distant figure stands at the edge of a precipice. It sets the tone for a moody and contemplative album – which, as a result, has its ups and downs. This latest release from the group was recorded in a small studio in Kent, England, with UK producer Barny Barnicott who has worked with acts like Coldplay. The group were toying with the idea of recording the whole thing in a cave but as it turned out this was more challenging than they expected. Nevertheless, cave themes do seep through the cracks and crevices of this album: Dream Cave opens with a dark, gloomy atmospheric wash of sound – heavy in synth and electronic beats. Throughout the album there are themes of introverted guilt and heartache before the album closes to the sound of echoing drops of water – inside a dark, damp cave of course. Yet, amongst all this damp gloom, the first single, Dojo Rising, is a catchy number. The track makes good use of lightly brushed electronic effects on top of an indie rock sound. The lyrics, however, are vague: “Give it to me easy. Give it to me hard. Just wanna get, get, get lit, yeah then I’m gonna break your heart.” The track Promises is a very familiar sounding 60s rock jangle – the chorus especially. Maybe a Rolling Stones number? It certainly shows the range of sounds the group are willing to experiment with. The mixed vocal delivery also adds dynamic variation to the album. While frontman Alister Wright’s singing sometimes seeps into a blandish melody, Heidi Lenffer’s vocals are bright and soft. On the track Moonrabbit she sings with youthful innocence in a spacey song that hops along like the title suggests: “Feeling free to see with other eyes, now I’m looking for a clearer mirror.” Yet the album seems to lose focus in places. The two tracks, Tombstone and Dream Cave, are among the best on the album and they’re forced all the way to the back. Tombstone is a brooding, psychedelic trip-hop escape and although it’s a great track it seems to take a direction of its own – inconsistent with the rest of the album. Deeper exploration of this trip-hop influence would have been very interesting and perhaps it’s a sign of where the group might be heading. After all, electronic influences were brought more to forefront on this album than what was offered up previously. As Alister Wright said of the album “we’re just letting through a bit more of that [electronic] element. A song like Gold Canary – on our last album – it was pretty hip-hop, it’s based around a drum beat. The only difference is this time we’re letting those influences come to the front a little bit more.”

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Congratulations Nerissa! AT&T

From left: Nerissa Ross, Vandana Minhas (Team Leader, First Year Experience), Rosemary Petersen (Manager, Pasifika Student Support).

Congratulations to Nerissa Ross, winner of the Student Readiness Survey Prize Draw and the proud new owner of an iPhone 4S! All new students at AUT receive an invitation to complete the Student Readiness Survey prior to each semester. The survey enables the University to provide students with immediate and tailored information on facilities and support services in preparation for the first semester. Nerissa, whose family is from Tonga, previously studied at the University of Auckland for one month, before transferring to AUT for Semester 2. She said she is overwhelmed by the support she has received from AUT. “I missed a quiz last week and I got an email checking in to see how I was. It’s so cool to know people are looking out for you.”

Find out more about AUT surveys and have your say at http://aut.ac/student-surveys

pasifika student support

Pasifika Student Support provides: • • • •

Professional, friendly advice and one-on-one support Course and enrolment information Advice and information on scholarships Social events and activities that will connect you with other Pasifika students

We can also speak with academic departments and other staff on your behalf.

City Campus WB215 North Shore AS207 E W

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921 9892 921 9893 921 9164

pasifika@aut.ac.nz www.aut.ac.nz/student_services/pasifika

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PLUS MANY GREAT STATIONERY SPECIALS!!! Specials available from 19th - 25th August 2013 *Excludes U of A and AUT textbooks, already reduced & NETT priced items

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