What is Bullet Magazine? Who we are: Official University of Lincoln Student’s Union Publication What we do: Cover local and national events relating to a student and local audience. Why: To keep our students up to date on what is going on across University as well as around our local community.
Each year a new editorial team is given the opportunity to work at Bullet. I took on the role of Online Editor, my aim was to turn the online publication around and create something new. Since the editorial team took over and created the first edition and web uploading in August; statistics for the magazine have gone from a few hundred cumulatively, to thousands. Another thing lagging previous to our editorial takeover was the use of Facebook and twitter. I felt these were of as much value as our online presence, in particular dealing with students. We had regular meetings as to how we could best create awareness of our social pages. We decided to upload content not only to the website, but also to Facebook at the same time. Making use of status updates, we have encouraged people to interact with our content and create debate with news and features. This creates communication between us and our audience in order to establish what they like and don’t like or what they would like to see. This has proven to be successful and again, our audience participation has increased. Our website and tweets are followed by our local newspaper, the Lincolnshire echo and also student beans, one of the largest student websites in the UK, which shows that we are targeting correctly, and our success is been recognised by other figures in the market. As well as working as online Editor I also took on the role of a casual contributor to the Magazine, writing colloquial blog, a “Rant Page” and occasional articles, which are showcased in this folder. All articles seen within this document can be found at www. bulletonline. org
A Christmas “Break”
It’s coming to the time when hand- ins are getting over and done with, and your starting to feel a bit festive, maybe starting to resurrect a bit of old school Mariah or Wham from the depths of your iTunes libraries? But are you honestly truly relaxed, or are you simply sweeping all the worries to the dusty closet at the back of your mind, I know I am. I think I’m relaxed for Christmas, looking forward to the food, sleep and money that comes with it. But if I sit for longer than 30 minutes, I start to feel an overwhelming sense of guilt, despite been up to date with all my assignments, like I should be doing something more productive, like I’m wasting my life away. Take Christmas day, I’ll be reading the paper and see an advert on the front cover and panic that my advertising assessments are messed up or I’ve got some work I should be doing. Is it really only me who feels this overwhelming sense of guilt, or can you relax? I know that all the boffins say that a break makes the brain stronger blah blah, but do you honestly feel you’ve earned this break because I’m worried I haven’t, yet I know I need it? st
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In my mind I suggest to you all, especially the 1 and 2 years to get up to date with all your assignments early. Third years? Clear your dissertation head by Christmas eve and enjoy Christmas day, otherwise its not going to be a “break” at all, and we all know semester B is never exactly a walk in the park. I might just pop out the Absolut and chocolates then eat and drink myself calm… it’s worked for the past two years. However you deal with your Christmas workload just remember take time to chill, it is a “break” after all. Image: Sarah Reck
Social Networking Is Freed
This is very hypocritical of me seen as I’m a diehard X factor fan, well that was until Rebecca was cheated of her crown… but I won’t go too far into that. What I’m so happy about is having my mini feed on Facebook and Twitter freed from the grasps of the reality shows, X factor has gone, I’m a Celeb too, and Strictly is ending too. Thank you god! It has come to the point over the past couple of weeks where I don’t even have to watch the shows anymore; I can simply repeatedly refresh my Twitter and Facebook at regular intervals and get a running commentary of the show. To be honest it’s good when I’m working a night shift and am stricken by grief that I can’t watch the X factor ( sad I know) , however I never realized how much I missed regular tweets and status updates until this morning. Has it made anyone else realize how much you learn of your friends escapades via social networking? I now know my mates in London are at the Gym, and that my Sister is dying of a hangover… yay normality! The only thing now is to rid Facebook of these idiotic number statuses, whatever they are, and Social Networking is back at peace, Hallelujah!
Lincoln University’s New Business and Law Building- Too Late?
It has come to light recently, that with the hype around the new Business and Law building due to open in a few months, how much less access to specialist resources B&L students have compared to other schools within the university. Journalism students having their own PC suites, photography studios are available to ONLY contemporary lens media students and workshops for art and design students, all facilities exclusive to the course area. But what do B&L students currently and over the past years only have… un- exclusive shared library PCs that are broken half of the time. Rachel Hartley, a third year Law student summarises my thoughts perfectly: “ I think all students need an area other than the library to work in on campus, we all pay the same fees so we all should have extra work areas” In my mind surely this is giving us B&L students, been biased, particularly MAPR students a raw deal… we pay the same fees as the students with access to specialist resources, so why shouldn’t we get equal treatment or a relative discount? A good example of this immature, petty exclusivity is my access, or lack of, to specialist printers, only available to creative advertising students and not general advertising students. Obviously that big C word in the difference of the titles means I’m open to being screwed over… durh! Charlie, obviously! You know you have to sell your soul to graphics lecturers to use printers your paying over £3000 a year to use! Before I get all the uppity, defensive comments, I know the business and law building does sound amazing, and when its open the B&L students will probably be the most privileged school of the Uni resource wise, but what about the students over the past god knows how many years from the school… the phrase too little too late springs to mind….
Bad Timetabling or Strategic Timetabling?
I’m a third year so might be becoming the biggest martyr the world has ever seen but is it just me who’s pissed off with my timetable this year? Don’t get me wrong I love my course, would have left way before now if not, but the way they make your day so long and drawn out is a joke. Take today, I’m writing this blog in my five hour. . Yes FIVE hour gap between my two lectures of the day. Making me wake up at 7am looking like an extra from 28 days later and dragging my heels to a 9am lecture to only wait five hours for my next one at 3pm, but what I wonder is, is this just shabby timetabling or a strategic move by the Uni to encourage more people to get their work done during the day? I know I have work to do with the dreaded group work presentations and the big D word looming over my head like a massive grey cloud, but five hours to kill myself doing that? With the Glasshouse on my left and Topman tempting me from the right… What is a boy to do? I’m thinking shopping and nachos are more on my mind then scouring the Internet for Advertising campaigns to analyze, but do the Uni realize this? In my mind I believe the head of my department to be sat in a big chair stroking a white cat cackling at how they’re guilt tripping us into a five hour dissertation binge, but seriously do they think were honestly that passive? I’ve got my cardigan obsession to feed, and with the winter looming and the need for warm clothes, surely this is me putting my health first… Right? Well at least I can kid myself if no one else. What are your thoughts are you a fighter till the end spending your lecture gaps with a can of redbull speed typing like a crazy? Or out blowing your loan on clothes, booze and food like me and most of my friends? If you are truly dedicated, I applaud you… how do you do it??
Shag Bands Are Back!
According to several blogging and gossip jargon websites, the return of “shag bands” is upon us! If you’re not familiar with this phenomenon, allow me to enlighten you… Can you remember the day back in year seven classrooms, where scented gel pens and the most fashionable pencil case determined your positioning in the ever- important popularity hierarchy? It was from this twisted schoolyard culture, that “shag bands” emerged. Originally meant to be worn by “Goths” or “Emos” as an overt labelling of their subculture, the dirty minded future reprobates within the playground took a whole different twist to the craze of the skinny rubber bracelet. The idea was that a girl or guy would wear several of these on their wrist and if you fancied them or in accordance with the bands name…wanted to shag them; you would snap their bracelet and this would mean they were a potential notch on your bed post. Obviously, only when you had hit puberty and your voice had broken. However the new shag bands are seen as a revolution. No longer a simple rubber bracelet, now available in an adornment of colours, shapes and sizes ranging from green lizards, to hot pink lip shaped bands. Not just functional but fashionable too! Forget the playground now though, this time the bands have broken into the big bad world, reaching the high street and the bars and clubs amongst it. No longer is there the desperate cringing fear of a cheesy chat up line or awkward brushing of the hand, shag bands makes this much easier and a quirky informal way of getting to know someone, because now no verbal communication is needed. The idea is when you see your girl, across a crowded bar like a scene from a cheesy American rom- com; you simply go over, grab her wrist give her one of your shag bands and you’ve reserved her for the night… Lets not be sexist here too, the same can work if the girl sees the guy across the crowded… you get my drift.
Now to me this seems all very production line style dating, very much like holding your ticket in Argos and waiting for your new toaster to appear at the desk, but maybe it’s just me though. What are your thoughts, would you be brazen enough to carry this out on the ever- classy Lincoln high street? You know the good old saying… What’s the worse that could happen? And if you need some dating tips to keep it suave and sexy I’d advise this article http: / / www. buzzfeed. com/ ashleybaccam/ flirting- with- silly- bandz- 1uwr
Rant: Ambition or Guts?
While searching for jobs recently I’ve found there to be so many out there, with so much opportunity why is it that some of my mates seem to be happy with staying at supermarkets shelf stacking after graduation? It baffles me that you would spend thousands of pounds on a supposed course of “career development” only to be happy paying it back at a snails pace, strategically arranging the Mars Bars in your local off license. Am I cynical thinking of these people as lazy and un- ambitious or is it a genuine fear of the big bad world? If the latter, I say man up! So far I’ve applied for Jobs in America, the UK, Cyprus even as far as Bahrain ( Please say the fighting stops if I have to go for an interview! ) . To say I wasn’t scared of the possible prospects of moving away would be a barefaced lie, I am absolutely petrified, but would this stop me from doing it, Hell No! In my Mind University is not just academic journals and contemplating jumping in front of a bus near assignment hand in dates with one night and 3000 words to go. The true lessons learnt are the personal development, maturity, time management and rational thinking. Rationally thinking moving away for a high profile job is so worthwhile, but reverting back to my pre- uni mindset Id be like “Way too Scary for Me! ”, put thinking logically now, surely its better to bite the bullet than take it to the chest? Long term, the latter, I would perceive as the effect of working in a job you know your better than. Both academically and personally, your ego and outlook must take a massive crushing. Maybe yeah, some people are sincerely happy with an easy life in an easy job, but surely even the least ambitious of us has, to go back on my
word, fantasy irrational dreams. Take mine I want a beachfront villa with a hummer, loaded with a jet ski in the back on the drive, and a pool on the roof, yeah, as if I was in the hills or 90210! As deluded as this may seem surely aiming high means higher potential achievements? So to all you out there who are feeling un- ambitious and deflated after Uni I’d say man up and get a grip otherwise your gonna be working in your corner shop in the next few years hearing of all the successful graduates who made something of themselves, thinking, If only I’d have taken the plunge!
Must Have/ See/ Hear: Spring- Summer 2011 They say see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, with this list 2011S/ S will be the time to avoid all 3, with Bullet’s recommendations for their Top Book, Film, TV Show and Album for the upcoming months.
Film: Scream 4 The corniest, cheesiest cult horror film trilogy of our generation is going to become a quadriliogy”, with the upcoming release of Scream 4 this spring.
The best bit been it will include all old school cast members, such as Courtney Cox, Neve Campbell and David Arquette.
Still based on the same slasher style story line, if nothing else this film is surely going to revive “The Call is coming from inside the house! ” prank calls, and some vintage Halloween costume revivals this year. One of my most anticipated comebacks for a long while! Released: 15/ 4/ 2011
TV: Live to Dance
An American adaption of the successful Sky 1 dance Competition “Got to Dance” with familiar face Kimberly Wyatt and two fellow guest judges, Including X- Factor and
American Idol’s Paula Abdul. This is anticipated to be the American Idol Of Dancing.
After having the opportunity myself of going to see the live final of “Got to Dance” in London, If this American, like all American dramas fits the bill of been more dramatic, more showbiz and more sickly flamboyant. It can’t do anything less than wow the UK crowds.
The American diversity, or Chris and Wes could be in Our midst.
Airing now on Sky 1.
Music: Chris Brown- F. A. M. E
Fresh back on the scene after the infamous Rihanna incident. Chris brown is back as strong as ever with a highly collaborative Album, including duets with big names in the dance and R&B world such as Benny Benassi, Ludacris, Tyga, Busta Rhymes and Justin Bieber.
The mix up of style from future pop anthems such as “Yeah 3x” to dance Mega tune “Beautiful People” with the world renowned DJ Benny Benassi, all the way back to his roots of Rap and Hip Hop, with the already wellestablished single “Deuces”. It looks like Chris Brown is coming back with Force.
Release date: 21/ 3/ 2011
Book: You Might Be a Zombie and Other Bad News- Shocking but Utterly True Fact
If like me you are a fan of anything weird and wonderful. This kind of book is really going to float your boat, written in the same style as bestsellers “Hippo eats Dwarf” and “Elephants on Acid”, this book aims to educate the masses on all the stuff we don’t know about going on right under our noses. Highlighting freakishly disturbing facts, from government conspiracy’s to utterly weird medical experiments, going on in the world right now. If you are a fan of the sickly and disturbing underground facts of how science works, such as the fact that every human in the world right now is infected with a parasite that has to ability to control our Brain or uncovering the true reality of a possible Zombie apocalypse, this book is for you. If nothing else, it will improve your chances at a pub Quiz, so definitely worth a read.
Released Now on Amazon.
Viva La Rehab
Whilst, using the term loosely, “Revising” over Christmas my procrastination has led to an unhealthy overdeveloped addiction to twitter and celebrity gossip blogs, especially famous names such as Perez Hilton. I’ve noticed a large focus on well- known celebrity fans of, as cited in one blog “Nose Candy and Stoli”, such as Lindsay Lohan, Colin Farrell and Kerry Katona. Take Kerry Katona for example, early this year flying the flag for British society as a alcoholic, drugged up, overweight single mother, a supposed disciplinary visit of punishment, to the supposed “hell hole of rehab” she comes out thin, prettier, clean and a passenger on the post xmas fitness DVD wagon, excuse my French but What The ?! * $. How was she not put in prison, like any other normal criminal? It obviously shows promoting cheap fish fingers can work wonders in a court room. I don’t understand how to someone who is a supposed “celebrity”, a spa of sorts, with a gym, therapists, game rooms, fitness training and sun beds is punishment of the highest degree, and they play the world’s biggest martyr. I think it’s crazy that promoting the idea that snorting coke in front of toddlers and making sex tapes etc. can transport you to a elusive spa style centre where you can come out a supermodel, really going to reduce the ASBO’s I’m guessing. I’m sure most of the UK’s students would kill for all this “Punishment” known to us mere mortals as “pampering”. I can quite safely say that if my Mum caught me snorting cocaine or getting paraletically drunk in public, or with some celebrities, both at the same time, she wouldn’t buy me a gym membership and send me off for a facial. So why should supposed celebrities get that treatment.
Obviously I’m not going to generalise I’ve got to remember the poor defenceless Paris Hilton, with the long hard struggle of a 3 day ( of a 45 day sentence) in jail, been released early for good behaviour. I don’t mean to be cold hearted in this but I’m sure if I got caught drink driving the police would not warrant a 3 day stint giving them puppy dog eyes as a proof of my impeccable behaviour, only days after breaking the law. How has rehab become so glitz and glam, well I know how, but why? In my mind, maybe I’m stupid I can’t see any element of punishment within it, yes they can’t leave, but to be funny, why would you ever want to. If you’re getting 6* service for breaking the law, which z list celebrity is going to swap the drugs and drink for a J20 and a nicorette, not to be pot kettle but I wouldn’t but then again I’m not a celebrity. Maybe I chose the wrong degree, never heard of any world famous advertisers? Maybe I’ll switch to drama, learn to act, get famous, then I’ll be bulletproof right and get a free summer holiday for drink driving? Viva La Rehab!