Destination ... ?

The world is so massive, and we are so small!
There is so much to see, do, and experience... Can anyone ever say they are truly satisfied with how much they've managed to accomplish in their short time on this planet?

I can't imagine ever saying "yep, I'm done. Seen everything and done everything on my so call bucket list", it just feels like there's always something else out there to be discovered, not for the first time ever, but for the first time personally.

I guess the thing I struggle with, and I imagine the vast majority feel this way at some point in their life, is that we are so restricted in getting to experience all that's out there. What's more frustrating is that these restrictions are mainly being imposed by man-made variables. The only natural restriction in my opinion is time. The rest, be they money, religion, culture, war, etc. have been dreamed up by society over many hundreds of years.

It just seems unfair that nature has given humanity this amazing world to explore, and chosen us as the ones to be able to comprehend and appreciate it all, and yet only a small portion of people could ever say that they've had ever opportunity to do as they wish.

Basically what I'm saying is screw work and screw needing money! I want to take off on adventures and never have to worry about stopping and earning cash to keep living!

Targets

Sometimes it just hits you out of nowhere.

One minute, you're feeling okay, focused on other things, and then the next minute...

BAM.

It hits you like a tonne of bricks, as you realise you are far from okay. It all comes flooding back - everything that is never going to happen again. They come in the form of all the good things that have happened, but instead of giving you a warm, fuzzy memory, they hit you square in the chest and feel like a vice squeezing tighter around your heart as you understand what's been lost, potentially forever.

When does the yearning end? At what point do you stop wanting your life to go back to the way it was? Will you ever be able to fully accept your fate in this situation? It feels like the longing to go back will never, ever leave. Outsiders say there are better things ahead, they say everything happens for a reason and you're better off ... what do they know? No one else can understand the hurt and pain you feel, the hope you'll never let go of, and the terrifying reality of what's to come.

And the only person you want to talk about it all with, is the one person you can't.

Doesn't it all just make you want to throw something heavy at something very fragile?

Dreaming with a broken heart

I wonder if I should rename this page to a different John Mayer song... Seems more appropriate at the moment, especially after the last few nights! Guess it doesn't matter when nobody reads it...

Unexplainable

Never thought I'd be lied to or cheated on by the one person I loved.

It fucking hurts.

Torture

It already feels like it's been too long.
This sucks the big one.

I miss us.

Circles

Is this what life is always like? The same pattern repeating over and over again? You think that as soon as you figure out one thing, all will be well, but it just so happens that something else to figure out comes in to take it's place.

What I'm talking about is hard to explain and even harder to avoid.

I'm talking about thoughts.

I'm now assuming that everyone has the same general fantasies about life. Something along the lines of "everything will be better in the future" or "I'll be happy when... (insert purchased object/life goal here)"

Sure, in the future, the thoughts you had before might be gone, but in their place are new thoughts about a different situation, and they wont go away until the situation changes again and then new ones will take their place.

Take right now, for example. Or rather, 4 months ago. Back then I was always worried about getting a job. 'Things will be better when I have a proper job', I thought. And then I got a job. And now there are new thoughts and worries to replace the old ones. Sure it's nice not to have to worry about finding a job, but that brain space has now been freed up to obsess over other things. Should I try to get this rental house? When should I go inspect it? Or should I resign myself to living in staff accommodation and paying double what i should be for rent? Will I regret not getting a place that boyfriend and family can stay at? Would it be too hard to live off mountain?

These are my thoughts now. And funnily enough, I'm still entertaining the same old fantasy: 'it'll all be better/easier when I live back in Melbourne again'.

I just don't think we learn. Or maybe we need to always be so optimistic about the future, no matter how many times it proves us wrong, because otherwise what is the point of change? I suppose life would be pretty dull if you knew the future isn't always going to be as easy as you make it out to be in your head.

But that's the fantasy, isn't it. And we all need a little fantasy every now and then.

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 5

Day Five: A picture of your favourite memory.

This is going to be a tough one...

Maybe not this exact point, but the whole time surrounding it is a pretty great memory :)

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 4

Will have to do two posts in one today since I didn't do one yesterday.


So here's a picture of my night last night:

Work

Hilarious New Zealand movie

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 3

Day Three: A picture of the cast from your favourite TV show.

Okay so this was way too hard so I had to split it up... There are four favourites: two are shows that have totally finished and two are continuing shows.

Continuing shows:

How I Met Your Mother

Gossip Girl

Finished shows:

Friends

Scrubs

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 2

Day Two: A picture of you and the person you have been closest to the longest.

The 30 Day Photo Challenge

Okay so I'm going to do the 30 day photo challenge here on my (very much unused) blog, instead of Facebook, because I'd like to do it for myself rather than for all the people that don't care out there.


DAY ONE: A picture of yourself with 10 facts.



1. I still have teddy bears on my bed.
2. I like jigsaw puzzles.
3. I wish I was more of a go-getter, rather than a member of the 'wait-n-see tribe'.
4. I love it when people get my quotes.
5. I'm addicted to caffeine.
6. The Duppy is my best (non-human) friend.
7. I think job hunting is hard and depressing when you don't know what to look for.
8. I still like teenage TV shows, movies & books because I'm not quite grown up yet.
9. Paris was my favourite place. No, Switzerland was. No, Rome was.... No....
10. I am in love.



Tune in tomorrow for Day Two!

namesake

it's not a silly little moment,
it's not the storm before the calm,
this is the deep and dying breath of
this love that we've been working on
can't seem to hold you like i want to
so i can feel you in my arms
nobody's gonna come and save you
we've pulled too many false alarms

we're going down and you can see it too
we're going down and you know that we're doomed
my dear, we're slow dancing in a burning room

i was the one you always dreamed of
you were the one i tried to draw
how dare you say it's nothing to me
baby you're the only light i ever saw
i make the most of all the sadness
you be a bitch because you can
oh you try to hit me just to hurt me but you leave me feeling dirty

we're going down and you can see it too
we're going down and you know that we're doomed
my dear, we're slow dancing in a burning room

go cry about it why don't you
go cry about it why don't you
oh go cry about it, go cry about it.
my dear, we're slowing dancing in a burning room

oh in a burning room
don't you think we oughta know by now
don't you think we shoulda learnt by now
don't you think we oughta know by now
don't you think we shoulda learnt somehow

my dear, we're slow dancing in a burning room.

Obsessions

It's funny how things that used to mean so much to me, now just don't seem as important.

I used to be obsessed with song play counts on iTunes. I had to let each song play out to get the play count, and the order in which my Top 25 Played songs ranked was about as important as studying for school and uni exams.

When I got my laptop and transferred all my music over from my old PC, I lost all play counts, and the ranking of my top played songs.

It was excruciating.

I felt like a whole part of my life had been deleted. And a pretty big chapter at that. I mean I was obsessed for a few years. I searched so many times for different fixes to this disappearing play count issue, but after a while it just didn't seem so important. It didn't seem worth the effort.

I stopped letting songs play the whole way out. I stopped worrying about the order of my most listened to songs. And I stopped constantly organising what I thought was a perfect iTunes.

I guess after a while, things that used to seem so incredibly important, lose their specialness. And, once enough time has passed, these obsessions can be looked back upon without pain for their loss, but rather, as fond memories of a closed chapter of a life.

I think I still miss my play counts a little bit: they really do remind me of a different time of my life. But I know that feeling will eventually fade, as I replace it with different, newer and seemingly much more important obsessions.

Time To Grow Up??

Sometimes I just cannot believe how douchebag-y some people can be.
There is this small population of the world that truly believe they are the only important people on the planet. They have no regard for the feelings or even opinions of others, as long as they themselves are happy and get a laugh out of things.
Just because you feel a certain way about something, doesn't make you superior to anyone else. Sometimes it can make you an outsider.
Which is what you are.
Enjoy.

Review & Summary of Special Topics: Tourism & the Media

This semester of Tourism and the Media has been really enjoyable. I think I was especially interested in it because my major research project on film-induced tourism is very closely related.

It was a good insight into the more 'behind the scenes' issues of filming and destinations, and will probably make me think a lot more when I watch movies now, especially about locations of filming and the image of the destination that I'm left with at the end of the film. Already when watching movies, I see locations and wonder if they're really where the story says it is, and often will watch through the credits to see if the filmed locations are mentioned. This is probably something that the film companies don't really want people doing, but I can't help it now!

It's also been interesting to learn more about destination image and the many different ways that it can be communicated in the media, through guidebooks, travel writing, film, television, music, literature, art, even theme parks.

I'm not really sure what else to write... Seems I've covered everything already in my other quite long journals (oops), so I think all there is left to say is thanks for an enjoyable and informative semester!

xox

Authenticity as the Holy Grail of Film Tourism

This week we had a guest speaker, Anne Buchmann, to talk about authenticity in film tourism, specifically relating to Lord of the Rings tours in New Zealand. This was a really interesting class, especially hearing from someone who has spent so much time researching in the one country, and also someone who is quite young and new(ish) to the research/academic scene.

I liked the fact that Anne identified that film tourists to New Zealand wanted to experience both the 'real' NZ and also the more 'fantastical' Middle-Earth... They expected to see both in the one place. It was also interesting to learn that most people going on the tours had only seen the movies one or two times, if that, and less had read Tolkien's book. Therefore, none of the film tourists saw themselves as film fanatics, even though they have come from far and wide to witness something they've seen in a film. I wonder if there is ever a point where someone believes that they're now a film fanatic...?

Anne also noted that they anticipated an authentic and sincere experience, which is interesting, the notion of someone wanting an 'authentic' experience of an 'imaginary' world. Sorta seems like the two might cancel each other out... It was also interesting hearing what the tour groups considered authentic, from being influenced by the 'making of' videos from the LOTR dvds, and other clips on New Zealand. They enjoyed meeting people that were extras in the films, especially if they were in their 'authentic' costumes, which mostly were just made out of fabric and plastic, so really, weren't real at all.

It was a great insight into the minds of tourists in a tour group, and raised some interesting points about authenticity and people's perceptions and expectations.

This is the second last reflective journal entry that I have to write! The last one is just a summary and final reflections on the subject, then I can hand it in and cross off one more assignment from the to do list! Exciting times!

xox

The One You Knew

I'm leaving but don't worry 
I'll be back again
You're always right here

And you're grieving but don't hurry to your pack of friends
I'll stay 
It's clear

The one you knew from your love 
I grew into complete and whole 
And the way I justify
It's my way to control love everlasting 

I see your sweater rests upon your bed 
Reminds me of home
It can't be any better than it is in my head 
I'm blinded by roam

The one you knew from your love 
I grew into complete and whole 
And the way I justify 
It's my way to control 

There's only one way I know how to do this 
Stay here and help me live through this and I'll always be 

The one you knew from your love 
I grew into complete and whole 
And the way I justify 
It's my way to control love everlasting.

The Outback and Westerns

Today's seminar was taken by a different lecturer - Warwick Frost. He's a really interesting lecturer and I found myself concentrating nearly the whole seminar!

Anyway, we spoke firstly about the Australian Outback and it's use and portrayal in films. The main theme was the fact that there is really no definition for what the Outback actually is. As Warwick said, it's a very subjective concept, and can probably be interpreted in many ways. I'm really glad that we talked about the fact that the Outback is not the same as 'The Bush'... because I sometimes get annoyed when people think they are the same thing. Mostly because they are total opposites in environmental terms. Maybe the only thing similar they have in common is the distance from urban areas.

I also thought it was amazing that so many films set in the outback had such a similar premise: a visitor to the outback (though generally not just a tourist, and usually someone foreign than Australian) comes in search of something/someone etc, had adventures/gets into some danger in the Outback, and then leaves a different person/transformed from their bad habits. This type of film must be popular if so many have used basically the same structure to the movie.

The idea of the Outback being an experience that could be 'life changing' is another concept that seems a little bit silly at first, but the more you think about it, the more potential it has to conjure those feelings in people. Through many of the films that are set in the Outback, it seems as though there is almost a guarantee that you will have a life changing experience if you travel out there. In his book on his Australian travels, Bill Bryson talks about Uluru, and how connected he felt with the rock when he finally saw it with his own eyes. The feeling that he describes isn't quite as extreme as 'life changing', but it still shows a certain gain from being there.

I think, maybe instead of being life changing, the Outback might fit more into the category of 'the sublime', just from what I've read in Alain De Botton's The Art of Travel. It sorta seems as if the vast, empty, but oddly beautiful landscape would fit well within the category of the sublime, though I don't know enough about the concept to be sure.

In regards to Western films: they're not really the type of films that I'm attracted to or would enjoy too much. I also think that it's interesting that many of the westerns have very similar recurring themes... Sometimes I wonder if fans ever get sick of the same types of scenes or scenery shown. Although I guess when you think of romantic comedies or dramas, they tend to also have recurring themes, or structures, and have a few main locations that they are set in, and I continuously enjoy watching them.

Anyway, that'll do for now... Pretty sure I only have 2 more posts to do for this subject. At the moment, it's heads down, bums up trying to get the assignments done in good time. I really don't want to be stressing right up until the last minute, although at the moment I seem to be going at a good pace to have plenty of time for fixing last minute details and everything. I already know the result of one subject this semester, which is 77 overall, one I'm fairly happy with. Hopefully I can do just as well in the rest of them... Fingers crossed!

xox

Travel Writing.

This week I finally bought the text book for this subject, so now can include things from the book in these posts, which I was meant to do for all of them... Oh well. I also had about one minute of excitement when I found out that the bookshop had a massive sale and that text books were going out for around $4.50... Alas, the one I needed was at it's original (ridiculous) price of $66.95. I should probably make sure I delete this part of the post before I send it to the lecturer, though, since it's her book we had to buy and she probably was involved in the price setting! Anyway...

Onto today's topic: Travel Writing. Was a pretty interesting topic, I thought. What was most surprising is that books like travel guides, and blogs by travelers aren't said to be forms of travel writing. I wonder who exactly came up with that rule, and whether it is widely accepted. If it is by Fussel, as on the seminar notes, then the date is nearly 30 years old! I have a feeling a lot has changed in that time, that could possibly change the meaning of 'travel book' to encompass more styles. Personally, I love looking through books like the Lonely Planet guides, especially for the vivid, beautiful photos and pictures they always display. One of my favourite books at home is my copy of The Travel Book, by Lonely Planet, which has sort of like a biography for every country in the world. Just reading through the quick snippets of information and a glancing at the few stunning pictures, and I'm ready to go there. But I guess even though it's they're books of writing about travel, they aren't classified as types of travel writing, because they haven't really got a distinctive narrative: there is no voice to the pieces. Though I think that just because they aren't classed exactly as travel books, does not mean that they can't influence people to go to the places they are about.

I think I'm much more partial to the travel writing of today, rather than that of the Victorian age, where all information was conveyed through scientific facts and blatant observations. Although, back then I suppose that a lot of the world was still 'undiscovered' and needed to be cataloged in that way in order for other, non-scientific people to be able to venture out and create their own perspectives on the new places. But, now that the whole world has been 'discovered' so to speak, it's much more appropriate to write about travel through thoughts, ideas, recommendations, or personal perspectives... At least, they're more enjoyable and interesting to read for non-scientific people.

I can also see a vague distinction between travelers who write and travel writers, where travel writers are probably more likely to write to a wider audience, and include reflections on specific places, and perhaps highlight areas that were of particular importance or relevance to them. If I was someone who was writing while traveling, I think the entries would probably read more like a diary, with accounts of what I'd done that day etc, mostly intended for myself upon return and to remember the trip by. Other than maybe family and friends, no one else would ever read what I'd written.

Lastly, I think Bill Bryson is a very talented writer, from the 2 books I've read of his. It seems that he knows how to connect with his audience through the writing, and I think that is very necessary if the end result is to convince people to visit the same places. If not, then people have read an interesting and humorous book about a foreign (or not so well-known) land that might just get them thinking.

Anyway, that'll do again. I can't publish this post til I've written about the previous seminar, cause I skipped one... So hopefully it shouldn't be too long. I'd better get my act together! Hermit-ville starts now!

xox

Australia (The Movie) and TV Travel

This week's seminar was on the movie Australia, and it's use in promoting the country, as well as the many different types of travel shows that are on television nowadays.

The first thing that struck me about this topic, was the fact that up until the movie 'Australia', the country's marketing bodies decided that it was too complex to promote tourism through films, even though a number of great movies were made in Australia that would have had the potential to entice tourists here. Crocodile Dundee and the Mad Max films were pretty big successes overseas, and could probably have been major draw cards to the country had a tourism campaign for Australia been attached to their release.

Maybe Tourism Australia and the previous marketing bodies before that organisation had just decided they weren't going to pursue tourism campaigns through films, but when a blockbuster movie came along with superstar lead actors and director, and with the actual name of the country as the film's title, the opportunity was just too good to pass up. Especially, I imagine, with all the publicity that the country would get as a result of the film: international eyes on the country and its stars, the country's name repeated multiple times in every interview to describe the film itself, and the fact that most of the stars, director and crew were Australian, and the landmark locations where filming took place.

I felt quite proud when I heard that Tourism Australia is known to be quite innovative in the destination advertising they employ. For all the criticism they get for some of their advertisements and campaigns, at least they are trying new ideas and working out which ones do and don't work. I also think that the way the newest advertisements were done was better than expected. I like the fact that, instead of using clips from the film or the major stars, the ads were based on only one theme of the movie, one that many international markets (and probably many national markets as well) wouldn't have heard of before. Everyone knows to come to Australia to see the kangaroos, koalas, Uluru, the bridge and Opera House, but the concept of the 'walkabout' is probably far less known, and the ability to 'arrive' as one thing and 'depart' as something completely different, might be appealing to many people. I think the use of visual emotional rhetoric is very clever... and if none of these appeal to people to watch the ads, then the fact that they were written and produced by Baz Luhrmann will most likely push them to press play/keep watching the television.

I think the amount of travel shows on TV (whether commercial, combined, incidental or accidental) is amazing. Just watching free-to-air TV on a Sunday afternoon and there are at least 4 different travel shows on, with even more during the weeknights. Then there's pay-TV! The notion is obviously a popular one. People like watching attractive hosts visiting beautiful places, eating delicious food, meeting the quirky locals, and partaking in the great activities that are available wherever they happen to be. I don't think I ever realised just how many different shows there actually are! And they must have the ability to generate sales or at least awareness for the places that they promote, because all of the shows are still airing, and destination are still asking them to come and feature their area on television.

It might be a hard thing to measure, though. Obviously if people call the numbers that are always displayed on the screen at the time of the hard sell (how to get there, where to stay, how much, etc), then that's an easy measure. But how many people would watch the shows, and then forget about the destination until they decide to go on a holiday, and one from the program is on the top of their mind, but they don't book through the same method as was outlined during the show. It seems that they might be more about creating awareness and eliciting curiosity than gaining actual sales straight away.

I also like the idea of movie maps and guide books specifically developed to show people where certain filming takes place or is inspired from. It seems a shame that the Australian version of a movie map developed by Denise Corrigan wasn't the great success it could have been. I think people would be very interested in that sort of thing in Australia. I think it would also be quite popular if the major guide book publishers put out their own version of movie maps, or movie guide books, rather than just leaving the specific movie fans to create their own (even though some of these have been very successful). Maybe an organisation like the Lonely Planet could collaborate with people already very knowledgable about film locations, such as the person behind the 'Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations' website. The creator calls the site a Film Locations Travel Guide, so having the information in both website and actual book form might prove popular and get awareness about these amazing places out into the world.

*On closer inspection, it seems the man behind the website has already produced his own book that does just what I've suggested*.

Finally catching up with these silly journal entries! At least there's a few more I can cross off the list... Not long to go now!!

Back to work.
xox