I was lying on Mount Maunganui beach in the recent glorious long weekend, trying to get that balance between stocking up on Vitamin D and avoiding too many UVs, when I found myself tuning in and out of a loud and proud conversation going on nearby between a host of young girls. I wasn’t really interested in the innocuous conversation about the latest fashions, boys and makeup, as much as the continuous use of the phrase “O my God!” which punctuated sentence after sentence for what seemed an eternity, e.g. “OMG, did you see what she was wearing…” “OMG, what have you done with your hair?” Yawn.  Read More...

I have been thinking about bank advertisements lately. Most of them seem to be about market share. One bank has someone dedicated to helping people change banks. Another two banks who previously competed with one another even though they were part of the same corporate entity have decided to join forces, and three others are competing for the customers of one of them. Some ads seem to mock the two banks for joining forces, while others just offer great interest rates for people “thinking about changing banks.” And then there is the bank that seems to have taken the moral high ground with its "is money good or bad" campaign. Read More...

A significant event began on Thursday 30 August with the opening of the 2012 Paralympics in London. Compared to the Olympics two weeks before, it is receiving far less attention from media outlets such as television. Read More...

Note: To be read with tongues firmly in cheek… I think? Read More...

So what is it about the X Factor that is just so fascinating? Surely we have seen it all before? And yet we are still so keen to see yet another singing competition.  Read More...