Brian is Killed Off in Family Guy

After a while of knowing one character would leave Family, we have now found out that Brian, the dog, will no longer exist in this American TV animation show.

After always being considered at 'the best character' for the last 10 years, Brian was killed off by being hit and run over by a car. This obviously hasn't sat well with the public and now there is an on-line petition to bring him back to life. And Thompson believe that "Family Guy and Fox broadcasting will lose viewers if Brian Griffin is not brought back".

References:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/brian-griffin-death-family-guy-fans-launch-bring-back-brian-petition-8964271.html

CATEGORY: TV and ENTERTAINMENT and SOCIETY

Gino De Dominicis - Artist

Gino De Dominicis is an Italian artist whose work is strongly influenced by invisibility and immortality. The mediums he has used to produce his work are posters, drawings, paintings and illustration cut-outs.

His work is very unique and people often view it as 'odd' and simply strange. A lot of people have criticised his work over the years, however this in itself makes him a stand-out artist. Since he started out in the 70's he has preferred to have his work exhibited, as he is against it being reproduced photographically.

References:
http://www.frieze.com/issue/review/gino_de_dominicis/

CATEGORY: ART & DESIGN and CULTURE

Pietro D'Angelo - Artist

Pietro D'Angelo is a very recent and modern sculpture artist. Born in Palermo, Italy in 1974, he learnt to sculpt terracotta, resins and bronze from the age of 12. Later in the 1990's he gained a degree at the Division Academy before learning to sculpt marble and semi-precious stones. From here in 1999 he graduated again at the Academy of Fine Arts in the Sculpture department with the highest score possible. From here he has worked for himself, producing work that is sold and exhibited around the world. His most interesting sculptures without a doubt are the ones made from paper-clips. Some examples are shown below:

References:
http://www.pietrodangelo.org/biography.html
http://www.pietrodangelo.org/works.html

CATEGORY: ART & DESIGN and CU|LTURE

Material Lab, London

FACTS:

• The Material Lab was made by Johnson Tiles. 
• Johnson tiles are the UK's biggest importer and maufacturer of ceramic wall and floor tiles. 
• It is a Stoke-On-Trent based Company.
• The Material Lab opened in January 2006.
• This lab allows people to explore a range of materials and designs.
• It aspires to be a big part of the architecture and design community and promote new trends and innovations.
• In the Material Lab they have a 'Material Specifier Wall'. This is where over 650 materials and colours are displayed, with free sample to take.
• They like to treat this experience as an extension studio. What's their studio is your studio extended from home.
• Each member of the team can help in some way, through their unique personalities, imaginations and interests as well has expert knowledge of everything in the Material Lab.

References:
http://www.material-lab.co.uk/

CATEGORY: RETAIL and ART & DESIGN

Orla Kiely - Designer

Orla Kiely is a contemporary designer from Ireland. The brand she has created makes ready-to-wear collections, glasses, kitchenware, homeware, furnishings, luggage and accessories.

Owning a shop in Covent Garden, Orla originally started out as a print designer for Esprit, before studying an MA at The Royal College of Art to learn more about fashion. From here, she worked for Club Monaco (now owned by Ralph Lauren) whilst starting up her business. Now she works as a visiting professor at The Royal College of Art whilst running her business and promoting her own brand.

One of Orla Kiely's biggest boosts to her brand was when Kate Middleton wore one of her dresses in 2012 to The Art Room in Oxford. This caused a 'frenzy' over the dress, especially when the dress went on sale, reducing the original price of £325 to £162.50; this made the dress sell out in minutes.

Kate Middleton then wore the dress again on a charity visit this month, proving the brand to be one that she likes. Even her mother wore an Orla Kiely dress to meet her new grandson in July.

Orla Kiely's Dress design that Kate Middleton wore:

Kate Middleton wearing Orla Kiely's dress to The Art Room in Oxford:

Carole Middleton, Kate's mother, wearing an Orla Kiely print dress:

References:
http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG8020570/The-world-of-Orla-Kiely-designer.html
http://www.orlakiely.com/uk/

CATEGORY: ART & DESIGN and SOCIETY and RETAIL

Bokeh - Photography Techniques

"Bokeh is the quality of the portion of a photograph that is not in sharp focus". The aesthetic quality of bokeh can be controlled by the photographer by changing the depth of field, creating custom bokeh and editing bokeh into a photo.

Determining the right depth of field is key to capturing natural bokeh. So when taking a photo with bokeh, you have to decide whether the image would look better with very blurry bokeh, or bokeh that's sharper where you can still make out what the image is in the background.

Custom bokeh is where photographers create cut-outs to go over the lens, in order to control the light bursts, as shown in the image below:

Lastly, bokeh can be edited into a photo using photo editing software, such as Photoshop. However, this effect never quite matches up to natural bokeh or custom-made bokeh.

Some example photos of bokeh and ways in which you can produce a bokeh image are below:

References:
http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-achieve-better-bokeh-4-simple-tips

CATEGORY: TECHNOLOGY and ART & DESIGN

The Battle of Social Media

Facebook, Twitter, and Snap chat, these are all social media networks that in the last few years have taken the world by storm. This is to the extent where the term 'friend' used to mean: "someone that you have a bond of mutual affection with in person". This connection is now known to exist over social media to people who we don't actually 'know'.

The question is: Is this safe?

A standard Facebook account includes an email address, images that can be tagged and in some cases even a telephone number and address. Social media on a whole, provides us with so much information about an individual, that there is no longer a need to meet up with friends or relatives any more. 

An article published in The Independent newspaper explains that some people “go out solo”; meaning, they meet up with a friend or relative without their mobile, so they can completely focus on spending time with the person/people they're meeting.  
A new book published by Randi Zuckerberg, explains that social media platforms are “now competing with our actual loved ones for attention”. Therefore showing that this social media battle is between a person using social media on technology devices and their actual family.  
The new world of social media has revolutionised the social and media world, by allowing people in long distance relationships to keep in constant contact every day, allowing business meetings to take place whilst all the people involved in meetings are in different countries communicating via platforms such as Skype and by being able to share and access 10 second clips of others' lives in a single photograph or video via SnapChat. 

References:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/the-zuckerberg-guide-to-the-web-just-because-you-can-document-your-every-waking-moment-doesnt-mean-you-should-8927961.html

Simon's Cat - How The Brand Went From Zero to Hero.

Simon's Cat is a cartoon comic created by Simon Tofield. Originally it started out by broadcasting short films on Youtube, with his first film being 'Cat-man-do'. This single film episode has reached nearly 46 million views so far; this number of viewers has almost doubled since June 2011.

As a YouTube sensation, the brand of Simon’s Cat has managed to propel from an Animator drawing his initial ideas on a piece of paper, to a well-formed and well-known phenomenon.

Tofield has done this by getting in contact with a Brand Manager, to copyright 'Simon's Cat'. From here, he has built upon his success by producing even more YouTube videos, as well as merchandise: Calendars, mugs, t-shirts, games, books, ceramics, jewellery, cat products etc. Although, the most original, being part of an ordinary newspaper.

The cartoon is all about the adventures of a cat. With Simon Tofield owning four cats himself, the ideas of what to create a story about are endless. From the idea, Simon creates the cartoon by hand, drawing it frame-by-frame. It can take between 12 ad 25 drawings just to make 1 second of a film. This is then transferred to Adobe Flash software to complete the product.

Once the visual aspect of the cartoon is complete, the sound elements are added in. Simon Tofield, making all the cat sounds himself, with Shrooty, a Sound Designer, helping with the rest.

After this has all been compiled, exported and uploaded, we are presented with the original amazing product: Simon's Cat on YouTube.

References:
http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/08/the-cat-that-roared-how-simons-cat-went-from-youtube-to-everywhere-tctv/
http://www.simonscat.com

CATEGORY: ADVERTISING & BRAND MANAGEMENT and TECHNOLOGY and MEDIA and FILM

PS4 Meltdown

After the mad battles between XBOX and PlayStation, it was believed the PlayStation had finally won with their newest game-console, the PS4. However after complaints from 0.4% of PS4 purchasers, Sony and Windows are now crippled as a major fault appears with this product.

The 0.4% of people who have encountered this fault found that when turning the device on, it's normal blue light turned red and stopped all loading of the system, cutting out the PS4 signal. As a result the product is starting to go downhill since it's recent release.

The question is now, is PS4 still on top? Or is the newest XBOX that bad that it still doesn't match up?

References:
http://www.product-reviews.net/2013/11/16/ps4-red-light-evidence-mounts-consumers-fuming/

CATEGORY: TECHNOLOGY

Universities Could End Up Extinct

Each year thousands of men and women become students at universities around the world, however the UK is starting to become an unpopular choice with the maximum tuition fees currently sitting at £9000 per year in England and Wales. However, there is evidence to show that this figure could more than double to nearly £20,000 in the near future.  
Students are already facing financial difficulties, with the current tuition fees. With the UK recently facing a double-drop credit crunch and the employment situation still far behind David Cameron's goals, fewer students are being able to afford the essential needs in order to afford university.

Often the public forget that the sum for university is not just simply £9000 per year, but you have to add on the cost of accommodation, food and other necessities on top of this cost for the education. As a result, if fees more than double it means higher education isn't available to everyone and only the minuscule percentage of people who can afford it will be able to attend. 

An article by the Independent suggest that universities can't afford the number of students who attend and therefore they require students to pay even higher tuition fees. Although, whatever the outcome, if fees rise, the UK will lose out on the number of highly educated people it previously produced.

References:
http://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/how-much-university-leader-predicts-20000-tuition-fees-for-students-8929018.html

CATEGORY: EDUCATION and SOCIETY

Miles Aldridge - Photographer

Miles Aldridge is a professional photographer. He has produced photographs for many areas of the photography industry, including: Editorial, Portraits, Beauty, Menswear, Accessories, Still Life and Advertising.

From growing up with his father who was an art director and using his sister to model for photos, Aldridge's family have been key to his development in the creative industry. This lead him to have childhood interests such as reading books, playing sports, attending rock concerts and playing the guitar. In his teenage years he joined a rockabilly band and attended art school before making a career in fashion photography.

Not long after, he met an American model, whom he ended up settling down with, marrying and having children with. His career has been well mapped out for him and he has produced some of the best photography out there. As a 49-year-old, he still has a few years left in the industry and it will be interesting, intriguing and inspiring in what work he will next have in store for us.

References:
http://www.milesaldridge.com/

CATEGORY: ART & DESIGN and FASHION

Bocci - Design and Manufacturing Company

"Bocci is a contemporary design and manufacturing house". They are originally based in Canada, but they also have a 'satellite' company in Germany. They make high quality consumer goods that are not only practical, but are very unique and stand-out too.

After becoming a fully formed company in 2005, Bocci produces immaculate custom-made designs of lighting, furniture, objects and electrical accessories, that have "gained significant presence and impact within the design community".

Bocci focus on innovation, which leads them to creating new designs that are technically better than all other products. This has been shown in the lighting area of their industry, where they realised failure was coming from the standard design of light bulbs, so Bocci now make their own Xenon and LED bulbs, which have proved better than any others in the lighting industry. Their LED lights use a 'unique replacement design' that eliminates waste that is associated with failure and the light bulb itself only need replacing, rather than the entire product, as with other LED lights. Therefore, Bocci have reduced the amount of waste that would then be sent to the landfill and it protects the customers' investment into the product. As a result, this helps protect the environment and significantly saves energy.

Bocci's main inspiration for this is sustainability. In order to create a sustainable product, Bocci believes the product should be able to live along-side you throughout your lifetime. Bocci also push this sustainability further by helping the current environment. To do this they use recycled and recyclable packaging. As well as making some of their products out of recycled materials, for example, the 14 series cast glass chandelier that is made out of recycled glass.

Bocci hope to have made a change and started a new ethical consumptive trend and with this, the consumer may consider more sustainable alternatives that they hadn't previously known about.

References:
http://bocci.ca/about/

CATEGORY: ART & DESIGN and TECHNOLOGY

Director, Pin-Up Director or Simply An Actor?

Actors often say they desire to by a director, except the majority don't live up to this ambition. Instead they start a screenplay and never complete it. Some stars have come round to directing after their acting peak (Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones and Dustin Hoffman) and the odd one managed the full transition from actor to director (George Clooney and Ralph Fiennes).

The newest trend now though, is being the writer, director and actor. The most recent one being the film Don Jon, which is an indie romcom. Joseph Gordon-Levitt wrote and directed this film as well as playing the title role. He has also starred in the films 50/50, Looper and Premium Rush. Other actors who have gone along this line were Ryan Gosling and James Franco. Although, James Franco has completed at least 12 features as a writer-director-star and he still has plenty more to go.

This trend could possibly revolutionise the movie industry. As rising stars whilst acting, writing and directing, they are currently 'pin-ups' and very much respected by critics. They are following in the footsteps of Johnny Depp, Will Smith and Tom Cruise by making a film their own. 

Gordon-Levitt's film, Don Jon, is seen as "engaging". Although it is "rough at the edges", due to it being made on a low budget. 

Actors find writing and directing as a relief from acting non-stop, as well as taking part in other creative activities such as photography and studying. All three actors prefer to have an interesting job role, rather than a 'mainstream' movie that isn't going to give them any benefits.

Gordon-Levitt believes the entertainment industry is collapsing, due to anyone being able to make anything and post it on the internet. Before we know it, it's viral. "The way it's going, there's going to be artists, and they'll make their shit, and they'll connect to their audience, and you don't need any of the middlemen – the studios or the agents." With this concept, he has set up hitRECord, an online production company, through investing £313,000 of his personal money. 

"The concept is that anyone can upload creative work to the site, whether it's a poem, drawing or snippet of music. Other hitRECord users can then tinker with it. "Everyone on the site," says Gordon-Levitt on the introductory video, "has permission to remix everyone else's stuff, so whatever you put up here, get ready to have it downloaded, sampled, built upon, refined, revised." The result may become part of a book, record or concert, and the profits are split between the contributors and the company. Don Jon is credited as a hitRECord production, and a televised hitRECord variety show is in the offing."

These celebrities are moving the film industry into a new diverse and independent era.

References:
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/nov/10/rise-pinup-director-don-jon

CATEGORY: MEDIA and FILM and TECHNOLOGY

Leonid Afremov - Artist

Leonid Afremov is an impressionistic artist, who grew up in Belarus and Israel. He tends to use a palette knife and oils to paint mainly landscapes, city scenes, seascapes, flowers and portraits.

As a child, Afremov took part in all the art classes offered in school, as well as taking private lessons from local artists. In 1973, he graduated from high school with honour and went onto the Vitebsk Education Institute where he studied in the arts and graphics department. In college he participated in many exhibitions run by the college and he even managed to sell some paintings. He graduated from this college in 1978 as an 'elite member'. From here he was given private lessons from the artist Barowski, as well as working as a label designer in a local beer and liquor factory. He also worked for a short time as a theatre set designer.

After this Afremov did freelance work for communal farms and schools, designing and making posters, themed rooms and walls for communist events and holidays. On top of this he made template sculptures of Lenin from plaster.

Throughout the winter, Afremov stayed at home. Because of his Jewish roots, he was unable to take part in any government exhibitions. As a result, his work was sold to family and friends and in the 1980's a lot of it was given away for free. Unfortunately he hadn't kept records of the work he produced and sold and therefore, even now he currently doesn't have picture from before 1990. Everyone would be amazed if anything has survived from before 1990, now.

In 1990, Afremov and his family migrated from Russia to Israel, due to racial tensions and anti-Semitism. This is where he restarted his career. Within a month he found a job in an advertising agency making signs and posters. When he finished here, he move onto working in a gallery shop. In the gallery shop he learnt to make frames.

Afremov then started to sell his work to galleries in Israel, however they paid him pittance, as he was a recent Russian immigrant. Yet again, suffering from social segregation as well as being exploited and discriminated against.

In the 1990's, he worked mainly with watercolours and acrylic, painting what people were buying. In 1994, out of pure desperation, Afremov's 16-year-old son tried to sell his father's paintings going door-to-door around the neighbourhood. This proved very effective and he started getting slightly better prices than he would have if still selling the to galleries.

In 1995, he managed to scrape together enough money to set up his own gallery and frame shop near where he lived. This was visited mostly by Russian immigrants, as is was unpopular with the Israeli's. This was shown by the number of times it got vandalised and broken into.

Even with his own art shop, he struggled to achieve complete artistic freedom. He had plenty of financial obligations and picky customers. Although, this all changed when he became friends with a Russian-speaking Israeli jazz musician, Leonid Ptashka. He inspired Afremov to paint a collection of portraits of popular jazz musicians, which helped him to secure a successful exhibition in the International Jazz Festival. Since Afremov has painted many of his own favourite musicians.

In 2001, Afremov's gallery got completely destroyed, ruining tonnes of paintings, art equipment was stolen and the entire building was turned into rubble. So him and his family decided to move to the USA in 2002. This where they finally gained the respect they deserved.

In the US, he sold many paintings to galleries, mostly those involving Judaic themes and musician portraits. Although he was still limited by what the galleries wanted, rather than what he wanted to paint.

In 2004, after his second son graduated high school, he was introduced to eBay by his friends. He then introduced this to his father. They sold a couple of painting via auction on eBay and this instantly gained a positive response, with his work being sold for hundreds, even thousands of dollars. This is when he got to paint whatever he wanted. From here he participated in local TV shows around the USA and his work also got used in psychiatric and psychological therapy procedures. As well as being published in art magazines and various medical and health magazines. Lastly he most recently launched his own website, selling giclees, prints and original paintings.

His work now is mostly influenced by 19th Century French Impressionism, as well as artists March Chagall and Modigliani. He has developed his own style and technique that tends to be very colourful and politically neutral and is now known as a self-representing artist.

References:
http://afremov.com/pages.php?pageid=2

Etta James - Singer

Etta James was born as Jamesetta Hawkins in 1938 and strived for a career in the US as a Blues, Soul, R&B, Gospel, Rock and Roll and Jazz singer and songwriter. This started to soar in 1954 when she moved to Los Angeles. Etta struggled with issues with drugs for many years, although she only died recently in 2012.

As she grew up, she stood by her mother who had her at only 14 years of age. Etta said, "My mother always told me, even if a song has been done a thousand times, you can still bring something of your own to it. I'd like to think I did that." A year after her death, now, Etta is still considered to be one of the most dynamic singers the music industry has ever had. By this, she really has lived up to what her mother told her.

Throughout her time as an artist, she has won many awards including: 4 Grammies, 17 Blue Music Awards. And that isn't even half of what she has managed to achieve! Not long after being involved in a band with Johnny Otis, she started her solo career in 1960. This is when she released ballads. The most memorable ballad being "At Last". She then moved onto Gospel tunes throughout the 60's such as, "Something's Got a Hold On Me". 

Unfortunately after this stage, her heroine addiction became too much, which not only affected her personal life, but her professional life too. However, Etta kept pushing to make albums, in which she continued to gain positive reactions from critics and fans.

She followed on with a contract with Warner Brothers Records. As a result she ended up putting on an unforgettable performance in the Olympics that was held in Los Angeles in 1984 during the opening ceremony. This helped to to create a new public profile all over again excluding the drugs. 
Here on, she performed throughout the 1990's and even under took surgery, which helped her lose over 200 pounds. This entailed the result of her voice being able to reach a broader range, so she could sing lower, higher and louder.

6 years before her own death, Etta James released the album All the Way. This featured cover songs by artists including: Prince, Marvin Gaye and James Brown. Lastly, she took part in a Jazz tribute album for Ella Fitzgerald.

In 2011, Etta James reached the final stages of Leukemia, as well as having battled with Dementia and Hepatitis C. She later died on the 20th January 2012.

References:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/etta-james
http://www.biography.com/people/etta-james-9542558

CATEGORY: MUSIC

The Man Who Made Jazz The Sound Of America

After the end of World War Two, thousands of African American soldiers returned to their homes after fighting for freedom for others. Freedom that they themselves were denied.

Born in 1918 and brought up in a mixed LA neighbourhood Norman Granz had a vision that jazz could be a tool in ending racial tension in the USA.

Jazz is one of the most popular music genre’s on the planet. Previously a very racially segregated genre, Jazz was predominantly played in the back-alley clubs. After hearing the work of Coleman Hawkings, Norman Granz decided to be an entrepreneur and reform the music genre. Through this his goals were:

• Combat racial prejudice
• Make money

• Present good jazz

In 1944, Granz borrowed money to record jamming sessions in order to thrust jazz music in to the limelight. This proved a great success, which lead him to travel throughout the USA under the name “Jazz at the Philharmonic" (JATP) with stars such as Coleman Hawkings participating.

In 1955, Granz set up his own record label, Verve. Verve then signed up Ella Fitzgerald, who become an instant hit. Granz used this to his advantage and used Fitzgerald to begin to end racial tension. To do this, Granz demanded that venues allowed all demographics of audiences to attend, otherwise he wouldn't allow the show to take place.

This is when Jazz stars became fully fledged music artists, no matter what their racial background was either. However, during their 1955 tour, Granz and Fitzgerald were arrested by corrupt police officers for the posession of drugs. This corruption was highlighted when Granz sued the Houston Police Department. And, although this cost him thousands, Granz proved his point about racial segregation.

In 1960, Granz sold Verve to MGM for $2.5million. He created one of the most influential periods of music history and because of him, Granz really did make Jazz the sound of America.

References:
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/27/verve-records-jazz-norman-granz

CATEGORY: SOCIETY and MUSIC

Kemi Onabule - Artist

Kemi Onabule, 18, is one of Britain’s upcoming talents in the artistic world. She has appeared on TV shows and has completed portraits of celebrities such as Julia Stevenson and Frank Skinner. Kemi has just started studying a degree in fine art and painting at the Wimbledon College of Art.

Home-educated until the age of 11, Kemi's abilities were noticed as she developed in a “non-institutional setting”. Having spent years painting, she focused primarily on portraiture. Most of her work has involved friends and close family, using mostly oil paints and canvas for her work, although she has been known to use pencil and acrylic too. This was all inspired by portraiture artists: Alan Coulson and Lucian Freud.

Kemi most recently has taken part in the Sky Arts Portrait of the Year competition, which took place in London’s Trafalgar Square. Broadcast on Sky 1, Kemi followed on to create a public profile to showcase her work throughout the the country and she made an appearance on The One Show, where she painted Frank Skinner's portrait.

Since, Kemi has stated that she is starting to incorporate sculpture into her work as well, drawing in a myriad of talents into her profession. The future is looking bright for this budding artist, and Kemi Onabule is definitely a name to remember in the future: Britain watch out!

References:
http://yodakemi.blogspot.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/KemiOnabuleArtist/info
http://www.alancoulson.com/about_alan_coulson.html

CATEGORY: ART

Driverless Pods

A recent invention has now been brought to light, after previously being something talked about for the foreseeable future. The driver-less pod, will now be the newest method of transport out there, as of 2017. For £2, passengers from Milton Keynes (MK) railway station, will be able to be transported to their destination, travelling at 12mph. This will then allow the public to be able to access shopping, offices etc. within a mile of this railway hub more easily. In addition, each pod is geared up with modern cameras and sensors, to avoid causing harm to other pedestrians.

On the other hand, the burning question is whether pods will ultimately be successful. Programmed using GPS, the MK driver-less pod avoids set routes that the pods installed in Heathrow Airport at Terminal 5 use. Since the pods at Heathrow started being used in 2011, the MK project aimed to help push forwards this inspiring concept of a driver-less pod, allowing us to use them in the street and therefore “completing the jigsaw of our transport system”.

Not only are they are a solution to transport, they are seen by many as a measure to reduce Britain's output of carbon emissions. It has also been idealised that this new method of transport will bring a high number of skilled jobs to the people of Britain through the technology industry.

Nevertheless, only time can tell whether this technology will prove even more successful than it has done previously, which could then expand to us seeing thousands being produced to use throughout the UK within the next decade.

References:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/milton-keynes-introducing-driverless-public-transport-pods-by-2017-8925119.html

CATEGORY: TECHNOLOGY and SOCIETY

One of the Best Creative Blogs Out There

From exploring art, culture and media, I came across a really interesting creative blog: https://creativemarket.com/blog.   It includes plenty of variety drawing us into every different aspect from across the creative industry.

CATEGORY: CULTURE and MEDIA and ART & DESIGN

Will The War In Afghanistan and Pakistan Last Forever? (Part 2)

After the death of the Taliban leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, the US have possibly trashed the chances of ever gaining peace in Pakistan and Afghanistan and with the Taliban.

Mehsud had been the leader of the Taliban since 2009. During his role, he tried to make the Taliban more international by increasing connections and co-ordination with Al Qai'da and domestic Pakistani militants. Plus, within this he raised money through extortion, kidnapping and bank robbery. He also took part and was responsible for many attacks that have killed thousands of soldiers, standard citizens and police.

The leader was killed by a CIA drone, the day before militants were to meet up with representatives of the government in Pakistan. This has now lead to a plan of revenge in a series of attacks lead by the Taliban; inevitably putting the country's security on high alert.

It is questionable to why they went through with this, as not only has it damaged the positive links the US and the UK have with Pakistan and Afghanistan, it has possibly destroyed our opportunity to make and create peace in these countries. And, even though one leader has been killed, the next has already been selected, ready for the next battle.

Furthermore, Western countries have recently been withdrawing the number of troops out in Afghanistan, Pakistan's neighbouring country, reducing the amount of support we currently have out there when big attacks and strikes are on their way, due to this action caused by the US.

Nawaz Sharif, the newly elected Pakistani Prime Minister, wanted to start to talk to the Taliban in order to end violence and he publicly urged the US to end drone strikes. After this drone strike, it signalled to the Prime Minister that the US weren't there to support the fight for peace like they said they were, but in fact were the ones responsible for the "murder of peace in this area".

This is now even more difficult for Pakistan to push forwards the concept of peace, as it is widely talked about that Pakistan's military and intelligence agencies work hand-in-hand with the US. Making not only the US suspects, but the Pakistani Government too.

It has been mentioned by Christine Fair, a South Asia expert at Georgetown University, Washington DC; something that many of us think when watching the news about this US drone: "The Taliban killed 40,000 people. What lunatic thought there would be peace talks."

Link to Part 1:
http://am50430-4jasmineshearsmith.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/on-october-15th-2013-lcpl-james-jay.html

References:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/pakistan-accuses-us-of-murdering-hopes-of-peace-following-death-of-taliban-leader-hakimullah-mehsud-in-drone-strike-8918433.html

CATEGORY: POLITICS and SOCIETY

Dove Campaign For Real Beauty

In 2004, Dove launched a global campaign in order to understand how we view beauty and to widen the number of women who see themselves as beautiful. Each year since 2004, Dove have pushed this campaign forwards by provoking discussion and encouraging debate. Each phase of the process is set out below:

2004 - The Dove Campaign was launched in the September of this year with an advert that featured women whose appearances are 'outside' the stereotypical norms of beauty. The viewers were asked to judge the women's appearances and cast their vote on campaignforrealbeauty.com.

The advert used here is a TV advert, that offered the opportunity to be interactive online. The effect of this was that the audience not only saw the TV advert, but remembered the meaning behind the advert by taking part. This helped to promote Dove as a brand that makes you feel beautiful, rather than anxious.

2005 - In June of this year, Dove launched the second phase of this campaign. This was another advert that featured real women with real curves. This was to show that beauty can exist out of the standard stereotype that only thin women are beautiful.

As a result, the advert ended up encouraging women to talk about the issues around the word 'beauty' on campaignforrealbeauty.com. So, yet again the Dove advert encouraged interaction from the audience.

2006 - In September 2006, the media was enraged with the news of Spain banning overly thin models from fashion runways. Whilst this happened, the debate got the Dove Campaign involved, in which the video below was produced from Dove.

From this advert, showing how unrealistic views of beauty are created, Dove noticed that it wasn't just the perception of beauty that is affected, but the self-esteem of women and girls too. This then enthralled Dove into setting up the Dove Self-Esteem Fund. This fund was used for Dove to go out their way, not only to promote awareness about the wider definition of beauty, but to educate women and girls about it; leading to another advert called Little Girls.

2007 - Shortly after previous campaigns in the February of 2007, Dove launched it's third phase of the beauty campaign. From research, Dove found that "90% of women aged 50-64 believe it is time for society to change their views about women and aging."

To do this, Dove started a celebration of aging for women over the age of 50. At the focus of this was a photographer, Annie Leibovitz, who took black and white photos to bring out the positive aspects of aging.

Whilst doing this, Dove continued their campaign to show how the media, films and magazines affect he self-esteem of girls and younger women. This was supported by the Dove brand linking up with the entertainment industry itself.

2010 - By 2010, Dove had set up and started a mentor scheme, providing women everywhere with opportunities to mentor younger generations into what real beauty is and celebrating this. By setting up self-esteem building, educating programs and activities; Dove have made their initial visions and campaigns a reality.

After reaching 7 million girls so far in 2010, Dove's next target is to reach 15 million girls by 2015.

2011 - From the global study that was started in 2004, Dove released their findings and results in 2011. Some of the facts are stated below:

• In 2011, 4% of women see themselves as beautiful. This is an increase from the 2% in 2004.
• In a study of over 1200 10-17 year-olds, 72% said they felt tremendous pressure to be beautiful.
• The same study found that only 11% of girls would use the word beautiful to describe their own looks; showing there is a universal increase in beauty pressure and a descrease in girls' confidence as they get older.

As a result, these findings show that the Dove campaign has helped to move the perception of beauty in the right direction, however in order to have the majority change their mind, there is a lot more that need to be done to create change.

References:
http://www.dove.us/social-mission/campaign-for-real-beauty.aspx

CATEGORY: ADVERTISING and EDUCATION and HEALTH & BEAUTY

David Suchet Retires From Poirot.

After 25 years of playing the character Poirot, 67-year-old, David Suchet, retires from his role. Poirot is a well-known character created by the author Agatha Christie. Throughout Suchet's time acting in this role, he has managed to perfect this character and all the mannerisms of him.

"He first donned the iconic moustache in 1988" and his last episode will be shown on the 13th November 2013. It is an emotional time for Suchet to leave something he has worked so hard to perfect. After hours and hours of research, line-rehearsing and filming. Suchet really is a dedicated actor. This is shown in the last episode that is soon to be broadcast called: Curtain: Poirot's Last Case.

In order to film this last episode, Suchet took part in a nine-month diet plan, losing 2 and a half stone, to play his character as a much older, more decrepit man in a wheel chair. Although, he decided to have this episode filmed at the beginning of the series, to reduce how emotional he would be; knowing it was the end of an era for him. Then having to shoot another 4 episodes of Poirot, Suchet spent a 2 month period eating the weight back on!

After leaving Poirot, Suchet said it was "terrible, awful, I'll never forget it" and later went on to say "I would love Poirot to be remembered fondly and it goes without saying he is the greatest detective in the world." And with that, it is without a doubt that not only will Poirot be remembered as the greatest detective, but Suchet will be remembered as the greatest actor to take up the role of Poirot.



References:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/25-years-70-episodes-700-million-viewers-suchet-hangs-up-his-homburg-8918419.html

CATEGORY: TV and ENTERTAINMENT