Pat Mok's Online Blog

And we’re back…

So to use an pretty cliched analogy, sometimes life throws a curveball at you. And this is pretty much how the past several years of my life has been dictated. Despite the bravado of belittling accounting to become a wannabe journalist, life has a funny way of turning things around and of course all the time between this post and the previous promise of Alex Tobin (which is, coincidentally, REALLY on it’s way), I’ve spent my days accounting. Accounting for all the dollars I would have made had I not left to chase the journalistic dream, accounting for all the promotions and what not I would have gotten in that time, and accounting for all the things in life I would have amounted to had I not taken the two years off. And you know what? I wouldn’t trade those years for anything in the world.

At the time all my attention and focus was of course turned onto making something out of myself in the journalistic world - getting the dream job writing for a football magazine, travelling the world, watching football games, bantering with locals about team chemistry and performance, and then emailing my editor a glorious story laced with accurate and insightful quips and commentaries and ultimately getting paid to so. In reality the closest I got was blogging for a semi unknown American based football website (which you can find here - it’s been dormant for about six months now) - for free.

So that’s it, despite the hundreds of emails I’ve sent, despite the begs and pleas I’ve made to various editors/media personnel/contacts of friends and families, I remained jobless after two years, and the realisation finally came that living off the random scraps of money which I got for writing ads and newsletters for local businesses were not enough to sustain my social elitist lifestyle, I hung up the pen (“capped” it?!) and found myself behind a desk again punching away on Excel doing accounting stuff.

So yes, a little bit of soul searching has been done recently, and to be honest I really can say that despite the perceived wealth I should be swimming in now, and the memories of financially struggling through two years of cheap food and part time jobs, those times spent doing my Masters in Journalism were some of the best days of my life (like the summer of ‘69…).

When going through uni the first time for my accounting degree, I never felt that I truly enjoyed or experienced university life. Maybe it was because I was doing a course which I wasn’t really passionate about, maybe it was because I was so terrible at it, I might have taken things a bit for granted then, whatever it was, my four years doing the accounting degree had never felt like university for me.

But the second time around, doing a course which I truly wanted to do, being actually interested in the classes, being half decent in my classes, maybe also being that little bit older and (theoretically) a little bit more mature, I was really able to enjoy everything about uni. From the ten o’clock wake ups (on my early days…) to the thrill of checking my results come release date (which was something I used to dread in my accounting degree), everything just felt…”right.” I also made some great friends, whilst it opened my eyes to another aspect of the world which I wanted to be a part of.

Nonetheless, as they say hopes and dreams don’t pay the bills, and in a practical world money and cars and saving for a house and eating healthy proper food and owning stuff rules at the end of the day. But no one will ever take those two years of fond memories away from me.

Alex Tobin… coming soon

One positive about being a journalist (or at least telling people you are) is that you have an excuse to talk to famous people. Being a sports fan, and specifically a football nut, I was therefore extremely pleased to discover that former Socceroo great Alex Tobin was a member of my local club Baulkham Hills.

Seeing as he was the most famous person who I have ties with, I jumped at the chance to interview him for an article. Being the great guy that he is, he was more than happy to help out, and we spent a good hour talking all that is good (and some that is bad) about the great game in Australia.

He gave me a fascinating insight into his life as a professional footballer, and it was great fun to have a drink and just talk football with someone who obviously knows so much about the game.

A profile on the great man will be coming shortly, so keep an eye out for it!

I Like Shannon Cole

I’m jumping on the bandwagon. FC newcomer Shannon Cole is a gun. Much has been made of the 24 year old who was plucked from obscurity at the start of the season by Kozzie, but after watching him live for the past couple of home games, I’m definitely agreeing with what everyone are saying.

He first caught the eye thanks to his dead ball abilities, and they are all justified. Firstly, he’s truly ambidextrous, which is such a limited commodity in modern football. Secondly, he strikes the ball cleanly (you’d be surprised how many professional footballers don’t have the correct technique in striking a football), and his deliveries combines whip, dip and pace – three elements which drive defenders insane. If he can improve on his accuracy, then he could be the best dead ball specialist in Australia. Lastly, he’s ambidextrous.

But while his free kicks and corners have made the headlines, he also has several other elements to his game which pleasantly surprised me. The guy shows an impressive burst of speed up and down the flank, he defends fairly well considering he’s only played seven A-League games, he displays a good football brain with his movement off the ball, and most importantly he’s got a bit of flair, willing to back his dribbling and take on defenders (the guy has a double step over!!). And did I mention he was ambidextrous?! This trait alone allows him to play in four positions (on the wing, and wing back on both sides of the pitch), giving Sydney more versatility.

And has anyone seen him in post match interviews? He’s fantastic. While definitely not charismatic, he’s laid back and seems really genuine in everything he says, and he seems very likeable. FC has not had anyone like him since Dave Carney left, and Sydney could do a lot worse than to keep unearthing youngsters like Cole.

Cole was this week selected in the preliminary 35 man Socceroos squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifier against Qatar. I think it’s a smart move from Pim Verbeek. Even if he doesn’t play Cole, having him in the squad will give him a shot of confidence, and will hopefully encourage Cole to put more efforts into improving his game. If we take the aging Scott Chipperfield out of the equation, Cole’s main rivals in the national team will be Brett Emerton and Carney for the wingback roles, and given a few more years of experience, I think he has the potential to definitely challenge them for their positions.

Cole just signed an improved contract with Sydney this week, and hopefully he will see it out before he sets off overseas. A few years in the A-League establishing himself would be beneficial, after all, his professional football career is currently still just at seven games. Rushing off to Europe too early might have a negative impact on his game.

So far, all things are pointing up for him, hopefully it continues this way. Shannon Cole, go you good thing.

Haha, sucked in

Referring to this article. Not that I hate dogs, I just hate her. Serves you right for getting a pet rat, those things belong in Taco Bell ads. If you’re going to get a dog, get a real dog, something that won’t lose a fight to a garden gnome.

The world of Orble

Getting paid work as an inexperienced writer is tough going. I’ve been told by many older and wiser journalists that I need to prepare myself for some years of 2 minute noodles, no social life, and a keen eye for “Summer Sale!!!” signs. Or I can live with my parents.

So searching through the web, I stumbled across an ad which promised to pay (as in, like, money!) for film reviews. Thinking that it was too good to be true, but also feeling somewhat curious, I continued reading. I reckon a film reviewer is one of the bestest jobs in the world. Think about it, you watch movies, and instead of having a debate over how good or bad it was with your friends which sometimes ends in a punch on (“Ledger was WAY better than Nicholson!”), you simply write it down and get paid for it!

Or so it seemed.

Of course, nothing is life is that straight forward, and upon reading the fine print, it turns out I had to win some sort of blogging competition before I get paid.

Nonetheless I checked out the website which was involved and I’ve stumbled across an absolute gold mine for bloggers, something I was totally clueless to before.

The website in question was Orble (www.orble.com), which is a blog site from Australia that has blogs on pretty much anything. Literally.

From the main page there are links to eighteen general topics, ranging from sports to travel to politics. Within in each of these topics lie a variety of sub-topics, depending on which topic you’re looking at, e.g. in “Sports” there are subtopics of each individual sport, in “Films” there are subtopics of various genres, etc. Going into these subtopics shows that some have over 200 blogs. So this is a fairly big site. Indeed, Orble themselves believe that over 100,000 people visit the site every day.

Orble is unique in that it rewards successful bloggers with their own domain. Fellow users get to vote on the success of your blog, and popular bloggers are then given a domain to which they get paid. To qualify for a domain, users simply have to write four posts on their Orble blog about a specific topic. Once that is done, they automatically go into consideration, and successful blogs are then paid 50% of the advertising revenue which their domain generates.

Several of the most popular domains as listed by Orble include:

· “20/20 Filmsight” – a blog on (surprisingly) films

· “Celebrity Obsession” – “A place where we can indulge our obsession with all things celebrity”

· “My Apologetics” – a satirical site about current events and especially politics

All in all, there are easily over 100 domains, all of which can be accessed here. This massive community works to benefit each other, as the links from other Orble domains helps with search engine rankings, therefore improving their popularity and hopefully drawing more advertisement money.

Upon further investigation, this seems to be quite a hot ticket for bloggers around the world. A quick Google search led me to many forums of people interested in blogging for Orble, and judging by the number of exterior domains they support, writing for Orble looks like a legitimate way to make a few bucks.

Orble pulls no punches as to what they want, and what the user should produce. While it welcomes random posts about the nothings of life (like this blog…), in their frequently asked questions section, they also specifically inform users how to become successful bloggers, and more importantly, how to make money off blogging for them.

For newcomers to the world of blogging, Orble also has a detailed “Blogging Tips” section which covers a wide variety of topics, from the simple to the technical. They also have a “Blog Adviser” section that informs users of the aspects of a successful blog, and how to improve the number of audience.

To boot, Orble has also organised a “Orble Mentoring Program”, where experienced bloggers helps out and answers questions of newcomers.

This is definitely a content based website, as aesthetically it looks pretty basic. It’s got a simple layout, the colours are a bit bland, and the first thing you notice is the amount of links going all over the place. The whole homepage is full of links and it looks a bit clustered at times.

Individual blogs (not the domains) again have a fairly simple design, one main section down the middle for the user’s information, and side bars which link to other blogs and domains, with the usual change of colours, fonts and background on offer.

The domains gives the user a bit more freedom, and judging by the several I looked at, is structured for more technical blog users (I haven’t qualified for a domain so I can’t give you the nitty gritty…).

All in all, I was just blown away by the magnitude of this site, and how I was totally oblivious to it. Although, that being said, one negative is that due to the massive number of blogs, bloggers actually face fierce competition to be recognised. Orble themselves advise that a blog usually only becomes successful around one year into its existence, and warns users not to give up too early.

Despite this, it is a great way to get your name out there, amongst likeminded peers, on a platform which has a massive audience.

Beggars ARE choosers. Apparently.

I live a fair distance from my uni, so for three days a week I need to catch a 50 minute train trip into the city to further my education.

Every now and then there are some people on the train who make you think you’re the token black guy of a teen slasher movie (the one that always dies while the main jock gets away). Some guys just look deadset scary or crazy. I specifically remember an incident last semester, when I was at Central after a late night class. A guy walked up and down the edge of the platform repeatedly yelling: “Who wants to play a game? It’s called ‘Life and Death.’” I did not want to play this game.

Today, I copped another beauty. Arriving home at my local station there was a guy standing at the bottom of the stairs with his hands out asking for money. He didn’t look like your typical homeless person, he was too clean and his clothes, while crappy, were still too nice to fit the homeless stereotype. He just looked like he was one of those really dodgy parents types who spend all their dole money on booze and pot. And he looked like a wife beater.

He also displayed a certain air of arrogance about him, considering he was essentially begging. He wasn’t asking nicely like those homeless guys outside the QVB, those guys are actually grateful when you give them anything. This guy in question was more like the cheap mate who asks you for “shrappers” at the bar because he doesn’t want to break his five dollar note.

I don’t normally give these types of people money, because I’m of the firm belief that the taxes I pay every year (due to my, y’know, job) should suffice in putting food on his table. These are the type I really don’t like. If he was legitimately homeless, suffers from leprosy and has been brushed aside by society, then yes I’ll help him out with a coin or a smoke. But this guy has a home to go back to, and probably once had a job he couldn’t be bothered turning up to.

However, I was compelled to give him the shrapnel in my pocket today because he was blocking a majority of the stairwell, and he also looked quite eccentric. I’m scared of people like him, in the same way I’m scared of those guys who squeegee your windscreen at the lights despite your protests. I’m always afraid that if I don’t give them money, they’ll kick my car or something. This guy was the same, he looked like he would fire up and rob you if you don’t give him anything.

So I handed him all the change in my pocket, which was a whopping 60c. He looked at it then called me cheap. I thought he was having laugh, but no he was serious.

Making sure I was out of punching range, I reminded him (fairly politely, considering the circumstance) that he was the one begging. He launched into a four letter tirade as I walked away, sharing a bewildered smile with the girl next to me. He doesn’t follow and I am physically unharmed.

But what the fuck is going on?! Since when did the economy get so strong that beggars can now choose what they’re given? When Jesus turned water into wine did the peasants take a sip, scrunch their noses and ask for the ‘83 Merlot instead? Australia must be the proverbial lucky country, if our standard of living is so high that beggars are actually mini-entrepreneurs. I wonder if that guy has a business account he uses to process all the cheques that everyone else (besides the cheap ass me) apparently gives him?

Please, show some respect. You’re begging, and I’m giving you money for free. If you’re going to be a bum, at least show some class.

Read This Blog

I’m a couple of months into this course, and I’m supposed to know stuff. So what better way to critique yourself than to compare with other people’s work, after all nothing brings the best out of you like competition.

So I checked out the blogs of other people in the class, and I rather liked Olivia’s.

Here are some reasons her blog is better than mine:

· It looks better – it’s very easy on the eye, the light colours and simple background design makes it a comfortable read;

· She has a funky title – admittedly mine lacks creativity;

· She has lots of little buttons and gadgets and polls and things to link to other sites – I’m still madly going through my “Blog for Idiots” text to discover how to log onto the interweb (“Google? What is this Google?!”);

· She posts regularly – I think I’m currently two posts behind in the course;

· She has heaps of photos and videos – I don’t;

· She uses words like “Peruse” – I now know what “Peruse” means;

· She has that awesome side bar thing which again adds to the aesthetic appeal of the blog – see point three

There are plenty more reasons why she will surely get a better mark than me, but my self confidence can only stretch so far and I leave it at the above points only.

Basically I have poo-loads to do to improve my blog, so I’m going to search the interweb for advice now, anyone know a good search engine…?

Whatever You Can Do I Can Do Better

Hi. I have a mate who was recently cast as an extra (I supposed “cast” is the wrong word, he just basically turned up to the shoot) in an up and coming Aussie flick about a Caucasian girl engaging in a forbidden relationship with a Lebanese bloke. Or something like that, it was very Romeo and Juliet for the 21^{st century.}

I probably should know the movie in detail (or at least its title), because my mate went on about it for weeks. He kept telling everyone which particular scene he was in, the pampering he received from the make up and wardrobe girls (because although he was just a blur in the background, he needed to be a sexy blur), the jokes he shared with one of the main-ish actresses, and the free lunches and benefits he got on set. Fair enough he was excited about it, I would be too if I wasn’t too ugly to be a mooovy star.

But he took things to a new level, and his head began to expand by the proportion of the exaggeration in his stories. At first he was there to hopefully get his face on camera and pick up a few bucks. Then he was called back for the second day because the director liked the way he walked (did I mention that he was extremely talented in his walkability, a fact which has drawn praise from far and wide even prior to this big blockbuster role?). Next he was telling us the make up girl told him his face was a beautiful canvass to work on. Then they upgraded the food from ham sandwiches to caviar sushi. Next, various female extras were hitting on him, offering to “read scripts” with him out the back. The clincher was that, apparently, the director told him the shape of his nose was perfect for the role of the sneering villain in another up and coming film. But he was two inches too short. It all sounded very much like a scene out of Entourage, but I let him indulge his fantasy and didn’t pull him up on it.

Why did I write this? Because I read this article in the papers, and I wanted to let him know that it doesn’t take a super hero to be an extra. If I wanted to sit around all day wasting my life on a movie set waiting for my two seconds of supposedly glory, then I can too.

Get over yourself you pompous prick (and no I don’t want your autograph).

Under-Rated TV Shows

American sitcoms are used to plug the gaps when summer rolls around and all our home grown actors are on holidays. While most of imported show are forgettable, every once in a while you get some absolute gems, which makes it all the more frustrating that they’re usually not recognised and are in time slots competing with Danoz ads.

The Office (US version) – The original British version of this show saw funnyman Ricky Gervais produce one of the most cringe worthy, yet realistic, bosses of all time – David Brent. Anyone who has worked in an office environment knows or knows of a middle management type who fits the Brent mould. It easily became a cult hit and thus the yanks attempted to cash in.

However, having such massive shoes to fill, the first few episodes were absolute disasters. Despite having the passable Steve Carell as the Brent character, they tried to carbon copy the British version joke for joke, which failed miserably as the Americans fail to grasp the irony and subtlety of the Brits. Fans of the original snubbed their noses at the US version and wrote it off as rubbish.

Thankfully, midway through the first season they decided to leave the British version and derive their own storylines. Things started to get better. I wouldn’t call it an instant success, but with Americans writing about what they’re good at, the show’s quality definitely improved.

The developing relationship between Jim and Pam (Tim and Dawn of the original) is more engaging than its respective arch in the British version, Carell is sometimes (believe it or not) more Brent than Brent, and the background characters all contribute in ways to make watching The Office feel like you’re actually in a real office.

Get Brent and the original out of your head for a bit, give the US version and go, and you won’t be disappointed.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – The title sounds nice and sweet, but believe me it’s not. The comedy revolves around four twenty something’s who own a crappy Irish bar. They are your typical losers in life, bereft of decency, morals, money or ambition. Episodes involve them acting disabled to get disability pension, one bloke pretending to have cancer so the others will buy him a prostitute as a parting gift, and going to abortion rallies because women there are easy. To boot, Danny DeVito joined the cast from the second season as the equally morally corrupt father, ensuing further chaos to be had.

While it’s definitely not for kids, if you enjoy dark humour with no boundaries for politically correctness, then it’s surely a goer.

Arrested Development – This is an award winning show which got too smart for itself. In its prime, it won six Emmy’s, a Golden Globe, and was voted by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Greatest Shows of All Time. However, in 2006 it was pulled after three seasons because its comedy was simply too subtle and the majority of the American viewing public missed the point. The many layers in its comedy were drawn primarily from pop culture, and much of the individual actors’ pass works.

Centred around the dysfunctional Bluth family, the story involved main character Michael (Jason Bateman) trying to keep his family together after the family business goes bust. As the show progressed, the story arches became crazier (while never jumping the shark), which added to the appeal of the show.

Brilliant individual performances by the actors also made AD such a memorable show. Besides Bateman, who plays the only sane one in the family, Will Arnett’s portrayal of Gob the unemployed magician and Dave Cross’s performances as Tobias Funke, an analyst and therapist who wishes to combine the two jobs to become the world’s first analrapist, were also master class.

This show was simply too good for its time. RIP Arrested Development.