Susurros somnolientos' Guestbook

The Media and Socialisation
You have discovered the ridiculous state of commercial television news in Australia, and you can see why I've not watched it for two decades. The vast majority of such news is comprised of sport, crime and celebrities. It is a media that believes that the birth of a three-headed cow deserves more coverage than a mass movement of weaponry and troops along the border between the two Koreas. The only saving grace is SBS, they alone put proper perspective on events. Re the large number of large teams wearing the same clothes in a fun run; as a former cricket commentator said, Australia has a "mob mentality" - another term for an strong form of socialisation. You'll see that in crowds at sporting events, where dozens of friends or acquaintances will wear exactly the same shirt and silly wig to a day at the cricket. That is fairly harmless, but this mob mentality extends to attitudes and behaviour that takes a distinct anti-individualist stance. It partly explains why minorities within Australian society are treated with such disdain and disrespect.

Cringe...too close to the bone ;)
Ahh, Perth...sadly and amusingly - you summed us up pretty well. Perhaps if we make enough out of the mining boom we might be able to petition the west to stop publishing shark of the day stories and put a down payment on some culture...anyone's will do, we're not fussy here :)

Spot on and can be used to describe the majority of SE/NE Asia!
Those contact lens are really freaky aren't they? They make eyes look like some kind of weird vampire eyes like you see in films! It always slightly scares us when someone has those contact lens' in! The androgynous, thick rimmed glasses look is pervading ALL of Asia and seems to be the 'cool' look to have. That bit about the 'the white, affluent, hedonistic neo-hippies' made us laugh out loud. Keep up the good work ;)

Planning and Construction
I can understand how the city design does make sense from above, pity that the detail is lacking in the building exteriors. I rented an apartment whilst in Almaty and was pleasantly surprised by the rather opulent interior - far more colourful than I had imagined.