Just Jas: Quick questions

A Twitter style Q&A Interview with Jasmin De Vivo, BA(Hons) Communication & Media student at Bournemouth University. Covering everything from Robert Pattinson, shoulder pads and  chocolate curry.

Codie: So Jas, how are you finding Bournemouth this year?

Jas:  Better than last year actually, I love all my friends they’re the ones that keep me going.

Codie: Have you had any good nights out in Bournemouth recently?

Jas: Yeah Bournemouth tends to be a good night out usually, I went out the other night in a Chelsea shirt! If only Joe Cole was out…

Codie: Hmm not sure about the Chelsea shirt, I’m an avid Arsenal fan through and through, Joe Cole is okay though I suppose. If you did come across him (unlikely I know) what outfit would you like to be spotted in?

Jas: My black dress with shoulder pads definitely, and a pair of gigantic heels, couldn’t go out without my heels!

Codie: What song are you guaranteed to get up and dance to when your out at the moment?

Jas: Erm, I actually don’t know pretty much anything!

Codie: Except for Mr Cole do you have any other celebrity crushes?

Jas: Definitely Robert Pattinson, I plan to marry him in 2015!

Codie: Random, but I do understand why people have a soft spot for Twilight! Anyway moving on from vampires have you got any plans for the future, what do you want to do after university?

Jas: I’d love to go travelling and hopefully I can find a decent paid job so I can pay my Dad back for all the money he has lent me already!

Codie: What would be your dream job?

Jas: An actress!! But if not then maybe a presenter I think, (laughs) as if!

Codie: The past couple of years seem to have gone so fast, is there anything you would relive if you could?

Jas: I think if I could, I’d go back to my College years and have a bit more fun, maybe not take my work so seriously and party a bit harder.

Codie: Sounds good, we all know Valentines Day has just passed, except for Robert Pattinson did you have a valentine?

Jas: No actually, I went to Leeds this weekend, my friend gave me roses and we went out for a chocolate curry followed by cocktails.

Codie: Eurgh chocolate curry, Sounds interesting!

Timeline: Thierry Henry ♥

Thierry Henry has been most recently recognised for his controversial hand ball which set up a winning goal against Ireland in the World Cup qualifiers. However I want to concentrate on Henry’s famous football background, the games that made him  exactly who he is today and his successful career with Arsenal in the Premier League.

August 1995: Henry signs for Monaco at the age of 17, where he stays for 4 years scoring 20 goals in 52 starting games.

October 1997: Henry makes his International debut with the French football team against South Africa.

July 1998: Although not placed in the Starting 11 or on the bench, Henry’s International team beat Brazil 3-0 in the final of the World Cup.

January 1999: Thierry Henry begins a new career in Juventus, however he scores only 3 goals in 16 appearances.

August 1999: Henry signs for Arsenal in a £10.5 million deal. Arsene Wenger trusts he has potential and moves him to a striker position. Henry fails to score for 8 games, but finally makes his debut against Southampton.

July 2000: Henry wins the European Championship with the French team scoring 3 goals.

May 2002: Henry wins the double with Arsenal, contributing with his 31 goals scored.

June 2003: Henry is named PFA player of the year and Football Writers Association player of the year.

July 2003: Henry marries Nicole Merry (model) at a lavish ceremony in Berkshire.

February 2004: Henry scores his 100th league goal with Arsenal.

April 2004: Henry is named the first man to retain his PFA player of the year award.

May 2004: He remains part of the starting Arsenal team, and goes on to win the title and complete a league season unbeaten.

May 2005: Henry has his first child with girlfriend Nicole and wins the FA Cup with Arsenal again.

October 2005: Thierry Henry becomes the top goal scorer in Arsenal history where his goals total to 186, (one more than Ian Wright in the 1990s)

February 2006: Henry scores his 200th goal in a win over Birmingham

May 2006: Henry captains Arsenal in their first Champions League Final where they are beaten by Barcelona. He ends months of speculation over his contract, extending it by 4 years.

June 2007: Henry unexpectedly signs for £16.1 million at Barcelona where he keeps his number 14 shirt. Barcelona deny any rumours that the transfer is due to personal issues, promising it is only football related.

September 2007: Henry and his wife Nicole go through with a “quickie” divorce after there are rumours that Henry has out taken unreasonable behaviour with make-up artist Sadie Frost. He puts it down to getting away from “everything English.”

July 2008: Arsenal fans vote Henry the greatest Arsenal player.

November 2009: During a World cup qualifier match with France, Henry uses his hand to set up a winning goal. Henry admits to the goal saying; “I will be honest, it was a handball. But I’m not the ref. I played it, the ref allowed it. That’s a question you should ask him.” The speculation continues as Ireland demand a reply, but are denied by Fifa.

Entering Pandora

Avatar has been all over the press for the past month, I decided to finally watch it in order to make my own opinions…

Okay so the film seems a bit generic, a new planet which the American people want to tamper with and a hero that will go against his people to save his newly found romance. The film funny enough reminded me of one of my childhood favourites “Fern Gully” which no one else seems to remember

But for some reason the film for me really works. I think it might be down to the novelty of sitting in the cinema with ridiculous looking geek glasses and entering the not fully discovered Planet of Pandora.

The film centres on the character Jake Sully, an ex marine, limited to life in a wheelchair. The toxic atmosphere of Pandora means that no one can breathe without a mask so Avatars are used in order to allow people to travel deeply into the forests of the planet.

Sully is able to walk again when placed in his Avatar and it is his mission to convince the native “Na’vi” people to move from their home in order to allow the American people to extract a rare mineral they need to solve the energy crisis on Earth.

Jake Sully is granted the chance to become one of the Na’vi, Neytri  shows him the ways of their life and the importance of the environment they are surrounded by. Jake and Neytri obviously fall in love and he then feels it is up to him to save Pandora from the Americans, where he then leads the natives into a heroic battle.

As immature as this may sound, the colours definitely pulled me into this film. The film definitely wouldn’t of had the same effect on me without the novelty entrance into Pandora through the 3D glasses  The effects were very clear and the crystal like images kept my attention throughout (minus my popcorn).  On the other hand I liked the romantic undertone the film had, it reminded me of the classic Disney Films, a simple yet effective plot. I suppose I would describe the film as a Disney for Adults with the added bonus of extra pretty colours, the token relationship and a bit of Sci-Fi.

However definitely worth a watch in my opinion, one of many to come I expect!

The Sun online – good or bad?

Evaluating the official website of The Sun newspaper, how did I rate the website that runs alongside the famous newspaper?

Searchability: The site is the first to come up when typing “The Sun” into Google, the URL of the site is exactly the same as the name of the newspaper, so people shouldn’t have any difficulties with finding the site.

Usability: Despite the many flashing multimedia links and the diverse range of articles on the homepage, each page seems to load quickly when the links are pressed . All the pictures also act as links so if the picture catches your eye before the heading does, you can just press on the image.

Navigation: My first thoughts of the homepage is that it is overcrowded! As you click on the site you’re faced with a rainbow of different multimedia and articles. Although the link navigation proves to be successful; in my opinion the navigation could be hard in terms of finding exactly what you want. However the search bar at the top is an easy way of finding a specific article.

Design: The homepage uses a large heading at the top and a left hand side toolbar and a red and white colour screen. Although the toolbar layout seems pretty simple, there are a lot of links, and it could be time-consuming finding exactly what you want in the toolbar. In the middle of the page are print screens of popular newspaper articles, these flash from one to the other, although eye catching they take a huge amount of attention away from the website and in my opinion are not necessary. Along the right hand side there are many annoying adverts which take up too much space, wedged between the adverts are more articles headlines accompanied by small thumbnail images. Ticker lines and flashing images take the much-needed attention away from the headlines of the stories. As you keep scrolling down (quite far) there are more article headings all jumbled between forums and features. The design has a lot of potential, the colour scheme is successful in catching the eyes of its user, however the overcrowding of the features and articles makes me feel pretty claustrophobic!

Content: The content runs alongside the news of the day. However the website has taken the content out of hand. There are a good selection of well written (depends what you personally describe as well written, but well written in terms of “The Sun”) articles. On the other hand if you can’t find the articles then there is no point in having the site. The content needs to be presented simply. If the toolbar was used alongside a print screen of the newspaper’s front page article then I think it would be easier to find a specific article or just browse for the day-to-day news. The multimedia is not necessary and makes the site look tacky. The site is definitely not well signposted! The homepage left me feeling overwhelmed by the amount of articles the website is presenting.

Interactivity: The reader is invited to become involved with the website in the numerous polls named “have your say”. However these forums are lost in the homepage until the user navigates precisely to the dedicated forum “discussion” page.

UGC: The user is welcomed to create their own account in order to enter competitions and reply to discussions and forums.

Overall, although The Sun website does include a numerous variety of articles, I as a user felt lost and confused about exactly where I start to to find my particular chosen news. If I was unable to use the search bar then I would feel completely confused as to where to start a search for a particular item. The site has too much information and links which can go on forever. The headlines are wedged between flashing outside advertisements. I feel bombarded with the amount of eye-catching headlines, and feel that there is no priority given to the top stories of the day.

The essentials

Most people will agree that without their specially selected websites they would be a little bit lost, I definitely couldn’t live without these ones…

1) Facebook.com: The best way to keep in contact with friends online, and snoop for goss & photos as well as sharing my own.

2) Youtube.com: Provides easy links to funny vids, film trailers and music, there’s always something guaranteed to make me laugh on here!

3) Asos: A way to keep up with the latest fashions by drooling over clothes I can’t afford,as well  as searching for online bargains!

4) Arsenal FC: As a true gooner I check the site regularly for updates on injuries, scores & fixtures. Not forgetting tickets, which I usually can’t afford!