Tomorrow Converse will still be popular

In 1917 Marquis M. Converse must have been awfully chuffed when basketball star, Charles H. Taylor, or ‘Chuck’, walked into his shoe store – Converse Rubber Shoe Company – and complained about sore feet. Chuck was given a job as an ambassador for the company, enthusiastically promoting Converse shoes around the United States. He did this until he died in 1969. There’s nothing to get sales up like a star sporting the shoe and Converse’s ‘Red Chuck Taylor’ shoe has become iconic for the brand – the traditional red canvas takkie.

Somewhere in between 1917 and 2009 the shoe become widely popular amongst the alternative crowd. Your Nirvana-grunge-rock-out uniform is incomplete without All Stars. While such artistic individuals pride themselves on their ‘alternative’ appearance, deviating from ‘jock’ brands, it appears that some Converse-lovers are guilty of simply conforming to another sub-culture. In some instances (generally a huddle of grade ten ‘emos’ standing outside Doors Night Club, wondering whose fake ID will do the job) I equate the flock of Converse pairs with the ‘jock’ mandatory Lacoste.

Granted, the shoe is comfortable. Granted, the shoe’s look is a classic. Not granted, the shoe’s a substitute for limited music knowledge and ticket to Indie-rock moshing.

Despite the popularity of the ‘Chuck Taylor’ model, Converse has re-vamped, coming out with a few striking styles, such as ‘The Weapon’ and later, ‘The Loaded Weapon’. It’s sad that these show little resemblance to the time-less original, but fortunately Converse still manufactures ‘Chuck Taylor’ and is likely to do so for a while.

Promises get you prizes?!

Noble Peace Prize Based on Promises?

Reactions across America on Friday ranged from outrage to shock to enthusiasm. While some are glad that Obama was recognized for his initiatives, others feel that Obama's efforts towards peace have not yielded results. This year there was a record number of 205 nominations for one of the world’s most coveted prizes. There is an idea, one that is undeniable, that Obama does not deserve the prize. He hasn’t done anything yet.

His two major achievements are being named as America’s first black president and being the first American president to chair the UN general assembly. When you compare that to another Noble prize winner it’s obvious that he has done also nothing. Nelson Mandela spent 26 years in jail for the liberation of South Africa and was released to start democracy and be the first freely elected president in the most racist country in the world. Obama promised to try and work on nuclear non-proliferation.

The Committee that selects the winner said “Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future” But that’s the problem a lot of people have with the selection of Obama, he has provided hope, with no results. It’s like giving some their high school certificate at the start of first year because they show the potential to go through and finish school with top marks.

Obama for the win!

The Norwegian Nobel Committee’s decision to award Barack Obama with the Nobel Peace Prize was met with mixed feelings. The Taliban, reports the BBC, weren’t too impressed:

“We have seen no change in his strategy for peace. He has done nothing for peace in Afghanistan. He has not taken a single step for peace in Afghanistan or to make this country stable.”

BBC’s recognition of the Taliban’s opinion allows readers to realise that this militant group’s views are aligned with the likes of Mrs Maguire – the Nobel Peace Prize winner of 1976. Maguire, a peace campaigner, commented that, “President Obama has yet to prove that he will move seriously on the Middle East, that he will end the war in Afghanistan and many other issues.”

Obama, too, was surprised when woken up on Friday morning and was informed about his win. In true diplomatic fashion, he said he doesn’t deserve the award “in company of so many of the transformative figures who’ve been honoured by this prize”. It’s appropriate that Obama’s surprise is reported – it’s hardly his fault he won, he doesn’t deserve to be demonised about it.

And so the question stands; why did he get the Nobel Peace Prize? The Noble Committee’s ‘Announcement’ waxed lyrical about Obama’s policies, saying, “Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position” and “thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting”. The committee is obliged to defend their decision, but unfortunately, we’re not informed as to why other candidates, such as Morgan Tsvangirai, didn’t make the grade. It reeks of political suck up.

Alfred Nobel, the initiator of the Nobel Peace Prize Awards, was ironically the inventor of dynamite. So perhaps a bittersweet reception is in the nature of the prize.

Martian Mayhem in Moscow - The Galactic Gaffe

By Natalia Carvalho

Photograph taken from the http://www.dailymail.com/

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

a relatively peaceful civilisation, recently plagued by the dark side, searches for a new beginning - on Earth.

Or so it seems.

As Muscovites look to the skies, the arrival of an unusual and suspect object has UFO enthusiasts scrabbling for their homemade extraterrestrial communicators. Could this really be a strange cosmic convergence of two opposing civilisations? As onlookers remain fixated on the intruding force, perhaps those creepy yet bizarrely cute green Martians, in their petite crash helmets, are at this very moment strategizing over world domination.

Who knows, behind H.G Wells’ speculation of alien invasion, there might really be a rather intriguing tripod Mothership burrowed deep beneath your house. Paranoid? Maybe. But let’s not get too excited. As much as we might be tempted to write those condescending welcome speeches, the reality is we won’t be shaking any green hands, assuming they have those, anytime soon.

Meteorologists conclude the simple explanation for the saucer-like halo hovering above Moscow city is purely an optical illusion created by intrusive artic air. So instead of gamma ray weaponry or suspicions over Russian weather modification technology, the soviet district should be expecting light to heavy showers and maybe a few false extraterrestrial alarms.

Whether environmentalists clamber down from their trees to protest industrial emission or the smog effect, I am quite content to say that world peace is secure for now. Alas, our green Martian friends must continue their journey to the motherland, their strategizing over world domination circumvented by a somewhat anti-climax of cloud formation.

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