100 Posts - Top Five

Reaching 100 posts in an achievement for any blog, and today is the day that The S-Bend has finaly reached this milestone. To celebrate this I have put together a list of the best 5 posts. These were judged on the number of type of comments, the number of visitors, and how much I personally like each and everyone.

• Sydney Racist Attacks - A quite directed attack on the cowards involved.
• You can all get stuffed! - A well received post about how the lack of traffic drove me to become a hermit.
• Evil Elmo incites suicide - The keywords in this title were so profound that I rank #1 in MSN for 'Evil Elmo incites suicide' (a confidence booster).
• Americanisation - A discussion into how American goods and ideas and spreading worldwide.
• Lack of Objectivity in Journalism - A look into the difference between the truth and a good story.

I hope this helps, especially with navigation around The S-Bend. I would like to thank everyone who enable me to make it this far *wipes away tears*

Categories: Lists, Milestone

Work to live or live to work

In todays society a career is becoming the defining feature of who you are. One of the most common questions is: 'What do you do for a living?' This directly relates the entire aspect of life to a career. But this was not always the case.

In the past working was merely a means of being able to feed your family. The cliche 'Family First' was in full swing. You only worked because you had to, to provide for the people you loved, and any free time would be spent with them.

This has changed dramatically, with career beginning to equal or even exceed family in importance. While this would lead to better efficiency in the workforce, and the ability to provide for family, it would only provide money and material possessions. A lot of human interaction is lost.

Although I know that this post will not instantly change the current work ethic, merely getting this problem out their will help. As the saying goes:

All work and no play makes for a dull day.

Categories: Work, Ethic, Moral, Rants

Characteristics of a 'True' Australian

With the Australian Blogging Awards occurring at the moment (unfortunatly I wasn't nominated (I'm looking at you)) I felt that an Australian style post would be appropriate. And what better than a discussion of what a true Australian really is.

During last years Sydney Race Riots some people draped Australian flags around themselves while the riots occurred, cheering them on. This behaviour is not Australian in any shape or form, and can only be classified as Un-Australian.

I have made a list of the true Australian characteristics:

1. The ANZAC Spirit - This first began in the trenches of Gallipoli, and is the overwhelming quality shared by our multi-cultural society.
2. Mateship - The ability to stand up for a friend no matter what. This is one of the reasons that Australians are like so much throughout the world. Which is proven in a statement by Deviant: 'Australians, the finest creatures on the face of this earth.'
3. Acceptance - Because most Australians grew up in a multi-cultural society with many different nationalities around them, they have become quite accepting towards other people and their beliefs.
4. Trust - Another aspect of our history and geography is the trust that one Australian can put in a complete stranger. For example, in small country towns most people do not lock their cars because of the friendliness that occurs between strangers.
5. Friendliness - On a radio station I heard that in London, people do not speak to strangers as the walk down the street, or even in the confines of a bus or train. Australian always say hello (or G'day Mate, which actually does happen and is not a Hollywood stereotype) or engage in conversation with complete strangers. Even if they are in a hurry they will at least acknowledge you.
6. Australian humour - As many of you will know, I regard Australian humour as being the best in the world. Here are some examples: Foreigners Q & A, and The Castle.

As you can see, I am very patriotic and I always regard Australia as being the best place in the world.

For a more humourous, but still true, list of what it means to be Australia, visit this site.

Categories: Australia, Characteristics, Stereotypes

You can all get stuffed!!!

How the lack of traffic caused me to join the hermits way of life and isolte myself from society.

Traffic. A source of income and motivation for some and frustration and annoyance for others. For me, traffic is like some kind of Nirvava: something you always want but can never get. Not anymore!

I am sick of trying to get people to read my work, my masterpieces. From this moment on I will post only for myself.

Before I made this decision I tried every possible method to attract visitors to this site. I put my blog in dozens of directories, I became a member of several forums, I linked to other blogs (see below), I commented on other blogs, and I joined traffic exchange sites (Blog Explosion). These in particular became a place that I now direct my anger. To get one visitor you have to visit two other sites. And the visitors that you do get are more concerned with moving on to the next site so that they get their own visitors!

The one thing that really annoys me above all else is blogs that actually do get traffic (Good old Australian tall poppy syndrome). They seemingly do nothing and yet, they reap the rewards for it.

After reading many 'How to get traffic' articles and failing, I have decided to go the opposite direction, away from the popular path. In a phrase: 'You can all get stuffed!'

Categories: Traffic, Blogs, Hate, Rants

Similarities between Celebrities and Con Artists

For several decades 'celebrities' have gained a strong foothold in popular culture, and are refusing to give any ground at all. But why is our society accepting them as much as we are? The way they behave and the job that they perform is remarkably similar to that of another part of our culture: con men.

Even though one is at the top of the 'cool' ladder and the other is at the bottom, they are remarkably similar:

• Celebrities, in particular actors and actresses, pretend they are someone else in order to make money. Cons pretend they are someone else in order to make money.


• Celebrities rely on luck in the hopes that people will attend their movies. Cons rely on luck in the hopes that people will give them money.


• Celebrities use different clothes and props to appear more like who they are trying to portray. Con artists do the same.

Even Sam Rockwell, an actor himself, admits that 'a bad actor might be more of a con artist'. I would go further than this and say that all actors display characteristics that are needed to make a con artist.

The only difference that I can tell between the jobs of celebrities and con men, is that to make money as an actor/actress you do not need to be very good at acting. To make money through conning people, you need to be damn good. For this reason maybe we should be lowering our social placement of celebrities, or we could raise con men. Either way is fine, but I would prefer the first.

Categories: Celebrities, Society