tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75773646828753894192012-02-19T08:15:57.752-08:00TODAY THROUGH MY EYESSirena Bergmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639173253663854947noreply@blogger.comBlogger231100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577364682875389419.post-678356063497111192012-02-17T06:02:00.002-08:002012-02-17T06:03:11.569-08:00

Much to the disappointment of some of the men in my life, any interest in dystopian literature was eroded after I came to the conclusion that no one will ever do it better than Orwell and watching otherwise talented writers try is a somewhat painful experience.My relationship with technology is ambiguous, to say the least. “It's complicated”, as Facebook would have me characterise it. The

Sirena Bergmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639173253663854947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577364682875389419.post-42132345856560557492011-01-19T05:26:00.000-08:002011-04-23T03:50:01.728-07:00

Giving away as little detail as possible “otherwise I'd have to kill you”, columnist and socialist activist Laurie Penny posted a job opportunity on her blog for a researcher to help her with her upcoming book.By tweeting a link to the job description, in what may seem like an inoffensive use of social media to promote an offer, she sparked the fuse of right-wing blogger Guido Fawkes, who pounced

Sirena Bergmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639173253663854947noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577364682875389419.post-1715481420228353642011-01-18T08:22:00.000-08:002011-01-18T08:24:01.721-08:00

Dear Readers,For no particular reason, my blog has now been subtly rebranded from Today Through My Eyes, to Loud and Clear: Today Through My Eyes. It came to me in a flash of “inspiration” during my last week of an unpaid internship at the New Statesman which I have worked day and night (well, maybe not day and night, but definitely all trading hours) at a shoe shop in order to afford.You will be

Sirena Bergmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639173253663854947noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577364682875389419.post-23088053810693744142011-01-07T08:15:00.001-08:002011-01-09T06:59:26.007-08:00

When I was fourteen I wanted to be an astronaut. Actually, I wanted to be a journalist pretty much since I learnt to spell my name but that could have been plausible. I wouldn't be at all surprised if I walked into a class full of 14-year-olds and the girls said they wanted to be Lady GaGa and the boys Christiano Ronaldo.As much as I would discourage such role models, aiming high and pursuing

Sirena Bergmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639173253663854947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577364682875389419.post-78990545412481304032010-11-02T09:23:00.000-07:002010-11-02T09:41:37.605-07:00

The Twitter world is buzzing. Literally. If there were a bright blue, scarily interactive planet gracing our solar system, it would have gone from a steady spin with a few minor bumps (Trafigura, Cheryl Cole, election debates, etc.) to a full-blown, gravity defying bounce that hasn't stopped for days.Why? The king is dead. Well, maybe not dead, just 'no longer active'. Twitter is braced for a

Sirena Bergmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639173253663854947noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577364682875389419.post-15352514866649129622010-10-17T06:42:00.000-07:002010-10-17T13:29:46.548-07:00

As a student who will graduate at 21 years old with a personal debt of over £30,000, I would fully encourage the abolition of tuition fees. Then again, I would also encourage philanthropists to offer me their fortunes and allow me to spend my life writing ranting blogs and baking misshapen brownies.I was outraged when I heard that there was a chance tuition fees would be raised and I still fail

Sirena Bergmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639173253663854947noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577364682875389419.post-25253839995955385122010-08-16T12:20:00.000-07:002010-10-17T06:41:39.719-07:00

I thought long and hard about this blog post, just as I tweeted not a word about my predicament and remained open-minded and optimistic to the point of dishonesty with most people who asked how my internship at the Independent on Sunday was going. And I do realise that throwing into the blogosphere my contempt for a national paper will not do much for my future job prospects.I can envisage my

Sirena Bergmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639173253663854947noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577364682875389419.post-72421341656138617922010-07-17T02:20:00.000-07:002010-07-17T11:45:18.120-07:00

Government documents, political articles, final dissertations, legal arguments... even blog posts are sort of thing that I expect people to take seriously. But Facebook groups? You must be joking. Oh wait, you probably are!Back in the days when I was still allowed to ‘become a fan’ of things (much more non-committal than ‘liking’ them, I find) I was a self-proclaimed fan of serial killers,

Sirena Bergmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639173253663854947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577364682875389419.post-23506254225239696852010-06-27T14:42:00.000-07:002011-01-17T07:39:00.702-08:00

I didn't have the privilege of walking past an O2 shop yesterday morning to see dozens of people queuing around the block, rubbing their clammy hands together in anticipation of the iPhone 4. I have been told, however, that it was not a pleasant sight.Why was I happily surrounded by my Toshiba netbook and ancient Motorola flip-phone as opposed to standing in Oxford Street drooling over Apple's

Sirena Bergmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639173253663854947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577364682875389419.post-22890678797073713962010-06-25T03:39:00.000-07:002010-06-25T03:44:16.531-07:00

I remember all the arguments against televised debates during the election. I also remember thinking that people who opposed them probably didn't have an understanding of what 'democracy' actually means.The idea of giving everyone as much information as possible and allowing them to make up their own mind is what I believe makes a society truly democratic. Even if you don't agree with their

Sirena Bergmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639173253663854947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577364682875389419.post-8872552334772337172010-06-16T11:56:00.000-07:002010-06-17T01:07:10.402-07:00

I really would love to begin this post with a Brave New World quote or some borrowed Orwellian imagery. But the concept of comparing technologically-ruled 21st century life to the police state described in dystopian literature has by now been cliched into oblivion.However, last night's Channel 4 broadcast of We Live In Public, Ondi Timoner's Sundance-winning documentary about the internet pioneer

Sirena Bergmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639173253663854947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577364682875389419.post-59710002665595271552010-06-08T08:31:00.000-07:002010-06-08T08:32:30.565-07:00

I find it difficult to describe myself in tech-terms. I am neither a geek, nor a denier, nor an enthusiast, nor a target consumer. I am not ignorant yet I am not particularly knowledgeable either.In fact, tech-wise, I am probably the equivalent of those kids in school that would hang out with the cool girls one day, have lunch with the nerds the next, then sway indifferently to the goth section

Sirena Bergmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639173253663854947noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577364682875389419.post-29232466098995527132010-05-09T03:28:00.000-07:002010-05-12T14:29:11.972-07:00

It was a chilling moment last night when the country gathered around TVs, radios, laptops and iPhones to see the first exit polls suggest that the Liberal Democrats might not blow away the two stagnated, backwards-thinking and barely distinguishable old parties, after all.April 16 saw Lib Dem supporters enjoy unadulterated euphoria as a few optimistic tweets and yellow-dominated polls after the

Sirena Bergmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639173253663854947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577364682875389419.post-2013999603827030722010-05-06T13:09:00.000-07:002010-05-22T03:04:01.036-07:00

I got up this morning, put on my #iagreewithnick badge and went off to vote for Caroline Lucas. In real terms.Tactical? Foolish? Outrageously disloyal? Probably insignificant, realistically, although I do love to preach the power of every vote to anyone who will listen. Facebook is telling me that way too many of my “friends” have decided to stay home and press F5 time and time again as opposed

Sirena Bergmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639173253663854947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577364682875389419.post-67595712466087757742010-04-23T03:20:00.000-07:002010-04-23T03:49:40.005-07:00

Getting me to miss a law lecture is a tough job, but I have to say that my excitement over an hour and a half of politics, journalism and debate won over my conscience on Tuesday afternoon. The Independent Live debates began in Brighton Pavillion, where those of us lucky enough to get a ticket drank free wine, ate free canapés and then proceeded to get a rare chance to put our candidates in the

Sirena Bergmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639173253663854947noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577364682875389419.post-40896285363457614432010-03-22T12:00:00.000-07:002010-03-22T16:38:25.689-07:00

The first time I heard of the Liberal Democrats was during the run up to the ’97 election. There were those big posters of the party leaders in the Tube stations and I remember asking my mum who they were. She told seven-year-old me about John Major and Tony Blair (he was the "good guy" back then), but when I asked her about Paddy Ashdown in the middle she said: “They're the Liberal Democrats,

Sirena Bergmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639173253663854947noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577364682875389419.post-46304815339057779362010-03-02T15:07:00.000-08:002010-03-02T15:40:59.396-08:00

Anyone that knows me will know that I go through phases of spending a lot of time in the kitchen. Unfortunately, not many of my culinary experiments are hugely successful, but I enjoy myself tremendously. I also end up feeding a lot of local homeless people on my cakes which have either risen too much, or not enough, or are too sweet, or to salty, or I've just got bored of the recipe while I was

Sirena Bergmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639173253663854947noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577364682875389419.post-6308250814898102972010-03-01T03:48:00.000-08:002010-03-01T04:15:01.147-08:00

Last Thursday I blustered my way from my warm and cosy room in Brighton to the windy, rainy streets of London for the Future of News Meetup Group which my dad was very amused to hear took place in a pub in New Oxford Street.Not knowing exactly what to expect but hoping for at the very least some intelligent conversation I was pleasantly surprised. The strange mishmash of people – from students to

Sirena Bergmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639173253663854947noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577364682875389419.post-83595405100953977292010-02-11T12:20:00.000-08:002010-02-11T12:37:39.558-08:00

I picked Magazine Journalism because the alternative was Photo and Video Journalism. I know this isn’t the noblest reason but it’s the truth. Although I both admire and envy those with photoandvideo (in my mind it’s just one word) skills, I would like to pass my degree, thank you very much. Ergo, magazine stand here I come.Not that I have anything against magazines. In fact, when I lived in Spain

Sirena Bergmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639173253663854947noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577364682875389419.post-48538938342047412682010-02-10T14:42:00.001-08:002010-02-10T14:45:47.916-08:00

Fashion is a strange thing, especially hard to pinpoint when it doesn’t refer purely to aesthetics. I recently found myself obliviously at the height of fashion when I was given a Hummingbird Bakery cookbook for Christmas and hosted my very own cupcake party, complete with a Cath Kidston apron and everything. I subsequently noticed cupcakes in the window displays of the trendiest shops and a

Sirena Bergmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639173253663854947noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577364682875389419.post-77526109629770423622010-02-10T12:25:00.000-08:002010-02-11T02:22:04.768-08:00

Getting into university is not The X Factor - Andrew Haldenby (Comment piece in the Times, yesterday)If you can overcome the Tory rhetoric and get to the main point of the article, Andrew Haldenby makes a very valid point. Since when has a university education been everyone’s entitlement, as opposed to the reward for those exceptional and dedicated enough to deserve it?It seems that Labour’s

Sirena Bergmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639173253663854947noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577364682875389419.post-40974220561950617012010-02-05T06:39:00.000-08:002010-02-05T06:46:46.833-08:00

I am a Charlotte. I have been since the first episode of Sex and the City that I watched. Possibly against my better judgement, I must admit to being a faithful SATC fan. I find the acting is terrible, the dialogue is forced, the clothes are ridiculous and the storylines outrageous. But I have watched every episode. I cried when Carrie left Mikhail Barishnikov in Paris and ran back to Manhattan

Sirena Bergmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639173253663854947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577364682875389419.post-42499796382813194242010-02-05T03:38:00.001-08:002010-02-05T06:48:38.086-08:00

Is there anyone in the Western world that hasn’t ranted or raved about the iPad on their blog by now? Love it, hate it, love to hate it... I have heard more clichés than I can remember over the last few days. It does remind me a little of one of those so-called celebrities that pops up out of nowhere, is suddenly all over the press and in everyone’s conversations but yet no one seems to know what

Sirena Bergmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639173253663854947noreply@blogger.com0