Declare yourself!

In 2004, David LaChapelle worked together with 'Declare yourself' to create a campaign aimed at persuading people to register their vote. LaChapelle uses a combination of the 'shock factor' and celebrity appearances to draw attention to the cause. I am really interested in the photographer's use of bold colour, and his general unique, surreal - and often humorous style.

Health Promotion

Involving children is one of the many ways companies attempt to raise awareness of the importance of health. In this case, the Child Health Foundation have emphasised the child's innocence with the aim of persuading parents to stop smoking. However, it's difficult to say whether the type of parents who are likely to subject their children to smoke would take much notice of these advertisements.

Derren's 'prediction'

Last week, illusionist Derren Brown apparently predicted the national lottery numbers live on television. In a later show, he claimed that it all came down to mathematics, which has since caused much debate and deliberation amongst the general public.

Despite explaining how he did it, many still don't believe Derren Brown and are certain that it was all a set up or some sort of split camera trick. Some even decided that all possible variations were filmed, and the right one was shown on television - I'm not sure what is actually going through some people's minds.

I'm not entirely sure how Brown successfully carried out this trick, but I'm almost certain that it wasn't a mere camera trick - that's just not what Derren Brown's about. Having watched him live on stage, it's clear how skilled Brown is, and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't risk losing fans and jeopardizing his career on a pointless facade.

Just a Daft Punk?

Literally too much time on their hands or just sheer entertainment? I'm going for the latter, any other opinion is probably jealousy.

A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange was released in 1971 by director Stanley Kubrick, as an adaptation of Anthony Burgess' 1962 novel. The story follows psychopathic delinquent Alex Delarge and his gang of 'Droogs', whose interests and lifestyle largely revolve around a combination of classical music, rape and violence.

There's no question that the film is very controversial and disturbing at times, proven by the fact that it was originally banned in the U.K. and was largely censored in the U.S. However, what interests me most about the film is Kubrick's use of contrasting sound. Particularly during scenes of extreme violence and molestation, Kubrick has chosen to use classical pieces of music - particularly Beethoven - in order to portray the character's enjoyment. By using lively, classical pieces of music that the majority of the audience will recognise, Kubrick manages to enhance the shock factor of his film. This is also the case when Alex serenades his victims with 'Singing in the rain' whilst attacking and violently raping them - successfully creating unease within the audience.

2012 Sham?

It's a debate that's been going on since 2005 when Britain won the international competition to host the 2012 Olympic games. I for one agree with thousands that Britain simply can't afford to hold the games, and it is likely to look like an amateur school fete in comparison to Beijing's stunning - yet extortionate - display in 2008.

China spent a reported $44 billion hosting the games last year, whilst Britain's budget has already been pushed to an estimated $17.4 billion, $981.8 million of which has been spent on building the stadium alone.

I struggle to see the logic here, as surely a city with an existing stadium, the required free space and even half of the money needed to host the games would have been a much more practical winner.

Britain faces both future financial problems and the fear of another terrorist attack, not to mention the embarrassment of hosting a much less spectacular event than the previous years' - although let's face it, it was pretty much set to be a disaster when the 2012 logo was released.

Stop Crime Ballooning

The Knowledge Campaign works with other organisations within Leeds in order to help students get the best out of their time in Leeds, and to stay safe.

In May 2009, local police and Leeds' Student's Union combined forces to launch 'Operation Balloon' in an attempt to raise student's awareness of how often burglars are practically invited into their homes. The campaign consisted of police and students visiting student houses to speak to the residents about crime prevention. In certain cases where nobody answered the door, one of two things would happen: If all the doors and windows were secure and locked, a deflated balloon would be posted through the letter box - almost a 'well done' for being safety aware. If a door or window was found to be open or unlocked, an inflated balloon would be later found floating around the student's home.

This campaign was definitely a good idea - and a great success! It has made students more aware of the liklihood of burglaries in this area, and has made them think twice about leaving their doors and windows open - particularly over the summer when many houses are empty.

It can only be hoped that the burglars weren't following the campaigners around as they helped pick out their victims' houses...