WiggleTweet and WiggleGate2: The Exclusive

by Twitchy on May 18, 2012

Today I put on my Intrepid Reporter hat and provide this critical analysis of the biggest news of the week…

Yesterday the latest Wiggle News was announced: three of the four original members will retire at the end of the year and three young backing performers will step up to replace them. Jeff Fatt, Murray Cook and Greg Page will remain in behind-the-scenes capacities. Anthony, the Blue Wiggle, will carry on the show with the youngens and Captain Feathersword.

Click here for the official announcement.

It is hard to see the reason behind Sam’s bumping for Greg’s comeback under these circumstances. As self-appointed hard-hitting reporter on Wiggle dramas (I already critiqued WiggleGate1), I have questions.

How very fortuitous then, is this next delectable nugget:

Yesterday during a Twitter exchange discussing the latest Wiggle news between myself and a couple of others , we were tweeted by the blue Wiggle himself, Anthony Field. He unexpectedly jumped in to our Twitter conversation to personally respond to our musings. Quelle Surprise!

Seizing the opportunity like an internet Lois Lane, nay- a younger, obviously far more attractive Barbara Walters- only Twitchy of TwitchyCorner asks the hard questions (in the nicest possible way):

Fellow Tweeps' handles obscured to protect the innocent.

Okaaaaay. Anyone who’s seen the Today show interview (included in previous post link) may beg to differ- it’s a PR train wreck of grand proportion.

Conspiracy theories abound. People are upset for Sam again, as he is not part of the new line up (maybe he’s relieved?) Will the juggernaut’s popularity survive this? Who knows if we’ll ever know the truth behind the story. Who knows if we’ll ever care enough, or care hold our attention long enough to find out?

Last night, it was suggested to me a tweep who works in local papers that my intrepid tweet exchange would likely be splashed all over the mainstream media. First I was a little freaked out so I went back and deleted a couple of iffy things in my feed. Then I worried about the whole Pineapple Juice benefits discussion from earlier that day setting the wrong tone. Then I sighed the sigh of an internet chicken relieved to have a pseudonym. Then I went to sleep.

This morning, I arose with the hope and expectation of impending infamy.  Only NOTHING OF THE SORT OCCURRED- the nerve! Here I was finally prepared for my five minutes of glorious, internet attention-whoring satisfaction… but it never happened. Even though The Age could’ve slotted it perfectly into their piece this morning describing the new line-up and Anthony’s previous lack of diplomatic skills during WiggleGate1. How unprofessional of them.

Now as this Friday blends me back into the abyss of suburban anonymity, of headcolds and tantrumming five year olds, what I want to know is, who do I sue?

Twitchy of TwitchyCorner, signing off. Back to you…

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The Rule of I in Communication

by Twitchy on May 15, 2012

Opinions can sometimes land people in trouble if they start out with a point and end up ruffling feathers the next. Sometimes writers need to push boundaries to challenge our thinking and social norms and this is their  great contribution to society. I completely understand that. Still it reminds me of a very valuable and crunchy wisdom earned years ago in group counselling which I’d like to share, that opened my eyes to the power of choices in communication. Forgive me Stephanie Dowrick…

Naturally everyone’s entitled to their opinion and if you’re a writer/blogger, relative or friend (or anyone with an opinion!) you may be tempted to give it. However there’s an enormous difference between sharing how you, yourself feel affected by something and telling people what you think about THEM and THEIR self-conduct. Can your words be chosen in a more on-point, topic-centred way?

Applying the Rule Of “I” helps your main message cut through. Conveying blamelessly how YOU feel about your subject and KEEP IT ABOUT YOU, you’re more likely to be heard and understood.

Just as counsellors might say: “each time your finger points at others (three fingers point back at you, *eyeroll*)” you are likely to be seen as insensitive or pontificating. Conversely, each time you apply the Rule of  I it means you own what you say, you have your feelings and they are valid. Theoretically no one can truly tell you how to feel. The Rule of I abolishes unhelpful generalisations and therefore most potential for offence taken (intended or otherwise).

Not wishing to trudge back there AT ALL, but unfortunately the “Mummy wars” offer us a prime example with which to look at choices in communication:

#1: A journalist with the initials JT was supposedly genuinely shocked when she invoked an almighty furore after claiming mothers should stop whining because parenthood is ‘not hard’.
#2: This weekend Bibi Lynch’s piece on her childlessness was published on Mother’s Day branding grizzling mothers selfish because having *no* children is tougher.

I LIKE hearing different views and both writers had my attention- then lost me where they started with the imperatives and insults. I don’t care how clever the rest of it is, because I don’t give a shit any more.

I wonder WHAT would’ve happened if JT had said:
“I love the blessing of new parenthood and despite the fatigue I don’t find it difficult.”?
I’m guessing the article would’ve gained a whole lot of nodding heads AND A LOT LESS PITCH FORKING (and attention, mind.)
Ditto Bibi Lynch. Yes she did say:
“If you think these are the bitter rantings of a woman who f…ed up her own life and is just jealous, you’d be 100% right. It kills me that you have the baby and I don’t.”
Peak moment, great ownership and self-reflection. Why not leave it there?! Too boring?

NB Bibi: I have opinions too- here’s one: ALL yearned-for and sleeping babies are 1000% perfect. Actually that’s a fact.
PS Ladies who know all: Dads NEVER complain about their magnificent offspring, EVER, right?
PPS If children are (heartbreakingly) starving in Africa does that mean I don’t deserve my Tim Tam any more? If you are lovelorn and my husband shits me today I have to keep it to myself? I reserve the right to love my children AND sometimes vent about them too- because if I don’t vent and laugh, I cry.

I LOVE debate. Insult is not debate. Play the BALL, not the (WO)MAN, or perhaps…just STFU. Don’t presume the right to patronise, accuse or be telling me how to act, think or feel thankyouverymuch.

Occasionally I see posts and articles by people I like that don’t resonate or even sit well with me. On a good day I think to myself, yes that pushes my buttons but no harm is meant. My own circumstances are not accounted for here- therefore it does not apply to me. On a different day, I might feel hurt and say so. No harm is meant on either side but it might still feel personal.

Eden Riley’s clever behind has sat it’s time in many a group circle and I see the powerful flow-on effect in her personal writing. She writes earnestly and openly about herself.  We readers have the glorious freedom to assign our own connections to it.

If you make sweeping decrees on behalf of a group or criticise their life choices (even inadvertently poke the hornet’s nest) then disinterest, dissent or even conflict may result.

Unless you are a bitching gossip columnist, writer, editor, publication or blog deliberately clutching at controversy for figures. In which case my offensive, tree-hugging words are clearly not meant for you, so go wield that poking stick for dear life and poke, POKE away, FFS. As you were.

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Twitchycorner Update

May 14, 2012

Hi Everyone, I haven’t been active here for a few days, while some desperately needed back-end upgrading and back up is taking place. (Blog collonic.) I’m excited to be now putting together a new look for a makeover as well, which will happen in the next couple of weeks and hopefully bring with it a [...]

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Rumble Fish

May 9, 2012

Weirdest segue ever: watch me put S.E. Hinton’s teen angst ridden, gang-based novels together with Francis Ford Coppola and my kids and their new fish tank in one post…this is how my head works. Nothing could ever replace the love of a much missed family dog. However, this weekend, I visited a pet shop with Miss5 [...]

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Bully Bully

May 6, 2012

This isn’t the kind of post I’d normally write. I’d never be happy to just rant away with no light at the end. Not knowing what to do with my anger, I haven’t posted for a while. But yesterday, the light shone again and now I can. My boy is amazing. This week my son [...]

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Wordless Wednesday: Sydney Overnighter

May 2, 2012

Last night I went to Sydney to attend a book launch and stay with a friend. Linking with Trish at MyLittleDrummerBoys for Wordless Wednesday. � Up in the air… Catching the train out of the airport The Author, Kerri Sackville reads from her book “The Little Book of Anxiety” Mrs Woog, Rick and Nat chatting in [...]

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The Trouble with Relaxing

April 30, 2012

I do not have a problem with seeing the dentist, no- I have a problem with relaxing and enjoying myself. The day before I attend the launch for “The Little Book of Anxiety” by Kerri Sackville, it seems rather fitting I’m in a little quagmire of my own. Factoring in are two sleep evading kids and the farewell [...]

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Farewell, My Faithful Friend

April 26, 2012

At the age of eight my best friend and confidante was a Cocker Spaniel who sat and listened to my secrets unconditionally, even sang with me.  I’ve never felt balanced without a dog’s love since then. Yeah, I’m one of those people.   Sixteen years ago, my future husband and I brought home a Border Collie/Kelpie cross [...]

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My Grandfather Z

April 19, 2012

In March my dear broke-the-mould-when-they-made-him grandfather turned ninety-three. Ninety-three and going strong. The patriarch of this family was born on St. Patrick’s Day in 1919. Nineteen-nineteen. The things this man has seen in his lifetime defy imagination; yet no war, risk, devastating loss, illness or late-life operation could ever keep him down. He only stopped [...]

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Wordless Wednesday: Layered Dessert in a Tall Glass

April 18, 2012

What do you do with a motley bunch of ingredients that on their own aren’t much? You layer them all in a glass and make an awesome dessert, that’s what! Miss 5 got the idea from a picture on the back of the custard, clever girl. This is my first ever food post Linking with [...]

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