Three things I want to share today.

The first is "Io sono l'amore", one of the best films I have seen for

quite a while.

There are some fantastic reviews which have been written about this

beautiful film, so instead of attempting to convey to you all its

wonderfulness in my own little way I'll instead take the lazy way out

and use someone elses!:

"I Am Love" is such a lush, deeply textured banquet of sights and sounds that it deserves more than a movie review. Carefully composed and framed, gorgeously appointed, superbly choreographed and accompanied by a thrilling musical score, it would no doubt provide rewarding fodder for critics of art, design, fashion, dance and music. As a full-on celebration of beauty in all its forms, this gem of a contemporary melodrama invites viewers to plunge into a world of unerring taste and luxury, where even tragedy comes softly when it inevitably arrives. Washington Post

Watching this lush, operatic Italian drama about a clannish family of wealthy Milanese industrialists is like suddenly being exposed to a full orchestra when you have become accustomed to listening to the plaintive sawing of a lone violinist. It’s an exquisite, all-enveloping feast of sensual pleasures. It’s almost certainly the most elegant piece of cinema you’ll see this year. It is melodrama as celebration rather than as guilty pleasure. The Times

I really enjoyed it and thoroughly recommend it to anyone who enjoys carefully crafted, stunningly

well made cinema. And of course, Swinton was very impressive.

I mentioned Graduate Fog in my last post and I'm going to mention it again. I've commented on a few of Tanya's post recently and regularly comment on the blog as she tackles such important issues which I feel very strongly about. Here are a few of them- In particular, "Mrs Tebbit" very much annoyed me. As is quite clear from my reply!:

Dragons’ Den multimillionaire wants you to work for free

Mrs Tebbit

Posted August 2, 2010 at 5:32 PM

“Poorer (better?) candidates who live outside London and can’t afford to work for free are excluded.”

I know someone who was an intern who commuted into London every day from Oxford on a coach (transport expenses paid). I think she woke up at something like 5am every morning. She did this for two months. She also had a weekend job in Oxford in a restaurant. If you want it badly enough, you can find a way.

In any case, not all internships are in London.

Christopher

Posted August 2, 2010 at 7:13 PM

“If you want it badly enough, you can find a way.”

Dear Mrs Tebbit,

Did you read this article?

If so, did you understand it?

Your comment suggests that you don’t at all grasp the severity of this issue and the moral and ethical implications of expecting graduates to carry out work which should be paid under the guise of an internship. Fair remuneration for all work, particularly when the role is so clearly one which involves proper duties (which are part of many paid jobs) like those mentioned in the ad published for this “internship” is a basic human right. “Internships” like this one are contributing to and encouraging economic elitism in the United Kingdom, effectively excluding all but the wealthiest candidates from securing valuable work experience in their chosen field. You seem to suggest that the lifestyle which the person you know who worked as an intern had whilst she was working in London is acceptable. I disagree, for all of the reasons Tanya has pointed out above. Why should anybody be expected to work for free all week and then work all weekend to support themselves financially, even if only for a few weeks? And of course, not all internships are based in London however, as in most countries, the majority of economic activity and therefore job opportunities are located in the capital city and the United Kingdom is no exception. This is especially true for many of the most competitive industries. Those graduates who are not from privileged backgrounds and who happen to not reside in the London commuter belt are therefore severely disadvantaged in progressing in their careers in this turbulent job market. Surely you can’t believe that this is a fair situation? I understand that some people see graduates asking for fair remuneration for a role like this as them having a certain sense of “entitlement” however I honestly don’t understand why this sort of opportunity (and I do agree that this is potentially a very valuable and useful opportunity) should be unpaid. It is my belief (and the United Nations happens to agree with me) that nobody should be expected to work for free under any circumstance, particularly not when those people are very young, have invested time and money in their education, have emerged from university with over £20k of debt into an extremely difficult job market and are seeking to gain experience to try and begin their career. Expecting them to work full-time for months without pay is not an “internship”. It is called exploitation.

United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 23

“Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity”

Can you trust your uni careers adviser?

Christopher

Posted July 31, 2010 at 12:29 PM

“at least Graduate Fog gets people talking about the issues we should have been discussing YEARS ago.” This hits the nail on the head! This blog is doing a great job of exposing problems which nobody wanted to believe existed, problems which universities wanted (and want) to cover up and make disappear and problems which many students and graduates are not aware of until it is too late! It’s very important that this space exists to question the status quo regarding the graduate job market and university careers services and to ask the questions that nobody else is brave enough to!

Is UK graduate careers advice a national joke?

Christopher

Posted June 23, 2010 at 2:30 PM

Having worked (in an administrative capacity) alongside professional careers advisers in the past I can certainly confirm that things are changing. The world of “professional” (by which I mean university based and therefore funded directly by students) careers advice IS changing, evolving and improving all the time BUT the pace at which it is doing so is no match for the seismic changes occurring in the national and global job industry due both to the economic crisis as well as to the direction in which many industries are heading as a result of the fast-paced and ever-changing modern world we live in and the way in which it works. However, despite the efforts being made to keep up to date and change with the times, I can confirm, from my own experience of processing feedback forms within a university careers department, that this is not working and is simply not adequate. It is not working at the level of individual universities nor is it working nationally. And the problem, I believe, lies with the lack of specialisation in terms of the knowledge held by careers advisers. Until we have advisers who have specific, targeted and up-to-date knowledge, contacts and know-how with regards to the job market and how graduates from THE SPECIFIC DEGREE PROGRAMMES OFFERED BY THEIR INSTITUTION fit into it, graduate careers advice in the UK will continue to be, in my opinion, very much a national joke.

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Yesterday Marcia and I travelled the 40 or so minutes south to the small city/large town of São João da Madeira, in the province of Aveiro, in the North of Central Portugal to see Mariza perform at the Fest IN music festival. We stayed in a wonderful hotel, the WR. If you ever have the chance to see Mariza perform, stay in the WR Hotel or visit São João da Madeira, take it! I'll leave you with a few photos and save the words for a post when I'm feeling less tired! They will tell you more than I can anyway...