Fifty Shades of Porn

Fifty Shades of Grey is most definitely a piece of erotica novella, every chapter includes a sex scene or two or three and each more descriptive than the last. I can understand why it would be a crowd pleaser as sex always sells and its simplistic way of writing holds your attention. Personally, I found the storyline ‘do-able’ as the main character, Christian Grey, is not your everyday Prince Charming but instead some perverted and damaged S&M control freak billionaire who still remains loveable because he is rich and gorgeous (women are such suckers). The amount of sex in this novel became tedious and I found myself rolling my eyes and skipping it.  Some sex scenes were just way too over the top;

"He reaches between my legs and pulls on the blue string...what! And...gently pulls my tampon out and tosses it into the nearby toilet." 

^That’s just gross. I feel gross just typing that out.

I couldn't help but laugh at the poor writing skills displayed at certain intervals, the words; murmur, whisper, oh my and inner goddess are used throughout the book more than 80 times. I never want to see the words inner goddess again nor do I want anyone referring to their vagina as their inner goddess...are you freaking kidding me?

The main reason that compelled me to continue reading the trilogy was my growing curiosity in needing to know why Christian Grey is so messed up. What could have possibly made him so dark? I eventually get my answer in Fifty Shades Darker which is elaborated later in the third installment Fifty Shades Freed. However, these novels are just so slow, a lot of events occur but it just feels like love scene after love scene...which quite frankly is so overdone. The only thing that redeems these last two books is a detached piece of writing at the end of book three describing Christian Grey’s point of view on an event that happened in the first book. As all three books are written from Anastasia Steele’s perspective, I found this little piece to be extremely interesting and clever. The majority of the plot twists are ridiculous but then again it is a fiction-based book. All in all if you have nothing better to do I suggest you give it a go but if you’re looking for a book that will ultimately "change your life", DON'T EVEN BOTHER.

2 out of 5 stars

Abomination in Design

RMIT UNIVERSITY- It has an internationally recognized reputation for architecture and design. However, its designs along Swanston Street in Melbourne CBD leave much to be desired. Its lack of integration between modern and Gothic revival architecture creates an eye sore out of the streetscape.

  Building 8

Building 8 is geometric in form and is reminiscent of a child’s toy-box. The underlying concept is trivial and appears superficial and undeveloped. Why would a university showcase such an underwhelming design that has no relevance to what the students strive to become but backtracks to a time of infancy? I am all for concepts that have a degree of playfulness and eccentricity but they need to be executed properly. If you strip this building’s facade all you will be left with is an array of coloured tiles and storybook windows with gold metal frames and if you look at it long enough it begins to take shape of a rather fragmented game of Tetris. This is the perfect space to make a strong architectural impact; it should be a source of inspiration on the way to lectures or work, though I find myself deliberately avoiding it by trying not to look up. A friend of mine describes the building “as a sadistic motive to give epileptic seizures to anyone who walks by”. 

As this is designed by an Architect it is considered innovative and fresh, however if a student was to design anything remotely similar they would be laughed at and receive an immediate fail. This is a wishy washy design, which attempts to be clever and eccentric but has become an embarrassing piece of architecture. RMIT you can do better.