http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/joel-meares/ Joel Meares is an Aussie expat living in New York City, studying the ancient art of journalism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Previously, he was a full-time writer for the(sydney)magazine, a monthly glossy in The Sydney Morning Herald. He also wrote a blog on sharehouses for the newspaper’s Web site and covered film for industry magazine Inside Film and Web sites such as filmcritic.com and Urban Cinefile. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/will-the-ipad-save-the-news/ A new messiah arrived in the US over the Easter weekend, ready to save the world’s flailing print media industry. Sandal-less and sleek, it was, of course, Steve Jobs’ new fantasy tablet, the wildly anticipated, possibly revolutionary, definitely state of the art, iPad thingymajiggy. And America threw a bonza welcome party for its latest chosen one. Australia will have to wait a month to throw theirs. Apple sold 700,000 iPads in two days, with 300,000 plucked from shelves and UPS men on Saturday, the first day of sales. By any standard that’s a massive take-off; even by Apple standards. The now ubiquitous iPhone sold 200,000 on its first day in stores in 2007, a third less than its plus-sized cousin. But it was the media laying the palms for the iPad’s arrival more than the shoppers. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Joel Meares) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/will-the-ipad-save-the-news/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/will-the-ipad-save-the-news/#item2774 Tue, 06 Apr 2010 19:55:53 +0000 Joel Meares | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-kill-off-online-tributes-because-of-bad-press/ Online memorials have been getting a bad rap lately, and in many ways, rightly so. The cruel comments posted on the Facebook memorial page for murdered Brisbane 12-year-old Elliott Fletcher are nothing short of repulsive. Even after the furore over the posting of pornographic images on Fletcher’ s site, insensitive and offensive comments persist. Amid good wishes to Elliott and his family, Matt Jackson has written on one Fletcher tribute page, “im famous, im on the world famous post hahahahaha hi mum im on tv lol.” Scroll down. One of three “fan photos” at that page’s left shows Fletcher in life, grinning under tousled hair, with the words “Woot I’m [sic] dead” written over him in thick red marker. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Joel Meares) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-kill-off-online-tributes-because-of-bad-press/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-kill-off-online-tributes-because-of-bad-press/#item2511 Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:30:32 +0000 Joel Meares | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-r-word-sarah-palins-war-on-retarded/ Sorry Sarah Palin – in the war on the “r” word, you can’t have it both ways. The foxy Fox News contributor and former 1.3-term Governor of Alaska kicked off a skirmish earlier this month when she called on the president to sack his Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, for using the word “retarded” during a strategy meeting. According to the Wall Street Journal, Emanuel, a famously aggressive pit-bull among Obama’s inner circle, called some at the meeting last August “F-ing retarded” for saying they were going to air ads attacking conservative Democrats who weren’t supporting the president’s health care plan. In a typically folksy post to her Facebook page, which has 1.4 million fans (frightening, but less than Obama’s 7.6 million), Palin responded to a “patriot” from Massachusetts who alerted her to the Journal article. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Joel Meares) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-r-word-sarah-palins-war-on-retarded/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-r-word-sarah-palins-war-on-retarded/#item2448 Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:55:44 +0000 Joel Meares | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/too-damn-hot-to-get-all-fired-up-about-cold-sport/ I’ve never really gotten the Winter Olympics Games. Sure, it’s fun every four years to turn on the telly, turn up the air-con and pretend I know what a triple axel is for a couple of hours. But aside from figure skating and the occasional Bradbury-ism, I’ve always seen the colder Games as a bit of background noise, a comma in the sporting events cycle between Sydney and Athens, Beijing and London. This year, for the first time in my life, I have Winter Olympics fever –  and I suspect it’s because I am far from the salt and sand of the country I’ll be rooting for. The Winter Olympics just makes more sense when viewed from the northeast United States. Or, I suspect, from a snowy Zurich or a frosty Seskatchewan. It’s easier to get into the spirit of the dream, if you will, in a cold northern February than at the tail-end of a sweaty southern summer. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Joel Meares) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/too-damn-hot-to-get-all-fired-up-about-cold-sport/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/too-damn-hot-to-get-all-fired-up-about-cold-sport/#item2431 Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:40:25 +0000 Joel Meares | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/discrimination-is-driving-the-gay-marriage-debate-/ Thursday was not a good day to be gay. In Sydney, the ever ridiculous NSW Labor government rejected an Upper House committee’s recommendation that same-sex couples be allowed to adopt. Chair of the six-person bipartisan committee, Christine Robertson, said allowing gay couples to adopt would “ensure the best interests of children.” feedback@thepunch.com.au (Joel Meares) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/discrimination-is-driving-the-gay-marriage-debate-/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/discrimination-is-driving-the-gay-marriage-debate-/#item2136 Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:40:52 +0000 Joel Meares | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/avatars-a-film-not-a-call-to-take-up-arms/ With nothing coming out of Copenhagen to rile the world’s anti-green conservatives, they’re aiming their Hummers at Avatar, James Cameron’s decade-later follow-up to Titanic. For his right-of-centre critics, Cameron is a new Michael Moore; a manifestation elitist Hollywood whose 3D spectacular is filling kids’ minds with terrible ideas like greed is bad and green is good. Miranda Devine wrote a few days ago in The Sydney Morning Herald that Avatar is infused with “Cameron’s sanctimonious hippie sensibility.” That’s right, the bloke who made Terminator and T2 – movies in which explosions and a Republican Governor save the day – is a hippie. It’s not hard to see why Devine et. al. are going after Cameron. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Joel Meares) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/avatars-a-film-not-a-call-to-take-up-arms/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/avatars-a-film-not-a-call-to-take-up-arms/#item2089 Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:45:17 +0000 Joel Meares | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/postcard-from-a-snowed-in-new-york/ After four or so months in New York City, I am heading back to Australia this week for a quickie eight-day Christmas break. And I’m already dreaming of a bright Christmas. I might not get it. In true made-for-TV movie style, a massive snow storm is crawling up the east coast of America this weekend, delaying flights and disrupting travellers heading home for the holidays. My flight from JFK is scheduled for about the time the blizzard’s supposed to hit New York. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Joel Meares) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/postcard-from-a-snowed-in-new-york/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/postcard-from-a-snowed-in-new-york/#item2048 Sun, 20 Dec 2009 19:35:08 +0000 Joel Meares | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/whats-good-enough-for-tiger/ The fight for gay marriage in the US took yet another blow last Wednesday when the New York state senate voted down a bill that would have allowed same-sex partners to marry in the empire state. It follows the repeal of gay marriage rights in California last November when voters in a referendum abolished a short-lived law that allowed gay couples to marry there. The Governator’s state constitution now reads: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Joel Meares) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/whats-good-enough-for-tiger/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/whats-good-enough-for-tiger/#item1943 Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:50:42 +0000 Joel Meares | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/he-kissed-a-boy-and-i-liked-it/ The national moral microscope shifted in the United States last Sunday from an intern-loving late night host to an androgynous American Idol runner-up named Adam Lambert. For those living under a rock – or floating outside the blogosphere and twitterverse for a day or two – here’s what went down. The American Music Awards ceremony was moving along Sunday night as blandly as expected. Shakira shook her booty for a bit, MJ continued to rewrite the last ten years of his life with some more posthumous honours and Taylor Swift collected a slew of awards, sans interruptions. So far, so meh. Then came the finale. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Joel Meares) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/he-kissed-a-boy-and-i-liked-it/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/he-kissed-a-boy-and-i-liked-it/#item1841 Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:50:42 +0000 Joel Meares | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/going-rogue-Levi-johnston-style/ Levi Johnston might be my favourite “baby daddy” since Kevin Federline. The one-time almost son-in-law of Sarah Palin made headlines – and centrefolds – this week with a secret shoot for premier willy-wagging mag, Playgirl. His management has let slip a couple of details on the hush hush pictures due out next week: 19-year-old Johnston won’t be going full monty, but there will be a hockey stick involved. Pity poor Sarah Palin. With her already best-selling book, “Going Rogue,” hitting US bookstores this week, her daughter’s wayward beefcake ex is stealing her promo thunder. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Joel Meares) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/going-rogue-Levi-johnston-style/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/going-rogue-Levi-johnston-style/#item1795 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:20:27 +0000 Joel Meares | Author bios | The Punch