Do you Tweet while you Eat? [INFOGRAPHIC]

Smartphone addict? Can’t resist posting pictures on Facebook on a night out? If you ever get the irresistible urge to tweet under the table when eating a posh meal – then you’re not alone. Get this: 47% of 18-32 year olds tweet or text during a meal. So whether you think social media is a great way to keep in touch or a malignant intrusion on normal life, there’s no doubting the profound effect it has had on the way people communicate – and eat.

Our good friends at Column Five sent us this latest infographic. Developed in partnership with Flowtown, it shows just how many of us love to tweet, Facebook and Instagram when dining out. Our Media Guru is a self-confessed Social Media addict, are you…? (more…)

Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror (DVD review)

The 2012 Oscar Results! According to twitter… [INFOGRAPHIC]

The 84th Annual Academy Awards are now hours away. Most punters think the French silent movie ‘The Artist’ will scoop best picture (a $1 bet will only net you 8 cents at current betting odds).

The winners of the celebrated ‘oscars’ are decided by members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, an elite group of motion picture professionals. But what if the general public were allowed to decide?

This insightful infographic (courtesy of Flowtown in partnership with Column Five) shows who would win based on social media popularity. If your tweets and facebook comments counted, ‘The Artist’ would come in first for best picture with George Clooney and Meryl Streep picking up best actor/actress… (more…)

Wrestling With Preconceptions: Exclusive interview with TNA star Samoa Joe

In this exclusive interview, TNA Wrestling’s Samoa Joe talks to Guru Magazine about wrestling criticism, international expansion, and managing his hard-hitting style!

A couple of weeks ago, a world-first happened here in the UK.

You may not have heard about it at the time, but at London’s Wembley Arena in late January, one of the world’s largest professional wrestling organisations, TNA Wrestling, filmed its flagship television show Impact  in front of a record crowd.

Photo credit: Tony Knox

What’s that you say – professional wrestling?

Yes, I know it’s not a typical subject matter here at Guru Magazine – but a not-very-well-kept secret about me is that I have been a fan of the sport (or ‘sports entertainment’ as it’s more commonly referred to these days), for over 20 years – and have spent each and every one of those years fending off well-meaning jibes, comments and criticism from my friends and peers – which has only increased as I have gotten older and haven’t “grown out of it”.

Watching professional wrestling continues to be a huge passion of mine, and in a future issue of Guru, I will be looking to explore the Science Behind Wrestling – refuting some of the preconceptions that exist about the industry and explaining why, to me and many others around the globe, there is no greater art-form on the planet. And yes, before you say it, I’m well aware that the outcomes are predetermined! (more…)

Revealed! Santa on Facebook

On the tenth day of Christmas, my Guru revealed to me… Santa’s Facebook Newsfeed!

Wars, riots and natural disasters aside, 2011 has been the year of the social network.

Is Santa your friend on Facebook?

Here’s some of the noodle-boggling stats they uncovered:

• Social networking accounts for one in every five minutes spent on online (making it the most popular online activity)
• 82% of the world with access to the internet are involved in social networking
• One in ten internet users are twitters (or is that ‘Tweeters’?)
• Nearly half (40%) of smartphone users access social networking every day
• Over 55′s are the fastest growing Facebook and Twitter users – with nearly 80% of the age group somehow engaged with social networking

What would you guess was the most Tweeted moment of 2011? The MTV Video Music awards in September managed to be the most ‘socially engaging’ event – with almost 9,000 tweets per second (you’re forgiven if you missed it).

So, surely that friendly bearded fellow Santa has got himself on Facebook?

Of course he has. He’s been kind enough to send us a screen shot of his news feed: (more…)

Halloween Special: Do women get scared more easily than men?

Do you scream at the movies?

When the killer is lurking behind the door – come on, admit it ladies – how could you cope without a hunky man to hold on to (or, failing that, the nearest trouser-wearing dweeb)?

It’s not very politically correct, but this stereotype could have some scientific backing: surveys show that women have a tendency to admit to getting more scared than men. An Italian team of researchers found that women said they felt much more repulsed by watching gruesome movie scenes than men. And in separate study of 1,000 adults, women had significantly higher rates of being scared by spiders, heights and closed spaces than men.

So at first glance, the evidence is clear: women get scared more easily (and need men to look after them)!

But there may be an alternative… what if men just don’t admit to getting scared?

Our lab-coat wearing friends might also have the answer to that question. By strapping pulse, blood pressure monitors
(and various other medical-type regalia) to men and women whilst watching horror movies, our academically-inclined film researchers discovered that men and women’s bodies react in almost exactly the same way to onscreen frights: pulse, blood pressure, skin reactions were pretty much identical.

The conclusion? Men and women (physically at least) get just as frightened – men just don’t admit it!

There you have it: women are more honest than men when it comes to bangs and bumps in the night. As if you needed research to discover that…

 
Links to the research:
 
Codispoti, M.; Surcinelli, P.; Baldaro, B. (2008) Watching emotional movies: Affective reactions and gender differences. International Journal of Psychophysiology, Vol 69(2), Aug 2008, 90-95. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2008.03.004

S Fischoff, J Antonio, D Lewis, Favorite films and film genres as a function of race, age, and gender, Journal of Media Psychology, Volume 3, Number 1, Winter, 1998

Mats Fredrikson, Peter Annas, HAkan Fischer, Gustav Wik, Gender and age differences in the prevalence of specific fears and phobias, Behaviour Research and Therapy, Volume 34, Issue 1, January 1996, Pages 33-39

Friday Fun: The 5 Most Stupid Photo Poses Ever!

Do you ever get bored of the same old photograph poses? Want something different to a cheesy grin with your hair done ‘just so’?

Well next time you have a photo opportunity, why not have a bit of fun? You could tryteapotting or a spot of horsemanning. If you’re confused, then read on – there are lots of variations on a simple game: adopt a stupid posture in an unusual place then post it on the internet. Just don’t let your boss catch you do it at work… some have lost their jobs in pursuit of such photographic hilarity…

5. Planking

Perhaps the oldest and best known photo internet craze, planking (or the ‘lying flat game’) involves lying flat and motionless in an improbable location. Like all of these ‘games’ it is utterly stupid, but some examples are quite remarkable:

Planking on a Plane (source: GeekOSystem)

Planking in a Washing Machine (Source: GeekOSystem)

Why no one ‘Likes’ Facebook anymore

Confused by Facebook’s recent overhaul? You’re not alone.

Prompted by stagnating growth and the appearance of Google+ – a new ‘more user-friendly’ social networking tool – many are wondering whether Facebook will go the way of MySpace (into dotcom heaven or hell, depending on your point of view).

Facebook: the least ‘Liked’ website

Customer satisfaction surveys last year revealed that Facebook, who created the ‘Like’ button, would unlikely get a ‘Like’ from most users. Rated amongst the least user-friendly websites (worse even than the much maligned US tax return website – e-file) users felt they had a lot to complain about: irritating adverts, privacy concerns and frequent changes to the website. (more…)

Halloween Special! Scary Movies: Good or Bad?

Plagues, aliens, zombies and serial killers.

Do you love a good old scare at the movies? Can you imagine nothing better than squirming to hide behind a cushion to the sounds of bones breaking?

Perhaps you think they’re tasteless, time-wasting gore-fests?

Last issue we featured ‘Poles Apart‘ – a section where our Gurus and guest contributors could talk about their loves and hates. Last time, we were venting or praising the Harry Potter movies. This time (yep, you guessed it) we’re looking at horror movies. In anticipation of Halloween-timed blockbuster cash-ins (Contagion, Paranormal Activity 3 etc, etc) we want to know what you think about silver screen shock flicks. (more…)

Harry Potter … the easy way!

Image Source: lucylou.livejournal.com

The incredible popularity of Harry Potter is explored in the latest issue of Guru Magazine (out now, as a free download!) in an article called Simply Magic: The Wizardry Behind The Harry Potter Series. 

There’s simply no denying HP’s appeal, and if reading the article has given you a taste for the wizarding world of Hogwarts, but you haven’t got the urge to work your way through seven weighty tomes, then fear not!

Thanks to wonderful artist Lucy Kinsley, you can now see the entire story acted out in one incredible comic (click the image on the right to view).

It’s clearly a labour of love, and the comics are wonderful. But be warned – they contain a lot of spoilers! Although I’m sure by now you know what happens in the end anyway. (more…)