Hyper Reality Checklist

Here are ten things that I do/think/consume that are hyper-real!

See if you can add to the list.

1. I drink orange juice and think that it's healthy for me... when it's not.

2. I look at magazine covers and think 'Wow that particular model has a perfectly shaped face,' knowing full well that the picture has been photoshopped.

3. I watch Australian Idol and wish that I could 'have it all together' like the contestants. When really, they don't.

4. When I win a computer game, I feel good about myself. Even though computer games are usually rigged, or designed to be easy enough to beat, but hard enough to think that you're such a legend when you win!

5. When I walk into a clothes shop and I see a whole bunch of manakins that make the clothes look better than what they really are. And anyway, no one's body is actually in the form of a manakin.

6. We own a plastic Christmas tree. It's not real. It's hyper real, but it still makes us feel like it's Christmas time.

7. When I mow my yard I sit back and go, 'Wow, I'm such a great gardener.' Even though reality tells me that any idiot could make my yard look like I just did with the lawn mower.

8. DreamWorld. This place is one big hyper real place. When you go to DreamWorld you feel like you're in a whole new world of fun, where everything is exciting!

9. Renovations of old houses. I find it hilarious when people renovate old houses, but make the renovations look 'old', even though they're 'new'.

10. Sunday Christians. People who think that Christianity starts and stops at church. This is hyper reality. It's religion, but only when it's important to be seen to be religious.

So go on. Switch your brains on (you too Jake...) and see if you can come up with other situations that trick us into thinking that reality, is not actually reality.

Mansfield.