50 cent VS Kanye west

The loius Viton Don and the Teflon Don AKA kanye west and 50 cent have both released their albums on the 11 of September, with this being called the biggest battle in hip hop. I feel as though this industry has obviously gone beyond the Music and into a different spectrum altogether. Kanye and 50 are thought to be the "bread winners" of hip hop at the moment with the rap industry going into a decline due to dwindling sales. The Media's role in hyping up this event is spectacular. Often compared to the Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazer heavyweight fight, the marketing strategy for this even is to trash talk as much as possible (most of which has been done by the overly confident 50 cent). Its an inevitable occurrence, yet a sad one to see music and more specifically hip hop become all about the sales. With many articulate and socially aware artists such as Lupe fiasco being denied the same exposure, its very clear to see the slow and painful death of hip hop. lyrics such as "Im stanky rich, ima die tryin to spend this kid" - courtesy of 50 not only that hip hop is dead, but the possibility of reviving it has (in my mind) been destroyed. Although its good to hear that Kanye West is out selling 50.

Low Budget? Yes! Dogme? Eh....

One of the things I love about Independent/ low budget films is that they are often drenched in authorial intent. I really like thinking of films as personal creative visions. Labours of love. Explorational rather than formulaic. Therefore you can understand why the Dogme uncredited director rule really rubs me the wrong way.

I find the Dogme manifesto to be unreasonably restritive. Though I enjoy the intimate feel as well as the emphasis on performance and writing, in a way I find it makes the act of creating and watching a film redundant. Part of the intrigue of film is that it can surpass the inadequacies of live theatre. Why deny film of the magic it is capable of? Is having more than one torch really a bad thing? No matter how many rigid rules and restrictions you put on film making in order to depict ‘truth’, it will always be a depiction. And anyway, I don’t know about everyone else, but surreal escape is appealing to me. Idealistic?….Yes. Do I care?…No.

Internet Addicts

These days, the internet, could be seen to be a growing problem in our society. The damage caused from excessive internet usage is rapidly growing throughout Korean society. For instance, a young man died after playing online games for several days without eating or drinking and a family was destroyed because of the wife’s addiction to internet chatting. Internet addictions will not remain just a personal problem but they will grow to become serious social problems.

Because the internet is available 24 hours a day and in fact, this unlimited access is one of the main reasons why the internet is so addictive. People have always wanted to escape from their stress and the internet is another medium for escapism. Internet addicts can start to believe that they are loved and cared for their new identities also they believe online relationships are the same as the real life. Online they can have the freedom to talk and play games with anyone, without the barriers of age, sex, colour, or geographical position and to be anything that they want to be.

Although the internet is a very useful and economical source of information, it brings many problems into society. I think that is not a healthy society when lots of young people become addicted to the internet and games, losing touch with the real world

Why I Love YouTube...and the Warriors

Wade McKinnon...classic...after the Eels v Warriors game



Luke Versalko

Fair Use Is Good For You

Linked to from BoingBoing, the CCIA has released a report which shows that Fair Use of copyrighted works (along with other legal circumventions of laws protecting IP) accounts for one-sixth of US GDP — some $4.5 trillion dollars.

From the article:

"As the United States economy becomes increasingly knowledge-based, the concept of fair use can no longer be discussed and legislated in the abstract. It is the very foundation of the digital age and a cornerstone of our economy," said Ed Black, President and CEO of CCIA.

Why I love YouTube

A critical analysis of Britney Spears' comeback performance at the 2007 MTV video music awards...





Lucas Cooney

Project Gutenberg and free e-books

I enjoyed Hugh’s blog of 6/9/07 on free e-books and looked for some on Google. On the Project Gutenberg site is a list of yesterday’s 100 top downloads (these are out-of-copyright books that have been scanned by volunteers). Unsurprisingly books such as Pride and Prejudice and Grimm’s Fairy Tales are popular, as is the Kamasutra (unfortunately in French!). There are some weird ones – I was intrigued that yesterday 114 people downloaded Sign Language Among North American Indians Compared With That Among Other Peoples And Deaf-Mutes. I wonder how many of the non-fiction works have been downloaded by students researching essays. I’ve made use of quite a few online e-books and journal articles for essay-writing this year, and their location on my computer screen seems to mesh into my work mode. Like many other people, I’m not sure I could read a whole novel from a screen for fun. As an experiment, I was planning to find one that I could put on my iPod to see how much of it I could get through, but I’ve already gone off the idea. I’ll stick with library books for now.

http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/scores/top

Grammar kids & Bebo

This week I felt like I should add my 10cents worth on the "image" that people create using sites like Bebo and Myspace. In particular I would like to discuss the profile of murdered teenager Augustine Borrell. Earlier in the blog someone claimed, after looking at Augustine's Bebo page, that he may not be the kind of person the media portrayed him as. I have been following the news coverage closely as my little brother goes to grammar and was fairly close to August having been in his rugby team for the past two years.

My brother, like most of the Grammar 6th and 7th form has a Bebo page. Recently he has shown me some of his freinds pages. To be honest I found most of them laughable. I am used to his freinds sitting around playing playstation and giggling like schoolgirls. However if you were to believe their Bebo pages then you may be lead to believe that their full time occupations are acting staunch and "sinking shitloads of piss" (direct quote from one kids page). I can assure you this is not the case. These are 16-17 year old high school students people! These pages are an attempt to project a false online identity, as discussed in earlier lectures. They are simply trying to be cool.

August's page is a prime example of this. His page portrayed him as "gangster" probably because that is what he thought this was cool image. Image being the key word. Although he may have tried to achieve this particular look using bebo and the clothes he wore I have been assured by my brother and his mates that he was most definately not a "Hoodrat". According to them he was quite the opposite- a nice guy, fairly quiet who stayed out of trouble.

My short experience sifting around Bebo has lead me to believe that most of these kids try to establish fantasy images of themselves using these sites. However most of the time their profiles are not a true reflection of their chacacter. It is unfortunate in rare cases like Augustine's when these online identities are misconstrued as being real and have a damaging effect on ones reputation and memory.

Digital Aesthetics and Videogames

Since this comes right between our discussions of hyper-real aesthetics and the Videogame lecture next week, I thought this might be usefully relevant.

There's a game coming out fairly soon called Team Fortress 2, which isn't seeking photorealism so much as a very detailed cartoony feel visually similar to that of The Incredibles.

It's being promoted online through videoclips released every week online through sites such as YouTube or Gametrailers.

It's the first game I can think of that's aimed for a cartoon aesthetic in this context, and I think it fits the vibe it's going for really well. I've included the trailer here, with links to each of the more specific movies currently released.

I'd advise watching them at home so you're not paying for bandwidth at university.

What do we think?



In case anyone's interested in the others, we have

Meet the Heavy

Meet the Soldier

Meet the Engineer

High-Definition versions of these videos are available
here.

- Kevin.

could there be anymore cr@p on the internet?...... wait......here's some more

i love the internet!..... i really do! the internet has over the years provided me with hours and hours of entertainment, with most of my time wasted on a little known website that goes by the name of you tube. But inspite of all the fun i've had on the internet, there's no use denying that 99 percent of what is on the internet is absolute shite. With minimal regulations restricting the internet, it is pretty much the modern day equivalent of the wild west, but this is slowly changing over time as the internet is becoming one of the dominant media platforms. however there is no shortage of people out there trying to use the internet to make a quick buck, there are hackers and scam artists running rampant on the net. They take advantage of the internets ability to disguise falsehoods and mislead users through the vast mediated distances it creates between users. So for me the internet is fun, but i don't put too much stock in a media platform that is based on such vulnerable technologies. Did anyone see die hard 4! (for anyone that didn't, it had cyber terrorists in it! dum dum DUM!)

Bebo 111

I'm sure that the majority of you reading this will know about the stabbing of the Auckland Grammar student Augustine Borrell. If you haven't, he's a 17 year old who was stabbed outside a Herne Bay party. But the major aid to the police was Bebo...

As all of you are probably familiar with Bebo and Myspace, you know that it is used by our generation and younger, where everyone comments each other with personal stuff and often gossip. Well the name of the killer was announced on Bebo by one of the users, therefore giving the police a starting point for questioning someone. The person they questioned was in fact the person who has been charged with the murder. Bebo helped to find a killer...so maybe Bebo is going to become a tool where the police can track down criminals by surfing through their page and their friends' pages?

Another twist to the case was that name suppression for the accused was granted and the judge has granted this suppression through the internet too, targeting Bebo in particular. This being a downside to Bebo, as anyone can gossip and throw names around. This NZ Herald link explains in further detail how any person mentioning the convicted murderers name on a website will be prosecuted:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=124&objectid=10463280

Another point I found interesting was when I searched for Augustine's Bebo page. I found it and found all his friends pages. His friends' pages are littered with "RIP Augustine" tributes...the teen way of remembering and grieving for Augustine. But from looking at the Bebo pages, I have come to not entirely believe the media in their depiction of Augustine...you be the judge though...

http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=2014118221

So is Bebo an aid for Police? A new tool to help find criminals? Could it help us find Madeleine? I believe it is to an extent, but as we all know, don't believe everything you see on the internet! Dr Phil doesn't like Bebo and Myspace and he seems to know a thing or too...

Scientists uses radio waves to burn salt water.

I think this is just as intriguing as it sounds.

There are investigations afoot to see how viable it is to use salt-water as fuel.

Links available here and here, the second one being longer.

Of course, the main issue is how unlikely it is that the energy released by the water is more than that taken to power the radio transmitter, but... burning water! What's not to like.

- Kevin.

New and Improved?

In the lecture on Monday discussing Film in the digital age, Luke spoke of photo realism, this got me thinking about a few things that were not brought up in the lecture.
· Constant improvements in camera technology mean that we can no longer assume a camera as ‘proof’ of realism any longer. Affordability in cameras encourage quantity of photos rather then quality of photos, as it has become much more accessible to re-order or touch up photos once they have all been taken. Although some may consider this encourages carelessness with the photos we take.
· The idea of altering or creating a new ‘reality’. As a constant technological improvements in photographic equipment means more freedom to create endless possibilities, including playing on the natural environment or digitally creating an entire new fantasy world to look like a photograph. All of these things incredible and useful in many fields of work.
· Although as I’m sure some might agree that some touch ups or digital ‘improvements’ are not necessary and only encourage materialism, such as advertising campaigns and celebrity photos in glossy magazines.


Elyse

Random thoughts

Right, well a few weeks have passed since I wrote anything, but here we go... I tried to think of amazingly intelligent things that I could say about this weeks lecture... but that didn't really work out. So here is a collection of random things I picked up through the News and Internet over the last week.
1. BEBO: ahh my favourite, a delicate topic in the media, especially now with the recent stabbing of the 17yr old Grammer Boy Augustine Borrell. Not only did he have a Bebo Page but his killer did too. As reported on One News, days after the killing numerous threats and messages were left on the suspects page - this eventually of course led to his surrender at the Downtown Police Station. Interesting stuff? In addition to this numerous people have switched their Bebo 'skin' (background) to a generic Memorial Skin for August or 'Gus'. My brother being an ex-Grammer boy as well, has replaced his 'All Blacks' skin with the R.I.P August Bebo skin... Leading me to my eventual point/question. Not only does Bebo assist with catching criminals but it can be a site for personal tributes to loved ones. For my brother, using the Bebo skin is his personal tribute to his old schoolmate and a symbol of his unity with a 'brotherhood' in grief. Personally I was amazed at this outward display of grief from an otherwise 'rough, tough Boys college'. Is this then adding to the online identity argument, where people show their 'true' emotions online rather than out in the open. Whilst my brother and his mates have yet to shed a tear or show grief. The online pedges are from the heart and deeply emotive. A side to some of those boys I'd never ever seen. Is it death or the ability to let go using your other 'online self'?

2. On a lighter note; IPod and its hold over the world! Heres some figures I collected from an ABC News item:
a. Since its release in October 2001, Ipod has sold over 110million MP3 players Worldwide.
b. The Ipod takes up 80% of the market for MP3 players
c. When a survey was taken on a class of 60 Grade 6 children in the US, 87% believed that the Ipod was the name for any MP3 player ever made?!

3. In my Sociology 211 class the other day, our lecturer brought a list of the Top 100 Internet searches found over the last week from University Computers, not only did these include searches for Beer, Girls, Pro-wrestlers and Lunar Eclipses but an alarming high number of searches for a site most commonly known as YouPorn!? And after a few quick questions around the males in my class, yes such a thing does exist! I wonder, if Google runs YouTube do they have rights over this site as well??

4. Moving along the same lines, I remember watching yet another story on 'Internet Safety for Children' - an interesting point was brought up about Site URLs. The focus was on Fairytales and how kids typing in any fairytale name i.e. Cinderella.com would find something a little less desirable. So I tried a few sites myself...
http://www.sleepingbeauty.com/ - a Publications Company that had a few links and things but a far call from the fairytale
http://www.cinderella.com/ - a Porn site
http://www.snowwhite.com/ - a Pro-America site with links to a page on Snow White, a page on Harry Potter, a page on a Jewellers and a page on a Financing Company
http://www.beautyandthebeast.com/ - the only page that did have any relation to the Disney classic

So theres my collection of random sites and things I've picked up over the week.
Have a good week everyone!

Over & Out, Lena

The Red-One HD Digital Camera

(Thanks to the good Mister Rajneel Singh for bringing this to my attention, along with most of my information on the subject.)

The Red-One HD digital camera is a new entry into the field from company Oakley, who have up until recently produced sunglasses.

It has been subject to some truely vicious rumours and infighting, and their offices have been broken into twice by people seeking their Secrets.

Why? Well, the reason for all the hype is that the Red-One is a High-Definition digital camera that is arguably capable of producing film-quality colours, textures and resolution at a fraction of the cost of current HD digital cameras - almost a 1/10th of the purchasing price of say the Panavision Genesis - used to shoot "Superman Returns" - or the Thompson Viper - used in "Miami Vice."

Some people have been intent on rubbishing the notion and claiming Lies and Trickery. Others have concluded that the camera may be the film-technology equivalent of the Second Coming of Christ. To quote Raj: other people felt this was going to change, in a subtle but powerful way, how movies get made.

And then Peter Jackson got involved.

He invited Oakley down to New Zealand so he could see the cameras in action. They arrived with the two prototypes expecting to put the cameras through their paces in a sensible studio environment. Instead they found Peter Jackson, a hundred extras and some working WW1 era machinery - including bi-planes.

They shot a film with them in two days, and edited the result with Final Cut Studio 2.

There are trailers available in different sizes. Be aware that these trailers are essentially a 75% reduction of the camera's shooting resolution (particulary the short version) which is then encoded and compressed further to get it into a manageable file size.:

The Short (90 megabyte) Trailer:

http://www.3dspark.com/RED_One/crossing1.mov
http://www.pixelquestfilms.com/crossing1.mov
http://www.appliedvisual.com/redclips/crossing1.mov

The Long (230 meg) Trailer:

http://www.appliedvisual.com/redclips/Crossing1k.mov
http://www.emissivity.com/movies/Crossing1k.mov
http://hawkeye.digital-elephant.com/client/redclip/

And because some people asked for them, here are some screenshots:





Pretty, no?

- Kevin.

technology

Ok, as a very unsavvy media/technology type person I think you would label me a techno realist at the very least. As I use technology when affordable and if it benefits me, such as email and having a mobile phone as a form of being connected.

Since taking this course I have realised how much we use the media and this new technology and where it is assimilating itself into culture, and a universal one too. Just the other day I was reading one of the sunday newspapers magazines and found an article on the author writing about her first time and experimentations on a MUD going so far as to even want to experiment with virtual sex letting her husband know before hand though. The author liked this because of the anonymity and the ability to invent yourself physically and intellectually with her only qualms being with the techno side of it as she found the graphics unrealistic.
Another such example would be the counselling website that is aimed at helping suicidal people, with great response as it must coincide with Howard Rheingold's view that the virtual community has the prospect and advantage of anonymity. So for suicidal people this is their way of being heard yet not seen therefore not judged.
This virtual community has also had a hand in smoking out wanted suspects in the recent death of the school boy in Herne Bay via the social networking site bebo. With those that knew the suspects posting comments on their pages to give themselves up.

So really the point of this blog is share with you's my new awareness of new media in everyday life and culture.

Also I just saw last night the t.v programme "ride with the devil" on channel 2 and I think that it is done by Digital Video because of its too real effect or versimilitude and the hand held shots and feel of claustrophobia as well as the lets say your not yet oscar winning actors.
Any one feel free to let me know where Im right or wrong in this brief discription.

Generation (m)Y

What is it about sites like Myspace, Facebook & NZ's teen darling, Bebo, that so attracts hordes of teens to them?

Welcome to the Myspace generation.

Thanks to the proliferation of both personal computers and broadband itself, you don't have to leave your house to hang out with your peers. You don't have to be particularly clued up on computer use or jargon to immerse yourself. All you need is access to a browser, an appropriately obscure and esoteric nom de plume and you're ready to launch your groomed alter-ego into the teen cyberspace mall.

Teens and young adults are constantly looking for new places to congregate. Why bother going to the mall, when you can vilify and socially castrate those you deem 'uncool" from the comfort of your own crib?

Socialize with like-minded peers, away from the prying eyes of parents and caregivers. Show how cool your taste in music is by embedding bands no one has ever heard of directly into your profile.

Socially inept teens will value the fact that there is no face-to-face interaction at all.

Your profile can include pictures, videos and the obligatory emo blog. You can share lists of friends and contacts with users and even post comments. woop de shit.

Parents, watch what your kids doing, seriously. Over eager teens have the tendancy to share "too much" information and I believe Myspace should be synonymous with "teen sex conduit".

Digital is Goooood.....

Digital cameras allows us to record everything we can record in our day lives. They lack depth of field or greyniness of the picture but allows many people to record in motion picture their special moments with their family,friends,with random people on the street,on birthday partyes or New years celabrations. This motion pictures dont deteriorate in time and the time has no power over them. They are timeless.

I like going to the movies,when i have the money,which is usually on "pay-day". I love the big screen and lots of leg-room and noisy kids experience,because i know thats is all about. Socialising and shareing the cinematic experience with people we dont know and having the feeling of belonging not only among our friends,family or people we know,but also we belong to the community and society we live in.

Digitisation is step forward for the technological and economical development for all of us.Also we all have something digital in our homes or our handbags or pockets. However always will be people which will rebel against something popular or something big.Thats is normal because everything popular or big has its negative impacts on something surrounding us. For example that can be environment which is very popular topic for the celebrity community,which has no idea what to do with their wealth or atleast some of them dont and the others just to be in the spot light just follow.To have oposition against something like "Digitisation of the modern siciety",which is growing very fast is a good natural reaction which is contrybuting for the overall ballance which is needed to controll and regulate that something does not goes wrong,or atleast to reminds us or the people who play god with the technology not to screw up so we can pay for their misstakes.

So finaly i think maybe if something doesnot go very wrong,we can live happly ever after with the fast grow of digitisation in our lives. For example we can do that if the new partical excelerator which is suppouse to be build on the bordr of France and Swiceland,which lenght can cross their border four times,that can be very very bad for us if something goes wrong with it....

to blog or not to blog?

over the holidays, i went to Dunedin for a weekend. when i mentioned it to my friends, alot asked "of all places, why Dunners?". i seriously did not know. it was more to get away, no phone, no nothing. (and im not going to go into the places i visited and so on, this is not a travel blog) but i brought my laptop along.

sure, it was only a weekend, and im not the type who CANNOT live without the internet. whats a few days? but, i surprised myself. not even 24 hours of arriving in the South Island and my friend driving me through the infamous Castle Street (where the majority of Undie 500 debacle happened the night before) did i have a itch to get online.

i am normally not so.. addicted. i just felt like i HAD to post up the pictures i took of the painted vans, the burnt couches and the one lonely overturned car. I also felt the compulsion to blog (on my own personal blog) and it was amazing how it became so easy for me to share information instantly. but that is the whole point of being connected through the internet.

what gobsmacked me, was the comments and replies i got the next morning (yes, i woke up early so i could check my emails, Facebook and my blog) was that everyone had something to say. It was not something i was used to. Even though the whole point of the weekend away was to get away, i wanted to be connected somehow and wireless internet provided that.

just my mindless 2 cents on being connected to WWW

Film distribution through the internet has little influence over movie theatres

Just like sharing and downloading music online, the availability of films online is used widely by internet users even though we know most of time we are doing illegal acts. Although it is illegal to do so, majority of the internet users do it anyways and it is seen as a pleasure and advantage to people as it is widely accessible in the online world. Not only the website gives users the chance to download and watch the film that they wanted to, lists of new films, most watched and highest rated films are being listed. This way we as viewers aren’t limited to the one film that they know and wanted to watch but may also enjoy not just one film but multiple films that they may not ever know of.

Since the online distribution of film is widely available and people benefit from it, the people going to the cinema theatres is might decrease. The experience of viewing films at movie theatres and at home is very different, therefore I don’t think that the film distribution through the internet will affect the movie theatres greatly. The image quality, sound quality, the aesthetic of the film all differ due to multiple reasons such as the resolution of the screen, size of the screen and sound system all affect the aesthetic of films. But the difference isn’t just simply due to technology characteristics. Even watching the same film at different movie theatres, the experience would be very different.

It is very hard to compare the two experiences and state which one is better or not, but what I can conclude with is that through the film distribution online, users gain different kinds of experience of viewing films and enjoy through the process of getting the film and watching it.



-Vivian

Blog vs Tutorial, (Typing vs Talking)

Before the break I was having a laugh turning up to the tutorials for this class every week, composed of dazzling numbers of around three to four people, with the fourth generally leaving early realising they were in the wrong class... Is it just me or is the opposite of what should be happening at a university?

Given, this is a class based around technology and culture, and a blog site such as this is ideal in providing us all with a place to lodge and link ideas and relay information, but it shouldn't be promoted in such a way that indicates that we need not do the same at tutorials. What tutorials offer is a place for like-minded university students such as you all reading this to come together and socialise, to actually get to know each other face-to-face and to stimulate eachother in our learning. This is why the university has them after all.

Obviously, then, the distinct lack of numbers at said tutorial can sort of damage these ideals of learning together when there is no 'together' applicable. I personally enjoy how much can be learnt in a tutorial discussion, not just from each other, but from Kevin, who actually knows alot about what he's talking about. So, although a tutorial cannot provide easily accessible links and msn messages from your friends whilst you watch youtube videos on the side (as is possible when writing in this blog all the time) it is a staple of the university learning experience and I digress that you all give it more of a go. I'm sure the other two people who consistently turn up (and Kevin) will appreciate it too. See you there!

NZ Hacked - zomg!

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10462932

Breaking news - NZ is being hacked by the Chinese... for military purposes.

Imagine their disappointment when all they found were the plans to build a hulking Airforce Hercules.

This new 21st Century espionage is a far cry from James Bond - silenced pistols, real danger etc etc. All it is now is some spectacled man in some basement in mainland china whacking away at his keys while his mother cooks him dinner. Needle in an oriental haystack.

They hacked the pentagon. They inflitrated Britain. Lo and behold they hacked Telecom - an ISP who fails even to provide adequate email services.

Does NZ even have firewalls? Or are they matchsticks?


World War III is upon us people. World War III.

Digital Cinema and the loss of control leads to the death of the auteur

The title of my blog states it all really. But the term digital cinema is confusing at that. So let me just state what i mean about digital cinema.

What i mean is a film that has been technologically rendered through digital technology's to produce a form of hyper realism / photo realism or as a new term that i have first come across in the lecture called 'Verisimilitude'.

So now that i have somewhat defined what i mean about digital cinema lets got on with an argument. The title states Digital Cinema and the loss of control leads to the death of the auteur and this is my argument.

In my own humble opinion i feel that this new form of digital cinema has created a web like structure in film making. The directors vision is somewhat hampered with a need for high end special effects. No longer does the director take full control with his/her vision but perhaps leading digital aesthetic companies take away some of this glorified vision of production.

With Digital Cinema i feel that the director's are somewhat stigmatised in control. Now it is up to big budget production companies to create this vision. The vision of the director is manipulated and constructed highly through the vision of technology. Not the vision of the directors mind. The web like structure starts in the centre where the director becomes the central controlling point of the film. But by the beginning and end of production other spiders form and make the spider web bigger and bigger, increasing in diameter. Until. Well. The director loses control of the production itself. And all is well because the special effects and the speaking to blue screens or a non existent characters is all that is needed. What ever happened to the purist form of vision. What ever happened to using a break through piece of camera technology to create a large distorted world of wide angles and a High depth of field (Citizen Kane by Wells).

Instead we have mass studio time on computer technology to perfect digital cinema. There is rather no creative inner vision from the director anymore. This vision is played out through sci fi like conventions. Where the most hyper realist style of filmier extravaganza is needed in order to create a pop.

This leads to the death of the Auteur. No longer do we have Auteur's. They have been pulled apart by post production processing of the digital kind. There is no art or form of expressionism in the Digital film world.

The only form of expressionism through art is how realistic you can make a scene. Not perhaps how it is shot or why it is shot ( For example Vigil by Vincent Ward). Rather its just made to look as real as possible to fool the audience. This is not the Auteur theory. Rather it has been discarded in the past. The Auteur is now a box with a microchip inside of it.

That is the vision of the 21st century.

There is no strong vision. Use of environment or inner psychological development and subtle cues to suggest to a mode of audience the 'thinking' audience has been lost. Instead it is how hyper realistic a production studio can make a scene in order for a somewhat glorified take on special effects or getting that golden globe or academy award. What ever happened to the inner workings of an Auteur.

It is lost. Lost in construction. Lost in perfection of realism. Lost in the future. Digital cinema has ripped apart the very essence of expressionistic films. Auteur's are long forgotten as production companies fester in delight.

The End.

The Last Film Show?

I've just attended a screening of Andy Conlan's first full-length feature début, The Last Magic Show. Among the usual questions asked of test audiences — "Who would this movie appeal to?", "Who does the lead character remind you of?" — was one that I found particularly interesting; it involved how you would most prefer to watch the film: in a theatre, at home on a DVD (with extras), on TV, on the Internet or on 'a portable device'. It's interesting that in an age when mainstream film studios are lamenting the loss of profit due to Internet pirates, independent producers would potentially choose to release straight to moviegoers via digital formats. In fact, doing so would be a less expensive — and potentially more financially lucrative — avenue, due largely to the fact that most independent features are produced almost entirely digitally, as this one was. Well, I say almost because there were sequences — the opening and closing scenes, and flashbacks throughout the narrative — which were shot on 16mm. Conlan himself explains his reasoning for this process in an interview with Onfilm magazine from 2005:

"The idea to "bookend" the movie with footage shot on film was taken from '28 Days Later'. I can only pretend to guess at their motivation for this, but the theory as I hope to apply it here is to ease the audience into the story with the 16mm part of the film. They say, "Okay, "I'm at a 'movie movie'", they relax, forget about the picture, get into the story, and then before they know it, they're watching a digitally originated image and hey, it's really very good. In our case, there is specific motivation in the story at which we switch to the DVC Pro footage and a definite motivation at the end to switch to the 35mm part. We just have to make sure the transition is noticeable, without being jarring. It's a delicate balance."

Conlan's film has a direct link to today's lecture; the same costume designer worked on both The Last Magic Show and Florian Harbicht's postmodern Grimm Brothers' tale Woodenhead.

New Media used as a Distribution Platform

Few days ago, I read a couple of pages from a book named The Language of New Media through the internet. The author Lev Manovich gave definition and discussed New Media as Computer Technology used as a Distribution Platform. What are these new cultural objects? Digital computing is now used in most areas of cultural production, from publishing and advertising to filmmaking and architecture. New media are the cultural objects which use digital computer technology for distribution and exhibition. Thus, Internet, Web sites, computer multimedia, computer games, CD-ROMs and DVD, Virtual Reality, and computer-generated special effects all fall under new media. ‘Other cultural objects which use computing for production and storage but not for final distribution -- television programs, feature films, magazines, books and other paper-based publications, etc. - are not new media.’

Manovich mentioned three-fold problems with this definition. Firstly, it has to be modified every few years, so far another part of culture comes to rely on computing technology for distribution. For instance, the shift from analog to digital television; the shift from film-based to digital projection of feature films in movie theatres; e-books, and so on. Secondly, we may suspect that most forms of culture will use computer distribution, eventually, and therefore the term "new media" defined in this way will not such specific. Thirdly, this definition does not tell us anything about the computer-based distribution has possible effects on the aesthetics of what is being distributed. In other words, do Web sites, computer multimedia, computer games, CD-ROMs and Virtual Reality all have something in common because they are delivered to the user via a computer? Even if the answer is only partial yes, it makes sense to think about new media as a useful theoretical category.
--XiaoFei H

Online Film Distribution

In today's class Luke mentioned a few sites that can be used for online film distribution but he left out a New Zealand site which some of you may or may not be aware of and this is:

http://www.nzshortfilm.com/

The first website allows directors of short films the chance to submit their films and have them viewed online. The site only accepts New Zealand short films and has various genre sections including the standard ones, drama, comedy, horror etc but also includes a couple of new genres which are experimental and of course, the 48 hour section.

I stumbled across the site a while ago and decided to navigate around the website and I found that the film directors give up their copyrights to the site administration and I was disheartened because it is so hard to get a foot in the door into the film making industry and it is so hard to stand out against all the "clutter" that can be found on the web. This was raised in class, and I tend to agree that it is substituting one middle man for another.

Starting one's own personal website and distributing movies is a novel idea, but it just leads us back to the vicious cycle of the studio, except this time they are online.

Credit Cards and Coke become friends

You're probably sitting at the computer wondering what the hell I am on about with the headline, but a Masterton firm has recently created new software that is going to allow vending machines to be able to accept credit card as payment.(source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/4196740a28.html) Now while this seems like a great innovation if you don't have cash on hand, it is not going to be economically viable. Most items from these machines cost no more than $4 and a transaction incurrs a $1 fee??

Regarding today's lecture, I found the concept of creating a film without any post production, sets etc etc fascinating and it is great in theory but I think it went a bit too far. If the director isn't getting any credit then are the cast members? Shouldn't they all get equal say? I was interested to see that they didn't go so far as to involve all members of the crew in the decision making process ie// where to shoot, casting etc etc.

The Internet and Film Distributuion

The internet is a fantastic place for film and especially short film media. The class listed criticisms such as poor quality and small screens but this is only as they do not have the connections or equipment to take advantage of the fantastic opportunity we have with what is available today. HD is here and it is online. Sites such as Divx's stage6.com offer full streaming at resolutions up to and including 1080p i.e. 6 times higher than the resolution of sky tv's top offering. Feature length films are there too and you can even save them to your computer. Full resolution HD streaming is not a reality here yet due to our third world connections and unheard of data caps but eventually NZ will catch up with the rest of the world. You can stream (without waiting) DVD quality on our connections now (480p). If you have a reasonable connection go to apple.com and watch trailers in DVD quality. Better than anything we are sent through traditional media sources such as Sky and TVNZ's Freeview.

Even more importantly as to the viability of the internet as an avenue of distribution is the increasing convergence of home theatres and computers. Most of the tv at our flat is streamed direct from the laptop through wifi, which is hooked to a surround sound reciever and big screen LCD. Most Laptops have tv out and any decent flat screen tv has a computer connection.

Also noted by others was the ability to rent movies online in most major markets (US, UK). Users in the US can download films and tv through their games consoles. This is a trend that will continue and eventually filter down to smaller places such as little old NZ.

Internet video does not mean bad quality and long downloads. It means a world of media at your fingertips that is often better than our own broadcasters (and government) are interested in supplying us.

The Internet is good for more than just myspace and bebo after all!!

I have not posted in a bit but that is because of the lack of an internet connection where I live. THis is of course considering the nature of the course as well as my lifestyle. Anyway on to what my post is about. It boggles me even more so now than before on the wealth of information there is on just about anything past, present and future. I think people who utilise the technology of the internet should really start exploring and learning about new and interesting things rather than checking up on who myspaced or messaged you. Whilst that is great, I think things like youtube and wikipedia for instance can be used to exapnd one's knowledge of the world around not only of today but also the past. Now I know what you are all thinking wikipedia and youtube = useful information!! No Way! But I will show you an example.

Recently I had a conversation with someone and he was saying how he was able to download videos of youtube. So I searched for the necessary tools to allow me to do so and I began my quest to find videos. What initially started as a meaningless way to download music videos etc forayed into me discovering that people have posted full length documentaries, interviews etc covering all sorts of socio-economic topics, From Hip Hop Subcultures to the Weather Man Leftist Movement in the 60s. My point is that a medium such as youtube is not a waste or a time wasting past time if one is able to use it to further their ideals and ways of thinking about the way life affects them.

Also in wikipedia if you search the same sorts of subjects the results are really resourceful. WIkipedia as a reference or guide is not great but the links to external sites ansd resources are great. For instance I searched MAlcolm X on wikipedia. It came with the standard wiki article. But if you scroll to the bottom you are able to read teansacripts, download speeches and watch videos etc therefore in an interactive way you are able to benefit and learn more about different viewpoints and ideas whilst using the same medium which we commonly use to myspace or bebo.

I just think it is a more interesting and fruitful way of spending your time on the internet rather than spending hours on myspace or bebo. Nothing wrong with that but it would be cool if more younger people started searching and reading, watching about these things.

Roll call and Admin once again.

Hi folks, hope you've enjoyed the break.

Some points of admin: First, the essay assignment is due in on Wednesday the 26th of September. This is about two weeks away, and the questions are up on CECIL.

Secondly, we've had a significant number of new people appearing on the blog, which is excellent. We have two people I can't link to Actual Students, so if

Pearly

and

Nifa

could reply here or send me an email with who you are, that'd be great. Generally if people could remember to sign off your posts with your name, that would help. In any case, it's all progress.

And please don't forget that this week, the last day of which is Sunday the 16th of September, is the last week in which you can still be eligible for maximum marks for the blog assignment, even if you have done nothing else so far. This is assuming you make one post per week for the rest of the semester, and remember that the last week is short.

- Kevin.

So the new iPods are out. They look awesome. They are sleeker, sexier and more cool-er. The iPod "Classic" can hold 1,000,000,000,000,000 songs or 10,000,000,000,000,000 hours of video with its massive 160GB hard drive. So you can hold every sound ever emitted by anything that was near a recording device in the palm of your hand and can listen to it wherever you are, along with all those movies you got from....erm.

I don't know about you guys but I find watching the little screen on the iPod videos (which now include the iPod's little brother, the Nano) really straining for anything more than watching a daughter hit her Dad in the nuts with a baseball bat on youtube.

 But what are the alternatives to such a small screen?? Well I found something that could work, and claims to be just like watching a killer home set up in your living room. You'll look like the blind guy from Star Trek but you'll be getting a better image, hopefully.

-Brandon

Already Guilty

Via BoingBoing, Erik Davis has posted an article about his experiences with the watermarking technology being used by the record industry in an attempt to couteract file-sharing. "My Data Crime" makes for interesting reading, and should act as a signal to the record industry that they're doing something wrong by assuming theft without being able to prove it.

Recently, it had been suggested that Davis had intentionally uploaded a copy of Beruit's sohphomore album The Frying Club Cup to file-sharing networks, simply because the advance CD that he was sent was watermarked in such a way that any duplication of it would be tied back to him. He would, therefore, bear sole responsibility if the tracks showed up on peer-to-peer or other such 'underground' networks.

As it turns out, the disc was ripped and uploaded, but not by him. He had lumped the advance copy in with a whole bunch of other discs he dropped off at a local thrift store in order to free up clutter in his house. Someone found the disc, ripped the tracks and uploaded it to file sharing networks — as Wikipedia notes — on August 25.

Davis was blamed for the leak, as it was he who assumed full responsibility for anything that happened to the disc. But, as he points out, it (obviously) wasn't his fault, and he certainly didn't deliberately release the album ahead of its official date. His main argument, however, is that such advance copies sent to reviewers should not only be less protected — he sees it as an unnecessary cost to the producer, and I think he's right — but also less vehement in their stickered warnings.

The labels adorning the front covers of the discs warn that by opening the package "you", the addressee, agree in totality to the paragraph of legalese which explains that any consumption of the product should be solely for your own purposes, not anyone else's — which is not only a gratuitous warning but also one which is presumably impossible to enforce. Furthermore, the identification of the disc's addressee as the source of any 'unauthorized' copies makes it seem as though 'you' are already guilty, which isn't really a nice way to treat someone who you would like to look favourably upon your product.

Technology – Curse or Blessing?

For individual, technology brings conveniences but also causes confusion. It might be a blessing if you are able to get into it, to manage it and to enjoy it. It might be a curse if you can not affort it, or handle it, or you think it consumes your time and harm your health mentally or physically. No matter what viewpoints people hold toward it, they have to rely on it more or less in daily living. And one thing seems certain that technology is ‘spontaneously’ developing. The tendency of development is inevitable. Participating this development is a basical strategy for people servival in modern world. For society as a whole, technology creates fortune and enhances government’s management. On the other hand, technology also brings many serious problems which threaten human being's existence, such as pollution in air, water, even outer space; the nuclear bomb brought tragedies to human beings and still threatens human being. In fact, technology is a blessing and a curse at the same time. It can be used both for good and for evil.

Is it really real?

Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Vegas, After Effect and etc… These are the photo/video editing tools that are widely used by the 'proteurs'. Some proteurs make good fancy looking clips but often they are easily identifiable; whether its just a 'made up' clip or the real footage. However, video clips made by professionals are different. Although professionals may use the same editing tools, the clips look so real and one can hardly distinguish them from whether they are real or fake. The typical examples are the UFOs. There are hundreds of UFO clips on YouTube. I personally don’t believe in the existence of aliens or UFOs but, because some clips look so real, I can no longer deny the presence of UFOs. Are they really real? Or it is the CG that makes the fake UFOs so real? The development in media technology is blurring the boundary between what is real and what is realistic.

Now it’s your choice to believe it or not!

--The famous Haiti UFO--


--And see this "wanco" UFO! lol--


--This one is quite real and I don't think its a fake--

Late discovery of youtube for a reluctant web media user.

This is my first blog entry ever. I don’t normally feel as though I should make a comment or an entry to blogs as I don’t usually read through them. The only time I seek out blogs would be if I needed advice or instructions on a particular topic, usually with regards to technology. I find blogs very uncomfortable as I do not feel as though I need to share my opinion about anything in particular as it is probably already assumed or known by others.
I have recently discovered that I actually do have a use for the site, youtube.com. It’s a wonderful portal for learning, videos that give you a step-by-step guide to picking up new hobbies or learning how to use software. I decided to fill my time off by creating an artwork through stencilling. Although I had an inkling of how to create a stencil, I found myself very confused and in need of some advice. My technology savvy younger sister told me to seek out "how to" guides on stencilling on youtube and it has transformed my life. I am now constantly on youtube, learning new crafts, learning how to use software at an advanced level, and the like. I use to spend as little time as possible when I was online, I didn’t normally engage or find an interest for these types of websites. Previously, my view of youtube was that it was a site where people screened their videos for advertising, media attention or to get their musical talents noticed. My views have changed, I am very excited about what I can learn and how I can expand my talents through these sites, it’s quite amazing.

Game Addiction = Death

I had a conversation the other day with a friend about drug addicts whose children had died of neglect. Then I thought about a mother I saw on 60 minutes (or 20/20) who was actually addicted to playing videogames on the internet. She would play them for massive durations of time, neglected her kids, destroyed her social life and ruined her marriage.

So when I was looking up something to write about for this blog about 15 minutes ago, I thought it would be funny to find out if anyone had actually died from blogging. Aside from a site with the amusing name www.blogofdeath.com which wasnt exactly what I was looking for, I found out that there are people in Asia who have actually died of malnutrition because of being too involved in the (Massive Multiplayer Game) World of Warcraft. I was horrified. Game addiction is really a serious issue after all.

Then I found this article about 2 Korean parents who neglected their child and instead played World of Warcraft. Its bad enough being so screwed on drugs that you leave your kid to die, its a hell of alot worse leaving it to die because you were too busy playing videogames ffs.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=59697

Human Powered Search - Mahalo.com

Many peoples experiences of the internet are just what they can find through google. It is a great homepage and you can find the information you are after most every time. The problem can be that as google and similar sites use automated computer algorithms to discover results and can be fooled by dodgy advertisers and other websites desperate for your precious (and valuable) click. The widespread use of their search altering techniques can often hamper and slow our search for the information we turned the computer on in the first place.

But what is the answer? Jason Calacanis thinks he has it. His 'Mahalo.com' (Mahalo is Hawaiian for 'Thank you') website is a human powered search engine with each page of results chosen by his own employees. The results are presented in a much easier to read, spam free form that will save you time and eye strain.

Calcanis realises not every search is the same but aims to have results for the top 15,000 search terms by the end of this year. Anything not yet covered reverts back to google results so it will never leave you high and dry.

Other efforts similar in approach to Mahalo are Xtra's Answers and Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales is also investing in human powered search. Their view is that a million results aren't going to help if you can't find the ones that can help you.

In an information society, what you know is going to be less important than how quickly you can discover the things that you haven't yet learnt. Sites like Mahalo are going to help us navigate this ever expanding information source.

Check it out,
http://www.mahalo.com

Wikipedia VS Encyclopedia Britannica - The End Of Academia

The quantity of information contained in encyclopedia hard copies extends to a couple of volumes. This picture of the bookshelf below signifies the amount of knowledge Wikipedia holds.




Many critics have tried to downplay Wikipedia's role as a source of valid information, often pointing to the Encyclopedia Britannica as an example of an accurate reference.

Remarkable is the fact that not only does this user generated database of content outweigh the sheer volume of academic encyclopedia versions, but is relied upon more heavily by students for a quick and correct analysis of subjects than any other resource.

Critics have raised concerns about Wikipedia's increasing influence. They question whether multiple unpaid editors can match paid professionals for accuracy.

Answering these woes, critics studied Wikipedia and Britannica side by side, showing that it resulted with error rates of around 3.8 mistakes per article for Wikipedia and 2.9 for Britannica. This proved that both resources included similar quantities of correct information which suggests that Britannica’s advantage is not as far greater than expected. Even with this close result, the British science journal Nature review named Wikipedia inferior to Britannica.

Technically the study showed Britannica to be superior, but Wikipedia articles are on average three times longer than those of Britannica. This means that Wikipedia has an error rate far less than Britannica. The only problem that obviously contributed to Wikipedia's lesser grading was the quality of the writing. Ironically this view is supported by Wiki co-founder Jimmy Wales when he states that "An encyclopedia can't just have a small percentage of good entries and be considered a success". The overall quality must be judged by the weakest entries rather than the best.

The technological advances that have allowed 13,000 regular volunteers, usually experts in their field, to add and alter any page on the Wikipedia site is only the natural move forward of embracing the virtual. Whether quality moves forward with technology or not is up to the commitment of individuals to support the value of academic resources.