Hello hello.

It is now that time of semester where everyone is frantically running around trying to get there work together. It’s really interesting and slightly humorous to watch.

Anyyyyywaaaaay, here are my five curated posts. I find these to be my most substantial and thought-provoking blog posts.

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/justin-palmieri/2015/05/27/week-12-connection/

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/justin-palmieri/2015/05/26/week-12-lectorial/

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/justin-palmieri/2015/05/14/week-10-connection/

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/justin-palmieri/2015/05/07/week-9-connection/

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/justin-palmieri/2015/04/20/204/

I think that upon reading these blog posts, it’s quite clear that they are my most thought-provoking blogs. I think personally for me to be engaged with my blog writing, I definitely have to have a keen interest in the issue that i’m writing about and how it reflects my interests and passions.

Also, it’s quite interesting to notice the progression of my writing throughout the semester in Media One. At the start of the semester, I didn’t really quite understand the purpose of the blogs and how they would benefit me, but now it’s quite clear that the blogs have really developed my creative writing skills as well as the way I can ponder on a specific issue and pull it apart to study it.

Next semester, i’m really looking forward to applying myself even more to my uni work. I had so many distractions at the start of the semester but my mind is much clearer now and i’ve actually learnt to enjoy studying, which sounds absolutely ridiculous. There’s something appealing about sitting in the Building 9 studying area, all warm and experiencing the feeling of being on top of all of your work and projects. It’s great.

Here is the link to Seb, Dea and I’s group effort for Project Brief 4.

http://sebdeajustin.tumblr.com/

This project brief was interesting one to complete, to say the least. We were given the task of researching ‘technologies’ and it proved to be quite arduous and difficult. Being a topic so broad, I think we went into the project having no obvious clue as to what topic we were going to hone in on and analyse. We soon discovered that the most succinct route to this project would be to paint a portrait of the typical technology user.

I think with this project brief, the strongest aspect of it would be the nature of the research. I believe that it is incredibly coherent, relevant and well-researched. It makes sense and it is presented well in a simple and efficient blog format. It makes sense to the everyday reader.

In saying this, I think it could’ve been improved if we as a group worked better together and more efficiently. I strive on communication in group work and it definitely could’ve been better. I also think that the project brief could’ve had more direction, and this is a common problem that I have heard from many students.

I’m really looking forward to experiencing new project brief’s in the coming semester. I get that semester one is introductory and get a bit tiresome so it will be great to get a new boost of creative inspiration.

Is anyone else super conscious of using their smartphones on public transport or is it just me? I find it terrifying how much of a strong-hold technology has on some people. Everyone has their heads bowed and their full attention focused on the Facebook app open directly in front of their eyes. It’s terrifying. Someone could be waving a knife in the aisles on the Craigieburn line but no one would be present enough in the moment to realise it!

I find it distressing. I pledge, from here on out, to not be on my smartphone for more than 1 minute at a time on public transport. Also, I will only reply to texts from my Mum.

We are discussing Media Dependency in more depth for Project Brief 4.

The link can be found here www.sebdeajustin.tumblr.com.

“Does technology dictate society and culture? Or are we, as human beings, in charge of how technology progresses?”

This is a question that Dan posed to us Media students in today’s lectorial. I think it’s so interesting and I think about on a daily basis. Media dependency is something that I know I struggle with and a lot of my friends. No one likes to be at lunch with a friend and then find that said friend is spending more time on their phone as opposed to communicating with you, in real life. Every week, sitting in the lectorial, it’s obvious how many people are distracted by the technology directly in front of them. By sitting at the back of the lecture theater, you can get an incredible view of the terrifying sea of Macbook’s that are in the room.

I think that for some people, technology may dictate their lives but for others, simply a tool to enhance their everyday lives.

I definitely don’t think technology dictates my life, as I am extremely conscious of my time spent on it and try to limit my exposure to it. I prefer face to face communication but believe that technology is important to the enhancement of the human race and to me as an individual.

So unfortunately I didn’t make today’s practical class for Media.

DRAMA.

That’s okay though, because while everyone was in class, I was speeding towards my death in bed wiping the constant stream of mucus away from my nostrils.

Anywaaaaaaaaaay, my group and I have been making really good process on project brief four. We’re about to get to the ‘nitty-gritty’ and really apply ourselves to cleaning up our blog so it appears coherent and presents the information that we’ve gathered on technology to paint a really clear picture and so that our audience can eat up the information efficiently and at their own leisure. We don’t really want to force information on anyone, we just want to present it in the hope that people will interact with it… As a group, we all decided that this is how we prefer to absorb information so it made sense to establish our tumblr in this way.

Also, have received some feedback on the vlogs that i’m producing. I think i’ll be attempting to mix the demographic up a bit also. It makes sense – everyone uses technology, not just people around my age.

Meanwhile – everyone is starting to feel a bit stressed.

So in continuing with Eliza’s blog post (http://www.mediafactory.org.au/eliza-mcevoy/2015/05/22/225-week-11-connection-st-kilda-film-festival-opening-night/)  about the St Kilda Film Festival opening night, I would also like to write my own post about it!

Heading into the Palais Theatre was an absolute nightmare. It always boggles my mind to think about how poorly planned some events are. You would think that they would have more than 5 staff handing out tickets to thousands of festival guests.

Anyway, the festival itself was absolutely genius. As media students, it was good to go in there and to not only enjoy ourselves immensely, but to also analyse and understand these incredibly creative films on a much deeper level. There weren’t any films that utilised the art of remixing as such to relate it back to this week’s lectorial, but that doesn’t really matter. We walked out of it feeling so inspired and ready to approach Semester 2 with a new spark. I know what I did wrong in Semester 2 motivation wise, so now I can go into Semester 2 bigger and better than ever. Probs a bit fatter too, can’t wait for the 6 week break.

Today’s lectorial was based around the art of remix.
Fun right? Dan gave an incredibly engaging speech explaining Eduardo Navas’ art, as well as an indepth analysis of Girl Talk’s music. I found it really interesting exploring the scope of Girl Talk’s prowess in the art of remix. The sheer thought that goes behind his mash-ups is truly incredible. I counted about 12 songs that I recognised in the example that we heard. So interesting when compared to a single mash-up of two individual songs. I also really found it interesting that the ‘common’ mash-up is created by juxtaposing two opposing genres (think Sex Pistols aligned as a mash-up with Christina Aguilera) to create something spectacular and quite mind-bending.

In today’s prac class, it was PB4 draft presentation part 2.

Again, as a group, we came together to present another rough, but more polished draft of our assignments. This time around, I presented a vlog of my friend Tess explaining how she uses her smartphone. My vision is to get different types of smartphone users to give me their perspective on the way that they benefit from technology and how it negatively affects them. This way we are able to get a varied look at the different ways that technology is utilised in our society. I dunno. It makes sense in my head.

Dea is in charge of formulating interviews with some of her people whilst Seb is in charge of providing research on the Tor network. Jesus, the Internet is a scary place.

So unfortunately I just finished quite possibly one of the best books I have ever read.

“Just Kids” by Patti Smith.

Quite possibly one of the most inspirational books I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I went into the book knowing nothing about Patti Smith but came out feeling like she was a part of my family. I definitely had a bit of a cry as I read the last dozen or so words.

The Chelsea Hotel featured in the book as a major turning point in Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe’s life. They resided there for quite some time in the 70’s and served to be quite an important institution in their lives. Here they were socially connected with many like-minded artists who had the same hopes and dreams as them. It also got me thinking about how people would’ve communicated in the early-mid 20th century without instant forms of communication such as mobiles. There’s a part of the novel where Patti is attempting to apply for a job and all she can do is drop an application off in the store and hope that they hire her on the spot. There is no waiting period, no employer will give her a call on her non-existent mobile phone.

I’m not thinking about this idea in a really juvenile way, it genuinely just really boggles my mind. I doubt Patti Smith would have imagined that 30 years later, she would be using a mobile phone to communicate with people. It makes me wonder what we forms of technology we will have at our disposable in 20 or 30 years time. It’s terrifying.

Anywaaaaaaay, here is a beautiful photo of Robert and Patti Smith together.