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Monthly Archives: August 2013
KEVIN MURPHY COLOUR BUGS
This article previously appeared on Couturing.com
Sick of dull, lacklustre hair? Want wild crazy colour without having to completely commit to it? And, want to give yourself a mini makeover and only have minimal time to spare?
If you’re shouting yes, look no further than KEVIN.MURPHY‘s Colour.Bugs
Colour.Bugs are temporary hair colour highlights that are easy to apply and even easier to wash off. The bugs add a flash of colour plus some extra body to your hair! Kevin Murphy wanted to create a hair product that was just as easy to use and apply as makeup. After playing around with colour pigments, Colour.Bug was born.They’re designed to be “just for the night” and are all about having fun!
Couturing recommends the new Neon.Bug and the Shimmer.Bug to revamp your hair look this season!
Neon Bug
Neon.Bug is an electric yellow-green hue that lets you add a subtle flash or intense neon colour to your hair for the night! Kevin Murphy says, “This product pushes the boundaries”. To use, apply product (we suggest KEVIN.MURPHY Anti.Gravity.Spray) all over the hair, and then follow with the Neon.Bug wherever you want the colour. The pigment will stick to the product, ensuring that it will last for hours. To further lock in the colour, spritz over with hairspray. Be brave and bold with neon hair during the night and revert back to your natural colour in the morning.
Shimmer Bug
Perfect for a glamorous night-tim
e party look or a day-time sun-kissed beach look,
Shimmer.Bug provides temporary instant bronze highlights to hair. This product is incredibly easy to apply as you wipe it on with sweeping strokes and wipe it off with warm water. As for the Neon.Bug, it is best to allow to prep the hair with some product to give the Shimmer.Bug something to stick to. The metallic hues will give life to lacklustre hair and new energy to your dreary winter look. Shimmer Bug is ideal for brunettes and redheads to brighten up their hair!
Kevin Murphy Hair Bugs are $24.95 each and available from leading hair salons around Australia.
Visit www.kevinmurphy.com.au for more information.
INTERACTIVITY IN NARRATIVES….
The Marie-Laure Ryan reading this week was all about interactivity in narratives in the DIGITAL world.
Overall, it was really interesting and I found the reading engaging enough to gather several takeaway ideas.
The key word in this area seems to be IMMERSIVE.
Game designer Chris Crawford says digital narratives “mandate choice for the user”.
- No choice= no interactivity
- “This is an absolute, uncompromising principle “
SO, interactivity seems to be the BIGGEST difference between “old” and “new” media.
But there are a few problems with working out how to be interactive in a narrative as Ryan says because narratives rely on linearity and unidirectionality of time, logic and causality. But interactivity is all about a nonlinear structure!
The key is to give users a “sense of freedom” while disguising the narrative design as an “emergent story”.
It all sounds pretty complicated, but the results definitely seem worthwhile!
It includes:
– Literary hypertext fiction
– Text based adventure games
– Interactive drama
– Single-user video games
– Multiple user online role playing games
//0.5 Reconfiguring Narrative
This week’s reading was all about DIGITAL Narrative.
Remember those “Choose your own adventure” stories where you got to create the ending?
At the end of every few pages you had the choice to make a character do one of three actions…
“Pete runs to the basement…turn to page 56” etc
At the end of every few pages you had the choice to make a character do one of three actions…
“Pete runs to the basement…turn to page 56” etc
SO what does a choose your own adventure narrative look like in the digital age?
These are my KEY takeaway points from the reading:
- Every digital narrative doesn’t take form of hypertext
- Michale Joyce was the first major author of hypertext fiction
- Born out of desire to create multiple stories out of relatively small amount of text
- It uses linking to grant the author even more power
- Takes range of forms based on:
Reader choice, intervention and empowerment
Inclusion of extralinguistic texts (images, motion, sound)
Complexity of network structure
Degrees of multiplicity and variation in literary elements (plot, setting, characterisation)
AND finally this seems to sum it all up: “A fictional text must be stretched, skewered, and sliced if it is to exploit the freedoms and accept the responsibilities offered by hypertext technology and its new writing spaces”
Image Credit:
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VINT CERF RESEARCH
For my Niki this week, I’m working on an interview with Vint Cerf.
So who is he, what has he done and why is he important?
Who is he?
An American computer scientist regarded as one of the “fathers of the internet”.
What has he done?
-Was fundamental in producing the first commercial email system connected to the internet
– A founder of ICANN (IP)
– Vice-president + Chief Internet Evangelist of Google
– Helped developed IP
-Key role in development of the internet and related data packet and security technologies
How does this relate to the internet, digital media and networked media?
– Email is an important function of the internet
– Connects people
– Easy communication method
– Email forms part of our networked society
Significance of what he has done?
– Won the US Presidential Medal of Freedom that recognises his work on software code used to transmit data across the Internet has put them “at the forefront of digital revolution that has transformed global commerce communication and entertainment”
– Large significance to the digital world
Ideas:
– Looks at the future world with every device being smart, connected to the network and location aware
WRITING AS TECHNOLOGY
The reading this week was about “Writing as a technology”.
Bolter argues that the role of writing is for “collective memory, for preserving and passing on human experience”.
I consider myself a writer and a thinker. I look at the world around me, listening and watching out for potential stories. I use things that happen in my life as inspiration for my writing. So this definition of writing makes perfect sense.
Writing enables us to ‘arrange verbal thoughts in a visual space’. It can definitely be therapeutic, let you rip open the bottle of your pent up emotions, and encourage you to think out your problems.
And hand in hand with writing comes reading. What makes some novels absolute classics? Celebrated and remembered hundreds of years after the death of their creators?
This reading would suggest that the power of writing and words is so vast it can transcend time. Great works of literature possibly stand the test of time because they deal with important elements of the human experience that remain the same forever.
It’s encouraging to think that even though our writing technologies and publication methods are changing our writing can have an everlasting impact…
~The Show Must Go On
OLD HOLLYWOOD BEAUTY ICONS
This article was originally published on Couturing
Elegant, blonde bombshells, ravishing brunettes, daring, sexy, sophisticated.. old Hollywood stars have given the beauty world their fair share of beauty icons.
Couturing brings you some of our favourites and their most memorable beauty moments.
Grace Kelly
The golden girl of the 50s – later the Princess of Monaco – radiated beauty. As her name suggests she was the epitome of grace with creamy porcelain skin, bright blue eyes, and blonde shoulder length hair elegantly curled and fashioned into classy chignons. Kelly’s beauty style focused on creamy, velvet skin with a light application of apricot blush on the cheeks. Her brows were normally brushed upwards and the inner rim of her eyes were occasionally lined. Kelly’s signature lip shades varied between a pretty peach or classic Hollywood red.
One of Kelly’s best beauty moments was her flawlessly elegant look at her wedding to the Prince of Monaco. The star had her blonde hair swept off her face in a high bun, with creamy skin, contoured cheekbones, apricot coloured lipstick and a strong brow.
Marilyn Monroe
Synonymous with sex appeal, Monroe was a seductive 1950s movie star. Curvy, glamorous and talented, the world (especially men) fell in love with Marilyn. The star proved that ‘gentlemen prefer blondes’ with her peroxide blonde hair glamorously curled in a bob. Her makeup was all about the wow factor, with porcelain skin, contoured cheekbones and a splash of eye-popping red lipstick. Monroe commonly wore false lashes and black eyeliner for the winged-eye look and sported a beauty spot on her lower left cheek. The luscious blonde bombshell famously declared that all she wore to bed was her signature perfume Chanel No. 5.
One of our favourite looks is Monroe’s version of casual beauty. Her hair was curled and slightly windswept, her eyes winged with black eyeliner and a bright fuschia lipstick gave the wow factor.
Audrey Hepburn
The movie star who made the world crave breakfast at Tiffany’s is a fantastic beauty icon, as she stood out with her magnificent bone structure and high cheekbones. The beautiful brunette had porcelain skin, full arched eyebrows and deep brown eyes. Differing from the blonde bombshells of the 50s, Hepburn’s beauty style was understated and always elegant. Her hairstyles were normally short and worn up of her face fashioned into chignons and buns. Hepburn’s makeup was normally minimal, with soft peachy pink blush and a soft peach lipstick.
A notable beauty moment was in the iconic film Sabrina. Her strong brows are the centre of her look, with a flick of black eyeliner, blush and soft lipstick.
Brigitte Bardot
The sexy, sultry star of the 60s made bed-hair and smoky eyes fashionable. Her long blonde locks were full of volume, slightly waved and made her look as if she’d just rolled out of bed. The star’s blue eyes were normally framed with black winged liner on the upper lid and smudged on the lower rim, with thick lashings of mascara for a true smoky effect. Bardot’s lips were full and plump with her signature colour a soft baby pink lipstick.
Elizabeth Taylor
The strikingly beautiful actress was part of Hollywood’s ‘golden age’ leaving behind an impressive legacy. The sultry star had jet black glossy curls, piercing blue eyes and a porcelain complexion. She exuded pure glamour with the help of her elegant makeup and hair style. Taylor stood out with her defined brows, a flick of black eyeliner on the upper lid and creamy rose coloured lips.
Taylor will undoubtedly be remembered for her stunning beauty look playing Cleopatra. Her shoulder length black hair was braided with gold thread and framed her face with a full fringe. Taylor’s complexion glowed with bronze blush conturing her cheekbones and a soft nude-pink colouring her lips. The focus was on Taylor’s eyes, with dark defined brows, blue shadow and a thick winged black eyeliner making her look truly mesmerising.
The wonderful thing about these icons of old Hollywood is that their beauty and their style are classically transferable from them to now. Perhaps take some of their favourite looks and be inspired for a new ‘old’ look for you today. It shows that the old addage is true, Beauty transcends time.
Images via Fanpop, Inspired Wedding,Luscious Life, Topricin and Silver Screen Suppers.
0.4: THE Q&A BEGINS
This week saw the symposium style lecture put into action! After constant discussion about the new ‘unlecture’ format, it was refreshing to finally get down to business.
These are my key takeway ideas from the Q&A:
//Why bother with design fiction if you’re not a designer?
You don’t need to be a designer in the pen and paper sense to engage in design fiction. Being a designer is about developing a “toolkit for dealing with complex problems”. You can literally attempt to solve problems before they occur in the future by simply asking “what if”.
//What will the future of networked media involve?
It will enable us to “make things and build a reputation in our chosen areas free and easily”. We will continue to publish our own content instantly in an arena that can be viewed by everyone with an internet connection. Perhaps the difficulty will lie in users sifting through information and content overload to find quality content.
//How will we get paid in this industry?
THIS was my favourite point: “You must sell the experience, not the product!” In the modern age where everyone has the ability to be a content producer and self publisher it can be hard to make our work stand out. So we need to sell the fact that we are ‘experts’ in our field and provide something extra that the everyday person cannot deliver.
THE UNLECTURE 03
Knowledge.
Adrian stressed the point that ‘education isn’t a passive one way transaction’ in this week’s unlecture.
I have to admit I have become all too used to the high-school method of education. You sit and listen while the teacher talks AT you in the hope their knowledge will be poured and stored into your brain. Sure, I realised it was a give and take relationship and it wasn’t just this simple to learn. But I accepted this format of learning without thinking too much about alternative methods.
It was interesting to think about the difference between buying an ‘experience’ instead of buying a ‘product’ in our university education. If we use this analogy between an experience and a product, it’s clear that an experience has much greater value over a product if only for its longevity. Products date, malfunction and need to be replaced when new products are created. So it is only logical that we should aim to buy an experience instead…something long lasting and enriching.
So, part of this course seems to be illuminating the two-way transaction style of education and teaching us to become aware of our learning. This course, is nothing like what I initially expected (thought it would be all about html and IT) but I am starting to see some serious value in alternative methods.