I was pretty excited this week to have a go at this weeks video task. I particular enjoyed the idea of this task as I’ve always been an avid fan of how light, or the absence of it, can have a profound impact on the over tone and symbolism of a photograph or video. A few ideas I had we’re to have a camera inside a cupboard for 5 seconds in the darkness and then open the door to the glaring light while allowing it to refocus in the following 5 seconds. Others included creating shapes and images on a flat surface using shadows to illustrate the images. The video I have uploaded this week is not the video or the final cut of what was intended as I do have a few issues with this one. I would prefer the room to be much darker so the subject could not be seen immediately and for the hand that comes into the frame to be much more discrete, however this is one of the only files that I was able to salvaged from last weekends shenanigans with my camera… (*sigh* that will have to be a story for another blog post entirely… *Sigh*)

Here is the link to one of this weeks ideas of using light within a frame:

Yesterday I was the day. I went and I finally did it. I spent all my savings in one go. I bought the Fujifilm x100s and I have to say…. I think I’ve found the one…

Early days I know but its classic aesthetic beauty combined with its vastly intelligent firmware creates one of the most pleasing photographic experiences that every click brings a sense of solace to even the darkest and most unpleasant of days. You literally cannot be said when using this camera… I hope to keep you guys posted!

Heres a shot a took today with it

A friend of mine and myself started a podcast around a month ago. I highly recommend and would love if anyone on here would check it out. It may not be your cup of tea but it’s just a colloquial podcast that is literally just a “normal” conversation between two best mates. Have a gander and let us know what you think, theres for episodes to choose from.

This is kind of what I felt like during the readings on hypertext. As much as I would like to boast that I completely understand it all, I’d be lying. I felt it sort of came together when it explained it is more about “quality of the individual reader’s experience” and that it can take a path, and that path that occasionally “curves back on itself or heads in strange directions.”

Obviously I still haven’t grasped it completely but it helps to think about it as “multidirectional and theoretically infinite”…

ok so honestly most of this just kind of reminds me of a game I would play back at school where a friend and myself would pick a topic and then start on a random page on wikipedia and the first person to get to that topic from that wikipedia page using only the links provided on that page wins.
I know the game is confusing but so was this reading…

If anything to me that’s the very basic of how I understand it that through hyperlinks the story is much deeper and can be linked out to many other literary sources.

I’m probably wrong and would love to be pointed in the right direction so if anyone reads this just let us know.

this clip pretty much sums up my feelings…..

Post Edit: After looking over the previous weeks reading again it makes way more sense and im pretty sure I’m on the right track.

This post is not a post to start a political agenda on this blog, particular with tension rising in Syria and the U.S possibly planning a strike on Syria due allegedly using chemical weapons. This is just a running thought on the use of drones and the impact it may have on ones psyche.

What if you could have a war and your countries soldiers didn’t have to die? what if you could make precise, controlled attacks? sounds great right? (well as good as a war can get really since it is literally the worst thing mankind could ever do)
Well drone strikes were meant to be the answer to these problems. However, how much better are they?

Since 2004 there have been roughly 360 drone strikes in pakistan alone. With roughly more than 3000 people killed over these strikes and Allied soldiers not having to carry out these strikes seems like a solid trade-off.
Well in my opinion, No.

Is it a possibility that because of these strikes actually more Allied soldiers have died in retaliation to these strikes? Sure no actual soldiers had to carry out the mission but whose to say that retaliation wasn’t out of anger from the drone strikes?
286 Civilians were killed
More than 175 of them were children.

Wouldn’t a soldier on the ground be able to tell the difference between a child and a target? My issue isn’t with the programme itself but more the detached nature of the programme were it is a soldier, sitting miles and miles away, looking at a screen of “targets” based off intelligence he has seen and heat signatures on his screen.
What is the price of an innocent bystander? Who knows, it just got me thinking this week.

Let us know what you think below.

Boy and Bear have a new album out in the past few days (Weeew!) and if you haven’t checked them out before or never heard of them (what do you live under a F***ing rock?!) I highly recommend it.
At least check out “Feeding Line” from their debut album Moonfire posted below

Here is a very nice track called “Three Headed Woman” from their latest album Harlequin Dream:

Boy & Bears second studio album steps a tiny bit away from their first album and explores some different avenues with their sound in some very interesting ways. They manage to do this without forgetting about the kind of sounds that made them successful in the first place. It’s a very refreshing album and is only a good thing for Australian music as a whole. I for one hope there is much more to come from the boys from Sydney. Highly recommend!!

(If anyone is interested in more music related posts just let me know because I could go on for hours.)

Yes, ok so it may be a bit of an exaggeration however the EPL is back and thus Liverpool is back.

I know most of you will not really care, however with each year I find that my love for this football club grows to the point where it is unconditional love as if it were my child.
Almost impossible to explain the feeling of being united, where the fans seem just as important as the players and no single player, manager or otherwise is ever bigger than the club.
I’m not the first, and wont be the last but Soccers popularity in Australia is increasing, and this is vital if Australia ever hope to host a world cup one day. So whether you like it or not go check out an A-league game just one time this year. (who knows you might even enjoy it!)

This post is not about my irrational love for the beautiful game however, no, this post is about teamwork. More importantly how essential teamwork is in all facets of our lives.
Whether it be a group uni assignment or you’ve fallen on troubled times and you need your friends to help out, team work is central to the best possible outcome.
Yes it is possible to accomplish these things by yourself, and in some circumstances it might even be the better option, however that is rare, and it makes it easier working as  team towards a common goal.

Maybe this week I’m just feeling oddly sentimental (don’t get use to it) but always remember to be a team player, and always remember to be considerate of others. Take the time to call some of your friends up and see how they are doing, and just remind them that Y.N.W.A. (see what I did there.)

The computer is a shining beacon of progress in technology. Or is that just my laptop light showing it’s in hibernation mode…? hmm…

Well either way this weeks reading certainly got me thinking about the progress of writing and technologies as it spoke of the way Egyptians would move from hieroglyphics which lasted thousands of years (does that count as it being an impressive technology?) to the preferred “flexibility and portability” of papyrus scrolls. This instigated an idea of what will happen with all our information if it ever was deemed to rigid? I know it may be extremely hard to imagine but what if it was a possibility that writing on computers suddenly became the outdated way to store information? I would propose the internet would be a sound storage base but who’s to say that might not one day become unstable and will it last forever? (Will Skynet take over?!?!?!) If the Egyptians once cast aside their hieroglyphic writing as obsolete and opted for a newer technology who’s to say we won’t be doing the same eventually. But herein lies the issue. We have vastly more evidence of the Egyptian culture through their stone Hieroglyphs than we do of the preferred papyrus scrolls. Nonetheless I believe it poses an important question that although as the reading suggests computers have cultivated and integrated all previous technologies into the one and made it extremely easy to use, flexible and simple to edit, will there be any evidence of how far advanced humans had become if all of it is stored on a hard drive that they wont know how to use?

I cant answer these questions but maybe some of you guys have some ideas. Let us know below.

P.S: in any event someone should make sure that they protect John Conner just incase Skynet is legit….

One thing that was discussed in this weeks lecture was the idea of what will the job I want one day in 20 years look like?
Very interesting point I think as media journalism moves towards the internet and almost anyone now can be a journalist. I suppose the hardest part would be establishing and audience, credibility and a reputation for outstanding work. These I believe will be the most important factors for future wannabe journalists, with establishing a audience being the most important. If you have a large audience you will get noticed.

Good thing I don’t want to be a journalist though and am leaning much more towards radio, which has been around for decades upon decades and would bet a small fortune on stating that it will still be around in 20 years time. I’d be surprised if the TAB had odds on that but theres no harm in finding out… right?
Regardless it was a thought provoking idea as there are probably going to be a lot of jobs in 20 years time that aren’t even around now whether it be hover-board technician (PLEASE THIS!) or flight tube operator (like the ones from futurama would be awesome)

Let us know what you think below.