Archives

RIP books?

Aug28

Is the book dead? This question seems to be a hard one to answer for me. And after reading through one of this weeks readings The End Of Books – Or Books Without End?: Reading Interactive Narratives, and listening to all the ideas raised in the symposium, it made me think a bit. I grew up reading books, and I grew up loving books. I still like to read, but to be honest, it is not as frequent as I used to. Technology has definitely played a major role in changing the way I, and many other people around the world, make use of books.

In my personal experience, the fact is that my iPhone is just a bit more interesting and fun to use/read/play, than a book. I was about 16 when I first got my iPhone, and since that day I have probably read about 1/4 of the amount of books I would have if this new distraction hadn’t been introduced into my everyday activities. To me, this suggests that the book is definitely slightly more irrelevant in todays society.

Why would we choose to read a giant and heavy book about film studies, when we can read the same version of that book online, as a PDF file, that has no weight and is easily accessible? The convenience of eBooks, online material, and devices like iPhones and iPads, has made it easy for the world to move on from books, and even begin their downfall.

However, in saying this, there are still many people out there in the world who still read books, go to libraries, and enjoy the feel of a physical book in their hands while they imerse themselves in a story world, or drown themselves in facts and histories.

So is the book really dead? Is it on its way to being extinct? These questions are difficult to answer, but the use of new technology has for sure  increased the likelihood of this happening in the future, and has increased the demand for electronic reading, rather than reading physical books. Which is exciting in the innovative world we live in, but also kind of sad.

‘Brother’ – Acoustic Cover

Aug24

Here is an acoustic cover my best mate and I did of an unreleased Madden Brothers song. This is one of the first covers we ever posted online, and the feedback has been pretty good so far. Hope you enjoy!

This entry was posted on August 24, 2013, in personal.

Dear Jane

Aug19

Introducing to you, my band, Dear Jane!

We are a Melbourne based pop/punk band, who formed in early 2013. We all came together with a passion for playing music, listening to music, and creating music.

 

Dear Jane is:

Shannen – Vocals

Andrea – Guitar & back up vocals

Maddie – Guitar

Hannah – Drums

 

We are a band that is hugely influenced by some of our favourite bands, including Good Charlotte, All Time Low and Simple Plan. We are currently in the process of writing original songs and are close to recoding a few of them. As a member of Dear Jane, it’s really awesome to see how far we have come form our first ever band practice, and I can say that from that first song we ever played together, we clicked really well. We all hail from around Victoria, with our members coming from Frankston, Doncaster, Glenroy, and West Preston. This band is a really big part of our lives, and I love that it allows us to play music that we love, with some of our best friends in the world. It’s pretty awesome when you find other people that share the same passion for something as you do, and share the same dream. The dream is to create the best music we can, and share it with people all over the world. To tour the world and play live concerts for people worldwide. To work with some of our idols in the music industry, and to just have fun doing the thing that we love.

Dear Jane is working hard to write songs that people will be down with, and to find our sound. We hope to some day soon be able to share our original songs with everyone, and to start playing shows around Melbourne. We hope to keep getting better and working hard at what we do, and to inspire people with our music and work ethic.

So, look out for us and our music in the future, operation Dear Jane take over the world has already begun. 🙂 haha not really, but we do really hope you like our music when we eventually get it out there!

Life

Aug18

I’m sitting here, tired and a little bored. I’m confused about a lot of things, and stressed about others. And sitting here, I feel like I should post something on this blog tonight, but  I just don’t know what exactly…

so for now, here’s a picture of me and some of my best friends front and centre at a Good Charlotte concert last year. This picture makes me happy and brings back a flood of amazing memories from this weekend spent on the Gold Coast to see my favourite band!  

Progress

Aug15

Reading Vannevar Bush’s article excerpt from his renowned essay “As We May Think” (1945) has given me insight into another way of thinking about the world of technology and science today. So many of the gadgets and such things that people use in todays day ‘n’ age are products of progressive thinking from people who lived years ago. This is something I definitely take for granted. The fact that I can be sitting here on this train, typing this blog up on my computer, is something I’ve never really second guessed before. I literally cannot imagine not being able to do this – and it’s because of innovative thinkers like Mr Bush, that this is even possible. Sitting here now and having a good think about it, it is really, truly incredible how far technological advancement has, and continues to, come! Mr Bush was an innovative man, who envisioned new and useful concepts and tools, all before the time in which it was actually possible to create them, and form them into things that would be used on a daily basis by people like me.  So to all the past, present, and future innovators out there, props to you!

 

Symposium 0.1

Aug13

This blog is being written (in my notes, because my wireless is off), sitting in todays lecture/unlecture/symposium (whichever term you wan’t to use really..).

Some ideas I took away from this:

. Science fiction IS a good example of Design Fiction 
. Design fiction more interested with the broader – opposed to Science Fiction which can be viewed as having a great interest in the actual technology. 
. As a society, we have to think through the complexity and future problems the world may encounter. 
. Media industries are experiencing disruption due to the internet, so we have to have the ability to think through scenarios 
Adrian put forward the question – ‘what do you think your job will be in 2015 when you graduate uni?‘ and suggested that thinking about Design Fiction in relation to the answer to this question is a good idea. This is one of the main ideas that stuck in my mind from todays discussion. And it does scare me a bit to think that in 2 and a half years, when I graduate, the jobs I was interested in now, will have significant changes to the way they operate and function. Especially with the way the world is constantly evolving with new technology and new programs, and even more so, especially because I’m still not 100% with what I want my career to be when I do finish this course. 
I guess todays symposium made me think about the future in a way I wasn’t really considering before hand, and it made me realise that Design Fiction is useful for more than just designing new things, but it is a helpful tool to use when simply  thinking of and contemplating the future as a world where we will be living.
So yeah, overall, today’s discussions were insightful, and I think I liked the way the session was run, a lot more than the previous weeks. I think the variety of opinions and thoughts made it slightly more engaging for me, and helped broaden my own thoughts on the subject matters.

Operation Positivity – let’s get deep and meaningful for a minute..

Aug12

Bullying happens everywhere, everyday & so many young people these days are resorting to suicide because of it. So many people think that no one cares and that they are all alone. but the truth is, there are SO MANY people who do care, and who do want to help.

Back in mid 2012, I decided to put together a short video that would help spread some Positive vibes out to anyone who needed it. As I run a twitter account with over 6,000 followers, I thought it would be cool to ask them to send me images of themselves holding signs with positive messages, and then put them together with my favourite song in the world, ‘We Believe’ by American Pop/Rock band Good Charlotte. This video idea came about after so many young people were resorting to suicide because of bullying. The whole idea that the hurtful words someone says to another could force that victim to want to leave this world forever hurt my heart, and made me want to do something about it. Something small, but something meaningful. That’s what this video right here is. Everyone who sent me pictures wanted to help reach out and hopefully make some people smile, make some people feel like they are worth more than any bully can tell them otherwise, and that they are cared about more than they know. This project was really fun to do, and after posting it on my twitter and tumblr sites, the feedback was really great. Some people messaged me confessing that it made them cry, others thanked me for putting it together, and others just said it made them smile. To be honest, I just wanted to make something that would make people smile and help them see that they are not alone when thing’s get tough, and I was very pleased with how this whole project turned out.

I’d just like to say..

Aug4

The whole Essendon ‘drugs scandal’ thing going on in the AFL for the past few months is really getting old. I’m a proud Bombers supporter, and will continue to be no matter what, but the entire situation is starting to get annoying. Especially after watching Channel 7’s special that they named ‘The Inside Man: A Special Report’,  interview with Dean Robertson, ex employee of the club. This interview was just again blaming people and giving us one side of the story, and it kind of pissed me off a little.  I just really hope that ASADA (Australian Sports Anti-doping Authority) release all of their findings from this inquisition soon, so everyone can stop playing the blaming and naming game, and actually know the truth of what has happened and who has been in the wrong here. To be honest, it will definitely upset me if Essendon are striped of all their previous premiership points, and current seasonal points, over this. It will hurt the club, and the players, past and present. But I think it’s better for all of this to come to an end with the release of the results, whatever they are. I’m just really hopeing  that they are in Essendon’s favour!

My Favourite YouTube Artist

Jul31

Tyler Ward.. He is one of my absolute favourite singers/songwriters/musicians, and this is the first ever video of his I came across on his YouTube page about 4  years ago. Since 2009 I have been following his progress as a musician, and it’s really cool to see him come from just being an unknown singer who posts cover videos on YouTube, to being a world wide celebrated artist, who now has his own music videos and tours around  America and Europe. He’s really great, and really talented, and deserves everything he has achieved so far.