Saturday

YouTube's funniest unite for music video

I Thought this article and video were interesting. The band Weezer uses some of Youtube's fifteen-minute-fame characters as the core of the video clip. I think it's interesting that they used a tactic of making reference to internet meme's in their video only to become one itself.


Here's the article...


A host of YouTube favourites have been granted another 15 minutes of fame after appearing in a rock video clip.


American band Weezer chose some of the internet's biggest viral stars to cameo on the video for their new single 'Pork And Beans'.


Chris "Leave Britney Alone" Crocker once again dons his trademark running mascara, but this time he receives a consoling hug from lead singer Rivers Cuomo.


Pageant blooper queen Miss South Carolina, 'Chocolate Rain' singer Tay Zonday and the 'Evolution of Dance' performer Judson Laipply also appear in the clip.


The quirky band, who shot to international fame with "Undone - The Sweater Song" in 1994, even reenact the famous Mentos and Diet Coke experiment.


Other lampooned internet 'memes' — bizarre jokes that quickly spread through email and blogs — include the 'Peanut Butter Jelly Time' Dancing Banana and the 'Star Wars kid'.


"Only a band as nerdy as Weezer could make a music video this nerdy with this many references," summed up one YouTube comment.


The video itself has quickly become an internet favourite in its own right, receiving almost a million views in one day.



Miss South Carolina and Chris Crocker



Weezer perform in front of exploding Coke bottles.


The article and video can be found at the url below:
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=568802
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Monday

Terrible music video

This music video is up there with the worst music, dance moves and GRAPHICS!

Notice the cross-media effect of seeing this music video on tv an then it being posted online then kids downloading the song to play on their phone and then getting filmed imitating the video which is then posted back up on the internet and then being blogged about by me.

http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-au&brand=ninemsn&mediaid=193189&from=39&vid=75822ABF-B500-4DA6-9AFD-C3FB21B997A9&playlist=videoByTag:mk:en-AU:vs:0:tag:aunews_auentertainmentnews:ns:MSNVideo_Top_Cat:ps:10:sd:-1:ind:1:ff:8A
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Friday

Post-post-modern society

Technology and science are advancing along with society and humanity. The positive correlation between technology and humanity is evident as each provokes the other to expand. In other words, technology creates posibilities that are avante garde which test the human mentality, perceptions, morals and views as a society an as individuals. As we change we need and desire more advanced tools and processes, which must be answered with technology. It is a vicous cycle and currently, I think that the positive and negative effects weigh equally.




Here's an article that gives an example of our post-post-modern society...


"A transgender man who is six months pregnant said in an interview aired by Oprah Winfrey on Thursday that he always wanted to have a child and considers it a miracle.

“It’s not a male or female desire to have a child. It’s a human desire,” a thinly bearded Thomas Beatie said. “I have a very stable male identity,” he added, saying that pregnancy neither defines him nor makes him feel feminine.



Beatie, 34, who lives in Oregon, was born a woman but decided to become a man 10 years ago. He began taking testosterone treatments and had breast surgery to remove glands and flatten his chest.

“I opted not to do anything with my reproductive organs because I wanted to have a child one day,” he told the talk show host. Beatie’s wife Nancy said she inseminated him with a syringe using sperm purchased from a bank.

Now, he said, his size 32 jeans are getting a bit tight and his shirts are a bit stretched.



Nancy, to whom he has been married for five years and who has two grown daughters by a previous marriage, also appeared on the show, saying the couple’s roles will not change once the baby is born.

“He’s going to be the father and I’m going to be the mother,” she said. Their marriage is legal and he is recognized under state law as a man.

The couple was shown on video provided by People Magazine, which collaborated with Winfrey on the show, showing the room that will be the baby’s nursery. Beatie said the little girl was going to be “daddy’s little princess.”





The couple was also filmed in their hometown of Bend, Ore., where he underwent an ultrasound showing the baby in his womb.



“I can’t believe it. I can’t believe she’s inside me,” Beatie said while watching the ultrasound image. “We see her as our little miracle.”





His obstetrician, Dr. Kimberly James, who practices in the Oregon town, told Winfrey, “This is a
normal pregnancy.”

She said Beatie stopped taking testosterone two years ago and his levels of the hormone are normal.

“This baby is totally healthy,” she said. “This is what I consider a normal pregnancy.”

The couple said they had been turned down by a number of other doctors before James agreed to take him as a patient.



The couple said an earlier attempt at pregnancy failed when he developed a tubal pregnancy, resulting in surgery that removed his Fallopian tubes.

The couple said they decided to go public with the pregnancy because they wanted to control the way the news got out. “We’re just going to have the baby now,” Nancy said. “If we have to, we’ll go hide.”



The couple runs a small business in Bend and has some savings, she said. In addition, Beatie is working on a book about his childhood, his mother’s suicide and his life growing in Hawaii where, as a girl, he was a teen beauty pageant contestant and earned a martial arts black belt.



Winfrey called the development “a new definition of what diversity means for everybody.”"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23942218/









http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen/16842/original.jpg
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Wednesday

Julie Rrap

Julie Rrap is an amazing artist, focussing in the areas of photography and sculpture.
She has alot to say/show through her representation of the female form and society's (and men's) conceptions of women and their "supposed" roles.

This is a list of her solo exhibitions:

Julie Rrap: Body Double, 2007 - Museum of Contemporary Arts, Sydney
Body Double, 2007
Fall Out - 2006
Soft Targets, 2004
Fleshstones, 2003
Fleshed Out, 2002
Overstepping, 2001
A-R-MOUR, 2000
Porous Bodies, 1999
Persona and Shadow, 1984 [Julie Brown]

http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/images/galleries/Julie_Rrap_ARMOUR_Nov_2000/0006.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/artists/32/Julie_Rrap/81/38041/&h=487&w=500&sz=28&hl=en&start=4&um=1&tbnid=HH0WcVEiqyLxDM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djulie%2Brrap%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

Her most recent exhibition was called Body Double, 2007
30 August 2007 - 28 January 2008

"This major exhibition of the work of Julie Rrap, one of Australia’s most
prominent artists, brings together photography, video, sculpture and
installation from the past twenty-five years of the artist's practice. Curated
by Victoria Lynn, the exhibition explores the persona of the ‘trickster’ in
Rrap’s work, the theme of the ‘body double’, and considers the ways in which the
artist oversteps the margins of bodily representation."

http://www.mca.com.au/default.asp?page_id=10&content_id=2977

The image below is an example of her work from Body Double, 2007:



From all her exhibitions, I really like the works below from A-R-MOUR, 2000.













My favourite work by Julie is the work (below) called Overstepping, 2001.


Please chekout this video (on ninemsn website) about Julie Rrap and her works, it is really interesting!
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Sunday

Top Ten Free Time Wasting Sites

Here are some random time wasting sites...

"Some would say that the personal computer and the Internet have revolutionized how much we can accomplish in a day. That may be true, but they have also revolutionized how much time can be wasted in a day. But then again, I would contend that if you are having fun, you are not wasting time. Enjoy my picks for the ten best time wasting sites on the Internet. And don't blame me if you don't get anything done for the next few weeks!

Share these Time Wasters with a Friend so they can waste time too!

1. Falling Sand

This is an absolutely incredible interactive toy. I won't spoil your fun by giving you details on how to play. Just experiment with everything and realize you can use the choices at the bottom to change your "drawing tool" and rate that things happen. I guarantee you will play with this for hours and hours.

2. Not Pr0n

Not Pr0n is essentially a puzzle game -- a very hard puzzle game. But it is also very addictive and a lot of fun. Each new page has a puzzle to be solved to get to the next one. There is a forum where you can find subtle hints to help you when you and stuck -- and you will get stuck. The site is very enjoyable and you can waste an enormous amount of time there.

3. Someone keeps stealing my letters...

Imagine the chaos and the fun of having dozens of people trying to spell out words with virtual letter magnets on a virtual refrigerator. Actually, you don't have to imagine it -- just give it a try and you will have a ball wasting more time than you will care to admit.

4. Samorost

If you have not experienced the incredible graphics and engaging point and click game play of Samorost you must give it a try. There are a limited number of levels, so the danger of wasting lots of time is reduced, but there is no time wasting that is so creative unless ...

5. Samorost 2

... you count Samorost 2. After you have mastered the original, Samorest 2 awaits your head scratching attention. You will laugh out load at some the bizarre contraptions and pure creativity in this sequel.

6. Subservient Chicken

I refuse to admit how much time I wasted playing with this little gem. Your wish is the Subservient Chicken's command. Doesn't this guy ever get tired?

7. Stuff on My Cat

This one is not interactive, but there are so many pictures and many of them will make you laugh so much, that it can take hours to get through the site. The pictures range from cute to bizarre and even if you are not a cat lover it is worth checking out this site.

8. Spirograph

I had a Spirograph as a kid and loved spending hours making amazing geometric drawings with it. Now you can have all the fun without using up reams of paper and ounces of ink.

9. Sodaconstructor

Ever wish you could create a moving robot from masses, springs and muscles? Now you can spend hours playing with the constructor. Create your masterpiece and watch it walk and dance around.

10. SymmetryLab Machine

This is a work in progress, but you can still have a lot of fun and waste a lot of time building animated machines form a simple set of parts."



http://freebies.about.com/od/710/tp/timewasting.htm
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Friday

Dreams

Thinking about what interests me, I came up with dreams. So I decided to research dreams.

The first site I came across is called 'Dream moods" and is "An online guide to dream interpretation".

"We realize that your dreams are unique. No other individual can have your background, your emotions, or your experiences. Every dream is connected with your own "reality". Thus, in interpreting your dreams, it is important to draw from your personal life and experiences.

Remember that a dream unifies the body, mind, and spirit. It provides you with insight into ourselves and a means for self-exploration. In understanding your dreams, you will have a better understanding and discovery of your true self. So stay awhile -- explore, discover, have fun, make friends, and find out what's in your dream!"*

Dreams is defined in Webster's Dictionary as a "sequence of sensations, images, thoughts, etc., passing through a sleeping person's mind" . Dreams have been a topic of study dating back to 4000 B.C. One may say that dreams have been around as long as the first civilization came to be and are just a normal part of human existence.

In our dreams, we can go anywhere, we can be anybody, and we can do anything. When we dream, we are like passengers on a moving train, unable to control our actions and choose

surroundings. We let our mind take over. Sometimes, dreams can be understood in the the context of repressed thoughts. Dreaming serves as an outlet for those thoughts and impulses we repress during the day. When we go to sleep at night and slip into our dream state, we feel liberated and behave and act in a manner that we do not allow ourselves in our waking life.

Visions and ideas can come from your dreams. Authors, screenwriters and poets turn to their dreams for stories. Artists and musicians explore dreams for their inspiration. Dreams can help us find solutions to our daily problems and see things from a different perspective.

In this section, you will find a vast array of information on dreams, from its early beginnings, type of dreams, how to remember your dreams, babies and dreams, and much more. Hopefully, you will learn some interesting things about dreams.*

*http://www.dreammoods.com/


Wiki's definition and explanation of a dream is:

"Dreams are the images, thoughts and feelings experienced while asleep, particularly strongly associated with rapid eye movement sleep. The contents and purpose of dreams are not fully understood, though they have been a topic of speculation and interest throughout recorded history.

Dream theories

Activation-synthesis

In 1976, J. Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley proposed a new theory that changed dream research, challenging the previously held Freudian view of dreams as subconscious wishes to be interpreted. The activation synthesis theory asserts that the sensory experiences are fabricated by the cortex as a means of interpreting chaotic signals from the pons. They propose that in REM sleep, the ascending cholinergic PGO (ponto-geniculo-occipital) waves stimulate higher midbrain and forebrain cortical structures, producing rapid eye movements. The activated forebrain then synthesizes the dream out of this internally generated information. They assume that the same structures that induce REM sleep also generate sensory information.

Hobson and McCarly's 1976 research suggested that the signals interpreted as dreams originated in the brain stem during REM sleep. However, research by Mark Solms suggests that dreams are generated in the forebrain, and that REM sleep and dreaming are not directly related.[7] While working in the neurosurgery department at hospitals in Johannesburg and London, Solms had access to patients with various brain injuries. He began to question patients about their dreams and confirmed that patients with damage to the parietal lobe stopped dreaming; this finding was in line with Hobson's 1977 theory. However, Solms did not encounter cases of loss of dreaming with patients having brain stem damage. This observation forced him to question Hobson's prevailing theory which marked the brain stem as the source of the signals interpreted as dreams. Solms viewed the idea of dreaming as a function of many complex brain structures as validating Freudian dream theory, an idea that drew criticism from Hobson.[8]

[edit] Continual-activation

Combining Hobson's activation synthesis hypothesis with Solms's findings, the continual-activation theory of dreaming presented by Jie Zhang proposes that dreaming is a result of brain activation and synthesis; at the same time, dreaming and REM sleep are controlled by different brain mechanisms. Zhang hypothesizes that the function of sleep is to process, encode, and transfer the data from the temporary memory to the long-term memory, though there is not much evidence backing up this so-called "consolidation." Non-REM sleep processes the conscious-related memory (declarative memory), and REM sleep processes the unconscious related memory (procedural memory).

Zhang assumes that during REM sleep, the unconscious part of a brain is busy processing the procedural memory; meanwhile, the level of activation in the conscious part of the brain will descend to a very low level as the inputs from the sensory are basically disconnected. This will trigger the "continual-activation" mechanism to generate a data stream from the memory stores to flow through the conscious part of the brain. Zhang suggests that this pulse-like brain activation is the inducer of each dream. He proposes that, with the involvement of the brain associative thinking system, dreaming is, thereafter, self-maintained with the dreamer's own thinking until the next pulse of memory insertion. This explains why dreams have both characteristics of continuity (within a dream) and sudden changes (between two dreams).[9][10]

[edit] Dreams and memory

Eugen Tarnow suggests that dreams are ever-present excitations of long-term memory, even during waking life. The strangeness of dreams is due to the format of long-term memory, reminiscent of Penfield & Rasmussen’s findings that electrical excitations of the cortex give rise to experiences similar to dreams. During waking life an executive function interprets long term memory consistent with reality checking. Tarnow's theory is a reworking of Freud's theory of dreams in which Freud's unconscious is replaced with the long-term memory system and Freud's “Dream Work” describes the structure of long-term memory.[11]

Location of hippocampus
Location of hippocampus

[edit] Hippocampus and memory

A 2001 study showed evidence that illogical locations, characters, and dream flow may help the brain strengthen the linking and consolidation of semantic memories. These conditions may occur because, during REM sleep, the flow of information between the hippocampus and neocortex is reduced.[12] Increasing levels of the stress hormone Cortisol late in sleep (often during REM sleep) cause this decreased communication. One stage of memory consolidation is the linking of distant but related memories. Payne and Nadel hypothesize that these memories are then consolidated into a smooth narrative, similar to a process that happens when memories are created under stress.[13]

[edit] Functional hypotheses

There are many hypotheses about the function of dreams.[14] During the night there may be many external stimuli bombarding the senses, but the mind interprets the stimulus and makes it a part of a dream in order to ensure continued sleep.[15] The mind will, however, awaken an individual if they are in danger or if trained to respond to certain sounds, such as a baby crying. Dreams may also allow the repressed parts of the mind to be satisfied through fantasy while keeping the conscious mind from thoughts that would suddenly cause one to awaken from shock.[16] Freud suggested that bad dreams let the brain learn to gain control over emotions resulting from distressing experiences.[14] Dreams also let the mind express things that would normally be suppressed in the waking world, thus keeping itself in harmony. Dreams may also offer a view at how future events might proceed; this is similar to running future events through the mind, for instance: a work presentation, a job interview, or a first date.

Jung suggested that dreams may compensate for one-sided attitudes held in waking consciousness.[17] Ferenczi[18] proposed that the dream, when told, may communicate something that is not being said outright. There have also been analogies made with the cleaning-up operations of computers when they are off-line. Dreams may remove parasitic nodes and other "junk" from the mind during sleep.[19][20] Dreams may also create new ideas through the generation of random thought mutations. Some of these may be rejected by the mind as useless, while others may be seen as valuable and retained. Blechner[21] calls this the theory of "Oneiric Darwinism." Dreams may also regulate mood.[22] Hartmann[23] says dreams may function like psychotherapy, by "making connections in a safe place" and allowing the dreamer to integrate thoughts that may be dissociated during waking life. More recent research by Griffin has led to the formulation of the 'expectation fulfillment theory of dreaming', which suggests that dreaming metaphorically completes patterns of emotional expectation and lowers stress levels.[24][25] Coutts[26] hypothesizes that dreams modify and test mental schemas during sleep during a process he calls emotional selection, and that only schema modifications that appear emotionally adaptive during dream tests are selected for retention, while those that appear maladaptive are abandoned or further modified and tested.

[edit] Dreams and psychosis

A number of thinkers have commented on the similarities between the phenomenology of dreams and that of psychosis. These include thought disorder, flattened or inappropriate affect (emotion), and hallucination. Among philosophers, Kant, for example, wrote that ‘the lunatic is a wakeful dreamer’.[27] Schopenhauer said: ‘A dream is a short-lasting psychosis, and a psychosis is a long-lasting dream.’[28]In the field of psychoanalysis, Freud wrote: ‘A dream then, is a psychosis’,[29]and Jung: ‘Let the dreamer walk about and act like one awakened and we have the clinical picture of dementia praecox.’[30]

McCreery[31][32] has sought to explain these similarities by reference to the fact, documented by Oswald,[33] that sleep can supervene as a reaction to extreme stress and hyper-arousal. McCreery adduces evidence that psychotics are people with a tendency to hyper-arousal, and suggests that this renders them prone to what Oswald calls ‘micro-sleeps’ during waking life. He points in particular to the paradoxical finding of Stevens and Darbyshire[34] that patients suffering from catatonia can be roused from their seeming stupor by the administration of sedatives rather than stimulants."*

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreams

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Monday

Digital Editing 101

I am really into photography and digital imaging, so I thought I would look up some tutorials on deigital editing. I found this site which seems quite useful.
It is called 'Kitchen Wench' and is a mostly personal site which documents a lady's cooking, recipes and photography.

The url is:
http://www.insanitytheory.net/kitchenwench/


Here is an excerpt from the 'about me' page:

"The eldest of three children, I was born in South Korea and immigrated to Australia with my parents at the age of 4. Having grown up mostly in Australia (with a brief 2 year stay in Korea when I was 14 - 16), I’ve grown up in a strange hybrid existance of Korean and Australian attitudes and mentalities, which very much crosses over into fields such as my cooking - I love my kimbap just as much as I do a good chicken parma or pavlova!

I keep this site running mostly for myself, in order to document my progress in both my cooking and photography, and also to document my mother’s Korean recipes for the future - for both myself and those who browse the internet in search of good, home-style Korean recipes

My equipment is simple - I use a point and shoot camera, the Canon Powershot G7, and I do most of my photo editing in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop."

http://www.insanitytheory.net/kitchenwench/about/


Here is the tutorial on digital editing basics:

"Firstly - remember, with photo manipulation, LESS is MORE. Especially if you’re not sure of what you’re doing and using a destructive editor (an editor that makes the changes to the actual file, thereby ‘destroying’ the original data). If you’re using one of these editors, never ever make the changes to your original photo, instead you should create copy the file to a new folder (good idea to keep all the edited photos together) and make the changes to the duplicate file. That way, if you muck something up, you still have the original photo to create a new copy from.

Secondly - photo editing is meant to enhance the image, it is not some kind of voodoo magic, it cannot turn a crap photo miraculously into a good one. You should always try and take the best photo possible with your camera, paying particular attention to focus/sharpness, white balance and exposure, this will mean you have to spend far less time fiddling with the photo in post-production and the editing process will be far less painful.

Thirdly - another camera related point is that you should always take your photos at the best quality and highest resolution possible. Why is that? Because this means you’ll experience less of a drop in quality when editing and resizing the photo later on! Sure, the file sizes may be pretty big (each photo off my camera is roughly between 6-10 mb each) but I think that in the end, its pretty worthwhile!

Fourth - STAY AWAY FROM OBVIOUS EDITING! One thing that I notice a fair bit is an almost obsessive overuse of the blur and smudge functions that must image editors offer. Whether it is to try and simulate DoF (depth of field) or blur out an unattractive background, the results do very little for enhancing the natural beauty of the food you’re photographing, and often serve as more of a distraction. A sheet of thin white cardboard or a roll of wrapping paper is just a few dollars, and is a better alternative to hand-blurred photos. Another thing that really gets my goat is over-lightening, but I’ll discuss that a bit later.

Fifth - Make sure your monitor is displaying colours probably, i.e. calibrate your screen. Now, my current LCD monitor has an iffy white point which I, for some reason, can’t fix, so I know that images that I view on my machine will probably appear slightly differently on others or when printed. This site has a great, easy to understand series of pages on monitor colours and calibration which is a good starting point for you."



http://www.insanitytheory.net/kitchenwench/2008/01/06/digital-editing-101-working-out-the-basics/
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Thursday

Photoshop Tutorial - Face Shaping

I want to gain photoshop skills and I've always wanted to learn how to re-touch those model/celebrity photos. There are heaps of tutorials on youtube which are awesome! This one is about face shaping. It is really easy to follow, with well-paced step-by-step instructions and explanations. Enjoy!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyfbvqiXp3c&feature=related
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