Scavenger Hunt

This week's task gets us to stop using the main search engine 'Google' and to find answers to a series of questions. Below are the answers that our tutors so desired, found using other search engines such as YAHOO! 7 Answers and the very very very handy askjeeves.com. 

Doing this task, I've realised just how much I bloody well rely on google to give me everything I need to know. And my God, a hell of a lot of the stuff on the internet is such bullshit. 

Here are my answers to the Scavenger Hunt Questionnaire .. no idea if they're right, but it was interesting to attempt to find the answers ...

1. What is the height of the world's biggest tree? How long did it take to grow?

The world's tallest tree is the Hyperion, a Coast Redwood tree found in California and was discovered in 2006. It is 115.5m tall ... now thats the TALLEST TREE discovered. The biggest in terms of volume, is the Giant Sequoia found in the US. It is 84.8m high and has a volume of 1487 cubic cm, and is 2300-2700 years old .. holy bejesus.

2.  What is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact Madonna?

Hahahahaha, finding the answer to this one made me laugh. I have no idea, but found some interesting suggestions ...

* Become an orphaned child, preferably living in an African country.

(this one is my favourite. Some other very clever uni student posted this question)

* Another was through a website called ContactVIP.com ... seemed pretty cool, but god knows if it's legit.

* My suggestion: get a Twitter account and hope for the best!

3. What is the age of the oldest ever captive elephant? Is this older than the average wild age?

A 53 year old elephant is the oldest recorded age for captive African elephants, but expected lifespan in captivity is closer to 33. Some suggest they live in the wild for 60-70 years ...

4. a) How would you define the word 'glycomics'? In your own words, what does it really mean? b) What does the term 'seagull manager' refer to?

Glycomics "is the systematic study of all glycan structures of a given cell type or organism" and is a subset of glycobiology ... 

Yeah, I don't really know what that even means. What the hell is glycobiology? I barely passed normal biology at school for gods sake. Seagull Manager - A manager who flies in, makes a lot of noise, craps on everything, and then leaves.

Brilliant term. Never heard of it, but know plenty of people like it.

5. What was David Cronenberg's most recent feature film? Which of his films had 'Blondie' in it?

His most recent feature film is called Eastern Promises and came out in 2007. He currently has several others in development. It took me AGES to find which film had "Blondie" in it, because I thought we were talking about Penny Singleton, who played the character Blondie for like thirty years .. haha. Turns out, Deborah Harry is actually the Blondie that we're looking for, which was apparently the name of the band she was in. The film she was in was "Videodrome." 

6. When was the original 'Hackers' released?

The original was made in 1995, released in 1996 in Australia. From what i can tell ...

7. Why do phone numbers in Hollywood films start with '555'?

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say there's no special reason, they're made up numbers! Am I wrong?  

Hahaha, pretty close it seems .. they use "555" because if they used real numbers, crazy people actually attempt in dialing those numbers ... imagine if they put your number in a movie! There's bound to be someone who'll try and call you.

(yeah I went to wikianswers ... but through askjeeves.com!)

Another site claims this: "The answer lies 30 years ago or more when the use of exchange names as part of the telephone number was still popular in the USA. Dials had letters as well as numbers and the first 3 letters of the exchange name were dialled followed by numbers. An example might be CENtral 78978. You dialled CEN 78978 or, using all numbers, 236 78978.

It so happened that 5 on the dial corresponded with J K and L and you can’t make any English place names using any combination of J, K and L as the first 3 letters. So the 555 code was allocated to service levels such as Directory Assistance, Operator, Repair Service, etc."

8. What is the cheapest form of travel from the Gold Coast to Cairns?

Yeah I'm not gonna lie. I got no idea .. flights cost money, car driving - money, maybe ride your bike? Sorry I couldn't find any site that wasn't trying to sell me something ... so on ya bike.

9. What song was top of the Australian Pop Charts this week in 1970?

I'm not sure if this is right, but from what I can gather "El Condor Pasa" was the top song on the 22nd August 1970 in Australia, by Simon and Garfunkel. Great guys. The week before was "Up Around the Bend/Run Through the Jungle" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. The week after was "In the Summertime" by Mungo Jerry/The Mixtures ...

10. Which Brisbane band includes Stephen Stockwell on keyboards and vocals?

Okay, I couldn't find much on this. I went to askjeeves.com and a whole heap of answers came up saying "The Black Assassins." Haha, what a cool professor ...

Whoa. That was a crazy task. I miss Google. I went to askjeeves.com to start with for every question. Legend.

Bibliography:

• Purple Slinky, (2008). "World's Tallest and Largest Trees." [Web Document] Available at: http://purpleslinky.com/trivia/science/worlds-tallest-and-largest-trees/ [Accessed: 23rd August 2009]
• Yahoo! 7 Answers, (2009). “What is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact Madonna?” [Web Document] Available at: http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/ [Accessed: 27^th August 2009]
  
• ContactVIP.com, (2009). “Helping fans and professionals find reliable celebrity addresses.” [Web Document] Available: http://www.contactvip.com/celebrities/ [Accessed 23^rd August 2009]
  
• Animal Diversity Web, (2008). "African Forest Elephant." [Web Document] Available at: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Loxodonta_cyclotis.html [Accessed 27th August 2009]
  
• Reference.com, (2009). "Glycomics." [Web Document] Available at: http://www.reference.com/browse/Glycomics?o= [Accessed 23rd August 2009]
  
• Urban Dictionary, (1999). "Seagull Manager." [Web Document] Available at: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=seagull+manager [Accessed 27th August 2009]
  
• The Internet Movie Database, (2009). "David Cronenberg." [Web Document] Available at: http://www.imbd.com/nm0000343/ [Accessed: 24th August 2009]
  
• Amazon.com, (1996). "Videodrome (1983)". [Web Document] Available at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0783228457/ [Accessed: 27th August 2009]
  
• The Internet Movie Database, (2009). "Hackers." [Web Document] Available at: http://www.imbd.com/title/tt0113243/ [Accessed: 24th August 2009]
  
• WikiAnswers, (2009). "In American films why do they always start the phone number with 555?" [Web Document] Available at: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/ [Accessed: 27th August 2009]
  
• Mark Cuccia, Telecom Heritage, (?). "Code 555 and the Movies." [Web Document] Available at: http://www.telephonecollecting.org/code.htm [Accessed 27th August 2009]
  
• Go-Set, (1970). "Go-Set National Top 60." [Web Document] Available at: http://www.poparchives.com.au/gosetscharts/1970/19700829.html [Accessed: 24th August 2009]
  
• Askjeeves.com, (2009). "Brisbane Band Stephen Stockwell." [Web Document] Available at: http://www.ask.com/web?qsrc=2417&o=10181&l=dir&q=brisbane+band+stephen+stockwell&search=search [Accessed: 27th August 2009]

It's Bloody Fantastic!

Hello, hello. Straight up - looking at that timeline and starting to investigate just how far we've come in terms of television and movies was so fascinating. Could you imagine if you were alive when that stuff first came out? Like a moving and talking picture? It baffles me because we are so used to all this technology, we don't bat an eyelid. But just IMAGINE if you' never ever seen anything like it before? It would've been INSANE. 

I've been told a few times by my dad about certain things he was around for. Like Jaws. "Oh Hannah, it just scared the shit out of people." He tries to explain it to me, about things I wasn't around for or was too young to remember. Jaws, The Exorcist, Soldier Blue (the first time you actually saw flesh explode), Psycho! and countless others. Even things like watching the moon landing for the first time ... he was very young, but he remembers it and how everyone ones when it happened. Total disbelief, amazement ... these days people just take things for granted. Like it's always been there or something.

Imagine if you were part of the team that invented the first motion picture, computer, television, the use of special effects and could see what it's like today .. my God, I think it's absolutely incredible. I remember vividly when Toy Story came out - it was like the coolest thing I had ever seen. The mad rush to buy my little sister a Buzz Lightyear for her birthday was so crazy, it was just like that Arnie movie "Jingle All the Way" with that Turbo-Man Doll. The only thing I really remember shocking me so much, was when they released a video showing what the iPhone could do. I was like whoa. But don't ever remember being so amazed like I'm sure millions were in the 1900's.

1927, Warner Brothers released "The Jazz Singer" - which automatically reminded me of the movie "Singin' in the Rain" - one of my favourite movies. It's a musical-based movie, about when the "talking picture" was first brought into the world and how everybody reacts now that silent movies are likely to be no more (watch it if you haven't). It stars Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds. All incredible dancers - I love it.

Singin' in the Rain

[1952]

I think sometimes it's a good thing to take a step back and appreciate how far we've come. To appreciate those who had the ideas, the determination and means to actually make crazy, somewhat "unrealistic" dreams come true. 

It's True, It's Twilight

For our very very challenging task of watching a movie at home, I had a surprisingly difficult time deciding which movie to watch. I was gonna go with Pearl Harbor, but quite frankly it's inaccuracy just shits me to absolute tears. Come on. The Japanese did NOT bomb near the hospital - it just didn't happen. 

Then I thought I'd analyse one of my favourite movies ever. Apollo 13. Tom Hanks, Ron Howard - can it get any better? I mean seriously. But I actually enjoy that movie, I didn't want to sit there and pick it apart. 

I thought about several others ... 12 Angry Men (which is a classic, if you haven't seen it - sort your life out and watch it. the original, not the remake) ... To Kill A Mockingbird, Silence of the Lambs ... until I decided on one and that'll probably annoy a lot of people - Twilight.

Yes, I know what you might be thinking. That you're sick of Twilight, the books, the movies, the publicity, the hype and so on, but believe it or not the movie has some absolutely fantastic camera work in it. For those of you who are familiar - the scene in the forest where Bella tells Edward she knows he's a vampire has some camera work that is so well done, I'm impressed every time. The camera circles the two of them - it's all angular, and high up and continues spinning. I think it's pretty cool.

The scene in the forest

Twilight, 2008

So I went ahead and watched the movie again, this time with my note book and a pen in my hand. I noted particular scenes where close ups and long shots were used to tell the viewer (in this case me) what was going on without any of the characters having to speak. When it comes down to it, shots are chosen to explain the "who, what, when, where, why and how" aspects of a scene. 

Last week's lecture informed us of the different types of shots, as well as what type of shots are used to portray certain things (eg. who is the character, what are they doing?) I found some examples from Twilight for you to look at:

"Who?"

[Close Up]

This type of shot aims to show the viewer the character in more detail. 

"What?"

[Mid Shot]

This type of shot aims to show the subject(s) performing an action.

"Where?"

[Long Shot]

This type of shot aims to show the location of the scene and is often referred to as the establishing shot.

"When?"

[Wide Shot/Close Up]

This type of shot aims to show what time of day it is, however it is often quite difficult to capture time in a single shot.

"Why?"

[Big Close Up]

This type of shot aims to reveal more about a character and their actions.

"How?"

[Medium Close Up/ Close Up]

These types of shots aim to explain an event that is occurring to the character.

If you haven't already watched Twilight, I would recommend you check out what all the fuss is about. It stays quite loyal to the storyline of the book and had a brilliant director. It's incredible to watch these movies and to see the choices the crew made when making the film. 

References:

1. "BeyondHollywood.com", Nix, http://www.beyondhollywood.com/twilight-2008-movie-images-gallery, 16th August 2009 
   
2. "Twilight Stills", http://www.aceshowbiz.com/movie/twilight/photo.html, 16th August 2009
3. "The Twilight Saga Wiki", http://twilightsaga.wikia.com/wiki/Twilight_movie_screenshots, 18th August 2009

Language of Screen

Okay, it's week 3 of the second semester .. I'm not sure how everyone else is feeling, but for me personally, this time of semester is that time when I ask myself if I really wanna do this all again. I constantly catch my mind drifting off to areas that are totally unrelated to my work ...

This week we delved into the area of screen production - discussing screenshots and just how much detail directors and film crew go into when making a movie. We learnt these sorts of things back in high-school and it to be quite honest, learning all these tricks ruined movie-watching for me. I find myself struggling to enjoy certain movies or certain scenes cos I'm thinking "oh that's bad continuity" or "look at how there's an american flag in every scene" .. and so on. Like Pearl Harbor. God, what a propaganda infested movie. No to mention historically inaccurate. 

Despite movies like Pearl Harbor that grate on my nerves, there are some brilliantly presented movies out there. I suppose it's all about personal taste when it comes to films, however despite the odd film, most directors follow a certain technique when it comes to shooting and producing movies. 

There are many different types of screen shots you can have. When they're written down or typed up in a script, they're often just a bunch of letters like the following: VLS/WS, LS, MLS, MS, MCU, CU, BCU, ECU. These stand for:

Very Long Shot/Wide Shot

Long Shot

Medium Long Shot

Mid Shot

Medium Close Up

Close Up

Big Close Up

Extreme Close Up

Each of these shots aim to portray different moods, actions, locations, times and to help the audience understand what is happening in the movie. 

Some examples from some well-known movies ...

Medium Long Shot

The Godfather (1972)

Close Up/Big Close Up

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

I think most people become more aware of this as they get older. It's fascinating to watch the way a film is put together, but can be incredibly frustrating when you just want to sit and enjoy a movie. Next time you're watching a movie, have a look and ask why you think the director chose to film a certain in a certain way ... it might just drive you crazy.

References:

Dummies.com. (2009). Examining the Various Film Shot. [Web document] Available: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/examining-the-various-film-shots.html [15th August 2009]

Convergence

I'm still trying to get the hang of this blog thing. Sometimes I like to trick myself into believing I'm all computer-savvy ... and I'm really not ay. It's so mind-boggling sometimes. Anyway, to tie in with what we've learnt so far, I am providing you with a brief, yet riveting timeline of computing and it is sure to lift all of your spirits. Enjoy :)

Now I think we're all very much aware that computers and its technology have been developing for a number of years - the foundations of it all starting back before Jesus and the like. Yeah? This timeline however, covers the more recent developments in computing ...

500 B.C. - 300 B.C.

What we know as the abacus is developed and starts to be used.

1502

Peter Henlein, a craftsman from Nuremberg Germany, creates the first watch

1600

William Gilbert coins the term electricity from the Greek word elecktra.

1642

Frances Blaise Pascal invents a machine, called the Pascaline, that can add, subtract, and carry between digits.

1674

Germanys Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz creates a machine that can add, subtract, multiply and divide automatically.

1774

The first telegraph is built.

1780

American Benjamin Franklin discovers electricity.

1820

Thomas de Colmar creates the first reliable, useful and commercially successful calculating machine.

1838

Samuel Morse invents a code (later called Morse code) that used different numbers to represent the letters of the English alphabet and the then digits.

1866

The first successful Trans-Atlantic cable is laid from Ireland to Newfoundland.

1876

Scottish-Canadian-American Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone.

We're going to take a bit of a jump now to when computers were first created. I think we're all quite aware of the electricity and telephone inventions etc.

1936

Germanys Konrad Zuse creates the Z1, one of the first binary digital computers and a machine that could be controlled through a punch tape. Dvorak keyboard is developed.

1937

Iowa State Colleges John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry begin work on creating the binary-based ABC (Atanasoft-Berry Computer). Considered by most to be the first electronic digital computer.

1943

ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), the first general-purpose electronic digital calculator begins to be constructed. This computer by most is considered to be the first electronic computer.

1953

IBM introduces the first IBM computer, the 701.

1957

Russia launches the first artificial satellite, named Sputnik on October 4, 1957. In response to Sputnik the United States creates the new agency ARPA.

1962

Steve Russell creates "SpaceWar!" and releases it in February 1962. This game is considered the first game intended for computers.

1970

The first ATM is demonstrated and used in Georgia.

1971

The first 8" floppy diskette drive was introduced. The first laser printer is developed at Xerox PARC.

1980

The first Tandy Color computer is introduced.

1981

Xerox introduces the graphical Star workstation. This computer greatly influences the development of Apples future computer models, Lisa and Macintosh, as well as Microsofts Windows.

1987

Microsoft introduces Microsoft Works.

2000 and beyond ..

Well - I'm typing this on a massive apple mac computer - there's no massive block thing where you insert discs etc. It's getting smaller and smaller, more refined, more "simple".

This timeline is obviously nowhere near as detailed as what it could be, but it does give you an idea of just how far humans have come in developing technology.

What is Convergence?

It is the idea of bringing multiple types of a certain technology together to be accessed from one point.

Four Examples of Convergent Technology

Convergence can be applied to different areas of technology (such as information, communication, integration amongst businesses etc.) Some examples of convergent technology are:

• web-chat programs
• ipods
• fax machines
• internet

"Skype" is a free program readily available for download from the internet, where people can communicate with others anywhere in the world, simply by sitting at their computer screens.

Ipod's are one of the most popular pieces of technology. They vary in size and colour and have the ability to hold thousands of songs, photos and even allow its' users to download and watch movies and television shows. The black and white version has been edited.

Fax Machines are used all over the world, particularly for businesses. They incorporate the telephone as well as a printer. They also can also send and documents to anywhere in the world by the use of a "fax number" as well as receiving paperwork and documents.

The Internet and the World Wide Web is definitely a technology that plays an enormous part in allowing the world to function. Could you imagine what would happen if we couldn't connect to the internet or didn't have access to any search engines? Even just for a day, I think it'd be absolute mayhem. It allows us to communicate with those across the world, read and watch news as it happens, meet people we've fallen out of touch with or even never met, allows us to do our banking, browse for cars and houses and so much more. The image to the right has been edited (cropped and brightened).

This video is a recording from CBS at the time when the iphone was first released. I remember watching similar news stories at home with my family and thinking "holy crap, i can't believe some of the stuff this phone will be able to do." Now, I still think it's incredible, but am no longer blown away by all that it can do. The video describes some of the iphones best applications and is one of the best examples of a convergent type of technology.

The person in this video discusses the future of technology, including her two theories about convergence and divergence and what effects they could have on the human race.

I think that convergence is going to continue to happen, but whether or not that's a good thing I don't know. We already have so many, and even I personally own, items that are convergent objects. And different people and organisations will continue to come up with ways of incorporating multiple devices into one, to supposedly make life "easier" for us all.

I think many of these inventions are incredible, I'd be lost without my ipod and the web, however some convergent objects that have been invented, I believe to a waste of money (such as refrigerator's with television screens built in the front). That sort of convergence, to me, is just not necessary.