Saturday, October 11, 2003

Hi, guys I hope you all have had a good weekend so far in spite of the changeable weather.
Well, I was reading a pieces of news from the BBC website that really amazed me at first glance. It is about some new technologies being used to make our life more fantastic and convenient than you can ever expect that I would like to introduce to you guys.
Cinemas set for “digital revolution”
It is one new technology that can break the traditional role of cinema; it is not only the movie house anymore. It enables cinema to show the live concert or sports events on the big screen by using digital projectors. So far rock concerts. Football and broadway musicals have already been screened, and some analysts predict that this new technology will become more popular in the following five years because of its low cost and the live atmosphere which makes you feel like “being there”.
Sounds good, because you don’t need to pay extremely high price for the live concert or whatever, and you still can get the same experience as you are“being there”
However, in my opinion, if the events were held outdoor, all the fans would be more willing to buy tickets releasing their incredible passion thatn just buy cinema tickets sitting there and watching. In other words, all the effects of this new technology that is made and designed by the cinema companies are fictitious basically and it can never be entirely the same as live to some extent.
Anyway, this new technonlogy provides us with more choices for different groups of people especially for those who rather than a crowded studio and being so far away from their stars.
Digital everywhere ah!

posted by Anonymous at 7:41 PM

For my two cents today im going to back track a little bit to the lectures of hackers, well my recent experience with a form of hacking I guess is one of those hoax emails, well my flatmate received the infamous teddy bear hoax where an email is sent to you which informs you have a virus with the icon of a teddy bear and then gives you instructions of how to delete it then you forward the information to everyone in your contacts list. Well this teddy bear icon is actually a programme that surprise surprise is quite valuable to your computer and my flatmate bless her, received the email and in thinking she was going to save my laptop from a terrible virus followed the instructions and forwarded the email to her contacts list and so this teddy bear hoax lives on! although given many people would not delete something off their computer by the incident of a email being sent to them her justificaton was that it was one of her friends and so therefore she trusted the information which is a brilliant plan of whatever dickhead started this hoax as people dont trust people in cyberspace but they do trust people they already know outside of the realm of cyber. Anyway the file which was deleted is retrievable just go to a website like microsoft.com and search for the file and information is provided if you wish to download it back.
posted by Anonymous at 3:01 PM

Of course the ROBOTs or CYBORGs are not exist like from the Films in the real world.
The one of most famous Cyborg (Personally I think it should called as robot rather than cyborg but sincein the film it called itself as a cyborg, so...) should be the one from film Terminator by James Cameron. Its fearless, invincible-like machine left strong impression to many audience and made some kind of stereotype of cyborg (especially when compare with big-mouth and coward cyborg 3CPO of STAR WARS). But however even in its series it suggest slightly different 'images' of Terminators.



Fearless warrior, without feeling pain

In the film the Terminator its image is like killing machine itself. When film arrives its climax, film's last scene it moves and tried kill Sarah even without its half of body under the waist. But however, in Terminator 2, the Judgement day 'it' shows some kind of 'emotional' feelings. For example when T-800 saw John cries it asked "What's wrong with your eyes" but in the very last it says "Now I know why you crying"(<-he said something like this)



MACHINE like this. Is the advanced and development of technology make mahcine able to have emotions?

Well... of course it's a film. But still because of influences of films, I people expecting some kind of emotions from Cyborgs and robots - that MACHINES. (That's the way to make film as touching story though)
posted by Anonymous at 2:49 AM

Hi have you all noticed that the board" GE Free" in the street? Today Im going to talk about GE. As some scientists of California stated that Genetic engineering takes a gene from one species and inserts it into another in an attempt to transfer a desired trait. This process overcomes species barriers that traditional plant and animal breeders could never bridge, and has the potential to result in unintended traits.While advocates protest that it is no different than traditional plant breeding, modern genetic engineering has already inserted human genes into rice, jellyfish genes into potatoes, spider genes into goats, and developed foods using dozens of other trans-species combinations that could never occur without technology.It is the growing list of the health and environmental risks of GE food, the unintended and uncertain consequences that may arise, and the absence of public input into the application of this powerful technology:
Creation of new food allergies. By introducing novel proteins into our diets through genetic engineering, the biotechnology industry risks creating new food allergies. In late 2000, over three hundred food products were recalled when a GE corn (StarLink), unapproved for human consumption, accidentally entered the food supply.

Novel toxins in the food supply. In the late 1980's, a genetically engineered version of a nutritional supplement, L-tryptophan, caused 37 deaths and permanently disabled over 1,500 people.

Resistance to antibiotics. Genetic engineers use genes that are resistant to antibiotics as part of the process of engineering new organisms. The scientists say this could add to the spread of antibiotic resistant disease. In 1999, the British Medical Association called for a ban on this technique, but the biotechnology industry is still permitted to put our health at risk with GE foods containing these resistance genes.


posted by Anonymous at 1:02 AM

today I would like to talk about the Being There: the sense of physical presence in cyberspace

Clearly the sense of presence was not created just for use with virtual environments.But, presence is a basic state of consciousness and it is part of the attribution of sensation to some distal stimulus, or more casually,to some environment.When we experience our everyday sense of presence in the physical world,we automatically generate a mental model of an external space from patterns of energy on the sensory organs.In virtual environments, patterns of energy that simulate the structure to those experienced in the physical environment are used to stimulate the same automatic perceptual processes that generate our stable perception of the physical world. The perceptual world created by our senses and the nervous system is so functional a representation of the physical world that most people live out their lives without ever suspecting that contact with the physical world is mediated.

The discussion of virtual reality and the strong sense of being there that it generates is often accompanied by questions about the stability of our perception of the physical world. If the sense can be so easily fooled, then how can we trust the day-to-day experience of physical world?
posted by Anonymous at 12:19 AM

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Friday, October 10, 2003

we already learned heaps of people use internet in the world.
the network is nessary for our life. it gives some imformations and fresh images also, give some spaces to create our own feature...
show the some images of network connection through some images
fast line through to our life to provide new world...

one of photo which is....
A fascinating Visualization Study of the NSFNET,
undertaken by Donna Cox and Robert Patterson from the NCSA in 1992.





it's a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) line...........

second one which is
A map of domain name ownership at street level for downtown San Francisco, circa summer 1998. The map was produced by Matthew Zook as part of his Internet Geography project analysing the spatial patterns of the Internet industry.



if you guys wanna see more about that, you can look at the information see the Map of the Month article "Mapping the Geography of Domain Names" in Mappa.Mundi Magazine.

lastly show the picture which is the interface of Ride the Byte, a virtual reality installation for exploring how Internet traffic is routed across the globe. The installation was created by Art+Com and first exhibited in the Wired Worlds gallery at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in the UK.


posted by Anonymous at 5:29 PM

Here are two pictures of Hurricane Isabel that
recently ravished on the US knocking off power to over
5 million people and doing billions of dollar in
damages.

1. View from Space station.
2. View from the sea


untitled.bmp
posted by Anonymous at 3:55 PM

I was reading an article recently, and came across this news clipping.

Digital Everywhere" was the theme of the Ceatec show in Japan this week.



I read that these companies are looking forward to, the next coming 5 years, as this is when a full networked devices in cellphone and pendant forms will be able to perform great things... such as tracking of your location, personal navigation and household appliance management.

Sounding too far-fetched? Well I read that Panasonic already has home networking technology in Japan called Kurashi Net which incorporates a base station that looks after security and communicates with home appliances including air conditioner, washing machine, refrigerator and microwave oven - all of which can be accessed and controlled by mobile phone.

But that's not all. Here's a rundown of some other technology trends that are likely to find their way here over the next year.

Flat displays

Large plasma display panels and liquid crystal display (LCD) screens are a must for the modern home.

Picture quality and viewing angle are what is important to consumers, but effort has gone into differentiating models through additional technologies, especially in terms of communicating with other devices and providing a central hub for the home.

Digital memory

Perhaps the most significant trend was the growing importance of solid state digital memory devices and their use in cameras and miniature video recording devices using Mpeg compression systems.

Panasonic showed off its D-snap series of Mpeg digital video recorders and cameras which use SD cards to allow them to be "credit card-sized".

PSX

A highlight of the show was Sony's PSX machine, which will give DVD recorder manufacturers a run for their money because, as well as a PlayStation 2 video-game console, it incorporates a DVD and hard disk recorder.

The unit features a TV tuner, a 24x speed DVD recorder that writes in DVD-RW and DVD+RW formats, and a computer hard disk to record TV programmes like a VCR, giving up to 325 hours of recording time.

DVD

Taking up an unseemly amount of floorspace was the battle over DVD-writing formats - DVD-RAM, DVD+RW and DVD-RW - which underpin the growing industry of DVD recording devices. At this stage there's no clear winner.

To further complicate the picture Philips has announced double density DVD technology which stores information on two layers providing over 8GB of storage but which needs a new type of drive to write to the new discs.


posted by Anonymous at 1:33 PM

This morning, when i just came back home from delivering newspaper, just a part-time job, my flatmate asked me why the newspaper company doesn't use internet. What he means is use internet to do delivering. People can subscribe and get everyday newspaper in their computer, then company saves lots money, and I would lose my only job. Sounds great and easy, ha, everyone can think of it. But could it be possible soon? if it could be, not only newspapers, but also books, magazines, music records, anything which could be transformed into information will disappear. Then there are no actual news-papers, books, or CDs anymore, only bytes! But how many of you would put a computer in the kitchen, in front of the couch, behind where there is a TV, or even in your toilet? At the time TV was invented, some people thought any other forms of media would be replaced by it, but now most other media still exist. Conversely, there is one more fashionable and important medium, internet.

Yeah, if an information receiver could be thin, like a newspaper, could be folded and taken anywhere easily, could be cheap like a magazine, and thrown away anytime we don't need it, that is the time most other media disappear.

posted by Anonymous at 8:44 AM

Bro, they wouldn't let me take my camera into the ITF Finals!
Wack! I blame Coca-Cola!

Frontin' on fightin' like Radio Raheem,
- Dan
posted by Anonymous at 5:05 AM

Hey Jess, yeah i agree, i used to be an irc chat junkie a number of years ago, and then kicked the habit (because it is a great time waster)...but when i go back every now and then, it does seem to have changed, maybe we're digital old timers...
posted by Matt at 1:38 AM

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Thursday, October 09, 2003

BLOG ENTRY 6 – THE DANGERS OF COMMUNICATION

When I was about thirteen or fourteen I was introduced to the Internet and chatting programmes. I used to love chatting to my friends and making new friends as well in a sort of virtual community.
I haven’t been on the chatting programmes for about seven years now, and the other day I went on one for a laugh, and I couldn’t believe how differently people are communicating.

From seven years ago, when people were quite friendly and interested in getting to know you to present day where I found people in the chat rooms to be very rude and often offensive. I think that as our society has developed while making the internet an integral part of modern day life it is being used for granted and the seriousness of communicating has disappeared.

Although I think that modern day technology and the internet have made wonderful advancements in making communicating more accessible and faster, I think people are starting to communicate not for the sake of an idea they need to communicate but just for the sake of something to do. I think this might become more dangerous in the future, and harm real friendships and relationships

posted by Anonymous at 2:04 PM

New Media: This week I stumbled upon an innovative and technology driven, new form of advertising! For all you Sky Digital subscribers change your channel to 222 and Join the Revolution! The advert begins with a fake "jamming" signal on your sky.... it then proceeds to type written info on the new recordable DVD-R players bought to you by panasonic... you can then choose from a list of contents with your remote and find out more information about the players ie price, where its available for purchase, range of models, and of course spec info. I reckon if you can check it out yourself do so. Its got a game to play which can put you in draw to WIN one! This is done via txt on your cell phone. Technology in full swing!

Looking for that special gift? This website is an interesting place to get unusual gifts for unusual people. Actually they are STUPID gifts! But check stoopid.com out. Its a bit of light hearted humour none the less! I apologise for the PANASONIC advertising by the way.
Anyway im off to get ready for World War 3 which begins tomorrow night with Australia vs Argentina. For all those not in the know Rugby World Cup 2003 begins in 24 hours.... At least check out one game while its on. Even USA has a team! I want to write a bit about cyborgs in this blog, but ive got Rugby fever!! I also need to save it for my essay, but this man was part machine! If you ever saw him play rugby! Youll know what I mean!



GO THE ALL BLACKS!!!!!!

PS Dont wanna sound like a record, record skipping but The ROOTS were wickedly amazing! Amazingly wicked even! They played what the crowd needed to hear! Its a shame that Jurassic 5 are more than likely not coming now......rude! Oh well on,on Jazzy Jeff this weekend!

posted by Anonymous at 4:11 AM

Hah! I just wandered into this site where you type in your name and it tells you what kind of cyborg you would be. Apparently I (Jenna) would be a: Journeying Electronic Nullification and Negotiation Android. GREAT!!! Check it Out Y'all. Ahh acronyms are fantastic.

Ok: I found the philosophies of the Australian performance artist Stelarc very interesting, if weird. I especially liked his maniacal laugh. The way he suspended himself in the air by hooks attached to his body reminded me of the terrible movie The Cell, where the schizophrenic/ psychotic/ serial killer does the same thing. Hmmm... anyway, Stelarc's beliefs are very post-humanist. Post humanists believe in that the limitations inherent in the human body form a problem that needs to be corrected. Technology is often seen as the solution to correct these limitations. This is termed 'techno-transcendence', using technology to overcome bodily limts. As well as improving the longevity of body organs and increasing bodily strength, intelligence increase is another issue addressed by post-humanist theorists. According to this website:

'The problem of increasing intelligence can be attacked from many different angles. One is to use chemicals to stimulate already existing processes in the brain. Some drugs have already shown a positive effect on memory, e.g., vasopressin. These and other drugs can be experimented and improved upon. Thus, chemicals can be used to boost memory, an important component of intelligence.

Another approach is to implant new brain tissue -- assuming brain tissue will do the job -- or remove damaged tissue. Innovations like these might make rewiring the brain a possibility. Already, many experimental findings point out that the structure and plasticity of the brain might be related to the functioning of the mind.

A third technique is to wire the brain directly into computers. Such brain-computer interfaces are not as fantastic as they sound. The computers could be small enough to be contained inside the body. By far, the most ambitious method is "migration through silicon" or "uploading". This involves putting the mind into a machine, the machine being a computer designed for this purpose. This idea has potential, but it's still too early to estimate its feasibility'.

Many people see post-humanist theories as "unnatural", but some theorists claim that the development of technology and thus techno-transcendence has allowed us to speed up our own evolution. However, the theories are still just that.

posted by Anonymous at 3:17 AM

I hate this blogg thing...
I often press just 'post' accidentally and my whole blogg thing just disappear....


this week's tutorial, we talked about CD and digital music.
nowadays, not many people buy actual CD. If they want to listen to the music, they simply can get the music from internet.
it takes some time to download the music, but cost you nothing....(well except the cost of internet connection)

there are site called 'Soribada'. The first time when this site was made, the sever functions as Kazza. They upload music mp3 music, then others download the music. As you know, it is illegal to do such things, thus Soribada site even went to the court. After the court ordered Soribada to prohibited to upload any mp3 music, Soribada severer changed their site policies. Well..The Soribada severe make the site as 'sharing mp3 files with other people'. It means, netizens share their mp3 files with another people.
It works like that.
1) You join and become a member of the Soribada.
2) then you download some program,
3) the programs, that enable others to see your list of mp3 music
4) you are also able to see others' mp3 music files
5) you search it and download it~~

It is more like sharing, not uploading nor downloaing~~
You can see the number of 'logged in' members.
When I log in to this site, there are as many as 8000 people and, the smallest number was 3700.
There are at least 3700 mp3 files, that you can search for the music, that you are looking for..
From the newest pop song(Korean pop as well) to crappy old pop song, 10 out of 10 times, there is a music, that I am looking for.

posted by Anonymous at 12:04 AM

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Wednesday, October 08, 2003

Do we have any psychoanalysts in 203?
How wrong is it to ascribe the cyborgian impulse to technologically transposed penis envy? There must be some very strong desire driving all the cyborg scientists and theorists - the desire to compensate for a physiological lack is most evident.
A socialistic theory of the cyborg seems weird, on the techno-political axis post-humanism is sided with political pragmatism and fascism.

The Roots opened with a transtextual Apache jam last night.
it went:
Thought @ Work - by themselves
Apache - The Incredible Bongo Band
Apache (Jump on It) - Sugarhill Gang
later on they played a live cover of Planet Rock and I swear I almost died from coolness.
posted by Anonymous at 8:41 PM

Hey Robert, looks like we were both thinking the same thing yesterday, great minds think alike huh.

Anyway today I have a website for you guys to check out. It ties in with todays lecture about Stelarc and posthumanism.
Human V.2.0 Upgrade
This is artist Natasha Vita-More's site which investigates using bio-, nano-, and information technologies to improve/enhance human bodies. Similarly to Stelarc she wants to control the process of evolution by redesigning the human body.


posted by Anonymous at 7:14 PM

It's near the end of the semester and I'm slowly running out of blog material. But the other day I remembered a site that I reviewed ages ago, which some of you may be interested in-worth1000.com (sorry not up with linking).
At the start of the semester Luke discussed new image technologies, -computer aided design, the simulation of objects and events that do not actually exist and the production, animation and seamless fusion of still and moving images.
Worth1000.com is a site that highlights these techniques and overall celebrates the visual. It was created in Dec 2001, by designers Avi muchnick and Israel Derdik as a daily image manipulation contest, primarily judged and rated by public opinion. Today, the site offers a range of competitions from amination to 3D rendering and features over 1,000 galleries, 40,000 images and has aquired 27,000 members. It's an entertaining site which showcases some of the wackiest images (Dr Dre complete with stethoscope), basically it turns the normal into the unormal. As the title depicts, a picture is worth 1000 words and is a great example of manipulation and interactivity at it's best.

Last Note: Gareth you missed out on possibly the best concert of the year!
The Roots are undoubtedly the best live hip hop act I have ever seen. I'm too young to have experienced some of the old skool concerts of the early 90s. But im glad to have seen these rap legends. Lucky for me I had the privilege to meet Tariq, Kamal,?uestlove and the rest of the crew. Can't wait till they return.


posted by Anonymous at 4:54 PM

ooh in the nerdiest way - I just love the myth of the cyborg. I think that all of these analysis evaluating the way technology is affecting the body, society are obviously founded, but until an understanding of the cyborg, we are generally without a framework through which to categorize these affects and their manifestations. In recent explanations of my off beat major, titled "Science Technology and Society" by my small liberal arts college in America, to my very old world, suspicious and scrutinizing grandfather, the cyborg myth gave me great deliverance in attempting to explain the relevance of these studies. Not only does the cyborg framework appeal to an evaluation of how technology is affecting our sense of self, but it calls for an acknowledgement of how it is affecting our society as one comprised of cyborgs, increasingly appended with 'technological prosthetics.' I place these in what Haraway calls "scare quotes" because of the liberal way I intend this term. Despite Luke's raised eye brows in class yesterday, I would (and do) argue that someone who actively participates in communication through these new mediums of communication is more cyborgian than someone who does not. I conclude this though our ability to absorb and communicate is not necessarily a physically manifested act, but an act of humans that is being enhanced and augmented through the technologization of our environment. Believe me, I am not done as an entry any shorter than nearly 500 words would be uncharacteristic of my ramblings, but class calls. Check back later for more dictation by me if you wish...
posted by Anonymous at 2:55 PM

Sorry if i'm behind but i'm gonna talk about mp3.
I confess to not reading any of the latest blogs so I'll probably bring up some old shiz.

When I began downloading mp3's, the process was very exciting. Loading a whole night's worth on the download list then getting up to a good 2 hours of new, fresh tunes. After a month or less I found "I had all the songs I had always wanted but didn't want to buy legitimately.
So my tenacity for shared digital music waned. I soon relised that the I could use the p2p networks as a kind of radio station. I would type a genre name or some keyword and download everything reguardless of whether I'd heard of the artist or not.
I also stopped buying cd's in the beginning but soon started again with the discovery of so many new artists. I think I tend to buy more legit music now than ever before which raises questions in my case about the act of sueing people etc.

Can I be exempt from fines because I also purchase more hard format music?
Maybe there could be a system where legit purchasers of music get a limited amount of mp3 downloads, thus stimulating the person to buy buy buy, perhaps?

Mean Scanty breaks

World DJ

420

Wish I was at The Roots right now but spent all my $ on CDS ;(

Flash mobs are stupid.

posted by We're Not Floating at 1:34 AM

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Tuesday, October 07, 2003

Has anyone seen the audience participation thing on C4 (the new music channel on the old TV4 frequency) where you vote with your cellphone for a song? This may not be an entirely new concept but I was intrigued by the interface and the sheer pointlessness of the exercise.

The viewer is presented with a Windows Media Player style interface (aesthetically similar, functionally inert) where the music video is played in a reduced size in the center of the screen with options/menus around the edge. One can then use one's cellphone to text a choice, from two options, of music video. As people (or perhaps the person) vote(s), the percentage of votes is displayed. After a certain time voting closes and the winning video is played. This crude imitation of interactivity, although being shit-arse, indicates where things will undoubtedly be heading. But, it is irritating and insulting.

For each choice both music video options are high-rotation, well known tunes. It is like the TV2 vote for movie thing: People will probably watch whatever wins and the loser effectively functions as an advertisement for itself and the channel (for it will certainly be screened at some point in the near future). I think this is a cynical exploitation of the audience (can't you just see Vodafone and Telecom executives laughing their heads off?) and the illusion of autonomy is an insult to my autonomy.

But maybe I just don't like it because I am a cellphone-less new media vagrant sniffing around the dustbins of a puritanical past...
I do not want to watch music videos in a reduced size with Jacqui Brown (hate that bird) talking over the top of them. YES, this is what happens. She talks over the start of a video and explains the voting options/process. What kind of music channel is this? Do you want a cup of tea? Don't worry, make the tea in the ADS!

Well, I'm off home now to watch C4. What will I vote for? Linkin Park or Blindspott? What a choice to make! Maybe I will just text them with this message: "Lnkn Prk n Blndspt bth SUK. Play neither. P.S. Jacqui, SHUT UP!"

More +10 bullshit, stay tuned for my cy-blog : "Yes baby, of course you can touch my prosthetic penis".

posted by Anonymous at 8:06 PM

it's a rest page.......!!!

you guys are really well-prepared for the each blog...

i'll give you guys to have a rest for a short time through this image....^^

that is not the relate of the media technology, i think... but it is so cut and so funny,,!!

you can enjoy it... and post more blogs..~~~ as an interesting thing~~

i'll post blog such as today's lecture "about cyborgs" next time/.....

^^



posted by Anonymous at 7:25 PM

Digital music is a great technology allows customers to download, copy and share music easily. But we have to ask ourselves is it safe for a new artist to be able to make it. If the answer is no then what can we do about it? We do not want music to die, because if the artist has no control to stop free Internet downloading of the their music is going to hard for listeners to get the real thing. That means musicians will stop bother come up with something new, something they put a lot of work and time, to be gone for free. Instead they will go back and remake other famous artist records and still make money.
Music industry may need to give a little bit of freedom to customers, things like to be able to select what you want, rather than to pay for something you don’t want. Similar to go to a clothing shop, there you will find some cloth hanging individually and some are in the pack like under garments, and customers have a choice to buy them individual and mix them up by different style and color or buy the pack. The music industry need to come up with a reasonable solution to customers so that we both benefit. We still need music for relaxation and other things, music is a food of our soul.
posted by Anonymous at 1:03 PM

I cant actually be arsed writing anything at the mo...but its been so long... i feel i should contribute somehow...neh, fuck it.

But my next blog is a doozy...its about H.R.Giger and his dystopian vision of the cyborg
posted by Matt at 1:31 AM

Offical Blog 6

To quote the illustrious Neo, woah.

Busy week in the blog world. I really enjoyed Nabeel's lectures on music and the issues
that were raised.

As I see it, trying to copyright the internet music industry is close to impossible. While DJ
Shadow,for example. may give credit to the samples he uses when sampling of all sorts of
soul and funk, who is to say that someone else sampling Shadow wont do the same?

Whats even more interesting is that there is very little way to ensure that this can be
policed through the internet. The fact that anyone with access to a removable music device
can download and then share music is highly debateable. Using an i-pod or simply the mp3
storage software on your computer, ripping off the music that someone else has created is
surrounded with all sorts of ethical debates. I think that its ok to download a CD that you
have already bought say if its been scratched(literally, not in the hip hop stylee) or lost.

Speaking of scratching....heres what Rob Swift & Q-Bert have to say:
“Robswift of the X-Men(Now for superheroe legal reasons,the X-ecutioners), another
leading turntablist agrees : “With the turntable you an create your own rhythms and
sounds. In other words, the turntable can morph into almost any instrument. Out of the
turnable you can coax low pitches, there are notes involved. If you move the speed a
certain way you can create slow noises and fast noises. There are so many things you an
do with a turntable, its definitely an instrument” Brewster and Broughton, Last night a DJ Saved My Life

“Manipulating sound with your hand is like a miracle”-Qbert. Now that guy IS from outer
space, a legend in his own right.

That’s all for now.

Have fun at White Stripes you lucky ones who're going.
Roots 2moro, again, the woah of Neo.

posted by Anonymous at 12:22 AM

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Monday, October 06, 2003

I agree Arvid, productions costs can be stupidly high for no apparent again in quality of what we get to hear. No amount of money is going to make durst sound good.
Yeap, NZ bands don't make a huge amount of money here, if any, compared to what they could make oversea's, ( half the reason is we won't really support a band till they've made it there, The Datsuns, Crowded House etc) but being signed means that you can afford to place a bit more emphasis on your music I suppose. It takes the pressure off slightly, and you get the bonus of free booze at the offices of the label. Don McG from the Muttons birds I believe told some people in a lecture that you should never try to make a living as a muso in NZ only, get a job, or the ability to get a job if it turns to custard. Unless you want to be the fucking Exponents. How many "final tours" did they do in the end?? Get a hair cut and get a real job. Thanks for the quote Mr Thurogood. It's spelt wrong, but who cares.
As for the 8 track, Mr Knox would agree with you about that. He loves the lo fi sound that they give. Annoys the buggery out of some, but good on him for sticking up for what he believes. I'm not entirely sure, esp sine puter programs came cheaper, but what ever spins his nipples. An 8 track can give you a real nice sound, I'm not going to argue against that!! If you can only afford an 8 track, who's going to diss you really??
Big Budget albums have their place in music too though. I can't see Tool or (not any more) Smashing Pumkins making a cheap album cause of effects and the layering they use. Hell, I think on one S.P. album, there are over 100 (i'm remembering 250) layers done for a guitar track!! That ain't cheap.
But I've gone on, and well, I'm prob boring most of you or annoyed you, you choose. I'm going to put on some early 24 track music and chill...........
posted by Anonymous at 3:38 AM

hmm eii all this talk abt NZ music..any ya guys know where to get these NZ music....psssttt the free cost way..??
other than thru' kazaa that is...
;p

posted by Anonymous at 3:34 AM

I'm starting to annoy myself even
Here's a streaming Real Player audio of the Napster radio debate between Chuck D. and Lars Ulrich.
It's quite a low samplerate, so it streams quite well.

How perfect is that shit?
- Dan
posted by Anonymous at 2:50 AM

The Roots: Ticket for Sale
Anyone want a ticket to The Roots?
$60 o.n.o for general admission ticket (cost price, less booking fee!)
e-mail: danieltaipua@hotmail.com
or just see me in the lecture
posted by Anonymous at 1:51 AM

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Sunday, October 05, 2003

Why do we have to collect music through internet? How many of you guys know that it is just 5 yuan for any latest album in China. ha, that's just $1. You can find that kind of store anywhere. They are doing their business publicly. Sure, they're illegal. But, do you care? Yeah...i...care, but i still buy it. Most people know that illegal copy will damage the music industry, but the same as me, they are buying illegal copy. Let's say, if there is this kind of stores in Auckland, which one you would choose? spend almost $30 on one album, or on 30 albums (latest album just what you can find in store). I'm not trying to support illegal copy behaviour. What i'm trying to find out is where the problem is. The problem is not on how much an illegal copy costs or how many people begin to collect their songs through internet, but on the music industry itself. I agree that copyright should be protected. Unfortunately, illegal copy exists for too many years; it cannot be stopped, huge demands exist. But I should admit that NZ is doing it very well. Almost, we cannot find illegal copy here. Then, what happened? When people find they can download music from internet by free, oh, that's amazing, how many people refuse to do that? and prefer to spend $30? Most people don't.

So the one, which mostly should be changed, is the music industry. Find a way to be friends with mp3 downloading, but not enemies.

By the way, there are some video stores in Auckland, from where you can borrow or buy the latest movies (CD, DVD, and even earlier than the premiere in NZ), which we absolutely could not find in Videoeszy, Blockbuster, or United Video, etc. Costs? $2 for any. They are illegal. Can you stop them? or Do you really want to...? Now what music industry gonna do?

posted by Anonymous at 3:26 PM

There are various ways to hear music though the internet. It became more difficult to gather MP3 though net but still some of streaming services(listening music in real time but not able to download) are available with formats of ASF, WMA, etc. I'm using WMA format for BGM of my personal homepage(changes by Guests' requests) but even if I reduce its quality to 44Kbps from 192~128Kbps of original mp3, it still takes size of about 1.5 Mbyts or even sometimes 3 Mbyes. It means it also need to time to downloads all WMA size.

^^* But you see, there is always an way to do. MIDI file is much smaller(usually smaller than 30Kbytes) Of course, quality of sound is... musch(?) lower than WMAs or MP3s but depend on how to use MIDI with HTML skills you can make quite nice looking things.

Here is what I made for... eh... the person who I like(^^;;). Well, it's in totally Korean language(I think code will be broken if you don't have font support program) so you might unable to read (sorry;;) But still, I think you can see an example how it works. It won't be a bad idea you save it as 'Save as' and edit its articles in English that you want.

[CLICK HERE] 


(It may needs few seconds to read background picture)
The Contents are few good articles about love... famous articles, etc.

Ex. (First paragraphs)

The word 'I love you' is not the always same.
There is a man who says 'I love you' to every woman he meets.
There is a man who can not say 'I Love you' even to woman he loves a lot.
These two 'I love you' never will be the same.

etc, blah blah~
Have a nice day!


posted by Anonymous at 3:31 AM

It don't matter if you rich and your folks ain't straight
Check out my boyz at:
www.fastcrew.co.nz
NZ hip-hop stand up. Word.

posted by Anonymous at 3:21 AM

MUD systems, with all the factors of anonymity, distance and flexibility brought into play, allow people to say what they want. That freedom is not always exercised to the approval of other players, and social systems which maintain cohesion amongst members of a MUD community have arisen. But the nature of what people do on MUDs does not provide a complete explanation of such systems--the nature of the people is just as important.A player of a MUD system is not a transparent medium, providing nothing but a link between external and internal cultural patterns, between actual and virtual realities. The player is the most problematic of all virtual entities, for his or her virtual manifestation has no constant identity. MUD characters need not be of any fixed gender or appearance, but may evolve, mutate, morph, over time and at the whim of their creator. All of these phenomena place gender, sexuality, identity and corporeality beyond the plane of certainty. They become not merely problematic but unresolvable. If anonymity on MUDs allows people to do and say whatever they wish, it also allows them to be whatever they wish. It is not only the MUD environment that is a virtual variable--the virtual manifestation of each player is similarly alterable, open to change and re-interpretation. The player does not constitute a fixed reference point in the MUD universe. Players do not enter into the system and remain unchanged by it. Players do not, in essence, `enter' the virtual landscape--they are manifested within it by their own imaginative effort.

posted by Anonymous at 3:09 AM

Hey kids, I thought Id actually get off my ass and do my first official blog. Im sorry if this is boring and if the subject is a repeat of other peoples, but hey im new at this aight?
OK lets begin...
Official blog number 1: Analysis of formal aspects of my three favorite web texts.

As a regular explorer of the web I find myself stumbling through three main genres of webpages, these being fashion, music and sport. So for my first blog entry Ive decided to guide you through three of my favorite websites at the moment. They are as follows...
1) www.kookai.com
2) www.hip-hop.co.nz
3) www.rugby.co.nz

To begin with my first website (www.kookai.com), I will be analyzing it according to three main elements, narrative, interface and aesthetics.As a whole this website is pretty simple, but this French label is represented well by supplying browsers with catalogues, news updates and the ability to search for stores world wide. Although there is currently no Kookai outlet in New Zealand, navigational cues on the interface direct you to a world map so you can look up the closest store to you, thus being any in Australia. There is no real narrative to this site aside from the fact that it is a fashion site. It is conventional and the 'usability' is ideal for any person as there is no complications to guiding your way through the many catalogues. Colour and spacing is simplistic providing an easy eye scan. All up if you're interested in a site with some amazing clothes, and know someone's who may be crossing the ditch soon look it up and get your orders in.( a little tip, be sure to click the 'English' button or else you may have some language problems).

With the approach of the annual 'Hiphop Summit' in Auckland I decieded to check out the latest on the New Zealand hiphop scene. www.hip-hop.co.nz was the obvious choice to get the news on all four elements of this music genre and culture. Being an extra in Scribes video 'stand up' ( yeah Im on it for 2 seconds before getting pushed away by some boys!) I was interested to read the latest postings on the sites bulletin boards. There is cues that led you to links covering lyrics, news, graffiti art and of course the latest in upcoming events. Nowadays the site is more simplistic, and boundaries have been set in place to add a sense of control to the site. The site is conventional in terms of its interface and has a real 'easy' feel to it. The typography is in tune with the theme of hiphop and graffiti and its references and links insure this site is credible and worth a look at.

And lastly with the kickoff of the Rugby World Cup just days away I thought I would get a last minute update on what's going on in New Zealand rugby right now. This site, like the two above is non sequential in narrative and provides many different links and sources of information under various navigational cues. This site is set around breaking news and telling results and commentaries of the latest games, being local or international. Its sources are reliable and texts are enjoyable to read. It is a pretty dense site with a lot of information placed on the main interface, but colour and bold headings lead you where you want to go. This site is easy to navigate very informative.

All three websites are interesting and relevant to upcoming events be it the Loreal fashion week or Hiphop summit in Auckland or the Rugby world Cup in Australia. They're easy to navigate and have easy structure to them. So check them out if you have a spare minute.

*phew one down nine to go - ratz!* peace.

posted by Anonymous at 2:17 AM

Yo! Bum Rush the Show
Have I made a constructive entry this week? My mind is a haze of mild rebuke.
At the forefront of issues with digital music production and distribution since they rose to infamy in the late-80's are Public Enemy.

PE's production team The Bomb Squad revolutionised sample-based production with their complex layering techniques, a combination of Marly Marl's classic "noise, hook and sample" structure and the emerging aesthetics of the "hip-hop sublime" where collage becomes collision - an explosion (ref. Straight Outta Compton) of dissonant-yet-inseparable, polyrhythmic sounds. It's like there's a party in your ears and someone invited Black nationalist guerrillas. PE recorded a number of raps toasting this technique, my favourite being 'Caught, Can We Get A Witness?' where Chuck D. defends the process of sampling by explaining how PE give the redundant historic texts meaning with their conscious rhymes. Also, The Bomb Squad pretty much did away with the bargain basement 303 and the 808 drum sequence sound that had previously dominated rap and had slowly crept into pop.

In his semi-auto biography 'Fight the Power' Chuck writes about his support for the MP3 technology in its earliest stages. Fed up with the regressive politics of their recording and distribution label of the time, Public Enemy became the first group in history to release an album 'Bring the Noise 2000' free-to-download in the MP3 format back in 1998/1999. In contrast to Metallica (who have recently recorded a collaboration with Ja Rule), Public Enemy lost none of their 'passion' for their music when the financial rewards were removed.

Public Enemy have spear-headed so many new media enterprises I can't possibly mention them all - pioneer internet radio stations, an album made up of remixes sent to them by members of their official website forum, webcast public service announcements - the list goes on believe me.

Here's a bunch of links:
Public Enemy Official Site
Rap Station Internet Radio
Slam Jamz Record Label
Live feed site
PE fan site
MTV recently pulled a PE video containing the phrase "Free Mumia". If you can't beat, shut 'em down.
posted by Anonymous at 2:09 AM

The topic of last weeks lectures - the media industry – has produced much interesting reading in the blogs this week. I don’t download music from the internet or CD-write copies of CD’s. If I like some songs from a particular artist I buy there album. Even if I only like 2 or 3 songs from a particular artist I enjoy buying their album to hear some of their other tracks that I wouldn’t get to hear otherwise if they are not played on the radio.

I am against CD writing and illegal downloading of songs from the internet as it is ripping off the artists and record companies - the hard work they have put into producing the album, the huge expense in promoting and marketing it, including the production of video clips. But I do agree that CD’s cost too much, but as someone else mentioned a large part of that is due to the mark-up that music/CD shops put on albums to make their own profit from selling the CD’s.

Now that people can get free downloads from the internet many would far rather do that than pay about $30 for an album. There needs to be more effort put into protecting the copyrights of artists and their material on the internet. Record companies should be creating alternatives of getting music on the internet (as downloading from the net is the trend of todays society), through legal sources that protect the artists copyright. Putting the artists music on the internet themselves and selling thedownloads at some cost (substantially less than a CD though) could perhaps work. To do this however they would need to wipe out all the illegal free music download website sand networks.

If they put as much effort into creating an alternative legal way of downloading music from the internet as they do complaining about it and trying to stop it happening then downloading music form the internet could work for both us (the poor consumers) and them (the artists and record companies).

posted by Anonymous at 1:57 AM

Near the end of the blog, Chris makes the point that rings true with me. It was relating to the fact that with falling revenues, companies will sign well known acts, and far less 'unknown' ones. I fail to see how the internet can lead to the rise of the unknown bands. With the fact that you can now buy puter programs that gives you studio quality sounds ( Pro tools etc ), recording is open to anyone, as well proven by Goodshirt. They recorded in the garden shed and a bedroom in Grey Lynn, i can see production costs comming down for the small bands, so cheaper to sign up. But, and here's the biggie for me, how the hell are these folk supposed to get known and start to earn money from their craft from the internet??? How many of you have "discovered" a NZ nabd off the net? And given the fact that a large part of the class admitted to free downloads, where is the money going to come from?? If they come form the "arsehole of the world" (Invercargill...as quoted by the Rolling Stones) do you think you'll ever, ever get to see them live if they have no money behind them?? Sure, you can play pubs and what ever, but what are you gunna sell afterwards?? Still, that way will take you years to get to a point of making money off that shit. Look at any unsigned NZ band. Poor as dirt. When do they start to make a living?? When a record company picks them up and has the funds to produce a silly amount of CD's, and can afford to promote the band(s) and help fund and PROMOTE tours.
Anyway, I'm ranting now, the whiskey is waiting and the phone is needed.
Nite Kids!!
posted by Anonymous at 1:49 AM

It’s an old, familiar, argument really. It’s sort of a “them vs. us” tug of war. The arguably rich record companies vs. the poor consumers. The rich Britneys in her Gucci vs. the poor consumers. The intellectual property rights vs. the wonders of digital freedom. We all know why we do it, and we all know the arguments for why we shouldn’t do it, but we still do, even though for some of us, the thought of copyright infringement nags for a fleeting nanosecond before we dismiss it when Kazaa connects. Music downloading is ubiquitous, and I suspect it will stay that way for some time to come. That is of course, until the record companies get focused and start thinking.

The record companies, I reckon, have got a tough battle to fight. It’s not a battle of the wits really, for no clever wits is necessary to engage or start-up P2P sharing over the Net. It’s more of a battle of persuasion. Consumers are saying, ”Until the day you can persuade me why I have to pay $30 for a CD with 80% of the tracks that I don’t want, I will continue getting my selection from the Net, the way I want it, as I please.” And record companies have almost given up on persuading. Instead, they’ve begun suing. An article in Businessweek “Global Downloading, Local Lawsuits” comments that the slew of legal assaults launched by the RIAA in the US won’t stop the free flow of music sharing in other countries. And indeed, for the Internet is borderless, and music downloading has become such a global phenomenon that it has become almost second nature to download for free, for some consumers.

The way I see it, it could be a long, and atrociously expensive battle for the record companies to start hauling file swappers into court. And we’re talking millions of financial resources that could be better used somewhere else, like developing a new business model to counter this rude wakeup call that suddenly, consumers have an alternative, FREE, mode of consumption. Efforts by record companies to apply a subscription model for music consumption have been lackluster. And the reason why it won’t work is simple: in basic Economic theory, why would rational consumers pay for music when an alternative channel allows them to get it for free? Yes, there’s the talk about stealing music and copyright infringement. But the average normal consumer doesn’t care about that really. It’s something to the tune of “my money vs. yours”. And when it boils down to that, and as Chris mentioned, there’s no law to really “punish” downloaders, hence making music downloading an “okay” act, consumers will continue to download. If not from Kazaa, then from somewhere else. And yes, that piece of music is still arguably worth its artistic content, but the price is no more tagged to the quality of the artistic content.

It then begs the question, “Are record companies up for the digital challenge?” They were far too slow in realizing that the war of digital freedom had already raged on. Now that it’s hit them hard in the face, are they doing anything constructive about it? I wouldn’t call subscription models constructive. At the end of the day, the fear is that record companies might become too obsessed in raging a war against file swappers that they have little resources and energy left to come up with refreshing and workable business models to new ways of music consumption. Because if they haven’t yet realized, music, to a layman consumer, whether it’s in the form of MP3 or CD, does not change its form. MP3 quality may be inferior, but it’s indiscernible to the layman. As Nur Azkiya puts it, she just wants her music in her way, and in the selection that she likes. And if record companies lose sight that the ultimate people they have to seduce are consumers, then they won’t be seeing much of their money, in terms of lost album sales, and yes, in those lawsuits.

posted by Anonymous at 1:33 AM

It is so popular to download MP3 on the net recently years, and that is convenience for many people. Also some of the people dont have enough money to buy a album, so they can download MP3 on the net for free. However, not much people think that it breaks the copyright of the producer and singers of the album. Producers and singers spend much of effort on their album, if everyone download the songs from the net for free that is unfair for them. If the situation get worse, most of the music company cannot maintain their production continous. Finally, consumers would lost diverse good quality music because the music company dont have enough money to maintain the production. Therefore consumers need to emphasis on the copyright on the product. Also, the producer can try to decrease the price of the album, so many people can afford money to buy the original one.

Not only album, but also computer software can downloand easily on the net. But i think that most of the computer software set the high price in the market. Being a student, it is not easily to afford to buy such expensive software on the market. Therefore, the computer company may consider to decrease the price of the software and it can encourage people to buy a origial product. :)
posted by Anonymous at 1:06 AM

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