last stop suburbia

My Eyes Burn

2008-06-23T20:06:00.003+10:00

Allister comes home in 9 days.

I'm really thankful that he is because lately I haven't been feeling like I have a lot of friends left. It's not like I was horrible or did something terrible to lose them all...I just feel as if everyone seems to be slipping a little further away by the day.

I've always been someone who relies fairly strongly on my friends. I don't have a solid home life so I tend to not have a stable support system there, so I turn to my friends as my support system, my family. I don't know though. I'm feeling fairly unpopular these days..not that I was ever popular...but I did have some great friends...it just seems to be hard to find them these days.

I'm a lot to take at times, I think. Sometimes I feel like my problems are harder for others to deal with than they are for me to deal with them. I've been doing it for a long time, and if it's all new to you, it's not an easy task. The feeling that there's nothing you can do to help, feeling bad all the time, guilty, it's not easy.

I think I've had to make the decision to do this by myself. I don't want to alienate my closest friends and lose them forever, so the easiest thing for everyone is for me to do this alone before I start losing everyone who matters to me.

I guess in a way it's about time I learnt to do it on my own. Afterall I can't always rely on other people to be there for me.

WWID - What Would Indiana Do?

2008-06-10T13:23:00.001+10:00

I arrived in Peru a few days ago with little known plans of what i would be doing in this vast country. The fact that i had only decided to come to Peru the day before i left meant that i was ill prepared for any plans i may have had. To tell you the truth i pretty much relied on the other guys in Ecuador to plan the trip we were on but having left them for more greener pastures it was time for me to get cracking. So first thing i did was to get buy a Lonely Planet Peru. But you know how i am, if theres a book i need to read i´ll read it, unless theres a movies about it and then im off to the video store to rent it. So rather than reading my Lonely Planet i invested 14 Soles (approximately $4) to go see the new Indiana Jones movie! Conveniently set in Peru, Indie gave me the best track to follow here in Peru. Heres a brief summary:

Lima – capital of Peru. A must on the places to see and do.
Nazca – directly from the movie. Hiring a plane to fly over the Nazca Lines.
Arequipa – Hiking and rafting through canyon country.
Puno – Lake Titicaca.
Cusco – Doorstep to the ancient Inca ruins surrounding it.
Machu Picchu – The highlight of my journey is the ancient city of Gods.

Then back to Lima and then Ecuador to meet up with Andy and then back to New York.

Indie would be proud.

- allister

From somewhere in South America

2008-06-07T06:50:00.002+10:00

You´re not going to believe me when i tell you this but stick with it anyway. Somehow, in a weird twist of fate with a story is far too long and complicated to get into right now, i have wound up in South America, backpack in hand, alone, with no Spanish to get me by whatsoever. Yeah i know.. I have trouble believing it too.

This isn´t going to be a long post, if you can consider this a post at all, because i have a plane to catch in a few hours and no its not to any Western civilisation but to yet another corner of this South American continent. Right now i´m in an empty hotel in the bustling city of Quito, Ecuador. I´ve been in Ecuador for about 12 days now. Its been an amazing experience traveling in a country with a culture so different to my own. Its just a shame i didn´t polish up my Spanish before i arrived here. (Hablas ingles?) But despite this little hiccup i´m still alive and well.

I´m flying to Peru tonight to visit the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, and the Amazon Basin. Hopefully i´ll be able to update with photos soon but right now i have a plane to catch. Hope all is well.

P.S. Sorry for the random post a year after my last but i thought it would be right to let you know i´m alive despite my current state of complete abandonment.

- allister

When everything falls apart.

2008-05-24T21:16:00.003+10:00

You ever feel like you just can't stay here anymore?

I feel like I'm suffocating and every day I ruin things a little more. Nothing I do improves things at all. I feel like everything would be better for everyone if I just stayed locked in my room. Everytime I do anything someone is unhappy, or someones life gets worse, along with mine.

Prac is really challenging, and being criticised constantly by an experienced teacher doesn't make it any easier to be 22 and standing in front of 12, 14 and 15 yr olds trying to trick them into thinking you're confident and know what you're doing. It really takes it out of you, physically and emotionally. It's impossible to get through without some sort of support. I don't think people can really understand how hard it is unless they've been through it.

It's really getting to me.

I don't really know what to do.

I feel like I spend my life trying to help people, but when I'm the one who needs help...there's no one around.

I don't know if this time I can do it by myself.

Sometimes it's just how it is.

2008-05-19T18:14:00.002+10:00

Sometimes bad things happen.

Sometimes it's just how it is.

The most important thing is that you get through it.

Let yourself be sad. Don't think you have to be ok straight away.

But know that one day...it will get easier.

Don't be ashamed to rely on people.

You don't always have to be strong.

Sometimes you need to just let it go and let someone else handle it for awhile.

Let someone else take care of you.

Sometimes bad things happen.

Sometimes...it's just how it is.

Why question it?

2008-05-10T23:08:00.003+10:00

People always tease me about never changing anything. I keep my hair the same way, have the same style of clothes, same style of shoes, I eat the same sandwich, the same meal at every place, get the same flavour of ice cream everytime since I was 5.

Triple Swirl.

Everytime.

I loved it. Why question it?

So I was thinking

2008-05-09T22:14:00.002+10:00

People confuse me. Then again, I confuse myself.

You ever wonder if there's some people who are just destined to be part of your life and you know this from the very beginning? I'm lucky, because I have some great people in my life. More than one and I think that's really rare.

But people still confuse me.

Sometimes I wonder if people really get me. I tend to form relationships with people really fast. If it doesn't happen quickly, then it's probably not going to be very significant. It's always been that way for me. Even the relationships that have failed. I think it's because I know straight up if this person is going to be important to me or not and once I've worked that out, I put in everything I have.

Sometimes I'm disappointed because the other person doesn't feel the same way. Sometimes I'm disappointed because the other person doesn't turn out to be who I first thought they were. Sometimes I'm disappointed because I feel like things are only one way. Sometimes things just don't work out at all.

But every now and then...something really good happens.

I think the one that works every now and then is what makes me keep putting everything I have into it. Most of the time, I can't help it. It's who I am. If I care about someone, which I either clearly do from the beginning, or not so much, then they get everything I have. I don't always know if this is a good thing or not. I guess if you're the other person, it is a good thing, but for me sometimes, people use it, they walk all over me, they take advantage of it and inevitably, it doesn't work in my favour.

I hate not knowing where I stand with people. Then again, I don't always like to classify things, sometimes it makes it more interesting when things aren't labelled, it means it's different, it's more than what you can label. I like that.

Yet...people confuse me.

Sometimes I really hate people. They make me angry. I don't know how some people can be the way they are. So narrow-minded. So ignorant. So selfish. So inconsiderate. So...crap.

It gets to me so much sometimes that I can't handle thinking about it. I get frustrated and angry so much so that I have to stop thinking about it or I'll start yelling at the nearest person about it. It gets to me so much that I am so angry and frustrated that I can't even speak. I mean...why do people have to be like that? Is it so hard just to be nice?

Apparently so.

No wonder when I meet a good one, I have to hold on. There's too many crap people in this world. So negative I know. It's hard to be positive sometimes when you can't escape people like that.

Though there's always one...always one person that surprises you and has an uncanny way of restoring your faith in people everytime you start to get really angry and hateful about the world.

Thank god for the rare good people.

And sarcasm...because let's face it, where would we be without sarcasm?

It's about that time

2008-05-08T20:27:00.002+10:00

Ok don't freak out., but I am about to post. I know weird huh? Especially considering this is a blog and all, but I do realise Allister and I have been MIA for quite some time now.
Here's the super fast rundown on whats been happening..
Allister is still in the U.S, he's about to leave for a trip to South America after which he'll be returning home to good ol' Brisbane and life as he once knew it. He's happy, safe, and had a blast over there, clearly too much fun as he has not posted once since he left.

Anyway..enough about him. As of today, I have officially finished my first semester of classes for my Master's of Teaching...are you proud of me? It was rough, not as rough as I expected, but definitely pushed me to my limits at times. I enjoyed some of my classes, English Method mainly. Uni has been weird this semester without my ever faithful sidekick Ashlie, but alas, I have survived with the help of some new recruits actually. I've met some cool new people, some from Bankstown, some from my uni who apparently I didn't even know existed in 3 years of Arts. To think I thought I was so popular I knew everyone.

Overall I'd have to say so far, this year hasn't been all that bad. The good has outweighed the bad in most situations. I have been questioning myself a bit though...apparently it's what teaching makes you do, as I've been told by someone smart I know. If you care to look below this post you will see the last post I made was about why I want to be a teacher. Those reasons are still really important to me, and they're definitely things I want to do, but there's so much more to teaching that sometimes I don't think I'm made for it.

I start prac next week for 4 weeks, where I'll actually be teaching. I guess after that we'll know. Sorry that I haven't been more interesting in this post. I'm really tired, did 2 assignments today, handed them in at 4:55pm (they were due at 5) so I'm kind of drained. I might post later on tonight with something a little more deep and thoughtful.

This Is Why

2007-11-26T22:00:00.000+11:00

John Steinbeck once said,

I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.

This is why I want to be a teacher.

To play a central role in helping to give people a path to knowledge, to help young people understand that with knowledge, they really can make a difference, and to show them that through literature, we are able to understand other people's lives, the world, and thus ourselves.

This is why I want to be a teacher.

To be able to show these young people that I can understand. To show them and help them understand that not everybody is the same. To show them and help them accept others for who they are and not for who society says they are. To help them understand that the world can be an amazing place if you have the right mind set. To show them that they are all capable of great things in life, they just need to find out what great thing it is they will contribute.

This is why I want to be a teacher.

To make sure these young people know that exams are not the end of the world. To make sure they know that there is a life after high school. To help them to understand that not everything in life needs to be dramatic. To help them understand that things will get easier. To make sure they know that there is always a reason to keep living. To show them there is always a reason to keep trying.

This is why I want to be a teacher.

Vote For Them!

2007-10-07T16:38:00.001+10:00

Check them out, they deserve your support!

2007-10-07T16:22:00.000+10:00

What I Will Miss

2007-08-10T21:58:00.000+10:00

Allister leaves in seventeen days. Although we've had a well working long distance relationship for the past six years of our eight year friendship, I will miss him.
I thought I'd make a list of the things I'd miss while one of my bestfriends is in another country for four months without me!

I'll miss:

talking to him on the phone every night.
messaging him when I think of something funny during the day that can't wait until his nightly phone call.
talking to him on msn in the middle of the day when no one else is online.
talking to him while he's counting money at work.
talking to him in his breaks at work and making him late.
saying "Hey I'm heading into Blacktown want to come?" even though we know its not actually possible, we still invite each other everywhere.
talking about everything.
never experiencing an awkward silence.
him coming down as much as possible.
him telling me stories about his day or the people in his life up there.
helping him with assignments (though that will probably still happen.)
being there to calm him down when he's freaking out.
talking to him at least 3 times a day.
telling him on a daily basis that I have 2 tickets to his gun show.
watching the office together.
singing songs from a certain movie which shall remain nameless.
not having to finish my sentences because he can.
playing games like guess The Office quote, or guess the F.R.I.E.N.D.S quote.
Survivor Night!
Amazing Race Night!
knowing that if I really needed him he's only an hour flight away and he'd always come.
being right there to make him feel better.
his yelling voice when he's not really yelling, "I DO DESERVE IT!"
having someone to talk to when you're bored and just want to have an easy conversation.
the in depth conversations about everything we think.
having someone who totally understands.
having someone right here that knows who I was and who I am now.
the comfort.
my bestfriend.

Hibernating

2007-07-17T08:59:00.000+10:00

Picture This

2007-05-22T23:09:00.000+10:00

I was sitting in my row looking around the hall, waiting for the ceremony to begin. I was surrounded by people whose last names started with H. I looked to my left and about six seats down was Mary Garcia. Mary had this huge smile on her face; she is possibly the bubbliest person in the weirdest way you’ll ever meet. The funniest thing about that is that Mary actually had bipolar disorder, but that day was obviously Mary’s day. She smiled at me and did this funny sort of wave because she thinks I’m cute, like a little kid. I smiled back, shyly and waved, I looked back down at the floor. I started remembering this night at Mary’s house about a year ago…

I went over with some friends; it was the first time I’d ever been there so I was a little nervous. We met her parents and they were really nice, they kept trying to feed us all the time because that’s what Filipino parents do. We spent the night singing karaoke and dancing, generally having fun like 14-15 year olds do, her mum told us some ghost stories while Mary’s dad was singing with the boys. Later on that night while everyone was falling asleep, Mary and I stayed up a little longer and had a conversation that I will never forget. Mary told me about when she moved to our high school, half way through year 8, and how she thought she’d never find somewhere to fit in, never find those friends that make you feel complete, she said she’d never had that at her old schools. She said that finding us that year had given her that feeling, the one where you know these people are going to be your friends forever, you know you fit in with them and that she was so glad she had finally found her place. She said that no matter how far she went in life, whether she became a singer, a writer, an artist or a child care worker, she would always remember the friends she made in year 9 and 10. She would always remember how they made her feel like she was part of something incredible, part of something life changing, and how they made her feel complete.

I looked back up from my seat back towards Mary; she wasn’t looking at me this time. I smiled again, she had no idea what I was thinking but I hoped she knew I loved her, and that I felt the same sense of completeness with her and the rest of our friends. I continued to remember my times with Mary fondly, I was brought back to reality by a tap on the shoulder, I turned around and it was none other than Jonathon Trott himself. Jonathon Trott, I don’t know exactly what I think of when I think of Jon, because he has been such a big part of my life for so long. Jon Trott, the boy who always seems to change but never really does, the boy who used to tease me in year 7, the boy who became my best friend in year 8. I think the thing that scares me most about Jon is how much I’m like him. We needed each other, Jon and I, I held his hand, so to speak, and he held mine. We did everything together. I looked at Jon as he told me something excitedly, something stupid no doubt, and I remembered this party we went to once…

Jason’s parties were always a big event, everyone from our grade, the one above, and the one below were there. This party in particular though, Jon had been drinking a little too much and had become rather sick. He was there with his girlfriend of the time, Melina, who was also a great friend of mine. As the night went on, Jon got worse; he ended up vomiting on Jason’s fence so I went over to him and rubbed his back. He didn’t know it was me until he looked up, he said, “Sarah, I thought you were Melina.” I told him that Melina was inside and didn’t want to go near him because he was so sick. He looked at me very seriously then and said, “Sarah…did I vomit on you?” I assured him he hadn’t. He began to tell me how it was funny that I was the one there patting him on the back while he was being sick and not his girlfriend who was avoiding him. He explained how it shows you who you can count on when the going gets tough. He continued to vomit until there was nothing left to bring up. He looked at me and told me that he was glad I was at the party. He assured me, that if I was ever vomiting I could count on him to be there to pat me on the back, always.

Jon was telling me about how he was planning to fall down the stairs when he went up on stage to receive his portfolio. I can only imagine that his ever faithful sidekick was doing the same thing. I searched the rows of people for Daniel; there he was first in line, as always, Daniel Austin. Daniel was sitting there, staring into nothing, as he tends to do, probably thinking about some amazing adventure he could go on, or drawing random pictures because that’s what Daniel does. Daniel was, you could say, the attractive member of our group, even though Jon was the popular one, Daniel was always the stud, and this was supported by the fact that he was an extremely nice person. I remembered this time when we all went to the movies and I spent most of the time with Daniel…

All of us had gone to the movies as a group to see Miss Congeniality, a movie which Daniel was not thrilled about seeing. He hadn’t seemed himself that day and I had been talking to him a lot about what he was thinking. Daniel had just recently broken up with his girlfriend and he was feeling down about it. He and I had always been close and he never seemed to have much trouble talking to me about his feelings, something he wasn’t at all comfortable with. We sat down next to the others and somehow ended up down one end of the row. Jon and some of the others were throwing popcorn at us, but Daniel and I continued to talk, we had no interest in the movie what so ever. Daniel told me how he felt horrible about breaking up with his girlfriend but he knew it was the right thing to have done. I asked him why he had felt so horrible, and he said, “I think I like someone else but I’m not sure because we’re best friends and I don’t want anyone else to get hurt.” I smiled at Daniel and we both sat in silence, knowing what the other was thinking, I put my head on his shoulder and he gently placed his head on mine. When we came out of the movie none of our other friends said anything to us, and Daniel and I didn’t need to talk about it anymore, we understood each other. As we all walked home that night, someone breaking off every now and then to head in their own direction, Daniel told me he loved me, and he always would, I told him it was ok, and I felt exactly the same way.

I looked at Daniel affectionately, I wondered what next year would be like with Jon, Daniel and I, the only ones left at our school. I was glad Daniel would be there, because I knew, from that night and everything else we’d been through together that nothing could ever stop Daniel and I being friends. I hoped that was true in the case of all my friendships, one in particular. A few seats up from Daniel I saw him, Allister Cruz. The boy who broke me, the boy who changed me, the boy who was always there, Allister really was the boy next door. Through everything, there was no doubt in my mind that Allister was my best friend. We had some amazing times together; Allister was the boy who showed me that you really could have moments in your life that seemed like they were from a movie. I had many with him, one in particular that changed my life forever…

We were walking to his house from mine, to do that you had to walk past the lake. It began to pour rain; we ran to the playground and sat under part of it so it would shelter us from the downpour. As we sat there, soaked to the skin, engulfed in each other and our conversation, I remember thinking how this was what it was like, this was one of those moments that change your life forever. This was one of those moments out of a movie. We had the greatest conversation of my young life that day in the rain, we talked about our fears, our dreams, and how we felt about life, about love, about each other. We laughed, we cried, we hugged, and we talked until we realised that the rain had stopped and the sun was out. We climbed out from under the playground and we walked back to Allister’s house. I remember feeling like there should have been a song playing in the background from the moment we climbed out from under the playground, a song to describe the moment, just like in movies. That day was one of those days that you’ll remember for the rest of your life, a day that you’ll tell your kids about, a day that changes who you are forever, and a day that changes everything. I remember thinking I couldn’t be happier right now, and I was so glad it was Allister who was there to make that moment happen.

Today I turned 19 and as I finished telling Natasha about my year 10 Graduation, my friends started singing happy birthday to me. I looked around my backyard at Mary, Jon, Daniel and Allister. They were all still here, Mary still bubbly and weird, Jon still the one to hold my hand or pat me on the back if I ever needed it, Daniel still the sensitive boy who loves a hug, and Allister, the boy next door who creates the moments in your life that you know you will never forget. He had flown down from Queensland to be here tonight, to create this moment right now, another moment from a movie, or perhaps, a story.

I wrote this story for a writing class at uni, I blogged it by Allister's request.

The Hero Dies In This One

2007-05-22T20:51:00.000+10:00

Whilst procrastinating as usual today, I actually, inadvertantly began doing my essay for Children's Literature. I began to think about the idea of the hero in stories and tales. In most cases, ultimately, the hero succeeds, they overcome their obstacles and win in the end. What intrigues me most about this concept of the hero is that it does not reflect reality what so ever.

I'm as big of a fan of Harry Potter as the next person, if not more so, we do not know yet, as the series is unfinished, whether or not Harry succeeds, we do however, assume that he does. I have read quite a few different children's books this semester as a result of this subject, and I've discovered, in most, the hero wins. Why do we teach children this? Granted, we do not want them to grow up without hope, or positivity, though we must prepare them too for the harsh realities of the real world.

If children grow up thinking that if they do things right, everything will turn out ok, it is simply a life of fiction, just like they have read in their books. I am a firm believer in not living negatively, but life is not always what you make it, no matter how hard you try. There are always obstacles, but unlike our ficitonaly heroes, we are not always able to overcome them. If this was the case then why is their such a high percentage of suicide among teenagers and young people? Is it because they realise that life doesn't always work out the way you want it too and this reality which they were never prepared for in their earlier years is simply too hard to deal with?

Where did this concept of the hero come from? Why is it such an integral part of literature, not only childrens, but also adults, literature in general, no matter what the genre, has a central character, a hero, whether or not it be the hero in the original sense, there is still one person who is successful in what they set out to achieve. There is also the concept of the anti-hero which we come across often in Shakespeare's plays, Hamlet is the primary example of our anti-hero, never able to act, but has all the qualities befitting a hero. The anti-hero usually has a fatal flaw which causes him to never reach his heroic potential, Hamlet's being procrastination. Ironic as I am writing this, Hamlet and I share that fatal flaw.

I think the overuse of the hero within literature forces an unnatural idea into children in particular as they are gaining influence from many areas. For the most part there will be two different reactions to the hero and their role in literature. Either the child will accept it, depending on their outside influences, for example, if they are brought up in a loving environment with a happy childhood, they are likely to think the hero can exist in the real world. However, if the child has unfortunately, experienced a bad childhood, they are likely to become angry with the hero, believing they have been cheated of this experience, or that this hero could never exist in the world they know.

I do not believe this hero exists. In this one, the hero dies.

A shotgun post.

2007-05-08T01:06:00.000+10:00

Its’ been so long since I’ve last updated that I think I’ve forgotten how to this blog thing works. But it’s always the case with me until one of my friends threatens me with physical harm if I don’t update soon. So here’s an update, purely out of fear so excuse my hastiness.

Shotgun post – heres goes:

I want to say that allot has happened since I last updated but I’m not sure how to sum it all up in one post. So I won’t. But here’s the most important part..

I received my acceptance letter in the mail the other day for my semester abroad. (Yes I’m still doing that, and no I’m not just going through a phase.. its really happening!) If all my plans go well I’ll be leaving for Montclair State University in a matter of months – in August in fact. By the amount of times this blog gets updated it would seem like even less time has passed. I’m still currently in the process of filling out the endless forms and worrying about financial stuff. It looks tight but I’m sure I’ll have enough money to do all the crazy amazing spectacular things I plan on doing.

Here’s the part that scares me. I’m living in the dorms with 800 other people. And that’s just my dorm complex there are about 6 or 7 other complexes around campus. I feel so insignificant.. But my ego will compensate. Actually the dorm complex that I’m staying in is insanely decked out with all the perks. It has a pool, a gym, a basketball court, cable TV and internet in all the rooms, an entire building for recreation and even a police post. Which justifies its equally insane cost for living in the cool part of the campus.

That’s all for now. I have a 3 hour pre-departure briefing tomorrow morning which I’m sure will leave me freaking out over other things to worry about. But more on that another time!

LATER DAYS!

Highlight of Everyone's Year!

2007-04-11T17:05:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I took part in the everlasting tradition of The Royal Easter Show. Now for those of you not from Sydney, Australia, you may not even know what this is. Let me let you in on a little secret guys, you're missing out on one of the best and most cherished traditions of my life.

The Royal Easter Show is the largest annual event hosted in Australia and has been running since 1823. Basically it's a show where they have events like woodchopping, dirtbike riding, they have a fruit and veg section where you can go and look at huge pieces of art made from fuit and vegetables, they have artwork on display, lifestyle areas where you can find the latest in cooking, food, garden tools etc, there's a big area on animals, farm animals, dogs, cats, rabbits, horses, cows, everything you can think of, there's also rides and toys, all kinds of competitions and of course, THE SHOWBAG PAVILION!

There is an immense amount of tradition involved in each individual's trip to the show. I'll give some insight into mine. First off, whether or not you actually enjoy woodchopping, you must go and watch at least one event as I did yesterday. At the woodchopping you are able to witness competitors from around Australian and New Zealand of all ages. This is my favourite event below.

The next tradition is the showbag pavilion in which you are overcome with a childlike fascination for bags of different sorts filled with things you will never use again. If you leave the show without at least one showbag then you are not having the full experience, yesterday I bought the Spongebob Squarepants bag which contained a satchel bag, a laptop cover, fluffy dice, a pen, and magnets all of the Spongebob persuasion.

The third tradition in which you must take part is the stalls, World Bizarre, Kids World, and the Coca Cola Zone all contain a variety of stores which contain random things, some of which you are not able to obtain anywhere but the show.

The fourth tradition is that of the Art, Crafts and Fruit and Veg area. Here you will find different artworks from around Australia done by people of all ages. You will also find things like cakes, knitted things, sculptures, and food stores containing new foods and different foods you might not find in Coles. This is what we call the "parent section" it contains showbags like...The Better Homes and Gardens showbag, and the New Woman showbag, things like that. However, we do find the fruit and veg artwork here which if you don't see this at the show, you cannot say you have been to the show. That's a picture from one of the fruit and veg artworks, all that you see there is made of different fruits and vegetables put together to make beautiful artworks like that.

Here is some pictures of Natasha and I at the show yesterday...

This is Natasha and I with our Alien sippers, another show tradition, you must buy a crazy sipper and use it all day, and that's pretty much the only time you'll ever use it, but it is fun while you're there.

This was new to the show this year and it's the worlds biggest portable ferris wheel, Natasha and I, being show veterens had to take part in this new event so here's some pictures of us on it.

Here's a shot took of the view, straight down..

I'll leave you with some photo's of us mucking around, but if ever you get a chance to come to Sydney try and do it around the beginning of April and go to the Royal Easter Show, there's nothing else like it.
Peace Out Guys

Uni Alone Sucks!

2007-04-05T12:53:00.000+10:00

Hey all

Im at Uni right now and I'm all by myself because my apparent friend Ashlie dogged me and didn't come when she said she would! Although Allister saved me from complete and utter loneliness for about 20 minutes I am still very very bored. I haven't been by myself at Uni since first year. It always seems to be that you can find someone you know, or at least someone you've said one word to before. Alas it is almost 1pm at which time I shall have friends again. Damn lonely computer lab room. I will update with something mildly interesting tonight, though no promises of it being interesting. I hope you're all good, oh and I am now going to update you from time to time on mine and Allister's US trip progress.

Current Amount Saved: $2713
Goal: $5000
Time Left: Approximately 7 months
Starting City: New York

Wish us luck guys, it's going to be a trip and a half. Oh and if you don't know him check out Ryan's blog who lives over there in the good Old U S of A, we may be making a stop over at the Garwood Space Center(His blog's name) to visit him.

Ok I'm going to track down some people I know and hold them hostage until I have class at 2, Australian Textual Studies, here I come.

Peace Out

Quad Biking, and such..

2007-03-05T22:49:00.000+11:00

So it's been awhile since Allister has returned to his usual post of sunny, boring old, Q.L.D. I must admit good, fun, old Sydney is never the same without him, I mean for starters I have space in my room again, but hey, we really do miss you down here buddy. I thought I would give you guys an update on what's been going on in Sydney since then and hopefully Allister will follow suit and update you on Caboolture life.

I started back at Uni last week and I must say, I've got a fairly easy load this semester. Thanks to the horrors of Summer School, I only have to do 3 subjects. One of which is called Children's Literature, I mean, how hard could it be? I only have to go two days, well technically four, but who wants to be technical? I'll give you some updates on my reading material and crazy class antics a little later in the semester.

For now, I thought I would post some pictures of Quad Biking, remember when we told you about that? No? Well please read post below before continuing.

That day, it rained more than it had in years in Sydney and we got soaked. I was extremely muddy as you will see in the photos, but man it was a blast. If you haven't done it, I suggest you try it because it was one of the best and most awesome things I've ever done.

That's me, Allister, Jon and Bec getting ready to take off on our practice around the cones.

That's me and Allister taking a break. Take note of the mud behind us, that's what the whole track was like, except add some huge water puddles, imagine mini lakes, yeh we went all terrain baby.

So that was our quad biking adventure, I had a blast while Allister was here, it's always sad to see him go, but it's back to reality. Speaking of which I better go and get to some of my readings.

Until next time kids...Stay Clean, Stay Focused.

Good friends, good times

2007-02-13T00:31:00.000+11:00

So it's the last night for Allister in Sydney. He's currently packing, it's 12:34am, we have to leave for the airport at 5:30am, we're going to be a lively party tomorrow(today actually). To have a final hurrah, we went home after quad biking today, which was awesome, but we'll post about that later, and then out to dinner tonight with old friends. The old crew, Mary, Audrey, Allister, Me and Jon all went to dinner at Hogs Breath, and then to Krispy Kreme. We had a great time just hanging out, talking, and reminiscing about the old days. It's always good to catch up with old friends and fall back into your comfort zone with people who you have grown up with. There is always a different kind of comfort when you spend time with people who really know who you are and who you were.

Live from Sydney

2007-02-11T22:31:00.000+11:00

Morning campers! Here's something new, this post comes from both of us (ie, Sarah and Allister) via live satellite from Sarah's room in Sydney. It was Sarah's 21st birthday party last night so I (ie, Allister) flew down for the festivities. We're both extremely tired from extensive partying and lack of sleep. Tomorrow we're heading into the muddy terrain for some serious offroad action (ie, quadbiking). Camoflage jumpsuits, army boots and protective WW1 german helmets style. We'll post pictures tomorrow night.

Here's proof that we do actually know each other, and occassionally can be seen together in the same state. Don't we look comfortably natural in this dynamic downward shot? (There were many photos taken before we settled on just the right one [ie, 89]).

We (ie, Alister and or Sarah) will try to post again soon.

Office love

2007-02-01T00:55:00.000+11:00

7 Days

2007-01-31T15:26:00.000+11:00

Wow, haven't I been missing in action for quite awhile now? So much for me taking over while Allister was away. I have been busy, it's not just because I'm lazy. I did three weeks of summer school, The Musical, what a thrill that was, we'll see if I passed. I also got a new laptop, a Sony Vaio, what I have wanted for oh so long. I spent most of my time with Natasha who's parents were in Japan for a month, that was a blast too.

More importantly though, and the reason I actually came here to update is because it is exactly 7 days until my birthday. Not just any birthday mind you, my 21st birthday. I honestly can't believe it. I feel so old, knowing Allister is older than me always helps, but I actually do, for the first time, feel like I'm getting older. This is it, the next big birthday is 50, how depressing. Though me, the ever reliable one to live in denial, I'm just going to forget that fact and have a party with all my friends and lots of puff dogs(hotdogs wrapped in pastry).

I am currently sitting on the couch watching season 6 of Dawson's Creek. Yes I'm sure you're all shocked, but I am a loser in that way. Love my Dawson's Creek. 7 days until my birtday, 10 until Allister gets here, woohoo!!!

You're all invited to my 21st!!!

I love free internet

2007-01-27T21:44:00.000+11:00

On my way home to Australia. Just a quick (10 hour) stop over at Singapore. Fortunately Changi airport is fully equipped to keep me busy for 10 hours. Just came back from a tour of the city. Very nice. Systematic and clean - something I've been somewhat missing for the passed five weeks. I fell asleep in a massage chair for a while when I woke up it was already dark. I still have another 5 hours until my plane leaves. I would indulge in some last minute vacation spendings if it weren't for the fact that I lost my wallet yesterday. Grr. Oh well.. Next time you here from me I'll back safe within the confounds of suburbia. Till then, over and out.

Boracay

2007-01-25T15:06:00.000+11:00

My friends, i have found heaven. And it is in Boracay.

Thrilla in Manila

2007-01-15T22:47:00.000+11:00

I’m 3 weeks into the great Philippines adventure and I gotta tell you that I’m enjoying every day. There was that brief week or so that I was struck down with ‘dump-itis.’ That’s what too much local food does to a foreign stomach.

I’d love to write down all the awesome things I’ve done while I’ve been here but its been so long since I last updated that a quick recap of a few things.

Today began the tropical island portion of the vacation. This morning we woke up in beautiful Pagodpod the northern most point in the Phillipines. Imagine walking onto a postcard of your favourite island getaway. I had to send a few people a snapshot and a short video of the beach to a few of my friends through my phone. Maybe Sarah can upload it here later.

Later in the day we went to Baluarte where the animals actually roamed free among the visitors. You’ll never get as close to the animals in any Australian zoo. The only thing that kept me from petting the lions and tigers was my fear of violent flesh tearing feeding. The orang-utans were my absolute favourite animal. Their natural curiosity is amazingly infectious.

Last week was my cousin Ruth’s wedding. In my whole 2 wedding experience Ruth’s wedding was definitely the most lavish. Reception was held in the ruins of an old Philippines city – the famous ‘Walled City.’ Great food, great lighting effects, and fireworks to boot.

That’s it for now. Photos to come!

One last thing – Illyria I tried logging back into my wordpress account with no luck! Where abouts are you in Manila?? Are you living here or just on holidays aswell?

LATER DAYS!

Toto, I don't think we're in the suburbs anymore..

2006-12-24T15:54:00.000+11:00

Somewhere in the middle of a busy Manila mall I'm sitting in an internet/ gaming store on a computer riddled with spyware and adware. At least it is sufficient enough for my to update my blog.

Having only landed last night its safe to say that I'm still gathering my cultural bearings. As soon as I stepped of the plane I realized that I had been away from the Philippines for longer than I thought. I was born here and moved to Australia when I was only 4 years old. For almost my whole life I've lived in a western society so coming back here over a decade later is tough. Last night I saw a mother and her infant children sleeping on a city street. Their makeshift beds literally a meter away from a busy city road. I can't get the image out of my mind but the sad reality is that images like that are not uncommon here. One thing is for sure, I have a new found appreciation for all my blessings.

Seeing all my relatives again was amazing. My Grandmother, the matriarch of our family, is an incredibly dignified and beautiful woman. Seeing her again was worth the whole trip. Communication between us is can be very difficult though what with my little ability to talk tagalog. If nods, head shakes and smiles were the national language here I'd be set. My uncle, Tito Bong, is a really cool guy. Ever since I was a kid it seemed like this grown up was just a big kid. And I'm not just saying that cause he reads this blog. (Which surprizingly he still does, Hi Tito.) Its funny when you haven't seen your cousins for years and when you finally do you still expect them to be as small as you remember. Apparently people grow when you don't see them.. Who'd have thought. They are all just as nice and friendly as I remember them. They're taking us around town today showing us the do's (and don'ts) of the Manila.

I've got 5 more weeks of what my dad would like to call "re-filipino-ization." Stay tuned to see how it all goes!

- AL

Happy Holidays

2006-12-23T04:45:00.000+11:00

Hey gang. Hope you’re all enjoying your holidays. I’m actually spending these holidays with my family and other relatives in the Philippines. Leaving in about 4 hours and I still haven’t finished packing yet. I’ll be gone for about 5 weeks. I’ll try to update as often as I can when I can. In the meantime please enjoy the blog stylings of Sarah Jane!

Have a safe and happy holidays. Merry Christmas and a great new year. See you all in the ’07!!

- allister

Geeks in the workplace

2006-12-22T04:16:00.000+11:00

The thing that I love about The Office is that it has given birth to a cult like underground following for avid viewers not that much different from myself – the geeky quirk driven humour junkies. Together we chant “that’s what she said” during random parts of conversation, we like when our stationary in jelly, oh and we know who started the fire. You’re a fan when your friend asks you “What kind of women are you into?” and your answer is “Receptionists.”

Another great thing about Office fans is that they can burst into creative genius such as one fan on this fansite. The following is a floor plan of the Dunder Mifflin Scranton Branch right down to seating arrangements à la season 2.

That is effin cool.

Face lift

2006-12-20T04:29:00.000+11:00

Playing around on photoshop the other day and I came up with this:

Which lead to this:

And then finally this:

What do you think?

Here is our ‘before’ shot of our old design just for comparisons sake:

Putt Putt and Free Hotdogs

2006-12-19T16:22:00.000+11:00

Last Wednesday I went to putt putt with my uni friends, Natasha and Alex. We went to Putt Putt in Ermington, which is the best putt putt in town. We were suppose to be leaving at 7pm but we didn't end up leaving until after 8pm because Brianna was late. It was a great night though and I recommend a night of putt putt for you all, it's great fun and its always good when you win, like I did, and as an extra bonus because we were there when it was closing, we got free hotdogs, what's better than free hotdogs you ask? NOTHING!

Christmas comes early

2006-12-06T15:29:00.000+11:00

Just thought I’d share with you one of the best Christmas presents ever! Ash gave me an early present this year. I wasn’t expecting much so I was really surprised when I open the wrapper to see a 5 disc collection of the ENTIRE X-Men the animated series. Not just one season – oh no – all 5 seasons! You can’t get that anywhere! Looks like I’m having an X-Fest these holidays (No not a porn fest).

It was nicely topped off with a classic framed photo of the one and only Kristin Kreuk aka Smallville’s Lana Lang who I am (I think it’s safe to say) obsessed to no end with. Of course Kristin comes second to Cathy, but hey, I have a million photos of Cathy already. I only have 999,999 of Kristin so that makes it ok.

Merry EARLY Christmas!

GPA = Gigantic Pain [in the] Ass

2006-12-05T03:37:00.000+11:00

It hasn’t been the easiest semester for me that’s for sure which added to my anxiety about seeing my GPA. I’m doing pretty well in terms of my GPA so far. I’m hoping to keep it up to help me get a better shot at attaining a scholarship for my exchange program next year. A few grand travelling money wouldn’t be bad don’t you think?

Results for the semester were released today. Fortunately I managed to keep up the good grades and even pushing my GPA the tiniest bit higher. (0.53 higher in fact, not much but it’s in the right direction.) I was sure my disastrous foray into the world of public relations would pull me down fore sure. Looks like the PR goddesses were kind on me giving me a 69% overall. (Strange seeing as that my highest grade in that class was a 68% - Oh well.. who loves bell curves?? I DO!!)

So my GPA lives to fight another semester.

Letters from a lazy bumhole.

2006-12-01T02:46:00.000+11:00

I guess calling me a bumhole works in encouraging me to update. And with that the temporary hiatus for last stop suburbia comes to an end. (Haven’t we said that before?) I don’t really have an excuse as to why I’ve stopped updating. I’ve got all the time in the world now that I’m on holidays but I usually spend my time doing nothing at all.

I’m usually not online much these days except for when I’m checking emails and stuff. But that’s not exactly true. I do have to come clean with my recent downfall into my own hypocrisy. As some of you may know, I am an avid supporter of blogs over the various profile pages. I may have even been quoted as saying ‘myspace is the devil.’ Well it seems that I’ve made a deal with the devil in the form of a myspace account. Yes I do have a myspace page there I said it. Judge me accordingly to it if you wish. But I still do prefer the old blogger that the mysapce – honest.

I have to leave to drive Cathy to the airport at 3am in the morning. She’s on her way to her seven week around the world vacation. Damn she’s lucky. So in just a few hours she’ll be on a plane to America, England, France and Hong Kong. I’m sure I’m missing a few smaller places but those are what counts. Seems that her excitement is keeping me from sleeping too. If you’re reading this from a far off destination Cathy, hope you have an amazingly mind blowing life changing experience. Be safe and come home soon. Big Love!

Not much else to say at this very early hour of the morning. Hopefully I’ll update later on with a proper rundown of our situation. Thanks for sticking round and not bailing on us. Hope you guys are well and enjoying your holidays and hope to catch up with you soon!

- al

Something a little more serious

2006-11-30T15:59:00.000+11:00

Last Saturday was White Ribbon day, and I wanted to talk about it a little bit.

I am a strong supporter of this cause, and I think everyone should be. Why anyone would not want to support stopping violence against women is beyond me. Though I'm not sure any amount of fundraising, or help available to the victims is ever going to put an end to domestic violence. It's really sad, because over 3 million women, from the age of 5 experience some sort of violence bother physical assault and sexual abuse.

The issue of violence against women is bad enough on it's own without considering the things it leads too. Thousands of women commit suicide every year, I'd hate to know how many of these suicides are a result of some form of violence.

I continue to support the campaign to stop violence against women, yet I don't think it is an issue that can be solved. I hope though, that it helps at least one woman, or person speak out about the violence they're enduring, because no one deserves it, no matter how much they are made to feel like they do.

I'm sure every one of you reading this knows at least one person who experiences or has experienced some sort of violence, whether you actually know it's happening or not. If you do, try to help them because you can feel very alone when you're in that situation, and that is the last thing they need. Usually, the best thing you can do for them, even if you can't stop it all the time, or change it, is talk to them, and make sure they know they're not alone.

You never are alone.

Down Hill

2006-11-28T17:13:00.000+11:00

Wow, things really seem to be falling apart here at Last Stop...

BUT WAIT! HAVE NO FEAR!!! SARAH IS HERE!

That's right, here I come to save the day! In honour of the festive holidays I have decided to save the fate of our dear blog here and keep the posting going, you too Allister you lazy bumhole.

So guys, girls, and animals, it is leading up to my most favouritest time of year....CHRISTMAS! Now the fact that I am not religious at all plays no part in this ok? I love Christmas for many reasons, most of which I am going to bore you all with right now.

1. My house always looks like Santa's workshop threw up in here.

That's right, my mum goes a little nuts at Christmas and we have an awesome time going through all the Christmas sections of all the shops. She gets a little excited and with the rough year we've had, I think we deserve to have a little fun, don't you? So out come the lights, out comes the tree and 50, 000 000 different Santa's, because you know you need one that sings, one that dances, one that sings and dances, and of course, one that just stands there, and when the kids ask, what does it do? I have to say, "Whatever it does, it's doing it now." Then we have the different hanging things, like bells, and bows, and green stuff, and card holders, and more bells, with of course, more bows. It's insane. We also have our fair share of assorted reindeer, though my mum is against having anything that snows because it doesn't actually snow here at Christmas, no, instead it's 40 degrees and we all go swimming. This year, however, we have added to our assortment a new little village, which has lights and a working little train, though we already have a train that goes around our tree...crazy isn't it?

2. I get to hangout with my family who is, for once, actually in a good mood.

Yeh I don't spend much time with my whole family, usually just my parents, minus my brother. Though on Christmas I am forced to spend time with everyone together and it works, for the most part, but it only ever works on Christmas, because we are your typical dysfunctional family....but isn't everyone?

3. I get to give my friends and parents and little cousins awesome presents.

I love giving people presents, it's one of the best parts of Christmas I say, it's fun watching them open their present with such anticipation only to be disappointed with the tshirt with my face(A4 size of course) right smack bang in the middle of it....come on, who doesn't love a Sarah T-shirt?

4. I don't have to worry about Uni work, or work at all.

I hate work, and for the holidays I don't have to worry about it, even if it's just for two whole days, I am always grateful. My parents don't have to worry about work either which generally puts them in a better mood and makes everyone happier all round, contributing to my second reason.

So they're my main reasons for loving Christmas...now I have to go to tutoring, god knows what these kids can possibly learn from me, but have fun counting the how many times I mispelt Christas.

Now On To All Things Allister

2006-11-04T10:27:00.000+11:00

2001- Yr 10 Graduation- Just before Allister moved

Allister and I, as many of you know, have been friends for about 8 years now, so I like to think I know him pretty well. What I do know is that he doesn't like to be fussed over, and he's not one of those people that says that but really means, make a big deal over me. Today is Allister's 21st! So everyone sing Happy Birthday!!! (For the record Allister this isn't a fuss) But because he hates a fuss, I'm not there with him right now, and I wasn't there on Friday night when he went out with his friends. You could tell how excited he was about it because I talked to him during the day on Friday and he was extremely angry, and stressed. He smiled once when I told him too, and after that he was ok. Then of course, he went out and had a great time with his friends as I told him he would....but anyway, on to his yearly birthday blog.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLISTER!!!!

So like I said I've known this guy for almost 8 years and I have to say, he really is my favourite guy in the entire world. It gets really hard sometimes because I don't have another friend that I have the same relationship with and I really need him, but I see him a fair bit for someone who lives in another state an is as busy as me, so that keeps happy.

I have to tell a story, because thats what we do on Allister's birthday. Instead of telling a story from year 10 which is what I did last year, I'm going to tell a story about a time when he came back to visit. Our yr 12 formal. Allister really is the token nice guy. Although he tries to be tough and changed since he went to QLD but he will always be the nice guy to me, and our yr 12 formal really does prove that.

He flew down a day early to surprise me and we just hung out and had a blast until the night of our formal. The day of our formal I was trying to decide how to have my hair, Allister and I were watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S and he decided he wanted me to have it like Pheobe. We went to the hair dressers and he sat waiting with me while I got it done for 2 hours, and didn't complain once. We came home and it started raining. I was freaking out because we were suppose to meet our friends for photos in a park and it was pouring. He calmed me down and listen to me freak out instead of getting angry and telling me to shutup. I continued to freak outa dn then got dressed and was still freaking out so he said "Do you want me to get dressed? Will that make you feel better?" I said "Yes please" and he did. When I came out, he was already dressed, because stupid boys take 5 minutes to get dressed, I walked out and he smiled at me and told me I looked amazing, better than yr 10, I said..."really?" He said "Yeh definately".

So we went to the formal and he put his arm out for me to take as we walked up the stairs. We danced and had dinner then we went and sat down together on the lounge, Allister with his arm around me told me what an awesome time he was having, and I couldn't have agreed more. It really was one of the best nights of my life. You have to admit, I did have the best looking date in the room...ahaha.

Happy 21st my friend..You've been my best friend since we wre 14 and I know you always will be. (That was a bit lame)..but keep rocking buddy, you mean the world to me, and I'm glad we're still able to hangout like nothings changed and be completely comfortable everytime you come back here.

I'll see you in February...

2006- Allister's last visit

A Man Who Really Knew What It Meant To Never Grow Up

2006-10-18T20:20:00.000+10:00

I too apologise for my lack of posting, not that any of you really seemed to care that I hadn't updated. Seems Allister is the popular write on this blog. Anyway, I have good reason also....I was going to update quite a few times in the past few weeks, but it's been a bit of a rough time.

Two weeks ago yesterday my uncle sadly passed away. It was sudden and unexpected and I think that's the worst way it can happen. He had two heart-attacks and stopped breathing for more than 10 minutes, so he almost definately had some degree of brain damage. He was living in Brisbane at the time and he has two young children, Alex, 12 and Ella, 8. I am very close to Alex and Ella, and I was very close to him. He was my mums baby brother and my nans youngest child. It was a horrible thing to have to go through, for my mum and my nan in particular, I'm a firm believer that a parent should never have to bury their child.

I loved my uncle Peter, I knew him two ways during my life, the first was as my playful uncle. Peter never needed to be asked to come down on the floor and play with my brother and I, he was always already there waiting for me to play with him. Whatever new game I had brought or made up, he was ready to play and he always thought it was the best game ever invented.

The second way I knew Peter was as my friend. As I got older I talked to him more and more and I always loved that he was genuinely interested in my life, my schooling, and my interests. He was always ready to tell me how well I was doing at school or uni, and how proud he was of me. I think the thing he was most proud of though was the fact that I inherited his sense of humour. He would tell me joke after joke and I would laugh and tell him how lame it was, but he always thought it was the funniest joke in the world. He always wanted to be cool uncle Peter, and through his corny jokes and playful ways, he really was cool uncle Peter. We had a lot in common, we liked the same music, the same movies, the same tv shows, and I always felt he was closer to my age than my mums.

I hope he's safe where ever he is, and I hope he knows how much I love him, and how grateful I am for having had such a great uncle for 20 years.

The epitomy of Peter's fun personality

Me, Alex and Ella when they were a little younger

We apologise for the inconvenience

2006-10-18T19:28:00.000+10:00

Here at last top we like to pride ourselves on our flakey natures. We understand that you, our loyal readers, enjoy our constant and prolonged bouts of laziness. What can we say? We’re people pleasers. But its now time to take off the ‘Be back in 5 minutes’ sign which has been hanging for about 2 months (has it really been that long?) and get back to suburbia.

…

And it’s at this point where I realise why we haven’t updated in months.

…

I’m currently neck deep in final assessments and drowning in my own procrastination. If you’ve seen or spoke to me in the passed week you’ve probably heard of my unrelenting Public Relations assignment due on Friday. Even though I’ve been complaining about it for the passed week I am still yet to make a convincing effort to start it. Just thought I’d spread the love before I go back to ‘not’ doing anything about it.

There is one thing I probably should have updated about during our hiatus and that was my recent trip to Sydney to catch up with the other half the last stop equation. Long story short, parents recently bought new car and decided at the last minute to take it for a test drive. Where else to test drive a new car but interstate? So the 16 hour test drive ended us up in Sydney. Because of the last minute out the door dash I wasn’t able to actually plan anything with my old friends, so it was more of a door to door get together than anything else. But we stayed for a week and I had an awesome time. Such a relief to get away from work and uni for a whole week and just enjoy myself. I have to say that I haven’t laughed as hard as I did that whole week compared to one whole semester here in Queensland. It’s amazing what good old friends can do for the soul.

If you’re from work you’ve probably realised that I didn’t actually have diarrhoea that week. Instead I was partying it up in Sydney. Please don’t fire me.

Hopefully this will help last stop get off its lazy feet and updating once again. That is until the next bout of laziness kicks in.

Happy 21st N-rod

2006-08-20T01:27:00.001+10:00

Just some photos from David’s big 21st last weekend. Had an awesome time.

Debbie and Hans attacking the party balloons. First part of the night was in a fancy function room where we had dinner, drinks and speeches. - Must've cost a fortune.

..then it was time to boogie

After party shenanigans.

The last of the partiers.

Thanks to Debbie who took all these photos who ended up taking almost 90 in one night. The rest of the photos are on Debbie’s Multiply site which can be found here.

21st’s are fun.

Long Awaited

2006-08-18T19:37:00.000+10:00

Finally, the long awaited next movie from Zach Braff is here. The Last Kiss also staring Rachel Bilson and Casey Affleck comes to cinemas on September 15th. So make sure you go and check it out and represent our man Zach. It really does look like an awesome movie, if you want more information,or just want to check in with Zach, go to www.zachbraff.com and check it out.

Here's a little treat for all you Braff/Garden State/Scrubs fans out there, this is the preview for The Last Kiss...you can thank me later.

Damn

2006-08-16T00:27:00.000+10:00

I knew i should have never quit the guitar..

Coded

2006-08-09T15:06:00.000+10:00

Was watching CSI Miami the other night. (Onetofhmyefavourite shows on at the moment. There’s nothing betterktoidolonlaeSundayrnight that to watch CSI Sunday!) The episode was tilted ‘Silencer’- seasoni4sepisode 85 for those of you playing at home - which followed the shootingtofhaneexecutive in broad daylight. Her companyCisEunderOinvestigation and the plot thickens as the CSIs discover a company blog which talks about the murder through hidden codes in the text. Find out who killed the executive by decoding the code hidden in this post.

Making noise

2006-08-06T17:13:00.000+10:00

It’s unfortunate that the voice of today’s youth go largely unheard. Mainly due to the preconceived notions that young people are nothing more than rude, self absorbed hormone factories who are insensitive to the more important issues that surround them. In all honesty, I admit to holding teenage youth to these stereotypes. Believe me, I’ve been known to proclaim ‘all hope is lost in today’s youth’ on more than one occasion. Which is why coming across a level headed clear thinking young person is a rarity in itself. And when I come across a few thousand of them coming together and speaking out, well that just brings a tear to my eye.

Enter ‘YouthNoise’ a youth oriented community empowering its members to become passionate and active in today’s important issues. YN allows young people to talk and debate about various issues, raise money for different causes and teaches them how to make change possible in their own way. Think Myspace with an activist twist. But unlike Myspace where social conversations circle around how ‘hot’ a member’s profile pic is, YN inspires youth to take a stand on issues and make changes in the world.

From the YouthNoise website:

Throw down your keyboards, stomp on those mousey pointers, and make that eternal text-ticker-typeface come alive! Seize control of the media, oust the powerbrokers, and commandeer true authority. The lifeblood of YouthNoise is the multitude of voices -- exceeding the decibel level of an F5 tornado -- emerging from a robust community of young people expressing views, taking action, and initiating change. Bring it into your words, your wiles and your world to turn it around.

YouthNoise aims to breakdown the ‘self absorbed’ stereotype by empowering youth and allow them to find their passions and become active in speaking out; Encouraging them to drive toward a deep and profound civic engagement; instilling in them the belief that they can make a difference.

Mid-class update

2006-08-04T10:40:00.000+10:00

I should really be in class right now but I can't stand to hear any more political ideologies. There's only so much communism I can take in one day.

Photoshop is great. I've been playing around with it for a while for one of my classes. It's a handy thing to use especially with dull photos.

I just finished a mini test for one of my classes. It’s only the third week back and I’m already complaining about assessment. I can't seem to think about anything else but going on exchange next year. It seems to be the only thing that I actually want to spend time thinking about. It’s over a year away but I’m already bursting with excitement. I'm actually going to the Philippines and Singapore for 5 weeks over the Christmas break which is pretty cool. Kinda overshadowed now that I'm going on exchange soon after that. But I’ll still enjoy the time away with the family nonetheless.

Last night was amusing. I spent some part of the night with Cathy and Mel 10 feet off the ground eating pizza. See there’s this kid’s playground at the lakes which hardly anybody goes to because it’s so far away and secluded from the actual lakes themselves. It’s a big jungle climb playground which reaches probably 20 feet from the ground. I’m starting to think that it was probably not a very safe playground for young kids, even I had trouble climbing to the top of it. Anyway, half way up with a Hawaiian pizza from late afternoon to dark – I think the only thing missing was the booze.

Laterdays.

One Down, Thirteen More To Go

2006-08-03T21:15:00.000+10:00

Well it is officially the end of the first week back at Uni for me and man, what a week it was. The good news is I see al my friends pretty much everyday. I have classes with Ashlie, Brianna, Jon, Roneel, and James which is a plus, especially Roneel and Jon, my highschool buddies. The bad news is my subjects generally suck. I just bought my reader for my history subject and it is about 600 pages long, aswell as a textbook. So here are my subjects...

Warlords, Artists and Emperors: Power and Authority in Premodern Japan- this is my history subject with the 600 page reader, but it will hopefully be an interesting subject though the teacher has the worst voice I have ever heard and she's completely insane.

Genres- this is one of my core literature subjects for which I must read 7 novels, thats right 7! Luckily a few of them are rather good books, for example, On The Road- Jack Kerouac, 1988 which is like a modern version of On The Road.

Literature and Philosophy- also part of my core literature subjects, now my problem with this is subject is not that it's boring, but more that it's going to be extremely difficult, I have another 4 novels to read for this subject aswell as a reader, though I am looking forward to the philosophy side of it.

Emotions, Culture and Community- Don't really know what this subject is about and to be honest, I'm not really sure my teacher even knows what it's about. I guess we'll see.

Hope the first or second, or in Allister's case 3rd week back was better for you guys.

An outbound destination

2006-08-02T08:06:00.000+10:00

I’ve been planning this for a while now and hopefully this won’t just be one of my other half baked ideas I come up with while on the toilet playing battleship. By around this time next year I will be on my way across the world to study overseas on an exchange program. The country of choice? Where else but an advertiser’s dream destination: The USA.

Here is a rough list of the potential universities:

: Arizona State University; California State University; Central Washington University; New Jersey State Colleges; Oswego State University of New York; Purdue University – sound familiar?; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; San Jose State University; The University of Alabama; University of Florida; University of Michigan; University of Texas at San Antonio
Any American bloggers out there please help me decide which one to choose!

The list so far is pretty varied. California State University would be cool because I have a few relatives on the west coast. And you’d got to be crazy not to want to spend half a year in Cali. I also have relatives in NY, which is probably the coolest place on earth, and Texas – which I have never been to so that would be cool. Oh and I happen to know this engineering student over at Purdue. He makes that place sound half decent.

I’m so freakin excited. I’m ravenously trying to save up money and applying for various scholarships and loans. A couple of friends of mine who have gone and are going this year say it’s going to be awesome. The money won’t be an issue as much as living on my own in another country for half a year. Let’s remember that I’ve never lived on my own – ever.

I should mention that a few of my friends are leaving for their exchange programs this year. Josh is going over to New York for 6 months and Emma is off to Florida for hers. Emma promised me that she'd keep a blog while she's away. I'm keeping your word on that and i'll post the link to it later. They're leaving in just a few days so goodluck and have an awesome time!

Here’s to my outbound destined semester next year!

Spam-tastic!

2006-07-31T14:04:00.000+10:00

I dedicate this post to SPAM!

Who doesn't love Spam!?

Does anybody know where I can get a Spam shirt?

The one that got away

2006-07-31T00:47:00.000+10:00

Two years ago I begged Cathy not to take the job at the same video store as me. Pleaded, demanded, even bargained with payment not to take the job with me. Never would I have imagined that I would be begging her not to leave.

If I have one piece of advice on dating people you work with, it would be don’t. You may think that it would be all fun and great times together – and it was ...most of the time. The other portion of the time was filled with heated arguments, cynical remarks, stubborn silences – all served with a smile of course. See that’s the problem with working in the service industry - you have to be happy all the time. Even on the days when you’re at each other’s throats regarding whatever trivial topic it may be that month. Then imagine coming to work with each other. Have you ever had an argument with someone whilst completely smiling? It’s like watching botox junkies fight over the last fix.

To be fair, we weren't always like this. Most of the time working at a video store with Cathy is awesome. Work seems to go so much faster when you’re doing it with someone you really want to be with. And there is also the fact that I never get into trouble when she finds my mistakes – like not locking the front doors at night. (oops..) Working at a video store is the easiest job in the world which means you basically just get to hang out with some pretty cool people while you get paid. It’s a perfect young person’s job - little responsibility and maximum entertainment. That’s why I love going to work. And to be honest Cathy is probably the hardest and most efficient worker we have. So you can start to see why I didn’t want her to leave. But trust me, as good as working with your girlfriend gets – take my advice – don’t.

So as for Cathy, she’s outgrown this perfect young person’s job faster than I have. She’ll be moving on to work as a ‘freelance nurse,’ if you will, for an agency. Which means more money and better hours. We’ve already discussed my early retirement to become a typical trophy boyfriend.

Cathy: “Here’s a 20, go buy yourself something pretty.”

Cathy, Me and the gang from work - aka Mum, Dad and the kids.

The lecture room

2006-07-29T00:14:00.000+10:00

9am:: BSB114 - Government Business and Society

I was still in my ‘far too early in the morning to be doing this’ mood when I sat down for my first lecture this morning. You know the feeling when your eyes are still sort of glazed over from a long nights sleep. And the sweet temptation of just catching a few Z’s up in the back corner is sounding better than ever. Yeah you all know what I mean. But as a friend of mine always says: “This is all a part of the university experience, take it all in while you can!” Honestly, I would have rather been taking in a hot cup of coffee than anything else. At least it was some consolation that it was Friday.

From Where I'm Standing

2006-07-28T10:28:00.000+10:00

Since Allister's post, "Infinite Hypocrisy" I've been thinking a lot about people and the idea of being judgemental. The day Allister posted that we started talking about it and I was explaining to him that I don't think it is possible for people not be judgemental.

Whenever any of us meets someone new, whether it be a complete stranger or a friend of a friend, it is inevitable, I believe, for us to form opinions and thoughts about this person. More than half the time you probably don't even realise you're doing it, but you're actually judging that person from the little you know about them after your first meeting.

Not everyone makes a good first impression, falling into that category myself, I think it is quite hard to make a good first impression. I tend to get very shy and sometimes make inappropriate jokes, or use my humour to hide this, a humour that not everyone understands when they have just met me.

I think the important thing is what you do with these thoughts or opinions you have first formed of this person. If you let these first impressions determine whether or not you are going to get to know this person then you are being judgemental. If you give them a chance, and see what they're really like, even after you have decided for yourself, then I don't think it is a bad thing, I think it is natural to think about someone you have just met and think about if you would work with them or not, just remember to give them a chance if they didn't make such a good first impression. If you still don't like them after that, then maybe you just weren't meant to be friends with them.

Infinite hypocrisy

2006-07-26T14:41:00.000+10:00

A while ago I read the book ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ by J.D. Salinger. Sarah had just finished reading it so I thought I’d pick it up and have a read of it myself. No doubt she polished it off in no more than a few days – it is after all only 192 pages long. I on the other hand spent a good month and a bit to get through it. Not that it was all that difficult or dense to read. It was just that I found it as interesting as chewing on cardboard. It’s not the most riveting novels I’ve come across. Hell, it was 192 pages of a teenage boy complaining about everything. Take this for example:

“Grand. There's a word I really hate. It's a phoney. I could puke every time I hear it”

So I hated it.

I can’t remember what started my sudden interest in the book again. It’s been over a year since I first read it but I guess it’s taken this long for me to appreciate it. I’ve really come to relate my life and myself to this book.

I can’t help but think that people must find me completely pretentious sometimes. The way I speak about things being ‘not good enough.’ The way I drone on about always searching for ‘something more.’ Even I find it annoying. I hate the way that I can just look at someone or speak to someone for the first time and ultimately judge their entire personality in a split second. I try not to be so judgemental but by the time I realise I’ve done it its too late. This all seems backward coming from someone that advocates sunshine, lolly-pops and everything good. Some days I feel like I’m drowning in my own pool of hypocrisy.

My friends tell me I have a high standard when I’m choosing my friends. (Which says allot about them if you think about it.) And I guess I admit to it. It’s hard for me to relate to someone who, by my own self ashamed judgements, can only appreciate the things that come easy in life. I don’t want to go into the ‘these kind of people’ descriptions that just inevitably make me a worse hypocrite than I already am. I only ask to be surrounded by the people who appreciate the ‘more’ in life. Sounds stupid I know. I could puke just hearing it. But who am I to deal the hand of the judgement? So here I go again questioning myself.

Owen Wilson is the man:
“There are two kinds of people in life. Those who get The Life Aquatic, and those who can go fuck themselves. Unfortunately in the case of The Life Aquatic there are many people that can go fuck themselves.”

Stoop kid

2006-07-17T00:42:00.000+10:00

How much of human life is lost in waiting.

Long Island summer

2006-07-11T23:45:00.000+10:00

It may be the middle of winter here in Australia but somewhere in the world is a place where the weather isn’t so chilly and beaches are teeming with summer loving hopefuls. My uncle just sent me these pictures of his place in New York. He lives right next to the beach in Long Island. When we visited my uncle and his family last year it wasn’t exactly seaside weather so the beaches were pretty much empty. I wish we could have visited in warmer weather so the beaches would look like this. It looks like so much fun.

The days will pass you by

2006-07-10T23:27:00.000+10:00

I was aching for this midyear break since day one of this semester. Much deserved, greatly enjoyed, very satisfied – although little accomplished. But what is a midyear break than a break from actually concerning one’s self with any arduous activity?

My midyear break actually finishes at the end of this week. But I count my breaks in accordance to the primary and high school calendars. Therefore I’m only on break when the rest of my brothers and sister are on break. Even though I’m a 20 year old university student I still enjoy the company of my younger siblings.

It’s really very simple; I grew up with these people, we share similar experiences, and we’re family. I've been brought up being taught that there isn’t anything in this world more important than family. I’m incredibly grateful that I’m blessed with a family such as mine. These past few months I’ve really come to appreciate my family and realise how important they are to me. And in the next few months I plan on spending as much time with them as possible. Soon enough I’ll have to leave these people who I’ve lived with my whole life to make my own way in the world. So these few times in a year where my family can be together for the holidays are incredibly important to me. Because for me times like these are becoming few and far between.

Unnecessary censorship

2006-06-29T00:21:00.000+10:00

I couldn't not post this. Laughed so hard a little pee came out.

View this video in YouTube

Haloscan and Coldplay

2006-06-27T23:46:00.000+10:00

What a creative title for this post entry. Eh, I promise this will be short and painless.

First off, Sarah and I must’ve kissed the right asses cause the haloscan gods have granted us all our old comments since last stop suburbia first began broadcasting its craptastic greatness back in 2004. Usually comments are deleted after a few months unless you pay money or something. It seemed like only yesterday when the very blue last stop first welcomed us into the hellhole that is suburbia. I also want to take this time to recognise two particular bloggers who have stuck with us since day one. Whose unwavering loyalty and support have fuelled Sarah and I to fight the urge to throw in the towel and become one of the other millions of dead blogs. So mad props go to these two guys:

Ryan – the space cadet from Lafayette. Who continues to debunk any theories that I have on the universe. (Fight the urge! Keep that blog going one entryless month at a time)

And Dave – to journalist with the most-ist (?) A fellow Brisbane blogger fighting the good fight against the unjust – whilst doing the regular: uni, work and marriages.

That’s not to say that there aren’t others who have continued to show me and Sarah that last stop isn’t just a waste of time. So thanks to all you crazy ass bloggers who continue to represent all that is good and geeky in this world.

---

Now for the second part of the creative post title: Coldplay. All those who like Coldplay raise your hands. All those who don’t can go to hell 10,000 times over. Who doesn’t like Coldplay? And if you don’t - what is your problem? (Let it be known that this is primarily for Emma’s (Emu) sake who is still dripping from coldplay originated sweat from their show last weekend)

Coldplay have the incredibly adept way of piercing right down into the parts of ourselves that we save for incredibly passionate moments. Listening to Coldplay is like someone has taken hold on my guts and begins playing them like string instruments in a passionate ballad. Coldplay is music of our lives for the moments that really matter.

You can bet I’m kicking myself for not taking up my friend’s offer for sold out tickets to their Brisbane show. - Frick on a stick.

Brisbane show:

What's Yours?

2006-06-26T17:48:00.000+10:00

I think if you haven't already you all should go and check out the PostSecret Blog. PostSecret is a blog run by Frank Warren and basically what it is, is a collectin of postcards people have sent in with their secrets written on them. Frank receives them through the mail and then every Sunday he updates his blog with peoples anonymous secrets.

As of late it has become very popular, different postsecrets even appearing in the video clip for the All-American Rejects song, Dirty Little Secret. However, I have been checking this blog for along time now and I really think it helps me a lot. I don't always have the easiest time dealing with things and up until recently I have always felt very alone at times, I guess I still do sometimes. I've lost a lot of people in my short 20 years of life and it's not always easy to find someone to talk too, someone who understands you, or someone who feels the same. Postsecret gives you this opportunity. If you don't feel like talking to anyone or feel like there is no one to talk too, no one who can understand what you're going through, go to this blog, chances are, someone shares your secret.

Here are some of my favourite postsecrets.

Time For A Change

2006-06-25T20:57:00.000+10:00

I bought this car today. That's right, I bought my dream car today. That is my 1972 Volkswagon Beetle. I've been looking for this car for over a year now and I finally found the perfect one after a lot of disappointment.

My dad and I spent from 12:30 today until 6:15 looking at different beetles and we started out with disappointment once again. We went to look at a red one first in Durlich Hill, this one had a lot of rust (Beetle's worst enemy) and it also had a ripped up back seat. So we headed over to Warrawee on the North Shore and pulled up at a huge mansion where we found a little blue bug sitting out front. As dad and I made jokes about the people's reaction to a tradesman's arrival, we tried to find the front door of the house as their were about 8 that could have been it. The girl wanted $5,500, which is way over priced for a car that barely ran and also had some rust, so we left, disappointed once again and tried for the last one of the day back over in Sylvania.

We pulled up at 4:30 and found a nice guy named Scott and his little metallic blue beetle. This car is in the best condition I have ever seen a beetle in before. It has great interior and goes like a beast. I had a great feeling about this car, I feeling I hadn't had with any other car that we'd seen and we've seen a lot. For $3,000 it was an absolute bargain and I trust my dad's decisions, he's bought and sold a lot of cars in his lifetime including his own VW and once he gave the O.K, we left a deposit and we're picking it up on Sunday. Not to say I won't miss my Pulsar, it's been great to me and I've had a lot of great times in that car, but this is my dream car and it's time to have some fun and stop being so responsible.

To my generation

2006-06-21T16:06:00.000+10:00

A couple of decades ago a great man once said:

"A person starts to live when he can live outside of himself."
Throughout our individual lives we are surrounded by things that are constantly fighting for our attention. They could be our problems at work, stresses of exams or issues at home. They could be our problems we put on ourselves through unhealthy expectations, the pursuit of wealth, or the lust for the sexual satisfaction.

A couple of decades ago, Albert Einstein challenged the world’s conceptions of space, time, and the very nature of reality. Years later his work has influenced nearly every aspect of our modern society. These words were his. To understand a mind that thruly ‘lives outside of himself’ is to understand the accomplishments of men like Einstein. The accomplishments of men and women who inevitably shape the world we live in today.

It seems to me that all these years later we’ve forgotten what these words really mean. In doing this, we’ve allowed irreverent noises to cloud our better judgement of what is truly important. The human mind with all its complexities is a remarkable thing as it empowers humanity with unlimited potential - If we allow it. Such philosophy may be lost on those of us who remain locked on the here and now, who continue to let the irreverent noise consume our potential.

To my generation, I urge us all to remember what these words truly mean. Block out the noise and find yourselves. Discover your potential and use it. Be the person you potentially are and change the world in your own way.

.noitcidartnoc

2006-06-21T00:53:00.000+10:00

I’m sick of thinking one thing but doing another.

I ’ m a w a l k i n g c o n t r a d i c t i o n .

.noitcidartnoc gniklaw a m’I

This is why I hate coffee

2006-06-16T00:44:00.000+10:00

It’s late and I can’t sleep, mainly due to the fact that I drank a shit load of coffee just a while ago. I never used to get so buzzed on coffee but now my body absorbs it like a sponge. Strike it up to old age.

I guess that leaves me with extra study time for my final exam for the semester until I’m on midyear break. The exam is for my management unit and it’s on a Saturday of all days. Who schedules an exam for a weekend? I’m aching for my exam to be over so I can take that break I’ve been longing for since day one of this semester. I’m officially passed the half mark for my university course. I’m set to graduate midyear in 2008. That seems like light years away.

Emma sent me this a second ago. Thought it was pretty funny. When I was in Vegas last year I saw the Bellagio Fountains and these guys make a pretty good replica out of Diet Coke and Mentos. Talk about procrastination.

Also, check out Zach Braff’s new website. It’s in its early stages but worth a look. He’s moved his blog from here to here which should be updated more often now. ZB’s just one of those guys that you just think is so entertaining that you just gotta say “hey, you should start a blog!” And hopefully they’re a big enough geek to do so. In this case he is.

Laterdays!

The Daylights

2006-06-15T13:41:00.000+10:00

- unafraid and optimistic..

Music for me is about finding new talent with an alternative sound to the more established artists of today. So I couldn’t pass the opportunity to blog about these guys - they’re amazing. Through my random explorations of the internet I came across The Daylights just yesterday and was immediately attracted to their sound. Their music has been described as “epic, honest, passionate alternative rock...music that'll wear a hole in your cd player.” It definitely is all these things. Best way I can describe them is optimistically charismatic.

The Daylights are crazy new on the music scene. And when I mean new I mean ‘only have an ep with 8 songs to their name’ new. But don’t be fooled, these boys are talented and each song is great in its own way. They are a three-piece band consisting of Ran Jackson (guitars/piano) and his brother Ricky Jackson (bass/guitars) with Adam Farley finishing the trio on the drums. Ran and Rickey both share mic time with the vocals while Adam is content on laying down the beat on his drum kit.

The first release of The Daylights is their debut ep The Shift and Blur which at the moment is only available cdbaby. I’ve included some samples from the ep so check them out and start supporting this new talent!

Play:
Outsider
If Words Were Bullets
Boy on the Moon
Little Girl
Typical

Visit:
The Daylights official website
The Daylights myspace
The Daylights – The Shift and Blur. On cdbaby

I Don't Really Know

2006-06-14T19:00:00.000+10:00

Maybe you've all been wondering why I haven't been writing at all lately, maybe you haven't, maybe you haven't even noticed.

My problem is, I feel like I have nothing to say. Do you ever get that? When you just don't feel like you want to or need to say anything. I've been really quiet lately and I think I just don't want to say anything at all.

I don't know if it's a reflection of how much I am forced to express myself during the semester with my extensive amounts of essay writing and presentations, aswell as this semester having a lot of writing fiction. I don't know if it's a reflection of my life right now, and the things that are happening in it. When bad things happen, I tend to close up, it's my defensive mechanism.

I haven't wanted to talk to anyone at all lately. I go through these times when I just feel like no one understands me, and I just don't want to go through the motions again. I'm tired of trying to explain myself all the time and having no one understand. I'm just tired of talking about things forever, and nothing ever changing.

I just really don't want to say anything.

last stop gradutates

2006-06-07T17:49:00.000+10:00

That was the end of my assessment piece for my Virtual Cultures unit this semester. I think it classifies as the most unusual (and cool) assessment piece I’ve had to submit. It was strange having to analyse and study something that I just assumed was just a way to kill time. Blogging for me has really been a passive effort and I’ve never really examined how much potential it actually has. Blogging and the internet in general have the ability to connect and network today’s global society in ways that were mere fiction in early sci-fi films.

Apart from being an Advertising student I’m also completing a double degree in Media Communications. Having finished the class and thoroughly examined the ‘art’ of blogging, I’ve come away with a belief that traditional forms of media will eventually no longer become society’s primary source of current information. Rather, I believe that the future of the media lies in blogs and the blogging phenomenon.

I thoroughly enjoyed this unit throughout the semester. I had previously planned on using my Advertising degree as my primary career path. However, this class has made me consider utilising my Media Communications degree as a possible career aspiration. The jury is still out on that one. In the meantime, I have taken John’s (my tutor/lecturer) advice on furthering my interests in the unit’s content by taking up the corresponding subject, New Media Technologies, for next semester.

Until then I relinquish last stop suburbia back to its original form and hopefully encourage Sarah to start contributing again. So in saying that..

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

A blogger’s experience

2006-05-29T02:59:00.000+10:00

I’ve been blogging in some form or another for quite some time now. My first attempt at a blog consisted of many random rants about whatever popped into my mind at the time. Although content quality probably hasn’t improved greatly through time, these days I understand the fundamentals of the blogging experience. Here are some of the insights that I’ve gathered:

Personally I feel that the experience of blogging greatly outweighs any other form of traditional journals. The primary difference between a blog and a paper journal is the way the content is distributed. If you think about the purpose of paper journals as a private form of writing the distribution of content is nowhere at all. Paper journals usually do not circulate among any groups of people, therefore information stored in the pages are usually very personal and consist of writing for individual purposes.

Blogs are quite the opposite. The primary purpose of blogs is to be shared among people in the online universe. Although information within blogs can be used for personal purpose, its main objective but is to be collaboratively consumed by others. Jean Burgess described this during her lecture on blogging when she said that “Links are the currency of blogs” meaning that the more links to other blogs your had, the more affluent your blog would be.

When I understood the importance of connectivity between blogs I began linking to other sources of information such as other blogs, new articles, definitions and even media players. Unlike a paper journal where information is kept private, I tried to establish the my blog within the blogosphere by creating these links. The Virtual Cultures Commenting Initiative helped in the production of these linkages. I was openly welcome to developing an open forum for my ideas. I hoped that a collaboration of ideas and opinions could be created through some of the topics I explored. Many of the comments left lead to discussions and it was through these discussions where opinions were shared and ideas where developed among its contributors.

As blogs form discussion and share knowledge it is easy to see how it can begin to be seen as a home-grown communication medium. In one of my earlier posts I discussed the potential for blogs as a dynamic form of online communication.

“By sharing information, blogging becomes much more than just ‘writing about stuff.’ In this way of thinking it becomes the convergence of shared information, the collaboration of ideas and the formation of opinions.”

In this way the term prosumer becomes apparent. Rather than consuming a mass produced traditional media source such as television or newspaper, blogs have the ability to present media coverage in a dynamic way. The media is communicated through individual ideas and opinions rather than a one sourced medium. Information is also discussed and analysis in a 2-way level where new grounds of information can be formed on a collaboration of ideas and opinion. Traditional forms only work in presenting a predetermined 1-way approach to communication.

Some other blogs I’ve visited understand these components very well. Some blogger’s knowledge of blogging netiquette has produced very professional looking blogs such as this blog by Simen Sjoelli, a fellow KCB 201 blogger. His blog, Schtolle, is very formal in its approach to information presentation. The topics are very distinct and delve into quite some depth. On the other hand are blogs which are primarily informal in their approach. Dominic who is a friend of mine uses his blog for more personal escapism rather than informational providing. However it still provides areas of discussion. He frequently uses his blog as a creative outlet and often showcases his talent as an amateur songwriter and photographer for his peers. My blog falls somewhere in between these two extremes – partly information providing and partly personal escapism. I like to think of as my way of using this dynamic new technology for its primary purpose of collaboration but also contribute some of my personal influence as I would in a paper journal.

Throughout my blogging experience I’ve become accustomed to the procedures and functions of a blog. However, it has only been recently that I have begun to think actively about the potential blogging has a dynamic source of collaboration of information and the potential it holds for much more possibilities.

Related articles:
ITtoolbox Blogs – The Real Purpose of a Blog.

Blogging viral messages - The Jihadmobile

2006-05-25T13:04:00.000+10:00

I came across this when I was browsing through the bloglist for KCB 201. This was on Michaela’s blog. And as she said in her entry, if you haven’t blogged about this already, you’ll be compelled to after seeing it.

Play ad first then read on.

This a viral ad for Volkswagen created by Lee Ford and Dan Brooks. It’s so controversial because it shows a suicide bomber leading up to an eventual terrorist attack. But alas, his plans go terribly wrong when the super strong protective capabilities of the VW prevent any explosion, outside the vehicle that is. I’d hate to be the local bystander and looking into that steaming car.. Suicide bomber – well done please. (The ad turned out to be a hoax, but its still publicity for VW nonetheless.)

This ad is clearly not made for TV. The communication medium for its release was the internet. As a viral campaign the creators relied on bloggers to pass the message along by word of mouth – or in this case post of blog. Well it worked - This ad was so controversial in fact that is was the 5th most blogged about topic when it was released.

It’s interesting to see how new media outlets, particularly blogging, are being used as an alternate communications medium to traditional forms such as TV. The product is targeted towards an upper class target market usually experienced in technological know-how. Therefore the internet and blogs are a perfect platform for promotion.

We already understand the great potential blogs have as viral message sources. This is because of its large links to other online sources such as other blogs. This is similar to the internet version 1.0 discussed earlier in the unit - where information is widely and freely shared among members. Channels of communication and shared knowledge make viral messages a great topic to pass around.

Related articles:
Adfreak - VW suicide-bomber viral spot a hoax
Perfeck.co.uk/robin – Small but tough
Draper Fisher Jurvetson – What is viral marketing?
Lee Ford and Dan Brooks official website

The fear

2006-05-23T23:45:00.000+10:00

I have this great fear that my manager at work is going to stumble across my blog and read about all the things that I complain about. Not that I say anything negative about her, I mean she’s a super marvellous manager who listens to everything her staff tell her. She’s not a bitch; I don’t care what the rumours say.

I’ve had this happen before though. My previous manager read my blog when she came across it at work. Thankfully there was no incriminating evidence that would get me back on the street peddling moonshine again. Actually, she still reads the blog. Hi Kristin!

The digital divide – Australia’s position

2006-05-22T13:55:00.000+10:00

I was brought up around technology. My dad was a computer programmer when he was younger and used to bring home a plethora of computer parts to fill our garage. He used to put together these computers as a living; I’d somehow manage to take them apart again by accidentally deleting some important information. My dad moved on from programming saying that the evolutionary rate of technology was far too quick for him to keep up. I on the other hand can still manage to take apart any computer I get my hands on.

I grew up around technology. Internet was a basic necessity among my household. My siblings and I have always had access to the internet in some way or another. For me access to these thing were a given.

It’s interesting to think that in our society we generally expect to have good access to the internet. When we compare the standards of access within Australia than to other nations we can see where we stand in the technological movement.

On one end.
The divide between the technological haves and have-nots is defined by people online. According to the International Telecommunication Union, only 14 percent of the worldwide population is online. This number seems alarming when you think about the rate and span at which the internet grows. However its not surprising when you consider that less that half the worldwide population have telephones. In this sense, Australia’s current technological situation is far more developed than in other countries such as in China where only 10% of its entire population is online.

On the other.
Compared to other well developed countries Australia’s access to the internet is heavily regulated. In areas such as Hong Kong, internet is widely available from a number of ISP. They are less expensive and provide a wider range of abilities such as total downloads when compared to Australian standards. Currently, telecommunications giants such as Telstra have a monopolistic control over the majority of the online population. However with the introduction of smaller providers, the cost and potential for access is improving.

Here is a table showing the online populations of particular countries and the access they have to the internet. We can see that Australia has quite a mature internet market along with Sweden, Hong Kong and the Netherlands. However the US still leads in numbers of people online.

There are many contributing forces to the digital divide such as gender issues, cultural inequalities and lack of knowledge. Here we focus on the basic division of technological development. Here in Australia we have a considerably mature internet market, which we can see in the table. For us the internet is a given – computers in every home with instant high speed access to a world of information. For others, this is not as feasible.

Related articles:
Wikipedia – Digital Divide
Wired – Narrowing the Digital Divide
Poynter Online – Feeds: A Measure of the Digital Devide?
Nielsen/NetRatings - Global Internet Population Grows An Average of Four Percent Year-Over-Year

Motivation for contributing to online communities

2006-05-18T12:20:00.000+10:00

Firstly, thanks to Dave who recently sent me a link to the wikipedia page regarding the motivation for contributing to online communities. You might as well be in this class yourself!

Previously we’ve explored the functions and potentials for online communities. We’ve discussed how they are designed, constructed and what makes them successful. Now we’ll examine the motivational reasoning for contributing to these communities by its members.

If you asked someone who participates in online communities what their motivation is behind their contributions you’d probably get a similar answers to these: “Because I can find other people around the world who share my interests.” “I can build friendships with people who I would have never met in real life.” “Much like a club in the real world, I can build upon my skills by sharing them with other like minded individuals.” These are some responses from people who participate in online communities. You can see that they are similar in that they all describe a social experience with other people free from the constraints of ‘real world.’ In my opinion, there is no clear and distinct reasoning behind participation. I find that motivations for participation are usually not clearly defined by participants themselves because it is not actively considered. Unless these online communities benefit you in the way of providing specific information, such as technical PC help, most participation is based on an underlying motive of the ‘feeling of connectivity.’ In essence, the motivation for participation is the human need for social relationships. This is even the case in virtual communities.

Because the motives for participation are unclear to the community member, some theorists have provided their own insight into the matter. Robert Putnam is one such theorist. As cited in the Terry Flew reading titled ‘Virtual Cultures,’ Putnam describes the notion of social capital. He defines social capital as “features of social life – networks, norms, and trust – that enable participants to act together more effectively to pursue shared interests… Social capital, in short, refers to social connections and the attendant norms and trust." He goes forth to examine the significance of the Internet and new media for social capital. As technology enables greater connectivity there is a natural affinity between the Internet and social capital. Thus communities and networks begin to form. These connections between individuals are becoming more civically engaged and promote the transformation from the ‘real world’ to the ‘virtual world.’ Particularly among younger people, civic engagement on the internet with globally networked communities is becoming a larger part of society’s social connectivity. Their prominence is growing, particularly in recent years, and becoming more important than locality-based community organisations such as sporting teams.

So what are some of our own motivations for participation? Blogger and Webmaster of The Tech Savvy Educator, Ben Rimes examined his own motivations for writing in his blog. He describes the way the social aspect of these communities better the experience among its members.

“Bloggers can start altruistically, but it takes a dedicated community to continue that purpose,” Ben wrote. “I started blogging because I believed that others could benefit from my thoughts on educational technology (again, is the egotistical viewpoint of others benefitting from my thoughts altruistic?). What I found was that so many others shared my ideas, that including a forum on the site was a more democratic, and easier, way of filtering through all of the thoughts and providing a place for a wide range of voices.

“That’s really what it comes down to: Working for no pay just isn’t engaging (at least not for me) without some communal or mutually beneficial reward that will not just benefit myself, but others searching for the same answers or looking for a forum to voice their own thoughts. The reward in blogging pro-bono is to find those that you can relate with beyond your own limited set of experiences, beyond your limited range of knowledge, and to create a whole that is much more stronger and longer lasting than its parts.”

Humans are social creatures. We form bonds and create relationships among each other. New media technology, particularly the internet, just provides us a new way of doing this. In its most basic form, the motivations behind participation derive from our need for social ties with other individuals. Online communities provide a dynamic way of experiencing these relationships.

References:
Flew, T. 2004. New Media, An Introduction; Virtual Cultures. OUP: Melbourne

Related articles:
Wikipedia - Motivations for Contributing to Online Communities
Howard Rheingold - The Virtual Community
Media Shift - Sense of Community Motivates you Work for Free

Project Entropia

2006-05-16T23:51:00.000+10:00

This was originally a comment I left on Rebecca’s blog regarding a new virtual universe called Project Entropia. It has now risen to the level of blogworthyness.

Here’s a quick intro to Project Entropia:

The Entropia Universe contains the regular elements of an online RPG game; however it is not officially an MMOG. Rather, it is more similarly described as a virtual universe with its own virtual economy. Entropia is played and run around real currency which is provided by the players. Money is held in the virtual world is used and gained as the game progresses. The simplest understanding of how Entropia works is that it is a virtual bank where you can ‘play’ with your money.

Is this the next step in virtual communities? In a hypothetical view, Project Entropia may be the evolution of online communities from merely an interactive community to revolutionary virtual economies. No longer are communities just sharing information but they are now exchanging currency. Communities are growing not only in population but also possibilities. Project Entropia’s use of a virtual currency may just be the first step in the evolution of more established and potentially powerful communities. If you think that this is a little farfetched, think back to what Christina said during last weeks lecture: East Timor existed as an online domain before it officially became a (real) independent country of its own. It was a ‘virtual country’ if you will. So don’t rule out the evolutionary ability of online communities.

Related articles:
Rebecca York: The first virtual universe – with a real cash economy (Fellow KCB 201 blogger)
Entropia Universe - Official Website
MMORPG.com – Project Entropia Review
BBC NEWS – East Timor on the Web

Lord of the Numa Dance

2006-05-15T18:58:00.000+10:00

The bathroom mirror has always been the place to expand the imagination. In the privacy of your own bathroom you could become the primetime news reporter, or the 70s rock star or even, in this case, a Romanian pop star. Embarrassing talents like lip-synching and dancing to a pop song used to be a private matter between you and your toothbrush. Not anymore. Now you can take your talents online by uploading a video of yourself to the internet and let the masses of followers lift you to stardom!

This is exactly what happened to Gary Brolsma a 19 year old amateur videographer from New Jersey. With webcam in hand Gary filmed himself lip-synching to a Romanian pop song titled ‘Dragostea Din Tei,’ which roughly translates to ‘Love From the Linden Trees.’ He uploaded the video to newgrounds.com for a laugh not knowing what he had gotten himself into. Since the video was uploaded it has received millions of clicks just at the original website by people wanting to watch the pudgy 19 year old’s ‘talents.’ News spread about the latest online craze and soon people in the real world were wanting a piece of Brolsma. He appeared on Good Morning America, CNN, VH1 and is even featured by the New York Times. You might have also noticed a promo piece for the movie Chicken Little which also features the song. There has not been such a case of instant fame such as this since Ghyslain Raza was forever known as ‘The Star Wars Kid.’ Brolsma’s efforts has earned him the title of the ‘Numa Numa Dancer.’ (Try searching in Google for the term ‘Numa Numa Dance’ and see what you get.)

This is a great example of the emergence of the DIY media culture which is examined by Meikle in his chapter called ‘Open Publishing, Open Technologies.’ The rise of DIY media culture is the result of the availability of new technologies such as webcams and recording equipment coupled with the accessibility of sources such as the internet. It has become increasingly easy to produce home made media and make it available to the masses. And as you can see with the Numa Numa Dancer, the term DIY media is used quite widely.

Through this we can also observe how new media has altered the traditional ways of production by examining the evolving roles of producer and consumer. The traditional viewpoint is that Gary would only be a consumer of media in that he could only watch his favourite Romanian pop stars and emulate them in the privacy of his own home. The emerging viewpoint is that Gary is no longer just a consumer. He can take his love for Romanian pop songs and develop his own media for his own audience. In this sense he is not only the consumer but he is also the producer. In Dan Harris’ chapter titled 'Emerging Global Ecologies of Production' he describes new media’s affect when he sates “this is a qualitatively different transaction space in which the roles of consumer and producer are undergoing profound change.”

Incidentally the fame has become too much for Gary who now seeks refuge in his family’s small house. He does not take anymore phone calls and has cancelled his other television appearances. According to his family, Gary has stated that he just “wants this to end.” I encourage Gary to come out from hiding and embrace this bizarre phenomenon he happens to be in the middle of. Get back in front of the webcam and show the world why we love pudgy talentless hacks that inevitably make us smile with a simple cock of an eyebrow.

Gary Brolsma presents: The Numa Numa Dance.

Related articles:
Schtolle – ‘Boybank + Webcam = Instant Fame’ (Fellow KCB 201 blogger wrote a similar blog entry about the topic.)
New York Times - Internet Fame Is Cruel Mistress for a Dancer of the Numa Numa. (This is the actual New York Times article about Gary Brolsma)

References:
Meikle, G. 2002. Future Active. Media Activism and the Internet. Sydney: Pluto Press.
Harris, D. 2002. The New Media Book. London: British Film Institute.

I support the Virtual Cultures Commenting Initiative!

2006-05-12T21:59:00.000+10:00

Listen up KCB 201, its time to round up. Tom Johns, aka johnsee, has come up with a great idea for our blogs. The Virtual Cultures Commenting Initiative is a way to promote discussion throughout the unit’s blogs. And it’s a great way to create links between each others blogs. Here’s how it works:

When you receive a VC comment from another student you should return the favour by commenting on one of their entries on their blog. You then choose another student's blog at random from the bloglist and post a comment on their blog. After each comment you should link back to the VCCI post at Tom's blog.

If you haven’t already received a VCCI comment, start by choosing another students blog from the bloglist and post a quality comment on one of their entries.

Some of you might have already received VC commenting initiative comments. That’s good, it means that its working. Just remember to keep it going by commenting on other blogs and linking back to the page.

Lets try to get as much discussion throughout the blogs as possible!

The Adventures of Seinfeld and Superman

2006-05-12T11:25:00.000+10:00

This actually came out two years ago but I couldn’t help but blog it anyway. Besides, seeing as that I’m a Superman nut and that Superman Returns is about to hit the big screens, I thought it was time to get people excited. So expect a few more Superman related blog entries in the near future.

I bet you’ve wondered to yourself in one point in your life “What would it be like if Superman was paired with Jerry Seinfeld ala ‘the odd couple.’” Well wonder no longer because with the help of American Express there are two 5 minute advertising clips, which are more like mini movies, starring the two characters.

Uniform

This is what every Superman nut imagines, being best buds with the man of steel himself. But I didn’t imagine arguing with the guy about musicals to be part of the whole thing. Or that Superman loves reality TV.

Hindsight 20/20

Road trip, Superman, a wide open road, and a bag of pistachios. Why doesn’t this sound like any other Superman story I’ve heard? Superman locks the keys in the car, just like the rest of us mortals.

These are hilarious. They were American Express promo ads shown in the US. We didn’t get them here in Australia because charging American Express is like admitting you’re a Yank lover and who wants that on their heads? (And yes, I joke.)

Clips can also be seen here.

Supanova Community

2006-05-11T23:28:00.000+10:00

I’ve been meaning to post this here since I got back from Supanova but haven’t gotten around to doing so.

Here’s a quick recap: I went to Supanova which is a pop culture expo. Its Australia’s version in Comicon. And if you must, call it a comic book convention. I’d never gone to a convention before so I was blown away by the whole thing. People dressed up in cosplay, famous people signings, comics, gaming, amine – a whole plethora of geeky cool stuff.

One of the things that I noticed when I was on the Supanova website was that it included a forum for discussion. I was trying to find out times for seminars for John Schneider and Summer Glau and while I was doing this I started reading the other threads. I found that there was a huge sense of community among the members. Unlike other communities where members post their thoughts about a particular topic, these members actually seemed as if they were forming friendships with each other. There was the usually talk about similar interests in comics, amine, manga yadda yadda.. But they also were talking about their own lives like what they do to prepare for supanova and such.

I think I understand the basis for why this community is more dynamic and engaging than other online communities. And that is because the discussion, however general the thread may be, all revolved around the fact that all these people would meet at Supanova over the weekend. Members were building relationships over the form before they would even meet each other in person. Take this post for example:

Sorathegreat: “I know unofficially (or officially?) there are people who go out saturday night after supanova. There are so many people over the years supanova has been going that I have met. well a good group anyways and I'm looking to go out with the over 18 kiddies for a few drinks. Just wondering if anyone is interested in this. No matter if it's just you, or a big group. Just looking around for as many people as we can get.”

Because the event ran over Friday, Saturday and Sunday the forum was full of members talking about what they did that day, who they met and what they plan to do the next day. In this way the forum is being used as a place not only to discuss the topics in the threads but also to form the community that ultimately exists to a large majority of Supanova goers. I think online communities function even better when an offline link such as the Supanova weekend exists. James, a friend of mine mentioned this during his online community proposal when his group developed an online version of a neighbourhood watch program. It was practical because it existed to extend the reach of the community online where it had never been explored before.

The Supanova expo is primarily based around a community of individuals whose interests are very distinct. By using this forum it established a strong community feel both online and offline.

More Supanova fun!

People in cosplay:

Come and get killed from your choice of Freddy, Jason, or (from what i can tell) Tom Cruise in Vanilla Sky (?).

The Bride and Gogo Yubari face off.

I'm not sure who these characters are. But who cares when you can have swords!

I found Wally!

Novus Ordo REPRESENT!

err..I..don't..know..

Novus Ordo Gangsta Rap

This was a skit the Star Wars bunch, Novus Ordo, performedan Supanova. Way to channel the ~~dark~~ 'black' side.

Community Report: Advertising/Design Goodness

2006-05-10T15:52:00.000+10:00

So you’ve probably picked up from all the posts about advertising that, yes I am an advertising student. So what other online community should I participate in but one that discusses new advertising from around the world. The community is called Advertising/Design Goodness which, apart from discussing advertising campaigns, also showcases graphic designs by various artists. In actual fact this community is basically a blog by Canadian creative director named Frederik Samuel, or Freddy as he is better known through out the community. It links off his main site which consists of his portfolio and other creative designs he is involved in.

A blog might not seem like the most active community when compared to teeming ‘LOST’ forums, but it nonetheless has a community following. It exists primarily to promote an open a channel for discussion of its topics. Freddy often asks whether ads fall in the ‘good’ or ‘bad’ category which promotes constructive debate among its members.

In order to get its community members involved Freddy provides the ability to receive Feeds in the form of ATOM and RSS to stay updated with new posts. The community also has the option of keeping track with your comments by being able to register as a member. This gives a member the ability to track their comments and read any responses they may have received. Additionally, the posts are fitted with trackback capabilities which allow its members to post the same content to their own blog while linking back to the original source.

The community consists of a fair few members who comment regularly. Unlike other bigger communities Ad/Design Goodness is quite small which allows its members to get to become familiar with each other quite well. Although the community is somewhat small I think this makes the community a much more engaging experience.

The majority of the community consists of other likeminded individuals in similar fields of either advertising or design. This is justified by Jean Burgess when she spoke about blogs being written for likeminded peers. These community members link to his blog through their own while Freddy hosts a blogroll of some its members. Jean discusses the important value these inter-blogger links has when she says “Links are the currency of blogs.” Ultimately, blogs are networked media – and through this network exists a networked community.

Comments posted:

The hobby of blogging

2006-05-06T15:18:00.000+10:00

This is a follow-up response to a discussion on Dave’s blog about blogging as a hobby. The following is a post made by Dave as part of the discussion. After that is my response.

Dave’s post:

The Hobby
May 6th, 2006

This post was a reply to Allister’s comment on my return post. It ended up being too long, so I’ve made another post out of it.

Allister: “Its normal to have a break from blogging. Especially when its only a side hobby. Just make sure you don’t completely disappear. I’ll still be checking in.”

You say “only as a side hobby” Allister, but I don’t know of any bloggers who could realistically make an actual living off their blogging alone (other than the couple most read blogs in the world), which pretty much makes it a ‘hobby’ for everyone. Obviously I’ve put far too much thought into this, but I’ll go on.

Margo Kingston used to write for the Sydney Morning Herald, and then started WebDiary on the SMH website. I’m sure she still had other responsibilities, but part of her paid job was blogging. When the paper wanted to take it in a different direction, she quit in protest and started running the blog on her own steam, own money, and hoped to continue to make it viable. It wasn’t ,and she eventually quit it - letting it continue to run as an online community project, or something.

Now that’s all my sketchy memory of what happened, but that’s what rushed into my head when I read “especially when its only a side hobby”. It would be interesting to see anyone who has made a successful business model out of a blog. I guess it’s not the blog that makes it, but it’s the exposure your blog gets and the areas that then allows you to move into - book deal, journalism, or even radio and television now if your podcast or videoblog is impressive. Not all blogs are searching for wider recognition - I know one person who was flamed for finding the ’secret’ blog of a complete stranger - but I think generally we all have delusions of grandeur.

One good business model might be Daily Dancer. I haven’t been to his website in probably almost 12 months, but he could be making a lot of money. He started on Blogger, got a mention and became fairly widely watched. The last time I checked he had moved to his own domain. What does he do? He dances. Daily. That’s it, a videoblog of him dancing, not particularly well, to many songs. Now if his viewership is high (possibly in both senses), and he offers an extra ‘dance’ each day for just 50 cents, he’ll make money. This isn’t how a so-called-serious blog is going to make money, but it’s a start for someone. As an aside, I decided to check out his site before posting this. Looks like he’s trying to make some money through cafepress.

Salam Pax is a good example of someone who launched a career based on his blog (two links there - to cached original blog, and to his most recent blog that has also not been written in for a while). From his blog in Baghdad leading up to and during the Coalition invasion of Iraq in 2003, he got a book deal, which made him pretty famous. Now he’s done documentaries and journalistic work in Iraq, as well as touring around the world. This all from a blog - in admittedly special circumstances, but a blog nonetheless. So if you really want to make it big from blogging you have to somehow prove that the blog isn’t all you’ve got to offer, but that you can diversify. The blog itself isn’t necessarily going to make money, it’s wherever you go from there if your blog gets ‘discovered’. And, as in the case of Salam Pax and others I’ve read about, blogs do get discovered.

The original post can be found here.

My reply:

That’s very true. Unlike those very few hardcore bloggers who gain some kind of fiscal benefits through their blog, I guess the majority of bloggers are hobbyists. I have come across some of the bloggers you mentioned in your post. Some of them earn quite a high reputation as forefront bloggers. Others form their own, *individual* reputations (daily dancer). What I wanted to explore in this post is the way blogging, as a hobby, is much more than what the stigma of ‘writing about stuff’ implies.

The stigma of blogging usually implies a writer who ‘rants’ about anything in particular while describing the aspects of his/her day. I like to call this the ‘I did this, then this, then this’ way of thinking. As apposed to the fair few bloggers who actually use their blogs for monetary gain, the majority of blogs do follow this structure. In saying that, I also believe that this large number of individuals who blog as a hobby play a bigger part of the distribution of information that you think. A good example of these bloggers are those who blog for academic purposes. During this semester I found out that many of my lecturers either had blogs or read them which they used to connect to other academics in their field. Like many blogs, these lecturers used blogging as a tool for community building as they express and exchange information amongst each other.

In the case for last stop suburbia, the purpose is purely a hobby. Sarah and I started the last stop about 2 years ago which was during the time that I moved to another state. Originally we had only planned on using it as an easy way of keeping in touch with each other. But overtime it has started to take on different forms of purpose. In no means does it earn us any financial benefits, but that’s not to say it has no rewards in it whatsoever.

I think the main benefit of blogging is that it exercises the thought process of readers and the writers. When I come across a topic that I find interesting I’m able to sit down and explore the aspects of the topic so I can write a post based on my opinion. For example, I recently wrote a post about Video News Releases not long ago which was fairly lengthy. I had to explore the aspects that made up the topic to form my own opinion for a blog post. In doing this I was able to gain an understanding of VNRs which I would have never had gathered on my own. If the last stop didn’t exist then I probably would have come across the topic of VNRs and dismissed it shortly after. Blogging provides its writers a way of exploring information they gather and in turn interpret and share it with others. This originates from the notion of the Internet version 1.0 where information is freely available among individuals to mould, shape and interpret in anyway they wish.

People easily assume that blogging is just an online journal depicting the chronological events of the writer. The “I did this, then this, then this” way of thinking. Blogs can sometimes be like this. But the fundamental difference between a blog and an online journal is the ability to link to other online sources which are relevant to the topic at hand. Blogging is primarily about the sharing of information between individuals. In this sense a successful blog is one who has many links throughout the blogosphere. By sharing information, blogging becomes much more than just ‘writing about stuff.’ In this way of thinking it becomes the convergence of shared information, the collaboration of ideas and the formation of opinions.

Download this song – MC Lars

2006-05-05T16:22:00.000+10:00

"Hey mister record man, the joke's on you/ Running your label like it was 1992/ Hey mister record man, your system can't compete/ It's the new artist model, file transfer complete."
I was watching the regular Saturday morning music TV programs (because what else is on at that time) and I came across this song by MC Lars. You’ve probably heard it before: Download This Song. What is interesting about this song, which relates back into unit content, is its distribution as a digital media source shared freely among music lovers. The song directly addresses the stringent regulations for music distribution and tears down the red tape around illegal music download.

It’s interesting to see the structure of traditional forms of media being challenged by a completely reversed formation. Rather than the power of music distribution lying entirely in the hands of the record company executives, the power shifts towards the consumer who now has the ability to digitally share music.

John examined this when he looked at a similar group of musicians also who promote the free sharing of music – The Arctic Monkeys. This band made popular the phenomenon of legitimate free sharing of their music. As a result of this they have become widely popular and have exceeded standards set by traditional forms of distribution. It seems that the open sharing of their music has worked in favour of their popularity. So why do record companies continue to force stringent regulations regarding the ownership of content? In my opinion it is because they fear that the shift of power to the consumer will result in less revenue for them. This is a very stubborn and soon to be outdated way of thinking. Artists such as The Arctic Monkeys and MC Lars are discovering new means of reaching the masses of followers without the need of recording executives. If record companies wish to continue to operate successfully they need to realise the rising power of the consumer and discover new ways to take advantage of the changing circumstances and marketplace.

The forms of media are changing and evolving day by day. It’s presumptuous to think that the traditional methods of management are going to operate efficiently. As MC Lars states in his song, music is no longer a product but rather a service. Music provided in a physical format such as on CD is becoming less apparent. The shift to the digital revolution requires a new set of guidelines. Artists such as MC Lars and The Arctic Monkeys are showing us that the future of music lies not in the hands of record company executive, but in the power of its consumers.

Related articles:
Future of Music - MC Lars Download This Song
Wikipedia – Download This Song
OneMusic Documentaries - Arctic Monkeys, Flood Of Red and The Machines on how MP3 sites are leading the way for music
Webopedia - When is Downloading Music on the Internet Illegal?

Fro envy

2006-05-05T00:15:00.000+10:00

You don't have to be black to get your fro on. Just sit infront of this billboard.

Sourced from Advertising/Design Goodness

My two cents

2006-05-02T22:10:00.000+10:00

Lets face it, the measly two cents is worth even less than it ever did.

Now I don’t claim to be expertly versed in the functions of global economics. And I’m a few years away from having to worry about mortgages, interest rates and taxes. But even an inwardly thinking individual such as I who hides from greater matters of concern would know, there is something up with today’s economy.

Who has noticed the increasing petrol prices? You’d have to be a social leper if you hadn’t. I sure have, my poor car has had a near empty fuel tank for the past few weeks. I’m constantly waiting with a shimmer of hope for a day when the petrol prices are affordable for the struggling student. At the moment they stay at the ludicrously high rate they have been for the past month. At this rate I’m going to have to sell my car just to pay for my petrol.

There was as overeager man on the radio who had a genius way for the average Joe/Jane to fight back on the petrol prices. Australia’s petrol industry is a monopoly consisting of 3 to 4 giant competitors. The guy on the radio suggested that if one of these competitors were willing to lower prices then consumers would inturn boycott the others. This meant that the lower priced competitor would receive all the revenue of the Australian population. The other 2 or 3 competitors would be forced to lower their own prices just to stay in the game. An interesting concept, very ambitious but implausible.

And if high petrol prices aren't enough now we have the problem of increasing interest rates. The Reserve Bank of Australia has just announced that interest rates will increase by 25 basis points. “Investment growth!” shouts RBA governor Ian Macfarlane. “Stronger economy!” cries Australian Prime Minister John Howard. Unfortunately the rest of the country yells “Inflation inflation inflation!” And like high petrol prices, this problem hits close to home. Pun intended. The average home lone payer will have to fork out an average of $40 a month on payments, which builds up to just under $500 annually.

Experts say, current inflation is a line ball call – it can go either way. Call me a pessimist but I tend to agree with the notion that today’s world is an expensive world and shows no signs of letting up. Current trends in increased prices are only going to grow in future years.

So that’s my two cents - straight in the bank.

Related articles:
ABC: The World Today - Reserve Bank lifts rates
SBS: The World News - Australian interest rates rise
Townsville Bulletin - Petrol prices may soar: Costello

Where Have I Been?

2006-04-28T11:18:00.000+10:00

I wonder if you all have noticed my lack of presence lately around the blogging world, I did warn you that there would be a lack of posts from me, I have had a constant flow of major assessments thrust upon me thanks to the horrible institution some of us know as UNIVERSITY (insert scary music).

However, I did have some fun in my week off, I went to the easter show and I also went to the zoo! Both of which I'm sure some of you are thinking are extremely juvenile, but both of which were an awesome time. I went to the easter show on Easter Monday and I had a blast, after working for the better part of the long weekend it was great to get away and just be a kid. I do not have any photos from the easter show because we forgot to take a camera! But! I do have photos from the zoo so here we go...
That's Natasha with the Harbour Bridge behind her, on the ferry on the way over to Taronga Zoo, possibly my favourite part of the day was the ferry trip there and back, I love the ferry, the freedom I feel on the water is incredible and going through the harbour of the city is always an experience for me. It kind of sounds like I'm from the country but I really just don't get to the city for enjoyment all that often, not that part of the city anyway.
That's me in Natasha's sunglasses also on the ferry over there. Thought it would make a cool photo and I think it turned out pretty well don't you?
We decided that we wanted to be penguins, as seeing as though the penguins weren't out in their enclosure, we were disappointed and so we decided to help the people at the zoo who were equally as disappointed and be penguins ourselves.
I also volunteered my services to help out the people of the zoo and give them what they really came for. I make a strange looking penguin wouldn't you agree? I don't know what that look is on my face, but apparently I wasn't all that happy to be a penguin, maybe I was wondering why my fellow penguin is a midget?
Natasha and I decided to check out the view....and I was then forced to be a part of this photo as you can see, one of us is much happier than the other about this photo being taken.
So the zoo is currently being revamped and this is part of the new section they're calling World Asia, it's going to be completed by 2007 and I must say, congrats to the powers at be of the zoological world because World Asia is looking good. They have some beautiful statues one of which Natasha is sitting on here, and are currently designing and building a new home for the elephants.

After the zoo we had some time to spare so we headed back into the city and got some spicey fish balls from China town and a hotdog and a pie from Harry's Pies on Wheels. During this time we ventured into an unknown, what seemed to be shopping centre from where I was standing but Natasha assured me I would be surprised. As we climbed the escalator we were faced by a world I had never visited before, we walked through the doors and were surrounded by Japanese photo machines. There were heaps of them, and I mean heaps! One guy stood at the end in a little booth handing out change whilst an immense amount of young people ran around from machine to machine taking photos. We thought we'd get in on the act and hence, our photos are created.
All in all it was a great day, probably one of the best I've had in a long time, so if you have the chance to get out there and be a kid, go to the zoo, or the easter show, or a comic book convention if that's your thing, I assure you, you've never had so much fun.

Inside machinima

2006-04-26T16:49:00.000+10:00

Ok you machinima lovers out there, here’s another quality creation that you should take a look at. This one follows a machinima director on a tour of his studio and discusses the similarities between machinima and conventional filmmaking. What’s interesting is that he does it not in person, but in a machinima itself! What else does a director like this do but make a machinima about machinima!

If any of you don’t know what machinima is then just take a look at the clip. Its pretty good in its description of the machinima as a legitimate form of filmmaking. But quickly here’s a fun word mixup:

Machine + animation + cinema = machinema!

Watch it in youtube here.

New talent

2006-04-25T10:11:00.000+10:00

I’ve been listening to new artists lately and a few have earned an honourable mention:

Joshua Radin
I first heard Josh’s stuff from the Scrubs soundtrack, which by the way is an excellent collection of misfit music. It was Zach Braff who wanted Josh’s music to feature on the show, the two are actually good friends. Zach even plugs Josh’s music on his own blog. I’ve only heard a few songs from the guy but I’m definitely hooked on his sound. I liken it to a lighter non-alien sounding James Blunt sound. If you loved the Garden State sound, also a Zach Braff initiative – the guy has good taste in music, then you’ll love Joshua Radin. Look out for the song – ‘Closer’ which appears on Scrubs season 4 episode 19 – the one where Molly comes back.
Joshua Radin official site - Listen to some of his tracks by going to the 'music' section.

Matt Costa
I heard one of his songs ‘Cold December’ on the radio a while ago and the tune stuck in my head all day. Days after I was still trying to figure out the name of that song. Then I heard it again on the radio and made sure I write down the artist and song title. Now I use ‘Cold December’ as the song that describes my taste in music. I’m a big fan of songs that play perfectly in a car travelling down an empty highway with the top down. He’s got a positive spin on the indie pop sound which is not surprising because he is part of the Jack Johnson group and even lends his vocal talent on Jack’s ‘Lullaby.’ Look out for his album ‘Songs we sing.'
Matt Costa official site
Play Cold December

Amos Lee
A friend of mine recommended that I listen to the Amos Lee album a few days ago. Since then I can’t get his one in a million voice out of my head. Amos Lee is an old soul trapped in a young person’s body. His music is best described as a combination of folk and soul. I love listening to the old school soul music like Solomon Burke and Marvin Gaye and Amos’s sound fits right down my alley. His debut album is filled with blues infused tracks that are stripped back to its simplest form which complement his voice perfectly. Make sure you listen to the soothing ‘Arms of a Woman’ and also ‘Keep it Loose, Keep it Tight.’ If you’re a fan of Jeff Buckley and Tony Rich then keep an eye on this guy.
Amos Lee official site
Play Arms of a Woman
Play Keep It Loose, Keep It Tight

Supanova 2006

2006-04-24T15:43:00.000+10:00

It was like stepping into another world. One step through the gates is all it took to be transported to another dimension where people are dressed like their favourite characters from video games, amine, and comic books. Where people aren’t judged but quite oppositely complemented on how bizarre they look. I hesitantly walked through the hordes of fanboys and fangirls thinking, ‘I don’t belong here, take me home!’ It was odd to be around so many people who all spoke to each other like they were family. There were flashes coming from the corner of the crowded auditorium. As I made my way closer to find out what the commotion was when I noticed an elaborately dressed girl in the middle of the excitement. She was dressed in a black gown which was bound together with black belts and buckles. She had high black boots and held a teddy bear whose eyes were crossed out. I couldn’t help but think that I had seen this somewhere before - her elaborate costume that is. Then I realised, I know who she was, or who she as pretending to be anyway. She was Yuna, a guardian from Final Fantasy 8! Ahh! How could I know this? Could it be? Could I be one of these people? Am I a geek!?

This was the very first time I’ve ever been to Supanova or even any convention for that matter. So I went in with a little hesitation fearing that I will be surrounded by hordes of geeks. Well I was. But it was surprisingly so much fun!

For those of you who don’t know, Supanova is an annual pop-culture exhibition held in Brisbane. At first I just thought it was just some geeky comic book convention but it’s so much more. Pop-culture expands to basically anything which is, well, popular in our culture. There were comic books, anime, gaming, tournaments, seminars and even karaoke! I’ve always been fascinated by things like these. I consider myself a bit of a superhero nut but I’ve never actually done anything about it. Lets just say I’m a fan just not an active fan, compared to regular Supanova goers anyway.

I’ve never been in a building with so many people who had all the same common interests - especially with my common interests. I have a few friends here and there who I can get into a really geeky conversation with and actually understand what I’m talking about. To everyone else it’s like I’m speaking in another language. Going to a place like Supanova is like going to a country where the national language is ‘geek.’

I knew that people dressed up to these conventions. I never knew there were going to be so many of them. Some of their costumes were really elaborate and intricately assembled. You could tell they put so much effort into them. Some people came in groups of characters and performed skits on stage which they had prepared. Apparently this is called ‘cosplay’ a combination of the words costume and play. (I learned a new word)

There were countless stalls selling rare merchandise which you can only pick up in either a secret comic book store or the wonderful world of ebay. I managed to pick myself up a Donal Trump bobble head, Chris from Family Guy bobble head, a Malcome Reynolds – Final Battle figurine and a few Transformers shirts which come in my size! (All the ones in comic book stores only come in fat comic book guy size)

The reason why I decided to go to Supanova this year was they had some pretty decent guests which were holding seminars and doing signings. One of which was Summer Glau who played River Tam in Firefly and Serenity. (Created by Joss Whedon who also made Buffy and Angel) I got hooked on the Firefly bandwagon after I was forced to watch it last break and ever since I’ve been hooked. So I met Summer who happened to be a really funny person in real life. That’s one thing I can tick off my list of ‘things to do before I die.’

Another guest who I wanted to meet was John Schneider who plays Jonathan Kent (aka Clark’s Dad) on Smallville. I’m a huge fan of superman fan so naturally Smallville happens to be my favourite show. So of course I had to meet the father of superman. John is actually a really nice guy. He was really friendly and talked to me for a while about all sorts of stuff. Apparently he loves independent movies and thinks vegemite tastes like horse shit. I actually really wanted to know some stuff about one of he’s co-stars Kristin Kreuk who I am, its safe to say, am madly in love with. He told me that she is a really hard working person who is never late and really focused on what she does. (That’s a tick in my book) And that nobody knows this but she is really interested in real-estate. (Mental note: research real-estate) But John Schneider is a stand up guy.

I’m not sure why I’ve never been to Supernova before. I was definitely an awesome way to spend the day. I suggest all you people who aren’t really into ‘that sort of thing’ go anyway. There is so much there that there’s bound to be something that would interest you. If not, just enjoy the madness of all these people dressing up like raving lunatics. Because you won’t find it anywhere else!

Here are some photos of Supanova 2006:

Girl cosplaying as Yuna from Final Fantasy 8

Me Getting my ass handed to me by Sean of the Dead and a Zombie.

My boy Optimus Prime was there getting his game on.

Me joinging the 'dark side.'

I happened to come across some of my friend's animation sketches at the Griffith stall.

Other bloggers who went to Supanova 2006:
Doctor Virago (This is the Sean of the Dead guy in the earlier photo)
Home of Zim
GurtyGurt
Brother Machine Gun of Mild Reason

Who wants to be a Superhero?

2006-04-20T14:23:00.000+10:00

Calling all Superheros!

Are you an average Joe or Jane with a hidden secret? Do you lead a secret double life? Does your night consist of cape swirling, building jumping and crime thwarting fun? Well here is your chance to be immortalized in the glossy pages of your own comic book!

Stan Lee (the genius behind Spiderman, X-Men and The Hulk) is partnering with the SCI FI channel to produce a reality TV series searching for the next comic book hero. Participants come from all walks of life each with their own ‘super’ persona. From Big Pappa the walking stick toting Pimp-daddy to the banana clad Monkey Woman, all entrants are encouraged to be as creative as possible. From these entrants 11 finalists will be chosen to compete in week by week challenges. Each week a hero is ‘killed off’ if you will, until there only remains the sole Superhero. Think the apprentice for comic book geeks. The winner will be forever immortalized in a comic book created by Stan Lee himself!

As a superhero fanatic myself, I’ve developed many alter-egos in my time. Some ideas I’d like to see are:

Politically Incorrect Man – breaker of all social norms and violator of all taboos.
The Googler – with the ability to sift through Google’s rubbish
search results to find exactly what you’re looking for.
The Ethnic, Gender unspecific, Sexuality Questionable, Religiously Open-minded, Disabled One – he/she who represents all minorities.

So if you think you are the superhero that has what it takes, heres your chance! Pull on the gloves, strap on the belt and hook up the cape and get ready to fight for the ultimate glory of immortality!

Related Articles:
The SCI-FI channel - Who wants to be a superhero?
CanMag - Who wants to be a superhero?
CalendarLive - A Judge of Characters.

Machinima

2006-04-18T11:37:00.000+10:00

Yet another foray into the gaming world - this time in the form of cinema.

[You newbies read on, all others skip to the bottom]

Machinima is a revolutionary way of creating short films using the actions and tools within a game. Originally game developers had not intended for the tools of the game to be used to create short films. Using tools in an unexpected way and modifying its content is an example of emergent gameplay.

Machinima is a combination of three words: ‘machine’ ‘animation’ and ‘cinema.’ It has quickly grown into its own ‘genre’ of filmmaking in the last few years as more games include multimedia recording capabilities. Examples of games which are used to produce Machinima are: World of Warcraft, Sims 2, Halo, EverQuest, among many others.

This is the funniest Machinima I have ever seen!

From the popular web-series Red vs Blue. This episode was made for the New York Video Festival. It's titled "Real Life vs the Internet" and it's so true.

Related websites:
Machinima.com
Thinking Machinima
Red Vs Blue
MachiniMag

You know you’re a nerd when..

2006-04-17T20:28:00.000+10:00

..your MMOG has its own blog.

World of Warcraft, the new ‘in thing’ for online gamers, has a new home for its legions (or hordes if you prefer to follow the orcish path) of followers. Azeroth is the newest of forty-five local blogs on Metroblog. Actually I didn’t know they had one let along forty-five. How silly of me to underestimate the power nerds have over the internet.

Sourced from Boing Boing.

Reading between the lines.

2006-04-15T01:11:00.000+10:00

A real situation:

There is a conference of high power leaders of various organisations from around the nation. The conference holds a high level of importance to its audience so everything will be scrutinized. There are two speakers, both middle-aged professionals highly respected experts in their fields. Both are competent public speakers. The only difference between the two speakers is that one is a man and one is a woman.

There is a lectern which stands quite high. The male speaker is taller than the female speaker so he is able to speak freely without any aids. The woman however requires a box to stand on in order for her to be seen and heard adequately. The box is discreetly hidden behind the lectern.

The male speaker proceeds first and delivers a fine speech. As the crowd applauds him he steps away from the lectern so the female speaker can prepare for her speech. However, as he leaves he kicks the hidden box away from the lectern and in plain sight of the audience. The audience see the box and wonder what it is for.

The female speaker has a decision to make. Does she,

a) Retrieve the box, and place it back behind lectern. Or,
b) Ignore that the box is hers and continue speaking without it.

Her decision is not as straightforward as it seems. In this case the speech is not the only thing that is important. What is between the lines is equally as important. If she retrieves the box she is admitting that she requires an aid to deliver the speech, unlike the male speaker who was able to perform without it. She will be seen as an unequal, and inferior, match to her male counterpart. Or she can ignore the box and proceed with her speech as normal and ultimately sacrificing the some ability to be seen and heard properly.

What does she do?

Casshern.

2006-04-10T18:15:00.000+10:00

Recently I have developed a newfound attraction to Eastern Cinema. As I try to expose myself to alternative forms of films I find myself fascinated with the genius of Eastern storytelling. I think Asian cinema just understands the importance of a solid plotline above other things. They seem to do it better than the Hollywood blockbusters which are producing the same old remakes of tired plots. Take ‘A Tale of Two Sisters’ which is a lesser known Korean horror film which breathes life back into the horror genre. Even Hollywood notices the quality of eastern storytelling by remaking and Americanizing classics such as ‘The Ring,’ ‘The Grudge,’ and ‘Dark Water.’ But it’s not only storytelling that eastern cinema is getting right. Brilliant cinematography in movies such as ‘House of Flying Daggers’ and ‘Hero’ can only be described as a unique art form.

I recently watched Casshern which is based on the 1970s animation originally spelled ‘Casshan.’ This has got to be one of my favourite movies. The cinematography is like nothing like I’ve ever seen. It’s a live action film shot completely on a digital backlot, which meant that only the actors were the only ones not digitally produced. This means that the entire environment was able to take on a completely out of this world appearance – a retro sci-fi world where steam powered ships meets advanced robotics.

Many of its filming techniques lends itself directly from traditional anime style animations such as dynamic camera angles, increased speed of fight scenes and using lines to show movement. It is literally like watching a live action anime film, which is why non-anime fans will probably not appreciate this type of filmmaking. The storyline is also heavily inspired by Asian sci-fi anime and gaming influences such as the Final Fantasy series. Much like these genres the storyline conveys as ‘bigger message’ in the end which leaves you thinking even after the credits have stopped rolling.

The movie is hard to come across, I had to get it from a friend who ordered it from the internet. But if you ever come across it then make sure you watch it. It will blow you away.

Related Articles:
Midnight Eye - Review of Casshern.

I hate the internet. (..today)

2006-04-09T23:17:00.000+10:00

Just in case you’re not up with the current status of the laststop here it is: I’m using the blog for a class assessment for the next few weeks which explains some of the more formal posts. Which means spending more time on the internet than I would like. What with having to blog twice as much, participating in various online communities and other university related research it feels like the internet is my new home. Wait did I say home? What I meant to say was cage. There’s only a certain amount of time I can spend within the ‘virtual culture’ before I have trouble defining what is real and what is all a bunch of disguised 1s and 0s. And this isn’t the cool kind of world where bullets fly in super slow-mo like in the Matrix. Quite the opposite in fact, this world makes real time travels so fast while sitting in front of the screen seems like forever.

Here’s my meek attempt of linking this post back to the unit content. (Which by the way I’m growing ever more frustrated that I have to link all my posts back to the dry content.) My question is:

"How does a community successfully exist and grow when there are so many constrictions between its members?"

The interaction between people over the internet is very limited compared to face to face personal conversations. Keyboards and fingers undoubtedly say less than verbal pitch and body language. And yet so many people rely on the internet for social interactions. If I’m speaking as a purely narrow-minded traditional net-hater I would say that relationships formed over the internet are for people who lack the capacity to socially interact with other ‘real’ people. Maybe it’s that shy Jane in the corner of the room, or the overtly geeky Joe who only talks about the latest Lost episode. But I guess it’s a great way of meeting the really unique individuals you can’t seem to find in the real world. Where else would you have met John the level 50 elder-troll but in a games forum?

I guess in some sense online communities have some purpose. I just wish I didn’t have to stare at this screen for so damn long to participate in one. My ass is sore and my eyes are square, how do people do this for hours on end? The world outside my window is passing me by while I blog my life away.

Video News Releases - A question of ethics.

2006-04-08T01:45:00.000+10:00

Dave recently brought up an interesting topic regarding the use of Video News Releases which is a technique usually used in public relations where video or radio segments are produced and distributed to media outlets in an attempt to push a certain agenda. Basically, press-releases masquerading as news. You’ve probably come across them in one way or another during a news program either on TV or on radio. Most of the time video news releases, or VNRs, are indistinguishable from regular news documents, which raise an ethical question of ‘true’ journalistic news. Some even see this as a form of propaganda and want it removed from our media outlets.

In this case as described in the New Your Times, VNRs are being used by television news stations without disclosing that they were produced by corporations pitching new products. Questions regarding ethics and journalistic integrity are discussed with this issue.

Video News Releases aren’t anything new to advertisers. Although the uses of them are highlighted throughout many news sources, its public awareness has only been a recent phenomenon. Before VNRs were ‘news releases’ which exists in many newspapers. Like VNRs the purpose of news releases was to promoting something claimed as having news value. Naturally ‘video news releases’ was soon to follow.

Advertising takes on many forms in today’s society. The lines between what is real and what is paid advertising are beginning to blur. Part of the reason for this is that people are becoming more accustomed to seeing advertising as a normal part of society. Particularly in recent times, advertising is becoming more than a lowbrow level ‘buy this’ media source. The innovations in advertising are coupled with the constantly expanding commercial society. As the global economy shifts towards a more consumer driven development, innovations such as VNRs become part of our everyday lives.

In the case of VNRs, I think there needs to be a clear distinction between the realm of advertising and the realm of journalism. As an advertising perspective, I believe that the greatest force driving this commercial society is also its opposer, and that is the power of choice. Ultimately the consumer has the power to choose whether or not to buy a product regardless of all the advertising they are exposed to. Having said that, I also believe that advertisers too have a choice in what they promote. As gatekeepers of the commercial society it is their responsibility to ensure that there remains a level of ethics and standards. Advertisers are also human; we’re not all a pack of bloodsucking hounds trying to turn the quick buck. Ethics and standards might not sound like the makings of a perfect business strategy but as humans it is our responsibility to uphold these values for a functioning society.

For the journalism perspective, issues of integrity are raised. Is the media outlet’s validity as a legitimate source of news compromised as a result of the use of VNRs? In my personal opinion I would suggest so. If a media outlet is highly regarded for its presentation of top quality news then of course a VNR from a corporation with an agenda is going to compromise its journalistic integrity. Unless the VNR is clearly stated as a paid form of promotion then it’s unethical to hide it amongst the ‘true’ news stories.

Opinions on ethics are deeply rooted within each individual’s background. For questions such as these there are no right or wrong answers, only the opinions of individuals.

McDonalds and Destiny's Child Video News Release.

Related Articles:
BrandShift - Brand Propaganda.
Center for Media and Democracy - Video News Releases.

Intellectual Property - issues of ownership.

2006-04-06T00:46:00.000+10:00

Why is it important that intellectual property be protected by such stringent regulations? In a society where the exchange of information is vital in its own growth, why is it that knowledge is guarded by such strict gatekeepers? In the case of MMOGs, which stands for ‘Massively Multiplayer Online Games,’ the boundaries which surround intellectual property is blurred as the roles of consumers and producers are redefined.

Sal Humphries, my lecturer for this topic, outlines the problems of definite property ownership in this type of media. In her chapter titled ‘Online Computer Games’ Challenge to Conventional Media forms’ she discusses the need to treat MMOGs as different source than that of conventional forms of media. Because MMOGs are a convergence of different forms of media intellectual property is much more difficult to distinguish. If a user creates his/her own content within the constructs of the game who owns the rights of its use, the user or the producers? Content creation by users has grown throughout online gaming communities. A clear definite understanding of who owns the creations is yet to be established. Many MMOGs define their stance on intellectual property in the terms and conditions but many think that this needs to be changed to include the users as a more proactive contributor to the games development. This view encourages a more liberated view of intellectual property whereby information is shared freely among its members. This view is popular among many gaming enthusiasts with the belief that it can only promote the growth of the community.

Alternatively, the Australian Government sees the need a strict set of regulations in defining ownership of intellectual property. If these set of regulations do not exist then ownership issues rely on common law in proving who owns the property. It may sound like these regulations is overly restrictive but it does have its advantages. Thinking of recent events intellectual property and freedom of information has never proved to have any greater influence than a Danish newspaper’s decision to publish cartoon representations of the Prophet Muhammed. In this sense a set of regulatory guidelines would prove beneficial.

In my personal opinion, I believe in a hybrid approach. It is important that a set of guidelines are outlined defining acceptable conduct within a MMOG. It is also important that these guidelines are able to be redefined as time progresses maintaining a balance between the authority of producers and the capabilities of users. In this way an MMOG is able to evolve freely accommodating all its members adequately.

References:
S. Humphreys (2005) ‘Productive players: Online Computer Games’Challenge to Conventional Media Forms’, Journal of Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies. Vol.2, No. 1 (March) pp.36-50.

Australian Government Website (2006) IP Australia. http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/ (accessed April 6, 2006).

Related Articles:
Easily Distracted – Race to the Bottom.

Blog-shui.

2006-04-05T18:26:00.000+10:00

Blogs tend to all have the same structure. Usually templates consist of a header with the title of the blog and 2 columns. One column for links, archives, profiles and whatever other bits of information can be crammed within a 5 centimetre width. Then you have your main column for updating your blog posts and a commenting system.

Traditionally, early blog templates were primarily based on text. (And by traditionally I mean only in the last few years since the emergence of blogging was just a few years ago.) Visually the blogs were very basic an simple in their designs. Little images were used and flash tools were virtually nonexistent. Some examples of early designs:

The most popular blog of today’s standards: Boing Boing. Very text based and limited in visual appeal. Although the fact that it isn’t cluttered with advertising like it is today has its own unique appeal. See as webpage.

Scripting news - Just another example of a text based blog. See as webpage.

One of Blogger’s own early designs. (Funnily enough is still used quite often.) Very basic heading and two column design. This archive was in 2004 so we can begin to see the use of images. See as webpage.

These days the design of blogs has evolved along with the progressive growth of the internet. Visually, the design of blogs varies through colour scheme, images, flash effects, you name it. There are literally millions of designs out there to suit any personality. As technology improves everyday, the internet, and consequently blogging, becomes more visual rather than textual. That’s not to say that the legitimacy of text within websites have depreciated, quite the opposite. We do after all live in an information society. But as technology improves the information shared begins to take more dynamic forms -

Images have become an significant aspect of the design of blogs through the use of photos, animations, logos and a wide range of others. Photoblogs have emerged as a result of this. In this sense text is almost completely replaced by images making it a completely visual experience. A well-known example of an image based blog is PostSecret.

The use of multimedia is apparent in some blogs. Multimedia can be used to play audio and video files in blogs. Much like photoblogging, the use of audio and video have allowed bloggers the ability to update without the use of text. This has introduced the use of audioblogs and videoblogs. Uses of audio and video are still quite limited in blogging. However, much like images is it only a matter of a few technological improvements before they become more apparent.

Flash and Java are sometimes used for clever animations and interactive features within blogs. Widely used these days in websites, they have begun the transition towards blogs. A widely used example of a flash based animation is the flickr badge which acts as a small slideshow of a member's album.

These are only a few examples of how blogs are being redesigned to become more visually appealing to readers. As technology improves the design possibilities become greater. However we can’t discount the primarily important use of blogs which is the sharing of information among peers. Some may argue that visual appeal is only ‘skin deep.’ I agree. Content is the most important component of blogging, without it a blog could not survive. However, as the internet evolves day by day so does the blogging progression and how content is provided evolves in the same way.

Related articles:
Google Blogoscoped – Old Blog Designs
D. Keith Robinson’s Asterisk – Blog Design

The 'hard' truth.

2006-04-03T10:35:00.000+10:00

I always get a sense of pervasiveness when there is advertising inside the men’s room. It’s as if the ads are talking to you while you do your business, and guys know that you do not talk to other guys during their ‘business.’ There’s nothing like reading about the advantages of the new laxative product while pushing out a turtle-head.

Here’s a guerrilla campaign used in Germany advertising a tabloid newspaper. The headline reads: “Nothing is harder that the truth.”
From: Advertising/Design Goodness.

In this day and age you’ll find advertising everywhere: cars, schools, churches, tattooed on the forehead of a desperate mother. You can even be peeing on them. Healthquest Technologies have developed Wizmark, the world’s first interactive urinal communicator. It fits over any urinal drain and is completely water (and urine) proof obviously. It can talk, flash or have animated images which activate when ‘greeted by a visitor.’ Developers even say future models will be able to move!

The Wayback Machine.

2006-04-01T19:59:00.000+11:00

“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”
~ Walt Disney

Tomorrow’s future, future driven, future moving, moving up, moving on, moving forward, forward integration, forward thinking, forward concepts, leaping forward…

Seems like everything in this day and age is about looking to the future. Well what if we can press pause in the present and look back on the past? Well ladies and gentlemen, we can…well sort of. On the internet that is. The Wayback Machine is quite literally an archive of the internet. You have the ability to surf the net circa 1996 and beyond which is the year the Wayback Machine was established. Remembering that the internet grows and reproduces faster that a cage full of horned up rabbits, ‘96 seems like a lifetime ago. You can really tell when you look back at some of the earlier websites. Our own Blogger for example:

Ahh the humble beginnings.. See website in 1996 See website in 2006

You can browse through 55 billion web pages in its expanding archive. It’s as if you are being transported back to the dark age of dial up connections and ICQ. With this archive you can actually surf the net as if it were 10 years ago. Check these out:

Funnily enough not much has changed for google since 1996. Well visually anyway. See website in 1996 See website in 2006

This page is almost blank compared to Yahoo's current design. See website in 1996 See website in 2006

This is my university's website back in 1996. Current QUT students will be pointing and laughing. Very different to the current design. See website in 1996 See website in 2006

Isn’t the rate at which new media evolves and recreates itself amazing? I think 1 normal year equals 7 internet years – like dog years. So in this sense we can see how fast virtual cultures expands each day. These screen caps show the aesthetic visual change, but further on in later blog posts I’ll begin to examine the other evolutionary changes virtual cultures goes through.

Oh you laugh now but wait until another 10 years and check back on websites circa 2006. You’ll find yourselves falling off your ergonomically designed floating chairs laughing at the funny gif files dancing on your holo-screens.

Lighter side.

2006-04-01T00:58:00.000+11:00

The lighter side of blogging is also its sad truth.
From toothpaste for dinner.

Blogging about blogging

2006-03-29T01:04:00.000+11:00

My last lecture was much like an amazingly geeky seminar on the blogging movement. After a while you forget that you are actually in a university lecture paying thousands of dollars for an academic knowledge. It’s rare that you get content in a lecture that is, in all honesty, incredibly interesting. Jean Burgess who was our lecturer for the week is an avid blogger herself.

“If you take anything away from this weeks lecture please take away these two things:

1. Blogs are dynamic, frequently updated websites.
2. Blogs are networked media.

Ok now you can leave..” I think she was kidding but I’m sure people were contemplating leaving. (I hope that’s what the two things we were supposed to remember, that’s embarrassing if they weren’t)

Here are just some of the interesting things that I took away from this week’s lecture:

The numbers
According to Technorati’s ‘State of the Blogosphere’ report ending February ’06 growth has expanded exponentially in recent years. They state that “The blogosphere is over 60 times bigger than it was only 3 years ago.” A huge jump which is undoubtedly is fuelled by the new developments in new media technologies. Technorati currently tracks over 75,000 blogs being created each day which essentially means that a blog is created ever second of the day.

Here is a graph depicting the growth of blogs beginning from March 2003 to February 2006. Notice how the number of weblogs tracked is doubling every 5 months. You start to think when, if ever, will this ever increasing curve begin to level out? Is it a phenomenon that will eventually die out with the introduction of the new form of dynamic communication? In my opinion the rate of growth of the blogosphere will continue to rise as blogs evolve. Rather than be replaced by new forms of dynamic communication, they will evolve to incorporate different sources of innovation – reinventing the blog.

Why blog?
Here we begin to examine how the consumer of traditional forms of media begins to take on the role as the producer. The combination of these two terms is known to new media experts as the ‘prosumer.’ This term describes the combination of these two roles into one consumer and producer of new media. A basic example of this is bloggers as do-it-yourself journalists creating their own media content for consumption by others. This is part of what is known as the DIY culture. More and more people are becoming more active in the production of their own media. Much like the rise of blogging, this effect is coupled by the availability of such new technologies which makes the production of ‘grass-roots’ media possible.

There was an interesting quote which I found in this week’s reading regarding online interaction. It describes blogs as a space for customisation and individualisation rather than mass produced forms of media. It states that: “From customisation follows interaction, from interaction follows interactivity, and from interactivity follows, in the right setting, intercreativity.”

Links are the currency of blogs
Jean examined this notion that a blog’s wealth is calculated by the number of links it possesses from other blogs. Basically, smaller blogs link themselves to larger blogs. The more links there larger blogs have the more currency they acquire. Currently the blog with the highest amoung of linkages, and the wealthiest blog, is Boing Boing – a collection of interesting tidbits of modern culture. Another blog which I visit quite frequently is Post Secret – a blog which hosts postcards with anonymous secrets. I host links to both these blogs so therefore I’m contributing to their blog currency.

Its very strange to have a university lecture about blogging. I’ve blogging in one form of another for a few years now and I never really thought about all the aspects which surround it. I think I’ve taken away many things from this week’s lecture, one of which I appreciate the most. And that is understanding that blogging can be so much more than a place for rants and random thoughts. An active and functioning blog has so many more possibilities of information exchange.

References:
Bruns, A. and J. Jacobs. 2006. Uses of Blogs. Peter Land Publishing: New York.

Related articles:
Technorati - State of the Blogosphere, February 2006 Part 1: On Blogosphere Growth
Wikipedia - Prosumer

Last stop goes academic.

2006-03-25T12:16:00.000+11:00

Who’da-thunk-it?

Remember that class I mentioned earlier about virtual cultures? Well one of the assessment pieces includes a 5 week project which consists of blogging about key areas of interest within the unit. Seeing as that the last stop is my little home in this online jungle then I thought I’d post here. The fact that I’m too lazy to start and manage a new blog might also have something to do with it. The blog we use during the 5 week duration will be publicly available for the other members of the unit who include students, lecturers and John the tutor. I’m not too sure about combining the personal aspects of my life and making it public for the academic part. Flashbacks to Seinfeld and ‘worlds colliding’ come to mind. But we have no secrets here right? So let the worlds collide.

- allister

Advertising outside the box.

2006-03-19T00:43:00.000+11:00

If you don’t have an eye for it or study it for a living then advertising can get quite tedious. People are bombarded with about 3,000 advertising messages a day. So it’s not surprising that more and more people are turning their heads from these messages. With so much competition for the attention of potential consumers advertising has had to rethink its ways of reaching its audience. Rather than present the ad in a straightforward passive way, the ads are now becoming more integrated in our everyday life.

Take television and movies for example. Product Placement is widely used in today’s film and TV shows. Rather than advertising during commercial breaks, companies are now placing their brands within the shows and movies we watch. In Alias, Sydney Bristow is nowhere without her trusty Nokia. And can you see a future where everyone drives an Audi like in I, Robot. A good example of product placements which audiences are not likely to pick up on is in the Matrix Reloaded. Did you know that during the highway chase scene all the cars on the road were made by General Motors?

Advertising is also becoming more creative in its use of its medium. Rather than a flat page advertisement where the message is read and often forgotten, an advertisement which utilizes the medium’s characteristics to its benefit usually helps audience retention. Here are two good examples:

This is an advertisement which was sent to company directors and managers urging them to donate to a charity during the Christmas holidays. At first it looks like an average present but when it is unwrapped it turns into a homeless shelter for a young child. It uses the form of the box creatively and generates a greater impact than say a leaflet.

Here is an advertisement which uses the way a newspaper’s pages are turned to create a greater impact. The action of flipping to the next page is likened to pulling the cover over a dead body. This action sends a message that turning the page and ignoring the problem is like ignoring the deaths of these children.

As consumers ourselves we are constantly being bombarded by advertising messages. But if you think about it, how many of these ads do you remember the next day? For this reason, advertising has had to become more creative in its execution and adapt to our new consumeristic lifestyles.

Get creative.

2006-03-15T23:13:00.000+11:00

If you are also a third year advertising student with two and a half years to go then listen up. Its time to get connected. Immerse yourself in the industry and drown yourself in creativity. Here’s how:

‘boards’ the creative edge in commercial production.
Where creative visual juices come to be squeezed. Boards Online is a weekly online service for agency producers, creatives and commercial production executives, showcasing international spots, industry news and people moves from the international advertising community. One of the first ever magazines ever to have an online edition. Think of a time where magazines come to life with streaming visuals, interactive articles and animated sounds. Its more engaging than reading paper.