links for 2007-07-05
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Print this before you start spending time in Second Life, it’ll make your life a lot easier!
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“Researchers are developing methods to dampen or wipe out specific memories.” (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind anyone?)
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“Alan Johnston, the BBC journalist held hostage in the Gaza Strip since March, has been handed over by his Islamist captors to ruling Hamas officials…”
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“I’m hoping the scientific community continues to go off like a fire alarm in a hotel, … and that that will do the trick. If they do, the democracies, the political leadership…will all recognize that this is a real threat.”
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Apparently TV advertising is just as effective at ‘fast forward’ speed! (Ahem, but are they deadly … Blipvert!)
Putting the Sex (back) into American Politics?
The process by which different US Democrats and Republicans vie for the right to be their party’s candidate for presidency has always fascinated me (admittedly, from afar, safe in the knowledge I don’t need to vote for any of these people). The race for 2004 bought out some impressive efforts in participatory culture (remember Jib Jab’s ‘This Land’?), and this years’ Hillary 1984 video promised more in the race for 2008. While the creativity is definitely out there, one trend which has been a little unexpected is the “I’ve got a crush on…” videos attached to the Democrat candidates.
First there was the self-styled ‘Obama Girl’ with her “I’ve Got a Crush on Obama” video:
The clip and the Obama Girl herself have gained a fair amount of attention in US media, most of which is linked to from Obama Girl’s website. The girl in the clip – Amber Lee Ettinger – didn’t create the concept (or sing the song; she’s lip-synching) but has become one of the key faces in Obama’s campaign. The story behind Obama Girl is found at the Barely Political website. Now, along similar lines but a little more disturbingly, Chuck Tryon has drawn my attention to the “Hott4Hill featuring Taryn Southern” clip, which runs a fine line between representing Hillary Clinton as a politician or a sexual icon(!):
And, of course, there’s a Hott4Hill blog to emphasise Taryn Southern’s efforts.While I’m still thinking about how all of this works (and wonder if these clips have the potential to damage campaigns as much as make them appealing for younger proto-voters) you might want to have a read of ‘The Power and Playfulness of Parody: Obama, Hip Hop and Misunderstanding’ by Bernie Heidkamp in Pop Politics which gives some context and perspective to the Obama Girl clip.
links for 2007-07-04
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For anyone who loved Dune … He who controls the spice controls the universe … LOLCATS style! 🙂 [Via GardnerC]
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“Blogger Backup is a small open-source Windows tool that, well, backups the posts and comments from a Blogger blog.”
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Funny! By Doug Haslam.[See large view for detail.]
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“iPhone theme for WordPress. Something a bit different! This theme is inspired by the new Apple iPhone, and is built on the infamous K2 structure. The iPhone theme has a single column design with sidebar information presented below the posts.”
links for 2007-07-03
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An Adelaide woman has been arrested in the United States for allegedly trying to kidnap a 17-year-old boy she had met playing role-playing game World of Warcraft on the Internet.
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“Plasma televisions are sending home power bills sky high as more people install bigger and more energy-intensive screens. Electric hot-water systems remain the No.1 energy guzzler in the home but plasma TVs are fast overtaking…”
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“Richard Dawkins, the British ethologist and author of The God Delusion… reveals in a recent interview … that he has a digital alter ego — an avatar — who frequents the virtual world Second Life.”
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Little website to FLIP text upside down and then lets you cut’n’paste the upside-down version.
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“Channel Seven will broadcast two of its cult import dramas, Heroes and Prison Break on the same day as their US screenings in a ploy to lure drifting audiences away from DVDs and the internet.”
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Alex Malik notes that Australian commercial TV broadcasters also have a nasty habit of editing US shows to fit timeslots and more ads in, especially in the late-night slots (eg Boston Legal).
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Outsourcing social networking profile building?
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Miles, Adrian. “Blogs in Media Education: A Beginning.” Australian Screen Ed.41 (2006): 66-9. (Good introductory piece/)
links for 2007-07-02
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The publicly-funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation turns 75 today and is still going strong! 🙂
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Google aligns with the US Health Corporations against Moore’s Sicko?!?
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“While 96% of online tweens and teens have used social networking technologies, 71% of online tweens and teens connect to a social network at least once a week, according to a study and white paper being released today…”
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Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine reported that a man was imprisoned for stealing cars and assaulting people with weapons, then sent to a psychiatric facility for “acting in a bizarre manner.” … he thought he was playing Grand Theft Auto
When Subiaco Oval Attacks!
The second half of 2007 hit with something of a bang today. The combination of extreme winds and the proximity of our place to Subiaco Oval suddenly led to the rather loud, dramatic and quite dangerous appearance of the massive advertising signs from Subi Oval hitting out (glass) back door and coming to rest in our back yard:
While fascinating on some level, these huge signs had to travel over the top of the oval (they’re supposedly fixed to the stands) and fly probably 50 metres in the air before spinning down into our place. It’s incredibly lucky that it was pouring with rain, too, because it anyone was outside, being hit by one of these could have caused some very serious injuries.
When the winds settled a little, Emily headed out the front door and discovered a whole lot more of these hoardings lying on our road and in the drive-way, so now we have four massive advertising banners on centimetre-think cardboard sitting soggily in our little backyard:
We now have part of an SGIO sign, a National Australian bank advertisement and something that has NTER in its lettering. I wonder when Subiaco Oval will be knocking on our door looking for them? Maybe they’ll offer to replant the bits of the garden that were sheered in half when the sign flew in from the sky?!
(Given that these signs cost advertisers anywhere from $5000 to $60,000 dollars each to display, I suspect someone might want them back!)
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