becuase i promised

ok so the one thing i continue to learn over and over like an Alzheimer's patient is that

life continues to get in the way


I owe you (beth) my insights on a few things, for the sake of getting caught up and participating ~ but i promise to be concise and to the point


~ in class movies ~

grave of the fireflies:

this movie is verbose in terms of imagery, and surprisingly it works well. bc i have seen princess mononoke and spirited away i couldnt shake the same overall feeling invoked by these types of films. however, it took me longer to get drawn into this storyline, and perhaps thats bc it takes time to deconstruct the walls of our viewpoints being inherant to our cultural heritage. overall, i enjoyed the movie, and it was emotionally poignant, albeit it could have been tweaked in some areas imo, but i digress for this class, this movie is relevant becuase it shows apart of history that many of us would never think to bring to the forefronts of our conciousness

two thumbs up for point, and overall delivery

my only criticisms could be the dialogue and the failure to see more of whats going on outside of the primary characters, as the setting is a valuable character itself




the farmer flick:

to be honest, i couldn't connect to this film... something about it just sailed around me

i get why its relevant, again its a viewpoint that many of us would not normally see or think about

but it seemed to me at points, that this guy wanted to be strange just to be strange (again this works and has its place in the world) but i guess i just dont share his passions, his idiosyncracies

overall, he makes a good point about food and the world, and the connection we share yadda yadda

i love food, truly i do, i was born in montana, i share a love for the wild and the earth and all that neo hippie stuff, i dated a dietician for three years... i mean i feel like i should have more of an attachment to this film, but i think i draw the line at eating dirt

overall

meh thumbs up

yes their is worth, but i dont feel that this films message needed this much time and filler, it was a mixed film about a "queer" aka strange farmer, and then an interesting approach to farming



Museum expedition:

i never made it out to a museum, although i've been jonesing to see MING BLING at the IMA, and i really did want to see the comic thing at the Children's Museum

suffice it to say, i ended up looking at the cover art of my cd collection, i found it interesting bc album art has a lot to say, if the artist wants to make a statement

not to be a blowoff approach, but this topic could take its own class, needless to say i took some time to flip thru what i had and found that it was interesting to examine them more cloesly than i normally would



final project slashie pill bottle idea (my original thought):

so this continues to be a work in progress that nevertheless has taken on a life of its own, i fear that its getting bigger than i orignally had concieved, and as a byproduct of evolution i have no idea where it will end (doesnt this seem like a note a mad scientist would write in his journal)

however, interesting side note

i wonder if i am constantly revising or adding to this notion bc i am learning more, or because there is just no clear answer

i find that my original concept has changed to represent something that might be similiar to what we have viewed in class already, the secrets thing with post cards

instead of solidifying into a concrete TADA project, im getting more or less disassociated ideas that i know eventually will conect but its madening bc when i review my thoughts and what ive attempted to do, i fear that to the outsider it will think im totally on drugs

which, then again, is part of the project .... sorta not me being wasted, but the idea of drugs


however, ive been tryin to implement different approaches to doing this project, ive tried letting my mind wonder, ive taken days off so i can get a fresh look, ive done research - only to find roadblocks (what really is relevant and correct these days - furthermore, it seems that statistics are the way things get done, bc they are never truly wrong if you argue in the right context, but are they actually reliable.... who's to say WHO IS TO SAY)

i feel like im trapped in beta testing, but its only me

i suppose, my project is an idea, a message, instead of an established project

so in essence, its talk, its debate, its philosophy, its the pursuite of truth, its elegant bs, its insanely important, and its something that some people may never think about in their life

its lifesaving, and disposable
its timeless, and its already dead and buried
im not the originator, and im definitely not that last to be the curator

its the human condition, thus flawed, but infinitely intersting as perfection is boring


i give you my word, that i will try

i hope not to disappoint

but for right now, its a work in progress, this is a hard hat area, im under construction
and i have no idea what the half life of this thing could really be





ok well i think im caught up now, so if you have any questions you know what to do


~j

how i would feel if jj abrams and m night shyamalan got together

much like the audience would feel: completely lost and waiting for the twist

yea, my personal life has been crazy lately and well yeaaaaa....

i know i havent blogged in awhile, and really i doubt that its affecting anyone but i promise to get back up to speed tonight after class

so if you are willing to wait a few hours, ill have something hopefully worthwhile

~j

the end all? mac vs pc

I found this while doing homework for another class, and well I just thought it was well done.  Perhaps you NewMedia kids will enjoy

Mac vs Windows?

My day to day job is multimedia design. If you see something that moves around or is interactive in any way, shape or form online, that's the sort of thing I do. In the late 90's I got a grant from The Princes' Trust and started printing skatewear t-shirts and moved on from there. When I started out I needed a computer so I bought a Mac. I chose a Mac primarily because I had a friend that knew about them and could help me fix it if it went wrong. I've been using them ever since and am now the bloke my friends with Macs call when theirs goes wrong. Contrary to what Apple would like you to believe, just like Windows machines, Macs throw a wobbler on occasion too.

Currently on my desk at work I have a Windows XP box and an iMac. I don't really use the Windows machine. It's not because I have any objection to the fact it's Windows, I just know how to get around the Mac better. Other folk I work with that also have the same set-up work the other way round, with the Mac hardly getting touched. Again, it's just about what they are familiar with and prefer. I find the whole frothing at the mouth evangelism some Mac users have a bit sad. I like using my Mac but I don't see why somebody who is perfectly happy with their Windows machine should be ranted at for their preference. I think the PC fanatic who rants with equal candour against the Mac is also misguided, and often misinformed. Both operating systems do similar things equally well, but there are some things a Mac does better, and some things Windows machines do better. Bizzarely, I find Microsoft Office is better on the Mac and one of my creative mainstays, Adobe Flash, is better on a PC. On a Mac it runs slower and is more processor hungry. Annoying but true.

But here is the thing. I'm glad Microsoft has the market dominance. I can't help but feel that if Apple had the same domination that Microsoft has they would be a lot more ruthless - to the detriment of the consumer. When Apple had market dominance way back in the late 80s and early 90s, the computers were astoundingly expensive. Bill Gates wanted to licence the Mac OS but was told where to go, so he made Windows. Apple responded to the new threat with arrogance and didn't work on giving people a better deal with Windows machines running at thousands of pounds cheaper than the Macs of the time. By the time Apple realised what they had done Microsoft had stormed ahead to where it's the system the majority of you are using now. Similarly, Quark was once the dominant force in publishing software, but has now been supplanted by Adobe InDesign because Quark didn't listen to it's consumers or understand the threat from the competition. Apple lost out for the same reason.

As far as figureheads go, I think Steve Jobs is an influential and charismatic leader as well as a great company figurehead, but I think Bill Gates comes across as a nicer - if geekier - bloke. I know he's been replaced by Steve Balmer as the head of the company, but I think most people still see him as the lead guy. I think the charitable trust he and his wife set up is great and his general ethos on the staggering wealth he has is a good one. I tend to imagine Steve Jobs may well sleep in a coffin, albeit a very nicely designed one.

Comment by all means but please don't prove the point of the article. Save the Mac and PC flaming for Engadget. Don't forget, even if you hate the other operating system to the one you use, the fact it exists means there is competition that will push forward the development on your favoured system. Consumers benefit and lower blood pressure all round.

Yes, I know Unix and Linux are players in the market too, but it's going to be an online OS we are all going to end up using in the future anyway. The Google ramraiding will continue.

Don't get me wrong, I love using my Mac and don't want to change operating systems. I just think some of the Apple users out there need to have a little more perspective about their beloved Apple, and to just chill out a bit. We should be more relaxed, we are running the better system after all. But then, I would say that, wouldn't I?

POSTED BY DAVID HUTCHINSON ON APRIL 17, 2008 AT 12:19 PM | PERMALINK

Bliss

I'm without my bliss .... (at the moment?)

to be honest

its a personal thing

but to be honest again, i was really hoping this assignment would happen around finals because that was the time i was hoping for


*this is what you probably expected to hear*
i guess i was hoping that i could just step out of class and go snowboarding or water skiing ... either way its been too long since Ive done anything that gives you a rush and calming affect all at the same time, and i guess that might be interesting to read about

but to say that those things are my bliss... i just dont know, when i was younger i would have said yes in a heartbeat, but as i've grown, i know in the end its the people i care for




but to be really really honest, my bliss truly lies in someone else

and well, the fall/winter season holds a lot of importance to me bc of this person, so when i truly thought about bliss i have to say that what i want most is out of my reach until later, my bliss has to wait...

rather, i have to wait for her

interesting?

thought maybe some of you might like this

maybe not?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/10/AR2008101000728.html?wpisrc=newsletter

what the bleep?

lifetime presents quantum theory with a side of WTF moments

ok seriously, this movie has great ambitions but there seemed to me that there was about 10 mins worth of theory and the rest seemed like an oprah presents deaf woman with some personal issues

not that its a bad way to express the ideas, but it seemed to really take some twisted turns with the approach... the wedding scene especially

i guess i was expecting something else...

however, the ideas around quantum theory are interesting


i forget who said this, and i have to paraphrase

"but science points to god and god points to science"

i liked the take on religion and spirituality, and even if i dont agree or agree, i thought it was refreshing to have such an open concept that preaches tolerance and love (which is what god IS? right? across most of the religions of the world is he not? funny that more lives have been taken in the word of peace and love, but anyways i degress)

so maybe its not refreshing, but saying the same old thing in a new way

retro is hip again?

anyways, scraping the void that is the future, looking out into the frontier is always exciting and usuallypresents hope

but i wonder, knowledge and well i guess everything always has its relation to a harmony that exists within pros and cons, good and evil , etc etc

so yea

i suppose when we get into this, we could talk forever, but what really interests me is where do we want to take it, where will we go?

i guess its not the road, but the journey that matters

sort of

anyways

before we get to a point where we can do things, should we not brace ourselves for the decisions we will have to face


we are at point when our decisions, our actions can impact the world instantaneously

i guess, if anything, we must be ready


wow i sound totally *the end is nigh* right now, but ill quote spider man to regain my youth

with great power, comes great responsibility

but damn, how amazing this power could be


~j

WATCH THIS!!!

since im no techno wiz.... yet

im posting this link

my sister found this, and that in itself raises questions

BUT

its funny, its newmedia to a T, and we all might learn something


check it:

http://shaveeverywhere.com/