Serious Som's Researchy Blog

2005-04-15T12:40:00.000+10:00

Check out the website I developed for the short martial arts film Faceless Other.

2004-08-03T15:30:00.000+10:00

Well, doing my readings today for AUST2000 I realised that perhaps it isn't as irrelavent as I initially suspected. The three I read questioned the basis for the apparent divisions between high and popular/mass culture, specifically within an Australian context. Not only did they raise some particularly interesting points which I feel relate directly to my MSTU2000 final assignment topic on amateurism, they were also particularly clearly written - no bullshit attempts to alienate those without a PhD - and remarkably concise. Good job Anne Cranny-Francis, John Frow, and Jim Collins - I'll revisit your ideas when i have more time. On the topic of my final assignment (which I should be posting a copy of on my essay page sometime in the near future), I finally went and picked it up last week and was fairly pleased with the result - my major downfalls being a failure to acknowledge actual examples of amateur music authorship. Fair enough, however I do feel that the negligible wordcount was equally responsible for this omission - I could have written a 10,000+ word piece considering the amount of material I had. And maybe I will given the time.
As i'm in between classes that'll be it for now, except to add that CCST2220 is seriously dull - this is the second day i've drifted off in it... damn.

2004-07-29T16:39:00.000+10:00

Here are the photos. Either right-click 'save target as' or just click to open.

Not many I know... damn you laziness!!! Anyway I'll try and get the movies (which range from 7-20MB) up soonish.

2004-07-28T13:10:00.000+10:00

back at uni! Interestingly enough I've had to go and change my subjects again because of a clash, so now instead of ASIA2160 i'm doing AUST2000: Australian Popular Culture which looks ok but (having been to the introductory lecture) seems aimed towards foreign students... ah well, maybe it'll just be easy. Other than that everything's the same: Australian Cinema, Photography (both which I'm quite excited about but haven't been to yet), and finally Cultural Studies Theory... this one i'm worried about. So far everything that could be a little screwy is - firstly lectures are in forgan smith E219, a rediculously tiny space that left at least a half dozen people sitting on the floor and a couple more standing for the duration of the class. secondly, in what i understand was a genuine (but failed) attempt to make things easier for us, the course readings aren't available in a reader from pod or the copyshop, but online! Apparently this was to reduce costs in having to buy the reader, prepare it, etc. however due to quirky library password configurations which make them quite hard to retrieve, combined with the fact that each reading has been scanned and formatted to PDF for which each 20+ page file is in excess of 8mb the process is basically a pain in the arse. On top of this I personally have a bit of trouble reading (and taking in) large amounts of text from a screen.. it gives me a headache and I can't highlight.. so I really have to print everything out anyway. so much for ease of use@!
The next thing to make me shudder about this class was the first tutorial. I understand I can often be an annoying member of class, arguing for the sake of it and the like... everyone has there little 'ways' - I feel a little controversy is always a good thing (just look at paul in big brother).... but when someone feels they must answer every single question put forward by the tutor (/lecturer) with pompous academic gibberish (that often seemed to go over even fiona's head), this after they have made a point of explaining to the class in no uncertain terms that they have never taken a class in the ccst stream before, well it just bites me. Perhaps its just a personality conflict, but I really think it'll disrupt my learning. In fact while the stuff we were looking at was fairly basic - disciplinary differences, etc. I really had little idea of the connection or relevance of much of what I was copying... because 90% of it came from the mouth of one person. but yeah, bitch, bitch, bitch. I'm sure it'll get better :-)
On another note I went to splendour in the grass over the weekend... indescribably cool. The experience only being two days young I haven't quite finished gathering my thoughts yet. But gimme a couple of days and i'll post again with photos. Anyway, off to Aussie Cinema lecture one - should be fun.

2004-07-02T15:03:00.000+10:00

Back again, and i finally got the internet hooked up at home today [hoorah!] thanks to the starship-shaped modem lendings of my good friend mal. Thanks dude.
Looks like gerard goggin's blog has finally been taken out of commission - but I'm still really interested about that whole story though so please, feel free to add comments. Anyway I have been thinking a lot about creativity and originality and its incarnations. What happens when two different people - completely separated from one other - come up with the same idea? I ask this because my latest web project has been the development of my new blog STARFISHMAN! | the site (check it out) - concerned with the development of my animated film 'Fishnapped'. While googling today i discovered that my seemingly original concept had already been taken (and apparently trademarked?!) by the bloke at colbster.com. I mean it is obviously different in a number of ways, but the fundamentals are still there! What pisses me off even more is that I have been running 'starfishman' through google for years and this site has only popped up in the last month! Anyway such a coincidence really does make me question the idea of intellectual property. Should i not be able to use my design now because it shares a name with one that was (apparently again) created back in '93? Who knows. Anyway i would really appreciate any comments on the starfishman site, whether it be about the site itself, the character, or even the footage... so check it out.
Cheers.

2004-06-11T16:24:00.000+10:00

Like i said, i'm going to continue to blog... and here goes.
It's friday arvo and as yet I haven't actually written anything for assessment 3, nonetheless I am currently at the library researching and am confidant that everything will be completed on time.
Anyway I am writing this post following my stumbling onto the (seemingly abandoned) blog of Gerard Goggin, a research fellow at UQ's Centre for Critical & Cultural Studies. Prior to February of this year I had only ever heard his name mentioned in passing. However, during my february trip to melbourne for the first final against india I was privy to a rather in-depth lecture on dr. goggin from a random, yet rather interesting, bloke I met at a federation square bar. At first he only needed me and my friend to mind his bag while he visited the mens, but on returning he seemed more than happy to discuss the conspiracy surrounding the use of the term 'imported' on the crap (read with slurred scottish accent) we were drinking - namely pints of 'victorian brewed' guinness. Needless to say it tasted nothing like its authentic irish counterpart. From one conspiracy to another, the topic then turned to the ins and outs of monopolisation and the economic conspiracy facing the modern sporting event (spurred in part by our cricket attendance). Admittedly i did lose track of his main argument at various points throughout this consversation however I do remember his points being logical and definitely worthy of x-files coverage, incriminating various media magnates. From this the topic turned to journalism and the dog eats dog ethics inherent... having worked at many serious papers around the world, most recently some larger australian ones (he wouldn't give names, just point to buildings), our friend had a lot to say. When i mentioned I was doing media studies at uni things got interesting - we moved onto a topic of consumer technologies, specifically mobile phones (something he had apparently been researching for a few years) and the topic got a bit heated. Apparently a half million dollar grant had been offered for research on the exact topic he had already been covering relatively unfunded. Seems he had been a shoe-in for the money but someone else had got it - he was extraordinarily pissed. At this point he asked me what qld uni i was at, so i told him.
"YOU'D KNOW GERARD GOGGIN THEN, WOULDN'T YA!"
Ha! He explained the rest of the story to me... apparently a few months earlier he had been at (or in correspondance with) UQ to discuss, among other things, his current research project on the 'mobile'. The man he had been speaking to was Gerard Goggin who was currently looking at something completely different but was enthralled by the 'mobile' concept and direction of study.
"THEN THE BASTARD STOLE IT OUT FROM UNDER ME, DIDN'T HE!"
Apparently gerard even based his grant-winning proposition on basically the same concepts as had been outlined to him by our drunken friend. Anyway he gave me a message to pass onto Dr. Goggin when i saw him: basically to stay the hell out of his f#*$!n way.
The man wouldn't give me his name, all i know is that he's a loud 40+ scot who lectures (at rmit?) in media and journalism... and that dr. goggin would know exactly who he was.
So yeah, interesting story huh. I love coincidences.

2004-06-03T10:56:00.000+10:00

Well, a fitting end to a great course.
My unsocial-ness was put to the test yesterday afternoon when, following a rather short yet informative tutorial session, I was forced to skip my scriptwriting lecture and confront our rival tute for a session of a different kind. Beers ensued and i finally put faces to at least three personas and agreed to acknowledge two others, decreasing my idiot-loner factor by at least half. damn.
I also straightened a few issues out, talked shop, uni, and life, bummed my way into at least two jugs, and ended up tipsy enough to impress everyone at training and miss out on a game on friday night.
All in all an interesting experience me thinks.

As an afternote, while this will most likely be the last post anyone reads on this blog... it will not be the last one published. When time and energy permit I will attempt to continue the legacy, pushing the envelope and pressing my opinions unto the 'space between the ears' of the computing world.
Next semester i'm doing (and will try to blog with reference to) the following courses:

ARTT2136 Through the Lens: Photography
ASIA2160 From Buddha to Bruce Lee
CCST2220 Cultural Studies Theory
CCST2310 Australian Cinema

so say hello if you are too, or check out the blog if you're interested.

P.S. As I'm sure you've noticed, my posts have ever so slowly begun to creep away from academic content and rhetoric. This is due in part to my laziness and mainly to my completely exhausted knowledge on course relevant issues. Personally, i think i've done enough networking ;)

2004-05-27T16:26:00.000+10:00

It has come to my attention that one of my posts (or comments, I'm not totally sure which) may or may not have appeared to mock one of my fellow students. While it is true that I am naturally offensive in many ways... ...i try not to let that side of me creep online and I apologise unreservedly.

Anyway, onto more pressing matters and last night's origin. What a joke.. the result was definitely no indication of the game played. I'm no league fan (give me soccer, even afl, anyday) but I do know what I like and what I expect, and that definitely wasn't it. Once again hodges played like absolute shit (despite his north queensland origins), as did just about every other player on the park. Where were the fights? The good plays? Something to suggest that these blokes, apparently the cream of the league crop, actually posess that which is crucial to any other sport in the world (and no, i don't mean big biceps)... skill, perhaps even a little coordination! At one point one guy was running the wrong way?
In fact my favourite part of the night was when the pizza guy turned up at the door. Querying him on the game so far and the Ten news story (hard hitting stuff) which suggested dominos employees had been "training for this night all year", the guy (who, to his credit, was also 'delivery driver of the year' - congrats) explained to me that they didn't need origin as they had an origin of their own going on in store - who could make the most pizza's the fastest. I thought 'wow - that says exactly what i'm thinking' and tipped him $5 (accidentily).
Relating this back to music stuff (and with, i suppose, a little relevance to ana's bollywood topic), roy and hg played the totally cool eskimo joe song at half time and a lot of the people i was with decided they didn't like it. idiots. Could this be because they were pissed off with the game? what do people think about the music used in television, ie sporting events (like origin), advertisements (namely the mitsubishi ad that doubled the sales of the new radicals song in it, or even the toohey's 'tongue' ad), and tv shows (neighbours, home and away, etc..)... Is it possible that people come to love a song purely as a result of its inclusion in other enjoyable (or even repetitive) media? These days tv shows regularly have soundtracks. Is that not weird? Is it all just a big conspiracy to suck us in even more? I say yes. And i also agree that i haven't got anything even slightly interesting to write about.

On the assignment side of things jean mentioned a great word in the tute (actually she wrote it all over the board) that may be vital to my essay: authenticity. Much like the pizza boy's analogy, it kind of sums up everything in 'cool'. In fact the whole tute was pretty informative, especially the (totally terminator inspired) references to coldness and warmth - my lack of music mindedness would never have led me to that idea. great.

I will leave it there for now.

2004-05-24T14:04:00.000+10:00

On the topic of mechanisms of permeation, why do other people’s tutorials seem so interesting? I don’t think we (in wed 4pm) have had a class-wide discussion yet, apart from the ones jean forcefully extracts to fill time. Through some form of eerie ethereal peer understanding nobody, myself included, wants to talk. I’m starved for interesting conversation, but being the antisocial and insecure person I am I really need a peer initiator. bugger.
Reading through the blogs today I came on some cool posts. While my assignment topic has kind of strayed from the copyright side of the filesharing fiasco, chris's link to copyright law and the ethics of sampling and kate’s link to digital music and subculture are both good (if not way too long) reading. None of them really said what the articles were about so I’ll do that badly here --> I didn’t read the entire first one but it comes off as a pretty in depth look at exactly what the title says (isn’t that convenient). The examples of copyright infringements are particularly good. The second is a well-researched look at online music-sharing communities and their interaction as a subculture, giving a helpful look at production/consumption. cool.
The whole thing on mash-ups and remix culture, however, is slightly more relevant to my topic. Carly H asks if DJs are praised on their ability to manipulate the technology - and perhaps they are... but isn't everyone? Originality in any form (i can think of anyway) is based on the manipulation of a tool, be that a computer, turntable, guitar, paintbrush, or the mind. Live DJing is obviously a skill to be mastered, but I don't think that implies that the majority of audience enjoyment comes from the amazement of the process... the original music tends to have the hook and this is 'borrowed' by the dj, often in clever and imaginative ways. carly c's look at mashups, a genre i never really got into, kind of contradicts my product vs. process argument in that the idea of the grey album is totally cool, and the process definitely deserves credit. But has anyone heard it, and if so is it any good? I'll definitely appreciate it more if it actually works. rosanne g also offers an interesting article Mix and Mash-Up which i will definitely use, cheers rosanne.
Ok my time here is running out... finally i'd like to pledge my allegiance to sally's post on elitism. I agree, it sucks.

Oh and thanks peter, was a well cool birthday despite my being there (read with emphasis on ‘my’ followed by ‘there’). In fact we went out afterwards, first to the city and then to the valley, and I had a totally shit time in comparison. I’m not even going to start on the ethics of taxiing [grinds teeth].
That is all.

2004-05-21T12:46:00.000+10:00

it's my birthday tomorrow. yeah. needless to say i haven't really done much this week blogwise and i do apologise. Tell me, is it totally 'uncool' to spend your 21st tenpin bowling? I mean there will be a bar, beers, and (i think) a band... but still.
Is it possible to lose friends because of the 'uncool by association' thing that seems to be going around? That is, by going bowling and hanging out with me, people may be forfeiting a chance at cool? Personally i don't care how 'cool' my friends are (only because everyone but my younger sis is by default cooler than myself), but a lot of people out there do. Do you think the 'uncool' mechanism can permeate - in a six degrees of separation kind of way - from friend to friend, until uncool is mainstream? Until it is ridiculously cool to be ridiculously uncool. the mind boggles at the thought.
Anyway if my head ever starts to clear I might add a more academic post later this afternoon, otherwise (and it will most probably be otherwise) I'll try and get something really interesting up for monday.
Cheers.

2004-05-13T15:39:00.000+10:00

ok, thursday arvo and i'm back in the ezone and stuck on a computer that can't copy and paste. that's a double woe is me.
let me make a quick note here - because I can't copy and paste, the links have been left out... i'll try and get back to do them, but until then they should be in the post below
I've been checking out the other blogs but don't have much to report - question: is it because i'm using the ezone that i can't see who's updated and who isn't??? Anyway thanks jordan for your 'what not to do when escaping from a lecture' report. Wish i was that interesting... and clumsy? Paul did a long and really confusing (yet strangely alluring) post on communities and the enigma that is online identity that is definately worth a read. The part that most perplexed me (probably because it touches on some of sandford's garageband theory from the previous post) was where he suggested that blogging is devalued by the ease with which it is accomplished. But is it really? I mean sure, the act of signing up for a blog, writing a couple of posts, and publishing them is quite simple, however I don't feel they are the bits that make a great blog. The value lies in the quality of the posts - are they well written, well researched, and not too arrogant; the aesthetic of the page - does it practice what it doth preache (does it's design reflect its intent); and other things, the list goes on. Of course (with my limited understanding) there's a huge chance that's not what was meant by the comment, so let that just be my argument for a hypothetical comment that did mean that.
This leads me on to some of the issues raised in the apple discussion forum on garageband where Troy Paiva's analogy was probably the best:

Photography allows people with an artistic eye for composition, color (or tone) but no skill with the mechanics of paint and brushes to create valid visual art.

...Photography is much more technical and mechanical than painting. For a long time, that was the rap on photography. The science of it takes takes away from the artistic looseness. The ability for "happy mistakes" to happen goes away. Today, we understand that this looseness just manifests itself differently in photography.

...it took photography 50 years to get accepted as an artform. Painters of the time were outraged that any boob with one of these machines could make imagery that was serviceable and occasionally brilliant. Painters were dismayed at these boorish interlopers stomped into their little world. By the late 19th century as photography began to gain acceptance, painting as an artform was melting down. Personally, I see the abstraction and surrealism of early 20th century painting partly as the reaction to the advent of photography.

Word. The advent of computers (and in turn digital music, photography, etc.) can thus be read in the same light. As to sandford's theory of devaluement, is photography a devalued artform? Or more to the point, is non-digital photography a devalued artform? Myself, I don't think so. I think such anxiety is unnecesary and unjustified, and I don't think we needed Paiva's example to illustrate that fact.
ok i've actually forgotten where i was going with this so i'm going to let it be for now. Ah well. Perhaps when i come back to fix up the links i'll have remembered.

2004-05-11T19:01:00.000+10:00

whoa... my brain is throbbing.

In short, today was the day i began to look at amatuer music creation.
on jean's advice (thanks jean) i commenced my research with a wade (think drowning) through all her garageband stuff (including much of the imbedded links and cross-discussions) available on her blog. For anyone that's (a: interested, and b:) unfamiliar with garageband, it's a portion of apple's new ilife software bundle. In the same vein as acid and fruity loops, garageband is basically a digital tool for creating professional-sounding moosikal mixes... the release of which has spawned both an amatuer creative revolution along with an extremely interesting, and somewhat philospohical, argument on what it is that makes a true musician (or sort of... I dumbed this down a bit, if only for my own understanding).
There is a plethora of interwining points of view and justifications here, much of it from the mouth of the software users, however two main arguments take focus...

-->the first is the idea that the advent of such easy-to-use software will result in an overkill of music production, and thus a loss of respect for true musical genius (see sandford's article and his comments in jean's response).
-->the second I'm guessing came as a rebuttle to this and basically suggests that a: using this software is creative, and b: any creativity is good creativity. Once again i've dumbed this down a bit, but the point is clearly emphasised here, here, and by jean here.

I think the first argument does raise a lot of relevant issues - market saturation might well be a perceieved as a problem for the consumer, and most definately for the artist/RI - however I feel the argument also relies too heavily on certain assumptions about music production, namely (the following are some thoughts i quickly threw together... but they kind of insinuate what i'm trying to get at)

Should music creation be an exclusive form only to be entered into by those who are truly worthy? And if so who decides who is worthy? Is it a question of originality – that is, must musicians create their music from the ground up without the use of other’s work? And in this sense, should the work of such ‘true’ musicians be read as incontestably original? Where do questions of societal and cultural influence fit in?

hmm... ok a bit too far maybe. I think my main problem with this argument (and hell, much of the theory of 'cool' for that matter) is that it indirectly assumes an us vs. them approach to things, implying a kind of 'superiority'. In a way it reminds me of something I read (for ccst2330 last year) by david gauntlett on the problems with the media effects model. This article talks about the way that newsmedia and academics, when talking about the effect of the media on people (predominantly children), always exclude themselves from the picture... similarly i feel sandford (who is obviously not a professional musician, yet admits to using, and even "*loving*", garageband) as such promotes a similar feeling. And hey, i might be wrong, but that's just the feeling i got when reading his article.

Anyway, it's getting late and i'm still in the bloody e-zone, so i'm going to finish there for now and hopefully pick up on some of the issues raised in the apple forum discussions tomorrow.
blah... now my head hurts more.

2004-05-07T16:11:00.000+10:00

ok haven't really done any of my own research today but I did take the time to go through everyone's blogs and get a gist of what's going on. As such (and mainly for my own gain) i've put up some links to related ones which might be handy for other people too.
Jordan and Shane (links on the sidebar) are looking at the moral side of the story - apparently a 12yr old girl and a grandfather are two of 60mil. people (is it really that many??) currently being sued by the RIAA for possessing mp3s - crazy corporate americans. I have heard of similar happenings over here in australia... I remember listening to an interview on the morning show last year on cd copy control that talked about current ARIA court proceedings; apparently two guys were in hot water over publishing an MP3 download site with over 12000 songs. However i think the big question then related to whether or not the 'offenders' were making the moolah through their exploits. And I mean that is still a key issue, until they (ARIA) can prove that record sales are decreasing as a result of (illegal) downloads the only real baddies are those that illegaly use copyrighted material for financial gain. Which is like nobody.
Tara has posted a link to p2pnet.net which is definately worthwhile for a gander. Would someone explain to me why sony is starting up an online music service (http://p2pnet.net/story/1366)??? You'd think making music digitally available (taking out the whole ripping and encoding steps) would only promote illegal sharing? Once again... crazy corporate americans! And more on the moral side of things, apparently japan's recording industry association has begun spamming people it thinks are stealing music... as a last resort i suppose?
Anyway food for thought. Next post i'll try and do some of my own stuff. Maybe get into the creation side of things, who knows. On other things - Wow! Can't believe I did this much on the blog today with this huge bloody hangover... and i'm supposed to be home eating a hearty meal before my game tonight. What dedication!

2004-05-06T17:57:00.000+10:00

For my 2nd assignment I originally wanted to look at amateur music production and the pros and cons of digital technology, sort of focusing on how easy it has become to ‘create’ without any extraordinary talent. Thing is I just found out that Jean did her PhD on something pretty similar (though a bit more extensive) so I’m feeling a bit intimidated. Nevertheless I am going to be looking at some topic related to digital music and have begun searching for copyright stuff, etc.
I came by chance upon an internet law and ethics forum with a topic called RIAA, Kazaa and the Courts. A couple of interesting posts, but also links to a couple of cool articles. In short they all discuss the real ‘sole beneficiary’ of the music industry – the music labels. The articles by Courtney love (Courtney love does the math) and Janis Ian (the internet debacle – an alternative review) go even further and look at the effect of music downloading on the industry. Both are against banning music downloads and make a number of pretty decent arguments. One of the best is Ian’s analogy in the follow-up to her first article where she says:

“water is free, but a lot of us drink bottled water because it tastes better. You can get coffee at the office, but you're likely to go to Starbucks or the local espresso place, because it tastes better...The songs may be free on line, but the CD's will taste better.”
(fallout – a follow up to the internet debacle)

I like it. All in all an ok premise for my assignment and some pretty interesting articles, so have a read.

2004-05-06T17:03:00.000+10:00

Right, finished beautifying ... time to move on. [question: so why does it still look like shit?]
Before I start posting relevant stuff I’d like to apologise in advance for (what I’m sure will be) a highly uninteresting blog... with a similarly inadequate number of posts. I blame this entirely on the recent demise of my computer which, as a result, has left me a bitch to the uni e-zones. I really hate the e-zones.

P.S. I deleted my first post because it was crap. I hate crap too.