Categories
books films media popular culture TV

Books, films and TV

25 October 2010
Steve Jobs’ biography
The authorised biography written by Pulitzer Prize nominee Walter Isaacson was released 24 Oct. Seems to be an honest portrayal written after 40 interviews with Jobs and over 100 interviews with others. Some surprising facts here:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/24/steve-jobs-surprising-facts-from-new-biography_n_1028580.html

And the Jobs biopic?
Rights to the Steve Jobs biography have been sold to Sony. The film should be just as intriguing as The Social Network and may indeed be written by that film’s screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. Who will play Jobs??http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/oct/10/steve-jobs-movie-sony-biopic

First Australian newspaper to charge for digital content
The Australian will be the first general Aust. newspaper to launch subscriptions for digital content in 3 months time ($2.95 pw for online, iPad, mobile). It will follow the “freemium” model, with some content free but charging for premium content. Other daily papers will follow next year, though probably not the Fairfax news websites. Will readers want to pay for information they previously got for free?http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/the-australian-enters-the-new-age-of-paid-content/story-e6frg996-1226174541122

The 7pm Project becomes The Project
The Channel 10 infotainment show that draws its content and comedy from recent news stories will be extended to one hour from 31 October. It will replace George Negus at 6.30 and run till 7.30 & is the top weeknight news service for 16-39 year olds. Hosted by Carrie Bickmore & Charlie Pickering, it’s informative and fun and the format appeals to high school students – useful for current affairs, popular culture, media & journalism. Our Media class were part of the audience a few months ago and loved it.http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/new-name-and-timeslot-for-the-7pm-project-20111019-1m789.html

The bridge by Jane Higgins
Winner of the Text Prize for young adult and children’s writing 2010; has been described as the Tomorrow series meets Hunger Games. In post-apocalyptic 2199, the city is divided by the bridge. Cityside must be kept safe from the hostiles of Southside. Nik’s school is bombed by hostiles and he goes on the run with Fyffe, with the security corporation after them. When they cross the bridge they start to ask questions no one else will ask and find out how difficult it is to tell right from wrong, and fact from fiction and propaganda – especially in the face of war.http://textpublishing.com.au/books-and-authors/book/the-bridge/

Contagion
Thriller directed by Steven Soderbergh. Stars Kate Winslet & Matt Damon. A deadly disease breaks out and an international team of doctors is contracted to deal with the outbreak. The film portrays a very realistic public health & scientific response to a pandemic & examines personal motives, professional conduct, crowd psychology, loss of social order and the benefits of collaboration. 4 stars from Margaret and 4 and a half from David! http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s3325806.htm

Frozen planet
The new David Attenborough 7 part series examines the Arctic & Antarctic ecosystems; the final episode looks at the threat of global warming and its devastating effects. Begins 30 Sept WIN TV. http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/oct/21/david-attenborough-frozen-planet-climate-change?newsfeed=true

To be or not to be
Anonymous opens 3 Nov, directed by Roland Emmerich; starring Vanessa Redgrave as Elizabeth I and Rafe Spall as Shakespeare. Was Shakespeare an illiterate fraud? The citizens of Stratford-upon-Avon are protesting!
http://www.anonymousmovie.com.au/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-15440882

Categories
ed tech Google mobile phones popular culture TV YouTube

YouTube, Google Search, TV

15 September 2011
YouTube Creative Commons
YouTube allows users to mark their videos with a Creative Commons CC BY license [attribution – reuse allowed]. These videos are then accessible to other YouTube users for use in their own videos via the YouTube Video Editor http://www.youtube.com/editor. The goal is to make it easy for users to identify videos they can share, edit & remix, as long as they attribute the source of the original clip. YouTube is teaming up with other organisations to create a library of 10 000 CC videos for others to experiment with.http://www.youtube.com/t/creative_commons
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/06/youtube-creative-commons/
Google’s official YouTube channel
Some cool & useful stuff here. Includes videos about Google+ project; Talks at Google (guest speakers); 15 second search tip series. Many useful videos have been uploaded by Google users. And if you missed out on the awesome Freddie Mercury Google Doodle to celebrate his 65th birthday on 2 Sept, it’s here: http://www.youtube.com/user/Google#p/u/0/KX2BQM0D01M .…Don’t stop me now.…
The electric guitar pioneer Les Paul playable guitar Google Doodle of 2 June had 740 million visitors & possibly $268 million in lost productivity! It now has a permanent home here:http://www.google.com/logos/2011/lespaul.html

Google Search Education Evangelism
Aimed at high school to adults. Includes basic and master lesson plans and Powerpoints for teaching search. All lessons are under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike license so you can change & adapt them. Also has access to webinars.http://sites.google.com/site/gwebsearcheducation/

SBS On Demand
This month SBS launched their On Demand free video service – full episodes, feature length films, clips & live streaming. It has over 90% of their current prime time content as well as previously screened titles. Some have expiry dates for watching them. You can set up an account and make a favourites playlist, subscribe to a series, receive notifications about new videos, videos about to expire etc.http://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/

New national free-to-air indigenous TV channel
Last week the federal government announced a proposal for this new channel. SBS and the National Indigenous TV network (NITV) will work together to launch this channel, dedicated to Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander content. Up till now, NITV has been confined to pay TV, making it unavailable to most remote viewers. Senator Conroy said the new channel’s aim would be to increase the amount & quality of original indigenous content on free-to-air TV.http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/proposal-sbs-to-launch-indigenous-channel/story-e6frg996-1226127415063

The hamster wheel: the return of The Chaser
The comedy team will return later this year on ABC1 in a satirical news analysis show. They will examine “the contemporary media landscape, where everyone from journalists to political fixers is perpetually at risk of spinning out of control”. The 8 x 30 min. episodes begin production this week.http://www.thevine.com.au/entertainment/tv/the-chaser-team-returning-to-abc-with-the-hamster-wheel20110831.aspx

The future is mobile
“40% of the world’s population will have access to the Internet by 2015, according to a new forecast released this week by market research firm IDC<http://www.idc.com>. But the way they access it is shifting drastically, particularly in the US, western Europe, and Japan, as media tablets and smartphones begin to take the place of the traditional PC…this will make the internet a very different place”. For schools…1-to-1 learning will skyrocket; teaching & learning for K-12 will fundamentally change due to mobile technologies.http://thejournal.com/articles/2011/09/12/mobile-to-surpass-wired-internet-connections.aspx

Categories
books

Indigenous Literacy Day

7 September 2011
Indigenous Literacy Day
Many schools supported Indigenous Literacy Day on Wed 7 Sept by raising funds for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. Some participated in the Great Book Swap & others held other activities. The ILF provides books for remote indigenous communities; schools can hold fundraising events at any time. Over 70 000 books have been sent to over 260 communities during the past 2 years. The ILF also supports community identified literacy projects such as writing books in Alternative English Languages (AEL) & writing workshops are conducted with ambassadors such as Andy Griffiths. Some popular titles have been translated into indigenous languages (eg. Yanumarra parltjatjirratja mularrpa=The very hungry caterpillar). Book Buzz early childhood book packs are also distributed to toddlers & preschoolers, to introduce them to books & reading.
At Parliament House in Canberra, the Governor General Quentin Bryce spoke about the great work of the ILF, as did author Kate Grenville. There was some great singing, dancing, reading & music from visiting schools. Schools then presented symbolic books they had made that represented their fundraising efforts. It was a very enjoyable time!
http://www.indigenousliteracyfoundation.org.au/
Interesting info about literacy in remote indigenous communities and the variety of languages spoken: http://www.indigenousliteracyfoundation.org.au/FAQ

Categories
books websites YouTube

Books, YouTube, Best websites 2011

24 August 2011
50 greatest books of all time?
This list was compiled by studying 43 other lists plus articles from critics, authors & experts. Links to the other lists as well (eg. Guardian, Globe, Man Booker, Harvard Book Store, Pulitzer…)
http://thegreatestbooks.org/

100 incredibly useful YouTube channels for teachers
This is a great list….a lot of US content but lots of amazing links eg. CitizenTube, United Nations, Witness (human rights), Periodic table of videos, Science magazine, Edutopia, Khan Academy, National Geographic…..
http://www.onlinecollegecourses.com/2010/10/20/100-incredibly-useful-youtube-channels-for-teachers/

Time magazine’s 50 best websites 2011
An interesting list with some good links including:
Smarthistory: art history; many pictures; videos of experts talking about works; browse by artist, theme, medium.
Big Think: blogs & videos covering all topics about our world – arts, science, history, business etc. One post: “There is a 20% chance that we’re all part of an elaborate computer simulation from the future”.
Science Daily: Great info about new developments in all fields.
Khan Academy: The one-man university started by Salman Khan in 2006. Thousnads of free lessons aimed at students in highly visual 10 minute video chunks. Mainly maths & science, but other subjetcs also. He now has funding form Google & the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,2087815,00.html

Categories
books Facebook films media mobile phones popular culture TV

Books, films & ICT news

    

 

 

Happy 30th birthday to mobile phone calls in Australia – 9/8/11

The Telecom call was made in Melbourne in 1981 on an in-car phone that weighed 14kg & was 45cm long & cost $5000. The network covered the greater Melb. area….now we are heading for the  Telstra 4G network with higher data speeds & better video quality. Trials have started.

http://www.itwire.com/your-it-news/mobility/49034-30-years-ago-today-australias-first-mobile-call

 

Facebook to have an executive in Aust. this week

Mia Garlick, a senior bureaucrat from Stephen Conroy’s Dept of Broadband, Communications & the Digital Economy, will have responsibility for Aust. operations & will hopefully be able to act quickly on complaints about Facebook postings & cyberbullying.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/facebook-hires-conroy-staffer-in-bid-to-repair-relations/story-e6frgakx-1226111961208

 

The PricewaterhouseCoopers Aust. Entertainment & Media Outlook 2011-2015

The report on Australia’s media & entertainment industry was issued 1/8/11. The fastest moving sector is the gamer market (9.5% growth by 2015), with gamers using consoles, phones, tablets & social media. Australians will own 5.5 million tablet devices by 2015. Empowered consumers often expect content for free – what incentives can be offered to encourage consumers to pay? Subscription TV revenue will grow by 5.1%. Films will grow by 4%. The internet as an industry will see a slowing of growth (7.4% by 2015). Newspapers will remain stagnant (0.1% growth). Consumer magazines & recorded music will be the only sectors to shrink. Live entertainment will see growth. And as for the book industry…..despite the closure of many A&R stores & Borders, the report predicts the industry will recover with annualised growth of 2.5% over the next 5 years.

http://www.pwcoutlook.com.au/outlook11.nsf/Pages/Press+Materials

 

Plagiarism!

Andrew Denton’s company Zapruder’s Other Films is looking at legal action over a pilot British TV program with the same format as The Gruen Transfer. Meanwhile, the BBC has aired a satirical series about preparations for the London Olympics, that is very similar to John Clarke’s The Games. The concept had been pitched to the BBC by Clarke in 2008.

 

Scarecrow and the army of thieves – Matthew Reilly

Available in October; the 4th book in the series starring Scarecrow, the heroic guy who was introduced in Ice station.

http://www.matthewreilly.com/

 

Inheritance – Christopher Paolini

Available 8/11/11. Book 4 & the conclusion to the series that began with Eragon. Can Eragon & his dragon topple the evil king and restore justice to Alagaesia?

http://www.randomhouse.com.au/Kids/Default/Page/General/Section/inheritance/

http://www.alagaesia.com/

 

Jane Eyre

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2058367,00.html

Yay for Canberra’s Mia Wasikowska in the new film directed by Cary Fukunaga, based on the book by Charlotte Bronte. Also starring Michael Fassbender as Rochester. Some say she is the best Jane ever J Opens 11 August.

 

Batavia by Peter FitzSimons: the miniseries.

Screentime (makers of Underbelly & Cloudstreet) will make the 6 part series based on the 1629 Dutch shipwreck & the battle of good vs evil. FitzSimons describes the tale as an “adults-only version of Lord of the flies meets Nightmare on Elm Street”.

http://if.com.au/2011/08/03/article/Screentime-acquires-rights-to-Peter-FitzSimons-Batavia/XJPPIHGXEN.html

 

The white mouse – directed by Bruce Beresford

New bio-pic about the life of war heroine Nancy Wake, the highest decorated woman of WW2. Begins filming end of 2012.

http://www.encoremagazine.com.au/beresford-directs-nancy-wake-story-9830

Categories
films TV Wikipedia

New films and Wikipedia

 

Some interesting new films coming up for English, psychology, communication, marketing, Australian identity….enjoy 🙂

Jane Eyre

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2058367,00.html

Yay for Canberra’s Mia Wasikowska (whose brother is here at DC) in the new film directed by Cary Fukunaga, based on the book by Charlotte Bronte. Also starring Michael Fassbender as Rochester. Some say she is the best Jane ever J Opens 11 August.

 

 

Anonymous

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_(film)

http://www.anonymous-movie.com/

Political thriller directed by Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The day after tomorrow). Stars Rhys Ifans & Vanessa Redgrave. Aust. release Nov 2011. Was Shakespeare a fraud? Was Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford, the true author of Shakespeare’s plays? Did Oxford have an affair with Queen Elizabeth and was it all about who would succeed Elizabeth? Alas, poor Shakespeare…sounds intriguing…

 

Hunger Games: the movie

http://hungergamesmovie.org/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392170/

Directed by Gary Ross. Stars Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson. In the ruins of North America, a boy & a girl from each district are forced to compete in the Hunger Games, where only one person will survive. This exceptionally popular “cross-over” book will be released as a film in March 2012 (USA).

 

The greatest movie ever sold

Morgan Spurlock’s (Supersize me) new film looks at the huge amounts of product placement in movies – and his film was entirely paid for through product placement & marketing deals. Contributions from Noam Chomsky, Quentin Tarantino, Ralph Nader but not McDonald’s hehe. Apparently even Jules Verne sold naming rights to the shipping companies in Around the world in 80 days!

http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2011-04-19-spurlock-greatest-movie-ever-sold.htm

 

The beaver

Comedy-drama directed by Jodie Foster. Stars Mel Gibson & Jodie Foster. A troubled executive adopts a beaver hand-puppet as his sole means of communicating. A study of delusion, depression and personal redemption.

http://www.filmink.com.au/review/the-beaver-film/

 

Red dog

Based on the book Red dog by Louis de Bernieres (Captain Corelli’s mandolin). Stars Rachel Taylor. Based on the true story of the Red Dog who united a remote mining community while searching for his master in the Australian outback. 4 and a half stars from David & 4 stars from Margaret!    http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s3272052.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dog_(Karratha)

 

ABC TV

No more New inventors or Art nation and Spicks & specks finishes in Nov. L

 

Wikipedia: Rate This Page

Wikipedia is now crowdsourcing article evaluation – Rate This Page appears at the end of some pages. Use the 5 stars to give ratings. Categories are: Trustworthy? Objective? Complete? Well written? It now appears on over 100 000 Wikipedia pages.

Why it could be a bad idea:    http://gizmodo.com/5823523/ratings-will-ruin-wikipedia

 

Wikimedia Foundation targets for 2015

4 out of 5 Wikipedia editors are male and 4 out of 5 are from the Global North. The Wikimedia Foundation would like to change this. It aims to:

“Increase the total number of people served to 1 billion.

Increase the number of Wikipedia articles we offer to 50 million.

Ensure information is high quality by increasing the percentage of material reviewed to be of high or very high quality by 25 %.

Encourage readers to become contributors by increasing the number of total editors per month who made >5 edits to 200,000.

Support healthy diversity in the editing community by doubling the percentage of female editors to 25 percent and increasing the percentage of Global South editors to 37 percent.”

Check out the graphs of numbers of articles & editors here. Interesting to see a plateau effect .…

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/c/c0/WMF_StrategicPlan2011_spreads.pdf

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Uncategorized

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