Something I hope a lot of people are watching during this election campaign, is Gruen Nation.
As well as being pretty funny, it also helps deconstruct exactly how the political parties manipulate the electorate with their advertising.
As everyone knows, knowledge is power. Knowing all the tricks that can be employed against voters can only help people see through the spin and make a more informed decision.
One of the best parts of the show, as with the regular Gruen Transfer, is "The Pitch", where two ad agencies go up against each other to create competing ads. This week, one agency had to make a pro-Green ad, the other an anti-Green ad. Personally, I thought the pro-Green ad was one of the best ads I've seen this campaign, even though it's not a "real" ad! If the Greens have any sense (and some cash), they should commission it.
Remember, dear readers, see through the spin. Make sure your bullshit detector is active!
Addendum: evidently, the Greens are very interested in the ad, but the ABC won't let them have it!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
A few reasons why the Internet is great
Today I spent my day at home, doing some preparation work for my role in this year's production of South Metro Showtime, the local Scout and Guide theatre production I've been involved with for the last 15 years (shameless plug: Aug 20-28 at the Alexander Theatre, tickets on sale now, www.southmetroshowtime.org.au)
While the majority of my years in the show have been spent on-stage, the last few I have helped backstage, mostly in the lighting area. This year, however, I've been made head of department for the newly created Video department, as we are introducing to our bag of tricks two large plasma screens with which to project extra content in addition to the human interaction on stage.
While a couple of pieces of this "non-human content" (as I have dubbed it) are being filmed, the majority of it are images and video either created by myself or the much more talented Matty B, or sourced from the vast repository of media that is the Internet.
While I was pulling all this content together today, it occurred to me; had we been attempting the same thing in my first show 15 years ago (leaving aside the fact that giant plasma screens weren't around then), it would have been much more difficult, as although the Internet existed, it was a vastly different and smaller landscape back then.
Let's review some of the tools I used this afternoon, and whether they were available 15 years ago:
If you're any good at all at maths, you'll have worked out that only one of those tools was available for my first show in 1996, and that's Powerpoint (and it would have to have been the Microsoft version). And it isn't an Internet tool anyway (although a useful piece of software if you use it properly - I'll save my rant on bad Powerpoint Presentations for another day)
Had I been doing this in 1996, I would have had to film and edit versions of the videos I needed myself, create the images myself (either by hand, or an early version of Corel or Photoshop), and if I needed tips on how to do anything of this, I would have needed to take a trip to my local library and search the catalogue for a relevant reference book. All of which would have taken a lot more than an afternoon and evening.
So my point is, we've come along way in a few short years. The Internet is a great time-saving (or, sometimes, time-wasting!) invention, no doubt one of humanity great technical achievements. Watching some of my Venturers and how connected they are now, I honestly think they would struggle to exist in the same world I grew up in at their age not so long ago!
Incidentally, to find out the dates each of the tools listed above was created, I used Wikipedia, another great invention, created 2001
While the majority of my years in the show have been spent on-stage, the last few I have helped backstage, mostly in the lighting area. This year, however, I've been made head of department for the newly created Video department, as we are introducing to our bag of tricks two large plasma screens with which to project extra content in addition to the human interaction on stage.
While a couple of pieces of this "non-human content" (as I have dubbed it) are being filmed, the majority of it are images and video either created by myself or the much more talented Matty B, or sourced from the vast repository of media that is the Internet.
While I was pulling all this content together today, it occurred to me; had we been attempting the same thing in my first show 15 years ago (leaving aside the fact that giant plasma screens weren't around then), it would have been much more difficult, as although the Internet existed, it was a vastly different and smaller landscape back then.
Let's review some of the tools I used this afternoon, and whether they were available 15 years ago:
- YouTube (material for background video montages) - created 2005
- Google Images (still images to use as backgrounds) - created 2001
- Google (used to research video conversion and editing methods) - created 1998
- OpenOffice Impress (creating slideshows for background information) - PowerPoint created 1987, OpenOffice created 2000
If you're any good at all at maths, you'll have worked out that only one of those tools was available for my first show in 1996, and that's Powerpoint (and it would have to have been the Microsoft version). And it isn't an Internet tool anyway (although a useful piece of software if you use it properly - I'll save my rant on bad Powerpoint Presentations for another day)
Had I been doing this in 1996, I would have had to film and edit versions of the videos I needed myself, create the images myself (either by hand, or an early version of Corel or Photoshop), and if I needed tips on how to do anything of this, I would have needed to take a trip to my local library and search the catalogue for a relevant reference book. All of which would have taken a lot more than an afternoon and evening.
So my point is, we've come along way in a few short years. The Internet is a great time-saving (or, sometimes, time-wasting!) invention, no doubt one of humanity great technical achievements. Watching some of my Venturers and how connected they are now, I honestly think they would struggle to exist in the same world I grew up in at their age not so long ago!
Incidentally, to find out the dates each of the tools listed above was created, I used Wikipedia, another great invention, created 2001
Friday, August 6, 2010
A week is a long time in football...
Just got home from a great game of football - great if you're a Blues supporter like me of course!
Carlton this week put the sword to Essendon, sweet for many reasons, not the least of which are that they've had the wood over us for quite a while, and my little bro supports them, so it's always good to get bragging rights over him too!
The really confounding thing about the whole exercise though is - how could we be so bad for the last few weeks, yet so good tonight?
Save for a couple of changes, the list is pretty much the same. The really frustrating thing from a supporter's point of view is just the inconsistency at present; the fact that we can be terrible one week and fantastic the next.
But, at least for a week, the heat is off us and back on Essendon, which is a good thing in my book!
Carlton this week put the sword to Essendon, sweet for many reasons, not the least of which are that they've had the wood over us for quite a while, and my little bro supports them, so it's always good to get bragging rights over him too!
The really confounding thing about the whole exercise though is - how could we be so bad for the last few weeks, yet so good tonight?
Save for a couple of changes, the list is pretty much the same. The really frustrating thing from a supporter's point of view is just the inconsistency at present; the fact that we can be terrible one week and fantastic the next.
But, at least for a week, the heat is off us and back on Essendon, which is a good thing in my book!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Phones, Phones, Phones
Unless you've been living under the proverbial rock, you'll know that the new iPhone4 is now available in Australia.
Currently, I have an iPhone3G, on a contract that has about 6 months left to run. As such, I'm starting to think now about what phone I might like to get when the contract runs out.
My iPhone has served me pretty well, but it has a few drawbacks. The two biggest ones are:
- it's really slow these days
- it doesn't play well at all with Linux (which both my home computers run)
There are a lot more options available now in the "smartphone" market than there was when I got the iPhone. As well as addressing the issues above, any new phone needs to accomodate the following:
- sync to Google Calendar
- good email access
- Good music interface (my phone is also my portable music player)
With those requirements, I'd probably lean towards getting something running Android, but even within that sub-category, there's plenty of options (and probably even more by the time my contract runs out)
What's probably going to sway it for me is other people's experiences with any phones under consideration. So, I throw the issue open to my readers: what would you recommend?
Currently, I have an iPhone3G, on a contract that has about 6 months left to run. As such, I'm starting to think now about what phone I might like to get when the contract runs out.
My iPhone has served me pretty well, but it has a few drawbacks. The two biggest ones are:
- it's really slow these days
- it doesn't play well at all with Linux (which both my home computers run)
There are a lot more options available now in the "smartphone" market than there was when I got the iPhone. As well as addressing the issues above, any new phone needs to accomodate the following:
- sync to Google Calendar
- good email access
- Good music interface (my phone is also my portable music player)
With those requirements, I'd probably lean towards getting something running Android, but even within that sub-category, there's plenty of options (and probably even more by the time my contract runs out)
What's probably going to sway it for me is other people's experiences with any phones under consideration. So, I throw the issue open to my readers: what would you recommend?
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