Archive for the ‘Thoughts’ Category

Atkinson is Bad Boy Bubby

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

I was shocked when I learned about the law that South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson passed a few days ago. This law bans all advertising of R18+ films in South Australia, including the requirement for DVD retailers to cover up the covers (banning the display of the cover), displaying only the title of the film.

This is a terrible blow to the Australian Film Industry. Film makers will have no motivation to push the limits of portraying the issues of society, like the South Australian film, Bad Boy Bubby. This is a multiple award winning film, which won four 1994 Australian Film Institute awards; Best Director (Rolf de Heer), Best Actor in a Leading Role (Nicholas Hope), Best Original Screenplay (Rolf de Heer) and Best Editing (Suresh Ayyar); also nominated for Best Film (Rolf de Heer) and Best Cinematography (Ian Jones), and not to mention the international awards it has listed on it’s cover.

If the VHS/DVD/Bluray cover of Bad Boy Bubby is completely censored, then people might skim past the film in the isle, and will not know about the success of this South Australian film. On the other hand, I haven’t read the details of this law, for example if the censoring outer covering of the movie case has to be a certain colour. If it is the same colour for all R films (grey, red, etc), these movies will actually stand out in the movie isles.

In my opinion, Atkinson has put this absurd law into effect such that if/when we get an R18+ games classification, the game covers will be covered (advertising ban), while the content not. What will be next? Magazine covers? Book covers?

What do the people have to say? Search for Michael Atkinson on twitter.

Stay updated on the Gamers4Croydon facebook page.

Posted in Australia, Film, Thoughts | No Comments »

Webber’s radio

Monday, July 13th, 2009

Most enthusiastic radio communication from an Aussie ever. For anyone whose mobile can use mp3’s as a ringtone (motorola), here’s an sms ringtone available for download.

Posted in Australia, Media, Thoughts | No Comments »

Midtones, midnight, mid-career

Friday, May 1st, 2009

I often get interesting trains of thought before I head to sleep. Here’s what I was thinking last night when thinking of how to improve my wide angle photography and methods of increasing the dynamic range of imagery. Don’t worry if you have no idea what you are reading.

If I look at the world through eyes of steel, an objective realist look, the result is a mixture of beauty and flaws; of black and white; an image wtih no greys, no mystery. Having developed much of my photography in Japan - a land of great contrast - as an outsider, the natural point of view is unusual. The visual translation of a jumbled architectural montage can be easily lost. Do the questions an outsider asks about what they see and experience change their way of thinking? For many, once home is left, their view is changed and transformed. In lands of extremes, the truth of what we experience must sometimes give way to emotion. Subjectivity must be regained to seek meaning.

The thing about a lot of HDR photography is that the midtones are all off; a self-composed life of greyness that shadows emotion. It is well known that ‘Contrast begets meaning’. Yet does that make the Greys meaningless? Take water for example; a giver of life. It not only non-grey, but is transparent and yet reflective. What does that make the opaque silver? Is the mirror in liquid metal a reflection of light and shadow, or is it the Medium? It is a common technique to achieve a single 360 degree point of view using a mirrored sphere. What is the importance of the middle light? Silver media may have gold plating. Is Au (gold) the sepia of the Greys?

Water may be the medium of life that links outer and inner soul
A relationship that must be made to become entire and whole

If silver is to bounce, then water is to communicate; to give and receive. Life is not just the people you’ve met, the placed you’ve been, the experiences you’ve had. Life is you, and life is now. It always changes, develops, and shows you a new thing every day. Drive your passion forwards. Reach for the horizon. You might sometimes go in circles, but a little bit of imagination can lead you to great places. The horizon may be a constant, but is not the core of the Earth. The highs and lows of life are good and bad. Those on the side of the road may not be progressing, but are thinking; observing; becoming. The greys of life are the medium of transformation. When a link is formed between the grey and the contrast, it is perhaps then that true beauty is revealed. The horizon may be heavenly, but even in life, there are ways of seeing the Other side of the sphere.

Posted in Australia, Japan, Media, Photography, Thoughts | No Comments »

AE82 and Lobethal

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

So much has happened since my last post. My oil cherry has been popped and I now own a 1988 Toyota Corolla SX Twin Cam AE82.
There’s many things that need attention (eg wheel balance, gear oil change, new seat [current one comes off it's hinges under left hand g-force] new steering wheel etc), but I got it for under three grand. While the power is low and economical, it has a modified exhaust system. There’s no conventional radio, so the music volume can be set by altering the height of the windows and the length of my right leg. Although I haven’t heard it from outside being driven by someone else, it is however a little embarrassingly loud.
With it’s stiffened suspension however, it’s cornering ability is surprising. When cornering, it grips really well while braking, but like all front wheel drives, it has some understeer when the power goes on. A lack of power steering gives my arms a bit of a workout when parking, but the feeling from the road when at speed feels connected and in control. The 16V 4AGE engine’s been replaced with a 16V 4AGE engine with TVIS (Toyota’s equivalent of VTEC), which gives it a bit more lower down torque.

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Posted in Australia, Review, Thoughts | 1 Comment »

15 words

Thursday, December 11th, 2008

I just entered a competition through CareerOne by writing creatively in 25 words or less why I want a new laptop. Other than my current one is 4 years old and has a dying video card, here it is in 15:

I’d gain an aptitude for helmsmanship crossmedia
to write, proclaim and falsify my ergophobia.

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Touge

Sunday, October 5th, 2008

Last night a mate took me for a drive in his 90’s integra into the mountains, on some roads around a lake. As we were almost there (following a slower mx5), we came across a guy who had tapped his silvia into the side of the mountain. When we left a few hours later (around 2.30am), the car was being towed away. Here’s some dodgy camera phone footage.

Ok that’s the boring bit out of the way. A lap of the lake takes around 12 minutes, starting and finishing at the dam (marked with the red cross). There were lots of cars there, some imprezas, silvias, a group of ae86s. Everyone goes anticlockwise.

On the first half of our first lap, we got stuck behind a kei car (car with a yellow licence plate, has limited power) whose driver was driving really fast, it was quite surprising, and fun seeing a low powered front wheel drive getting the rear a little loose. After the first lap, the front tyres were a little warmed up, maybe between 30 and 35 degrees going by touch, with the right tyre a good 5 or so degrees warmer. After the third lap they were maybe somewhere around 40, with both around the same temp.
This video is from the last quarter or so of a lap.

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Posted in Film, Japan, Review, Thoughts | 1 Comment »

Work computer and thinking of home

Friday, September 19th, 2008

Who would have guessed it? My school has got me and another new teacher new laptops, so now I can create lessons from my desk, and not from the computer room. My job is suddenly much much easier.

I’ve been looking up Qantas flights for early November, but it seems that flights from Nagoya to Adelaide stop from October 25th, even though cheap flights are advertised until January or so (keep getting an error when checking online). I’ll try and find a Qantas office in Nagoya and see what the deal is.

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