Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Cloud Computing: Benifits and Dangers

Joshua Hagen

Cloud Computing

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dcxxfs45_1c683vbhb


Case study

http://dev.chromium.org/chromium-os


Innovations in cloud computing will soon allow us to log into our online desktop from anywhere we can get a solid connection.

Tammi Lampe's Final Project Handout

Tammi Lampe
Social Media (Social Networks)
www.myspace.com/tlampgrcp101

CASE STUDY: (video, not link)


FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
The lowest average age for any social networking site is 28 on Bebo, closely followed by 31 from MySpace. If you thought social networks were just for the youngins, you’re sadly mistaken! The fastest growing demographic for facebook users is women over 55. You can verify these factoids at the following websites:

Royal Pingdom Study: Ages of Social Network Users
http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/02/16/study-ages-of-social-network-users/

Inside Facebook: The fastest growing Demographic on Facebook
http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/02/02/fastest-growing-demographic-on-facebook-women-over-55/

Chris Wagner-Google Earth uses and privacy

Chris Wagner
Google Earth uses and privacy

My project site
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=16871100&blogId=530718982

Case study link
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htintel/articles/20070102.aspx

Fun fact there are a lot of strange and interesting things that can be found on Google Earth.

A building on a U.S Navy base Coronado, CA 92118

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Giant Cat in Chile

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KFC

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Greg Peiffer

The Future of Digital Art

A link tomy project blog.

My case study can be found here. under The Future of Digital Art. pdf

The variety of digital arts is wide. I found it interesting how the main predictions/projections about where digital art is going toward mixed/transmedia and more interaction/collaboration/performance between artists and viewers. Certain barriers about the concepts of digital art and media and being dismantled while this it is asserting and assimilating itself. I haven't finished up yet...so it will look different by Friday.

eWaste: Where does all our elcetronic stuff go?

Final Project
Topic: eWaste
Link: rdr2.99k.org
Case study: Free Geek Wiki

Food for thought: We produce more toxic waste responsible recycling our electronics than is produced by just dumping them.

Final Project

David Dempsey

Rise of Independent Games

link to final project

case study link: Kongregate

Cave Story

Food for thought or fun fact: I learned that out of all the people that make Flash games online only 25% of the makers of the games don't make some money. Though a little over 50% of the people that make money from the flash games make between $1 and $500 a month of them. Around 75% of people that make games have under 2 years of experience.(this wasn't actually in my project it was one of the many facts I didn't fit into the project easily. The slide show for this information was really repetitive and kind of boring)

Final Project Hand out -Travis Buck


Travis Buck
Can we trust our work to Cloud Computing?
Project Link:
Click Here
Case Study Link:
Click Here

Starting this I really wanted to find out what was out there right now in terms of Cloud Computing Services. Not just what Google was offering to the world. Originally, I have been very skeptical on trusting anything cloud computing right now. I have used free online storage accounts, online email accounts, and Google docs. Like most people, I didn't feel Cloud Computing was to a point yet where it could be relied upon. What I found changed my mind. This eyeOS Cloud Computing really surprised me. I now think, installed on the right server that this system could help out most small business. After doing this project, I really feel that we are only about a year from having these "web-top" computers being comparable to most desktops we can buy.

GRCP 101 Final Project

Joseph Knepper
Internet Filtering/OpenNet Initiative
Project:Internet Filtering
3 Google executives sentenced in Italy
Sunday Morning Herald.AU
In researching this case I found that out of all the articles and blogs that I read only one of them supported Judge Oscar Magi's ruling. That was the author of the article in the Sunday Morning Herald out of Australia.
3 Google executives were sentenced on privacy charges due to a video that was uploaded to one of their sites and remained there for two months. The video was of some teenagers harassing and kicking a down syndrome boy.

DStew Final Project

My topic is on Google Wave and how it could be used for project management. One thing I found interesting was that anyone participating in a discussion in Google Wave can edit any post in the discussion, even if they didn't post it.

I used two links for my case study. One is on using Wave as a project management tool and the other is looking at how people are already using Wave in the real world.
How to Manage a group project in Google Wave
Google Wave in Action: Real-World Use Case Studies

You can view my project at: http://djranger.com/grcp101

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Joshua Hagen

Sendhil Mullainathan

Solving social problems with a nudge

http://www.ted.com/talks/sendhil_mullainathan.html

In this talk Mullainathan talks about technology and the impact social problems have on technologies effectiveness. He talks about how many problems are solved by technology but the effectiveness is often times nulled and voided by human and social error. An example he used is how in India when children get diarrhea the mothers decide to give them less fluid when in reality they need more. Their logic is why would i want to fill a leaky bucket? Therefore their children have a higher chance of dying from it. Another example is diabetes and the percentage of people who don't consistently take their insulin. The effect is a increase in diabetes complications. He calls this the "Last mile problem" because all the problems are solved up to the last mile where people have to take the technology and use and understand it properly.

I really enjoyed the talk and found his insights and logic quite profound. It encouraged me to put more thought into my actions and think things though more diligently.

Peter Eigen: How to expose the corrupt



Peter Eigen was the Head of The World Bank in Nairobi. Mr Eigen believes that there exists two main factors for of global corruption. One is the global economy and the other is governments inability to govern the global economy.


This asymmetry is what causes failing and corrupt governments, and the exploitation of children. It is also the reason we can not make any progress on global warming and all areas witch we need to have change.

When he worked for World bank Mr. Eigen wanted to introduce policies to protect it and the people in that part of the world from corruption. As soon as he began his work the legal department told him he could not do this. He was meddling in the the affairs of the partner countries, and it is forbidden by the charter of the World Bank.

Then he Realized that in donor meetings the projects that were getting chosen to carry out were the worst ones. These projects were representative of large suppliers from the north as he says it. Projects were implemented such as a power plant that had no benefit for the people. Nobody was interested in irrigation projects. He believes that this is a symptom of corruption of the power elites and the suppliers from the north.


More than one billion people live under the poverty line. More then one billion people are with out water. More than two billion people have no sanitation. The consequences of this are rampant illness and ten million children die each year before the age of five. These are all symptoms of global corruption.

The reason the World Bank would not allow his work is because many countries consider bribery to be a legitimate business practice. and other governments are afraid that if they do not practice bribery they will loose contracts to countries that will use bribes. It is a classic example of the prisoners dilemma.

In Peter Eigen's home country of Germany bribery was allowed. It was even tax deductible. When he brought his NGO Transparency International to Berlin he was told he could not stop German exporters from bribing because they would loose their contracts to other countries.

Transparency International mission is to find a way out of this prisoners dilemma. They use collective action bringing competitors to the table and explain to them how it is in there best interest to simultaneously stop bribing. In 1997 Transparency International convinced Germany and the other OECD countries to sign a convention that says the participants will make bribery illegal in their country.

Bill Gates

Innovating to Zero!

http://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates.html

In this TED talk Bill Gates talks about clean energy. He goes into detail about how to make energy without creating carbon emissions. One example is new nuclear reactor technologies where the nuclear waste can be used to power new reactors. I enjoyed the talk and found it to be very insightful. I think the most important part was when he broke down the cause of CO2 emissions in the form of an equation. I found it to help me understand the causes better and where there is room for improvement.

Related links:

About Nuclear.org

This is a website that gives a general overview of nuclear power

American wind energy association

http://www.awea.org

This site is dedicated to wind energy and is a place to find information about news and updates in wind energy projects

Steven Cowley: Fusion is energy's future



in 1920 Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington of the British Association for the advancement of science hypothesized that fusion is the driving force of the Sun.

Steven Cowley believes that in fifty years the standard for power generation will be fusion, fission, and solar. He cautions us that solar still has a ways to go before it will be a completely viable technology. China, France, England, , and America are all building or have announced plans for building nuclear fission reactors. Mr, Cowley tells us that fission is the perfect energy source. It dose not take up much space. Has a virtually inexhaustible supply. It is safe. It dose not put any carbon into the atmosphere. It dose not leave any long lived radioactive waste. There is a catch however.

Mr Cowley says that fusion is very hard to do. People have been trying for fifty years to achieve fusion. He states that all atoms are attracted to iron which is in the middle of the periodic table. Large atoms like uranium like to split (fission) and small atoms like helium and and hydrogen like to join (fusion) on there way toward iron. This is what happens inside stars and we can extract energy from this reaction, but it is difficult because as we all know stars are very hot.

The easiest way to achieve fusion is between isotopes of hydrogen. Deuterium, Derived from sea water is heavy hydrogen and Tritium which is super heavy hydrogen. When deuterium and tritium are far apart they are positively charged and when they are close they repel each other. But when you get them very close a thing called the strong force takes over and pulls them together. For a moment they become helium-5 then helium comes out, a neutron comes out, and lots of energy comes out. If you can get things to 150 million degrees this will start happening.

Energy powers fusion and beside the fact that you have to make things 150 million degrees there is another catch. Tritium does not exist in nature. It must be made. It comes from lithium. Lithium-6 plus a neutron will will generate tritium plus more helium. If you can make the fusion happen you've got an extra neutron to make this happen.

The fuel we have left is only a few tens of years of oil and perhaps a hundred years of fossil fuels such as gas and coal. Uranium has got about 150 years left before we have to switch to other sources to get it. Lithium is the fuel of fusion and there is about 30 million years worth of it in our sea watter.

Steven Cowley's project is able to make fusion happen at about the same cost as we currently pay for electricity. Jet is the only machine in the world that has actually made fusion happen. In 1997 Jet produced 16 mega watts of power making fusion a reality. In 2013 jet will be fired up again. However, that is not producing power. That is just making fusion happen. ITER is the next generation fusion reactor. It is designed to make 500 mega watts of power and is being built in the south of France. Seven nations and 10 billion dollars have been invested in this project, but it is still not a power generator. It will not be until perhaps the 2030's that fusion power generation will be viable.

Intelligence of crows

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Joshua Klein
On the intelligence of crows
http://www.ted.com/talks/joshua_klein_on_the_intelligence_of_crows.html

“Hacker and writer Joshua Klein is fascinated by crows. (Notice the gleam of intelligence in their little black eyes?) After a long amateur study of corvid behavior, he's come up with an elegant machine that may form a new bond between animal and human”. They don’t just survive, they thrive in human environments, even using human technology to feed themselves.

This talk I found to be more insightful than I thought it would be. I love crows I think they are just amazing how intelligent they are. I’ve always known that they are one of the smartest birds out there. People don’t realize this looking at them. People think they are a nuisance and scavengers.
Crows can do things few other birds wouldn’t even attempt to do, like basic problem solving. Crows will learn from mistakes and even pass along its knowledge to others crows and even there offspring. Crows also have the ability to recognize one individual human from another by facial features. Crows have a fairly complex language where they mimic other species, sounds and lower noises we cant even hear. I don’t understand why man can’t observe and be grateful they get to share this planet with such amazing creatures, not just crows but all creatures have something to offer.

A Vending Machine for Crows
An Experiment in Corvid Learning
http://www.wireless.is/projects/crows/

This site explains in detail his research with the crow vending machine.

Business Innovation Factory
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/iss/innovators/joshua-klein

This article talks about him as an inventor.

John Hodgman: Aliens, love -- where are they?

John Hodgman's T.E.D. Talk




Recognizable from his role as the 'PC' in the Mac commercials or as a contributor
on the Daily Show, John Hodgman discusses points in his life that humorously
help him conclude that Aliens do exist and they tease little kids.John Hodgman is, according to Ted.com
"a writer, humorist, geek celebrity, former professional literary agent and expert on all world knowledge."

Do aliens exist? What's the most important train of thought here? "Does something seem strange about this to you? Something odd, something off, something wrong with this picture? Think about it, yes. The answer is: I had a girlfriend. What? When did this happen? How did this happen?"







His Bio at the Daily show-Official Site.

John Hodgman at Internet Movie Data Base

John Hodgman at Wikipedia

A Warm Embrace That Saves Lives

Jane Chen: A warm embrace that saves lives



four million premature babies die annually because they have no way of regulationg their internal body temperature. If they do live, there are also future complications that may arise from trying to fight hypothermia instead of developing major organs. these range from heart disease, to low IQ and many more complications in between. These babies are dying because in rural and underdeveloped areas, traditional incubators are too expensive and many time hospitals are not accessible to the general public. Jane Chen and her team have developed a solution that would be affordable to people in these rural areas and effective. What appears to be a sleeping bag with a state of the art reheatable pouch in the back that could save a child's life for just $25. That's less than 0.01% of the cost of a traditional incubator. A solution so simple and yet it can reach millions of people and save millions of lives.

Jane Chen
http://www.ted.com/speakers/jane_chen.html
Jane Chen's profile via TED.com

Embrace: a Low Cost Infant Warmer
http://embraceglobal.org/
The Embrace product website

Linkedin.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/janechen
jane Chen's profile on LinkedIn

Jamie Oliver's TED Prize wish: Teach every child about food

Jamie Oliver's T.E.D. Talk




Already a huge(and controversial) advocate for healthy food in public schools, British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver shares his worries about obesity in the U.S. He is the 2010 TED Prize winner, making the case against diet related illness and death being so predominate here in America.








Jamie Oliver's website-Official Site.

Jamie's food petition

Congratulations Jamie Oliver ñ 2010 TED Prize Winner

Jamie Oliver at Wikipedia

TedTalk3_Philip Rosedale, on Second Life

Philip Rosedale, on Second Life
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/the_inspiration_of_second_life.html

This talk was about the virtual world of Second Life. He brings up the idea of why even build a virtual world. We as humans want to communicate socially. Second Life really came about by letting people shape their own online world. What he didn’t expect is that users would really take over and control their own surroundings. He points out that the gender of Second Life is about equal. Also that the average age of the user is 32. He found that as age increases, the amount of time spent in the virtual world increases.

My impression of his talk was shock. I had heard of second life, but never really understood the magnitude of this website. At one point, Philip Rosedale states that there is a potential for Second Life to be bigger than the web itself. Right now there are about 250 thousand users wondering around this virtual world. When he said that there was almost a million user generated items in that virtual world, this really made me wonder how this virtual economy is taking place.

I chose this talk to learn more about the idea of a virtual world. I really wanted to learn about what makes us want to be social through a computer platform.

Three links associated with the individual or talk with the following information of each:

Philip Rosedale Bio
http://www.ted.com/speakers/philip_rosedale.html
This is his bio from the Tedtalk page. Great place to start finding information about this speaker.

Linden Lab
http://lindenlab.com/
This is the Linden Lab home page. Philip Rosedale’s company page.

The Second Life Home Page
http://secondlife.com/?v=1.1
This is the second life home page. The virtual world Philip Rosedale created.

A Happy Little Song About Global Warming by Jill Sobule



This "talk" by Jill Sobule is actually a satire in the form of a song about global warming. It's funny and clever and appeals to the inner child in us all. She sings and plays the guitar while Al Gore whistles along. I enjoyed it particularly because instead of the usual serious droning of politicians and scientists about global warming, this song brings attention to this issue to to a demographic that may not have been interested before. I would have liked it to be a little more informative and maybe bring up some simple solutions in the same light, however.

Jill Sobule
www.jillsobule.com
this is Jill Sobule's personal website.

Wikipedia: Jill Sobule
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Sobule
this is a wiki dedicated to Jill Sobule.

Huffington Post: Jill Sobule
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jill-sobule
This is a link to Jill Sobule's personal blog.

William Kamkwamba: How I harnessed the wind

Video Information
Speaker: William Kamkwamba
Talk: William Kamkwamba: How I harnessed the wind
Link: http://www.ted.com/talks/william_kamkwamba_how_i_harnessed_the_wind.html

Description
This video is about William Kamkwamba, at only 14 he built a windmill to provide power for his family. He was forced to dropout of school because his family couldn't afford the tuition. He wanted to continue to learn, so he went to a library and he read about physics and read that a windmill could pump water and provide power. He didn't have any materials so he went to a scrap yard to get them. From what he found there he was able to build two windmills, one to power his home and one to pump water. He also found a light bulb and what he needed for a light switch and circuit breaker.

After he completed his project, people start to lineup outside his house to charge their cellphones. After awhile reporters started coming too. TED found out about it and invited him to come talk at TED. This is now his second time talking at TED.

My Impressions
It's amazing that he was able to accomplish building a windmill with so little. You would have to be very smart and determined to do something like that. I found it interesting that he did this after dropping out of school and reading things that interested him.

Other links

Name: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Link: http://williamkamkwamba.typepad.com/williamkamkwamba/book.html
Description: This is a book about William Kamkwamba and how he built his windmill.

Name: William Kamkwamba on building a windmill
Link: http://www.ted.com/talks/william_kamkwamba_on_building_a_windmill.html
Description: This is the video from his first TED Talks.

Name: William Kamkwamba's Flickr account
Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9278648@N04/
Description: You can see a lot of photos of William, his windmills and village.

Johnny Lee demos Wii Remote hacks

Video Information
Speaker: Johnny Lee
Talk: Johnny Lee demos Wii Remote hacks
Link: http://www.ted.com/talks/johnny_lee_demos_wii_remote_hacks.html

Description
Johnny Lee talks about his Wii remote hacks. He shows several uses of the hacked Wii remote, and the remote is quite inexpensive at only forty dollars. The uses he showed include using it as a whiteboard, touchscreen and a display that responds to your head position making what is on screen look 3D.

My Impressions
All of the proposed uses for this have the potential to be very useful. I think the head tracking would be the most fun. If game developers were to use this technology in their games they would become much more realistic. I would be very excited to play a game that incorporated this.

Other links

Name: Project Website
Link: http://johnnylee.net/projects/wii/
Description: This is the page for information about Lee's Wii project. There are also more videos demoing this project.

Name: Procrastineering
Link: http://procrastineering.blogspot.com/
Description: This is Johnny Lee's blog.

Name: $14 Steadycam
Link: http://steadycam.org/
Description: This is another one of Johnny Lee's projects.

Tony Robbins asks why we do what we do

http://www.ted.com/talks/tony_robbins_asks_why_we_do_what_we_do.html

First off I have to say I had to post Tony Robbins. I blame watching late night infomercials when I was younger when there wasn't anything else on.

Summary of talk
Tony Robbins discusses the "invisible forces" that motivate everyone's actions and high-fives Al Gore in the front row.

impression of the talk
I had to watch this when I saw that Tony Robbins gave Al Gore a high-five and I needed to know why. While watching the talk I was first surprised to hear that Tony Robbins says he doesn't motivate people he just asks what motivates people. He also watches, studies, and tries to find out what makes people tick and drives them. The talk seemed to be a mix between a motivational talk with how Robbins works/helps people get their inspiration, drive, and motive to accomplish back again. He ends the talk about with a story about being in Hawaii when the world trade centers fell, many people at the seminar had lost people, and one man who was vocal about wanting to be a terrorist.



Robbins Research International INC. www.tonyrobbins.com/Home/Home.aspx
Description: Tony Robbins company website has a lot of information on the foundation, news articles, and products.

Anthony Robbins Foundations http://www.anthonyrobbinsfoundation.org/arf/inter_bb.php
Description: This is a foundation that Tonny Robbins set up 30 years ago to help feed people in need. It is now providing not only food but clothes, household items, and tries to bring hope to people in need all around the world.


Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Robbins
Description: Wikipedia article on Tony Robbins that tells about him, his books, talks, and his lawsuits.

Ross Lovegrove shares organic designs

http://www.ted.com/talks/ross_lovegrove_shares_organic_designs.html

Ross Lovegrove shares organic designs

Summary of talk

Ross Lovegrove tries to explain how he works. Lovegrove is a artists who has become a designer. With strong inspirations from impressionists and nature he tries to design things to fit into our world that have a more natural look. To find the natural look he looks at skeletons, molecules, and tries to capture the feel of nature into design.

impression of the talk

The designs I saw by Ross Lovegrove look like a mix between H.R. Gieger, Henry Moore, and what you see through a really powerful microscope. Besides being a designer Lovegrove also has art pieces that have been displayed in art museums around the world. He kept talking about "fat free design" which appears to be like being a minimalist and trying to get rid of anything excessive in his designs. The reason I decided to pick Lovegrove was because I liked the look of most of his work as well as seeing how he was inspired by skeletons, skulls, water, and molecules.

LINKS

Ross Lovegroves official site www.rosslovegrove.com/

Description: This site seems rather fitting for Lovegrove it's only one page. It has links for contacting him and displays a slide show of different designs he's done. It's vary to the point without any excess.


Design Boom http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/lovegrove.html

Description: This is an interview by Design Boom .com with Lovegrove talking about his work, how he works, advice for designers, and has some pictures of his work.

Wikipedia article en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Lovegrove

Description: Basic article from wikipedia that has additional links for places to find out information about Lovegrove at the bottum.



T.E.D. Talks - GRCP 101 - Jamie Oliver

Title: Jamie Oliver's TED Prize wish: Teach every child about food.
Speaker: Jamie Oliver
http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver.html



Summary/My Impression:

Jamie talks about obesity in America and the problems with our diets at home and at school. He talks about how we are shortening our children's lives because of our bad eating habits.
He showed pictures of children who are obese. A 16 year old girl who only has 6 years left to live because of it. A 12 year old boy who is 350lbs and his 4 year old sister who is already obese.

The statistics that he gave are alarming. 4 Americans will die from food related disease in the 18 minutes that he is talking. Our children will live 10 years younger than us. 2/3 of Americans are overweight or obese. Diet related deaths are the biggest killers in America and 10% of our health care costs are for obesity and it is expected to double in the next 10 years.

This is a talk, for anyone concerned with our children or weight, should watch it!



Links:

Jamie Oliver
http://www.jamieoliver.com/
Official Site with recipes, news, information.

Jamie's Dinners
http://www.jamiesdinners.com/
A site for his book "Jamie's Dinners".

Family Education - Obesity Among Children
http://life.familyeducation.com/health/obesity/29523.html
A short article on the increase in child obesity in America.



T.E.D. Talks - GRCP 101 - Rick Warren


Speaker: Rick Warren Name of Talk:
Rick Warren on a life of purpose
TED Talks/Rick Warren

Summary:
Rick talks about the answer to the question of "Why am I Here" which as he says is not a religious question but a human question. In doing this he touches on a number of subjects such as, spiritual emptiness, we matter to God, history and this universe.
I can not do this talk justice in his short summary, however I will touch on couple of things he talks about. He talks about stewardship such as to the environment as we do not own this planet but need to take care of it. He talks about how we need to understand our own world views as they determine everything else in our life's. He also talks about how he handled the fame and money that has come from his book.

My Personal Impression:
The biggest thing that stood out to me about this is that he is not just talking to religious people. Of course as a Christian Pastor he interjects God and Jesus because that is what drives his life and decisions. He asks the simple question, "what do you have and what are you going to do with it?"

One other thing I would like to say is that it is interesting to me on reading the blogs on this video and on a couple of other religious speakers how agressively people who do not believe in God and Jesus attack them. Even though Rick is not "pushing" God he is just asking people to look at themselves and what they have to offer and think.



Links:

Saddleback Church
http://www.saddleback.com/
This is the website for the church that Rick is the Pastor for that he started when he was 25.

Purpose Driven Life
http://www.purposedrivenlife.com/en-US/Home/home.htm/
This is for his book "The Purpose Driven Life". It includes study guides and more.

Rick Warren
www.rickwarren.com/
Information about Rick and his ministries.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Sebastian's Voodoo


A second year project created by student Joaquin Baldwin at the University of California Los Angeles animation workshop with music by Nick Fevola. This film exudes a dark and foreboding atmosphere as voodoo dolls are hanging from hooks over a dingy workbench. The antagonist in this tale is busy torturing the dolls and presumably the humans they represent. He is not aware that the dolls have come to life. One of them has an opportunity to escape but instead he is courageous and will not leave his brothers behind at any cost.

Sebastian's Voodoo is amazing and powerful with out the need for even a single word throughout the entire story. The author managed to condense all the key elements of an epic survival tale into less then five minutes. The very long list of awards this film has received has to be see to be appreciated and can be found at the films website.

Links:

Sebastion's Voodoo - Website

Sebastian's Voodoo - IMDB

Joaquin Baldwin - Animator

Nick Fevola - Music Composer





Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Ryan

Directed by
Chris Landreth
Produced by
Steven Hoban
Marcy Page
Mark Smith
Production Agency
Copper Heart Entertainment Inc.
National Film Board of Canada

Made in 2004, "Ryan" is 13 minutes 54 seconds long and one several awards around the world.
Ryan is described as a tribute to a Canadian animator Ryan Larkin. The short film was made from recordings the director Chris Landreth made while talking to Ryan Larkin. It covers Larkins work that helped inspire many animators and then his decent into Cocain use and now being a drunk that begs for change.

The animation style that's used in the short film is described as "psychological realism" and their are different web sites talking about how he achieves the look. When the film starts out it seems like the animation has been drawn over actual film, like the movie "Scanner Darkly." However the movements are really fluid and after examining the film a couple of times I don't think that's the method that was used. It appears to me that it's really good animated Computer Graphics that's used 3D animated models. The "psychological realism" of the film gives it a surreal feel. Each character, including background characters, are animated in a way to show more about the person, or the psychological mind set of each character if you will.

I enjoyed this film due to its distinct style and the serious content. The animation helped add to the content and transitions in the film. The "psychological realism" helped add to the expressions of the characters and let the viewer see more of each characters persona. Ryan Larkins animated shorts that he was famous for were also incorporated into the film as they talked about them so you could see his work and relate to the character more. Seeing works that were over 30 years old with Landreths' animation style was an interesting contrast but somehow worked in the film.

links for more information:
http://www.onf-nfb.gc.ca/eng/collection/film/?id=51259
http://growabrain.typepad.com/growabrain/2005/02/chris_landreths.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_%28film%29

Boags beer Commercial

Boags “Pure Waters” http://www.boags.com.au/
Director: Steve Rodgers
Production: Revolver Films
VFX: Fin Design & Effects www.findesign.com.au

This video was by far my favorite. It’s for Boags Drought a beer company in Tasmania. Overall it was an excellent idea that grabbed your attention and made you watch closely. While watching this you are just intent on seeing every little detail and it’s very comical.

The idea behind it is, there is a river that changes things when they are touched by its water. It doesn’t make things worse, they are usually better but can be a little different. An example is a guy rides his bike into it and when he comes out he is on a motorcycle. But its really the funny things that make it great, like the guy that pushes his girlfriend into it, you don’t get to see results but its still funny. In the end a guy walks out with empty bottles and comes back with boags beer.

I’m sure when they were creating this they wanted to grab your attention and make you laugh. But the main point was to show you the water that they use to make the beer showing you how pure and special it is. Based on the video I would know like to try there beer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94syGYcdGcU

Gaëlle Denis’ City Paradise

City Paradise

Produced by: Channel 4 and Passion Pictures (2004)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJvknKWHJ8E

This is a film about a young Japanese girl who moves to London. She’s a stranger in her own new apartment until she discovers her own “world” where she’s finally comfortable. Part 3D animation and super imposed-,like video, this film has an “Alice in Wonderland” meets “Cirque Du Soleil” feel to it.

http://gaelledenis.com/work/city-paradise/

http://www.directorsnotes.com/2006/07/07/city-paradise-gaelle-denis/ This is a great website that gives further information as to how this film was created using Photoshop, shooting against a blue screen, and 3D animation. One of the technical challenges of this film was combining the live action shots with the pre-created backgrounds and textures.

Apparently, this film is adapted from the filmmaker’s own personal experience after moving to London and I think she’s trying to convey the message of “home is where the heart is”. The Japanese girl is alone in her new apartment, bored, and seemingly lonely. After venturing out, and finding a place to go diving she discovers her own happy little world and is content.

Impressions: In the three films I had to choose from, I picked this one because it wasn’t a cartoon. Granted, it has animated properties – but it wasn’t the Simpsons. I enjoyed the music, the costumes and the dark appearance of the film. The character’s voices were also really interesting: Although you could understand them, it wasn’t like you really needed to. The verbal exchanges were interesting, but not necessary to understand the meaning of the film. I liked the mix of the live action shots and the 3D animation, and the music seems like it was written specifically for the film.




"Clear Skies in May"
Director Tetsuo Suzuka, Feb, 2009

This is a movie showing 2d animation. At first you find yourself looking at a magazine. As the pages unfold, you are entered into a world of moving 2d animation. Once inside the pages, you are shown hand drawn birds that take flight and the Japanese countryside in May. This gives you the sense that you have entered the magazine and are now in Kyoto Japan.

This was a video that Tetsuo Suzuka wanted to use to pay tribute to calligraphy, haiku, kabuki dress, and traditional ink painting. The influences for this project came from their 10 years in Kyoto. I couldn't find anything else about this director on the web. However, I did find the YouTube video posted and this pointed me to the "idN Magazine" which is an international magazine for creative people all over the world.

What caught my attention in this short was the Japanese ink painting of the woman initially. I really liked the whole introduction where the movie opened from a magazine and even played on the pages. Almost as if the magazine was brought to life.

Audi commercial

AUDI car commercial-Emma Oomittuk
One film I watched was a commercial for AUDI cars, it showed all these dancers working together on an intricate dance routine and show hoe there dance routine relates to how a cars parts work together. I really liked they way that they didn't let you know what the commercial was until the end it kept you hanging wondering what it would be for. I think the main thing they are trying to convey is that the parts to there cars all work together like the way the dancers did and they work together in a way that makes them look good. The way it was put together makes it look like the spent a lot of time coming up whit the idea and how to relate the dancers to the cars. They found experts who made the dance look flawless and did a good job filming them.

Hasta Los Huesos - A short film

Short Film: Hasta los Huesos
Directed by : René Castillo
2001, Mexico
Calavera Films/ IMCINE/Roberto Rochin
Awards: Fipresci Prize - Annecy International Animated Film Festival
Best First Film - Ottawa International Animation Festival




A man dies and then experiences a very culturally Latin themed afterlife.
With what looks like mostly claymation style effects and use of very bright festive colors it is very reminiscent of the Day of the Dead festivities in Mexico where the director is from. I can't help but think of this short film as being a Hispanic cousin of Wallace and Gromit. It also has to be a precursor to the American Corpse Bride(2005) if not a direct rip-off.




Hasta los Huesos at IMDB
A blog review of the short film
A list of René Castillo's filmography

Short Film - Aunt Luisa - KnepperJ

Title: Aunt Luisa
Production: Blur Studio, www.blur.com
Story: Tim Miller
Direction: Paul Taylor, Tim Miller
Producer: Sherry Wallace
Concept Design: Chuck Wojtkiewcz
Animators: Marlon Nowe, Bryan Hillestad
Music: Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadian Orchestra

This short film starts with an old woman in curlers and nightgown sleeping on a chair with a cup of scotch in her hand. The narrator tells about his Aunt Luisa who a year ago started hearing Guy Lombardo music non-stop. He tells the story as Aunt Luisa searches for the source of the music throughout her house. She looks under beds, behind chairs in closets etc… She also set traps with milk and cookies trying to catch them. In the end she gives up and listens to the music except it drives her crazy because they only play one song.

This film was produced in 2002 and done in 3D animation by Blur Studio.

Blur Studio is based out of Venice, CA. It was founded in 1995 and they do animation for high-end clients such as, ABC, Disney, Universal Pictures, NBC, CBS, Microsoft, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Sega, Sonic Team, Nintendo, Activision, Crytek, Nickelodeon, NFL on Fox, and THQ, and others.

Blur has done work on such productions as, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Tomb Raider Underworld, Transformers: The Game and many more.

I enjoyed this film because it had no real meaning and was just kind of “quirky”. I also liked the 3D animation. The only message I could derive from it was that sometimes you just have to sit back and enjoy the situation and not try to find the source.

Youtube


Commercial For Guinness

Source: Stash 39.06
Guinness "Tipping Point"
TVC:90
Agency: AMV BBDO
Director: Nicolai Fuglsig
Production: MUZ
VFX: The Mill
Using: Houdini, Flame

Filmed over 5 days in an Argentine village with 8 months of post production at The Mill. It's sported as the most expensive Guinness ad ever. I couldn't imagine this being done without visual effects. It's a very fun and playful advertisement. I general though I think they're trying to express is the great quality of their product. Having an entire South American village involved with the making of a dominos oriented Guinness ad is almost as ridiculous and playful as the concept of the ad itself. With the end tagline of , "Good things come to those who wait".





Stash DVD magazine
AMV BBDO- the advertising company
The Mill- the VFX company
The most expensive Guinness ad ever - a review

Tammi's ResFest Video Pic: Vision Point


The Best of Resfest Volume 1


“Vision Point” copyright 1999 SXA

Director: Stephen X. Arthur


This short film is impressive because, had I not searched for more information about it I wouldn’t have known it was pieced together solely by still photo animation. It was shot with a Pentax which is known for taking brilliant pictures. The landscape seems to ‘dance’ in front of your eyes while the whole time it is still.


Stephen X. Arthur describes how he wanted this short to effect his audience by saying that they would 'become an integral part of the landscape in the act of creating a perception of it.' I believe his technique may have been to let the audience walk away with only their thoughts and to not influence them with words of his own during the film. It is hard to describe, but if you were to stare at an object with one eye open and the other closed and were constantly switching which one you were looking through, the effect might be similar.


This film stood out to me because of its simplicity and meaning in the design world. It gives perspective in its most pure form, which is one of the hardest things to convey.


There was no video available online, but you can check out the DVD in the library. “The Best of Resfest. Vol. 1”

Stephen X. Arthur Works Page: Vision Point

Short Film The Monk and the Fish

Short Film from non-Stash
"The Monk and the Fish"
Directed by Michaël Dudok De Wit
Released in 1994



This movie starts off with a monk near a watering hole. The monk discovers a fish and soon after starts to try to capture it. The monk spend most the movie trying different ways to capture this fish. In the end he starts to swim after it. This leads to a long chase and finally he accepts his inability to catch the fish. The fish and him come together in the end and float away peacefully.

I was able to find the Wikipedia page on this movie here

I think the film maker was trying to show how we spend soo much time and engery chasing after things we want. In the end if we stop chasing them, we will receive everything we are after. It seems as if the director was trying to show harmony in the end when the monk and the fish floated away together.
This film stood out to me, mainly because I had recognized the name. I had heard the name, but didn’t really know anything about the movie. I also saw that it was nominated for an academy award on the box.

Carlton Natural Blonde

Stash 57 DVD Magazine

57.03 – Carlton Natural Blonde “Taste”

Agency: Clemenger BBDO

Director: Christopher Riggert

VFX: Animal Logic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG3gQ_I1L3E

This film is an advertisement for an “all natural beer”. “All around the world people are asking: What’s that taste in my mouth?” - From the announcer, a ditzy blonde to an average Joe, this commercial entices you experience for yourself what this beer is really all about. Instead of using a “natural” setting to convey the message that they don’t use artificial products, everything is very futuristic – or as they say, “The beer of tomorrow, brewed in time for today.”

http://www.animallogic.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Logic

The filmmaker is trying to sell a product, targeted at men in particular – using an attractive woman, humor, and visual effects. Something that can appeal to hot chicks and unattractive guys alike!

Impressions: I enjoyed watching this commercial as it reminded me of one of those funny Super Bowl ads that catch your attention. I chose this film because I could easily describe what it was about, what they were pitching, and to whom. Many of the Stash films that I had to choose from were difficult to figure out – although very catchy, artistic and interesting to watch, I can’t say that writing about it would have been much fun. This film was not only fun to watch, but fun to research and write about as well.

Tammi's Stash Video Pic: Samara's Story

Newsround “The Wrong Trainers- Samara’s Story” Documentary segment

Agency:

CBBC


Director:

Layla Atkinson

Animation:

Trunk
www.trunk.me.uk



For CBBC:

Producer: Kez Margerie

For Trunk

Director/animator: Layla Atkinson
Producer: Richard Barnett






This film was originally made to highlight child poverty in the UK and was shown on BBC’s news show for children.
It is centered around Samara, a little girl with one leg shorter than the other. She is a real life girl who tells the story of herself and her brothers and sisters who all have cerebral palsy.
It is all animation and very childlike as if Samara herself could have been making the drawings.
The message is that 84% of families of children with disabilities are in debt. Things that are necessary for children with disabilities used to be provided by the government but no longer are.

For me, this video stood out amongst the rest because it hits close to home. I can relate with the both the children and the mother who have very difficult roles. I think the technique that the director used in making it almost like a children’s cartoon has simplified the message and really captured the voice of the group being represented. Also, it was a very wise choice to use the little girl’s own voice and words for the message because it forces the viewer to sympathize and relate to this little girl.

Falling in love

Falling in love again-Emma Oomittuk

A short animation that is based off a love song titled "falling in love". I liked the way that they showed two people falling form the sky, it made me thing that there scared to fall both form the sky and to fall in love but in the end they have each other so there okay. The background music and the animations went together perfectly, I found it creative and I loved they way they used the animation to make the characters seem as if they were falling. Although he concept was simple and there wasn't much varying in the scenes i enjoyed it a lot. This animation was a very interesting with some insightful views on love and the cliche 'falling in love'.

A Gentleman's Duel 2006
A short 3d animated film written and directed by Sean McNally, and Francisco Ruiz Velasco.

Produced by Blur studio who's extensive list of credits including special effects in the movies, Avatar, The mask 3d, and the Southpark, Bigger Longer, Uncut as well the video games Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and Sonic the hedgehog.

Francisco Ruiz Velasco worked as a conceptual designer on Hellboy II: The golden army and is currently working on the upcoming film The Hobit: Part 1. But when he made this film he used an alternate name dropping the Velasco as noted on this IMDB webpage

Sean McNally has been a concept artist for the James Cameron film Aliens of the Deep and other Blur Studios shorts In the Rough, and Rockfish.

In a gentelmans duel a 19th century tea party for two gets complicated when another man crashes the date. Comedy ensues as tension rises over the affections of the lady of the house. Then the gentlemen duel in giant steam powered robots. They nearly kill the lady as they go about destroying her garden with the steampunk styled robots belching large clouds as they battle. A Gentleman's Duel is probably not for children due to sexual humor and suggestive scenes.

Stash Video - Mitsubishi Lancer "Safer"-KnepperJ

Title: Mitsubishi Lancer “safer”
Client: Sony Tropfest, Mitsubishi
Directors: James Calvert, Eddie White
Animation: The Peoples Republic of Animation (PRA)
Created: 2008

This is an animated advertisement to express that the Lancer is a safe car. A young boy in a tiger costume is riding in the back seat of the Lancer, his mom is driving. He is looking at a pop-up book when they drive into a dark forest. There are monsters popping out of the dark woods as the car drives through. The boy looks out the window and then breaths on it creating condensation. He then draws the Lancer emblem in the condensation and seeing. Then as the monsters see the emblem on the front of the car they flee as the car comes towards them. The car then leaves the dark woods with the little boy asleep in the back seat. Then the words “Lancer, Safer in a Wild World” come up on the screen.

There are a couple of different styles of animation used. The car is 3D, the boy & mom and some of the scenes outside are 2D and some of the monsters were done in cutout animation.

Youtube


The founders, James Calvert, Eddie White & Hugh Nguyen, of The Peoples Republic of Animation (PRA) began making films in 1998 when they were 14 years old. Based in Australia, PRA was officially formed in 2003. They have since won numerous awards for their animation shorts.

The film makers in this one are trying to express that you family will be safe if you are driving a Lancer.

I liked this film for one the little boy was just to darn cute and the animation I thought was vibrant even in the dark woods. As a parent I like anything that depicts kids being safe. Also the use of the different styles of animation worked really well together.

Fallen short film review

Description

This short film is only just under four minutes long. It is called "Fallen" and is about a meteorite that comes to life. The short film follows his path from outer space to the ocean. As soon as he hits the atmosphere he comes to life. At first he seems to be in awe and then he seems to be trying to figure things out. After he has been falling awhile he sees the ocean below him and becomes afraid. He tries to stop falling and climb back up, but of course fails. After he falls some more he starts to get used to it and starts to enjoy it.

Once he starts to enjoy it he starts flying around clouds, going in spirals and diving strait down. As he gets closer to the ocean he seems to know that it is about to end and seems to be at peace with it. He eventually hits the ocean and stops moving as the water cools him. I can only assume that it is the end of him because he is no longer able to move.

It is fun and interesting to see him experience falling down, going from being in awe, to afraid, to happy, to being at peace with hitting the ocean. I think the authors did a great job of showing all of the emotions the creature was going through.

Additional Information

Title: Fallen
DVD: Stash 48
Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9gSz5oXFrY
Year: 2007
Length: 3:40
Website: http://animation3.de/
Directors: Wolfram Kampffmeyer and Sascha Geddert

Astronauts short film review

Description

This short film is just over eight minutes. The short film is about two astronauts who are stuck together in a small space craft. A little after the short film starts a big red button with text underneath that says do not press is shown. Of course one of the two astronauts presses the button. It turns out that the button was to eject one of the two oxygen tanks. The second astronaut was in another room and walked in just in time to see the oxygen tank floating in space. The first astronaut decided to play dumb and not say anything about the red button and covered it up with a magazine.

It cuts to a new seen where we seem them looking at the book "Space Etiquette". It says that it is polite for members of the crew to leave the vessel so that other crew members may live. The one that pressed the button ends up leaving the space craft. After awhile the second astronaut puts his feet up and hits the red button ejecting the second oxygen tank.

If you would like to see how it all unfolds you can watch the video at the provided link bellow, or download it from the other link provided. The version on YouTube is higher quality though so I would recommend that version.

Additional Information

Title: Astronauts
DVD: The animation Shows of Shows Volume 2
Download: ftp://ftp.futurenet.co.uk/pub/3dworld/AstronautsSML.zip
Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYxr6nhqtfk
Year: 2005
Length: 8:23
Website: http://www.matthewwalkerswebsite.com/astronauts.html
Author: Matthew Walker