Silico's Ramblings

Easter Weekender Essential Listening Blog!

2012-03-28T22:39:00.002-07:00

So, 7 Days out from The Easter Weekender Tour here is my Promised Essential listening blog to keep you all moving till the big night!!Deet's of the Big night!

BASS MUSIC ✔ DUBSTEP ✔ DRUM N' BASS ✔ BEATBOX ✔ MOOMBAHTON

♦ TC (UK) ♦ SKISM (UK) ♦ WILKINSON (UK) ♦ ROKSONIX (UK) ♦ JENNA G (UK) ♦ ZOMBOY (UK) ♦ REEPS ONE (UK) ♦ MOBSCENE (UK) ♦ MC TALI ♦

Get tickets from: Lunatix Facebook Page OR www.easterweekender.com - My Special Discount code for you Wellington Heads - WEL51.

Starting off With Wilkinson
Ram Records

Brand Spanking New - Professor Green - Remedy (Ft. Ruth Anne) (Wilkinson Remix) - Forthcoming off the Remedy Remixes package due out on the 14th of May. This is brand new banger from the boy himself! Expect this to be making the Dance floor move.

Wilkinson - Every Time - One of my favorite tunes this year! Featured in many of my personal play list's and mixes. This will be a tune to shake it too on the night!

Wilkinson - Hypnosis - One of the best tunes by the Man himself. Keep an ear out for this one. Makes the spine tingle every time.

Chase & Status - Time (Ft. Delilah) (Wilkinson Remix) - A mighty fine remix of a HUGE tune from Chase and Status. One to sing a long to!

Next up...... TC
Dont Play/D-Style Records

Camo & Krooked feat TC - Make The Call - Drum and Bass Mix - TC on the Track with the Might Camo and Krooked! What a combo this proved to be! Heavy heavy tunes!

TC - Tap Ho - One of my favorite tunes, such a unique sound. Remember Sigma dropping this and losing my shit. Check the 140bpm VIP he made on his soundcloud! Yesir! Lighters up to this.

TC - Where's My Money? - Made even more Famous by the Caspa REMIX, yes Remix. An iconic sound in the world of Bass music (Watch out for Reeps One Replicating this)

Maverick Sabre - No One (TC Remix) - An amazing remix of a tune that's been on repeat for days! Check it out.

Next... SKISM
Never Say Die Records

Skism - Rave Review - Brilliantly made Track! using samples from Henry Rollin's - Who is coincidentally doing a New Zealand tour the Week after - Coming back for his Yearly tour Skism is the heavyweight on the Scene, big set from his last year. I hear Insider rumors that something SICK is happening on this tour. Check it. Count the CDJ's

Exsision - SKiSM - Sexism - Massive Collab makes me lose my shit when it's dropped. Make sure you're ready for a mosh when this get's heavy.

Porter Robinson - The State (SKiSM Remix) - I can say nothing for this tune, it has to be experienced.

Check Check Check Ittttt... Roksonixxx!
Circus Records

One of the tour highlights for myself is the Gent's from Circus Records!
Maverick Sabre - Let Me Go (Roksonix Remix) - Another Maverick Sabre Remix, this guy just has a voice for Bass music! Check the Badman Remix by the boys!

Roksonix - Music In Me - What a track! Some sick vocals, sick bass lines Defiantly one to be dancing to! And if you're not i will find you.

Roksonix - Skank Tank - One of their original beat's, still never get's old. Still makes the Dance floor Vibrate! Check Check.

Dot Rotten - Are You Not Entertained? (Roksonix Remix) - Personal Favorite from the Boys. Have had this feature on my playlist's since i first heard this tune. Hope this is dropped, my shit will be lost.

Next Up... Zomboy
Never Say Die Records

Zomboy - Organ Donor - This goes off whenever dropped. Keep your shit locked for an Epic drop, then go Off when it comes! This drop Made my 21st! Big things

Zomboy - Pirate Hooker - A very aptly named track, yet another badman beat.

Zomboy - Game Time - Another track that just has to be experienced to be believed

Mobscene
Never Say Die Records

I can't lie, not heard much by these gent's but what i have heard has been Killer, I actually struggled to find anything to bring you, but watch this space! It will come

Jenna G
Hospital Records/MetalHeadz

Netsky Feat. Jenna G - Moving With You - What a track to be featured on, Jenna G + The hottest thing to come out Belgium since i left my Holiday there = A track to take you away! Singalongyo!

Doctor P - Neon (Feat. Jenna G) - She has Collaborated with some BIG names, Here is another for you, coming along with Doctor P and providing some sick vocals for the track! Bigup!

SIGMA - Baltimore (Feat. Jenna G) - Keeping up with the Massive Collaboration's here is one with the Boys who Tore Wellington apart on their Taster tour! Check it.

Jenna G - In Love - Suggested by the sneaky darkie in the comment's who wont reveal who they are.

Reeps One - 2x Beat Box Champion!

Reeps One - The Beginning - Expect the man himself to be providing entertainment throughout
the night as well as some of his own special music!

Reeps One - Heavy Heavy stuff! Check it out!

Last but not least the Queen of the Mic - MC Tali
Reprazent

MC Tali & Roni Size - MC Tali & Roni Size - High Hopes (All Over Now) - My Experiences of Tali have mostly only been live, but what i have heard of her Recorded stuff is just as good!

Dirtyphonics - The Secret (Feat. Tali) - Huge Collaboration here. Check it out.

This is an event i can't wait for! It's going to be something special yo. All these Big names in one night? Ohhyes please. What a way to Follow up Sigma as a taster event??!

Remember Find me - @SilicoJack One Twitter - DJ Silico On Soundloud - and Jack D. Adams on Facebook!
Chur

Easter Weekend is Bought you by those fine Folks at Lunatix

Wellington Event
Auckland Event
Christchurch Event
Dunedin Event

2012, A New Year, a New Essential Listening post.

2012-02-13T00:59:00.000-08:00

So it's been a wee while since i was active on here, with summer and what not i have a new load of fresh tunes to fire your way. It will once again range in Genre.

Without further Ado i give to you, My Summer 2012 Essential Listening blog.

New Zealand Shapeshifter - Sleepless (B-Complex Remix) - Coming off the System is a Remix album released last year on Hospital, B Complex has taken this track and done what i never thought possible. Improved a Shapeshifter song. his is a great relaxing mellow track, great for summer days with a beer.

High Contrast - The Agony And The Ecstasy feat Selah Corbin - OUT NOW on Hospital Records! Link to buy under the description in the Youtube link. Coming off his new album (Of the same name) High contrast has released a banger. Having climbed it's way up my Playlist ranking's after only a few day's on there this is bound to make anyone's feet move. Definite club banger!

One Click Headshot - Feed Me - Fresh Release from Feed Me! Coming off his Escape to Electric Mountain EP, this is another Club banger! With some wicked samples this is sure to crack a smile to anyone's face. I can see this Tune featuring heavily in my upcoming set's.

The Tides Have Turned - Ollie Bassweight & Timmy P MC - A HUGE track from Two very talented local boys. I have been pushing this track for a while! With Ollie being one of the Country's best Producers and Timmy P being a very talented MC, this track has it all, sweet vocals and some very tasty Basslines. Wellington Talent at it's finest.

Camo & Krooked - Cross The Line feat Ayah Marar - A massive track! Very uplifting, the Austrian due Recently smashed my Eardrums with their set in Wellington. Such a good night, they energy behind the deck's is inspiring. With this Track coming off their second album - Cross The Line - On Hospital Records (I am sensing a Trend Here) This is just one of the Massive Tracks.
Also, if anyone has Ayah Marar's Phone number, i will do anything to borrow it for a quick chat. She doesn't know it yet, but she is going to be the Next Mrs. Jack Adams.

Avicii - Levels - Right, i don't think my summer would have been the same without this track! It got played, it got played a lot. Hell Even mainstream radio couldn't ruin this track for me. If you haven't heard this tune i would be heavily surprised. With the Vocals of the Late Etta James (RIP) and the production of Avicii this track blows everything away. Much love for this Tune!

Danny Byrd - B.R.I.S.T.O.L ft MC Risky - Wow, okay so i am sorry for the Overload of Hospital tracks, but they're mostly a think of beauty. This is no exception, a very very good track for the Byrd, Who killed it at Rhythm and Vines!

Cut Copy - Lights & Music - I must admit i knew very little about these guys until Rhythm announced their presence, i Youtubed them and have been digging their music since. Very good live! Give them a quick watch! You won't regret t.

Six60 - Don't forget your Roots - Another new Zealand track! Perfect for those summer beers! Granted we may have not had a lot in the way of Sunshine recently, but doesn't think just make you wish we had more of it?

12th Planet - 28 Hours Later - Hot of the American Dubstep scene i had only heard a few tracks by this guy! That was until i saw him Back2Back with Borgore at BW Campgrounds, That was easily the best 2 hours of my time there, some HEAVY Tracks by this guy. Check them.

Mac Miller - Donald Trump - Some Pretty uplifting Hip-Hop here, coming straight out of Philly this track is pretty legit, it will get a Dance floor pumped up and ready to go (Well i hope). One of Hip-Hop's finest new acts.

Diabolic feat. Immortal Technique - Frontlines - Political Hip-Hop with a brilliant underlying message. Found this track after listening to some IT and agreeing with some of the messages he Rap's about, His Album Martyr is very worth a Listen.

Blink 182 - I Miss You - Holy Shit! I haven't heard this Track in A long time! Stumbled across it while Linking some of the other song's in this. Almost a Decade old now but still one of the Tracks that many can Jam to. Uplifting shit right here guys! Check it.

M'Black - Heartbreak (Bare Noize Remix) - Another Brilliant Dubstep producer to have violated my Eardrums already this year! Supported by the Local and Talented Timmy P this night was Off the Hook! Some solid tune's been released! Planet Earth (EP/Album) is very much worth a Whirl.

TC - Where's My Money - BOOM, as Part of the Lunatix promotion team i am gonig to Throw in a promotion for this dude! If you haven't got a ticket for one of the Shows Click Here. Easter Weekender Is also Featuring - Wilkinson - Zomboy - Skism - Reeps One - Roksonix - Jenna G - MC Tali And many More. Will be doing a Essential listening Easter Weekender Special VERY SOON.

All American Reject's - Dirty Little Secret - And Finally, One of my all time favorite songs! It really just speaks for itself.

As always, if you think i have missed something, feel free to comment.

That Round's up This Edition of Essential Listening. I will be back With My Easter Weekender Promotion special. In The mean time you can find me In Various Places - The Drum & Bass/Dubstep Facebook Group!- Find Me On Soundcloud - Hit Me Up On Facebook -Follow Me On Twitter - And for other tracks hit up the other Essential Listening blogs.

National Cinema - Film 101 Assignment #3

2011-11-27T17:58:00.000-08:00

National Cinema is difficult to define, but can be read in may ways in a text, it can be read in the way a Film is produced, with the director, actors, producers and language all being a contributing force. However, when these things are used together all with once major national influence it becomes apparent as to what is national cinema and what is not. Using the examples of Volver, The Orphanage and Pans Labryinth this will be shown. There are many types of national cimena and they all influence each other, with Hollywood influencing and the most dominant of them all.

National Cinema is, according to many, hard to define, however it is predominately used to define the movies and cinema produced by a single country (O'Regan) & (Triana-Toribio). The most widely known and easily recognizable examples of National cinema are Hollywood and India’s Bollywood. While it can be argued that Hollywood Cinema is not directly America’s national cinema it is a major contributor to all other forms of National Cinema, with many trying to replicate it. National cinema’s by replicating the way Hollywood Cinema is created try and fight the success it has on their market, by creating a piece of Cinema in a country that replicates Hollywood it streams the revenue back into the Nation and not into the large companies that produce Hollywood films.

A Domestic based or National cinema film-maker’s career will often be hinged on the success of getting their film into a Film festival like Sundance, Cannes or the other major international Film Festivals while also gaining entry into the Film festivals based in their own nation. For instance, a New Zealand Director may try to get his movie into the New Zealand Film Festival, while also trying to get it into Cannes or Sundance. The New Zealand Movie ‘Boy’, which was written and directed by Taika Waititi, and funded by the New Zealand Film commission, had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and another release at the Berlin Film Festival, there were both before its eventual theatrical release in New Zealand. What this shows is that the director’s aim was not only to have the film shown on a National level, but an international level. So while it can be argued that ‘Boy’ is an example of New Zealand national cinema, it has also been aimed for international release.

To gain commercial success, and also to break the international market, film makers will often outsource some of the production and acting responsibilities to foreigners, as this often helps them crack the international market and gain overseas distribution deals, big names will often pull bigger crowds (Pavlovic, Inmaculada and Blanc). This has happened with Spanish cinema, with movies like, The Others, and The machinist all staring big names, but remaining Spanish in origin. This idea can be translated into movies like Vantage Point and The Boy Who Stole a Million which are example’s of Films that have a Spanish setting but are a product of foreign cinema, with Vantage Point being an American production and The Boy Who Stole a Million being a British production. Having big budget movies filmed on location, is good for tourism but can also create the illusion that the film is National Cinema, when it is only a product of ‘location filming’. Over the years these movies and other co-productions have added to the outside influence on Spanish cinema (Triana-Toribio). Hollywood and other film industries looks to film on location because it presents a more authentic feel then a sound stage or creating a set does.

Volver is a 2006 Spanish film directed by Spaniard Pedro Almodovar. It was Co-produced by Pedro’s brother Agustin and another Spanish producer Esther Garcia, who had previously funded Pedro’s films. While he was filming Volver, Pedro kept a short diary as to what the movie was about, in an attempt to explain its origin, he explains how it is about death, but not just death itself, it also is about the culture surrounding death in the area where he grew up (Almodóvar). It also brings up the topic of Sex abuse, and how the character, Paula, finally dealt with the struggle that it caused her when the character of Paco, tried to rape her, which then resulted in his death while she is defending herself. Towards the conclusion of the film, the protaganist, Raimunda, played by Penelope Cruz, also finds out that Paula is not only her Daughter, but also sister, due to her fathers sexual abuse on her. This film deals with many issues facing families. Pedro cited his upbringing as a major influence on his ideas for this Film, with many of the Characters and plot segments based loosely on parts of his childhood surroundings. This reference to his childhood helps to create a more authentic feel to the movie, as he is drawing from experiance, but is not re-creating it.

Volver can be seen as an example of national cinema because in a few different ways. Firstly, the setting, it is set in the La Mancha region of Spain, just south of Madrid, which is also the birthplace of the Films director. Another reason is the production; the director, Pedro Almodovar, the producers, Agustin Almodovar, Esther Garcia and Toni Novella are all Spanish, The music was scored originally by Alberto Iglesias, and the editing, casting, cinematography were Spaniards. Another example is the title of the film its self, Volver, which is Spanish for ‘Return’ or ‘To come back’, is a theme in the film, the characters begin by returning to a village in memory of the mother who died in a house fire years previously. This mother then later, through a series of events, returns to reveal that she was never in fact diseased. Finally, the language, the main language of the film is Spanish. All these things are examples then when used together show that Volver is an example of Spanish National cinema and not a product of Hollywood or any other national cinema made to look Spanish.

The Orphanage (2007) is the debut film of Spanish film maker Jaun Antionio Bayona, and was written eleven years previously by Sergio Sanchez. It is a Spanish/Mexican co-production but it has a primary Spanish influence, with its Director, writer, actors and language being Spanish. The Orphanage once again deals with death as a revoling theme, the dissaperance and eventual death of the character Simon, the search by and eventual death of Laura, as well as dealing with the deaths of Thomas and the other orphans. Another theme is also childhood, with the movie revolving around a game created by Simon and the ghost, or memory, or Thomas. These two main themes eventually mix, with the Game leading to the discovery of the deseased orphans in the furnace.

We can read The Orphanage as an example of spanish national cinema because of the heavy Spanish influence. The three main actors in the film are Spanish, giving the film a feel and look of a Spanish production, the effect of doing this familiarizes the viewer with the nation, it clearly identifies the protagonist’s as Spanish as they look more natural and the accents are natural. Also the setting of this movie was set in the Asturias region of Spain, as Bayona felt that this gave the best representation of his vision of Spain and how well it would work for the film (New Line Cinema). However, there were certain restrictions to this area, aspects of filming that Bayona wanted to achieve could not be achieved in the house its self so filming of these took place in sound stages in Barcelona. Jaun Antionio took inspiration from other Spanish films La residencia and The Innocents and showed both to the Director of Photography, as he wanted to re-create or imitate the scope lensing used in these films (New Line Cinema). However, the producers behind it, including Guillermo Del Toro, are a mix of Spaniards and Mexican’s, which can lead to questions about the films nationality, however, the primary reason for turning to the Mexican producers was to double the budget and the filming duration, as to create the movie how the directer wanted.

El laberinto del fauno (2006), the Spanish title of the Mexican/Spanish co-production ‘Pans Labyrinth’ is an example at how a film can be a co-production with a setting in a country different to that of it’s production unit. Written, directed and produced by Mexican, Guillermo del Toro, Pans Labyrinth is set 5 years after the Spanish civil war (1944) and follows one girl, Ofelia’s, travels into a mystical world with the aid of a Faun, who helps her challenge her identity as human and get released into the mystical world as Princess Moanna. This film can be read as a product of Spanish national cinema because of its setting, 1940’s war torn Spain, its language, Spanish, and its primary actors, with the exception of one, being of Spanish origin. However, its producers range from Spanish and Mexican origin, leading to question as to what National cinema this film represents. The Music production was also created and Scored by Javier Navarrete, who originates from the Spanish region of Teruel. However the Cinematography and editing was done by Mexicans. This Once again calls into question the nationality of the film.

In both The Orphanage and Pans Labyrinth there is continued used of blue, the use of this, at times, highlights the sadness of the characters. All three movies highly feature Children, and also death as themes. While these things are not unique to Spanish cinema, with film makers from all over the world using them, they are useful in these films to help portray the message of the film across to the viewer.By seeing this color it helps veiwers to come to terms with what they are seeing on the screen, as they are seeing a familiar color in a time of emotion. When mixed with other cinematography techniques and the films score it can create a representation to the viewer of their own country (Insdorf). As in Volver, the soundtrack for the Orphanage was composed and scored by a Spanish man, Fernando Velazquez. This is another way we can read this text as a product of Spanish national cinema. Having a person of Spanish origin score the movie allowed for a more personalized background for the movie, in doing this the composer can use unique sounds that would be relevant for Spanish viewers in turn representing their own country back to them. Part of how we can view a film as national cinema is the way it is created for example, the production unit behind it.

The differences in nationality of the production unit involved in creating a film doesn’t nessacarialy show that the film is a product of that national cinema. As the term national cinema is hard to define, it is open to interpretation. Movies like Pans Labyrinth which is a co-production between two nations, but is so heavily set in and features one particular nation, can be perceived as national cinema. Movies like Volver, which is not a co-production can be percived to be Spanish national cinema because of the heavy involvement of Spain, in setting, directing, casting, acting and language. Movies that clearly are not Spanish national cinema but still have a spanish influence in some respect, for example Vantage Point and The Boy Who Stole a Million, are examples of big budget corporations taking advantage of the pituresque Spanish area.

All three of these movies first premiered at Film festivals, Pans Labyrinth at the 2006 Cannes film festival Volver also premiered at this festival, and won two awards, One for best screenplay, and the other for best actress. The Orphanage opened a year later at Cannes in 2007, where it received a 10 minute standing ovation (thinkSPAIN). However, their Spanish Debut’s came later, with Pan’s Labyrinth being released in October of 2006, Volver’s premier being in March 2006 in Puertollano, where it was filmed. The Orphanage opened the Sitges Film Festival, and had its Spanish release in October of 2007. Together the box office receipts from these movies total $245,155,439 (USD) (Box office Mojo), with $57,037,080 (USD) being domestic. What this shows is that through these movies Spanish cinema is starting to crack the international market, while there is still the art house productions for the Spanish audiences, more and more productions are being created with the international viewership in mind.

With these major influences from outside markets and the Spanish influence on outside markets, some actors, actresses, directors and other players in Spanish cinema have gained international recognition. Such actors being Antonio Banderas, who had previously worked on a number of Spanish productions, including many with Pedro Almodovar, before gaining international success in American blockbusters. Penelope Cruz is another example, having worked on numerous Spanish productions before international Success. Directors have become international stars thanks to their work on Spanish cinema, Pedro Almodovar has gained worldwide recognition for his Film making, as well as many of the pioneers of Spanish cinema, Segundo de Chomon and Luis Bunuel are other examples. This international success has also highlighted Spain as an attractive destination for American blockbusters and in part tourism, much like Lord of the Rings did for New Zealand. With many Big budget American movies being shot in Spain since the late 1960’s. Jaun Antonio Bayona’s movie, The Orphanage, which is currently undergoing a rewrite for an American remake, has stated that while a remake of his movie is an honour, Americans have money to produce and make anything they want, but, as with his own movie, they choose to mostly re-create successful movies (Sitges Film Festival).

Although the first Spanish films are argued, it is believed that they were released in 1897, two years after the first Spanish film exhibition, the early term for film festival, these movies were among the first of motion picture, but were still silent. Over the years Spain has created many great silent films, which reached international success. However, the Civil war in 1936 caused a divide in the way people viewed and thought about Spanish cinema, it began to contain heavy Political messages, either for or against Francisco Franco. However, by the 1950’s the emergence of neo-realism and co-productions with France and Italy revitalized the Spanish national cinema, and moved it away from the heavily political fuelled industry it had been since the outbreak of Civil war (Hopewell). However, it can be in turn argued that today’s National cinema in Spain isn’t solely of Spanish influence, the artistic outlook of the French and Italian cinema’s during the times of Co-production lead to many directors starting to use more artistic elements of cinematography. Also around this time, the emergence of big American financed productions in Spain began to arrive, leading to yet more influence on the Spanish cinema. However, with these productions came work, giving the local cinema industry workers to practice their skills and become better allowed them to then transfer their skills back to the national cinema.

National cinema can be shown in a text by the way it is presented and produced, if the production unit, acting base, music, language and setting are all of one nation it is much easier to determine what is national cinema, the example given, Volver, is evidence of this. This is also true for when there is a mixed base for the production unit but still hase a primary influence with all other aspects of the film, as in the example The Orphanage. It becomes more difficult to determine what is national cinema when the production unit is od a different nationiaity than that of the actors, setting, language and music as in Pans Labryinth. While the definition of national cinema is still difficult to define, the way it is shown in a text is much easier, which also makes spotting imitations, and location filming as not national cinema. The exapmle given, Spanish national cinema, as well as all other major national cinemas, is influenced by others, no one nation can simple say that their cinema is unique.

Bibliography

Almodóvar, Pedro. Pedro Almodóvar, Official Site. 1st January 2006. 25th October 2011 <http://www.clubcultura.com/clubcine/clubcineastas/almodovar/eng/diario01.htm>.

Anderson, B. “Introduction.” Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London & new York: Verso, 1983. 1-8.

Babington, B. “Introduction: The New Zealand Fiction Feature Film: History, Theory, Practice.” A History of the New Zealand Fiction Feature Film. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009. 1-12.

Box office Mojo. Foreign Language. 25th October 2011. 25th October 2011 <http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=foreign.htm>.

Hopewell, John. Out Of the Past: Spanish Cinema After Franco. London: BFI Books, 1986.

Insdorf, A. “Three Colors: White.” Double Life, Second Chances (1999): 153-164.

New Line Cinema. The Orphanage. 1st January 2007. 23rd October 2011 <http://newline.com/cm_downloads/pr/orphanagethe_productionnotes_1.pdf>.

O'Regan, T. “A National Cinema.” Australian National Cinema (1996): 45-76.

Pavlovic, Tatjana, Inmaculada Inmaculada and Rasana Blanc. 100 Years of Spanish Cinema. John Wiley and Sons Ltd: Blackwell, 2008.

Sitges Film Festival. J.A. Bayona: 'The important things are emotions, not awards' . 9th October 2008. 26th October 2011 <http://sitgesfilmfestival.com/eng/noticies/?id=1002893>.

thinkSPAIN. 'El Orfanato' left off Oscar shortlist . 16th January 2008. 26th October 2011 <http://www.thinkspain.com/news-spain/13815/el-orfanato-left-off-oscar-shortlist>.

Triana-Toribio, Nuria. Spanish National Cinema. London: Taylor Francis Ltd, 2002.

New Zealand History Paper.

2011-10-02T21:29:00.000-07:00

Nineteenth-century settlers were attracted to settle in New Zealand for many reasons. It’s resource pool that had remained untouched. It’s ability to provide a new start far from the reaches of Europe’s problems. Over the course of the Nineteenth-century there were many different types of settlers, the rich and the poor, the opportunists and the families they all came to New Zealand with the hopes of starting up a great New Country.

The first settlers to arrive in New Zealand were mostly whalers and sealers in the late 1790s. Settlers searching for flax and timber and wood came later towards the beginning of the 1800’s.[1] The majority of the timber that was produced in the early years of New Zealand settlement was being exported to Sydney. By 1839 a third of all males were involved in the timber trade, with the whalers and sealers moving on soon after coming to New Zealand as this was a seasonal trade. It was a common trend for the whalers to move on again until the mid-1820s when shore based whaling began. There were around 770 men employed in these whaling stations in 1843 with numbers in each reaching up to 80.[2]

Many of these settlers were men who came from whaling ships which they had either deserted or been discharged from there were also some convicts who had been given their tickets of leave or had been put there on purpose, these men arrived at the beginning of the nineteenth century. [3]It was because of this that early New Zealand became very popular with escaped or released convicts as well as ship deserters; it was not known how many of these men were in New Zealand however as they were constantly moving around trying to evade the law. Many sealing gangs, a prominent trade in early nineteenth century New Zealand were made up of these and ex-convicts.[4] Many of these convicts hailed from Australia; however they had been convicted and originally sent from parts or England and Ireland.[5]

One settler, Joel Polack, noticed that a lot of settlers from Western Australia were unsatisfied with the dry, arid landscape of Western Australia for New Zealand.[6] Many of these ‘unsatisfied’ arrivals came to set up in the newer colonies of Wellington or Nelson. This led to an attempt in the early nineteenth century to attract settlers directly from the United Kingdom, this led to the formation of the New Zealand company in London in 1825, the aim of this company was to attract British settlers to the Thames and Hokianga regions of New Zealand, however when the first batch of settlers arrived in 1826, they met fierce Maori opposition and the project was abandoned.[7]

In 1940, when New Zealand became part of the British Empire, these sealers, whalers and the slow but steady stream of arrivals, turned into waves of immigrants. By 1845, a steady stream of government officials, merchants and other independent arrivals had been joined by land purchasers and the re-vamped New Zealand Company and its affiliates. Many had decided to emigrate from Europe, mainly the United Kingdom because of uncertain economic times, with the “benefits of industrialisation to the mass of the people” still unknown. [8] While the farmers were the most sought after as their numbers were heavily outweighed by all other forms of industry, repeated attempts to lure them to New Zealand had only drew small numbers and while some did emigrate they were still heavily outnumbered.[9] In 1842, a number of around 350 immigrants hailing from the Paisley region of Scotland immigrated to New Zealand, upon arrival they made up a large section of the new settlement of ‘Auckland’ population.

The discovery of Copper in 1844 attracted immigrants from Southern Australia, who had emigrated there from the Cornish regions of England to mine the Copper for a fresh start from the overcrowded mining towns in these regions. [10] The copper was first discovered on Kawau Island, an island off the coast of Auckland. This copper mine also drew many miners straight from the United Kingdom directly, with its population swelling to around 300. It was these miners who opened and ran the Auckland copper mines until they ran into problems with the mines flooding and shipping. [11] Once the mines closed many of the Cornish miner’s moved onto the Manukau, Franklin and Raglan districts to open farms.[12]

Colonization of New Zealand was achieved by obtaining land from the local Maori or through the British crown then selling it onto the investors and speculators. This was largely done by the re-vamped ‘New Zealand Company’ in their “Systematic colonization” effort. [13] However, the company never stated that to buy land in New Zealand you had to have an intention on actually settling there, with many areas of land being sold to speculators who had no intention on settling.[14] However, due to reports of local Maori hostility and legal issues with the land the company later suspended its activities.[15] The Treaty of Waitangi rendered the New Zealand Company’s actions useless as it stated that Maori could no longer sell land to anyone aside from the British Crown.[16] Shortly after all its land sales were frozen and its previous sales were put under investigation. This freezing of land led to a shortage of land for the arrivals that were arriving by the boat load. However, these restrictions were slowly relaxed once an agreement that the Company bought land from the crown as a lower price and all transactions were given under the supervision of the crown. [17] The money that the government made from these sales was directed back into drawing migrants out to New Zealand.

The early settlement of Wellington was in the area of what it now the Hutt Valley, but due to constant flooding and a harbour area that was very shallow forcing ships to berth around 1500 meters out to sea the settlement was moved into what is now Thorndon.[18] However the settlers encountered problems with the local Maori in the Te Aro region, the land that they were surveying was owned and inhabited by the local tribes. It had been bought off them for use by the settlers at the price of items such as guns, iron pots, shark teeth and pencils.[19] Although it was soon discovered that this land had been sold by a young Chief who only owned a small proportion of the land as he wanted to assert dominance over the other local tribes, the remaining tribes had not been consulted or paid for their land and put up a fight when the settlers began to work the land in preparation for building and farming. [20] The Maori eventually received land, that was originally theirs, back but only equal to around one tenth of the size it had been and was integrated with the European settlers.

In order for the British crown to keep control over New Zealand it created the Treaty of Waitangi, which superseded the Declaration of Independence of New Zealand that was signed in 1835.[21] However, this document wasn’t received well by the crown and work began on drafting up a new document to counter it. On February 5^th copies of the treaty in both Maori and English were put forward for debate. With debate over it lasting many hours, some tribes came out in support and some were strongly against it. The treaty established a British rule over New Zealand and its native people the Maori. However the Maori translation read it differently and they believed that they had given right to sovereignty in return for protection. It was eventually signed by the Maori and English on the 6^th of February. The treaty also allowed Maori to sell their land directly to the Crown, allowing for more settlers to arrive in New Zealand. It was also hastily drafted and signed to avoid the French, who were attempting to settle as well, from doing the same.

New settlers left Europe, in search of a new life with better resources and a more plentiful land. They saw New Zealand as having these traits, as it was so far away from any other land mass it had been one of the last countries settled and thus it had remained untouched by civilization, and its resources had remained with only the local Maori utilizing them. At first the Maori were welcoming, however, the confusion over the Treaty of Waitangi and the subsequent disagreement as to what it meant caused the New Zealand Wars. A Group of Maori who was opposed to the sale of land to Settlers or the Crown began taking actions against those settlers and the Maori who gave up their land. This led to the crown protecting their citizens as the Maori had been declared citizens by the Treaty of Waitangi. This unease and tension went against the picturesque New Zealand that the settlers and the crown had been trying to achieve as a punishment land was seized from Maori. [22]

The departing expectations of the European settlers in the Nineteenth Century were that a new life could be started away from all the hassles of Europe. There was plenty of land to start their own farms and make some money from them. It was also seen by the early settlers as having a vast resource pool, for instance, the miners saw that there was plenty to be mined as the Maori were incapable of doing so. The whalers and sealers saw the opportunity to have a base in the south pacific for the whaling season before moving on to the next area. These expectations were realised, however the later settlers not so much, the Treaty of Waitangi left many without land that had been promised to them by the New Zealand Company. The local Maori became hostile and thought that they had been cheated out of their land however once an agreement was reached between all parties New Zealand thrived into the country it is now.

[1]A.Earle, A narrative of nine months’ residence in New Zealand in 1827. London, 1832

[2] Statistics of New Munster, New Zealand, from 1841 to 1848. Wellington, 1849.

[3] Jack Lee, ‘I have Named It the Bay Of Islands, Auckland. Hodder and Stoughton. 1983.

[4] Thomas Dunbabin, ‘Whalers, sealers, and buccaneers,’ Journal and proceedings of the Royal Australian Historical society XI, Part 1, 1925, pp.1-32;

[5] James Jupp, general editor, The Australian people: an encyclopaedia of the nation, its people and their origins. North Ryde, 1988, pp.326-334,

[6] J.S.Polack, Manners and customs of the New Zealanders with notes corroborative of their habits, usages, etc., and remarks to intending emigrants. Two volumes, London, 1840, Volume 1, p.2.

[7] Jock Phillips and Terry Hearn, Settlers: New Zealand immigrants from England, Ireland & Scotland, 1800-1945, Auckland, 2008. http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/files/documents/peopling1.pdf.

[8] Eric Richards, Britannia’s Children: Emigration from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland since 1600, London, 2004.

[9] Rollo Arnold, The Farthest promised land, Wellington, 1981.

[10] G.F.Angas, Savage life and scenes in Australia and New Zealand: being an artist’s impressions of countries and peoples at the Antipodes. London, 1847, Volume 1, pp.285-286.

[11] "The Hauraki Gulf Marine Park, Part 2". Inset to The New Zealand Herald: pp. 12. 3 March 2010.

[12] Joanne Robinson, Werrington to Waiuku: a history of the Barriballs of Waiuku. Auckland, 1997.

[13] James Belich, Making peoples; a history of the New Zealanders from Polynesian settlement to the end of the nineteenth century. Auckland, 1996,

[14] Ruth Allan, Nelson: a history of early settlement. Wellington, 1965,

[15] Patricia Barnes, Fatal Success: A History of The New Zealand Company, Heinemann Reed. Auckland. 1989.

[16] NZ History, Treaty of Waitangi: ‘The Treaty in Brief,’ 16^th June, 2011 Accessed on 26^th September 2011.

[17] Patricia Barnes. Ibid.

[18] Edward Jerningham Whakefield. Adventure in New Zealand: ‘From 1839 to 1844: With some account of the Beginning of the British Colonization of these Islands’. Volume, 1. John Murray, London. 1849

[19] Patricia Barnes. Ibid.

[20] Angela Caughey, The Interpreter: Biography of Richard Dicky Barett. Auckland. David Bateman. 1998.

[21] Caroline Fitzgerald. Te Wiremu- Henry Williams: Early years in the North. Huia Press. 2011.

[22] James Belich. The New Zealand Wars. 1988. Penguin.

American History, Nuclear Weapons and The Cold War

2011-09-25T19:47:00.000-07:00

The Atomic bomb project, also known as the Manhattan Project, was undertaken between 1941 and 1945 and created jobs for 120,00 people.[1] The first test of these Atomic bombs was in New Mexico; once this test had proven successful two bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ultimately ending the Second World War. These Japanese targets were chosen because of their immediate proximity to war depots or other military outposts. It was also determined that the strike on these targets should be done as soon as possible and without warning to create the maximum amount of shock. This action created unease between the American’s and the Soviet Union which then in turn ultimately led to a nuclear arms race and the eventual development and testing of the Hydrogen Bomb.

The reasons for developing the Atomic bomb, under the codename The Manhattan Project’ was to beat the opposing forces of Germany, Italy and Japan into developing their own, as many émigré scientists from these nations had commented on how close each nation had been to making the discoveries that would allow them to do so. Although by 1944, it was discovered that these nations had given up the hunt for such a powerful bomb, the Americans continued to develop the bomb. Once the war in Europe had ended, attentions were directed to the war in the Far East with Japan. The goal of creating the Atomic bomb was to force the Japanese into surrender and thus ending the Second World War.[2] This goal was achieved after dropping the Atomic bombs on the two Japanese cities. The deployment of these bombs and the surrender of the Japanese also halted any Soviet invasion on the Japanese Isles, as they had declared war on Japan in the same month.[3] This stopped the Soviets from claiming and occupying any land in the Far East, which the Americans believed would increase their global presence, it also left the Soviets with some catching up to do in the nuclear arms race. This began the beginning of a long strain on the Soviet-American relations. The soviets began building and testing an Atomic bomb of their own, this lead to the American’s designing the much more powerful Hydrogen Bomb, to assert their dominance over Nuclear Weaponry two events which sparked the beginning of the cold war.

After developing the Atomic Bomb America looked for a way of stalling the development and production of the Atomic Bomb in other nations, namely the Soviet Union, as it wanted to avoid an Arms race and the threat of nuclear war. The United States had an Advisor, Bernard Baruch create a plan which, with the support of President Truman, called for the creation of an International Atomic board which would have the power to regulate the development of Nuclear Weapons as well as having the power to Inspect and license all Nuclear Activity. The Russians, who saw this as an attempt to stall their progress and open their development plants for inspection and investigation on their progress had Andrei Gromyko, draft a treaty. This treaty called for a total ban on developing, manufacturing and deployment of Atomic Weapons, and all current stockpiles be dismantled and destroyed. However, due to the vast differences in each plan, and the lack of an agreement between Nations both plans failed to be put into action and an eventual Nuclear Arms race took place. [4] The failure of each nation’s plans highlighted the vast differences between the two nations and their approaches to nuclear armament at a time when the Cold War was already straining relations and trust issues between the two nations.

The relation between the nations was further strained after Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech.[5] The former British prime minister criticized the Soviet plan for Eastern Europe, and attacked its communist ideology and how it was expanding across Europe. Stalin then retaliated by claiming that they needed to exert a strong force in order to protect Europe from slipping back into the uneasy state it had been in, appropriately named ‘Soviet Security’, and insisted that there was a strong democratic form of government wherever they were providing this security. While on a diplomatic trip to the Soviet Union in 1947, George Marshall learnt that the Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin was certain that the war torn nations of France and Italy were on the verge of economic collapse, leading to his belief that the nation’s communist parties, which were much like his own, would win the respective 1948 elections. [6] In a speech given at Harvard University Marshall told the audience that many countries the confidence in the economy was ruined. He proposed that America should aid with the revival of the economies, to avoid poverty in these war torn nations. The acceptance of this plan, which became known as the Marshall Plan, came easily because of the growing fears of communism. The differences between Stalin’s response to Churchill’s speech and the information learnt by Marshall heightened the unease between the two Nations, as they were simply a year apart. In this year he had gone from firmly insisting that there was a Democratic government to believing that there would be communist rule in the near future.

America believed that the threat alone, of having nuclear weapons would be enough to deter the threat of war against them.[7] However, once it learnt that Britain, France, India, Pakistan and the more importantly the Soviet Union all being at different stages of development of their own atomic bombs,[8] The Hydrogen bomb’s development was given greater urgency, by President Truman. It had discovered the Russians had gained some success of their own in developing a form of Atomic bomb with a successful detonation in 1949.[9] The threat of nuclear war during the Cold War, with both the Americans and Soviets having access to Atomic and then Hydrogen bombs, led to a race to see which Nation had the most powerful and the largest stockpile of these weapons, as to impose a dominance.[10] The NSC-68 report estimated that the Soviet Union had approximately 200 Atomic bombs by 1954 with the capability of using aircraft to deploy them on United States Soil. It also pondered the implications of an attack on British Soil and other Western powers in Europe rendering it useless as a base in Europe for American forces. This document also recommended an increase in defense spending, as well as strengthening the Allegiance with other nations and it also embarked on a large propaganda campaign against the cold war. The Soviet Union also attempted to distill fear in America by installing Medium and Long range missiles in Cuba.[11] This was a response to the nuclear warheads that America had placed in Turkey previously. This armament race, placing of weapons and stockpiling was to attempt to instill fear and to gain the upper hand in the Cold War.

The use of Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki signaled the beginning of American nuclear dominance, and left other nations, such as the Soviets playing catch up. The actions also lead to a strain on the relations between the nations that ultimately led to the cold war and the threat of nuclear war. A threat that spawned documents like the American NSC-68, which called for the Americans to build a bigger defense, The Marshall Plan which aimed to stop the flow of Communism in war torn Europe and the American Baruch and Soviet Gromyko plans to stem the development and manufacturing of Atomic and Hydrogen weapons. The bombing of Japan signaled the end of World War two, but also signaled the start of the Cold War, which bought with it the impending threat of constant nuclear war, distrust and the deterioration of Soviet-American relations.

[1] James W. Davidson and Mark Hamilton Lytle, ‘The decision to Drop the Bomb’, After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection, New York, 2005, pp.317-45.

[2] Richard Rhodes, Dark Sun: The Making of the H-Bomb, 1995, New York, Simon and Schuster.

[3] Edward H. Judge and John W. Langdon (eds.), Cold War Documents, The Cold War: A History through Documents, New Jersey, 1999, pp.10-12. The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima, August 1945

[4] Edward H. Judge and John W. Langdon (eds.), Cold War Documents, The Cold War: A History through Documents, New Jersey, 1999, pp. 20-22 The baruch and Gromyko Pans for Control of Atmic Weapons, 1946.

[5] Edward H. Judge and John W. Langdon (eds.), Cold War Documents, The Cold War: A History through Documents, New Jersey, 1999, pp. 14-17. Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech, March 1946.

[6] Edward H. Judge and John W. Langdon (eds.), Cold War Documents, The Cold War: A History through Documents, New Jersey, 1999, pp. 26-28. The Marshall Plan, 1947.

[7] Johnson, N, M. Interview held during a meeting with William T, Golden. Washington, D.C. 1989.

[8] McKinzie, R, D. Interview held during a meeting with Major General Kenner F. Hertford. Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1974.

[9] Rear Admiral Lewis L. Strauss, Handwritten letter. 1949, Florence, Italy.

[10] NSC 68; United States objectives and programs for national Security’ (Sections); Available from http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/nsc-hst/index.html; accessed 21^st September 2001.

[11] Charles S. Maier, ‘Frontiers and forces in the Cold War’, Among Empires: American ascendary and its predessors, Cambridge, 2006, pp.155-190, 325-32.

Film101 - Assignment #2 - Back To The Future

2011-09-12T01:54:00.000-07:00

Back To The Future Clip.

Through this two minute clip of Robert Zemeckis, Back to the Future there are many filmic elements used to keep them watching. The Mise-en-Scene elements of setting, staging, sound, colour and the use of the space mixed with cinematography, editing all add to the Audience expectations and build the suspense of the scene.

During this 2 minute sequence there are many Mise-en-Scene elements for example setting, which is implied as a car park outside a convenience store of some nature, later on in the clip the audience are shown “J C Penny” (Back in Time Scene - Back to the Future Movie (1985) – HD, 2011) and are thus to confirm this suspicion they are also able to tell that it is a car park by the white lines that are very recognizable on many other car parks. The Costume is also very clear in this scene; the persons in the van are dressed in terrorist costume identifying them in the mind of the viewer as potential people of evil and entice them to side with the other character that is depicted in the scene. The use of this type of character and costume is playing on the stereotyping tendencies of the audience. The costume of the other character depicted here is a boiler suit of some sort, maybe suggesting that he is working with a hazardous material, but due the length of the clip, it is never shown to the audience directly.

When ‘Marty’ First encounters the terrorists he is fearful for his life, which is shown by the image of him standing in the light with his eyes shut, almost willing for luck to be on his side, the music in the background is also building up hinting that something important is about to happen. He also looks back the motionless figure in on the ground and moves to assist them; however when both he and the audience hear the engine of the fan roar into life, he closes the door and makes to move drive off. What this does is builds up the suspense and gets the audience asking themselves questions, what has happened to the motionless figure or can ‘Marty’ escape.

Another aspect of sound that in the clip is the sound of bullets, the audience continually hear the sounds of a gun being fired, reminding them of the situation. During this time ‘Marty’ is also willing the car on, pushing it to try to reach the goal of 88 miles per hour. He finally manages to achieve this after the terrorist pulls out what appears to be a Rocket. ‘Marty’ urging of the car, entices the audience to also will the car on as he is the protagonist of the film.

With the scene taking place during the night, the vehicles being driven both have their headlights on, at the beginning of the clip, the lights from the terrorists van are used to illuminate the character ‘Marty’ to add to the suspense of the scene. While Marty is driving, his face is light up by the reflection of a light shining into the wing mirror. What this shows us is the sweat, from the stress of the position he is in, this is shown even more after the terrorists are shown as aiming an RPG at his car. While there is the use of Street lamps and headlights, natural light is not enough to illuminate as much of the scene area as needed, so the use of spotlights may have been used to illuminate this area for the director with the help of the available lighting.

The staging and movement in this scene includes a lot of driving. Although it begins with the character of Marty running then jumping into the car, the primary movement in this scene is based around driving, this is shown to us by the use of many different camera angles and edits, these camera angles and edits add to the suspense of the scene. For example, the cuts in the editing when Marty is starting the car shows the keys being turned, the gear being selected, then the accelerator pedal being applied, and with the addition of the tyres screeching into life at the end of this sequence the audience is able to tell that the car has been started and is ready to aid in the escape. The cuts in this scene are straight cuts, which are all done to achieve continuity editing. It cuts from one aspect of the scene into another aspect in the same scene.

The Editing in this scene is done to create the illusion of ‘real time’ where the filming may have taken place over many hours. This condensing of film is achieved by using the many different cuts that are in the clip. The effect of this is to build the suspense, the cuts between the Terrorists and ‘Marty’ adds to their conflict and builds the audience expectations. As the pace of the edits get faster the audience is drawn in by the increasing music up until ‘Marty’ finally hits 88 Miles per hour and travels back in time when the music reaches its climax and the sounds of its time travel takes over.

This scene utilizes screen space to keep the audience guessing as to how close the vehicles are from each other at any one point, as well as keeping the audience guessing as to how much room each of the vehicles has to work with for example, when ‘Marty’ first drives off, the Van is unseen apart from the few seconds where we see it finally come to life and begin to move off. However, this is followed by a cut into the car with ‘Marty’. While the audience can guess that the van is heading towards him, we are not directly shown this until ‘Marty’ begins to drive himself. At which point there is another cut and the camera uses a crane shot and pans out so we can see the van approaching with the ‘Terrorists’

There is only a few spoken words in this sequence, at the beginning of the clip the ‘Terrorists’ are clearly identified as foreign by the language used when the gun jams. This helps the audience identify the threat to ‘Marty’ and also amplifies the frustration at the gun jamming therefore allowing ‘Marty’ to escape as they have reverted to using the natural language. During this period the music the audience can hear, Non-diegetic music holds to one single note played continuously which is used in enticing the audience to hold their breath and hope for the best situation for the protagonist.

Being only a two minute clip, there is slight hints at a motif for the movie. For example, The Car, which plays a pivotal point through the clip, as it is the entity in which ‘Marty’ travels back in time, which is shown by the date board which flashes the date of ‘November 5, 1955”, by showing this the director is giving the audience the clues needed for them to conclude that after the bright lights and arriving in the field, that he has indeed travelled back in time. Once back in time the audience can hear the sounds of a car bumping over grass and no longer the smooth tar Mac, which is another indication that he has travelled back in time, this change is also clearly visible through the windscreen also when shown to us in the long shot later in the clip. The car also hits a scarecrow causing ‘Marty’ to yell and turn the car which then causes him to drive into a barn like building. Through this scene the colour blue, which is another hint at a motif through continued use, is used partly to signify the sadness ‘Marty’ is feeling toward the person who the audience sees laying facedown. Also, it is used when the car hits the target speed and travel back in time it illuminates the whole car. While being a hint at a motif, its continued use before this, in the shading of the shots and the lighting that illuminates the face of ‘Marty’ on occasion, could be an attempt at foreshadowing this moment. The sound of his yelling is muffled as a hazmat suit covers his head after a nasty bump, proving to the audience that what they are hearing and seeing is taking place at the same time, after which the sounds of the car are also muffled when he drives through the doors of the barn.

As the car crashes or comes to a stop in the building, which the audience is able to see as a far shot but never close up, there is a crash and the sounds of wood snapping and breaking, then from what aooears to be a hole in the roof there is dust or smoke emanating. The use of this far shot and the sound leads the audience to imagine that the car has been crashed and wonder if after all the trouble of getting away, that it might have all been in vain. The use of the far shot here keeps the audience guessing as to what actually happened in the barn.

The first camera shot of the scene is a pan shot while ‘Marty’ runs across the van, this makes the audience follow his vision. From this shot is cuts into a mid close up of ‘Marty’ then in a shot reverse shot action it switches between him and the ‘terrorist’, what the use of this shot does is shows the emotion that both parties are feeling about the situation they find themselves in before cutting back to the ‘terrorist’ clearly agitated that the gun has jammed. From this it cuts to a shot of ‘Marty’ diving into his car, showing the urgency to which he is trying to get away. It then cuts into another shot reverse shot, between ‘Marty’, the unknown figure laying face down and the ‘terrorist’ with the time between these individual shots speeding up to add to the suspense and increase the heart rates of the audience. During the car chase sequence there is different shot types used, with the first a tracking shot taken in front of the vehicles, switching to the perspective of each person involved to show what they are doing, getting the audience involved. All of these shots follow the 180 degree rule allowing the audience to keep up with the unseen movements, for example, that the van is always on one side of the car during the chase.

The use of the different filmic elements in this scene of Back to the Future, work together to add to the audiences experience of watching the film, this is achieved by using, mise-en-scene, cinematography and editing together to created a scene high in energy and high on emotion. In doing this the Director has created a scene where the audience find themselves willing the protagonist on to his escape and when he finally achieves it they can see their expectations fulfilled and can move onto the next scene of the film and once again build up these expectations from that scene and from the movie as a whole.

Works Cited

Back in Time Scene - Back to the Future Movie (1985) – HD. YouTube. May 26, 2011 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPeHFDxKUP4&feature=relmfu>

Winter Esential Listening 2k11 Edition

2011-08-18T22:01:00.000-07:00

So i suppose it's about that time again, With winter in full swing here, Snow?! The fuck?
I'm going to give you a few tunes to help warm the insides, get the vocal chords working and the DJ fingers moving, Like usual, Youtube links + a Brief bio will be included.

Professor Green - At Your Invonvenience - Coming off his anticipated album of the same name (released 31st October) this tune is a brilliant listen, Inner London Grime music mixed with Hip-Hop. I expect big things from this album, and am hoping his ass will come for a tour soon!

Example - Changed The Way You Kissed Me - Following the same vibe, with a slightly more upbeat/dance feel to it, is the first single from Examples forthcoming Album - Playing In The Shadows - Described as a Jump up song, it is hard to keep your body still when this tunes comes on. The Video was also shot in the Ministry Of Sound Club in London, Short of Fabric, Cable and the O2 Academy it has one of the best Sound systems in the game. Also From this Album - Example - Stay Awake & Laidback Luke Vs Example - Natural Disaster. Big Things Expected Once Again.

The Prototypes - Born To Rise - I don't think i have done one of these without including these boys, Still insanely pissed i missed them during their Australian Tour (Even if it was on Garvey ;)), Expected for Release on September 5th, This is going to be my Anthem of the Summer, Potentially Toppling End Credits as my Favorite Song! (We shall see).

Avicii & Sebastien Drums - My Feelings for you - Jump Up, get down, party hard. Whatever i don't give a crap, this song is legit, Remixed by the Prototypes the original version is still Tops!. Also Big Up to Avicii, Getting Co-credited on that Leona Lewis song will be HUUUGE for you!

Cut Copy - Lights & Music - Now for all my RnV Peeps, I have a sneaky Suspicion you bitches wont have heardo f Cut Copy, and if you have, Well frankly i applaud your taste in Music! For Australians these boys are fucking brilliant! Having Released a new album at the start of the Year, i am hoping to see many more tunes of these boys Hitting my Essential Listening posts.

Calvin Harris - Feel So Close - Well, possibly thee best act so far on the RnV lineup (Aside from Netsky). An act i have been wanting to see for many years, since first saw him in Dizzie Rascals music video. I have a feeling that my life will end if this set is missed by me at RnV. He has another album dropping this year or next, so keep an eye out for it!

Dope D.O.D - What Happened - With the best of Both Grimy Dubstep and Hip Hop, these gents from what i think is Holland are, excuse the pun, Dope as fuck.The editing on this Video is possibly the best i have ever seen. Their Lines are sick as well. Their EP, was released this month, and i suggest you hit that shit up!

Loadstar - Berlin - Well While making this list i am Jamming to the Hospital Records Podcast #150, this tune popped up and i lost my shit, no jokes, It went all over the mother fucking place. Hit it up!

Rhythm And Vines - First Lineup Announcment - Ahh Fuck it, it's not a song, but just a fucking good time! It will be so legit!

Nero - Guilt - Such a bit Dance floor banger! Such a huge shame that their album got leaked how it did, Which of course is always a shame to those of us who don't download music Illegally. But yeah, This song is good to put anyone in a dance state of mind. UKF's - Megamix of the Album.

Maverick Sabre - I Need - Ahh yet another piece of amazing music, Has many soul vibes to it, Sorta like Plan B but a lot less ruthless. He also has a forthcoming album, to which i don't know the name, and well only a few people do. Watch this guy rise up and clean up the Charts over there in England.

Aloe Blacc - I Need a Dollar - Posting just because i love the song.

DJ Fresh - Ft. Sian Evans - Louder. - Just Appreciate.

The Clash - London Calling - Yeaaaahhh, the Golden Oldie, Given the recent problems in London i thought, fuck it. How is this not relevant?

And Finally, A song i can't stand. But am posting anyways so i can include her name in the Tags and therefore get more views.
Cher Lloyd - Swagger Jagger - Fuck off you pikey bitch. (That is all) Wait, Fucking shit music hoebagIlluminatislut. There now i am done.

Follow Me on these places ---> My Soundcloud - Facebook - This Blogs Facebook - Dubstomp

History 112.

2011-08-08T15:43:00.000-07:00

To whom it may concern,

I am writing to you today to discuss why the allocation of funds for the new publicly funded statue should be put towards a statue of Captain James Cook for the work he did upon discovery and eventual mapping and exploration of New Zealand.

James Cook Born in 1728 and was an English navigator, cartographer and explorer. He joined the British merchant navy in his teenage years and later went on to join the Royal navy when he was 27.[1] During his time in the navy he rose through to the eventual rank of Captain and charge of the HMS Endeavour and eventual charting of New Zealand.

His first voyage was aboard the HMS Endeavour, a joint venture between the Royal navy and the Royal Society.[2] This voyage set out with the intention of observe the 1769 transit of Venus and to seek evidence of and find, explore and chart the unknown southern land. For this voyage Cook Had been promoted to lieutenant and given charge of the HMS Endeavour,[3] He was not promoted to the Rank of commander until shortly after his eventual return in 1771.[4] On this voyage, which had been sanctioned by King George the second, he successfully claimed some pacific islands for the British Empire, Huahine, Borabora and Raiatea, before setting course for New Zealand.

James Cook and the crew of the HMS endeavour spent nearly six months navigating and charting New Zealand, which he had been told to do in secret instructions given to him before departure, which had remained sealed until the first part of the voyage had been completed. [5] It was these instructions that he was told to proceed south until he found landmass, which had previously identified as New Zealand, and continue on to find the other continent that was rumoured to be in the area, described as the “Southern unknown” (now known as Australia). Although he had not been the first person to make landfall at New Zealand, as he had been beaten by Able Tasman who arrived nearly 130 years prior to him and the Maori who had arrived a further 600 years prior to that, he made some discoveries, in the six months he diligently navigated and mapped New Zealand that Able Tasman had not. He discovered that there was a stretch of water separating the North and South Islands. Although he made mistakes during this time, for example labelling Banks Peninsula as an Island and thinking that Stewart Island was part of the South Island, it can be said that his journey around New Zealand was expertly done before he departed to continue his voyage.

When he returned to England he was promoted to the rank of Commander, and was once again commissioned by the Royal Society to search for the ‘Unknown land of the south’ which he was unable to find during his first voyage. During this Voyage he once again circum navigated New Zealand and determined that it was not part of any larger continent. After determining this he sailed further east in search of it, where he stumbled upon Norfolk Island. It was after his return from this Voyage that he was promoted to the rank of Captain and was given an honorary retirement from the navy. During this Voyage he landed in New Zealand and traded with the Maori, this was beneficial for both parties, as they were eager to trade items, knowledge and ideals and values, much of this trade was facilitated by the pacific contact that Cook had Tupaia. [6] However, it was not always a pleasurable outcome when the two groups met, with the language and culture barrier often to leading to clashes and deaths between the two. Cooks first landing was in 1769 in what would become to be known as Poverty Bay, named Poverty back because of the lack of food and resources that were found there. After leaving this area Cook and his men left to find another place, later names Bay of Plenty because of the plentiful amount of resources.[7] In the days before this Voyage, Cooks first child, George was born. [8] After his return in 1175 he was promoted to the rank of Captain, and given an honorary retirement, something he did not want, and only took under the condition that if the opportunity to lead another voyage arose, that he have first rights to it. [9]

This opportunity arose in 1176, when Captain James Cook was 48. On this voyage he captained the HMS Resolution for the second time, Whereas the first two voyages had been to seek and claim the great southern unknown, this was about finding the northwest passage, a shipping route at the tip of the Canadian coast line, which connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, drastically lowering the time it would take to trade goods with Asia.[10] During this Voyage he once again returned to New Zealand, however only briefly before setting of for to find the passage. On this stretch of the journey he was the first European settler to discover Hawaii, as well as charting the entire American coastline up to the Bering Strait, he however found the Northern passage to be impassable through frequent attempts. [11] After these unsuccessful attempts as passing the passage he returned to Hawaii in 1779 and landed at Kealakakua Bay, where he returned a month later after another unsuccessful attempt.

It was in this bay that Captain James Cook met his untimely death, after going ashore to retrieve stolen property, some small boats stolen by the natives of the island, he was struck on the head as he turned to leave the island then repeatedly stabbed to death as he lay in the surf.[12] His body was held in high regard by the natives, who had believed him to be an incarnation of their god Juno. [1][1] His body underwent the funeral rituals that were present in the Hawaiian culture at the time. He was aged 50 at the time of his death.

It is because of these aforementioned achievements that I propose the public funds be directed towards a monument to Captain James Cook, located overlooking Cook’s Strait on the hills of Wellington New Zealand. This is an honour that would be bestowed onto a great man who did so much for New Zealand in the time he spent Charting and exploring it.

Yours Sincerely

Jack Daniel Adams.

[1] Vanessa Collingridge, Captain Cook: The Life and Death of Historys Greatest Explorer, London: Ebury, 2002.

[2] James Cook, Journal of the HMS Endeavour, 1768-1771; Available from http://nla.gov.au/nla.ms-ms1, Accessed 6^th August 2011.

[3] Nigel Rigby & Pieter Van Der. Merwe, Captain Cook in the Pacific, London: National Maritime museum, 2002, pp.30.

[4] Richard Hough, Captain James Cook, London: Auckland [N.Z]: Hodder & Stoughton, 1994, pp.217.

[5] Ed Hawke, Piercy Brett, C. Spencer, Secret Instructions to Captain Cook, 1768, Available from http://foundingdocs.gov.au/resources/transcripts/nsw1_doc_1768.pdf, Accessed 6^th August 2011.

[6] Merate Kawharu, Cook, Tupaia and Maori, 2011, Available from http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/cook_tupaia_maori_01.shtml, Accessed on 7^th August 2011.

[7] Robert Fisher, Hugh James, Morton Johnstone, Captain James Cook and His Times, Vancouver: Taylor & Francis, 1979.

[8] Steve Amezdroz, Cook “Obsession and Discovery”, New Zealand, 2007.

[9] John C. Beaglehole, The Life of Captain James Cook, London: A. and C. Black, 1974, pp.444

[10] Frederick William Beechy, Narrative of a voyage to the Pacific and Beering's Strait: to co-operate with the Polar expeditions : performed in His Majesty's Ship Blossom, under the command of Captain F.W. Beechey, R.N. ... in the years 1825,26,27,28, 1832, Philadelphia: Carey & Lea.

[11] Gananath Obeyseskere, The Apotheosis of Captain Cook: European Mythmaking in the pacific, Princeton University Press, 1997.

[12] J. C. Beaglehole, The Death of Captain James Cook, Wellington: New Zealand Electronic Text Centre, 2007, p.290.

MDIA 101 Final two essays.

2011-06-19T19:20:00.000-07:00

Essay #1 Video - Essay 1

Commoditisation is “the process of producing something predominantly in terms of its exchangeability” (Schirato). An example of this is taking an ‘inalien’ idea, like childhood or freedom, to then use them to sell or advertise a product. This is shown in the ‘Air New Zealand’ advertisement featuring the young female (Air New Zealand – November 9, 2009).

This advert draws on categories of childhood, freedom and peace, all previously ‘inalien’ categories that Air New Zealand has used to promote their company. ‘Inalien’ is defined by Schirato as something that is “intrinsic to the community and not subject to the market” (Schirato). However, the ad depicts a young pacific island or Maori female standing on a picturesque beach holding a stick bearing the colours of Air New Zealand as free flowing ribbons. She is then seen traveling through parts of the world, things which are part of the ‘inalien’ categories of childhood, peace and national identity.

Throughout the advert Air New Zealand is using the female to represent an aircraft which is traveling all around the globe visiting sharing New Zealand culture with the places she visits, For example the Hongi with the little boy as well as teaching the dance to the children. By showing this in the advert Air New Zealand is selling us the idea of childhood to advertise the company which displays the use of ‘commoditisation’. National Identity is also sold to us when the ‘perfect’ image of New Zealand is represented, for example when the cameras pans over a green lush waterfall, or while the girl is running through the forest. The music playing in the background, Pokarekare Ana is also advertising national identity as it is a song written in Maori, the native language of New Zealand.

By showing her running through a built up area in bare feet, the advert also draws on ‘freedom’, as it displays the girl as a ‘free spirit’ with a ‘carefree’ attitude. Towards the end when the voice over announces that “No matter what part of the world we see, the world sees a part of New Zealand” indicates that Air New Zealand is also using national identity to advertise their company. Both of these once again are indications of a company using ‘Inalien’ categories to sell their company to us (Air New Zealand – November 9, 2009).

By doing showing these things in their advert Air New Zealand has displayed the use of commoditisation in the advert, as they have advertised ‘national identity’ by appealing to New Zealanders, they have advertised ‘childhood’ by showing a young pacific island female as a representation of an Aircraft. She is also shown as a representation of an aircraft while running through the built up cities.

What this advert shows us is ‘commoditisation’ a company has used the ‘inalien’ categories of childhood, freedom and national identity to promote their company. This is shown in many ways throughout the advert, the images portraying the young Maori female, the music and the voice overs.

Works Cited

Air New Zealand Advert. YouTube. Web Video. November 9, 2007. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INBbO7Ch7xo&feature=player_embedded>

Schirato, Tony. Understanding Sports Culture. Los Angeles: Sage, 2007.

Essay #2 Essay #2 - Video

The recent royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton exhibits many examples of subjectivity in relation to the nation state. New Zealand also holds some qualities of a nation state, through the use of enforcing laws to the entire nation. It also conforms to the Monarch state by having a governor general.

Subjectivity is “how humans are made subjects in relation to culture, place and power, subjectivity … relies on the forms of discipline, validation and authorisation in the specific cultural fields to which the subject belongs” (Schirato, Buettner and Jutel). Subjectivity is produced by the nation state in many ways, for instance creating laws. The laws set by the governing body of New Zealand are a prime example of how people are created as subjects by the ‘nation state’. If a person breaks the law they are likely to be disciplined. These laws are set to provide the ‘subjects’ a better style of life and for those people to live in safety.

Culture also can define a person as a subject, for culture to do this, the subject must identify with that culture. For instance, a subject of the monarch has to identify themselves with the monarchy in the country they reside. A recent example of this was the royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. This wedding was billed to use a romantic story between a royal individual and a ‘commoner’ which is a modern subjectivity. While most were not allowed to attend the actual ceremony, an honour reserved for celebrities and foreign dignitaries, thousands lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the pair and millions more watched around the world (The Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton – April 29, 2011).

But throughout this happy event and during the lead up, there is evidence that the nation state has control of the overall event. Only inviting a select few, a high security presence as well as barriers to stop the crowds from causing a scene, this evidence proves that even though the UK has a democratically elected government it is still under the power of the monarchy and still is still party to a nation state (The Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton – April 29, 2011).

New Zealand’s use of a governor general who is the personal representative of the head of state, Queen Elizabeth the Second (Govt.nz), is an example of a country being subject to a nation state, in this case, the monarchy. The role of the governor general is to represent the Queen in a nation where the “government rules but the sovereign reigns” (The Governor-General).

Subjectivity is produced by the nation state in many ways, for example the Royal wedding displayed many of these forms of production, with the millions of people who watched the wedding, but the select few celebrities and foreign dignitaries who actually attended the royal ceremony. The evidence that New Zealand is a subject of the nation state is the laws set by its government, as well as the Governor-General who represents the head of State.

Works Cited

Debord, Guy. The Society of the Spectacle. New York: Zone Books, 2006.

Govt.nz. Nau Mai, Haere Mai. Welcome to the website of the Governor-General of New Zealand. 1 January 2011. 1st June 2011 <http://www.gg.govt.nz/>.

Schirato, Tony, et al. Understanding Media Studies. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2010.

The Governor-General. The Role of the Governor-General. 1 January 2011. 1 June 2011 <http://www.gg.govt.nz/role>.

The Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. YouTube. Web Video. April 29, 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/user/theroyalchannel#p/u/15/schQZY3QjCw>

Final Media Studies Assignment.

2011-06-12T07:13:00.000-07:00

YOUTH CULTURE

Youth Culture and the subcultures it spawns all demonstrate different ideologies, for instance, the ‘anarcho-punks’ are motivated by music, and an ideology that rejects institution. Where-as ‘Goths” are motivated by an anti-consumerist but peaceful ideology in stark contrast to the ‘neo-Nazis’ who are motivated by the ideology that people of colour are less than those who are white.

Ideology, as defined by Schirato, “disposes people to see and act in certain ways” It can also produce meanings that are “naturalized or universalized” (Schirato, Buettner and Jutel). Youth cultures and the subculture spawned by it are motivated by different ideologies. In his article Richard Griffiths examines the effects these ideologies play on the wardrobes of these subcultures (Griffiths,). His description of ‘anarcho-punks and goths’ reveals that the media portrayal of these subcultures can also be twisted from the actual ideology of the subcultures.

The punk ideology is believed to have started in the late 1960’s in either London or New York, on the back of music by the ‘Sex Pistols and the Ramones’ and is believed to have died out towards the end of the 1970’s. However the ‘Goth’ ideology is believed to have started in England in the late 1980’s spawning from the ‘gothic-rock’ music of the time by ‘Bauhaus and the Cure’ and is still accepted as being an alive ideology (Wilson). The ‘neo-Nazi’ ideology has spawned from Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party of Germany in the 1940’s and on the back of the fascist, racist and anti-semiotic ideology (Bailer-Galanda and Neugebauer).

For each subculture that is present in the youth culture of New Zealand there is an ideology behind it. Griffiths explains that buried in the ‘anarcho-punks’ image of patches, symbols slogans and images as well as spikes, studs, chains and belts, is “multiple references to bands and anarchist philosophy which … strongly rejects institutional structures such as the state of government” (Griffiths, Wicked Wardrobes: Youth and fashion in Aotearoa New Zealand.). What this image demonstrates is that ‘anarcho-punks’ are motivated by an ideology which is on of anti-government. He also describes how ‘anarcho-punks’ view uncleanliness, as in personal hygiene or dirty clothes as a way of resisting stereotypes and going against consumerism.

Ideologies can also be warped and presented differently by the media. For example, following the ‘Columbine school shootings” in 1999 the media portrayed ‘Goths’ as having an ideology that revolved simply around death, violence, murder and Nazism an ideology that would have been more suited to ‘Neo-Nazi’s’, however, because the perpetrators adorned the clothing of the ‘gothic’ subculture they were allied with the same ideology. Where-as ‘Goths’ who associated with the gothic ideology before the shootings claimed to be more peaceful and anti-violence and they argued that the perpetrators had simply adorned the clothing of the ‘gothic’ subculture (Griffiths).

In an interview with self-proclaimed ‘Goth’ “Ewan” stated that the gothic wardrobe where males wear make-up, threatens the socially accepted boundaries of the gender “image and role” (242). Which demonstrates that a dominant ideology behind the male ‘Goths’ is one that wants to stand out and push the boundaries that are set, and adhered to, by what is considered to be the ‘social norms’.

‘Neo-Nazi’s’ are motivated by a unified dislike for people who are of ‘colour’ and ‘white power’ as well as “extreme nationalism” (Vogelsang and Larsen). Neo-Nazi’s are also motivated by the want to reproduce the ‘Nazi’ party ideology or a variation there of, which had been banned in 1945 (Bailer-Galanda and Neugebauer). The wardrobe of ‘neo-Nazi’s’ often if one that promotes the Nazi ideology, incorporating ‘Nazi’ symbols such as the ‘swastika’, the ‘Parteiadler’ as well as SS symbols such as the SS bolts and the death heads, often used to promote an anti-Semite (Anti-Jew) ideology which is one that is mimicking the ideology of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party (Bailer-Galanda and Neugebauer).

What this shows is that for each different subculture in recent and past youth culture there is a different ideology behind it, that has appealed to the youth of its time. Whether it’s the ‘Anarcho-punks’ rejecting institution, ‘Goths’ pushing the boundaries of gender and image and rebelling against the consumerist society or the ‘neo-Nazi’s’ and their fascist, racist and anti-Semite ideologies drawn from the Nazi party of Germany.

Works Cited

Bailer-Galanda, Brigitte and Wolfgang Neugebauer. "Incorrigibly Right. Right-Wing Extremists, "Revisionists" and Anti-Semites." Austrian Politics Today (1996): 5-21.

Griffiths, Richard. "Wicked Wardrobes: Youth and fashion in Aotearoa New Zealand." Cultural Studies in Aotearoa New Zealand: Identity, Space and Place. (2004): 299-250.

—. "Wicked Wardrobes: Youth and Fashion in Aotearoa New Zealand." Cultural Studies in Aotearoa New Zealand, Space and Place (2004): 229-250.

Schirato, Tony, et al. Understanding Media Studies. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Vogelsang, Peter and Brian B M Larsen. Neo-Nazism. 1 January 2002. 1st June 2011 <http://www.holocaust-education.dk/eftertid/nynazisme.asp>.

Wilson, Cinatra. You Just Can’t Kill It. 17 September September 17, 2008. 1 June 2011 <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/fashion/18GOTH.html>.

DIGITAL CULTURE

Social network sites and internet forums help their users to users create a self-identity of their choosing. Users of these social network sites and forums can upload photos, moderate the people who can see their information and also join groups of people who share the same identity and interests on online forums.

Identity as defined by Shuker is “the cultural description of individuals (Self or others)” (Shuker). However, with the digital culture of today social network sites and internet forum users are able to create a ‘self-identity’ that may not represent their real life identity. Users can then use their assumed identity to act in a way that may differ to that of the real life version of the identity.

Users on social network sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and Twitter can create an identity which does not specifically represent them. Unlike in real life where somebody who is applying for a passport or a drivers licence one or more proof of identity is needed, however, social network sites do not require this level of information. An identity can be created simply by a user supplying a valid email and some basic information which, apart from the email, is not checked to see if it is accurate (Facebook.com). Users can also create more than one profile as long as they have a valid email, users can also create a profile in any name they choose, which may not necessarily correspond with the real life identity (Facebook.com) (Myspace.com) (Bebo.com) (twitter.com).

Users on social network sites are not limited to what they can broadcast or how it is broadcast. It is because of this that the users can portray any image wanted. Social network users can broadcast their ideas, images, work and countless other things to the people ‘following’ them or the ‘friends’ they have (Dorsey, Glass and Williams). However, unless the privacy settings are changed to limit access to the profile of a user a passer-by can view the entire profile (Facebook.com). Users can also choose what information to add to the webpage, with social networks allowing it’s users to add their favourite books, movies, music and people. However, social network sites allow advertisers to display relevant information to a user corresponding with this information.

The photos put onto these social network sites can also allow users to portray a self-identity of their choosing; Facebook has an ability to ‘tag’ people in photos, however the user has the ability to remove these ‘tags’, by removing these ‘tags’ the user can adhere to their desired image. Social network sites that allow its users to upload their own ‘profile’ photos in turn allow the users to convey an image of any quality to produce any image desired. The photos usually found on social network sites such as the photo sharing website Flickr have shifted from “special and rarefied moments” to pictures of social gatherings, parties and Susan Murray identifies these as “one’s discovery of and framing of the small and mundane” (Murray). Murray’s use of the words “small and mundane” is a way of defining the change from developed photo’s placed in photo albums, to digital photos uploaded to every corner of the internet (Flickr).

Digital culture also allows its users to broadcast to only a select few. Allowing them to have a select few ‘friends’ that can see what they broadcast. This helps the user to create an identity of their choosing. On social network sites a user can choose to have 50 ‘friends’ or 500 as well as choosing who to broadcast to out of these ‘friends’ they have (Facebook.com). By choosing these friends the user is choosing to only interact with a few people, and with a click of a mouse, decline others.

Internet forums allow users to converse and post with people who share the same interests; this also allows the users to create a self-identity within the forums thus letting them interact with people who share the same basic self-identity. For example, online game forums are created with one goal in mind, to give its users a place to talk about the game or organise groups these forums are chosen in the knowledge that the users are there because of the shared interest. For example, the users of the internet forum Team Quitter.com gather because of the shared interest in a particular game (TeamQuitter.com).

Digital culture allows its users to create self-identities that do not always correspond to their real life identities. This is accomplished by uploading photos, moderating the people who can see what is being broadcast, allowing the users to broadcast with small restrictions and online forums give users the chance to broadcast and interact with people who share the same ‘identity’ by gathering groups of like-minded people together.

Works Cited

Bebo.com. Bebo. 1 July 2005. 31 May 2001 <www.bebo.com>.

Dorsey, Jack, et al. Twitter.com. 15th July 2006. 31 May 2011 <www.twitter.com>.

Facebook.com. Facebook. Febuary 4 2004. 27 May 2011 <www.Facebook.com>.

—. Facebook:Privacy. 1 January 2011. 31st May 2011 <http://www.facebook.com/policy.php>.

Flickr. Flickr. 1 Febuary 2004. 31st May 2011 <www.Flickr.com>.

Murray, Susan. "Digital Images, Photo-Sharing, and Out Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics." Journal Of Visual Culture 7.2 (2008): 147-163.

Myspace.com. Myspace. 1 August 2003. 31 May 2011 <www.myspace.com>.

Shuker, Roy. Popular Music: The Key Concepts. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2005. Print. Popular Music: The Key Concepts. 2nd. London: Routledge, 2005.

TeamQuitter.com. Team Quitter. 1 January 2006. 28 May 2011 <http://www.teamquitter.com/phpBB2/index.php>.

twitter.com. Twitter. 15 July 2006. 31 May 2011 <www.Twitter.com>.

Mid Year Essential listening.

2011-05-19T01:59:00.000-07:00

My mid year list of tracks that i honestly think are worth listening to.

Rusko - Everyday (Netsky Remix) - Lets start this off with my Tune of the year. Coming straight out of Belgium, Netsky has smashed his way through the DnB scene, when i say smashed, i literally mean it. Being signed up to Hospital Records on the back of some solid releases he soon released his self titles album. Big Tings
Also good by Netsky;
Netsky - Iron Heart and Pirate Bay - Netsky

The Prototypes - Outcast. Next up we have Outcast, one of the latest releases by The Prototypes (featured on both the previous essential listening blogs). Signed to Shogun late in 2010, they will be touring Australia in early June (shame no NZ dates) Nick and Garvey are a pair to be watched.
Also good by The Prototypes;
Cascade - The Prototypes and The Prototypes - Evolution (Feat. Darrison) and The Prototypes - Subterrestrial. Their Sound Cloud is - http://soundcloud.com/theprototypes.

DJ Fresh ft. Sian Evans 'Louder'. A big big Summer tune (Well i suppose if you live in Europe). Remixed by Doctor P and Flux Pavilion, this track is set to be massive. Released worldwide on July 3rd, Expect to be hearing this one in any up coming mixes i make.
Also Good by Dj Fresh;
Gold Dust - Dj Fresh.

Vato Gonzalez ft. Foreign Beggars 'Badman Riddim (Jump)'. Set to be released on June the 19th. There is little i can say about this tune, apart from that it goes OFF. Best keep an ear out for this.
Also good Featuring Foreign Beggars;
Foreign Beggars - Still Getting It (Feat. Skrillex) and SKRILLEX - SCATTA (FEAT FOREIGN BEGGARS AND BARE NOIZE).

State of Mind - Spacetalk. This brilliant New Zealand tune screams of State of Mind - Wellington Paint Party 2011 memories for me =]. Has to be checked out to be descried fully.

Light Years Away by Tiki & Crushington. One of the best dubstep tunes and videos i have heard/seen in a long time (and no it's not your YouTube crashing out). Gotta love Tiki Tane.
Algo good by Tiki;
Tiki Taane & DUBXL - Summer Time.

Tyler The Creator - Yonkers - This young hip-hop artist has smashed onto my iTunes most played list. It's a bit hardcore, and not for everyone. But shit happens.
Also Good by OFWGKTA;
Orange Juice - EarlWolf - Odd Future (OFWGKTA) and

Jack Sparrow (feat. Michael Bolton) - Hot off their second album, Turtleneck and Chain, The Lonely Island has bought their self dubbed "fake rap" back to us. This song featuring Micheal Bolton is class.
Also good by The Lonely Island;
I Just Had Sex - The Lonely Island (Feat. Akon) and The Creep (feat. Nicki Minaj & John Waters)

Deadmau5 - Raise Your Weapon (Madeon Remix & Criminal Minds Intro Mix) - Found this track while trolling around on Soundcloud. Shit is amazing, The original was pretty damn good, but this is insane.
Also Good by Deadmau5;
deadmau5 & Kaskade - I Remember (I credit this tune to the birth of my DnB obsession) and Deadmau5 - Strobe.

Shapeshifter - Long White Cloud - Vetted as the best Live DnB band in the world by London Elektricity, Shapeshifter have been carving up the scene for years. Finally being signed to Hospital Records late in 2010 they have played numerous sold out shows around Europe aswell as at home in New Zealand.

Also good by Shapeshifter;
Shapeshifter - One and Shapeshifter - Longest Day.

My Soundcloud. - Ahh whats better than a bit of shameless self promotion. Check out all my mixes here, Worth a listen before a piss up.

Reader Suggestions ----

One for the Oldies
Within Temptation - Faster & Mother Maiden Short Film - Never really heard much about these guys. (Be warned it's old and nothing like the rest of the links i have posted) But Thanks to My Uncle for sharing this with me.

Nadia Ali, Starkillers & Alex Kenji - Pressure (Alesso Remix Edit) - I had not heard this before my very awesome Dutch buddie Roel pointed it out, have instantly fallen in love with it. Big up.

Media Studies Assignment #2 "liveness"

2011-05-10T17:05:00.000-07:00

Liveness, also known as immediacy plays a vital role in today’s television, while being very prominent in pre 1950’s television where it television was mostly broadcast live. The updates in recording devices now means that more and more television shows are being pre-recorded then broadcast using VHS or Dvd. This will discuss the effect of liveness on the chosen clip (ONE News at 6 - January 17, 2011) and the television genre horror and also more generally how genre conventions affect the liveness in television broadcasts.

Liveness, or Immediacy, is defined by Gripsrud as “A key aesthetic value” (90) in television. Television used to be screened live, but from the late 1950’s onwards the advances in recording devices and playback devices have made it easier to pre-record television and broadcast it Via Video or DVD (Gripsrud), however most news broadcasts are screened live and streamed via satellite. For example, the news broadcast show in the clip is highlighting ‘immediacy’ by being recorded live, and which in turn is working on the genre convention that news is deemed more factual when it is directly reported from a reporter who is live from the scene. This is a genre convention of the news, with it being deemed more accurate when the watcher can see the events taking place.

While other Television shows hide the cables and microphones to try to convince the viewer that what they are seeing is happening right there as you watch it, and the actors and actresses very rarely address the audience directly (Also known as the fourth wall). The ‘news anchors’ will always look directly and speak directly at the camera, as if directly speaking to each individual viewer this is also another genre convention of the news.

The main event portrayed in the clip (ONE News at 6 - January 17, 2011) is the reporting of the effect of flooding in Australia, the areas affected are shown to us on a map of Australia. What this helps the viewer do is to locate the effected area’s which may not be so widely known, but also help the viewer determine how far they are from the affected areas. The news is mostly reported by the ‘Australian correspondents’ who are reporting from the scene of the ‘worst floods in decades’. The ‘news’ utilizes having New Zealanders acting as correspondents in several countries who are experts at reporting on that countries news and current affairs. This allows the viewers in New Zealand to get the news from different countries around the world from New Zealanders. Another story only mentioned in the headlines is how these floods may affect your groceries prices which indicates that the ‘news’ is created for the people, and watching it will in turn help them.

What this news broadcast utilizes is the love New Zealander’s have for each other, even though it is a Australian based problem, the New Zealand based news company has found an Australian based New Zealander to interview. This allows viewers in New Zealand to find a way to relate to the problems that Australia is having, by doing this the ‘news’ is showing how this problem, the floods, effects more than just Australians.

The clip displays the effects of liveness from the beginning, the weather reporter using the words ‘It is about to get wild and windy’ what this line of speech indicates to the viewer is that it is happening soon. The same reporter also states that ‘right now, it is 6 o’clock’ by indicating the time to the viewer, the reporter is indicating that the broadcast is live. During announcing of the headline news by the anchors, it is indicated to us that later on in the broadcast they will be ‘reporting live’ from the scene. The reporter also uses a microphone with the one news logo on the side, to indicate that they are watching a reporter who is reporting in the best interests of the viewer.

Genre is defined by “the way texts are put together and read” (Schirato, Buettner and Jutel), as well as a way of categorizing texts (193). A way that helps the viewer to determine what genre they are watching is defined by Chion as “Audio-visual illusion” (Chion). Meaning that certain sounds and images in the text gives away the genre. Horror is also genre of television with separate conventions. It is these conventions that allow the viewers to determine what sort of program they are watching. For example, sounds that give away the genre of ‘horror’ could be; screaming, thuds and shrieks while images that give away the ‘horror’ genre could be; blood streaks on walls, dimly lit rooms. The horror genre also focuses less on the ‘liveness’ aspect of television or film, and more on the shock and awe factor at the extremes, although, horror does want you to feel as though it could be in your position. This is achieved by using story lines that people could easily find themselves in, road trip gone wrong, holiday to Europe turns into a massacre. This plays on the viewer’s belief that they could be in that position not just viewing from “a distance” (Gripsrud) as they actually are.

The news genre in general and especially in this clip uses images and sounds to tell you it’s the news. From the very beginning of the clip the tag “one news” is displayed in the bottom right hand corner. This is followed by a male voice over telling the viewer who the ‘anchors’ are and that they are watching “one news”. The ‘anchors’ then introduce us to the headlines which are each tagged as ‘one news headlines’. During the reporting of the Australian floods, the ‘live’ reporting is denoted by a sign in the bottom left of the screen saying ‘live’ and where it is live from. This is extended further when the news anchor is conversing live with the correspondent, with each location donated by ‘Studio’ or ‘Brisbane’. At the conclusion of the clip, at the conclusion of the broadcast, the news anchors conclude the broadcast with ‘that’s all for Monday’ and departing words of ‘good night’ both of these lines help the viewer conclude that the broadcast of the ‘news’ that they just watched was screened live.

If the ‘news’ strays from these genre conventions for example, reporting from the scene, looking directly at the camera, providing news for the people and remaining ‘live’. It could ruin the viewer’s perception of the news that is being delivered to them. The news is broadcast at the same times every day, 12 noon, 4.30 pm, 6 pm and 10.25 pm with exceptions for breaking news stories, and stories of great importance (TVNZ). Other forms of television do not always have to stick to these conventions to be successful, with most utilizing the advances in recording equipment and being pre-recorded. However, as Grisprud states, failures in this equipment, for instance, technical problems or atmospheric interference have often caused the viewers to question the ‘liveness’ of the pre-recorded broadcast as it disrupts the ‘illusion’.

While over the years television has evolved with the improvements to recording and broadcasting equipment allowing more and more programs to be pre-recorded. Certain genres, in the case of this clip, the news have tried keep the ‘liveness’ aesthetic. Employing many strategies to come across as live, the news has stuck to these genre conventions to remain ‘factual’ and accurate. While other genres such as horror use ‘liveness’ in other ways to try to put the viewer into the perspective of them being in the place of the protagonist.

Works Cited

Chion, Micheal. Audio-Vision. New York: Columbia Universtiy Press, 1994.

Gripsrud, Jostein. "Television, Broadcasting, Flow,: Key Metaphors in TV Theory." Geraghty, Christine and David Lusted. The Television Studies Book. London: Arnold, 1998. 17-32.

ONE News at 6 - January 17, 2011. YouTube. Web Video. Jan 19, 2011. < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djWZcgKLniE&feature=player_embedded>

Schirato, Tony, et al. Understanding Media Studies. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2010.

TVNZ. One News Coverage Times - Christchurch Earthquake. 22 Febuary 2011. 9 May 2011 <http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1102/S00774/one-news-coverage-times-christchurch-earthquake.htm>.

Word Count -1361

A Dowloaders Tale.

2011-05-03T17:30:00.000-07:00

A Downloaders Tale.

As i will explain in an overzelous, highly opinionated, one sided, fan obseesionistic way, there is a good reason for downloading. Well that is the message i hope to portray. There are a few different reasons for downloading, release dates, money issuses and a general disregard for the effort and money that has been put into the creation of the thing downlaoded.

The New Zealand release dates for many of my favorite Television shows is the main reason i download. Take for Example, Chuck, The release date of each new episode, is many months after it has screened in the US. Due to this long wait many resort to downloading or watching it via the internet. A more appropriate example may be the recent series of Doctor Who, due to be screened here on the 7th of may,even though the first episode screened in the England on the 23rd of April. Although this may seem like a relativley short wait when compared to the wait for "Chuck" with the acsess to mass media via the internet, due to things like Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia (hell even having friends overseas) makes avoiding spoilers for the shows very difficult. (Doctor Who was A Twitter Trend in the days leading up to its Airing) While the argument could be that i simply avoid it, that is something much easier said than done.

For Example, My facebook news feed and friends list contains friends from New Zealand and many other countires around the world, with practically all of these screening Doctor Who before New Zealand and due to the nature of the internet these days, many of these people began to post updates giving away the most of the plot details, to be honest I have no idea. What this is similar to is going into an test with the answers given to you. It removes the vital aspect of the show, the enjoyment factor (I am in no way saying tests are enjoyable). Even though I download the episodes, I will still follow up and buy them when they are released on DVD after which i delete the downloaded files from my computer.

Downloading TV shows and movies is quite differnet. While TV shows often are screened on free-tp-air channels (I .e Doctor Who on the BBC in England) you will usually have to pay to see a movie, meaning every time a movie is illegially downloaded, money is being lost (This happens to TV shows when people don't buy the DVD sets upon release). Due to the technological advances it has become far easier to simply go to the movies, record it and then distribute it via the internet. With the most popular generating thousands upon thousands of downloads (Fast Five, Source Code). This way however, is very sloppy, with the quality of these downloads being very low, although this does little to deter people. In countires in America and England, where the montly internet caps are a lot higher then New Zealand (200gb or unlimited plans, oppose to 60gb) internet piracy is a worse problem, I know people who claim to have stacks of hard drives full of movies, music and television shows.

While i admit to downloading movies in the past, In recent times I have taken up paying to go to the movies (Thank you Student ID Card). Not only do I find this far more enjoyable than simply downloading and watching on my TV, it is giving back to the companies that produced them allowing for more movies to be produced, developed and made. However, there still are movies which I do but upon release I will still pay to see (if it's good), for example, I have followed the movie 'Paul' through it's various stages of development.I am unsure of the exact date of release in England, but in the days following, there had been a low quality version posted to one of the most popular torrent website (Not named for my own reasons), i obtained this copy, but only because the release date for New Zealand, had not been confirmed (With some of my favorite movies never getting a release in New Zealand, i felt the need). I watched, and in deed, was suitably impressed by the movie, i like ever aspect of it, casting, production, setting, story line and the way it was written. But what this did not give me was the experiance of going to the movies to watch it. Once the release date for 'Paul' was announced, i made plans to go and watch it. after which i deleted the horrible quality 'Cam version'. I will also follow up this by buying the DVD when it is released.

While i do donwload my favorite TV shows, i will also buy the Box set's upon release and even though I download movies, I will follow it up buy usually going to see them in the movies and eventually buying the DVD. I think downloadig becomes a problem when these things do not take place.

Authors added bit.
I would like to follow thing up by breifly touching on downloading music. I reccomend downloading music, but only if it is mainstream, i reccomened illegially downloading Lady Gaga, Justin Beiber, Katy Perry and Kanye West, but only to have the satisfaction of deleteing them.

Authors Notes,
I got reall bored waiting for a lecture and decided to formulate an opinion on something, i came to the conclusion that Downloading, whcih has features heavily in the news would be a good focus for it. I do't expect many, or any to agree with me, as it may come across as just an Opinion and nothing more. It is not really academic, however it is written in such a way, if i get more time, i may come back and reference it to provide proof for that i mean. Although a lot is factuall as it is, i felt i didnt need a reference because it was from my own personal knowledge.

MDIA 103 Assignment #1 - "Popular media culture" Part 2

2011-04-10T19:35:00.001-07:00

The British version of Skins is a teenage drama that attempts to accurately portray teenage life in current day Britain. The Second Generation which was screened on the English channel E4 ran from 2009 till 2010 (IMDB). Each generation of Skins lasts for two seasons, and attempts to represent a different aspect of different teenager’s lives the second generation attempted to represent things like sexuality, school, drugs and sex.

What a representation is, according to Branston and Stafford, is always a construction, a re-presentation, rather than a mirror, or a clear ‘window on the real’ (Branston and Stafford, 1). It also aims to get the viewer to feel like they are having an “experience rather than having a view of the world simply presented to them” (2). The way this is portrayed in television, especially in Skins, is by showing actors representing real life scenarios through their characters. Skins tried to do this by showing us a teenage representation of sexuality. The second generation characters of “Katie Fitch and Naomi Campbell” (E4.com) are portrayed in the first season as curious with their sexuality. Then throughout the course of season one and subsequent season two they continue to explore their sexuality and finally embrace and come to terms with it towards the end of their characters time on the show. This may present the viewer with an experience by presenting the notion that sexuality is not something that has to be universal and people do experiment.

Another representation of teenage life given to us on Skins is age in the form of teenagers. What Skins tries to show is an accurate depiction of teenage life. By showing the second generation go through ‘6^th form’ at roundview college (E4.com) Skins is showing a representation of a typical teenagers life as in the majority of teenagers go to school this may also give a teenage viewer the experience of what a different school may be. During skins there is also a portrayal of drug experimentation, once again giving the representation that many teenagers experiment with drugs. Although giving this representation may be enough of an experience for some people meaning less people try drugs as a direct result of seeing it depicted in Skins.

The Audience response to Skins and its representations could vary dependant on the person and their experiences who is viewing the text. Somebody who might be able to relate to the representations could be somebody in a homosexual relationship or are curious about such things, even just a teenager going through the stages of growing up. For example trying their first cigarette or first drug experience or just losing their virginity, things that are all represented by the show. All of these are themes in Skins including drug use, depression and mental illness including suicide and also binge drinking and sex. However, if the viewer is an older viewer who has not had these experiences, or didn’t have them because the times were different back then, it would be harder to understand the meanings behind these themes even if you understood why Skins is trying to show them. A negative response to Skins may also be somebody who is a member of a specific social group or religion which may be against sex, drugs and drinking leading to a negative response to the representation, maybe even an oppositional stance towards Skins.

Throughout the 4^th season, second season of the second generation. The main theme in Skins is one of overcoming mental illness and friendship (E4.com). An audience response to this may be different to one of an image of sex and drinking. During the season, one of the characters starts to become reliant on drugs and starts to slide into a state of depression, towards the end of the season it shows what her friends are willing to help her with to overcome this. A viewer may see this and know of a person in a similar position.

In Skins, with a focus on the second generation, there is representations of teenage life in the form of sexuality and age. This is shown by the main stars being teenagers acting as a representation o teenagers growing up and facing the struggles and challenges of teenage life. The reaction of the public towards the text depends on the audience, for example there may be different responses to the text, with teenagers viewing the text differently to an adult because of the different experiences that individual had.

Reference List

Branston, Gill and Gill Stafford. "Representations." Branston, Gill and Gill Stafford. The Media Students Handbook. 5th ed. London: Routledge, 2010. 1-23.

E4.com. Skins. 1 January 2011. 10 April 2011 <http://www.e4.com/skins/the-gang/series3.html>.

IMDB. Skins. 1 January 2011. 10 April 2011 <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0840196/>.

MDIA 103 Assignment #1 - "Popular media culture"

2011-04-10T19:31:00.000-07:00

The Big Bang theory is an American based “Sitcom” (Situation comedy) with its first episode screening in late 2007 (IMDB). It has since gone on to be shown worldwide. This is one of the reasons The Big Bang Theory qualifies as “Popular Media Culture”. It has picked up numerous awards for both the actors involved and the show itself and it has been renewed many times by the company that produces the show. The of the definitions of popular media culture given by Williams are something that is “Well-liked by many people”, “Inferior kinds of work” and “Work deliberately setting out to win favour with the people” (Storey, 5) using these definitions we can place The Big Bang Theory under the label of popular media culture.

This text fits into the definition “Well-liked by many people” (5) because of the awards the show and actors have been awarded, with many of them having been a people’s choice award, meaning that the public has had a say in the result of the outcome. Something that is normally reserved for the best of popular media. To reach this point a text has to be first accepted by the public, in this case it has spread worldwide being screened in many different countries.

The Big Bang Theory also fits the Williams definition of popular media culture “inferior kinds of work” by not being what is classed as “high culture” (Storey) as in that it is not something considered by the masses to be out of reach. An example of this would be the opera or going to the theatre. It is because of this the text is classed as popular media culture by Storey. As it is what is left over after we have decided what is high culture (6) meaning that it is not a live performance as the way many view the text if from their own home.

The Big Bang Theory is made by the people for the people. We can tell this because it is filmed in front of a studio audience and created with comedy as its main priority (CBS). Its main source of comedy is the interlinking between the characters, and their struggles as scientists to come to terms with their social lives when different scenarios begin to arise when they start to socialise with different social groups, something they are not usually very good at (CBS), helping many people to feel a connection between their own lives and the show’s characters, especially the viewers who may not be very good in social situations or at disrupting/changing a daily routine.

The cultural citizenship qualities that The Big Bang theory exhibits are similar to the ones that qualify it for popular media culture, for example the nomination and public voting of The Big Bang Theory to win awards. The definition we are given of cultural citizenship by Hermes is: “Cultural citizenship can be defined as the process of bonding and community building, and reflection on that bonding” (Hermes, 21). The public voting and its subsequent winning of awards help to create a sense of belonging between the show and the public. However how popular culture makes bonding easier has been left out of the definition given to us by Hermes (10) one of the main reasons it has become easier is the access to popular culture, with the internet allowing almost instant access to anything. According to Hermes popular culture is blurring the differences between the public and private lives of the stars and the show. This is also being achieved through the internet, with social networking sites and fan pages allowing access where it normally would not be allowed. The actors have also made appearances at comic con in America, allowing more public access to the actors (Blast Magazine).

The Big Bang Theory shows us that it is “popular media culture” and has signs of cultural citizenship. We can see this by either by viewing the text or by looking on the homepage for the show. When compared to the definitions given to us we can come to the conclusion that it has been deemed popular through the winning of awards and the community/ public discussion boards it has spawned by the producers to renew it for another season each time the previous one concludes.

Word Count – 685

Reference List

Blast Magazine. Comic-Con 2009: The Big Bang Theory. 25 July 2009. 10 April 2011 <http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/comic-con-2009-the-big-bang-theory/>.

CBS. The Big Bang Theory: Community. 1 January 2011. 10 April 2011 <http://www.cbs.com/primetime/big_bang_theory/community/>.

Hermes, Joke. “Introduction: popular culture/cultural citizenship.” Hermes, Joke. Re-reading Popular Culture: Rethinking Gender, Television and Popular Media Audiences. Malden: Blackwell, 2005. 1-17.

IMDB. The Big Bang Theory. 1 January 2011. 10 April 2011 <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0898266/>.

Storey, John. “What is popular culture?” Storey, John. Clutural Theory and Popular culture: An Introduction. 5th Ed. Portland: Book News, Inc, 2009. 1-15.

Winter Esential Listening

2011-04-05T17:51:00.000-07:00

Keeping in line with my summer essential listening i am creating my list of what i think should be on iPods this winter, All suggestions shall acompanied by Youtube Clips (when aplicable)
I will also try to vary the genre of music when i can, as i am aware that many people do not like dubstep and drum and bass.

We are going to start off with an appropriatly named song for the winter -

London Elektricity (feat Elsa Esmeralda) - Elektricity Will Keep Me Warm (Acoutstic Version

Forthcoming on London Elektricity's Yikes! album, his a brilliant track, the original version has been translated into french, sweedish and spanish (all sung by Elsa). This is a track that will be high up on ym most played this winter.

For all you hospital heads out there, (i think it is only me?) i have this.

Rusko - Everyday (Netsky Remix)

Netsky is pretty much the best thing to come out of Belgium since i left it when i visited on holiday. This Rusko track was great to being with, but Netsky comes out and Makes it just that much better, I anticipate this one to be Big.

For a change of genre now -

Chipmink (Ft. Chris Brown) - Champion

Okay so this is not my usual style of music, but i have listened to this a few times and i started to enjoy it, it is a pretty good feel good track, and has a pretty good bass line to it. Has been out a while, and was posted to my facebook a while back so i think many of you will have heard it but it is still worth another go.

Another swtich up -

Hollywood Undead - Hear Me Now

Coming off their new album - American tragedy. This sogng is a brillint mix betwen genres, the whole album varies with the style of music, their last album Swan Songs was featured on my top 25 most played about 6 times for around 4 months after i bought it, their style is very diverse and even if this song is not for you there will be somethnig on the album. Follow up with Been to hell aswell.

Something for everyone now -

Katy B - Katy On a Mission

No iPod shall be complete without her this winter, her voice is perfect, the tune is amazing and the video is sumblime, there is little wrong with this song (possibly the ending but they have a replay buttn on youtube) Follow it up with Broken Record, Or lights On for maximum exposure.

English Music near its finest -

Professor Green (ft maverick Sabre) - Jungle

Yet to meet a person who dislikes this song, Pro Greens music style is also quite diverse. With a new album on the horizon and a nationwie tour of the Uk currently underway he is showcasing new music off the album, although this is off the previous one "Allive Till I'm Dead" it is still a great tune.

Yet another English Track -

Devlin (Ft. yasmin) - Runaway

The song speaks for it's self.

I suppose no music list would be complete without a brilliant Cover -

Friday - Rebeca Black (Matt Muholland Cover)

Taking a really terrible song and salvaging it, turning the crappy electro/autotune poppy crap and turn it into a work of art, big up Matt.

back to Dubstep i think i think -

Flux Pavillion - Bass Cannon

Taking the English carts by storm one spot at a time. When this tune was dropped at Sandwidges the place went nuts, it's a big tune that is driving the popularity of dubstep to new levels,
Also good by FP are - His Cracks Remix and His Gold Dust Remix

Back To English Music -

Plan B - She Said

I cannot remember if this featured on my summer essential listening list. But i don't care, it is a quality song.
Taken from his album "the defamation of Strickland Banks" it was the first single released and introduces him as a "soul singer" a massive change rom "Who needs actions when you got words" while his next album "the ballard od belmarsh" will be going back to his old style Plan B is showing mad diversity, big resect.

A brilliant mainstream tune -

Mumford and sons - Little Lion Man

Smashing onto the scene with this big tune, Mumford and sons are smashing it, even though it could be labled as "mainstream" i still love it, Having also jst released "the Cave" i forsee these guys being on the scene for a while to come yet.

For you Soppy Romantics -

Bruno Mars - Grenade

I just can't bring myself to describe this. Sorry

The Jack Adams highschool hit (more like primary school but whatever)

The Bloodhound Gang - The bad Touch

Have to go all the way back to 1999 for the release of this little beauty, rememerd most for the line 'Doing it baby like they do on the discovery channel" this tune is this seasons primary school hit.

Little Bit of Eminem Now -

Dr. Dre - I Need A Doctor (Explicit) ft. Eminem, Skylar Grey

A song featuring Eminem rapping about the respect he has for Dre because of him giving Em the change to become something.
The video, i think signifies the restoration of Dre's carrer shunning of the haters.
Haters Gonna Hate

and Finally The song that hasn't moved from the top spot of my itunes most played in over a year

Chase and Status (Ft. Plan B) - End Credits

Quite possibly my favrite song of all time! Yet to meet a person who doesnt like this song!

Reader Suggestions

Coming in all the way from Holland with this one,

Nero - Me & You (Dirtyphonics Remix)

I had forgotten about this one, Shot Roel!!. Dirtyphonics are smashing the European scene, their song vandals is still a top place holder in my top 25 most played.

My MDIA 101 Assignment 1 - Close Analysis

2011-03-31T20:35:00.001-07:00

Jack Adams

MIDA Assignment 1 – Close Analysis

The picture that will be the focus of this close analysis is the Vodaphone cell phone that is pictured above, it was taken next to the Porirua motorway on ramp and it was located on the side of advising potential Vodaphone customers that with this cell phone company you will get more ‘bars’ of signal. The fence poles are also an iconic reception of the bars on a cell phone, which get taller as the reception gets better.

The area surrounding this advertisement is an office block of which the ground floor is also a gymnasium. The photo was taken from the rear side of the office block where the recycling bins are located as well as the office car parking block, by having this advertisement placed on the side of this building by the motorway on ramp, (Not depicted due to the trees) Vodaphone is trying to get the maximum amount of coverage to the cell phones users in the area. However, having an advertisement near rubbish or recycling bins may have an adverse effect on who views it, as the area where the bins of an office block are not frequented by most people and could possibly lead people who have seen the advert in this context to conclude that there is possibly a link between Vodaphone and ‘Rubbish’.

If you know the background of cell phone companies in

New Zealand

you know that Telecoms XT network has had many problems with the third generation (3G as depicted on the advertisement) reception and signal since its release. This advert for Vodaphone is playing on that knowledge to try to get your custom it is also playing on this knowledge is trying to remind you that Vodaphone has not had the problems that have plagued the XT network.

The fence poles that are shown in the images are shown on what we can assume is a field possibly on a farm somewhere in

New Zealand

, due to the context of the advert, getting more bars (reception) it may be assumed it is farmland. This might be playing on the desires of some farmers to get better reception when they are not in the cities. The fence poles themselves are depicted in a row, but the way they are photographed is iconic of the bars of signal on a cell phone. What this iconic image is playing on is your knowledge of a cell phone and how the more bars you have represents the better signal as you notice with the image it represents five bars, on a cell phone having five bars of signal is known as having full signal this show that with Vodaphone you will receive also full reception, even when you are not in the inner cities and located in places like the farm that is depicted. The clear skies that are also depicted could be interpreted as an ideal view of the world with many New Zealanders loving the sunshine, by depicting this advert with a sunny day Vodaphone is appealing to that ideal.

The text itself says “Boost your 3G bars at home”, “Search Vodaphone boost your bars” and “power to you” with the Vodaphone logo pictured above. What the text is trying to accomplish is selling you the Vodaphone ideal. What it is also telling us is that with Vodaphone you will get more Bar’s (Signal). ‘Power to you’ in this context is giving us the impression that with this company and not with a rival one you will be more in control. By knowing that Telecom has had problems, Vodaphone is hoping that your knowledge of this will help you to buy into their company.

To better understand this advertisement you need to have a basic knowledge of Vodaphone for instance knowing they are a cell phone company; 3G is an acronym that it stands for Third Generation a ‘cell phone network’ and that ‘bars’ represents, in this context, the amount of signal a cell phone is receiving. Without this knowledge the advert would not appeal to you. What these understandings tried to do is work together to convince you, in the brief moments you see the advertisement is that Vodaphone is the best, or tries to be the best, cell phone company and provider in

New Zealand

The preferred reader, or the person who this advertisement is appealing to would be a farmer, because of the wide open space we can conclude is a farm, anyone who has had problems with reception on a 3G network in the past (The XT customers mentioned before) or anyone who is interested in joining a new 3g network.

The Vodaphone image that is depicted above is one that is trying to sell you into their company, you being a cell phone user, possibly a farmer, due to the context of the image. It is clear from the image that it is also playing on your knowledge of cell phones, depicting the poles in the manner of a cell phone signal bar. Vodaphone is also trying to play on the knowledge most New Zealanders have about the failure of the XT network on many occasions. In summary Vodaphone has used a clever mix of text and images to play on the knowledge of New Zealanders to sell their brand.

English Lit 117 Assignment #1

2011-03-13T13:32:00.000-07:00

ASSIGNMENT SHEET.

Topic: 

To what extent does each of the following excerpts qualify as a narrative according to H. Porter Abbott’s definition? Your answer should consider both “narrative units” and “narrative wholes”, and the relationship between the two. Use Abbott’s discussion in chapters 1, 2 and 3 to support your assessment.

Example A

Communal cultivation could allow for capital investments in improvements without sacrificing the interests of commoners. There was land enough to maintain ten times the present population, abolish begging and crime, and make England the ‘first of nations.’

This was the programme which Winstanley conceived in the cruel winter of 1648-9. It seemed to him so novel and so important that he attributed it to a divine command. The vision he had in a trance told him to declare abroad his message […] Winstanley’s conclusion, that communal cultivation of the commons was the crucial question, the starting-point from which common people from all over England could build up an equal community, was absolutely right […] Collective cultivation of the waste by the poor could have had the advantages of large-scale cultivation, planned development, use of fertilizers, etc. […] The Diggers sowed their land with carrots, parsnips and beans - crops of the sort which were to transform English agriculture in the seventeenth century by making it possible to keep cattle alive throughout the winter in order to fertilize the land.

Example B

For two people you will need two pieces of salmon weighing about 175g each. Bring enough water to cover the fish to the boil, salt it generously. Turn it down to a simmer. Shudder would be more accurate. Slide in the fish, and cook for 3 minutes. Press the salmon with your finger; it should be firm rather than squashy and should be opaque. If not, cook it for another minute and test again. Remove the fillets with a fish slice and drain, briefly, on a tea towel or kitchen paper. Place on a warm plate and serve with tiny new potatoes and whatever takes your fancy.

Example C

LORD ILLINGWORTH: You have grown hard, Rachel.

MRS ARBUTHNOT: I was too weak once. It is well for me that I have changed.

LORD ILLINGWORTH: I was very young at the time. We men know life too early.

MRS ARBUTHNOT: And we women know life too late. That is the difference between women and men.

[A pause]

LORD ILLINGWORTH: Rachel, I want my son. My money may be of no use to him now. I may be of no use to him, but I want my son. Bring us together, Rachel. You can do it if you choose (Sees letter on table)

MRS ARBUTHNOT: There is no room in my boy’s life for you. He is not interested in you.

LORD ILLINGWORTH: Then why does he write to me?

MRS ARBUTHNOT: What do you mean?

LORD ILLINGWORTH: What letter is this?

Takes up letter

MRS ARBUTHNOT: That - is nothing. Give it to me.

LORD ILLINGWORTH: It is addressed to me.

MRS ARBUTHNOT: You are not to open it. I forbid you to open it.

LORD ILLINGWORTH: And in Gerald’s handwriting.

MY ASIGNMENT

Abbott describes a narrative in his 2008 book The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative as being “the representation of an event or a series of events” (Abbott 13). He also gives us a definition of micro and whole narratives. For a sentence to be a micro narrative, also known as narrative units, an event has to be described; in Abbott’s book the example “I fell down” (Abbott 1) is used. For a text to be a narrative whole, also known as macro narratives, the text in its entirety has to represent an event. For the examples given this text will try to determine if each contains micro narratives or is a narrative whole.

“Example A”, is not a narrative whole by Abbott’s definition because “the presence of a narrative in a text does not qualify the text as a whole as narrative” (Abbott 34) and because only some sentences like “The diggers sowed their land with carrots, parsnips and beans…” and “The vision he had in a trance told him to declare abroad his message” represent an event while the majority of the text is presenting an idea. Had the second example sentence, from “Example A”, only been –The vision he had in a trance- would not have been a narrative because like abbots example “My dog has fleas” (Abbott 13) nothing happens. However, with the addition of “told him to declare abroad his message” the sentence becomes a narrative because it tells us of an event.

“Example B” is a recipe, which in its current form is simply just a list of events. However, if the way the text is written so that it is an account of the person making the meal, for instance, Changing “Turn it down to a simmer” to I then turned it down so the fish could simmer, it would become a micro narrative. While the text is in its original form there is no micro narratives present therefore it is not a narrative whole.

“Example C” is an excerpt from a script, where two characters are having a discussion. Although the script is describing the scene and what is happening and by using dramatic conventions to describe what is happening, for example both “(Sees letter on the Table)” and “[A Pause]” use brackets, and italics to represent the action of the person doing. However, because the script is more telling us a story of two people’s conversation and because we have no context of why this conversation is taking place the text is not a narrative whole.

From the given texts, there is no narrative wholes but both “Examples A and C” contain narrative units/micro narratives. Whereas, “Example B” does not have any micro narratives and is not a narrative whole as a complete text, however, if it was changed to recount a person’s experience of making the meal it would be comes a narrative.

Reference List

Abbott, H. Porter. “The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative.” Abbot, H. Porter. The Camridge Intoduction to Narrative. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Final Essay Draft - Freegans - Freeing the world or Freeloaders.

2011-02-10T14:37:00.000-08:00

Freegans – Freeing the world or Freeloaders.

What is the freegan movement about?

Freegans and their movement freeganism is done by using the methods of dumpster diving, curb shopping, freecyling and freemarkets using these methods freegans have also been labelled scavengers. While being criticized for removing resources from those that need it the most, freeganism is a way of protesting the economic system in the world for example consumerism and how it effects people.

According to a New York Times journalist the word freegan is a joining of the words “free” and “vegan” (Kurutz, 2007). Freegans, for the most part, are people who find different ways of living to protest against the worldwide economy and also to limit their consumption of resources, they also adopt shared goal against what they call “A society based on materialism” as well as trying to encourage people to live life with goodness and decency (Freegan.info, 2008). While the word vegan is part of the term “Freegan” freegans are not bound to the vegan diet meaning anything they do recover they can eat (Thomas, 2010).

Recovering goods that are thrown away into rubbish bins and dumpsters has led to freegans often being called “Dumpster Divers” (Freegan.info, 2008). There are also other common practices employed by freegans, for example co-operative living, which is where people live together in the same residence and share the expenses and duties. Other examples are “freecycling”, which is when one individual passes an unneeded item onto somebody who has use for it (Freecycle.net, 2011), “curb shopping” which can refer to anyone who has picked up an item from the roadside and has put it to use (Curb Shopping, 2008). Curb shopping is very common at the end of University and college trimesters, when many students find it cheaper or more efficient to leave things behind rather than take them home with them. Freegans have also created markets called “Freemarkets”, when people to swap or trade their items that no longer have use to them, but may have uses for others (Freegan.info, 2008). This practice also happens at “freestores” and on “Freecycle” (Freecycle.net, 2011).

Freegans claim that there is a difference to what they do, opposed to being a scavenger. However, a scavenger as defined by Google dictionary, is somebody who “who searches for and collects discarded items” (Google Dictionary, 2011). While freegans employ this technique and fill this definition they state that due to the “throwaway culture” (Freegan.info, 2008) we live in, they are merely reducing the garbage pollution on the world. The New York Times tells us that a scavenger is merely “stitching a life from the scraps of others” which includes rummaging through the landfills for scraps of food to survive this is common in third world countries (Kohut, 2010).

Freegans are often criticised for removing resources such as food, clothes and shelter that could be used to by poor or homeless people. There have also been claims that some freegans advocate shoplifting and employee theft, a claim they defend by saying it is okay to take their items because they are taking your time and energy (Freegan.info, 2008). They also combat this claim by saying that it is more a “direct attack on the store selling the goods, not the produce … and to always let your conscience be your guide” (Freegan.info, 2008). Vegans, part of the freegan name, criticise freegans for it being only a label or pretension not an actual diet (Word IQ, 2010).

While some consider dumpsters to be dirty, freegans use them to find what can be a pile of endless resources. Dumpster diving can provide meals, entertainment and a way of helping to reduce waste, thus making people feel better about themselves and the community they are residing in (Corbett, 2010). As Dumpster diving can be a messy and smelly procedure there are certain etiquettes put in place to make the process more hygiene friendly. For example, it is advised that people partaking in dumpster diving wear gloves and old clothing, clean up after they have finished, do not cross fences or “no trespassing” signs to reach dumpsters, leave confidential records and you only take what you can or will use so there is more for others (Rush, 2006). Curb shopping also has an etiquette, check the local laws to see if it is legal, wear gloves and old clothing and only take what you can use and if you are unsure as to whether something is trash or not, just knock on the door and ask politely (Huffstetler, 2008).

Although the law about dumpster diving is vague it can be in some countries against the law. Theft, as defined by the United Kingdom’s 1968 theft act, is dishonestly obtaining property that belongs to another person (Parliament of the United Kingdom, 1968). Freegans however, state that because the items are abandoned by their owner and no longer hold value to them, it is no longer theft (Thomas, 2010). Abandonment is described in one article, as one person leaving possession of an item and having no intention of putting another item in its place (Pollock & Wright, 1888). Because reclaiming items through dumpster diving or curb shopping does not include money changing hands and a legal transaction does not take place questions over the ownership can arise (Thomas, 2010). However, when a dumpster is near to a “no trespassing” sign or fence you can be arrested (Freegan.info, 2008).

The most common area for “dumpster diving” is in the bins of retail stores, supermarkets and restaurants. In the United Kingdom it is estimated, that in 2005, 17 million tonnes of food was dumped by the larger supermarket chains, this is because it is cheaper and easier to dispose of it rather than donate it (Buzby, 2009). Food is often wasted when it is, out of shape, bruised, dented, out of date, past its sell by date or even when food is merely surplus (Martin, 2008). There have been cases of restaurants and supermarkets pouring bleach into the waste to stop it being obtained and used without purchase (Shantz, 2005). It is this wasted food that freegans say could help feed the poor and hungry (Freegan.info, 2008). According to the World Hunger Education Service as of 2010 there are 925 million hungry people around the world with 578 million in the Asia – Pacific region alone (2010). It is estimated that each year, 5.4 million tonnes of food, that is still edible, is thrown away in British households (Skidelsky, 2009). Freegans challenge the fact that the basics of life food, clothing and shelter are being wasted when it should be a basic human right for everyone (Freegan.info, 2008). Since 1974, the food waste produced in America alone has increased by 50 percent and that approximately 40 percent of all food produced is wasted (Humphries, 2010).

According to one freegan article we live in a world where people are only out to create profit and that people are influenced by advertising telling them to replace goods that might be working fine with new items (Freegan.info, 2008). This is called “consumerism”, freegans say that almost every product we buy has a hidden cost abuse of all living things and the planet itself, and that foraging and “dumpster diving” avoids being wasteful consumers. The freegan movement is also to “politically challenge the injustice of allowing vital resources to be wasted” (Freegan.info, 2008). Freegans also help reduce the waste in the many landfills and incinerators by finding new life for used goods. Shantz tells us that consumerism encourages the poor and working people’s earnings to be distributed upward to corporations and that “dumpster divers” are looking to stem the upward flow of this income (Shantz, 2005).

There are few materials opposing the freegans and their movement, and those that are available did not hold the required substance to be used in this text. However, whenever people think of going through bins for food they usually think of the health risks that come with it as dumpsters are not the most user friendly environment. Many would normally find it difficult to understand why people would eat food that came from them. However, through this essay it has been shown that there is much more to being a freegan than just eating out of bins. For example, squatting is considered by most to be a disrespectful way of living but it is advocated and even encouraged by the freegan movement. While many squatters ruin the residence they live in freegans will try revamping the residence or even attempt to turn it into a community centre (Freegan.info, 2008). Freegans also argue that because things like food, shelter and clothing are basic human necessities we should not have to pay for them.

The freegan movement is one that also one day hopes to make itself redundant. As it’s over all goal is to reduce the waste the world produces, by doing this they remove their own way of life, having no waste thrown away means they can no longer reclaim it and put it to new use. It remains to be seen if this will happen and what will happen to the freegan movement if and when it does, will the future allow freegans to reach their goal they merge back into a consumerism way of life? Would there be any options left open to them? Or would everything have become free? All this remains to be seen as it is difficult to stipulate what the future holds for freegans.

The freegan movement is one that is that is in protest of the world’s economic system and the waste the world produces. It is through practices like dumpster diving and curb shopping that they reclaim items they say are fine. If they do not use them these items get distributed to others on web pages such as freecylce or at freemarkets. While questions may arise about the legality of these practices freegans have found ways around them and have even put etiquettes in place to make it easier. It is the author’s belief that over the coming years, with the steady increase in the price of food, shelter and clothing freegans will gain more support and grow eventually reaching their goal, a world where people are not driven by profit and consumerism.

Word Count - 1702

Reference List

Buzby, J. C. (2009, March 20). Supermarket Loss Estimates for Fresh Fruit, Vegetables, Meat, Poultry, and Seafood and Their Use in the ERS Loss-Adjusted Food Availability Data. Retrieved Febuary 2011, 2011, from Economic Research Service: http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/eib44/

Corbett, J. (2010, january 1). "Dumpster Diving" for Fun and Profit. . Retrieved January 23, 2011, from TheLivingweb.net: http://www.thelivingweb.net/dumpster_diving_for_fun_and_profit.html

Curb Shopping. (2008, August 12). Curb Shopping. Retrieved January 23, 2011, from www.curbshopping.com: http://www.curbshopping.com/

Eco Knight. (2006). EcoTips for All . Retrieved December 12, 2010, from Eco Knight: http://www.ecoknight.co.uk/ecotipsforall.htm

Freecycle.net. (2011, January 22). How to Freecycle. Retrieved January 22, 2011, from freecycle.net: http://www.freecycle.net/

Freegan.info. (2008, January 1). Dumpster diving and the law. Retrieved January 23, 2011, from Freegan.info: http://freegan.info/what-is-a-freegan/freegan-practices/urban-foraging/diving-and-the-law/

Freegan.info. (2008, January 1). Freegan Practices. Retrieved January 23, 2011, from Freegan.info: http://freegan.info/what-is-a-freegan/freegan-practices/

Freegan.info. (2008, January 1). What is Freeganism? Retrieved January 19, 2011, from Freegan.info: http://freegan.info/

Google Dictionary. (2011, January 1). scav·eng·er . Retrieved January 22, 2011, from Google Dictionary: http://www.google.com/dictionary?langpair=en|en&q=Scavenger&hl=en&aq=f

Huffstetler, E. (2008, January 1). How to Curb Shop. Retrieved january 23, 2011, from e how: http://www.ehow.com/how_2127337_curb-shop.html

Humphries, J. (2010, March 4). The impact of domestic food waste on climate change. Retrieved January 23, 2011, from Next Generation: http://www.nextgenerationfood.com/news/looking-at-food-waste/

Inside Out - Yorkshire & Lincolnshire. (2005, Febuary 21). SUPERMARKET LANDFILLS. Retrieved January 22, 2011, from Inside Out: http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/yorkslincs/series7/supermarket_landfills.shtml

Kohut, M. (2010, 1 January). New York Times. Retrieved Febuary 9, 2011, from Meridith Kohut: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/09/18/world/americas/0919VENEZ.html

Kurutz, S. (2007, June 21). Not Buying It. Retrieved January 19, 2011, from New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/21/garden/21freegan.html

Martin, A. (2008, May 18). One Country’s Table Scraps, Another Country’s Meal. Retrieved January 23, 2011, from New York Times.

Parliament of the United Kingdom. (1968, 26 July). Theft Act 1968. Retrieved January 23, 2011, from www.legislation.gov.uk: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/60/pdfs/ukpga_19680060_en.pdf

Pollock, F., & Wright, R. S. (1888). Possesion in the common law. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Rush, E. (2006, Febuary 1). Skip Dipping in Australia. Retrieved Febuary 11, 2011, from Australia Institute Webpaper February 2006: https://www.tai.org.au/documents/downloads/WP85.pdf

Shantz, j. (2005). One Person's Garbage...Another Person's Treasure: Dumpster Diving, Freeganism, And Anarchy. VERB , 9-19.

Skidelsky, W. (2009, July 19). The freegans' creed: waste not, want not. Retrieved January 23, 2011, from The Observer: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jul/19/freegan-environment-food

Thomas, D. S. (2010, January 6). Do freegans commit theft? Retrieved December 12, 2010, from Wiley: Online Libary: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1748-121X.2009.00142.x/full

Willhite, N. (2011, January 1). Dumpster Diving. Retrieved January 23, 2011, from All Things Frugal: http://www.allthingsfrugal.com/dumpster.htm

Word IQ. (2010). Freegan - Definition . Retrieved December 12, 2010, from Word IQ: http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Freegan

World Hunger Education Service. (2010, November 14). World Hunger Education Service. Retrieved January 23, 2011, from World Hunger and Poverty Facts and Statistics 2010: http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/world%20hunger%20facts%202002.htm

Freeganism Essay Draft.

2011-01-25T20:36:00.001-08:00

The word freegan is a joining of the words “free” and “vegan” (Kurutz, 2007). Freegan’s, for the most part, are people who find different ways of living in protest of the worldwide economy and also partake in trying to limit their consumption of resources, they also adopt shared goal against what they call “A society based on materialism” as well as trying to encourage people to live life with goodness and decency (Freegan.info, 2008). While the word vegan is part of the term “Freegan” freegans are not bound to the vegan diet meaning anything they do recover they can eat (Thomas, 2010).

By recovering the goods that are thrown away into rubbish bins and dumpsters, goods that freegans say are safe (Freegan.info, 2008), freegans have often been called dumpster divers. Dumpster diving, or skip dipping if you dislike Americanisms, is the practice of recovering food and other items from bins or dumpsters. There are also other common practices employed by freegans. For example, co-operative living, which is where people live together in the same residence and share the expenses and duties. Other examples would be freecycling, which is when one individual passes an unneeded item onto somebody who has use for it (Freecycle.net, 2011) as well as curb shopping which can refer to anyone who has picked up an item from the roadside and put it to use (Curb Shopping, 2008). Curb shopping is very common at the end of University and college trimesters, when many students find it cheaper or more efficient to leave things behind rather than cart them home with them. Freegans have also created markets called “Freemarkets”, during these people come together to swap or trade their items that are no longer of use to them, but may have uses for others. (Freegan.info, 2008). This practice also happens at “freestores” and on “Freecycle”.

Freegans claim that there is a difference to what they do oppose to being a scavenger. However, a scavenger as defined by Google dictionary, is somebody who “who searches for and collects discarded items” (Google Dictionary, 2011). While freegans employ this technique and fill this definition they however, state that due to the “throwaway culture” (Freegan.info, 2008) we live in. They are merely reducing the garbage pollution on the world.

Although freegans are sometimes called scavengers and are also often criticized for it being a rich person’s lifestyle choice (Eco Knight, 2006), they are also criticised for removing resources, such as food, clothes and shelter that could be used to support poor or homeless people. There have also been claims that because freegans advocate shoplifting and employee theft, by saying that because they are stealing your time it is okay to take their stuff and that it is just cheaper. Freegans combat this stance by saying that it is a “direct attack on the store selling the goods, not the produce … always let your conscience be your guide” (Freegan.info, 2008). Vegans, part of the freegan name, criticise freegans for it being a label or pretension (Word IQ, 2010).

While some consider dumpsters to be dirty and disgusting, others use them to find what they say is a pile of treasure and other endless resources. Dumpster Diving can also provide some with meals, entertainment and for some it is a way of helping to reduce waste thus making themselves feel better about the community they are residing in (Corbett, 2010). As Dumpster diving can be a messy and smelly procedure there are certain etiquettes that have been put in place to make the process easier and more hygiene friendly. For example, it is advised that people partaking in dumpster diving clean up after they have finished, that you don’t cross fences or no trespassing signs to reach dumpsters, you leave peoples confidential records and you only take what you can or will use (Willhite, 2011). There is also an etiquette for curb shopping, always check the local laws to see if it legal, wear gloves and protective or old clothing and only take what you need or can use and if you are unsure as to whether something is trash or not, just knock on the door and ask politely (Huffstetler, 2008).

Although the law about dumpster diving is vague it can be, in some places, against the law. Theft, as defined by the 1968 theft act is dishonestly obtaining property that belongs to another person (Parliament of the United Kingdom, 1968). Freegans however, state that because the items are abandoned by their owner and no longer hold value to them, it is no longer theft (Thomas, 2010). Abandonment is described as one person leaving possession and having no intention of putting another in its place (Pollock & Wright, 1888). Because reclaiming items through dumpster diving or curb shopping doesn’t include money changing hands and a legal transaction doesn’t take place, questions over the ownership can arise (Thomas, 2010). However, when there is a dumpster near “no trespassing” signs or fences you can be ticketed. For example, the police have been known to ticket for littering or disorderly conduct (Freegan.info, 2008).

The most common area for dumpster diving is in the bins of retail stores, supermarkets and restaurants. In Britain it is estimated that in 2005 17 million tonnes of food was dumped by the larger supermarket chains this is because it is “cheaper and easier” (Inside Out - Yorkshire & Lincolnshire, 2005) to dispose of it rather than donate it. This is because food is often wasted when it is, out of shape, bruised, dented, out of date, past its sell by date or even when food is merely surplus (Martin, 2008).

It is this, wasted, food that freegans say could help feed the poor and hungry (Freegan.info, 2008). As of 2010 there are 925 million hungry people around the world (World Hunger Education Service, 2010) with 578 million in the Asia – Pacific region alone. It is estimated that each year, 5.4 million tonnes of food, that is still edible, is thrown away in British households (Skidelsky, 2009). Freegans say that they are out to challenge the fact that the basics of life food, clothing and shelter are being wasted (Freegan.info, 2008). Since 1974, the food waste produced in America has increased by 50 percent and that approximately 40 percent of all food produced in America is wasted (Humphries, 2010).

It is because of all this waste that freegans say we live in a world where people are only out to create profit and that people are influenced by advertising telling them to replace goods that might be working fine, with new ones. Freegans forage because they say that it avoids being wasteful consumers themselves and to “politically challenge the injustice of allowing vital resources to be wasted” (Freegan.info, 2008) and to reduce the waste in landfills and incinerators.

Critical Discussion

Whenever I think of going through bins for food I immediately think of the health implications involved. As dumpsters are not the most user friendly environment I found it difficult to fathom why people would eat food that came from them. However, throughout the essay and during the research proses I discovered that there is much more to being a freegan than just eating out of bins. Squatting, considered by most to be a disrespectful way of living is advocated and even encouraged by the freegan movement (Freegan.info, 2008), while many squatters may ruin the houses they live in most freegans will do on to revamp the house or even turn it into a community centre.

When it comes to the argument, freeing the world of freeloaders I find it hard to give a definitive answer as it is very difficult to find material that is in opposition to freeganism that isn’t just my own opinion. However, I believe that freegans are trying to free the world of waste and are protesting the global economic system because it is their belief that things like shelter, food and clothing is a human right and therefore we should not have to pay for them. However, swayed people might become by this argument of “being free” it will always, in my opinion, be an unreachable one. It is also my belief that many freegans are well educated individuals with high paying jobs that could afford these things but choose not to.

Word Count - 1387