On time travel

By Trent Sheehan

Good evening! Today I'm going to have a chat to you about time travel and the various ways people have explored the possibility of one day traveling through time, and then the rather humorous appeal of time traveling - the Hollywood take if you will.

But first of all, here is a definition of time travel according to Wikipedia:

Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space, either sending objects (or in some cases just information) backwards in time to some moment before the present, or sending objects forward from the present to the future without the need to experience the intervening period (at least not at the normal rate).

So now that you know the actual definition it is rather self explanatory. Also, many professors have experimented over countless hours on the topic but none more famously than the great Albert Einstien.

According to his theory of relativity a physical universe is defined by the presence of movement, matter and consciousness. The passage of time will differ for objects which move at different velocities through space. So the thought of time travel isn’t that hard to believe when you have collected all the facts.

As we we speak, I bet there are many people still looking into time travel. I personally believe that one day, maybe, it will be possible.

And last of all let's look at the light-heartened way of expressing views on time travel through the cinema. One of the most famous movies, released in 1960, is called The Time Machine. It explores the fear that people had for the subject back in those days. The movie shows weird creatures and a spooky presence.

On the other hand, the movie franchise Back to the Future made time travel sound more appealing and explored its humorous side. Watching the movie made you wish you could go back in time.

So, make up your own mind! I've given you some food for thought so I leave you with it.

Trent Sheehan's Major Work for Cert III Digital Media is a short film about time travel. The photograph of Albert Einstein in 1921 is in the public domain.

Mind your head

Electronic Musician Makes Chaotic Film Debut

Bree Callaughan in Jake Holman's film Mind You.

The year 2010, for Jake Holman – the life force behind the upcoming electronic act Rintoul – sucked. Plain. Simple.

“Apart from death striking my friends every two months,” Jake explains, “the learning environment I was in for music class sent me into depression. What’s the point of learning anything if the teachers don’t encourage you?”

Even outside the classroom, “life as normal people lived it became unattractive; the alcohol made me sick and tasted worse with every mouthful. The parties became noisy, incoherent depictions of the lows of getting wasted, and I got increasingly isolated from those around me by my growing conceptions of it all.”

Retreating to his flat in Orange, NSW, was the worst. “It was a palace, and my mind was chaos. Thoughts going off in all directions, too difficult or impossible to explain, manifesting a cynical, negative edge that was hard to break.”

The Turning Point
Cue 2011. Important changes, such as going on mind-altering medication and switching career paths, were made. And now Jake is “the happiest I’ve been for years,” as he strongly puts it.

“My mind is still the same, chaotic and incoherent, but now I understand it enough to turn it into something which IS coherent. Well, at least enough for people to understand.”

The Interpretation

That something is his debut in film media: Mind You. The film is an aptly-titled ride through the mindscape; exploring aspects of the mind which are impossible to understand, interpreted as film.

“I want to make something which is chaotic, plotless, non-sequitur, like Koyaanisqatsi”, Jake says. “And for music – everyone connects with music – anything I do in Ableton Live 8.” He hints that a track from one of his earlier albums may be a worthy candidate.

“The primary response I want of people when they watch is to be jolted. I want them to feel uncomfortable, and apart from giving them almost nothing to connect to, giving them weird music accentuates the experience.”

“Now I’m still finding film in the media course I’m doing difficult,” Jake explains, “so of course trying to tell a story while figuring out how to work the damn recorder AND edit it could have been a motivation-kill.

“For me it’s all about getting as much random information as possible and turning it into something more random. I know it sounds like a wank, but the only way to retrieve this info is to imitate the manner of the movie: Chaotic. No scripts, no rules, just go along and do something, is the essence.”

The Journey Ahead

On what Jake’s thoughts are for the creative journey ahead: “Of course there are going to be crushing lows trying to convey my idea. There always is, it’s about getting over that and moving on. I’ve done it before. 2010 ain’t here no more. Anything goes.”

http://rintoul.bandcamp.com/

Energy drinks - a sense of reality

By Dylan Holloway
Energy drinks globally have been marketed as performance boosting whilst receiving much criticism from pediatricians and health bodies worldwide. Well I am here to help you get a sense of reality.

Dr. Steven E. Lipshultz, head of the pediatrics department at Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, explains that energy drinks can cause seizures, kidney damage and possibly death.

I think it is rather hypocritical that pediatricians can denounce the integrity of energy drinks whilst they make no effort whatsoever to point out the negative effects of everyday vaccines that are given to children. According to the lobby group Australian Vaccination Network, vaccines can cause seizures, kidney damage and possible death.

It is not only this that pediatricians are hiding, but think about the fact that the target of pediatricians is the caffeine and herbal stimulants, e.g. guarana in energy drinks, when they are not even the main health risk associated with energy drinks. According to NaturalNews.com, the real risk is bone loss from phosphoric acid, the neurological side effects of aspartame consumption, and the diabetes caused by drinking liquid sugars.

If pediatricians are so concerned about the health impacts of energy drinks then why do they not even advertise their main concerns? The answer is there is too much pressure from the food industry regarding the safety of such ingredients that are common in all processed products, not just energy drinks e.g. additives, preservatives and various toxic chemicals.

So I ask you, can you trust that pediatricians are right about energy drinks? I say NO! It's time to get a sense of reality.

According to an article in TIME magazine, “a swig of an energy drink works on the brain to keep you inspired and motivated to push on”. Energy drinks do not physically increase your energy but the sugar present in them (not artificial sweeteners) activates pleasure and reward regions in the brain which converts to an increased performance as “the brain controls exercise performance by controlling the neural outflow to the exercising muscles”.

The main concerns with energy drinks are the same as the majority of other processed products on the shelf. At least with energy drinks there is some form of associated benefit.

So there you have it. Next time you’re feeling effete or just plain exhausted and you can’t stop dreaming of some sacchariferous liquid gold to quench your thirst and invigorate your body, look no further than Taursen*, after all it's approved by Tarzan.


*Editor's note: Taursen is an imaginary energy drink created by Dylan Holloway as part of his Cert III Media Major Work. Image copyright Dylan Holloway, all rights reserved.

Are we alone out there?

By Nyssa Hart
Are we alone out there? It is my major work at Bathurst’s TAFE. I am doing Certificate III Media.


Are we alone out there? is a 2.5 minute television show on alien and animals and finding out if the animals on Earth are not from this planet/galaxy? Like the dolphins in the fourth book of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The book is called So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish.

In the book the dolphins come out of the sea on their back fin saying “So long, and thanks for all the fish.” Then they leave Earth. I do not know if that is right because I haven’t read the books but my mum and other people who I know have read the books and have told me that it is from the books.

My mum suggested that I should call my TV show So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish but I like Are we alone out there?

With Are we alone out there? I am going to ask people about the animals they like and if they think that they are aliens. Like a giraffe with its tongue that is bluish-purple so it can eat the leaves on the top of the Acacia trees in the African sun.

I will also ask about other animals like monkeys, dogs, cats and fish.

Close encounters of the geeky kind

By Craig Nimmo
I sit at my laptop mouse in hand browsing through alien encounters on the internet the silence almost inviting the sound of a UFO landing outside to break it up. I snap out of that delusion but look to the window expecting a bright light of an alien spaceship anyway.

My name is Craig Nimmo and I am currently studying Certificate III in Multimedia. Aliens love them, hate them or just plain don’t believe in the fact is they are a big part of fiction as well as investigation. From the Rosewell incident of 1947 to the abduction of Betty and Barney Hill in 1961 detailed in the Project Blue Book files. Why do they come here in the first place? Are they interstellar tourists, explorers or just lost and wanting directions home? If they wanted to make contact why don’t they go straight to the top? Are they just shy or is it all just a plot by the government to cover up of something even bigger?

In the new film Paul they make use of the classic grey alien, a benign gentle fellow which is a big contrast to the aliens from 1996’s Dark Skies Series with the enigmatic Majestic 12. So are they just a product of an overactive imagination or reality yet to be proven true. The answer to this lies in the future. So if you’re a believer or not it’s always best to keep an open mind as was often quoted in ‘the X-files’, the truth is out there.

Grey alien (at top) embedded from http://www.trueghosttales.com/img/alien-grey.jpg

Mordy graphic (at bottom) created by Craig Nimmo, all rights reserved.

ask the price

By David Hobman
The flash of the lighter leaves a momentary flare in my eyes as I blink. The grating sound of the striker drawn across the flint creating fire, giving a subconscious primal satisfaction. The red orange and yellow flame dances in front of my eyes for a moment before I bring it up to gently kiss my cigarette. The pleasing sound of snapping and crackling as the tobacco burns comes softly to my ear as I draw on the cigarette. Inhaling deeply to appease and silence the screaming demons of addiction pulling on their barbed threads woven deeply in to my mind. Exhaling smoke, momentarily distracted by the forms the smoke takes curling into the air, some dropping like sand dropped into water, more snaking up in tendrils, dissipating, not seen again.

The red eye burns angrily as I pull another lung full of smoke into my body further quieting the habit that in truth is suicide, a slow suicide. Denial comes forward in my mind as I tell myself I will quit before it gets me. It’s heavily tinged with a gut feeling louder now after years of protest. It says “No you won’t“ and asks: Is it already too late? Then it shouts “Weak fool,” before being stifled by another lungful of cigarette smoke. The red eye taking on a disconcerting glare, the once snow-white paper now stained with ugly yellow brown nicotine veins running down the cigarette toward me, ever closer with every drawing of the now-bitter smoke.

As my suicide weapon burns past half-way, the taste of the smoke that at first was craved has become the very flavour of death itself. Rejected by mouth and lung, heavy in my stomach... and yet I smoke on to remain staunch in my habit, in my addiction, in my weakness and foolishness. I again drag in another lungful of smoke, committing suicide for reasons I’ve forgotten, reasons a boy once had, that for him were real and good maybe even important. Picking up the packet, handing coin to a man, but never asking the price. Now the boy has gone and his reasons with him. The price has become all too clear as I stub out another cigarette.

Image copyright David Hobman, all rights reserved.

The Future is Now

The Future is Now: e-books and bookselling in Australia
hosted by the Australian Booksellers Association (ABA)
by Lyn Oxley

On 31 August 2010, I attended a one day seminar held in Sydney about the impact of digitisation on traditional bookshops. Len Vlahos, keynote speaker and Chief Operating Officer of the American Booksellers Association, discussed the role and opportunities there are for American traditional retailers in the new digital market.

Background
He advised traditional booksellers did not want to go the way the music industry did while Napster was in operation. Napster, a free music download website, operated from 2003-2008 before being successfully sued by the music industry and closed down. During Napster’s five year reign, over 2,700 record stores across the USA went out of business.

Strategies Available to Bookshops
Vlahos examined strategies available to American bookshops to adjust to the digital age. These included selling children’s clothing and/or gifts alongside books and ‘bundling’ traditional books with e-book versions.

Currently Australian independent booksellers are locked out of selling e-books due to the dominance of internet heavies such as Amazon and Apple, and may need to consider partnering with publishers to develop exclusive digital opportunities. This may prove rewarding with the current push for consumers to support their local community.

Independent Booksellers are not the only ones at risk: The parent of Borders and Angus and Robertson Redgroup Retail went into voluntary administration recently.

Twenty-five franchisees have since cut ties with the parent group. Speaking on Prime 7 News on April 5, Orange-based franchisee, Ashley Brown of the newly independent Ash’s Books, blamed years of bad management.

Reasons for Selling E-books
Selling e-books is a requirement if traditional booksellers are to survive. Vlahos’ evidence has been succinctly put by Angelo Loukakis, Executive Director, Australian Society of Authors in the ASA Newsletter in October 2010.

1. Where once people looked first to newspapers and magazines, libraries and phone books for information, they now look first online.
2. The next generation of readers and consumers are already using digital content; they simply do not access information through the traditional means.
3. There is now very widespread broadband internet connectivity, with spread and capacity increasing each day.
4. Mobile access to digital content is everywhere.
5. The ePub file format has been adopted as an industry e-book standard.

Overall, the seminar was highly informative and professionally co-ordinated. Well done, ABA!

The original image in this post was created by Lyn Oxley in Illustrator and exported as a .png file. Copyright Lyn Oxley, all rights reserved. Lyn is currrently studying Cert III in Digital Media at Bathurst TAFE.