In cinema this week we read about the ‘new hollywood’ and how the audience became infatuated with the new, exciting things that the directors of the time were doing. I believe there has been a slight change in the way TV shows are viewed and created. They are becoming extravagant pieces of work that are practically short movies but better, because there are more of them. The two obvious shows that have become world wide masterpieces are Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones, with a ample number of other shows that don’t quite get the same following but are of equal value including Sherlock, House of Cards and Homeland.

The emmys showcased the actors and makers behind the shows and I even heard someone mention ‘welcome to the next generation of TV’. This gets me incredibly excited, I would love to be able to work with one of the companies that make these television shows, I wouldn’t even mind if I was a bus boy for the assistant to the regional director!!!

This upcoming week is going to be crazy, Breaking Bad finished, Homeland starts, and the next season of Game of Thrones is meant to be massive, according to someone who has read the book*.

Anyway thats a chicken wrap!

I know this is a RMIT lunch hot spot but for those who haven’t had it! Go and Chicken Curry Don
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This week in the unlecture Adrian discussed questions asked in tutes the week before with the panel of other tutors. Hypertext Narratives was one of the points discussed which was good as it was something that hadn’t quite got my head around yet. Adrian actually showed a Hypertext narrative that he had made with a number of nodes contain information, all interconnected with lines which sort of ended up looking like a family tree. Some things I took in were that people are able to access the pages of the Hypertext narrative from different places which construct a different context for the reader and audiences. They are also highly granular and differ from linear styled narrative in that the audience have a range of different nodes in which they can interact with it. All in all, it is a ‘complex mess’ of interactive information.

One website that is very interesting in this area of hypertext is ‘reddit’ the social news and entertainment website that has a community of interesting people who are able to share personal news and stories (either specific or broad) to the rest of the people in the network. Items of higher interest and legitimacy (which is earned) are moved towards the top of the page. I have found myself looking on the website for hours through hyperlinks reading an AMA (Ask Me Anything) about a cat lover to one with President Obama. I actually hope Adrians notion about social media and the decline of facebook is true because it is making people go crazy!!

RAFFERTIE “BUILD ME UP” from VINCENT HAYCOCK on Vimeo.

Here is a short realisation that I ‘realised’ when learning about auteur theory

The question raised at the beginning of the reading is really quite interesting and i can relate to it a lot. “Did you say this film was good or good according to the auteur theory”. I have lengthy debates with many of my friends discussing why we think some films are better then others etc. One example was ‘The Great Gatsby’ (Baz Lurhman, 2013) where I thought it was quite good as apposed to my friend, who i believe i share similar taste in most things, completely disagreed. I think i was reviewing based on the Auteur theory as I really liked the extravagant sets and the cinematography whereas my friend was relating back the book and how it didn’t do it any justice. I think when someone learns about film theory, that they have no control of criticising in terms of the directors choice in a range of different things from camera shots to costumes.

I personally like the idea of criticising film in terms of the auteur theory similar to Sarris, whereby it helps separate film makers / directors and praises them for their individual aesthetics.

For the past 10 days I have been living tropical in Bali Bali Bali. I thought I might discuss the networking types of things that i observed while roaming, and how they differ to what I know here in Melbourne. The first thing i noticed was the alot of Balinese people own phones, despite the average wage only being $40 a fortnight, meaning that the mobile phone plans must be quite affordable. It is quite a contrast to what i initially thought when I arrived. Most of the towns contain buildings that are either traditional or abandoned, which is evidently accompanied by advanced technologies like wifi at almost every shop or restaurant. I don’t think that these technological appearances are directed for the locals but more so for the tourists which makes sense, I was just surprised with the amount of wifi hotspots they had compared to Melbourne in such an undeveloped setting.

I also found out the hard way that Balinese people have an amazing memory, remembering who you are by your face name…). It was the hard way because I told a shop owner that I would come back the next day to purchase something that I didn’t really want. Sure enough the next day, without even recognising what I had done, the shop owner attacked me with verbal accusations and powerful gestures. Due to the large population in such a small space, I think that the Balinese have been moulded to learn and remember in this way which in my opinion differs quite a lot to the society of Melbourne.

In terms of ‘networking’, Bali has a very different stance or conventions that live within it’s society. Not for the worst though, just different! I like this difference and I am looking forward to exploring other cultures and the way the operate in the future!