• OK here’s the Big Pond rant

    I have spent many hours ‘on hold’ this week listening to Telstra’s selection of music waiting to get a problem with my home broadband service rectified. I changed to Big Pond about 2 years ago and when I get really pissed off with their call centre staff I comfort myself by comparing it to some [...]

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  • Age of Stupid

    Remember that amazing pair of documentaries ‘McLibel’ (1997, 2005) which told the inside story of the UK McDonald’s libel trial? McLibel director Franny Armstrong has moved on from McDonalds to take aim at inaction on climate change in her new project ‘Age of Stupid‘.  It’s part film and part internet-fueled activist campaign and will culminate in [...]

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  • Games Creation Made Easy

    I just bought an HD video camera from Big W for $148. Thank God the Flip phenomena of cheap flash card video cameras has finally crossed the Pacific from the US. Mine came directly from China, another brand variant but no doubt there will be others and the price point will continue to drop.
    The ubiquity of [...]

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  • Streaming Live from The Reef

    Australian Director Andrew Traucki of Black Water fame is currently shooting his next low budget suspense feature The Reef. The crew have been shooting for 3 weeks on location in deep water and will be web streaming live from the set later this week: Thurs 5th November at 9:30am EST in Australia – put it [...]

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  • Is emerging media part of your routine?

    There’s certainly a groundswell of interest in emerging media from TV and radio broadcasters, telcos, converged media companies, digital agencies and even the  funding agencies. A lot has changed in three years and there is now much more openness to considering content propositions which aren’t limited to a single media platform or format. But I [...]

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  • “If it doesn’t exist online, it doesn’t exist”

    I attended a conference run by the Australia Council and the ABC today called Revealing the Arts. OK, there’s a long way to go here, but it didn’t really come together and you got the feeling by the end of the day that the gap between the ‘geeks’ and the ‘luvvies’ is here to stay. Rights [...]

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  • Addicted to Flight Control

    I’ve got to admit it, like a lot of iPhone and ipod Touch owners, I’m totally addicted to Flight Control. Like many addicts I can rationalise my addiction easily because this is an Australian game developed by Melbourne company Firemint.  I’m not wasting time, I’m just supporting good old Australian digital media know-how. I’m also locked [...]

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  • Cate Blanchett at Screen Worlds

    Yesterday I attended the opening of Screen Worlds, a new exhibition space at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne. A massive crowd assembled to hear Ms Blanchett launch the show along with Victorian Premiere John Brumby. It’s a spectacular exhibition that profiles the development of film and television, games and interactive media [...]

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  • Please Dad, can I have an ipod Touch?

    This has been a familiar refrain around my house all year and now I get it from my four year old after he’s blown a few tunes on the Ocarina and Tap Tapped out a few more on my iphone. It all started last November with a concerted campaign by my eleven year old to [...]

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  • Not addicted to TV

    I have found myself getting particularly bored and irritated with evening television lately. Maybe I’m stating the obvious here but it’s not really getting any better is it? Is endlessly repeated programming meant to be so familiar it’s soothing and relaxing (snore!) or is it just designed so you have a better chance of programming [...]

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