tout autre est tout autre

So It Has Come To This

2012-03-09T09:31:00.002+11:00

xkcd.com
A webcomic of romance,
sarcasm, math, and language.

KONY 2012 by Invisible Children

2012-03-09T08:55:00.003+11:00

Watch the video and ask: Are they naive? Should I find out more about the organisation, where the money goes, the politics of the region?

KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

KONY 2012 is a film and campaign by Invisible Children that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice.

HOW TO HELP:
Visit: kony2012.com
Donate to Invisible Children: stayclassy.org/checkout/set-donation?eid=14711
For info on Invisible Children: invisiblechildren.com

For official MEDIA and artist REPRESENTATION ONLY: Christina Cattarini cattarini@sunshinesachs.com

DIRECTOR: Jason Russell LEAD EDITOR: Kathryn Lang EDITORS: Kevin Trout, Jay Salbert, Jesse Eslinger LEAD ANIMATOR: Chad Clendinen ANIMATOR: Jesse Eslinger 3-D MODELING: Victor Soto VISUAL EFFECTS: Chris Hop WRITERS: Jason Russell, Jedidiah Jenkins, Kathryn Lang, Danica Russell, Ben Keesey, Azy Groth PRODUCERS: Kimmy Vandivort, Heather Longerbeam, Chad Clendinen, Noelle Jouglet ORIGINAL SCORES: Joel P. West SOUND MIX: Stephen Grubbs, Mark Friedgen, Smart Post Sound COLOR: Damian Pelphrey, Company 3 CINEMATOGRAPHY: Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey, Laren Poole, Gavin Kelly, Chad Clendinen, Kevin Trout, Jay Salbert, Shannon Lynch PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: Jaime Landsverk LEAD DESIGNER: Tyler Fordham DESIGNERS: Chadwick Gantes, Stephen Witmer

MUSIC CREDIT:

Original Instrumental Scores by Joel P. West joelpwest.com/

“02 Ghosts I” Performed by Nine Inch Nails, Written by Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor, Produced by Alan Moulder, Atticus Ross, and Trent Reznor, Nine Inch Nails appear courtesy of The Null Corporation

“Punching in a Dream”, Performed by The Naked and Famous, Written by Aaron Short, Alisa Xayalith, and Thom Powers, Produced by Thom Powers, The Naked and Famous appear courtesy of Somewhat Damaged and Universal Republic

“Arrival of the Birds”, Performed by The Cinematic Orchestra, Written by The Cinematic Orchestra, Produced by The Cinematic Orchestra, The Cinematic Orchestra appears courtesy of Disney Records

“Roll Away Your Stone”, Performed by Mumford and Sons, Written by Benjamin Lovett, Edward Dwane, Marcus Mumford, and Winston Marshall, Produced by Markus Dravs, Mumford and Sons appear courtesy of Glassnote Entertainment Group LLC

“On (Instrumental)”, Performed by Bloc Party
Written by Bloc Party, Produced by Jacknife Lee, Bloc Party appears courtesy of Vice Records

“A Dream within a Dream”, Performed by The Glitch Mob, The Glitch Mob appears courtesy of Glass Air

“I Can’t Stop”, Performed by Flux Pavilion, Flux Pavilion appears courtesy of Circus Records Limited

#QantasLuxury — qantas-twitter_downfall

2011-11-23T12:45:00.001+11:00

And to put this in perspective, read this.

Have a Scare/Laugh ......

2011-11-15T12:19:00.002+11:00

xkcd: Map Projections

2011-11-15T12:15:00.002+11:00

Drive Recklessly

2011-09-14T13:08:00.001+10:00

Northwestern Human Sexuality Demo Report on Chicago Tonight WTTW Part 1 (Captioned & HD)

2011-05-12T08:51:00.001+10:00

The Architecture of Access to Scientific Knowledge by lessig

2011-05-07T23:17:00.000+10:00

The Architecture of Access to Scientific Knowledge from lessig on Vimeo.

Lecture at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, 18 April 2011: A new talk about open access to academic or scientific information, with a bit of commentary about YouTube Copyright School.

The Aurora by Terje Sorgjerd

2011-05-07T22:50:00.001+10:00

The Aurora from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

I spent a week capturing one of the biggest aurora borealis shows in recent years.

Shot in and around Kirkenes and Pas National Park bordering Russia, at 70 degree north and 30 degrees east. Temperatures around -25 Celsius. Good fun.

Available in Digital Cinema 4k.

Like my Facebook Page for updates facebook.com/TSOPhotography
Follow me on twitter.com/TSOPhotography
Press/licensing/projects contact: terjes@gmail.com

Thanks to my Sponsors:
canon.no
dynamicperception.com

Music is Gladiator soundtrack "Now we are free"

The Mountain by Terje Sorgjerd

2011-05-07T22:48:00.000+10:00

The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

This was filmed between 4th and 11th April 2011. I had the pleasure of visiting El Teide.
Spain´s highest mountain @(3718m) is one of the best places in the world to photograph the stars and is also the location of Teide Observatories, considered to be one of the world´s best observatories.

The goal was to capture the beautiful Milky Way galaxy along with one of the most amazing mountains I know El Teide. I have to say this was one of the most exhausting trips I have done. There was a lot of hiking at high altitudes and probably less than 10 hours of sleep in total for the whole week. Having been here 10-11 times before I had a long list of must-see locations I wanted to capture for this movie, but I am still not 100% used to carrying around so much gear required for time-lapse movies.

A large sandstorm hit the Sahara Desert on the 9th April (bit.ly/g3tsDW) and at approx 3am in the night the sandstorm hit me, making it nearly impossible to see the sky with my own eyes.

Interestingly enough my camera was set for a 5 hour sequence of the milky way during this time and I was sure my whole scene was ruined. To my surprise, my camera had managed to capture the sandstorm which was backlit by Grand Canary Island making it look like golden clouds. The Milky Way was shining through the clouds, making the stars sparkle in an interesting way. So if you ever wondered how the Milky Way would look through a Sahara sandstorm, look at 00:32.

Available in Digital Cinema 4k.

Like my Facebook Page for updates facebook.com/TSOPhotography
Follow me on twitter.com/TSOPhotography
Press/licensing/projects contact: terjes@gmail.com

Music by my friend: Ludovico Einaudi - "Nuvole bianche" with permission.
Please support the artist here:
itunes.apple.com/us/album/una-mattina/id217799399

Thank you to my sponsors:
canon.com
g-technology.com
dynamicperception.com/ (Best dolly in the world!)

Dear 16-year-old Me by DCMFCanada

2011-05-07T22:46:00.001+10:00

Chess Me Out - talk on board

2011-05-07T22:44:00.000+10:00

by nulli versi

Chess Me Out - talk on board from nulli versi on Vimeo.

Chess Me Out - talk on board -
a 43' documentary about chess

12 professional chess players talk about their job. From the childhood to the feelings on board during the game, we listen to their thoughts mixed in 12 different chapters. This documentary tries to show a portrait of this amazing game called Chess.

Technical Info CHESS ME OUT - 4:3 - pal - 2006/2007 - 43 min - starring ENNIO ARLANDI, LEVON ARONIAN, FABIO BRUNO, MARTHA FIERRO, DANIELE GENOCCHIO, MICHELE GODENA, RUSUDAN GOLETIANI, ANATOLIJ KARPOV, ALEXANDRA KOSTENIUK, ELIZABETH PAETHZ, MARK QUINN, ALEX WHOL - produced NULLIVERSI cr2- written, edited & directed DAVIDE FASOLO

TEDxWaterloo - Michael Nielsen - Open Science

2011-05-02T16:17:00.000+10:00

Argument Clinic

2011-05-02T16:15:00.001+10:00

Tim Minchin's Storm the Animated Movie

2011-05-02T15:53:00.001+10:00

Muslim Woman Entertainer speaks out .......

2011-03-22T16:23:00.005+11:00

St Patricks Day 2011 Flashmob. Central Station, Sydney, Australia

2011-03-21T00:08:00.001+11:00

The Third & The Seventh by Alex Roman

2011-02-08T12:00:00.001+11:00

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

Fullscreen it, please.

A FULL-CG animated piece that tries to illustrate architecture art across a photographic point of view where main subjects
are already-built spaces. Sometimes in an abstract way. Sometimes surreal.

Credits:
CG
|Modelling - Texturing - Illumination - Rendering| Alex Roman
POST
|Postproduction & Editing| Alex Roman
MUSIC
Sequenced, Orchestrated & Mixed by Alex Roman (Sonar & EWQLSO Gold Pro XP)
Sound Design by Alex Roman
Based on original scores by:
.Michael Laurence Edward Nyman. (The Departure)
.Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns. (Le Carnaval des animaux)
Directed by Alex Roman
Done with 3dsmax, Vray, AfterEffects and Premiere.

http://www.thirdseventh.com/
Check out also other videos: http://vimeo.com/user1337612/videos

McLibel

2010-11-02T11:18:00.005+11:00

The greatest libel case in the history of English laws.

The website:http://www.mcspotlight.org/case/

The full doco:

The trailers:

Taylor Mali speaks ......

2010-10-06T09:59:00.004+11:00

The (in)famous "What Teachers make" poem in animated typography version:

Taylor Mali performing "What Teachers Make" in 2006:

Taylor Mali performing "What Teachers Make" in 2009 with Fellow Poet and Hype-Man Connor Dooley at the book release party for "The Last Time As We Are" at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City. September 2009:

Taylor Mali performing "Miracle Workers":

"Typography" by Ronnie Bruce based on poem by Taylor Mali:

"The The Impotence of Proofreading" by Taylor Mali, performed at the very first Page Meets Stage pairing at the Bowery Poetry Club on November 12, 2005.

!!!

2010-05-31T11:39:00.002+10:00

Technology and Learning and Teaching

2009-03-09T11:08:00.012+11:00

I was at a faculty board meeting on Friday last week and the first item on agenda was a presentation by the university's marketing department filling us on the new marketing campaign. They have "cleverly" align the words "technology" and "creativity" and the suggestion that at my university, prospective students can find both. It is interesting to observe the comments and responses of those present, consisting of academics, practitioners and students.

One response, rather predictable, is to downplay technology and subsume it within that generic benign saccharine but rather meaningless phrase, academic freedom and prerogative as to teaching style. Basically, let us continue the way we were, preserve the status quo.

The same person who proffered such pearls of wisdom as above also, again predictably, raise the spectre of over expectations on the part of students subject to such marketing campaign (which incidentally involved running a 60 sec animated short in cinemas). The rationale suggested was that my discipline, law, is rather low tech and therefore not really in need of such technological enhancements.

Another member of the professoriate suggested that we are already technological in our teaching of law since we have fellow academics involved in issues where technology and its advances are an integral part of the issue(s), eg, technological assisted reproduction, intellectual property. I wonder if there is a deliberate misunderstanding what technology holds for teaching and learning or rather an inadvertent slippage in thinking. Is teaching the law as it grapples with cutting-edge technology, or as it tries to deal with the moral, political and social issues thrown up by technology, an engagement with technology itself? Does it count as technology in teaching and learning resulting in contributions to a culture of innovation, collaboration and scholarship in teaching and learning? I am not so sure. You can still teach about cutting edge stem-cell research (which has once again become news since the Obama Administration in the USA has overturned the previous Bush (jnr) Administration's ban) in a very "old"-technology manner, ie, printed paper, whiteboard, OHPs.

It seems that any discussion of technology and teaching and learning gets bogged down in the existing paradigm of linearity and linear thinking, teacher-centred education process. The oft-repeated refrain, that technology is the servant and not master, is made. Not that I disagree but it is often made with possibly wrong albeit the best of intentions (in the phenomenological sense). Technology is seen as a supplement/enhancement to traditional teaching methods such as the lecture and tutorial (ubiquitous in law schools) and the final exam involving problem-solving exercises. For example, pod casting is seen as another enhancement of choices available for students and therefore aimed at their satisfaction. It is seen as a substitute for the traditional lecture and discussion is framed along these lines. But nothing is made of pod casting and its potential as a true supplement to the lecture, ie and eg, it enhances the lecture experience, by providing additional, extra, supplementary, information, knowledge, examples, illustrations, case studies.

Similarly, nothing is made of the multi-linearity (or non-linearity) of the WWW/Internet or of electronic computerised processing itself, or of the potential of hyper-text linkages. (It seems this should have been named 'hypermedia" rather then multi-media: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertext; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermedia.)

One serious research question: Does a student learn better from pages of text formatted in size 12 font which is to be read from the start to the end? Will the student learn better if the text is broken into chunks and hypertext-linked together with supplements from other media such as illustrations, photographs, video clips, animations.

On googling "hypermedia" I came across this website, http://www.hrc.wmin.ac.uk/research.html, home of

It is interesting to note that its research contributions are mostly, if not all, of the traditional linear text expression. Where is the hypermedia?

As noted on the wikipedia entry on hypertext, the idea is actually not new, just the technological implementation. In the Jewish tradition of interpretation of their sacred writings, there is the central text, around which (on the printed page) is placed interpretations by noted rabbis, around these interpretations, further discourses by other and later rabbis on the earlier interpretations. There are often references, sometimes in a very oblique manner, to interpretations on other texts, anecdotes, illustrations found on other pages. Texts within texts within texts criss-crossing with other texts; there is no end and no beginning — a moebius strip. One can begin anywhere and everywhere and one is still learning. One learns by performing the act of reading/interpreting/understanding/translating. The student is no longer a passive reader absorbing the text and the information it contains. She or he must actively engage, must search and re-search, and ultimately knows that there is no end to the knowledge, thus fulfilling the dream of modern educational theory's main proposition of life-long learning.

The post-modern exemplar of the Jewish Midrash is Jacques Derrida's Glas. Some links: http://hydra.humanities.uci.edu/Derrida/glas.html;
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE6DF1038F930A2575AC0A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=3;

A very recent attempt at similar project is JM Coetzee's 2007 Diary of a Bad Year.

The post-structuralist movement (and certain previous generations) has been instrumental in uncovering this aspect of performativity. They created texts which were/are mise en abyme. In one sense, this was what Derrida meant by deconstruction, that deconstruction is performativity, especially, when in his influential article on law, justice and violence, he said, "Deconstruction is justice, justice is deconstruction".

James Clifford, an ethnographer, confronted with the postmodern/post structuralist turn, wrote in The predicament of culture : twentieth-century ethnography, literature and art of his experience and concluded that ethnography must embrace postmodernity/post structuralism. Similarly, teaching and learning in law must embrace non-linearity and technology.

"It wasn't the writing," I said. "It was the teaching writing."

2008-11-19T10:13:00.004+11:00

What do I mean by pedagogy? Firstly let me explore one component, namely, teaching. I came across this moving, poignant and compelling story about teaching which encapsulated for me all that is good about teaching and all that is good teaching.

In The Australian Literary Review (5th March 2008) (a monthly supplement of The Australian newspaper), there is a short reflection/essay by Alex Miller, a well-known Australian novelist. Alex writes of him accepting a position to teach writing at La Trobe University in Melbourne. He said the question whether he could teach "was one that greatly occupied my thoughts for the next few months ..." In the meantime, he visited his 86 year old mother in England whilst collecting a literary award. Upon return to Australia and beginning teaching at la Trobe, he received a phone call from his mother in England. She told him of a visitation she had from "[T]wo figures dressed in white .." about an offer of death. Three weeks after the phone call, Alex received another phone call from England but this time from his sister. She informed him that their mother was very ill and was in hospital, and was not expected to last more than a week. In fact it took her mother 6 weeks to die and was according to his sister, a very long, painful and terrifying "dying". Alex could not fly to England because this happened during "my students' crucial seventh week of term." He could not bring himself to abandon his students ...

"I felt I had to stay with my students, who it seemed to me were relying on
me. The response of my students to the work we were doing together had been far
more compelling than I had ever imagined it might be. There were not many of
them and we had quickly become a passionately committed group of writers,
knowing ourselves privileged to read the vulnerable early drafts of each other's
work: a unique privilege, I believe, at that time, for most of us.
We were all learning a great deal about the business of bringing a piece of
writing out of its clumsy early stages and making of it a confident work. I
didn't feel I could leave my students without betraying the trust and the hopes
they had placed in me and in the process I had initiated."

Alex Miller ended his essay with a recount his visit to his sister some years after the death of his mother. He disclosed he had unresolved guilt over his mother's death and his regret he did not fly to England before she died. He got his sister to recount everything about their mother and at the end, his sister said, "Mum's last words were, 'It will be all right when Alex gets here.' " "She looked at me. "Sorry, " she said, "But Mum was waiting for you. That's why it took her so long to die."

Later, at the train station saying goodbye, his sister said, "It's all right, you know. Mum understood that writing meant everything to you." And Alex ends his essay with these poignant words, "It wasn't the writing," I said. "It was the teaching writing."

The essay works on many levels. On one, it tells of strong sibling relations, of the courage, faith in the love the siblings had for each other to be honest and decent. Of course, the significant level I am concerned with is the commitment to teaching, to students and to the process of teaching and learning. It is not just the impartation of skills, trade, knowledge, or mere information. It is investment of time, effort and of oneself in the students, in their development, in the enhancement of their skills, in the increase of their knowledge and development of their faculty.

Teaching (or the lack thereof!) and Research in Australian Universities

2008-11-19T09:31:00.005+11:00

In the Education supplement to Monday's The Australian Financial Review (17th November 2008), Don Aitken in his weekly column, wrote about the tension between teaching and research within all universities. He specifically discuss the tension in the context of selection committees and appointment of new academic staff. He came down in favour of looking beyond just the glittering research qualifications (including the ubiquitous and now almost mandatory long, long list of publications (usually repetitious, mundane and inane)) to questions of teaching capability and mentoring ability. However, the example of the former was not encouraging, Aitken giving the excuse that he was new in his job and therefore rolled over in his preference for an applicant "who stressed his fascination, experience and productivity in teaching and learning in his subject, attributes applauded by his referees."

It seems then that politics and political economy intrudes into this tension between teaching and research. It is trite to state that the manner of Australian Commonwealth government's funding of tertiary education effect a very political response by university administration and deans of faculties. Research stars are hired to embellish the research record of the faculty. (Hmmm, perhaps there is a research grant here on the issue of the market for academic research expertise. Any collaborators out there who wants to enhance their C. V.?) Where does that leave teaching?

I would venture that teaching in universities has become hostage to research. No, not just in the manner described above but in a slightly more insidious manner (or two). What I mean is this: As we know, research is dependent on the new, novus, innovative. So, teaching has become a fertile ground for academics to innovate, to try new ideas. Look, I am not against innovation but just am not impressed with innovation for the sake of innovation. There is an old-fashion word denoting a field of academic expertise that has almost become either supercilious (superfluous?) or just plain pejorative, namely, pedagogy. In case you have worked it out, these "innovative teaching methods et al" are then written up as research papers and voila! OR they become the basis of applications for research grants and again, voila! C'est magnifigue!

The second disturbing trend is the jumping onto the electronic, digital bandwagon. Let's make everything electronic, digital is the catch cry. Hence presently in Australia the trend to podcasting of lectures etc for downloading by students (presumably). The issue of pedagogy, redundancy, uniqueness of lecture (or content) is simply ignored/bypassed in favour convenience for students, and more importantly, bragging rights to being innovative.

Coming back to Don Aitken, he mentioned that his column was in part motivated by reading a letter from "a final-year law student in Quadrant" (a right-wing conservative opinion magazine), who lamented the fact that "certain interviewees, clearly intelligent and talented in their field, spoke with passion of their special areas of teaching interest and skills, yet had no established history of bringing in grants, and as such were dismissed [from consideration for the position]." That pretty much sums it all, doesn't it ?

Welcome!

2008-11-19T08:55:00.004+11:00

Welcome to my Blog, tout autre est tout autre. If you are unfamiliar with the french language or french philosophy, and, in particular, the philosophy of Jacques Derrida (15th July 1930 – 8th October 2004), the phrase can be loosely translated as "the other is (in) the other".

I have been fascinated with tout autre for a long time ever since my high school "awakening" (or in marxist/feminist lingo, "consciousness awareness raising") when I discovered difference and that it matters. Of course with a huge dose of postmodern critical thought (and obviously Derrida's neologism, differance), difference is not just being different. It exists on several levels/topos. There is the physical difference of being from a different ethnic group, skin colour etc from the majority; the difference of wanting to be a philosopher whilst everyone else wants a career that pays lots of money and offers security and stability; the difference in having imbibed the art of thinking critically and thus looking at things/issues in a critical manner where nothing is simplistic (they can be simple(!) and yet complex) and thus really sucks at social polite conversation where I get carried away and become over-passionate or making a statement that is a real conversation-killer. Oh, there is also the difference of being physically male but being a feminist.

So, this blog is written from the outside/outsider who is the other, if that is possible. (Of course we know it is not; after all we are all Kantians, are we not? Derrida's most famous phrase taken absolutely out of context (but hey! this is a blog, ain't it ???): il n'y a pas de hors-texte.)

My aim is to reflect on philosophy, political economy, religion, theology, and pedagogy.

Happy Reading! Comments welcomed!