Gypsies Attack

One thing i love about holidays, is the ability to do all the fun things that have to be put off during term time. One such thing, is one of my favourite past times is baking, but unfortunately i lack the time management skills to fit much baking into semester time.

Yesterday i came across Joy of Baking .com and discovered a beautiful cupcake recipe.

The fairy cakes that came out of the oven were delightful. i quite enjoyed this recipe - the only catch was that the cakes were well cooked on the inside before they were even very golden on the top, so if you use the recipe below, please don’t leave them in to oven too long based on their look.

Hope your cakes come out as nice as mine did (i would have included a photo at this point but someone had eaten them all before i came got home from work :P  )

Vanilla Cupcakes:

• 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2/3 cup (130 grams) granulated white sugar
• 3 large eggs
  
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Zest of 1 large lemon (optional)
• 1 1/2 cups (210 grams) plain flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) milk

Buttercream Icing:

• 2 cups (230 grams) icing sugar, sifted
• 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 2 tablespoons milk or light cream
• Assorted food colors (if desired)

Preheat oven to 177 degrees C and lightly butter or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla essence and also the lemon zest (if you choose). 

In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

With the electric mixer or beaters on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter, fill to 1/2 to 3/4 full - keeping in mind that the mixture will rise - and bake for about 18-20 minutes or until just golden and a toothpick or skewer inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. they should also spring back when lightly touched. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing.

To make the icing, cream the butter until smooth and well blended. Add the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the sugar. Don’t forget to occasionally scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the milk and beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy (about 3-4 minutes). Add a little more milk or sugar, if needed. Tint the frosting with desired food color (i would recommend red) and then top with sugar balls, sprinkles or dessicated coconut if you like.

Makes about 12 cupcakes

Source:

Hay, Donna. Modern Classics Book 2. Harper Collins Publishers Inc. New York: 2003.

Patent, Greg. Baking in America. Houghton Mifflin Company. New York: 2002.

Ok well, it’s actually not all that “new” at the moment since it is now 2 months (and 2 house-warmings) on! But we love it all the same. We’re very lucky to have found such a great place with colour, stainless steel finishes and not to mention a fantastic yellow room!

Thankyou to everyone who came to our house warming party and/or LAN, and who have helped us settle in, build furniture or even just accompanied us on one of our many many trips to ikea.

As with everything there are many little projects i can’t wait to start as soon as the semester of uni has finally finished for me. I’ll be covering our couch with some new material i ordered in, hopefully matching some cushions for our family room, painting our coffee table, and hopefully being granted permission to Space Invader Blik our yellow room (computer room / study) walls

Blik Space Invaders Wall Decals

I will put up some photos soon as i’m finished with my last assignments for the semester.

HouseGypsies

Interactivity is important to the study of digital media because of the increasing use of interactivity as a term to describe digital communications and actions rather than peoples’. Interactivity takes many forms; it is still an open concept and commonly used to refer to online abilities. In a way the internet provides a level on which one can perform several different types of interactivities at once: human to human communication, human to artefact communication, as well as computer to computer or even controlling a narrative. Because of its broad definitions, interactivity can be divided into four categories describing different levels of interactivity: transmissional, consultational, registrational and conversational. Used to describe how we select radio channels to listen to, the way we can request information such as in an online encyclopaedia, video games that remember and respond to our personal details such as levels and skills ability in guitar hero III and any medium that allows two-way conversation like g-talk, respectively.

In today’s society the growth and need of interactivity is apparent everywhere. There is a growing need for interactive journalism, for a responsive platform of communication to be created, between author and audience. Interactivity can also be used to describe the new video remixes as a way of prosumers interacting with material, and thus can be monitored by audience response and production. Also a word to describe a convergence of media types and information working together to create something new

Interactivity is also one of the key focuses of “new media art,” where artists seek new ways for humans to interact with modern technology. Artists around the world are seeking an action response method with computer interfaces far more interesting and complex then a basic keyboard and mouse set up.

The artist Sterlac, is one such futurist artists, seeking to integrate technology into his performances dealing with the limitations of the human body. In one of his acts, participants can use the internet as a mediator to control his body movements through electronic muscle simulators.

With growing focus on interactivity in the development of new technology and as a hype word in the market place, it is important to be able to discern different types and levels of interactivity in the study of media.

MediaGypsies

Re-mixing is important to the study of digital media because it is becoming a more popular and valid means of self-expression and art. To be able to fully understand the impact that video remixing is having on media technology, it is important to have a solid grasp of this major phenomenon.

A video remix is a video made from a video or compilation of videos using editing or mixing techniques. The idea of remixing has come a long way since its origins surrounding the disco and dance hall music of the late 1960s and 1970s. Today it has become an important way for audiences to interact with material, and so produce new content (prosumer model).

Sites such as YouTube, Google Video, MTV and Veoh provide a user based forum for these new mixes. Many videos contain a convergence of new mediums such as footage with new sound files, segments of narration as well as video transition effects. Video remixing can be viewed as a new way of viewing material. Instead of simply watching a clip, a remixer artistically takes away, samples and adds their own meaning. Perhaps video remixing is an empowering ability allowing people to create their own entertainment.

The impact that video remixing is having is noticeable through YouTube’s launch of YouTube Remixer a service which allows users to edit videos within the site. Powered by Adobe, Youtube Remixer permits graphic, audio and text inserts as well as overlays and in-video transitions.

A particularly obvious genre cropping up within this new remix culture is political remix videos. Often critical or satirical works, these videos offer “insight” into current political, social, cultural or economic topics and are created by editing corporate intellectual property and footage, usually without permission of copyright holders. Because of the remix’s usually critical stance, and use without permission, it is likely to be both dangerous to the creator and upset the copyright holder.

MediaGypsies

Convergence is important to the study of digital media in our new era of multimedia interactivity, because today technology is being specifically designed to interact and perform in a multi of ways, rendering user service such as voice, data and images together. There are a number of different convergences that our shaping the way we live our lives today: geographical, technological and surveillance.

A metaphorical geographical convergence has occurred because of telecommunications and information technology. And has lead to the notion of a “global village.” The ability of voice, data and video to communicate via satellite means that any message can be received instantaneously.

Technological convergences include: media convergence, messaging convergence, multi-play, fixed-mobile convergence, and LAN convergence, and involved the tendency for different technical systems to develop towards performing similar tasks.

Media convergence occurs when multiple products are combined to make one product. This type of convergence is becoming more and more popular. For consumers it means less products to buy, while for manufacturers it means the ability to remain competitive. For example the Apple iphone has telephone, messaging, internet browser, camera, movie player, mp4 player and gps capabilities all in one. Why carry a mobile, laptop and mp3 player around with you, when you have all those features in a smaller higher-tech gadget?

But it isn’t only the latest technological gadgets that have the ability to converge. The AOL Time Warner company of the USA is also seen as a type of media convergence. The merger of Time Inc. and Warner Brothers in 1989 brought the largest media and entertainment company with magazine publishing, music recording, film production and distribution properties. In 2001 when AOL bought Time Warner the convergence went a step further with abilities to move into the internet market place.

A new generation of control has come about from continued progression of surveillance convergence. Face-recognition software, digital fingerprint technology, wire-tapping software have all been strengthened in our digital convergence and increased the amount of surveillance and the volume of data that can be collected and stored. Electronic storage of information, allows for immediate record access from any location at anytime, without spatial limitations. The convergence of wireless transmission with video technologies means that mirco-surveillance cameras can record and send data back to remote video monitors or computers to be stored, without the public realising that they are on film.

In a society where internet services can be delivered to television sets and email and the web is available on mobile phones media students need to be able to grasp the idea of technology continuously working together to create better, more effective machines for everyday use. This is part of our digital revolution. As smaller, more intelligent digital devices are created, as digital circuits develop in conjunction with digital communications, they will continue to be blended into our everyday lives; into our televisions, home appliances, computers and security systems. By providing us with new and practical functions for both home and work, convergent devices are finding a welcome place for them in today’s media driven society. This is the digital, and it is probably just the start of mutually beneficial amalgamation of technologies, markets and devices.

MediaGypsies

Journalism is important to the study of digital media because it is one of the foremost ideas of media as a concept for the vast majority of the public and is undergoing significant technological advances within today’s digital revolution. In our ever evolving society digital technology is shaping the way we learn, produce and gain information. Print journalism has been a vital way to obtain daily news for the last century. New digital technologies have brought recent changes in print journalism, its transition onto the web, and more involvement of the everyday citizen, with our convergent media world anyone can be a journalist.

Accessibility to online journalism, allows for low-budget sources to publish and compete with larger corporate news establishments, and for citizen journalism to proliferate. When once the physically printed papers were the only source of news, journalism is available online all over the world. The specific topics and range of sources made accessible by the internet allow consumers to obtain their desired news, from their desired sources. The internet is immune to the limitations of print media, and is feeding into the notions of a ‘shrinking world’ and a ‘global community’.

From print journalism’s increasing activity on the web alternative types of journalism have appeared. Alternative in that rather than focusing on producing a comprehensive news service in their own right, they seek to give information that is over looked by mainstream news, also it is alternative in the way it gathers and presents the news. Other sources are simply an alternative as they do not carry the bias or censorship that the major corporate news providers do. One of the most recent significant additions to collaborative, alternative online news production is Wikinews, and its unique use of technology – rather than using blogs or similar content management systems, it allows continued editing of any article posted on the site by any user.

New forms of journalism have emerged within out reportorial community due to new forms of media convergence. Blogs, back-pack journalists, video journalists, audience-participation and eye-witness accounts now all play a greater importance in delivery the news. Blogs have an intrinsic ability to filter and disseminate information and provide a view point outside of the mainstream media. Their growing popularity did not go unnoticed by the mainstream media though, and in 2005 Murdoch’s News Corporation added bloggers and Opinionist-diaries to their online news sites. Back-pack journalists are the new breed of field journalists. They take the job of two or three people and put it into one, highly media efficient employee. Equipped with a digital camera, video recorder, and digital dictation machine they are an interviewer, photographer and vlogger in one.

The key change, as highlighted is the ability for print journalism to make the transition on line. This transition, does give people from around the world to gain access to news from around the world. This has its own repercussions. The ability to access any information means that we also have the ability to access alternative sources. Not only is the increasing move of mainstream newspapers to the internet, but there are fast becoming similar news magazines and online communities that create original journals, that amplify dozens of other alternative media sources, such as citizen journalism.

Other things to think about:

• Advances in the technological “tools of trade”
• Ever changing job description for journalists. It now includes: bloggers, photo diaries, vloggers, audios
• New need for ‘communication’ between reader and producer. Leading to forums and comment capabilities on news articles (online only)
• New convergence with other types of information giving media formats. Online news sites now contain, videos, audio tracks to name a few.
• How are community newspapers surviving the mainstream push towards online news?
• How reliable/successful do you believe wikinews is? What impact does the interactivity and multiple users have on this?

MediaGypsies

The Prosumer is important to the study of digital media because of its recent emergence from the technological boom in the last 20 years, and the role and impact that prosumerism will perhaps play in both the future of the internet and the economy. The term “prosumer” was first coined by futurologist author Alvin Toffler in his 1980 book Third Wave. It is a portmanteau of both producer/professional + consumer, although the meaning of this name differs slightly depending on the use of professional or producer. In the book Take Today (1972) McLuhan and Nevitt suggested that the role of consumer would develop into a producer with advances in electric technology.

Prosumers are the next generators of media. They review, give opinions, discuss and provide a means of filter content into different collections without paying anyone to do it. They also provide information in different collections aimed at very specific audiences. The age of prosumerism in the idea of Web 2.0 has brought us a new way of interacting with media, blogs, re-mixing, citizen journalism, photographers and artists. Website following the Web 2.0 ideal allow user to do more than just retrieve information. Building on an interactive platform, sites encourage users to add value to the application through greater use. This can be measured in many different ways for example Flickr and YoutTube today are the biggest repositories in the history of and videos respectively.

Prosumerism has risen with the availability of media geared towards amateurs and hobbyists. With advances in digital camcorders, cameras, desktop publishing, photo and movie making software, a growing profusion of magazines, videos, photos, re-mixes, magazines, website and online forums have been created.

The economy is moving from passive consumerism, to active prosumerism. A greater need for high quality media software is being required by the public, forcing Sony to release a new “prosumer range” of video cameras. Amazon.com too is reacting to this new driven society, providing an open space for customers to submit reviews and add to the site through constructive customer relations.

In some ways the producer and consumer roles are being used to extinguish the role of corporate producers and decrease their high corporate profits on mass produced items. Prosumers are not passive members of the market to dump consumer goods upon, but aim to be part of the process. The prosumer idea is of mass customisation, in which everybody is in effect a member of a niche market, something Internet e-commerce is encouraging through cutting out the middleman between maker and buyer.

The key towards presumption is the creation of products and services by the same people who will ultimately use them. Companies and individuals are increasingly utilizing and involving the end-users to develop final products and services. In some instances, end-users are creating products on their own, without the interference or assistance of third-party companies or organizations.

The word is a combination of producer and consumer that perfectly describe the millions of participants in the Web 2.0 revolution. Who actively seek out the materials they consume by subscribing to rss feeds, and contributing their own material. It’s not a new word, but it’s a word that will become the norm in the coming years

MediaGypsies

Currently I’m attempting to write some holistic answers to the importance of: Convergence, Prosumers, Interactivity, Journalism and Re-mixing in today’s media driven society. I have found some considerable difficulty in gaining true answers to these topics, due to a lot of misled ideas due to the over (and incorrect use) of these words as “Buzzwords” in our society.

I will post my findings upon completion, please feel free to offer suggestions and constructive criticism.

MediaGypsies

The Fringe is on again this year, and for the 2nd time of it’s annual production (instead of biennial like the Festival), we decided to try something a little different from our usual viewings. Last year we went to see Stephen K Amos at the Gov, which ordinarily wouldn’t have been my first pick, but which was very entertaining nontheless.

This Season we joined the 40,000 strong throng of people to attend the opening night parade and concert, filled with street performers, acrobats and bands from across Australia (including the popular Presets).  We will also be heading out to Caberet Show: A Burlesque Cockatil, to be performed (rather fittingly) at La Boheme Cocktail Bar. Also we will try our comedic luck at Theatre Sports. Competitions every Sunday night, with the grand final to be held on Sunday April 6th.

For more info check out the festival guide at Adelaide Fringe

Threadless is an awesome community based/online t shirt store. anyone can submit designs and rate other peoples designs, and the more t shirts you buy, the cheaper it is (with an uploaded photo account). Check it out at:
http://threadless.com/?from=Gypsies

Below is one of the first t shirts i bought through the online store it’s called “reel passion”