Podcasting vs Blogging

Pod casting and blogging are very similar. They both share the idea that you can talk about what ever you want, promoting discussions, asking questions, reviewing different art forms etc. They also share the idea that more can be added when ever you wanted. The main difference between the two is that pod casting is primarily sound files and blogs are primarily text.

Many celebrities make pod casts just like with blogs. People can subscribe to a podcast so they are sent the new podcast file automatically, without having to search for it Pod casts are normally down loadable but blogs are read straight from the page. 100

I have been asked to talk about one blog and the blog i have chosen to write about is the BBC News blog, written by the editors.

This blog is typically updated 3 or 4 times a day and normally contains entries of political orientation.

During the European election viewers of the BBC blog were not aloud to comment on the entries as normal as it is against the BBCs policy on broadcasting during an election.

The editors from the BBC give a much more personal opinion on matters than you would expect considering it is a BBC blog.

The blog has also seen BBC News editors giving their reasons for editorial decisions as well as defending criticisms of the BBC. Members of the public are given the opportunity to comment on the entries. The editors can then choose to respond to the comments if they fell it necessary.

Some of the contributors to the blog include Steve Herrmann and Giles Wilson.

Tommy Wilson

What Is Blogging?

Blogging is the way forward in the media. Everyone seems to be blogging these days. From companies and news rooms to celebraties and political groups. The modern blog evolved from the online diary, where people would keep a running account of their personal lives. Most writers of this kind would call themselves diarists.

Blogging is where a person can document on whatever matter they want, adding new blogs to there list at any time they want. Bloggers can edit previous blogs, recieving comments on there blog and respond to the comments. Popular things to blog on include news storys, debates and reviews. A blog primerilly contains text but can include many forms of media. A blog can be private or open for anyone to see.

It is said that blogging started in 1994, around the colleges in the USA. These blogs were able to cope with text, picture, video and sound. Open Diary was launched in October 1998 which helped shoot blogging to popularlity.

In 2001 a series of popular blogs emerged, including Ron Gunzburger's - Politics1.Com. Many of the popular blogs from the early 2000s were politics related, with people giving there opinions on political matters at that spacific time.

Social network sites like facebook, myspace and bebo also allow users to blog. The move to bring in blogs brought many bloggers to social networking sites and encouraged people who joined there site to blog more often. 238

Website Twitter brought another new way to blog, it allows you to update what you are doing as often as you want in 140 characters or less. This type of blogging is called micro-blogging. Twitter allows you to follow other people and you get regularly updated as they update there page. There are many celbraties using the sevice and lots of fans take advantage of being able to get closer to them

Blogging is massive part of the internet these days and it looks set to keep growing. Wether it kills of newspapers and magazines it remains to be seen and im sure we will find out in the coming years.

Tommy Wilson

Description Of Arctic Monkeys Cover

Arctic Monkeys Album Cover, with James

I decided to use the Arctic monkeys album cover as inspiration as it is one of my favourite modern albums. I also feel like the image is very effective. It looks as if the guy in shot really doesnt care whats going on and i feel the photo catches that perfectly.

I had always wanted to use the image but strugled to find somewhere with a similar background that was outside. The image needed to be outside as the man is smoking in shot. The guy smoking is one of the main noticable parts and i needed to be able to copy that.

It was when i was outside on another photoshoot that i noticed the college huts thats outline was very simular to the curtains in the album cover. It was then i decided that i was going to go ahead and do that cover.

James was my first choice to use in the image. He is one of the closest representatives to the man in the album cover and he smokes so smoking for the cover would not be a issue.

The photo was taken in three shots, only retaken to perfect the stance of the man in the cover.

When editing the photo i made it black and white and changed the setting to make the image look more grainy.

I glad i decided to use this image and i think it has turned out very well.

Tommy Wilson

Social Network Takeover

Social networks have taken over the web... and its just being accepted. At first it was just a way to keep in touch with friends but now its so much more. I sound like I'm promoting social networks, but I'm not.

From a music social network like Last.Fm where you can compare music tastes and find out about gigs to twitter where you can document your every move and stalk celebrities without leaving your home.

To begin the popularity of it it all was Myspace. Founded in August 2003, Myspace brought together connection with friends, listening to music and documenting your life all into one page with one login. This revolutionised the way people surfed the web.

Facebook was then founded in February 2004 as a competitor to Myspace. Facebook stayed a close second in the popularity until early 2009 when it was announced that Facebook was now more popular that Myspace. This could be due to the fact that Facebook changed the way its homepages work, making it so much easier to talk to friends and add applications, with Myspace being terribly hard to understand. Facebook allows companies to create applications making Facebook a lot more multi-website friendly.

This change meant that Myspace music was one of the only things Myspace had up on Facebook. Myspace music makes it very easy to find and listen to the bands you love or new little bands you want to check out.

Bebo is another social network site that is very popular in the UK. Before Bebo used to be very similar to Myspace but seeing the success of Facebook, Bebo is changing, trying to cash in on Facebook's success. Bebo is terribly easy to use, but the downside to that is that Bebo really isn't very exciting or easy to keep up to date with your friends. You could describe Bebo as Facebook's slow little brother.

Twitter is a site that has just recently shot to great success. You could describe twitter as half social network half mini blog. Twitter is very simple, and that's what works for it. You follow people and they write on there page what they are doing or what ever they want to write and you read it to keep up to date. Twitter has now also linked with Facebook, meaning when someone writes what they are doing on Twitter it will also come up as what you are doing on Facebook.

So why the sudden takeover of social networks? I know that i shouldnt be so obbsessed but i cant help but constantly update on Twitter and Facebook. Its the need to be in constant conversation, even though theres a possibility that no one is even reading it. So will social networks continue there take over or will everyone eventually get bored and move on? Only time will tell...

Tommy Wilson

Don McCullin

Don McCullin

West Hartlepool in 1968

Don McCullin a British Photojournalist born on October 9th 1935. He is particularly known for his war photography. His photojournalism career began is 1959. His career has specialised in examining the underside of society, and his photographs have depicted the unemployed and downtrodden.

At the age of 13 he received a scholarship for painting to the Hammersmith School of Arts and Crafts but when his father died, when Don was just 15, he was forced to go into work. For his national service he joined the RAF. He became a photographic assistant, working on aerial reconnaissance printing. He failed to pass the written theory paper necessary to become a photographer in the RAF, so he spent his service in the darkroom.

In 1968, his Nikon camera stopped a bullet that was intended for him.

Today we are going to focus at one of his photos in particular, West Hartlepool in 1968. In this photo one of the first things you notice is the contrast, from the dark grounds to the light sky being polluted by the industrial air. The light can be seen reflecting on the broken fence, this is a important part of the image as it's the first thing you eye is drawn to from the bottom half of the image.

The feeling of the image is increadabily isolated. One of the main reasons why this photo looks so depressing and isolated is because it is shot in black and white film. The man is walking alone along a empty road. The broken fence and abandoned field on the left also promotes the isolated feeling as it shows exactily what is around the man in the long black jacket.

As soon as you see the photo you can predict what era the shot is from. This could be down to the texture and detail. The photo has perfect texture making the image feel life like. The clothes that man is wearing were wore a lot during that time, so that helps distingwish the period aswell.

This shot is very powerful and Don McCullin managed to shoot it perfectily. The image is a great sign of the times and is somewhat a poster of what life was like in Hartlepool in the late 60s.

Tommy Wilson

Goth's Blamed

The media encourage the belief that if a goth kills someone it’s because they are a goth and it’s the music they listen to that is at fault.Yet if someone who listens to mainstream music and fits in with the so called normal people kills someone its not there music or scene to blame.

They say if a person self harms, it’s the music they listen to that promotes the idea. Why is this? If someone has the desire to kill someone, surely it’s nothing to do with what social scene they are involved in. The lyrics of Marilyn Manson, Slipknot and My Chemical Romance have famously been blamed for promoting self harm and evil, but if you listen to the lyrics of these bands, a lot of their songs try to show how to escape from such feelings and offer another way out. It’s as if the media are looking for an excuse.

One of the biggest British stories linked to this idea was the murder of Jodi Jones in June 2003. Her boyfriend at the time, Luke Mitchell, was convicted of the murder. When the case went to court the kind of music he listened to and clothes that he wore were brought up and put forward as part of the blame for the murder.

Another famous incident was when the Daily Mail called My Chemical Romance a “cult suicide” band. This outraged fans and caused them to march in protest to the newspaper for putting forward this idea to oblivious readers.

So why is alternate and goth music blamed for so much that goes wrong? A lot is linked to the Columbine High School Massacre murders in 1999, where two students shot and murdered 15 people before killing themselves. It transpired they were big fans of Marlyn Manson. Ironically, far from being an evil devil worshipper, when asked what he would have said to the killers, Manson replied: "Nothing. I would have listened, because no one else did."

Tommy Wilson

Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams

Dunes, Oceano

Ansel Adams was an American Photographer born in San Francisco, California in 1902. He died in 1984 aged 82. He is best known for his black and white photographs of the American West and primarily Yosemite National Park. In 1927 Adams created his first portfolio in a different style than what had been seen before. Ansel Adams is considered a huge influence to photographers around the world. Exhibitions are still put on to show his work even though he is dead to continue inspiring young photographers. He took many photos over his career but today I am going to talk about one taken in 1963 called Dunes, Oceano.

This photograph is one of his most famous for many different reasons. The shot brings the picture out of the image, the way the photo is taken it actually feels like a 3D image. I feel the shot shows a good vs. evil, right vs. wrong feeling. The photo also feels incredibly isolated.

There is a clearly noticeable contrast in the image, changing from light and easy going on the left to dark and hard on the right. There is a wide variety of shades in the image though the top right side of the image is more solid black.

The texture looks as if it’s soft at the top yet rough at the bottom and there is a contrast there from top to bottom. The roughness looks as thought you could touch and feel the image and its roughness. The sky looks very soft along with the left side of the sand. It looks untouched as if no one has ever been there before and has just been discovered.

There is a wide variety of shaped in this photograph though I can see a lot of triangles. It’s as if the image is made up and put together with lots of triangles, thus creating many different shapes. The shapes are a very important part of the photograph as it is one of the very first things you notice when looking at the image.

Tommy Wilson

Post-Punk

The ethics of punk were continued in the late 70s and 80s through the form of post punk. Holding the same roots as the original punk movement post-punk brought in a new experimental and complex sound.

Public Image Ltd. rose from the ashes of punk band Sex Pistols, with singer John Lydon bringing the band together after Sex Pistols split. Public Image Ltd. are considered the innovators of the post punk movement and the first Post Punk band. Creating eight studio albums they received critical acclaim but never rose to the legendary status of the Sex Pistols. The band went on an indefinite hiatus in 1992 with John Lydon refusing to admit that the band had "split". Jeanette Lee from the band has went on to co-create Rough Trade Records with Geoff Travis and John Lydon from the band has went on to contradict his original ideas appearing on shows like "I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here" and an advert for Country Life Butter. For some people this has ruined his original status as a "Fuck You Front man".

Joy Division are one of the most well known Post-Punk bands. Originally trying to create the typical punk music they eventually found there own sound in a slower with a bassy ethereal sound. They became better known after the band ended, when singer Ian Curtis hanged himself in 1980. “Love Will Tear Us Apart” became their most popular song after the death of Ian Curtis. The remaining members of Joy Division went on to form New Order, who are a New Wave, Post-Punk band.

The Cure are a post punk band with a goth like image. They have released 13 studio albums over the course of there career and in 2009 received the God Like Genius Award at the NME awards for their contribution to Music. In a few of their albums they managed to make their music light and cheery whilst putting forward a dark and meaningful message. The bands second album “Seventeen Seconds” has a much darker sound than most of their other albums. This time in their career has been described as their “goth phase”.

The post-punk revival came in the early 2000’s, with bands like The Strokes, The Libertines and Franz Ferdinand shooting to mainstream success. These bands made music with obvious post-punk influences, using Mod like fashion copied from the original post-punk and new romantic bands. There are many bands trying to mimic the success of bands like this but none to as great success.

Tommy Wilson

The Beginning of Punk

The first established punk rock group was The Ramones. Started in 1974 in New York City The Ramones recorded a very low budget first album and received little attention outside their home city. Their first gig outside of New York only had an audience of 10. It wasn’t till they played their first show in the UK at The Roundhouse in London on the 4th on July 1976, that they started to receive critical acclaim. The following night they played a second gig at The Roundhouse and met members of The Clash and Sex Pistols.

This meeting inspired these bands to take a new direction in the form of anti-establishment. The Clash were an instant success from the release of their debut album “The Clash”. The UK punk scene was now alive. The Sex Pistols then released what is claimed to be one of the most influential albums of all time “Never mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols” on 28th of October 1977. It went to number one in the UK and 106 in the USA, and became their only official album released.

Punk rock music continued after this with The Jam but they made it sound a lot more pop and were more image conscious than the previous mentioned bands. Singer Paul Weller’s lyrics were in contrast to the lyrics of The Clash and Sex Pistols. Where The Pistols called for destruction and The Clash called for revolutionary change, The Jam sang about the idealistic England from a socialist’s point of view.

Another influential Punk band of the 70s was The Buzzcocks. They received mainstream success with their most famous song “Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)”, which remains one of the most covered punk songs of all time.

Siouxsie & the Banshees were a band who merged punk and gothic rock. They were fronted by a woman, which was very different for a punk band at the time. They were very experimental and alternative to anything heard before. Siouxsie Sioux and Steven Severin met at a Roxy Music concert in September 1975 and decided to get a band together.

These six bands changed the face of music forever and influenced musicians everywhere.

Tommy Wilson

You Swine!!

Swine flu is going to kill half the population... but we have not to worry, this is the view of Tim Ross and Mark Prigg from the Evening Standard. I've been ill all week in bed not keeping up with the news and i wake up this morning to a global epidemic threatning to kill me. It is like this has came from no where.

Transmitted from pigs, swine flu is normally only spread when people who come in direct contact with pigs, but the new outbreak amoungst humans is differant it's caused by a new swine flu virus that has spread from person to person and it's happening among people who haven't had any contact with pigs.

To date there has been 25,805 reported cases of swine flu (08/06/09) resulting in 158 deaths. The most reported cases have came from America, with 12,701. This has acounted for 42 of the deaths. The most reported deaths from the virus have came from where the virus originated, Mexico. With 106 deaths and 5,717 cases reported Mexico's terrible health care system is clearly not helping treat people well enough from the virus. Where other countrys are beggining to cope, Mexico can not. The United Kingdon has 664 reported cases as of yet but still no deaths.

At this time it is hard to see wether swine flu is gunna get worse quickly or die out soon. Maybe what is going to happen has been predicted but i refuse to listen to or read news related to the story as it seems to be the same story repeated over and over, i just want to be told soon wether im going to get swine flu or not... would make things a lot easier. After the initial worry of getting the virus, the U.K has seemed to been able to cope with the idea of swine flu.

Tommy Wilson

Christmas Vs That time of year with the chocolate eggs

Real presents are better than chocolate eggs; therefore Christmas is better than Easter. That is the true reasons behind these seasonal holidays these days. To most people they have no religious reason at all.

Easter is a pointless celebration put forward by the companies that saw Christmas as a success. Of course Easter has its values to a religious person but the fact is most of the people who eat the eggs have no idea why or don’t even care. Christmas is another time of year that my head tells me is pointless and just commercial yet I can’t help but feel excited and happy at that time of year. It’s not for the reason that you get presents or to do with religion, it’s just the feeling you get around Christmas, maybe the fact that there is actually decent telly on at that time of year.

Christmas overall is more acceptable time of year, though that is still greatly taken advantage of by the global companies. They should move the religious Christmas and the commercial Christmas to different times of years. That would save the hassle of religious people trying to force there ideas on the non-believers and save the non believers having to defend there reason to loves the holidays.

Tommy Wilson

Michael Jackson Returns

Michael Jackson is set to return to the UK to play a handful of dates at the O2 arena in London but with the amount of tickets sold and the price they were at you cant help but think this is all for the money to counter his bankruptcy.

He has been said to have been "crying with joy" when the tickets for all the dates sold out. Was this at the joy of so many people wanting to see him or the joy that he finally has some money to pay of his debts?

The tickets sold out for the gigs in just less than 2 hours, so this proves that he is still one of the biggest acts around. The fact of the matter is everybody knows the name Michael Jackson, recently due to the allegations made against him and his outrageous antics but could everyone really name a Michael Jackson song with the possible exception of "Thriller"?

There is no doubt that he will not be as good as he was in his golden days, his voice will lack the depth it once had. So will this not leave over a million ticket holders disappointed? Some people have paid large sums of money for these tickets and although some people are just going so they can say they have seen Michael Jackson live, some people will be die hard fans and are going to see a good show.

He will also be rusty as it has been years since his appeared on stage. The fact he has not played in years or released any new work in over a decade could possibly be forgiven as a lot of things have been going on in his life. There is no doubt that these shows will be spectacular events, with most likely great support acts, lights, dancers etc but the fact Michael is past it should have and at least countered the outrageous prices. These shows will be memorable events, but only time will tell if it’s for good or bad reasons.

Tommy Wilson

Sheep...

In this country the celebrities and the innovators are completely different. The people driving this country forward are condemned to the shadows and limelight seekers find a way to get to the front of the papers.

The glossy woman’s magazines are full or the same skimpy woman replicated over and over again with the same repeated news story. Amy Winehouse gets on the front page but is not credited for her fantastic voice and brilliant song writing, it’s due to her "live fast die young" lifestyle.

The majority of youth follow with this, most wearing the same clothes listening to the same music and liking the same activities trying to become the generic person you see on the front of these papers and magazines.

The level of music being produced in the current day has also dropped dramatically. Its getting to the point where the majority of the music in the charts are from "here now gone the next day" artists with songs that have no great lyrical content or depth. It's now cooler to get caught by the police than to learn how to play guitar or write a song.

These ways don’t look set to change anytime soon either, they are in fact getting worse. With a lot the music that does in fact have the potential to be legendary being shunned off to the "different people".

So how did this happen? It seems like it was an all off a sudden change from what it was like in the late 90’s, well as far as I can see. So we need to promote the opportunity for teenagers to be different than one another and maybe we can achieve the youth culture of what we once had.

Tommy Wilson

Arrogance In A Bag

Johnny Borell is arrogant? Yes. Liam Gallagher is arrogant? Again true, yet Gallagher continues to be hero worshiped by his fans and glorified by the media yet Borell and his band Razorlight and continually dismissed by the media just because he thinks he is great. It should come down to the music first.

Now i am not comparing Razorlight’s albums to the initial three Oasis albums, far from it, but the fact of the matter is that Razorlight has created one excellent and two decent albums which are arguably better than most of Oasis's recent outings.

NME gave Borell grief for being arrogant and a lot of the readers jumped on the bandwagon and started to hate him. Its as if NME decides some of the kids opinions.

The arrogance of the person is a part of the person who makes them who they are, so if Liam Gallagher was not arrogant he would be a different type of front man and Oasis would be a totally different band.

Oasis seem to constantly get away with releasing mediocre albums, they have loyal fans but i do think if their next album isn't something special they may start to lose the legendary status they worked so hard for at the start of their careers.

Its about time people stopped liking bands and people because they feel like that's what they are supposed to do and start listening to the music.

Tommy Wilson