SUMMER WORK EXPERIENCE PLACEMENT FOR TWO MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGY & DESIGN STUDENTS NOVEMBER 2011 – FEBRUARY 2012.

From Cashtivity:

We are seeking two bright and energetic multi media and communications students to work with the Cashtivity team over the summer on a web design project. The placements will be ideal for students seeking to build up a portfolio of work and getting real project experience. You will be working on cutting edge projects.

The placements will be on the following basis:

• 32 days (2-3 days per week over a 9-12 week period)

• Starting after exams in November with completion by end of February 2012 (start/finish dates are flexible)

• Based in the CBD • Offered on a voluntary basis

What is Cashtivity?

Cashtivity helps you plan and organise your cash activities – from bake sales to app sales. Do it yourself or with your friends – in school, at home or on the go. Cashtivity is a new project, an internet service helping young people and the young at heart, to put their business, financial and entrepreneurial ideas and plans into action. We commenced operations in August 2011. We are creating and testing two new ground breaking products – Cashtivity Web Apps and Cashtivity Campus Apps.

What are the Placement Projects?

There are two projects which will require the students to work as a team. Each student will lead one of the projects. The first project will be to create a style guide and design for our new Cashtivity Campus App – this is an online YouTube education channel supported by slides, video, voice, animation and a ‘whiteboard’. You will design the Education Channel, creating look, feel and format which speaks the Cashtivity brand. Our Campus Apps will comprise a series of courses, all of which will be produced through a standard format and available to users online. The second project will be to create a design and style guide for our existing Activity App and to enhance the web site with this new design.

The website address is: http://cashtivity.com.au

Who are we seeking?

We are looking for those wishing to take their creative, technical and project skills to the next level. Excellent communication skills are essential. It is ideal for students entering their final year of undergraduate or postgraduate study.

How do I apply?

Applications close on Friday 11 November 2011. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis and a short list will be invited to an interview in early November.

To apply please send a covering letter and resume to:

Marissa Di Pasquale

Cashtivity

Level 41, 55 Collins Street Melbourne Victoria 3000

Email: marissadipasquale@gmail.com

Please direct any inquires through email.

Journalist Amber Wilson is seeking some assistance with a documentary she is producing. She writes:

I’m a journalist and presenter who is looking for a camera operator and editor who would like to work on a documentary about people with disabilities and their access to sex. While the work will be unpaid unless/until the documentary is sold and aired, the aim is to make a professional-standard production that has television appeal. I’m looking for someone who is open-minded and willing to be involved in something that involves some outside-the-square thinking. Please give me a call on 0423 292 558. We’d be looking to start production within the next month.

Her email is amber.wilson@fairfaxmedia.com.au

Information Sessions for Honours are going to be held on

Friday 26 August, 1.30–2.30pm

Download the brochure LSS Honours Info session Poster 2011

Science – Room EN101
Arts – Room EN102
Register to attend!
Email: lssinfo@swin.edu.au
Telephone: 9214 5209

Rental Assistance Scholarships 2011

Equity and Disability Support Service are awarding 50 rental assistance scholarships to domestic undergraduate Higher Education students from low socio-economic backgrounds or experiencing significant financial disadvantage. The aim of the scholarships are to assist students with paying rent/board.

The scholarships are to the value of $2,000 and will be paid in fortnightly instalments of $100 from September 2011 with a lump sum backdated to March 2011 for those students enrolled from Semester 1.

Students enrolling in Semester 2 will be entitled to $1,000.

Applications are now open and close Monday, 22 August 2011.

Please read the General Information Document before you apply.

Kathy (Carey Mulligan), Tommy (Andrew Garfield) and Ruth (Keira Knightly) are resident students at a special boarding school, secluded away in the English countryside. Manufactured children are kept there and brought up just as regular schoolchildren would, although for the first few years of their lives they are unaware of their particular status.

The viewer is introduced to our trio of protagonists as little children; innocent, with all the wonderful, touching and unfortunate characteristics children have. As the years go by, Kathy and Tommy, the latter whom was quite the social outcast, grow closer and closer, which in turn sparks jealousy from Ruth, who steals his first kiss.

The children grow into teenagers, and then into young adults, behaving as teenagers and young adults would. As time passes, they grow apart, only for fate to bring them together in the twilight of their lives, more mature to look back on what they’ve had and what they are.

The story is told retrospectively by Kathy, in her later years. I perhaps will not reveal the true nature of the characters’ existence, but leave that to the literature. One of the most haunting (and breathtaking) pieces of writing I have ever read.

There are a lot of scenes and moments from Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel that are missing in the film; a lot of the omissions I found quite baffling. For instance, Kathy’s tape has a much greater significance and back story than it does in the film. It’s what gives the material its title and for me at least, I felt the whole story of the tape was a wonderful metaphor for the story itself. It was important. Now, again this isn’t a mistake with the film – a film can’t include everything from the novel it’s based upon, it’s just impractical - but that was something that narked me a lot.

Mark Romanek is a great filmmaker. I’m a fan of a lot of his music videos as well as his previous film, the much underrated One Hour Photo. Here he displays an almost Kubrick-like restraint with the story and a patient eye for detail in his actors faces. It’s a gorgeous film to look at.

With a cast that includes golden up-and-comers like Carey Mulligan (An Education) and Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) it should come as no surprise to find that the performances are outstanding too. One scene of Garfield screaming into the night is one of the most powerful acting moments I saw in 2010. That boy is going far.

Never Let Me Go came and went from theatres last fall in a short time span. If it aspired to any box office success, I doubt it achieved it. Witnessing Never Let Me Go earn a second, much prolonged life in the years to come as people discover it on DVD, Blu-ray and television is something I would greet with much satisfaction.

If the movie gods have a sense of justice, Never Let Me Go will not fade into obscurity.

Photo by Daniel Hollister; used under Creative Commons Attribution license.

Are you a sucker for traditions and love dressing up for the odd occasion? Get ready to save the date and commit yourself to Melbourne’s fourth annual “Zombie Shuffle” this year!

With hundreds of people lingering through the streets of Melbourne in August last year, this year is expected to attract even more brain-eating “zombies”.

Already over 4000 people have chosen to RSVP with “attending” on the event’s official page on Facebook, where the confirmed date of October 30 has also been marked.

Organisers of the event have set their ground rules and say on the event’s page “We might all be undead, but we also pride ourselves on running an event that is enjoyable for all”.

The 2010 shuffle saw people bashing on café and tram windows and quite blatantly being public nuisances. This year event organisers hope to see to it that this kind of behavioural conduction is not recurrent.

It is expected that people taking part in the shuffle keep to themselves and avoid the temptation of scaring any fellow Melbournians who may cross their paths.

If all goes as planned and people are dedicated to following set rules, then this event will bring forward a collective and unique atmosphere throughout the streets of Melbourne.

For more information, please visit the event’s official homepage.

When it comes to society’s standards of beauty, there are many common notions: beauty is in the eye of the beholder or beauty is only skin deep, to name a few.

But there are sometimes negative stigmas attached to really pretty women — that they get whatever they want and they don’t need to work as hard as average looking women do. I try not to think that way, but you know what, sometimes I find myself believing it too.

In order to test this theory, a woman in England conducted her own social science experiment (video below). She sets out over a weekend, first, while very plain looking and then done up with heels, make up and a revealing dress, to see if she could get things for free. She was rejected on every request but once with her average appearance, but had considerably more success when she was looking “sexy”.

There have been times where friends of mine, who don’t even need to doll themselves up but just have those universally praised characteristics (such as blonde hair, good physique and long legs), have been offered jobs in quality clothing stores just when they were browsing. While, I have so many others who still take pride in their appearance and work so hard, but are a foot too short and a bit too curvaceous for what society considers desirable.

It can of course depend on the audience. Being pretty will work better with a male audience, as clearly shown in this video. On the other hand if you’re dealing with girls your age who are less pretty by society’s standards, or don’t have enough “va-va-voom” or attractive presence, they could hate you for it and work against you.

If you’re likeable, men will like you for your looks and women will like (or at least not hate) you because you’re not arrogant about yourself. I always see there’s two kinds of pretty women: the kind that uses their feminine charms with men (which makes them popular only with men and hated by women) and the kind that are pleasant (maybe mildly flirtatious) with men, but also nice to women.

So can we adequately conclude that beautiful people automatically have it easier in life? I believe there’s enough research proving this is the case. Humans respond favourably to a pretty face. We are wired to do so.

But even if the cards are stacked in their favour, that doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t work hard for what they ultimately achieve with all those opportunities. It’s just a shocking truth that more often than not, opportunities are given to prettier or nicer dressed people over others who deserve the chance just as much.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Artist Aaron Koblin takes vast amounts of data — and at times vast numbers of people — and weaves them into stunning visualizations. From elegant lines tracing airline flights to landscapes of cell phone data, from a Johnny Cash video assembled from crowd-sourced drawings to the “Wilderness Downtown” video that customizes for the user, his works brilliantly explore how modern technology can make us more human.

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost play Graeme and Clive, two science-fiction fanatics from England who travel to America to take a road trip across all the biggest UFO sighting hot spots. On their journey they happen upon Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen), an alien who has escaped from the US government, and assist him in trying to get home. This, of course, prompts all manner of comedy capers – from avoiding pursuant federal agents, to the accidental kidnap of a naïve young woman and a misconstrued plan to return Paul back to his mother ship.

Before I begin, I must admit that I am an avid fan of both Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Spaced was absolute genius, Shaun of the Dead is one of my ten favourite films of the last decade, and Hot Fuzz is probably in my top twenty. Paul is their first American film, but more importantly, it’s their first without the great Edgar Wright behind the camera (who many may know directed last year’s masterpiece, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and is the third component of this trifecta of British perfection).

Instead, they’ve teamed up with Greg Mottola, who directed Superbad and the criminally under-seen Adventureland. Understandably, nothing can touch their work with Wright, by a long shot. There’s something really special going on whenever those three are paired, and without Wright, a vital piece of the magic is missing. Without him Paul can’t possibly measure up to those other films, but that’s not to say it isn’t a good film.

Mottola makes a perfectly acceptable substitute for Wright, with this film being much more of a straight-up comedy than Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz, both of which played with genre a little more, and had moments that were meant to be taken seriously. Paul is slapstick and more about just kicking back and having fun with the characters, but luckily there’s quite a lot of humour to be found. Of course, it helps if you’re something of a fanboy/girl, as this is a film that was manufactured for that audience if ever there was one.

The plot to Paul is equivalent to a humorous version of E.T., but with more high-speed car chases. Plenty of humor is wrung from this plot, including references to just about every classic sci-fi movie ever made, including Star Wars, Alien, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

The chemistry between Pegg and Frost, best friends both on and off screen, shines through as strongly as it ever has. I loved the whole idea of these sheltered English fanboys embarking on a geek-fueled road trip through America (I almost felt I was watching myself in the same context), and adding the always delightful Kristen Wiig (Saturday Night Live) to the ensemble was a great choice.

As for the titular character of PAUL, I had my doubts about Seth Rogen being the right fit, given his acting style. I am a Rogen fan, but as he’s such a distinct comic personality, I was afraid he would overwhelm Pegg and Frost, or somehow not mesh well with their somewhat more genteel British humour. In the end I shouldn’t have worried, as Rogen actually does a great job interacting with the main characters, despite being yet again cast as the pot-smoking slacker.

The supporting cast is a lot of fun, with Jason Bateman (Arrested Development) having a great role as Agent Zoil, and Sigourney Weaver hamming it up as his mysterious evil superior. Bill Hader and Jo Lo Truglio (both from Superbad) are also on board as Bateman’s cartoonish henchman, that go through all manner of hell while chasing the trio. And who can forget Jane Lynch (Glee), as a kind but ballsy bar tender the boys happen across on a pitstop (honestly, is there anything that woman isn’t in?).

It is a difficult task to blend heart and satire, but Simon Pegg and Nick Frost do it seamlessly. While Paul isn’t in the same league as Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz or even Spaced at it’s best, it’s still a lot of fun, and well worth the 100 minutes. As for Pegg and Frost; I hope they’re still making movies together when they’re ninety, and the thought of a third Pegg-Frost-Wright collaboration on the horizon makes me giddy. Until then, this will more than make do.

Lisa De Franco