Fogg

Website design.

2007-09-30T13:12:00.000Z

To me one of the most important aspects of ~~real life/people~~ online is the aesthetics, not only does it have to be user friendly, it also has to look good. Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but if something looks naff, then I think we can all agree that it looks awful.

Personally for me, I prefer clean, simple sites. White, and off grey is the new black. My two favourite sites have to be Apple an Dazed Digital. Love or hate Macs you can't deny that Apple have the eye for timeless design, it's simple yet effective, and very clutter free. It makes it easier to navigate the site and also doesn't make you blind.

On the same note Dazed is simple and classly like Apple, but it has an edge to to it, it feels much more exciting and...youthful. Normally you wouldn't think having a site that all in black would be all that attractive, but the use of simple tables and little splashes of colour really give Dazed the upper hand. Not only does it look stunning it's also much easier to use. It's not laden down with text, opting instead to use classic black and white images.

Of course there are negatives to having that many images, or using too many flash scripts, but who cares, who still uses DSL nowadays anyway?!

Wired.com

2007-09-28T12:14:00.000Z

Wired.com is the online counterpart to Wired magazine, a techiefied geek mag (i'll admit that I did enjoy reading it...ahem). The magazine is...well, it's geek sleek. Unfortunately the same can't be said for Wired.com. The layout leaves a lot to be desired...as does the navigation...as does the style, in fact the whole thing is just plain awful. Of course there are worse sites around (hello independent online) but i'm not reviewing them now, am I?!

My main issue I would have with Wired.com is the sheer amount of text that is on the page. In this article about crazed internet lovers there are 3 solid pages of writing, if I had to take a guestimation, i'd say about 1000 words per page. Now, I may not be the sharpest tool in the box, but I invite you to try and find anyone who can read that much on a computer screen without going blind.

Like most online counterparts the content is also no different to the content that you would find in the magazine, which is a shame really, of course not all magazines can afford to pay for a whole new team to create an online equivalent to such a high standard, but I would have thought with a magazine such as wired, where it's key readers probably live on the computer, they would have made the effort to appease them. The only difference between the magazine and website is the full transcript of the IM conversations had. Oh joy.

In general, other than the content and writing style, there isn't anything I like about wired.com. 'Yeah, so, the journalist is good, what's the problem?!' I hear you saying. If journalism was purely about the writing, why not just print it on the back of a toilet role and be done with it? It's the whole package, as they say, and wired.com is sorely missing a large chunk of it.

Trent Lott

2007-03-30T14:34:00.000Z

Trent Lott was a US Senator from Mississippi, who resigned after making controversial racist remarks at an event.

An off-air Journalist, Ed O'keefe was in the room when he Lott makes the remarks and attempted to sell the story to national newspapers. However the nationals didn't see this as newsworthy so they ignored it. So, O'keefe and other bloggers kept the story alive, and eventually gained enough attention for the national newspapers to take notice and print articles, which ultimately led to Lott's resignation.

Google News

2007-03-23T12:19:00.000Z

For the past week i've checked my page at Google news , which I customised to my liking. In theory it's a good idea. You start with eight news sections (World, Entertainment, Sports ect) and you can add your own custom section and arrange it in any order you like.

So, of course I added 24, music and television. Yay, now just sit back and wait for loads of top stories about these topics, right? No, not so much. Sit back and wait for Google to find all recent stories with the words '24, music and television' in them. As you can see, this may be a problem. Today for example, under the 24 section there are stories about '24inch Plasma screens' and some conferences that are being held on the 24th April.

Of course you can add more key works. For example 'Music+Indie' or '24+Jack Bauer+FOX'. This does filter the bulk of the articles that are found, but it's still not perfect. In fact, it's far from perfect, but it is a quick and easy way to find articles. You don't have to do anything. Just let the machine do it for you, however in this case I would say the human element would have more success, especially if you're looking for something more specific.

Links

2007-03-16T14:07:00.000Z

All internet statistics from around the globe. The information on UK ages is page 13. [Worldwide Internet users]

Age.net. A age friendly site for the UK over 50's. [Age.net]

A site for people who are retired, or of the age of retiring. Gives advice for those who are retired. Where to go and what to do, ect. [Too young to retire.]

A list of websits for the elderly. [List]

BBC article about am old man married to a Chinese woman. They met on a internet dating site. [Old man. Young wife]

Artcle about 'Pensioners embracing the internet'. [Bizreport]

Affluent pensioners spending more money on the net. [BBC]

Critical evaluation

2007-03-09T15:53:00.000Z

I was given the task of writing about film and TV for our ReviewTube blog, and on Monday I had the ‘Tube of the Day’. Overall I had a good experience posting on the blog, and bar one day I was successful at posting daily.

The aspect that worked well for the blog, I thought, was the layout, logo and slogan. It was simplistic yet it made it obvious what they blog was about, as well incorporating some slight humour via the pun on the name ‘YouTube’. As the target audience for our blog were students, I think we all successfully managed to attain to this level, creating a humours, colloquial style which suited our blog, and we all complimented one another with our style and posting.

The blog was very well organised beforehand, whereby we all knew what we were to post and when. Very rarely were posts made on top of one another or forgotten about.

Generally I am happy with the posts I made, especially the video choices. However, there were a couple of posts were the style wandered slightly from the norm, and became maybe too pretentious, however these only came with shows/films that I was unfamiliar with, but I did attempt to post various different videos from different genres.

My main problem was finding material to post. YouTube has over 5 million different videos and it did become laborious to search for one video that I found suitable and met the criteria that I had set. I didn’t want to just find a trailer and review it. I didn’t find any problems with posting everyday, however there was a day where I forgot. I found the more I posted the easier it became for me to review the videos, and maintain a similar style.

Why YouTube makes baby Jesus cry laugh.

2007-02-22T19:38:00.000Z

YouTube is the mother of all inventions that allows lazy teens and bored office workers like myself whittle away the hours of the day laughing at others misfortunes and/or stupidity.

Just search 'man falling down' and you'll find hours of entertainment, or more importantily you'll find hours of free entertainment. YouTube is a canvas for many to post their latest short film or a place for fans to share their videos of a their favourite band playing live.

This video shows how amazing YouTube really is.

Don't judge me. I know you laughed too! OK, so if you have somewhat of a conscience (I said if) how about this? Basically the same video, only you won't get bad karma for laughing at young children crying.

The best thing about YouTube is that you can even do it yourself. So, go get yourself a camera, a young child and scare away.

STFU 4REALZ.

2007-02-22T19:18:00.000Z

OMG R U SRSLY 4 REALZ??? LOL U RULZZZZZZZ!!!!!

Yes, that feeling of an explosion inside your head is your brain breaking from the invading stupidity of text talk.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm prone to the use of text shorthand, but firstly it's difficult when you only have 12 small keys and 26 different letters and secondly I'm a skint student. Text messages cost money, I consider it a talent to be able to fit 50 different pieces of information into to one text. However, what bothers me is when people use text talk on online forums and even in emails.

If you have a full qwerty keyboard in front of you and you're not being charged by the word then why feel the need to use cryptic code?

The most common online slang is 'LOL'. I of course knew that it was used when something was funny, I didn't however know that it meant 'laughing out loud'. Which is just plain stupid anyway. I don't once remember having a funny conversation with a friend then stopping to say 'I'm laughing out loud...you're funny'. Why not just use 'ha-ha'?

People must know that it's difficult to read capital letters on a screen. So why comprise a whole conversation with 'OMG, AWGTHTGTTA? LOL JK IMHO TINAR TTYL'? Apparently for some, it's just easier to write using text talk.

You may be thinking 'it's fine, it's just these crazy kids..they'll grow out of it' but unfortunately, and rather alarmingly it's not just 'crazy kids' even fully grown adults use this talk. When will the madness end, I ask you? Or am I just prematurely ageing?

Go Fug Yourself

2007-02-08T14:26:00.000Z

Go fug yourself

If it isn't already glaring obvious from the name of this blog what the tone is, then I'll spell it out for you: Bitch, bitch, bitch, fashion, bitch.

Go fug yourself is a fashion site dedicated to pointing out the fashion faux paux of the famous, and is also a daily source for fashion news.

The style of the blog is very humourous, often using celebrities lack of style for the focus of this humour, however it's not meant in a maclious way. It feels almost like a 'feel good' blog for those of us not fortunate enough to afford designer clothes and stylists.

Like most blogs, it's opinion based, however it has gained some weight in the fashion world. Not only is it sponsored by many designers but also applauded by other on-line publications.

Personally, I like the writing style of the blog. It's very funny, but also informative to those who have an interest in fashion. The tone isn't suitable for a print publication but for it works perfectly for on-line. It allows people to express themselves in viciously honest way.

The Holiday review.

2006-12-12T15:01:00.000Z

The Holiday.
Starring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black.
Source

I feel as though I need a holiday after watching this.

First off, I know, I know. It's a film with Cameron Diaz, Jude Law and Kate Winslet in it. The Antichrist trinity of acting. I did think about this beforehand but then my stingy-student instinct kicked in and I thought if I were going to be paying £5.50 to watch a film, I might as well watch one that is 135 minutes long rather than 108 minutes....it is semi logical (No, 'not wasting money on outings you can't afford' was not an option).

Synopsis
Nancy Myers, director of other rom-coms such as What Women Want and Some thing's Gotta Give once again takes the helm of 2006's ultimate chick flick. Two woman, both unlucky in love, trade houses for the Christmas break, and find that travelling across the world and living in someone else's house can also change your life.....

Iris (Kate Winslet) is in love with a colleague, but the unrequited love is engaged to someone else. Across the globe Amanda (Cameron Diaz) is in love with herself, and as a result her live-in-lover has been unfaithful. Whilst searching the internet Amanda impulsively decides that she needs a break. Where is better than sunny LA? A snow covered English countryside, of course. The two women then move into each other's houses. Iris to Amanda's luxurious LA mansion. Amanda into Iris' quaint Surrey cottage. And from there they both learn that a change in address can also be a change for the soul.

Review
If you like Love Actually, you'll love this. Well, no. If you like Love Actually, this is the kind of film you'd go to see, but it's nowhere near as entertaining.

The film is drenched in saccharine movie-esque lessons in love and life. It's awkward, and embarrassing from the word go. When a film starts spewing dialogue about Shakespeare, 'Corny' and unrequited love in the first few minutes, it's probably best to leave and save your sanity.

As you would expect from a film about love set in LA there are the constant film references. This comes in the form of Albert Abbott. A Hollywood legend script writer, who harps on about the 'good old days of Hollywood'. Something this film desperately attempts to be apart of. It mocks the modern Hollywood's witlessness via Diaz's movie trailer company and the booming narrative of her inner thoughts in the style of American movie previews. 'It's looks like it's actually good! We're amazing!' She proclaims to her colleagues after finishing one of her trailers. Funny, I could say the same about this film.

It's a Christmas film with sporadic humour and beautiful people, however it has pretensions of being more. To my shock the stand out player was none other than Jude Law. Playing the role of Kate Winslet brother, Graham, he turns up drunk at Iris' home, and then has sex with Amanda. In Iris' bed. Many more nauseating moments happen between the two including heart to hearts about parents and broken homes, of course, what is a Christmas film without beautiful people with domestic issues?!

Across the pond Jack Black and Kate Winslet are showing us how little chemistry they have, by drinking wine, renting DVDs and singing songs in the most uncomfortable way possible. Uncomfortable fo the audience, that is. Black looks as though he's been straitjacketed and is much more suited to films like School of Rock and Orange County.

Miss it?
If you don't enjoy the feeling of wanting to crawl into your own skin and die. Winslet's storyline lacks passions and in most scenes with Jack Black it's just pure awkward.

Watch it?
If not only to laugh at the fact that it snows in Surrey every day, The daily Telegraph has very aesthetically pleasing journalists, you can chat online to complete strangers and swap houses without any repercussions and you can just waltz off to the other side of the world without any warning or notice to your bosses.

Best scene?
The most amusing was a telephone scene between Winslet, Diaz and Law in which Winslets hasn't figured out how to use a phone and continues to yell at Diaz about her brother having sex with the woman who's living her house. It sparked a few laughs and was, for that moment, like the film The holiday wants to be: Bridget Jones' Diary.

Conclusion?
A Christmas rom-com. Nothing more. Nothing less. There are some genuinely nice scenes, however, you forget them as soon as you leave the cinema.

It's Prison, yo!

2006-12-10T00:00:00.000Z

I was browsing the web looking for a story to write when I came upon something rather interesting for me to ~~rant~~ express my opinions in a civilised manner about.

So, it looks as though my blog has turned into torubled-rich-kids-with-a-slight-affection-for-the-narcotics zone.

For those of you who watch Prison Break you will recognise this actor, Lane Garrison, as the haphazard 'Tweener'. It would appear as though life is imitating art for the 26-year-old actor as he's once again run into a little bit of trouble with the law enforcement.

Garrison, as reported was at the wheel of the car when it mounted the curb hitting a tree, killing his 17-year-old passenger. There are so many questions to be asked which really don't look like they have positive answers to.

For starters, what is a 26-year-old adult doing 'hanging out' with two under-age teenage girls? What adult drives a car, with passengers, whilst intoxicated? His highly paid, ivy league lawyer claims the actor had only two drinks and decided to take them home, however, eye witnesses from the party y two drinks and decided to take them home, however, eye witnesses from the party dispute this.

I know it's easy to condemn someone when only knowing certain parts of the story, but things aren't looking too good for Garrison at the moment. The reality that he killed someone is going to torture him for the rest of his life, but the fact is, if you've had 'several rounds of shots' you don't drive. As an adult, you would think that he would know this. Although, it's alarming how many youths think they're invincible when it comes to alcohol. I would also be a lot more sympathetic if this wasn't his second drink driving related accident in two months and if he was mature and repenting enough to admit to his mistakes, rather than hiding behind his lawyers and feeble excuses.

Police investigations are still ongoing. We'll have to wait and see how good his lawyer actually is then.

If you believe they put a man on the moon...

2006-12-05T11:52:00.000Z

It would appear that those brainy acts at NASA are planning to play around with that moon of ours again. Send a robot? Collect some dust? No. they plan to build a ‘permanently-occupied base’ on the moon!

You may be thinking ‘why would they want to? It’s not like anyone ever goes.’, well, this is all for those hardworking astronauts who are planning to return to the moon in 2020, as President Bush announced after the 2003 Columbia space shuttle accident.

There are so many jokes I could make about builder’s competence that I will spare you.

The technical details haven’t all been laid out yet (and let’s face it, could you and I actually understand if they had?) but the base is expected to run by solar power and built near to one of the two poles.

NASA plans to ask other countries with help to build the base. Wow, could you imagine that rather painful ‘divorce settlement’ if ever the US fell out with one of these countries in the future?

US: Fine, but we’re keeping the moon base.
China: Oh hell no.
US: [bombs china]

It’s going to be a long time before we get to see the base, but it’s a step forward in the US space program, which will hopefully lead us to more information about the big unknown.

Now, any bets on what they're going to build next? I say a McDonalds. What? Oh come on, this is the US we're talking about!

Taxes. Death. Doherty.

2006-12-05T09:51:00.000Z

Dohery on Newsnight Dec 04.
source

As the old saying goes; “Nothing in life is certain, except death and taxes.” Well, it would appear that there was something Mr Franklin didn't count on: Pete Doherty. More specifically Pete Doherty, a car and drugs.

You won't be surprised to learn that the troubled front man is once again adorning the front pages of the tabloids. 'Whatever for?!' I don't hear you yell, as it's more than likely you'd have already guessed it. If your answer is “he's been fined five counts of drug possession including heroin and cocaine” then you would be spot on. Go you! You could write your own on-line blog!

According to the Beeb he was ordered to pay £770 and disqualified from driving for four months. He wasn't sent to jail as District Judge Jane McIvor said “that the offences were not serious enough to require a custodial sentence.” It's a good job that British judicial system doesn't work on a tab system, because I'm pretty much guessing that if it was, he would be hung, drawn and quartered for the bill of criminal offences that he's picked up.

It's obvious that the Babyshambles front man has issues, but the praising fan girls screaming outside the court only encourage him. As a youth that grew up with the blinding hysteria of The Libertines I am incredibly saddened by what's happened to him, it's a shame, but really, how has this man escaped not only jail, but death?

The consensus that is flying around the message board is that Doherty is some sort of 'hero' or 'genius'. It's arguable that he is the saviour of modern British music and admittedly I'm fond of his music and lyrics, but these blind hero worshipping excuses are exactly that: excuses. He nothing compared to what he once was. His music isn't like what it used to be, nor his lyrics and definitely not his public persona, and you can't deny that the drugs are to blame for that.

Even if did used to write a few good songs, it doesn't escape what he is now. An erratic drug addict. If he doesn't sort his life out maybe not next time, but the time after he will be seeing the inside of a cell, or worse. A coffin.