Magazine Coursework

Just a quick link to our group's magazine blog.
Enjoy :)

More of Annie Leibovitz Work

Below are more of Annie Leibovitz's photographs which are my personal favourites.

A photo shoot with the cast of The Sopranos.


Some of the biggest actors in the film industry, including Sylvester Stallone, Forest Whitaker and Robert Downey Jr.



And of course Jack Nicholson in his dressing gown :)

Annie Leibovitz's Newest Photoshoot

In class we have been looking at magazine covers and some influential photographers in the magazine industry. Some of my favourite portraits and photos have been done by Annie Leibovitz who has been in the business for quite some time and is well known for her striking images such as John Lennon and Yoko Ono cuddling and Whoopi Goldberg in a bathtub full of milk.
Her newest photographs are for a Disney ad campaign which features actresses such as Rachel Weisz, Scarlett Johansson and Whoopi Goldberg dress up as classic Disney characters with stunning backgrounds and props. Once again Leibovitz doesn't fail to impress.

Here is couple of the best shots:



Here is a link to the rest of the photos. Go look!

A Tribute To Heath Ledger

At the beginning of last week Heath Ledger was found dead in his New York apartment, naked and surrounded with pills aged just 28. The autopsy reports have since been said to be inconclusive and the origins of this tragedy still unknown. News of the death spread tremendously quickly on the internet and news shows around the world. Rumors began circulating that he was at Mary-Kate Olsen's apartment (which was later denied) and that he committed suicide with a drug overdose.

Ledger had fairly recently split from his fiancee and fellow actor Michelle Williams who he shared a two year old daughter with. Ledger was said to be deeply depressed after the break up and news reports have claimed it was because his drug taking problems that Williams left him. As Ledger sunk into a pit of depression he devoted all his time and energy into acting for the part of The Joker in the upcoming Batman sequel 'The Dark Knight'. He had been hailed by his fellow peers and director as amazing on set and amazingly committed. Crippling insomnia followed with obvious physical signs showing due to his obsessive work rate. He turned to cocktails of pills to overcome his sleeping problems and it is believed that in desperation he accidentally overdosed. Not much else is known of this terrible tragedy, but a few facts remain true;

Heath Ledger was a brilliant and promising actor who was taken well before his time. He had barely reached his prime and he could have gone onto be one of the true greats of the film world. Oscar nominated before the age of 26 and lauded for his performance in Brokeback Mountain, everyone who worked with him said what a pleasure and honour it was to share the screen with him.

My thoughts are with his family and friends at this tragic time and i hope that Heath Ledger is remembered for his terrific acting roles and everything he has given to others in the film business. He will be sorely missed by everyone who knew him and the ones like us who didn't.

The Future of the World Wide Web... Dum, Dum, Dummmm

This is the testimony of Sir Timothy Berners-Lee.
He appeared in front of the United States House of Representatives, Committee on Energy and Commerce to discuss the future of the World Wide Web. He was a leader of the effort which gave rise to the Web in the mid-90s and has watched it grow into a public resource which people depend on.

The rest is in his own words..

The special care we extend to the World Wide Web comes from a long tradition that democracies have of protecting their vital communications channels. We nurture and protect our information networks because they stand at the core of our economies, our democracies, and our cultural and personal lives. Of course, the imperative to assure the free flow of information has only grown given the global nature of the Internet and Web. The success of the World Wide Web, itself built on the open Internet, has depended on three critical factors:
1) unlimited links from any part of the Web to any other;
2) open technical standards as the basis for continued growth of innovation applications; and
3) separation of network layers, enabling independent innovation for network transport, routing and information applications.

From a technical perspective, the Web is a large collection of Web pages (written in the standard HTML format), linked to other pages (with the linked documents named using the URI standard), and accessed over the Internet (using the HTTP network protocol). In simple terms, the Web has grown because it's easy to write a Web page and easy to link to other pages. A current example of the low barriers to reading, writing and linking on the Web is the world of blogs. Blogs hardly existed five years ago, but have become an enormously popular means of expression for everything from politics to local news, to art and science. The low barriers to publishing pages and abundance of linking ability have come together, most recently with blogs, to create an open platform for expression and exchange of all kinds.

The Web, and everything which happens on it, rest on two things: technological protocols, and social conventions. The technological protocols, like HTTP and HTML, determine how computers interact. Social conventions, such as the incentive to make links to valuable resources, or the rules of engagement in a social networking web site, are about how people like to, and are allowed to, interact.

So how do we plan for a better future, better for society?

We ensure that that both technological protocols and social conventions respect basic values. That Web remains a universal platform: independent of any specific hardware device, software platform, language, culture, or disability. That the Web does not become controlled by a single company -- or a single country. By adherence to these principles we can ensure that Web technology, like the Internet, continues to serve as a foundation for bigger things to come.

My Response

I think that Sir Timothy Berners-Lee makes some great and very thoughtful points here and it is brilliant to be able to listen to one of the first pioneers of the World Wide Web and hear his views on how he thinks it has changed over the years. Blogs are mentioned in the extract and makes very interesting reading as it relates to our generation and is important. I was also interested to hear what his thoughts were on how the Internet is changing and expanding. I agree with a lot of the stuff he is saying here and think it vital that people should read this even if they don't take media as one way or another it will relate to them.

Thanks :)

Strike Watch: Part Two

So the WGA strike is still going on and it doesn't look like its going to stop anytime soon. There have already been causalities in the form of The Da Vinci Code sequel 'Angels and Demons', as well as Johnny Depp's newest film 'Shantaram'. One of the biggest losses though is the US remake of 'State of Play' which was due to star Brad Pitt and his Fight Club co-star Edward Norton. Pitt unfortunately pulled out of the project as he felt the script wasn't ready and needed another rewrite but the studio wanted to start filming with or without him.
Major films are being shelved or given the go ahead with rough scripts, which is bound to affect the quality of the films. But it was announced this week that the WGA are due to have talks soon to hopefully resolve the strike and get what they deserve. The WGA feel that they are getting no money or praise for "new media" like internet downloads, mobile programming and video on demand on cable and satellite television.

UnitedHollywood.com
This blog is an amazing find that tells you everything you need to know about the blog as well as Speechless videos with some of todays leading actors and actresses.
Ive posted one below starring the cast of Ugly Betty.

Its War!!

Record labels are predicting that this month's launch of three new mobile phone music services will usher a return of rising sales after years of decline. Apple's music-playing iPhone grabbed the headlines with its arrival in Britain last week. But music executives are just as excited about the new unlimited downloads service launched on Vodafone. At the same time Nokia, the world's largest maker of mobile phones, has opened a digital music store here.

The world's biggest music company, Universal, is backing the MusicStation, the Vodafone service. Rob Wells, head of digital at Universal's international division, predicts the £1.99-a-week subscription service will have mass market appeal. "We are at a turning point in the UK," he says, predicting digital music sales here could offset falling CD sales within a year. Global sales have been falling since 2000, down another 5% to $19.6bn (£9.4bn) last year, according to industry group IFPI. Although digital sales are rising fast, at a tenth of the total market, they have yet to make up for tumbling CD sales.

IFPI director of technology Richard Gooch sees lessons for other music markets. He says: "There are cultural differences, and there are network differences at play so it's not simply the fact of having a mobile music service but in those countries where they have moved towards the holy grail it's generally been on the back of mobile. There are already indications that mobile music sales are picking up in the UK. The Orange UK network says its music sales jumped 70% over the past six months and it expects them to double by the end of 2007.

They expect the UK mobile music market to almost double from a predicted $83m this year to $156m in 2011. UK industry association BPI also cites support from new business models such as subscription schemes and enhanced handsets - four out of 10 UK mobiles can now play music.

There are hopes handsets will improve further from a music-playing perspective thanks to the iPhone. At £269 with an 18-month O2 contract, Apple's handset is not seen by the record labels as a big driver of revenues but it has been credited with raising the bar for phone manufacturers.

Questions

1. Why are more and more companies releasing phones that can store music?

2. Who is the audience likely to buy the new range of phones?

3. Is it for a resonable cost?

4. Will you be buying one of the new super phones?