This is the message that the Maroochydore High School, Queensland, Australia, staff voted unanimously to record on their school telephone answering machine. This is the actual answering machine message for the school.
This came about because they implemented a policy requiring students and parents to be responsible for their children’s absences and missing homework. The school and teachers are being sued by parents who want their children’s failing grades changed to passing grades – even though those children were absent 15-30 times during the semester and did not complete enough school work to pass their classes. (more…)
Online TV (UK only)
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With many of my friends, either traveling lot or at University, it is not always easy to get to a TV set. But most people have a laptop with them at all times(or is that just me) so is there a way of using the screen and the internet to catch-up on what I missed. This is a question I am asked all that time and the answer is yes. More than ever, more companies are putting their programming online. All five main channels in the UK are doing this. Here are some of the best and how to get them. (more…)
Jonathan Coulton
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Jonathan Coulton is singer, songwriter, new father, and ex software designer, but what makes him interesting compared lots of other artists out there is that he released all of his music for free. His story is an amazing one, in 2005 he left his rubbish day job writing software for a small database company to pursue music full time. He worked out that it was really hard to get signed onto a record label so he decided to try something different. He created a website called Thing a Week and released (for free) a new song every week for a year, which is no mean feat.
He created a A few of those songs became big internet hits, including folky cover of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back“, a funny video called “Flickr“. My personal favorite song called “Code Monkey“, with the classic line
This was made all the funnier for me while listening to this song as writing a login page at the time, give it a listen. It is nice to have a nerd writing songs about stuff I can really relate with and even sometimes make me laugh. One song that touched me personally, was a Future Soon, which tells of his problems as a teenage nerd.
The most interesting thing about him is the he makes his money purely from donations and live
performances and manages to make a living out of it. So if you like his music, go donate. If you want to listen to his free music, his podcast can still be downloaded for free. Give it a go!
Nerd Porn
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When doing some youtubing the other day I found an extremely funny video called Nerd Porn. Well I decided to look up the voice on the video and found it is from a geeky comedian called Ernest Cline. When looking around his site, I stabled on a video called Dance monkey dance. I don’t know exactly what to say about this video apart from I think it sums up the world in one simple video. We are all monkeys and really should take things so seriosuly.
Ask A Ninja
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When trying to fill the many hours I have free now that I am a student I found this and I needed to post about it. Askaninja is kind easily the funniest thing I have ever seen on Youtube, ever. It is shockingly random comedy. The series, is a podcast created by Los Angeles improvisational comedians Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine, features a ninja who answers e-mails from “viewers”. The ninja seems to be going extremely popular, I was walking down the hall the other day and heard the theme song coming out of at least two rooms. If you don’t believe me, it even won best series in the 2006 Youtube awards.
My personal favourite is Question 35 which is called Ninja Poetry if showcases the ninja at his funniest. If you have a question for the Ninja it is easy, just email him AskANinja@gmail.com. (more…)
A matter of race
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On this blog I don’t like talking about matters of great importance, trying to keep things light, but I saw something on YouTube that interested me greatly. The video is called Yellow fever is an interesting 15 minutes long short film by a group of media studies studients in America. The film is comedy following one centeral character, trying to answering the question
“Why asian girls date white guys but white girls don’t date asian guys?”
This video is an interesting take on a social issue which pokes fun at a matter that could very easily have been seen as being racist. It is very funny, the sound effects by themselves bring a smile to my face. The fact that it so over the top also helps to detract away from dealing with a serious issue. The more that I think about this video, the more that it intestests me. Even through I know that it was made with only good fun in mind but I can not help but bit just a little bit offended. As a white male myself, I guess I took it a little personally, but I still think that it has a very interesting message and topics like this should really be voiced.
One of my favorite thing I have seen on the Youtube or on the internet for that matter, was called Ryan vs Dorkman. The video is a Star Wars fanfilm of two guys having a really cool lightsaber fight. I enjoyed it so much I even posted about in on this site.
Now the makers on the last video, Ryan Wieber and Michael Scott are back with a sequel and the original duel with a brand another fight. The new video, named RvD2 is long awaited and doesn’t disapoint. It does lots of things that the last video didn’t, with involved graphics and cooler choreography. I was also really impressed with the soundtrack. If can also be seen on the offical web site called ryanvsdorkman.com.
If you a interested in other videos like this, you could also check out, theforce.net.
Spiderman 3
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A new trailer for the upcoming Spiderman 3 film is now out. It is a first full length trailer and it gives lots of new clues of the plot of the film. This film is a long time in coming and is meant to be the last film in the three film series. The trailer can be viewed on the Ifilm or Apple site. If this trailer is anything to go by, it looks like the graphics are better than ever. It also looks like the character of Peter Parker will be about to explorer a darker side of himself.
Reportedly, the film’s budget is $250 million, which would make it the most expensive film ever made in nominal U.S. dollars, breaking King Kong’s budget record of $207 million. It would also be third, in adjusted dollars, to War and Peace’s budget of $560 million.
Do I think that the makers of this film will kill of the hero as this is the last film in the series? The answer is, not a chance. They only kill something off after they have milked it for all it is worth. If your dying for more information, you can also look at cast interviews, posted on the Official Movie Blog. The film is out worldwide 4th of May in the UK, which I simply can’t wait for.
