Get Up! : Internet Censorship

GetUp! It's decision time on internet censorship! This Friday our petition will feature in a massive newspaper ad. How many signatures will it have on it, that's up to you - add your name today to maximise the impact before the Government makes a decision!

It's decision time for the Government on internet censorship - with results from their flawed live trial due any day now. Now is the time to make it clear how deeply unpopular this scheme is.

You could be one of over 100,000 Australians to sign one of the largest petitions in our history. If that's not enough to make decision makers sit up and take notice, we're displaying our petition in a massive ad in The Australian this Friday. How many signatures will be on it? That's up to you.

Can you take a moment to tell your friends to add their name to yours today to maximise its impact? Simply forward the email below or click this link for more options:

www.getup.org.au/campaign/AddTheirNameToYours

We have to act fast - with serious question marks hanging over the integrity of the trials, the Government has indicated it will make an announcement before the end of this month.

The Government is admitting it has no criteria to determine if the trials of the scheme are a success, and refusing to disclose details of how they're being conducted. This leaves the door open to impose a scheme experts say simply won't work and will do little to prevent prohibited content.*

Few petitions in Australian history have ever hit the 100,000 signature mark. Your friends' signatures may push this one into the record books. Every new signature before Friday will make the total displayed in The Australian even larger - and it's a brave government willing to ignore such an outcry.


Minister Stephen Conroy : a case of amnesia
Minister Conroy : Promoting a civil and confident society online

Time for some more Doublespeak, that will cost us AU $44 million.

District 9 ...

Its been a while since a movie has left me reeling abit, and im happy to say, District 9 succeeded. Working on many levels, it just left me kinda spinning at the end. sure its by no means perfect, its not a hollywood machine churned out to be the next Transformers, but what it does, it does well, and for once, we see an "alien" saga, turned on its head, where we are the ones to be feared.

If you've been living under a rock lately, or rural Victoria for that matter :) go and check the trailer for District 9 and do a little backstory prior to seeing the film, which i highly recommend you do. Set in modern day Johannesburg (one of the most unlikely settings in the movie world) the story is based around an alien civilization that has arrived to earth as refugees, in one single gigantic spacecraft. however we soon find the beings inside are not god like entities, or crazy killing machines like the xenomorphes, instead they are bipedal creatures with the same humanistic qualities as present day man. essentially, the ship contains average intelligent alien creatures, fleeing home, and arriving to be quarantined and persecuted by a fearful and racist human race, eager to steal weaponry and technology, at the expense of life itself.

Shot in a "realistic motion camera / documentary style" (help me out here Trev), it immediately feels real. its not glossy or clean. theres no typical hollywood flare. instead, you have this immense feeling that this is actually occurring in present day, and its believable. making this world even more credible is the CGI animated aliens and their interactions with the real world on screen. WETA (a New Zealand film and animation studio) has done an amazing job again.

Without giving too much away, the movie revolves around the struggle of these refugee aliens, interacting with a human populace, and the conflicts that ensue. its by no means perfect, and i think a let down is the characterizations of the white Afrikaners running the MNU (fictional UN equivalent). i couldnt help but laugh for most of the first 15mins, as the stereotypical South African was wheeled out play the jester. it kinda deflates the seriousness of the movies introduction. never the less huge applause goes to Peter Jackson (producer and presenter) and Director Neill Blomkamp on setting this movie in a believable surrounding, and not being forced to move to a huge spacecraft over a US city to draw ticketsales.

The backbone of the story is a commentary on human nature at best, the human condition at its most primal. the fear of anything different from ourselves needs to be controlled, enslaved or marginalized, the lust and greed for power and technology to further war, and the primal nature to destroy anything that gets in our way, a basic bloodlust to kill.

So instead of persecuting our own individual races, we've now switched to the alien "Prawns". like i said, its a movie with many levels, leaving you with the sense that at our human core, we are all screwed. we are so primal in our efforts to destroy, do we really have a chance at long lasting survival? you kinda get the picture, if a more advanced civilization is actually buzzing its UFO's in and out of earths atmosphere, why in hell would they want to shake our hands and welcome us to the universe ?






TRAILER:
INTERVIEW: 'District 9' Director Neill Blomkamp

Comic Con Wrapup ....

So another year goes by and so does the 40th San Diego Comic Con. the four day long convention of epic proportion, where everything in pop culture entertainment is showcased to an audience in excess of 130,000 people and growing.

The Con started out as a mere Comic showcase with artists and publishers, but has now evolved into presenting everything from Hollywood blockbuster films, videogames, comics, artwork, sculpture, toys, merchandise and everything in between. blurring the lines to a huge degree.

Cheers to Trevor and Abby for all the local updates, as they managed to trek out there again this year round. it was great to follow their updates on the ground, remembering the efforts people have to go to, to actually see and do just about anything at the Con. we're talking 4am wakeups to be at the convention for 5am lineups to events that open at 9 / 10 and 11am. crazy stuff, but its kinda pain for pleasure, as you know, its all going to be worth it for that next 48hrs or 12 months. this was the case for me back in 08 when we got to see the extended first shots of Watchmen and Terminator. that set up so much anticipation for the theatrical releases back home. I missed being there this year so much, and im making plans for a return. if the money trees bloom alright this season. Trev, book me a spot!

So if you haven't caught the buzz yet, alot of stuff was announced and premiered. catch all the action over at IGN or G4. they seem to have the Con wrapped up pretty great with video and articles. quick standouts have to be the huge buzz around Avatar, the new movie from James Cameron (you remember the guy that made such small films as Titanic, Terminator 2, Aliens) Avatar has supposedly been in development for 15 years, filming for 4. its highly secretive and up until the Con, no one had seen anything of it, bar 3 or 4 still shots of characters (including the Aussie Sam Worthington). well 25 mins of it was shown to the 6000 strong Hall H crowd and by all accounts it was fantastic. its not only shot in 3D but is said to revolutionize the industry with use of CG and live action in ways we havent yet seen.

Next up was my second favorite film announcement in Tron Legacy. back in the day (1982) Tron was made for an audience that didnt even exist yet. way before its time, way before the term CG was even thought about, TRON was at the forefront of films developing computer graphic visual interrogations, when things like photoshop, maya, cinema 4d and wacom tablets didnt even exist. the general premise was filming a story inside a computer world, a digital data mirror of the real world identities (sound familiar to the Matrix circa 1999?) now in 2010, we go back to this world, and finally do it justice. Jeff Bridges returns, and if you havent seen the trailer teaser yet ...... go now! light cycles never looked so good.

Again this is being developed as an IMAX 3D film, which seems to be the latest bandwagon for film releases over the last 3 years. from all the talk, it clearly seems that the film industry is trying to evolve beyond what a movie goer can get at home via a BD player and large screen HDTV. but will it work? will it make the movie experience more jawdropping? or will it crush these new films in a failed techno bubble. we can only wait. but things are clear, the movies you know .... aint stayin that way for long.

Other points to note:
I find it extremely strange that so many people at this Con go ape crazy over other "stars" and entertainment idols, when really, what makes them any better than your average Joe. I mean, getting some hollywood airhead to sign a card for you.? what the hell is that about. its a freakin scribble on paper. i just don't get that envy thing, sure give up the respect to the talent that creates those great films, stories, artworks, but theres a line many cross to overvalue these actors, models, tv hosts. the most ironic thing is, for all the power these celebrities have, they're absolutely shit scared of walking out into that adoring fan crowd. do you ever see them on the show floor? ever see them walking into a crowd? absolutely not. watching a few blog posts from the G4 hosts, its clear theres a fine line between being there for the fans, and then truely being scared to interact with them.

Also : Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings director, District 9) has dropped alot of weight, looking healthier but the hair is still fading away, and he refuses to acknowledge it. funny stuff. check the worlds worst frontal comb-over. Peter, we love ya mate, just get back to Weta and start on Evangeleon live action already!

Ok time to predict for next year. I think Batman 3 will feature. how heavily? we cant know for sure. but i think its time, and i think the studios will want to milk that cash cow sooner than later, with all the Marvel films coming out. will we see another terminator? another 300? Green Lantern im thinking, something new from Jackson and Weta. PS3 slim? add your 2cents.

Hate To Say We Told You So ...

Swine flu may be a lab error: Aussie researcher:
The World Health Organisation is investigating a claim by an Australian researcher that the swine flu virus circling the globe may have been created as a result of human error.

Adrian Gibbs, 75, who collaborated on research that led to the development of Roche's Tamiflu drug, said in an interview that he intends to publish a report suggesting the new strain may have accidentally evolved in eggs scientists use to grow viruses and drugmakers use to make vaccines. Gibbs said he came to his conclusion as part of an effort to trace the virus's origins by analysing its genetic blueprint.

''The sooner we get to grips with where it's come from, the safer things might become,'' Gibbs said by phone from Canberra. ''It could be a mistake'' that occurred at a vaccine production facility or the virus could have jumped from a pig to another mammal or a bird before reaching humans, he said.

Gibbs and two colleagues analysed the publicly available sequences of hundreds of amino acids coded by each of the flu virus's eight genes. He said he aims to submit his three-page paper today for publication in a medical journal.

This very concept was brought to light in a recent Coast To Coast AM episode (April 27th 2009) > Appearing in the latter half of the show, Alex Jones and Stephen Quayle both agreed the new swine virus was not natural. It's a "genetically altered bioweapon," possibly being "beta-tested in the field".... Start thinking outside the square.

SMH.COM.AU
BLOOMBERG NEWS
THE MEDICAL NEWS
C2C APRIL 27th 2009

Something A Little Less Serious ...

Do yourself a favour. Stop what your doing. Go here now and enjoy.
Discussions begin next week. Thats all for now :) Ha! that reminds me, ive got an Autobot Tshirt somewhere, guess ive gotta wait for the move before i can unpack it with the rest of my forgotten stuff. Anyways, can't wait for this to come to the silver screen, i was so not into the first movie, being M.Bay and all, yadda yadda, this one though ..... makes me wanna buy the first on Bluray :)















Official Trailer : Transformers 2

IGN Breakdown

Your Internet Is About To Be Filtered, By Your Government, Educate Yourself...

"We've never seen anything like the avalanche Stephen Conroy has generated."

This is how Tony Jones opened last night's episode of Q&A on ABC TV. Thousands of GetUp members sent in their questions about internet censorship to be answered by Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy. The ensuing debate is still making waves in the media.

Last night's Q&A show was Senator Conroy's first major media appearance to discuss the Government's misguided internet censorship plans. But it raised more questions than it answered.

The Senator set off alarm bells when he disclosed that a "technical error" had resulted in PG-rated material being blacklisted, and that the proposed internet filter would miss crucial peer-to-peer content. It's time the Government is held to account for it's misguided internet filter.

Take a moment and educate yourself about the current trial of internet censorship taking place in Australia, soon to be implemented and expanded from April onwards. If your stance on the matter, like mine, is that this poses a massive threat to our rights of free speech and self regulation and education, then do something about it. Become informed, educate others and make a stand. Take a moment to view the Q and A episode below on the ABC website. follow the news and articles mentioned, and start to make your voice heard. Waiting for this to simply "go away" will leave Australia in the dark ages, destroy our internet infrastructure, and force the very topics we are legitimately concerned about to seep into a black market underground.


FULL EPISODE Q and A

SMH : iiNet PULLS OUT OF CENSORSHIP TRIALS

SMH : LEAKED AUSTRALIAN BLACKLIST

SMH : iiNet ISP IN COURT FOR AIDING PIRACY

GET UP!

ZEROPAID.COM

infrequent? yes. dead, never!

After all the devastation that was the last month of Australian Bushfires, particularly round Melbourne and its outer regional zones, i often came back to the thought, we feel so deeply, but does giving away $100 into a charity fund actually help? both ways i mean. does it lead you to be less depressed at whats gone on, and more importantly, after giving away that money, will you remember that feeling of goodwill long after the action? or will it just jog your memory when you claim it back on tax?

I then came across this great piece of art, a limited run of screenprinted posters that are on sale to raise awareness and funds for the bushfire appeals. what a great idea. i mean, take one look at that and tell me you don't feel something, anything. what an ace print, and something you can look back at and go, "Yeh i bought that for a reason".



Full Story
Tyler Stout and Postersandtoys.com have decided to help out by releasing a new version of “Welcome Home”, Stout’s classic art print from 2005. This version features an all-new color scheme which includes four glow in the dark inks. It’s a 16″x 24″screenprint, the price will be $50. Half of all profits will be donated directly to the Australian Red Cross’ Brushfire Appeal Fund. These will be released on Monday, March 16th at 12pm CST, and will be available for 48 hours, ending Wednesday, March 18th at 12pm CST