Hey all,

Long time no type. First of all, how is everyone? I hope that everyone is having a fun holiday. I know I am. I am currently in Newcastle visiting a long-standing friend. Until Saturday 14th June I had not seen him for going on 4 years. So you could imagine my surprise when I see him all grown up. He definitely isn't the little scrawny kid that I used to pick on constantly when I was younger.

\He's taller than me now damn it!!///

Ah well, genetics can not be helped. I bet I could still kick his ass (or not). He's currently studying Tae Kwon Do so I have no doubt that if he wanted to he could easily destroy me. I don't like admitting that but it's the truth.

-sigh-

I hate being beaten. But I suppose I must give over my crown at times. No fun at all for me. Anyways moving on. When I got here I was extremely surprised to see him waiting for me. I expected him to be the same height as me however he has almost an inch or two on me. Damn I hate being short!!!! Ah well.

Now I bet you are wondering why the condom face has shown up again. I can tell you why right now! See, you all know about the many, many condoms that my friend and I 'acquired'. I decided that I needed to give Tony a look at them. He was both surprised and amused, and has now taken to showing all of his friends the big bag of condoms. Mind you alot of them have tried to confiscate my condoms, but I won't let them! I will need them at some point...maybe...sorta...kinda not really. CRY

We haven't really done all that much since I have been here but I am really enjoying not having to do anything. It has been really good to be able to just sit back and relax. Although I have gone to see relatives since I have been here so that has been good. I went to dinner with my Auntie Olga and it was so good. Some kind of Asian dish, it was really nice with plenty of flavor. NUMNUMNUM!

Anyways I should probably sign off for now, I should be doing something but I can't quite remember what it is. Sigh! Oh well. I will write more later, have fun everyone!

<3

Tracey Hunter

Year Rep

CSU Anime Club

Finale Post

What can I say that I have learnt about?

I have learnt so much in the last semester it is unbelievable! I have learnt how to use Del.icio.us, and I was able to become reacquainted with HTML. I was able to play around with Blogging again, and I learnt a lot about XML. This semester I was very enthused with MPI104. It was one of my favorite classes because it explored things that I already knew about, however it went it a lot of depth. Now I know a lot about different aspects of the internet and HOW THEY WORK. I didn’t know any of this before, and I feel that I have taken away something from this class. I would have to say that playing around with Templates in Blogger would have to have been my favorite part of this class, just because of the simple fact that there were so many different options.

For a long time I played around with the classic template creator for Blogger so that I could create different looking websites, however I finally settled on the template I have now which was created using XML/XHTML. What I would have liked to have known more about was RSS, but that is one of the few things that just goes straight over the top of my head no matter how much people try to explain it to me. I suppose it is because I don’t really have a use for RSS feeds in what I do. However, I am sure that they are a handy thing to have or other people.

I learnt a lot about CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and Web 2.0, both of these I found very interesting and I wanted to find out so much more about them. I have found myself looking for more information about the different aspects that Damien addresses during class. I think that is the biggest thing that I have learnt from this class, that thirsting for knowledge is one of the most important keys in learning. I would like to thank Damien for all of his support this semester, and being able to put up with my group without swearing. Well done!!

I hope to have him again for one of my classes, and no I’m not trying to be a teacher’s pet. I actually do enjoy MPI104.

Again, Thank You.

WTF?! COUNTERS AND RSS?!

What Are Counters??

Counters are these little HTML links that people put on their websites so that they are able to tell how many people have accessed their web page by looking at the number. Pretty simple, right? Counters are used so that the owner of the site is able to determine whether or not his/her website is increasing in popularity or not. It is a good way to be able to gauge the viewers interest in a page without actually needing feedback. What are some other Web Analytics Tools?

• Clicky is a clean, all-encompassing analytics package. The service is tailored for small websites and blogs. It's easy to implement and contains advanced features such as real-time visitor tracking and in-depth content analysis.
• Enquisite is focused specifically on incoming search engine and PPC traffic. It provides in-depth statistics including page position, landing pages, and specific geographic data.
• CrazyEgg provides the ability to track, evaluate, and optimize your site based on where your visitors click. Heatmaps and overlays quickly provide perspective into user behavior and habits.

What is RSS???

"RSS is a way of delivering and retrieving information from web sites which is structured in specialized XML formats without HTML or other markup."

Basically what this means is that RSS is a way to gather information from a website without using HTML or other markup languages. Pretty much just a copy and paste job. RSS Feeds are feeds which are constantly updated, such as a blog or a news website. Having an RSS feed available means that you are kept regularly up to date on that feed with a simple click of a button. I have never really used RSS feeds before so I am still a little inexperienced in this field. Bah! I will get better I am sure. "RSS is a file format that allows anyone with a website — from large media companies to individual commentators — to easily "syndicate" their content, similar to how comic strips and popular columns are syndicated by their owners to hundreds of newspapers. Except that on the Web, the RSS syndication is usually free, and the content that is syndicated is often not the full entry, but excerpts and links back to the originating website. Technorati uses RSS to track updates to millions of blogs."-Technorati

Techno-Smarti

Technorati

What is Technorati exactly you ask? From what I can understand Technorati is a website that archives web blogs and enables users to view these blogs as well as favorite them and create comments. It is very much so like and extension of Blogger. I have been a member of Technorati for a while now but I have never really used it before. However, it reminds me alot of flickr in the sense that it allows other members to be able to have a look at your blog/s. I think this is a good idea because it is another way to be able to explore other peoples readily available likes and dislikes, etc. This is what Technorati has to say about itself: Technorati is the leading monitor of the world of weblogs. Technorati is a real-time search engine that is the largest source of fresh information about the global and local conversations going on all across the Web. Technorati allows you to find out what people are saying about you, your company, your products, your competitors, your politics and, other areas of interest, on the Internet in real time. The Technorati Authority number refers to your progress up or down the search engine ladder. It reflects on the amount of people that are linked to your blog. The more people there are the better your authority, and also the smaller the number of your rank gets.

The Anime Club Presents...

The Anime Club is going to be Screening BERSERK Next weekend so all of you Anime Fans should definitely come and have a look at it. It's an awesome retro anime that very little people have seen before. Definitely something I would recommend. If you see these posters around campus please feel free to check them out.. Much love, -Tracey Year Rep

My Boy Benjy

Okay, I know it must seem like a silly thing to post about, but having a boyfriend has been a serious novelty for me the past couple of weeks. I have recently started dating someone that I considered to be one of my closest friends. It was odd how it all started, because he pretty much asked me out formally in a letter, which if you know him is completely out of character. It has been really great. Because it is long distance, and because of his current situation we are only really able to communicate via phone and letters, so I have been getting a lot of really cute letters from him. He wrote me a poem in one of the letters and even though I know it should be kept private I just can't help myself and must show everyone! I adore it to no end. It really caught me off guard too because it is something that I would not expect from Ben. Utterly adorable.

To My Partner

I want you to know you'll
always be the one that I adore,
for you made me happier
than I've ever been before.
When life produces problems,
you help me grin and bear them,
and good times wouldn't be
so good if you weren't
there to share them.
You're patient and supportive,
honest, kind and true
and I want you to know,
how much I love you.

In all honesty I thought he had pulled this out of some lovey dovey card or something but I don't really know. I really hope he wrote it just for me because it's just so mushy and cute. Which definately isn't him. Anyways I won't ramble on too much more about him, I am sure there are many of you that have cutesy partners too. Yay!

-Tracey.

What Is FTP?

What is FTP?

FTP, or File Transfer Protocol is a network protocol used to transfer data from one computer to another via a network, such as via the internet. FTP can be used for a wide variety of different connections, such as between game servers, voice servers, internet hosts, and other physical servers.

The objectives of FTP are:

• To promote sharing of files (computer programs and/or data).
• To encourage indirect or implicit use of remote computers.
• To shield a user from variations in file storage systems among different hosts.
• To transfer data reliably, and efficiently.*

Positive Aspects of FTP

• The FTP protocol supports resuming of interrupted downloads using the REST command. Always a good thing, especially if your firewall is gay (and not in the good lesbian kind of way), or if your computer decides that it doesn't like you and crashes. I have had this happen to me more than once, especially when I was downloading a really huge file on extremely slow bogan dial-up. I cried for hours ):

Negative Aspects of FTP

• While data is being transferred via the data stream, the control stream sits idle. This causes issues with large file transfers due to the fact that firewalls time out sessions that have idled for extended periods of time. Even though the file may have been transferred successfully, the firewall may cause an error message to appear.
• Resuming an interrupted uploading file is difficult even though the FTP protocol has the option to restart an upload, the client can not pin point the exact point where the upload was interrupted. To be able to find this out the client has to obtain the size of the file some other way, for example by using a directory.
• Passwords are sent in clear text so they can be intercepted. However, this can be stopped by using computer security protocols.
• Multiple TCP/IP connections are used, this may result in your firewall needing to be configured to support the extra connections.
• It is difficult to filter active FTP traffic.
• It is possible to abuse the protocol's built-in proxy features to tell a server to send data to subjective port of a third computer.
• There is no integrity check in the receiver FTP server. To avoid this, integrity checks have to be managed externally.
• The FTP servers have a high latency protocol due to the high number of commands that are needed to initiate a transfer.

*information taken from wikipedia

Assessment Task 1

My Blogger Page

Blogger, possibly one of my favorite blogging sites of all time! I have been using blogger for quite some time so being able to use it as part of one of my classes was a real treat for me. I do enjoy posting although I have not been doing as much of it as I would have liked to have been doing. The total count for my blog posts at this current point in time is sixteen posts. Like I said, not as many as I would have liked to have done.

-sigh-

Some of the more interesting posts that I have made include:

• Blog Skins Part 2
• MissBimo.com Rant
• The Cousin Visit

I have gone for a completely unrelated template. However, this is not the template that I wished to use. If you click on this link you will be able to go to an example of the blog skin that I worked on and wanted to use.

For navigations sake I have chosen a simple and straight forward layout. Also, due to the fact that we use Mozilla Firefox in class as opposed to IE it is easier to have my current template so that there are no screw ups in the layout. I enjoy having something that is completely different from what the rest of the ‘group’ has.

In order to improve the aesthetic qualities of my blog I did several things. Like I stated before, I have used a template that was not specified by Blogger. On this I then edited the sub title fonts. I felt that the previous fonts were far to overpowering and drew the attention away from the blog itself. I also edited the color of the fonts from white to grey on the side navigation bar. My blog also has background music. Yay background music!!!

Tags that I have used:

• Mpi104
• Delicious
• Flickr
• Personal
• Hitman
• Miss Bimbo

I have made comments on the blogs of other students in the class. Some of the more interesting blog comments would be:

• My comment on Vicki’s Blog
• my comment on Catherine’s Blog
• My comment on Katie's Blog

The other aspects that I explored in blogger would be the promotion of my blog site and the use of an internal search engine to find a specifically desired blog post. You can see these additions at the top of the page. I love it. Makes my page just a little bit easier to navigate.

My Del.icio.us Account

At this point and time I currently have forty seven websites in my Del.icio.us archive. These sites include many of the class member blog sites, among some of my person favorites. I have chosen to use Del.icio.us as a way to both tag interesting and useful sites.

Alot of the websites that I visit are random sites that I like to look at when I’m feeling extremely bored or sites that I need to keep bookmarked for future reference. It’s great to be able to cart stuff like that around with you anywhere you go. I love it. My three favorite sites that I have linked on my delicious account are:

• Ill Will Press
• I Can Has Cheezburger
• Anime Corner

My Flickr Account

I have grown to love flickr over the past few weeks. I wasn't really much for Photosharing websites until I was introduced to Flickr in class. It is an easy image hosting website and it opens up alot of doorways for those who use it. I got a little out of hand with Flickr and managed to post 146 images up on the site. Dear oh dear I think that I may need to get rid of a few so that I can add more otherwise I may have to open up a new account.

Below you will see my three favorite images out of the many that I have on my flickr account. Also if you have a look on the MPI104 2008 Group you will be able to see that I have posted many of my images up in the group sharing folder.

• Awesome Tree Trunk
• Hillston Fire
• Cactus Plant
  

Also here are some links to my favorite images on Flickr:

• Puppy Dog
• Hely
• Fly Splatter

The Cousin Visit

Welllll.

The cousin visit was very interesting (Not). How do you entertain people in a place where there is absolutely nothing to do except work or watch the cars go past on the highway? We ended taking my cousins sight seeing so that they would be entertained. As you can see in the images below we had to look at the landscape and a playground in order to keep them amused. Although I did enjoy spending time with them I was very happy to see the tail end of them. I'm not all that great with entertaining people sadly. ):

*All photographs were taken by me. The one with me in it was set up on a tripod with a timer.

Sadly, today's anime screening did not have a big turn out.

However the titles that we screened today were pure awesome!!! We started watching Full Metal Alchemist and we made our way through six episodes of The Ouran High School Host Club. Ouran High School Host Club has to be one of my favorite Animes at this point in time. I can't help but adore the male cast. The personalities in the group are so various that it makes the series delightfully packed with many different experiences of the club.

Anyways, before I start rambling any further, I would like say that if you like FMA and Ouran High School Host Club you should attend the screening next Saturday (that'd be the 26th April.)

Defiantely check it out!

A Href =Templates

First of all I would like to point out that my entire blog has been customized. I am not using one of the templates that was provided by Blogger.

When working with HTML the editing possibilities are endless. You can change anything from the width of a table to the font style and color. You can also change border width and the entire layout of a page. For example, most of the blogs that you will come across are pretty much a standard layout. However, for the sort of people who would prefer something more extravagant they go for a navigational blog (you can see examples in my previous blog post).

In my opinion, these are far more fun to work with. However, in editing the HTML to create a navigational blog it means that you must revert to classical mode. Which in turn means that you lose the Page Elements option and trust me, if you don’t know HTML well it is best to stick to using the Page Elements option. At least Page Elements isn’t temperamental.

-Sigh-

Anyways, as an example I changed the titles for all of the page elements that I added using the HTML editor. Below you can see a screen shot. The areas in red indicate what I changed. Yay!

Also, to give you an idea of how the changes I made affected my blog there is a screen shot below that you can have a look at.

I love Templates. So much fun to screw around with. Yay!


No Drugs Or Children Were Harmed During The Creation Of Theses Posts

Oh What A Feeling, CSS.

First of all, please excuse the title. I have the stupid Toyota slogan stuck in my head. DAMN YOU TOYOTA.

CSS is the acronym for Cascading Style Sheets.

The term is used in web development to describe the presentation of a document written in a markup language*. It is used by webpage readers to be able to define color, font and the layout of a page. It is designed primarily to enable the separation of document content from document presentation. In normal people words that means that the pretty stuff stays as pretty stuff and all the crap that goes on the webpage still is, you guessed it, the crap on the page.

///Okay, enough of the definitions. Today we were asked to have a look at the differences that were made when you were to switch your webpage reader from it’s basic style to no style at all. ///

The first thing that I noticed was that the layout of my blog became appalling!!! It was actually quite upsetting to me after I made it all cutesy and all.

–Pout.-

Also, instead of having the multiple pages like my blog is set up to do (It’s a navigational blog), it had the one page with all of the details outlined on it. It removed the specified blog font and the coloring, not to mention separated the background from the blog. Now my poor lion is all lonely…

)=

I can see why CSS is such an advantage for both web page designers and viewers. It enables the viewer to be able to see the layout in the way that it was intended to be viewed, not in a simplistic style.

Although, I can see why the no style setting could be an advantage too just because of the simple fact that it decreases the amount of time spent downloading a page’s content and settings. But, I much prefer things to look all pretty and be set out the way I coded them to be set out. Much love for the CSS.

*A markup language is a set of annotations to text that describe how it is to be structured, laid out, or formatted.

No Drugs Or Children Were Harmed During The Creation Of Theses Posts

Blog Skins Pt 2

But, out of all of these pretty blog skins I couldn't help but pick the amazingly wonderful Lion skin. Ish so cute! I loves it, as you can see, seeing as how it is my blog skin right at this very moment. Hooray! I hope that I can stick with it for a little while.

For larger views of all of these blog skins go to:
My Flickr

No Drugs Or Children Were Harmed During The Creation Of Theses Posts

Blog Skins Pt 1

For the last three weeks of the holidays I have been playing around a lot with the HTML coding that we can use for Blogger. I’m not too much of a fan of the XHTML that we have been working with during our workshops, so I decided to opt for the classical HTML views to create the layouts for my blog.

I’m a freak, in the sense that I can’t just stick with one type of layout. There are so many different layouts that we can use so I like to be able to experience them all. Below you will see screen shots of some of the blog layouts that I went through during the holidays. I’m such a blogskin whore. ):

No Drugs Or Children Were Harmed During The Creation Of Theses Posts

What an Experience

Being home with the folks. What an experience and a half. I had kinda forgot what hard labor was like until I came back home to see my parents, and, dare I say it? I actually kind of missed the hard labor. I guess anything different after a term of working on computers. It's definatly a welcome change. Since I got back I have been helping my parents 'renovate' our front and back yard due to an infestation of CatHead plants. Damn those stupid prickly bastards!!! All this renovation has to be done so our dogs have somewhere nice and pointy-free to roam around while our visitors are here. For the most part, our dogs are inside dogs so the pads of their feet aren't used to hard and pointy. So, we need to dig up this horrendously ugly patch of catheads. Otherwise, our poor babies are going to end up all hurted in their feets and we can't have that now, can we? Blah, well it's a new day and we still have so much to do so I should probably get out there and start on that damn patch of weeds again. Toodlie-Oooo. :3

Going Home For The Hols

Ugh, living out of home sure makes you not wanna go and see your folks.

I love my family, of course. But, living out of home for as long as I have makes me reluctant to go home. My mother fusses, like I'm sure everyone else's mothers fuss. She always wants to know if I'm eating properly. I also end up coming back to Wagga Wagga with three times the amount of stuff that I went with.

Buuuut, I suppose this time will be different because my cousin is coming to visit. She's pretty awesome even if we have almost nothing in common. ANNNNNND, she's bringing her friend Keita along who is just plain awesome too. So, we should have fun while I'm at home.

But, my dad is still sick so I'm gunna be at home helping take care of him too. Urgggg. I have way too much work. I don't have time for holidays!

-Pout.-

About Damn Time!

Dear Players,

Due to unforseen worldwide interest in Miss Bimbo we have had difficulty in maintaining our game in the manner players have become accustomed. We are sorry for this inconvenience and can assure you that our game will be up and running as soon as possible.

As a result of this rather surprising media attention we have decided to remove the option of purchasing diet pills from the game. We apologise to any players whom this may inconvenience but we feel in light of this weeks proceedings it is the correct action to take.

We would also like to sincerely apologise to our players for the media comparison of Miss Bimbo and Paris Hilton. We feel that this does a dis-service to the players whom send their bimbos to university, tea parties or chess tournaments.

At this time we would also like to remind players that the Miss Bimbo team assume no responsibility or liability for any fashion faux pas, hair style disasters or boob jobs incurred in real life as as a result of playing the Miss Bimbo game.

The Miss Bimbo Team.

I was so pleased when I found this on the MissBimbo.com website earlier today. I'm not sure of when this occured but it makes me quite happy to know that they are actually going to remove some of the insulting aspects of the game. However, it's a tainted win because I know the creators are only doing this so that they can avoid legal issues...Oh well. It's better than nothing right???

The 'MissBimbo.Com' Virtual Site

The ‘MissBimbo.Com’ Virtual Site

OH MY GOD is all I could say when I saw this website. I mean, who would make a site that promotes anorexia and ‘slutty’ behavior. MissBimbo.Com is a virtual website that was politely described as “A Virtual Fashion Game For Girls” by it’s creator. How is this a virtual fashion game when the girls who play this game are encouraged to put their dolls on Crash diets and put their dolls through plastic surgery to make them more popular on the site. They are also encouraged to find a ‘sugar-daddy’ so that they don’t have to work. Should a site really be sending this view out to young girls?

Due to illness I was crashed out on the floor of my apartment and I was watching the midday news. I was drugged up on Panamax to kill the incredibly evil pain in my throat caused by TONSILITIS, and wasn't really paying attention until I heard the mention of MissBimbo.com. So, in my drugged stupor I decided that I would investigate the site and was horrified to find a site that promoted crash dieting and plastic surgery in order to gain popularity. I mean come on, WHAT THE HELL!?

Bill Hibberd, of parents' rights group Parentkind, told the Times the game sends a dangerous message to young girls. He said: "It is one thing if a child recognizes it as a silly and stupid game. But the danger is that a nine-year-old fails to appreciate the irony and sees the Bimbo as a cool role model. Then the game becomes a hazard and a menace."1 I can’t help but agree with Mr. Hibberd on this issue. The minds of children are very impressionable and a lot of teenaged women are very insecure about the changes that are occuring with their body. Due to these things it is quite possible that there will be an increase in the ‘Bimboish’ attitude in younger females.

I made a ‘MissBimbo’ account to see how anyone could see this as a silly and stupid game. I can understand why some younger females may find this site so appealing. I mean it gives them a chance to build the Bimbos in the way they might want to be seen. Still it doesn’t send the best message to kids. Have a look at some of the screen shots that I took from the site. I couldn't help but be horrified by the things that were on the site. It both disturbed and irritated me. Have a look at some of the snapshots below:

This is the home page. Under Quick Registration it reads as follows:

• Find your own cool place to live.
• Find a fun job to pay for your needs and all the clothes a Bimbo could possibly want.
• Shop for the latest fashions and become the trendsetting bimbo in town !
• Become a socialite and skyrocket to the top of fame and popularity.
• Date that famous hottie you've had your eye on and show the Bimbo world the social starlet you are !
• Even resort to meds or plastic surgery. Stop at nothing to become the reigning bimbo !
• Tackle your 104 tasks as quick as possible to become the rising star bimbo !!

I know it must sound like I am completely against surgery of any kind for self improvement but I’m not. I just don’t see why such a thing as Plastic Surgery should be impressed upon by a website that is made for YOUNG girls. Should we not pre impressing upon these young ladies that their bodies are fine the way they are, but if they choose to want to change the way they look that can look at PROPER dieting and the possibility of plastic surgery.

I think that the web has gone a little too far with this website. You would think that someone would have moderated this site so that only people 18 years and over would be able to go onto it at least. What the hell was the designer thinking? That something like this could be just harmless stupid fun?

Damn Idiot.

For Shame internet, FOR SHAME.

If You would like to agree/disagree with me on this subject please feel free to make a comment on this blog post. I would like to hear about the opinions of other concerned women/parents.

1. CNN.Com, Alarm As Dolls Get Breast Implants in 'Miss Bimbo' Game, 26/3/2008

The CSU Anime Club

The CSU Anime Club

Hooray! I am now a Year Representative for the CSU Anime Club. The Vice President, Trent made me a Year Rep so that I can get some things organised for next term. So, if you are a member of the anime club and have any suggestions for screenings or special events. Or even if you just wanna say hi leave a comment here and I will get back to you ASAP. Hooray for the Anime Club!

DOOM SOCK

ZIM: Gir Why Is There Bacon In The Soap!?!?

GIR:I made it myself.

As Nummy as Del.icio.us

My my my, Damian has asked us to have a look for sites that are equally as tasty as Del.icio.us. So I had a look and I found these three that I have encountered before, or have an account with. Hooray!

FaceBook

The first is //FACEBOOK.
Hooray For Facebook. I love it. Where else because EmoSpace could you make a profile and have cool little activities linked to it? I love it to death. Yeah, I have a face book. Much love. If you would like to check out my FACEBOOK account click on the link below. Yes. FaceBook. A BOOK IN THE SHAPE OF A FACE?! Scary. Spooky. Mysterious. I dunno...whatever. Anyways, moving on to the next item on the list.

//FEAR MY FACE BOOK PROFILE//

Digg.Com

Okay, what the hell is //Digg.com ? Well I got this from I Can Has Cheezburger (Heaps Funny Site!!!!!! It's on my sidebar, check it out) and it is basically the same thing as Delicious, only it wants you to Digg It rather than eat it. I'm not much for digging holes, but hey if this website tells me to do it, why the hell not? Wait...I just realised that what I said has no relevance to this blog post. ANYWAYS. Moving on to....DUN DUN.

STUMBLE UPON

Very interesting website. I have found the funniest stuff on here. The most random videos and stuff. Don't have much to say about it, except that you should definately have a squizzy at it. DO IT NOW

DO IT.

GO

HERE ----------> //STUMBLE

Num Num Num, Delicious

...Num Num Num...

...Delicious...

I had no idea what Del.icio.us was until I was introduced to it in this class.

I think that is an excellent way to be able to bookmark your favorite sites so that you can access them anywhere on the internet. Defiantely very handy if you don't have your personal computer around, or if you want to show your friends some of the sites that you enjoy looking at without the hassel of having to find them.

I would definately have to say, after the brief experience that i have had with Delicious so far that it is one NUMMY website.

I thought that Delicious was just so tasty that I had to make my very own Delicious account. Mmmmm, Traceytastic. If you wanna check out my tasty bookmarks, take a bite out of my delicious account below



...Num Num Num... ...Delicious...

Check it out! TASTE THE GOODNESS OF MY BOOKMARKS.

Flickr

broken heart

My first impressions of Flickr...hmm.

I would have to say that I definately like Flickr. It has a heap of great options and allows you to not only upload photos but share them with your friends and family, and even your group/s. The Flickr website reminds me alot of Deviant Art. You can upload photos, comment on other user's photos and join groups. Even though I have already stated what Flickr offers broadly, I would like to make a list of all of the things that Flickr has to offer to it's users.

• You are able to post a personal comment about your image. In other words, a description
• People can view and comment on your images
• You can join groups and add images or the entire group to have a look at.
• You can create topic discussions within these groups.
• You can view images as slide shows
• You can add favorites. I really like this option because I like to keep track of images that I really like
• You can post images straight from Flickr and onto your blog.
• 
  

These are only a few of the options that Flickr offers, but I didn't want to go into specific detail. It would start to sound like I am quoting Damien, and we wouldn't want that would we? Hehe.

However, I prefer Flickr over Deviant Art due to the fact that Deviant Art has way too many categories that you can stick your images into and that irritates me just a little bit. All I want to do is upload my artwork and images, not screw around for like, five minutes trying to get them uploaded and then finding out that I can't upload CMYK images because the site only supports RGB.

What I also like about Flickr is that you can link it to your Yahoo Account if you have one. Of course I use Yahoo Messenger to stay in contact with people so I had one. It makes things a whole lot easier.

Anyways, I will stop ranting. To sum it up, I'm very impressed with Flickr and I think that I am going to have tonnes of fun with it.

If you would like to have a look at my Flickr Account, check out the site below

My Flickr Account

Also, I was having a read of the link on the MPI104 Blog about Flickr and their pantent on Interestingness. What the hell? I didn't understand all that well but it seemed to me like that Flickr was attempting to claim Interestingness on behalf of their site. It seems a little weird to me but I can't help but agree with the comment that was placed up by Peter Rotham.

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is a term describing a trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to facilitate creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users. - Wikipedia

This description refers to many if not all of the websites that we have been using in class.

A blog falls into the category of Web 2.0 because of the fact that it uses a wide range of different aspects to instill creativity, information sharing and collaboration among users. Over the last few weeks we have been looking at how we can improve not only the aesthetic but the technical qualities of our sites.

Blogger promotes information sharing because of the simple fact that it's a blog, an online journal that you can put your thoughts, feelings and experiences onto. Also it has the option to be able to comment on other user's entries so it promotes interaction between other users even if they don't really know one another.

This same system is employed in Flickr. Although it is different from Blogger, it is still used to document creativity and promotes interaction between users. It has the options to upload your photos, join groups and leave comments on other users images, as I stated above in the Flickr section of this post.

I'm sure that Del.icio.us will be the same way.

Hitman Movie

(Timothy Olyphant Looking Great As Agent 47)

The Hitman Movie!

Well, for my first post I thought I would write about something that I really like, so I chose the Hitman Movie. I've always been a huge fan of the Hitman games, to the point where it was almost boardering on obsession. So it was only natural that I fell in love with the movie, and the actor that plays Agent 47, Timothy Olyphant. I was very pleased with the way that the producers portrayed this movie and the actors that were chosen for it.

In all honestly I expected Vin Diesel to be cast in this movie as well as producing it, but I am glad that they didn't. I mean, don't get me wrong I like Vin Diesel as much as any oter girl but he is more suited to the very eccentric movies. Such as Fast and the Furious. He was great in that.

However, Olyphant was perfect for the role. Timothy Olyphant was able to capture the essence of Agent 47 to a tee. He was very reserved, almost shy, but very intellegent at the same time. I also liked the fact that they didn't have the two main characters making out. There was an obvious intimate connection between Agent 47 and Nika Boronia (Olga Kurylenko) but there was no sexual conduct. Well, except for Nika Boronia getting naked and cracking onto 47. I was both amused and slightly jealous.

Anyways, if you haven't seen this movie yet, I recommend it. I know that alot of people think that the storyline was a little predictable, but I really enjoyed it. Mainly, as I said before, that I really enjoyed the hitman games. But definately check it out if you haven't already, or if you don't wanna have a look at the movie you should look at the website seen below.

Click To Check Out The Hitman Website