Category Archives: Futurism

AAP

Logan councillor Hajnal Black has fronted court after being arrested on a warrant issued a week ago.

The warrant was issued on March 16 after Black stormed out of the Beenleigh Magistrates Court, where she is facing charges under Queensland's Local Government Act of failing to declare pecuniary interests while in office.

Black, 34, was arrested in Bellbowrie, west of Brisbane, on Friday afternoon and later made an application for bail.

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The application was not opposed, with the conditions that Black provide a surety, live at her home at New Beith and report to Jimboomba police each day.

Speaking from the dock, Black said she had already exhausted her funds in trying to appeal a decision that she'd misused money from an elderly man with dementia.

While making her submissions, she said she was still suffering from laryngitis and had to sit down.

Black was granted bail without providing a surety, and must appear in the Beenleigh Magistrates Court on March 27.

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Fugitive Queensland councillor arrested

AAP

The Australian share market managed to claw back most of its early losses to close flat after negative offshore leads and lower commodity prices overnight.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 3.3 points, or 0.08 per cent, at 4,270.4 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index eased 4.2 points, or 0.1 per cent to 4,360.7 points.

At 1656 AEDT, the June share price index futures contract was down 10 points at 4,285 points with 26,555 contracts traded.

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US and European stock markets fell overnight, along with most commodities, on news that euro zone private sector activity fell more sharply than expected in March.

In China, data showed manufacturing activity fell to a four-month low.

RBS Morgans private client adviser Craig Walker said resources stocks were by far the biggest weight on the market.

"If you take resources stocks out of equation, the market would have been well up," he said.

BHP Billiton was down 40 cents, or 1.15 per cent, at $34.40, Rio Tinto gave up 97 cents, or 1.5 per cent, to $63.70 and Fortescue Metals Group slipped eight cents, or 1.32 per cent, to $6.00.

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Aust shares end week with slight fall

AAP

A commitment by Manly to retain the core of last year's NRL grand final-winning side was the deciding factor in Daly Cherry-Evans staying with the club.

The 23-year-old on Friday put pen to paper on a lucrative upgrade to his current deal, believed to be worth in the region of $500,000 per season.

The new agreement puts him on par with the likes of Johnathan Thurston, Billy Slater and Greg Inglis as one of the top earners in the game, and represents an exponential rise from his current $85,000-a-year deal.

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"He's doing the business on the field and the new contract reflects that," Cherry-Evans' manager Gavin Orr told AAP.

Orr requested an official release for his client from the final year of his contract last week, but denied he was playing hard ball to get the club to agree to his demands.

"That wasn't the case at all. I just wanted to see what was out there and wanted to ensure Daly got a deal that represented his market value," Orr said.

"He wanted to stay at Manly and wanted to know that others will too.

"He was given some undertakings by the club that they were trying to keep players and, once we sat down with the board and worked things out, he was happy to show his commitment to them."

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Cherry-Evans signs new Manly deal

TOKYO (Reuters) - From green fashions by a designer who clothed Lady Gaga to a futuristic take on the traditional kimono and a streetwear show that drew more than 10,000 people, Japan's Fashion Week has highlighted the edginess and variety for which Tokyo has long been known.

The spring event was cancelled last year in the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami, which set off a nuclear crisis that led to power cuts, but the October event was held as scheduled, clearing the way for the current autumn/winter extravaganza.

The Tokyo Runway Show highlighted street styles, an effort to shine a spotlight on Japan's ready-to-wear brands as they also hope to cross into the international scene, in a five-hour production aimed at the country's trend-setting youth.

"I believe that with this show, Japan, as a fashion leader, has the potential to crossover internationally," said Natsuki Kato, a model and actress who strode the catwalk for the event.

Some 15,000 fans came out for the Tokyo Runway, which fell on a national holiday right in the middle of the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week that runs until March 24 and featured designs for "real clothes consumers" rather than avant-garde garb.

Among the highlights was an appearance by Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, who represented so-called "Harajuku" subculture street fashion, ranging from gothic to outfits that look as if they came straight out of an anime cartoon and is named after the popular Tokyo area popular with youth.

"What makes Harajuku fashion unique is how the girls choose to represent themselves with confidence in a way that's enjoyable -- not just in a 'cute' way, but with some edginess as well." Kyary Pamyu Pamyu told Reuters.

"For example, I have eyeballs and bones on my outfit. It's not just cute but a bit dark too."

KIMONOS, GREEN AND GAGA

In a nod to tradition, third generation kimono designer Jotaro Saito unveiled "Futurism," a collection he hopes will give Japan's traditional dress a modern twist.

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From Lady Gaga to kimonos at Japan Fashion Week

At the TED Full Spectrum conference in Long Beach, Calif., earlier this month, inspiring, provocative speakers spoke of the future. Peter Diamandis predicted a new era of innovation and abundance. Penn scientist Vijay Kumar enumerated the practical uses of small, agile, flying robots that eerily portended the machines in The Matrix. The theme of robots was reprised in a video of a TEDTalk claiming to be from the future2023, to be precisedelivered by Peter Weyland, a swaggering industrialist who described the imminent possibility of creating lifelike androids. At this moment in our civilization, he said, we can create cybernetic individuals who, in just a few short years, will be completely indistinguishable from us.

Weylands superior confidence, diction, and cheekbones seemed out of place to anyone who has ever sat through a typical TEDTalk. No surprise, as they belonged to actor Guy Pearce. The video, directed by Ridley Scott, showed Pearce pacing a stage at the center of an enormous arena, beneath countless video screens and a bright, red TED logo. Science fiction fans quickly realized the video was part of a sly viral publicity campaign for Scotts upcoming Alien prequel, Prometheus, in which android characters play a crucial role. The video was followed by a fake ad, released earlier this week on YouTube and elsewhere, for Weyland Corp., featuring Michael Fassbender as a fresh, out-of-the-box robot. The clip was released, surely not coincidentally, at the same time as a new trailer for Prometheus, which Fox plans to release this summer.

This is not the first time a studio has created a multimedia extension of a films fictional world. Just as Sony (SNE) did in 2009 with the fake community-watch site promoting District 9, Fox has built an entire website for Weyland Industries that doesnt once mention Prometheus.

It is, however, the first time TEDs respected name was used for promotional purposes, at least as far as TED community director Tom Rielly can remember.

This was an extremely unusual opportunity for both TED and Scott Free, says Rielly in an e-mail. (Scott Free is the production company co-owned by director brothers Ridley and Tony Scott.) We are delighted with the outcome.

The presence of the video on TED Full Spectrums home page raises questions about the nonprofits mission, and its independence from corporate influence. But Rielly, who says TED received no money to license the TED name to Scott, says the video was more than crass promotion and brought as much attention to the TED brand as it did to the film.

We dont look at this as a commercial for Prometheus, but rather as a mutually beneficial relationship, he says. We got to have Ridley Scotts team create a science-fiction TEDTalk, which was a real honor for us as fans of his oeuvre, and the clips launch generated millions of video views on our website, mostly from people who had never visited before (our raison dtre for this project). We also had over 250 news articles in the first three days. It definitely got people talking.

TED is in the business of promoting bold ideas, and it was certainly a bold idea to promote a film using the TED name. When Rielly was first approached about it, he was intrigued. I received a call in April from Damon Lindelof, the screenwriter of Prometheus and former co-show runner of Lost, says Rielly. We are friends from the TED community. He had written a script for the , which I loved. We never spoke to Fox until the very end.

With all his experience in futurism, Rielly was able to give Scott and Lindelof a good sense of what a 2023 TED event might look like. I prepared an extensive briefing on all the visual and audio aspects of a TEDTalk circa 2012 and a corresponding speculation on how things would work in the future (2023). The flying video cameras and live Twitteresque feedback on the rear monitors were two of my ideas that I contributed.

Link:
TED Goes to the Movies With 'Prometheus' Promotion

Bernard Cohen, Place Games VI, 2011

When you first look at Bernard Cohens work, the angular lines and seemingly random deployment of circles appear to be brightly coloured jumbles without significance.

But as with all abstract art, the longer you look at it, the more structure you see. Stories start to take shape.

Cohens art owes a lot to Futurism and the link with technology is present in his work as well. The large prints resemble an overhead camera shot with the straight lines representing roads and buildings, and the dots people. The coloured circles appear to be the blast/fallout zones that you often see in the military diagrams of Hollywood blockbusters.

Well, thats our interpretation. Everyone is likely to see a different story and some wont see anything other than circles and lines. This art wont be to everyones taste and if Mondrians work does nothing for you should probably avoid this. But if you want to see abstract art that fuels the imagination then youll find it here.

Bernard Cohen: Place Games is at Flowers, 21 Cork St. W1S 3LZ until 21 April. Entrance is free.

Excerpt from:
Art Review: Bernard Cohen @ Flowers