Vibewire - Sanctuary

Vibewire are excited to announce a call for submissions to Sanctuary - a competition dedicated to giving young people the opportunity to get their thoughts, ideas and perspectives out there. It's an awesome chance to participate in the dialogue that shapes our country and its policies, to get heard, and to win some cool stuff.

What is Sanctuary?

Sanctuary is a space for young people to comment on what is increasingly one of the core terms used to describe Australian culture: Multiculturalism.

What this term means to our society, and specifically to young people in our society, will be a key factor in the development of Australia over the next half century.

And so we ask - What is multiculturalism to you?

The Sanctuary competition is soliciting entries from anyone 15-30 in the categories of creative writing, non-fiction and images. Prizes will be awarded to the winning entry in each category.

Submission guidelines:

Creative Writing

Word limit of 600 words
Submitted electronically

Non-Fiction Writing

Word limit of 600 words
Submitted electronically

Images

Minimum size of 150mm x 100mm @ 300dpi (1800pixels x 1200 pixels) Submitted electronically

The top 3 entries in each categories will be published in the Sanctuary Anthology, with 10, 000 copies distributed nationally for Harmony Day 2005 These and more entries will be published in a special section of vibewire.net

Deadline for submissions is 31 December, 2004

For more details visit www.vibewire.net/sanctuary/

This project is proudly supported by the Australian Government¹s Living in Harmony initiative, which aims to promote community harmony. For more information, visit www.immi.gov.au/harmony

The Dig Tree Multimedia Project

The Dig Tree project is sponsored by the Uniting Church in Australia and is being organised by Kippax Uniting Church. The aim of the project is to help the church use and create multi-media resources.

The idea is to essentially create an "open" publishing system that uses a copyright framework to enable subscribers and contributors to share resources without fear of breaking the law, but also protects the interests of the author/creator/artist.

Eventually the intention the resources will be available by subscription (amount to be determined). The income will help for covering the distribution costs, to sustain the project, and to commission contributors for specific content.

Distribution of resources will be via the Internet and possibly by DVD (depending on various issues be resolved).

We am very interested in finding both potential contributors/subscribers. Feel free to visit the website and register your interest. More details can be found on the website about the project or just send me an email.

However, just to get you moving, right now there are a couple of free Advent resources that are available in "the Library" on the new website http://digtree.unitingchurch.org.au. The only thing is that you need to self register on the website to get to the files. You will find them in the beginnings of "the Library". Feel free to contribute your own creations as well... of course don't forget to check out the copyright rules first.

Shalom

Dean Tregenza
The Dig Tree Project
http://digtree.unitingchurch.org.au

City Lights Street Art Project

More than 18 artists collaborate on Australia's largest street art project at World Square in Sydney. Corner of George and Goulburn St.

AUGUST 18 to 22, 2004 Wednesday August 18, Citylights, Multiplex and World Square present an unprecedented collaborative public art project on the hoardings of the World Square site in the heart of Sydney's CBD. OUTSIDE THE SQUARE-EXTRA CLASSIC will feature stencils, painting and graffiti on over 170 metres of panels, by 18 artists working with the Citylights Project out of Melbourne.

http://www.citylightsproject.com

The work will be viewable 24 hours a day until April 2005, when the panels will be auctioned with proceeds going to charities supporting homeless youth.

Spirituality Signposts

Signposts is a fantastic set of 48 full-colour cards exploring spirituality, for use in discussion or learning activity.Produced by St. Lukes in Bendigo, Victoria, the cards feature stunning photos and 1-3 word phrases that evoke something of the experience of spirituality.

eg.
walking through shadow
remembering blessings
noticing beauty
looking for signposts
practicing compassion
welcoming others
wondering at the mystery

You will gather from the examples that the phrases are very open ended and not naming a particular religious tradition, in fact they are very un-churchy. The pack comes with a booklet that gives a number of suggestions of
ways to use the cards. I think they're sensational. I wish they had an electronic version.

You can see some sample cards here.

BTW,St. Lukes have lots of other great stuff too.

300 audio loops in 30 days

300 loops (wav files) in 30 days. each set of loops is only up for 7 days. haven't got round to listening to any yet so can't vouch for the quality - (thanks ben for the tip off).

textures

myangs free textures via mark waddington is a site with lots of high resolution textures/images.

Free downloads of Fahrenheit 9/11 aim to boost Kerry's chances

Marc Perkel is spending US$2000 in the hope of ensuring the result of next week's presidential election.

Not by buying expensive TV adverts (something that would cost much more than US$2000) but by offering Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11 for free download from his site, in the hope that watching it will encourage people to vote against George W. Bush.

And at least half of his hope has been fulfilled: thousands of people have downloaded the film from his site, in a format that can be watched on a computer.

Yet despite offering a box-office hit backed by heavyweight producers such as Harvey Weinstein, available for free over the Net, Mr Perkel, of San Bruno in California, does not fear being sued, as one would normally expect.

Instead, he insists that "Michael Moore wants me to distribute this" - although he also admits Mr Moore has not spoken to him specifically.

The US$2000 is the cost of one month's high-speed internet access to his website where the digital versions of the film are stored - and if download numbers are any guide, he has found a receptive audience.

Website URL: Link
Full Article: Link

U2 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

The Alternative Hymnal's just posted the full lyrics of the new U2 Album titled "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb." Link

The Alternative Hymnal's also got a link to Eminem's new video clip titled "Mosh." The clip is fairly full on but is well worth the look... There is however a language warning on the track for those of you who don't like strong language. Link

Music and Memory

This looks like an interesting project to keep your collective eyes on, and go and fill in their form:

Marcos Weskamp and I are currently working on a project that links music and memory, at Interaction Design Institute Ivrea. At this point we are collecting data to populate the database that will be used for the visualization.

In a form we have put online we ask you to mention a specific song that you relate to a memory. Do you have a specific song that reminds you of your first girlfriend; that cool wedding of your best friend; a summer vacation? We are sure that you can find plenty examples! You can even sketch out your memory, among other things! It's great fun, really!

http://www.nundroo.com/memory/form.php

Your help is greatly appreciated, thank you! Feel free to send this form to other people too! Oh, yeah, and we would like to collect the data pretty soon, actually within the next 2 or 3 days. 8 Read full article

Link

Strange Attractors

On the ABC web site is a little treasure waiting to be found: Strange Attractors, an animation showcase highlighting 12 Victorian animators. You've got a choice of browsing in Shockwave - ideal for broadband, or html - better for dial up. The 12 animations are designed to be watched on Real player.

Take a look at 'Fog Eyes' - animation by Hamish Koci. It features a little girl sent to a hospital to have her eyes treated. She's placed in her bed by Sister Enid, a Catholic nun, who's determined to teach her how to pray and keep the devil away. The girl gets the idea that the lamp beside her bed, and that the suicidal patient in the bed next door is the devil. What follows is both tragic and comical - as would be expected for a down under production.

Strange Attractors - An Animation Showcase

new hexstatic cd/dvd

hexstatic have a new album/dvd out. masterview is fantastic value - you get a CD and DVD and a set of 3D glasses all for the price of a normal CD! several of the videos are made in 3D. last night i was cooking and i put the laptop on the kitchen table with the DVD running. so i found myself stirring spaghetti bolognaise with 3D glasses on hoping no one would walk in and think i was completely weird!!!! the first CD rewind had some stunning videos that you could use in worship. this one doesn't really - but it is fantastic fun... the updated web site does have videos of the legendary deadly media, timber, natural rhythm, and frog jam as well as some from masterview....

God in the dj booth or on the club floor?

I'm reviewing Gordon Lynch's book, "After Religion: 'Generation X' andthe search for meaning, on the Postkiwi blog. Up to now, I've covered a book in a post. I'm moving to a chapter a post a day - more fun, more in depth critique, and also a chance to dialogue with the author. Gordon Lynch, the decent chap that he is, even responded to my invitation to provide comments - by email at this point. I'd be interested in dialoguing with anybody's comments on my reviews of the chapters, covering:

1. The decline of institutional religion
2. Critique of popular writing on generation X and spirituality
3. Post-Evangelicalism and Alternative worship
4. Tom Beaudoin, MTV and The Matrix
5. Clubbing Spirituality (published today)

Coming up:

6. Douglas Coupland and 'Generation X' spirituality
7. Does Generation X need God?

NT Wright Page

If there are any NT Wright fans out there go and check out his unofficial website here: Link

Some may think that this isn't very Multi-Media but lets think about this for a second...

1) website
2) pdf files
3) mp3's

That's more than 1 media!!

Cheers

d

Digistry Multimedia Worship Resources

Latest news from Digistry...

Just released!
enhance volume III
(based on lectionary readings for Year A)










DVD version:
Use PC DVD-ROM drive or standalone DVD-Video player
Contains 108 digital video clips for use in worship and Christian education settings:

108 Volume III (Year A) clips in Flash, QuickTime, and NTSC DVD-Video formats for Mac & PC

Updated search and presentation interface for Years A, B, & C

CD-ROM version:
Contains 108 digital video clips for use in worship and Christian education settings:

108 Volume III (Year A) clips in Flash formats for Mac & PC

Updated search and presentation interface for Years A, B, & C

Bulk music software purchase deals

The eMagic Logic users group conducts regular group buying exercises where members can get substantial discounts on music software. Link

They currently have a very excellent deal on the fabulous OhmForce effects and instruments. Link

It's free to join the Logic users group.

Details of the 'group buy' on the Logic Users website, definitely worth a look.

AND Linplug have a 'group buy' going on right now for their excellent RMIV drum machine. I've never taken part in a 'group buy' but the more who take part the bigger the discount. Link

Craig

Families that play together pray together

Parents seeking to protect their kids from cyber gore have created a boom in Christian computer games, write Justin Norrie and Richard Cooke.

A dam was turning out to be the perfect date. He was dishy, debonair and had a good job in computing. But a couple of drinks and a marijuana cigarette later, the unfortunate girl was getting an unwanted abortion from a crooked doctor, all because she took the advice of a demon in a tuxedo.

That's the way God deals his cards in The Choice Game, one of dozens of Christian computer games making inroads into a global leisure software industry that was last year worth $25 billion and is growing at 10 per cent a year, according to British research firm Screen Digest.

The new wave of faith-based games gives children the chance to smite demons from the minds of suicidal teenagers, convert heathen Roman soldiers and explore ancient civilisations while learning verses from the Bible along the way.

It sounds like proselytising, but Christian gaming developers claim they're only offering kids good, wholesome fun. The Canadian developer, Mackenzie Ponech, whose company Two Guys Software created Eternal War: Shadows of Light, in which players are sent by God to counsel depressed youths, aims to create games that can be enjoyed by Christians and non-Christians alike: "It's not about taking a Bible, rolling it up and shoving it down the person's throat who's playing the game. It's about fun."

Christian computer games aren't new, but in recent years they have become more entertaining, adopting the production values of popular commercial games. The first evangelical titles appeared on the market in the mid-1980s, but their insipid game play (Bible Baseball anyone?), low-rent graphics, and elementary plots confined them to strictly niche status. Most were produced by two-man garage operations, working for the love of God, not money.

Full Article: Link

slow moment

in case you don't follow my blog (!?) this slow moment video (approx 26mb) is stunning. it works wonderfully well with the reading we used at a grace slow service whch is under worship trick 100

war animation

brilliant flash animation - war

visions free downloads

visions have added a download page for video loops. they are all in quicktime format.

stunning animation DVDs

Animation Trip distribute DVDs from a range of producers, mainly in the arena of 3D animation. Some of their titles showcase the short films of 3D animators around the world, such as the stunning Animusic where musical instruments play themselves - yes, it's a symphonic Sorcerer's Apprentice.

They also distribute some stunning videos made by Addictive TV in the UK. The Transambient and Mixmasters series consist of electorinc dance music with video accompaniment. There's great variety in the music and imagery, with many, many stunning visual sequences, both 'real life' and animated.

Their website says:

Our visuals label was set up in 1999 to produce DVDs of integrated electronic music & visual mixes by VJs, DJs, visual artists and music producers. Transambient was released in 2000 as the first audiovisual DVD album; ZDNet called it 'digital perfection' and The Big Issue called it "proper 21st century entertainment". The second release, Spaced Out, was described by DJ Magazine as '2001's best reason to buy a DVD player'. 2001 also saw Addictive TV sign with major US dance label Moonshine for American distribution. Projects feature original work from artists including Quantic, 808 State, Coldcut and EBN's Brian Kane and exclusive mixes from DJs including Baby Mammoth, Tim 'Love' Lee and Spacer. Visual styles range from trippy Super8 to full-on CGI. Music includes everything from chilled electronica to drum 'n' bass.

Animation Trip have downloadable examples, but you can also purchase the DVDs from Addictive TV themselves.

The Dark

The Dark is actually online!!!

I've been waiting for this to get online for months and it's actually operating!!!!

THE DARK!!!!!

http://www.thedark.net
http://www.thedark.net
http://www.thedark.net
http://www.thedark.net
http://www.thedark.net


Ok, ok, excitement over, go and check the dang thing out!!!

Free Online Videos

Thanks to list-member Rebecca for this link to the Open Video Project that has all kinds of historical footage and other weird and wonderful stuff that you can use. Over 200 clips at present. Formats vary.

Storytellers DVDs and More...

For sometime I have been playing around with ideas of how to create space for a wide variety of gifted people to share their inspiration, spirituality and perspective in a time where questions could be asked and faith explored.... then along comes Sarah McLachlan's new DVD 'Storytellers'. Its basically an intimate unplugged type performance where Sarah shares more than normal about the inspiration behind a limited number of her songs as she performs them.
Its part of a 'storytellers series of DVDs.
At different points the time opens up for questions from the small audience.
SNAP!!
Whether you choose a community venue like a cafe or transform a worship space into an informal setting... the idea is to invite individuals to prepare some input based around their INSPIRATION, SPIRITUALITY AND PERSPECTIVE... make space for Q&A as part of the presentation and ideally include hospitality as part of the event!!

For example:
1. Invite a musician to perform their own tunes and those of their influences, explain how the songs inspire, shape their faith or what perspective they have on the issues it raises.
2. Invite an artist to curate an exhibition of their own works or significant ones [display stills or video by big screen]
3. Invite someone who is into alt.worship high tech multi-media experiences to put together some 'best of' stuff an lead people through some experiences
4. Invite someone like myself to share stories, movie scenes and songs that inspire and shape faith and explain whyAND so on....This could be done as part of an existing alternative or contemporary worship program, four times per year focused on being 'out there' in the community, at significant times like Lent and Advent and/or as a way of connecting to schools or particular communities of people in your local setting...

I'll be on the lookout for places to trial these events in the next 12 months!!

Find this idea, youth ministry 'unreliable ideas', worship unplugged suggestions, music, movies and my own less than academic observations on the world and my interests in it!!
At www.pumphouse.blogspot.com comments welcomed...
I try not to steal too many of the ideas from members of the youthmulti-media egroup...

Princeton Youth Ministry CDs

The Princeton Insitute for Youth Ministry in the US gives away two excellent youth ministry resources.

Each year since 1996 they have hosted a lecture series on Youth, Church and Culture, with presenters such as Jurgen Moltmann, Kenda Creasy Dean, Dorothy Bass, Will Willimon, Mark Yaconelli, Michael Warren, Sharon Parks and others. A copy of the lectures is available free. You can download them here.

Information about the next lecture series in January and April on the theme "With Imagination and Love: Leadership in Youth Ministry" is here.

Cloud of Witnesses is the Princeton Audio Journal on Youth, Church and Culture. Now at Volume Seven, on the theme of Mission, the free CDs feature talks, interviews, music, Bible studies, sermons, stories and more. The presenters consist of youth pastors, young people, clergy, theologians and others. And its free.

Previous volume themes include Play, Story, Vocation, Suffering & Hope, Spirituality, and Ministry.

To find out more click here.

the cyber schoolbus

The United Nations have a sensational web portal for students called the cyberschoolbus. I know, "cyber" and "schoolbus" don't seem to add up, but hey.

All kinds of great informational on global issues
- comparative statistics on countries around the world (as distinct from other countries....?)
- quizzes about global stuff (currently flags and water - that's two quizzes, not one!)
- curriculum resources of peace, poverty, human rights and more
- info about special days such as World Environment Day
- a link to the previously posted Aftershocks art exhibition

Currently an interactive Flash cartoon exploring work for children in terms of human rights called 3PLUS-U

Lots of great resources for educational use.

Growing up with War and Terrorism

Aftershocks in an online display of art and memoirs by young people growing up with war and terrorism. (don't call it 'terror'. Grrr)

The artwork and journals in this online exhibit were created by teenagers who lived through the war in Bosnia and children in New York City who witnessed the destruction of the World Trade Center.

As well as art and journals, the site contains a video documentary of some of the artists.

Well worth a visit.

the art of speed

the art of speed is a project commissioned by nike with 15 talented young filmmakers interpreting the idea of speed. all 15 films are on the latest dvd that came with creative review magazine (you have to subscribe to get the dvd which comes out twice a year). but all 15 films are available to download from the web site. the large size ones are pretty big so you'll need broadband connection. my favourite is the associates in science one which has the most useable sequences for worship. grace are doing a service at greenbelt called 'slow' looking at speed and slow - handy eh?!...

the web site also contains links to several other interesting things. i particularly like this hand clock

Global Images of Christ

Like many of us I gather pictures of Jesus from various places and
use them in various ways, often rather neglectful of the copyright
issues involved.

So I've been ecstatic to come across an excellent resource called "The
Christ We Share" which has given me a legal way to do this.

Produced by the Church Missionary Society in the UK, it contains 35
full colour images of Christ from various cultures around the world.

The images come as A5 mini posters, AND on CDROM as high and low
resolution images and two Powerpoint presentations - one with music by Proost.

But wait there's more... The pack also contains an excellent range of
activity sheets and worship ideas enabling people to explore how and
why various people and cultures see Christ through different eyes.

some of the images you will have seen before, particularly in WCC
publications - some will no doubt shock and disturb some.

It costs only 15 pounds sterling (where is that pound symbol when you
need it...!) and for me an extra 6 pounds for air freight to Oz.

Highly recommended - its stunning.

They don't have online ordering so you have to fax the details.

CMS Partnership House, 157 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8UU
Switchboard (020) 7928 8681 Fax (020) 7401 3215
Direct Line (020) 7803 3376
E-mail: anne.key@cms-uk.org
URL: www.cms-uk.org

Godspeak - Film Festival 2004

2004 Festival Theme: Grace
Are you into film?
Rate yourself as a producer or director?
Or just want to have fun with your friends?
Then Godspeak Film Festival is for you.

Create a short film based around the biblical theme of “grace”.
What is this thing called grace?
What does it look like?
This is your chance to explore, ponder, provoke, enlighten, get creative and have fun!

Scripture when used in your film must be accurately depicted or quoted. This may be achieved by retelling a biblical account or by portraying a biblical account in a contemporary context. Films may be drama, sitcom, documentary or animation.

More information here

in motion - new DVD

Im Motion is a new DVD produced by OSBD for RUN (reaching the unchurched network). it has clearly been a huge project in the making with 4 sections -

5 stories of faith (it was surprise and fun to see barry taylor on there!)
3 dramas
5 excerpts from 'the street bible' performed by rob lacey on location (street bible is being published in the USA as 'the word on the street' i think)
4 reflective visual pieces designed for meditation or worship

it's all new material - over 80 minutes worth, useable in lots of contexts. i think it is well suited to churches looking for creative material or small groups wanting a discussion starter. i can imagine the street bible being played for the bible reading in a service - would be great... the most useable bits for alt worship are the reflective visual pieces. my favourite is one that has shots of eyes overlaying each other with things going on in the reflection of the pupil of the eye - very nicely done! it actually reminds me of an eye we filmed close up as part of grace ten. our concept there was that grace comes to us through sight if we have eyes to see.... the loop on the dvd is rather more sophisticated...

there are some samples of the video on the osbd page......

Spiderman 2 Discussion Paper for Youth Groups

Just thought I'd let you all know that I have written a 1st edition Discussion helper on Spiderman 2 and put it up onto the Youth and Multimedia website (sorry, only members of that list can access to that).

For those of you not on the list I have also placed a copy here.

It's a 7 page, 330kb pdf file, sorry but Open Office seems to make bloated pdf's. I might actually have to find another way to create pdf's :)

Usual warnings about the paper containing spoilers and story line to those of you who didnt catch it on the first couple of days of screening.

I hope to get back to it later and smooth it out with some specific bible readings and other suggestions, if anyone has some suggestions please let me know.

Remember, to join the list all you need to do is click here...

Also on the Youth and Multimedia website is a Big Fish discussion paper and many other cool resources...

free image archive

pixelperfectdigital is a source of free high resolution images - thanks to the ooze blog.

The 100 Most Spiritually Significant Films

Thanks to Andrew for this link:

Even before Mel Gibson grabbed hearts and headlines with The Passion of The Christ, Christians were finding a new fascination with the spiritual significance they're encountering at the multiplex. Every month sees a new film-and-faith book hit the shelves, film clips are showing up in Sunday sermons like never before, and believers gather in study groups where the VCR and DVD player are almost as important to the proceedings as Bible or concordance. Jesus "spake not except in parables," and the spiritual impact of story didn't end with Christ.

The folks at Arts & Faith, an online discussion group comprised of film critics—including Christianity Today Movies critics Jeffrey Overstreet, Peter T. Chattaway and myself—and other movie buffs have been carrying on a lively conversation about spirituality and film for years. Recently, the participants forged a terrifically diverse and intriguing list of 100 Spiritually Significant Films—an incomparable resource for anyone interested in exploring transcendent themes in the movies.

This is an interesting list of the top 100 most spiritually significant films, it's alphabetised, not ranked (which is a great idea) and includes small commentaries as to why they are each spiritually significant.

My example is Dogma by Kevin Smith.
Just how close to the cliff's edge of apostacy does God permit a searcher to go? How far is too far for a church and the clergy to go in the quest to attract the hip, happenin' younger generation? How much dissonance, offense to propriety and scruples can you endure for His sake in the daily challenge of being an Ambassador for Him. These questions and more will occupy the viewer willing to brave non-stop profanity and vulgar images. Just because the story revolves around a world weary lapsed Catholic, does not mean that protestants and evangelicals will be immune from the implications of this story. A scene in which a bored, exiled archangel toys with the mind of a religious calls to mind the lapses this devout christian has suffered while letting spiritual dry patches get the best of him. This film has rewards a plenty for the brave.

Link of list: Link
Get invollved in the discussion for 2005's list: Link
Andrew Careaga's Blog again: Link
Andy got the link originally from Christian Movies today: Link

may the font be with you

I'm a font junkie. I admit it. I have way too many.

I have some favourite font designers. Here are some...

The Type Quarry - home of "Marydale" and some great old style handwriting, not to mention "Speed Bump" with its sensational dingbats that I've used on many occasions
Robot Johnny - home of "Girls are Weird"
Font Diner - great retro stuff
Kiwi Media - the amazing 'violation'

A few freebies on these sites.

Some of these may be Mac only....

Craig

Lego Jesus? Virtual Church? Welcome to LEGO CHURCH

Kippax UCA in Canberra are developing a series of movies (low tech) that they've titled Lego Jesus while another mate in Victoria is slowly developing his Lego Jedi Jesus project, one day we might add them both to the blog... Well, today I bumped into something that wipes them off the planet of insanity...

Yes, it's LEGO CHURCH!!!!!!!

Ok... perhaps this isn't youthmultimedia, but it was too good to pass down.

free images from osbd

free images from osbd

Best Kept Secrets

No doubt some of you know Lamb very well and some have never heard of them. Well I've heard of them for a while and just got their "Best of" album - "Best Kept Secrets".

I know nothing about the duo except that people keep mentioning them... Much of the album is stunning and makes me want to check out the rest of their stuff.

Andy Barlow does the instrumentation - an astonishing mix of lush, fat, backward, odd-tempo and weird beats and sweeps. From sublime to strange, from chill to choke, from dream to dance, from sigh to spew (yeah, some it doesn’t work for me).

Lou Rhodes does the vocals. On many tracks she has gorgeous phrasing but you feel you want her to come back and sing it in 10 years time, just because her tone is still getting there. But that is to understate her ability and interpretation. On many of the tracks she is fabulous. I don't know who writes the lyrics but the overall interpretation is moving. Here is the sense of a band pushing towards something, and in doing so they stretch us towards something as well.

One of Lamb's gifts is that they keep surprising you in every song. The beats and sounds change, the songs have several 'movements'. The mood goes places that songs rarely go. Not up or down but other places.

The lyrics of the songs that hit me are a mix of spiritual and sensual. "God Bless", "Gorecki", "Heaven", "Gabriel", "Wonder" and "Stronger".

Love songs? Questions? Dreams? Yes.

I hope some others might tell more of their music and background.

Here's the official website

http://www.lambstar.net/

Some live video stuff there too

"God Bless" - Lamb

You're gonna feel the wind at your heels you know
You're gonna feel a sparkle in your step
Everything will touch you in a different way
Let it come, soon come, let it come
'Cause I'm gonna make you feel lighter than the air above
Let me breath it into you
Let me breath it into you
Let me breath it into you

Here's to happiness
God bless the day
That made my feel this way

An angel's smiling on everything we do
Let them try to stop this good thing growing
'Cause there's no dark cloud
Gonna leave a shadow on there
Gotta keep it strong
Keep it true
Keep it strong
I'm gonna build you up
And build you up
Keep this natural thing
Keep this precious thing
Gotta keep it going on and growing strong

Here's to happiness
God bless the day that made me feel this way
Here's to happiness
God bless the day that made me feel this way, feel this way
Here's to happiness
God bless the day
That made me feel this way
Feel this way
Here's to happiness
God bless the day that made me
Feel this way
Feel this way
Gotta keep this naturel thing
Gotta keep this precious thing
Gotta keep this naturel thing
Gotta keep this precious thing
And I'm gonna keep it going on
And growing strong
Here's to happiness
God bless the day that made me feel this way, feel this way

Here's to happiness
God bless the day that made me feel this way
Feel this way
Feel..this..way
Here here here heres to happiness
Here here heres to happiness
Here here here here to happiness
To happiness
To happiness

Small Fire - Worship Resource

Smallfire is a website that is part of the ministry that Steve Collins offers. Steve's also a part of the crew that bring us other wonderful projects like alternativeworhip.org . The blurb for the site reads:

"The movement known as 'alternative worship' has released the creative and artistic gifts of many people; but the fruits of their labours often last only a short time. Environments of startling beauty come and go in a matter of hours, enjoyed by just a few.

These photographs were taken to record these artworks for the future, and to give a wider audience some idea of what is going on.

But photographs can only hint at the experience - the music, the discussion, the sense of relaxation, the scent of incense or fruit, the taste of bread and wine, the presence of God..."

This site's full of stunning images and great ideas for people looking for different ways to use Medias in their worship.

When IT, Art, Culture, Space, Friends, Multi Medias, Music and God Meet

Karen Ward's blog just mentioned that the Living Room in Seattle is now open for business.

Now, this might not be a techie thing, it might not tell you how to DO something, like put together a powerpoint presentation or how to watch movies on your pc, or how to create a dvd (which as it happens I'm doing right now). BUT. This reallly shows one of the possabilities that could come out when the rubber hits the road in this weird Multimedia world in which we live...

living:room is a new, north fremont tea bar/net lounge/art gallery and small performance venue. Living:room was launched by church of the apostles, fremont, as a non-religious, not for profit (501c3) cafe/gallery, to foster small-batched, micro-brewed and open-sourced artistic expression and community.

as a 'linux vibed' space, what happens here depends on you and what you bring to share, so make yourself @ home... sip some tea, coffee or soda, view some art, read a zine, wifi surf with free dsl.

if you are an artist, musician, poet, dj, visualist, band... bring your art, music, poetry... with you, and book a night to share your stuff.

in the evening, tote some friends, tell some tales, slack around, view a film, chill to live or dj music... just like a house party, just like home.
visit the website here

Plug-Ins for iMovie

If you're an Apple iMovie person (and which newbie film-maker isnt?) then you might like to know about the plugins you can get to allow you to do VFT (very funky things)

Some of these plugins are OK and some are pretty cheesy. Some have free samples, most have free demos.

http://www.geethree.com/
http://www.stupendous-software.com/
http://www.ezedia.com/products/eZedia_plug-ins/
http://www.virtix.com/imovie/index.asp
http://film.arts.geckotribe.com/iMovie/
http://plugins.bkms.com/
http://www.imageip.com/

As someone who uses Final cut for serious stuff, I can't say i've tried them. The eZedia stuff look pretty good though.

BTW these were all listed on the Apple website.

Using Video in Powerpoint

I thought I'd post a few old emails to the egroup. Thanks to all for getting this up and running.

Indezine is an excellent Powerpoint site, with loads of technical info and free and commercial resources.

They have recently run a couple of articles on the use of video in Powerpoint. This is mainly aimed at PC users rather than Mac because for Macs its a quite straightforward. (However the article has some useful info about movie file types which will be useful to all.)

Indezine also has a free email newsletter to which you can subscribe here.

The site also has a number of links relating to Expression, the (currently) free vector painting program which I wrote about recently. Click here.

Don't forget that there's a list of sites for Powerpoint templates at the Mission Resourcing Network website.

Ikon

This is the most beautiful website... www.ikon.org.uk

This is what they say about themselves:

"In short, ‘Ikon’ is a wayward inn for heretics, raggy dolls and wandering stars. It is the first few words of a new language, the first few notes of a new melody, the first tentative moves of a new-born life."

Stunning.

From Madonna to Esther...

So Madonna is changing her name to Esther...

I wonder what she particularly likes about the story... or what it is about Esther that she identifies with...

Coincidentally, I've been thinking about Esther over the last few days (I'm about to do some writing on the story). I love the book (and how it doesn't mention God at all! - don't read too much into that), and have always thought of the story as a kind of anti-fairytale. It's the kind of "marry the prince" story that you would want your daughter to hear... strangely, though, I don't ever remember hearing it in church (gosh, there's a surprise)... How nice that Madonna's got the story out there again...

fuel for the creative nation

good news from the bbc which has plans to make archive footage available for use from the autumn...

"The Creative Archive is fuel for the creative nation," said Paula Le Dieu, co-director of the initiative. "It allows people to download these excerpts and be able to edit them and incorporate them into their own creative works."

it will start off with thousands of three minute clips of nature footage. great news for VJs, altworship etc etc and it will be available for non commercial use

Duncan's Adland

Just working out how to amend the headers and footers etc. I've developed the graphic I want to use
(a very wide screen adapted from an Istock image). Now all I have to do is host the image on my bigpond site so its the size I want.

Duncan's AdLand 

Cafechurch Resources

This post taken almost straight from the Cafechurch website:

Cafechurch Glebe is meshing art with technology as a way of enriching their gatherings for worship.

From 2001 - 2003, Cafechurch employed a digital artist, Rick Bull, who produced animations - prayers, scripture passages, visualised themes. They have been using these as a regular part of their worship. Think of them as contemporary stained glass windows in motion.

This program has now expanded - in 2004, Cafechurch secured the services of Rob Thwaites (theatrical practitioner, digital artist) as Arts Facilitator, and Cameron Semmens (performance poet and wordsmith) and Pete Harding (musician and digital artist) as Artists in Residence.

Download their free samples from here. You will need Flash Player to view them. If you do not have it, download the plug-in from Macromedia. If you want to play movies without the web browser, full-screen, download the additional free-standing player from GlobFX.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS Click this link to find out how they'd like you to use their free samples.

Weekly Distribution Network. Do you want to see more? Get on their 12 month subscription, where you will be emailed weekly animations and art pieces to be used in your communities.

Info Sheet and Order Form for more info (PDF - 22k).

Canon Digital Photo Gallery - Uluru(Ayers Rock)

Just found some great caches of high quality digital photographs provided free by Canon. There's an excellent section on Uluru. Also - nice pics of flowers and fruit, animals etc.
Canon Digital Photo Gallery - Uluru (Ayers Rock)

Free Vector Painting Program

Some time ago, FractalDesign (who created "Painter" - at least i think it was them - now owned by Corel) put out a wonderful program called Painter - a 'natural media' painting program. Then FractalDesign became MetaCreations...

They also put out "Expression" which was a vector painting program. Imagine being able to paint a brush stroke on computer and have the stroke as vector art rather than bitmap art. Anyway MetaCreations folded (mmm... maybe it wasn't them) and "Expression" was taken over by "Creature Expression", whoever they are.

THEN Microsoft bought "Expression"....
(Get to the point - this is getting more complicated than J-Lo's love life)
Well Microsoft aren't sure what they're doing with the thing, so in the meantime you can download it FREE - for Mac OS 9 and X and Windows. Definitely worth a look. Click here to download it.

You can get additional free brushes for it here.
And who said Bill wasn't a good guy?

And for Mac people....

If you're interested in more brushes for Expression or addons for a wide variety of creative applications (Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, Synthetik Studio Artist, CinePaint, Macromedia Freehand MX and other applications). Dozens of free collections available. To find older collections, go to the search page here, and perform a search for the word "download." (some of these would work on Windows versions as well)

another free images site

i had a look at the mission resourcing network site listed a couple of posts back - great site. another one to add to that list...

if u ever want a nice photo of somewhere in the world, or of anything as far as i can see... go to www.danheller.com - he seems to have been everywhere and taken good photos...

What on earth is a "bothy"?

Martyn Bennett
"Bothy Culture"

A couple of years ago, Martyn Bennett released a rather indescribable album called "Bothy Culture" - a collection of folk music blended with all kinds of stuff - beats, spoken voice and goodness knows what else. Great and challenging to listen to. And it was recorded at "Mouth Music Chip Shop" - what a great name.

A bit like the Afro Celts but much more individual and experimental.

He has liner notes like... "This tune has only four notes, but I haven't worked out what they are."
and... "There are lots of Punjabi folks songs about Kali that have loads of sex and sweary words, but this isn't one of them. This is a party tune with a pile of twaddle over the top."

The good news is that his website has some free downloads. Click here.

(and I thought before today that he was a bloody Irishman! He's a Scot!)

Craig
(descended from Scots and once confirmed as a Presbyterian)

Free Images Online

I thought I'd post some previous posts and pages from http://www.missionresourcing.net.au while we get up and running!

The Internet has quite a number of sites where you can download royalty-free images for personal and/or non-commercial use. Here are some of them. Please note that the photo quality varies. You need to check the usage conditions for each site.

Go to the Mission Resourcing Network website for a list of sites.

Multimedia and the multimedia-illiterate

I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of this blog is for, but since Craig invited me, it can't simply be to share expertise... I feel a bit of an intruder on the multimedia stage (I joined the youth multimedia egroup mostly for the recipes). I don't know how to do much, and I have hardly any equipment, but I love the idea of it, and I love playing, and I'm so inspired by what others do, and I'm learning to do more (am about to make my first foray into animations)... I have no equipment - well, apart from an iBook at home and a clunky pc at work. We do have wireless broadband at home, but I was talked into that not because it would give me faster downloads and more opportunity to do multimedia-type things, but because my "IT advisor" said it would mean we could search the internet while drinking gin and tonic in the backyard on a sunny day... (We've got the gin and tonic ready, waiting for that elusive sunny day in Melbourne...). I'm trying not to feel like a complete idiot in every conversation I have about multimedia and technology... or at least, not to let feeling like a complete idiot stop me from being part of the conversation.

I'm currently working in a resourcing role across Victoria and Tasmania with the Uniting Church in Australia. My major focus at the moment is children and families, but my position is evolving, as we speak, into working with people and groups who want to explore alternative worship. I'm not quite sure what it means to work on alternative worship from within the centre of the institutional church, even whether it's possible to do that, but we're going to give it a try. It's a very new area for us to be working in, and I'm a tad excited that I get to do it...

Apart from all that... I write... Christian Education resources, poetry, worship stuff... and my perfect job would connect all of them... I also buy a lot of cd's, go to art galleries, read a lot of books, watch crap tv, and visit scotland as often as I can...

a great step sideways

well, i have plans for something more permanent, so here's a temporary home for some stuff related to the "youthmultimedia" egroup - which is not just about "youth". What is "youthmultimedia"? It's an egroup I started 3 1/2 years ago. The "official" description is this...

"Use of Multimedia with Young People in Christian Education, Worship and Mission. Members include ove 100 pastors, youth workers, high school and tertiary chaplains, youth leaders and others, primarily from Australia, New Zealand, UK, USA and Canada. Members come from a range of Christian churches. The group shares technical information, info about new music and movies, ideas for use of multimedia, and occasional discussion of a more theological nature!"

What does that mean? Well, we talk about...
new music and movies
tech stuff
issues about using stuff in churches
country music (sometimes!)
six degrees of separation
WWW resources for multimedia
cooking (very sometimes)
free multimedia resources
data projectors
what 'online' community might be about
darren's exploits in canberra
alternative worship
where to see the spirit in media
Apple Macs (and those other computers from the dark side)
expressing the gospel through contemporary culture
computer music
obscure musical history
what young people are doing, wathcing ans listening to
use of multimedia in worship settings of all kinds
how to get started in a multimedia
what makes a good website

and a whole lot more!

I'm your host, Craig. I'm surrounded by a couple of Apple Macs, a scanner, USB audio/MIDI thingy, a borrowed Ensoniq keyboard, a Fender Telecaster and amp, a couple of video cameras (one mine, one borrowed), the digital camera from work, several bookshelves of multimedia resources, many hundreds of CDs, many more books on theology, Christian education, potery, sociology, a bunch of DVDs - and there's a family out there somewhere too! I hail from Adelaide, Australia where I work in mission resourcing with the Uniting Church in Australia at a state level.

I'm planning a 'real' website for the list but this will do while I get organised.

If you want to see the real list archives, go to www.yahoogroups.com and search for "youthmultimedia" and join up.

see you in cyberspace.

craig

Mass Destruction Film Clip

Faithless

Mass Destruction EP

Well today I bought the "Mass Destruction" EP and album "No Roots" by Faithless. The EP has the video clip for "Mass Destruction".
P>The clip is a provocative statement about the evils of war, racism, misinformation and fear as weapons of 'mass destruction", and features chilling black and white footage of British school children acting out 'prisoner of war' scenes. These scenes produced the desired shock reaction, particularly as the children act the parts of both captors and captives, aggressors and victims. One is prompted to ask what kind of world our kids are growing up in, or more pointedly, what is our society training them to become?

As he did with "We Come 1" from the "Outrospective" album, Maxi Jazz puts global violence in our faces to bring a message of peace. Although Jazz's particular religious beliefs show through more clearly than at some times ("An you aint goin to nirvana or far-vana, you comin' right back here to live out your karma") this is not a distraction from the thrust of the song as a whole - if anything it is a reinforcement that we reap what we sow.

For those who don't know Faithless, they are the masterminds behind "God is a DJ". a former band member, Jamie Catto, was one of the duo who put together the extraordinary 1 Giant Leap CD and DVD. And band member Rollo's sister is Dido who has also been part of the band on more than one occasion. Did o provides some vocals on this album.

Have a listen here:
Faithless Website

A great website too!

Lyrics to Mass Destruction:
(Chorus)
With a long range weapon or suicide bomber
Wicked mind is a weapon of mass destruction
Whether you're stowaway's son or BBC 1
Dis-information is a weapon of mass destruction
You could a caucasian or a poor asian
Racism is a weapon of mass destruction
Whether inflation or globalisation
Fear is a weapon of mass destruction

My dad came into my room, holdin his hat
I knew he was leavin', he sat
on my bed, told me some facts, son

I have a duty, callin on me
You and your sister be
brave my little soldier,
and don't forget all i told ya
Your the mister of the house now remember this
And when you wake up in the morning give ya momma a kiss,
then I had to say goodbye

In the morning i woke momma with a kiss on each eyelid,
Even though im only a kid,
certain things can't be hid
Momma grabbed me, held me like i was made of gold,
but left her in the story untold
I said, momma it will be allright,
when daddy comes home, tonight

(Repeat Chorus)

Whether Haliburton, Enron or anyone
Greed is a weapon of mass destruction
We need to find courage, overcome
Inaction is a weapon of mass destruction
Inaction is a weapon of mass destruction
Inaction is a weapon of mass destruction

My story stops here, lets be clear
this scenario is happenin everywhere
and you ain't goin to nirvana or favana
You comin right back here to live out your karma
with even more drama
than previously, seriously
Just how many centuries have we been waiting for someone else to make us free
And we refuse to see,
The people overseas are just like we
Bad leadership, amigos, unfettered and free
They feed on the people they're supposed to lead, I dont need it
We need to pray away, for the lord to make it all straight
Its only now we do it right, cos I don't want my daddy, leavin home tonight

Understanding Video on Your Computer

Well, this is my first post to this meta-blog, thankyou to Craig for Inviting me to join. The first post I'll put to this link is something that Craig actually put together a while ago that I think should be on this blog. Lets call it "YouthandMultimedia Tip 1.0"

"Digital video is a major issue to understand and use. I've been trying for about 7 years now and I still get stuck. Usually people find they want to play back a movie on their computer and can't get it to work, or they want to put a movie into Powerpoint, or they've just bought a digital video camera and want to enter the secret world of video editing. There is a lot to learn but if you're patient you can get there! So here are some starting tips.

a) If you want to know about movies in Powerpoint, go check out the Indezine website.
b) If you want to know about software and hardware for working with digital video formats, go to the DVDRHELP website.
c) If you want the excellent Quicktime Pro movie player and converter for windows or Mac, go to the Quicktime Website."

More on "Understanding video on your computer" at the MRN website here.