Zello, is anybody out there?

Hey so recently I was tipped off (by a friend) about this awesome app called Zello or Zello. Live Conversation.

Pretty much what it does is it can turn your mobile device into a walkie-talkie between you and other people who have this app. You press the big black button in the center of the screen, wait until it turns red, speak and then wait for your friends on the other frequencies to reply. This thing works in real time, live, with no delays. It saves your history of conversation so incase you miss a conversation, you're able to go back and listen/reply at your leisure.

Other features allow you to subscribe to "channels" around the world and have live conversations with up to 100 other people on the same channel. You can also create your won channel and add your friends to it too making it your own exclusive communication hub. It user-interface (UI) is really beautiful in its simplicity and its super user friendly. Not only is it easy to use,  but its convenient and fun too. It is available in 11 languages and works over Wi-Fi connection or 3G network.

Look you might think that walkie-talkie-ing is silly and really 90's or whatever. However it is perfect for planning a convoy with your friends or meeting up downtown. It is easier and more simple than texting due to its use of the "speech-to-text" features on your device. Plus, there is no ambiguity (like in text messaging) and it makes effortless communication.

Wanna hear the best part?!

Zello is available for Android, BlackBerry, iOS devices as well as PC!!

But wait there's more....

Zello is completely FREE to download off of their  website, or the app store/app world that your mobile device belongs too.

Here's a link...zello.com

Passing the Time

Here is some fun cell art my friends and I did on the homepage for our course website.

More coming soon.

Ritual Union

Coming soon...

Stay tuned...!

Zombies and the like..

In light of the new season of the Walking Dead having started just this passed Sunday, I've decided to share with you all one of my favourite Zombie flicks.

Based off of Tony Burgess' novel Pontypool Changes Everything, the movie Pontypool (2009) (Canadinan director Bruce McDonald's adaptation of the book) is in my opinion a great movie. Set and filmed in Pontypool, Ontario this movie has its own twists on the classic horror genre.

What I love about this movie is:

• A) It's a Canadian production through and through (and its one that doesn't suck). 
• B) I love the modesty of the movie (which is a notable trait among most Canadian films).
• C) It genuinely a good thriller with aspects of horror.

It's also won some awards which include:

• Official Selection: Toronto Film Festival 2008.
• Official Selection: SXSW 2008.
• Official Selection: MOMA Canadian Front.
• Genie Nominee: Chloturdis Awards 2010. 
• Best Director.
• Best Adapted Screenplay.
• Best Actor.

In the movie:

A virus has infected the town of Pontypool and it (unlike many zombie movies) is not the result of genetic experimentation via a Corporate Agenda gone awry. Rather this virus has infected the English language and there exist certain trigger words that can set off a reaction in people. Each person has a different word that may set them off. Bruce McDonald describes these infected people not as "zombies" per say but rather what he likes to call "conversationalists". Here he is quoted saying,

"There are three stages to this virus. The first stage is you might begin to repeat a word. Something gets stuck. And usually it's words that are terms of endearment like 'sweetheart' or 'honey'. The second stage is your language becomes scrambled and you can't express yourself properly. The third stage you become so distraught at your condition that the only way out of the situation you feel, as an infected person, is to try and chew your way through the mouth of another person."

Pretty gruesome eh? 

Most of the film takes place in the local radio station home to shock jock dj Grant Mazzy. As his co-workers become infected via their own language, the clostrophobia of the studio really makes a great setting for the ambiance of the film. Furthermore, with little to no scenes of the movie taking place outside of the studio, you really get a sense of the hysteria the characters go through. There's such a lack of information presented to the characters (for most of the movie) that it seems realistic enough and immerses you in the experience. 

If you're a fan of the zombie genre as I am or just horror, hell even if you don't like zombies at all, I would recommend you give this movie a look. 

Brief post on "quasi-stellar radio source" (Quasar)

After viewing a composition presented at Nuit Blanche Toronto by one of my old professors I had to do some research on his project...actual research. The project was showcased in a parking garage in Nathan Phillips Square. It was entitled: Quasar 2.0: Star Incubator (Q2:SI).

(Q2:SI) at Nuit Blanche Toronto.

After Googling the term to see if anything interesting came up, I found that a Quasar is actually a phenomenon in space studied by astronomers and astrophysicists. I briefly researched them and had to stop before my mind exploded by the sheer magnitude of this oddity.

So to give you just a little back story on what Quasars are and what they do I present:

Fun facts about Quasars:

• A quasi-stellar radio source or Quasar is a high concentration of electromagnetic energy in space.
• Forms in young galaxies.
• Is the result of the expansion of the universe.
• Is a compact region in the center of a massive galaxy that surrounds a central “supermassive black hole".
• i.e. Supermassice black holes sit at the center of quasars feeding them energy from a "host galaxy".
• Emits 1000x more energy than that of our own Milky Way galaxy.
• Is a "galactic nucleus".
• Centrifuge for possible galaxy creation. 
• Are comparatively small compared to our own galaxy.
• Are as far as 28 billion light years away. 

ULAS J1120+0641 Quasar. It shown as the smal red dot in the center of the picture.
It is the farthest know Quasar residing at 28.81 billion light years away from Earth.

An artist's rendering of ULAS J1120 Quasar.

Hubble Space Telescope image of Quasar 3C 273.

X-ray image of 3C 273 with its "jet" fuelled by a
supermassive black hole.

An artist's rendering of Quasar 3C 279.

Image of Quasar 3C 175. Shown as the small dot in the center
we can see its jet emitting particles via a supermassive
black hole. 

An artist's rendering of Quasar 3C 120.

Nuit Blanche (Sleepless Night) Toronto

 Since 2006 Socitabank’s Nuit Blanche has taken Toronto by storm, transforming the entire city into a colossal showcasing from hundreds of contemporary artists around the world. The annual event, lasting from sunset to sunrise, has drawn in 1, 000, 000+ audience members in a single night and on Sept 29th, 2012 there was no exception made.


My personal experience with Nuit Blanche happened between Dundas and Queen Street West in the heart of the GTA where Toronto City Hall resides at Nathan Phillips Square. At an underground parking garage The End of the World exhibition took place, including works from a dozen of various artists.

One project in particular was created by a professor of mine, Mark-David Hosale, who taught me last year at York University. Wandering in a little more than half way through the parking garage exhibition, Quasar 2.0: Star Incubator (Q2:SI) was laid out on the floor in all of its abstract audible fragments and luminosity.

Q2:SI laid out on at Nuit Blanche

Aside: (See following blog post for more information on what a Quasar is...)

A screen interface depicting data streaming
from Antarctica.

Reading up on his work I found Mark-David best describes his piece as an interactive sound and light installation. It a spacial experience and a reflection of a non-linear narrative meant to connect the observer, "with the systems of the universe unfolding beyond out senses, collapsing scale and time into he immediacies of the experience of new beginnings". Here there is a focus on an ever-changing renewal of "life cycles" in and around the world.

A representation of the data input
streaming live .

This aspect of non-linear narrative is much in line with Mark-David's work. Converging simultaneous data from all over the world Quasar brings itself to life via: local electromagnetic fields, Muon Neutrino (a neutrino being a small weak elementary subatomic particle) data from the Antarctic IceCube Neutrino Observatory as well as weather data from automated weather stations from the Antarctic Meteorological Research Center.  The data was represented on a panel of three screens, visually representing the input data from around the Antarctic.

Given this data, Quasar would augment itself constantly in new ways and forms. Emitting light and sounds this domestic and foreign data would influence Quasar in different ways.

For further reading please visit www.mdhosale.com