Final Project, The Movie

It's done and ready to be viewed. What a relief

Final Project, Final Stretch

So it comes to this, my last piece of work due for Internet Studies. And while it certainly isn’t a thirty page philosophy behemoth; it’s no slouch of an assignment either. So what does the final project entail? Well basically, a 1500-2000 word essay with a specific theme and question with which to answer; and secondly, a 3-5 minute movie (made with windows movie maker or the like) which is supposed to illustrate some aspect of the more public aspect to life in Durban.

For the essay, I will stick close to the topic. And as this essay asks a question to which is looking for a specific (in a sense) answer, that is, every student got the same topic for which to write their essay; I will make sure I maintain a decent structure and composition. This will hopefully increase the strength of that of the essay’s argument and conclusion, and even more so, it will help in guiding my idea for the movie. Because while most are basing their essays upon their movies, I am basing my movie more upon the themes highlighted in the essay.

In order to write the essay, I concentrated on the duties to the filling of rights such that a state of equality is achieved for all citizens. So by concentrating on our Constitutional Bill of Rights, as well as the Mamphela Ramphele, I have attempted to bring up many of the rights and roles of citizens of South Africa. This is then compared to the role of a movie maker, and by extension my role; however, this does not completely answer the question at hand. So, by including my movie ideas and structure, a comparison is made between my movie and that of the general movie maker.

For the movie, I have chosen the topic/theme of the clear disparity in services, wealth and infrastructure. I will do this by creating a driven comparison between multiple circumstances and scenarios of disparity in the lives of Durbanites. And more than that, the failings of the government. Such as pressure as applied by large population increases.

So in the process of making the movie, I took pictures and located online images that would compliment by comparison. Such that the images would draw comparisons between the extremes in the cases of: housing, business and services etc. Then by means of subtle and hard cues, containing specific connotative questions, I aim to deliver my point behind the essay. The point being that the government elect needs to equalise the situation, but more than that, needs to focus on the less fortunate on a much more serious way.

Third Article’s the Charm

Third article, new theme; in choosing to stray from our usual Early Morning Market theme, I hope to add a bit of variety to the mix. Ok, so some aspects of our article writing process have remained a constant. Firstly, and as expected, I have retained the job of writer and article devisor. The other group members, as usual, prefer to take a less constructive approach to the article. And so that they may contribute in some way, I have assigned them to the pain staking task of taking pictures.

In the pursuit of insightful tactics, I decided to remain within close proximity to our last article themes. Not so much the Early Morning Market, but more than that, the people being affected by the changes of the FIFA World Cup. And while I’m not one to milk a theme for all that it’s worth; the theme of the World Cup, as far as our group sees it, will remain relevant up until and soon after the World Cup has occurred. Moreover, owing to the simple fact that this article is of course for a Durban centred news portal; we had to stick to something within the limits of Durban. What we chose, well what I chose in fact, was a brief story on the Moses Mabhida Stadium. The stadium is currently being built in Durban; its job is to accommodate the Durban stages of the World Cup, as well as, any future events that might require its size and nature. Especially since it is meant to replace the ABSA Stadium.

The article is simple in essence, and even simpler in research. We decided to concentrate on the stadium and its beauty as, unfortunately, compared to its cost. Its cost shouldn’t be that important, but once you consider the facts and put 2 and 2 together, you see it as it is; and it is most definitely not the lesser of two evils. The facts being: the money comes largely from taxes, this prevents funding from reaching other important projects, and will probably not produce enough of a profit (at least in the short run) to completely repay the exorbitant expenses. So we had found our angle, and I was able to write an article which complimented the pictures the group had collected. It is in my opinion a pretty decent article. So the only thing left is to post it.

Article 2, and Half Way Home

Progress report, so what about the second article? Well for the second article, with regards to essence and theme, we had decided to achieve a close similarity with that of our first article. This was an easy choice to make, as it played into one of my preferred writing styles. With a little bit of reasoning and my previous sentence, you have almost assuredly guessed what my role in the article was. That’s right; I’ve been promoted to writing duty again. A self promotion I must confess, but I felt it to be both necessary and logical to take such a position. Not only am I the most capable writer of the group (no offense to my fellow group members), but I’m not exactly the greatest choice for picture sourcing. It worked out well for everyone, so let’s move on to a brief discussion of the article.

What does the article entail exactly? Like I previously mentioned, we had decided to stick with the Early Morning Market. But more than that, we expanded to the area surrounding the market; we did this in order to discuss the renovations of Warwick Junction’s infrastructure. Being the writer, I compared the pros and cons that may be experienced by the loss of the Early Morning Market over the (supposed) newly planned mall. To fully grasp this concept, I read a short analysis on the successful placing of malls. And by choosing to focus primarily on the Early Morning Market and the effects it might face, while managing to maintain a more broad scope throughout this article. It tried to illuminate the very real possibility that the FIFA World Cup world cause more loss than gain. However, I did make an attempt in presenting both sides of the story; this was only to a limited degree, owing to the short nature of the article.

In the end, we managed to churn out a half-decent article that I am in no way displeased about. I have to admit to doing a majority of the work, moreover, I don’t see that changing for the next article. But there is a silver lining to this cloud. At least I get to completely control my mark, which is what I wanted in the first place.

Internet Sanctions, Boundaries where there were None Before

After a lecture on the filtering of the internet, as practiced mostly by authoritarian or totalitarian countries; I began to consider the virtual sanctions (internet filters) that government and their appointed agents enforce or place over national internet access points. I realised that our governments, constitution and policies on the freedom of an individual in both the public and private spheres is extremely accommodating. I am in no way condoning the approach to which this country is run; for then we must necessarily consider service delivery and cost, policy guidance, and promise achievement. And in this regard, our government not only hangs by the way side, but is on a steady decline to failure. This is a digression however, for the simple reason that this post was not created for the purpose of slandering and criticising the government. But instead, was created for the purpose of demonstrating my point, to the effect that we live in a country of comparatively and relative freedom. If this was not the case, this post would not exist.

Case and Point :

1. China
2. Iran

Durban Smiles Back At You

Friendly city is an understatement; in fact, I’d say that in a comparative analysis between Durban and any other South African city, moreover, any other city I have visited (which is not a small amount by any means) Durban is hands down the warmest most welcoming city. Pre-emptively, and to quell the almost certain objections regarding my previous statement; everything I write is obviously and entirely my opinion, furthermore, I do not intend on adding empirical facts and statistics in the hopes of providing groundwork for a factual argument or debate. This for two reasons; one, how inviting a cities people are is almost entirely circumstantial and contextual, secondly, any statistics that could be raised regarding this topic would for many reasons be subjective as well as inaccurate in many cases. Anyway, here’s the reason as to why I believe my introductory statement.

As I mentioned before, I’ve been to many foreign cities; London, Calgary etc. In many of these cities, the energy, by that I mean the X-factor with which a city greets you plays an important role. Now bearing this in mind, and similarly bearing in mind that I’m actively comparing Durban, when it comes to ‘energy’ if you understand what I mean by energy, Durban swallows all its competition. From the atmosphere to the general weather, and more importantly the willingness of the people to chat or talk for any reason, it’s all really inviting. When it comes to people, specifically in other (non-South African) cities, they can usually ruin a trip with their dreary or angry/violent demeanours and this when compared to the inviting nature of durbanites, is how I came to my conclusion. And again, even in the places and at the times when one wouldn’t expect any positive attitudes, the people of Durban are always willing to give a helping hand, unlike in foreign cities where I have met many an unhappy or negative reply.

This is by no means a detailed analysis of the subject matter, but instead it’s a small post that makes up a larger part of my blog’s overall theme. It is my hope that after reading everything I have to say, you will have at least (and if nothing else) a small understanding of what I like to call the advanced driving course, a.k.a. life.

Finally, Some Bandwidth

In my last blog post I talked about the many downfalls of the FIFA Wold Cup, today I have decided upon a considerably lighter topic, it’s also a topic with which I find much relation to. Yes the FIFA World Cup is going to change a lot of things in our country, and while jury is out about whether these changes will be mostly positive or negative. I am absolutely ecstatic about one of the decided upon infrastructural changes, this being the countries and more importantly Durban’s monumental bandwidth increase. The fact that the government and along with other company’s (both local and foreign), are finally addressing this issue means the world to me. I am a geek, a nerd, a gamer and techno buff, I always was and always will be, so it comes as no surprise that I need and cherish the idea of a faster internet connection.

To suit my (and the many others out there) needs, two things are required; high bandwidth and reliable connections. Now considering the obscene unreliability of wireless sources in this country, DSL is my only option; this is where Telkom, Neo Tel and the ISP’s (Internet Service Providers) come in. The ultimate underlying factor for internet speeds (and as you may have gathered from the definition of bandwidth) is international bandwidth, especially when you consider almost all servers and sites that cater to me are foreign. And unfortunately due to the short nature of this post, I doubt I would be able to fully explain all that is and that will be happening in South Africa. Fortunately, I believe this article will better explain the investments and work that is going into our country’s bandwidth infrastructure.

If you’re anything like me, the good news I bring is just what you’ve wanted. And even if you aren’t, rejoice in the fact that many new services and benefits you had never imagined will soon be available to you. Honestly, if this is done right and maintained correctly, this could be one of the biggest infrastructural changes this country has made in recent years, and to my (and my fellow geeks), this is in fact the most important change and we’re glad to see it happen.