RTVF 141

I have finally completed my radio show with Phat. We did a mock interview about the SJSU budget cuts & how it has affected the school, especially the RTVF department. For our commercial, Phat managed to find a really old AOL commercial that we stuck in the middle. We also managed to over lay the commercial with some background Benny Hill music. My website is finally complete & is up & running live on the Internet. It has been a long & excruciatingly painful process, but I have managed to prevail in the end. It was well worth it. Check it out & I hope you enjoy it. Well, it has been fun entertaining you guys. Until then, this is Winston signing off. See y’all!

RTVF 141

I have finally completed my personal video & I have uploaded it on YouTube & I have uploaded it to my personal website which is already up & running live. Check it out & see for yourself. This has been a painful & excruciating ordeal. But it was well worth it in the end. The ordeal isn’t over though. I have one last mission to complete & that is the radio show. That is all for now. Good night everyone!

RTVF 141

Me, Phat, & Luisa have not decided what to do for our Audio Show yet. I want to stay within the confines of a commercial type of audio recording. I will pitch my idea to them & see what they have to say. Hopefully they will like it. If not, then I am all ears as to what they want to do. Wish me luck!

RTVF 141

Script of Audio Commercial Clip

“Tired of those pesky robotic spiders spying on you, get the all new home made robotic spider trap kit. It will trap & kill all those pesky little creepy crawly eight legged freaks that constantly monitor your every move & eavesdrop on your every word. It’s very easy & simple to build. Just place the electronic component circuit board in the slot on the base plate, then place the 9 volt battery in the slot next to the component on the base plate, hook up the battery, & finally place the containment vessel cover on top & your robotic spider trap is ready. Robotic spider traps are practical & can be placed anywhere from wide open spaces to tight narrow corners. Don’t let your privacy be violated! Hurry & get your robotic spider trap for a limited time offer only! To order call 1-800-DIE-SPIDER. That’s 1-800-343-774337. Call now & you can get two for the price of one! Batteries not included & sold separately.”

I got the inspiration for this commercial from a robotic spider trap kit project that I am building in my Art 74 class. I was also inspired by many of the countless infomercials that I have seen while staying up late at night with the TV on blast for no apparent reason.

RTVF 141

Our three 30+ second video clips are now up & running on Youtube. You can check it out by copying & pasting the three links below. RTVF-141 contains the first part, RTVF-141 Stuff 2 contains the second part, & RVF-141 Interview contains the third & final part. Hope you guys enjoy the show!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm52OQlK2gU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boQFKgAYkEk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPm-LB_r1K0

Art 74

Home Made Robotic Spider Trap Building Instructions

To make a home made robotic spider trap, you will need the following:

• A 16 oz plastic cup which will act as the containment vessel.
• A plastic soda cup lid which will act as the base plate.
• A plastic straw cut into 4 pieces which will act as the component & battery holder.
• A working electronic component with 2 LED lights & a photocell.
• A 9 volt battery.

Step 1: Take the electronic component along with the 9 volt battery attached to it & place it on the soda cup lid base plate.

Step 2: Place 2 pieces of the straw on the soda cup lid base plate parallel to each other so that the battery fits in between. Place the component alongside the inner piece of straw & the other 2 pieces of straw at the top & bottom of the component.



Step 3: Glue all the straws in place onto the soda cup lid base plate so that they will hold the component & the battery in place.









Step 4: Cut out a small rectangular hole at the bottom of the plastic cup containment vessel & fold back. This will act as the trap door for the robotic spider.

Step 5: Glue the plastic cup containment vessel to the soda cup lid base plate.

Now your home made spider trap is complete.



It should look something like this.

Art 74

For my spider trap project, so far I have written up step by step how-to instructions on assembling my homemade spider trap kit from scratch with everyday materials that we use. So far all I have are the instructions. They will soon be followed by pictures to be uploaded soon. Here is what I have written so far:

To make a home made robotic spider trap, you will need the following:

A 16 oz plastic cup which will act as the containment vessel
A plastic soda cup lid which will act as the base plate cover
A 3” diameter cutout of a circular wooden board which will act as the base plate
A plastic straw cut into 4 pieces which will act as the component & battery holder
A working electronic component with 2 LED lights & a photocell
A 9 volt battery

Step 1: Take the electronic component along with the 9 volt battery attached to it & place it on the circular wooden base plate.

Step 2: Place 2 pieces of the straw parallel to each other so that the battery fits in between. Place the component alongside the inner piece of straw & the other 2 pieces of straw at the top & bottom of the component.

Step 3: Glue all the straws in place so that they will hold the component & the battery in place.

Step 4: Glue the circular wooden base plate to the plastic soda cup lid base plate cover.

Step 5: Cut out a small rectangular hole at the bottom of the plastic cup containment vessel & fold back. This will act as the trap door for the robotic spider.

Step 6: Glue the plastic cup containment vessel to the soda cup lid base plate cover. Now your home made spider trap is complete.

That is all for now, I will update you as soon as I can with photos to complement the instructions so that you get a better understanding of how to assemble your own homemade spider trap kit. Thank you for reading! Bye now!

RTVF 141

For our video project, we have already spliced the video into three thirty second clips & we have already added music to the clips for the soundtrack. Phat had the idea of adding the Benny Hill theme song to the clip of our friend, Felipe eating the saltine crackers. I have also been thinking of whether to speed up the clip or not since it might make it much smaller. That is done & now hopefully we can get started on the audio clip now. Until then, I’ll keep y’all posted. Thanks bye!

Art 74

For my project, I am building a spider trap out of plastic beer pong cups. I will saw off the bottom of a 16 oz plastic cup & use it as the base of the spider trap. I will then saw off the bottom part of a 9 oz plastic cup & use it as the cover of the spider trap. I will then cut out doors in the side of the 9 oz plastic cup part where the spider will go in. Inside the spider trap, there will be an LED light component & possibly a magnet inside that will suck the spider in when it follows the LED light component. Once the spider is sucked in, there will be no escape for it & it will detonate a mini explosion to kill the spider. It will be inspired by something like this. --> http://www.epa.gov/kidshometour/products/atrap.htm

RTVF 141

RTVF 141
Last week, we had finished shooting our video project. We had filmed our friend attempting to eat six saltine crackers in sixty seconds. Afterwards, we had interviewed him on the challenge, what it was like for him, & what he had expected. For the final thirty second clip, he had interviewed us on our ideas & how we had come up with this challenge. There really is no script for this video project since there really isn't any "acting" per se. We are capturing someone trying to take on a challenge & the outcome of it is & was undetermined until the end.

Art 74

In the year 2020, the military has deployed robotic spiders that are designed to spy on their enemies & relay the information back to headquarters. Soon however, a renegade military scientist is able to confiscate many of these robotic spiders & sells them to the enemy who reprograms them & deploys them to spy on us & our allies. Soon, they are found lurking in our offices & in our homes threatening our lives & our well beings as well as those of our coworkers, our loved ones, & our friends.
For my idea, I have decided to build a spider trap that resembles an ant trap. The spider trap will be small to medium sized & will be designed to trap & kill the robotic spider by filling the insides with chemicals & acids that would melt the robotic spider upon contact. When the spider enters the trap, there will be doors that close automatically to trap the spider inside. Then the rest is history. The spider trap will be shaped like a hexagon with six doors or an octagon with eight doors. It will be able to hold & kill up to six or eight spiders. The spider trap will contain LED lights that will attract the spider & entice it to enter the trap. The spider trap can be placed anywhere on a flat surface whether it is horizontal or vertical. It can be placed on a floor, it can be placed on a wall where it will have adhesives to hold it to the surface, or it can even be strong enough to be placed on a ceiling. The spider trap is designed to be used for many different settings. Most likely, it is designed for use in the war zone where it can very much function like a landmine to explode on impact; it can be used in the office to trap pesky spiders that threaten you & your coworkers; or it can be used at home to trap those same pesky spiders that spy on & threaten the security & well being of yourself & your family. The spider trap is electronically powered & requires batteries that are sold with it. If you order now, you will get three for the price of one that comes along with the three batteries required for operation. The spider trap is heat resistant & can resist any temperature in any condition whether it is hot, cold, or wet. You will also get a free brochure on how to trap & kill spiders, where to find spiders, how to avoid spiders, & what they can possibly do to you or your family & friends when they are crawling around. No assembly is required for the spider trap & it is easy to take apart when removing the destroyed spider parts by removing the top of it & placing it back on. The spider trap is not sold in stores. Call now & order your spider trap. Only you can prevent spider threats.

RTVF 141

For our video project, we decided to record our friend Felipe trying to down six saltine crackers in 60 seconds without any water. After the challenge, we did a post challenge interview with Felipe giving his thoughts and opinions on the challenge & how he did. Felipe then took the camera & recorded an interview with myself & Phat on how we came up with the concept for our video, how we think we did. In terms of editing, we plan to speed it up & add some Benny Hill music to give it an edge of humor as well. That is all for now. Until next time, MegaMaverickMan is out.

Robotic Spiders

My research on robotic spiders developed for the military has led me to the following article below which can be used for spying & surveillance. Originally developed for military usage, these robotic spiders have been domesticated & transformed for civilian usage for much more sinister purposes such as spying on family & friends.

Robot Spiders, Dragonflies, Snakes to Aid Soldiers in War Zones

by Blake Besharian (RSS feed) — May 10th 2008 at 8:52AM

As if warfare weren't already creepy enough, BAE Systems, a British defense company, has released a promotional video of robotic spiders, dragonflies and snakes it is developing to aid soldiers in combat zones. The robotic creatures are being funded by a $38 million contract with the U.S. Army that is part of a massive, and costly, effort to modernize the weaponry of the armed forces. The robots will slither and crawl around corners, into caves, and through booby-trapped streets, sending images back to screens in a command center or to a screen mounted on a soldiers wrist.

The purpose is to "extend the warfighter's senses and reach, providing operational capabilities that would otherwise be costly, impossible, or deadly to achieve," says Joseph Mait, MAST cooperative agreement manager for the Army Research Laboratory.

Other remote controlled devices are in the works as well, such as the unmanned drones that are currently used for bombing raids and reconnaissance. The hope is that using these robots will cut down on the number of casualties suffered by U.S. forces, and possibly civilians, while improving the accuracy of missile attacks and raids. However the potential for misuse of these robots, such as spying on citizens or other governments, is straight out of some sci-fi movie.

In any case we hope we never see one of these little creatures on our windowsill. [Source: Daily Mail UK]

Art 74 Video Project

Here is our final video project. Sit back, relax, & enjoy the show!

Hope you enjoyed the show! If you want more, check out our bloopers!

Hope you had a good laugh! I know I did!

Video Project Script

This is the script for our video project so far.

Scene 1: Person 1 walks in.

Scene 2: Person 1 walks partly off screen & Person 2 opens the door & enters.

Scene 3: Person 2 walks partly off screen & Person 3 clutches the door frame & enters.

Scene 4: Close up side view of all 3 of our faces & shoulders. Still shot starts to pan to behind our heads.

Scene 5: Shot of us walking away straight ahead in the dark with music playing.

Scene 6: Hand reaches to open the door.

Scene 7: A bird’s eye view of the 3 of us entering through the door.

Scene 8: A behind the back & overhead shot of each of the 3 of us working on our computers.

Cesar: Dude! Let me show you that hot chick that added me on Facebook!

Justin: Man! There’s no hot chick that would ever add you on Facebook!

Winston: It’s probably some dude that’s trying to stalk you!

Scene 9: Cesar points out something wrong with his computer thinking that it’s a possible virus.

Cesar: Dude! What the fuck’s going on with my screen?!

Justin: What the hell?!

Winston: Man! I’ve never seen anything like that before!

Scene 10: Cesar notices that the issue is dying down so we both brush him off & return back to our computers.

Scene 11: Cesar leaves his computer to go get something.

Cesar: Alright guys! I’m going on a hot date right now! I’ll see you two loners later tonight!

Justin: Don’t you mean cyberdate?!

Winston: Yeah with that chick from Facebook!

Scene 12: Shot of Cesar’s laptop screen which shows a virus.

Scene 13: Shot of Winston & Justin working.

Scene 14: Cesar comes back & notices that his computer is a little off.

Justin: Cesar, aren’t you supposed to be on your date right now?

Winston: Yeah, where’s your cyberhottie at?

Cesar then twitches & speaks strangely for a split second. Justin & Winston look at Cesar & then look at each other for a second.

Cesar while twitching & pausing: She…is…reformatting…her…hard…drive…

Cesar then walks off screen.

Justin: Dude did you notice that?

Winston: Yeah he’s acting kind of weird.

Scene 15: A shot of the screen video of the modification of Cesar’s files & the deletion.

Scene 16: Winston & Justin notice that their computers are going through the same thing, but they ignore it so they just pack up & go home.

Scene 17: Cesar is at home checking out his computer & on Facebook on his cyberdate’s page. The virus starts to take over & his body starts twitching & he speaks strangely.

Scene 18: A screen video shot.

Scene 19: Cesar calls Winston & Justin on their cell phones & requests to meet them at the park.

Cesar: Can you meet me at the park?

Winston & Justin simultaneously: Ok see you there Cesar.

Scene 20: A shot of Cesar waiting at the park & a pan to a shot of Winston & Justin arriving at the park to meet Cesar.

Justin: What’s up Cesar? What’s wrong?

Cesar while twitching & pausing: Who wants…to play…lightsaber duel?

Winston: Cesar, what’s going on man? You’ve been acting weird lately & me & Justin are worried about you.

Justin: Yeah man, I’ve seen you twitching & speaking funny like you’re a robot or something.

Winston: You sound like a Terminator man.

Scene 21: Cesar gets offended.

Cesar: What the fuck are you guys talking about?! I’m not a robot or a goddamn Terminator!

Justin: Cesar, calm down! We’re not trying to offend you.

Winston: We’re just worried about you that’s all.

Cesar while twitching & speaking unusually: I don’t need your help! To hell with you guys!

Scene 22: Cesar punches Winston. Justin then watches in horror as Winston goes flying backwards. Justin then turns back to Cesar with that look of horror on his face & Cesar delivers the same punch that sends Justin flying backwards.

Scene 23: Winston & Justin are on the ground trying to collect themselves because they can’t believe that Cesar just punched them so hard that they went flying backwards.

Justin: Oh shit!

Winston: Dude there’s definitely something wrong with him!

Justin: Let’s get outta here!

Winston: Shit! Wait for me!

Scene 24: Winston & Justin run out of the building.

Cesar: Hey! Where do you think you 2 are going?!

Scene 25: Cesar gets mad & quickly follows Justin & Winston.

Scene 26: A bird’s eye view of the chase.

Scene 27: Fight scene between Cesar vs Justin & Winston.

Scene 28: Cesar puts his hands on our foreheads & we twitch like he does after he kicks both our asses.

Scene 29: All 3 of us wake up at the same time to the same screen.

Cesar: Dude! I just had the craziest dream!

Justin: Are you serious?! I think I had the same dream too!

Winston says to Cesar: I dreamt that you were trying to kill us!

Cesar: Man! That’s crazy! Let’s go get some coffee to keep us awake.

Justin: I’m down.

Winston: Let’s do it.

Scene 30: A shot of all 3 of us walking out the door with the virus infecting all 3 of our computer screens simultaneously.

End Credits

Winston's 10 Favorite Links

Google - - a search engine that made two guys from Stanford Billionaires Yahoo - - a search engine that made two guys from Stanford Billionaires MSN - - a search engine that made two guys from Stanford Billionaires Youtube - - a great place to see your favorite videos Myspace - - a social online networking site Facebook - - a social online networking site San Jose State University - - our hometown Zero One San Jose - - seven days of art and interconnectivity Craigslist - - great place to find and sell stuff Internet Production and Performance - - great class to learn how to develop your Internet skills

Video Project

For our video project, my role was to find a video on Youtube that shows a fake virus which we will incorporate as part of the virus scene where our computers become infected & Cesar's personality becomes very robotic.

Video Project

So far, the plot of our project involves Cesar contracting a computer virus on his laptop. Soon enough, it consumes his body affecting his behavior & mannerisms which make him very robotic like. Slowly but surely, he gains access to mine & Justin's personal information & chases us down & tries to kill us. Cesar then wakes up & realizes that it was all a dream. This story is a work in progress right now. The introduction of the characters in the video will be somewhat reminiscent of The Matrix with the chase scenes heavily inspired by the movies, Crank & Crank: High Voltage. The soundtrack of our video will incorporate music from the Mortal Kombat soundtrack, The Matrix soundtrack, Crystal Method's song Get Busy Child.

Expose Yourself: Technology

Blu-ray Drives in PCs? Fuggetaboutit.

Blu-ray may have a future in the living room, but its prospects in the PC market appear bleak. A new study by market researcher iSuppli shows that only 3.6 percent of PCs this year will ship with Blu-ray high-definition optical drives, a figure that will rise to just 16.3 percent by 2013.

Why the sluggish adoption rate? Michael Yang, an iSuppli senior analyst, says that consumers can’t find a compelling reason to pay extra for a Blu-ray drive, in part because of the anemic selection of Blu-ray movies.

Yang makes some valid points, and I doubt that Blu-ray drives will ever become standard equipment in consumer PCs, even after 2013. Consumer PCs, particularly notebooks and netbooks, simply don’t need Blu-ray. Here’s why:

HD movies are wasted on small laptop screens: Notebooks outsell desktops, and notebooks have relatively small screens. (A 17-inch display qualifies as a big-screen experience on a laptop.) Blu-ray’s HD brilliance is lost on a laptop screen. The format is best suited to a home theater setupHDTV. with a 50-inch or larger

Living room Blu-ray players are cheap: Some Blu-ray fans might argue that consumers could stream Blu-ray movies from their laptops to their big screen TVs. (An HDMI connection would work too.) Yes, they could, but they probably won’t. Most folks would rather spend $200 for a Blu-ray player for the living room.

Blu-ray isn’t a great backup drive: Blu-ray’s storage capacity may be impressive, but who wants to back up a massive hard drive to a stack of discs? It’s easier to buy an external hard drive, which is dirt cheap these days, or to use an online backup service.

Optical drives will soon be extinct: Quick, when’s the last time you used your DVD drive? Mine has sat idle for months. If I need to install software, I download the program. Shrink-wrapped apps are going away. The MacBook Air ditched the optical drive, and nearly all netbooks have too. I’m sure the users of those portables are fine with that. The DVD drive will soon go the way of the floppy. Fast forward to 2013, and most notebooks won’t have an optical drive at all. Improvements in broadband speeds will make movie downloading/streaming commonplace.

Blu-ray won’t vanish entirely, of course. But it’ll be little more than a niche peripheral that appeals to a small segment of the market.

Contact Jeff Bertolucci via Twitter (@jbertolucci) or at jbertolucci.blogspot.com.

Winston's Thoughts

I chose this article because it fascinates me as I have little knowledge of Blu-ray.

Expose Yourself: Video

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