LCEA Alumni are graduates of the Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts,
a post graduate research centre at Middlesex University in the UK.
Many alumni have set up their own new media businesses and consultancies.
Other alumni careers include graphic design, interactive media design,
new media research, game design, web site development and design,
animation, teaching, film making, audio design, journalism and various management
roles.
LCEA alumni have a good record for winning new media awards, including
BAFTAs, Milia, BIMA and others.
Edina's Blog
Follow the Falafel Trail
Written by Edina Nasseri
Sunday, 04 November 2007
Of all the weird and bizarre things to come out of the American paranoia, I think this one will remain among the top 5…at least!
Between 2005 and 2006, the FBI combed through customer details which were collected by grocery stores in the San Francisco area. Their mission was to find a link between Middle Eastern (mainly falafel’s) food and Iranian terrorist. The idea was that a spike in sales of such foods would point to these terrorists. The FBI did add ‘combined with other data’ but it just seems ridiculous!
According to the top counterterrorism officials in the FBI, Phil Mudd and Willie T. Hulon, the project did not last long. Well, that’s a surprise! The project was vetoed by the head of the FBI’s criminal investigations division who argued that placing someone on the terrorist list based on what they ate was ridiculous. Not forgetting to add that it is perhaps illegal too!
Thankfully, a check with the Federal Courts of the state of California did not reveal any prosecutions developed as a result of falafel trails. Sounds a little like the story of Hansel and Gretel now. Bizarre, just bizarre!
I was in Clare Antiques Shop which boasted 40 dealers on 4 floors. To be fair, it was a marvellous place and I spent quite a while browsing the little trinkets and items on sale there. There was a lovely vintage trumpet going for £70.00 but I left that as I thought it was perhaps a little steep for someone who was an aspiring trumpet player. I also saw a Viking helmet but again, perhaps only in my dreams. Anyway, befitting the place, I even saw several VHS tapes. Now that’s what I call antiques! I wondered who even has a VHS tape player anymore. It’s like having a dinosaur stashed away in the garage. Anyway, I came across this artist called Brian Dettmer. He creates sculptures, if I'm not mistaken, and one of them is of a ram’s skull made of melted cassette tapes. How cool is that. Not that I have any of those things anymore. But if I happen to find one in any of my keepsake shoe boxes…I’ll know what to do with them. [Photo from Brian Dettmer's website at: http://www.ktfgallery.com/artists/brian_dettmer/?show=project_images&heading_id=&project_id=181&detail_id=2231]
The Lucifer Effect: What Makes Good People Do Bad Things
Written by Edina Nasseri
Friday, 02 November 2007
I read whole ago about the Stanford Prison Experiments. Where in 1971 Philip Zimbardo studied what makes ordinary people do bad things. The two week experiment was held in Stanford University’s psychology building (the police refused to allow use of their prison cells). The basis of the experiment was to study 24 men who were middle-classed, educated and of the college-age. From the outset, all participants were deemed of ‘normal’ temperament and behaviour.
There were essentially two groups in the experiment. One was the guard group and the other the prisoner group. The men were chosen for each group by the toss of a coin. From an outsiders point of view, I was shocked to read that the guards acted out their guard roles in a way I was more used to seeing in Hollywood films such as Shawshank Redemption and The Sleepers. There were several strata’s of guards too; the ones that were more dominant therefore taking a more active role in their parts and the less dominant ones. It was clear to see that the less dominant ones, although not taking part in the cruelty and torture (mental and physical), did nothing to stop these actions. Strangely enough, the acts of cruelty committed, if I am not mistaken, were not taken from Zimbardo. Which means that it was done by the ‘men playing the guard roles’ themselves. I think the experiment would have carried on for longer if Zimbardo’s wife had not told her husband to stop it because it was ‘cruel’. I think they even used light torture (although I’m not too sure about water boarding) where the lights were kept on 24 hours a day in order to disorientate and I am certain drive the prisoners insane. Today, Zimbardo's investigation is considered one of the most important pieces of research demonstrating that: situations are more powerful determinants of behaviour than the personality traits of the people involved. What happened at Stanford makes it apparent that insane situations can create insane behaviour even in normal people.
I disagree slightly. My argument is that someone who is essentially good will not suddenly display cruel character traits overnight. It may be that the participants in this particular experiment were already inclined towards such behaviours. But it makes one wonder…my twin sister read the book Safe Area: Gorazde by Joe Sacco she noted that the Muslims were under attack by the Serbs (some of them their neighbours – some living side by side for ages).
It brings to mind the infamous sadistic acts carried out by the US army in Abu Ghraib. There is a chapter in the book detailing the event from the point of view of Staff Sergeant Chip Frederick, a supervisor there and one of the primary villains in the abuse scandal. It also happens that Zimbardo was called as an expert witness in Frederick’s court martial. Frederick was later sentenced to 8 years for his role! By the end of the chapter, the Abu Ghraib episode has an uncanny resemblance to the events that happened in the Stanford Prison Experiment. You can almost imagine psychologists in Abu Ghraib carrying out their own experiments ala Zimbardo – this time using real guards and real prisoners – and no one to tell them to stop after two weeks because it was ‘cruel’. When asked what Zimbardo felt about the events at Abu Ghraib, he replied that it reminded him of his own experiment and, “…when you put good apples in a bad situation, you get bad apples…”
I stumbled upon a very seasonal instructable from www.aranamuerta.com on how to create witch kitchen jars. The author uses everyday objects and ingredients to create these authentic looking objects. As if you’d just walked into a witches dungeon or lair. Not being a believer in the whole Halloween fiasco, I can see myself having these jars on my kitchen shelves just to scare off unwanted guests. God forbid I accidentally reach and grab the jar of Garden Gnome Heads rather than the jar of pickled onions! The website lists all the instructions step by step and although they seem quite a few of them, the end result I am sure will be well worth the effort.
The website is a treasure trove to those who like to build things from scratch. Or rather build scary things from scratch. I’ve come across instructions as to how to create a foam skull, mould of your hand, eye balls, winged demons, dragon skin, etc.
I don’t know what I would do if I were the director of flavour research and development at the International Flavours and Fragrances company. Perhaps as one of the biggest flavour companies in the West, I’d probably be tasting things! But right now, I’ll bet the real director, a Mark Dewis, is grinning ear to ear. Because he has created a million dollar machine called a Sepbox. According to him, there is only 5 in the whole world, a machine that can separate compounds according to their chemical affinity with certain solvents and resins.
The instrument fills the laboratory room from the floor to the ceiling and resembles a small building with steel tubing attached to it. It is basically, a high performance liquid chromatograph. Dewis keeps stocks of food samples that he feeds to his steel pet. For example, if food scientists suspect that there might be a molecule in orange peel that makes citrus taste particularly fresh, Dewis feeds extracts of peel to the Sepbox. And the output is hundreds of chemical compounds which are separated into groups, for further analysis. Later, and perhaps of this discovery, a new flavour of energy drink hits the market.
Taste research is no longer about asking housewives to munch on food morsels but it is about creating a taste experience. So say hello to the new and exciting world of the personally tailored mass produced food.
Being a huge Eagles fan, I was thrilled to hear that the group are to release their latest album ‘Long Road Out of Eden’ on the 30th October 2007. This will be their 7th studio album by the American rock band which formed in Los Angeles, California in the early 1970s.
Already having five number 1 hits and four number 1 albums, it’s obvious why they are among the most successful recording artists of that era. And at the end of the 20th century, their albums Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975 and Hotel California ranked as one of the ten best selling albums as rated by the Recording Industry Association of America. How cool is that. I remember listening to Hotel California on repeat at home with my parents trying to get my air guitar riffs just perfect! According to the Rolling Stones magazine, the Hotel California album is rated as 37th in “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time” and the band is ranked 75th on the Rolling Stone’s (2004) list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
There have been much talk of Lensbabies of late and I was thrilled to find out they had something (or everything) to do with photography. It may be weird but watching Most Haunted on this Halloween week special has made me think of the more macabre side of everything.
Basically, a Lensbaby is a type of simple camera lens which combines with bellows to create special effects on cameras which can accommodate interchangeable lenses. This is mainly restricted to the 35 mm or digital camera formats.
What is bizarre about the contraption is that the front can be manipulated off its axis to move the sharpest area of focus or sweet spot as it is called in the documentation. So you can create a sort of blurred of soft focus style to images especially for close up photography – even if what is to be blurred is the same distance as the unblurred object is to the camera. I’d like to say that you can create surreal looking images. There also appears to be some extreme spherical and colour deviations that occur around the sweet spot area. I guess that the Lensbaby effect is rather well suited to portraiture, some landscapes, and product photography.
The only thing though is that the Lenbaby lenses do not operate on automatic mode. This means that you have to work the camera the ‘old fashioned’ way using the manual mode. Check out the official site for more information: http://www.lensbabies.com/
I first came upon Joe Sacco’s book several years ago. My father had brought home some of his books (Palestine and Safe Area Gorazde to name a few) to review and catalogue them before displaying them in our bookshop, The Specialist Bookshop. Very simply put, I was completely amazed! I love comic books and I had only just discovered the wonders of the graphic novel. I do a little bit of sketching myself. I have even tried starting a comic book. As it is, I get enough inspiration from the Calvin & Hobbes comic strip panels that I love to read in the morning papers. But alas, the will to carry along a story left me. To be fair, my art seems to be reserved to a single page rather than a whole book. For the time being, I shall leave the graphic novels to the experts.
I was halfway over the moon to read that Joe Sacco will be in Seattle this Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. I didn’t manage to make it all the way over the moon as it occurred to me that, “…waitaminute…Seattle’s in the States…” He will be at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery celebrating the publication of the deluxe hardcover edition of ‘Palestine: The Special Edition’. What is so special about the book will be the inclusion of supplementary materials such as photographs, journal entries, sketches and more from his visit to the war torn region 15 years ago.
The event will be commemorated by two special events.
Friday, 26th October 2007 from 7:00pm - 9:00pm :: Fantagraphics will host an exhibition of Sacco’s original artwork from his book ‘Palestine’. Obviously, Sacco will be there to sign books too.Saturday, 27th October 2007 from 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm :: Joe Sacco will be discussing his approach to ‘comics journalism’. He covers conflicts from the Middle East to the Balkans. In addition to that, he will be touching on his pop culture and autobiographical works.
From what I hear, if you’re into Joe Sacco’s work (and you’re in Seattle then) then you’re in for a treat! I am sooo jealous as people who know say that Joe is a passionate, articulate and entertaining speaker.
Roger Arquer was born in 1975 in Barcelona. A year after graduating from his first degree in Design in ESBI, Barcelona, he moved to New York. There he worked as an industrial designer for about 4 years. He then moved to London where he did a Masters course in Design Products at the Royal College of Art. Seems like the man has been places! After the RCA, he set up a business in London.
Take one of his designs to catch mice in a ‘non-violent’ manner. He uses everyday household objects like clear drinking glasses, metal springs, paper clips, and a metal nut for this purpose. This "friendlier" mousetrap will probably not kill your rodent resident. But instead it will just provide an easy way for you to ‘shift’ the problem from being inside the house to one that is outside the house. Just wait until the rodents smell the cooking and get tired of foraging through the waist bins. The designer's intent is that you can re-use the objects that have been used to catch the mouse. Hmm, but I’d advice either washing it in Clorox or just buying yourself some new appliances!
I was in Clare Antiques Shop which boasted 40 dealers on 4 floors. To be fair, it was a marvellous place and I spent quite a while browsing the little trinkets and items on sale there. There was a lovely vintage trumpet going for £70.00 but I left that as I thought it was perhaps a little steep for someone who was an aspiring trumpet player. I also saw a Viking helmet but again, perhaps only in my dreams. Anyway, befitting the place, I even saw several VHS tapes. Now that’s what I call antiques! I wondered who even has a VHS tape player anymore. It’s like having a dinosaur stashed away in the garage. Anyway, I came across this artist called Brian Dettmer. He creates sculptures, if I'm not mistaken, and one of them is of a ram’s skull made of melted cassette tapes. How cool is that. Not that I have any of those things anymore. But if I happen to find one in any of my keepsake shoe boxes…I’ll know what to do with them. [Photo from Brian Dettmer's website at: 
There were essentially two groups in the experiment. One was the guard group and the other the prisoner group. The men were chosen for each group by the toss of a coin. From an outsiders point of view, I was shocked to read that the guards acted out their guard roles in a way I was more used to seeing in Hollywood films such as Shawshank Redemption and The Sleepers. There were several strata’s of guards too; the ones that were more dominant therefore taking a more active role in their parts and the less dominant ones. It was clear to see that the less dominant ones, although not taking part in the cruelty and torture (mental and physical), did nothing to stop these actions. Strangely enough, the acts of cruelty committed, if I am not mistaken, were not taken from Zimbardo. Which means that it was done by the ‘men playing the guard roles’ themselves. I think the experiment would have carried on for longer if Zimbardo’s wife had not told her husband to stop it because it was ‘cruel’. I think they even used light torture (although I’m not too sure about water boarding) where the lights were kept on 24 hours a day in order to disorientate and I am certain drive the prisoners insane. Today, Zimbardo's investigation is considered one of the most important pieces of research demonstrating that: situations are more powerful determinants of behaviour than the personality traits of the people involved. What happened at Stanford makes it apparent that insane situations can create insane behaviour even in normal people. 
grab the jar of Garden Gnome Heads rather than the jar of pickled onions! The website lists all the instructions step by step and although they seem quite a few of them, the end result I am sure will be well worth the effort.
I don’t know what I would do if I were the director of flavour research and development at the International Flavours and Fragrances company. Perhaps as one of the biggest flavour companies in the West, I’d probably be tasting things! But right now, I’ll bet the real director, a Mark Dewis, is grinning ear to ear. Because he has created a million dollar machine called a Sepbox. According to him, there is only 5 in the whole world, a machine that can separate compounds according to their chemical affinity with certain solvents and resins. 
Being a huge Eagles fan, I was thrilled to hear that the group are to release their latest album ‘Long Road Out of Eden’ on the 30th October 2007. This will be their 7th studio album by the American rock band which formed in Los Angeles, California in the early 1970s. 
There have been much talk of Lensbabies of late and I was thrilled to find out they had something (or everything) to do with photography. It may be weird but watching Most Haunted on this Halloween week special has made me think of the more macabre side of everything. 
I first came upon Joe Sacco’s book several years ago. My father had brought home some of his books (Palestine and Safe Area Gorazde to name a few) to review and catalogue them before displaying them in our bookshop, The Specialist Bookshop. Very simply put, I was completely amazed! I love comic books and I had only just discovered the wonders of the graphic novel. I do a little bit of sketching myself. I have even tried starting a comic book. As it is, I get enough inspiration from the Calvin & Hobbes comic strip panels that I love to read in the morning papers. But alas, the will to carry along a story left me. To be fair, my art seems to be reserved to a single page rather than a whole book. For the time being, I shall leave the graphic novels to the experts.
