UPDATED: Fixed the links. Gee, and you thought I'd know better. Thanks, Jimmy!
Yes, that's right folks. You can now go to elvismontero.com to get the latest on yours truly. Needless to say, I won't be posting here anymore (so you better update your RSS readers). I will not delete this blog for historic purposes (I know you all would like to go back and tease me for the weird stuff I'd written here). :)
See you at my new home.
Cheers!
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Back!
Today was the official end of the spring quarter here at RIT. Woo! Woo! I'll be back with cool stuff this weekend/beginning of next week.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
JOTN 6
JOTN 6 is out. Make sure you check us out at www.junkonthenet.com
We'd love to hear from you! How to make the show and the site better, what content you'd like us to produce, death sentences, love declarations (we're all heterosexual, please) and everything else you can think of. Feel free to be candid!
Cheers!
Lights. Cells. Action!
Cell phones stopped being simple oral communication devices a while ago. These we-cannot-live-with-out gadgets now have web browsers, GPS applications, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 5 to 7 mega pixel cameras, full-fledged (QWERTY) keyboards and a myriad of different applications you’ll most likely never use (e.g. calculators, calendars, email clients, mp3 players, mobile TV, et cetera). Oh, yeah. You can still make calls using your cell phone if you want.
Since the tendency is to have a digital Swiss army knife at the palm of your hand, it is no surprise that cell phones will now be utilized to, wait for it, make movies. The NY Times recently reported a partnership between Finnish cell phone manufacturer Nokia and movie director Spike Lee. The goal? To produce a 12-to-15-minute movie filmed using cell phones alone. Although similar efforts have been out there for a while, Mr. Lee’s and Nokia’s approach is unique because of their revolutionary, social-ish appeal: let people upload whatever they want (clips, sounds, music, et cetera) and let’s make a motion picture out of that. Brilliant!
Since I've always been pro user-generated content (hey, I have my own blog and I'm now part of a very cool podcast), I find the concept utterly cool for so many reasons. Firstly, imagine the whole gamut of human emotion Mr. Lee will have access to. People contributing from every corner of the globe? There surely will be a lot of great entries to choose from. Video quality will most likely not be a problem (5 mega pixels cameras are pretty much the de facto standard in high-end cell phones these days).
Secondly, the endeavor will invariably bring people from different regions and cultures together (the subject of the movie is humanity). This fact alone is highly commendable. Every effort destined to get people from different ethnic groups, cultures and idiosyncrasies together through collaboration, especially if technology is in the mix, deserves to be supported and talked about.
Lastly, I'm head over heels for Nokia's and Spike Lee’s idea because this is sheer, good, old-fashioned innovation. It’s new. It’s fresh. It’s different. But, most importantly, it could well set a precedent on how to conceive and produce movies. This is the kind of innovative idea I simply adore. Do you think we’ll have a new movie genre in the foreseeable future?
The only negative aspect I can think of is, ironically, the abundance of junk that would converge at a web site like this (lots of people are bound to produce a lot of subpar content – YouTube anyone?). Thus, a filtering mechanism is mandatory. To ensure a fair process, the online community will be able to vote and pick the best clips. Mr. Lee and his minions will then be reviewing every entry and selecting the ones they want to incorporate in the final cut. I just hope we don’t end up getting another Chris Crocker-like clip. I mean, really!? One Chris is more than enough. Ok. Ok. I’ll leave him alone.
In case you’d like to contribute, or all of the sudden you find yourself with massive amounts of free time (hah!), navigate towards nokiaproductions.com.
Since the tendency is to have a digital Swiss army knife at the palm of your hand, it is no surprise that cell phones will now be utilized to, wait for it, make movies. The NY Times recently reported a partnership between Finnish cell phone manufacturer Nokia and movie director Spike Lee. The goal? To produce a 12-to-15-minute movie filmed using cell phones alone. Although similar efforts have been out there for a while, Mr. Lee’s and Nokia’s approach is unique because of their revolutionary, social-ish appeal: let people upload whatever they want (clips, sounds, music, et cetera) and let’s make a motion picture out of that. Brilliant!
Since I've always been pro user-generated content (hey, I have my own blog and I'm now part of a very cool podcast), I find the concept utterly cool for so many reasons. Firstly, imagine the whole gamut of human emotion Mr. Lee will have access to. People contributing from every corner of the globe? There surely will be a lot of great entries to choose from. Video quality will most likely not be a problem (5 mega pixels cameras are pretty much the de facto standard in high-end cell phones these days).
Secondly, the endeavor will invariably bring people from different regions and cultures together (the subject of the movie is humanity). This fact alone is highly commendable. Every effort destined to get people from different ethnic groups, cultures and idiosyncrasies together through collaboration, especially if technology is in the mix, deserves to be supported and talked about.
Lastly, I'm head over heels for Nokia's and Spike Lee’s idea because this is sheer, good, old-fashioned innovation. It’s new. It’s fresh. It’s different. But, most importantly, it could well set a precedent on how to conceive and produce movies. This is the kind of innovative idea I simply adore. Do you think we’ll have a new movie genre in the foreseeable future?
The only negative aspect I can think of is, ironically, the abundance of junk that would converge at a web site like this (lots of people are bound to produce a lot of subpar content – YouTube anyone?). Thus, a filtering mechanism is mandatory. To ensure a fair process, the online community will be able to vote and pick the best clips. Mr. Lee and his minions will then be reviewing every entry and selecting the ones they want to incorporate in the final cut. I just hope we don’t end up getting another Chris Crocker-like clip. I mean, really!? One Chris is more than enough. Ok. Ok. I’ll leave him alone.
In case you’d like to contribute, or all of the sudden you find yourself with massive amounts of free time (hah!), navigate towards nokiaproductions.com.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Reporter - Take 2
My new article is out at Reporter's website. Make sure you read it and let me know what you think. Again, only constructive criticism please. :)
Cheers!
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
JOTN 5
JOTN 5 is out. Make you sure you hear me and my friends out every week at www.junkonthenet.com
Friday, May 2, 2008
Reporter
Yours truly had the privilege to write a piece for the Reporter. Apparently, I'll basically be writing tech related stories for RIT's magazine for the time being. Before the end of the spring quarter, 2 more issues will be printed (both with an article of mine). Hopefully, I'll be back with the gang once again in fall -- I don't think the Reporter is published during summer.
The writers for this week's issue:
Before you guys say anything: yes, the first one had to be about Macs. Were you expecting something else? Since I'm always trying to be a better writer, feedback is definitely welcome (constructive criticism, please).
Ciao!
The writers for this week's issue:
Before you guys say anything: yes, the first one had to be about Macs. Were you expecting something else? Since I'm always trying to be a better writer, feedback is definitely welcome (constructive criticism, please).
Ciao!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Deux ex machina
And then, all our problems were solved. The machines helped humans develop their full potential. A little bit afterwards, the machines destroyed Earth along with every living creature in it.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Earth Day
Earth Day is here. Since the whole green movement is quite popular nowadays (every campus in US is either talking or doing something about it -- RIT is no exception) I felt like sharing with you guys my not-so-friendly carbon footprint (well, not really, just my garbage). Check out how much junk I've produced in the past 10 days:
That's all me! I'm not particularly proud about it. As you can clearly see, I drink lots of juice. I also enjoy the occasional soda. I bought a few things from Amazon. Oh, strawberry cheese! Plastic! Plastic! Plastic! Ouch. The Earth is most likely unhappy. I like to think I don't produce that much solid garbage for a person my age, or do I? I should adopt a more eco-friendlier stance towards life. You should too!
That's all me! I'm not particularly proud about it. As you can clearly see, I drink lots of juice. I also enjoy the occasional soda. I bought a few things from Amazon. Oh, strawberry cheese! Plastic! Plastic! Plastic! Ouch. The Earth is most likely unhappy. I like to think I don't produce that much solid garbage for a person my age, or do I? I should adopt a more eco-friendlier stance towards life. You should too!
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