Four Yorkshire Men

Following on from Wednesday’s lecture and how we regard the home and it’s meaning. Have a look at the video below to see what these four Yorkshire men regard as being home.

Google Book Links for Media, Film & Animation 2

Google Books Link to a text on the Globalised Culture of Leisure and Entertainment, in particular regarding Architecture and Animation.

Country Life Vs City Life

Looking at spaces, I decided to express my feelings about my home town in comparison to Plymouth. In Dartmouth, nothing much changes, the scenery is wonderful and it’s full of life and magic. There is so much space which is representative of history, so the people who live there want to keep Dartmouth simple and elegant, and this is what brings the tourists in the summer.

In comparison, Plymouth’s buildings and scenery seem to change all the time, the history of the place is basically invisible now. Plymouth is very packed and the buildings very close together which people either like or dislike. What I’m trying to say is that although Plymouth is a much larger place than Dartmouth, it looks quite small because development is rapidly eating up all the empty lots of space around the city while, at the same time, obscuring sites of cultural interest and collective memory.

Posted by Fiona Dayment

Experience as a tourist

Ideas on representation. Whilst I`m personally not a lover of tacky theme parks prefer places with a sense of historical facts and interests, so I went to Scotland for one week. The beauty of the Scottish scenery was wonderful, the weather for November was great, made this part all worthwhile, but what got on my nerves was, the way that we were ushered around on set tours like animals being taken from a farm to the slaughters House. It was well organised, and you only had a certain amount of time at each destination before going to the next stop.You also had your fill of emit fodder ( tourist gifts) of Tartan and shortbread, you saw the same thing where ever you went.Surely there`s more to Scotland than this!.Finally glad to get back home for that Cornish Pasty.

8 Bit Waterslide in Real Life

I just bumped into a few animators and they recommended this:

Did You Get the Chance to Visit Crapland?

This should get you in the mood for the festive season. Perhaps this is a type of simulation that the British do particularly well:

Amateur Video of 'Santa Claus's Village'

Here's a link to see an amateur video of Santa Claus's Village:

Garden Visiting

Day visiting by residents is the biggest area of tourism in the UK with 870 million tourist days spent per year. This was first popular in Victorian times when the advent of the railways enabled ordinary working men and women to go out for day trips. Garden visiting is one of the most popular activities for the ‘day-out’ which is such a part of English Family life. In the crowded cities, most people have small gardens and live in close proximity to their neighbours. By visiting a garden they get the benefits of the countryside, fresh air, pleasant surroundings but without any risk. They have the security of the being in a safe environment among other people, but without any need to interact with them. They know they are entitled to be there as they are members or have paid their fee and there is the comfort and confidence of nearby facilities, - toilets, restaurants. Gardens evolve throughout the year, so visiting in different seasons gives different experiences. Many gardens now stress their environmental credentials by having wildflower and wildlife habitats. These all contribute to the visitors feeling of well-being and of taking part in a worthwhile activity. Many of the great gardens have substantial visitor numbers. For example Wisley , the home of the Royal Horticultural Society - 800,000, Kew gardens and Wakehurst Place (housing the Millenium seed bank) joint visitor numbers of 1,900,000 .
http://www.torismtrade.org.uk/
http://www.hortweek.com/

Alton Towers

Alton Towers has 2.7 million visitors a year. It started life as an attraction in 1814 when the owner developed the garden in the ‘picturesque’ style, by filling it with a collection of foreign buildings – a greek monument, roman colonnade, gothic temple, greek temple, a Chinese pagoda, fountains , grottos and many other decorative features.. These were sited in a bare valley and planted with sapling trees. John Loudon a noted horticulturist of the time said it was ‘ in excessively bad taste…the mark of a morbid imagination joined to the command of unlimited resources’
150 years on the trees have grown up around the buildings and mellowed them and the park is home to a new collection of bizarre buildings , forming the Alton Towers theme park. The attractions are mainly aimed at teenagers on day visits, although the site has been trying to appeal to families more without losing its attraction to the younger thrill-seeking audience. The fanzine website of Alton Towers claims it is considering cloud-seeding as a way of controlling the climate and giving visitors a perfect day out weatherwise. If true, this would be the ultimate in manipulating the environment in pursuit of profits.
Arthur Hellyer 1980 Gardens of genius Hamlyn page 31
http://www.towersalmanac.com/

mis-GUIDE

mis-GUIDE
On the subject of having to follow defined paths around places we visit I thought this would be relevant.
The idea, instead of setting out a set route from which to experience place, is to give starting points/ideas from which people can get off the routine path and see even familiar sights from a different perspective. Take a peak, break the boredom.

Click Here to Listen: Niagara Stories from This American Life

'The classic story of America is the story of people who started with nothing, pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, and made something of themselves. The story of the town of Niagara Falls is the opposite. The town started with something huge — the Falls — and built nothing lasting from it. The modern history of Niagara Falls can be divided roughly into three phases: schemers who came in trying to exploit the Falls for tourism, and failed; schemers who came in and tried to exploit the Falls for hydroelectric power, who've all gone; and the people who are left in Niagara today. Our show is about this last group: people who live in the aftermath.'

Ira Glass: This American Life, Niagara, 1999

PCAD 500: The Phenomena of Theme Parks and Other Destinations

The relentless demand for entertainment 'experiences' and 'difference,' away from home, is discussed in this session. Are we seeking real, authentic experiences? Or something else? Perhaps something fake, merely similar to reality, or even inauthentic, because it seems we do appreciate the dissonance between the 'real' and the 'representation.' Baudrillard's theories: Simulacra and Simulation, and the hyper real have been discussed as well as ideas of globalism and localism.


The 'Real' Middle Earth

Mapping Geology

The link will take you to the website of Cornish Mining World Heritage.