This week we decided to take a funny look at one of our favorite computer toys from around the home: The Nintendo Wii.
There is an exciting new Wii game being released later this year for very old people, here is an exclusive sneak peek:
Image Source: http://www.funny-potato.com
This comes hot on the heels of another highly successful new release - the Wii dishwashing game!
But no other Wii game can rival the intensity and excitement of "Grab the Sticker":
Image Source: http://s002.radikal.ru
Fresh from Wikileaks, here are the Top Selling Nintendo titles expected for 2011.
Image Source: http://www.infendo.com
There are plenty of videos on YouTube about Wii accidents, but we figured it would be simpler to summarise them into one simple photo collage.
Image Source: http://www.slipperybrick.com
But one Wii accident video which we just couldn't pass up was Hitler breaking his TV with the Wii remote.
(Warning this video contains some colorful language which some people may find offensive).
Finally, here is our all time favourite Nintendo Wii video. It's got mathematics, its got engineering, it's got drama and pathos, it's got a whole lot of Lego pieces!
So why not play some Wii with your besty this weekend, and live life to the full.
The Photo Slideshow in this post is of a recent holiday to Warnambool in Victoria Australia. We photoshopped our pictures, and then used Wondershare Flash Gallery Factory Deluxe to make the Slideshow.
Note that the Slideshow starts automatically, and so if you hear strange music while watching the YouTube videos, you will need to scroll down to the flash slideshow and pause it.
We then made a two part Tutorial about how to use Wondershare Slideshow maker. The Tutorial videos have been uploaded to YouTube.
Here is Part 1 of the "Wondershare Flash Gallery Factory Deluxe" Tutorial.
(Note that in the bottom right hand corner of the YouTube player, you can change the resolution from "360p" or "480p" up to "720HD" and watch this video full screen in High Definition).
Here is Part 2 of the Tutorial Video. (Note that in the bottom right hand corner you can change the resolution from "360p" or "480p" up to "720HD" and watch this video full screen in High Definition).
The following Wondershare slideshow contains the finished Slideshow from the Tutorial.
(Note that it is quite a big slideshow and may take quite a while to load in).
We also found that the Slideshow plays "glitchy" on our Blog sometimes and restarts before the correct ending. However, on our Webpage full size link, it works fine. In the past we have only done slideshows up to 5 Meg in size, whereas this one is 9 Meg, and so maybe this is a problem. Also the music does not last the full slideshow. It all seems to be an internet connection speed problem, and not a Wondershare problem.
If you want to know more about how to make Wondershare slideshows using their great Flash application, then click the link below: http://www.wondershare.com
and then under Products and Digital Photo Tools locate "Flash Gallery Factory Deluxe".
(We have been using this particular product for a while here on our Blog site and highly recommend it).
If you are an Apple user, then you probably cannot see the Flash slideshow. So we also filmed it with Camtasia 7.1 and uploaded it to YouTube.
Here is the finished Holiday Slideshow video on YouTube:
Tim Hawkins is an extremely talented American comedian. He does stand up comedy, as well as writing funny songs and send ups of other songs.
One of our friends in the US recently sent us a link to the following video about "Old Rockstars". This is how we found out about Tim Hawkins here at Passy World. He is a really funny guy, and an excellent guest for our Friday Funny.
We all know how lousey outsourced Tech Support can be. Tim Hawkins has written a song all about it, along with the other common joys of computing.
Tim's "I Work at Subway" song is typical of the parodies and remakes of famous Top 40 songs that he does.
Here is a Tim Hawkins song about not drinking beer, combined with a very simple but effective Flash animation.
Tim Hawkins also does regular stand up comedy as well as his songs.
Here is a great rave by Tim about Parents.
Another excerpt from Tim's stand-up routine, but this time all about Playgrounds.
There are a few other funny Tim Hawkins videos on You Tube, so be sure to check them out sometime. If you live in the USA and get a chance to see him live, then do it.
Students also need to do some prerequisite work in GIMP, Photoshop, or Fireworks so that they can obtain cartoon characters which do not have white backgrounds on them, as well as crop images. Eg. Students learn how to obtain images from the web, and remove their backgrounds and change the background to transparent by saving them as .PNG or .GIF files.
The first story book animation which all students make is "Lucy and Molly".
This is the story of a girl called Lucy who has lost her pet dog "Molly" and sets off to find her. This story was originally developed by ICT teacher Melinda Varley.
Here is a YouTube video all about how to make this animation.
The PDF step by step instructions for the Lucy and Molly animation are contained in the PDF document below.
If you would like to have your own full size copy of this PDF, then simply click the save disk icon button on the PDF viewer, and you should be able to save it to your own hard disk.
Alternatively, you can view or save the full size PDF by clicking the link below:
We suggest you make your own Lucy and Molly animation in PowerPoint, as it will teach you all of the basic skills required to make a PowerPoint storybook.
Once all students have completed the Lucy and Molly story, they are set an assignment to make their own PowerPoint story animation of at least 30 slides, and include hyperlinks for story path branching. They must also have speach bubbles which appear sequentially as the characters speak, and dissappear immediately afterwards. They achieve this by applying entrance and exit "custom animation" effects to their speach bubble callouts.
Stories which students have made include the following:
Disney Stories, Winnie the Pooh, Sesame Street and Elmo, Nursery Rhymes, Movies, James Bond, Comic Superheroes, Computer Games, Girls Going Shopping, Teletubbies, Diego, Dora the Explorer, Simpsons, V8 Supercar Race, Nintendo Mario, Japanese Anime, Barbie, Monsters Inc, Bananas in Pyjamas, Pacman Game, Alvin and the Chipmonks, Harry Potter, Toy Story, Lilo and Stitch, Pokemon, Yugio, Sonic, Road Runner, Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Stick Figures, Random Clip Art Stories, and so on.
The possibilities are only limited by their imaginations.
Here are a few excerpts from some of the PowerPoint Stories that my Year 7 ICT students have made for their assignments.
(This video is High Definition so you can to change the resolution from "360p" or "480p" up to "720HD" and watch this video full screen).
This next video is a very entertaining PowerPoint animation that one of my students made. It features a story about super heroes in New York City.
The following PowerPoint animation was not made by any of my students, but is one that I found while searching YouTube.
It is brilliantly done, and the sound effects and music really put the finishing touches onto this top quality production.
So that's it for PowerPoint Animations. Why not try it out for yourself. You could even make a short two people talking set of slides to break up a more traditional PowerPoint presentation with some interesting special effects.
Here at Passy World we recently purchased a fabulous 8-in-1 bundle of multimedia software from Wondershare. The DVD slideshow builder is awesome, and so well thought out and easy to use.
Here is a quick video showing the General concept of getting your photos into the project, and then applying the preset styles to them.
Here is a more detailed video of an earlier version of the software.
First of all, let's just say that the name "DVD" in this software is a bit limiting, because the software can actually output in virtually an video format you like. And the output can be to your hard drive, to mobile devices, or to a DVD.
We decided we would take around thirty of our Washington DC photos from last year and build a quick slideshow to show everyone how easy and powerful this product is.
Here is a Tutorial video we made here at Passy World on how to use the Wondershare Slideshow maker.
Click on the video's 360p right hand corner and increase it to 720 HD and then go full screen to be able to see all of the screenshots clearly.
With a bit of trial and error work, we completed our slideshow. We then did an initial "Create" save as an ordinary PC size Mpeg4, which only takes about five minutes to render to completion. We then watched this video in full screen mode to check everything was okay.
We then re-saved it as HD Mpeg4 at 30 frames per second using the "Create" function in Wondershare. The file size for 3 minutes of video was around 200 meg, and so it takes about an hour to upload to YouTube. We found that it is best to render the final video into the highest HD quality to get nice clear results.
Here is the finished Wondershare slideshow of Washington DC on YouTube.
Make sure you change the bottom right hand corner resolution to HD and watch the video in full screen mode.
Recently we went to a brilliant summer outdoor concert here in Melbourne, and saw a great Australian band called "Thirsty Merc".
Thirsty Merc are an Australian rock band, originating in 2002 in Sydney, Australia. The band's name comes from a gas guzzling Mercedes Benz which belonged to lead singer Rai when the band was first rehearsing.
The band consists of Rai Thistlethwayte vocals/guitar/keyboards, Phil Stack (bass guitar), Karl Robertson (drums), and Matt Smith (guitar).
Thirsty Merc have released one EP entitled First Work, and 3 studio albums; Thirsty Merc, Slideshows, and Mousetrap Heart. The band has sold over 200,000 albums, has toured extensively around Australia, and have received heavy airplay in Australia on a handful of songs. After breaking through onto the Australian music scene they were nominated for four ARIA Awards in 2005 and Rai was nominated for Song of the Year at the APRA Awards in 2008 for Thirsty Merc's top 2 airplay hit "20 Good Reasons". Their song "In the Summertime" was selected as the theme song for the Australian TV reality show Bondi Rescue and has been the theme song for seven consecutive seasons.
Current Lineup:
Rai Thistlethwayte; Guitar, piano, singer-songwriter (2002 – present).
Phil Stack; Bass guitar, backing vocals (2002 – present).
Karl Robertson; Drums, percussion (2002 – present).
Matt Smith; Guitar (2010 – present).
Former Members:
Matt Baker; Guitar, backing vocals (2002–2005). Sean Carey; Guitar, backing vocals (2005-2009).
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirsty_Merc
Here are some great songs to listen to by Thirsty Merc.
"Twenty Good Reasons" has been a big hit for the band, and is a great song.
Tommy and Krista is a classic love story, and this retro style film clip is awesome.
"In the Summertime" is definitely our favorite "feel good" Thirsty Merc song here at Passy World.
"Someday Someday" is another great tune by the guys.
There are planty of other great Thirsty Merc songs on YouTube, so check them out, and you can then buy a few of them at the Itunes store.
Finally, here is a Wondershare DVD Slideshow we made of photos we took of Thirsty Merc playing live at the "Red Hot Summer" series of concerts in Melbourne. TM are a fantastic Australian band, and put on a great show on a glorious relaxing summer's day at the Morning Star vineyard.
The Wondershare DVD Slideshow maker is a great tool for turning photos into a multimedia presentation. We will be doing a review of this excellent software on Passy's World very soon.
Let's start off this week's Friday Funny by launching into song. Here's a nice little folky song about FB that's already had over 7.6 million views.
Facebook is good fun, but it's not perfect. It certainly doesn't meet everyone's needs.
Image Source: http://4.bp.blogspot.com
Here are some interesting comments about Facebook by a lady who seems to have a very similar video style to Ray William Johnson. (Which is of course a good thing).
There seems to be a lot of problems associated with some people becoming quite addicted to Facebook. Their most common passtime becomes poking around "Facebooking".
Here is a quick self-diagnosis guide that we actually found on Facebook.
You Know You're a Facebook Addict When....
You hear someone say something funny and say "Thats going in my quotes".
You have a ton of homework, and can't stay off facebook anyways.
You start saying lol and btw and o-emmm-geee, even when you are just talking.
You take a picture and wonder what all your facebook friends will think of it.
You find yourself changing your Facebook status dozens of times a day.
You have have the app on yopur phone to get live updates but still feel the need to always have it open on your laptop.
You check facebook in the morning, during school when you can, after school, and at midnight when you still have to do a research paper that is due tomorrow.
When the first thing you do with your new boyfriend/girlfriend is change your facebook relationship status.
Here is a very helpful video all about "Relationships" and Facebook.
One difficult type of relationship on FB, is one with your parents. Mothers on FB can sometimes be a real problem.
Image Source: http://images.triplem.com.au
Here's a video about a hypothetical situation where Facebook is actually "real". (But it is real isn't it?)
Yes indeed Facebook is very real, as per this next video of Facebook in the real world.
FB can be so real and confusing to some people, that becoming a fan can mean just that.
Image Source: http://3.bp.blogspot.com
Signs You are Addicted to Facebook
Stopping before you leave the house to inform everyone that you are about to leave the house.
You are spending more time changing your status update than actually doing anything worth commenting on.
You are changing your profile picture every time you change your clothes to keep it recent.
You start using Facebook as a verb. As in "I'm going to "Facebook" so and so or I was "Facebooking" last night.
You leave a party early because you can't wait to get all of the pictures you just took up onto the computer and tagged.
You plan all of your social activities on Facebook instead of using the phone.
You get jealous of other peoples plans and feel left out even though you don't personally know them.
You are unsure whether you are actually "in" a relationship until the other person makes it Facebook official in the Relationship Status section.
You feel you might need therapy because someone you barely knew 20 years ago won't accept you as a friend.
You get mortally offended if no one responds to the clever quote it took you 20 minutes to come up with.
You purposely try to recruit people you do not even know to up your "friends count".
You pretend that you are doing some really exciting things so others will find you interesting enough to want to be your friend too.
You engage in a "war of wills" not wanting to be the one to actually invite someone to be your friend and wondering how long it will take for them to ask you.
You invite someone you can't stand to be your friend.
You have to pretend you don't know someone when meeting them for the first time, yet you know their deepest, darkest secrets thanks to a mutual friends' pages.
You only check your email to see if you have an update on Facebook.
You get insane if your friend number drops and you go crazy trying to figure out who deleted you.
Your Facebook wall looks like it is covered with graffiti because you have so many applications on it.
Your usual bedtime is now two hours later than it has been in years.
As soon as you meet someone the first thing you do is go home and "Facebook" them.
You visit sites and articles that list the reasons you are addicted to Facebook.
