City Breaks calling #Melbourne b-girls & b-boys for a dance jam #hiphop #geekgirl

THE PUSH’S CITY BREAKS #3

City Breaks at Signal, Melbourne’s new hip hop dance jam session returns for the final instalment for 2010 on Sunday 12 December!

Melbourne b-boys, b-girls, freestylers, funkstylers, dancers and anyone keen to watch the local crews jam, freestyle, train and battle it out should head down to the free session kicking off at 2pm!

Presented by The Push in partnership with City of Melbourne and KO Crew, City Breaks, aims to bring together the diverse hip hop and breakdance community of Melbourne who are currently creating impromptu performances in public spaces throughout the CBD.

The project aims to provide a safe and legal space for dancers to jam, collaborate, train and hang out!

The Push is a Victorian non-profit music organisation which runs a range of all ages, drug, alcohol and smoke-free events for young people to engage in the music and arts industries.

For more information contact The Push (03) 9380 1277.

What: City Breaks
Where: Signal, Flinders Walk, Northbank (behind Flinders Street Station
towards Sandridge Bridge)
When: Sunday 12 December
Time: 2.00 – 5.00pm
Price: Free

city-breaks

NCPIC Short Film Competition express your ideas about #cannabis #pot #maryjane #geekgirl

Entries Close: October 20, 2010
ncpic.org.au

The NCPIC Short Film Competition gives young people aged between the ages of 16 and 25 years the opportunity to showcase their creative talent and express their thoughts and ideas about cannabis. This year the competition will focus on cannabis and its impact upon young people and their educational achievements.

The film can be in any style or genre (i.e. drama, comedy, documentary, science-fiction, etc.), but must creatively explore the issues associated with the use of cannabis and its impact upon educational achievement.

Editor’s note: hmmm not sure if NCPIC understand people enjoy weed. Hopefully this can help inform the debate AND legalise marijuana. GG.

Helping kids who play computer games to be active #CSIRO #kids #geekgirl

CSIRO has developed computer software that aims to encourage children to be more active when playing computer games.

Designed as an add-on to popular computer games that do not ordinarily encourage physical activity, it works by exploiting the children’s desire to win.

Through the Preventative Health Flagship, CSIRO experts in information and communication technologies (ICT) took a game that is usually played sitting down and devised a way for them to earn extra points if they jump up and down.

Dr Shlomo Berkovsky and his team developed the concept using the open source game Neverball, where players have a certain amount of time to guide a ball through a maze, and shortened the time.

“The only way an average player can complete the maze and go on to the next level of the game is by getting up and jumping around. Every jump earns a second of game time,” Dr Berkovsky said.

Modified and unmodified versions of the game were tested on 270 primary school children in Hobart, Tasmania. Those playing the modified game jumped an average of 257 times in the 20 minutes they spent playing the game.

Dr Berkovsky said the trials showed children playing modified games spent 25 per cent of their gaming time being active, whereas those playing unmodified games were active for just 3 per cent of the time.

“The children enjoyed playing the modified game as much if not more than the unmodified version and their parents were particularly pleased with how much exercise they seemed to be getting,” he said.

CSIRO’s approach can be applied to any game where there’s a parameter that can be measured, like time, and which it makes sense to reward, in the context of the game.

The work recently won the research and development (R&D) category of the 2010 Tasmanian iAwards, sponsored by the Australian Information Industry Association.

Source: CSIRO

Free digital media workshop with UK artist – Robin McNicholas, 30th June & 1st July, #Melbourne

Join UK digital media artist Robin McNicholas in a workshop on making moving images through craft techniques and digital media. The workshop will explore alternative ways of making images using unusual and everyday materials. Young artists, designers, musicians or performers interested in digital media, animation or music video production are invited to participate. The workshop is free, eligible participants must have a Healthcare card, not be in full-time study and be aged between 16–28.

Two day workshop 12–3pm on Wednesday 30th June and Thursday 1 July.

Robin McNicholas is a UK based artist and member of Flat-e, www.flat-e.com. Supported by the British Council in partnership with
Jesuit Social Services, Artful Dodgers Studios.

Numbers are limited, please contact Artful Dodgers studios to book in, or for more information.
T: 03 9415 8700
E: forest.keegel@jss.org.au
W: www.Artfuldodgers.tv
Artful Dodgers studios, 1 Langridge Street,
Collingwood, Melbourne 3066.

Power Shift 2010 – Youth Summit for Climate Change and #Sustainability

The Australian Youth Climate Coalition is a coalition of Australia’s largest youth organisations and over 50,000 young people from across Australia. Their mission is to build a generation wide movement to solve climate change before it’s too late, through bringing about short term political impact and long term cultural change.

AYCC plan an innovative youth summit to be held in  Geelong that hopes to change the way young people see the climate crisis. Offering new skills, connecting with other awesome people and giving you the power to make a difference.

Come to Power Shift 2010 in Geelong from to August 14 to 15.

Why now? Because there will be a federal election in the next few months and at the moment, neither major political party has a strong climate policy.

That’s just not good enough! The AYCC has a positive, achievable vision for Australia’s renewable energy future, and Power Shift will give us the skills to turn this into reality.

Shift the power to a clean, sustainable future, and tell me more about Power Shift 2010.

Power Shift is part conference, part festival, part training, part celebration of the power of young people to change the world, and so much more. Listen to amazing keynote speakers, participate in hands on workshops, connect with people from your region, hear live music and make new friends. Join a generation-wide movement and gain the new skills, resources and networks you need to lead creative climate actions in your community.

AYCC can’t announce the speakers just yet, but last year they had Al Gore (via video), Tim Flannery, Senators Nick Xenophon and Christine Milne and Brooke Satchwell from Neighbours.

Museum Victoria is offering a $5,000 award for up to 2 young emerging new media artists

Museum Victoria are looking for innovative proposals for digital projects that can be exhibited online as part of a 3 year project called Talking Difference.

The aim is to inspire conversations between and within cultures about difference and commonality.

Your project could utilise any form of digital media. It could be a short film, interactive game, online interactive artwork, digital public art project, mobile phone application… the possibilities are endless.

 For more information and application form go to:
 http://museumvictoria.com.au/talkingdifference

Australian Geek Rockers – Heartbreak Club – are International Songwriting finalists

‘Fail with style’ at Youth Week Sydney/Newcastle/Melbourne’s (yep, spread over three cities!) hardest working independent geek rock outfit Heartbreak Club (HBC) have just been announced as finalists in the Rock category of the International Songwriting Competition, judged by Kings of Leon, Tom Waits, Robert Smith (The Cure) and more!

(Other finalists include Aussies such as Eskimo Joe, The Living End, and Children Collide). In a tenuous segue, HBC will also test new material from their upcoming album “Our Horse Is Dead” on all ages crowds for Youth Week, notably the Sounds Loud Festival at Moonee Ponds w/ Bluejuice, Calling All Cars, Philadelphia Grand Jury, Behind Crimson Eyes, Hungry Kids of Hungary at more!

To record the album, HBC reunited with US Producer Ed Rose (worked with Soundwave favourites Motion City Soundtrack and The Get Up Kids) who was joined by Australian engineer Matt Voigt (The Killers, Midnight Oil, The Living End) at the helm. The album will be released in May 2010 coinciding with the single ‘Truth or Consequences’. Abandoning somewhat the ‘teen angst parody’ of their EP’s, the band promises the new album to be ‘unapologetically melodic; adopting a brutally honest, confessional, darker, grittier and grungier tone’, with the band noting their 90′s influences of Weezer’, Regurgitator, Blink 182 and Nirvana. They are, however, still geeks. “We’re definitely taking a step to the left of field with the album”, says singer Teddy Hernandez. “Whilst happy with our previous two releases, many people did not realise the music was a satire”. Still maintaining a socially satirical edge, the new album is a critique of “male narcissism, shallow sexuality, obsession,” and, wait for it… “impotence”.

Editor’s note: faints> how geeky!

U P C O M I N G S H O W S :

Friday March 26 @ Manly Youth Centre, Manly NSW w/ Town Hall Steps, Static Silhouettes, Aplonea, and Standing Silence

Sunday April 11 @ SOUNDS LOUD FESTIVAL, Moonee Ponds VIC , w/ Bluejuice, Calling All Cars, Philadelphia Grand Jury, Behind Crimson Eyes etc.

Saturday Aprill 17 @ QUEANFEST, Quenabeyan NSW w/ Super Best Friends, Steady the Fall, + 10 more! Saturday April 17 @ The Phoenix (18+), Canberra ACT w/ Rubix Cuba and Steady the Fall

I M P O R T A N T I N F O : Recorded new album in with Ed Rose (Motion City Soundtrack, The Get Up Kids) and engineer Matt Voigt (The Killers, The Living End, Midnight Oil) at Sing Sing Studios, Melbourne. Released in May 2010 First single ‘Are You Leaving Me?’ on Triple J’s ‘short.fast.loud’, Nova (nights) and Triple M accompanied by 9-weeks of national and regional touring. Recorded EP ‘O Tempora! O Mores!’ with US producer Ed Rose (Motion City Soundtrack, The Get Up Kids) and engineer Anthony The (The Vines, Youth Group); Heartbreak Club released ‘O Tempora! O Mores!’ nationally on Oct 25 2009 (Goodman & Hart / Amphead)

LINK to music: www.myspace.com/heartbreakclub – New tracks available if requested Www.heartbreakclub.org

Find Your Tribe (and 9 other things I wish I’d known in high school) by Rebecca Sparrow #geekgirl #gurls

FIND YOUR TRIBE

High school handed best-selling author, Rebecca Sparrow, some of her most crushing moments:
• No-one invited her to her Year 12 formal
• Despite playing netball since she was nine, she wasn’t even selected for the C-Grade netball team
• She was kicked out of ‘Advanced Maths’ and made to do ‘Maths in Society’
• And – as if all that wasn’t bad enough – thanks to her permed hair she spent her teenage years looking like a cross between Jon Bon Jovi and Tootsie

And yet, Rebecca is one of those rare people who claims to have loved (nearly) every minute of her high school days. The question is – HOW?

In Find Your Tribe, Rebecca outlines the 10 key lessons she believes make the difference to not just surviving, but enjoying, those years, including – finding your tribe (your true friends), trusting your intuition, learning to be resilient, having a positive body image, coping with the pressure of school work, the importance of giving back to the community, the dangers of binge drinking and the delicate issue of young love … making this irresistible and invaluable reading for every teenage girl.

In 2003, Rebecca was asked to write a letter to a friend’s daughter before she started high school – to share some advice on what she thought her friend’s daughter needed to know to survive those joyful but often brutal years. This letter was the seed for her latest book, Find Your Tribe (and 9 other things I wish I’d known in high school), a witty, warm and wise roadmap for girls navigating their high school years.

Following the success of her first book, The Girl Most Likely, Rebecca started receiving emails from hundreds of high school girls around the country seeking advice about how to survive their teenage years. As a result, she provides motivational talks to countless numbers of high school girls on the topics covered in Find Your Tribe and she has twice spoken at the National Young Leaders Convention.

Highly engaging, relevant and inspiring, with a few memorable photos here and there of the author, Find Your Tribe is the little black book for every teenage girl … and a must read for every parent too.

Published by UQP / 1 March 2010 / RRP: $14.95 / Non-fiction paperback
ISBN: 978 0 7022 3772 0

Push Over #musical event #Melbourne March 7, 2010

The Push’s signature all ages live music festival Push Over returns to The Abbotsford Convent (Melbourne) on Sunday 7 March, 2010. As always, Push Over will feature over 30 acts across four stages, and some of the best current crop or upcoming “next big things” on the Australian indie rock, hardcore and hip hop scene! Now in its 18th year, Push Over provides one of the hottest and freshest summer line ups on offer – as voted by young people from around the state!

Live acts for the 2010 event include: 50 Lions, Break Even, Built on Secrets, City Escape, Dash & Will, Heroes for Hire, Horrorshow, I Explode Like, Kisschasy, Lovers Grave, The Mission In Motion, The Sundance Kids, Urthboy, Wherewolves, Yacht Club DJs, Young Heretics and Yves Klein Blue; plus nine FReeZA Push Start battle of the bands Regional Final Winners, and multiple MCs, DJs and break-dancers battling it out in the Push It hip hop arena.

Keeping the event way more affordable and accessible than other music festivals thanks to the generosity of the bands, the ticket price will remain at just $30 presale ($40 on the door, if not sold out). Tickets from www.moshtix.com.au, www.oztix.com.au & Ticketek 132 849

For more info head to www.thepush.com.au, call (03) 9380 1277 or email push@thepush.com.au
Push Over is proudly supported by The Push, triple j, FReeZA, FReeZACentral and Victoria Rocks.

National Computer Science School for Australian students

What is NCSS?

The National Computer Science School (NCSS) is a week long summer school for students going into years 11 and 12. NCSS brings together talented young people from around Australia for an intensive course of computer programming and website development in the School of IT at the University of Sydney.

NCSS 2010 will run from Saturday 2 January to Monday 11 January, 2010 (inclusive).

NCSS has been offered in various formats since 1996, when it was initiated by the University’s Foundation for Information Technology. This makes 2010 the 15th year of the program.

NCSS is organised by academic staff, alumni and students of the School of Information Technologies. The school is completely residential, with all students staying with NCSS staff in full-board accommodation provided by The Women’s College, within the main Camperdown campus of The University of Sydney.

It’s definitely worth supporting this initiative especially if you have the skills to be a tutor. Applications for http://www.ncss.edu.au/ are now open.  They put some effort into attracting applications from girls and from students from disadvantaged backgrounds.