Cultural Geography Blog

Here's a quick video I put together to try it out... Nice... Now when people ask me at CPD sessions "can you put videos into Animoto" I can say, "Yes, yes you can...."

Another Twitter tipoff is the CULTURAL MUSIC maps (thanks to the #musicmapping hashtag, which is worth further investigation) This uses the GRACE NOTE service, which is used to add TRACK INFO to iTunes and other music player software, such as my Creative Zen XFi.... As you can see, the map can be used to focus on a particular country, and you are then presented with the current most popular Top Ten artists and albums for that country. So in Spain for example, there is currently an interest in Michael Jackson and U2, but also some local artists. This is particularly interesting when related to places such as China or Japan. These seem to have fewer European and American acts, particularly Japan. Mousing over the acts and albums tells you a little more about them. Worth using for investigating cultural globalisation and the spread of certain musical artists worldwide. Which countries have indigenous artists resisting the cultural imports ? Lady Gaga big in China ? - enquiry into why ...

Image by Alan Parkinson from his "staycation" in Devon this year... Creative Commons licensed... Staycation is one of those words which has appeared this year, in response to an apparent effect of the financial crisis affecting many households, and the relative weakness of the pound against other currencies, particularly the Euro. It's an American term, which is a combination of two words of course. A recent article in the Times provided a glossary of new terms which were being applied to particular types of holiday or short break... How about asking students as part of a unit on tourism to provide a definition for the following terms: 1. Weighcation 2. Gaycation 3. Sackedpackers 4. Palidays 5. Minimoons 6. Voluntourism 7. Babymoons 8. Surfaris 9. Advultures 10. Setjetter (perhaps the place below would be visited by one of these people - it's where scenes from James Bond movie "Die Another Day" were filmed) Image by Val Vannet made available under Creati...

Man on a Wire followed the remarkable high-wire walk that Philippe Petit did in 1974 between the two towers of the World Trade Centre in New York. There was remarkable footage of the construction of the World Trade Centre, and the planning of the walk, plus the walk itself... Some other images are available HERE , with thanks to Noel Jenkins for the tipoff... Here is a trailer for the film via You Tube Not sure of the geographical connection yet, but I'll get there...

...now eat the star... I remember a story of a cinema where people who had just seen the film "BABE" were met with a sign offering bacon sandwiches at a local cafe with the tagline: "you've seen the film, now eat the star..." Remember ' Finding Nemo ' ? After seeing the film, many children wanted a clown fish, and the demand threatened the species and the coral environments where it lived. They didn't want to eat Nemo as much as take him home and have their own... (although I do have a cartoon somewhere with Nemo chopped up in sushi rolls) This story from June 2008 provides a little more background on the clown fish story. There was also 'Happy Feet', which featured penguins , but there was little chance of parents shelling out for one of those. Other films that created a big demand for pets: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ? The latest anthropomorphic antics of the film " G-Force " feature guinea pigs, and of course these are far ...