Arts & Culture
The Modern Blogosphere and the Specialization of Media
In ways that traditional print media was never able to, new media has used blogging and online communication to encourage journalists and other independent writers. This international digital phenomenon has given the reader choice as to what information they flood their minds with, as barriers have been torn down between nations. And besides being told news from an international basis, communication has become a most necessary aspect of modern independent journalism, giving both sides of the conversation insight on audiences interests, while also keeping journalistic motive with less a hindrance on creativity.
At the turn of the century, the newspaper was created in attempt to combat an informational ‘space bias’. When British colonies first found home in Canadian provinces (western especially) the entire extent of information, the world of those settlers did literally exist within a few dozen acres. In the late 18th and early 19th century, with the industrial revolution, worlds grew exponentially. Cities were situated around the, then new, Canadian Railway system, wherein the industries were within a convenient distance of its workers homes.
With the Railway, came communication between the workers that travelled, first vocally and then in written prose. That being said, the type of communication differed municipally and federally and paper was just that much easier to ship. With availability constraints such as these, there was never much choice and back then, there was never much knowledge of choice; worlds had expanded dramatically, but in comparison to the modern day information, it was still extremely limited. Receiving outdated updates on provinces on either side of you was, in retrospect, nothing but a glimpse of the upcoming global neighborhood soon to be catapulted a vast by technological advancements.
The year between the creation of the World Wide Web (circa December 25, 1990) by Time Berners-Lee and the Internet-age of lately has been often likened to the years the CPR was developed (1881-1885). With information in such an expanding and transportable form and especially with technologies like that of RSS (Real Simple Syndication) the collection has become even simpler. Opinions are made and sold internationally, wherein Journalistic integrity would writers against a code of conduct designed not to offend anyone, and that is where technology shows its most poignant, yet controversial affect on the world of independent journalism. There are legions of intelligent, rebellious and respectively entrenched writers all around the world.
In August 23, 2005, the United States of America was hit, especially New Orleans, with the record breaking and tragic assault by hurricane Katrina, reaping an excess of $80 billion US dollars in damages. One of the most criticized and a controversial subject about Katrina was the infamously horrible governmental response, taking at least 1-2 days to help anyone.
Three years later, China was hit by the nineteenth deadliest earthquake in human history; the Wenchuan Earthquake. Before Katrina received any help, there was a myriad of ‘on-site’ reporters covering the story. Likewise, Wenchuan had even more passionate coverage, but not from representatives of some major news conglomerations; homes that had Internet connection sent the world’s largest assembly of independent journalists of all time.
In a galaxy far, far away, they stoppped at one trilogy, maybe two…
Earlier today, AOTS had Steve Sansweet, “head of fan relations for Lucasfilm” on their The Loop segment. They spoke of galaxies, and how they are so damn far away. Also, the future of the Star Wars franchise. Hopefully, the future is going to be better than the last few years…
Star Wars Episode II ended with the start of the Clone wars. Palpatine issued ‘Order 6′ and the clones turned on the Jedi.
Wherein Episode III started with the end of the Clone wars. Judging by the complete lack of character development/ the complete lack of character in Christiansen, you would be surprised to know the movies were actually 3 years apart.
Tomorrow releases the Clone Wars movie, originally a cartoon series that was actually edited to fit a feature film. Clone Wars was, originally to the tenth degree, a drawn cartoon series, short lived, unfortunately. When Lucas had seen the first screening of the new series, he had to watch it in a theater, and saw promise. The series will continue in the fall. But the part I was not aware of is… well, they are doing another trilogy. In between III and IV.
So theoretically, this movie and series (same animation, same everything) will explain the gap between II and III, but what are we missing in the ~17 years between III and IV?
Also, what will they call them? Star Wars Episode III.25, III.5 and III.75?
The only thing I can find between the good trilogy and the bad trilogy is Obi-Wan. Although powerful, Obi-Wan was a pretty crummy Jedi, even at the end of Episode III. As much a non-political fellow I am, I have a thing for that side of the Star Wars politics. I just find it more interesting when the apparent brutal campaigns actually involved beheadings. Although I have not read the myriad of Star Wars novella, my friends have, and the massive infinate expanse of Star Wars is bound to inspire some good stories.
In ending, I admit myself one of those kids who will, no matter the rating, see any Star Wars movie released. I am part of the population that lets Lucas afford to do whatever he wants.
You are unable to follow more people. Come on, we KNOW you haven’t that many friends.
For those who are human (or at least from SkyNet) your RSS feeds have been flooded with bickering’s about the new Twitter following cap - a measly 2,000!
When you are ‘following’ someone, that means that you have subscribed to their feed. When you log into your own Twitter account, their feeds are integrated into the list of your own. In no mean do I label myself an average Twitter, I do it randomly when on MSN - as stupid as it may sound, it has sparked some good conversations. I average about 5 ‘tweets’ a day, but do not often check my actual Twitter page (I set a custom RSS feed, using FriendFeed and Yahoo! Pipes). A Twitter profile has 20 entires per page, if you were to check your Twitter page 4 times a day, on average, 2000 subscribed users give you 80 pages of redundant information. Now how many pages would I get if I was a Twitter addict? That is just an extremelly rediculous amount of subscriptions.
The keyword here is Following, note the last three letters in that word - ing. This bit seemed to have been overlooked in the initial outcry of Twitter…ers;
Follow spam is the act of following mass numbers of people, not because you’re actually interested in their tweets, but simply to gain attention, get views of your profile (and possibly clicks on URLs therein), or (ideally) to get followed back. Many people who are seeking to get attention in this way have even created programs to do the following on their behalf, which enable them to follow thousands of people at the blink of any eye.
Source: http://blog.twitter.com/2008/08/making-progress-on-spam.html
Even I, a completely ignored micro-blogger, has gotten a few of this ‘Follow spam’ from time to time. You know its done by computer when they target me, eh?
The thing that bugged me about this was not about Twitter itself. It was the reactions, specifically those in the Digg story. Case in point, people are already asking for an alternative to Twitter. Do people these days really think they are going to need that 80 pages of lunch menus? Now, I understand how the web goes, and when Twitter got big, the idea got big. When the idea got big, the internets were flooded with copy-cat programs.
Personally, the thing I think that Twitter has going for it is the API behind it, and how more than any other platform, it has been put to good use. Like the iPod, the fact that it is so popular (not neccessarily the best) means that more companies can afford to opt for compatability. The only real problem with Twitter is, anyone who has used Twitter for more than a fortnight has become well aquainted with the Twitter whale, aka: the picture they show when Twitter is down. So now, in an apparent flood of fed-up-ness, the blogosphere is debating and arguing and hish-hashing about where to go now.
Ping.fm is where you go, dang nabbit. I feel a definate feeling of ease in hard times like these. Why? Because I simultaneously post to Twitter as well as all (or most) of the aforementioned copy-cat programs, via Ping.fm. And I must say from personal experience, doing everything really simplifies the task of doing something. What I mean to say is that this rather intelligent cap on Twitter has, of course, sparked the debating in a few posters. And with that we are starting another micro-blogging-war.
Things I Hate About the Internetz
Internet Memes
I think the moment when an Internet meme or trend makes it ‘IRL’ it has truly reached it apex. Recently, even Lewis Black was Rick Roll’d on his Comedy Network television show, Root of All Evil. I start with this example, because everyone has seen this one.
Bloggers
Is this not hilariously hypocritical? For years, I wrote random, pointless posts in a few (of many other) for reasons I actually have no idea. This blog is a direct answer to how retarded I found that. Although it may not be apparently obvious, but I am actually attempting to take this blog seriously. As narcassitic as this seems, there is such an amazing amount of bloggers who are about as serious about their websites as a scientist taking Richard Dawkin seriously. If I magic wanded the selection of all the blogs that lasted no more than a singular post and paint bucketted it black, ontop a white layer, and if this image was 12000×12000 pixels, there would not be a single black pixel left. You are clogging my damn tubes.
Religious Debates on YouTube
YouTube mixes two powerful beings; the anonymous asshat and the arrogant asshat. They are incapable of providing real conversation, and too arrogant to recieve any.
Obama Supporters
I support Obama, but I am Canadian, and thusly, my opinion matters less in the next Presidential election than that of a Mormon. I am also not famous enough for my opinion to matter. That being said, any actual ’support’ group on them internets seems to not know when to stop. Yes, I dig the dude, no, I do not want to have to sift through the most pointless dribble about him to get to the good stuff.
Bush Haters
Ever since Green Day released their self-titled album, American Idiot, 14 year olds have been attending parades against his campaign. The problem with anti-Bush kids is not that they are, but the fact that they have no idea what they are talking about. I agree with their opinions end result, but not how that opinion was created.
What’s a Christian to do with Harry Potter?
I was raised in a Christian home and went to a regular, public school. Being the cool, rebellious kid my form of ‘rebellion’ was, as I will describe in a later article, against ‘the church’. In the past few years I have become more adamant about my faith and have looked into it more, but most of all, more passionately defend it. I say that only to not let this article start off with the impression that I think myself some over-zealous religious nut bag. Although I am for certain a nut bag, it is not of the religious type.
I work at Christian family camp, I love it because it does not see Christianity as a religion, as I do not either. But of course, the staff is speckled with a few aforementioned zealots. The irony of these said people is that their passion jades their actual understanding of what they are offending or defending. It is for a sake of my own mental well being that I forgot this one zealots name. She was the kind of nut bag I was not. This is where I start off.
There is such an overwhelming and hilariously-disgusting, uneducated view on Harry Potter. There is an entire culture, it seems, that try their darned hardest to act like literary Jack Thompson’s. One day, near the 4th week of working at camp, I was sitting with a friend on the camp patio debating the awesomeness of the Hufflepuff house versus Ravenclaw. In popped in this very creepy ‘female’ of my age into out conversation. This was a year ago, so accept the following quotes as paraphrases only. That is a word and you know it. This woman epitomizes the Jack Thompsonite school of learning;
Jack Thompsonite: You don’t actually read the Harry Potter books, do you?
Andrew Littler: (holds up a book) what gave you that idea?
JT: Why?
AL: I am in love the characters.
JT: HAHA, how can you be in love with something that is not even real?
AL: Well I mean, not in love, they are just very well written.
JT: Don’t you know those books are Satanic?
AL: No I do not, but please tell me how, so I can post this on my Blog years from now.
JT: Its a book about magic! And witches and wizards! The Bible says not to do those things, as they are Satanic.
AL: Then CS Lewis is burning in Hellfire right now.
JT: No! Its okay because he is Christian.
AL: And Rowling is not? I mean, she goes to church and all…
<she ignores me for a while>
AL: Have you actually read the books? A book at all?
JT: I would never read such filth.
AL: So how do you apparently know so much about it?
JK: I read it on a website, a website that called it Satanic because they conjure the power of demons and talk to animals.
AL: Sothese opinions are not of your own? You just accept what anyone says without being the least bit smart about it? Lewis talks more of ‘demons’ than Rowling, and all of Narnia is about talking animals…
JT: But it’s a book about magic!
AL: Go read a damn book and you might see that is aint.
You get the idea… we live in a sad age where, as information is so easily attained, no one wants to spend the time checking the credibility of their source. This is a bit off topic, but look at all the kids ranting about the conspiracy of 9/11 after watching movies like Loose Change and Zeitgeist, although extremely controversial, they are basing their entire opinion on stuff like this. These days, opinions are based off of easily acquired ‘intelligence’ and that is exactly what this girl was doing. she adamantly ranted and attempted to tear apart the Potter series without actually knowing a thing about it. Mind you, these opinions are easy to spot and fun-as-hell to open up.
One of my main problems with ‘religious’ groups (Biblically, Christianity is seen as a Faith and not religion, so no sacrilege here) is that they seem to trust anything any other group says about something they don’t like. I mean, just Google “Christianity Harry potter” and you will see a whole list of uneducated bull.
I found this quote that zealots like to ignore, by Rowling herself;
“To me, the religious parallels have always been obvious,” Rowling said. “But I never wanted to talk too openly about it because I thought it might show people who just wanted the story where we were going.”
Rowling was right by this, and it was the basis for my opinion (that was right, so hah) that Harry Potter would come back from the ‘dead’. Jesus, anyone? The entire series had religious parallels, as said in the aforementioned quote.
But what about the magic? Go watch any movie involving time travel (Army of Darkness, anyone?) and any aspect of technology will be called ‘witchcraft’. As his car is nothing but mechanics, the magic in the Harry Potter is generally a mechanical magic - it just does stuff for you. And even when/ if Potter is busting some DnD mad-spellz… it’s bloody literature. Every spell has a reason. Everything forwards the story, theoretically. Ron Weasley failing his first try at Apparition was to show some of his character. Unbeknownst to the aforementioned Jack Thompsonite of before, it is not a book about Magic, it is a book about characters that just knowmagic.
I also love how American’s get a ‘dumbed-down‘ version of the series.