Interesting thoughts Mr. Chomsky.

The video shown in class was perhaps a bit boring but had some valid and thought provoking points.  Chomsky states that taste is a socially constructed phenomonom and I agree with him.  Too many times we allow others to dictate to us.  His vision for a future society would be challenging authority and opression of thought.  I was particularly interested when he talked about sports and the importance of distracting people from their real life stresses.  Although he is correct that sports are a great distraction from everyday stresses, for him to say that they were invented as a method of pacification and thought control is incorrect. Humans have engaged in play and sport since the beginning of time before there was any sort of government or societal involvement.

Festivus

Festivus  is a new holiday celebrated usually on the 23rd of December. It is a great idea for a nondemotional holiday inspired by a Seinfeld episode. 

Roland’s World of Wrestling

    I found Roland’s article on the World of wrestling to be very interesting. Many people feel very strongly about wrestling. They either love it or they think it is one of the most stupid aspects of popular culture. I personally fall right in the middle of the spectrum. I was a huge wrestling fan as a child. Tatanka, Hulk Hogan, and Andre the Giant being my absolute favorites. I even hung onto the belief that wrestling matches were real till I was about 13 years old. I now watch wrestling occasionaly for a little childhood reminiscence. I also can watch wrestling and be entertained just by the sheer athleticism of the athletes involved. The agility and dexterity of these massive athletes is very impressive. However, it is the outrageous story lines, the pathetic looking adults in the crowd and the new level of thuggish violence that make me also hate wrestling at the same time. Some of the melodrama and bad acting in the story lines is so bad. The ridiculous middle age fans that are going nuts for their favorite and most hated wrestlers is almost unbeleivable. I mean they have to know it’s fake but this does not seem to stop them from beleiving their racous cheers can sway the conclusion of the fight. The new level of violence in wrestling is also quite disturbing. The use of weapons such as sledgehammers and beating opponents that are already “injured” or “unconscious” is a little too graphic fro my tastes and I shudder at the effects this might have on the kids that are watching this all the time and absorbing theses actions as acceptable and cool. Here is a clip of a few beatings administered byTriple H that I find disturbing and really unnacceptable as a form of entertainment.

The part of Rolands article that I found the most interesting was the portrayal of good vs evil. This is a huge part of wrestling that makes the fans go crazy. There is always the hero and the villain in almost any match. What I find intersting is the portrayal of the villains. They are almost always un-American. The Sheik, the Canadian Mounties, and the Head Shrinkers are good examples. Does mean that the majority of wrestling fans are rednecks and uneducated. I think so.

Will virtual communities rule?

Well my answer is I sure as hell hope not. This blog is a responce to this weeks reading titled The Significance of Virtual Communities by Karen Evans. It is true that the future of communication and much of our social interaction will be carried out throughout the internet. This is already a reality of day to day life today. Social networking sites like Facebook have become extremely popular especially with current students. Although I am a big user of this site, personally I think this is as far as social networking should go with the internet. Facebook already allows you to send messages to basically anyone with an e-mail anyone with an e-mail adress, ie. everyone. Photo sharing and event invitations, notes blogging, and sharing media is almost too easy. The site has become addictive for many students and it is becoming the main way of communicating amongst your peers. Although I aknowledge the convenience of this site I feel that there is now too much information available on these sites and I have concerns about the lack of privacy for our future. Although people do have the choice whether or not they join facebook I don’t think that many people realise the possible ramifications of belonging to this site.

This video is a good post parodying the risks of facebook. People you have no idea about can check out your pictures, relationship status, even phone numbers and adresses, (which I feel is really foolish to publish.) Even if you are careful with what you post you have no control over what others post. I know of people who have had serious troubles with their significant others because of things that are posted on their facebook wall. Picture sharing is also quite scary, other people often have quite incriminating photos of you that you would not want shared with the world. However, if someone else posts them on their site than you have no control over who sees them. My advice to people would be to be careful with the ammount of information they post on facebook and be aware of the risks of other people posting photos they don’t want shared. Trust me, it already cost my roommate his girlfriend. Cheers.

Pierre Bordieu

I was fascinated by the discussion on the French sociologist Pierre Bordieu last class. His opinions and beleifs seemed quite remarkable to me and way ahead of their time. I wanted to know more about this individual so I researched his life and decided to blog on the subject to help inform others in the class. Bourdieu was born in France in 1930 and lived until 2002. He worked in the fields of philosophy, literary theory, sociology and anthropology. He is best known for his book Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste.  In this book Bordieu attempts to compare peoples tastes with their social position. A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste was named as one of the 20th century’s ten most important works of sociology by the International Sociological Association. Bourdieu discussed how those in power  define the concepts such as “taste”. Using research, he shows how social class tends to determine a person’s likes and interests, and how distictions based on social class get reinforced in daily life. An example would be in the United States the wealthy classes tend to prefer the Opera or Broadway Musicals where as the lower demographics prefer such attractions as WWE Wrestling. It makes me wonder if these upper classes actually enjoy theses forms of entertainment or are they just pretanding to like them because that is what they are indoctrinated to beleive is tasteful entertainment for people of their stature.  I have included clips from both the entertainment of the upper and lower demographics of society. Which do you prefer.

   for the wrestling and

Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!

Space based media

This blog is regarding the future of space based media which I find very exciting.  Harold Adams Innis defines space based media as media that is light and portable and can be transported over large distances. These media include paper, mp3 players, and laptop computers. This differs from time based media that is durable, heavy, and difficult to move such as stone and clay. many of the relics of ancient egypt come to mind as time based media.

What is exciting me the most lately is the future of spacebased media, particularly the iphone. I am a big fan of the ipod but cannot wait till there is an all in one device like the iphone. This will essentially be a computer, phone, mp3 player, gps system, and gaming system all in one. Although the suggested price will be around $500 dollars to have all this in one device will be well worth it and I am sure that Apple will do well and there nstock will continue to rise. Here is a video of the Steve Jacobs giving the initial presentation to the press about the future of the iphone. Can’t wait to get my hands on one of these and some Apple stock because I really don’t think any device coming out in the near future will compare to this!

Any country fans out there?

Just wanted to see if there were any in the class who felt that country was the best kind of music.  My personal favorites are Allan Jackson, Toby Keith, and Tim Mcgraw.  Country is great because of the wide range of emotions and moods that can be expressed. There are great sad songs, “The Dance” Garth Brooks, reminiscing songs “Remember When” Alan Jackson, and party songs “Whiskey Girl” by Toby Keith. There is all kinds of good music out there but I feel that the variety in country music makes it number one.

Any country fans out there?

Just wanted to see if there were any in the class who felt that country was the best kind of music.  My personal favorites are Allan Jackson, Toby Keith, and Tim Mcgraw.  Country is great because of the wide range of emotions and moods that can be expressed. There are great sad songs, “The Dance” Garth Brooks, reminiscing songs “Remember When” Alan Jackson, and party songs “Whiskey Girl” by Toby Keith. There is all kinds of good music out there but I feel that the variety in country music makes it number one.

Why is Braveheart the best movie ever made?

The question was recently brought up in classroom discussion, “What is your favorite movie?” I felt that it was Braveheart. This is not a far reaching idea as Braveheart won 5 academy awards in 1995 including Best Picture. Braveheart is loosely based on the life of William Wallace, who led a Scottish rebellion against the ruling English. The reason I am such a fan of this movie is because of the emotion it brings out in me whenever I watch it. I really do end up despising the trecherous English in the movie and cheering for the underdog Scots. I get very excited by the epic battle scenes. There is a great mix of humor, good love stories, villains and heroes that make this my alltime favorite movie. The alltime scene comes at the end when the french princess, who was married to the English king’s homosexual son, whispers in the the kings dying ear that she is carrying William Wallace’s child. How cool is that!

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