Photography is used too

This is my week 1: posted it in wrong place

I also found the reading on "The Myth of Photographic Truth" fascinating as well, and I also agree with Jenna in that I have a hard time believing that a photograph is more reliable than a painting or sketch, especially this day in age. I am familiar with photoshop and understand all the things that can be done to a photograph, and the youtube video that Jenna posted reminded me of just how drastic you can change a single photo. I started looking at other videos on youtube about photoshop and realized that photoshop is not the only place a person can add his personal touch. A photographer can add his personal touch and make a photograph look the way he wants with the way he takes the photo. I came across the youtube video that explains some of the ways to take a photograph at high noon in order to get a certain look. The book explains that "the creation of an image through a camera lens always involves some degree of subjective choice through selection, framing, and personalization." I believe that photographs are not completely objective. Two photographers can take a photograph of the same image or event and get two different stories out of it by the way they take it. So taking a photograph itself creates a "myth" because the photographer creates an image the way that he wants and makes it universally true to society. So advertising agencies have always used photography to influence society, but it is just made even easier with the new computer technology.

Jump Roping taken to the Next Level

I also wanted to post this video that I was sent today because I thought it was cool.  These girls, performing at the Naval Academy, can do some really cool tricks with a jump rope, or at least I think so  It really is jump roping taken to the next level.  This made me think of a topic discussed a few weeks back about cheerleaders.  These girls are obviously in amazing shape to be able to jump for that long; it take a lot of dedication, coordination and athletic ability to do this.  But are they considered athletes?  Like cheerleaders, they are made up to look pretty and made into performers to entertain.  Because of this, many people see these girls as performers instead of athletes; the video clip especially presents the girls as performers having fun.  But, also, like cheerleaders, I could see this becoming some kind of competition.  The question keeps coming up, when does a hobby or performance become a sport?

The Presence and Tone speaks loudly

When Caitlin talked about being talked to a certain way makes us believe that someone knows what they are talking about, it made me think of how we talk to dogs, in that we can say anything in an excited voice, whether it is bad or not, and the dog gets excited.  I know my family would do this to my dog; we would say "bad dog" in an excited voice and he would get all riled up and excited himself.  Dogs do not understand us, but it is our presence and tone of voice that they respond to.  Now I am not by any means saying that we are like dogs, but if we do not pay attention to or understand what someone is saying, it is the presence or tone of voice that we respond to like thinking that Stephen Colbert is a serious reporter if we do not pay attention to what he is saying.  Here is a video of a dog responding to the tone of the owner's voice; at one point she says "bad boy" in a cute voice, but the dog does not respond until she says "bad boy" in an angry voice.

Original vs. parody

In the readings it talks about the idea of the original and whether we still care about the original or the replica- which is sometimes a parody. I think that the original is highly prized over any replica. You hear people talk more about the original being worth more than any imitations. However, I think in this generation the worth of something is measured by two measuring sticks. If it is monetary then the worth is found in the original, but if it is for pleasure or entertainment then the worth is found in the replica. Since the replica is usually a parody of some sort it is probably quick and snappy and engages a younger audience that doesn’t know the significance behind it. I did not realize this or even think about it until I read about it this chapter. It’s actually pretty sad and pathetic what my generation considers art

media as a teacher

This is a video that I found a couple of weeks ago that I found hilarious. Definitely watch it; it's beneficial to your health. Anyways, in this video a sheep is wearing a Halloween mask and is trying to play with the other sheep. But because it has on a scary mask, the other sheep are afraid of this sheep & keep running away from it. This reminds me of our society & how we a lot of times judge people based on what we have been taught through media. For instance, when I was leaving Union Station one night, I felt nervous walking around because I was in the city. The city of St. Louis has a bad reputation & even though I haven't witnessed it first had, I assume that it is true. The same assumption goes for blacks & it shows through the statistics of them being charged for crime much higher than whites and other races.

success overnight

Yesterday when I was doing my blog post, my mom burst into my room & told me to watch this video. This is a clip of a show called "Britain's Got Talent," which is kind of like American Idle. In this particular clip, a 47 year old woman (Susan Boyle) is featured singing her chosen part. When she begins to sing, the audience is speechless because when she walked in, she had absolutely no star power. But the contrast of her appearance and her great voice made her an instant success who stood out. This show was originally aired in Britain, but this woman has recently become practically a house-hold name. This just goes to show the magnitude to which communication has grow throughout the years. 100 years ago, if someone became popular in another country, it was pretty much guaranteed that we would never hear about it, where as now, it has taken a matter of weeks for Boyle's success to spread world-wide.

sneaky techniques

I just finished watching Steven Colbert's White House Correspondents Dinner. Aside from being ridiculous and silly, his speech also had some hidden messages in it. Something I caught was how he would say things in an ironic and slightly insulting way, but he would say them in a professional, business-like voice so that if you weren't paying attention to his words, you might think his speech was actually serious. This reminds me of the media and how they use the same tactic to send us information. Especially with news & politics (which was what Colbert was spoofing), the information is handed to the public in a very professional manor which makes it sound much more factual. When I am spoken to this way, I know that I relate this approach to fact. So regardless of if the news (or whatever else) is speaking the truth or just beating around the bush, this type of media has done a good job brainwashing me, unless I'm paying real attention, into believing much of what is presented to me.

JOHN Stewart

Ok! so I watched the Stephen Colbert speech at the White House and it was hilarious.  He did so well at pointing out George Bush's flaws without directly saying "HEY! NObody thinks your doing a good job.  Not to mention Jon Stewart's visit on crossfire that we watched.  I thought that it was awesome how he didn't answer any questions but instead told them what they needed to do to make the show good and to tell them that they need to take advantage of what they had.  These two comedians are smarter than most of reporters that give us the "real news." Here is a link to Stephen Colbert's speech.  http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Stephen+Colbet+White+House+&hl=en&emb=0&aq=f#. Here is his famous christmas video too!

along with his visit on the early show:http://beta.sling.com/video/show/84172/09/Stephen-Colbert-Unleashed

BOOB BANDIT

A women in California used a fake idea to receive someone else's breast implants. http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/dpgo_Woman_Fake_ID_Fake_Breasts_fc_200903242310024. So in the

last article a women spent a lOt of mOney to get breasts that were too big for her own health and the other woman didn't 

have enough so she stole bOObs form another patient. So not only do people feel that surperfect breasts are necessary but vital to have. Who would

have thought that surgery would be that easy to steal. I mean it's not a bag of chips from the grocery store or anything. I would also blame the doctors.

This world is crazy.

price of "perfection"

I completely agree with the technology of this day and age changing our ideas on what beauty actually is. It's ridiculous how many celebrities in the previous video have had plastic surgery and, also, how before any picture is released of a celebrity or model it is practically always retouched (99.9% of the time). People look to Hollywood and its stars to know what's in style. For this generation, a big trend seems to be surgery. In an article that I found, there was a woman who has undergone 8 surgeries in order to have a bust size of FFF. An average breast augmentation is about 300-400 CCs of silicone. But this woman's implants contain 1000CCs or 2 quarts of silicone. Putting this much silicone into your body is hazardous to your back & shoulders as well as to the rest of your body (because it develops scar tissue against the silicone). Also, it doesn't say in the article, but on the original news broadcast, the reporter said that when the woman lays on her back she can hardly breathe. I find it extremely saddening that some take surgeries to such lengths to boost their self esteem and be more like the stars and models in Hollywood. The article also mentioned how breast augmentations have risen 900% in the last 15 years. So, even though not all go through such extreme surgeries as the woman in this article, women and men are doing more and more to reach their goal of perfection. The only trouble is, when will they ever be at that level? And, health-wise, is it really worth it?

January 21, 2009 7:33 PM

This was my post from week 1, but I had it in the wrong spot

artificial intelligence

A few weeks ago in class we watched a short video called "did you know" or something. One of the portions of the video said that in a few years there would be a computer created that would be smarter than humans. I don't know about you guys, but to me this is a ridiculous idea. In the condition of our economy we need all of the human jobs we can get & by giving jobs away to computers, though it may be cheaper, doesn't help our nation's financial state or the people in it. Another thing the super computer reminds me of is are the movies A.I., Terminator, and iRobot. In all of these examples, humans are almost completely reliant on technology and are inevitably screwed over because of this. It seems to me this destination is where our world is headed.

I am actually reading a book right now called First Light where it follows this privilege family as they are under a technological blackout- everything is gone from their wrist watches to their cars to their every common form of communication. It’s a very interesting book and I don’t know how it ends yet, but it makes me realize how dependent I am on technology as well as everyone else. I didn’t realize that the media via technology that I absorb everyday was practically handpicked by the same people globally. I find it interesting that on pg 236 it mentions how the same conglomerates such as Disney, Viacom, Fox, GE and News Corporation have a monopoly over telecommunications, television, news print, the Web, entertainment and amusement venues as well as food, oil, and clothing industries. It’s no wonder that those companies always remain the ones in charge- they have continuous access to promote their other products through their numerous other outlets. Though they are diverse outlets- I found it interesting and surprising that they are not run by a diverse people. On the next page it stated that only a few thousand are responsible for what is shown on television, therefore diverse television marketing is not for a specific geographic demographic but based upon “institutional incentives”.

Technology attacks

Its kind of scary that we are so reliant on technology; one small glitch in the system or technology failure and our technology world could be changed.  This kind of reminded me of the Terminator movies.  Robots are used to bring the world's technological world down causing the communication system to fail.  This brings a weakness upon earth because without communication, it is hard to organize a defensive attack.  I could see this happening with our own technology.  If we create robots to act and even be as smart at humans, they could easily be a threat to us.  I don't know about you guys, but it kind of scares me that we are looking into creating robots to be human like.  Because we are so dependent on technology for communication, we have not practiced other ways of communicating as much.  I can see the huge dependence on technology possibly being destructive in the future.

reliance on technology

I agree that communication is an enormous need in our society. And because our nation is so huge, most of our communication takes place via technology. Without electronic communication, our society wouldn't be able to function as it does. I, myself, use technology to communicate all of the time. By using email, facebook, phones, ect... I use some form every day. It's kind of a scary subject to my, how dependent our world, especially our country, is on technology. If anything were to ever happen that would take our technology away, I'm almot posative there would be disorganization to the point of anarchy. All of our system wouldn't be able to work, and it's scary to think where that would leave us.

How we are heard

In Margaret Morse’s “News As Performance: Image As Event” she says that “but to satisfy other needs for the intersubjectivity is the foundation of the sociality and civility most sorely missed…. However, those needs--to be recognized, to communicate, and to remember-belong to people everywhere. It is appropriate to ask how they are or are not being satisfied every day in America society.” Granted, the context of this piece is in regards to refugees, but I still think that it can be applied to our everyday life. How do we satisfy our need to be recognized, to communicate, and to ensure we will be remembered? To be recognized, I think some may use sports, talents, grade, etc. To communicate, there are so many options in our society now: Facebook, cell phones, e-mail, Skype, etc. And to be remembered we use pictures and try to leave some sort of legacy. We each create our own “news” and use our events to image our life and lifestyle.

CA

Last night I went with one of my roommates to WashU to listen to a speaker from the magazine Communication Arts . At first I didn’t think that there would be anything that the speaker could say that I would understand, since I have never taken a text class, but the lecture was fascinating. He talked about how the magazine began and where they are now. In their magazine they publish art work from artists all around the nation. Here are some sample pictures that he shared:


There were a ton more and I encourage you to go to their webpage at www.commarts.com or picking up one of their magazines.

WASSUP!

Here is the 2008 Wassup commercial that has nothing to do with Budwieser but is still interesting.

ROBOTS

ok, so on monday we talked about technology and the future.  We all know that you can voice command a computer on what to type and that you can type in numbers into a calculator and it will give you the answer.  So the technology for a machine to answer your questions and to configure like a human mind is possible. Well, here is a video of some robots that can do more than just answer questions.  One robot can even run!  A machine that runs! Weird!  

computer crash

I get what Jenna is saying. At my clinical site and at hospitals all around the world, the ability to function efficiently depends almost entirely on computers. All of the patient records, charts, and data are on their computer database. Plus computers are also the main way in which the medical staff communicates with one another (through accessing updated charts everyone is on the same page). I recently asked what a hospital would do during a power outage or if the computers ever crashed. The nurse said that they have enough written records to get by. But our culture has become so accustomed to having technology and information at our fingertips that I don't think a hospital or our society, for that matter, could manage. At least until the system of doing things was totally revamped.

Communications via satelite

I found in interesting in Chapter 10 how it said that “Sputnik began a period in which satellites would become a primary visual force, as the means to survey and spy on other nations, as a means of transmission for television and news images, and as the means through which most telecommunications, in particular cell phones, takes place.” Sputnik caused such an uproar and there have been complaints about satellites that are used to spy… but without those satellites, our culture would not be what it is today, and what we have become to accustomed to. I went a week without my cell phone once and all I could do was wonder what I did before cell phones to communicate. I use my computer all the time and when Maryville’s internet was down, I didn’t know what to do with myself. Transmitted communication is key in our society and has undoubtedly changed our view points on communications.