Comics in college? November 9, 2008

I thought comics were to be only enjoyed with a cup of coffee on a bleary-eyed Sunday morning.

Never did I think I would be finding myself reading a comic as an assignment for a college class.  Yes, I have enjoyed my share of comics.  “The Far Side”, “Dilbert”, and “Garfield” have given me the occasional chuckle but, I never really gave comics much thought as a true means of writing and communicating anything vital.  Through Scott McLoud’s article, “Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art” I was proven wrong.  McCloud is able to express his thoughts in an interesting and engaging manner. 

McCloud states, “Word, pictures, and other icons are the vocabulary of comics”.  He shows through his comic that it is possible to communicate important knowledge through the use of comics.  If he had put the same information into strictly paragraph form, it would have taken several pages of the printed word to communicate the same concept.  Reading about these concepts without the benefit of McCloud’s illustrations would not have been nearly as engaging or easy to understand.  It was interesting to discover comics as a form of writing though McCloud’s creativity.

I have included another comic from McCloud’s website along with the link to it.

http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/ball/objects/objects.html

Is Google making us stupid OR technology making us unhealthy? November 8, 2008

In Nicholas Carr’s 2008 article “Is Google Making Us Stupid” in The Atlantic Online, Carr examines how he believes that because of our use of the internet, our attention spans are different.  He believes that he now has a more difficult time reading in-depth and critically rather than just skimming material.  He believes the computer and the internet has completely changed our lives and continues to do so as its uses become even broader and more widely used.

I have noticed these changes in myself but growing up in the age where television was such a large part of our existence, I believe this has impacted our brains as well.  Children in households who we permitted to watch unlimited amounts of television have seen the same effects on attention span and need for constant stimulation as the younger generation who has spent endless hours in front of the computer screen and video games.

It is my belief that the computer and video games have actually improved the thinking skills of the younger generation who were forced to learn to problem solve and think quickly through their choice of entertainment.  The children of the 70’s and 80’s who spent hours in front of the television were not utilizing any skills in many of their idol hours watching television.  As technology has expanded over time, rather than the most negative impact being a lowered attention span, I believe the health of the younger generation has suffered most.  Hours fly by as both children and adults spend their time void of physical activity due to the time spent using technology. 

digital intimacy November 4, 2008

     Facebook really has become too important to my daily life. It is so addicting to look at your friends’ profiles, pictures, bumper stickers, and other applications. It’s also a great tool to keep in touch with other people and post pictures for only certain people to see. However, most people have turned it into a tool about social promotion: Who can have the most friends? The change over the past three years is amazing. As a college freshman sans a Facebook account, people would ask me my first name and where I was from. Cut to three years later, when I go to parties people ask me my first and last name, what school I go to, and where I live so they can find me on Facebook later. I think it’s kind of creepy when people I meet once find me on Facebook. Facebook has turned into an internet popularity contest. Clive Thompson conveys similar ideas in his article, “Brave New World of Digital Intimacy.” In one passage, Thompson states, “By 2006, students were posting heaps of personal details onto their Facebook pages, including lists of their favorite TV shows, whether they were dating (and whom), what music they had in rotation and the various ad hoc “groups” they had joined (like “Sex and the City” Lovers). All day long, they’d post “status” notes explaining their moods — “hating Monday,” “skipping class b/c i’m hung over.” After each party, they’d stagger home to the dorm and upload pictures of the soused revelry, and spend the morning after commenting on how wasted everybody looked.” When I read this I was almost embarrassed that I had done most of the things he mentioned. How cliche has everyone’s lives become? How long until Facebook takes the place of human interaction and friendships based on common interests found through conversation, not perusing Facebook profiles?

cartoons November 4, 2008

As I am reading Scott McLoud’s article, “Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art”, I’m doing something I do nearly every day: I am watching The Simpsons. I usually watch the show while doing homework or when I’m about to go to bed. The theme music has become a sleeping aide for me. I didn’t realize how relevant the assigned reading was to something I do in my day to day life. Personally, comics were always the part of the newspaper I read in the morning when I was little. When I got old enough, the comics were no longer stimulating to me, so I moved on to the sports page. However, I didn’t realize the strategies and simplicity that goes into comic writing. It is it’s own genre in drawing and for many good reasons. McCloud talks about how simple faces and characters are relatable to the entire general public. They tend to have a low amount of defining features and have hardly any cultural or racial characteristics. McCloud states that, “But simple elements can combine in complex ways, as atoms become molecules and molecules become life. And like the atom, great power is locked in these few simple lines. Releasable only by the reader’s mind.” (45) These sentences show how comics are the building blocks for creating one’s own ideas outlined by the artist. Later, McCloud talks about how the writer and the artist both have to go on an individual quest to interpret their craft. The writer must read lots of books to hear their own voice while the artist must surround himself by art and formulate their own opinion. McCloud states, “Pictures are recieved information. We need no formal education to ‘get the message.’ The message is instantaneous. Writing is perceived information. It takes time and specialized knowledge to decode the abstract symbols of language.” (49) As a writing arts major, I agree with McCloud’s assertion that writing is a cumulative process. To come full circle, my infatuation with The Simpsons may be because of the ability to make my own ideas about the characters because of their ambiguous nature. It is a realm that I can never physically participate in but I can formulate an idea about character’s capabilities and emotions, even though they aren’t real people. The writing on the show also draws me to like the show even more. Back in the day when Conan O’Brian wrote the episodes, the lines were clever and pertinent to modern problems and poked fun in a satirical way. On a show like this, one can appreciate the simple cartooning and the clever writing. McCloud brings up important points about the art that goes into writing cartoons and the process in writing their conversations.

What’s the deal lonelygirl15? October 28, 2008

Quite frankly, I feel a bit out of the loop. I thought maybe it was the generation gap but, after reading other classmates posts, I realize it is not just me.

I find You Tube a valuable resource. When I see or hear a political headline or ad and don’t get the full story, I can almost always go to YouTube and search the subject and find a video that directly relates to the subject. I prefer to research all the lies that circulate on the internet and in the media this way. When I am able to hear the words spoken directly by the candidate it is only then believe what is said. I look forward to the end of this campaign. I’m finding this exhausting. Continually searching to uncover the lies and look for the truth. I feel lucky however, that I live in the age of YouTube and I am able to find the answers I am looking for.  YouTube is more to me than just a research tool, I enjoy watching some of the creative videos people post such as the goofy “nuuma nuuma” guy and a variety of other funny videos.

What I truly do not understand however, is the blogs such as “lonleygirl15”. I looked over these videos for some redeeming quality, some spark of interest that would draw me into this type of entertainment. I found nothing. This seems extremely shallow and I feel those that followed this post and believed this was not a scripted event were naive. Has the media shrunken our brains? The age of reality television is a phenomenon I don’t fully understand either. In the beginning, I enjoyed a few of the reality shows such as The Osbourne’s and The Bachelor but the novelty wore off quickly as it was so easy to see through the veil to a premise that was being touted as reality when in fact, it was obviously quite well scripted. As I see more and more of this type of genre I wonder what this means for our society. While the economy falls apart around us and our schools are not competing globally, how do we have the time to waste on such mindless pursuits?  Of course, I believe we should find time to relax and enjoy some good entertainment but I feel the people that make and partake in these videos spend an awful lot of time devoted to a medium with little redeeming value.

 

 

 

hey there lonely girl October 26, 2008

I never watch videos on YouTube unless my brother or a friend tells me to. Internet staples like “my new haircut” and Samwell videos passed the test for me, but I’m not one to sit mindlessly at the computer and type words in to see what comes up. However, I feel like I am in the minority after I read about how many people watch the videos posted by lonelygirl15. In “The Secret World of Lonelygirl”, the author Joshua Davis tells about how two men’s idea to have an actress pose as an angst young woman blossomed into an internet sensation. Mesh Flinders and Miles Beckett collaborated their creative energy and made an internet diary of a fictional girl who goes through usual teenage struggles. They broadcasted her on the internet because it is easier to pitch this kind of documentary online rather than on film. Flinders and Beckett used an internet strategy to make Lonelygirl15 already have fans before even “vlogging” (video blogging) about her life. Her website gained almost instant internet fame and fans flocked to watch her videos. However, a young man discovered the actress who played Lonelygirl15′s old MySpace and the jig was up. Thousands of people still watched her videos and felt slanted by not knowing that the whole concept was manufactured by two men, not a teenage girl. It is amazing to me that these men took advantage of the anonymous nature of the internet and created a persona out of nothingness: it is like having a novel come to life in virtual reality.

rape in cyberspace October 26, 2008

In Julian Dibbell’s article, “A Rape in Cyberspace’ or How an Evil Clown, a Haitian Trickster Spirit, Two Wizards, and a Cast of Dozens turned a Database into a Society”, he explains how through using MUDs (multi-user dimensions) one can live in a surreal life. Honestly, this article looks like it was written in a context that someone like me would never understand. Words like MUDs, MOOs, LambdaMOO, and such still are foreign to me. Dibbell defines the abbreviations of “RL” (real life) and “VR” (virtual reality) as the members of MUDs use. Members believe in the necessity of the online world and its social outlet.  In this story, Dibbell talks about a man named Mr. Bungle who is in a virtual place and he forces other characters/people to perform disgusting acts on themselves. Dibbell explores this world with an unbiased eye and basically narrates everything that is happening. He talks about a time when Mr. Bungle forces other characters to perform vial sexual acts on themselves for his enjoyment. The author and I share similar views on virtual realities. The members of the communities who could be performing immoral acts on other members may be well respected people in society. For example, a priest could have a MUD that is an invisible pirate who forces people to eat their own feces, but an outsider would NEVER know their true identity. Essentially, the idea that rapes and murders occur in cyberspace is appalling and Dibbell address the existence of such crimes outside of RL.

skimmin’ October 23, 2008

I can’t fathom how many times I have sat in class and someone around me asks, “Did you do the reading?” and I respond with, “Nah, I skimmed it.” In Nicholas Carr’s controversial article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, he touches on the notion that extensive reading has become tedious to all people, even past lovers of the written word. I completely agree with Carr when he cited Bruce Friedman, “I’ve lost the ability to do that [read lengthy literature]. Even a blog post of more than three or four paragraphs is too much to absorb. I skim it.” Reading on the internet and reading a novel or book for pleasure have become two different forms of reading altogether. Despite their immediate difference in medium, the amount of content absorbed through internet reading is much lower than the written word. Personally, I would prefer to read the paper that is delivered to my house in the morning over reading it online. Chances are I will flip to different sections of the paper to read any article in its entirety. However, when I read anything off of the internet, distractions are abundant and links to related articles may seem more interesting and the initial article never gets completely read.

we is perverts October 23, 2008

I had an obviously negative response to the article “Who Am We?” by Sherry Turkle. The class discussion made me realize that not only have virtual realities like the ones mentioned in the article (MUDs, TinySex, etc) existed, but they have been around for over a decade. The dark corners of the internet coming into the light is a bittersweet realization on my part. My initial feelings about internet “realities” were pretty common: only unsociable people communicated on programs like these. However, I realized that people can experience the world through the internet. Turkle’s anecdote about a college student named Stewart who had a heart condition made me sympathize with users of MUDs. Stewart’s heart condition prohibited him from participating in any physical activities or any that put a strain on his weak heart. Therefore, his real life self (RL self) couldn’t experience anything outside his dorm. When he was playing on the MUD, Stewart could be a wealthy man in Europe if he wanted to be. He also got to experience intimacy and friendship that he otherwise never would have encountered. Despite this heart wrenching story, I still think the idea that people can have sexual relations and whole different lives kind of creepy. The anonymous nature of these MUDs allows people to disguise their real self and alter their gender, sexual nature, and sexual preference. The fact that any person you speak to may have an MUD set up as a sexual deviant or cross dresser is mind boggling. Any person you know may have intentions that you could never dream about. One MUD user said “..quite frankly I’d rather rape on MUDs where no harm is done.” Thoughts and actions like these violate morays of our real life society but can be deemed acceptable in virtual society. The clash between the two moral standards are blurred and difficult to read. Ultimately, the coexistence of these two realms in their different contexts may have adverse affects on real life.

As We May Think October 20, 2008

In July 1945, Vannevar Bush wrote “As We May Think” which was an in-depth look at the progression and future of technology. Vannevar examines the idea that technology’s great advancements were made in the pursuit of and as a result of war. This was written in a time period when the WWII was coming to an end and he was analyzing how the great minds behind the advancements in technology would focus their attention.

Vannevar speaks of the great benefits to society of technological development. Not only did technological innovation aid in improvements in food, clothing, shelter and security but also improved both physical and mental health which increased the lifespan of the people in society.

He continues through this article to explain in great detail the technological advancements of the time period and explore his prediction of how far those technologies will develop in the future. It is amazing to read his predictions from our point of view as we can see that he had a firm grasp on how the society would advance. Those who may have read his writing at the time it was published may not have been to envision his predictions could be reality however, he had a vast understanding of the current technology that allowed him to accurately predict its progression.

Vannevar felt that technology had the ability to advance society and accomplish great things for generations to come. His concern however, was that he felt that mankind spent much of his time developing technology to advance war, which hurts society. He cautions however, that the pursuit of advancement should not be abandoned in fear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/194507/bush