Blogging about Bloggin(Required post #12)

I’ll start out by saying that it feels strange that my blogging experience has come to an end. I didn’t put every bit of what was in my head, every second of the day, on my blog. However, when I wrote, I did put thought into what I was writing and feel as though I gave of myself to my occasional classmate readers. In the beginning of the process, I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t really like the idea of blogging. As I wrote, when asked about my perceptions about blogging, I said that I believed that bloggers were generally middle class college educated individuals who believed themselves to be of the intellectual and artisan communities. I believed that they wore black square-rimmed glasses, drove Prius’s, and paid too much money for their name brand morning coffee. Now, I have a different outlook.

I have seen though reading and commenting on the required blog-posts of my classmates and reading many un-required ones by Trevor, that blogging often can give you an interesting and candid look at what someone thinks about. Now, like any medium, someone can be dry and stay away from true self expression, but bloggers can also reveal their hopes, dreams, and aspirations through the blog. I no longer look at the blog as an outlet for individuals who want to hear themselves talk. Having dealt with it, I now feel that most people encounter interesting things about life and simply want to share them with others. The blog is anybody’s way of making sure that their joy is enjoyed as well.

Now, I can’t say that I blogged with anywhere near the energy that someone like Perez Hilton does, but I will say that most of the ideas that I explored  in my blog post delved somewhat deeply into the way that I think. I believe that if someone wanted to get to know me better, they could learn a lot from my blog. I don’t know if I will continue to blog. If I do, it will probably not be about the academic topics that we have explored. They were interesting but everything has to go sometime. I would probably make my blog about one of my favorite topics: dance. I hope to dispel any myths about blogging for my friends and others considering I was such a skeptic of it for now, I can truly say that the blog is truly a gift to anyone who utilizes it.

Podcasting(Required blog post number_)

So i’ll just get right into it. I am having a few problems with the whole podcasting/recording experience. Overall, the idea of expressing myself through a personal narrative is something that I was excited to do from the beginning. Also, having recently experienced a very nerve-racking ordeal with technology, I felt that I had the perfect subject matter to complete the assignment. I felt originally, because the event had taken place a week and one half prior to receiving the rubric, that the series of events would be fresh enough in my mind to present with emotion. I find that a week and a half may actually been too long to truly capture all that I was feeling and that the situation wasn’t fresh enough in my mind, complete with feelings and early reflection, to engage the listener like a good pod caster should. I am trying to relive, in my mind, what went on in the story that I would like to tell. This may seem like too much emphasis is on the story, however, if most listeners are anything like me, they can hear the difference between a good story-teller and someone reading a story off of a printed sheet of paper.

I feel like, in retrospect, the situation was so uncomfortable to me that I want someone to feel, as a listener what I felt during it. I want them to grit their teeth in expectation as they near the places in the story where I am soon to crash and burn and cringe when I finally reach those places. I want them to reflect with a sigh, on how the situation could have been better handled and ultimately laugh at the hilarity of it all. These auditory landmarks are only available to the listener, however, if I as the story teller am able to present them clearly and believably. One thing that I have encountered as a problem is where the story and the recording itself meet. When you hesitate at all, in the recording, it is obvious that you aren’t passionate about your story. That was an observation using the audio recorder on my computer. I can’t imagine how much more naked the environment will be using the Morance Recorder. It will be empty audio space, my story, and I. You have to put every bit of emotion into the story, with the exception of the music, using voice inflection and tone. I realized, after recording, how monotone I sound. I generally speak with lots of voice inflection, but I made a foolish attempt to sound more like a narrator. My next goal, outside of finishing my recording for Tuesday, is to make my voice engaging and enjoyable for my listener.

Storytelling…Once upon a time(Required post # 10)

The most captivating part of the This American Life Broadcast was the Cuervo Man section. This section began with Ira Glass and some theoretical discussion on the issue of Plan B. Ira, then introduces the character(Cuervo Man), giving his educational background, his vocational background, and the transition from the first to the subsequent second. Then, Ira, as the genius storyteller that he is, sets the stage and begins spinning a tale about his encounter with the colorful character. He, also, uses actual audio footage of his interview with Cuervo Man. It ends with a somewhat somber outlook on the situation in Cuervo Man’s life and that of Ira. This makes for wonderful storytelling. The way Ira leads you through each situation, attaching his own emotions to each situation he recalls, is amazingly engaging. The audio section and use of music ads to the scene. It is so entertaining that id rather hear him than even see what happened, which is saying a lot. The way it is presented allows you to use your imagination but still have some guidance and great visual/verbal representations.

The sound and music in the story come during sections with somewhat more action than usual or when a great visual is being explained. the audio takes the listener into the experience.The different segments each illustrate Ira’s point at the beginning of the pod cast that life for most people ends up much different than they thought it would be. I felt engaged throughout the entire podcast. There wasn’t one spot that i didn’t feel included in. Ira Glass heeded all of his advice in the podcast. I think that hearing Glass’s explanation will ehlp me to make my podcast as enjoyable and personable as possible.

 

IPod/Pod casting(required post#9)

Steve Levy’s book about The perfect Thing discusses, in great detail, the technological innovation that is the IPod. This piece of technology gave rise to the practice of Podcasting. Podcasting is the recording and uploading of a sound recording to the ITunes website. These pod casts are not characteristically done by multi-million dollar companies, specializing in entertainment. The podcasts are done by everyday people that feel that they have something to say about a specific topic. Some of the podcasts are simple one time acts done by individuals who simply wanted to try out the practice. Other podcasts are continued and act as series of informative recordings. These are usually done by individuals who are highly educated about a specific issue that they feel passionate about. Podcasts can be long or short and can hold any type of information from scholarly science procedure to instructions on fly-fishing.

     A question of radio totally being replaced by podcast has arisen. This notion is not a possible one because of a few things. The listeners of radio often enjoy the live “interactive” feel that they have with their dj, when they listen. Due to the fact that the Pod cast is pre-recorded, the live aspect cannot be emulated. Also, podcasts are of varied interests and cannot compete with the constant flow of credible information that radio can provide (NPR, etc.). Thirdly, in the event of an emergency, a natural disaster that is, where do people turn? They turn to a portable radio when there is no power. An uploaded and not-up-to-date  digital audio file about what the weather could be like, is no good when there is no power for a computer to be used for downloading. The radio, though not as modern as the shiny-new podcast, is an american staple and one that will definitely survive regardless of the popularity increase of the aforementioned.

BK’s Viral Chicken(Required post #8)

I decided to analyze the subservient chicken advertisement because I found it to be the most interesting and the most interactive. I say this because, while the other advertisements were interactive, I found this advertisement to boast the most ability to control it. The name of the advertisement itself (subservient chicken) promises the potential user that they will be given some sort of power when viewing the ad.  The advertisement is very interactive because you have the ability to actually “influence” it. I use quotation marks because, knowing the back-story of the advertisement’s making, you have no direct effect on the chicken. However, unlike most advertisements, you are free to tell the chicken to do almost anything you can think of and he will most likely do it. Now, when getting technical, the ad is not interactive in the purest possible form, in my opinion. Manovich however, would say that the advertisement is interactive because he claims that human interaction would not be an interactive advertisement. I, on the other hand, disagree because of the simple fact that interactivity requires the ability to influence. You, as an advertisement consumer, cannot influence a program but you could influence a human being. The limits of the advertisement are that when you type in a word or phrase that has not been pre-recorded and archived, the chicken will not and cannot comply. If you tell the chicken to do something sexually provocative, he will approach the screen and shake his finger at you. In this was, the advertisement cannot be totally interactive due to these limits. The interactivity highlights the Burger King corporation in almost a subliminal way. Burger King’s slogan is “Have it your way.” This claim is supported by the advertisement’s ability to make anyone feel that they can have the chicken entertain them, “their way.” This advertisement is highly alluring because of the entertainment factor as well as that of control. I feel that no argument is necessary in stating that the majority of people in this world enjoy control. Some people enjoy controlling small things, while others crave absolute power. This advertisement allows the user to use their imagination to find a command, be somewhat astounded when the command is carried out, and feel a sense of pride in their control. The audience is anyone. The advertisement made me feel somewhat empowered and make me think about a crispy chicken sandwich from Burger King.

 
Recently, subservient chicken celebrated its fifth birthday. Barbarian group blogged about it.

http://www.barbariangroup.com/portfolio/burger_king_subservient_chicken

Bar-Barians

Now the internet has undoubtedly connected different groups of people all aroud the world. However, I found something interesting about an online group that i have been following for some time now, regarding that fact.

The cleverly named “Bar-Barians” are a group of five men who specialize in elite bodyweight/calisthenics.

Zakaveli(One of the Bar-Core)

Zakaveli doing a trick.

They have a group in New York that train together for fitness as well a competition. Different groups have arisen and go to local parks to compete doing strength challenges and tricks(one armed chins) against each other. The pull-up bar and parallel bars are the main apparatus used. The technology side of the affair is the interesting part. Recently, The Bar-Barians released specific qualifications to become ranked in their ranking-system. Some of the ranks include Bar-Baron, Bar-Elite, and Bar-Core. The idea has sparked interest and many people are sending in videos of themselves attempting to complete the requirements set forth by the team. The team even posted on their blog that they would personally send a pair of the workout gloves that the team uses to the next person who could complete the challenge. This idea of being able to be ranked in a system without even personally meeting the members of that group is astounding to me. It also begs the question, how will this practice carry over into other activities requiring ranking.

Bar-Barians site: http://www.bar-barians.com/

Men are from Mars…(Required Post #7)

Advertising is so intuitive. It is not about who can create a commercial short with the biggest explosion or the most vividly interesting color scheme or the most intelligent-sounding individuals. The true key to advertising a product as to “knock sales out of the ball park” is to understand what people want, firstly. Secondly, it is imperative to understand how people want to receive their desires. The Malcom Gladwell article makes blatantly clear the truth that men and women look at things differently; even the clothes that they wear. The main theme in the article is the observation that Levi’s Dockers were one of the most successful products in the history of clothing retail because the individuals who advertised it understood men and the way that they process information, mainly. In the 1980′s it was majorly unheard of for a grown man to show any in his fashion sense/choices. not wanting to appear weak, men didnt spend time considering which purchases would be most aesthetically pleasing or which combinations of clothes would be most admired. With the introduction of Dockers, men could look presentable without appearing to have made any effort to do so. I would conjecture to say that almost all men, at one time or another, considered what type of clothes would make them look most dashing, but some false sense of masculinity kept that area of conversation from being addressed between males. The advertisers for Levi understood this and so they created a series of advertisement that seemed to whisper in the ear of the American male, “Hey, I know that you can’t talk about your clothes, but i have something new that will make you the king of your domain; don’t worry, I promise it’s good.”

Today, Diesel understands, as well, that they need to advertise to a specific group of people to earn the most profit. Diesel, unlike Levi, is advertising to a crowd that accepts the importance of interesting personal fashion. They offer jeans, accessories, and are even teaming up with Fiat to make a Diesel-style automobile.

Diesel advertises, in many ways, to a very specific group dynamic. They use very provocative advertisements to attract the rebellious youth of America. They use a somewhat dry et creative sense of humor to advertise their denim. One example is their “Global Warming Ready” campaign.

The two different types of advertising took two different approaches. However, they both knew how to do one thing: sell to their intended audience.