Insticts, They Have None

As we learned in class, it is important to have instincts and common sense when reading internet articles. Think of the source, the relevance to your life, the date, and in general, be critical of anything you find on the internet. It is important to always examine any article to find out if it is a reputable source. Sadly, many do not do that and instead find themselves chock full of misinformation through no one's fault but their own. Take this tumblr site for example: http://literallyunbelievable.tumblr.com/ The title of the site is "'Literally Unbelievable' Stories from The Onion as interpreted by Facebook" and as the title suggests, it is made up of screenshots of people's statuses and comments about The Onion on Facebook. All of these people mistakenly believe that The Onion is a real news source, instead of the parody it so clearly is, and respond angrily to these "outrageous" stories as if they were truly news.

Your goal in life as a digital media consumer should be to avoid being these people. They are a sight to be ridiculed for their ignorance and their lack of instincts and awareness. First of all, everyone should at least know of The Onion even if they have never read it personally. It is a famous enough newspaper that the name should at least ring a bell. And if it doesn't ring a bell, what does that tell you? If it is a legitimate news source, it is well known by all. The New York Times, The Washington Post, etc. The Onion, however? The name doesn't exactly ooze legitimacy. The name doesn't seem to have anything at all to do with news. That should be the first clue. Even though the tagline says "America's Finest News Source", that doesn't mean it is. Captions and taglines lie all the time, like now for instance. Keep a critical mind whenever you read any type of source.

Finally, the content itself should have tipped people off. If it sounds too ridiculous to be true, then it probably is. Do not take everything at face value. If something doesn't seem right, get a second opinion. Do some research. Before you start making a fool out of yourself making accusations at a fake news source.

Internet Influences 6/6: Internet and Anonymous Pride

This weekend, I attended Anime Central aka ACen, as I usually do this time of year. The definition from the website is as follows:

What is ACen?

Anime Central (ACen) is Chicago’s and the Midwest’s largest anime, manga and Japanese popular culture convention. The convention is currently held in Rosemont, IL, less than 30 minutes from downtown Chicago.

Since I've been going to DePaul, I've attended this event with the DePaul group called the Japanese Media Appreciation Club. Together, we enjoy sharing our love of all types of digital media, both foreign and domestic, in the extreme. For three days, we spend all our money on media merchandise, take pictures of or dress up in costumes, meet voice actors, directors, artists of all types of media, and just generally enjoy the company of similarly minded people, as I explained in my other convention post.

One thing I noticed at the convention this year was the overabundance of internet pride. Much of it from the website http://www.4chan.org. The most notable was the abundance of people wearing Guy Fawkes masks like the picture above. Not only were people wearing it, the convention itself was selling it, promoting the pride. These masks represent Anonymous, a group that came from an internet meme started on the website 4chan. 4chan defines Anonymous in its FAQ section on the website:

Who is "Anonymous"?
"Anonymous" is the name assigned to a poster who does not enter text in to the [Name] field. Anonymous is not a single person, but rather, represents the collective whole of 4chan. He is a god amongst men. Anonymous invented the moon, assassinated former President David Palmer, and is also harder than the hardest metal known to man: diamond. His power level is rumored to be over nine thousand. He currently resides with his auntie and uncle in a town called Bel-Air (however, he is West Philadelphia born and raised). He does not forgive.

Even this description, meant to answer a question for newcomers, is laden with memes from 4chan that would be unrecognizable to those unfamiliar with the site. This website can be a very exclusive place on the internet and is infamous for its cruel and unrelenting users.

Since the website 4chan was originally derived from a Japanese website called 2chan, it makes sense that many of the people at this Japanese anime convention know of it. Still, in the early days of anime conventions the event was more about the art of anime and manga and Japanese traditional culture instead of internet and general nerd culture. Once again the internet has changed the way we do things. Although this website is in fact connected to Japanese culture, I am not sure it is something that should be so proudly celebrated. I know and use this website myself, so it is not that I am completely against it. As an otaku or nerd, I realize this site has become a part of our culture. My problem is that anime conventions to me had always been a place where people can be free to be themselves and not feel judged for their interests that are often seen as abnormal by the masses. I had always thought of it as an event of acceptance, but now the event is promoting this extremely unaccepting and often hateful website. But there is no stopping the force of media and how it can change a culture.

Editing

I am currently taking an Editing 101 class, and I must say I am learning a lot. Editors really are the so-called "gatekeepers" of digital media or any media. They have the final decision on what we get to see. As Walter Murch, one of the most well-respected editors in the business, says in his book, In the Blink of an Eye, "Good editing makes a director look good. Great editing makes a film look like it wasn't directed at all." This shows that the editors have a lot of power and influence over a piece of work. And yet, we never really know who editors are. We know the directors, the writers, the actors, but never the editors. But these people arguably have the most important job of all.

No matter how creative or how great a vision an artist has, in this society if an artist wants to make any money or be involved in popular culture he or she will have to deal with editors. And editors can alter an artist's vision in a way they feel is fit for society to view. They decide what's appropriate for audiences, what should be cut and what should be left in. Even if the artist feels something is important and should be shown, it is not the artist's decision to make. So really, the editors are a huge part in what makes it to our screens and magazines, and therefore they are in charge of shaping both our culture and our way of thinking. Now that I know they hold this much power, I have much more respect for all editors. I also realize now that choosing the right editor is an extremely important task. This is the person who will be in charge of finalizing any and all of future media. I sure hope they are treated with proper reverence in the business world, because they are certainly lacking in notoriety in the pop culture world they helped create.

Cyberstalking

By now, most people have heard of cyberbullying, where a person is bullied over the internet, through email, social media sites, etc. This is a huge problem with teenagers, some of the victims going so far as to commit suicide from this type of bullying. Due to the suicides, cyberbullying has gained attention and legitmacy, there is even a book on sale called the Cyberbully Survival Guide geared toward parents so that they can recognize the signs and know if their child is a victim of cyberbullying. http://www.survivorsinaction.com/cyberbully_survival_guide.htm

However, I was just watching Good Morning America today and they had a small segment on cyberstalking. Not cyberbullying, cyberstalking. For some reason, I have never thought of this before. Unlike cyberbullying, this is a problem that affects adults as well, and from the testimonies I saw about it, both males and females. Cyberstalking is a serious problem that can be and should be reported to the police, but is often not reported since it does not seem like a serious issue to some. Even now, the internet is still not taken seriously as a form of communication or interaction. Of course, people use it everyday for communication, but people still believe this is a lower form of communication because it is impersonal. But as we have seen from cyberbullying, the consequences of internet interactions are very real.

Cyberstalking should also be considered a serious problem because it can easily lead to physical stalking. People give up so much personal information online these days that it is so easy for a cyberstalker to find a phone number or address and move off the internet and harass in person. I believe this issue should be made more public to promote more awareness on the importance of internet privacy. Social media sites especially will push for people to give up their privacy more and more and many people do not realize the problems this can cause. Cyberstalking is just one of the many problems that can come from over-sharing online. So please people, think twice before you give any of your personal information online!

Conventions

You know a piece of digital media has rocketed through your "Manifestation Baseline" when you plan on going to a convention. The type of convention I'm talking about is the type full of nerds in costumes, people paying tons of money for autographs and photographs of the actors of their favorite characters, the buying and selling of collectible merchandise, etc. I love going to conventions. When I was younger, the only type of convention I knew about was an anime convention, a convention dedicated to Japanese animation and the fanbase of Japanese animation in Chicago. But now I know there are more than just anime conventions. There are sci-fi conventions, comic conventions, television show conventions, I've been to all kinds at this point. What is the reason for going to and spending money at these types of places?

I realized that digital media can be an important and meaningful part of a person's life for some. There are people, myself included, who are escapists, meaning they use digital media as a means to "escape" or forget their ordinary lives and dream of a different one, if only for an hour or so. These people tend to really get involved with digital media, so much so that it will affect their behavior in real life, like going to conventions. Conventions are also great places to meet people with similar interests, as everyone there has a huge interest in common already. And it is a place where you do not have to be ashamed about having digital media break your manifestation baseline, because it obviously does for everyone there. Last, conventions are a place to buy merchandise relating to whichever digital media is represented there. Buying merchandise helps support the media but also helps the fans. Just carrying around a piece of your favorite media can have an affect on you. Maybe carrying around a pendant your hero wears will make you feel stronger, or maybe you love waking up to a poster of your favorite show every morning to motivate you.

Small things like this can have a big affect on people, so that's why I have a great appreciation for conventions that allow people affected deeply by digital media to have a place where they can relax and geek out to their heart's content.

Internet Influences 4/? NSFW

This blog has already established that we are on the internet for an inordinate amount of time. Possibly an unhealthy amount. But I still always thought of the internet as something you use in your free time, even at school is iffy. But I see people on their laptops during classes, checking their emails and Facebook and whatnot. And depending on the class it may not matter, also, the students are the ones paying for the class so they can choose how to spend that time however they like. But, at work? A friend of mine asked the other day for suggestions of "work-safe" sites she can scroll through while at work.

What? Work-safe? And then I remembered another related acronym: NSFW or Not Safe For Work. So there seems to be a whole culture of people who surf the net while at work, and need warnings on whether a site is appropriate or not in case a supervisor comes walking by and sees. In theory, the best work-safe activity is not going on the internet, but I suppose nowadays the cubicle type jobs or receptionists jobs are not stimulating enough for workers anymore, so these workers have created an acronym for themselves that will help them have fun at their job while being safe. Pictures that may be inappropriate for work will have a simple NSFW warning for these workers to stay away. Or perhaps you are just the squeamish type in general, regardless of if you are at work or not you may decide not to risk it. The internet can be a dangerous and disgusting place, so I for one and grateful for the existence this warning. Whenever there is a service needed on the internet, even one as simple as this, it will be created by its users.

In any case, are there any suggestions for my friend here? What are your favorite "work-safe" sites? News sites, web comics, etc. Do you even go on the internet during work? Is using the internet for non-related business at work appropriate, even when there is nothing going on at work?

Thor

I love it when media is transformed into movies. Comic book into movies, novels into movies, television shows into movies. Movies remade into NEW movies! Lucky for me it happens almost constantly in this day and age. Though I think it says something about the movie industry that almost all movies are based on something else. There are not a lot of original movies these days. Perhaps digital media is draining all of our creativity away? Or perhaps the movie industry realizes their audience is full of people like me who don't need creativity and will gladly pay for movie versions of old stories. Why bother taking a risk on a creative idea when everyone knows that movies like Thor and Captain America will kill at the box office? Always best to go with the sure thing.

Anyway, this blog entry's focus will be on the comic-book-turned-movie Thor. From a popular media point of view, it was a brilliant movie. We start with a very attractive and muscular male lead. And then add Natalie Portman, an extremely popular choice lately, to the point that she is losing the ability to NOT be Natalie Portman. She is saturating the market at this point and it may end up hurting her art as an actress (though it is not hurting her bank account...). It is hard for audiences to see past her fame to the characters she plays. Especially given the very one-dimensional character she was given in Thor. But another key to a successful movie translated from other media is to dumb down the story and characters as much as possible to make it accessible to as many viewers as possible. Thor did indeed have flat characters and a cliche storyline, as well as editing problems. It's understandable when one has to condense such a long running series into a 2-hour movie to have some editing problems. Everything seems to happen so fast, like speed reading through the story.

That's why these types of movies are perfect for the attention deficit youth of today. They don't have time to check out an entire series. Two hours is the limit and it doesn't matter how poorly the movie is put together sometimes, as long as the effects are amazing. The final and most important element to putting together a blockbuster, especially one translated from other media, is the special effects. The fans of the story want to be able to see everything they imagined from the story to be on the big screen, no matter how fantastical. And in order to attract audience members unfamiliar to the original work to read/see the original, they need to be wow'd.

So there you have it, the key to successful blockbuster movies based off a different media. The more people love it, the more that will be made. We already have Captain America coming up, I wonder how that will be?

~Royal Wedding~

Did you watch the Royal Wedding? Man, aren't you sick of hearing about the Royal Wedding? What did you think of the Royal Wedding?

Is this what you've been hearing from friends and co-workers lately? The internet is no different from the real world. No matter where you go, there's no escape. The television was full of coverage of the wedding, and every internet news site or blog was all over it as well. How did another country's major event become our big event? Thanks to social media and digital media in general, another country's news and events can spread to our country like wildfire. Even the fact that the ceremony itself took place at around 3am for us, this did not deter people. If it is possible to watch it, then people are going to watch. Just so they can say that they did.

Digital media has the ability to make us all more worldly. We can witness events around the world live on television or streaming on our computers, or watch it later on Youtube or read about it on various websites, whichever appeals to you more. There is so many choices that international affairs can appeal to anyone!

And of course, big events such as these always inevitably lead to internet shenaningans. While I was searching through article after article of the Royal Wedding, I happened upon this fun one: http://mashable.com/2011/04/30/frowning-flower-girl/ Ah internet, I can always trust you to focus on the smallest, most unimportant part of an event and make them hilarious. Long live Frowning Flower Girl!