Extra Credit Post

I covered the chapter on Iwar in my SLFS. The part that struck me the most was how the government called on the citizens to be active participants in the war. We were encouraged to "be American" by shopping, boarding up our windows and stocking up on supplies, just in case the next terrorist attack hit our house. There were online polls asking for our opinions, news reports urging safety, and American Flags waving everywhere. American flags and bumpers stickers that said: "Proud to be an American".. Those were in high demand, so they got supplied. For a few months everyone lived with a small fear that another attack might come. However, when we declared war, which everyone wanted, we slowly started to forget about the event and moved back to our daily routines. The only time were reminded of the event was on the anniversary. Now, 10 years later, you barely ever hear 9/11 mentioned in any regard. The media hyped it up for months after the event, then when it became unpopular, it was old news. We consumed to "be American", which brought us together for a brief time. We collectively mourned the losses, and felt American for watching the news and keeping up with the latest updates. However, when the media lost interest, so did we.

Extra Credit Post

In reading the chapter discussing ipolitics, I couldn't help but think back to the 2008 election race. Due to our media-based society, the coverage this thing got was unbelievable. In the months leading up to the election, you almost couldn't escape hearing the latest about Obama, Mccain or Palin. Saturday Night Live boosted the media coverage even more with the skits they aired, poking fun at everyone involved in the election. Obama appeared on adolescent TV shows, Mccain was seen at athletic events, and Sarah Palin was all over for "being a milf" and being stupid, which landed her some pretty sweet youtube clips. Now, in 2011, I couldn't tell you what's going on politically. 3 years ago it was inescapable, now you have to go out of your way to get information. To me this demonstrates that we don't necessarily pick the most qualified candidate, we pick the one we like the most. It becomes sort of a popularity contest, in that people lose interest once the winner is announced. I believe that is what happened in the 2008 election, and the same cycle will repeat next year.

Extra Credit Post

The economy is tough right now, we've heard that expression far too often in the past 5 or so years. To make matters worse, employers are utilizing the internet to find information on potential candidates before any job offers are made. Unfortunately, in a society obsessed with social networking sites, there is more information about us than we would want to present to employers. For some candidates, sites such as facebook can result in an employer not hiring them due to unfavorable images and other content. In the case of this article, a young woman who was qualified to work in a hospital was not offered a job because of he provocative pictures on facebook of her flashing people. I'm sure this happened very frequently, even though you can change your privacy setting sin 30 seconds so only your friends can access your information. The trouble with that though, is the question of whether or not the privacy settings actually work. In a country under heavy surveillance on all fronts, I'd almost bet that privacy settings aren't as private as we would like to think.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20202935/ns/business-your_retirement/

Extra Credit Post

Andrejevic discussed the topic of surveillance in several chapters, which Brian demonstrated in class by showing us how easy it is to find information on people. It is nearly impossible to hide, even if you're a skilled hacker running one of the oldest bittorrent sites on the internet, Filesoup. The police were able to track "TheGeeker" home address by an undisclosed method, which I can only assume was by IP address. When they took him into custody he asked to make several phone calls, but he was informed that the Inspector had all outgoing communication blocked. They were able to access all of his mediums of communication and lock them all up, which I find pretty terrifying. I feel like everyone has downloaded something illegal in their lives, whether it be music or a movie from a bittorrent site. The alarming thing is that under copyright these are serious crimes, and they could easily find out our home address by looking up our IP address.

http://torrentfreak.com/oldest-bittorrent-site-targeted-by-police-owner-arrested-090804/

Etra credit Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/26/iphone-android-tracking-i_n_853879.html

This article is about Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and how she asking Google, apple, and android to release the policies on the tracking of their devices. She is assuming that all of these devices track because the companies are failing to disclose how the programs work and what they are doing with the information they are storing. this directly correlates to what were talking about in Ispy. These companies are storing data without letting users know and taking without permission. The real problem is that privacy is being violated. Andrejivic talks about how they are using this information to advertise to people in the united states. The question is what if we dont want to be advertised to?

South Park vs. Apple

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkLJbfL16RU

This is just a preview of the upcoming season 15 premiere of South Park. As I've been researching the show heavily for my project, and since we've been talking quite a bit about our respective "issues" with Apple, I thought this was appropriate. If you've (unfortunately) seen the film Human Centipede, the juxtaposition of themes in this episode should make you smile (or squirm) a bit.

Extra Credit Blog

During President Obama's campaign towards running for office, he portrayed himself in the social media like no one had done before. In chapter 7, Andrejevic discusses ipolitics and its aspect of customization. By presenting each message as personalized and individualized, the voter then has a tendency to focus only on that one common view as opposed to other views they may not agree with. With Obama in particular, he did a miraculous job of sorting and excluding young adults to target during his campaign. By premiering on shows such as MTV and imprinting himself on trendy t-shirts, Obama was able to reach young adolescents in a way that had never been done before. He made teens feel like active participants and responded with focus towards their customized wants and needs.

Extra Credit Blog

In the book, Andrejevic discusses the concept of iMonitoring. Through today's technology, it is extremely easy to keep in touch with friends and family at all hours of the day. Whether it be by cell phone, computer, email, instant messaging, etc. we are constantly in need for connection to those around us. Nowadays we are so curious about where everyone is, what they are doing and when they are doing it, that we end up using these devices as a means of surveillance. A common type of monitoring that we use today is called 'Do-it-yourself Surveillance.' The ultimate goal for this type of investigator is to gather as much information as possible without the subject knowing. In chapter 8, Andrejevic presents the example of "Room Raiders" on MTV. This show includes three subjects and one investigator. After the subjects have all been grabbed spontaneously from their bedrooms, the investigator then has the chance to snoop through each room in order to decide which subject is the best match for him. Another MTV show that follows similar guidelines is "The X Effect." In each episode, two couples are sent to a five star resort where they believe they will be spending a romantic weekend. Instead, the two members from each couple who have had a prior relationship are sent to the romantic hotel room by themselves. The left out partners are then driven to a bungalow where they get the chance to monitor their spouses all weekend without their knowledge. In order to screen their every move, they are allowed to use video cameras, GPS and sound surveillance. Not only this, but they are also in charge of what activities their girlfriend/boyfriends will be participating in all weekend. Through this constant screening, they are able to investigate how faithful each spouse is during the hotel getaway.

Tags:

The X Effect (Season 2), MTV Shows

Extra Credit Blog

In iSpy, Andrejevic talks about m-commerce and how it will eventually become a widespread phenomenon in the United States. Technofuturists predict that, in time, we will eventually be paying for everything through our phones. Andrejevic says in Chapter 4 that in Scandinavia and Asia m-commerce has become a commonplace unlike in the U.S. where m-commerce is not yet fully upon us. Although we may not be on the same level yet as Asia, I believe we are closer to m-commerce then Andrejevic may have anticipated. A new 'app' called "Scan it!" just recently came out that allows you to pay for your groceries through your iPhone. Instead of scanning your items at the self-checkout station or waiting in line to have someone else check out for you, the supermarket Stop & Shop now allows you to check your groceries out yourself. All you need to do is scan the barcode of your loyalty card and your good to go. While this single mobile application may seem minor, it does display a big movement towards m-commerce which is slowly becoming a reality.

Extra Credit Blog

After reading chapter 3 in iSpy by Mark Andrejevic it reminded me of this clip that I came across a few months ago about a recent surveillance strategy a company in Norway was inflicting on their employees. In order to increase productive work time among the staff, the company began monitoring the amount of bathroom breaks employees were able to take per day. They installed surveillance cameras outside of all the bathroom stalls and even required each worker to swipe a scanner card each time they entered and left the bathroom. By doing this, the company was able to regulate and keep track of the amount of restroom breaks among employees. Just when you think they couldn't crack down anymore, they even established a rule that women who had their period needed to wear a red bracelet in order to indicate their need for extra bathroom breaks. This excessive surveillance used among these workers in Norway relates directly to the "Taylor System" talked about in this chapter. Taylor was known for managing his workers using the most efficient actions towards performing a particular task. He not only monitored and recorded every action but he also based his system around specialization and customization. This example of bathroom surveillance shows a more up-to-date version of Taylor's beliefs. Instead of using a stop-watch to keep track of efficiency, the Norwegian company uses camera's and scanner cards. By creating a rule that women need to wear red bracelets during their time of the month relates back to Taylor's specialized and customized attitude towards his employees.

Interesting look at Apple Knockoffs

http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/19/usb-ihub-is-the-perfect-knockoff-accessory-for-your-apple-centri/

The article above is a piece on the tech blog Engadget. The piece details a new unofficial product featuring an Apple logo. I thought this was amusing, as even non-Apple product makers understand the brand identity of Apple and seek to capitalize on the iconic "Apple" image. Whether or not this product does anything innovative or is even a useful product, it will certainly gain more consumers than a non-Apple USB four port accessory simply because of the association consumers will place with the image.

The fact that this product was designed in the manner that it has been speaks volumes about modern ideas of production. The goal has shifted from attempting to provide technology that is new and expands upon previous successful designs and has moved towards trying to appeal to consumer's brand identity. Hundreds, possibly even thousands of foreign and domestic companies have made unofficial products to accompany Apple products, all attempting to jump on a bandwagon created by hype and image.

Imagine if all of these companies worked towards creating innovative, open source products, and how that would change the landscape of tech design. As a nation, if we want to move towards a consumer identity that embraces new ideas and smaller design companies, we need to have an incentive for companies to do follow suit. As long as we keep blindly supporting Apple by not only buying Apple products, but off-market products designed to keep Apple afloat, we will hinder and repress designs that could come to shape our future.

Extra Intervention Post

The News of yesteryear was informational, to the point, and watched by many. Today, especially among the younger generation, news is something we see on our Facebook home page. In order for news to get watched in our current society, it has to provide some sort of entertainment value. Often times a local news station will show a news story that has no real relevance, but is guaranteed to provide laughter. In one particular case a local news station in Alabama showed a clip that dealt with a Leprechaun being afoot. The news station interviewed people about this ridiculous story, and sure enough, the result ended in laughter among the viewers as well as the news anchors.

This clip is a perfect example of how the line has become blurred, and also how we can only truly be stimulated these days by entertainment, no matter the medium.

Intervention Post

I would say that in 2011, the line between entertainment and politics has become very blurred. Some people choose to get their information from shows like The Daily Show or The Colbert Report, while others choose FoxNews or CNN. FoxNews and CNN are viewed as more credible sources, while the other two are viewed as comedy shows that provide political information.

Another source of political information are satirical cartoons such as South Park and Family Guy. They are notorious for placing characters in their shows and attempting to rip their worlds apart. A more interesting dynamic is when local news or another news source actually feature clips from these cartoon satires and then provide commentary. This dynamic truly represents just how blurred this line has become.

In this clip a news show is showing a clip of Obama from South Park in which he mentions change. Everybody should get the joke South Park is making, as you couldn't hide from Obama's slogan prior to the 2008 election.



Been trying to embed for 30 minutes, this video is being stubborn.

Here's the URL, I'm pretty sure it just doesn't want to be embedded.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6ar55-1a9E

Extra Credit Post

The first part of Entertaining Politics focuses on the blurred line between news and entertainment media. In the assigned blog post for this week, we were asked to find an example of an intervention into contemporary news and discuss how it treads or blurs the line between entertainment and politics. For an extra credit post, I also want to take a look at an actual news story (from Global News, a Canadian news network) and talk about how it also treads/blurs the line between entertainment and politics.



We have all seen these sort of "fluff" stories that are symptomatic of the 24 hour news cycle; This is just one example. In this video, the line between entertainment and politics is blurred not only by the fact that the news story itself is absurd and ridiculous, but also because it aired on a regular segment that deals explicitly with entertainment news.

The fact that most news organizations have entertainment news coverage demonstrates that the line between entertainment and news is blurred, especially when entertainment news reports shift away from movie reviews and television ratings. The journalist in this video is essentially a slapstick clown, not a news reporter.

Extra Intervention Post

In class, we watched the Yes Men video that featured a performer posing as a Dow Chemical spokesman on the BBC.

When we watched this video, I was most impressed by the way the performer was able to sell his performance as authentic by accurately mirroring the tropes of a genuine public address from a real spokesman for a major company.

In the clip below, the performers also mirror the conventional media form, that of a trailer for an academy award winning movie, in order to not only provoke laughter from the audience, but also to comment on the Academy Awards as an institution and the formulaic nature of their criteria for an award winning film.

This is not necessarily an intervention into contemporary news, but it does provide an example of intervention (through parody) into a conventional, iconic media form: the movie trailer.

Intervention Post

This clip is from Jon Stewart's final speech at his Rally to Restore Sanity that was held October 20, 2010. The rally was held at the National Mall in Washington D.C.

In this clip (at around 3 mins), Jon Stewart starts condemning the rhetorical vitriol that is so prevalent in politics and political coverage in the news.

This speech is an example of intervention into contemporary news because Stewart tones down his comedy act in his closing speech and has a (somewhat) straight forward conversation with the crowd.

In this clip, he discusses the highly polarized nature of our contemporary political sphere and the ways in which the 24 hour news networks work to further polarize our public sphere.

You can read more about this rally on Wikipedia

Extra blog intervention

My extra blog for this week is another parody of the news depicted on Family Guy through the Blackuweathermeterologist Ollie Williams on Quahog's fictional Channel Five News. The show makes a mockery of meteorology through Ollie as insights into the weather range from "It gon rain" to "its raining sideways". The show is offering a parody of Al Roker through this African American character and although it is comedic it is also damaging to Roker's reputation as it puts at the forefront racial stereotypes and backgrounds professionalism.

Intervention Post

My example of an intervention into contemporary news as blurring the lines between the performative and political is an exerpt from John Stewart's The Daily Show with John Stewart that was cited on Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC. In the clip Olbermann introduces Glenn Beck's conspiracy theory and its viewer base - millions of people who watch everyday at 5pm who may or may not actually believe his Marxist/Nazi anti-Obama conspiracy theories taking over the government. Olbermann cites John Stewarts use of parody dismantling Beck's crusade using Beck's own twisted logic and irrationality. What follows is a perfect example of intervention into contemporary news as the contemporary news critiques its own news with a comedic parody all portrayed on their main canon.


The clip is hilarious and shows how crazy Beck's theories are, comedic Stewart's parodying of Beck's antics are and how intervention into the contemporary news can function to juxtapose the two.

Extra Post

The Onion News is an example of Faux News that was mentioned in the book. It’s fake news that people watch for pure entertainment. I couldn’t resist not sharing this with the class. I laugh every time I watch it. This is a perfect example of how this is completely pointless and completely not real, yet we watch it because it is funny and very entertaining.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AyVh1_vWYQ

Interv Contemporary News

I thought this was interesting how Colbert is brought up on msnbc. I think this is a great example of blurring the lines between politics and entertainment because it discusses Stephen Colberts visit to the congress and how he is trying to be funny, serious and allegiant all at the same time, which exemplifies how he is using these qualities to better immigrant workers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgZ0czq5QDQ

post on anything I want

I thought this video of Colbert talking about immigrant workers sarcastically was very important. I think this was another great example of the blurring of lines between politics and entertainment. Even though Colbert is trying to entertain, his comments were very important. He basically made sarcastic comments which served as rhetoric for the betterment of immigrant workers.

ntervention into contemporary news

This video is a portrayal of something that treads or blurs the line between entertainment and politics. When i first saw this clip it really shocked me. At something very important like the white house correspondents dinner Stephen Colbert was allowed to speak and still playing the character he plays on his show. I thought this was a very implicit example of entertainment and politics blurring because even though Stephen Colbert was joking with the comments he made, many people who saw this appearance could have taken him seriously.

Post number two on topic of choice

What I wanted to mention in this post was one of the youtube clips that Scott brought in and showed for his presentation. It was a show about three or four hosts who discuss the latest current events, and people would call in to express their opinions about the latest event being discussed. My question is, who really cares? There seems to be a universal need to gossip and comment on the lives of other people, and in doing so, you lose sight of the purpose, importance and value of your own life. This is part of the reason why I deactivated my facebook account, because I found myself constantly looking at the "news feed," and while I was becoming knowledgable about the lives of other people, I realized that instead, I should start educating myself on what I am going to be doing with MY life. People would argue that facebook is a good way to keep in touch with your peers, but another good way to do so is through email or a cell phone. The show that was shown in Scott's presentation reminded me of the Jerry Springer show. I am not so much concerned with the people who actually go on the show and try and get their problems resolved (although I don't see why they wouldn't be able to work the problem out themselves), but what baffles me is the people in the audience, who use OTHER PEOPLE's problems as a form of their own entertainment.

Intervention into Contemporary News

This video is what to me would be a perfect example of blurring the lines between entertainment business and politics. "The last night with Gay Lenon show" is not just a mocking of "The last night with Jay Lenon show" but also of how America 'worries' about Bin Laden. Jay Lenon's show already does this several times on his show with Bin Laden and Bush etc. but this video mocks both the show as well as the political issue of trying to find Bin Laden. It is made fun of that it "was so hard to find you Bin Laden", and how he want "world domination". These issues are to take very serious. Videos like the one above make you want to take sorts of political issues light-heartedly more and to laugh about 'ourselves' almost for fearing Bin Laden. The more we watch shows, such as Jay Lenon show, Saturday Night Live or The Connely show...we loose the seriousness of political issues. Especially among my generation I believe people are too bored almost to watch 'real' news shows anymore because we are so used to being constantly entertained. These comedy shows and videos offer us entertainment and updates us on political issues - killing two birds with one stone. The 'problem' is with this is that we tend to ignore, or not realize the blurring of political issues with entertainment no longer.

Furthermore the video above is another example of how the lines are being blurred between politics and entertainment shows. Having former president Bush on Jay Leno is a bridge that connects entertainment and politics - we have THE former president (as political as can get) on a television talk show with Jay Leno, who when he is not on the show always makes fun of Bush. The viewers that watch this could probably hardly take Bush serious for what he stands or entertainment and politics has just simply become the "same thing".

Bluring the line Between Entertainment and Politics

An intervention into contemporary news that blurs the line between entertainment and Politics, in my opinion, is The Colbert Report. This may be entirely different from many other points of views. The purpose of his show, obviously, is to take serious political issues and poke fun at the absurdity of the issue itself, how the issue is being covered itself, and the way in which people react or respond to these issues. Here is the dilemma, and and the way in which the line is blurred instead of treaded. By poking fun at a serious issue, an issue that can truly have an impact on a population or organization of some sort, it lightens the blow, and allows for the audience to be able to look at these issues and laugh. But the problem is when serious issues are constantly being mocked, and people actually turn to these shows more than they would turn to the news channels themselves. As a result, it no longer becomes an issue that can be laughed at, but the issue itself becomes a joke, and hence, the line is blurred, where political issues become a form of entertainment, instead of the serious issues that they really are.