C'est la théorie que je préfère!

For an assignment in my Communication Studies class Definitions of Media and Technology, I was to find four concepts, three theorists and write about it or present it. Here are the results of my research.

INTERFACE
http://prezi.com/8lzyn7-pkimd/interface/

NOSTALGIA
In analogue format only. Submitted in-class on Tuesday October 30, 2012.

PARTICIPATION
http://soundcloud.com/corneggs/participation

TIME-SPACE COMPRESSION
http://youtu.be/c1eKVR1I7Q4

Enjoy. Feel free to put comments in the dialog box below.

Bibliography

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Bertelsen, Eve. 1996. Post mod-cons: Consumerism and cultural studies. Critical Arts: A South-

     North Journal of Cultural and Media Studies, Vol. 10(1): n.p.

Bolter, Jay David and Grusin, Richard. 2000. Remediation : understanding new media. Cambridge, 

     MA: MIT Press. Available from http://www.scribd.com/doc/27114772/R%CE%B5m%CE

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Cubitt, Sean. 1999. Virilio and New Media. Theory, Culture, Society, Vol. 16(5-6): 127-142.

de Souza e Silva, Adriana. 2006. From Cyber to Hybrid: Mobile technologies as interfaces of hybrid     

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Gane, Nicholas. 2006. Speed Up or Slow Down? Social theory in the information age. Information, 

     Communication and Society, Vol. 9(1): 20-38.

Gane, Nicholas and Beer, David. 2008. New media : the key concepts. Oxford ; New York: Berg.

Gauntlett, David. 2011. Making is connecting : the social meaning of creativity, from DIY and knitting 

     to YouTube and Web 2.0. Cambridge, UK ; Malden, MA : Polity Press.

Harvey, David. 1989. The condition of postmodernity : an enquiry into the origins of cultural change.

     Oxford, England ; New York, NY, USA : Blackwell.

Jenkins, Henry. 2012. Quentin Tarantino's Star Wars? Grassroots creativity meets the media 

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Jenkins, Henry, Purushotma, Ravi et al. 2009. Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: 

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Olivier, Marc. 2011. Civilization Inoculated: Nostalgia and the Marketing of Emerging Technologies.

      The Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. 44(1): 134-157.

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     participate in culture. Information, Communication and Society, Vol. 15(8): 1165-1185.

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     Computer Game Medium. University of Alabama Press.

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Circus

Every time I live in Quebec, somehow I get involved in the circus. How very Gallic to have a professional circus as an Institution of the nation, my stereotyping self thinks. But oh how very cool. Le spectacle is a term that doesn't translate well. The circus, especially one without live animals, is one of wonder, fantasy, fascination, incredibility. The people performing work hard to do this kind of stuff.

When I was in Quebec City in summer of 2009 I was lucky enough to be there during the city's 400th anniversary. There was a free outdoor show being put on by Cirque du Soleil because of the anniversary. Now I'm in Montreal. This weekend there was a 3-day "culture days" province-wide arts event going on. Montreal, the hometown of Cirque du Soleil, is host to the National Circus School. This weekend they were holding an open house with free shows and an inside look into the training grounds of national and international circus performers. How many people can say they've seen that?! Sure, you can say you've seen it on TV - I'm sure I've seen a special about these kinds of things. Anyway, to turn something that one runs away with when one is discontented with one's life, into an institution that requires training and is a million-dollar entertainment industry, and to have it in an already creative city like Montreal, is nothing short of, well, spectacle-ular.

A culture that is able to laugh at itself is one that knows how to live.

Update

I am now studying for a Graduate Diploma in Communication Studies at Concordia University.

Since my last post, I've travelled in Nicaragua, through Europe and through Southern China and I've moved to Montreal.

Now that I'm forced to think of media for school, I will update more often so keep reading!

I No Longer Read Travel Books

This is a memo to myself and actually, anyone who reads blogs:

I no longer read travel books.
To live vicariously through something or someone else, whether that be a friend, a travel book, a news report, a postcard or a film, is to not live at all. You may say that it is the second best thing to the actual thing, but what is the actual thing anyway? When I was living the most, I watched the least films. I love films but they are just images of fantasies of other people. Throw away your armchair and travel in the place you live. Walk. Talk to people on the streets. Eat up life, consume life. Fictions free you and you may escape life for a while, but life always catches up. Instead of trying to outrun life by consuming fictions, wouldn't it be better to catch up with your dreams?

"I want firsthand knowledge of everything, not fiction, intimate experience only. Whatever takes place, even a crime I read about, I can't take an interest in, because I already knew the criminal. I may have talked with him all night at a bar. He had confessed what he intended to do. When Henry wants me to go and see an actress in a play, she was a friend of mine at school. I lived at the home of the painter who suddenly becomes a celebrity. I am always inside where it first happens. I loved a revolutionist. I nursed his discarded mistress who later committed suicide. I don't care for films, newspapers, 'reportages,' the radio. I only want to be involved while it is being lived." --June Miller

I Miss Ottawa Only This Much

View Favourite Spots of Ottawa in a larger map

Herzog on Waldo

If you've ever seen Grizzly Man, Encounters at the End of the World, or any other of Werner Herzog's documentaries, his irritating voice-over narration may either make you ponder about life's depths or make you want to cover your ears. Here's a spoof:

Guster!

Describing Guster is a difficult task. The group with 3 core members who met in university can be called a college band, an alternative rock band, but that categorizes them with much much less worthy bands.

With most indie-type bands I can tell you the story of how I "discovered" them but with Guster I totally forget. I know it was during the last few years of high school though.

A few nights ago I went to the Phoenix concert theatre in Toronto (a venue I dislike very much) expecting to hear some good ol' songs. Well, it turned out to be one of the top 5 concerts I've ever been to. The best concerts plaster a smile to my face and at the end of this one I had a huge grin and was skipping down the street to the subway station.

In another post I mentioned that concerts aren't just for hearing music - if I wanted that I could just listen to it at home or on an ipod (and, in the case of bad artists, I wouldn't have to put up with off-key singing either) - they have to be entertaining. Let me list the things that Guster performed to entertain:

1. They had a guy come out in a hot dog costume in the middle of the thing.
2. They didn't bother with an encore the first time. Adam Gardner said something along the lines of "Goodnight!" signifying that the concert was over. He then turned his back to the crowd, then turned around again and said into the mic, "Okay, we're back."
3. The harmonic singing. Wow, it's so refreshing to not hear only one voice.
4. Luke Reynolds recently joined the band, so a whole crowd shouting 'Luke!' sounded like 'Boo!' (Adam Gardner pointed this out)
5. Brian (the drummer's) perfectly horrible rendition of Under the Bridge as a final encore.
6. The switching of many guitars. Banjos. Trumpets.
7. Brian plays crazy drums with his hands.
8. The crowd. There were some really excited fans. The last two concerts I went to there, the crowd was really snobby (it was probably because of the artists who were playing there). Since Guster have been around for quite a while, there was a good mixture of old and young fans.

I didn't take any photos or videos but I'm sure you can search for them :)