Meeting Taylor Swift

Im a 6’4, 23 year old guy….I am probably the last person on the planet that people would see as a Taylor Swift fan….but I’m proud to say….I love her and Im a huge fan :). How big of a fan am I? Well…..

One of my big passions is my love for wrestling. And for the first time in what seemed like, EVER, WWE was taping Monday Night Raw at the Air Canada Centre. I bought my ticket over a month and a half ago and was sooooo excited to see the show, as it would be the first one that I had been to in about 2-3 years. But………………….this weekend I get a text from my good friend Katie, telling me that Taylor Swift is going to be making an appearance at TIFF. I was so bummed out when I was unable to make either of her RED Tour concerts in Toronto this past summer, so when I heard she was going to be on the red carpet I got even more excited. Being a (struggling) actor myself, I try to not geek out as much as possible….but I couldn’t help it.Only thing was, I had to choose…meet Taylor or go to RAW. I spent all weekend thinking what I should do….but in the end, I decided to forget about going to RAW, and instead, I got to the theatre at 1:00 pm to wait 6 1/2 hours to see Taylor Swift…..and had a great time. I seemed like the odd guy out, since I was surrounded by mainly teenage girls (as well as my awesome friend Katie) but I enjoyed every second of it. When that gorgeous, stunning, jaw droopingly beautiful Goddess in white stepped out of the car, I, along with every other person there began screaming and chanting her name. She signed autographs all along the barricade of people, and then she got to me. I didn’t want an autograph all I wanted was to see her. And she smiled at me and said “Hi”, then she probably got creeped out when I smiled back like an idiot….and that was it….

So….was it worth not going to RAW? Skipping something that was very important to me so that I could see Taylor Swift up close for about 5 seconds? Yes :)….without a doubt, yes :). It was a long wait….but the end result was so worth it, and even the wait itself was pretty good, being surrounded by awesome people 🙂

Taylor, I know your probably never going to see this, but if you do……thank you for all that you’ve done, thank you for your beautiful heart and your inspiring soul, thank you for choosing to have a career expressing yourself through music, thank you for being as beautiful of a person on the inside as you are on the outside, thank you for speaking to the world in pure poetry, thank you for being strong willed and determined, basically thank you, for being you….

If anyone hasn’t died from my cheesiness yet, your the real hero of this 🙂 

As a lifelong fan of professional wrestling, I decided to dedicate my Storify article to the discussion of the removal of wrestling from the Olympics come 2020. I have always been a fan of professional wrestling. I loved watching it when I was a kid and I still love watching it to this day. I love everything from the in ring action to the storylines to the pageantry and the excitement I feel while watching it. However, as I said in my Storify article, im very aware that professional wrestling is a scripted form of entertainment and not a real sport as compared to basketball or hockey. I argued that because Olympic wrestling and professional wrestling are so different from one another, the removal of Olympic wrestling would result in a drop of amateur high school and college/university wrestlers. I still hope that the descision will be reversed sometime within the next year as wrestling is one of the oldest sports and it would be a shame to take it away. Check out any of these blogs and websites if you have any interest in the topic yourselves. 🙂

WEBSITES:

http://espn.go.com/olympics/wrestling/story/_/id/8939185/ioc-drops-wrestling-2020-olympics

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324880504578299693435845664.html

Olympic Wrestling: Why Removal from Olympic Program Won't Adversely Affect WWE

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2013/02/12/ioc-drops-wrestling-2020-olympics/1912179/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissmith/2013/02/12/olympic-committee-shockingly-drops-wrestling-from-2020-games/

BLOGS:

Wrestling Removed From The Olympics

http://prowrestlingisfake.wordpress.com/2013/02/12/wrestling-removed-from-olympics/

How Can Wrestling Fight For Its Olympic Survival?

WRESTLING DROPPED FROM 2020 OLYMPICS

Chael Sonnen Blasts Wrestling’s Removal From Olympics

Markie Mark and Im Here To CONSUME YOU!

It’s very hard to believe that April has come up so fast….or, in my case, my life as a Brock student (hopefully!). Since the beginning of this course I have had several new experiences within the online social networking community. I never had a blog until I got WordPress, I had never done a podcast until Module 6, and, even though it has been so popular over the last 2 or 3 years, I never once had a Twitter account…until COMM 2F50. As I mentioned in my previous blog, other than a couple of years putting up videos on Youtube and updating my Facebook status I had a very small standing in the online community. However, thanks to this course, over the last 8 months I have become more of a “produser” then I have ever been.

The first question of Module 8 asks: given your experience with the various tools used in the course, do you feel more inclined to become a “produser? As of right now my answer is probably going to stand at “no,” however, given how many diverse and interesting different sites that I have been introduced too in this class there is a possibility that I will be. What I learned from my experience doing Youtube videos from 2006-2009 was that the only way I would continue to put up my videos and video blogs were if I continued to have an audience. I like using WordPress. It’s a simple site that allows me to express my thoughts and views (as well as assignments) in blog posts. But in all honesty, other than a few of the students from the course my blogs have yet to capture an audience. It’s kind of like the age old question: “if a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it, does it make a sound?” If I put out a blog, and no one reads it, did it really ever exist? However, when it comes to Twitter, I think Im going to keep mine because I have seen and experienced how much fun it can be. I created one strictly for this course, but I’m already addicted too it. Soundcloud and Storify were also incredibly unique experiences as it allowed me to be able to make my postings (and podcasts) a lot more interesting by adding more “personality” and “life-ness” too them, rather than just a bunch of words on a screen.

The second question follows with: what intimations of deprival do [you]have (if any) regarding the “produsage” that potentially looms before us? This is a difficult question to really give a strait forward answer too. Of course there is the complaint that produsage causes non-critical consumption of facts (e.g. seeing something on Wikipedia and automatically assuming its true). It’s a fact that a lot of what is on the internet is either non-critical nonsense and biased viewpoints, however, if one takes the time to filter through these webpages (as opposed to staying on page 1 of a Google search) they would see that there are just as many critical, thought provoking articles and works of citizen journalists.

Peter Lunenfeld called the computer the defining culture machine of the 21st century and this couldn’t be truer (2007). Even though computers existed way before the turn of the century, everything that has become of computers, technology and the internet is a long way from what it ever was before the 2000’s came along. This huge change divides the way that people see the usage of the internet: The first way is looking at it as a more efficient, easier way of living and doing daily activites (sending e-mail, connecting with people on Facebook, watching movies/videos, ect.). On the other hand, many people see the internet as something that is lazy, un-healthily addicting and causing a strain on people’s “social” skills. Both views make excellent points as the internet does make my life a whole lot easier. I don’t need to go to the library and spend hours looking through books to find what I need, if I need to get in touch with someone urgently then I can pick up my cell phone and call them, or text them, or instant message them. However, I also agree with the fact that my computer gets too addicting at times and (back when I was around 14-15ish) diminished some of my social skills as I spent my life on MSN messenger.

With my prior experiences with being a produser, I really don’t see myself continuing to be one after this class ends (however, I could be wrong). And, as for the deprival….Like I said, I really don’t have a stance on that one since both sides make great points. However, like I said, people just need to take the time to filter through the non-critical side of the internet to find the good stuff.

Peace and love 🙂

Everyone’s a Clark Kent….but who’s the real Superman?

                Because of the sudden rise of social media and social networking websites, society has not only become able to access public media easier, but also been able to contribute to it. Things such as posting a status on Facebook, to sending out a quick tweet, to putting up a video on Youtube allow people to express their views, thoughts and opinions to the rest of the world. It is amazing how far the ability to participate in citizen journalism has increased (especially over the last 10-15 years). Before the rise of the internet in the 90s, the only way that an everyday man or woman would be able to publically express an opinion would be something like writing an editorial for a local newspaper. Since most of the content in newspapers and on television was (and still is) heavily monitored, many people turn to the internet where they are able to read the opinions of other everyday citizens. Whether peoples thoughts and opinions are seen (or heard) by 5 people or 5 million people, the ability to be a citizen journalist is so easy that nowadays even a child could do it.

 

                I have personally seen this rise effect myself and a previous working experience of mine. As I aforementioned in a previous blog, back in late 2006 I began posting videos to Youtube (back in its earlier days) expressing my thoughts on professional wrestling. By mid-2007 my video views were in the 5,000-10,000 view range. However, by late-2007 I noticed something….there were hundreds of other people on Youtube who were also now expressing their opinions on wrestling. By early 2008 my views had dropped, then by mid-2008 they had dramatically dropped (to about 1,000-1,500) and at that point I realized how powerful and easily accessible social journalism had become. I finally realized that everyone has an opinion, and thanks to the internet expressing that opinion was as easy as turning on a camera and talking. Since my “days” on Youtube, other than updating my Facebook status I will rarely contribute to the online world of citizen journalism. I prefer to read the opinions and thoughts of others rather than contribute to it. However, thanks to a few of the websites in this course such as WordPress and Storify, I have become more of a citizen journalist than I had been in the 4 years prior. Also, when I joined this class I made a Twitter account for the first time and now I find myself on it every day (not so much contributing as I am reading the updates from others).

 

                In the article Tweets and Truth: Journalism as a discipline of collaborative verification (2012), Hermida discusses the biggest problem that has become of social journalism and media networking since its origins on the internet….the process of verification. The article mentions that Tweets and videos from eyewitnesses of certain incidents are there to fill the space that comes after the news is broken. Even some of the amateur videos that are tweeted will end up on an Evening News. However, the problem with this is that even though people can claim that these sightings and videos are real there is never a true verification. Professional journalists pride themselves on producing works backed up by evidence and facts. If a journalists writes (or broadcasts) something that is found to be proven wrong they will need to retract their statements (most of the time) as an act of professional courtesy. However, on the internet, there is no need to have anything verified. As long as the citizen journalist has a computer, or a phone, that’s all the verification that they need.

 

Basically, citizen journalism can be summed up with the old says “EVERYONE has an opinion.” If tomorrow, the internet were to go away forever people will still have an opinion no matter if they had a forum to express that opinion or not. Like I said, up until this course I had mainly stayed away from social networking and citizen journalism for about 4-5 years, however, since using a couple of interesting sites in the course (as well as creating a Twitter account), I have been doing it more and more.

Downloading media…..Immoral problem or cost-efficient thinking?

My audio blod focuses on a quote from the article Under the Pixelated Jolly Roger: A Study of On-Line Pirates (Steinmetz & Tunnell, 2013). This article spoke to me the most because of 2 reasons: 1) it is much more up to date than the prior 3 articles and 2) it gives a more in depth analysis of why people choose to pirate their music (and films). The quote that I chose (which will be discussed in the blog) gives a more clear reasoning as to why people download music “illegally” and their moral reasons for doing it.

“Look Edison my first invention! See I put these extra legs on the back of my chair, kind of like the ones on the back of your….”

“The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources” – Albert Einstein

 

Copyright laws are defined in Webster’s dictionary as “the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute the matter and form of something (as a literary, musical, or artistic work),” yet there is a whole fleet of amateur directors, composers, musicians, songwriters etc, that have begun to solidify a place for themselves within the online world. There is no originality anymore, it is pretty much guaranteed that someone has created and published the same thing as you.

 

That was my opening paragraph…….or rather it was a combination of three segments of the opening paragraphs from my fellow students Marine’s Blog, Followemc and Tom Branston. I have taken their ideas and put them together in order to create an opening statement and thesis of my own. However, going one step further, Kirby Ferguson says in his documentary Everything is a Remix that pretty much everything seen and heard in the mainstream public domain is originated from a prior source. He argues that everything that appears to be new and original comes “from geniuses of our past.” (Ferguson, 2010). Things such as novels, songs and films are all influenced by ideas from the past, even if they are barely noticeable and ages apart. A big example of something like this would be the 1991 Michael Jackson song “Will You Be There.” The song caused a lawsuit when Italian singer Albano Carrisi claimed that the music was stolen from his song “I Cigni di Balaka” (“The Swans of Balaka”). However, the court ruled in favor of Jackson, stating that while the two songs were very similar, they both may have been inspired by the Ink Spots 1939 hit “Bless You for Being an Angel.” (http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1430456/michael-jackson-fends-off-plagiarism-suit.jhtml)

 

Manovich quotes in his article that “According to 2007 statistics, only between 0.5 % – 1.5 % users of most popular social media sites (Flickr, YouTube, Wikipedia) contributed their own content.” When people post their videos to Youtube they do several things to try and stop the video from being removed from the site. One of the more popular ways of fighting these copyright laws is too flip the video around so that everything looks backwards, and Sean Caley also brings up the fact that many people will try and alter the pitch of the sound in order to make the song sound mildly different than what it actually does. Actually as of right now there are several videos on Youtube with either blocked sound due to copyright infringement or songs that have changed on the video over time because the owner has been forced to re-edit different ones into it. In the article The Practice of Everyday (Media) Life, Manovich says that one of the most popular types of video’s on Youtube are AMV’s (Anime music videos) where a clip from an Anime is shown while a song of the uploader’s choice is played in the background of it. He says that people like this never claim to have created an original work, “[they] see themselves as editors who re-edit the original material, rather than as filmmakers or animators who create from scratch” (Manovich, 2008).

 

Personally, in this day-and-age I agree with Kirby Ferguson when he says that nothing is an original concept. Every great idea is based on an idea from the past, whether the person who created the idea has a subconscious awareness of this or not.

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This Tube Is Your Tube, This Tube Is My Tube…

Coming from someone who has been very critical about the rise of online content and social networking since the start of the course, I admit that I, myself am not “Saint Amish” in this whole situation and visit sites such as Facebook and Youtube on a daily basis. Now-a-days I consume alot more of Youtube than I contribute to it, though back around 2007-2009 I would put out a new video once a week (sometimes more) as I had a job with the online vlog: Pro Wresting Report. In 2013 I pretty much just like to watch the videos, and apparently most people agree with me since “according to 2007 statistics, only between 0.5 %– 1.5 % users of most popular social media sites (Flickr, YouTube, Wikipedia) contributed their own content. Others remained consumers of the content produced by this 0.5 – 1.5%” (Manovich, 2008). The most popular videos on the website tend to come from either popular musicians, and their music videos (Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, ect.) or web series that have been running for several years and have gained a fan following (Fred, Smosh, ect.).

Manovich’s article also says that people tend to use sites like Youtube to “remix” videos and turn them into their own. This is a very true statement and questions the true personal originality of 90% of the video’s on Youtube. Most of them are just fan made music videos of their favourite songs and/or films. People say that because of digital technology, making a movie is easier than ever in this day and age, and this is very true, yet people choose to take copyrighted content, remix it, maybe add some pictures or a background and then claim it as their own on their personal Youtube page. Of the millions of videos on Youtube, only a handful of them are original, the rest are all “Frankensteins”.” (For those of you who don’t get this comparison, Frankenstein is a monster that was made up of bits and pieces of different things).

1993: “I’ll talk to ya later”…………………………….2013: “tx u l8er lol”

In Goggins article Adapting the mobile phone: The iPhone and its consumption (2009) he says that “the cellular mobile phone was first and foremost an adaptation of the telephone.” This is true, however, now-a-days the term “cell phone” is barely even used anymore. Instead it’s replaced with IPhone, Blackberry and Android, things that have become such a big part of most people’s daily lives that most can’t even leave their homes without their mobile devices. Campbell and Park say that the invention of the IPhone (and other modern cellular devices) was introduced as a way to downplay the use of phone calls between people and introduce a newer wave of mobile devices to people (2008).

The rise of mobile devices over the past decade has changed both what and how people do in their everyday lives, for both good and bad reasons. The good is that due to this rise people are able to communicate with one another both quickly and more efficiently, as well as have things such as the internet readily available within the palm of their hands. However, cellular devices have also had the big negative of being something that continues breaking down personal face to face relationships that people have always shared. Instead of talking to someone while they are right in front of you, we tend to text them and try to have a personal conversation through the use of typed words. According to Goggin, the number of phone subscribers in the world has increased to over 6 billion people, which is over 85% of the planet (Goggin, 2011).

One of my fellow peers Ruty224 made the statement: “It is true, cell phones allow use to touch, see, and hear communication. This then creates an emotional attachment to the device that all of our senses can be apart of.” This statement could not be truer as cell phones have become so much a part of our lives that they are actually becoming part of our bodies, or as Campbell and Park say: “a symbolic representation of self” (Campbell & Park, 2008).

The way that social media has affected the younger generation of today is tremendous. Garret Potter says in his blog “it seems unnatural to not have a cell phone, and indeed it does seem shocking when you meet someone that does not have at least one mobile device these days.” As I aforementioned in my minor blog post I received my first cell phone when I was 14 years old (just entering high school), which was 8 (going on 9) years ago. However, nowadays I see children as young as 6-7 years old will cell phones texting, using various apps and going on the internet.

As the picture above indicates, we are past the days where a teacher can chew out one of his/her students for using a calculator by giving them the lecture that they won’t always have a calculator on them. The student can easily reply “of course we can, we have our phone.” In his blog Potter goes on to say how this rise of mobile technology has affected social, face to face skills that most people would have, giving examples of the use of phones in movie theatres and texting while in the middle of a face to face conversation. This weakens relationships and bonds that people can only get when they are actually in front of someone receiving real human contact.

We, as a youth society have a compulsive need for mobile technology, we need it, we crave it, and when something no longer appeals to us the companies will come up with a “newer, bigger and better” design that does. We may think cell phones have reached their capacity of what they can do for us, but people also thought that 5 years ago. Fill in the blank: “In 5 years my phone will be able too ____________.” If you don’t think there’s any possible answer just wait 5 years.

Works Cited:

http://totraveltoshoptoeat.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/cellphones-are-changing-the-world-oh-no/

Please Hold, I’m Texting… (Module 4 Minor Blog Post)

Campbell, S. W. and Park, Y. J. (2008), Social Implications of Mobile Telephony: The Rise of Personal Communication Society. Sociology Compass, 2: 371–387

Goggin, G. (2009). Adapting the mobile phone: The iPhone and its consumption. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies. 23:2, 231-244.

Goggin, G. (2011). Ubiquitous apps: politics of openness in global mobile cultures. Digital Creativity, 22(3), 148-159.

Life In The Palm of Our Hands

From the beginning of the 90s to present day, a cell phone has gone from being something used only by businessmen and people in high powered positions to being something in the hands of most people across the United States and Canada. I got my first cell phone when I was 14 (2004), and I had to basically beg and plea my parents to let me have one. Despite their refusal I bought one anyway as I had a part time job and was able to afford it. However, nowadays I see kids as young as 7/8 years old carrying around cell phones like they’re attached to them already. These phones have also evolved very quickly. When I was 14, I bought a flip phone which were very beloved back then, but now-a-days phones have evolved to I-Phones, Blackberries and Androids so that people can go on the internet, watch TV and movies, listen to music, text, oh and I think they can also call people too.

Campbell & Park compare this rise of social media to the way that children would once pass notes in class. Now they don’t have to do that anymore because they have cell phones to get the messages to the recipients faster. They also go on to say that mobile phone technology has affected this generation as much as television did for people back in the 1950’s and the internet did for people in the 1990s. Our phones now hold the key to all the information that we need to know in our everyday lives, from the weather, to stocks, to appointments and schedules. The way that we literally have so much information in the palm of our hand has changed how we act in our everyday lives. As I talked about in a previous blog posting, this has become the ADD generation on people. We all love multitasking, doing several things at once instead of just focusing on one.

Gerard Goggin says that the IPhone was the phone that revolutionized the world of cell phones as we know them today when it was introduced back in 2007. He says that the IPhone was the first to introduce the internet feature, as well as the extremely popular App Store. The introduction of the internet on phones is really what sent this generation into overdrive. It used to be, if you didn’t know something, you go look it up in a book. Then it became, if you don’t know something…Google it. Now it’s…”If you don’t know something, pull out your phone and Google it.”

The Information Age: EVOLution or EVILution

If knowledge truly is power, then in this age of information, technology is the number one thing that can give a man (or a womanJ) power. It has become so readily accessible over the years that the common number one solution to any problems is “just Google it.” Whether it be checking the news, researching facts for a term paper, or looking for a new recipe to cook, Google holds the answers to all of life’s problems. The only thing is that technology has developed so fast, and will only continue to grow more and more since we have reached the point of no return. Conversations have gone from face-to-face talking, to snail mail, to e-mail, to MSN messenger, to texting, to Skype and then to Facebook. It’s getting to the point where people won’t even need to speak anymore, since we have machines that can do it for us. Just as Castels quotes: “We know that technology does not determine society. It is society.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

 

Living in this technological age has definitely made it easier for us to access information and distribute it back, however it is kind of a frightening thought that technology has a vice on the human race, and not the other way around. Like I said, we have reached the point of no return, and when you can’t return you can only move forward. Castels goes on to talk about how society is the one who forces technology to continue to adapt, and this statement could not be truer. People wanted a device that would allow them to talk to their friends and family without being right in front of them, and thus the telephone was invented. Then people wanted a phone that they could use in their car, so the car phone came along, then the mobile phone, then a smaller mobile phone…then a smaller one…then a smaller one…then a flip one…then one with a bigger screen…then one that could play games…then one that could go on the internet…then one that could watch TV…then one that could text…I mean who uses a phone to call anymore? People say that we may get to a point where technology will no longer be able to improve, but that’s also what they were saying 50 years ago, so humanity seems to always find a way to make things “better” even if they’re not broken.

 

Looking at some of the kick ass blog posts from my fellow peers I noticed one of the main topics that is getting a lot of attention is the recent political race between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Many people have pointed out the fact that both candidates used Twitter in order to enhance their campaigns, especially during election night. On the day of the election, Obama tweeted “RT if you’re on #TeamObama tonight” which is something that is very new as many people believe Twitter is more of a “younger” more “celebrity” based website, and yet it is used to communicate political messages. Obama has over 21 million followers and even though it is easier for him to deliver a short message to the public rather than have to do a “My fellow Americans…” speech, it could also be a more negative thing. As mentioned in Marine’s Blog (http://marniegontovnick.blogspot.ca/2012/11/module-3-major-blog.html ) “You never know who can get hold of his account and one thing can be said which could lead to many conflicts.”

 

Technology will only continue to grow and grow and grow over the years like it has in years past. The only difference is that now it develops much faster. Technology is like a moving train that never stops and only those who are able to adapt can stay on. That my friends…is evolution!