The Internet is waiting with 300 million “Friends”.

So upon reading Chapter 6 in our text and Karen Evans’ The Significance of Virtual Communities, I have decided that I agree with Evans. Sociologists are going to have to change how they define community. 

 A few years ago at Christmas my brother and I were in EBGames looking for a new game for our other brother. Now the two of us that were shopping are not gamers but when we were in there we saw an advertisement for some online community. It said somthing along the lines of “Join today and play immediately with 300 million friends.”.  Now upon reading this we started to laugh.  What nerds we thought.  We still joke about it.  300 million dweebs more like it.

But after doing this week’s readings I’ve come to realize that I may have been wrong. Is the online sites I go to differ much from some gaming community like this? Not really. Facebook is a popular site these days I go to and it’s no different besides maybe the ‘interests’ of the viewers.

Communities are being created by ‘likes’ these days.  The space concept is slowly being drowned out by the ability for people to ‘connect’ with other people they have never met in their lives. ‘Interests’ is slowly becoming a defining characteristic of Community.

I even have to admit that some online gaming things seem kind of cool.  I’ve never played the infamous World of WarCraft but I have seen a friend play it. He had the whole headset and everything and was talking to people from all over the world while he was playing this thing.  Their whole’interest’ was this game. Not anything else.   They were all of different ages. They had created this community based around their interest in this game.  There are other types of communities based on different interests.  (poker communities, sports communities, you name it.) Whatever you like there is a community out there for you.  You don’t even have to be anywhere near the people that share your interests.

 So I guess instead of labelling the 300 million “friends” as dweebs maybe I should take a look around and realize that probably everyone in our class is a member of a community somewhat like that one but with different’interests’. I guess we’re all part of one giant dweeb network community.

Friendly Giant was a staple of our childhood

I don’t know about the rest of you but when I was merely a tyke I remember watching the Friendly Giant in the afternoons (right after nap time).  Now this show was terrible, but for some reason I watched it. I have no idea why.  When I was browsing around on youtube I came across a little clip that showed how much the show had changed from it’s conception in 1953.  If you watch this you’ll understand what I mean.

So as you can see the only significant change over the last 40 years it was on television is the fact that it changed to color. With all the technological advancements over the last 40 years the only change was color.

This in itself is saying an incredible amount about children’s television. It almost seems like technology really is irrelevant to this small demographic. You can’t tell me you’d have rather watched some of the garbage they put on tv today for kids instead of watching the Friendly Giant, Mr Dress-up, Mr Rogers neighborhood or Seasame Street.   

It seems that small children don’t need technology to be entertained. To justify this all I have to do is ask that you flip to the “Treehouse network” for children.  Holy Hell. Now this is scary shit. Grown adults acting ridiculous for a living. It seems like these adult ‘actors’ on children’s shows have done a line of crack before going on air.  But then I start to think about it and kids don’t care about being normal. They want to see the ridiculous.  Sure Mr. Dressup and the Friendly Giant weren’quite as out there as some stuff on tv today but they were doing essentially the same thing to entertain us for the last 40 years. It’s all about the human aspect and connecting with the children. 

So in reiteration I say technology is irrelevant when it comes to children’s television.  Adults on the other hand are different all together. We need techonology to keep us entertained.  Making an adult watch the “Treehouse network” is like a form of cruel punishment.

I’m ok with hating things for no good reason

After reading Jonathan Gray’s article Hate, Dislike, Disgust, Distemper, and Distaste I have decided that I judge things all the time and many times do so with little or no relevant reasons. I don’t believe this makes me ignorant.  I don’t tend to ‘damn’ things with out being educated about them, as Gray mentions many people do. I think it’s a right we have as humans to have our own opinions. Sure we may not always understand why we have the opinions we do, but would a more prominent study of anti-fandom be fulfilling and worthwhile?

The answer is not really.  Any new methods of understanding ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’ by a new anti-fandom mindframe would most likely not be worthwhile as it would be lost in the hazy glow that has already encompassed media participants. Now that is a pretty packed statement made right there, but what is meant by it is simply: people don’t care why they ‘like’ or ‘dislike’ things/media.

Think about a television show that you absolutely dispise. You may know the reasons you hate it or you may not.  You may have simply thought it was stupid.  You may have never seen the show at all and you still hate it. Why is that?  WHO CARES. 

There is no need to study why people hate things. There are so many opinions out there that no matter what you can not appeal to everyone. So instead of trying to appeal to everyone by studying anti-fandom, people should merely try to appeal to those that like their product/show/music/themselves.

People should not feel bad because they dislike something. It’s not wrong to dislike things. Damning them is another thing, especially if uneducated about them. But Hey, I’m ok with hating things for no reason. I don’t need to know why I hate them.  Opinions are just that, and what appeals to one may totally revolt another.

Inappropraite Media??

I know I’ve already ranted on long enough for today but I had to mention something on the Saddam hanging not long ago.  Doesn’t it seem that with the ever growing technological abilities that ethics have gone out the window?  Something such as an execution being filmed on a videophone for the whole world to see is brutal. Worse yet is the fact that thousands have seen the video. How does this make us any different that 200 years ago when people used to have public executions. Executions the whole town would watch.  We call them cruel and savage when looking back on history but aren’t we doing the exact same thing merely in a different form. I’m not saying I have an opinion one way or the other on Saddam as I couldn’t care less.  It’s just interesting to see what media has done to modern society through one small tape of an execution. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-KATSAtjvY

First Blog Thoughts

Well after the first class I am glad I didn’t drop it.  After four years of university this is definitely the type of class I need to finish up with. As most of the individuals in class likely are, I am addicted to the internet and all that it encompasses (email, instant messaging, and random surfing).  This class is a perfect fit. No tests. No boring lectures on useless things you memorize for a test and never use again.

Upon reading a few other blogs I see that many are giving their views on media and the class in general. Others have moved onto discuss the readings for this week but I will be saving my discussion on that for tomorrow. Here are some of my opinions for the different categories of media that we discussed in groups in the first class.

Books - I was surprised to see that something as old and traditional as reading has even taken a step into modernity. It appeared that people tend to be reading newer books instead of the classics. While Lord of the Rings is a definite classic, Harry Potter is hardly in the same realm. Perhaps it is only a matter of years before Harry Potter joins the classics in that realm of timelessness. Just my opinion.

Internet -I can’t seem to argue with the in-class group picking email as the dominant figure when it comes to the internet. Media obviously took a giant leap forward when it was able to be sent back and forth instantaneously between people all over the world.

Music -I don’t want to even attempt to say what the single most important thing is in the sphere of music, but I will give my opinion to see if it stirs up some discussion. I will say that with the ability to record music came the most important step for music in modern times. Can you imagine not having eight-tracks, casette tapes, or Cds?  Music would not have nearly the same impact on society today without them.

Games - I’m not much of a gamer these days but I couldn’t believe Mario Brothers was not mentioned as the single greatest franchise for any game console.  Period. In fact, I’ve put my header for the time being as Mario, just as a statement for this. While there are thousands upon thousands of games these days, everyone should remember the days when they would play Mario on the original Nintendo because quite simply, there was no other comparison. I remember playing Atari ,but when Mario came along it was thrown into a box under the stairs. That’s how big Mario was.

TV-I can’t say I was surprised when Grey’s Anotomy was chosen as the one thing for television. I live with two girls who watch it religiously and have to admit I can tell you everything that’s happened on the show. Being a guy I somehow feel a bit less masculine for having said that. 

Movies - How do you name one thing that best describes movies.  Perhaps just the theater experience itself. Better picture, sound, seats, and almost every other factor is getting better.

To sum up, it seems that everyone of these categories is pushing into more modern and technologically advanced fields. With Books the most read books now seem to be Harry Potter, a relatively new book. Television is all about the here and now. With FRIENDS off the air for the last few years people were craving a new show they could call their own. While the O.C. used to be the ‘it’ show, now Grey’s Anatomy has taken it’s place. How long until a new better show replaces it? Music is constantly in the here and now, but thanks to recording abilities music from decades past are aslo readily available, unlike centuries before.  While television is definitely focusing on the future, movies can be new or old and still be favorites. The ability to watch old ‘classic’ movies enables this category to be both in the here and now and also in the past.

This whole notion of being in the here and now is just another way of saying that we are constantly looking towards the future when it comes to these categories. Who doesn’t wonder what the next big thing is going to be when it comes to the future of media?