favorite meme

My favorite meme is this classic skittles commercial, it gets me every time. It's hilarious, obscure, original and it has a classic tag line, "taste the rainbow" so you know you'll always remember what it was from.

The Matrix and Photography.

I found this weeks response question to be very provocative, Plato's Republic, particularly "The Cave" is a classic representation of understanding reality versus existing in reality, as far as I'm concerned the Matrix deals with the same themes. The virtual space that I'd like to examine is the space of photography. Basically, there are many cultures that believe when you take a photo of someone you capture a part of their soul, and therefore you wouldn't want to represent them in any form other than them physically being present because it would take away from their soul- but since we live in a culture where photography is extremely prevalent ( I mean how many devices that you're using right now can take a photo, and how many can store photos?) I'd like to argue that there is a virtual space and community just for our photos of each other. The space is used as a catalogue for memory, and through photography is where we sort and interact with our memories, and when we're viewing pictures we're entering into another reality, that of the past. This is a similar concept than Plato's reflections on the caves walls, and similarly we're unaware of our voyage into the past through photography.

I hope this makes sense, I'd like to hash out the idea more in class.

stress vs not so stress

Who I talked to today...

The day that I did this assignment I had work, unfortunately It's against the rules for us to take pictures in our uniform so my 24 experience wasn't truly captured. But, I did my best.


This is Dred, my boyfriend, I had work at 8:30 AM so he's still asleep, but I talked to him.


This is NOT the guy who makes my coffee, since apparently he has a phobia of having his photo taken, possibly he made this up but he wouldn't let me take his picture either way.


This is my friend Erin, I ran into her on the subway, we haven't seen each other in months. It was such a sweet surprise.


This is my cab driver, who didn't really speak English and didn't understand why I was taking his photo. He swirved at this moment, thus the blurs. I liked them and this was a super accurate representation of how the drive felt. If you know what I mean.


This is Carrie and Rachel, I watched the Superbowl with them at the Bar.


Here is my roommate, Savannah. She met us at the bar


David, another friend who met us at the bar.

McCluhan

Marshall McCluhan writes a lot about connectivity and achieving something, gaining knowledge through certain medium. The Medium is the Message is one the foundational text for media studies today, and his argument, while a bit dated, still reigns true. The medium is the message, certainly, how we receive technology and communication is relevant to what we're receiving. McCluhan discusses the use of electric light, " The instance of the electric light may prove illuminating in this connection. The electric light is pure information. It is a medium without a message, as it were, unless it is used to spell out some verbal ad or name. This fact, characteristic of all media, means that the “content” of any medium is always another medium." The electric light is certainly pure information, but I think what it contains so much more, it encompasses the notion of dreaming, for through it we see advancements and groundbreaking new forms of technology. We use light in so many different ways, and we understand different forms of light through so many different technologies. I think McCluhan was right when he said the medium is the message, but I would push him to expand on his definition within it, particularly of the electric light. Defining electric light as information feels simultaneously limiting and expansive; while it is information it also contributes to situations and manipulations of mis-information.