Thursday, January 17, 2019
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
Monday, December 6, 2010
Video Games
So video games in my life have been one of the main distractions that gets in the way of my responsibilities. So I decided to make it apart of my assignment to be more productive. Typically I play video games whenever I am stressed, bored, or just flat out not wanting to address my responsibilities. I have enjoy getting outside of myself for awhile and relieve some stress and a lot of times video games is what I do to accomplish that. In the Rediscovering Reality article we read last week I think pertains to this idea of a gaming culture but on the opposite end of the spectrum. I think that in ways in the gaming community we tend to not want to have anything to do with reality or rather create a reality. If reality is "as is" or "just as they are". There are plenty of people that don't want that. Gamers go about reality in different ways than others do. We are able to make a spectacle out of false reality as much as other people make a spectacle of reality tv shows. However, instead of participating in someone else's reality they create a brand new reality. As gamers we tend to want to avoid all the drama so we retreat into our reality.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Assignment 6
For option 2, I did do a close reading on my Dell laptop. I use my laptop for everything, whether it’s for checking emails, online television, video games, music or movies. I use my laptop to do my homework, watch movies, and download music. I also use MSN Messenger or Skype to talk to my family and friends worldwide. The laptop is a very useful machine that has no limits.
Laptops are an improvement of home desktops. Laptops can be carried anywhere and are made to fit in small spaces. Laptops are being made smaller every day, especially Macs. Laptops have changed in size ever since they were created. On a laptop, you can do infinite things. Your laptop is like your gateway to the world. It presents many resources to you through the World Wide Web. The possibilities of the laptop are countless. You are connected to friends through software and programs, such as Skype and Facebook. Owning a laptop is very important because it connects the individual to the world and many other things through the medium. The media is like an object with many signifiers. I believe the idea behind the laptop kind of shares McLuhan's thoughts, especially in his article The Medium Is the Massage. In this article, he emphasized that “the medium is the message” in terms of the electronic age, that a totally new environment has been created. The “content” of this new environment is the old mechanized environment of the industrial age. “
Understanding what you see on the laptop is very different from what you might see on television. By that I mean that for example when you’re on the laptop, there are many things right in front of you that you can engage in. But on the television, you can’t do anything but look at the images and hear the sounds.
Assignment #6: Close Reading into iPod Touch
Well, the item I tend to use daily is my iPod Touch, primarily for music even though it has features such as apps, the internet, timer, an alarm, photos and video carrier, and etc. I have certain parts of my day where I use it, when heading off to classes I can listening to my various music that I have or play some podcasts that I have been meaning to listen to. In this media driven world, an iPod Touch has everything to offer, except for phone usage and texting but that is something it’s counterpart, the iPhone, does. It’s something I would guess most iPod Touch owners would love since it can tap into the major media outlets. The factor it proves to show is it can keep you very much entertained with all it offers. Where we are with this world and how most people function in their everyday life, the iPod Touch touches on many of those basis. People listens to music and go on the internet all the time and that alone is a staple of our everyday lives.
What this touched on from our readings is McLuhan’s Understanding Media and how technology is used as an extension of man. How these items that we have become something we’ve identified ourselves with and turns into a daily function that become a part of us. Another thing is looking at Apple brands in general and how it devise this plan that we have to have it. Klien’s New Branded World, shows us how companies aren’t trying to sell products but they are trying to sell brands. So maybe the fact, that I have this iPod Touch is because I belong in this ready-made group of people who are looking for this new and innovated technology that comes with being a Apple owner. That all of the uses for the iPod Touch come secondary only to the fact that I am a iPod Touch owner, so that makes me better. So what I see here, is two things that our running my everyday life based on this, the media and the brand.
Extra Credit:
Paintbrush
If there is an object that I used most regularly on a day to day basis it would be a paintbrush. I have an entire collection of some old some new, of all sizes, which I use to produce paintings. I do have a favorite in this bunch, an old wood brush with horsehair. It is stained with many colors and the finish is chipping away. When I hold this brush in my hand I am controlled by spontaneity and my mind clears. The brush is an extension of my being. Its role is to aid in the production of “beautiful” images, beauty being subjective of course. It is designed to apply paint in such way that reduces unnecessary effort. Its long handle provides comfort and control. The bristles apply paint in a smooth uniform way. The old, worn, and tattered brush contradicts the “beauty” of the final product.
The paintbrush is a symbol of the artist and the art it is creating. There are many connotations about artist including that they are deranged or have psychological issues, and frequent drug use. Artists also have always been regarded as highly intellectual, such artists as Picasso or Salvador Dali were known to be geniuses. The image of the artist has changed dramatically over time. Art used to be a craft, studied for years and years by strict study under a master. Paintings were limited to only religious images. Now anyone with a couple bucks can wield a brush and paint whatever they choose. I believe it was Mcluhan that stated technology has transformed old craft into what we would now call an art form. For example factories can mass-produce a cup, but when someone hand makes one it is art. Now, our senses have been overloaded with advertising and digital images; it is overwhelming. My paintbrush embodies an old tradition and an anti-digital world; this is why I use it every day.
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