I came across this video while chatting with a friend(Thanks Lizzie!!!). Anyway I found it to be quite interesting.
As media students I'm sure we're all aware that the ways in which we communicate with one another are constantly changing. Many of our major communication methods today didn't exist 5-10+ years ago (Twitter, Instant messaging, YouTube video posts etc.).
We also know that the world is getting smaller; technology brings the world to us by giving us the capacity to chat with someone halfway across the world with the click of a button or read an Egyptian newspaper while sitting at a desk, in a dorm room, in New Jersey.
What I find absolutely mind boggling are the actual numbers. Yes I know millions of people use the internet every day, but I didn't know how many millions. I was only vaguely aware of the fact that more people visit Myspace, Facebook, and YouTube each month than they do news sites like ABC or NBC. I had absolutely NO idea that Michael Jackson's death was considered much more important than the Iranian election. Who'd have thought?
PS: I tried embedding the video, but technology hates me today. Go figure. As wonderful as media/technology can be (bringing the world together and all) it sure can be a real pain in the arse sometimes. Sorry.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
The Yacoubian Building
Hey everyone,
So, last week I had to watch The Yacoubian Building for my Egyptian film class and I just have to say that it's the one Egyptian movie I never thought I'd see. In the textbook for our class the author, Viola Shafik, is always commenting on Egypt's strict censorship laws. She said that among the major taboo topics are sex, religion, and politics. The sex thing is pretty much self explanitory; no overexposure of the human body (male or female), no scenes depicting prostitution, no explicit rape scenes. When it comes to religion, film makers usually stick to depicting Islam rather than Christianity or Judaism (both of which also exist in Egypt) so as not to upset the Islamic majority...and blatent political statements are usually on the "no-no list" so as not to incite rebellion and war.
The Yacoubian Building, however, had all that and more. This film touched upon political corruption, rape, homosexuality, drug use, fundamentalism, and even prostitution...oh and a touch of Christianity was thrown in for good measure. It was an extremely good film, a long film, but a good one, but I just don't understand how the film actually passed the censorship board.
So, last week I had to watch The Yacoubian Building for my Egyptian film class and I just have to say that it's the one Egyptian movie I never thought I'd see. In the textbook for our class the author, Viola Shafik, is always commenting on Egypt's strict censorship laws. She said that among the major taboo topics are sex, religion, and politics. The sex thing is pretty much self explanitory; no overexposure of the human body (male or female), no scenes depicting prostitution, no explicit rape scenes. When it comes to religion, film makers usually stick to depicting Islam rather than Christianity or Judaism (both of which also exist in Egypt) so as not to upset the Islamic majority...and blatent political statements are usually on the "no-no list" so as not to incite rebellion and war.
The Yacoubian Building, however, had all that and more. This film touched upon political corruption, rape, homosexuality, drug use, fundamentalism, and even prostitution...oh and a touch of Christianity was thrown in for good measure. It was an extremely good film, a long film, but a good one, but I just don't understand how the film actually passed the censorship board.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
To tweet or not to tweet?
In this day and age being able to remain in constant contact with your friends, family, and even complete strangers 24/7 seems like a great idea, right? Eh...maybe in theory, but in practice...not so much. We have cell phones, e-mail, blogs, text messaging, instant messaging, Facebook, and Myspace - why then, my friends, do we also need Twitter?
For reasons completely beyond my understanding everyone seems to be 'tweeting' these days...Personally, I don't care what everyone is doing every minute of every day... it seems to me that for only being able to post a message of 140 characters, people on this site sure do share an awful lot - Quite few even tend to seriously overshare. I dont need to know when your walking to class or are on your way to see your shrink, nor do I care to hear all the grisley details of your pending divorce, but I especially dont want to know that you just left the bathroom and/or what you did there. Gross.
I dunno. Maybe its just me that feels this way. I'm perfectly happy with updating my Facebook status whenever I feel the need to do so to keep my friends updated on my current crisis, or chatting with people I know on Aim. I dont feel the need to give the whole world the ability to subscribe to my life.
For reasons completely beyond my understanding everyone seems to be 'tweeting' these days...Personally, I don't care what everyone is doing every minute of every day... it seems to me that for only being able to post a message of 140 characters, people on this site sure do share an awful lot - Quite few even tend to seriously overshare. I dont need to know when your walking to class or are on your way to see your shrink, nor do I care to hear all the grisley details of your pending divorce, but I especially dont want to know that you just left the bathroom and/or what you did there. Gross.
I dunno. Maybe its just me that feels this way. I'm perfectly happy with updating my Facebook status whenever I feel the need to do so to keep my friends updated on my current crisis, or chatting with people I know on Aim. I dont feel the need to give the whole world the ability to subscribe to my life.
Friday, September 18, 2009
The Emigrant
Hey everyone,
I just finished watching Youssef Chahine's film, The Emigrant (1994) for Comm. 399. Overall it was a pretty good film. It rehashes the biblical story of Joseph, or in this film - Ram, who was the favorite son amongst all his father's children. Ram's brothers attempt to kill him because they're insanely jealous of all the affection and attention their father gives to him. Ram manages to escape however and he makes a decent life for himself in Egypt.
The film certainly followed Todorov's narrative theory about equilibrium. In the beginning, clearly everyone wasn't happy, but Ram's entire family/tribe was together - this was their equilibrium. When Ram's brothers attempt to kill him - the equilibrium is disrupted - Ram's father is devestated at the loss of his favorite son, and Ram struggles to acheive his goals in Egypt. Everything is set to rights - the equilibrium restored - when Ram finally meets his brothers again and is able to return home.
While the film hints at the director's Christian beliefs - it never mentions Christianity specifically -only the belief in one true God. I'm pretty sure this has much to do with the censorship practices in Egypt at the time of the films release. One of the textbooks for this class, a book by Victoria Shafik, mentions how it is common practice to make Islam the main religion mentioned in movies so as not to upset people; Islam is afterall the major religion of the Middle East. Interestingly enough, the film ended up being banned in Egypt anyway. Go figure.
I just finished watching Youssef Chahine's film, The Emigrant (1994) for Comm. 399. Overall it was a pretty good film. It rehashes the biblical story of Joseph, or in this film - Ram, who was the favorite son amongst all his father's children. Ram's brothers attempt to kill him because they're insanely jealous of all the affection and attention their father gives to him. Ram manages to escape however and he makes a decent life for himself in Egypt.
The film certainly followed Todorov's narrative theory about equilibrium. In the beginning, clearly everyone wasn't happy, but Ram's entire family/tribe was together - this was their equilibrium. When Ram's brothers attempt to kill him - the equilibrium is disrupted - Ram's father is devestated at the loss of his favorite son, and Ram struggles to acheive his goals in Egypt. Everything is set to rights - the equilibrium restored - when Ram finally meets his brothers again and is able to return home.
While the film hints at the director's Christian beliefs - it never mentions Christianity specifically -only the belief in one true God. I'm pretty sure this has much to do with the censorship practices in Egypt at the time of the films release. One of the textbooks for this class, a book by Victoria Shafik, mentions how it is common practice to make Islam the main religion mentioned in movies so as not to upset people; Islam is afterall the major religion of the Middle East. Interestingly enough, the film ended up being banned in Egypt anyway. Go figure.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
CSI
So I had to watch two episodes of CSI:Miami this week for Comm. 229. Now I love crime shows. Law and Order, the First 48, Unsolved Mysteries. They're great shows...they keep you on the edge of your seat waiting for the conclusion. CSI: Miami - eh, not so much. The pilot episode was horrible - at least I thought so.
The CSI's find clues and piece together information way too easily - it's not very realistic. I'm sure some cases may very well be 'open and shut' deals that are easily solved, but a triple homicide/missing persons case that involves 2 locations and a crappy, uncooperative witness? Come on. That's too tough a case to solve simply by finding some bullet shells, a barrette, and a sweet smelling hat etc. all one right after the other.
I do understand that CSI's writers present their story the way they do due to time contraints and whatnot. I guess I'm just not a huge fan of how CSI gift wraps a crime investigation into such a neat and tidy little package. That coupled with the dry humor made me wonder how the series ever got picked up. Give me some suspense, keep me guessing, suprise me - I like more 'filling' to the shows that I watch.
The CSI's find clues and piece together information way too easily - it's not very realistic. I'm sure some cases may very well be 'open and shut' deals that are easily solved, but a triple homicide/missing persons case that involves 2 locations and a crappy, uncooperative witness? Come on. That's too tough a case to solve simply by finding some bullet shells, a barrette, and a sweet smelling hat etc. all one right after the other.
I do understand that CSI's writers present their story the way they do due to time contraints and whatnot. I guess I'm just not a huge fan of how CSI gift wraps a crime investigation into such a neat and tidy little package. That coupled with the dry humor made me wonder how the series ever got picked up. Give me some suspense, keep me guessing, suprise me - I like more 'filling' to the shows that I watch.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Sorry, but I just had to...
Ok...I hate to do this, especially since everyone and their mother has talked/tweeted/blogged etc.etc. about the Kanye-Taylor incident. BUT I too have to say it - Kanye was such an ass.In typical Kanye fashion, he managed to steal someone else's moment.
The dude makes good music - I'll give him that, I along with everyone else, knew the all the words to "Heartless" within a week of the song's release...(and Taylor makes good music too). However, I've just never liked Kanye as a person. That arrogant swagger just never appealed to me. And his last awards show fiasco (the one where he was pissed off that he didn't win and felt the need to let everyone know it) just turned me off completely.
I don't feel that this story deserved all the attention given it by the press. I've literally heard 'Taylor' and 'Kanye' over 1500 times since the show aired. The story is everywhere...TV, radio, internet. Kanye's done this kind of thing before...and if the media keeps giving him what he wants every time - ATTENTION - then chances are good he'll do it again.
The dude makes good music - I'll give him that, I along with everyone else, knew the all the words to "Heartless" within a week of the song's release...(and Taylor makes good music too). However, I've just never liked Kanye as a person. That arrogant swagger just never appealed to me. And his last awards show fiasco (the one where he was pissed off that he didn't win and felt the need to let everyone know it) just turned me off completely.
I don't feel that this story deserved all the attention given it by the press. I've literally heard 'Taylor' and 'Kanye' over 1500 times since the show aired. The story is everywhere...TV, radio, internet. Kanye's done this kind of thing before...and if the media keeps giving him what he wants every time - ATTENTION - then chances are good he'll do it again.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Wow.
While trying to avoid my mountain of homework yesterday, I found myself on YouTube yet again and discovered this...
Now I love videogames as much as anyone else who plays them, but I can't decide whether or not this is really really cool or really really creepy. Perhaps it's a little of both. I mean who, honestly, wants to have a little virtual boy in their TV? Especially one who can get to know you and read your facial expressions, remember your mom's birthday and whatnot? Just a tad creepy - after all who knows what that little boy will learn should you forget to shut the stupid thing off. Although, it would be pretty funny if I could leave it running and then program him to somehow yell out "Chris is home! Chris is home" as my little brother tries sneaking back into my parent's house late at night. Garenteed he'd never sneak out again. Lol.
As cool as it looks though, I'm curious as to whether or not this thing will actually work like it does in the promo videos. Its for the xbox 360 which means its from Microsoft...and uh we all saw what happened with Vista.
Now I love videogames as much as anyone else who plays them, but I can't decide whether or not this is really really cool or really really creepy. Perhaps it's a little of both. I mean who, honestly, wants to have a little virtual boy in their TV? Especially one who can get to know you and read your facial expressions, remember your mom's birthday and whatnot? Just a tad creepy - after all who knows what that little boy will learn should you forget to shut the stupid thing off. Although, it would be pretty funny if I could leave it running and then program him to somehow yell out "Chris is home! Chris is home" as my little brother tries sneaking back into my parent's house late at night. Garenteed he'd never sneak out again. Lol.
As cool as it looks though, I'm curious as to whether or not this thing will actually work like it does in the promo videos. Its for the xbox 360 which means its from Microsoft...and uh we all saw what happened with Vista.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Some people say...
I don't typically watch Fox News for anything other than catching up on some local news stories. Watching OutFoxed pretty much reminded me why.
As the documentary pointed out, the stories that are given priority are horribly biased. And more than once my favorite shows have been interupted for uber important 'Breaking News' alerts that turned out to be not so important - yes I still remember the 'Martha Stewart met with her probation officer' and the 'Bennifer' alerts. Who cares? Umm not me.
The obvious bias is probably what's causing more and more people to turn to shows like the Colbert Report and the Daily Show for their news nowadays. Myself included. I don't want to watch O'Riley yell at his guests to 'Shut up!' - I thought the whole point of having guests on a show like that was to talk to them...silly me. I find the dose of comedy that Stewart and Colbert throw into their respective shows refreshing and extremely entertaining.
As the documentary pointed out, the stories that are given priority are horribly biased. And more than once my favorite shows have been interupted for uber important 'Breaking News' alerts that turned out to be not so important - yes I still remember the 'Martha Stewart met with her probation officer' and the 'Bennifer' alerts. Who cares? Umm not me.
The obvious bias is probably what's causing more and more people to turn to shows like the Colbert Report and the Daily Show for their news nowadays. Myself included. I don't want to watch O'Riley yell at his guests to 'Shut up!' - I thought the whole point of having guests on a show like that was to talk to them...silly me. I find the dose of comedy that Stewart and Colbert throw into their respective shows refreshing and extremely entertaining.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
"The Other"
So...I just finished watching Youssef Chahine's "The Other" for my Comm. 399 class.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect from an Egyptian film from 1999 at first. I've only taken one one other class dealing with the Middle East and its culture - and aside from learning some pretty cool sounding words all that class did was pretty much emphasize points I kind of already knew (i.e. Muslims are not bad people, Islam shares some basic tenets with other major religions, women typically dress modestly etc.).
This movie didn't really emphasize or showase any of that. It did at one point, poke fun at the head-to-toe dress some women wear though...I totally didn't see that comming nor did I expect all the sexual references (especially after reading the book for this class).
Another thing I totally wasn't expecting - the heavy French influence on the film. The title, the credits etc. were all in french and there were a couple of major references within the film to France. Guess colonialism is still taking its toll on the Arab film industry.
On the whole, the story was an exotic twist on Romeo and Juliet. Aside from a few cheesy romantic lines - I have to say I really liked it (once my eyes adjusted to the horrible streaming quality and I got past my hatred of subtitles - especially white ones). Lol.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect from an Egyptian film from 1999 at first. I've only taken one one other class dealing with the Middle East and its culture - and aside from learning some pretty cool sounding words all that class did was pretty much emphasize points I kind of already knew (i.e. Muslims are not bad people, Islam shares some basic tenets with other major religions, women typically dress modestly etc.).
This movie didn't really emphasize or showase any of that. It did at one point, poke fun at the head-to-toe dress some women wear though...I totally didn't see that comming nor did I expect all the sexual references (especially after reading the book for this class).
Another thing I totally wasn't expecting - the heavy French influence on the film. The title, the credits etc. were all in french and there were a couple of major references within the film to France. Guess colonialism is still taking its toll on the Arab film industry.
On the whole, the story was an exotic twist on Romeo and Juliet. Aside from a few cheesy romantic lines - I have to say I really liked it (once my eyes adjusted to the horrible streaming quality and I got past my hatred of subtitles - especially white ones). Lol.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Hi!!!
Hey all,
Sooo this is my first blog ever - can ya tell? Pretty sad for a Communications major (at least I think so). Anyway I dont have any particularly profound thoughts to share today so how bout an amusing story instead?
So I got my first PC for x-mas when I was maybe 8 or 9. I loved it...took me awhile to figure out how to work it but whatever... Today my son Aidan, who is 3, opens up my laptop, turns it on, somehow navigates his own way through windows vista and starts playing some game on the 'HARD' setting. He's never done that before. It took me a week or so to figure out all the ins and outs of my first computer!!! So now he's got me wondering if I was just really slow as a child or if he's some kind of kid genius. Lol.
Nicole
Sooo this is my first blog ever - can ya tell? Pretty sad for a Communications major (at least I think so). Anyway I dont have any particularly profound thoughts to share today so how bout an amusing story instead?
So I got my first PC for x-mas when I was maybe 8 or 9. I loved it...took me awhile to figure out how to work it but whatever... Today my son Aidan, who is 3, opens up my laptop, turns it on, somehow navigates his own way through windows vista and starts playing some game on the 'HARD' setting. He's never done that before. It took me a week or so to figure out all the ins and outs of my first computer!!! So now he's got me wondering if I was just really slow as a child or if he's some kind of kid genius. Lol.
Nicole
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