I wonder why MTV got rid of TRL?

Have you been watching all of your music videos on YOuTube instead of TRL since TRL (and all of MTV it seems) does not actually let you watch the entire video without a little box popping up, with an annoying high schooler giving a "shout-out"? Well MTV has come out with a new website - MTV MUSIC where they have uploaded billions of their videos for your viewing pleasure. Now you can be your own MTV VJ! ;)

MTV finally realized that most of their fan base consisted of young teens who found YouTube and other online resources for their videos. Now, MTV has given people access to their database, boasting a most extensive one. They can finally cash in as young Myspacers and Facebookers and Bloggers embed their music videos all over the net.

Digital Natives Blog

This blog is right up our Media 2.0-philic alley! This is also a great (non-peer reviewed, I believe) resource for very new media like social networking sites, etc. Please check it out.

Check out this video about digital footprints (they call them digital dossiers):
Digital Dossiers

Where can you find international opinions on who should be the next president of the United States?

These are a few responses to Barack Obama's 30 minute special infomercial. Click on the comments to read from a bigger picture!

Robo-call v. Text Msg: Obama and McCain's Use of Media Pt 2

This article
from Slate magazine (which I recommend, because they collaborate with National Public Radio's team of editors) is another chapter in Obama's text and McLuhan's media is the message. Will McCain bite the dust cause he and his campaign managers aren't tech-savvy?

How many Facebook friends do you have?

Here is a guy who tried to have a facebook party. Find out how many "friends" showed up!

Click here for the Full NY TIMES article

Debate the Debate

For those of you who are watching the debate tonight and feel like discussing it afterward, but have no desire to leave the house, this is for you.



http://theforum.cnn.com/

Shifting Gray Matter

I found this article on how the internet is rewiring our brains. It's a very interesting reply to Carr's article. Unlike Carr, Interlandi doesn't seem to see the changes as a necessarily negative event.

Click here to read the article.

Obama's "Mysterious College Years"

He it just too articulate.



It has recently been reported that FOX News came out with a faux documentary called "Obama and Friends: The History of Radicalism," which debuted on Hannity's America. Watch part one here:

Watch out for suggestive photo montages (ie. Obama ALMOST making the Shhh sign. Saadiq smoking a cigarette X 5, lurking black and white images of "radical socialists")

Is he trying to hide a radical philosophy???





Click here for the LATIMES article

Dealing with video games as an emerging medium...

"Some people argue that video games are an emerging medium likely to undergo an evolution. “I wouldn’t be surprised if, in 10 or 20 years, video games are creating fictional universes which are every bit as complex as the world of fiction of Dickens or Dostoevsky,” said Jay Parini, a writer who teaches English at Middlebury College."

Read the entire NY Times article here

Do you suffer from dirty carpet anxiety?

I am sorry if you do.

Last night, I saw this commercial when I was watching The Fugitive

I knew what the speaker was talking about, but still, the woman's anxiety about her dirty carpets made me feel uncomfortable.

Is it possible that the more marketing and advertising companies create "types" of people, as consumers, we cannot help but look out for ourselves in the ads? Are we waiting to be interpellated? Are we listening for that "hey you!" ?
Can you think of a time when you didn't know you were "something" until you saw a commercial or read an ad?

ex #1: My mother has dirty carpet anxiety, but I don't think she knows it has a name or that there are so many others like her. Some (if the commercial reflects reality-ha!) WOMEN won't even let their friends in when it's pouring rain because of the heavy traffic that has dirtied her carpets! How embarrassing!

Art as Commodity

Summarizing Adorno, Gauntlett notes that "media products can never be 'art' which just happens to be a commodity; instead 'they are commodities through and through'" (Gauntlett, 24).

What would Adorno think of the reputable Japanese artist, Takashi Murakami, who blends traditional, sophisticated Japanese aesthetic with the Louis Vuitton brand and Japanese pop culture to create "fine art" that speaks to the masses?

Alaska is a microcosm of America?

In the video below, Sarah Palin avoids naming any news sources when Katie Couric asks her where she gets informed. So defensive!

While defending herself, Palin says that Alaska is a microcosm of America. Interesting. Los Angeles has a homeless population of about 80,000 and is about to be the first "third world city" in America.

In 2007 Alaska had less than 3,000 homeless people. When is Palin going to come visit L.A. ? Or perhaps we should all take a trip to Alaska and see what it is really all about?