Posts

Bit of an Existential Crisis: In Class Assignment

Technology 2017-2027: Media subscriptions (think Netflix, Spotify, etc.) will become standard of media consumption; TV networks will become as insignificant as newspaper is now. 2027-2037: Digital advertising will be more and more prominent, as people use technology in all aspects of day to day life. Good for me, someone going into an advertising based field. 2037-2047: Media will become more individualized. Cordless, personal sized, made with the intention that it will be with a person at any given time. VR will be ridiculously available and people will stop having real world interactions, since they can just simulate it. 2047-2057: So much technology will be created that I can’t imagine and it’s going to freak me out. 2057-2067: Technology will have completely taken over the industry that I work it, forcing me to take on a new career within my industry, focus on the personal aspects rather than the technology aspects. #KeepItHuman Personal Life 2017-2027: Establish m
Post a Comment
Read more

DON'T PANIC: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

This week I listened to the original radio version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy which I found to be more enjoyable than anticipated. Read by Stephen Moore, there was a wide variety of strong voices within the novel, which he articulated well. The story follows Arthur Dent, quintessential and rather bland British man, as he is thrust into a galactic journey upon Earth's demise. This novel felt like an authentic experience because of the nature of its characters. There is no macho action hero here, just realistic beings trying to figure things out step by step, not handling incredible life changes well, and dealing with these big problems. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy does a great job of making everything seem “big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is”. By placing common characters in extraordinary circumstances, Douglas Adams helps us explore issues of the present by placing them in the context o
1 comment
Read more

American Gods

          American Gods did something that I never knew I wanted, happen AND made it wildly enjoyable. While the read was a bit hard, as there was a lot of context I felt I needed to understand each of the gods and how they relate to the plot. I felt Neil Gaiman did a great job making myths relevant to the contemporary world. Incorporating Norse, Hindu, Egyptian, Irish, African, and Slavic gods were what I was expecting- they are well established gods relating to more abstract concepts like wisdom and time. The introduction of “new gods” relating to the internet, television, conspiracy theories and stock markets was refreshing. Those elements, while also more abstract, are more relatable to people in their day to day lives. I will say the inclusion of John Chapman (aka Johnny Appleseed) was a little strange. Not the character, but Johnny Appleseed seemed a little “one-of-these-things-is-not-like-the-other” in the novel. Incorporating these abstract and somewhat disregar
1 comment
Read more

Shards of Honor

Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold was a rather hard read for me. It wasn’t hard to get into, rather it felt stiff and slow after throwing you into what I expected to be an energetic novel. Personally, it read  like a cheesy romance novel, minus any of the overtly romantic bits or uncomfortable pornographic content, which was confusing. I definitely didn’t want that element to be included, but I was holding my breath expecting it and felt almost nervous I was going to stumble across something “sensual”. It lacked something that for the longest time I couldn’t put my finger on. What it's missing is originality, it was terribly predictable. The emotional depth that the characters had was one of the few things about this novel I felt worked. It definitely makes sense as a space opera, I just feel it was a waste of time to read because of what it lacked. I admit most of the i ntergalactic battles and alliances were a bit of a bore, but I persisted to get through this b
Post a Comment
Read more

The Magicians

While I’m sure it doesn’t hold a candle to the novel, I went on a binge of the Syfy Channels series The Magicians. I adored the first season. The pitch that it is Harry Potter-esc with all the glamour of the American university experience is a perfect way to sum up this series. Similar to the Harry Potter series, complex moral issues and spiritual challenges are tackled in ways that are supposed to resonate with the reader. The TV adaptation of The Magicians aged the characters up a bit, which I think affects how I connected with the work more than expected. Had they been teenagers, the wisdom that Q and Alice among other characters seem to have. There’s a juvenile quality (quality is used loosely here, there's nothing “quality” about angsty teenagers) that I feel the issues they take on would take better to, at the age they are in the TV show the characters just seem dim. Exploring concepts that young people struggle with by basing them in these elaborate world’s give t
Post a Comment
Read more

The Hobbit

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien follows the hero's journey almost to a T. The novel begins with the protagonist, Bilbo, enjoying his quiet unassuming life in the Shire,a pleasant place that seems like the safest and most adorable comfortable community one could imagine (The Ordinary World 1/12). Bilbo is visited by a wizard Gandalf (and shortly after a company of dwarves) and is asked to embark on an adventure to help the dwarves as a burglar to reclaim their homeland (Call To Adventure 2/12). Upon hearing the details of this adventure, he refuses their request (Refusal of The Call 3/12). That night he speaks privately with Gandalf asking him a few questions and contemplating if he should join them (Meeting The Mentor 4/12). The following morning, Bilbo changes his mind and furiously makes his way to join the company, leaving everything behind to join on an adventure (Crossing The Threshold 5/12). The company of dwarves accept Bilbo and together they encounter other “friends”, the Elv
Post a Comment
Read more

The Craft

Are they stereotypes or archetypes? What do the characters say about the way our culture models women with power? This week I watched the 1996 film The Craft directed by Andrew Flemming. The Craft follows a teenage girl, Sarah, who befriends a group of girls at her new Catholic school. The girls practice witchcraft and Sarah joins their coven and use their powers to wreak havoc on whoever wrongs them, as well as to aid them in classic school girl needs (help with beauty, get the guy to love them, etc.). While the stereotypes of riding brooms, using caldrons, or wearing pointy hats did not translate into the film; a few did. The Craft did something that witchcraft had been lacking in media up until that point. In the 1960’s Bewitched had domesticated witches to being not much more than a housewife. Before Bewitched witches were often depicted as grotesque, supernatural beings. I think The Craft did something important for the concept of witchcraft, in that they leveled the play
Post a Comment
Read more