Ch3xmix's Blog

Censorship On the Internet

ch3xmix — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:18:48 +0000

David Teten and Scott Allens’ passage highlights the complexity in censorship when ideas of free speech are brough into focus. I have always had an idea of how difficult it is to sift through all the arguments concerning censorship to arrive at decent rules to set down. They display the many vague areas and shades of gray that exist in the issue. They state initially that online communities have owners who have the right to establish and censor the community. However, they go into questions of personal blogs and other online communities where individual voices are the main content. Many of these different ideas lead to complex and overlapping legislation. I know that censorship is an issue that will not be resolved anytime soon. I do like how the authors mentioned that if a user does not like the rules set by one community, they should move onto another instead of stirring up a bunch of issues. Honestly, what are they trying to prove?

Here and Now: The Time for Global Change (Essay #3 Intro/Thesis)

ch3xmix — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:14:47 +0000

It’s difficult to go more than a few days at a time without hearing the words “Global Warming”, but do people really understand the threat it poses to our world? Global Warming is a worldwide crisis that calls for the attention from every individual that inhabits the Earth. At this point in time, tremendous efforts are still needed to turn this phenomenon around. The 2006 documentary film An Inconvenient Truth, directed by Davis Guggenheim, discusses the issue of Global Warming through Former Vice President Al Gore’s worldwide presentations. Gore’s argument that this global crisis must be acted upon now in a worldwide manner is effectively administered within the film by bringing the problem to a level that people can relate to through its presentation of Global Warming as a universal problem, its emphasis on scientific facts that are accessible to the audience, and its addition of Al Gore’s past to demonstrate Global Warming’s potential impact on each individual life.

Gladwell’s The Science of Shopping

ch3xmix — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:18:06 +0000

I found Malcolm Gladwell’s article to be the most interesting one we have read yet. As probably most people, I would like to think that the human race is not so transparent or easily manipulated. But as it is, it is very interesting to see how, with implementation of technology, trends in human behavior are almost mechanical. As for the argument of whether Paco Underhill’s studies and the use of hidden cameras to record human behavior and bring profit to large retail companies is moral. To many, it probably seems like cheating. However, in my opinion, this is simply another example of our society taking more and more privacy away from the public domain. Another example of this trend is the camera that sits on a traffic signal and photographs any car that runs a red light. This, I would argue, is even more intrusive into the private realm as it records vehicle license numbers and has access to personal information. The anonymity of Underhill’s studies further redeem it as harmless.

Draft Workshop #2

ch3xmix — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:31:39 +0000

In the second draft workshop of the quarter, my peers suggested a few things to me that I hadn’t seen in my paper. First of all, they mention that one of my paragraphs was too long, involving to many different topics. For example, in the paragraph that I discuss the skills that instant messaging can help develop, I heavily focus on typing skills and add multi-tasking at the end in a few short sentences. My peers suggested cutting that out, or putting it in a second paragraph and expanding on it. Also, they suggested that I add something new into my conclusion, like posing a question.

Introduction to Essay #2

ch3xmix — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:03:44 +0000

Centuries of communication have depended on the pace of a horse. Today, this is not the case. As the world progresses, it becomes more fast-paced and efficient. Technology is arguably the primary catalyst of this phenomenon. Instant Messaging (IM) is an important example of modern technology that has benefitted society by building a larger, faster, and more useful arena for worldwide communication. In her essay, Kris Axtman discusses some of the harmful effects attached to IM, such as its deflation of the English language. However, by creating a global network, a fast-paced flow of information, and a tool for developing important skills necessary in today’s progressive era, IM has benefitted contemporary culture.

The Bright Side of E-mail

ch3xmix — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:32:39 +0000

In his essay, Robert Kuttner discusses the harms that e-mail brings to society by creating a world of fast and forced communication. However, being apart of a college atmosphere has made me appreciate e-mail’s capabilities. At a time when so many things are expected of students in a timely manner, having the ability to get questions answered overnight is extremely helpful. Kuttner’s analysis of e-mail brings in too many emotions that might be connected to the e-mails. E-mail is obviously a terrible means of communication in a personal network, however, on the professional side of communication, e-mail could not be more efficient.

Draft Workshop 1

ch3xmix — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:09:25 +0000

In the first draft workshop of the quarter, the main critique my peers had with my paper was my opposing argument. I used the fact that Watchmen was less popular than other classic superhero films as evidence of my thesis. However, my opposing argument gave other reasons for Watchmen‘s lack of popularity. My peers explained to me that this argument was unclear and did not seem to fit in the context of my paper. After reading through my paper again, keeping their comments in mind, I switched around some of the argument’s wording and even decided to put it in another paragraph.

Superhero Archetypes

ch3xmix — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:46:32 +0000

In reading through Linda Seger’s selection, I made a correlation to her discussion of archetypes to superhero films. Many typical archetypes are interwoven into superhero stories to connect them with the audience. Some examples include the love story and loss of family, such as in Spider-Man. An important archetype of superhero heroes is one that Seger discuss in correspondence to Shakespeare-disguise. Seger does not mention superheroes, however, a disguise is critical to every popular superhero, like Superman, so they can accomplish their tasks without revealing their real qualities. As Seger explains, these archetypes are important to connect an audience to the story with classic ideas they can recognize.

Two-faced Hero

ch3xmix — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:59:39 +0000

In his essay The Thematic Paradigm, Robert B. Ray discusses heroism as a dichotomy containing oppsite sided traits. Ray uses the format of a outlaw hero and an official hero for American cinema, usually in conjunction with two people in the film. However, these traits can also be expressed in a single character. Stepping away from Ray’s analysis of American films and literature from decades ago, it is easy to see that this dichotomy still exists today. For example, in the Twilight saga, the hero, Edward Cullen’s character lives in a constant war with his dichotomous traits, being both a vampire (his “natural man”) and a member of society (“civilized man”). Following suite with Ray’s perception of “individualism”, Edward Cullen makes choices to overcome his innerevil and behave in a way that is best for community.

Violence in Films as a Form of Entertainment?

ch3xmix — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:13:48 +0000

In her essay, Sobchack discusses violence in movies initially with the Quentin Tarantino’s film Pulp Fiction. Right away this brought of a recent experience of mine when I went to see Tarantino’s newest film The Inglorious Basterds. Following suit with all his other movies, Tarantino’s film depicted extreme violence, from beating a person to death with a club to slaughtering an entire Jewish family hiding under floorboards. Unbelievably so, much of Tarantino’s violence was intended for a comical effect. While the majority of the film’s graphic violence was aimed at Nazi’s in WWII Germany as justification for their violence against millions of Jews. However, as justified as it is, I could never find violence funny. Nevertheless, people all around me in the theatre were laughing, almost hysterically, as a man’s head was cavedin by a bat. It absolutely baffles me how human flesh simply disposed of in films and other media. I will go further than Sobchack when she claims that the cinema has become “increasingly careless” about the destruction of human flesh and say that the cinema is increasingly using it as entertainment. This phenomena, as Sobchack points out, can, at least in part, be contributed to technology’s ability to portray extreme violence with no actual harm done to any living thing. I, however, will never be able to watch cinematic violence without my stomach flipping.