The wonders of fonts

Saw this article and thought this was pretty cool. Apparently, a font has been designed that helps people with dyslexia read more easily. Whoa.

Bacon Number

So Google has a new function. If you are familiar with the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, this function pretty much sucks all of the fun and ingenuity out of it. Just type "bacon number" and then the name of an actor/actress and hit enter. Boom. Bacon number. Try finding someone with a Bacon number of higher than 3.

So now the academic-y question: How does this change the way we interact with search engines? Are we asking for media to become more transparent? A recent article on Google's bacon number app said this will make people realize that search engines are more for learning and browsing rather than matching an answer to a question. What do you think? Is this like the explanation tabs we get on Pandora or coupon generators? Are we as a society asking for more explanation as to why we are consuming the media we have?

I, by the way, have a bacon number of 3. Funny story.

"Good" Media?

So here is an uber-creepy psa that I'm on the fence about.

Is this good media? Is it ethical? Is it moral? What's your reaction?

YouTube video sparks Middle East turmoil

So if you're still not convinced that YouTube is a major societal force in the world, look at the upheaval created by the anti-Muslim film, Innocence of Muslims. The film's message has stirred anti-American sentiments in the Middle East, leading to the attacks on US Embassies as well as sieges on several more Embassies.

So how did something like this happen? Are there really that many organized Anti-Muslim folks with the financial backing to make a feature-length film? The answer is surprising. [Disclaimer: The information I am about to repeat comes from the less credible sources of Wikipedia, Yahoo, CNN, and WSJ.] Not everyone involved in the film knew exactly what they were filming, believe it or not... Here's the Wiki article if you're interested.

So, I'm curious, what do you all think about this? Is film the driving force here, an inciting incident? Is it possible to be involved in the production of something and not know what its true motives are?

Some things to consider for class on 9/13

For class today we are going to be watching a large portion of the The Greatest Movie ever sold. As you’re watching, I want you to pay special attention to who has control over what aspects of the movie. Hear what advertisers are saying, what consumers say (especially the teens at the high school), and what the artists say. What are some of the incongruences?

You should also be looking at the movie on a meta-level. That is, are you paying attention to how the documentary itself is constructed? This is far from an accidental film. What does Spurlock want us to believe and how does he use the grammar of cinema?

Really, this gets at a larger issue of language. Is the filmic language of Meshes of the Afternoon, the same as a McDonald’s commericial—and are these the same as Spurlock’s documentary. The next step is to turn that question inward and ask how you are going to use this language—what are your ethical, moral, social, and personal responsibilities in creating media? In stringing together others’ footage, can you subvert or change their motives for your own? If so, is this ethical?

Video clips from class

Here's some of the video examples of assemblages we saw in class today: 

Duck and Cover (remix) 

Scary Mary (remix)

Library Supercut 

Quentin Tarantino vs. Coen Bros. (mashup)

No Country for Scooby Doo (remix)

Not from class, but worth a look:

Heteronormative Friends supercut

Saul Bass visual history (really cool, especially if you like design)

Beatles/House of Pain/Joan Jett mashup (more of music video, but pretty cool)

Remix of George W. Singing "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (un-freaking-believable student work right here)

Google is cool

If you get the chance to play interact with the Google logo today (use your Chrome browser), it will end up being a topic of interest when we get to interactive media in a couple of weeks...