internet memes are strange things, since these little social genes are usually confined to a small locality, in the old days memes were so useful in identifying a person, like how people from massachusetts use wicked and northern californians use hella. television helped to break down those boundaries, and at first people were afraid that the bland midwestern accent used on major news networks would destroy the american dialects but in fact only made them stronger, but just doesn't have the reach that the internet has.
this leads me to the new form of meme, the ones that spread and proliferate on the internet. we all know that pirates and ninjas are the worst of enemies but what's the new battle brewing out there? will it still be the violent and criminal type that we idolize now, or maybe some underrepresented ethnicity, like the basque? regardless at the rate that the internet is evolving there's no telling what will pop up next, much like that new YouTube video will sweep the internet like wildfire only to be forgotten a the next turnover of the internet scene. in any event, pirates and ninjas are dead to me, bring on the matchup between the yale men and little lord fauntleroy.
Showing posts with label Internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Internet. Show all posts
Mar 14, 2007
Mar 6, 2007
fnord!
i want to talk about fnords now. they're a really cool idea that i found on wikipedia. i'm not certain of the veracity of then concept but it's a great thought experiment anyway. a fnord is a word, but it's not just any word it's a special one that everyone can recognize. in theory the government designates which words are fnords and the populace is conditioned to ignore them when read but at the same time people get really uncomfortable when they see fnords. this ties in to their use, making people feel edgy all the time about news, by filling the papers with fnords, and encouraging people to buy more things, by forbidding their presence in ads.
of course this is all just a simple model for the way that manipulation of a populace really works. conspiracy theorists can postulate on the actual keywords that elicit these kinds of responses but in truth the situation is much more subtle. has anyone ever seen a personality cult, one of the most powerful forms of thought control, in it's beginnings? or do they only become recognizable after the fact? it's a pity that things aren't more clear cut.
of course this is all just a simple model for the way that manipulation of a populace really works. conspiracy theorists can postulate on the actual keywords that elicit these kinds of responses but in truth the situation is much more subtle. has anyone ever seen a personality cult, one of the most powerful forms of thought control, in it's beginnings? or do they only become recognizable after the fact? it's a pity that things aren't more clear cut.
whispered apologies
i recently found a really cool concept comic called whispered apologies. the premise is that any old person can draw a comic and send it to the site, then one of the guys from the site, the crew of which is composed of several webcomic authors, will add text to it. it's delightfully quirky and while the comics are not uniformly good there are gems where the both the illustrator and writer are definitely channeling the same good vibe.
this leads me to another genre of comic that i really enjoy called constrained comics. there are only a few examples of this type, dinosaur comics is the best one, and they are all artificially bound in some way. for example, dinosaur comics uses the same panels every day and the only thing that the creator has to work with is text. despite this the comic is varied and fresh, in actuality it's simply a constant and interesting way for the creator to espouse whatever it is that he's been thinking about that day. another benefit to the constrained comic, although it also applies to any comic with a simple format, is that it can update everyday allowing much more content to be released into the muck of the internet. in short, i like them and think that they are good representations of the kind of art that evolves on the net.
this leads me to another genre of comic that i really enjoy called constrained comics. there are only a few examples of this type, dinosaur comics is the best one, and they are all artificially bound in some way. for example, dinosaur comics uses the same panels every day and the only thing that the creator has to work with is text. despite this the comic is varied and fresh, in actuality it's simply a constant and interesting way for the creator to espouse whatever it is that he's been thinking about that day. another benefit to the constrained comic, although it also applies to any comic with a simple format, is that it can update everyday allowing much more content to be released into the muck of the internet. in short, i like them and think that they are good representations of the kind of art that evolves on the net.
Feb 27, 2007
second life
ever since seeing second life in the flesh I've been kind of intrigued by it. it's really interesting to see an entirely fictional online forum for interaction that strives to be realistic. The addition of avatars and three dimensions really fleshes out the experience, while making it more fake at the same time. A webcomic author (toothpastefordinner.com) whose blog i read recently explored second life and wrote about it, making some interesting observations.
the first thing that he noticed was that everyone in second life is attractive, the first concession to vanity that people make when they are online. having the freedom to create and entirely new persona allows for infinite freedom but really we all want the same thing, to be pretty. this leads to the next thing people like to do in second life, have sex. the funny thing about this is that they tend to pay money for this, ie to get the proper equipment one has to buy a penis. then they go to the online strip club and pay more for some virtual lap dancing. This is in contrast to the earlier forms of the internet where people were still having sex all the time but they did it for free once they found a willing partner. The new level of complexity is fabulous.
Of course there's also legitimate business going on in Second Life, but the porn was the first thing, just as any new media is capitalized first for sex and then for regular business. So, in the future the seedy conglomeration of strip clubs and sex shops will give way to a tidy street filled with upstanding business but one must never forget the sleaze that made it all happen.
the first thing that he noticed was that everyone in second life is attractive, the first concession to vanity that people make when they are online. having the freedom to create and entirely new persona allows for infinite freedom but really we all want the same thing, to be pretty. this leads to the next thing people like to do in second life, have sex. the funny thing about this is that they tend to pay money for this, ie to get the proper equipment one has to buy a penis. then they go to the online strip club and pay more for some virtual lap dancing. This is in contrast to the earlier forms of the internet where people were still having sex all the time but they did it for free once they found a willing partner. The new level of complexity is fabulous.
Of course there's also legitimate business going on in Second Life, but the porn was the first thing, just as any new media is capitalized first for sex and then for regular business. So, in the future the seedy conglomeration of strip clubs and sex shops will give way to a tidy street filled with upstanding business but one must never forget the sleaze that made it all happen.
Feb 13, 2007
the meta blog
comic on the left shamelessly stolen from xkcd.com
So, I'm starting my blog and I've decided that the proper thing to do in this day and age is be really self aware and blog about blogging. I was talking with friends over the weekend about journals, and the people that write them. We ended up deciding that they're not really written for the author, who can relive the experiences in memory, but with hopes that someday someone will read their work. Blogs take this feeling to the next level, people are almost guaranteed to read them so long as they are posted. Gone are the days of the private journal, now anyone can post their thoughts online and be read and criticized by the countless denizens of the web. But this comes at a cost, most people don't really have anything to say that's novel or compelling.
This is where the comic I posted comes in. The blogofractal is really just a garbled conglomerate of senseless statements that are constantly being recycled and made "new" again. It's the same way that 24 hour news channels broadcast news, and then broadcast about how they presented the news the first time until something better to report on comes along. This creates a realm of information where thoughts spread virally and infect everyone for a few days/weeks, ie any internet fad ever, and then is forgotten and thrown aside. the community as a whole is very dynamic and ultimately, fascinating. I can't wait to see what comes of it.
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