How are you feeling today?

For my last blog I want to focus on a different type of medium at hasn't been used (or I think it hasn't). We've focused on physical media artifacts and topics discussed in class, but we haven't touched upon a different type of medium that is involved in many of our day to day happenings... emotions. Looking back to our first class we had talked about how media imparts a message and how it's conveyed through words, emotions and thoughts.

Emotions are a peculiar thing because they convey a lot. McLuhan states that the medium is the message. If emotions convey a message, then they must be a medium.

Happiness, sadness, gloominess, anger, rage, joy, fear, disgust, surprise, anticipation, and much more. These are all a message because they express something. The emotion of anticipation might be because you are anticipating the semester to be over, or maybe fear because you don't know what to expect for finals... they all relate a message. The special thing about this is that this type of media does is not physical. We can express these emotions with physical actions but the thoughts and feeling tangled inside are the medium.

Maybe this will help us continue to realize how everything can be a medium.

Gobble gobble or oink oink

For this Thanksgiving I'll be heading over to the beautiful island of Puerto Rico to visit my family. When we think of vacations we usually picture days at the beach, relaxing... and all that good stuff. However, lately I've started to notice that vacations are no longer what they were, well at least for me.

Vacation is another word for traveling elsewhere and doing more stuff. In Puerto Rico I have about 5 or 6 stops planned and a few more events (parties) to go to with my cousins. By the time this is all over... I’m going to need a REAL vacation to sleep and relax.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving break I’ll use the turkey as my media artifact. This year I’ve noticed the over emphasis on shopping, turkey and... well... more shopping. We’ve strayed away from the real meaning of Thanksgiving, which is giving thanks! The turkey has become the icon for this holiday.

Well for me in Puerto Rico... the turkey won’t be the center of attention... it will be the pork roast!!! But is it the food that brings us together or the actual holiday?

3D vs. 2D students

A decade ago we would have been amazed by the 3D experiece that might have come out in the movies. Today, it's something ordinary... now we're waiting for 4D... being able to feel and touch, but that's for another blog post.

Anyways, in class we were discussing about online literacy and using other electronics to read rather than a traditional book. In my personal opinion I feel that many things we do in life are a circle. We start off with something, we improve... change and add but in the end, it still goes back to what it was. Same with 2D and 3D. 3D technology was created in the 1950s (believe it or not) but it didn't pick up until the 80s. That's when society moved into making cinema movies in 3D. Now you can go to the theaters and predominantly, most movies are in 3D as well as 2D (some only offer 3D).

With students, or I should just say with people in general, things have changed a lot but are going back to what it was. Even though technology continues to overwhelm us everyday with new features and additions, we move towards online reading, online classes, online friendships, online this, online that, online anything, online everything..... ughhh that's a lot. So we moved from a 2D world, to a 3D world and now we're moving back to a 2D world because we want to do everything on a computer, a 2D screen. I just think that it's ironic that we have 3D technology and we still move to doing everything online with 2D technology. Thoughts?