Drained

I'm sure everyone reading this can sympathize: the days aren't long enough, there is too much to do and deadlines come too fast.
This is how I feel everyday lately. So I'm resorting to you, my classmates, to help. I am taking HDFS 425: Research methods. This class is similar to Psych 225. I need to design and conduct a simple experiment. What do you guys think I should do? I'm drawing a complete blank on ideas of experiments to conduct. So if you have taken either of these classes, or have a burning question that I could answer using a simple study, please let me know soon.
If you're going on spring break, have fun be safe and I'm jealous. But due to my horrible experiences with SB, I'll be staying here, working, and writing numerous papers/projects/etc.

Who am I?

I've often talked about Facebook and MySpace when addressing the topic of identity and technology. As I was watching a stellar LifeTime movie tonight ("The Party Never Stops" starring Nancy Travis and Sara Paxton) my roommates and I started cheering for the girl to die. It sounds horrible, but if you watch LifeTime movies, you totally understand. Anyway, the end of the movie states, "Even though classes were over, 100 people attended Shanna's candlelight vigil." I connected to this by saying that when I die, I should hope that more than 100 people would come together to remember me. I have 7 roommates, that's almost a tenth of my 100 person minimum. So, to get this show on the road, I said that if I were to die, I want one of my roommates to break into Facebook, reactivate my account and send everyone an invitation from me inviting them all to my funeral. This was followed by a lot of inappropriate laughter, evolution of ideas and more inappropriate comments and laughter.
I really have a point, I swear. So, last week during our class discussion, I admit to getting a bit heated. To make a decision that there is a point at which is considered handicapping to use technology is a little absurd. I've tried to see the other side, and I can see that now. But I still think that some people really need the help to be more social and to meet people and recover from traumatic experiences. When you make an online persona, does that really make you a cyborg? Or is it just testing the waters in being someone you don't know if that's who you are? I made the statement that online chatting is a lot like adolescence: A person tries on a lot of different personalities to find the one that is most comfortable and what you want to be.
I think a better point that was made was by someone who said that saying a person shouldn't use online personas as a method of coping is comprable to saying that a person shouldn't have a pacemaker. Emotional dependence and physical dependence are one in the same. Neither can be overcome without help.
So maybe I missed the point to the reading notes post this week, but I had to make a point that does coincide with the comment regarding the overuse of technology: What if someone died and you were invited to the funeral via Facebook? I think that would be excessive use of technology. But on that same note, maybe it's a coping mechanism. When my a few of my friends' parents passed, they couldn't vocalize it; he/she had to email the close circle of friends. In my conclusion, I have to say that an outrageous example like the Facebook funeral would be excessive, but if someone needs to be a pretend person in an online chatroom, should they really be penalized for that?

"Alright stop, collaborate and listen..."

We all remember Vanilla Ice. Who could forget him? His hit, "Ice, Ice Baby" is epic. It's lyrical genius. I would venture to say that no one is unfamiliar with this song. That hair, those dance moves, those pants, that hook...wait. That wasn't his?
We've all been in a bar, at a party, or in the car and heard that familiar hook that signals you to get ready to bust your best running man moves. And then- the unfamiliar voice singing, instead of rapping. David Bowie, is that you? It is. Rob Van Winkle (aka the Ice man) allegedly copied Bowie's "Under Pressure" for "Ice, Ice Baby". Van Winkle was sued, and the case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. Oddly enough, I found this information on a site called Low_Life.fsnet. The author of the site goes on to say that most cases of music fraud aren't even called into question until the artist who sampled another's begins to gain fame and make money; then the original creator of the sampled lyric, hook, etc. wants a piece of the pie.
This is the general idea of what we discussed in class last week. Jeff Rice discussed the use of previously existing works of art to cultivate new work. This sampling is often criticized as being plagarism. He cited the songs of Will Smith and Public Enemy in his chapter on music. We began to discuss if there was a difference between plagarism and sampling. The general consensus is that if an artist takes an already existing piece of media, and changes in a way that makes it his own, then it is sampling and not plagarism. Also, it is not plagarism if the original creator is given credit where it is due. Ok, fine. I get that. But if that's the case, Vanilla Ice is innocent! He says that his beat is distinct from Bowie's. That one note that was added on the end apparently was not enough to convince the lawyers otherwise. So now, this man who is solely known for his contribution to pop culture (and now his anger management issues- but wouldn't you be mad if you were caught in photos with that hair style and in that outfit?) which has been branded as stolen goods.
I would go out on a limb and say we are all guilty of plagarism at some point. As I'm typing this, I'm looking up things on YouTube.com. Somehow I doubt that these people got permission from New Kids on the Block to post thier cartoons, music videos, and concert footage. But I could be wrong (on an interesting side note to this, Captain Planet stole the NKOTB Cartoon theme as its opening theme song). A situation that might be a bit more familiar to you would be that talent show in second grade. You wanted to sing your little heart out and showcase your awesome ability to sing the popular songs of the time. We all know moms are wonderful and amazing, but I highly doubt she wrote Paula Abdul and said "Hey Paula, Little Janie is going to perform "Straight Up" at the talent show next week. Hope that's cool."
Finally, with the ridiculous frivolty of lawsuits that is familiar to today's culture, we are all in danger of being hauled into court. People like Paris Hilton and Donald Trump are copyrighting catch phrases that people repeat all the time. So the next time you burn your hand on the stove and utter, "That's hot" beware of Hilton's lawyer ready to slap you with a lawsuit.

Yet another thought on the reading

I've hit rock bottom in creativity today (which is obvious by the title of this blog). So here it is. Bear with me.
This past week, we looked at pieces by Watts, Gladwell and Barabasi. These readings were ones that I could relate to a bit more than those previous. I don't know about you, but I'm not very technologically savvy, and therefore all the talk about grid architecture and such was really lost on me. The pieces this week just seemed to make more sense. They also weren't that bad to read.
I knew but I didn't know (if that makes any sense) that SOMEONE was out there deciding what was going to be cool or not. Who knew it was tweens in Brooklyn?
I think it's so weird to think about: something (like the Hush Puppies men's shoe) can be in existence for many years, decades even, and not come into its period of cool until it is nearly extinct. I guess for the shoe, it fits into the "vintage" classification, which is pretty hot right now.
I don't know about everyone else, but I found it hard to transition from "cool" referring to a type of media to "cool" in the sense that we are all familiar with. All this back and forth makes me wonder what is coming next. It's hard to take one concept and apply to many different ideas/objects/etc.

I am not cool.

I remember when Wendy's became cool. I was a sophomore in high school. And all of a sudden there was a buzz about Wendy's and its late night and dollar menu. Who had even had Wendy's in the last 10 years? Not this kid. But then a good friend of mine started going there, and one by one, his friends did too. Before you knew it (junior year) Wendy's was the place to be. It's where everyone started the night, and in most cases, ended it too (Racine was a lame place to be under 21).
Now, do I sound like I would be the number one choice for conducting a coolhunt? Obviously not. But I tried. Seeing as how my life is due next Thursday (i.e. every single class has something big due) I have been few places other than my desk. So the only public place I had time to be is the library. As I read my packet to get a better feel for what I was supposed to be doing, I considered things that caught on slowly and then blew up.
Example one: everybody's favorite fashion statement- the Lycra pant with the Ugg boots. The butt (literally and figuratively) of every coastie joke known to man. I'm no fashion guru. In fact, I often beg people to sign me up for What Not To Wear. And I KNOW I don't look much better in my baggy sweatpants, Wisco sweatshirt and dirty sneakers. But come on. I digress- back to my point. This fashion statement is very popular among the women on this campus. This is a look that I saw on a few people my freshmen year. As the years have gone on, it has caught on like wildfire and among some groups, it is the cats pajamas. So maybe there is a woman somewhere in, let's say New York, who thought this was a comfortable style. She's the innovator. Her friends who agreed and put on their Lycra pants to come to Wisconsin are the hub and from there, Wisconsinites bought Lycra pants of their very own.
Example two: Here's to the gentlemen in this class. I garuntee that every girl you know loathes you on a Friday night. You all take a shower, brush your teeth and throw a sport coat over your ratty t-shirt and you're hot. Lucky. But there is your other fashion item that caught on slowly and worked it way through to Wisconsin. Some male decided to flip it from a suit and sneakers (my prom date was incredibly trendy) to jeans and a suit coat. Who knows, guys. Maybe that brave male soul who decided to sport a pair of Ugg boots of his very own is an innovator and by this time next year, you will all be out looking for your very own.
As I sit in the library looking for trend setters (again this is Wisconsin, there aren't any), I heard someone say "Have you heard? The Union is the new College Library." We'll see how that pans out. Maybe Memorial Union IS in fact cooler than the other side of the pillow.
Disclaimer: I have no problem with people who wear Ugg boots. So don't be offended if you do.

I KNOW KEVIN BACON!

Can you find a connection between you and someone famous? Rumor has it that you can connect yourself to anyone by six degrees of separation if you really think about it. How valid is this? Well, according to Duncan Watts, its more of a coincidence than reality. Common people have common circles and therefore you can tie yourself to someone else by some vague connection and shared friend.
I thought the chapter The Connected Age from Duncan Watts' book Six Degrees was really interesting. I was surprised to find out that studies have been done on the Kevin Bacon game (well not the ACTUAL game but the idea the game is based on). I didn't know someone could test an idea like that. The test to tie yourself to the stockbroker in Boston from Omaha seemed ridiculous, but intriguing nonetheless.
The advent of the Internet has taken this idea to a whole new level. In a day when we can connect ourselves to strangers from across the country just by sitting down in a chat room throws a wrench into the whole six degrees of separation idea. But that will take us back to discussion from a few weeks ago: How reliable are these connections? There is no way to determine the answer. Just think about the websites we have all made. They can be blatantly fictitious, like Erin's, or they can seem true until the author tells you otherwise, like Andy's.
~~~~~
On a completely "unconnected-to-the-reading" note, Gregg Doyel (mentioned in my previous post) has apologized to the state of Wisconsin. This is a miracle of God from the cocky sports writer. We Wisconsinites are a defensive bunch; Doyel was invited by numerous people (including yours truly) to visit UW for a complementary elbow dislocation, followed by a chuckle. While my personal comment wasn't posted by Mr. Doyel, many forms of it from others were. We are feisty. On Wisconsin!