NMA Digital Animation of Celebrity Gossip

In the article "International Advertising and Global Consumer Culture," Frith explores how low context and high context societies have used advertising. She looks at three case studies: Japan, Malaysia, and Vietnam. What I find interesting about this article is in her section on Homogenization of values on page 5. The argument is that cultures use language/communicate differently. High context cultures use languages to communicate a point indirectly and low context cultures like the US are blunt. I thought I would give an example of just the opposite of that in Taiwan. It’s an example that validates agency from periphery states being bombarded with the center states 'cultures.' It's also an example of a periphery state using language and animation to be Very explicit about issues. The article is arguing that with Globalization values will be normalized and everyone will be explicit. I don't doubt that could be true. However, I wonder at the assumption that the high context/low context paradigm is valid to start at all. It has truths to it, but believing it as the only option is limiting.

Here's the set of links I have on the topic. Just choose any celebrity gossip topic that interests you. I guarantee its well worth watching.

Company site: Next Media Animation http://www.nma.com.tw/
An example of a video on Youtube site: http://www.youtube.com/NMAWorldEdition
Article: from Wired magazine http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/08/mf_appledaily/all/1
Wikipedia about founder: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_La

An Alternative Feminist Voice

When I came across this story I knew I needed to post it. In Thompson, Anfossi, and Toro's article, "Women's Alternative Internet Radio and Feminist Interactive Communication." FIRE is advocated as a venue for voices of Women of Color around the world. Specifically it amplifies, connects, and bridges women's voices (pg. 224-227). As I read this article I thought of the voice of this Journalist, as a White Muslim. I would put her in the group of silenced voices in the mainstream media; though, she's a little special. She 'happens' to be Tony Blair's sister in law. Yes! The former Prime Minister Tony Blair's sister in law! Lauran Booth may as well be British Royalty and her comments are fascinating. I venture to say a voice like hers may also be silenced in alternative media sources sometimes too. It goes against white feminist norms to think of Muslim women as agents in their own right, or of Islam as having a real deep spiritual wisdom to share regardless of your gender or race on this planet. White women have historically been one of the biggest convert groups to Islam, a well-hidden fact in mainstream news.

Ms. Booth -acting as a bridge, one of FIRE's key functions- says, "In fact, what we Muslims are saying is "God is Great!", and we're taking comfort in our grief after non-Muslim nations have attacked our villages. Normally, this phrase proclaims our wish to live in peace with our neighbors, our God, our fellow humans, both Muslim and non-Muslim. Or, failing that, in the current climate, just to be left to live in peace would be nice.” What I find FASCINATING about her language is the belonging she now identifies with. A belonging that is the West's greatest fear. A British Citizen, an in-law of Tony Blair, a British Prime Minister. She now sides with the Palestinian cause against her own country's historic wrong doings towards the Palestinian people and state. I find this absolutely astounding.


Lauren Booth in her own words. If you read only one article, read this one.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/03/lauren-booth-conversion-to-islam

Article written about her conversion
http://celebrifi.com/gossip/Lauren-Booth-converts-to-Islam-3801663.html

Chinese Man Disguises Himself on International Flight

This is an absurd and somewhat frightening story my friend just showed me. A Chinese man in his early twenties disguised himself with a latex mask to pass as an older caucasian gentlemen in order to take a flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver. Mid-flight the man went to the lavatory and took off the disguise. Another passenger noticed the change and alerted a flight associate. When the plane arrived in Vancouver officials took the man into custody where he immediately made a claim for refugee protection. He is now being held for an immigration hearing. If you have time watch the short 3 minute CNN video provided in the link below. It is crazy to see the man as a young Asian and then again as an elderly caucasian. Not only was the disguise incredible but his ability to pass through airport security was incredible as well. There are such great security risks that ran with this. It is speculated that the man switched boarding passes and ID's with a 55 year old American. This could be considered a new breakthrough in illegally jumping borders. Had the man kept his disguise on until his flight landed in Vancouver, no doubt he would have gotten away. But what needs to be done to make sure people can't get on airplanes disguised as another person? How could this have been prevented pre-boarding of the flight and how will it be prevented in the future? It seems silly to ask this but the man's mask was almost an exact replication of another human's face. How would a security personnel go about testing for this? I am eager to find out more about who this man is and what his intentions were after his arrival in Canada. I will keep you posted if I find out any more information about this story but until then I definitely encourage you to watch this clip!

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/11/04/canada.disguised.passenger/index.html

Social Media Favors Women?

The Social Media Gender Gap, printed in Bloomberg Business Week, promotes the idea of women gaining power online as a result of different Internet usage patterns between men and women. The article explains that as a result of women using the Internet in a more social manner, more Internet based services are becoming predominantly female oriented. In their words "the Internet is going to look pink. In other words, the future of social media is going to be all about the women. So if you're going to create the next hot Web 2.0 site and you want it to go viral, you'll target women." This is an interesting point of view, and although the author of the article makes many authoritative statements to this effect, one wonders how true this is and what the positive effects for women will be. The idea is that more sites and Internet advertising will be marketed towards women, but the article doesn't really address the question of whether women will gain more of a voice. The predictions for future innovations aren't terribly revolutionary either: "We'll see an interactive version of Oprah and some sort of choose-your-own-adventure soap opera.".

The article is interesting for me in that some of the class readings have debated the level of empowerment for women inherent in new technology like social media and the Internet in general. I tend to doubt that as technology develops that it will naturally tend towards the empowerment of women. Perhaps these technologies can be used as tools by women, but I don't generally see any advantage given specifically to women through these innovations. This article argues to the contrary.

"Celebrities give push to German tongue"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11697665

This is a tough one...the German government has now recruited celebrities for an ad campaign to push learning of the German language or German "tongue" (as a followup to the German President's announcement that multiculturalism has been a total failure in that country)...any kind of nationalistic push in is often dangerous, particularly given the historical context of Germany...does wrapping the message in a bit of humor with celebrities make any difference?  And what other kinds of attitudes and actions are being cultivated in Germany along with this nationalistic push by the president?  What's it like today to be non-white and/or not of white German descent in that country?
Any comments?

Top 5 Countries according to the UN

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101104/hl_afp/unhealthsocial_20101104145621

This article is about which countries have the highest (and lowest) qualities of life based on a UN study of wealth, poverty, health and education. The top five listed are: Norway (also #1 on the Human Development Index), Australia, New Zealand, United States, and Ireland. The lowest listed are: Mozambique, Burundi, Niger, Democratic Republic of Congo, with Zimbabwe coming in dead last with a life expectancy of only 47 years and a per capita income of 176 dollars.

This brings to mind a lot of issues we've been covering in class, especially those brought up by "The End of Poverty." Are these countries in that insurmountable cycle of debt brought on by loans that are impossible to repay? The movie helped give me a new definition and viewpoint of slavery. Who are the slave owners of these nations and individuals and how much are they benefiting from their continual enslavement?

How can these problems be solved? What are some possibilities for the actual end of poverty? Is it realistic to think that things will ever change???

I Waterboarded Myself.

Here's my waterboarding video. After finding the piece on youtube, the Wall Street Journal wrote a front page article about my experience. In it I confirmed that the practice was in fact torture. This goes to show you that anyone with access to a video camera and a free youtube account can make an impact. The video that I made was a form of alternative media. The mainstream media showcased it to take an indirect stance on a controversial subject that, at the time, they themselves could not. The video is an example of advocacy by itself, but I believe that it's best taken within the context of my blog postings where I could further describe my experience and make a judgment on the practice.