Media Meditation #2: To tweet or not to tweet?

The answer to this question is difficult. But I have found a compromise.

The twitter logo that I have tried so hard to avoid.

From twitter.com

Recently through my Media and Society class, I have been bombarded with twitter. And I must admit, the only thing that has been stopping me from playing twitter is my preconception (or misconception, depending on if you think my preconceptions are untrue) of it.

In my mind, twitter and facebook are both excellent tools in mass communication. The only problem is that most people don't use it to its full potential. Here is what I used to think twitter was:

Yes, before I used twitter, it was just an annoying tool for people who demanded attention, spouting useless little details about their daily lives. It certainly did not help that commercials such as these were popping up on TV:

"Cool it with the twitter updates."

"I'm sitting... on the patio..."

That Verizon commercial was what I thought of twitter in a nutshell. And before twitter, I had the roughly the same attitude towards facebook. Until now.

A friend of mine once mentioned TweetDeck, in fact, he probably learnt about TweetDeck from the same class I'm taking now. Since it was about twitter, I quickly disregarded what my friend said about TweetDeck. However, after watching my professor play with it on the projector screen in class, I realized the potential of twitter.

TweetDeck - What made twitter make sense all of a sudden.

From www.tweetdeck.com

You see, TweetDeck's organization allows for twitter's potential to be realized. Twitter itself is the embodiment of the trends we are experiencing. First and foremost, it is convergent media at work - where information from different sources, different technology and in different forms merge at one point. There is a plethora of information that we can observe simply looking through tweets (minus the boring, small details of life that no one really cares about). Useful tweets are passing on information that few people know of, making it available for whoever it is that seeks that type of knowledge.

Secondly, tweets embody how participative our technology is today. While it is true that you can use tweets to tell everyone what kind of sandwich you eat for lunch, it is even better if you choose to tweet about events that you know of, or first hand news that you have heard of.

Twitter is a representation of how information, especially information found or shared on the internet, can be organized and categorized. This organization is another step in the right direction for modern media, and should definitely be taken note of by everyone.

Media Meditation #1: Fusing Daft Punk and Visuals!

So, recently two of my friends and I decided to embark on a highly limbic adventure one night - watching a movie based on Daft Punk's Discovery album.

For those of you that don't know what Daft Punk is...

Daft Punk is an electronic music duo consisting of French musicians Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter

Daft Punk performing at a concert.

Wikipedia image.

Previous to this film, I had only listened to a few Daft Punk songs, and only a few of them were from the Discovery album. I was pleasantly surprised at the music, as I genuinely liked most of them.

Just a basic overview of the film:

Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (yes, those are 5s) is an Japanese animated film involving the story of a musical band of extraterrestrials, in a parallel universe, being abducted and taken to Earth, and their subsequent escape.

Each song in the Discovery album accompanies a specific scene of the film - sort of an imagining of the music. Taken as a film, however, consider it as the music video for the album. On an intriguing note, aside from the first song One More Time, which is played by the band in the story, every other song is a soundtrack - not part of the story, instead accompanying the events that unfold.

You may want to start at 1:30 if you want to skip all the boring stuff

Interestingly, production techniques were limited in the audio department. Aside from the album itself, there were very few sound effects. Overall, the music and visual quality melded together fairly well (although others may argue as to the style of the cinematography). In addition, the pacing of this film allowed audiences enough time and mental "space" to ponder a bit further beyond pure visual enjoyment.

Here, I will refrain from stating the value message of this film, as I believe it changes depending on how you view this film. I do believe that some of the appropriate things we should learn from this film is the power of animation and also how crucial it is for the soundtrack and the cinematography to meld together.

In conclusion? Interesting... Very interesting experience. In fact, to label this Interstella as a film would be wrong. It should be an adventure or experience.

Dipping in the media pool...

Hi everyone! Just a little bit about myself -

1. Where are you from? State or province, and town?

I was born in Hong Kong, then moved to Vancouver, Canada for 6 years. After that I returned to HK once again.

2. Describe a fun media experience you had during your summer vacation.

I watched Toy Story 3 in 3D. It was a really good movie - uplifting and satisfying. I don't remembe

r the last time when I saw a movie and came out feeling like a happy customer.

3. Describe one thing you LIKE about our 21st century media culture, and one thing you DON'T LIKE about our 21st century media culture.

I really like how expansive and fast information can spread throughout the world. I am not marveling at simply the speed or how extensive it is, rather I am amazed at how information is so readily available and easily used.

I dislike how people do not digest their information carefully. The volume of information available seems to have lowered the capacity for people to analyze and think about what they are given.
4. What vision do you have for your future, professionally?

I am currently a Business Management major. In the future I hope to start a microbrew in Hong Kong, work in the investment field and start my own company.

In the future I hope to bring in some fresh insight regarding today's media pool, stay tuned for more information!