Make Like Mufasa and Remember Who You Are

We seem to have a deep-seated need to divide the world along racial and ethnic boundaries.  Maybe it helps us make sense of who we and others are.  Often, we jump to silly conclusions, based on very little evidence. Is this going to be more common with the exponential growth of globalization? Yes, globalization has been around for a while, it is far from new. But look at business, look at college students. Look at your phone. I got the new DroidPro a couple of weeks ago and it came with 3 international plug adapters so I will be able to charge if should I leave the country. The global specs of the phone are surprisingly substantial. But anyways, one cannot deny the fact that globalization has picked up in the last 5 years or so, and it's only picking up speed. 

So as a reaction, will we end up creating new dividing lines, clinging on to whatever remaining categorical knowledge we have of another culture? Or will be be able to accept a new blending of cultures? It's funny how humans always want to fit in and adapt, yet they want to be unique as well. Take Americans for example, many people take on a title of blank-American. You know, like Arab American, African American, Chinese American. Or often, they wont even add the American. Why? Because they are trying to associate themselves with the culture of that other identity. But why can't they just call themselves American? So when we start taking advancing steps in globalization, will these lines between cultures thicken or dissolve? I believe that regardless of how hard we try, no matter the effort, it is human nature to cling to these ethnic divides. These divides will prevent us for truly embodying the fruits of globalization. 

Is This Real Life? Is This Going to Be Forever?

The market for 3D visuals is currently booming. It seems a though more and more industries are coming out with 3D integrated product and services. The most recognized use of 3D visuals is within the movie industry, as companies like IMAX and RealD offer a unique viewing experience that immerses the audience into the movie. However, new technologies such are developing rapidly, and soon consumers will be able to view 3D images on their handheld devices, their home television screens, and even in the classroom. While 3D is an impressive and captivating technology, my concern is the potential influence this medium can have on society’s perception of reality.

          For example, many critics and researchers believe that playing violent video games as a young child can strongly influence an individual’s perception on violence. They argue that when violence is portrayed in such an entertaining and penalty-free light, gamers’ understanding of the severity of the negative consequences of violence. However, many argue that humans, regardless of age and maturity, have sufficient common sense to differentiate between real life and a video game.

However, what happens when the video game suddenly seems real. While playing a 2D game, regardless of how advanced the graphics are, the brain can easily distinguish the gamer from the game. There is a physical gap between the medium and the audience, allowing the individual to process the difference. However, replacing the 2D medium with a 3D medium erases this physical space, making it more difficult for the gamer to differentiate between the game and reality. So what happens when a 13 year-old boy is so immersed in a 3D game of CoD that he feels as though he is actually firing a real gun, and killing real people? What happens when he continues to get as much enjoyment out of this game, as he did when playing it in 2D, and potentially even a greater sense of entertainment? Finally, what happens when this same boy buys an Airsoft gun off the internet and starts simulating this game with his friends who also bought guns? The subtle progression of steps is more probable than most of us would like to admit, and for us entirely rule out the possibility that a young boy would replace his Airsoft gun with a real gun for a competitive advantage is foolish. Society has reached a point where the line between reality and fantasy is so thin that it is practically non-existent, or at least thin enough that it can easily be ignored.   So how will we keep ourselves from confusing the two? Or perhaps we shouldn’t even bother…

    

(Achoo) Nothing Happens When You Die.

Religion is a medium. Religion says a lot about a person, and it can be interpreted by others in many different ways. Even the absence of religion relays a strong message. I have always found the different responses to religion to be interesting. The views on this seem to be greatly different between age groups, cultures, countries, environments etc. For example, as a kid religion was never really considered. I had friends who had to go to CCD every week and I had other friends who had to go to Hebrew school. The actual beliefs behind the religion were never the focus, and it was seen as an activity that our parents made us do, but at least we had friends with us. In high school, it was pretty much ignored. In college, it is judged, especially at a business school. While everyone is excepting of different religions here, many times the concept of being religious is rejected. It is assumed to conflict with both the common college practices of socializing as well as the capitalistic business mentality.

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On the contrary, within a religious environment, one is judged by how devout he or she is. In addition, in many other countries, a religious outlook on life is not encouraged but expected. However, those who are not religious strike me as the most interesting. Religion, regardless of what it is provides an individual with a meaning for life and a set of rules or guidelines that promise peace of mind. I have yet to figure out how one can go through life that has no overarching meaning. An individual who does this only has dreams and goals that end before death, after which they vanish. This is the message that I cannot read. 

Happy Hallow..awkward...

This weekend was Halloween weekend. At Babson, it is one of the biggest weekends all year. Well.. It is supposed to be at least. Halloween is a time for us to dress up as something we are not. We are allowed to not only create an obvious veneer, but also we are encouraged to do so. The more original the better. This weekend I saw so many hilarious costumes, from Avatars to infants. Everyone is free to send out whatever message he or she wants to.

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However, I began to question this after seeing a couple of costumes this weekend. Are we actually free to send out whatever message we want? Of course, there is the freedom of speech, and we have debated this in class quite a lot. However, what about our ethical responsibilities? Or do we not have them? For example, I saw someone dressed up as a Chilean coal miner. While I admit it is a clever costume, it is also very insensitive. Maybe it is not sensitive at all. Maybe he is trying to turn the coal miners into heroic characters by creating them into a costume. And really when other people saw this costume, many of them didn't really know how to react. Some people chuckled nervously, other's gave a sympathetic sigh. And of course many just laughed out loud. The lady at Trim even took a picture hahaha

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Another example I saw was someone dressed up as an oil transporter who worked for BP. His nametag had the BP logo and the phrase “Bad Planning”. His costume was covered in fake oil stains. The costume was met with both laughs and awkward side comments. While this also is a very clever costume, it is also a little bit insensitive since the oil spill is still a huge crisis. Sometimes I wonder if while we have our fun, do we still have this social responsibility to censor our own messages, not for the sake of law or even morality, but more so for the sake of compassion.  

Uhhh... What?

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I was driving into Boston the other day and I couldn't help but notice all of the graffiti along the masspike. There were all of these initials and random sayings. I started thinking about how graffiti is a medium.
What I find most interesting about graffiti is that the artist is trying to portray a very specific message, but that there is only a limited audience that will be able to understand this message. The message can be anything from territorial marks to corporate advertisements.
For example, below is an advertisement for a well known company.

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But after looking at it, I don't think most people would be able to figure out what it was advertising, especially if one was driving by it briefly. The mural is an advertisement for Converse, as you can see by the logo under the B in BRUTAL. 

Graffiti is also used to show respect for a famous individual. For example the image below is a mural painted in honor of John Coltrane. 

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It's also interesting to see how graffiti styles vary between country or location. For example the three example above were all from Boston. The examples may or may not be from different locations. Looking at them, I wonder how many people would be able to tell a difference. 

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The places these murals are from are Holland (Amsterdam), Ireland, and South Africa, and Ecuador respectively. And looking at these I have no idea what the messages are from any of them. The one from Ireland could possibly be interpreted as something about the horrible living conditions in the city, but to be honest I there is no way to know for sure.Perhaps there is a targeted audience that can understand it better than I can. 

Blah.Blah.Blah.

I was at work on Friday and I had to deliver a stack of papers to a professor. As I was walking down the hall towards his office, I saw hi face through the doorway. He looked bored out of his mind, and actually maybe even a bit pained. As I got closer, I saw that there was a women talking to him; she was pitching a marketing program. This woman had the most annoying voice I had ever heard. It was wicked high pitched and everything she said sounded like a question. You know the type.

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This made me realize that our voices are one of the most important personal mediums that we have to portray our message to others. I remember, during my freshman year, I read an article saying that there was a study done showing that sorority girls had a harder time dropping their “sorority girl voice” than fraternity guys had dropping their “frat guy voice” during job interviews. Tone of voice really speaks volumes as to what we are trying to say. Our accents, vocabulary, volume all influence the message we portray to those around us. For example, if I hear somebody speak rudely to another, especially to an elder, I am going to form very specific opinions about that person. Another example, if I hear someone using big words with an English accent, I cannot help but think of that individual as being quite intelligent, even if what he is saying does not make any sense at all.

Below is an article from AdOps Online that describes a study that was showed that the male voice and the female voice make different impressions on various types of people.

The Coolest Article in the World. (But not really).

Pirates. Drugs. Gay Marriage. - Everything's Funnier with TPain.

In chapter 8 our text book spends a short bit of time explaining that many people use media for entertainment. I was surprised to read that we shouldn't make a sharp distinction between "fun media" and "serious stuff". And while I do partly agree with this, it's also quite obvious that we won’t be able to get anywhere in life if we spend all our time watching TV and surfing the web. But I then started thinking about different ways to mesh these two categories together. Even though the book is talking about taking fun more seriously, I personally think it would be more productive to approach serious subject matter with a less severe perspective.

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The example I thought of is called "Auto-Tune the News". For those of you who are familiar with the musical artist TPain, this is basically a couple of guys infusing TPain's voice generator with the news to make a melodic and comedic YouTube video.

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Basically these guys take what I consider fairly mundane and dry news reports of important happenings around the world (although it's more specific to the US) and make it more enjoyable (actually much more enjoyable) to watch. The videos are hilarious. 

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This is a perfect example of how you can infuse the entertainment aspect that we all value (especially our generation today) and merging it with the "serious stuff that really matters". I personally would love it if there was a news channel on TV that had all of their news reports in this format. 

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