Catfish

Materiality, according to Critical Terms for Media Studies, "serves as a commonsensical antithesis to, for instance, the spiritual, the abstract, the phenomenal, the virtual, and the formal, not to mention the immaterial." In other words, Bill Brown, the writer of Materiality, believed materiality to be something physical, being able to acknowledge the look and feel of the object.  He gives the example washing a sweater, in which he exclaims it destroys the materiality of it by altering the sweater's physical quality.  He illustrates a link between the sense of touch as "privileged access to the physical" to the distinctions of what one can see and what one can change.  Critics have claimed that materiality of our human experience had been compromised to modernity, being carefree and innocent with the real.


I believe real to be the common definition of materiality, as mentioned in the book.  Being able to look and feel the object in person defines it to be "real".  However, adding emotions into the mix makes it harder to distinguish whether something is real or not.  Things that are virtual may not necessarily mean fictional, but it correlates to the nonexistent physicality of it.  It can mean a different version of a life or object, created to meet the person's ideal state such as the game Second Life.


Catfish is an American documentary film involving a young man, Yaniv Schulman, who meets the Pierce family through an 8 year old girl and connects to the whole family through the social network, Facebook.  Abbey Pierce sends Yaniv a painting of one of his published photos.  Yaniv's brother and friend decide to film the relationship between Yaniv and Abbey's family.  He becomes romantically involved with Megan, Abby's 19 year old sister, developing a long distance relationship by telephone and over the internet.  The problem arises when Megan sends him samples of her music, in which Nev (Yaniv) discovers that the songs were taken from existing videos from YouTube.

Is Plato right?

I believe Plato was right about the dangers of writing.  In Phaedrus, Socrates tells a legend about a god, Theuth,  who gave the gift of writing to King Thamus, being in charge of dispersing the gift to the people of Egypt.  Theuth believed that he found the way to help with memorization and wisdom, although Thamus disagreed.  King Thamus thought the exact opposite; it helped with reminding, not remembrance. This exactly translates to the use of an agenda nowadays.  People jot down notes and other important information onto an agenda in order to "remember" them every time they open it.  I wouldn't remember after it being written down once.  As for the sake of history being written down, however, how can one remember an event when they weren't even part of that era? Therefore, people have to be reminded of those same instances, so that way horrible events in history do not repeat themselves.

King Thamus also mentions about how writing will only give "semblance of the truth", not the actual truth. They will appear to have complete knowledge and understanding, but in reality, know nothing about it.  One will get bored of their company, showing "wisdom without reality".  Socrates brings up the point of whether it is truth or not or who speaks of it and where the tale comes from.

However, this point intrigued me the most.  Once again, Socrates explains to Phaedrus that he believes that "writing is unfortunately like painting". Writing is silent, cannot speak for its own, cannot defend itself, nor answer questions. Same goes for speeches.  I completely agree with his view on it   I would rather have a intriguing conversation with the "soul" of the person I'm speaking to, where he or she can answer my questions, speak, or listen to what I have to say.  It sometimes also doesn't have the emotional depth or attitude it needs to be understood properly.

All in all, I agree mostly with Plato's view of the good and bad of writings.  Although, I have to say, writing is not the same as being in the action of it all, writing gets us as close as possible.  It gives us the ability to illustrate in our minds what we are learning or what we have forgotten.  We gather some knowledge, whether it is only a small part or the entirety of it.

Media Diet

On an average day, I wake up around 9AM by my alarm on my phone.  I check for any e-mails I haven't read, occasionally check the news, check Facebook and turn on Pandora to a random station after turning off the alarm.  I'll go get ready to start the day, eat some breakfast while watching a show on TNT like Charmed or Supernatural.  Until I have to catch the bus which would be around 12:30, I'll check my e-mails, Yahoo! news, Facebook, and watch some YouTube videos that caught my eyes.  Right before I catch the bus, I check the Transportation application on my phone to see when the bus will arrive.  During the whole day, I would be being sending or checking my text messages on a regular basis, maybe sending about 75 messages a day.

During school, I usually study at Marston, either watching lectures on the school's computer or reading from my textbooks.  I'll take miniature breaks by checking Facebook or listening to Pandora.  I normally check my phone to see what time it is or check my messages.  While waiting for the bus or riding it, I'll play on my phone, Facebook-ing or reading random news.

Once I'm home, I'll prepare dinner with my roommates while watching our favorite TV shows.  Afterwards, I'd do some homework on the computer, send out e-mails to other organizations I'm working with or getting to know, check Facebook and then get ready for bed.

Blog Prompt 1

In The King's Speech, it starts off with the Duke of York, Prince Albert, stammering while reciting his speech during the British Empire Exhibition in public.  Because he has had so much trouble with it, he felt it was hopeless with his speech impediment.  However, his wife found Lionel, who had no credentials or special education, to help Prince Albert with his problem.  As time went by, the radio was starting to be used to broadcast special announcements about important events that the royal family had to address.  It seemed to be a great new addition as a new form of media.  Although the radio can pick up every stammer or sounds Prince Albert could make, it made him more comfortable with his speech and to be able to have Lionel coaching him through it.  The last speech made in the movie was able to reach all of Britain, gave a more powerful tone and convincing voice for the people to trust.

In Phaedrus, both Socrates and Phaedrus talked about the good and bad in the invention of writing.  Originated in Egypt from King Thamus, it was a great way to keep record of everything they wanted to pass down to the next generation so that they remembered.  However, it seemed to be only a reminder, not a remembrance.  Socrates felt no written work was clear or certain, only what it was.  It couldn't answer questions, speak, or defend itself.  Both Phaedrus and Socrates felt the art of the dialectic was better.