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November 30, 2005
The Internet
It’s sad to say that I can’t even remember not having the Internet. Sure, I remember looking through Encyclopedia’s for book reports, but nothing really required much research when you were in Elementary school. By the time I got to high school, the Internet had become a dependent to everyone.
Technology will continue to evolve as we move into the future. I want to say that some of the new inventions that are coming out are just ridiculous because I didn’t see anything wrong with the older models but that’s evolution.
In 10 years I think the Internet will basically have taken over our lives. Instead of shopping in stores, everything will be online, instead of video stores, we can watch things on the Internet or have them sent to us like they’re starting to advertise now.
Our society is going to be so lazy that we’re going to base our lives around the computer and the television and never leave our houses if we don’t want to.
God forbid a crash.
Everything basically is wireless already. We have our cell phones that can be used for talking or, now, listening to music, we have wireless internet connections so that cords through the walls aren’t needed. Video game controllers don’t even have wires anymore!
Everything will evolve to help us through the economy, industry, our health, and through the media. I don’t think that the Internet is for either. It assists in both aspects (for people to rely on and for the media to thrive on). The media will continue to reap benefits off the internet when it comes to news and gossip because people will be logging on faster then they’re going out to buy a magazine or newspaper.
Posted by Deena Aglialoro at 10:20 PM | TrackBack
Old Fashioned Store Vs. Online Shopping
With Christmas approching, and Black Friday just behind us, I've been wondering about the old fashioned store/mall versus online shopping. This Black Friday's statistics was close to the record-breaking previous one, but more and more people are going online to buy their Christmas gifts. Are online stores going to replace the old way of shopping? People want the ease of one-click buying that sites like amazon.com offer. These sites have movies and CDs that will never be found in stores, so it's much easier to buy rare items.
However, people are also impatient. We don't want to wait a week or two for the things to be delivered to our home. We like stores because we get what we want right away without any wait. We are also a tangible species. We like being able to hold and touch and interact with objects that we're going to buy. Online shopping doesn't offer that. But it's an "inconvience" to get ito the car, drive 20 minutes to the mall, fight other people for the merchandise, maybe not find whatwe want and have to go home empty handed. With online shopping, what we want will most likely be in stock.
There are good points and bad points to shopping online and shopping in stores. But until shopping online gives us instant gratification with what we want being delivered instantly to us and giving us the option of being able to interact with what we are going to buy, I'm not sure online shopping will replace the old way of buying.
Posted by Heather Cobb at 11:07 AM | TrackBack
It's your web...what're ya gonna do with it?
10 years ago the web was still in its infancy. Now it is an everyday part of your life. Where do you see the Internet in 10 years? Will everything be wireless everywhere in America? Will phone, tv, video games, and net converge into a single device? Will the web become centralized in a few media giants like radio and tv? Or will it increasingly become a medium of/for/about the people?
What role do you think it will play in your career as a writer?
Posted by Alex Reid at 10:15 AM | TrackBack
November 29, 2005
Revised Neovox2
Change is the Only Constant
“I’m leaving.” The words slipped easily between her lips and crashed down at his feet. The shattering sound caused him to jump inside his skin. A wave of disbelief and resentment washed down on him and quickly collected in the back of his throat. He could not swallow it all, the taste was too sharp for his throat to accept. Blood drained from his face. She stood only feet in front of him just outside her bedroom door. He searched her eyes, looking for something to prove to him she felt the same bitter taste in her mouth. There was nothing.
The semester had ended and she was ready to move on to a new college. She threw her last bag over her right shoulder. He held out his hand to take it from her, but she shook her head and began walking down the hall. He took a couple of quick steps to fall in stride with her. Anxiety worked feverishly to tie quick, tight knots in his stomach. The feeling seemed to siphon out the air in his lungs. The air was becoming increasingly difficult to recover. By holding his lips together in a thin, straight line, he contained the emotional explosion he could feel in his gut.
The tiled floor of the hallway was usually filled with squeaky sneakers walking back and forth from room to room. At this moment, their silent sneakers were the only ones that walked the hallway. Only slight mutterings from inside various rooms could be heard, because for some reason the hall was quiet this particular afternoon. With a lack of surrounding distractions, he could only let his mind roll back and forth over the fact that he could no longer share his day with her. As the lonely idea overwhelmed him he felt as though he barely knew this place anymore. He had come to know it so well over the months, but at this point he felt at such a distance from everything. Even from the back of her hand that grazed the back of his every so often as they strode down the hall.
The two steel pieces of the elevator door knocked into each other as it clumsily slid open. She stepped onto the dusty square floor inside the steel walls. She blew him a kiss goodbye and he watched as the doors slowly slid back into place. He watched her eyes as he held his hand in the air waving. The door shut completely and he could hear the machinery come to life inside as it took her to the bottom floor and out of his life.
He turned to walk back to his room down the lonely, quiet hallway. The florescent lights overhead hummed as lightly as ever, but for the moment the sound seemed to echo off the inside of his mind. None of this was right. He couldn’t just turn his back on all of this and pretend it was for the best. No!
A chirp split the air as he quickly turned his sneakers against the tile and began at a sprint for the steel door at the end of the hall. He gripped and twisted the cool, metal doorknob and laid his shoulder into the hard surface. The door swung open and slammed against the wall inside the staircase. The sound of the rattling metal echoed down the stairwell until the his pounding footsteps leaping down each step became all that he could hear. He bounded down each landing until he met the ground floor door and it met the same fate as the door several floors up.
The front door was just ahead of him now, but she wasn’t there. She had already made it outside. His sneakers splashed through the puddle that had formed just inside the main entrance from people dragging their feet every time they entered the building. The drops of water landed on the on the tops of his feet and soaked into his socks. Pressing through the main door, he met with the bitter whip of the wind that caused him to falter. He paused and looked down the sidewalk. A long figure paced slowly away with a backpack over her shoulder. He jogged toward her then finally came to a stop just behind her.
His feet rested on the layers of dead leaves that were plastered to the ground by the cold rain that had lasted for days. The girl’s back was to him as he approached. The sound of his footsteps against the wet ground touched her ears and she turned her blue eyes around to look at his cheeks that were turning red against the bitter feel of the wind. When he saw the reflection of the sun glistening in the moisture in her eyes he began to wonder whether her emotions were driving those tears there or if the sting of the cool wind had summoned them.
She seemed very uncomfortable as the edge of her lips formed an awkward smile. The way she crossed her arms and slightly turned away began to make him uncomfortable. He leaned down to make direct eye contact with her and asked, “Why?” His back seemed to quiver as a set of chills ran down both sides of his spine. The hesitation in her response made it too clear that this wasn’t going to work.
Cold needles shot from his shoulder blades down into the small of his back as she explained, “I have to do this.” His mouth ran dry and he tried to suppress his shock by reacting with a calm answer, but what could he say? In moments like this, he would rely on his heart to supply the words that he needed, but now it was too busy trying to squeeze blood into his veins through the vice grip the news had put on it. He only managed to spit out, “But . . .”
The girl he had spent the past few months befriending was now walking out on him. As the wind whipped around the hair on their heads, he realized why this loss meant so much to him. He cared for her in a way that would make it hard for him to go a day without being able to see her. The hand at his side began to rise toward her, but he quickly wrapped his cold fingertips inside a fist and brought it back down to rest against his hip.
He couldn’t tell her how he felt. It would be selfish to attempt to make her stay because of the way he felt. Never before had he felt awkward around her, but at this moment neither of them were speaking. His tongue remained still for fear he might let the truth slip right off the end of it if he opened his mouth. Her words had struck him down like a swift blow to the back of the neck that caused his mind to drift from the confines of his skull. He dared not do the same to her.
That day was the first day the sun had shone in three days. As a passing cloud glided past the sun, light began to shine down on their faces. Her eyes glowed beneath the brilliant rays and he cursed the weather for radiating her beauty at such a time.
She reached into her backpack and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and a pen. She examined the pen for a few seconds then reached back into the bag. This time she brought out a yellow pencil. He watched as she opened up the paper and then carefully brought the graphite tip of the pencil down onto it. He watched the eraser swing through the air in tight little circles as she wrote something down. She then squeezed the paper back into a ball and extended her fist out to him. “This is for you,” she whispered.
He laid out his hand underneath and let the ball drop into his palm. She smiled and he returned it. She then once again turned her back and continued off down the street. He used both hands to flatten the paper back out. Small sporadic drops of rain carried down with the wind fell upon the paper and formed tiny rings of moisture randomly about the page. He ran his index finger across the neat lettering she had managed in the palm of her hand. The statement he read to himself:
Change is the only constant.
Posted by Brenden Hendrickson at 11:45 PM | TrackBack
Help?
Can you guys help me out here? I'm having a really difficult time rewriting my second article. Could you guys maybe tear it apart and give me some suggestions on how I could improve it? It would be a great help. Thanks.
Daniel Horowitz found his wife, Pamela Vitale, beaten to death on October 15th. There are many cases in which victims are beaten to death and left for family members to find, but what makes this a slightly out of the ordinary murder is the suspect. The assailant was a “goth” and a “Satanist” on the grounds that classmates claimed that the young murderer, Scott Dyleski, wore black and painted his nails and read books on Satan. However, whether or not the teen is a goth or a Satanist doesn’t answer the question as to what his motive was or his prove guilt (there has yet to be a trial). In fact, using terms like “goth” and “Satanist” aren’t even answers, they’re just a labels; terrible yet powerful ones. The news media seems to be in the habit of putting incorrect labels on people and incidents lately.
What irks me the most about this particular case is an article that Foxnews.com hosted on its site with the headline: “Teen Held in Vitale Murder Reportedly Satanist”. It goes on to report that Dyleski once drew a pentagram on the ground at school in front of class mates and danced around it. Other students stated that he told people the book he was carrying was about Satan. The article includes quotes from other students calling him goth because of the book’s topic and his sense of fashion. Does anyone else feel the urge to roll up a newspaper and beat Foxnews.com over the head with it?
The issue here is the news media’s need to put inaccurate labels on any kind of behavior, not just on misguided supposed teenaged murderers. Consider the news headlines during Hurricane Katrina: In one article there was a photo of a white person wading waste-deep in water carrying food. The caption read something around the lines of “scavenging” for food. Another article had a similar photo with a black person wading through water with food, only this time the black person “looted” a store for the food. The photos with captions can be found here: http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/09/1764214_comment.php. One white person’s “find” is another black person’s “loot” in the media’s eyes. Doesn’t that seem just a little bit racist? A lot of people thought so, especially when the photos were coming from the same source: news.Yahoo.com. But that just means all the more people are going to Yahoo’s sites.
The media loves to use these deviant labels because it boosts ratings. There’s nothing new about a young teen killing a neighbor over drug paraphernalia. But a Satanist killing a neighbor woman and carving up her back with a cross is eye-catching news.
Rarely when I watch the news or I’m surfing the web I catch “neutral” labels like Democrats or Republicans. Lately everyone is either in the extreme left or the extreme right. There is no middle ground in the media any more. A politician is either on one side of an issue or the other. infrequently do I hear of a politician sitting the fence, and when one does he is pressured not just by his peers, but also the public to choose a side.
When the news is not using labels for ratings, it’s using them to distort facts, and that is terrible journalism. The job of the journalist is to report facts, just plain facts, whatever they may be, to the public. However, “Repetition is key to successful advertising. The American media uses repeated arbitrary labeling in its supposedly impartial coverage in a deliberate campaign to alter public perception” (Rall). Labeling distorts facts to persuade the public’s opinion in one direction or the other. Bush has been using labeling since 9/11. We aren’t fighting a war in Iraq, according to Bush; we’ve always been fighting a war on terror. Which sounds more appeasing to a nation that wants to bring its troops home, fighting Iraq or fighting terror?
Most big news corporations are influenced by the government in one way or another. When those corporations aren’t being persuaded to use a certain word or phrase from the government to keep public approval high, they’ll be persuaded to use labeling to attract more ratings. Dyleski isn’t a “Satanist” or a “goth”; he’s just a kid who dresses in black for attention probably needs some psychiatric help. We’re fighting a war in Iraq, regardless of where the terrorists are. When you haven’t eaten in days and you find some food in an abandoned grocery store, “looting” and “finding” have the same objective. A specific word or phrase can change the whole perspective of the presented facts, and the media knows this. Here’s the point: you, the reader or viewer of the news being presented to you, must be smart enough to know when someone’s trying to persuade you in on direction or the other. You should be able to know what the labels are and as an educated citizen you should be questioning them. (But if you can’t do that, here’s a site that will do it for you: http://mediamatters.org/).
Sources: mediamatters
Look for Media Labels
Teen Held in Vitale Murder Reportedly Satanist
Luckily, another, if not worse, case of labeling (the goth community is pissed) from Fox:
Did A Goth Lifestyle Lead to Pamela Vitale's Murder?
Posted by Whitney Worden at 5:56 PM | TrackBack
More Cell Inovations
Well we have even more to add to our ever-developing cell phones. A movie projector. Instead of looking at pictures or watching video on the small screen of a cell phone, it will be able to project the image or video onto a wall for a great effect. Do we really need this? It doesn't seem like such a great feature, just another thing that is going to "innovate" the cell phone. Sooner or later, what won't the cell phone be able to do. Check out the full article here.
Posted by Brenden Hendrickson at 12:00 PM | TrackBack
November 26, 2005
Book Searching
Has anyone noticed that on Amazon.com you can now have an option to get a random page from the book in which you are interested? Not only that, but it shows pictures of the cover of the back and more. Online markets are really trying to become more and more like the real thing--but easier and quicker for the viewer. Sure it beats the real thing in terms of ease and quickness (buy a book while at work on the phone and writing an email) but until the website can produce the aroma of new books and coffee, I'd rather go to the real place.
Posted by Christine Dance at 1:38 PM | TrackBack
November 23, 2005
Steve Lennon Revised Neovox 2
Posted by Steven Lennon at 11:06 AM | TrackBack
November 22, 2005
Technology
It seems the most common thread I've found concerning any change is the profit motive; whether it's a TV crime drama, colonialism, or the expansion of Christianity, there is the universal desire for profit. Most manufacturers are honest about it; as consumers we understand and appreciate that. I'm not faulting X-BOX for the new 360. When the other two companies come out with their latest version next year, they'll reap profits too.But I'm wondering, is it necessary? We expect t pay for technological advances; after all scientists and manufacturers can't be expected to work for free. Is there enough difference among these three providers that they need to compete. Can's they somehow combine for a better product.There was VHS that gave way to DVD, they coexis now, but the VHS is a relic and and the slow way out. If the big three in video games combined wouldn't they offer better products at a better price and make more money? I don't know. .
Posted by Joseph Lampiasi at 9:11 AM | TrackBack
November 18, 2005
Books?
Dr. Reid and anyone else who might know:
I'm taking Writing Fiction and Technical Writing (back to back, because that's just how the schedule came out, boo!). So, besides the probably unnecessarily thick Spanish book I'll be lugging up the hill every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, what else will be slowing me down?
In other words, what type of books should I be expecting from the two pwr classes? Heavy ones? Little ones? More than one? (overpriced ones?)
Posted by Whitney Worden at 7:01 PM | TrackBack
November 16, 2005
Important Dates to Remember
Who has ever heard of celebrating a three month long anniversary? Why would anyone expect a present or romantic evening on Thanksgiving?
People abuse the idea of celebrating when they are in a relationship. Some people assume that just because they have a significant other they get to exploit the benefits.
Well, it’s time to dispell that rumor.
It’s true that some days aren't just numbers on a calendar. Some of those numerals are actually moments frozen in time that will either leave you breathless, or knock the wind out of you and leave you fuming.
In popular belief, there are a total of four: Valentine’s Day, Christmas, a birthday, and a one year anniversary.
There are a few that should have honorable mentions but those will be dealt with later.
My main point- guys and girls look at almost everything differently, I think we’ve all figured that out. Whatever the matter is dates are one things girls hold up on a pedestal and guys hardly ever remember.
While asking guys on our college campus about the subject of holiday celebration, after some said celebrating Cortaca was more important than an anniversary (and I wonder why he doesn’t currently have a girlfriend) it was clear that these choices of holidays were the only ones worth doing anything for.
As for the history of Valentine's Day, very few look at it as anything but a commercialed reason to spend money on candy and roses so that your girlfriend doesn’t bitch about you not loving her.
In reality it is a holiday to honor St. Valentine. He was martyred for attempting to bring justice against unfair rulers, which doesn't really send the heart-filled, chocolate covered strawberry message. Supposedly, Valentine fell in love with a young girl and allegedly wrote her letters from prison, which he signed 'From your Valentine.’
The Christian church had said that mid-February was seen as a "pure" time due to the beginning of spring coming and after many different traditions passed, in the 17th centuary people began handing out tokens of affection to friends and family, thus beginning the idea that flowers, chocolates and presents to express one's love are required on this 'special' day.
What better way to tell and show someone how much you care about them then to have one specific day of the year designed just for that? Because girls believe this is the time to let your feelings shine through- do NOT ignore this or it will be seen as a lack of caring.
Most of the Cortland male population said that they only remember Valentine’s day simply because it is important to their girlfriend. “I’ll only do something for it because I know it matters to her,” Dan Squires, senior, said. “I didn’t even know when the day was until I got a girlfriend and then I just wanted to show her how much I loved her and I knew that Valentine’s day was a perfect day to do that.”
Helpful hint #1: If you've been together for a while and you do genuinely care for her, the flower petals on the bed, sweet smelling candles, romantic music and a beautifully written card will say everything you need to.
Christmas is another big holiday. Even though money always seems to be tight since you're buying for family as well, she's been planning this for months and needs to know that the same amount of thought is going into this. Because we're in college and Christmas time is one of the few times we can go home to family, a surprise knock on the door is worth more than an expensive bracelet.
“Christmas is one of those holidays that happens every year so its hard to equate it to something like an anniversary,” said Becky Hubbard, sophomore. “I would spend more time thinking of something romantic to do on an anniversary because that’s our special day but for Christmas I think I would spend more time getting him a nice present. There are plenty of sales and just because I plan ahead I would make sure he’d have something really nice to open.”
Helpful hint #2: If you have the option to be together for this holiday, take it. The effort you put into seeing each other means more than anything you could ever buy. But if you really can afford buying her that beautiful set of earrings she saw in the window of Zales, take the hint and go for it
.
Birthdays are that one day a year that is just yours. No one else can celebrate on the same day as you unless, ironically, they were born that day too. This is the time to make her feel special for just being her. “I think a birthday is more important to the person actually having the birthday then to anyone else,” senior Joe Dietrich said. “I mean, if it’s really a big deal obviously a boyfriend is going to play along but I’m not really one to make a big deal out of birthdays.”
And when it comes to anniversaries- this is make or break point of a relationship.
Birthdays are important because of it solely being about the other person, and for that, you better simply remember the date. All her friends will be planning on surprising her with a bottle of her favorite champagne and a feathery tiara she can walk around Main Street in, so you better have something just as fun to give to her so she can brag to them that their present isn’t half as nice as her wonderful boyfriends (plus, you get bonus points and those are always worth it).
An anniversary is about the two of you becoming one unit. If you don't remember that day, you might as well not even remember that you're dating someone. Whereas a birthday is something special for that person, an anniversary is something special the two of you can do together where the whole world is excluded. “I think anniversaries are the most important day to celebrate between couples,” Squires says. “I would much rather save all the romanticism and money I might think of spending on a birthday present for an anniversary because that’s our day and I want her to know that I’m so glad we’re together and you there’s really no better day to express that.”
Helpful hint #3: Run away together for a night or a weekend. Even if you're too busy to celebrate the day of your actual anniversary- take the time to get away together and realize why you're together. Just being together is so much more beneifical.
Honorable mentions include: New Year’s Eve/Day- both men and women questioned about this holiday said it’s a “No Purchase Necessary” holiday. “It’s really just a holiday I want to be with my boyfriend,” Hubbard said. “What’s the point of bringing in the new year with a big party if you don’t get that special kiss for a great future with the one you love?”
Dietrich agreed. “It’s a special moment to bring in the new year with someone special. There’s no one else I want to be with that night, except maybe my family.”
Also mentioned was Easter and St.Patrick’s Day depending on your religion and/or heritage. “St. Patrick’s Day was a really important holiday to my mother,” Squires said. “It was like her Valentine’s day because she was off-the-boat Irish. If my father didn’t cook a big dinner and make it special and we didn’t all wear green there would be trouble.”
So, have we all figured out the moral of the story? Don’t let your significant other abuse her reign as your girlfriend by dictating that you should celebrate crappy holidays like Groundhogs day or Rushhanna- put your foot down, gently of course.
By celebrating the holidays that mean the most to you, you’ll learn to appreciate the little things you do for each other in-between and the amazing amount of affecting that’s being bottled up and waiting for a holiday to burst out on.
Posted by Deena Aglialoro at 10:10 AM | TrackBack
November 15, 2005
Revised article #2
But I still think it needs some more work. However, opening up the file and staring at it for about an hour doesn't seem to improve it.
On October 15th Pamela Vitale was found beaten to death by her husband Daniel Horowitz. There are many cases in which victims are beaten to death and left for family members to find, but what makes this a slightly out of the ordinary murder is that a cross was carved into Vitale’s back. The crime scene and the wounds on the victim indicate that this was not a premeditated attack yet why the cross? One answer is that the assailant was a “goth” and a “Satanist” on the grounds that classmates claimed that the young murderer, Scott Dyleski, wore black and painted his nails and read books on Satan. Please excuse me while I sputter for moment.
Let’s start with all the inconsistencies that result from labeling this kid a “goth”, shall we? Students at Dyleski’s high school told officers and reporters that he wore a long trench coat, black clothes, dyed black hair and painted black nails. Ok, the fashion sense does point at the gothic sub-culture. But that’s not what a goth is. There is no real definition of what a goth person is. The media sees a person dressed in all black and sinister make-up and labels that person as goth. For the most part they’re entirely forgetting about all the other kinds of stereotypes that are out there: punks, ravers, metal heads. All these people can dress in black and wear sinister make-up but are not necessarily Goth, and most importantly, they haven’t killed anyone.
So, what is goth? Historically, goth is a late 1970’s (in the U.K.) and early 1980’s (in the U.S.) creation brought about from the punk subculture. It started in the form of music such as Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Sisters of Mercy, and I’m going to include in there Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac, but that’s debatable since Stevie is seen as goth but her band is not. (Like the whole ideal of Goth, Stevie Nicks is a matter of each person’s personal and informed opinion). These bands had a darker look and a harder sound than traditional bands and the new punk bands. This new fashion style did include black clothing, black nail polish, hair dyed black and heavy black and white make-up. However, the gothic sub-culture is in no way limited to music and fashion alone. It has its influences in art and literature and the media. (A good example of a piece before it’s time: the 1919 silent German film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. However, I can’t explain the ending to you. I still haven’t figured it out myself, but let me know if you do).
What irks me the most about this case in particular and the goth misconception is an article that Foxnews.com hosted on its site with the headline: “Teen Held in Vitale Murder Reportedly Satanist”. It goes on to report that Dyleski once drew a pentagram on the ground at school in front of class mates and danced around it. Other students stated that he told people the book he was carrying around was about Satan. The article includes quotes from other students calling him goth because of the book’s topic and his sense of fashion. Does anyone else feel the urge to roll up a newspaper and beat Foxnews.com over the head with it?
Why do people associate Satanism with the goth subculture anyway? One reason is because part of the fashion is to wear jewelry such as the pentagram which can be associated with the Devil. (Just so we’re all clear: the inverted pentagram, just like the inverted cross, is the symbol of the Devil. Also, the cross that was reported to have been carved into Pamela Vitale’s back was not reported to be inverted). Another reason is that the same music is associated with Satanic cults as it is with the Goths. Third, each subculture has the same social group of people in it: white, young, middle or upper-class, average or above average intelligence. Dyleski’s classmates are reporting on instances that seem to be the teen’s cry for attention, not necessarily evidence of past Goth or Satanic behaviors.
However, while more people in a Satanic cult are anti-religious Goths are for the most part open to all religions, learning and barrowing from all the variations. Goths are open to culture and learning and other people’s opinions while Satanic people tend to be close minded. Also, Satanic cultists tend to be aggressive and violent while more Goths are very passive and patient. Satanism and being in a Satanic cult are two different things as well. While Christianity is essentially working your way from the outside into the inside, as in being a good neighbor and a devout Christian first and working on yourself second, Satanism is the opposite. Satanism is working on the inside first, as in you and your image of yourself, before working on the outside, as in how your neighbors perceive you. In Satanism it is about you before it is about others. And this is what’s entirely different from being in a Satanic cult.
Being in a Satanic cult involves using different and large assortments of drugs. It’s assumed the motive for Vitale’s death was that drug paraphernalia for growing marijuana was thought to have been accidentally delivered there instead of to Dyleski’s. This might have caused confrontation between the victim and assailant that lead to the murder. Also, Dyleski’s book on Satan is an indication that he was probably heavily into learning about the occult and Satanism. The symbol of the cross carved into Pamela Vitale’s back could have been a representative symbol for the teen’s devotion to the Devil, but that has yet to be determined. However, many people in Satanic cults do leave symbols like crosses and pentagrams at crime scenes. People in Satanic cults are profiled as having been involved in sexual acts such as bestiality and incest as well as taken part in powerful drugs and cannibalism. Their childhood is characterized as middle and upper-class, high intelligence, over or under achieving, having a history of family abuse (sexual or other), and rebelliousness.
From the news reports and the crime committed Dyleski’s behavior synchs up with much of the Satanic symptoms, but it has yet to be determined if he is or is not a part of a Satanic cult, or trying to start one or mimic one. Nor should it be said that he is guilty since there has yet to be a trail. However, many news articles are already taking the assumption that he is since the evidence of the crime points a clear finger at him, such as scratches and wounds on his body that would match those Vitale would make in defense, and his own mother agreeing to testify against in (she is accused of helping to attempt to destroy some of the evidence found in her car).
Even though the definition and the meaning of goth differs from person to person, I find it inexcusable when people label anything violent and Satanic as Goth, especially the news media. For me, personally, a goth person is not a teenager who buys overpriced fishnet at Hot Topic and listens to Good Charlotte. I can tell you everything a goth is not, but I can’t clearly define what it goth is. Scott Dyleski, a lone teenager who beat a woman to death in her home with a piece of crown molding and carved a cross into her back over marijuana growing supplies is NOT a goth because he happened to prefer clothes of the darker end of the color spectrum and read books on Satan. This is a mentally unstable boy who needs some serious psychological attention, nothing more.
Sources:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,173772,00.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9848327/
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,172968,00.html
http://www.scathe.demon.co.uk/histgoth.htm
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/21/national/main965216.shtml
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/10/25/vitale.documents.ap/index.html
http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_27261276.shtml
Posted by Whitney Worden at 11:27 PM | TrackBack
Neovox Article 2 revision
need feedbackk.good/bad/evil...tons of it..thx
Morning incandescence floods humming hospital rooms. Blinds misinterpret light, throwing out random radiance across green floor to ceiling tiles. Scattered light, blinding Big Ross, head in his quarterback hands, sulking at the foot of my body. I want to tell him, I want to pull out the plastic tubing, walk cold and barefoot to his gloom, I.V.’ed hand on his shoulder. Tell him everything’s gonna be okay. Let the machines do their barking.
I finally had my mid-twenties crisis at twenty three years old.
It came on suddenly, peripheral showing slideshow after slideshow of tunnel visioned flashbacks. Little crumpled yellow photos of youth leading to an intense sweating from armpits, ribs, lower back. My little cubicle at Decatech, well, I let it close in around me. My final fading memory was a copy machine collapse. From the carpet I was lifeless with a tie and my office looked so much more interesting. I was your modern day post-grad, say, white collared Jesus.
For two weeks leading up to the big breakdown, I’d get an uncanny sternum ache, couldn’t quite place it. Craved nicotine but I never dabbled in cigarettes. After work I was always slumped over in a dim bar with some clever upbeat name. The Foggy Goggle. Whisky Dick’s.
My best friends and I, we used to pick fights in these bars. Now I was the victim, spilling my nostalgic guts to barroom strangers. All those friends, grownup and successful, well groomed behind big brand names. Single, young, professional, nested comfortably in obnoxious stucco houses way too big for just one person. I always used to say, ‘I’d rather die doing something I love then live doing something I hate’, so on a Monday afternoon in my cramped cubicle I let go.
Steady my payless shoes in the office carpet.
Gnash my teeth ‘cause I’m a child of the Eighties. I feel very alone, all the time. I’ve never been in love, and I have a profound feeling that the only worthy moments of my life are memories.
Falling, I am Kevin McLaughlin and I really need a drink.
Twenty-three years old and I was only alive with a condensing pitcher of golden booze in a smoky pub.
Fridays dusk til’ Sundays dawn meant I was a ghost at Decatech.
Resurrected as a barroom hero, a perks only affair. I met bikers, authors, struggling musicians, ex-bullies, high school wrestlers turned addicts, suicidal housewives, in the closet husbands with kids, and every time we’d chat I’d feel like less of a mess.
We all had the same question. No one had the answer to: what now? I put it in my fucking chips, I played my hand, I went to school, got my degree and I’m more lost and desperate then I ever was.
We are still afflicted with a malignant angst that grips us when we see the success of others. We continue to drown in bartender ‘Big’ Ross’ alcohol, like haggard underpass junkies, because it is the only way to truly express the injustice we feel.
Together in this dark bar we will all lose ourselves.
Our baggage will disengage with every sip. It will melt with every shot that you take and our problems will bleed into a ball of healing energy that will conjoin us as we dance and sing. This healing blue light is not Decatech, it is not my job or your addiction, your child support or your abortion or your bulimia. It is absolutely not my alarm clock or Sunday nights or your overdoses. This phosphorescent strength is me stumbling over to you, blonde stranger (with the disorder) and we can dance and sing in this crescendo of perfection. And I know you will boost this ego if need be, and I will balance you, dear, on your Stiletto heels as you vomit into the trash.
And at that culmination of glory when the bar caves in on itself, the jukebox will break the silence with the song of our generation. My tie will fly behind me like a cape, I will slur some romantic what-nots into your gaudy earrings, your new manicure will dig into the back of my DKNY informal and for those short moments we will be alive.
Where did that go? And where did that come from? Who digs the grave of being twelve and riding bikes? The sleep-overs? The public pool high-dive? The high school cliques? Life?
I am the millennia martyr. The tragic figure, falling in slow-motion.
Soon to be sprawled out on Decatechs new carpet. Warhol Christ.
Splash of super-latte spreading along from my fingertips.
Looks like a target market murder scene.
Desecrate my death pose with a wheel of white receipt tape, seal off and outline my corpse with fast-food grease.
Always wanted to be the hero of sorority girls and the working class.
Collapse in Decatech’s the bull, mind-numbing jobs are the china-shops.
As I feel my legs give out and my chest cave in and the room plummet, I’m thinking: I want girls to swoon. Maybe a snapshot of my Banana Republic corpse sprawled eagle, blown up at print to fit a throw blanket or ceiling poster, available to buy and mount in frat houses everywhere. I want my comatose body to be the God of struggling, confused young people of…everywhere.
“Fuck work.”
Maybe next net year will see altered work conditions, more ventilation. More windows? Maybe.
Listen to the beeping machines pumping fluids.
Look up into Ross’s big blue eyes and think of healing light.
Remember the sex in the bathroom stall with the Oxycontin housewife.
I remember her nails digging, pulling up skin, sticking to cotton.
Her apartment smelled of mothballs, knock-off perfume.
“All men want is sex”, she announced stirring my drink. Laughter echoed through her dingy apartment. I was half naked and buzzing.
She asked me how it felt to know her husband would be transiently out, sure to come back any minute now. To know I would be the one responsible for his incarceration.
Stare at fixed drink, smile with the corners of my mouth. Even when it stings my tongue and burns the eyes, drink to melt this new baggage, looking for that light. There was no jukebox, just the rumble of a Harley five floors below. A beautiful opera tune hemorrhaging from ambient speakers hung like dead men. She danced like a spirit, stumbling in her heels. Her blonde hair pin straight, I couldn’t help but wonder if she remembered me holding it back as she dry heaved at the bar.
Floating ice cubes and I was twelve again, trembling on the high dive. Twelve, guiding my bike through suburbia with best friends, sneaking out in the early morning solstice when the grass was still wet and dark.
“I have to go”, curtly placing down drink on consolation coaster.
“So soon? But the party’s just begun.”
“Yes, well you met me at a really awkward moment in my life. I’ve had a momentary lapse of all things reason.”
“and?”
“I’ve been looking for love in all of the wrong places.”
I grabbed my khakis, tears rolling down both cheeks, running through white washed hallways to the elevator. As the doors converged I caught a glimpse of the husband biker I had shared many a drink with, we had spilled our baggage together on more than one Friday night.
Awake and Big Ross is gone. Sprawled out beneath the floor to ceiling green. Look down at a gaping hole in my chest with plastic tubing sprouting like wildflowers. In metal pans are cold metal instruments covered with my muscle and bone. Life support still packed up in its pink plastic.
It took four doctors and a security guard to hold Ross back as I was hauled away for an autopsy.
They would later tell him that gamma butyrolactone was the prime chemical used to poison and sedate me the night before (a household floor stripper mixed with Draino) and it took nine hours before my body converted these chemicals into the fatal combination of Gamma hydroxy butyrate (or Gamma hydroxybutyric acid). My temperature had climbed so high, my heart had ceased. I was pronounced dead at 11:17 AM, the exact moment I hit the carpet at Decatech.
Yellow lights pass me overhead, and I can still taste the bitter pitcher beer, I can feel the warm embrace of strangers all looking for answers that didn’t exist. Our lives lead cryptic. That healing brilliance we all searched for like a ghost, tricking each other and ourselves into believing we all didn’t have this amazing life within us already.
We didn’t need booze or a dreary bar to see it, we just thought we did. Depression, irony, and envy, our reluctance to live had fueled these feelings.
I am post-mortem and all I want to do is float down, grab these post-grad tragic figures by their slumping shoulders and show them that they have an entire life to live within them.
In a dark enough bar, when the jukebox gets tired, you’ll hear my name whispered.
At a wild enough fraternity bash, you will hear the drunken cries pierce the night, the ritual chant penetrating the night sky, screaming McLaughlin to the Gods.
Sometimes when she’s all alone, the blonde dances in her heels to opera and thinks of me. My Drakkar.
Big Ross ended up educating other lost young people who all dragged their feet through life. He told them about the hibernating, resonating light they all had within themselves. He closed the bar, and finished his PHD in therapy. He took an old photo of me in my college years, in my most perfect moment, had it blown up to poster dimensions. Soon college girls stared back at me from their beds, slipping into sleep under a ceiling poster rendition. On walls of dorms and frat houses the world over, in between John Belushi and the Kiss, is me. A new age college James Dean. I’m a campus legend because I died for the man, died in an office as a slave to the grind. But I want young people to remember me as someone who could have made the right choices, could have followed my heart, but opted not to. I want to be the reason you pursue your dreams. Be happy and poor, because there is so much more to life than worrying about what other people think.
Posted by Patrick Berlinquette at 3:46 AM | TrackBack
November 14, 2005
Economics of online gaming...and beyond
Anda's Game narrativizes the growing culture of online gaming. A few years ago, an economist named Edward Castronova made a name for himself studying the economy of EverQuest (one such game). He discovered that that the "country" of EverQuest was the seventy-seventh richest in the world (based on per capita income), richer than India or China and on par with Russia.
Gamers regularly sell game items (and characters) for real money on eBay! and similar sites. The idea, dramatized in Doctorow's short story, that Anda could make money playing her game is not unrealistic.
Here are a couple sites that discuss this issue further:
Walrus Magazine
Interview with Castronova
Of course, Doctorow takes this a little further, building in some related online issues such as personal health and the globalization of the economy. What Doctorow describes may never happen in this direct a fashion, but his world is an accurate metaphor of our own. While we may never have online sweatshops, we obviously have many real, third world factories. Our economy and lifestyle on hinged on that of factory workers working for pennies a day in unsafe conditions. A pair of pants, sewn together for a nickel (or less), sells for $75 in the mall.
In Anda's Game, this virtual inequity creates war and threatens the very culture and fabric of the game. What does it do in the real world?
Part of the point is to recognize that it is an error to speak of the virtual as separate from the material. Both worlds are part of the same world, impacting one another.
Posted by Alex Reid at 10:19 AM | TrackBack
Registering for PWR 212: Writing Fiction in the Spring
If you are interested in registering for this course, you should know that it has a pre-requirement of a GE literature course. However, I can lift that requirement so that you can take the course. Contact me if you are having a problem with that.
Posted by Alex Reid at 9:49 AM | TrackBack
November 13, 2005
Does Google hate Bush?
Nothing major, but does anyone else know about typing failure in the google search and the very first result is President Bush's biography....a gov website to boot! I am failing to see how that could possibly be a coincidence. If it truly isnt, I'd love to meet the ballsy creators behind the search engine.
Posted by Nicole Hushla at 10:18 PM | TrackBack
reading assignment
Well, I read the story, but I just don't get it. Is it supposed to be sci-fi like the matrix where the computer activities be reality and the two worlds coexist or does the narrator have a good imagination. I researched and found out what an avatar is, but past that I'm in the dark.
Posted by Joseph Lampiasi at 8:28 PM | TrackBack
November 10, 2005
I will not be available today
As I mentioned yesterday, I have come down with a little flu bug. I won't be available today. However, feel free to post or e-mail questions.
Posted by Alex Reid at 12:27 PM | TrackBack
New Reading Assignment: Anda's Game
Read Cory Doctorow's "Anda's Game" on Salon. Doctorow contributes to the popular blog Boing Boing and is the author of several novels. This short story deals with the economic and cultural effects of online gaming. The story appears in the America's Best Short Stories 2005.
Posted by Alex Reid at 12:13 PM | TrackBack
Oh you beautiful doll
Well, I checked the Doll link that Ashley pointed out the other day. As we all know, there are two sides to every technological advancement; for instance, consider Socrates' ideas on writing as presented in "The Phaedrus". Without deling into the morality of the whole thing -- which we raised in a different time have a problem setting aside, but let's leave that set of arguments for another day and focus on the price.
$6499 plus $450 shipping -- I realize that these items may be rented, but like the convenience of owning a car when I need to go to the store, I'd like the doll available when the mood hits. (I'm trying not to sink into the expected sophomoric humor and it's quite difficult so bear with me) So that's $6949 for unlimited sexual relief. Companionship cannot be a consideration except for the truly demented, so we'll not got involved with that either. On he "pro" side of the list for reasons to buy a doll, you would not have to consider any STD or pregnancy, nor would you need to remember the doll's birthday. No forget it. I tried; I really did, but there is just too much humor for me to pass up here. I quit. I read Ashley's article and went to the link and tried to respond like a mature individual, but there's just too much raw material for me to waste on a intellectual dissertation; you may want to keep an eye out for my short story on this topic though, I can tell it's gonna' be a deusie.
Posted by Joseph Lampiasi at 5:30 AM | TrackBack
Good start Nicole
Your article was interesting; I feel an obligation to mention an analogy which may have been slightly off the mark. When you were four your mother possibly withheld information out of concern -- as a parent, I'm reasonably certain she had no hidden agenda concerning Cleo; on the other hand, politicians have two vested interests in keeping facts from us: one, the huge profits made in war and two, their desire to be re-elected. Concerning your idea that Journalists labor to bring us the truth -- it is simply not the case; journalists exist to sell newspapers or ad-time depending on their chosen media. Clark Kent is dead and Woodward and Bernstien are getting old.
So have you felt this disillusionment culminating, or was there a straw that broke your camel's back so to speak. Tell me about it.
No one seems to know exactly when outrageous profits caused corporate America to turn to the dark side, but some think it was in the early days of the New England Whaling Trade -- not only were there huge profits to be had there, but the related industries of lumbering, shipbuilding and all it's satelite industries: ropes, sails, wharfs and on and on. As we all know, if profit is good, more profit is better. Some historians claim that the profit hungry infrastructure of corporate America actually caused the Revolution and that the founding fathers were nothing more than well meaning, but misguided pawns. Certainly vast fortunes are made during every war; Enough so that the steel, cattle, rairoad, and coal robber barons finagled huge tracts of the west for their own use to add to their coffers even more, but enough is not enough and a war with Spain was manufactured. More American soldiers died from food poisoning which they contracted from eating the tainted meat sent from Chicago Packing houses than from combat. Profit once again ruled and money was spread around to the politicians so there would be no inquiries. The examples go on and on. What is going on in Western Asia is nothing new; it's simply the most recent chapter.
Concerning the future: it's decided by those who show up; keep me posted to your attempts; activism is not a dirty word.
I've forgotten the exact quote, but it goes something like: Terrorism is bad; war is bad. Terrorism is the poor waging war on the rich; war is the rich waging terrorism on the poor. Good luck.
Posted by Joseph Lampiasi at 4:26 AM | TrackBack
November 9, 2005
BriAnne
We obviously have different senses of humor. If I were in your place, I'd be looking for new room mates, not jokes to play on them. However, since you asked, try these. I think they'll fit the situation. 1. When your room mate falls asleep sneak into the room and put her hand in a pan of warm water; after she wets the bed, you'll be even. 2. Or after your room mate has been drinking all night, sneak into her room at say 5 AM and throw a pan of ice water on her. That's always a side splitter. Good luck; let me know how it turns out.
Posted by Joseph Lampiasi at 9:14 PM | TrackBack
Wiki project
I'm taking another class called ENG 307 which involves a lot of reading and exploring within the internet. One of my assignments was to start a Wiki. Professor Reid asked me to post it on the blog inorder show what it was and how it works. Feel free to post on it! just visit this site.
Posted by BriAnne Gordon at 11:34 AM | TrackBack
NeoVox movie
hi all!
i wanted to ask everyone a quick question regarding NeoVox. I'm making a movie for another class of mine and the idea is to capture Education on SUNY Cortland campus. We were allowed to choose any aspect of education on this campus and make a fun movie showing it. So anyway, my question is this: How did you hear about NeoVox? and What do you find interesting about it? I've found that NeoVox, although known to all of us PWR major/minors it's not very well known on campus as a whole. If possable i would love to get some of the things that you say on Camera to put into my video let me know if any of you would be interested in participating in my video. Thanks
Posted by BriAnne Gordon at 10:11 AM | TrackBack
WOW
So I come on here to see if I had any comments on my 2nd article...AND ITS NOT EVEN POSTED!!! My fault for waiting so long to blog since then so here it is anyhoo...........
The words you are about to read will either excite the activist in you, make you “talk shit” about me to your Conservative friends (if that, indeed is what you are), or leave you with a whole different feeling of “Shock & Awe” that the media has thus far been unable to provoke. The latter of the three is my starting point. I write now, with an uneasy voice. I am inexperienced and not nearly as educated on the “War on Terror” as I will at some point be. I use as reference, the bit of reading I have under my belt thus far, and scribbled notes I’ve taken from a few speakers that have come to campus this semester. If I repeat anything you’ve heard, it is because I have a growing concern and angst in me that has sprouted from an almost non-existent opinion in a naïve, college student who naturally grew up feeling she could trust her life and world in the hands of those running things around her. I am now feeling scared and betrayed. Scared to envision how things will pan out during the course of my adult life. Betrayed that after such extensive history and supposed progress, the whole truth is strategically kept from me as if I were 4 years old again and my Mother is neglecting to tell me that she flushed Cleo my Goldfish down the toilet (here I’m thinking he’s down the street in the cemetery).
I need to make one thing clear. I am not a political person, or at least didn’t intend on being. I don’t see this as being about politics anymore. I see Life vs. Death. I can’t wrap my brain around why the issue stands on a smaller scale to so many others. It seems to be all about watching what one says about Bush and the administration. Personally I don’t give a shit what political party’s toes are being stepped on, whose feelings are being hurt; it could be any one of us in the places of the tens of thousands of innocents becoming casualties of War. I can only hope that such selfishness and irrationality is a result of mere ignorance of what is truly going on right under our noses. Toes I don’t wish to step on? Those of the families of fallen American soldiers. They have been betrayed deeper than I pray I’ll ever come to know. Even after their losses, they’re continually lied to, and condescendingly patted on the back. I empathize with those of them who continue to stand behind Bush. Their hearts and souls ride on the backs of those running the country, their loved ones’ lives lie in clumsy hands. They see no other options other than hope and faith; no one can blame them for that. Their voices would amplify a message so desperately needing to be heard. “We have to stand together, not agree on everything, to speak up for those who’re silenced…that’s patriotic” Amy Goodman.
I couldn’t tell you exactly when corporate America first took control of mainstream America; when democratic society was so slyly silenced. There are secrets embedded in the media that are purchased at a generous rate. Images that are too “tasteless” for American eyesight are seen day and night in places like Al-Jazeera. Instead, we watch on TV, a “video war game” of blurry maps and explosions translated by military analysts, or a “parade of retired generals”. F.A.I.R (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) released a study of War on Terror interviews seen on all the major networks. Out of nearly 400 interviews, 3 were of peace protests. If that isn’t right-winged, I don’t know what is. We can ask why Journalists, whose roles should be to present diversity in opinion, would allow such audacious censorship, but we don’t have to research far to find the tip of the iceberg. I.e. Clear Channel sky-rocketing from 40 to 1,200 networks owned with the Bush administration having its back.
I apologize if this is vague, if some reading this have absolutely nothing to relate to, or if I haven’t delved deep enough into the topic. This is more of a coming out for me, an assurance that I have no intentions partaking in the silence or deception, let alone accept it. I have found my voice in an area where many more are needing to be heard. I encourage my peers, the largest percent of Americans who don’t vote and take too much too often with a grain of salt, to pursue the truth between the lines. Don’t believe everything you hear in between the overabundance of commercials. Get involved, and get concerned. Our futures are being laid out for us, not by us...and our silence screams for corruption.
Posted by Nicole Hushla at 2:48 AM | TrackBack
Hi Heather
As anyone who has spoken to me for more than say, Oh 15 seconds has surmised, I'm not very computer savvy; I try, as the geek in the race plods along at the back of the class while running the mile; as he who breaks the tape five minutes after everyone else has showered and changed, I am mildly pleased with my medoicre accomplishment: Arete; it's not much, but it's my personal best. Along those lines I thought I was beginning to understand the internet and computers and a minute portion of their function, but now I'm stumped. If the blog is the first step to communal intelligence, with all the new age cerebral give and take envisioned there: we post our blogs so that people will respond to us in -- well, if not real time, then possibly at their convenience, how does this leather bound version fit in. Are we admitting that if something is important to us, we want it to be physically real and exist in a touchy-feely format? That floating in the ethernet is simply not good enough and that somethings are worth the paper to print them?
Posted by Joseph Lampiasi at 2:06 AM | TrackBack
November 8, 2005
Publish Your Blog
This is interesting. Someone left a comment on my personal blog with a link to this site. It's a site where you can give the web address of your blog and enter the dates you want published and you have your own book of your blog entries at a low price. You can choose your own font, the pictures you want included (if any) and the type of binding you want the book to have (there are 5 to choose from). You can also choose a cover for your book from one of the standardized four on the website or submit your own graphic and have it personalized. The website has just been started, so things are a bit scattered, but I think it's a really neat idea.
Posted by Heather Cobb at 10:51 PM | TrackBack
Blogs In the Classroom
Well this article relates exactly to what I am doing as I type. I am blogging for school purposes. Part of our assignment each week is to enter a certain amount into our blog sites Well this article you can view by clicking HERE talks about this. They are even using this tool in elementary school where kids are probably just beginning to hone in on their typing skills and already they are blogging. That's gotta say something about where our culture is heading in the future. This may be the first time I've experienced blogging, but kids are going to start experiencing it sooner and sooner in their lives and the funny part is... it's required by the school.
Posted by Brenden Hendrickson at 7:51 PM | TrackBack
Can a Game Make You Cry?
Unfortunately the only games I ever play are Silent Hill and Metal Gear. Silent Hill and Metal Gear are more likely to put me in a total state of mind fcuk than make me cry. Has a game ever made any of you cry?
"...ranked at the top. But halfway down the list, the emotional tenor became much more unpredictable, and much more interesting. A sense of "honor," "loyalty" and "integrity" got a quite high score of 3.5.."
I know that by the end of Metal Gear Solid 3 I didn't want to kill the boss. I felt sorry for her. It felt almost wrong to defeat her because of her place in the plot's twisted story line (however, that didn't stop me from punching her in the head until she fell down and blasting her with a shotgun-off topic question: How come that would kill six little minions but I have to do that about 20 times for a boss. That's not very life-like, is it?). I really have to question which side my character should really be on by the end of the game. The plots for these games are becoming more and more twisted I fear I'll have to study basic war tactics and principals before I even begin to play the next installment.
As for Silent Hill, that requires all kinds of psychological balance before you should even start, especially the second one. With all the twists and turns and alternate states of consciousness and realities my jaw was nearly permanently dropped with each new revelation. There's a big undertone of the euthanasia moral dilemma that will leave you contemplative and confused for days after you're done with the game, but afraid to play it again for fear of even more confusion (like trying to watch Memento a second time).
Remember back in the day when Zelda was on a never-ending question to save his girlfriend? Sometimes I miss those plots. Am I just babbling or what? Do video games make you cry? Should they?
Posted by Whitney Worden at 2:20 PM | TrackBack
November 7, 2005
Sex Doll?
As I was searching the WIRED technology news, I found an interesting article about how, due to the latest technology, naked, female dolls that appear to be life-size can be rented out by the hour for sexual purposes. The article was a post that didn't include much information except links to pictures of the naked women that are supposedly the sex dolls. I didn't feel comfortable exploring sites of naked women, so I don't know much about these sex dolls except:
Apparently, US and Japan have both made these life-size naked female dolls that look like real women. The US doll is called The REAL Doll, and Japan's doll is called Candy Girl. With technology, the renters of the dolls can customize the hair color, shape, etc. of the naked doll to better satisfy preferences. I don't know what else the doll does, if anything. Personally, I think this is pathetic. If a guy is that desperate, there are always strip clubs and adult stores with plenty of media displaying REAL naked women. Getting thrills from a naked doll are beyond me, if not sickening. Anyway, regardless of the ethics of the doll, I'm more interested in the technology of it. Whoever thought technology would help produce a life-size naked female doll that customizes to one's taste? The tech world, since my fascination with the internet, never ceases to amaze me.
The invention of the sex dolls really isn't my type of topic, but I thought it was interesting. If anyone knows more about this, fill me in. Are these popular? Are they new? Do peoploe really rent them, even with all of the interactive pornography on movies and the internet? How do they customize for each person?
Click here to view article/post.
Posted by Ashley Lauro at 7:17 PM | TrackBack
November 6, 2005
Less is usually more
After checking my notes to Aaron & Heather, I had the impression that they were penned by some crabby old guy who doesn't like much of anything; that is simply not the case -- at least not all the time. I enjoy virtually all types of music, but I prefer music that is not electrcially nor electronically enhanced. The type of music I enjoy the least is that which I'm forced to listen to by the driver five cars away when both our windows are shut and his bass is still shaking my car. I don't know what it's called, but I'm sure we've all been forced to hear it. Those tunes simply don't compare to Benny Goodman, or even Tommy Dorsey; if they did, the musicians would not need to rely so heavily on amplification. The idea that if a little volume is good, then more volume is better is simply not true. On the other hand, a little bit of some types of non-amplified music can go a long way. For instance, one barbershop quartet number can fill my listening quota for a year. Similarly, I doubt that I would ever go to a bagpipe recital, but a clansman's funeral is just not complete without the obligatory Amazing Grace played in the distance, much like Taps at a military funeral. I'm sure that part of my musical comfort zone is due to age, but I still like the bands that were popular when I was very young; among these are The Moody Blues, Cream, The Beatles, Steppenwolf, and Credence. Piano players like Elton John, Billy Joel and Jerry Lee Lewis with their bands have remained popular for over thirty years; as have The Rolling Stones -- perhaps the greatest rock band of all time. All these groups rely heavily on electronic amplification; I suppose when you're playing to crowds of 50,000 and more it's necessary, but the electronics are used to enhance the music; it does not become the music -- or the music does not become it; however you want to say it.
Following the same thinking, the less equipment that is needed to participate in a sport, the more human involvement and the more of an actual contest it is -- or so it seems to me. I understand that the automotive and nautical engineers need competition to test their innovations and on some level I can appreciate the need to do so, but it's really the hull design or the engine modification that's being tested, not the sailors and the drivers.
Consider all the padding that football players wear; it would certainly be a different game if players wore only colored jerseys. The game has become the padding in that records are continuously rewitten because players can perform in ways that would have rendered their unarmored predecessors broken or unconcious in a very short time.
Like the engineering that makes the competition in NASCAR, yachting and to smoe extent I suppose bycycling, the technical advancements in football player's padding has enhanced and defined the game.
Conversely, the statistics in baseball are comparable between eras because there has been little equipment modification over the years. Granted, in the twenties the balls began to be machine made, but they still have the same number of stitches. (This new ball is said to account for Babe Ruth's fame, and that may be partially so, but all major leaguers have been swinging at the same ball ever since without quite so much success.) The other major changes in baseball equipment have been what amount to common sense changes. The fingers of the mitts were allowed to be stitched together, (Duh) which didn't affect batting averages all that much, the stitching did however account for fewer errors. Another common sense innovation was the batting helmet introduced by the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers (think about it and you'll know why this team did it this year) The batting helmet was quickly adopted by all teams, but the helmet doesn't enhance a player's performance; it simply keeps him from getting a concussion. No one leans his head over the plate hoping to get beaned on the helmet for a trip to first. Over the years the bat has remained solid wood. The Designated Hitter rule has allowed pitchers to remain in the game during situations which would have called for a pinch hitter, but that's only the American League, and starting pitchers are normally called on for a hundred pitches. Unless he was enjoying a particularly good day, somewhere between the fourth and sixth innings, the starter was usually replaced by a mid-reliever anyway. Besides, it's not an equipment enhancement, it's a strategy change.
A few weeks ago I watched a rugby game for the first time in several years and noticed a strategy change had occured. It is now permissable to assist the jumper in a line out. Naturally this innovation allows the jumper to get much higher; of course his opponent is being assisted as well, so there is no unfair advantage taken. Rugby is still played with the minimum equipment. In fact it is still true that the only equipment needed to play rugby is leather balls.
Posted by Joseph Lampiasi at 7:22 AM | TrackBack
sport?
Hi Heather,
Since you asked, Merriam Webster's Concise Dictionary defines sport as "physical activity engaged in for enjoyment". That's really not a good definition though is it? According to that a sexual act, or even a massage could be considered sport and all professional activity previously called sport must be excluded because the participants are engaged in the activity for money, not enjoyment. According to Webster's Encyclopedia of Dictionaries, sport is that which amuses; diversion, pastime, an outdoor game or recreation esp. of athletic nature. This is a poor definition as well, but I think I can work with this one anyway. NASCAR may very well be an excuse for rednecks to drink beer outside -- a sort of ethnocentric awareness seminar for the culturally deprived. The cars go around and around in a blur until someone is declared the winner. Well let's compare that with basketball -- clad in what amounts to their underwear, a group of people with obviously malfunctioning pituitary glands race back and forth attempting to score more points than the other team. Points may be scored in sets of one, two or three, depending on the situation, by throwing the ball through a hoop ten feet off the ground.
Both events sound extremely dull to me, but they both fit the definition. NASCAR includes engineering, aerodynamics and several other sciences I'm sure to produce the fastest car. I would be surprised if these advantages weren't somehow incorporated in street vehicles.
Horse racing must be a sport. Yachting must be a sport. Hockey must be a sport. Bicycle riding must be a sport. It's just a matter of how much equipment the humans particpating in the activity are allowed to use.
While I must add that I do not enjoy NASCAR, basketball, hockey,or any other of the sports I mentioned, I say that they are indeed sports. Therefore, it must be so
Posted by Joseph Lampiasi at 7:10 AM | TrackBack
November 5, 2005
Aaron ...
Aaron ...
First, I suppose I should say that I have no idea what type of music these bands produce; I will add that since the sound is compared to Pink Floyd's, the only group mentioned that I actually heard of, but they've been together at least 25 years, I'm reasonably certain that I would not especially enjoy a concert -- and that's okay; that is precisely why there are so many types of music -- no right or wrong, just different. Regardless, you wrote that if one is familiar with The Shins, Death Cab for Cutie, and The Postal Service, one would enjoy The Southland. I'm guessing by the names that this is not easy listening. What if your reader is not familiar with those bands? Are they standard four piece electric rock bands with drums, lead, bass, and chord guitar? Is there a Synthesizer (are synthesizers even used any more?) How about an electric organ, brass or woodwinds? Is there any innovatuion, or is it the lyrics and the singer's voice that makes the band worth listening to?
The answers to these may broaden your reader base. On the other hand, you may want to limit your reading audience to the same people who would be likely to know about the bands you mentioned. Either way, I don't care, I'm only trying to fulfill my quota of blogs. Good luck.
Joe
Posted by Joseph Lampiasi at 9:56 PM | TrackBack
ATTENTION: READING ASSIGNMENT
Check out this article on the Web 2.0 on the O'Reilly Network. The article discusses the substantive changes to the Internet over the last three or four years. What Tim O'Reilly describes here are the reasons this class has changed so dramatically from the first time I taught it. He touches on many of the issues we have discussed, plus much more.
And here's something to think about.... Unless you find you have a real interest, you probably won't end up in a job where web design is a primary job activity. However, it is quite likely that you will end up in a job where occassional, basic web production is done and where development of content for the web is common. Equally important though will be understanding what the web is really about, what it does culturally, what it does for its users/customers/audience, and where all this is going and why.
That's what this article is about.
Posted by Alex Reid at 10:30 AM | TrackBack
concerning judicial appointment
First -- it's critical to inderstand that nothing matters. Public opinion doesn't matter -- The President will not be seeking re-election, and even if he were, some aide would spin the facts. With $2,000,000,000 -- yes, that's trilliom, spent in Iraq, it's not as if he were sensitive to the citizens' outcry anyway. He will do as he chooses for the remainder of his term. The rest of us be damned. So go ahead, appoint whomever you wish to the court -- leave a legacy befitting your eight year reign. Unlike your war, there is at least an end in sight to your Presidency.
And no individual should be scrutinized as the press -- really no better than parparazzi -- descend on a person like a swarm of locusts determined to suck out some miniscule detail and blow it all out of proportion to increase their paper's market share. Who could stand that type of microscope? Would it matter? No of course not, nothing in the political arena matters. There is no truth, no one relies on facts. What is right changes; what is legal changes;we don't know what is the truth, so our percaption changes. You see -- it just doesn't matter. Appoint anyone at all to any position at all and the machine's wheels will continue turning.
Posted by Joseph Lampiasi at 3:05 AM | TrackBack
November 1, 2005
Morgan Dunn Neovox Dos
Morgan Dunn
Neovox Article 2
Writing In Cyberspace 1
“Saw 2”: Defining the Cult
Fans of “Saw” will love the second installment of the grisly and psychological tales of the Jigsaw Killer. The second film not only improves on the first film’s mediocre acting and lack of gravity, but also adds an entirely new dimension to the killer’s mind and motives.
The film opens with a taste of Jigsaw’s methods of torture; a short scene involving a man awaking in a small room with a rusty contraption bolted around his neck, and the only way to stop it’s deadly and gruesome activation is to complete a horrifying task. Reminiscent of the first film, this scene is a perfect example of the claustrophobic and time-sensitive nature of the movie’s main action. Every moment of “Saw 2” has urgency, a conflict, and an extreme sense of gravity. The killer describes his traps and tasks almost poetically, as if the victims are playing some sort of cosmic game to help the human race redeem itself of misconduct. All of his ‘games’ end in death, and have a way of making the victims feel that they are weak for their own humanity.
Added depth to already urgent situations are what make the “Saw” films rise above others of the otherwise shrill genre peppered with B-movies.
The plot then moves into two separate stories that quickly collide, that of a troubled detective in a conflict with his son, and Jigsaw’s biggest ‘game’ yet. Detective Eric Mason finds himself having to attempt to reason with the cynicism and insanity of Jigsaw, not only for the lives of seven captured victims but also for that of his own estranged son.
The victims wake up confused and sick in an industrial, decrepit series of rooms. Throughout this ‘house’ are several of Jigsaw’s twisted games, each one granting a prize of antidote to a deadly poison floating throughout the house. This gas breaks down their organs, so during the movie characters are coughing up blood in progressively greater amounts.
Gore is a big in “Saw 2”. Not only does everything these eight people do include hacking up blood, the tasks these characters must complete mutilate them in a variety of ways including being burned alive, getting one’s wrists caught in a swiveling trap of rusty blades, and being shot in the head by a door as a penalty for taking the seemingly obvious way out. Ironically enough, for all the gore in the film, my personal pick for the most gut wrenching and hard-to-watch scene involved no blood or guts at all, but rather a woman falling in a pit filled with hundreds of syringes, clawing through them to try and find a small key.
Along the time factor and claustrophobic feel of the house, the eight victims also create a psychological pressure cooker throughout the film. One of the clues Jigsaw leaves them is that they all have something in common, a hint that seems to make the eight players resentful and angry rather than come together and try to discover what the common attribute is. None of these characters seem to really get along.
Meanwhile, as the eight victims play games with their lives, detective Mason is finding it harder and harder to listen to the rants and monologues of Jigsaw. This film, unlike the first, lets us get inside the head of Jigsaw, learn about his past, and even hear a few of his philosophies on life. He’s a cold, bitter character with an unnerving voice that tells a story of the life of a madman. The movie has an interesting way of making the viewer almost want to agree with Jigsaw, you find yourself concurring with him as he speaks his mind, then instantly retracting that feeling when a innocent’s blood is spilled all over the floor.
The cynical and flat personality of Jigsaw is sharply contrasted with the frustrated and emotional detective Mason. The foils make for some interesting scenes as Mason throws furniture and bursts into tantrums while Jigsaw sits and silently stares, making his assessments and judgments of the ‘inferior being’.
And what would another ‘Saw’ film be without an extreme and unpredictable twist for an ending? Throughout the movie secrets are revealed, characters are brought into light, and the plot becomes more elaborate, tricking the viewer into thinking that another revelation simply couldn’t top the last. All of this builds up to an ending that surpasses the notorious surprise and intensity of the first’s; a climax as elaborate as Jigsaw’s trademark machines of torture and death.
Like “Saw”, “Saw 2” has an ending that makes the viewer rethink the entire movie; one does not realize the extent of Jigsaw’s madness and ambition until the end. It all comes together into an epic finish that not only redefines the film and makes one see a whole different movie the next time they watch it, but also seems to make a statement about humanity and takes Jigsaw’s ambitions to proportions that mock those of the traditional mad genius/homicidal killer.
Having a greater depth psychologically, a less clunky and more straight-to-the-point plot, and relying less on cheap scares and placing more value more on an urgent and intricate scenario for horrifying audiences, “Saw 2” surpasses the first on multiple levels. Well worth the ticket price and effort.
Posted by Morgan Dunn at 9:44 PM | TrackBack
Breathalyzer on your cell
LG found a way to introduce a feature that makes it seem as though they are out to save lives with their cell phones. Now, three of their new cell phones have breathalyzers on them. The following excerpt comes from Wired's blog on gadgets.
"I knew a guy in college who had so many DUI's that the courts made him install a breathalyzer in his car. Now it looks like judges could just give out cell phones. LG's new line of breathalyzer phones can tell you if you're wasted before you get behind the wheel. Just take a deep breath and blow on your handset, then check out the on-screen results. It'd be great if someone made an enhancement for this feature that could block you from calling your girlfriend's number after midnight when you're irretrievably plastered. Could save a lot of relationships that way. The breathalyzer feature will be available on LG's SD410, KP4100 and LP4100 phones. These babies could save people a whole lot of grief."
I agree. These phones need to come with a feature that allows you to block certain contacts when your BAC is a little too high to make reasonable phone calls.
Posted by Brenden Hendrickson at 2:26 PM | TrackBack
Blog vs. Message Board
I posted this on my blog and felt it belonged here too. It is just a discussion on two very similar forms of media. It's a little rough, as I just plowed into the writing of it (i.e. sorry for typos I missed), but I think it gets the message accross. It reminds me a bit of the idea of Web 2.0 and Web 1.0
Blog vs. Message Board
I often think about this, being a fan and user of the message board more than the blog. It's what I grew up with, and thus what I understand more. Not to say that the blog is much more complex, but it's simply new and noticably different.
Message board:
Several users/posters
One central topic to discuss.
Blog:
One primary user/poster (though others may reply)
All topics of discussion possible
The two are in essence the same. One main post, then others can reply and a discussion cn go on. Being a topic person more than an individual person (no jokes, please), I gravitate toward the message board again. I'm sure one can do a search of blogs on a site for a topic, but it seems like much more hassle than it's worth.
I also find it amusing that people use blogs as a social thing, where really it is much less social than a message board (or at least less easy to use socially).
I am curious what others think on this subject. Do you prefer the message board or the blog for communicating, information gathering, social discussions, or any other uses? Also, why?