Did You Know?

I saw this video for the first time last year when the FLC Environmental Center hosted the public viewing of "The Eleventh Hour," after it's release. It was played as a short before the actual film, and it provides a lot of interesting, startling, and at moments mind- bending information pertaining to a number of international concerns. Among them: population, industry, technology, and education.

Dove Onslaught

While I have seen the other Dove video I previously posted, I just watched this one today for the first time. It takes a more raw approach than the last one you'll find, and I have to admit it made me shiver. I find myself to have a real love/ hate relationship with shock- advertisements such as these, and it's embarrassing to me that we must resort to these types of depictions to get people to actually pay attention. When it comes to issues this important however, I suppose my ultimate retort to such advertising would be, "whatever it takes."

Dove: Evolution

This is one video, from a series done by the Dove Beauty Campaign that goes to benefit social awareness and self- esteem workshops for young women across the country. I find it to be a powerful testament to the power and influence technology has in shaping both our consumer tastes, as well as our social expectations of others as well as ourselves. These advertisements may be geared toward women and the ways in which we view ourselves, but there is something to be learned from them by anyone who has ever cared about one.

Soft Language

So I ended up a bit side tracked in the George Carlin youtube archive after I watched the "voting" piece, previously posted. In this rant Carlin addresses the overwhelming popularity of double-speak, politically correctness, or what he more aptly refers to as, "soft language." Most people have probably encountered at least a handful of the examples he provides (as well as a number of them that he does not.) This may also mean a little something extra to the dorky English majors like myself, who to the outside world may appear to enjoy words a liiiittle too much.

Voting

This video is hilarious. George Carlin made throughout the course of his comedic career, what I would argue are some of the most cutting and accurate critiques of American society as well as humanity as a whole. In this piece, Carlin makes a great argument as to why we can't be upset about the options we are presented with in terms of our political leadership, and pokes fun at what he regards as the nonsensical ritual of voting. Whatever your political views, you are bound to garner at least a smidgen of legitimacy from this piece.

Strongbad

The Strongbad series is definitely one of my favorites! In this "episode," Strongbad responds to an e-mail which requests his assistance in educating the "young peoples," about technology. It's funny because the majority of what he's saying is true. It's lighthearted in nature, and most likely not intended to inspire an "overthink." However,the critique that technology has become the all dominating force by which we do pretty much everything is not lost.

All I Need

This video was created by Radiohead in correlation with MTV in response to the exploitation and trafficking of children. Though I've seen this video many times, the stark contrast it depicts, between life as an American child and life as a child elsewhere never ceases to amaze me. In this, an election year, our country is in a state of complete upheaval over a number of issues. Some of them are incredibly important. Many of them are not. Videos like this re-frame my perspective and remind me how embarrassing my American agenda tends to be.

The End of the World

This video takes a more laughable approach to the state of human affairs, and the dystopic future that seems to await us. Though highly satirical, it does a pretty impressive job of isolating different cultural attitudes and characteristics, and pitting them against one another in order to create the ultimate in, "end- of- the- world commic scenarios."

Prometeus: The Media Revolution

I found this video to be both thought provoking, and unsettling. It does an excellent job of interweaving the factual advancements of the past, with a series of hypothetical futuristic scenarios. Along with the explanation of the evolution of these technologies and technological mediums, some of the speculated outcomes appear intriguing and arguably likely in nature. If nothing else, this video provides food for thought, for anyone who is interested in the fields of media, technology, and culture. Ultimately, if we are honest with ourselves, this should include (to differing degrees,) just about all of us.

"Emergence"

I found the Radiolab broadcast, "Emergence" to be very interesting, and was surprised and impressed by the amount of material covered within an hour- long segment. What struck me to be the most fascinating about the piece, I think, was how closely correlated human activity, establishment, and interaction is with that of the "animal world." I use quotations when referring to the "animal world," because although we humans are indeed members of this world ourselves, we tend to view ourselves as being external to, and elevated beyond it's structure, governance, and processes. "Emergence" reinforced how much human activity parellels that of other animals, such as ants. The piece did a great job of exposing how similar human beings are to other creates, from the way(s) in which our societies/cities are established, to the ways in which we work cohesively as a group to achieve tasks more efficiently. "Emergence" also posed some compelling questions regarding the ways in which the world and it's many inhabitants have evolved without an obvious "leader" or plan. It left the audience contemplating the many ways in which life as we know it has reached the point it exists at today. Is there an innate, bilogical component to it all? Is there a single sector of the human brain responsible for the coordination of every thought and activity? Is there a creator respobible for the unexplainable phemomena we encounter in the "human" and "animal" worlds? Overall this piece was thought provoking and provided some fun and obscure information I may have otherwise not encountered, and for these reasons I found it to be both interesting and enjoyable.

Sarah's Mind Map Exercise