It seems things have come full circle since my first post. It was September 8th, and I was a new kid coming to a new place for the first time. On top of all of this, I had a minor tooth infection and was waiting in Hudson Health Center when I posted my first ever blog. Now I find myself a few months older, and still feeling more or less like the new kid. Oh, and a few days ago that minor tooth infection happened to come back and I found myself waiting, yet again in Hudson. I was nervous about a lot of things when I made that post. Worried about classes, my schedule, people back home, etc. I still find myself worrying about all of the aforementioned, seeing as I have spent all day scheduling my classes for winter quarter with much frustration and looking forward to the break. Things have changed in that short amount of time, and I feel my blog captures that relatively well.

When I was first told I would need to have a blog for class, I was not thrilled to say the least. I never saw myself as much of a blogger; the most blogging I had ever done was on MySpace a few years ago. I expected to have a relatively free-ranged blog that was generally vague in terms of grading. As coming in as a freshman, I had no idea what to expect in the course or any other course for that matter. Now that I’ve officially survived my first quarter at OU, I feel more confident in my abilities ever so slightly. As it turns out, the blogs had a very basic structure that must have been met throughout the course, very different when compared to my MySpace posts from high school. Although initially distraught at the idea of a blog with “rules”, I grew to like the structure over time. Seeing as I was not alone in these blog posts, I was able to view numerous classmates opinions on matters discussed in class, an opportunity that might not have been possible without the requirement of a blog. Throughout my posts, I have learned beyond the classroom. I have been forced to research topics, and analyze pop culture from a different perspective; that of the blogger. I was also able to get a glimpse into the personalities of my peers through their posts, learning many interest (and typically humorous) facts about them and their lives. Most posts made me think about the topic at hand in further detail. It was fun to share my experiences with the class (and world, for that matter) and blogging started to lose its “homework” aspect relatively quickly, making posting much easier.

Oh! The posts! How do I describe my posts? The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly come to mind. I will be the first to admit I do not like any of my posts to be honest. Some are better than others but clearly I have no future in journalism. One of my “Good” posts in my opinion was the post I presented (very nervously) in class. The post, entitled Growing Up With Logo’s (and Lego’s) in the 90′s (clever, I know…), discussed the effects of branding amongst children. Essentially I discuss how a Razor Scooter was the scooter to have. “You were ridiculed if you did not have a Razor Scooter”. It was true. I also share a short story about my very disappointing Christmas of 1998, a day that will live in infamy. The post then goes on to talk about the raging war between N64 and Playstation fanatics and the effects the two systems had on the playground at recess. As for the “Bad” post, one of them that comes to mind would be Maverick: A Man, A Movie, and a Roller Coaster. The only positive thing to come out of this post was the first ever “Dave’s Now Listening” signature, a gimmick I devised when I realized my posts weren’t very good. Apparently I thought readers would give a damn about whatever I was listening to at the time of the post (and I guess I still think people give a damn). The post is a mess. I somehow managed to string a few words together about John McCain, a Cedar Point ride, Mel Gibson, and the word gobbledygook. Why? Simply because they share one word in common: Maverick. Dumb concept? That is putting it mildly. The “Ugly” would have to be my post entitled RE: Internet=Connection, a response to Erika’s original post. Talk about a failure. I had a whole response planned out in my head, only to find out the Internet was not working in my dorm. So what do I do? Fuck it, I’ll blog about my lack of Internet, and our dependency to as humans to a computer. Only problem is I have no resources to back up my argument, nor do I have access to anything entertaining to post. Ugly is the least I can say for that post. I’m telling ya, I ain’t cut out for journalism.

If I could start all over again, I would do a number of things differently. For one, I would not accidentally tell my roommate that I had written a blog post about him. That did not end well, yet he did find the post to be rather amusing (and not offensive) to my relief. Also, I would have done more pre-planning when it came to topic. I would not just type away random things and hope to somehow tie them into what we had been talking about in class. For some reason, I thought I could magically make things works. Sometimes it did and other times you have posts like Maverick. Towards the end of the course I was able to plan about topics in class, but it took a while for me to learn this technique. Overall, I enjoyed the class and the blog. Although initially discouraged, I was able to form an online identity to express with others eventually. Hell, I even unintentionally inspired a friend to start his own blog about music, a blog which I highly recommend. He is very passionate and his posts are both informative and interesting (something I aspire to be.) Unfortunately the quarter has drawn to a close, yet I look forward to other courses with the knowledge I have learned along with the friends I have made with the assistance of blogs.

In the words of Ringo Starr, “Peace and Love”,

-Dave

Today marked the last day of Pop Culture class. I’ll miss the class…but here’s one last post to make it all tie together neatly. One of the first reading we had for the class was Dwight MacDonald’s Masscult and Midcult. In the reading, MacDonald argues that anything that is consumed by the masses is essentially not artistic. I remember in class we debated as to whether a Coca-Cola bottle would be considered art, seeing as it is mass-produced and consumed. According to MacDonald the answer would most likely be no, yet I sympathize with his outlook. Here’s a few quotes from M&M:

To some extent, Masscult is a continuation of Folk Art, but the differences are more striking than the similarities. Folk Art grew mainly from below, an autochthonous product shaped by the people to fit their needs, even though it often took its cue from High Culture. Masscult comes from above. It is fabricated by technicians hired by businessmen. They try this and try that and if something clicks at the box office, they try to cash in with similar products (MacDonald 14).

In regards to music, this basically translates to, “The more popular and consumable a piece of music it is, the less artistic and enjoyable it is.” To be more specific, some will argue that Folk Music (in the sense of music of a specific culture, not that of a rural setting specifically) is more authentic and has a deeper meaning than that of the mainstream. I am not trying to say “Indie rawk is sooo much better than the Hot 100“. Not by any means. It has been shown with other mediums that the broader the audience the more accessible the product will be. As for the Top 100, I looked at the top ten and did not recognize one song. That being said, I honestly haven’t willingly listened to the radio or watched MTV in years. On the other hand, I also don’t walk around claiming Led Zeppelin is god, or that Pink Floyd is the best band of all time.

Another noteworthy observation that I’ve noticed over the years are those who do claim Led Zeppelin is god and/or that Pink Floyd is the best band of all time really only know half the story. Fans who only know Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon or The Wall have good reason to come to their conclusion. These are Pink Floyd’s two most popular albums. But what about the band’s flops? Do they know about Ummagumma or The Piper at the Gates of Dawn? Probably not. Many argue that the music of today is nowhere near the quality of what it was 30 or 40 years ago. To this I argue that the music of that quality is still around, you just have to search harder to find it. The Rihanna’s and the Britney Spears’ of the world will always be around selling millions of albums, but will they be any good? Obviously this is based on your own opinion. I could say flat-out no, but that would make me sound even more pretentious then I probably already am coming across. You see, the format of an “album” is not of main concern in regards to most Hot 100 acts. Singles are what the market wants and they know it. Therefore, acts of today are coming out with the most catchy, repetitive music with the fans (and money) in mind. Grab a random kid’s iPod and he won’t have albums, he’ll have singles he found off of Limewire.

When Coca-Cola manufactured those bottles, were they claiming to be art? No, clearly not. They just needed a logo that caught a consumers attention. When Owl City released Fireflies (a song and band I’ve never heard of until I saw the Top 100 a few minutes ago, mind you. Currently it’s #1.) did they claim to be art? Well, when your primary sales comes from the iTunes Music Stores and CD’s filed under the Alternative/Rock section at Target….if the boot fits!! I will admit the song is catchy, I could see why it’s popular. On the other I hear nothing new. I’ve heard that beat before, the synthesizer intro, everything. There’s little to no creativity in the song. But why bother complaining about this? Is it because I’m bitter about other bands who aren’t anywhere near the Hot 100 but have much better songs than those making millions? No…I have my music and you have yours. Whether they are similar or not makes no difference. The key point here is that the music is indeed popular and I am in the minority. It’s #1 on the charts for a reason. I believe a reasonable conclusion is the dropping of musical standards. Kids nowadays (I use this sparingly, seeing as I am also a kid of today.), or the masscult as MacDonald would see it, want to have fun. They want to go to dances, drink, and they want an upbeat soundtrack to go along, regardless of quality. I’m not trying to bash mainstream music, but what’s popular today usually follows a very simple familiar formula. Music is supposed to express the feelings of the songwriter, but with record companies in full control of an artist’s catalog, it makes the self-expression a bit harder. Music for the masscult is designed for the masscult. In the 1960′s and the 1970′s, the standards appeared to be much higher. Music that was popular may have been catchy but it also was revolutionary at the same time.

Next year will anyone remember Owl City? Probably not, unless they have another chart-topping single. If you are looking for music that was not interfered with attempts at pleasing the masscult, it is not just indie rock. Believe me, some indie music can be just as awful as the worst of the Hot 100. More and more people are looking for authentic music; Music that is not tampered with an ideology to sell. By embracing any good music that is not popular, you are throwing off the plans for the masscult. The keyword there is good. People who embrace music that is not popular for the sake of music that is not popular are the ones who give indie rock a bad reputation. A friend of mine has a blog post about one band in particular that has seemed to have been effected by their stardom for the worst. It’s a Sign O’ The Times, if you will. Things will be better for everyone if the masscult set higher standards for their definition of “good music”. MacDonald’s argument may be flawed when applied to some forms of consumption, but when applied to music, he is spot on.

-Dave

(Note the unintentional irony of what I am listening to when I post this.)

Sources:

MacDonald, Dwight. “Masscult and Midcult.” Against the American Grain.

As Trujillo says, “Perhaps no single institution in American culture has influenced our sense of masculinity more than sport” (Trujillo 292). Although Otto was not portrayed with all the hegemonic masculinity traits, he certainly felt the need to be better than everyone else regardless of what it took to do so. You know you’re the epitome of manliness when your first name is a palindrome. Notice how in this clip Otto almost immediately finds a scheme to prove himself.

So what does all of this mean to a little kid? Surely i found the show entertaining as a child, but I also tried to emulate what I saw. I recall attempting to skateboard and falling over and over again thinking, man, I wish I could be like Otto, he’s so cool. Eventually I discovered Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, a much safer alternative. Even in a kid’s show, the emphasis on masculinity is present. I recall in numerous episodes Otto’s disgust at his sister, Reggie, who showed Otto up. Otto emphasized that men dominated the sports world, and he had the cockiness to go along with it. Although seen as a relatively harmless TV show, it had psychological effects on fans such as myself, whether intentional or not. On the other hand, other Nickelodeon shows emphasized gender roles from the other perspective. Take Hey Arnold!‘s Helga, a girl who takes crap from nobody. Throughout her day, Helga belittles anyone in her path, showing cruelty to anyone who will listen. She shows the female equivalent to someone who feels the need to emulate masculine traits in order to be taken seriously. She would also become infatuated with the thought of a romantic relationship with Arnold, showing her lack of decisiveness and her own confusion in regards to her identity. She is very intelligent and also confused my little prepubescent mind about the roles of men and women in society. Did some women really act that way? Nickelodeon may me question every stereotype I had learned up to that point. At the drop of a hat, Helga would fight anyone anywhere even though defense is typically associated with masculinity. But almost instantly afterwords she would pull out a locket with Arnold’s picture and talk about her love for him.  Nickelodeon unintentionally opened my eyes to both sides of the spectrum. This video captures her split-personality pretty well.

Sources:

Trujillo, Nick. “Hegemonic Masculinity on the Mound.” Critical Studies in Mass Communication. 8 (1991) 280-308.

When it comes to obsessive fans, it seems  like YouTube is a natural outlet. Spend any amount of time looking at video comments and you’ll see die-hard fans voicing their opinions and sometimes it gets ugly. It makes me wonder what a die-hard fan had to do to be nearly as obnoxious prior to the invention of the Internet. Well, we all here of those teenage girls from the 80′s who had posters of  George Michael covering all the walls of their bedroom. Fortunately for me, I lived with one. Although not quite in the 80′s, my sister LOVED the Backstreet Boys back in the 90′s. She would flat-out admit to hating N*SYNC or any other competitors (although in retrospect, I’m pretty sure she’d agree that N*SYNC had catchier melodies.) In her bedroom, three of the walls were completely covered in posters of the Backstreet Boys from floor to ceiling. She bought every new album the day it came out. It was weird. She went as far as even knowing each members birthday and entire biography. I remember her purchasing books about the group, telling me little tidbits she found noteworthy. As a little brother, I was always torn. On one side, I didn’t really like the music to be honest (I’ll admit, some of the songs were catchy.) On the other hand, I was terrified to ever mention my dislike in her presence (She was your typical older sister, beating me left and right if I disagreed with her. Wonderful childhood!!) In all honesty, I preferred N*SYNC, but there was no way I could ever tell her that then for fear of my life, basically. Some fans go a bit to far.

I remember once Burger King, yes Burger King, had a promotional where they sold $5 VHS’s of Backstreet Boys performances. For days, my sister would bitch about going to Burger King. We finally went and my parents consented to by one of the two VHS’s. Well, for the obsessed fan, this simply wasn’t good enough. My life was a living hell for about a month or so until she got that damn second VHS. My sister was a Super Annoying Fan to say the least. The mass-media can really effect the mentality of the general public. Nowadays, my sister looks back at those days and chuckles a bit, wondering why the hell she would ever be so obsessed, but back in the day, she was a gold-mine. Spoiled? Yeah…Obsessed? Pretty much…Realtively sane nowadays…Kinda.

Some of their videos are absolutely ridiculous…yet I still know all of the members names to this day, for better or worse. (Howie was so gross…)

-Dave

I agree with Alyssa’s post. Seeing as Arrested Development is one of my favorite shows of all time, I am one of those borderline obsessive fans who desperately would love to see a movie put together. I somewhat have a feeling the movie will be disappointing, however. If it ever is released (and it’s looking promising at this point) I will enter with low expectations and hopefully be surprised. Something about a television show coming back in the form of a movie seems a bit risky to me, an almost guaranteed failure. Sometimes the opposite outlook can be successful, such as M*A*S*H, which began as a film and planted the seed for a very successful 1970′s sitcom. When fans are passionate about something they will go out of their way to see their wishes possibly coming true. I recall when Arrested Development was in danger of being canceled, three of my good friends went so far as to post MySpace bulletins (Goooood Times.) telling their friends to sign a petition to “save the Bluth’s”. At that time, I wasn’t even a fan of the show (I became a fan after it was canceled to be honest, unfortunately.) yet I still signed the petition figuring, well, if my friends love this show, I most likely would too. And little did I know once I got my hand on the series DVD’s I would fall in love as well. Suddenly I understood why my friends posted those bulletins, an action I found ridiculous before seeing the show myself. “How could a fan become that devoted to a TV show?” I wondered. Once I saw the show, I completely understood. For those who have never seen the show, you may or may not be missing out. I have met people who love the show, and others who strongly dislike it. It’s either a hit or miss thing. (Those curious can watched all of the first season online here or purchase episodes from the iTunes Store). Fans hold more power then ever before, even with endless amounts of petitions that can be found online. Here’s a clip from actor David Cross, who plays the character Tobias, explaining why he thinks the show was cancelled due to lack of marketing.

As one could assume, the white guy has a lot of issues trying to adjust with the rest of the house, and shows how ludicrous the idea of The Real World actually is (The show is retitled The Mad Real World in the sketch). One the other hand, the sketch is hilarious and makes me wonder what would happen if MTV actually attempted a show such as this. It is also not horribly difficult to recall other “_____ guys”. You know; the gay guy, the homophobic girl, the devout Christian, the nymphomaniac (in case anyone was wondering, I almost accidentally typed necromancer. I’ve been listening to way to much Gnarls Barkley lately…), the celibate, etc. At this point, MTV does not even deny their exploitations. Casting hopefuls now look to be specific roles they have seen in past seasons. I stopped watching The Real World several years ago, yet my sister has been hooked ever since around the third season. When she visits my house she will usually turn on the TV just to watch the one show. Yes, MTV is that good, apparently. America loves the Blank Guy solely for their inevitable clashing with another Blank Guy. It’s an endless cycle of entertainment, and MTV realizes this. Notice how other MTV shows have fizzled out over the years. Road Rules was canceled, why? My theory is that the cast interacted to friendly, making boring television. Yes there were occasional fights and INTENSE scenes, but overall it was dull in comparison to The Real World. (On a side note, does anyone else agree that the Road Rules/Real World Challenge was completely unfair? I mean, The Real World cast sat around in a huge apartment all day bitching with one another, while Road Rules cast members were climbing huge mountains over 300ft. drops daily. Who do you think can cross a burning bridge faster, honestly?) As long as The Real World keeps generating viewers, I see no end in sight. Here’s an excerpt from The Mad Real World. Enjoy!!
-Dave

Also, apparently I am not alone in my nostalgia. Over OU’s infamous Halloween weekend a friend was able to snap this lovely portrait of one of my favorite 90′s couples (sort of…)

-Dave.

The irony about this blog post is the title of the original article in which I am responding to. “Internet = Connection”? I don’t think so, at least not in the dorm I’m in right now. I’m actually typing this in TextEdit and plan to Copy + Paste it when my connection is actually working again. I have now realized how dependent our culture has become on the Internet. I have been without Internet for say…15 minutes now…and it is driving me absolutely insane. You never realize what you had until it’s lost. It’s sad really, to think just 15 years ago our civilization was just starting its Internet obsession, and now a minor 15 minutes in the dark has delayed my assignments. As Erika implies, most people (myself included) can’t go hours without checking their Facebook or watching a video on YouTube. Know how I usually include a YouTube video at the end of my post? Not today (at least not right this second, anyway). I came down to the lobby desperately searching for a connection only to find three others also in a vain attempt to get online. My roommate just texted me from upstairs in our room asking “Can u get connected?”. No…no I can’t. I am surprised to find out that WordPress is the 23rd most viewed site on the web. Who knows who is really reading this? Usually people laugh at the question of “How did you survive without the Internet?”. Usually I’m laughing at this too, but it seems as though the joke is on me now. (Hold on, a fourth person came to the lobby asking if the Internet was working yet…still no.) We’ve all been offline for a half hour or so now, and I for one am seriously considering walking half way across campus just to post this blog post. The Facebook etiquette video was cute from what I saw (it apparently loaded 3/4 of the video before the connection died). I just ran to three separate dorms trying to connect to no avail. It’s raining outside, my laptop shoved under my shirt. Must’ve been very entertaining to my colleagues. Maybe the entire campus is down,  Howard Dean may have been right but now I don’t know what to believe.

OK, maybe I am a bit bitter about the whole religion thing. I was brought up in a very Christian-based household. Clearly, the Church did not manage to do its wonders on me, so to speak. My parents still attend church every Sunday morning (I even taught my dad how to run sound for Sunday service. It was a strange reversal of usual roles.) At first, when I opposed weekly church-going, my parents threatened drastic consequences, and usually followed through. There were a few months when I couldn’t hang out with friends, would be denied a meal, etc. but I still think it was worth it in the long run. After about sixth months or so of constant harassment, they finally decided to leave me alone, at least for now. They finally came to the conclusion that I could make my own decisions in regards to religion, and that I would rather sleep in than watch tone-deaf musicians butcher Kirk Franklin songs. Now I only attend to assist my father with live sound issues from time to time; it’s a good balance for both of us. I remember once my parents caught me watching an episode of Kids In The Hall, and there was a hilarious skit bout a Dr. Seuss Bible. The Religious Views box allows users to express themselves thoroughly, a large draw for Facebook. Some Facebook users fill their profile almost as a résumé, while others use it as a site to post the latest funny and vulgar news of the day. Others, such as myself, fall in between the two. I debate what to put on my profile and what to leave out. I do care what others think of my profile, but on the other hand if you don’t want to associate with me due to my faulty religious views, I most likely don’t consider you to be a vital friend in the first place. All of these ideas flew through my head when I decided to post The Church of Google as my sole religious source. My parents instantly made me change the channel and still to this day get upset when I watch one of my favorite shows. If my father saw that nowadays I guarantee you he would try to make me change it to no avail. Old habits die hard. Here’s a clip of the Dr. Seuss Bible for those who are interested.

(I would totally be Timothy Foo in that video.)

-Dave

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Sources:

“The Church of Google”. Google.Com. 26 Oct. 2009. <http://www.thechurchofgoogle.org/>

Wan, William. The Washington Post. 30 Aug. 2009. 26 Oct. 2009.

<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/29/AR2009082902400.html>

Another 90′s brand war existed between Nintendo and Sony. Nintendo had their famed Nintendo 64, and Sony had the original PlayStation. I for one will just admit straight off the bat that I was a Nintendo fan. Sony had the advantage of releasing their product a year prior to Nintendo in North America. PlayStation has overall dominated the number of sales between the two systems. Once again, in elementary school, you had to pick sides. There were rarely kids who “liked both”. You either loved Nintendo or Sony, and sometimes arguments would nearly amount to fist fights in my school. I remember not owning a PlayStation but owning a N64, this was the primary base for my side of the argument. On the other hand, I remember having a next door neighbor who had a PlayStation and we would constantly visit each others houses to play the systems we ourselves did not own. Kids were honestly judging one another based on their video game console of choice. Common arguments would sound like this: “Oh come on! N64 has Super Mario 64, Mario Kart, Glover, Zelda, 007, all of that stuff…oh and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater” “Yeah, well, PlayStation has Final Fantasy, Gran Turismo, and Tomb Raider!…Oh! And we have Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater too, so shut up!!” It was brutal. Even today the argument still rages on between video game fans. Many of us look back at these times and think of it as a giant waste of time. Our generation has finally realized how ridiculous defining one another due to brands is, a step that comes with maturity. As Klein put it: “It makes a good deal of sense that high-school kids would have a more realistic grasp of the absurdities of branded life. They are the ones who grew up sold” (Klein 61). Yes, we were sold. I certainly was sold on those Razor Scooter commercials I saw on TV. I was also sold on the various hours of video game commercials I must have sat through. And don’t even get me started on Lego’s vs. Kenex… Clearly, the following child is sold.

….and this next video I’m posting solely because I find it ludicrous to combines Razor Scooter and U2.

Sources:

Klein, Naomi. “The Brand Expands: How The Logo Grabbed Center Stage.”

No Space.