RSS Feeds

RSS feeds are cool. I actually found out about them a while back when I was in one of my other IT classes. The only problem (and this is my sole problem) is that I tend to forget that I have an account and usually end up visiting the sites individually.

Another annoying thing is that if you don’t check it in a few days you’ll wind up with 200 articles that you have to read. However, I do like that it -is- there. You can just go through all the interesting stories -and- there aren’t any obnoxious ads. i love the lack of ads. Honestly most news sites (as those are the ones I tend to get feeds to) aren’t exciting design wise so I don’t care that I’m missing out on that aspect.

In the end though it is useful, especially if you keep up to date with it. I’ll definitely be keeping mine.

Wiki’s.

I love wikis! At least when they’re done correctly. For example I love Wikipedia. It’s a wonderful way to waste time and they have absurdly long articles riddled with useless information. For example, look up ’starscream’ on wikipedia. WOW.

That said, when I first encountered wikipedia, I just thought it was a weird name for an encyclopedia. I didn’t get it, really. It wasn’t even until pseudo recently that I even realized that it was a thing for people to create wiki’s full of wonderful information.

I like them. To be honest I think - I think I overthink them so it’s hard for me to find out how to add to them and what not. But hell, I sure do like reading them and that’s all I need to contribute.

A More In Depth Review (on journals)

PostSecret

PostSecret is a blog devoted to anonymous self-confessed secrets that have never been revealed to anyone before. It is a forum to unveil things that have long haunted you (and in some instances amused you but you never had the courage to tell anyone) and so forth. It is run by Frank who asks his readers to send in secrets never divulged to anyone. It doesn’t matter what the secret is as long as you’ve never told anyone. You send them in anonymously and on a postcard that are often home made or customized from an existing one.

What I like about the blog (updated every Sunday) is that you are able to steal a glimpse into the lives of ordinary Americans. It makes you think about the secrets that they harbor and you never truly know. I like that the blog is updated every Sunday. I don’t like the glee in which I look forward to reading these previously unshared secrets. The format is very plain which I think suits the site as only the secrets are important.

The project was started by Frank and lately there are little youtube videos that are a compilation of secrets. Honestly I don’t like that format at all. It takes away, in my opinion, from the force of the secrets. It gives you distance.  I believe you should be as affected as possible. In a world where we are essentially sentimentally damaged and we are no longer swayed emotionally by others mental anguish or the violence around us, I like that these secrets make me pause and think and feel empathy for others. The other thing I don’t like is that Frank gets to go around and do shows, pocketing the little secrets to himself and making money off the books. Some of it does go to charity but it leaves me feeling ill at ease that he is essentially profiting from others (pain). It would be different if you could look through all the secrets sent in so the readers could perhaps profit spiritually. Finding a shared secret could make one feel not quite so alone. But Frank doesn’t do that. He posts the secrets for a week and then they are never seen again except in books and at the shows.

That though is not so much an attack on the technical aspect of the web site (though perhaps it was not meant to be that sort of analysis) so much as how he runs it. I think the blog could be improved by allowing all the secrets to be viewed at any time. Also as the site is updated every Sunday, I can’t link you back to old posts. They disappear every Sunday. I will mention some of the ones that have really affected me and made me think about the horror that is other’s lives.

I walked in on my stepbrother raping my mother.

This secret was sent in on a red postcard. It showed a skeleton walking through a door. Though there was no particular expression on its face there was a sense that he/she was shocked. The skeleton was looking at a bed.

It wasn’t rape.

Sadly I’ve seen many more of these than I’d care to see. At least three. It’s horrible because it points out that there are vicious people in this world who make a mockery out of something that should not be joked or lied about. What is sad is seeing some of the responses (as you can e-mail in text responses) to some of these cards which sometimes go like “I’m afraid I won’t be believed because of people like you” or some such.

There are funny and cute ones too of course. However, none of them are coming to mind right now. Then there are others that are more vague, although ominous. I don’t remember the exact wording (as it is now gone) but there was one that went like:

You think you got away. I know where you are. I will find you. You won’t escape from me.

I hope that the party on the receiving end of that is safe somewhere.

Ultramuffin.com

There is no point to this blog/journal. It is nothing more than a collection random subjects reviewed and exposed by a clearly eccentric and highly intelligent mind. While he (my pal Craig) also reviews books (most of them dealing with historical atrocities, physics and religion) the real joy of the page comes from his entries. He discusses anything from Sim City, to old 8-bit Nintendo games, conferences in Nevada, letters to Wonderbread as well as Panda Garden. His views and interpretations of Fairbanks are so accurate and hilariously described that you’ll choke on whatever you happen to have in your mouth at the time. He’s kind of like Seinfeld, only funny.

Personally I love everything over the blog. There’s not too much that I can say to help describe it. I myself find it to be uncategorizable and that is part of the reason that I am drawn to it. You can’t stick it in a cookie cutter niche. The blog itself leaves little to be desired except that it is seldom updated. Readers are left craving for new juicy bits much like the media (CNN/MSNBC) salivates in anticipation of misinterpreting or twisting Hillary Rodham Clinton breathing.

In regards to my favorite posts I’d like to say all of the above. However I will limit myself to two. One will have to be his letter to Wonderbread. This piece, just as fluffy as the bread itself, was a good three to four pages long. It sang praise and joys to the bread, much like Larry Craig does in declaring his innocence. The letter to Wonderbread however has far more conviction.

The other blog/journal/entry I enjoyed was the one in which he discussed Panda Garden. If you have never eaten at Panda Garden there probably is nothing of value for you in reading it. But anyone who has eaten there, ordered from there and adores their food much like we do will understand the cleverness of the entry and will marvel at how so perfectly the nature of the Chinese restaurant is captured.

26_seconds

This blog is a documentary of half-truths and falsehoods told in a surprisingly genuine and heartfelt way. The story is told in one page installments. It is all written, drawn and inked by the creator who documents the events of her visit to Japan and the people that she met there. She has in some instances blurred the details between truth and fiction in order to make it more interesting.

What I like about the blog aside from the mostly accurate detailing of the visit is the unassuming way in which the story is told. It is not necessarily filled with clichés and the author doesn’t really assume that it is a story that you will find of interest. However, it is presented in a sincere and tentative way that the reader can only assume that the narrator is young and inexperienced with love. It is told in a cheerful manner that bubbles with enthusiasm and hope. Those looking for a dark story of despair and the cruelties of love should look elsewhere.

The artwork is the creators own, as is the writing, directing and inking. It is not a polished and professional piece of work but it is all the more endearing for it and one can only hope as the story unfolds that our less than suave heroine reaches a happy ending.

I do wish that the story/blog would be updated more often. The writer is back in Japan and has gotten a scanner so here’s to hoping. I can’t pick one post that was particularly affecting- I believe that all of them are equally important to the story and each one reveals just a little bit more to the charming cast of characters.

Journalism

Bloggers are not journalists. Bloggers can be critics and analysts. It is very seldom, in my opinion, in which they can be a journalist. I agree with Rebecca Blood in what she wrote in her essay: to be a journalist you must be breaking stories, have valid sources and be working as a journalist.

That isn’t to say that I find journalists to be reputable in themselves. Bloggers are afforded the luxury of being lazy and not hunting down facts. Journalists must go through a much more vigorous process. Then again Bloggers have the ability to (when it’s possible) and speak in a factual and opinionated voice without censorship. The media today, the journalism of today is a joke. They are castrated. Their balls (or other genitalia) are held in murky jars with hazy labels by giant corporations who do not agree with a story you might want to put out, or do not find it necessarily flattering.

You can’t report honestly and without bias on the corporation who owns your company. It is simply not possible without risking your job. Blacklisting still exists. Maybe I’m romantic in hoping for an underground group that can report on the issues. However, that’s hard to do. Much like it is much more difficult these days to bring revolution, it is more difficult to report truthfully. The very technology that helps bloggers is the very kind that limits us from having underground groups of rebellious journalists willing to risk everything for a story that a public has the right to know.

The indifference of the public itself however is not inconsequential. The media is not held accountable by the very people they deceive or misrepresent the facts to. They are held only accountable by the companies that own them: and only when they speak the truth.

On to scenario one:

In this case I think that they should both be protected. However, I understand the skepticism for the blogger. Most people don’t consider bloggers to really use any sort of adhered to regulation. They are free in terms of that they can speak without censorship and don’t have anyone to condemn them for what is essentially an opinion. However since most bloggers really aren’t considered journalists it is easy to understand why someone, on the surface anyway, might find them less credible. If a story they broke is particularly damning then of course someone would want to know their source. However, given the mediocrity of journalism today and how censored it is anyway a journalist isn’t necessarily a more credible source, even if they are seen to be so.

I would say that the blogger should have the same rights as the journalist, at least if they’d been a political blogger for years. If it’s a story that breaks and it could have huge consequences I would say that sources should be revealed if it’s someone who’s never written before. But perhaps that should happen after their character has been established. If they are of high character then they should be protected just as journalists are, however if they are a pathological liar, then perhaps we should find out who their sources are. That said, if someone wanted to know, and it was just a blogger they’d force them into telling. That’s just how wonderful our legal system is.

Scenario 2: Personally I think anyone should be allowed to go to any political event to ask questions and take in the situation. However, that is not possible. The truth of the matter is that if you have a journalism degree and have a job as a journalist you’re going to get credit that a blogger won’t. It doesn’t matter if you have more readers, if you’re a better writer or if you’re more ethical. Unless you have that degree and or job, you will not be treated with the same respect as a journalist will.

Bloggers, unfortunately (or fortunately), are a dime a dozen. Hell, I’d love to go to a political event and ask questions and write about what went on. They’ll never let me because I don’t have that degree. Perhaps it’s best because things might get too crowded then and out of hand if just anyone could show up. Furthermore, if you are a blogger, then you don’t have any particular affiliation. There isn’t a company lording your job over you and threatening to have your job if you report something that they don’t want reported. As such, I think that certain groups would want to limit who gets to go in and limit it to those that ask perfectly manicured questions that won’t raise too much of a fuss.

To me it’s not a difference between political gatherings and a fashion industry. The fashion industry, while not quite as anal certainly wouldn’t want a bunch of ‘nobodies’ dirtying up their haute couture gatherings.

Web 2.0!

I had heard of Web 2.0 prior to this class. To an annoying extent I’m afraid. But it’s also true that it wasn’t being used properly for the most part. It was like ‘ah, new internet! the new internet is web 2.0!’ So I don’t know if people really knew what the hell they were talking about. In terms of explaining to someone the difference between web 2.0 and what isn’t 2.0 I’d try to put it in this manner, though I don’t know if it’s right or not. I could say “What isn’t web 2.0 is something like CNN. Aside from the occasional highly politically charged poll concerning what we should think about Britney Spears, there isn’t too much input we can have with CNN. We can’t tell them their stories are crap, they don’t directly respond to us when we suggest a story and we don’t have a little CNN community where we can post flattering angled pictures of ourselves or share opinions.” Their political blogs don’t count because they edit the hell out of you.

In regards to web 2.0 I’d say this!: “Web 2.0 is something that can be surprisingly addictive, much like crack or I Love New York 2. You don’t expect for it to until you start checking it compulsively, waiting to see if you’ve gotten some feedback or waiting to eagerly endorse someones opinion or diss them. In this arena you can post nice pictures of yourself (or your glamour shot if that’s what you’re into) and makes plans and exchange opinions! MySpace, Facebook, blogs etc, are examples of this.”

If that didn’t suffice, I’d just make them do the readings on my blackboard.

Uh, in terms of my participation, then, yes, I do! This ‘blog’ here is an example, as well as myspace. Granted, I only keep that so as to get a hold of my hard to get a hold of friends. I’m afraid it’s charm lost its appeal a few years back. Plus, I get tired of people in the labs spending all their time on there. Damn. There are other websites, people.

3 Journals

http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

Secrets.

http://ultramuffin.com/

Random thoughts on random topics.

http://26-seconds.livejournal.com/

A rarely ever updated quasi-pseudo true story told in comic book form.

Yet Another Introduction

Hello hello! I’ll introduce myself for the second time. My name is Frances but some of you may affectionately know me as ‘zombie.stripper’ in regards to our class anything and everything. I am taking the class because, hey, it’s online! It gives me an excuse to be lazy as I don’t have to physically show up to class. Also (not to kiss ass here) I took a class with Chris last semester and rather liked it. I figured if I had to take a class, why not with him?I am interested in plenty of things and really have no idea where to start. I’ll give a random listing of words, much as one would on their little profile things: sociology, politics, reading, computers, dreamweaver, photoshop, writing, the crazy that is religion, photography, censorship, taboo, media, Che, etc etc.

About myself. I am a person with far too much opinion, so much so that I tend to inadvertently fling it at others without any kind of intent a.k.a. a pain in the ass. I have degrees in sociology and psychology and am currently working on my third one in the IT Specialist program. I am hoping this one will prove more useful. I am cynical to the extreme and foolishly dream of days of unbiased media, aware citizens and a government who doesn’t want to put barcodes on our foreheads because it’d be more convenient that way.

As of now I am currently looking for a foundation to put my wonky thoughts and am eager to have someplace to refer you to. I don’t really, so feel free to read any asinine prior entries I might have written here for Chris’ other class.

Things I’ve Learned Watching The First Two Seasons Of The Sopranos

• 1. You can be a hard core mafia member and still have your mom make you cry.
• 2. All it takes to shut up your holier-than-thou wife is a fur coat.
• 3. Psychiatrists need shrinks too.
• 4. You can still be a man’s man, even with a name like Pussy.
• 5. Tony doesn’t give a fuck if you’re his friend, he’ll get what’s his no matter what!
• 6. Overly ambitious punks joining the mafia never last very long. Unless they’re Christopher.
• 7. Sometimes the business family is more real than your real bastards of a family.
• 8. Russian whores have feelings too.
• 9. “Every time I try to get out… they pull me back in!”
• 10. Technical family can be real vindictive sons of a bitches.

The Little Program That Couldn’t

Wow. I really don’t like this program. At all. It’s… It kind of reminds me of Photoshops mentally challenged little cousin that is trying so hard! It can sorta do all the stuff it’s older and cooler cousin can but it does it in really dumb ways.

Scaling, cropping, image editing, all that jazz (which is essentially what it does, yes, I know) all take about five extra steps on Fireworks. Why? Why are you such a dumb little program?

Why can’t I just punch in the numbers to scale you to the proper size? And if I can- why are you so damn difficult to find? Everything you can do, Photoshop can do better. I am by no means a photoshop expert but I do think it’s much more user friendly than fireworks.

I don’t care if I can drag the images you help me with to dreamweaver. I don’t. I can just save the photoshop pictures to the dreamweaver folder so I don’t mind.

Goodbye, Fireworks, I am leaving you for your cooler cousin.

Love - Me

I Loooooooooove the Gym!

The hardest part about going to the gym is actually getting there. One must muster all their inner strength to turn off the Flavor of Love marathon and get your lazy ass off the couch.

You will remind yourself that the reason you are so overweight is because you think ‘Just one more episode! What will that crazy bitch New York do next!?’. But it’s hard. So hard. Dumb VH1 shows with no redeeming values whatsoever are just really addictive. Kind of like crack. Not that I would know. Seriously.

So going to the gym. It is much easier to work out once you’re there, that’s a given. Especially in Alaska when in my case, it’s a twelve to fifteen minute jaunt to get there. Once you get inside the gym you’re just so damn cold you figure ‘it’s all right to spend an hour plus here!’.

But it’s all about getting there. There are poor folks in the world who don’t have a car. They have to take the bus or worse yet, walk and have every bead of moisture leeched from their body. By the time you get to the gym your hands are red and raw and on occasion you resemble some desert lizard. If you don’t believe me you can look at your skin and make out every hexagonal patch of your skin. It is both neat and repulsive.

So you get to the gym. Sometimes it’s empty (how I prefer it) and sometimes it’s very packed. On the days that it’s packed you will find a gaggle of sometimes freakishly thin women who will lay claim to the ellipticals and hammer away at them, sometimes for two hours on end. That is normally the time I want to drag them by their ponytails (they always have ponytails) off the machine and stuff their mouths full of twinkies and ho hoes. Hoe hoes? Ho hos. Whatever.

Either way, I’m the one who needs the machine, damn it! It is boring to work out for an hour on any machine. I don’t care what you’re listening to or what you’re watching, it is boring. Then when you are dying, while repeatedly looking at the time to see if your hour is up, you wonder ‘Well, do I really need to lose weight?’ When one of the slinky name brand sports wearing girls walk by you know that the answer is yes.

The people vary at the gym. I always find it encouraging to see some of the normal sized people there. However, they’re not the ones I happen to see regularly (if I happen to be going regularly) it’s always the thin, athletic ones. They’re always there, desperately seeking to keep their figure.

I will try to be better about going to the gym. It’s healthy really and one can’t ignore the purely shallow reasons for going. I’ll try not to let Flavor of Love or I Love New York marathons keep me from going. If nothing else I can think of New York in Flavor of Love season 1 and then think of the wonderful weight loss progress she made upon returning to Flavor of Love season 2.

I am joking. Really.