It’s a collaborative art experiment that
Joseph Gordon-Levitt has put together. He also has a show called hitRecord on
TV. His vision is to gather artists of all mediums together to collaborate on a
number of different themes.
Well, after I saw the show, I decided to
join. I was truly inspired.
Aside from this humble apology, I will
be posting two pieces for you today.
We live in an instant gratification
society. We like to be told what to like, told what to think, told what to do,
and told how to do it… and we want it fast. It really has become fascinating
watching our culture turn into drooling idiots that spend an average of 7.5
hours a day staring at one type of screen or another.
You’re looking at a screen reading this. I was looking at a screen writing it.
When I get done writing this, I will answer some text messages, and when I get
home, I will watch TV while looking at a tablet.
And so on
And so on.
And so on.
Surprising that Japan is so low on the list.
As a matter of fact, even the information
that we receive on those screens has changed to the growing need to have
instant access. Now, THIS phenomenon is something that I have just noticed in
recent years. It started by me just noticing it on websites or blogs on
geek-culture, but it has become more and more mainstream.
Heck, even I dabbled into it here on
Happenings and Happenstance, which can be read - HERE.
I am sure you have figured it out by now.
I am talking about the “Top 5 List.”
Ah yes, the fan favorite of little nuggets
of information presented in a way that is fast, informative, usually funny,
full of opinion, and a way to engage the audience. In fact, there are even Top
5 or Top 10 lists that explain
why Top 5 lists are so popular.
Soak that in.
A list to tell a person why
they like lists.
Worlds within worlds.
We have truly entered into a Bizarro
world, where on the surface, it appears that we have abandoned all reason and
rational thinking. It scares me to even entertain the factuality of that
statement, but there it is.
So, in truly Bizarro fashion, I think I
will join with my fellow mouth-breathers and provide some helpful assistance.
The Top 5 List Of Topics You Can Find Top
5 Lists For!
(abridged version)
1) Top 5 “Pop Culture Anything”
For all intents and purposes (yes – it is notintensive purposes), this particular
type of Top <blank> list can be glommed together with movies, music,video games,
or really any type of entertainment
based media.
It's like seeing who can out-cool the next person.
Here’s a crazy thought though, why don’t
YOU decide what the most violent, underrated plot twist is?
Well, we all know that isn’t going to
happen, so when you get a free chance, check out the website WhatCulture.com.
This website is almost exclusively lists based on entertainment media or
entertainment themed subcultures. When I was checking this website out, it
almost appeared that this website alone has created the template for short
attention span blogging. I just googled "whatculture" and got:
Ranking Blink-182’s Hit singles from worst
to best
10 Superstars that hit rock bottom after
WWE
The Cure’s Top 20 songs
10 YouTube celebrities who earn more money
than we ever will
One of the movies that was “one mistake
away from being a masterpiece” was Prometheus.
I got some news for you Mr. Writer Guy, that movie was so disjointed and pointless,
even fixing one mistake wouldn’t
give it “masterpiece status.”
Don’t get me wrong, expressing your
opinion is great, but when did an anonymous blogger become an authority on what
is or is not overrated?
I want to be perfectly clear on this, I
encourage making and speaking your opinions. I do it myself, and I support the
blogging community. What I am attacking is this societal ideal that if you read
something, it must be taken as an expert opinion.
Maybe that’s a blanket statement, but make
your own opinions! Don’t let strangers make them for you.
2) Top 5 “Random, Useless, Garbage”
Have you ever thought to yourself that
some people seem to know everything – well, what I really meant to say, people
who think they know everything? Yeah?
Me too.
Or, have you ever watched Jeopardy and
thought to yourself, “How in the heck do they know that?”
His Jeopardy swag is FIERCE!
Do not worry your pretty head, dear
reader.
There is a Top <blank> list to help raise you to the status of
those fortunate individuals who have an endless supply of potpourri uselessness
filed away in their heads.
So much uselessness, that it appears to be useful.
I know that this may be a shocker for most
of you, but there is a website called…wait for it… Top5.com.
This was the freaking mother-lode!!!!
It was everything that I ever wanted right
at my fingertips, and right at the top of the page, there it was. It was a
shiny beacon of hope calling out to me to explore everything that embodies "Top 5": AMAZING FACTS.
Not only were these facts amazing, they
were broken down into history, science, and RANDOM!
random AND amazing???
It can't be, can it?
Yes!
Top 5 things you didn’t know about gold
Top 5 most garish celebrity graves
Top 5 strangest things found in the belly
of a shark
I just LOVE the judgmental, indignant tone
of that last one. The mere idea that the opinions of whoever wrote these lists is espoused as credible or noteworthy takes narcissism to a whole new level.
The authors of that blog.
Not all lists that purport to provide the
reader with amazing insight to useless information are as bad as I might be
painting them out to be. Take, for example, the website Buzzfeed.com.
This website can actually make the reader become dumber for wasting time on it.
In a lot of ways,
it’s hard to take Buzzfeed seriously at all….even their attempt at news.
3) Top 5 “I have traveled to this place to
make you feel jealous”
Ah, travel! So many do it, so many others
wish they could. Did you guys hear about that Dutch
student who faked an exotic vacation “as a project” for her university?
It was all done through Photoshop. She simply took pictures of exotic locales
and shopped herself into them so well, that the pictures looked extremely
authentic and believable. Her reason for doing so was to demonstrate how our online
lives can be manipulated to become anything that we wish. We can do or be
anything without anyone being the wiser.
Doing it right!
As a point of research, this experiment is
really fascinating to me, and true with anything that goes viral, not only this
project became a meme and joke unto itself, but it created a trend of
fakecationing (like what I did there – with that portmanteau of fake and
vacation?). It actually created a nice Top 10 list, Ten ways
to fake the ultimate summer vacation.
So this presses me to ask a question: Why
is it necessary to create the illusion that our boring, mundane, 9-to-5 lives
are filled with glamorous retreats to exotic destinations?
Simply put, because everyone else is doing
it.
The website HomeAway
has an incredible Top 10 list called “The 10 best vacation spots you may not
know about.” How exciting would that be? You and your loved ones or your
closest friends taking off to a place that is so incredibly awesome
that the only people that know of its existence are its residents!!!
I tell you what. You would have plenty to
brag about on Instagram and Facebook.
This list includes such exotic locales as
Charleston, SC; Orange Beach, AL; and Lake of the Ozarks, MO. When did South
Carolina, Alabama, and Missouri become places of interest?
We don't take kindly to city-slickers.
The
Nest's Top vacationing spots list is a little
more what you might think would be traditional locations to truly want to go
to: Paris, Brazil, Greece, Hawaii, etc. But hey, why bother even going?
Purewow’s 8
Easy ways to go on vacation without leaving your home
can give you that perfect experience without stepping on a plane. Once you
choose the right filter with your Instagram account, you will be painting your
friends’ faces GREEN with envy from all of the pictures from the exciting
adventures you have been on.
4) Top 5 “Things we noticed, because we
don’t get out enough”
I think that it is funny how something that
is made of plastic with children’s candy hidden inside has become synonymous
with “kitchy-meta-reference.” My friends, I am talking about the easter egg!
Not that one.
Lately,
it seems that movies and video games (especially video games) have really made
a lot of effort in providing little inside jokes or clues to let the viewer or
player part of the inside joke. It
isn’t anything that is new, but it just feels like it is becoming more and more
common.
It is agreed upon by most that the first
easter egg was in an
Atari game called Adventure,
where a programmer secretly inserted his name in the code, so the player could
find it if he or she wanted to spend the time looking for it.
Yay! You found it, now go outside and play!
There’s the rub. If they wanted to spend the time looking for it.
So there are two things that are possible
here. Either, gaming journalists have extensive teams constantly seeking out
any possible easter eggs in video games, or there are waaaay too many people
with toooooo much time on their hands.
I say this because easter egg lists are everywhere.
I mean EVERYWHERE, and they are extensive too.
I went to Gamespot.com and simply typed in the words “easter
egg” with the ‘articles’ filter selected and got over 50 articles with talk of
easter eggs, including the list: The Greatest Easter Eggs in Gaming.
I tested it against Google, simply typing “easter
eggs” with quotes around it. This search yielded pages and pages of video game
and movie hidden secrets that I’m
supposed to be impressed and amazed by.
The 5 most elaborately hidden video game easter eggs
All the ‘Jurassic World’ easter eggs you may have missed
17 amazing Google easter eggs
10 Skyrim easter eggs that will make you want to
replay it immediately
Why
do we as consumers care about or enjoy these things? Well, without doing any
research whatsoever, I think it’s because we all like being a part of
something. We enjoy being “in the know.” We like being “in on the joke.” And,
with the creation and popularity of social media, many of us like being the
first to know the secret to either share it or brag about knowing it.
I actually tried digging up any reason as to
why we love easter eggs so much, and yielded no results - only more lists, and
a few instances mentioning Adventure
and how it was the first one.
This damn game again!
Is it a cultural phenomenon??? I don’t know.
Being a gamer, and a lover of all things geeky,
these are some lists that I love so much. The funny thing is, I never look for
them, and if I find one, I don’t even realize it.
For example, I love the Fallout series of games.
They are spectacular open world adventures, which place you in a
post-apocalyptic wasteland. As with any Mad Max scenario, weapons are a must. There is one weapon in Fallout: New Vegas
that is an exact replica of Harrison Ford’s laser tube from Blade Runner. In the game, it is
referred to as “That Gun.” When I found it, I didn’t even realize that I had
found something special or what “That Gun” was even referring to.
Truth is, I didn’t care. Having that gun
didn’t change my experience playing that game, nor did I feel compelled to tell
a friend that I had discovered it.
It just…was.
5) Top 5 “We know you like lists, but we
can’t think of anything to make a list of, because anything about everything
that can be put in a list has already been put into a list”
Here
it is. This is the end all, be all of lazy writing and complete garbage being
fed to us as consumers and denizens of the internet, and also, I’ve been trolling you this entire time.
The Original
You
see, my wife told me that while she enjoyed the content that I posted about
Seven Lions and the story surrounding that, she really couldn’t get that deep into
it. She wanted more variety and topics that were beyond what I was pigeonholing
myself into. I spent so much time thinking about new and different content that
I ran into a pretty hefty bout of writer’s block.
This, but with less paper.
I
promised you, my faithful readers, a post that was not Seven Lions related, and
I struggled at what that could be. My initial thought was to create a list of
some sort, but why?
The more I researched, the more I realized that there are
very few topics that have not been delivered in list format already.
If
I were to provide you with the “Top 5 most action packed car chases” because I
was just inspired by the complete awesomeness that was Mad Max: Fury Road, it would be no different if I posted the “Top 5
most incredible episodes of Game of
Thrones” just because Season 5 just ended.
Those
lists already exist.
They
exist, because we demand them to exist. We demand them, because that has become
the norm in blog-based journalism.
You
deserve more from me.
That
is why I gave you this.
I
hoped you enjoyed our exploration of this topic. I think I provided you enough
links and options to satiate your list craving for some time. But, take this
into consideration – there is no reason why you can’t make a list of your own.
People love them! Why not be on the end of providing something unique and
spectacular or some form of insight that was never thought about before?
If
you don’t think American cars are crappy, then make the “Top 5 reasons why the
guy who said American cars suck is wrong.” Your opinion matters as much as anyone else's does. Express it. Don’t just take what some anonymous talking head on the internet said as the bottom line.
Just a quick heads up, I am in the process of finalizing something interesting, but as you may notice, I did some remodeling around here. Not only are the colors a lot more striking, but I have cleaned up the tabs to be more cohesive with less repeat offenders. I had one post that was tagged with four different labels. No matter what I did, I kept seeing the same post. No wonder you folks have been griping at me on my email. Also, to those of you who like my FB blog fan page, I saw these instructions online and duplicated it for my own private usage. It’s a way for you to keep up with my posts by getting notifications, rather than you risking having them get buried under your feed.
Getting Notifications Puts You In The Game!
To the right, there is the FB widget to share this page. At the end of this post is a FB widget to share this post. Take your pick, either or both…I won’t mind.
Go ahead...click it.
If you have g+, feel free to add me in your circle, etc. etc. This blog is about to take a turn with something really spectacular (if I must say so myself), and I wouldn't want any of you to miss the content. Always, feel free to comment either on the post, FB, or on G+.
In case you haven’t heard of
this thing. It is simply the fear of clowns. This is a funny topic to me, because
I personally don’t suffer from it. I figured since my last post was skirting
around the different things that we as a society or culture might refer to as
nightmare fuel, I might as well just feet first into something truly
fascinating. Truth be told, someone very close to me does have a legitimate
fear of clowns, but I have never known what it came from. I mean, I really don’t
see the big deal.
How can this possibly be scary?
According to Wikipedia (which we all know is 100% believable), the term coulrophobia only
started to appear in the 1980s, and has really only developed into the modern
lexicon through its usage online. Bringing to the attention on whether this is
a legitimate
irrational fear or a made up irrational
fear.
I think my head just exploded as I wrote that. Did I really
just commit that sentence to paper? To the fray!
I should point out. I am NOT a psychologist, and I do not
possess and degrees in psychology. This is a just an educated opinion and
social commentary of this topic. Besides… lighten up!
Five Reasons Why the
Fear of Clowns has Grown and is Perpetuated by Pop Culture
1.Clowns are a Popular Plot Device for Scary
Stories
It is no secret that many scary stories use clowns as a plot
device to make the unknown seem even more frightening. Stephen King popularized
this trope with his iconic novel It. The
popular thriller television series
American Horror Story just recently had a “killer clown” as a character. To
continue, there are many films where the villain wears a mask to hide his identity,
but he isn't a clown specifically: Jason from Friday the 13th (hockey mask), Michael Myers from Halloween (plain white mask), Leatherface
from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as
well as many others.
This guys looks like a plot device unto himself.
Even more famously, Batman’s ultimate nemesis is the clown
prince of crime: The Joker. His portrayal has ranged from being a manic misfit,
such as the original television series, Batman
to a truly menacing agent of chaos, like Heath Ledger’s iconic performance in The Dark Knight.
This is so true!
Having a villain where his face is hidden really taps into a
primal fear that exists within all of us. The unknown is always more
frightening than the known, and a villain covering his face just makes it
that much scarier. I really think that is what the appeal to using clowns as bad guys holds. Not only can you not see the face, but it is juxtaposed against
an ideal that has traditionally been in settings that are meant to bring laughter or joy. With the brain trying to process what is unfamiliar and reversed, the
viewer begins to gain a sense of uncomfortable dread. Much like what is caused
when human perception enters into…
2. Clowns Enter into
the Uncanny Valley Spectrum
There it is again,
that dang uncanny valley. It has been mentioned by “researchers” that because
of clowns exaggerated features, determining a clown’s true emotions becomes
difficult. Specifically, those who are afraid of clowns can’t tell if the clown
is happy or if it is about to rip their face off. “Researchers” have also said
that physical slapstick comedy that involves stunts that would normally cause
pain confuse some people’s perception of the act because the clown’s face is
painted with a smile while they are being “hurt.”
He's hurtingmeactually.
Now, from my previous entry, I talked on how the uncanny
valley is becoming more and more acceptable by society with the over usage of
CGI in movies, the inclusion of AI such as Siri in our phones, and dependence of
robots in our day to day activities. So, why the hang up on clowns? Does it
more fall into the “Zombie” realm of the dip?
I couldn't really tell you… I’m not afraid of clowns, but I am terrified by
some of those lifelike androids being cranked out of Hong Kong and Japan.
3. John Wayne Gacy
Pogo the Clown. I am not really going to give this man or
what he did much attention. This was a sick man who did horrible things. It is
not up to me to rehash or describe any of the monstrous things that this
scumbag did, especially using a children’s character in the process. Google him
if you must.
The mere knowledge that there was a real life “Evil Clown” is
enough to legitimize this fear, but let’s face it, we are talking about a
fringe incident.
4. Clowns are
Associated with Uncomfortable Circumstances
You know what movie I never really liked? Patch Adams. This is a stinker of a bio-pic that starred Robin Williams as a doctor who brought joy
to his pediatric patients by dressing as a clown. The film currently holds a
25% on Rotten Tomatoes. I mean, this is one of those movies that either a) you have never seen, b) have no desire to see, or c) regret seeing it in the first place. To those of you who enjoyed Patch Adams...my condolences.
Still though, while a certain amount of joy can be
brought to a sick child through the use of clowns, I am going to touch on
something different.
Who can remember going into the doctor as child, or parents,
when can you think of the last time you took your child to the doctor – and saw
this:
I really do actually love this icon.
This is Happy the Clown by Arthur Sarnoff. This image has
been reproduced so many times and in so many forms, that it is a part of
Americana. How is a child to feel if every time they get poked by a needle or need
to get some nasty medicine, they see this image? Well, quite frankly, that
image is going to be associated with the pain or discomfort.
I mean, I get it, but I don’t understand it.
5. There are No Reasons - People Just Feel How they Feel
I guess that is it really. I just wanted to try and
understand why this is.
Let me ask you a question reader:
Are you afraid of clowns,
yet you still read this?
Are you still scared of them?
Do you think that you could ever get over the fear?
At this point, are you getting irritated that I am just posting pictures of clowns for no reason or point what-so-ever?
A couple of things first. I have added a Facebook Like/Share
button on the left there to open my fan base up and allow you to know when I
update. Please click it. I would really appreciate it. Another thing, I enabled
Anonymous comments to be allowed. This means that you…yes you, can make a
comment here without having a g+ account. I am in the process of incorporating
Facebook comments for the site, so if you do follow me on FB, you will be able
to comment and it will be posted here.
So much work!!!
Well, I have been covering race relations and Baltimore with
the last two posts, let’s do something a little lighter hearted. I mean, it’s
Friday, it’s May Day – and I’m in a good mood.
One thing I have noticed in popular blogs these days, is
that everyone LOVES lists. They are concise, they can be funny, and they keep
your attention to a certain limit without boring you to tears.
So here we go:
THE
TOP 5 REASONS WE ARE CLOSER TO LIVING IN THE MATRIX
Before I really get into this. We need to explore the idea
of how technology is being more and more integrated into our lives, almost to
becoming a necessity. It was just recently reported by numerous sources that
the heart monitor feature in the iWatch was being disrupted by wrist tattoos.
The heart rate monitor is actually a smart feature that allows the iWatch to
shut itself off when not in use, or when it doesn't register a heartbeat. To
those of you that may have sleeves or wrist tattoos, this function won’t work
properly. Basically, you just dropped $400 on a worthless device. Apple’s
response – suck it!
No really, Apple said, “Hey, we don’t have a solution, but
if you want to purchase some Bluetooth chest straps and monitor your heart that
way, go ahead." Steve Jobs just rolled over in his grave.
YOU RUINED MY LEGACY!
Regardless your opinion on the First World Problem that is
the defective iWatch, you can’t deny that technology is here to stay, and may
be poised to take over.
5. The Uncanny Valley
is Getting Smaller and Smaller
There is a phrase out there called “The Uncanny Valley,” and
it is basically defined as: a hypothesis in the field of aesthetics which holds
that when features look and move almost,
but not exactly, like natural beings, it causes a response of revulsion among some observers. The
"valley" refers to the dip in a graph of the comfort level of beings
as subjects move toward a healthy, natural likeness described in a function of
a subject's aesthetic acceptability. Examples can be found in the fields of
robotics and 3D computer animation, among others.
Basically – nightmare fuel.
It’s illustrated by this graph:
I would hope that we are repulsed by zombies.
The more a moving likeness of something that looks human but
isn't human, the more it is supposed to make you feel uncomfortable. With
UltraHD TVs, High Frame Rate movies such as Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy, and the extensive use of
CGI to create realistic characters in our entertainment, our brains are getting
more and more acclimated to the idea that something that was once repulsive, is
now acceptable. The “dip” that creates the valley is a lot shallower and
narrower now. I mean, Andy Serkis has made his entire career playing CGI
characters such as Gollum, Caesar, and King Kong.
4. CGI No Longer
Looks Like a Cartoon
Who here remembers Ang Lee’s Hulk? Who here remembers the unholy creation that was Tom Hanks in Polar Express? How about the entirety of
Beowulf? There are countless examples
of how CGI, in its infancy, was just a gimmick. It was perfect for Pixar or
Dreamworks movies, such as Monsters, Inc. and Shrek, but anytime it was used
for feature films that needed photo-realistic renders, it just fell short.
Hulk SMASH!
As fake as it used to look, using CGI now is a standard in film making.
We would not be able to have the sequel generating monstrosity that is Marvel
Studios if it were not for CGI. I remember a time where if you were to say that
they were going to make a movie about Thor without it looking cheesy, I would
have said that you were out of your mind. And yet…..
Not only does it LOOK real, but it feels realistic. It
almost feels so realistic, that if you watch older films where practical
special effects were used, it looks fake. FAKE! For example, if you were
to watch Jaws, you would instantly be
able to tell that the shark was robotic, and (not taking away from the genius
that is that film) it would almost look comical. Our brains have to come accept
that the artificial is the new reality, and that is the new standard.
3. Robots are no
longer a thing from Science Fiction Novels
Check out these headlines:
“Experts predict robots will take over 30% of our jobs by
2025 – and white-collar jobs aren't immune”
“This humanoid robot can recognize and interact with people”
“The UK government is refusing to rule out building killer
robots”
“A robot just started her job as the receptionist at Japan’s
oldest department store”
That last one gives me the chills most of all. The headline
actually personified an object by recognizing it with the pronoun “her” instead
of the appropriate “it.” All four of these headlines come from
BusinessInsider.com, which is a business and technology website that has been
around since February 2009. I mean this is a fairly legitimate source for tech
news and how it relates to business. There was a time when robots threatened to
take over the assembly lines of auto manufacturers, and it was disputed that it
would never happen. Until it did. There was a time when the idea of having a
robot in your home as a maid was only something in The Jetsons, until it wasn't (can you say Roomba…DJ Roomba if you’re
hip!).
Pawnee was always using innovative technology to stay ahead in the game.
Not only have robots become a part of our lives, but we have
started to accept the presence of them doing daily tasks that used to be jobs
for people. Even our phones contain a robot in them that answers our questions when
we need help. Apple even programmed certain responses and phrases into Siri to
have conversational functionality. How soon before we become like Joaquin
Phoenix in Her? Oh just for fun,
click this link http://www.macworld.com/article/2915908/siri-says-the-darnedest-things-50-questions-for-apple-s-virtual-assistant.html
and you will get 50 fun conversation phrases and lighthearted banter situations
that you can have with Siri. She is adorable…I will admit that!
2. Virtual Existence
is an Accepted Counterpart to Reality
About a year ago, Forbes reported that Blizzard’s World of Warcraft raked in over a
billion dollars in 2013. Now rumor around the campfire is that WoW
subscriptions have been dipping, but even so, that is a chunk of change. On
ebay, while it has become a violation to sell virtual items for games such as WoW, the virtual reality simulator Second Life is not considered a game. Listed
on ebay, there are literally hundreds to thousands of virtual items usable on Second Life available for purchase with real currency.
Wrap your head around that for a second.
Spending real money for virtual items.
Items that you will never, ever use IRL (in real life). Well let me paint it
through a different prism. How many “in game purchases” are on almost every
game app out there. Buying more turns in Candy
Crush Saga is not so uncommon. Video gaming and virtual existence has become so broad and accepted by most everybody in 2015. It is no longer just a hobby for
neckbeards who live in their mother’s basement.
Selfie!
Many A-listers such as Mila Kunis, Vin Diesel, Dave
Chappelle, and Mr. T have all confirmed that they have virtual lives within the
realm of Azeroth. Even standard
console games, such as The Elder Scrolls:
Skyrim and Fallout have become so
in-depth in their RPG aspects. Living in these worlds can involve
gambling, earning money, and even getting married. With the upcoming release of
Elder Scrolls Online, Bethesda
Softworks looks to give WoW a run for its money in creating a virtual realm
that is accessible by the more mainstream console platform.
1. We Don’t Care
Let me give you some stuff that cannot be unseen, which will
haunt you for the rest of your days to come.
I bet you didn't realize until the end of the video that “Emily”
was a virtual creation. I’ll let you watch it again. I’ll wait….
Now you notice the flawless skin, those dead eyes, and the
facial expressions, that at first viewing made you wonder what you were
watching, later chilled you to the bone. This video was made in 2008, and the
tech is even better! I watched an
interview with the designer, and explained that the goal was to erase the
uncanny valley.
Terrifying!
Chew on this one now.
KILL IT WITH FIRE!
Kudos if you actually made it all the way through that one.
If you didn't get to at least half, then you missed the pan of the camera. This
appears as if it is in a mall! AAAAAGHHHH!!!!!! Look at all of the people
watching. Being entertained or fascinated…or I don’t know.
The pieces are
already being put in place for artificial intelligence to take its next shape.
I really hope that we end up having Frankenstein’s Monster turning against us.