Week 12: Media is the Massage

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Week 11: Long Form Television

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This week we’re talking about Long Form Television.  I’ve watched a hilarious British T.V series called “The I.T Crowd,” which appeals to my family roots in I.T. Watching this piece in a series was a treat, with its internet jokes and fun pacing. Here’s a link to one of my favorite moments, when IT worker Moss is faced with a paper on fire. Just try not to laugh.  This show doesn’t have as many interconnecting story-lines such as BBC’s Downton Abbey or USA’s White Collar , two of my favorite series. In fact, it has very few connections beyond the characters and their environment each episode. There are no lasting hooks and no cliffhangers, but it’s just as fun. It makes it an easy watch, being able to drop in and out as I please, while never feeling lost. Since the series ended in 2013, it is something I wouldn’t have been able to watch easily without the flexibility and long-lasting streaming services. Other notes we discussed in class about Long-Form ...
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This week we reviewed the work Cosmopolis , both the book by Don DeLillo and the film directed by David Cronenberg. These works addressed the trek of billionaire Eric Packer traveling in a limo across New York City over the course of a day. When I first heard about the book, I was excited. The constrained course of time, limited space of a limo, and theorized journey to growth of a young billionaire was intriguing. However, the character was not meant to be liked, which would be a difficult read.   Eric Packer was stone faced, cold, and unfeeling. He seemingly saw women only as methods of sex, and little else. I felt that in the film, Packer’s brief focus on work was vague and flashy, more to give the impression of work that doing work itself. It was as if we were kept from connecting to him even in his talk of work. It was interesting to read the New York Times review of the piece here , where they quoted Mr. Patterson, who played Packer in the film. Mr. Patterson ...
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Week 13: Curate Yourself

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Have you seen the posts from Humans of New York ? You probably have, since they’re all over Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr. But, in case you haven’t, I’ll tell you a little bit about them. They are a series of photographs and short interviews focusing on people walking the streets of New York. There are stories of immigrants, businessmen, artists, and family-makers. The interviews are in literary form, written in a short paragraph, but associated with an image, and distributed via social media platforms. I first came across these works on Facebook. I saw an interesting portrait photograph with a paragraph on the person’s life. I looked through the eyes of an immigrant, felt the love of an old married couple, and learned from a student talking about his favorite, and most impactful, teacher. They only took a few minutes to read, but got me interested in cultures around the world and inspired me in how much life surrounds us every day.   A few years later, in t...
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