Samson's+Media+Log

1. I come under constant attack from the media all the time. There is no escaping it. Wherever I go, I will run into some form of media. I have accepted this as an inevitable part of modern day life. New technological advances give us more and more convenience as the days go by, but this convenience becomes harder and harder to escape. There is some media, especially advertisements, that really bother me quickly. Even though there are many forms of media which I love more than anything else in the world, such as films and literature, there are certain times when you wish you could just get a little bit of peace, outside of the media's far-reaching influence. I am sometimes overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the media's influence, yet I would still say that over all, the media is an extremely positive influence in my life. My experiences with media mainly involve watching films. I watch at least 2 or 3 movies per day, and this takes up a large portion of my day. I enjoy watching movies because it is a very pure form of escapism, and I find it relaxing to escape into a world of fiction for a few hours. The last films I watched were Breaking The Waves, The Idiots and Dancer in the Dark, a film trilogy by Danish director Lars Von Trier. I also love movies because there is little advertising. Television is always interrupted by advertisements for usually extremely inane rubbish, and so I have found myself unwilling to watch television. I do, however, sometimes watch television shows on the computer, where the advertising is reduced significantly. But, as anyone who spends lots of time on the internet will tell you, pop-up ads are a giant pain. I also enjoy reading a lot. I really like to read the newspaper, because I think real life is a good place to look for inspiration in my films. I don't like reading magazines, much for the same reasons I don't like watching television: the glossy ads make me sick. I also think that reading fictional literature is one of the most important things one can do to stimulate the brain. It is perhaps one of the only things in lief that stretches my brain that I get pleasure from. I also really enjoy reading because it helps me to expand my vocabulary. I have become a very articulate person, and I think it is because the amount I read has allowed me to express myself with relative ease. The last book I read was The First Man, by Albert Camus. I also listen to a lot of music, especially when I'm reading. I like to have my senses stimulated as much as I can, and so I really enjoy listening to music. I like punk rock, experimental rock, heavy metal, post-punk, noise-rock, dance-punk, post-hardcore and other music that is abrasive and challenging. In an ideal world, I could be engaging in some form of media, either reading or watching or listening to something, at all times, but there would be no advertisements. I wish I could constantly be stimulated and exposed by the media around me, without having to put up with all the harmful advertisements.



Here are some of my favorite songs to listen to while you browse: [|We Bros by Wu Lyf] [|I'm So Tired by Fugazi] [|She's Lost Control by Joy Division] [|I'm Waiting for the Man by the Velvet Underground] [|Arizona by Kings of Leon]

2. The thing that most interested me about the Peep Culture documentary was that the level of cyber-obsession that some people develop is extremely unsettling. In a desire for attention, a need to be noticed, people will do almost anything. Some of the people in the Peep Culture documentary have legitimately disposed of all dignity and respect for themselves in exchange for internet fame. Some people need to be noticed so badly that it becomes like their blood. They need to be connected to whatever their network may be at all times, or they cannot function. These people cannot do anything without consulting the internet first, and looking for the approval from others. I think that the majority of people who become so obsessed with their cyber selves do so because of one relatively simple reason. Their whole lives these people could never think for themselves, they've never had an original thought, and so now they are literally unable of thinking or saying anything that they have not run by their peers first. They need the approval of other to do things. They have an irrational fear of rejection, and so they run everything by others first, in a shallow attempt to fit in at all costs.

3. One aspect of pop culture that ennerves me a lot is the need for political correctness. For some obscure reason, that is still baffling to me, celebrities are expected to not have ANY controversial opinions. Celebrities have a larger public forum than the rest of us do, because millions of people will listen to what they say. People are easily persuaded by celebrities, because they admire them so much. However, instead of realizing that they could influence people easily and change the world for the better, celebrities bite their tongues and try not to offend anyone, at all costs. Celebrities are money-hungry whores, for lack of a better word, They would do literally anything for the right price, and all they are worried about is their next paycheck. Celebrities know that if they offend the public in some way, then all the people they offended won't buy their album, or watch their movie, or read their book, and that means less profit for them. Celebrities don't want to offend anyone, not for the sake of pacifism, but because they are greedy. A perfect example of this would be a recent interview with Johnny Depp, in which he claimed doing photoshoots makes him feel as though he were being raped. RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) issued a statement to Johnny Depp, asking him to retract what he said, basically because it was offensive. While women shrieking at men for no good reason is nothing new, I was extremely surprised by Depp's reaction. He apologized to the organization, saying it was insensitive. He should not have done this because it gives groups such as RAINN the idea that they can bully people into not saying things, and that they can revoke our right to free speech if what we say offends someone. I'm not saying that what Depp said was right, but I think he should be allowed to say it without getting harassed by a group of people who so obviously suffer from a victim complex that they are looking to be offended at every turn. Johnny Depp was put in an awkward situation and so I don't neccessarily blame him for apologizing. However, I do not think that organizations should be able to releases statements like this, because like I said it bullies people into being afraid of their right to free speech. While I will admit that perhaps Depp's comments were a bit strange, I don't think any topic should be exempt from freedom of speech, no matter how many people are offended by what is said. I value freedom of speech perhaps more than any other right, because if people can't express themselves than life is not worth living. I was shocked by how little freedom of speech there actually is in the mainstream media.

4. One aspect of celebrity that has caught my attention recently is the short shelf life that celebrities have. If a famous person actually has a talent (not many do), then their creative peak is decidedly short, and they will either fade back into oblivion after a series of diminishing returns, or they will die. Some celebrities have been able to change with the times and have been around for decades, whereas some of the celebrities we hear about today will be all but forgotten about in 5 years time. Andy Warhol wasn't far off when he said "in the future, we will all be famous for 15 minutes." The majority of celebrities are famous for a few years, but no more than that. Unfortunately, this rule applies to the talented and the untalented alike. Some of the greatest bands of all time only lasted a few years, like Joy Divison (3 years) and The Velvet Underground (5 years). Gummo, arguably one of the greatest films of all time, was directed by a young prodigy named Harmony Korine when he was 19, but then he ran away to Paris and became a crack addict and never directed another film again. It seems as though genius will burn extremely bright for a short period of time, but then it wil die out completely. Some celebrities who are especially talented have managed to sidestep this travesty, For example, the creative peak of Miles Davis's career lasted well over 20 years. From the 40's through the 70's, we was consistently making challenging, critically acclaimed and yet popular albums. Another good example is the work of Martin Scorsese. Since Mean Streets in 1973, he has directed over 20 films, and they are almost all film classics (although there is a stinker or two). However, this is extremely rare, and as a general rule of thumb, nobody is ever famous for long.

5. Another interesting aspect I've noticed about media is that there are a lot of extremely biased and condescending ads, advocating for or against a certain group, which try and steer people towards a certain lifestyle (such as Christianity or Vegetarianism). To me, this is one fo the sickest things imaginable. One of my biggest pet peeves is people who try to push their beliefs on others, and it just so happens that Christians and Vegetarians are the two groups who are the most guilty. I saw an advertisement for vegetarianism on the subway, which said "Why Eat One But Not The Other?" and had a picture of a pig and a dog on it. There were several things that angered me about this advertisement. Firstly, it suggested that people who eat meat had not simply made a seperate lifestyle choice, but were morally reprehensible. This is preposterous and proves that vegetarians are extremely self-righteous people who think that their shit doesn't stink. Secondly, the advertisement showed pictures and explained in detail animal mutilation. When I am sitting on the subway and I suddenly look up, the last thing I would ever want to see would be a picture of a pig being slit open. Thirdly, the advertisement does not just misrepresent information about animals and how they are treated, there is one instance on the poster of a flat-out lie that can be proven objectively false with science. The poster claims that pigs are sentient creatures, yet science has proven that humans are the only sentient animals who are capable of complex thought, as all other animals survive purely based on one wild survival impulse to the next, without any reflection. How can you trust any organization that flat out lies to you on it's posters? The Christian advertisements usually say less but offend me much more. Something that many religious people do not realize is that many major religions (at least all three major monotheistic religions) advocate violence and hatred in their holy books towards those who do not share their beliefs. Therefore, when St John's Church pays to put a quote from Jesus on the subway, they are actually indirectly threatening me (an atheist) with violence. Anybody seen supporting the three major monotheistic religions is supporting their holy books, and so theoretically they are supporting the violence against dissenters. Thus, a simple quote from Jesus is actually a threat against my life and this is offensive for me to have to see on the subway. While it may seem like an advertisement promoting christianity, the obvious hidden message becomes Anti-everyone-who-is-not-christian.