Xark!

Human as Weak Link

As I've mentioned before, over the last several years, I have become interested in the ways in which arguments in "popular culture" discuss the merging of the human body with a variety of popular technologies.  In the tradition of Marshall McLuhan and other media theorists, I start with the premise that all technology, including what we traditionally think of as "media," can be thought of as human prosthetics.
 

For example, the car acts in part as a prosthetic body that makes us run faster than our natural legs; the phone is a prosthetic for our voice.  While there are a number of ways of approaching these ongoing transitions between human body/consciousness and media (a topic Donna Haraway famously discussed years ago in her Cyborg Manifesto), I've always been interested in seeing how the interaction between human and technology is discussed in popular news, mainly newspapers and magazines.

 

In general, the discussions range on a continuum that stretches from a stress on human agency and freedom to a focus on a dystopic demise of humanity.  For example, when one looks at news coverage and feature articles about the use of DVD players in cars, one will predictably see a variety of experts marched out to argue over whether the DVD players are "good" because they allow us to have our desires for movies and entertainment to be satisfied whenever we like (while simultaneously acting as a baby sitter for bored children on long trips) or they are seen as "bad" because they ultimately replace the need for human conversation and thus lead to an alteration and devolution of the family.

 

FBI searches home of Sen. Stevens

From the Associated Press:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Federal agents with cameras searched the home of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens amid questions about an oil company official's involvement in a 2000 renovation project that doubled the home's size, law enforcement officials said.

Uh-oh. Looks like his career is about to go down a series of tubes.

The Measure of a Man

For many years now -- well, since my college days -- I have been in a self-styled competition with Queen guitarist Brian May. It's really about who could grasp hold of the other side of a particular coin. I have completed my Ph. D., but not my album (a musical interpretation of Bill Murray's "It Just Doesn't Matter" speech from "Meatballs", featuring only native wind instruments and Library of Congress choral recordings). Brian May has completed many albums, both with Queen and solo, and is now on the verge of completing his Ph. D. (although it should be noted that it is in Astrophysics, where all the science is basically made up, unless anyone wants to stand up and say they've actually been to the Andromeda Nebula? Didn't think so. For crying out loud, at least I've seen "Meatballs." I mean, play fair...).

But, no bitter tears over spilt milk. I must be gracious in my defeats, and certainly wish to be so here. So, let me be the first to welcome Dr. May into the Academy, and if he wouldn't find it too impertinent a request, I'd also like to ask him now officially to be my introductory speaker when I am (assuredly) inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Dr. May, you may send your reply through the usual channels. And, again, well done. I'm sure Freddie, Roger, and John are also quite proud.

What God Wants

After keeping up with all of our “appointment television” in the fall, my Bonnie and I are generally ready to take a break in the Spring and Summer.  However, as avid readers of EW, we generally try to pick up one or two shows that come with high recommendations, hoping to find something we like enough to watch each week.  In addition to our rather lengthy Sunday nights on HBO, we’ve picked up a few new shows—TNT’s Saving Grace—starring Holly Hunter and FX’s Glenn Close vehicle Damages.  The viewing of our first week with each show was positive enough to guarantee that we’ll be back again. 

Here, I’d like to focus on Saving Grace and some of the questions it raises about God, and what God wants.  The show is just barely on this side of schizophrenic—it almost feels like you’re watching two different shows, each starring the same characters. On the one hand, we have a fast paced and gritty narrative with Holly Hunter starring as a single, hard drinking, hard partying cop, who seems connected emotionally only to her nephew, whose mother died in the Oklahoma City bombing (Note: The show is set in Oklahoma City, and they’re doing some interesting work with the locale). Hunt is having an affair with her partner, a hard drinking married cop whose wife evidently kicks him out routinely.  The pacing and soundtrack are beautifully textured.  You move with the characters; you want to drink with them. And dance.  When Holly Hunter’s Grace takes a swig of Jack and chases it with a bottle of Bud, you want to be there--whether you drink or not.  Talk about effective product placement.

Please vote

Vizu is handy in that it's a free polling app that generates an embed code. It's also buggy, in that it will sometimes refuse to serve up the button at the bottom of the poll that lets you register your choice. I suspect this has to do with the way it reads  information about the beginning and ending dates, but I can't prove it, and careful editing doesn't seem to make a difference.

So here's this week's caption contest, which "began" last night but tallied no votes because of the problem I outlined. This morning's edit of the poll simply put no end date on the voting, and now it "works."

Please help me out today by voting for your favorite reader-submitted caption -- without at least 25 votes I don't really trust the outcome.

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Caption contest voting

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Happy 714, everyone

Lowcountry summertime bingo

From the Friday 5 Blog: A game you can play in Charleston with your friends.

Additional PDF cards can be downloaded there.

Return of the caption contest

OK, Xark Nation, send me your captions to this cartoon by Monday at 5 p.m., and please put "CAPTION CONTEST" in the subject line.

Road Trip

With special emphasis on "road." I drove up to Pickens County where my family has a little piece of property and a house to sleep in, on the plus side of 200 miles from Charleston. I added another 300 miles on top of the roundtrip over two days of sightseeing. There was some familial coming and going, but mostly, I had only myself for company.

I was disappointed, at first: It was a vacation that melted into practicality and a sheer need to get away. Dan stayed home, kids were on paternal vacation, friend's schedule didn't work. But the freedom grew on me. I went where I wanted to go. I took the long way, ate apples and peanut butter, listened to the same CD for 5 hours and pretty much tore up the state highway system.

The view is sunrise from the backporch of the house. Yes, SUNRISE ...