What has the Internet add to postmodernity

If there is one key word to describe postmodernity - or at least its reflection in cultural product - I would like to add the term 'bricolage'. That is the pop art attempt to copy and paste and mix in order to 'create' the new. References derived from older texts have always been a major resource of creating. However, by 'bricolage', it emerged to be ever more directly than before i.e. copy without processing.

Of course the whole digital culture have added upon such expansion of bricolage art/commodities. In quoting someone, you would no longer have to comprehend someone - there are plenty of sources on the net to epitomise those contents for you - to construct a witty blog, all you have to do is copy and paste, and perhaps copy some more html codes to beautify that site. Anything simple, long, unmediated, and unreferenced, is very likely to be rejected or simply ignored.

The use of blogs in media research

I just found out that blogs can be good sites of scrunity. It's like dispersed public spheres nonetheless incorporating with a lot of unregistered domestic languages. What if every magazine editor creates one blog? What can we extract from there???

A new start from Foucault.

I dig in Foucault, I dig into Foucault's grave. Let me start from here, let me dig into the fluidity of power!

Emergent call or emergent advertisement?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,1797057,00.html

The headline of the Guardian today reads: Urgent calls for regulation after Guardian buys part of smallpox genome through mail order. It revealed that the smallpox DNA could be purchased online. This sounds a good news for those people who want to use it and want to make a living with it. But on the other hand, just as the piece of news intended to be, it could also have been put on great pressue on the government to urge an efficient regulation and reaction against such thing. I'm just wondering if it is neccessary to put such frightening and provoking news on top of the most circulated newspaper?

the penguins

Stuart et al, you made me cry!

They are the best social scientists in contemporary Britain, old Anthony Giddens is nothing compare to them. Even the achievement of Stuart Hall is less sparkling in front of them, let alone others.

Too excited to talk about my skepticism about social research now......

Next time next time.

Dissertation Diary 2

I have not yet put up the observation diary I should have put. But anyway, recently, I've been thinking of revising my dissertation title time after time, in the light of the recent lectures and materials I read.

During the conversation with Youna Kim, she pointed out that it is quite unwise for a researcher to impose the idea of identity first and foremost even before starting the actual first stage of interveiw. I do intend to find out the link between the children's consumption of new media forms, esp. video games, and their position of being the offsprings of diasporas - is there a contestation between the family education (culture from original country) and the media education (British societal cultural) within such forms of consumption? Or is there a universality presented in these trans-nationally manifactuated media products that point those kids to a brand new culture than that I would have guessed? e.g. fantacies, creativities, etc. But even if it is universality in large that I can find out, I want to also contest that could there be some different forms of fantacies and creativities that children from different ethnical background would perceive differently and hence alter them from one another?

Or am I already settled in the tramp I myself set?

Come back to it soon.

An intended new title:

Dynamics of Chinese Diaspora in London - what happens when the kids play games?

(I can also compare it with other studies that has been done in a quantitative and national base.)

Dissertation Diary 1

Things I've done recently:

I read a qualitative methodology book by David Silverman. In light of the guidance of the book, I have put down some note to articulate my idea now about my research project. Basicly, I have clarified my goal not to be solely focused on the use of game, but the development of subjectivity. Use of game is setting as a short cut to look into the subjects lives for several reasons that I will put on here later on.

I asked my students for their permission of carrying out interviews. I have three subjects so far (as I understand, more or less agreed), I think I will put the progress on here tomorrow.

I sensed this strong belief

Writing about Paris, Texas

I sensed this strong belief in love, which forced people to get lost, return, and thrown themselves again into the forests unknown.

I sensed this strong belief, which I don't believe anymore, as if all the intensities left in the past.

But I am touched. Vaguely remembering someone said, watching films is not about understanding, but enjoying the process.

Enjoyed it as if it's a whole length of life.

A good film, is where, you have no way to insert critism into.

Not even pointing your finger into the fundamentality behind it, that you don't believe.

A good film, is what, shuts you up, and leaves you a lasting aftermath in vain.

Oriental women? Satisfy all your fantasies all in one time.

I think you can tell by the title what I want to write. Yes, Memoirs of a Geisha. I can make it very simple: I don't like it. But I'm also urged to moan more. Because, this thing is getting bigger and bigger, and it's devastating. (Maybe I have exaggerated it, I'm just very fond of the word devastating recently). Anyway, what thing? As told in the title: fantasies to oriental women. No, there's absolutely nothing wrong with whoever you are attracted to, it's even better if you are open to all races and ethnics. Openminds are absolutely something I want to celebrate and promote. But not when it becomes a collective conspiracy. Good that this film exposes such conspiracy in its naked body. This is basicly a story, with three most acclaim oriental beauties, who all uneceptionally devoted their life goal to 'find my true love, be with the right man' sort of bullsh*t. Good that they set it in Japan, where I don't know much about the women. Dare they set it in China, I will go to Stephen Spilberg and slap him right on his left cheek. Don't just make oriental women what you want them to be, with your money and the wide distribute, some innocent people will take it as a partial truth. It is suggesting, look, whatever you can't find in the liberated (more or less) western women, you find it in oriental women: loving, loyalty, devoting, you name it. I don't believe that sort of crap that a person (most likely to be woman) only love the one and only throughout her/his whole life, well, not unless you only meet one person in your life or something. This time, they do not only tell you one oriental woman is like that, they showed oriental woman of different characters, but no matter how much they vary, all they pursue in is a MAN. ..... I nearly expected there to be some lesbanism, which could be quite a natural thing I would expect to happen in such an environment the Geishas seeped with, and how naive am I in front of the hollywood blockbusters.

Not that I hate Zhang Ziyi. I don't like her much, but she was very impressive in 2046. You could at least, see her striving for her own life, love but with senses, though always under the male gaze, you could see the struggling, and you make every way to understand.

Anyway, that's all for today, when I start to rant, I can't talk much sense. So I'm not going to make anymore stereotypes here.

:)

Couch-potatalisation

This is a word I read from an intrigued article written by Henry Zhao (Hong Ying's husband). The article is titled 'Dumbing down'. It is such a buzzword that writing about it is seemingly becoming a cliche in the west. But not when it is put in Chinese discourse, no one had even put forward an adquate translation to this phenomenon. Henry Zhao translated it as '往下笨'. I think this is a very cute and lively translation. Anyway, it is in this article he played with the word couch potato a little bit, and put it into: 沙发土豆化 (couch-potatalisation) to verbalised the generation of television in the west.