See STIR at the Magazine Trade Fair

The Magazine Trade Fair takes place in The Roblin Centre at 160 Princess Street this Thursday.  Throughout the afternoon, visitors can check out the work of Creative Communications students.  In groups of four or five, CreComm students wrote articles, took photos, and created designs for full-colour, professionally printed magazines.  Visitors should expect to see some lively booths, great prizes, and some fantastic food.

My group's magazine is called STIR.  STIR is a weekend morning magazine.  We cater to that niche crowd that prefers morning life to evening life on weekends.  We'll be serving up some coffee and fresh-baked banana bread at our booth.  We'll also provide details about our Breakfast Photo Contest, which ends on April 4.  Winners can get a $50.00 gift certificate to Hermanos Restaurant & Wine Bar (one of our sponsors) and another $50.00 gift certificate to Carnaval Brazilian BBQ.

The Trade Fair runs from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m.  'Like' us on Facebook at this link, and Follow us on Twitter at this one.  

The Harlem Shake: Everyone's a Corporation

The popularity of the Harlem Shake meme truly astounded me for the last couple of months.  There will be no video in this post; I'm sure you've seen the hundreds of 'em that have popped up all over YouTube.  And that really is the point: we've seen a cultural phenomenon that is not the work of media companies or corporations.  It is instead the work of ordinary YouTube users.  They spread the popularity of both the meme and the song itself.

Don't believe me? The popularity of the meme caused Billboard to change its policy for creating the 'Hot 100' list.  Thanks to 'Harlem Shake', Billboard now factors YouTube hits into a song's overall chart success. All because of a meme.

In the age of YouTube comedians and vloggers, we are witnessing the rise of a new kind of celebrity, one from the bottom-up and not the top-down.  The viewers follow suit and spread the word everywhere else.  

Think about this: whenever you are sharing something you see funny on the Internet, you are advertising.  You are literally doing the work of ten copywriters.  The agencies no longer need to seek out their target audiences.  Rather, you are doing it yourself.  

This is important because the Internet is reshaping world economies in addition to communication structures. Stay tuned for what lies ahead.

Philosophy of the Day

Your car does all the talking.

Rock N' Roller Cola Wars: An Imaginary Conversation

The following conversation between Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant and now-deceased pop star Michael Jackson took place sometime in 1989:

Plant: "So, Michael, you think you're cool hawking all that Pepsi to the young people?  I was on tour before you got your first recording contract! And now I'm drinking Coca-Cola! Take that!|

Jackson: "Are you kidding me? This is 1989! Young kids today are among the PEPSI GENERATION! Coca-Cola's for Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa!"

Plant: "If Coca-Cola's so lame, how come we're number one and Pepsi is number two?"

Jackson: "'Cause you baby boomer rockers ruled the world for so long! One day, this world will be OURS! Victory for the young people! Pepsi says so!"

Plant: "Watch yourself, Michael.  I remember my generation's rallying cry during the days of Vietnam.  But someday, you've got to get off your high horse and join the gravy train.  And drink lots and lots of Coca-Cola."

Jackson: "What are you saying?"

Plant: "I'm saying you'll be drinking Coca-Cola like the rest of us. One day, you'll be a seasoned veteran convinced he is seasoned enough to shun his Pepsi for his Coca-Cola."

Jackson: "You have opened my eyes, Robert.  You have opened my eyes."

A Crazy Movie Consumer

Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver.

(source: oddfilms.com)

John Hinckley Jr. in police custody a few months after he attempted to assassinate then U.S. President Ronald Reagan.  Hinckley watched Taxi Driver repeatedly.  His motive to shoot Reagan was to impress actress Jodie Foster, who appeared in the film as Iris, a teenage prostitute.

(source: lubbockcentennial.com)

We infatuate with movies because the characters can be believable.  We can relate to their thoughts, feelings, and emotions.  This blog post will be rather confessional because of the point I am trying to raise: that movies are the armchair therapists who sometimes give us the wrong advice.

Of all the movie characters out there, Travis Bickle is the one I can relate to the most.  In Taxi Driver, Bickle was disgusted with the crime and filth of near-bankrupt New York City.  Like Bickle, I have seen my share of filth and petulance around Winnipeg.  I, too, look in disgust at the crime, peddling, and freeloading I see from time to time on the streets of this city.  One Travis quote I can relate to really well is the following:

"Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets." (source: imdb.com)

Having sat alone in food courts, buses, parks, and even the library, I also wish for some kind of divinity, a natural force flooding what I despise into the acid of the sewer for dissolution.  This environment is especially intoxicating in extreme heat and extreme cold.  It suffocates the psyche.

In Taxi Driver, Travis has vigilante fantasies after he comes across a teenage prostitute named Iris (played by Jodie Foster).  He then purchases some guns in hopes of freeing her from her pimps.  Though I have no intention to purchase a firearm, I admit to having vigilante fantasies.  Time after time, I imagine myself behind the wheel of a 1962 Cadillac Sedan de Ville with my firearm in the glove compartment.  It's the middle of summer, and the temperature is muggy.  I've got my hit-list of released sex offenders taped tightly to the dashboard.

I track the first guy down.  I roll down the window to point my .357 Magnum, and the rest is history.  The assaulted woman who walks the streets in fear now feels a bit safer thanks to my actions.  It's a beautiful fantasy where good prevails over evil, morality becoming infinite and psychopathy perishing in the powder blast.  But this is reality, not fantasy, and I am hopefully still in control.

I always relate well to the movie vigilante.  I see characters like Dirty Harry Callaghan, Paul Kersey, or Travis Bickle as outlets to vent my frustration.  There is, however, a bigger reason as to why I relate to Travis: he is awkward and socially uncomfortable, and so am I.  Below is a clip of Travis I find especially powerful.  He's trying to get in touch with Betsy (played by Cybil Shepherd).  Travis took her on a disastrous first date; he took her to a pornographic movie theatre.  When she stormed away, he told her, "I don't know much about movies":

In this scene, director Martin Scorsese treats the viewer to an incredibly awkward phone call.  Travis's attempts to reconcile are so pathetic, it can be painful to watch.   There are many moments in my life where I have been just as pathetic as Travis making that phone call.  Or so I often say.

I am fortunate that my mental standing is strong enough to bring me to restraint.  I act without restraint only within my fantasies.  These fantasies, too, are not prevalent.  They are something I merely retreat to from time to time in moments of frustration.  But some go to the movies for different reasons.  They go to get ideas.  John Hinckley Jr. was one of those people.  He watched Taxi Driver over and over again to the point of shooting U.S. President Ronald Reagan in March 1981.  In the same film, Travis attempts to assassinate a presidential candidate.

I came to an interesting and somewhat frightening conclusion while writing this: we are all on the same spectrum of Hinckley.  Like him, we demand attention for our actions and deeds.  Like him, we have fantasies of what is just for ourselves.  That's why a movie like Taxi Driver is all too real.  The "good guys" aren't supposed to be burned out or mentally frustrated, but many of them are.  We are more like Travis Bickle than Harry Callaghan or Winston Churchill -- aggression minus the virtue.

We rely on movies for narrative sources we can understand: love conquers all, friends in high places, good over evil.  If one of those narratives fails for us personally, we cling to the others more closely.  Because we want it all to be true.  The master narrative is humankind's gratification.