I started Tuesday morning with a groan and a sigh; my boss had asked me to come into work an hour early. Sitting at Subways at 7:45 in the morning, I read the New York Times breaking news that George Steinbrenner had been hospitalized due to a massive heart attack. I issued a simple get well tweet and started my workday. A few minutes at my desk, I learned that George had passed on. I wasn't able to reflect much while at work but the dark cloud lurked at the back of my mind. I left work at 12:30 and slowly walked down Water Street as the skies got painted black. The dark gloom at the back of my mind mirrored the heavens and the rain came down, hard. As I was getting drenched by the second, I started to reflect on George Steinbrenner.
To me, George was and still is the only mortal bigger than baseball. A physically well-built man, George was also larger than life itself. He did things in ways that make you shake your head, wring your hands, let out an exasperated sigh, smile uncontrollably, and even curse his name. He was banned from baseball and was eventually reinstated because baseball was lost without him. He broke the barriers in owner-players relationship positively and also negatively. The most important characteristic of George Steinbrenner is that he enjoyed winning. He believed that if he didn't win, he had failed miserably. So when others talk about how unrealistic it is that the Yankees organization openly admits that a baseball season that didn't end with the Yankees hoisting a championship trophy was a wasted season, I think of George. He first held his subjects accountable for what they do, and today, we all hold everyone in the Yankees organization accountable every time we fail to win it all.
So as I trudged my way home, I thought back to how my morning began. I thought back to how much I wanted to disregard my boss's request that I come into work an hour earlier. Then I thought, with a smile, what would George think of me?
"We're all one family with the Steinbrenners. Not related by blood, but related by something more important: #Yankees Baseball." - @beeeebzy Twitter
"It appears Mr. Steinbrenner has arrived safely Upstairs. The thunder coming from the heavens NYC right now is deafening :)" - @BonnieB_ESPN Twitter
"Steinbrenner was extremes: infuriate and elate u in same chat. saw him cruel and saw him beautiful. changed sports, not just baseball." - @joelsherman1 Twitter
"There was no harder job in the 80s than being a Yankee beat writer, fearing Steinbrenner ever-shifting alliances between newspapers." - @bobklap Twitter
"George dominated my life, as a #Yankees reporter. When my wife called to say we were expecting, I was chasing him down a corridor in Tampa." - @kendavidoff Twitter
"RIP George Steinbrenner. Set the standard as an owner for doing whatever you have to do to win with no apologies. Unique man!!!" - @michaelstrahan Twitter
"If you do something good and more than one person knows about it, you didn't do it for the right reason." - George Steinbrenner
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Analysis 4
The relationship between societyand technology has always been a back-and-forth affair that usually entails how much power should society have in technology. This argument relies on the fact that society plays a role in protecting the public from the side-effects of technology. As expected, technology argues that it'll implement self-restriction to protect the public. Trolling, for example, falls under the category of technological tools whose side-effects may cause harm to the public. A more primary way of looking at this relationship is the effects that technology has on society directly. I came across an article last week about an anonymous person on Chatroulette that made others do things by threatening to kill an animal. This could've easily being just a practical joke, but that does nothing in diminishing its effect on society.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Chatroulette Madness.
I came across this on Gizmodo. Not sure if I should laugh or not laugh.
http://gizmodo.com/5502948/infalible-method-to-get-chatroulette-boob-flashing
http://gizmodo.com/5502948/infalible-method-to-get-chatroulette-boob-flashing
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Memes: Lil' Mama EVERYWHERE!
Lil' Mama joined Kanyeezy at the top of the "Hilarious Memes" ranking last year.
The decision that started it all:
By the next evening, these were all over the Internet:
Yeahhh....you get the idea.
The decision that started it all:
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Lil' Wayne vs. The Office MASHUP!
This has to be the hottest Mashup of 2010 so far. Its Weezy, The Office tune, Dwight Shrute, and Rap. Take a listen at the link below:
http://idolator.com/5447952/lil-wayne-visits-the-office-with-this-awesome-mash-up
http://idolator.com/5447952/lil-wayne-visits-the-office-with-this-awesome-mash-up
Pirate Laws!!!
Ever wondered how to go about becoming a pirate? Well you just don't become a pirate all willy-nilly. There are laws to live by. Here they arrrrr!
http://www.piratelaws.com/
http://www.piratelaws.com/
Hacker Culture: One Step Ahead
My Proposal
The topic of hacking/jailbreaking has always been a fascinating subject for me. I've always been amused about the 'game' that is played between the hackers and the authorities. My curiosity led me to the point where I became a part of the hacker culture; not for profit, but rather knowledge. This course is all about the awareness and comprehension of the ever-growing new media, and the hacker culture definitely fits in that description. The certain concepts that we've discussed in this course like McLuhan's Medium Message, Borges' Labyrinth, and Burroughs' Cut-Ups all parallel with the hacker culture in that they're a part of the current medium that we knowingly or unknowingly live in. I am objectively approaching this topic from two specific sections: Mobile Phones Jailbreak and Video Game Modulators. I find these to be two of the most influential and fast-growing part of the hacker culture.
The main objective of this paper is to explore a minute, yet important part of the hacker culture. The essence of being a hacker is to always remain one step ahead of the authorities. As a sports fanatic, I link this towards the use of Performance Enhancing Drugs in major sports. Just like in hacking, the lawbreakers are always one step ahead of the authorities. When it comes to electronic lawbreaking, I always say that whatever security is created by a human will always be dismantled by another human. As a user of a jailbroken mobile phone, I got a first-hand glance at the immense levels of that particular part of the hacker culture. I learned about the benefits and side-effects of jailbreaks; and also about the methods of side-stepping the authorities. I've also been reading articles and speaking to first-hand users of modulated video game systems. I'm learning about the cons and pros of this action, as well as the step-by-step process in which it is achieved.
The concept of jailbreak and modulating are similar in that they are ways in which the public can circumvent the authorities while enhancing their product, illegally. In this paper, one of my goals is to discover the popularity of these sections of the hacker culture. As I’ve realized during the process of this course, there are a lot people unaware of certain aspects of the New Media. This led me to infer that the majority of current media users are uninformed about jailbreaking and modulating. Another goal I hope to achieve in this paper is to examine this topic from the side of the authorities. I’ve started compiling some articles about the steps that the authorities are taking towards enforcing laws against the hacker culture.
Some links:
My New Addiction
MY NEW ADDICTION: StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon is my newest way of wasting away time on the Internet. Isn't that what the Internet is meant for anyway? Here's Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stumbleupon
StumbleUpon is my newest way of wasting away time on the Internet. Isn't that what the Internet is meant for anyway? Here's Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stumbleupon
Fun Game
Tests your reaction!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/sheep/reaction_version5.swf
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/sheep/reaction_version5.swf
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
New Medium
The major message that I received from Benjamin's "The Work of Art..." is that the media in general has gone through some drastic changes over the years. However vague that is, it's also consequently clear as day: film, photography and other forms of media are very different today. In today's pop culture, media has become very rampant in our everyday lives. There are upcoming film billboards everywhere, magazine ads on every corner, and more photographers are searching tirelessly for the true definition of art. An important factor that Benjamin discusses in the essay is the concept of aura in the media. Contrary to his assertion, I think the aura of media hasn't changed at all. The use of mechanical components miht enhance the viewership of today's media but the "feel" o the object still lives. Today's concept of aura might not trigger the same reaction as it did years ago, but the feeling is still constant. The introduction of film, photography and the computer has undoubtedly changed the image and it's deep meanings. He introduction of software for computers i.e. Photoshop has put the constant doubt of what is real and what isn't in the mind of today's audience. Films have developed immensely today and the control of he director on what we see has also changed the image. The introduction of components like CGI has changed the effect of today's aura. Benjamin also discussed the politics of industrial production in his essay; a strong link I drew from this and our discussion of machinima is the profit gained by the creators. Industrial production has lead to the mass creation of certain medium and has enabled the public a better, easier way to access these mediums. This eventually leads to the profits that is garnered by these mass producers. The same can be said for machinima; the creation of these mini movies have triggered the idea of putting them on sale for the public.
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