Thursday, December 6, 2007

Consciousness Streaming


I looked at YouTube and tried to be objective, but honestly it's not something I could get into. I talked about it with a co-worker. She gave me some pointers and offered her take on it. I'll grant that it has appeal to a lot of people for a variety of reasons. It looks too much like reality TV for me. Actually, I deliberately try to limit my exposure to TV. Now movies at the theater! That's something else again. I love the willing suspension of disbelief at the movies. Jerry Mander commented in his book, In the Absence of the Sacred, that the medium is the message. The message being that a person is often alone in front of the television and now a computer, whereas going to the movies is by its nature a shared experience . As for being a grassroots-type site, I'm not so sure. If I see a major paradigm shift, say away from war and other atrocities as a means of controlling the world's resources or even a shift away from conspicuous consumption as a defining aspect of modern culture as a result of YouTube-ish sites, well then color me there. But I appreciate the look/see.
In a similar vein I have another rant. Last week I was waiting in a doctor's office and picked up Newsweek for 26 Nov. On the cover was Jeff Bezos of Amazon beside the big story, Books Aren't Dead. They're Just Going Digital. The article is about Amazon's Kindle, the new E-book. The author of the article really talked it up. It's going to revolutionize reading, get more people on board (apparently in 2004 only 57% of adults read any book in a year.) The article depressed me. After mulling it over though, I realize that our old-fashioned books will be around a while yet. Not everyone is going to go out and spend $400 for a Kindle that requires paying for books to fill it. People go to libraries to borrow books and all other manner of media, in lieu of buying and will continue to do so as long as libraries exist, I reckon.
Sorry I got carried away, but you may be pleased to know that I used a lot of restraint here. Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays,
Horse

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