In Response to The Most Recent Poll On My Blog

Seeing as I only got five votes in, that makes me sad about the number of people reading my blog. But then I remember that for people to want to read your blog, you have to update it, and that's something I've been doing sporadically at best. That having been said, I want to point out something interesting about the poll:

There were six options listed, and one of them was clearly a joke. No, not Creative Writing: Advanced Fiction. That's for reals, yo. Underwater Basket Weaving? Not so much.

I got five votes, and each for a different class. And the one that didn't get any votes? Media Literacy. While that scares me for certain reasons that I will enumerate below, there's something far more interesting about the poll results I wish to discuss first.

The question was, which class sounds the most interesting? And nobody thought Media Literacy would be the most interesting. People picked politics, film, and sex over Media Literacy (hilarious because politics is covered in the media, and film is a medium, and media is full of sex, but that's more an afterthought than anything), and while I haven't had the politics or the films yet, so far Media Literacy is the most interesting of the classes I'm taking. I like the people and the teacher and the material and the workload.

The writing and the sex? Yeah, well, I never thought the workload in a class about sex would be too much to handle. But it is. And as I have mentioned earlier, my creative writing prof is a little, uh...well, you read what I said before. Or at least you should have.

No, okay, so, nobody's interested in media literacy? Come ON! Here's why you should be interested: Think of how pervasive the media is. You are consuming it RIGHT NOW! Yes, that's right, my blog is considered media. But not just that...are you listening to music while you read my blog (I suggest Ray LaMontagne for a mellow mood, Buddy Rich for something to replace any caffiene addiction you may have, The Mars Volta to completely blow your mind or The Postal Service if you happen to be a hopeless romantic)? Watching television or a movie? Checking other websites? Listening to the radio? Reading a book or magazine? Driving down the highway looking at billboards (elliotisnotawriter does not advocate this activity)? You are consuming media almost constantly. Does it have an effect on you?

85% of people say it has absolutely no effect on them. And but almost all of those people who claim media has no effect on them at all also claim that it has a tremendous effect on everybody else. Say what? That's a huge chunk of people to make up for somewhere.

So what media literacy is doing for me is making me more aware of what media I consume, and making me aware that the messages I get are being filtered from reality through the person/entity through which the message is being delivered. Think about a story about Barrack Obama on a Clear Channel talk radio station vs. one on NPR. I'd like to say that NPR is more fair (and they are more apt to be) but there is a distinctive liberal bias...though not as much as Clear Channel's conservative lean. Which is, of course, pale in comparison to Fox News'. The point is, people, pay attention to where your information is coming from. I mean, just think what would happen if everybody got their news from me and Jerry. I mean, sure, the world would be a tremendously happy place to live, but...no. Wait. I like this idea. Forget I said anything else. The last sentence should read "Everybody should get their news from me and Jerry."

Kinda Late, I Know...

It is two thirty in the morning on this fine Tuesday, August 28th, 2007, and I have just finished my homework for the day. I still have four chapters of my photography book to read, plus whatever Erickson gives me to do before Thursday, and then I am done doing homework for this week and can start looking at the increasingly large mound of homework for next week (Webster 99, Elliot 7), but with the holiday next Monday my media reasearch Literature Review is not due for two weeks (Webster 99, Elliot 8, with a further ninety points awarded upon early completion of said Literature Review, wherein "early" is defined as being more than 48 hours prior to deadline).

I once again have a camera collection. I had lightened the load a bit, with the sale of the old Canon, and throwing out the busted Kodak digital, and for a little bit all we had in the house was the Canon digital, the Nikon N55, the busted Yashica TL Electro, and Kathy's point and shoot Olympus. Then I had to go and buy a Fuji digital, and before my Target discount ran out we bought Kathy a Digital Rebel, and with my photography class I am encourage, for the instructor's peace of mind, to not use my N55 but to find a camera that is fully manual, and with my TL Electro out of commission, I find myself beset with both my father's Yashica TL Electro (so there's a familiarity about it I like, plus a 180 mm lens to boot) and my sister's Nikon FE2. Add that to the video camera, and we once again have almost enough cameras for Kathy and all her siblings.

Now, even with this plethora of cameras, there is still uncertainty. It is possible that my father's TL Electro will not advance film, as his Yashica FR has stopped doing so (otherwise, I would have borrowed that one instead of the TL Electro). It is not advisable to use my Yashica, which will definitely advance the film, because the light seals do not do their job, so the film gets all ruined, even if it will advance. My sister's Nikon, also, might still have mirrors misaligned, as that was an issue a few years ago and nobody can remember if it has been corrected. My N55 is, as stated above, out of the question because it is all new-fangled and automatic. And if the N55 is out, at least it still takes film, which is more than can be said for the Digital Rebel. Nor can I use the Olympus because it's not an SLR. Bottom line is, Wednesday night I am going to be heading to class with a camera still to be determined to start taking pictures that I am not sure will come out. I guess I could run a couple rolls of film through the cameras, but that costs money and so forth. And it takes time. A whole lot of precious time. It's going to take patience and time. To do it right, child.

Wow, still no brevity to my posts. But, let's just make this clear (and if you catch the reference, you might win a prize): To me, he is El Duderino.

New features to the blog: a picture, an updated link list (sort of, I just rearranged them and retitled some) and a poll. Please answer by the end of the week. I figure, if I can't actually update as much as I used to, the least I can do is give you all something to do/look at every once in a while.

Three Day Novel coming up this weekend. Get Ready!

"Nobody calls me Lebowski. You got the wrong guy. I'm The Dude, man."