FYS thingamabob

Well, it’s not really a bad habit. It’s good.  Some people just find it weird. To each his own.

So my habit is that everytime I read something, I tend to look for rhetorical devices, mostly satire, but other things too. Why? Because of the books I had to read during high school.  I mean, Dickens’s Oliver Twist reeked with satire, and I loved it, and these essays I used to read by a guy called Cohen also were extremely satirical. I love satire. It beats exaggerating, and all that flowery speech–the satire just does it all.  My brain is just wired to look for satire. And I know this isn’t English class, but we’re still required to read, and therefore, I still look out for rhetorical devices. I can’t help it.

So this whole thing about how my brain is “wired” to look for satire just makes me think of more McLuhan thinking, and his point that the media influences the way we think.  I didn’t look at it this way till reading McLuhan’s essay.  Why do I look for satire (which I did a lot when we first started reading for FYS), even when it’s not there?  Because the books I read–Dickens, Fitzgerald, Cohen, etc. have all had satire and other rhetorical devices, and so when I read something new, the books I have already read have shaped the way I think, which is that the new book I read may be filled with awesome rhetorical devices. And then it turns out that it’s not. Sad day. Haha. But still–because of the books I have read, I tend to look for elements similar to what are in those other books. This form of media (books) has influenced the way I think and approach other things.

McLuhan is crazy. And right.

Ari xx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw_X5fpKwr4

For those of you who use Zunes….just stop. Haha, I’m totally kidding. I won’t judge. Well, maybe.

*awkward pause.*

Ok so, I wanted to talk more about the way media influences the way we think, and I want to incorporate music into this.

Anyway, I was thinking back on the days when I had my CD player, with the shock protection, so I could run with it, and we all thought that was so high tech at the time. And when I’d travel I had that case with a place for my CDs, so I could switch CDs.  Yea, I’m so glad I have my iPod.  I can hit shuffle and have all my songs shuffled, I can organize playlists, listen to only certain artists or a certain genre, put some cute album art, put the lyrics on the screen, if I have the genuis playlist I can have playlists created for me based on songs that go well together, which is something I’d definitely love.  I’m talking about all these features in an iPod in such a nonchalant way, as if it was something completely normal–which it is, but back when there were no iPods, it would not have been normal.  It would have been like, some profound futuristic crap, or something like that.  But the way I can talk about an iPod and the way I go about obtaining my music and listening to music has changed so much, and that only reiterates McLuhan’s statement that the medium influences the way we think.  Back when I had my CD player, if I wanted a certain song, I had to buy the whole CD.  But with the release of the iPod, the way we view listening to music and and obtaining music has changed so much.  Instead of saying, “Oh did you hear that new single by FOB? I gotta buy their CD!” (Ok honestly, who says that these days?) Anyway, usually people say something like, “I love that new song by FOB, gotta download it off of _________ (insert downloading program or iTunes here).” The way we think when it comes to listening and getting new music is so different.  And new things like Pandora have totally spoiled me.  I love discovering new artists in styles I like.  Youtube Deathcab for Cutie, The Rocket Summer, Cartel, and Daphne Loves Derby.

Anyway, results of new media such as Pandora and Youtube have led me to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEjwR2Jl9sY

Ari xx