YOU ARE MINEZ go Cinematic

Calgary prodigy Jean Sebastien-Audets latest offering is a collaboration with Boise Idaho director Tyler T. Williams. The short film / extended music video features a strikingly austere cinematic narrative blissfully juxtaposed with three irresistibly poppy, previously unreleased YAMZ tracks. The saga appears to follow a homicidal junky disposing of a corpse amidst the glorious scenery of the American western frontier. Ostensibly, its a slice of life. Don't miss the Mr. Blonde dance at 4:33!

The Dooce's Audience

The Dooce was created in early 2001 by web-designer Heather B Armstrong with the intention of having “a place to write about pop culture, music, and [her] life as a single woman”. The blog soon began to emphasize the autobiographical; Armstrong using it as an open diary to the world, an outlet for her to express her most intimate stories and opinions.  Unfortunately, this forthrightness cost her job. After a year, she was fired for revealing information about people she worked with. She landed on her feet however, and in subsequent years The Dooce began attracting wide audiences and garnering praise from the likes of Times and BBC News, allowing her to start her professional blogging career in 2005. This is all in debt to her unique style of prose; candid, insightful and often humorous in relentlessly chronicling her life from her Mormon upbringing, her battles with substance abuse and mental instability, the struggles and joys of motherhood and the boundless exploration of everyday existence. Quite simply, it is the quality of her content that has enabled her to connect with and maintain the extensive audience that she has. Armstrong also reinforces the blogger-audience connection by establishing familiarity through repetition.  At the top right of the sites layout are the headings “daily photo”, “daily chuck” and “daily style”. In “daily photo”, Armstrong will present a picture that captures of a particularly significant moment of her life, usually recent, that is accompanied by a descriptive caption below. “Daily Chuck is dedicated to her dog Coco, and will depict him in a series of situations and will provide an explanation. Lastly, in Daily Style, she will express her current fashion inclinations, accompanied by pictures and links of websites to obtain specific items. While the site may appeal to many demographics, judging by the feminine-oreitned content that the site provides, as well as the identities of active users, it appears that its audience is mostly female.

Interaction on The Dooce occurs in two basic forms. Firstly, in the comment thread of each blog entry, where users will weigh in their impressions of the entry and a discussion will often form. Armstrong herself will occasionally address notable comments and contribute to the dialogue.  While this is a vital aspect of the blogs sense of community, sometimes comments will be closed, somewhat inexplicably which is that case now as I write this. Furthermore, within the Dooce there exists Dooce Community, which is a forum where enthusiast of the blog will discuss a variety of topics within a set range of categories, i.e. “Family and Relationships” or “Home and Garden”.  Each thread within a category will start with a question posed by a single member, to which other will respond and generally some semblance of a conversation will develop. The person that started the thread will then have to option of assigning the “best answers” of their choice. Armstrong appears to have little presence on Dooce Community, although she will sometimes refer to its activity in her blog posts.

 

The Nation: Under Review

 

 

     The Nation, as one of America’s foremost opinion journals, is certainly not shy of making its political affiliations known. Commonly referred to as “the flagship of the left”, the magazine thrives on its reputation as a liberal news resource and any first time reader will be able to recognize its ideological carriage simply by scanning through the article titles.

     Or at least this was my experience; when first visiting the website I was immediately struck by the headline "Re-Elect the President". The article itself however, is perhaps not quite as blatant as the name might suggest.  While firm in their electoral stance, proposing that a victory for Romney and Ryan would “validate the reactionary extremists” and “represent the triumph of social Darwinism, the religious right, corporate power and the big money donors who thrive in a new Gilded Age of inequality”, the editors express their fair share of qualms with Obamas record, criticizing his reluctance to overhaul reform on immigration, the environment, Guantanamo, etcetera.  The negative focus effectively pivots back and forth between the two candidates, with Romney still ending up the much less desirable with the final verdict being “we can’t afford a Romney/Ryan victory”. Balanced perhaps, but is it fair? Within the article exists many assumptions, it prophesizes of what terror is surely to strike if Romney is voted in, and the authors on numerous occasions attempt to speak for all progressives, suggesting that they “have a profound interest in the popular rejection of the Romney/Ryan ticket” and that progress on any cause they care about would be unimaginable under Romney’s presidency.

       In another article I encountered, cleverly titled “The Enemy of My Enemy Is My President”, author Robert Scheer examines the turbulent relationship between Obama and the proverbial Wall Street “fat cats”, “swindlers” and “hucksters”, and submits that Goldman Sachs animosity toward the president indicates that “he must have done something right.” He then explains that the top five banks had once supported Obama heavily, contributing some 3.5 million to his 2008 campaign, now reduced to a mere $650,000, meanwhile giving Romney 3.3 million; clearly evidence of dissension.  What is also clear is Scheers disdain for the banks, attributing “‘The fat cats’ sense of betrayal at the hands of the Obama administration is obviously less a reflection of actual financial pain they endured these last three years than it is a mark of bankers’ uncontrollable greed”, visible in reviewing the annual earnings of Goldman CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein who got $12 million last year in stark contrast to 65.8 million in 2007 when “Goldman was happily constructing toxic security bundles.”

      Ultimately, The Nation is a leftist’s organization whose political agenda strongly informs what staff they hire, what content they publish, which determines who their subscribers are and who advertises with them.  By no means are they a neutral entity, but they also are not in the interest of fabrication. They merely present information, usually widely available, and spin it whichever way best supports their reputation and often the results are quite presuasive.