Media Meditation #2: A Digital Stage

These are the faces of the front runners of the derrick comedy sketch team. We have Dominic on the left, DC in the middle, and Donald on the right. There are two other 'main' players, Dan and Meggie, but they are more behind the scenes whereas the three pictured are the biggest actors.

A comedy team who got their start with wildly popular YouTube videos, derrick comedy has released an independent film which showed at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival called Mystery Team (derrick's link to the movie seems to be broken at the moment). I've seen it, it's pretty great.

You might know their popular sketch 'Bro Rape' with almost 8 million views on the exalted YouTube:

One of my personal favorites, however (don't get me wrong, Bro Rape is absolutely hilarious), is this:

Those are two great examples, but they have dozens of skits available on their website and on YouTube.

So, how do these guys fit into our media culture? Well, they got their popularity on YouTube, a digital platform. Comedy troupes usually start out on stage at local venues, but nowadays the internet works just the same. The aesthetic shift to convergence can be seen here as platforms for expression, even literal platforms like stages, are changing standards from local sources that limit publicity to digital sources that expand publicity to before impossible limits!

They use humor in absurd ways to persuade viewers to watch more. The outlandish acts of the people being played are hilarious, not entirely out of this world, and thus so engaging. Kevin bribed his film class to play more of his own work that is just a large hate statement against (M)Belanie. The credits of each film attribute outrageous things such as, "Suffering by: Kevin. Jeremy bribed by: Kevin." and so on. Haha, right? Right.

The idea that all media are construction is true, but why does it always have to be in a negative way? When making these sketches I can't see the crew brainstorming ideas on how to manipulate viewers to gain as many views as possible, but rather expressions of comedic ideas that were successful in entertaining their audience.

What would Carr say of derrick's rise to popularity? Were they appreciated by a mass of dull eyed zombies or a mass of people looking to be entertained, a group of people who do know what they are looking at and have a reason for it?

This screams about the technological shift of our world. Derrick took the standards of 'ANALOG' sketch performing and changed it to 'DIGITAL' by joining the early wave of funnies that swarmed YouTube over the last several years.

Unfortunately much more simple and, in my opinion, usually less humorous videos are the ones topping the view charts. Thankfully YouTube views don't correlate too directly into cash...yet.

Media Meditation #1: Television does not just erode our minds!

Lisa Shannon was a normal woman who dropped everything in order to help women in the Congo. That's her kneeling in the center of the picture above. I heard her interview on NPR for my Human Rights COR class and immediately thought of these meditations when she told her story.

In short, Shannon started the organization Run for Congo Women which now sponsors over 1,400 Congolese women.

How does a woman with an enjoyable, fulfilling life drop everything to help women in the Congo?

Apparently you watch Oprah.

Shannon was inspired by a segment on Oprah about the abuse of Congolese women. In the interview, available through the first link above, she tells all about how she was shaken down to her inner most human level when she heard about what was going on.

She even wrote a book about it called A Thousand Sisters. This video does a nice job of describing its focus as well as going a little bit more into what I've been saying.



One thing Postman didn't do a lot of was consider the benefits to television. Here's a prime case of television as inspiration.

Oprah's format probably conforms to the Peek-a-Boo world standards, but within that swirling muck of erosion are stable events that can evidently inspire people to do fantastic things. Lisa Shannon couldn't locate Congo on a map 5 1/2 years before the interview that I heard, but look at her now!

When Shannon watched that Oprah segment, imagine her limbic and reptilian areas of the brain. The horrors of Congolese reality probably kept her on a 'flight' mode, but the feeling brain gripped the inhumane, visceral information and called her to action. When I heard her telling me the realities, my limbic brain made me shudder at the visceral story of a woman who had her leg forcefully removed, cut up into 6 pieces, cooked in a fire, and fed to her 6 kids. (That woman participated in one of Shannon's runs after that had happened, by the way.)

What is the reality being constructed here though? It's hard to mistake these atrocities and I don't think Congolese culture involves mutilating women due to their husband's courage. Shannon, in the interview, said that Congolese men have chosen to be shot in the head rather than violate their family (mothers and children specifically). The presentation of the situation in Congo was credible because Shannon has been there so much and has this organization to show that. She knows the situation it is unfortunately very believable. But, how do we know, as simple listeners to the radio, that there aren't any cultural ties to any of this gender abuse? Maybe there are heightened expectations of gender roles that aren't fulfilled. I can't give any more reasons because I feel like I'm defending inhumane discrimination, but the point is that what is the story from the side of the people committing these heinous acts?

Her interview, when looking at the discursive shift, ties into the reality being constructed here. The interview didn't have anyone from Congo talking about it, just these people (there was a guest expert on Congo also) who have been there a decent amount and have experienced their personal adventures, but they did that rather than absorbing the plight of the entire nation through a life time of experience and actually being a part of that culture in every way.

The fact that she was inspired to do this by Oprah gives me a little sliver of the side of the story Postman didn't talk a whole lot about. Television changed her drastically, and not into a mindless (almost literally) drone of a human drooling on the couch!

Introducing Ted

Hey I'm Ted.

I was born in Mount Kisco, New York and grew up in South Salem, New York. This summer a drive in movie theater revealed itself near my home town, so some friends and I checked it out. It was similar to what various mediums have portrayed them as; a big screen outside with a lot of cars parked before it. We got a little gadget that tuned our radios to the movie being played. We saw a double feature for $7.00 flat. That is definitely enticing compared to the $10-$20 (3D/IMax) spent per movie in the multiplex places.

What did I see? Here's a hint:


Yep, that's the heroic Buzz Lightyear with Woody as seen in Toy Story 2. The other film was Prince of Persia...which was terrible.

The drive in was a fun time. It is one of those 'things' that seems outdated and a thing of the past but it was able to give us kids of the world of Web 2.0 a good time.

Our media culture and technology now allows for videos to be virally spread and recieved. I like that because we can get a much wider span of video content instead of being limited to what the television companies are deciding to air. Instructional videos, entertaining videos, business videos, political recordings, anything!

On top of that, however, I do not like the virality of some videos. This is one of the most viewed videos on YouTube (you've probably seen it):




Let's talk about the typographic, informative aspects of that piece. A child being hurt is the top tier standard for entertaining viral videos in our media culture.


As a Professional Writing Major I see myself in some sort of writing capacity in the future. My fantasy job is to write for National Geographic in some way. My ambitions for the future were stymied by considerations about changing majors and on top of that I'm still not 100% on where I want to end up. I would like to end up more on the business end of writing, as in publishing or editing. Being a specialized technical writer also appeals to me and the promises the pursuit of a poet or novelist offer are unfortunately unattractive right now.