My Cause

So, I was planning on doing some more posts eventually leading up to an epic finish, but things didn't really turn out that way, so I'll just say this.

I've taken a lot away from this course that I'm really grateful for, like a much clearer idea of where I'm headed, new friends, and a heaping spoonful of street cred. (I really like that phrase. Might have to use it again later.) Whether I end up pursuing higher education in media studies, or getting involved in (that is, employed by) the industry somehow after I graduate, I know that this is my passion and that I'm going to follow it in some capacity. Right now what I have a strong desire to do in the future is to be able to teach people (in person, through writing, whatever) about the resources/technologies that are available to them, to help them live more productive, organized, and convenient (although this one can get a little iffy) lives. I'm interested in the development/design side of things too, but I find that when it comes down to it I often prefer, or at least am content to just talk about everything that I see going on. I don't know what the future holds, (just like I'm not sure why this paragraph contains an alarming number of parentheses) but I'm feeling excited and optimistic. So thanks to everyone who was involved and helped make this class what it was. And don't stop being involved, in the greater sense. You know what I mean.

As for the future of this blog...behold:

http://onculture.wordpress.com/

I'm moving all the content from this blog over to the new location, which I'm going to keep as an archive of research notes - primarily for my own use, but since it's public, it's possible it will turn into a conversation hub as well. That would be neat. The current title is "On Culture", which I settled on in a creative lapse, and justified as interesting by thinking of it as "a modernization of the old essay title standard" - you know, because there are so many old papers and stuff titled simply "On blah blah blah". So here I was blending the old with the relatively new. But, I'm going to change it to something better, once I settle on an idea, although the location will stay the same. Until I decide to buy my own domain that is, in which case those of you following along will be well aware.

As always, thanks for reading and all the best to everyone.

The Retooling of Garfield

My friend showed me this great project today (I guess you'd classify it as a webcomic) where this guy takes the Garfield comics and makes some specific changes. He decided Garfield would be a more enjoyable comic without Garfield in it at all. The result is Garfield Minus Garfield, in which all traces of the lasagna loving cat are photoshopped out. It actually took this change for me to realize what a depressing person Jon is, although, I'm sure I'd have noticed if I were actually reading the comics on a regular basis as an older person. And it's that exaggerated hopelessness that actually makes these bizarre mutations work as comedy, at least from my perspective. I actually find many of these hilarious.

This struck me as interesting because it's an original way to remediate - if you can even call it that - where you merely take away from the original using new(ish) technology, instead of expanding on it. But by taking something away, the comic has been taken to new heights. It's now about a Jon Arbuckle who is apparently schizophrenic, bi-polar, and so on. And maybe he always has been, but now it's even more pronounced, because there isn't that smug-looking orange tabby to distract us from this incredibly unstable human being.

You can get to the archive, (which isn't very big so far) by clicking the link above. Here are a couple of my favourites: