Track Two (https://michaelddwyer.com/cm385/author/eric/)
There's something truly bizarre how our social media and stan/fanboy culture has developed in our US elections. We have stan wars over politicians, attempts to put Elizabeth Warren or Kamala Harris in pop culture scenes. It's kind of bizarre we are treating an election like a reality show. To quote Joaquin Phoenix, we live in a society. Regardless, the fun of this article is its graphics and interactives.
I don't necessarily have anxiety disorder, but I have had issues with anxiety and stress many times in the past, so I was curious to see these images, and gather if they're relatable or not. So might as well look at each image one by one. Each image does have a quote next to it, but I want to focus on the images themselves
Image #1: A brick on top of a balloon. This is a pretty solid gif and one that is relatable. The pressures of school, work, etc.
Having become more and more acquainted with the Food Network, I've grown attached to food and food-related programs, so I was beyond excited to check out The Sporkful. While I did not grow up in New Jersey, I have vague awareness about the Pork Roll/Taylor Ham controversy, where a famed meat roll synonymous to the city has two different names, depending on where you lived in the city. There's plenty of fun to be had here, as host Dan Pashman uses pre-established audio from Barack Obama and Chris Christie to set the scene to show how important the food is to the state's culture. But what is even better is how Pashman uses his own interviews to bring his points across. How do you show the importance of this debate and this meat?
As an enthusiast of film, learning about such obscure film history was an exciting venture, and I was happy to say this did not disappoint a bit. Learning about Van Johnson and his offscreen persona was fascinating. There is something mysterious about old-school actors, at least ones that aren't as well-documented, and their backstory. We live in a world where paparazzi and documentaries about every celebrity is recorded and published. And while Van Johnson has plenty of word about him that's made public, having been a major player for MGM, there's plenty I got to learn about an actor I never even heard of until today.
Reading Ta-Nehisi Coates' article is an interesting one. Despite its publication in 2012, I feel as if the article is even more relevant more than 3 years after Obama's presidency ended. Coates looks into Obama and his relation to America in profound and engaging ways, from the racist background of the nation, to black men and their placement in society. The George Zimmerman case that sets the story up is especially fascinating to look at. I do remember the incident, and the massive shift in approval when Obama laid out his speech.
As somebody who loves Sun-Maid, I had to check this article out, and I'm very glad I did. There's plenty of intrigue and suspense for what is a story about raisin companies. I have a love for niche documentaries and stories, and this was right up my alley. In terms of presentation, what I really enjoyed were the greyscale images. The New York Times knows the story is pretty silly, and uses the lack of color in two ways.
The recent political turmoil within the United States has led to both an increase in the interest of politics and interest in radical politics, especially leftist ideology. Democratic socialism has been on the rise in the United States since the growing popularity of Bernie Sanders and congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. It has also been used as a way to fight back against Donald Trump and his bigoted, outright fascist policies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF_nULoyi9o
Democratic socialism has been particularly en vogue with younger generations. Capitalism has largely been considered less favorable with youths, especially during the current Trump administration's budget cuts and push towards profits and large corporations.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/09/are-we-any-safer/492761/
Before I start this, I just wanted to mention the author Steven Brill, best known for the magazine The American Lawyer, also shares the same name with a filmmaker best known for directing films like Heavyweights and Mr. Deeds, as well as the writer for the Mighty Ducks trilogy. I just think that's very funny and wanted to share that. Anyways, this article was an enlightening one. I was three years old, too young to truly understand the impact and shifts that emerged after the devastating WTC attacks. So reading how the country shifted in terms of security, with new bills, higher budgets, and different proposals was well worth a read.
https://gizmodo.com/the-creepiest-things-you-can-do-on-facebook-1683434172
This was a very clever comedy writing piece that has a lot of great moments to laugh at. Facebook is kind of an interesting site, in the sense that it's largely populated by Grandmas and baby pictures, and isn't really known as an advocacy platform (Twitter) nor one populated by young users (Instagram, TikTok). It's an original beast of a platform all its own, and has an aura of confusion and oddities all the same. But what really made me enjoy the article was its layout. It's a great set-up and there are perfect divisions with each of author Ashley Feinberg's examples.
https://reallifemag.com/the-babysitters-club/
Reading through The Babysitter's Club, I already related to the very beginning, specifically the discussion of "caretaker speech". I might have found it nice as a kid, but the use of condescending language like "doggy-woggy" is the most insufferable and patronizing garbage ever. It treats kids as if they're stupid and pacifies them from actually understanding the world around them. This leads to a perfect segue on how Seamless ads manipulate people with "cool" and "hip" language that tries to be like a cool, hip teenage babysitter. In a way, the whole article does a great job segueing from subject and subject going to Yelp to Venmo to Uber to even Pokemon Go (remember when that was a thing?).