Entry #3: Help, my mum is stalking me on FaceBook!

Facebook has been globally recognized to be a popular social utility that supports intense networking systems. People hence find themselves able to connect with friends, colleagues and family members with the instant click of a mouse! Facebook is so widely and commonly used that its usage does not only reside among the people of our generation. It has infiltrated to generations above us, that even our parents have starting tapping on the wonderful network coverage Facebook provides them with to connect with us. That being said, whether to connect or keep track of our behaviour is yet another question.

The above video clip displays how a parent proudly illustrates the convenient usuage of Facebook to keep close watch of her son's behaviour. She also makes occasional snide remarks in a matter of fact tone about this girl, Jenny, who apparently seems close to her son.

'Facebook won't let me see her entire profile, but I can get a good enough idea of what she's like by looking at this trampy picture' says Gloria Bianco.

Gloria shares with the two hosts on Today Now! that she writes on her son's wall five times a day to remind him to take his medication and also looks through his photos on a daily basis. While Facebook is a social networking system that provides people with the closest description of how someone is like due to the verbal and non-verbal communication cues present in the template of the system, we sometimes wonder whether anyone could possibly have some personal space left, especially with overbearing parents like this.

The liberty to have access to one's life through information(words written in the form of Facebook status, wall messages and biography- Verbal communication cues) and pictures(serves as a form of non-verbal communication that aids verbal communication to get a broader social make up of a person's lifestyle etc) inevitably leads to encroaching of privacies? In this case, I feel that it demonstrates just that.

In the video clip, Gloria Bianco mentioned that tagging of pictures on Facebook allows her to have a better idea of the friends her son is mixing with. Tagging of pictures also enables others to know that you have attended certain parties, weddings and gatherings.. some of which may not be suitable for 'parental consumption'. In this case, thank goodness for the lock function that enables one to make their profiles/pictures private, however, how is it possible not to include one's parent in their list of friends? By doing so, parents would question their child's integrity, thinking that they are hiding certain things from them.

I believe communication between parent and child is very important, however trusting their children and not making judgements about their friends due to their often inaccurate perceptions of them through the internet is even more important.

FACEBOOK SONG, the wonders of Facebook, for pure entertainment purposes!

Entry #2: Personal Reflection on Fashion- Does it make us more superficial?

'In order to be irreplaceable, one must be different' -Coco Chanel

Fashion shapes the world as it does not only exist in the clothes we wear but presents itself as the intangible lot in society. It exists in the form of ideas, images, and possibly even words. Fashion builds the visual construct of a person's mind and determines current trends. It is non-static, for the ever changing perspectives and ideals people have in mind of 'What's in, and what's out'.

In relation to the above quote by Coco Chanel (french fashion designer of haute couture), fashion thrives in the aggressive pursuit of people in sought for the liberty to express oneself aloud, and differently from others. Because years passed and fashion is still considered a novelty, it is commonly associated with indulgence and wealth. Put it this way, the value of your take home item from the shopping mall progressively increases with the amount of money you have in your bank account. So the question is, does keeping up with the latest trends to make a unique statement for ourselves make us more superficial?

To a certain extent, the pursuit of fashion does make us more superficial as our perspectives instinctively identify themselves with the way other people dress. More often than not, we also find ourselves being assessed by the way we dress. This contributes to the impressions we formulate about people in our cognitive schemata when we meet them for the first time, neglecting other variables that make up individuality, notably character and morals.

The novelty of fashion escalated in this new age and time with the growing affluence in the global economy(relative to the past) and we unknowingly find ourselves living in a consumerist society, among many brand conscious people. Some people splurge excessively on luxury items to satisfy their material needs, and to 'fit in' with society, forgetting that the aim of fashion is not about what you wear but how you wear it that acclaims individuality.

To me however, fashion is viewed as an art form, and in many art forms lie an element of expression, to liberate, and to make a statement. It carries a voice that varies from one person to another and it gives people the freedom of expression which our ancestors fought so hard to gain. While fashion has tendencies to promote superficiality in our behaviour, it largely stimulates creativity and without it, the world would be a dull and boring place.

Entry #1: Rocket to Fame.

Trends are evolving these days and YouTube seems to be the solution to stardom after futile attempts to break into the media industry. Pop culture has been revitalized through a new medium- the internet. There is also a shifting focus, not on the beautiful and glamourous, but on the ordinary man. Girls next door, Erin Perey and Roxanne Ilano(otherwise known as Rin on the Rox on YouTube) found themselves basking in fame after publishing a video of themselves singing in the bathroom. The bathroom for good acoustics? No doubt to that.

I first stumbled upon this talented pair one night while I was at my usual habit of searching YouTube for good soundtracks, which led me to discovering the remarkable harmony of the singing duo and got hooked to their music after. Acoustics at its rawest is always appreciated. I cannot agree more.

Like artistes of pop and secular music, such YouTube celebrities participate in enriching the culture of the entertainment industry, and provide the audience with a wider range of choices. We welcome choices as they increase the interconnectivity between viewers and producers and helps achieve an equilibrium between enjoyment purposes and marketing strategies for the benefit of all. To tie in with what we learnt in lecture this week, this creates the analogy of an interactive model where the encoder(in this case the entertainment industry) and decoder(in this case the audience/viewers) actively participates in an exchange of ideas. Immediate feedback was given in the case of Rin on the Rox as a single sound clip can attract around 600 000 viewers a night! (cited from http://rinontherox.net/) This won them a breakthrough into the music industry with their album Torture due to be released in Spring 2009, and many opportunities to appear on television. The EllenDegeneres Show for example, was a platform to their stardom.

This is my personal favourite of all the songs they contributed on YouTube.  A cover of Better In Time by Leona Lewis. Enjoy!

Think you have talent and have already exhausted all efforts to be in the limelight? Try YouTube, you could be a celebrity overnight!