hegemoney, the celebrity and america

ran across this last night!

I'm fucking Matt Damon/Ben Affleck

Hey guys!

I hope the paper writing is going well. I am alas finished!! Thanks for the last post on body image/retouching, that was cool.

I'm sure you guys have seen this---at least the first one, "I'm fucking Matt Damon". I ran across Jimmy's response the other day, "I'm fucking Ben Affleck"---both are super funny. It's shocking how much time Jimmy put into his version---seriously, EVERYONE is in it. Watch and laugh!









Andrea

Media and Body Image

To the person writing the paper on body image in the media, and the dove commercials. Here are some good sites that deal with that.

On this site just open one of the images, and let it load. Then roll over it with the mouse and it shows how they retouched the image.

http://glennferon.com/portfolio1/index.html

and here is a good video that shows how retouching is done

Raging Grannies

Here are some links to the activist group, Raging Grannies, I discussed in class:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JQiP5iCfQt0
Joy to the worlds and a skit - joined by code pink another anit-war and activist group from Berkley http://youtube.com/watch?v=k9zgHOF6lv4
I walk the line-I wait in line ...health care
http://youtube.com/watch?v=doYbRMkVqV4&feature=related
oh dear what can the matter be
http://youtube.com/watch?v=WbiFNGBECVk
Bring back my bonnie

And here is their web site

although I know that raising any kind of awareness and/or voice against hegemonic ideals or institutions is beneficial to a more healthful society...I wonder how far groups like this can really go. Is their goal to increase pressure to make a change or is their main purpose to inspire people who have the ability to make a change.

I'm always curious about these method because I feel they are more easily criticized. By dressing up and singing political parodies are they gaining more positive or negative attention? Do their antics drawl you in or push you away?

I would love to get some more opinions on this....

Big Shot Live

This really goes along with some of the topics that have brought up in class! It's everybody's ticket to Hollywood - Haha! So, it's a website, Big Shot Live, where people can post videos of themselves in singing, dancing, modeling, comedy, acting, tv host and sport tricks. People vote and the top 5 in the nation get sent to Hollywood to meet with managers!

Go Raw

This video, Go Raw Now Trailer, is an odd one to me. The video is in promotion of the raw food diet. I think this video is odd because it really is a PROMOTION for a way of eating. It bums me out because they make it seem superficial and celebrity, all glittery. It's weird because they don't talk about how to eat raw or anything really about it, they just hype it up.

I feel like the video turns people off the entire idea, especially the ending, and makes people think of the raw food diet as a joke.

The Truth About Disney

So, I'm sure you guys have heard about Disney's portrayal of gender roles, races and sumbliminal messages. This youtube video, Racism in Disney, looks specifically at clips that portray race stereotypes in Disney movies. And there are tons more!

Bush Flash

Hey guys,

This website bushflash.com is one that gives people a archive of different types of media with messages of anti-war and anti-bush. One of the videos on the site is called Christmas Time in Iraq, which gives footage and media clips and is an anti-war message.

East Timor

I presented this situation in class awhile ago, but I didn't have the song for you. Shakira wrote a song entitled "Timor." The song links to a version set to footage from Timor.

Here are the notes from my presentation about what happened:
East Timor is a country in Asia that was occupied and controlled until 2002.
Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, after Portugal left, and remained until May 20, 2002.
Western powers have been accused for being partially responsible for the crisis because they ignored it and because they provided the weapons, which were used to kill 100,000 Timorese during the 25 year occupation.
In 1999, Indonesia agreed to allow the Timorese the opportunity to vote for either independence or local autonomy. When the vote showed an overwhelming support in favor of independence, the loyalists “went on a rampage, murdering hundreds and reducing towns to ruins” (BBC).
Thus, in 1999 the UN stepped in. Despite UN actions, however, conditions in Timor remain horrible. The rampant poverty and unemployment fuels the gang violence and unrest. The Timorese infrastructure is in shambles and they remain one of Asia’s poorest countries, therefore East Timor must rely on outside aid.
Both the governments of East Timor and of Indonesia have been trying to establish good relations between each other. “However, a 2005 UN report concluded that the systems had failed to deliver. The Indonesian special court acquitted most of the 18 indicted suspects” (BBC).

Children of the Revolution

Hey guys,
So I stumbled upon this band through the Black Rock Coalition. They are called the Children of the Revolution and their mission is that there can be unity through music. They are a band full of different cultures. Their lead singer is Greek and they have musicians from Spain, U.S. and Iraq.

Here is a link to a live performance of Isla Margarita
Here is a link to their website

Street Art

Here are some sites that have a lot of street art posted to them. Some have good examples of culture jamming.

http://artcrimes.com

http://www.popaganda.com/billboards/index.shtml

http://graffitiresearchlab.com

http://www.woostercollective.com

WBC Parody Site

A Yes-men style spoof of the Westboro Baptist Church's website is at http://www.godhatesfags.org.uk/ which is good for a laugh.

Some of the ads on here are NSFW, just so you know not to check it out around like, small children or your boss. There's loud music that plays automatically too.

Nike Basketball and Culture Jamming

Here is a basketball advertisement that Nike made.



Here is a parody of the Nike advertisement. I found this amusing as they took the same music and made the basketball players do ridiculous things to make fun of the original advertisement.
They have a woman giving birth to a basketball, an old man losing his pants, a guy getting hit in the groin and even a guy with a piercing swinging the ball around on a chain.

Arnel Pineda

Here are the links from my presentation awhile back.
Here is a quick recap. Arnel Pineda was in a small band called "The Zoo" in the Phillipines. Clips of him singing were posted to youtube, and a band member from the band "Journey" saw him. He is now the lead singer of the band Journey.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wU_XCpC6HdE
(the orignal song "Faithfully" by Journey)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6HjcCzgCCX0
("Faithfully" performed by The Zoo)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fUQp2S38OyU
("Faithfully" by Journey with their new lead singer, Arnel)

http://www.journeymusic.com/home.html
(Journey's website)

Massachusetts Gay Marriage

Here is a clip showing people supporting the legalization of Gay Marriage in Massachusetts. It is somewhat related to my paper but here you can see some people in the streets with signs supporting or going against gay marriage. You also get to hear from some of the people in the crowd and can see of the mass of people that showed up outside the Massachusetts Statehouse before the vote on whether gay marriage should be legalized.

Westboro Baptist Church

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UMP3AK5jwo



Here is a radical interview between Fox News and Shirley Phelps Roper who represents the Westboro Baptist Church. This shows how they protest in funerals and even the Fox News representatives start to critisize Shirley Phelps Roper with her radical rhetoric and ideas. She talks about how god punishes everyone for being gay, sinning, etc. It's really offensive for people hosting the funeral and I find it strange that they have large posters with God Hates Fags at the funerals.

Prozac for Pets

This is one of the first sites that pops up under a Google search of "anti Prozac media".

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23271578-1702,00.html

The fact that I thought for about a split second that the article was serious, is proof that I'm really gullible, but also that the overuse of anti-depressants is so wide spread, giving them to pets wouldn't be completely out of the question.

Billboard Culture Jamming

I found this website - http://billboardliberation.com/ - that is solely dedicated to culture jamming on billboards. They offer tips and detailed instructions to inform people of how they can change billboards to say what they want. I find it really interesting that there is a whole website and group dedicated to just changing billboards. The website talks about the impact advertising has on people in today’s modern society. Advertisements surround us and control our lives in a way.

They subtly change billboards to make strong statements against advertising, fast food, war, or other things they may see as contributing to the downfall of America. If you browse the archives you will find a lot of interesting billboards that may even be located in a city near you.

http://billboardliberation.com/

Wikileaks allowed to operate in the US

Via the Huffington Post:

On Friday, the judge dropped the injunction that took the site offline, citing First Amendment concerns and questions about legal jurisdiction.

At a court hearing in San Francisco, White said he had "serious questions" about whether the legal measures sought by the bank "would be constitutionally approriate" and whether they constituted prior restraint by the government. He also cited "possible violations of the First Amendment."

In addition, White said he questioned the "effectiveness" of blocking the site, an apparent reference to the fact that other Web sites quickly obtained and disseminated the information about the bank.

The judge recognized that "the genie is out of the bottle," said Matt Zimmerman, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, one of several organizations that filed briefs on the case. The Associated Press and the ACLU were also among them.

Culture Jamming - Obama and Borat

The example on top comes from : http://www.dma.org/~backstro/
The example on the bottom comes from: www.johninnit.co.uk/2007/01/

Both of which are blog like websites. What is interesting is the top comes from a website mostly concerning 'the conspiracy of global warming created by an air force veteran and the bottom coming from the UK. I think these are interesting examples of culture jamming especially in the context of where they are coming from. It is interesting to see that two people from different sides of the world spoofed the same pop culture artifacts.

In my opinion the one on the bottom (from the UK) doesn't make a whole lot of sense...but it is interesting to see a foreign opinion...especially in comparison... any other opinions...reactions...??

pollyticks.com

http://www.pollyticks.com

I stumbled on this website and thought to share it with the class. Personally I don't think it has all that much to say-nothing too profound-but it creates this space for people to try and express their ideas or feelings around the politics no matter how informed they acctually are. It is a space for people who are surrounded and effected by on going politics but are no necessarily involved. The creator of the site even rights in one of the earliest blogs:

For starters, it's crap. This site is total crap, so don't expect much because I'm an idiot. This site is my sketch book, my side project and my feeble attempt to connect with other talentless idiots.

Here, I post my pitiful political cartoons, funny videos made by people far more talented than I am, weird news stories, boring rants about Democrats and the Republican Party, weak observations about freedom of religion and other concepts I only barely understand, and lots of other crap. I guess the key point to take away from this is that most of what you'll find here is total crap.

-Blue Steel

I felt this example highlights what we were talking about earlier this week, that everybody no matter their interests, education, awareness, etcetera, has a public space to discuss their ideas and/or feelings.