On Friday when we watched the movie Symbiopsychotaxiplasm I was a bit confused as to how it related to anything we have talked about so far. But when I thought about it some more and continued to read Tomcat Murr it came to me that perhaps the connection between the two is the lack of plot. As was specifically mentioned in Symbiopsychotaxiplasm, there was no plot; the directors just kind of made it up as tehy went along, with no particular end in sight. Murr's story doesn't seem to have much of a plot either - just hearing from Murr certain stories about his life and childhood. Kreisler's story seems to have even less of a plot, seeming completely random at times, just like a lot of the parts they decided to film (and not cut-out during editing) in Symbiopsychotaxiplasm.
One idea from class that I have really liked so far is the stuff about toxoplasm we learned about in the RadioLab podcast. I think it's really cool to think about the idea that a parasite can make rats attracted to cats rather than be afraid of them, and that this parasite can also get passed to humans. Which also makes me wonder...what if I have toxoplasm? I LOVE cats and dislike (most) dogs. And why is this? I don't know...maybe my cat infected me with toxoplasm. I guess I will never know...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjy28zaq_NI (Toxoplasm takes over the world!)
Oh, and here is a picture of my cat :) (those are baby hamsters on him btw)
The day that Tony decided he wasn't going to talk during class, only Plurk and show random YouTube videos to interrupt us during discussion, and the whole conversation we then had about the power of written language vs. oral language also got me thinking. With the internet, I think a lot of language is getting more and more written, but it also opens up the avenues for mass spreading of electronic but still oral language, such as videos, podcasts, and music. I agree with what some people in class said about social skills decreasing with more and more written language available on the internet, which is much less threatening than talking to someone in person.
I have seen this same thing happen to me. I have always been super shy, so I have never had much social skills to begin with, but when I discovered online chatting in high school whatever social skills I did have went down the drain. For example, last year when I was in a long distance relationship with a guy I had met online (and visited during school vacations) my social life was non-existent. I think I only went to maybe 1 or 2 social events all year, because I was always online talking to him. And whenever I did try to be around real life people I felt awkward and had a hard time being part of a conversation. But, this year now that I am not with him anymore I actually have REAL LIFE friends...what a concept. So, happy ending...no more long distance crap + real life friends = social skills rising.
So anyways, like I was saying...I can see that the importance of written language is increasing a lot with technology, but I also understand that oral language (real life conversations) are also very important, even if they are more awkward sometimes than sitting behind a computer screen.
I do feel a bit like Tony is advocating for written language via the internet, with things like Plurk (which is very addicting I might add) and blog entries and responses. But really, most English classes are focused on written language rather than oral language. I guess it just feels different that this is written language on the internet rather than written language in the form of an essay you turn in to class. Which leads me to wonder...is there taht big of a difference between these two types of written language? And are we losing (hand) written language to computers and the internet? I definitely do a lot less handwriting than I did in elementary and middle school. Now just about the only time I use a pencil and paper is to take notes, although a lot of students just bring their laptops to class for note taking. Is losing handwritten language a bad thing? A good thing? I'm not really sure...
So, I guess that's all. I will leave you with this little video about another cool parasite...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWB_COSUXMw
