(note: The lolcat image above is from I can Has Cheezburger which has a “share to your hearts content policy”)

This is one of favourite images and captions ever – it really and truly made me laugh out loud.  If you haven’t heard of lolcats before, check out the wiki entry and the associated links, which explain the phenomenon in detail.  What I originally found most interesting about the practices in general was the complex linguistic rules that had developed for the captioning of the images.

But more recently these practices have spread to the commenting on the images as well.  And in a wonderful blend of old and new literacies, people are writing fictional stories, limericks, and even haiku in lolcat language as a response to each image.  There are some wonderful examples to accompany the above image for example.  Here are a couple of poems by a commenter named “Jack Deth”:

Jack Deth’s lolcat poem

Kitteh awl strettcht aowt in t3h Bath
Eckskayping t3h Summer Sun’s rath
Wen t3h door suddenlee oapennd
Kitteh starrted 2 hoapin
2 eckskayp daown a well beeten path

Jack.

Jack Deth’s Lolcat Haiku

Kitteh in Baff Tubb
Wuntz to haowl lyke Hewminz do
Wen it raynz Inside

Klawz an Serrammick
Du nawt wurk well 4 Kitteh
No kan haz trackshun

Diss nawt lyke Baff Tyme
Tubb dry. Kitteh in kontrol
Lykes it much dat way

Jack.

And here is a story from B!

B!’s recount/story:

OMG!! REminded me of da tiem we had BIG GINORMUS erfkwayk, in NOrfridge. We wuz helpin our nayberrs, make sure eveyone okay. One naybor sez, I can’t fin ma kitteh, kin U halp?

I sez yeah, sure I halp fin kitteh. Der no power, iz dark, stranj apartmint, all twisted furnishoors. I crawlin, callin for da kitteh, not find him, not find him. Den I tink, if I skeerded lil kitteh, where I go? I go bocks! So I go in bafroom, an iz all wet everywhere, ecksept in da tub! Guess where lil kitteh wuz? LOL he finded de onlee dry spot in de world to wait for his hoomin to come get him!. I scoopt up da lil guy, he was skeered and floofy, but glad to not be alone! Den I give him to hims daddee, an he feel much better!!

But I always remember kitteh in da dry tub….

There’s also some fun threads about Hitchcock, a lot of alternative captions which are equally as hysterical, and repeated questions about where to get the shower curtain.

Does it make me a bad person to be planning photoshoots with my kittens when they arrive for the sole purpose of adding to lolcats?

By 9:01 am tomorrow Australian time we’ll all know the answers to the following:

- Did Harry’s scar really contain a Horcrux that carried a bit of Voldemort and ultimately mean Harry has to kill himself to kill Voldemort?

- Does Hermione sacrifice herself to save Ron?

- Does Harry sacrifice his wizardry skills and become a Muggle?

- Is Dumbledore really dead?

- Which half a dozen or more people die?

The latest lot of spoilers about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – some fake and some real – to be unleashed on the internet have caused an uproar with fans, and a media splash which is almost suspicious because of the additional hype it is creating 24 hours before the books release.

I’ve blogged about this before but its worth mentioning because once again it highlights the phenomenon of spoiling and the difference between “acceptable” fan culture of spoiling and the “unacceptable” act of hacks or media unfairly spoiling.

In Harry Potter fan forums everywhere, fans have spent countless hours debating the possible outcomes for the final HP book.  They have dissected plotlines from every book to date, and analysed transcripts of every single interview ever done with JK Rowling.  They have examined JK Rowling’s literary devices to explore any foreshadowing she might have done (i.e. Ron sacrifices himself for Harry in the Chess game in an earlier book, therefore….), to explore every nuance of every character (Professor McGonnigal came close to sacrificing herself for Hagrid, therefore…), and are studying Greek mythology (What parallels might exist between the Greek Hermione and the HP Hermione?) to find out clues.  They’ve compared UK editions with US editions and found that some edits weren’t included in one but were in the other. They’ve analysed patterns across books to make new predictions.  They have explored every spell ever used to predict how it could make a come-back in the final battle scene (the time turner is a popular theory). They have analysed the cover art of all editions and all countries where the cover is known for cover spoliers.

So when somebody comes along and just tells them the answers – whether true or false – it makes fans angry for two main reasons:

1) it spoils the pleasure of the reading experience, and this is the one most people can relate to – we enjoy the pleasure of predicting, picking up the clues as we read, and either having our ideas confirmed or being shocked and surprised by clever plot twists

2) the person doing the telling didn’t do any of the hard work to piece together the puzzle, and it feels like they cheated.

Some forums (like Chamber of Secrets) are so concerned about the possibility of unsanctioned spoiling, that they have closed now until AFTER the book has been released, to prevent it!

The only trouble with all of this predicting and piecing together of clues is that some fans will be disappointed if their predictions don’t come to pass.  Of course, that is why I predict that HP fan fiction will live on for some years to come.

“John Howard pops up in cyberspace to prove that he has caught up the the 21st century” explains some news reporter on the News today.

Malcom Turnbull has a Facebook site and his friends seem to love this photo he posted:

Meanwhile Peter Garret from the Labour party argued back against the PM’s climate change policy with this:

and the party called him out with this:

I think we’re all waiting to see this though – when are our politicians going to really become twisted, repurposed, and memed all over the internet?

As said on one news report this evening, “we’ve got a long way to go if we want to use the same political tactics as the Americans!” – the Obama Girls:

Gaza does it again – you might remember Gaza Stripped, an article from Slatenight magazine (now sadly on hiatus for the time being), where Gaza, pictured below, discussed her philosophy about real/virtual/pop art.

Nude Descending is another play on an artistic icon, in which falling nude art pieces topple down a staircase, and if you want to really interact and become art you allow your naked avatar to topple down too.

This exhibition is being shown at the Odyssey Gallery, and also includes all sorts of other interactive and thought provoking pieces. Just DO NOT say a certain phrase or term, or you will be attacked by a tornado and catapulted across to another sim! (I haven’t seen one person not test this, despite the warnings

All art has notecards with commentary and questions for you to ponder about the art work, which helps you understand what intention was had by the artist. How you interpret it though is still dependent upon your own experiences, expectations and belief systems about art and virtuality, so if you visit the exhibition with friends it can raise some very interesting discussions.

We Are The Strange is a new indie movie being featured at the Sundance Film Festival. Described as “Mosters Inc. meets The Nightmare Before Christmas inside of a retro Japanese video game”, the film is sure to be a cult hit because it is truly… strange… from the snippets I have seen and the teasers on youtube. Here’s one of them:

Here is a review from one of the gaming bloggers, Onder Skall, who saw the movie in Second Life. There’s also some excellent critique of the movie at this site as well.

Here’s the official website.

Here’s the blog.

Here’s the myspace.

Here’s a review in Wired.

What I think is interesting is the mixed media filming techniques, described in Wired as:

a combination of 8-bit animation (think early Nintendo), Brothers Quay-style filmmaking (creepy, expressionless dolls) and the kind of 3-D landscapes gamers inhabit. Strange combined stop-motion techniques (working with dolls, clay and paper cutouts) with 3-D computer animation. He built 15 virtual sets in Cinema 4-D, using Adobe’s After Effects.

I don’t know if I could watch 88 minutes of it but I think the film making is very cool.

I just came across this press release …

All Things Considered, June 21, 2007 · The MacArthur Foundation board announced Thursday it will fund a $1.1 million grant for a brand new middle- and high school in New York. The curriculum revolves around teaching kids to make video games.

The MacArthur Foundation says video games and the dynamic systems they use will be key to information management in the future.

Wow!

I’m so excited to be able to watch this after missing out on it when it was shown in Second Life.  I love it!

Hey, I was on Australian television again! Did anybody see me on the current affairs program called Today Tonight? I think the show aired while I was away in the States. This time I was talking about “The Simpsons”, media and pop culture, and fan fiction. Below is a cleaned up version, more or less, of what I said.

1. How has “The Simpsons” affected popular culture?

a) In general terms it, like other TV shows, performs a reflection of our culture, holding it up for scrutiny and discussion

b) It deals with universal issues which affect us all – families, relationships, class, commercialism, and makes us think about our identities – as individuals and as a culture

c) Specifically, “The Simpsons” – particularly when it began – has been fairly innovative in the way it dealt with subversive, edgier issues, making comments on politics, commercialism, the cult of celebrity, industrial relations, dealing with the evolution debate and so on. In the beginning it was a really novel thing for a TV show to get away with promoting subversive or transgressive ideas and that was and is a key attraction for audiences. So much so, that this edginess has since been taken up by a lot of other TV shows, so its clearly had a lot of influence.

2. What is it that makes the show so clever?

I think it is clever for a few reasons.

a) First, it uses parody and laughter to make subversive and social comments in a way that is non threatening and non patronising – it doesn’t “preach” messages to the audience but treats the audience as clever, and knowing and on the inside of the joke. No matter how many faults or problems we have, we are just never as stupid or naive as Homer, so we can laugh at his foibles.

b) Secondly, “The Simpsons” is a good example of tiered entertainment – it is pitched at multiple audiences at the one time and has a lot of layered meanings. It has jokes for children but it also incorporates humour that appeals to adults.

c) Thirdly, it frequently makes fun of itself, it often parodies advertising, media consumption, and even the Fox network, so that in itself makes it a great subject for discussion.

3. Have there been any other TV shows with the same social impact (with reference to D’Oh being put in the dictionary)?

There’s definitely been TV shows and films that have influenced us and our language – from Star Trek’s “holodeck” to Seinfeld’s “Yada Yada Yada” but probably none with quite the same global impact as “The Simpsons”.

4. Some say it is a masterpiece. Are we looking too far into it?

In many ways it has been very clever, innovative, and it has had a tremendous impact on society, so it definitely has numerous characteristics that we can appreciate. But at the end of the day, yes, it is a comedy, and its main purpose is to entertain and make the studio a profit, so it is not without its limitations. As clever as it might be at poking fun of itself and society, it still has to answer to the network, the advertisers, censorship regulations for example.

5. Why have some Universities decided to study “The Simpsons”?

Precisely because it is so multilayered, and has a lot of clever writing. I use it when I am studying narrative technique, or when I am talking about aspects of teaching media literacy in the classroom to children. I’ve also used it to talk about animation, filming techniques, and visual literacy. And its been useful when I talk about media and pop culture. Also, I am pretty safe in knowing that if I use it, 100% of the students in the class will immediately understand the reference.

6. Are you a fan? If so, what appeals to you?

I’m a fan inasmuch as it is a great teaching resource and I can use to teach multiple things, from narrative technique, to Lisa as a feminist icon to the impact of advertising on consumers.

7. Do you think it would have the same impact if it was not animated?

No! I think they are able to be subversive and deal with sensitive issues precisely because the characters are bright yellow.

8. Does the program have influential power over children and for that matter fans?

Well I think because the show is full of blatant exaggerations most kids are pretty savvy and can see through those ploys. One of the areas of my research is to explore fan fiction, and what I have observed is that part of the pleasure of being a fan of any show is to discuss it with others, critique it, and to analyse it ad nauseum.

And one of the most fascinating things that fans do is to take a show and write entirely new episodes that deal with their own issues, or correct the wrongs that they think the writers have made along the way. Some kids have written entirely new Harry Potter novels for example, because they were disappointed with what JK Rowling did with the characters or plots.

This is a new kind of participation in media – kids and fans are not just vapid or receptive, they are actively involved in the stories they love.

Having said that, I do think that the stakes for media education are higher than ever before, to ensure that all children have an equal opportunity to be involved in these sorts of lively and critical discussions about the influence of media in our culture.

And here is the line-up for our panel session at the ECAR conference: