Now ima tell you a story...

THE TECHNOLOGY OF STORYTELLING
https://www.ted.com/talks/joe_sabia_the_technology_of_storytelling/transcript?language=en

SUMMARY
In The Technology of Storytelling, TED talker Joe Sabia discusses the ways in which storytelling has evolved over time. He introduces a man named Lothar Meggendorfer, who invented the first children's pop-up story book, and describes Lothar as one of the first storytelling pioneers. Throughout his presentation, Sabia proceeds to label cases of the evolution of storytelling as cases of "Meggendorferitis". Finally, Sabia concludes that, although the technology of storytelling has changed, the art of storytelling has not, from cave drawings to Twitter posts.

ANALYSIS
The most significant method that the speaker uses to get his point across is by creating his entire presentation about storytelling around a framework of a story. He introduces his story with the words "Once upon a time..." and concludes it with "...live happily ever after.". This technique allows the audience to connect with the presentation because they are familiar with the format. It also allows the speaker to provide further emphasis on the main idea that he is attempting to convey.

I picked this topic because I am interested in anything relating to technology. It is amazing to me how rapidly technology is developing and the fact that it has been applied to something that has been an ancient part of human history - storytelling - makes it even more interesting.

PURPOSE
The speaker's main goal in his presentation is to draw the connections between the way storytelling used to be, and the way it is now. He wanted to explain that although methodology in storytelling has evolved, the purpose and spirit of storytelling has not. It has always been, and always will be, a way for humans to communicate and interact with each other, as well as creating a legacy that will stand the test of time.

Insert Creative Double Indemnity-Themed Title Here

As I watched Double Indemnity, I consistently noticed the lack of empathetic emotion felt by the characters; the idea of committing murder did not seem to faze them (although the idea of being caught sure did). Because of this, I completely agree with the statement that Double Indemnity was "a film without a single trace of pity or love".

Throughout the film, I had the impression that the relationship between Walter and Phyllis was fake. Neither of the two seemed to actually care for each other, despite their situation. The motivation behind their actions always seemed to be money, desperation, and complete detachment from life. They appeared to disguise these motivations behind the idea of love, preferring to think of themselves as passionate and caring, rather than the calculating and cold-blooded individuals that they truly are. My impression was validated towards the end of the movie, when the scheme unraveled and things went awry. Walter shot Phyllis with (relatively) little remorse, even after she confessed that she could not shoot him. Their love for each other was not substantial enough to carry them through the ordeal that ensued when their true love for money took precedence.

"Watched by Banquo"

Banquo plays an integral role in Shakespeare's Macbeth as a foil to the infamous Macbeth himself. Despite his importance to the story, Banquo is often underrepresented, and the majority of his internal feelings are not revealed through dialog or soliloquy. In this way, much of his character is left up to the audience to determine: Is he loyal to his 'friend', Macbeth, until the very end? Or is he creating his own plot to acquire the throne at the time he was killed?

We will never know for sure, but I have created below a Netflix playlist for Banquo that will hopefully provide my own insight on Banquo as a character.

WATCHED BY BANQUO

#1 - Betrayal


Betrayal is an ABC television series (well, it was until it was canceled after its first season) that revolves around two married individuals who take part in a secret affair. On top of this, there is a murder trial taking place, in which the two are on different sides. The idea of the show is to illustrate the surrounding corruption and lies that result from a compelling story of sex, love, loyalty, marriage, and treachery.

I suppose Banquo might have watched this show if he felt suspicions about Macbeth's intentions. From my own interpretations of Banquo, I believe that he did recognize the danger following the strange sequence of events that progressed after the witches' prophecies, but believed that Macbeth still respected their friendship. Betrayal represents some of these issues of trust, loyalty, and danger that Banquo must have been experiencing at the time he was murdered.

#2 - Beowulf


Beowulf is the film adaption of the Old English tale by the same name. Set in Scandinavia, it is the story of an epic hero. A monster named Grendel wreaks havoc on the mead hall of Danish King, Hrothgar. Beowulf is a boastful warrior eager to earn renown across the land, and he quickly accepts Hrothgar's pleas for help in eliminating Grendel. The story progresses with Beowulf defeating the creature, and then becoming king through questionable practices (namely, making a deal with the creature's mother).

Banquo would have likely watched this movie not only due to its warrior-culture influences, but the hints to corruption and unrightful kingship as well. Also, throughout the movie, Beowulf has a trusting and loyal friend who always stays by his side, despite his corruption. I also expect that Banquo would enjoy the ending, where ***SPOILER ALERT*** Beowulf makes the right choice and saves his kingdom, regardless of how he became king of said kingdom, at the cost of his own life. I suspect that Banquo would ultimately hope that if Macbeth were responsible for the murder of King Duncan, he would still honor their friendship and make a right decision.

#3 - Harry Potter (Yes, the entire series)


Harry Potter is a seven book series by author J.K. Rowling following the lives of Harry Potter and his friends, as well as his enemies. It takes place in the present day world, as well as the secret world of wizards and witches.

The only reason I expect that Banquo would have watched this series is for its interpretation of witches. Although vastly different that the ones in Macbeth, I believe Banquo would be eager to get as many views on witches as possible, in order to explain his and Macbeth's strange encounter with the three witches in the story.

#4 - Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief


Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief brings to film the book by the same name, in which an age-old story in Greek mythology is given a modern rendition.

I believe that Banquo would have watched this movie due to his confusion and skepticism regarding the prophecies made by the three witches in the story. This would have given him a new point of view on prophecies, how and why they are fulfilled, and so on.

Fate or Chance?

I do not like the idea of fate.

I hate to think that, no matter what I do, my life will end up a certain way, but rather, I prefer to look at it through the eyes of chance: things happen and we react to them. The ways in which we react determine our path through life. My life is the way it is today because of the things that I did yesterday, and equivalently, my life will be what it is tomorrow because of the things that I do today. I don't believe that the road ahead of me is already built. I build a little bit more of it every day, doing my best to build it well and making choices that I will not come to regret later.

It is a shame that Macbeth did not share my ideology, as it would have saved him a lot of trouble. Through Macbeth, Shakespeare presented a meaningful conflict between fate and chance, although I would argue that Shakespeare fought for both sides of the argument.

Shakespeare presented fate through the witches in the story, who possessed a mysterious ability to prophesy the future. Macbeth initially dismissed their claims, but eventually he was consumed by the allure of the power which they promised him. At first, Macbeth follows the traditional belief of fate as demonstrated by his statement: "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir " (Act One, Scene 3, Line 144). He believes that fate will be fulfilled regardless of what he does or does not do.

As the story progresses, Macbeth begins to realize just how difficult becoming king will be. He doubts fate and decides to take matters into his own hands by killing the current king, causing the king's sons flee to neighboring countries. After this, Macbeth is crowned king, and fate has been fulfilled. This brings the question of whether or not fate was actually responsible for the outcome. It appears that without Macbeth's intervention, it would not have been possible for him to become king. It also appears, however, that without the establishment of Macbeth's fate, none of these events would have occurred either. In this way, Shakespeare leaves the interpretation of the story to the reader, further continuing a debate that has been waged for thousands of years.

Is this a PARTicipation Grade?

Walking through the various exhibitions at CAM Raleigh was an interesting experience, especially since it overlapped conveniently with our Art as an Area of Knowledge unit in TOK. Overall, I was surprised by the variety and depth of the artwork presented. There wasn't a single piece in the museum whose meaning I was able to discern immediately.

VISUAL ANALYSIS

Stacey L. Kirby: PARTicipate

PARTicipate is an interactive exhibition that was envisioned and created by Stacey L. Kirby. It was open from September 5th Through October 26th. It consisted two ongoing works, The Declaration Project and VALIDnation. It was set in an office space designated as a part of the Bureau of Personal Belonging.

The exhibition had a unique style. Kirby created a dry and seemingly insignificant office space (with reference to the interior style of the typical late 20th century work space) as the setting for an influential, soul searching activity. As viewers entered the exhibition, they were prompted to carry out activities through monotone instructional pamphlets, reminiscent of a government process such as voting for a government position. This style of presentation allowed viewers to focus on the task that Kirby aimed for them to accomplish, which involved putting into words they way they felt about certain controversial subjects.

The concept/idea of the presentation, as mentioned above, was to have viewers put into words the way they feel about certain controversial subjects. This was accomplished through the use of official-looking pamphlets onto which viewers would write their feelings and then proceed to deposit them anonymously in a collection box. This prompted the viewers to dig deep into their own ideals and beliefs and to organize their thoughts on a variety of subjects.

PARTicipate was a very interesting concept which, when put into practice, accomplished its goal very well. As viewers received their "ballots" it was evident upon many of their faces that the questions being asked on the papers that they held were not simple. It is often incredibly difficult to put into words exactly how we feel about controversial subjects, and PARTicipate gave us the opportunity to sit down and focus in order to sort out where we stand.

The Galaxy S5 vs. iPhone 6 Debate Rages On... (Despite the Galaxy's obvious superiority in every aspect, I mean just look at the S5's 5.1 inch 1920x1080 AMOLED display, 16 MP camera, internal and microSD storage up to 160 GB total, Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, quad-core 2.5GHz cpu, 2GB RAM... but I digress)

As we all know, the debate between the Samsung Galaxy and the Apple iPhone has been a prominent conflict over the past few years (although it is obvious that there is no contest; the Galaxy line takes the cake, so to speak. Also, I promise I am not biased). The advertisement linked below was originally posted on YouTube by Samsung, and has been used in commercials as an attempt to persuade its audience into siding against the iPhone.

Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSDAjwKI8Wo

Publisher: Samsung
Date of Publication (on YouTube): July 21st, 2014
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The Little (just like the Apple iPhone) Picture...
The video opens to a scene where two male friends are seated in a small coffee shop. Both of the men are looking at their cell phones. The man on the left is using the Samsung Galaxy S5 whereas the man on the right is using some version of the Apple iPhone (no one really cares which one).

The man on the right begins a conversation with a smirk on his face, casually stating:

"Aw dude... iPhone might be getting a bigger screen.",

to which the man on the left tersely responds by saying:

"That hasn't happened yet?".

Immediately after the second man's statement, the scene freezes and a sarcastic narrator interjects with a short monologue that initially seems to be praising the iPhone 6 (haha praise the iPhone? yeah right), but then abruptly transfers that praise towards the (more deserving) Galaxy S5. The narrator's monologue was as follows:

"You know that thing you've been waiting on for like two years? How it's supposed to be awesome and how it's going to blow your mind? Well it's been here this whole time."

The video resumes, showing the two men comparing their phones, particularly noting the difference in size between the tiny (and insignificant) iPhone and the larger Samsung Galaxy S5.

The narrator finishes his speech with a final parting jab at the iPhone:

"But maybe you just like waiting."

The man on the left then resumes the conversation by stating:

"(chuckles) You must be happy."

To which the man on the right answers:

"(chuckles with a perplexed look on his face) Yeah"

To end the scene, the man on the left receives a phone call and leaves the table to answer it. The video then fades to black and the narrator briefly discusses the Galaxy S5 before the video ends.
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The Big (unlike the Apple iPhone) Picture...
While it is more or less clear throughout the video for whom the advertisement is advocating, there are numerous subtleties that, in my opinion, enhance the effectiveness of the advertisement. The most important of these is the use of one of the strongest of the seven deadly sins: envy. As the video progresses, it is clear that the man with the iPhone changes his opinion of his own possessions when he notices that his friend has something that is clearly (and indisputably) better. This use of envy seems to accomplish two tasks:

1. Inspiring jealousy in iPhone users, in hopes of prompting them to make the switch to a Galaxy phone
2. Inducing pride in Galaxy users, in hopes of increasing sales among their loyal customers

Samsung's thoughtful placement of envious undertones throughout the video greatly increased the advertisements effectiveness in its goals.

(Also, it seems to me that the occurrence of the phone call at the end of the scene that prompts the man to leave his iPhone-using friend hints to the idea of Samsung leaving Apple behind in terms of technological development (which is entirely true (and again, this cannot be disputed (I am not biased (the iPhone is dead, long live the Galaxy S5)))).
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The Intended Audience

Based on the main characters in the video, as well as its setting, I believe that the advertisement was intended have the greatest influence on adult males. Typically, young children and the elderly do not have smartphones (although this seems to be changing in our society today). Also, there are none of the typical feminine appeals that are often seen in advertisements directed towards women. The video seems to be directed towards the average American male, in hopes of influencing their smartphone (well, not so smart in terms of the iPhone) preference.

FREEBIE 10/5/2014

I can't remember how to use a freebie...

I, Justin Irene, hereby declare and predicate that I am expending my first-semester freebie.