Your welcome, here’s you’re punch in the face!

{ March 24, 2006 @ 6:37 am } · { Linguistics, Television }
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I am so mad at LOST right now. I’m not even going to get in to this whole new episode/old episode bullpocky,  but what I saw last night was near unforgivable.

A doctor was talking to the charachter Sun, in Korean, and in the subtitles, right there on the small screen for the nation to see was the incorrect use of the word “you’re”. I felt for a moment like I was reading a blog or something… a doctor was talking to Sun, and I forget the exact line, but it was something like “You’re test results were fine.”

YOU’RE?! This isn’t some crappy livejournal! This is a hugely popular nationall broadcast television show! What the hell! Surely I can’t be the only one who noticed… because that is one of the most annoying things anyone can do in the English language, mix up those two.

Ugh! LOST! I shake my fist at you!!

Langtrends: Trends in Language

{ March 24, 2006 @ 6:33 am } · { Linguistics }
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This morning, on my walk to work, I thought about making an appointment to see the optometrist, an eye appointment, or, an ‘eyeppointment’.

To me, this makes perfect sense, and I thought, what other situations would this work with? A babyppointment, a hairppointment,  a podiappointment… why waste time saying the whole thing when you can get it out of the way quicker? But would anyone understand what you mean? I guess it’s all about context… most people are able to decipher meaning from little clues. For instance, if you were to write a word on a piece of paper, and cover half of it, most people would be able to figure it out… their minds would connect the dots.

This type of language is found very frequently Japanese. In Japanese, there is a lot of implied meaning, and a lot of contextual meaning, and of course, a lot of abbriviation.

Common in Japanese, I looked to examples in America of this trend, to see if it might be catching on here, and the one place I found it the most common was on The Simpsons! Tomacco, Adultivity, Frogurt… these are all examples from The Simpsons of this new language trend.

Do you use this type of abbreviations? Language is always evolving, and these are the kinds of things that sneak into our everyday language without us knowing it. Are there any that you use in your everyday speech?

The only reason I like Wolf Parade

{ March 3, 2006 @ 6:45 pm } · { Music }
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…is because they sound like Long Hind Legs. Man they were good. And ahead of their time, apprantly!

Roxanna Rawson comes to Myspace

{ March 2, 2006 @ 8:02 pm } · { Music }
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My friend sent me an MP3 called I Robbed A Cook by a Roxanna Rawson… he had no other information, so I turned to Google, and got nothing. Aboslutely nothing! What on Earth exists that cannot be found through Google? Apparantly Roxanna Rawson.
Fast forward to 2006 and Roxy Rawson has her own Myspace page where you can hear her songs in living internet color. I Robbed A Cook is super crazy, but her other songs are warm and soulful. Her voice kind of reminds me of CocoRosie, but maybe if CocoRosie and Fiona Apple had a super hip baby who could sing and was grown up. Please give a listen, I’m sure you’ll like it.

Ok maybe you won’t like it, but if you don’t try it, you’ll never know.

And that will haunt you until your dying day.

Roxy Rawson on Myspace.

The Polyphonic Spree is not a cult

{ March 2, 2006 @ 8:05 am } · { Music, Observations }
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Ok so maybe they are a cult, but you know what? Who gives a rat’s ass! What do people have against music that makes you feel happy, makes you close your eyes and see sunshine and rainbows and bunnies and unicorns, without the pesky cost and side effects of drugs and alcohol?

I think it’s the ever-pervasive idea of the American individual, the cowboy, the lone ranger… look at Morning Musume in Japan! There’s like 30 iof them and no one thinks they’re a cult! The whole anti-communist witch hunts of the McCarthy era made everyone forget that it’s ok to be social, it’s ok to have a community… The Polyphonic Spree knows this. Are they the only ones?

Did you know that Girl Scouts aren’t allowed to be in malls in Southern CA because of laws saying that a gathering of over 5 people constitutes a “gang”? GIRL SCOUTS! Yes, they’re annoying, but their cookies! Their cookies are so delicious!

REVIEW: Spying On Myself

{ March 2, 2006 @ 7:57 am } · { Reviews, Television }
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The first episode of Spying On Myself aired tonight, and I have to say I was very unimpressed sadly. The idea had a lot of potential, but I think the execution is pretty poor. Plus, I walked away with a feeling of, “Why didn’t they just talk to whoever in the first place?” Why did they need to go to such elaborate lengths just to confront whoever it was they thought might be hiding something?

While the father-daughter segment was touching, overall I don’t think the show is very well done. Albeit they only made 6 episodes, so perhaps some of the next episodes will be better, but to tell you the truth, I’m not that curious in tuning in later and finding out.

Propaganda

{ March 1, 2006 @ 6:33 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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I’m very excited to announce that I have received my very own copy of Edward Bernays’ ‘Propaganda’. It was  originally published in 1928, mere years after Jaques Ellul’s book by the same name in France. Ellul’s is very intellectual and dense, but extremely fascinating for anyone interested in propaganda, and so far Bernays, who is considered the “Father of Public Relations”, is concentrating on the social value, and necessity, of advertising, marketing, public relations, and political propaganda.

Check out more here:

Bernay’s Propaganda

Ellul’s Propaganda

In case there was any question…

{ February 27, 2006 @ 2:07 am } · { Music }
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Remember 70’s rock gods The Scorpions? They still rock. Just in case any of you forgot.

A&E’s Spying on Myself

{ February 23, 2006 @ 7:47 pm } · { Television }
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Since I got cable, I’ve become a bit of a TV junkie, but like the days of my youth, I like to explore. I found out about a potentially awesome A&E reality show called Spying on Myself, where the people want to know the truth about something… so, through the magic of special effects and makeup, as well as with training from the CIA and acting coaches, people go undercover to talk to their own friends, family, and lovers to find out what people say behind their backs.

I don’t think the show has its own site yet, but the commercials look amazing. It premiers on A&E at 10pm March 1st. What’s up with these reality shows on at 10pm? Did they decide that prime time is going to shift? That people stay up later these days?

Anyhow, Spying on Myself, A&E, 10pm, March 1.

Ice Cube’s BLACK. WHITE.

{ February 23, 2006 @ 7:43 pm } · { Television }
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FX is going to air a new reality show March 8th at 10pm featuring two families, one white, one black, living together in a house for 6 weeks. The twist is, through the magic of makeup wizardry, the families will be transformed from one race to another. The white people become black, the black people become white, and they go out into the world to experience life through the other race’s eyes.

Ice Cube says that most people, when they think of racism, think of Klansmen and Black Panthers, and that racism exists in much more subtle ways. The show’s aim is to expose the not-so-blatant racism that occurs everywhere, many times without people realizing it.

More information can be found at the show’s site here.

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