Chariots of Fire and dog food

Continuing in the line of classical music and intertextuality, I would like to comment on an example of what I think is intertextuality that has become problematic: using classical music in adverts for mundane goods. I remember some years ago I was in the next room from the television when I heard “Chariots of Fire” by Vangelis beginning to play. Being rather a fan of this particular piece I ran to the television so as to feast my eyes on what I imagined would be moving, ethereal images only to be met with slobbering staffies with bright yellow collars racing in slow motion towards a finish line, after which they were rewarded with a soggy looking bowl of dog food. This unfortunate image will sadly always be associated with this once magnificent piece of work. Gone are the days when crowds would gather at an entertainment hall to appreciate recitals by distinguished composers. Now classical music has been reduced to selling cleaning agents and dog food. Advertising has turned outstanding pieces of art into mundane fragments of sound that are largely associated with comedy and moments of absurdity. I’m not saying that classical music should not be used in advertising at all, I’m suggesting that those intending on using a piece of classical music should carefully consider its origins and meanings so as not to degrade the piece in any way. Using O Fortuna for a British Airways advert I would say is appropriate, but to use the William Tell Overture for a anti-dandruff shampoo advert I would say is highly unflattering and debasing for such a piece of music.

High flyers... or Brain fryers?

Today I was driving behind a truck that advertised a company specializing in eliminating cell phone radiation, thus protecting your safety and life. It got me wondering about how safe cell phones really are, and whether the dangers and recurrent threats (and the subsequent quashing of them) really are warranted. Using a cell phone may be like cigarette use (and just as addictive it seems)…with one sms taking off a second of our lives... but we continue anyway.
Cell phones have irrevocably changed the culture in which we live – we have become marvelously skilled multitaskers… able to have a conversation with someone while smsing under the table, drive one handed while we chat to people over the phone, conference call with people across the world… etc. But all this is useless if you die of cancer from using your high flying technologically advanced radiation exuding cell phone!
All cell phones emit radiation, even if in small amounts, in order to function. To get technical – the radiation is generated in the transmitter of a cell phone, and then emitted through the antenna.
According to the Federal Communications commission, electromagnetic radiation is made up of waves of electric and magnetic energy moving at the speed of light.
Some of this radiation has to get absorbed by the tissue in our heads – since we hold our cell phones so close to them. There are 2 types of radiation : the damaging one, which is used in X-rays and is called ionizing radiation, and then the safe one, which has a heating effect, such as in a microwave, visible light, and radio frequencies.

Have you ever noticed how hot your ear gets when you are on the phone for a long period? This is caused by radiation…and is thought to be potentially damaging because our bodies are not designed to handle excessive amounts of heat.
There seems to be mixed evidence as to whether cell phones are dangerous or not, but some of the ailments that could potentially be caused or worsened by cell phones include cancer, brain tumors, alzheimer’s, parkinsons, fatigue and headaches.

It appears that the majority of the population is un-phased by possible dangers of cell phones, although it did become very popular at one stage to have one of those flashing stickers attached somewhere on one’s phone. It seemed more of a fashion fad than anything else though. Perhaps so few cell phone users are reacting to the speculation because today’s consumers are so used to being informed that something is bad, and then good, and then bad again, that they have decided to ignore threats and just make up their own minds.

It would seem that speculation is not worth acting upon when it comes to something as indispensable as a cell phone.

Photographic knowledge

Photography is something we see and use almost every day of our lives. It is used in advertising, on billboards, in magazines etc., and is an enormous means of marketing and sales in its adaptation to connect the consumer and the product. But the other very important aspect photography gives to the world is its means of providing knowledge and information to humans. Throughout my school career I was given photographs of certain things in order to help my understanding of the topic being discussed. If this did not occur I don't know what I would have done! Just imagine learning about the environment, or certain wild animals and insects without seeing their pictures, it is not always possible to go out into the wild just to view them. Learning would be so bland without photography.

Photography also has its grasps in entertainment, we all know of those startling photographs we see on TV and on the internet. It has allowed for the capture of extraordinary moments in history as well as memorable moments in the present. Seeing the first man on the moon gave me goosbumps, not to mention all the other historical moments in the world, all thanks to our little friend- the camera. We should be extremely grateful for photography and the ways it has provided us with the large amounts of information, and for the ways in which we can capture happy memories with our friends and families.

Capabilities of photography

New media technology has developed to such an extent that it has allowed for cameras to be able to take photographs from outer space. Although this was done years ago, cameras have developed enormously since then. We are able to swallow minute cameras so that they can take a journey through our bodies recording photographs and even live video feeds. X-rays and CAT scans help humans medically and photograph problem areas. The technology humans have developed in the years has been of great help to the world as well as great interest to the world.

In my short life so far, I have witnessed the increasing development of photographic appliances, not to mention other technology, and it is astonoshing to think of how dramatic the changes have been. Just imagine, if cameras can take detailed photographs of outer space and photos of inside our bodies, with us still being alive, just imagine what they will be capable of doing in a few years.. Cameras have shown their adaptability of environmental conditions, in outer space and inside acidic environments, they still capture what they need to in the given time. The technology of photography, as well as the technology of the world is changing, giving us more knowledge of the world we live in as well as giving us the option to live an 'easier' life with all the capabilities of it. But will this ever increasing development change our culture? Will it ease the way of work and provide a more satisfactory path of life? We will see in time to come...

Taryn Brown

Computer obsessed?

Although some might use photography to capture people or happenings in order to earn a living, and in some ways create fame, others use cameras to express and show others things about themselves and their lives. Websites such as Facebbok and Flickr.com allow for this to occur, across a vast space, for a large audience. As I am sure, the mass of people reading this are either registered to one of these websites or have visited the site once before. Facebook allows for communication between people far and near but also permits them to post photographs of their choice on the site for millions to view. Flickr is similar, but more so for those individuals inspiring in photography, more 'professional' photos are posted and may be viewed by the site visitors.

I myself am registered for facebook, and it gives me the option to publish my photographs for people all around the world to see. Facebook is a very useful website, but one negative thing about it is that it is slowly turning the world into obsessed computer users. People sit at their computers daily on these websites, especially facebook, viewing photos of others they know, what ever happened to ordinary photo albums??

I am not saying facebook is horrible, it allows us to communicate with friends and family far away, it is just incorporating more technological activities into our lives, allowing us to become obsessed with the internet and our computers, tearing us away from the social world..

Taryn Brown

Copies of copies of copies...

Intertextuality in music today is immeasurable. Songs make reference to ideas, occurrences and subject from other times and places ad infinitum. But is it ethical to use melodies, lyrics and/or backing in some songs that are identical to an older song? Is right that parts of older songs are claimed and made into something different? I was watching television the other night when an advert for a bakkie came on, backed by a song originally produced by the Cardigans called “My Favourite Game”. This new version for me had turned what was a racy, funky, vivacious song into country-style sing-along. If producing a song is anything like creating an artwork, it takes time and precision distinct to that particular artist, and a reproduction of the work is never as good as the original. When I hear a song that contains some element of a song before its time I cannot help but compare it to the original, and the copy will always come off second best. But what is more concerning for me is that in this age where our world is saturated with copies of copies (otherwise known as what Baudrillard termed simulacrum) it is becoming increasingly difficult to recognise that which is an original and that which is not. For instance the first time I heard the song “Everybody Hurts” it was sung by The Corrs, and it was only later that I found out that the original artist was R.E.M., and the same goes for “American Pie” by Don McLean which was most unfortunately confused to have been originally produced by Madonna. This to me is a kind of legalised theft, where the reproduced song has been labelled the authentic version because the original has disappeared in time. While I realise that the copy of an original can be far more appealing and can bring an exciting freshness to the work for the audience, when the song is no longer associated with the original artist then that artist I feel has been robbed.

Another crazy crime prevention idea

There is something to be said about music and its effects on people. When I worked at Guess I tried a little experiment with the music that was played in the store: Timbaland’s “The Way I Are” vs. some tracks by Goo Goo Dolls. By far Timbaland outstripped Goo Goo Dolls in terms of the number of people that came into the store who were quite clearly attracted by the lively feel of the track. By contrast far less people came into the store whilst Goo Goo Dolls was playing, and those that did enter exited the store sooner and looked rather a lot gloomier, but this could also have been because of the price of a pair of premium denim jeans. Music that is not to people’s liking has the effect of driving them away. In the UK a supermarket chain tried playing classical music outside their shops for long periods of time to see if it made a difference with youth gangs. Surprisingly, reports of theft and loitering decreased significantly; classical music was obviously too much to bear for the young adults. My mother would often play classical music when I was younger and my immediate reaction was always “Who died Mom?” after which I promptly stuffed my fingers in my ears. Assuming that most crime committers are young and embedded in popular culture, and probably quite disinterested in classical music, is it then possible to say that if we pumped out loud classical music from our homes, work places, and shopping areas all day and everyday, crime would decrease? Could something as simple as playing dreary, unpopular music drive away a potential thief?

Block Your Ears

I have heard some really bad song lyrics lately. I often have the radio playing idly while I work, barely taking in the contents spilling out of the speakers. But after paying a bit more attention to the radio waves flowing subconsciously into my brain, I suddenly became aware that many of the song lyrics were often utterly meaningless. This has never really mattered to me in the past as the primary appeal of a song for me was for some time the sound and feel, superficial as that might sound. But as I’ve got older, my inner critic has come to raise its ugly head to point fingers at nasty song lyrics. Lets take a look at Usher’s “Make Love In This Club”. I was driving when I first heard this song, and by the time it was over my head was permeated with all sorts of unmentionable thoughts, as I thought, “This is the most unromantic, most sexually charged song I have heard in a very long time”. I thought I would pick out a few lines that I thought were a bit problematic: “Well come here baby and let daddy show you what it feel like”. Apart from the appalling grammar, those people who are not familiar with the lingo might regard as a bit incestuous. “I'll bag ya like some grocery's”. This particular line is precisely what I was referring to when I described this song as ‘unromantic’, and I think I would be more likely to slap Usher if he said that to me. “On the couch, on the table, on the bar, on the floor”. This would be the most extreme and obscene case of public displays of affection. “You can meet me in the bathroom, ya you know I’m trained to go.” I cannot imagine anything worse. For those people who feel these lyrics are quite meaningful, I apologise, but personally, I wouldn’t miss this song if it suddenly disappeared.

Constant Surveillance

The thing about cameras and photography that is disturbing is their increasing sophistication and their cybernetic feedback mechanisms. The techniques of monotoring people through the use of cameras has caused the world to be surrounded by constant surveillance issues. Although it is helpful in capturing baddies, it has become more popular to capture the happenings of the lives of celebrities.

The observation of celebrities has become enormously favoured in today's pop culture. Paparazzi are constantly bombarding the lives of those famous people of Hollywood and Bollywood to get some form of compensation, and people are supporting this idea. It is more likely for someone to go buy the latest issue of 'Heat' or a celebrity gossip magazine than to attend a play, for instance.

The lives of celebrities are important in the majority of our lives. Some thrive on seeing the latest celebrity gossip and the shocking pictures of their notorious actions. It is sad to think how involved people have become in the lives of others, simply through pictures. It cannot be a good feeling having strangers seeing what you are doing, or how you look when you go to the shop. Cameras, in this sense, portray the lives of others simply for the reason of gaining money.

Taryn Brown

Mobile Recycling??

Have you ever wondered what happens to all of your old and outdated cell phones when you get a new one roughly every 2 years?

Our family puts our old and malfunctional ones in our Wendy House for our little cousins to play with - because it seems that all children love phones!

I found a statistic for America...130 million cell phones are replaced annually... thats 130 million phones that have to go somewhere. I know we dont all just throw our old phones away as soon as we get a new one, but nevertheless, they will be kept in drawers until they become totally obsolete and disposed of at a later date. According to a study, that means 65,000 tons of trash!

As technology advances at exponential rates, rendering current technology obsolete, our society stives after acquiring the latest thing - in this case in the form of the most up to date cell phone model - and more waste is being created.

According to Dave Bell, "cell phones contain persistent and bio-accumulative toxic chemicals (PBTs) that are linked to cancer and a host of neurological, reproductive, and developmental disorders. Their components include: arsenic, antimony, beryllium, cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc; along with the brominated flame retardant used in the plastic parts."
Scary stuff! When we throw cell phones into the bins, they eventually end up contaminating our soil and water, and ultimately our planet.

We are a consumerist, wasteful world. Currently, less than 10% of phones are recycled, but there are initiatives that are coming into being in order to solve the problem.
In England I recycled one of my old phones. Envelopes are provided in puiblic places like libraries or post offices, and you can put your old phone into one, and post it off for free. This also helps the organisartion that sets up the scheme (maybe an animal anti-cruelty society), to raise money.
In February of this year, California implemented a compulsory cell phone recycling scheme where cellphone retailers are now required to establish a collection and recycling program.

Australia has implemented a nationwide cellphone recycling program and the European Union is considering a move to make manufacturers responsible for electronic product wastes.

Virgin mobile in the USA has become the first carrier to include a postage paid recycling envelope in the box with every phone it sells.

Reuse is the most common form of recycling, so when you send your phone to Virgin Mobile for recycling they first attempt to refurbish it and give it to a new Virgin Mobile customer. Or, they'll send it on to people who are in need of a mobile phone, at a reduced price. If they can't re-use or re-furbish the phone you send in, then they'll recycle it in an environmentally correct way.

I have seen adverts in South African newspapers placed by buyers of old and used cellphones, but I have yet to find a country-wide campaign or organisation that promotes cell phone recycling. Lets hope it comes about soon.

Jargon, connectedness, etc...

A journalist wrote the other day…
“With the spread of the internet on the phone, geographical boundaries are becoming less important, and the context of relationships and how people connect is changing.”

Haven’t cell phones in general changed the way in which we relate to each other? Why has the introduction of being able to use the internet on our phones, changed the context of relationships?
Perhaps it is because we can now communicate extremely cheaply due to the minimal rates that service providers charge for going online. I’m sure this is not in the best financial interests of any of the service providers, as their customers choose to go online as opposed to sms-ing or phoning.
The reason why MXIT has been such a success is because it costs virtually nothing, so people spend all day on it, and write to people that they wouldn’t usually, if they had to pay. People’s behavior changes when there’s money involved, and when offered something for nothing, will usually take full advantage of it.

Another social network, mig33, has come onto the scene, offering multiple services such as VoIP calls, e-mail, instant messaging, chat rooms, sms-ing, and photo sharing.

I’ve been hearing about VoIP for a while now but have never known what it is. I’ve learnt that it stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. It refers to the transmission of ones voice using a normal internet connection. Thus VoIP can turn any desktop or laptop connected to the Internet into a telephone, and cell phones are also now able to use it because they have access to the internet in the form of WAP. (What is WAP?...WAP stands for Wirelss Application Protocol and is a standard term for applications that use wireless communication. It is mainly used to enable access to the internet from a mobile phone. – thanks Wikipedia!)

Back to VoIP…its biggest advantage is cost savings, as the calls are free whether you are phoning a local, long distance, or cell phone number. One just has to pay a flat fee to the VoIP service provider (Telkom even provides it…if you are patient enough to use them!)
Will this technology spell the end of landline phones?!
We are becoming more and more reliant on the internet. In fact one could say we are a society somewhat addicted to our computer screens and the technology that surrounds and connects us.

So yes, people are becoming more connected, not in a bodily sense, but rather in a disconnected manner which spans across time and space.

I lv u stx...l8r x

There must be millions of couples whose romances began in the world of digital technology... mainly over sms.

I think it is an unhealthy place to start a romantic attachment. People, guys in particular, are losing the art of decent 'courtship' and how to woo a women in person. Instead, they use shortened words and symbols (xxx) to express their feelings, and ask questions that they wouldn't dare have the boldness or cheek to in a face to face encounter with their hearts desire.

Guys ask girls out over sms, girls and guys dump each other over sms.... cellphones are making us into a generation of non-confrontational cowards.

Having a long distance relationship myself, I am most grateful for sms techbology, but my case is different because I've known him for 4 years, and we aren't trying to get to know each other through 9 keys and a cellphone screen.

Besides the time wastage of sending short messages back and forth for hours at a time, text messages can be misread, over-anaylsed, lost in space and never replied to....

The worst is when you send a gushy sms to the wrong person... we have all done that - some with more disastrous consequences than others!

It is a sad day when two people that like each other would rather spend 4 hours sending smses back and forth between each other, rather than meet up for a one hour coffee...where the quality of conversation will be far better, but definately less bold.

Throught smsing, cellphones are changing the way relationships are developed. Social norms are being transformed and shaken about. For example, it is very rare that a guy will ask a girl outright if she likes anyone...but it happens all the time over sms!

My suggestion... pick up your phone and instead of using it to sms "I lv u xxxxx", rather phone your object of affection, organise a date, and tell them in person with a hug and a real kiss...

Cara Booysen

Ripped off Saffas

Pay as you go cellphone clients in South Africa get a raw deal compared to contract holders.

Sms's aren't exactly cheap in peak times and phoning costs an absolute fortune. These high costs come with no added benefits or perks... just the constant purchasing of recharge vouchers!

In England I was a pay-as-you-go customer of the network, O2. Wow do they treat you well there. All I had to do was top up by 10 pounds a month, and I got 300 free 'sms's (or 'texts' as they call them there)

If I then topped up by another 5 pounds within that month, I got 300 free off peak minutes as well!
I was free to use my 15 quid of credit to send international sms's.

Thats another area where we are ripped off here. A local sms in England costs 10pence (the equivalent of about R1.60, which may sound expensive because of the high exchange rate, but in terms of earning power, its very cheap!) and an international one costs double a local one.


Here an international sms costs 4 times that of a local one!

Cell C, MTN, Vodacom and Virgin... stop ripping off the people who are too poor to afford a contract!

(P.S - In England, South Africans are called, and call themselves "Saffas")

Cara Booysen

It's amazing..

Just the other night i was watching the news and a man had recorded an incident of a funfair ride falling down on his cell phone. It is truly amazing how the development of photography, as well as all other technologies, has expanded throughout the years. He was the only individual who had captured it, and it was through the use of his cell phone. Who would have thought a couple of years ago that we could one day have cell phones that by simply pushing a button could capture images and videos of things or people around us? When I was younger the only form of a camera I knew were those huge, now very outdated, cameras that you had to basically hold with both hands because it was so big and heavy.. Nowdays you can pop down to your local store and purchase one that is the size of your palm, or get a camera phone that can do just the same thing.

Photography has been incorporated into our everyday lives through the creation of camera phones, and by not having a cell with these aspects it is just simply "not cool." It is ludacris when we come to think of how we lived in the past and how we live now. How did our grandparents manage without cell phones in the past is beyond me, and as i see it this is just the beginning of what is to come in the future, in terms of photographic technology.

Taryn Brown

Plugged and unplugged

I have never seen as much mud as I saw this Easter weekend at Splashy Fen. But porridge-like mud and somewhat unsavoury ablutions could not discourage the torrent of music lovers that slid into the music festival. I have always thought of myself as something of a prude when it comes to the types of music that are available to our ears these days. I don’t like screaming, I don’t like wailing, I don’t like musical folk tales, I don’t like panpipes… or so I thought, until this weekend. There is something about watching a musician in action that is quite mesmerising. You find yourself involuntarily tapping your foot, and after a few shots of sherry you start to bob your head, and then before you know it you’re “full-on jamming bru” (quote by red-eyed, male matriculant) without a care that someone might be pointing and laughing at you because everyone seems to be doing the same thing. It got to the point where I was jumping and flailing about furiously to a heavy metal Christian band. Clearly my previously plugged, conservative ears had been unplugged and to my amazement I found myself, and many others like myself, opening up to all things musical. Heavy metal gospel, pop folksong, electronic jazz, and pop punk bombarded me in true post-modern speed and multiplicity. I came away from splashy feeling alive, and eager to keep refilling this feeling by supporting as many musicians as humanly possible. So I returned to Pietermaritzburg bespeckled with mud, reeking of smoke, desperate for the loo and quite broke. Was it worth it? Definitely.

Instant Organisation...

A few days ago my dad remarked that because of cell phones, my generation has lost the art of planning. He made it sound like a negative thing, but I think it has made our lives so much more spontaneous, and we actually end up making more plans, just at shorter notice!
The days of organizing things way in advance and actually sticking to a plan are fading away. Our society is literally turning into a last minute culture… we organize coffees and lunches between lectures via sms as we walk out of class, and go straight to the restaurant to meet everyone.
I suppose my dad was therefore correct in saying that technology only really benefits the people whose generation in which it was invented. We are so used to cell phones that we wouldn’t be able to get by without them – so they haven’t revolutionized our lives, they have been a part of them from the start, and are thus a necessity. It is our parents who have benefited the most because the introduction of cell phones totally changed their lives.
I do often wonder how people planned stuff… and what you did when you got lost! I suppose it also gives one a sense of security knowing help is always contactable… but getting robbed for your cell phone debunks that idea!

One thing that grates me is when you go out with people, and everyone sits at the table sms-ing all of those people who aren’t there! Life is about the here and now… you miss the present if you’re always trying to be in touch with someone who is somewhere else.

Cara Booysen