Lauryn Singletary

I like that Lauryn’s blog looks almost like a newspaper. It gives good aesthetics. It was hard to choose a favorite post, but I liked her product review, I feel like it showed a lot about her and her creativity. I’m a hobby photographer too, so it was cool to see what qualities were important to her in her gear.

Lauryn always does just a good job writing about her topics. You can tell that she really dives into her research and manages to condense it all to make it easy to read. I think you can really see this best in her Survellience and Law Enforcement post about the Astro World disaster.

Lauryn has great work, I remember her work from last fall and I feel like she’s only kept improving and one uping herself. It’s great to see her reflected in her work.

Haylee Hines

Haylee’s posts are always very interesting. I loved hearing her talk about her work in class. She always took the time to make look at the topic in a way that makes it informative or entertaining for everyone. She did great coverage about the war in Ukraine and how TikTok allows people to document their lives in a state of war. Her surveillance and law enforcement post about the ring doorbell was very entertaining. It was nice to see something light-hearted and feel good about the delivery man on the Kelly Clarkson show.

Her product review and predictions intrigued me and gave me a lot to think about after class. Specifically, about how Amazon will play a major in our daily lives in the future with AI and shopping. Anytime we got to Haylee’s topics in class, I knew it was going to be good.

Abby Johnson

I feel like everyone’s already said so much about Abby’s blog. But I still had to mention it. It looks great, it works great, and it's full of information.

It’s not hard to see just how much work she puts into it. Her posts are always well formatted and packed to the brim with information. I really like that she adds in stats and figures into a lot of her posts. It shows just how well she researched her topic.

It hard to decide on a favorite post from her, but I enjoyed her Binge Watching and Global Trends posts. Her stats on binge watching were very informative. And her selected topic of silent video for global trends was something I didn't expect. I had never thought about silent video and how it emerged as a common practice from people using social media. I'm not sure how she came up with the idea, but it was cool to see that she found such a niche topic.

Abby’s blog is another great example of what is desirable for this kind of course. It feels more like a research journal than just a blog.

As someone who has been consistently inconsistent, great job on keeping up! Her blogs always dive deep and explore all areas of the topic and she gets them written nearly every week!

Final Thoughts

Everyone did an amazing job with blogs this semester. I don't think there were any topics that I didn't like. The areas that were explored during my time in this course were both informative and entertaining. I was only able to cover a few blogs here, but there are so many other great explorations of these topics here. Please take a look when you have time. And a big thanks to Professor Reppert for making a cool format for this course.

As a frequent concert goer, the pandemic really impacted my plans for the Summer of 2021. However, with quarantine and restrictions came creative ideas and solutions for those of us stuck at home.

I attended my first “virtual concert” in 2021, for Twenty One Pilot’s Scaled and Icy tour. People who signed up to live stream the event were able to get exclusive merchandise. But now that quarentine is over, I plan to see them live.

This event lead me to think more about future possibilities for live events. Live streaming is already a common practice, but I feel that over time more interactivity will be possible for these live events.

The Jerma Dollhouse

Looking at a popular event from August of last year, The Jerma985 Dollhouse was a live stream event that was sponsored by Coinbase. The live-action event took place over the course of 3 days where Jerma and a team of actors and stagehands would perform based on audience decisions. It was essentially a live Sims game and social experiment or parasocial commentary.

The Jerma Dollhouse is a Theatrical Masterpiece

The first stream hit over 600,000 views within 3 hours. Viewers would decide on Jerma’s outfit for the day, how he would talk with his neighbors, the furniture he purchased, and where to place it. It was hilarious and highly rated.

Looking at events like The Jerma985 Dollhouse, with a streamer and a team of people, it only makes you wonder what is possible for major record labels and musicians can accomplish.

Fan-Artist Interactivity

Entertainment label SM is really pushing the boundaries of what is possible without a concert venue, by creating intense storylines weaving together a cinematic universe of musicians and even having a virtual meet and greets where artists can communicate in real-time with fans.

How K-Pop Is Reinventing Virtual Concerts | WSJ

The Metaverse and Virtual Avatars

Avatars for a virtual live experience sounds like something out of Black Mirror. But metaverse technology is bringing concert venues to the digital space.

Sony Music's 'digital Madison Beer' sets the virtual concert world on fire | Unreal Engine

Justin Bieber - Somebody (Live From The Metaverse Virtual Concert)

Dating all the way back to the beginnings of the internet, web horror subgenres have existed and evolved throughout time. Looking back at the early days of creepypasta with slenderman and jeff the killer, to the days of the SCP foundation, you can always know that there’s something new to the way people share and experience horror.

What is Analog Horror?

Analog horror is a web horror subgenre that utilizes analog elements such as VHS filters, old school television programming, and found footage. However, the found footage subgenre has evolved quite a bit since Blair Witch first introduced the concept in 1999. Analog horror creates an immersive horror experience by turning the viewer (you) into the protagonist.

Popular Web Series'

Local 58

One popular analog horror anthology series is Local 58 which mimics a local access tv channel in Mason County, West Virginia. I think what is so enjoyable about Local 58 is piecing together the lore of Mason County. There isn't a clearly defined storyline, but the videos seem to center around the horrors of the moon and the night sky. The series has gained a cult following since it was first posted online in 2015.



The channel hasn't been updated for two years, with the final video being Skywatching, a video that suggested the A new upload titled Although I find local 58 somewhat unsettling, I don’t think it scares me quite as much as the next one I’m about to cover.

The Mandela Catalogue

This horror series is so unsettling and unnerving that I actually cannot link the video in this blog post since the content is age restricted. Although the footage has no blood, gore, or even jumpscares, it is still so unsettling for people that many avoid it. As an avid horror fan, I'm normally able to enjoy a spooky experience and still manage to sleep well at night. Not after encountering this.

The Mandela Catalogue is YouTube horror series that compiles a database of training videos from Mandela County. These videos educate viewers on how to identify and avoid beings known as "Alternates". Currently, the series has 6 episodes in the 1st season with the 2nd season coming soon.

WARNING: THIS FOOTAGE IS SCARY, I ACTUALLY DIDN’T SLEEP AFTER WATCHING THIS. AVOID IF EASILY SPOOKED.

What Makes it so Scary and Why is it so Popular?

Alex Kister, the mind behind The Mandela Catalogue tried to describe it himself in an interview with GQ.

“Kister discussed these themes — fear of an intruder, fear of the dark, fear of yourself — as universal childhood phobias resurfaced by the pandemic.

‘When I was young, I felt like the thing that would scare me the most was not a typical, bogeyman-style monster,’ he said. ‘But just coming home, coming to your room, and seeing yourself there instead.’

Discomfort in our own safe spaces was felt by all of us during lockdown. The Mandela Catalogue refines this feeling into high-octane nightmare fuel, with amazingly basic editing and zero budget.” - GQ

That feeling of being up late at night, alone, in the dark browsing the web when this pops up in your recommended on YouTube really helps to fuel the experience. Your mind can’t wrap its head around what its seeing and that deep set childhood fear rises in you again. Then you’re up all night thinking about what might be in the closet or if something’s standing in the corner of your room. (At least I know I was.)

The Psychology Behind Why We Love (or Hate) Horror outlines 3 requirements to derive pleasure from being horrified.

1. We need to believe that we are physically safe — a safety frame.
2. The second category of protective frame involves detachment — whether we can psychologically detach from a horror experience.
3. The third category of protective frame involves our confidence in controlling and managing the dangers we encounter.

Analog horror uses triggers that are very real to us in our personal environment. Although we may feel physically safe in our homes, analog horror tends to imitate real life by using things we may associate with danger, like a severe weather report or a defense/safety training video. This causes us to let our guard down and take in the information.

Online Impact

The rise of video surveillance throughout the 21st century has changed from uncommon to something that is expected anytime we go out in public. Over time, as surveillance equipment has become more and more accessible to people, so have its uses.

Dash Cam Footage

Just like videos of porch pirates are seen more and more, dash cams are used in many ways. Many videos can be found on youtube, with some that are used to educate drivers on how to respond to certain road situations and others that are simply for entertainment purposes.

Dashcam Nation is a YouTube channel that has an ongoing series called “Idiots in Cars” where owners can submit their dashcam footage to highlight incidents to educate other drivers.

Dashcam Nation || Idiots in Cars 19

Audit the Audit is another YouTube channel that analyzes dashcams and other surveillance footage to expose misconduct.

Audit the Audit || Dash Cam Saves Citizens From Police Misconduct

Timestamps:

• 1:30 Case One
• 6:41 Case Two

There are many channels dedicated solely to driving through places from hours on end. These videos have an ASMR effect for some people and can help introduce people to a place they've never been before and give them a view of places through the lens of an everyday driver.

Roadtrip Through the Lens || Driving the Maloja Pass, Switzerland & Italy

After watching a few of these videos myself last year, it made me seriously consider getting a dashcam in my car. Although dash cam footage has very serious uses, there are also entertaining purposes.

To learn more about Dash Cam uses or where to get your own, check the links below.

NYTimes: Best Dash Cams

92 years ago, 40-year old Harland David Sanders began to feed hungry travelers who stopped by at his gas station in small Corbin, Kentucky. In 1954, Sanders sold KFC for 2 million dollars and later passed away at the age of 90.

Ever since, KFC had been on the decline and decided to sign with a new ad agency in 2015.

37 years after his passing Weiden+Kennedy set out to bring the colonel back from the dead. W+K build a marketing strategy centered around the face of KFC: Colonel Sanders.

KFC Zinger Launch | August 2017

(And yes, they did actually launch a chicken sandwich into space.)

But the colonel’s return from space was just the beginning of a 7-year long ad campaign centered around the colonel himself. Sanders spent his retirement after founding KFC when he was 65, traveling the country to sell chicken. This is why almost every major KFC ad campaign has the Colonel as the central theme and sole salesman. Which is the beginning of what I refer to as the KFC Multiverse. KFC even won Eater Magazine’s brand of the year.

After the positive response and the new look, as Weiden+Kennedy put it:

"For Kentucky Fried Chicken, things were once again, Finger-Lickin’ Good."

He’s not a celebrity; he’s not even real.

Over the next few years, W+K would continue to new versions and representations of colonel sanders. Including a robot Sanders and even a virtual Instagram influencer. This the beginning of what I refer to as The KFC Multiverse.

Pre-quarantine feels like long ago now, so just to refresh your memory, in 2019, there was a growing trend of ‘virtual influencers’ and I some are still very popular, like lil miquela on TikTok and Instagram. However, KFC did it differently since their ‘influencer’ is their very own Colonel Sanders. Colonel Sanders worked with different brands to promote innovation (much like his chicken recipe), lifestyle inspiration, inspirational collabs (like the 11 spices and herbs of KFC chicken), and authentic Gen-Z engagement.

Colonel Sanders partnered with several different brands to promote their products (not just KFC), such as Dr.Pepper, Old Spice, and even TurboTax. All business inquiries were to be directed towards secretrecipeforsuccess@gmail.com.

Colonel Sanders spent the next few months doing promos, collabs, and showing off his passion for cooking. People looked at it more like satire than something to be taken for real, but people still really enjoyed it. On April 22, 2019, Colonel Sanders signed off.

It wasn’t long until KFC launched their next marketing campaign; A dating sim starring the Colonel where players could fall in love with the man himself and all 11 of those herbs and spices. When it was first announced, people thought that maybe it was a fan made game or a joke. But on September 24, 2019, I love you Colonel Sanders was released on steam (a pc gaming store) for free.

The game was fairly well-received with videos of gameplay spanning the internet and I recommend you check out a few clips, because it’s an interesting game to be made by such a large corporate entity.

With this advertising approach, you can see KFC’s continued attempt to appeal towards their growing gen-z audience. I found this form of advertisement interesting, and I feel like it breaks the barriers and makes you question what an ad truly is. According to Oxford Languages Dictionary, an advertisement is described as a notice or announcement in a public medium promoting a product, service, or event or publicizing a job vacancy. OR as a person or thing regarded as a means of recommending something.

I Love You Colonel Sanders | 2019

In this day and age, there’s a growing difficulty distinguishing an ad from everyday consumable media. Especially with the rise of Youtube, there have been several issues with children’s advertising since there are rules in place that influencers have to make it clear enough that their video or promo is an advertisement to children. I think this game highlights just how expansive and diversified advertising can become.

Mario Lopez + Colonel Sanders =

A Recipe for Seduction

With that, we can move onto KFC’s partnership with Lifetime Movie Network to create an entire film. Well, a short film. The film is 16 minutes to be exact, starring Mario Lopez as the Colonel we all know and love.

A Recipe for Seduction | 2020

The film was announced on December 7, 2020, and premiered December 13, 2020, just in time for the holidays. The movie was available to watch on Lifetime Movie Network Platforms, Youtube, and even through hulu. The announcement of the film was met with confusion, some saying KFC went too far this time and that it might not be as well received their previous marketing tactics. However, after the premierble, it became a point of discussion and has tons of reaction videos, which is a primary way to get views nowadays. Overall, a Recipe for Seduction received a Rotten Tomatoes Score of a whopping 70%. This isn’t too bad when you consider the fact that a good score is considered a 75% on Rotten Tomatoes so I see this one as a win for KFC.

Weird and Wacky in the Right Way

I think there is a lot to learn from KFC, they have always been really good at entering difficult markets and diversifying. I think that in a time when meme culture is a big thing, Weiden+Kennedy really did it right, unlike other companies that have a one-off decision to do something weird and wacky, such as with Wendy’s or Burger King. They managed to find a way to make KFC's weird and different approach to advertising an iconic part of the brand. It’s all different but has the same premise. They stuck with Colonel Sanders as their center and the story always stays the same, ‘11 spices and a dream’ with a different delivery. Restaurant Business Magazine highlights KFC as a "marketing machine.” KFC U.S. CMO Andrea Zahumensky explained that

“Everything we do here kind of goes back to our founder, Harland Sanders,
who was this feisty, “do-whatever-he-could-to-sell-fried-chicken” type of person.

By taking a look at the core of their company, KFC found a future in Marketing. By being unafraid to take risks and align with the identity of a fun man who was crazy about selling chicken.

I’m an adamant notebook user, so my room filled with notebooks new and old, some empty, some filled to the brim with any and everything.

I tried to start a paperless system over my last semester with my laptop, a surface pro 7. However, with a 12.3” screen, my surface pro was sized more like a large sketchbook than a notebook for on the go. Although I did use my laptop to draw, it was only convenient when I had a table to sit down at. The surface pro is great for anyone looking for a laptop that is like the tablet, however, it is just as heavy as a laptop. Although Windows is great for productivity, the windows store is quite limited when it comes to decent notetaking applications.

This is when I decided I wanted an iPad. I needed something that was easy to carry, had good options for productivity, lots of storage, and solid battery life. Although I didn’t want it to be a replacement for my laptop, I wanted it to be useful for whenever I need to make quick changes to anything.

Notetaking and Creative Work

The iPad is very lightweight and has been great to bring with me between classes and to use during downtime. The apps I've used the most are procreate and goodnotes.

As a designer, I use a lot of Adobe apps. For drawing and digital art, I would use Adobe fresco. However, it would always freeze up and didn't have many features.

Procreate has been great to use. When I had to use my laptop to draw, I wouldn't want to go through the process of setting everything up and dealing with overheating or program stalling. Now, whenever I want to do a quick sketch or edit something it's nice and easy to do from anywhere. I'm still learning new settings and adjusting to the apple pencil.

Goodnotes is another great app. I've always wanted to bullet journal and goodnotes makes it much easier. Anytime I want to create a new spread or rearrange pages, I can. They have great features that are helpful for notetaking and annotating. Although the app is still lacking in some features, it's still great for productivity.

Other Features

The iPad Air is also great for streaming, with plenty of apps available through the app store. My favorite feature is the picture-in-picture option that allows me to minimize video and float over apps. It's really handy for when I'm drawing or taking notes but I want to watch a video. However, to use the feature with YouTube, you have to use Safari instead of the YouTube app itself.

Accessories

When it comes to the iPad, there are an endless amount of accessories available for purchase. I knew that I needed a screen protector and a solid case, because I tend to drop things at random. There were plenty of options, but I knew that I wanted everything to have a similar green color.

I left links to all of my accessories below, including the apple pencil. Although I use the apple pencil, I don't think it's necessary to have it specifically, especially since the newer model costs $100. But, I would definitely recommend purchasing some sort of stylus if you plan to get an iPad Air. Although it isn't necessary, I know that for me, I would have been very limited if I didn't have one. But it all depends on what your primary use is for your iPad Air.

Just looking at my screen time and app usage, you can tell that I definitely make use of the iPad. I would recommend an iPad for anyone that is looking to switch to a paperless routine, or needs to be productive on the go.

I wanted to take a look at how queer relationships and queer characters are portrayed in censored media. At first I wanted to take a look at queer censorship in general, but I decided to analyze China specifically since I had several examples in mind.

I feel that this is important topic to highlight, because although queerness is banned in Chinese media, it doesn’t mean that gay people don’t exist in China.

In China, being gay was only decriminalised in 1997, and homosexuality was on the official list of mental illnesses until 2001.

“But with same-sex marriage still illegal and Chinese authorities banning "abnormal sexual behaviors" from the media in 2016, the impression among many is that LGBTQ people are free to explore their identities — so long as they do so in private. (CNN)

In 2016, China had a major crackdown on media censorship. Censors released new laws, stating that “No television drama shall show abnormal sexual relationships and behaviours, such as incest, same-sex relationships, sexual perversion, sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual violence, and so on.” This is in line with the consistent pairing of queerness with bad or evil.

No Happy Endings

Even before the major crackdown on queer media, there was an unspoken rule that even if queer couples were protrayed, there could be no happy endings. Partners were to be killed off or the “love” was supposed to be obsessive, unhealthy, even to the point of murder at some points. This was to associate queerness with misfortune, as if characters are punished for being gay.

This is when Addicted began to stream online. Addicted portrays a story of two high school boys who try to forge a close relationship despite their social differences and personal history.

But as the series began to gain popularity as a genuine, sweet high school romance, censors went crazy over it. Addicted had aired three episodes weekly until February 23, 2016, when it was banned by authorities. The series’ success brought attention to the topic of homosexuality in mainland China, and has even gained a cult following.

Adapting to Censorship

Since producers can't blantanly portray gay or bisexual charcters, shows must resort to tropes, symbolism, and rework how queer relationships are visualized. Looking at a show like The Untamed, you can see how tropes and symbolism are used to display queer relationships.

Rabbits can be seen throughout The Untamed and are used to express the relationship between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. In Chinese mythology, Tu'er Shen (Rabbit Deity) manages love in homosexual relationships. Rabbits are seen throughout the show. Wei Wuxian even asks Lan Wangji at one point if he likes rabbits, to which he responds 'yes'.