[buichristina]

Internet Memes

I mentioned this before in class, but I really do enjoy internet memes. They are fascinating and so viral; each of them contain their own unwritten "rules" that people follow. Those who use memes incorrectly get ostracized by other users.

I wish we had gotten to talk more about internet memes because they have become their own aspect of the internet/online experience. Memes can be created out of nothing and yet everything. Take Grumpy Cat and Doge for example; they are just animals! Who would have thought that the online world would be captivated by animals making certain facial expressions? 

Not only that, but people often combine memes. Lets take Miley Cyrus' performance at the American Music Awards last night. Miley herself has become some sort of meme - a "good girl turned rebellious ex-Disney star." She shaved most of her long locks off and wears revealing clothing whenever she performs on stage. The AMAs were no exception - except this time she wore an outfit that had kittens all over them and had a screen behind her with a giant virtual kitten!

Now, the internet LOVES cats. And dogs. But also cats. So, as the Buzzfeed article title states, "Miley And Her Virtual Kitten Won The AMAs, The Internet, Life." And I have no doubt that this will (or already has?) spawned a bunch of memes. (I haven't been on tumblr or Reddit between the AMAs and now.)

However, this isn't about Miley, or cats, or dogs. The internet is a vast pit filed with information, and I think memes are just one method of compartmentalizing and organizing things on the internet so that they make sense. However, one huge limitation - which I previously mentioned in class - is that memes are very high context. You have to "get" what the memes are saying; otherwise, the meme would hold no value to you.

Take Mitt Romney and his "binders full of women" for example. If you did not know about the Presidential Debates last year, then you probably would not understand that reference. It's funny to me because I know that Romney has a tendency to say things that could easily be taken out of context and made fun of. I know Romney has a long gaffe streak. I also know that, aside from people who actually follow politics, most of the general population doesn't know or care about that stuff, so the "binders full of women" meme means nothing to them - and that's okay.

There are memes for pretty much everything now, and I love how memes sprout from each other. "Scumbag Steve" is one of my favorites because I actually followed the "real" Scumbag Steve featured in the photo on tumblr (his name is Blake, by the way) and he's nothing like how he was portrayed in the meme. He didn't even realize that he became a meme until someone pointed it out to him. But anyways, I digress. Scumbag Steve wears a particular hat, which people would then Photoshop onto other people or objects and make new memes out of them. (If I wasn't on my phone, I would totally include photos.) Another one of my favorites is "Scumbag Congress," which often illustrates Congress' dysfunctionality and contradictions (and therefore making them a "scumbag"). The scumbag hat is (hilariously) Photoshopped onto a picture of Capitol Hill to indicate that it follows the same unwritten "rules" as Scumbag Steve. And that's the beauty of memes - they constantly grow and take new forms while showcasing people's wits and cleverness.

Anyways, I think I'm going on a tangent now, so I'll stop before I start ranting because honestly, I could talk forever about memes!

Ending on that note, check out my vine video on memes in general, where I just scroll through memes I found through searching "meme" on Google images: https://vine.co/v/hUru6QF0PAT

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Vine to accompany my previous blog post.

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So this happened two weeks ago: "Why J.P. Morgan's Twitter Chat Went Horribly, Horribly Wrong."

It made me laugh. What on earth were these old farts thinking? This is exactly why it pays to have employees who are social media savvy because social media is the future; things stick around, whether you like it or not, and you have absolutely no control over it. 

In an attempt to pull a "publicity stunt," JPMorgan attempted to host a Twitter Q&A session using the hashtag #AskJPM. Instead of getting the response they had hoped for, they had to kick into damage control as many Twitter users started using the tag to troll JPMorgan (e.g. 'Is it true that, while you don't always spit on poor people, when you do, you have perfect aim?'). Two weeks later, #AskJPM is still active.

I'd like to think that this is karma; these old farts who caused an economic meltdown are so unaware of how highly unpopular JPM is and significantly doubted people's long-term memories. Hello? 2008 was not that long ago. 

Looking through this, I had two questions in mind: 

1) Looking at JPMorgan's damage control tweet ("Tomorrow's Q&A is cancelled. Bad Idea. Back to the drawing board."), was this (and subsequently canceling the Q&A) appropriate responses to the negative backlash they received?

2) Should they have continued with the Twitter Q&A and if so, should they have addressed the negative tweets?

To answer the first question - I go back and forth on this. By sending out that damage control tweet, they acknowledged that they received too much negative backlash and they are admitting to the world that they don't know how Twitter works. 

However, I think cancelling the Twitter Q&A was a good move on their part because they would not have received very many serious questions anyhow.

In any case, Twitter was absolutely not the right forum for this type of Q&A; I think this would have been much better suited for Reddit. Although Reddit does have its sarcastic trolls as well, Reddit also has users who are more educated and (probably slightly) more mature than Twitter users. That's why Reddit's AMA exists!

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The accompanying Vine to the previous post.

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With allusions to recent online revolutions, the article "Social media stew plays potent role in global digital activism" in the Washington Times yesterday discussed the role of social media in petitioning and activism and how social media has essentially pioneered a new form of engaging citizens in advocacy. 

Though the article does bring up some good points - e.g. it is easier to engage Internet users globally for a cause or campaign - it did not expand on the downsides.

This reminds me of last year's "KONY 2012" video, a 30-minute documentary about Joseph Kony and his role in the Ugandan conflict. Once it was posted on social media, it garnered heavy media and celebrity endorsements, which trickled down to ordinary citizens who then shared the video across multiple social media platforms.

This is a form of "slacktivism," which Wikipedia describes as a "pejorative term that describes "feel-good" measures, in support of an issue or social cause, that have little or no practical effect other than to make the person doing it take satisfaction from the feeling they have contributed." The article did not mention this but instead mentioned "clicktivism," which a professor from University of Washington described as "the ease with which Web surfers can click 'like' to pet causes."

Although the idea of using social media to engage current and potential audiences is appealing, there needs to be a balance between both traditional and digital organizing. From the looks of it, digital organizing and activism makes it a lot easier to educate those who normally would not give the issue a second thought on the street. People can stay at home on their computers and, with a click of a button, feel that they have contributed to the greater good. 

On the other hand, digital activism promotes lazy advocacy. Because people feel like they are contributing through merely sharing or clicking on social media, they are not as willing to go out and protest or petition in person. 

(Accompanying Vine video will be posted later)

[buichristina]

So I posted this in a Facebook group for my other class a while ago, but I thought it'd be fun to write about this again: "Nokia's 'Thanks Apple' Taunt Goes Down As One Of The Most Retweeted Brand Tweets Ever"

(As a side note, it's funny 'cause the first thing I think of when I hear or see "Nokia" is their infamous "brick phones"...

This doesn't bode well for Nokia if the first thing that came to mind for consumers is "brick phone" or "ancient/outdated phone." But more on that in a sec.)

Nokia's clever Sept. 10 response to Apple's hyped release of the iPhone 5s help catapult its own brand, stealing Apple's thunder and going down in Twitter history as one of the most retweeted brand tweets. As of this post, it received over 40,000 retweets and was favorited by over 11,000 Twitter users ("Twitterers"?).

This is a fantastic example of a good tongue-in-cheek tweet that demonstrated a brand's sense of humor. Nokia poked fun at Apple while promoting its own brand of smartphones, insinuating that Apple - one of the leading brands for smartphones - was late in the game with its new multicolored smartphone release. 

Seeing the overwhelming responses Nokia received and how other brands received similar positive feedback and numbers - such as Oreo's "dunk in the dark" Tweet during this year's Superbowl - it is clear that Twitter users love clever and thoughtful tweets from brands. 

This tweet brings to mind: what does this say about the use of Twitter and/or other social media to keep brands relevant? Social media is critical to engaging both current and potential consumers. There are no "big" brands today that do not maintain at least one social media account. Even with Nokia - a brand that is constantly made fun of on Tumblr for its former products - maintains social media websites (and separate accounts by country, to boot) and constantly posts on those accounts

The Vine video in this post is a response from Jenna (a friend) regarding the use of social media.

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Transitioning this blog!

So I never really did much in terms of updating this blog during my study abroad experience, but I'm now transitioning this blog into a school blog as well for one of my classes. I'll be focusing on social media and news/items related to social media. Stay tuned!

[buichristina]

It just dawned on me that I move out of my apartment in 8 days. And then I'll be hopping around Japan and fly home on the 21st.

Wow. Where did the time go...? Everything is moving so quickly; just this past week, one of my good friends already flew back home. And next weekend, a whole bunch of others are also leaving. It's so hard to believe that this dream will end soon, and I'll have to go back to reality.

Man...

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Quick Personal Update

I've been sick for the past week and a half :'( I've somehow developed a cold (sore throat, coughing, congested nose, sneezing) two Saturdays ago. I've gotten a bit better--the worst of it (last Wednesday and Thursday) has passed but I'm still sitting here with droop coming out of my nose.

All during the final two weeks of classes too. :(

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Kyoto's Kamo River around sunset.

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I haven't updated this blog in a while! About time I do so, I guess.

Last weekend was all about hiking (among other things)! On Saturday, we went to Kurama and Kibune, two small towns that are north of Kyoto city. Kurama contains a small shrine area that connects to Kibune town and shrine. We hiked for about two hours or so (stopping along the way to take pictures like the tourists we are) and finally arrived at Kibune. Poor Josephine--she was hiking in her wedge heels! Though I gotta admit, it was pretty hilarious. And it's her own fault! I told her that we'll be hiking....

It was also quite rainy as well. It was kinda cumbersome, but at least it kept the sun away and the temperatures down!

Aside from the shrine, Kibune is famous for the restaurants located IN the river. As in the photo above, customers can sit on tatamis built slightly above the river and enjoy the sounds of nature as they dine. We didn't try it (some restaurants can get quite pricey), but it looks pretty awesome.

After that, I experienced my first all-night clubbing outing in Osaka! It was quite an interesting adventure... long story short, some of our group members got sick, but I still had a great time nonetheless. Osaka is definitely an interesting city, especially at night.

I got home from Osaka at 7:30 am, slept for about 2 and a half hours, and got up to meet up with Josephine and Gavin at noon to go to Sanzen-in Temple in Ohara, which is also north of Kyoto city. It was raining (again) when we got to Ohara, but I think this time the rain enhanced our experience. Sanzen-in is beautiful; I can only imagine what it looks like during autumn, when the leaves change colors. The rain and mist added to what I thought was a more ... hm... "mystical?" feel. Maybe not mystical--I had another word in mind--but I can't seem to remember what word I was thinking of. 

The three towns we went to last weekend were all rural-ish--a nice change of pace from the more urban-ish area of Kyoto city. And I definitely enjoyed all the hiking and walking we did! But it didn't matter since I always end up drinking back the calories. T_T

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So I've been rather horrible with keeping up with this blog. My life has gotten so much busier than I thought, and I spend all my free time either hanging out with friends or watching Community. 

The photo above is a shot I took on my way back to Nara, a city about an hour away from Kyoto. Did I mention? I accidentally lost my phone on the train coming back from Nara during Golden Week, which was like nearly a month ago. Luckily, because this is Japan, someone dropped off my phone at the Nara police station. Skirting through details that involve me going back again only to find out that I went to the wrong station and needing to go back to Nara once more, I finally retrieved my phone yesterday.

Losing my phone prompted my lost of interest in blogging - hence no new posts since my Kobe trip. Hopefully, however, I'll start to blog here more often.

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More pictures from Kobe.

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I'm trying this thing where I actually blog about my experiences, instead of just occasionally posting pictures here.

Anyways, this past week has been Golden Week - a week of national holidays in Japan. It's also the week in which everyone goes on vacation. Unfortunately, we only get two days (Friday and Monday) off. Even more unfortunately, we have to make those days up over the subsequent Saturdays (May 11 and 18). 

On Friday, we spent the entire day in Kobe, which is about an hour and a half away from Kyoto. It's known for its beef (wagyu Kobe beef), which is of high quality and whatnot. It's delicious, but very, very expensive. We got the Golden Week special, which is that small slab of meat for 3,000 yen (~$30 USD). Expensive, but delicious. But me being me, I honestly probably would not be able to tell the difference between Kobe beef and regular beef.

Kobe also has a lot of delicious sweets and desserts, so we stopped by Fugetsudo, which is apparently a famous desserts shop. I got matcha mitsumame, a delicious jelly dessert topped with fruit, red beans, and green tea ice cream. 

Afterwards, we walked around the mall (there are a lot of semi-outside malls in Japan in general), Chinatown ("Nankinmachi"), and the harbor. Kobe has one of the largest Chinatowns in Japan, and the street food there was relatively cheap and delicious. 

Down by the harbor was the Maritime Museum and more shopping. We came across a flea market that also had a concert going on. I think it was a celebration of sorts. It was also a fantastic spot for taking photos, so naturally we had a photoshoot. :D

The malls in the area (there were several) were packed. There was also an Anpanman museum, which was pretty awesome and cute. It smelled delicious too!

And that's pretty much it. We had dinner in Nankinmachi and headed back. Lots of walking, but it was totally worth it! Kobe is a beautiful city.

(Note: The max number of photos that can be uploaded is 10... so I'll upload more later.)

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A long overdue post about my impression of Japan.

Because I feel like procrastinating at 12:09 am, even though I have two quizzes tomorrow......... 

I've been here for a month already. One month--can you believe it?! Time flies by SO fast! I've been told that the first month of being anywhere is the longest, so I don't doubt that the next four months will zip by even faster. Disappointingly, rainy season (June through July) is fast approaching. HOWEVER! DC will be swarmed by cicadas this summer, so I'm super grateful to be here in Japan during that period. I just hope Japan doesn't get any weird creepy crawlies during the summer, though....

Surprisingly, even though Kyoto is a "city," it doesn't have the urban or metropolitan feel like Tokyo or Osaka. I liken Kyoto to DC a lot, since DC is also a city that pretty much dies down around a certain time (Kyoto gets quiet around 7-8 pm). Kawaramachi and Gion are the "downtown" areas; shops and high-rise buildings are located around Shijo/Sanjo Kawaramachi/Karasuma and attract young people, while Gion is the more traditional area that the older crowd tends to frequent. It struck me last week when I went to see Iron Man 3 that "late night" here means 8 to 9 pm, since most stores (with the exception of bars and clubs) close around that time, even on Friday and Saturday nights--which is crazy! Buses also stop running around 10:30 to 11 pm, so if you want to go clubbing or bar hopping or whatever late at night, then you'd either take a taxi back home or just stay out all night until buses start running again at 5 or 6 am. 

Another difference is the attitude towards alcohol. No one here cards or IDs you. Ever. The legal alcohol consumption age is 20, but underage drinking is pretty much accepted here. I have not been carded once for buying alcohol or entering a bar. It still surprises me, actually, since it's so strict back in the States (*rolls eyes*).

Fashion! Speaking of fashion, I rarely see women who are not dressed up nicely. The fashion style here is very distinct, since almost every woman I have encountered is dressed in the same styles. Many, many many women here wear heels. I cannot, for the life of me, stand wearing heels that often and for that long. And they walk around comfortably in heels! I guess practice does make perfect... or make it so that it looks perfect and comfortable. It's also trendy to wear "tattoo tights" or frilly socks with heels. Tops are silky and flowy; they don't really have many fitted tops here. Skirts are also long and flowy; if they're not long, they're short but worn with tights. Jeans here are very rare, though sometimes I do see the occasional student who is casually dressed. The color palette is pretty much the same: soft pastel colors, which include white, pink, yellow, beige, grey, baby blue, navy, and black. I've noticed that a lot of my peers and friends (myself kinda included) have started dressing up or at least dressing a lot nicer since school has started. I do try to dress up nicely sometimes, but there are days in which I feel like looking like a slob (i.e. t-shirt and jeans/regular shorts)... and I get weird stares from people.

One last point: sunglasses. No one here wears or uses sunglasses; if they do, then you would know that they are probably a gaijin (foreigner). Some elderly women do use sun visors, but in my opinion they look kinda weird and they would probably be better off using actual sunglasses. I use sunglasses because I'd rather not have the sun shining in my eyes, but it does make me look a bit out of place. 

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The weather this weekend was absolutely fantastic, so of course I had some sightseeing to do before rainy season (and warm/humid weather) arrives!

Yesterday, Kaoru and I went to Fushimi Inari Taisha, a famous historical site in Kyoto. Its claim to fame is the many torii that line the paths up the mountain. It also has a 14 second spot in Memoirs of a Geisha (which I haven't watched in ages).

As mentioned in the Wiki article, foxes (kitsune) are a common motif throughout Fushimi Inari. Kaoru also mentioned that the area is famous for its "kitsune udon," so I tried it. Kitsune udon contains fried bean curd that is cooked with sweet soy sauce. I got the set, which also came with inarizushi (fried tofu filled with sushi rice). As expected, it was delicious. :)

And that was my Saturday! Along with lots of walking and biking (to Kawaramachi and then to Lindsay's). I'll make a separate post about today's visit to Arashiyama. :)

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We went to see Iron Man 3 on opening night! IM3 opens a week earlier in Japan than in the U.S.! :)

In the theater, we ran into someone who was cosplaying as Loki from The Avengers (when he was in Stuttgart). It was awesome 'cause the cosplayer was also from Stuttgart! We also received a free IM3 folder, as depicted in the bottom photos :) And of course, the movie itself was fantastic! (No spoilers will be posted here, I promise!) Apologies to P-chan, who had the unfortunate luck to have sat next to me throughout the film. I kept freaking out and.... yeah. Sorry!