Since the wonderful Hayman Kent visited my blog a few hours ago I have made some creative decisions. First of all, this subject will most likely be my favourite of the year. Yes, that is a decision I can just make. Networked Media’ll be my favourite because, like Writing Media Texts last semester, I get to write pretty much what I want, how I want. Only, this time I have to keep it a little more professional. Posting while a tad inebriated at 2:00am as I kill time on my nightrider is possibly not the smartest move in that regard, but I am a sophisticated drunk. Anyho, I like controlling a medium and having the prerogative to post all the random <EXPLETIVE DELETED> that I feel like, so long as I keep it relatively proffesh.
Second of all, my spur of the moment idea to force poor Hayman Kent (of Live on Bowen ‘fame’) to post whatever came to mind became an even better idea, when I realised I could demonstrate my ability to read a text.
Should you read Hayman’s confusing post, you’ll find no direct reference to Networked Media, but me – with my almighty mind all full of the unholy need to make irrelevant connections between things – I can sense the almost-psychic bond with briefly shared that led to a deeper semiotic meaning being embedded within her words which leads directly to the subject.
By calling to attention a fact that no one has ever noticed or cared to notice, Hayman is demonstrating humanity’s innate ability to ignore plain ideas even when they are repeatedly presented to them. Networked Media explores this as well, much like Adrian Miles’ poem, by taking advantage of the ‘ocean of ideas’ and being affected by the waves. In this case, the alpaca is a specific idea, a molecule in the ocean, and Hayman is bringing it to the surface in her wavy-ness and rocking the boat, so it would seem.
She furthers the notion of our failure to comprehend plain facts by complicating a simple idea. If all alpacas have long elbow hair, does that make them all members of an ethnic group that stereotypically has long elbow hair? Thusly, would they not be named ‘Fabio’? If we, as people, are so readily able to ignore the obvious, why could we not ignore the obvious fact that alpacas aren’t all Brazilian or whatever? Is it not strange that our knowledge of alpacas brings us to the conclusion that they are simply animals? We forget their elbow hair. We forget their ethnicity. We forget them. They are less than ideas, they are simply passing thoughts. So that is what Hayman is bringing us, an idea from left-of-centre, from deep in the ocean, and she is showing us how unleashing the power of subverting conventional theories and processes is a necessary step in deconstructing not just media, but life and philosophy.
You can catch Hayman Kent on Live on Bowen, Fridays at 8:30pm on C31.
Will out.