Of food and blogs

So I watched "Julie and Julia" with Elena a week ago.



For those of you who didn't go and watch the show, the movie's basically about a stressed out office worker, Julie Powell (Amy Adams), who decided to start a blog that chronicles her experiences cooking the 524 recipes in chef Julia Child's (Meryl Streep) "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". The movie shows both Julie and Julia's respective lives and how they each started on blogging and cooking.



To be honest, I thought that the movie would be boring and even complicated. I mean, a movie depicting two women in different eras? But after watching it, I'm happy to say that the movie has earned its numerous good reviews. Both stories about Julie and Julia's road to success were expertly woven together. It is interesting to see so many parallels between the two main characters (as pointed out by Julia in the movie)...both have supportive husbands, similar passions, their own struggles for recognition, and eventual success. Of course, the food was amazing. Every time a new dish was served up in the movie, Elena and I just had to be content with our popcorn and ice lemon tea while the actors "mmmm-ed" and "oooooh-ed" over the good food. It didn't help when they gave such accurate descriptions of the textures and smells either! Oh, and some of the scenes were real funny...like the one where Julie was accused of being a “Lobster Killer”. Plus the superb performance by the legendary Meryl Streep and the sweet Amy Adams, the movie is a definite must watch!

Using blogging as one of the main themes of the movie is interesting, especially when we live in a digital age. According to Marshall McLuhan, this would be the 4th epoch: the electronic epoch. With the invention of the telegraph, people are able to communicate over vast distances and are no longer bound by geographical distance. Other technological advancements like radio, television and more recently the internet have contributed significantly in bringing people together to form a “global village”. This is especially so with the advent of web 2.0. Blogs, wiki, RSS and the like are created by the user for other users. The web has become a dynamic platform where potentially anything is possible.

Despite the prevalence of blogs, many still frown upon them. I know of people who think that blogging is just a downright narcissistic attempt to parade private lives in front of strangers (pffft, and these hypocrites are on facebook and twitter). Although I do agree that some bloggers (regrettably) do that, I think that blogs are a way for us to share what we feel, see, think through words, pictures, and even videos with people from all around the world. Blogs can serve to be an information portal, a form of entertainment, provide inspiration, become a business or just be a regular record of everyday life. Being a blogger myself, I understand the joy of having people to visit and comment on your own blog. It is wonderful to share ideas with others, and even more so to know that people are actually reading your posts (see Julie when she got her first readers).

There are billions of blogs that exist in cyberspace, and here is to share some of them that I find interesting:
ieatishootipost (a foodie blog recommended by a friend)
pleasefindthis(it might be cheesy to some, but I still find this sort of beautiful)
mr brown (loaded with satire material that pokes fun at Singapore issues)

After watching the show, I visited Julie Powell's blog just to see how it was like. Reading some random posts, I must say her blog is witty and humorous. It would be better if her posts were accompanied with pictures though, so readers would be able to see how each dish turned out. Nevertheless, it was a joy to read…no wonder it garnered so much popularity to be made into a movie!

So here’s to blogs, food and communication theories…Bon Appétit!

The Little Prince

Lately I've gone back to reading "The Little Prince" written by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. The story is about a boy (the little prince) who lived on a planet and set out to travel through the galaxy, finally visiting Earth where he met the narrator. The various visits to the different planets reveal many profound ideas about life....which is one of the main reasons why I love the book.

In the story, the discovery of the little prince's planet, B-612, is one of the most memorable parts of the book for me.The asteroid was spotted by a Turkish astronomer in 1909, and here is an extract on how he went on to present his findings:

On making his discovery, the astronomer had presented it to the International Astronomical Congress, in a great demonstration. But he was in Turkish costume, and so nobody would believe what he said.

Grown-ups are like that. . .

Fortunately, however, for the reputation of Asteroid B-612, a Turkish dictator made a law that his subjects, under pain of death, should change to European costume. So in 1920 the astronomer gave his demonstration all over again, dressed with impressive style and elegance. And this time everybody accepted his report.

Just by changing his appearance, the astronomer received totally different treatment. He wasn't treated seriously when dressed in his Turkish costume (I do like it though!). But when dressed in a proper suit, his presentation became well received. My initial response to this glaring contrast was indignation-people not judge a book by its cover. However, it slowly gave way to my second response: the truth is this is what we all do...it is human nature.

According to Erving Goffman, this is what he would call impression management-"the process of managing setting, words, nonverbal communication, and dress in an effort to create a particular image of individuals and situations". We constantly manage our words, actions and overall behavior to create impressions on other people. But at the same time, we base our perceptions on people with impressions too. For example, you won't dress too casually or walk with a swagger when you go for a job interview. This is obviously because the employer would think that you are not serious about the job and would most probably not hire you at all. Conversely, if you were an employee at the company and saw someone like that walking in for the interview, you probably won't want to work with him either.

If we think about it, impression management is similar to George Herbert Mead's ideas of the ME and I, particularly the ME. The I is the part of us which is "impulsive, creative, spontaneous, and generally unburdened by social rules and restrictions". In contrast, the ME represents the side of us that is "analytical, evaluative, and above all aware of social conventions, rules, and expectations". The ME and impression management both emphasizes on the social aspect in communication. We act in accordance to how we want society to see us, instead of doing something socially incorrect.

Still, it is important to note that we cannot always depend on impressions to make accurate evaluations on people. First impressions are on the surface and is not a good way to judge people by it, especially for long term relationships. As the fox in later chapters in the book said, "On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux" ("It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye"). Impressions are important, but not everything.

L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux. Yes, I do love the book.

When stupid people became minimally exceptional...

George Carlin - Soft Language

Wow.

In this video, George Carlin has done an amazing job in demonstrating the use of euphemisms, or 'soft language'. Through the video, he has given many examples of euphemisms that are commonly used (old people as senior citizens) to those that are hilariously indirect. My favorite: vomit as involuntary personal protein spill.

We have transformed words into less direct, little impact terms through using euphemisms or euphemistic language. Quoted from the comedian himself, they "hide the truth" and "conceal reality". Too true. His other examples regarding the government (lies as disinformation) and hospitals (malpractice as therapeutic misadventure) brings attention to the fact that even important institutions use euphemisms-to escape responsibility or conceal facts. It is just scary to think that euphemisms are used in so many areas of our lives for such purposes.

Take the example of Minibonds from the Lehman Brothers. Although named as such, Minibonds are "not bonds but a derivative product that offers investors little protection". Since these products are not actually bonds, why are they given this misleading name? And so, with the Lehman Brothers' collapse in America, Singaporean investors were not spared either. Tons of Singaporeans who have invested in Minibonds lost their life savings just like that, many of them old people who have low levels of education. All because of the deceptive terms that were used.

Language is a powerful tool, and can be used to sway decisions. Therefore it is important for us to discern the true meanings behind euphemisms to make wise decisions. Amidst the criticisms, semanticists got it right when they said meanings are contextual! We should check the territory, or even the aim for using certain words, to prevent being fooled. Why did the organization use this word? Does the language used seem to obscure true meaning? From mass media messages to government policies, euphemisms seem to be omnipresent. This is all the more why we should be careful not to let labels or language shape meanings more than the actual facts.

So much for euphemisms, huh.

HELLO WORLD!

Hello hello!
Yes, another blog for communications class. And yes, I actually did this before for another communications class. Its a pretty boring and average attempt in my opinion...I just can't seem to blog about theories and make them interesting (no offense to this assignment). Let's hope second time's the charm, eh?

Well, the name for this blog was originally meant to be chittychattybangbang (because it sounds better). But apparently some kid from Australia used this name first and has decorated her blog with huge pink/purple words containing vocabulary like 'gr8' instead of 'great'. That's nice.

So I went ahead with chattychittybangbang. Not as catchy, but the content from chattychitty would be so much better than chittychatty any day. So please look forward to my posts, and do comment to prevent yet another boring and average attempt for such blogging assignments! :D