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Thursday 27 October 2011

Media, Medium, Mediate

If the Medium is the Message, and the medium is Twitter, does that mean the message is “Tweet?”
Marshall McLuhan, the incredibly influential media theorist, said “the medium is the message.” What  he was saying was the way media like Twitter constrict our messages to 140 characters (spaces included) shapes both the way we create our messages (condensing our regular speech to fit 140 characters) and the way we come to understand our world in general (how many CreCommers are starting to think in Twitter posts?).

Case in point:

Here’s a writer our Creative Writing instructor, Karen Press, showed us. He writes SHORT stories in 140 characters. When I first saw his Twitter roll I thought no way can this guy make any kind of impact in that small of space. No links. No videos. No pictures (because we all know they’re worth a 1000 words).

It was like he was cutting all the junk, all the superficial niceties out of his story and just leaving the bones. You fill in the blanks.

He calls them “twisters.” He says he’s written thousands.

Reading his feed got me thinking about how though a medium like Twitter can tempt you into monosyllabic ‘What’s happening?’ answers, it can also force you to rise to the challenge of 140 characters. If every letter counted, what would you write?

I think what he’s doing is looking for shock value. In his posts there’s a place-setting opening line. Maybe another. And then he writes something unexpected – often something that is so ordinary that it startles me into a giggle.

(Though it’s not hard to do that.)

Means, not the End
Now I don’t want to give the impression that Arjun Basu is the be all and end all of creative short fiction. Clearly there are some of his stories that I enjoy more than others. There’s other still that I don’t get at all. I just needed an example of how media like Twitter, FaceBook posts, and text messages can be used in unintended ways to great effect.

Feel free to disagree with me on this.

But still on Basu…
Where does he find the time to write all these posts? He’ll write six, seven, eight stories a day. And it takes most of us first year CreComm students hours to cut out 50 words from our writing only to realize we just wrote 49 more.

He must think in Twitter posts. (Wink wink McLuhan.) But how is he at carrying on a conversation?

Challenge
Karen Press, I mentioned her, told us to write a story in under 500 words. It had to have a beginning, middle and end. I think I got mine to around 200 words.

I wrote about my dog.

Tip
If you’re thinking of trying your hand at REALLY, REALLY, REALLY short story writing here’s a tip from Fred Stenson: ask yourself what’s the latest this story can start? And, what’s the earliest this story can end.

Rarely do you want to be with your character when he wakes up in the morning. At least, that’s what Stenson says.

Marshall McLuhan
Fun Fact
Did you know Marshall McLuhan was raised in Winnipeg?

Thursday 20 October 2011

Monday 17 October 2011

Made you look!

A couple of years ago Winnipeg shop owners faced an interesting problem. A sign-napper. This person–whomever they were—took it upon themselves to rearrange the letters on street-level message boards.

For a brief time, a beauty salon on Main Street had 10% off sperm instead of 10% off perms, a restaurant on Leila had a special on boiled chicken instead of broiled chicken and, well, you get the picture.

After a while this guy—or gal—went M.I.A. Much to the dismay of those of us enjoying the occasional giggle they provided.

This morning, however, commuters in Charleswood were presented with this interesting thought on a lit up road sign.

Photo taken from Winnipeg Free Press website, Oct. 17, 2011



While Manitoba Public Insurance, who owns and operates the signs, was suitably “shocked” at the electronic F-bomb, the comments I read on the Free Press website are loving it.

It’s funny.

I LOVE IT!!

Keep the new word.

Hacked...hardly.

Despite what any of us may think about the legalities, swearing, etcetera, you have to admit it made people look.

And that, despite itself, is good advertising.

It’s like really short shorts on a middle-aged man. Or really red flowers on a poinsettia plant. Or baby wiener dogs. You’ll look every time.

So, what’s your opinion on the signs? Funny or inappropriate?

Tuesday 11 October 2011

Love the prairies. Love the prairies in the fall.

On my way to Victoria Beach. 
The field looks like a conveyor belt, doesn't it?
I wish I could write poetry.
It feels like a moment for poetry.

Thursday 6 October 2011

High Heels Good For Joints

Sex and the City Fundraiser for The Arthritis Society tonight

Ask me what's better than a Thursday night spent with your girls (and your moms!) watching Sex and the City?

Nothing, baby.

Tonight The Arthritis Society is hosting a Sex and the City fundraiser at the Garrick Theater and I'm so very excited because this time ... I'm old enough to have one of those gorgeous pink martinis!

As I sit school, exhausted from a long week that's not yet over, my left knee aching though I refuse to uncross my leg, I can only think that there is no better place on earth to host this thing.

There are about 200,000 Manitobans are living with arthritis. 2/3 of them are women. And I can think of a couple who aren't about to give up their cute shoes.

Hello, no sleep tonight. It's nice to see you again.

Monday 3 October 2011

It's a small world after all.

Today I met a friend. Actually, today I met a friend's friend.

Now that friend of my friend is the president of one of the student associations at The University of Winnipeg.

And guess who's his vice-president? That's right - my best friend.

You see the thing about Winnipeg - that I was so acutely reminded of today - is that everybody knows everybody.

I love it.