Razor blades and Three Muskateers

Halloween is Christmas morning for the pedophile.

As hoards of unrecognizable and often unsupervised children approach strangers doors, eyes widen as opportunity arises. The gleam from the thick pair of bifocals and meaty mustache that sits upon a smirking upper lip compliment the devilish desires that on this very night rise from the grave and attack the weary.

This Halloween, we take back the night.

Across the nation, different cities are issuing court rulings demanding registered sex offenders to hang "No Candy" signs on their front lawns. As the night often disguises the sex offender status, this is an extremely important decision.

"Maryland is one of a growing number of states that are expanding restrictions on sex offenders for Halloween, including required signage and curfews." (Dizikes,C. (2008, October 31)No Haloween for Marylands sex offenders. LA Times. Retrieved October 31st, 2008 from http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-pumpkin31-2008oct31,0,2115760.story)

Other states jumping on board include Missouri and Indiana. In regards to Missouri, they're dealing with this issue for the long term future, not necessarily this Halloseason.

"Federal judge Carol E. Jackson ruled Monday that a Missouri state law restricting the activities and mobility of sex offenders on Halloween was to be blocked pending linguistic restructuring." (Mumford-Zisk, B. (2008, October 29)No candy for you. The Spectrum)

As these two publications have portrayed similar material, they have definitely done so in different manners.

With The Spectrum, UB's very own newspaper, the article is found on page 2 on the designated editorial section. Since it's on the opinion page, it also issues the papers sentiments as well. Alongside the article is an opinion piece on race and voting, a list of the members of the newspaper, and an article dealing with airline ticket pricing.

With the online LA Times article we notice a significant difference. For one, if you didn't see the article on the front page, you'd have to search the site to find it. The article is a strict reporting piece, so it does it's best to serve no bias. The major factor that differentiates this online piece from print are the advertisements.

Right in the middle of the article are links to different Google sites dealing with sex offenders. On the sides we find links to the other sections of the paper, election sites, entertainment links, and even a picture of a dog, toting the site's member photography.

Online journalism is a giant advertisement with an article fit snuggly within the linking boarders. Print journalism remains focused on the topic and that alone.

Further delving into online details, we can look at this breakdown.

"Interactive options on Web sites can be subdivided into three types or forms: navigational interactivity (through 'Next Page' and 'Back to Top' buttons or scrolling menubars), functional interactivity (through direct mailto: -links, Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) and moderated discussion lists for example), or adaptive interactivity (offering chatrooms and personal customization through 'smart webdesign'; see Guay, 1995)." (http://www.firstmonday.org/ISSUES/issue6_10/deuze/index.html)

Print journalism remains strong because of the mom and pop and ocal citizens who want to read about their localized, sub-divided culture and area without any big-town bias or spin.

"And despite the world-wide reach of online media, that very world-wide reach dilutes the value of online to those constituents." (http://seekingalpha.com/article/30749-why-print-journalism-will-never-really-die)

Though both fields of journalism, those of online and print are worlds apart. Where does your allegiance lie?

Heres lookin at you Lackaff.

Do you have what it takes?

Amidst the faux-socialite run blogs currently rousing the internet and blogisphere, therein lies locally run institutions designed to inform and educated. One such local blog with political prowess is that of KillerBuffalo, located at www.killerbuffalo.com

This Killer blog was designed and is run by a multi-member staff. The blog itself was co-founded by David Lamb, who acts as the managing editor, works for Grind Mode Magazine and still remains refined under the watchful eye of high school, and Nicole Adams, Civil Rights Editor and editor for Third Street magazine in Canada.

Also in charge of the site are William Hakim and William Leich, who work as Election Politics Editor and staff writer, respectively. Hakim is the co-author of the Three Trillion Dollar War and regularly contributes to varying online and in print sources. Leich is well versed and has long been a part of the local political movement.

The blog originated on July, 14th 2008 and has been up to date on political issues and polls ever since.

The blog itself doesn't seem to have a Technorati ranking, but the blog Famous Blogs, which named Killer Buffalo as it's blog of the day on Friday August 29th, has a rank of 8,342 and an Authority of 383.

The blog maintains a serious tone and concerned critique throughout. From pointing out flaws in McCain's platform, mentioning what Palin has done right and wrong, the public's perception of the Republican candidates and a seemingly milktose view of Obama, the sitetries to be completely unbiased, but often times a wavering slant shifts to the left. Look for yourself at a featured blog on the site.

"I am not discrediting McCain for the negativity of his marketing alone. I am discrediting him for his organization’s incompetence in adhering to the recipe for successful campaigning. What has worked in the past would work at the present and into the future, if he let it. Obama’s campaign has proved this." (http://culturedecoded.wordpress.com)

As celebrities and media spin affect peoples views on politicians and politics in general, blogs are doing the same. Some sites are celebrity orientated and bring in viewers by the hoard and often time issue endorsements or negative messages towards certain McCain Palins, like that of Perez Hilton. Relatively unpolitical people are being molded by wizards of e-oz.

"In the US, for instance, political blogs have almost become mainstream, with some sporting weekly reach and unique visitors numbers which exceed all but a handful of major newspapers. The Huffington Post, Captain's Quarters...the list goes on and on, and the influence grows." (McDonald, Stewart. http://stuart.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2006/4/27/1915373.html)

And guess what? William Hakim just so happens to work and contribute to the Huffington Post.

Go fig.

Minds are being shaped. Killer Buffalo is an extremely successful local blog. As viewers increase, so does the sites affect. As New York is an extremely Democratic state, sites of the sort will only spread the disease, or cure, depending on which side your affiliations lie, and turn your intern and eyes blue.

Buffalo isn't exactly a marquee city, but it isn't small by any means. As the second biggest city in the NY, our say is wildly important to the popular vote in New York.

With the knowledge and power on your finger tips, don't let it be influenced by bloggers who show you what they want to, to shape your opinions. McCain, Obama, Palin, Biden. The choice is yours, not Killer Buffalo's.

Read, gain knowledge, but don't just do it here. Do it on other sites. On tv stations. In newspapers. Over the radio. Guerrilla research. Who will win? Who will you vote for?


Do you think you can make it past the temple guards (bloggers), through the marsh, to voting booth where you have to assemble the silver monkey in order to vote and get out of the temple in under 3 minutes? Time is waining. And a presidency and free trip to space camp is depending on it.

Go!

Play me louder, faster, harder...

If the internet was a whore, we'd be her pimp.

Literally every day, new applications arise online and we use them until they bleed. We take them to their limits, render them useless and dispose of them in search of something younger, fresher and better.

Being the chauvinist that I am, I'm always looking to take advantage of what the internet has to offer. For the last two years, my mistress of choice has been Playlist.com

The site serves as a search engine for all the songs on the internet. Once you search for the song you want, you can add it to your own individualized playlist. With this paylist you can add up to 80 songs of your choosing and play them whenever you please.

It's your very own mixtape. If only it came with your very own John Cusack to stand outside your window with his big boom box and blast it for you.

Once you've composed your playlist, you can add it to your Myspace, Facebook, blog, ect. You can even edit its appearance and format. It gives you the ability to play your favorite music on your page, no questions asked.

The site is extremely simple to use and is laid out in an extremely basic fashion. On its homepage you can click tabs taking you to the song search engine, user playlist search, blogs, and news. It's self-explanatory and simple to navigate.

You can even create your own profile, adding pictures and a biography, showing fellow playlisters the man (or woman) behind the music. You can befriend and message users and share your music, exposing yourself and others to virgin audio territory or just share your thoughts via comment.

Www.Playlist.com is extremely useful, especially for those who want to listen to their music while online. Even the casual listener looking for a fun time will find refuge.

I'm sure she'll get sick of me or vice versa, but until that happens, I'll use her until I'm sweaty, breathless and ready for a nap. God bless free music and its exposure.

Verbal rape and why I liked it

Hey Derek. What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me? Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song. I will try not to sing out of key.

Now we may not have all had our younger, wonder years documented on film and set to the theme music of Joe Cocker like that of Fred Savage and Derek Lackaff, but with photographs, home videos and a little thing called memory, we have these stories and images that make us laugh and wonder what the hell is on Joey's head. More importantly, we have forever persevered milestones that we can look back upon and make us long for what once was.

Looking back to my freshman year, and I'm talking pre-ponytail, I had my first meaningful experience with an online moderated community. The results were far greater than what I ever would have expected.

As a timid freshman, fresh out of all boys school and commuting all the way from South Buffalo, being dropped in the middle of a giant campus with no friends and little idea on how to change that was intimidating to say the least. Amidst a sea of gen-eds and filler was English 102, the only class I was actually looking forward to.

After walking into a class of thirty people I didn't know and striking up casual conversation, I had hope that I would actually meet and befriend some new people. And as the only small class on my schedule, it really was my only hope.

Though everyone seemed relatively friendly, conversation never really reached anything more than chit-chat. Then, our fearless leader Sarah Campbell informed us that we would be writing online assignments each week and fittingly commenting on each others work.

Yep. Forced communication. It was embarrassing. It was verbal rape. It was an invasion of privacy. It was exactly what we needed.

Fun topics and boring ones alike, there was always an outpouring of response towards every post. And with responses came further responses from the author and banter back and forth. Eventually it turned into an every day thing and almost everyone would joke and chat on topic and off. We couldn't wait for the next online work day.

"People in virtual communities do just about everything people do in real life, but we leave our bodies behind. " Fernback, J., & Thompson, B. (1995). Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure? Retrieved 17 October, 2008, from The Well Web site: http://www.well.com/~hlr/texts/VCcivil.html


As the playful online conversations developed, we added each other on Facebook and began to talk outside of class. We started to hang out. Legitimate friendships developed. Internet became reality.

"Part of what makes the negotiation of Friendship on social network sites tricky is that it’s deeply connected to participant’s offline social life." Boyd, D. (December 2006). Friends, Friendsters, and Top 8: Writing community into being on social network sites. Retrieved 17 October, 2008, from First Monday Web site: http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue11_12/boyd/

One of my best friends today came from that fateful English 102 class. I still talk to a lot of my former classmates and I have multiple friendships that have stemmed from the ones I formed in that class.

And most importantly, I came out of my shell. I'm far, far more outgoing and confident because of that class. This online community helped me as a student and more importantly, as a person.

Once a shy and lonely freshman, I'm now in the midst of a near year long relationship with a beautiful girl and have way more friends than I would ever thought I would.

It's so much easier to hit enter than to say something face to face. But when you can take that online interaction and turn it into something real, we truly make the most of the internet and mesh the online community with the one we live in.

Oh the memories. Fast forward to 2008 and the impending midterm of doom. Le sigh.

What would Tyler Durden do?

You.

There's really only a handful of reasons to use the internet. Downloading, checking the news, communication, gaming, reading gossip, and pron.

Whether you do one or two of the aforementioned, or run the gamut, it all takes stock in your online identity, creating something or someone that's far greater than your normal being in everyday life.

Wanton webmasters like D. Lacakaff use the internet as their breeding grounds - engulfing anything and everything in their way - downloads, noobz, IP addresses, ect. He devours them with ease and a smile on his face, becoming an online entity like the blob, getting faster, stronger, better, (harder?) with each new acquisition.

Looking past our commander in chief, other online impresarios shine. Perez Hilton is easily the biggest and most flamboyant, but my personal favorite is Tyler Durden.

I know what you're thinking. "Tylder Durden is a character from the movie and novel Fight Club, not an online maven," relax.

On the blog site What Would Tyler Durden Do, a blogger who poses as Tyler Durden from the Palahniuk masterpiece Fight Club has created an identity that's not only far different than who he normally is, but someone who is much more powerful than he could have ever imagined.

Using the most chauvinistic, tongue in cheek critique, WWTDD lampoons and lambastes every celeb and socialite on the gossip scene with a tone and diction one would expect from Brad Pitt's fictional Durden.

He says everything you want to say, and more. It's shameless, unwavering, and wildly entertaining.

With each critique lies a picture or video or the person of topic. Sometimes they're in compromising positions, sometimes they're making a proverbial ass of themselves, sometimes it's extremely inappropriate (Miley Cyrus, anyone?), but it's always welcome as Durden's take no prisoners satire is unlike anything else on the web.

The man behind the Durden mask is unknown. He wants viewers to believe he really is Tyler Durden, and for all intents and purposes, he is. In real life, odds are that he's an every day Joe, but online he's the alpha male with women quaking in pleasure in his path and roars of laughter riding every word he says.

And since no one knows who the real Durden is, other than the Fat Penguin Media company that owns the site, just about any skilled hacker with a biting wit and love of chauvinism could take over the reigns of the Tyler Durden and carry on in the previous ones footsteps without anyone every knowing it happened. And if this did happen, what would become of the old Durden?

Since his power stemmed from an online identity, everything he was would vanish. His medium, his words would be taken away. All he would have is reality, and for those who have seen Fight Club, it's a lot less endearing than what you believe it to be when you're on top of the world or knee deep in an identity you created for yourself that's contrary to your own.

It's a tricky game creating and maintain an online identity. Watch your back Derek. Someone might just be lurking in the shadows looking to step in your boots and take over your online empire.