Random 'Bits and Pieces'

This is my attempt at writing a half-decent blog entry after weeks of being silent. It's just that I've been sparkly and bouncy the past weeks that I haven't been able to find anything to write (or rant) about. Browsing through my blog entries from last winter, when I got bitten by the homesick bug, it seems that I just self-represent better when I'm sad rather than when I'm happy. Isn't that sad? I don't wanna be sad to be able to write. And since I have my research proposal deadline in about a month, I don't wanna be sad.

Reflexive moment. Gosh, I sound floopy right now. So I'll just give up all pretense in getting this entry to make any sense, and just list five fun random things.

1) Hummingbird Cupcakes

A day after my birthday, Ana and I decided we still haven't had enough sweets and trooped to Hummingbird South Kensington. One divine Red Velvet cupcake costs 1.85pounds (around Php 160). Next time I vow to buy the whole Red Velvet cake. Because when I got home, I wolfed down two cupcakes in around six quick bites. What good is a treat if it doesn't stand the test of longevity?

2) Anderson Cooper

So my man Anderson is part of my everyday life. Watching AC360 every morning makes me participate in imagined communities of news junkies, responsible media critics, and white hair-fetishists. And from time to time, 'Andy' makes a comment that gets me all giggly. There was the time he said he was shy to do karaoke (memories of my dissertation!). Then there was the New Year episode where they listed the top 10 YouTube videos, with the dancing Pinoy prisonmates at No. 2. His response was a truly enthusiastic "I love it I love it I love it!" Last week he aired yet another video of the Pinoy prisonmates, and he even remarked that it's a shame that they couldn't take the show on the road. Then there's the recent episode where he watches clips of streakers getting tackled on the field. And he awkwardly refers to a streaker's genitals as "bits and pieces." (See a clip from Gawker HERE but I obviously recommend subscribing to the podcast so you can join in the media ritual.)

I know I'm always critical of journalists. After all, according to Daniel Dayan, they "have to be priests... superhuman." But yes, Anderson lives up to the impossible challenge. He's a media god.

3) Lost Season 4: "The Constant"

Lost's new season has delivered brilliant after brilliant episode. But last week's Desmond-centric "The Constant" is one of the most amazing hours of television. Ever. Not only did it bring the show's sci-fi roots out in the open with its unique take on time travel, but it masterfully played with the against-all-odds love story of Desmond and Penelope. You can read the show in so many ways: a faith-reason tuggle between Jack and Locke, a meditation on otherness (of human and nonhuman varieties, even on the otherness of reality, fate, and the future), or a tale of the castaways' spiritual redemption. But you can choose to read it as I do: Lost is about Desmond and Penelope, pawns in a game played by fate and "course correction" and by evil Daddy Widmore and Dharma. Credit also goes to the new character: Oxford scientist Daniel Faraday, who ups the geek ante and gives obsessed fans like me some representation in the show.

4) Spirit Searching Spirit
According to Richard Rogers' (2004) analysis of the political economy of search engines, Google employs systematic 'back-end politics' that favor big companies over the little people. Page rankings are not results of 'objective' or 'natural' computer algorithms; rather, they are products of people working with the specific intention to increase profit. This should explain why mmmPop, for instance, doesn't turn up on page one when searching 'pop culture'.

However, as my friends know, I've never fully trusted political economy's bleak outlook in life. I mean, it's just so depressing! I'd rather find tactics of resistance and audience creativity. That's why Jason's discovery is just absolutely amazing. Try searching my supervisor's name "Mirca Madianou" in Google Images. You get a picture of Mirca as the first image on Page 1. Then scroll to the bottom and you see pictures of Roger Silverstone and MYSELF one after another. That's no back-end politics, that's a symbolic AND real connection to the great prophet of media studies.

5) Departures/Arrivals
I'm quite sad that I won't be in Manila end March. There's Mavie's bridal shower (complete with stripper) and grand wedding, and then there's my brother's and my students' graduation a few days later. But I'm looking forward to my trips to Vancouver, Montreal, and Athens in the next two months. I'm excited to see friends I haven't seen in three years (Lawrence), nine months (Sharon), and three months (Nenita, Jason--if he gets his visa, crossing fingers!).

And I also can't wait to practice my hospitality--the constitutive virtue of the mediapolis--when friends come to visit me in the next months! Aprez vous!