My days aren't just "medium"

Dissecting the average day and examining it in media-related chunks is fascinating. In fact, I realized that what I consider an 'average' day would amaze anyone that isn't familiar with contemporary society. I'm informed and entertained through so many different avenues that I never took the time to stop and consider each for their own unique value. The following is a record of what I consider to be an extraordinarily average day.

"It's morning edition from NPR news, I'm steve Inskeep, and..." I roll out of bed blindly and shuffle to my dresser, glancing back at my clock RADIO: 7:01 AM. I don't use the radio much for musical purposes, I have an mp3 player for that. Instead I like to use it for information gathering. Steve and his colleague Renee Montagne give me the low down on today's weather: cold with a chance of snow. Not surprising. They discuss the collapse of a 2,000 year old building in the ancient site of Pompeii as I pull a fresh shirt over my head. The news makes my inner Latin student cringe.

What will become of the remains of one of Latin culture's most important city?

(Image found here)

NPR is immensely popular, I'm only one of "three to four million listeners per day," (1.) It's a noncommercial network, so I know that it doesn't have a monetary agenda, so their reports are geared towards general national interests, making it relevant to many. Steve is conducting an interview with a candidate for an upcoming election that I sadly don't have time to hear right now. The door closes, my morning radio needs fulfilled.

The next phase of my morning involves a bowl of cereal and today's edition of The New York Times, my choice connection to world news. I feed my stomach and my brain simultaneously, contradicting a supposed "failure of many papers to attract younger readers," (1.) NEWSPAPERS allow me to glean information regarding almost every aspect of society: sports, world news, political updates, business, etc. My spoon clatters against the bowl, splashing milk all over the cover page's picture of Obama and his wife at a campaign rally earlier in the year.

The American morning.

(Image found here)

I skipped over the Obama cover story and other political news, looking for something to get my brain juice flowing. A heading, "New Spy Game: Trade Secrets Sold Overseas," grabs my attention. The article tells the tale of a Chinese scientist working in Indiana, deviously sharing his company's secrets with Chinese scientists then obtaining grants from China to help them form a rival business. I became increasingly startled as I read, thinking about how many different ways our country is being attacked right under our noses. I drain my bowl and decide to clear the idea of a Chinese world take-over from my head with a little bit of television before I head out to class.

I guess I'm a serial TELEVISION watcher. That is, I get glued to the shows that have "...story lines continue from episode to episode." I usually watch these kinds of shows marathon style, hoarding episodes on TiVo. I flip to a Tivo'd episode of Bored to Death because only news and cartoons are on air right now. I sit back and relax while time still permits, ready for some lighthearted comedy.

Two of Bored to Death's main characters, doing what they do best.

(Video found on Youtube)

Bored to Death is my favorite HBO (Home Box Office) show on air. HBO shows account for a majority of my television viewing, despite the fact that "HBO reaches less than one-third the audience of a popular basic channel." I give almost every new HBO series a shot because they're usually right up my alley.

Ahh, the morning short-bus. Jammed full of grumpy kids who're too tired to even make casual conversation. I find a seat and launch my iPod, enveloping myself in MUSIC. My iPod holds 64 gigabytes of MP3 files which, "enables digital recordings to be compressed into smaller, more manageable files," (1.) This nifty device puts hundreds of hours worth of music at my fingertips and has become essential to my wellbeing. I throw on,

by The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and close my eyes.

(Video found here)

Music doesn't just make the cramped, uncomfortable ride bearable; it makes the whole experience enjoyable. I open my eyes as the song ends and the bus turns onto Maple Street, now nearly at Champlain campus. Tweezer by Phish plays next, the uplifting jam giving me the energy necessary to make it to really start my day.

On the way into the cafeteria I stop on a whim and grab an Experience Burlington, Vermont from the MAGAZINE rack in the lobby. The beautiful cover picture of a Lake Champlain caught my eye, just as it should. Most magazines employ a gripping cover page to draw in readers, however...

...some seem to miss the mark.

(Image found Here)

Experience Burlington, a bagel, and I sit down at a table, my friends still in line for their meals. Just as "many leading literary figures used magazines to gain public exposure," Experience Burlington is a magazine that aims to increase public exposure of Burlington, (1.) Upcoming events in town, skiing and boarding information, recreation and camping opportunities, shopping locations and a few other relevant Burlington happenings are invitingly displayed. Vermont Quilt Festival...not too interesting. Burlington Independence Day Fireworks Celebration? Now here's something that I wouldn't mind attending.

The first thing I do after taking my seat in Concepts of the Self is pull out my copy of David Linden's BOOK The Accidental Mind. I'm starting to realize that I only find myself reading a book these days in class or for homework.

One of the few books I'm reading right now.

(Image found Here)
Regardless, books like The Accidental Mind are crucial to my college learning experience. It did cost me a pretty penny for this and all my textbooks, though. In fact, two years ago, "the average college student spent $921 and $988," and it's even worse now, (1.) But the price is deserving because every time I've opened The Accidental Mind I've gained new understandings of how and why humans function the way they do. I'm ordered to flip open to the latest chapter, discussing how humans form their sense of self. Oh boy, another nature vs. nurture discussion, these usually last all class. I quickly re-scan the pages of the chapter to beef up my argument backing nurture as the main deciding factor of our sense of self. I hope that kid across the room tries to argue for nature again, I absorbed this chapter like a sponge.

The bus ride home after class is made painless once again by my iPod. I'm back in my room before I know it. I head to my desk, sliding my finger across the sleek print identifier that protects my laptop. It never gets old. A few clicks later and I have three tabs open in my INTERNET browser, Firefox: champlain.edu to check my email and homework updates, blogger.com for the same reason, and facebook.com for a social connection. I haven't touched Myspace.com in years because of Facebook. I'm not the only one to abandon Myspace however, Facebook at one point "grew at a rate of more than two million global users a month" (1.) Firefox is my choice tool for net navigation because I can open up multiple tabs at once and it has some great protection against the nasty spam that the internet spits at me.
Firefox. Crushing internet explorer since before you were born.

(Image found here)
After getting my homework straight, I open up a new tab for imdb.com and chat boxes with my roomates, who are deviously facebooking in class. I send them IMDB reviews to convince them to watch Miller's Crossing, a Cohen brother film, later tonight. Then I jump on stumbleupon.com, my favorite way to leisurely browse the internet, because it brings you new pages relevant to your interests.

My roommates get home and MOVIE time begins. We set up the living room of our Quarry Hill apartment for maximum viewing comfort: lights off, two bowls of popcorn, drinks and a comfortable seating arrangement. The Miller's Crossing DVD starts up and the night is made; to sit back and just experience and enjoy a cinematic story for a couple hours is essential for my relaxation. Movies are always something to fall back on for me because you can forget about a bad day or on the flip-side, improve a good day. Every movie is a unique experience, a new story to experience, I love how "movies have acted to bring people together," (1.) I've had great conversations about this movie, even with people that I didn't watch it with. It's easy to find good movies after you've watched one, too, because it usually works to just look up the director and writer and then view their other work. I watch Cohen brother movies obsessively.

The great are rewarded for film excellence.

(Image found Here)

And my day drew to a close. I sit down in bed and reflect on my day because at some point I'm going to have to blog about it. Every medium that I experience is extremely significant as a part of my life in media. They all provide specialized and personalized ways to gather information, kill time, get entertained and tons of other things. My day is so saturated in media that I really have never even considered it in this way. Media and Society gave me a new pair of eyes, though.

(1)- Quote was taken from our Media & Culture textbook.