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Nicholas Quinones Com 350 Motion/social Paper

Memes have evolved with the internet into a perfect looking glass on society. From there beginning memes reflected small sentiments and feelings of communities but as the internet grew they did as well. New memes are reflections of the fast paced and volatile climate of today and give communities fast and easy ways to communicate and spread their ideas. Memes will be around as long as them internet is but the forms they take will shift and grow with society. From these memes we can learn and share a lot but along with the message, story, or feeling being shared with those memes there is also a laugh. Now you know more about memes I hope you take memes more seriously now.

People do not take memes seriously, and I don’t know whether it is because they are on the internet (a media that is constantly overlooked) or because they are only looked at for their surface value. Memes are like any other media reflections of communities. In today’s world there is nothing untouched by the internet and through the internet the greatest gage for societal feeling has reached its peak, the meme. Memes have been around since the dawn of the internet and has been a good indicator of the feeling of communities. Today most people are exposed to memes by instagram and facebook, but in the infancy of the internet huge social media sites did not exist so everything was spread out. The evolution of memes consists of mainly content change with the same form factors. Memes are snapshots of popular culture, culture at large and have a variety of effects but most of all memes are funny …. Or are supposed to be.

In the internet's infancy the content was heavy monitored and 100% educational. The first uses of the internet was to transfer information between colleges but with the advent of home computing that changed quickly. At first it was a spark with fansites and forums, then a flame with the “.com” boom of the 2000’s and finally with the widespread use of smartphones the internet is ablaze with people and business changing from minute to minute. Memes are a perfect reflection of the old feelings and the new change. A Meme is defined as an element of a culture or system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, especially imitation. At first memes where more specialized in their communities and spread from peer to peer, but with the concept of going viral new memes are pumped out every day and are spread from platform to platform to get maximum exposure. This is the concept of “old” and “new” memes.

Fans of old memes are angry at new memes for “shit posting”; which is “The constant posting of mildly amusing but usually unfunny memes, videos or other pictures that are completely random or unrelated to any discussions”- Urban dictionary. I believe the fast paced posting  and changing of memes perfectly illustrates the shorten attention span of society. A great example of this is the recent united airline incident. In summary a passage was mistreated (to say the least) and the internet spread outrage and hate for this airline. In this case the memes helped the passengers case by putting it on a national stage and having people who did not even see the video of the abuse on his side and also caused a sharp dip in united airline stock. The life cycle of this meme was just like most new memes short and violent. Most new meme life cycles are outrage, then proliferation, after that combination, and death. Now this life cycle can change and reset form any point. In 2016 one of (in my opinion) the greatest new memes was born threw the death of a gorilla. In short harambe the gorilla was shot and killed in the cincinnati zoo and was immortalized threw national television and a series of real world effects. These effects included the temporary shutting down of the cincinnati zoo’s social media, several positions to get harambe a national holiday as well as 10,000 americans writing harambe for the 2016 national elections. These new memes took a national stage very quickly and died just as quick, but not all new meme leave the realm of the internet, some life to be old memes.

“Old meme are best memes”- old internet people. Old meme are most commonly communications of ideas, sentiments, and jokes. A solid long lasting meme is the “good guy gary”; this meme is just to recognize a random kindness that happen to you. This meme is long standing and used in almost all communities. Most of the time memes new or old share a negative tone because it is easier to get a reaction from anger than happiness. A equally old but more widely used meme is the “scum bag steve” and the “bad luck brian” these are used to communicate displease with someone's actions or telling something bad that happen to you. These meme have long lives and are not often change. One example of an old meme that changed but continued its life is the “pepperidge farm remembers” meme. This meme is used to satirize nostalgia or communicate nostalgia. When first “born” this meme actually used a still frame from old the pepperidge farms commercials but as that reference became more obscure the meme evolved and resurge when “Family Guy” made a reference to that meme in animated form. This reference communicated the same idea to a newer audience and gave new life to the meme. The life cycle for an old meme is outrage/usability, proliferation, and repurpose/continued use; the key being usability.  

Meme are the perfect use of visual thinking, these different types of memes all express something but there are major differences in how they express them. The old meme usually express an idea or concept that is shorten but can be reused. The memes discussed before are expressions of ideas of happiness, anger and self deprecation. Old memes are use to help tell a story but new ones are the story. New memes are born out of the 24 hour news cycle and the constant shift of the internet. These memes only last as long as the news story, or outrage lasts. Looking at old memes and new meme at their surface level they seem like cute funny stories that have no reflection on society. Social media entrepreneur Amy Jo Martin has said “Social media is the ultimate equalizer. It gives a voice and a platform to anyone willing to engage.” and that is what makes memes a perfect reflection of society, the ease of communication and spread of the same ideas. Memes can communicate ideas, feelings, emotions, and stories in a single frame and when combined with communities you can visually see what groups of people feel.

The new meme shows the shorten attention span and displeasure of communities today. They are more specific and harbor more specific and volatile communities. Old memes show long lasting feeling that are expressed in many different communities and slowly change but are more stable.

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Wu-tan powerpoint

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Nicholas Quinones Com 350 visual

When looking back at the history of music it will be unmistakable the contribution that the Wu-Tang Clan has give not only to the rap community but to the world. Form their beginnings as small New York Rappers, to their voices as mega rap stars, and movie makers they have made their own path that many have failed to follow. The broke rule and made new one in the rap word, and had fun while doing it. They have preserved the most important element as a content creator no matter the cost, there voice and that voice makes them the best rap group of all time with some of the best rappers.

There is only one rap group that I can say without a doubt in my mind is the best of all time. This group started in the golden age of rap and had all the correct elements that made them stars but still somehow did not sell out (in my opinion). This group had and still has members involved in any media you can think of. When looking at them there rap roots run deep and there media branches spread wide. There members are rappers, producers, entrepreneurs, directors, actors, and straight ups G’s. This group can be the one….. The only….. Wu-Tang Clan (insert crowd cheering). I will show you how they are the best not only with there music but how the exist. What makes the Wu-Tang clan the best rap group of all time is almost to much to put into word but because I have to i will boil it down it has to be there voice. The pure spirit of the Wu-Tang clan shows what I think rap should be.

The Wu-Tang clan; for those who don’t know, is a New York base rap group that peaked in the 90’s but are still artistically driven produce music and other media to this day. The Wu-Tang clan has its roots in the housing projects of Staten Island with founding father and cousins Rza and Gza collaborating as early as middle school. As the years passed they befriending more clan members from freestyle circles and rap battles that were popular in late 1980’s. The Main group U-God, RZA, Raekwon, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Masta Killa, Inspectah Deck, GZA/Genius, and Ghostface. There plan was to individually seek recognition but support and network within the group so they could get individual royalty checks. The Wu-Tang Clan produced their first official group album in 1993, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 chambers) with individual songs predating that. The Wu-Tang Clans music is the most important part of their identity they were considered a legitimate voice of the community. This “street cred” was very important and still is important in the rap “game” today. I honestly do not feel it is necessary to name all the charges acquired by the individual members of the Wu-Tang Clan but it is a long list. These charges were not the result of their music style as most concerned parents of the day would tell you but there music was a reflection of the environment they lived in every day. Even the way the approached getting an agent was unheard of. It is said that tired after getting rejected by agents no taking them seriously, Rza opened a phone book and look up the agent they wanted to represent them, then took a taxi to his home knocked on the door. When he opened the door to the sight of the 9 members of the Wu-tang clan standing on his door step Rza handed him there mix tape and said “Listen to this. Our s*** is amazing” and they all walked away. This story is a staple of the rap community but is largely debated if it is fact or fiction. With these roots they were set to become one of the biggest names in rap ever.

The way they approached their music gave them a style and power that people still try to mimic to this day. There first album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 chambers) is still considered one of the best rap albums of all time and even or impressive then that as individuals the have made several other albums that make many critic and fan “must listen to” and “top 10” list. There revolutionary group dynamic changed the rap game. Even there spin off albums and solo albums like Blackout! And Muddy Waters are received industry accolades. Even they way they sell records is original, Their most recent album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin ony solid one copy…… for two million dollars. The group in secret for 6 years make this double album and sold it along with its rights for 2 million dollars at auction. To add on to the ridiculous nature of this deal they also put in the sales contract that if any member of the Wu-Tang clan can steal the album back then the ownership transfers back to them…...oh any member of the Wu-Tang clan and Bill murray. Unfortunately the album was bought by Martin Shkreli the man who change the price of a popular HIV medication from $13.50 a pill to $750 a pill. Martin also treated to destroy the album but did not and had recently release the intro and part of one track after Donald Trump was elected. This wonderful musical history along with the fact that they are the one of the very few rap group that ever had any recognition or longevity. In the rap industry, rap group tend to die after one member out shines the rest. This happens so often it is easier to name the group that succeeded even if i use the word succeeded loosely (Outkast, G-unit, Young Money, Terror Squad, Bad Boys). There musical career is untouchable but that is not the only thing that elevates the Wu-tang Clan to greatness, it's their versatility.

The some of the Wu-Tang Clan members are more recognized in there acting and directorial roles. These role are not just some money grab or failed switch into acting they are reflections of themselves as much as there music is. The fact that the basis of their entire group was the 1978 Kung Fu movie The 36th Chamber of Shaolin makes this point even more valid. Rza alone has 36 acting credit, 3 directorial credits, and 6 producer credits. While all of Rza’s works reflect his serious, almost zen personality as much as the other members reflect theres. These roles they played and moves they made give a deeper look to what the Wu-tang clan is, a group of friends watching movies and making music in not so nice time.

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Nicholas Quinones Com 350 symbolism

Whether we realize it or not the signs and symbols we are using on a day to day bases are evolving to become more efficient. This evolution had started in ancient time with man's first forms of writing and reached till today, with text messaging. Although writing is not the only form of semiotics, to understand semiotics you have to understand the different types of symbols and how people go about understanding them. When trying to understand the evolution symbols I believe the best model to look as is Charles Sanders Peirce’s model of the sign. His model state that “A sign... [in the form of a representamen] is something which stands to somebody for something in some respect or capacity” (Peirce 1931-58, 2.228), this meaning that signs and symbols are meant to be interpreted by someone and that signs and symbols can fail. The idea that a sign can fail is very important for the evolution of signs and symbols, because in evolution only the best can survive, so in the evolution of signs and symbols only the clearest representation of the what need to be communicated will survive.

The evolution of signs and symbols is the evolution of language. The the linguist Ferdinand de Saussure theories on what is a symbol reflects perfectly what is a the written and spoken language. He theory was that The sign is the whole that results from the association of the signifier with the signified (Chandler, D.), meaning that the sign is made up of two parts. The first part being the signifier which is what is representing  the signified, which is what is being represented. This can be easily represented by any written word, the concept is that we know word are not the actual thing they represent but we have agreed that they invoke that they represent. The word dog is not an actual dog but we all think of a dog when we see it written. Now this theory perfectly represents written language but written language is does not always mean words. The earliest form of written language was hyroglifics, adding this layer onto language makes Charles Sanders Peirce’s model of the sign more appropriate for today's communication text heavy communication. Peirce’s model takes more into account then Saussure’s. In Peirce’s model has three part to it one the Sign vehicle: the form of the sign; Sense: the sense made of the sign; Referent: what the sign 'stands for'(Chandler D. Semiotics for Beginners). In simpler terms the sign vehicle which is the symbol or signifier, the Referent is what the symbol means( the signified) and the last part which i consider the most important part is the sense or what the sign means. This is where i believe Charles Sanders Peirce’s model surpasses Ferdinand de Saussure model, it takes into account if the symbol is successful. The success of the is in my opinion one of the most important parts of the symbol; if a symbol is misunderstood the it has failed.

With the evolution of symbols and language is filled with failed symbols. Entire languages have lived and died in the history of humanity the only consistent with language is whatever is the most popular will last the longest. With this in mind I like to think of egyptian hieroglyphics, it was one of the first forms of language that was almost undeliverable until the Rosetta Stone was discovered, this is a dead language that was only written and read by the rich or artisans. In the same time period as hieroglyphics the language of hebrew was spoken, and written by the rich and the poor and taught through religion and still spoken and taught today. Language need to be spread and transform to meet the needs of the people who use it.

Technology has accelerated the evolution of symbols and language by an alarming rate. Now that text messaging has become primary forms of communication it has revolutionized language and symbols. One of the most important part of text communication is the symbols (emojis) used. In the history of writing and communication symbols have always been used in writing to add an emotional context to the writing, even the first forms of writing was just hieroglyphs. Even the word emoji is born out of text message communication, and it illustrates the pace that symbols are evolving.

The evolution of signs and symbols is a daily occurrence that we all participate in whether we know it or not. The cyclical nature of this evolution becomes very apparent when you look at it in a wide scope. Comparing the very beginning of symbols and signs with picture and hieroglyphs to what communication is today with text messages, emojis, and snapchat it really helps illustrate what works best with communication. Even the way we study at communication has not changed all that much but the way we perceive it is constantly growing. Symbols and signs have always been changing through time but the what works best does not, we as humans are just finding new ways to transport the signs.

(Chandler, D. Semiotics for Beginners) (2014). Semiotics for Beginners. Retrieved February 13, 2017, from http://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/S4B/sem02.html

(Peirce, Charles Sanders) (1931-58): Collected Writings (8 Vols.). (Ed. Charles Hartshorne, Paul Weiss & Arthur W Burks). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press

"Lost Words: A-E." Lost Words: A-E. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.