emergence

Last week we read the introduction and chapter 1 in the Steven Johnson book "Emergence." basically, emergence is higher level rules or orders being created through low-lever rules through behavior and interactions. The best example he gave of emergence was an ant colony. The ants all have their specific jobs, most notably protecting the “queen,” they do without any other ant directing them and all of those ants doing those jobs creates an extremely efficient community that is created from the bottom-up.

A more human related example of emergence can be seen in software and on the internet with sites like wikipedia. Wikipedia can be edited by anyone, making it a bottom-up program. Another good example that we worked with in class are the recommendations at amazon.com. When you create an account and start adding different products to your wish-list such as books, dvds, or music, amazon makes connections with other products they think you would like and make recommendations. I was pretty surprised how good it was with recommendations for myself. I also like that if something you don’t like shows, up you can remove it and amazon remember that continue to factor that choice in for future recommendations.

dreamweaver workshop

i decided to go to a dreamweaver workshop for class. we basically went through how to make a webpage, make links, put in pictures, upload to mywebspace, and use the css in dreamweaver. overall it was pretty much the same as what we did in class. the only thing i wasn't really familiar with going into the class was how to use css. i would say that part was really the only useful portion of the workshop as far as learning something new. already being familiar with dreamweaver going into the class made it boring at times but it was still good practice to go over all of the basics again so hopefully the process continues to get less time consuming.

non-place

i ride the great metro buses pretty much every day so i figured that would be a good non-place for me to observe. i've always felt a little weird standing around with a bunch of people waiting for a bus. pretty much everyone keeps to themselves. yesterday the people there were listening to ipods and reading books. there are occasiosionaly people who talk to each other but that seems to be very rare. i've always thought to at least learn the names of the people i see at the bus stop over and over but that rarely happens because people always seem so serious with a 'don't bother me while i wait for my bus' look on their face. i feel like when you actually get on a bus people get even more protective of their personal bubble even though you are closer together. it's basically an unwritten rule to fill up each individual row and every other seat first before people will sit directly next to each other. i've had people come sit right next to me when there are still other seats wide open and have thought to myself 'why are you sitting here, don't you know anything about buses?' so it seems that even though bus stops and buses are very public places, there is very little interaction between the people who spend parts of their day there.

Best song of all time

The other day i was reading Brian Anderson's blog. He is the new play by play man for the brewers' tv broadcasts this year (apparently i can't help but mention the brewers in every non-directed post). At the end of his most recent post (from march 26) he posted a link to youtube where there was a clip to CCR performing their song "Midnight Special." This really didn't mean much to me, but for some reason it reminded me of "Hotel California" by The Eagles, so i searched to see if they had any clips of that song being performed. They did, obviously. So I watched it and i came to the realization that this is the best song of all time. I really like The Eagles but they probably aren't even in my top five favorite bands of all time and I think most people would probably say a song by their favorite band is the best ever, but for whatever reason, Hotel California just tops everything i've ever heard, which i think is a lot. I would venture to say that if I was stranded on a desert island and could only listen to one song the entire time it would have to be Hotel California. Maybe it's just this video that made me feel this way, with the 70's hair and mustaches, and of course, Joe Walsh's amazing guitar playing faces. I wish I could provide better reasoning, but I think the best proof is to just go watch the video. I apologize for not just posting it on here, but for some reason youtube won't let me set up my blog to allow me to do that. So here is the link: Hotel California. I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think.

Turkle Article

After our discussion in class last week about the Sherry Turkle piece "Identity Crisis" I was intrigued by reading some of the other blog posts about it so I figured I would do one too. Turkle focuses on the use of MUDs or multi-user domains. This includes games like World of Warcraft. I had a couple of friends in high school that played that game and I remember my other friends and I making fun of them endlessly. I personally have never taken part in any MUDs, unless you count playing on yahoo games. In the reading I was really surprised to hear that people created characters out of multiple aspects of their personalities and would have multiple characters. I guess it’s just a whole other world that I had never heard of or thought about.

I was very interested in the story about the girl that had lost her leg and used a character with only one leg to help her cope with her own loss. Through meeting other people who accepted her character with one leg online, she grew more comfortable with herself and it helped her gain confidence out in the world of real people. To me it’s really a good story and I’m happy that she found a way to deal with her loss and get comfortable in her own skin once again. I’m sure there are tons of stories like hers. It seemed to be fairly split among the class on the question of these MUDs having a positive or negative affect on society. I think my opinion lies somewhere in the middle.

I certainly think that people need to be able to get out and communicate with other human beings on a face to face basis and being online all the time with your 15 different characters can definitely be a hazard. But I also believe that every person should be able to do what makes them happy and makes them feel comfortable. If a person chooses to spend their free time online, and as long as it is hurting no one (other than, potentially, themselves), I have absolutely no problem with it. I believe what is most important is to find a balance between the two worlds. A person needs to be able to be themselves everywhere they go, whether it is online or at the grocery store and hopefully they feel comfortable doing that. I think the perfect example of that is the story of the girl that lost her leg. Through spending probably way too much time online by most of our standards, she was able to feel like herself again and able to appreciate herself enough to know other people could do the same outside of the internet. There were probably other ways she could have arrived at the same point, but using an online character was what she felt most comfortable with at the time and it obviously worked. It doesn’t really matter how you get there as long as you get there. Though she may still spend a ton of time online, she can also go out and be a happy member of society, and that is the most important thing.

sampling

I found all of our talk about sampling and copyrights very interesting and it really got me thinking about my views of sampling and some memorable and interesting cases of copyright issues in music. My view on sampling has changed over the years and it will most likely continue to change. Before a few years ago I was always very much against music that was obviously sampled. I always considered what an artist wrote to be his/her own and to recognized as his/her own. I never put much thought into how much can be sampled before copyright laws are violated. A good example of obvious sampling is the Vanilla Ice usage of the music to the Queen/David Bowie song "Under Pressure." Anyone who listens to both will automatically recognize that it’s the same and if you’ve seen the VH1 Behind the Music on Vanilla Ice and heard his argument saying they are different, you’re heard one of the dumbest arguments of all time. It’s the same, and what bothered me most about it is the fact that Vanilla Ice is fighting that it is the same. If you are going to use the work of someone else, at least give them credit for it. It’s a losing battle, people are smart enough to figure it out and you just look stupid for trying to convince us otherwise.

Another case I’ve always found interesting is the lawsuit filed against John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR). He was actually sued by his record company for plagiarizing himself. It’s probably the most ridiculous case I’ve ever heard of as far as music copyrights go. Every band and artist develops their own unique sound, at least the good ones do and that’s all this case was. The music in question sounded like John Fogerty but if you actually listen to it, the disputed guitar part wasn’t even close to being the same, which was eventually the opinion of the court. I personally don’t see how you can ever plagiarize yourself as a musical artist. I personally believe that if you want to use the same music for every song, you have every right to do so. I don’t think it will make you very much money, but if that’s what you want to do then do it.

A case of sampling that completely made me question my views was from DJ Dangermouse who created the Grey Album. It is one of the coolest things I’ve ever listened to. The Grey Album is the lyrics of Jay-Z’s Black Album combined with music from The Beatles White Album. When I first heard of it through a friend I thought I’d want to shoot myself because I’m a huge fan of The Beatles and the thought of someone sampling their music and combining it with anyone else’s was scary. Then I actually listened to the grey album and was amazed. It’s a perfect example of combining old and new to create a new form of art/music. This album made me completely question my view of sampling. I think the fact that it was so good is what made me change my mind. So, I basically have a pretty confused view of sampling. I like having people’s music protected so others have to use their own creativity, but some very creative things can be done by using other people’s music in a way it wasn’t intended.

Coolhunt

What's cool these days? I think it's hard to tell in a place like Madison, WI during winter. I didn't really have time to sit in one particular public place and observe, so most of my observations were mad around campus, in class, on the bus, that sort of thing. Doing that i saw quite a few trends. Like i said, I'm not sure anyone in Madison at this time of year would be considered a hub, I think a lot of what people where are out of necessity to keep warm rather than to look cool. That said there are still some trends that I've noticed even before doing a coolhunt. I would say the most popular winter jackets on campus are either north face or columbia brands. I've seen a ton of both. There is also an overabundance of weird looking fuzzy boots among the female population on campus. From what i hear they are very warm and comfortable, but i can't help but think some of them still look ridiculous. Other than those two trends, it seems practically everyone has an ipod or some sort of mp3 player, myself included. I've also noticed the razr phones seem to be the cool thing to have.

I can't think of any difference between something being cool vs. a fad. Fads, while they last, are what people think is cool. I don't think that necessarily makes everything that's cool a fad, but i'd say everything that is a fad is cool, at least to most people. As i said before i'm not sure there are many hubs in madison as far as fashion goes, at least for anything that doesn't have bucky badger on it, though i would argue that if it doesn't have bucky, it's probably not worth wearing. I would say some of the fashion trends are brought by students from other parts of the country, but most are just what have sold well in places like chicago, twin cities and maybe milwaukee, due to the similar climates because lets face it, for most of the year people in this part of the country base what they buy and wear on whether they will get frostbite walking to class or going to get groceries.

Duncan Watts reading

I have always found the six degrees of separation thing pretty interesting but have never really thought about it, probably because i haven't seen enough kevin bacon movies, so i'm terrible at that game. Nonetheless, I've always been curious to figure out how many people away i would be from knowing brett favre or keira knightley. In the reading it mentioned how Duncan Watts' father asked him about being no more than six degrees from someone who knows the president. This got me thinking about who i might know who might know someone who might know someone who might know someone who might know someone who knows the president. The surprising thing is, it was pretty easy for me. I grew up in Middleton, WI, which is where Russ Feingold lives. His daughter and my sister were in high school at the same time, so through my sister, who i'm assuming knew someone who knew her, i know Russ Feingold, who no doubt knows the president. Though pretty much anyone can probably do that with a local representative, I think my situation is cool because Russ Feingold is awesome. It seems no matter how many times we do a little game like that with anyone, we always seem to be amused and even surprised by how connected we all are, even though we all know how easy it is to communicate with so many people from so far away on an every day basis.

The second chapter of the Watts book we had to read was a lot more confusing for me, maybe i just made it a lot more difficult than it had to be. What i got out of it was how great of a risk we are in, because of our networking culture with ease of travel and how connected we are to places around the world, for a potential epidemic that could wipe out a huge portion of our population. I don't think this is really news to anyone anymore. I became more aware of this potential a few years ago when SARS broke out and everyone was freaking out. There is also heightened awareness now with the potential for a bird flu pandemic sometime in the near future. The bird flu seems to be what everyone thinks will be our demise. The thing that goes along with how our culture makes it easier to pass on an illness or disease so quickly and over such a great distance, is the fact that our culture also makes it easier to find a cure, vaccine, or another way to remedy the situation because it is easy to communicate globally to see where people have whatever the illness is and to get information on how best to treat it.

I started to get really confused when Watts started using all of the math and networking lingo. Some of it was easier to digest than other parts. I believe i understand the SRI model stating that people are susceptible to disease, then infectious when they have it and can pass it on, and finally removed when they are either cured or dead. That is all pretty self-explanatory and logical. Then you have the growth phase, explosive phase and burnout phase of a disease. Watts eventually linked these ideas to computer viruses as well as human diseases, and basically shows they can spread in much the same way.

Spring Break

Needless to say, i'm looking forward to spring break. However, i'm not just excited for the week off of from classes and i'm not going anywhere sunny and warm. What could possibly have me so excited about spring break then? I managed to get tickets to brewers opening day last saturday morning. Hell Yeah. I've never been to an opening day before as you may remember if you read one of my first posts and when i saw that this years game was on the monday during spring break, i knew it was destiny. It didn't come without its obstacles though. On the day before tickets were going on sale, i saw this press release on the brewers website. There would only be about 2000 tickets released for opening day, most of those being standing room only tickets. Naturally my expectations for actually getting tickets took a hit but my friend nick and i would not let it deter us from trying. So saturday morning we were both online trying to get tickets and calling the brewers at the same time. Nick finally got through and we were able to get standing room only tickets. Having an actual seat would be nice, but i figure just being in the park will be more than adequate. Hopefully we'll be getting to Miller Park early to do some tailgating and then going inside the stadium early to try and get a good spot to stand. My personal preference would be on the outfield terrace on the fence, where bill hall will be hitting a home run directly to me. I figure my first opening day might as well be the day i catch my first home run ball (i've never had a foul ball either).

Grids and Networks

I found the Mark Taylor reading "from grid to network" pretty interesting. I really liked the way he put together the first paragraph, saying that seemingly "unrelated developments, which had been gradually unfolding for years, suddenly converge to create changes that are disruptive as they are creative (p 19)." That basically sums up his overall message, that change happens over a long period of time but we can’t always detect that change until it is here and causes a disruption in our society, making it more complex. This complexity does not create chaos, however. Taylor states on page 23 that change is "bringing everything to the edge of chaos. This is the moment of complexity."

I thought his example of the fall of the Berlin Wall as a decisive moment when we saw the shift of an industrial society to an information society was very helpful in understanding his concept of change. The events that finally led to the wall coming down took place over years, but no one really saw it coming. People didn’t just wake up one day and say ‘hey, that wall is kind of a pain, let’s just knock it down,’ it took time and the day it finally came down was just the beginning of a drastic change our society has been going through ever since, from a grid culture to a network culture. This change is also evident, as Taylor said, in architecture.

You can see Taylor’s point about architecture here on the UW-Madison campus if you look at some of the older buildings compared to some newer ones. I think Van Hise and Humanities are perfect examples of a grid building. You can easily see it in Van Hise just by looking at it from the outside. It is very uniform and geometric. Humanities is more of a confusing, annoying grid in the way it is built. Then, looking at some of the newer or newly remodeled buildings and you can see more of a network feel. I think a good example is the fact that Sterling Hall is connected with Chamberlain Hall. Both are fairly old buildings but this connectivity between them is a good example of today’s culture.

Cool.

I found the first two chapters of "Writing About Cool" to be pretty thought provoking on a couple of levels. One of the first things I found interesting was seeing a definition of the word "cool." I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a definition of "cool" before that didn’t reference temperature. Even in my Webster’s Dictionary, there is no mention of anything popular or rebellious, or aloof, which are some of the key terms to describe the definition of the two kinds of "cool" in the book (prophetic and philosophical). And this is for a word that is used by everyone, everyday. My grandmother uses it, my parents use it, everyone our age uses it and my 6 year old cousin uses the word, yet is there really a concrete definition? I would say no. "Cool" is something that almost has to be defined by each person that uses it in their own way, because it means so many different things to different people. Without that personal meaning of the word, I think it would lose its effect. The weird thing is, though it can have so many meanings, it is known by everyone to be a desirable trait to have or be associated with. No one wants to be seen as uncool, whatever that means, but that roaming definition of the word can be a security blanket to anyone who is said to be uncool, because uncool to one person can be the coolest thing in the world to another.

The other part of what cool was said to be in the book was the "ideas representing a popular perception of cool: Independence and Rebelliousness (p. 10)." I question whether these are still ideas that would define "cool." I just have a hard time believing that "cool" is just "rebellion" and "independence." My personal belief is that this rebellious and independent nature of cool is more applicable to the 1950's perception of "cool" than current perceptions. In that sense "cool" has changed. It can certainly still be a part of what "cool" is, but I think there are so many more ideas of what "cool" means today, just because it is used so much.

Another aspect I found thought provoking was chapter two, especially showing how much the word is used on the internet. I guess I’ve just never paid that much attention to it, at least consciously. It makes me wonder how many times I’ve gone to a site because it claimed to be "cool" or just had "cool" in its name. It also makes me think about all of the things I may have bought in the past because it was advertised as being the "cool" thing to have. I’m sure it has happened many more times than I would care to know or admit. I also wonder how much longer this can go on. Will "cool" be with us forever, or will it lose its luster? Is it’s replacement out there already, or will there be a new word? I probably won’t be around to find out, or I’ll be too old to admit that "cool" isn’t cool anymore.

cool-ing

I have have two classes that can be "cooled" fairly well since they are both in the political science department and focusing on international relations. One of them is International Law and the other is China in World Politics. Politics is a word that obviously comes up in both classes, especially in respect to foreign policy, but also in respect to domestic policy issues. Rhetoric is a term that floats around pretty freely in my readings for those classes and also, obviously, in this class: rhetorics of network culture. Culture is another good example that comes up in all of my classes, be it in reference to political culture, network culture or Portuguese/Brazilian culture.

"Blogging as Social Action"

A number of interesting subjects came up in the reading "Blogging as Social Action: A Genre Analysis of the Weblog" by Carolyn Miller and Dawn Shepherd. In general I found the evolution and explosion of the weblog very interesting. More specifically I thought the most interesting topic in the reading was about why people blog and the ideas of mediated voyeurism and mediated exhibitionism. I probably never would have been able to come up with a real good reason as to why people blog prior to reading this piece but these topics were new, interesting and connected a lot of things in our society that I otherwise wouldn’t have thought to connect.


The main connection I learned about was the emergence of blogging and the 1992 presidential election in which Bill Clinton had a groundbreaking campaign strategy: to look like a real person. In doing so, he and MTV (with shows such as "The Real World" and the town hall debates for the presidential election in 1992) seem to have opened the door for a cultural revolution in which "American Culture became obsessed with both making celebrities into regular people...and making regular people into celebrities..." This is something that has intensified over the last decade and has not only given people things to blog about, but has most likely driven people to blog, with hopes of, or the potential to become a sort of online celebrity.

That want or need for people in today’s culture to want to look into other people’s lives and have other people look into their live’s has led to the blogging explosion. Along with this explosion came the expectation of truth in blogs. This is another aspect of online networking that I had never really thought about. In reading about the woman that blogged assuming the identity of a teenager with leukemia, I can’t say I was surprised. I was, however, surprised when I read that it cause an outrage with those who had followed the blog believing it was a real person. Perhaps it’s because I’m more cynical about the world, especially the online world, which is a trait I think a lot of people my age have. This topic was brought up in class, though I don’t remember by whom, but people our age have used the internet as more of a tool for entertainment so when we see something like the story of the fake blog, we don’t take it as personally as others, most likely people only a few years younger than us. Though I would say there are some moral issues involved in purposely misleading that many people, but that’s another issue.


As I continue to think about it, this article really made me realize how prevalent blogging is, even if someone doesn’t have a true blog. Many people blog, according to the article, for many reasons, one being to build social networks. Social networking is everywhere online. What’s the difference between updating your blog and updating your facebook or myspace page? I would say not much, probably nothing. This showed me I’ve been blogging for a lot longer than I thought. I figured I starting blogging when this class started, but really it was when I joined facebook. Go figure.

"academic" writing

The images from my last post really show my experiences in writing, especially my college years. The image that probably needs the most explanation is the photo of the police. My reasoning behind that is "academic" writing tends to be so structured and forced that it sometimes feels like if you stray from what is expected to any degree, the police will chase you down with their riot gear and dogs. In my experiences, little to no creativity is involved and the entire writing process is something that drags along and I want to put it off as long as possible.

I think incorporating more new media writing would take away the bland, boring nature that writing has come to be for most college students. I believe a lot of students would initially feel a little nervous, but once they became familiar with what new media writing would consist of, I believe the change would be welcomed. Learning a new style of creating a "paper" would be very rewarding and much more exciting and I think a more modern form of writing classes would create a higher interest level in writing classes. I have avoided a lot of classes that I know are writing intensive but if there was something unfamiliar or exciting to get out of one of those classes there would have been a much greater chance that I would take it.

I think for a lot of smaller colleges and universities, funding and availability could be an issue. For most larger colleges though, I think everything needed would be readily supplied in order for students to learn the basics of using the programs and equipment to create a new media project for a writing class.

Yancey Article

I’d like to spend this post giving my views on the Kathleen Yancey article "Made Not Only in Words: Composition in a New Key." The basic gist of the article is that our society is currently in a communication and technological age that has changed the fabric of what writing is and offers a view of how writing and english classes should be adjusted to take full advantage of current technology.

There was one passage in particular that caught my eye and I think it adds to the direction of the discussion we were having in class. The quote used in the article is from Elizabeth Daley, the dean of the University of Southern California School of Television and Cinema:

"No longer can students be considered truly educated by mastering reading and writing alone. The ability to negotiate through life by combining words with pictures with audio and video to express thoughts will be the mark of the educated student (Yancey 305)."

I happen to agree with Daley in that the skill to get an idea across by using more than words and through multiple mediums is becoming more important each and every day. The issue brought up in class discussion about this, and the overall point of the article, is that these skills need to be formed and developed before college and for many kids the opportunity isn’t there because access to computers, internet and numerous other resources don’t exist in every school to the same degree. So in order for this goal of requiring students to learn and be proficient in some of these more technological subjects that are being suggested, which is a worthwhile goal, there would have to be some sort of policy change that gets schools, from elementary to colleges, adequate access to the necessary equipment in order for there to be any sort of equity of opportunity.

As I have already said, I believe these subjects are very worthwhile in pursuing on a national level but it really brings to light a much more pressing issue in the problems with our educational system as it is right now. There is already a huge gap in this country between the "haves" and the "have nots" and I wonder if this new idea of what it means to be "truly educated," according to Elizabeth Daley, will help reduce that gap or if it will widen it further. I’m not really sure what I think the answer to that question is. I would probably lean towards the gap widening until there are some fundamental changes made in the way education is funded and prioritized.

BREW CREW '07!

For my first open post here, I think I’ll spend a little time writing about my favorite baseball team, the Milwaukee Brewers. I know they haven’t been the most successful team over the last few years/pretty much my entire life, but that doesn’t stop me from getting pumped about spring training being a measly two weeks away. Before getting into the potential of this season, I can’t help but mention the Brewers Classics games that are being shown on FSN North, especially the game that I came across tonight after the badgers basketball game. It was from the 1987 season on Easter Sunday when the crew pushed their record to 12-0 thanks to a three-run home run by the great Rob Deer (who had a killer mustache) to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth and then the game winning two-run home run by Dale Sveum, the current bench coach, to win the game. The atmosphere looked to be amazing that day and I can only hope that there will be some moments in the upcoming season which will match that sunny Sunday afternoon.

As for the upcoming season, I couldn’t be more excited. I’ve never been to an opening day game but I hope to change that this year. I was planning on skipping my classes last year to go to opening day but I was being told within minutes of the tickets going on sale that the game was sold out. I was pissed. But this year I firmly believe that things will work out better. First of all, opening day is on the Monday of our spring break. Secondly, my friends and I will be much more organized and prepared this year when tickets go on sale, so hopefully the disappointment from last year will not repeat itself. And if all else fails, I will buy a 9-game plan, which offers opening day for free. I may end up doing that anyways because with that plan, you also get a chance to buy playoff tickets before they go on sale to the general public, which I’m confident will be something I’ll be needing. That is especially the case if the pitching staff can stay healthy because you would be hard pressed to find a better starting rotation in the league. With any offensive consistency, the brew crew will be shocking the world this year and winning the world series. You heard it here first.

what's rhetoric?

Prior to reading James Herrick’s introduction, my knowledge and definition of what rhetoric is was very limited. My only real experience with rhetoric and my perception of it was limited to hearing political jargon on TV and listening to my friend try to describe her classes at the "University" of Minnesota, which are all named "Rhetorics..." Since I never understood what she was talking about my definition of rhetoric had to be based on the political jargon. So if someone would have asked me last week to define rhetoric, I would have told them something to the effect of "it’s basically saying something in order to be agreed with or seen as a sympathetic figure."

After reading Herrick’s introduction to rhetoric I learned that my definition wasn’t completely incorrect, because he mentions the "empty rhetoric" phrase sometimes used in politics, but there is so much more to it than I ever realized. After reading the introduction, it seems to me that rhetoric is in pretty much every aspect of communication, our words, actions, motions, pictures and so on. I learned how important rhetoric is and the many ways it can be used, especially in persuasion. I found an interesting aspect of rhetoric to be in the ethics of its use, and how that can change people’s opinion of the use of rhetoric.

Overall, the article really helped me understand how far the scope of rhetoric extends. If someone were to ask me what rhetoric is now, I would probably need a lot more time to explain it. I would make sure they understood that it is not just the sometimes empty words politicians use. In order to give them a very general sense of what it is I would probably give them the definition on page 2 of Herrick’s introduction where it says "rhetoric is, among other things, the study of how we organize and employ language effectively, and thus it becomes, the study of how we organize our thinking on a wide range of subjects."

Intro

Hi, my name is Keith and i am a senior studying political science. This is my fourth year here at the University of Wisconsin, but certainly not my last because, the way i see it, graduating is for quitters. I'm from Middleton, a suburb of Madison, so I was born and raised a badger.

This is my first ever blog so I'm not really sure what to expect here. In addition to the assigned English 201 topics I will probably end up writing about my main interests. Those being sports, music and boring political things. Hopefully this will end up being a fun experience, I'm sure it will.