thoughts on a thesis

ponderances stemming from a MA thesis by donald jones from georgetown
university on gender/sexuality and identity formation in second life.

- refers to lacanian theory of the self, a postmodern re-imagining of
identity as no longer unitary, but also questions if it exists at all
when it is constantly in flux.

"To Turkle, in virtual space the imago is shattered into multiple
shards, each of which reflect aspects of Self that can be explored by
the user in question for their (theoretical) betterment. To her this
validates Lacan?s thinking as ?Lacan insisted that ego is an illusion.
In this he joins psychoanalysis to the postmodern
attempt to portray the self as a realm of discourse rather than as a
real thing or a permanent structure of the mind? (Turkle 178).
Multiple online persona are simply parts of the signifying chain." p. 76

"the avatar functions as Other, the idealized Other of the mirror in
which the user derives pleasure in the looking", p. 79

the boundary between fiction/reality

...is disintegrating as we watch.

see this post on jenkins' blog under "stretching the canon versus canonical fidelity", regarding heroes and the transmedia storytelling. can now receive text messages, etc. from characters...

i should figure out how to use del.i.cious...

viral marketing masterpiece

i can't believe how complex and detailed the viral marketing campaign for the dark knight has gotten. i love it.

check out http://www.whysoserious.com/, and click on each letter for a different clue for a different american city. fans working together must find letters in each clue and assemble them to make a phrase that will somehow give them some sort of prize.

this is absolutely awesome.

nerd news coverage:

superhero hype
AICN
see also: forum

and check out the sneak pics at "Rory's Death Kiss" - a take on "rory's first kiss", or the code name they're filming dark knight under. ROCKIN'!