-
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
Archives
Categories
Meta
Author Archives: erictronix
Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle – A book Review
Empire of Illusion is a narrative describing America’s descent into a fatuous experience of voyeurism and self-satisfaction. The Quintillion Times is a chronicle of how media and emerging media technologies affect our culture and those who live under their influence. … Continue reading
Posted in Culture and Media
Tagged 911, Allan Gregg, Amanda Lang, CBC Radio Ideas, Chris Hedges, culture, Edward Snowden, Empire of Illusion, inverted totalitarianism, Iraq, Jeff Rubin, John Ralston Saul, Kuwait, Lang O'Leary Exchange, Love Hate and Propaganda, media, media and culture, Naomi Klein, news as spectacle, Noam Chomsky, NSA, oligarchy, pornography, pseudo event, Ralph Nader, Saddam Hussein, Seeing through Transparency, Sheldon S. Wolin, TVO, USA, war on terror
Leave a comment
From Benny Hill to Internet memes: Media continues to inspire the decline of deference
The 1970s saw Benny Hill expressing the sexual revolution on television. He used humour to lay bare the natural urges of men and women that were repressed by the ruling class and religious leaders. In one pertinent skit, Hill plays … Continue reading
How ads “hack” our mind
Rule #9: Aim young. Scotiabank’s “Getting There” account for children has been around for decades, seemingly an insider’s benefit for parents who bank with Scotiabank. It is only now that Scotiabank is taking the plunge into deep advertising. Until this … Continue reading
Posted in Deconstructing Commercials
Tagged advertising, children, commercials, media, mini-wheats, sex, sex appeal
Leave a comment
Billions
Rule #3: Sex sells. Use sex in proportion to the impact you desire. The act of succumbing to advertising is a first indication of media colonizing our thought processes. The above video contains thundering music, stimulating a virile response and … Continue reading
Posted in Deconstructing Commercials
Tagged advertizing, Axe Body Spray, billions, colonization, colonized youth, commercials, sex, sex appeal
Leave a comment
Canadian Police Chase
Rule #7: Tap into Nationalism. This commercial takes place during a Canadian winter, where a police chase has gotten bogged down in the snow. We watch from the perspective of a news channel, and the screen offers a caption below … Continue reading
Speed and Culture
Though culture is created by humankind, and while it flows from our habits, our industry, our religion, our pass-times, it is ever changing and…is this change speeding up? What happens when culture becomes less of a reflection of people and … Continue reading
Mass Media and the Eye
Leonardo Da Vinci called the eye, “the window of the soul”. It is as though Da Vinci imagined a soul, just peering out at the world from behind human eyes… I imagine Immanuel Kant might say “the eye is our mind’s … Continue reading