the digital haze.

Image via CrunchBase

youtube is a central part of many of our lives, sad as that may be. it's incredibly easy to squander away hours looking at ridiculous videos of dogs singing and hamsters on pianos, and we rely heavily (though certainly not legally) on it for episodes of our favorite tv shows.

youtube has taken off rapidly; it started in 2005, with the first uploaded video being "me at the zoo" uploaded by the site's founder, jawed karim.



the site has created these online celebrities and the phenomenon of "viral videos" because they spread like a virus. but with success comes competition, and this has come primarily in the form of hulu.

hulu is a commercially-supported video hosting site that posts videos from networks like nbc and fox. the advantage to hulu is that the videos are of much higher quality and can be expanded without losing an picture quality. the major downside is the lack of options as far as which shows are provided.

i don't think that hulu will really pose any serious threat to youtube. youtube will always be the epitome of stupid video humor (with collegehumor coming in second), and it will always feature copyrighted shows it's not supposed to, because it's so difficult to monitor what gets uploaded.

in short, the end of youtube is not near. but it will be interesting to see where it will go from this point.

i'm going to frame this post around something i'm pretty familiar with, and what a good amount of my time on blogger is spent doing--style blogging.

it may seem a little silly at first, but blogging is a great way for those interested in fashion to connect and share ideas, inspiration, and thoughts on anything new coming down the runways.

most of the posts generally consist of a combination of text and images, with the images being the focus of each entry. the blog posters typically include things like photos that inspire them (like this one from sea of shoes):



or feature outfits assembled by the posters themselves (like this one from karla's closet):



style blogging has really picked up momentum and with magazines like teen vogue and glamour featuring stories on it, will likely continue to rise in popularity. it gives people from all over the world and of all ages a place to discuss something that interests them and that they deal with every day--fashion.

one of my favorites to read is a blog called style rookie. it's written by a 12-year-old girl named tavi, and she puts together some of the craziest and most interesting get-ups. here she is (she's adorable!):



young creativity at its finest.

this social phenomenon is great way for people to connect and gives those who don't live in fashion capitals like new york or l.a. a chance to take part in the world of fashion innovation. it's particularly useful for anyone interested in diy fashion (such as myself) since many of the bloggers are extremely creative with the shapes and combinations they create.

overall, i think the future is bright for style blogging, and i think it will continue to garner attention as the fashion world becomes less about trends and more about innovation.

Image via Wikipedia

technology is influencing our lives in so many ways, and it is affecting aspects of every subject and discipline. something i wanted to touch on was how technology and media are affecting the art world. two primary areas have been affected most in the last two decades or so: photography and graphic design.

in high school, i took four years of photography; three of darkroom and one of digital. over the course of my time studying the subject, i noticed an increasing emphasis on the digital side of things. in high schools (and even in colleges), darkroom photography is being phased out.

kodak has stopped making photo paper for darkroom developing, thus the price of photo paper is increasing, and schools are becoming less and less willing to accommodate for building darkrooms and disposing of hazardous chemicals used in the developing process.

personally, while the phasing out of traditional photography and introduction of digital photography makes sense economically and ecologically, i think there's something to be said for traditional photography. i much preferred my years in traditional photography to the one i spent doing digital. i think there's more of a sense of personal accomplishment that goes into taking photos, developing the film, enlarging the image, and having the technique and skill to refine the photograph. in digital photography, there aren't those little quirks that make a roll of film interesting like accidental reticulation (look it up, it's a neat technique!).

in short, digital photography is neat, convenient, and generally cheaper. but traditional is still my personal favorite. it's a labor intensive project, but you can really be proud of what you've done when it's finished.