Kip: “I love technology, but not as much as you, you see…But I still love technology…Always and forever.”

Napoleon Dynamite: So what if you met LaFawnduh in a chat room. What’s so great about technology?

Kip: Computational media is different from pre-existing media because it makes technology available to the masses. People can “Search Inside” a book on Amazon, write reviews or even write a book. For example, writers can publish their ideas on a blog or engage in discourse on a wiki. Affordable printing allows them to publish a zine. Nowadays, the masses can own a computer, a printer, and some layout application, such as Adobe InDesign or Quark. Photographers with Adobe Photoshop can color correct their digital images before going to a lab, which may not be necessary after all. Yes, that means Uncle Rico can create his own catalogue for his Tupperware business.

Napoleon Dynamite: But who will read this? There is too much literature out there. It’s difficult to filter out the bad from the good. You can’t guarantee that someone is reading your material or that they are the audience to which you are trying to appeal. For example, say you are a chef and you post a blog that lists your experimental recipes. You would want your audience to include the likes of Martha Stewart, Ming Tsai, Wolfgang Puck or Emeril. Cyberspace sucks.

Kip: I once read about a woman, Julie Powell, who took Julia Child’s recipe book, and wrote about her experiences cooking these recipes on her blog (http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/2003/09/22.html). There were 365 days, therefore 524 entries (Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen). If there were a specific ingredient, like French butter she couldn’t find, she would write about a substitute and how it fared. In any case, she was able to get a book deal. The point is that without the computational technology, she would not have not been discovered, and been stuck in a job that she found mundane. This shows that computational media facilitates opportunity in traditional media.

Napoleon Dynamite: Like this is only one exception to the millions of people posting sub-par works. For all we know, Uncle Rico could be posting for Tina.

Kip: There is value in any expression. It’s better for people to freely express themselves. Computational media allows this freedom for the masses, and it allows us to hear from other cultures. Unappreciated art or expression doesn’t necessarily mean it is useless. Another artist can take a “failed” technique and apply it in another medium, or recycle a process to create a new expression, as in cubism or architecture. I heard your friend Deb started a blog online to keep her family updated on her upcoming reunion.

Napoleon Dynamite: Yeah right, Deb doesn’t count. Not everyone is participating anyway.

Kip: People around the world are participating. They are influencing other people. Diversity breeds creativity. For example, Japanese woodblock prints influenced European commerce and art. Some Japanese art is apparent in the works of Vincent van Gogh, Gustav Klimt, and the movement Art Nouveau (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japonism). Computational media allows the flow of information for the masses to travel fast. There is a certain feeling of instant gratification when you look something up because information is at your fingertips. That’s how I met my soulmate LaFawnduh. She lives in Detroit, yet we can still chat in real time.

Napoleon Dynamite: I guess you’re right if you consider Detroit a different culture, but it’s still not considered international. Anyway, with everyone posting stuff on the web through blogs, forums, wikis, and websites, it is difficult to filter through information. If I wanted to search for something that was specific, I would get hundreds of results, which could prove to be a distraction, in some cases, almost counter-productive. In this case, I would rely on pre-existing media solely to write a paper or do “serious” research. Last week I was at Deb’s house reading up on Nunchucks and Tater Tots.

Kip: Current events always change. There are some reliable sources of computational media, such as news, maps, and even the Wikipedia, which acts like an encyclopedia, yet all this information is current, unlike traditional media. Doing a Google search on Tater Tots will give you a variety of information rapidly about “Tater Tot Casseroles” made with mushroom soup, cornflakes and chicken, or ground chuck. So a vegetarian looking for a quick fix would log onto the “Tater Tot Casserole” made with mushroom soup, while grandma makes the one with ground chuck.

You should try searching for a job on the Internet. Instead of working for that chicken farmer, you could work in sales, administrative, education, or even be a campaign manager since you have experience with Pedro’s election. There are organizations like “Monster Jobs” and “Yahoo Jobs” that could even help you find a job in a different state or country. I might move to Detroit to be closer to LaFawnduh, and I found a couple of leads with General Motors and Chrysler.

Napoleon Dynamite: Yeah, but who would hire me? The competition is too stiff. If computational media is available to the masses, then finding a job is like finding a needle in a haystack. Too many qualified applicants are competing for the same positions. That’s exactly why I work at the farm. I don’t have to worry about any of that.

Kip: Yeah, just like “millions of people posting sub-par works,” how many of the people applying are truly qualified? Take campaign managing, I assume that there aren’t that many qualified applicants. The coverage on the last two elections has used computational media extensively to tally ratings and track the candidates’ issues. We, the masses, were inundated with polling and electoral information. Sometimes the media would report that “John Kerry” was flip-flopping on defense. Not to stray from the real issue, computational media showed a demand for this area. I even heard that New York University offers a Masters Degree program in Political Campaign Management.

But if competition intimidates you, try your hand at entrepreneurship, and open up a dance school. I know you’re starting to give lessons in our basement.

Napoleon Dynamite: Jeez, how do you know?!

Kip: I overheard Uncle Rico telling Grandma that Summer Wheatly and Trisha were wearing leg warmers when they came over last week. He wanted to capitalize on your action, by selling leotards and other dance gear. I heard him offer Grandma 15%.

Napoleon Dynamite: Gosh, why doesn’t freakin’ Uncle Rico mind his own business?

Kip: You can name it “Move to Grooves at the D-Qwon School of Dance.” You could advertise on the Internet. If you had your own site, you wouldn’t have to Xerox your ads and post them at the supermarket bulletin anymore.

Napoleon Dynamite: I’m still saving time by doing that. At least we’re not living a Prehistoric Era, and I don’t have to draw and paint in caves.

Kip: But the time spent on posting and making flyers can better be used for making yourself more available for teaching “g-r-o-o-v-e-s.”

Maybe you could hire the Hess brothers, Jared and Jerusha, to design your website. They are after all pretty good with the graphics. Or you could do it yourself with a template from an application, or open an account with one of those domain name registration places that can help with building a website. You could add “shopping cart” features. That’s not a physical shopping cart you know.

Napoleon Dynamite: Flippin Kip! I know that. How pre-existing is pre-existing media anyway?

Kip: That’s a good question. I’m not sure if I can answer that question anyway. Ask Jeeves lists 14,900 results. You’ll have to check that out on your own time. Here’s the link:

http://web.ask.com/web?q=How+pre-existing+is+pre-existing+media+anyway%3F&qsrc=0&o=0

Napoleon Dynamite: I just called Josh and they’re busy writing their next movie. Maybe Pedro can help me with the site. I wonder how many hits I would get for my name. I wonder in a joint venture, how many hits Pedro and I would get.

Kip: It says here 3,090,000 for just your name and 418,000 for you and Pedro. Scratch the joint venture. Anyway, going back to flyers.

Napoleon Dynamite:  Why are you trying to help me Kip?

Kip: So you can move out SOONER, and LaFawnduh can MOVE IN.

::

References

Ask Jeeves. “Search for ‘How pre-existing is pre-existing media anyway?’” Retrieved October 30, 2005 from http://www.askjeeves.com and http://web.ask.com/web?q=How+pre-existing+is+pre-existing+media+anyway%3F&qsrc=0&o=0.

Google Search. “Search for ‘Napoleon Dynamite.’” Retrieved October 30, 2005, from http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&client=safari&rls=en&q=napoleon+dynamite&btnG=Search.

Google Search. “Search for ‘Napoleon Dynamite Pedro.’” Retrieved October 30, 2005, from http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=napoleon+dynamite+pedro&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8.

IMDb: Earth’s Biggest Movie Database. “Memorable Quotes from Napoleon Dynamite (2004). Retrieved October 30, 2005, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374900/quotes.

IMDb: Earth’s Biggest Movie Database. “Memorable Quotes from Napoleon Dynamite (2004). Retrieved October 30, 2005, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374900.

KissMeImPsychotic.Com. “LaFawnduh Lucas.” Retrieved October 30, 2005, from http://kissmeimpsychotic.com/psc/document.php?id=93.

Matties, Jeremy. “Vote For Pedro Song (To: Keane’s ‘Somewhere Only We Know,’ Parody Lyrics, 2005).” Retrieved October 30, 2005, from http://www.angelfire.com/music6/voteforpedro1/.

Powell, Julie. Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen. New York: Little Brown & Co., 2005.

Powell, Julie. “The Julie/Julia Project: Nobody here but us servantless American cooks…” Retrieved October 29, 2005, from http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/2003/09/22.html.

Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. “Japonism.” Retrieved October 30, 2005, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japonism.