Author: Ilvea Lezama

If you are more of a visual learner, the video below is a great way for you to learn about the brief history of how far the internet has come since the beginning of time to now. I think influencers and internet personalities should thank Mahir Cagri for creating that bridge between himself, the internet and the public. According to Cagri, the movie Borat was based on him. That movie would of never made it in this time and age, cancelled culture would have driven it out of all streaming platforms. Cagri, blogged with his broken English about traveling, women, and his love for accordion.

My early years of blogging started with Myspace, with my first social media friend was Tom.

I am not sure if many of you will remember MySpace but it was IT back when I was in middle school.  I used to use different generator pages to change my background, to add music and to send different types of glittery graphics. MySpace now is a music streaming page, but you could watch the video below to learn a little bit more of its history. It is 15 minutes but pretty interesting, give it a chance!

After MySpace diminished, I opened Facebook then Facebook started vanishing in popularity because Instagram came around, while in Instagram one of the first pages I followed was Humans of New York. A very impactful page because it is very self-identifying. We as humans love reading stories about other people overcoming difficult situations, we all love heroic stories, it is in our nature.

I love reading personal blogs! you get to learn so much about an individual just by the things they share. The last 3 years I been in a spiritual journey —After coming out of a dark space in my life. I knew I needed to direct my energy towards something that was going to bring me INNER PEACE. This spiritual journey has introduced me to getting closer to God, yoga, meditation, journaling, being in contact with nature, appreciate the sun, the moon, the stars, the energy that surrounds us. I meditate every day, every second, every moment of silence. To meditate is to be mindful, grateful and aware of yourself. It is not as hard as one might think, a moment of silence can redirect your whole day.

Here I am meditating at Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont

My favorite Yoga instructor is Adriene Mishler, her Youtube channel has 30-day challenges, she has quick 10 minutes yoga videos, Yoga when you’re feeling unmotivated, Yoga for beginners, how to use Yoga to get a good workout in, her channel has it all & if you don’t like the way she instructs, once you’re in the Yoga channel more instructors come up. The video below is only 5 minutes, just watch it and if it motivates you go ahead and try it 🙂

I have hectic weeks — I have classes Monday thru Friday, I work Sunday thru Thursday, I am a mother, so my days are HEAVY. There is always something going on … but Fridays are my mindful days (before my son gets back from school). I do a quick Yoga session at the gym, do my work-out and dedicate that time for myself. With so much going on in our lives we sometimes forget to give time to ourselves, we forget we are our own best friend, and we need to take care of ourselves emotionally, mentally and physically before taking care of others. I encourage you to put your phone down for three minutes, get in touch with yourself, listen to your thoughts, be present. I hope you took something positive from reading this today, Namaste.

I made the meme above with Makeameme which I found very easy to work with. There is other two versions of it, but the free version has blank canvas for you to create your own. I made the meme above because the real question is: Are Memes art? I would definitely say so! and you know who else agrees with me? Aristotle, Andy Warhol and Leo Tolstoy.  Memes is art because people use them with the sole purpose of communicating their experiences. Don’t believe me? watch the video below.

We can’t talk about Memes without discussing the history behind it. It has been an idea since 1972, the internet was meant to be big since the thought of it. the concept of Memes became an idea in 1972 by Richard Dawkins. 

Then boom! many years after we have the first meme ever created — the dancing baby. I played different types of music while looking at the meme and yes! the dancing baby dances anything from country music to Punta (Honduras native dance). it’s creator Michael Girard and Robert Lurye worked with how they could with their 3D animation software, and they did a good job with it, I mean the baby has better moves than Mick Jagger. So, I give it a 10/10.

On the other hand, “All your base are belongs to us” I give it a 1/10 for effort lol. It doesn’t help the fact that the translation is way off but that happens more than we think, I notice it with a lot of shows in Netflix … I watch Spanish Series with English subtitles and I catch some translations like beyond off and I say to myself huh! that is not what he/she just said.

Memes are here to stay, especially now with the growth of social media outlets like Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit. I am a Twitter user and half of the interactions on a post are Memes not actual phrases or words. I think memes are more self-expressive, now a days we are more comfortable with sharing an image to show how we feel than to put it in actual words. As the years go by, we will have more and more memes being created. There are more shows being created with characters we will identify ourselves with. Those characters become our “mood”; this is just the continuation of trend setting.

You see the meme above, from Pineapple Express one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. That is the fun part of memes! You could storytelling without meaning to. You see the concern look in Seth Rogen‘s face but then James Franco looks like he is trying to calm him down, that itself is a story.  For example, I made a few memes of my own on how I feel about CT101, Prof. Ryan and when I get an email notification letting me know he has commented on my post.

Are Memes art? The definite answer is YES IT IS!

Let’s get Narrative!

A few of my colleagues in the Journalism department have taken CT101 and I said Aha! let me give it a shot (I am glad I did). When Prof. Ryan talked about what we would be doing throughout the semester, it was delightful to hear. I am a creature who loves learning everything and anything. Also, thanks to Steve Wilhite for creating this type of format because that is how we are making this assignment possible.

I like challenging myself, I like to get creative, I like to explore the land of the unknown … something like COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY.  I like to make mistakes, fix them and hopefully never make them again.

I am accepting the challenge of getting creative because in my field of study (journalism) I have to stick to the facts and there isn’t space for creativity. I am taking 15 credits this semester, and this is the class that has allows me to kick back a bit and don’t stress too much.

I made my own accounts for Giphy and Imgur. I found it easier to make GIFs with GIPHY than with Imgur. I think because we got introduced to GIPHY first, maybe? I feel more comfortable working with it, something about it is more familiar. I am still not giving up on Imgur, I’ll poke around more until I get to create something I am proud of. I am hoping to expand my knowledge with both platforms and other technological outlets.

This weekend I spend time making some GIFs with using Drake and 21 Savage’s new music video “Spin bout U” from their collab album “Her Loss” which I am sure many of you have heard of it. I actually enjoyed it very much! make sure you check them out, I made about 4-5 GIFs (like the one below). GIFs have become a way of expression for many people, including myself, I can’t wait to get some free time to create some more. It is a very entertaining way to express our thoughts and feelings! Feeling flattered because GIFs are a millennial like me 🙂

Hello everyone, what from the Internet has made me happy this past week?! well lets get started …

The Grammys happened on Sunday, the opening show got everyone moving. Performed by one of my favorite artists Bad Bunny who performed “El Apagon” and “Despues de la Playa” two songs from his album”Un Verano Sin Ti”, album that won Best Musica Urbana Album!