Wednesday, September 30, 2009

I generally think of myself as a smart person.  I’m not a genius, by any means, but I’m definitely smarter than your average aspiring L.A. “actress.”  Recently, I received a healthy dose of reality regarding my vocabulary.  I took part in the Intensive Workshop at Sam Christensen Studios in North Hollywood.  One of the goals of the workshop was to help me develop a personal vocabulary - a way to describe myself to casting directors, photographers, agents, website designers, and anyone else I came across in my professional life.  It was an amazing experience and I highly recommend it to anyone in the entertainment industry, especially artists.

On the very first day, a discussion began regarding the effect that technology, namely texting and Tweeting, has had on the

average American’s vocabulary.  The first example that arose within the group was a story reported by CNN of the first Twitter feed from space.  Astronaut Mike Massimino decided to send his tweets from the space shuttle Atlantis via his Twitter feed astro_mike, on his way to repair the Hubble Telescope.  By the day of the launch, he had more than 241,000 followers.  I have to admit, I think it’s extraordinary that we’ve come this far.  I am grateful for inventions such as Facebook and instant text messaging that bring the people of the world closer together and help make the once impossible seem easier to achieve. It also helps me pass the time at my stupid restaurant job.

The chance that I’ll ever wake up on the surface of the Moon and look out at the Earth is very slim.  My childhood dreams of blasting off into space have been sufficiently shattered by the reality of my genetics (“Four-Eyes Syndrome” runs in the family).  But Astronaut Mike experienced a shuttle launch and he shared it with thousands of people simultaneously.  That is astounding!  Unfortunately, Twitter only allows you a certain amount of characters per Tweet, limiting Mike’s ability to describe the unimaginable sights, sounds, and feelings of a shuttle launch to “…Launch was awesome…”

Okay.  So astro_mike isn’t a poet, but he is a rocket scientist.  It’s difficult not to feel a little disappointed by his description, his

Tweet.  As Jon Stewart pointed out on The Daily Show; “…in forty years we went from 'One giant leap for mankind' to 'Launch was awesome!”  Imagine where we’ll be in another forty years.  As I listened to Sam Christensen tell this story, my jaw on the floor, I couldn’t believe it was real.  Then, I thought about how often I use words like ‘awesome’, ‘cool’, ‘sweet’, ‘great’, and ‘like’ and realized that I have no business judging anyone else’s vocabulary but my own.

Technology is a double-edged sword, making life easier but making us humans lazier. I don’t have any great solution except to say it’s just one more thing to use in moderation.  Video games are great as long as your kids do their homework first.  I love film and television, but they aren’t going anywhere, so go to your neighborhood bookstore and buy a book.  Are bookstores too old school for you?  Maybe you’re into technology to save trees.  Go to amazon.com and buy an electronic book reader and download books.  It doesn’t have to feel like learning; read for fun!  Use your imagination like you did ten years ago, when you couldn’t stream video onto your portable cellular telephone.  Not only is reading fundamental, it’s like, totally awesome!