Media Meditation #1
I Don’t Know You But Can I Borrow Your Brain?

Because of my love for Japanese anime and the anime convention culture my first meditation is going to be on that.
I am currently making a cosplay (anime costume) for the anime convention I am attending in a few weeks. The costume is Prince Marth from the video game Super Smash Bros Brawl. I am a seamstress and love to sew, however I have never made armor, weapons or props for cosplays. At conventions I have seen beautifully crafted costumes that are out of this worldand often wondered how they made them. When I decided to take on Marth I knew I was going to have to learn.


Unlike Postman’s fear of new media, I wholly embrace the web 2.0 world. The information at your fingertips way of life has made it extremely easy for me to pick the brains and talents of those people who created such beautiful costume props. Since Google runs the world that is where I started my search for information. I googled craft armor and found many sites where people have created a tutorial to pass on their knowledge. Without having to go to a library where there might be one or two books on how to make a certain type of prop I was able to find tons of information on how to make a multitude of different props.

The site that inspired me to make Marth’s sword was called Craft Foam Armor Tutorial. The simplicity of the tutorial helped me jump into this unknown part of cosplay creation. The site included easy to understand written instructions but also many pictures and links to other sites that would help me further. Relating this site and topic to our media class is amusing to me. Although I understood Postman’s argument I disagreed with most of what he was “warning” us from. Although he wrote his book before Web 2.0 emerged I am certain he would have found issues with the new medium’s implications. Perhaps I am completely submerged in my generation’s media but I don’t mind being manipulated if it gives me the advantages like having some unknown person in an unknown location help me complete my project.