What Now?

After reading our last assignment in Soc. 109 called, Interrupting the cycle of oppression: The role of allies as agents of change, I realized that this is a role that I need to take in order to make our world more equal. I am a member of the dominant group because I am a white, middle class, Christian. I also receive oppression because I am a woman. I will work to end oppression from the benefits that I receive from being in the dominant group. I will be accountable for changes I know are essential in our society. I believe that if everyone has this mentality then as a society, we will move more toward equality. In short, as my mom always said when I was a kid, I need to treat people the way I want to be treated.

This is Ashley signing off.......... goodbye

Is reality based on the pictures in our heads?

Walter Lippman’s book, Public Opinion, was a very challenging read for me, but I happened to get a lot out of it. The main point in his book was that our reality is based on the pictures in our head, which is given to us by the media. This is closely related to agenda setting where the media sets the agenda for public opinion by highlighting certain issues. Lippman believes that the media decides what we think about issues. I only partially agree with this statement. I do believe that people have the power to make their own decisions but I also believe that the media has a huge influence on our opinions. Take for example the war in Iraq. The media covers all of the horror stories in the middle east but when I talked to my friends who are in the marines, they say there is not much going on over there right now. Yes, there are killings everyday but nothing to the magnitude that the coverage shows. But on the other hand, people have the choice to choose what source they will get their information from. People can get on the Internet, read the newspaper or watch television. Yet Lippman says “The size of a man’s income has considerable effect on his access to the world beyond his neighborhood. With money he can overcome almost every tangible obstacle of communication, he can travel, buy books and periodicals, and bring within the range of his attention almost any known fact of the world.” This poses a problem for people who do not have the money to get these means. At the same time, it is hard to avoid something that these sources are covering, if it is all that the gatekeepers are talking about. This leads into gatekeeper’s theory. This states that there are certain people who are in control of the flow of information. They can choose to accept or reject information based on their opinions. They also decide the level of priority it is to the public. I believe it is important to look into Lippman and all he has to say because I think he was so intelligent for his time. He came up with some idea’s that turned into theories in the future.

Caitlyn May...

JAMA Productions Presents:
"Caitlyn May. . ."

This is a story about a three year old child with down syndrome. Who knows what Caitlyn may do. . . This is her story

Come and view our documentory-
Date: May 8th
Time: 12:45-2:00
Place: Westminster College - Mueller Theater

Documentory Update

JAMA Productions is doing a documentary on a toddler with Down Syndrome living in New Wilmington, PA. We have interviewed Catelyn’s herself, along with her mother, father, older sister and Dr. Medvin, a psychology professor here at Westminster. The family has opened their home to us and therefore we have received great footage. I believe we have all of the footage we need, and we will be editing tonight to see if there is anything else we need. We have music and pictures that the family has given us, to add in also. After editing, we just need to advertise for our project by making posters and signs to put up around campus. I believe we are right on schedule and everything has worked out perfectly thus far. Everyone makes the meetings, and we work well together as a team. Hopefully everything else goes smoothly leading up to and including the presentation of our film.

Reality and Television

Over Easter break my mom introduced me to the show "Dancing With The Stars”. This is a show that airs on Monday’s at 8:00 pm on ABC. It is a show where “Stars” learn how to ballroom dance with professional dancers. The “Stars” range from football players to actors. I really enjoyed this show because I always wanted to learn how to ballroom dance. Watching athletes learn how to do it made me want to do it more. In reality, when am I going to be able to sign up for dance lesions with professional dancers who have won plenty of awards? Probably never. And if I do get this amazing chance, will I be able to quit school or my job for months to really learn? I don’t think so.

I really enjoy watching the “Hills” that comes on at 10:00, Monday nights on MTV. I was thinking about this assignment and thought this would be a good show to look for things that I normally wouldn’t experience in my life. The more I think about it, the more I realize that I would never get to experience the situation Lauren and Heidi are in. These are 21-year-old girls living in an amazing apartment in California, driving the nicest cars known to man, wearing beautiful clothes and going out to clubs every night. It is amazing how they can afford all of this from an internship or working at a club. I understand that their parents are wealthy, but I will never experience this type of life style unless I hit the lottery. It’s crazy that how watching these shows that we base our lives off what they have. We have to have the new cell phone that LC carries around or the new outfit Heidi has on.

Lastly, I really got into “Deal or no Deal” that plays at 8:00 pm on Monday’s. This show is very addicting because you enjoy watching people make a lot of money or screw up and lose a lot of money. You cannot stop yourself from saying that you would just take the money and not risk it. This is not something you would normally experience because you would have to get on the show first and then be the lucky person to play. I will never get that chance in my life. That is why I bought the game so that I can play and pretend that I am winning the money.

This leads into what Jean Baudrillard claims, which is that while watching television people are watching something more then reality. This is a theory called hyper-reality. People view something that is false or non attainable to the average person and this can change peoples view of their world. Is the world that we live in the same that is portrayed on television? I don’t think that it is. I can’t think of anyone who has danced on stage with stars, lived in a nice appt. in L.A. while living the party life, or won millions of dollars on a show. “Joshua Meyrowitz argues that the very existence of television is an influence on society because it breaks down the physical barriers that separate people.” (Hanson pg. 256) He believes that television gives everyone the same view of the world, but if we are watching shows like the ones I watched above this is not true. I think we should not base our lives or believe everything we see on television.

Grey's at #3...

For this week’s assignment, we had to look up the Neilson ratings for our favorite TV show. Automatically Grey’s Anatomy came to my mind. I have been watching this show since it started two years ago and I will drop whatever I am doing to watch it every Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. on ABC. For the day of 3/22/07 Grey’s had a rating of 14.4. Since one point equals 1,102,000 households, 15,868,800 households were watching it with me this week. The share was 22.0, and this means that 22 percent of homes were watching on this particular Thursday, putting Grey’s Anatomy number three on the Network Primetime Averages. Grey’s happens to be at the perfect time because the only competition it has is CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Scrubs, which are not even on the top 20 list. Most people will pick Grey’s Anatomy over CSI because there are so many other shows like CSI (CSI: Miami and Criminal Minds) playing at other times during the week. What if Grey’s happened to move to another date or time? This would affect the ratings greatly because people would have to choose between some of their favorite shows. Just think if it was an hour earlier on Thursday’s. It would have to compete with Ugly Betty; which is a very popular show right now. I still think that more people would watch Grey’s because Ugly Betty only had a rating of 7.3 compared to the 14.4 for Grey’s Anatomy. The only show that beat Grey’s Anatomy in ratings was American Idol. If they were played at the same time its hard to tell who would watch what. I think more people would watch Idol because you can always watch Grey’s online after. This brings up a good point because who knows what people would watch if both their favorite shows were on at the same time. They could just choose one, and then watch the other one later on the Internet.

No one makes it alone...

Based on a true story, Sherrybaby is an emotional independent film written and directed by Laurie Collyer. Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal plays a young strung out single mom who recently just got out of prison named Sherry Swanson. Gyllenhaal really hooks you in with the beaming personality and knock out body yet self-destructive personality. She was put in prison for three years because of her addiction to drugs that lead her to steal anything in order to get a fix. One of her challengers is proving to her parole officer that she can stay clean and keep a stable job. The first thing she wants to do when she gets out is to be re-united with her daughter, Alexis. Sherry starts by moving into a half way house with hopes to start a new and better life. Her readjustment to the real world proves to be anything but smooth. She falls back into her old ways by having sex with a man who runs the recovery program, and telling a man at a job interview, “I’ll suck your dick if you give me the job I want”. Sherry’s five-year-old daughter has been taken care of by her brother, Bobby, and his wife, Lynette, whom are rightfully protective of Alexia because of Sherry being back around. When she sees her daughter for the first time in years, the emotion that Gyllenhaal brings to the scene makes you want to see them be together. Still in the back of your mind you know that this would be a disaster because Sherry can barley take care of herself, let alone another human being. Sherry immediately suffocates her daughter with gifts and affection to make up for lost time. Lynette is extremely attached to Alexis and is very cautious of Sherry being back. This puts Bobby is an awkward position between his wife and his sister. Gyllenhaal does an amazing job at making you believe in her love for her daughter. She has an emotional breakdown because her daughter does not call her “Mommy” anymore, and I felt the pain right along with Sherry. This is a story about how she struggles to earn the right to be in her daughter’s life. Many people try to save Sherry including her amazing brother and a friend she met at a recovery meeting, but no one can save Sherry but herself. Sherrybaby is a riveting tale of personal failings and recovery, which I believe establishes Gyllenhaal as one of the best actresses of her generation. I would recommend this movie to anyone who feels that they can handle the drama and depressiveness the movie portals. I would definitely rate this movie five stars, as I feel it deserves it.

Moving at the speed of life we are bound to collide with each other.

A reflection on the overlooked events of racism in everyday life in Los Angeles California, Crash can draw in large audiences because of the diverseness in actors and actresses and the emotional appeal that the movie provides. This movie can lead you to reflect on yourself and others while doing some serious soul searching.

Crash was released in 2005 and directed by Paul Haggis. If you don’t know him from his work with Crash then you may know him from the movie Million Dollar Baby. Crash won three Oscars, which included Best Achievement in Editing, Best Motion Picture of the Year, and Best Writing, Original Screenplay. Haggis directs the film with up close shots that make you feel as if you know the characters personally, like you are living the scene with them.

The movie starts and ends at the same place, with a car crash. It then tells what happened in the thirty-six hours in between. The characters do not know each other personally but yet they are interconnected in many ways. There are many collisions that happen between the characters of different races and economic backgrounds. The story is told by each one of these individuals and you get to see how unique each situation is. There is a detective who has a drugged mother and has a thieving younger brother. The brother and his other thieving friend are constantly theorizing on racism. There is a white attorney and his wife who makes it no secret that she hates people not like her. There is a racist white cop who also cares for his sick father at home. This cop has a younger partner who watches him molest a successful director’s wife and can do nothing about it. Lastly there is a Persian man who buys a gun to protect his shop and family who then encounters a Hispanic locksmith and his young daughter.

My favorite quote is one of the first lines from the movie, “It's the sense of touch. In any real city you walk, you know? You brush past people. People bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something.” This really does explain big cities in The United States. People walk by other people everyday. Maybe these people really do miss being touched, so they crash into people just to feel something.

I would recommend this movie to anyone and everyone. I think it is a must see because it really opens your eyes and teaches you a valuable lesson about racism, discrimination and stereotypes. I urge you to see this movie and watch it with an open mind and learn something about yourself. It shows that all of us, no matter what race we are, we all have stereotypes and we sometimes cannot hide that fact. I would give it two thumbs up!

Ever Heard Of Philo T. Farnsworth???

Philo T. Farnsworth was a Mormon farm boy who just happened to invent the electronic television. He has transformed what we see as media today. Unfortunately he is not a well-known figure in American history like Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison. You will not find his name in any history book, but instead will find Vladimir Zvorykin’s name. Why is this?

At the young age of twenty Philo was creating the television with financial support from local businessmen. Ironically, Vladimir who worked for RCA was also trying to create the television at the same time. When applying the dominant and subordinate groups to this example, it is obvious who was which. Farnsworth was the subordinate because he was part of the white lower class and therefore had no wealth or power. RCA was part of the dominant group because they were a major corporation that included money and power. RCA had so much power that they sent someone to copy the blueprints of Farnsworth’s work. Farnsworth beat RCA against the odds and got a patent for his electronic television. RCA, using their money offered him 100,000 dollars for the patent, but he refused. RCA couldn’t handle the idea of a small town poor man getting credit for the television, so they lied cheated and stole to try to get the claim. Yet, Vladimir is the one who is remembered for the invention. This is because they put a ban on commercial television and his patent would run out and television production would become public. The dominant group eventually destroyed Farnsworth by him suffering from depression and alcoholism because of the stress they imposed on him.

This story proves why the dominant (powerful and wealthy) group always comes out on top no matter how hard the subordinate fights. It also answers the question of why Vladimir goes down in the books as the one who invented the television, because history is written by the powerful. We see this kind of story repeatedly throughout history; the “little” man always loses to the “big” company.

Can We Ever Be Beautiful Enough?

The Bluest Eye was written by Toni Morrison and set in Lorain, Ohio in the 1940s. This is the town where Morrison grew up, and it is narrated from the view of a nine year old, which is the age she would have been the year the novel takes place. We have been talking in class about authenticity and I believe this novel is a perfect example. Toni is a black woman telling a story about two black families who is struggling with beauty, love, power and fitting in. I believe the goal of this novel was to make a statement about the harm that racism can do to the most helpless member of a society, a young girl.

There were many symbolisms in this story, but I am going to focus on the main one, beauty. Beauty is a huge part of this novel and its symbolism is everywhere. Pecola in the beginning was living with the MacTeer family, because Pecola’s father burnt down their home. Claudia and Frieda MacTeer feel bad for Pecola and befriend her. They find out that Pecola loves Shirley Temple and all the she represents. Pecola comes to believe that beautiful is having white skin blue eyes, and therefore she herself is ugly.

Another symbolism of what is beautiful and what is not is the Breedlove family. Pecola’s father is an alcoholic and abusive, therefore he is ugly on the inside. He is also seen as ugly on the outside because he is not white and does not have blue eyes. Pecola’s mother goes to the movies often to watch what she sees as beauty, the actresses and actors on the movie screen. They acknowledge the fact that they are ugly because society gives them no evidence otherwise.

No one ever noticed Pecola and she believes that if she could just have blue eyes, then she will become beautiful and noticed. She believed that things would be different. She thinks everything in her life will look better through these blue eyes, because the way people see her affects the way she sees the world. She prays to God every night asking him for blue eyes. One day Pecola’s father Cholly comes home and decides to rape her. This pushes Pecola to go to Soaphead Church and ask him for blue eyes since praying to God doesn’t seem to be working. He knows he cannot help her and feels bad about this, but he goes on to tell her that it is possible.

Pecola becomes pregnant with her fathers baby, and everyone in the neighborhood wants this baby to die except Claudia and Frieda. They see the baby as a description of beauty.

Pecola eventually goes crazy believing that her wish has come true and that she has blue eyes. She still is not happy with herself because she becomes obsessed with the fact that her eyes may not be the bluest. This proves that beauty does not equal happiness or satisfaction. Yet, this issue is still a problem today. Everyone wants to be beautiful, but can we ever be beautiful enough?

I would recommend this book because there is so much symbolism in it that makes the story intriguing. I feel that anyone who reads this book will benefit from it because you are seeing an honest and truthful viewpoint of racism and struggle in our society.

What is a Documentary?

Before I took this class, I had a picture in my head of what a documentary was. I thought a documentary was just a boring film or television program that presented facts about an event that happened in history. I recently learned that this is completely wrong. A documentary can be shown my many mediums, (but mostly film or T.V. program), based on facts whose purpose is to tell a story. I believe the main goal for the filmmaker is to educate us about something that we do not know. The audience should be able to accept the information presented in the documentary as fact.

Is a reality series a documentary? There is a fine line between these two, but there is a difference. I think the main distinction separating documentaries from today’s reality series is that documentaries attempt to show us the truth rather than a story being staged for the camera or audience. Reality shows put participants in staged situations for entertainment purposes. Documentaries do not show the filmmakers opinions and personal feelings.

One of my favorite documentaries was March of the Penguins. This is a perfect example of a documentary and what it should posses. This dramatic documentary told a story of a penguin’s life as it is repeated every winter for thousands of years. The director, Luc Jacquet goal was to tell a factual story that had never been told before. This was taped in Antarctica where there has never been a generation of men to witness it because man has never settled in the Antarctic. The classical and jazz music along with the narrator, Morgan Freeman’s voice was just another added great characteristic that helped make this movie one of my favorites. Not only was I entertained with the documentary, but I also learned so much about the species. One of the really amazing things about this documentary was the director fell into making this by accident because he actually studied biology. This proves that anyone (including us non-publication majors) can make a good documentary. He states… “At the time, the assignment was to film images of emperor penguins... The only problem was that I had never held a camera in my life. So I started with a ten-day training period to learn how to film with a 35mm camera.”

Obviously this is one of many documentaries, but I just thought it was a great example/definition because it is so factual and well put together. One of my goals now is to see more documentaries so that I can get a broader definition. I am going to start with some more controversial documentaries like Fahrenheit 9/11 and Inconvenient Truth. I will let you know what I think….

30 Days Reaction- Part II

Frank got really close to the Gonzalez’s oldest daughter Armida, who was well educated and was applying to colleges. One thing that bothered me about Armida was that she made a comment about how she was hoping to go to school for free and was trying to get scholarships and grants to help her do so. This makes me furious because I am paying a lot of money to come to Westminster and I am an American citizen. She is an illegal alien and is going to get to go to school for free. I don’t think that this is fair because I believe that the money the government is going to give to her should go to an American citizen who deserve it just as much as she does. Armida got into a few heated debates with Frank, but in the end, they both learned something from each other. Frank also stated that if she became a legal citizen that he would sponsor her in college because he was so fond of her and her abilities.

A changing point in this episode is when Frank went to Mexico to visit the Gonzalez’s family. He saw how bad their lives were there and this helped him realize why they would want to come to America. The Gonzalez’s had not seen their family in twelve years and when Frank brought back a tape of them saying hello, I got a little emotional because I felt bad for the family who was left behind. Frank realizes that he cannot blame them for wanting a better life style.

When the thirty days had passed, Frank had changed from the simple to the complex. He didn’t completely change his views about illegal immigrants, but he was walking away with a different perspective. He remained a minuteman but did not have as strong of feelings as before. Frank understands why they would want to leave Mexico and come to the United States, but he still feels that they should do so legally like his family did years ago. He also understands that it is hard to do this legally and is therefore torn between two opinions. He used to feel that Mexicans were trying to start a Revolution with their rallies but in the end I think he realizes that they just want to be legal immigrants and are fighting for what they think is right. Frank states: “There comes a time when you love people for who they are, all politics aside”. This statement proves that he has changed from the simple to the complex. Walter Lippman states in Chapter One of Public Opinion: “The only feeling that anyone can have about an event he does not experience is the feeling aroused by his mental image of that event. That is why until we know what others think they know, we cannot truly understand their acts.” This completely explains Franks situation about how he judged them before he knew who they really were, and then changed his mind once he got to know them.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed this different view of a reality series. When I first started watching this episode I thought to myself that I could predict the ending that he was going to change into a completely different person. The ending surprised me because he changed but not completely. This shows that the gatekeepers wanted to show the truth, and not what everyone wanted to see which was that he completely changed his point of view. Agenda setting claims that what the media finds important will eventually be mirrored in what people think are important, and I think that the gatekeepers avoided this nicely by letting you make your own opinions about the show. I recommend this series to anyone who wants to see both sides of great debates going on today in our world.

30 Days Reaction... Part I

We all know what it is like to be sitting at home, looking through the channels on television and finding nothing to watch, especially in the summer. It seems these days that all reality shows are the same, “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire”, “Survivor”, and “The Real World”. I have this stereotype in my head that all reality shows are all staged and are only on television for the drama. What changed some of these thoughts in my head was watching a show on the reality series “30 Days”.

“30 days” is a reality series that airs on FX at 10 o’clock at night. This is one of the better hours for TV shows in the summer. “30 Days” has to compete with other sitcoms and reality shows, and I honestly believe it has great odds of beating other shows out. The target audience would be young and older adults because they would have a better understanding of stereotypes and closely heated debates. Morgan Spurlock is the creator of “30 Days”. You may know him from his movie “Super size Me”, where he put his own body on the line, living on nothing but McDonald's food for an entire month. He is known for putting himself or other people in situations that are outside their comfort zone. “30 Days” a documentary/reality show because Spurlock documents people’s life changing experiences while they are living in other people’s shoes for a whole month. The subjects he usually focuses on are minimum wage, religion, sexual orientation, and jail.

The episode “Immigration” was about a patriotic minuteman, someone who keeps illegal aliens out of United States, named Frank George who moves in with a family of illegal aliens for thirty days. One way that they made this episode more emotional was by having the male be a legal immigrant from Cuba, which was able to speak Spanish with the Gonzalez family from central Mexico. Frank lived in a small house with a family consisting of seven members of which only the two youngest being American citizens. Frank makes it very clear that if you did not enter this country legally that you should be departed back to your own country and this tended to make conversations tense.

One of the big eye openers of the show was watching what the parents, Rigo and Patty, did for a living and how much they got paid. Rigo was a maintenance man at one of the apartments near their house, where he was only paid 15,000 dollars a year. Rigo wanted to open up his own business so that there would be more jobs for immigrants in the United States. Yet, he is unable to fulfill this dream because he is an illegal immigrant. I respect Rigo for his ambitions and wanting to make the world a better place. We tend to think illegal immigrants as being lazy, and this proves he has ambitions and wants to make things better here. He states that he does the jobs that no American would want to do, but I think that in some ways they are still taking some of our jobs here, because I am sure that some American citizen would be a maintenance man if it got him off the streets. Patty on the other hand separates recyclable for only five dollars total. This also makes me realize that she is not lazy and is willing to work, yet can only find a job that pays nothing. She still goes to work everyday so she can buy Christmas presents for her family.

My Attempt at Defining Stereotypes...

Since the first day of class we have been talking about stereotypes and I have learned many definitions of what this word means. I have put some of these descriptions together to form my own definition of stereotypes. I believe stereotypes can give us an inaccurate description (negative or positive) of all members of a particular group. This definition obviously does not give us the whole picture of a social group because not all members of the group posses these “descriptions”, and I believe we are wrong to think that they do. We tend to stereotype a social group with a mental picture that represents our opinion, prejudiced feelings, or our judgments. Something that is important to remember is that not all stereotypes are untrue or negative, even though most are.
In Chapter eight of Lippman’s Public Opinion he states “ Consequently the stereotype not only saves time in a busy life and is a defense of our position in society, but tends to preserve us from all the bewildering effort of trying to see the world steadily and see it whole.” This statement makes complete sense to me. He is saying that life is to busy for us to make our own judgments on people in society, therefore we just go by what society has defined for us, even if it is incorrect or wrong. He is also saying that we tend to use stereotypes as a defense to hold our position in society and to put others down. This way of thinking keeps us from seeing the whole picture in different societies.

The story behind Universal Pictures

The medium that I chose as my favorite, in a previous blog, was movies. I was asked this week to research and write about the company behind my medium. As you probably guessed, there are many companies behind movies, like Warner Brothers, Walt Disney Pictures, Miramax Films and Paramount Pictures to say the least. I decided to pick Universal Pictures as the company I would research. In my opinion I believe Universal Pictures comes out with the best movies, like Alpha Dog, Good Shepherd, The Break-up, and Miami Vice.

According to Hanson’s “Mass Communication, Living in a Media World”, synergy in a business world means that a combined company can offer more value, cost savings, or strength then the two companies could separately.

There is synergy at Universal Pictures. It is more then a movie company; it has three parks in Orlando, Hollywood and Japan. Universal Pictures also has many corporate partners: Volkswagen, Chase, Coca-Cola, Nestle Waters, PowerAde, Kodak, MasterCard and Minute Maid. These companies help each other with cross promoting their products. This is very important because advertising is one of the major sources of revenue for the media. Universal Studios merged with NBC Universal in 2004. Bob Wright who is the vice chairman of General Electric (one of the big six media companies) is also the Chairman and CEO of NBC Universal.

As you can see, Universal Pictures deal mostly with movies, but takes on other medias after merging with NBC Universal. This proves how a combined company can offer more then two companies could separately. Before taking this class I never realized that all the companies that deal with the media have all merged to form “The Big Six Media Companies”. I would have thought that this would have been considered forming monopolies, but they obviously argued that synergy helps smaller companies stay in business.

How does your media usage function with picture in your head?

I believe reality is limited through the media because the only thing we know about an event is by what the news tells us. We base our opinions on what someone else tells us and this persuades us to think like them. News reporters can report only what suits their purpose because they have the power to make the public see an event as they want us to see it, therefore limiting our reality. A good example is George Bush’s state of the union address, he sugarcoated the war making it seem as if things are not as bad in Iraq as they really are. I believe that if you engage in more and different types of media, then your reality may become clearer. If you watch the news, read about the event in the newspaper and then read about it on the Internet, you can learn more about the event and fill in some blank spaces that you may have. If you analyze messages, the medium and gatekeepers critically you become less open minded. If you don’t like the person who is writing or speaking about an event then you automatically don’t want to listen or agree with what they have to say. Lastly, I have many stereotypes in my head about the media. Some are that the news is always negative (I think there may be some truth to this though), that newspapers are boring and for older people and that videogames make children violent. My goal is to start looking past these stereotypes and broadening my media usage.

Favorite Media

My favorite type of media is movies. I love how everything comes together and turns a normal film into a great film. For example, the music, lighting, and technology help change a movie for the better. I enjoy watching how talented actors and actresses’s can take on a persona as their own. I think it is amazing that there are so many movies out there, and yet producers come up with new ideas everyday that have never been done before. There are action movies, romance movies, comedies and documentaries to say the least. No matter what kind of person you are, there is always a movie out there that you can find that will move or change you for the better. I have seen so many movies that have changed the way I thought of the world and I left the theater more open mind. If you were to take away movies I would feel as if you were taking a piece of art out of the world. Movies are a great source of my imagination and if you took this away, I would be less open minded and not as creative as I am now. They are also a great source of entertainment where friends and family get together to relax or spend quality time together. If this type of media did not exist, then that would be one less thing for people do to in their spare time. Ultimately, if movies were no longer a source of entertainment, we would have to return to the old days of board games and cards by candlelight.

Media Checklist

1. I only use the telephone if I am at home. I use my cell phone all the time when I am at school. I most often call my mother and father because I do not get to see them everyday.

2. I feel guilty answering this question, but I cannot remember the last time I listened to a speech or a public speaker that was not required for class.

3.I use IM every single day. I actually use it anytime I am at my computer. It is much easier to talk to many people at once, unlike the phone that you can only talk to one at a time. I mostly talk to Megan Harding and Nancy Hammond on IM.

4. I don’t usually send emails but I check my email inbox several times a day.

5. I never buy iTunes, but I do attend several concerts in the summer. I do occasionally buy CDs if I really like the artist.

6. When I am at school, I don’t have time to watch much TV, but I always make time to watch Friday Night Lights on Wednesday nights at 8:00.

7. The last time I recorded a TV show was Friday Night Lights when I had to work and was going to miss it about a month ago.

8. I watch movies at the theater regularly. The most frequent movies that I saw were Pursuit of Happyness, We are Marshall and Déjà vu. I rent DVDs regularly also. I have probably seen most movies that have been in movies

9. I only listen to the radio when I am in the car, and I always listen to country or rap/r&b. I like country because I like the lyrics and I like rap/r&b because I like rhythm.

10. I LOVE to read books for fun. I like autobiographies and novels the most. I really enjoyed reading Barack Obama’s autobiography. I also enjoy every novel written by Nicolas Sparks. I enjoy reading because I learn about things that I find interesting. I am not being forced to read it; therefore I want to read it.

11. I read the newspaper over Christmas break. My mother subscribed to the Morning Journal at home. I read it while eating breakfast. I enjoy the comics the most.

12. I have a subscription to Cosmopolitan magazine. I get one monthly and read it when I am at work and have finished my readings for classes. I enjoy reading about the latest fashion and getting advise about boys or relationships.

13. The last time I wrote a letter was when I was writing to my ex-boyfriend that was is in the marines. It was his birthday so I sent a card and a letter inside. I wanted to do something more personal then sending an email.

14. A website that I frequently go to is www.packers.com. I visit it usually once a week during football season. I am obsessed with football, the Packers and Brett Favre, therefore I like to read about the organization and stats of the players.

15. I have a “Facebook” but I do not have a “My Space”. The only blog I have is this one, and I probably would not have it if it weren’t required for this class. I actually hate “Facebook” and recently just got it back. I don’t like people whom I don’t know looking at my profile. I blocked my profile but still feel weird that people can see things about me that I only want my good friends to see.