Saturday, October 24, 2015

MOVIES GALORE!

     The movies lecture to me was an "okay" lecture just because it was kind of expected on what it would be about, like: immersive experience and cultural significance. I think out of the entire lecture I probably found the Pseudo Demassification Solutions to be the most interesting because compared to what movie producers our putting out today would have had the jaws of those who were there from the very beginning of the movie phenomenon on the floor.  I didn't even realize how modest people back in the late 1800's-1900's were. I mean a woman and a man in the same bedroom would be considered risky...I don't even think our generation has a cross over line of risky...I just think we are. When you started to discuss color and how T.V commercials would promote movies saying that they would have those vibrant shots is really cool because they wanted to advance this business. I am extremely happy that movies/ movie theatres are still around today because even if we can watch a movie on Netflix or Hulu, it isn't the same as going to a movie theatre and being imbedded in the darkness and silence. 

    

RADIO SAVED!

     The radio lecture was by far one of my favorite lectures that we've done so far because of how interactive you (Mr. Miller) were and you seemed really excited to talk to us about this innovative product that changed the world! We learned about important dates and certain people who really sparked the idea of radio and made it happen. I loved that you talked about Nikola Tesla because I read his biography in the summer and I absolutely love the way he is as a person, he may not have been the smartest business man but his legend still lives on today and that's what's important. The thing that really surprised me but at the same time made sense was that R&R saved radio. There was this really stupid conflict between parents and teens about R&R and how it would make you mediocre and how bad of an influence it was...well it kind of got crushed after there was a rock song played in a movie theatre, after that R&R was the genre everyone listened to. Knowing that in 1940 there were 40 million people who had radios in their homes is a crazy number. It's sad to think that radio has demassified, but we have evolved in technology since then. With the creation of apps, we can have a song on the tip of your fingers. Either way this was a fun lecture, and I enjoyed listening to original recordings. 

RECORDED MUSIC: NOT OUT OF STYLE!

     This is one of my favorite lectures that we have done so far because we learned how people actually appreciated the art of music, compared to now where we have this instantaneous plug that we are able to listen to the music that we like, whenEVER we like and I think living in the generation that we do, we don't necessarily appreciate that, so we take it for granted. This lecture kind of taught us the point of view of music in the early 1800's to early 1900's, and of course, how music became a mass medium. Back to appreciating the music...music was something special and sacred, something that was saved for important occasions, was enjoyed through hard times, and always had a purpose. Now, music is this pass time, something we young teenagers, adults, and elders can listen when we want. There are all sorts of genres to fit each personality, there are all types of meanings, different languages to fit each culture. Music has come a long way in general, this medium can save a life and that's tremendous. I loved learning about this, about music being something special, and for me, it really made me think twice when I am listening to something because I know now that it always wasn't a present thing, and I shouldn't take this product for granted, because It has come a long way.

TELEVISION IS A WASTE!

      The title may be misleading, it may not, but I think that the T.V lecture was extremely boring to me just because I'm not a T.V person in general. I rarely find entertainment in watching a T.V show for one hour on a certain day of the week, it's just never been something that interested me. I think that there are better things to do than sitting down to watch something that I will forget about in a few months, I might be boring but that's just how I am. I think the reason why I found the lecture monotonous in general was because you discussed the history of this medium and I think that it's important for someone who is interested in this topic to know the amount of T.V's that were sold and the process of how this came to be, etc., but to me it was not interesting at all, and of course I'm not trying to bash you (Mr. Miller)  but everyone has different opinions and perspectives, this topic just isn't my thing. But I will say that when you started to discuss the impact of T.V on the population it got interesting because it was a domino effect through time: something 1 lead to something 2, and something 2 lead to something 3, and so on. Now T.V has demassified with the internet and everything seems to be loosing it's audience because of the internet, and I think as we evolve as a nation and technology wise as well, eventually internet will demassify.

 

RESPONSE TO MOVIES: THOMAS SIMMONS

   I thought that Thomas's response to movies was extremely insightful and well written. It was clever of him to include an example of how movies really have had an effect on people. I had forgotten after the lecture that when movies were first introduced...that there was this shock factor, anything could surprise the audience, whether is be the graphics or a train moving towards someone, It was easily believable. It was something that attracted those who had never seen something like that. Now of course, we have come a long way with technology and we have advanced tremendously. With that, a movie theatre is like a big comfy living room with your family and friends and some weird strangers that you don't know, but nonetheless it is exciting and fun and it will continue to be so until we create something more, something that will top this "tradition." With that, Thomas did a wonderful job stating his opinion and making sure that his readers knew what he was talking about.

RESPONSE TO RADIO: EMMA PAGNI

     I loved reading Emma's response to the radio lecture because we had the same ideas about certain things that she nor I thought about before. I think that with Emma's response it had me understand  more about the way that radio has demassified over time with it's competitor: the internet. Since reading Emma's response to radio I thought about how in class we almost always talk about how a certain "product," if you will, demassifies  in a time span where another product has become the center of attention and this always leaves the product; in this case radio, behind. There is nothing more compelling in my opinion than when we innovate something that ripples through the entire world, and has everyone in this interactive state of relativity knowing that we are able to communicate with one product, and that one product can have such a strong effect on those who purchase/use it, it will then become this phenomenon where the old is something to overlook, because the important is present, and that's what our generation cares about: the new.
 

QUEEN OF TECHNICOLOR: (MEDIA CRITIQUE #2)

      A fiery woman with Irish decent can never be forgotten. Maureen O’Hara, an actor who was known for her livid red hair and strong personality dies at age 95. This news story was covered by the one and only: WHAS11 news and is one story that is worthy to be a headline. Some may argue, but the reasoning that will be provided will most likely overpower the one contradicting it.
     The news story does a wonderful job complementing Maureen's successes and as an actress how she was perceived, who she truly was as a person, and the works that she did throughout her acting career that made her stand out from the rest. Including this as a headline might not be "appropriate" to some people but it definitely will be read by numerous subscribers who have grown up with Maureen and have seen her in numerous films and who have supported her and will continue to support her. WHAS11 did a good job on making sure to include her good and bad moments and making sure that they weren't just washing her with love and affection. They wanted to be honest and let people know she had a strong personality and she would stand her guard when it ever came time to defend herself.

     A good representation of how WHAS11 was being truthful was by including these lines of texts: "On the screen, O’Hara always played strong, willful women. In a 1991 interview, she was asked if she was the same woman she appeared in movies."“I do like to get my own way,” she said. “But don’t think I’m not acting when I’m up there. And don’t think I always get my own way. There have been crushing disappointments. But when that happens, I say, ‘Find another hill to climb.’” With this it shows how WHAS11 isn't afraid so show some truth.
     This story meets a few requirements to the 10 elements of journalism but they definitely hit it home for: "Make the important interesting." This generation isn't interested in the 1950 films when there was no color and most certainly nothing HD but WHAS was able to intrigue the audience with the images and the headline. This is something that can be hard to do but they made this woman relive her glory. She was a staple figure in the acting world and went through the good and bad and it shows in her smile.

http://www.whas11.com/story/life/people/2015/10/24/actress-maureen-ohara-dies-at-age-95/74536318/
     


WINNERS OF FLUFF: (MEDIA CRITQUE #1)

     WHAS11 News: a local television news broadcast that seems to find their entertainment IN entertainment, rather it's a progression in trying to get viewers, reeling those in, to add to their "large audience"  and of course to get the weekly paycheck. News to them is like a story on Britney Spears shaving her head twice: No Relevance. One would like to  think that these news broadcasts have the intentions of only providing the MOST important information that will actually cause some action and awareness in the community. There is nothing better than turning on the 8:00 morning news and hearing about a man who was saved by the infamous social media site: Facebook.
     The news story titled: Man says local Facebook page saved his life by Shay McAlister, really hit home for a lot of people in the Louisville area who find Facebook as a therapy session with these "online personalities" that could potentially stalk each other but that thought never crossed the mind of Brandon Hold...again the man who was saved by: FACEBOOK. This 27 year old homeless man decided that he would use the free wifi at the Taco Bell on  New Cut Road to talk about his situation and how hard it has been for him after loosing his job. He says: "I’m in shorts and it’s extremely cold. I’m hungry and I can’t bring myself to ask a stranger in person for help. I am so ashamed to be this way." How compelling and
heart-warming...NO! This story is all sorts of wrong. There are millions of people in this nation, around the world, who are homeless and each individual is not getting a news story about how they were cold and wearing jean shorts: IT'S NOT NEWSWORTHY.
     This is a news story that requires a lot of argument and defending to pass as something that should have been posted online under the "headline" section of the website...which is clearly not practical being that it isn't a story that should've been reported or even questioned on. This is a "glance" article not a "read" article. According to the Ten Elements this is not important nor interesting and it's a filler spot for something that could be news. The news broadcast (WHAS11) is not being loyal to its subscribers and its audience at home, this is a story that should be put towards the end, not a headline because it's not worthy of an individual story, and sadly, more than half of the state of Kentucky doesn't care that ONE homeless man was "saved" by Facebook because one: he was living, two: he wasn't dying, and three: he was only homeless for a week. That is why Kentucky is the 49th un-happiest state.


http://www.whas11.com/story/news/local/2015/10/19/man-says-local-facebook-page-saved-his-life/74240488/

Sunday, September 13, 2015

RESPONSE TO NEWSPAPER:ALI SHACKELFORD

     I think that Ali's response to the newspaper lecture was very relatable in the sense that we didn't understand similar concepts or ideals. I have to say that even though newspapers are still an occurring thing in society today, they are definitely not as popular, but I think that they have such more reliability and as of now technology in my opinion will not advance itself so much to the point that it will be available to everyone until later down the road. Also I think what you wrote about the 'Kimye" situation was funny because they seem to be this power couple and just can't seem to choose which direction to go in. (ha-ha get it...no?)






RESPONSE TO INVERTED PYRAMIDS:MATTIE TOWNSON 

     "Today, we really don't have the worry of being unable to deliver our news messages out to the media companies that produce them" I think that this statement is so true and something that I think us American citizens don't appreciate as much. Knowing that we are able to spread news the minute it appears on social media is something to be grateful for. We are able, even at a young age, to speak our minds and to show the world what we are made of. I think Mattie did an amazing job on her reflection to this topic, it was extremely understandable!

MASS COMMUNICATION

    I think this lecture was the most confusing lecture that there has been thus far and the one that was probably the most annoying to study because the entire concept of this mass communication is so long and tedious: it requires distance and it has to travel through space and time? WHAT?!!? There are so many details that you have to check off to consider something to be mass communication.
     I like the little diagram that you (Mr. Miller) created but in my opinion I think that that would've been enough for us to understand what mass communication is because there is all this other access information that we spent some time on that could've been used for something else.
     Then there is the concept of impediments and filters. I LOVED this part of the lecture, more specifically the filters because it got me thinking on the psychological part of it. After finishing this lecture I went home and experimented with the different types of mass communication and that was really cool because I was actually enticed to try something that related to this lecture.
      Nonetheless, this was still really confusing for me personally but I think that I wouldn't be going to Manaul if I didn't accept a challenge every once and a while.
      Mass Communication is like a pomegranate: it's all ugly and tuff on the outside, the color of flames that want to burn you alive and then you cut it open and take a bite and some good comes out if it...more so bad than goof but really mass communication is something that's crucial to our everyday lives. How we conect with people virtually and how content is distributed today 

    REPEAT

     Plagiarism seems to be an extremely touchy subject to high school teachers and I think it's something that they push too far on us because it's almost as if they expect us to cheat and use someone else's work knowing that being in the J&C magnet that's not likely. So when I found out that it would be our first lecture it was insulting to be honest because it was only five days after school had begun...what would us 14/15 year old students use off the internet only five days after school has begun?
     What teachers speak about is nothing new and we know that going to Manual is something that we should be grateful for and we are. Almost all of us were probably in a school and in an environment that was very tuff and very hard to be an individual. So coming to Manual, where there is so much diversity and so much creativity, the only thing that all of us want to do is to create, write, and speak our minds.
     Conditioning our brains to not plagiarize is a re-run of a simple addition equation in math. I think all of us are very aware of the consequences and the judgmental stares of teachers that would come our way if we were to do so. So there is no need to tell us over and over again because we know better, that's why we're Rams.
             In a teacher's point of view I can see how that would be worrisome because all they want to see is the progress of their students and how they grow throughout the year because it's THEIR OWN WORK. Even with the repetition of saying :"Use your own words" "Site your sources" there is really no cure for someone who has cheated in their life. If they did it once they will do it again and if they can get by with just WIKI responses they will. I don't see this obsessive need almost to repeat the same thing over and over again. Academic Dishonesty has consequences, and if us juveniles decide to break the law of "your words only" they will face the consequences.
        Repeating yourself isn't getting anywhere.

INFORMATION V.S ENTERTAINMENT


   The binary models lecture was something that was really interesting to me just because I never knew the back story if you will, of all of these models. I think the one that I found most interesting was the Elitist-Populist because the information that we got was so true. Elitist is all about "access to the world" there is no pretense about whether or not it has to do with celebrities or gossip, it is almost always information based. Populist is what really interested me because this generation is always on the latest trends, always has the newest technology, and always knows which Kardashian got divorced. As the lecture proceeded I realized that Mr. Miller was making a bad connotation to the Populist side of the binary model like it's the wrong way to run a business. Populist ties into demassification, it is almost like a niche, it reaches a certain age group (but of course being the generation we are it is significantly larger)that entertains their minds and gives them what THEY want and what THEY want to hear, that is their entertainment, much like news stories about the Middle East are to adults for example. It is all about perspective and what each individual finds interesting.
    But really there is this process that is apart of each model but it differs with each one and that's really cool to know the process of how things are put out into this world.
         I never really understood the concept of Horizontal and Vertical Monopoly other than Horizontal is illegal and Vertical is legal and that there is this really long process of a recording studio to the distributers.
    This is my favorite lecture that we've done thus far because it talked about niches and that's kind of like a fad and that's how a relate Demassification to those ideas of small groups being able to enjoy their certain likeness. There are things that will eventually pass as we evolve as a generation but it was still part of our time.
           Although this is something that I found interesting I wish we could've spent more time on these models because I think that there were some things that have another side; things that were unspoken and things that I think as a class, never got in depth to. An example of that would be conglomeration. I personally don't think it's fair for companies to buy out other companies, it's almost like an insult to smaller companies and businesses who work extremely hard to be where they are today and make themselves known to their nation. But is there a rule stating that a larger company can't by out a smaller company if they are financially stable or there isn't any particular reason to close it down? So many questions that don't have answers! 

WHERE WE ARE TODAY: BOOKS

     You don't have to be a genius to create something great that will revolutionize the future of the world. The creation of  the Gutenberg Metal Printing Press was something that interested me a lot, the lecture I mean, because I didn't really know the history of how that started and I never thought of how our world would be today if it weren't for his creation. 
     That being said he wasn't the first but I think he was more well known since he wasn't this super genius who wanted to conquer the world. He was just this average man who wanted to make the lives of other people easier, who wanted a world where everyone could read in the language that the majority of the society spoke and that's pretty admirable.
     If it weren't for his creation of the metal printing press there wouldn't be this wide spread of literacy. We as a nation today are so obsessed with technology and the wonders of it that I don't know any different. We would definitely not be as evolved as we are today and there wouldn't be this hustle and bustle of how to advance ourselves even more, and that includes everything.
      While we were learning about books and how they would effect our world if we were to not have the evolvement of the printing press and literacy rates came up in the lecture and I decided that on my own time that I would look up the literacy rates of America. It didn't come to my surprise that America did not have the highest literacy rate and that was extremely disappointing knowing that we are so called a nation of opportunity  and education. Why are we not making more of an effort to help these citizens of America to read, to learn the value of knowing what is going on around us. If anything, it is an embarrassment to what we stand for as a nation. 
     Books will never perish, they will never become something that wasn't know in the future generations. Knowledge is power and the power to read and write, to create something that is unexplainably and utterly yours is something magical, something so special that one can ever censor you from. The words that you write on a piece of paper or the words that you speak will are always remembered. So books, literacy, and evolvement of words is important. More important than America is making it seem  

IMPORTANT? I THINK NOT (MEDIA CRITQUE)


     This article that was written September 17th about two dogs who were found after being lost for two weeks in Washington state. The journalists who wrote this: Susan Wyatt goes on to explain how Tillie (the dog who was not in the concrete ditch) would go out everyday to find help and how Tillie never left the side of her companion: Phoebe. Then it leads to things like how a non-profit rescuing organization posted the dogs information hoping to get some news back and it's a "happy/ go getting" article. One likes to think about how truly amazing animals are and how they do affect the lives of other people but this is not something to be placed in the NEWS section of a website.
     Dogs are great and all but not superior enough to earn an article about themselves. This is going against the seventh element of the ten elements of journalism which is: Make the important interesting. There is no need for the nation or the people locally to know that two dogs from Washington state now have a home and are safe. There are millions of people who have dogs and who only care about the well-being of their own. This also goes against one of the seven yardsticks, being the first one which is: Newsworthiness. This is definitely not news worthy because this will be on USA Today for a minute and gone the next, this does not effect a large group of people and will most likely (most definitely) be something the world will be talking about.
      Ms. Wyatt could've definitely left this article out of the news section...that's probably the best option at this point. Nonetheless, even if someone were to defend this article, there isn't much to defend. An article that is dead.