over tech

As I sit here in the library wondering I should blog about next I notice a man sitting caddy corner from at the computers. I saw hime come in just a few minutes behind me. The man came in sat down and has not said a word. He is wearing head phones, working on a dual screen computer, texting and I just saw him take a selfie using his Ipad. needless to say this guy is teched out.

I believe that this can be a problem in society today. According to Raiphe, one changes their natrual lives and can develop a false self, leading to fake or strande relationships. This view, however is mainly associated with social media. I believe their is another problem with technology as a whole.

This problem is a basic information overload. This is especailly a problem for students. Students of all ages are excpeted to do much of their school work on a computer. Many schools, aside from having an online info center such as blackboard, also require students to use comuters to type papers, do research and submit work for grading. The required use of technology paired with everyone's voluntary use of their assorted tecnologies can definatly lead to information overload.

Information overload can lead people to feel stressed due to "to much going on", lack of short term memory and can even make it hard for people to make simple descisions. This is not to mention physical damage such as to the eyes.

We should all take a step back from Tech sometimes and enjoy what life has to offer outside of the pixels of a screen.

Parasocial Relationship with Beyonce

"The Real West Wing" it's parasocial

In the White House President Obama has to make difficult decisions everyday. These decisions can and do affect the lives of many Americans. I have a special incite into the life of a president that was elected to two terms, had his daughter kidnapped and had a corrupt foriegn diplomat killed for his war crimes. That President is Jeb Bartlett.

Jeb Barlett is President of the United States on a late 90's early 2000's TV show called The West Wing. one may think yeah, so what Martin Sheen plays a President. However to me it is not Martin Sheen, in fact there are no actors in the West Wing, it is real. I refer to all the people in the show as there character names and often find myself wondering what their real names are.

This shows a solely one-sided relationship with a bond of intimacy that is also only felt in one direction. President Barlett and his Chief of Staff Leo have no idea who I am and will more than likely never know. While this is not my only Parasocial relationship it is the one that is most prevelant.

Dazed and Confused=cultivation theory

As a young person one can be susceptible to the movies and entertainment. I am no different. As a young lad my freinds and I often watched the movie Dazed and Confused. Dazed and Confused is about a group of newly high school seniors driving around in there overly nice muscle cars harassing girls and younger male students. They drive fast, drink beer and dont seem to have a care in the world. 

This lead me to be believe things that were not true about being a senior or about being in high school in general. Because of what I saw in Dazed and Confused I thought being in highschool was all about what car you drove and how good you were at sports made you cool and more well liked by everyone. Even if you weren't liked by someone i.e. a teacher you could still do what you wanted if you were an accomplished athlete or scholar. 

Dazed and Confused, however did not change a view I already had. Instead it is what shaped the only view I had of the highschool world. I will say it didn't help that an older freind of mine drove an overly nice muscle at the time the movie was out as well. However, Dazed and Confused cultivated the worlsd view that I had about high school until I was an actual high school student and realize that it is not like movie. People do have things to worry about and they definatly don't all drive muscle cars.     

Parasocial Relationships

#Selfie = #Lonely

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgO532TAJ9c

Group Project of Lenahan, Murphy, Hammerstrom, Hicks, Wilson, and Kimack; Princess: Good or Nah?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NTPvmkzvrI&feature=youtu.be

Women in the Media

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfElbe4kvNw

Kayla Ginsbach
Abbie Guthrie
Zach Hughes
Jordan Jenkins
Luke Martin
Jessica Poore

#GETREAL

Hipster Hate

http://youtu.be/wWdRo5CHivA

Our Group:

Ashley Carsten

Megan Didier

Erin Lewis

Melinda Staup

Jacob Noss

Gender Stereotyping!

Think Before You Pink

Our jolly group:

Wes Anderson, 

Jess Cooney, 

Cassandra Eiler, 

Casie Haflich, 

Alison Kwolek & 

Christina Sears 

An informative PSA about the monetization of the pink ribbon:

http://youtu.be/GJyXRgEN6_I

COMM 322 Final on Online Dating

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQcaVcV5eL8&feature=youtu.be

Group:

Jeffrey Williams
Jessie Jordan
Eli Ralston
Max Ramsey
Jen Zarate

Female Role Observation Googles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ0gWMUo1xI&feature=youtu.be
Jake Morris
Samuel Contresas
Becca Wolfley
Jessica Schulenburg
Ashley Starling

Avengers 2 ... Coming soon to DVD or any Blockbuster still in business

This is the final group project for:
Ashley Holsclaw
Romelle Taday
Bin Bai
Biying Huang
Cheridan Scott
Mitch Hadley
Samantha Bilbrey

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ofzqot8rksq5uhv/COMMGroupFinal.mov

Enjoy! :)

Gender Stereotyping!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrI_D5s48I0

Social Media Addiction

Cyberbullying on Social Media

How do Americans think of Chinese

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhp0qZWqrlM&feature=youtu.be

Win big


Because these games are rooted in the internet it allows society to do something special. This encourages confidence.

I totally understand how one could feel like they are their best self when playing a game which makes a person continue the game. However, it's hard to see the connection between a virtual world and reality. I had this same issue with the army making a connection between virtual life and reality. It's a deeply explored but hard connection to buy. If heroes could come from video gamers then why don't we have them yet. I feel as though gaming is recreational heroism. Life is the escape from not being perfect(in the video game). I am also curious what would happen if we put gamers to the test. The army does it every day. To see young men and women put themselves in dangerous situations based on their ability to win big is a scary thought. However, this thought is one that I'm curious to see the out come. I do see the connection in the text and film. It's clear that if you have that much confidence In one area of your life then you are capable to succeed it other areas. I guess I'm just playing into human fear when thinking of the outcome of winning big in life like a game. However maybe just maybe the video gamers are accessing apart of their brain that others cannot comprehend.

COMM 322 Grop Project PSA - 'Facebook activism'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_-CYD8aM2U&feature=youtu.be

SEXposed PSA

Group Project- Women In Media

Group Project-Women In Media

The Sports Stuff

       I'm not super interested in sports, nor have I ever been super interested in sports. Sure, I like to play soccer and wallyball with my friends but outside of my own playing, I couldn't care less about what's happening in the sports world. With that being said, I found the video we watched in class to be super intriguing. I never thought about the politics of sports before... mainly because I don't pay attention to it in general but also because it never occurred to me that there could be more to sports than the sport if that makes sense.
       I guess what I'm trying to say is that he was absolutely right when he stated it's political. I'm not saying I believe that everything about sports is political. I'm more so thinking about it as athletics being political and the athletes being the pawns. What I mean by this is if you look at the Pat Tillman thing, would the media have been so into hiding the truth if Pat had just been your average American soldier? I don't think so. I think it was a chance for the media to have a story for a longer period of time. Yeah, Pat had his own views on everything but it was only a huge deal because of the scandalous story. If they had straight up told the truth from the beginning, would it be such a big deal? I think the issue was football and the military and the positive connection they supposedly have with each other.
       If you look at the Michael Jordan thing and how he did certain things to uphold his sponsors desires and things like that... he did them to cover his own butt and keep his sponsors happy. I'm not saying it's right or anything but it is what it is. Nike sponsors him and therefore it reflect poorly on both of them for him to be wearing Reebok or anything else. This doesn't make what he did right but he did what he had to to please the people giving him money. I guess my main point would be that I think the politics of everything use the athletes to get what they want.
        If athletes were doing all of these things for free and didn't have reputations to uphold or sponsors to impress and such, then things would be completely different. It's a little crazy to think about what some people would do for money and glory but everyone has to admit that they have done or would do something for the glory or money. So, based off of the little bit of exposure to this type of thing I experienced today I would say sports are political to a point for sure but I'm not positive *how* political.

TED Talks: Gay Rights

Below I've Posted a few videos from TED talks about Gay Rights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CstD6O95L-o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAJ-5J21Rd0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aLZFrhS8L0

Love, Hip-Hop, Sex Tape?

When does reality T.V. go to far? Recently two stars from the VH1 show Love and Hip-Hop Atlanta, sold a sextape.  First of all, I can’t stand that my friends and I are so terribly entertained by people making absolute fools of themselves to the point where you have to wonder: “Are they really that OUTRAGEOUS? Did they really just say/do that?”  But, we at the same time can’t stand the image it puts on Minorities and the Hip-Hop industry.  However, what has outraged me is the star from the show named ‘Mimi’.  She was the female partner involved in the sex tape; she also is in a middle of a custody battle with her Ex over her 5 year old daughter.  WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU MAKE A SEX TAPE?!? I heard a rumor that the tape was supposed to be somehow involved with the show.  I can’t for the life of me understand how you could pull such a dumb stunt for a reality T.V. show; it make absolutely no sense.  Reality T.V. has obviously not only infiltrated the lives of the viewers, but truly for those in the shows; seems to consume and take over theirs lives. It’s sad really.

Another Opinion: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMc4AIJXbmQ

Feminism Fatale

A few days ago I headed into the second floor bathroom of Bracken and found what appeared to be a form of modesty "propaganda" for young women:

The top meme-like photo reads, "Hey, girl. I like the look of your DIGNITY...better than the look of your short-shorts and crop top."

The bottom meme-like photo reads, "Hey, girl. I think MODEST...really is HOTTEST."

After much discussion from our "Girls Rule, Boys Drool" lecture a few weeks ago, I could not help but become a little infuriated about this flyer.

Back in the 19th century, modesty was something to uphold as many women held strong religious beliefs and, according to an article from the University of Richmond, moral standards "by sporting the conventional style of a long simple frock, by making sure no skin from her neck was exposed, and by presenting herself in a tidy and presentable manner by doing her hair up."

As we are currently living in the 21st century where, from time to time, certain fashion trends have come & gone, seeing other young women, especially those of faith, dress in said crop tops and short-shorts does not and should not affect whether they are devout enough towards their respective religious beliefs. Who is to say that you're not "hottest" when you're wearing a nice dress that exposes your legs and some of your neck line? Or say that you don't have any dignity when wearing shorts?

From my perspective, the fact that they used a photo of an attractive famous man only reinforces the fact that we are back-pedaling in the feminist movement; you don't need the approval of a man (or anyone in that matter) to tell you how attractive or beautiful you are as a person. Fashion is a form of individual expression and by shunning someone to dress more modestly, it hinders that expression which creates a sense of doubt of how comfortable they are as a person.

Though this flyer ruined my mood, a smaller more simpler note card just did the trick:

My Outlook at this Point...

What are rights?  If this class has enlightened me to anything, its that one thing our country is good at, is making us feel comfortable.  African Americans, Women, Hispanics, etc.; many have fought for “rights”, and on paper have won those rights they sought after.  No discrimination in the workplace, in public, on public transportation, in politics.  Political, Economical, Equality; we have that now so the job is done right? We can just live our lives and be worry free because we’re all equal.

But what about social?  Have we achieved Social Equality?  Hell no.  This is a country where all are judged socially by what we have, what we look like, our religion, our sexual orientation, the list goes on and on.  Because of social norms and the highly judgmental views regarding what is seen as socially acceptable, there is still a mass amount of inequality.  So much that it in fact goes into the other aspects of “equality” I named. 

Jason Collins, the only active known homosexual NBA basketball player, had to wait how long to be signed to a team’s roster since his coming out?  Are women paid and distributed higher ranking jobs equal to men?  Is there still racism? Does is really matter how much money someone has to define their “worth?”  How can we say that there is true equality in the world, and especially in the United States.

When you think about it, this is one thing that has never changed through time.  Social inequalities ARE the root to the vast majority of all inequality.  As long as there is evil in this world, true equality will never be reached.  And through we may make our best efforts to bring change, it seems that where there is Good, there is Evil, and Where there is Evil, there is Good.  A never ending cycle that we as a society are trapped in…

Food for thought.

Video Games

I was really impressed with the TED talk and discussion about Video Games today. Honestly, my opinion on video games has changed drastically since my significant other and I got together five years ago. Before we started dating, he told me that he SOMETIMES played video games, and that they were a way for him to relax after work or school. Fearing the worst, that he would be spending most of his time playing them while we were supposed to be spending time together, I took a leap of faith. I honestly never saw him play games in front of me for three years, until we moved in together, and even then, he would always wait until I was asleep or at school/work to even turn on his system. Then he purchased a game called L.A. Noire, a game set in 1940's Los Angeles about detectives investigating crimes. Now I was hooked. Not only were the sets gorgeous, the graphics amazing, the music, even the FEEL of the game was amazing... I would sometimes ask him to just put on the title screen and let me listen to the music that plays there while I slept. ( the soundtrack is top notch.) This notion gave him an idea, and as he loves Film Noir best out of any genre, he felt like I should then see some of the films from that time period that inspired the game. This has opened up an entire world to me of crime, shadow tactics, and amazing dialogue associated with this era of film. Most recently, I have begun watching him play the Assassin's Creed franchise, mainly because, although a fictional game, most of the main characters are based on historical fact and historical places. ( also very beautiful to watch.) My feeling is that if a video game can interest people into some sort of historical facet of life and to remember where all this came from, then at the very least they can be all that bad.  

Sports Life

I never thought about that sports could closely relate to political area before today’s class. Everything has to make their business concern to commercial issue, because most of things cannot be accomplished without money support in the world. Furthermore, I also not considered a lot about how other issues and problems can be related to sports, such as gender issue and homosexual concern. I got lots of information about these in class today, and I feel the hardship of these problems’ development in old days and also very satisfied with the achievement we already have in nowadays. For instance, compared to the past, women have our rights to join most of sports game around the world. A lot of them achieved their great success. At the same time, there still many problems exist and wait for people to improve them. In my opinion, it is about time. People have to hold our belief and make great efforts, and then our world will keep changing positively.

Sports used to be a pure activity in my mind, because it just relates to win and fail, and sportsmanship. I really respect sportsmanship since I was very young, because it contains many precious spirits, such as willpower, unremitting efforts and team spirits, etc. People have to work really hard and consider to others well in the meanwhile, and that is not easy. On the other hand, athletes have to conquer many physical effort and pain during their training, and that is also a hardship that normal people cannot afford. Today, I also learned about how sports concerns to other issues, which make me, not only respect about sports, but also make me put more thoughtful attention to that in the future.

Alcohol and sports

During Sunday night’s season première of “Mad Men,” Woodford Reserve, a respected, mid-shelf bourbon, aired a new national ad campaign with a thirty-second spot entitled “Bookshelf.” It featured a weekend-on-the-lake feel and a lot of sexism.
The commercial featured a low-sexy female voice:

"When I see a man drinking bourbon,
I expect him to be the kind who could build me a bookshelf. But not in the way that one builds a ready-made bookshelf. He will already know where the lumberyard is. He’ll get the right amount of wood without having to do math. He’ll let me use the saw, and not find it cute that I don’t know how to use the saw."

When I first saw the commercial, I thought it was great. I just caught the end line about not being called cute for not knowing how to use a saw and thought "oh how refreshing." Upon actually reading the text, I realized it was clearly a trite use of gender roles and a woman very much living in a traditional masculine world.

I realized the alcohol industry is a typical detractor from progressive portrayals of females in advertising, especially Smirinoff, Corona and Budweiser. It brought to mind today's analysis of sports as a ideological point of reinforcement through events like "military appreciation night", and that alcohol is a typical pairing with sports events and perhaps the collision of messages is self sustaining. Alcohol also regularly airs patriotic themed commercials and recommends a traditional definition of gender, particularly the "carefree dude".
It seems that plenty of commercial industies stand to benefit from cashing in on the US Military's version of gender roles and masculinity.

Online Social Game - "Happy Farm"

If you select the popular network words in China, "Happy Farm" must be on the list. It generates from a rising video game called "Happy Farm” – an online social game. “Hi, did you steal food yet?” – It has already become a conventional greeting. Since it was released in November 2008, “Happy Farm” made a hit at a staggering speed in cyber-network market, hundreds of thousands of Internet users become diligent “farmer”. Every day, growing vegetables, harvesting them and stealing other’s crop have become “farmers” everyday task. Less than a year, this development cost less than 10 million game quickly occupied the campus network, QQ space and other famous social networking platform. It owns more than 16 million most active users and the expected profit of it this year is nearly 300 million Yuan. the function of the negative effects in mass media narcotic is mainly reflected in two aspects: First, because the message of the mass media brings vast quantities of information that is overwhelmed, cause to waist a lot of time on engaging in such audio-visual activities instead of social practice. That’s why the social relations among the public has become increasingly distant and cold. Second, to get information of social understanding and social activities in this way could provide public the vision satisfactory. In this way, they will gradually loss the cognitive initiative so that to weaken people's ability to act. In fact, the principal of creating “Happy Farm” has always been the “entertainment ". We can own with a blue sky, a vegetable when we play the game, but we should know that this is just the virtual world and would never become a reality. We just get happy from them, nothing more. The audience should be the spirit of "entertainment" principle, with a critical eye to accept the "Happy Farm", so that we will have the ability to control its impact.

I Know I'm Not a Princess

My favorite movie was Snow White when I was three. I don't know this from first hand experience, but when you watch my family birthday party video from when I was turning three, it's pretty obvious. My cake was one bought from the grocery store with Snow White and the dwarves traipsing across the icing. All of my presents were within a Snow White theme (besides my awesome roller skates that sounded like velcro across the pavement). Apparently I was obsessed.

But my love for Snow White never turned into a need to be pampered. I never thought I was better than anyone else or thought that having a hard time meant that I should be given the world. I was raised by my mom who wasn't shy about her mis-steps in life. She taught me and my sisters that the hard times in life are about growing as a person, and the harder you have it in life, the more you learn. She told us that we have to work for what we want in the world. But most of all, my mom taught me to be independent.  If my mom had one wish, it would be that I never have to depend on anyone (especially a guy) for a source of income. And I've taken that advice to heart. I'm excited to have a career and help provide for my family. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to get married and have kids, but I don't want to be limited to one or the other (also shown in Disney movies).

In sum, I love Disney princess movies for a lot of different reasons. The music is fun, the stories are interesting, and talking animals are always a treat to see, but I didn't think my life would be like a Disney movie because I know I'm not a princess. These stories are make believe, and although I can see how some research points to princess culture for why people act pompous and narcissistic, that's not the case for me. Apparently, the princess life is not for me. #sorrynotsorry

Binge watching a TV series that not over is NO GOOD

Over the summer I got wind of a TV show called game of thrones and knew little to nothing about it. I was at my friend’s house and was told to just watch one episode with them and make my own opinion because when I heard what it was about I was skeptical. After I sat through that one episode, I was hooked. I went home later that night and watched 3 more; the next day was another 3. It kept getting worse and worse.

            It got to a point where I would be at work and have no one really around me to hear what’s on my computer so I would watch episodes in the office until I heard someone walking in. I would get a good 4 episodes in at work and they are an hour a piece, so pretty much I watched that show about half the time I was even at work.  I would watch during work and during my breaks, and when I got home until I went to sleep. It only took me under 2 weeks to get three seasons down and then I had to wait.

I finished the episodes in the summer and the new season did not start until the spring, it was a horrible wait. But now that its back, I watch it all the time, I watch the new episodes multiple times and watch old ones when I am bored. Game of thrones is one great shoe, but binge watching it during the summer when the new season didn’t come on until now was a horrible idea.