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

Why I love "Game of Thrones"

SPOILERS AHEAD

And the entire world wept

   You only have to say two words to any Game of Thrones fan to crush their soul into tiny little pieces but excite them at the same time. "Red Wedding." The infamous wedding where we saw the death, or even massacre, of some of the main characters from our favorite family in Westeros the Starks. Not only did they kill off Robb Start and his mother and his newly pregnant wife, we also saw the destruction of the entire Stark army, basically ending the war for the evil Lannisters.

We still miss you poor dead Ned

 There are very few shows that are willing to kill off very major characters in order to advance the story. But the amazing thing is that this wasn't the first time they killed off a major character. They have been doing this since season 1 by having Ned Stark decapitated in the square for being a traitor. That is what I find so fascinating, in most other shows we would have seen him get out of it somehow at the very last second. But not in Game of Thrones! Nope we see Jeoffrey, basically the most hated villain ever, actually win and see his enemy destroyed right before his eyes.

And to add insult to injury Jeoffrey sticks his head on a pike and shows it to his daughter! Seriously he's probably one of the worst villains in TV history.

This is why I love this show, it isn't afraid to try something different and try out new characters. There isn't really a "main character" to this show, but more of an entire cast working on one project. This is the formula that I would like to see other shows try. Not have one person be the center of the story, but use your story to create an entire world and populate it with characters that we care about and, more importantly, that we see leave. Its a shame when we see a character around for too long and we end up hating them. So Game of Thrones, keep doing what you're doing.

We love you Game of Thrones

"The Rich Kids of Beverley Hills" makes me want to punch things

   Thanks to the popularity of shows like, Keeping up with the Kardashians, Here comes Honey Boo Boo, Duck Dynasty etc. TV has become a desolate wasteland where people will just sit there and watch other peoples "lives" just because its whats on TV. Watching these lifestyles is not an accurate representation of actual people and it causes a generation of people who want to be on TV just for being stupid, or weird, or just being famous. The Kardashians have created a culture of young people who want to be famous, just by being spoiled brats with a lot of money.

You are whats wrong with America

You people are just the worst

   Thanks to that culture we have a show called The Rich Kids of Beverley Hills. A show that is literally just about a bunch of rich, spoiled brats with a lot of money and how they spend it. This is just plain terrible TV, the characters are some of the worst people on the face of the planet. They go around just taking selfies, spending their parents money, and being just plain bad people. Of course they try to just throw in some stupid relationship stories and they all try to act like "life is hard for me cause bla bla bla bla." I couldn't give one single crap about how "hard" these rich kids lives are.




   There is a serious problem in our country if these are the kinds of people we look up to. In this video, this girls is complaining about an INSTAGRAM PICTURE. You might as well watch it for yourself, because I'm just too mad to write about it.

   Doesn't that just piss you off? It made me pretty mad. When you guys watch your reality TV shows "just for fun," think about what that means for everyone else. Since these shows are popular, that means the networks will create more of them and we will get multiple versions of The Rich Kids of Beverley Hills. Join the cause and lets cancel this stupid piece of crap show.

Why do I binge watch?

   It was four in the morning and I was finishing up an episode of "Sons of Anarchy" and a huge cliffhanger occurred. As I sat in disbelief as to what happened at the end of the episode, I sighed and told myself "I'll just watch one more." Two hours later I finally went to sleep after finishing the season. It was that night that I realized that I love binge watching my favorite shows.

I have lost many nights of sleep thanks to this show.

Waiting a week for a new episode of
 "The Walking Dead" just isn't fun

   There is just something about watching all the episodes right in a row that is just a thrill ride. It feels like one really long movie. Sure I don't get all the information that I need to get after one go through, but thats why I go back and rewatch.
   When I have to watch a show on a week to week basis, I am not as invested in what happened in the previous episode if I watched it a week before. But if I just saw the big twist in the previous episode, then I am still extremely excited about it when the new episode begins.
  Also I just plain hate having to wait for the next episode to come on. Thanks to Netflix I am now able to get all the episodes I want immediately, and having to wait every week for one episode just isn't fast enough for me. I have watched AMCs "The Walking Dead" both ways. I have binged watched it and I have waited on a week by week basis. And I have found that I like the show better when I watch it all right in a row, because when the next episode plays I am still feeling the emotions from the previous episode that I just watched.

"House of Cards" proved that Netflix original programming
can compete with cable networks

  This is why I absolutely love the format that Netflix and their new show "House of Cards" are releasing  their episodes. What they do is when they are done with a season they will release the entire season of the show all at once on Netflix for everyone to stream. This is a brilliant strategy because it appeals to every kind of viewer. If you are someone that wants to wait and think on an episode you can just not watch the next one. But if you are like me you can just watch them all straight in a row when when they are posted.



   I truly think that this format is going to replace the old "one episode per week" format. It gives more freedom to the consumer to decide when they want to watch episodes of their favorite shows and not the other way around. The cable companies better watch out cause Netflix has given all of us binge watchers the exact tool we need to bypass the "once per week" model.

The new king of TV?

Do Video Games make you more violent? (Hint: The Answer is No)

Video Games are something that always have and always will be a big part of my life. They have always been there when I needed them, I play video games as a stress relief after a bad day, and they are even the cause of many of my friendships today.  And the majority of the video games that I play are pretty violent ones including; Halo, Gears of War, Dead Rising 3 and so many more. I find the notion that "Video Games make you more violent" to be just plain wrong. It's not the video games alone that would cause violent behavior but it is also a responsibility of a parent to make sure their kids understand what they are playing. Just because I play Dead Rising 3 doesn't mean that I want to take a Motorcycle Steam Roller, or a "Rollerhawg", through a pile of people and run them over. Its all a simulation.

Not Planning on building one of these anytime soon

Some of my earliest memories as a child are memories of sitting in front of a TV screen with some friends, laughing and yelling at each other because someone just won or lost at Halo. If you haven't heard of what Halo is, its a first person shooter game where you play the role of a super soldier, called a Spartan, and you have to fight the alien menace called "The Covenant."

Being a shooter, the game was rated M, for Mature, because it had blood violence, slight language and it was basically a war simulator. I remember my mother being worried when she first my brother and I playing the game. Here is an example of the gameplay that my mother was worried about.

The main thing my mom was worried about was that playing these games would make me and my brother more violent kids and that we would have problems in school. Fast forward 10 years and we are both in college, well adjusted and most importantly we haven't committed any violent acts towards others. When I am playing a video game I don't think "Wow all of this violence is pretty cool I want to try to punch someone in the face with an assault rifle." My parents made sure to teach my brother and I that there is a difference between video games and the real world. We knew even as children that video games are something that is a work of fiction and were something that not be replicated.

Don't Try This at Home Kids

When it comes to the question of "Do Video Games make you more violent?" I was always say that it is up to the parents to make sure they are teaching their children the difference between something that is in a fantasy world and real life. Thats why the new army recruitment centers with video game consoles playing video games are so worrisome, because it is trying to use video games as a way to try and replicate real life. Games like Call of Duty and Battlefield are in the business of creating the most realistic war experience they can and the army is taking advantage of that. 

Battlefield 4 is trying to look more and more realistic

There were 12 to 14 year old kids in the recruitment center that were saying "I'm the best sniper here" and "It's showing a realistic combat situation." These are children need their parents to talk to them and let them know that these video games are simulations. There is a HUGE difference between hitting a button and shooting someone in Battlefield then actually pulling a trigger and taking life right in front of you. 

But even though there are kids who's parents won't teach them what the difference is between simulation and real life, that doesn't mean that video game developers should tone down the violence. There are plenty of steps put in place to make sure that young children don't get ahold of violent video games. Like the ESRB rating system that rates every one of these violent games "M for Mature." If you can't supply an ID to prove you are over 17 then stores will not sell you the violent game. When I wanted to get ahold of a violent video game as a kid I would have to ask my parents to buy it for me. I would then have to show them a trailer of the game and the ESRB report so they can see how bad it is.

In a world where video games are becoming an increasingly larger entertainment source for young people. It is up to parents to educate themselves, at least a little bit, about video games and what violence are in the games so they can explain to their kids that the violence is simulated and not to be replicated.

Or be cool like these parents and play with your child.

Para-Social Relationship with Downton Abbey

Para-Social Relationships are a one sided affair, especially when it comes to watching your favorite TV Shows and Movies. But even though most of us know that these characters aren’t real and can’t communicate back to us, we don’t care. We still feel this connection and love for these fictional characters that we watch on a screen.

I am completely guilty of this when it comes to my TV shows. When I get invested in a show, I don’t only get invested in the story lines but the well-being of each of these characters. The ones that I like, I feel real sorrow when someone hurts them, if I hate a character then I feel real hatred whenever they do something that I don’t like. And if someone I like on a show dies, then it really feels like I just lost someone that I am not going to see again.

I don’t know what I feel this way with my shows, but it just happens as I get invested. The best example I have of this is when I am watching one of my favorites shows “Downton Abbey.” This is a show about a family living in the 1920 and the stories of them and their servants. I find myself becoming extremely invested in the fates of the characters, I want lady Edith to find someone, I want Lady Mary to be happy after all that has happened to her, I want Carson to stay the way he is. And there is something about the deaths that occurred in this show that really made me feel down. On the days I watched episodes where something bad happened, I found myself actually feeling worse throughout the day because of it.

I am hoping that I am not the only one who feels this level of commitment when it comes to watching TV. But I really feel that the sign of a great show is a show that makes their audience feel a true connection to the characters.