Class Highlights

I made up my mind this quarter that I am against e-books. My Dad got on for christmas and I didn't think anything of it until we started talking about it. I like the smell of books and I like turning the pages. I don't like how the kindle makes my eyes feel after reading it for a while.

I found out from bowling for columbine that Charleton Heston is a cold hearted man. He just had to hold a gun rally in Colorado after columbine instead of letting the state grieve.

I learned the Public Relations can be a bunch of BS. I want to major in PR at SJSU but I don't plan on making people take pictures with a bunch of soldiers and a fake turkey.

Media Ethics

Libel
http://blogs.tampabay.com/juice/2009/01/sharon-osbourne.html
This article talks about the court case where Sharon Osbourne sued sun magazine for accusing her of "driving her frail husband Ozzy Osbourne to destruction". I think that when magazines say things like this they need to be called out and I'm very glad that the Osbournes didn't just let this slide.

Propaganda in Advertising

In this old spice commercial we see a few propaganda techniques. First is euphoria. This guy promises the customer everything they could ever want like 2 tickets to anything and a handful of diamonds. They also appeal to the common man by saying that any ordinary guy could be this suave if he only uses old spice.

Presentation Video

My powerpoint presentation was about the copycat effect. The copycat effect refers to when news reports influence others to recreate similar hideous crimes. In this video a news reporter is talking about a greusome murder and she gets a case of the giggles.

Internet

Wikipedia lists over 200 social networking sites most of which I have never heard of. I only know facebook youtube and myspace. I only use facebook because I know it is a necessity to stay in touch these days. I absolutely hate the way that facebook keeps you so well informed of everything that is going on. I feel like a slave to my facebook because people write me and I don't want to be rude and not respond. I would much rather talk in person where you can communicate much better. When I am friends with my girlfriend on facebook I always over analyze what other people are writing her and so now I just stay off of it in general. I think it starts alot of drama and passive aggression for people who don't want to deal with their feelings in real life.

Week 6: Television

Auto-Tune the News 2:09 http ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuYDSa4BRaw

This video shows how the internet brings the stupidest footage of kanye west and hot air balloons into the front of our attention. It also shows how little kids can become youtube celebrities. In chapter 10 we learned about how the internet has changed everything we do. With out the internet these home videos and celebrity incidents would never have gotten the recognition they received.

Quiz question: When a file is being downloaded and saved on a hard drive at the same time as it is being viewed it is called... A. a hyperlink B. buffering C. cybersquatting D. hypertext transfer protocol

Answer B. buffering

Movies

My favorite movie of 2009 was Moon with Sam Rockwell. It had everything I like in a movie. It was based on the moon, it was less than an hour and a half, it showed immoral corporations, and the main character goes crazy.
My all time favorite movie has to be The Great Escape with Steve McQueen. I love WWII movies and this one has an all star cast. It has Steve McQueen flying around on a motorcycle and it shows the ingenuity of American P.O.W.s in Germany.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/great_escape/