May 8, 2008

Media Literacy

1) The first thing I think of when I think about my newfound media literacy, is the way I look at adverisements now.  I’m now looking at advertisements with a crirical eye, and things such as a billboards, or commercials, catch my eye more so than they used to. 

2) The second thing I feel like I took from the course was the ability to look at media cricically.  This goes for movies, pictures, and all other sorts of media.  I now look at them differently in that I am not just looking at them for content, but for text, and for meaning.  It is different than before in that I can see why someone does something they do, or why a character is portrayed in a certain way, or why a picture has something going on in it.  

3) Lastly, I like the ability to use computer programs to create my own media.  Flash, Illustrator and Photoshop are usueful tools in creating your own media, and they are good skills to have down the road.  Being able to display things in a publisher file, or make a short animation using flash, can help in a variety of ways. 

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April 16, 2008

Glamour

I thought that the line in the book that said “we want what she has precisely because it appears to be beyond our reach.” In terms of glamour in the book, it says that the photo’s of Marilyn Monroe are glamourous because we want the phtotos because they are out of our reach. Basically we want what we cant have.  This applies to the movie because the main character is going crazy over something he can’t achieve.  The ad is glamourous in the sense that its unnatainable to him at the time.  It is something he wants yet he cant have.  THis is how it is portrayed in the book

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April 10, 2008

The uses of a brick

Build houses, walkways, and other things

Stepping stools

Weapons

Tools

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March 6, 2008
ICED was an interesting game, and though it had a few kinks to work out, it seemed to run relatively smooth. To make the detention center run i needed to switch something in options.  But looking at the concept of the game, it seems to be an instructional game about immigration, but the concept was a bit controversial to me.  Now I am no expert on immigtration, and being a non-immigrant I cant speak for the immigrant population, but my thought its that a game liek this, depicting different ways immigrants can go to jail and gtet in trouble seems offensive.  Overall, an interesting game to take a look at.

ICED was an interesting game, and though it had a few kinks to work out, it seemed to run relatively smooth. To make the detention center run i needed to switch something in options.  But looking at the concept of the game, it seems to be an instructional game about immigration, but the concept was a bit controversial to me.  Now I am no expert on immigtration, and being a non-immigrant I cant speak for the immigrant population, but my thought its that a game liek this, depicting different ways immigrants can go to jail and gtet in trouble seems offensive.  Overall, an interesting game to take a look at.

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February 28, 2008
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes_We_Can

The wikipedia page for the “Yes We Can” video shows some of the celebrities (not all, a few are left out) that make an appearance, and it gives you some background info about the video.  It says this video has appeared on ABC News, in Time Magazine, which labeled it “brilliant”, and I found it in an edition of Rolling Stone.  So it is getting widespread publicity, and it also stresses that the Obama campaign had nothing to do with the video.

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The Barack Obama music video.  I came across this a little while ago while searching through some things about Barack, and I thought it was fascinating. Will.I.Am. of the music group The Black Eyed Peas makes this amazing video, taking Obama’s “Yes We Can” speech and taking all sorts of artists and celebrities, from Herbie Hancock to Kareem Abdul Jabaar to Scarlett Johansonn to echo Obama’s sentiments. A powerful video indeed, emphasizing hope, there is no telling what a video like this can do for his popularity, especially among the younger generations.  And with the way Youtube.com is viewed today, this video will most likely make it world wide, to our news stations and all sorts of media outlets.  It will be interesting to see what kind of publicity it gets, but as artists and celebrities who feel passionately about their politics, this is a great way to express that feeling, and maybe help their candidate a bit in the polls.

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Television Hero

In television today, there are not too many heroes in the generic sense of the world. But a hero can be found anywhere, and can be considered a hero for many different reasons.  In the case of my hero, LeBron James, he is not your normal television star.  An NBA player usually does not steal the television spotlight, but James is a larger than life superstar, and at only twenty three is the most recognizable player in the NBA.  But the reason why he is a hero is because of his demeanor.  James has transformed the face of the NBA with his classy personality and fun loving antics.  He is an absolute gentlemen on and off the court, and it is this attitude that makes him a hero.  He is other worldly talented, and kids all over the world look up to him, but the best part is that he is a positive role model to them off the court, as well as on it, and it makes him a hero. 

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February 21, 2008
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