COMM 229: YouTube

Whenever I am bored or need something that is pertained to media, the first source is always YouTube. It allows access to numerous amounts of material that we are able to watch. It has everything you need; it has become such a huge site. It continues to grow everyday. I love watching videos on YouTube, but some videos are just out of hand. For example, one of the fan screenings we had to watch was from YouTube from the account doglover199709. All she does in her videos is dance around and lip sync and she has so many views on all of her videos. How is this possible! I'm sure some people just click on it and watch it for a couple seconds but don't watch the whole video. I was told she is one of the highest viewed subscriber's on YouTube. Ridiculous. Give me something good to watch.

Personally, I enjoy watching videos that are pertained to my liking. I like to watch videos that associate with my interests that can provide me hours with entertainment. I like watching things on the Oscars, sometimes old WWE videos, Robin Williams, music concerts, celebrity impersonations...good and funny stuff I think.

I like YouTube because it can provide me with new information that I might not yet know. It can help me broaden my horizons when it comes to opinions and ideas that I have yet to build on. It's a great source of media, and it can be heavily influential.

COMM 229: This Film is Not Yet Rated

I just watched This Film is Not Yet Rated earlier and I have to say, "Wow". I can't believe what the MPAA does and what they are responsible for. I think it is unbelievable what they do. What Jack Valenti has done to the MPAA is horrendous. He is so hypocritical on what he has said. He said, "Movie ratings do not effect box office." Absolutely wrong! I work at a movie theater and I will say that movies are absolutely effected by the rating system. Usually, PG-13 rated movies do much better than R rated movies. PG-13 movies are able to spread out to a bigger audience, while R rated movies are only viewed to 17 or older movies. He also said, "There are no secrets in Hollywood and Washington." Another wrong fact. There are plenty of secrets of course in Washington, and I'm sure there are some secrets throughout Hollywood that we are not aware of. I mean, think of what goes behind the scenes. Those are secrets! It's ridiculous what the MPAA has done over the years. They are so critical and it has come too far. Things need to be changed I think.

COMM 229: News and how it's spun

So, I had to write a paper that discussed how some news sources such as TV and the Internet use their own little spin with stories. It's so true isn't it! It seems that no matter where we go, there is no source that is unbiased. If you live in Massachusetts, like myself, you'll understand that we're very accustomed to reading articles in The Boston Globe that are generally liberal biased and heavily support Democrats. Now when there are other news sources such as...cough FOX cough cough...sorry I had something in my throat. But yes, FOX is well, FOX. They have a large reputation for being extremely conservative and heavily favoring Republicans. I know some people might argue, "Hey, the Globe does the same thing but with liberals and Democrats!" Yes this is true, HOWEVER, FOX is extremely arrogant in what they do. Many of their anchors are arrogant as well, which gives them the reputation. Bill O'Reilly for example, oh man! He is something. That's all that needs to be said. We just can't get any unbiased news now can't we? MSNBC doesn't do a terrible job at delivering unbiased news, but it does the best it can. Wherever we go, we'll hear one thing then hear another. That's just the way it is...

COMM 229: Is there any decent television anymore?

After reading a blog that I follow, "For the Fun of It", very good blog, the author talked about how there is a mis-representation of the media and about reality television. Something that I think is interesting that pertains to my opinion about television and about the author's blog, is that...Is there any really good and decent television anymore? I mean yeah, I do watch a handful of shows that I find thoroughly entertaining. Such as, Entourage, Scrubs, 30 Rock, The Big Bang Theory, Smallville, Chuck, and Community.

I know, I know...a lot of shows that I watch. However each one I find great in its own little way. Entourage is hilarious, loosely based on the life of Mark Whalberg, and it's on HBO, and usually all HBO shows seem to have some sort of magic to them. I have always been a big fan of Scrubs ever since it was on; the banter between J.D. and The Janitor or J.D. and Dr. Cox is always priceless. 30 Rock is another little gem that could be one of the funniest shows on television; Jack Donahue (Alec Baldwin) is by far the funniest character on the show, with Baldwin's hilarious deadpan humor and the way he delivers his lines are superb. The Big Bang Theory is an hilarious show that you really don't have to understand what they're saying to like it. I don't even know what they're saying half the time. They play these geniuses who are extremely smart but have no concept of social skills and do not have to talk to women. Hysterical. Smallville could be my favorite TV show right now. I have always been a big fan of the show ever since I started watching it, about 3-4 years ago. I would like to share with you, something that I'm extremely proud of, but also shows that at the time, looks like I had no life. I got into Smallville thanks to a friend, and I had never watched the show but I bought Season 1 on DVD. I ended up finishing the season in about a day and a half. Also, if you know the show, and watch it, you know that at the end of each season, they give you a ridiculous cliff hanger and makes you want more. Thus, I bought Seasons 2-5. Now here comes the good part. I not only watched Seasons 2-5, but finished Seasons 1-5 in about a week and a half. To me, that's just flat out ridiculous and astonishing. How did I do that you ask.. I have no idea, but I did. I have yet to meet someone who can top that, because I still have yet to find that person. Keep in mind, that is over 100 hour long episodes in a week and a half. Yikes! Community is a new show that aired this year, starring Joel McHale and Chevy Chase, and I find it entertaining. Now notice how I did not mention the show Chuck. I did so because I would like to save it for the next paragraph.

Now, if you haven't seen it, Chuck is actually a very good show. It's witty, funny, it has plenty of suspense and drama, and it's just downright fun. It has been on for two seasons, and the second season, I thought it was great. They were trying to add more story angles and arcs to keep the show flowing. I guess the only slight problem the show had was some below average ratings. Now I know that television networks rely heavily on ratings, and if a show was falling off the edge, they would cut ties with it to hopefully salvage the network and time slot. However, if you take a look at Arrested Development, it was one of the best shows in years, maybe the best comedy since Seinfeld, and we all know how hard it was to find a new Seinfeld. But the show had a cult following and had so many fans that pleaded for the show not to be cancelled. It won an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series! But, FOX, being the way they are, cancelled the show and left people to mourn the loss of a great show. Now we have Chuck, which is not as good as Arrested Development, but is still very funny. It has a huge following of fans that love the show and pleaded with NBC to not cut ties, but was never up for any awards. Luckily they greenlit a 3rd season which will air in March of 2010.

But here's where television goes wrong. It shouldn't always matter about the damn ratings for shows. Why on Earth should that always matter. Shouldn't the following of the fans of certain shows be a reason to keep a show on the air? It's a shame that it's only about ratings. It's flawed because networks cancel have canceled great shows in the past because they suffered poor ratings. Maybe it will change someday where we the fans do have a say as to what television shows have a chance of staying on the air. I wish we had the power to vote shows off the air. There's plenty of shows that shouldn't be on the air, I just don't want to get started. I've been talking and venting too long, and don't want to keep you guys reading further, I'll see ya when I see ya.

For my COMM 229 Foundations of Communication class, we had to read a chapter concerning Stereotypes and how the media perceives race and gender. I found it very interesting because it's true how today's media twists certain misconceptions about race and gender. It can be real awful to witness what they say on television.

After we read the chapter, we had to find a quote that really stuck out to us and elaborate on it; we then had to write about it on our class Discussion Board, but I would like to let my readers in on the quote and elaborate more on it.

The quote is by Christine Odone from her article, "Sexy kids" in New Statesman. Odone writes, "The pink cotton T-shirt's lettering reads: "So many boys, so little time." It's an odd line, which usually raises a smile. But...this T-shirt is a '5-6 years' size...What about the thong for 7 year olds...or the padded bra for a 9-year old?"

This quote is a very interesting one because I feel that it is true regarding what Odone says. I do not like when I see little children wearing provocative clothing because it can be offensive and the children most likely have no idea what the saying means. If I saw a young girl around the age of 7 or 8 wearing a T-shirt that said, "So many boys, so little time", I don't know what I would do. I don't understand why children are wearing clothing like that. I was used to wearing cartoonish shirts or something neutral that didn't represent or mean anything offensive. I was wearing T-shirts that had the X-Men characters on it, or shirts that had cartoon characters from television shows. I guess it shows that how much time has changed in so little time. I'm only 21, so it was only 10 years ago when I was wearing clothing like that. It's amazing how much the style of clothing has changed over the years. Seeing a mother buying her young daughter a padded bra or thong is just disgusting. She is too young to be wearing articles of clothing like that.

It also has to deal with the fact that children try their very best to fit in and act "cool" when they are in Elementary School or Middle School. It's sad, that wearing these clothes might be one of the underlining reasons to give them a chance to fit in. I remember when I was a kid and I had to wear good clothing to help make a good impression on other people, but I didn't have to wear provocative or "sexy" clothing like the kids are wearing now. It's sad that they are forced to wear clothing that include meanings that they are probably clueless about. They just wear them because they think the shirts look good. First impressions are crucial when you are a kid, and I understand that. But, instead of trying to blend in with this crowd, why not stand out and rebel against them by doing something that's against the norm. Do something that will make you stand out but in a good way, rather than wearing ridiculous clothing that will make older kids or adults turn their heads in disgust, when in fact you are completely innocent because you're just doing what all the "cool" kids are doing. Take the advice that my mother gave to me when I was a kid. Don't be like them, be yourself, because if you follow them every step of the way, you'll never discover who you are.

In 10 years, we'll see what kids are wearing now; but from what they're wearing now, and how the style of clothing continues to change, it's a little frightening when I think about where our society will be in 10 years. Who knows...