COMM 229: Disney buys Marvel

I know this happened a while ago, but I have always wanted to get my two cents into this subject and maybe let some readers indulge themselves into this crazy phenomenon. First off, yes, it is true that Disney has bought Marvel. When I first read about this I was shocked, nonetheless. I couldn't believe my eyes; Disney, the company that is responsible for Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck.....bought Marvel, the company responsible for Spiderman, X-Men, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor. How do these things mesh together? What is going to happen to Universal Studios in Orlando? That is a fantastic amusement park, and if they take away those rides, I'm going to be devastated. They have one of my favorite roller-coasters The Incredible Hulk, and they have the Spiderman ride, which is also an amazing amount of fun. There is a lot of things that are in question regarding Disney's recent mega transaction. Disney has said that the movies that are already in production will stay with those studios but in a few years, Disney will be the sole distributor. Oh boy...are we going to see Mickey Mouse in the next Spiderman movie? Yikes! And, what does this do for the industries and the media outlets? This has a huge impact on the movie studios. Disney already owns a lot of things such as, ABC, ESPN, Miramax, Touchstone etc. It's just crazy to to think that the "house of mouse" now owns a comic book conglomerate. What is the world coming to?

COMM 229: Free media and the Tiger Woods scandal

In the latest chapter we read for my COMM 229 class, it discussed media debates, concentrating on free media. The topic of free media was referring to is media free? It centered on if we get unbiased information or biased. It is apparent that the information we receive for our news outlets is generally biased, leaning towards a particular side, whether it generally be conservative or liberal. We do not get to view news outlets that are unbiased anymore; almost all news sources that I have encountered show some type of bias. It has come to this because, usually each news source must choose which side they favor, but not make it obvious. They then must put their own spin on it, to give their station or website it's own separate identity. I also wanted to focus on a particular example in the news today that is being swarmed.

The whole Tiger Woods situation pretty much baffles me. Nobody really knows what is going on, but we kind of get an idea that Woods probably cheated on his wife. It just amazes me on how the media is covering the situation. They are swarming like flys! I mean, it's kind of no surprise; they hear that one of the greatest golfers in the world has been recently involved in a car accident, and a possible domestic dispute with his wife, so the media is definitely going to be swarming. He is for one, who has really never been involved in any type of media scandal, so what a perfect way to get right into it. I kind of think that the media should leave him and family alone, but they won't do it because they want to get ratings boosted, and it's a really hot topic right now, so why aren't they going to put their two cents in, right? The interesting thing, is what bias they show towards the situation and how they spin it to the media (free media? You betcha!) It's not exactly free, because if it were, there would be no bias to it. I also think it's interesting that after one alleged woman has come out and said she had an affair with Woods, obviously other women have come out and said they have too, just to gain themselves some fame. It's typical, like in any other situation that you can think of. Think about it...