Final Examination Part 2: My Mass Media Monday.

The bane of my existence photo found here.

The alarm goes of screeching in my ears, if I don’t turn it off my it will only get louder. Showing me no mercy it continues to screech. I get up and press the off button while restraining the urge to throw it out the window. I stumble around my room for a while then hop in the shower. I get dressed and find my books to the best of my ability. Grab my wallet, phone, laptop, and ipod and rush to get on the bus to campus. Today is Monday, I hate Mondays. Little do I know that this Monday, one no different than any other Monday, in fact no different than any other day, is going to be filled with media related experiences.

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The day gets into motion with me half asleep on the bus. I plug my headphones into my phone and turn on Pandora radio. Simple genius is the only way I can describe Pandora radio. Its great for people who want to be able to listen to their favorite bands, or genera’s, while still discovering new artists. I throw on Sublime radio; a simple one that I know will be filled with Sublimes greatest hits and other chill artists like Jack Johnson. I like to use this time on the bus, filled with people who are still too tired to talk, to gather my thoughts for the day. What do I need to do? How will I get it done? Did I forget my key again? Yeah, I did… The bus arrives on campus while Pandora hits one of its many adds (About 8% of all U.S. advertising is spent on radio spots alone) (M&C 136), I find it almost bad luck to end on this note so I keep my headphones in for one more song, Jack Johnson’s sitting waiting wishing. Which actually has one of the coolest music videos around. (I suggest watching a video in which they play it backwards to see what actually is going on)

I go to my first class, its fairly uneventful and I jump on the Internet for a few seconds to check Facebook, nothing interesting. I focus on the class again; it finishes rather quickly putting me in a good mood. I head over to the café to grab lunch or even just a late breakfast. There I nobody there that I know so I sit alone, normally this would bum me out but I have a special edition of Rolling Stone magazine which has the top 100 Beatles songs in it. (Rolling Stone Magazine is a leisure magazine and is considered to be the greatest superpower in the music category) (M&C 298) I read the first few songs on the list, then skim, the rest. I find my self-debating with the magazine as to the rating of certain songs. I really enjoyed this experience with the rolling stone magazine. I’m normally not one to read magazines because I usually have so many other things going on / things I would rather do. The only complaint I have is that the magazine started off the edition with the #1 song (a song that I would have liked to read up too building suspense. The #1 song is a day in the life. I feel that this is a little creepy because that’s pretty much what this is all about right now. A day in the life of Peter Chadwick.

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After lunch I have sometime until my next class so I head over to the fire side lounge and get a nice seat that allows me to look out at the mountains while still being able to se and hear the TV which usually has the news on it just incase anything interesting comes up. I open my laptop and open up Facebook again still nothing. I bought a song from iTunes (Mp3s hurt just as much as they helped the music industry, because once the song was digital it could be put online and stolen) (M&C 97). Then I did something I haven’t done since before I left for college. I open up garage band and start to play around. I have always like garage band because the loop station is a lot of fun for making different songs. I like this so much because making the songs is almost like a puzzle, because you have to use pre-recorded loops to make a song. I usually just play around trying different combinations of loops to see if there is anything like. This time was pretty unsuccessful but it was nice to play around in garage band again.

I now head over to our media and society class, on the way I always grab the free New York Times, it is a habit I have had since high school. Normally ill just skim it for interesting articles. This is probably the most important medium I use when it comes to obtaining information. It’s my number one news source. I find the articles to be informative and interesting. The writing style stimulates my necrotex, which is good because I should be thinking about these articles. There are two reasons why I should be thinking, one is because these are important events in our world, and if I’m going to talk about them I need to make sure I have my facts straight. The other, and in my opinion the more important reason I should be thinking about the articles deals with our discussions of Public relations. I know now that I need to not only analyze the text for information but for truth. (PR professionals are criticized with creating so many stories that its at the point where PR is overwhelming journalism) (M&C 402) It’s really an question of OWNERSHIP. Who would want me to believe this and why? I ponder this for a short time. Then class starts.

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After class is over I run to the bus and get on, as I sit down it pulls away. This time I throw on my ipod and just listen to a couple of songs to kill time on the ride home. Once I get back I turn on the Xbox and start playing skate 2 with my roommates. It’s a skateboarding game that is completely different than the popular tony hawk. My roommates and I will sometimes get really completive but usually it serves as a nice time to relax and talk about our days. In fact if it wasn’t for this daily ritual I feel that I wouldn’t be as good of friends with these people. On an interesting side note controllers are actually being made that use your mind as the controller by analyzing brain activity. (M&C 37)

After about an hour filled with laughs I decide that its time to do my homework. This is the part of my day where I use the Internet the most. While my teachers would like to think I'm looking up links or blogging on my blog I'm probably Stumbling around or on Facebook, I mean I can’t help myself when I find the urge to talk and catch up with some friends on face book or explore some cool sites on stumble. Although these two sites are always open in different tabs on my computer I find myself using my addiction to the Internet to learn. Its simple things that range from checking the weather in my hometown, to reading an article on CNN. The Internet truly has a profound effect on my. I find myself constantly checking things such as Facebook, which was founding in 2004 and by 2007 had a market value of $15 billion. (M&C 53) It makes me wonder if I should really have a Facebook and is it something I need. The conclusion I come to is, while I may not always enjoy the fact I spend a fair amount of time on Facebook, it is almost a necessity for staying n touch with people because everyone is on it. I feel that social networks will forever be a part of our lives even if they don’t stay on the Internet. The reason? It’s too effective at letting us stay in touch while also feeding our nosey sides. Think about it, if you really use Facebook on the daily you’ve probably ended up looking through someone’s 1,752 pictures simple because on your feed you saw ONE that interested you. Getting back to my day, after my time on the interne I get my homework done and then eat dinner.

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After dinner ill usually watch TV with my roommates again. Tonight we will watch some Monday night football while snacking on some food. Football is a very media controlled viewing experience. Everything is an advertisement because the field is plastered with ads and everything is “sponsored by” or “brought to you by” you can’t get away. I mean the super bowl is watched by people more for the commercials, than for the game itself. (Source Here) I guess what it really comes down to again is OWNERSHIP. Its football is practically run on advertising. In fact most people don’t know that the NFL will take “commercial timeouts” during the game. It almost bothers me a little that our country runs on selling things, even if it’s just a simple idea. Overall I feel that TV is a little to dominated by commercials and advertising all together. Thankfully we are somewhat protected when it comes to commercials, for example the government has banned the advertisement of tobacco products via television. (M&C 369) One could even say that because of PR agencies the Nightly News is just as much advertising as the commercial breaks.

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Later in the night my roommates and me have another thing we tend to do. We usually watch a movie. Thanks to Netflix we have a huge library of movies to pick from. My roommates, for some reason, decided that we were going to watch Human Centipede (Click the link at you own will.). I refuse to talk about this scarring experience so instead choose to just analyze my relationship with movies. For me, movies are some of the greatest things ever. I feel that they can convey emotion far better than a lot of mediums. I love the way the story is told in the sense you are actually apart of the experience. You get to be side by side with the hero. You can almost form bonds to the actors and actresses because you know how they feel because personal moments are displayed for you in a way no other medium, excluding books, can. On an interesting side note…as I said earlier the new technological shifts in our media has had a negative effect on music, the interesting part is that the movie industry has really only seen positive effects from the new invitations. (M&C 237)

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After the movie I needed to calm down and do something to take my mind off of the horrors I had just laid witness too. This idea of using a book to relax is actually why books are so popular. The ease of being able to take it almost anywhere makes it very marketable to everyone. (M&C 315) So I grabbed a book. Being that I wanted to read a story but was still un satisfied by a good movie I decided to grab The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Now before anyone who has read the books and have seen the movie try to verbally massacre me, I get it. They’re different. I just wanted to have a base on to where my imagination to build and wander. I guess I actually created a NOSTALIGA feeling for myself, thus selling the idea of reading it to myself. In the end I can fall asleep because my mind is so active on all three levels that it’s so easy for it to wander around forever, which allows me to slip into a dream.

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All In all I guess I never truly realized how much our media is a part of my everyday life. It really shows you that it’s important to truly study and understand how our media works, because it has so much control over your life. It will most likely influence the decisions you make. It will help to choose how you present yourself. It changes how we communicate with others. It will do good people bad, and bad people good. It is media, and the media is us. Isn’t it start time we learn how to take care of ourselves?

Final Examination Part 1 : Champlain in 60 Seconds Sexy Production Team

A. What specific contributions did YOU make to your team's production of your video?

It was my job to edit the video.

B.What grade do you feel YOU earned for your work and participation in your team's video?

I feel that i deserve a b or b+. I say this because i ran into problems that were somewhat my doing so that gets rid of the possibility of getting an A. But I did try my hardest to fix every problem.

C. What was the hardest aspect of making your video?

The hardest part for me was editing the video. I ran into a lot of problems at all the worst times.
(On a side note i'd like to thank Andrew for helping me fix the problems)

D.Other than finishing the VIDEO, what was the most rewarding aspect of making your video?

I had two favorite parts. The first was when we were recording the audio, it was funny because we all kept out laughing. The second was the editing, even thought it was the hardest part i've learned a lot about final cut and there are now some mistakes i wil never make again in the program.

Time for TIME

Thesis:
Time is a magazine that features stories that are aimed at an older audience. These stories are usually about political happenings, but the magazine does offer other types of articles to attract more readers. TIME has a reputation for being pro-status quo. Which really just means they don't express any overall political view. This is not surprising because they are in a partnership with CNN.

Five facts:
1. Time magazine was created in 1923 by Briton Hadden and Henry Luce, making it the first weekly news magazine in the United States. Hadden also had the idea that Time was meant to be important but also fun which led to his articles to be criticized as being too light for how serious the matter was.

2. Time magazine has some traditions and every year since 1927 they have named a person of the year. And in 1999 they named Albert Einstein person of the century.

3. Another Thing they do is a Time 100 tradition. Its an issue in which they release a magazine telling you about the people that they have found to be the 100 most influential people of the year. Sometimes there are more than 100 people on the list because numbers can be shared between multiple people.

4. There is also a “Time for kids” in which a couple of national and pop culture articles are published. They are usually just bought by schools and distributed to younger students.

5. The famous red boarder of time magazine has only changed its color 3 times since it was first introduced in 1927. It was turned black, for the 9/11 attacks, to symbolize mourning.

Brain:
Time uses a style of writing filled with words that require some thought, thus stimulating your NEOCORTEX.

Time also uses photography in order to add more life to the story. This would affect the LIMBIC brain by stimulating it with the visuals, the most prominent being the cover of the issue.

8 Tends:
Time has a very AESTHETIC shift to it, because it takes a ton of stories and creates a compilation of all the stories and then adds in movie reviews and other things to create its magazine.

Time also has a TECHNOLOGICAL shift because it now has a website where you can read all of the articles. Also Time has a series in which they ask people of intrest ten questions. Here is the first one in which Daniel Radcliffe.

7 Principles:
Time magazine creates a kind of magazine that tells stories that people should know about. Be it the latest political scandal, or stories about 3rd hand smoke. Its articles can range from a couple pages to articles that are fairly brief but convey a lot of information while still keeping it interesting. Lastly it connects with the reader by having a voice that gives you the impression that they are on your side, but it’s also the right side because they’re the famous Time Magazines. It’s pretty much a TESTIMONIAL by a PLAIN FOLH. It also allows for people to access their website and read their articles free of charge.

29 Persuasive.
As I said Time uses a system in which they connect with you by being a PLAIN FOLK but also a super power.
They also use the idea of RHETORICAL questions to draw attention to the points they are making about the current news.
It’s also a SYMBOL itself with its famous red boarder and TIME spelled out on top.

They use some humor to sometimes lighten up the mood of whatever it is they are writing about.

ALL IMAGES USED ARE PROPERTY OF TIME MAGAZINE

Media Meditation #4 Super Tony Hawk Racer

Hey gang I’m back this time to rate 3 more games for the worlds greatest videogame system, N64. These next 3 are actually some of my favorites. But first how about an old n64 commercial?

I put this in because while I was writing this I realized I don’t remember seeing any N64 commercials back in the day. But apparently there were. Anyway lets move on.

First I’ll start out with probably the most popular N64 game ever. Super Smash Brothers is possibly the most well know type of game. The game is now in its third part (Super Smash Brothers Brawl) released for the Wii, but back to the N64 version. This game is fun. It’s probably the best game to play with a group of friends. The game also has a story mode in which you have to pick a character too fight off all of the other characters. The games graphics don’t show off much but are very well done. I’d give it a 9/10. The music for the game gets a 10/10. Not because it’s the a collection of the greatest songs but because the songs do their job by adding interesting music while you and your friends brawl it out. As for fun the game obviously gets a 10/10. Final verdict is a 29/30, you should really play this game if you never have.

The next game is Tony Hawk Pro Skater (I realize that the image is for Play Station but I couldn't find much else.)

This is probably my favorite N64 game. It’s a game that allows you to skateboard around different levels that range from a skate park to area 51.The game also allows you to pull of moves that take lifetimes to learn and your character does it like they were born to. But onto the rating, first off the graphics in this game are pretty bad, I know a weird thing to say about my favorite game, I’d say they’re about a 6/10 because it’s hard to tell what everything is. Also just about every characters face is the same, even the girls. As for music it’s a hands down 10/10. This game has some really good and classic songs. I mean there are actually only about 10 songs in the game but they are all great. As for fun of course I’m going to give my favorite game a 10/10. So it’s a 26/30. This means you may not like it but you should still try it in my opinion, you just may love it too.

The last game I’m going to rate today is Star Wars Pod Racing. It’s a game by the popular Star Wars franchise in which you are a racer from Star Wars Episode 1. You get behind the controls of the crazy racing machines also known as Pod Racers. This is a real fast paced race that anyone who likes speed should play. Now for the game’s rating. The graphics in this game are about as good as Tony Hawk, and for the same reasons, you cannot tell what things are (this becomes a big problem in the game because you constantly crash into things you don’t see until the last second) 6/10. The music is also pretty bad. Sure it’s got the Classic Star Wars music but it also has a lot of, well, crap. It can’t be said any other way, the music just sucks, and it does nothing to benefit the game. 3/10. Thankfully the game is a lot of fun. This is another I would play with friends not only to see who’s better but because when you get to see if you can ram the other person off the track. Overall rating 19/30. You won’t be able to stand it for long but it will provide some fun.

All Images were found at each games Wikipedia page.

Waste of an Activity

Paranormal Activity may be one of my least favorite movies.

For my third media meditation I will be talking about a movie I just watched recently. The other night some people stopped by and asked if we wanted to watch a movie. We all agreed and somebody decided they wanted to watch a scary movie. We ended up with Paranormal Activity. Paranormal Activity is a movie about a couple that is trying to capture, you guessed it, paranormal activity on a camera. The movie is shot in a very interesting way. The camera the couple is using is the only point of view we get for the whole movie. I find this so interesting because it almost adds a sense of helplessness to the movie because you literally can only sit and watch, as compared to other movies where you feel like you’re moving around a bit more. That said that’s about all this movie had going for it. For starters it’s a suspense movie…that’s it. I don’t mind a scary movie that has suspense, in fact I love those movies, but Paranormal activity is just suspense. I mean you sit there for two hours of suspense watching this movie, waiting for there to be a couple seconds of something happening, followed by the credits.

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Also the parts that aren’t suspenseful are the same thing over and over again. Here is who the characters are: Guy, he is happy to have camera and thinks what’s going on is cool. Girl doesn’t like what’s going on and doesn’t thinks it cool, also she hates guy’s camera. I mean come on if I went to the theaters and saw this I would be pissed that it was just wasted time.. Now also to be fair I realize that seeing it in theaters where people are screaming adds a bit of fun to it but I really don’t know if it would have been enough for me. So as a test I’m actually going to go see paranormal activity 2 with some friends once we all have enough money. I just hope that this one isn’t as bad.

The 2nd movie's trailer.

Midterm For Peter

1. The biggest most important thing I personally have learned from our class is that the media is such a big and influential part of our lives today we need to know how it works. This means that by studying our media we are educating ourselves to tell sense from nonsense. We learn to understand how our media goes about working, so in turn we know what’s going on with the world and we are not fooled by anything that may be falsely presented to us via our media.
2. Critical Reader- I feel I have learned to read a bit more into my readings now. I want to know the why behind the writing now, and I actually try to use the power tools to figure it out. Critical Writer- As a writer I’ve definitely gotten better. Having to write blogs all of the time has actually forced me to become better. Critical Thinker- As a thinker I try now to think of how people are affected by medias differently. For example the Reel Bad Arabs is one of the things that really made me think.
3. I probably would have studied my power tools a little harder in the beginning because I had some trouble later on because I didn’t know them as well as I though I did.
4. I would actually like it if you had us bring in examples of media that is controversial because I feel that this way people are fully interested in their topic while at the same time people can share / debate their point of view.
5. The power tools are very helpful because we use them in class all of the time. Plus they can be used to break down just about any form of media to figure out what the real purpose of it is. The course blog is also useful because it got me involved with blogging while learning about our media. Also very helpful for funding homework. The personal blog is useful because it allows us to expand our own styles of blogging and conveying ideas we have. The quizzes are good because they reinforces the power tools for me and also are a nice way to keep your grade up. As for the films and books they are a good way of providing real world examples. Also a nice change of pace.

A link to Reel Bad Arabs a movie I found interesting in class.

Camp Champ Radio Spot: Why to come to Champlain!

20 Reasons to Come to Champlain

1-Audeamus

2-Champlain makes you awesome

3-Champlain is sexy

4-Ranked a top tier college by U.S. News

5-Lots of free t-shirts

6-Everyone is applying here

7-We have a smaller campus than UVM

8-UVM is overrated

9-UVM spent money on anti drinking campaigns; we used it to expand living space.

10-UVM has business, but we have BYOBiz

11-You probably learned to ski here

12-Come to Champlain and gain superior knowledge

13-Why wouldn’t you want to come to Champlain?

14- We have over 75 student clubs

15-We have the dirtiest hippies around

16-You could graduate with a job

17-Gov. Dubie speaks on behalf of Champlain

18-We are the Beavers

19- We’re the nicest people in the world

20- Either come to Champlain or don’t go to college.