Media Monitoring Saves the Day!

Hey guys! So, in the media class, we just talked about how monitoring our kids media use is a good thing, and here's an article to prove it!

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=29381549&nid=148&title=mom-thwarts-teen-shooting-from-monitoring-sons-facebook-police-say&fm=home_page&s_cid=topstory

This mom saved her son's life by monitoring his media use! It really works :)

Google's April Fools

Oh my goodness!!!! Google is the coolest! I LOVE they're April Fools game :) If you go to Google maps, then hit search, you'll see a Pokéball symbol on a button that says start. Hit that button, en try and catch Pokémon all over the world!!! It's so fun, seriously. I have 137 out of 150 right now, so I still have a hew to go, but I'm working on it! Tee hee :) this is the perfect thing for someone with a guilty pleasure of all things Pokémon.

Brain vs. Brawn vs. Beauty

I have been watching Survivor this season, which I haven't done in a long time. What intrigued me back into watching it again was the tribes they created. They created 3 different tribes, one filled with people that all had really high IQ's (The Brain Tribe), one filled with really strong muscle-y people like cops, an NBA player, and more (The Brawn Tribe), and one filled with models and other pretty faces, (The Beauty Tribe). I thought this was so interesting! I have to watch it to find out who wins! At first the Brain Tribe has been HORRIBLE, but now that there's only 3 left and they merged, they are in a very good position to make it to the end. I personally think someone from the Brawn tribe is going to win though. They have an even bigger majority on their tribe, and when they merge again will most likely win all the challenges. It's logical. I don't want to make any guesses as to who specifically will win though. In that case, it's all about likeability, and that still remains to be seen.

Power of media

So, the other day, I was really hungry while on my way to work from my class, and I saw the Choose to Give activity going on where they were giving out hot dogs. The idea was that you donate to get one, so I decided it would be a good idea to donate a little something to charity so I could get a hot dog. While in line, I was pulling out my debit card and contemplating the amount of money to donate. I tend to be a tad stingy with my money, and so I was contemplating giving a dollar, because every little bit helps, and I'm a poor starving student with all sorts of debt to pay off. When I looked up for a second though, there was a poster. The poster said something along the lines of "If you are not willing to give when you have nothing, you won't be willing to give when you have everything." Something like that. Anyway, it made me sit there and think for a second about the validity of this statement, and how it's not fully true for everybody, but you know what else I did? I paid $5 instead of $1! I quintupled my donation. The power of media, people! Just that split second to read a semi-motivational poster to make me feel bad about holding all my money to myself, and I multiplied my donation by 5.

Long story short, media is powerful, and it can be used for good or for bad. Look out for how media affects you. 

"It done been blessed!"

Another video, yes I know, but so many good videos have been on my mind lately, and I've been sick, so I have a lot of time on my hands to go back and watch my favorites and make new favorites :). Julian Smith is super funny. I started watching his videos almost 4 years ago, or more. I don't even know, but some of these are just too good not to share. If you haven't seen this, you're welcome! If you have, well, you're welcome too!! :)




"Since I switched to pre-blessed food, ain't nothin' changed!"

Also check out Umove, waffles, any of his music videos, and more! :)

Hashtags

I really don't know how I didn't discover Jimmy Fallon earlier... He is HILARIOUS! I love this line of segments he does called "hashtags!" These are so funny, and this is one of the best ones I could find. I've been really into YouTube lately, so most of my posts are videos.. Yeah, I hope you don't mind! Of course you don't! You like laughing, so you're going to watch this video, then comment which hashtag was your favorite! Or if you have a funny #WorstCarIEverHad story, post it here! :) Play along!





My absolute favorite is the first one. :)

Funny Video

OH MY WORD!!! I just saw this video and almost died laughing!! I love Tina Fey, and I LOVE Jimmy Fallon!! These two together are soooooo funny! I am in love with comedy. So great. I love that some media has no other purpose than just to entertain. Enjoy, guys!





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Austenland

Ok, so I just watched this movie a week ago or so for the first time, and then watched it yet again 3 days later! It intrigued me, and I needed to see it a second time. So, this movie is about a women who is OBSESSED with everything Jane Austen has written, and she watches all the movie renditions of the books and even memorizes portions of the books. She discovers this place in England called Austenland where you can pay to have an "Austen Experience" by dressing up like people in those times and behaving and speaking like them. So, being Austen's biggest fan, she of course, has to go. She spends her life savings on it after seeing that her life is not what she wants it to be at all. When she gets there, she finds that she has paid for the cheapest package there is, while the other two ladies paid for the premium package, and so she will be excluded from parts of the trip. She is also promised that the experience includes romance with one of the actors. So as she goes about the experience, it seems to be all about finding out whose intentions are real and whose are not.

It is a movie that makes fun of the Austen movies while being exactly like one at the same time, so it is entertaining. After watching this movie though, I felt odd. I really couldn't put my finger on exactly what I was feeling, but it was a very odd feeling. Maybe it just had to do with the fact that I didn't follow it very well, or maybe it has to do with my past being a little like her experience in which she cannot tell when the man's intentions are actually real or not, and being played in that sense. Maybe it was because I tend to imagine myself in those situations and I know that if I were in that situation that the same thing would have happened to me..I don't know, it was weird. The second time I watched it, the movie over all made sense and I felt better about it, but that odd feeling was still there inside me... I really can't figure it out. But, while I'm trying to figure it out, I'll just enjoy the movie and its storyline. I really do like it, and it hooked me in and I had to keep watching. Chick flicks with a nonsensical romance always get me ;)

Hold It Against Me

I saw this cover of this Britney Spears song 3 years ago when it first came out. I had never heard the song before, and I had never heard of Sam Tsui either. Now, I've heard a lot of Sam's covers and I have heard the Britney Spears version. I like the way he sings this wayyyyyyyyy better than the actual version. I love the melodic surprises, and his improvisations. Other than that though, I don't tend to like his versions over the other ones. I think that he can sing a lot of the songs that are sung by women with his higher voice range, but I don't like his versions that are normally sung by men. Sadly, it's true. But this is one of my favorite covers of any song ever, so please, enjoy!!!

Pinterest

I love Pinterest. While it is much fun to just browse around ad look at cute pictures, I use it most for new recipes. I really don't like to cook, but that's the beauty of Pinterest, you find simple meals that make cooking super duper easy. They also have a lot of wonderful dessert recipes. Mmmm! I love desserts. So much! I just found this new page that has a list of 50 different Oreo desserts. So bad for you, but I tend not to care about that even though I should... I love sugary, chocolatey, fattening things. It's totally wonderful. I love baking sugary things a lot. Pinterest fuels my baking and making desserts. Probably a bad thing, but I love it :)

Yet Another Guilty Pleasure

Ok, so I just saw this on Facebook, and I'm super duper excited!!!

http://www.smosh.com/smosh-pit/articles/pokemon-animated-series-coming-netflix

The Pokemon animated series is coming to Netflix!! Woohoo!! I'm so excited that I just can't hide it!!
Honestly, I'm not really into Anime, but it's Pokemon! It's my childhood!

Another reason I love to watch it so much because it makes the world of Pokemon that much closer to reality, where you see those Pokemon you collected and had cards for and how they act in real life! I wish Pokemon were real, then I'd actually know what I'd do with my life!! Lol. Anyway, I'm super excited, and you should be too!!

Honda 2014 Big Game: #hugfest

So, there were a lot of good Super Bowl commercials this
year, but I wanted to share one that I really liked. It had a good
message, and just the right amount of funny. Plus, it gets your
attention because it's Bruce Willis, and it is a very prosocial message.


And then, there's Fred Armisen. For those who don't know him, he's a very
funny guy from SNL. He's great. Anyway, I love this commercial. Hope you
enjoy!

30 Rock

30 Rock!

I have really gotten into this show since I can watch Netflix at work and I needed new stuff to watch. It is sooooo funny! I just love the stories and the characters, and their weird and random personalities.    

For those who haven't seen the show, it is about Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) who is the head writer for a comedy show on NBC. Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) is their new executive boss who decides to mentor Liz Lemon.
Tracy Jordan and Jenna Maroney are the actors on the show, and are both a little narcissistic. Jenna is a firm believer in special treatment for actors and is constantly acting out to get attention. Tracy is a millionaire because of the many movies he has been in and more.

                                                                   Some of the cast

One of my favorite parts of this show? It is written by Tina Fey herself. She is one of the funniest people I can think of. I love every movie with her in it. She has a mostly clean sense of humor that is sometime the most random. That's what makes her awesome.

Liz Lemon is a woman whose life is in total chaos. She has to deal with the crazy actors, her writing staff, and then everything in her personal life. Every man that they introduce on the show for her has some kind of fault and ultimately ends in disappointment, (which is a part I'm not overly fond of). She has an interesting relationship with her boss/mentor where their personal lives often end up being the main talking topic and he will fix all her problems and she will give horribly bad advice that he will ignore. She is in love with food, and that is her longest loving relationship and she knows it will never leave her. She is hilarious.

                                                                    Kenneth

Now this goofy looking guy is Kenneth. He is in the NBC page program, and just loves television. He loves to serve. He will do anyone's bidding, and is proud to go get their lunches, and be yelled at when it's wrong, he loves it. He is the most positive person on Earth, and sometimes it irritates people, and other times, he inspires them. He also doesn't believe in getting anything without earning it.

Best thing about this guy? (Jack McBrayer) He is the voice of Fix-it-Felix from Wreck-it Ralph!! It is so cool to actually see the voice of Felix as a person on a show and not doing voice overs. That's one of my favorite things you see, seeing the people who voice my favorite characters talking in real life. I want to see if their voice is just like that, or if it's not, I like seeing them do the voice. Like King Candy in Wreck-it Ralph. Alan Tudyk is amazing.

Anyway, this is one of my favorite shows, and I love it. :) I hope you watch it and enjoy it too.

Guilty Pleasures

So.... I have a guilty pleasure when it comes to TV shows... I watch The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. I know, I know, it sounds bad, but I just love all the drama! At least it's not soap operas right? I don't know if that's any worse... I love getting into the show and picking my favorite people for the contenders and analyzing things here and there. This time around I have made a list of all the girls and their ages and qualities and sorted them in ranking order of who I like best. And it changes every week, because more and more qualities of the girls will come out. 

Any way, this is the first season they've had a Latino Bachelor, and the women are loving it! Here is Juan Pablo:

Not gonna lie, he is attractive, and he is also really sweet. He has a daughter, and he is trying to set a good example for her (the best example he can while being on a show dating multiple women..) 

I just love the ooey gooey drama that goes on in the house, and who does he like and why, and the romance, and all that jazz

So that's my guilty pleasure. What's yours?

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

This is my new favorite show!!!! Oh my goodness, I love it!

I am a huge fan of comedies and up until recently, Big Bang Theory was my favorite show, but Brooklyn Nine-Nine has blown it out of the water! I have always loved Andy Samberg in everything I have seen him in. I think I was introduced to him through SNL, but I had probably seen him in movies prior to that (or at least heard his voice in an animated movie).

So, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a comedy about a fictional precint of the NYPD. Andy Samberg plays a detective who is great at his job, but he has a downside... He's super imature. SO funny!! I love it. They get a new captain who is more serious than ever, so their relationship is always a scream. It has won 2 Golden Globes and it is amazing. If you haven't seen it, just go watch an episode on Hulu right now! So funny :)

Book Ratings

Something we talked about in class on Monday was books as media, and how certain books have certain content in them that maybe not everyone would want to read. When movies have sexually explicit content or a lot of swear words, they rate it as "R." Books don't have this advantage... There are no ratings or content warnings at all, and one book with lots of content can be right next to the Harry Potter books. I had never really thought about this before because I don't really read a lot, and if I do, it's only books that I know other people are reading or have read so they can tell me if there is any inappropriate content.

I remember certain parts of a book that I was required to read in school. They warned us that it had a rape scene in it, and that we could skip that chapter if we wanted. Skipping the chapter really didn't do any good for me though. The rest of the book was just as inappropriate for someone of my age to read. It really didn't benefit me at all, and I only remember the negative effects it had on me. I still wish to this day that I hadn't read that book.

Certain books with lots of inappropriate content could even be in a certain section of the library where if you need to check it out you need to be a certain age, or have an adult with you to check it out for you. Just like we treat the movies. We need to protect our youth from this and I think that content warnings and ratings would help.

We can do anything

So we saw this commercial in class the other day, and I really like it.

Watch it here. 

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/11/19/goldieblox_commercial_rewrites_the_beastie_boys_urges_young_girls_to_pursue.html

This ad is very affective in its message. And even though there was a controversy about the use of this song in the commercial, I still like the message they were getting at. Girls can be engineers too! I love that a company has done something to encourage girls to break out of their normal box a little bit and start thinking early about engineering, or science, or other things like that. I just love it :) It's a whole new side to things. Girls, and boys, we can do anything and be anything we want to be!! We just have to set our minds to it and go for it! Dream big ;)

Seahawks!!

My Seahawks won!!! They did it! For the first time, they won the Super Bowl, and they almost shut the Broncos out.. This was the most enjoyable Super Bowl I have watched. (It was probably one of the only Super Bowls I've watched all the way through...) But still! I liked it. Sure, it could have been a more interesting game if the Broncos actually scored some more points, but it was just a cool feeling to have my family together in one room celebrating the Seahawks success.
I love the idea of the 12th man. That we, the fans, are their 12th player and that we're a part of all of it. That really gets me and makes me want to support them more.

So because this game wasn't as intense as some of the previous ones, I was pretty chill during the whole thing. There was no anger or yelling at the ref's, or anything like that. I got excited about them scoring, and a little upset here and there when the ref's would call something (or not call something), but that was mostly because there was a lot of things that the Seahawks should have been called on and were not. I'm all about a fair game and good sportsmanship.

I am a little disappointed that it wasn't a more intense game, but then again, I'm glad I didn't have a reason to be angry or riled up. It was just a good day of chillin' with the fam, and eating good food. And LOTS of it! ;)

P.S. How awesome were those commercials?? I'll be talking about some of them later

Too Cute!

Ok, so I've been DYING to have a dog lately. Not to offend Jayde, (my ball python) but she's not exactly a playful pet. I really really really want a dog, but it is definitely not a good time in our lives, or financially in any way... So alas, my dreams will have to be suppressed. Sometimes, to suppress the want for my own dog, I will visit others who do have a dog. And then I will be full of puppy love, and not need to dream of having my own. Of course, this often backfires... but do I care? NO! I love dogs and I want to be around them.

So lately, I found this show on Netflix called "Too Cute!" It is literally 8 episodes of different breeds of puppies and kittens growing up and going to forever homes, or growing up to be show dogs or seeing eye dogs or agility champions. It is ADORABLE! I just die because of the cuteness of these animals. It even features some Savannah Cats, which is another dream pet of mine. So so so so so so so cute! I cannot get enough! 8 episodes is not enough, guys... The Chow puppies are so fluffy! And the Bengal cats are so active! Anyway, this show is pretty much the best. No hints of violence or aggression, (other than puppy play-fake aggression), just a good, wholesome show. Anyway, it's cute, go watch!

Here's some cute puppy and kitten pictures of some of my favorite breeds. Enjoy your dose of cute for the day!!

 

Dobermans

 Savannah Kitten

                                            Australian Shepherds. (So fluffy!)

                                            This is a Bengal kitten. Beautiful markings!

The Chow Chow. So much fur!!!

And the Siamese. Awwww!!!!!!!

Media - Frozen

     So, this week, I was able to take my sister and her 4 little girls to go see "Frozen." I had already seen it, but I knew that they were dying to see it and so I wanted to be there when they experienced it. It is a very cute movie, and it has very catchy songs. I've been singing them in my head for the last 2 weeks. It was really cool, and for most of the movie I didn't expect the events that happened, so it was very surprising, uplifting, and funny. Quality entertainment right there. I thought it was very interesting that it sent a little different message than most other Disney princess movies. It truly was a great movie, and how cute is Olaf?!? I mean, really. He's the best character.

Super Bowl

Ok, so I'm really not much of a football fan. Not at all normally. But I was born in Seattle, have family there on both my husband's and my side, so naturally, I was at my sister's this weekend watching the Seahawks game. I really don't know much, but I asked questions when something happened that I didn't understand and really got into it. I think I don't really watch football because I get invested in my team too much and I'm a really sore loser sometimes. It's not a good feeling to me to get invested in the games and get so angry at the referees when I think they made a bad call, or when another player is mean to one of my team players. It just does not feel good, to get all that emotion welled up inside me. I would much rather just hear about the results of the game later and then be happy or disappointed later. But when it comes to the Super Bowl, it is a big enough event that I feel I need to be involved in it, especially this year.

My favorite part of the game though? Good sportsmanship. I love to see it when people from opposite teams help each other up, and give them a nice pat as if to say, "Nice tackle." So with this being my favorite part, I was really upset by the ending of the game when Sherman and Crabtree had their little spout. I believe Sherman was taunting Crabtree to the point that he got shoved, but I also think Crabtree may have been a little bit of a jerk as well; one sore winner and one sore loser... thus, the interview with Sherman where he yelled and called Crabtree out. I really don't care about all this, I was just upset that they all couldn't have been good sports, and I will think no more, nor comment anymore on the subject.

Another point though: that guy on the sidelines that hit the Seahawks player that went out of bounds needs to be found and fined. That was not cool.

Media really does affect you. That's why I know I don't like to watch football, because I know how I get, and I hate getting like that. But I know I will be watching the game, come Groundhog Day.

GO HAWKS!!! :) :) :)

Media Post

So, I am posting about Media I was exposed to this week. I heard a song on the radio today, which I had heard before, but I thought it would be fun to talk about. The song was "True Love" by P!nk. When I heard this song, I cracked up. I just thought it was the funniest thing. Here are some of the lyrics:

Sometimes I hate every single stupid word you say

Sometimes I wanna slap you in your whole face

There's no one quite like you

You push all my buttons down

I know life would suck without you

At the same time, I wanna hug you

I wanna wrap my hands around your neck

You're an ***hole but I love you

And you make me so mad I ask myself

Why I'm still here, or where could I go

You're the only love I've ever known

But I hate you, I really hate you,

So much, I think it must be true love

I just thought this was terribly funny. But honestly, what kind of message is this really sending? That the person you love, you will also hate? I guess sometimes there are little things your spouse may do that drive you crazy, but that in no way means that you hate them because of it and want to strangle them...This really isn't sending the right kind of message about the kind of love you want to have, or that you want your kids to have later on. Anyway, I still think it's funny, but it's not the best of messages.

New Update:

Wow, it has been a looooooong time since I have blogged... Sorry about that. Not that any of you were really disappointed... I will now be posting twice a week beause I am in a media class and this is a form of media that I am using right now. Anyway, so to start off the class, we were asked to fill out a worksheet of our estimated use of media during the weekdays and the weekends. It was measured in a number of hours, and pretty munch EVERYTHING is a form of media. We had to estimate how often we watched TV, movies, listened to music, read a book, got on the internet, used facebook and so on. Thn we were asked to calculate it all out and record our estimated hours spent on media per week.

So, my big reveal: 196 hours. A week.

"Wait a second" - you're thinking - "How many hours are there in a week?" Oh, you know, 24 X 7 = 168... And yet, my projected hours are more than that. How, you may ask? It's because there are many times when I will have my computer open and I will be on the internet while sitting in front of the TV, or have my phone out and looking at it while the TV is on. I use more than one form of media simultaneously. At first, I was all "Well, my entire job requires me to be on the computer and on the internet constantly, so that's a big chunk of it." Boy was I in denial. I only work 16 hours a week at that job. So that puts me at 180 hours a week when I'm not at work. Still more hours than there are in a week. Take into consideration though, that these hours include any reading of textbooks or using the internet for homework, or taking notes in class on a computer, and things like that.

Either way though, my constant use of media, every hour of every day is a little sickening... This much media has got to be having some kind of effect or influence on me. And that is the point of this class: to see just how the media can do that. This is what I will be investigating all semester, so I will keep you updated on what I find.