Class Highlights

1. Chapter 2: Media Impact

I had no idea that comic books had such a"negative" impact to create arguments on the dangers of reading them in the 1950s. It's amazing that even cartoon drawings can have bans on them.

2. Chapter 6: Movies

It's fascinating to see within 100 years how motion pictures have evolved through technology and graphics. Even within the past 10 years movies have become so techonogically advanced. Titanic's graphics compared to Avatar are a world or a difference.

3. Media Law: I didn't realize how many different laws and rules there are to media. The smallest mistake can cost someone their career.

I really enjoyed this class. I learned a lot about my major and the different fields that I can branch out into :)

Propaganda in Avertising

This commercial is hilarious! It uses two clear propaganda techniques:

1. Black and White fallacy: Presenting only two choices (or in the case the ONLY choice) with the product or idea being propagated as the better choice.

2. Euphoria: Use of event/product that generates happiness or using appeal to boost morale.

Internet

• 16,025 sites listed
• I've heard of Facebook and Myspace
• I know of friendster and linkedin which weren't listed
• I researched a social network called Social Vibe. "SocialVibe is a social networking website with over 1,750,000 members^[1] founded by Joe Marchese, Brandon Mills and David Levy, that aims to reward publishers of social media content through mechanisms such as donations to their charity of choice."
• I use Facebook as my main social networking site. I mainly use it to stay connected to old friends.
• I used Facebook to look up an old friend from elementary school and I found her. I hadn't seen her since second grade when she moved to a different country and it was so amazing that with one search I found her.

Television

Length: 1:08

Description : This video discusses how social networking is taking over our daily lives.

Chapter: 2 - Media Impact

Question: How has social networking changed how we socialize with one another face to face?

Answer: With Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Friendster, Chat Roulette and other online social websites every form of communication has become cyber instead of personal or physical.

Movies

Favorite Movie of 2009

Sherlock Holmes. This movie was surprisingly very funny! I absolutely love Robert Downey Jr. He is a great actor and always brings an extraordinary spark to his characters. The cinematography of this film was commendable. Guy Ritchie did an outstanding job. Seeing this movie in theaters made it even better because every time I see a movie that I like at a theatre it becomes more than just "watching a movie", it becomes an experience.

Favorite Movie E V E R

Mystic River. I saw this movie a couple years after it came out. I randomly selected it at Blockbuster because I'm a huge fan of Sean Penn and a guilty pleasure of mine is movies that take place on the east coast (I'm a sucker for the accent :) . This Film blew me away. To me, a great film is one that you can get lost in and evokes great emotion from you during the two hours (or so) that you're watching. The story was so invigorating; a father loosing his daughter by way of murder is an excruciating thought and to later figure out that your childhood friend is the one who did the unthinkable deed. I still to this day cry every time I watch it.

Magazines

Name of Magazine - Haut Couture

Concept - This an online fashion magazine. It's different from other online fashion publications because it is not following celebrities and fashion icons but rather the every day woman (or man) that has style and a lingering hint of a budding trend. Our writers will be taking pictures of the everyday person who they fit has the right fashion savoir-faire and posting the picture with a description of the location and the trend.

Readers - Women. Ages 15-45. Interests in cloths, style, affordable and everyday fashion.

Other magazines serving this demographic - whowhatwear.com - Vogue - Elle

Advertisers - Maybelline - Covergirl -Tampax - O.P.I. - Revlon

Articles - 5 Must Haves for Fall - Style at Smokeout Festival - Flattering Outfits for that Time of the Month - Comfortable & Affordable Platforms - Accessories that Accentuate your Figure

Cover -

Books

Twilight Saga

I was late getting into the Twilight books by Stephanie Meyer. I didn't know about them until the gossip of this vampire love story was being made into a movie and the male lead was a total hunk. I did a little research and asked my best friend about it and she told me she had read all four of the books and they were amazing. So, clearly I had to take a look myself and see what all this hype was about. I bought the first book, Twilight, and couldn't put it down! There is just something about a forbidden love of someone whom you're not only in love with but also infatuated in a literally deadly way. Needless to say I finished the book within two days. I immediately started on the second one a week later. It's very corny but the way Meyer writes, in such vigorous detail, about Bella's thoughts and emotions for Edward made me want to have some sort of forbidden love just like theirs.

Are You There Chelsea? It's me, Vodka

This book was written by the comedian and E! channel TV personality Chelsea Handler. I bought this book because I had seen her Show Chelsea Lately and I found her to be hilarious. When I read her book it just confirmed that I enjoy her humor and how brutally honest she is. I think that's why she is so funny. She tells it like it is so bluntly that it's absolutely shocking. This book is basically a bunch of short stories from her life. Some things she says are so outrageous that it makes me wonder if they are all completely true but either way I didn't really care because I laughed and was amused throughout the entire book.

My Secret: A PostSecret Book

I remember when everyone came home for Thanksgiving break (Freshman Year of College) and one of my best friends mentioned this book called PostSecret. She was telling me what an intense book it was about people sending anonymous postcards to the author. I went to Barnes & Nobles that same weekend and got the book. It literally is just that; a book of postcards. The individuals that send in these postcards write such harsh truths about their own lives. It was extremely powerful to read these people's darkest secrets that have such emotion within just a sentence or two. I commend the honesty of these people who share their painful stories because as much as they feel hurt they are actually helping someone who feels the exact same way somewhere else in the world. It's sad but true that there is always someone out there that feels the way you do. Sometimes you just don't know it yet. Especially for me being right out of high school and practicially in a new world (college), this book really opened my eyes to the bleak lives of people all over the country.