Success!

Media literacy matters, you have to know what you're being told, how you're being influenced, and what you have to do to prevent being influenced in the wrong way. First we must realize that everything we see is constructed, people who create television shows and write newspaper articles have there own personal opinions and it shows through in what they're writing or saying. Interpretation is also vital, everyone interprets the same message in different ways, and race, religion and ethnicity all influence how you'll interpret a message. Each message is produced for a particular purpose, whether it’s to make money, persuade, educate or to express yourself artistically, everything has a purpose. All messages have an embedded value as well; producers have their own beliefs, biases and opinions and they don’t bother to hide it.

Awareness is key, don’t be fooled by that perfect advertisement advertising that flawless burger, that’s not reality, you know reality, you’ve gotten that burger, it’s not so flawless. Don’t be fooled, open you’re eyes, ears and speak out against false views of reality.

Works Cited:

The Big Switch. .. 16 Jan. 2008 http://thebigswitch.wordpress.com/2007/04/25/ill-have-a-double-cheeseburger-hold-the-reality/.

Blog It

Well, blogging has become a well known term whether you do it or not, of course like everything there's good and bad blogging.

To be a good blogger you must:

1. Use proper grammar and spelling

Grammar is everything, if you want people to respect your opinions and respect your blog you must use proper grammar it's vital. Spelling is also very, very important, there's a spell check right there, why not use it once and a while.

2. Descriptive headlines

Headlines grab a reader’s attention, it will inform the reader of what the topic is about and it will let them know if they are interested or not, no one wants to read an article that they're not interested in.

3. Use pictures and videos

Both pictures and videos will grasp a readers attention as they're scrolling through the list. Use them, don't abuse them, if there's a cluster of pictures or too many videos people will become annoyed. They also make it easier to scan, they know what it's about before they have to read the headline, so make sure the photo is relevant to the article it's beside.

4. Write in an inverted pyramid fashion

You want to state your point, you don't want to make people have to read through details if they're not interested or if they're only interested in the main idea.

5. Make it interesting

Spice it up, use different font styles, joke around a bit, paid journalists joke around in their articles, this is less formal don't be so stiff.

6. Be passionate

If you're not passionate and it shows through your words your readers won't be interested, won't get involved and won't be passionate. Passion is key.

7. Make it brief

People won't want to sit in front of there computer while you rant on and on about something of little importance, make it short and sweet. You want your opinion heard, but make it short. People have lives and want to live them.

8. Talk about current events

People want to know what's going on, so inform them, and include opinions because they're difficult to come by when reporters are told what to say.

9. Never plagiarize

Plagiarizing is definitely the worst possible thing you could do in a blog, it's online and you'd most likely get caught. Though it may be easier and someone may have better ideas or may have worded your same idea in a different way you should never, ever plagiarize it's wrong and very punishable. It's not difficult to cite, so do that and save yourself the trouble.

10. Be fresh

Blog as much as possible, state your opinions and feelings on topics you feel most acquired to, people can tell if you're being fake. Post any thoughts or ideas you find thrilling and stick with it.

Works Cited:

Lenssen , Phillip. . 1 Apr. 2006. 16 Jan. 2008 .

Suitt, Halley. .. 16 Jan. 2008 http://www.blogwriteforceos.com/blogwrite/2005/01/good_blogging_i.html.

Photo Manipulation Crisis

OJ Simpson, the man who may or may not have killed his wife. The long-lasting trial, the glove that didn't fit, the mugshot. Oh, the mugshot, which one, the manipulated one, or the original? Newsweek and Time Magazine both published photos of OJ Simpson's mugshot during his trial days. Time Magazine just happened to shade the photo and darken it, no big deal, right? Well, no, it was a big deal considering the trial ended up being a black vs. white ordeal. Perhaps Time was just trying to show that a man was changing, that he was fading. The headline was "An American Tragedy" maybe they were trying to indicate that it was a good guy gone bad situation.

I'm sure they didn't intend on being racist or insensitive, though that is how it came across. It surely wasn't ethical, manipulating a photo without one's permission is never ethical, but it went too far, the photo didn't need any manipulation, it was bad enough as it was and they surely didn't attempt to improve it. There's nothing that can be done to make a mug shot better, and who knew someone could make it even worse, even more controversial. Changing a persons skin tone, or a key feature of this person that makes them original and unusual is not ethical though correcting a minor flaw or brightening a photo, or perhaps making someone appear more perfect is. But where do we draw the line? What if that one little blemish, or scar is what makes that person so original and unique and you just airbrush it away because it wasn't perfect enough for you-it's still only a minor change. It's complicated, when you try and improve a photo you may only be making it worse.

The way photo's are translated depends greatly on the viewer, it's not like text, you can't read it and understand immediately what it's trying to say or prove, you have to look deeper. If you're African-American the OJ Simpson may really offend you, but if you're simply Caucasian it would be seen differently, it wouldn't seem like such a big deal-maybe they're just trying to prove a point unspoken.

You can't believe everything you see.



Works Cited:

thelistuniverse. .. 16 Jan. 2008 http://listverse.com/history/top-15-manipulated-photographs/

Gender Roles in Society

'Be a man, come on toughen up a bit, you can do better than that.'

Oh, yes, harsh words, very harsh. Men, you're supposed to be tough, girls are the weak one's, get it right. Not that that's really realistic it's just the way we were brought up, we were brought up believing that women work in kitchens and men work in garages, oh, yes very realistic, very Brady Bunch. We're also brought up thinking that men are the dominant powerful ones, and women have difficulty fending for themselves, all thanks to television and advertisements. Oh, the shame, and I thought we'd improved in the last hundred years. We start watching television from a very young age and are therefore influenced, commercials are the worst, men are always seen driving the cars while women are seen cleaning the dishes, oh how very, brutally sexist.

"Please, be more ladylike, sit up straight, cross your legs"

Yes, that is a common phrase women hear from a very young age from their grandmother's. It's so when we grow older we become proper young ladies. Well, there's nothing wrong with that, but slouching and sitting with your legs uncrossed doesn't make you any less of a lady, just like being tough doesn't make you anymore of a man.
Women are known to show more emotion and are typically physically weaker than men, but that's biology and that can't be changed, it's the assumption that women can't do things the way men can, the assumption that women can't fix a car or work in a factory-not that it'd necessarily be enjoyable.

Women are also more sexualized in advertisements (see women in advertisements) while if men were shown in that same advertisement he would appear to be very conservative or very dominant and he'd be doing something manly, like climbing a mountain. Women are weak, and men are strong, that's the way it's been and that's the way it will continue-in advertisements at least, unfortunately that effects society and the way women and men are viewed.




Works Cited:

Albany. Women in Advertising.. 16 Jan. 2008 http://www.albany.edu/~aw5959/.

Gossip Enthusiast's

Hilary Duff was accused of lip syncing in a concert earlier this week, she's being compared to Ashlee Simpson. Well, apparently there isn't much to talk about because it seems quite obvious that she wasn't. She was seen yelling, or singing prior to the song being played but her microphone was off, therefore the crowd couldn't hear what she was saying, a few moments later the song started and she was right on time. See article here.
People always need something to talk about whether it's true or not, some people thrive off it while other's pass it by as nothing special. We've yet to see Hilary Duff do something wrong and people are getting anxious. Rumours have to start somewhere, whether it's right or wrong. People will see what they want to see and flaws are everything.

Here's the video:







Works Cited:

AHN. .. . http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7009727424.

Nayeli. . 1 Apr. 2006. 16 Jan. 2008 http://nayelibermejo.podomatic.com/.

Political Superiority

'We're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.'
-Natalie Maines, Dixie Chicks

This sentence got approval and disapproval. The president, Bush, was at the top of his game, he was very acclaimed and supported. Since Bush was in fact so supported The Dixie Chicks got much disapproval in the United States for this sentence uttered by the lead singer Natalie Maines, and almost lost their career. They weren't heard from in years, and years and as Bush slowly lost superiority the Dixie Chicks slowly gained theirs back. After coming out with an entire new album, with very new music, very different from what they used to write they were finally heard of again.
Well, if that is in fact the case that would be why Kanye West wasn't criticized when he claimed, 'George Bush doesn't care about black people.' Well, he wasn't as criticized as the Dixie Chicks were, he didn't almost lose his singing career and his comment was surely worse. Of course he is a rap artist and he is expected to rebel slightly more than the Dixie Chicks were so, the comment was quickly forgotten.
Then there's P!nk with her verbal letter to the president of the United States. Her song identifies the problems with war, and homelessness, and abortion as well as drug use. Though, naturally, by the time the song was released George W. Bush lost all superiority and therefore P!nk faces no criticism or conrtoversy.

'What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street?'

'How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?'

'What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away?
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine.'

Time changes everything, a few years ago Kanye West and P!nk would have gone through exactly what the Dixie Chicks did, but, no, authority was lost and therefore everything changed.







Works Cited:

Lyric Zoo. .. . http://www.lyricszoo.com/pink/dear-mr-president/.

White, James. .. . http://www.rtve.es/rne/r3/pr/toma1/archiv/20030518/dixie-chicks-bandera.jpg.

Media Inventory

	Television	Phone	Computer	Cell
Least	Caroline	Equal	Mom	Mom
Most	Mom	Equal	Caroline	Caroline
Restricted	No	No	No	No
Entertainment	Yes	Sometimes	Yes	Sometimes
Expensive	No	No	Yes	Yes
Homework	No	No	No	Equal

Mom-favourite-television, phone, reading
-least favourite-computer
-she works in an office on a computer daily so she doesn't like it at home, and she becomes impatient with it.

Caroline-favourite-computer, cell
-least favourite-television
-no way of communicating with friends or family through the television

The computer is probably used most because though my mom doesn't necessarily enjoy using it she still has to for paying bills, or checking her email when she is off work and I use it for means of communication, or entertainment purposes.

My digital camera is used the least because my mom never uses it due to the fact that it isn't the first thing that enters her mind when she is going somewhere of significance and I rarely use it, I pretty much only use it when I am going somewhere I want to remember, somewhere of significance to me.

Children of different ages and sexes most likely appreciate different media products more or less because their interests differ greatly. Girls at the age of six will be playing with dolls while boys will be playing with cars or trucks. Girls at the age of fourteen will more likely be using the phone or computer while boys will be playing with video games, or on the computer for means of entertainment.

Portraying Real Arabs

My media product would be a television show called Similar Differences, much like Little Mosque on the Prairie, but in a much more urban environment. Set in Toronto, Ontario,it would feature five Arab people, and one North American, three males, and three females. Much like the television show Friends it will show the lives of six very different people. with normal lives, and an average income, dealing with everyday things. Two out of the five Arabs would be Muslim, and only one out of those two would be very strictly Muslim, for example: praying five times a day, at very specific times, to the extent of praying on the street or in a store, and attending church very religiously, this one character is there to show how "normal" and how lenient other Arabs and Muslims are. The other three friends of Arab descent will have a different believe system, such as Christianity, Judaism, and Atheism. The North American, at first, makes very stereotypical accusations of what she thinks Arabs believe, and do, thought once they get to know one another she finds out that isn't the case at all. It is set for more mature audiences, 14 and up. This television show is to establish how not all Arabs are Muslim, and how not all Muslims

Similar Songs, Different Meanings

Avril's 'Girlfriend' and The Rubinoos' 'I wanna be your Boyfriend' do share certain similarities -such as lyrics, which happen to be the most obvious similarity. The meter and rhythm are slightly the same, but the similarities end there. The tempo is totally and completely different, Avril's 'Girlfriend' is much faster than 'I wanna be your Boyfriend' by The Rubinoos.
The songs have very different ideas, 'Girlfriend' is lyrically confessing how she doesn't like someone's girlfriend and how she wants to take him from this other girl. 'I wanna be your Boyfriend' on the other hand is absolutely, totally, completely sweet and they're singing about how they want to go out with someone of whom they're only friends with at the moment.
Lavigne of course isn't totally original with her song, but nothing is completely original anymore. If you look hard enough you'll find copyright to be broken, well, in certain cases you may not have to look too hard, because certain things are crucial - such as lyrics. Though the lyrics are almost identical, they're sung in totally different ways. In the Rubinoos 'Hey, hey, you, you I wanna be your boyfriend' the second 'hey' and 'you' are more like echoes whereas Avril's is sung in the same tone.

Avril claims she hadn't heard the Rubinoos song previously, and there's no reason to doubt her, it's believable enough.

Works Cited:

People. .. . http://www.people.com/people/gallery/0,,1185920_10,00.html.