My Blogging Experience

At first, blogging sounded completely boring and redundant to me. When I first started writing, it did not feel natural and none of my ideas really flowed. However when I chose topics that interested me more, I enjoyed writing more and my thoughts on the topics kept flowing.
I wish I chose more topics I was interested in that still related to what we were discussing in class. Another difficulty I had besides choosing a topic was being consistent with the time frame I posted. With my athletic schedule, I found it hard to post on a weekly basis.

After this class I think I might continue a blog, but a completely different topic. I was thinking I would do a bi-weekly blog on the experiences I had during my first season of college athletics. Since there is so much down time on the road, I feel this will be a perfect activity for me. Some topics I'd like to discuss are life on the road, transition from high school to college sports, team chemistry, and the games themselves.

Overall, I enjoyed blogging and am excited to continue it in the future.

Family Guy: Race and Gender

I wanted to analyze another one of my favorite shows, Family Guy. This show gives great examples of how race and gender are all portrayed in the mainstream media.
Take gender first. Peter Griffin is the typical stupid oblivious husband figure like Homer Simpson. His wife, Lois, is always shown correcting his elementary mistakes. She is also shown as a sex object.


African-americans are shown as being ghetto and lacking proper english. It falls into the typical black stereotype.



Family Guy is one of many shows that create stereotypes. With technology growing is there any way to prevent these stereotypes from happening?

The Globalization of Hip-Hop: Reggaeton

Ever since hip-hop hit the United States in the '70s, it has been interpreted by many countries around the world. It has even been developed into a second type of music, reggaeton. Reggaeton takes hip-hop like beats and Latino music and blends them.

The artists also take the style of many famous rap artists. Daddy-Yankee is the best example of how globalization has hit the rap industry. The goals of a reggaeton artist are the same as a rap artist. They want the money, cars, clothes, women and fame. These pictures are of two completely different artists. The one on the left is reggaeton artist, Daddy Yankee. The one on the right is Drake, a Canadian hip-hop artist.

Hip-hop is expanding more and more due to globalization. Many hip-hop artists are even collaborating with reggaeton artists to make a glocal music world.

Tiger Woods: 21st Century Privacy

In our day and age, the words privacy and media do not mix. Tiger Woods found this out the hard way. If you are completely in the dark, Tiger Woods was caught cheating on his wife. Information such as text messages and voice mails to the mistresses have now gone public. Something so family oriented is affecting not only his image, but his endorsement deals as well.

Gillette has taken him off commercials for the time being. Also, Gatorade is discontinuing his line of drinks. This is something that has nothing to do with his golfing ability, yet his off-field actions are affecting his life as a whole.

It's hard to believe now in the 21st century that if you type it, say it or text it, it's public.

Women's portrayal on Heroes

Recently in class, we have been discussing women and how they are portrayed in the media. I applied the ideas to one of my favorite shows on NBC, "Heroes." The show centers around people who have special abilities, like levitation and teleportation, because of a certain genetic code they posses.

Many of the characters' powers relate to their personality and how the creators want them to be portrayed, especially for the women. Hayden Panettiere's character, Claire (middle). Her special ability is rapid cellular regeneration. This means when she is hurt, she cannot die or even have a scratch on her. She is shown as the innocent cheerleader. From one season to the next, her sexual image keeps increasing as well as the increase in amount of women throughout the show.

In Season 2, they added a new character Elle. She was played by Kristen Bell (left). She gave the opposing side a good looking girl of their own to rival Claire. They became enemies and competed in a the male fantasy of the ultimate cat fight.

Looking at the show in a different light made me think of what I was watching more carefully.

Facebook (The Reason Why I'm Posting This So Late)

Hi my name is Matt, and I'm a procrastinator.

If I were to single out the one main reason (besides myself) why I'm posting this late right before the deadline, I'd have to say it's Facebook's fault. Facebook has so many different applications, including Status updates, pictures, videos, wall posts and groups. Now, multiply that number by your 500 friends and that's how many different applications of Facebook you can check.
I've caught myself numerous times doing my homework and then suddenly, I wind up on Facebook commenting on some pictures.
When someone writes on my wall, I feel obligated to write back because if I don't then "no one will ever write on my wall again." Now that my parents are trying to get involved in the Facebook scene, I have to spend extra time explaining to my Mom why it's not OK to post on my wall:

Matthew - Hi it's Mom - don't worry...I won't embarrass you by posting any photos of myself. xo Mom

And to add even more awkwardness and embarrassment, my mom's friend doesn't realize that not all my friends know who she is and that she is kidding when she posts on my relationship status of "In a relationship to Single":

I'm willing to give you another look...now that your single!!!

Facebook now, instead of being a fun distraction that I used for my spare time, has become a permanent obligation to make sure everyone happy with me. Facebook has taken away from all the extra constructive projects I used to do. I'm joining Procrastinators Anonymous because I know I have a problem and I'm looking for a solution to my Facebook addiction.

The B.S. BCS

The College Football playoff system has been debated for many years. It has produced some of the greatest controversies and “what ifs” in all of sports. College Football uses a set up called the Bowl Championship Series, or BCS. This structure has a panel that chooses who gets to play in the championship game and who doesn’t as well as utilizing a computer calculation based on a team’s performance that year. After the voting process is complete, the method has everyone left saying their team should be in the big game. College Football needs to change their BCS to a bracket format like basketball and hockey to make sure the champion really comes out on top.

In the past, many teams have gone undefeated, yet they did not get a chance to contend for the title of National Champions. That same scenario occurred last year with the University of Utah. The Utes went 12-0 during the regular season but didn’t make the national championship even though they were the only team to finish undefeated in the country for Division I-A. They ended up winning their bowl game, upsetting Alabama. In the final AP Poll, many of the Utes’ advocates tried to make the case that Utah and the national champs, Florida, should be co-champions, but there were not enough voters to support this concept. The system needs repair because teams like Utah deserve to determine their own destiny instead of it being in the hands of journalists who vote in the polls.

The BCS is a huge business for college football. Colleges are not complaining and do not want to change the system because it is such a money maker for them and their conference. Last year, Notre Dame made $4.5 million in a loss to LSU in the Allstate sugar bowl. Another example is both the ACC and the SEC made almost $2.5 million each for the Chik-fil-A Bowl. The committee does not select the best teams in the country, but those that will make the most profit.

Congress is trying to make the change. Many congressmen are against the system in place right now, which they call the “BS BCS.” At the head of the lawmakers trying to press for a playoff system instead of the BCS is Texas Republican Joe Barton and sees through the BCS committee’s greed. However, all he has gotten so far is a question and answer with the BCS coordinator that is slowly getting him closer to getting a bill passed in Congress to eliminate the bowl games. Hopefully, their cause can get enough support from all the sports fans who value the integrity and purity of college athletics to stand up against the BCS committee’s corrupt system.

Sex Sells

Sexual advertising is advertising with the use of sexual images to show off certain products in hopes of selling those products. These images don't have to have anything to do with the product itself. Many businesses use the sexual themes because they know that it will get a good response, and in turn will successfully sell the product.
One business that comes to mind when talking about selling a product that has nothing to do with their product is GoDaddy.com. Go Daddy is an internet website that lets you purchase a domain website name. The commercials almost always have some sort of a sexual twist with attractive women. Their commercials are most common during the Superbowl. In this sense, the target audience is the men who are watching the game.


In this commercial, they mention their website and service only a couple times with the rest of it devoted to a little humor and a lot of sexual imagery. In some of their other commercials that are too explicit for TV, they have the ending that says "see what happens next at godaddy.com. This makes the viewer want to see more and in turn will get the audience on their website. I think sex and advertising will go hand-in-hand forever. The saying "sex sells" is truer now than it's ever been before.

What Kind of Tech User Are You?

You are an Roving Node

If you are a Roving Node, you are an active manager of your social and work lives using your mobile device. You get the most out of basic applications – such as email or texting – and find them great for dealing with the logistics of your life and enhancing personal productivity. You are more of a hub for information flows than a source of digital content. You are heavily reliant on all of your ICTs for communicating and gathering information.

Obama's Nobel Peace Prize...Deserving?

Just this week Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. There are much speculation on the reason why he won the award. Many people say it was premature since he is still in his first year. Others say, since it was awarded to him because of intangibles and only being on "the path", he does not deserve it. And another side claimed it was just a shot at the previous administration.

The overall public opinion is pretty skeptical of the selection of Obama. Many are saying they believe it is way too soon and will only hurt his cause, not help it. However, there are still some Obama supporters saying this is a great achievement and it's a pat on the back from the rest of the world saying Americans did a good job in electing Obama. If that is the case, the award has lost it's integrity.

Many people question what he has done yet. He still has so many projects toward peace he has said he would complete, yet has failed to do so (ex. Guantanamo Bay). Others say it isn't right that he won the award "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." They believe that since his accomplishments can't be measured, he does not deserve it.



I believe this is kind of a shot at the Bush Administration, but that fact is overshadowed by Obama's hard work of trying to move towards a world more at peace. What do you think?

Streaming Mass Media

Video games, DVDs, T.V. show season box sets, and CDs can cost a person a lot of money if purchased in a regular Best Buy. Plus, It can be a hassle driving there. However due to our growing Internet, it makes it very assessable to acquire all different kinds of media from books to music because of streaming. There are different types of streaming. Real-time streaming, such as YouTube, is transferring a file or data over an entire network to a large group. Streaming was originally used because many users did not have fast enough computers to download large multimedia files, but this has created a major problem for the music and movie industries.

There are many websites where you can stream movies that are in theaters for free. This poses a major concern for the box office and Hollywood. If you remember earlier in the year, the movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, was leaked to the Internet before ever hitting the big screen!

However, there are many websites where you can watch t.v. shows and movies for free and it's legal. Hulu.com shows recently aired episodes of NBC, FOX, and ABC programs that are sponsored by commercial advertising.

Here's a video that shows examples of how streaming can be bad, with the X-Men movie, and how it can be moving in a positive direction, CBS Sports to Stream the Masters Live.

Violence and Video Games

Bhutan's problem with child violence is very similar to the growing trend in America with video games. I am an avid gamer and pretty much like any type of game: Sports, fantasy, first-person shooter. Video games come in a wide variety of genres and also a wide variety of age appropriate ratings. There really isn't a limit to what adult content can be in game as long as the "Mature" label is on there. People under those ages cannot purchase them. However, it is very easy for children to acquire these games. If a parent is there to give consent, they can buy it. Also, I know from experience that many video game stores don't even ask for I.D. Since it is so easy for children to get these violent games, should video game creators be tamed or be free to do what they want?
Check Out This Video

**WARNING SOME PARTS EXPLICIT AND IRRELEVANT**

Can children distinguish real from imaginary?
Start the video at 1:34

He believes that kids should be able to establish real from imaginary and if they are unable to make this determination, then the problem deeper than video games, such as poor parenting.

Now go to 2:30

Jack Thompson, famous for his lawsuits against major game manufacturers. He believes there is definitely a correlation with violence in gaming and the violence of children.

I believe that both views have their points, but I do believe there should be a stricter policies for how children can acquire these games.

What do you think?