Commercials

Some commercials are so effective or even just plain amusing that they can draw a lot of attention. Advertisements can inspire many feelings in the viewer, and the idea of the ad is to appeal to what the viewer wants. In the facts that we find commercials amusing and appealing, people like me get our favorite commercials, and use convenient resources such as Youtube to find these again and watch them. It amazes me how an ad can stick in my mind for so long, even if I'm not a fan of what it's advertising.




... And I don't even like soccer. But this commercial had me so interested throughout the entire time, it almost made me want to watch FIFA. I have never once sat in front of a tv and decided to watch soccer, but that made me want to.

Some commercials are just plain amusing and they stick to you in that way and for no other reason.



The point is that the media has power. Marketing and sales are enticing people who may not have been normally enticed with their products or events. Although we have our own minds, we have to still watch ourselves and stop ourselves from impulses. Commercials can inspire us to do things we normally wouldn't, but as an individual we should still stop and think, what are we doing? In our society today it's all about "me" and "I" and what we want NOW. Sometimes taking a moment and thinking of the validity of what we are seeing makes more sense than going off of impulses brought on by advertisements.

NFL Draft

Although I don't know about football enough for the draft to be all that exciting for me, it was obvious that it was very important to a lot of people. ESPN broadcast the draft for 3 days. The first round of course was the most exciting, because that's where all of the REALLY good players were drafted. Friday night my boyfriend and his friends were glued to the tv, guessing who would be picked by who and when.

And I'm sure they weren't the only ones. Those who could not be at home or had to leave the couch had the option to watch it live on their phone. Others without tv or cable access had the draft live online.

Technology allows for so much for those of us with access to it. Even for those who missed the draft, there was a recap. And even for those who missed THAT, all one has to do is search the 2010 NFL Draft on a search site like Google, and reviews, clips, and commentary are available at the click of a mouse to see.

Facebook again

I realize that this setting has been out for quite some time, but I had never used it. On facebook, there is the option to change what language you view it in. Aside from the normal English, Spanish, and French, there are many more languages to set it to. Real languages... and then some not so real languages. I could have changed mine to Upside Down English, but I came to the decision of English (Pirate).

"Parlay"- chat
"32 shots of rum ago"- 32 minutes ago
all sorts of terms are changed to be "pirate."

With applications, groups, pages, friends, photos, and videos being added every day, it's hard to see how facebook will ever get boring. Nothing to do? Go on facebook. Check status updates. Share videos and pictures. There are so many things to do with it and new things keep you coming back. In our generation we love the instant messaging and updating and constantly knowing everyone elses business. It's crazy, but we love it. We even "weigh in" (comment) on other's activities.

Without technology

As our assignment for class, we were to go about 48 hours without our laptops. A near impossible task. I shut off my laptop once I had gotten a couple of things emailed to myself. After my classes I went back to my room and took a nap. I wasn't sure what to do when I woke up. Normally my laptop would be on, playing music and facebook would be up, but likely untouched. I had no music to listen to with my laptop off, and no facebook to visit.

I was so unmotivated to do anything. In order to do any of my assignments I would have had to go to the library. My rough draft needed to get done and printed, so I finally decided to walk over to the library and get some work done.

I didn't last the night. I wanted my music and felt no need to deprive myself any longer.

I learned from this experience that many people who do not have such ease of access with a laptop don't have ease of access to a lot of useful things. They can't constantly check e-mails and stay up to date with their friends as easily. For schoolwork they need to go to public libraries with limited access and times. Luckily for people on our campus, the library is open until 2am on Sunday through Thursday, and there is usually always a computer or laptop ready for use. For others off of our campus and in less privileged areas, they have less ability to do homework on their own time.

Family Guy

I was sitting around watching family guy, when I suddenly incorporated things I had learned in class. Crazy how that works. But I was watching an episode and noticed it was on Fox. We had watched in class a video about Fox News' consistant conservative bias, I believe it was called "Outfoxed". I went to confirm on the "Who Owns What" website we were shown in class that Fox News and Fox entertainment were owned by the same company, News Corporation.

Fox News is clearly biased after having seen that video. One would think that all aspects of news and shows played on their channel would reflect thier conservative views. But not Family Guy. That floored me. The fact that they allow repeated shots at the conservative and republican parties to be dished out in the show. Small things are distributed in many episodes, such as this episode where Stewie, Brian, and Quagmeyer travel back in time and are in Berlin. Stewie finds on his stolen Nazi uniform a familiar button...


There are many other examples in episodes throughout the series. One I can't find online right now but remember Brian's quote well: "Oh look, a conservative. A fat man riding a donkey who's afraid of change." The show blatantly puts down conservatives and throws its own opinions to the public, which contradict severely the views of the Fox News Network.

Skinput

The idea of being able to use your arm as a touch screen for your phone or ipod is an intriguing idea. But I wonder how much use it can really have. The article on BBC News "Sensors Turn Skin into Gadget Control Pad" explains how the arm's skin can work as an input system, and the possible future uses for it. There is even a video to demonstrate it.

Although Skinput seems like an interesting innovation, I'm not sure I understand how useful it is. It requires a small projector for the display, and all I can think of is how is that more convenient than pulling the actual phone or ipod out of your pocket to change the song. It may feel more interactive to the user, but seems a little pointless. I think that the idea can be developed into more useful gadgets and should be pursued, but in the way that Mr. Harrison describes it possibly being used, it does not seem worth the investment to me.

Epolitics

How can something so simple as a blog completely change the outcome of elections and the directions that politics take?

When thinking about it, all a blog is is the expression of a person's views, opinions, and analysis', which is viewable by many people. What really makes it so different from years before blogs were around? The difference seems to be in the fact that it's not just journalists and news reporters who can influence larger groups of people, but now any common person can reach the computers of others and get their opinion read and possibly shared. As we've seen, blogging has created movements and has even taken candidates out of electoral races.

There are blogs for both left and right wing's, such as Little Green Footballs and the Daily Kos. Both stay updated and constantly comment on recent news and events. Being online, these blogs are easily accessed and shared between people.