Disney Channel!

While watching the video on children’s advertising on Wednesday, I noticed a few clips that came from Disney Channel shows. It’s a little embarrassing that I realized exactly what shows these clips were from, but I’ve met the beast that is Disney Channel before. It’s hard to escape when you have a younger sister who constantly watches it.

The first time I was exposed to the Disney Channel (later in my life, I didn’t have cable growing up) I immediately noticed the absence of 3^rd party advertisements during shows. At first I thought this was just some weird exception, until I kept seeing them. I had never seen a channel before that operates like this. In the place of typical ads, the channel promotes various Disney stuff. When I say “stuff”, I’m referring to Disney Channel shows, Disney Channel original movies, Disney movies, Disney locations, Radio Disney, etc. Pretty much anything Disney is fair game.

I decided that I would watch a 30-minute chunk of this garbage so I could actually see what Disney was throwing at the viewer. I started into this with a show called Good Luck Charlie (a baby show). I then saw some of A.N.T. Farm (something with music). Here are the ads:

· Disney Channel’s “Night of Premieres”, Halloween themed Good Luck Charlie ad

· New Disney Channel’s Wizards of Waverly Place episode ad

· Disney Channel’s Magic of Healthy Living, a cooking spot to show kids how to make homemade granola!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

· New Disney Channel’s A.N.T. Farm episode ad

The second set wasn’t much better.

· Disney Channel’s “Night of Premieres”, Halloween themed Good Luck Charlie ad (again)

· Disney Channel’s Disney Princess Makeover, a makeover spot hosted by a Disney Channel star!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

· New Disney Channel’s Fish Hooks episode ad

· Disney Channel’s Jessie behind the scenes/sneak peak!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The third set was similar.

· Disney Channel’s “Night of Premieres”, Halloween themed Good Luck Charlie ad (THIRD TIME)

· New Disney Channel’s So Random episode ad

· New Disney Channel Original movie ad, featuring Disney Channel Stars

· A Disney Channel star’s (Selena Gomez) music video, presented by Radio Disney!!!!!!!

· Disney Channel’s “Night of Premieres”, a 5-show ad

Disney really knows how to produce a channel that can benefit every aspect of the company. Everything you see on the channel is a plug for something Disney-oriented, during every break between programming you’ll here a “You’re watching Disney Channel” and the channel repeated one of its ads 3 times in 30 minutes. All these things (and more) make me glad my pop culture obsession isn’t Disney Channel.

Best Premiere Week Ever.

This past week, two of my all time favorite Reality TV shows premiered on television. Yes, I am addicted to Reality TV, and y'all are probably going to get tired of my Tweets, Statuses, Posts, and Comments about Survivor, The Amazing Race, The X Factor, Project Runway, and so on, and so forth...

But, this past week, both The Amazing Race and The X Factor premiered on CBS and Fox. I guess I cannot call The X Factor one of "my all-time favorite shows", because the show only just premiered in the United States, but hey, I love me some Simon Cowell, and throw Ms. Abdul into the mix and you've got, in my opinion, the best show ever.

 So what is it that draws me to these

Gary and Mallory

 shows? 

Tyler and James

 The Amazing Race:
 Talk about a parasocial relationship. I cannot
 even begin to describe the emotions I have
 felt in the past when my favorite teams were
 kicked off. Whether it was Gary and Mallory, Margie and Luke, Tyler and James or a plethora of my other favorite teams, I always somehow managed to shed a tear when they faced their end of their race!
Not only do I tend to develop a parasocial relationship with these contestants, but I also feel that they provide narrative coherence! CBS casts this show based on stereotypes. What kinds of stories do these partners have? When you see the stereotype, your perception is completely changed and you see tons of references to that character, because they continue to act in such a reliable manner. And, when it comes to game play (however much there may be in The Amazing Race), you can sometimes predict how certain couples will act in certain situations.

The X Factor:

Simon Cowell and Vonzell Solomon
saying, "Goodbye."

I can still remember the night when Vonzell Solomon (left), a contestant on Season 4 of American Idol was eliminated from the show. I ran to my mom's room and cried my little heart out, because I was so sad I'd never see her again. Well, it looks like The X Factor may provide many more contestants for me to cry over. *Alert - Parasocial Relationship*

Chris Rene, The X Factor

Stefano Langone, soon to be seen
on The Jersey Shore.

However, I almost feel that although The X Factor casts it's show based on popular stereotypes (American Idol's Stefano Langone was a Top 10 Finalist because he was, for lack of a better term, a guido), yet in a different light. The X Factor loves to show people who should be a certain way, but instead, live and act completely differently. For example, contestant Chris Rene is a recently sober drug addict, who now competes on the show. As a drug addict, you don't expect him to sing and perform, yet he does. Why is this so mind boggling for us?!

I love Reality TV. Enough said. It should be a great Fall for me.

(My goal is to one day be on Survivor. After Survivor, hopefully CBS will love me enough that they'll ask me to race on The Amazing Race. From there, The X Factor will get a hold of me, and my life will be set. Finally.)

Stop Telling Me What I Should Be Interested In

Last...uhh....April...or May, I think, I came out on Facebook. One of the most liberating things that I have ever done. However, the Headquarters of Facebook, Inc. got the message when I merely clicked "Interested in Men." At that moment, Facebook HQ recognized me as a queer, who looks gay clubs, trashy hookup websites, HIV+ counseling, and LGBT right support.

The latter of this list is what I most support...BUTT how did I get labeled as "HIV Positive" simply for stating that I am "Interested in Men." My relationship status has never change from single...SO...how can I be "HIV Positive" if I've never been in a relationship?

I didn't know that such an open door to user-generating material...would open another door to stereotyping commercial targeting...

Thank Jesus that Facebook does not ask for your ethnicity or race. The last thing that I need is Facebook telling me to go out and watch BET, eat KFC, and own Tyler Perry movies.

Connectivity in real life

As I was perusing the class blog and studying for our exam on Wednesday I was thinking about avoiding people by pretending to text, being on the phone, etc. I must admit, I am very guilty of this. I pretty much have my phone in my hand as I walk from place to place on campus not for this reason, but at the same time, for this very reason. But this also made me think of the differences in cultures.

I'm from Louisville, Kentucky and you will pretty much never hear me say that Louisville is in the South or is Southern even if many others from my hometown will say differently. I think I connect a lot with the east coast kind of mind set, but I never realized how Southern charm has been a part of my life until I've relocated 3 hours north as well as 12 hours east to Washington, D.C.

When I'm at home, I am very likely to say hi to a stranger, tell a person they're doing a good job on a running trail or just be more alert to my surroundings when I'm shopping or walking down Bardstown Road (a place with a bunch of stores, bars and restaurants). Whereas when I'm here at school, I have my phone in my hand all the time (as I said), I frequently put my head down to not talk to people I know let alone strangers and I can't even tell you the last time I randomly smiled at someone. Thinking about this, maybe this dis-connectivity in real life and clinging to our technologies is a direct result of our comfort level, our upbringing or just the culture that we're currently in. I think of Ball State as my home where I have my boyfriend, my field hockey family, and some of the best friends I've had in my life, so why would I not feel comfortable doing these things here? Is it because of the culture of being a little farther north or the culture of college?

College relationships of any kind are, now, very technologically connected, so maybe this is us just fitting in with the college culture, where in a place, like the South, hospitality and reaching out is a part of it. I guess people that go to schools down in Louisville would disagree with me completely, but you never know, maybe its our technology addiction or maybe its just the effects of surroundings and culture on us.

Happy Birthday?

With all this "friends" talk we've had going on throughout class about Facebook, and being connected, and really knowing someone through social media, I became interested in which of my "friends" really knew me. The most obvious way to test this, in my opinion, was to do the Birthday Test. Aka change my date of birth and see who knew I was lying. So, two days ago I changed my new birthday to September 15th. I've always wanted to have been born in the fall anyway.

This morning when I woke up and performed my daily social media check, I had forgotten that I'd made this minor switch to my profile and was quite surprised to have at least 10 new notifications with birthday messages. It gave me a good laugh that these same people, who had written on my wall just four months ago for my actual birthday, were back with their same birthday wishes. But who really keeps track of their "friend's" birthdays, right?

What really shocked me was what happened for the rest of the day when I wasn't connected  to a social network. I'd developed a theory in class that stated: People will be best friends with you online, but when the actual face-to-face situation comes up they will act like they barely know you. This theory was shattered when people were going out of their ways to say, "Happy Birthday, Joe!".  When I would tell them it wasn't my birthday and this was just a little test to see who actually knew, the common reaction I got was a very confused and slightly hurt facial expression. One girl even scowled and walked off; another boy just shook his head as if I had confessed to robbing a bank. Eventually I learned, and instead just said, "Thank you!" with a smile and we both went off on our merry ways. After all, when my actual birthday rolls around in the spring, they will have forgotten this little situation and be right back to their happy messaging. But what was it that bothered them so much about being lied to on Facebook? Could this theory of people being connected and feeling a sense of belonging on this popular network be true? I always thought it was bogus, but apparently, maybe it isn't.

When I got back to my dorm after dinner, as expected, I saw at least 70+ new posts on my wall. I briefly considered posting a status that it was a joke, but I feel that having 70+ people bitter at you over Facebook may be worse than facing the judgmental stares from the actual people. So I instead just pretended for a while and scrolled through the birthday posts. Could I do this little self esteem booster every month? Would people notice?

Not so sure they would...

As to finding out who really knew my date of birth, the results were somewhat sad. Among the ranks of college friends who had no clue were my cousins, co workers, my close high school friends, and even friends I had celebrated my real birthday with in person last spring. What I found extremely funny were the people who thought they would go the extra mile and text me instead of going with the herd and posting on my wall. Either way...they were wrong.

I never had high hopes for people actually knowing that I was lying. I mean most of the "friends" I have are simply people I can message to get coffee with sometime and talk about classes or go to a party with. Knowing someone's birthday in this day and age seems trivial. Who cares when you were born? As long as they like spending time with me and vice versa, I'm all good.

However, I can't forget to mention the special people who know my special day. My close friends, my mentors, my immediate family (thank goodness), and surprisingly an elementary school stalker I've managed to stay friends with. Congrats! You passed the Birthday Test! I'll take away the air quotes from "friends" when referring to you now.

When "pretending" goes too far...

I couldn't even tell you the last time I pretended to be a famous actor, character, singer, etc., besides when being forced by a child during babysitting. I've finally made it around to contributing to the blog, however this has been on my mind since the first week, using social media to pretend. However, what I am going to talk about is the complete extreme.

I came across this a couple years ago from a girl I grew up with and knew pretty well. One day I went to her profile and saw "___ ____ is now friends with Edward Cullen" and several other actors and actresses. I was like "no way!" Why would someone so famous add someone so.... not famous. Well, I noticed that by the next day/week there were several friends of hers named Edward Cullen or whoever else. I didn't catch on a first, I can honestly say I was even tricked at first but once I visited the profiles, I realized the real actors didn't make the profiles. It was puzzling to me as well as sad to find out that people spend all of their days pretending to be someone they are not. Their whole day is spent adding pictures and posting as someone famous.

I'm glad we learned the term parasocial relationship, because I would have explained the situation to her and how I really KNOW what she was going through. Her facebook relationships continued to get creeper. She then added a ton of people that were in parasocial relationships with actors and actresses. These people acted through fakebook like they really knew so and so. I couldn't believe it still. Or maybe, I didn't want to believe it.

And this is where I get to the scariest part of it all. Her obsession with these "characters" and "friends" actually tore her real relationships apart. She would bring up these people in conversations every day and was convinced these facebook friends were really doing the thing they said they were doing. I am seriously afraid to be that consumed in a social media that my days and nights are spent talking to people I don't even know. One night when she, my best friend and I were hanging out (They were really good friends), she said, "I have to get online right now, Sarah Jane (fake name) is cutting her wrists again, she just told me." We said, "yea, because as she is typing you that message she is bleeding all over her computer.. COME ON!!"

Okay, this blog post has to end somewhere. What I am trying to get at is that this class is COMPLETELY relatable to our lives. I wish I would have had this class sooner, because I think I could have been more help to myself and other people. I think what we talk about in class everyday is that we all want to be healthier social media and technology users.

The Dot Dot Dot List

Sometimes in life, we make regretful decisions. Like the time you thought you'd add a little extra flair to your cooking one night and ended up eating a pile of atrocities. Now, think of this in terms of Facebook, only, instead of adding ingredients you are adding acquaintance-friends.

"Hmm, this looks like it will taste good. Why not?" you think as you add in the spices.

"Yeah, I kind of know them, they seemed nice. Why not?" you think as you press the "confirm" button.

If within 30 seconds they proceed to fill up my personal messages with annoyingly generic small talk or shower me with compliments that are littered with broken English, I have already raised the red flag.

Guy: "hey"

Me: "Hey, what's up?"

Guy: "nm"

This is going nowhere. No response for you.

Guy: "Dam u bad"

Goodbye to you, sir.

And there are also the ones who go from harmless to obsessed in a matter of days. Every single time you log on to Facebook chat, it's like a surprise attack the minute your little bubble turns green. D-List Facebook stalkers, those ones, by the way. Too obvious.

So, what to with these people? Of course Facebook offers the option to delete and/or block them... but if you're like me, you'd rather do something different. You simply add them to a different friends list. This way, you can block the things they see and appear offline when you are actually online. My separate friends list for annoying stalker guys is eloquently titled, "...", which symbolizes my reaction when they do something irritating.

"Dot Dot Dot List for you, my dear!" I say after staring at their bothersome comment.

I bring this up because we have been talking about secretly hiding behind technology to avoid real human interaction. This is an example of how we secretly hide behind technology to avoid virtual interaction. None of the guys know they are on the list, and some of them know I find them annoying while others don't. The problem is that Facebook tries to make us feel like we are obliged to add people we "kind of" know, and it wants us to feel badly if we dare cross the taboo line of deleting or blocking them. I have fallen victim to these feelings, but I am not sure if it is better or worse that I hide from them on Facebook without them knowing I do. Probably worse. I don't know where that side of me came from, but it grew with my Facebook addiction.

The morals of the story? Facebook can bring out strange sides of people. Some girls attract psycho stalkers.

Making A Connection

I always love when topics you are covering in one class can be linked with another. It just makes me feel like the world makes sense and that what my professors are teaching me they aren’t just making up on the spot. The other day, while reading my book for COMM 240, I came across some gems of information. For example; did you know that according to Ronald B. Adler, author of Looking Out, Looking In, “a lack of social relationships jeopardizes coronary health to a degree that rivals cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, blood lipids, obesity, and lack of physical activity.” He also goes on to say that socially isolated people are more susceptible to the common cold and death…no big deal. So humans need to be connected with each other, we need to socialize, this basic fact is proven true by the sheer volume of means by which we have created to be contacted. As I was reading along I got to thinking- ‘good job modern society, fighting off all the side-effects of loneliness with facebook, twitter, cellphones, skype, texting, facetime, chat, etc.’ As I read on though I start to wonder… how much is too much? Can one be too connected? If I am trying to write a blog for my wonderful COMM 322 class, and don’t want to be disturbed, so I ignore your phone call, you can leave me a voicemail. Then text me. Then tweet at me asking if I received the text message. Blackberry users sometimes choose BBM because its faster- oh and you can tell if your recipient opened the message but ignored you anyway. Then facebook or skype chat me. Or write on my wall, or inbox me. Or email me at one of my 3 accounts. The list goes on and on. While being connected with others is healthy, and as we talked about in class can boost some interpersonal relationships, doesn’t the constant connection make your head kind of hurt? Because sometimes it makes my head want to explode.

I swear I'm a nice guy

I found today’s discussion particularly interesting as I’m sure you can tell by the amount of time I held my hand up. But, I couldn’t help myself I just feel this is a topic that we could spend hours on and it’s especially interesting because I feel it speaks to our demographic more than most.

First off the whole thing about only being text friends kind of had me torn inside on. Part of me could completely relate and another part of me wanted to mock and laugh at how silly it sounds to ignore someone you interact with on a daily basis purely because you’re seeing them in person. I have defiantly been guilty of passing people in the hallways or on the street and not said hello to them or said to myself “thank god I have my headphones in so I look busy.” Yet since becoming a communications major I have as of lately started growing out of not wanting to talk to people. Now I just ignore people on accident, but I’ve been working on that as well.

The best excuse I have come up with though if that sub-consciously I think it has to do with respect for people around me. I rarely will look a stranger in the eye unless I plan on interacting with them. Otherwise I would think it would be viewed as rude to just stare at someone in the face having without communicating anything to them. I also feel that the person has somewhere to be and might not have the time to stop and have useless small talk. I know when people look at me the first thing that goes through my head is, “What are you looking at.” So, using the golden rule, when I walk down the hallways or sidewalks I keep to my own thoughts and rarely bother anyone around me. It’s all about getting from point A to point B, so if I see you and have anything more to say than just hello, "I’ll call yah."

Intimacy via Facebook?

Social media provides an excellent medium for communication, especially with people you don't get to see often.  My friends from high school stay connected through Facebook and texting; and therefore, the only parts of my life that they see are what I make publicly accessible.

For example...

I've had two boyfriends in college who each use social media very differently.  My high school friends only saw these relationships through the filter of Facebook.

First boyfriend - When I first met him, he did not have texting. Who doesn't have texting! He does now though. I converted him!
Anyways, for some reason my high school friends didn't like him.  They kept asking me how close we actually were.  I wasn't sure where this was all coming from until I realized they were judging us (in the way only friends can and should) based on our Facebooking.  Since we never publicly communicated, they thought we weren't right for each other.
Regardless, we broke up.  Still Facebook friends!

Second boyfriend - He communicated almost solely though text messaging, instant messaging, emailing, and Facebooking.  We rarely actually saw each other in real life, and when we did, he had different priorities than I.
"Don't you want to talk to me first?"
"But we've been talking all day!"
I could never decide how much texting actually counted. I wanted to more face-to-face time, but he was perfectly satisfied with digital communication.
My friends viewing our relationship kept saying how in love we must be because of all the wall posting we did.
However, we broke up.  Still Facebook friends!

Personally, I need a balance between real life and Internet relationship.  Facebook makes a good compliment to real communication, and texting is perfect for setting up face-to-face time.  These mediums are going to be parts of our relationships throughout our lives, so we should learn how to utilize them best.

Technology Keeps Relationship Flourishing

Being in a long distance relationship for the past 2 years has been quite easy due to technology that we have today. Similar to Chantelle Welp and Colin Sorensen’s relationship, my boyfriend and I communicate typically through the day with text messaging, a phone call here and there, and possibly a Skype session once a week. This past year he was hired full time during third shift, which has made our communication interactions decrease. Even though, we have faced this obstacle, we have made our relationship work and fought through the days where our communication was insignificant. Having Skype in our lives makes it possible for face-to-face interactions when I have not seen him in weeks. Sometimes during our Skype sessions, we have technological dysfunctions. We experience weak connections, inability to start the video, or it just freezes up. Sometimes it can be frustrating, but we just decide maybe a phone call would be easier and sufficient for the both of us. We both lead exceptionally busy lives, but somehow manage to keep our relationship working. Having a boyfriend in a different state allows myself to be involved in multiple extracurricular activities and concentrate fully on field hockey. With my busy schedule, I think it would be difficult to have a relationship on-campus. I am already stressed as it is with attending club meetings, studying for tests, and trying to perform well on the field hockey field, adding a relationship would be an unnecessary stress. Even though technology has its drawbacks, technology has been a positive impact with my long distance relationship with my boyfriend. If technology was not present, I do not think our relationship would last.

Communication Through the Ages (HP Reference, anyone?)

[I feel that I need to further explain my parenthesis above. One of JK Rowling's popular books that ties into the Harry Potter World is her Quidditch Through the Ages. In her book, Ms. Rowling takes time to explain, in detail, the world of Quidditch, the popular broom-stick flying game as seen in Harry Potter. When I wrote "Communication Through the Ages", all I could think of was the instructional book by JK Rowling. Does this relate at all to my blog post? No. Not at all. Now, onto more important things!]

Throughout this week (and also last week, now to think of it), I have been thinking a lot about our society's communication styles. I've thought about their roots & history, what they've been through, and where the ways we communicate are going. If you think about the early days of communication, cavemen (and women) had berries, sticks, rocks, and other ways to draw pictures on the ground, on cavern walls, and in other various places in nature. Cavemen were using their resources to the best of their ability. Years later, when a writing system became the popular way of communication, the world began exploiting it in any way possible, through books, newspapers, and letters. When the telegram was introduced to the world, communication changed ten-fold. Messages could now be transmitted from one side of the world to another, almost instantly. Now, hundreds of years later, through text, email, facebook, twitter, and other instant-messaging devices, communication can happen in the blink of an eye. We are, as they did in the past, using our resources to the best of our ability.

Sometimes, our generation is looked down upon for the communication styles we have. Sure, they may have their defects, as seen when sarcasm is taken as truth, or when friendships end because of a simple like on facebook, but in general, why should we not use our resources? Why should we not tap into what we have been given and use it to the best of our ability. In the future, we may realize a better way to use it best, but as of right now, we must continue to use them and exploit them for all their worth.

Faking it

I have faked cell phone conversations, not often but sometime. Although while I am doing them I feel very silly, but feeling silly to myself outweighs looking like the lonely awkward guy waiting on someone by himself. There are just some instances where you know you look like "that guy" sitting alone in your car. Even though you may be just waiting to pick up your friend as a favor and they are running late, you still look creepy sitting alone in the parking lot in a parked car whom people are asking themselves questions about.
So yes I do advocate "cell phonies" and yes my phone has vibrated on my ear while pretending to hold a conversation and yes it is awkward but your so excited to get a real phone call you forget about how goofy you just looked a min ago.

Twitter's Potential

Twitter can definitely cause some waves. Even if, say, one person can't necessarily tweet, "Followers in X, meet at Y and protest Z!" and cause immediate change, Twitter can certainly set a few gears in motion, though its effects are dicey at best.

Take, for example, Amanda Palmer. Amanda Palmer is a musician from Boston (and wife to author Neil Gaiman) who practically conducts her "business" from Twitter. Aside from using Twitter for the standard fan/non-fan interaction, Palmer uses Twitter as a means to unite her audience and, in some instances, make money. (Here's an informal article written by Palmer illustrating how she made $19,000 in 10 hours via Twitter.) (Here's a music video she casted, filmed, and produced all after about 20 minutes of crowd-sourcing and organizing on Twitter.)

While on tour or traveling around, Palmer will often send out a tweet regarding a "ninja gig," an impromptu public performance akin to busking. Predictably, she manages to pull a respectable amount of people each time. She's coordinated games of soccer in England, borrowed keyboards from fans for between-venue practice, found wedding dresses and clothing for performances or music videos. In short, Amanda Palmer has used Twitter to become closer to her audience.

It's not necessarily surprising that she can tweet a ninja gig and meet with hundreds of people--she currently has over 500,000 followers and it also isn't surprising that when she's in Chicago for a show, hosting a ninja gig in Chicago will attract many of the same people already going to the show. Could you imagine the chaos that would ensue if Lady Gaga (she's easy to pick on, since she's currently the most-followed celebrity) did the same thing?

On the other hand, when Lady Gaga (who rarely interacts directly with fans), Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys (both celebrities who do a little fan-interaction and healthy retweeting), and other celebrities "died" for a day on Twitter to benefit AIDS research, they didn't fill their goal of $1 million. This begs the question: Is it that we don't care when we have to make an actual contribution? Or, in the case of Amanda Palmer's $19,000, we really only care when we feel closer to the person or feel as though we are helping them directly? The idea of this has been thrown around lately and termed "slacktivism."

Lady Gaga gets a lot of inane @replies (a bizarre mix of idol-worship, follow requests, and a dash of intense hatred) and is a trending topic regular but her 13 million followers can't spare $1 for AIDS. I'm willing to bet that if her life hinged on a crowd-sourced kidney transplant, you might see 1 million kidneys on the block.

Guilty As Charged

If this was a courtroom and the crime was excessive parasocial relationships, I’m not going to lie- I would be guilty. However as hours of Law & Order: SVU has taught me, that’s not the end of the story. Yes, I would be guilty, but guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. In other words, it’s not my fault that I feel overly attached to my favorite celebrities. After 7 Harry Potter books, 10 seasons of Friends, and 14 years of Backstreet Boys music, I can’t help but to integrate them into my life and thoughts.

Parasocial relationships are becoming even more common in today’s society I think. When I was 8 years old and read Tiger Beat I could memorize Nick Carter’s favorite color and perfect date but I didn’t necessarily know him. Fast-forward 13 years to the age of Twitter and YouTube where intimate details and insights into their everyday life are available at the click of a button.

Take Twitter for example. Half of the texts I receive are Twitter updates from my favorite celebrities, detailing exactly where they are, who they’re with, and how they feel about it. This daily “dialogue” familiarizes me to them on a whole new level. Knowing their thoughts 24 hours a day allows me to understand them and even predict their behavior as if they were one of my close friends. It’s delusional and irrational, I realize, but not untrue.

Without giving too much away and run the risk of being referred to the psych ward of Ball Hospital, I’ll tell you that social media was instrumental in meeting two Backstreet Boys this summer. I even met, and had an extended conversation, with one of their wives. There was no awkward silences or embarrassing freak-outs on my part. It was as easy as striking up a conversation with an old friend because I knew their history, their likes and dislikes, their families, etc. Thirteen years ago, I could have no more had a rational conversation with a Backstreet Boy than the man on the moon. But due to social media and accessibility that leads to parasocial relationships, I’ve achieved a childhood dream. And that is not something I’m prepared to apologize for. Guilty as charged.

HI class

This is our blog

Mess with the Biz, Get the Stone

Malcolm Gladwell basically launched a full on assault on Biz Stone and Clay Shirky in his "Small Change" article.
Not smart, especially since these are the guys capable of motivating the apathetic masses to participate in a low-risk activity such as perhaps sending hate emails, most likely about his ginormous hair.
At least, that's what I would do.

Regardless, things have happened since 2010.  Big things.  Big changes.

One word: Wikileaks. (Don't worry. It takes you to Wikipedia. You won't lose your job.)

I mention this for two reasons.  

First, the site, a network of users who could contribute to information posted, had power.  Why else would the government be trying to kill an Australian?  No one cares about Australia.  

Secondly, Gladwell said, "networks don't have a centralized leadership structure and clear lines of authority..."  But I would argue that in most cases leadership emerges when the network requires it.  Julian Assange is obviously the man associated with Wikileaks and the guy taking the fall, despite the board of founders and the sources providing the information.

Wikileaks is an example how networks grow in authority and power, how they can create change in our world.

Then, of course, there's Anonymous.  Crawling forth from the subcultures of the interwebs, they fight for Internet freedom.  Mobilizing themselves via 4chan's image boards (I'm not going to link this because you kids shouldn't be going to /b/), twitter, and their blog, the Anons hack and protest basically for the lulz.  Lately though, they've moved away from strictly fighting Internet-based oppression and started attacking offensive companies and organizations.  

September 17th. Expect them.

According to Wikipedia (which we all know is just as good as the encyclopedia), Anonymous is "a decentralized online community acting anonymously in a coordinated manner, usually toward a loosely self-agreed goal."  [emphasize added] 

Which is almost exactly the point Gladwell was making! 

Oh wait, never mind.

The point I'm trying to make here is that I think "Small Changes" by Malcolm Gladwell makes an incorrect evaluation of social media's capacity to incite significant revolution among the general population.

What Final Destination says about Youth and Mortality

As some of you know, my popular addiction is often viewed as either a guilty pleasure and shame-of-a-horror movie: The "Final Destination" series







I don't think that there is maybe single student in our age group (19-24) who has NOT HEARD OF or SEEN AT LEAST one of these films.

Everyone, especially those going to Ball State University, one of the best schools in the MidWest for Telecommunications, has some sort of "addiction" or "enhanced fondness" for an aspect of media. It's everywhere.

Unless you choose to hide from it or view with the highest form of scrutiny and cynicism, media affects YOUR LIFE. Our choices and dislikes in media add flavor to our lives.

So, why I am talking about the "Final Destination" series?

Because I usually joke with my friends that my future boyfriend will have to like the "Final Destination" series before we even start talking.

(No, not really...)

Because I think that this horror/thriller series is greatly overlooked as simply "the dead teenager movie" like Sorority Row, The Roommate, or My Soul to Take.

However, something that one of my friends said at dinner has me thinking. You see...he called the "Final Destination" movie series

"psychological thrillers"

I said: "Hmmm...how so?"


His response: "The movies keep you guessing as to what the order of death is, how can these people take control back from death, and most eerie, how are they going to die."

The formula for "Final Destination" movies is recycled, but never the same. Each one plays on a new aspect:

1 --> Save a life, death moves on to the next one.

2 --> Create a life, death's plan becomes null and void

3 --> Examine your future death, then evade it.

4 --> (You're screwed, unless the protagonist who gets the visions saves you)

5 --> (It's not a spoiler alert, if they say it in the trailer) Kill someone, and you get their life (thus you are spared)

What fascinates me the most about "Final Destination"...yes, the eerie, stupid death sequences and the initial accident that seals their fate...but truly...TO ME...

I think these movies do a half-way-decent job of showing people all the ways that they can die...next to that show on Spike TV..."100 ways to die"...

Basically, what I get out of it, teens and 20-somethings typically live like we are invincible and we do all sorts of really stupid and dangerous stuff.

When I watch these movies, teens and 20-somethings die horribly gruesome deaths and are put in precarious positions where they must choose life or death. Usually they choose life, but their wish is almost never granted.

In other words, we want life so badly, but we endanger ourselves all the time. So, how do we live fulfilling lives, while prolonging our life?

DON'T TAKE LIFE FOR GRANTED!!

(Last note: Usually we hear about all sorts of horrible stuff happening at parties and stuff, but in these movies, the teens and 20-somethings almost always die do something pretty innocuous [like shaving, getting a hair cut, reheat Chinese food, going to the dentist, riding the elevator, and stuff like that.] Funny, right?)

http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/feature/2011/08/10/safety_lessons_from_the_final_destination_films