Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Nashville -- Skype
So this weekend I am taking a road trip to Nashville, Tennessee to look for a place to live during next semester. I received an internship at Curb Records in Nashville for Spring semester, and this made me think about a topic we have discussed in class about social media and communication and relationships.
Over the next four months after I leave for Nashville I will be leaving all the people I have become close to and my family. This seems to be hard especially in long distance relationships. I have thought about all the different ways I will be able to communicate with my boyfriend while I am gone. He does not have skype, but I may have convinced him to get a Mac book so we can make that happen, but also texting/heytell/phone calls are all we have to communicate while I will be away. I think that this can really test a relationship. Technology is the way we can keep a relationship going or how it can fail.
My mom and I talk on the phone everyday, and text throughout the day. I am sure because I will not be able to visit my mom as often I will have to use technology to skype her or video chat her in some way. She has an iphone and an ipad, so she is pretty much set to be able to connect with me somehow.
I feel that technology does have its downfalls, but overall it is a positive way for me to keep my relationships going while I am going to be away for months in a different state. Without technology I would not be able to talk to my mom or see and hear my boyfriend. The way technology has shaped relationships and has kept them going is drastic, but I feel that it is a good thing.
Princess Culture
So after the reading for yesterday’s class and then hearing what everyone had to say about the princess culture I had two different opinions about the subject. I do feel that there is a princess culture, but I also think that some families tend to abide by it and make it apparent rather than other families.
When I was younger and growing up I loved Disney movies. My favorite part of them was the musical aspect. I loved to sing along with all of the princesses and characters and act it out after watching the movies. (This may be because I have done theatre/dance/singing my whole life.) When I was that age I would not notice how they portray each princess like we showed in the beginning of the class with each princess and her thesis. I was at an age where I just enjoyed the animations/music/happy ending. When I was growing up (during the 90s) I was young, innocent, and just wanting to be entertained. I feel that has changed throughout the years, because I have seen younger kids who know things I did not know until I was a teenager. My younger cousins have cell phones and ipods and ipads, which all give them access to the Internet, to music, and to information that they (in my opinion) do not need to know when they are 6-10 years old. I even feel that ages 10-14 are young, I remember being very naïve during those ages. As technology changes I feel that kids can be exposed to newer things I wasn’t exposed to when I was that age.
As for princess culture, I agree to an extent. I was different than kids we discussed in class (such as those from reality TV shows etc). I probably thought I was a princess at times, and maybe still do, but not drastically that can be known for beauty, submissiveness, and consumerism.
Monday, November 14, 2011
45th Annual CMA Award Show...
A part of this may have to do with my love for country music, or the fact that I will be moving to Nashville here in a few short months for a semester (and maybe for the rest of my life). I recently received an internship at a record company on Music Row in Nashville. Tim is part of the record company, so I am sure him and I will become really close … that’s a joke. Overall, I just feel like I have somewhat developed a Para social relationship with country music (stars) over the past couple years. Thanks to this class for making me realize it!
Also, here is a funny clip of the hosts of the CMA award show (Brad & Carrie) picking fun at the Kardashians.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
The new "Barbie" on Ellen
So I was on youtube and came across this video that reminded me of what we talked about when discussing culture jamming. The thesis of the article we read was “I explore the rhetorical strategies of an alternative sort of culture jammer—the prankster—who resists less through negating and opposing dominant rhetoric’s than by playfully and provocatively folding existing cultural forms in on themselves.”
The Barbie Liberation Organization
This video from the Ellen DeGeneres show reminded of me when we talked about culture jamming and how they changed the “voice box” of the army doll and the Barbie. I remember how we also talked about the Barbie and how she is the way she is and she looks too good to be true. Her proportions and features are not realistic. Well, this video I found from the Ellen Show is comical and also surprising.
I never heard of the rumor of the new Barbie coming out with tattoos and pink hair…so this was news to me. And I think that a lot of the Barbies that Ellen and her crew came up with related to television show and popular culture that we all watch today.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Laura Ling
On October 12th, 2011 I attended the speaker Laura Ling at Pruis Hall. I have never heard of her story before, but I definitely thought that it was an interesting impacting story.
It was about Laura Ling and her life story as a journalist and a tragic event that happened to her. She first began her story by a little video that showed what kind of stories she covers. She traveled to many different countries and covered stories that involved tragedy, bloodshed, and violence. Ling was an embedded journalist for the different wars going on in these countries. She even witnessed some of these things first hand, while in the different countries. She traveled to China where she was studying a story on woman trafficking. While she was doing this study she encountered her worst nightmare. From late March until early August 2009 she was a prisoner of the North Korea regime of dictator Kim Jong II. She and her fellow journalist Euna Lee were detained at the border of North Korea and Chine and accused/charged of trying to enter the country illegally. She was charged with twelve years of hard labor in one of the communist country’s work camps. Bill Clinton was who freed Laura Ling and Euna Lee during a diplomatic mission to Pyongyang.
Today, she is working for E!. She is reporting and journaling about certain topics involving student suicide rate, obesity, and different ethical vivid stories along those lines. She is still continue to journal on these types of topics that have an impact on people in the world, and that some people are not so much aware of.
I thought this speaker was interesting because she definitely kept the audiences attention the whole time. She spoke with a clear understandable tone to her voice and was very emotional in a good way when she was speaking. The only reason Bill Clinton was able to free Ling from North Korea is because fifteen years ago he made one phone call in condolences to Kim Jong II and his loss. Because of this small gesture Kim Jong II has always wanted to meet Bill Clinton, so this lead to an outcome of Laura Ling and Euna Lee being freed from a prison in North Korea. She mentioned how some of her guards were woman and very strict, but the little things they did when they were in a decent mood and not “spewing anti U.S rhetoric” were comforting to her.
I feel that Laura Ling did not do anything wrong in the sense of trying to help woman/people out during hard times in their life, and make certain topics available to be seen by Americans and any of her readers. She was just “tricked” in a way by her tour guide at that certain story she was covering on the border of North Korea and China. She quoted in her speech that “certain journeys/stories entail risk”, and I think that this exact story and journey she experienced definitely proved that.