While watching a Kay Jewelers Commerical...

My roommate said, "These commercials are so cheesy. I don't know whether to go, 'Awww' or just laugh."

Pretty much. :-D

Farewell, Monk!

I just watched the series finale of Monk and I can't believe it's over... it spanned 8 whole seasons! I'm really going to miss it. It feels like it's getting a lot rarer to find clean TV shows, and with this show being done, that's one less clean show. But I'm so glad that Monk finally solved Trudy's murder and got some other nice surprises in the process. And I really liked the montage of a bunch of scenes throughout the seasons (as well as hints to the future) at the end.

Farewell, Monk. You will be missed.

Letter to the FCC

Dear Chairman Julius Genachowski,

Lately, my roommates and I have been watching television in the evenings as we take a break from doing homework. Since we don’t have a DVR to record the shows and then watch them later, we must sit through the commercials if we want to watch shows. This is a bit of a change for me, because at home, we record all the shows we want to watch and never watch them live. We were able to fast forward through commercials and finish shows a lot faster and not have to sit through them. Now, I must admit, I have enjoyed watching certain commercials. Some of them are quite entertaining and even make me laugh. Unfortunately though, I have realized that some commercials are rather offensive.

I know that TV shows have ratings, and I appreciate that. However, commercials don’t. I don’t know if a commercial is inappropriate until after I’ve already seen it. I don’t expect commercials to have ratings, because there are already so many problems with TV ratings as it is. However, I believe that offensive commercials should simply be kept off the air, especially ones that make women into object.

One particularly offensive commercial I saw lately was advertising a pair of Reebok Easy Tone shoes. This commercial consists of a woman telling how wearing this pair of shoes toned her legs, hamstrings and glutes really well. This in itself would be a fine commercial. Unfortunately though, the camera kept focusing on her backside instead of on her face. In another Easy Tone commercial, a pair of breasts is “talking” to each other about how jealous they are of the attention the woman’s backside is getting, and then the camera then goes to show her backside. The whole commercial goes without once showing the face of the woman. These and other commercials objectify women. There are plenty of examples of this in magazines. This is offensive enough, but I was shocked when it was so blatantly displayed in advertising on television.

With many girls developing eating disorders, advertising such as this shouldn’t be allowed on the air. It further objectifies women and makes women feel worse about themselves and their bodies. I think that the FCC should be more careful about what commercials are allowed on the air. These examples are hurting women and girls, as well as society in general.

Sincerely,
Colette

Long car rides...

So my brother and some cousins and I drove to Reno on Tuesday. I definitely wasn't looking forward to the (at least) 8 hour drive, but it ended up working out nicely. I couldn't use my laptop to do homework because it has a HORRIBLE battery life, so I got a ton of books from the library before I left. I ended up reading an entire series (4 books) in one day. It was so wonderful. If I didn't have a bunch of homework and grad apps to constantly do, I think I'd enjoy a lot more reading for fun. *sigh* Maybe one day...

Shift Happens

I found this really interesting. Media and technology have really changed our world... and they are continuing to change it. What will the world be like in a few more years? 10? 20? 50? It's interesting to think about.

Confession

In fifth or sixth grade or so, Neopets was really popular with some of my friends, so I got an account. I was really into it for a while, but then forgot about it as new internet fads came along.

However, I recently rediscovered it and have been spending probably a bit too much time on it. I enjoy playing the games, earning "Neopoints", and getting all sorts of stuff for my pet. (Pictured above...isn't she cute?)

I feel like such a little kid. This is definitely a site aimed at children, but I still enjoy it. Oh well. (Embarrassing confession is now over.)

A feel-good website

So...mylifeisaverage.com seems to be quite popular among some of my friends, and it's fun, so I like to read it. But I also heard about mylifeisg.com and that website just makes me smile. It reminds me of how much I have to be grateful for. Life is amazing!

Disconnected

So the past few days, I was at a research conference in San Francisco. The hotel that I stayed at didn't have free internet... I would've had to pay $10/day for it. And considering the fact that I would've only used it for an hour or so a day, because of everything else I was doing, it wasn't worth it to me. But I felt rather disconnected from the world because of it. I couldn't check Facebook or my e-mail. I couldn't work on papers for my classes, since I couldn't do research online. It was amazing how much about technology and the media I take for granted until it's gone.

SaverTime!

Earlier this year, my dad's company was suffering from low morale. The economy wasn't good and sales were low. Because of this, my dad decided to make a music video for the annual sales rally. It was a huge hit with the employees. (I think they enjoyed seeing their boss and managers kind of making fools of themselves.) Anyways, they begged him to go viral with it. So my dad went through all the legalities and now, I present, for your viewing enjoyment... SaverTime!



(You can also read more about the story behind the video at: http://www.pennysaverusa.com/savertime/)

Sexual Content in the Media

For the assignment, I watched So You Think You Can Dance, CSI-Miami, and CSI-NY.

I really thought So You Think You Can Dance was a pretty clean show, but while watching it for the assignment, I became really aware of how provocative some of the moves and lyrics were. I almost changed the channel during one of the dances. There were at least two different dances that really were quite sexual. The message shown in it was sex is good. Some of the music and lyrics really seem to glorify sex and some of the dancers do really suggestive moves. It also seems to suggest that it’s normative and something teens and young adults should be doing.

In CSI—Miami, there was quite a bit of sex, because a missing person had been to a strip club for a bachelor’s party before he went missing and the plot kept returning to that. It showed scenes in the strip club and kept mentioning lap dances and payment for sex. In CSI—New York, there was also quite a bit of sexual content. There was a party where people rub food all over themselves to become aroused. My roommate and I actually changed the channel during that part because we felt so uncomfortable. The message in both these shows is that sex is normal. It seems to imply that it is expected for men to go to strip clubs before they get married and it is totally normal for both men and women to have sexual experiences outside of marriage. In fact, you don’t even have to know the person that well to be sexual with them. One-night stands are portrayed as normal. The only time sex is portrayed as bad is when a victim was raped before she was killed.

This assignment really did make me more acutely aware of how much sexual content is out there and how careful we need to be about what we consume.

Grad School Applications

I'm in the process of applying to grad schools right now and it's a total pain. I've decided to apply to five different schools and it seems like each one wants something different. Each has very specific prompts for the personal statement so I can't just use the same thing. Some want an expanded resume, others want a regular resume, and others just want you to write directly on the application what experience you have. Some want recommendation letters, others want recommendation forms filled out and no letters. It's really overwhelming to think of all the things I have to do to apply, and once I finally get done with everything, there's still no guarantee that I'll even get in.

But even with all the pain the applications make me go through, I can't help but be grateful for modern media, because it has made the process easier. I was able to research schools that I wouldn't have ever even heard of otherwise so I could feel like I've really made an informed decision of where I'd like to go to school. I'm able to e-mail the schools with questions I have and get answers back immediately. I can even fill out some applications completely online! So I really shouldn't complain too much. At least I'm applying now and not 20 years ago, when it would've all been by mail. A lot more inconvenient. Then again, 20 years ago it wouldn't have been so competitive...

Double-edged Sword

So...I'm trying to write a paper for one of my classes right now that's due on Friday that is worth about 1/4 of my grade. On one hand, I am loving media because it makes my research so much easier. I can do it from the comfort of my living room instead of trekking to the library in this cold weather. It is wonderful that way.

However, since I am on the internet doing the research, it is so much easier to get distracted. I find myself going to random sites and looking through them instead of reading the articles. I need more self-restraint.

Keeping connections?

Ok. This is another post about Facebook. So if you're bored of that topic by now, stop reading. If you want to hear another rambling from me about it, by all means, read on!

So... I know I said this before, but I really think Facebook is great. I love being able to keep in contact with friends from high school and college that I can't see that often anymore. But do I really need to keep some of those connections?

I think I touched on this in my last blog post and I think we also talked about it a bit in class. Friendships used to have a more natural progression before Facebook. You drifted apart for whatever reason and it was okay. You both moved on with your lives. Now you keep these friends on Facebook and are inundated with information about them when you don't even know how comfortable you'd be talking to them in person anymore.

Case in point: Maybe it's just me, but it's hard for me to still be "friends" with my ex-boyfriend on Facebook. We haven't talked in person in over a year, and haven't had any sort of contact (text, Facebook message, etc.) in over six months. But we're still friends on Facebook. So whenever he publishes a status, I see it. Whenever he adds pictures with his new girlfriend, I see it. Whenever I see a mutual friend writing on his wall about the fun thing they just did or plans they are making, I see it. Before, stalking involved pulling mutual friends for any and all information, driving by their house at night, or possibly calling and hanging up as soon as they answer. Now we can just hop on Facebook and this information is shoved in our faces.

I honestly think one reason it was so hard to get over him was because of the technology and media we have at our fingertips. If we had dated 20 years ago, I think the healing process would've been significantly shorter, since I wouldn't have known every new thing he was up to without me. It still would've hurt, but it would've been okay. However, with Facebook, I felt like an old wound was being reopened whenever I checked my account. I'm fine now, but I doubt this was ever a problem for our parents...

Facebook

I didn't post about Facebook after the lecture last week, and so I'm gonna jump on the bandwagon and write down my feelings about it now.

I really like Facebook. A lot. It's so wonderful to be able to keep in touch with friends and stay updated with their lives. It's also pretty fun to Facebook-stalk people. But I will admit that I probably spend a bit too much time on it. It's so easy to get distracted by looking at pictures and sending messages and writing on people's walls instead of doing homework. I definitely need to work on getting a bit more self-control in that regard.

Another interesting note... as I was defending the use of Facebook to someone, I was saying that I'm able to find out a lot of what's going on in the lives of my friends. I've found out about several engagements, pregnancies, illnesses, and whatnot on there. And it's really good to know that information. But as I said that, I wondered why that mattered. I mean, if I were really friends with them, I would find out this information with or without a Facebook, right?

The social penetration theory definitely makes sense to me in regards to Facebook. It's easy to be a friend on Facebook, but I pretty much always have my Facebook chat off because I don't want to talk to most of them in that way, anyways. And I definitely wouldn't feel comfortable texting or calling most of my "friends." And that's with going through my friends list every so often and deleting people that I'm really not sure why I added them in the first place. But somehow, I always end up adding more people and my friend count keeps going up. Do I really have 400 friends? I mean... really. That's kind of ridiculous. Oh well.

But despite some of Facebook's problems, I'm not planning on giving up mine anytime soon. I like it too much. :-)

Another reason to love new media...

On Facebook, My friends often post links to YouTube videos that then introduce me to new shows, songs, and media sensations. I definitely waste some time clicking on some of these links, but sometimes they actually post a gem. Like this music video. I love Michael Bublé and it's such a catchy song. It's definitely been stuck in my head the past few days. And I don't mind. :-)

Why I Love to Read

I really love reading, and one reason that I love it is that it can transport me to other worlds, as this PSA shows. (And side note: apparently, BYU Ad Lab students helped to make it. Awesome!)

Personal Media

I know that most people (including myself) think of mass media when the word media is said. However, I have a huge appreciation of personal media. I check my e-mail multiple times a day. I text my friends often and I have phone calls with my family. I think I often take for granted how amazing this use of personal media with is. I can communicate with people hundreds (and even thousands) of miles away instantly. I really think it would've been hard for me to live before this great technology that is able to help me keep in touch with friends and family.

One reason I am especially grateful for personal media is that it's Monday. That may not mean much to you, but I have a bunch of friends on missions right now, and it seems like a majority of them have their P-days on Mondays. Most of their parents will forward the missionary's e-mails to the family to the missionary's friends (including me), so that we can hear (in pretty much real time) how the missionary is doing. It's great to hear how they are doing from one week to the next. This is especially nice when I compare that to how long simple letters take. I'm writing some missionaries and don't hear how they are doing other than that (no family e-mails or anything) and it takes FOREVER! If they are outside the U.S., it will take at least a week to get there. Then the missionary has to wait to go to the mission home to get the letter, so if you time it wrong, that will take another couple of weeks. Then they actually have to find time on a P-day to write back, then they have to mail it and it takes a while to get back. So it can easily take a month or two. And that's with a semi-dependable mail system!

I really don't know how friends or family survived without e-mail on missions and long trips. It's such a blessing to hear how people far away are doing. Phones, e-mail, texting, and other forms have really revolutionized how we communicate... and I am grateful for it.

The Hunger Games

Last week (actually last Friday), I read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I'd been meaning to read it for a while, but I always feel so guilty reading a book for fun when I have so much schoolwork and textbook reading that I should be doing. But it had finally become available at the library and I knew I needed a break. So I started reading and I couldn't put it down. For those who don't know about it, the plot is as follows:

"The Hunger Games takes place in an unidentified future time period after the destruction of North America, in a nation known as Panem. Panem consists of a rich Capitol and twelve surrounding, poorer districts. As punishment for a previous rebellion against the Capitol, every year one boy and one girl from each district are forced to participate in "The Hunger Games", a televised event whereby the participants, or "tributes", must fight to the death in an outdoor arena until only one remains. The story follows 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, a girl from District 12 who volunteers for the Games in place of her younger sister, Primrose." (Wikipedia.)

It was such an interesting social commentary, in addition to just being a fantastic story. I seriously couldn't put it down and I read it in less than a day. I'm eagerly awaiting getting my hands on the sequel, Catching Fire. However, I'm number 210 in line for it at the Provo library, and the BYU library doesn't have it yet, but it's on order. Hopefully I can read it soon!

The Baby-Sitter's Club

My favorite thing to read as a child was actually The Baby-Sitter’s Club series by Ann M. Martin. This series was about a group of four friends who had very different personalities. They decided to start a club, called The Baby-Sitter’s Club, where they met together a few times a week and were available for parents to call and set up times to have a baby-sitter. I loved the friendships that these girls had, and how the relationships and friendships changed and grew as the club got bigger and the girls got older. I was so sad when the series was discontinued, even though there were over 130 books in the regular series, besides all the books in the super special books and mysteries.

I loved The Baby-Sitter’s Club series for many reasons. For one, I was really young when I started reading them (probably around seven or eight), so I thought the girls in the club were so cool because they were so much older and seemed so much more mature than me. They also got to baby-sit, which I thought was really so neat, since I wasn’t old enough to baby-sit at the time. I also loved their friendships and was frankly quite jealous of them. They were so close, even though they got on each others’ nerves and fought sometimes. I really wanted to have friends like that. In addition, the characters had many characteristics that I could identify with or they had characteristics that I wanted. It impacted me because the characters gave me something to aspire to and to become. I wanted to be as cool as these girls and have the friendships that they had, and be a fantastic baby-sitter like they were. I don’t know if I accomplished all of these goals, but I’d like to think that I have.

Lie to Me

So the new season of Lie to Me started on Monday and I watched it online yesterday. I really like this series. It follows Dr. Cal Lightman and his associates as they solve crimes by detecting lies through analyzing people's microexpressions (involuntary facial expressions that people do when trying to hide and mask emotions) and body language. Most people can't read these things, but the people at the Lightman Group are experts.

This show fascinates me because it is based on true research. Dr. Cal Lightman is based on Dr. Paul Ekman, a psychologist who really researched microexpressions and can detect them in others. I would love to be able to read people's expressions like that. I think it could really help me understand others better by know what they really are thinking and feeling. Maybe someday I can take a class on it or something...

Grace

Today, in one of my classes, we watched a movie called Grace. It was a documentary about a woman with Alzheimer's disease. It really made me quite emotional and I struggled to maintain my composure so I wouldn't start crying in the middle of class. It was so sad to see this woman turn into a shadow of what she used to be and to see how her husband (who had to care for her) dealt with it. It was so powerful seeing what this disease is really like for those who experience it and those who have to care for loved ones with the disease. It's one thing to read or hear about it, but a complete other thing to actually see it. Visual media can really have a huge impact in that way.

Plot?

So today, one of my friends and I decided to check out a movie at the International Cinema on campus. I looked at the plot summary for the movie (The Spirit of the Beehive) and it looked pretty interesting and had a 100% rating on rottentomatoes.com. However, we ended up leaving once it was about 2/3 through because we weren't terribly impressed. Quite frankly, we were bored.

We discussed it after and we were both really confused. We were afraid maybe we just weren't cultured/smart enough to understand it. Which I guess is possible. But I really feel like the plot should've emerged sooner than halfway through the movie (and even then, it was rather shaky). Though there were some interesting shots, and I think it showed promise, I really feel like I wasted almost an hour and a half of my life. I should've just read the summary on Wikipedia and moved on.

CSI-Miami: Reflections on the Past

So...the new seasons of the various CSI shows are starting up this week, and my roommate and I watched the premiere of CSI-Miami last night. During the long summer break, I kind of forgot how much I like these series. For some reason, I really like crime-solving dramas. And I really like the relationships of the characters on the CSIs.

Anyways, I especially liked last night's episodes because it flashed back to years before, before the CSI division was created. It showed how some of the current characters originally got started on the force and it displayed some of the most advanced technology at that time (which is now pathetically out-of-date). It was fun for me to see how much had changed in those years. It also got me thinking about how this happens in real life. For example, on the show, it showed Calleigh meeting Eric for the first time and him flirting with her. She assured him that she would never date someone that she works with. As anybody who watches CSI: Miami now knows, they are basically dating. Looking at my own life, this sort of scenario happens quite a bit. I have a set idea of how I plan on having things in my life work out, and then they work out so differently. I really like how this key concept of human experience was reflected in the episode.

Rumors are Flying!

One great thing about media is also one thing that annoys me greatly. The fact that information can spread so fast through media like TV and the internet is wonderful. We're able to hear about everything going on in far-off places right after they happen instead of waiting days, weeks, or months like they had to do in the olden days. However, sometimes this same process makes false information spread super fast, as well. I've been getting really annoyed lately by people who spread rumors through media without checking facts.

For example, yesterday, I saw a few of my Facebook friends posting the exact same message in their statuses. It said, "Apparently the FAN CHECK Application is a VIRUS that takes 48 hours to kick in. Even if you are tagged in a photo the virus still attacks you. Please inform all you friends and remove/delete the application ASAP. Copy and paste this as your status...."

I didn't want to spread false information, so I went to Snopes.com to check it out before I posted it as my status. After just a few clicks and a bit of reading, I found out that it really isn't a virus, but if you think it's a virus and go to a site claiming they can get the "Fan Check" virus off your computer, you could get a virus from that (if that makes sense). I told my friends that and they were embarrassed.

This isn't the first time I've seen this happen. I can't think of any other example right now because I'm rather tired. However, I've seen way too many friends and acquaintances get caught up in this because they believe whatever is told them and don't check the facts.

Moral of the story: check your facts. Just because you read something on the internet or hear it on TV doesn't mean that it's true.

Sunday Music

I absolutely love music. It's been a really big part of my life since I was little. I took piano lessons and eventually learned to sort of play the organ, as well. I sang in choir in high school and still continue to sing for fun. Music surrounds me. But I especially love music on Sundays.

On Sundays, after church, I always just turn on my computer and listen to church songs for the rest of the day. I have an entire playlist full of EFY songs, MoTab, BYU Choirs, and others singing hymns and other inspiring and uplifting music. I think I started doing this once I came to college because I was so used to listening to church music on Sundays while I was growing up. My mom would always put in tapes like Scripture Scouts when I was little and started playing EFY songs and MoTab as I grew older. I just took it for granted. But as I sat and listened to it yesterday while I was doing some other things, I realized how much it really affects me. While I often listen to certain songs on other days of the week that get me excited and worked up, I feel so peaceful after listening to "Sunday music." I love how the Spirit can so easily enter my life when I am listening to and singing songs about the Savior and the gospel. It calms me and strengthens my testimony. It's quite the wonderful use of media, in my opinion.

Seriously so Blessed

I know most people think of television and movies when they hear the word "media". I generally do, as well. However, I know I use a lot of other types of media. One type of media that I really like is blogs. Though I don't have one myself (besides this one for class), I love reading other blogs... There are some hilarious people out there! One of my absolute favorite blogs is called titled "Seriously So Blessed." (http://seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com/)

A little background about this wonderful little blog. It was started last summer as a joke by an unknown woman. She decided to do a spoof of all the "Mormon Mommy Blogs" that she kept seeing pop up everywhere. I stumbled across it just a few months after she started it and immediately went back to the beginning and read all the posts. I have been a faithful follower ever since. I absolutely love how well she pins down certain parts of Mormon (and Utah) culture. She created a total cliche character named TAMN (Tiffany/Amber/Megan/Nicole...read the about me at the site to find out more) who talks about her "seriously so blessed" life with her husband and twin babies. She addresses such topics as "modest bikinis", living out in the "mission field" when her husband was on an internship, and she even spells the way that some Utahns speak (i.e. "Lake Pal" instead of "Lake Powell").

Another thing to note is that fact that sometimes the comments people leave rival the levels of hilarity of the actual blog posts. It's also great when people get offended and say so. I also enjoy looking at the older blog posts and reading the comments from people who didn't realize it was a parody.

Nobody knows who the creative genius behind TAMN. But regardless, I always can get a laugh out of it and I keep going back for more. It definitely fits the diversion use/need of media that we talked about in class. But don't take my word for it. Check it out!

Enjoy. :-)