Blog #5

The essay by Danna Walker “The Longest Day” was very interesting and really grabbed my attention.  In this article Danna talked about her struggle of not using communication for one whole day (24 hours) She spoke about how it affected her and what her problems were when she faced this situation.  For one whole day I chose to not use the Internet or my computer.  I do really need to be on my computer all the time checking emails and just surfing the web so I thought this may be something that would be a problem.  My expectations of this assignment were that it would be no problem that I could not use the Internet for one day.  I thought it was actually to easy and I would not even falter.  I also thought that the Internet was not as demanding and not as needed and everyone thought it really was.  I found it almost troubling how much this affected me during the course of the day.  I really did not think it would be a problem but then I realized that it was.  I found myself wanting to go on facebook and want to check fantasy football frequently.  I felt that if I was not on AIM or facebook then I was out of the loop.  I also like to use the Internet to shop on EBAY or other online sites.  I really did not think that it would have such a huge affect on me like it did but I was honestly rattled about not being able to access the Internet.  Also the Internet is huge for school, everything is run through myumbc so when I could not access it I also felt like I was falling behind with my schoolwork.  I learned from this experience that I think people are more and more attached and almost dependent on the Internet.  Not just having it be a social way to connect with people but everything is mostly run through computers and the internet.  If you are working with a specific company and do not have access to the internet then you will defiantly be out of the loop and will have trouble keeping up with the workload.  I found it borderline disturbing that our society is so dependent on computers like we are but also I think it makes a lot of things easier.  This technology is essential because like I said before with businesses and schools now, the Internet is the way everything operates.  You now pay your bills online and you also check email, get in contact with teachers and even use it to find your way around campus.  I think that everything would be a huge hassle without the Internet; it makes everything so much easier.   I think that this experience shows that we have basically surrendered our lives over to the Internet because so many things are ran through it and it is essential in our society.  I also think that our society is so lazy that they want the easy way out of everything.  For example our society would rather shop online and have it delivered to their door rather than going to the store to buy it.  If everything was so easy and accessible online then I feel that people would never leave their houses.   I think that kids now a days in our society will become almost addicted to the internet and really will not be able to have a day or even a half a day without it. This is only the beginning to the obsession with the internet and I think that there will be more and better innovations that come out of it and before we know it, there I nothing we cant do on the internet.  

Blog #4

I think that Neil Postman won me over in the argument of two cultures.  This article talked about how the emotion that tv promotes every five minutes a different and incompatible emotions.  The reason I think that Neil Postman won me over in the argument is because his argument that reading is an ordered process requiring us to sit at a table and make judgments of truth and falsehood.   He also talks about how TV with its random unconnected images breaks the habit of logic thinking.  I agreed with his statement that his two most dangerous words of this century are now and this.  He says that because of TV anchors talk about one strange really important thing like a natural disaster and then try and swing you to buy something.  I think that it was a little strange when they started talking about the bible and how the bible readings and passages influence their decision on the topic.  Neil Postman claimed in one of his arguments that this was the reason why Moses chose writing because the Jews borrowed the phonetic alphabet from the Egyptians.  Although I agree with Postman and his arguments I still feel that the bible arguments are tough to prove and something that he struggled with towards the end.  Postmans argument that readers become less physically active and not as sensitive to movement to dance or to other symbolic moves.  Paglia then argues that she found out the people born after World War II are turned off by the modern media and they cant understand how we who were born after the war can read a book and watch TV at the same time. 

            I really think that Postmans arguments were good and so were Paglia but overall I feel that Postman had the edge in his argument.  I think that watching TV really does not hinder anything like your motor skills or what not.  I also think that too much of anything is eventually bad for you and if you watch TV to much or you read to much then eventually you may want to change up your routine.  But overall I think that coming from two different times in American History it is hard for different types of people to relate on a specifc topic.  I do feel like we have the same ideas and opinions but we also may have different styles and also different morals.  Sometimes in different systems or a different time period it is hard to relate to one another.  I think that overall Postman’s argument was something that many people should hear and think about but you also have to have an open mind to Paglia’s argument and how she phrased her words and discussed the topic.  I feel that both had very good points but overall I would give the edge to Postman.  I think that what won me over was when Postman was talking about Dan Rather saying that 5,000 children just died in a plane crash and then he would say, we will be right back after a word from our sponsors.  I feel that it is something may really affect the way we take in the news and how people may feel about it.  I know I always hear people say they never read the front cover of the newspaper because it is always depressing or exaggerated but in this case I think it is discussing how there is a change of mood and we as a culture and society buy right into it. 

Political blog #3

During election day on November 4th I sat back at watched CNN's media coverage of the election.  I noticed that the media coverage was extremely intense and also very informative.  It was not boring to watch at all and actually it was entertaining to sit in front of.  Not only did it grasp your attention because it is about our president but the way they had it set up, they had guest speakers and also they used humor and had images.  I liked how they had on the bottom line the set up of each state and they broke down the demographics of who voted for who and how the votes were processed.  I turned the channel and started watching MTV, there's is more geared towards grasping the youth of americas attention and not really on the older generation.  MTV had guest music and movie stars talking about the election and also they had games in between to gain the viewers attention.  Basically if you want the real up to date political scene then my vote is to stick to CNN.  CNN is no nonsense but also it keeps you interested to watch.  

I think that the media coverage of the election has really gone up and is more of entertainment now than it ever was.  It was usually just someone relaying the news and basically reading off a TelePrompTer but now it is more like a TV show and it is very entertaining.  They showed some reporters in Chicago at a Obama rally and it seemed almost like a party where they could not hear what the reporter was actually saying.  The huge rally seemed extremely energetic and wild.  I really think that CNN provided the best coverage of the election that i watched and i felt like it was very entertaining and kept you on your toes.  It was a good thing that it was not boring because the election is a very important time in American History and everyone should be interested and excited for it.

BLog #3

            I think that the role of mass media in the formation of a consumer society is that mass media is almost taking advantage of how our society is so consumer driven and they are using that as a plan to sell and advertise different products.  For example if someone sees a great magazine ad and it looks appealing to them, they will most likely give the product a try because that’s our society operates. 

            I feel that advertisements promise us a sense of comfort to the consumer.  When you look at a advertisement in a magazine or a TV commercial it gives you that sense of comfort where if you buy this product or at least try it then you will not be disappointed.  I think another reason why it provides you with comfort because they have people on the ads or on the commercials that can back up how they feel about the product and how the product worked for them so it must be good.  When you see a celebrity vouching for a product you can usually be persuaded to at least try the product because you feel safe that other people have tried it.

            The advertisement I looked at was a fragrance by the Beckhams.  Posh Beckham has a female fragrance and David Beckham has a male fragrance.  My reaction at first to the images in the ad was that it was made to make people feel almost as beautiful as the Beckhams.  The picture was dark and it just had their two heads next to each other with the two fragrances underneath them.  It was just a very provocative but yet catchy picture that will grab your attention right away but also it will make you wonder about buying the product because David Beckham is such a well known figure in American society and the world. 

            I think that the advertisement looks the way it does is because it wants to give off that seductive look almost but then it also wants to give off a look of elegance and class.  I think the Beckhams want their fragrances to be almost like the highest class of fragrances but also they want it to be something that middle class people will use also.   I think that the advertisment is promising that your sex appeal and overall class status in society will go up by using their product.  If you look at David Beckham he is the highest an athlete will get in our society and I think he’s playing the role that if you use his fragrance you will end up being at the top of the mountain just like he is. 

            My initial impression of the advertisement changed slightly after doing the study on the ad.  My first impressions will usually stay with me about how the sex appeal and how it is trying to make you almost be like the Beckhams.  I also think that my view changed a little more about the fact that the ad may have been trying to target all different ages and not just one classy age group. 

            I think that the ad reflefcts the dreams of our society because everyone really wants to get to the top of our class and be the upper class in society.  I think that this ad is trying to portray the American dream to us and that everyone wants to be a star in this world whether they admit it or not, this ad is saying that if you use their product then you will defiantly end up having “star status.”

Political blog #2- Debate

   While watching the presidential debate on friday then after thinking about who I thought won the debate, I honestly could not come up with an answer.  Though out the whole debate I felt like Obama and McCain each talked more about what each one was going to propose and bashed each other more than answering the actual questions being asked.  Through out the debate the moderator kept mentioning to each candidate to look at the other person and each time it looked like they were just reading off the TelePrompTer.  It was pretty hard for me to actually determine a winner because i felt like the debate was so scripted and that the questions were not being answered.  To me the debate was like the usual debates where all that happens is bashing each other and also proving which one of their points are better and why.  I just wished the canidate's answered the questions and did not just read off their TelePrompTer.

The author of the blog I am following talks about how Obama won the debate and emerged as a canidate who was knowledgeable and unflappable toward McCain on Foreign Policy.  He says that Obama is better suited to deal with the foreign crisis and our economic hardships now.  The author then goes into saying that McCain won the debate on other certain situations.  He says that McCain earned a slight victory but nothing in the debate was a knockout blow.  He also states the way each one of the debaters showed different qualities of how they each mastered their parts of the debate. 

I think that some of the questions and answers i found interesting were about the financial situation that is going on in our country right now.  The reason i found this so interesting is because there was really not much time to figure out how to answer these, this is a topic is so new that it had to come from the heart and had to be a real honest answer of how to fix this.  

I thought the media covered the debate the way it normally does with the focus on the two debaters and the moderator.  I would have liked to see more shots of the crowd just to see how they were reacting to questions and answers. I don't really think there were any opportunities missed by the media or the candidates, I think overall it was a good debate but it was tough for me to chose my winner.

The article that I would have my argument gaged to is By Klein called "Obama wins debate on tactics and strategies."  My argument is that I believe that Klein flip flops too much on who he thinks won the debate.  He has arguments for both and makes them both pretty strong.  I think he needs to set himself to one idea and one decision and go with that.  

"Obama wins debate on tactics and strategies" 

  

Blog #2

    I think that there are several different forms of media that have shaped our society for the better.  The one major form that shaped our society i feel is paper.  When paper was finally introduced it was a faster and more efficient way to pass information along.  People dont have to use rocks and chizzle out words and phrases, it also meant that people had to cut information short and not have all of the details because it took too long.  Along with the addition of the printing press, it lets information be more acessable and passed along in mass groups much easier than it would have before.  

In the two articles from the Washington Post, it shows how media and technology have made our society more reliant on these types of media and also how our society may not be as smart as it can be, because we are so reliant on media.  I agree that with all of these new media and communication devices it basically does everything for us where we may not have to use our brains as much to figure things out.  Like now our cell phones even have gps systems built into them and i think that it is pretty pathetic that Americans and our sense of directions are so bad that we need a GPS system in order to get from point A to point B.  Granted these different types of media and communication help out alot and make life easier, but i feel like they also make our society "dumber" and now we dont have to rely on our intelect anymore all we have to do is punch it into a machine and we can just follow that step by step to figure things out.  I also do not buy when people say that playing video games helps us learn in a different way,  i think all that is, is a excuse for us to me lazy and depend on different forms of media to entertain us.  I think its crazy that i never see kids playing anymore, everyone is inside on their guitar hero or their x box.  Now because media is so big and it plays such a huge role in our lives that it forces people and especially kids to basically be addicted to it.

Political blog #1

  In the political blog i am following for this semester, the main argument or stance that i am going to take is the fact that obama needs to have a new plan for the unemployment rate in our country.  Clarence Page says that, "unemployment has risen to its highest level in five years.  Uninsured Americans top 47 million.  Real wages have fallen in relation to inflation for every educational group in America expect for those with professional degrees since 2000."  I think that this is a serious problem in our country and we really need to have a canidate that can fix these and have a plan of action.  I also agree with the author Clarence Page that "Mccain attacked Obamas strengths and now Obama needs to figure out a new plan of action."  Obama needs to remind people of his strengths and why they should vote for him.  I think that presidential canidates always get wrapped up in bashing the other person rather than explain their own strengths and why THEY would change our country for the better.

Blog #1-Steve Settembrino

My media habits are like the normal for college students. I love watching tv, using my ipod and also using my laptop. I love watching TV i think that it is the most media i use. I usually cannot go a day without watching tv. Also i think my computer is something i cannot live without. I can live without my ipod though. My view on the media is that it helps get information out faster than ever. People also think that the media misconstrues situations for their benifit but i also think that it is their job to do that in order to grasp peoples attention. The media nowadays helps people find information and use information fast and in a appropirate manner. I understand the term media is anything or person that portrays information and provides it to the community. If we did not have media it would be impossible to gain new information and to spread information to our society.
My name is Steve Settembrino and i am a senior at UMBC. I play lacrosse here on the mens team and i am originally from Yorktown NY which is right near New York CIty. My relationship with the media is that i need it for the things i do during the day. For example i need my cell phone for communication along with my computer for information and for communication. I usually use tv for entertainment purposes and for information also.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/