The Internet

       I would have to say that the internet has affected me in both a good and a bad way. The internet has affected me in a good way because it has allowed me to be able to stay in touch with my friends from high school because we don't go to the same college. It has allowed me to stay in touch with family members that live in different states and I am very happy about that. It helps me be able to look up information for writing essays for college that require research and it works out nicely to be able to access the internet from anywhere. Finally I think it works great for me to see the recent news about what's going on around the United States because I don't watch television that much so this really helps me to learn about news. The internet has affected me in a bad way because every day when I get home from college I find myself checking my Facebook and my Twitter instead of doing other things. It distracts me a lot and I find myself putting my homework off and having to do it like hours later from when I started. It distracts me from the real world and sometimes I am on Facebook and Twitter more instead of being outside and just enjoying nature. Finally it even distracts me from talking and hanging out with my friends in person instead of just talking to them online which isn't the same. The internet has something about it that draws me in and distracts me from the real world and sometimes I don't even realize how much time I spend online.

ABC News

        The story that was covered by ABC News that I found was the most real news was the one where they were discussing how hospital bills are out of control. The hospital bills are out of control because people who can't afford to pay for their own bills have to be picked up from another person who can afford to pay the bills. I feel like this is a real story because a lot of people today are being affected by hospital bills that are out of control and I feel like there is a lot of truth with this story because of that. It was nice that they had people talk about their own issues with hospital bills they got from being in the hospital because that helped it become a real story. I also found it interesting that they talked about how people have to pay fifteen dollars for a pill that the hospital got for three cents because that helped it become a real story as well. I thought that ABC News felt that this story was important and they encouraged people to send their story in so that people could learn about how bad the issue is which for me made the story real news.

       The story that was covered by ABC News that I found was the most meaningless was the one where they were discussing the eighty five year old man that was kidnapped and arrested for site seeing in North Korea. I would say the main reason why there is "fluff" with this story is because he was the second veteran to be kidnapped in North Korea for site seeing. I would think that there are more than just those two Americans that visit North Korea and go site seeing so I feel like this story has "fluff" because of that. I think that this story was meaningless and had "fluff" because there wasn't very much information about this story and it was hard for me to follow because of that. I feel like maybe if they had interviews or personal stories from the family members of the victims that were kidnapped and arrested for site seeing then it would have helped it become a real story. I just found it to be meaningless and have "fluff" because there wasn't enough information to make it a real story and to be able to understand the situation.

Millennials

      I think that one film that could define the generation of the Millennials would be the movie "The Social Network." This movie basically talked about how Facebook came about and how this was the new way for people to connect or communicate with one another. This defines the Millennials because there is a lot more technology now and they are very into technology and what is has to offer. It defines the Millennials because they are very social people and Facebook is another way for them to keep in touch with people and talk to them. It also defines the Millennials because they have less respect for people and Facebook is a way for them to show that because a lot of drama and fights erupt through Facebook. I usually get on Facebook when I get home and I don't like seeing all the fights and just plain arguments that are on it because no one needs to know about other people and their problems. The better way to take care of that would be in person but because Facebook is the new thing and people put their problems on it for other people to read. Facebook also causes people to get divorced or end their dating relationship because of information that is put on Facebook and they forget that it will get back to the significant other in their life. I think that "The Social Network" is a great movie to define the generation of the Millennials because of how popular technology and social media is today.

Reality Television

      I think that when Klosterman says that real people are starting to act like the archetypes they see on television his main point is that real people use the people they see on reality television shows as their role models because they think they are great people and they want to be just like them. Having the option to watch reality television shows gives real people the chance to connect with the people on the show based on the way they act and then connecting it to their selves. Real people also connect with the people on reality television shows because they see how perfect their lives are and then they want their lives to be like that without having to worry about anything.

     I think that this is a strong idea because real people do connect to reality television shows because they want their lives to be like the people on the shows. At the same time I think that it is not totally strong because of the digital editing that we learned about in class. This allows the scenes in the shows to be made into something different then what it originally was and I don't think that real people always realize that this is happening with the reality television shows they watch.

Controversy

      The song "Accidental Racist" by Brad Paisley featuring LL Cool J is a country song that is mixed with rap music. The song is basically about the south and how we should look past their slavery and their own culture and move past it and be equal. A lot of people reacted with shock because it was something they had never heard before. The song got a lot of criticism from critics. One of the big deals over this song was how it referenced slavery because people still talk about slavery to this day and it is something that people can't move past. Another big deal over this song was how it referenced people wearing baggy pants and if you don't judge people by their gold chains than they will forget the iron chains. People reacted with such shock because they didn't like the things that were being referenced in the song. My response to the song was that I didn't like it and it wasn't catchy. I just didn't like the way it was put together and I didn't like the music in the background.

     In class we learned that a country song has to focus on love, be relatable, have easy to understand lyrics, tells a story, and that the song is knowable by the end to truly be a country song. The song "Accidental Racist" wasn't focusing on love at all. I don't think that for me the song was relatable. I did find that the lyrics were easy to understand. The song started out telling a story but as it went on it didn't keep telling a story. I wasn't able to know very much of the song by the end.

Intertextuality

     Intertextuality is something simply just referencing something else. I see this in movies and television shows. There is a character in a Smallville episode that references Superman. The character references Superman by wearing a shirt that has the Superman logo on it. On the cover for the Dark Knight Rises it references Catwoman. The cover references Catwoman by having a picture of her on the cover.

Midterm Blog

     In this half of the class the thing I learned the most about would be how influential mass media like television has impacted the way we live our lives and the way it has impacted our popular culture. In the "Killing Us Softly" video by Jean Kilbourne she talked a lot about the power of advertisements on the people that see them. I was shocked to find out that people are exposed to over 3,000 advertisements each day. When young girls see advertisements of woman being sexy and looking attractive than the chances of them wanting to look like that are high due to the power of advertisements. In the "Marlboro Man" advertisements they use marketing strategies to sell their cigarette products. In the early advertisements they used a strong cowboy either working with cars or with horses to try and sell their cigarette products. In the most recent advertisements they used a adventurous team out in the desert with horses to try and sell their cigarette products. In the modern advertisements they use handy and family sports athletes to try and sell their cigarette products. I never realized how much mass media impacted the way we live our lives and the way it has impacted our popular culture until I took this class.