Enough With Repetitive Advertisements!

When you look at magazines, it is not difficult to spot advertisements for products that are shown off by skinny models-men or female. That is why I believe many of us are de-sensitised to this sort of advertisings. Instead of focusing on the usual negative traits from ads that are sexist and cliché, I would like to focus on a smart advertisement. This one is an ad by Converse showing the passionate lead singer of Metric reaching out to her fans. In the distance you can see that she is wearing shinny silver shoes, however they are not the main focal point. At the top right corner “frontman” is written and at the bottom “the new all star light on Emily Haines, Metric” is written in small font.

After looking at the picture for 15 minutes, I find it ironic that “frontman” is written when she is a front woman. This is making it clear that women should feel empowered by females like her and should not feel dominated by males. The picture itself is Emily Haines wearing a black top and shorts on her knees singing passionately into the microphone. Such photography is extremely powerful in outlining the funk and power that the “frontman” has. This advertisement focuses on the feeling gained from wearing the funky shoes and not by how beautiful the models portray the product. There is only one photo of the four different colours of shoes on the bottom right. This ad is one about passion, individuality and strength. I find it sad to say that this was the only smart advertisement I came across in this magazine.

The American Election...Where Do I Start?

I must confess that I am a huge political junkie; meaning I have spent many late hours watching CNN. As a Canadian, I wonder to myself why our current election is not as entertaining as theirs. The United States of America has surprised me in respects to the progressive change I have seen in this current election. Two women have played key roles in America’s political future and for the first time there is an African American candidate for President. We Canadians like to think of ourselves as progressive, but I think our progressive time has faded.

Furthermore, politically I support Senator Barack Obama and Joe Biden. However, I wanted Hillary Clinton to win the democratic nomination due to her experience and concrete plans. Senator Clinton has been compared to the Terminator and now her supporters may decide which candidate is President. The action of Hillary Clinton supporters to even consider voting Republican due to her poor relations with Obama is ludicrous. To all supporters of Hillary Clinton: Get over it!

Since I am discussing woman in this campaign I will bring up the name Sarah Palin. For starters, if Senator McCain is elected President she will be literally a heartbeat away from presidency. Was I the only one who got shivers from that sentence? I would like to finish on an ironic note, only weeks ago the McCain team were launching attack ads comparing Obama to a celebrity, now when I am checking out at the grocery store I am literally surrounded by Sarah Palin on the cover of gossip magazines. How I wish I could vote in this election.

A Day In The Life: My Experience

Yesterday, Tuesday October 1st 2008 I experienced a student’s worst fear. Not failing an exam or forgetting to hand in a 20% assignment; I experienced the death of my laptop. With an assignment due that was saved on the computer and a midterm the next day, this could not have been a worse day. I decided that this was an emergency-I had to leave the languages of the media lecture. I immediately called Dell and demanded that they fix the problem. Of course I was given the answer: "If you upgrade your warranty we could solve the problem quicker". I heard that I could get my files out at a local computer shop. So I slept on it, very late at night.

The next day, I was without a computer and felt out of touch in my class. I went to the computer shop and they extracted my files. I used my friend’s laptop to send my assignment in. The next 5 hours, I was without a laptop studying not by PowerPoint, but by handwritten notes. I went to my exam and noticed that I did not worry about my laptop while it was at the front of class. I actually felt free. I had no computer to write my blogs on and I wanted to write one, so here I am at 1:17 AM in the Library renting a laptop. The occurrence of this broken laptop has given me mixed feelings. It is very difficult to participate in the world of University with no laptop; however I feel more free and individual. This experience has provided me with a great understanding of my dependence and participation in the media economies.

The Ecology of Media

Television, some think of it as a medium of entertainment and others prefer to think of it as a mode of sharing information. The creation of television has allowed the once isolated places on earth to be unified by technology. The rural areas in the world have now been invaded by television meaning they are constantly being influenced by western cultures and views. I believe that this has resulted in a loss of cultural uniqueness. This technology is also responsible for child obesity. Children have been the target audience for television shows and they are feeling the consequences of being glued to this form of entertainment. I believe the determinist theory that culture is drastically affected by media.

Neil Postman states that “prior to the age of telegraphy, the information-action ratio was sufficiently close so that most people had a sense of being able to control some of the contingencies in their lives”; this just isn’t the case today. We are a culture that is numb to the effects of television. I will give an example, normally at home I watch about an hour and a half of television a day. When I came to Guelph, I had no television and within weeks I felt out control since I had no recollection of what was going on in the World. This should not have to be the case. I believe that this is why people enjoy isolating themselves from television on trips, for once they are not being bombarded by information.

Start a Blog... Really?

What can I say? I am not a great endorser of the blog. As the title of my blog page states, this is the first one I have written. The process of creating a blog and constantly updating it is one thing that puzzles me. This media form of individual journalism is a new reality of broadcasting personal views and opinions. In reality, little of these 'bloggers' receive public attention. However, a handful of people receive great public interest and to me that is what a blogger strives for. They crave the attention and comments from individuals all over the world. They are ecstatic when someone questions their point of view. I was surprised at just how easy it is to create a blog. It is obvious that I have chosen www.blogger.com as my method of creating my personal web page. This website allowed me to create a blog in three easy steps. I had to create an account with Google, name my blog and choose a template and then my URL was visible on the World Wide Web. As of now, I remain sceptical of the blog but with time my outlook on blogging may change. We shall see what happens after I am done writing my 12 blogs.