No More Free Internet!!

     So, I have a house guest who does IT and he has got into my D-Link router and pulled up eight IP addresses that are using my internet!!
     When we were setting it up in our new place about a year ago, I made some comment to Adam in regards to not putting a security code on our D-Link.  "Internet should be free for everyone," I said.
     Then, one day in class, Prof. Cook said that you can be held liable for other people downloading child porn, for example, or movies under your IP address or internet.  Well, that kind of bothered me.
     Now, seeing all these freeloaders in a list in front of me, I am outraged!  No more free internet.  Password is going to be installed immediately following this blog!

Convergence Media at my favorite bar!

     I just finished writing a paper on my favorite gay bar, the Denver Wrangler-- specifically "Sweet", a monthly dance party, for my media writing class.  In doing so, I realized how convergent this bar is so I thought I would write about it a bit here in the 'ole media journal/ blog. Okay, so there are 16 screens in the bar.  Five of those screens are dedicated to 'Wrangler TV'.  I've attached a pic above for you to see.
     Anyway, Wrangler TV has everything we talked about in class....  Links to social media sites, money-generating advertisers, live real-time weather, links to the Denver Wrangler Web site, interactive photo galleries, drink specials, music features, etc.
     I did a little more research to see how my favorite bar was taking advantage of convergence media.  Turns out, they have a facebook page, twitter,  and youtube.
     I then took a look at Denver Eagle (competing bar)'s Web site.  They too use social media.
Pretty cool, huh?

My new i-pad!

The new i-pad from Apple is the buzz around campus.  I was in the library today, checking facebook on my mobile phone and saw Chris' status update about his new i-pad so I decided to take a picture of mine and post it here (and on facebook).

I have a current copy of the AP Stylebook and my magazine, MetroFlyer along with notes from class, and garbage.  I have a calendar with my work and class schedule and I have a handy back-pack to carry it in.

.... Then I woke up from my nap and realized I was dreaming all along.   

9News broadcast full of pitched stories, self promotion

     Just for the heck of it, I decided to analyze my favorite late night news prodcast.  What I did not realize until I did this was how many shameless plugs and self-promotion they have during their broadcast.  I also noticed many pitched stories and I wonder if the Sunday night news is a slow news broadcast.  I have highlighted what I consider to be self-promotion and pitched stories by placing that material in italics.

Ten o'clock News Channel 9.  Sunday, April 11, 2010

1.     Top Story:  Mass ended today at a Centennial, Colo. Catholic Church with an announcement that Father Mel Thompson has been removed from his duties at the church pending an investigation over allegations that he abused an adolescent in the 1970's.  The story lasted approximately three minutes.  Parishioners were interviewed as well as an expert from DU.

2.     The next story was a 15-second spot on a cyclist being killed at 29th and Perry in Denver.  Very few details were known, just that the person was struck by a car.

3.     The next story was a 15-second spot on a motorcycle crash on I-25 in Denver. The motorcyclist was killed when it struck a vehicle.

4.     The next story was a 15-second spot on the Metro student who died of bacterial meningitis.  CU is now concerned because the student who died had attended a party on the CU campus shortly before his death.

5.     The next story was a 30-second spot on a plane crash in Russia that killed the president of Poland and the first lady.  His body was returned to Poland today.  The plane tried unsuccessfully to land in dense fog.  Ninety-six people on board were killed.

6.     The next story was a 30-second spot on President Obama's nuclear summit.  They showed clips from an interview in which he indicated that stopping terrorists from obtaining a nuclear weapon is key to U.S. security.

7.     The next story was a 15-second spot on a U.S. Senator sponsoring a bill that would prohibit airline companies from charging fees on carry-on bags.  Spirit airlines plans to begin charging 45 dollars per carry-on bag.  This senator is outraged.

8.     9News spent the next three minutes shamelessly plugging its 9News Health Fair.  They did a lengthy segment interviewing a former Comcast public relations executive who did many easy things to change her diet and health.  They interviewed two doctors who were very happy to be a part of the 9News Health Fair.  They showed video of the woman, Ruth, exercising and putting healthy food on her families dinner table, her beautiful family anxious to enjoy the healthy eats.  More information was offered on the 9News Web site. 

9.     After the commercial, the next story was a 15-second pitched story about a soldier homecoming at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora.  

10.    The next story was a 30-second pitched story about 'roller punks".  It is a high speed, semi-violent junior roller derby program for area youth.  I did not catch where this is located.  They interviewed a few children and the program director.  They offered more information at 9News.com

11.     After the weather, 9News used self promotion again to let the viewers know that on April 13th, Comcast is switching 9News affiliate, My20 to channel 5.

12.     After another commercial and the sports report, 9News concluded their broadcast with another pitched story about the Wonderful Pistachios 2010 Word Sport Stacking Competitions being held at Denver University this weekend.  

Where is your media right now?

On TV, currently, there is a commercial for the Motorola Back Flipp ATT http://www.wired.com/reviews/product/pr_moto_backflip

Adam is on craigslist looking for wheels.

I am on my Dell desktop.  On the desk next to my keyboard, i-tunes on Brett's laptop, plugged into my speakers.

The Apprentice is on now.  Rob Blagojevich is wasting too much time because he does not know how to text message.  

The land-line is ringing in the background.

My digital camera is on the filing cabinet.  Pictures from the Caribou/ REVO art auction contained within.

My Blackberry is on the coffee table.

I'm mixed on this whole Capitol dome repair ad thing

The dome needs repairs but the state is broke.  I get that.  What I don't get is that Colorado state lawmakers are tossing around the idea of seeking advertisers to advertise on the construction curtains that cover the repairs.

I guess I do get it.  I've learned in class that advertising is big bucks!  I guess I am just tired of seeing logos and sponsors on so many venues.  I guess allowing advertising to pay the $13 million in repairs is brilliant.  Just disappointing.

Google's Answer to Web TV

I read something in the paper today about Google teaming up with Sony and Intel to provide a new sort of "Web TV."  Do you remember web TV from the 90's?  I remember my friend Bill having one and being sort of fascinated by being able to surf the net on your TV.  Nowadays it would be more like, "Watching TV on the net." or something.

Anyway, I gather the big draw this time around is the ability to download movies off of the internet and watch them on your (TV).

I'll be attending the 82nd AAAE Convention in Dallas!

Convergence media is everywhere, including the American Association of Airport Executives national conference in Dallas.  Why do I bring this up?

Well, that's a great question.  I feel like I am talking to myself, here.  Anyway, I am the director of MAPA-- Metro State Aviation Professionals Association.  This student chapter is affiliated with AAAE and falls under the umbrella of Metro's student chapter of AAAE where I am president.  Both positions begin this coming Fall 2010 semester.

What does this have to do with Mass Media?  Well, I was just looking over the event schedule and announcements and I saw Media everywhere.

Two AAAE people will be twittering from the floor of the convention.  So I clicked on the names and am now following them on twitter.  Their is a room off of the convention in the Hilton Anatole Hotel which is simulcasting the events at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport as well as Tuesday nights events at Cowboy Stadium.

And I was just thinking how cool Media is in that I am planning my ground transportation, updating Facebook and writing this blog... all at the same time. 

Chelsea Handler... Have you watched her Lately?

I don't know if anybody caught my pun in the Headline.  Chelsea Handler is brilliant!  I've noticed she is touring lately and I missed getting tickets to her show while she was here in Denver.  She has also been on TV quite a bit promoting the book she has out.  She is worth money. talk about convergence.  TV, author, comedian, late night show, and live shows keeps her very busy.

And she is funny as Hell!!  The last show I watched was so hilarious!  They were totally making fun of John Mayer.  He recently made statements about his sexual prowess and did a bunch of other shit that would embarass anybody in their right mind.  "Quit the media game!," Handler said.  "Play your guitar!"

When you are hot, you are hot and right now she is hot.  I have gained a new perspective about things like this since beginning the class.  Now the first thing that comes to my mind is the dollar sign.  I have so much more of a realization of the business side of entertainment.  It's all about the bottom line.  Fascinating.

Brett Loves FOX NEWS

Am I crazy or does it sound like Oprah is narrating this Discovery Channel show about sea life.  It's really insane how many sea creature there are.  There are things that we don't even know.  Tangent.

CB:  Brett, why do you like FOX news?

BB:  It makes me laugh.

CB:  Explain:

BB:  Seriously right now?  I'm exhausted.  I only got five hours of sleep.

A critical look at CBS Outdoor?

     CBS Outdoor is the largest outdoor advertising company in the United States.  Because of this, I have decided to do my Media Critical Analysis on this for my Mass Media class.

     So, the next several days, leading up to the due date, I am going to start researching this huge company.  What made me think about it was a clip from the movie in class called The Persuaders.  One of the guys on the panel that they interviewed had this rant about Times Square being like Vegas.. or not knowing if he was in Vegas... something like that.  I am going to have to refer back to the movie.

     I noticed on Colorado Blvd, CBS Outdoor has a LED billboard and it is along side a hotel.  That has to be troublesome for the hotel.  It cannot be comfortable for the guests.  There are several CBS Outdoor logo'd billboards on Broadway and today when I was waiting for the bus, I saw that the bus shelter had the same signage.  

     I'll write more on this later.

Billboard Top 10- Lady Antebellum

     I should be studying but I've decided to become more savvy when it comes to music.  What got me started thinking about this was when we went over the Billboard Top 10 in class.  I had only heard of three of the 10 artists in the Top 10, and I was only familiar with one of the songs!
     Today the No. 2 song on the chart is Lady Antebellum's Need You Now and I am getting ready to purchase the song on i-tunes.  Amazing!

My Take on the Oscars 2010

Okay, here's my Oscar Blog... a few days late.  First let me say, go I-Pad and your commercial debut during the Oscars!  And how about Oscar hosts, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin using product placement by appearing together in a couples Snuggie.  Rediculous worked this time.  Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin bantered back and forth.  I heard one guy say they were the Riff and the Raff or another comparison:  Ying and Yang. 

I wanted "The Hurt Locker" to win Best Picture and was pleased to see that they took that top prize as well as Best Picture.  I thought it was, shall I say, oppressive, to play "I Am Woman" after Katheryn Bigelowe won Best Director.  Really?  I mean I know that she was the first woman to get the nod but that is very strange to me.  I think I saw Baldwin slap her butt on stage too.  Another step back.

I was a little disappointed that Sandra Bullock won Best Actress because I thought Meryl Streep would get it and deserved it.  Speaking of deserving, Sandra Bullock hinted in her acceptance speech that she never gets the credit she deserves in Hollywood.  Yeah, Sandra because you are not a good actor!  Monique got best Supporting Actor.  Well deserved.  Her acceptance speech was touching, too.  Afterall, she is and actor. 

The acceptance speech by Jeff Bridges, Best Actor for his role in Crazy Heart was pathetic.  He rambled on and on and he said man several times.  Maybe he was nervous because he kept snickering.  Was he on something.  Regardless, the award was well deserved in my opinion.

Best Documentary went to a Japanese filmaker for "The Cove."  It was about saving Dolphins and somebody held up a sign with instructions on texting to save dolphins.  Lame.  They were shuttered off stage in a hurry.

Another interesting piece was when Director, Juan Jose Campenella thanks the academy for not placing Avatar in the category.  His Argentine film, "The Secret In Their Eyes" won the award.  Na'vi is the language spoken on Pandora.  It was a joke.  I thought it was funny.

I thought the John Hughes memorial was pretty cool.  Seeing stars come out in support of him from my era, the 1980s was actually kind of emotional.  Seeing Molly Ringwald after all this time was very cool.  I may have even had a tear, thought I have never been a John Hughes fan. 

Barbara Walters interviewed the stars of "Up" leading 'up' to the announcement of Best Animated Feature.  It was cute but she is so played out!

A few questions... Why did Cablevision keep viewers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut from viewing the first fifteen minutes of the broadcast?  And, I did not get Baldwin's and George Clooney.  They kept staring at each other.  Why?  Inside joke?

Christoph Waltz wins Best Supporting Actor for his role in Inglourious Basterds.  Deserving.  Not surprised.

The Red Carpet was annoying as ever.  But, more importantly, it is important to point out the importance of the Oscars in the Mass Media Big Picture.  It's all about money and promotion.  And what better way than to promote your Mass Media than having one of the largest audiences on record.

"Birthday, today is my..". (Trying to sound like Dr. Seuss)

I was trying to figure out what to write about today when I stumbled across a Today In Celebrity Birthday's site. Apparently, Dr. Seuss was a real person.  Who knew?  Here are some interesting facts I came across:

• Dr. Seuss, was born in 1904 on Howard Street in Springfield, Massachusetts.
• His mother, Henrietta Seuss Geisel, often soothed her children to sleep by "chanting" rhymes remembered from her youth.
• Ted left Springfield as a teenager to attend Dartmouth College, where he became editor-in-chief of the Jack-O-Lantern, Dartmouth's humor magazine.
• The Saturday Evening Post and other publications published some of his early pieces, but the bulk of Ted's activity during his early career was devoted to creating advertising campaigns for Standard Oil, which he did for more than 15 years
• The Cat in the Hat, perhaps the defining book of Ted's career, developed as part of a unique joint venture between Houghton Mifflin (Vanguard Press) and Random House. 
• Besides the books, his works have provided the source for eleven children's television specials, a Broadway musical and a feature-length motion picture. Other major motion pictures are on the way.
• His honors included two Academy awards, two Emmy awards, a Peabody award and the Pulitzer Prize. 
• The Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden is located at the Springfield Museums, 21 Edwards Street in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts.

How does this pertain to Mass Media class?  Well, for starters, Dr. Seuss is Mass Media!  Check out all this stuff from Wikipedia

Bibliography	And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street · The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins · The King's Stilts · The Seven Lady Godivas · Horton Hatches the Egg · McElligot's Pool ·Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose · Bartholomew and the Oobleck · If I Ran the Zoo · Scrambled Eggs Super! · Horton Hears a Who! · On Beyond Zebra! · If I Ran the Circus ·How the Grinch Stole Christmas! · The Cat in the Hat · The Cat in the Hat Comes Back · Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories · Happy Birthday to You! · Green Eggs and Ham ·One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish · The Sneetches and Other Stories · Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book · Dr. Seuss's ABC · Fox in Socks · Hop on Pop ·I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew · The Cat in the Hat Song Book · The Foot Book · I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today! and Other Stories · The Lorax ·Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now! · The Butter Battle Book · Oh, the Places You'll Go! · I Wish That I Had Duck Feet  · Daisy-Head Mayzie (posthumous) ·My Many Colored Days (posthumous) · Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! (posthumous)
Television adaptations	How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966) · Horton Hears a Who! (1970) · The Cat in the Hat (1971) · The Lorax (1972) · Dr. Seuss on the Loose (1973) ·The Hoober-Bloob Highway (1975) · Halloween Is Grinch Night (1977) · Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You? (1980) · The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat (1982) ·The Butter Battle Book (1990) · The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss (1996–1997) · Gerald McBoing-Boing (2005–2007)
Film adaptations	How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2000) · The Cat In The Hat (2003) · Horton Hears a Who! (2008) · The Lorax (2012)
Other adaptations	Seussical (musical) · Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (musical) · The Grinch (video game) · Dr. Seuss: How The Grinch Stole Christmas! (video game)
Other works	Private Snafu · The Pocket Book of Boners · Your Job in Germany · Design for Death · The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T · Hejji · Society of Red Tape Cutters · Flit
Related articles	Seuss Landing · Beginner Books · PM · Geisel Library · Dr. Seuss National Memorial · Read Across America · You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch · Quotes

Just join facebook already!

Randi and Daryl, a couple of friends of mine, were in the living room discussing Facebook.  I was in the dining room and three of the four of us were on our handhelds.  (Is it handhelds or hand helds?)  One of us was on facebook, the other two were texting.

It amuses me when I hear people talking about facebook, even though they do not have an account.  They act like they know so much but they just don't know the lingo.   They would not be able to coherently talk about Farmville, for example.

Just get a fucking facebook account, jack asses!  Sooner or later you WILL have one so just quit acting stupid and get one now.

Accidentally on Purpose on CBS rocks!

DJs CraigC & Jarrod Holbrook: Wrangler Sweet!

Twitter update: My first multi-medium update!

Multi medium updates... My own convergence!

This is my own kind of convergence at work: Cell phone to Twitter to Facebook to Mass Media Momento all at once! Now if I can just figure out how to add Google Buzz to the one stop posting!

I have now created the option to update my blog from my Twitter page via my cell. Not only that but it also upates my Facebook status! Buzz is next! ;-)

One day in fashion you're in and the next day you're out.

Garnier sponsors Project Runway

Project Runway Season 7 on Lifetime

Seth Aaron Henderson is aggrivating the other designers.  He is singing and making noise, just for the sake of making noise, adding to the tension in the design studio.  Mila Hermanovski is making comments about the color choices some of the designers have chosen for the current project.  There is plenty of anxiety and subdued chaos as they all compete for the largest award in Project Runway history.

As if it weren't enough that the dress you are designing is for model, producer, singer, actor, television host, Heidi Klum, the winning designer's creation will be modeled by Heidi on the April cover of Mary Claire magazine!

How did I get sucked into this show?  Sure, I have heard plenty about it among all the Gay people in my life, but usually something like this would not be my, eh, thing.  I degress.  I am actually starting to enjoy this.

Janeane Marie Ceccanti is a train wreck in the design studio.  She is second guessing herself and has lost faith in her abilities.  When a concerned Tim Gunn told her, "I don't want this to look like clown clothes.",  I thought she was going to cry.  Tim leaves the evening visit to the design studio reluctant, seeing nothing impressive. 

Shorts, Anna (Lynett)?  Really?  I do not pretend to be a designer or know anything about making clothes, but shorts for Heidi Klum on the cover of Marie Claire does not sound like a good idea to me.  Anthony Williams admits he doesn't know what he is doing but I like his the best. 
They all line up for the runway display and the cuts are made.  As predicted, Anna's creation is a complete nightmare and obviously not received very well by the judges.  A side note here:  It was at this point in viewing Project Runway that I realized that Heidi Klum is more than just the model who will appear on the cover of Marie Claire.  She is the host of the show!  Again, this is a show I have never seen. 

My prediction is Anthony's dress works for the cover.  Let's just see if I am right.  My second pick is Ben Chumra's.  Anna or Janeane are gone. 

Moments later:
Anthony!  I was right!  Anna's Out!  I'm good at this.  She made shorts and a camisole, for Godsakes.  Not fashion forward, I say.

Sponsored by Garnier, Project Runway is in it's 7th Season and appears on Lifetime network.

Real World: D.C. Predictable and pretty

I guess conflict brings in the ratings.  I find it annoying.  The TV is too loud, for starters.  Secondly, I am trying to do math story problems for my physical geography class.  But I keep getting sucked in to the drama on MTV's Real World:  D.C.

New proactiv's commercial is really geared toward this demographic.  Ads for Jersey Shore put it all in perspective.

Erika is fighting with Ashley and the token Gay guy, Mike,  has all this drama with his boyfriend of three weeks.

Oh, I want to see that movie, Valentine's Day that is coming out.  I love Kathy Bates.

This episode of Real World, DC was all about Ashley and Erika, Mike and the guy he has been hanging out with. 

I just caught the tail end of the cat fight between Ashley and Erika.  I think Ashley is hot tempered and Erika is an insecure spoiled bitch who is self entitled and hard to watch. 

Mike, the Gay guy because you know there's one on every season, is having trouble coming to terms with his homosexuality and his interest of three weeks is expecting entirely too much out of him, blah blah blah.

I'll probably watch again.  The cast of RW:  DC is hot.  The drama is interesting.  Afterall, it is the original reality series dating back to Real World:  New York in 1992.  In fact, it is the longest running series in MTV's history.
The Real World, D.C. Official Site

The most exciting part of this year's Super Bowl was the game!

The Saints won the Sell-out Bowl! The 2010 Super Bowl broadcast was the most viewed television program in history. Lucky for the advertisers, huh? There were some real winners off the field too. And, forgive my puns, a few loosers.

Hyundai has some real nice cars! I dont think I have seen this many Hyundai ads in my life as there were during the game. They are one of the winners, in my book. Brett Favre humored the viewer by receiving a 2020 MVP award. Clever, I thought.

Another winner was Snickers! Betty White was hillarious in the piece where she is playing football with the guys and is suddenly transformed into someone to be bargained with after eating a Snickers.

I loved the Doritos commercials, especially the one where the dogs place a shock collar on there owner. Brilliant and funny!

And now for the real loosers: Skechers! The commercial aired during the Super Bowl was too similar to the ordinary Skechers ad that already runs. Lousy. Unimaginative. And expensive! Why would you pay millions of dollars to run your ad during the biggest game of the year and not pull out all of the stops?

Finally, Focus On The Family. The only thing good about this commercial was the boos that were heard throughout the bar when it played. It was terrible for more than one reason. I don't think the Super Bowl is the place to place your ideals on other people. I hope they lost their shorts on that one!

I'm really looking forward to next year. The highlight of this years Super Bowl was the game itself. I can't say that is the case every year.

Why is Adam listening to Dr. Demento's narration of Little Red Ridinghood

Better question:  How did Grimm's Fairy Tale become so creepy?

Wow, Dr. Demento's Web site is pretty freakin' cool.  I didnt even know he was still around!

SNL Parody of Obama's first State Of The Union Address

Fred Armisen nailed his satire of Obama in the State of the Union address on the January 30th, 2010.  These parodys are always my favorite SNL clips and I have always been a fan of Armisen's portrayal of President Obama but this particular episode was hillarious.

If you have a chance, check out this link from nbc.com and let me know what you think!

The Metropolitan Student Newspaper - Metropolitan State College of Denver - Analysis of Online vs. Print editions

I have examined the January 28, 2010 edition of Metropolitan State College of Denver's The Metropolitan newspaper, both the print edition and the online edition.  There are numerous differences between the two:

• There is very little resemblance between the two formats. 
  
• On the cover of the print edition, there is a rather compelling photograph of a young Haitian sitting on a grave and a inviting headline:  "Hope For Haiti".  Online, there are a series of pictures, all the same size with smaller headlines.  The Haiti lead does not stand out as being any more important as the others.
• A striking difference is links to the newspapers Twitter updates on the front page of the online edition.  I think it was a little over-done.  It left me with feeling like the point they were trying to make was, 'Wow look at us, we have a twitter account!'
• The online edition has tags to different subjects covered in its current edition.  Obviously, you are unable to link to anything in the print edition.
• The online edition has encouraged feedback on all of it's stories, with  use of a handy form for giving such at the bottom of each article. 
  
• I find the print edition to be laid out extremely well.  It is organized, easy to read and stylish.  The online edition, while having many cutting edge conversion media items, is sloppy and disorganized.  

     I think the online version of this paper is putting form in front of content.  In other words, too much emphasis has been put on use of newer tools of mass media and the layout has suffered because of it.  Fine tuning the layout and ease of access would make it a fantastic enhancement to the print edition.  It's definitely not there yet! 

Advocate Student Newspaper - University of Colorado - Analysis of Online vs. Print editions

   The University of Colorado Advocate newspaper is touted to be Colorado's only student-run alternative weekly.  It is available in most Auroria Campus buildings in print form as well as online at http://www.ucdadvocate.com.  For the purpose of this analysis, I have carefully examined the January 27 - February 2, 2010 edition. 
     While viewing the online edition, I found similarities in content with the print edition but striking differences in layout:

• From the cover of the printed edition, it is very clear to the reader what the top story or feature story is: "Welcome To The Future".  The cover is adorned with that Headline and a futuristic cartoon of a post modern kitchen and a George Jetson- like helmet on a man standing in the foreground.  Though this picture and headline is also visible on the online edition, it is much smaller and the 'Welcome To The Future' headline does not stand out from the other headlines.
• The online edition has more information below the headline, I assume to entice the viewer to read more of the article.  The print edition, naturally, just goes right into the story.
• The online edition makes great use of color photography, whereas the print edition pictures are black and white.
• The online edition is enhanced with video links to support the stories.  Obviously this is not possible in the print edition.

     Both publications are well organized and look sharp.  I noticed the logo seems somewhat stretched on the print edition, as compared to the online logo.  I wonder, however, if the logo stretch on the print edition was purposely done to look futuristic which would match the cartoon on the cover. 

Everybody Hates Chris- BET

The remote was sitting on the TV stand next to the sofa so I decided to see what was on the tube. I chose an old episode of Everybody Hates Chris on BET.

In this episode Chris was hospitalized for walking pneumonia which sidelined his plans to pay for his family's Chirstmas gifts held on layaway at Goldstein's Department Store.

On top of going to school, Chris had been working two jobs to earn the money for the gifts. In addition to working for Doc at the convenience store, he took a job working as an elf for his Santa Clause father.

Meanwhile, his siblings were at home brown nosing their mother in hopes of landing their own items off the Christmas wish list. Ultimately, Chris getting sick foiled Drew and Tanya's scheme because Christmas is now cancelled for the entire family.  But, while recovering in the hospital, Chris is enlightened by a grouchy, sickly man in the hosptial bed next to him whose banter made him more appreciative of his family and the blessings in his life.

In the end, Chris' dad came through when the family delivered presents to Chris' hospital bedside; he made the layaway payment for Chris and together Christmas was saved. The only thing Chris received was the receipt from Godstein's and his dad saying, "You owe me thirty-five dollars." Chris smiled and the others cheerfully opened their presents.

The commercials during this broadcast were interestingly different from some of the other networks I watch. Payday advances, car loans for people with bad credit and pre-paid Visa card ads were mixed in with ones for acne medicine and previews of The Michael Vick Project.

Volume increased as the show broke to commercial. I suppose the ads were louder on purpose. Though I know this is commonplace on other networks, these seemed to be much louder and was rather annoying.

After blogging about this episode of Everybody Hates Chris, I found the following information on Wikipedia:  The title of this episode, originally airing on December 11th, 2006 was titled, "Everybody Hates Kris", Kris being the cranky man sharing the hospital bed with Chris. 

Relentless Media Everywhere!

Piecing together this blog, I took a moment to reflect on the subject.  Like a freight train, I was hit with the realization that my phone rang, I received a text, I opened the mail, the TV is on Comedy Central and Adam, sitting behind me on the sofa, is on his laptop, watching The Last Mysteries of Titanic on youtube. 

Facebook status update from mobile phone - January 28th, 2010

Facebook update: What do you smell like when you leave the house? Be honest. Begin thread Now!

Newbies Suck! Welcome to my first blog entry

As I was contemplating a name for my Journalism 1010 Media Journal's first entry ever, I thought about an email I received on my BlackBerry earlier today, titled, "Newbies Suck!" I didn't have the time to read the email earlier, but the title of it got my attention. Since I am new at blogging and this is my first entry, I think it works.

I'll get back to the email in a tick. First, you may be wondering how I came up with Mass Media Momento as the title for my blog. This creative expression of mine is the answer to a requirement in my mass media class to create a media journal that is to be turned in towards the end of the semester.

I was trying to name it something more clever than Mass Media Journal so I purged the word journal in a thesaurus for a similar word beginning with the letter, M. Of my choices, magazine seemed misleading and memento, to me, implied memo. Then I found a user note at the foot of the page: According to the Random House Dictionary, "Momento is considered by many to be a misspelling, but it occurs so frequently in edited writing that some regard it as a variant spelling rather than an error." In this media journal, it is my intention to capture 'the moment' which is all the mass media I can digest from now until the end of the semester.

This project, as well as this class, comes at an interesting time in my life. I've recently scaled back my Facebook use, stopped watching as much news on TV, and have spent less and less time using my BlackBerry.

Why the departure from being an active mass media consumer? After spending more than two weeks visiting family in rural northeast Washington state, glued in front of Fox News for hours on end, I grew disgusted with what I deem to be absolutely biased, not fair and balanced, news.

Facebooking* from the 'public' computer in my sister's living room provided challenge of sharing my personal space with children. Youngsters, just being kids, were a little too curious what Uncle Casey was up to. Having not been around the little monsters much over the years, I was extremely distracted by all the shouting and rough housing.

Using my BlackBerry for accessing Facebook and other media proved timely and frustrating. Reception for my personal device was hit and miss. Placing calls were too expensive on roaming. It was easier to put up with Fox News or painfully watch RFD-TV (Rural America's Most Important Network) with Dad.

Just before my vacation in Kettle Falls, Washington, I watched the movie, Zeitgeist. There appears to be three segments on youtube.com that depict contrived insight into religion, government and money. Chalked full of conspiracy theories, worst-case scenarios, gloom and doom, I left the experience questioning just about everything, not just in my life, but in the media. I started wondering what the point of my existence was and mulling over the prospects of dropping out of society and living in a cave far far far away. Thankfully, my get away to Kettle Falls snapped me out of the living in a cave idea!

I've just reviewed the "Newbies Suck!" email. It was the 70th email I've received today in my gmail account. It's contents is spam:



No one likes to say it but they really do
And you know I am right ...
Newbies suck at building websites
Newbies suck at driving traffic
Newbies suck at writing sales copy
Newbies suck at making money!
Newbies suck at so many things ...
It is no wonder that 95% of internet marketers
never make any money online.
There is so much to learn and all of the information
is not all in one place.
You have to piece it all together yourself
It could take years to learn anything like this
and it doesnt help that every month
some new flashy product is being promoted with a big price tag
promising to be the be all, end all product that will cure all
of your needs.
It is the sad truth but as a newbie in this business
you are pre-destined to fail big.
The next 1-2 years of your life will be filled with frustration,
errors and very little money.
You will spend way more than you make and on average
And you will give up 2x every week and try something new.
But it doesn't have to be this way ...
Click to find out how you can escape the newbie roller coaster

More junk. Spam, RFD-TV, Fox News, Zeitgeist: Junk? Or, is it time to embrace all areas of Mass Media? Is this not the point of my class in the first place?

As Fox News (on my muted TV) broadcasts Greta Van Susteren ridiculing President Obama's performance in last night's State of the Union Address, and the red message indicator light blinks on my BlackBerry, I guess I better jump back in!

*from urbandictionary.com: verb - To check your facebook profile, search for something on facebook or use one of its many apps.
gancho: Dude, put your iPhone away.
make: Hold on a second. I'm facebooking something.
gancho: Don't ever use that as a verb again.