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.