Halloween!:)

Its already Halloween! I love this time of year. Its turning cold and all the trees are turning colors and the best part is that it is hunting season. Im going home this weekend and i can't wait. I just wish that we got friday off or something for Halloween. Oh well it will still be great. Is anyone else gonna go around and try to get some free candy?
Happy Halloween everyone.

Reaction to hit and run last weekend

I thought that Miss Sotosky captured some really good footage last weekend at the presidential rally here in Durango. I cant believe that she was shooting those people right as the SUV hit them. After the discussion though and watching the film, i don't think that the accident was intentional at all. Even though the driver was on opposite sides, regarding the presidential campaign, of the victims she was just a high school student and was probably not angry at anyone. The sun was in her eyes and there were people everywhere in the streets. It was a total accident. I can see how someone could really distort the report if they wanted to and say that the rally ended in violence or something like that but i don't believe thats what happened at all.

Just a reminder

I thought that i would use one of my blogs to remind everyone to be careful when you are out partying. Don't drink and drive, it is not worth it. I am saying this because last weekend there was a car accident in my home town. All three kids that were in it were kids that i had gone to school with and two of them were in my graduating class. One of them was killed and the other two were seriously injured. They were coming back from a party and they were drunk. It was not worth it driving home that night. Everyone needs to be careful for your safety and for the safety of other drivers.

Advergames!

I used to play this game all the time when i was little. I never really wondered why i was a piece of Chex cereal in the game but when we learned about advergames in class yesterday i realized that this was just that. You used to be able to get this game by sending in box tops to chex cereal boxes and stuff like that. It was just a game to help advertise their cereal. It probably worked good because it was a pretty fun game and i bet a ton of kids played it over and over again just like i did. I just thought this was a great example of an advergame that i actually have played.

MySpace

I also have some comments on the group presentation about MySpace. I Don't have a MySpace account so i found the presentation to be very helpful and it gave me lots of information. I still dont like the sites like MySpace and facebook though. Theres nothing really wrong with it or anything and it can be fun, i have got on and messed around on it with my girlfriend on her account with her and it does allow you to meet new people but only through a picture and some blogs. I guess thats just not how i am. I dont really even like the blogging that i am doing right now. i think that you do lose a lot when you are just sitting in your room all day in front of the computer and talking to people that way. Your still sitting there alone. And i dont really like having a ton of people sort of know me, i like having a few friends that i can truly call my best friends. Whether that is family members or whatever. People are relying on computers too much.

Enzyte

In Class today the presentation that i found the most interesting was the group that did their presentation on Enzyte which is that male enhancement pill that you see on commercials all the time. They had a lot of interesting information on why it was such a hit. First of all they said that when they looked at the ingredients it wasnt that special. It was very similar to the ingredients found in most energy drinks. There was nothing that it really did except maybe help increase blood flow in the body. Also, there was a lawsuit that came up because the makers of enzyte were releasing false information about the benefits of their product, but after having a lawsuit against them and having a product that doesn't really do anything, Enzyte is still making tons of money. The group presenting credited that to the great advertising. It is kinda funny and catches you attention right away. That has made it so almost everyone remembers the product and knows what you are talking about if you mention it to them. It also makes sure that everyone know that it is all natural and has no big side effects. I guess that makes for a pretty good advertising scheme and seems to be working great for Enzyte.

Army vs. McCarthy case in our reading

This week we read the chapter in our book about television and cable. When they talked about how television can send a message to a huge audience and influence them, it brought up senator McCarthy and the case the army eventually had against him. In class we watched a movie about it. I really liked it. It told how television and the news stations were the ones who ended up making people realize that senator McCarthy was way outa line. He had been accusing tons of people of being affiliated with the communist party. Lots of people were being sentenced off of very weak evidence and even off of what their close family or friends were like. One news station decided to fight him and that is what the movie was about. It really showed how in real life the power of television as a mass medium can change and influence peoples oppinions. It was a good movie and i enjoy watching that kind of stuff in the classroom.

Presidential debates

This morning i was listening to the news on the radio and they were talking about the presidential debates that went on last night. I didn't actually watch the debates but the news said that the main topic was our economy. Thats no big surprise right now with all the stuff thats going on with the bank bail outs and all. What was interesting to me was when they started interviewing people that watched. Many of them still didnt know who the were gonna vote for. It was very interesting what some of them said. A few people described the candidates as being kind of childish. They said that there was name calling and pointing of fingers. I think thats kind of funny. I can understand that at times they can get mad at each other because they have different oppinions about different things and they are trying to get their point across, but if it was that noticeable then maybe they were being a little too childish. Or that could mean that it was just a very good debate. Either way it is pretty interesting.

Scare tactics in the media.

In our classroom conversation today we were talking about how people got so cared when the radio play the war of the worlds was aired. That topic brought up a discussion about how scare tactics are used in media to catch our attention and keep us listening. What came to my mind was the terror alert system that was on major news stations like Fox for ever after the 9/11 attacks. They always cared me to death. Every day they would say that the terror alert was severe today. It always seemed to be either high or severe. Every day then i would think that they had a good reason to say that and i would be sure that we were gonna get attacked again. It got pretty rediculous. I remember hearing on the news that people were starting to get tired of always having a high terror alert. It was always the same and it was scary. But after a year or two of that something needed to be done. That is a good example of a scare tactic that the news stations used to keep people watching.

Reaction to movie rating system

That video about how movies are rated taught me a lot. For one thing, i never knew that there was an independent board of unannounced members that rates the movies. It was interesting to learn how they actually rated them too, like counting the number of swear words and thrusts in sex scenes. A lot of it did seem unfair, such as how much harshly sex scenes are rated compared to scenes of violence, but i agree that there should be some kind of rating system. It comes in very handy. I dont think that the members need to remain so anonymous though. So, in all i think there could be improvements but that movie ratings are very important.