Blog Reflection

I really think these were a good idea. My English class had a weekly blog challenge, and I like how I was able to use my blog in this class too. I also really liked the fact that these were due at each test, and not at a specific time frame. I didn't feel rushed to get them done, and I could work on one here and there. I was better at getting them done the first time though, I had to work fast to get the others done.

A suggestion for future semesters would be to maybe have a list of five or six per topic and have everyone pick one and write about it. Two per lesson was a lot, and I think focusing on one per issue would help students understand better.

This was one of my favorite classes this semester, I learned that I really want to go into Communications! I really enjoyed having reps from each emphasis come in and talk about what they do and give some tips and insight for getting in the major. I want to pursue a career in advertising, and I know that if I work hard and stay focused, I can make it and be successful!

Thanks for a great semester, hopefully I'll see you around!

-Jenn

Gone Too Far

I think those PETA ads that say "I'd rather go naked than wear fur" are a little too much. We're glad to know that you don't support those who wear fur, but maybe try cotton or something next time of au naturale! These ads definitely promote the whole "sex sells" idea, but most of us wish Pamela Anderson would cover more. In general.

-Jenn

Exaggeration

I do believe exaggeration exists today, but not really in much outside of ads. Do you really think make-up is "smart" and can match your exact skin shade? I don't but it. Sure, we may exaggerate when we're having a conversation (Good grief, there were a bajillion people at the CougarEat today), but other than that I don't really think it's that prevalent!

-Jenn

Questionable Activities

Everyone wants to be their best, and if image consulting is needed, so be it. No one wants to rub off on someone else in the wrong way, and PR people make sure their clients look their very best. Outright lying is no good, but polishing up a few things here and there doesn't seem like much of a problem to me.

-Jenn

Effective Advertising

Advertising is way effective! If it's not outright, something subliminal happens when you see the same ad over and over again (I did a science fair project about subliminal messages, there are definitely some in ads, but not all of them are sexual). I'm a teenage girl, of course I've been affected by advertising! I LOVE America's Next Top Model, and one time I saw an ad with one of the winners. Since then, I've seen lots of ANTM ads, but this was my first and I decided I HAD to have that mascara. It wasn't really that great, but I really didn't mind that it wasn't that nice of a product. On the other hand, alcohol and cigarette ads don't really appeal to me that much.

-Jenn

Good Ads & Bad Ads

Good Ads

This is an ad for Vespa, and I think it's pretty cool. It's visually captivating, and it's not what you would expect from a scooter company.



This ad for Hard Rock Cafe is cute yet powerful. You know you'll have a good time eating somewhere like this!



Bad Ads

This ad is so sad and unnecessary! Who really wants to watch a "calorie" commit suicide?! No good.


Good Ads

If only it were this simple...Except not, because this is disturbing!



-Jenn

Television's Impact

I definitely think television has the greatest impact on us, it's the most influential form of media out there! With the average person watching seven hours a day, we receive all sorts of subliminal and hidden meanings. Watching television leads us to impromptu purchases, lack of self-esteem, and addiction. Households have about 3 televisions on average, my house back home has 6! I've kind of enjoyed not having television around so much at college, I'm able to focus on other things instead. It's true I don't stay as informed as I should, but I check a few news sites on the internet, and that helps. However, I am going to enjoy television over the break, especially with so many cute Christmas specials!

-Jenn

LCD, And Not The Kind Of Television

There are plenty of television shows that are for sole entertainment of the LCD. King Of The Hill, Family Guy, and The Simpson's don't offer much besides mindless laughs. The type of person this kind of television attracts is the middle-class worker who grabs a beer after work and zones out for a few hours. These shows offer escape from life, but severely hurts a person's IQ. Lack of entertaining and educational programming for adults isn't necessarily a bad thing, but some shows are just plain stupid!

-Jenn

A Bit Obsessed...

My television habits usually center around a certain celebrity: Tyra Banks. I LOVE America's Next Top Model, I would spend hours watching marathons on VH1 back home, usually wasting my entire Saturday. I could never be on ANTM (I'm not tall enough and they like ugly pretty, I'm just pretty pretty), but I love watching these awkward girls turn into something beautiful and confident. It's always nice to see the underdog win, and Tyra Banks is so amazing, I love her!

So it's no surprise that my television viewing was focused on America's Next Top Model. This past cycle just finished up, and I watched it religiously in the lobby of my dorm every Wednesday. I learned that people who watch ANTM are pretty vain, every commercial was about some beauty product or procedure. I don't really think it affected me, I like myself the way I am! During this time frame though, young girls are targeted as imperfect and flawed, and advertisers definitely take advantage of this lack of self-confidence (which is ironic, because the aim of the show is to show young women they are beautiful from the inside out!). This show provides me entertainment and enjoyment (some girls fight about the stupidest things!), and I like talking about it with others who enjoy it too! It's a good way to unwind and escape, even if it's just for an hour.

(Oh, and The Office is amazing too! But I don't watch it on television, I watch it online with my boyfriend instead.)

-Jenn

My Movie

Picture this: You enter the movie theater and pick the perfect seat in the middle of the row. You are with a particularly attractive member of the opposite sex, and the two of you giggle and groan through the array of previews. The feature film begins with the classic theme song millions have come to love. The title flashes on the screen at the end...

The Office: The Movie

The audience laughs as Steve Carrell's hopeless character, Michael Scott, enters the office and starts chatting with Pam about her "big day." The plot is quickly set up, the movie is to focus on Jim and Pam's wedding. With the other Dunder Mifflin employees vying for a spot in the wedding, their quirks and behaviors become increasingly hilarious, until JAM decides to include everyone in some way. The limits of personal and professional relationships are stretched to almost breaking point, but in the end everything pulls together for the best wedding Dundler Mifflin has ever had a part in.

And there you have it, the biggest box office hit of 2008.

-Jenn

Movies: S&V

With the daily bombardment of inappropriateness in every sort of media, we have become desensitized to the severity of it. Oh, that politician hooked up with his intern? Whatever. That new movie has so much gore it had to edited three times before it was knocked down from NC-17 to R? It's probably not really that bad. While there are a few groups that actively try to stop the promiscuity and violence, for the most part we just kick back and relax and take whatever Hollywood feels like dishing up. It's an unfortunate reality that is becoming more and more commonplace, which makes one wonder about the quality and legitimacy of the future. I shudder to think about how many taboo topics will be easily tossed around in the media when my children are my age. It's a scary thought, and I don't like to dwell on it!

-Jenn

Tuning In: Radio Stations

Let me just I really didn't enjoy this assignment. Every time I drove I listened to the radio and pushed the seek button every few minutes. The display acts up sometimes in my car though, so sometimes I had to wait and listen and wait for the announcer person to say which station I was listening to!

KBULL 93.3: I'll get the bad stuff out of the way first. KBULL is the country station, so it's main genre of music is country (surprise!). I'm not going to lie, I used to be a huge country fan, but not so much anymore. I mean, I like Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift, but if you've heard one country song, you've heard them all. I did notice that the station played a decent variety of old and new artists, like Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, etc. There was the average amount of "talking," whether it be from DJs or advertisements or whatever, but local happenings seem to be their main point, which is probably a good thing, because not many other stations do that.

JACK 103.1: JACK's slogan is, "We play whatever we want," and they're basically right. This is the station you hear at the doctor's; there's a little bit of everything to keep everyone happy. I loved hearing The Beatles and U2 back-to-back, it's just an overall all around good station! There's minimal talking, and very diverse. You hear about restaurants and store openings and closings. This station is good for everyone because you never hear the same song twice, and you never know what's coming next!

MY 99.5: This station is geared more towards adults. It's kind of like JACK, but with more recent music. There's tons of talking, mostly advertisements about clubs and restaurants and cars. My parents would probably like this station a lot. Something neat I found is that the song name and artist is announced after each song is played.

KBYU 89.1: Of course I had to pick this one! This classical station is broadcasted with limited interruption (at least when I listened to it anyway). I could fall asleep listening to this stuff, but for all the music majors on campus, I'm sure they listen to it all the time. I wonder if this is the station that they play in the special music room in the Testing Center...

-Jenn

Radio's Popularity

Radio is the most personal media because it's to customizable. You can call in and request a song, express your opinion on a hot topic, or answer a question correctly and win a fabulous prize. Listeners like that ability to adapt and make constant changes. Music is the most important part of radio programming because you can have anyone talk at you about pointless events and sales, but music is way more entertaining and fun. However, talk radio is also very popular because everyone loves to get his/her two cents in. These conversations can take strange twists and turns and they're fun to listen to, especially when you get the crazy obsessed people who go off on all sorts of tangents. While radio's popularity may have diminished due to television, it's definitely not going anywhere anytime soon.

-Jenn

The Daily Herald

The Daily Herald is Utah Valley's premiere newspaper. Thousands of people receive their daily dose of culture from this source. In my opinion, this paper is pretty well balanced. There are stories that deal with local as well as national issues with a decent amount of analysis. The stories are interesting and current and the headlines are fairly catchy. I never followed along with my paper back home, but I was pleasantly surprised that this paper wasn't a chore to read. It was kind of difficult to find a copy of this paper though, I wish it was more accessible at places close to campus. I guess that would cause competition for The Daily Universe, but it would be nice to have an array of news choices!

-Jenn

Metropolitan vs. Community

I think the big boys are struggling because they aren't focused enough. Since their audience is so big, they have to cover lots of different issues, and they don't have enough specific information to hold the reader's attention. On the other hand, the little guys can tailor their articles to their audiences a lot more easily and most have been around long enough to gain a pretty substantial fan base. Back home, the furthermost part of the county is an island that includes two little towns called Carolina Beach and Kure Beach. The Island Gazette is the island's little local newspaper, completely written, edited, distributed, and managed by members of the towns. I had the opportunity to write a couple articles for them Senior year, the people were so nice and laid-back (yay for living at the beach!), and I found them much easier to get along with than the people from the city newspaper, StarNews. The city paper isn't even that widely circulated and they had this air of arrogance and supremacy! After my brief newspaper stint, I decided that the smaller the paper, the nicer the people and the easier it is to make your stories fit your audience. Big papers don't get points in the personality department, but definitely cover more issues. A balanced diet of big time and small stuff news seems to be the most beneficial, so it's up to you to decide which lucky newspapers will be your source of current world happenings. Happy reading!

-Jenn

Future For Magazines?

After my magazine browsing experience at Wal-Mart over the weekend, it became pretty clear to me that magazines aren't going anywhere. After Time Warner's online magazine disaster, paper copies will be around for awhile. If magazines were to set up some sort of website, they would be smart to offer some extra features not included in the mag (more pictures, an exclusive article, etc.) for a fee. There are some entertainment shows on tv that are basically magazines, but a lot of people care more about game cheats than Heather Locklear's mugshot. Television and websites can never reach specific audiences as well as magazines, it's pretty certain that mags are going to be cluttering coffee tables and doctor offices for the rest of forever.

-Jenn

Magazine Adventures!

This past weekend I decided to kill two birds with one stone and do my grocery shopping and Comms homework at the same time! And there's only one place where you can totally and completely combine buying and browsing: Wal-Mart. Now don't freak out, Wal-Mart totally qualifies as a bookstore! It just also happens to function as a grocery store, clothing store, toy store, and beauty supplier.

I never really looked at the magazine selection at Wal-Mart before, but was actually really surprised by the array of literature! The top rows had wedding magazines, interior decorating magazines, food magazines, and magazines targeted to African Americans (but not necessarily in that order). The bottom rows had kids magazines, pre-teen magazines, (and by that, I mean a dozen different tributes to the Jonas Brothers), sports magazines, music magazines, and computer magazines (again, not necessarily in that order). There might have been a few I missed, but that was the general feel of the section.

It was kind of weird to stand there and flip through magazine after magazine and trying to picture the reader in their "natural environment." I decided to pick the typical pre-teen magazine reader, so here goes:

Age: 13
Gender: Female
Favorite Color: Light blue
Favorite Movie: Camp Rock
Favorite School Subject: Lunch (duh)
Favorite Song (which has the tendency to change without warning): 7 Things by Miley Cyrus
Most Prized Possession: Camera phone

These magazines would be found strewn about the reader's bedrooms...





Sounds like fun, huh?

-Jenn

Reading And Such

"Read any good books lately?" results:

Reader 1. Learning In The Light Of Faith

Reader 2. The Gospels

Reader 3. The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants

Reader 4. My textbook for Humanities

Reader 5. Nope

Reader 6. How We Eat by Leon Rappoport

Reader 7. 2 Nephi

Reader 8. The book for my Communications class

Reader 9. The Far Side Gallery

Reader 10. The Secret Life Of Bees


"What have you read in the last six months?" results:

Reader 1. The Work And The Glory (the second one)

Reader 2. The Book Of Mormon

Reader 3. Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire

Reader 4. The Book Of Mormon

Reader 5. A recipe book from my aunt

Reader 6. All Creatures Great And Small by James Herriot

Reader 7. The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons

Reader 8. Twilight and all those others

Reader 9. Captain Underpants And The Wrath Of The Wicked Wedgie Woman

Reader 10. My old journals


My sample was pretty narrow and very much Mormon! I was surprised by a few answers though, I wasn't really expecting Dan Brown or James Herriot. Several of the people I polled said they really had to think to answer my questions, which tells me we definitely aren't reading enough!

-Jenn

Books vs. E-Books

As a starving college student, I should want to spend less money on textbooks. I dropped $350 this semester on books, and I thought the $130-ish spent on my summer load was a lot! I have never used an online textbook, but from what I've heard, they're not all that great. I'd rather spend the money on a physical book now than have to pay later when my eyes go bad from spending so much time looking at a screen. I'm online more than I should be anyway, it's my "me time" for the most part, and I'd hate to start categorizing it under homework. E-books may be a good idea for some people, but I am not one of them and don't intend on becoming one any time soon. Or at all. Ever. The end.

-Jenn

How Much Is Too Much?

If people began locking themselves away in their rooms playing RPGs all day, the "real" world would cease to exist. Gyms would go out of business, McDonald's would start delivering, and everyone could watch General Conference from the comfort of their own homes. Excessive addiction to mass media has already become a very serious problem. This link will take you to an article about a game-addiction clinic in China, while this one mentions an online funeral for a World of Warcraft player. One of my most favorite scenes in The Office is displayed below:



While amusing, these are very serious matters that need to be made known and stopped before something worse happens.

-Jenn

Stereotyping

I absolutely believe negative stereotypes exist in the media. In order to be politically correct, we use terms and make assumptions that strive not to offend others. I went to Humor U this past weekend and there was a black guy and he joked about how he was always asked the same two questions, "Do you play football?" and "How long have you been a member of the Church?" The answers are "No," and "All my life," but the stereotypes lead us to believe otherwise. One of the best examples of stereotype bashing is Dove's Campaign For Real Beauty. This company has gone above and beyond using average everyday women to market products that are made for everyone, not just those who are size 0 and smaller.

Click here and watch "Amy," you'll be glad you did.

-Jenn

Information, Entertainment, Persuasion, etc.

Maybe because it's been around the longest, but I believe newspapers are the best at informing. Sure, television and the internet are faster, but when it comes to getting the facts straight, the paper is mightier than the .com. The argument is that newspapers tend to be more biased, but I think it's the other way around. If you just want your facts, your best bet is a newspaper.

The internet is the most entertaining form of mass media, there is literally nothing you can't find on it. You can keep in touch with family and friends, watch television shows and movies, buy products and have them shipped anywhere, or even watch others play video games! The future is bright for the world wide web, and while it's kind of scary, it's really exciting at the same time!

Television is probably the most persuading, having an opinion constantly thrown out for a half hour or more will eventually take its toll on the viewer. Advertising and product placements subliminally create an idea about what is suitable and what is not. The things allowed on television are only going to get more and more risque and inappropriate, and the opinions created are going to become even more difficult to dissuade, which is exactly what the advertising and television companies want to happen.

-Jenn

The Communication Model!

Newspaper Article

* Sender - the author of the article

* Receiver - the reader

* Channel - the final product (the physical newspaper, or maybe an online article)

* Encoding - understanding the words (but not necessarily the point)

* Message - the article itself

* Decoding - grasping the concept

* Feedback - letter to the editor, the emotional response, etc.

* Situation - wherever you do your reading

* Noise - internal or external arguments of morals, application, etc.

Magazine Article (very similar to a newspaper article)

* Sender - the author of the article

* Receiver - the reader

* Channel - the final product (the physical magazine, online article, etc.)

* Encoding - realizing what the words mean (but not the point)

* Message - the actual article (and maybe some pictures, big quotes, etc.)

* Decoding - comprehension of the concept

* Feedback - emotional response, letter to the magazine, etc.

* Situation - wherever you're reading

* Noise - advertisements, external or internal arguments of application, morals, etc.

Radio Program

* Sender - there are several senders and vary with what time you decide to tune in, it could range from a show host to an actual song

* Receiver - whoever is listening

* Channel - the radio station

* Encoding - the ideas/emotions presented by the various senders

* Message - how the listener interprets the words

* Decoding - listening to what is being said/sung

* Feedback - calling in/logging on to request a song, correct a DJ, or participate in a contest

* Situation - in the car, at home, in the office, etc.

* Noise - advertisements, static, DJs, etc.

TV Show

* Sender - the show's producer

* Receiver - the loyal viewer

* Channel - the actual television channel

* Encoding - creating the idea, filming, etc.

* Message - the show

* Decoding - watching the show and understanding its point (no matter how funny, serious, etc. it may be)

* Feedback - maybe doing a call-in-and-vote thing or talking about it with others

* Situation - at home, online, wherever

* Noise - ads, previews for other shows, surroundings

The Communication Model definitely works a lot better for some media than others, television probably being the best. You can watch your show, escape for a little while, talk about it with your friends, post messages on discussion boards online, and love doing it! America's Next Top Model is my favorite show ever, and Wednesday nights are not complete without my one hour fix. I have my favorite contestant (this Cycle it's Sheena) and can usually predict who will be in the bottom two every week. I've added the Addicted to America's Next Top Model application on Facebook, I spend more time than I should going through all the quizzes and quotes. The Communication Model has definitely affected my life when it comes to my beloved ANTM and I like it!

-Jenn