FINAL EXAM Part 2: Militainment Inc.

1) Thesis:

The media coverage that we get in the United States of America is not the same as the media coverage around the world. The war has been made into a form of entertainment for the citizens of America and many times we are not receiving the entire story.

2) Five Facts

1. The destruction of the Sadaam statue being pulled down was staged.

2. Cameras that film during modern war always point towards the sky so that we don't see

what is happening on the ground.

3. Sadaam Hussein used to be an ally of the U.S.A.

4. The movie that made Jessica Lynch into a hero was very fabricated to make it seem more exciting and courageous.

5. A low tech font is used to portray Iraq and Bush Vs. Sadaam cartoons start coming out

making the war seem like it was being fought between only Sadaam and Bush and not

millions of lives being lost.

3) Truine Brain

1. Reptilian: Explosions keep your attention very well. The way it is shot reminds you of a video game or an action movie.

2. Limbic: Music in the background of recruitment commercials invokes feelings of excitement and it gets your adrenaline pumping. It makes you want to be a part of the service and makes it seem like a lot of fun.

3. Neocortex: It is very educational to hear of all the corruption in the media about the war. When we learned about the Sadaam statue being pulled down it really brought everything into a new light and it makes you wonder what else in the media is staged.

4) 8 Trends

1. Personal Shift: Just the fact that we as a society can watch this video online and talk about it as a class and then post our thoughts about it for the entire world to see is the personal shift.

2. Epistemological Shift: The images shown in the media today are ones that actually get us excited about the war and don't show the hurt and the pain of the casualties. It only shows the glorification of it. The images shown in todays media about war try to get the masses excited about being a part of the war.

3. Economic Shift: The control over the media by "higher powers" leads to false information and biased news reports. This means that we are not getting the full and honest truth about what is happening in the war and around the world.

5) 7 Principles

1. Reality Construction: What kind of reality does this video create?

I think it creates a very scary reality from my perspective because now that I know the

facts about how the war is lied about in the media I am more wary of other news that I

hear and I wonder about who is controlling what I can hear from "behind the curtains."

2. Ownership: Who paid for the video to be created?

The Media Education Foundation is the group that paid for the making of this video. It

is a reliable source to be getting information from because they are an established

organization that makes educational documentaries that call for change in our society.

I would believe the information that this group puts into their work.

3. What kinds of value messages does this video promote?

It is basically calling for more people to be aware that not everything on the news is

correct information. It is asking people to go beyond the normal media to get their

knowledge and it is saying that the government and other controlling factors shouldn't

put restrictions on what we can see in the news.

4. What emotions does this video reach inside of you?

For me it is a feeling of disgust and actual frustration. I want to be fed the right news

and I want to be able to trust my news stations to bring me the correct news. It does

make me angry that a few people that have a little more power than me can control

what I learn about when watching or reading the news.

6) Persuasion

1. Rhetorical Questions: Are we better or worse off? There were many rhetorical questions

in the video that would ask a question to bring up a topic of discussion.

2. Group Dynamics : "we" is used when reporters on the front lines are talking about the

military. This makes the citizens feel like everyone is included in the war.

3. Symbols: The War on Terror was very quickly linked with symbols of Iraq and Sadaam

even though the two had nothing to do with eachother.

4. Repetition: The use of the word "hunt" in phrases like "the hunt for terrorists" or "the hunt for Sadaam" made it seem less like killing humans.

5. Strength: The way that the government portrayed their position in the war was one that

made Americans think that we were winning and that our help was essential in Iraq.

6. Testimonials: Many soldiers and commanders are interviewed about the war, but very

rarely are Iraqi citizens. They may hold the real story behind the whole war.

RSS Feeds... I'm Full...

In class we were supposed to use RSS Feeds to help us out in class and keep us up to date on the course blog. I prefer not to use them. I mean I guess I didnt give it as much of a chance as I could have, but I just didn't enjoy it. I'm full and cant be fed anymore.

Here is a video on how to use them:

I enjoy surfing the web and even though the video calls this boring and time consuming I prefer it to RSS feeds because I'm usually using it during my down time anyways so I'm trying to kill time. Also, lots of times when I am checking up on new things on my favorite websites I often find new websites that I want to explore.

We're Sustainable!

Well here you have it, our sustainable video

1) What was the most difficult moment in making this video?

I would say that the most difficult part for me was the editing. I started out using Final Cut Pro and didn't have the experience to use it. I also am very unfamiliar with the Mac computers that are in the lab. I finally got a kid in my dorm to help me put it on my laptop so that I could edit the video with my own software.

2. Other than finishing it, what was the most rewarding moment in making this video?

I would say the most rewarding part was being able to skate down the street in a towel on a Sunday. We got some pretty goofy stares as we were riding down the road. Other than that I would have to say watching it because, as I'm sure anyone who edits video will tell you, it gets so boring watching the same minute and a half of footage for hours on end. But now that its all done its rewarding to watch it.

3. Discuss 3 specific lessons you learned about film production and/or "group process" in making this video.

Lesson 1: Don't procrastinate. Just get it done, if you do then you know its all done and you don't have to worry about it. I'm sitting here typing at the last moment and I would enjoy this more if it wasn't the last minute.

Lesson 2: Some ideas are good and some are bad, but you have to try them to find out. Sometimes we would have something that sounded good on paper and just didn't make sense on camera, so we cut it out. If you don't try it out then you will never know if it will work or not.

Lesson 3: Everyone has good ideas. This means that even if someone in the group is quieter and doesn't speak up that doesn't mean that there isn't something cookin' up there. Ask the whole group what they think and try to get everyone's opinions.

4. Discuss 3 specific things you learned about Champlain College and/or the "Sustain Champlain" project that you did not know before completing this project.

1) We have low flow shower heads! I never would have known this before the project even though I have apparently been using them all year! It just goes to show how you can't even barely tell the difference, yet it helps save the world.

2) Sustain Champlain has a youtube page and their name is CCStories. Look them up. There is lots of awesome information about our school and some really funny videos from our students as well.

3) A lot of thought goes into our school. What we take for granted everyday at school someone spent days thinking up. Let me explain. Someone thought up the low flow shower head idea and we as students appreciate it, but we really don't know how much goes into it. Another example would be the compost. The students put their food in the compost the same as they would put it in the trash, but it is then somebody's job to take care of it and carry the composting out.

Midterm Examination: PART 2

Here is Part 2 of my Midterm:

1) After studying for eight weeks in this class, what have you learned? Please be specific.

I have learned how much media influences our lives. From watching the Persuaders and learning about the clutter in advertisements to Reel Bad Arabs and learning about the way that Hollywood portrays certain people and how it can sway our opinions about them.

2) What is the most important thing you have learned about yourself as A. a critical reader; B. a writer, and C. a critical thinker in this class so far?

A. I need to skim through first then read the whole thing after.
B. If I think to hard about it then it doesn't come out well. I need to write what comes to my
head.
C. I second guess myself way to much.

3) What's one thing you would do differently this first half of the semester if you were to take this class again?

I would have done my meida meditations done quicker and spread the work out more before it was piled up.

4) Whats one thing you would like me to do differently this first half of the semester if you were to take this class again?

More feedback on our personal blog and how we are doing grade-wise.

5) Please comment on the usefulness of the course blog, your personal blog, our films, and our book(s) as learning tools.

I like the personal blog because we got to be a part of the media that we are learning about. The course blog also helps because our homework and everything is there for us to see.

Tune in Tomorrow: This shows the importance of community radio and how we need more things like this in our culture.

The Persuaders: It showed us how cluttered our world is and we dont even realize it. Also, it gave us some key information to get around the clutter.

Propaganda Model of News: It showed us how the news can be swayed many different ways.

Obama: This is a very important piece to watch, even if you weren't in this class. I think it's a duty as a citizen of our country. But, it also showed many different ways speakers try to sway what we are thinking and tactics that they use.

Music to My Ears (Media Meditation #2)

I love... absolutely love going to see live music. I almost went to see The Brew a few nights ago. My girlfriend and I were supposed to be on the guest list because her uncle is friends with the band, but something fell through somewhere along the line and our names didn't make it on the list. Oh well, we will have to go see them another time later on this year. The cool thing about the whole situation is that one of the guys from the band actually called her to apologize about the mix up and told us we could go to their next show and get a bunch of free stuff to make up for it. One of my favorite shows I ever went to was to see OAR when they played in Saratoga Springs at the venue, SPAC. It was amazing. They had an acoustic session in the middle and opened with the song "About an Hour Ago". My favorite part about the show was when they played "Crazy Game of Poker" and everyone in the whole place was dancing and singing. At one point they completely stopped playing and shut the lights off on the stage. They turned the house lights on as if the show was over, but everyone kept singing the verse that they were on. It was awesome. It felt like everyone was just having fun together and it was a really cool experience. It gives you the chills, which I'm sure is a result of the truine brain. The reptilian and limbic part of your brain are working very hard at these concerts.

Here's a clip of the show I was at

(This is a technological shift, its amazing that I can type in a few words to a search engine and find a clip from a show that I was at last summer... pretty cool.)

LOST? I AM... Media Convergence #1

I started watching the hit TV show Lost when it was first on television. Many people liked it a lot and some people hated it. I liked the story line and could follow it, but I liked other aspects of the show as well. During commercials they would have subliminal messages that related to the plot of the show and there would be websites that were set up to seem like real websites from the TV show, but they were actually just to promote the show Lost and the more you poked around the more you could find out about secrets in the plot of the show. In my opinion it was all very good marketing for the show and it was a very unique change for television. TV shows in the past were something that you just watched, but Lost showed us that a TV show can be something more than just that. It can be something that you invest part of your life into and can investigate and try to figure out more secrets in the show.

Here is the trailer for the first season


I still watch Lost, but I have kind of gotten out of the loop for this season and need to spend more time on Hulu to catch myself up. The show itself has changed a lot since the beginning and it is actually much harder to follow now. I mostly watch it now to stay caught up with my family and so I can call home and talk to them about the newest twist in the show. One thing that the show does really well is balance the different types of the brain so that they catch you off guard. Sometimes they will play very nice relaxing music and the next there will be a huge explosion, and sometimes you hear the relaxing music and think something huge is going to happen, but then nothing does. They do this to trick you brain and keep your attention. I think they do a good job of this.

Also, people like to have a lot of fun with Lost. There's everything from forums to go on to talk about the characters or ask questions like "Where do the writers plan on going with this?" One thing that really gets most Lost fans laughing are the videos that are posted on youtube that people make to make fun of the show and joke around about it.

For example,

Jack Johnson

Jack Johnson plays acoustic style music with a surfers twist to it. He was originally a surfer, but due to injury he couldn't go professional and turned to music instead.

Here's a video of him preforming with 2 other musicians named Donavon Frankenreiter and G. Love.


You can check out Jack Johnson's website here