What Kind of Media Consumer am I Now?

I went back and read my first post prior to writing this. I found that I am definately a more concious consumer. I find myself criticizing almost, if not, everything that I watch, especially commercials. Commercials have never irritated me so much. I have no idea who comes up with the commercials, but they have been just awful lately.

Even when I watch television shows I find myself criticizing and analyzing the small things. Questioning how they could miss those little mistakes.

I found that my view as a media consumer has definately changed. I am more critical and more concious of what I am watching. I find that although I may still consume the same media, I am much more annoyed with it all.

I think that this class has definately changed my perspective and my views. I definately would be the same consumer without this class.

For Your Career

On my home page is a list of the latest top stories. Well the top stories aren't always the most important stories or the most controversial, sometimes they are just the most interesting.

When I logged on to check my email today, I found an article entitled 2006's Career Dos and Don'ts as somewhat of a last goodbye, to the class anyway, I suggest reading the article.

It is exactly what it says--a list of dos and don'ts to further your career.

I would have to say that the most important "don't" that they list is to not compromise your ethical judgement.

I beleive, that especially for the line of work that most of us are interested in, the ability to retain one's ethical judgement is extremely important.

Although the semester is ending, I am sure that most of us will still continue to blog because as Lilly has pointed out, blogging will be a vital part of all of our careers. Times are clearly changing and blogging is becoming mainstream, so it is with that knowledge that I recommend my own "do" for your career.

Do - write. Whether you continue to blog, keep a journal, or even write for the Spartan Daily. Writing can help your future, so why not?

Kawakami Shines Some Light

I need you to bear with me on this, several of my posts are going to happen within the next few minutes, mostly because I have a lot of opinions and I haven't had the time to share them.

The first thing I want to share is that blogs are quite interesting. Well, I actually think that I may have said this several times over the course of the semester, but this time I say it with a positive tone. I am very optimistic about the way the world of blogs seems to be heading. Although I am not a big fan of regulated writing, I have found that when there is something to write about, the posts seem to fly by.

Well, I must say that I have finally found a blog that will suit me just fine. It is a blog that is published by a sports writer for the San Jose Mercury news. I have found that often times when I find myself reading the sports page it is usually an article by Tim Kawakami and it is usually about the 49ers or, when the season permits, the San Francisco Giants. That is my dream, well not really. But I do love reading about my teams.

Although it may have taken me all semester to learn this--blogs are good. They can be used as learning tools (Lilly's blog) and they can also be used for entertainment purposes (Kawakami's blog). I can honestly say that I may be finding myself reading a few more blogs.

Why Men Cheat

Today I logged onto SBC Yahoo (or excuse me, it is now AT&T Yahoo) to check my email. At the top of my home page there is a list of the top 4 news stories and articles. At the point that I logged on today, I found myself staring at a title that stated Mystery of the Sexes: 4 Reasons Why Men Cheat.

I clicked on the link because its title intrigued me. I have found that people blog about just about anything. One of those topics being Why Men Cheat. I have always wondered why they cheat. Not that women don't cheat, but in my experience, men have a tendency to cheat more often. When I saw the link that supposedly explains the phenomenon, I began to wonder how they would justify a man's inability to be monogomous.

The reasons that they eventually came up with seem to be excuses--at least to me.

Take for instance their reasoning of a need to fulfill his biology. What kind of reasoning is that? I would like to know where in their biology it says that they are going to cheat.

Now I have taken chemistry and I have studied the cell and the brain and many other parts of the human body, including the deoxyribonucleic acid, otherwise known as DNA. And I am pretty sure that we didn't study the part where a man's DNA comes with the "cheating cell."

I have never been cheated on myself, but I know women that have been, so this blog makes no sense to me. There is no pre-destined reason for a man to cheat, they cheat for reasons that I myself cannot explain, but I highly doubt that it's because their DNA says so.

You're a Brave Motherf*****

Over a week ago, Michael Richards, was the topic of all conversation. The former Seinfeld star was performing at a comedy club when hecklers apparently broke him down. In the middle of his show, he began yelling back at a black heckler.

This normally would not be a huge ordeal. A heckler at a comedy club, what news. Richards made himself the headline in many online stories when, instead of ignoring the heckler, he allowed himself to be bothered by the comments and he lashed back.

He shouted, "Fifty years ago we'd have you upside down with a f****** fork up your ass."

Crude comments show what can happen when a comedian loses control on stage. Under normal circumstances, with an unknown comedian, this would not have been an issue. There would be no story because no one would care about a random comedian making a racist comment, I'm sure it happens all the time.

Richards' former co-star Jerry Seinfeld appeared on the Tonight Show with David Letterman a few days after the incident with Richards occured. He encouraged Richards to appear on the show to submit a formal and public apology. It was then that Richards, via satellite, apologized on national television.

Racist statements stem from racist thoughts.

In his apology he stated, "I'm not a racist, that's what's so insane about this."

Or so he says.

The fact of the matter is this; Richards was pissed and in the heat of the moment he made some racial comments. Richards may insist he is not a racist, but for now, until society figures out the truth, I suggest they stick him upside down with a f****** fork up his ass.

Post Black Friday

Black Friday was HELL!!!!

Or at least it was supposed to be.

Can I first say that Thursday night (Friday morning) was probably the coldest of the season up to that point, yet when I came to work at 4:30am, there was still a line all the way around the building and out onto the sidewalk of El Camino Real. My first thought was that these people are insane. I froze my ass off walking into the building so there is no way I could even imagine standing in the freezing cold over night just to get a good deal on a television. Is it really worth it?

Apparently it was, at least to those that were standing in line.

Here’s how it worked at Best Buy.

The most prominent items we had on sale were plasma and LCD televisions and laptops. At 4am we handed out tickets to the people in line that wanted those items (we handed out as many tickets as we had of the items). Once the store opened, the only way to get a television or a laptop was to have a ticket for that specific item, if you didn’t have a ticket, you were shit out of luck.

Now prior to our doors opening at the shinning hour of 5am, we had a staff meeting where our managers explained to us, that the day was about having fun and they told us not to worry if customers complained, because it was going to happen and there was nothing we could do about.

As the doors opened, I prepared myself for a stampede; however, I was in no one’s path to the product that they wanted and to be honest there was no stampede. What I did see was amusing. The first few people through the door walked—really no thrill there. Then the people with carts started coming in. My co-worker and I laughed, because really, why would you take a cart when there is hardly any room to walk in the store let alone bring a cart. Then we saw the funniest thing. A couple had taken a cart and used it to put there blankets and chairs (that they had been using outside) on. They attempted to run while pushing the cart, but each time they hit a corner they had to stop to put their blankets and chairs back on the cart. They wasted more time trying to keep their stuff in the cart then actually shopping.

I must say, I was entertained just watching people come in the door. Then the interesting stuff started. I have no idea how many customers I pissed off that day, but I guarantee that number is high. I did not intentionally piss them off, but as the day went on, it just happened.

I worked Black Friday about 3 years ago and from what I remembered it was so much fun. People were all over the place and product was all over the place, but no one cared, it was a day for wheeling and dealing. It was a blast.

This year, Black Friday was not the thrill that I remembered it to be.

Yes it was busy and yes it was crazy, but not quite what I expected.

Overall, I must say I am very disappointed in Black Friday, because it really was not that bad. I wanted it to be crazy. I got normality. I wanted a stampede. I got a nice stroll. I wanted something different. I got the same every day routine only with more people.

Maybe next year will be different, but at that point, I may not be in retail any more (at least hopefully).

Degrassi

If you have never heard of Degrassi, then I am honestly not suprised.


Degrassi: The Next Generation is a television show which is set in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and the story lines focus on the lives of students that attend (originally) Degrassi Junior High and more prominently Degrassi High School.

The show focuses the trials and tribulations of teenagers in school. Although there are many televisions show on tv which ultimately focus on such topics, Degrassi goes beyond traditionally topics to cover school shootings, lesbian relationships, a gay male struggling to come out to his family, and many other very controversial topics, at least here in the United States.

Degrassi airs on CTV (Canadian Television) and is rebroadcast on The-N, a channel in the United States owned by MTV Networks (Viacom).

Although this show focuses on the lives of teenagers in Canada, I have found it to be extremely relevant to situations we have here in the United States. Issues with teenage drinking, pregnancy, bi-polar disorder, and even child abuse are often discussed on this show. And it is their controversial topics and sex appeal on the show that continues to draw in viewers. Teenagers and young adults today seem to be more interested in a more "real" depiction of teenagers and in today's society that means, sex, drugs, and even more sex. Now although the show never actually shows people having sex, it does allude to the idea or more than one occasion.

As mentioned before there have been many episodes in which controversial themes have presented themselves. These themes are realistic and show ALL the angles on a dangerous and controversial situation. When an episode aired involving a school shooting, Degrassi should the events that led up to the shooting, the thoughts in the shooters head, and the dangers and reprecussions that occured becuase of the event.
A number of different episodes aired in which one of the characters was pregnant. The episodes tracked the girl's relationship with her boyfriend building up to the pregnancy and the events that unravel during, and what they ultimately decide to do with the baby in the end and the reprecussions and emotions involved in the entire process.

Some of the episodes are heartbreaking, their messages are so strong and resounding, that it is hard to imagine that things like this happen in high schools every day inside the country, and based off the fact that Degrassi is based in Canada, I would assume these things even occur outside of the country.

This television, although maybe not the only one of its kind, has a strong message to send to its viewers--you are not alone. If you are ever thinking that you are alone in thinking what it is you do, then think again. Wherever you are, whatever you are thinking, someone else is thinking the same thing too.

For me personally, I may be a lot older than the target audience, but I find the show somewhat on point for how high school was. Okay, so maybe I didn't have a school shooting and I didn't know someone that was bi-polar, and I didn't get pregnant in high school, but I will tell you this. I knew someone that shot himself the night of prom, my sister got pregnant in high school, and the star football player died in a car accident the summer before our senior year (and these things are just the tip of the ice berg).

So my theory is--my school my not be nearly as exciting as Degrassi, and Degrassi may be a little over dramatic, but it is as close to real as you can get without having to put a camera inside a highschool. They cover real issues. They cover what for many people is real life.

So the next time you are channel surfing and you see Degrassi stop and take a look, it may over do it just a bit, but you'll laugh, you'll get involved, and you'll understand.

PS3...The Newest High

Before I get too deep into my post, I must first ask a few simple questions.

Have you ever been camping?
Have you ever played a video game?
Have you ever wanted to buy or bought a video game console?

Now, the tricky question...

Have you ever wanted to buy a video game console so badly that you went camping over night just to be the first person in line when the store opens?

If you have, I must say, you are crazy.
Well, maybe not you, but there are some crazy people out there.

As I arrived at work yesterday (remeber I work at Best Buy), I walked around the corner of the building, from my car to the door, and I almost fell over a tent.
YES! A tent!
Random, right?

Why, you ask?
Well in case you have been living in a bubble for the last few weeks, the only way to explain why they were waiting in line is to simply say, IT'S COMING!!!

Yes, PS3 is on its way.

It is set to be released on Friday, November 17, 2006.
Yes, that is this Friday.

So, please enlighten me as to why people are camping out for almost an entire business week just to get one.
The answer:
MONEY!!!

The systems are selling for $500 and $600 the difference in price being the difference in memory of the player.


Why so expensive?
The newest birth of Playstation has actually become part of the next generation DVD family. Capable of playing Blue-Ray discs, it will be the cheapest Blue-Ray player on the market (the rest starting at $999).
The PS3 will be the highest resolution on the gaming market. It will be the only gaming system to harbor 1080p compatiblity (the highest television resolution in the market).
Yet, does that make the system worth camping out for?
Why not wait?
As I said before, the answer:
MONEY!

Money is the answer because I can almost guarantee that every single one of the people waiting in line outside my work are going to purchase the PS3, turn around, and sell it on E-Bay for two if not three times the price they paid for it. It is like having a black market for video games, with many people willing to pay top dollar for the latest high.


You are probably thinking to yourself how I can possibly relate video games and consoles to drugs. It is simple.
They are both ADDICTING.
They truly are.
When I was younger, and sometimes even now, with my old school (Super) Ninentdo, I have found myself, procrastinating homework by picking up the controller and turning the system on. Each time knowing that I had homework that needed to get done. Each time saying only one more level. After each level, I would tell myself only one more level, one more life, one more secret. After each "one more" time goes by.
Life passes you by.
Soon I look out the window and it is dark.
I check my clock and it's past midnight.
Where did the day go?

Now if that can happen to me, with the insanely old graphics that the SuperNintendo has, I can only imagine what will happen to the people who purchase the PS3.
I can only imagine what is already happening to people in this world.
People so consumed with video games and sitting in front of a television to play a virtual reality role playing game (or for those video gamers out there, an RPG) that they miss the world around them.
I do not understand how people can let real life pass them by for video games.
For--VIRTUAL REALITY.
Is reality that bad?

My suggestion...


Get out of line.
Get a job.
Go back to work.
Stay in school.
Get an education.
And maybe, just maybe, one day you will see that there is more to life than video games.
And if you don't see that, then go work for a video game company, and create video games, at least that is ultimately somewhat productive; however you would be contributing to the addiction.
If nothing else, please just stand up and walk away.
It is not hard.
As I said before,
It is actually

VERY SIMPLE.