~ Week 9 ~

TOPIC 1: MUSIC'S INFLUENCE 

1. My middle school years were full of me trying to be cool and hip by listening to the latest, greatest rap and hip hop music. Songs full of lyrics including topics such as sex, drugs, crimes, and so on. Although I may not have understood every word, I more enjoyed the beat. As you can imagine, as my mother, she was not very happy with this music genre I was so into to. She would hear me blasting it in my room or picking some radio stations that included this music and immediately force me to turn it off. She wanted me to delete the music completely, although she did not fully understand the concept of YouTube, Pandora, iTunes or any other music website I could easily listen to the music again (she is not very technically savvy). I did not understand then why she was so disappointed in me then, but now, I do. I am now an adult and can listen to whatever I want, but yet the type of music genre I once was into, no longer interests me. I hear younger children listening to that music and am astonished their parents allow them to do that, but then again, I did it once as well. The lyrics are more understandable as an adult, but also much more offensive and demeaning to women as well. I hear the words and think that they all cross the line and most likely raise eyebrows of lots of people everywhere.
2. At the time, I found my mom ridiculous for trying to control what I listened to. I thought it was "cool" to bump that music and sing along to it. My experience then was a constant episode of fighting my mom trying to persuade her to let me listen to it. My experiences now with hearing other young children listen to the music, as I once did, shocks me and makes me wonder what is wrong with our generation as a whole. Although most people will say it's just music, it is still demeaning and offensive in almost every sense.
3. I do enjoy most types of music, but my favorite would have to be Country. My favorite bands and artists I listen to on the daily include Florida Georgie Line, Sam Hunt, LOCASH, Luke Bryan, and Kip Moore. Country music always brings up my mood and I can always find a song to dance to when I am in the mood!

TOPIC 2: CAMPUS RADIO

1. I think this is a perfectly feasible idea because anyone can launch a radio station. If a group of kids were that passionate about music and wanted to put in the efforts to do this, then they should definitely go for it. The only tough thing is finding listeners. It may take a while and it may never happen to become a typical popular station, but others who enjoy the same music would find this station and spread the word. 
2. Two formats and services they should include are keeping the talking to a minimum and allowing people to make suggestions as to what to play. Keeping the talking to a minimum is very important because once the talking starts or the ads play, most people will switch stations to find one playing music at the time. By talking less often and playing more music, the listeners will stay interested. Allowing listeners to make suggestions makes them feel part of the station and causes immense joy when they hear their suggested songs playing on a real station.
3. For funding, I would suggest the students hold a bunch of fun events. One maybe that is a type of dance party that has a cover fee where they play the music they will play on the radio to get people into it and excited for the station. Another one could be holding bake sales or finding a certain company to sell their products in which they get a chunk of the profits. Maybe other ideas such as car washes, dog washes, selling station apparel (t-shirts, hats, sweatshirts, beanies, etc.), and anything else one could think of that people may be interested in being a part of.

~ Week 8 ~

BANNED BOOKS & YOUR BOOKSHELF

1. Looking through the banned books on the ALA website, I found multiple books that I have read in the past including: The Hunger Games, Thirteen Reasons Why, Brave New World, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Of Mice and Men. I read all but one of those books for school. Although I did not personally enjoy them, I had to read them for class and projects. Most of them I actually read in Middle School, then a few in High School. I read The Hunger Games and Thirteen Reasons Why for my enjoyment though. I like both books, but I do understand why they would both be on the banned list for violence and touchy subjects such as rape, killing others, and suicide.
2. I think that limiting access to various books and other materials in public schools might be a good idea, but not for local libraries. At school, classes can force you to read these books as part of the curriculum. I do agree that some are too touchy and revealing for younger children, but High School students should be able to handle it. Middle schoolers are forced to read these books as well and that is outrageous to me. They are still young and innocent, not yet exposed to all of the realities of life. High schoolers, on the other hand, are more exposed and these books do provide meaningful lessons, so they should be able to read them. Local libraries should be able to hold these books because they are open to the public's choice. If one wants to read the book, they can. If one thinks it is too profane and raunchy, they don't have to. Restricting books in a library is like restricting movies from RedBox or Netflix, which clearly does not happen.
3. Although I do not have much time to read, I do have some of my favorites still on my bookshelf. Those include sappy love stories that I can't get enough of or mystery books that keep me on the edge. Sarah Dessen is a romance writer and her stories always have caught my attention. Having her books would show that I am a sucker for a good love story, but who isn't? Next, I'll be admitting that I own every Nicholas Sparks movie ever as well! The mystery books include mostly Nancy Drew from when I was younger, but I enjoy the look of them on my bookshelf, and I haven't come to a time mentally to give them away. I think these mysterious books show I also like some excitement along with my romance!

MAGAZINES

1. Subscribing to magazines seem pointless to me because anything I read in there, I could also just search into Google. With that being said, I have to admit that I have become sucked into a few "deals" where I receive a year's subscription to some magazine apparently for "free" (Although somehow I always end up with some sort of charge, how does that work?). Some magazines that I somehow signed myself up for is the Cosmopolitan magazine. Whenever I receive one in the mail, my first thought is, did I order this? I do always look through it anyways, just for the heck of it. Some things I enjoy reading about such as the latest trends and perfume samples and what not, but I mostly just scan through the pictures. Another one that interests me comes from my Dad's incidental subscription he somehow signed himself up for. It is an Off Road magazine with all the latest gadgets for trucks, dirt bikes, sand rails, jeeps, and so on. I enjoy reading this because we are a total desert family, so these types of products actually interest me. I usually scan through finding the coolest looking truck, then spend time looking at the different rims and packages to figure out how I can make my truck look just like that one! The other time I read magazines is, of course, the doctor's office. The waiting room is full of them, and I always go for the People magazine. I find the stories on all the actors and actresses so ridiculous, but they still intrigue me to read the "dirt" on all the latest breakups, scandals, and diets. My favorite thing about magazines in Doctor's offices is playing the finding game. Where my mom and I both choose a magazine, find one object within it, switch magazines, and race to find what the other person picked. This is probably the most exhilarating I become when it comes to magazines, besides that, they don't quite peak my interest.
2. The advertising for the People and Cosmopolitan magazines are all going to be on the newest, best makeup products, perfumes, colognes for your man, underwear from Victoria Secret, diets to look just like celebrities, and more clothing from expensive stores. These advertisements are intelligent though because we as readers do fall for it. We think to ourselves, "if I buy that product or clothing item or start this weird diet, I will look just like that celebrity". They trick us into buying their products, but let's just say it works. The advertising in the Off Road magazine is more my type of advertising. The different sound packages offered, the new rims that will make your car look even better, different types of cleaners to have the shiniest car, and so on. Although, both types of advertising still pull us under to purchase these things to either make ourselves or our cars look better. Magazines are a great place for these advertisements overall because they do tempt people. As a consumer, I think it shows that we truly all want the same thing, to feel good about ourselves and our vehicles. It shows that we do fall for the media's tricks, but I don't see that stopping anytime soon!

~ Week 7 ~ Blog Project #2

Media Product Review

GIFTED 

A movie about family, loyalty, and the reality of hard choices. A touching story about a little girl growing up with her Uncle, more like a Father. It will touch your heart and make you tear up no matter how hard you try not to. A movie leaving you feeling happy and warm inside. 

INTRODUCTION

• This movie came out in April of this year and I was for sure at the theater opening day. This movie immediately took place on my top ten movies because of it's sweet, touching story. I chose this movie because it was a lovely movie that everyone should see, and if someone has not seen it, then maybe they will be tempted after reading this review. It had amazing reviews from major news sites such as New York Times, Empire, LA Times, and Washington Post.

• Watch the Trailer below, CAUTION: It will have you running to Red Box to rent the movie!

DESCRIBE

• Movie Director : Marc Webb 

• Also known for 500 Days of Summer (included in the Top Ten lists of many main websites in 2009), Amazing Spider Man 1 and 2. He is known for his use of "quirky humor in his music videos and movies" (Gifted 2017). Along with being a director, he is also a producer.

• Writer : Tom Flynn 

• Screenwriter known for "Watch It". Married to an actress and acting coach, Andi Matheny. Born in Lima, Ohio and graduated from the University of Dayton with an English Literature degree. (Gifted 2017).

• Lead Actors : 

• Chris Evans : Born in Massachusetts. Especially known for Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and Captain America. He has a long list of Awards and Nominations under the MTV movie rewards, Teen Choice Awards, People's Choice Awards, Scream Awards, Critic's Choice Rewards, Saturn Rewards. He won the Best Superhero (Scream), Best Fight (MTV), Favorite Action Movie Actor (People's), Choice Movie Scene Stealer (Teen), and Choice Movie Actor Sci-Fi/Fantasy (Teen). (Chris).

• McKenna Grace : Born in Grapevine, Texas. Also known for her work in Designated Survivor and Mr. Church. She is loved for her spunk and talent as a young actress.

• Lindsay Duncan : Born in England. Also known for About Time, Birdman, and Alice in Wonderland. She has won three awards, two Olivier Rewards, and a Tony Award for for Private Lives. Another Tony nomination for Les Liaisons dangereuses. (Lindsay)

• Octavia Spencer : Born in Montgomery, Alabama. Also known for The Shack, Hidden Figures, Fruitvale Station, The Help and many others. Her role in The Help won her the Academy Award, Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA, and Critic's Choice Movie Award for Best supporting Actress. Fruitvale Station gave her a critically acclaimed performance also winning her the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress. Hidden Figures role gave her nominations for another Academy Award, Golden Globe, and SAG.  (Octavia)

• Plot Summary : A young girl named Mary lives with her Uncle Frank after his sister ended her life due to stress of being a mathematician. They enjoy living together and wouldn't want it any other way, they are best friends. Young Mary has a talent given to her from her mother - amazing math skills. Her teacher at school realizes she is "gifted" and wants to send her to a better school. Uncle Frank truly thinks her mother would want her to live a normal life at a normal school. Quite the opposite, his mother, Evelyn shows up out of the blue to take Mary to give her a higher educated lifestyle. This story and plot goes through a custody battle over sweet Mary. 

• Box Office : 34.2 Million 
  

ANALYZE

• The other works by the director, Marc Webb, include 500 Days of Summer and the Amazing Spider Man 1 and 2. Although I have not seen 500 Days of Summer, I have heard lots about it. It is one of my sister's favorite movies, so I asked her for her opinion on the movie compared to Gifted. She says that the two movies may be similar in the way that they both have a sweet, love story with some humor thrown in. The love story being different though because in Gifted, it's between family and 500 Days of Summer, between a man and a woman. I have seen the Amazing Spider Mans though and I would say overall, they are very different from Gifted. Amazing Spider Mans are very action packed, but I would not expect them to be similar because they are different genres of movies. The one thing I would say is similar is the kind relationships he puts into the movies. For example, the aunt and the son in the first Amazing Spider Man 1 and 2 have a very close, bonded relationship which creates a sweet relationship throughout the story, similar to the relationship of the daughter and uncle in Gifted. Both have the theme of showing how important family is and how they are always there when you need them. Both movies have the idea of a messed up family, with both of the kids' parents out of the picture. They both show a broken family bonded by what they have. 

• There is an endless amount of movies under this same genre. A torn apart family and their issues staying together in what they have. Some movies with the same genre of children prodigies include Akeelah and the Bee, August Rush, Hidden Figures, and Good Will Hunting. For example, Akeelah and the Bee, Akeelah has an amazing talent of spelling and doesn't have a good life at her home due to family issues. August Rush, the boy is born a music prodigy and tries to find his birth parents using it. Hidden Figures, the talented women whose math skills solved so many things for NASA, all of which had troubled homes and childhoods due to their race at that time of history. Good Will Hunting portrays a man who was a janitor who is also secretly extremely mathematically inclined. He comes from a bad background and never got to use his knowledge to it's full potential. All of these movies do include older children or even adults, unlike Gifted, where Mary is very young, but they all have gifted people who do not get to easily live up to their full potential or have broken families which makes everything worse.

INTERPRETATION

• This movie represents so much of what people go through everyday. The reality of custody battles is very common today more than ever. Unfortunately, broken families are seen a lot today, with divorced parents, deceased parents, fights over children and their rights, and much more than that. This movie shows the reality that happens, but with a sweet ending. Although not everyone gets a happy ending, this movie represents how hard work and fighting for family can turn things around. 

• The only trend the movie may be reflecting of our culture is broken families. Although it is not a fun, popular trend, it is very common in this culture nowadays to have a broken family. Whether it be divorced parents, cheating parents, deceased family, or anything else, it is very uncommon to have a monogamist family these days. In the movie, the mother was dead and the father was not even in the picture, which we sadly see often. The daughter lives with her Uncle, which is a normal thing for children to do when their parents aren't in the picture - go to other family members. I think the movie helps show that no matter how broken a family is, there is still some type of love bond between them.

• The target audience is family in general. It is an overall family-friendly movie and can be entertaining to all ages. I think it may also be geared towards parents because they would understand the concepts on a deeper level than children would. Also, parents may be able to relate to the story if they had gone through a similar experience.

• Honestly, I would say the movie doesn't includes any major stereotypes or offensive messages. The only stereotype I could think of is the common portrayed rich, high-end mother who thinks that her son's not-so-high-end life is repulsive. A typical stereotype of rich mothers and children not wanting to be like their parents. I think they avoided most stereotypes and offensive messages by having an overall racially diverse cast with. The movie was full of good, important messages, but none of which were offensive because it was not that type of movie.

EVALUATION

• Strengths : The overall strength of this movie is the message it sends - showing that the love and bond of a family is most important over anything else, unlike her grandmother just using her for her talents. The choice of cast is also a huge strength because everyone played their part extremely well. The cast has a lot to do with a movie, more than just the message, and the characters showed so much passion for their roles, that we felt that passion as viewers. Even McKenna Grace who is actually eleven, who plays a seven-year old (Mary), could get into her character so well and do the tougher scenes with such ease. For example, their was a scene where she was very angry, crying and yelling at her Uncle Frank. It seemed so realistic that it makes the audience all cry for her. She is so young, yet so talented, so their choice to pick her greatly influenced the movie as a whole. The soundtrack of the movie is another strength. Music alone can cause so many emotions to the one's listening and their choice of songs at each point of the movie couldn't have been more perfect. For example, the music playing in the sad scenes just made you cry even harder, but then during the happy parts, the music uplifted you so much, you couldn't help but smile (and of course, happy tears).

• Weaknesses : It is very hard to find a weakness in one of my favorite movies, so I did some research to find out what other people thought the weaknesses were. Washington Post had all good things to say about it, but it did admit it was very predictable with romantic love entanglement and the court's decisions (O'Sullivan). Empire also enjoyed the movie with a good review, except one thing - the predictability. They claim that Marc Webb could do better than he did because "he slips into obvious pitfalls and booby-traps" (Lawrence). I do understand their comments about the predictability of the movie, but it doesn't make me love it any less!

• The movie is phenomenal in my opinion and other reviews have just as amazing things to say about the movie. It's smart, touching, and just a great movie. I wouldn't say it's the best piece of work by Marc Webb only because the reviews would say that. In my opinion, it is because I enjoy these genres of movies over his other works, such as Amazing Spider Man. The reviews from above, Washington Post and Empire, both say that his other work is more exciting and unpredictable which makes his other works better than this.

• Memorable. This movie is a memorable movie due to it's sweet story and will not be forgotten next week. It's memorable because of it's cast and story, I think this movie is one of those that you watch on a good day or a bad day or whatever the mood. It's a feel good movie and there can never be enough of those!

• Bob Hoose from Plugged In, a popular critics website for families to check out before seeing a movie with their children, writes an excellent, detailed review on Gifted. He discusses all of the positive and negative elements of the movie. Positive factors including that the movie "delivers a warm, heartstring-plucking message about our inbuilt need to love and be loved" (Hoose). He admits that the movie, which I fully agree with, is a "uplifting, wipe-a-tear-from-your-eye stuff that even the most grumpy and solitary minded among us would have a tough time frowning over" (Hoose). On the other hand, he does take note of some negative factors including that the movie has "a handful of headshake-worthy bits" that weren't necessarily needed in the movie, such as Uncle Frank's drinking tendencies and an f-word thrown in there. I truly agree with Hoose's review and would say it's similar to my review. Rotten Tomatoes gives the movie a 70% and comes to the consensus that the movie " isn't quite as bright as its pint-sized protagonist, but a charming cast wrings respectably engaging drama out of a fairly predictable premise" (Gifted). Another top critic named Rex Reed states on Rotten Tomatoes that the movie is just a "formulaic and manipulative tearjerker that is really nothing more than a woman's picture from a man's point of view" (Gifted). These reviews from Rotten Tomatoes are not the same as mine as I do not agree with them. I think their reviews aren't looking at the whole story, but nitpick on one element and make their review based off of that. I'll stick with Bob Hoose's review!

ENGAGE

• There is an official Gifted Movie Instagram with pictures and mini videos from the movie. The account has 13.2K followers which shows how many people enjoyed this movie. I think having an Instagram is a good idea to spread the movie and have more people fall in love with the movie. I did not find Marc Webb's Instagram, but I did find Octavia Spencer's Instagram and Chris Evan's fan's Instagram which all post stuff related to the movie. All of these accounts have people raving about the movie.
• I have not gone out and bought another movie by this director, but I just happen to already own 500 Days of Summer and the Amazing Spider Mans. I am ahead of the game and am soon about to own Gifted to add to my Marc Webb collection.
• I watched all of Webb's works on DVD, Red Box, or in the movie theater. I first saw them all in the theaters, then ended up renting and buying them later on.
• My whole family loves this movie as well, we watch it often for our family movie nights because it makes us all feel happy and warm. I tell all my friends about it as well, so they can all love it just as much as me!

SUMMARY

• I just don't know if I can state this too often - it's a heart warming, tear-up type of movie and will forever be one of my favorites. From my research, most people agree with me. Some certain critics have something else to say about it, but I will choose to respectfully ignore those
  
  reviews. I learned that even the best movies can have bad reviews, but that doesn't change my opinion on the movie at all. The actors themselves have great profiles, even some with awards, and they all made the movie special with their spectacular role playing. It's a cute, make you smile and cry at the same time, movie and if you haven't seen it, you better change that.

Works Cited"Chris Evans." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 08 Aug. 2017."Gifted." Gifted (2017) - Rotten Tomatoes. N.p., 07 Aug. 2017. Web. 09 Aug. 2017."Gifted (2017)." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 08 Aug. 2017.Hoose, Bob. "Gifted | Movie Review." Plugged In. N.p., 25 July 2017. Web. 09 Aug. 2017.Lawrence, Will. "Gifted." Empire. Empire, 05 June 2017. Web. 09 Aug. 2017."Lindsay Duncan." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 08 Aug. 2017."Octavia Spencer." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 08 Aug. 2017.O'Sullivan, Michael. "Review | 'Gifted': Tale of 6-year-old math prodigy is formulaic but charming." The Washington Post. WP Company, 06 Apr. 2017. Web. 09 Aug. 2017.Photo #1 Photo #2 Photo #3

~ Week 6 ~

NEWSPAPERS

• Local news comes mostly from social media or word of mouth for me. To be completely honest, local news is not super important to me and I do not pay much attention to the news. It only saddens me and worries me about everything that is happening in the world today. If it is important or big enough, I will see it on social media or hear it from family or friends. As for social media, Instagram and Snapchat are my go-to's. People will post on Instagram about a recent event if they feel strongly enough about it and I will see it there. Snapchat has different stories from different news sites. I mostly watch the DoDo which includes recent news stories involving animals. I do sometimes check out Cosmopolitan and BuzzFeed stories, which catches me up on a few things. My family does receive a newspaper on Sundays, but I never make an effort to read through it to catch up on recent events. I know these are credible because they are all well known news sites that many people look at daily. 
• I do not subscribe to any online news sources and wouldn't be willing to pay. There are so many credible sites such as MSN, Newspaper Sites, and online TV news, that paying for something "special" would just be pointless and a waste of money to me. With all the free sources to access news, I do not understand who would pay and why they would. It is not worth it to me, but maybe some others think it is worth it to them.
• I would give myself a 2, but I do blame mostly myself for that. I choose to not keep myself updated on the news of today because most of it is not worth reading about including stuff on celebrity scandals, sports news, or more hatred on Trump. I choose to not waste my time on this type of activity. Because of that, I am not super up to date on what's going on nationwide. In my community, I would say I am though because most of the events around me are just spread by word of mouth. It is not very important to me to be well informed in most of the information. If something ever big enough happens or something that may be a threat to me, I would hear about it through people near me. For example, when a large accident happened in my town, everyone was hearing about it because it was so close to everyone and the people involved were well known. Bigger events, such as nationwide, like ISIS incidents are well talked about situations all over, so I hear about it from others as well. 

FAKE NEWS

• President Trump is always looking for more publicity. Deeming news stories or companies as "fake" will only cause more news stories of him from those companies, which he wants. He enjoys the publicity and spotlight on himself, whether is be good or bad because either way, people are talking about him. I disagree with the President because I think making certain news stories or companies as a whole seem fake is incorrect. I think that news events may be slightly twisted or changed, just some certain details for different reasons, but not the whole story or company. 
• I agree with the journalists who believe the president is doing the American public a disservice and harming the democracy and the First Amendment with his attacks on journalism and the free press. I think his claiming of "fake news" and his attacks are just causing more problems for himself. He, out of all people, should be supporting the First Amendment in its entirety, which includes the freedom of journalism. I think, like stated above, he does this to receive more attention from these journalists and the press.
• In a recent article from the Washington Post, Trump's attacks on free press came back to bite him in the butt. It discusses the things he said against the free press and that "he took on the institution of a free press - and it fought back"(Milbank). As of stating things how it is, he also threatened journalists from writing on him or else he would rewrite the free press laws. Threats are quite the opposite from the comfort we look to our president for. It was mentioned many different times on different Time's articles that had an consequence from Trump. My favorite part, at the very end of the article it states that although Trump may be feeling cornered or drawn, he is experiencing "the power of the free press in a free country" (Milbank). I think that our democracy is weakened by the current state of affairs regarding the media and journalism, only because there's too many hurt feelings involved. The free press is reporting on the latest events, all true and important, yet the people involved are being "hurt" because the truth is spilled and made public, making them look bad. All of the reports are causing consequences to those involved, whether they were in the wrong or not. I think journalism and free press is overall very important and a right given to us, but it can cause issues. It comes down to this - if you (Trump) do not want to be exposed or exploited or attacked for doing certain unfair things, then stop doing them. 

• Washington Post Article / Trump Picture