The reality of shooter video games

Kimmy: What do you like most about war/shooter video games?

Mitchell: The competitiveness and the modren sort of weapons.

Kimmy: Why do you play the video games?

Mitchell: Because they're popular and I find them interesting.

Kimmy: How do you feel about the violence within the games?

Mitchell: It doesn't really bother me because I've become so use to it from the games that it doesn't really bother me at all. 

Kimmy: What game do you play the most? Or like the most?

Mitchell: Call of Duty series games because they are the most competitive.

Kimmy: How do you feel about the violence in this video?

Mitchell: It's very real but sort of what I expected. It's what war is really like.

Kimmy: What makes this video different from the video games you play?

Mitchell: It's not as action oriented but everything dangerous that happens is very real and it doesn't seem like you could be easily killed. Like that guy how got shot in the head, he could have easily died. And the people who shot at them were not making a show, they actually wanted to kill the soldiers. 

Kimmy: When you say 'it doesn't seem like you could be easily killed' what do you mean?

Mitchell: Like in a video game, no one would have gotten hurt in that situation because they would have been protected. But it's not the same in real life. 

Kimmy: How did watching this video make you feel?

Mitchell: It just sort of made me realize that stuff like this is real and is not just happening in video games, that it happens in real life. That these people can not just restart again, there is no coming back from it if they are killed. 

Kimmy: Do you feel any differently about video games after seeing this video?

Mitchell: Not really. It wasn't anything surprising. It didn't make me realize anything new, it was what I expected. It's war and it's what happens. And I don't feel like video games are an accurate interruptions of what war is but it could make someone else realize what really happens.

Wild bird

This is a picture of my pet quail Dougy. He is about 3 years old now but I have had him since he was only 2 days old. This picture is important to me because Dougy means the world to me. In this picture, Dougy was about 7 months old and he is laying next to his cage under his heat lamp to warm up. It was in the middle of December so the house was pretty chilly. I let him out of his cage and he was cuddling with me but decided to go over to his heat lamp instead.

In this picture, I edited out everything that is surrounding Dougie. I think be editing the picture, you loose a lot of context of the original picture. One may not realize that this bird is indoors and may just think he is in the wold. That the brightness to the picture is from the sun and not a heat lamp. In regards to the Wartime Photography video we watched, this shows that by editing a picture, you lose context and that you can not believe everything you see.

What the frack is going on?

This week, are assignment was to go onto fractracker.org and find some piece of info I we did not know before about fracking, something that we found disturbing about the process, or something that impacts our community. I have to be honest that before this assignment, i did not know much about fracking. I knew that Exxon was always talking about it like it was this amazing new thing, but I was not exactly sure what it was. After researching the topic more, I now have a better understanding of the process and what the effects are and I am just amazed that they are continuing this process. I have found many pieces of evidence that this is not a good thing at all because of the risks it causes. During the process, the company pours toxic chemicals into the ground to help extract this natural gas which then they do not clean up. These chemicals are just left in our soil for people and animals to get sick from and to contaminate our water. People have shown and talked about how gases are infecting their drinking water and you can see the cloudiness in the water and they can even light it on fire. This is a major problem because one of the most valuable things your body needs to survive is water. 60% of our body is made up of water, 75% of our muscles is water; bones are composed of 50% from water. Do you see a problem here? If we literally need water to stay healthy and the water is contaminated and toxic, what the hell are we suppose to do?

So I looked for a video on youtube to see if anyone addressed this problem. I found many examples of people who could light their water on fire but not many of officials addressing this issue. I did find this one video and I'm sorry but I think this dude is full of crap. He just basically says that it's natural to find oil and gas in the ground and that it is natural to find it there some times. Well my question is then why is it becoming more common now that you are drilling? Don't you think it's pretty interesting that this is becoming more common around areas that you're drilling in? And even if it does happen naturally, they're disturbing the ground and basically breaking up the soil to allow these gases and oils to poison our drinking water, so it still is their fail, in my opinion that it. During the debate in this video, the side that is con drilling shows examples of drilling companies contaminating the water. The pro-drillers basically say than that 'oh that was just bad drilling and it's not our fault that they did it wrong." Umm yeah, it is! If you drilled incorrectly, then it is your fault for poisoning the water and causing someone's house to explode. All I have to say is that this process is affecting people and the land and that these companies need to take credit for the damages that they're causing.

I had problems finding video clips of either President Obama or Governor Corbett responding to these issues but I found this small clip that kind of comes close to my issue I have with the drilling.

Coming Up on your Local News!

This is my summary of the 6:30 PM Sunday (Oct16) news on WTAE, channel 4.

6:30 -The news starts off talking about a fallen Police Officer from Lower Burrell, Officer Derek Kotecki. Officer Kotecki was abushed and gunned down wednesday night. They compare this event to another fallen Officer from last year, Officer Micheal Crawshaw from Penn Hills. Officer Crawshaw was shot and killed while responding to a call. Crawshaw's family understands the pain Kotecki's family is feeling and has reached out to support the family in this hard time. They also mention that a portion of the money raised from this years 'Mud Crawl' will go to the Kotecki family, specifically a college fund for Officer Kotecki's two sons. They then talk about the funeral service and when and where it will be held and the route they will take to the burial sight. __ The view is that these were two great guys that had a horrible thing down to them and how the community is coping with their lose.

6:36- A woman crashes through a building in Washington County just before 4pm. Female driver was unresponsive when transported from the scene to the hospital. The building belongs to Washington and Jefferson University and not clear how sever the damage is. __ The view is that very clear. They just give the facts and not much else. I'm given the impression that the woman may have been a student at the University.

6:36- Weather watch equals more rain to creep back into the area. They will talk about sunshine coming back when the news comes back. __ they really only talk about the weather from that day at this time, so my view is, yeah I know it was really windy.

6:37- They talk about the Steelers game and how they won the game to Jacksville. They talk about the game and the plays. __ The view is that this is a very important topic because of the detail given about the game.

6:39- A truck plows through a pizza shop in Ross Township. Pizza shop was a Vocelli's Pizza along Peary Highway. The truck took out the front window and continued through the front counter and thankfully the shop was closed at the time. Truck driver was taken to the hospital and is expected to be okay. __ The view is that there was an accident but the timing was right, so almost that it was a blessing that no one was there at the time.

6:40- Briefly talk about protesters in Downtown. (What's coming up after the break.)

6:40- Four mentally challenged people found locked in the basement and chained. (What's coming up after the break.)

6:40- Weather report. (What's coming up after the break.)

6:40- A commercial for Gillece Plumbing that shows a parrot telling the woman to 'call Gillece'. __ Trying to say that even you're pets know that they are who you call when you need a plumber.

6:41- Hyundai commercial. Mentions that the Sonata was the top saftey pick for 2011 and talks about the APR and financing for the car. __Trying to say that they have the safest car, so pick them over the competitors.

6:41- Political commercial bashing Fitzgerald that is 'approved' by Raja. __Trying to bad mouth the other so he looks good.

6:42- News is back and starts with the protesters in Downtown. Group is picketing by the bank headquarters this Wednesday and claims the bank over chargered public pention funds in New York and other states. On Saturday, over 1,000 marched through Downtown to call attention to what they call "corporate greed and a broken economy system". __ The view is that this is a peaceful protest and no one is in harm.

6: 42- Police found 4 malnourished adults chained to a boiler in a basement behind a steel door in a home Saturday night in Philadelphia. 3 men and 1 woman, all with the mental capacity of a 10 year old. 3 suspects have been charged with the case and investigators say the suspects were trying to make money through the access to the victims social security and disability checks. __The view might make some afraid of that area because people were kidnapped and chained in a basement. Also makes you made that people took advantage of mentally handicap people.

6:43- They briefly talk about the 'most daring jumpers in the world' and how 1 jumpers chute didn't open in West Virgina this week. (What's after the break.)

6:43- Weather coming up shortly. (What's after the break.)

6:43- Very short commercial for TV show Pan Am. __Does not tell me anything other than the time it's on.

6:43-Commercial for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and how this week Good Morning America will be joining them. __Tells me that more people are getting involved with helping make a difference in someone's life.

6:43- Commercial for Range Resources, a natural gas drilling company.__Tells me that drilling is good because it supplied this man with a secure job and how happy it has made him.

6:44- Commercial for Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town and Country. Talks about the APR and financing.__ Tells me that I should buy one of these minivans for my family because of how awesome they are.

6:44- Commercial for the Women's Center and Shelter or Greater Pittsburgh and briefly talks about domestic violence. __Tells me that I should learn more about domestic violence and how I can help put a stop to it.

6:45- Commercial for the Country Music Awards. __Just tells me the day and time of the show.

6:45- An 800 foot free fall where a man's parachute barely opens. Accident happened Saturday during Bridge day in WV. A BASE jumper's chute did not fully open, sending the man into the New River at more than 60 mph. He was air lifted from the scene and is serious condition. Then says that Bridge Day was first created in 1980 as a small festival and has grown to one of the biggest extreme sports in the world. __The view is that this is a popular event and that this person was very unlucky. It gives me the falling that I never want to take part in this sport.

6:46- Weather report about how rain is coming early in the week but to expect sunshine by the end of the week. The rain will bring along cold temperatures. __Considered important because it tells us what we expect to see this coming week.

6:49- Sports are up next after a short break.

6:49- Lotto mid day numbers__ Tells me if I won i guess.

6:49- Commercial about how WTAE channel 4 action News won 3 awards; Best Report Series, Best Serious Feature, and Best on Camera Reporters. __Tells me that this is a highly rated news station and many people in the area think it's the best. Makes me want to only watch this station because they're "the best".

6:50- High Mark Blue Cross Blue Shield commercial. __Tells me about this health care system.

6:50- Commercial on the Jeep celebration event. Mentions the APR and finance options. __Tells me about the celebration and makes the viewer want to go celebrate too.

6:51- Political commercial bashing Raja that is 'approved' by Fitzgerald. __Bad mouthing someone so it makes them look better.

6:51- Same High Mark commercial as before. __Tells me the same thing it did like two minutes ago.

6:51- Short Dancing With The Stars commercial. __Only tells me the time the show is on.

6:51- Sports starts out with the Steelers game again. Recapping the game and talks to Mendenhall (running back), Sanders (wide receiver),a nd Roethlisberger (quarterback). __Seems to be the most important thing right now because of the coverage on the story. Tells about plays and the scores and even talks to the players about what they thought of the game.

6:55- Briefly recaps the Bengal vs Colts game. __ Tells me some of the plays and the score.

6:55- Briefly says current scores of other games. __Tells me the scores and a little about the games.

6:56- Chrysler 200 Touring sedan commercial. Mentions the APR and financing options. __Tells me how great the offer is and how sleek the car is, so I should buy it.

6:57- Commercial for Frosenious Medical Care and how there are different options for treatment. __Tells me about the different options I have for this treatment.

6:58- Pennsylvania lotto commercial introducing new tickets. Mentioned that more than $759,000 goes to property tax and rent rebates every day, so "keep on scratching!" __Tells me how awesome this new game is and how the money you pay for them goes towards the community, so keep buying them!

6:58- RAM truck commercial. __Tells me how big and awesome this truck is.

6:59- Commercial saying to watch WTAE channel 4 action news. __Tells me to watch this news station for the most accurate accounts on what's going on in your town.

6:59- Evening lotto numbers picked. -Tells me if I won or lost.

Disney are you serious!?

Dear people of Disney,

I would like to comment on the image you are promoting to young children about their body image. In the movie The Little Mermaid, you are basically telling young girls that it does not matter what they think or say, that the way to get a man is by how your body looks. In the movie, Ariel loses her voice so that can can gain legs and meet the Prince. So she can not talk to the Prince but she uses her body and her body language to get him to fall in love with her. This tells young girls to use their body to get what they want and not to use their words and their minds to fight for what they want. As a child, I loved this movie but I never really thought of the message it was putting out. Now that I see this message, I can look back and definitely say that the message impacted how I acted growing up. I think this is a terrible message to have kids seeing and watch and I think you should make another movie promoting a woman's brains and not her body to get the man. I am not saying that you can no longer sell this movie, just that I think you should make another movie to promote education and learning, so that young girls will see that men do not just like a woman's body but her mind as well.

Thank you for your time,

Concerned audience.

Three is better than Two

This week in class. we watched part of the film "Killing Me Softly 4", which is about how women are consistently objectified in advertisement. A few of the advertisement's that the woman read in the film were, "feminine odor is everyone's problem", "It sure was a load off Roy when I lost 59 pounds", "Honey, I don't think you're antiperspirant spray is working", and "I never would have married if I hadn't lost 39 pounds". In the film, she also showed pictures of woman who's bodies turned into objects, such as beer bottles or cars. 

Before watching this film, I never really noticed how much woman are objectified in the media. I goggled searched and found a few examples of woman's bodies being objectified. I decided to stick to just the beer advertisements since I found some good examples for them. 

 

As you can see, these women are clearly more like objects in the ads more than anything else. The first one show's a woman's bra having an easy eject button on it. The second show's a woman laying in a pool of beer caps, with some on her body. The third show's a woman with three breast, because three is better than two. And the fourth show's a woman's torso become a drawing of people, with her belly button being the mouth of one.

I think that when a man see's these ads, they think 'hey, I want that!' and so it makes them want that beer. I mean what man wouldn't want a woman with three breasts? But I think that when a woman sees it, it makes them feel more like an object than a person. I know that when I see these ads, I feel like a man just wants a woman for their body and nothing else. I think to young girls, ads like this can make them feel like they have to look perfect for a boy to notice them, and that all guys want from them is their bodies. I feel like this can cause major self-esteem issues for them in the future. 

I honestly think there is a better way to advertise these beers without objectifying the body and still make someone want to buy the beer. It's not the add that makes the beer taste good to the consumer but the quality of the beer, so why should it matter if they use a woman in the ad or not?

Cheesecake is Sexy?

This week in class, we talked about "food porn" and how television shows make food more interesting and make us want it more. "Food porn" is a sensual visual presentation of cooking or eating in advertisements, infomercials, cooking shows, or other visual media. In most cases, these foods are often high in fat and calorie content and they arouse a desire to eat them or can be almost like a substituted for sex. Before class, I never really thought of the cooking channel as this but now I see the shows a bit differently.



This clip from Nigella Lawson is an example of 'food porn' because she makes the cheesecake almost sexy with the words she uses to describe it. Such as smooth, luscious, rich, gorgeous, golden, shiny, perfect, and soft. Also, she makes it seem normal that she is making a cheesecake on a Saturday night in her robe, like everybody does that. The way she describes the cake and show's the cake, it makes me want the cheesecake and almost makes my mouth water thinking of how good it is. In my opinion, I consider that to be food porn, making me want something that I can not have and to cause those physiological responses. Also, the music that is playing in the background is almost like mood setting music to make you feel more sensual. Another thing that I noticed is that the lighting is very dim and can also be thought of as setting the mood.

What is "cool"?

What would you say if someone walked up to you and asked you what is "cool"? I bet if you were to go into the mall and ask what is "cool", you would get many different responses, because everyone's perception of what is 'cool' and what is not is different. For the most part, whatever is 'cool' is whatever is considered the new fashion or what is "in". The problem with this is that it is ever changing because there is no set definition for what is 'cool'. For instance, five years ago when I was in high school, one of the cool things to wear was to wear leggings under skirts with flip flops. Now people wear leggings as pants with flats. Back then, skater shoes such as DC's, Vans, and Etnies were considered 'in' and people wear a lot of different shoes, though girls tend to wear more flats than tennis shoes.

Also, PacSun, American Eagle, and Hollister were the big brands everyone tended to wear to school. Now I see more of a variety of brands of clothing at school then I did back in high school. Five years from now I'm sure people will still be wearing different things than they do now. Some may even look back to now and think 'what was I thinking?' as I'm sure at some point in everyone's life they think that. Basically what I am trying to say is, whatever is considered 'cool' or 'uncool' will always change over time and from different people and cultures you may speak to.

Did they put "real" in reality television?

If you were to turn on the television, you could probably find many "reality" tv shows, but are they actually real or is it something that producers think the public would want to see? Something that producers make up just to make money and make people addicted to the lives of these so called 'reality stars'. I think that most of these so called "reality" tv shows are just made up to entertain the public. A few of these "reality" tv shows would be The Jersey Shore, The Real Housewives of New Jersey/ New York/ Orange County, and Keeping Up with the Kardashians. 

So this brings me to the question, is there a media text that accurately or adequately depicts me and or my community, and I think there is not. In my opinion, most of the media texts out are what will sell and make the person in control money. I feel that there is a vast majority of the population that is left out of what these media texts says is what text of person we are. Here's an example, I'm Irish but that does not mean that I love to drink beer all the time. I do not really like beer but the media only depicts Irish people as drinking beer all the time because they like to drink. So in short what I am saying is, I  do not think that the media accurately depicts most people because every one is different and we do not all fit into that mold that fits our culture or nationality.

Do you know your current events?

This week we took a quiz to see how much we know about our current events. There were questions on our pop culture as well as on more of a political culture. I think the test was suppose to show us that we know more about our pop culture than about what's going on in our world but for me, it was more of an equal test. I was able to correctly answer the first two questions on the first half of the test, which were about Kim Kardashian and Will Smith, but I wasn't able to answer the other two questions.

As for the two half of the test, the political half, I did slightly better but not by much. I knew that our state's governor was a republican but I couldn't remember his name. I also knew how much our budget was cut and that Dr. Porter is our chancellor. I think it's good that I knew a bit more of our current events than the pop culture but it still shows how ill informed I am.

This week in class, we also talked about two very important people, Walter Lippmann and John Dewey. Both men thought that the public is not as informed on current topics like they should be. Lippmann thought that we should have a special 'elite' group of people to make all the decisions since the public was so uninformed. Lippmann said that there was no way for the public to know everything that was going on in the world at one time, so it was best that the elite group be the only one's that have to know everything and should make the decisions. On the other hand, Dewey thought that it is true that the public can't know what's going on in the whole world at one time, but that they should be educated about it. That the public could make better decisions if they were taught the facts. Both men had great ideas and in their own ways, were right but unfortunately, neither man got the type of government they wanted. We have more of a Dewey type but without the right facts. We're not exactly given the truth all the time but we believe it to be true because the news anchors back it up with a source of some kind. 

I think what we're suppose to take away from this week's lesson and quiz is that we need to be more informed about all the different aspects of our lives. Also, that not everything we hear on the news is exactly 'facts' just because they can back it up with some kind of evidence.

Media in our lives

Okay so this week in class we started talking some of the history of mass media and the basic building blocks of mass media. So for our homework, we're suppose to think about the role(s) media plays in our everyday lives. After some thought I realized that media is a big part of every ones lives. Every where you look there are logos and advertisements for items. Lets say you go into Giant Eagle and you walk down the cereal aisle, one of the first things you will see is the name brand of the cereal. If you sit down to watch the evening news, there will be about 5 or 10 commercials during the commercial breaks. Even if you would watch a TV show on Hulu, they still have advertisements in between the segments. So I would say that media plays a hugh role in our everyday lives because it is everywhere and it is how we know what is popular or on sale at any given point in time.

Another topic we were told to think about was do we mostly consume media messages or do we also create media messages and I think we all do both at some point. We were clothing that have logos on them, we leave stores with bags with their store names on them. We are basically walking advertisements for what ever brands we may be wearing or carrying that day. So in that way, we are also consuming it because we are buying our favorite brands and basically show them to the world around us. Lets say you go to Starbucks and buy a cup of coffee, when you leave, you're carrying a cup with their logo on it so everyone else sees it and may go, oh I want to go to Starbucks. I think this is the easiest form of advertisement a company can do because it's just word of mouth. So in both ways, we consume and create media messages every day.

http://www.csupomona.edu/~rrreese/nonfla/Starbucks.html

I'm very interested to see where this class will lead me because I'm already seeing things in a different light and it has only been one week. So far I find the class extremely interesting and I hope to learn more about all the different forms of media. After looking at the syllabus, I think the week I'm most looking forward to is the week we talk about the food network because I love food and I sometimes find myself watching that channel all the time. So I guess for my finally question of what I hope to get out of this class, I would have to say that I hope that I get a better understanding of how media messages are made and put out for me to see. I want to understand more about how these messages influence me on a day to day basis.