Media Meditation: Getting Hungover

Yes, it is Halloween weekend, and the title of this post can apply in that regard, but I'm talking cinema.

Many comedy loving movie goers were greatly satiated by The Hangover. Recently watching this movie was no less fulfilling than expected. Its outrageous antics and phenomenal performances create a solid experience with the screen. It starts off with the main characters revealing the main point of the movie: they lost their friend Doug after a wild night in Vegas.

Starting out with a scene that seems like it should be later in the movie (and it still is), or as a circle story, shows that the production techniques were considered and this was the final choice. Why? Because it makes you wonder what the hell happened to them, rather than watch them going to Vegas with no idea about what's going to happen. It gives the scenes a nice lack of mystery because, while the scenes are frickin' hilarious on their own, they would not seem to have much of a direction.

To get a better idea of the movie, if you haven't seen it, check out one of the trailers:

Humor is another big player. Alan's wolf pack speech is priceless (the scene on the roof, prior to the roofies). Mike Tyson plays a role, providing his testimonial to the movie's cause. Tyson's tiger, when first introduced, triggered my reptilian brain (specifically the flight mechanic, its a tiger!). The soundtrack is almost hilarious because we have a school teacher, dentist, one man wolf pack, and husband to be rolling to Vegas to hip pop. We have Mike Tyson jamming out to Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight". My limbic brain enjoyed much of the music.

Ownership and film, specifically comedies, have never seemed to have much to them. Whoever owns The Hangover, good for them. I don't detect any secret agendas, but rather a hilarious movie. Some movies portray themes that are suggestive of a stance on a controversial subject of present day, but here we have three guys in a sympathetic, but over the top, predicament that uses a popular venue as a stage.

Our shift from regulation to deregulation has allowed a lot of freedom in the portrayals seen in theaters. In this movie we see a baby being made to pretend masturbate, kids shooting stun guns by an irresponsible policeman's will, and a naked Asian man leaping out of the trunk of a car and onto a man' face. The lack of regulation, and thus potential snuffing of this apparently innovative form of comedy (outrageous situations), allows this and many other films a whole lot of flexibility and subjects to consider.

The entire movie is a Big Lie. We're told that Phil might be getting corpse raped in a ditch, or another horrid fate, and are led to believe that his fate is sealed, while (SPOILER) he is just sleeping on the roof. We're also told that they've found Doug when, as we're told later, they haven't. We're bribed to watching more because it seems as though there is a solution about to arise, but in fact it does not.

The whole movie also uses symbolism because Las Vegas is a symbol of these bad decisions that were made, resulting in the night the movie is about. There is also some profound scientific evidence from Phil: We all do dumb shit when we're fucked up. Employing repetition, the main characters are constantly running into over the top characters messing up their pursuit of Doug.

Riddled with persuasion and media technique, The Hangover is a great movie that is worth seeing if you want to laugh.

Media Meditation #3: Subtle Sexuality

If you've ever seen The Office, you'll be able to appreciate the subject of my meditation. As it's a video, I would have liked to post the video directly on the blog, but (I've never seen this) embedding for the video has been "disabled by request". I can provide the link: Watch Subtle Sexuality: The Music Video!

This particular media text is appealing to me for a few different reasons. It's a rockin' music video starring great characters from a hilarious show.

Firstly, it's a well composed song. My limbic brain is engulfed in the music and lyrics as they are coordinated to various physical act

ions by the beautiful duet of Kelly and Erin (beautiful people right there). Neocordically speaking, my aim is to interpret the clever lyrics. The production techniques being used encourage your attention. The fast cuts and aforementioned coordination between sound and sight keep the speed rapid and a viewer's attention tightly grasped.

Through analyzing the ownership of this video, some interesting revelations come about. This video is about a male prima donna. Ry

an Howard, from the Office (he's Mr. Understood, the guy in the white get up near the end) is Kelly's (the star) boyfriend in the show and in real life! The lyrics are definitely influenced by this and its funny to realize that this song, from a show, is about a relationship in real life that exists in the show as well.

Cleverness is seen through persuasion. Humor is obviously a technique being utilized, but some of the lines invoke certain thoughts that keep us watching. The line "Like Shakespeare said: To be or not to be, sometimes you're Romeo with me" is using a non traditional form of testimonial. Kelly and Erin use strawman to cut down Ryan (the male prima donna). For example:

You're cute but you think you're blazin' hot

You're short and you think you're not,
You look gay in your skinny tie!
I hope you get killed in a drive-by!

The most incredible part of the video is about two minutes in, when this guy first makes his appearance:

His inclusion in the video brings back nostalgic (nostalgia) memories of the Nard Dog's introduction and legendary translation from the Stamford branch of Dunder Mifflin to the beloved Scranton Branch. If you don't know the Nard Dog, you don't know The Office. If you don't know The Office, well, read up on that first link I provide.

The personal shift shows us that this video's creation has larger implications than simply another production. This is essentially a side project, not included in any episode of The Office. Producing a series of webisodes, The Office cast has begun to participate in the digital community. This one features the four cast members found in the video, but not The Office crew as a whole. Some other series of webisodes features other members from the office (one series is primarily Kevin and Darryl, for you avid Office viewers). The same information can show us more through the technological shift. We have a song and a video being meshed into the digital world by being purely an internet based video. This allows companies, like NBC, and shows, like The Office, to reach out to its audience easily and provide further details about the show without cramming it into the time frame of slotted broadcast television.

The Nard Dog's sexy smile, Mr. Understood spitting fire and his hilarious gestures (the cut to him in the bathrobe as he says "SO SLOW!" was too funny!), and Kelly and Erin's facial expressions and motions (particularly Kelly's face; she looks like she's having a great time) made a fantastic video that gave some of the references in the actual show some substance.

Censored 2011: Amazon Massacre

(Image thanks to guardian.co.uk)

Can a story be completely censored? Can all parties included be certainly silenced? The censored stories are the ones that must contain parties most wanting to speak out. Censored 2011's 8th story is titled, "Massacre in Peruvian Amazon over US Free Trade Agreement".

Let's start with an idea of what this story is about. Here's what should be known:

• The US–Peru Free Trade Agreement was signed on December 8, 2005, in Washington, DC, by then presidents George W. Bush and Alán García, whose government
  al body is behind the censored conflict. In June 2006, it was ratified by Peru, and in December 2007 by the US Congress. On December 19, 2007, Peru’s Congress gave full faculties to the government to legislate, for six months by decree, issues related to the FTA. Mandated by these powers, the executive drafted ninety-nine legislative decrees. On February 1, 2009, the agreement went into effect.

• The legislative decrees are numerous and rather unfair to the indigenous people living in the Peruvian Amazon. For example, "LD 1083 (Promotion of Efficient Use and Conservation of Hydraulic Resources) favors the privatization of water to large consumers such as mining companies."

(Image thanks to Global Patriot)

• "It is LD 1090 (Forestry and Woodland Fauna Law), however, that is at the crux of the debate. This decree leaves 45 million hectares out of the forestry framework, that is, 64 percent of the forests of Peru, including their biodiversity in flora and fauna, making it possible to sell this vast commonwealth to transnational corporations."

• On April 9, over one thousand indigenous communities of the jungle regions agreed to start demonstrating. The demonstrations were peaceful attempts to stop oil pipe lines and other industrial additions to the forest. These additions were those created by the decrees set in place by the Free Trade Agreement.

• On World Environment Day, June 5, 2009, protesting Peruvian Amazon Indians were massacred by the government of Alán García. Three MI-17 helicopters arrived at a section of the Peruvian highway that connects the jungle to the northern coast. That section had, for ten days, five thousand Awajún and Wampi indigenous peoples. The helicopters unleashed tear gas and allegedly machine guns as a ground force of Alán García's deployment began to fire off rifle rounds into the crowd. "An estimated five hundred police bore down on the protesters, some of whom were still sleeping, and opened fire."

(Image thanks to Intercontinental Cry)

• "The government claimed days after the clash that eleven indigenous were dead as well as twenty-three police agents. The indigenous organizations reported fifty dead among their ranks and up to four hundred disappeared. According to witnesses, the military burned bodies and threw them into the river to hide the massacre, and also took prisoners from among the wounded in hospitals."

• Written by Hugo Blanco, a Peruvian activist, about the results of this ongoing struggle, “After 500 years of silencing, the Amazon peoples receive the support of the peoples of Peru and the world. The greatest achievement of this campaign has been to make these nationalities visible, weaving links between diverse sectors of the country, as divided as those who dominate. By defending the Amazon we are defending the life of all of humanity; and by not ceding to the deceit of the government, they are rewriting history, recuperating for all the sense of the word dignity.”

A mix of LexisNexis and internet browsing turned up several results regarding this story. Here are some varied sources of coverage:

Mongabay

Axis of Logic

US Department of State

The BBC

New York Times

upstream online

MSNBC

Huffington Post

The Independent

World Socialist Web Site

Inter Press Service

Matador Network

Upside Down World

International Federation for Human Rights

AFP (Google hosted)

On top of the news stories, which can be found on several other websites, there were many pictures of the event--collectively shown at Amazon Watch.

On top of that, there are many videos covering what happened. Here's one,

Here's another video. This one puts you right in the action:

Another easily found video covering what happened:

However, this coverage from Ground Report included sources that I wouldn't expect (definitely to be appreciated in this class).

And one last example of the coverage of the Peruvian Amazon Indian's struggles is an archive, lengthy indeed, of what you can do, what and where to research, and news coverage of specific occurrences in the Peruvian Amazon. It was made by Ray Beckerman.

I can't say that this story is censored. It is everywhere. I have to say that it's inclusion in Censored 2011, and its alleged poor coverage and awareness, is probably a product of distance, no direct interest, and the story's susceptibility to getting washed over in feature stories and television programming.

A lot of major companies (BBC, NYT, US Dept. of State, etc.) covered the event and continued to talk about what developed (suspension of the decrees by the Peruvian government; table negotiations to start between the government and the indigenous peoples; wider spread awareness, indicated by the related protests in NYC), so anybody who subscribes to these sources of news would have read the story, but the question is: Do they retain that knowledge and potentially act on it or just embrace the shock and sympathy before swiftly moving on to the next story? In this case I'd have to say the latter.

As a final note, from Ray Beckerman's archive (mentioned above) comes this slideshow illustrating the conflict and threatened beauty in the Peruvian Amazon. As the title says, be careful (DISCLAIMER) there are some rather disturbing pictures.

My Media Empowerment: A Mid-Class Reflection

Getting to the half way mark (already!) it's only proper to ponder about the possible improvement a person can attain through media education. I myself have been empowered.

(Image thanks to cdn.mashable.com)

1. After studying media for eight weeks in Contemporary Media Issues, what have I learned?

Being familiar with the power tools from past classes, Mass Media & Society as well as Electronic Media Writing, the new reading materials were definitely the most effective at enlightenment. I've reinforced my ability to critically analyze media texts and understand where our technology comes from (the radio as a product of social traditions, for example).

2. What is the most important thing I have learned about myself as a critical reader, a writer, and a thinker in class so far?

Tapping Nicholas Carr, the way I've adapted to absorbing information has changed my ability to soak up a lot of dense material without focusing and possibly straining, but with the power tools' guidance it has become easier to pin point and contemplate deeper meanings.

3. What's one thing I would do differently if I were to repeat this first semester?

I would do my media meditations in a more timely fashion (still time to change that, eh?) and apply the power tools that aren't as commonly used. It's a lot easier to pick out the Humor persuasion being used, but sometimes recognizing, say, Cardstacking, can be more difficult. The greatest value and knowledgeable gain must come from utilization of every power tool as much as possible. Working towards that is what I would and am changing.

4. What's one thing I would like Dr. W to do differently if the first semester were to repeat itself?

There wasn't a lot of blogging discussion in class. That's a big change from the last two classes (MM&S, EMW). I would've liked more attention to our blogging assignments, but that seems to be on the way this class. Perhaps its the method, which seems to be: Read a text and blog about it in sections. Then, talk about it in a week, a few weeks, however long. I definitely like the idea of reading these texts independently and blogging about them to show that we've read them and are thinking about what was read, but the absence of any immediate discussion in class keeps that independence at a high. That's fine with me, but I would prefer discussion as I'm reading the texts.

5. Here are my thoughts on the usefulness of our various in class materials.

Power Tools: They remain an invaluable set of tools that I use consistently in class and even outside of class in my own considerations and analyses. They've given me easier routes to contemplative thought and raise questions that can spark up a conversation, be it an inner debate or a friendly discussion.

Quizzes: The key to reinforcing the usage of the power tools, the quizzes give opportunities to apply our media educated minds to a variety of texts and confirm that we are thinking about media in the same way as our peers. Deeping meanings can be actively considering through applying the power tools to our various media texts during the quizzes.

Here's one of the most eccentric videos we applied the tools to:

Course Blog: An awesome way to keep up with the expectations and is also a great visual additions, rather than staring at a week-by-week syllabus schedule.

Personal Blog: Always a joy. The customization is so much fun and so often absent from the every day homework assignment. It is neat to have a cache of all the work done each semester. Looking at all of it at the end of the semester is enriching and exciting. I re-read my EMW blog and it was an enjoyable read. It allowed me to really read my own writing in a similar way I would read another's writing. The assignments from the start were inherently foggy, so it wasn't as though I was dreadfully familiar with what was written.

Films: I never know what to expect, but they are always one, some, or all of these: Entertaining, relevant, and enlightening. Real Bad Arabs, for example, was relevant and enlighteneing. Entertainment didn't seem to be the goal of that documentary, so there's no questioning its absence of entertaining bits.

Books: FEED was a great pick. It was an enjoyable novel on its own, but it also related so heavily to the themes being taught in class. The jargon was great and the ideas conveyed were powerful and relevant to what was going on. It had the ideas of a text book but the enjoyability of a novel.

Postman: My favorite. It was very enlightening and really got me thinking about media as a whole and how information is portrayed to me, as an American. It provided ample opportunities for disagreement but also provided ample segments of insightful and satisfying material that changed how critical of the news, and television as a whole, I am.

Media & Society: 'lot o' good information in that book. Almost the textbook version of FEED, it touched on so much about media. The most informative bits to me were about the considerations of the different aspects of life technology effects. Learning about, and coming up with key concepts for, the social forces that have driven technological usage was one of the most engaging assignments of the year.

The Google Dumb/Smart Articles: Cascio and Carr raised great ideas about Google and the nature of the interent. While I don't agree with the severity of the situation (I can read three paragraphs on a blog no problem, I don't know how much that other guy in Carr's article was on the internet, but come on) I felt that the ideas were greatly powerful and mightily thought provoking. When I'm on the internet now I try to notice how much I retain and how much I don't. That's made me retain more and more.

So far I'm more than satisfied with the class and am impressed by the lack of over lap, even though I've taken two classes that seem very similar. Bravo, Dr. W!

Camp Champ Radio Spots: Team Live Read says get the FEED!

This is our radio spot endorsing the wondrous FEED.

Here's our work of genius in its early stage of a script:

Team Live Read: Radio Spot Script

HORN

Hey, do you like being left out? Being meg boring?

Do you like lugging your laptops, cell phones, and mp3 players around all the time?

JORDAN

You don’t have to anymore! You have worked hard, now let FEED work for you.

It does everything, so you don’t have to.

GEOFF

Just think, you are dying to hear that new Justin Bieber track, but you don’t have it on your mp3 player, and it’s not on the radio. Just request the song on your FEED and just like that, it plays!

TEDDY

Quendy and Titus love their FEEDs!

HORN+JORDAN

(say together, monotone) All my friends have the FEED. I love my FEED. It’s so meg brag.

TEDDY

Don’t be weasel-faced! Get a FEED!

The FEED will make all your dreams come true.

REBEKAH

And now, with this limited time offer, when you buy your first FEED, you get a second FEED half-off. Hook up your entire family today!

Feed your family, feed yourself. FEED. When everyone has it, no one goes hungry.

GEOFF

Side effects may include headache, dizziness, chest pain, loss of appetite, hair loss, and memory loss. In rare cases, the FEED could malfunction fatally.It could improve your social life and make you illiterate.

User Experience May Vary.

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