Good Music All Day

A piece of media that I regularly experience is the website Good Music All Day.com (g.m.a.d) which is proclaimed to be the number one college music website. This music sharing website features a majority of different genres that most college students would listen to ranging from acoustic to dubstep to hip hop. There are different tabs that can be viewed besides the genres which included top charts, videos, and tour information. The home page of this website features a continuous scroll of different songs that are posted from various authors of the site along. There is also the features of video of the day, song of the day, and current top song that are presented at the top of the page. Most of the songs that are posted on Good Music All Day allow the chance for listeners to interact with other listeners about the song or music video. There is a thumb up or down rating system present with most songs along with a comment area where listeners can express their opinion about specific songs.

There is also a large amount of different social media networks connect with Good Music All Day.com. On the right hand of the the website there is a Twitter feed that is present no matter what tab the viewer is exploring. This feed shows all interactions from different listeners that deal with the Good Music All Day website or twitter account. Other social media websites are also featured on the website but one that is pretty popular on the site is the use of Soundcloud. When Soundcloud is used in playing a song there is a feature where a listener can comment on specific parts of songs that they like and their comment will pop up when other listeners are playing the song. The website Good Music All Day.com is a music sharing website that has a lot of listener involvement.

UWM Planetarium

A piece of media that I have experienced recently is a little out of the ordinary, and is something that I have never done before. I went to a planetarium show at the Manfred Olson Planetarium on UWM’s campus. The show was only an hour long and focused on the northern lights. I decided to go to the show because I was going to do a project for one of my classes about the planetarium; and I had no idea what to expect upon going. I went with an open mind and ended up being very impressed with what I saw. The planetarium is basically a giant concave ceiling with a projector in the middle of the room that projects on to it. It recreates what the sky looks like when you are laying down looking up at it. The room is filled chairs that all lean back allowing you to look up comfortably. The first third of the show focused on the northern lights, showing pictures from around the world and provides facts about how they form. An in-house presenter, Jean Creighton, director of the planetarium narrates the entire show, walking the audience through the presentation making sure everyone is following her. The next third of the show recreates what Milwaukee’s sky looks like, and because of light pollution only a handful of stars are visible. With the help of Creighton we learned how to identify popular constellations visible this time of year. The last third was similar to the second, except the show imitated a country sky where there is no light pollution, resulting in many more stars being able to be seen. Even though the stars were just a projection on the ceiling it felt real, and with the help of Creighton it was a really unique and cool experience learning how to navigate the sky. After the show was finished Creighton opened up the floor and allowed the audience to ask her questions, which lasted about fifteen minutes. I thought this was an interesting dynamic not available to other forms of media. The audience could directly ask questions to the person producing the content they are consuming. The show itself was interactive and fun and all around was a good time. I would recommend going to see a show if you never have before, it’s only $2 and is a fun way to learn something new.

Tim Posl

I was recently introduced to the website The Hairpin through a friend. It is a blog-style website run by two women: Edith Zimmerman and Jane Marie. In the website’s “about” section it details its mission by comparing itself to the feeling you get when having a drink and chatting with a close female friend, “This site hopes to be a little like that — a low-key cocktail party among select female friends.”

The Hairpin is set up very similar to a blog, and it has a lot of user-generated content as well as content written by the two main authors mentioned above. Almost all the contributors are women, and as they lay out in their “about” section, almost all the readers are women as well.

The content ranges from an article entitled, “My Experience Working at a Marijuana Dispensary” to one called, “Beauty Q&A: Do you smell what I smell?” In this way, the website acts as a collective journal for readers to sort through and glean tips, knowledge, and have discussions.

In fact, the comments sections of most of the articles are alive with debate in a way that I have rarely seen on many blog-style websites. Additionally, the commenters seem to have a wide knowledge-base and try to facilitate actual discussion rather than simply trolling for the sake of trolling.

All-in-all, The Hairpin is not doing anything revolutionary, but what I find most interesting about it is that it is a self-proclaimed women’s site and it contains opinions about women’s issues that I feel are underrepresented in many online women’s sites.

For instance, in an article entitled “A Lazy Man’s Guide to Seducing Women,” author Amy Silverstein writes, “She’s still here, and still looking good. What now? Don’t worry about entertaining her; leave that to your television. Or better yet, your Netflix account. Don’t have one? Signing up now is an absolute must. Remember, she wants a male who can provide for her.” This type of tongue-in-cheek sarcasm is hilarious while appealing to many women who have had a similar experience.

The Hairpin does represent a slightly new view on issues by presenting them from women, and for women, and because of that, I will probably be back to the site very soon.

News Media reporting on tragedy

The source of media that I chose to look at was the news media and the reporting on tragedy in general and also specifically the one that struck Newtown, CT. When the reports came out that a shooting had occurred in an elementary school, viewers everywhere were in shock and awe as to what kind of devil could do this to innocent children. Yes, I admit that that is what I first thought as well, and as it would have it, when the shooter was named, I couldn’t help but turn to Facebook to see if I could find out anything about him. Now when you look at our media outlets such as CNN, FOX, and many more, a lot point out who the killer was and about him. Should the attention of the news media be directed towards this sick person, or should the medias focus be pointed to ways to prevent this from happening more and more in our society?

 

The media focuses on what is going to draw people in. Attention has been brought to the families of those who have lost their loved ones but as sick as it is, more of the attention is brought to the killer and his illnesses leading up to the tragic event. People have been questioning whether in the sick minds of people who have nothing left to live for, if the media contributes to people going out of their way to make a splash in the headlines in the way of tragic events, such as the Newtown shooting.

 

If the media did not draw the attention to the killer who has done wrong, would this prevent these situations from becoming more prevalent? This is a question that will never be truly answered, but one in recent event that has had me thinking. With the medias impression on society, do they contribute to the hostility and wrong that is in society. 

theCHIVE

I recently dumped my blackberry and purchased a Galaxy S III. The apps on the blackberry are difficult to use or often times very slow so I was excited to start “apping”. I downloaded the typical ones like Facebook and Twitter which I had previously. One app in particular my roommate suggested is The Chive which is a photo-entertainment website. This site was interesting to me because I am relatively new to Instagram which is more social interactive. At first glance I thought The Chive was a porn website, although it’s known for girls submitting scandalous photos of themselves it has much more to offer. There are different categories for photos that you are able to submit to and view. Most of the material on The Chive is humorous and for entertainment. Along with the dozens of categories it has a dating page and videos. These aren’t available on the app and I unaware of them until I looked up the website.

The slogan “Keep Calm and Chive on” has become very popular and they have marketed it into t-shirts and clothing. Often times in photos people will be wearing these. I have yet to submit a photo to the website. All in all this app and website isn’t that useful like the majority of apps that I have downloaded on my phone. I find myself just look at these pictures while I’m in class. The Chive has been around since 2007 and became popular after it released controversial news stories that turned out to not be accurate. I understand why this website has grown in popularity but I don’t see myself getting too involved with it. I’m already too busy on Twitter, Foursquare, Instagram, and Facebook. I look at myself a year ago and see that I only had Facebook and Twitter, I’m curious to see what apps will surface in 2013.

Guitar Hero

I don’t consider myself to be a gamer by any means, but when I occasionally do play a video game, it is always Guitar Hero. I began playing the game in 2008, and I’ll admit when I first received it as a Christmas present, I played for hours. During the hours I spent playing I noticed an improvement in my skill level, but something that I failed to notice, was the amount of product placement within the games. 

You would think that would be nearly impossible, considering the games use particular guitars, equipment and venues – and I still somehow missed the memo. I played Guitar Hero 5 today and for the first time noticed a Coca Cola bottle cap in the background of a stage that is shown during some of the songs. The Coca Cola sign was quite prominent when I took the time to notice it, but its placement was off to the side, away from where one’s eyes focus to see the notes to hit next. It made me wonder how I could have missed the placement and if other Guitar Hero games before or after the fifth one included more than just their music selection that I had taken note of. 

Activision, the company that produced the game, made a statement in 2008 that their Guitar Hero World Tour game would allow users to perform in real venues that exist throughout the United States. I think a shift in gaming since then has shown that games are becoming more and more realistic, and the company attempted to move in that direction by incorporating actual venues. In that same game and those thereafter, the company partnered with companies who specialize in equipment to include their products as those that the user will perform with.

Perhaps I am not as observant as I’d like to think, or maybe Activision does a good job with incorporating different brands into their games without distracting from game play. Either way, it was a new discovery for me, years after I began playing.

 

Pinterest is pretty nice.

A new media that I have recently used has to do with the season we are in.  I have always wanted to make my house look very nice for Christmas and thought I could use some new ideas, I then remembered people talking about Pinterest.  I decided to go and look about a week ago and realized that this is a great place.  I was able to find so many great ideas for decorating my house to make it a winter wonderland.  It also makes it feel a little homier and I was able to find craft ideas that I did when I was a child.  It made more fun to be able to make these things myse

It was also great that I was able to show my friends the ideas I found and have them send me some as well.  It was amazing what I could find on there and the amount of instruction that goes along with those crafts were amazing.  If there wasn’t enough I could always send a message to whoever posted it and ask them questions or even ask someone else.  I was also able to find some fun games to play with the child I babysit for.  It has come in handy so many times if he gets bored I can just go on there to get more ideas.

Pinterest is a great place to interact with people and gather great ideas.  Now I not only use it for decorating ideas, I have also found new ways to exercise, new recipes and accessories.  I also go on it for gift ideas, this site has just been amazing for finding deals during the holidays, seeing as how I am a broke college student it’s nice to find ways to save some money.   Pinterest is just a great internet site and is one that helps you be productive and creative.

Spotify, just not my thing…

About a month ago I noticed a lot of my Facebook friends joining something called Spotify. At first I wasn’t curious or interested in learning about what this was but eventually my curiosity got the best of me. After a few days of learning about the website and its applications, I wish I wouldn’t have wasted my time.

To me it is extremely confusing and not worth it. In the few days that I gave the website my attention I was only able to figure out how to play the top music list and nothing else. Along with not being able to figure anything out every time I turn on my computer the website pops up without me ever clicking on it, even if I have clicked quit Spotify after the last time I was on my computer. Along with that, it has taken over my email. I get at least 3-5 emails a day from Spotify which is beyond annoying to me. The last complaint I have about the website itself is that even if you click to exit the window, the music keeps playing so then you have to open it again and stop it. I was interested in learning about Spotify because I thought it was a cool idea that you could see what music your friends were listening to, however now I see the website as more of a hindrance than anything else.

I do think that it is interesting that you can see your itunes library on Spotify I just wish finding music was easier to understand because if I wanted to listen to my itunes library I would just go on my itunes. I guess what it comes down to is I do not like using websites or types of media that are confusing to me and do not let me do what I want to do with them. With that being said, it looks like I will be sticking with Pandora for my music needs

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media consumption journal

As we near the end of the semester, I am knee-deep in several final papers. For one of those final papers, I analyzed the rhetorical purpose of the song Ronan by Taylor Swift. Like most of Taylor Swift’s songs, Ronan is a true story that sheds light on a mother’s grievance after losing her 4-year-old boy to cancer. Taylor Swift discovered Ronan’s story through a WordPress blog. For this blog, I want to write about the value of blogging sites for journaling a journey through disease.

Maya Thompson started a WordPress blog just after she had found out her little boy was diagnosed with a neuroblastoma, a rare childhood cancer. She started the blog to keep family and friends informed on Ronan and his well-being. She titled her blog “Rockstar Ronan.” When Maya had something new to share, she would add a new blog post. Her blogs talked about the newest information she received from Ronan’s doctor, when Ronan was in and out of the hospital, how Ronan was feeling, and any special visitors that stopped by. Maya also blogged her emotions. She blogged about how awful it felt to see her son suffer and how strong/brave he was. As her son’s cancer progressed, Rockstar Ronan became a way for Maya to express how she was feeling. Her blog was no longer being viewed just by family and friends, but also complete strangers touched by Ronan’s story. Ronan passed away just days before his fourth birthday. Maya continues to blog on her WordPress page, and addresses the majority of her posts to Ronan. Currently, Rockstar Ronan has 10,138,450 hits.

Another blog site that I would like to mention is CaringBridge.  Much similar to WordPress, CaringBridge is a blog/journal website in which you can submit entries to your personal page. However, CaringBridge is journal website for people dealing with serious medical conditions.Although it is not something I have visited a lot recently, the website was once part of my daily life. When I was in 8th grade, a close friend of mine was diagnosed with a brain tumor called Medulloblastoma. His mom started him a CaringBridge page to keep his classmates, friends, and family updated on his well-being. He fought a long five-year battle with cancer, during which he had to relearn to use his facial muscles, relearn to walk, and traveled from across the country in search of a doctor with answers. The CaringBridge page kept us updated on my friend, Mitch. This website helped us surprise him at the airport on his arrivals and departures, and basically kept me in the loop. Aside from journal entries, CaringBridge also has a comment page. This was a great way to leave words of encouragement or simply let my friend know that he was missed.

Websites like CaringBridge and WordPress are great way for patients or the family of patients facing medical conditions to keep everyone updated without having to physically talk to every friend, relative, or person with concerns. Sometimes, its easy for family to blog about the disease than it is to talk out lout about it. Also, many patients are not physically well enough to call or have visitors to explain his or her wellbeing. Basically, I think blogging about a personal journey through disease is a useful and interesting way to use blog websites.

I recently beat the video game Portal using a computer platform. I own an older Mac and so I had to play on my friend’s PC. It is also available for Xbox 360 and Macs.

I’m not sure if many people have heard about Portal, but it is a first-person game, meaning that the perspective of the player is as if you are the character in the game. The more common version of this is first-person shooter games like Halo and Call of Duty.

First-person shooter perspective for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

First-person perspective in Portal.

Portal is not a shooting game where the objective is to kill enemies or other players; instead you are attempting to solve a puzzle. The main character in the game, Chell is a test subject at Aperture Science Enrichment Center. She is monitored and directed by an AI (artificial intelligence) GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System) to complete puzzles at the end of which you’ll receive cake. You solve the puzzles by using the “handheld portal device,” this allows you to create “portals” between two planes. You go through different levels and learn how to navigate the puzzles through direction from GLaDOS and increasing levels of difficulty. You can create two different portals, one blue and one orange. Entering the blue portal will allow you to come out of the orange portal and vice versa. When you first get the portal gun on level two you can only create a blue portal and can therefore only come out of the orange portal where ever it has been placed. Eventually, on level 11 you can create both blue and orange portals. While this sounds relatively simple (if I’m explaining it well) there are other concepts to master in game play. Throughout the entire game, your character Chell is reiterated as being a test subject with GLaDOS telling you what you can and can’t do and of possible side effects all in a deadpan tone. One example: “you are now in possession of the Aperture Science handheld portal device. With it you can create your own portals. These inter-dimensional gates have proven to be completely safe, the device however has not.”

Once you pass all of the tests you are on your way to a fiery pit. GLaDOS tells you, “Congratulations, the test is now over. All Aperture technologies remain safely operational up to 4000 degrees Kelvin. Rest assured that there is absolutely no chance of a dangerous equipment malfunction prior to your victory candescence. Thank you for participating in the Aperture Science computer-aided enrichment activity. Goodbye.” Essentially, she is leaving you to die, but because you have the portal gun you can make your way out of the situation and into the bowels of Aperture Science Enrichment Center. You go through the center all the while GLaDOS is telling you that it was a joke and they weren’t going to kill you, if you just cooperate they will give you the cake that you were promised when you started. When you continue on she begins to threaten to kill you and that all of the cake is gone. The final puzzle (final boss for gamers) is beating GLaDOS by destroying her component parts. After you kill GLaDOS you wake up outside of Aperture, which is now destroyed leaving you to assume that there is more to the story.

While Portal is a short game compared to most other video games it is both fun and challenging and I’m ready to play Portal 2!