Time

Tick tock tick tock.... It was 1 o clock! What did that mean? Why was I nervous? What did time tell me? In that brief moment I realized that time sent me many messages. 1 o clock to me meant, finishing the assignment or being faced with a low grade, it meant it was time to eat healthy or be faced with bad health, it also meant call my girlfriend in London or be faced with her nagging you for not caring.

Over this weekend I realized that time is a medium that we rarely think about. So I want to take this opportunity to explore time as a medium. The first thing I observed was that out of all the mediums we interact with on a daily basis time seems to be the only one that gives us stress. Think about it almost every other medium we interact with, we do so with the intention of gaining some pleasure out of it.


Time is also one of the only mediums that is intangible. Also if we are to define time based on the coded messages and information it carries then I would say that time contains the most information that needs to be decoded. I mean every minute there are so many things happening and so many messages being decoded that time is one of the most interesting mediums.


In your comments please write about other unique characteristics of time so we can get a better understanding of this medium and how we interact with it.

Curiosity in Media---every puzzle must be solved.

Curiosity is in our blood. Humans enjoy solving problems and finding solutions. We learned through our readings that media audiences actively construct meaning. In this blog entry I want to take that idea further and develop it. Media producers encode the message they want to send and the audience decodes the message and then constructs meaning. The message they interpret may be intended or unintended by the producers of media. However I believe that good media producers are ones that create and code their message in ways that appeal to our curiosity and are relatively harder to decode.

Take for example one of my favorite movies, 'the Matrix.' The directors Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski did a very good job of encoding their message. The whole idea of an alternate reality controlled by machines is very hard to understand. The first time I saw this movie I just could not figure out the story. However after watching it several times and discussing it withj my friends I finally encoded the message the director and story writer were trying to convey and I just loved it. As a matter of fact I believe one of the main reasons why people like the matrix was because it appeared to be so deep and philosophical.

I know you may all not agree but allow yourself to understand and appreciate my point. I will give you more examples. 'Inception' was another movie which was hard to decode and that's why I believe people loved it.

My argument can also extend beyond just movies. Think about the riddles or deep statements that people make such as ' the purpose of life is a life of purpose.' think about how you feel when you read that and think about why people like reading or listening to those messages.  

I hope my thesis ignites comments and opposing views.

Below is a video of the matrix decoded on youtube. There is a reason why people like that scene.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmJPjUbwNhk&feature=related

Victoria's Secret is Brainwashing

www.victoriassecret.com/

During the last class we saw the killing me softly video. I honestly found it one of the most interesting videos I have seen. And I want to explore a very famous female undergarment brand named Victoria secret and their effect on the minds of women. We all know that Victoria secret models are the most gorgeous girls in the world,  We know them as being super tall with picture perfect bodies and big breasts and beautiful faces. Take for instance Adriana Lima one of the most iconic models of Victoria Secret.She is supposed to be the role model for young ladies. Think about what insecurities could come about if you aspire to be like her. I mean she is genetically taller and has a body type of a super model. My younger sister has a picture of Adriana in her room. She is only 17 and she is quite short for her age and she tries to starve herself just so she can fit into her jeans. This is appalling, she even asked my mother if she could get a nose job. I think the video is absolutely right and I feel women should realize the effect media is having on them from a young age. They should not aspire to become like these fake women. I am going to send the killing me sofly video to my mother and my sister, and I hope they realize that they are perfect the way they are.

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Infomercials = Intentional Hypnosis

When the professor showed us those videos in class about media and hypnosis it changed the way I look at media. I was never protecting myself from all the commercials and infomercials. So I decided to avoid watching commercials. However this past week I fell into the trap of a very successful infomercial campaign.

Day before yesterday I spent a full half hour watching the p90X infomercial. And I was seconds away from paying them $120 dollars for a few DVDs.Just then I spoke to my parents and in that conversation I realized how unnecessary those Dvd's were. If I want a fit body, I exactly know what to do but that infomercial made me doubt myself by telling me that I need that DVDs to be fit. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyOVeiF3EZc 

 P90X is one of the most successful infomercial products this year and their revenues have exceeded 20 million.Which means that over 200,000 people have become victims to the hypnotic ads and have spent over $120 buying this program.

This week I will be talking about infomercials and how hypnotic they can be. We all watch infomercials. But there are things that we need to keep in mind before we decide to buy something we see on TV. 

 

My last roommate's family is in the infomercial business. And he told me that his family makes a living by creating products that people don't need. He admits that they brainwash a consumer by playing on their fear and greed. Just to put things in perspective his family controls 70% of the infomercial business in Amercia. They have created the shamwow, cami secret, pedegg, iron gym, slap chop, yoshi blade, snuggie, etc.. 

Now in our reading we learnt about the importance of the producers of media and how because of  a profit motive they will play on your fear and greed and sell you products that you don't need. Its absolutely true.

You may argue that some of these products are useful and you do need them. I agree with you, but what you don't know is that when you call them they up sell you the delux version or something else that is absolutely unnecessary. In fact majority of their revenues come from up selling products that are not on the infomercial. Beware of that before you buy something in the future.