Meganbauer's Blog

Disney’s Influence on kids

meganbauer — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:19:22 +0000

I am sure everyone has seen at least one disney movie when they were younger. I remember always watching the Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Cinderella and pretending I was one of the Disney princesses. Every little girl wishes she can be just like the Disney princesses, but is that such a bad thing? Many journalist are making Disney movies seem so terrible because they influence young girls to be something they are not. Many people are saying the Disney princesses are all beautiful, thin and seductive which influences little girls to be the same way. I disagree with this because when I was little I didn’t even think of these different ways the Disney movies are portraying girls and women to be. When you are little you don’t even think about this; you just watch the movies because you enjoy them and want to see a happy ending. The media is trying to make these movies sound so bad. I don’t think the media should look too much into it. They are just enjoyable movies and by criticizing each little aspect of the movies ruins them. Every movie made has its flaws but in the end we should not be analyzing everything we should just watch them and enjoy them for the message they are giving to their audience. The Disney movies are giving out a happy message and that no matter what obstacles life brings you, you will have a happy ending. This is a great message that doesn’t need to be criticized.

Spot.us

meganbauer — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:57:12 +0000

David Cohn’s Speech to us was very interesting. I think it is so cool how people financially support others investigations of the news that interest them. This way of reporting news is going to become the next big thing in the media industry. This shows that people really get involved and inspired to report stories because they get to pick what they want to report about and cover. “Through Spot.Us the public can commission journalists to do reporting on important and perhaps overlooked topics”. Like David said, one of their stories was featured in the New York times and the article was about the pacific cabbage garden. These type of topics are defiantly overlooked by the rest of society and its interesting to see them being funded and developed into something big. People feel more free to do their own thing and pitch stories that they are passionate about. Its a great concept that get people very motivated. In conclusion, i really enjoyed David’s speech and I am excited to see how Spot.Us is going to grow in the future! I defiantly think its going to become huge so everyone watch out for Spot.Us.

Music Industry: iTunes, Youtube & Myspace

meganbauer — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:13:39 +0000

The recording industry is growing more than ever. I think more people are getting a chance to be heard from others. Youtube, itunes and myspace are helping a lot. Many young aspiring singers or artist post some of their music on youtube just for fun, but little do they know that some recording studios are looking at their stuff on youtube. For example, 15 yr old, Justin Bieber first got notice by his agent through youtube. He would upload songs just for fun andnow is this huge hit with young teens. He sings the hit song, “One Time”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNI43Q6MNt0. Also a lot of artist are getting a lot of publicity and money from iTunes. iTunes is the number 1 way to downloading great hits from the most popular artist. The bad thing about iTunes is that no one actually goes into stores to buy the actual hard copy of the artist cd. Personally i like iTunes a lot better because its easier to find songs quick and preview them to see if you actually like them. Also if you are lazy like i am sometimes, itunes is just a click away on the computer; where as it takes so much time to drive to a store and buy a cd. In addition sometimes you may not like some songs on the whole cd so iTunes lets you pick certain songs that you want. Its defiantly more convenient. Lastly, Myspace is another great for artist to get their music heard. I have a lot of friends that record their own music and post it on myspace. This gives others a chance to listen to their music and comment on it just like youtube. All these different sites are making the music industry grow.

Facebook: good or bad?

meganbauer — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:33:55 +0000

Is Facebook good or bad? I believe Facebook is a very good way to communicate with family and friends across the world. Facebook does have bad aspects about it but I think the good out weighs that bad. Facebook is a way to show everyone who you really are. You can express who you are through pictures, videos, quotes, comments etc. Facebook has so many different cool stuff you can do from farmville to mafia wars or sending bumper stickers or just leaving a simple comment. Especially being in college, its a great way to connect with classmates or friends at different colleges. It helps people stay in touch without wasting minutes talking on your cell phone. Even some businesses have Facebook groups to stay connected to their employees or to get publicity. Its gone way past just teenagers using it. It is becoming more popular with parents and businesses.

The negative aspect of Facebook is that it is very distracting. Well at least for me it is. Everytime I go on my computer I have to check my facebook. And sometimes I will end up being on it for an hour or two talking to friends which is a bad habit. This is especially bad when I am in class because it distracts me from the teachers lectures. It always distracts me from doing my homework. Its not good. Its kind of sad how facebook can take a huge importance in ones life. Facebook has become a huge part of the media. EVERYONE knows about it. In conclusion, I think communication is very significant in the society today and Facebook is the number 1 way to communicate with people all over the world there fore Facebook is good.

Are Blogs Important?

meganbauer — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:31:32 +0000

At the beginning of this term I thought blogging was pointless and boring but then once I researched it and started doing it I found out that there is a huge importance to blogging. Blogging can lead to great things. For example, in the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/technology/14youth.html, young teen fashion bloggers are being discovered by top labels. When some teenagers are blogging about subjects they are interested in like shoes or fashion, their opinion and ideas go along way and intrigue fashion icons. One blogger, Jane Aldrige, expressed her love for shoes and was discovered by Urban Outfitters to create her own shoe line. She was also confronted by Kanye West to create a shoe line for him. This shows that blogs are very important.

Blogs give a chance for people, all different types of people, to share their thoughts and opinions on stuff that interests them. This is very significant in our society. By expressing how you feel about something, you are showing your true personality. Society is very judge mental and critical on everything you say so thats why blogging is important in expressing oneself. I enjoy blogging now because I get to show my opinion on different subjects and get feed back from others and what they think. Blogging is like an argumentative conversation between many people and thats why I am starting to like it and thats why it is important in society.

Audience Fragmentation

meganbauer — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:04:49 +0000

Audience Fragmentation is a division of audiences into small groups due to the wide spectrum of media outlets. I believe that audience fragmentation is killing the music industry. A lot of people may disagree but if you think about it now we have itunes and lime wire which takes the place of actually buying an artists record. For example, artists like Britney Spears, Michael Jackson and Madonna probably sold way more records when they were first starting out then now-a-days because of music downloading programs on the internet. Now we have programs that allow you to just buy a couple songs from different albums where as back in the day people actually had to go into music stores and buy the whole album. The music industry, in my opinion, is getting screwed over. They are making way less money in record sales then ever before. I think the only way for music artist to make money is to come out with a couple of really good hit songs. This is because people are only interested in buying a couple of hit songs on itunes rather then buying the whole album. Another way music artist can make a lot money is by performing in concerts. People would pay a lot to see britney spears or michael jackson in concert. So basically to over come this audience fragmentation artists must make hit songs and have many concerts. In conclusion, I believe audience fragmentation is only going to get worse as technology grows in the future. It could be a good change or a bad change for the music industry.

Swine Flu- get vaccinated!

meganbauer — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:46:57 +0000

You have probably heard so much about the swine flu and are probably sick about hearing about it. But I think its a great topic to talk about especially because I just went through it. The past week i have been fighting the swine flu and phnuemonia at the same time. Its a huge deal and I think everyone should try and get the vaccination.

On yahoo news I found an interesting story about how when the vaccination becomes available again, doctors are only going to give it to pregnant women and kids first. Do you think that is fair? A lot of people agreed that priority people should get the vaccination first but then a select few thought it should be given out on a ” first come, first serve” basis. Nevada is using the first come, first served basis with the vaccination where as Oregon, California, Wyoming and other states have priority groups. The article says, “We assertively asked those who were not in the priority group to move to the end of the line, so when we ran out of vaccine, those people who were left were those who were not at risk,” said health officer Dr. Gary Oxman. “And people have responded well to it.” So this shows that more people respond strongly to the priority groups. I agree. I think the people at higher risk like kids and pregnant women should get vaccinated first.

The swine flu is not a fun thing to have so i recommend everyone should get vaccinated when it comes out again. Some people are saying it should come out in november. This is a very important topic even though you have probably heard it a thousand times. In conclusion, Swine Flu has been declared a national emergency so therefore it is good to keep talking about it.

T.V. shows. What’s good, what’s bad.

meganbauer — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:23:17 +0000

So my last blog was about movies and how to pick an enjoyable movie to go see. This week I have really been into watching a lot of different T.V. shows. You might think I am a little bit obsessed with T.V. because this week I watched a total of 6 different shows. Some shows where reality but some where just normal scripted ones. I prefer to watch scripted shows with real actors and actresses in them instead of the fake reality shows that are only on T.V. to put fake drama into fake people lives. It gets really old. I feel like all reality shows have know point to them. I don’t really learn anything from them because there is no point or moral to them. I have a friend that lives in LA and knows some of the stars of “The Hills” reality show on MTV. My friend told me its all fake. Producers tell the reality stars what to talk about and where to go to cause drama. I know its hard to believe. But some people are still so fascinated in other peoples lives they become obsessed with it and the drama. Drama makes the ratings increase because some people enjoy watching drama. Which, to me, is pretty bizarre. The good thing about reality T.V. is that a lot of people can relate to certain situations the characters are in. And thats with a lot of T.V. shows not just reality shows. For example, I can relate to some situations in Gossip girl because the characters are in college and going through the average college experiences like having a bad roommate or having a hard time adjusting to college life. In conclusion I think the most worth while shows are the ones that you can relate to, one with a positive message, or one you can actually learn facts from like the Discovery Channel.

How to pick out a movie to watch!

meganbauer — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 21:22:52 +0000

Have you ever sat on your couch with your TV on and spent an hour just figuring out what to watch? Ya it sucks! Same thing with movies. You don’t know what you want to watch and it takes you so long to decide on a movie. You don’t know whether to watch a scary movie or romantic or action packed. The world of media gives us so many options and sometimes it drives me crazy! When I am picking a movie to watch I try to go for movies I haven’t seen so that i am really into it and not just bored with a movie I have already seen. I absolutely hate scary movies so those type of movies are just out of the question. I have made up a pretty good plan on how to choose the perfect movie to watch.

So 1st go to yahoo.com under the movies section, and then look at the top 10 box office movies on the left because those movies are ranked high for a reason- they are obviously enjoyable and many critics and other people like them; then read each description and narrow your selection down based on the type of movie it is( for ex. I hate scary movies so i would drop Pandorum from my selection). And once you get down to the top 2 movies that interest you then watch the trailers and read what the media critics say about them. The critics are usually really good at expressing how they feel about a movie and if it is worth the 10 dollars or not. For this weeks movie selection I am choosing to see Inglorious Bastards! I love action and it had all the mainstream actors in it! I cant wait. hope this helps you!