Blog to the Future: Part One

It is time now to discuss my blogging skills. Over the past few weeks I have made an effort to blog and comment on other's blogs at least once a week. At first, I was very nervous and slow in the blogging process, but I have learned to crank out meaningful blogs every week with a new idea. My forte has definitely been coming up with creative titles that draw in the reader. My first blog was interesting, but a bit wordy and boring. I learned that having an interesting title that hints at something provocative or popular, readers will be more likely to sit through the whole blog. Also, interesting pictures are always helpful to grab a reader's attention.

My later posts integrated more links and pictures, and I was able to relate them to the main purpose of each blog appropriately. However, I am beginning to decrease the amount of content each week, so I will do my best to beef up these blogs with information that people want to read about.

My favorite blog post is Ohana Means Family. In this post, I have an interesting and creative title, along with a colorful and recognizable picture. These are elements that are needed to attract readers. I then go on to talk about a discussion we had in class, and I relate it to a news story that I heard about when I was in Hawaii last year. I think I did a good job of explaining the issue, and if it wasn't clear, I posted a link with more information. Finally, what I like most about this post, I relate the story even further to a household name movie "Lilo and Stitch."
Overall, blogging has been very educational and also very fun. I look forward to reading everyone's posts and I hope that I will continue to grow as a blogger.

J.R.R. Tolkien approves this blog

One topic that came up in class this week was endorsement. Frederick Douglass' narrative about his life was and still is very popular. But why would anyone 150 years ago want to read a book written by a former slave? Also, why was it included on some versions of the book that it was "written by himself"? Could it be that people didn't believe the fact that a black man could write so well? My theory is that the preface was included to add some validity to Douglass' book. While his book was indeed written by himself, there is a big possibility that people back then didn't believe that slaves were capable of writing. Also, the preface attracts a whole new genre of readers. People who enjoy the work of (insert name) will consider reading Douglass' book just because of the endorsement. We see this kind of star power every day.

When a new movie comes out, the commercials, posters, and newspaper ads are littered with stamps of approval from the Rolling Stone, Ebert and Roeper, and an assortment of other magazines and film critics. In almost every commercial, there is a celebrity or athlete representing a product. These endorsements are used to help promote an item or idea. When people see or recognize people on tv whom they idolize, it makes them want to but the product. I like some of these commercials because they are pretty funny. Here's one that I really like:Star Power Commercial

This is the Car for YOU!

One sunny day in early September, I thought it would be a great day to stay inside. Instead of playing football with my brother, I decided surfing the web would be more fun. Who wouldn't, eh? Hmm, I thought to myself, I could use a new pair of shoes, looking at my dirty, torn nikes. I finally found a sweet pair that would do the job. Then, I thought, what is a good pair of shoes if you don't have a sports car to drive with them? Nothing. I then proceeded to the Dodge home page. Dang, I thought, I can't afford the shoes and this Dodge Challenger!

I didn't want one without the other, so I closed both of the tabs. Then, in order to satisfy my Facebook needs, I logged on and checked for any messages or interesting posts. As I was watching a hilarious youtube video of the muppets band that someone had posted, I saw something amazing: THE SHOES I WANTED WERE IN THE SIDEBAR!! NO WAY! I thought, these were the exact shoes that I wanted! what a coincidence! But was I wrong. I went to YouTube to further investigate the muppets band when I spotted.....AN AD FOR THE DODGE CHALLENGER!! woah, man...this is getting weird! Turns out, the next video I watched had the same shoes AGAIN!! OK something is fishy, I thought. Maybe they know. In fact, they have always known, and they will always know. They are advertisers. Using your recent searches, advertisers make it easier than ever to attract the consumers to the products. As creepy as this may sound, I think its kind of awesome.

The Amazing Race

We have talked a lot, recently, about stereotypes and biases people have when they think of different races. The movie we watched showed how even though we may not look similar, we share almost all of our DNA genetic codes. Also, we went over the topic of racial tokenism; generalizations we make based on race. It was brought up in class that television is a part of the reason why we make these unfair associations. I didn't even realize that this was true when I was watching tv, but now I am noticing it more and more.
During class, I was thinking about tv shows that I watch and if this racial tokenism held true for any of them. The office has one black character, Stanley, who works in the office. The others work in the warehouse. In South Park, there is one kid at the school who is black, and his name is Token Black. In Weeds, the only African-Americans are the ones living in bad neighborhoods with drive-by shootings. Why are characters always depicted this way on television?