Last Blog of my LIFE!!!!!!

First off the topics in this class were very unique and different. I did not expect to learn what I learned in this class which makes it great. My favorites topics were the copycat effects of serial killer and movies and actually the subject we did about diamonds recently.. I find it relevant and most interesting about what humans are capable of by merely watching movies and not distinguishing reality from fiction I guess. Also the diamonds was another interesting one because not only conflict diamonds are a problem but alot of other commodities and interests raise concerns similar to conflict stones.. Also I love blood diamond the movie.
I would have to say my least favorite topic was the media itself like when we talked about the rise of CNN and other news agencies and how they competed with one another. I feel the media is corrupted and doesn't work in our interests but their stock holders interest. This to me is the reason i find it the least likable and don't really care for them. All the topics were relevant however considering its a media justice class I would of like to seen more justice related media. I feel some of the topics were not media related and we could of used class time for better. But overall it was a good choice considering the time limit and interests of students and professors these days.
I would of like to seen more information regarding the serial killings because i find that interesting and more like the diamonds section. But if I were to teach the class I would have added more topics regarding world problems and not just the United States. Also I would of like to give the students an option to give more personal stories and then have discussion questions rather then read certain stories and have questions. I feel it would of created a greater topic relating to the subject. But I like the structure of the class. Using the blogs was interesting, considering I've never used a blog before, it is nice to have experience it. Also class discussions and having required reading for activity points is a good way to make sure the entire class is engaged.. Also using news media like jon stewart was an excellent idea because it keeps us interested and entertained. I believe this is the best way to keep a class engaged and interested. Also professor Castle humor and easy going attitude towards her students is definitely a plus.

Saw 1-4eva!!!

I would like to use the Saw series as my example of justice and film media. First of all I'm assuming most of us have seen or heard of at least of these horror movies. For those of us who haven't seen these horror series. Its about a serial killer who doesn't kill his victims but his victims have a choice to live or die and the choice is theirs. But in order for them to live they have to go through immense pain in order to deserve to live longer. Most of the victims which im sure most people in real life, did not make it through the jigsaws test. Obviously alot of justice and moral issues are represented here. First off most of the victims used were not evil people like murderes or rapists. They were people not appreciating their lives in a sense. Also the justice aspect was since jigsaw "The killer" was not really killing his victims but giving them a choice can he really be liable for murder?
Obviously I believe so and Im sure others agree, but as we can see in court cases the justice system can be twisted and turned to fit anyone's needs. Also keep notice that thorughout the series its also testing the victims by giving them the chance to seek revenge even though most of the other indivduals did not do wrong but did what any normal person would do. By giving these people opportunities to seek pain through killing or choosing not to save others. This poses a moral problem and its hard to say if people would overcome in real life. Anyoways I like the first movie the most and I believe they got carried away in the other movies. But I love this concept and it would be interesting how such a scenario would be handled in our criminal justice system.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKPy5RWuqNA

In a league of their own. 2009

My blog will be about the movie called in a league of their own. First off I would like to say this movie is totally not expected. I didn't realize it was a documentary and it was hard to understand a bit. But anywho lets talk about what the movie was about. Its about football in Australia or I would say rugby and a team was formed called Tiwi Bombers from scratch. In Australia all kids wanted to play rugby and it was a popular sport over their. In the beginning the Tiwi bombers had arough start seeing they were new to playin at a national level. What made it difficult for them to play good was because they lived so far apart and for them to trained together they all must travel a great distance either by boat or car. But the spirit of this team was strong and they endured and used their time efficiently eventually becoming the best for awhile.
  However they like any professional started to get cocky and eventually started doing bad. Also the location they were at sometimes gave them opportunities to drink and do other things where they normally didn't get the chance to do so they exploited it. Eventually didn't train as hard and started to lose again. Eventually the teams started to get jealous of the tiwi bombers because they believed they were gettin special treatment. But they weren't and they eventually started to do again. It is amazing that a team who came from no where did so exceptional. Like one of those success stories that shows a persons capability. This movie was good even though it was difficult to keep up with. Great documentary and it shows the amazing spirit of human beings. 

Reflection on guest speaker...

First off I want to mention that this speaker was very good and I could tell she was passionate about her work and subject. I like how she tried to interact the class as much as possible to keep us interested. As for the lecture itself it was very informative. The statistics surprised me a bit and the relevant information regarding what to do in the situtation was needed. I also was fascinated about the people the young guy interviewed about who attepmted suicide off the golden gate brdge i think said the last thing they were thinking was wishin they didnt jump. Makes me wonder how many suicides think this and could of alter their course and have a normal life now.
 Overall this was a good discussion especially since we are the age group that is more likely to commit suicide. But I do believe their are bigger problems out their that needs more attention. Not saying this isn't important I just wish we could have opportunities like these to spread the word about other things. For example. It was said someone dies from suicide every 2hrs, This is something but every 5 secs a child dies from malnutrtion in the world now to me that is crazy. But I'm glad to hear this because I had friends who had problems and really could of used this info back then.. But like I said great speech and great speaker!!

halloween post!!

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/10/30/wisconsin.mail.prank/index.html?iref=allsearch

My post will consist of hoax's and pranks. The article above relates to a prank from some unknown person in ILL. The packaged was sent to a U.S. senator Russ Feingold in Wisconsin. The senator told police he was not expectin a package and the name on the package was Thomas Jefferson. Regarding the name and the unknown location it was sent from, police deemed it necessary to approach the package cautiously, especially with the recent explosives found on the flights to the U.S. from the Middle East.. That story has been on the news recently like crazy so do a search on it if you wish. After an investigation it was determined it was not a bomb and a board game was found inside.
           I find this story relevant because it was a halloween joke and we must ask ourselves what is funny and how far is to far? Things may seem harmless but as we can see a simple prank can lead to disastrous outcomes. Not only in movies do they portray this, but in fact real life. Halloween is a day to prank people and try to scare them but some people don't know from real and fake and act differently then what the pranksters would of thought. I too was a victim of a prank gone wrong and I still regret doing it. But don't worry it wasn't anything bad just more of a embarrasing thing for myself lol.. Well anyways like anything else think before you act because the outcomes may be different then what u expected.

free blog.. Happy halloween!!

http://shine.yahoo.com/event/halloween/the-haunted-history-of-halloween-2404335/

I decide to make my blog regarding halloween considering its this sunday.. My article is regarding the history of halloween. Halloween actually has a much ancient history to it. Its consider all hollow's day and it is celebrateing the end of fall and begining of winter. It is a mashup between celtic and catholic beliefs and it ranges from worshipping demons to passing out candy to little kids in modern times. It is a 2 billion dollar business for candy makers so they enjoy this holiday alot. Also a little of the history consists of getting rid of evil spirits by lighting torches and wearing costumes to hide from the spirits. So halloween as you can see changed its concept over the centuries. But it came out better in the end I say. Except for dental costs for the parents lol..
          I find this partly relevant also considering we just watch a bunch of movies regarding serial killers and mimicking their behaviors. Halloween is a tradition where people can act out their fantasy so say and this is similar to people acting out horror movie scenes killing people. But anyways I love halloween and I can't wait for this weekend!! I hope everyone has as much fun as I do!!

Reflection on copy cat killers..

I must say this movie was pretty disturbing. First off i was just astonished about the young boy who copied the movie on the man comes into the classroom and literally blows everyone away. I just couldn't believe a movie could influence this. I was horrified about the young boys who copied the scream movie and actually went out of their way to buy a scream mask and plan out their attack on his own mother! This is just disturbing and I couldn't believe kids were that influenced. Especially if they were normal kids in the first place because whats to stop other young kids from commiting the same act. The movie natural born killers didn't seem that great to me and in my opinion that was just more of an action film and resembles others.

The movie I felt disgusted with was the honeymoon killers. These people may or may not have copied the actual movie, but what they did was just wrong and inhuman. Making people fall in love with you then killing them for insurance money is just sick and they deserve the harshest punishment. I believe this is worst then just murdering the people like in the other cases. But I do agree with the female film producer about how they shouldn't stop making horror movies because of few individuals. We can't assume these people were influenced that much by the movie and they didn't have some sort of mental problem before. The movie was just a way for them to carry out their intentional plan anyways.

Faster and more Furious..

My copycat moment I consider the most influential in my life was my street racing scene. When I was younger I loved racing cars and modifying my car to look just as bad as it was fast. So when the movie The Fast and the Furious came out naturally it just intrigue my interest even more and perhaps even started my interest in cars. The movie depicts more then street racing, but that is the main reason why I watched it and my friends also. I literally remember after seeing it in theaters my friends and I would travel town to town racing kids on the interstate or at  a secret location out in the country.
Obviously as I got older my interests in spending money in my car died out. Especially with the fines and cost of modifying and people jacking my equipment. It is funny how things turned out where I was a rebellious guy who I had no care for the law and did what I wanted and now I obey the law like crazy and hardly ever break traffic laws. But once in a rare while I may be driving on the interstate and the feeling of need for speed takes over. Also every new sequel that came out after that movie just made it even harder for me to switch my lifestyle. But it in the end it wasn't worth it and I don't recommend anyone doing it!!! Going a buck thirty on the interstate sounds fun but lives are at stake..

Free Blog..

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101016/ap_on_re_us/us_gps_tracking_warrants

Since I do not really interact with the homecoming activities, I decided to do something else. I read this article awhile back about the FBI secretly places GPS device on Students car without his permission. The device was discovered after the young man took his car for an oil change and the mechanic spotted it and took it off. A few days lata FBI agents came to his house to retrieve their property. A lawsuit is in process due to privacy issues. I find this interesting because according to the FBI it was ok to do this since it was all on public property. I was very confused and couldn't believe what the government is capable of doing and get away with it.
This in my opinion is a breach of privacy laws and big brother needs to give us our privacy back. The problem here is this is only the begininng and eventually they will bug our houses to listening in our phone calls and requiring us to have gps locators in us!! We need to stop this government takeover and the government has to much control. Also this was an obvious case of racial profiling in my opinion due to the students racial and historic background. This is not right and should of been handled differently.

Samoan Wedding.. Movie festival

First off Samoan wedding is about four guys who are best friends. Each of these guys have ruined someone's wedding in the past. The dilemma of the movie is that they are banned from a friends wedding because of their past behavior. In order to be allowed to go each of these men must find a girlfriend before the wedding to be allowed in. Each of these guys have a different personality and to me that is why they all get along so well. They are not competing with each other because they all have differnt interests. This is a good trait whether it be business or living situations. Eventually all the men find a girl at the end they wish to be with and it seems to work out well. Each guy at first was looking for something they were not really meant to be with. This is normal because we all want something but once we get it we realize we didnt really need it. This was a good movie and had alot of hidden meanings in it.

Free Blog 2..

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101011/ap_on_re_as/as_nkorea_succession

My free blog post is gonna be about North Korea. As we can see N. Korea is gettin great attention in the media recent years and especially now. Currently they are in the process of passing power to younger and inexperienced son of Kim Jong Il the current ruler. Recently they just announced Kim Jong Un as being promoted to a 4 star general at age 24-26 and soon leader. This is ridiculous in my opinion considering how inexperienced the young leader will be. The North Korean peninsula has always used its media to intimdate foreign powers by threatening great detterence and nuclear war. N. Korea in my opinion is underestimated because unlike our current war with terrorism. North Korea has one of the largest armies in the world of 1.2 million soldiers and also it is a nuclear powered state. Media and Justice is relevant because The country uses media to its advantage and to allow the world what it wants to know. Also N. Korea uses its media as a way to negotiate with countries and also pass threatening phrases towards its enemies. I think media is used strategically and with military purposes. Its not necessary a free press like the U.S. and that alone makes it relevant on how we recieve info and how we interpret it.

Media and CJ..

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/10/05/new.york.terror.plot/index.html?npt=NP1

 

Im sure most of you have heard about this case by now. It about a pakistan man turned U.S. Citizen named Shahzad.  Shahzad is accused of attempting to set off a vehicle bomb in Times Square on May 1. Shahzad bout the suv and stuffed it with massive amounts of explosive devices hoping to kill 40 ppl or more. He chose Times Square due to its dense population and picked the prime time to park his vehicle and attemp to set off his bomb as he left it parked. Due to faulty equipment the bomb failed to detonate and onlookers saw smoke coming from the vehicle and called the authorities where they determined it was a bomb. Shazhad was arrested two days later while tring to leave the country back to pakistan. The authorities caught him quickly and effectively. He was tried and pleaded guilty to multiple accounts of terrorism and wmd. He was sentenced to life in prison. Obviously this was a high profile case considering its potential damage and location. The media was all over this case and it gave constant facts and updates. Like in the reading it shows how the media can corrupt people's thinking and judgment and I can see this happening here. People were already on edge because of the 9/11 attacks and current war going on. The media I noticed purposely pointed out and noted comments such as praising allah and war on america has just begun. With comments like these it is only showing a bad reputation to the muslim community once again. I even read some of the comments left by ppl all around the U.S. about this story they also showed no remorse and hatred towards muslims not just this individual. I believe this is a problem because not all muslims are terrorists. The media even quoted high profile members of society such as the FBI field office of New York, New York Comissioner, New York senator all staing the same thing justice was given and threatening to those who will follow in Shazhad's footsteps. The media helps control the publics opinion and the politican and high ranking officials have to please the public to get reelceted. So if the media portrays someone as evil and the public agree the high ranking members will due whatever it takes to please the people of America. So CJ can be manipulated easily with media. I do believe this is crime entertainment. It gave people entertainment with gossip, anger and satisfaction which in my opinion resembles anything that reflects the word entertainment. 

Secretary Gates "Afghan war"

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/09/23/military.gates.afghanistan/index.html?iref=storysearch http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39335128
http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/02/22/gates-and-mullen-brief-on-afghanistan/
I found this to be interesting. In the three news networks they in my opinion describe the same story very differently. The CNN article describes gates as saying afghanistan is a slow and tough progress, giving off the impression that the war was not goin as sweet as most would hope for. Whereas the msnbc article states no doubts in afghan war strategy, giving a sense of no problem and smooth sailing feeling so to speak. Fox news just said briefing on afghanistan as if no biased opinion. These were the titles of all three articles. As you can see each news agency is approaching at a different angle. It was quite obvious that all three news agencies covered different material when covering this story. Each agency came at a different angle and highlighted different things. Like the CNN talked more about Obama and military relations whereas the msnbc talked more about the Obama administartion as a whole. The fox news gave more of general facts like using quotes more often and truth and not opinionated in my opinion. This story should be considered important because it does entail our govenrments belief in the war. Considering we have been in this war for 10 year now and its our longest war in U.S. history it all should be relevant in my opinion. But people like always wont care unless it involves them directly in my opinion.

AT&T selling satellite enabled smart phone.!!

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ATT-selling-satelliteenabled-apf-454659908.html?x=0

Im doing this article for a couple reasons. First off I have ATT and ive been a loyal customer for years. However recently in the past year I've had nothing but horrible service everywhere. Its interesting to see ATT takin the next step doing satellite phones. Other companies have tried this attempt with no success. The problem is this phone costs 799 dollars and its very expensive to use. Its also a outside phone because it must be in direct view of the satelllite meaning not very convenient for most users. However a great market for people who work outdoors or go exploring out in the wilderness who need coverage all around. Even though it is only limited to the U.S. this is a interesting topic only because its just showing how our world is shrinking even more. Privacy of the people is a big issue and I believe this satellite phone is not necessary the best thing considering who you are. But our society is changing and are we ready for it?

Grim sleeper serial killer..

My case regards the Grim sleeper serial killer. AKA Lonnie David Franklin Jr. age 57. This article had multiple locations of information. The current one I'm using they used more information about the case itself then the serial killer in my opinion.  The case describes Lonnie as a nice talkative guy according to neighbors. He targeted black women, with some being prostitutes. He shot these women with the same small calibur handgun in each killing. He also lived near where the killings took place. He must of became a well known killer only because they gave this man a title which usually only happens when you have commited multiple killings or unusual type of killings. No stats were given at this partcular site but im sure on other sites their were. The FBI was involved. They had special agent profilers on the case to help solve it. They had profilers sketching images or brainstorming occurences. Also local and state police agenicies were involed. They do not give any names of victimes just brief descritions of cause of death. The community where the murders took place was a low poverty area and low income area made it difficult at first to link the killings together.
Without ballistic evidence and DNA evidence it took years to capture the suspect.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/07/08/grim.sleeper.profile/index.html?iref=allsearch

Story with three different sources..

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/craigslist_shuts_down_adult_services_YJgau778AO16P8pkYJZlBP?CMP=OTC-rss&FEEDNAME=

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-craigslist-20100905,0,2568692.story

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/craigslist-shuts-down-its-adult-services-section/19621332

The following three links are from the New York Post, L.A. times and AOL news. The story title is called Craiglist shuts down adult services section. After reading all three i've noticed overall it was all consistent. However each did give its own examples and defintions. They all stated craiglist will show censorship, but one article just kept saying prostitution and another said adult massages and etc. One of the articles did not give as much info as the others. I do believe some of theses news agencies were a little more dramatic. For example one said something about a older person hooking up with a kid With pictures being shown. Overall I do believe all news agencies vary the facts that way people will always constantly switch stations to see another side of the story.

Deviance in society..

The website I will be using is.. http://mensmakeup.org/   I was doing random research and I couldn't find anything interesting to me until I stumbled across this site. I believe this is a deviant site because typically makeup is for women not for men. This site is a product site selling its product to men, but also a information site. What strikes me even more is the fact how often and normal men use it. With a little research I didn't realize male celebrities or men going in front of the camera's use makeup like women do.. On this site it gives testimonies, different products, before after pictures, colors and various tips. At first I would say most definitely deviant. But now its hard to say if this activity should be considered deviant. I say this only because I didn't realize men going in front of any sort of camera usually uses some sort of makeup. At first when I saw this I thought this was weird, but I guess men would like to have the capabiltiy like women to look good I guess..

Media Fasting..

So I chose Sunday sept 5th as my media fasting day. I chose Sunday because I usually make that my break day from a long weekend.. I always sleep in on the weekends to catch up on my no sleep during the week and long nights on the weekends. What i did to make the time go by.. Well I excercised alot and went swimming for a couple of hours. I then played a card game with the roomates.. I tried to stay in my room as much as possible because my roomates watch t.v. or did things with media througout the day.. I did cheat a little only when family called or I had plans to make up.. So basically my cellphone i cheated a little.. But overall I had alot of homework and reviewin to do anyways.. It is a great way to cleanse your mind in my opinion and I would do it as much as i can.. The phone was the only thing hard to give up.. Making calls and textin wise not media on the phone.

Hourly media...

Saturday...
12pm.. Watch T.V.
1pm texting
2pm.. Internet.
3pm.. phone call
4pm.. T.V.
6pm.. drove to dinner..
8pm.T.V.
10pm.. internet