State of the Media

Well it is good to know that I'm not in the "in crowd" in television viewership.  

I'm a ABC kind a girl.  I think some of that was formed because of my time overseas and exposure to Armed Forces Network (AFN).  Much of the news coverage was ABC with a sprinkling of other news affiliates here and there.  Also my childhood was spent watching Joan Lunden on Good Morning America.  My mom watched every morning when I was a little girl.

I was surprised by how popular NBS Nightly News was and I knew that the Today Show dominated as it has for decades.  Poor CBS trailing in the pack.  But I still watch CBS Sunday Morning like clockwork.  Another one of those family traditions instilled in me.

What I am not surprised by is the surge of online media taking command as the traditional outlets of newspapers, magazines, and television slowly losing ground.  What I was surprised by was the strength that radio still has.  But then I thought about for a moment and remember all the road trips to my folks' house in Texas and how I am a captive audience for 12 hours in my Suburban flipping through radio stations until I can find one that I will enjoy.  Makes me wonder if Sirius or Pandora is worth the money?

Ethics Decision Making

Okay this touches very close to home for many reasons.  

The first case about "Miracle Match" and whether accuracy plays a key in journalism.  At my job, I see various individuals every day struggling with life "speed bumps".  Monikers that they carry because not everyone in society is felon forgiving.  This was a very touchy story about the gift of life and about a man who is legitimately trying to turn his life around.  Yet I would agree with the letters to the editor, that Alton Rowe Jr didn't need his "dirty laundry" aired to the American public.  Yes, journalism is supposed to be unbiased but how relevant were his arrests to the article?

Plagiarism:  Stolen Words: How One Paper Responded... that was a clear case to me having signed so many ethics code agreements in college.  Michael Kinney probably had as well during his studies and would have been keenly aware of what he was doing and the consequences involved.  His race should have no merit in this discussion.  What he did was wrong and the result was he was fired which was a just reaction.

Privacy: I agree with the article "Brave Girl Now Victim Without A Name", everyone was eager to put the young girl's name out there to save her life but to retract because of the circumstances of her abduction and resulting capture and charges of her abductor.  I am a recent victim of rape.  I am going through the painful process of the court system.  My rape does not make nor does it make her less of a person.  We are brave enough to stand up to our attackers and have them held accountable.  Do not lessen us making us feel invisible.  Hear us scream, see how we are taking to steps to heal, admire our courage, but DON'T ignore us.

Internet Safety

Okay, I know that I am dating myself with this blog but when the internet first became popular in the early 90's, this topic was hot on a young mother's mind.  My children were in grade school and internet was the "coolest" thing out there.

My ex-husband and I would monitor what sites the kids could go on and who they were chatting with.  Back then it wasn't much of a problem as it is today, but it was still a problem none the less.  

I wish the games that the games that Professor Baltrip had mentioned were available back then.  As an adult, they were a bit corny.  But of the two I enjoyed the AT&T Safety game more even though the background music as a tad on the ridiculous side.

The Bad Guy Patrol was a little too cheesy for me.  But then again, I'm not a kid anymore (well maybe one a heart).  The whole capture the flag concept reminded me of summer camp and those aren't the best childhood memories I have.

I know at work when customers bring children in, we will let them use the computers to play games on the Disney or Nick Jr websites.  But even with those you still have to be careful.  Parents should monitor where their children are on the internet and to whom they speak too.  It's not about trusty them, it's about loving them and being a responsible parent!
 

Banning Profanity

This is a very difficult topic, a double edge sword as it were.  On the one hand, I agree that internet should not be censored.  As a former member of the military, I fought for the rights of freedom of speech.

But as a parent, I do feel that there is some responsibility on my part to ensure that my children are not exposed to material that is not age appropriate.  They are adults now and free to make their own choices.

The internet was a gift and free to all users.  But that gift should not be abused.  Government already interferes in my aspects of our lives that they didn't thirty, fifty, or even one hundred years ago because someone did not USE common sense.  If only everyone was issued common sense like the military issues uniforms.  Alas, that's only in a perfect world.

Responsible adults should be making the choices and those who are offended can simply click the mouse and move on.  Or better yet, unplug the computer.

The chroma key aka "green screen" processing is the latest development in the special effects imaging world.  The process is a relative to the original bluescreen technique developed in the 1930's by RKO Radio Pictures as a travelling matte.  This process allowed cinemaphotographers to layer images enabling actors to appear to be in places or scenes that truly did not exist.

 

Oz: The Great and Powerful is a beautiful example of how Chroma Key technology excels.  The film starts off in black and white and layers period styling to the film.  When James Franco's character crosses into the Land of Oz, the film explodes with color and creatures of wild varieties.  China Doll, who is one of my favorite characters, has the appearance of china.  None of this would have been possible without the green screen special effects.

The technology continues to grow.  I remember films like the original Star Wars trilogy and how we were all amazed at the special effects in 1977.  Then George Lucas reimages the films to add the ideas and visions had originally envisioned but he was unable to achieve because the technology just wasn't there yet. 

It will be very interesting to see how films will look in another 20 to 30 years.

The Great Train Robbery

It is amazing to think that the invention of the motion picture camera was only six years ago when this film was made. It must have seemed very advanced to the average movie watcher. The special effects were realistic for that time frame even though they appear very corny to us today.

 

Thomas Edison was very proud of all his achievements and I am sure this was definitely one of his crown jewels.  I wonder if he was even thinking about the longivity that this film may see. 

Today it is one of the oldest motion pictures in existence. a time capsule as it were into early 20th century.  The Library of Congress has it registered in their directory as a piece of cinematography. 

On a lighter note, Edwin Porter made a parody of his film in 1905 called "The Little Train Robbery".  The cast was made entirely of children.  Interesting little fun fact.

 

 

Blue Store or Redbox

Blockbuster vs Netflix interesting concept.....like the newspapers, Blockbuster has seen its market share plummet thanks to the introduction of Netflix.  I personally have never used Netflix but my kids do all the time.  They love the idea of getting a movie and being able to return it.  

I'm old school though.  If I get a movie, it's because I want to own it and all the special features that come all with it.  I have over 730 DVDs in my collection.  Yes the idea of Netflix is that of convenience and Blockbuster has always been on the mind set of getting the most money they possibly can.  But customer service is the key to a successful business strategy and without that Blockbuster will never be able to compete with Netflix.