Bloggy MacBloggerson

I have a Facebook page, but not a MySpace page. I check my Facebook about every day, I spend about ten minutes on it at the most. My Mom also has a Facebook page.

To my friends Facebook is just another part of life, it is not anything special it’s just what everybody else has. My Mom uses Facebook mainly for the games on it and a little for the sake of reconnecting with people she used to know. My Grandparents have heard of Facebook but are not even vaguely interested in it. Facebook would not be important, not to mention unheard of. Since nobody else would have Facebook no one would be interested in it.

During the industrial revolution the telephone was a luxury. Teens wrote letters to each other at some points but mostly interacted with each other when they got together at various places such as shows and parties because people would invite any people in the city they were acquainted to and their entire families . Hunter- gatherer societies socially  interacted with each other as they pleased, they just spoke to others in their same societies because they were incapable of travelling to or communicating freely with other societies. In the 1980′s every household had a telephone, making social networking easier because a friend was only a phone call away. This made communication possible from miles away, so plans could be made very easily and socializing with friends became much less of a luxury and more of a need.

I visited the Facebook page of someone I did not know very well and the first thing I realised about this person was that he clearly did not go on Facebook very often. His wall had no recent posts within the last three months. From reading what he had put down I could tell he was funny, nerdy and seemed to have generally good morals. This person is already my friend on Facebook because you cannot look at someone’s profile unless you are their friend. From what I read on this persons Facebook I think that I would like to know them better.

Facebook “compartmentalizes” the way you provide information in the “Info” box in simple sections, such as Birthday, Hometown, Relationship Status, Religious Views, Political Views, Favourite Music, etc. Though the information laid out in acebook may be able to let you know a lot about the persons interests, depending on the way that the information is filled out by the person how much you know about the persons personality. By talking to a person in person one can learn much more about them than what they would learn on Facebook.

Three websites that deal exclusively with media related issues are http://ca.msn.com/, http://www.sympatico.ca/, and http://www.people.com/people/. These sites are all very similar. Essentially, they all show you the same thing, they give you updates on what is going on in celebrity lives, different discoveries made, and any other information that they think you will find appealing. I do not have anything against these sites, but, personally, I almost never use them. These sites try to appeal to all audiences, they give celebrity updates mostly but they may also give information such as good movies to watch or the first case of H1N1 in a certain area. This broad range  of content helps these sites to appeal to as many audiences as possible. People is different from the other two because it focuses much more on celebrity life and has very little concerning anything else.

American Graffiti (1973) and Star Wars (1977) were the two films which helped George Lucas, the founder of Pixar Animation Studios, make it big. Though the films are made by the same director, they have surprisingly little in common. American Graffiti is about a group of boys the night before they go to college and Star Wars is about a group of space travelling rebels who unite to fight the evil empire.

            The two films have one unifying theme. The world is full of different people with different experiences who all make different decisions. This is the main theme in American Graffiti. It plays a smaller part in Star Wars, three people with very little in common are brought together for different reasons and in the end they accomplish something great together and start a friendship.

            American Graffiti is about four boys and all they do in one night. Curt Henderson is having doubts about whether he should go to college at all the night before he is supposed to leave. He then spends the rest of the night chasing a blonde who he has never met. Steve Bolander does not have any doubts about going to college. He spends the night trying to patch things up with his girlfriend after he suggested that they date other people. John Milner ends up taking a little girl all over town with him and keeps trying to get rid of her but she does not cooperate and stays with him the whole night. Steve lends Terry Fields his car and Terry is forced to take care of the car as well as live up to the expectations brought on by the car.

  Steve Bolander (Ron Howard) 

 Terry Fields (Charles Martin Smith)

 John Milner (Paul Le Mat)

   Curt Henderson (Richard Dreyfuss)

            The movie is set in a town at night, and therefore uses minimal lighting and plenty of scenery; daylight is not seen until the end of it. Lucas uses minimal special effects in the movie. The movie takes place in the 1960’s and uses the rock and roll hits of the time for music. The music helps to give the audience a good feel for the time period of the movie.

            Star Wars is about a boy, Luke Skywalker, who lives on a small farm and feels he could be doing more with his life. He dreams to join the rebellion against the galaxy’s empire. He ends up in possession of two droids which were part of the rebellion, in an attempt to find the droids the empire kills Luke’s family. Luke decides to go with Obi-Wan Kenobi to meet with Princess Leia Organa on her home planet. They find the smuggler Han Solo and pay him to take them to her planet. While they are travelling the empire destroys the planet with their ultimate weapon, the Death Star. When Luke and company arrive where Leia’s home planet should be all they find is the Death Star. They are captured but manage to hide aboard the Death Star when they realize that Leia is aboard the station. They each rescue her for their own reasons, Luke in a sense of heroism, and Han does it for the reward. After they escape from the Death Star they destroy it together.

             Luke Skywalker ( Mark Hamill)

        Han Solo (Harrison Ford)

           Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher)

            One can tell there was more work put into Star Wars than American Graffiti. This film uses constant special effects which are amazing for its time. This film also has much more complex sets. Sets were filmed on location for any scenes filmed in the desert. Entire buildings, such as Luke’s house, were built for the purpose of this movie. Special effects, like explosions, lasers and space ships, are used constantly in this film, years later, when computer animation was possible, he added newer clips to the movie. Star Wars also had its own soundtrack with songs made specifically for it. One can see that Lucas also uses camera and cuts much more effectively in Star Wars than American Graffiti. All these facts result in Star Wars being the more popular of the two.

            Though Lucas put more effort into Star Wars, his theme is portrayed more effectively in American Graffiti. Star Wars is more of an action movie which takes away from the theme of the two movies. Lucas successfully managed to marry his theme to the comedy in American Graffiti. The comedy aspect, instead of taking away from the theme, adds to it, with most of the different people being portrayed in the movie being portrayed in a comical manner but still getting the theme across to the viewer. It especially succeeds in portraying the theme in the very end when it shows that the four main characters were based on real people.

            George Lucas succeeded in portraying a common theme in two movies with virtually nothing else in common because he is a very capable, insightful director.

In my opinion, a hero is someone who fights for what they believe in. A real hero doesn’t just follow the crowd.

An example of a true hero, not the comic book variety, from a movie would be Atticus Finch. Atticus is a character from Harper Lee’s Novel To Kill a Mockingbird. It si set in the 1930′s, a time when racism against blacks had hardly even become an issue in anyones mind, everyone excused it as normal. Everyone but Atticus. Atticus stands a for blacks even though he knows of the horrible reputation it gives him. He tries to save Tom Robinson even though he knows he is going to lose the case. That does not make him give up. When Scout attacks other students at her school for insulting Atticus, he tells her not to do it again because he can take the torment brought with being different.

Another movie hero would be Oskar Schindler from the movie Schindler’s List. Oskar is a WWII Nazi, but not many others know that he is not exactly Nazi material. Instead of persecuting and killing Jews, he saves them. He has them work in his factory so they are not taken from him. The other Nazi’s excuse it as him just using them as slaves, but he is really saving them from the holocaust. He originally hired the Jews because they would cost less money to have work for him, but he ends up spending most of the fortune earned at the factory on saving more Jews. He is fully aware that he could be killed for this, but he takes that chance and stands up for what he believes in.

Should cell phones be aloud in schools? A simple yes or no question, then why is it so hard to find the answer. Cell phones are a part of modern life, but they are often thought of as nothing but a distraction to students. There is strong argument on both sides.

            Many parents buy cell phones for their children to bring to school and use in the case of an emergency. Anything could happen while a child is at school, and they may need to contact their parents and their parents may need to contact them. Something as simple as a power outage in the school could call for a cell phone. Or it could be something more serious, such as a bomb threat.

            Cell phones can also be used for something as simple as a student forgetting something, such as their lunch, at home. Not everyone will always have money with them to use for the school pay phones or else they would be able to buy their lunch. The same thing could happen with assignments, textbooks, etc. that could have been left behind.

            Cell phones are a part of modern society and cannot be stopped. Some think that the school authorities should embrace the idea of cell phones. Cell phones could become learning tools which teachers should embrace the idea of using them.  It is possible that cell phones are not aloud in schools because they are not understood as what often happens between to different generations.

Cell phones can definitely be used for good in a school environment and that must not be forgotten. However, there are definitely some problems which could be associated with the use of cell phones.

The number one reason teachers have a problem with cell phones is that they are common distractions. A student’s cell phone could ring in class distracting the other students. There have also been many cases of students being caught sending text messages in class. Students have also been caught texting during exams and tests as a way of cheating.

            Students can also use camera phones to take pictures of a test and use the pictures to help another student cheat. There have also been cases of students taking inappropriate pictures with there camera phones and posting them on the Internet.

            School authorities have pointed out that difficulties can occur if too many students are calling their parents in emergency situations. Students may not be paying attention to what is going on or might overload cell phone systems. Also, cell phones can very well be the cause of an emergency like a bomb threat. Cell phones are also often used in school for the distribution of illegal drugs. They are also among the top stolen items in school.

            The arguments against having cell phones in school are clearly very strong, but one must not forget the other side of the argument.  I believe that cell phones should be aloud in school but should have necessary restrictions put on them.

I believe that students should be aloud to have cell phones with them in school as long as they are turned off during class and only used outside class. Students should be able to use their phones in the hallway and have them confiscated if used in class.

The idea of cell phone systems overloading because panicked adolescents were making too many calls, but cell phones may still be useful if control over the students is taken and people of authority are making the calls. Cell phones are still useful if there is an emergency of smaller proportions or if the student has any other reason to call home.

The fact that a cell phone can be a distraction in class is why teachers should be aloud to confiscate a student’s phone if they are misusing it in class. As was stated earlier, cell phones could be used as learning tools. Teachers could be using the technology to their advantage.

Camera cell phones can be used just as easily as a regular digital camera. Even if cell phones are taken away from a student they could just as easily use an ordinary camera for the same purposes. If a solution is being searched for for the case of camera’s being used inappropriately the banning of cell phones is not that solution.

Students should know that there is a risk of anything being stolen in school. It is up to the student to understand the risk of having their phone stolen at school and decide whether to risk taking it with them or not.

Cell phones are a part of modern society and cannot be simply banned from schools. School authorities should embrace the advantages and accept the disadvantages of having cell phones in school because there is no way they can stop what is coming to them.

For media studies I was to write a paper about how my views on a topic have changed. Here it is.

            When I was younger I was very prejudiced against gays, but now I have changed my opinions and have nothing against them. I have changed my views because I have met and even befriended gays.

            When I was younger I was very against the idea of gay marriage. I would be rude and offensive toward them. I strongly believed that gay marriage should not be allowed and was wrong.  I believe that I must have also had a slight case of homophobia because I never wanted to be near a gay.

            My views of gay marriage have changed drastically since then. I believe that there is nothing wrong with gay marriage and I now think the idea of banning it is wrong. I now feel that gays deserve as much rights as any other person and that by now this should not be an issue at all in our country. I think that since we as a country believe that any prejudice races we should have no prejudice against any other lifestyles. I have spoken to many homosexuals and find them to be decent people who deserve to be treated the same as any other person.

            The above outlines how my opinions on something could change so drastically. I know that my and others opinions of any matters now could also change this drastically. I now believe that gay marriage should even be thought about twice.

this is bs. i tried to throw a video on this blog and it told me to “get the video upgrade”.. which costs $$$$!! not even cool. this claims to be a free blog but it costs money to put anything on it. i tried to make my blog on blogger but it had some problem with me and i couldnt. uggghhh. here i am trying to make my blog vaguley amusing and it does this! i may have to write short stories or something to make up for my lack of cool stuff on this thing.   and i also note that one must highlight the title of the blog to read the whole thing, but that could be my fault.

this is my way awesome cool blog.  you may encounter som ecomplications from too much exposure to pure awesome!!! prettty bloglike eh? i might ditch this blog in a month, actually i more than likely will. peace