Media Deprivation

This Media deprivation assignment was a lot harder than I thought. I choose to the assignment on the Friday after thanksgiving. I figured it would be easy because it was just a Saturday. I told my entire house what was going on and that they should not disturb my assignment. So I woke up in the morning around 10 and yelled that I was coming downstairs so if anything was on, they needed to cut it off. So I come down and see breakfast so I eat. While im eating I can hear my brother talking on the phone, I just shook my head in disgust. So after I was done eating I went to my room, my original plan was to get some school work done. But that plan quickly became something different when my phone started to ring. So the next thing I know I am ignoring 5 different calls and about 3 different text messages in less than 10 minutes!!! I never realized my phone did that much in so little time. So I cut my phone off and that distraction was eliminated. Once my phone cut off I was going to go back to my original plan of getting some school work done…did not happen, I ended up dozing off. When I woke back up it was about 3pm. I walked around my room looking for ANYTHING to do, and there was nothing I could do that would not violate the rules. There was no face book, no cell phone, no television. I just knew I wouldn’t be able to finish the assignment. So after my meltdown I went to go help my father rake leaves. I never realized how many trees we had in our backyard, It felt like I was raking forever. But after raking my father went to watch the LSU game…I wanted to go so bad but of course there was nothing I could do. This assignment was way harder than I expected it to be. I expected it to be a breeze, but I did not know 24 hours was such a long time. This experience taught me a whole lot well basically that my life is a giant media circus and I love it that way. I regret to say I almost made it but when LSU and Arkansas went into overtime, I had to take a peek. I did not want to but the sports fan inside of me had to take a look. But this assignment was a fun and tough at the same time, I think it is a great challenge for us as college students.

TV vs Print

I never really thought about the argument of print versus television until I read this article. Neil Postman put up some excellent points on why print is important to our lives. But Camille Paglia had some excellent points of her own. While Postman;s points made me think that books have more reason than television. “By its nature, reading teaches us reason. Television, with its random, unconnected images, works against this linear tradition and breaks the habits of logic and thinking.” It was still Paglias’s argument that Television is often misinterpreted and my biasness to the television that led to Paglia winning me over. Paglia did not have to much to win me over, I LOVE TV.

Early in the defense of television Paglia argued that television is important in everyday life no matter if we like it or not. “Television is the culture”. Paglia also talked about how people mainly adults often talk about children not learning anything from watching television, but children often do recall many of the facts they learn on television rather than what they read from a book. I agree with Paglia when she says “We are born into an imagistic and pagan culture ruled by TV.” To end the article she talks about enlighting the children in our schools, so that can understand the logocentric and apollonian side of their world.

Scary Movies

Noseratu was a diffrent and crazy movie. It was long and very hard to comprend. It was basically a early day scary movie. With tht music playing in the background and no sound. The movie not having sound and only subtitles must have made it very difficult for people in those times that could not read.

So if they could not read, i guess going with them to the movies is very difficult. I did not think the movie was scary at all. But i feel the most important part of the movie was when that vampire was killed and everything returned to normal. I feel this was the most important part of the movie because it was the part that was most easliy connected to movies from today. Like I could see the simliar structure that movies from today have. The Good guy always has a scare but ends up coming out on top in the end. There was the woman (Nina) in disstress and everything. So it was very similar to movies from today just without the speical effects and of course sound.

Midterm: Is Michael Vick truly a Dirty Bird?

It seems that many in the media like to see celebrities and rich people fall to a low social standing. The news has shown us the falls of great performers from Michael Jackson, to Britney Spears. Now they have turned their attention to athletes, from O. J. Simpson to current news involving Atlanta Falcons star quarterback Michael Vick.

In 2001 the superstar quarterback was supposed to revolutionize the national football league. Vick was two-time NFL pro bowler; in 2003 he received the ESPY award for being the best NFL player. In 2006, Vick became the only quarterback in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards in season. Michael also gave a lot back, in 2006 Vick created the Vick Foundation. A non profit foundation, that supports at risk youth in the Virginia area. Vick also donated $1000 to the families that were affected by Virginia Tech. All the accomplishments and charity work Michael had, he was not seen as a winner in Atlanta. Several newspapers and magazines were calling for Michael to be benched after the playoffs. But in July of 2007 it got worst, when Vick was accused of dog fighting which is a felony. That is when the tables turned on Michael completely. I feel like that is when Michael began being portrayed as a bad man. “People who believe they are above the rules need to learn what integrity.” (ESPN, August 2007) I saw a newscast on ESPN, and they showed Michael as a straight criminal and it was not fair. Several athletes took up for Michael, and there help was quickly pressured into retractions. Athletes like Clinton Portis, and Stephon Marbury were supporting Vick , the next day after pressure from their organizations quickly came back and went to the opposite of their statements.

I do not believe there was a racial profiling here but I believe that if Peyton Manning was to get caught in the same situation there would not as much problem. In my opinion if Manning was put in the same situation dog fighting would have easily been made into a sport. Vick had endorsements from Nike, which where put on suspension until further notice. Vick was even suspended from the Falcons training camp before the season even started off of allegations. “Michael Vick was ordered by commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday to stay away from the Atlanta Falcons' training camp until the league reviews the dog fighting charges against him.” (FoxSports.com, July 2007). Although Vick was on paid leave, I do not think that Vick should have had his lively hood taken away from him before he was proven guilty. To me it seemed the league was more worried about its image than how Vick prepared for his upcoming season. All this is a power hungry commissioner, taking away some ones life because he worried about the leagues image.

Once Vick was backed into a corner when his co-defendants all pleaded guilty it put Vick into a situation where it was his partners and the world against him. SO of course Vick took the day to think about what he should do. By the end of that day Vick had decided to take the plea agreement and maybe receive a lesser sentence. Once Vick accepted the deal, it was all over ESPN and CNN and MSNBC. It just was because of his status and his name. I feel like people all over the world dog fight and because of Michael’s celebrity and ability to make money off of him, the media makes him there meal ticket. Not long after pleading guilty Vick issued an apology to everyone. I think it was a very moving apology and he meant every word of it.To kick a man while he is down is just wrong. Michael poured his heart into every season he played with the Atlanta Falcons. While all of this is taking place Falcons owner Arthur Blank was trying to take money away from Vick. Blank sued Vick and won, now Vick must pay back almost $20 million dollars. I feel that is not at all fair. Vick signed a contract, and the money that was already given to him he earned.

Michael Vick was an American hero when he led the Falcons into the playoffs and became the first team to when at Lambeau Field in the playoffs. Vick also led the Falcons to the playoffs in 2004 where they lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in the Conference Championship. But Vick could still never win with the media. It was always talk about how he was not a quarterback and how would limit the team. But the fact is looking at the Atlanta Falcons right now, Michael Vick was clearly the backbone of that team. Im not saying what Michael did was, not wrong. Im saying Michael did not deserve to have his name dragged through the mud because of a poor decision he made to fight dogs. Michael showed, his remorse and will do his time and I feel like when he gets out he should be allowed to return to the NFL. Without Michael the Falcons and the league are missing a lot. The way Michael has been treated is just an example of how the media can be your best friend or your worst enemy.

Bibliography:

Reyes, Robert. American Chronicle. Stephon Marbury Defends Michael Vick, August 27, 2007http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=36098
ESPN.com August2007
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=easterbrook/070816

Foxsports. com August 2007
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7052768

Current Media Habits

My Current media habits, are not very deep. But I do indulge in the media very deep. I read the Washington Post. While I am reading the Post, I am mainly in the Sports section or every now and again I take a peek inside the Entertainment section. I also pretty much live on ESPN. Nine times out of ten my television is on ESPN and thats all that really interest me, I know that’s not the best route to go but I like sports, what can I say. But my habits have improved a lot, considering I did not used to read anything about the news but now before I look at the Sports page I might take a glance at a headline or two. I personally am biased to news dealing with my area. I understand a lot goes on in the world outside of where I live but the news directly in my back yard effects me. I envision my media habits getting a lot more serious as I grow but as for right now I am pretty satisfied reading my sports section. I should probably stop wasting newspapers and just check it out online, I am probably wasting a lot of newspapers so ill work on it.

Who is Jason Powell?

My name is Jason Powell, I am a sophmore here at UMBC. I am on the track team, I am a sprinter I run the 200 and 400 meter dashes as well as relays. I choose UMBC over schools such as Temple, Delaware State, and Hampton. I chose UMBC because it has a a good campus and as a honors college it just seemed like it would better me and my future. I came to this class because I am undecided on a major and thought that taking this class would help me decide if I wanted to major in Media and Communications. By taking this class, I want to learn alot more about the media and how it works. By ganing a college degree, i feel i would better the chances of getting a good job and allow me to get where I want to be in life.