State of Play

Before I drove myself crazy from homework and solitude, I recently decided to get away and drive to Fargo to see a flick. Once reaching the movie theater, we realized that there wasn’t anything that we haven’t seen, or a movie that we wanted to see. So we nonchalantly picked a random movie neither of us knew anything about called State of Play starring Russell Crow.

After our popcorn purchase, we headed towards the right to theater 6, sat down and starred aimlessly as the movie previews. It was then that I looked around to see that my boyfriend and I were the only people in the theater under at least the 50 years of age. We then started observing the age of everyone that started walking in door, and it was after what looked like the whole Red Hats Society of Fargo entered the row in front of us that we decided to ditch that movie as soon as I love You, Man started at 7:45pm. Until then we sat back while State of Play took over the big screen…..

To my great surprise, this movie ridiculously put my pessimism to shame. It was by far one the better movies I have seen in a long time. This mystery thriller not only kept me on my seat, but it showed great examples of Mass Media in the Newspaper.

The movie starts off with the death of a woman who happened to be the lead research assistant and romantic partner of a married Congressmen played by Ben Affleck. Once the information is brought to Congressmen Collins attention, word gets out to the media that he was indeed having an affair with this woman. This is of course a politician’s nightmare.

Meanwhile newspaper reporter Cal McAffrey (Russell Cow) is eagerly trying to get a front page story out of the scandal while at the same time looking out for his long time college friend….the congressman. Dun Dun Dunnnn. The story then unfolds into a murder mystery at the expense of having the politician’s reputation destroyed by the exposure to the media.
I'm going to stop now so I don’t ruin it for those who plan to see it!

The film was an interesting view point from the newspaper/journalist perspective. It also brought some excitement to the medium, and made journalism seem a bit more exciting considering the many other sources that people to go to get news before the newspaper today.

The moral of this blog is…..
Not only would I suggest seeing this movie before you go into cardiac arrest from doing too much homework….and not only should we give the newspapers a bit more credit as a form of media….but old people have a darn good judgment on movies!!

Now on DVD and Blu-Ray!

“Now on DVD and Blue Ray!”

During this long couple of flood weeks and endless hours of movie watching between visits to the port a potty, hearing this phrase finally got me wondering what in the heck was so special about Blue Ray. I also started to wonder what the difference was between the DVD and the Blue Ray disk. Here is what I came up with from my research for those of you where as clueless as I was on this device.

What I gathered was that there really is no difference between the blue ray disk and the CD, DVD disk. It is made up of the same physical dimensions; however the blue ray disk can hold almost 6 times the capacity of a DVD. It derives its “blue” title from the blue laser that is used to read and write to the disk compared to DVD who uses a red laser. This was discovered my SONY. Today there are more than 1,500 Blu-ray Disc titles available in the United States.
It was not so long ago that the media world took the DVD’s in to their hands in replacement of the Video cassette tapes. Now about 10 years later they have attempted to make the digital video disk even more Hi- Def.

I remember wondering what was so special about the DVD when they first became released for general use. It was not until when I recently watched a movie on video that I immediately noticed how much more defined and clear the DVD was. It is interesting to see what will be used for movies in the next decade.

Who knows what else is to come?!

Romantic Era

Taking a look at the history of music, I was reminded of the six different main periods of music history. These in which are Middle age, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic. In this week’s blog I will be focusing on the Romantic Era of the music, and also looking at their composers and Historical Themes. Also I will be comparing how this period of music can be compared to music today.

The Romanic period was set in 1825-1900 and had many historical themes. It was a rise of European nationalism in many areas of Europe. Countries such as Italy struggled to free themselves from foreign control. This period was also a growing independence for the arts. Art during this time was coming to be more appreciated for its artistic worth, and also new ideas for the artist and fine arts were created.

This era was also a changing position of musicians. Composing was seen not only that of an occupation but as a calling. It was also a time when women found opportunities to express themselves by performing. This aspect was still fairly limited.

Now when I am writing, I started to wonder how this musical period related to today’s music. There is an array of different love songs these days. It seems as though most new songs are about artists singing there sorrows about their lover’s right??

However, one song that is based on Chapin’s Prelude in C minor during the Romanic era was Barry Manilow’s “Could It Be Magic” from 1970 something.

Below are some more links to Songs considered to be modern Romantic songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlEInKe33zI

Auto Tune

What would you think if you could be the #1 Music Hip Hop Artist and not even sing well? This is something to suspect of Artists such as Lil Wayne, Kanya West, and T-Pain. The reason behind this is something called Auto Tune.

Auto Tune is the new, fast, easy, highest-Quality tool for Correcting Pitch. This device has been called a "holy grail of recording," What it tool does is it corrects tone problems in vocal voices. What it does is initially digitally “corrects” singers voices. Some Artists feel this is an unfair advantage and also a way of abusing the music industry and an insult to their talent.

One group that made a solid effort towards putting a stop to artists using Auto Tuning is members of “Death Cab For Cutie”

“Auto tuning is a digital manipulation, a correction of a singer's voice that is affecting literally thousands of singers today and thousands of records that are coming out," - Ben Gibbard, Front man of Death Cab For Cutie

To further explain what auto tuning is, here are some videos to listen to what it sounds like.

Love Lockdown - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2M9YHATH2Q&feature=PlayList&p=4F5AF01E64FA7E48&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=9

Bartender - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ogBol9KfW8

Hot Revolver- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4bODGNIwcI

I think that this has somewhat of a disadvantage to the music work and could potentially change the music industry if there aren’t some restrictions put on a device like this. I don’t think it’s fair if someone not as talented can have a shot vs. the many other people in the world that to have talent.
What are your thoughts of Auto Tuning? Do you think it should be banned if not restricted?

Stairway to Satan??

If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow don’t be alarmed now. It’s just a spring clean for the may queen. Yes there are two paths you can go by but in the long run there’s still time to change the road your on.
Or
So here’s to my Sweet Satan, the one whose little path would make me sad. Whose power is Satan, He’ll give you, give you 666 and everyone who made him suffers sad Satan.

Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to heaven is probably the most popular example of subliminal messaging that is brought to the media’s attention. Now, for those of you who are unaware of what subliminal messaging are? A Subliminal message is a message implanted in another medium designed be hidden from the normal limits of the human mind's perception.

The purpose of this type of advertising is that the human behavior can be affected by subliminal messages through the subconscious mind with either words or messages. This can be used in music or even advertising to control our minds and bodies through this secret communication.
Or you believe in this form of control? And how often is this method used in the media? Take a look at this video to see examples of how the media tries to from our minds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR5d1XscMNs&feature=related

Now if you don’t believe that, take a look at a very recent example of subliminal messages in the new Britney Spears song “If you seek Amy” Here are the lyrics….
Love me hate me, say what you want about me.
But all of the boys and all of the Girls are begging
to if you seek Amy.
IF you take the last phrase and say it slow…I’ll bet you can figure it out.

Naughty.

Miley Cyrus

I'm sure you are all familiar with the popular song Achy Breaky Heart performed by hit country artist Billy Ray Cyrus, however, it’s is his spawn that is in the spotlight these days. Daughter Miley Cyrus, or AKA Hannah Montana has taking the limelight from her father since the beginning of her Disney Series Hannah Montana, where young Cyrus plays the role of a secret Rock star who “lives the best of both worlds.”

Destiny Hope Cyrus was born on December 23, 1992, but her name was changed when the nickname SMILEY stuck and then quickly got shortened to Miley. Cyrus grew up in the farm with her family and 5 other siblings, but took a leap when was casted a small role in the TV production “Doc”. It was after this that Miley auditioned for the role as Hannah Montana
but was rejected the first time around for looking too young and too small for the role but eventually walked away with the title.

To follow her T.V Success, Miley released an album in October 2006 where she sang songs from the show. This continued her solo career when she released Meet Miley Cyrus and Breakout in 2007 and 2008.

Life seems to be well for this young superstar. However she has experienced some of the downfalls that some young artists face. Being at the young age of 16, there is a fine line to what image she can portray and what she cannot. And if that line is stepped over is when the controversies begin to arise.

In the spring of 2008, Vanity Fair had a photo shoot with the young star. The result of this scenario was what gave the media quiet the stir up.
Here was Miley’s response to the situation.

"I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be 'artistic' and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed. I never intended for any of this to happen and I apologize to my fans who I care so deeply about."

This is an example of the turmoil that a lot of young Music and Movie stars face. Where is the line and what is ok for then to cross or not. I believe the media has a mass affect on this and how they react is somewhat of a snowball effect. We accept the things that the media accepts, and we cringe at the things that are considered socially unacceptable.

What do you see in the Vanity Fair Picture?

Britney Spears’s reputation has changed immensely over the years. From starting out as an innocent small town girl, Britney can no longer hold such a guiltless profile.

Growing up in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears started her career at age 10 starring as a Mouseketeer in the hit T.V series “The Mickey Mouse Club”. After 2 years when the show was canceled. Britney returned home to her old life style. It was soon after that she moved to New York for a shot at being a star once again. It was in late 1998 that Britney’s first album was debuted “Hit me baby one more time”. It was after this that her career exploded.

It seemed that the breaking of Spears’s career was when she married Kevin Federline on October 6, 2004 in the back yard garden of Kevin's tailor's home in Studio City, California. With Kevin, they had 2 kids, Sean Preston, and Jayden James.
Britney about her marriage to Kevin: "I think I married for the wrong reasons. Instead of following my heart and doing something that made me really happy, I just did it for the idea of everything."

Britney struggled with the break up and inexplicably shaved her head soon after. Britney checked into an Antigua rehab clinic after the event and stayed for nearly 24 hours before returning to California.
What could possible made this small town pop star turn into a crazed psycho? Most people would agree by saying that fame and fortune at a young age can affect people this way. Dealing with issues most people don’t deal with till there are adults and psychologically affect adults in a negative way.

I think that young music stars should have some restrictions to what they can do and how much they can work. I think that a lot of young music stars are treated too old when they are too young. Is this the reason that young Britney was so corrupt? And will her new album "circus" releve her from her tumoil.

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