HAPPY HALLOWEEN and VOTE!

I also blog on Xanga.com and the other day on there home page they featured sponsored video. I'm sure they do this often and normally I ignore them, however this one caught my eye. The title read "Hotel 626: Scariest place on the web! (Sponsored Video)". The scariest place on the web. It is interesting that we are considering something that only exist through wires a "place". Anyway I wanted to see what it was about, so I watched the promo video. I get scared pretty easily, and perhaps it was because I watched the video at night, but I thought it was pretty freaky. So I go to the web site. The homepage states that it is only open from 6pm - 6am and if I enter in my name they will let me know when a room is available or something to that effect. By now I'm very intrigued; it's very thought out and creative, thus far, what could they possibly be doing on the internet with this?

Well I have not made it there yet, but research tells me that this is an advertisement for Frito-Lay. It seems to be a freaky puzzle that you work through according this this article. Interesting way to advertise. I'll hopefully try it out tonight and let you know how it goes.

In other news, the election is coming up. In way to get more people pumped about voting or to just have some fun, some sites have come up allowing people to personalize a generic video about you or your friends. The video talks about the person running for, winning or spoiling the elections. Here is a couple some of my friends have used #1 and #2.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! oh yeah and GO VOTE!!

discouragement and confusion

I'm an undergrad student in my fifth and last year in college...well this college at least. After this year I plan to go to graduate school to get a degree in library science so I can be a librarian. Before you ask, yes you have to get a degree in library science to be a librarian and guess what? It has to be a master degree because that is all they offer.

Today in my history of communication technologies class, with one of the best professors I've ever had, we talked about grades as a communication technology and we discussed what they communicate. Obliviously many of you would say they communicate how well we know a topic or how well we learn, but do they really? I brought up in class that much of what I have learned in college and things that I remember are not things that I am tested and graded on. Are grades really useful or do they just prove how well we can regurgitate what the teacher wants us to?

The Sam, my prof., made us think. If grades really don't measure what we are learning why do we have them? Well our class said we have them so we can get our degree, so we can get a job, get into grad school...I mentioned that we have them so our school can display itself to other schools, as in "our students have an average GPA of 4.0" or whatever.

Sam told us that the only reason why we have this system in place is because we let it be in place. Basically we agree to follow the rules of grades by agreeing to come to this university, or any university for that matter. But if we don't think it's right, people could choose to not go to the university, perhaps start up a new university with a different way of grading and we could make some change.

This is a valid point, but how can you change this when our society is so grounded in the way things are now? I have been struggling with this concept for a while now. I'm jumping through hoops trying to get my grades up so I can get into graduate school. I'm worrying that I won't have enough extracurriculars and/or that my GPA won't be high enough to get me into grad school and then what will I do? My life dreams will be messed up. The prefabricated plan that society has placed on me will be over and so will my life. As Sam mentioned in class people literally make themselves sick over worrying about these things.

I ask you now as I have been asking myself is this prefabricated plan really life? Somehow I doubt it.

Sometimes I just don't get it. We have a whole world out there. There are many things to explore, to learn, to experience and yet the prefabricated plan forces us to go to school for 2,4,5,6,8, or more years. Everyday packed full of nothing but school, work and homework. Perhaps a little social time. Just so we can get a career where everyday is filled mostly with work. Then we get the family so our days are packed once again, with work and then family things. Eventually you can retire and go out and perhaps experience the world - experience life - when you're too old to fully enjoy it. Is this really what life is all about? And when I say life, I don't mean what society says life is. I mean to core of what God (or whatever you believe) meant life to be. I'm not so sure it is...

Don't get me wrong. I understand you need a career to survive in this world. And of course I would like to get married and have a family. I'm just not sure if we are going about things the right way...

Here is a video I have been show twice this week by two different Com professors, Sam and my com research prof. I think it is supposed to be geared towards teacher/professors trying to get them to teach us more with new technology since this is what we do most days. Look at me, I'm typing up my thoughts on class in my blog. However, I just look at it and feel discouraged about the way life is set up and the I guess the way our learning is set up.

Interesting...

Cracked.com did an article on the brainwashing techniques used in media...wait the media doesn't try to brainwash us....right?

Also I was bumming around on youtube and found this video on banned cartoons. I can't believe some of the stuff they made!!

Stupid Americans

This video cracks me up and makes me sad at the same time. People can be so stupid.

The future of advertising?

Check this out. Cracked.com did a contest to see what people could come up with for the future of advertising. The results are funny, but unfortunately probably true.

#25 is one of my person faves. Big brother much?
#22 is already happening, to some extent. Check out this article on women selling advertising space on their bellies.
#7 I can definitely see that one happening in the future.
#1...LoL I can for sure see that being an add in the a magazine or something. Whoever came up with that should try to sell it!!

Got shown a website today in class. These people take stereotypes of white people and put them on this site. Let me know what you think of it.

YaY advertising....

Check out this article which shows the amazing-ness of photoshop and what people do to models so they can grace the cover of their magazines. It has a great before an after photo which is amazing.

Also this video of Jon Stewart on Crossfire is absolutely amazing.

Our economy sucks...

but here is an article that talks about some positives to the recession

GRRRR!!!!

This is why I'm really starting to dislike our media and am considering getting a degree in media studies (yeah that'd be a third degree...)

PLEASE watch this commercial


Okay seriously? The commercial is soo heart wrenching I was thinking maybe it would be for a PSA (public service announcement) for bullying or discrimination, but no it's for a fricken TV channel!?!?! Is it really necessary for a TV channel to make a commercial that is sad like this one to make our hearts hurt and reach out to the little guy? Is TV THAT important? I don't think so. Can't they use all the money that they spent on that commercial for something else? Like something good? Donated to a kids awareness of discrimination campaign or something.

Some things to notice about the commercial.
1. There is NO color anywhere, helping the sad mood of the commercial.
2. This portrays orphanages as horrible places to live, giving them a bad rep. I don't even think they exist anymore.
3. EVERY person in the commercial except the alien is white and male. So how does this portray white males? Granted that orphanage's are probably separated by sex, but still. This is a very bad representation. Basically this is saying that white males are unaccepting of people who are different than they are.
4. Finally anyone notice the final message? "Adopt Sci-Fi" Nowhere does it state that what the kids were doing is wrong. What kind of message is this sending to kids who see this commercial? It's okay to abuse someone who is different than you, because the issue here is not that the alien is being abused, the issue is that he needs to be adopted.

Way to go Sci-Fi channel....I will not be "adopting" you anytime soon...which makes me think again..."adopt Sci-Fi? Adopt as if the TV channel is something cute, that you can love and will complete your family...yeah right.

Okay I'm done...

Ahhh advertising....gotta love it

Changing Gears

I think I'm going to switch the topic of this blog slightly. I'm still going to post things on the internet but in addition to that I'm also going to add in things about the media. Media has become a HUGE interest of mine as of late. I'm actually thinking of sometime getting a degree in media stuides or something of that sort. Perhaps after I'm library science masters.

So anyway that's the story. I'm going through my email so I might have a lot to add to this blog today :) Not that it matters since very few to none people read it.

Here are some links to some articles I read online:
"Desperate Times Call for Spam" It's very informative and humorous.

"8 Outrageous Wedding Sites" Some are pretty amazing and it tells you how to pull of the idea in a slightly less outrageous way!

"Weird America" These are some places that I'm adding to my list of places to visit before I die!

Any music fans among my non-exisitent readers? Well the new Weezer song not only is awesome, but the music video is a great collection of internet celebrities? Or top internet videos maybe. Either way the band re does all these things we have all seen on the internet it's pretty amazing. This link here lets you see the video and breaks down each act they do and has the corresponding interent video to go with it.

"Are these companies based in America or overseas?" This is a great quiz on what's American made. Good if you are trying to support only the American economy.

Why it sucks to be the younger brother. Ha Ha Ha


The Rising Seas Talks about cities sinking into the oceans.

"How to Beat Tight Security. Just be the DJ" A guy fakes being a DJ and gets into clubs for free. It's awesome!


I'm not a huge video game player. There are only a select few that I like. But one that my boyfriend recently turned me onto is Dr. Mario. I really like it. This is a video my brother showed me about the video game. It's pretty funny.


A sweet chair flip

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

WOW! I'll try not to let these thiings pile up in my email....

Batman vs. Iron Man

This is a great video that my brother showed me. It's about two big summer movie's main characters: Batman and Iron Man. Of course I'm not a huge nerd, so I didn't know about everything they mentioned....but it's still pretty funny.

Enjoy!

Great....just F'ing great!

So as many of you know gas prices are soaring. Today I read on MSN.com that American Airlines are now going to be charging $15 for your first checked baggage to keep up with increasing oil prices. (Story) It makes sense that as gas prices go up, everything else has to go up as well to keep up with it. My mom was telling me how expensive food is compared to what it was just two years ago when I was out on my own and buying my own food.

But this epidemic begs the question: Where does it end? With Michigan's people struggling to find work and struggling to make ends meat when they DO have a job, what is going to happen to our state? One of my Professors this summer said that if this was going on in other country people would be protesting. Why aren't we doing it here? Would it even really make a change? I feel like something needs to happen....

Blogger fun

When I get off work at 3am I will have been up for 40 hrs with a one hr power nap to sustain me. Perhaps this is why I'm feeling light headed....

Over the course of this assignment I went exploring through other people's blogs. By other people I mean other people than this class. I found some pretty interesting ones that I thought I would share with you.

Bathrooms Around the World
Funny Things
Book Reviews
Theatre, Quilting and the Enivronment
A Daily Photo from Paris
Ideas on how to reduce plastic
A Shopper goes around to different shops and tells about her finds

Happy Blogging!
<3

T-Shirts

I love humor and I love it even better on T-shirts! Here are a few sites that have funny t-shirts in them. If ya'll know of more please send them my way!

As always please view at your own risk. Some may be very insulting. [Those ones I don't think are funny ;)]

TorsoPants
Noisebot
Bustedtees
Snorg Tees
T-shirt Hell

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There's this really sweet site that a friend of my showed me. I realized even though you can type in a .com address it re-directs you to a blog made on blogger - the vary site we use!

Anyway this site has gotten so popular the creator of it, Frank Warren, travels around the country and gives talks on it. He has also published a four books on it.

The site? www.postsecret.com. The idea behind it? Have people make a homemade post card displaying a secret of theirs and anonymously mail it in. Frank goes through them and picks so many out to post each week. Each Sunday new secrets go up.

I could tell you my thoughts on the site, but I'd rather have you check it out yourself and form your own opinion. Let me know what you think.

Read Secrets

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Mooninites Bomb Scare

We talked about culture jamming today in our Media Literacy class. My Professor brought up the marketing campaign that Turner Broadcasting did for Aqua Teen Hunger Force. For those of you who don't know, Aqua Teen Hunger Force a cartoon show on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, a block of programming geared towards adults. Here is a video I had posted on my myspace for a while about it. I'm glad to be reminded of it so I can post it on here! It is made by Zebro, which is a college age comedy group out of New York City.

Warning this video does contain some swearing....okay maybe a little more than some.



THE MOON RULES!

How I became Irish

St. Patrick's Day is coming up. When I was younger, I thought those shirt's that said "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" where pretty cool. I always thought if I was Irish I would definitely wear one! But I wasn't and I wasn't going to be a poser. My Grandpa passed away and I was heart broken. I loved him so much and he still is greatly missed. On his death certificate it said he was Irish! No one ever knew. And now folks, I am a proud owner of a "Kiss Me I'm Irish Shirt" :)

In the spirit of the holiday, enjoy this video. I thought it was pretty good.



Happy St. Patrick's Day and PLEASE drive safe! :)

Thanks to http://www.tonsoft-shirts.com/catalog/kissmeirish3.jpg for the picture of the shirt.

<3 Katie

Eureka!

I have found a topic for my blog! This is going to be a collection of interesting things found on the internet. I'm am not a huge surfer myself, but I get shown a lot of interesting things by my brother, my boyfriend and professors at school. And every now and again I'll stumble across something interesting. I have always wished I had a website that I could display all of the things on, rather than posting them on Facebook and everything else I have an account on. This will be the answer to that wish!

I came up with this idea a couple days ago and tonight in class my Professor did not let me down. So tonight I will share a very good and important video that she shared with us. Please watch the following



I'm shocked that I haven't heard about this, but obviously it's not like Comcast is going to let us see this on their TV channels. Spread the word, take a stand and make a difference!

<3 Katie

First! ;)

So for my Media Literacy class we have to make a blog. I already have one, so this really isn't too new to me, other than the host. She wants us to use Blogger, I use Xanga for my other one. My professor was talking to us about what we could post about and some past students had some really good ideas. I tried to think of something good for mine, but I don't have an overall theme that I want to be restricted to every time I post. I decided that this is just going to be another blog of my life and my thoughts on different things. This may be incredibly boring so if it is and you are reading it, I'm sorry. Hopefully sometime I'll come with up something interesting to talk about. Warning to my non-existent readers, I tend to write alot; at least that has been the case on my other blog as of late.

I'm from Wyoming, MI. Born and raised here my all of my 22 years. The farthest away from home I have lived was freshman year - I lived in the dorms on campus. For those of you not from around here, Wyoming is about a half hr drive from Allendale and a ten minute drive from downtown. On my way home tonight I realized how separate school is from home is for me. Essentially, GVSU is in my hometown, especially the downtown campus and almost everyday I wake up in the house I grew up in, go to school and then come home to the house I grew-up in. The two worlds, that I separate, are entwined in one day. But I still keep them separate.

When I'm coming home for the day, as soon as I get to downtown or into my neighborhood I feel myself relax more. It's the feeling of comfort, like the feeling you get when you slide on your beat-to-crap-old-jeans, the ones you love so dearly and that fit you so well, that even though they are hanging on by threads you can't throw them away. It feels just like that. It's weird because it's not like I'm a homebody. Just ask my mom, she always says that when I was little all someone had to says was, "Katie, do you want to go..." and I'd say yes and go get my coat. It didn't matter where we were going, but I'd want to go. Mom says I'm still like this.

And that's another thing, anyone that goes to my school could ask my mom if this was true, because my house is only a half hr drive away or a little less than 1 1/2 hr bus ride. But no one from my school comes to my house. Mostly that's due to my house being too small for the people that are already here, much less anyone else and partially due to our attack dog.

Anyway, I just found it interesting that I have these two worlds, worlds that I spend the majority of my time in, so separate. I wonder how people not from this area view Grand Valley and downtown. I wonder how they view and what they think of everything that is so normal to me? As a side note, I was here before the downtown campus was built :)

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