If there’s one thing I love, it has got to be humorous and witty activism. An amazing way to get through to people, the way it catches one’s attention is equally brilliant. The Adbusters organization is thrilling with its gallery of spoofed ads. Like the image above proclaiming “Absolut Impotence”, how could they be more right? It is costly, makes a tonne of profit and rewards us with this feeling of powerlessness and mentally and physically impaired when consumed. As Absolut vodka continues its equally charming array of ads (“In An Absolut World…”), Adbusters has managed to almost over power the Absolut sales pitch. Not like it has ever really stopped me from drinking, but as culture jamming proves, it re-awakens this whole new sense of fascination and interest. And in that case, it is a total success.
Soundtrack of the Words:
The World Should Revolve Around Me by Little Jackie
Are people really surprised that this is happening? Net neutrality is no longer neutral. C’mon. It was bound to happen. Everyone wants to improve and make themselves seem better than their competition. We all want to be the best and we all want to have the best. Why would it be any different or out of the norm that companies are trying to reign in the internet kingdom? They want our business? Then they will just have to manipulate their way into getting it. So maybe I am wrong, but the most important implication that I believe is, is the issue of when and if you have to start choosing an internet provider based on the websites you will have access to. Consumers want it all and naturally, most people would pay the higher price for the most business in return. And then we, as consumers, begin the discrimination of Google over Yahoo and Hotmail over G-Mail and ensuring that the best network provider wins and makes the largest profit. I do believe this is an important issue. But like it has been constantly moved onto the backburner by the government, it is not nor will be a “do or die” complication.
Walt Disney has created enormous movie and music moguls. They strive to have the best and buy the best. From movies made way back in time, to being re-released as a collector’s edition. Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers have become nothing less than gods to kids and pre-teens around the world. Please keep in mind Disneyland and Disney World (of which I’ll never understand the difference) and their mega-billion dollar power over all children. And as I recall, there is also a Disney Cruise. By manipulating the world into believing its friendly and family-fun-like facade, the Walt Disney Corporation is cashing the profits of many companies that have, in reality, no likeness to Disney products and mottos. Let’s play a game. I will name different corporations and things they are familiar with and you guess if it belongs to Disney or not.
Miramax Films: Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, There Will Be Blood, etc.
Touchstone Pictures: Good Morning Vietnam, Armageddon, Dead Poets Society, Pretty Woman, etc.
Hollywood Pictures: Son-in-Law, Guilty As Sin, Swing Kids, Evita, The Sixth Sense, Stay Alive, etc.
Pixar: Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Wall-E, Ratatouille, Cars, The Incredibles, Monster’s Inc., A Bug’s Life, etc.
ABC Network: Desperate Housewives, Dirty Sexy Money, Grey’s Anatomy, etc.
ESPN: ESPN Sunday Night Football, Major League Soccer, Major League Baseball, Sports Centre, etc.
SOAPnet: All My Children, General Hospital, The Young and the Restless, Melrose Place, Beverly Hills 90210, The OC, One Tree Hill, etc.
Hollywood Records: Queen, Plain White T’s, Miley Cyrus, Atreyu, etc.
US Weekly: Paparazzi, Celebrity News and Gossip, etc.
Game Over. The Answer: Disney owns them all (while owning 80% of ESPN and 50% of US Weekly, respectively). This, however, astounds me. Why a family-friendly corporation would want to be affiliated with some of these names makes me wonder. I think it would make plenty of people wonder. But then again, I guess, this whole cross media ownership all works out for Disney. No one really seems to care though, right? People are still watching Disney movies, kids are still listening to Hannah Montana and Disney continues to cash in the big bucks. Guess they will live happily ever after…
When haven’t we been at war? Feuds within a nation, between nations or merely in the sense of a friendship gone awry have always been around. But the thought of war today only brings unbothered reactions: a nod, or a sigh? When the United States went to war with Iraq, it was the only news to be read or heard or mentioned. Unless you are Michael Moore, you have probably turned your attention away from the war and into the new and fresh headlines that feature a special “this-just-in” musical score. Only during the U.S presidential debates have we heard about any future goals with the war. The Democrats said “no more” and the Republicans said “let’s keep going”, which is what they expected their followers would want to hear and what the followers would expect to hear from them. But like most things, the war in Iraq finished up its fifteen minutes of fame.
But, oh, let’s bring up Michael Moore again, shall we? After the drama died down with the war in Iraq, Michael Moore did not let us forget. Fahrenheit 9/11 made a killing at the box office and received praise from the Academy Awards. And with each additional film he made or talk-show appearance, he keeps reminding us of the tragedies and national setbacks that the war in Iraq has created. It is a big deal and yet, most of us keep forgetting. Lest we forget, right? At the 75th Annual Academy Awards, Michael Moore won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature with his film Bowling for Columbine. And as part of his acceptant speech, he scolded the President: “We are against this war Mr. Bush. Shame on you Mr. Bush! Shame on you!” That is when the music cut him off. And by the end of the show, it was all forgotten. So this is my message, my response: We are at war and let’s not forget.
Well, this is embarrassing. In days of huge economic crises, global warming and forests and cities burning to a crisp, I spend most of my “media-time” reading, watching and looking at the faux and Hollywood-like media excerpts. And by this I mean, I read Perez Hilton’s blog twice daily…along with People website and TMZ. What can I say? I’m fascinated by the lives of others who can pay for everything they need (and want!). But during the time in which I am not, in fact, squawking and gazing at the lives of the rich and famous, I may just in fact open my Google home page and hit the “News” button. And sometimes when I am back in my hometown, I might just open up the pages of The Sarnia Observer*. But like I said, it is only “sometimes”.
With around 9 million hits per day, or so Perez Hilton’s website claims, I wonder how many people (like me) are caught in the whole celebrity craze. Only when I’ve finished reading the rest of the new updated daily celeb info will I have surrendered. Then, I finally move on. And reading the headlines of the last updated news articles in Google, I find something along the lines of, “Madonna and Guy Ritchie Divorce”. And once again, instead of reading some other political or world crisis piece, I click onto the Entertainment section. Unless, however, it has something to do with the new president-elect, I may just take a second glance. But if that is not the case, well then, I will stick to my guilty pleasure.
*Editor’s Note: No one gives a shit about local kids playing at a playground or a happy couple taking a stroll by the lake on a cool night. So please do not put it on the front page of the newspaper making it seem that it has any sort of importance.
To be honest, I do not really know where to begin with this blog. National Media Education Week: started in 2006, wants to educate everyone [but mostly the youth] on media literacy, etc. Okay, but do we really need another group of people telling us how to analyze our own thoughts of something. Must we really have more people interjecting our thoughts on the media too? “Media education acknowledges and builds on the positive, creative and pleasurable dimensions of popular culture,” as stated on the Media Education Week Website. Well, it was fun until they tried to make a teaching out of it. I am not saying that it is stupid, but it is stuff we already know. In grade school, children are taught the whole aspects behind media conspiracies and subliminal messages. Obviously we know it will be found on the internet, too. We get it. I just think that making another market about something that is not the highest in priority, to be kind, is being a little dramatic…just a little.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell: “We’re very, very proud to have a new American President who also happens to be African-American … As I watched [the news anchors call the election] – pretty moving moment. Everybody cried … I am overjoyed.”
Oprah: “It feels like Hope won!”
Grammy Award Winning Artist Usher: “Barack Obama doesn’t represent a color. He represents change. I’m proud to be an American.”
George Clooney: “I congratulate President-elect Obama on his historic victory, and now it’s time to begin unifying the country so we can take on the extraordinary challenges that this generation faces.”
Sean ‘P.Diddy’ Combs: “I felt like my vote was the vote that put him into office. … And that may not be true but that’s how much power it felt like I had.”
Soundtrack of the Words:
God Bless the U.S.A by American Idol Season 2 Cast
I can recount every moment of the first time I used the internet. It was a family gathering at my aunt’s. She was about to amaze me. She unplugged the phone line, pressed a couple buttons and there magically, the computer began to croon a song that I would hear for the next few years before Hi-Speed internet [which didn’t take up the phone line] came our way. My neighbours followed in the year 2000 with their own computer and internet where my best friend set up my first e-mail account – on hotmail, naturally. I had my own e-mail account. I felt important. I could envision a business card with my e-mail address written underneath my name, phone number and home address. Years passed and here I am writing my own blog. Perez Hilton, watch out! Over the years, I was able to communicate with family. As I had previously mentioned, my mother is Italian and my father is Chilean. I have now been in contact with cousins, aunts and uncles I hadn’t even met. And even more recent [and more personal], I have started to communicate with my estranged half-brother and half-sister. Something we have all been looking forward to, but too scared to try. Thanks to the internet, we’re slowly becoming family again. I won’t say that ICT’s are severely important. They aren’t. In my case, it changed my world. For others, it won’t. I’m a lucky one.
Current Mood: Embarrassingly ignorant. I know nothing about our Canadian federal election. Stéphane Dion and Stephen Harper…Oh wait, I’ve heard of a Jack Layton (—Leyton?). Let’s just say it’s a good thing I have a late birthday so I won’t be voting. Moving on. I “met” Barack Obama three years ago on my TV screen during an episode of the Oprah Winfrey show. Love at first sight? I think so. The passion he had for politics- who knew! The passion he had for his wife and kids? Inspiring. He was and still is something close to a miracle. He is an authority figure that this world needs. I realise he is American and more than anything I should be more concerned about the election that is in progress in the country in which I belong. But in all reality, the US is power. Any change in the US will result in a change across the globe. Watching the Italian channels or Spanish channels on TV (my mother is Italian and my father is Chilean), they talk more about the American Presidential election than any other. [Okay, maybe the French Prime Minister’s new wife too but that’s nothing short of a scandal!] I do not know much of Biden but we all know the press Palin is receiving. As much as I’d like to comment, her family should remain out of the picture, no? Who would have ever thought I would find an interest in politics? He has changed the way young people view politics and has made people begin to care. I will not lie. It could have most probably been the publicity that got me hooked to Obama. By now, I can quote the entire Will.I.Am produced “Yes We Can” YouTube megahit. But it was his views, his beliefs, his morals, his personality that made me stick. Can we really turn this world around? Well with Barack leading the world, yes, we can.
Stefania 