Violent Games Vs. REAL Violence DING! DING! DING!

For this post i interviewed a friend of mine, Montael and his outlook on video game violence. He is what i consider and most people call a "gamer" and he is quite adept at playing video games, well from what I've seen. But before we  get into that i want to share a video game montage to help give insight to the kinds of violence video games portray.

Q- What kinds of fighting or Shooting Games do you enjoy playing?
A: Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3, Mortal Kombat, Fight Night, Black Ops.

Q- Why do you play them?
A: I play them for stress release and it brings a lot of entertainment.

Q- So you find violence entertaining?
A: On video games, yes.

Q- How do you feel about the violence portrayed in the video games?
A: They have the ESRB rating for a reason. The age they set for them should be the age that plays, but what violence portrays kids shouldn't play.

Q- Does video game violence affect your outlook on real world violence?
A: No, others outlook maybe.

I then showed him a video of a man being beaten to death in africa (warning this video is extremely graphic)

Q- How did this video make you feel? 

A: That was terrible (with an astonished, face full of disgust)

Q- What are some words that came to mind while watching this?

A: (No response, shaking head in disbelief)

Q- Has your mindset about gaming change?

A: F**k yea, no more grand theft auto

What The Frack!?!

When we talked about Fracking in class i was lost the whole time. I never in my 18 years heard of the word and its meaning and to be honest all i knew after the discussion was that it has something to do with drilling. So i took it upon myself to do a little research. 

After finding more information about Fracking, I realized I didn’t know that the issue was hitting so close to to a place I'm starting to call home, since I'm not a native to the Pennsylvania state.With the information i gather ed i made a guess of the probabilities of the impurities from the process could be affecting us all as we speak. I came across a map to help show were drillings are happening.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/02/27/us/natural-gas-map.html?ref=us

My questions for the public and my fellow students is : 1. how does this make you feel especially those who call Pennsylvania  there home? 2. How would you go about stoping fracking, if you could? last but not least 3. Do you feel Fracking is important? yes or no? 

The reason why i ask is because i want the honest opinions of my fellow peers to give my self a better insight on the situation i have yet to fully understand

Nothing But a Puppet

In class we learned and  discussed Manufacturing Consent. It was stated that 20% of the population makes decisions while the other 80% are nothing more than puppets to the ones making the decisions. My first thought was maybe this is true because with the way i see things a majority of people tend to follow trends or buy something based off of advertisement consciously and unconsciously. For example, if your buying a piece of clothing because you think its comfortable rather than its name brand or designer, your still in a way being told what to wear unknowingly because although options are being given its still what that portion of the 20% decided to put on the shelves for you to look at and buy. Even something like getting a job is out of your control in a sense.

So what choice do we really have if everything is decided for us? Is it even possible to escape the dictation of the 20%? these are the question that will probably forever be asked by those having knowledge of this information. 

The below video is of the Occupy of Oakland Protests were as demonstrators were being shot with rubber bullets and tear gas for trying to speak there minds. The result of people coming to a realization and trying voice there own opinions.

Food Porn... Sex For The Taste Buds?

Before me personally.... i had no clue as to what food porn really is, until i found this video on youtube that to me represents, food porn, even though it was in a different language. Besides the beginning of the video and a few parts of the video, it manly focuses on food. Every cutscene of a different food gets a collective "AHHH!" or "OOOOH!". From the dipping of, whatever it is being cooked, to the representation of the plater. At a few points the facial expressions of people were shown which added to this "food porn" mind frame, i would say. One man was seen shaking his head and licking his lips as if he was starved or had just scene the most voluptuous female in his entire life. There was almost little to no kind of commentary besides the crowds aw of amazement and these repetitive scenes of food and facial expressions. After seeing this though I'm pretty shocked as to how food can affect certain people. There is some type of love or fascination for food that seems to attract people to it i would assume. Which leaves me to ask is food more than just a substance that balances out our natural need to eat or is it something more? Is food really just sex for the taste buds?

Positive effects of Media on the world

This is mostly a slide show but it was something i found very interesting and it proves that not all media is moral controlling, mind controlling and a detrimental factor of social life but instead can have a positive effect depending on the way you choose to work with  and  take in what you see, hear, and overall learn about.

How Much Do I Really Know......

NOTHING.... so it seems. The quiz today really proved to me that as much as I say I know about what’s current; in reality there are things I'm not up on. For instance, the question that stated, "What famous person known for being famous just got married this weekend?" I had no clue the answer to that question. Probably because when it comes to celebrities and being up to date on the latest scandals and etc. I'm the type of person who just doesn't care. I don't feel as if every little detail of a celebrity’s life is something I want to know about. It doesn't really pertain to me nor does it enlighten me on anything I feel is necessary for me to go about my day. But, this wasn't the only question to throw me off because on the second half when the questions pertained to certain aspects of government... i didn't know the answers either. For example, the question "What is the name and political affiliation of Pennsylvania’s current governor?" I wasn't able to answer that question because when it comes to politics I've never took an interest. Government and my concerns towards it are best described as, how often people on the normal look at the night sky... once in a blue moon... so my understanding and knowledge of our countries secretary and political affairs are on a low. Hopefully in time though, ill take a greater interest in knowing about what NEEDS to be known, rather than what I FEEL like knowing. 

The Role Media Plays in My Life

At this day and age media has come to be a major part of society. So of course it plays a major part in my life. Everything i do seems to be media influenced, from the conversations i have to the music i listen to. For example, ill go on a social website like Facebook or ill go to a blogging website like Tumblr everyday in order to communicate with friends i know or friends i plan on making. That and i find it to be a faster way to keep up to date on other peoples ideas and perceptions of "what's in" or not, music, fashion, news, and so on. The number one cool thing i would say about media is that, not only  does it allow you to take in so many different aspects of itself but it also allows you to produce your own form of media for the masses. At this present time the ability to do this has in my own opinion has not only made a rise in consumption of media but also a even higher rise in the amounts of creators behind it. Me, myself, i try to be one of those creators, whether its music i attempt to make, or a random video i upload to youtube as long as I'm getting my view across to a larger  population of people other than the circle of friends i have.








In this course i really hope to get the chance to see mass media and it forms from every aspect possible but done in a way in which it will keep my interest.... because like media sometimes you have to play into the interest of the public ^__^.