To Blog or Not to Blog?

I have only ever used a blog once before, it was on Blogger as well. My brother and sister asked me to do some movie reviews with them. Other than that, I haven't had much experience with blogging or reading blogs. I think the blogs required for RTF 305 have been successful in getting the students to think more about the concepts we learned in class. I honestly think writing blogs about such concepts as hegemony and the studio system was the most effective way in remembering the various meanings and details. I rarely found any conceptual or technical difficulties when writing the blogs. It was sometimes it bit tricky to arrange the text around pictures but that is all. Besides that, I had no difficulties with the blogs, and any problems I may have had I could easily figure out on my own. I found the most interesting blogs to be about film, but that might just be because film is what I'm interested in. I particularly liked the blogs about the types of shots and three acts of film because we got to apply what we learned to some of our favorite films. I think the blogs have been interesting and definitely a unique way of making the students apply the concepts of the subject. My only suggestion would be to somehow require the students to read some of each others blogs or having extra credit awards for the 10 best blogs.. something of that nature, just to get people besides your own TA to read your blog.

Well, uh, I guess this is my last blog. Whatever happens tonight, either way, I'm not going to be coming back to this place. Well, I guess I better go. I don't wanna be late for my last TA session. This is Marshall Copous signing off.

Globalization: Is that the final answer?

Globalization really is a combination of political policies, cultural development, technological advancement, and economic growth. It has many aspects, but in a broad context it means interconnectedness between the nations of the world. With the advancements of technology simultaneously taking place across the world, many cultural aspects of countries have spread to other parts of the globe as well. For instance, many popular television programs that have started and become popular in one country have began to appear in other parts of the world, like The Office or American Idol. This is a type of "glocalization", which is the process of taking something, a concept or idea, that was successful in one area (country) and bringing it to another anticipating the same success. This was obviously the case for the popular television program Who Wants to Be a Millionaire!
Millionaire originated in the United Kingdom in 1998 and brought a new kind of twist to the game show genre. It quickly became very popular and began spreading all across the world, including the United States in 1999 hosted by Regis Philbin. Since it's original broadcast the franchise has spread to over a hundred different countries, which is more than any other television program. The program was also featured in the 2008 feature film Slumdog Millionaire directed by Danny Boyle. In the film the main character Jamal ends up going on India's version of the program trying to find his long lost love. The film was met with high esteem and success including the Academy Award for Best Picture. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is a perfect example of how popular and successful the glocalization formula can be.

Persuasive Advertising

I don't watch a lot of t.v., but the best and most creative ads I have seen recently are the Old Spice commericals. They manage to be both cool and funny while still informing the viewer about the product. It shows the man on the left walking through different locations as the background seemlessly transitions behind him. The ads work because it grabs the audiences' attention with the actor's charismatic and smooth persona. Girls like him and guys want to be him.. perhaps because the girls like him.
In Professor Straubhaar's lecture he described the many common characteristics of ads that make them appealing. There are many tactics that advertisers use in order to make their ads effective, such as repetition, style, ubiquity, etc. Repetition is obviously just putting your ads on often so the target consumer audience becomes more aware that the product exists. Sometimes this is effective, but sometimes consumers can find this annoying. Style makes the ads stand out, often including hyperbolic and fantastic claims that jump out at the viewer. Ubiquity means that the advertisement is made availible everywhere at once. All of these characteristics can be seen in the Old Spice ads. They appear on television and in movie theaters often, but not too often, to keep the product out there and fresh in the consumer audience's minds. They are stylistic by being unique and much more creative than the average commercial. They also appear everywhere at the same time through mediums such as network television that broadcast simultaneously throughout the country. People remember the Old Spice ads, and that is what matters.

Swan Dive into this commercial link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLTIowBF0kE