My Media Exposure

Friday
What I did & Media I experience
walked to my friends
-blockbustger ads
-Goodwill ads
-Bmo ads
went to the mall
-phones ads
-sales at the bay flyers
-glasses ads
went on my computer -pop-ups for laptops
-pop-ups for free ipods
-went on facebook and heard 50-cent-I get money
Saturday
What I did & Media I experience
watched tv
-covergirl commercial
-hakim option commercial
-beer commercial
drove to the mall
-tim hortens ads
-saw cell phone plan ads and pictures on buses
-saw skyway ads
went grocery shopping
-saw basic foods ads
-listened to the radio in the car
-phone commercials
-smoking commercials
-heard songs
Saturday
What I did & Media I experience
went to missisauga
-perfume ads
-clothes ads
-honda cars ads
-went to uncles house
-future shop ads
-new home ads

I think I was exposed to enough media. I saw a lot of ads and commencials in one week, I wonder how many I would see in a year! More than millions!

Last Trip!

How social groups are portrayed in the media!

What makes Canadians different from Americans? The fact that us Canadians have the courage to accept various cultures from around the world to form a multicultural soceity within Canada otherwise known as a mosaic. Whereas, in the United States make their soceity become one type of culture, otherwise known as a "melting pot." Where various cultures are brought into one pot and stirred into one form of liquid, a religion they must put forward before their own. However, after viewing all these aspects we can come to conclusion there are other things which seperate certain individuals within Canada such as social groups based on form of attire or cultural backgrounds. For example, when we walk into a school there are designated places where certain individuals hang out. Also the media has a very significant influence of certain social groups being portrayed and shown in the media through advertisments, movies and television shows. Although, the media plays a major role in representing certain social groups through stereotypical views, there will always be barriers between certain individuals in the world.

Photo Manipulation aka retouching photos, has gone TOO far!!

EXAMPLES!

AND MORE!!


AND MORE!!!!

DOESN'T STOP HERE, THIERS STILL MORE!

I guess this is just the beginning of FAKE Pictues, I mean Illistrations!

Photo Manipulation has crossed the line!

Photo Manipulation has gone too far! Photo manipulation happens a lot now and it’s either manipulating a person body or face or even features on your face.

Photo manipulation has a negative impact on women because when women see themselves in a mirror they can probably identify the many bad qualities about them and that they can look better because of the people who manipulate images in magazines make them look so perfect. This might even make woman think about plastic surgery, just to make them look like how everyone pictures them. Some woman don’t like photo manipulation because sometimes they make them looks like something they aren’t like to skinny or make their breast bigger or smaller and etc...When you’re just young kids looking at a magazine it doesn’t really occur to us that people would do that to a photograph because when they choose a model for their magazine. Would they not choose a model that is perfect so they wouldn’t have to do anything to the photos? I feel it is wrong to do that because it makes the person feel that they are not right and that they have something wrong with them that they can go get fixed by plastic surgery. I definitely think photo manipulation has gone too far because they over do it. They are making woman look like Barbie dolls.

The time Magazine darkened O.J Simpson’s photo and they were trying to make him look like a look like a threatening person who is dangerous. Just making the picture darker it makes Simpsons look scarier. If you compare the Time Magazine and the News Week Magazine photos O.J looks like an innocent person in the News Week Magazine. Just manipulating the photo makes a person look totally different and so many people can tell his two different personalities just by the colour and lighting change. I think this manipulation was racist because the editors or whoever manipulated his photo knew that if they make a person look darker they will look like a murderer. When person is murdered and a black man is involved in the incident people would most likely accuse the black guy because he’s black, and this is a stereotype. A person who has a different race, religion, ethnicity, and socioeconomic background will probably find some pictures racist because they are always stereotyped for specific things and if they see another person in a magazine being stereotyped they will probably notice that.


When people interpret images they look at the different things that make the photo what it is. The role that a person’s race, religion, ethnicity and socioeconomic background plays is that it allows people to pick out certain things in the photo that may change their views on it. For example, with the TIME cover of O.J., people that were African American found that TIME Magazine’s cover was racist because it made O.J. look guilty before the court trails. It allows your point of view of things to change very easily.

Work Cited

"Basic Photo Editing Concepts." 8 Jan 2008 http://multimedia.utsa.edu:16080/mp/tutorials/fireworks/photoedit/.

Karen, Cheung. "News, Guides, Tips ." CBS Makes Katie Couric 20 Pounds Thinner in Photo. 2006. 8 Jan 2008 http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/content/CBS-Makes-Katie-Couric-20-Pounds-Thinner-in-Photo.htm.

"TVNEWSER." CBS Comm. Dept. Slimmed Couric Down. 29 August. 8 Jan 2008 http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/couric_watch/cbs_comm_dept_slimmed_couric_down_42921.asp.

Dixie Kayne Pink Controversy!

The first thing you have to look at when comparing what happened to the Dixie Chicks, Kanye West and Pink is the genre of their music. Dixie Chicks are country, Kanye West is hip-hop/rap and Pink is rock/pop. The fact that Dixie Chicks are country makes it a lot harder for them to say something controversial about the American war and not have it be dealt with in the harshest terms. After Natalie said “ We are ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas” turned their country fans against them.

“We are ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas”

What doesn’t make sense is when Pink wrote a song called “Dear Mr. President” that was extremely controversial against the president she got praised from her fans. Pink has made her career all about standing out and saying what’s on her mind, even if it does go against our society. In songs such as “Stupid Girls” you can clearly see in the video that she is negatively portraying female celebrities such as Mary Kate Olsen, Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Simpson and Paris Hilton. Her songs usually do have a meaningful message behind them and that’s what makes her fans and parts of society not care about her choice of songs, which is why I think she got away with the song.

"What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street?"
How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?"
"What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away?And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?I can only imagine what the first lady has to sayYou've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine."

Another incident that caused minimal controversy was the outburst from Kanye West during NBC's Hurricane Katrina fundraiser when he said, “George Bush does not care about black people”. Shortly after it happened, Kanye’s statement was quickly forgotten. I personally think that what Kanye had to say was much worse then what Dixie Chicks and even Pink said. If you look at the difference between the statements, Kanye West made a public claim (that wasn’t true) against George Bush’s reputation, while Natalie Maines made a personal opinion about how she feels about George Bush. Since when does personal opinions get taken far more seriously then public slander? I think it was an unfair move against the Dixie Chicks, when Pink and Kanye deserved just as much ridicule as they did.

“George Bush does not care about black people”.

As you can kind of tell, all these three situations were handled absolutely differently. When Natalie spoke out about Bush the media took it harsh on her and made it a big deal and their whole career almost ended just because of one group member who made this one comment. The Dixie Chicks probably got criticized like this because this was probably the first time they said something that offended some people and George Bush. On the other hand, whatever Pink says people don’t really care as much because people have grown to know Pink as a girl who says whatever is on her mind and mostly likely always tells the truth. Kanye West makes a big deal about some things like on the VMAs how he got less time to perform on stage and how Brittany Spears got more time on the stage than him. He is always complaining about something and I assume he will never stop. All three of these artists are different types of singers and have different audiences. Natalie’s comment about Bush was taken to the top unlike Kanye West’s comment about George Bush not caring about black people which was more controversial.

For Youtube clips click HERE OR HERE OR HERE OR HERE

Work Cited

"CBS News." Dixie Chicks Slammed For Bush Gibe. 14 March, 2003. 8 Jan 2008
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/03/15/entertainment/main544132.shtml.
Dan, Froomkin "Was Kanye West Right?." 13 September, 2005. 8 Jan 2008
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2005/09/13/BL2005091300884_pf.html
.Easton, Jake. "Tablod Column." Dixie Chicks. 23 April 2003. 8 Jan 2008
http://www.tabloidcolumn.com/dixie-chicks.html
"The Blacklisted Jounalalist." The Dixie Chickens. 2003. 8 Jan 2008 http://www.bigmagic.com/pages/blackj/column90d.html.

Media Inventory

List the names of your family members, and indicate which their favorite media tool is:
Mom- Telephone
Little Brother- Television
Older Sister- Cell phone
Oldest Sister- Laptop
Me- Cell phone

Which is the least favorite? Why?
Mom-Television
Little Brother- Computer
Older sister- laptop
Oldest sister- television
Me- computer

Why?---> Well my mom doesnt know how to use a lot of media tools so she just sticks to the telephone and the television. My brother watches a lot of television, probably because his friends always come over and influence him by saying "lets watch pokemon". His friends are a bit older than him so he thinks its "cool" to listen to them. My oldest sister is really focussed on her studies so shes always on her laptop. Me and my other sister are always texting or calling people on our cell phones probably because we are so used to it. We always have it with us and it has just become a necessary.

Do children of different ages or sexes prefer different items? Why?
Yes because little kids are usually restricted to some things such as cell phones. Mostly every teenager now days have cell phones and if not cell phones, computers. Also, children of different ages or sexes prefer different items because boy and girls have different taste and are influenced by different media products. For example, boys are influences by toy cars, guns and video games. Girls are influenced by pretty things like Barbie dolls, teddy bear, and make-up. Boys and girls grow up in a different state like girls grow up around "girlie" things and boys grow up by "boy" things. You can’t force them to like something they don’t like because they are all different and will fall towards what they like depending on their age and sex.

Which item is used the most? Why?
The computer, because whenever me, my sisters or my little brother are bored, all we do is go on the computer or laptop, also, now days you can do ANYTHING on the computer. By anything I mean, shopping, talk, find locations, and much more!

Which item is used the least? Why?
The telephone, because everyone in my family but my little brother has a cell phone and my little brother doesn’t call anyone so he never uses the phone. The only famil member that uses the telephone is my mom, probably because she doesn't know how to use anything else such as the computer or cell phones.

Stolen Identity!

Identity theft has become an increasingly popular crime in Canada as a result of recent advances theft has become an increasingly popular crime in Canada as a result of recent advances in technology. Identity invloves stealing, misrepresenting or hijacking the identity of another person or business and provides an effective means to commit other crimes.

Vital information such as name, address, date of birth, social insurance number, and mother's maiden name need to be acquired in order to complete the impersonation. The identity theif can take over the victim's financial accounts. open new bank accounts, tranfer bank balances, apply for loans. credit cards and other services, purchase vehicles, take luxury vacations, and so on.

Once stolen, the personal information can be used to take over or create financial accounts, transfer bank balances, apply for loans and credit or purchase goods and services. Identity theives may also present or create documents such as birth certificates or immigration documents to obtain benefits such as healthcare, education, social assistance and public pensions.

Identity theft occurs when someone uses your personal information without your knowledge or consent to commit a crime, such as fraud or theft.Identity thieves steal key pieces of personal information — either physically or in other ways, without your knowledge and use it to impersonate you and commit crimes in your name.

Identity thieves can manipulate your information and invade your personal and financial life. They can use stolen identities to conduct spending sprees, open new bank accounts, divert mail, apply for loans, credit cards and social benefits, rent apartments and even commit more serious crimes.

In addition to names, addresses and phone numbers, thieves look for:

- social insurance numbers
- driver's licence numbers
- credit card and banking information
- bank cards; calling cards
- birth certificates
- passports

Tips on how to avoid being victims of Identity theft:

• sign all credit cards when you receive them
• never loan your credit cards to anyone
• cancel credit cards you do not use and keep a list of the ones you use regularly
• immediately report lost or stolen credit cards and any discrepancies in your monthly statements to the issuing credit card company
• never leave receipts at bank machines, bank wickets, in trashcans, or at unattended gasoline pumps; ensure you destroy paperwork you no longer need
• never provide personal information such as SIN, date of birth, credit card numbers, or PIN over the telephone unless you initiate the call
• promptly remove mail from your ‘secure’ mailbox after delivery and do not leave pieces of mail lying around your residence or work site
• shred or otherwise destroy pre-approved credit card applications, credit card receipts, bills and related information when no longer needed
• avoid keeping a written record of your bank PIN number(s), social insurance number and computer passwords, and never keep this information in your wallet or hand bag
• avoid mail or telephone solicitations disguised as promotions or surveys offering instant prizes or awards designed for the purpose of obtaining your personal details including credit card numbers

Identity theft complaints (2005)
Provinces
Victims $Loss
Ont.
4729
$4,450,122.62
Que.
2614
----$1,864,574.23
B.C.
2010
$1,376,499.08
Alta.
894
$431,221.89
Man.
361
$181,490.32
N.S.
177
$100,036.04
Sask.
157
$87,641.63
N.B.
127
$29,107.52
N.L.
58
$43,358.02
P.E.I.
18
$5,907.63
Yukon
3
$1,285.00
Nunavut
1
$0
Totals
11231
$8,575,593.98

Victims of Identity theft stories--- click HERE

YouTube Victim stories--- click HERE

Opinion Questions =)

Why do you think people would steal others identities?

If you were a victim, how would you react?

After reading this blog, what are you going to do to make sure you are not a victim of this fraud?

How many of you have facebook/myspace/e-mail accounts? If you do, don't you add people to your accounts? Well, how do you know the person you are talking to is actually the person who they claim to be?

For example: If you sign onto your facebook account and you notice you have a friend request from a guy you know that goes to your school, and you add him, but months later you find out this person is actually not the person from your school but is actually a petafile? How would you react to this if you were talking to this person online all the time?

By: the one and only <3

Are The "LAMB's" Gwen's New Accessories?

How would you like it if you were treated like a Barbie doll, dragged everywhere by one person who received all the attention?Well, there are four girls with Gwen Stefani who go through this everyday.

I think Gwen is kind of trying to adapt Japanese culture by letting these girls join but I also think she is exploiting these girls for her own commercial gain because people are going to look at Gwen Stefani because she has the Harajuku girls with her everywhere she goes.


I think it’s not fair that she doesn’t let them talk. In one of the Much Music interviews in 2004 the video clip about her saying, the girls are my imagination so don’t talk to them. I thought that was a bit mean of her to say that. I know that they signed a contact and they get paid but not talking it’s kind of ridiculous. I think Gwen doesn’t want them to talk because then all the Media attention is going to go the Harajuku girls named Love, Angel, Music, Baby and obviously Gwen doesn’t want all the Media attention going to the girls so I guess that’s why she doesn’t want them to talk.

It’s like the Harajuku girls are her Barbie dolls and they are all together just to make Gwen look better. For some people who are Japanese do feel like their culture is being portrayed wrong and I can understand because if my culture was portrayed wrong I would be pretty upset too.

There are not that many Asian people out there who are in the media and for other Asian people see the Harajuku girls in the media and representing their culture. It makes them feel proud and accept whatever is out in the media because they don’t want to criticize it and lose it.

Margaret Cho’s is an Asian American who said something like that too “I think it is totally acceptable to enjoy the Harajuku girls, because there are not that many other Asian people out there in the media really, so we have to take whatever we can get.”

From a blog, Media Rants & Reflections Brittany Lennox said, “She is treating them as if they are animals although there are no physical leashes.” I totally agree with this comment because she is treated them like animals and not letting them talk and they wear tones of make-up and how they dress. The Harajuku girls may like it because they get paid but if they didn’t get paid I am pretty sure they would not be where they are now.


Gwen might be trying to adapt Japanese culture to fit in North America’s popular culture but making the girls like “her pets” is not the right way to do it.

Gwen can be paying them a lot of money not to say anything in public, like how Brittany mentioned in. If they are going to get a lot of money for keeping their mouth shut like why wouldn’t they work for her?

The Harajuku girl toy dolls look very fake and nothing like them. It just gives Asian girls the wrong message which is like saying if you don’t look like this then do something about it. The main thing is you should accept yourself as who you are and be proud of your culture and not try to be somebody you’re not.

Elizabeth Clark posted an article on her blog saying “When on the red carpet with the foursome, Stefani is the center of attention: she doesn’t acknowledge the presence of her entourage. In most published photos, she looks directly into the cameras while they look off to the sides, their gazes never meeting our own.” This is a big problem this does not help bring culture, it’s like discriminating them. It’s like she doesn’t want them to be center of attention. She only wants them to be there to help her be the most vivid person there.

How do you feel about these four accessories of Gwen’s? Do you feel multiculturalism is being endorsed or being insulted?

Work Cited

Lennox , Brittany. "Media Rants & Reflections." Exploitation or Adaptation? The Harajuku Girls of Gwen Stefani. 1 October 2007. 18 Oct 2007
http://media-patriot.blogspot.com/2007/10/exploitation-or-adaptation-harajuku.html.

Cho, Margaret. Harajuku Girls. 18 Oct 2007 http://www.margaretcho.com/blog/harajukugirls.htm.

Clark, Elizabeth. Gwen's Girl Trouble. 25 November 2005. 18 Oct 2007 http://www.thefighting44s.com/archives/2005/11/25/gwens-girl-trouble/

Stankovic, Marko. "Maksimalno." Gwen Stefani i Harajuku Devojke. 15 March 2005. 18 Oct 2007 http://www.maksimalno.com/artman/publish/lifestyle/clanak_145.php.

By: Harp<3

coincidence? I THINK NOT!

When I first heard Avril's song "Girlfriend", I was pretty impressed because the song was very unique. It had a different beat, rhythm, and the one thing that i was fascinated by was, this song had a totally different meaning to it than any other song. Little did I know, she might have stole all these qualities of a song from The Rubinoo’s. The first time i heard the Rubinoo’s song "I wanna be your boyfriend", was in my media class with Mr.Puley. My first reaction to this song was very shocking and at the same time very disappointed. I was shocked at the fact that Avril Lavigne got so much credit for something she might have stolen from another artist. I was also disappointed because I was personally impressed by her until I heard the Rubinoo’s song.

One of the Rubinoo’s clients, Carlin, was very upset because he feels that Avril made a lot of money off his client [1]. I personally agree with Mr.Carlin because it is easy to see tell when one song is re-created from another artist and makes a lot of money then they usually file a law-suit. At this point Avril said she was falsely being accused for this law-suit. She stated, ""You may have heard some news that two guys who wrote for some band from the 1970s I have never in my life heard of called the " Rubinoo’s" are trying to sue me. They have a song called "I Want to Be Your Boyfriend" that has no musical similarities to the song "Girlfriend" that Luke Gottwald and I wrote together" [2].She also told the Canadian press that she has never heard this song in her life and "all songs share similar lyrics and emotions. As humans we speak one language" [2].

I still believe that she has plagiarized most of the song. Its not just about the FIVE words, its about the tempo, rhythm and the main part of the lyrics which is the chorus and the catchy part of the song. Shown below are the two song chorus’s showing the similarities between both lines:


Hey, hey, you, you I wanna be your boyfriend
Hey, hey, you, you, I want to be your girlfriend

Like I said before, at first people were accusing her of plagiarizing but a few months later, people stopped caring as much. Even though people believed she did plagiarize the song, they still continued to buy her albums and be one of her fans. I guess this is just how our society is, they talk about the news for awhile, but not to long after this, it becomes old news. It’s just like gossip; people talk about one thing for a certain time until a new incident or story pops up.

A lot of her fans did say she plagiarized and did forgive her and still continued to listen to her music but Avril thought it was putting a negative impact of her reputation. Her exact words to this were, "I do not deserve this negative press and attention. I take pride in the songs that I write and appreciate the opportunities to work with some great writers and musicians” [3,4].

Avril did not get charged or sued for “plagiarizing” this song. But later on, she was accused once again for copying a song by Peaches titled “I’m the Kinda” with Avril’s song, “I Don’t Have to Try”[3,5]. I personally think she copied the Rubinoo’s but I think she’s just a fan of the Peaches. Not only did she copy the beat and rhythm of the song, she’s a fan of the Peaches identity and style as well.

UH-OHH!!!!

......not again....whens this going to end?

Work Cited
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2007/07/07/avril-songwriting-fireback.html [1]
http://aishamusic.wordpress.com/category/avril-lavigne/ [2]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0d2z-dWZmE&eurl=http://puleymedia08.blogspot.com/2008/02/hey-hey-you-you-case-of-avril-lavigne.html [3]
http://youtube.com/watch?v=P0d2z-dWZmE [4]
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ymUhCCxDPVk&feature=related [5]

By:HaRp<3>