"John Wayne is a tellibler name for a cowboy!"

I was talking with a friend of mine the other day and we were discussing the movie "Hero." I first found it interesting that he loved this film so much because I have yet to find an Asian who doesn't. When I first watched it, it felt a little silly and I felt like the flying and language was out-of-control unreal to me. I had absolutely no context for understanding it and therefore, it wasn't as entertaining for me as maybe it was for my Asian friends who so admire it. Then we got to talking about other Asian movies and how I did enjoy "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon."

Why? Why do I not mind the artsy flying and intense story in the one movie and find the other very hokey?

My friend enlightened me: for the same reason that we might enjoy a John Wayne flick over Will Smith's "Wild Wild West." The art of using the flying in Chinese movies, he explained, is it's own genre in Chinese media and culture just as the western movies are in ours. It made me regret letting my brain heave this movie into my dumpster of non-entertaining films because I think that even that small tidbit of information would have given me a greater insight and helped me to understand the campy/hokey nature of this style of film.

A haiku that fits

Peace: felt in the air
A warm hand and a smile
The sun gave us hope

To elaborate: When we were asked to think of a picture this was the only one I could think of. The context is that this was my boyfriend at one point. We had dated for many months and then he had moved to DC to work and I had to stay here to finish school. For about four months we had off and on tried to date and not date until we decided to make another visit. This picture was taken about an hour or so after I picked him up from the airport. We are at the park just next to the capital building in Salt Lake. We had stopped at a small cafe-ish place and got little sandwiches, and I had brought his favorite drink products (that he can't get on the East coast!). We had a great day- one of the most perfect I can remember. The sun was perfect: not to hot- not to cool, but a perfect light breeze on a perfect sunny day. We talked about what we wanted to do and this conversation marked the first time we had really discussed what we wanted. After we talked, we laid down on our backs on a blanket and just watched the leaves blow around above us-- it was a beautiful and hopeful day I will not soon forget.

Penelope

I think I have talked about this before, but I think it is interesting how the humor in the nighttime comedy shows has shifted over the years. Also, the amount of show watching has increased since I was younger. Now with shows like "The Office" and "Arrested Development" and "Everybody Loves Raymond" or even "Seinfeld" it seems like we enjoy watching awkward situations to make us laugh. I think "The Office" is becoming such a standard in TV comedy: the very familiar situation that finds the humor and runs with it-- runs far.

I think this clip from Saturday Night Live, a show I watched religiously as my brothers were all teenagers, is so funny to me because I know people like this. I know of the people that have to "one-up" everyone else at the party. I had a friend who swore she drank 4% milk and rode a 59-speed Huffy. The recognition level of humor is a very popular one and apparently what America likes to watch.

http://digg.com/videos/comedy/SNL_Penelope_Friggin_Hilarious

If I were using this in a class I would ask what is funny about this? Why does the audience clap the moment they see her? Who could this be making fun of and what message is it trying to communicate to us?

Pushing Daisies

As I have been following along with the shows my brother has tivo-d and recommended, I decide to watch the first episode of Pushing Daisies. I have no idea what it is about and I am unaware of anything I am about to see. I only know that my brother whom I love and trust says that it is fabulous- whatever that means. As a media literate minded one, I watch the intro, fascinated by how beautiful every frame is. Every shot is a fun new surprise fill of color and symmetry and life. It is obvious to see that the artistic director meant this because it seems to be a recurring theme.

Again we meet a character who finds that he has a power that causes things to come to life when he touches them. If he touches them again-- they die. It is one of those things that sounds odd and lame when explained, but if you just watch the show, you will understand and love it. This would be fun to show in class because it looks like every shot was created from a perfect advertisement of some kind. Everything looks perfect and in place, everything is in full and vibrant color, and the actors are so fun to watch. It would be fun to have the class bring in advertisements and/or pictures and create a short film or storyboard for one where we use some of these images and explain how we would use them. I think this would be good also because it would open a discussion about how artistic directors work and how the students can do the same thing as they create their own media. Link to watch Pushing Daisies, the full episode: http://dynamic.abc.go.com/streaming/landing (may have to download a player)

Dealing with Issues

This is another clip from the band "Flight of the Conchords". I love it so much because of the humor that is in the mixing of genres. I think we find this funny because of how seriously these two take themselves about extremely unserious things. They say that the song talks about "real world issues" and they point to only a few things and they are not all real. They also use music to make sounds as they tell their stories. Instead of showing a man cry in pain, they do it on pitch. It is funnier that way.

I was interested in this clip because in my "Teaching Composition" class today we were talking about Genre Theory and how we can teach the various genres of writing and how they are presented and how people and play with genre. We read a "fairy tale" that changed our perception of what a fairy tale is because it doesn't have the exact elements of what we consider to be a fairy tale, yet it is definitely introduced as one.

I think it would be a fun idea in class to have the students present a story in all different genres. For example, if we were to read a play or film in class, give the students a part of that script and let them choose various ways to retell the same story. This way we can talk about the different ways that the medium changes our message. Have them maybe choose from a hat either a storybook, a commercial, a short film, a reality TV show...etc. and then discuss how the story changed from each genre of media.

O the Magazine

My roommate and I had to go to the store for some things and at the register, which is packed with what she is interested in- advertising crap... we noticed Oprah's magazine. I am a sucker for this kind of stuff and admittedly, I can't help but enjoy anything that she likes. Well, most of the things she likes. So we bought it and I flipped through it during the ride home and would show her the pages with great pictures or great bits of things. For example, there is a page that looks like it would be found in Oprah's personal blog of some sort-- it listed cereals, and shopping secrets... all of the things that, when you first look at the page, you might think come directly from Oprah herself. upon closer look, however, we can see that perhaps Oprah has nothing to do with anything in this magazine at all. She shows for the photo shoot, but maybe she doesn't have very much of a say in the design or what is inside the book at all. She does have a column dedicated to Dr. Phil, whom I know she likes a great deal, and she lists the books on her booklist. I just find in interesting how much power she really has.

I also read about the fact that she helped to fund Obama's campaign. This is of course frustrating because of the influence she has on our society, and more than financially. Sh says that she can only donate up to a certain amount, but her stamp of approval is more than any check she could write. Every book that Oprah has put on her book list has become a top seller. Can someone get her to put the BOM on there?

I think Oprah is an interesting topic because she controls so much of the media. What she loves, we love, and what she loves sells. I would use something like an article from her own magazine, or the interview with her and ask what dangers there are of having a woman with so much power? Are there any? What does it mean for those voting- and how might it change even the voter population? How are the pictures and scenes presented in her magazine and what is it saying to the reader?

Media Literate Roommates make me smile

My roommate is a marketing/advertising major and is in a media literacy class. She just came home all excited about the movie that they had watched for the whole class. She seemed quite excited that they even got to watch a movie for class, but the fact that it was a good one was great. They apparently have been talking about lighting and sound and how that effects a piece and the message that it conveys to the audience. They watched Good Night and Good Luck. Which happens to be a movie I love. I love the fact that it is black and white and I love that some of it is real and I mostly love that George Clooney directed it. We were talking about how that movie is so effective in black and white because of how it supports its authenticity. Most people are also surprised to find out the George directed it too.

In a class we could talk about why the director chose to do this film, obviously made in our day, in black and white. We could talk about how the lighting and the editing of the real footage alters the story for us. What does that do to our perception of these events in history?