The Media Diary... Are we being Corrupted (possibly?)

Through out this week I have discovered that my life is a bit odd. I am possibly not all there… normal people would go to bed at a normal time… Me? No! I have to stay up till a silly hour of the early morn listening to heavy trance! Bizarre I think so.
You could also argue that my life does appear very routine like and boring, but I advise that you look at yours also as I feel we are all oblivious to how much of our time is dominated by Television, Internet, FACEBOOK, Music and Advertisements.

MONDAY!
So on Monday after school what do i do... Head straight to Costa with my nearest and dearest for a good old natter and to be hounded by subliminal messages URGING me to buy Costa Coffees as they are a 'Taste of Experience'
5pm.After bidding my friends farewell at i plonk in my ipod and walk home, i am currently !!!LOVING!!! Glasvegas and they are right up there on my 'most recently played'
During my walk home along the High Street a bus passes me with an advertisement for a new film called 'The Women'... it doesn't look too good so i don't think i will be booking a seat at the cinema to watch it.
5.15pm. I get home and automatically put on the kettle and the radio, i then have a laaavvvvllleeeyy cuppa tea whilst cooking my lazy brother his dinner and listening to 'The Scott Mills Show' on Radio 1, they seem to have 'Katy Perry's, i kissed a girl and i liked it' on repeat and i am getting pretty sick of it.
6.30pm.I put my Favorite soap on. Yes... that's right. Hollyoaks. I find that all the episodes all mingle into one massive one, but i still watch it ritually as i do blooming love it, it has got so far form 'real life' that it is laughable and occasionally the acting is so poor that you either cry with laughter or pity the poor actors.
7.30pm. my Boyfriend popped over and we watched V for Vendetta. It was the first time i had watched it and i will happily admit there were occasions when i got a bit watery eyed. The film was very good and i thought the idea behind it was especially intriguing. Set against the futuristic landscape of totalitarian Britain, V For Vendetta tells the story of a mild-mannered young woman named Evey who is rescued from a life-and-death situation by a masked vigilante known only as "V." Incomparably charismatic and ferociously skilled in the art of combat and deception, V ignites a revolution when he detonates two London landmarks and takes over the government-controlled airwaves, urging his fellow citizens to rise up against tyranny and oppression.
10pm. we then watched some comic genius. Dylan Moran “I can't swim. I can't drive, either. I was going to learn to drive but then I thought, well, what if I crash into a lake?”
"You watch your small child walking around with a plug looking for jam,Me: What are you doing?Child: Looking for jam Me: Why?Child: Because I'm making plug jam, don't ask stupid fucking questions!"
"You know it's a sad day when your child looks at you and asks 'Daddy, are these organic?'"
"Organic? I grew up on Angel Delight. We didn't have anything in the house if it wasn't neon!"
12pm. i ventured onto the computer for a bit o FACEBOOK and a bit o Itunes. my boyfriend had made me a CD so i had a good listen to that. love it to be honest. got some classics on it such as 'Police and Thieves' by The Clash, 'Tickle me Pink' by Johnny Flynn, and some other stuff which i just love such as M.I.A, 'Postcards from Italy' by Beirut and my Favorite song 'If i was" by Billy The Kid.
i was on the computer for a good 3 hours and eventually fell asleep listening to Tiësto's Elements of Life Trance Album on repeat.

Tuesday!
I was off school on Tuesday as was not feeling well at all.
So...
2pm.woke up to the sound of the mobile ringing. Kings Of Leon. Sex on Fire. What a tuuuunnneeee. Jen was on the phone so had a brief chat with her, then took my magical music box to the shower where i listened to the new Chase and Status Album. Chase and Status are classic Drum'n'Bass and i am a massive Fan, they are holding an underground Rave soon so will defiantly be trying to get to that.
2.30pm. After shower return to my messy bedroom and get dressed and dry my hair listening to Radio1. The songs are all a bit repetitive at the moment.
4pm. Computer computer... FACEBOOK. facebook. it concerns me greatly how i am unable to focus on anything else whilst on facebook. Am becoming a facebook junkie??.
4.30pm. watched Mr and Mrs Smith with the Hubby. it is funny in parts, but its not all great. do love a bit of Brad Pitt though so all is well. and Angelina is just a Babe.
8pm. Radio was listened to. Collin Murry's show i believe, he was talking about Kings of Leon a lot (Good Man!!!). i also missed Hollyoaks but I'm sure i will survive! was cooking my brother some Nosh and then i sat down to read some Heat Magazine. Cover Story was about skinny Stars.. well isn't that a surprise...?! i hate it how in Celebrity Magazines they will slate celebrities for being Skinny and then 20 pages into the Magazine there is an image of Colleen Mcloughlin with red circles all over it picking on all the areas that no woman would want noticed and saying things like 'don't her ankles look chubby' and 'she could do with dropping a dress size'
MAKE YOUR MIND UP! are we to be size zero or are we to be happy and healthy? i think celebrity magazines are defiantly an area of the media where readers can be corrupted as they look at say Cheryl Cole's radically shrinking frame and think..."Yeah she's fit.. i want to look like her" how do they do it.. become anorexic. not cool.
9pm. ventured on to the computer for a bit more FACEBOOK. music music music. brought a new trance anthem! all good. thought i could do with an early night. so decided to wiggle off the computer and depart to the Boudoir.
9.15pm. ipod,ipod and more ipod. it was just blaring good tune after good tune. also read some of Enduring Love which is one of my English Literature Novel. Its a bit silly. and has sort of brought on a weird Phobia of hot air balloons but I'm sure it will pass.
11.30pm. Phone music. have got some classic cheesy tunes on my phone so fancied a listen.
11.45pm. off to bed with Dave Pearce in the background.

Wednesday!!
7.30am. On with the ipod. it's a great way to wake up. Had The Maccabees playing so it put me in a good mood for the day.
7.50am. Radio. Chris Moyles Show on Radio1. My God that man can talk....get ready. put make up on. sort me hair out. try and look presentable. doesn't always work! wiggle off to school.
8.20am. walking to school. don't ive too far away so its a relaxing walk. arrive. go to house rooms. go to chapel.
9am. Have 'Free's.. i mean. Private reading. Do some Notes with Johnny and Listen to my ipod.
4.15pm. finish school. what do we do. Costa. we inhabit Costa everyday after school. scary really how much we must spend in there. Coffee's not that great either....
6pm. Go to Hubbys house. listen to many alternate tuunees on route. took us about 45 minutes to walk so was a good music session.
7pm. watch some Hollyoaks on E4. cant comment on it. don't remember much of it. its becomes a mindless watch.
7.30pm. I then did a bit o FACEBOOK and some work. itunes whilst that was all going on. did some youtube browsing for some songs, listened to that Esme denters chick to see if she was any good... Verdict. i don't like her. she has a good voice. but how many more people like her is America going to throw at the world? we don't need another pretty American girl with an innocent voice. it all gets so boring.
went on MSN had various conversations with various people. was pretty routine.
8pm. Hubby suggested we watched true romance. never seen that before either. loved it. very violent. but possibly the cutest love story even if it is a bit dark and twisted.
10pm. was collected. listened to the Last of the Shadow Puppets in the car. i like them. the when i got home watched desperate Housewives.! its good!!!
11pm. Went to the bedroom. watched enduring love on DVD. was a bit odd. didn't get too into it actually.
1pm. read my book 'wish you were here' tis rather comical. about 3 guys, best friends, one is married and super religious, one is a player, and the other has just been dumped after 7 years. they have a mad holiday and it all gets a bit silly.
2pm. ipod. trance. bed. ! :)

THURSDAY!!

7am. up. ipod. shower. party party! then back to my room for some serious hair drying at then getting dressed.

8.15am. wiggle to school. ipod in. very routine. not feeling to ready for school. was not in a good mood. so had some happy songs. sorted me right out.. :)!

2.15pm. Aerobics. Lots and lots of pumping music. is it weird that i love dancing about like a loon to lots of loud music working up a sweat?

4.15pm. COSTA! we are addicts. we might as well live in there or have a tab at the counter. We all had a good old chin wag. discussed party on Friday. Moulan Rouge theme. will be good!

IPOD. lots of ipod walking home and at home. what i would i do without the magical music machine.

went shopping in the evening. saw many adverts. not many effected me. i did read the paper on the train. Britney Spears is trying to sell her 'jinxed' house. she also went out dressed like the lady out of pulp fiction.... another epic film!! more newspaper gossip. Katy Perry who kisses girls and likes it actually kissed the female singer of Alphabeat which is all a bit scandalous. the paper which was only the free London metro one focused on the teenage deaths in London. it made me realise what a state our country is in. its bad! we just need to get along and stop killing each other.

came home. Facebooked it.!

went to bed. Lots of trance! book reading.! na night

FRIDAY!!!

thank god its Friday!

7.am. shower. ipod.party. same routine. dancing in the shower is well fun!!!!

7.20.am. getting ready. radio1. bit of a dance..

8.20am. walking to school. ipod. wiggling.

4.15. didn't go to Costa. it is a miracle. went to miss Harbisons to get ready for party. lots of music whilst getting ready. got in the party mood. dressed in very little. was funny. but COLDDD!

party was just blaring music...

12.30pm. home. watched some telly. 2 pints of larger and a packet of crisps. then went to bed as had work next day. was an early night really.....

SATURDAY.

7am. got up. listened to the radio. got ready. feeling a little bit worse for wear.

8.45am. walked to work. i do a lot of walking!!! got to work. boss was away. so we all partyed. sold a lot of jewellery was all good. boss should be happy.

5.30. finished work. went home after saw hubby briefly. wasnt really in the mood for going out. so stayed in and watched strictly come dancing and x factor... what a loser i am!

1am. hubby came round. we watched natural born killers.... was GOOD! i liked very brutal! lots of mindless killing. and a cute marriage at the end. what more could you ask for!

SUNDAY..

what a boring day. got up. radio. shower. music. read the times. bored me a bit. i worry about the credit crunch as it will affect us badddd..

The Lessons

So we are learning about the Medias relationship with the audience, it is complicated. Many people feel that the media is a bad influence on us as humans and that it is corrupting our minds. whether i feel if this is true or not is yet to be discovered.

The media want to...

• Inform their audience.
• To sell to their audience. (Advertising)
• To influence the audience. (Magazines, Papers)
• To entertain.
• To interact with them. (Websites, Blogs, Podcasts)

TWO OPINIONS OR AUDIENCE MODELS...

1. The Hypodermic Model. The audience are passive victims (injected or fed media, corrupted and de-sensitivitised by sex and violence)
2. The Active Audience (the decide how and when media is used, they make choices about what we like and dont like)

A TV programme or newspaper article can influence the reader by offering a postion or point of view such as Charity Adverts.

We have learnt:

Representation, where we take reality, the form our own perception of reality, which finally gives us how we choose to present it.

Plot, a sequence of events told in a story.

Narrative, how the story is told.

Verisimilitude, trying to create a plausible representation.

The New Beginning

Hello and welcome to My Media Blog,
This is my second attempt at creating a serious Blog and hopefully it will be second time lucky....
We are now four weeks into the school term and it is all going well ... ish (touch wood) I was expecting great changes in 6Th form and that is what i got. it is interesting to see the groupings that have developed over the past month and how the people who were once "the new people" have settled in brilliantly, and although there is still a lot to learn from and about them, it feels as if they have always been part of our year.
A great bonding experience was the Young Enterprise Day. This was a whole day dedicated to mixing the year up, then separating us into groups of about 10, and literally threw us in at the deep end by giving us all half an hour to come up with a FANTASTIC, NEW and INGENIOUS business idea that will sell. We then had to make complete fools of ourselves by doing numerous tasks such as creating an advert for our 'creation', standing up in front of the rest of the year to try and sell them our idea and having a mock business meeting with possible investors of our company.
I felt that the day brought everyone a lot closer together and gave all students an insightful look into the business world.
The year was also given the opportunity to actually create a young enterprise business, i and many others jumped at the chance to create a bit of cash and to start our own business. i am in a group filled with 15 lovely people :) and now have the title of HR manager... whether this will proceed to be a GOOD TIME or a BAD TIME will eventually be discovered (and i promise to keep you posted)
So... MEDIA....

Our first Media assignment was set my Mr V. It was to produce a review of our ultimate favourite film like totally EVER!!!
So i decided to do..
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1999)

As a child who has been brought up by her father to love all films which include violence, explosive action and a great deal of humour it was no surprise to my parents to discover that I was becoming more and more interested in gangster films. The Blues Brothers was originally my favourite film but then I was introduced to Lock Stock. The dynamite bundle of dark, dangerous and amoral fun brings a smile to my face whenever I watch it. The acting in lock stock is mostly by a bunch of unknowns which is why I feel the film appeals so much as the film is quick and witty.
Combining crime, drama and comedy, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels proves to be a satisfying watch for any sort of film fan. Set in London’s dark and gritty underworld, it tells the story of four friends, Jason Flemyng as Tom, Dexter as Soap, Nick Moran as Eddie and Jason Statham as Bacon, who are trying to repay a mob boss, "Hatchet" Harry Lonsdale - a porn king of notorious disposition, after an unruly loss in a game of three card brag. In order to pay off their debts they decide to rob a small-time gang of their hard earned drugs. This unfortunately takes a turn for a worst and results in all of the small-time gang form next door being brutally murdered by Rory Breaker, Gangster and sociopath in a mass shooting.
The film is hilarious as it shows the vicious circles of gang crime and how they will get what they deserve in the end. In Lock, Stock the punishment that most endure is death. The Body Count of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is 17 and each death is as brutal as the next.
1. Smithy Robinson - Bludgeoned to death with "a 15-inch black rubber cock" by Harry.2. Gordon's unnamed associate - Beaten to death with a golf club.3. Gordon - Killed with a Chef's knife sharpening steel by Dog.4. Mickey - Shot by Gloria.5. Paul - Killed in the shootout at Eddie and Bacon's place.6. John - Killed in the shootout at Eddie and Bacon's place.7-10. Rory Breaker's 4 henchmen - Killed in the shootout at Eddie and Bacon's place.11. Plank - Shot several times, until finally killed by Rory Breaker.12. Rory Breaker - Shot by Plank.13. Dean - Shot in the chest by Harry.14. Harry Londsdale - Shot several times by Gary.15. Gary - Killed with a hatchet to the back by Barry.16. Barry - Shot in the stomach by Gary.17. Dog - Crushed repeatedly by a car-door, kicked and beaten by Big Chris.
The Sound track is this film is also fantastic and includes many classics such The Boss" by James Brown, Police and Thieves" by Junior Murvin and Liar Liar" by The Castaways. Guy Ritchie is my God and I love all films that he has written and directed as they are true comic genius. Although all the films are stereotypical to London gangs and portray them all in the same way I feel this adds to the brilliance of them. Lock, Stock is a timeless classic film that should be watched and loved by all.