Iron Man 3- Superhero movies have, in the past, taken themselves pretty seriously. The dramatic intensity of the super role-model heroically sporting tights and swooping in to save the day when all hope was lost, wanting nothing in return but for citizens to be safe and kids to stay in school. Things have changed since then with things such as the Iron Man movies, mixing the genre up a bit by making the 'hero' more cocky and stuck up, but still having dramatic moments, taking itself seriously and working for the benefit of mankind. That is, until the newest installment of the series. Iron Man 3, in my opinion, may be a continuation of the downward trend happening in superhero movies. This movie may have some cool effects and the hero may still save the day in the end, as is expected, but it totally fails to take itself seriously. Around every turn where you expect an intense action moment or chilling bad guy monologue, the movie throws in another cheap gag, repeatedly sending the message at its audience "Hey, we're cool, we're not taking ourselves seriously!" That direction does tend to get a few laughs, sort of mocking the instensity that people tend to expect from superhero movies, but after the first dozen, my thought train went something like "Okay guys, very funny, but it'd be cool to actually have something compelling or intense." Though with every action scene they had the bad guys have some kind of banter with Iron Man or a slap stick moment happens. It's not that I don't appreciate comedy, but turning a movie with the genre of 'action'  into a joke does bother me a little, since it's not what I expect to see when I walk into the theater.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind- "Whoa...I...wait...the...but...what?" That's the sentence uttered by most who have seen this movie the first time, working desperately to try to piece everything they saw in the movie together so it fits like a comfy jigsaw puzzle. Many pieces tend to be left out however, and the movie goer tends to need to see it multiple times in order to get every piece out of the box and into plain view. It was like that the first time I saw it, and I wanted desperately to see it again. A couple days later my dad and I settled down on the couch and watched it on Netflix, me promising a mental treat after it was over...and the movie finished leaving us less than fulfilled. The only things I remembered about the movie after it was over was that it was hard to follow, but watching it with my dad straight through allowed me to shed light on one more aspect that I had failed to see: that movie was goshdarn depressing. Like seriously, leave-you-on-the-couch-with-a-bad-feeling-in-your-mouth depressing. No character ends up getting what they bargened for, all ending up hurt by another person, the main characters repeatedly so. Though the movie was very well done and creative, it wasn't the feel-good movie of the year, and since you know how happy I like to be all the time, I probably wont be watching it again any time soon.

Batman Comic-There are few things out there that are truly psychological and dark without being too gratuitous or uninteresting, and this Batman comic truly succeeds in being one of the best I've seen in a while. The bad guy isn't a grumbling mutant or evil mastermind stroking a cat, but a normal person just like you and me, a normal person who is fed  up with society. It makes us relate to him, especially the fact that we can't exactly disagree with the points he is making. People are 'good' out of fear, and if you really think about, is that truly good? This man snaps in a way we feel like we all could one day, which is a hundred times scarier than a half-lizard-half-man. This Batman comic revolves around the complete psychological question of what is good and evil, even including evil triumphing over Batman at the end of the comic. It's not every Batman comic that ends with a bullet through Batman's head, which leaves you with a chilling awe at the maturity the comic offers. The idea of evil conquring good is a startling realistic view that the comic takes, and that's the scariest part of the comic. It's a realistic take on the superhero world, having psychologically evil enemies and good not prevailing in the end, being quite original, which is always ok with me.

Mini Edwards Cloning Video- There is normal bad, such as Iron Man 3, which just disappoints their audience. There is funny bad, such as The Room, which is so badly done it is enjoyable to watch. There is upsettlingly bad, such as Cheaper by the Dozen 2, which leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth. Then there is never-want-to-watch-a-movie-again-tear-your-eyes-out-with-the-dull-end-of-a-hammer-bad, which is the Mini Edwards Cloning video.

I'm just kidding Mr Edwards. The cloning video was a pretty well done short film, using creativity and resources well. There were clever uses of angles and frankenbiting, giving the illusion of more than one character. The acting was a little iffy, but in some points the cheesiness made the geekiness of the main character enjoyable, like when he gave the exaggurated "oh well" shoulder shrug. It was a decent popcorn flick, and probably worth at least an A. Good job Mr. Edwards.

Media Class Breakfast Club Trailer- Though I'm still waiting for the shooting of the whole film to begin, the trailer was an enjoyable use of 3 minutes of my life. It followed the actaul trailer pretty well, and had a funny use of props, such as dropping the little dog to represent someone falling through the roof. Though it was hard to concentrate on the whole film considering the dreaminess of the person who played the jock in the first 20 seconds of the trailer, it was a funny take on the actual trailer and was good for just a days worth of shooting. The lip synching could have possibly been better, and would have probably have seemed more credible if we had used the actual voices of the people in the remake trailer, but that didn't take away from the performance entirely. It was a well done trailer, and I expect to see more great content from you in the future.

Shedding reality on Reality-TV

Intelligence has great importance within a society. Societies that increase 

intelligence have a great chance of increasing innovation and bringing 
their population to a greater future. The more people listen to and learn 
from intelligent sources, the greater chance of positive outcomes in the 
future as they move on to bigger and better things. 

Then there's reality TV. 

Reality TV to me is a perfect example of de-evolution. We have brought 
ourselves to an outstanding place in technology, with numerous 
possibilities ahead of us to try and enhance life as we know it. So I find 
it is simply irresponsible to spend this time that we could be using to 
enhance our livelihoods watching other people do stupid things on a show 
that the TV producers try to pass off as 'real'. It is not that I have a 
problem with watching things on TV; people can share really original and 
creative ideas through movies or Talk Shows, inspiring others through their 
works. But there is really nothing stimulating or inspirational about 
seeing Snookie hookup with guy #125, or watching a mother spray tan her 
bawling four year old daughter. 

To increase intelligence in society, positive values and ideas must be 
circulating around to give people a good moral base. Modern Reality TV 
takes away from that completely, reflecting terrible values and showing 
entertainment that is the opposite of stimulating. There are three examples 
of shows that do this, and honestly just make society a more frustrating 
and morally saddening place to live. 

The first example is the infamous show known as Jersey Shore.

  Having never 
seen a Jersey Shore episode, I decided to subject myself to one for the sole 
purpose of this assignment. 2 minutes and 21 seconds later, I feel I really 
do have all I need to explain why this show is not a good show to subject 
society to. I found myself laughing at their trivial problems, such as 
everybody crying and giving such dramatic emotion for Snookie getting a 
warning by police after parading around the streets drunk. It's exactly that 
kind of behavior that makes Jersey Shore one of the last shows that should 
turn into a phenomenon. Its morals are to get drunk every night, get a spray 
tan during the day, and get a perfect body so you can hook up with countless 
amounts of girls and have meaningless sex again and again. 

The job of trying to teach children about how to respect women and be fine 
upstanding citizens that schools and parents happen to be stuck with is 
difficult enough, but is just unfair expectations to hold to those powers 
when kids are being fed these morals every time they turn on the TV. Jersey 
Shore is not just annoying to hear about, its stupidity is bringing its 
audience down with it, making it a harder job for those who enjoy quality 
entertainment to try and advance society

A second example of a terrible reality TV show is the show Toddlers and Tiaras.

 This show doesn’t feature terrible examples for teenagers; instead, it goes right to showing terrible things HAPPENING to children. The premise of the show is that they take little 3-5 year old girls and try to get them to win beauty pageants by making them look ‘the best they can be’. But these poor toddlers are dressed up in a tad more than tiaras, their crazed mothers going so far as to give them spray tans and put them on crash diets. “Oh, but she likes it!” declares the mother of a child who is bawling for the spray tan to stop. This show causes mothers to take away their kids toys and trade them for dresses and excessive amounts of makeup, showing them that beauty is all that really matters in life. This show causes mothers to look past the well being of their daughters and solely at pleasing the judges, making their little girls miserable in the process.

The final show that I consider an embarrassment to society is one that only survived its first season: Bridalplasty.

  I consider the concept of this show so ridiculous I don’t even see how it made it past its first episode. Basically, there are 12 wife-to-be’s who are competing in various challenges. Whoever wins each challenge gets any item of plastic surgery they would like done, and the overall winner gets the wedding of their dreams and enough plastic surgery to re-haul her whole unhappy body. Here’s the twist: the husbands don’t even know what their future wife is going to look like until the day of the wedding. This show takes women, feeds into their thoughts of not being good enough the way they are, and causes their husbands to basically marry a stranger when it’s all said and done, likely ruining marriages and people’s lives in the process. 

Music Video goshdarn Response

The music video for the song Savin Me by Nickelback is an incredibly original work of art, actually managing to have an engaging story and be about something meaningful. 

Construction of Reality: The video is realistic in the sense that we would react to what is happening in the video the same way that they do. If we were saved by somebody anonymous, and then we suddenly started seeing peoples life spans above their heads, we would probably be just as confused as this guy was. The main idea of the video, seeing lifespans so you can essentially save people and pass on that ability, is a very original and interesting idea to include in a music video. It may not be entirely realistic, but it is definitely something to appreciate and think about.

The songs meaning is conveyed beautifully by the music video. The reality portrayed is that if people had the power to save lives, they would, and essentially that responsibility would pass on to someone else. This reality gives people hope for the good in humanity and also emphasizes the song, which is about needing to be saved. Though the music video fits the songs meaning really well, it may only appeal to a portion of the artist's fanbase. Much of the Nickelback fanbase are the "party hard rock and roll" kinds of people, so a serious song about saving people may not necessarily appeal to that demographic. In that same sense, it may not appeal to the pop culture of today, considering it is not about things that cause immediate pleasure such as sex and drugs, but instead about a meaningful message. 

Codes and Conventions: A stereotype used in this video would be shots of the band playing the song in an abandoned building type of setting so as to add dramatic effect to the song. There is also a very typical formula to the song, how it includes repetition of the chorus and a guitar solo. There aren't many typical stereotypes in this rock song, it's much more creative and meaningful than an every day rock song. 

Creeds and Values: A value statement that this video is expressing is the importance of helping others when one is given the ability. If someone has the power to help or save someone, such as when the person pulled the lady away from the falling piece of metal, they should act upon it so that the person can do the same for someone else. This is also reflected in the lifestyle choices that are displayed by the characters in the video, choosing to help when given the knowledge to do so. Also the importance of paying it forward, helping after you are helped. No racial differences are shown in this video, equality is EVERYWHERE.

Commercial: This is a very effective way to sell the song. It causes people to look deeper at the meaning of the song, and specifies that it is about life and death, not simply a love interest, which viewers may assume after hearing just the song. The video makes people want to buy the video with the song (I know I did) because it adds a completely new element of creativity to the experience by adding in the story aspect. The target audience would be anyone who is attracted to deep, meaningful lyrics and a compelling story, though it does not appeal to the 'party going' fans that Nickelback tends to have. The video does fit the song very well, and even adds a new layer to the song by giving us another element of creativity to appreciate. 

The four questions I gotta answer

i. I believe that media is a decently big part of my life. More than anything I enjoy socializing with people, so Facebook connecting me to my friends is pretty important to me. Also, I enjoy watching movies and critiquing them, so without that type of media to entertain me I would probably be pretty bored.

ii. I find I am most passionate about Social networking sites and movies. Social networking sites such as Youtube and Facebook because I enjoy being social and connecting with people, and I find that media is a useful way to do that. I'm passionate about movies because I like seeing the creative ideas channeled into entertainment and warped perceptions of reality that people have.

iii. My thoughts on our modern popular culture are mostly negative. though I do like how technology is allowing us to connect with people literally anywhere in the world, I also find it sad how technology is seperating us from reality by allowing kids to watch endless videos of cats rather than play outside with their friends. Also, popular music and TV shows are showing how the general intelligence of society is dropping and how it takes less and less for things to entertain us. Back then songs had to have a special meaning and purpose, or clever word play to be popular. Now all Niki Minaj has to do is say "Your a dirty hoe" on repeat and it's a sensation. I use media for connecting with people I care about, but it seems to mostly be used just for entertainment.


iv. The form of media I have a strong passionate connection to would be Social Networking. Social Networking is a combination of media and what I value to be most important: social interaction with other people. Social interaction is pretty much my only hobby. One example as to why this is a very important part of my life is Facebook. I have over 700 Facebook friends because I cannot bring myself to delete anyone that I no longer have a connection to. Facebook allows me to frequently connect and be informed on the lives of the people who mean the most to me, allowing me to be a part of their lives when I cannot physically be there with them. Another example of social networking in my life is Youtube. Youtube allows me to view videos and content that people put out in order to channel their creativity. It is an online community where you can share ideas with people all over the world about any topic that comes to the imagination, allowing you to view all different kinds of video entertainment in a social setting. The third example is the online site Omegle. Omegle is a site where you can talk to complete strangers and say whatever you like. As long as you're careful not to give out any personal information, it is fun to mess with people that you've never met and come up with any identity you want. These social networking sites have allowed  me to engage in social activity anytime I want while allowing me to simply not leave my computer screen.