Vampires aren't that scary anymore

What happened to the days of Dracula and the scary Vampires that made kids be afraid of the night and those blood sucking bats. Today's screaming teen girls seem as if they want to get their blood sucked by the vampires in today's Hollywood movie series, Twilight. Now as I've been told, even by those who have read the books, the book is better. Which is typical, most books are this way. But the love and outcry for this movie series has been incredible. Theaters are being sold out and even Burger King recently made you pick a side, Werewolves or Vampires. Back in the day, if this was a choice, this would be something guys would do and girls would say how stupid that was. But this movie has flipped all that seems normal in the world and I don't get it.
Maybe it's because I didn't read the books. Oh well, sue me. I was asked to watch the first of these movies by my girlfriend. It was really bad. There was poor acting, many cliche Hollywood moment and I couldn't understand what the hype was all about. Probably because I was watching the back of my eyelids. Girls everywhere thought Edward was a hunk, what with his need for their blood and all.
The second one I was told was now about Werewolves who are against the zombies, but now the girls have turned to the guy who is the werewolf.



Apparently he put on some muscle and takes his shirt off for almost all the movie. Sounds like most werewolves we saw back in old Hollywood.
Rottentomatoes the movie rating sight agrees with me on these movies, rating this most recent a 29% http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/twilight_saga_new_moon/which is very rotten, and the first 49%http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/twilight/which also is a rotten. They say no one others than fans of the novel will find this entertaining, which makes a lot of sense.
But obviously these movies do incredible at the box office, The first movie brought in over $191 million while the second has already brought in over $142 million. Like it says in our book, movies are all about making money and as long as these teen girls spend their money at the Box office these movies will continue to be made year after year. Remember back to the black and white movies discussed in our book, when sound was first being introduced. The horror those nighttime creatures brought. Well no more my friends, as monsters have gone from scary to everything a girl could want. What has the world come to?

All the Protection You Need for the Holiday Season

Over the holiday break, I went to see the movie the Blind Side. This movie was based on the real life story of the Raven's Left Tackle Michael Oher. This movie was given a little Hollywood magic and made for what I thought was a very good movie.
The movie discusses the story of a young man with no home and a troubled passed who is taken in by a rich family and raised as one of their own. The movie shows brings up the issues of race all throughout the movie, from the projects to the upright, nice schools. This movie certainly made you think that anything can be possible and that hard work and chasing your dreams can solidify you in the history books.
Some movie critics, such as those on http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1212694-blind_side/say that this is Sandra Bullock's best movie to date. It is a story that may leave some in the movie with tears and others a sense of awe. he naysayers may see this as just a Hollywood fable but I really enjoyed it. Rottentomatoes critics left is with a 74% which is very good in today's movie industry where critics nit pick anything and everything.
One huge issue that the books discusses and is the most relevant in today's society is making profit. That is what the movie industry is all about. If they cannot meet their budget, the movie is seen as a flop and their next movies will be in question. The Blind side did quite well, raking in over $34 million as of Thanksgiving Day.
My friends all want to see it, and my family who I went with, enjoyed it and I cannot wait to see it again. The only thing that left a bitter taste in my mouth is that he could be playing for the Patriots.

The Magic of Disney Television

My family takes a trip to Disney World every summer. It is a way for us to all get away and be able to spend time together. With busy schedules and conflucting sporting events from my brother and I, we need the break. Disney's Hollywood Studios has a ride called the BACKLOT TOUR. http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/hollywood-studios/attractions/backlot-tour/This tour shows how special effects in movies are done by sending your tour bus through some. It also takes you back in time and shows you some of Disney's props it has used in movies, such as some Indiana Jones vehicles and even Herbie. But before you get to the ride there is a specail show they put on for you. It's called Harbor Attack. In the Queve line where you wait for the ride to start, you are shown a video which has the director of Pearl Harbor, Michael Bay. He talks to you about how the movie is made with special effects and how it all comes together. Now the great thing about Harbor attack is that they take people from the queve line to be part of the show. Guess which lucky person they picked...yep it was me. I was pretty excited, seeing the show before and couldn't wait to do it.

They took 4 guest including myself and we went to the back of the set where they gave us boots and water proof gear. We all got dressed up and the cast members took us out to the set. I looked out to the audience and waved to my mom, who taped it on her old phone. The director took one member of the group and put them in what looked like a little open office. The front is missing so the audience can see, but to the right is a ramp connected to a huge water tank. The announcer gives the man the instructions on how to act out the scene and they begin. He first looks over his office and answers a phone. Once they pick up the phone they are hit by the rushing water. And then the director yells cut and you move on to the little boat on the set.

This is where I was. I was the captain of the boat, while the other two I was with was were on the deck. You have to be 18 to be part of this show, so I just barely made the cut.

We were given our directions. I was to scan the air for enemy fighters while the other two swabbed the deck. We began. I picked up the plastic binocs and looked around. Then the studio rang with the noise of fighter planes. The director yelled to turn the wheel and get us out of here. Then he yelled to late. All of a sudden to water cannons blasted right next to the boat and noise of bombs dropping came in. Then you hear them say torpedo and the water jets make a line in the water towards your boat and then a big explosion and fire starts on the set. Of course, none of us being professionals, we acted in the corny manner we could, waving our towels we were given to clean the ship at the plane while I spun the wheel. Then more water cannons and fire and then a big "CUT" from the director. We all laughed and heard the laughter and applause from the crowd. We were then led over to the audience where there are monitors overhead. The director told everyone to watch as they put this movie together. You then see all of the scenes we just took with videos of fake planes flying over with voice overs with the man on the phone talking to me the captain. Then the bombs and explosions, us running around to the music. It was a blast I loved it.

This show obviously was all about timing. Everything was put together perfectly and shots were placed in to create the movie. Also Production techniques. You can't make a movie look like that without the use of great equiptment and a set. It's so interesting to see how they do all this, very cool.

The book talks about rising films costs and the stuggle to make profit. It's amazing to see the specail effects in movies today, but these blockbusters take up a huge chunck of money so they can be hard to produce. None the less its fun to watch and now see and think about how they were made. Overall this was an awesome experience and hopefully I'll be able to do it again this year.

Rockin' at Meadowbrook

Over the summer my friend and I went to a rock concert at Meadowbrook. It was pretty exciting, seeing all of the people walking in, getting pumped up for the music. The only concert I had been to prior this was a Toby Keith and Rascall Flatts concert, so I expected this to be a little bit more exciting. And did it come through.

The show consisted of four bands, Halestorm (which I hadn't heard of before that day), Chevelle(barely knew), Shinedown and Staind. I was most excited to see the two big bands, and who wouldn't be. The first two bands got the crowd warmed up and I was impressed. I learned a lot of new songs and thought they performed well. The drummer seemed the most entertaining in these two performances, putting on a show in the background. It was funny.

As everyone does at a concert, my friend and I looked for the best seats. We were in the middle section of seats but a little far back. We moved over to the left and the right, moving up slowly until Shinedown was about to perform. At Meadowbrook their is a section in the middle of the seats where the sound booth is. No one was sitting in a row right next to it, so my friend and I went in and were now dead center right next to the sound booth. In the image below we were on the right of the sound booth in E. We started out above the booth in E towards Club Seating.





Then the lights went down and the music started and Shinedown came on stage. They put on a great show, with the lead singer going out into the aisles, people following him and having security take others away. (There was a Harpoon Brewery Booth there, what do you expect) The music was great with their new and classic hits and I thought there was no way Staind could outperform them. They did.

Staind's music hit a little harder and really got the crowd excited. Still being in the seats that weren't our originals, some people moved into the row and the guy next to me said that his friend couldn't make the concert so my friend and I won out and got em'. We laughed and said his friend missed out, he laughed and agreed. Staind exited the stage and then the encore started, but not what you'd expect. Staind's lead singer came out to the crowd and walked into the sound booth! He was right next to me. The sound booth set up a little stage in their and he played a few songs. It was so awesome.






The book talks about the top 40 and how DJ's would play the best selling songs of the day. When I got here and told my roommates I had been to this concert they weren't sure who some of the bands were. I played some of their songs that are played all the time on the radio and they both nodded and said "Oh yeah, okay." Shows how much we hear songs but never really dig or care to see who performs them. Mostly because they're overplayed.

Overall it was an awesome concert. I enjoyed getting the best seats, singin to the songs I've heard for so long and getting an awesome show. If they come to your town, don't miss out.

http://www.staind.com/
http://www.shinedown.com/

The following preview is rated...

In my local movie theater back home there has been a change that has really hurt my movie going experience. We all go to watch the movie, but sitting through the previews is fun just to pick out what you might come back to see next. But something has changed. The previews have now turned into everyone's worst nightmare...advertisements.

http://www.zvents.com/claremont-nh/venues/show/654341-claremont-cinema-6

I go to the movies to get away from all of the commercials I see whenever I turn on the tube. My movie going experience has died. I loved going in, watching the previews and then seeing the movie I just payed all the money burning a hole in my pocket. Now it feels like I never left my house. If I wanted to sit through advertisements, I could've stayed home and waited for the previews to hit the television. Instead I'm seeing the same things from when I'm watching 30 Rock to the movie The Rock. I can't stand it and neither can my friends who go with me. It brings up a sense of Nostalgia, the good ol' days when you could leave your worries behind and just watch a nice movie no strings attached. Now I see a commercial for The National Guard I've seen a hundred times at home and then see GI Joe, greatly taking away from my viewing pleasure.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/

I can see why movies do it. The ads bring in added revenue, but it upsets people who came to get away from that and watch some previews that would get them excited for the next movie going adventure. The book talks about how hard it is for movies to make money due to rising film costs. Also with the invention of the Internet, movies can get leaked and stolen before even hitting video. This is a great strain on the movie industry so the extra revenue is a necessity.

It makes sense for the movie industry, I'm just not a fan. That damn Internet. Hopefully people will learn and we can go back to the good ol' days where I go to my theater sit down and let the theater take my cares away and draw me into the wonderful world of the big screen.

Just some old school Wrestling MM3

Yes we all know that wrestling is fake and scripted, but it is, or use to be fun to watch. I use to watch wrestling back in the days of Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Rock. Ya it was cool seeing all those guys fight and how the storylines played out back in the day. They were supposed to be considered badasses and thats what made it fun to watch. There was cussing and fighting, beer drinking and everything else needed to put on a good show. But times have changed unfortunately.
Wrestling has moved from the good ol' days to the days of jokes that little kids will understand as WWE has become PG rated. They wanted to expand their audience and yet still put on a show about fighting and not fully closed wrestlers. Wrestling just doesn't pack the punch that it use to. No longer can they show blood in matches, they get away from the swearing, and play to the younger audience. While many may see this as a good thing, many wrestling fans do not.
It has taken away a show and an attitude and made it so kid friendly that their is no edge. You no longer have to worry about a guy getting his a$$ whipped. Now you just have to worry whether or not the kids will think that guy is cool and want to buy his stuff.
Old storylines use to promote swearing and trying to get in the guys head by destroying his car or bad mouthing him, tactics that seemed real and keep you involved in the story. It kept you interested and made you pick a side. But with the new rating, swearing has ceased(which makes sense for adults not wanting children to hear)which takes away from the intensity of a rivalry,but they kept the same time slot which is when most are asleep. Many fans are upset and want it to go back to the old days, but it is just a dream.



See that is classic and something that we can only now look back upon. You don't hear that kind of reaction anymore when someone's music hits. When Austin came to the ring you knew it was about to go down and everyone was pumped. There of course has been a cultural shift. Parents are worried about kids flipping on the tube and watching this, which makes sense. Wrestling has been criticized for its content, but changing its whole attitude just has really taken away from the show. It's not like it is all bad, there are still good shows they put on, but its hard to watch because you can see that they are playing to a younger audience and trying to promote products for those kids to buy rather than putting on a good show. They try to of course use the beautiful people technique by giving us only the best looking people that are sporting fake tans and sprays to make them look bigger and better than they are.
One good point the book makes is that with broadcast television, people can illegally steal it over the internet or with DVR can record their shows rather than watch them live. You can see this in wrestling as viewership levels have decreased and many of their PPV's can now be stolen and watched on the internet, decreasing sales. I've seen a PPV match posted on youtube less than a day after it happened, spending no money to see it.
Wrestling has changed for what some may consider the better. Less violence, less swearing and a PG rating. Do parents still want their kids to watch it, no. And for us fans that remember the good ol' days, we'll just have to keep living in the past.

Saw just right for Halloween Horrors MM#2

With the sixth installment of in theaters, many tought this would just be another flub, like Saw V. I was hoping that Saw 6 would be able to redeem the Saw franchise after its previous installment the year before. I didn't have high expectations, but I am happy to say that Saw VI exceeded my expectations and was actually one of the best of the series.
Saw 1-3 will always be considered the best in the series, as it began to start going downhill after that. When people began hearing that there would be a Saw 4 and 5, they sighed and would say, "another one?" This never ending franchise has always been able to provide incredible twists that keep the viewers interested but the gore for some can be way over the top.
I have always enjoyed these movies because the story and the traps along with the twists are just so incredible. You never know what is happening, or who is who and it just makes for incredible endings which always keep you waiting and guessing for the next one.
Of course the brain is always working during these movies. Rational thinking to figure out what is going on, what would you do to survive. Limbic through the music and images. When that Saw music kicks in you know something big is about to go down.
Without giving anything away for those that have ever seen it, the very first movie's ending blew my mind and I was hooked ever after.
Productions techniques can be seen all through out this through the editing, timing and elaborate sets.
The biggest technique used has to be value messages. Most people who have never seen these movies think its just a gore fest of a man killing innocent people. This is not the case, as it is people who don't respect thier own lives and are actually not good people.
The book notes that the 1997 introduction of DVDs skyrocket movie renting. Also with the use of surround sound and HD televisions it is almost like being in a movie theater. Many people have said that they will just wait for the movie to come out rather than spend the money to watch in a crowded theater. Without the creation of the vhs and then the DVD, this wouldn't have ever become a possibility and our only way to watch movies was to go to the cinema.
Rotten tomatoes said that this is one of the better Saw movie, but is still a gore fest that will take away the enjoyment for many.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/saw_VI/
I think the Saw franchise is a good one, while it will never be as good as they were in the beginning, Saw franchise took a step forward by redeeming itself with this newest installment and 6 is definetly one I would recommend.

http://www.saw6film.com/main.html

Not a Zombie Hater MM#1

Recently I went to see the movie Zombieland. It looked like it would be kinda funny, but I didn't have huge expectations. However, I was very surprised with what I saw. You became connected with the characters and I felt the movie was really funny. My friends both agreed, one thought it was an incredible movie while another thought it was pretty good. Most zombie movies I feel are dumb and just a gore fest, but this movie combined awesome scenes through production techniques and of course the key element to enjoying this movie, humor.
Humor is what made this movie what it is. I was laughing throughout, rather than just at certain points like in some movies. It revised a rather "dead" genre in the zombie movie category and made a really well done production. Some other techniques that were included was the use of music, triggering the limbic brain and using testimonial by including a famous celebrity, which I will not give the name of for fear of giving to much away. Another technique used throughout was timing, through when certain music hit to give emphasis on scenes and shooting to quick scenes, such as zombie kill of the week.
Obviously critics agreed because this movie was given an 88% on the website rottentomatoes. According to our textbooks, "With climbing film costs, creating revenue from a movie is a formidable task. Studios make money on movies from six majour sources. First, the studios get a portion of the theater box-office revenue-about 40 percent of the box office take. Overall, box-office receipts provide studios with approximately 20 percent of a movie's domestic revenue." Zombieland did well at the box office, grossing close to $61 million. Overall I feel this is the best zombie movie to date, due to it use of humor which made the movie what it is and would recommend to anyone.

The Media Blog

Kane O’Neill

My name is Kane O'Neill and I currently am a Student at Champlain College. I am from Vermont and aspire to work in sports broadcasting, hopefully at ESPN. I played three sports every year throughout highschool, though injuries slowed me down; dislocated elbow and shoulder along with a blown out knee. These help me to get another prospective of sports other than just from the field. I feel this could help me later on in my professional career. Hopefully sports broadcasting on television will still be around and not just through the web.

2. One important concept I learned was about the breakoff from tradition and embracing progress. Modern newspapers started doing "just the facts" and events that happened yesterday, which made it easier for writers to meet deadlines. However, it took away from the story by providing a historical perspectivie and anazlyzing the event in more depth.

http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/anterior-cruciate-ligament-acl-injuries-cause

The second concept that I found interesting was the main reason for the creation for e-mail. This was created to military personnel to communicate better with reaserchers involved in ARPAnet(Advanced research Projects Agency.) The creator, Ray Tomlinson, developed the software to send electronic mail messages to any computer on ARPAnet.

The third concept I found interesting was the first attempt at sound recording. French printer Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville used a hog's hair bristle as a need and tied one end to a thin membrane streched over the narrow part of the funnel. When he spoke into the funnel, the membrane vibrated and the free end of the bristle made grooves on the revolving cylinder coated with "lamp black." Without this first finding and development of Edouard we never would have been able to go on to discover the sound recording we have today.

The last concept I found was the development of the transistor. Transistors were able to recieve and amplify radio signals. This allowed radio to do what television couldn't. Radios could now go to the beach, the bathroom, bedrooms, offices and everywhere in between. By 1960 most radio listening was done outside the home, which is astonishing.

3. My relationship with technology and media. In my life I have seen a great deal of the technological shift. It seems as if everything is going from paper and print, such as newspapers and books, to the internet. No longer can people sit down by the fire with a book, but rather would sit with a glowing Kindle. Heres to hoping the newspaper business can continue.

Another I have seen a lot of is the use of testimonial. Commercials seem to try to get the biggest athelete they can to say they use their product. I won't lie, some of these commercials about athletes using specific sporting gear made me get those products.

One production technique that has become very big is the use of a sound-synthesizer in the music industry. I don't like it but many others people seem to. They think the people sound cool and the music has a cool beat. I feel it doesn't show of someones music talent to change your voice to sound like your a robot.

One really bothersome thing I have run into a the movies has been advertising. No longer do I get movie previews before the movie i paid to see. Rather I have to watch the commercials that I could watch at home. I feel this greatly takes away from the movie going experience and isn't just as fun to watch.

4. One question I have about media is this; Will the newspaper ever be able to recover or will the newspaper industry be forced into going online?