December 2009
3 posts
6 tags
Dissertations on His Dudeness →
This is what all Media Studies majors want to grow up to do: write academic books/essays on their favorite cult movies.
5 tags
The Year in Media Errors and Corrections 2009 →
The Huffington Post brings us the best/worst (depending on your perspective) media corrections from 2009!
2 tags
November 2009
5 posts
9 tags
12 tags
The Big Apple Circus on NY Mag's Approval Matrix! →
I work for the Big Apple Circus, so I’m proud to share that we got onto NY Mag’s Approval Matrix. Our juggler, Picaso Jr.’s act of juggling ping pong balls with his mouth landed the Big Apple Circus at the intersection of Lowbrow & Brilliant (but closer to briliant). And, because this is a media blog, I will note that this was genuine editorial and was not part of any...
7 tags
Sesame Street Mocks "Pox News" →
Wow, even Sesame Street is getting in on the battle with Fox News. Nowhere is safe for you Fox News, not even good ol’ Sesame Street!
6 tags
WatchJon Stewart thwarts Fox News with its own statements. This is brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
October 2009
6 posts
10 tags
The White House Goes After Bias...ALL Bias →
Here’s a link to a video of Valerie Jarrett stating the White Houses stance against bias in the news media. I’m the first to agree that Fox News is biased. However, they’re extreme enough that I would say it’s a pretty obvious call. However, waging war on bias in the entire landscape of new media is a very tricky thing. How do we really define bias and objectivity? And...
11 tags
Celebrity Politicians & New Media →
This article from Politico discusses how politicians (from both sides) have been utilizing social media and new technologies to inject some celebrity into their careers. I find this ok when the goal is a greater sense of connectivity with constituents or a dialogue about important issues, but disturbing when politicians are just looking for the spotlight. Politics is already enough of a popularity...
15 tags
Media Fight in the Spotlight: The White House vs...
I guess it was inevitable that this media-savvy administration would have a media-based feud. However, the current tension between the Obama Administration and Fox News is a complicated and fraught feud to have. It’s completely understandable to want to take action against a person or organization that is as vocally opposed to you as Fox News is to Obama, but fighting back opens up a real...
6 tags
NOT A TABLE.ORG →
This is a great way to use media to further the cause of health care reform. Make your Facebook & Twitter pages into symbols for health care reform and send a message to congress, all on this website. Make your mark on the digital landscape!
5 tags
Texting, Surfing, Studying? →
This is an article from the NYT on studying/multi-tasking in this technologically saturated era. It cites a divide between the “digital immigrants” (older people) and the “digital natives” (younger people). Even though I’m in the group of younger people who are supposed to be skilled at (and even need) multi-tasking, I totally don’t relate. The best I can do...
6 tags
Conservatives & Media Mythology →
This article claims that though conservatives like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck make th most noise, they don’t really have the most influence. David Brooks maintains that in the past these blow-hards have not actually been able to sway voters, making their illusion of power a “media mythology”.
I’m not quite sure what to believe. The media spotlight is definitely a...
September 2009
5 posts
4 tags
Call It Ludacris: The Kinship Between Talk Radio... →
An interesting parallel between rap & Republican radio. I just hope Rush Limbaugh doesn’t get an ideas and start trying to rap the garbage that spills out of his mouth.
8 tags
While listening to WNYC’s “On The...
4 tags
10 tags
Americans Increasingly Distrust the Media →
The Huffington Post discusses a study that indicates 63% of Americans believe that the news media is biased and inaccurate (up from 34% in 1985). The article seems to color this as bad news for journalists, but I think this is distrust is good. I’m happy to hear that more people are questioning the media and becoming aware of bias. The only thing I don;t like is the association between...
8 tags
Finger Bitten Off In Fight at Health Care Rally →
This is just too ironic. What will The Onion do when “real” news writes their headlines for them? On a more serious note, this exemplifies not only how heated the health care debate is becoming, but also how the media gravitates towards this heat like a moth to a flame. I think this is the exact reason inflammatory protestors are being drummed up on both sides of the issue. People...
August 2009
4 posts
7 tags
8 tags
10 Reasons Not to Advertise With Glenn Beck →
When a media figure calls the president a racist, they had better be prepared for the wrath of consumers. Such blatantly inflammatory language, while protected by the first ammendment, doesn’t have to be given a television platform, which is exactly what consumers can help take away. If you anger consumers you become a danger zone for advertisers (I work in advertising, trust me it’s...
8 tags
The GOP Hearts Twitter
I read today on CNN.com that the GOP has had much success lately through the Twitter platform. Considering that social media is usually the realm of liberal, this was surprising to me. It’s not as simple as a greater technological capacity, since conservatives are lagging behind in other areas like blogs, which makes me wonder what it is about Twitter that works for them. I personally am...
8 tags
"Obama Joker Artist" Provides an Internet Life... →
Apparently a 20 year-old college student managed to make a massive political statement without even trying. Some idle time on Photoshop that resulted in an Obama Time magazine cover being painted over as the Batman “Joker” became a mysterious physical poster after someone took the photo off of a flickr. It’s a complcated media situation to be in. The original photo creator...
June 2009
4 posts
4 tags
Transformers' Jive-Talking Robots Raise Race... →
I’m surprised this issue didn’t come up in the first Transformers movie. Does anyone remember the robot called “Jazz” that spoke in a similar manner? Just because they’re robots doesn’t mean they are exempt from racial cultural stereotypes that have been developed by the humans watrching the film. The context of the viewers means far more than the physical...
2 tags
2 tags
4 tags
Fallen Princesses →
This is a really interesting project that transports Disney princesses into the harsh reality of modern culture. I think it’s a good reality check, but not necessarily appropriate for children…
May 2009
4 posts
Smile and Say ‘No Photoshop’ →
Article from NYT on the trends and politics of photo retouching in media (fashion in particular).
2 tags
Media Has Heaviest Drinkers →
Apparently, working in media is conducive to excessive drinking (at least in England). Somehow, I don’t find that surprising…
3 tags
Where is Everyone? →
Really interesting chart/timeline of where media is, has been, and will be. The credit for finding it goes to Jillian (http://sidewalkballerina.tumblr.com)
4 tags
Actresses Are Edging Out Models on Magazine Covers →
The New York Times did a little blurb about this trend of actresses being featured more than models on magazine covers these days. This seems like a subtle shift (they’re all still celebrities after all), but I think it could be beneficial for readers. Though actresses still have high standards of beauty and just as much airbrushing, there’s more room for variation. Models uphold a...
April 2009
2 posts
3 tags
6 tags
Hitler's Mein Kampf Seen As Self-Help Guide For... →
Wow, this is a form of re-appropriation I never thought I’d see: Hitler as business model. I wonder who first made that leap? Wherever this logic this stemmed from, it makes me a little nervous. I prefer to keep Hitler in the Pure Evil History section, and out of the Self-Help section.
March 2009
5 posts
7 tags
Ghost Twittering
The New York Times had an interesting article yesterday about celebrity “ghost twittering”, where celebrity Twitter account are written by a chosen representative. I hadn’t really thought that this reality of book-writing had extended to social media, but it makes total sense. Celebrities are highly constructed and branded individuals, and a social media representation of their...
2 tags
Schott's Vocab: A Miscellany of Modern Words &... →
To expand your vocabulary :) Also, it demostrates how much the mainstream media influences the way that we invent and use words. It appears that all of these terms found roots and context through media. And now they’re being compiled in a blog. “Word of mouth” should probably be changed to “word of type”…
3 tags
3 tags
Consider This: NPR Achieves Record Ratings →
Perhaps during times of trouble meaningless and escapist media does not always triumph. Maybe, just may, quality really does come out on top. My fear lately has been that the non-profit media that does good work will bear the brunt of this downward-spiralling economy. However, this news about NPR suggests that quality media might not be as vulnerable as I fearded. As long as they keep On the...
5 tags
Movin' on Up?
Have the tabloid’s gotten just a little bit more respectable? Not really, but their topics of coverage have. An article in the NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/13/business/media/13shame.html) brought up the recent tendency of tabloids to focus on business scandals (aka Bernie Madoff) and the economic crisis instead of their typical trashy celebs.
In a way I think this is a...
February 2009
14 posts
5 tags
4 tags
Old Fashioned OJ
People do not like change, not even in the media. Actually, especially not in the media. People always seem to want the next innovation, the next big new thing. However, change never seems to go as smoothly as you would think. Take for example, the new Tropicana campaign and packaging. This is a brand that’s been around for quite a while with that signature straw-impaled orange. When...
Watch“The People Tree,” David Byrne feat. Chali 2Na, Z-Trip, Gift of Gab, from “N.A.S.A.,” dir. Syd Garon + Johannes Gamble
Totally Awesome!
5 tags
Offense and Defense
Responding to the media puts me in a tough spot sometimes, like the one I’m in right now. Like a lot of people, yesterday I saw a truly offensive cartoon in the NY Post likening Obama to the crazed chimp that recently mauled its owner. I had a very strong reaction to this cartoon and, understandably, wanted to respond. But I couldn’t figure out how to articulate my opinion without...
2 tags
5 tags
Obama Hearts Web-Only Media →
Obama takes questions from The Huffington Post during his first official press conference, marking the first time a president has taken questions from a web-only media outlet. Score one for the Internet.
5 tags
Gettin' Legal With It
One of the great things about inspirational public figures is the tendency for them to provoke wonderful art pieces. In Obama’s case this tendency has grown to huge proportions, partly because of the man and partly because of the increased technological means of art production and distribution. Art depicting or inspired by Obama is literally everywhere. Personally I think this is a...
The First Facebook Divorce →
Glad to see that Facebook continues to escalate the level of distance and avoidance in our social relationships…
5 tags
Cooking, With a Dash of Sexism
Even though feminism has come a long way over the years, I often feel that the media has been a bit slower in it’s march away from sexism. The media vocabulary is a tough thing to change, given how ingrained it is in the environment and the way we live our lives. Today there are still glimmerings of sexism in the way that we speak in the media. They’re not always obvious, but I feel...
I LEGO N.Y. (Abstract City Blog) →
I love this guy’s work. He always finds a unique way to approach the mundane and transform it. It’s things like this that makes the case for online media over print media. An artisitc blog format like this would not likely make it into the printed New York Times, but their website has a place for it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not rooting for the failure of print. ...