This video is so funny! When we learned about how videos on youtube.com often become memes, it reminded me of this video. It is very popular and many people have watched it and made different versions of the original video. Just like other memes it has evolved and spread across a variety of people.

Response to "The Corporation"

The makers of this film made the beginning of the documentary very intense by crossing intense music with fast changing images. They use the metaphor of apples to convey the seriousness of the “bad apple” situation. I really liked how the maker’s use many metaphors to describe how corporations work. Each metaphor has a separate video to go with it to illustrate the idea and engage viewers. In the video they say a corporation is centered on profit. I agree with this because every business I have been apart of had the sole purpose to gain profit. Why is this? I think it’s because in the U.S. culture today, people are pushed so hard to succeed that they will do anything to compete with others to get ahead even if it is at the expense of good will and morals.
I found it really interesting that a corporation is viewed as an individual person. This is really weird seeing that in reality a corporation is a group of people. It really does not function the way an actual person would and so it is not fair to see the two as the same. As a group a corporation can focus on profit without the things that hold back an individual such as feelings and emotions as well as loyalty and empathy. A corporation can forget these things and be purely selfish and profiteering.
Another point the film noted was that everyone seems to try and give responsibility as well as labor to others. I think as a society we are becoming this way out of selfishness and laziness. Not only do corporations take advantage of people but also they misuse nature and animals to get ahead.
The scene on guilty corporations was very powerful. The overlapping music, narration and images really enforced how many corporations have committed serious crimes and had to pay massive fines. It’s interesting that corporations if diagnosed as a person are clinical psychopaths. To them guilt is not a concern and so they do whatever they like to help themselves, with an extreme lake of regard for others.

I really like this commercial because it's cute and funny. I think it is very effective because the creators use the cuteness of the little boy to get viewers interested. Also the concept is clever since it shows viewers how important their children are and encourages them to invest in their kids future.

Reaction Essay #1

Simulacra and Simulations
(Jean Baudrillard)

When I first began reading this article I was surprised at how quickly the author jumped into complicated subjects such as the concept of “hyperreal.” I still do not entirely understand what this means. What I did get from this idea was that as things are duplicated in our society and around the world, as they often are today, they become unreal. Therefore as they separate farther and farther from reality they become "hyperreal." I think the author is trying to demonstrate that for something to be real it cannot be produced or reproduced. I can understand this in a symbolic way however in a literal sense it is hard for me to grasp. For example, if we are able to produce drugs containing chemicals, which cause reactions in people’s bodies, then the drugs as well as the reactions are real. They are not real in the sense of nature and natural occurrences but these substances and reactions are still just as real as anything nature has produced.

The section that discusses illness as well as medicine caught my attention because the author states that when someone simulates an illness they are producing an illness in themselves. When I think about this idea, it seems that the illness would still be real. After reading this section I began to think that perhaps when someone fakes something like an illness, it can cause the actual symptoms to occur. This reminds me of the placebo effect, where the subject thinks they are taking medication but in reality it is a simple sugar pill. What is really interesting is that the subject’s symptoms will often improve just because the subject believes they will.

I have never been to Disneyland so when the author discussed this it was hard for me to relate it to my experiences. When the author related Disneyland to a concentration camp, I thought that that was a little harsh. I can however see how Disneyland is a fake and a conformity forming as well as enforcing operation. What I understood from this section of reading was that Disneyland is all imaginary and therefore not real and its purpose is to conceal how unreal the United States has become. Since the theme park is so unreal, it makes the rest of the United States seem very real. I think the author is saying that the whole country has become very unreal because our society is based on conformity and thus on the reproduction of everything. In nature, everything is unique however in the United States very little is unique. Most things have been reproduced over and over again like everything we see in stores. There are multiples of almost everything we use and have today in this country.

Overall, this article was confusing to me. I liked a lot of the ideas about how fake the world is coming. I also found his points very interesting although some I found very hard to understand. I found some of his opinions way too strong and harsh but overall I agreed with a lot of his ideas.

Reaction to "The Merchants of Cool"

The Frontline video “The Merchants of Cool” really captured my attention. I don’t think I was really surprised by anything covered in the video but it did make me really sad to see how consumed with media teens really are today. I have heard of kids being paid by advertisers to explain what they like. This is such a strange concept because really it does result in companies selling teens back their own ideas and likes. One thing that really scared me was that companies actually pay kids to throw parties for their friends and give out free merchandise to promote the company’s product. I can see how this is appealing to teens because not only are they getting paid to throw a party they would probably have anyways but they also get free stuff from the advertisers. At the same time I feel like they should be smart enough to realize that these giant corporations, in order to gain maximum profit, are just using them. Maybe they are aware of this and they, like the advertisers, just care about making money and not about their values as individuals. This I also find extremely sad.
The scene about the young girl that wants to be a model was very disturbing to me. I have always found it quite strange how young models are recruited. For the most part models are used as sex objects to display cloths in a beautiful or sexy way and for such young girls to have that role is absolutely wrong. They are too young to be around the kind of people involved in the modeling industry. They are also way too young to be presented as sex objects.

Last night my friends and I were "stumbling" through YouTube.com trying to find funny and interesting things to watch. One of the things we found was this ski jump video. I think it is incredible that through the Internet we can share videos like this one. Any one including normal, everyday people can post videos and the whole world can see and share in the amazement, shock and comedy of what they view. 

Consumption Log 2/12/09

5:00 am: I woke up to the sound of my roommate's alarm. The song is the first media I am confronted with today. I fall back asleep and wake up at 9:00. As I get ready I notice all the labels of my lotions and make-up that constantly remind me of the product and company names. While I get ready I also listen to music on my laptop which is almost always playing when I am in my room. When my suite mate wakes up, we walk to the cub to eat lunch. At the cub I notice many signs advertising things like the food downstairs and upcoming events at Fort Lewis. After we eat lunch, I go and check my mail. I receive my phone bill as well as more advertisements one from Sephora and one from Macintosh.  It seems every time I purchase something, the company from which I bought the product, never ceases to send me advertisements. I listen to my Ipod on the way back to my dorm and when I get there I again listen to music on my laptop while I work on my homework. I don't have any class today and I am too tired to ski so I spend most of the day doing homework. Every hour or so I get bored and I start surfing the Internet. I check my facebook and my email and I watch funny and interesting clips on YouTube.com. At 3:00 pm I go to the lounge and watch the television show Weeds for a few hours. At 6:00, my friends and I get hungry and so we leave for the CUB for dinner. Once again I see the same advertisements. After dinner, we head back to the dorms and I spend the rest of my night listening to music and talking with my friends. At around 12:00, I get tired and go to bed. Throughout my day, I came in contact with a large assortment of media. It effects what I do with my day and what I think about. Music is the most prominent media in my life since I am almost always listening to music either on my laptop or my Ipod. 

This past Sunday when I was watching the Super Bowl, Michael Phelps was mentioned in one of the commercials for news. The news reporter stated that in the upcoming news program they would talk about this photo and the accusations against Michael Phelps. I think that it's really sad that one photo, like the one above, can destroy a person's whole career and reputation. I find it really unnerving that anyone could take a picture of someone and show it to the world. It makes me realize how careful we all have to be about doing things in public. Even if your just with your friends, any of them could take an incriminating picture and show it to anyone else, for example on facebook.