Why do we Manipulate Photos?

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This saying means that for every picture that has been taken, there is a story behind it, and you can usually read that story. But if we manipulate a photo, is the story still there? Do we really add to the story by doing that? Look at the many cases where photo manipulation has been used: OJ Simpson being made to look darker, Marthat Stewart's head was placed on someone elses body and the picture for Wisconsin Univertisy, where a black kid's face was edited in to show they were multicultural. Most of these cases are extremely untruthful. The OJ Simpson mugshot was darkened in Time's version, to make him seem more evil and more guilty. At the time, when this and Newsweek's mugshot came out, OJ was on trial for the murder of his wife. People who read Newsweek thought he was not guilty, but Time's readers injstantly knew he was guilty, because of his darkened mugshot. We should wonder if Time was using it's power of influence because they thought OJ was guilty, so everyone who read Time should have thought that. 'How much is too much'? I think that any photo manipulation at all is too much. When someone takes a photo of anyone or anything, the photo should be taken to show true beauty or wonderous shots. When one manipulates, they are taking away what the person has to offer, and replacing it with lies and things the person doesn't actually have. This also causes a problem because when we see a glamorous picture of a movie star that has been manipulated, and then we see their real image, they look like they have let themselves go. When we see these pictures, we treat them like they should be this glamorous all the time, but they're just people, shouldn't we all just like people for who they are?

Politics: Should we all just "shut up"?

The Dixie Chicks. When you read that name, not only should one of the biggest country/pop groups pop into your head, but Natalie Maines and her whole controversy should pop in there also. In a show the CHicks were doing in England, Natalie Maines said that she was ashamed that President Bush was from Texas. As soon as Maines said that, her whole story began. In 2003, when Bush said that he was to invade Iraq, the whole of the US's society was behind him. When Maines made her infamous comment, all of America turned on the Chicks and they started boycotting their music. They could not get on the radio, Lipton, their biggest sponsor, stopped sponsoring them, and it was a whole uproar. Although the Americans were disgusted my Maines, her band agreed with her and backed her up. Shortly after, a documentary came out called 'Shut Up & Sing'. This documentary was basically that on Maines and the Chicks showing us how they liverd their lives after showing the world their "disgust" of Bush being from Texas. The ttile is something to be disputed, though. Is this title just directed to the Chicks? I don't think so, and nor do I think it was directed at any other anti-Bush artists. I think this was directed at ALL Americans who didn't support Bush at all. I think this secretly means 'Everyone, if you don't support Bush, too bad, just suck it up, shut up, and live with it." This documentary really opened my eyes as to how many supporters Bush had before the war. But, when all was said and done, the Chicks went from their original Country fans, and told them to take a hike. They turned into Pop artists and rallied up a whole new bunch of supporters. Eventually, as support for the Chicks went up, support for Bush went down, and the Chicks ended up going BACK to where they said their first big controversial statement anmd said it again;
"I am ashamed that President Bush is from Texas." -Natalie Maines.

72-Hour Media Survey!

What I did:
Rode city bus
Media I Experienced:
Saw ads for Safe Sex, Cystic Fibrosis, and for Mapleview Mall

What I did:
Waited for School Bus
Media I Experienced:
Saw an ad for a roofing company on the side of a truck, saw an ad for Nature's Best eggs on a truck, saw an ad for Sparkie's Tire on someone's car

What I did:
Watched 'After The Sunset' movie
Media I Experienced:
Saw an ad for other movies, such as The World Is Not Enough, saw product placements in movie

What I did:
Watched TV
Media I Experienced:
Saw a commercial for Mr. Clean, Windex, W.O.W., and for Honey Bunches of Oats

Before this assignment, I had never noticed how much media was staring me in the face, and I never bothered to actually look for it. Now that I have completed this assignment, I have become super-Media aware and now I notice everything media related in my life. I am even starting to notice things I never noticed before, like ads for people on benches, and ads on the billboards. I now know how much Medi9a affects my everyday choices and my whole life.

The Toronto Experience!

Ahhh, the glorious CN Tower. As our class stands outside the Art Gallery of Ontario, the presence of the CN Tower peering over the Gallery is welcome. Man, I wish I could get close enough to it to touch it…

This is the funky checker building across the street from the AGO, which Brandon and I decided NOT to go into, because we were hungry..




We decided to roam round the Streets of Toronto, seeing as EVERYONE on the trip went to the Eaton’s Centre (correct me if I’m wrong, but everyone I asked said everyone went).




After a few minutes, we came upon this interesting building. I don’t really remember WHY it was interesting, but I thought it was cool.




We had decided on having Pizza for lunch, and as we approached the Pizza Pizza, we spotted this car sticking out of the side of a building.. If I could, I’d put in action circles to show the wheel in front moving, but I can’t.




Mmmmmmmmmm, Pizza is gooooood. We walked back to the park where the class last rendezvoused, and we were attacked by a flock of hungry pigeons!! Believe me, there were a LOT more than those seen above…




This is one building which I want to come back to, the Chapters/Imax/whatever else this building has to offer. I only wish we had actually gone in, it would have been awesome..




After lunch, Brandon and I decided to trek to the one, the only CN Tower!!! RAH RAH RAH!! On our way down, I caught a picture of the ONLY Double Decker bus I saw that day. This was just at Richmond Street.




This is the bridge over the Go Trains, which also leads to the Rodgers Centre which id on the Right. We were soooooooo close to the CN Tower, we could have thrown a rock at it!! OH MAN, LET’S GET TO IT!!




Before we actually got there though, I had to take this picture. See the picture of the Rodgers Centre above? Well, this is the little piece just above the window. It’s pretty funky the way everyone is acting.




FINALLY!! THE PRIDE AND JOY OF OUR WANDERINGS AROUND TORONTO!! Brandon and I got to the CN Tower. Our journey was complete. This is my FAVORITE shot of the whole time. This was taken on the small flight of stairs leading to the base of the Tower. I decided to get a shot that made the Tower seem larger than life; because it was! The only thing left to do was touch it…and my day would REALLY be complete.


MUCH MUSIC!!

My trip to Much Music was, I’m sorry to say, worse than I expected, and I expected the worst. I don’t mean to say ALL of it was a total poop-load, I just mean the times when I was actually seen on TV was a total poop-load. I am really self conscious when it comes to seeing myself on TV. Apart from that, I felt that it was really good and the hosts were really friendly. They are one of the most important components of the show, after all. More important are the floor directors, the camera men and, of course, the director of the whole show. Without them, Much Music would not be able to air and we would have no Much Music. Though, if we had no Much Music, we wouldn’t have me on TV either, and that wouldn’t be so bad…

Media Inventory!

Polygamy: Good, Bad, or Normal?

Before I begin to talk about my blog on the Polygamist Cult, I would like to properly point out that a Cult is defined as 'a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.' This is telling us that the 'Cult' that is in Eldorado is, as the defenition states, false, or extremist. These people seem to be very real, and have a very rea religion, so is it right to be saying that this is a cult? Or is the Government saying that they are 'false' to get the support to go in to their community?

Now..

As you may have already heard from CNN or other news references, there is a Polygamist Cult in Texas. We have seen this many, many times over the past month about what's been going on in this little community in Eldorado, Texas. When we see the news reports, we may think 'Eww, what are they thinking forcing young women to marry older men?' or 'They should all be taken out of that place and have it burned down!' I was wondering, have we ever taken a step back and really looked at this? This 'cult' has been seen as disgusting, unorthodox, and appalling, but let's think for a minute, where has this situation come up before...ah yes, after 9/11 when all the Arab people were looked down on because they were Muslim. If we look, this is another one of these:

"Us" "Them"

"Good" vs. "Bad"

"Right" "Wrong"

In this case, "We" are everyone in North America, and "They" are the people in the Polygamist Cult. Polygamy is another religion, isn't it? Those people are just that; PEOPLE! Although their beliefs are different, why do we look down upon then with disgust? If we were all Polygamists, and this was, say, a Christian Cult in Eldorado, we would be looking down on them with the same disgust, and would that be right? I know there are children in there being married off to older men, but in the eyes of this cult, this is the "Right" and normal thing to do. Looking at the other side, was it right to go in and take all these children from a place they're used to, a place all their mothers live, and somewhere where they were comfortable to 'save' them from their own religion?I believe that they should be left alone to practise their religion. Who are we to tell people what to believe in?

As for the news coverage, CNN has been very, very one-sided. They have been exploiting the Polygamists as extremely bad people, who can do no right, and who are a menace to Society. But what about the good these people are doing? What about the good parts of their lifestyle? They make their own clothing, quilts, food, etc. but where is that in the news? Those are the five-second explanations of what they do, and then they report all the bad things that they are doing. They should be fair to these people ad help the world understand Polygamy, and not how bad it is for doing what they do. It was stated that there was a little girl who broke free from the cult and called the police to inform them of the goings-on in the cult, but since her 'escape' I haven't seehn hide or hair of this little girl, so where is she? I would like to see an interview with the 'little girl' who called the police!

Now, here's my question: If you were a Polygamist, especially a mother of these children, how would you feel if your children were ripped from you? How would you feel if you were never allowed to see your children again, all because of your religion and your beliefs? Personally, I would feel like I let my children down and I would be really mad at the government for taking my children for the simple reason of practising a belief!

**NEW UPDATE**
Since my blog post of the Polygamists, the wives have been trying terribly to get their children back home safe and sound. Watch this video, and notice that the man says that the 'repoted' phone call was made and that they think it was a HOAX!! I agree with this statement. Now, watch the video.



The polygamist mothers took this issue all the way up to the State Supreme court, where they won and were granted the custody of their children. I am really happy for these people, because, like I have said before, they did not deserve to have their children ripped away from them because of an alleged phone call from a girl who hasn't been found yet. Don't you think she would have come out into the open and told news about her 'middle-aged husband who beat her'. I do, which makes this even more interesting, right? Watch this video about the Polygamist Wives and Husbands getting back their children!

The Harajuku Girls Article!

Gwen Stefani is one of the hit singers of our age, but she's also a MANIAC!! Gwen has four girls who are of Japanese descent being back-up dancers for her, but the way she 'met' them is just insanity! Also, Gwen uses them as inanimate objects in interviews and no one is aloud to talk to them. These girls are supposed to be from the Harajuku District in Japan, thus calling then Harajuku Girls. If these four girls represent ALL of Harajuku Culture, then are we supposed to 'meet' some of these girls and use them as inanimate objects? Or, do ALL Harajuku girls act like these four individuals? I think that Gwen has taken smething that WAS a culturistic thing in Japan and made it into something we can all look at and think 'Hey, if these four girls are acting like a lamp, then can I get one of these girl to act like a lamp ion MY house?' here in North America. Gwen Stefani has not only brought this culture here and pretty much made Harajuku Cultue something to laugh about, but she has made her four Harajuku Girls a punch line by making them her slaves. What are children supposed to think when they see four japanese girl not saying anything because Gwen has told them not to? They will think that all Japanese girl will only speak when told to, and this is something that should be dealt with!

Avril Lavigne vs. The Rubinoos

When people think of Avril Lavigne’s most popular songs, most (if not all) people think of ‘Girlfriend’. ‘Girlfriend’ is one of Avril’s hit songs on her latest CD ‘The Best Damn Thing’, released on April 17th, 2007 in Canada, Europe, and the U.S. Since the release of her album, she has been accused by Tommy Dunbar of the Rubinoo’s for plagiarizing their song “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”. Within Avril’s song “Girlfriend”, there is the line “Hey! Hey! You! You!” that also appears in the Rubinoo’s song “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”. With this tiny, tiny shred of what could be evidence of Avril’s plagiarism, Tommy Dunbar took her to court. On May 25th, 2007, Avril went to court against Tommy Dunbar. Avril allegedly said that “she never heard that song in her life.” Although this statement may be true, it could also be false, because Lush covered the song in 1991, when she could have heard the song, if not performed by the Rubinoo’s directly. Dunbar’s lawyer stated that “the songs have similar rhythm, tempo, and lyrics.” Finally, in January, 2008, all claims of plagiarism against Avril by the Rubinoo’s were dropped. Personally, I think that the charges were dropped because Tommy Dunbar got all the publicity he wanted to get for the Rubinoo’s. Also, he didn’t really have a solid case because Avril did NOT use 10% OR 30 seconds of ‘I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend’, I doubt she even used 10 seconds of that song! Although, if we listen to the songs very carefully, we can hear the musical similarities, like how Avril’s beat is very similar to the Rubinoo’s beat. Avril also has a very similar tempo to the Rubinoo’s, which also raises some suspicions as to whether she plagiarized or not. I think Avril may have not plagiarized, but she has many things that prove to the jury, the fans, and the people that she did, in fact, plagiarize. If I were part of the jury, I would believe her to be guilty, even if she did it without knowing. I do not fall into the category of ‘jury member’, nut I do fall into the category of fan, and being a fan makes me see her as innocent, without a shred of guilt. Luckily, I am an open minded person as well, so I see the faults of Avril, and see the guilt that lies within this case against her. My thoughts about this case are that Avril shouldn’t have plagiarized, no matter if she did it without knowing, that Tommy Dunbar really wanted to get the Rubinoo’s back into the world again and had no real intentions of actually pursuing this case, and that plagiarism stretches outside the classroom and into the world of show business.