Joe Rogan and his "Floatation Tank"

Joe Rogan is a crazy dude. You know the guy from Fear Factor and most recently an announcer on one of those mixed martial arts cagefighting shows. Anways I'm saying this because of a Youtube video that my friend showed me yesterday. The video is called "Joe Rogan Flotation Tank" if you want to watch it yourself, but the video is about this huge freezer-looking like "flotation tank" that he has in his house. He uses the tank to achieve "psychodelic-like" experiences that are "better than any drug whatsoever". The tank is filled with water with eight hundred pounds of salt in it causing whoever is in it to float effortlessly. Joe says you "start to loose your feeling of boundaries" "You start thinking where is the water, where is your skin, the air". Joe tells all about his experiences with the flotation tank, many of them quite comical, check it out for yourself its pretty interesting!

AnnieMullz Clothing Co.

So one of my friends from highschool just started his own clothing company last year with a couple of his buddies. The company is called AnnieMullz and they design and manufacture t-shirts, hoodies, and other products. When he first started the company it was just his friend and him coming up with designs to put on t-shirts that they both thought were cool and stylish, now AnnieMullz clothing is being sold on their website and at some stores around the Boston area. The designs are pretty cool and if you wan't to take a look here is the website... http://anniemulz.bigcartel.com/ I just bought the 'Viva' t-shirt and I suggest that you buy something too!

Pats

So how about those Pats? What the hell is going on and where are the Patriots of old. Brady isn't looking good, the offensive and defensive line aren't looking the same and were getting beat because of stupid mistakes. In regards to media, its amazing how saturated the media is with sports and sports related stories. There are so many channels now that play sports, all the major network channels, tons of sports only type channels, and more on top of those. Everywhere you look you see sports, everyday you hear someone talking about a game, statistic, or highlight. Our country has become so obsessed with sports that advertisers will pay millions and millions of dollars for a single thirty second spot during a big game like the superbowl. Now I know that a lot of the money dosn't come from taxes or "the people" but my question to you is do you think that this is a good or bad thing, and do you think we should be spending all of this money on sports entertainment? Also what do you guys think about the new footbridge that they are putting in at Gilette?

Bridgewater Prison Escapee

Does anyone else not understand how they let this guy escape from the Bridgewater Prison? I mean from what I heard he was in there waiting to be convicted of an armed robbery and rape charge and they were keeping him in the minimum security part of the prison, and letting him participate in a work-leave program. How does this make any sense?! So then I heard that while he was out on work-leave he saw a commercial on t.v. saying that he had been convicted of those felony charges and fled the area. Hopefully by putting his face all over the t.v. and through other ways we will be able to get this guy caught. This shows us how media can hurt society, on one hand there was a freak accident/coincidence and a convicted fellon was able to eacape the long arm of the law, but on the other hand the media will probably, as it has shown in the past, get this guy recognized and caught. What do you guys think of the situation?

Don't be a menace to south central while drinking your juice in the hood...

So I watched one of the funniest movies of all time (at least in my opinion) the other day and it was still just as funny as the second time I saw it. Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood is a 1996 comedy directed by Paris Barclay and written by the Wayans brothers. The film stars the Wayans brothers as Ashtray and Loc Dog, two friends growing up in the same hood...well I'm not going to be able to do it any justice trying to think of a way to tell you how funny it is...just download it or something. Heres a small taste of what you can expect...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6hzqQHJChM&feature=related Has anyone else ever seen this movie? I know its a "growing up in the hood" spoof movie that everyone has seen a million times, but I think DBAMTSCWDYJITH does it far better than the rest, let me know what you guys think.

Beannow.com

So one of my good friends here at BSC told me about his friends new website called Beannow.com. Its a site thats "bringing you the latest in news, music, comedy, cool shit to keep you entertained. Constantly being updated so check it out everyday." The site is pretty good and does what it says in its description. Its always being updated with up to date videos of random stuff that's happening in the entertainment world. So check it out. Now. Another cool site to check out if you want to get inspired, or if your just board is, http://szymon.tumblr.com/ , its a site with original, unique, funny, awesome artwork from all over the world. Check it out. Now...

Scary New Military Robot

So I was surfin the web the other day and I came across a video of a new robot created by a company called Boston Dymanics. The robot is called the "Big Dog" and I'm not sure what they are planning to use it for but if I had to guess it would probably be to explore unknown or dangerous terrain that is unsafe for soldiers. The creepy thing is that....well I'll just let you watch it for yourself. The link is, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww . This type of stuff scares me to think about. Technology is getting so advanced these days and we can do so many things that we would never have imagined in the past. I just hope the world dosn't end up like some I-Robot type ishh.

The real world?

Hello again. I still can't seem to get into this blogging thing, I guess this type of media production just isn't my cup of tea. Anywho, this weeks readings for class are probably my favorite topic we have discussed so far. I really enjoy the production aspect of media studies and hope to possibly, one day, if I'm really lucky x 1000, get a job working as some part of a snowboarding company's production team. In highschool my friends and I would take weekend trips up to my buddy's cottage in North Conway NH. We would bring a handycam that I borrowed from my TV production class and film everyting from the time we loaded up the cars to the drive home. When I got back to school monday morning I would sit in my production class and just edit the sh*t out of all the footage we got. I loved the editing process, fitting certain clips together with awsome effects and music to make the crazyest video possible. This is really what got me into media studies in a way, and the reason why I choose to have a technical concentration for my major. Now that the time is really winding down for me I have started thinking about places where I might be able to apply to work when I graduate. I think I'm going to keep up with the Plymouth Rock studios and hopefully get a job doing something there. "Eastcoast Hollywood" does sound like an interesting place to work...

No Ceilings

Sooooo I'm back again after a long break from blogging, I've been swamped with work and studying for midterms so that has been my focus for the past week and a half, thank god they are all over now and I can breathe again. Now that I got all my work out of the way I had some time to check out whats been going on in the hip-hop world after being beatless for awhile. I'm really impressed with Lil Wayne's new mixtape "no ceilings" that just got leaked the other day. In the past Wayne has done mixtapes with Dj Drama entitled "The Dedication 1&2" that are a compalation of some the most popular beats on the radio. With 'No Ceilings" Wayne has done the same thing again with results, in my opinion, almost just as good as the Dedication series. Some of the beats that you may have heard of include Jay-Z’s “Run This Town”, Dorrough's “Ice Cream Paint Job”, and even the Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling." Now there are a lot of haters out there that love to voice their opinion but I gotta say Wayne is one of the hardest working people in the whole music industry, putting out so much material its rediculous. His hard work payed off in the past with his sixth studio album "The Carter III" selling over a million albums in it's first week on the shelf. It will be interesting to see what happens in February when he goes to court for his gun posession charges. My guess is that he will get some type of community service and maybe sixty to ninety days in the pen, and if he does go to jail I bet the material he comes out with is going to be insane.

Back again after only one short day, need to boost up my blogging points before its too late! So I'm pumped for haloween weekend because on Friday the 30th my friends and I are going to see a band that I have been wanting to see ever since I was introduced to them last year. The band is called Black River Sound and they are a family band, I know sounds weak, but they are amazing. I believe that it is three or four sisters and their one or two brothers in the band which is a soulful reggae group with classic, jazz, and hip-hop influences. We will be going to see them at Tammeney(?) Hall in Worchester MA. The following night is haloween and my roomeates and I are having a huge costume party which should be a great time. Still don't know what I'm going to be. The night after haloween is the night I am most looking forward to. My friends and I are going to another concert at The House of Blues in Boston to see Method Man, Redman, and Snoop, three artists that I havn't seen live yet and can't wait to see them all perform.

Untitled

So its been numerous weeks now and I still can't get used to this whole blogging thing. I don't know if its just because I know that it is another thing that I have to do or what but the "blogging bug" dosn't seem to have bitten me like some others. When I read other peoples bloggs they seem like they have been doing it for years, but when I sit down and try to blog I come up blank. Maybe its just not my thing to sit down at the computer and share my thoughts on random subjects. I think that it is a great way for some people to clear their head and share their thoughts but I have realized that its just not my thing. Anways, on a better note I saw Zombieland the other day, a comedy/horror flick about two guys who survive a world overcome with zombies by killing them in the most unusual ways possible. I didn't know what to expect when I went in but I thought it was going to be good. Turns out it was even better than I expected. I laughed a lot and I really enjoyed the oddly paired two main characters (Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg) and they way they worked together. On yet another note, I was unknowingly choosen to be the producer of my television production groups next piece. I have to produce a five to six minute news broadcast with my other group members and classmates. Producer is the toughest job to have during a production because there are so many things that you need to coordinate, everone in the control room, everyone on set and you have to direct the whole piece to move along smoothly, a tough thing to do when you need ten plus people to work together as a team perfectly. There is deffinetly a lot more to a production than what you see on your screen, I have learned that first hand.

Kyou mo ganbarou!

Music & Genre

I'm back again after a short intermission. Now I know that we have moved on from the genre topic this week but I was thinking a lot about music today and was considering the different genres of music. When most people think about genres they think about movies, but music has as many and most likely way more genres then movies. Now I try not to be prejudice when it comes to music (my girlfriend is a huge country fan), but there are obviously some genres that i enjoy listening to more than others. Personally I am a big rap and hip-hop fan but I like to delve into many other genres. Alot of people say that rap music sucks and that they all talk about the same thing and the cars and the ice and blah blah blah, but I would bet that 99% of those people havn't even givin rap music the time of day, so to say. If you only hear whats on the radio and all of the sing-along type rap and hip-hop songs then you really havn't even come close to scratching the surfice of the hip-hop world. There are hundreds and hundreds of extremely talented lyricists and MC's in the industry and most of them people have never even heard of. I guess the point I'm trying to make is the same point you can make about a lot of things, don't judge a book by its cover, or in this case music by its genre. Give a new type of music a chance, listen to some stuff that you would normally never listen to and do some research. I gaurentee you will end up finding at least something that you like. Hope whoever is reading this is somewhat inclined to try something new, until next time do me a favor and type black river sound into google and click on their myspace page, you might just like the soulful flow of Black River Sound. Let me know.

It's been a few days sinve I have been on here, been really busy with school work and real work. Don't you just love it when teachers all decide to give you big assignments at one time. Seems like they have some sort of top secret meeting to decide when the bast time is to swamp the students with work, guess I should be used to it by now being a senior an all. Tomorrow my group gets to find out how we did on our interview production, I'm thinking we did pretty well considering all of my group members had never done any type of production before we did it. We also get to see how the next group doesand be a part of their production team. I think I'm going to voulenteer as either a cameraman or the audio technician, two fields that deal with what I'm interested in. Hopefully you'll see my name in the credits of some of the top snowboarding films of the future. Speaking of snowboarding, can it please just snow already?
So I think I'm going to try to watch the two films that we have to screen tonight. I have already seen the ring a few times and enjoy it, but it gets worse and worse everytime I watch it, knowing when all the good parts are. The Japanese version, Ringu, which I believe came out before the Ring, is a movie that I have always wanted to see because I have heard good things about it and I wan't to see how it compares to the Ring. It will be interesting to see how the different media related aspects of the film get translated to the American version.

Today was the big day for my group to produce our five minute interview segment in my TV production class. When I woke up this morning I was a little nervous because I wasn't sure exactly how the class was going to go but it turned out great. Before today I had some idea of what it takes to put on a procuction because of my class in highschool, but now I really realize how much goes on behind the scenes. There were different positions for our production, the director, the floor director, the technical director, the CG person, three camera men, an audio technician, an audio assistant, and some other position that I can't remember the name of. I was the technicial director and my job entailed starting the background sound (in our case a recording of an audience clapping), fading it out, fading in and out from black at both ends of the interview and switching between cameras to get the best shot. This may sound simple but trust me it's harder than it sounds to make it come out right. It took our group two tries before recording our final take, in my opinion a great sucess, not to mention our interview was actually interesting to watch. I'm more and more happy each class that I decided to take this class because I can possibly see myself doing something along these lines when I get out of school, Plymouth Rock is going to create a whole bunch of new jobs when it's finished so maybe I can work there. Anyways I better get going cuz I things to do and people to see. Go Big or Go Home...

Back again! So I watched Outfoxed the other day an was extremely surprised at what I found out. I don't know about anyone else but I really had no idea that all of that was happening. I don't really watch the news that much but thats scary to know. Anyways on a much lighter note, one of my favorite forms of media is the TV and what better to watch on a monday night than PATRIOTS FOOTBALL no really there's not much better. Amazing game last night, got nervous for a little bit but we pulled through as we've seen our team do so many times before. Media is a great way to bring people together, whether it's watching a football game, jammin' out to some music, or just hanging out and watching a movie, media can bring people together in a way unlike any other. i.e. cuddling during scary movies hah Tonight seems like a nice night for a fire with some friends in the backyard, some music, some smores, maybe a lil kumbaya and gost stories if we wanna get a lil crazy hah Ayways hope everyone reading this is doing well and a quote from my fortune cookie yesterday..."Nothing's Perfect" keep that one in mind next time you get frustrated..

Thoughts on TV Production

I had my second class of TV production Thursday morning and so far its going really well. I took a TV production class in highschool and it ended up being my favorite class in highschool, probably for more reasons than just the content but regardless I enjoyed it a lot. I wasn't sure what to think going into the class because I had never talked to anyone who had ever taken it or heard anything about it, but my hopes were high. The first class was basically just an introduction day where I learned that I have a couple friends in the class and good a good sense of my professor, Professor Moore. He seems really cool, friendly and great at what he does. He seems to enjoy it a lot and I think that makes it even better becuase he is teaching us about something he loves to do. The second class we talked a little bit about how the equipment and how to use it and made production groups for the semester. After choosing our groups we had to brainstorm for an idea for our first production, a five minute interview segment in the studio. I ended up choosing to be the technical director for our production and I'm anxious to see how it all turns out. I can really appreciate all that it takes to put together any type of media production having seen a lot of it first hand and I am excited and intrigued to learn more and actually create my own media. I'll keep you all (as if there are a lot of people reading this) posted on how the class and various productions are going, until then..."Enthusiasm is that secret and harmonious spirit which hovers over the production of genius.”

Have a monumental day.

Numero Dos

So today was a good day...got to sleep in and only had one class. Tomorrow is going to be even better because a whole bunch of my friends and I are renting an Escalade limo for the night and going into Boston for my friend's birthday, should be interesting to say the least. After finally getting to read the first chapter of the book I began wishing I could travel more. I love to experience new things and this chapter of the book made me realize how badly I wan't to experience different cultures and how they construct meaning through symbols and systems. "Perceptions of reality are constructed and shaped by the language and signs we use" was a great quote to me becuase life really is just a big perception of things that are represented by symbols and signs. Another interesting part of the chapter delt with different cultures and the words and phrases they used to describe snow and rain vs. the words and phrases that we use, the section is on page 13 and the top of 14. Now its off to read some more but untill next time...guess the quote...no cheating

"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something."

Finally up and going

So it took me awhile but I finally got all my computer problems fixed and now I'm ready to start off strong in my last year here at BSC. This is my first full online class and allthough its been a rocky start I have high hopes. As you can probably tell this is my first time blogging so bare with me.

I watched Stepbrothers for the second time last night, and allthough it was still funny I remember laughing a hell of alot more when I saw it in the theater, probably just because it was my second time seeing it and the screen was about 100x smaller. I guess this shows that how media is conveyed to its audience can play a significant role in how the audience recieves the media.

Time to tackle the next assignment...until tomorrow... "Boats and Hoes!"