Assigment 6

Movie: Fool's Gold

Site: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/movie/

I have personally never looked to the internet to find reviews of movies, however for this assignment I found a site called Rotten Tomatoes. This is kind of a weird name for the site, but it would be very beneficial to someone that wanted to get a Glimpse into a movie.

For this assignment I chose to look up the movie “Fools Gold” on the site. I enjoyed the movie “How to Loose a Guy in Ten Days”, also starring Kate Hudson and Mathew McConaughey and I have been wanting to see this movie. So I thought that this site would give my an insight into the movie, maybe a little further than what the commercials have on TV.

One of the things that this site features is a movie trailer. The nice thing about the movie trailer that this site offers is that it is much longer then the brief commercials that we see on TV. This gives viewer a better idea of what the movie is about and can help them to decide if they want to actually see the movie or not. The site also comes with a brief summary of the film, but I do not think that it serves the viewer as greatly as the trailer will.

The site also offers the T-meter, which is a critic meter. Underneath the meter, you can view comments from others who have already seen the movie. Here someone can either rate the movie as rotten or fresh. Their name and source is then included. In this case the movie had poor ratings, but this was not really a good overview for the movie because the comments were mostly from male critics. It is better to have a wide range of comments from both a male and females points of view. Sometimes men enjoy movies that women don’t and vice versa. Also they are written by critics from Chicago Sun Times, etc, so these are not just everyday people that have just seen the movie.

However, there is an area called the RT Community, where the community can comment. In contrast to The T-meter many people rated the movie as fresh (meaning that it was good).

The movie then also includes forums where anyone can go to discuss the movie. I cannot really go into detail about this feature, as for you have to sign in to get into a forum, but if it is like any other forum, it would he helpful to discuss the movie with someone who has already seen it.

Overall I believe that the purpose of this site is to give the viewer an insight of the movie and allow them to see the ratings of not only critics, but also the communities feelings about the movie. I do not believe that it was formed to participate in a “cult”. Sometimes I feel that some sites would, maybe in regards to movies like Harry Potter, just because of some peoples religious issues and wanting the public to know that they disagree with the films. Also I do not believe that there will be a sequel. However I do believe that Kate Hudson and Mathew McConaughey make a good couple on screen, so I do believe that we will see them together in other movies.

Assignment 5

I believe that we are all aware of the fact that many photos are digitally enhanced in the media. However I think that some are easier to catch than others.
Mr. Lackaff uses the example of a family photo of the royal family of England, where Prince Williams face was enhanced from looking glum to smiling. I have to admit that if I saw this picture that I probably would not be able to tell. However, when told about the alteration, I could understand why they would want to portray Prince William this way. Many people look up to Prince William and as we all know, we sometimes tend to assume that the people that we look up to have no flaws. We always think that they are happy and that their lives are close to perfection, but the truth is they are human just like us. They have their good days and their bad just like anyone else. I think that because people feel this way, the media gives them what they want to see.
Even though the media is giving people what they would like to see, I personally feel that the photos taken should be left alone. I know that in photos people are wearing makeup, which covers up some of their natural image, but with enhancement the person’s image can be changed drastically. I do not know if anyone remembers, but one day we watched the process of what the model had to go through to have her picture posted on a billboard. The model came in with no makeup and her hair not done. She had black circles under her eyes and freckles and her hair was messy. When they were done you could not see any of her imperfections. The dark circles disappeared and so did the models freckles. Her hair was also done nicely done. But they were not finished. After taking the models photo they widened her eyes and changed the shape of her nose. Looking at her before the makeup and enhancements and then looking at the final product, you could not tell that it was the same person.
This causes problems because not everyone realizes how much work goes into making these models or celebrities flawless. Some go through any lengths, including surgery to achieve this perfection. The truth is that you can go through surgery, but you will always have pores, freckles, sometime dark circles under your eyes or even blemishes. As humans will never have a flawless complexion. And we will never have the ideal body. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and not everyone views the same body types as being beautiful.
I personally enjoy celebrities outside of their working environment. They are dressed in casual clothes and not covered up by tons of makeup. They show us that they are real people too.
If a magazine or publication has the funding to purchase the resources to make the alterations, I believe that these alternations would be available to them at any time. Even though I disagree with the process I feel that in some cases they have the right to make the alterations. For example, before a model takes a job she is aware of the fact that alterations could be done and agrees to that process when he/she accepts the position. I do not have all the information about the photo of the royal family, but I believe that the photo should not have been altered unless permission was give by Prince William. The picture may have been taken by the paparazzi.


Link: http://www.cosmogirl.com/currentissue/
~This link is to the most current issue of CosmoGirl magazine. It takes you to the front cover with Miley Cyrus. I believe that this picture was altered because her complexion has no flaws. Her skin tone is even and you cannot notice any freckles or blemishes. Even with the proper makeup, you cannot make a persons complexion this even.

Assignment 4

I live in Lockport, so I normally check out the Lockport Union Sun and Journal from time to time. Mainly I like to read the electronic version, but there are times where I will pick up a paper edition.
For this assignment however, I did take a look at both the electronic and paper issue for Thursday February 7th.
The content that I noticed that was similar to both, were the sections of the editions. As we all know, the paper is divided into the local news, obituaries, classifieds, etc. The same information that is included into the paper edition can be found in the electronic issue. For example, a few months ago my boyfriend and I were looking for a new place to live. We were undecided if we wanted to rent an apartment or house, so we were keeping our options open. The paper edition was very helpful because apartments for rent and houses for rent were each listed under their own categories. However, it was starting to become a hassle because I was stopping at the store every few days to get a newspaper. I then learned that there was a paper edition and I have used it mainly ever since. It had the same information that was available in the paper edition and was easily assessable. The information was also categorized like the paper edition, so it was easy to find what I needed.
One of the main differences that I noticed between the online edition and the paper issue was that the paper edition only includes articles and information for that day and with the online edition you are able to back into the archives of previous editions. For example, you can find an article that was written months ago, find an obituary of a friend or family member that passed and you were not able to get the paper that day, past police reports, anything that was previously printed in the paper.
Another thing that I noticed was that the electronic issue takes advantage of the resources that are available on the internet. The internet allows more creativity in regards to animation. For example, there was an animated advertisement for Gambino Ford and several other car deal dealers. I believe that this makes the advertisement more attractive to the reader. Thee paper edition is more limited when it comes to advertisements because they are just a flat picture. The electronic issue also included a slideshow that you could watch including pictures from Ash Wednesday and other events that had occurred.
The one thing that I also found that created a big difference between the electronic edition and the paper issue was that the electronic edition allows the reader to comment on the articles that are written. I have visited the site so many times and was unaware that this feature was there. It is a wonderful feature because it allows the public to voice their opinions about issues publicly.
I believe that these things appear in the electronic edition and not the paper issue, simply because they cannot be. However, there were other differences that I noticed that I think were mainly added onto the online edition and not the paper issue for a particular reason. For example, there were articles for Monster and Travelocity on the site and these were not included into the paper edition. I think that this is due to the fact that these are websites and the best way to advertise is to advertise to people who are already on the web.
The other main advertisers were the dealerships and I believe that they advertise in both editions because they are getting a wider range of audience.