The latest movies I have watched are: Jack Reacher, 22 Jump Street, and Wolverine. These are not my favorite movies, per se, but are the last three I have viewed at the cinema. Each had instances where foreign characters were portrayed as evil. Wolverine was set over in Japan and had the main characters love interest as Japanese, but at the same time made her seem very exotic. 22 Jump Street in the opening sequences made it look as if the Mexican Cartel was providing the US with drugs, comically of course. Jack Reacher had a man of Eastern European decent made out to be the biggest big/shady-business bad guy of all time.
These movies in particular don't exactly exacerbate the stigmatism the movie industry places on foreign countries. There are many examples where foreign (men in particular) are always up to know good. In Rocky you have the Russians; Avatar it's the people from Earth, and even in television shows like House of Cards where the Chinese are trying to make a free floating currency.
I don't think it's fair we feed into this idea of patriotism where if you're not American than you are second class. Then we tend to in movies make foreign women (even American women) into sex icons. It's not uncommon for the Russian female spy to be dressed in a tight black leather outfit. Is that really how the movie industry perceives other countries? That they're either up to no good or are extremely attractive AND up to no good?
I've only watched a handful of foreign films and I've never seem them portray Americans with this sort of slight. It seems if they wanted to fight fire with fire they could show a bunch of overweight Americans at a burger joint.
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Does Owensboro's Radio Stations Serve the Public Well?
Owensboro has many radio stations, but the top three that most people have playing are:
WSTO 96.1: Top 40 Hits / Owned by South Central Communications
WBKR 92.5: Country / Owned by Townsquare Media
WCJZ 105.7: Classic Rock / Owned by Cromwell Radio Group
The top two being the most played by age groups of 35 and under. Hot 96 (WSTO) sometimes is criticized for overplaying songs and making them exhausting to the ears shortly after their prime. WBKR plays only one genre of music, but people who aren't looking to hear any other types are completely comfortable with this set-up. WCJZ 105.7 gives a sort of nostalgic value to listeners who turn the up the volume when Queen or Phil Collins gets a spin. If I had to say anything was missing, it would probably be a talk show radio on the FM channel. There's not much worldly event value, besides the occasional morning show on WSTO poking fun at comedic events happening in the US. Also it could use a hip-hop exclusive station to better serve rap/ lyrical goers, such as myself.
There is an obvious diversity in radio ownership, but I feel like they might not be hitting all the demographics they could be. I know a plethora of people who would love to have a hip-hop station. It seems like they're saying that our Western Kentucky younger residents only care to hear Country or whatever is popular at the moment. I understand that it is a conservative state that may be too uptight to hear "gangster tune" (insert sarcasm), but I feel like a large portion of us are being under-served.
This has lead a large portion of people to move away from radio and instead play Pandora or Spotify. In my case I'd tune into Childish Gambino radio on Pandora, than be dragged through a repeat Avicii song. Whenever I ride with my friends in their vehicles, I hardly ever hear them play the radio, unless their phone is dead or forgot their Aux cord. Even then there has been occasions where we would rather ride and talk then turn on a radio station that doesn't appeal to us.
So if Owensboro doesn't get a hip-hop station, "imma start a riot, imma start a riot." Ha. A 2 Chainz reference... No? Okay.
WSTO 96.1: Top 40 Hits / Owned by South Central Communications
WBKR 92.5: Country / Owned by Townsquare Media
WCJZ 105.7: Classic Rock / Owned by Cromwell Radio Group
The top two being the most played by age groups of 35 and under. Hot 96 (WSTO) sometimes is criticized for overplaying songs and making them exhausting to the ears shortly after their prime. WBKR plays only one genre of music, but people who aren't looking to hear any other types are completely comfortable with this set-up. WCJZ 105.7 gives a sort of nostalgic value to listeners who turn the up the volume when Queen or Phil Collins gets a spin. If I had to say anything was missing, it would probably be a talk show radio on the FM channel. There's not much worldly event value, besides the occasional morning show on WSTO poking fun at comedic events happening in the US. Also it could use a hip-hop exclusive station to better serve rap/ lyrical goers, such as myself.
There is an obvious diversity in radio ownership, but I feel like they might not be hitting all the demographics they could be. I know a plethora of people who would love to have a hip-hop station. It seems like they're saying that our Western Kentucky younger residents only care to hear Country or whatever is popular at the moment. I understand that it is a conservative state that may be too uptight to hear "gangster tune" (insert sarcasm), but I feel like a large portion of us are being under-served.
This has lead a large portion of people to move away from radio and instead play Pandora or Spotify. In my case I'd tune into Childish Gambino radio on Pandora, than be dragged through a repeat Avicii song. Whenever I ride with my friends in their vehicles, I hardly ever hear them play the radio, unless their phone is dead or forgot their Aux cord. Even then there has been occasions where we would rather ride and talk then turn on a radio station that doesn't appeal to us.
So if Owensboro doesn't get a hip-hop station, "imma start a riot, imma start a riot." Ha. A 2 Chainz reference... No? Okay.
Monday, September 15, 2014
Do Newspapers Have Their Foot in the Grave?
'The Messenger Inquirer' is the newspaper for Owensboro, Kentucky, my hometown. I really only read it for the sports updates from the local high schools and to see where my favorite professional teams were in the standings. It provided information from upcoming events in the town and local road closings and openings. It always seemed that the paper was missing something though. There wasn't really anything drawing me in other than the article every now and then on the Quarterback for the Kentucky Wildcats and what to expect from him in the upcoming game. Our town would seem like a bore to a visitor wondering what was going on in our small knitted community. Occasionally they would mess up somebody's name was misspelled, which was comical, yet frustrating.
The advertisements inside consisted mostly of ads for local businesses and services. A coupon was placed here and there for Kohls or local restaurants having deals. Lots of folks are subscribed to the paper though, because people still enjoyed knowing what was going on in our town. Older people in our town were more in tune with it then the younger crowd. My parents preferred the physical copy over the internet version and I only knew a couple of people who actually read it online.
I think the articles would be more interesting if the stories weren't similar to other articles that you could easily access from more established news media like CNN or ESPN. The originality was lacking at best. It seemed like they almost copied word-for-word what articles on yahoo were saying about subject. They need more opinionated writers on subjects such as the Ray Rice case. I don't want to read regurgitated and hashed stories that were already dished out from other media sources. After I got my smartphone I would go to Bleacher Reports and only read The Messenger Inquirer when I was bored at work and needed to waste time.
After talking to a few friends and family about what they thought our newspaper they offered a few suggestions. My Aunt commented that they could use innovated stories about things like the iPhone 6 and apps/technology that will differ from the current models. Stories that shed light on where phones were heading and how we can adapt them into our lives more efficiently. Also, why we should or shouldn't choose to purchase this model compared to other phones.
For now i'm only interested in the scores for high school games. Maybe as new writers come in, the tone of the newspaper will change.
The advertisements inside consisted mostly of ads for local businesses and services. A coupon was placed here and there for Kohls or local restaurants having deals. Lots of folks are subscribed to the paper though, because people still enjoyed knowing what was going on in our town. Older people in our town were more in tune with it then the younger crowd. My parents preferred the physical copy over the internet version and I only knew a couple of people who actually read it online.
I think the articles would be more interesting if the stories weren't similar to other articles that you could easily access from more established news media like CNN or ESPN. The originality was lacking at best. It seemed like they almost copied word-for-word what articles on yahoo were saying about subject. They need more opinionated writers on subjects such as the Ray Rice case. I don't want to read regurgitated and hashed stories that were already dished out from other media sources. After I got my smartphone I would go to Bleacher Reports and only read The Messenger Inquirer when I was bored at work and needed to waste time.
After talking to a few friends and family about what they thought our newspaper they offered a few suggestions. My Aunt commented that they could use innovated stories about things like the iPhone 6 and apps/technology that will differ from the current models. Stories that shed light on where phones were heading and how we can adapt them into our lives more efficiently. Also, why we should or shouldn't choose to purchase this model compared to other phones.
For now i'm only interested in the scores for high school games. Maybe as new writers come in, the tone of the newspaper will change.
Friday, September 5, 2014
Books: The Father of Movies
1 The Hunger Games: Catching Fire*
2 Frozen**
3 Guardians of the Galaxy*
4 Gravity
5 Captain America: The Winter Soldier*
6 The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug*
7 The LEGO Movie
8 Transformers: Age of Extinction *
9 Maleficent*
10 X-Men: Days of Future Past*
11 Thor: The Dark World*
12 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes *
13 The Amazing Spider-Man 2*
14 Godzilla (2014)*
15 22 Jump Street
16 How to Train Your Dragon 2*
17 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)*
18 Divergent*
19 American Hustle*
20 Neighbors
*Notes movies based on books or comic books
**Notes movies eventually inspiring books.
Fifteen out of the top Twenty movies were based on books with the majority being based off comic books. I feel like this is the case because a lot of these comic book fans, or just fans of the comic book movies, have a huge cult following. I've never read a comic book before, but it is fun to read up on the backgrounds of these bad guys and find out tid-bits about Spider-man's abilities. Also, you'd hear talk of these books like 'The Hunger Games' and you wanna see what all the craze is about. The only book on this list that I found had made a book afterwards was 'Frozen'.
I don't think only popular books are made into movies, but they probably have the better chance to make it to the box office. For a business like Fox or Sony, you'd figure a book with a great following will translate into dollars signs at the theater. When you have a favored book like 'The Hobbit' (Plus the Lord of the Rings trilogy by Peter Jackson prior) these Executives know they can fill the seats.
After the movie is made I'd say the book sales may increase due to the people who enjoy reading and want the story in it's full glory. I can't definitely say whether I think people are done with the story after they see the movie, but I can voice personally that I usually don't read the novel after I see it at the cinema. There are special cases for this for me like 'Fight Club' and 'Limitless'.
Therefore, I think that for the people who go out and buy the book to read, they must have really enjoyed the movie. Overall, I think movies overshadow books. It is much easier to view a 2-hour movie than read a book that might take you a week depending on your availability, focus, intrigue, and reading speed. Apparently 'American Hustle' and 'Divergent' were based on books, but i still won't be driving to the store and purchasing them.
2 Frozen**
3 Guardians of the Galaxy*
4 Gravity
5 Captain America: The Winter Soldier*
6 The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug*
7 The LEGO Movie
8 Transformers: Age of Extinction *
9 Maleficent*
10 X-Men: Days of Future Past*
11 Thor: The Dark World*
12 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes *
13 The Amazing Spider-Man 2*
14 Godzilla (2014)*
15 22 Jump Street
16 How to Train Your Dragon 2*
17 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)*
18 Divergent*
19 American Hustle*
20 Neighbors
*Notes movies based on books or comic books
**Notes movies eventually inspiring books.
Fifteen out of the top Twenty movies were based on books with the majority being based off comic books. I feel like this is the case because a lot of these comic book fans, or just fans of the comic book movies, have a huge cult following. I've never read a comic book before, but it is fun to read up on the backgrounds of these bad guys and find out tid-bits about Spider-man's abilities. Also, you'd hear talk of these books like 'The Hunger Games' and you wanna see what all the craze is about. The only book on this list that I found had made a book afterwards was 'Frozen'.
I don't think only popular books are made into movies, but they probably have the better chance to make it to the box office. For a business like Fox or Sony, you'd figure a book with a great following will translate into dollars signs at the theater. When you have a favored book like 'The Hobbit' (Plus the Lord of the Rings trilogy by Peter Jackson prior) these Executives know they can fill the seats.
After the movie is made I'd say the book sales may increase due to the people who enjoy reading and want the story in it's full glory. I can't definitely say whether I think people are done with the story after they see the movie, but I can voice personally that I usually don't read the novel after I see it at the cinema. There are special cases for this for me like 'Fight Club' and 'Limitless'.
Therefore, I think that for the people who go out and buy the book to read, they must have really enjoyed the movie. Overall, I think movies overshadow books. It is much easier to view a 2-hour movie than read a book that might take you a week depending on your availability, focus, intrigue, and reading speed. Apparently 'American Hustle' and 'Divergent' were based on books, but i still won't be driving to the store and purchasing them.
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