Mario Kart Double Dash, James Bond--Goldeneye

Keller, Suzanne M. "Children and the Nintendo." www.eric.ed.gov. Web. 29 Nov. 2009.

Nintendo is bad? Not necessarily, according to Suzanne Keller and a series of studies. Let's look at the complex thinking skills required to successfully interact with the system. High school students who played Nintendo scored higher on critical thinking skills test than those who didn't play. The students were transferring their thinking to other areas of their lives. While Nintendo can still have harmful, negative effects, most often it does not. Kids do not think violent thoughts, merely they think of strategies to win the game. This article basically stated that Nintendo may have bad side effects, but for the most part it helps develop the brain and certain skills of children and young adults.

I agree for the most part with this article. I love Nintendo! I think that there is hardly anything greater than sitting at home and playin some good old Mario Kart or James Bond with my brothers--it's just the best! I could see how it heightens awareness of critical thinking. I am not sure if I agree with the part in the article that talked about how kids don't think violently, only strategically. My brothers used to play this "Streetfighter" game on Nintendo and my Mom would always take it away from them because they would get too violent outside of the game. You could really see a difference in their violence levels when they were and weren't playing that game. Overall, I think Nintendo is great as long as it's not the only thing you do all day every day.

50 top linked-to sites

Rao, Leena. "The 50 Media Sites Bloggers Link to the Most." Tech Crunch: 9 March 2009. Web: 15 Nov 2009.

This article talks about a new search engine, Technorati, that recently released Technorati Attention Index, which measures the highest number of media sites linked to from blogs over the past 30 days. It lists the top 50, the top 5 being YouTube, NY Times, BBC News, CNN.com, and MSN. The remaining 45 in the list fall under the same categories as these--news and entertainment. This article interestingly displays the things our country as a whole is most interested in--which apparently is entertainment, news, sports, and the economy.

I thought this was an interesting list. YouTube is number one, and that really surprised me! I know that a lot of people get on YouTube everyday, but I didn't realize that it's not just me and my friends who look up funny things--it's the rest of our country as well. What does this say about our use of free time in general? I think the rest of the list is good news--it's important to be learning about new happenings locally, nationally, and universally. I'm glad that the top 50 sites are at least uplifting, beneficial ones instead of sites that could easily be misused or that don't promote anything good. Our country is doing something right still!

new's portrayal of media: false?

MissMazi. "Re: How well does the American news media reflect actual events?" yahoo. yahoo, 29 Oct. 2006. Web. 1 Nov. 2009.

This person responded to the above question by relaying some personal experiences. She said she has witnessed something take place and then seen and heard it completely exaggerated and blown up on the news. Also, take into consideration that what is often portrayed on the news isn't usually what happened. You maybe said what was filmed but that doesn't mean it was in the same context as they showed it in or that it wasn't cut. She highlighted the war in Iraq. Only a slight percentage of unbiased news is being portrayed through the media. Our country tells us what they want us to hear. This is why we cannot listen to everything around us--even though it's from a "worthy" source such as the news, it may not be the full truth of any situation. On the other extreme, it may be spot on. I guess we'll never really know.

I fully agree with this blogger. It's impossible to know which news is the correct news, if any of the news is correct at all! We are presented what we want to hear. I hate this! I think that the news should just portray things as they really are because it'll be a lot better for us in the long run. What if our country fails one day and everything in our world crashes down? That would be the rudest awakening--why not get ready to embrace that news now? Everything digital can be so easily manipulated these days it's impossible to tell what is the real truth behind it all.

Hollywood

Cruz, Rolando. "Does Hollywood Really Have a Negative Impact on Society?" Associated Content: 27 Aug 2007. Web: 11 Oct 2009.

"They say that art imitates life and truth is stranger than fiction, so I find it hard to believe that Hollywood has a negative impact on the society." Basically Cruz states throughout this article that kids are being desensitized by Hollywood, it is true, but that it is the parents responsibility to teach the children what is right and what is wrong. According to Cruz, "Hollywood is a product of our society, not the other way around." The reason our society is going downhill is because parents aren't taking their own civic responsibilities of teaching their children upon their own heads and so when something goes wrong they blame their faults on the media.

I to some degree agree with this article. I can see how parents get caught up in the moment and the media being portrayed that they don't think at that exact time that they should tell their kids, "Oh, that's not right, don't ever do that." My parents don't. But, my parents have talked with me about it at other times so I know that it is not right. However, I still think that the huge amounts of media do impact our society...how could they not?

Music's Influence on Society

Pogosov, Alex. "Music's influence on society: a look back nine years in time." UTD Mercury, 28 April 2008. Web: 27 Sept. 2009.

Pogosov very openly states his opinion that music does not influence people to act out in a certain way. He backs up his opinion by talking about the Columbine shootings. The two boys who did all of the shooting were known to have listened to a certain two bands that many think to have influenced the boys decisions to shoot innocent people, but Pogosov decided to take a closer look. He investigates the one "Nazi-supportive" band and argues that this band is not a supporter of Hitler's Germany. He researches a lot of evidence and argues that people will act how they want to act and think what they want to think based off of their own thoughts and motives. Pogosov ends by sharing that he and a whole club listen to the same music that the shooters did and it hasn't had an effect on them. Obviously, music doesn't have as big of an influence on society as we all thought.

I personally question this opinion because where do the people get those thoughts and personal opinions anyhow? They've got to come from somewhere or something. You cannot say that music and the media don't have any effect on people because they do--it's been proven that they do. Pogosov didn't say that he didn't believe music has no effect, he just said he didn't believe it has a major effect. He almost shoots down his whole argument also when he recounts how Cindy Lauper's music spiked the teen pregnancy rates in the late '80's. Obviously, everything around you impacts you in some way or another, even if the effects aren't immediate. Whether or not the Columbine shootings were a result of listening to "Nazi-supportive" music or not, we may never know.

Twitter's Impact on Society

Ross Dawson. "Twitter's impact on the news and media cycle." Re: http://futureexploration.org/mt-tb.cgi/1019 Rossdawsonblog.com. 14 Aug. 2009. Web. 13 Sept. 2009.

This article quickly summarized the main points of how Twitter is impacting the media's cycle and news being relayed to the public. Dawson mentioned how news used to get around--radio and TV channels, then newspapers, and further on to chat shows. Now, information is passed much more quickly, via Twitter, in particular. Twitter is often the first media to break news and it provides a discussion forum for mainstream media coverage. Dawson shows graphs he found from Samuel Degremont in Paris about the change Twitter has brought about.

I think it is interesting how huge of a difference Twitter is making in our media's cycle. I thought that it was simply another thing like Facebook and didn't really know how much it was used by the public to actually get out news that matters. The graphs really show a huge difference in the short amount of time that it takes Twitter to spread the word on things instead of waiting 8+ hours for the news to cover it. The quickness cannot be argued with. Whether Twitter is really doing that much good is another question.

"Camp Cartwheel"--a non-profit organization I was researching

"A Trip to Camp Cartwheel." Special Stories from Camp Cartwheel. News 3. KVBC/DT, Las Vegas. 3 Aug 2009.

Established by the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation, Camp Cartwheel is a week-long camp at Torino Ranch (just outside of Las Vegas) where kids can go to have a piece of their childhood back. This non-profit organization is run solely by donations and is free for all participants. They participate in activites such as playing at the lake, making crafts, other outdoor activities, and interacting with other children with similar diseases and circumstances. It really is a time for them to leave behind the worries of their every day lives and enjoy being a kid! Garrett Tenney of News 3 attended this camp for a week to experience what the kids experience and to relay his findings to the public. In short, he went to help the world see the goodness coming about from foundations such as "Make a Wish." Tenney feels that if the world is alerted of inspiring events such as Camp Cartwheel, then the people in this world will try harder to accomplish more good, basically stating that the media's effect is huge on our lives. This camp brings in not only the kids with the diseases, but their siblings also. Some of the more common diseases present at camp are cancer, AIDS, sickle cell disease, and hemophiliac. After spending a week at Camp Cartwheel, Tenney realizes that this is a place where everyone feels welcome and everyone feels equal because they're all suffering from something similar. While at camp, the kids build life-long relationships and memories and enjoy the freedom of being a kid again.

I loved this news story! What a great idea--to build a summer camp for kids to get away from their every day worries and let them relax and be a kid. Two things in particular impressed me: 1) It is a completely non-profit organization. The people who run this camp do it out of the goodness of their hearts. After further research I found that many police men, doctors, and nurses volunteer at this camp on their weeks off of work. They absolutely love the kids and the life-changing experience of realizing how precious their lives really are.

2) I love the fact that the camp accommodates not only the children suffering from cancer and other blood diseases, they accommodate their siblings as well. This is so important, because when a child in a family has a disease like one of these, it often takes the parents' focuses away from the other children. Often, the siblings feel left out and neglected. This camp provides a way for all of the family to get away from the disease and to live a normal life for a week. It establishes greater independence and self esteem, and has really been a blessing in many children's lives.

I always love finding out about different non-profit organizations and seeing how much they impact the world and our society--even if it's only a couple people at a time. Chain reactions are not hard to start, and their effect can be amazing. This news story inspires me to be a more conscious individual and to notice the good in the world around me. Maybe I too can become better and help in a cause such as Camp Cartwheel.

Due to the media's influence today, the world is becoming more and more aware of things going on in their own communities, but also blind sighted to one opinion at the same time. This news article is a good example of how the media goes out of its way to find good things and relay and publicize them to the public. Garrett Tenney comments that that's what the media should be doing--highliting the amazing things the world is accomplishing and inspiring others to join in.