Hollywood hopes an ensemble cast boosts Blu-ray

NAKASHIMA, RYAN. "Hollywood hopes an ensemble cast boosts Blu-ray." 14 Dec. 2009. Web. .

Blu-ray is becoming more and more popular, but many are not making the complete switch for more reasons than one. "Blu-ray is landlocked. It's home-locked," said Michael Vitelli. You can't watch Blu-ray in the car, or even in your bedroom if it isn't the Blu-ray set. Blu-ray disks cannot be used in dvd players. This is a major problem because who's gonna want to buy two different disks for blu-ray in the living room and then DVD for the basement? There are combo packs you can purchase that include a blu-ray, DVD, digital copy, and a special features disk. Many people like this because no matter what you want to view that movie on, you have the technological form needed. 12 million U.S. homes already own a Blu-ray player, although many are still purchasing normal DVDs as well for reliability and practicality due to location.

What I don't understand is why can't we have Blu-ray disks that can also play in DVD players? This seems to be the major problem and is rightfully so. There are so many different gadgets that you can use to watch the same movie, and these combo packs are insane. You honestly have to purchase one of those if you want to ensure the reliability that you can watch it on any medium of technology? In the article it talks about how many Americans feel like practicality is often more important than sound and visual quality, when Blu-ray disks are on average $10 more expensive than regular DVDs and not capable of working in a DVD player, than why waste the money? I don't know how well Blu-ray players are going to do in this economy and under these circumstances in America.

Cyberbullying: Encouraging Ethical Online Behaviour

Cyberbullying: Encouraging Ethical Online Behaviour. Media awareness network. Web. .
According to a study by the University of Toronto, one out of five students have been bullied in the past three months. A study in Alberta reported that one-third of students who had cyberbullied were victims of cyberbullying as well. Cyberbullying is becoming more common due to easy access to different forms of technology like texting, e-mail, and chat rooms. The issue with cyberbullying is that it isn't just said outloud where only some can hear or see, but it's documented in often places where the whole cyberworld can see it. Teachers and parents cannot monitor and control this type of bullying as easily because it's not in a place for them to witness it all the time. Schools are addressing this issue more and trying to educate and inform their students and parents of this form of bullying.

I think cyberbullying can be a very bothersome thing to people because you cannot really ever get rid of the evidence of the bullying and it's where almost everyone in the world can see or know of it. It's a harder issue to confront someone about because it is less known and not as easily understood. I do think that sometimes the way to fix it is to make light of the situation or not take it as hard, because through different technologies it's often difficult to recognize sarcasm and playfulness. So communication is key to understand the full intent and thought.

Violence in Media Entertainment

Violence in Media Entertainment Violence. Web. http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/violence/violence_entertainment.cfm.


summary: Violence is a major part of entertainment today, and even as far back as 2000 B.C., when the gladiators would fight animals and other fighters for spectators. Although there was a lot of violence in the past, there has been an extremely high increase of violence in the past few years. Television shows and movies are major sources of violence seen by all. In 2001 t.v. shows averaged at about 40 acts of violence per hour, not to mention that 39% of this is aired before eight o'clock p.m. when children are watching the most. In the early 2000's, physical violence increased by 378%. These statistics have risen significantly over the years.

opinion: I think violence really should be reduced in television all together because the last thing our world needs is more media telling us violence is ok. As much as it should be reduced for the entire viewing world, it should especially be sensored to the eyes of children. Children are exposed to all kinds of things they shouldn't be, but violence is one thing that is extremely over done. Children are very perceptive and open to new ideas and opinions because they don't have much of their own yet, so by providing violence in almost every television program, this sends the message that violence is accepted and ok. By limiting the use of violence in the media we are cleaning up the minds of viewers everywhere.

Video Game Addiction

"Video Game Addiction." The parent report radio show. Theparentreport.com. Web. .
This article talks about how video games can and do become addictive to many people. The intensity and excitement often create an addiction to the game itself. The way to prevent this addiction is to create a balance in your life or your children's lives so this cannot occur. Video games can be educational so therefore not all of it is bad, but for sure some may be very violent and inapropriate. By making sure you keep up on other hobbies like reading, or playing a sport, you can reduce the time and chance of becoming addicted to a video game.

I think this article has truth to it, but I think they're missing an important component to the subject of video games. There are many games that are completely inapropriate for people of all ages, but especially for children and teenagers. Those games have been involved in many studies and experiments that have proven their effect on the gamer has been for the worse. Games can be very addictive and can develop an unhealthy state of mind for anyone viewing or playing.

Female Comic Book Characters

Rajeev talks about the evolution of female roles in comic books over the years. It first originated as the women would be side characters or back ups, but after a considerable amount of time, women started making a place for themselves in comics. It was the women's freedom movement which initiated the new thought of having female characters actually be the heroes or heroines for that matter. Now there are many female comic book characters that compete with the best comics of all time.

I like this article because as time progressed women became stronger and more independent in the world's view. It's important to know that even something simple like a comic book picked up on this change and changed along with it, creating new stories and characters that gave women the chance to become the heroes like they are in the real world situations and events today.

Rajeev, Loveleena. "Female Comic Book Characters." N. pag. Buzzle.com. Web.

no texting while driving...

Texting is bad while driving. Of course, we all know this. Texting and driving has been proven to be worse than drunk driving. Talking on the phone isn't quite as bad as having to look down constantly to send a text message. But my question is, if texting while driving is now illegal in utah, why aren't ipods? I'm not saying it should be, because I believe some people can multitask, plus there's such a thing as shuffle or a playlist. But think about it, when you text, you probably only have to look down maybe two or three times to see what you're doing for about a second, but after that your good to type whatever. But when your searching for a song on your ipod, you have to go through every artist or playlist to find what your looking for.