Assignment 1-3: Journal Article Analysis 1 Bigfoot

For this topic I choose something that we all could enjoy reading and I would enjoy looking up and researching. The topic of Bigfoot (Abominable Snowman, Yeti) there is many names but this author thinks they are the same thing. When I say the same thing I don’t mean the same animal. If you believe what this author is saying Bigfoot isn’t an animal rather a idea or ideology that people of a certain time for a certain reason thought it helpful to talk of this made up beast. The author states “Bigfoot endures in the American imagination because, as a representative of an old order, this beast functions outside a growing consumer-oriented society to appeal to those looking for the real reality behind the plastic” (Buhs, 2009). The author goes on to explain how in different cultures this mythic monster is made up and he traces the times that there are spikes in stories to different societal changes.

Now who was this article written for? I think this article is written for people who are on the fence of believing or disbelieving in things like Bigfoot or fictional monsters of any type. There are a great amount of people in the world who would like to think these animals exist because they want to think the world is different than their dull lives. All over the world we have stories or tall tales of beasts or animals that have gone to the wayside or have been so illusive they are timeless. I think this article was meant to show that there is an answer to these stories; the answer is we made it up.

I would say this article is written very well. I would say the introduction reads, as it should. It leads you into the story giving key terms and triggers memory’s we may have of this tall tale. Then it goes into the research. It states how and why the author came to the conclusions he did and the research behind it. The conclusion of the article wraps up the article nicely and leaves very little to the imagination. Unless you don’t agree and you think there is a Bigfoot. Hey, we are all entitled to an opinion.

The key idea of this article is the fact we as humans always try and view our world differently then it is. For some reason historically their has always been unexplained things or stories floating around to give us a taste of what might be out their. Even in this day in age we cannot for sure say Bigfoot doesn’t exist. Humans have always stretched the imagination far beyond reality to explain the unexplained. This article tries to say just that. Humans tend to embellish stories for their own good and to gain something. We might be trying to gain money or friends or status. But there is always a reason behind these tall tales and in this case the author tries to get the point across with research and facts. There are no Yeti, or Bigfoot. We use them as another way to explain naturally occurring things that effect our everyday life we have no other explanation for.


Reference

Buhs, J. B. (2009). The Journal of Popular Culture. Journal of Polular Culture , 42 (6), pp. 1137-1139.

Assignment 5-1 Weekly written analysis

This week I would like to write about Casey Anthony and the weird following the trial had. If you don’t know about the trial she is a young woman who was charged with killing her daughter and burring her in the woods. The weird thing about this whole trial was the amount of attention it got. The amount of attention spiked when the verdict came in not guilty. I would like to first discuss why I think people pay so much attention to things like this and then why people think they can judge a woman by the bits and pieces they heard over the course of the trial.
I think people follow trials like this because they are kind of forced too. We in America watch a few news stations all over the United States. I know we all have our local news but the national news stations are on 24 hours a day and they are watched almost 24 hours a day by some people. Each one of these news stations is bias toward their owners views of the news and the stations all differ just a bit depending on how the “top management” think the same news should be put out to the people. I think that people who are not researching the things they hear get overwhelmed with the thought that the news is the truth. Let me be the first one to say that I think Nancy Grace is most likely a nice woman but her views are not always truthful just because she is on the news. Somewhere in our past the news changed from being truthful to trying to grab your attention and keep you watching. Just saying the truth and stating facts with no bias would let others then come to their own conclusions but since news stations compete for your patronage they will tell the story anyway they can to keep you interested and this is where the problem lies.
After the not guilty decision aired on T.V I looked at my Facebook and almost 90% of people disagreed with the verdict. They we all saying such mean things about this woman because the little news they saw made them think the way they do. I didn’t hear one news station the entire time this trial was on once say that she may be innocent due to lack of evidence. The media wanted to make all of us think she was such a horrible person. But what if she didn’t do it? I’m not saying I think she is innocent at all in fact I think she was guilty but the government had no evidence to prove it. And it should have never gone to trial the way it did. But the media wanted our viewership so they elaborated on all the things about the trial and came to their own conclusions, then convinced the public to think their way.
This is just one example of how the popular culture in the media these days is very powerful. The news and media can make the united states citizen think anyway they want and this is a dangerous thing. What happened to fact checking and coming up with you own conclusion based on YOUR ideas and YOUR values? Oh yea I forgot, we live in a world that is now controlled by the few and followed by rest.

Assignment 4-1Weekly Written Analysis 4.....Ancient Aliens

This blog post I decided to stop writing about things that make me mad about pop-culture and show the other side or me. I have gotten into the phenomena that the History Channel has started about ancient aliens.            

             My thoughts about this did not start with the show but have grown with it. We all look around our world and see things that are unexplainable or we are taught things in which we just do not believe. I have long thought that aliens could and most likely are out there. But the show has helped me gain a new curiosity about the subject. It is totally plausible that we have been visited in the past present and will be in the future by aliens. In all actuality we ourselves if you believe in the big bang theory are aliens to this planet so why is it so hard to believe that it could happen other places.

            The reasons I believe in this theory is mostly because I realized that people all over the world believe in aliens they just haven’t realized it yet. Christians believe that there is a god who live in the clouds and angles that fly, Jews also believe in a god in the heavens, Incas believe the same, Egyptians and so forth. Almost all religions on this earth are based on gods or deities who are not from this earth. This just goes to show that people all over the world believe in a form of aliens.

            Another large reason is because of the proof SOMETHING helped human kind in the past evolve to where we are now.  The human species has been on this earth for over 4 million years and just the last 12,000 years we have made more advances than the entire time before that. What changed? Why are we the only animal on this earth to have changed the way we did? These are questions that will never be answered but its something to think about.

            The last reason is because of the proof that is right in front of our eyes. The pyramids are one. There is no way that people of that time had the knowledge to build a structure like that in the time we think they did. The Nazca lines are a great example of something being in the sky at that time. You cannot see what the lines form on the ground so why do it? The ancient aircrafts made by Incans in 800BC look exactly like aircraft does now, how did they know to place a tail fin on the crafts when nothing in nature represents it? And the last example I want to list is Noah’s ark. The story goes Noah was given divine knowledge of a flood and given the plans to build a ship capable of storing 2 of every animal on earth.  At that time in history shipbuilding was wood strapped together with rope. And we are to believe he built a ship capable of holding that much weight with rope lassoed around wood boards?

            The truth is out there and one day we will all know it. This day may be closer than we think. Right or wrong ancient aliens is a very good explanation for the un-explained.

Cultural Icons and how I can go America all over your #$%

Ok blog world, this post is going to be about three contemporary icons that I think stick out in my head when I close my eyes click my heels. No, Dorothy is not one of my icons. I am going to write about The Real Housewives of Orange County, Jersey Shore and Casey Anthony. All of these icons represent something of importance as of late and all are controversial topics, so I hope to see some great rebuttals.

Lets start with the Housewives. Actually, lets look at why they are on T.V. I believe that this “reality” phase we are going through in last few years has really showed what Americans have become. We don’t have things to worry about anymore like war or major politics that involve the common man so I believe people have taken their attention elsewhere…..Its not a good place to be. This show has shown us all that it’s ok to be loaded, to cheat on your husband and marry for money. Everyone watching loves to see the clashing of the women involved and can’t wait to see what’s next because they wish they could act like that.  I can’t wait to see how this show and others like it are going to effect our youth.

Speaking of youth, my next topic is Jersey Shore. I don’t know why this is on T.V. but again it is and again people are watching it. The show depicts outrageous people doing outrageous things. I think viewers watch for the same reason they watch housewives, because they wish they all could act like that. Where did the days go where people wanted to live a life of dignity and honor? I am not a saint but I think its better to try and show our youth the way you should act and not the way you shouldn’t. I mean there isn’t even a point to this show. There is no start or end or goal…….So why else would people want to watch this other than the fact they enjoy the people in it. I think they should all be jailed.

My last topic is Casey Anthony. This case is a sad one. She was just announced innocent and my Facebook was flooded by people that think they KNOW she is guilty. My question guilty or not, why is her face and story on T.V. to begin with? I live in Cleveland where we have a serial killer on trial who killed and dismembered 13 women and stored them in his walls. I think the difference in these two cases is who and what color the people are that were involved. If the Cleveland serial killer killed white upper class girls this case would be all over the news across the country. Instead he killed low class ladies who where mostly lured by drugs. What is wrong with this picture here?

My point in this blog post is to show how our culture and the media are just headed in the wrong direction. When our country is still young and we as Americans are supposedly looked up to by other countries across the globe, we are watching Real Housewives smack each other, Jersey Shore punks drinking and having sex before marriage and murderers on trial. We as Americans should be worried about our debt ceiling crisis, global warming or our president sending our troops to other countries without approval.  I think its actually misdirection so we DON’T think or act on the more important topics at hand……..Wait……. American Idol is on…..I have to go!

Here are some thoughts about Google Plus Assignment 3-1

    Well I was looking around online to find something that I can rant about pertaining to pop culture and I remembered that there is now a new social networking site called Google Plus. What a great thing to write about! Yet another social networking site that we all can redundantly post our pointless thoughts and feelings on. I think that we are going a bit overboard with all this technology stuff and I have a few reasons why.

            The first reason is because we have more than enough was to connect with each other already. Why do we need another one? I will explain why people “think” they want another way and in my eyes it is quite ingenious. The marketing approach Google has taken with this project is to have it look like its exclusive. It may be one of the smartest things I have seen in a while. They are only allowing the top level of celebrities and their close friends to join as of now. So for a few weeks I bet the only thing you will hear is how Ashton Kuthcer and people like him are posting things on THIS SITE, NOT FACEBOOK. Google is smart enough to pay of the news and media markets to get this exposure and its already showing. And we all know that their are many people out their that want to know as soon as good old Ashton walks his dog and gets a coffee! So as soon as Google lets the sheep of America to join, they will in the millions. I most likely will be forced to join myself to keep up with the times...Bahah...Bahah

The second reason is search engine marketing guided by your friends “likes” and “dislikes”. We used to get paid by Big Box stores and companies who want peoples reviews of their products. Now we just let them save of internet history and log our personal information for their own marketing teams usage. Why do we let them have this information free?

My third reason is just a in general thought about the technology boom we are in now. Why do we always need another way to do the same thing? It seems all the things that are large and “popular” are just different was of doing the same daily things. Humans used to get together all the time IN PERSON, now all we have to do is log onto Google Plus and use their new “hang out” function (live web chat). We used to call each other and ask “what are you up too?” Now we just post our thoughts online and don’t think to care if anyone WANTS to know. Humans used to had write letters and mail them, now we have Twitter and Facebook. It seems to me that we as a race get bored with things after a while and want to move on. What we don’t think about is the fact that technology and all the advances to make things easier in our life are costing all of us jobs and money.  

Popular Culture and why its dumbing down our Culture

    What is "popular culture"? Well to me nothing about it is popular nor is it my culture. Actually it sickens me to read or hear about it at all. I assume the right answer is.....Popular culture is to say its the view of the people at any given time in our history. I really hope thats not the case. Lets take a look at what I find when I type in "popular culture 2011" into google. Ok I went to the first website that I got its located at the following adress http://www.elle.com. First I got a add for Burberry the clothing line......I had to Skip that ad and move on to the home page. Now what am I looking at? Oh its a shirt-less Captain America photo! Thats perfect! I couldn't have planned this better! Lets see what the first article listed is! Yes! Its about Sarah Palin's poetry! Even better! What would I have done without this information.....Please. Someone get me out of here! My definition of popular culture is its what people "think" other more important people are doing and they want to know what they are missing. Its high school all over again and guess what? If you were smart, when you got out of high school you realized all the things you worried about in those great 4 years of your life didn't matter. And now since you dont have anyone close enough to ogle over you read magazines that were influenced by Big Box stores and they tell you what products the stars are using and how its making their life better and it can make your life better too! Bah humbug. Popular culture should be something you want to be, and we should be glad thats what our generation will be remembered for. If aliens landed right now and decided if we are to live or to die by what they found in our popular culture.....I would say hey guys, I'm not with them!
    Sadly popular culture is important to our careers and to our companies of the future and now. We have to make Facebook pages for our companies to interact with one and other, we have to tweet about our great new products and we have to mold our companies around what is....well Popular. A savvy company has a full time person on staff called a social media specialist.....At least its creating jobs! Anyhow its very important to the company to understand the time its in and to grasp all it can out of the free social media and the cultue thats around it. Thats actually what I do for my company, I just hate doing it!
    I thought about my artifact I would post in this to show what I think about popular culture and decided to display my Captain America I talked about earlier in this post. I am going to choose this because I could show something that you would hope displays our "culture" of this era......But who would I be kidding, I asked google to show me what they thought.....and google is all knowing! So here he is....I present Captain Popular culture. Coming to a theater near you.

Image Source : http://www.elle.com/Pop-Culture/Movies-TV-Music-Books/Men-of-Steel