Last Blog...womp womp

Sorry everyone. This is my final blog post. For my Media class we were asked to keep a blog. Every student in the class had to make at least one post per week discussing anything the wanted, well it must have had to do with New Media in some way. This project let the class especially myself know what it's like to keep a blog. I chose one of the most popular blog servers, Blogger. Blogger was created in 1999 as a free service which made them accessable to the general public not just tech savvy (cough cough geeks) because Blogger is not require the knowledge of HTML. I'm definatly not that great with computers. Basically I can open a word document and write some paper for one of my classes. I KNOW, impressive.

Well this project go me more familar with why blogs became so popular. Blogs are often ineractive or linked to other site, which is exactly what my professor had us do. All of our blogs in the class must be linked to each student's blog in hopes that we would interact online as well in class. We were asked to leave comments sharing our oppinons about the post made.

The part of the project of having a blog was being able to write anything I wanted, anything that seemed interested to me. Some lectures in class did not facinate me but when it came to writing my blog post i could always find something which i wanted to talk about. Outside of this class, I was not a big follower of blogs except for one in particular, Perez Hilton's blog. That was the only blog i was familar with seeing that i check it almost five times a day. I love the gossip he puts on his blog and he does it with his own style. New technology has made his blogging even better because he could be at a Hollywood party and snap a photo of how much of a hot mess Lindsey Lohan is and he could post it right from his phone. Perez always keeps me updated on the drama of the lives of celebrities.

When it comes to posting the truth, I will srongly believe ninty percent of the this stories on his blog. Perez always has the inside scoop, which is why his blog is extremely popular.

Youtube, so good to me.

Youtube has become a site that I use everyday. It became one of my most visit web pages online. Everyday Youtube grows even bigger with more videos being added at this very moment. These videos fill a wide range of the interests of everyone around the world. Youtube helps me with my interest in music. Itunes is great and all but I am not rolling in the dollar dollar bills (if you know what I mean). Sometimes I don't want to pay the price Itunes has for me to listen to a particular song and Youtube makes it easier to listen to music. Sometimes my friend gives me a name of a song that I should listen to be cause he says it's awesome, Youtube would most likely have the entire song posted, where I could listen for free. If I'm likely, the user who posted the video might of put the lyrics to the song with the video post.
My sister actually found this website, where you can copy the URL of any Youtube music videos and this site converts it into a MP3. And if you have a MAC computer, this site will automatically import that MP3 song into your Itunes. So it is a sneaky way to get music from Youtube videos. Take that Itunes! Ha!
Youtube allows for anyone to post any video they please and it allows for anyone with access to the site to watch the video. Some of these people who posted these videos got their 5 minutes of fame thanks to the high number of views their videos received. Some memorable videos became so popular that it became something, which was shared throughout the world. Some of the videos, which I have seen probably over ten times.

-Charlie Bit My Finger: This cute but funny clip shows two young British babies, where the younger of the two (Charlie) bites his brother's finger. This home video became so popular on Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he5fpsmH_2g

Mad TV's "Can I Have Your Number": this skit was debuted on MAD TV but it was so funny someone uploaded it onto YouTube. This skit features this "gangsta" dude who tries to ask this woman (Yvonne) for her phone number in the middle of the movie theater. After seeing it, you couldn't go a whole day without hearing somebody or you yourself quoting a line from the clip. Mike and Ikes were never the same. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRbkkqZikx4

Scarlet Takes a Tumble: in this home video you can't help but laugh or feel really sorry for Scarlet, a big girl who happens to take a nasty fall while she is singing. She slips off the coffee table during one of her routines. Scarlet really eats it and the video doesn't end with the fall because the video continues with scarlet rolling on the floor in pain unable to stop the recording. Poor Scarlet :( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIwTYL1fwJk

How to learn Beyonce's "Single Ladies" dance: Beyonce's hit single became a world wide hit because of the music video. Everyone wanted to learn the entire dance, so people started posting videos of "how to" leran the dance. Some were really good and others were just hysterical. I have to own up to the fact that I spent 3 days rewatching the video in slow motion trying to be able to do the complete dance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llnHNigNgow&feature=related

David After the Dentist: I don't know what made David's dad start recording this video. David had to visit his dentist to get a tooth removed. In the car ride home David was still feeling "loopy" on the drugs. David "felt funny" and was so funny to watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txqiwrbYGrs

There are so many other videos posted on YouTube, lots are extremely funny, even some of the comments left on the videos can crack you up. I like to go onto YouTube because i know i can be entertained for hours because there is so much on this site.

"Wow, you look so different from your profile."

Finding that special someone has been rather tough. Everyone has such busy schedules it's starting to be hard to have a relationship with. A great deal of people started to flock to these dating sites. Online dating is where individuals connect and contact other individuals over the internet in the hopes to start up either a friend or romantic relationship. There are many websites, which provide members with a profile that includes their personal information. Users use the profiles to match themselves with desired love interests.

It has become common for online dating websites to provide webcam chats between members in order to get to know one another. Online dating could be considered a form of social networking because users create a profile and start to interact with other user, but here the users have a goal in mind: find some one for a relationship.

I find fault in online dating. maybe it is because i believe in the old-fashion dating. I mean how can you real KNOW someone on the internet. In class we talked about putting the wrongs signals out. There is a serious lack of trust in the other members, on whether the information the put forth is real or fake. There are those wackos who pose as singles but really they are looking for someone to have an affair with. My aunt nancy tried one of the dating sites. She finally decided to meet up with him. When she arrived at the resturant for her date, the guy ended up being in a wheelchair. My aunt was taken back because this man left out the detail about being handicapped.

Even though online dating scene has grown, how can you create a real relationship by means of the internet? A real relationship is based on honesty and truth. I just can't believe those commercials, which show couples who met online and made it work.

The Advancements in Cell Phones

The emerged around the nineties. Slowly they gained more popularity, as you saw more people with cell phones. The very first cell phones seemed not as practical. The were way too big. Their was no way you could fit those bad boys in your jeans pocket. When i think about the look of the very first cell phones, i think back to the popluar show Saved By The Bell. The main character, smooth talker Zack Morris would whip out this big phone about a 12 inches tall. I cant imagine some one walking around now a days with that same phone. It is too much of a hassle to lug that phone around.

I was in 5th grade when i got my first cell phone. It was one of those Nokia "bricks". I thought i was the coolest thing. I was able to make calls anywhere, and it had one game, snake, which i played constantly. Then more people began getting cell phones. Then came the fad of making the cell phones more fun. People began designing fun caps and stickers and antenna tassels to have more fun with the phones. Kids would come in to school with so much pizazz on their phones.

The I got into high school, the newest phone to have was flip phones. It was much thinner and when you flipped it up there was the key pad. Those became the coolest things to have and all the different phone services have made many versions to flip phones. The enVy phone was one of the first to have a number key pad on the front then when you flip the phone open their is a alphabet key pad, which made it easier for texting.

Flip phones are still the most popular form factor for cellular phones, however they have been losing popularity to phones with slide-out keyboards, and touch screen phones like the iPhone. These have become the newest advancements to cell phones. The less buttons there are the more cooler.

The ability to connect to the internet has also been a new step for cell phones. Phones such as the Blackberry and iPhone make for a person anywhere in the world to connect to the internet. I am not sure what will be the next thing for cell phones but it will be different.

Facebook updates

Oh it was so good to see all the amazing statuses after the New York Yankees won the World Series. Being from New Jersey and being such a huge yankees fan, and once the game was over, more than half of my facebook friends had changed their status to something related to the game. My "live news feed" was over 300 posts. Something so exciting happens, you can most defiantly count that it will show up on facebook.

I am practically friends with Patrick Dempsey?!

There is the idea that everyone in the world is connected. The theory of Six Degrees of Separation shows that any person in the worlds is (on average) six steps away from any person in the world. Through a chain of acquaintances, you can have a connection to any person on the planet. I could know someone, who is related to someone, that works with someone, that they went to school with, who knows someone, that went to a party with someone, whom was eating in the same restaurant as Vince Vaughn. There is this network which links you to Vince Vaughn. People like to believe in this connectivity because it make one think that they run in the same social circles as your favorite celebrities.

I like to think that i could possibly one day meet some famous guy through someone i know. My aunt who is in the theater business has many actors as friends. So I'm thinking that one day my aunt will introduce me to to a Broadway star.

The Six Degrees of Separation theory has influenced our culture greatly. The advances in the Internet especially in Social Networking Sites have made for many different connections. Some of the relationships on these social networking sites are in fact true friendships. However on some sites, users are friends with stars but these connections are weak because what are the chances that you are ACTUALLY friends with a famous person.

RIP Kanye....NOT!

Ever since Kanye West's stunt at the MTV's Video Music Awards, he has been getting bad publicity. More drama has exploded dealing with Kanye West. Rumors have been circling that Kanye was killed in a car accident. This started on this hoax FOX News website, which then began to reach the twitter world. Feeds on twitter saying "#RIPKANYEWEST".

Amber Rose, Kanye's girlfriend has be denying all these rumors via her Twitter page. She calls this buzz about "not funny" because it is so hurtful to his friends and family, who love him so much.

There are thoughts that Kanye started this rumor, to create more attention for himself. One can read into this as simple Kanye West's pathetic attempt at creating an uproar, so that people can say things like: "I hope he's not dead" and then begin to write positive things about him. So sad. When a supposed rumor of this kind starts on the Internet it is very easy for a public relations firm to snuff it out in an instant by taking to specific media outlets (much like Twitter) to snuff out the lie. Even if he didn't start this, he and his people could have easily put out the flame before it became a fire.

Parental Control

I started a facebook senior year of high school because school was ending and all my friends were going off to schools in different directions. Facebook would allow me to keep in contact with my classmates and creep on how their life is.

My mom was not liking the idea of facebook. She had told me not to get one because their are a lot of crazys out there. She would tell me and my sisters that could possibly get our information and come track us down. But my mom is nuts! like really? Someone would go to all that trouble to find me, because my facebook was not that interesting at that time.

So I never told my mom that i had created a facebook. I would hide the fact that go on to facebook when in the house. So i took some precautions so she would not find out about it such as erasing my Internet Explorer history. Also, it was good to have the house computer hidden in the study room because one would always find my mother cooking something in the kitchen.

I went off to college, making new friends there, which I soon added to my facebook friend list. Then more adults started to go on facebook and create their own profiles. The first one the friend me was my aunt. I was really hesitant to accept her friend request. I thought it be weird because my college life is different from my home life and i was unsure if i wanted to merge the two. After a week with my aunt's request chilling in "friend linbo", i added my aunt on facebook but with a catch. I put her on an unlimited profile.

Then about six months ago my mom got a facebook. I was shocked and i would never have expected it. But she did not try to friend me. I think she understood that i did not want to include my mom on my facebook. But for some reason over the summer, hanging out with my mom, i found out she knew pretty much all about what i have been doing in high school and that the things i had put up on facebook did not offend or make her upset with me. So for the start of this school semester i had accepted my mom as a friend and now i am in a special facebook group just for the girls in my family (sisters, mom and aunt) to keep in contact with each other.

The Search-ability of SNS

The search-ability of these social networking sites is amazing. The fact that you can locate anyone through sites like myspace or facebook is so cool. I actually have an instance where the search-ability through facebook helped me find someone whom i've been looking for. So this may seem a bit creepy and i admit it but it really shows how easy it is to trace someone:

so this happened last year, there was cute boy who was in my finance class but i did not know his name. He seemed like a bro or hung out with that kind of crowd. I told my friends about him, pointed him out when i saw him at lunch but my friends didn't know who he was either. My friends and i went through a very complex path to get his name. First i went on the Catholic University (my college) athletic website. I went through all the bro-ish sports to find him or a friend of his. I recognized one of these dudes he might be friends with. So next i got the name of his friend and searched him on facebook. Luckily,that guy did not have a private profile. SO i searched through ALL of his friends until i recognized the cute guy from his profile picture. So i went through all of that on the internet to get this guys name. I told you it was kinda creepy but through the internet i was able to locate information about this guy.

Does Your Profile Picture REALLY Show Who You Are?

Young students will put anything on their profile sites. Why do they need to make themselves seem "cool" by posting pictures and writing things. When going on facebook, i wonder if some of these users are real or do they try to enhance their profiles because all the kids online are doing it and they are trying to fit in.

Users with over thousands of photos of themselves. Come on! How self-centered can you be! There has to be pictures where you look like a complete hot mess, so i have one word for you, DELETE.

It is so superficial and a bit showy, when you have pictures of yourself, wearing slutty clothes with all your overly make-uped friends, holding beer cans before going to some killer party. COOL. who really cares that you are a big fat slut. Is that how you want to be perceived for the entire internet to see. Wow, you are in college and showing off all the alcohol you drink because it doesn't make you anymore popular.

Random Quizzes on Facebook....really?

ok so after a long day of classes i just want to come back to my room, relax and check facebook. However, facebook keeps changing and making these ridiculous applications and quizzes. I don't want to know about this girl from my high-school's "top 5 things you would want to have if you were stuck in an elevator?" or "what trashy piercing are you?". When did these crazy things start happening on facebook? I put up with bumper stickers fad but that got out of control then just randomly died.

I love facebook. I am on it multiple times a day, mainly to check my wall post and to "creep" on my own friends. When did all these games and applications take over facebook?

I created a blog??

well i don’t know how to start this off.

the only reason i created this blog was for the New Media’s class but who knows if this will start to take over my life (the way facebook and perezhilton does). Oh God! Let’s hope not.