Debate

   While watching the presidential debate on friday then after thinking about who I thought won the debate, I honestly could not come up with an answer.  Though out the whole debate I felt like Obama and McCain each talked more about what each one was going to propose and bashed each other more than answering the actual questions being asked.  Through out the debate the moderator kept mentioning to each candidate to look at the other person and each time it looked like they were just reading off the TelePrompTer.  It was pretty hard for me to actually determine a winner because i felt like the debate was so scripted and that the questions were not being answered.  To me the debate was like the usual debates where all that happens is bashing each other and also proving which one of their points are better and why.  I just wished the canidate's answered the questions and did not just read off their TelePrompTer.

Election coverage

During election day on November 4th I sat back at watched CNN's media coverage of the election.  I noticed that the media coverage was extremely intense and also very informative.  It was not boring to watch at all and actually it was entertaining to sit in front of.  Not only did it grasp your attention because it is about our president but the way they had it set up, they had guest speakers and also they used humor and had images.  I liked how they had on the bottom line the set up of each state and they broke down the demographics of who voted for who and how the votes were processed.  I turned the channel and started watching MTV, there's is more geared towards grasping the youth of americas attention and not really on the older generation.  MTV had guest music and movie stars talking about the election and also they had games in between to gain the viewers attention.  Basically if you want the real up to date political scene then my vote is to stick to CNN.  CNN is no nonsense but also it keeps you interested to watch.  

I think that the media coverage of the election has really gone up and is more of entertainment now than it ever was.  It was usually just someone relaying the news and basically reading off a TelePrompTer but now it is more like a TV show and it is very entertaining.  They showed some reporters in Chicago at a Obama rally and it seemed almost like a party where they could not hear what the reporter was actually saying.  The huge rally seemed extremely energetic and wild.  I really think that CNN provided the best coverage of the election that i watched and i felt like it was very entertaining and kept you on your toes.  It was a good thing that it was not boring because the election is a very important time in American History and everyone should be interested and excited for it.

itunes

itunes in unreal, i think it one of the best inventions ever.  Itunes allows you to access their music library and buy any song, video or game for a low as .99.  They have to be making a killing with money through this because people have been really scared of downloading music illigally after the whole napster thing  happened.  Now people feel safe and think it is a great idea to buy music off itunes because they think it is cheap and also people dont want to go out and buy a whole new album just for two of the songs.  

   Im pretty sure that the record companies are not too happy about this whole internet invention of itunes and also downloading music illigally.  The record companies are losing money and people just don't want to go out and buy a album anymore they would rather buy it on itunes which it is cheaper and can go directly to their ipod or just buy a couple songs off the album.  Although this may take money away from the record companies and the artists I think that it is more benificial to the consumers because now we have the access of all of these songs and movies and such from our computers.  It really is a hassle to go out and buy a single or a album in a store.  Also people like to listen to parts before they buy it and you can do that on itunes easier than you can in a store.  

Ebay

  Ebay is something that started out small and has now taken off to be one of the more popular online shopping websites.  Ebay uses its innvoation of bidding on items and starting a competitive battle for a specific item that you want.  Also they have functions on Ebay which allow you to just buy the product now exactly when you want it.  My first experience with Ebay i bought a blackberry cell phone on it.  When i was bidding for the phone i decided that i would wait until the last minute to put my item number in so that no one could rebuttle.  What i did not know was everyone was thinking the exact same thing as me and i got out bid 3 times in the span of 2 minutes.  I think that is one of the problems that Ebay has, it is annoying and hard to keep up with all of the people bidding on the specific item and also if you really need something you just want it, you dont want to fight for it.  One great thing about Ebay is that you can find pretty much anything on there, from cars to boats to socks.  I feel like everything you want can be on Ebay and if you end up wanting to sell something you can do it easily through Ebay.  

    I remember when people used to be skeptical of ebay because they always thought that they would end up paying and then not getting their item, but ebay administrators have taken percautions and protected people from this ever happening. 

Online Dating

  Online dating sites like eharmony, match.com, and Adult Friend Finder are really revolutionizing the dating scene.  Now you can put in your interests and your personality and then find matches that way instead of going out and maybe wasting your time with trying to find a match and going through several dates and women.  Now you can pick your choice of girls online and you can find a place to meet and hit it off.  I think that these are really good for people who have trouble going out and meeting people, sometimes people struggle just going up to random people and striking up a conversation with them, but in this case you can do it over the internet and you can avoid the aqaurdness and the struggle of finding that someone special.  These specific sites are really changing the dating scene and also the social scene, if i was the owner of a bar or pub i would be a little upset with all of this because now that means that less people are going to be going out to meet and connect so that means i can lose alot of business.  But overall i think that these dating sites are helping alot of people out finding love and finding a person they are compatible with, it is not an easy thing to find people that you can get along with and share the same interests and likes and dislikes.     

Facebook

I think that Facebook has completely revolutionized the way high school and college students can communicate.  Not only now do we have cell phones for text messaging, now we have facebook where we can poke, write on peoples walls, message and send different types of gift.  I think that facebook is a real good way for college students to communicate and for them to make connections with others.  I know speaking just for myself i have met several different people and have made real good connections with others on it and it just like a social networking site.  I also think facebook is changing the way that we use technology, instead of going out to a bar or something to meet people we can stay on facebook and meet people through its social networking way.  It is contributing to our lazy society of not wanting to go out and meet people or go out and do anything, people would rather just stay inside and sit on their computer and communicate that way.

The apple store

I think that the apple store is something that is fascinating when you first walk into it and is different than every other store.  The first time i walked into one before i bought my computer it was really a different experience.  Everything is laid out so nice and in perfect order.  Also the help was right there at the door to assist you with everything you need.  The apple store was the only store in the whole mall that had a line to get into it.  This shows our societies needs and wants on new technology that the apple store provides.  Each individual item that they had for sale was set up perfectly and was operating great.  It was hooked up and had basically every application you could possibly think of on it.  What i found the most intriguing was that the prices were so expensive and steep for just a case for a mac computer it was $40.  It seemed also that no one was phased with these step prices, i heard one lady saying to her husband that a mac computer was only $2,000 and her response was. "well yeah its a mac!"  I found this insane, basically we are paying so much because its a mac!, thats crazy, but then again people in our society need the best and want the best out there and i guess that apple products are right now the best.

My Media Habits

My media habits are like the normal for college students. I love watching tv, using my ipod and also using my laptop. I love watching TV i think that it is the most media i use. I usually cannot go a day without watching tv. Also i think my computer is something i cannot live without. I can live without my ipod though. My view on the media is that it helps get information out faster than ever. People also think that the media misconstrues situations for their benifit but i also think that it is their job to do that in order to grasp peoples attention. The media nowadays helps people find information and use information fast and in a appropirate manner. I understand the term media is anything or person that portrays information and provides it to the community. If we did not have media it would be impossible to gain new information and to spread information to our society. 

 I also think that media is growing so fast that you really have no choice to use it and use it well or else you will be left behind.  I think that the new things that the media presents to us is significant and we need to embrace it in order to get ahead in our society.  Not saying that media is a bad thing its just that it is growing real fast and especially our younger generation has no choice but to use all of its tools.

Millennial Makeover #2

I do agree with the book Millennial Makeovers ideas on my generation and i think that if i were to give our generation a name it would be the Technological Generation.  I feel that our generation is so involved and so dependent on technology that if we did not have it, we may end up being lost.  Many of the things we take for granted are because of the technology we have and that it what gets us by.  I think that the cultural touchstones that are the most useful in understanding our generation would be computers/internet and the TV.  The internet is something that our generation constantly uses to communicate and gather information, i think that it is something that defines our generation.

user generated ad

Cult of the Amateur #2

 I think that i am happy with the proportion and i think that the balance is something that could be fixed but i do not know if it will ever be fixed.  I do think you may be able to combine passion with a career because then that means that you care and it means you will dedicate your all to that specific job.  But you have to be careful with passion because sometimes it can get out of control and you can not think rationally.  

I think that I found the book more convincing that Lessig's arguments.  To me i hate listening to critics and try and hear them out because their motivation is so negative and it is hard to hear them out when they are so one sided.  I think Lessigs counterpoints are valid and he had back up but i also thought they were too biased and too one sided to really convince me he had a good argument.  I really wish there was more of an unbiased opinion.  

Online Banking

I personally think that online banking has been one of the best inventions and innovations that has been around in a while.  Instead of waiting for the bills in the mail and then sending your checks back to the bank for them to only get lost in the mail and returned, all you have to do is manage your account from home and then paying is just one click away.  My mother always used to say that the old fashioned way of banking used to be the biggest pain because you really have no idea of your account balance unless you visited the actual bank.  I think that this is a result of how far the internet and our society has actually come.  People now take online banking and these types of stupid little online gimmicks for granted, but in actuality they really are something that are handy and help people out more than you think.  It is really a time saver and also you can now have more time to try and make money that can go into the account!  This makes me think of how far the internet will actually come and what will be next.  It also makes me wonder if i would want my money and my personal information to be out on the internet for everyone.  Guess it is something that we will have to risk in order to have our lives made easier by this specific tool provided from the internet.