Not goodbye, just see you later...

Wednesday, November 28/ 2007, today is officially the last day of class but not the last time I choose to see Mark and hopefully Ian as well. When Mark announced that there was a final exam I felt as if my heart literally stopped, I felt unprepared for what Mark was "scheming". I must admit that I found it interesting as well as thoughtful for Mark to asked our to mark the class itself and the process of the course, knowing that Mark and Ian will take what we have to say into consideration shows a sense of respect for me and the other students.
When I was forced to give myself a mark for this course I truly believed that I deserved and wanted a 70%; I must admit that I am not the best writers in the classroom but I know that the effort that I put into my blog shows more about the person that I am than the writer in me. During the past three months I feel as if I grown as a writer as well as a person who is excited with the field media.
Remembering back to when I first enter this course I was afraid of the professor and course load but after meeting Mark and allowing him to show me the world of media through his eyes; it gives me a sense of courage.
I know this is the end of AHSS 1060 - Mass Communication, but I hope it is not the end of my journey of knowledge in the next four years.
I am sad to end this course but ready for the future.




Constant Bannister, "Baby Frowining", Jupiter Images "http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/85/17/23211785.jpg" Nov 2007

THE END?

IS THIS THE END? OR IS IT JUST THE BEGINNING?

Even though this course is coming to an end but my aspiration for the world of media is just beginning. For the past 3 months I have been blogging about my readings, class discussion, group project and self reflection, even though it has been a pain expressing my opinion and thought into words that is being marked; I found it different.
I may not know where my place in the world of media would be in the next 4 years, but what I am most certain is that I wish during my process I would become a stronger writer as well as an intellectual being that would succeed in the future. This class has not only been an opportunity for knowledge but as well as a chance for me to find an opinion.

Completely blank...

During class Mark made a comment on "the world waits for no one", when hearing that I was completely blank I did not know what to think about what was just being said or was it that I was thinking too much that I did not know what to make of it.
I realized that I have four years of university to make the best of my knowledge in my future career, what I learn and take from the lesson taught to me is what will make me different from my competitors. Thinking that in four years I would be graduating and starting a new adventure in my life, I hope that I will make the best of my four years and that I do not waste my parents effort and faith in me.
Where do I see myself in 4 years? hopefully I would be graduated by that time and starting my life career as a Public Relations representative for the marketing industry or media communication field. The reason as to why I choose media as a field is because I enjoy human interaction and pleasing my clients; I enjoy inventing new ideas to improve my product/client. I remember watching the show "Sex and the City" and "The Hills" I was so fascinated by the lifestyle that these PR girls lived, maybe thats part of the reason why I became so interested in the world of media.
Even though I know what I want from my future, I am still terrified if I could achieve this goal. I keep asking myself "what if I don't make it?" What if no matter how hard I work for my future it may not be enough to succeed. I feel completely blank, completely terrified of my future.

Sex in the Classroom...

Today Mark shocked the class with his comment "I enjoy sex" I was quite drawn back by this comment, even though some people would find it uncomfortable as well as inappropriate for a authority figure to speak of the topic; I found it to be honest. Sex could be a controversial issue among the class but also a interesting topic, the reason as to why I payed such close attention to his opinion and advice as a professor as well as our "friend" is because he is not afraid of who he is and how he lives his life.
I notice that sex and aids was a sensitive issue for Mark because one of his friend had died from the disease, none the less I found it courageous of him to be able to approach the issue with such a mature manner.
- EVEN THOUGH I KNOW THAT YOU ARE READING THIS I MUST SAY:
That I applaud the person that you are and the faith you have in your students because unlike most teachers/professors you show that you care about what we learn and the lesson we take from each and every one of our elders. Seeing and experiencing your work ethics, gives me an little insight on the person that you are; Mark, you are not all about the money you are about influencing someone, anyone.

Media Manifestos

When reading the interview with Regis Debray I was confused with what he was trying to prove; probably because the text on the website was not formatted professionally. The only quote being said by Debray was "The mysterious fact that certain signs, certain words and images, get transformed into acts". A response to the question "What does Mediology really stand for?"
The quote brought me back to what I read in the Semotic for Beginners, that we all grow up learning the key guidelines to life. When I think about the word "dog" I instantly imagine a puppy in front of my face. Basically I did not quite understand the interview with Debray or what he was trying to explain to the audience.

Moment of truth...

I was thinking back to what Mark asked the class during one of our class lecture, the question was if we have ever had a "light bulb" moment; a moment of truth. While doing the activist project on abortion I was faced with my "light bulb" moment.
I asked myself what would happen if I was to get pregnant at this point in my life, how would the reality and decision effect me? I really don't know how to answer such a complex but simple question, maybe it's because it has never happen to me so I do not know how i would react to the situation. Thinking about getting pregnant is so surreal for me, I do not know whether our not I could force myself to get an abortion because I could not possibly think of murdering my own child. Or am I thinking to much?
The idea of pregnancy and abortion forces me to think about my action as a mature adult, what I do today can affect the outcome of my entire future. I need to stop and think: is enjoying the moment worth sacrificing the future?

Privilege lifestyle

During class today Mark stated that he considers the privilege the ones who are given the opportunity of education; do I agree? yes. Being given the opportunity for education is being given the chance of a future of success. I remember my family vacation to Vietnam a couple of years back, I came across this 16 year old girl with her mother and younger sister living on the street of Vietnam begging for money, money for dinner. They were living life day by day, uncertain of what the future could hold for them; knowing that they would go to bed hungry one night was devastating.
Now that I think about what Mark had said, it makes me think back to what the future has in store for the 16 year-old girl, because of he lack of education it could ruin her chances of any future and happiness. She would live life only in fear of the "tomorrow", thinking about my privilege future it forces me to take a hard look at what I have in my life that most people hope for.
I am thankful that I am fortunate that my future is filled with options while the unprivileged is faced with what they can get.

Juicy Couture "Display", "http://farm1.static.flickr.com/165/358844147_30c009626e.jpg" 18 Nov 2007

We're Done...

I am finally done all of the assigned group task and I feel relieved because I felt extremely stressful during the process of the group work. I believe that I work hard on completing the projects as well as working with my two group members even though it was not always easy. I feel as if one of my group member believed that she did all the work while the rest of us sat around and put no effort into the process or final product. As a group we expected that each outcome of the group task to be fascinating as well as memorable for Mark, but with great expectation comes big disappointments.
In the end, as a group we were forced to result to other options on how to go about our ideas. In my opinion, one of our biggest weakness as a group was our lack of communication, we did not work hard on "really" listening to each other's ideas and input on the outcome of the final product and because of this we failed to achieve what we wanted.

Something Borrowed...

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH! Something Borrowed is considered to be one of my favorite book that I have read this summer. Reading the introduction made me fall in love with the idea of the book itself. Something Borrowed is a book about a plain 'Jane' who falls in love with her best friend's fiancée, and she is torn between continuing their relationship or saving her friendship.
When reading this book, I started to think about that narrator Rachel (plain Jane), how difficult it must have been for her to want something so bad but know that you can't have it. I started to think, would I be willing to risk everything I have for love? How far would I be willing to go to find the feeling of completion? Is being in love and being loved so necessary? I ask myself these questions but I can't seem to find a consistent answer.

I tend to find books that genre are romance or mystery probably because I am a hopeless romantic and I enjoy reading about love stories.

“Something Borrowed.” Books a Million. 20 Nov. 2007 http://www.booksamillion.com/bam/covers/0/31/232/119/0312321198.jpg.

Semiotic Analysis - Levi Jeans

LEVI JEANS: FOR THE REAL YOU

For my semiotic analysis i wanted to choose a commercial that involves some sort of controversy also that is banned from being seen; by choosing the Levi jean commercial i would be able to focus on what most interest me. After going through many clothing merchandise commercial I came across the Levi Jeans: Jeans Fit For The Real You, I thought that the commercial provided many hidden signs that could from a great semiotic analysis report, while other commercials were too dull and simple.
The media has become a dexterous manipulation that holds several hidden messages. It could work in mysterious ways that are unknown to the average viewers because we are unaware of the work behind each decision. Once the individual begins to take notice of the hidden signs behind each choice of angel, character, color and theme that the ignorant becomes the educated. It is when we stop looking at the commercial as just a simple commercial and start to look beyond the manipulation of the mastermind’s objective then it suddenly will become clear of the real message.
The Levi’s jeans commercial is one of the many commercials that hold several messages. This commercial consist of all the issues facing today’s society; men vs. women, white vs. black, the modern vs. the traditional and the able vs. the disabled. Within the commercial Levi’s tried to demonstrate how the world is constantly being divided by class and race, gender and ability through their button-fly jeans commercial.


Levi Jeans, "Tree Hugger" Nov 19, 2007
http://i.treehugger.com/files/th_images/levis-organic-jeans.jpg

Adjusting...

I always knew that University and high school were always different but I never knew how different it could be. I'm starting to adjust to the university lifestyle, forcing myself to concentrate and not let other distraction interfere with my studies. I've been use to the same routine of waking up every morning at 9 and going home at 4, boy; have things change. I must admit that I am scared of failing university mainly because I do not want to disappointed my parents and all of their hard work. Unlike high school I am committed to my note taking and trying to understand my lectures because I want to be successful in my future. For the next four years, my goal to success is concentration and commitment to my classes and professors.

Pro Choice or Pro Life

ABORTION IT'S YOUR CHOICE TO MAKE: MY BODY, MY CHOICE

For our activist project and film production, my group members and I came to the decision that we wanted to raise awareness on abortion through the production of a 5 minute film.

Our goal for this activist project was based on hard known facts as well as opinion of our interviewers; we wanted our audiences to be aware of abortion and the option available to them. Our activist project was decided to be broadcast through youtube so that not only Guelph-Humber students are aware of our activist project but as well as worldwide internet users. Instead of making a presentation in front of the class or setting up a table in the front lobby of Guelph- Humber like our fellow classmate.

I feel that Abortion is an extremely important issue that should be discussed mainly because many people are sexually active and may or may not be using the right form of protection. These people are being provided with myths rather than compare to hard known facts. In all truth, I admit that I am sexually active with my boyfriend of 2 and half years and there are times where I do not use any protection. Even though I am aware that I could possibly get pregnant as well as receive something from my boyfriend, even though I am aware of this fact somehow it does not affect my decision (stupid, I know).
The reason as to why I am not terrified of getting pregnant is because I was given certain 'myths' about pregnancy prevention from my friends who are also sexually active, myths such as:

• sex during my period, my eggs are being pushed out
  
• sex in the water, gravity.
  
• use of condoms will block out all sperms
• as long as the guy pulls it (penis) out before he needs to bus.

I am not the only person who are unaware of the facts and dangers of unprotected sex that could lead to pregnancy which would forced any individual to choose between abortion or caring for a baby for the rest of their life. The reason why my group decided to choose abortion as our activist project than safe sex is because safe sex is a typical topic where most individuals are aware of what safe sex is all about through their sex education courses. While abortion is a sensitive topic for most individuals and are not allowed to be discussed in school; our film will allow our audience to have an insight on their fellow peers opinion on abortion as well as giving reliable statistics on abortion.
I consider myself to be 'pro-choice' mainly because I believe that it is a women's body so it should really come down to her choice and that no one has the right to protest to her decision. I believe that being pro-choice is not murder but instead its another chance. In my opinion, if I were to get pregnant right now at this point in my life, I would most definitely considered having the baby and picturing myself as a mother at my age, but when it comes down to it I will resort to abortion, mainly because I know that I am financially, mentally and physically not ready to have a child of my own and that I would hate myself everyday if I were to have the baby and unable to provide a stable home for "my" child. I believe that having a baby, when an individual is not ready for one is considered to be murder; because the child will grow up feeling empty and alone, questioning why was they born.
As a group we worked together to find facts on abortion as well as the myths on abortion; as individuals, Devon suggested that she would do the editing of the film because of her knowledge in editing while Susan and myself suggested that we would be in charge of interviewing females and male participant. Our questions to them we fairly simple: Are you pro-choice or pro-life and why?
One of my main concern when interviewing people was the similar answers being provided to us; "I am not mentally or financially stable to care for a baby" or "abortion is murder" I found it difficult when people did not allow themselves to go in depth with their answers. One of our biggest concern with this project was my team members and myself, because Susan, Devon and myself are different people, our work ethics and ideas are also different which has caused problems and differences of opinion.
Overall, with this activist and film production project I believed that as a group we all worked hard on getting our issue across and our participation were also equal; no one did more work and no one did less work. Even though there were many issues that we had with one another, which I do not find appropriate to discuss, there were times where I felt verbally attacked by a certain group member that forced me to decide to take myself out of the group and project. In the end I believed that there will be many disagreements with my future coworkers where I will force myself to deal with and work with it.

Intervention of the Wheel

EVOLUTION OF TECHNOLOGY:
TRANSPORTATION

With the 20th century there have been many invention and intervention that has contributed to the evolution of our developing society that we have learned to adapt with. In my opinion, the two main intervention of technology are communication as well as transportation. The invention of communication was the development of the alphabet during the 3500 to 2900 BC where the Sumerians developed the cuneiform writing which are pictographs of accounts written on clay tablets; the beginning of many future intervention of communication such as cellphones, typewriters, computers, newspapers, telephone etc.
My group and I decided to focus our topic on transportation, where we came across the four main invention of transportation: the wheel, steam engine, cars and airplanes. I believe that the intervention of technology of transportation has shaped the global village we have today. In my opinion, the steam engine's importance has helped our society to travel across the continent, people using boats/ships find the steam engine a luxury as well as a needed resort to shipping items from country to country, while the Ford's Model T has an effect on the intervention of many other cars such as jeeps, trucks, limos etc.

As a group Devon, Susan and myself decided to meet up to discuss the options of ideas that we could choose from; as a group it was difficult to decide which evolution of technology we could focus on. It came down to two option; the evolution of the camera or the evolution of transportation. As a result, we decided to choose the evolution of transportation where Devon suggest to design the image of the four main creation of transportation while Susan and myself were in charge of the research.

WORK CITED:
(1) Bakker, Eric. "Authentic Nautical Antiques and Collectibles." Antiques of the Sea. 2007. 22 Nov. 2007 .
(2) Bellis, Mary. "Henry Ford (1863-1947)." About.Com:Inventors. Nov. 2007 .
(3) Bellis, Mary. "The History of Railroad Innovations." About.Com:Inventors. Nov. 2007 .
(4) BlogCadre. 2007. 22 Nov. 2007 .
(5)"History of the Airplane." Wright Brothers Aeroplane Co. Aug. 2006. Nov. 2007 .
(6)Introduction to Geology & Soil Mechanics. 2007. Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin. 22 Nov. 2007 .
(7)Muscle Car Club. 2007. 22 Nov. 2007 .
(8)Spence, Steve. Green Trust Sustainability & Renewable Energy. 2007. 22 Nov. 2007 .
(9)"Wheel." The Great Idea Finder. Mar. 2005. Nov. 2007 .

Media Hegemony Via Com

Susan, Devon and myself decided to choose ViaCom as our media hegemony; Viacom (Video & Audio Communications), is an American corporation with various worldwide networks in cable and satellite television networks and movie production and distribution.

When I came across the networks that was owned by Viacom, I was shocked to find that one of my favorite network, MTV, was owned by Viacom which was created on August 1st, 1981. In my opinion, I believe that MTV is one of the most popular network on television mainly because most of the shows that are being aired are considered to be reality shows. Examples of my favorite shows are; A shot at love with Tila Tequila, Cribs, The Real World, The Hills, Lauguna Beach, My Super Sweet Sixteen, Next, Room Raiders etc are only the few of many networks of Viacom.

I was also surprised to find that BET and Nickelodeon was owned by Viacom as well. Nickelodeon which was my childhood television station was also my form of education, shows such as Rugrats and Hey Arnold, were the two main shows that taught me to be a better person. BET (Black Entertainment Television) which I considered to be the most watched "black" show in Canada, mainly because everything and anything that is being broadcast by BET is related to the African community.

Viacom main division of assets:

• Film Production and Distribution:Viacom International, Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks, Republic Pictures, MTV Films, Nickelodeon Movies, Go Fish Pictures.
• Television Networks:Comedy Central, Logo, BET, Spike, TV Land, Nick at Nite, Nickelodeon, Noggin, The N, Nick Jr. TEENick, MTV, VH1, MTV2, CMT, MHD.
• Television Production and Television Distribution: DreamWorks Television
• Video Gaming: Xfire, Harmonix, GameTrailers, Neopets.
• Internet Sites: Screwattack.

During this process as a group member my participation in this collaborative process was the design of the ViaCom image provided; as well as working with my two group members to find research on which networks are owned by Viacom.

WORK CITED:

1) Viacom, "Wikipedia", Nov 15 2007

"Stupidity" Documentary Film

Stupidity takes an in depth look at the senselessness present in our society today. The documentary analyzes the “dumbing down process”, which is the result of useless material being produced to the public, and its effect on our intellect. Furthermore, the movie examines the unintelligent messages being communicated to us by depreciating mainstream media outlets. The visually stimulating clips illustrate the aftermath of a society, which has been bombarded with pointless information. From interviews with political figures like President Bush to movie stars like Salma Hayek, the film makes examples out of these people and demonstrates the stupidity present in our world. Its agenda is to convince the audience that due to technological advancements information is immediate and at our disposal however, the quality of information has decayed. Expert advice about the issue, from individuals like Noam Chomsky, helps to reinstate the movies arguments and give validation to its approach.

Neil Postman’s, Amusing Ourselves to Death, explains this trend in an educating way. The definition of 'being informed' has shifted and as a result we are being fed disinformation. Disinformation is unnecessary and immaterial; it appears to have signification but in reality hinders it. Rather than being rich with pragmatic substance, our contemporate communication industry lacks the capability of delivering knowledgeable facts.


Stupidity, "Amazon" Stupidity DVD, Nov 10

Love is a Rule ...

What is love?

Today Mark said something that caught my attention, he said "love is a rule, you follow certain rules to know if your in love which is created by your family values, voice of the people who raised you".
My parents have been together for 25 years, and I know they have problems every so often I would hear them arguing about money, dinner, friends and even sometimes the silly things that just are so ridiculous. No matter how often they disagree with one another I can see that they are still happily consent with each other; I believe that their love for one another will last a life time (is that corny?) I was 9 years-old when my mother was diagnose with cancer, it tore my family apart and for the next 5 years, my family lived in fear that we would wake up one morning and my mother wouldn't be alive. I was forced to grow up and deal with the harsh reality that life sometimes can be a bitch; it was so painful seeing her go through all the treatments and the loss of her hair, sometimes it was so surreal that I wished that I was the one who had cancer.
What was more painful than seeing my mother getting weaker by the day was to see my father crying almost every night. The next 5 birthdays that I had, my wish to god was simple; "please let my mommy live", I guess God granted my wishes because when I turned 15 I found out that my mother won over her cancer.
The way I see love is what I see in my parents; a marriage that is simple but happy. When I think about my future and marriage I envision the living husband, 3 kids and a happy home to call my own. I honestly do not want the luxious lifestyle that would be feel with expectations and greed, that is not how my parents raised me to be.

Toxic Sludge Is Good For You

When reading the summary of "Toxic Sludge is Good for You" I became extremely interested in what the book was all about. Toxic Sludge basically is a book that explains the world of media and how easy it is to manipulate the public into believe what they want us to believe. The reason why I am intrigued by Toxic Sludge is it gives me an insight of what my future career is all about. The book is filled with case studies where the Public Relations industries has twist the truth to sell their product/client. Going in to the PR industry I find myself terrified of who I could become and what lengths I would go to just to succeed and impress my clients.
Reading the first given example in the book was the 1929 campaign to get women to smoke during the Easter Parade in New York. Lucky Strikes, which were considered the "it" brand for the women of the 1920's. The PR industry made the public to believe that "Lucky Strikes" was worth the publics' money. When reading this case I thought that the approach to selling their product was deceitful.
Though I do not agree with the work ethics of the PR world, I must admit that if people are ignorant enough to allow the media to choose their lifestyle rather than influence their decision than the PR industry should not take any responsibilities in the end results.
Even though Toxic Sludge has given me an insight of the world of PR , I hope that my work ethics would not change. I strongly believe that I will not push anyone to the limit just to sell my product.



Stauber, John, and Sheldon Rampton. Toxic Sludge is Good for You. 1st ed. Canada: Common Courage P, 1995. 1-227.

Advantages and Limitations

Oct/ 27

“Audiences are not blank sheets of paper on which media messages can be written; members of an audience will have prior attitudes and beliefs which will determine how effective media messages are.” (Hanes)

This quote from Hanes brings me back to the lecture where the media vs. culture was raised, and during the lecture I agreed with the "mutual influence" I believe that as a culture we expect what we believe is acceptable, and as the media they provide what they believe is desired.
Thinking about my purchasing habit I came the the realization that most of my desired needs are similar to many other girls my age; as a puppet in the world of media I am influenced to watch the similar "drama" shows as well as wear the same kind of clothes "Aritizia, Coach, Juciy etc" like my fellow peers I also become interested in the same magazines "InTouch, People, InStyle". I am those typical girls who are so interested in the world of celebrities; a world that should not affect me. As a start to think about the world of media, I think that the reason as to why these "media" is so popular is only because we allow them to become our needs and wants.



Hanes, Philip J. "The Advantages and Limitations of a Focus on Audience in Media Studies." Aberystwyth University. Apr. 2000. 27 Oct. 2007 .

Toronto School of Communication

Oct/20

"We are living at a time of revolutionary change in communications and information technology." (Gibson)

We started with images to communicate with one another and as our society developed so did our ways of communication, I strongly agree with Marshall McLuhan theory on the three basic technological innovation: the alphabet, movable type, and electric media. These innovation were the first of the many future innovation of communication such as radio, telephone, internet, e-mail, fax and computers.
I could not imagine a world without technological communication with one another, as a society we were use to writing letters to one another or having more human contact as a way of communication, but when the internet was invented we became dependent on the internet, believing that everything could be done with a touch of a click.
I do believe that we are living in the time of revolutionary change in communication, we are becoming more dependent on the world of technology so as a result of this we are forced to invent new forms of way of communication with one another. For example; we use to use the telephone to talk, then we use the cellphone to communicate while in public, now we are using the internet to communicate with one another through the keyboard and now we have the option of video camera through the internet or internet through our cellphone.
We considered the three basic of technological innovation to be history, while the future could consider the internet to be history.
Can we still improve our ways of communication? or is this the end?



Twyla Gibson, "Toronto School of Communication" 2000 "http://www.utoronto.ca/mcluhan/tsc_mcluhan_basic_innovations.htm" 20 October 2007

Cultural Jamming

Oct /15

"Everywhere the fabricated, the inauthentic and the theatrical have gradually driven out the natural, the genuine and the spontaneous until there is no distinction between real life and stagecraft." When reading this article, this quote mainly stood out to me because I strongly believe that it is in fact true.
Is what we see in the news reliable? are realty shows, truthful? or is everything that is seen by the eye being fabricated to pull in more audiences? I started to think about the news and what I see and read about the feature story in the news, the story may be truthful but it could also be exaggerated.
I was watching the news as well as the realty show "The Hills" today and I forced myself to listen and look carefully at what is being provided. I believe that the media presents what they assume would be more appealing to the audience. No one wants to hear that an teenage boy died, instead as readers/ watchers we find it more intriguing if the boy could of been in a gang and had a trouble family.
This bring me back to thinking of the quote I heard from my friend: "don't trust what you see because you did not see what was done before u open your eyes, don't believe what you hear because you do not know what was said after you left" (something like that)
We can't trust because we don't know


Dery, Mark. "Culture Jammin: Hacking, Slashing and Sniping in the Empire of Signs." The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium. 2 Nov. 2007 .

PodCasting in Chinatown

Nov 7th

This group task with Susan and Devon on Podcasting China, I wanted to do a comparison with Chinatown and Vaughan; basically I will focus on how the two places differ from one another with atmosphere, people and the many establishments.
In my opinion, Chinatown is known to be the lower class of Toronto a place where everyone is always moving and changing; the "New York" life. Chinatown is a place where the rules are bent and the lifestyle is luxurious. While Vaughan is the upper class of Toronto as well as where the ‘American Dream’ lies for many people. It is the place where many of the working strive to achieve when they want a family of their own; it is the lifestyle where our children can play on the street and we do not fear for the worst. Vaughan is considered to be clean and secure for many people including my family.

We started off by using the subway from Yorkdale mall to Spadina station; even though I am an Asian girl going to an Asian area I still felt out of place when I arrived there. The subway ride was extremely quite; people were either listening to their music, reading, sleeping or just to themselves which made me feel uncomfortable to speak or move; the people appear to be tired and restless.

Goldstone Noodle restaurant could make many individuals feel as if they were in China; mainly because most of the employees were Chinese speaking individuals and could not speak English well. Before entering into the restaurant many people would be shocked with the design of Goldstone, because it is all windows and anyone and everyone could see in and out of the restaurant. A reason as to why Goldstone is different and unique than other restaurant is because they display their meat product in the window in eyes view; by doing this, it has allow any walking pedestrian to see the freshness and attractiveness of the restaurant. In my opinion, there are no Canadian or American restaurant that would ever display their food menu; because many consumers find it disturbing. By allowing costumers to see what and how their meal is being cook, I believe gives the costumer a sense of security that their food is being cooked right.

Dragon City Mall is another reason why I believe that Vaughan is different from Chinatown; Dragon City is a 3 level mall with at least 20 stores available to the public. while an average mall such as Vaughan Mills is a 1 level mall with at least 100 stores. The stores in Dragon City, appears to be empty and dull, as if they do not make much income; one of the main reason as to why dragon city is different from Vaughan mills is because the shops in dragon city, you are able to bargain for your desired item, while in Vaughan mills the set price is stay the same and there is no negotiation with the value of the item.

With this Podcasting project in Chinatown, it has forced me to take a closer look at the differences in lifestyle due to our surroundings. The people and atmosphere we choose to live with could some how represent the kind of person we are; I believe that the lifestyle of the Vaughan community is the future that we all want to achieve while Chinatown is the life that many people find intriguing but too fast.

During this process my part in the podcasting was filming mainly as well as editing the script with Susan while Devon was in charge of editing the video itself, unfortunately Devon did not come through with the audio podcasting.

SCRIPT

ON THE BUS:
Susan: We’re at spadina stations right now and waiting for the bus to Chinatown.
Lisa: I feel claustrophobic
Susan: Because there’s a lot of people in line waiting for the bus, to go home.

IN CHINATOWN:
Lisa: We just got to Chinatown
Susan: we’re really hungry so we’re going to find a restaurant. Now we’re walking down…
Lisa: Spadina
Lisa: Now we’re going to a restaurant called…
Susan: Today is not as crowded because it’s a weekday try coming here on a Sunday.
Lisa: It smells so bad!
Lisa: We just arrived to our restaurant called Goldenstone, It’s surrounded by windows so that you could sort of see inside of the restaurant and you could see how they are cooking your food.
Susan: There is pork, duck, chicken displaying in the windows front.
Susan: Here we are.

IN THE GOLDSTONE:
Lisa: Now we’re going to wash the chopsticks just incase its dirty
*chopsticks being washed
Devon: What are you washing it in?
Susan: hot tea
Lisa: Just incase, because it may not be as clean as we want it to be
Devon: Is that why they give you the tea?
Lisa: No
Susan: So heres the menu, the good thing is that there are pictures as well.

*Susan is speaking to the Chinese waitress
Susan orders rice noodle roll with shrimp and seafood chow mein
Lisa orders wonton noodles with chicken and rice noodle roll with shrimp
Chinese waitress repeats our orders back in Chinese to us.
Susan confirms the order being said is correct.

Lisa: This is devon trying to work with chopsticks, we’re teaching her how to do it.
Susan: This is her first wonton.
Lisa: wonton is basically a thin layer of flour wrapped around shrimp, chives and sometimes mushrooms.
Devon: It works more when I stab it.
Susan: Mind as well drink it from the bowl.
Lisa: So how does it taste?
*Devon nodds

Lisa: We just received our wonton noodles. Steam rice rolls and chow mein with vegetables, and scallop (I think)
Devon: which I wouldn’t be trying.
Lisa: its looks good and worth it.
Lisa: rice noodles is usually dipped with soy sauce, to add a little flavor to it. Lisa: Devon apparently knows how to use chopsticks
Lisa: Basically the environment of Goldenstone restaurant is too yourself, you eat your own thing and you don’t bother with other people.
Devon: its nice though
Lisa: its not loud, people kind of respect eachother. They just have their own space when their here.
Susan: What I like about it, they always bug you and ask if you need any help.
Lisa: Its very different
Lisa: Its different from a Chinese restuarurant compare to a American restaurant. Chinese people have a little more taste than American restuarnat.

OUTSIDE THE RESTURANT
Devon: You could see all the chicken in the window.
Susan: Okkay we just left the Goldstone noodle restaurant.
Susan: There’s roasted chicken with their heads, beaks and eyes, and I guess to some Asians its really good to them.
Lisa: Usually Chinese people can view what they want to order, to see if the meat is fresh or not by looking at it.
Devon: people who don’t go to Chinatown would find it a little freaky.
Susan: the head is still on.
Lisa: That’s the difference between Chinatown and uptown.

WALKING:
Susan: We’re walking to spadina and dundas.
Lisa: as you can see we’re actually outside right now and we’re walking towards Dragon City.
Lisa: Its really cold and a bit windy.
Lisa: Let’s see what happens when we’re in dragon city

INFRONT OF DRAGON CITY:
Susan: Now we’re in dragon city, the centre of Chinatown
Devon: There’s a restaurant ontop but we’re not going to because apparently its very expensive. You could already see how different it is;
Susan: So we just odered asian style walffles. These are $5.
Devon: Its really hot. mmmMmM!

Lisa: in you will notice there is like a waterfall as we enter dragon city, and now we’re going to go up the stairs to see more of the stores available to us, gifts shops and clothes and stuff like that.
Lisa: They sell dvds for a very cheap price. Why go to a theather when you can come to Chinatown
Susan: The store doesn’t sell one specific thing they sell everything, from sunglasses to clocks.

*Radio – Chinese language
Lisa: as you can hear we are in a Chinese gift shop right now, and there are a lot of Chinese speaking radios on.
*Chinese women talks to us in Chinese

IN A RETAIL STORE:
Susan: We’re loving the asian style
*susan finds herself a nice pair of Miss Sixty Jeans.
Susan: For half price.
Lisa: actually this mall is very small, theres not much variety of stuff.

Lisa: This is flower slash accessories kind of thing.
Lisa: It doesn’t have a name it only has a Chinese title. There is roses, glasses and medallions, stuff like that. It’s really nice
Lisa: It looks very bright in there to an average person.
Lisa: Because we’re in Chinese mall there is a lot of different product with Japanese and Chinese writing
Lisa: Chinese which is also in Cantonese and mandrian
*Chinese speaking men
Devon: it’s really nice.
*Chinese men speaking about prices of gum
Lisa: that was a Chinese man speaking which we do not understand at all.

IN ACCESSORIES STORE:
Lisa: There so much jewelry, so much variety of jewllery.
Lisa: There a great thing about Chinese mall is that you can buy one thing and get one free.

LEAVING DRAGON CITY:
Lisa: now we’re leaving Chinatown; bye Chinatown
Susan: we’re gonna hop on the bus now and go back to Spadina station, we had a nice evening so we’ll be back sometime soon.

END OF PODCAST .

Group Task - Discussion

Oct /17

Today I met up with my two group members, Susan and Devon. We decided to do the 6 group task together and help one another out with our different ideas rather than doing it alone. After our meeting today we came to the conclusion on our idea of what each group task is all about.

1. Podcasting: Chinatown, Downtown Toronto
- with this task we decided to go downtown to Chinatown after class one day and start to film the main attraction of Chinatown, basically the recommended restaurant, gift shops, mall and places to go and not to go. Our reason for filming Chinatown is because Chinatown is a well known tourist attraction of Toronto mainly because its right next to downtown Toronto. We wanted to capture the atmosphere of life, how it differs from Vaughan and other areas of Ontario.

2. Documentary Film: Stupidity
- In the beginning, as a group we wanted to bring three documentary film of our own and decide which documentary film we could relate more to the media; Stupidity, Super size me, Jesus Camp. All three documentary film I believe could be related to the world of media.

3. Media Ownership: Via Com
- Viacom is the chosen corporation that my group decided to focus on when doing our media ownership, unlike Disney and Time Warner, Viacom is smaller corporation that does not own much broadcast or print media.

4. Timeliness of Media History: The Wheel vs. Camera
- As a group we found it difficult to choose a certain theme for the timeliness of media history; one member wanted to focus on the evolution of camera which opened the doors to future innovations and invention of cameras being used today. While another member wanted to focus on a more broad theme of the wheel; cars, airplanes, ships, train, steam engine; which as a result created a pathway for transportation of the future.

5. Activist Project: Pro-Choice vs. Pro Life - Abortion awareness
- In the beginning we wanted to raise awareness for SickKids Hospital we wanted to allow students of Guelph-Humber to be able to know that volunteering at SickKids Hospital does make a difference. We wanted to inform student of the work that is being done when we volunteer there. As a group we wanted to film ourselves volunteering at SickKids to allow students to know that there are sick children in the hospital with mothers, brothers, sisters, fathers and friends just like all of us. We wanted to be able to make the students feel as if that they aren't helping a stranger in need but a child in need of love.
In conclusion we decided to do our activist project on Abortion, our main goal is to only raise awareness on the option of abortion and other options available to prevent pregnancy. We are not trying to force students to believe what we believe in; but rather let them be aware of the options available to them.

6. Film Production: Interview students of Guelph- Humber on Abortion
- In the beginning we wanted to focus the film production on Sick Kids Hospitals but after trying to contact the public affairs of Sick Kids we realize that we would have to go through many legal issues and we wouldn't be able to get our point across on the life in the hospital of SickKids. So in the end we wanted to relate our film production with our activist project, basically we decided to interview at least 6 students of Guelph Humber and ask them two simple question without sounding bias: "Are you Pro-Choice or Pro-Life and why?" and from that we can use it for our activist project.

=] *Smiles

3 Questions of Life...

Oct/ 17

Today's discussion was different from the others, today I really wanted to think about what does it really mean when as an individual we have to ask the 3 questions that rule our life: 1. Where am I going? 2. Where did I come from? 3. How will I get there? Mark said “The more you know about your past the more you know about where you're going"

I can't help but think about that idea of every move that I make in my life could be crucial to where I end up in life and shape who I will become in the end...

1. Would if be different if I decided to go to College instead of University?
2. What if I never moved to Toronto?
3. Would I still be the same person if my mother didn't survive Cancer?
4. Would my family be closer if my sister didn't get married so young?
5. If my mother didn't loose her baby, would our family be different?

In my opinion, I believe that my life is like a walk in a park; I will start from the beginning (my birth) as I walk through life, at one point of another I will come across a split pathway where I am suppose to choose one or the other. I believe that throughout my entire life I will come across a life changing choice where I am force to make a decision that could affect where I end up (life) but when I reach the end (death) I will live a life that I chose for myself .

I will be faced with the "3 questions" in my life and no matter what my answers are for these questions I know that I will be consent with my outcome because I know that every decision I make in my life is affected by the who I am.

Media vs. Culture

Oct/ 10th

When we received the class notes from Mark about "Postman's Ideas" I started to read and I came the the conclusion that the ' Mutual Influence also known as Media Ecology' is the point of view that I agree on. Simply because I think that as children our view of the media is empty knowing nothing of anything, as we await the society (media) to fill our brains with what is acceptable and what is not. As we grow up we are influenced by our surroundings on what form of media is more acceptable than compare to another, but as well as society's values changes, the media world learns how to adapt to our growing idea of media. For example; with today's generation, our society is in the phase of "sex sells" and as consumers we would buy anything that appears to be sexual like an advertisements commercial of Paris Hilton washing a car while eating a burger from Burger King. Even though the commercial had nothing to do with the value of the Burger, but because Paris Hilton ( sex symbol) was in the advertisement it became more appealing to the general public. As for the media industry, they believe that our generation of consumers would not buy any product if the advertisement appear to be boring and filled with facts/ words, instead we would only understand the language of "sex" and therefore the media industry could only turn to sex in order to sell their product. I believe that the world has not changed enough for any individual to change their view; what we fear most is being different and because of that we rather be like everyone else just to be accepted by our surrounding.