My Website (Work in Progress)

Dear 8,985 Views and Counting!!  <----I LOVE YOU!
If you can't tell by the psycho pup up there I am excited.  There are a lot of notes to make on building a website but considering I look at so many daily (like you, don't judge : P) and what am I planning on doing with this?

Good note to self that one.  On my last blog post I discussed how important my viewers are because they keep my soul afloat (<---- not really but I do enjoy them) yet I keep wondering who my audience is.  Since Sunday my only international view was from Egypt (totally awesome) I can simply say I have no idea who will view my website, simply that I enjoy any audience.  I think that people complete and fueled the advertisement economy because people simply never know who is going to discover their products or services.  If people focus too much on niche audiences no one will ever be successful, I know that most of my audience will be those that read books.  I'm hoping anyway.  Maybe that's growing too niche yet I believe stories will stand strong or I will fall with them!  #that'sdedication

On notes on format I truly have no idea, I believe I will complete them once I finish all of my other assignments.  Hopefully class later today will tell me all I need to know about how to put together my digital life properly.  I'm relying on the reason I have so many readers for this!  Hopefully my digital portfolio will get me employed as well!  That'd be great.  I will do my best to keep this active even at the end of class, maybe move it to my website!  That'd be exciting.

Ideas to put on Website!:
1- Writing Samples (Fiction and Non-Fiction)
2- Ceramics Work
3- Resume (<---- This is Probably Important)
4- Infographs
5- Photography Work
6- Videos Produced (maybe YouTube account)

Graphic Design Ideas:
To Come...

~Love Media Mike

Oh I want to use moonfruit.com to put my website together!  So give support viewers <3

Love Media Mike - A Trademark! (<----- hah)

I am thankful for my readers and strangers that are entertained by my moronic voice.  We can talk about my life problems (there are many), we can talk about the reading (probably best since that's the assignment, or we could talk about miscellaneous things that seem to entertain me.  Well we can go with THREE.  I know I think I'm an overachiever too.

WEll I was thinking the same thing when I decided to put something on the reading, but I feel like this could be quite useful because I have no idea why someone from Sweden reads my blog.  I do have friends in Sweden (I'm like the mafia <----life goal almost achieved) yet she moves much more than I do, and I've lived in three places this year for greater than a month.  Which is quite the feat according to men on grindr (for those creepers that message me from California being like 'where are you now') and its quite a feat for me (I believe so at least) and yeah.  So dear people from Sweden, why do you read my blog?  I hope you find it entertaining.  Don't worry North Dakota (no one from the US is labled) I still find you awesome, I plan on visiting to make out with someone there one day (don't ask).  So here's the question for the reading!  Who am I writing for!?????

My answer:

-Love Media Mike

Kidding!  Well I will go look at some different items on my users and those that comment (NEVER) and get back to you next time!~  Soon I will be building a website so this is quite important!

Welcome to User Media

<--------my life summary

We all start out here.  I know when life just seems like people are going through the beginning of a class, reading the syllabus and going "I have to write a paper on....huh?" or still saying now "I have to build a website on....huh?", we all get it.  I never took in the importance of every plane until I understood what was going on from an overall perspective, and then I went back if needed.  Sort of feels like reading a book right?  When you go into a character's plot without knowing what was going on in their lives before chapter 1 or the prologue began?  And then suddenly you know the character like your best friend, so much so you are seeing from their written mind's eye.  Almost creepy considering how often it works like that in the real world.

The reading for today goes through five separate pieces of conceptual framework surrounding user experience.  The Surface of the design is the images, visuals and general appearance that rope in the audience.  The skeleton consists of the place of the design in coherence with the structure that defines how users get the the page.

Video on Writing Process!

Chapter 16 in a nutshell!  Well almost!

Welcome Paranormal Activity

Happy Hump Day Dears!

I'm giving you a throwback Thursday with this one, because do you remember when you got scared so hard a lot of inappropriate things happened?  Comment with the craziest one you've ever heard when someone gets scared!  And I'll send you something good in the mail....?  I don't know I just want a comment from a stranger is all.  Back on topic!  If you watch the trailer, this movie was tough to get into theatres locally, because of how much it cost to produced and how it wasn't a well funded movie.  Well now, need I say more??  I haven't seen number 16 but I still get chills for like 1 to 3, they were scary.  And the main reason they were horrifying?  Perspective!

If I managed to talk about perspective in another way or another I would sound like a broken record, but since I think I can nail this down a bit, I'll try.  Paranormal Activity had a great deal of rhetorical appeal for a few reasons, hopefully I can tackle them with this post and what I grasped to a higher degree from the reading.  The cast was normal looking in their own beautiful way.  Micah had an appeal because she looked like an everyday human being, and her acting was something that we would expect to see among out peers.  That enhanced our perspective on an ideological level, because they simply weren't rich and powerful Hollywood stars with years of experience, they were normal people being haunted by a demon.

The camera was first person perspective, as if you were the camera holder or character running through the house.  The movie almost had its own value as a 3-D game like the article mentions the latest attractions at Universal Studios.  We were following through their lives in what I remember to be 20+ days.  I remember when the door slammed in the middle of the night and I jumped for the heavens.  Because who wouldn't leave their door open when they made sure to lock every nook and cranny in their house.  That was the point of the camera, to see if someone was there, and we did through our own lens in the camera lens.

Number 2 movie that still makes me scream to my neighbors and Satan.  Just saying because both can hear whenever I do, its that scary.  Its become a classic Media Mike drinking game since freshman year ever since I would watch it with my sister and her friends in middle school.  Scared me then, scares me now, yet its so exciting.  The time I went caving after watching?  To conquer the fear?  Not so much fun.

Forever and Always,
Love Media Mike!

Your Life Map

Welcome to the future right there Readers!  Innovative, efficient, and what an ingenious take on something so cool.  I am more and more impressed as I listen!  I really needed something put my ownlife map into perspective, because while I could be fooled once upon a time how life works and looks, its much more difficult to do so.  I think that's because I've regressed into an adult, I've lost my own touches of magic with all of the craziness I've placed myself through.  I can't help thinking about how optional everything has become, I lived my life so much in 7 months it still baffles me, but now I'm walking.  I'm walking along my map, and I don't think I can live through that anymore.  Does that make sense?  I hope so.

The reading for Digital Communications was based on the importance of how to view landscapes and scenes.  Cool right?  Like have you ever noticed what part of a scene you particularly look at, whether it be the right or left of a still, or ignore the periphery?  Watch how your eyes adjust to a horror movie to take in even the slightest bits of detail?  I can't help but think of how I was tricked into believing the funniest concepts as a kid, and now as an artist (someone called me this :D) I am trying to perceive everything with a more developed lens.

"If you aren't the least bit scared, then you aren't aiming high enough" -Susan Clark (my therapist not the article)

I love how we are told to look a certain way, act a certain way, believe a certain way, and we do.  Because we refuse to be afraid, something that is natural.  We look at different things and fill in the blanks, I read through the article and couldn't refer it to how we live.  Sometimes pieces of life aren't for me, and they aren't for you?  And what's wrong with saying "no thanks" to some things?  Because we should try to do that when we are made to look, act, and believe a certain way.  That's not who we are, that's who someone else is.

Love Media Mike!

Your Life Page 82

Hello!  Happy Halloween!~

Not that I am one to quote the movie almost each and everyday, but usually if I have accomplished a large goal and only have minor ones or I'm intoxicated, I do get really bitchy.  "Oh by all means do move at a glacial pace, you know how that entertains me" <------ it doesn't get any better than that.  Just saying.  After working a different set of jobs I can't help but have an appreciation for different aspects of life.  Like I am one of those people that eats out (at generally cheap restaurants) most days of the week.  I've worked at three separate restaurants and I understand the build that goes into a 7 dollar quesadilla, and how expensive a 7 dollar quesadilla may be.  In the class that I write this particular blog for, we are being productive to prepare for a potential job in this field, and now our job is to make a video.  Needless to say the sun isn't shining on me right now.

I once participated in writing college essays for my younger cousin, she had a bunch of random essays to do and was like "MIKE HELP ME" pretty desperately.  I applied to a good number of schools that didn't have essays and were free for a reason ; ).  My favorite essay, without a second thought, was the "In a 500 Page Memoir of Your Life, what is on page 82" or something or another.  If I actually knew the college I would look it up once more, but my memory is fuzzy and I couldn't help her.  Well I did come up with some good premise ideas from the time I spent with her, yet I couldn't help but think what a struggle that must be for a highschool student.  Its a very good supplementary essay to give, I'm still impressed.

"Sometimes I get 6 to 7 hours of footage to edit into 30 seconds"- Craig Lewandowski, Editor

I'm a critic, we are all critics.  So how do we edit our lives?  Is this another facet of social media use or something that comes to our hygiene?  Or every aspect of life for that matter?  Editing is a very complex process and credits at the end of a movie truly aren't long enough.  When it comes to my favorite aspect of life, publishing comes with so many counters that just a name on the book isn't enough.  I never used to read the acknowledgements at the end or front of a book, yet now I do every single time because of how important they are.  Every form of media comes with a grand deal of work, and I feel like with the reading of the editing process we can appreciate our life outlets even more.

~Love Media Mike

Podcast!

I Wonder (No Kidding)

Dear People who are Bored,
My picture describes my usual reactions to those conversations in public that are particularly....shall we go with vapid?  In Open Sky: Radical Thinkers by Paul Virilio part 3 discusses the importance of identity in the public versus cultural sphere.  Well in a way he does, because in the context he refers our digital selves versus our public selves.  I'd like to add our "private selves" as well,  because that's a third part of the context.  I don't really much of a difference between the three, I'm open with all contexts.  At this point I would say there isn't much variation between the three now once upon a time there most certainly were, and I don't regret that in the slightest.  Now I'm just sort of me, and if people don't enjoy it they can wipe my butt.  I love how no one does not use the phrase yet its not lewd at all, nasty?  Yes.  Lewd?  Could be worse.

Drinking!

No one really misses this.  I mean come on, that generation is over and now they are singing this whenever karaoke comes on for a good laugh.  I appreciated all of her music, I won't lie, I make the climb.  I know that I'm not perfect and I like getting crazy, to name a few.  I guess there are a lot of moments when I decide I want to think out life and this is another one.  Have you ever wondered who you truly may be?  Like who you will end up being in 20 years?  I mean I'd like to say "yeah I know exactly who I'd be" but I don't.  I never really had a person who I'd be or dreamed to be, I had a few goals, but none of my own goals are long term.  Well I would like to be an author and publish my six book series.  That's my longest long term dream that I have pure control over.  Having kids, a husband, and a cat and a dog won't happen alone.  That will come with someone else and I wonder who's going to deal with my lack of sanity and vice versa.

So the nastiest part of that picture is I've had three of those, and I can tell you I appreciated two and vommed for the third.  The Bison Grass?  Yeah sounds just like it tastes.  Bison shit in grass.  No offense to the product and those who like it but my vegetarianism was short lived.  Actually even then it wouldn't have been an option, and I sort of miss my vegetarianism.  ANYWHO!  

How I feel about actual work and midterms.  Who are you after having a good number of drinks?  Are you happy-go-lucky or one of those criers?  I think that our drunken selves are who we are without all of those useless inhibitions.  People say they can't tell I'm intoxicated because I'm just as much trouble as before, except I'm smarter with it from time to time.  I take it as a compliment, its a social stigma to be one of those people that gets vommed on.  Just saying.  So do you believe that you'll be the same person in 20 years as you are now when drunk?  Or is that pushing it.  

Love Media Mike!

Timber!

Everything falls down eventually so why not yell it out!  Now I always tend to post philosophical tidbits on life and well the reading was actually beyond philosophical it was obnoxious.  To sum it all up we work on the premise now a days that everything happens at a constant notion, like if we aren't immediately gratified then life is much more difficult than you can potentially imagine.  In reality?  Not so much.

I was rocking out to this song all morning and convinced myself that the world is a better place, because technically and in all reality, it is!  The moments I have had that make life worth living are everyday.  Yelling timber in excitement while walking across campus people could not tell I spent the day in the hospital yesterday and failed a test because of it.  But what in life is your GPA going to do for you 20 years down the line, nothing.  I know someone who graduated with a double major, a minor, and a 4.0!  a 4.0!  Guess who has a job!?  Not her.  Do you know why?  I do.  Because she lacks the ability to socialize, she profiles every conversation into an academic realm and has the rhetorical appeal of a newt.  So she better run and move to learn those things.  Now I am going to be selfish and talk about my life.  My GPA is a 2.4 and I have three job offers.  Because I know people and I do my best to do just that.  I've had a few shitty life experiences and every single one of them comes with a gold and silver lining.  The rest of it?  I need to drop it and be stronger.  Items of life only hurt you when you let them.  The only things in life where you can get instant gratification is when you do something for yourself.  That's a lesson only learned the hard way though.  Timber!

Love Media Mike

P.S. Kesha is one of my idols so don't hate, and if you do, do your research.  She's a badass.

Start To Finish

Framing the Real You

Dear Strangers and Stalkers,

I started eating candy corn the moment Walmart started selling it, aka last year, yet still and all what is the best part about October?  "Halloween is when girls can dress as slutty as they want" without any ramifications.  I'm disappointed in myself that I can't properly quote the movie like I should, yet I know if I say "I'm a Mouse, duh!" then you'll get it.  Welcome to October!  I'm a lover of costumes and everything you can do with them in any situation.  Be afraid for mine, I always go to a place in NYC to get the best possible fashion statement.  In those misguided moments in my past I was a cow and let's just say the utters were disturbingly realistic.  This year I'm going to fulfill a promise I made freshman year to myself, and I'm sort of intimidated.

I tried to find a horrifying pictures yet it gave people nightmares on that year, needless to say it wasn't pretty.  Now languages and images would be nothing without their framing, correct?  Like if we all didn't take the importance of our existing ideologies, conventions and shared assumptions, we wouldn't be able to translate what people were saying.  That was one of my favorite moments studying abroad, how I conceptualized different cultures to how they conceptualized america?  That was fantastic.  Nothing is more eye opening than seeing how you truly see yourself after seeing how you take in a new environment.  Our sentence structures are like geometry theorems, If Then we understand.  

That one time I used this as a life inspiration.  Oh yea that was yesterday.

Love Media Mike

Now You See Me!

To Those Who Are Interested, >_<

I was a bit lost on what to say on this post.  Usually I come with my plan, start typing, that precede to ramble about something or another.  I will tell you I had never said "sexual undercarriage" until the other day yet nether region has become a classic Mike saying.  Usually those come from things or phrases that people say that catches me off guard and then I just repeat!  Actually now I have a blog post.  Be Excited.  

My sister got married!  She is so much prettier than me yet that's a good pic of me!  Rare moments where I don't look like a petting zoo attraction in a picture, and with how much booze were in my system that evening the pic is a surprise.  I must say.  YET!  My sister's maid of honor is a slight psycho.  And since I know she will never read this, I can say that.  Its in a loving way truly, she is a sister to me and I've admired her for years, yet her best skill is making people feel uncomfortable.  That weekend she decided she was going to jam her finger up random people's rectum and then mine.  A few times.  What my thoughts on the matter, and since I've been engaging in the activity as of late (though its more of a loving graze) is a nice way to see how someone looks at you as a person.  

Have you ever wondered how strong a friendship is?  Like what those pictures on your wall actually mean to person?  How that memory from Six Flags when you're screaming bloody murder is a memory cherished to the other person as much as it is your mind?  That sentence didn't really flow yet it was awkward with how awkward I thought that moment was.  Biffle means certain things doesn't it?  Well there are some people who thing the rectum grazing is just another trifle in our relationship, and they laugh.  That is the lovely lens of perspective and testing a hypothesis. If the person were to flip out, feel reasonably (tons) uncomfortable, and decide not to speak to me because of one slightly harmless shenanigan?  Then what is your friendship?  What is the other lens of that perspective?

Life Lesson Learned: Lightly graze your friend's butthole.  I dare you.

~Love Media Mike

SEX.

Dear Readers,
Let's talk about sex!  Its how you make kids right?  Hopefully my audience already knows this and I don't have to worry about that little bit yet still, something that happens everyday.  A person is born every 7 seconds, humans are like rabbits except there are more of us.  So why does it sell?  Why is something that was discovered before the wheel or fire intrigue us many centuries later?  I mean I'm all for my nether region.  I like nether region more than most of those awkward words that people yell in public for competition, but still, why does it sell?  Have you ever truly inspected covers of magazines?  Seen how lewd they may be?  I mean imagine what it was like before google, or internet pornography?  I know I would be much more scandalous or in a committed relationship.  The sexual undercarriage needs some action, I bet we can all agree.  Even in Myanmar they had vibrator and dildo carts (stores basically) outside of some of the monasteries.  I found it hilarious yet did not purchase one.

Why does it sell?  Is it something about the mythical athletic body that truly turns the populace of supermarkets or 7-eleven on?  Considering its right as you're buying food that is not in any of the diet magazines right nearby on the shelves?  I get it, I get it, I mean why do you think people still watch those vampire shows anymore?  I mean come on, no offense Vampire Diaries, but it isn't for the plot.  Have you seen Damen Salvatore shirtless?  Or how many gays got upset over Eric from his nude scene in True Blood?  Honestly I'm not particular for those things when they have the ability to fly and look like that.  Hey in fictitious situations, you don't worry about personality because its for the nether region in that scenario.  Hello Fifty Shades of Grey, just saying.

I had the audiobook in my car because I was driving from Jersey to SC and I hoped to find it entertaining, yet my car got hit by an 18 wheeler in a parking lot a week later.  Coincident?  I think not.  Its still not fixed mind you, well I get it back tomorrow.  Yet have you read it?  The play off of Twilight?  International Phenomenon that is being made into a movie?  I'm sort of tempted now, I won't lie.  I liked it!  I got to chapter 4 but still!  I think its just the general play on normal person yet crazy story (that leads to sex) people go crazy for.  I'm just rambling at this point I guess, but maybe this will prove a point?  Oh and by the way my slideshow comes up in the next weeks or so in which I'll be taking pictures of my writing process.  Yay life!

Love Media Mike~

Dirty.

What were you thinking!?  What I was thinking.  Not the garbage can. Or my apartment floors.  You know we still haven't gotten that vacuum?   Its like my sanity, I really hope it will come yet its one of those answers that is always "eventually"...

ANYWHO!  On a scale of 1 to yes, do you have places that you want to travel to that are completely random?  I've always wanted to go to Omsk, Siberia and Tulsa, Oklahoma because both of those cities are settings in books I love, yet I don't give the reasoning when i start those conversations.  Or how many times do you start a conversation with a story from life that was no necessarily "appropriate" yet now you are good friends?  As I've said a few times, my life is based on socializing.  So here's another funzie, to you (the reader [who doesn't comment if I ask]) do you believe socializing is a science or an art?

Every day we take steps to figure out our next move, I mean how many people have come to you asking for relationship advice?  Those awkward dates, creepy websites, long term, short term, hell I've done it all and no one comes to me for advice.  There is reasoning behind that, I tend to give my opinion and considering my love life, its not always helpful.  Talking endlessly?  Keeping some entertained?  If I have a reasonable amount of sleep, that I can most certainly do.  If you look at all of the rhetorical appeals, how many of them do you use?  Is that something of an art or a science?  Is there a certain process or is it a whimsical moment where you follow your heart?  I mean communications and blogging is a bit of both.

In this scenario, I just communicate how I'm feeling while following an outline.  Certain points have to be placed.  I place my character and unique traits into the post, while also trying to engage the reader in an academic writing.  In the case of novels, my specialty, authors do the same thing.  How do you provide insight into yourself without talking endlessly about your past?  Putting somehow to make the reader's minds eye work with theirs.  That's what makes or breaks a writer in any form of communication generally.  Soon I have to make a slideshow and I've decided to take my pictures from the past 9 months to say how it changed my rhetoric.  How I now try to communicate more effectively.  Stay tune for another post Monday!

OoO

Advertisements contain a special rhetoric.  I've always loved seeing what one person to the next will decide is a "beneficial image" to their company.  When I had my music blog previously I had amazon sponsor the side of it.  Whenever I released a song I would place the buying option on the side, and one time I hit it pretty big.  I got a percent of a person that bought the song and their textbooks within the same day.  I don't think I've ever been so excited to make fifteen dollars!  Like its when you spend your time collecting coins and then get like 40 dollars from all your hard work?  Am I the only one that is actually still 5 years old?  I'm legitimately hoping not and will be honest for once about my musings.  I will be honest once more and say that I will most likely look into Geico commercial because of their ridiculous commercials.

Why would I do that?  Isn't it simple?  After reading some of my posts you must know that I would laugh at Old McDonald spelling cow wrong an infinite number of times.  Does that have anything to do with car insurance, coverage, rates, besides the staple of "save 15% or more" one liner?  I don't think so.  Yet how many views does that commercial have on youtube?  A good deal on the first video that comes up, and a good deal on the rest too.  Just imagine if Miley Cyrus would do a geico commercial, talk about a mindf*ck.

~Love Media Mike

Catch Me

"If you fall, I'll catch you" -ground

Dear Reader(s),
How was your day?  I'm asking a direct question because apparently no one will make a comment.  I once had a large group of people following me on twitter yet not one individual stranger will comment on my ramblings.  Quite sad considering I freely comment on people's decisions any chance I get.  The latest reading in the lovely Digital Communication class (which I missed because of vom-ing) discussed mainstream media, and the perspective that Americans don't see.

We volunteered at a local school buying and serving their meals, yet we didn't know that the kids were on summer vacation.  You can just imagine the groups sadness that no one would attend something we were so excited to go to, yet the tour guide assured us that they would all be there.  The reason the school was out was because it was 127 degrees out and the school buildings didn't have electricity, neither did the homes, but it wasn't the school's responsibility for the kids in the inopportune positions.  When we arrived at the school, it turns out, that all of the kids were there.  They all came because it was one of their first meals in up to two weeks, when I had asked them.  Mind you their first language wasn't English, it was Burmese.  They were 7-10 and all spoke fluent English.  Their parents didn't have enough money to feed them properly and they all worked full time jobs after school.  The KIDS all worked full time jobs.  Americans can't even imagine how lucky they are until you see something like a small child begging for food, not as a ploy, yet because they hadn't eaten in days.  And they aren't going to not give anything in return, they are going to be your tour guides and give you their drawings.  I will never forget, and I promise to go back one day.

Take a look around you and you'll see how lucky you are!  Especially with the media.  You get to read me ramble ;) Such a treat!

~Love Media Mike

#rebel

I've never truly pondered all of the moments that are left unsaid until I did the reading for the class that started this blog, so let me do a reverse lesson.  All of the things you assume to be 'known' technically aren't.  In a way we take everything for granted and I saw some various examples in writing.  The chapter talks about all of the things that comes naturally to some and are a struggle for others.  Don't pick at me, the more intimate the directions are, the better in my opinion.  Now I'm just going to rant on a few of them because I have been sick all day long and you'll hopefully find this amusing.  

I ask this question all the time yet I will pose it to you (my reader).  How do you kiss someone?  And I'm not just talking a spearow peck moment, or a granny wrinkle love smack, I'm talking a full on Frenchie.  Tongue, turns, teeth (sometimes), how do you do it?  Is it an instinctual moment to take someone on like how my roommates should vaccuum the floor?  Well that's an awful comparison but it desperately needs to be cleaned.  I've made out with 111 people, and if you're thinking, woah!  More hoe than the appliance on a farm, it was more of a various group of stories.  I promise you it sounds much more scandalous than it actually is, or is it?  Well if you have some sort of technique that isn't tonsil tasing and makes eyes go wide, comment below!  I'd greatly appreciate it.  Maybe someone else will too ; )

Blogging has a certain art to it, just as journalism and screenwriting do.  I love the rhetoric of conversation and blogging, seeing how someone ticks.  In my previous little moment, how did that make you feel?  Were you cringing, smiling, repulsed?  Or was it a moment where you were trying to gouge out your eyes and saying, what am I doing?  I want reactions, I want movements, I want concentration.  This is what blogging is!  It is assimilating into a personality and drawing into your own ideology, its educating on a social and everyday scale.  That is why its such a power!  The magic of blogging gives you an interactive sphere to look into, understanding how everything works, and moving forward.  Now some may be posting dry articles on how they digested the moment, but I want someone to smile and think about something new!  If I get a comment I will post chapter 1 of Dirty Spade in a post, and its going to be published soon enough so you'll get a sneak peek!

~Love Media Mike

Case Study - USA Today

What is your first impression of the site? Think of the “3 second rule.” (pg 31)

• User friendly, easy to navigate
• Interesting how the home page’s main topic of news is politics
• A lot of information being shared in a rather small space, forcing users to scroll down constantly to look at more articles

How does this site establish credibility? How does it establish trust? Or does it? (pg 28-29) Authentic voice? Genuine? Transparency?

Credibility is established through providing the audience with the author’s name of the specific news article being published. It also allows interactive media tools to interact with the author on a more personal, one-to-one level. These media tools are Facebook, Twitter, comment, and email.

Influential figures of social, economic, or political importance, are also sited quite a bit throughout the website. Many of the people covered are known Democrats, showing that there’s a bias.

What is the general writing style?

The writing style is objective. There is no use of personal pronouns and when talking about a person there are direct quotes from the person involved in the event. The writer uses adjectives to his or her liking in order to make the news report more entertaining, and less dry and to the point.

There is bias towards the democratic party due to the political figures highlighted in the news stories as well as the colors and word choice.

Does the writer IDENTIFY with his or her readers, or not? How (or why not)?

The writing style that the writers for USA Today use seems to be more of a template. The main way that this news source distinguishes itself from other news sources is the heavy use of adjectives in writing articles.

The information being reported on is done so with a bias, towards democrats, with in turn allows users that are of the same political party to identify with the news articles.

Does the writing style get to the point?

The writing style gets right to the point in a few specific ways.

• The persons involved are names at the beginning of the article
• The location of the news event is reported within the article
• Majority of the time, visual and/or media supplements are provided

How is it arranged? Is it arranged in reverse pyramid style?

Most of the information presented is done so in a top-down arrangement. Meaning the most important stories and “breaking news” are seen at the top of the homepage, and usually have a larger picture supplementing the news story.

Is content shaped for scanning? How is the content layered? (p 32)

The content within USA today is shaped for scanning. The articles themselves have paragraphs that contain one to two sentences, making it easy for the user to quickly scan through the page.

There are quick links and economic indicators on the left side of the page, breaking news and important stories in the center, and current news topics on the right.  Most, if not all, article titles are brief and get to the point of what the article will report on.

Within the articles, there is a section on the left hand side that highlights the main themes and important facts within the entire article. This makes it more feasible to understand the concepts and know what’s happening without spending too much time reading the entire article.

Is the tone or rhythm of the site consistent throughout?

The rhythm of the site is consistent throughout. A few factors that remained constant throughout all the webpages linked to the main website are…

• Navigation in the left column
• Current news in the right column
• Set up of page: highlighted article with a picture in the center and headlines underneath the top news.

How does the site use headlines?

Headlines are short and use common words, getting straight to the point This allows for USA Today to broaden their foreign audience of non-native, English speakers. If the titles aren’t descriptive enough, there are also images and videos with almost every article that allows for a clearer image/message.

How does it use links? Effectively or not?

Links are used on the website to direct users to articles, photos, videos within the site (interlinks). There are also hyperlinks on the homepage that direct the user to social media websites, particularly Twitter, that host more information on a specific topic.

The use of links on USA Today are effective because they allow the user to navigate around the website and obtain information on a topic in many different ways (articles, videos, and photographs), as well as directing the user to further information outside of USA Today.

How is multimedia used? Is it distracting? How is it displayed on the site? Does the multimedia tell the same story as the text, or a different side of the story?

The site is distractive since the website has a lot of information being provided in such a limited amount of space. Due to the large amount of information, there is a lot of downward scrolling in order to look through headlines in specific categories.

How does the site “package” stories? (pg 36)

The site “packages” stories by

• Providing the user with the highlights of the article in the left hand column
• Displaying a photograph, or video, supplement the article
• Providing the user with quantitative information such as graphs and charts
• Incorporating hyperlinks to outside sources related to the topic

How are graphics used? Too cluttered? Are the graphics consistent through out the site, and consistent to the brand? Do they encourage or discourage use, and how?

The graphics are well done, nicely choreographed, and relate to each of the articles; however, they do provide a subconscious bias (color presentation, political commentators and candidates, et cetera). I feel that the sight could be more helpful and more easily navigated if the layout of the site was more minimalistic.

Can each page stand on its own?

Each page on USA Today can stand on it’s own. There are seven categories that the news station is reporting on: News, Politics, Money, Tech, Life, Travel, and Opinion. Each individual website hosts articles that contain multimedia and hyperlinks about the topics being reported on. All of these categories together form a well-rounded news station, but alone they still contain important information related to the individual category.

How is the navigation? Do you get lost? Do you always know where you are? How (or why not)?

One thing which does seem to work very well is the navigational bar. Each article is divided into a specific category which is further disseminated into niche articles about specific events, sports, activities, and so on.

How does the site incorporate/interact with its audience? How does it embody the social aspect of the internet (or does it)?

The site interacts with its audience by having an “Opinions” category on the navigation bar. This page on the website allows the users to see USA Today’s personal views on the news stories, this allows for the user to feel more connected, or more disconnected from the company. It allows users to have an opportunity to identify with USA Today.

USA Today also embodies the social aspect of the Internet by allowing users to comment on published articles, follow on Twitter, email, post on Facebook, and share in other ways over the Internet. These social aspects that USA Today enables allows for more effective feedback from the user to the source

Dirty in Spades

Never have I ever chosen a book or read an article for its title.  Clap, put a finger down, run like hell, whatever may suit your fancy in Idaho (I've never been there yet nice people) and just admit it.  You've done it.  I'm not going to lie, I went into Barnes and Noble picked out a book and then purchased it on amazon two hours later.  I don't get paid much at all these days and this is what I'm paying to do.  Funny how life turns out that way, yet it is ever amusing.

The chapters in the text concentrated on how to garner attention for your work.  Everything from learning how to accurately hyperlink and title to personal publishing was covered over the past two days.  Half the time it was basic rhetoric, I understood how to make words flow on a page because I'd been trying to make my personality flow in life just as that was.  You want to drive down a road in the U.S. more than you do in rural Vietnam.  Believe me on that one.  My computer now has a dent after bounced like panda express chicken, it wasn't supposed to.  That's a story for another time but I think there was a correlation between my fat bouncing while running and the chicken bouncing when it hit the ground in the mall.  Once more I ramble!  

"It's easy to write poorly, but it's hard to write poorly every day...it's hard to write every day" -Rebecca Blood.

That statement runs an unnervingly true river, half the time I can imagine the words to write, come up with the story and sell it like its the new bread.  Yet sometimes I stutter and just can't find my words, even within life.  I'm sitting here this morning and not understanding the intricacy of words, but why is it that we don't just click everyday.  For example, we all have work to do, a set amount that usually isn't such a great burden, yet most of us procrastinate and dodge, why?  What is the point of it, when usually our distractions are no more than just that, simple and useless distraction?  I can't imagine why my procrastination has burned such an indelible mark into my mind.  I did get a fortune cookie yesterday and it said "opportunity will come tomorrow, grab on".  Guess who is getting back to work tonight?

~Love Media Mike

The Author

P.C. Cast defines an author as "a storyteller who observes the world and then reshapes it into his own vision to entertain and amuse."  Beautiful isn't it?  Or slightly disturbing if you've read fifty shades.  I didn't read it but I've given the smug looks at those that read it in public.  I mean come on.  No pun intended.  The bleeding heart fans out there are even quite the deviants to watch out for.  That pun was intended.  Okay, okay, I promise to stop.  Well not really but all and all, back to my point.  Who am I when it comes to this blog, its author and creator.  We could call me the director or the man with the reins, and for those that read, I wish you the best smile.  I am one of those people who believes they are witty and laughs at their jokes, its one of my rare moments of self-love.  Back to point!  

This could be my academic story in senior year for all its worth, I am going to do my best to entertain and amuse you, so bear with me.  Aristotle compartmentalizes rhetoric into three separate categories; the ethos, pathos, and logos.  Now you might be saying "huh" yet read on!  Rhetoric is most commonly defined as the "art of persuasion" and I live everyday employing the wonders of its brilliance.  I believe that we all seem to stick to our own category first and foremost, if you haven't guessed already, I'm one for pathos.  

The pathos is the emotion of someone, their smiles, frowns, laughs and sobs, it is the appeal made to someone's emotions.  Like watching Maury during the summer as a kid because you had basic cable (a dark moment of my past *cringe*), YOU ARE NOT THE FATHER lead to a lot of screams or wails, some good, some bad.  Basically when you say how you are feeling to someone else, you are making an appeal to someone's pathos.  

Now my friend Katie loves her ethos.  As my editor and Stanford graduate student, her academic prowess has very few equals.  Outside of me, of course.  She sticks to the loves and woes of fact and history.  The word Ph. D comes with respect in most scenarios in her ticker, and while I most certainly agree its not something that attracts me to others as a person.  Ethos is most commonly defined as someone's credibility, their past and accomplishments.  The third one is the most confusing to me, so I'll do my best * <---- note pathos appeal*.  

Searching google wasn't necessarily helpful for a common way to define logos outside of the word logic, yet here's a mind trick to maybe make a point.  The logic google follows would be a common example of rhetorical logos according to Aristotle.  If this, then that.  Most people dreaded geometry due to the wonders of that statement.  Because without clarification from the first point to the forty-second (thanks Mr. C for that final exam problem #scars), you don't have your answer to the problem.  I've met a few people who truly employ this as their primary appeal in their everyday life, but it doesn't kindle my fire.  Those people and books just don't.  Note pun number 22 in this post.

Questions to Ask!
What's your appeal?
What's your best friend's appeal?

Welcome to Tuesday in September (THE HORROR).

~Love Media Mike

P.S. If you counted the puns trying to get to 22, I lied.  ; )

Flowers from Horseback

Have you ever looked at something and noticed something completely new?  When you discover that new button on your phone, or funny face of a person in the background of a photo?  Or maybe it could be the depressing parts of life.  When you notice a dark personality trait in someone you thought you knew everything about or that you were ignoring your true thoughts all along because they were scary? 

On my way to China my professor taught the class an ancient proverb: “Viewing flowers from horseback”.  Basically in our travels and lives, when we rush through tasks we tend to just glimpse at all of the possibilities.  We don’t get to smell the perfume, count the colorful petals, or just watch the bees land like on our desktop backgrounds.  Crazy right?  I don’t wonder why some older people sit out and just watch the scenery. 

I read two articles about how humans think and the brain evolves, and hopefully I’ll be able to put it into my own perspective because simply ‘woah’.  The question of the first article was whether google is making us stupid and the second article describes electracy.  If I could give you a lay man’s definition, I surely would yet there’s not a chance in H, E, double hockey sticks.  Let’s see what I can do, and I’ll even use my favorite reference point.

As a generation, we don’t read many books.  I’m one of the few exceptions to that note yet we read more than any generation so far.  The wonders of internet and texting certainly stimulates our mind in different ways, yet its not a story.  When we reads book, we dive into the story.  We see through the character’s eyes and live up to months of their lives in days even.  That is the power of words that our previous centuries have discovered.  The brain is evolving in ways we have never seen to be appropriate in experiencing the minds of others.  In those stories, especially the more descript ones we get every perspective.  Isn’t that wild?  Considering we get only a select number of perspectives within our own lives? 

Electracy, from what I’ve gathered, is how certain words and actions come alive in the human mind.  A beautiful term isn’t it?  Completely wild.  If you want to take a gander at the article, check it out here: http://ulmer.networkedbook.org/the-learning-screen-introduction-electracy/ .  While I was able to go through it with a basic understand the first time, that has come through a great deal of rhetoric and philosophy classes.  If it wasn’t so late and my mind wasn’t pumping out information, I would have been in a much stickier situation. 

On the next post, I’m hopefully going to delve into the extensive social media aspects of electracy.  They should be something to look forward to!  Any thoughts on my definition or what your definitions is I’d love in comments below!

Discussion Questions:
1- Do you think the 90s and 2000s (ew I'm old) generation will lose its passion for reading?
2- Are there any particular moments when you witnessed a task come alive?

~Love Media Mike

Let It Begin

Have you ever sat down, gazed off into the distance, and thought “wow that actually happened?”  That potent statement basically sums up the past three years of my life.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my plans, yet sometimes I just decide to jump off the cliff and feel the rush of air.  I just hit the water today, so let’s begin. 

If you want to take a look at some of my past feel free to take a peek, but I suggest you just read post by post.  I love telling stories and this is my true story, the non-fiction.  Or at least the mildly academic version of it, I’m going to see if I can pull this one off too.  Nice to meet you in our lovely digital age, I’m Media Mike. 

I’m a senior at Furman University majoring in Japanese and Communications with a potential minor in Art.  This year I’ve traveled to 13 countries, become close with CEOs and Nobel Peace Prize Winners, lived in a whole new city, and done too much partying for my own good.  Never mind about the partying bit, it was pretty awesome.  Next Fall I will be a published author, a college graduate, hopefully not homeless, and as content as I am currently. 

I’ve always loved how media seems to coexist within certain mediums.  Over the past few years the world of television and books has changed.  Not only are books being made into movies, but tv shows into books, and the occasional actor into a writer, director into screenwriter.  The options are truly limited and I’d love to take various peeks at how different stars take their impact on each facet of the media world that we know and love. 

One important facet of study I’d like to do is the translation from certain genres of media to others.  Within the upcoming posts I’d like to take a look at certain aspects of translation among the media.  After all I don’t call myself Media Mike for nothing, I dabble in each section of the media. 

In this blog I commit to putting my twist on the media world.  I hope to look at agencies and their regulations between the artist and the outlet, yet I may take a gander at some more topics I fancy.  I promise to do my best to make a reader smile and educate a bit too.  Look forward to some more posts!  The next one shall be soon enough!

~Love Media Mike