Media and Me

Over the past week, I've learned that the media is a pretty big part of my life.  The pervasiveness of the media is really shocking to me.  It's everywhere, in my house, at work, at the bar, and even in my pocket.  Pretty soon it's just going to be directly connected to my brain!  Information is so instantaneous that I'm shocked when I bring up a current event and the person I talk to has no idea what I'm talking about.  I guess some people just choose to tune out and that's fine. 

Over the past week I've watched the media on TV, listened to the radio and glued myself to the internet.  I'd say I watch TV a lot but I use the internet the most.  It's just so convenient.  You can go anywhere and use it how you want to use it.  I think that's the beauty of that medium to me.  I guess for media to remain relevant, it seems to me that accessibility is key.  If you have access you have knowledge.

Facebook

Today I kept track of how much of my day is spent on Facebook.  I always thought of myself as a moderate user, but I'm definitely not.  Every day I wake up at 5:30 a.m., roll out of bed and make it to work by about 6:00 a.m.  The first thing I did when I got to work was check my Facebook page on my work computer.  This is not against any rules at my office by the way.  Who's up at this hour?  Do I have any messages?  Has anyone tagged me doing anything stupid in a picture since I went to bed last night at midnight?  How's my stupid little war game, that I've been consumed with for the past two weeks, going?  I better check-in to let the 50 people in my friends list that are awake right now know I'm at work.  After about a 20-minute break, I go at it again, this time from my phone.  Status update.  Instant message.  Check inbox.  It's a never-ending cycle!  After I've cracked out on my personal account for a bit, now it's time to start posting updates and videos for my company's Facebook site.  Then it's on to my band's Facebook page.  Remember when we used to do stuff?

After leaving work, I realized that I've already spent close to an hour on Facebook and it's not even noon yet.  As soon as I get home I take a shower, get dressed and check Facebook.  Anything new?  Of course not.  I get to school 10 minutes early.  Waiting outside of the classroom for the previous class to leave sucks.  What should I do?  Oh wait, I have Facebook in my pocket.  How convenient.  I'll just kill a few minutes here, no problem.  Now I'm in class.  45 minutes have gone by.  Should I check my Facebook?  Yeah, why not? 

Finally made it home after a long day.  Time to jump on my computer for another hour of the exciting, predictable world of Facebook.  As my eyes start to cramp, I realize that I probably should look away from the screen for a bit.  Maybe I'll get out of the house and get some things done.  Three hours later, I return home.  Time to write my blog.  Before I do, I'll just open up another tab in Mozilla.  Yep, you guessed it.  The other tab is for Facebook.  All in all, I figure that about 3 1/2 hours of my day is completely wasted on Facebook.  Thank you, Mark Zuckerberg, for ruining my life.  Charlie Sheen's crack addiction has got nothing on this.   

 

  

Obama's Speech to the Nation on Libya

Tonight the president addressed the nation on U.S. involvement in the Libyan crisis on most major TV networks.  I happened to watch the speech on NBC this evening as he gave his address from the National Defense University in Washington, D.C.  President Obama has, for the most part, been absent from making public statements concerning America’s involvement in the Libyan uprising.  Just a couple of weeks ago the United States started operation “Odyssey Dawn.”  When I first heard the name of this operation I just assumed that it was the long-lost prequel to Homer’s, “The Odyssey.”  As it turns out, I was completely wrong about that.  “Odyssey Dawn” is the implementation of a no-fly zone over Libyan airspace to prevent Moammar Gadhafi from using his airpower to kill and intimidate civilian men and women so that he can retain power.

Many people are wondering why we would get involved in such a conflict when we have so many problems here at home as well as fighting two wars over seas.  Tonight the president stated that America had no intentions of being the permanent leader in helping the Libyans attain their goal of democracy.  Instead, the United States would hand over control of operations to NATO on Wednesday of this week.  President Obama also said, “Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries.  The United States is different.” 

Only time will tell how this will play out for the president politically, and if our involvement is actually of assistance to the Libyan people or if we’re just fanning the flames of civil unrest in the Middle East.  If you happened to miss the president’s address, here is the full speech.

Local News from KNWA

I am a huge fan of local news.  I have been as long as I can remember.  My favorite local newscast here in NWA is the KNWA 10 p.m. show.  I don't always get a chance to watch, but tonight I did.  Here's a recap of KNWA's news at 10 tonight.

New U of A basketball coach, Mike Anderson

The lead story tonight was on a subject that has been buzzing all over Fayetteville ever since former U of A basketball coach John Pelphrey was fired last week.  As soon as Pelfrey was let go, there had been much speculation as to who was going to fill the position.  A name that I was hearing a lot here in town was the former assistant to Nolan Richardson, Mike Anderson.  Yesterday, the U of A announced that Anderson was accepting the position of the head basketball coach. It didn't take him long to get to work. 

Today, Anderson was flying around the state to meet with basketball recruits.

Tonight Matt Turner (anchor KNWA) reported live via satellite from Fayetteville's Drake Field in hopes of getting an interview with Anderson.  However, the trip out to the airport did not land Turner the interview he was seeking.  Upon arrival to Drake Field, Anderson got off the twin-engine plane owned by the University of Arkansas athletic department, jumped into an SUV and drove off.  But a somewhat disappointed-looking Turner handled the letdown well by giving a recap of Anderson's activities throughout the day.

The story that directly followed the lead story tonight was the vote in the Arkansas State Legislature to bring Fayetteville into Arkansas' 4th Congressional District.  Marci Manley was the reporter, and the story was shot as a package with her explaining more detail in the studio.  The part of this story that stood out to me the most was not actually the content, but the fact that Manley used a touch-screen as a graphic aid in the studio.  I wasn't even aware that KNWA had a touch-screen!  To be honest, I'm still not sure they do but whatever they did looked great.

After the first two stories came the weather report, as well as some details about the controlled burn at Lake Fayetteville that made downtown Fayetteville look more like smoggy downtown Los Angeles today.  This was followed by a couple of stories about a fundraiser for tornado victims in Cincinnati, Ark., an announcement about Habitat for Humanity needing volunteers for this weekend and a sneak peek for Crystal Bridges art museum.  The newscast topped off with Aaron Peters reporting on sports.  His sports report this evening consisted mostly of Mike Anderson's activities throughout the day.

Bill Maher on Libya

I would have to say my daily contact with the media is at a maximum.  My job is to talk on a four-hour morning radio show five days a week.  After work, I go to school and, in between classes (sometimes during), I’m on my trusty smart-phone checking social networking sites, news, and weather.  At home the first thing I do is turn on the TV to my favorite news network, then to local news, back to national news, and now I’ve passed out on the couch.  I’m an addict!  Help me! 

Tonight I watched “In the Arena” with Elliot Spitzer on CNN, a program I have never watched probably because Kathleen Parker used to be on the show when it was called “Parker/Spitzer.”    I never cared for her, not because of her far right, conservative political leanings but because she was just flat out terrible on TV.  Apparently much of CNN’s viewing audience thought so as well because when Parker started complaining about her role, CNN execs gave her the proverbial “boot.” 

I watched “In the Arena” tonight because I found out that one of my favorite political comedians was to be interviewed on the show.  Bill Maher, the host of HBO’s “Politically Incorrect,” was tonight’s guest.  The interview was approximately 5-7 minutes in length and they mostly discussed the Libyan revolt.  This is a subject I am very interested in.  Ever since the Egyptian uprising and successful coup, I’ve been glued to the TV, newspapers, radio, and internet even more than I usually am. 

Maher pointed out the importance of sexual equality to a democratic revolution.  He alluded to the fact that people in North Africa want democracy but don’t want to give equal rights to women.  However, I’m thinking that Maher has pretty high expectations.  After all, America was a country for 250 years before everyone here had equal rights, almost everyone anyway.  Some people say there is much discrimination against a person’s sexual orientation in America.  I think Maher got two separate issues confused here.  He was taking a stance that social change needed to happen in Libya.  This is probably true.  However, it could be said that democracy is the catalyst for social change.  Once these countries obtain democracy, everyone will want their piece of the pie.  It’s a snowball effect that has happened in every democratic society.

The interview was decent.  I was disappointed a little though.  I didn’t think Maher was particularly funny.  A little bit of comedy is generally something that I expect during an interview with a comedian.  Also, I felt as if Spitzer was overly agreeing with Maher.  It seemed as if Spitzer was lobbing pitches up and letting his guest hit homeruns.  From what I hear, Spitzer is supposed to make an appearance on Maher’s show in the near future, so that could be why.  “In the Arena” was at least a little bit better than “Parker/Spitzer,” but I don’t think I’m going to set the DVR to record anytime soon.   

Here's part of the Bill Maher interview on "In the Arena."  Post your comments and opinions!

Maher: Mideast needs a sexual revolution.

  

Agents of Logic (and our place in modern society)

Well, guys, here it is:  My first blog.  I started this blog because it is a project for my "Media and Society" class.  Needless to say, many of you aren't going to care about my first five or so blog postings because they will be dealing with my interactions with the media on a day to day basis and will be written for a grade.  However, I am hoping that this blog will open up a way for me to discuss a lot of things including politics, religion, science, music, my band, night life, food, wine, and anything else that I take a great interest in.

What is an "agent of logic" anyway?  An "agent of logic" is someone who investigates the science of reasoning.  This person doesn't take life at face value, but digs deeper into things to gain true understanding.  Agents of logic aren't victims of dogma or status quo; their ability to question everything and challenge authority sets them apart from the rest of programmed society.  In my opinion, to be a good journalist you really must posses this quality.  In this blog I hope to entertain, inform, expose, and enlighten.  I'll try to include a lot of videos, pictures, and other fun stuff to keep things interesting.  Speaking of, here's a video of a band that I love called "A Wilhelm Scream."