Assignment 5

In response to the thoughts about citizen journalism I feel as though we are all journalists at one point or another in terms of this blog. A few of the posts I have read have been reports such as the one about ASU beating U of A. I have even written some citizen journal type blogs on here myself. I went to two sights that google said had information on citizen journalism. However upon looking at the sites they were more or less sights with news and happenings. Http://wethemedia.oreilly.com and http://onlinejournalismblog.wordpresss.com are both sites where people go and blog news type publishngs regularly. I think there is a difference between this type of blog and a blog from say Kim Kardashian where she talks about her life and what is happening. These two blogs cover issues which are of no interest to me but I am sure subscribers follow them daily. That is essentially what I think citizen journalism aims to do. Instead of having to purchase a newspaper or waiting for the news someone can just click the link or type in the address and then they have access to the news that they seek. Blogging has become such a mainstream phenomenon that people are talking about everything on their sites. The problem I would have with citizen journalism is where are the bloggers getting their information from. How do we know that what they are saying is credible if they are just some random person who is reporting. On top of that who is to say that they are always gioing to talk about what you need information on. A sports blogger could talk about basketball in one blog and then switch to baseball or hockey which you the reader may have no interest in. Because of that I think that print and broadcast journalism will continue to overshadow the citizen journalism approach but the idea is constantly catching on. Being able to come and write about whatever you want to and getting feed back on your thoughts is definitely an attractive idea to many people. For aspiring journalists such as myself its a great way to practice my writing skills and I think that citizen journalism also incorporates that. The idea that you are the reporter and you are getting a chance to report the issues.

In Limbo

It must be a case of the mondays for sure. As I sit in front of my computer trying to meet the deadline for submission I can not think of a topic to discuss. So for the next however long it takes I am just going to rant on whats is bothering me. For the first thought I have to congradulate ASU on sweeping the nemesis Wildcats for a second consecutive season. Has the tide finally turned in the hoops portion of the duel in the desert. This is the first time in a long time the ASU has won four straight against Arizona and I must admit the basketball team is firing on all cylinders this season. They could be dangerous in the dance considering they have a lottery pick in James Harden and a senior leader in Pendergraph as well as key sharp shooters such as Ty Abbot and Rihardis Khuksis, I am anxious to see what the Devils will do in March. Call this a sports rant if you want to but what were the Suns thinking last week. Were they really toying with the idea of getting rid of Amare Stoudamire. Call me crazy but isnt he an integral part of their arsenal. If the Suns would have traded him they would not have gotten much in return that is for sure not anything that could match the scoring of Stoudemire at least. Now it turns out his season is over and he most likely will not be available for the post season. The Suns are probably doomed even if they make the playoffs. The team is a little older without Amare and they lack his abilities now I love Shaq but I am not sure he complete the "Amare Stoudamire Project" with out the kid. The NFL scouting combine also started last week and what is sad is to hear some of the events that transpired. One player was actually sent home after it was discovered that he had some sort of irregularity that cost him his career. He will not even be able to play football now according to doctors. Another promising player in Michael Crabtree revealed an injury that will sideline him for ten weeks. He is actually pushing back the surgery to perform at the combine but that may hurt him because caches are already weary about his injury. On top of all of that offensive tackle Andre Smith left the combine saying he was not ready and that he had not hired an agent. Honestly what is this kid thinking if I had an oppurtunity to make money playing in the NFL preparation would not be an issue. He stands to make millions being a potential top five pick but not after that display. These are just some of the things I have noticed in the past week in sports as I prepare to go through the boring part of the year where there is not football. Lastly can we drop that which is Alex Rodriguez eight years ago. The guy did something that every one was doing eight years ago and it is a soap opera that will be dragged on into the season. Honestly he admitted to it so drop it.

Blogs, Bloggers, Blogging

So we are in the or fifth week of this school and the question is how do we feel as bloggers right now. After reading the articles I must say that I have not really dived all the way in on this blogging experience. I mean here is a class where we get an oppurtunity every week to wirte about whatever is on our mind and to be creative. I have written some interesting pieces but I do not feel I have fully captured what it means to blog on a weekly basis. Based on the question about democratization I would not say I have been blogging in that manner. This week was the first time that I used an image in my blog and it seems as though everyone else knows how to incorporate images and videos. As for me I am still trying to figure out how to get a you tube video on my blog. (I know that sounds idiotic but I'm not sure how to put a video on). I do to expand on my blogging skills as the weeks progress and hope that by the end of this class I will have gained the knowledge needed to be able to add video to my blogs, hyper links, etc. To this point I have just picked a topic of interest and written about it on a weekly basis. I have not been very consistent touching on everything from sports to the events that transpired between Rihanna and Chris Brown. What I hope to achieve with this blog is to get people to think about different topics and be able to reflect on them. I plan on using the democratization strategy more and figuring out how to add video for the next post. I must say I am barely getting my feet wet and I am ready to dive in.

Week Of Love?

As valentines day weekend ended I sat and thought to myself about the holiday. In our house its a big day because not only is it a "romantic" holiday its also my father's birthday. However this year is a little off for me. With in the past week we have heard about one the music industries sweetest couples suffering the ultimate break up which ended with a pop Princess, Rihanna, battered and bruised by boy toy Chris Brown. One of our fellow bloggers wrote about love and trying to come up with a definition for the word and an origin my question is where is the love this year. It seems as though males are losing their minds. Not only did I hear about a doemstic dispute between these two but I also heard from two different female friends about how their ex boyfriends abused them. This question is what keeps going through my mind how can a man ever lay his hands on a woman. That is something you just do not do. It really irks me when I hear about a man hitting a woman because I just do not feel there is any place in society for it. I just wonder if we can find that love that valentines day is supposed to represent or has the world gone mad. On one of my reality shows that I watch(like none of you watch some sort of reality tv thats all thats basically on) a man and woman get into a confrontation and for a minute I was worried that he was actually going to hit her. I just figured I used this weeks blog to look at this on going situation and wonder what makes it okay? I remember last summer reading a tabloid in which sweet Jessica Simpson admits that she was physically abused in a past relationship. Jessica? How could anyone ever want to lay a finger on her. I do not know whetre these egotistic men get off raising their hands on women but thats what I spent some time thinking about this weekend. Even amidst all the glits and glamour of All Star weekend I coud not get the thought out of my head. I think we as men need to respect our women and not look at them as objects to beat when we can not contorl our temper. I am so worked up that I do not even know how to end this blog so I am just going to be corny and say Leonce out!

assignment

This blog is not going to be very long because like an idiot i waited until the last minute to write it. In short I remember back in 1999 when i first really started using the internet and of course at that time all I really used it for was aim and yahoo messenger. The web sites such as myspace and facebook did not exist yet and I do not think ebay had taken off yet either. The internet has become a great tool and you can do just about anything that you would like to on it in this day an age. Over the past ten years I have watched it grow immensely from a world wide web to you tube to google to espn.com and so on. In watching the video that shows the history of the internet and doing the readings it is safe to say that in the next ten years the internet will expand beyond our wildest dreams. The question I have is what will be the next big wave of internet popularity. Where will the internet be in two years will it eliminate the need for print journalism. How much bigger can blogging actually become.m We dont even have to go to the movies any more you can find a way to get movies on the computer now in their entirety.

assignment two visual

After carefully reading through the assignment and going through all of the articles over the previous weekend I have come to learn a few things about the visual blog. I did not search for other blogs I simply just went to the listed links. Just from viewing those links you come to learn alot about the blogger. I particularly enjoyed the Cheezburger site. ICanhasCheezburger seems to be a site in which cats are the focal point but not just cats. These cats are put into funny situations. There is a picture of a cat hiding in a trash can in which the cat says something along the lines of I am just an unsuspecting trash can throw away your left over meat. I cracked up once I read that and could not help but to continue looking at the pictures which were comical. I do beleieve that pictures help to tell a story and that from looking at images in a web blog you do get some personal insight into what type of person the creator is. If we think about the cheezburger website for example we could assume that the creator has a fondness for cats and making them do silly things. Either that or the person is simply a comic who loves to have fun. Many assumptions can be made just from viewing an image as well as conclusions. When people put together their web blogs and import pictures and youtube videos they are trying to express them selves and their thoughts as well as their interests. One visual blog that I enjoy which may not be a blog is located at vote4amare.com in which the aformentioned NBA star has several videos of himself encouraging visitors to vote him into the All Star game. So blogs do not just tell a story the serve a purpose and that is to get something accomplished. Lastly in posting my very own blog for the first time I am still learning the ropes. Blogging is as foreign to me as the chinese language but I hope that to date my blog says that I am a huge sports fan especially of football. I am sure that most of my blogs will have some thing to do with sports and that you will learn that in my spare time I watch ESPN quite frequently. In fact I know more about what is happening in sports than in any other news medium out there. If you were to ask me what is happening in the world you would get a blank stare but if I was asked what major news happened in sports Id say Steelers are world champs, Nadal and Serena win the Australian open, and Michael Phelps is under scrutiny for recent bong related photos. What can I say I am the epitomy of a sports nut.

Historic Game

So by now if you have not noticed Im very fond of football. Im actually cringing as I write this because there will be no football until August which saddens me deeply. Last night's game will go down in history as one of the better super bowls whether you look at James Harrison's one hundred yard interception return, Larry Fitzgerald's amazing fourth quarter, or Big Ben connecting with Santonio Holmes for the game winning touch down. This game had all the drama, glitz, and glamour that make the super bowl the spectacle of the year. Though some of the commercials were questionable (see Macgyver spoof probably on youtube) there were definitely some laughs in between the drama. One that comes to mind is definitely the etrade commercials with the talking baby who called someone a shankapotamus. If you turned the game off after its conclusion then you more than likely missed it. There were also previews for yet another Fast and Furious movie and perhaps the more highly anticipated sequal to Transformers due out this summer. As a watched the drama unfold I sat and thought to myself about what it is that the Superbowl represents to me. These days I have jopined the copuntless fans who watch the event every year no matter if their team made it or not just because of the drama. I thought about the ads that are ran and the two million dollars spent to get a commercial slot during the game. I came to one conclusion sometime in my life I must somehow get involved with the Superbowl, whether I one day make it as an analyst on sportscenter or if I work for one of those companies that shells out the money to have their commercial ran. My long time dream is to be a sports writer and work my way to ESPN somehow but to be involved with the Superbowl would be a dream. Lastly I have to touch on what we witnessed last night and that was a team from Arizona that no one picked to do anything hold their own against a "scary" defense. The cards continued to fight and move the ball against what was labeled the best defense in the conference and even after the final touchdown they were moving the ball. Whose to say if Warner and Big Red did not have another minute or so the outcome could have been different. Now we have to wait a year to see what unfolds and if it is not apparent getting to the Superbowl is not easy. It will be easy to see how things unfold next year for the Cardinals will they bounce back and be just as good if not better or was this just a fluke season. I know one thing all eyes will be on Big Red and the rest of the nfl next year.