Sunday, April 15, 2012

I've seen some of these operation beautiful sticky notes across campus. It's a really neat version of nonverbal communication! The world needs more positivity like this!
PERFECT example of Hegel's marking one's territory for self-validation. Here, one of my friends signed the library beam so that they could forever be a part of the building! I thought it was really neat that Grand Valley gave the students this opportunity.
Throughout the lecture on satire, I kept thinking about the recent popularity of memes. I think that they're  a perfect modern example because you have to be a part of a given culture to understand why they're funny.
Went to the Children's Museum with Jasmine this weekend. She had never played piano before and so she was teaching herself simple songs like Row Row Row Your Boat. It reminded me of the lecture where we talked about expectation in music. As she was playing, it made me uneasy because I knew what the next note should be, but she was still slowly figuring it out. Also, all the 'easy' songs were in a major key.
This is a PERFECT example of biased reporting, after seeing this, I was extremely disappointed in Cosmo's professionalism. This is a graphic showing who Cosmo ranks as 'hot' and 'not' for the month. At the very bottom it reads: "Sam Worthington- You know why you're here, Sam. Please lose our number." I wasn't aware of him doing anything notably bad recently, and when I looked him up online all I found was an article calling out Cosmo's bias! My only guess is that he refused an interview with the magazine or something really dumb. I just can't believe how this got though the editors!
I thought it was a great show but also really enjoyed people watching. I have a broad range of music tastes and so I've been to some very different concerts. A few thing I noticed about country fans: tons of men- more than I've ever seen at any other concert and everyone dresses the same- flannel shirts, cowboy hats (for men) and short cotton dresses and cowboy boots (for girls). I've never seen this kind of 'dress code' before! Some over-arching themes: beer, pickup trucks, family, patriotism.
I went to the Justin Moore concert and I thought it was really humorous that they wouldn't allow cameras into the show. It's not like everyone doesn't have a phone that's totally capable of taking pictures and recording video! Here, you can see a combo of lighters and cellphones in the air during a slow song.
Next month, Cosmo Magazine will be releasing its Latina Magazine in Spanish. I think it's good that they are beginning to cater to this growing audience in the United States.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Msnbc.com is set as my homepage and its usually my #1 source for news. I tried to figure out why I chose this source over the millions of others available. The only reason I can think of is growing up my family's internet provider was MSN. I always had msnbc stories popping up on my homepage then, and I guess I just continued to stick with what I was familiar with.
Turned on the news this morning while eating breakfast. The news anchor was interviewing Governor Snyder.
Listening to the radio as background music in the car on the way to the mall. This radio was in a brand new car and it was touch screen, I want one!
In his room, Jordan has several framed posters of his favorite bands. He really enjoys listening to classic rock albums on his record player. He shows his love for music by decorating his room with it!
I really think that everyone has a space that really expresses who they are as a person. At my boyfriend's house, I think this corner of his bedroom really captures him. By looking at this single picture you can learn that he likes to snowboard, watch the Red Wings, and do art.
My boyfriend recently got a Kindle. I found it interesting that it shows advertisements when it's off to keep the price down.
I often blame technology for American culture becoming so isolating and individualistic. But here's a case where the opposite happened! I went to my boyfriend's house for Easter weekend and his entire family got together to play Wii bowling. This is a picture of his 96 year old grandma playing!
I went to the playground with the girl I mentor, and she's really mature for her age. We were going down the slide and she looked up and said "ugh I hate it when teenagers write on things, it's so dumb." I took a picture of it because it's a perfect example of Hegel's self-validation by marking territory.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

I thought this cartoon fit in really well with this class. It goes along with McLuhan's saying "with every step forward, we lose something." This cartoon implies that we are cycling back to the beginning of communication when all humans did was grunt.
I think tattoos play a crucial role in nonverbal communication. One of my roommates is kind of obsessed with getting tattoos and all of them are of words. I personally think they are really hard to read and I don't like them. But what she decides to ink onto her body for the rest of her life really says a lot about her as a person.
Found this video (ironically from twitter). Tracy Morgan jokes about Twitter and how he feels limited by saying something in less that 140 characters.
For April Fools day my boyfriend and I changed our relationship status to single on Facebook. Right after he changed it, all these ads popped up on the side of his page! Its so freaky how advertisers have all this information about you.
I swear this wasn't posed! I've noticed since Grand Valley started the USA Today newspaper exchange, I have seen a lot more students reading the newspaper around campus.
I took this picture a few years ago, but it's one of my favorites. I think it really captures the vibrancy of NYC, and also shows the extreme commercialism.
Some of my neighbors brought out a radio to listen to while they played beach volleyball.
I went shopping for summer clothes over the weekend and I noticed that stores are getting really clever! I'm always the person who says 'no you can't have my email or phone number,' but this time I was convinced by two stores! World Market had an appealing rewards program and they were very insistent I sign up for it. Khols printed out a sheet while I was waiting for my transaction to go through and the lady asked me to write down my email address 'just real quick.'