Body Image

I've been thinking about body image a LOT lately. Here is just one blob that I wrote a while back that I wanted to get out of my binder, so I am posting it here. It is very hard for me to watch extremely beautiful women label themselves with negative terms. At first I was angry at them for criticizing their size 0-1 waistline and their beautiful hands and face. Especially because they look so good. They are flawless in my eyes. It is frustrating because I have so many more things "wrong" with my appearance than they do. That is when I realized the big problem. I am comparing! Although they are beautiful, they are too. A while back a male blogger posted about The Disease Called Perfection. This post was a beautiful articulation of what many people are feeling in life. I am trying to change my perspective on things, but it is difficult in the world we live in. So, in good measure... I am sorry to all the beautiful women that I get mad at because you are beautiful. I'm sorry for hating on you. I'm sorry that you probably have difficult things in your life that I don't know about.  I'm sorry that I don't give enough love to you so you start feeling better about yourself. I'm just sorry. I'm especially sorry to all my friends that I don't take the chance to tell you that you are beautiful.

Harry Potter Tribute

I wanted to tribute Harry Potter on my personal blog, but I thought this was a more appropriate place. Of course the last time I posted was when I saw the HP7 Trailer. So, I would like to tribute this blog to all the movies. All of the books that I have just read and am still reading. This is for an amazing run that changed the world. I hope something better comes along next. 

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

 

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phenoix

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

 

AWESOME!!!

Background

It seems my old background has been deleted. I liked it but I found a new one. Pretty girlish for someone like me. But this blog is just for fun.

Harry Potter

Lack of Media

I just noticed that as soon as school got out I am lacking in my media consumption. First, there has been a significant decrease in the amount of emails I receive each day. Second, no one has continued to post on their blogs that I enjoyed looking at throughout the semester. Third, I don't have to code movies anymore. Finally, due to the lack of time during finals I am cleaning up my apartment. Thus, my television viewing is yet again being displaced. Maybe once I finish all my school and housework I will finally be able to enjoy some good ol' television.

I feel happy.

Well, I just finished one of my three essays that are due in the next week. I feel happy. Except the pain I feel in my eye. Also, I was reading the article about the student emmy's that BYU received down in LA this past weekend. This made me happy because one of my friends in my ward was the co-producer of the animation that won. Also, he was my home teacher. He got a job at Pixar and I'm so excited for him! I feel happy. Until tomorrow...

Good Find.

Commonsensemedia.org

A friend told me about this website. I'm sure there are a lot out there like this one, but I thought it was a cool resource for parents.

Product Placement

I'm currently watching Bones and there was a huge product placement!!!!!! One character said "Why do you have a mini-van, do you have kids we don't know about." The other says, "Honey, I'm an artist, the Sienna provides me..." I lost track of what she said after that because I was in shock. Also during the commercials there have been a few different ones about the Toyota Sienna. Seems like they are trying to do a huge job to get their product out there. It worked, I noticed. However, I won't be buying a Sienna anytime soon. Maybe more about this later.

Books

Here are books that I've read in the past two semesters for FUN! (This has never happened in my lifetime, so it makes me happy.)

This list of books is aside from the wonderful text books my professors allow me to read. I have a list for the summer that I want to accomplish because I plan on sitting on the grass all summer. I'm stoked to think about the future of my academic life aside from my formal education. I'm getting educated with all the things I missed out on as a kid. It will be great. If you have any recommendations please let me know. (Next on my list is The Hunger Games!)

Bones Again.

FYI, Bones will be on starting April 1st, and it will be on for 8 WEEKS in a ROW!

New Favorite Video

 I found this video somehow and right now I'm in love. I also love Katharine McPhee so this is AWESOME! However, the video is only good until the last 30 seconds. Then it gets a bit crazy. At this point I don't feel like it is too inappropriate. Also, the video isn't that great quality, but it is still fun. As a side note, I haven't watched Bones in weeks. APRIL 1st! I CAN'T WAIT!

Media and the Family

This topic is the reason I wanted to study in the Department of Communications. Ironically this is not what I'll be doing my thesis on this time. However, I do have many new thoughts about the media and the family. Last semester I wrote a literature review about how families and the media interact. One thing we didn't mention a ton about in class today is how families communicate about the media and how that influences the way they communicate in other situations. I find that different types of families use the media to teach or to discipline in many different ways. (That was the end of my random thought.)

One question I wanted to ask to everyone is, where is your television located in your home? Is it the focal point of the front room? Is it hidden unless being used? Is it on the floor, table, stool, etc.? How do you think the position of the television in our home reflects or influences our television use?

For a long time I've been wanting the television out of my house because it is always staring at me when I am working on my school work on the couch. [This is not my house but this gives you an idea about what it was like last week. The TV was staring at you when you sat on the couch across from it. It was up on a pedestal and there was no way to cover it up unless you actually put a piece of fabric over the thing.]

I would get really frustrated almost daily because I would turn on the TV when I should have been working on something more important. I am happy to say, I've found an alternative solution to getting rid of the television! [This picture is weird because I took it with my computer.]

Put your television in a not so obvious place. Our television is now located in the bookshelf and it is not right in front of me when I am working on important things. I don't even really consider turning it on anymore. IT IS GREAT! I can still watch television comfortably when I want to, but it isn't the center of attention, the center of my family room, or the center of my LIFE!

Our family room is now WAY more conducive for people to visit with each other. The couches are across from each other and our two big chairs make the room more circle like. The television is not included in the circle anymore and it makes me feel so good. FREEDOM!!!!!

The Media is Ruining My Life: Potpourri

I picked a contradictory major. I am required to use the media constantly, but I'm also told how bad the effects can be. How am I supposed to work with both

(new subject) For some reason after the body image lectures I always feel super weird/angry/other feelings. I don't know why. It happened in Adolescence and in the Media class. I don't know why I get this gut wrenching feelings after the lecture, but I always freak out. I leave and go tell Kendall about all the things we learned about and then am thinking WAY too much about it for the next week. Our bodies are so amazing. Look at these muscles. Even with whatever is on top of the muscles we need to remember that our body does such amazing things.

 Why do we tend to get so concerned with this?

I mean really, who wants to tell me that the woman on the right is not totally beautiful the way she is without the changes. If you would have put the right picture on the front cover I still would have thought she is beautiful. Why do they have to make women (Faith Hill in this case) unrealistic? Women can't even be like that in real life. We all love looking at Aliens!

I mean (new subject) Wednesday I was shopping for swimsuits online. I have no idea why, I don't even like to go swimming. I was looking around and I was wondering what size and thinking about measuring, buying something and then having to return it, etc. Online shopping is smart but not. Here are some modest swimwear websites that my sister-in-laws introduced me to. Lime Ricki Hapari Diviine ModesTee

My next thought is also about body image. I've been debating getting a new iPod to encourage me to "work out." I guess not specifically for body image reasons, but it still applies. I want to be healthy. Since starting grad school my health has gone out the window. I feel crappy almost everyday because I never have a chance to do anything physical. If I do get a chance and take it, I feel guilty because I'm not working on school stuff or working, etc. Some might say that I could be running or whatever now, bc it is taking me a million minutes to write this post. What did I tell you... The media is ruining my life! I finally gave up the idea for an iPod/MP3 Player until I can prove to myself that I'm actually going to do some exercise. I also can't decide what color I want. Lame.

Last media thing, now that I've been on the Internet for so long I can't even remember why I got on the computer. Probably to be productive or something... I guess that's not going to happen anymore.

Technology

This weekend I went to a conference in Vegas. It was okay. One thing that I was blown away by was the fact that some people just read their papers for their presentation. I spent a ton of time making a power point and preparing this presentation so it would not be boring. These people just sat there and read their paper. It was super boring. I hope that doesn't happen again at the next conference I attend.

Tweek. vs. The Hunger Games

I just found out something totally disturbing. I was talking to my brother about his life on Sunday and I could not believe this. He read the book Tweek (that we talked about)! I asked him why and he said because his friend gave it to him. I was astonished. I decided that he needed some better reading choices so I'm buying him The Hunger Games series. He is only 15 years old, and is totally a great kid who is sad when his Mormon friends say bad words around him. AND HE READ THE BOOK! I didn't even know what to say. I felt like I should somehow debrief him about whatever he read. I'm just excited to read this series along with him and then we can chat about the content together. I hope he enjoys it too. It was so fun to talk to him. I forgot how hard being an adolescent is when your brain is not all the way developed. It just sounds like he is going through some hard things and I'm so unsure how to help him. I love my brothers so much and I hope I can influence them to do good in the world.

Assignment

My Sexual Content Assignment was anticlimactic. Due to all the House and Bones I watch I thought I would find a ton. There is always sexual content in these shows. However, in the episodes I watched for the assignment I didn't find that many references. I was so surprised.

Friday night was the first time in a long time that I fell asleep watching television (Bones). I woke up with a sore throat. I will never fall asleep on the couch again. I think it was contaminated. I had to miss the new episode of Bones last week because I was busy doing other things. Other media related things. Last week was a good week. This week is not so good and it is only Monday.

I present a paper on Saturday in Las Vegas. I'm totally scared.

Grades.

I was thinking about doing a media fast because I thought Kaylee had a great idea. I think my life would be changed for the better even in just one day. I would be much more productive and have more opportunities to feel the Spirit. However, I realized that my fast would be from blogging and television. I don't do facebook or music. However, my grade for this class is dependent on both blogging and the television. So, I cannot escape the media even if I wanted to. Talk about a media saturated world. Think about a media saturated career and major. I wonder if I will ever be able to escape.

Note: I could do the fast over the summer, but I don't have a job or school. So, I would require myself to watch at least one hour a day because the rest of the day I would be trying to find things to do. (That made better sense in my head.)

OhhhOOOOooooo!

Thank goodness the Olympics are over. Back to my normal media use habits which are much healthier than that of the past two weeks. I also cried when O Canada was playing after the hockey game. I can't wait for not crying so much when national anthems are played.

Next, I am hoping to run reliability (RA Teen Movie Study) again today after double checking how the document was put together. I've made some adjustments and found some mistakes. I've also cleaned the data to find typos and other things that may have influence on the number running. I think this will actually help the situation. If not I'm convinced that we will need to have another meeting and that I will need to learn how to be a better leader. (Sad Face)

Also, House and Bones are both on again this week and I'm happy. However, sad because I will be gone on Thursday night and I'm going to miss Bones.

Another media thing I am doing this week is book club. I'm having it at my house this week, but I didn't read the book because of mid-terms. That is also sad. However, I should be making some good desserts.

Lastly, I wish I was more creative.

I had to post it too.

Library Audiobooks

I'm struggling with library audiobook selection. Everything that I want to read there is not something available for a Mac Computer. I've downloaded programs and all these things to get it to play and it still will not download. Even for a book that I don't want to read. I cannot figure it out. I've tried BYU, Provo, and Sacramento Libraries. LAME. I guess I'm actually going to have to put forth the effort to read a book instead of listen to one. I was hoping I could wash the dishes at the same time. Oh how I rely on media to fulfill all of my immediate needs. How ridiculous? I think I am going to take Kaylee's suggestion to go on a media fast sometime. Maybe during finals it would help me out. I would do it for the whole month of April if I could convince my husband.

Happy.

So I got to watch it! Yes. I love watching the real thing instead of the live feed. Also, I knew some of the stuff before it was actually shown on TV. I don't know if that is good or bad.

Sad.

I'm so sad because my husband is using the TV to show his brother some home videos and I want to watch the Ice Skating finals. Maybe this is a sign that I should be working on my midterm. Ahhhhh. I can only watch a live feed online. That is nothing compared to actually watching them skate. It is right before the last group of women skaters. What can I do? Nothing. Lame. I want to at least watch the American girl and the top 3 so basically all of them. GEEEE!

Who would have thought?

That curling was exciting? I watched curling on Friday night for over an hour and I was so into the sport. I still don't really understand what they are saying, or why you would ever want to play. However, it was so fun to pick a team and want them to win. It was also fun to look on Wiki to actually find out what the objective is of the game. I'm still unsure of many of the rules, but it was so interesting to watch the strategy. If you ever get the chance to watch it... I would at least attempt to watch one round. I found it intriguing.

Entertainment Theory

We talked about entertainment theory in my media effects class today. It isn't actually a theory, but it is an idea (many theories) about how entertainment media effects an audience. We talked about how we perceive and respond to media characters. I started to reflect on how I feel about Brennen and Booth. I really love them. "Why," you ask? We should all think about why we like and relate to media characters.

I like them because... they are predictable, they are fun, and they NEVER LET ME DOWN. I always know what they are going to do and I feel like I don't have to guess how to interact with them. I could probably tell you what they would each do in various situations. I know that I will laugh when I'm with them. I also know that they will succeed in their endeavors to catch the bad guys. Compared to real life where everything is unpredictable and you don't always win, Brennen and Booth always pull through for me.

We also talked about television and arousal which I semi posted about when I talked about crying during commercials and the Olympics. However, we also talked about mood management theory and I truly believe that media is strictly used to manage our moods. Why do you think we ask, "What do you feel like watching?" Even when I use media to check the weather it is usually because I want to anticipate what to wear so I'm not annoyed if I am too cold.

The last thing we talked about was empathy. Are women or men more vulnerable to media effects because of their ability to empathize? What are the effects of massive exposure to emotionally charged images? I don't really know the answer to the second question, but I'm going to be thinking about it and hopefully discovering how I feel about emotionally charged images. Please post links to any images that were emotionally charged for you (anything that evokes emotion for you, keep it appropriate) in your comments.

Tears.

I'm pretty sure I cry when anything exciting, inspiring, sad, etc (ANYTHING) comes on television. I tear up when someone gets into the top 24 on American Idol. I tear up when someone doesn't make it. I tear up when I see someone so proud after a race, performance, etc when they are smiling so big. I tear up when they play the national anthem. I tear up when Visa does those Olympic commercials. GeeeMinnie! I cannot even believe the media does this to me.

I'M PRETTY SURE IT IS THE MUSIC THAT ACTUALLY INFLUENCES MY EMOTIONS MORE THAN I KNOW.

Book Assignment

I know this sounds lame, but I don’t think I had a favorite book as a child or adolescent. I didn’t really read very much. Two of the books I remember (which I assume means they were favorites) are Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Go Dogs Go. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom was a book about the alphabet. The letters were all trying to get up into a palm tree. As each of the letters went up the tree the would say, “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Will there be enough room?”


I’m not sure why I liked this book. I loved the rhyming and clever ideas for the letter, but I think I most of all remember and liked when my dad read it to me. He would get so into reading the book with such passion. Its not the most thrilling book, but when he would read it I remember laughing and saying it along with him. I also remember that with Go Dogs Go. That book was always so fun to read with my dad and I also remember reading both of these books to my younger siblings and having fun with them.

I am also unsure what my favorite book is right now. All I read are textbooks, and I currently do not consider them favorites. I recently just finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows.

I don’t know if it is my favorite, but I did love listening to it and I could hardly put it down. This book is the last in the Harry Potter series and it is about Harry and his friends trying to defeat Voldemort. I think this book interested me because I had seen all of the previous movies and wanted to know more information about Horcruxes. I loved the book because it made reference to events from the previous six books and it was always exciting. I also loved it because I could do the dishes and listen at the same time. It made housework much more enjoyable.

I think the biggest impact that both of these books had on my life is the fact that reading can be for fun and not just for learning. Since reading Harry Potter I’ve tried to find different audio books that I can listen and enjoy while also going to school. I’ve realized that reading or listening for fun can reduce the stress of school and provide productive entertainment (i.e. listening and doing the dishes). By reading Harry Potter I’ve regained the desire to read for pleasure just a bit more. I don’t know if I’ll ever get back to it until after school ends, but I sure want to start reading more.

Lacking of Posts

I just realized that last week was the first week that I only posted once. It must have been a bad week. (It was! Ahhh!) Ironically, I didn't post my book assignment. So, I will do that next. This week I will try to do better. With the Olympics on I feel like I am watching much more television than I usually do. I've really enjoyed some of the Coke commercials (the snowball fight posted below). I've also noticed my own analysis of advertisements and coverage of the Olympics beginning to be more detailed than ever before.

Qualitative Reserach I saw in the Media

Yesterday I watched Oprah while I was doing the dishes. She had an Australian woman on the show who has her PhD in Anthropology. Here is some information about her.

Fiona Graham was born in Australia and has a PhD from Oxford. She attended high school and college in Japan, and returned as an anthropological filmmaker years later to study geisha. "In order to research geisha, I really needed to become one," she says. "It started out as a documentary proposal. But as time went on, it got more serious and in depth, and I decided to continue."

Now Sayuki, she is the only white woman to ever become a full-fledged geisha in Japan.

This started out as a documentary, qualitative research, but has turned into her lifestyle. The geisha culture is private and no one can just come into that culture. She trained for three years to be a geisha!

"Lisa says what Sayuki has accomplished is quite incredible. "[Tokyo] is one of the most hypermodern futuristic cities in the world, but she's existing in 17th-century Japan," she says. "It's pretty extraordinary that she's able to do that."

Sayuki says she's proud to bring a touch of the ancient art of geisha to the modern world. "I think it's a good thing for geisha to be more involved in the center of modern life and more visible to young Japanese women today."

She said that she plans to live the life of a geisha for a long time. She may never finish her "research" because she enjoys the lifestyle.

I just thought it was an interesting story because she integrates herself into this culture and is learning and being accepted as she continues. (Sorry if this doesn't make any sense.) You can find the story on Oprah.com. I'm also advertising for Oprah just like they want me to when the announce that they can find the story on their website. INFORMATION IS EVERYWHERE!

Emotional.

Are you kidding? I cried through the last 30min of Remember the Titans. I could not stop. It is amazing how the music and the media just get you. I've seen this move a million times, I'm pretty sure I knew what was going to happen. Yet I still am crying like a baby. RIGHT NOW!

Bones Again.

I watched 6 episodes of BONES on Saturday and I loved every minute. I also played this new game called Monopoly Deal. I've realized that media is a HUGE part of my life. It is either the computer, the TV, or just thinking about classes on a daily basis. It is always there.

Coding Aggression.

I feel like coding aggression is making me more aggressive. I could do a case study on myself because I'm feeling the "effects" so badly. It took me about 3 hours to code one movie and after I was done I felt like I couldn't control my attitude. I was frustrated and discouraged all night. I'm not sure what else I can blame for my actions. (I needed to vent. I thought that might help.)

Differing Opinions.

Today I had the difficult experience of hearing a friend of mine tell me that her 13 month old daughter knows how to turn on the TV and VCR. The sad part is that she said that her daughter wants to play video games, so she turns off the VCR and turns on the game system. Then the daughter sits and pushes the little buttons and watches the screen move around. She said that she is so happy when she is playing the game even though she doesn't know what she is doing. She was excited that she was teaching her child young to play because she and her husband love to play video games! It broke my heart.

I guess that differing opinion just comes from my experience with television in my own home. It makes me sad that someone so young experiences so much through the television screen.

Quantum Leap.

Every day in class my professor plays 15 min of this show to explain our discussion on qualitative research and naturalistic views. In all reality, he doesn't realize that it is wasting time, and putting us further behind on our discussions. He is going to play it every time for 15 min until the episode is over. I guess some like it because we aren't actually talking about class stuff, but I don't like it. If it was a funny YouTube video maybe, but not this.

Note: One good thing is that we finally got batteries in the remote so we don't have to fast forward through the whole episode. We can skip chapters. It is so much easier that way with DVD technology.

How do you disagree with family? You just don't.

This past weekend I was talking to my husbands extended family about television shows geared towards children. I was actually just listening, but the conversation was very interesting. Someone said that these television shows were not good for children and the mother of the children said, I think that some of them can be good. The teenager said, what shows? The mom said that Dora the Explorer was a great show (or something to that effect). Then the discussion went on with an small argument between the two. However, I couldn't help but think that I disagree completely with the thought that Dora is a great show. It may have the potential, but ... think about this.

A child is sitting in front of the television and Dora asks, "What is 1+1?" As Dora pauses the child answers incorrectly, "1" or "3." Then Dora continues to say, "That's right, 2."

Woah. Now what do you think that is going to do to the child? At that age they are not able to understand why she said that he/she was right, but then said the answer was 2 (which is not what he/she said). How confused do you think this child will be?

I decided not to say anything because I didn't want to criticize her parenting. She is a great mom, but I think there are things about television for children that need to be improved. Another way the show could be successful is if mom sits down with the child and pauses the show to discuss each question Dora asks. Then when they've come up with the correct answer, press play and allow Dora to say, "Great Job." That way Dora is always saying great job to the correct answer, not just any answer. This, however, is not typically the way parents engage in television viewing with their children. Typically the child is plopped in front of the TV to fend for himself while the mom does the dishes. Sad.

Oh Yeah.

I forgot that I was going to write about this. Yesterday in Relief Society we were talking about God's love for his children and our different talents etc.

Quotes from the gospel principles book read, "Joseph Smith taught that 'every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world was [fore]ordained to that very purpose'. However, everyone on earth is free to accept or reject any opportunity to serve."

"We were not all alike in heaven... We possessed different talents and abilities, and we were called to do different things on earth."

The topic of comparing ourselves to others around us came up and all I could think about was blogs. Blogs are such an easy way to compare our lives with other lives. However, blogs are typically fantasy. Does anyone ever really say that they live a horrible life? For the most part, NO. Most posts are about exciting, fun, happy, etc. things that people have in their lives. I think this is a false idea about life. We all need to know that great things do happen, but we typically all have bad days. (We just never tell people about them.) It is easy to compare ourselves to someones perfect life, but we need to remember that it is probably not perfect.

MythBusters

Today my brother-in-law said, "Man, I could watch MythBusters all day." Good thing today was a MythBusters marathon on the Discovery Channel!

P.S. I finished Harry Potter this afternoon. WooHoo! I loved it. Now I need a new audio book to read.

I've never read Harry Potter. Are you serious?

I am serious. I have never read one Harry Potter book in my life. Woah! However, back in August when I went home to visit my family (5 younger siblings) I started my obsession (a little late I know).
My dad had just installed surround sound in the room with the 50 inch big screen television. We were trying to decide what to watch, and we settled on the first 5 Harry Potter movies. Granted I was only there for about a week. Hello, we watched 5 movies so quickly. Every night was a new Harry Potter movie. Well, I had just earlier seen the 6th movie and I needed to know the rest of the story (even though I had previously looked it up on Wiki).
I stumbled upon the audio version of the book (from my cousin) and I started listening on my way home from Texas (20 hour drive). I now listen to it while I am doing the dishes, working, blogging, or whatever!


Okay, okay, I keep getting told that I cannot read the 7th book before I read all the rest. You know what I have to say... YES I CAN! It is awesome. I can't wait to finish and get my hands on the previous books. I am also looking forward to getting other audio books to read while I am doing other things. I love it.
(There was a ton of media in this post!)

Booth & Brennen Kiss

Someone was asking and I checked it out. They kiss in Season 3 Episode 9 "Santa in the Slush" (I didn't actually watch the episode again to check it out, but that is what it says online). P.S. This is one of my favorite Bones episodes regardless of the kiss. The ending is the BEST EVER!

Skype Update.

I was on Skype for more than FOUR hours yesterday. Woah. As I was talking with my dad I remembered the thoughts I had while listening to Elder Andersen's CES Fireside. I had a huge impression to find the Elders who baptized my dad. Wouldn't it be very cool to let them know how grateful I am for what they did for my family. It was awesome too because we were able to look online and I found missionary websites. These sites allow missionaries from any time period to post their information for others to find. Here is the website to my dad's mission as an example. I just looked up his Mission President's name and it gave me Elders and Sisters who served at the same time period. It was so fun to use technology to find friends of my dad.

Note: Another cool thing is that my dad has facebook. That is cool because I DO NOT have facebook and he is learning how to find mission companions as well as the missionaries who baptized him. I still don't know if we will be successful, but it has been really fun searching together.

Skype.

I am so grateful for Skype. This amazing little thing has allowed Kendall and I to talk to his parents in Fort Worth, his brother in Galveston, a family in Mexico, and my parents in Sacramento all on the same night for FREE! It is great. It is almost like being there with each of them. This has changed the meaning of conference calls. I heard there were other programs like this that allowed multiple callers, but I haven't yet figured that out. Someday I will be able to have family reunions online. Awesome! For now, I will stick to the basics.