RIP to the Code

The Chicago Code was a new TV show that just came out this winter on Fox that turned out to be a very short lived one. I admit that one of the main reasons that I watched this show was because it was shot in my current hometown and it had a very "Chicago" feel to it with the characters and the landmarks that were represented. It was still a very solid police drama, however, and the themes of taking down corruption and the complex characters provided a needed twist on a very stale genre. The viewership was not terrible, but it was nothing groundbreaking either and the show received solid critical reviews. All of this would seem to lead to the show being renewed for at least one more season by Fox, but unfortunately it did not. The reason behind this is obvious and it has everything to do with money. Instead of picking up this show, that has to pay writers and actors, Fox will continue to stick with their reality TV lineup, and since the show did not bring in a large enough viewership, they don't think that it is worth it to renew a solid new cop drama. Another factor that goes into Fox's decision is probably that Chicago Code was shot on location in Chicago, which adds to the cost of the show, rather than it being shot in a studio in LA. In any case I wish that Fox would have given the Code another chance next season, as I think that with a little more advertisement, they could have brought in a lot of viewers.

Hannah Free: The Power of Love

Even though, I'm writing an extensive paper on the matter, I thought I'd touch on the film I saw today called Hannah Free. The movie is about a lesbian couple that grows up together. Their love is challenged by pressure and societal strains to adhere to society's norm of sexual orientation and gender roles. This film was inspiring for me and I'm not even a member of the LGBT community. I saw the film as inspirational and empowering because some of my friends are gay and have gone through struggles of the same types of situations. Even though I am straight, this story still impacted me; I see it as one of the most powerful love stories. All they wanted was to be together, and because it is frowned upon by society, they had to fight to have a legitimate relationship. The dominant group (straight) tried to override the ‘other’ group (gay). This is a prime example of how fears of the ‘other’ group, shapes societal norms and group people into different categories. It’s sad to see ignorance limit the quality of life that some people have. Some homophobic people, the masses of homophobes in general limit the freedom or quality of life of homosexual individuals, gay or lesbian. I would refer this film to anyone and everyone that wants to be moved by something and feel love. Gay or straight, this film will touch you and show you the power of love.

Happy Ending?

As an avid movie watcher I have come across the wonderful film of “Thelma and Louise” about a year ago and the story of friendship and women empowerment was something quite different. Today I came across the article in Yahoo regarding this film in discussion to the memorable “fly off the cliff” ending in cinematic history. According to the article by Matt McDaniel, there was an alternate ending which reminded me about the semiotic reading of films. The original ending was to have the main characters fly off their ’66 Thunderbird convertible off the cliff and have the detective Hal chase after them and gaze down the canyon then gathering the police forces around as a montage of Thelma and Louise begin to play. It is said that the ending that we all know, shows a more hopeful ending, it manages to give the audience freedom to draw out the conclusion if the women survived or managed to go into a more metaphorical bitter sweet ending. As the ending shows them hold hands, drive off the cliff and the picture freezes with the car in mid air the screen goes into a white fadeout. McDaniel, discusses that when the movie was shown to audiences they said that the white fadeout gave a different meaning rather than actually seeing the car drop down. The semiotic readings really managed to alternate depending on the simple contexts of just seeing a car drop or freeze over, which I totally agree upon as I felt that the freezing of the car in mid air managed to show the women be more triumphant in their journey.

Article: http://blog.movies.yahoo.com/blog/1399-thelma-louise-opened-20-years-ago-almost-ended-differently

Gleeks becoming part of The New Directions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9_HK2dlCPk

So by now, everyone has at least heard of the show Glee (this class alone has referenced it plenty of times). The show is great, in my opinion, I'm almost crying now watching their rendition of "Because I Knew You." And now that the show has taken off it's gotten extreme ratings and feedback from fans across the country.
The producers of the show (from what I know) have begun a few different competitions for the fans, now. The first has to do with the commercial posted above. Fans are encouraged to create their own "See the U.S.A." Chevy song and submit it online, the winner's video will actually be made into a Chevy commercial.
The second fan-friendly competition is a television show that allows aspiring singers the chance to win a spot on Glee. Although this show is only open to people with some actual talent, it's still a way to draw people in and create and ever larger hype around this norm-busting series. I think both are great, they allow people to express not only their love and devotion for the show, but also their dreams singing/acting and being a part of something bigger than themselves.

Vampire Victims

So I am a fan of the vampire culture and I can't get enough of it. Though being in this class, I have begun to analyze the content of these shows and movies. One of my favorites is the Vampire Diaries that comes on the CW. In the show, there are three main characters, Alana, Damon, and Stephen. The premise of the show consists of the the two men, who are vampires, saving Alana from sudden danger. The writers always make her a victim. The fact that they are both in love with her adds to their need to save her. When looking at the female human characters in the vampire culture, you realize that they are always troubled in some sort of way. Alana's parents died and she runs into these vampire brothers who bring her life trouble making her the damsel that they enjoy saving. Another thing that bothers me in this show is the way that the vampires kill. When it is a male that they are murdering it is done in a very agressive and careless way. However, when they kill women they over sex it and draw it out. There have been multiple occasions in the show when the vampires say that they enjoy chasing the female before they kill her. What does this say about the vampire culture that we as Americans cling to.

End of the World

I’m not sure how many people heard about this, but May 20^th was the first time I heard about the “end of the world” and not only was the world going to end, but it was going to end at 6:00pm. Some people actually believed Harold Camping when he began to spread the word that Judgement day was coming. Harold Camping told his followers that they should either donate or prepare for “Judgment Day.” A lot of people took money out of their savings, retirement funds, and other resources in order to donate. Robert Fitzpatrick spent $140,000 on billboards advertising May 21^st as the Day the world was going to end. After the fact, Camping issued a statement saying that because of the True believers “prayers,” God listened and decided to not “end the world.” I find this humorous, however, this even brings up the question of the way we use and interact with media. Some use media for very significant and positive life changing purposes and some scare the hell out of you with it. I can only imagine how some people who actually believed the world was going to end felt up until the 6:00 hour. The amount of fear had to have been unbelievable. Also, not to mention, the amount of money many people spent out of fear. This is similar to the radio scandal of 1938 when Orson Welles played War of the Worlds and many believed that the world was going to end. We have to think about the way in which we use the media to send messages because to the media illiterate person, the media can be extremely dangerous.

Do you take Credit Card? YES!

Square is here! Square let's anybody be confident and capable of accepting credit cards anywhere! This is great news for small and large business owners. Users pay no monthly fee to use this service, like many other credit card services such as Verifone, and offers a flat fee of 2.75 % per swipe. Seasonal companies will no longer have to worry about year round credit card services they don"t even use. Square sends all of it's users a free iPhone /Android compatible dongle which hooks to each devices headphone jack. Users launch the Square app and set the price for the item they are selling . Shortly after, users can write a description or take a picture of the item they are selling. This can all be sent as an invoice or receipt to the buyers email. Buyers are then prompted to swipe and sign with their finger shortly after. One does not have to even own a business to use it. One could even use it in a small garage sale. As cool as this is, there are social and ethical implications to this. Drug dealers and prostitutes could get a hold of this and make fake transactions for illegal goods and services. The Square service is easy to obtain requiring merely a social security number to get started. Technology is scary! -V.F