movie quotes in my conversations

video games for boys

bondock saints

my favorite movie is boondock saints. If you have not seen it, i would highly recommend it if you can't handle the language. the interesting thing about this movie is that it was going to come to theatres the week after the Columbine shooting. It never even came to alot of theatres because of the subject matter. I must wonder if the people who control the movies think we are that open to suggesting. If not, then i wonder why they choose to pull the movie from theatres. The director had a chance to have such a hit, but he got cheated out of his glory because no one got to see his work.
Teaching idea: how does the government and society make choices for us about the media we consume?

family guy

So, I love family guy. Next to "what not to wear," it is my favorite show. The problem is, I am not allowed to watch it in my apartment because my room mates find it offensive... which it is... which is why I love it. I watch family guy almost every night over at my best friend Jason's house. We both love it and have a similar sense of humor. So, I think what this post is really about is media and how it is received in different cultures and communities. Obviously family guy is accepted in most college communities, but not so much in the BYU community because of its offensive nature. Likewise, nude art or models are not exactly favored on our campus. I suppose that is not really media, but it is a mixed media i guess... anyway, as for using this idea in my future classroom, I am going to have to be careful what I bring into the school because it may be something that I accept in my own culture, but it may be frowned upon in the school community.

missionary letters

So, I wrote a post a while back about my aunt and the e-cards she sends me and how fake I think they are. It made me think that I kinda do the same thing. I have been writing to a missionary for almost 2 years now. We dated before he left, but we are currently just "friends." In my letters I talk about church. I write little scriptures in the margins. I never talk about my dating life or anything like that, even though it is a huge part of my life. I am editing myself through my letters. I know that he only knows what I tell him, and so I only tell him things I want him to know. It's really strange. I almost feel like I'm lying to him, but I guess, like i put in my last post... I'm just making myself better through media.

Idea: how do we act differently when we are not face to face with someone?

post secret

There is a website that I check every single Sunday morning. It is Postsecret.com. PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard. It started out as a small community art project in NY and has since grown to be a country wide phenomenon. the founder, Frank Waren, gives lectures and has galleries everywhere. he has also come out with a few books, filled with peoples secrets. I own 2 of them myself and love to read them. I really feel connected with the people who send in their secrets, even though I have never met them. The secrets range from sweet, to funny, to sad, and sexual. It covers all range of human nature and I think that is why I love it. I have sent in many a secret myself. I have never seen any of mine again posted on the website or in a book, but it is therapeutic to know that at least someone, (Frank,) knows my secret. I have every intention on starting a project like this in the school that I will end up at. I think it builds community and helps people. I guess that is my teaching idea. I am going to do this with my students.
Here are some links if you want to read more:
http://postsecret.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2204279126
http://www.postsecretcommunity.com/

online greeting cards

So, my aunt sends me online greeting cards for every single holiday that there is. The funny thing is, is that it seems like a nice gesture, bu honestly, shes crazy and mean to me whenever we are actually in the same space. She puts up this sweet front, like, "Look how thoughtful I am and how much I care because I go to americangreetings.com and send the same e-card to everyone I know!" On top of which, the cards she sends me are so annoying that I can only ever get through about 1/3rd of the song or cartoon before i close the window and never even get to see the message she attached.

here is an example:
http://www.americangreetings.com/ecards/view.pd?i=462926004&m=1693&rr=y&source=ag999

just go there and see how long you can watch that before your eyes cross and you start loosing blood from your ears. i give you about 30 seconds.

really this post is more about putting up a front through media than the actually media itself. I think we all do this. It's like online dating. we put up a media front to make us seem better than we really are.

lesson plan: In the mask club 2 weeks ago Cyrano de Bergerac, we saw 2 men who were both flawed. one was good looking and one was eloquent but ugly. They worked together to woo a woman. The eloquent one was using his words to make him appear better than he really was. this could lead to a discussion on trustworthy information on the internet. How accurate are things when no one must be accountable for the media they produce?