Each week I rush to the library to read the latest issue of Sports Illustrated. Unlike most readers who read the cover then flip to the first page, I on the other hand go to the back page before all else. This is because one of my favorite journalists, Rick Reilly, has occupied this page with his weekly columns for as long as I can remember.
Reilly isn't the normal sports journalist, however, which is why I like his stuff so much. He doesn't do the same old, tired topics all the time. He strives to find unique and interesting personal stories by making the extra effort to look for and research them. In Reilly's view, every person has a story to tell, whether they are famous or not. He rarely covers professional sports in his writings, instead opting for areas that don't receive the publicity they deserve. One can find Reilly giving due to Division III athletics, cheerleading or special olympics, among other topics.
In this week's edition, Reilly writes about a 60 year old man from a small town in Vermont with cerebral palsy named Buth Varno. Varno has attended almost every Middlebury College football and basketball game since he was a teenager. It is a tradition that begun when he was 13 that students from the college would drive to his house to pick up him and his wheelchair to take him to whichever athletic event. He sits field/courtside every game and has even given pre-game speeches to the teams. He loves the tradition at Middlebury: "These kids care about me. They don't have to, but they do. I don't know what I'd do without them."
I think it's great that Reilly takes the time to look for and write these emotional, feel-good stories that otherwise would never be heard or told. He goes beyond sports to show that there is so much more to them than just the athletes. I think this is the message or "dominant reading" that Reilly tries to imply each week. That is what he wants his readers to take away. His column is how he reflects/constructs reality. He links the media to the real world in this way as well. His column is his discourse, the way in which his ideas are expressed. His readers will interpret his text in their own way each week on the last page of SI.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Friday, September 21, 2007
Petar Jankovic performance
For this week's blog, I am going to talk about a forum event I attended this week and how it relates to our class discussions. I went to see Petar Jankovic perform classical guitar Tuesday night and he was incredible. He was definitely a master of classical guitar and it was obvious to detect his passion while playing for his audience. I can't even begin to think about how many times he has strummed a guitar while practicing in order to play perfection. Just watching his hands move so fast but yet so gracefully was amazing all by itselft.
Jankovic's performance was also a text, since we learned that anything thing that can be interpreted or "read" is considered a text. In class we used a wedding ring as an example. By itselft, it is just a piece of metal. However, when it is put under textual analysis it has a much larger meaning. It symbolizes marriage, a lifelong committment, not available, off the market, taken, etc. Jankovic's performace was also had a deeper meaning that what was on the surface. He was simply a man with a piece of wood with strings on it but he was able to make magnificent sounds through his instrument.
While listening to Jankovic play, I tried to envision what his music was expressing since there were no lyrics. I imagined such things as sunsets and Spanish people dancing and felt things like loneliness and calmness. Just as texts have dominant readings and alternative readings, interpretations of Jankovic's music differ from person to person depending on how they read his text.
We also discussed semiology, the science of signs and study of sign systems. Sings are similar to texts. This is what I came up with when I applied semiology to Jankovic's performance. The sign was the music that Jankovic was playing, the signifier was Jankovic and his guitar, and the signified was whatever meaning the members of the audience were constructing.
As we see, semiology can be a great tool to use for media analysis. It's advantages include its practicality, which gives us guidlines of what to look for when we face an image. It also compares the wider social and cultural meanings of the sign or text. What I like best is that by breaking signs into signifiers and signifieds helps to understand that texts are constructions of meaning. Jankovic's text was amazing and I'm pretty sure that was agreed on by the entire audience.
Jankovic's performance was also a text, since we learned that anything thing that can be interpreted or "read" is considered a text. In class we used a wedding ring as an example. By itselft, it is just a piece of metal. However, when it is put under textual analysis it has a much larger meaning. It symbolizes marriage, a lifelong committment, not available, off the market, taken, etc. Jankovic's performace was also had a deeper meaning that what was on the surface. He was simply a man with a piece of wood with strings on it but he was able to make magnificent sounds through his instrument.
While listening to Jankovic play, I tried to envision what his music was expressing since there were no lyrics. I imagined such things as sunsets and Spanish people dancing and felt things like loneliness and calmness. Just as texts have dominant readings and alternative readings, interpretations of Jankovic's music differ from person to person depending on how they read his text.
We also discussed semiology, the science of signs and study of sign systems. Sings are similar to texts. This is what I came up with when I applied semiology to Jankovic's performance. The sign was the music that Jankovic was playing, the signifier was Jankovic and his guitar, and the signified was whatever meaning the members of the audience were constructing.
As we see, semiology can be a great tool to use for media analysis. It's advantages include its practicality, which gives us guidlines of what to look for when we face an image. It also compares the wider social and cultural meanings of the sign or text. What I like best is that by breaking signs into signifiers and signifieds helps to understand that texts are constructions of meaning. Jankovic's text was amazing and I'm pretty sure that was agreed on by the entire audience.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Media constructing the music industry
This week's blog is focusing on the ongoing, heated debate between hip-hop artists Kanye West and 50 Cent. How does this relate to mass media you ask? Keep reading.
In case you have been hiding under a rock recently, the two stars both coincidently released their third studio albums on Sept. 11, generating much excitement by their fans and the media. While the two are not the most sworn of enemies, the media has constructed this event as a battle, a showdown between two very popular rappers with two very different styles. Kanye's forte is with cunning lyrics and new sounds while 50 is more aggressive with traditionally booming beats.
I read a fantastic article in Rolling Stone magazine that interviewed each artist and discussed their thoughts and feelings about their own new record as well as their counterpart's and the relationship between them. This week in class we discussed how the media constructs and re-presents reality to us. This event would have received much attention without the media blowing it up as a contest, but by plotting the two against each other the media was able to make this into one of the biggest stories in entertainment this year.
A little background before we move on: Regardless of whether you like hip-hop or not, the media has given it a negative context. Not all hip-hop is dirty and filled with swear words, as the media portrays it. Older generations loathe it and resist to even call it "music." Well music is a text constructed by the media, and texts have multiple meanings according to the personal perspectives of who is reading them. Anyway, the hip-hop industry has seen a major drop in popularity and sales in the past couple years (ironically since these artists released the second albums). So this was a perfect opportunity for the media to hype it up as a battle for hip-hop resurrection. And if some of you are reading this and thinking this isn't that big of a deal, why would Rolling Stone put Fiddy and KW on the cover of their prestigious magazine if it wasn't?
I guess the media's plan has worked though. I personally have been reading anything and everything I can about these two in the last few weeks and still can't get enough and I know I'm not the only one. I have each of their albums (Kanye's Graduation and 50's Curtis) and have been listening to them constantly since they came out simultaneously on Tuesday.
When Kanye was asked about releasing his album on Sept. 11 he responded, "I was a little worried about that day, because I didn't want to be offensive to anyone, to act like I was neglecting that. But people also want to celebrate and have a good time and have something to uplift their spirits. And I believe that my music is inspirational, so it's the perfect album to come out on a day like that. " Just another example of a media-constructed event. Sept. 11, 2006 was constructed by the media as a big deal because of it's fifth anniversary. This year it was like, ok, we can respect the date but it is time to move on with our lives and be happy. That is what Kanye is talking about.
Contrary to what most media producers have said about the relationship between these artists, Rolling Stone indicates that they was no tension between them whatsoever when they were together for their interviews and photo shoot. They each respect what each other is doing for hip-hop culture as a whole, pushing it forward. "It's the competitive nature of hip-hop. The competitive nature doesn't exist in other art forms. We've gotta compete," 50 said. He even claimed that if he didn't sell more albums than Kanye on Sept. 11 that he would retire from rapping, which added more pressure to the situation and gave the media more to work with as listeners flocked to record stores Tuesday.
No matter which artist sold more records, they are both responsible for bringing hip-hop back into the spotlight of the music industry and entertainment world, even if it is only for a few weeks, despite what the media is trying to do to it.
In case you have been hiding under a rock recently, the two stars both coincidently released their third studio albums on Sept. 11, generating much excitement by their fans and the media. While the two are not the most sworn of enemies, the media has constructed this event as a battle, a showdown between two very popular rappers with two very different styles. Kanye's forte is with cunning lyrics and new sounds while 50 is more aggressive with traditionally booming beats.
I read a fantastic article in Rolling Stone magazine that interviewed each artist and discussed their thoughts and feelings about their own new record as well as their counterpart's and the relationship between them. This week in class we discussed how the media constructs and re-presents reality to us. This event would have received much attention without the media blowing it up as a contest, but by plotting the two against each other the media was able to make this into one of the biggest stories in entertainment this year.
A little background before we move on: Regardless of whether you like hip-hop or not, the media has given it a negative context. Not all hip-hop is dirty and filled with swear words, as the media portrays it. Older generations loathe it and resist to even call it "music." Well music is a text constructed by the media, and texts have multiple meanings according to the personal perspectives of who is reading them. Anyway, the hip-hop industry has seen a major drop in popularity and sales in the past couple years (ironically since these artists released the second albums). So this was a perfect opportunity for the media to hype it up as a battle for hip-hop resurrection. And if some of you are reading this and thinking this isn't that big of a deal, why would Rolling Stone put Fiddy and KW on the cover of their prestigious magazine if it wasn't?
I guess the media's plan has worked though. I personally have been reading anything and everything I can about these two in the last few weeks and still can't get enough and I know I'm not the only one. I have each of their albums (Kanye's Graduation and 50's Curtis) and have been listening to them constantly since they came out simultaneously on Tuesday.
When Kanye was asked about releasing his album on Sept. 11 he responded, "I was a little worried about that day, because I didn't want to be offensive to anyone, to act like I was neglecting that. But people also want to celebrate and have a good time and have something to uplift their spirits. And I believe that my music is inspirational, so it's the perfect album to come out on a day like that. " Just another example of a media-constructed event. Sept. 11, 2006 was constructed by the media as a big deal because of it's fifth anniversary. This year it was like, ok, we can respect the date but it is time to move on with our lives and be happy. That is what Kanye is talking about.
Contrary to what most media producers have said about the relationship between these artists, Rolling Stone indicates that they was no tension between them whatsoever when they were together for their interviews and photo shoot. They each respect what each other is doing for hip-hop culture as a whole, pushing it forward. "It's the competitive nature of hip-hop. The competitive nature doesn't exist in other art forms. We've gotta compete," 50 said. He even claimed that if he didn't sell more albums than Kanye on Sept. 11 that he would retire from rapping, which added more pressure to the situation and gave the media more to work with as listeners flocked to record stores Tuesday.
No matter which artist sold more records, they are both responsible for bringing hip-hop back into the spotlight of the music industry and entertainment world, even if it is only for a few weeks, despite what the media is trying to do to it.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Fashion as communication
I came across an article in the entertainment section in yesterday's USA Today newspaper that featured the band Maroon 5. However, instead of focusing on the band's music, this article was all about the band's unique sense of fashion. I glanced at the article and contemplated reading it. The first thing that came to mind was all of the negatives of reading the article, such as it's seemingly unimportant topic and that it would probably be a waste of my time (which I was already running short on because I had class in 20 minutes and still had the entire sports section to cover).
Yet despite these initial insticts, I found myself being sucked into the entertainment trap as I was already halfway through the introductory paragraph and so continued to read on to the end of the article. Plus I like the band's music.
The band was in New York City rehearsing for Fashion Rocks, a publicity concert that connects fashion and music. I proved my initial thoughts wrong after I finished the article though, because it provoked a deeper thought within me. In class we had just talked about the different forms of communication and I realized; fashion is a form of communication.
Now this may seem like a simple idea to grasp, and it is. I always thought of fashion as a way of self-expression but it had never really occurred to me that what you wear communicates a message to others.
Then I went even deeper into this and thought about all non-verbal communication. I have heard things like non-verbal communication is responsible for more than half of all communication that takes place. Usually people think of speaking and language as the most basic form of communication, but there is so much more than just what people say.
When thinking about mass media and entertainment, there is so much emphasis on what people wear, especially stars and celebrities. They have their own images to maintain and they are constantly in the spotlight. What they wear is a big part of who they are.
Society has evolved and created norms (and stereotypes) that have to do with fashion, and these change throughout different time periods. Certain styles go in and out of popularity.
Music and fashion will always have a strong connection between them. The bandmates all play the same music, but all have different tastes when it comes to fashion. Lead singer Adam Levine: "People in bands, they're spending just as much time thinking about what they're going to wear as what they're going to play...People are going to think this is all very pretentious, the words that are coming out of my mouth, but fashion is some kind of self-expression."
Keep rocking fashion and rocking out mates.
Yet despite these initial insticts, I found myself being sucked into the entertainment trap as I was already halfway through the introductory paragraph and so continued to read on to the end of the article. Plus I like the band's music.
The band was in New York City rehearsing for Fashion Rocks, a publicity concert that connects fashion and music. I proved my initial thoughts wrong after I finished the article though, because it provoked a deeper thought within me. In class we had just talked about the different forms of communication and I realized; fashion is a form of communication.
Now this may seem like a simple idea to grasp, and it is. I always thought of fashion as a way of self-expression but it had never really occurred to me that what you wear communicates a message to others.
Then I went even deeper into this and thought about all non-verbal communication. I have heard things like non-verbal communication is responsible for more than half of all communication that takes place. Usually people think of speaking and language as the most basic form of communication, but there is so much more than just what people say.
When thinking about mass media and entertainment, there is so much emphasis on what people wear, especially stars and celebrities. They have their own images to maintain and they are constantly in the spotlight. What they wear is a big part of who they are.
Society has evolved and created norms (and stereotypes) that have to do with fashion, and these change throughout different time periods. Certain styles go in and out of popularity.
Music and fashion will always have a strong connection between them. The bandmates all play the same music, but all have different tastes when it comes to fashion. Lead singer Adam Levine: "People in bands, they're spending just as much time thinking about what they're going to wear as what they're going to play...People are going to think this is all very pretentious, the words that are coming out of my mouth, but fashion is some kind of self-expression."
Keep rocking fashion and rocking out mates.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
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