One of the stranger (and needless to say, rudest) things that occurred during the Trump presidency, was when John Dickerson of CBS News posed a question to the then-president. Instead of respectfully declining to answer, which arguably is something any nominative 70-year-old businessman would do, he essentially shuns Mr. Dickerson from the west wing literally and metaphorically. Important for two reasons. One, a lot of the time it feels that professionalism has gone out the door in modern times, especially with regard to business acumen. Secondly, it’s a blatant illustration of how arguable authoritarianism tries to rear its head in contemporary society.
CBS News, 2017
Although the Second Amendment is oft discussed in today’s epidemic of mass violence, journalism is foremost protected by the First. My primary concern is that in today’s at-times-hellish digital media landscape the truth can be progressively lost entirely. The echo chamber of any given person’s social media algorithm can shield them from reality entirely. This to me, is incredibly troubling. One can easily make the argument that that the January 6th capitol attack would not have occurred without Twitter and Facebook, and by extension the election of Trump himself. What started as website for college students to communicate with each other and see if the people they were in love with were actually having sex, in the span of only 18 years became such a vile wasteland for those easily angered that they tried to assassinate a vice president. The work of countless others like Mr. Dickerson is so fundamentally important, not even for political reasons, but so that people can be, generally speaking, held accountable.
For arguments sake, say a reporter is at a professional baseball game. Naturally, there would be other other spectators out for their own enjoyment. Later, the opposing team fanbase claims they scored 15 home runs, but they’re at a different venue than the stadium. Now under what’s termed “legacy” mediums, as in a source that disseminates factual data, one could easily see what occurred and what didn’t. The issue lies between what type of audience sees it, and what does not consider it to begin with. Delusion starts with belief of, let’s say anti-fact, in order to remain comfortable in one’s belief or non-belief. Any major localized news source will easily post he score of the previous nights game due to the arguable interest of any major cities audience. A primary issue of mass delusion is the fact that no matter the topic, one sect will always try to corroborate each others bias. This is where the positive side of digital media literacy rears it’s head. With everyone in the same metaphorical room now in regard to public commentary, the truth, no matter how many ugly turns it has to take to be revealed, will regardless autonomously appear.
When was the first time that the general public was notified of the term “greenhouse gases?” It’s a question without an autonomous singular answer. Truthfully, it’s a question that would, at the very earliest, have started to occur in the latter half of the 20th century. Typically, in developed countries alone. As a group, my colleagues and I have a possibly a 30-year arc between hearing the first utterance of “greenhouse gas” alone. The term itself is the main antagonistic factor of one of the most commonly used terms in the world, climate change. Caused by fossil fuels, a human invention, the emissions themselves get caught between earth and sky and, as long as mankind has been dependent upon them, have exponentially warmed the entire planet. Obviously, it would not be as big of an issue if our dependence on cars had remained like it was at the turn of the previous century, but alas, capitalism came and arguably conquered that possibility. Slightly ironic that now car corporations’ future goal is to continue to profit from by sowing what they reaped. End of rant. Not that it is all bad, as the general public arguably seems to concur global warming does actually exist generally speaking.
Not everybody experiences climate change in the same way. For example, the United States Midwest will (at least not anytime cosmically soon) never be as arid as say, an Australian plateau. Obviously, this is due to the oftentimes frigid winters experienced where this piece is being drafted, pun not intended. Which is really where climate change begins to get labeled as skepticism. It’s not a far stretch to argue that especially in a place like Minnesota, we’ll hear
“How could it possibly be getting warmer if it’s this cold????” All. Winter. Long. Because the effects of climate change cannot be quantified in one singular way. To argue that it can, would be to suggest that the entire autonomy of climate change is invalid. Unfortunately, we have denial out there, but only denial is a common psychological human trait. Especially because “global” sounds super overwhelming. Following below is a short, incredibly practical video from National Geographic describing the overall phenomenon. How the earth’s motion interacts with carbon emissions, how that affects how the particles in return are pressurized atmospherically, and so on & so forth. Even though it’s a giant issue, the clip ends very optimistically.
The review produced by Screenrant tries hard to give “The Mummy” movie a bone but ends up killing it even faster. The honest truth of the matter, “The Mummy” tries to be something it’s not and doesn’t even do that well. Giving the audience five reasons why the movie was bad and why it was good.
A Disappointingly Small Scale:
Oddly enough for a movie called The Mummy, the story spends very little time in Egypt, or anywhere comparable, and, instead, sets the majority of its action sequences somewhere around Surrey, England. Which doesn’t really spell rip-roaring adventure to most people.
Even when the movie reaches the streets of London for its third act, the sets and locations feel quite limited, and the color palette is remarkably grey and monotonous.
Response: The movie shouldn’t have been set in England in the first place. At least with the last Mummy movie with Branden Frasier, it was based in China with a Chinese mummy. It makes total sense and at no point are you confused. Was the Dragon Emperor a good film like its predecessors? Sort of, but not quite.However, The Dragon Emperor has many redeeming qualities that make it a worthwhile watch.
Isn’t: Tom Cruise Has Still Got It
There are few movie actors left in the business who have the star power of Tom Cruise and, at age 54, he still brought some much-needed charm to The Mummy.
Not only could Cruise sell moments of tension and action, but his all-around enthusiasm for the process energizes the wearier aspects of the movie in a way that few actors possibly could have.
Response: I’ll be honest, I don’t really know much about Tom Cruise, and that’s OK. Although I did like him in “Interview with a Vampire”. He was very mysterious in his villainy. Although in this movie, he’s just not the guy for the role or anybody for that matter.
Generic Screenwriting
Despite some very talented screenwriters working on the project, The Mummy fails to stand out from the blockbuster crowd and this is mostly its own fault.
The popular MacGuffin of a magic rock is introduced almost immediately in the movie and a predictable course of events feels secondary to the movie’s desire to flesh out a fictional universe that audiences will never actually get to see.
Response: The plot was flat; you don’t need to beat around the bush. This director completely misses the essence and fun of the other films. Branden Frasier, along with the rest of its cast, added too much flavor to the franchise just for it to taste bland.
Stunts
Tom Cruise’s dedication to stuntwork on his own movies is well documented and The Mummy is no different. Having the lead actor actually get inside as many of the action shots as they can brings a lot to a movie and it helps this one feel like more of a romp.
Though a lack of originality holds it back, The Mummy is a movie that’s always trying to be entertaining in an almost slapstick kind of way and the physicality of the action adds a lot of personality to the comedy.
Response: “The Mummy” Franchise is not Mission Impossible, a James Bond movie, a spy movie, Jason Born, or Taken. It’s literally a fantasy adventure, and that’s all it ever was.
Tasteless Updates to the Story
For a movie presenting so many distinct time periods and cultural icons, you’d think The Mummy would present at least one of them in a satisfying way.
Aside from sidelining Egypt, and needlessly adding medieval English history to the mix, the movie makes the particularly tasteless choice to set its opening action sequence in modern-day Iraq with a force that is, while stereotypically faceless and nameless, essentially ISIS.
Response: Making more vibrant environments would have helped the film.
A Combined Monster Universe Isn’t a Bad Idea
While The Mummy oftenfails to frame it in an appealing way, the central idea of the movie isn’t a bad one. Universal alone had been doing monster team-ups and crossovers for just shy of three-quarters of a century before the movie came out.
The movie’s idea to unify everything through what would almost certainly be its Nick Fury figure, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde and a S.H.I.E.L.D.-like organization with its own potential to spin-off and become evil, there are some entertaining promises made. Even if they’re only just that.
Response: Creating a creature feature universe from other monster franchises wasn’t a terrible concept. What was a terrible concept was using “The Mummy” as its basis to debut. The titles below are all the movies that would have been in theaters if Warner Bros. hadn’t ditched the project. I think Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde could have been a smash hit!
The Dark Universe Begins – and Ends. Universal Pictures. …
Van Helsing. Universal Pictures. …
Johnny Depp’s Invisible Man. Universal Pictures. …
Phantom of the Opera and Hunchback. Universal Pictures. …
Dwayne Johnson’s The Wolfman. …
Creature from the Black Lagoon. …
The Bride of Frankenstein.
It Borrows Very Heavily from Much Better Things
Arguing over how original the story really is is something that you could do with every version of The Mummy, from the original in 1932 to everything that it’s inspired since. But the 2017 version chooses much more poorly with extra cultural references and they often end up contradicting the tone of the movie.
The Mummy wants to be a horror movie in an atmospheric kind of way rather than by showing anything overtly horrific or grotesque but it also wants to be an Indiana Jonesmovie, which, of course, balanced its joyful qualities with more graphic imagery. It’s overwhelming visual similarities to the Uncharted series of video games (which were, themselves, already heavily inspired by The Mummy movies) also feels like an aesthetically-confused choice.
Response: Sure….I suppose
It Brings Horror To a Non-Horror Audience
Not everyone watches movies in the same way and people don’t always have the same access to movies. The Mummy goes for as wide an audience as it can because it wants to reach the most amount of people and make the most amount of money, yes, but it actually succeeds in bringing classical horror aspects to audiences who ordinarily wouldn’t get to see them.
Aside from Cruise’s name bringing his own kind of audience, The Mummy was a financial hit in China, a country famous for its stringent censorship laws surrounding, amongst several other things, the horror genre and the supernatural.
Response: If you want horror elements but not a horror movie, go watch Pan’s Labrinth.
It Puts the Cart Before the Horse
So much of what makes people remember the 2017 version of The Mummy as a bad movie is that it set itself such an unnecessarily high bar for success.
Audiences were definitely holding it up to, at least, the first two Stephen Sommers Mummy movies but the gigantic budget and shared universe were both its own choice yet both feel wasted. They transform it into something that audiences actively root against rather than for.
Response: Were they trying to give this movie a chance? The response says it all regarding the film successs.
A Pervading Sense of Humor
Stories of production troubles on The Mummy are easy to believe but, no matter how things really went down, what the cast and crew were able to pull out of the movie is a light tone and some comedic chemistry from its actors.
Cruise is a big star with a knack for making sure his movies are driven by him but not all about him. He creates entertaining dynamics with a wide variety of talented actors that he’s paired with and allows what’s best about them to really shine in the movie, even if it isn’t for every long.
Response: Tom Cruise added nothing to this movie, nor did the humor.
Conclusion
After tentatively rewatching the (2017) “The Mummy” I realized the movie is empty. The characters have no volume, the anti-protagonist is wildly underutilized, comedic conversations are out of place, and the tone of the movie is too dark (the color of the film). The movie is not fun, and it comes off more as a chore for the audience to get through. Ultimately, I was surprised at a few points throughout the movie and bored at the same time.
Quinton Miller, Metropolitan State University, April 20th, 2021 Post #5 type #1 (Annotated link & describe what’s present & how it relates to us)
The information age is the time in which we live now. It begun in the late 20th century and is defined by the shift from industrialization to more of an information technology economy. The industrial age brought on new advancements for the Western world creating America’s billionaires who led the nation to become rapidly sustainable. The industrial age brought on new jobs, economic opportunities and an increase in efficiency with the addition of technology. This computerization of material saves companies money in the long run. Humans are not completely counted out as opportunities to repair or maintain the new equipment become available. Also referred to as the digital revolution, new entertainment social and analytical media sprout from it. Entertainment includes internet, video, music and game streaming. These services provide quick downloads, fresh music options, and new digital games. All these industries have flourished from the integration of technology into today’s society.
A major platform is social media. Social media uses the internet to connect users on websites and applications. This platform can be helpful for businesses as well as individuals. For business it helps share ideas and network more easily. Individuals can also Network as well as stay connected with family members, form groups based on shared interest, advocate for a cause the individual is passionate about or to share content quickly and efficiently. Although social media is mostly used on handheld devices, this product started on computers. Social media, like other forms of media, provide information on a business’s reach to their audience. This, in turn, influences marketing strategy and advertising preferences. All of this is wonderful, but how does it relate to the topic of my essay? I’m glad you asked. with the amount of real-time information floating through the internet, there is bound to be unpopular, inaccurate, and misleading information on the internet social media giants’ platforms. Questions like how we combat this or mitigate its effect are commonly assessed due to false information. Some people suggest staying away from social media all together, others want to treat these platforms like class by checking everyone’s work for accuracy or offence. Some people simply do not care. For those who do, stick around to the end of this article for some great resources to gain back your confidence while surfing the web and using social media.
There are resources that elaborate on the ethics of technological advancements and how it has affected the daily lives of those in society. The explanation through the acronym P.A.P.A provides the grounds of how the swiftness in which information travels has impacted those who do and do not use it. The ‘P‘ stands for privacy, the most negatively impacted aspect of life is said to relate to people’s ability to be true to themselves without revealing too much of themselves. ‘A‘ is the accuracy of the information that has traveled, which had been made popular by Donald Trump’s ‘Fake News‘ slogan. The second ‘P’ stands for property. For example, who is entitled to certain information amy come into question when a journalists reveals a secret of a celebrity that tarnishes their image. This even has a lawsuit called ‘Slandering’.
According a to findlaw.com publication, Maddy Teka, a law degree holder from Ethiopia, explains what is entailed in slander cases:
“Someone made a false, defamatory statement about you knowing it was a false statement
The statement does not fall in any privileged category
The person who published it acted negligently when they published the statement
Finally, the second ‘A’ stands for accessibility or who is entitled to certain information. The government is an excellent example of an entity that is supposed to allow information to be accessible, but withholds certain pieces as classified.
This mobile and computer web browser are used by myself and I figured why not share the sugar. This isn’t even a paid ad! DuckDuckGo is just t that good!
Mason, Richard O. “Four Ethical Issues of the Information Age.” MIS Quarterly, vol. 10, no. 1, 1986, pp. 5–12. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/248873. Accessed Apr. 2021.
Quinton Miller, MDST 485 Communicating with New Media, Public Relations Major, Metropolitan State University
January 22nd, 2021
This scholarly journal keys in on the increasing popularity of CBD products. Through algorithms set for identifying certain words, this passage explains the analysis taking place surrounding the conversation concerning attitudes towards cannabinoid (CBD) and its purpose. Terms including anxiety, stress or nausea were identified as indicators for therapeutic necessities. This could help with uncovering what language companies who sell these types of products would use in their advertisements going forward. It may also provide insight into a drug policy that needs revision for places that do not allow it due to the products legality based on those first hand accounts documented from forums. This includes Cannabinol/CBD, hemp oil and Cannabis. There are pieces of qualitative data from these findings which is what some new age advertising services utilize. Not only does this tie into the cannabis sector of public relations in new media through explanation of a methodology professionals can use on social media platforms, this academic journal is relevant to us as citizens. When using social media, we often find advertisements geared towards something we’ve recently posted, viewed or talked about. The algorithm, similar to a control F function in a word document, gives an example of how our data is utilized in studies. Once we, as users of these platforms, think outside the box and consider other ways our words are used, we can conduct other research as to how social media and advertisements have played hand-in-hand.
Does this remind us of anyone who whistle blew about this in the past?
This news article was originally written in the beginning of 2018 and revised in October of 2020. This article includes a video experiment of a couple conversing about cat food to see if ads would begin to appear in relation to their conversation. They concluded that facebook had been listening for keywords in their conversations due to the fact that cat food advertisements begun appearing days later. These readings seem distant on the surface, but with a little critical analysis in the mindset of media communication, people can bridge the gap between an obvious new age of targeting methods and terminology. Both articles involve keywords instead of age groups. All users of either the forum or social media who used certain words were taken into account. Each of these had different ways and different purposes, but they could relate to the ways companies use new media to gather and target data on potential consumers.
Of course this isn’t the real Edward Snowden’s instagram. (I doubt we’ll see the real Snowden on social media). This is a instagram fanpage dedicated to the man who informed the world of what the NSA had been doing.
Well, in a lot of ways to be honest. Looking at the evolution of social media over the last decade has been somewhat of a whirlwind. The dawn of the smart phone era has kick started the largest technological mobilization in human history. We are connected to the internet, in some way, almost 100% of our lives. According to the link above on of the biggest reasons why our interactions are changing is simply due to the number of people we interact with. We now seem to care about that over-the-top social media posts from that guy you sat next to in 10th grade Biology class. Why? Because we are connected on social media! Seems pretty simple, but the general direction of our ever increasing interconnected lives is not slowing down. One of the main goals of social media is to bring people together. So is the erosion of our communication boundaries really a bad thing? I guess it depends how you use social media and how you shape your identity around your use of social media. According to the author’s opinion the lack of filters on our communication come at a price. I would have to agree. The level of toxicity on the internet is at an all time high. However, the amount of communication being distributed and received on the internet is at an all time high as well. Perhaps, humans have always held these extremely toxic views but had no way of expressing that message, much less have a platform to broadcast it world wide.
Similar to my last post about this topic, I took a look at a few required readings for MDST485 course. I found myself connecting the points made in Castell’s Network Society Ch. 5. – Castell describes culture of real virtuality. He argues that the enormous influence and the sheer level of importance technology and the internet have on our lives have pushed elements of our existence into the virtual realm. There is no doubt that this is true. The amount of time we spend on the internet is increasing each year, the use of social media platforms are always increasing, and yet we still seem to be incapable of conversing with one another respectfully. I don’t want to believe that we are at the beginning of what will be the fall of our society but if we do not take time to realize what social media is doing to us, we simply have no chance.
(Audience: MDST485 – Goal: get their wheels turning)
Let me ask you a question. What do you think is one of the top things that make successful people, well, successful? I have one word for you. Preparation. I’ve read countless self-developement books, listened to many speeches, to many sermons, and they consistently and repeatedly talk about preparation. If there is no preparation, the probability of success is rare. Ask anyone. David Meerman Scott also talks about preparation in chapter 17 of ‘The New Rules of Marketing & PR.’ He talks about the preparation of podcasting. In this chapter, he quotes the producer of ‘Marketing Over Coffee,’ who was asked how one gets started with a podcast. His response; “I’ve found the most important thing is show preparation.”
Please tell me you all have listened to a podcast… at least one episode, even though I don’t know how you could stop at just one! If you have AND have an iPhone, the below icon should look very familiar to you. For me, it’s the most used app on my phone. And now one of my dreams is to host my own podcast someday. David Meerman Scott, I’m holding on to every word you write about podcasting. (Fingers crossed!)
I encourage two things out of you in the coming weeks. The first thing is to start preparing for your future, in whatever way that looks like. Write down your goals for the next year, three years, five years. Start a new hobby by jotting down all that interests you. Summer is coming, what are some things you want to be sure you do? Prepare for what’s to come. Prepare for YOUR successful future.
Secondly, start listening to podcasts, or if you already do, try a new one that could better your life, bring a smile to your face, push you to see a different perspective, hear stories on those who have it much, much worse than you, or literally countless more.
Stay tuned for my future blogs. I’ll give you some intriguing recommendations. You can count on it.
The audience is anyone who is new to podcasting like myself and the goal is to show how great podcasting can be.
I’m new to podcast. Shameful, right? I knew they were around but never really listened until two years ago when I was introduced to Roughing the Podcast via Twitter. The host, Di Murphy and Ted Glover go back and forth about all things related to the Minnesota Vikings. It was great to listen to them and the knowledge they had about the Vikings and football in general.
After I listened to a few shows I feel down a rabbit hole of podcast. Not just about sports though. I was listening to radio podcast, political podcast- I tend to listen few and far between to them, and comedy podcast just to name a few. What is great about them is that they provide great content without reading. I do love to read, but when I’m in the car or at work I can’t whip out a book or a magazine, and I can get the same content while driving or at my desk.
While I have a new found appreciation for podcast, I have found some that just aren’t good. In The New Rules of Marketing & PR on page 312 they talk about “show preparation.” I have heard podcast were the host weren’t prepared and it within the first five minutes the show is ruined because the host have no idea what they are talking about.
But overall, podcast have been a great discovery for me and I feel that if you are new them like I was, I suggest picking your favorite topic and start from there. Happy listening.
The audience is those interesting in new media and podcasting. The goal is to show the rise of podcast.
Podcast are amazing! I love podcast. I love love love podcast. So many diffrent podcast with different topics. As we continue with new media, podcast are a growing medium from the individual to the people. It helps with car rides, waiting for the bus, waiting for class to start and so on. It’s a way for information or entertainment, probably both.
The rise of podcast is real. Mark Trainer stats in a recent study that 40 percent of Americans have listened to a podcast and 24 percent have listened to one within the past month of the Survey.
Podcast are great. It is an amazing way to get information and be entertained. It’s also relatively easy to start one. David Meerman Scott list some fundamentals of starting a podcast in The New Rules of Marketing & PR: show preparation, record when near computer, mobile recording gear, phone interviews, editing your audio files, postproduction editing, tagging audio, hosting and distribution, promotion, and companion blog.
In my next three blogs, I’ll focus on the current and future state of social media, especially its connection to marketing, public relations, and society. I hope to shed some wisdom on the subject from my perspective as a professional in the media and non-profit industries, while referencing our class readings.
In the wake of the recent Parkland school shooting, social media has been used as a critical tool by all sides to politicize and capitalize on the event. However, it is the youth who have been outmaneuvering and outdoing their adult counterparts on social media during this movement.
For example, when Donald Trump, Jr. “liked” two news article that pushed the notion that a few vocal Parkland students were hired actors, one of the students reached out to Melania Trump – who has a White House initiative to stop cyber-bullying – to ask:
A “like” on Twitter by Donald Trump Jr. can have a enormous effect because he has over 2 million followers, who will inevitably perpetuate the false news. The result of the youth strategically, and naturally, pushing back through social media has resulted in Melania Trump supporting the youth and a recent meeting with one of the Parkland survivors.
This is a good example of the effectiveness of social media as a public relations and social engagement tool. But on the other side of the coin is the equally adept, but terrifying, use of social media to motivate and activate the Parkland school shooter, as well as others who have come before him. (I’m intentionally omitting the Parkland shooter’s name as to not bring him more attention, which was part of his motivation.) The Parkland school shooter and others have used social media to promote their twisted agenda, to learn how to kill effectively and efficiently, and to gain support for their actions.
So is social media bullshit?
I feel that B. J. Mendelson’s book “Social Media is Bullshit” is a misleading title. It’s not that social media is bullshit, it’s that certain individuals are bullshit and they use tools to further their horrible agendas. The book’s author, B. J. Mendelson, asserts, “All marketers, professional or amateur, are full of crap.” This statement and too many others in his book are expressed absolutes and hyperbolical.
I’ve been working in the media industry for the past 20 years and the non-profit industry for nearly the past 10 years. Since my background and experiences are more rooted in traditional media (Film, TV, radio, print, etc.), I can see the evolution from previous forms of media to today’s, with the evolution of technology.
Similar to the past, it’s not that media, or even social media, is “bullshit”. Media is simply a tool. As with all tools, it can be used for good and it can also be used for bad. Take a hammer for instance. A hammer is a useful tool when building something. However, in the wrong hands, it could also be used as a weapon to kill someone. Again, the same instrument is merely a tool.
MDST 485 Class Blog 