Media- my thoughts

My hobbies include hanging out with my friends, not so much my family. I work for what feels like forever but when I’m not working I love shopping, I love music, every thing from listening to playing (drums and piano) to going to gigs and festivals, I love going to the cinema, nights out, sleepovers, snowboarding, kickboxing and general activities that keep me busy.

I’m not a massive fan of print media. I don’t really read newspapers or magazines, occasionally I pick up a “Heat” or “Good Housekeeping” magazine that my mum or sisters have bought. I might look through a paper like “The Sun” that is in the staff room at work on a break but I don’t ever go out of my way to buy reading material.
I find things like the radio times and media surrounding celebrities can now all be found easily online now or even on the radio and this is how I prefer to catch up on the ‘latest gossip’.

I love listening to the radio, especially radio one, not only do they always play music that I love, they play all kinds of music and all the DJ’s have different shows for different aspects of music or comedy and I find them really funny and inviting to listen too.
DJ’s like Chris Moyles and Scott Mills also talk about everyday things that I can relate to in a comedic way and they always get the listeners involved making it even better to listen to, and DJ’s like Jo Whiley give bands the chance to do covers of songs they wouldn’t usually play opening everyone’s eyes to different music tastes.

I love the music industry and I love every kind of genre in music except from hardcore metal because I can’t understand the lyrics or pick out any sort of guitar riff in there, I love everything from indie rock, pop, grime, dance and hip hop.
I think that the music industry can influence your aspects of your life, like dress for example. When looks of artists become iconic like Geri Halliwells Britain flag dress, or the ‘Sex Pistols’ leather jackets and skinny shoes, but look how many are following the trends of mini’s and leather jackets now. I would not wear it myself but it’s something we associate with bands like the arctic monkeys bringing on the look of polo shirts and skinny jeans, since hitting the charts these styles have come back into fashion on our streets. Girl bands like ‘Girls Aloud’ showing us that you “really can look good with a big leather bag and skinny jeans and you can look good buying our new organic range of clothing from topshop” also make us think high of these girls and make it seem all the better to want to be like them as their “good models”.
I think not only can we look like our favourite artists but we can listen to them and read about them too making us all feel that we really know them.
I think our attitudes can change with bands or against them depending on their polite or party hard image making these people we love to listen to seem really nice or make us feel we shouldn’t support them as fans if they are rude offensive all the time.

I also think though that sometimes people we follow in the media can be inspirational.
I think artists can achieve this in a way that you can find artists that started from nothing that didn’t attend ‘Brit school’ or have £3400 singing lessons a term and learn about how they got to a really good place in the music industry encouraging others in similar situations to follow their dreams in music or other careers.

I don’t play video games, not because I think they are stupid, occasionally offensive, bad influences or unnecessary (which I sometimes think they are) but because I didn’t have a game console and I wouldn’t take it up now and I simply never have the time to sit down and play on them. Ever.

I think new technology is great, I mean the internet is the best invention since sliced bread, I don’t get people who can live normally without it, which is quite sad of me but it really helps from everything from researching, studying, watching shows I’ve missed, and listening to music I love but hasn’t been released yet. So for me I usually use the internet for google, radio times, BBC iPlayer and of course myspace.

I love the thought that the whole world is at your fingertips and I can talk to people around the world like friends I have in Australia for next to nothing, it really communicates me with people I don’t see everyday and people who live or have moved far away. I love how there isn’t just email, but video sending, msn and Skype all practically free.

I love new technology but realise I do just fine without it. I always have to be listening to music and after I broke my iPod I resorted back to an mp3 player that looks like a memory stick with a screen my older sister had about 3 years ago and realised how much easier it is than new technology and far less expensive it is. I also bought a phone 2 years ago, a MTR L7 SLVR (red because when I top up money goes to an aids charity) but already I think its failing due to lack of kindness on my behalf.
I also had a Sony mp3 walkman that was bought about 2 years ago but once the software had changed from Sony it no longer worked and proving that I didn’t know what to do when my technology failed me. We have become so reliant on technology I don’t even know what to do if my phone runs out of battery let alone if it stopped working tomorrow.
And I think this is a problem about technology that we cant always know why it fails or refuses to work occasionally, leaving us in the dark about what could be your plans of the day or important missed calls.

When I have time to watch TV I love to watch Hollyoaks, Scrubs, Gavin and Stacy and loads of comedy shows like Never Mind The Buzzcocks and Mock The Week.
I love the channels these programmes happen to be on too, like BBC 1/2/7 C/E4 and ITV, I also love channels like film 4 which give you the chance to watch films you’ve never seen before.

I like the subway adverts and the Carlsberg adverts because I think they are comedic and I always remember the slogans and jingles like “Carlsberg don’t do pub teams, but if they did they’d be the best pub teams in the world.”

I love getting scared at the cinema but not as much as I love watching action or chick flicks.
I fall in love with the films that make you wish were true, and could happen in real life, you just wonder why they never happen to you, I also love films like step up/2 and films that make you come out wishing you could dance or sing.
I watch most of the films I see at the cinema but love buying films as well.
I love films with Jake Gyllenhaal in them or Seth Rogen, Michael Cera, or Will Ferrell in, as I think these guys are FUNNY! In addition, Jake, Michael, and Seth are fit too and that is always a bonus.

I love watching films snuggled on the sofa but mostly love to go the cinema, either Vue or Odeon as they are both the regulars but also cinema city for those independent arty films. I do think cinemas are over priced but I love films but have never ever ever seen one by myself, I talk a lot and although you have to be quiet in films, it’s just not as fun to gasp or laugh by yourself.

In Conclusion…

I have to admit this section isn’t the best.

I chose to do media as the subject looked fun and interesting against other options and looked like a new challenge and something different to anything I had done for GCSE so I decided to take it up. Also I would love a job on the radio but tend not to let things like the media bother me in a way that anything sticks into my mind having offended me or enlightened me.
I have to admit in media I hate the whole objection to woman’s bodies, one minute were too anorexic thin but the next minute were told to trim up and loose the belly and cellulite which I hate so much!

If I had to construct a media text using any medium, I would probably use video as this way I can get my point across directly using many different ideas and getting as many people involved at possible.