So it was fun learning all these cool topics and facts from the past 6 blog posts. And now there's nothing left to do anymore with the media blog so I'm just going to say bye now. BYE been fun blogging. :)

Here are the links to the 6 comments:

1. Angeli (Arturi) Section 1
2. Debbie(Arturi) Section 3
3. Lester(Arturi) Section 1
4. Justin(Arturi) Section 3
5. Arielle(Powell) Section 1
6. Kendra(Powell) Section 1

Check out this video by the NYC Health Department.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F4t8zL6F0c

"Man Drinking Fat. NYC Health Anti-Soda Ad. Are You Pouring on the Pounds?"

This video is truly shocking and is an example of an advertising technique used, shock value. That is where the advertisement is used to scare the audience into remembering the message. This scare tactic is surprisingly very effective as it plays on the fear of the viewer. As I watched this video there was something in my stomach that was moving around. This video was just sickening. To see a person literally drinking fat is very nauseous. I think that this method, even though it may seem offensive it is also one of the most effective ways of advertising. I think the message that the NYC Health Department is trying to send across is that pop is unhealthy. It may seem like a simple message for an advertisement that seems so shocking. Seeing what soda is really like does scaring you into re-thinking how you maintain your health. I think personally this does make me more health conscious. This advertisement is revolting and I think the next time I go to drink pop I will be remember this ad. It makes me nauseous even thinking about it.
But unlike myself there are many teenagers out there that believe that junk food like pop is OK. I think junk food is one of the many reasons that there is growing obesity in our nation. Many teenagers feast upon junk food daily. According to Wikipedia, obesity is defined as a condition in which the natural energy reserve, stored in the fatty tissue of humans and other mammals, is increased to a point where it is associated with certain health conditions or increased mortality. Translation: obesity is not good, but the bad news is that it isn't getting better, but rather, worse. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), by 2015, approximately 2.3 billion adults will be overweight and more than 700 million will be obese. Equally shocking was that in 2005 (globally), at least 20 million children under the age of five years old were overweight.

These are shocking statistics which at least scared me when I did some research on this topic. I think that this issue is not minor issue that should be pushed aside, this may turn in to an epidemic in its own form. I think that this tax that America plans on putting on pop in an attempt to reduce consumption of pop may or may not have an effect on us. If this tax does actually work and results are notice then I would say that it is most likely that Canada will adopt this idea and follow America like it has done in the past with various other issues. If somehow it does end up in Canada, it won't have that much of an effect me because I do not consume pop on a daily basis. For me I drink pop only at party and special occasions. I wouldn't mind paying the extra tax once in a while. But if I was like other citizens of Canada that consume pop religiously, I would probably protest against this tax. In the end it comes down to personal choice and one's self control.

The controversy with images in the media being photo shopped has been around for quite a while now. My personal opinion on this topic is that photo shopped images gone bad are just have some slight slips which gave people proof that there is a lot of photo-manipulation going on in the media today. I think that seeing these mistakes that the media is committing are shocking. You just can't believe, that what you think beauty is (you know models in magazines) can be distorted to the point that beauty isn't real, just imagination. Let's take a look at some photo-manipulations that are just wrong.

Everyone in Toronto at least knows the fun guide, right? The book that almost all families use to decided where to send their kids for swimming, skating, summer camps, etc. Well did you know that the front page is a photo-shopped image? That is just way creepy. A picture that looks like a perfect family is truly not. Not that this is manipulating the way we imagine beauty but still that is just creepy in my eyes. The reason behind this is that Toronto wanted to appear more diverse to all its citizens.

Now let’s take a really look at celebrities. See how Photoshop changes the way a person really looks like.

Above, is a picture of the queen of pop, Miss Britney Spears. Clearly she has aged since her claim to fame song "One More Time" back in the late 90s, early 2000s. I guess with a little touch up here and a little editing here, you could barely see the fact that she is almost 30 years old and has given birth to a child. It's almost as if she has gotten her youthfulness back. But if you see the difference then you can see how our image of beauty has been changed over the years.

What about for the girls out there, obviously we gush about the hottest guys in the magazines but clearly they don't look like that in real life. If you saw the picture on the right in a magazine a girl would go crazy over his hotness and his gorgeous blue eyes but if you saw the picture on the left then you would think, “ehh, just another guy.” It has no appeal, thus not grabbing your attention. That is the point of advertisements and the use of Photoshop is to draw the attention of the reader or viewer.

But don’t worry there is still some natural beauty left in this world. Here are some photos of celebrities that took it all of (their makeup) for the cameras. This was for “People’s most beautiful 2008”. Jessica Biel and Eva Longoria are 3 or of many famous women that stripped of all their makeup to show their inner beauty, this is how they truly look like and that is something to appriencate. As you look at these images you see how natural beauty is simple, natural, and beautiful. I bet you, you stared at these images for a while. It’s refreshing to see different images than the Photo shopped images we see in the media today. The images we see today also change the way we look at men and women of opposite sex. When we see everyday people, we begin to compare them to the touched up picture in the media which lead to a variety of issues such as depression, dissatisfaction and many more. But seeing picture like this is touching, at least I respect pictures like this. Beauty untouched is true beauty.

Part of life is to evolve, change and strive to improve. That is just the way life is. As humans we try to improve thus creating an evolution in games. In beginning of the gaming era, games were simple and weren’t electronic. They started out as board games and evolved so much that now we have technology which detects movement in three dimensions. To actually see how much games have evolved in the past years lets take a look at a game which has been around for decades, Mario.

As you can clearly see, as the years progressed the graphics of Mario have improved. But improving doesn't necessarily mean that it has to change into something negative for you. I think games have expanded into different field not solely for entertainment purposes. If you look at the Wii that is a perfect example of how gaming has evolve with different purposes. The Wii fit has proven that games can be used to benefit the user's health. The Wii fit uses various ways to help the user to exercise with activities such as yoga, pilaties, etc... Games are still games, just because they appear to be a little different doesn't mean that they are not games anymore. I think games are just expanding and experimenting with different ideas.

So what is the definition of the word "game"? One definition out of many that is relevant to this topic would be ,"an amusement or pastime" by Dictionary.com. But with the evolution of games I would say that the definition should change as well. I think that just like you can't stereotype people because we all are different from each other, we also can't stereotype games because they are different. Games have different genres just like movies, from kid games that are light-hearted and fun to mature games that include bloodshed and violence. There have been games in the past that have been banned because they were deemed too violent for gamers. I think that games won't be decremental if you choose the right games which could be beneficial to you. You can choose a game that is happy, fun and cheery. Most of the time there are no hidden messages in games other maybe games with a story behind it. I think that games should be taken like face value. They way they appear to be is what they really are inside. But i would say it just depends on the person itself,in the end, It is all a matter of choice.