Media for us

I definitely think the media is changing how they present the news to a younger audience. Some of them are getting my attention and some are not.

Fox News is on website that is not getting my attention. I want more video ad flashy media. Fox News does not give me this. I also think they should report on more intresting topics. I think the presidential election is an important topic but I don't think they should commit 2 hours of air-time to it. Also, they should get more interactive on their site. CNN doesn't excite me either.

MSNBC is one site that is doing a great job at getting my attention. The home page is colorful and flashy, there are a lot of videos and I loved reading the stories. I love the use of a lot of pictures. I will defintely be getting my news from MSNBC.

All the sites should poll audiences what stories intrest them most. Give them a choice of three and change their stories accordingly.

Web 2.0

What is the internet? How do you even begin to define the internet. My internet is completely different from your internet...

My internet is astrology updates sent straight to my phone, celebrity gossip blogs, three different social networking sites and mobil downloads of my favorite pictures, but your internet might be fantasy football and Facebook mobile.

The internet can not be described as one entity. It is everywhere.

This is Web 2.0. A world where we no longer search for something, we "google" it. A world where we text our pizza order straight to the store. A world where the majority of our downtime is spent online instead of outside.

I can barely remember life without the internet and honestly I don't really want to. What did I do before the internet? I guess I had to write with a pencil and talk to people in person. (Man was that a scary time! lol)

Web 1.0 were the days of AOL instant messenger and chat rooms. These days are long gone. AOL instant messenger has been replaced with video chat programs like Sykpe and MSN messenger, and chat rooms have turned into massive social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook.

The media uses Web 2.0 to give us mobile updates on breaking news and video blogs from our favorite celebrities. Web 2.0 is here and I can not wait to see what 3.0 has in store.

Peggy vision!

I'm happy to say that I was the only student who got a video conference with Ms. Peggy Collins, which in my opinion, represents our online journalism class to a T! I can honestly say I have learned more in this class than any other class at UT! Like I told Peg, learning how to use programs like IMovie is one of the best skills a class on online journalism could have given me!

I loved having Peggy teach the class. I have done a lot of video chatting with people over seas and I think it's great! It was also great to have more than one perspective on our work. She gave me great advice on how to improve my writing and many ways to get ahead in the job hunt!

I don't think I would change a thing about this class. Online journalism is the way of the future and whether students like to admit it or not the only way to improve is to work hard. I have also really enjoyed creating our own personal blogs and video movies.

Marilyn Monroe found dead in her Los Angeles home

36-year-old actress, Marilyn Monroe, was found dead in her bed early Sunday morning.

Monroe's body was discovered by two doctors who were called to her home by concerned housekeeper, Eunice Murray.

The doctors were forced to break into her bedroom after being unable to open the door. She was found lying naked in her bed with an empty bottle of sleeping pills by her side.

An autopsy late Monday night revealed that Monroe died from a lethal combination of Nembutal sleeping pills and alcohol. The coroner who did the autopsy said Monroe's death may be a possible suicide.

Multimedia

• Video interview with Eunice Murray
• Picture's of the room after Monroe was removed
• Picture's of Monroe's Brentwood home
• Reporter standing in front of the home reporting
• Time line of Monroe's life

Additional Information

• Talk to any relative's of Monroe's
• Interview the coroner
• Interview the doctor's
• Information on the drug Nembutal

Smokey's Howl 2007

Smokey's Howl is the oldest tradition in homecoming history. Dating back to 1000 A.D., cheerleading was of course the first sport and Pi Phi was at the for fronts of it.

Farmhouse and Pi Phi teamed up this year for the event and made it all the way to the finals. At the finals the team came in third and was extremely excited!

Anna Myint, a senior in Pi Beta Phi, described her Howl experience as the best part of Homecoming!

Below is Pi Phi and Farmhouse's preliminary video.

Celebrity blog's for Elle.com

Elle.com is in despirate need of celebrity endorsement. Our audience hits Perezhilton.com more times in a week than we have in a month.

To solve this problem I have come up with a great solution, monthly celebrity blogs.

Every month we will pick one celebrity to blog soley on Elle.com and allow them free reign for that month. Each celebrity can choose their own background, whether or not they want to include pictures / videos, and can write whatever they desire. Elle.com has already incorporated the html for the site so each celebrity would merely have to upload a picture or video, and not have to worry about coding. If the material a particular celebrity adds is offensive we simply add an underage disclaimer and filter out such material for our younger readers.

There is also going to be a section for our readers to comment on the posts made by our celebrities, and ask questions they want answered. Our celebrity can pick and choose which comments and questions they choose to respond to and can also delete any material they find offensive.

Our first celebrity will be the infamous, Angelina Jolie.



I have already talked with Angie's publisitist and she says Ms. Jolie is, "extremely excited," to be our first blogger. Ms. Jolie is going to be uploading pictures of her exclusive trips to Rwanda and even some never before seen family photos of her and the kids.

Ms. Jolie will be a perfect launching tool for our celebrity blogs and will help bring a larger audience to Elle.com. Get excited people because this is only the beginning!

Social Networking Sites

My mom used to say I would never talk to any of my high school friends when I got to college, boy was she wrong. With the invention of sites such as Myspace, Facebook and Twitter communication with old friends has never been easier. Social networking sites are revolutionizing communication throughout the world.

I'm sure you have all heard Milgrim's theory, "six degrees of separation," well with the advent of electronic social networking that six degrees is fastly becoming four. People can see each other and in touch all over the globe from right in their own home.

The best thing about social networking sites is they just keep evolving.

I was one of the first 2,000,000 people on Myspace and have watched it grow from a simple "advanced e-mail device" to an electronic social world sperate from the real world. I have also been a Facebook user from the beginning and see it's relevance in the social networking world. Facebook's simplicity and uniformity allow people to feel like part of a community and gives a sense of equality because not everyone knows html.

The next step in the social networking phenomenon is networking holodecks much like the one seen here in Star Trek.



People will be able to go into a special room which will show all the other people in the room as holograms. It will be like they are right there next to you. You will be able to choose what the room looks like and what you are doing. It'll be like virtual reality to an extreme. After we invent these places, it will eventually be integrated into every home and will be as common as a television or computer.

Social networking sites will do nothing but get better. I can't wait to see what they come up with next!

Mindfreak is a Minddick

For those of you who have been watching Phenomenon on NBC you know about the drama Criss Angel caused on Halloween. For the rest of you...what have you been living under a rock?

Watch the video...

Angel freaks out on Phenomenon

Criss Angel is proud to be an illusionist: he doesn't pretend that he's doing magic tricks, and he's not a believer in the paranormal. Jim Callahan does. Callahan claims he can communicate with the dead and does so on live television. After going into a trance for a few minutes, Callahan writes what is in a sealed box and then awakes claiming his dead friend told him.

After correctly guessing what is in the box, Angel criticizes Callahan and offers him one million dollars to guess what is written in an envelope he has provided.

Callahan can not guess and a fight breaks out. Angel arises from his seat and gets in the entertainers face.

NBC cuts to a commercial and when the show returns Angel is booed for his actions.

Criss Angel is a douche bag and a hypocrite.

Transformers transforms us

"I am Optimus Prime."

I can't tell you how many times I've heard these famous words in the last few months. With the # 1 DVD release this week to the top selling toys, Transformers are everywhere.

From the great review in the ars technica to the fantasic review from Monsters and Critics, Transformers can do no wrong.

In the movie an alien race of robots known as The Autobots, the good guys, and the Decepticons, the bad guys, are in search of the Allspark, their life source. Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots, needs the Allspark to restore their home planet Cybertron, while Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons, needs it to take over earth and wipe out the human race. The one person that can help locate the Allspark is Sam Witwicky.

In my opinion this movie is amazing. The special effects alone are worth seeing. The plot may be a bit cut and dry but that's not why I saw the movie. The amazing transformation from a robot to a jet plane in less than a second is out of this world.

I recommend seeing this movie over and over again.

The Knox News Sentinel

When I walked into the Knoxville News Sentinel I didn't really know what to expect. I had never been to a publications office and I thought there might be some old time newspapers in the lobby or something. However to my surprise the building was very modern and equip with the latest technology.

I figured that most of the people in the newsroom would be running around like a chicken with their head cut off too but this was also not true. Everyone was quietly sitting at their computer doing their own thing.

The people we talked to were extremely knowledgeable about their fields. They talked mostly about the website which also surprised me. I would have thought that a newspaper wouldn't know much about running a website but they did.

The Knoxnews website is highly advanced and creative.

The amount of video the website uses is amazing. One particular video stood out to me. The Restoring a Treasure was very cool. I love watching restoration shows on television and to see one in Knoxville is very cool.

The only downside to the website is the amount of pictures, or lack there of. I did not see many pictures at all and that is one of my favorite parts of stories.

I learned a lot on my trip to the Knox News Sentinel and plan to apply for an internship next semester.