Why Print Newspapers are Still Relevant

Newspapers were once the main media that moves the world. It had no competitors and everyone purchased newspapers to know all about the current events. However, since the birth of the radio, television, internet, smartphones and tablets, the newspaper is at a critical stage. Its main competitor is the online news. But are print newspapers nowadays outdated and irrelevant?

The best fitting answer is an absolute 'No'. Print news is still relevant and should not just drown into the online bandwagon. Over the past years, a lot of print news declared bankruptcy, and a lot also moved to just publishing online to cut down costs. As you can see, print news defines a significance of a news. If it were to just be published online, it will lose its significance and will just blend in with the rest of the other millions of news online. Credibility is also questionable when it comes to online news. On top of that, a news is also a 'voice' of a community. Therefore, if the voice of a community loses its significance, it is not prominent and will just be one of the many other voices online.

World Reality VS Television Reality

In 1976, a professor of communication, George Gerbner founded a theory known as the "cultivation theory". According to his theory, an exposure to television over time 'cultivates' the viewer's perception of reality.  For example, if a person watches too much horror movies, there is a chance that the person will develop a kind of fear, that will haunt them over a long period of time. 

The video shows a good dramatization on how the Mean World Syndrome affects an individual. 

Now let's compare the real world and television. The real world might not be as sweet as what the television portrays, but it is not that bitter and sour either. On television, a lot of cheesy, unreal romantic programmes aired regularly. On television you'll see tragic murders, shootings and other sorts of violence and whatnot. But in reality, we don't face this regularly. But a person whose affected by the Mean World Syndrome will think otherwise. In some cases, people lock themselves up in their homes and did not go out for a long period of time. Cases such as that is definitely unhealthy and is not even necessary to exist.

In a nutshell, the media does cultivate the viewer's perception of reality. However, at the end of the day, the viewing power is still ours. We have every right to choose what we want to see, hear, and believe. We don't need to spend every night watching violent shows on television, instead we can watch educational channels in which little or no violence are ever involved.

That Word is a Taboo!

Have you ever heard of a game called 'Taboo?' It's a board game that has this one BASIC rule:

A player is required to have his/her partner guess the word on the card given, without using the exact word as a clue, nor the five 'taboo' words  listed on the card.

Of course, that is only the BASIC rule. There's more to this game than what was stated above. More information could be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taboo_%28game%29

But what is actually fascinating about this game? It is fascinating because it tests your brain on how it processes words that is to be spoken. It tests you on whether you are sharp or careless. For an individual's mind to work fast and sharp is not an easy achievement. Infact, not many of us managed to do that either. It needs a lot of practice, not monthly nor weekly, but as often as possible. For a mind to work fast and sharp, one must first conquer the skill of concentration. If you give full concentration on what is happening, what are you doing and other daily events, your mind will slowly develop itself into becoming sharper and faster. 

It is a beautiful and amazing experience when you can detect something which other people around you failed to detect it at first glance. How sharp are you? Are you well-concentrated? Check out this video to find out!

Did you see the trick? It is amazing how some people can actually make use of how the average human mind works and turn everything upside down. Don't let your world to be turned upside down!

The Unique Uses of the Media

How do we use the media? Do we watch or read the news to gain information? Do we watch TV to relax from the hard day's work? Do we read articles from the internet to talk about the subject with our peers? Do we close our ears by listening to music in public to avoid from being talked to? All of these questions relate to the uses and gratification of the media. As you can see, the media has long served us with an array of ways to benefit ourselves. What and how people interact with the media will be discussed in today's post.

One of the reasons why people use the media is due to cognition. Cognition refers to an act of curiosity to know something. There are two types cognitive functions. The first is to keep up with the current info of events in our daily lives, and the other is to learn or know something new. Basically, people who reads the newspaper or an online article are either trying to keep up with the current news, or are trying to learn something new. For example, a person who is curious about an exotic murder case will keep on using the media to keep up with the current updates. On the other hand, a person who is curious of the ways to do simple programming will surf the net or get a book to learn about it. 

A source of diversion is also the reason why people use the media. Diversion can take many forms. Stimulation, relaxation and emotional release. Here are a few examples to explain each diversion:

 

• A bored office worker surfs the internet in class to log into his Facebook. This is diversion is called stimulation. 
• A tired man goes home and sits on the couch watching his favourite game. This diversion is called relaxation. 
• A sad woman who just broke up with her lover is watching a sad romantic movie to cry her heart out. This diversion is called emotional release. 

Can you now see the relationship of each function and situation? That is briefly what each diversion means.

Moving on, the media is also used by people as a social utility. There are two ways to use this as a social utility, mainly as a conversational currency (Things people talk about in a conversation), and parasocial relationship (Using the media to overcome loneliness, eg: Listening to radio while driving back home alone).

Last but not least, the media is also used by people to cocoon themselves from the others. The media is also used by people as a barrier from doing certain jobs or chores, and also to avoid from being disturbed while in a public place. This is not really socially healthy as it encourages people to become anti-social and lazy. These issues will lead to social problems and lack of productivity.

In conclusion, the media is beneficial in many ways and are also not, depending on how we consume the media. The industry is not responsible if we are lazy, or if we have less friends because at the end of the day, it is us who has the power to control what and how much we consume.
 

Random Review: Delicatessen (Movie) - Twisted comedy that will sure 'delicate' your senses.

Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars.
Reactions: Horrified, Amused, Surprised.

Delicatessen is a twisted, sick French movie that still leaves you laughing at some of the funny scenes. This black humor movie is directed by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet with main actor Dominique Pinon (Louison) and actress Marie-Laure Dougnac (Julie). This movie sets in a post-apocalyptic era where food is more valuable than money. It is about a butcher that runs the shop downstairs in an apartment. He is also the landlord of the whole apartment. He serves some of his odd tenants a special 'meat', of course it is not any normal type of meat. Louison, a former clown decides to find a new job and living place in the apartment. Little did he know about the dark secrets of the apartment, and how it relates to the disappearance of his idol, Mr. Livingstone the clown. Interestingly enough, he falls in love with the landlord's daughter, Julie. What happens next? That is for you to find out.

Upon watching the starting of the movie, the first thing that came out in my mind was "This must be a horrifying movie. Is this really a comedy?" As it progressed, I did saw and laughed at a few moments of the movie. Mind you, a weak-hearted person shouldn't watch this movie. It is not all gory, but expect a few murdering scenes. For a movie that was made in the year 1991, this movie is sure a masterpiece. The musical settings were intelligently combined all together to produce a changing mood throughout the movie. The movie was also shot in an oppressive orangey tone that makes the movie feel somewhat vintage. In a way, it is successful in connecting the audience with the setting of the movie. The actors did a very good job in acting out their characters and telling the whole story. You will see a lot of strange characters, oddly and freakishly presenting themselves doing all sorts of unique actions. 

To sum things up, Delicatessen is a strange, horrifying yet comedic movie that might leave you horrified and laughing at the same time. It surely is something that you don't see everyday in usual movies these days. Also, it guarantees you no boredom at all. The scenes are always evolving, and will constantly stimulate your mind. Would I recommend this to be watched? Yes, without a doubt!

Delicatessen Trailer: 

 Doesn't look horrifying to you? Wait till you watch the full movie!

Random Review: Slender Man (Game)

Rating: 3.9 out of 5 stars.
Graphics: Above average.

The simple yet heart-stopping horror game, Slender Man is said to be most scariest game of all time. How far is this true? Well, just read this review to find out.

Slender Man (What people call it) or Slender (The actual name) is an indie-developed psychological horror/survival horror video game released in beta version for Windows and Mac OS X. Yes, even Mac runs this game. It is also available for free. This game is based on Something Awful Forum's mythical creature creation, the Slender Man.  Slender is a first person horror game created by Parsec Productions where your main goal is to find eight manuscripts out of 10 landmarks. These manuscripts will tell you all about Slender Man, but as you progress, the Slender Man gets closer to you. When you look at him, that's when you'll die.

When I first played this game, I was wondering how the Slender Man will look like. As I walked through the forest, I found the first three clues. Then I hear the eerie high-pitched sound and the screen got blur. I was clueless then I noticed it was the end for it. Killed by the Slender Man. To be honest, the Slender Man itself isn't scary. What makes the game scary is the place. A dark forest with abandoned places. The other factor is the music. The high-pitched tune really sends some hysterical messages to your brain. Thus it drives you scared. At least, that is what I can conclude after playing this game. Another thing you should know is that, collecting all eight manuscripts won't end this game. You'll still end up dead. 

Bottom line is, this game might be worth your time to feed your curiosity. It is intelligently scary. I'd say the programmers were really thinking when they produced this. It has no fancy weapons or badass characters, not even a tragically-created ghost to haunt you down, but psychologically it scares you. Try playing this in the dark, with your speakers on maximum volume. Will you be able to take it? Don't worry, you won't get scared anymore if you've played this game over and over.

       Here's a gameplay of Slender. Enjoy! 

  PS: Video might take a while but watch the part towards the end to see the Slender Man.

Genres - In depth

Genre is a French word that means kind. The word 'genre' is widely used in the world of media. Books, TV shows, movies and music all have their own genres. Movie and TV Show genres vary from horror, romance, comedy, science fiction, history, documentary and many more. Music, on the other hand vary from Rock, Pop, Trance, Electro, Classic, Jazz, R&B, Rap, Hip-Hop, and many many more. Dubstep is a new genre in the music industry. A lot loved it, but a lot hated it too. 

Here's an example of Dubstep(Dubstep begins at 1:03):

Depending on each's tastes, one might love it or hate it. Personally, I love it. 

Moving on, let's talk about Movies and TV Shows. Their genres can be defined by observing a few things:

• Time
• Location
• Heroes
• Heroines
• Villains 
• Secondary Characters
• Plots
• Themes
• Costumes
• Locomotion 
• Weaponry 

Imagine, the time is in the future, where there's aliens roaming around planet Earth just like humans. There are also aliens working together with humans holding a ray-gun in a police force.

What is the most possible genre? Science-Fiction.

A gloomy town lived by mutants who hunts nearby travellers. The hero is a buff guy with a gun and hand-knife. Blood and violence was involved. Genre? Horror.

As you can see, these findings may also be seen as a semiotic signifier of specific genres. Ferdinand De Saussure(1996) had concluded that the signs are also divided into two, that is the

signifier(sound/image) and the signified(concept). These signs relate to one another by convention.
 Another fascinating fact about genres is that, different types of genres appeal to different types of people. This applies more effectively in music. In most cases, the types of music a person listens to defines who they really are. Socially, music is also the attraction and repellent of unique individuals. An acquaintance between two individuals might be taken to the next level if they know that they have the same taste in music. It gives them one of the many keys for a working friendship, which is something they have in common.

As for books, they still appeal to people who favors specific or more genres, but a connection between two individuals will spark if they read the same titles. 

All in all, we can see that genres are not only types of media we see, read, listen and understand, but also a medium that connects other people around us.