When Boredom Strikes

When I was preparing to take on 24 hours of media deprivation, I could not stop thinking about how bored I as going to be. When I tried to think of what I was going to do when extreme boredom struck and every idea I had unfortunately involved electronics and media. I then figured I would just wing it and see what happens.

The most difficult part of the assignment was explaining it to my girlfriend. She loves keeping in touch with me throughout the day, on the cell phone. To be hones, I hate my cell phone. The constant beeps and rings drive me crazy. Just the responsibility that goes along with having a cell phone bugs me. You can no longer have excuses to be unaware of anything that is going on because someone will contact you on your cell phone. I was excited to tell my girlfriend I couldn’t use my phone for a day. After she bickered and cursed my professor for designing such an assignment, she came around to it.

When the day started I slept a bit long than usual, figuring that I would wake up, eat, play soccer for as long as I could, and then the day would be practically over. This assignment seemed like a breeze. Unfortunately I underestimated the task at hand. When I woke up, I realized that I couldn’t call my usual boys to play soccer with, because that would go against the rules. This was my first problem. I sat for 30 minutes thinking of ways to get in touch with my friend, Sung. My mind stayed blank, and I eventually went to a park with a raquet ball wall and kicked the ball back and forth with myself, juggling and pretending I was playing with other people. I couldn’t help but notice when I was enduring this deprivation period, the disconnection I felt with the rest of society. Now a days every aspect of life is ran by technologies and media. I began thinking of when I lived in third world countries, like brazil, and Senegal, and even they all had cell phones and television, and even went to internet cafes and such to stay in touch with the rest of society.

After a few hours of soccer I was tired and bored. I went home and sat on the couch, wishing I could go on the internet, or at least call some people to see what they are doing. I didn’t feel guilty for my dependence on these technologies, I just felt that over time they have become social norms and necessities. I cooked food, read a book, and wondered what it would be like to live in a society without these mediums. The Amish people, or the Tribes in South America began flashing through my mind. There experience would have been much different then mine, because they have a whole community to feel connected with, but I had no one.

All in all the assignment was a great experience, that gives me new perspectives of past and present, but at the same time makes me aware of the current state of dependence our culture has on technologies. For most of the assignment I caught myself thinking about various things. No I can understand why there were people like Albert Einstein, or Isaac Newton. They didn’t have as many distractions as we do today in the modern world of communication.

Times is Hard on the Boulevard

In the silent film “Modern Times”, Charlie Chaplin, is depicted as your average, working class, guy during the harsh conditions of the great depression. This is the first silent film I’ve watched and I never knew how well a silent film could portray underlying social conditions of a particular time and place in history. The way the director presented industrialization in America and turned it in to a humorous story, while still capturing the cold harsh mood of this time period was brilliant.

The opening scene of the movie says it all. In the opening few scenes Charlie Chaplin, is a worker on an assembly line in a steel factory. He is frequently falling behind in the line while being harassed by his boss and one of the co workers next to him who is hammering the metal objects as they fly on the speedy conveyor belt. Charlie Chaplin’s goofy antics make a depressing situation quite funny while still exhibiting the grueling and physical strains of working in factories during industrialization. This notion is emphasized when the line stops, and Charlie Chaplin’s begins developing a uncontrollable, wrench twisting, twitch. I thought this scene was very important, setting the tone in which the rest of the movie would follow. In the film the man eventually goes on, having and mental break down, losing jobs left and right, and is thrown in and out of jail, a place which he believes to be a “relief” from the cold world outside. He eventually meets a girl, running off with her in pursuit of peace, love, and happiness.

This film really grasps environment of its time and space, and is a very important artifact in American history.

No Ideas Original

The media has an intentional and direct effect on how one understands people, things and ideas in a society. Over the course of history, propaganda has been used during war times in order to maintain a dominant ideology of a country, which in turn makes it easier to see out its political goals. In today’s society, with the current war in Iraq, after exploring some current propaganda, I have found that it is not always what they show you in the media, but sometimes what they choose to leave out, which can have the biggest impact.
I remember being in Senegal and watching close action of the war in Iraq like I’ve never seen it before. It was like some sort of wake up call. It was like a voice came to me and said “Hey look what’s poppin’ in the middle east.” There something about the image of a dead woman, baby, or soldier lying in the street that really hits home. It’s different than reading the usual headline that read “12 found dead in Baghdad” or something of that nature. Watching the shooting makes it seem more real, it’s not just a comment hear or there by a news reporter behind a desk. BBC news is a British based news broadcaster which has many subsidiaries in which are broadcasted all over the world. When comparing BBC news to American news broadcasters such as CNN, ABC, and Fox news, you will find a major difference in images used as well as different view points set by the headlines in the day to day coverage of the war in Iraq.
To start I just took a look to see BBC’s most recent Iraq headline. I found the headline which reads “Iraq Strike Kills 15 Civilian”. The U.S. military says 19 suspected insurgents and 15 women and children have been killed in an air strike operation north of Baghdad. I searched for a similar story in any of the American news broadcasters and found a similar headline on ABC news, but presented in a different manner. Underneath the headline there was a picture of a scene where a car bombing had occurred in a completely different city killing 7 people, which I found strange. One thing I found on ABC news was a piece saying that since the U.S. has sent 30,000 more troops to Iraq, the number of causalities have gone down. The number of American causalities have gone down this month, most of the reason due to the more troops around for more order. There were no such articles in BBC news.
Even when watching BBC sports, I witnessed an interview of an Iraqi soccer player who is part of the Iraq national team, which recently won the prestigious Asian Cup, a massive achievement. The player explained how important the victory was for his country and all the Iraqi people going through the rough times in of the war. He began crying with passion and said, “I don’t want to be an enemy of America, but I have to say that I hope that the Americans can leave my country and let us live”. He emphasized in a begging manner that it was extremely important that the Americans leave in order for the Iraqi people can live better lives. During that time I don’t remember seeing anything in the American news about this, so I searched online to see if there was any coverage of this. The only thing I found was a video clip of the Iraqis celebrating after the historic victory, all looking extremely happy. This is a good example of how the perspectives can differ between foreign news broadcasters and American news. It’s not always what they show in the media, but sometimes it’s what they choose to leave out.

Fake Bonanza

The media is strong. Its been shaping the innocent minds of Americans for decades. Along with family, it is a main part of our developmental stages. We use it to learn our roles in society and to find our own identity.
I grew up watching cartoons and listening to hip hop music. I was like an Afrocentric Charlie Brown with a gold chain and some shell top Adidas sneakers. I still remember going to Sam Goody to buy that new Naughty by Nature cassette tape. Just the single, the whole album was a bit pricey for a nine year old. Those were the good old days when people still payed for music. We've come a long way since then. I used to wait for days to hear my favorite song. My mom would be driving me to school and If I heard 30 seconds of that song on the radio, it would make my day complete. Its far too easy now a days. I might have 7o,000 songs downloaded to my computer, legally of course. The new world of file sharing is changing commerce forever. I'm sure all of our outstanding citizens want to pay for their music deep down, but its so hard when all these websites and programs practically throw all types of free media in your face. The internet is probably the most important aspect of media for me. I enjoy the freedom. You wouldn't believe how many times I've seen people watch shows that they don't like because their bored and nothing else in on. Happens to me sometimes. I know I don't like The Hills, so why have I seen it more than a few times? TV is powerful. TV makes me watch things. If your not careful TV can also brainwash the mess out you. When i was living in Senegal, I tried to explain to my buddies there that not every American lives like the super sweet sixteen girls and those corny rappers they see in music videos. I found it very interesting that the only Americans they show on French MTV are super sweet sixteen girls and corny rappers. No wonder America has such a bad rep. The media taught the world that were all spoiled rich girls or we spend our days in mansions pouring champagne on girls heads.
The power of media is massive. I hope to keep up with new technology in the future. I don't want to be one of them old heads who are lost and confused. I just hope the new generation can still find time to sit down and read a book and not let too much of that fake bonanza get to their brains.

Who Am I? Why Am I here?

My name is Daniel Bulls and after taking 3 hours to figure out how to set this blog up I'm considering dropping out of college and making beats like Kanye West. I never dreamed of going to college, mostly because its extremely expensive and I'm from the "streets", but the wonderful game of soccer opened up a whole new world of opportunity. I was born here in the United States, but spent a good amount of my teenage years playing soccer in Europe, Senegal, and Brazil. I managed to graduate high school on time, which was a sigh of relief, before moving overseas again to play soccer. During my venture I got a phone call and was offered a scholarship to attend this fine educational institution. Without hesitation, I accepted the offer being that education was always very important to me. Although I dreaded high school, I have a mean thirst for knowledge and enjoy reading very much. I am currently a junior here at UMBC, and I am hoping to graduate with a degree in media and communications. After graduating I hope to be a prosperous member of society. Aside from soccer and learning, I also enjoy culture, hip hop, Korean food, The Animal Planet, Sneakers, and all Goya food products.

Who Am I