Farewell to the King

Michael Jackson, aka the King of Pop, was finally laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, on the 3rd of September 2009.

Since his death on June 25th of this year, the media spotlight has been constantly on him (agenda setting), following every single bit of detail available and introducing us to the world which Michael Jackson lived in--a world of glamour, fame, drugs and family.


One question should be asked. What was the agenda of the media owners (gatekeepers- Shoemaker & Reese, 1991) in covering his story? Michael Jackson was just a famous pop star; there were many famous pop stars in the music industry, but why did they have to do a full coverage on him instead of some other stars like Demi Levato or the Jonas Brothers?

The answer was plain simple--Michael Jackson was a legend, he was royalty, he was the King of Pop and the Prince of Rock. By selecting him over other celebrity news, this process used by the media is known as priming.
Note: Farrah Fawcett, a former Charlie's Angels passed away on the same day too, but the media spent a few seconds on her and concentrated the rest of their time on Michael Jackson's.


This is a picture of Farrah Fawcett who was famous for her role as Jill Monroe in Charlie's Angels.

In addition, Michael Jackson was once believed to be able to rule the world. He had a massive fan base all over the world, regardless of race and religion; he brought them together with his music. Fans cried and fainted when they saw him at his concerts; the public loved with him. Therefore, the media owners wanted his story (unobtrusive issue) because people were interested in Michael Jackson. They achieved further success when Michael Jackson was supposedly murdered by his own physician.



It is really sad because that despite after death, Jackson was still unable to truely rest in peace. Even his "private" funeral became a not-so-private affair in the end, thanks to the media. In addition, the media, till today continues to follow a story related to Jackson, and that is who will get custody of his children (Debbie Roe, I sure hope not?) and how would his property be divided?

However, I have to admit that it was the media which spring-boarded him to stardom (Jackson 5 to his solo career). I thank the media and Diana Ross for plucking him from obsurity and sharing him with the world.

Earth Song


Childhood


I am a fan of all his songs but I feel that these two songs speak to me more than the others. Have a listen, I do hope you love them as much as I do. He was my Idol.

Ethnical Culture of the Middle East?

An article regarding the issue of child marriages was published in the Today newspaper. Fawziya Abdullah Youssef, a 12-year-old Yemeni child bride had a still-born baby and died of child birth after struggling for 3 days in labor. She is one of the many child brides in Yemen.



This is an example of culture at work. It portrays Geert Hofstede's view of culture and an attitudinal barrier to communication , Enthocentrism.

Geert Hofstede had stated that culture is "the programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group of people from another...includes systems of values which are the building blocks of culture." The Yemeni culture allows girls from as young as the age of eight to be married to older men. This is a practice that not many other groups perform, therefore making this culture much more unique than others.



In addition, Yemeni child marriages is a custom that was established based on religion--Prophet Muhammad had wed a 9-year-old girl. Religion had been embedded into the Yemeni Culture; the Islamic culture had provided the cultural norms which instructed the Yemeni people what they could or could not do. In this case, Yemeni parents could marry off their young daughters to older men because it was the right thing to do and it would be wrong of their daughters to reject such a marriage arrangement.


Therefore, it should be understood that this cultural belief did not occur overnight as it was passed down the Yemen generations and they were made to think in this manner.


However,the mentality that the practice of "child marriages is right" had been established so deeply within the Yemen peoples' minds; it would be a herculine task for them to unlearn this. Despite the outrage from Yemeni child brides, the Yemen parliament has yet to put a minimal age limit for a girl to be married at.



After reading this article, I was immediately disgusted by Fawziya's parents as well as the husband. I was unable to understand why the parents had to marry their daughter off so early and why such a fully grown man would accept such a marriage arrangement. Ethnocentrism was the answer for my reaction--I was brought up in a society which disproved child marriages; I was given the freedom or right to choose my future husband whereas these girls did not have such a privilege.

Singapore Football, a Group Matter

In October 2009, at the age of 36 years, S.Subramani, one of Singapore's finest football players, announced his retirement from Home United Club, his home team of 11 years.

This is a fine model that reflects Moreland & Levine's Group Socialization process because it shows the level of Subramani's (individual) commitment and allegiance to Home United (group) after his evaluation of the team.

This evaluation process comes in 5 stages. During the socialization process, Subramani went through a series of role transitions, from a prospective member, a new member, a full member, a maginal member and finally, an ex-member.

The socialization process begins at the prospective member stage where each side searches for information. Subramani was originally from Tanjong Pagar United and played exceptionally well for the team, however, due to financial problems the club was forced to close down. But due to his excellent performance on the field, Home United FC made an immediate attempt to recruit him to their team. Subramani thought over the offer before finalizing his desire to joy Home United.



When Subramani became the new member, he had to learn the culture or norms of his new team as it was much different from his previous; inorder to gain full acceptance from them. Being one of the top football teams in Singapore, Home United was unlike Tanjong Pagar because its practice regime was much harsher than the former. Subramani went on with the trainings without any complaints because of his love for football, therefore his new team accepted him without much difficulty.


Even though Subramani is a full member of the Home United team, there was an on-going process of negotiation on his roles and position in the team and the team's goals. As a result, he was made defender of the team because of his great defending skills and later on captain, due to the team's respect for him as a football player. He stayed on for 11 years.





Subramani became a marginal member when his playing opportunities gradually declined because he had sustained injuries.

Therefore, making his decision to officially leave the team in 2009.

This decision meant that Subramani is now an ex-member of the team, therefore his team and him would undergo a period of remembrance in which Subramani would reminisce on his participation in the team and his team would look back on their achievements and history because of his membership--They had won 2 S-league titles under his leadership.

When Ugly Turns Romantic...

Released on the 17th of September, this hilarious movie has Abby Ritcher (Katherine Heigl) in two relationships with two very different men; A love-hate relationship with Mike Chadway (Gerald Butler) and a crush on Dr. Colin Anderson. Trouble brewled when she found herself having romantic feelings for both men. Despite being in a dilema, Abby made her choice and chose the man she felt most comfortable with.



This film covers factors which influenced Abby's ultimate decision; Physical appearance, similarity and dissimilarities, competency, proximity, reciprocity and liking, and exchange.

ROUND 1 : Physical Appearance- Doc Winner!!Dr. Anderson is a hunk (handsome, clean-cut, well-built) who has the look of success shining on him. Mike, however, models after a cave-man (rusty-looking and gorilla-like). Based on first impressions, Abby was drawn to Anderson, therefore choosing to develop a romantic relationship with him instead of Mike.


ROUND 2 : Similarity Vs Dissimilarities (early stage)- Doc Winner!!
Dr. Anderson and Abby are very refined people in terms of speech and behaviour. Mike is the exact opposite--he is vulgar, crude and embarrassing. Based on these, Abby saw Anderson as the perfect romantic partner, whereas, she saw Mike as an on/off friend.


ROUND 3: Competency- Draw...
Although both men are in different fields of profession, they have attained career success. Dr. Anderson is a successful surgeon. Mike has a small successful talk show, was invited to be on the local news and poached by CBS.




ROUND 4 : Proximity- Mike Wins!!!
Despite spending time with Anderson during dates, Abby spent even more time with Mike. The duo worked at the news station together, and Mike also coached her to impress Anderson (even followed on her dates). Mike and Abby got to understand each other better through constant interaction and fell for each other eventually.



ROUND 5 : Reciprocity and liking- Mike Wins!!!
Self-disclosure: Mike confessed to Abby why he became a playboy and had physical contact with her. In the hot air balloon, he told her he loved her for who she was and had accepted her control-freak flaw (commitment made). Similarly, Abby admitted that she had not slept with a guy in 11 months. However, Anderson was not willing to accept Abby's flaw when she told him about it in the hotel room, therefore, leading to their break-up (impact of physical appearance diminished over course of relationship and that the character of the person was more important).


ROUND 6: Exchange- Doc no fight, Mike Wins!!!
Abby would be able to have a firm relationship with Mike that is grounded by acceptance, love and respect (rewards). However, Mike would have to give up his title as a playboy (costs) to keep this relationship, which he did so willingly.



This movie is an excellent comedy on relationships, coupled with slightly crude sexual language. It is a joy to watch so JUST WATCH IT!! *smilez*

What a Game Indeed!

Geri's game is a joint production of John Lasseter and Pixar Film. It is about an elderly man, Geri, who plays chess with himself in a national park during the Autumn season. Although he seems to be lonely, he is actually playing the game with his alter ego, Black Geri.

This short film expresses certain types of non-verbal communication, mainly, kinetics, paralinguistics, oculesics and physical appearance.

In the game, Geri, who was using the white chess pieces, appeared to be losing to his alter ego (black), because he had made a number of careless mistakes; he found it hard trying to savage the situation. This is the part where kinesics, the study of body movement, comes in. Geri used emblems during the times when he had such difficulties. For instance, he scratched his head and stroked his chin when he was deciding on his next move.

In addition, paralinguisticswas also involved during the chess match. Through the use of vocalics, we were able to know which player (Geri/Black Geri) had the upper hand in the game. From the beginning to the middle of the game, Black Geri was winning. He made loud sounds like "Hah!" and "Hmm!", which showed that he knew that the move he made was right and also showed that he wanted to demoralize Geri. However, at the and of the match, it was Geri who said "HaHaHa!", which showed that he was the victor.

To add on, oculesics, the study of nonverbal meaning with the eyes, was also portrayed in this clip. Black Geri was constantly giving Geri the challenging stare whereas Geri gave the look of panic.


Finally, physical appearance allowed us to differentiate between the real Geri and his alter ego. Black Geri was the one who did not wear spectacles (and had the dentures with him). On the other hand, Geri wore circular-shaped spectacles.



This short film is excellent. A big WELL DONE to pixar as well as John Lesseter who chose such a fine script. Here is the video of Geri's Game, please enjoy...

McSelect...Yummy!

We select what we want to consume on a daily basis. For instance, when selecting what sort of fastfood we want to eat, our choices are influenced by our social network, individual cahracteristics, the mass media and our environment.

Firstly, my social network, which is made up of my family and friends, are Macdonalds fanatics. They love to eat burgers such as McSpicy as well as the Fillet O' Fish burger. Therefore, you can imagine what it was like when the double fillet promotion came about; my friends would drag me to Mcdonalds and persuade me to eat with them (which I did) because they were my friends.


Secondly, during the double filet promotion, I was made to choose between buying a single or double filet meal; I preferred to eat something more filling because I knew (knowledge) that the single meal would not be able to fill even a quarter of my stomach, therefore, I chose to get the double Filet O' Fish meal instead. This selection (choice) of my was due to individual characteristics.

Thirdly, mass media played a part in influencing my choice. The media had been constantly promoting Mcdonalds' new products and promotions. For instance, the commercial that Mcdonalds would have a lunch value from 12 noon to 3pm, was constantly aired on television as well as the radio. Therefore, if I wanted to save a buck or two, I would choose to get my fastfood lunch then.

However, we should always be cautious about the media, because it could persuade us to get something that we do not really need. For example, the media announced that Mcdonalds would be giving out free glasses for every meal purchased to encourage consumers to buy the meals; many would fall prey to this.



Finally, our environment plays an important part in influencing our selection (choices); the American society lives and breathes Mcdonalds.



Whatever the case, I still think that if you enjoy your food, it does not matter what influenced you to choose it in the first place.

"More Violence"...Is that what we are after?

Eden Lake is released in Singapore in 2009. A couple (Steve and Jennifer) goes camping; unaware that their fates will soon be in the hands of a gang of cruel youths-of-today. The title suits this movie because "eden", gives the impression of a peaceful environment, but will eventually turn into a chaotic scenerio.

This movie portrays a communication process through the use of the Transactional Model .



Firstly, communicators of this model are the director (encoder) and the audience (decoders). James Watkin's (director) message to the audience was in the form of 2 questions. "How would normal people react towards violence inorder to survive?" and "How to control troubled youths of today?" Viewers had responded that those ill-bred teens (in the movie) should be killed, therefore, proving that communication is in play. Here is an example of a viewer's response.



Secondly, Watkin created a dark and sinister environment in his movie to further put his message through to his audience. He made the eerie deserted woods his main setting, added excellent sound effects when someone was tortured, showed the audience how despicable the teenagers were (through their actions), etc. Therefore, putting the viewers in the shoes of both the killers and/or victims--literally see what they see and feel what they feel. The scene below is the perfect example of the environment portrayed to the viewers by Watkin.



However, it is a real pity that this film never had a 3D version (unlike the brainless final destination 4 which had) because I am sure that it would have heightened the entire movie experience to another level.



Finally, this environment does exert both negative and positive influences on the audience. Positive influences: Some of the audiences, especially parents, will make sure that their children are well-disciplined and also ensure that they do not become abusive parents that the youngsters might model after.

Negative influences: Although, this movie is rated M-18, it might send out wrong messages to the teenagers who are applicable to watch this--That Murder Can Be Committed for One's Own Pleasure. Therefore, there is the possibility that potential killer(s) might be groomed in the process, hence, bringing the horrors from screen to life.

Likewise, this is Watkin's first production as a director, therefore, the audiences' critics will positively influence him to work harder in the areas that he is lacking in.



This movie, with all its twists and turns, will keep you at the edge of your seat , and I do highly recommend movie-goers to watch it. It is unlike the "you've seen one, you've seen them all" sort of gore movie because it mirrors reality. I guarantee that you will not be disappointed.

I rate it 3/5.