"A Joke is like a Bonus Check"

          

Everybody loves the class clown. This society is full of class clowns getting more respect and popularity than the hard working students. Advertisers get paid for coming up with snappy jokes to buy the attention of a mass audience. It could be a unhealthy snack or a produce that stretches the truth but if the commercial is funny someone will buy. But what about in an office of health insurance, or a firm, is having a sense of humor good?   According to Sue Shellenbarger in the Wall Street Journal, having a sense of humor could possibly lead to a good career. In her article "Secrets of Effective Office Humor" she explained her studies about humor in the office using different media to demonstrate her point.  

She opened the print of her story with Margot Carmichael Lester, the owner of "The Word Factory". By beginning with Lester admitting that she would most likely hire someone with a sense of humor, this quote gives solid evidence that all the stiff uptight hard workers like myself need to learn to loosen up during interviews. I have gone through several group interviews for jobs and internships practicing what I am going to say while watching the happy, smily jokers get a faster connection with the boss. So I could agree that everybody loves a class clown.  

There are positive effects and negative effects. The rest of the printed piece supported her topic as well as expanded the dangers of making jokes at the wrong time in the office, for this she used another life experience. Fred Kilbourne is known for making jokes but he recalls a moment when he made a joke at a time that was too serious and was confronted about it.

The printed part of her article had all the major details from her study, using personal experiences. The point that drove it home to me was the statement from Paul Spiegelman expressing that humor within the office strengthens loyalty and productivity which is needed in a business corporation. Shellenbarger used print to elaborate on her research taking quotes from credible people who used humor to ease the stress at work, but it was the pictures that brought out the article. 

  

Throughout her printed form of the article there were pictures of improv classes. There, you see people laughing and interacting. This is what made her article interesting as I read it. One of the best pictures is the first picture of Brett Cromwell, who is in a leadership-development program at a medical-device firm, attending an improv class. He looks humorous with his arms up like he is acting out a scary scene. This picture demonstrates the craft of the art of humor and made me want to read more into her article.


Another picture showed was the yoga teacher Jill Braverman laughing and engaging with her Improv Boston class. She looks calm and relaxed and had a smile that made me feel like I could relate to her.

Towards the end of the article was the audio which was about six minutes. In the audio, Shellenbarger was being interview by radio spokesman of "What’s News," Gordon Deal. Her voice was smooth and sweet which gave me the impression that she was honest and genuine. During the interview she did not say too much outside of what she has written, which gives more emphasis to the print. Her point that "laughing activates the same regions of the brain as getting a bonus check" gives the importance of having a good since of humor in a stiff serious place like in the office. The audio also complemented her article by making me relate to her not only as a writer but as a person. Hearing her voice made her more believable than black letters of the screen. I could hear the emotion in her voice as well as sense her personality. The audio was more effective than the video because it allowed me to see more with my mind’s eye of what type of person Sue Shellenbrger could be. To me she seems like a nice, family loving and caring person which grows my trust to take her points in the article and apply it in my life. A person could read a well written article but without a connection between the reader and writer it is not influential.

 

Personally, I am a uptight individual. I have to have my work done before a certain time. This article helped me to see that I could use a little time to goof off. I have problems relaxing even around the house, but to know that a laugh simulates the brain the same way as a bonus check, helped me to see life is more than working for success. We all could take a lesson from the class clowns, to keep good relationships with people at work, family and friends and keep a smile on their face. 

 

Classy or Trashy.. Miley Cyrus VMA performance

The article I choose to discuss was Miley Cyrus's wild VMA performance. It has been almost a month now and fans are still raving about the scandalous performance the young star put it.  Most people found Miley's performance to be " hyper-sexualized". Miley performed her new single " We can't stop"... she sure did not stop grabbing her crotch during the performance. Miley also wore very little clothing. For her performance she wore a nude bra and booty shorts that barely covered.. it was very distasteful.

I think everyone was shocked by her performance and was not expecting something so raunchy. " Miley, if you're determined to be a train wreck, please let your passengers get off first ( the kids who idolized you as " Hannah Montana") Someone, anyone, please make her stop". I don't think the world is ready for Miley's new edgy persona.  

What I found most interesting was that Miley did not think there was anything wrong with her performance. When you are in the spotlight you want to get viewers attention and be outrageous. I don't think the VMA's has seen anything this crazy since 2003 when Britney Spears and Madonna made history by sharing a kiss during their performance. When asked about her performance Miss Cyrus stated, "What's amazing is I think now, we're three days later and people are still talking about it. They're over thinking it," she says. "You're thinking about it more than I thought about it when I did it. Like, I didn't even think about it 'cause that's just me. Miley claims before her and artist Robin Thicke went on stage they knew they were about to make history. 

Taylor Swift's reaction was priceless..

I thought Miley's performance was outrageous and distasteful but I understand why she did it. She wanted to make history and be talked about and thats exactly what she wanted. She is getting the publicity she wants. Her choice of outfit and dance moves could have been more pleasing to the eye. The new Miley is here to stay, goodbye Hannah Montana!

MMJ assignment # 1

Waka Flocka says they were never family  only protecting his mother's investments. In this interview you can see that power 105.1 use's print and video to really show the true emotions of how the rapper feels towards gucci mane. 
In the website you can see how they use a multimedia mindset to express and show different angles of the story. They allow the audience to response on a comment section right under the video so they may speak on their opinions. Other than that they give a brief description next to a photo of the interview to describe what the viewer is about to see. It briefly speaks on what the rapper "Waka Flocka"  speaks on and questions the power105.1 breakfast club staff is about to ask.

Four Kids died in car crash on Sprain Brook Parkway

           The article that it picked was about a car crash that happened on the Sprain Brook Parkway where four kids died when the car blew up into flames on September 1 2013. Some of the different types of media that I found were print, video, audio and interactive.  

 The strengths of print are that you can have it and hold it in your hands. After I read the article I did find out that it had a lot more detail in it. I then was actually able to find out who the driver was and also they told me their specific age of the driver and kids in the car. 

The Video was more eye opening to me because I was able to see the car after the accident happened and it was very devastating to see how badly the car was crushed and burned into flames. By watching the video it really proved to others that speeding can kill because there is less time to react and the impact is greater.   

The article also had an audio file in it, but I did not like it in this article because it had nothing to do with the story.  Normally audio can be nice, so you can multitask while listening to the audio. But this audio was not good because it was not a part of the story that the article was about. I would have changed the audio to make sure that it fit with the story, so that people can multitask and listen to the story if they want to.   

The strengths of interactive are important because people are able to give their opinion about the story. They can share their sadness to the family and hopefully others can read their comments and learn about this experience. But in this article on this webpage, the story did not have a comment section. This is important to have, because as I saw other WebPages that had comments sections in the article. I saw how some comments opened everyone’s mind and helped everyone understand how important it is not to speed and to make sure you are not a distracted driver.  

Lastly I though this article was really good but there are some things that I would add and change.  One thing that I would add is a comment section. This is important to have, so people can participate and interact with the article. Also in this article the audio I would change. I would make it so that the listener can hear the story.  This is important because some people are better listeners than readers. Some people would understand the story better if you had an audio in it.     

FED Chair Up for Grabs

Scanning through the political blogisphere, I stumbled upon a great Politico article regarding the upcoming appointment of the new chair of the United States Federal Reserve.  The content of the article, easily the best and most important part, pinpoints a list of candidates who are in the running to fill the seat.  Missing from said list is former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, the architect of the financial deregulation of the derivative market in the early 2000s.  Liberals have long been crying the praises of current Vice Chairwoman Janet Yelen as the prohibitive favorite and it appears she will be most likely to get the nod.  Yelen, along with a personal hero of mine Elizabeth Warren, have a long history of pro-regulation policy.  The culture of deregulation that was started as far back as the Reagan administration, and culminating in the Clinton administration, is almost fully responsible for the financial crisis that ravaged our economy in 2008.  Lets just say Glass-Steagall is the most important piece of legislation to ever be overturned in our Nation's history.

To augment the actual content of the article, Politico provides nice interactive features allowing you to broadcast this article to all of your friends via social media.  The instant visual appeal to me isnt there, but I dont read articles for the visual appeal, I read them for the meat and potatoes, so that didnt bother me.  However, even for one who doesnt enjoy the bells and whistles of internet articles like me, the interspersed related articles was truly a nice touch.  In between every few paragraphs, politico provides links to stories with similar content, and a litany of blogs.  I highly recommend using politico for all those political junkies out there, not just for the aesthetics, but for the actual content of their message, which to me is most important.

Vice Enlightens Us On The Sins Of Gold Mining In Romania

While exploring Vice's website the other day I came across an article which caught my eye titled “Romanian Protesters Still Don’t Want Gold Companies To Blow Up Their Mountains” by Ioana Moldoveanu. The article is about a gold mining company that blows up mountains using cyanide and has had ties to "corpse trafficking" in its past endeavors.  

The article tells us about how many Romanians are protesting the Rosia Montana Gold Company (RMGC), which wants to blow up a few mountains to extract gold. In the process not only would the company be doing considerable damage to the environment but entire communities would need to be relocated. The RGMC is using a method of mining which involves using cyanide to extract gold from the ore that will create "214 million cubic meters of toxic cyanide waste". Hearing about cyanide in conjunction with blowing up mountains does not seem like the best idea to me. It sounds crazy, and all in the name of making some money. The extent to which some people really just don't care about the well being of others, and especially the only planet that we have to live on, has always left me with a feeling of confusion and awe.

Using a photo gallery and youtube video, which portrays the protests in Bucharest that consist of over 15,000 people flooding the streets, we can see exactly what is occurring in Romania through a first person view. It's also quite apparent that mass amounts of people do not want this mining operation to happen. Romanians are protesting a bill which, if passed, will give the RMGC the go-ahead to start blowing up mountains and extracting gold. You can check out their reasons for protesting the bill, as well as information about the area of Rosia Montana, here.

I really like how the author embedded links throughout the article that allow me to explore other aspects of the situation. In one such link, which really caught my attention, we are given insight into the tactics this company has previously used to achieve its goals. Vice did an article a few months before detailing how RMGC has been paying off families to move their loved ones corpses out of their current graves and move them elsewhere so that they can mine the land underneath. I am highly skeptical towards any company that is associated with "corpse trafficking".

From what I have gathered through reading this article and its various links, the RGMC seems to essentially be a corpse-trafficking, mountain destroying, and life ruining entity. If these words were associated with a human being we would deem them dangerous and psychotic and would probably have them arrested. However, it is an interesting topic and definitely worth the read.

Obama Talks Economy

    This multimedia article uses video, print, and interactive features to successfully tell the story of President Obama, using the anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, to emphasize economic recovery. It has been five years since this turning point in our economy and the president often comes under fire for the slow rebuilding process. This article uses its interactive elements to allow citizens to weigh in on how they feel about President Obama trying to prove he has actually improved the economy as promised.

    The original Huffington Post article explains in depth how the president has been trying to rebuild since he took office in 2008. The same year the global financial services firm Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. This was a major hit to, not only the American economy, but the global economy as well. The pressure for the president to stabilize our economic situation is what makes it necessary for him use this anniversary to show off his accomplishments. 

   The article quotes the president explaining how his policies have stabilized the situation and created jobs, but then continues to cite specific instances, where he hasn’t cooperated with congress to improve the situation. This makes the article seem objective, which is necessary as the comment section allows for enough personal opinion. Some of the negatives I found were the placement of the comment section, which is at the very bottom of the page, bellow ads for other unrelated articles. This causes a disconnect between the article and the feedback readers are giving. The comments are endlessly interesting because you get thousands of first hand perspectives which is important to a story about the economy. Many showed disapproval of the presidents policies, where others support him emphatically. Over all, the article is a good example of many medias being used to tell one story. 

A CBS Report via YouTube.