The Do's & Don'ts In A Woman's Life

If you are a man, then you may find this interesting and amusing at some point..

If you are a woman, then you'll find yourself nodding in agreement(and perhaps even amusement) to what you may read.

I read an interesting article on Clove TWO Online( Out of The Mouths). It is about the common beliefs that women has been passing down from generation to generation until this very day in the 21st century. I'm sure, if you're a woman, you would be familiar to hearing something like this from your mother, " Don't cut your fingernails at night!" , " Don't sit with your legs wide open, nobody would want to marry you!" , "Don't eat pineapples during your menstruation, it will make you bleed more!" and that scary, horrible one that goes " Don't cross your legs upwards in mid air when you're lying on your tummy, it will shorten your parent's lifespan!"

Funny and absurd some of the advices may be, but some of us still obey them diligently. Pregnant women are told to drink loads of soy milk, so their offspring will have fair and beautiful skin. This may not be scientifically proven, but hey, it's worth the try, isn't it? 

Oh, not to mention, sometimes when these single ladies wants to find their soul mates quickly after being disappointed in their relationships, they would be told to pluck some fresh flowers (mainly roses, I think) and shower with the flowers. I usually see these women put the plucked flowers into pails and collect water inside and then wash themselves with the water. This is called the flower bath and it serves purpose to attract men to you. This, however, is purely superstition. But taking these flower baths can be fun too, isn't it?

Now, most of these advices are generally superstitions related to one's culture, but there are some of those advices that are actually scientifically proven to be true. For example, drying off well after a shower. Everybody does this, but remember when we were cute little *ahem* angels and directly after our showers our mothers would wrap those warm, cozy and dry towels around us and telling us to dry off well after showers? If you had the sense to ask her why, she would probably mutter something on getting bacteria infections. This is actually true. Moist skins encourage fungal infections, which is why we should dry off well after showers.

So do women still follow these advices/superstitions these days? I think it's safe to say that some still does and some doesn't anymore. But that of course, depends on your culture and also what the superstition/advices are about. Not to mention, some of these superstitions has been declared Haram for Muslims to practice them. If you would like to view some of the advices and superstitions, you may click on the link above that leads to the original article. 

I hope you had a good time reading this!

Step by Step! (Blurbs)

This is the third week of college and I am anticipating the end of this semester. Not that because it is not fun, but I can't wait for the next semester where I will be doing new subjects and taking another step to finishing my diploma. But anyways, Qim and I were supposed to start on our Introduction To Mass Communications project after midterms. 

And so we will. Mid terms is on Monday and Wednesday. So we would definitely start doing the slides, preparing the notes and every other thing straight away. Unfortunately I don't have any picture for my blurbs this time because both Qim and I are too busy revising and studying. Mid terms is important and this is the first exam, so I really don't want to screw up, especially when it affects so much of my grade! Apart from that, I hope I'll be getting high marks.

Wish us luck!

And I'll keep updating on our progress on the project :)

Introduction to Mass Communications-Week 3

So on the 21st of June, Monday, the class started as usual, after lunch. Having done my Critical Thinking presentation earlier that day had lifted a weight of my shoulders and I was more enthusiastic to learn. Anyhow, on that day, Miss Zee taught us about Newspapers. 

We started with the history of newspapers, how it came about. It was popularized by the US and back then the news is only supplied by the government. John Peter Zenger wrote about taxes and was jailed but his imprisonment has caused quite a stir. It lead to the rise of new publishers that write about how England abuse it's power and other political related issues. 

Then we proceeded to The Penny Press. It changed the distribution pattern from 6 cents to just 1 cent per paer and thus making it far more affordable and he tactic attracted many people to read the newspaper. The definition of news changed, news are updated everyday and there are specific types of news. I had also learned about how news was collected, from the carrier pigeons to the Pony Express, railroads and steamships.

As we went further into the topic, we learned about the Pulitzer awards and also E.W Scripps who introduced newspaper chains (i.e The Star may own Metro Harian). Then came the era of yellow journalism, or another word for it is muckracking. This is where the news focus on bribery, social ills, corruption and many more. Then we learned about The Great Depression and how it affected the industries. We also learned about Jazz Journalism and the pioneer Al Capone,as well as postwar newspapers, the contemporary developments and also the categories of newspapers. 

On the second day, the 22nd of June, we learned about Magazines. The basic history of magazines, as Miss Zee had told us, was started by the housewives in America who had decided to make scrapbooks of what they like from the newspapers during their pat times. Magazines, however, is not always recent news. 

There are many types of magazines, news magazines functions as collection, archive and reference.Digests, are random articles put together. These are small news and digests were introduced during the World Wars.There are also pictorial magazines. During the postwar periods, people were taught to be more liberalized with their freedom and so came the provoking magazines such as Playboy.

General consumer magazines are about fashion, photography and many more. These magazines can be found at news stands anywhere. Custom magazines, can't be find in news stands. Examples of these magazines are in-flight magazines, which are intended to keep customers coming back. There are two types of distribution , controlled distribution and paid circulation. Controlled distribution, for example, are free copies of magazines you may find in Starbucks, or hang out places. Paid circulations are the ones we buy.

Step by Step! (Blurbs)

I was reading a couple of pages off the Introduction To Mass Communications textbook, then I glanced at my calendar. That was when I freaked out, I had just realized that the mid-terms examination is one week away! I'm having a major panic attack right now, as well as the depression I've been feeling for weeks.

Anyways, I had already gotten my own *photocopied* copy of Introduction To Mass Communications textbook from Nisya. I received my copy on Monday. I returned the copy i borrowed from the Kdu library and I had flipped through the pages as well as read on the topic Qim and I were going to present on July the 12th.

I didn't read thoroughly enough and there several things that needs a re-read in order for me to fully understand the topic I was given. I wanted to read more thoroughly, but the prospect of mid-terms held me back. I decided to study for my mid-terms first this week, I really don't want to fail any subject.

But on Friday, Qim and I went to the computer lab to further investigate on our topic, just in case the book left out anything.

I will pick up where I left as soon as mid-terms is out of the way.

Until then, wish me luck for mid-terms!

Miley Too Wild?

 Miley Cyrus.

Who doesn't know Miley Cyrus? The so-called pop sensation has been on the media bad side lately, the media just love to thrash her in anyway or any chance they can get. I've been viewing articles on The Sun tabloid online and these are some related articles on Miley's "outrageous" behaviours. Miley Cant Be Tamed?

and Miley is "Chest" Having Fun.

Having read those articles, I must say that I have a better judgment than all those critiques because they are being unreasonable.Now, let me get this straight, I'm not a fan of Miley. I think she can't sing, like, seriously, haven't you heard her songs? Frankly, the Disney songs that she sang as Hannah Montana were awesome. They totally complimented her voice but the songs she sang as Miley Cyrus? They are unbearable. It's so sad because those songs are actually good and catchy but she HAD to be the one to sing them and her voice completely ruined them.Honestly, she sounds good when she sings in a low note but when she reaches the high notes and the intermediate parts, the song just tank. It's very close to a cat being stepped on the tail. They call that TALENT?

Okay now, the media has been making her look bad with every single actions she made, for example in the first article the media dissed her on wearing very revealing clothes.First of all, she's 17 years old girl going 18 soon and the way she dress is no different than any other 17 years old girl you may find in America today.So why harp on her alone? Why not pick on the rest of them that wear such clothes? Besides, the music industry is all about the whole "sex sells" concept. It's the truth. Most female singers exploited their body too much just to sell their music. It's not about music just so much.

People were commenting on how she is a role model for kids and how she's being a very bad influence. I was like, WHAT ROLE MODEL? Her Hannah Montana days are over, she's not a role model to anyone, there's no need to flatter her too much. She was indeed very like able in Hannah Montana but she has grown up and so this new image is actually nothing outrageous. It's completely normal for women to want to be sexy as they grow up. It's human nature!

So yes, I'm on her defense for that first article.However, for the second article, I'm all against Miley. I mean, the whole lesbian-like act? It's totally unnecessary. She doesn't have to do that in the first place, she can just tell the choreographer that it might not be a good idea. 

Her parents are to be blamed too. They knew that the media is always trying to bring Miley down, why didn't they do something about it? They are open minded, yes, that's nice, but they should know what kind of act Miley will be doing in her performances. They shouldn't let her do too many crazy stuff, it's really downgrading. But then again,maybe she need to do those acts after all. The reason why? To distract people from her bad singing. 

For me, if Miley wants to wear sexy clothes, then so be it. But the whole same-sex "kiss", the crotch rubbing dance with the male dancer and the controversial lap dance is just too much. If you are that desperate for publicity, get it by acting. Not by singing badly and cause commotions.

Introduction to Mass Communications-Week 2

14 June 2010.

Having the class right after lunch break has its pros and cons. The good thing is that we're not hungry so we can pay attention, the bad thing is we get sleepy easily because we're full! So anyways, the topic for the day was on historical and cultural context. 


The first slide showed us the different types of writings and how they evolve as well as the history behind it until it became the roman alphabets that we use now. Then we learned about the writing surfaces. How it evolves from clay, paper made from papyrus plants, animals hides and now paper made from the tree pulp. After that, we leaned about John Gutenburg's invention, the printing press. 


John Gutenburg's creation became the pioneer of the Gutenburg's Revolution. The bible wa sprinted in many languages and people all over the world can read it. That leads to the growth of scholarship and knowledge as well the increase in literacy. 


The social impact of writing is that it enables administration of empires. It also enables laws to be organised and recorded.


Much later, came the telegraph. It was dubbed as ''The Annihilator of Time and Space". This was because the telegraph has offered a wider range of communication than ever before.


Then we came to the photography and motion pictures topic. We learnt how photography began ( early photos were called daguerreotypes) and how movies were first made and such.

We proceeded to radio and television broadcasting and we learned about the history of radio and television as well as the cultural impacts of radio and television. 


Then we learned about the digital revolution and the rise of cell phones, PDAs and such.

15 June 2010

The topic for the day was News Gathering and Reporting.

1) Deciding what is news

-Timeliness

-Proximity

-Consequence

-Human Interest

-Economics

News reporting in the digital age has been changed by the digital evolution.Which, has changed news reporting. As for more sources of news, the internet has increased the number of news sources such as general news sites, news aggregators and specialized news sites.

Blogs represents another source of news. Blogs can have an agenda setting effect. Blogs can also provide a check on traditional media, as well as provide an additional outlet for reporters and make it possible for everyone to be reporters.

Citizen journalism is when ordinary citizens become amateur journalists. These people are aid by the digital and cell phone video cameras as well as the high speed internet access.Traditional media encourages citizen journalism and so news media no longer monopolize what's reported and how. 

Hyperlocal news are coverage of stories of interest to a very small community. Most hyperlocal news appears on the web sites. Publishers of these hyperlocal news hopes to attract people who dont generally consume news.

The converged journalist has the skills of a print journalist and a video journalist. There are also back pack journalists and mobile journalists called mojos. New tools such as the internet allows reporters to access wide variety of information while at their desks.

News can be broken down into broad categories.Here are the categories of news.

Hard news are traditional  fact-oriented journalism.The print media involves the inverted pyramid format and the broadcast media involves the square format meanwhile the online media involves varied writing styles. Soft news features a wide range of topics that are of human interest such as talk shows. Soft news uses the inverted pyramid style and is more common on TV than radio. Investigative reports are significant informative reports about matters of public importance. Investigative reports are non-routine methods and are longer than typical news items.

The news flow. 

There are many gatekeepers in print and broadcast news.Online reporting may have fewer gatekeepers as well as bloggers. For the print media, the sources of print news are the staff reports and wire services. As for the broadcast media, the sources of broadcast news are local reporters and wire services as well as syndicated news services and network feeds. For the online media, the news flow and productions are  similar to the traditional media.

The wire services.

There are two major wire services, the Associated Press (AP) and the United Press International (UPI). Wire services provides most of the news about whats going on outside the local community and there are other wire services competing with the two major wire service mentioned above.

Media differs in coverage because print, broadcast and online media all have strength and weaknesses.

•Print & online news are organized in space; TV stories organized in time.TV covers fewer stories and in less details. Print and online media are better at lengthy facts and information.

There are similarities between the print, broadcast and online media. The journalists share basic values and journalist principles such as honesty, accuracy, balance, objectivity and maintaining credibility.As for the readership and viewship, audiences for news have been shrinking and getting older. Except for the internet, exposure to all sources of news has decreased.

Step by step! (Blurbs)

Finally got our hands on The Dynamics of Mass Communication, Media in Transition textbook! Now we can definitely start on our presentation.

My partner and I went to the library to borrow the book as soon as the class finished. We were lucky to borrow it before the rest of  our classmates bombarded the library to get copies of their own. Too bad the copies are limited, so some of them had to wait until the rest of us are done using the books. One of my classmate had even told me she wanted to borrow the book after I'm done using it, something like a reservation! Most of the latest editions were borrowed by the early birds such as my partner, Qim,and I.

Well we're just putting up our ideas together for now, but rest assured Qim and I will begin working on our assignment as soon as possible! Be sure to keep up with our updates on our progress so far. 

:)

For The Greater Good

     Being a teenager and living under the same roof with your parents could only mean one thing- rules and more rules. Of course, there are some parents out there who are easy going about the way they educate and raise their child. Which brings us to the topic today. 

    It just so happen that i stumbled upon a very interesting article on The Star Online while viewing the web. The article is about the government's plan to impose a curfew law upon teenagers ( http://rage.com.my/writeups/story.asp?file=/2010/5/5/rantnrage/20100505151318&sec=rantnrage).

   Naturally, a majority of teenagers disagree on such law. The main reasons? Because they want freedom and because they think that it is the parents' duty to set up the curfews for them, nothing of the Government's concern. Check out what one of them said,

Vanessa Ho, 14, Kuala Lumpur
“As a 14-year-old girl, of course I would not like curfews because who wouldn’t want to be roaming around late at night with friends? But from my parents’ point of view, I am very sure they would like a curfew so teenagers can be safe. If you want my answer, I would say no. Why? Simply because I want to live in a free country."

    The first word that comes to mind when i read her statement was, preposterous. This girl is 14-years-old, for God's sake. Why should she be allowed to, as to quote from her statement above, "be roaming around late at night with friends" ? What does she wants to do so late at night? Catch a midnight movie? Doesn't she have school to attend in the morning? Even if its during the weekends, its still a big no because even more people goes out at night during weekends and this just increase the danger by two. No parent in their right mind should allow this child of fourteen to be out of the house compound after 10.30pm. Why 10.30 pm? This is simply because sometimes teenagers attend tuitions that could last up to 10pm and so the allocated 30 minutes is for the duration of their journey home. My reasoning is simply logical, is it not?

Eureka Foong Chen Yew, 17, Penang
“We shouldn’t have a law. I think parents should be responsible for that. We have so many laws already. It’s more of a family responsibility.”

     She has a point, but take a good look around. Can you see what I see? No matter how responsible the parents are, it's simply not working anymore. I believe that teenagers today are too influenced by the way the Westerners live their lives. To them, it's normal for teens to go clubbing, wandering around without a purpose and whatnot late at night. But we don't do things that way here in Malaysia, and we shouldn't! Besides, most parents these days are too busy earning money, all the more the reason to have a curfew for teens, so parents can be relieved off at least a burden.

Rochelle Gwendolyn Fernandez, 17, Negri Sembilan
“No, because teenagers need a life! If they only want to release their tension by hanging out with their friends, what’s so wrong about that?”

     This made me laugh. Seriously. Tell me, Rochelle, can't you "get a life" before midnight? Can't you release your tension by hanging out with your friends in broad daylight? Okay, so maybe you'd want a dinner party or something. Fine, but it doesn't need to go on until dawn, does it?

      But we have to be fair and square, even though these teenagers' reasoning are highly arguable, still, they deserve to have some freedom. Just a suggestion, the curfew law should be imposed to those below 18-years-old only. 18-years-old teens are already young adults and they should be exempted from this law. Another thing, the curfew should be at 1am. Why 1am? Because we need to cut them some slack, too. But in order to make this work, the Government should also set up patrols as well as punishment to those who violate this law. Let the punishment be strict, but not harsh. 

     Although I'm a teenager myself, I am more than happy to give my full support should this law be imposed, but of course, with the right rules and regulations. I believe that we need this to help curb crimes amongst youngsters as well as many other worrying issues. In short, this curfew law is one of the best suggestion I've heard so far, because it is definitely for the greater good.

Introduction To Mass Communication-Week 1

Day 1---

The class started at precisely 11 am on Monday, the 7th of June 2010. The lesson kicked off with a simple introduction from everyone of us. Then Miss Zee proceed with the first slide of the day.

Transmitting the message is pretty much a no-brainer. We have the source, the message and the receiver. From the source, the message is encoded before it reaches the channel. Encoding is basically how the message is sent or packaged. When the message passed through the channel, it is then decoded. As for the process of receiving the message, we have the receiver, feedback, and noise.

We got on to interruptions, or also known as noise. There are two types of noises, environmental noise and semantic noise. An example of environmental noise is, lets say a scenario where you are at a concert, with the music blasting deafeningly, and you received a call but you couldn't grasp what the caller is saying due to the loud music. Meanwhile, a semantic noise is basically language barrier.

As we went on, we learned about the different settings of communication. Interpersonal communication,  machine assisted interpersonal communication and mass communications. A teacher in a classroom teaching the students is a fine example of interpersonal communication where the messages pinpoints specific targets and physical presence is available. An example of machine assisted communications is the omnipotent and highly accessible internet.

I learned about the traditional media of mass communications which are the newspapers, magazines, billboards and televisions. These traditional media organizations share some common characteristics; from their formal organizational structure, the many gatekeepers that filters the materials going to the public, and their large operating expenses which leads to the competition for profits. Meanwhile, the modern media for mass communications, is none other than the internet. 

Convergence.

That was a new vocabulary for the day. Convergence simply means "coming together or uniting". There are three types of convergence.Corporate convergence is when companies acquires assets extending the range of activities. Operational convergence is owner of several media properties combine operations and device convergence simply means one mechanism contains functions of  two or more devices. This is one of the emerging trends in mass media. Other trends include increased audience control, mobile media, multiple platforms and user generated accounts.

Day 2---

We proceeded to a new chapter on Tuesday,8th of June 2010. Perspectives on Mass Communications, which involves paradigms, functional analysis and critical/cultural studies. Paradigms are models guiding how we think. Paradigms are useful because they provide a perspective to examine mass communications as well as generates concept to understand media behavior.

Functional analysis simply means functional approach which is something is best understood by examining how it is used. For mass media, this means examining how audiences interact with media and how they use the media.Macroanalysis is how media functions for the society as a whole and microanalysis is how media functions for the individual. Meanwhile, critical/cultural studies contrasts with functional approach. It is more qualitative and humanistic. Its also examines different concepts, idealogies, cultures, politics, and social structure as related to the role of media in the society.

These are brief summaries of what i have learnt in the first week's lectures.