Blog Post 8

Did anyone hear about the giant hole draining a lake in Texas?! I find it the weirdest thing. I don't even know what to think about it. This is at Lake Texacoma, and people are saying it looks like a whirlpool or vortex. I don't think vortex is the right word for this, because I feel that by using such a word or making references to "something straight out of the Twilight Zone" they are probably scaring people into maybe thinking it is more than what it is. I tried to look up theories on why people think there is a hole draining this lake, and there isn't many concrete answers. A lot of people think it's because of the "Coriolis effect" where the Earth's rotation causes the winds to bend, but that usually only happens in storms. I don't understand why we don't do more research into this and maybe see if it is a hole. I feel like the media is making this a big deal, which if it is, then we should understand why this is a big deal. There haven't been any concrete facts on this so hopefully there will be some more news about this. Or maybe it isn't even a big deal and the media just likes to over exaggerate?

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/giant-hole-draining-lake-bathtub-184500162.html

Blog 7

Miss Representation was highly accurate when discussing the media's role in depicting women. I feel like these days since sex sells so much, the easiest thing to do is put a woman on a tv show or commercial in little or no clothing. What really got to me was the reaction of young teenage girls and how they are affected by what the media does. I didn't realize that maybe I wasn't happy with my body because I was seeing all these girls as size 0 displayed everywhere on television and movies. It made me reevaluate why maybe I am so obsessed with working out so much or looking better in a swimsuit. I think the thing that they pointed out the most that I was surprised about is the disney princesses. The princesses are in skimpy clothing and always trying to find prince charming to rescue them. It made me realize the media has had an effect on women since they could sit through cartoon movies. Also, I realized that men get objectified in media too, not as often as women but it still happens. In the disney movies, the boy is always tall, muscular, and strong. We depict our prince charming to look a certain way too when in reality, men don't always look like that. I think women are more susceptible to being objectified but it happens to men too.

Blog Post 5

Everyone knows who Miley Cryus is and how she completely changed from the preteen we saw on Hannah Montana to the twerk master we see on the MTV. So, I wasn’t entirely surprised when I came across this article on yahoo. I actually ended up going straight to the link of Paper magazine where it had Miley’s whole interview. Miley spoke about her openness with sexuality and that she has an attraction to both males and females. What is even more interesting is that she told her mother about this when she was a young teen. For those of you who don’t realize, Miley’s family is very Christian, and Miley did used to wear a purity ring.  Miley basically explained that her mother had a difficult time coming to terms with Miley’s openness and was even worried she would go to hell for being even interested in women. I found Miley’s mom to have a superego personality. She pushes certain values or morals on Miley. Miley, on the other hand, has an ID personality. She is completely impulsive and just responds to how she naturally feels, which explains her actions in the media these days. Miley’s mom was trying to control her impulses of being interested in women, something that where she comes from is considered forbidden. It was interesting to see that dynamic by just Miley’s interview in the magazine. I feel like that dynamic is very common and can be seen with a lot of mother and child relationships like yours, mine, and even other famous people like Caitlyn Jenner and her mom.

http://www.papermag.com/2015/06/miley_cyrus_happy_hippie_foundation.php

Blog 6

Once upon a time, long, long ago, there was a little princess. The little princess had dark curly hair and bright eyes. She was the center of her father’s and mother’s world. Her father, the king, was very kind and generous. He and his queen ruled over the land in peace and harmony. One day, the queen began to fall ill for some unknown reason. The king loved the queen so much that he stayed by her side as much as possible to help take care of her. The little princess saw this and also tried to serve her mother to help her recover, but alas, her mother passed away when the princess was just a little girl. The king saw how miserable the little princess was without having her mother around so the king was at her side, always spoiling her as much as possible. He told the princess how pretty she looked every single day and how blessed he was to have her in his life so that she would never feel the loss of her mother. Eventually, she grew up into a young woman. Over the time, she had become to believe that she truly was the prettiest in all the land. She had bonded with her father so much that she rarely ever left his side. He was her whole world. She took care of his every need and looked after him as she had seen him do for her mother. The king, however, felt the princess was coming of age to get married so he started to bring princes from other kingdoms to meet her. The princess, however, felt she was too good for them. She looked at herself as being the prettiest princess, and that none of these princes could compare to her beauty. She wanted someone like her father. She wanted someone who would always tell her how beautiful she was and would give her everything she wanted. She did not feel any of the princes her father brought to her would do that for her, so she turned them all down. She did not want to leave her father’s side, and she felt no one could ever treat her as well as he could. Therefore, she did not wish to marry and leave the kingdom. She explained to the King of her choice to stay, take care of him, and never leave. The king was unhappy with her decision and said that she needed to marry to rule over the kingdom one day. She explained to him that she would rather stay with him, tending to his needs, until he grew old, and then rule over the kingdom without a husband. She explained that no one would take care of her as well as he would and that no one would take care of him as well as she could. The king finally agreed, and so they lived happily ever after.

Blog Post 4

I have watched all the Orange in the New Black episodes so I wanted to expand from just looking at the first episode for Marxism characteristics. Season 2, episode 9,  shows different time frames, having flashbacks from the past to the present. I tried to focus on the class conflicts that were separated by race in the current time frame. The classes conflict between the African American community led by Vee, the Caucasians led by Red, and the Hispanics. Looking into false consciousness, there are two forces that lead the classes very differently. The dominant material force is considered to be Red because she sneaks in contraband through different ways, such as the produce trucks or green house tunnel, which makes her valuable to a lot of the people in the prison. In fact, even Vee uses her resources to get ahead. In contrast, Vee represents the dominant intellectual force because she does not go through the same tactics as Red to gain contraband. She uses the people around her and manipulates them to work under her. She even threatens Red and uses her to intellect to scare her into doing business with her. Red initially feels alienation when she first enters jail, not even having her commissary in as the new person and therefore befriends Vee. This is even explained in an article called Challenges of Prison Ethnography that those alienated is considered an outsider. It discusses how the culture is to be new and how to work your way up in the prison culture. Vee is very unique in how she controls and dominates people. In this specific episode, I feel like hegemony is involved because in the beginning of the flashback, Vee recommends to Red how to become popular within the jail. She suggests the idea of knowing the produce guys to help her gain some power. This kind of power Vee has over Red is considered hegemony because she analyzes her personality to the point that she knows how to secretly dominate over. It makes Red believe she is her friend and therefore doesn't protect herself from Vee. In the end of the episode, Vee comes and uses the people she has manipulated to work for her and control Red's business of bringing in contraband.

http://www.aaanet.org/pdf/upload/50-1-James-Waldram-In-Focus.pdf

Blog Post 3

I came across this interesting on Yahoo. It stated what the four best foods for your brain are. Based off our textbook, this news article can be considered soft news because I felt it promoted certain foods and services to help reduce your risk of Alzheimers. I learned from the book that hard news and soft news have the same ideological perspective of the ruling classes. This article is smart in having people of expertise quoted within the article, such as Joy Dubost, who is credited with a PhD and RD. The credentials make her a reliable resource and places her a part of the "ruling class". By her explaining certain food groups beneficial for the brain, the general population reading this article are more likely to conform to the same ideas and listen to her advice. Also, the article secretly sells you on the things you should be consuming for brain health. In fact, after stating that cooked salmon would be good for brain health, the article recommends a link to 20 delicious salmon recipes. This link promotes another website and other food products for you to get. It secretly manipulates your views and shapes them so that you agree with the article because of the credibility of the ruling class who have advanced education on the subject and can shape the views of the audience to buy certain foods and change their actions to improve their brain health. 

https://www.yahoo.com/health/4-best-foods-for-your-brain-120708101438.html

Blog Post 2

The first episode of Sherlock Holmes was very fast paced and had a lot of semiotic characteristics to it. It showed the creation of the pairing between Sherlock Holmes and Watson to become the dynamic duo that solves mysteries. 

Sherlock and Watson are very different in personalities. They both had signifiers that signified their personalities. Sherlock’s apartment was messy with things cluttered around everywhere. His apartment represented his mind and signified how Sherlock thinks. He is constantly having so many ideas flow through his mind while trying to solve cases as it was shown throughout the episode. Watson’s apartment was barren with hardly any belongings, symbolizing his “ordinary” mind compared to Sherlock’s. Watson’s apartment is also very dark and gloomy resembling the darkness and depression within his own mind. Also noticing their postures, Sherlock protruded confidence and awareness through his stance while Watson limped and did not stand up as straight, indicating self-consciousness and unhappiness. 

A very symbolic scene is the chase scene where Sherlock and Watson chase after the taxi. A lot of symbols from the street appear while they chase the taxi. The symbol for a pedestrian walking symbolizes Watson and Sherlock running through the streets. The red stop pedestrian sign marks Watson pausing and stopping during the chase. The green light symbolizes Watson and Sherlock going and trying to catch up to the taxi. At the end of the scene where Sherlock runs into the car, the symbol appears of a lane that says “end” representing the end to the chase.

In the final scene, Sherlock is given a choice between the two pills on which will keep him alive and which will kill him. He is shown picking one of the pills. Watson as well towards the final scene has to make a choice between the two building on which to enter in order to find Sherlock. The two buildings can represent the two pills that are a metonymy for life and death. If Watson chooses the right building, he can save Sherlock’s life, and if Sherlock chooses the right pill, he can also save his own life. The interesting part is that Watson ends up choosing the wrong building, the building Sherlock is not in, which can lead us to suspect that maybe Sherlock chose the wrong pill in a similar fashion.

I also compared Mycroft and Sherlock through paradigmatic analysis.

Sherlock	Mycroft (Sherlock's brother)
Free thinking	Controlled Thinking
Random	Structured
Low Status	High status
Reckless	Careful

Blog Post #1

Hey everyone!

My name is Pryanka Sharma. I am a Neuroscience major at UTD and will be graduating in the Fall. I was originally born in New York but then moved down to Texas when I was still young, so I've lived in Dallas most of my life. I love Dallas, but my heart definitely belongs up North. I hope one day I can go back to live in New York or pretty much anywhere on the East Coast. 

Since I love New York, I definitely like cold weather and snow. I was born in December so maybe that explains my attachment to the winter season! I like Neuroscience (obviously!), and I like working in my research lab because I like the idea that the research I do can make a difference in people's lives. I like exercising whether it be through playing sports or working out at the gym. I like to dance a lot; that's my favorite form of exercise! 

I definitely do no like knuckle cracking. It is one of my biggest pet peeves! I don't like how hot Texas's weather can get during the summer. I also don't like how fast I feel my undergrad years have gone by, and I can't believe I am almost ready to graduate.

I don't watch much TV anymore unless I am interested in a specific show. Currently, my new favorite show is Younger, and it's on TVland. I have in the past been hooked on tv shows like House, Law&Order SVU, Gilmore Girls, and Friends.

I consume media primarily through internet and television. I feel like I use the internet most of the time. It's much easier for me to get to, and I always have access through it with my phone. In fact, I don't find myself using my laptop very much unless I need to do assignments for school because my phone is more convenient. I use Buzzfeed and Yahoo. However, I feel like I hardly use the media for any informative purposes. I should be more updated on current events, but I tend to be more interested in fashion trends and DIY links on Buzzfeed. Speaking of which, I use Youtube a lot to watch makeup tutorials or DIYS. I also like to Youtube different dance choreography by famous Youtube dancers.  I feel like it is so easy to be addicted to media these days, and it's one of the reasons I am on my phone so much.