Amateur Hour; the New Yorker

Amateur Hour; Journalism without journalists.
by Nicholas Lemann August 7, 2006
The New Yorker

If blogging is really a form of journalism, everyone in our English class, probably everyone in our school is a journalist. Amateur hour compares internet journalism and old media? As the accessibility of internet has increased, many forms of media have moved, journalism being one of them. With this move, “citizen journalism” was created. Citizen journalists write about what is going on in the places where they live and work. They could be compared to the writers of pamphlets and periodicals of the early 17th end 18th century, and their mediums are/were both mass mediums and easily accessible. In America journalism started during the Colonial times, in the form of pamphlets, and developed into news papers. Internet has several different functions, which make it so popular, but it is still not seen as a real threat to the old media. None of the things accomplished by internet have outreached the things accomplished by the old media. Yet internet has huge potential, and many think that the freedom the internet has compared to the old press (politically biased, only viewing one side of the story, out of touch with ordinary people’s concerns ect.) is one of the main reasons behind its potential. Even though it hasn’t yet achieved the things the old media has, it has achieved some great things, but is it really as good as people say? Internet journalism generally occurs by accident, by someone being at the right place, at the right time. Another thing about internet journalism is that it generally only reaches a small audience, as the things they talk about are specific (an area or a topic). An important part of journalism is reporting, but with reporting you need reporters and it seems that they haven’t moved along. Journalism is moving to the internet, but for it to really work it should not leave the professionals behind.

Seattle Scene

Some people say that grunge originates from the alternative scene, others say it’s the start of the alternative scene. Whichever it may be, the grunge scene is an important influence of rock music. The term grunge comes from grungy, which means dirty, originally it was a term used to describe the grunge scene, but it changed into the actual term for grunge music. The grunge scene originates from the mid 1980’s in Seattle, and is also referred to as the Seattle scene. It’s a mixture from punk and heavy metal, characterized by distorted electric guitars, accompanied angst filled and often depressing lyrics. The image of rebellion accompanies the scene; ripped jeans, checker shirts and worn out shoes. It was mainly known as an underground scene. The bands Nirvana (nevermind) and Pearl Jam (ten) got grunge into the spotlights, but many people within the scene were uncomfortable with the fame; even the people within the bands couldn’t really take the fame. By the late 1990’s the grunge scene had lost the eye of the spotlight, but it still has great influence on the modern rock scene.

Nirvana is one of the most famous grunge bands, which got the rest of the world interested in the scene. Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic started the band in 1987, and the final drummer of the band was David Grohl (who currently is in the Foo Fighters). The band got popular with the single “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” and the grunge scene followed them into the spotlights. Nirvana’s career didn’t last long, three years after their debute Kurt Cobain commits suicide, but the band remains popular and is still a major influence in the rock scene.

No Logo -> Chapter 02 summary

This chapter starts off talking about how logos became visible in the late 70’s and are becoming bigger and bigger, brands are using people as walking billboards. In the late 90’s Nike started sponsoring cultural events. This sponsoring has progressed in such a way that sponsors weren’t satisfied with just sponsoring an event, so they started creating their own events. Branding has become very competitive, companies aren’t just competing with similar companies (e.g. Coke vs Pepsi), but also with other companies (e.g. Coke vs McDonalds). It is a battle between different brands and images. We are in the age of the Brandasaurus, in which companies are branding everything; they are branding cityscapes, media, music and celebrities. The chapter also goes in depth on how celebrities and brands become one, the person becomes the brand. Nike is one of the main people behind this idea, no one can think of Nike without thinking of Michael Jordon. Companies and the culture they brand are becoming one.

Me Media, the New Yorker

Me Media; how hanging out on the Internet became big business.
by John Cassidy May 15, 2006
The New Yorker

Who doesn’t have a profile on a social networking site? Sites like facebook and myspace have become a part of our daily activities. The article Me Media introduces the topic of social networking and earning big bucks with it through the site facebook.com. Facebook started as a college networking site for Harvard, but as more people got interested it expanded to other colleges and eventually even high schools. The article also talks about how social networking sites have problems with privacy issues, sex predators for example are said to have used myspace to find victims. There is also a great deal of sponsorship behind sites like facebook and these sites are great place for online advertising. As social networking sites are growing, they are coming up with new sorts of applications, trying to compete with the others, but is this expansion necessarily good? Sites like facebook have become such a big part of our lives that it is becoming a necessity and a million dollar business. Some love it and some hate it, but no one can escape it.

Life Style and Product Commercial

Life style
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo98QUzE2gs
They are selling the chill, old school, skater lifestyle.
To sell this lifestyle, they have a guy skateboard around, talking about skateboarding, and what it is all about. The whole think is black-white to give it it's old school style.

Product
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyI5OnECBoM&feature=related
They are selling the HP personal.
They are using a celebrity (Jay Z) to sell their product. He talks about how he uses his HP laptop in his daily life, how it helps him in his carreer and how can't really do without. After Jay Z stops talking, they name a couple of "special" qualities of the laptop and show the laptop itself.

No Logo -> chapter 01 summary.

This chapter talks about how the focus changed from single products and selling them, to creating a brand (image) and selling the products as a lifestyle. Before this switch could be made, the products made and the way of manufacturing products changed, we can see mass production appearing. Due to mass manufacturing, many different companies made the same product, so the companies had to come up with a different way to stand out. Instead of focusing on the product, they decided to focus on the brand and giving it an identity. Companies started buying other companies for their name (their reputation and image) in the 1980's. This idea was triggered when Kraft was bought for 6 times its value. In the 1990's some brands had a downfall. It seemed that some people where going for price instead of the brand, so some brands, like Marlboro, decided to spend their money on reducing prices instead of further creating their brand name, people started saying brands were dead. This idea started as "Marlboro Day," since that day Marlboro cut its prices to compete with other no-name cigarette companies. But not all companies followed Marlboro, some companies like Starbucks went for market over value, and never felt the impact of this crisis. In the end it wasn't a real brand crisis, it was only brands that had a confidence crisis, but most of them restored their former glory. The companies figured that they could sell many different products under one brand, and that they can brand everything. The key to creating a brand, was creating a connection between the brand and the costumer.