SFL 358 Media Experience Blog

It's December!!! Yay!!!  Ok, so I am very passionate about my side of the "When to start Christmas music" debate.  In my mind, 25 days is NOT enough time to listen to all the beautiful songs in all of the beautiful versions that are out there.  I think starting to listen to Christmas music the day after Halloween is perfect timing.  In my opinion, if you believe there is not very much good Christmas music to listen to, then you are only listening to the radio and the modern songs.  Start looking up 40's and 50's Christmas music!  That's where the best classics come from anyway! And if you disagree, then you're just wrong. 😉  As far as the argument about "Well what about Thanksgiving?" goes, I love Thanksgiving!  I think it is a beautiful time to kick off the Christmas season.  In my mind, Thanksgiving is part of Christmas.  Thanksgiving is a time to be with family, to be grateful for each other and for our blessings, and to plan for Chr...

Ok, so I'm curious, what do you guys think about Disney Plus and streaming networks?  I can't decide what to think.  My in-laws were super excited to get involved with Disney Plus when it came out this week, and it's been pretty fun!  I love that there's finally a way to access the classic Micky and Minnie cartoons, and other really great movies from forever ago.  I also love that we can use it as a family to connect us as we reminisce and discuss the things we're watching together and when apart.  Here is my concern though, is Disney totally taking over everything?  Are they becoming too powerful?  Is the plan to make this streaming network great to hook people and gain lots of subscriptions now, and then to change it later making it more difficult to use, more difficult to share, including less movies so that we become hooked and feel a need to buy the movies from them when they disappear from the network?  Am I just super paranoid? 😅  I'm...

I had the opportunity to go to the play Thoroughly Modern Millie at the little Hale Center Theater in Orem this week, and it was really fun!  I'm always impressed by the surround-stage set up, the sets, the costumes and the acting at these plays.  While I was watching this play however, there were a couple of things that did rub me the wrong way, especially since we've been learning about analyzing media.  The play was written in the 60's, which really wasn't that long ago, but it shows in the amount of blatant racism and sexism displayed in the writing.  There was a good deal of mockery of Asian culture, and they referred to kidnapping and the servitude of young women as "white slavery" as if that was worse than enslaving individuals of different colors.  There was also a good deal of sexualizing the women in the play, even the protagonist who was portrayed as a strong and determined young woman, was shown as an object. It was really sad to realize these th...

So, this week I found one way I am super grateful for media!  My husband has recently started up his own family business through Facebook.  He crochet's stuffed animals, (I guess it's called Amigurumi in the yarn world) and now he advertises his skill through a Facebook page he set up with his mom called Crochet Sensei!  He takes custom orders for all kinds of animals and objects, and his mom takes custom orders for different kinds of dolls. It's a really cute page and business has been booming ever since he set it up and posted it to all of the yard sale pages around Utah and Salt Lake counties.  This is a hobby that he uses to relax and de-stress after school, so it has been a huge blessing for us to have him be able to make a little extra income from it as well!  I'm super grateful for this social media tool that made it possible. Check it out if you're interested in finding the perfect Christmas gift for friends or relatives! 😊