King of Contrevorsy

Everyone knows it wouldn't be in true "Slim Shady" style to return to the spotlight without just a little bit of contrevorsy; And that is exactly what the mega-star is stirring. In his latest music video, We made You, Eminem takes a crack at hollywood's most talked about stars like Jessica Alba, Britney Spears, Bret Michaels and many other A-klisters.

Note everyone is "stoked" about the rappers return or his punch in the face new music video. In an MTV article, Bill O'Reily gives his opinion on the We made you music video.

"It's so crude what he does," O'Reilly elaborated. "Kids see it, not adults." He also claimed that "no one over 25 listens to him" (which may be news to some of the veteran rapper's older fans).

The article goes on to explain O'Reily's dissaproval with some lyrics of the song focused on Alaska Govenor Sarah Palin. The specific lyric makes a derrogatory reference about the Govenor. Here is what feminist Tommy Brute had to say.

"Eminem is obviously on an obscene rant about Sarah Palin, it's totally obscene, totally inappropriate."

I personally think this was an ok article. I think the writer did a good job at specifically showing the lyrics that O'Reily felt were offensive, but on the other side I don't think the article looked at both sides. I'm sure everyone is not offended by the fiasco and if I were to write this article I would at least dedicate a small part of the story to others who are fine with the Eminem's remarks. I don't disagree or agree with the article because I think it's O'Reily opinion which he is entitled to have.

Last night I watched "Deadliest Catch", a special on the Discovery Channel. This specific episode focused how on behind the scenes footage of the season's episodes. The program which regularly focuses on how fishermen endure bone-chilling ice, brutal waves, and other life risking aspects of life at sea.

During the program I specifically noticed these three aspects of the programs editing:

1. Cutting from wide shots to tight shots- going from a wide shot of the sea and boat to a specific person a wave

2. Natural Sound- The sound of the waves and the fishermen and crewman working out their plans

3. There was always movement in the shots-there was never a still moment where there was no movement within the story

Anonymous Dorm Muscians....Revealed

My audio story focused on Towson University students who play the piano in their resident halls. The story centers around two residents in the Glen Towers who play the public piano, located in the dorms lounge area.

Why should you check it out?
The story really explains why some of the players play, what kind of piano experience they and much more. The story pretty much answers things that I think most students who pass by and overhear them playing wonder everyday. ( I know I did). You will really be surprised at some of the answers and the overall talent of these once anonymous musicians.

Click here to listen.

BTW...The music at the beginning of the blog is really Blackstone playing the piano....it sounds so good some could mistake it as the real thing, but its him....he's really good.

Audio Story Ideas????

I am not very sure on what to do for my audio story. I have been brainstorming and have not yet been able to come up with a set topic for my the story. Since my beat is music, it shouldn't be that hard, but I can't quite find a good story idea.

Here is what I was thinking about:
-Covering a band or singer on campus
-Covering a dorm life music (people playing the piano in my building/my RA)
*natural sound of them playing
*interview

I think I need to do more brainstorming....fast.

Pop Controversy Turns Fans Sour

Recently, fans from around the world were hit with startling news of two of the most popular artist in music industry, Chris Brown and Rihanna. One of Hollywood's most famous couples dampened the spirts of many fans with the news of an assult crime between the two celebrities followed by the photo release of a battered and bruised Rihanna. Since then fans have been left with a decision on whether to continue to support the young pop stars or discontinue listening and supporting Chris Brown all together. However, this weekend the world was shocked again to here that Brown and the alleged victim Rihanna have reconciled. Here is howMTV News is reporting the reactions from the fans:

"Abuse is abuse," Duaanne wrote on the site. "What are you telling the young kids of the world??? It don't matter what their names are. He's a beater. ... Pictures don't lie."

Hpfan8795 put it more bluntly: "If she goes back with him, she is an idiot."

Highroller33138 said, "Chris Brown, you may con your way back into Rihanna's heart but your career will NOT con your way back into our wallets," YesWeCan warned. "YOUR CAREER IS FINISHED!"

However some fans backed Brown saying...."If she is being mature enough to work through this with Chris, it is something everyone should support if you are a true fan.

As a die-hard fan of both Chris Brown and Rihanna, I feel that fans are entitled to be outraged at how the recent events have transpired between the two stars. Fans can only go by what is being reported in the media (tabloids) and as public figures I agree that both stars have not set a great example as far as explaining to the public the entire story given their statuses and the evidence (photos) that have been leaked. The MTV article does a great job at explaining how fans feel from those who support the stars' actions and those who will not. The direct quotes from comments, left on the website's blog, painted a good picture of how fans really feel about the future of the Brown and Rihanna's career. I believe all we can do is wait and see how the celebrities reconciliation affects the legal aspect of the situation.

Can you hear me now????....Good

For my first multimedia story of the semester I plan to discuss hearing damage among ipod users specifically young adults.


My Attack
*I plan to use the Human Interest feature story approach.

*I plan to get information in the form of teen ipod users interviews(student/teen with hearing damage, students who listen ipods/mp3's frequently) as well expert interviews on the dangers and ways to avoid hearing loss and damage. (Ex. docotors, audiology professors.)

*I also plan to use statistics to help paint a better picture of the issue.


Image Possibilities
*Teen getting a hearing exam
*Teen listing to music with the volume up
*Teen listening to music with large head phones
*Teen pushing an earbud in ear further

Writing a Feature Story using the Wall Street Journal Formula

*The Wall Street Journal Formula(WSJ) is the most commonly used method of writing feature stories. This method consist of four basic sections.

1.) The story opens with an anecdotal, descriptive, or narrative lead (specific examples)
2.) The nut graf follows the lead and generally explains the lead
3.) The body of the story is supporting information (quotes, facts, developments)
4.) The ending includes another anecdotal or description of the people/person featured int the story

An example of this is in an Washington Post article titled, "6,473 Texts a Month, But at What Cost?".The story can be identifieid as the WSJ formula because of the folling sections.

1. ( LEAD) "Julie Zingeser texts at home, at school, in the car while her mother is driving. She texts during homework, after pompon practice and as she walks the family dog. She takes her cellphone with her to bed." - anecdotal lead that gave specific examples about Julie's texting

2.(NUT GRAF) Paragraphs 2-4 -explained the lead and let the story shift to the larger purpose.

3. (BODY) The Body of the story looks more in-depth at how text messaging is affecting teenager's social development. -uses many psychology statistics, quotes from doctors, psychiatrist, technology experts and other teenagers

4. (ENDING) "Still, she doubts she will change her text life anytime soon. "When I don't have my phone with me," she said, "I feel out of the loop." -ends with the person featured in the story. Julie, and gives the reader more details on the future of Julie's texting.