From the article, one can see that the media and Civil society groups ( such as non-government organisations) are able to hold high power in politics.

According to sociologist Charles Wright, one of the functions that is fulfils by the media is Surveillance (information). In this case, the press in Jarkata is playing a watch-dog role. It is only a positive point if everything that is reported by the press is purely facts and does not contain any hidden agenda. However, with its pros, there’s cons too. There may be a long term effect which is journalists may eventually focus on their own career perspective only. Most journalist goes after exposing government and corporate companies in the hope of  getting concrete evidences as they know that if they manage to get any evidence, they will be famous instantly. This is an negative effect because it will distract people from other more meaniful reports.

Besides surveillance, the other functions of the media include correlation, cultural transmission and entertainment.

In the past, the main focus of most media (especially newspapers) is to deliver information. However, with the changing of time, the main focus of the media has change. The media today are no longer solely government-owned, they are more privatelized. Thus, the media functions very differently now because of the worldwide privatization of media networks. Privatization means that media will move away from its social function and have greater interest in serving its commercial function. Furthermore, with the globalisation of media through new media technologies, it has enlarged media’s market to almost all parts of the world, which give rise to the potential of earning huge profits. Hence, it is understood why the media is focusing on entertainment. As it has always been one of the most effective ways of capturing people attention. With that, profits will increase.

Therefore, i will end this entry by posing a question, which is does the market driven by consumer choice dictate the media direction OR does the media driven market dictate the choices of consumers?

In every different culture, people are programmed with different patterns of thinking, feeling and acting. Take for example, people from different culture will mostly have  different views toward a particular issue. Hence, these people will tend to develop the belief that one’s own culture is superior to all others and judge all cultures by one’s own criteria. Even though it may be natual to believe that anything different is wrong, this is not a very productive attitude. It is irrational to blame people for not behaving the same way as we do, especially when economic or physical factors may explain the difference.  Take for example, most people may be disgusted to find out that The Masai tribe (an ethnic African group found in Kenya and Tanzania) greet friends by spitting on one another.

Furthermore, when a new child is born, the Masai men will spit on it and say it is bad – believing that if they praise the child they will curse it to a bad life. When greeting elders, a Masai warrior will spit in his hand before offering it to be shaken – as a sign of respect. Masai tribesmen are well known through the media because of their practice of elongating their earlobes.

As you can see, majority of us exhibits Ethnocentrism, which is the tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one’s own culture.  Unless we can admit that differences do not always mean deficiencies and that our culture is not necessarily the best in all things, ethnocentrism will always be an attitudinal barrier to intercultural communication. We will never be able to build the respect that are necessary components of successful intercultural interaction.

Similarly, I have been in different groups. And for this entry, I will talk about one of the groups i was in during junior college. At that time,  I was involved in the dance team that was preparing for the Singapore Youth Festival (syf). Intially, when the group was just formed, most of us did not know each other well or had never spoken to one another before. Through subsequent trainings and interactions, we opened up to one another and got to know each members better. Trainings were tough sometimes but that was one of the reasons which brought the whole team to be closer. We suffered together and of course, we have fun as a team too. Towards the end, we were interdependent on each other and helping one another out when there was a problem.  I am glad to say that all of our hardwork was worth it because we clinched the Gold with Honours award for our school. As a team, we held the same mindset which is to work hard and help one another out, thus in the end, we are able to own the achievement.

Synopsis: Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) is the executive editor-in-chief of a book publishing company, Colden Books, who forces her assistant Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds) to marry her in order to avoid being deported to Canada. He grudgingly accepts, under the condition that he is promoted to the position of editor. When the government investigates, the two are forced to spend the weekend with his parents in Alaska in order to sell the lie. The family suggest they could marry the same weekend, and they reluctantly accept. They start to fall genuinely in love as they spend more and more time together. Because of this, during the wedding ceremony, Margaret decides she cannot do this to Andrew and confesses the business arrangement in front of everyone–including the immigration officer handling their case. She is then told that she has 24 hours to get back to Canada, and thus goes back to New York to pack her things. Upon doing so, however, Andrew shows up at the office and confesses his love for her in front of the entire office staff, proposing marriage all over again

Release Date : 20th August 2009

Trailer : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPgZcW8MCaA

The Proposal is a typical story about a pair of enemies-turned-lovers. Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) and Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds) started out as working collegues. Through many unexpected events, both of them got to know each other better and eventually, fell in love.

To explain the processes, i will use the Knapp Model of relational development. The model describes the progression and development of relationships as a series of 10 stages in two phases : Stages 1-5 Coming together and Stages 6 to 10 Coming apart.

the Initiating stage started when both the characters are in Alaska. through forced circumstances, they are put in the same bedroom to sleep in. from there, the characters get to know one another better, but on a brief note. margaret was catious abt her self-presentation here by putting on make-up when she is sleeping. slowly, it went on to stage 2 which is the Experimenting stage. they were having small talks every night before sleeping. this, eventually proceed on to stage 3 (Intensifying). though it was a faked marriage, but both were very serious about it. even though it was marfaret’s prob but andrew took it as his responsibility too. turned out at this point of time, both have actually fallen for each other.

Stage 10 ( terminating) occurred when margaret confessed that the marriage was a fake in front of everyone. afterwhich, she was required to get back to Canada, and thus goes back to New York to pack her things. However, andrew managed to find her in time and confessed his feelings to her. she accepted and thus, they became an official couple. this is stage 4(Integrating).

From the above, we can see that the stages in the knapp model need not follow a linear progression. relationships may regress to a previous stage or even skip a stage. just like in reality, many unexpected events often cause relationships to change.

Martin Fortunato, the son of slain Italian captain Antonio Fortunato, cries as he touches his father's coffin

The above photo captured the most poignant moments of the ceremony where Martin Fortunato, the 7-year-old son of Lt. Antonio Fortunato, slipped out of his seat and gently touched his father’s coffin as he wiped his eyes. His father is one of the six Italian soldiers killed by a suicide bomber
in Afghanistan. from the boy’s expression and the the action of touching the
coffin, one can definitely feels the grieve and the pain the boy is going
through at the ceremony.

I am sure the picture is definitely one of the many upsetting photos you see
in the newspaper.  Somehow, in times of war and unrest, the photographs taken have the effect to cause a stir in one’s heart. The photos are usually filled with strong emotion due to the hardships the civilians are going through and that is definitely the message those war photographers wish to spread.

Award winning photo showing a iraqi man comforts his son at a holding center for prisoners of war in An Najaf, Iraq. The photo was taken by Jean-Marc Bouju.

The son of Nezamudin, a commander working in Afghan security, is comforted by an Afghan army soldier as he arrived near the village of Kamu for his father's funeral.

Seeing these pictures bring me to another point which is that wars,political
unrests and terrorist bombings are cruel. Children are the most innocent victims in those situations yet they are often the ones that are the most affected.  Therefore, the world should see less or even none of this kind of situations.

Society’s perception on ex-offenders can be cruel at times.
The public perceived that once they broke the law, they will always resume
their criminal behaviours again. Yes, i do see the stand that they are taking
because there are always a pack who nv fail to return to their old path. However, it is rather shallow to presume that all of the ex-offenders are the same.  Wouldn’t it be unfair to those who genuinely changed and are determined to start a new life.  Should we not give them a chance to re-enter the society?

Everyone makes mistake, but most of the times we are given the opportunity
to repent and reflect on what we did wrong. Those ex-offenders who are
sincere in starting a new life deserve a second chance too. But they must be
prepared that the route ahead will be tough for them when they enter the
society again. This time it would be a prison with invisible bars, of suspicion, of mistrust and of discrimination. But they would have to persevere on
to earn back the  trust that they broke.  It won’t be easy due to the severity of the mistakes they committed. But everyone has to face the consequences of a wrong decision made at any point of time.

In conclusion,our society has to be more accepting towards the ex-offenders and be more willing to give them a second chance in doing good, instead of putting them down with our rigid perceptions.

After watching it, i bet you are wondering why the main guy has an outer layer of scales. well, same sentiment too. I showed this video to a number of friends and most of them found it to be a good commercial, though i have one who found it super disgusting.

Background: Nike Pro Combat is the feature product in “Alter Ego”, a television commercial featuring Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson(the guy who is no.28). The commercial is currently being aired all over in America.

Peterson’s dynamic talents and powerful on-field persona are portrayed in “Alter Ego”, but it’s the image of last season’s National Football League’s rushing leader sitting in front of his locker at game’s end that provide the title for the ad. A 3-D overlay treatment of the distinctive Nike Pro Combat deflex pattern on Peterson’s skin is symbolic of an implied transformational experience for athletes who wear the product, and creates a visually compelling closing to the ad.

Evaluation: In my opinions, this has got to be one of the best commercials that i watched so far.  The commercial has achieved the three objectives – Pathos, Ethos and Logos.

The 1:33min commercial captures the energy, power and speed of football. Besides that, it also captures the emotions of the people present in the match such as the disappointment of the rival team members and the cheerleader. The background music was absolutely well-suited for the entire commercial. And the film was shot in the black-and-white mode, probably  to create a historic feel. Historic in the sense that the part where Peterson scored the goal was a moment to be remembered in years to come.

Adrian Lewis Peterson is a professional football running back for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League. It is a smart move of nike to feature Peterson as he is highly popular in America. Also, Americans adored their professional American football league. Hence the probability of making their target audience to notice this commercial is really high. All in all, this commercial focuses upon using celebrity power, fame, popularity to promote and gain recognition for the product.