Indiana Jones 4

Harrison Ford makes his triumphant return in Steven Spieldbergs Indiana Jones 4. I for one was very excited for this film. I grew up watching the first three films over and over. This film however went off on a different tangent then the others still had the funny jokes and great action sequences. On purpose I tried to stay away from any reviews or trailers to go in without any foreknowledge of what was going to happen. I was shocked when the film took such a science fiction turn but then again we watching a the film with the guy who made E.T. so it did not surprise me. I loved it and Harrison Ford showed that Indiana Jones can still kick ass... What did yal think?

Movie Feedback

I am a big movie buff if my readers have not noticed. I want to start a forum or an open discussion of what your favorite films and/or TV shows so please leave a comment and discuss.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Nicholas Stoller's new film is a must see in my opinion. On my favorite movie list it is ranked one of one. It beats out Superbad and 40 year old virgin which were my top favorites. This film reminds me of the awkward funny moments you laugh at in American Pie. You can not help but feel sad for the main character Peter who has everything go wrong for him. It is full of sad and funny moments and I highly recommend anyone to go see it. There is a lot of adult content and humor for those who are wondering. I for one love it and love to hear any feedback. What did you guys think?

Corporate Social Responsibility by Merck Pharmaceuticals

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a significant topic in the business world today. Lord Holme and Richard Watts, writers of Making Good Business Sense, say: "Corporate Social Responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large." Many corporations that exist today do not practice this ideology. Corporations like NIKE and Wal-Mart have been known to exploit laborers. I personally believe any corporation should be looking to make a profit which benefits its corporation while bettering its world at the same time.

Merck Pharmaceuticals is, in my opinion, one of the best in practicing CSR since its foundation 100 years ago. Ethicsworld.org even recognizes it as one of the best companies that practices CSR in the world. Mercks mission statement is:

Merck & Co., Inc. is a global research-driven pharmaceutical company dedicated to putting patients first. Established in 1891, Merck discovers, develops, manufactures and markets vaccines and medicines to address unmet medical needs. The company also devotes extensive efforts to increase access to medicines through far-reaching programs that not only donate Merck medicines but help deliver them to the people who need them. Merck also publishes unbiased health information as a not-for-profit service.

Merck’s best example of CSR began in 1987 when it created the drug MECTIZAN (ivermectin). This drug treats onchocerciasis aka “River Blindness” which mainly occurs in Africa and Yemen. Over 122 million were affected by this epidemic. Merck created the MECTIZAN Donation Program which distributes this drug for free to anyone infected. According to merck.com, “An estimated 300 million Africans are at risk, and another 40 million are infected by this disease. Currently, more than 50 million treatments of MECTIZAN are approved each year for lymphatic filariasis through Merck's work.” The program has existed for over 20 years. See the video below for more information.



Merck has made a long-term commitment to donate as much of this medicine as necessary to prevent and treat river blindness in affected geographic areas. The company wishes to eliminate diseases as public health problems. The company's success has brought it good press and relations to the world and is even praised by many public figures such as former President Jimmy Carter:

"I think Merck has set a standard of the highest possible quality. [The MECTIZAN Donation Program has] been one of the most remarkable and exciting and inspiring partnerships that I have ever witnessed."

Merck is also very diverse in the area of CSR and not only has helped out with medicine, but also with construction and education. Ethicsworld.org highlights Merck’s investment in the development of an ethics center in Dubai. It helped pave the way to the Dubai Ethics Resource Centre (DERC) and it has been affiliated, since 2005, with the Dubai Chamber of Commerce. According to Ken Stier of policyinnovations.org, “Thanks to Merck, Companies are becoming more familiar with the term 'corporate responsibility' and it recognizes the need to be doing the right things in this rapidly developing, highly competitive international marketplace [and] yet its actions, if not the words, prove that it remains unconvinced or unclear of the business case for corporate responsibility and the benefits of successful CR management could bring to it in terms of mitigating risk and identifying opportunities".

I believe every organization should practice CSR because we are living in a world of limited resources and we need to do whatever we can to help our world society. What do you guys think?

More references on CSR

http://wistechnology.com/articles/3969/

http://www.forbes.com/2006/11/16/leadership-philanthropy-charity-lead-citizen-cx_ba_1128directorship.html

Should the NBA raise the age limit?

According to realgm, hoopshype and foxsports the NBA commissioner Davis Stern and NCAA President Myles Brand are trying to raise the age limit for eligibility for the NBA draft. They are requesting that players will not be eligible to enter the draft till two years after high school. The reason for this is to limit the amount people who try to make the jump to the pro prematurely. We all know that the success has worked well for some athletes such as Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnet, & Lebron James but does anyone know about the ones who didnt do as well. Some names like Johnathan Bender & Kwame Brown. Even though players can have great success in high school or college does not mean they are mature or even ready enough to play at the professional level. A lot of students think they can make it or are pressured by the fame/money to join the NBA. I personally hope this change happens because I really hate to see an athlete to loose their college eligibility/scholarship if they do not successfully make the NBA. The proposal is still awaiting the NBA players association. What do you guys think?

Microsoft and Yahoo Revisited

For those who have been following my blog I have been talking about the possible acquisition of Yahoo by Microsoft. For those who did not know Yahoo rejected Microsoft’s $44.6 Billion dollar offer. Wired Magazine posted an article investigating the reasons for Microsoft’s movement. In my opinion Microsoft is trying to stay ahead of apple and make a staple and cornerstone the technology industry. It turns out they main reason is they want to focus on advertisements. Google is known for their ad-sense video adds and is the best web browser for marketing. However, Yahoo is the most used site with an average of 140 million users a day. Last year it was estimated that $6.6 Billion was invested in advertisements on web video displays, they estimate that it will be $21.1 Billion by 2012. If Microsoft could purchase this they could have the majority of the Internet users locked in for advertisements with the use of a browser, MSN messenger, and windows live. Do you think Microsoft is making the right decision? IF so should it be legal for one company to have that much control of the Internet?

The Gatekeepers are Taking Over…

What should be accepted and what should be rejected? This is the ongoing debate in our society right now regarding the Internet. The reason is that some information is considered culturally acceptable while for others it is not. Below I have placed a video clip which gives a good description of what “Net Neutrality” is from John Stewart:



The citizens of the United States should be concerned about their freedoms. Service providers such as AT&T, Verizon, & Comcast are trying to make a monopoly on the Internet community. They want to pay Internet engines a premium for exclusive use.

Freedom of speech is the first amendment to the Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

It was written over a century ago, but no one has the right to change the values upon which we were founded. We all know that within the last decade a lot of laws have been altered or overturned.

We as a nation have the right to free speech and net neutrality has become a hot topic. The idea of Internet censorship has come to the United States due to alarming issues that are occurring across the world. For those who do not know, there are numerous countries that govern and restrict their Internet usage. Some countries are China, Australia, and Iran. Net neutrality on the other side of the world is very different due to their ideas and regulations.

CNN published a story explaining the restrictions about China. China is labeled as the biggest prison for cyber users. China has blocked numerous websites and filtered almost all the servers. Accessing a server in China is completely different than any free access server. According to CNN: “Chinese people trying to access information related to Taiwanese and Tibetan independence, the Dalai Lama, Tienanmen Square, SARS, opposition political parties, and anti-Communist movements will find themselves out of luck.” They restrict information such as the man standing in front the tanks in Tienanmen Square. It almost makes you think of the movies in which they can control the information and therefore control the history and knowledge being pumped into the population. China’s history is essentially being erased or banned. According to Al-Jazeera the Chinese government has over 37,00 Internet police who govern the Internet access and have the ability to make arrests. They even place pictures on restricted sites. (As seen below)


America is not the first place to be attacked with the idea of Internet censorship. Organizations like savetheinternet.com are fighting for our freedoms. I am not going to lie, there needs to be some form of restriction on the Internet, but what I find difficult is appointing someone or a group of people to decide what should be considered appropriate. I feel that placing a chair or committees in charge of the Internet will make our nation no different than China.

Global Integrity did a case study about Internet censorship. They explained that censoring the Internet will not do anything because if you shut one site down another hundred will turn up to replace it. We need to put more emphasis on parental control. Similar to the efforts being made in Australia, we should enable parents to give certain access to their children. We should monitor the information out there and filter out the false information before we start worrying about censoring the entire Internet. That, in my opinion, is what the gatekeepers should be worried about. What do you guys think?

(Picture from globalintegrity.org)

Clinton's campaign strikes back but how?

We all know that as each day goes by we are one day closer to the presidential elections. In our class we have been talking about how bad the candidates are attacking one another, but thanks to the internet this year's election has definitely taken it to another level. Wired Magazine did a piece called: Did the Clinton Campaign Doctor Obama Footage to Make Him 'Blacker'?. The article explains how blogs have been exploding with videos and comments due to competition between Obama and Clinton. In the article they show the a photo of what Obama looks like and how the Clinton Add made him blacker in the video. Personally I am disgusted about how politicians attack one another in such methods. What do you guys think?

Semi Pro

Well movie watchers its been another week and another Sunday has arrived. This week my crew decided to see Will Ferrell in his new film Semi Pro. This is by far the best movie this semester. I was piratically crying through the whole movie in tears of laughter. I honestly have no idea where some of this material comes from but it was very amusing. I give this film 5 out 5 stars and strongly urge everyone to see it at least once. Granted it is not going to be one of his all time classics however you will definitely receive a guaranteed laugh. I cant wait to see his new movie step brothers which comes out on July 25th. What did you guys think?

Vantage Point

This weeks Sunday movie ritual was Dennis Quaid's new movie Vantage Point. I am not going to lie, but I have been looking forward to this movie ever since the first time I saw the trailer. However what started off as a strong film really got repetitive and boring to myself. I wont lie but the first half of the film was pretty brilliant with the multiple angles and sequences. It was cinematographers night mare cause the Mise en Scene is imperative for each sequence. Never the less the action scenes and the twist were very good but I was expecting a lot more. So for this weeks film I give it 3 stars out of 5. What did you guys think?

The Downfall Of The Dallas Cowboys

For all of you Cowboys Fans. You will enjoy this.

Lazydork Case Study

How does a person or a company rank their Public Relation success over the Internet? This evaluation is extremely hard because the definition of success differs from person to person. Darren Rowse explains in his blog that as a blog creator you are not going to be found immediately. In order to succeed Rowse suggests that being a consistent writer with a frequent blog is key in not only creating, but keeping your fan base. He also suggests to use any Internet advertising, like adsense for example, in order to make your name known. In addition, he explains that a creative URL can go a long way because it will help search engine users stumble upon your blog. Domain names and titles such as abcCommunication.com and xyzTechnology.com will be generated in searches more often than joesmith.com.

With this in mind, the case study I have put together is about my roommate’s 30 year old brother, Richard Stern aka Lazydork. During the day Richard is a Miami-Dade County prosecutor in Florida. This young professional has two jobs. He is a lawyer by day and an Internet sensation by night. Richard created his blog/movie website as a way to communicate his passion for movies and goes by the alias Lazydork. The original purpose of the site was to review movies, but he later added movie-drinking games. Nevertheless, he knew that the small success he was having could skyrocket if he could find another channel through which to communicate.

With the growth of youtube.com he saw an opportunity of a new social network in which he could reach an audience with the use of videos. He stated in an interview on CNN that if young teenagers were getting half a million hits for their videos, then why couldn’t he and his girlfriend do the same? What began as movie reviews flourished into funny shorts, including rap videos which are parodies based on random topics, other youtubers, and even celebrities.
Here is an example of one of his famous videos:



Richard has entertained over 1.5 million people over the Internet. His success can be monitored from a various array of sources including his main homepage and his youtube videos. On several occasions his videos have been featured as the film of the day on youtube and/or referred to by many bloggers for awards. One example is from http://theutubeblog.com/ which featured this video as their video of the week:



Unfortunately, internet success has a negative side too. According to Scoutblogging there are many ways to prepare oneself. You can either ignore the comments or you can address them. Richard does have many fans, but he also has a following of people who hate him and supply negative feedback. Even so, he studies both the positive and the negative comments and strikes back to his critiques with either strands of internet conversation and/or video responses. Negative comments in my opinion do help in terms of constructive criticism because you find areas you need to improve upon, but what do you think?

In the end Richard is a perfect example of a young professional who had a communication objective of getting popularity on the Internet. He has done so by utilizing his Internet connections and developing a growing fan club while doing so. His success is documented in several written publications and media outlets such as CNN, FoxNews, the NYtimes, The Miami Herald, Wikipedia, and blogs. He is classified as a youtube star. You can go to his webpage and participate in his online radio broadcast and find out what he is up to next. Do you know anyone who has had success like Richard?

Richard youtube link to all his videos

BLURAY IS THE VICTOR!!!!!

What is funny is that I have been debiting in my mind how to write this blog about the battle for High Definition DVD players for about a week. As I walk out of the shower this morning I stumbled upon this story. Toshiba, today finally dropped out of the battle. They claimed that the final blow occurred when Warner Brothers joined BluRay last week. They were behind in the campaign and BluRay had way to many supporters.

Here is there current list of supporters of BluRay:

• Sony
• Matsushita (Panasonic)
• Warner Bros
• Wal-Mart
• Walt Disney
• 20th Century Fox
• Blockbuster
• Netflix

According to internet sources Toshiba will only continue to sell HD-players until the end of March this year and continue to play the technical support role.

This battle reminds me of the VHS Vs. Betamax wars. What happened from that is that VHS became more popular and more affordable and I only believe it is a matter of that time as well for BluRay. What do you guys think?


For more information about BluRay click here
Currently Toshiba has not made any remarks on their website as of 2/19/08

U2 in SL Virtual Concert in Second Life

Wow Right? How sweet is this? They can rock in real life and in the 3D world. Who would have ever thought of this ten years ago.

Our fantasies come alive through the world of Second Life…

Wow…Isn’t this idea nuts? If you click here you can look at some insane statistics about how much revenue is invested in it and the number of users. As of Feb 13, 2008 there are over 12 million users. This is a new untapped industry that has not really been fully acknowledged by the world. The main reason is because it has not been completely mainstreamed to everyone in the world.

Many corporations and companies are investing in this technology. One example is how IBM has their own island for meetings and has people all across the world meet in a virtual boardroom. IBM states that this is a cheaper and more productive way of conducting business. In these meetings they can conduct PowerPoint slides and hold conversations. Just from watching the video the sky is the limit. Just from hearing how universities like Harvard and hotel chains are starting to invest and market themselves.

The revenue of second life is outstanding due to the currency exchange. Rates fluctuate based on supply and demand, but over the last few years they have remained fairly stable at approximately 250 Linden Dollars (L$) to the US Dollar. Second life is a big marketing target for advertisement, but who to say it is not for Public Relations? Political campaigns and music concerts are commonly broadcasted in town halls and on the radio simultaneously. The Machinima world even has its own newspaper of events that are happening in the world. Katie Benner, a Fortune reporter, has stated that second life has excelled in the corporate world by conducting interviews and hiring people from this online form of communication.

Second Life alone is an underestimated Public Relation tool. It is a great place to start advertising products and other feature items or locations for clients. They even have their own daily newspaper. One way many users communicate is through the http://blog.secondlife.com/. This is how they can freely express ideas and events that are occurring in their virtual world. Second Life is only five years old and is full of potential to continually expanding. It would be an advantage to become a master and learn how to succeed in it.


http://www.secondlifeherald.com/

http://secondlife.com/whatis/economy_stats.php

http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/22/magazines/fortune/secondlife_recruit.fortune/

Yahoo Rejects Microsoft's $44.6B Bid

For those who have been following my blog you should be aware of this monumental proposal that Microsoft was offering Yahoo. Yahoo denied the deal stating that the offer was extremely undervalued. The trade talks have been greatly affecting both corporations’ stock prices and now Microsoft has to debate if they want to make a higher bid. This now opens the opportunity for other organizations to seek Yahoo and possibly help cornerstone or monopolize the search engine industry. What do you think?

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8UO9GTG0&show_article=1

Never Burn Bridges…

The gatekeeper is the biggest challenge of any PR professional as I have learned over my tenure as a student and as a young professional. Media relation specialist Bill Arnovich (1) says: “When pitching the media, it’s important that you know something about who you are calling. If it’s a magazine read, not simply page through, a couple different issues and if it’s a radio show, listen to it.” At SMU we have had the fortunate experience of taking classes where we represented clients and were in charge of developing a media kit to help raise awareness about their organization. This experience taught me that pitching a story is like jumping into a black whole. The possibility that your story is ever picked up is almost like pining a tail on a donkey.

How do you get passed the gatekeeper?

I learned from Jeff Crilley (2) and his book Free Publicity that there are several ways to improve your chances. Jeff is an Emmy Award winning reporter who explains how to reach success. He says the only chance you have is doing your homework like Bill said. You need to research people who cover the subject of your stories. Once you find them you have to be sharp about when to pitch because of the small window of opportunity. Vicki Giammona (3), a producer for the 11 a.m. news on ABC 7, explores this idea when she explains about pitching. The “two rules not to break” are contacting someone too late and contacting the wrong person. Jeff and Vikki both explain that by doing this you bypass the gatekeeper and will be one step ahead of everyone else. Some of the key tips Jeff gives for success once you have gotten pass the gatekeeper are:Always be available: You never know when you will get another chance to meet the reporter.

Always be appropriate: don’t pitch false stories

Never violate a reporter’s trust: you do this and you’re blackballed

Thank you notes: They go a long way because it starts a personal relationship

Patience: Keep making reports because once you have success the reporters will continually come to you. But do not forget how to maintain a strong relationship and do not burn bridges.

Deirdre Breakenridge has an article at http://www.ftpress.com/articles/article.aspx?p=25077 that gives specific details of how to build internet relationships. Bill, Jeff, Vikki, and David clearly explain that you will get the relationships and ink you want for both print and broadcast media if you follow the basic tools they provided.

My suggestion for young professionals is to start making a list of contacts that you know will provide you support when you apply for jobs. Once joining an industry you should make a contact list of people to contact and not to contact and rely on your coworkers who have had experiences with certain media outlets to continue growing your contacts.

(1) http://www.mediarelationsblog.com/111/six-tips-for-better-media-relations/

(2) http://www.jeffcrilley.com/

(3) http://www.newstips.org/interior.php?section=PR+Tips+Sub&main_id=641

*Photos from google images

Celebrity Jeopardy

I was watching some old Saturday Night Live highlights the other day on comedy central and I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw this one. I miss the old SNL days especially the first season with Chevy Chase and the later versions with Will Farrell. I think the series of celebrity jeopardy were hysterical because it made fun of the classic game show of whit and knowledge and replaced it with good humor and silly questions that we all know the answers to. This is a tribute to their humor which made us laugh and cry and I hope everyone enjoys this trip down memory lane.

Google Vs. Yahoo....or Microsoft Monopoly

For those who do not know, Microsoft is trying to make a shrewd business decision and invest ~43 Billion in the purchase of Yahoo search engine. This alarms companies like Google because they are worried about a possible monopolization of internet searching. Yahoo is also afraid that if they turn down the offer that Google may take it. So, it's conflict resolution day. It's either Lose/Lose, Win/Lose, Win/Win, Compromise, or Win/Win/Win. Which do you think will happen? Personally, I like Microsoft's move because of the constant obstacles that the company faces. I think Apple has been making such a tremendous move that Bill Gates has to be creative and figure ways to compete with Steve Jobs. I personally think that if Microsoft buys Yahoo, more creative sites similar to it will either become popular or create a better race in the internet industry. It is history in the making, lets see what happens!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7225599.stm

Sports & Why it is Americas New Religion....

Well sports fans your polls are in and the votes have the underdog giants winning this weekends superbowl. First of all thank you to my sports fans who have participated in my Super Bowl poll. Shockingly, the vegas sport books only gave Eli Manning and the Giants a 12 point spread versus the perfect Tom Brady and New England Patriots. I have a feeling more people were more excited about this day then going to church with tailgating that will probably start the day before. I enjoyed the game and the commericals that ranged at $2.7 million dollars for a 30 second spot. I myself was one of the very few New York Giants. As a Dolfins fan the undefeated 1972 season is pretty much all we have left and I want Eli to get the credit he deserved. It was by far the best game I have ever watched for the Super Bowl. Way to overcome the media hype and show to never count out the underdog. Thank you New York for Keeping the Miami Dolphins spot in history in the record books alone.

Thank you with leather for This Image

The Obstacles of Public Relations…

As a communication major I have learned that the fastest way to reach and spread information is through the Internet. Things have certainly changed and progressed since I was a child. I remember when just having a pc where you could type and print was a massive impact for communication, and now everyone has high-speed wireless internet if they want. Things have certainly changed and are constantly changing.

However, how does one range success? The hardest part is said best on http://marketingmonster.wordpress.com/. This blog is filled with marketing techniques for success and also explains the hard parts of becoming successful. You can’t become rich and famous overnight, otherwise we all would be there if it was that easy. It explains how you can be lost with the junk and spam. It is almost certain that blogs are one of the most popular tools of this decade for media personnel. It is instant news and does not have to be 100% credible, so someone can trip on it and read and use it because of the instant access.

Many reporters have their own blogs because they do not always get to broadcast the stories they want. The hardest thing for reporters is blog sources because it is hard to distinguish credibility or reliability of any story or source. This is a topic of discussion on http://badpitch.blogspot.com/ specifically about how a PR person distinguishes a good hit. Working in PR is one of the most difficult things these days because success is measured by successfulness and you have to really stand out in order to win. It is my goal to study other websites and figure out how to become the attractive center of attention in order to be popular and successful.

PR agencies I feel have to determine a way to overcome or master the successfulness of blogs otherwise clients will start utilizing their own resources to spread their own PR by creating their own blogs. Blogs can also hurt an agency or company when outsiders criticize them. If an agency cannot combat the opinions expressed on the Internet, how can they maintain their value and be successful for their clients. Blogging by far is one of the latest challenges that PR professionals are trying to adapt to and will count on people from our generation which is in the midst of it all to help.

Howard Dean's YEAH!!!

It was almost four years ago when Dean made this speech. It was amazing because within hours it was being broadcast and being made fun of. If it was not for the internet and word of mouth, this incident probably would not have exploded so much. However, it did and I can still remember Charles Barkley on inside the NBA playing the famous scream every 3 minutes on the halftime and post game report. It also has shifted into a funny humor with Dave Chappele where he makes a big play on this incident. Dean is an example that media training and word choice is necessary especially when on film because this clip destroyed his political run for presidency and he will be well known for this incident.

Rambo IV

Every week my friends and I go to the movies on Sunday. It is basically a tradition we have been doing every weekend for the last 3 years. I am a movie minor and an avid watcher. This week our choice was Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo IV. I am an avid follower of him, and I was very disappointed in this film. Don’t get me wrong; if all you want to see is a bunch of stuff blow up and people get shot with hardly any plot you will definitely get your money’s worth in this film. There are three acts of the film dedicated to people being blown up or shot up and it's extreme. I was a little disappointed because most of his other flicks had a thick concentration of political issues and centered more on his character development. In this film we watch the 62-year-old kick some heavy ass and probably goes the entire movie with 3 minutes of dialog. Bucky gives this film a two out of five stars because the movie didn’t even go two hours. Stallone still proved to us fans, however, that he is in shape and still knows how to be a hard ass.

How we interpret signs…

I was looking around on Communication Nation today and one of the posts that was online looked so simple but was so interesting. It was about symbols and signs and how we communicate. It was an array of pictures of symbols, but what was interesting was that from a young age we all learn and put into our memory banks this knowledge. There were an array of symbols and pictures in different contexts and languages, but I can still understand the meaning behind all of them. It is weird because you see things like a Pringles can in a different language, but by associating the photo you know exactly what it is. Check it out let me know if you feel the same way.

Superbowl XLII

On February 3rd, 2008 The New England Patriots will face the New York Giants. This season was filled with NFL records and amazing highlights. We may witness the second team ever to go undefeated in NFL history or to be cut short by one of the biggest underdogs of the post season. What upsets me is that most people are disinterested in this bowl here in Dallas because the Cowboys are out. I feel that people are looking more forward to the commercials similar to this one. It is amazing how ridiculous the advertising rates go for only one minute. This clip however I think is one of the best marketing ideas that NIKE has done because it does highlight a specific amount of NFL stars but shows the burden and hardship it is to play in the NFL and to be a star. Enjoy this clip because I feel that the majority of commercials that will be playing on Super Bowl Sunday will be ridiculous focusing on humor focusing messages instead of deep thought meaning.

The New American Gladiators

Growing up as a child American Gladiators used to be one of my favorite TV shows. For some unknown reason the publicity and the characters were so entertaining along with the events that it was hard to think why not to watch. It was a horrible day when the show went off the air and its triumph return has made me a happy person. However, the show has changed to become more upbeat but it is definitely not the same. You can tell that the marketing of this show is completely different versus the old and the hosts are great people but they are not the same and neither are the gladiators. They seem to be more intense and not very personable like the old Laser, Turbo, and Nitro and the contestants appear to talk scripted versus their own expressions like the old gladiators. However, its great to see the show back and hopefully it will build and grow strong like the original American Gladiators.

Hola / Welcome

I would to take time out to say welcome to my first blog. The main purpose of this blog is to explore the use of media and public relations through the internet. I want to use this blog to explain how the future of communications is going to derive from web /mobile device mediums such as this blog and other forms of internet publishing tools. I am very interested in acts of persuasion through advertisements, people, and campaigns. I am also an avid sports fan and TV & Movie follower so don’t be surprised about the correlations if I pull any into this blog. I am a senior Corporate Communications Major here at SMU. You can follow along with my class at http://smuccpaclass.blogspot.com/. I encourage everyone to send comments and feed back and suggestions. I want this blog to be interactive as possible.