It is November 8th, 2011 and what would you expect a young college male to be doing right now? Playing the new Call of Duty of course. Instead, I'm going to blog about this Rollingstones magazine I bought earlier. I'm supposed to compare the old-media print version to the new-media online website of the magazine so here it goes.
http://www.rollingstone.com/
1) The primary focus of this publication is music. It also covers some politics, movies & TV, and contains reviews. On the issue of Rollingstone that I got, there were stories of artists going and performing at occupy wall street, an interview with Eddie Murphey about coming back to adult humor in his new movie that just came out, and "the one and only hot list 2011" was labeled the special section.
The articles start off with lots of little short ones in the beginning. The middle has a couple long headline articles, and the end goes back to short articles arranged on the page.
There is a good amount of photos per page. The colors are really interesting because it seems to be mostly red trim around things with the occasional blue and then black and grey make up most pages.
Some of the ads that make up this magazine are American Spirit cigarettes, Patron tequila, Norton Internet Security, and some varieties of expensive cologne (Chanel, Gucci, L'Homme Libre). It appears to be 40-50% ads.
The three main differences between the print version and the online version that I saw were:
1) There are blogs available that you can follow and read right on the right side of the main page of the website.
2) Overall more content under each section on the website. There is a "Best ever" list (http://www.rollingstone.com/lists) as well as more politics options right in the center of the main page.
3) There is a "latest news" reel on the left of the main page that will refresh and give you new stories to look at like Facebook does in a way.
Here is a link to the issue of Rollingstone that I read.
http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/eddie-murphy-speaks-why-he-s-quitting-family-movies-and-may-return-to-stand-up-20111026
2) I think that Rollingstone sets itself apart from the competition by having a very neat and well organized looking print edition. It is also the only music gossip magazine I really know of. The edition of Rollingstone that I read covered a lot of music artist activity and gossip. They don't mention Kim Kardashian, but they did mention Bill Clinton's birthday bash a few times. The articles cover lots of bands releasing LP's and also talks about new actors / actresses a lot.
The two biggest strengths of the print copy of Rollingstone are:
1) With the headlines and the cover picture / story you can tell what type of things you will be reading in the issue. They have laid stories out in front of you to read. Some people are scared to (or sometimes cant) browse through the mass selection of online stories that you see on the website.
2) It is a very organized magazine and it is not full of random colors that distract you.
The two biggest weaknesses I see with the print copy of Rollingstone are:
1) Lots of stories go on to one page and they do a good job of organizing but it still seems a little cluttered.
2) A majority of the stories focus on music artists coming out with new LP's. It had only a couple political articles in it. However, length is an issue and they are supposed to be a music magazine.
The two biggest strengths of the online copy of Rollingstone are:
1) Variety is the first thing to note, obviously.
2) The blogs that you can read and follow are cool because it can lead you to even more people who blog that you may want to follow. This is the link to one of my favorite blogs which is almost a week old. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/pakistan-moves-nukes-in-everyday-trucks-20111104
The two biggest weaknesses of the online copy of Rollingstone are:
1) You have to find and click on all the stories you want to see. It is possible you could miss one that an editor would put in the magazine which you would see otherwise.
2) All the ads (at least on the main page) are the same!
3) The primary target audience for this magazine would be young adult male or females who like to gossip about musical artists and actors / actresses. The ads in the print copy matched very well. The cool thing to do is drink patron and smoke cigarettes, right? The online version had a lot of Sony ads, which may or may not mean much to people of that age group. There weren't any offensive messages in this issue unless you consider "The Return of Beavis & Butt-Head" to be offensive.
4) I almost prefer the print version of this magazine just because I don't know, or bother to learn, a lot about the scene anyhow. When I look at the cover I get an idea of what the main story is, and then I can look at some other headlines to see what else I want to read. When you look online you just get hammered with choices (which isn't a bad thing if you want to explore all those choices).
The online version better serves its audience. They can access old topics and they can narrow their reading to the topics (or niches of topics) they desire. Collecting these magazines for reference purposes would take up way too much space so the internet is the winner here.
5) I chose not to follow Rollingstone on Twitter or Facebook because I don't have too much an interest in the magazine. I did learn about the past of Eddie Murphey and I learned about some of the new actors and actresses and their come-ups as well.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Blog post #1
1) I watched Sons of Anarchy on October 18th, 2011 at 7:00pm.
Here is a link to the season four promo trailer. The fourth season has just recently begun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1eib_lJ1h8
The genre for Sons of Anarchy is episodic chapters. The main characters in the episode I saw are Jax, Gemma, Juice, Tara, Clay, Sheriff Roosevelt, and many other members of the club made quick appearances. The storyline and plot was very chaotic. It began with the doctor of the club, Tara, receiving a death threat in her car which sent her in to a panic. Meanwhile, Jax and Clay were dealing with the Mexican cartel and an unknown car drives up on the scene and starts shooting uzis. After a shoot out scene there is a chase scene back to their hideout. Taking a break from the chaos, it goes to the DA talking to Sheriff Roosevelt, bullying him in to asking Romeo for another "sample" of cocaine just to pop him. The plot thickens as the club swarms the shooters hideout, revealing they are tied to the Mexican mafia themselves, and Romeo gets arrested for possession of cocaine when he goes to make the deal with the Sheriff. At the end of the episode the club enters a vote for a new president which has a very close six-to-five outcome in favor of a new president.
The sponsor of Sons of Anarchy is Mercedes-benz. Ironically, there was only one long mercedes ad that ran at the end of the show. Some of the products I saw advertised included: Miller lite beer, Jameson whiskey, Prestone oil, the all-state ads featuring mayhem, Burger King, Southern Comfort whiskey, UFC pay-per-view, and NFL Sunday tickets.
2) The general attitude that is portrayed by Sons of Anarchy is the tough and gruff biker club attitude. All of the characters wear their vests with the club symbol / name on it. The characters are either rebellious young adult men or seasoned older males who are a little more cautious. They are at odds with other gangs because they control the flow of things in Charming. The show itself is mostly filmed in a studio in Hollywood, but there are some location shots that have been done in the surrounding areas.
This show reminds me of a vigilante approach and an alternative to all the cop shows on TV. It tells an interesting story with many likeable characters and it is a bummer that one of them just died the previous episode. The club handles their business and when things go wrong they pursue their own justice system.
3) The biggest stereotype in Sons of Anarchy is the outlaw biker stereotype. When Tara goes to Gemma for help because she just received the death threat, Gemma tells her she cannot go to the police for help because, "You don't have a normal life baby, you have this one". Tara is the doctor for the club and she is dating one of the sons. She acts scared after being threatened especially because of who the club deals with but the best protection she can get is by staying in lock down at the clubhouse. The other stereotypical character was the friend cop being bullied by the evil DA. I'm not sure what the personal story is between the characters, but the DA goes way out of his way and pulls corrupt cards on Sheriff Roosevelt to make him deceive his friend and set him up. Law is shady but I think TV is adding a little drama here.
The commercials match the demographics perfectly. I imagine males my age and then males 35-50 watching this having it click with them. The beer commercials definitely appeal to both groups. Burger King ads are for the young males who don't want to bother with cooking. Southern Comfort and Jameson can certainly be directed at males of both age groups too. The random TV show ads they ran reminds me of Facebook throwing some options your way based on the fact that you are watching Sons of Anarchy. The new mercedes-benz ad they showed at the end is for the older males going through a mid-life crisis. They may have just broken down and bought a motorcycle and are going through the harley phase, so now is the perfect time to convince them they need a new mercedes.
If I were a visitor to the US and I saw Sons of Anarchy I would think that the US doesn't mind getting its hands dirty if it keeps the home town safe and the money keeps flowing. I would also question what the average American family values are in a way.
4) There are gangs in real life so there is a portion of this show which I believe does represent a scary part of life. Average life is not like this, and look where the characters are now. They want out of the cartel, but they might not get out till the cartel says they can. That is a terrifying place to be stuck in. People get very tired of living a life where they look over their shoulders all the time.
Entertainment wise I think the show does a great job. The critics have been giving it more and more praise ever since the first season as well so it sounds like they agree with me. Katy Sagal (Gemma) has been receiving an increasing number of awards from her role on the show.
5) I am starting to watch this show on a regular basis now. I will have to go back and watch the first three seasons some time but I am starting to gather who everyone is now. I am not a fan on Facebook but that is because I don't follow very much on Facebook yet.
6) I learned that there are so many more characters and the plot is so much deeper then I was able to gather when I first watched the show. Some credit goes towards the fact that I didn't even know it was on its fourth season till I went to find a youtube clip for this post.
http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/soa/
I also learned that this is the season 3 DVD cover for Sons of Anarchy. I found the slogan very interesting at the bottom.
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=sons+of+anarchy&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1366&bih=664&tbm=isch&tbnid=iaSacWh8ObpDEM:&imgrefurl=http://www.hotdvdcollection.com/Sons-of-Anarchy-Season-3-DVD-Box-Set-DVD-3608.html&docid=tB--09kucCGiwM&imgurl=http://www.hotdvdcollection.com/images/upload/Image/Sons_of_Anarchy_Poster.jpg&w=1000&h=1500&ei=m86gTofgNaGPigKr7a0w&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=510&vpy=147&dur=1527&hovh=275&hovw=183&tx=116&ty=122&sig=113250152104262416739&page=1&tbnh=138&tbnw=92&start=0&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0
Here is a link to the season four promo trailer. The fourth season has just recently begun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1eib_lJ1h8
The genre for Sons of Anarchy is episodic chapters. The main characters in the episode I saw are Jax, Gemma, Juice, Tara, Clay, Sheriff Roosevelt, and many other members of the club made quick appearances. The storyline and plot was very chaotic. It began with the doctor of the club, Tara, receiving a death threat in her car which sent her in to a panic. Meanwhile, Jax and Clay were dealing with the Mexican cartel and an unknown car drives up on the scene and starts shooting uzis. After a shoot out scene there is a chase scene back to their hideout. Taking a break from the chaos, it goes to the DA talking to Sheriff Roosevelt, bullying him in to asking Romeo for another "sample" of cocaine just to pop him. The plot thickens as the club swarms the shooters hideout, revealing they are tied to the Mexican mafia themselves, and Romeo gets arrested for possession of cocaine when he goes to make the deal with the Sheriff. At the end of the episode the club enters a vote for a new president which has a very close six-to-five outcome in favor of a new president.
The sponsor of Sons of Anarchy is Mercedes-benz. Ironically, there was only one long mercedes ad that ran at the end of the show. Some of the products I saw advertised included: Miller lite beer, Jameson whiskey, Prestone oil, the all-state ads featuring mayhem, Burger King, Southern Comfort whiskey, UFC pay-per-view, and NFL Sunday tickets.
2) The general attitude that is portrayed by Sons of Anarchy is the tough and gruff biker club attitude. All of the characters wear their vests with the club symbol / name on it. The characters are either rebellious young adult men or seasoned older males who are a little more cautious. They are at odds with other gangs because they control the flow of things in Charming. The show itself is mostly filmed in a studio in Hollywood, but there are some location shots that have been done in the surrounding areas.
This show reminds me of a vigilante approach and an alternative to all the cop shows on TV. It tells an interesting story with many likeable characters and it is a bummer that one of them just died the previous episode. The club handles their business and when things go wrong they pursue their own justice system.
3) The biggest stereotype in Sons of Anarchy is the outlaw biker stereotype. When Tara goes to Gemma for help because she just received the death threat, Gemma tells her she cannot go to the police for help because, "You don't have a normal life baby, you have this one". Tara is the doctor for the club and she is dating one of the sons. She acts scared after being threatened especially because of who the club deals with but the best protection she can get is by staying in lock down at the clubhouse. The other stereotypical character was the friend cop being bullied by the evil DA. I'm not sure what the personal story is between the characters, but the DA goes way out of his way and pulls corrupt cards on Sheriff Roosevelt to make him deceive his friend and set him up. Law is shady but I think TV is adding a little drama here.
The commercials match the demographics perfectly. I imagine males my age and then males 35-50 watching this having it click with them. The beer commercials definitely appeal to both groups. Burger King ads are for the young males who don't want to bother with cooking. Southern Comfort and Jameson can certainly be directed at males of both age groups too. The random TV show ads they ran reminds me of Facebook throwing some options your way based on the fact that you are watching Sons of Anarchy. The new mercedes-benz ad they showed at the end is for the older males going through a mid-life crisis. They may have just broken down and bought a motorcycle and are going through the harley phase, so now is the perfect time to convince them they need a new mercedes.
If I were a visitor to the US and I saw Sons of Anarchy I would think that the US doesn't mind getting its hands dirty if it keeps the home town safe and the money keeps flowing. I would also question what the average American family values are in a way.
4) There are gangs in real life so there is a portion of this show which I believe does represent a scary part of life. Average life is not like this, and look where the characters are now. They want out of the cartel, but they might not get out till the cartel says they can. That is a terrifying place to be stuck in. People get very tired of living a life where they look over their shoulders all the time.
Entertainment wise I think the show does a great job. The critics have been giving it more and more praise ever since the first season as well so it sounds like they agree with me. Katy Sagal (Gemma) has been receiving an increasing number of awards from her role on the show.
5) I am starting to watch this show on a regular basis now. I will have to go back and watch the first three seasons some time but I am starting to gather who everyone is now. I am not a fan on Facebook but that is because I don't follow very much on Facebook yet.
6) I learned that there are so many more characters and the plot is so much deeper then I was able to gather when I first watched the show. Some credit goes towards the fact that I didn't even know it was on its fourth season till I went to find a youtube clip for this post.
http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/soa/
I also learned that this is the season 3 DVD cover for Sons of Anarchy. I found the slogan very interesting at the bottom.
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=sons+of+anarchy&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1366&bih=664&tbm=isch&tbnid=iaSacWh8ObpDEM:&imgrefurl=http://www.hotdvdcollection.com/Sons-of-Anarchy-Season-3-DVD-Box-Set-DVD-3608.html&docid=tB--09kucCGiwM&imgurl=http://www.hotdvdcollection.com/images/upload/Image/Sons_of_Anarchy_Poster.jpg&w=1000&h=1500&ei=m86gTofgNaGPigKr7a0w&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=510&vpy=147&dur=1527&hovh=275&hovw=183&tx=116&ty=122&sig=113250152104262416739&page=1&tbnh=138&tbnw=92&start=0&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0
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