Book Choice

I’ve decided to use the book What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy.  I chose this book because it talks about video games.  I’m a pretty avid gamer so I figured I would find it to be pretty interesting.  I don’t really know a whole lot about the subject of the book.  I know that there are products like leapfrog that are designed to teach, but I’m hoping that this book will get more into mainstream gaming.  I’m hoping to find out that all of the countless hours I’ve spent playing video games throughout my life haven’t been a complete waste.  The only thing I’ve read about the book that made me choose it was the title. 

Blogs as a news source

News stations like CNN and blogs are a little different when it comes to reporting the news.  CNN tries to cover the broad picture of the war in Iraq as much as they can in the 5 minutes they give the war before they start talking about Heith Ledger’s death.  Blogs are a little different.  A blogger is going to tell you there side of the story, as biased as it may be.  They’ll give you a first hand account, and you’ll have a more personal experience reading a blog than you ever would watching the anchorperson on CNN reading off of the teleprompter.  In my opinion, a person’s past credentials don’t really affect there credibility.  I don’t feel like an ex-report has any more reason to stretch the truth in a blog than a Marine.  I feel like the info given in blogs is probably a little bit less reliable.  Bloggers are going to go into a little bit more detail than a news station, which leaves them with more room for error.  Also, bloggers don’t have anything riding on the validity of their story.  While nothing would happen to a blogger that lied, a news station reputation could be ruined by reporting false information. 

Pop Culture

Pop culture is probably one of my least favorite things.  All of it is a complete waste of time, and moste of the people that are a part of it are a waste of space on the earth.  The poster child for this fact is Paris Hilton.  Paris Hilton has never done anything good for anyone.  She’s famous because of the family that she was born into, and because she made a sex tape with some guy.  Britney Spears is the same way but at least she almost has talent.  The most impressive thing that Britney has ever done is being able to change the size of her boobs in every music video she’s ever made.  How did she manage to screw up her life so bad?  How do any of them manage to do it?  They have everything in the world practically handed to them, they’ll never have to worry about money for the rest of their lives, yet they still find a way to mess things up.  It get’s better though.  Once they manage to screw everything up, it just makes them more famous.  One of the things that Jessica Simpson is most famous for is the fact that she is a COMPLETE IDIOT.  She even used this to her advantage by doing commercials for Pizza Hut talking about how buffalos have wings or whatever.  You know whats even more sad though?  The fact that I know she asked that question when I never even watched her and Nick’s lame reality show.  It really makes me sick that people in our country care more about stupid celebrities than things that actually matter.  Last night’s Super Bowl broke a record for the most watched broadcast or something along those lines.  It seems like Americans would want to set something aside for something important, like say the State of the Union address or something along those lines.  But that’s not the case.  People would rather watch sitcoms about fake people’s lives, than watch a program that might actually inform them about something that’s important in their own life.  Thats how an idiot like George Bush get’s elected into office twice (just to recap, I’m referring to the people that voted for Bush and then don’t even care enough to watch the State of the Union to see if he’s doing anything for this country).  I realize that I’m probably starting to sound a little crazy and that my connection between sitcoms and the state of the union address is completely irrational.  I’m just kinda ranting.  Pop culture just really aggravates me sometimes. 

Intro

Hello all.  I am a student at USC.  I have a name, two arms, two legs, five fingers, a name, etc. much like yourself.  I do stuff in my free time.  Usually if you want to find me you can look somewhere in the city of Columbia and I will more than likely be there.  I enjoy doing things in my free time, usually involving friends and/or video games and/or my girlfriend. 

My favorite movies are

1. Little Miss Sunshine
2. Forest Gump
3. Juno

Best Band EVER

I love Tetris.  If you can beat my high score I’ll be impressed.