Welcome and Media Me

Dear Reader,
Welcome to my inaugural article that I am posting on my blog. Throughout the following months I will continue to update the site with many different articles. This first article I am posting is about the types of media I use in my everyday life.

Media is a large part of my life. Each and every day I consume many different types of media; these types contain, but are not limited too: Television, music, movies, and the internet. I will in the following paragraphs go through these subjects and tell you a little bit about myself, and what preferences I have in those subjects.

First, we have television. Television is something that I watch very rarely, but on occasion when I do, I have very specific television shows I watch. These shows are: Lost, House, Criminal Minds and Eli Stone. These shows are the ones I tend to follow, and keep up to date with. Lost can be classified under adventure and drama. This show appeals to me for many reasons. The main reason I enjoy Lost is due to the hidden subplots and symbols in it. In the show, there are many hidden ‘Easter eggs’, symbols that could give away main clues to the story line. I enjoy watching for these. Also, the plot and storyline is very complex, therefore making it a challenge to fully understand. Other shows, such as House and Criminal Minds appeal to me due to the fact that their storylines and plots are somewhat realistic. On occasion I watch sports such as Hockey, Mad TV, Saturday Night Live and award shows such as the Grammy’s. Personally I find that television shows have been watered down by reality programs, something that I find very dull. However their ratings are very high, and due to this, quality shows have lost their prime time slots.


Movies are something that on occasion I enjoy, both at the theater and at home. My movie genre preferences are: Action, Adventure and Sci-Fi. Some movies that I enjoy are the Dark Knight, National Treasure, Lord of The Rings Trilogy and the Rock. To me movies are like a television show but are completed in a shorter time span, instead of having a whole season of shows. I enjoy different movies for different reasons. For example, I enjoyed the Dark Knight for its dark subject matter, and its ability to take an unrealistic character, the Joker, and turn him into a realistic, psychotic killer. Some movies such as the Lord of The Ring appeal to me due to their far fetched ideas that are turned in realistic visions. Realism is definitely something I look for in a movie. If the acting, the sets, the dialogue, and the human emotions feel realistic to me, then I think the movie was a success. Movies, like my views in television, should be complex and always keep me in suspense; a good example of this is the movie, The Da Vinci Code. There is no certain type of film I dislike, because I believe that each movie needs to seen individually. There are, however, films I dislike, such as Godzilla, the main reason for this is the inability to create realism. In Godzilla, the overdubbing for a time is enjoyable, however it soon losses its appeal.

Internet is another form of media I use. This is a form that I use very frequently. I browse many different websites while I am online. They include: The National Hockey League home page, Billboard Magazine Online, Rolling Stone Online, Purevolume, Hockeybuzz, Hotmail and Wikipedia. I also frequently use Microsoft Messenger (MSN). The sites I frequent are based on my interests. I have a strong interest in music, which I will later get into detail with. However, for some sites such as Wikipedia, I use them for pure enjoyment, such as to find release dates for movies and albums. On the internet I barely ever play online games, as I find I do not have the time to play them. MSN, an online chat program is something I always enjoy. I enjoy it because it allows me to talk to my friends from all over the province. Although I could call them, this way I can talk to more than one at once, and save on long distance phone charges.

The last type of media that I will discuss is by far my favorite- music. Music is something that drives me through life. As it is very dominant in my life, I have a very widespread genre preference. I enjoy such genres as punk, hip hop, rap, rock (and all its subgenres), metal, classical, alternative, jazz, and soul.
However, my favorite genres of music are pop punk and alternative rock. I enjoy bands such as Linkin Park, The Maine, All Time Low, The Fold, The Starting Line, Incubus, Modest Mouse, Lostprophets and Muse, to name a few. The band that I enjoy the most, however, is AFI. I enjoy AFI for a number of reasons. For one, their songs have very deep meanings, and some of their albums are of the concept type, meaning all songs follow a particular story. I find this enjoyable because instead of scattered thoughts in songs, all in the album are of the same subject. My favorite song by AFI is Love Like Winter. I enjoy this song due to its catchy choruses and beat. Although this song does not connect to me on any personal level, I still feel moved by this song. As stated earlier music drives me through life. In order to feed my hunger for new music, I use such sites as Purevolume, as stated earlier. I find up and coming bands, and then I tell my friends about them, in order to spread the good word. I enjoy doing this because it allows me to broaden my friends as well as my own musical tastes.

We now come to the end of my first article. It is clearly evident that media plays a large role in my life, and will continually. I will leave you now with a live performance of AFI’s Days of the Phoenix.

Cheers,
SJones