Wednesday, October 22, 2008

The King of the World- USA?



click for enlarge view.

okays. i would say this is a fine example of culteral imperialism.
activity for all: for the frequent movie goers, name all the movies that you have watched for the past month, for the rest, for the past half year?

Most will realise that majority of the flicks that we catch are hollywood films. why is this so? because there is a huge dominance of US products.
Most of us are fascinated, infatuated and sometimes obsessed with hollywood flicks and stars.

Sometimes, i feel like US shows undermines our local ones. The concept of FLOW can be seen here. flow is a deliberate attempt to alter or maintain a balance of power that is advantageous only to the developed country. This concept benefits the US because developing or smaller nations do not have the comparative advantage in the international media market.

It has become a sporting sight to see youngsters who condemn on local ones. Smaller states like us, are likely to experience a loss of national and cultural autonomy. They tend to go online to watch US programs such as prison break, gossip girl or grey's anatomy. Seriously, are local productions that bad? And also, if we do not support our own productions, who will?

With such great intervenes of US media products, Singaporeans are becoming more US-alike. Meaning, they began to adopt some US cultures. Such as prom night, cheerleading, and some of the other lingos by the americans.

To those who only supports foreign films, they are in one way or another tarnishing their local's industry. Also, they are widening the social gap between ours and the more advanced in a indirect manner.

Let's start supporting singapore's very own productions!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

the FACEBOOK generation

hmm... seriously, have u ever thought how much has media (the internet) has on us? from friendster to now, myspace and facebook. such websites or organisations are actually very influential on us, to such at extent that it has become of part of their lives of some people.
ps: its gonna be a relatively long entry... endure....

i was reading seventeen magazine the other day. (yes, i may be a little too old for it) They were talking about internet language in one section. It talks about leaving comments, or changing status and even exchanging gifts on facebook can be a straining factor on relationships.

Here's an article to further demonstrate the influence of facebook.

Man murdered wife over Facebook posting
Friday, 17 October 2008

A jealous husband who repeatedly stabbed his wife because he felt "humiliated" over a posting she made on the social networking website Facebook was jailed for life today.

Wayne Forrester told police he was "devastated" that wife Emma had changed her online profile to "single" four days after he had moved out.

Forrester, an HGV driver, drove to the marital home in New Addington, near Croydon, south London, armed with a kitchen knife and a meat cleaver in the early hours of February 18.
Fuelled by cocaine and alcohol, he attacked his wife as she lay in bed, beating her, tearing out clumps of her hair, and stabbing her in the head and neck.
Neighbours who heard screaming called police, who found him sitting outside covered in blood, and he confessed he had killed her.
Forrester believed his wife, a payroll administrator, was having an affair and had made threats to kill her, the Old Bailey heard. The couple had been together for 15 years.

Judge Brian Barker, the Common Serjeant of London, told him: "You committed a terrible act. There is no possible excuse or justification.
"This is a tragic killing and what you have done has caused untold anguish."

Relatives of the victim wept as the 34-year-old, who had pleaded guilty to murder, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 14 years.
In a statement to police after the murder, he said: "Emma and I had just split up. She forced me out.

"She then posted messages on an internet website telling everyone she had left me and was looking to meet other men.
"I loved Emma and felt totally devastated and humiliated about what she had done to me."


Alex Lewis, prosecuting, said neighbours had been woken by screaming at around 6.30am on the day of the murder and police were alerted.

"They found the lifeless body of Emma Forrester lying on the floor just inside the hallway.
"She had been stabbed repeatedly in what was a brutal and sustained attack."

Miss Lewis said the couple had a "volatile" marriage and Mrs Forrester sometimes took two jobs to support herself and her husband, who was often out of work.
The relationship deteriorated further over Christmas last year and her husband finally moved out on Valentine's Day.
He began making telephone threats and her father Robert Rothery would often stay at home with her to look after her.

The day before the murder, Forrester rang her parents and complained about his wife's Facebook entry which he said "made her look like a fool".

Later their daughter rang them to tell them she was going to bed and bolting the front door.

The next morning neighbours heard crashing as the door was broken down and a woman's high-pitched cries for help.
When police arrived they found Forrester outside, and he held his hands out to be cuffed. His clothes and hands were covered in blood,
He said: "It is my wife's. She is in there. I have killed her."
The officers found her lying in a pool of blood, with a bloodstained kitchen knife beside her. They later also found a blood-stained meat cleaver.
Clumps of Mrs Forrester's long brown hair were found outside the bedroom and the bannister was broken.

The killer had previous convictions for theft and burglary dating back to the age of 15, the court heard.
In a victim impact statement, Mrs Forrester's sister Liza Rothery said her death had been "devastating" to her and parents Robert and Frances.

Her father felt guilty at his "inability to protect his daughter when she needed him", she said.
Miss Rothery added: "What on earth could Emma have done to result in such a brutal, callous attack on a defenceless woman?"



Well, i chance upon this article while using facebook. it was a really shocking news of the side effects of facebook. Unfortunately, the man has taken everything on facebook too seriously. This is a good evidence of the powerful effects theory. It shows how such an online program is influential (magic bullet) and also, users of such programs are passive. Also, the theory predicts that it has a strong and universal effects on users. Well, facebook does, doesn't it?

I would like to bring in another communication concept, interpersonal communication.

Quoted from the article:
Miss Lewis said the couple had a "volatile" marriage and Mrs Forrester sometimes took two jobs to support herself and her husband, who was often out of work. The relationship deteriorated further over Christmas last year and her husband finally moved out on Valentine's Day.

The Knapp model of relational development clearly defines that the relationship between forrester and his wife is coming apart. From the quoted source, forrester and his wife is in the 'avoiding' stage because the wife is avioding and cutting channels of communication between them. In addition, Forrester's disturbing behaviour has further threaten their relationship.

From forrester's statements, he definitely is suffering from some psychological problems. His love for his wife has become too possesive....hmm. love is fatal i guess.

So an advice to all: not to take facebook too seriously k.

Sunday, October 12, 2008