New Classes

One: Tuesday night 6pm- History of the Media. Great Class!!! The teacher seems like one of those hippie conception types. Actually, I know he is. At first impression, I could tell we would get along. I think learning should be done as a gaining of knowledge and experience. Dates aren't always important. That is, if they happened in the past. Dates in the future... very important. Don't forget to meet up with so and so or go on that interview. These dates are important. But, the past is the past. I don't care what year they invented the pixelized television. Boring! I recall learning that history is a way to learn from our mistakes and how to improve the future. And I would like to keep it that way.
Assignment #1: I have to log my media usage: tv, internet, book reading, radio, ect. I find this embarrassing because most of my media time is typing on the computer. Some times reading. But my tv, phone usage is minimal. I need some good analysis. Why don't I like to drown myself in excessive amounts of information?? Personally, I think all the input I have is stressful enough.

Two: Classical Hollywood Cinema. 6 pm wed. The teacher gained my approval by trying to learn the names of every one in our 50+ person. I think that this made my second lecture of the week seem more one on one (more like 100) but I was still impressed. In this first class, we talked about Hollywood as an international phenomenon. Did you know that most of the "best" classical (1930-60) Hollywood directors were not born in the US. Hitchcock included.

We also watch Shop Around the Corner with James Stuart (The guy from its a Wonderful Life). I found the movie to be romantic and endearing. They had a way with passion back then. Sometimes you hate some one so much that you can't even realize how much you love them. That is what this movie is all about. Loving for the mind, not the person who carries it. That was the main message at least. I personally thought the ending proved that all people are vain after all. If you are not familiar with this movie, You Got Mail is a modernized remake. I was wisped away by the original. But, I still love you Tom Hanks.

Three: TV and the Information Explosion. 5pm Thurs. Pet Peeves. The teacher talks for the sake of talking. She seems to be a brilliant well traveled woman but she is like my mother. She will try to support one of her own theories with some random often irrelevant tidbit of info. Eventually she strays from her point and is never actually making one. Not that I am one to talk. I am a fan of straying from the story and losing my point. But I don't have any authority. I'm aloud to speak nonsense. I am not getting paid for it. Another thing, she talked about Seinfeld and I think she had not seen more than 5 episodes in her life. Seinfeld is one of those shows that if you don't know exactly what you are talking about or you don't have a specific point of reference, people get offended. There are so many fans of this show that spanned nearly a decade and is still popular in reruns. Worst part about the class: she expects up to read two newspapers and watch a tv broadcast of the news EVERY DAY! I barely have time to nourish myself, never mind do this reading on top of the text book reading that she assigns. I am going to bomb these pop quizzes. "All good journalist should read the paper and know what’s going on in the world" says all journalism teachers. Newsflash: Not every one in Journalism wants to work at the New York Times. Not every one in a Journalism Lecture is even a Journalism student. SO not fun!