Brains on Media

At the beginning of this Starbursts commercial, we watch what appears to be two friends getting ready to share starburst. The limbic part of our brain has us feeling relaxed at this normal exchange between friends, but then suddenly changes to confusion as the strangely dressed man appears. Our Reptilian brain kicks in, at first making us weary, possibly scared and the random man's spazziness over the name of the Starbursts, before finally deciding to laugh at his behavior. Finally, as a picture of a starburst pack pops up along with the typography "Juicey Goodness", the neocortex part of our brain kicks in to read the words so we can remember just what this commercial was all about in the first palce.

My Personal Media

I'm sorry again for my late reply. I know this is the last day before this is due, but I still feel bad for not completing it sooner. I've just been busy with homework and other activities, I havn't had much time to work on this. I'm not really busy for a while now, so I should be more active :]. I'd also like to appologize for the fact that this post isn't really put together very well. My nerves are shot, and I've been extremely tired this week. I plan on resting tomorrow, though, so I should be back to normal in no time! So, if there are points where I'm repeating myself or go off subject a bit or am just not making sense period, sorry!

1. BOOKS - Do you read books? What kinds of books do you like to read? What’s a book you are currently reading that you are enjoying?

I do read books, but not nearly as much as I'd like to. In fact, I'm just now getting back into reading them :]. I really enjoy fantasy books, but I do enjoy realistic stories a lot, too. I've read all the Harry Potter books and all of the Twilight books. I really like both of them, but I personally did enjoy Harry Potter more.
Anyway, I used to read Dear America books all the time, and I really enjoyed those. I learned a lot about history through those books, and I never really realized it until I was done with them. A Coal Miner's Bride still remains to be my favorite book from that series.
The latest book I've read is Copper Sun. That was such a good book! When I was in elementary school I read about slavery a lot, but Copper Sun gave me so much more information and a new understanding of it. I highly reccomend that book!
I'm starting to read Pillars of the Earth now. It's supposed to be a really good book (according to my peers, teacher, and dentist, haha), and I'm really excited to have enough time to sit and read it! It looks like a bible though with how thick it is and the gold lining on the pages. Ironically enough, it's about building a Cathedral, haha.
And then, of course, there are comic books. I adore comic books! I'm mainly into reading mangas (Japanese comic books), but I'm starting to get interested in DC and Marvel comics. I love how art is used to tell the story with only the help of dialogue. While I do love descriptive stories, it's still nice to get an actual visual as well. Comic books do the same thing as books do for me; I see what's going on inside my head in a constant movement. The only difference is that the images from the comics give me a bit more of a solid image. I just love the feeling I get from reading them!
All of these books are ones that I really enjoy. I love a variety of stories, so I'm a little all over the place with genres I prefer. A lot of the time, it just depends on my mood. Here are some pictures of the books, as well as a few of my other favorite books.


2. NEWSPAPERS/MAGAZINES – Do you read newspapers or magazines? What kinds of newspapers and
magazines do you enjoy and why?

I don't generally read newspapers, but when I do, it's always when I'm at my Grandma's house. She reads the Tri-Cities Harold, which is a really good newspaper. When I visit her, I don't normally read the whole thing. I mainly just skip straight to the comics page (go figure ;]) and to Sudoku. However, when something interesting or serious sticks out to me, I make sure to read it so I know what's going on. This is the only newspaper I've ever really read, though, so I don't really have much to compare it to.
As for magazines, I mainly just read Girls Life. I've been subscribed to it since I was 11. In fact, it was my first subscription ever :D! It's a good magazine, I like to go through them. My favorite parts to read are the advice colums and the embarrassing moments at the very end. I also like to read Shojo Beat, a magazine with chapters from different mangas inside. It's very fun to read, and it's great to see all the different.

3. MUSIC – Do you listen to or play music? What kinds of music do you like to listen to? How do you listen to music – via cassettes, MP3 files, radio, or live performances? Who is a musician you currently are listening to?

Ahaha, I only wish I could play music. I really, really want to learn how to play guitar. Anyway, I love to listen to music, and I'm pretty much all over the place with the stuff I like. I mainly listen to rock music, which that in itself branches out into many different categories. I also listen to a little country, some pop, and a tiny bit of rap. I kinda have to be in the right mood for those (though, I've been enjoying pop a lot more lately). I adore Disney music from the 90's! They made such cute, catchy songs in their movies, and most of them were even inspiring. I don't really like the music they've been coming up with now-days, but it's starting to get a little better (like Enchanted; that movie had some cute songs :D!). I also like to listen to Classical music. My Best Friend plays piano, and she always plays Beethoven's Fur Elise for me :] <3.
I listen to my music mostly through my iPod and computer, but every now and then I'll turn on the radio or throw in a CD. If I still had my cassette player and some cassettes, I'd definatly listen to it that way, too!
Lately I've been listening to a pretty equal amount of Flyleaf, Paramore, and The Offspring. I love all those bands!


4. TELEVISION – Do you watch television? (I have not watched TV for 20 years, but I used to watch hours of TV a day as a kid). What kinds of TV do you like to watch and why?

I used to watch a TON of TV! As of late, I've hardly watched it except for at night. That's probably due to the fact that my brother is on the Xbox 24-7 now, though, haha. I go back and forth from watching the movie channels to the normal, 30 minutes or more comedy or action shows. I love Futurama, Family Guy, South Park, King of the Hill, Inuyasha, Batman: The Animated Series (from the 90's, plays on Boomerang ;]), Clean House, House, The Simpsons, Law and Order, Law and Order: SVU, Cold Case, and Case Closed. There are lots more... (haha, I just realized most of those are animated... While I know that sounds kiddish, I watch them because I LOVE the plots. A lot of them are actually really clever once you get to thinking about it.)


5. VIDEO GAMES – Do you play video games? Which games do you play and why? What is your favorite video game experience right now?

I don't play video games nearly as much as I'd like to. They're just too expensive for me D;. I'm really getting back into them, though, and since I don't own a wii and my brother won't let me touch his X Box 360, I just play them on the Playstation 2 and the Computer.
My favorite game so far is Syberia. It requires you to think, and it's pretty fun once you get into it. I really liked it, and I really want to get Syberia 2. Unfortunately, they're both kinda old and unpopular, so I can't find the sequal D:.
I'm getting really excited for the releases of Sims 3 and Batman: Arkham Asylum. Both of them look so good! Even better, in Arkham Asylum, Mark Hamill, Arleen Sorkin, and Kevin Conroy are all reprising their roles from Batman: The Animated Series :D! I'm SO excited to play that game! Here's a preview for it:




6. COMPUTERS – Do you use computers much? What kinds of things do you do on your computer?

I use computers every single day! I mainly use it for the internet and my own entertainment, but I also use them for homework, drawing, and, at school, for the year book. I also like to write stories on Microsoft Word. I mess around on GIMP and Open Canvas a lot too, editing pictures to get them the way I want them to look.


7. INTERNET – Do you spend much time on the Internet? What kinds of activities do you most enjoy pursuing on the Internet?

Most of my computer time is spent on the internet. I mainly just check my messages on different sites, such as myspace.com, deviantart.com, and gaiaonline.com. And, of course, there's the blogs for DOTCOM that I like to come and read when I have extra time :].
When I'm not checking messages, looking at pictures on deviantART, or watching youtube videos, then I'm on Yahoo! and MSN instant messenger. I always keep both online, but I mainly focus on them when I have time to.


Now, rank your MEDIA PREFERENCES from 1 – 7, with 1 being your FAVORITE kind of media, and 7 being your last favorite.

1. Internet
2. Computer
3. Television
4. Music
5. Video Games
6. Books
7. Newspapers/Magazines

Knowledge Tree

Before I answer the questions below, I'd like to appologize sincerely for being so late on this! I lost track of time for a while, and then I didn't know what my first post was supposed to be. I just found Mr. Robert's blog today, so I'm trying to catch up. Again, sorry!

1. Tell us about yourself in a brief autobiography of between 20 - 25 sentences. Where are you from? What do you most like to study? What are your passions and your dreams? Tell us a bit about your personality. Are you outgoing? A leader? Quiet and shy? An observer? What do you want us to know about you?

My name is Cheyanne and I'm fifteen years old. Right now I am living in a small town in northern Washington just a few miles from the Canadian border called Oroville. Oroville is the longest place I've ever lived. So far, we've been here for seven years, much longer compared to everywhere else. I was born in Texas, and from there I moved to Minisota, then Montana, then Canada, and then here to Washington state. All the moving around is due to my mother's job as a Border Patrol agent, but thanks to her job I've been given the opportunity to experience things most people my age cannot. There was one point where I got to live in Herndon, VA (a city very close to Washington D.C.) for 6 months, and every weekend we'd go and visit a museum or monument. It was a wonderful experience. I remember very specifically when we went to the Lincoln Memorial and my mom showed me the spot where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his most memoriable speech. I was around 12 at the time, and I remember standing there where he once stood, imagining a crowd below me as I inspired some sort of world change to occur with my words alone. Just from the feeling I got from thinking about it, I wondered how great I would feel if I ever got the chance to do that. That thought continued to pop up time and time again every time I went somewhere historical or listened to a motivational speaker and it wasn't long before I realized that to create change was to be one of my main goals in life.
How I want to create that change is through my art. Drawing is my passion. It has been since I was five and first watched Sailor Moon, and it will continue to be so, as long as I can help it. Art has always been my number one goal in life, and I plan on creating a future out of it. I still have a very long way to go, but I believe as long as I keep my passion for it I'll be able to get where I want to. I plan on either going to both DigiPen and the Seattle Art Insitute or going to an art college in California and living with my aunt and/or cousins. From there I want to go work for a big corporation, like Disney, Pixar, Nickelodeon, or Cartoon Network as a character designer or animator. I hope that with my art I can inspire someone with their life, just like Sailor Moon did for me.
As for my personality, I'm a little all over the place. Depending on my mood and/or the situation, I can be shy or I can be outgoing. I try to be more on the optimistic side of things and I smile as often as I can. When I learn, I prefer to observe how it's done and then try it out myself. I can be very hard headed and I refuse to back down to a challenge, but that sometimes isn't always the best thing to do. I'm not really sure if you'd be able to call me your typical highschool girl, since I'm really not like the other girls I go to school with, but I do mostly fit the description of one, so I'll leave that one for you to decide.

The first one is a sketch I started out with on Open Canvas using my tablet. The second one is the line art, where I cleaned up the out of place lines and added in a few details. The last one is the final, all colored. This is one of my first digital drawings, and it's of my friend, Alanna. I used tutorials to help me out with the process and found I really liked it. However, I really want to work on my coloring :S!

2. Explore your relationship with media in five sentences by telling us about a favorite media experience you are having – a book you are reading, a video game you are playing, a movie you just saw, a magazine you subscribe to, a newspaper you read regularly, or a musician or band whose music you really like. What is it about this media experience that makes it powerful for you?

Recently I have been obsessed with the movie "The Dark Knight". The movie got me interested in Batman as a whole, and I started watching the old animated shows from when I was little and reading a few of the comics. I'm entranced with the way they have such in-depth characters and the way the feel so real, even though I know in the back of my mind that they don't really exist. Seeing the differences in they way older movies are compared to the newer ones are another thing that has really impressed me. We've come so far in just a few years, it's outstanding!

3. In five sentences, tell us about an issue you are concerned about in your home community. Why? What, if anything, have you tried to do about something you are concerned about, or what would you like to do if you could?

An issue I'm concerned about in my home community is the lack of art. As this DOTCOM Program is recognizing, Media is a HUGE thing in our culture today, and art is big part of media. Without art we wouldn't have nearly half the things we have today; things would be so boring! Yet it is still one of the things that is constantly ignored when it comes to learning. So far I haven't tried anything to change this, and the only ideas I can come up with are ones with difficult steps that need to be worked on.

4. In five sentences, tell us what you can contribute to the group of participants during our DOTCOM program (face-to-face) workshops?

I hope to contribute my attention to the animated world of media and how far it has brought us in technology today, as well as to characters created in our sources of entertainment and how they are a big influence on people today. These things are often overlooked and considered insignificant, yet they can be a turning point for so many things. Had Mickey Mouse never been created, or Walt Disney never been a cartoonist, we'd still be watching silent movies. Without the depth of characters, we wouldn't be able to enjoy our movies or books, and some people wouldn't have someone to look up to. These things are so vitally important, especially when coming to keeping a person's interest, that they deserve to be recognized.